Am I being exploited?

During my recent trip, I noticed that not much has changed in Japan since I came last summer, but one can see the commercialization of moe progressing rapidly. The new rage in Japan is what my friends and I have facetiously dubbed “life goods” (after Kyoto Animation’s booth at ‘ket, which sold K-On character “life sets”, featuring coasters, pillow covers and other such kitsch)— goods which have no real practical value such as the ones mentioned above. These life goods are part of a vast scheme of exploitation, which we typically consent to.

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Copyright © 2011 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: K-ON!, Lucky Star, Moexploitation, Moyashimon, Strike Witches, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, Working!!

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It’s December, the time when the anime blogosphere reflects on the year that’s been, so we can expect a swathe of “the year in review” articles coming soon. Our own “Year in Review” article will be published in the first few days of January (here’s last year’s for those unfamiliar to our yearly tradition), and it’ll be the sixth one we’ve done since the site started back in 2005. We’re in the initial stages of planning, making up our minds which anime we want to discuss, which we believe are representative of the year that’s been and which we think, individually, were the best of 2010. In between the usual banter and debate that goes on behind closed doors (:P) I’ve noticed a few trends that have already appeared in the titles likely to make our list. (Above image from oreno.imouto.org, yes, I was also surprised they had anything from The Tatami Galaxy.)

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 19 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Amagami SS, Angel Beats!, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Bakemonogatari, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Hidamari Sketch, Kobato, Kuragehime, Nodame Cantabile, Ookami Kakushi, Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai, Seikimatsu Occult Academy, Shiki, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, Strike Witches, Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei

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So, it’s that time of season, and we’re back with our second seasonal podcast, with episode 2 of The Nihon Revue. This time round, Shadowmage has joined me, and we’ve sat down and had a chat about a few titles we watched from the last season (and both basically decided it was a pretty crappy season). Here’s the line-up:

Highschool of the Dead: 1:09 (Minor spoilers)

Occult Academy: 7:53 (Moderate spoilers)

Strike Witches 2: 13:54 (No spoilers)

Kaichou wa Maid-sama: 16:49 (Minor spoilers)

Ookami-san: 20:49 (Minor spoilers)

Fall 2010 First Thoughts: 28:00

We’re still learning about podcasting (in fact, I don’t think this show was quite as “tight” as the last one, as the total runtime is 29:15), so feedback is welcome. Check it out below.

And here’s the download link as well.

Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: High School of the Dead, Kaichou wa Maid Sama, Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, Seikimatsu Occult Academy, Strike Witches, The Nihon Revue

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This season, we’re doing something a bit different with our seasonal First Thoughts article. A handful of our staff have contributed their impressions on the shows they’re following so far. It’s an intriguing season to date, but for mine, it isn’t nearly as promising as the others that have preceded it this year, and I’d say our initial thoughts on what we’ve seen from the first few weeks of the season reflect that. There have been a few interesting entries, particular those in the “horror” (using the term loosely here) genre, such as Highschool of the Dead, Occult Academy and, IMO, the most promising of all, Shiki, but for the most part, this has been as a season of blandness and disappointments. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time for a sleeper hit to emerge.
Introduction by: Sorrow-kun

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By NHRV Staff | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Amagami SS, Asobi ni Ikuyo!, Cat Shit One, High School of the Dead, Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Mitsudomoe, Nurarihyon no Mago, Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, Seikimatsu Occult Academy, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Shiki, Shukufuku no Campanella, Strike Witches

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This is what my face looked like when I first inspected my mic quality.

That’s right, kids— The Nihon Review now has a podcast! It’s called The Nihon Revue, and features the ever-so-charming Sorrow-kun and everyone’s least favorite blogger (yours truly) doing what The Nihon Review does best: reviewing anime.

For our pilot episode, we have for you five of last season’s hits. Most of these shows have finished only recently. Here’s the program:

Bakemonogatari: 0:30

Angel Beats!: 5:50

Senkou no Night Raid: 11:05

Working!!: 13:30

Arakawa Under the Bridge: 19:25

Total runtime is 27:40.

We realize that there were a lot of things we could have done better— this podcast is a work in progress. We’re hoping to put one of these out every season for everyone out there. Also, I definitely need a better microphone, but I’m currently abroad, so bear with me on that one. Thanks for supporting us, and enjoy:

Also, a download link if you so please.

Don’t forget to come join us down at #nhrv @ irc.rizon.net. We always welcome new faces, so drop on by.

Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Amagami SS, Angel Beats!, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Bakemonogatari, High School of the Dead, Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, Seikimatsu Occult Academy, Senko no Night Raid, Shiki, Strike Witches, The Nihon Revue, Working!!

