#kon chiaki

[booloocrew-blog]

From what I can gather, the showrunner behind You and Idol Precure, Kon Chiaki, is a HUGE pretty cure fan! She's worked on and off with Toei over the years, and even made a full fledged pretty cure opening for her own original anime, The Way Of The Househusband, in the form of Crimecatch Policure!

Given the IdolPre trailer implies some return to form (with the mascot designs and art style giving off more heartcatch/early season vibes), I'm super excited for Kon in fufilling her dreams and I feel like this season has a lot of promise! Maybe a return to form is needed after the divisiveness of wonderful, but either way, I KNOW the series is in good hands!

(Source: https://prettycure.fandom.com/wiki/Kon_Chiaki)

[setteidreams]

✿ Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 (Part C) Storyboard ┊ 84 sheets ✿

… a 2021 film with storyboards by Chiaki Kon has been added.

[kraniumet]

the gousotsu op's are really what happens when you replace original ideas and striking visuals with a creepy scary film grain filter and particle effects

[ashitakaxsan]

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts

   It’s real Good news that the manga  Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts (贄姫と獣の王, Niehime to Kemono no Ō) by  Yū Tomofuji gets anime adaptation:)

So let’s see what’s its synopsis:

The King of the Beasts and Demons regularly receives female human sacrifices to eat in order to assert the dominance of his people over the human race. However, for the 99th sacrifice, the human girl brought to the capital, Sariphi, intrigues the Beast King. In fact she isn't afraid of him or any other beast and even accepts her death without begging or crying as she has neither home nor family to return to if she were released. The King finds her intriguing and let her stay at his side as his consort despite being human. This is the story of how Sariphi will become the queen of the demons and beasts.

  The anime is produced by  J.C.Staff,under director Chiaki Kon is set to premiere on April 20, 2023, on Tokyo MX and BS11

"we'll dream of our tomorrows as we live through our todays"

-Sariphi

Below: Second Key Visual of Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts.

[hybbat]

Need a name for like that late 90s to 2000s style of anime that's very sombre and take their time, the visuals are muted and usualy bleak or use harsh white lighting. Character designs are usually either more realistic or very round but the eyes are almost always small and far apart. They're always just a touch pretentious but never above the cool kinda edgy emo style of the time and always had fun very anime ideas. Satoshi Kon and Chiaki Konaka did a lot of stuff for it, like digimon tamers, serial experiment lain, paprika, and paranoia agent. But like stuff like paradise kiss, last exile, genshiken, witch hunter robin, and wolf's rain really fell into it too. I'd also tentatively put eden of the east, welcome to the nhk, great teacher onizuka, and hell girl in there based on Vibes.

Anyways it's one of the best anime aesthetics. I love it.

[shinneth]

My souring sentiments on Sailor Moon's manga

It'll be a surprise to no one who knows me even remotely that Sailor Moon was my everything back in my childhood. From the age of 9, I was utterly obsessed with it.

That was just a couple of years shy of 30 years ago.

Since then, I've often revisited the series. I watched the entirety of the Viz dub of the classic anime; all 200 episodes.

And I loved it all the same, if not more so than before. Because now I have context for why exactly the anime was the way it was, including its gradual diversion from the manga source material. And I respect the hell out of the staff who poured their life into this work, while concurrently running with the manga and doing whatever it could to not completely outpace it in the narrative.

Are there a lot of fillers in the OG anime? Yes. Too many? Well, not so from a functional standpoint (this show had to run weekly for 5 years), but there are definitely some fillers you could skip and miss nothing in doing so.

But a story like Sailor Moon honestly needed some breathing room in order to properly flesh out the cast.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, the live-action reimagining of the show, was phenomenal back then (despite looking low-budget even by 2003 standards), and having re-watched the whole series recently, I can safely say PGSM more than holds up and deserves way more love and respect than it gets. It's THE perfect example of reimagining the story of Sailor Moon while still respecting its roots and maintaining the soul of the franchise.

Which is exactly why I couldn't stand Sailor Moon Crystal. We knew from the off that it was supposed to be completely faithful to the manga, but one look through @crystalvsmanga will show you Crystal took shitloads of "creative liberties", and the amount of changes I could dare to call "good"? I could count them on one hand.

The animation is low-hanging fruit, because everyone and their dog knows how godawful it was for the first two story arcs. But more than that, I actually loathed the general art design. Yukie Sakou's style DID NOT closely resemble Naoko Takeuchi's. People kept saying it, but I couldn't really see it. The eyes especially are a far cry from Takeuchi's style. And Sakou's style did NOT facilitate the OTT cartoony expressions that were definitely present in Takeuchi's manga; everyone looked so goddamn soulless, like overly-expensive porcelain dolls.

My biggest gripe with Crystal was the story, of course. While a great deal came from just being from the manga (which I'll get to in a bit), the changes they made went a long way to actively make the manga's story worse. My main takeaway from Crystal S1-2 is that it took itself waaaaay too seriously.

That being said, I did like Crystal's third season a lot better BECAUSE Chiaki Kon had way more competence and held a lot more respect for Sailor Moon. Like, my god, for once it felt like there was a soul in this show! It can actually take the piss every now and then!

Some silly things kinda broke my immersion (such as the Senshi just being able to fuckin' fly and Chibi-Moon in particular was literally sky-stepping), but most of that can be blamed on the source material it was adapting. While I was fine with Crystal3, I definitely didn't feel it was anywhere near as good as Sailor Moon S. Outside of Hotaru/Sailor Saturn having more of a presence, there wasn't really much in Crystal's take on Infinity that I liked better than S.

But most of that comes down to the fact that I liked S more than manga's Infinity arc to begin with.

Which is a good segue to talk about the manga proper.

