Monday, July 31, 2017

May-July articles in the media

Here's the batch of articles to show up in the media from May-July, regarding anime, manga and related stuff.

Japan Times

Anime gives Japanese bands a new route to potential fans

Wandering through scenes from 'Manga Michi'

Joey Bizinger sees his YouTube following grow amid an 'anime renaissance'

Meet the kawaii witches of the East

Popular manga 'One Piece' to be remade into live-action TV drama

Daily Yomiuri

WOMBS review

Manga highlights relationship of authors, their children

Dokonjo Gaeru no Musume review

KADO: The Right Answer review

'Galaxy Express 999' conductor salutes Kokura

Record-breaking attendance for AnimeJapan 2017 convention

Hayao Miyazaki back to work on his final project, a full-length film

Designs review

Kenko de Bunkateki na Saiteigendo no Seikatsu review

As the moon, so beautiful review

Tsuge inspired by dreams, real life

Museum worker reveals inside stories through manga

Revisiting Fuichin-san and the mother of shojo manga

Crazy Manga review

Kaicho Shima Kosaku (Chairman Shima Kosaku) review

LOCKE THE SUPERMAN review

Live-action ‘Gintama’ brings out best in manga

Asahi

Gagster Tekken plugs Nagano with his longest flip book film yet

Manga favorites teach morality in latest grade school textbooks

'March Comces In Like a Lion' season 2 coming in October

'Captain Tsubasa' offers hope for young Syrian refugees

'Fullmetal Alchemist' art exhibitions set for Tokyo, Osaka

Archery manga 'Hana ni Somu' wins top prize in 2017 awards

First TV anime of baseball manga 'Gurazeni' in the lineup for 2018

'Conan' featured in Yamaguchi's crime-solving, history tour

37th Doreamon Movie is highest-grossing in series

J-World Tokyo courts foreign tourists with cosplay service

A manga guide on how to make-do after a natural disaster

Road bike inspired by Gundam's Char to hit the streets

15 leading artists to present works for Doraemon exhibition

'Attack on Titan' planetarium show takes over 2 Tokyo venues

'JoJo'-themed escape game coming to Tokyo, Osaka in July

'Saint Seiya,' 'Dragon Ball' star in Shonen Jump exhibit

Art exhibition on "Mary and the Witch's Flower" coming to Tokyo, Osaka

Kyoto manga contest to help aspiring artists from abroad

Main visual for 'Inuyashiki' TV anime released ahead of climax

'Dragon Quest' creator's hometown to run special exhibit

Masaaki Yuasa, Sunao Katabuchi win big at Annecy festival

'PPAP' viral hit singer Pikotaro to go anime on TV this summer

'Treasure Island' the inspiration for latest 'Doraemon' film

Classic anime 'Cowboy Bebop’ gets live-action U.S. TV series

‘Evangelion’ to ‘Shin Godzilla’, Sagisu is Anno’s go-to music man

Kyoto Animation latest anime to air nationwide in early 2018

First-ever 'Dragon Ball' run planned for September

Anime guru Keiichi Hara joins the ranks for TIFF 2017

'Bungo Stray Dogs' movie set to hit cinemas in spring 2018

Conference for ‘yokai’ monsters opens in Mizuki's hometown

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Minions Posterboard




"What have these guys done now?"


Saturday, July 29, 2017

Kodomo Tsukai



(All rights belong to their owners. Images used here for review purposes only.)

Not based on anime or manga, from what I can tell, but as a horror movie it looks pretty creepy anyway. Kodomo Tsukai translates to "Child User," but the English release title is Innocent Curse. Some abused children that went missing return, and three days later their abusers die mysteriously. A newspaper reporter investigates the deaths while his girlfriend gets too close to one of the children (from the IMDb listing).



Spooky, babies, spooky.

Friday, July 28, 2017

Shrine Event




There's a small shrine in front of some kind of association building. Apparently, there was a ceremony dedicated to the shrine one week. The name on the lanterns is the name of the shrine.



A couple days later, the lanterns and ropes were gone again.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Scary Pachinko Advertising




Even pachinko machines turn dark during the summer. On the other hand, this poster was replaced with one more light and airy looking a couple days after I took the photo.

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Tokyo Ghoul Movie Board




There's a live action movie version out of the Tokyo Ghoul manga.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Gusto and Conan




The family restaurant chain Gusto has teamed up with the Boy Detective Conan TV anime to get you to complete their "puzzle prize challenge campaign." I've eaten at Gusto before, and the food is like a low-end Denny's in the U.S. I'm not interested in spending the money to find out what the challenge is here. But, according to the website, you have to get a card and enter the secret code from it into the webpage entry form.

