Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Lazy Sunday
Just a quick update... you've probably seen these both before, but...
Real blog entry coming next week.
Real blog entry coming next week.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Quest for Anime
There actually wasn't one. Thundercats pretty much marked the end of my cartoon/anime watching days for a period of several years. I soon turned 16 and got caught up in trying to be cool (a waste of time and effort). This involved making a general ass of myself, alienating a number of my friends and drinking to the point of stupidity for a number of years, which culminated in a wasted semester at the University of Wyoming. All I managed to do was fail my classes, alienate even more friends, and continue on a downward spiral.
After that debacle was over, I ended up joining the Navy for all the wrong reasons. Whilst serving in the Navy, I continued to generally be a douchebag, drink too much and piss people off. At least I was in good company this time though. The stereotypes regarding drunken sailors are all too accurate I'm afraid.
Somehow during all of this jack-assery, I started to renew my interest in all things geek. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons again, as it turns out the military is home to many a nerd. I soon ended up getting stationed in Okinawa with most of my D&D buddies. A couple of them were also Japanophiles, and had chosen Okinawa as one of their top choices for next duty station. We would regularly have movie nights together as a group, and it was during one of these that someone brought in the anime Vampire Hunter D. This was right up my alley, and I was frankly blown away by the gore, the fantasy setting and the downright coolness of it all.
I was fortunate to be in Japan, and it was easy to get my hands on other anime titles in short order. Unfortunately, most of them were forgettable and uninteresting to me. Anything that concerns giant robots fighting each other just bores me to death. Also, with the notable exception of Firefly and the original three Star Wars films, I just don't like sci-fi all that much either, so that ruled out a large chunk of anime as well.
During one of our movie nights, one of the Japanophiles (I guess I would now label him otaku), brought in a copy of Record of Lodoss War. Once again I was blown away. Here was an anime that was clearly inspired by western notions of high fantasy. It was part Lord of the Rings, part Dungeons & Dragons, and incredibly enjoyable. It had all the traditional characters one would expect: noble knight, wily rogue, gruff dwarf, mysterious wizard, etc. battling the usual monsters such as goblins, kobolds, dragons, dark lords and witches. Regardless of the tropes and cliches which abounded, the story was well told and unpredictable. It was a story with the trappings of Western fantasy, but with Japanese sensibilities. No straightforward battle of good vs. evil here... plenty of shades of gray and a fair amount of tragedy and loss. It was brilliant, and I wanted more.
I later discovered that the anime was based on a series of Japanese fantasy novels of the same title by Ryo Mizuno, who had been inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons RPG. Although it has been decades since its original release, Lodoss remains popular and well regarded by both anime and fantasy fans worldwide; so much so that an online role-playing game (ala World of Warcraft) is being developed in Japan for worldwide release.
Lodoss MMO in development!
My next post will take the focus away from anime, at least for the time being... stay tuned.
After that debacle was over, I ended up joining the Navy for all the wrong reasons. Whilst serving in the Navy, I continued to generally be a douchebag, drink too much and piss people off. At least I was in good company this time though. The stereotypes regarding drunken sailors are all too accurate I'm afraid.
Somehow during all of this jack-assery, I started to renew my interest in all things geek. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons again, as it turns out the military is home to many a nerd. I soon ended up getting stationed in Okinawa with most of my D&D buddies. A couple of them were also Japanophiles, and had chosen Okinawa as one of their top choices for next duty station. We would regularly have movie nights together as a group, and it was during one of these that someone brought in the anime Vampire Hunter D. This was right up my alley, and I was frankly blown away by the gore, the fantasy setting and the downright coolness of it all.
During one of our movie nights, one of the Japanophiles (I guess I would now label him otaku), brought in a copy of Record of Lodoss War. Once again I was blown away. Here was an anime that was clearly inspired by western notions of high fantasy. It was part Lord of the Rings, part Dungeons & Dragons, and incredibly enjoyable. It had all the traditional characters one would expect: noble knight, wily rogue, gruff dwarf, mysterious wizard, etc. battling the usual monsters such as goblins, kobolds, dragons, dark lords and witches. Regardless of the tropes and cliches which abounded, the story was well told and unpredictable. It was a story with the trappings of Western fantasy, but with Japanese sensibilities. No straightforward battle of good vs. evil here... plenty of shades of gray and a fair amount of tragedy and loss. It was brilliant, and I wanted more.
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| D&D Party: "Woodchuck" the Rogue, Slayne the Wizard, Etoh the Cleric, Deedlit the Elf, Gimm the Dwarf, and Parn the Knight. Roll initiative! |
Lodoss MMO in development!
My next post will take the focus away from anime, at least for the time being... stay tuned.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Thundercats... Hoooooo!