I have not yet watched Eternal or Cosmos. the movies that adapted the last two manga arcs, but it'd be redundant since I know ahead of time what they're going to be about, and so far I haven't heard about any of them deviating from the source material, so it'd be moot to talk about them even if I had watched.

When I first got my hands on the manga, which was when I was around 12-13 and thus got the crappy MiXxZine translations, I was fine enough with it. Thought it was too fast-paced and didn't care for 99% of the villains being one-and-done jobbers, but I was also reading it with my impressions of the 90's anime characters still intact. I was reading the manga like an extension of the anime, rather than the other way around.

It wasn't until many years later when I grew older, when the manga was properly translated, when I acquired the wisdom my teenaged-ass self lacked, and learned to look at the manga as a completely separate entity that I started to see the cracks in the manga's narrative.

Further rereads have left me in something of a mindfuck, as I experienced the manga the proper way. And I realized:

The more I read the manga, the more I disliked it.

The manga is lauded for having an infinitely better depiction of Mamoru, as well as his ~Miracle Romance~ with Usagi.

Objectively, the manga definitely spends lots more time giving UsaMamo attention as a couple than any other aspect of the story...

I'd say they're also more developed as individuals in the manga too, but usually the beats, uh...

... let's say they usually ring hollow, when these two (and sometimes their daughter) are the only ones who consistently get shit done across the series. Hell, on the rare occasion that the Inner Senshi weren't rendered into street pizza, Neo Queen Serenity basically told them to fuck off and let her daughter, past self, and past hubby take on motherfucking DEATH PHANTOM/NEMESIS BY THEMSELVES.

It's likely because my first exposure to Sailor Moon was via the 90s anime, which had more of a focus on friendship and comradery between Usagi and her friends than it did her romance with Mamoru. I mean, romance was DEFINITELY a prominent thing even in that iteration of the story, but that wasn't where my interest lied. I was, am currently, and always will be more interested in Usagi's galpals than I'll ever be interested in her love life.

And, well, I'm sure this qualifies as a hot take, but...

This one moment with Usagi and Mamoru in the elevator (hell, their interaction across this entire episode was great) resonated with me far more than any ultra-romantic declarations of eternal devotion that Usagi and Mamoru kept regurgitating at each other in the manga.

Granted, the manga had a FEW moments early on where their dynamic was more playful, but they were pretty much confined to the early chapters and this element of their chemistry pretty much died not long after this.

Some say 90s anime Mamoru was far too mean-spirited in his teasing of Usagi. And I mean, sure, he was kind of a douche at times, but he usually got some karmic blowback from it (I remember one time he made Usagi cry without even really meaning to, and she cried so loud in public that randos nearby were giving Mamoru the evil-eye or a scolding). But honestly, after R, Mamoru kinda became a bland, generic love interest, just as he almost always was in the manga. The only difference was that anime Mamoru was never granted powers that were literally equal to Usagi's. The manga gave him a GOLDEN FUCKING CRYSTAL.

There was that infamous break-up arc in R that, yes, was shitty in concept and execution. But if I had anything positive to say about it, it at least shook up the status quo. It didn't make him immediately fall into the bland, generic love interest he would soon become. And it gave us some of the most emotionally-charged Usagi moments in the entire anime.

Conversely, in the manga, we had THIS shit for our UsaMamo "drama":

(the former incident with Usagi literally accusing her boyfriend of falling in love with a kid, by the way, happened while MOST OF HER FRIENDS WERE KIDNAPPED BY THE ENEMY AND COULD'VE BEEN DEAD FOR ALL SHE KNEW AND YET SHE FUCKING HAD TIME FOR THIS STUPID SHIT)

Everything seemed to revolve around Usagi and Mamoru (sometimes Chibiusa too). It lowkey came off that way at times even in the 90s anime, but in the manga or Crystal? You'd be hard-pressed to find the girls engaging in their stated hobbies at most points in time, because they're usually all together and talking about their prince and princess.

Hell, even Haruka - Sailor Uranus herself - seemed much more interested in Usagi than she ever did in Michiru, her actual girlfriend.

So... am I just missing something? I've seen people say that as they grow older, they prefer the manga/Crystal to the 90s anime. But I've never seen anyone other than myself express the opposite sentiment.

But it's true - unless I completely leave my brain at the door, I have a hard time enjoying the manga for what it is. The characters I'm most interested in or attached to quickly get swept aside for the characters I have the least interest in. No more does that ring true than the Stars arc of the manga, where Naoko Takeuchi basically speedruns killing off literally the entire cast until Sailor Moon's the only one left standing. Most characters don't even get to go out in a blaze of glory or anything - it's got nothing on the finale of the 90s anime's first season in that regard. If you're lucky, you'll get a single panel where your entire existence is ripped to shreds - but sometimes you'll be killed literally off-screen!!

There's a number of questionable manga-exclusive aspects that rubbed me the wrong way as well, such as poor Sailor Pluto being assigned as a child to guard the Door of Time in complete and total solitude. While I appreciate more Silver Millennium lore that the manga provided (the anime hardly mentioned it past the first arc), it was more than a little uncomfortable knowing the OG Queen Serenity conscripted the Inner Senshi as small children to become Princess Serenity's guardians. Really casts Queen Serenity and her Moon Kingdom in a much darker light - like maybe Queen Beryl and Queen Nehelenia had a point in trying to take them down (though the manga I believe retcons all past villains as incarnations of Chaos, so that arguably removes all prior villains' agency?). Lots of little things that I didn't think twice about, but now that I look at them again, I'm wondering WTF Naoko Takeuchi was thinking.