Monday, July 24, 2017

Ogionsa 2017, July 23




The main parade runs on Sunday, with the first group of shrine carriers being introduced at 11:30 AM and starting out on the route along Streetcar Street in Tenmonkan. I didn't get to sleep Saturday night until 2:30 AM, and didn't get up until 11:30 AM. Meaning that I didn't get to Ogionsa until about 1 PM. However, the event consists of people carrying shrines from the west end of Tenmonkan down to Izuro street, pausing in front of a review stand with some politicians that nod solemnly at each group one at a time, and then turning north to go a few blocks in the direction of City Hall, and then back. In with the shrines there are groups carrying tall poles with umbrellas at the top, wagons with musicians or dignitaries, a horse and rider, a tengu, and a couple taiko groups. Every year it's the same, so it's not really necessary to hang around and watch the entire thing from beginning to end (the streets clear to allow cars to drive through again at 3 PM) unless you know someone in the parade.



The tengu.



The horse and rider. The parade had stopped for a break as the above taiko group played, and the horse's handlers gave him water to drink, and splashed him down with to keep him cool.



One of the pole carriers.



The children's musicians wagon as featured in Central Park yesterday.





The local dignitaries.





And the centerpiece of Ogionsa, "Hime-sama" (the Princess).



The temps are were in the low 90's, and those heavy kimonos are not pleasant to sit in. One of the retainers stood beside the cart and fanned the two women all the time, and I had to take 10 photos before I got one in which the fan wasn't in the way.



And, one of the bigger shrines.





I've recorded past Ogionsas before, and there wasn't anything really new enough to justify shooting more video this time. Except for Drum Team Iki, pictured here. They were the closing act before the streets opened to through traffic. I've seen them before, too, but this was one of the better opportunities to record them, so I did.

I didn't go back to Central Park, although in retrospect I should have, just to see if the stage was still set up from the day before. Instead, I went back home to get out of the heat. There were fireworks at 6 PM to indicate the festivities were over, so maybe there was still something going on at the park. As it was, I was happy to be indoors again.

It was fun seeing Ogionsa again this year, and there did seem to be a few more performers than last year, although there were almost no street vendors, and the crowds were at least half the size they were when I first came to Kagoshima. Next up is Obon Yasumi, the 1 week holiday period when people go back to their family home towns to pay respects to their dead ancestors, the second week of August. And there should be a big fireworks display at the end of August down at Dolphin Port. But, no other festivals until Ohara in November.

Otherwise, a quiet weekend.

Direct youtube link

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Ogionsa 2017, July 22




Ogionsa is the 2-day portable shrine parade matsuri held towards the end of July (this last weekend). It's a fairly short event at the best of times, and last year it had maybe half of the participants as it had the year before. So, I was kind of concerned about what the turn out would be this time. I think the organizers may have had the same concerns, because they changed things up a bit. In the past, the first evening was dedicated to the shinto priests blessing the shrines and the shrine carriers within Tenmonkan shopping district, and there would be very little else going on.



This year, the Saturday portion was moved to Central Park 2 blocks away, with the addition of a viewing opportunity for some of the smaller shrines, and the big wagons used for carrying some of the musicians and the main guests of honor.



One of which wagons was already pre-occupied.





There were a number of activities for families and children, including an old-style pinball board, and this game of luck where you pay to pull a string at random, and you win whatever is attached to the other end.



The shrine carrier teams did set up around Tenmonkan in advance to let passersby watch them warm up.



And for parents to give their smaller children to the lead shrine rider to bless them in front of the crowd.



While the side events started in Central Park at about 3 PM, the main stage show was scheduled between 5 PM and 8:30 PM. I had to work Saturday, but I did have a break from 4 to 6 PM. Unfortunately, I also had to do some shopping, so I could only catch about 20 minutes of the above Taiko group. I have seen them before, but they're still fun to watch. I only felt like recording one of their songs, though. The below video includes 2 songs from the group that played on Sunday. I was going to hang around longer, but the organizers scheduled a Hayato Kenshin, the masked mascot for Kagoshima City, stage play at 5:45. When the announcer began reading off her lines from a script "[pretend surprise] Ah, what is this? Who is this mysterious masked figure, could it be? Is it? Yes, it's Hayato Kenshin! [End pretend surprise]" I figured I had better things to do. The least she could had done was memorize her lines in advance. Sigh. Anyway, that was the end of the excitement for Day 1.

Direct youtube link

Saturday, July 22, 2017

One Piece - Greeen


(All rights belong to their owners. Images used here for review purposes only.)