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Is Time a better publication because it is more popular? Is Foreign Affairs a better publication because it is more academic? Does the question even matter?

Our pithy little blog, Behind the Nihon Review, was pitted against Random Curiosity, the mother of all episodic anime blogs, for the second round of the Aniblog Tourney. To nobody’s surprise, we lost. This post should not be viewed as an attempt to justify our failure in the tournament, nor should it be seen as an exercise in hateful finger pointing. I intend to do nothing of the sort.

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 31 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Aniblog Tourney, K-ON!, Lucky Star, Strike Witches, Yamakan

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Certainly, moé did not revolutionize the anime industry. The artistic beginnings of moé were not in this decade, or even the last. Like all artistic movements, it underwent periods of growth and development. What this decade did see, however, was the exploitation of moé. Instead of utilizing moé as a set of aesthetic choices, used to bolster, reinforce and beautify a work of anime, it became an end in and of itself. The industry quickly realized that their idealized representations of women— well-mannered, upbeat, bright and beautiful— resonated well with anime’s predominantly teenage male audience. Thus, the industry shifted more and more towards the production of moé-oriented titles, especially during the latter half of the decade.

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Akikan!, Fight! Ippatsu! Jyuuden-chan, Ikkitousen, K-ON!, Kodomo no Jikan, Queen's Blade, School Days, Shuffle!, Sora no Otoshimono, Strike Witches

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Gonzo (TSE: 3755) stock prices from 2005 to 2009. Prices listed in Japanese Yen.

On July 28th, 2009, Gonzo Digimation Holdings was officially removed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Citing more than two years of consecutive loss, the corporation was forced to stop trading in compliance with TSE regulation. How did Gonzo, a company once renowned for its innovative style and unique productions, fall to such financial ruin? Fans speculate that Gonzo’s failure began when it abandoned innovation for fanservice with shows such as Rosario and Vampire, Kurogane no Linebarrels and the (in)famous Strike Witches. Bear in mind that DVD sales for Strike Witches was considerably greater than sales for any other series hitherto produced by the studio. Yet, the animation department was indeed losing money; by Fiscal Year 2008, it was operating on a loss of several hundred million yen (several million US dollars.) Gonzo’s collapse as a corporation was not a simple result of shoddily-produced anime; rather, many reasons led to its collapse, including an over-ambitious push into the global market, declining DVD sales and the global financial meltdown of 2007-2008. In this multi-part series, I will attempt, to the best of my limited ability, to chronicle and comment on the anime industry’s first casualty in its relentless push into the global market.

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Copyright © 2009 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: ADV, FUNimation, Geneon, Gonzo, Kurogane no Linebarrels, Microeconomics, Rosario + Vampire, Strike Witches, Transformers

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I’ll admit it, I do have more than just a passing interest in these types of awards. Obviously one affords as much credibility to a set of awards like these as one agrees with the results, and it always surprises me just how much people RAGE when they don’t, c.f. SaiMoe and its multiple incarnations. Then again, there’s more emotions involved in SaiMoe than there are in these.

This year’s list of nominations is a little more “credible” than last year’s, where, for whatever reason, titles like 5cm/s and Baccano! were snubbed in categories that they could have possibly won had they made it past the nomination round. There are a few titles here and there that I would have liked to have seen given nods, but for the most part they’ve captured the likely winners, which isn’t an all-too-easy thing to do in something that’s determined by an open popular vote. Anyway, this post is an attempt to predict the winners, which is much more challenging than just telling you who I think should win (but I’ll tell you that too ). Particularly with the AnimeSuki Forums, which is a real mix of varying tastes. I haven’t done any counting of the current votes, but I have flipped through the thread, so I have a (highly) vague idea of what people have been voting for at this stage.

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Copyright © 2009 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 23 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Allison to Lillia, AnimeSuki Choice Awards, Aria The Animation, BAMBOO BLADE, Clannad, Code Geass Hangyaku no Lelouch, Detroit Metal City, ef -a tale of memories, Gundam (all), Itazura na Kiss, Kaiba, Kaiji, Kannagi, Kanokon, Kara no Kyoukai, Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de, KimiKiss pure rouge, Kurenai, Macross Frontier, Mnemosyune Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi, Mouryou no Hako, Natsume Yuujinchou, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rosario + Vampire, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Shigofumi, Shion no Oh, Spicy Wolf, Strike Witches, To Love-Ru, true tears, Tsubasa Chronicle, Zero no Tsukaima

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