Though I don't want to be too hard on her. Poor girl was working under stress far longer than she'd planned to (she'd intended on ending the story either by the Dark Kingdom or Black Moon arc), so it's no surprise there's a lot of clunk and clutter in the narrative.

I often wondered if Naoko Takeuchi really wanted to make Sailor Moon with a Super Sentai-esque setup in the first place. After all, her first big hit was Sailor V, which was exclusively Minako and Artemis fighting evil with Minako having her own masked love interest she ended up being at odds with and he eventually died. With a scant few secondary characters here and there.

It led to me thinking about what Sailor Moon would be like if Naoko kept the cast to a more Sailor V-like size. That, perhaps, the Sailor Moon she really wanted to make would be quite a different beast from how we know it to be today.

So this lengthy diatribe about my personal conflicts with my waning fondness for the manga versus my strengthened love for the OG anime and live-action show was actually a preamble to a bizarre AU I wrote an outline for over a year ago but never posted in public. I had considered posting it to Sailor Moon's Reddit back then, but I (probably wisely) held off, as my musing went way off the rails.

But I figured now's a good time as any to share it here, at least. Though it'll need to be its own post since I wrote so goddamn much in this post alone, wow.

On that note, I'll end with this: The only iteration of UsaMamo that I unironically enjoyed and rooted for is...

[throuple-tournament]

Throuple Tournament Info

Rules

Submissions are closed.

Polls will run for a week and I will give you at least a days notice.

I will not answer asks while a poll is up unless it's propaganda or a question about the polls.

I will not answer asks about discourse. I might think about what you said but I don't want discourse on this blog.

I will also not respond to rude or mean asks.

Please send asks that are propaganda. Also, please send asks with your fan art or your favourite screenshots that you wouldn't mind me using for polls.

Please send in a description of your favourite throuples if you want to; these will be used in the polls.

Please do not be rude about other people's interests or the other throuples in the tournament. You can talk about your preferred throuple without talking badly about the other/s.

Please don't jokingly threaten others or joke about suicide. I've noticed that some polls I follow have had this issue and I don't want this to happen on my blog.

I don't know when I'm going to have the first polls ready as I'm going to be getting busier from this week onwards but I'll let you guys know.

Match Ups Under Keep Reading

Group 1

Marco/Star/Tom vs Marco/Janna/Jackie from Star vs the Forces of Evil

Adaine/Fig/Ayda vs Em/Sofia/Dale from Dimension 20

Kala/Wolfgang/Rajan vs Lito/Hernando/Daniela from Sense 8

Willow/Luz/Amity vs Willow/Hunter/Gus from The Owl House

Raz/Lilli/Dogen vs Ford/Lucretia/Otto from Psychonauts

Finn/Rey/Poe vs Rex/Anakin/Padme from Star Wars

Makoto/Sayaka/Kyoko vs Hajime/Nagito/Chiaki from Danganronpa

Ryunosuke/Barok/Kazuma vs Clay/Apollo/Klavier from The Great Ace Attorney

Jason/Roy/Koriand'r vs Dick/Barbara/Koriand'r from DC Comics

Marius/Ivy/Raphaella vs Orpheus/Narcissus/Eurydice from The Mechanisms

Group 2

Selina/Harley/Ivy vs Tim/Bernard/Kon from DC

Sam/Tucker/Danny vs Vlad/Jack/Maddie from Danny Phantom

Rose/Lissa/Natalie from Vampire Academy vs Bonnie/Caroline/Elena from Vampire Diaries

Jay/Nya/Cole from Ninjago vs Red Son/Mei/MK from Lego Monkie Kid

Rilla/Arum/Damien from Penumbra Podcast vs Howard/James/Cel from Rusty Quill Gaming Podcast

Haru/Legosi/Louis from Beastars vs Ranpo/Poe/Mushitarou from Bungou Stray Dogs

Adrien/Marinette/Kagami from Miraculous Ladybug vs Anne/Marcy/Sasha from Amphibia

Ichika/Nene/Kanade vs Rui/Mafuyu/Tsukasa from Project SEKAI

Parker/Hardison/Elliot from Leverage vs Neal/Peter/Elizabeth from White Collar

Yamato/Ace/Deuce from One Piece vs Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere from Arthurian Legend

Group 3

Ichigo/Minto/Retasu from Tokyo Mew Mew vs Hikaru/Lala/Yuni from Star Twinkle Precure

Kyle/Rogelio/Lonnie from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power vs Pearl/Rose/Greg from Steven Universe

Rapunzel/Eugene/Cassandra from Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure vs Zuko/Sokka/Suki from Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Doctor/Rose/Jack from Doctor Who vs James/Bones/Spock from Star Trek TOS

Nancy/Steve/Jonathan from Stranger Things vs Merlin/Gwen/Arthur from Merlin (2008)

Rachel/Chloe/Max from Life is Strange vs Thanatos/Zagreus/Megaera from Hades

Vincent/Victor/Albert from Vincent: The Secret of Myers vs Rinne/Himeru/Niki from Ensmeble Stars!