Not exactly sure what this is about. The back side of the poster shows some One Piece-related activities and photo spots, and the front says that this is something happening at Tokyo Tower on the last Saturday of the month between April and December this year. I'm not in Tokyo, so I can't check this out, and there's nothing on Greeeen in English on the net.




Friday, July 21, 2017

The 7 Shakespeares, Non Sanz Droict, vol. 1



(All rights belong to their owners. Images used here for review purposes only.)

The 7 Shakespeares, Non Sanz Droict, by Harold Sakuishi, Grade: B
Given how big a splash the original 7 Shakespeares manga made, and the fact that Harold is the creator of Beck and Gorillaman, it's surprising to me that there's absolutely nothing on it in English.  The basic idea for the first series (2009-2011) is that what the world now knows as "William Shakespeare" was originally a 7-person team that worked together to create "Shakespeare's" plays. I haven't read that series. I was given a copy of the sequel, Non Sanz Droict (Big Comic Spirits, 2016-), (Shakespeare's family motto - "not without right") and that's why I know anything about this title at all.


(Lance always puts his back into his tasks, and loves raising face plants.)

We have Lance Carter, Milu and Lee riding in a carriage from Liverpool to London in 1588. The coach gets stuck in a muddy rut, and the diminutive Milu and the gung-ho Lance push it out of the mud simply because Lance can't wait anther hour to meet his destiny. Inside the coach is Lee, a weak young woman bundled up in blankets. They reach London, where Lance's friend, Worth Hughes, has purchased a house at the outskirts. Milu acts as cook and housekeeper, while Lance drags Worth to one of the bigger, newer theaters to watch a stage play. Lance has written his next work, Odette, and he attempts to approach the theater's owner to get him to read the manuscript. The problem is, the owner gets several scripts a day from would-be playwrights and other country bumpkins, and he's not interested. Lance interrupts the guy's romp with a girlfriend to blackmail him into reading Odetto. Unfortunately, he hates it and sets it on fire with a candle. The current star writer in London is Christopher Marlowe, and the theater owners are all focused on his latest hit, The Jew of Malta. Lance's play doesn't even come remotely close to being at the same level.


(Everyone's a critic. No, really, they all are.)

Lance refuses to give up, as he goes to every single theater in the city, even the worst dumps, and gets rejected from all of them. He then focuses on studying The Jew of Malta to figure what he's doing wrong. At the same time, he makes the acquaintance of Thomas Soap, a disfigured door to door book seller who used to attend Cambridge, and has memorized many of the books from its library. He's a walking encyclopedia, and he ends up telling Lance about an older Italian story that no one has turned into a play in English, yet. Lance decides to adapt the Italian story, which also features an underhanded Jewish moneylender. But, between him and Lee, the moneylender becomes more human than Marlowe's rendition (Lee writes his big "do we not bleed" speech), and Lance changes the title naming pattern to The Merchant of Venice.


(The crowd loves Marlowe.)

Along the way, Lance finds a wishing fountain and tosses in a coin to pray for success in London, only to have a young boy, Cain, wade into the pool to scoop out all the change to use for buying alcohol for his father. The guy's a mean drunk, and the boy is hoping to protect his mother, Ann, from one of his rages if he doesn't have something to drink in the evening. Lance gives him a bigger coin as a gift so he doesn't have to resort to stealing from the fountain. Ann finds the boy, and she's got bruises on her face. The air is cold and she's under-dressed. Lance gives her his mantle (actually it's Worth's) to keep her warm, which turns out to be a very bad move. When Ann gets home, her husband goes into a rage, accusing her of cheating on him, selling her body in return for nice clothes. He smashes her up really badly, then threatens to kill her when he gets back from the latrine. Cain grabs his mother's arm and drags her out of the house and to Lance's mansion. Lance gladly accepts both of them, to Worth's horror (they're burning through money and his one attempt to find a job from a friend was a failure because the friend had just lost all his money when the ship that had his cargo on it sunk in a storm).


(We finally get to see Lee's brand.)

The volume ends with Lance fixating on starting his own theater, where he can stage Merchant of Venice himself. His crew consists of: Lance, the playwright. Lee, a mysterious Chinese woman in ill-health and with an "x" branded on her throat, who may end up laying Portia, and is Lance's co-writer. Worth, a London dandy that keeps claiming to not understand anything about theater, but he is good-looking and is a charismatic narrator. Milu, the midget housekeeper that has a dramatic streak a mile wide and is dying to play the part of Shylock. Cain, the street urchin might be the one handling door duties and hanging out fliers. Thomas Soap, the bookseller that Lance is using as source material and is not currently an official part of the troupe. And Ann, the abused housewife; she's inept and clumsy, bad at housework, cooking and bringing food to the table, but she turns out to be a heaven-blessed lute player.



