Edshugeo The GodMoor

Warning - It's fucking disgusting! Can't wait to see it.




Hat tip: Kaiju Shakedown

Labels: Anticipay-yay-shun..., japanese, movies, youtube and other video

Labels: Awesome, fun, japanese, movies, youtube

In a discussion about Marvel and Del Ray producing imitation manga featuring the X-Men and Wolverine comes this quote (which comes from a previous story) from C.B. Cebulksi:

...OEL is not manga. It is manga influenced. If we want to split hairs, in my opinion "OEL Manga" is actually an oxymoron. (Aside from the three or four original manga stories produced by Japanese artists for the non-Japanese market...) I'm going to spoil one of my points in an upcoming interview here, but I think it's important I point out that, despite how much people like to say ""Manga" is Japanese for comics.", it's not! "Komikusu" (the transliteration of "comics") is Japanese for comics. There's a big difference. I've had this conversation a thousand times and argued both sides, from the American and Japanese POV, but the simple fact is, if you ask any Japanese manga reader, writer, artist, editor or publisher, the term "manga" is Japanese for "Japanese comic". Plain and simple. Trust me, the Japanese are very specific in their comic terminology. Manga means Japanese comic. AmeComi is American Comic. BeDe or Bande Desinee is for anything produced in Europe. Manwha is Korean. Manhua is Chinese. And so on.... They're sticklers for their labels. Now I've spoken with editors at many of the major Japanese publishers, and at lots of the smaller ones too. They all agree on one thing; this "OEL" boom they hear about coming from the States is a marketing ploy. They don't appreciate it being branded as "manga". So much so that (and I don't want to piss off other fellow comic creators here any more than I already have), the Japanese already have a term for it. What we call "OEL", they're calling "Nissei Comi", which can be translated to mean "second generation" or "fake" comics. Look, agree or diasgree, I'm just stating facts here. Offering up a side of the discussion most people don't get to hear. Yes, this will rock the boat a bit and I know that, but I'm just trying to give another perspective on the discussion. Manga is purely Japanese and that's just how it is.

from Newsarama.com

I've never actually heard the two words spoken, but it would seem to me that Manwha and Manhua would sound identical when spoken. No?

Labels: comics, japanese, Truth

Lot's of Katsu Shintaro's famous blind swordsman (and masseuse), Zatoichi showing up on the Kung Fu HD Channel over the past couple of weeks or so, and for a little while longer. Seeing how often they repeat movies, I'll have some time to catch up. I usually catch a flick already in progress, but I've caught a few of these already and they're just great.
Katsu in this role is a lot like Peter Falk in Columbo; kinda clumsy and sloppy looking, but still cool, because unlike the characters around him, we know about the badass lurking beneath the surface.

The second film looks much better than it did on DVD, but that's because the dvd was downright crummy. I didn't check the first which I also have on disc. So far, all of the samurai flicks on this channel have used decent film transfers. Some of the kung fu movies as well, though some of the lower-lower budget stuff (Bruce Li, etc.) was obviously deemed unworthy of re-masters.

Labels: Awesome, HDTV, japanese, kung fu, movies, youtube

"Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left. This is how I roll with control - NES."

Hip Hop centered around Anime and video games? Why not, I guess. An article on Garage Spin pointed me to this cat named Maja (pronounced may-juh) who spins rhymes about that stuff. I've avoided listening to so-called "nerd-core" hip hop. Something about that whole scene rubs me the wrong way, and I'm not sure why, but I figured I'd check out his Transformer video on YouTube.

Hmm. Nicely done. Next was a performance of ANIME (アニメ見る時) in English and Japanese. Holy shit! Listen to this guy...



Next up, I listened to one or two tracks on his New School Hip Hop MySpace page and I was sold. First I checked to see if he was on eMusic. He wasn't, so I went ahead and ordered the CD. That was Thursday night, probably after 12. I got it on Saturday after paying for the cheapest shipping available. It was a shock to get it that quick, but then I realized it shipped from Brooklyn. Cool. The shipping, the NY sales tax and $3.00 handling fee brought the disc up to about $15.00, a little more than I would normally pay for a CD, on the rare occasion I buy them.

I've listened to it a coupl'a times now and I'm mightily impressed. Not that I listen to that much hip hop anymore, but it's nice to see somebody do something fresh with the genre every now and then.

I'll be absorbing this record for a little while. So far my favorite is UUDDLRL, though I'm much less a gaming fiend than I am an Anime one (and not as much as I used to be).

Maja's MySpace has 4 songs not on New School Hip Hop.