Jack/Kirtash/Victoria from Idhun's Memories Series vs Qibli/Winter/Moonwatcher from Wings of Fire Series

Ludivine/Rielle/Audric from The Empirium Trilogy vs Vlad/Nathan/Ursula from Hunger Pangs:True Love Bites

King Kelp/Lord Cabbage/Bagel from Cucumber Quest vs Camilla/Nyra/Dendro from Muted

Group 4

Neptune/Uranus/Pluto from Sailor Moon vs Aira/Rizumu/Mion from Pretty Rhythm

Mickey/Goofy/Donald from Disney vs Pepe/Sylvester/Penelope from Looney Tunes

Draculaura/Clawdeen/Frankie from Monster High vs Ruby/Weiss/Penny from RWBY

Nathan/Annalise/Gabriel from The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself vs Quentin/Eliot/Arielle from The Magicians

Leon/Claire/Ada from Resident Evil vs Jaskier/Yennefer/Geralt from The Witcher

Abigail/Sam/Sebastian from Stardew Valley vs Candy/Sapphire/Zack from My Sims

Sweet/Capn/K_K from Deltarune vs Shiver/Frye/Big Man from Splatoon

Chris/Millie/Conrad from Chronicles of Chrestomanci vs Sadie/Walt/Anubis from The Kane Chronicles

Rah'oxah/Legzi/Ryjnah from Drawga: Dungeons and Drawings vs Grendan/York/Rose from Drawtectives

Jean/Scott/Logan from Marvel Comics vs Wu/Li/Gao from Iron Widow

Group 5

Yuji/Megumi/Nobara from Jujutsu Kaisen vs Misa/Light/L from Deathnote

Lucy/George/Anthony from Lockwood & Co vs Louis/Lestat/Armand from Interview With A Vampire

Chel/Tulio/Miguel from The Road to El Dorado vs Manolo/Maria/Joaquin from The Book of Life

Henry/Charles/Ellie from Henry Stickmin Collection vs Steve/Alex/Herobrine from Minecraft

Soldier/Demoman/Zhanna from TF2 vs Susie/Magolor/Taranza from Kirby

Morgana/Launchpad/Drake from Darkwing Duck vs Yoo/Han/Kim from Omniscient Readers Viewpoint

Isabela/Merril/Hawke from Dragon Age 2 vs Dorian/Orym/Fearne from Critical Role Campaign 3

Vivi/Arthur/Lewis from Mystery Skulls Animated vs Aizo/Yujiro/Hiyori from Honeyworks

June/Dave/Karkat from Homestuck vs Trevor/Sypha/Alucard from Castlevania

Elizabeth/Jack/Will from Pirates of the Carribean vs Cyrano/Christian/Roxanne from Cyrano (2021)

[raleydrew]

Wanna know the fandoms I'm in or at least interested in? Get to know me a bit more by the characters I ship and obsess over down below:

Juleka x Rose - Miraculous Ladybug

Madoka x Homura - Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Sakaki x Kaorin - Azumanga Daioh!

Luz x Amity - The Owl House

Aya x Yoko - Kiniro Mosaic

Yuri x Natsuki - Doki Doki Literature Club

Stelle x March 7th - Honkai: Star Rail

Lumine x Sucrose - Genshin Impact

Belle x Ellen Joe - Zenless Zone Zero

Jane x Seth - Zenless Zone Zero

Zhu Yuan x Qingyi - Zenless Zone Zero

Female Rover x Yangyang - Wuthering Waves

Hatsune Miku x Megurine Luka - Vocaloid

Nanako x Yukari - Locodol

Kara x Lena Luthor - Supergirl (TV show)

Ji-yeong (Player 240) x Sae-byeok (Player 067) - Squid Game

Joker x Futaba Sakura - Persona 5

Naoto x Kanji - Persona 4

Chie x Yukiko - Persona 4

Minato (MC) x Yukari Takeba - Persona 3

Yui Yamada x Tomoka Kase - Kase-san

Makoto Naegi x Kyoko Kirigiri - Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Hajime Hinata x Chiaki Nanami - Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Tenko Chabashira x Himiko Yumeno - Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

Komaru Naegi x Toko Fukawa - Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls

Izuku x Ochaco - My Hero Academia

Fluttershy x Rainbow Dash - My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Naofumi x Raphtalia - The Rising of the Shield Hero

Chiya x Kon Tatsumi - Urara Meirochou

Aoba x Hifumi - New Game!

Ritsu Tainaka x Mio Akiyama - K-On!

Saaya Yamabuki x Kasumi Toyama - BanG Dream!

Yumi Fukuzawa x Sachiko Ogasawara - Maria Watches Over Us / Maria-sama ga Miteru

Ami Kurata x Aoi Niigaki - Long Riders!

Nurse Morikubo x Miyake Mia - Wanna Skip School in the Infirmary?

[scolek]

ok idolpre staff..............

director chiaki kon. alright. nice bonafides. lots of sailor moon, bit of precure, also higurashi??? thats actually a good sign

now. for writer.

yoichi kato. oh. aikatsu! imas. girls x senshi. yokai watch. and by aikatsu its ogkatsu+akarigen. okay. okay. ok. i am. Hopeful. theyve got one of the people most qualified to do this. good lord this man is prolific.

[warningsine]

Hazuki Izumi (Reno Komine) stands on the edge of a rooftop looking out at the city beneath her. A clutter of competing architecture styles and buildings at various points of development: scaffolding, newly-built, maturing, declining, abandoned, condemned. Traffic lights glow, cars drone, and roads curve. A web of powerlines connects every part of the city. Hazuki is deep in thought, contemplating something or other, almost as if she’s listening to something we can’t quite hear. Her friend Mao (Shinsuke Aoki) notices the rooftop figure and approaches her as he becomes concerned that she might jump. 

This scene takes place in August in the Water (1995) but variations of it can be found in a number of Japanese films and anime of the late 1990s to early 2000s. At the time of release these films and series belonged to different genres and production cycles yet retrospectively we can identify a fascinating pattern of imagery, themes, characters and even locations that recur to form an enigmatic genre called denpa. Little has been written about it in English, so allow me to venture forward.