Summary: The artwork is very good, and the character designs are solid and consistent. It's just that the idea of turning a one-man historic figure into a 7-person ensemble cast is a very Japanese concept of a subservient team working for the good of the group, versus the western importance of strong individualism. I'm having a lot of trouble buying into the concept. But, I do like the historical realism feel of the buildings and theater designs. If you like 1500's England, and don't mind people messing with Shakespeare's legend, then I recommend Non Sanz Droict.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Tatami Busters




I found this old Ghost Busters artwork on the closed shutters of a tatami shop recently. I've been in this area before, but never when the shop was closed for the day. I have no idea what it has to do with tatami, though...

Who you gonna call?
There's no phone number anywhere.


Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Sea Breeze Promo Event




Sea Breeze, the body fragrances company, had an advertising campaign in the open space in Tenmonkan in front of the Lotteria burger shop, on July 15. To be fair, the event wasn't supposed to start until 2 PM, and I got there at 1:30. But still, it's pretty vacant.





What do you do when you announce you want to sell over-priced body care products and no one shows up?

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

TSOJ enters year 10


When I first sat down to start writing up this entry, on the occasion of TSOJ wrapping up another year in Japan, I was thinking that there really wasn't much to mention this time. Yes, I did have a great trip to Wisconsin to visit family for a few weeks in August. And yeah, there was that kidney stone in November, plus having to spend a night in the hospital after having a polyp removed. Then we had great, though, sporadic live music events, culminating in the Ohara dance fest, the Kagoshima Music Fest and Rokugatsu-gou. I haven't been as active making things this year, though, and Gakken has been pretty much dead as far as new science kits releases go. I've been reading some good science and math books in English, including one on the Riemann Hypothesis, Martin Gardner's Colossal Book of Mathematics, and Simon Singh's 1999 The Code Book. But, not so much for manga. Mainly just the latest C.M.B. and Q.E.D. iff volumes, and one volume each of Area 51 and Ajin. I missed most of the Ohara matsuri, and Ogionsa was practically deserted last year (this year's Ogionsa won't be until July 27th).

Otherwise, I've been pretty much keeping busy with keeping busy. Oh, and um, I tried running webcomicsinterviews.com for 6 months, but I never got the reader interest from that that I wanted, so it's on hiatus now. And, we got a 5.0 earthquake in Kagoshima the morning I began writing this entry. That was rather scary, but it didn't cause any serious damage to any of the buildings in the city.

Now, we get to see what year 10 brings.

Monday, July 17, 2017

Rokugatsu-tou, July 16, 2017




Day 2 was pretty much like day 1, except that the event stage didn't have any professional acts (except maybe for YOKO at 6:45 PM, who I missed) this time. I had an early dinner at home, then left to visit Terukuni shrine at 7 PM. I did record a few of the acts, but mainly for my own personal video collection, because they were either a little too amateurish, or used copyrighted material; regardless, most of the videos wouldn't survive on youtube. The exceptions were the below folk dance, and the taiko group. One thing I did differently, though, was to sit through all of the performances to figure out what exactly is going on. What I finally figured out is that in general we have cultural schools, or dance groups, that perform for 3 or 4 songs each, but that usually there are smaller teams within those schools that are on stage for one song each. Above, you can see the announcement board for Tago Ryuu (Tago may be a city name, ryuu = school). the performer is doing a slow traditional dance for "Rikishi Taiko" (Sumo drum).



The Ka Fura Oka Aina hula group.



Yamabuki Kai (kai = association) doing storytelling dances. 1) Muhoumatsu no Isshou (The Life of the Lawless Pine). There's a big write-up of this play in Japanese on wikipedia, but not in English.



Yamabuki-kai 2) Suika (Drunk song). The woman is portraying a dandy who has a night out on the town drinking sake.



Yamabuki-kai 3) Ryuten no Hatoba (The Life on the Wharf).



Rokudou Ryuu 3) Kagoshima Hitomawari (To go around Kagoshima). Traditional style slow dance.



Actor's Factory. This one needs a bit of an explanation. The group consisted of three school kids, the female lead singer and two brothers doing hip hop dancing in the background for all 3 songs. The second song, pictured here, was a solo - Kokoro no Hana wo Sakaseyou (The Flower of My Heart is Blooming). The hip hop dancing was marginal, and the songs were copyrighted covers.



NPO Organization Ranranran doing flamenco dances.






Yamada Jazz Dance School. Again, copyrighted music, one of which was Nickelback's "Burn it to the Ground," which I think the same group also did last year.

And yet one more festival that finished way too quickly. Sigh. Next up, Ogionsa, at the end of July.

Direct youtube link for part 1


Direct youtube link for part 2