The Transformer Bundle is a free download including the complete version of Transformer (the track on the CD is acappella) and Here I come, which is different from the outro remix.

More Maja videos can be found here.

Labels: Anime, downloads, good deal, japanese, music, music video, video games, youtube

New Mexico Governer Bill Richardson has thrown his hat into the 2008 Presidential race, following Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

I vaguely remember Richardson from the Clinton years (ambassador to the UN), thinking he might have been this guy, Yan, on the TV series Let's Learn Japanese. I watched and taped it quite a bit, back in the early nineties (I think). So far I've not come across any information that indicates he's had a past life in acting, nor a proficiency in Japanese. We'll learn more about him as time moves on.

I don't have any favorites among the Democrats right now. My opinion that we have to win in Iraq, has me favoring Giuliani or McCain. There's still some doubt that they can make it through the primaries, being somewhat liberal as Republicans go. Should the Dems find themselves against the typical right-wing douche-bag, then I may cast my lot with them.

I think Obama's stronger anti-war position, while an advantage right now, could work against him, in the long run. Hillary is doing the strong critic thing, but seems to be giving herself some breathing room. She's smart enough to know that it's a year away from the primaries, and public opinion can change.

A reader at James Hudnall's blog remarks that after Hillary is finished attacking Obama, she'll recruit him for the Vice-Presidential position, which would probably help heal the damage to her standing in the Black "community" (done by her campaigning). However, should Barack get the nomination, it wouldn't help him to have her as his running mate, would it?

John Edward's association with John Kerry makes it difficult for me to take him seriously. I would like him to go away for a while.

Labels: japanese, politics, youtube

Why PSP comics? Because I'd rather read than play games, watch video, or listen to music when I'm on the bowl.

Do comics translate well to the PSP? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. There are some formatting issues, like the more panels per page the smaller the pictures. And small text can be difficult to read. This may give Manga an advantage, but I probably haven't read enough of any one style of comics to say for sure. I suspect that the skill of an artist as storyteller ultimately decides whether comics work in any format. Still, in general, the ideal is when a work is geared to it's intended format. The PSP is still young, so people are just beginning to take advantage of it's screen resolution, and no doubt, more portable widescreen devices are on their way.

I have some comicbook ideas on the backburner, one of which I've resolved to begin this year. It's likely that I'll utilise the PSP format which largely consists of single panels (though, not exclusively). Should a print version ever be necessary, it would be easier to arrange those into a multi-panel page arrangement than it would to create a traditional comicbook page and convert it to (an acceptable) PSP version.

So, what's out there? A crapload of stuff. Manga scanslations (unauthorized). Scans of traditional comics on usenet (unauthorized). Web comics of all sorts. And comics specifically for or adapted to the PSP.

What have you read, and how are they?

Barbarossa and the Lost Corsairs 1A and 1B - (dead links) Moslem pirate action on the high seas in the 1500's with a feminist on board. Obviously drawn for the printed page, the artwork is a little uneven. It's never bad. It just seems like the characters aren't always drawn by the same person. Barbarossa's features are nearly photo-realistic one moment and cartoonish the next. Not in the same way it happens in manga, occasionally.
The story isn't bad either, but I hate the dialog: "Let us make this a battle for the bards to sing of, Hakim! Even if your silent lips ne'er join the song!" There's a better way tell us that Hakim doesn't speak; Don't have him speak.
Also the tough female who goes out of her way to demonstrate that she's as tough as the rest of the guys is an annoying Hollywood cliche that I thought we'd gotten rid of when Americans got hip to Asian film and anime. Oh, well.
So, not too bad, but I won't be getting any more of these. The title hasn't been updated in more than half a year, so perhaps this and the following two titles from PSPCMX.com, were just meant to entice readers to buy the hard copy.

Legacy 1A and 1B - (dead links) Nicely drawn (except for the cover) pseudo-anime fantasy. I get the good versus evil bit, but otherwise, I don't really know what it's about, and I'm not interested in finding out. Drawn for the printed page.

Lions, Tigers and Bears 1A and 1B - (dead links) the title and the modern-Disney-esque artwork tells me that it's a kids story. I might normally pass on something like this, mostly because of the art, which is actually great, but screams out Disney-wanna-be. The Image logo on the cover doesn't help either, but I read it anyway. This is actually quite good and I wouldn't mind reading more of it. Also drawn for the printed page, but a good read. Even on the PSP.

NYC 2123: Dayender 1-4 - The cream of the crop of PSP comics. This is the way to do it! The story flows just like Rakim. Smooth. The art, excellent. Not to say everybody should draw like this artist. Just that this team has shown what can be done on this format (specifically for the PSP), while at the same time, are telling a compelling story that I'm eager to follow.