I spent an inordinate amount of time during the early to mid-80's watching cartoons on Saturday mornings and immediately after returning home from school. I have vivid memories of running or biking home as fast as possible so I could catch whatever was on at 3:30.
For the most part, the toons were American staples such as the Looney Toons, Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker or Scooby Doo. However, it was during this time that Japanese anime, edited for American audiences, began to find its way into the United States. I am now aware that a small amount of anime was actually broadcast in the US previously, notably Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, but these somehow slipped beneath my radar (or were not shown on the networks I watched).
Somewhere around this time I became aware of a cartoon called G-Force: Guardians of Space, the first Japanese anime I now recall watching. While I remember it being quirky and unique, to put it lightly it just wasn't my thing.
I later learned that G-Force had been Turner Broadcasting was responsible for bringing the show to US audiences in a heavily edited and chopped version which basically dispensed with any of the adult themes or elements found in the original Japanese version (something Turner also infamously did with the entire Looney Toons catalog... but I digress).
Around the same time, what was to become my favorite cartoon series of the 80's had its debut. I speak of none other than the mighty Thundercats.
By this time, I was a young teenager, and even as a professed nerd I was definitely beyond what was considered proper cartoon watching years (my how things have changed). Still, this show drew me in for various reasons. The animation was far better than most of what was being shown at the time, and the story lines were complex and layered (again, this is only when compared with the drek Hanna Barbara was offering).
I soon realized that this now classic toon was not only produced by Rankin-Bass (of Hobbit/Last Unicorn fame), but as before, the animation department was entirely Japanese. The show was well-received by many 80s kids, and the current wave of nostalgia has resurrected the Thundercats property with a new animated series to be released July, 2011. The animation for the new show will be provided by the Japanese animation company Studio 4 C.
I came to the conclusion that Japanese animation was in fact superior to American offerings, not an entirely fair comparison, but there you go. I began to actively search out anime and manga, but living in Laramie Wyoming in the pre-Internet age did not make my search an easy one. Next blog... A Quest for Anime!
For the most part, the toons were American staples such as the Looney Toons, Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker or Scooby Doo. However, it was during this time that Japanese anime, edited for American audiences, began to find its way into the United States. I am now aware that a small amount of anime was actually broadcast in the US previously, notably Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, but these somehow slipped beneath my radar (or were not shown on the networks I watched).
 |
| G Force: Guardians of Space |
I later learned that G-Force had been Turner Broadcasting was responsible for bringing the show to US audiences in a heavily edited and chopped version which basically dispensed with any of the adult themes or elements found in the original Japanese version (something Turner also infamously did with the entire Looney Toons catalog... but I digress).
Around the same time, what was to become my favorite cartoon series of the 80's had its debut. I speak of none other than the mighty Thundercats.
By this time, I was a young teenager, and even as a professed nerd I was definitely beyond what was considered proper cartoon watching years (my how things have changed). Still, this show drew me in for various reasons. The animation was far better than most of what was being shown at the time, and the story lines were complex and layered (again, this is only when compared with the drek Hanna Barbara was offering).
I soon realized that this now classic toon was not only produced by Rankin-Bass (of Hobbit/Last Unicorn fame), but as before, the animation department was entirely Japanese. The show was well-received by many 80s kids, and the current wave of nostalgia has resurrected the Thundercats property with a new animated series to be released July, 2011. The animation for the new show will be provided by the Japanese animation company Studio 4 C.
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| Thundercats - 1985 |
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| Thundercats - 2011 |
Monday, May 30, 2011
Procrastination
As you may have noticed, the whole blog thing is not going as well as I had initially hoped. I have been having trouble staying focused, and it got me thinking that maybe there is something to this little tidbit of news:
The Interweb is making us stupid!
After not too much introspection, I find that my attention span does indeed seem a bit diminished compared to what it once was. It takes me much longer at 40 to read a book for example than it took me as a 16 year old, when I would devour 500 pages in a couple of days. Now I am doing well if I finish a book in under a month.
Anyhow, this doesn't have much to do with Japanese fantasy... or does it? Well, it actually turns out that my first exposure to the medium of anime, which contains plenty of fantasy, was the 1977 film by Rankin Bass based on what remains one of my all-time favorite books: The Hobbit.
While technically not an "anime" per se, the entire animation staff for this feature was Japanese. A quick glance at the above picture shows many of the tell-tale signs of Japanese animation (large eyes being the most obvious). The setting of course is undeniably Western fantasy based however.
The Interweb is making us stupid!
After not too much introspection, I find that my attention span does indeed seem a bit diminished compared to what it once was. It takes me much longer at 40 to read a book for example than it took me as a 16 year old, when I would devour 500 pages in a couple of days. Now I am doing well if I finish a book in under a month.
