American viewers will either Love...or Hate the new X Men Anime

Hey everyone!
 

     I'm breaking my "I'm too busy with work and graduate school to write on my blog" silence with a post about the new X Men Anime on Japan's Animax Satellite Network. I managed to get a hold on the first episode that just premeired on April 1st and tried to give it a watch with as open a mind as possible. Why do I need an open mind for this? Well, let me explain.

    I've been an X Men fan since I was about six or seven years old. I started watching the 90s cartoon and reading the comics when I was very young, and my subsequent love of comics and geeky things probably directly stemmed from my early watching of X Men (along with heavy influence from Star Wars and the Power Rangers, of course!).

Jim Lee art. Yay!

      Since I really care about the characters, I knew it would be really important to go into this with an open mind, because I suspected they would really take regional liberties with the characters to make them more appealing in the Japanese market. Honestly, I couldn't have been more spot on with my guess. It's a decent conversion to anime, but lovers of the original comic and characters (especially those who don't like anime) will probably want to steer clear of this series. I'm thinking G4 television may want to re-consider their decision to bring the series over later this year if enough people catch wind of just how regionalized the series is. Honestly, I don't think the US ratings would be that good.

Here's why:

 DETAILED SPOILERS BELOW!!!


     The episode opens with your fairly typical anime scene of gripping action and excitement. Brilliant colors and sharp stylization that are charactaristic of any anime are extremely apparent. The screen pans up and across the faces of our newly anime-ized X Men....and wolverine looks like a complete psycho, might I add. He looks a little too strange and different from the Logan I prefer...but it works for this series. The women have shining eyes and HUGE breasts - again, this is no different from what you'd expect in any anime (and to be fair, Jim Lee had em drawn pretty big back in the day as well, so this is not really a "change" persay).

 yeah....I just don't know what to say...It's alright I guess...

     Pan further up and there's Jean Grey turned into The Phoenix and ready to explode everything in her path. She starts flinging objects at our heroes and Wolverine slices through a big chunk of rock - so far pretty typical showcasing of the X Men Powers, but with that slightly shiny "glow around the edges" that you see in many action anime series.

 GLOWING!!!

     Professor X fails to make contact with Jean, and explains that this must be the work of Mastermind. Scott, who loves Jean in any universe, jumps in to risk his life in an attempt to save her. Here's where we have the first really obvious sign of Japanese influence. The scene cuts to the clouds, where an "innocent" Jean pleads with Scott to kill her before she hurts anyone else. Here we see the inner innocence of Jean, which is a common element associated with blue sky and clouds in anime. As expected, it's too late to save her, and Scott must suffer as he watches his love be torn away from him. I can't help but laugh during this scene because Cyclops looks like a pretty-boy, muscly, Japanese-cool-guy who is suffering. His shiny hair flicks back as he cries out, "I LOVE YOU!"

 I've seen this "pretty boy" look somewhere before....

     Okay, so here is where I've probably lost any of you that don't love anime, and to be honest, I totally understand why you wouldn't be crazy about this. It's very much the kind of show that will do well in Japan...which means sometimes it won't do extremely well with the masses in the US. The dialogue is especially rough for those who wouldn't be used to Japanese speech styles. (It's fun to translate from a "learning Japanese point of view," but fans will miss certain things that you'd get from a US X Men cartoon series). Familiar phrases and coined trademarks of the X Men franchise will not be found in these scripts, because they need to be understandable in a way that makes them accessible to the Japanese audience - AKA: their slang, not our slang. No "Hey Bub" from Wolverine. Admittedly though, they do make him snarky in a kind of fun, Japanese way.

     As we continue on through the episode, characters are introduced in a jumbly and kind of poor manner. This is something I always complain about when I watch the first couple of episodes of an anime, so I'm going to give the show a few more chances to prove itself. Beast is thus far my favorite in the show. He teaches a squid to communicate with humans..and it's kind of neat.
     The does have some pretty cool action sequences, and the plot shows promise as they begin to talk about "mutant hunting" but I have to admit I'm a bit skeptical about the outlook of this show. Come on Madhouse Animation! Don't let me down!