‘Denpa’ is a Japanese word that means electromagnetic wave or radio wave. Within the genre, characters tune into these waves and feel their effects: they sense things, hear voices and see spectres, indeed the stories of Chiaki J. Konaka begin this way, including his Lovecraft-inspired psychological horror Serial Experiments Lain (1998) and Marebito (2004). The characters are susceptible to the waves due to alienation caused by their oppressive surroundings which is depicted through a distinct, industrial aesthetic: antennas, chain link fences, telephone poles, a web of powerlines across the sky, trains, manholes and sewers, grainy and distorted footage, a muted colour palette. This imagery reoccurs across denpa fiction, from the visionary anime of Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue 1997, Paranoia Agent 2004) to the live-action poetry Shunji Iwai crafts out of adolescent cruelty (Picnic 1996, All About Lily Chou-Chou, 2001). 

These bleak,alienated urban settings raise questions of tradition vs modernisation, mass-communication and a critical look at new technologies. Denpa situates these themes amongst references to folklore and the paranormal such as ESP, hauntings, aliens and spirits a combination explored by both the cult horror favourite Boogiepop Phantom (2000) and influential franchise starter Ring (1998). These supernatural beings are known to inhabit different realms and through electromagnetic waves these beings can cross over to our world, and humans can cross over to their worlds. The blurred lines between these spaces are illustrated with surreal imagery and experimental filmmaking. Such creative innovation can be found in the surreal psychological torment of Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion 1995-7, Love & Pop 1998, Ritual 2000) and in the breath-taking urban dreamscapes woven by Gakuryu Ishii (August in The Water, 1993’s Tokyo Blood). Within this cocktail of urban alienation and supernatural forces are plot points such as rumours, conspiracy, mental illness, and delusion often with cosmic and apocalyptic consequences, best embodied by the hypnotic horror of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure 1997, Pulse 2001).

So far, denpa has only appeared as a loosely defined genre label on English-language databases for anime and videogames, on the occasional blog post, a handful of letterboxd lists and one lone essay [1]. It is at once both recognisable yet hard to define. I understand it on an emotional level, I can identify it as a vibe, yet I want to tease out the details and define it in more concrete terms: what makes something ‘denpa’?

The genre derives from ‘denpa-san’ or ‘denpa-kei’ a name for a type of person that emerged in the late 20th century. Think of denpa-san as analogous to ‘tin foil hatter’ – someone vulnerable to paranoia, conspiracy theories and delusions hoping that the foil will block out those invasive electromagnetic waves. Or maybe they’re already at their mercy, following instructions heard via the waves and doing unsavoury or even dangerous things. The term initially hit the mainstream consciousness in association with the 1981 ‘Fukugawa Street Murders’ where a 29-year-old man indiscriminately stabbed passers-by, killing several people and injuring more. The highly-publicised trial hinged on the controversial defence of insanity: the perpetrator argued that they were driven to murder after years of torment from electromagnetic waves [2]. Over time the term expanded to become associated with creepy, unpopular people in general, those on the fringes of society with unusual quirks and obsessions. 

It is here that the term overlaps with another: ‘otaku’. A social outcast who obsesses over a hobby to the detriment of their social life. Think ‘geek’ but usually uttered with more contempt. Otaku is typically associated with anime, but contrary to popular belief can be about many subjects from videogames to cars. What ties them together is the negative effect it has on the self. Much like denpa, the term otaku gained traction in association with a horrific crime; in the 1990s it was elevated from merely a pejorative label to the centre of a moral panic in relation to the years-long trial of a serial killer nicknamed by the media as ‘the otaku killer’ for his extensive video collection of pornography and horror films [3]. In the years since, the collective otaku have shaken off the worst of these associations and become a phenomenon as they developed a distinct culture and became a major economic force that has been embraced by the media they obsess over. On the darker end of the subculture some favour the fantasy world of their hobby over the real world and get lost in it, which in itself has become a common denpa narrative with an iconic example being the idol otaku in Perfect Blue.

Critics ascribe the emergence of denpa-san and otaku to society at the time. The Japanese economic bubble burst in 1991 and the decade that followed became known as ‘The Lost Decade’. The population faced a recession which stunted young people as they came of working age. And yet Japan was known on the global stage to be at the forefront of home electronics and new technology. This was in tension with traditions of the past and complicated their national identity as new cultural connotations outpaced traditional ones posing the question: can an old culture survive as a new one emerges?

The development of these new technologies also introduced new issues as they quickly became part of everyday life. Camcorders in every hand, phones in every pocket, so easy to use that soon everyone had one without knowing how they really worked. Life was changing as there was now constant recording, growing access and intimate conversations were now held not in person but via phones and on internet forums. As people became increasingly reliant on these technologies, people began to wonder, what is the existential cost of these new conveniences? 

From moral-panics and national identity crises to new technologies denpa fiction responds to this new cultural landscape. 

The war between tradition and modernization often forms the backdrop of denpa fiction in urban spaces where a dedicated few keep old customs alive, while others push on for progress. Gakuryu Ishii (previously known as Sogo Ishii) depicts the tension of this conflict well in August in the Water where participants of the centuries-old festival in Hakata pulse through the city in historical costumes with traditional matsuri floats surrounded by modern buildings and stopped traffic; Ishii finds strange beauty in the cityscapes that engulf and imprison his characters. Investigations lead Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) in Cure to abandoned buildings and disused factories which signal the failure of a once-promising industry. In Love & Pop and Tokyo Blood, supporting characters are construction workers who signify this changing landscape as they meet on noisy building sites that are the eyesore we must endure for another dubious future.  

The rooftop is a recurring location for these films. It can be a place for a clandestine conversation with a confidante, or a place for solo contemplation. The sight of a lone person on a rooftop can be startling to passers-by: the threat of suicide looms and in denpa often does happen. Cinematographically speaking it’s an opportunity to view an urban vista: the buildings, antennas and powerlines that populate the skyline. Again and again characters are drawn to the rooftop where they can get the clearest signal to the electromagnetic waves that mesmerise and influence them. 

