Behind The Nihon Review » zzeroparticle

Entrepreneurship in Oji-san no Lamp

zzeroparticle — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:00:51 +0000

Though now a byword in the world of startup companies, the term “disruptive innovation” only began to take off around 1995 when business professor Clayton Christensen outlined the idea in his book Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave and extended it in The Innovator’s Dilemma. In a nutshell, disruptive innovation is a product or service that upends existing business models by presenting approaches that are far simpler and more efficient. One need not look too far to find examples like eBooks and the self-publishing platforms that have accompanied them displacing traditional publishers and booksellers or devices like mp3 players which have replaced CD players. In competitive markets, the rise of a new product or service often comes at the expense of an old one. That is what progress is all about and entrepreneurs are the ones who typically push at the edges of the status quo in search of the “next big thing” that will make them rich while (hopefully) pushing innovation forwards.

With that in mind, I can think of few other anime that show this process at work. In the midst of what was probably the heaviest business-oriented anime season with shows like C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control (finance) and Moshidora (general management) airing, Oji-san no Lamp, released as part of the Young Animator Training Project, relayed a simple story about a young entrepreneur named Minosuke, who saw an opportunity and seized it. The premise it carried was intriguing and I came into Oji-san no Lamp with the hope that it would be able to capture the freewheeling spirit of enterprise. Spoiler warnings ahoy!

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Entrepreneurial Drive in Kuragehime

zzeroparticle — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 06:00:46 +0000

Weird? Yes. Passionate? Definitely. Success is within his grasp!

A lot of the focus on Kuragehime lies in its overarching plot, romance, and comedy. The quirks that define the characters don’t get nearly as much attention for good reason: the producers didn’t flesh them out fully, and so, many of them are little more than caricatures that are, unfortunately, left unexplored.

But imagine what would happen if they did! I have this crazy notion that Kuragehime isn’t primarily about the struggle to defend Amamizu-kan from developers nor is it about the blossoming romances. Kuragehime is all about entrepreneurial success. This hopeful message isn’t quite so apparent in the beginning, but towards the end, it becomes clearer and clearer until it’s almost blinding. By using the quirky characters as a medium to communicate to us, the show declares that regardless of what crazy passions we may have, we can all succeed by pursuing those passions to the very end.

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Seeking Happiness and Loving What You Do – Nodame Sure is Subversive

zzeroparticle — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:59:08 +0000

Subversive, certainly. And I can sympathize with her.

(Minor spoilers to follow of Nodame Cantabile ~Finale~.)

She had it all: her performance of Chopin’s 1st Piano Concerto was greeted with fanfare and was broadcast across the globe, reaching and touching the hearts of many classical aficionados. Fame! Prestige! Honors! They were all within her grasp! Yet, when it was over, Nodame, wasn’t elated; rather, that performance set off within her a deep funk, one that took a bit of traveling around to shake off. And even then, it wasn’t completely over by the time she returned to Paris.(...)
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Zzeroparticle’s List of 20 Noteworthy Anime Titles

zzeroparticle — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:18:48 +0000

That period between Christmas and New Year’s always leaves me in a sort of limbo, where the future is just about there, but not quite, and the past still needs to be nudged on a bit further until it can finally be called the past. Because of that, there’s never really a whole lot to do, making it an excellent time to simply sit back and reflect. The imminent arrival of a new decade means that we look back a bit further than we normally would. After all, 10 years is a long section of road upon which one travels through life, and provided that you didn’t get carsick for most of the journey, there should be some rich memories that you’ll probably want to look back upon and cherish.

Hence, this series of “decade’s” posts by The Nihon Review Staff. If there’s one commonality that links us, it’s that this past decade saw our interest in the medium surge as we began viewing not only the classics of old, but following the shows currently airing in Japan. And despite the deluge of anime we’ve seen, there are those that have made such a deep impression upon us that we cannot forget them.

So in following the footsteps blazed by gaguri, and wishing to join those who have put their thoughts forward, I present you my list of twenty titles that made an impact upon me in this past decade. TV shows tend to leave a stronger image in my mind, so I opted to focus on those. So with that, here’s my list. Dramatic execution demands that I start from the bottom and build up towards the top to create suspense. I’ve always hated that, and so, I’ll start from the top and work my way down. It’s always seemed more natural that way.

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Post tags: Aria The Animation, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gankutsuou, Gunslinger Girl, Honey and Clover, Kino’s Journey, Monster, Mushishi, Nodame Cantabile, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

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