     For more info, stay tuned. I'll be watching each week as more episodes are released.

Signing out for now,
 Lady Lara Jones.

Insert excuse for not writing on my blog -here-

It has been far, far too long. If you're reading this, then you have more faith in me than I do right now. Although it seems entirely impossible to me now, I suffered from serious writer's block during my last six months in Japan. I spent so much time trying to figure out what it meant to me and where I was going in my life that I was actually incapable of producing any sort of meaningful prose.
 And now I'm back in the States...adjusting to life back home, trying to figure out what it all means...suffering from writer's block.
 What IS the deal with that? This, undoubtedly, has been the longest stretch in my life where I am not writing some form of narrative to piece together the insanity that has been life. If I'm not waxing philisophic about something then what the hell have I been doing lately.
 The answer, I suppose, is pursuing a graduate degree I only care about on paper, and working my butt off to pay the bills.
 But the truth...is that I want to really write again. It's something I miss and realize that it really means something to me.
 So here's to re-beginning this blog....for real this time.
 - Lady Jones

Wow, Where did the time go?

Prepare for another "I'm sorry I haven't written in a long time..."

 Seriously, through, Grad. School has been sucking all my free time away and I just got a two week vacation before diving back in again. I'm hoping to get some posts up about Kamakura, and some other fun stuff we've done on our vacation.

 In other news, Brian and I just beat Scott Pilgrim the Video Game on the PS3. It is a seriously awesome game. References abound and game play styles from all the best classic games. My personal favorite references are in the last level as they remind me of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade, a game I absolutely love. Was going to publish a full walk-through with cheats and secrets (as we somehow managed to find pretty much everything on our own with the exception of one annoying set of codes nobody was going to figure out on their own), but I guess I'll wait a bit until the game's been out longer. Don't want to just publish all the spoilers right away!

Our stats before we beat the final level / three part boss.

 Anyways, thanks for sticking around, and look for more youtube uploads on the videos page as well.
 I'll try to get a bunch of posts up in one go tomorrow and in the meantime, enjoy the new videos.
 Lady Jones

In retrospect...Sleep, The Oil Spill and the Start of E3 2010

     If I had taken some more time yesterday to think about how much I would have needed a full night's sleep today, perhaps I would have gone to bed at a more reasonable hour. But alas, I stayed up watching episodes of The Daily Show from last week until about 2 AM and then had to somehow force myself into existence this morning. It was tough, and I've decided that Jon Stewart is not the person I should be watching when I'm trying to fall asleep. You see, I tend to get pretty charged about what's going on in the US and especially now that I'm living in Japan I sometimes find myself feeling a sense of "What ARE they doing over there, anyways?" (and I hope you catch my meaning there.)

     Aaaaaand right now there is a big oil spill that makes me want to fly down to the gulf just so I can kick some BP executive in the face. Don't worry, I won't get overly political on this blog, as promised long ago, but I will tell you that the environment is where I draw the line here....What the hell is going on down there, anyways? I hear the oil has moved as far north as offshore Maine??!?!? REALLY? Didn't we send some people to the moon once? Don't we possess enough firepower and technology to blow the earth up like fifty times? Aren't there TALKING ROBOTS that function on creepy levels of artificial intelligence? We...can't plug a hole? Um.....I think something might be wrong here.

 Just sayin'....
 We can do THIS:


But not fix THIS:


I hope everybody is just as pissed off as I am about this whole oil spill business...

I was just thinking to myself, "You know, I used to be able to pull this all-nighter sh*t off without any effort at all!"

     In undergraduate college, I would merely drink a big cup of coffee after three hours of sleep (or, an all nighter, on many occasions) and I would perform as usual throughout my day. Now, just two years after graduating, I'm already a total wuss when it comes to staying up late and getting up the next morning for work. It's a little frustrating, because I used to depend on the occasional all-nighter for catching up on some serious boosts of creative writing, photo-editing and other useful endeavors. It figures that I also tend to get my best inspiration in the latest hours of the day (or earliest hours, depending on how you look at it).