Alternatively, the clearest signal can be found by going right to the source. In Serial Experiments Lain we meet Lain’s father (Ryusuke Obayashi) at his impressive 6 monitor desktop and over the course of the series Lain’s (Kaori Shimizu) simple computer set-up evolves to be larger and larger. A soundscape is built from keyboard tapping, mouse clicking and monitors gently beeping. Denpa characters are often found hunched over a desk or workstation in the dark, the only light source being the glow of a screen or the small bulbs of a switchboard that gently whir as a pen scratches while detailed notes are being made. It’s an image with unhealthy connotations indicating obsession and someone losing touch with the outside world. In Boogiepop Phantom, the deskbound character is a videogame otaku finding solace in a fictional fantasy world. In Cure they’re a detective and in Ring a journalist whose respective investigations turn fanatical as they uncover disturbing histories. In each instance the foundations of their worldview will soon be shaken and their mental health questioned as conspiracies and paranormal explanations become more and more likely. Are the characters’ paranoid, or are they seeing things clearly for the first time? 

These paranoid thoughts or deteriorating mental states are often heard through voice-over narration. Depending on the film the voice-over could be the trademark psychological introspection of Neon Genesis Evangelion, or the expansive philosophical musings of August in the Water or even the sinister and somewhat incoherent rambling of Marebito. Though superficially different, what they share is a painfully personal and poetic type of soliloquy.  

Alongside narration, different psychological states are expressed through surreal imagery and experimental filmmaking, which often leads to a striking use of mixed-media with live-action moments in anime. In Boogiepop Phantom, a drug-addled videogame otaku experiences visions which are depicted by heavily edited live-action footage in a break from the traditional animation of the series. In Serial Experiments Lain there are animated character figures over live-action backgrounds which has the uncanny effect of blurring the lines between the different worlds that Lain traverses. In the case of Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, the sequence of live-action footage breaks the diegetic barrier between the text and audience, seeming to directly address not only the delusions of its’ characters but its own otaku fandom. 

This subtle sense of self-awareness can be seen in the eerie experience of watching characters watching screens. Frames within frames or looking at a picture within a picture, voyeurism becomes infinite. New technologies allow people to see people through a thick glass lens or a pixelated screen. Distant yet paradoxically seeing each other more intimately than ever. In Perfect Blue this newfound intimacy fuels the obsessions and delusions of both Mima and her otaku fan.

The spectre of denpa is not limited to Japan. The same themes and same motifs can be found in English-language films from around the same time. There is Donnie Darko (2001), Richard Kelly’s film about a schizophrenic teenager who is told to commit crimes by a phantom in a rabbit suit and whose survival of a near-death-experience has apocalyptic consequences. You can find denpa in the films of M. Night Shyamalan: from the delusion of Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense (1999), to the haunting image of mass rooftop suicides in The Happening (2008) and to the potent mix of aliens and religion in Signs (2002). Even in the music video of Eminem’s Stan (2000)– in which a disturbed otaku hunches over a desk under a perpetual raincloud. When I recognise denpa motifs in films made outside Japan, I begin to think of denpa less as a genre and more as a zeitgeist. A restless, nihilistic gen x moan of exasperation. That feeling of living in The Matrix (1999); groaning at the end of the century and looking to the new one with only pessimism. Yes, there are new technologies but there are as many negative possible outcomes as there are positive ones. It seems inevitable that people will succumb to their worst impulses. 

[vkeidriptournament]

Visual Kei Drip Tournament: Full Ranking - WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG POST