Anyhow, this doesn't have much to do with Japanese fantasy... or does it? Well, it actually turns out that my first exposure to the medium of anime, which contains plenty of fantasy, was the 1977 film by Rankin Bass based on what remains one of my all-time favorite books: The Hobbit.
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| An Unexpected Party |
Although derided by many as deviating too far from the source material and leaving out important scenes, the animated version of The Hobbit remains a favorite from my childhood. A few short years later, Japanese animators were involved in the film adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn. Again, the artwork is very much anime.
My next exposure to Japanese fantasy via animation, and probably the first time I was aware that said animation was called "anime", would have been sometime in the early 80's. I'll take a look at some of these classics in my next update.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Japanese fantasy?
So the program I am currently taking at Evergreen State is primarily involved in an exploration of Japanese fantasy and the grotesque throughout the history of the country. Although it is a broad subject, I did have certain expectations going in. I thought the focus of the course would concern folklore, mythology and fantastic tales of samurai (which I wrongly equated with the romanticized European knight) facing otherworldly foes.
In actuality, the program focuses more on what is commonly referred to as magical realism, which is sometimes considered a sub-genre of fantasy. Many of the assigned readings have had a touch of the surreal or muted elements of the fantastic, but these are not necessarily what I myself consider true fantasy.
On a whim, I decided to do a Google search using the term "Japanese Fantasy" and see what the consensus on the subject is amongst the multitudes on the internet. To my surprise, there does not actually seem to be a consensus of any sort. The top 25 search results yielded everything from a list of Japanese fantasy authors, manga, a Japanese fantasy baseball team (of all things) and pornography. An image search on Google using the same search criteria brings up a large number of pictures which are either outright erotica or bordering on such.
I then refined my search, adding the word "literature". Surprisingly, the very program I am taking at Evergreen came up in the top 10 search results. I have come to the conclusion that the fantasy genre as it exists in America and other western countries is almost absent in Japan outside of manga, anime and video games. Based on this conclusion (which may be erroneous), I will begin exploring some of the themes and elements I associated with Japanese fantasy prior to taking this class in an attempt to connect them with my new understanding (or lack thereof) of the subject.
Finally, I have to apologize for the dry nature of this post, and I promise to try and make future postings more entertaining and frequent!
In actuality, the program focuses more on what is commonly referred to as magical realism, which is sometimes considered a sub-genre of fantasy. Many of the assigned readings have had a touch of the surreal or muted elements of the fantastic, but these are not necessarily what I myself consider true fantasy.
On a whim, I decided to do a Google search using the term "Japanese Fantasy" and see what the consensus on the subject is amongst the multitudes on the internet. To my surprise, there does not actually seem to be a consensus of any sort. The top 25 search results yielded everything from a list of Japanese fantasy authors, manga, a Japanese fantasy baseball team (of all things) and pornography. An image search on Google using the same search criteria brings up a large number of pictures which are either outright erotica or bordering on such.
I then refined my search, adding the word "literature". Surprisingly, the very program I am taking at Evergreen came up in the top 10 search results. I have come to the conclusion that the fantasy genre as it exists in America and other western countries is almost absent in Japan outside of manga, anime and video games. Based on this conclusion (which may be erroneous), I will begin exploring some of the themes and elements I associated with Japanese fantasy prior to taking this class in an attempt to connect them with my new understanding (or lack thereof) of the subject.
Finally, I have to apologize for the dry nature of this post, and I promise to try and make future postings more entertaining and frequent!
Monday, May 9, 2011
It begins...
I actually joined Blogger a few years back to follow the ramblings of several other individuals. I never intended to start my own blog, as I have always felt it is somewhat pretentious. Who, other than a few immediate friends and family (and this itself is questionable) could possibly be interested in what I have to say?
The answer to that question is probably "no one". You are most likely asking yourself at this point why I am blogging then. The plain and simple answer is that I am doing it for a class project. We are required to come up with an artistic presentation of some sort for this project, and I long ago came to the realization that I am:
The answer to that question is probably "no one". You are most likely asking yourself at this point why I am blogging then. The plain and simple answer is that I am doing it for a class project. We are required to come up with an artistic presentation of some sort for this project, and I long ago came to the realization that I am:
- Not a very good artist despite my best efforts
- Have no other artistic talents to speak of other than the ability to play the clarinet, which I haven't done in many years. No one wants to hear that shit anyway!
Future posts will concern Japanese fantasy, as that is what my class is ostensibly about. Finally, I have to credit another student with giving me the idea for this project (nope... wasn't even my idea). So thank you!
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