     Now, in my Masters Degree Program, I find it nearly impossible to utilize the all-nighter to my benefit. It just turns me into a total zombie the next day. Even when I do my best to hide it, the three-year-olds in my International Kindergarten look at me as though I've not slept in a week and say, "Jessie tired?" Why, yes, in fact...Jessie...very...tired.

     After finally pulling myself into full consciousness (around 10 AM or so during the presentation of my English class as I decided I would force myself to be overly genki...which tends to have the effect of forcing you to be awake) I continued my day as usual and tried not to look at the clock as I subconsciously prayed for 2:30 to arrive. When it did, I slumped my way back to the train station and took a wonderful nap on the way home while listening to Coldplay on my IPOD. AND wouldn't it figure, that now that I'm home and relaxing in PJs I'm not tired enough to fall asleep! Go me.

     At least I have a lot to think about today! This summer session is almost over, meaning I get to have a new class and a new schedule. ALSO: It's E3 right now! Yaaaaay!

 Here are some of the awesome trailers that have come out in the past 48 hours:


Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the Game looks absolutely amazing. River City Ransom-esque, beat-em-up, (and do I see a hint of Guitar Hero in there?) combines with the wonderfully designed sprites and environments that will undoubtedly make this PS3 Exclusive pretty frickin' sweet. Bet you wish you had bought a PS3 when everyone told you too! (*cough, cough...* you know who you are!)


 














The other trailer I want to show you is Lego Harry Potter. Why? Well, because I love Harry Potter and I love Lego....and here they are blended into a cute, fun game that is going to be well worth my 30 dollars. I know that not everyone gets into these games, but I really suggest giving them a chance. Sure they can be glitchy and they're not really super challenging - but that's not what these games are about. They're lighthearted, fun (FUN! Games can just be FUN sometimes you know!) games that give you something new to enjoy with your favorite characters and stories. I really enjoyed Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones was OK too. I'm just saying, if you're only NOT playing them because you're worried you're going to be scoffed at when you bring the game to the counter...do yourself a favor and give it a try. 

 I once had a pretty heated argument at my video game peddling job at The-Chain-Of-Evil-with-initial-G.S.with somebody about Lego Star Wars. The man in question was an avid first-person-shooter who liked to drink copious amounts of alchohol and shoot nooblets in game merely because "They signed onto XBOX Live for the first time and therefore they must be destroyed....." Now, I will admit to you that I really enjoy a good Halo match from time to time. In fact, I will proudly brandish my pink armor and have a hell of a good time of it....but if there is one thing I cannot stand it is gamers who take all the fun out of the online scenario. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, you swearing, smack-talking, played-way-too-many hours of this game so you're going to make sure everybody in-game knows it....jerks. Why can't we just have a good old fashioned, kill-tacular good time in the Halo Universe? Do you have to go around making us mute you and then go after you out of frustration? I mean, really? 

 How did the argument end? It ended with me deciding he wasn't worth gaming with....ever...
 It also made it comical when he attempted to pass his phone number to me over the counter even after I had argued with him for about twenty minutes about the merits of "fun games."



 (Note about this video: Does anybody else think that Game Announcers (especially on trailers like the one above and G4) sound like they are trying WAAAY to hard to sound excited about the games they are promoting? Sometimes I feel like the fake-ness in their voices is oozing out of my laptop.)

 There are a lot of other games getting attention, of course. I just don't feel the need to give props to them because they're already going to sell like crazy no matter what anybody says. Games like Fallout, New Vegas; Dead Space 2, Killzone 3, Test Drive Unlimited 2, Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2 (I'll be honest here, I'm not really looking forward to Force Unleashed 2...wasn't all that impressed with the first one after playing it once and realizing there wasn't enough there to hold that game up.) What I AM psyched for out of the guaranteed-to-sell-like-mad list are Portal 2, Little Big Planet 2, the next Zelda title, and Star Wars Old Republic. 