------------------------------------ ★ finals ★

1. kozi (malice mizer) - 61.9%

2. ryonai (blam honey) - 38.1%

--------------------------------------------

★ runner ups ★

3. hide (x japan) - 60.6%

4. kaya (schwarz stein) - 39.4%

--------------------------------------------

round 5

5. arisu (missalina rei) - 48.3%

6. shinya (dir en grey) - 42.4%

7. emiru (lareine) - 41%

8. zin-francois angelique (madame edwarda) - 18.5%

--------------------------------------------

round 4

9. kazuki (raphael) - 47.6%

10. mana (malice mizer) - 47.1%

11. kami (malice mizer) - 47.5%

12. inoran (luna sea) - 47.5%

13. yu~ki (malice mizer) - 40.2%

14. izam (shazna) - 33.3%

15. kyouka (aliene ma'riage) - 25.6%

16. ken (l'arc en ciel) - 17.3%

--------------------------------------------

round 3

17. lucifer luscious violenoue (gille loves, fiction) - 47.5%

18. jyou (exist trace) - 47.5%

19. tara-chan (kilhi ice) - 47.2%

20. hakuei (penicillin) - 46.9%

21. bou (an cafe) - 45.5%

22. toshiya (dir en grey) - 43.2%

23. kamijo (lariene, versailles) - 40.8%

24. kazushi (rouage) - 38.9%

25. hizaki (jupiter, versailles) - 36%

26. ryutaro (plastic tree) - 31.7%

27. kon (la'mule) - 31.4%

28. hyde (l'arc en ciel) - 30.9%

29. ray (aliene ma'riage) - 28.6%

30. sena (jilkua) - 27.6%

31. yoshiki (x japan) - 17.6%

32. kaoru (dir en grey) - 15.9%

--------------------------------------------

round 2

33. mikoto (zigzag) - 48.2%

34. kyo (dir en grey) - 47.5%

35. mayu (lareine) - 47.5%

36. issay (der zibet) - 47.3%

37. ken morioka (soft ballet) - 46.7%

38. kiwamu (blood, gpkism) - 46.5%

39. isshi (kagrra) - 44.8%

40. die (dir en grey) - 44.6%

41. boogie (jiluka) - 42.6%

42. atsushi sakurai (buck-tick) - 42.4%

43. jasmine you (versailles) - 42.2%

44. sugizo (luna sea) - 41.7%

45. gackt (malice mizer) - 40.8%

46. ruki (the gazette) - 40.7%

47. wataru (liphlich) - 40.4%

48. kiyoharu (kuroyume) - 38.9%

49. klaha (malice mizer) - 36.8%

50. ayaha (dazzlingbad) - 35.8%

51. daisuke (kagerou) - 34%

52. ryoichi endo (soft ballet) - 33.3%

53. iT (dazzlingbad) - 31.3%

54. kazuma (merry go round) - 30.4%

55. gothique prince ken (gpkism) - 29.8%

56. kyuho (madmans esprit) - 28.9%

57. kei (eliphas levi) - 28.4%

58. hora (schwarz stein) - 27.5%

59. ryuichi (luna sea) - 25%

60. tetsu (malice mizer) - 24.1%

61. hiro (la'cryma christi) - 18.5%

62. yura (psycho le cemu) - 14.3%

63. aisaku (deviloof) - 10.5%

64. reita (the gazette) - 9.6%

--------------------------------------------

round 1

65. yukari (baiser) - 49.4%

66. full (guniw tools) - 49.4%

67. j (luna sea) - 47.6%

68. asagi (D) - 47.2%

69. aoi (the gazette) - 45.8%

70. kujou takemasa (kiryu) - 45.8%

71. dynamite tommy (color) - 44.4%

72. sakura (l'arc en ciel) - 44.3%

73. imai hisashi (buck-tick) - 44.2%

74. juka (moi dix mois) - 44.1%

75. miko (exist trace) - 44.1%

76. ai (gulu gulu) - 44%

77. yoshiatsu (dadaroma) - 43.8%

78. yagami toll (buck-tick) - 42.2%

79. yasu (janne da arc, acid black cherry) - 41.9%

80. teru (versailles) - 41.9%

81. uruha (the gazette) - 41.5%

82. hazuki (lynch) - 41.4%

83. chiaki (dezert) - 41.3%

84. juho (madmans esprit) - 40.7%

85. tsuzuku (mejibray) - 39.9%

86. maya (LM.C) - 39.6%

87. mia (mejibray) - 39.6%

88. lime (kizu) - 38.9%

89. aya (psycho le cemu) - 38.6%

90. miyavi (due le quartz) - 38.5%

91. jojo (the gallo) - 38.2%

92. takashi (dadaroma) - 38.1%

93. machi (lareine) - 37.7%

94. hidehiko hoshino (buck-tick) - 36.6%

95. kyonosuke (kizu) - 36.2%

96. taka (la'cryma christi) - 35.9%

97. tetsu (l'arc en ciel) - 35.7%

98. meto (mejibray) - 35.1%

99. t.m. revolution (luis-mary) - 34.4%

100. maria cross - 34.4%

101. kengo (noir fleurir) - 34.3%

102. dada (velvet eden) - 33.9%

103. morrie (dead end) - 33.3%

104. tsutomu ishizuki (fanatic crisis) - 31.9%

105. aki (laputa) - 30.9%

106. koichi (mejibray) - 30.1%

107. heath (x japan) - 29.5%

108. shou kiryuuin (golden bomber) - 29.5%

109. miko (exist trace) - 28.4%

110. yukihiro (l'arc en ciel) - 26.5%

111. mast (aliene ma'riage) - 25.5%

112. tatsuro (mucc) - 23.6%

113. aki (arlequin) - 22.3%

114. gisho (penicillin) - 21.4%

115. yutaka higuchi (buck-tick) - 21.4%

116. kyohei (das:vasser) - 21.1%

117. seek (psycho le cemu) - 21.1%

118. kirito (pierrot) - 18.9%

119. darvish kenji (golden bomber) - 18.8%

120. kisaki (phantasmagoria, mirage, la:sadies) - 18.6%

121. tsune-hito (D) - 16.1%

122. kai (the gazette) - 15.5%

123. mako (deadman) - 14.9%

124. yune (the gazette) - 14.1%

125. shun (deshabillez) - 13.9%

126. tusk (zi-kill) - 12.7%

127. chill (kane to juusei) - 12.3%

128. yohio (disreign) - 11.3%

[retrosofa]

I watched Sailor Moon Cosmos last night and thought it was great. Honestly, the best thing to come from this whole Crystal fiasco. I'm not kidding. Tomoya Takahashi gets it. He gets it way more than Munehisa Sakai or Chiaki Kon ever did. It's a shame Takahashi wasn't on board from the jump.

I think the people complaining about the animation are insane. This movie looks great. Any complaints I have about the art/animation is strictly my bias against digital animation. They did an awesome job here.

The pacing could've been better but the manga has the same issues. Stars works better in movie format than Dream did.

Here's hoping it gets a US release soon.