Querty and Nothing Left To Lose 1-3 (4&5 also available) - (dead links) Not crazy about either of these "indie" comics. Qwerty seems incomplete. I only read the first three chapters of Nothing Left To Lose, so I can't say if the download version of this story is self contained or not. Both were drawn for print.

MPD Psycho - I'm nearing the end of volume 7 of this great manga series about a grand conspiracy involving serial killer types and a fictional 1960s counter culture figure. There are ten available. Whether that completes the series or not, I don't know, yet. Drawn for print, but with a few exceptions, hardly suffers for it.

Not yet read...

Super Spy - formatted for the PSP and supposedly published on a weekly basis. There are four self-contained stories up, as of this writing (more now).

Zipper - not yet published, some rough sketches can be found on their blog. These will be PSP formatted.(?)

Freesia - manga scanslation. A possibly Libertarian fantasy, that takes place in a Japan where retaliatory killings are legal.

Marvel Comics - Marvel offers a handful of digital comics (more now), but it doesn't appear that they're meant to be portable. Fuck 'em. Don't need 'em. People do scan mainstream comics, however, and they can be found in a number of ways. Dunno if they're worth it, though. I buy the trades of whatever I find interesting.

Tons of online comics... - Lots of stuff out there to check out. If I find anything that's good and translates well to the PSP, I'll post it here.

Labels: broken promises, comics, downloads, good deal, japanese, possibilities for creative expression, PSP

Here's episode one of the 1970's Japanese Spiderman series that I've mentioned before. This one has occasionally jokey English subtitles that, while not funny, doesn't interrupt the fun of what you're seeing. If I'm doing this right, you'll be able to play it from this post. If not, click on the title above to go to the youtube.com page that hosts it.
Thanks to Kaiju Shakedown.

January 18th, 2008 - The original video was deleted, so I've instead embedded the opening credits above.

Labels: Awesome, comics, dead links, funny-ass shit, japanese, kung fu, tv, youtube

On march 7th, next year, according to Ultimate Disney (I found out via aint-it-cool-news). Better late than never. I have the Hong Kong DVD (region 3, I think). That's fine for me, but what about everybody else? This movie must be seen. And avoid the Fox release. While I think the dubbing's just fine, the image cropping is unforgivable. Wait for the 2-disc special edition. Also released on that day is Howl's Moving Castle, and Whisper Of The Heart, neither of which I've seen. While I'm waiting, I suppose I can catch up on some of the previous Ghibli releases not yet in my collection. These include favorites like Nausicaa In The Valley Of Wind, Our Neighbors The Yamadas, and Kiki's Delivery Service. Also worth getting is Porco Rosso.
And I still haven't seen Pom Poko.

Labels: Anime, Awesome, DVD, japanese, movies

Yes! The Japanese Spiderman. This series aired in 1978 around the same time as the American Spiderman TV series if I remember correctly. Not exactly a work of art, the show was infinitely more entertaining than it's U.S. counterpart, and I say this only having seen two episodes; the first and one that appeared to be the last. I'd seen a bunch of the version that aired on CBS and that was pure crap. The Japanese Spiderman at least looked like the comicbook character, though that's where the similarities ended. This show neither resembled the original comics nor the ones produced in Japan by Ryuichi Ikegami (better known for Crying Freeman and Sanctuary) for a short while.
The show gives him an origin that seems to based on The Mighty Thor (another Marvel comic from the early 60's), more than Spiderman. There are aliens from space, he finds some weird object in a cave and soon finds he has the ability to become Spiderman. From there it's all Power Ranger stuff. He fights a bunch of goons (all dressed the same), a guy comes out in a ridiculous rubber monster suit and when he has trouble with Spidey, the monster grows to about 50-60 feet. Spiderman knows it's time to bring out the big guns and summons his SpiderMachine, a Nascar type race car, which flies him to his Tranformer robot. From inside the robot, Spidey whips out this huge sword and kills the monster. With some variation, this is what happens with all these types of shows, except most Japanese superhero shows are team (Sentai) shows. There may be a little more to the plot, but I don't speak enough Japanese to know any better. Still, it's cooler than it sounds cuz it's Spiderman. I found this story via Anime News Service. Click here and scroll to the bottom for a Realplayer interview with Stan Lee about his impressions about the show... He seems to be reading from notes, towards the end.

Labels: Awesome, comics, DVD, fun, japanese

Labels: Anime, DVD, japanese, movies, nostalgia