 Oh, where are you, Star Wars Old Republic? You premiered at last year's E3. But I'm patient...because I know you will kick some serious ass! You will be the massive multi-player that will undoubtedly suck in my soul for good this time... W.O.W. failed where you will probably succeed in taking away any free time I have left in my life. I approve Bioware. I full approve of what you are doing with this game, and that's saying a lot, because I usually don't really like anything involved with the Prequels time-line.


Well, I think that's enough for now.
See you around the Galaxy!
Lady Jones

"On Becoming Japanese" - thoughts and reflection.

 A fantastic series of videos ensued a couple of months back on the topic of "Becoming Japanese." They spread like wildfire across the youtube scene and culminated in an eruption of opinions, feelings and insight that was probably quite confusing to anyone who didn't know where it was all coming from. I felt quite luckily to have first stumbled across this whole situation through Gakuranman's Website in which he wrote a quick article that features some of the key videos as they were posted in a neat little time line blog post. Before you read my thoughts, I ask that you give Gakuranman's post a look and try to watch at least most of the videos in that time line.

 Thanks! See you in like 30 minutes....If you're too busy to spare the time right now I apologize. I know the videos are quite long but they are also very insightful and I feel they're worth the time it takes to watch them all.

Welcome back!
 So, here is the response I have to all of this:

 Admittedly I am a relative newcomer to Japan, and have only been here just under a year if I add up my various visits plus recent (more permanent, career based) move to Tokyo, but I feel like I'm starting to see some of the cultural layers peel away in my daily interactions with others - particularly through daily life at my work and graduate school. As an anthropologist, I try really hard to listen to everyone's feelings about identity, home, culture and place, and then form somewhat of an understanding about the cultures and subcultures around me... but this is something that any anthro student or professional is told can and will take YEARS to come together for you. Since I have some years to spare, I'm trying to be patient and just let the big picture come together over time. I don't want to become Japanese - but I do enjoy living among Japanese people and making a positive difference in the community around me (I'm okay with participating in things like trash cleanup days and I think it's helped me to be at least recognized as a positive part of the community).

I have to say, Hikosaemon's account on being Japanese and whether or not that is a desirable goal really has a lot for people to think about and really digest intellectually (and I've been thinking about it for the past few days). Honestly, I think he had a lot of really helpful things to say, and I tend to agree that keeping my identity as my own, rather than forcing new definitions or restrictions around it constantly, is something that is very important to me. Observing the general social code is of course important when living in another country and usually makes things a lot easier for you and those around you, but your identity is something you always have control over. If you are a generally unhappy person where you are living now and you want to come to Japan thinking that will make you happy - it probably won't work out (another J Video Blogger has said this as well).

 I get a lot of emails from people who want to move to Japan because they love what they've learned about Japanese Culture and have formed this very defined picture of Japan in their heads...(I think this happens to everyone to some extent. Even I admit to having some defined notions before I came! I wanted sooo much to live in Japan and see what it would be like!) but I try to remind them that at the end of the day we're all just human - eating, working, sleeping and living in the space around us for better or for worse, AND that what many of the Japanese Video Bloggers have been saying is quite true (I'm paraphrasing here but you get the idea) "Everyone who comes to Japan will have a different experience."

 It's wonderful to travel and experience new cultures and ideas, but remembering who you are and why its special for everyone to have their own sense of identity, culture and happiness in life is quite important. That's what I honestly feel. Maybe it's because I've been thinking a lot lately about who I am and why I've come to Japan, but I've really changed my overall feelings about living here and it's definitely been for the better. I'm a lot happier lately with who I am and all the things I'm doing in my life and I think that's what's important for me right now in my life.

 In other news, I was shopping in my local grocery today when I heard NSYNC playing on the radio. As I thought I was about to hear the lyrics to "Larger Than Life" I was instead surprised to hear a Key-tar (that's an instrumental keyboard that sounds like a really cheesy guitar) replacing all the singing! I swear...I laughed so hard I nearly dropped the pastry I was carrying and I think everyone around me thought I was nuts when I was trying to quell my giggles...
 Enough blogging for now, I'm supposed to be writing a paper about different kinds of English teaching syllabi in a second language context! Phew, that's a mouthful even when it's typed!
 Lady Jones