[goldenharmony]

For SMC, dk how much the director choice has an influence over adaptation quality (since I'm pretty sure going from an ONA budget to T.V./movie budget does change things), but everyone said Chiaki Kon supremacy when s3 aired. I say Takahashi supremacy

Because Cosmos is looking to be peak in terms of adaptation from the manga

[nanjokei]

the deen higurashi animes are not that bad people just watched them when they were 11, heard people say they were bad, then read the vns much later and went "well its not exactly 1:1 so it really is bad"

you really have to appreciate the work chiaki kon did to make the original higurashi anime coherent in 26 episodes. sure its not perfect, but compared to most vn adaptations, are you kidding? deen higurashi is perfectly watchable. it's no clannad but i consider it a successful vn anime adaptation that stands in a field of failed vn anime adaptations. it is great as long as you stop after finishing kai and do not touch anything that came after it

also this is only tangentially related but since i see people sometimes lying that ryukishi may not approve of this, or especially of the umineko anime. not true! the umineko anime is a different matter because the production of that anime was a mess, the story was releasing AS THE ANIME WAS AIRING, and ep4 was horribly adapted by virtue of it literally COMING OUT LITERALLY AS THE ANIME WAS AIRING. ngl though, as much of a mess it was, it was one of the first anime i genuinely followed from the first episode to the last as it was airing. and what an anime it was. absolute trainwreck, everyone was happy that EP3 was actually adapted pretty well after how goofy EP1 was and okay but derpy EP2 got sometimes, then came EP4 and uh. haha.

but i digress... my point with this^ is that a lot of people have delusions of grandeur of original authors hating an anime adaptation just to justify their own hatred of it. i see it all the time, especially with old adaptations of shounen manga superseded by either remakes or sequels (rare, but i'm thinking of bleach here). people have this long standing urban myth that togashi HATES hunter x hunter 99, but the only recorded opinion we've ever gotten of it is that his assistants would watch it while he worked away on the manga itself, so he didn't have an opinion on it. a lack of an opinion does not signify an opinion. if anything, there are more clues pointing to togashi being involved in the anime in at least some capacity— namely the bonus stage arc, which has foreshadowing for things that hadn't even happened in the manga yet at the time, and was allegedly based on scrapped drafts that togashi had.

really, lately "mangaka is involved with every step of the adaptation" has become synonymous with quality, but manga artists are manga artists. not all of them know what decision is right for the animated medium. i have yet to see an anime turn out especially good because the studio kept the mangaka in the room making whatever level of decision they can claim happened. (to be honest, i kind of doubt it anyway, but i don't care.) it's dumb, but i miss the era when adaptations were actually about adapting to a new medium and having *shudders* oh noooo spooooky filler to help the story flow better, or hell just diving deeper into certain scenes and expanding on them, rather than having a big jack off contest about who can draw the closest to the manga without any deviation so a bunch of salivating geeks on twitter would tweet at any public figure involved in the anime with either praise or insults both 100% lacking in any critical merit

at least.... can we stop animating at 300 gigasharts per second to appeal to twitter shounen meatheads so we can get anime longer than 13 episodes again. im fucking sick

[444lpblue]

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts #1 - The Sacrifice and the Night of the Ritual

Screenplay: Seishi Minakami Storyboard: Satou Masako Episode Director: Ken'ichi Nishida Chief Animation Direction: Shin`ya Hasegawa Animation Director: Kasano Atsushi, Maehara Kaoru, Nagata Yuka, Tsuzuki Yukako

After what feels like an eternity, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts have finally arrived. I was initially concerned about the animation quality and the challenge of fitting 15 volumes into 24 episodes, but the show has had a very strong start. As a huge fan of Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, which is perhaps one of my favorite shoujo manga of all time, I was thrilled to see that the artwork and paint-like aesthetic were even more beautiful than what was shown in the PV. Additionally, the animation is much smoother than what was suggested by the PVs, which makes me question the shot selection in those videos. Nonetheless, I am extremely grateful for the show's quality thus far.

While I did admittedly doubt the show's debut at first glance of the PV and had concerns about the number of episodes the show would be adapted into, I think anyone can attest to the fact that I am a big fan of Chiaki Kon. I believe she is a very talented director if not one of the most talented at J.C. Staff currently working today. Many of the faults in a lot of her work honestly are not directly related to her, such as The Way of the Househusband or Gokudolls, many of which relied on producer input on the animation direction.

People tend to forget her works on Golden Time, Higurashi, or the various times she's worked on Sailor Moon or Precure. She consistently brings a fun vibe to the show. A lot of the cute expressions on Sailor Moon episodes she's boarded comes directly from her. So expect to see that when she does board her own episode. And talking about Golden Time, this show has the same designer as Golden Time in Shin'ya Hasegawa, and his designs really bring out the best in the characters. The manga covers have always had a paint finish to them, with very unique eyes and the way things are shaded overall. I think his rendition of the characters in this anime adaptation is really splendid. They're pretty when they need to be, threatening when they need to be, and look quite cute when they need to be. It's a great way to, I guess you can say, "anime-ize" the art style for a more general audience.

The episode was storyboarded by Satou, who has a great focus on eyes. The artwork for this show is often cute with a very pretty aesthetic, so when they do close-ups of certain characters with dead eyes, it's genuinely haunting as a contrast. The decision to change the tone of colors in those scenes, perhaps thanks to Nishida (whom I'm not familiar with), contributed greatly to this effect. It feels cold, in contrast to the warmth that Sariphi and Leonhart exude.

Now to the actual story portion, the pacing so far feels just right for a series like this, it gets the whole set up right away in the first episode, without really feeling like it's rushing it, and establish the tone shifts that you can expect from the show throughout. Sariphi and Leonhart's relationships remain cute in the anime and I hope to see the development of them that I've read in the manga continue to be seen in the anime as time goes on.

Image dump down below as always:

[otaku-republic]

＜New Releases＞

★Twittering Birds Never Fly vol.8 by Yoneda Kou

★ Takane no Hana wa Midasaretai vol.2 by Sakyou Aya

★ Canna Vol.88 by Zariya Ranmaru & Asada Nemui & Fumino Yuki & Kuku Hayate

★Tsumugu Kon by Kuroiwa Chihaya ★Oboreru Haikaburi by Kasai Chiaki ★Jinsei Bara-iro ka vol.1 by Yamamoto Kotetsuko ★Fake Family vol.1 by Hitsujima Hitsuji ★Fake Family vol.2 by Hitsujima Hitsuji