notes from IKKICON...

This is legitimately a type-up of some of my relevant notes from IKKICON.


Tough parts of recording?

Screaming, guttural utterances, doing multiple accents for one show, and tongue twisters. Jerry Jewel makes no mistakes when he records. Smoking makes breathing difficult, so if you smoke, expect to be a winded. (Chris Ayres, Greg Ayres, Jerry Jewel)

 How to be a voice actor?

YOU NEED TO ACT. You have to be a performer! You can't really take lessons on voice acting. You have to be able to be coached, or directed. The profession is NOT easy to get into. Also, it's not a solo profession: you'll never be "just a voice actor". Hold on to the dream, but don't be unrealistic. There's little work for voice acting, and even so there's already actors out there. What you learn while pursuing voice acting is the fun part. (Chris Ayres)

The Importance of the Accents?

They're actually pretty lenient. It's just a bunch of cliche accents. But sometimes it's extremely important, although that depends on the show. Actually, it really depends on the director. The only way to really "study" accents is by listening to them. There's also a book called "ACCENTS". As for the physical process, you do need to warm up before recording. Believe me, the critics of accents are worse than people with the legitimate accent being performed. (Jerry Jewel, Chris Ayres)

Dubs or Subs?

Subs actually aren't always that accurate. But it's really a matter of opinion. How ever, with dubs you can get the witty Japanese puns a lot better. An actual Japanese director said "I didn't intend for my show to be read: I want it to be watched and enjoyed". Puns are really hard to translate by the way... (Greg Ayres, Chris Ayres)

Greg Ayres's State of Industry Panel.

Why do an Anime Industry Panel?

I told you people about the dangers of piracy years ago, and then my predictions came true. Hate to say I told you so, but... Example: how fansubbing really hurts the industry. Guess what, fansubbing has been killing the industry. Sigh.

What's happening now?

A lot of companies are trying to switch to online streaming. "Thin Packs" are now standard (more episodes per DVD). Companies are finally starting to sue and form legal coalitions to take control of their products. FUNIMATION actually just sued a bunch. Actual Japanese artists are really starting to get disgruntled about the piracy. The author of Black Butler told so called "fans" that her "stuff isn't LOL". Three anime studios fell this year. Our American industry is very connected to the Japanese one. They literally cannot finish a series without licensing. In fact, during hard times, studios will start to produce more and more Fan Service Anime instead of taking chances on producing new ones. They aren't able to take any chances on whether or not a new show would sell, and unfortunately, they know that Fan Service will always sell. So: more Fan Service Animes. There's also less "extras" with real purchases because they don't have enough money to merchandize. And did you know Adult Swim actually hates anime? Basically, anime is completely lacking a viewing outlet. The best we have right now are subscription based services. Believe it or not, things like Hulu and Netflix actually help the industry as they provide a steady flow of income (even though its not as high as we would like). As for anime on US television, that's impossible. There's been many attempts to get a channel devoted to anime, and they've always been shut down. Sony and Best Buy don't support anime, and cable companies don't want to invest either. It was actually sort of a miracle that things like Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, and Full Metal Alchemist got on TV. Even so, they're played at obscure times when nobody can watch. Despite that, they're still tremendous proof that there's a large audience attracted to good anime if it were to air on live television. Fans are beginning to help with the anime industry. There's a few ways to do this. Taking pride in being a fan; rightstuff.com has huge legal deals on anime; keepanimealive.com; on overall attitude change towards piracy and fansubs. It used to be that when an artist would stand up for his or her work, people would tear them to shreds on this lovely thing we call the internet. Now fans are starting to support the artists much more. Artists are starting to self publish, which saves them a lot of money and give them a more direct income.

There's a few more notes about the convention itself, but I will save those for another blog post some other time.

phase "b"...

A wise boy once said in a blog post, "The second semester's focus will be on Voice acting, but I'll figure out it's schedule as my New Year's resolution". That boy was me, and it is definitely a New Year (2012 now, right?). So as promised, I will formulate the next semester's schedule. This is gonna be tricky.

Oddly enough, I got WAY more information on voice acting during IKKICON VI than I anticipated, so I'm going to have to be a bit creative when writing up my to-do list. During the first semester, the potential for great quantities of information on piracy and bootlegging in the Anime Industry was revealed, and my attitudes towards the subject have strengthened enormously since. I'll probably slip in a bit more extensive researching on piracy when I can this semester. Either way, most (if not all) of the research for the project is accounted for, and all that're left are maybe hands on activities and putting together a final presentation.

The actual dates for class:

1.) FEB.14.2012; check process tracking form and documentation (4 blogs w/proof)

2.) APR.11.2012; check record of progress (4 blogs w/proof); analyze with partner; synthesize results for final product.

MY CHECKPOINTS:

1.3.12 - Have mentor view most recent blog posts and comment where appropriate...
1.7.12 - Ask mentor all about the translation, recording, and processes.
2.13.12 - Check to see if I have at least twelve (12) blog posts.
2.14.12 - CLASS CHECKPOINT
?.17.12 - Visit a recording studio and take notes.
4.10.12 - Check to see if I have enough blog posts and Mentor Comments*.
4.11.12 - CLASS CHECKPOINT
4.14.12 - Figure out something to do for the live presentation (ask mentor for ideas?)
5.?.12 - Begin typing final research paper.

 

Wow. This schedule seems so vague compared to the last ones. Within the next few days I'll most likely do a post of my summary of IKKICON. Till next time!

*As it turns out, I only needed 4 blog comments for the whole year. My apologies to my mentor. Whoops.

anime genre personal dictionary...

The following terms are genres used by FUNIMATION to organize their collection of Animes. In my own words, I have gone through an defined each one to the extent that I felt necessary.



Action

These can fall anywhere between combat and warfare to sports like tennis. Action is a broader genre that is usually paired with other ones in order to categorize more specifically. EX: Devil May Cry, Pokemon, Dragonball Z

Adventure

Usually involving a main character trying to reach an ultimate goal, Adventure is yet another broad genre that usually doesn't stand by itself. Aventure Animes tend to have a "purposeful" vibe emitting from them, and the characters are usually a bit deeper. EX: Digimon, Fullmetal Alchemist, Negima!?

Bishonen

This literally translates to "beautiful boy" (bi- beautiful, -shonen boy). This concept shouldn't be confused with a handsom boy. Bishonen refers to younger males that are so "pretty" that their demeanor is comparable to a girl's. While the Anime itself may or may not focus on the attractiveness of the boys, it's the style of drawing that makes the Bishonen genre. The main character will almost always be a boy. EX: Big Windup!, Nabari no Ou, Hetalia

Bishoujo

If you haven't figured this one out, it translates to beautiful girl (bi- beautiful, -shoujo girl). Don't mistake this for the stereotypical big breasted skimpy clothed Anime women. Bishoujos have girls that are indeed pretty, but usually have some sort of personality beyond that. The main character will almost indefinitely be a girl. EX: Fruits Basket, Love Hina, Spice and Wolf  

Comedy

A wide spanning genre. Basically if the number one reason for the Anime's existence is to make you laugh, then it's classified as comedy. However, this genre can also be combined with others for clarification. EX: Baka and Test, Full Metal Panic!, Kenichi

Cyberpunk

This one's kind of hard to explain. It's almost like a subgenre of Science Fiction, only without aliens. Imagine a story based on a future gone wrong, or where humans and computers work together in ways currently unheard of. Its stuff like that. The protagonists are usualy "nobodies" that - through some unique means- become important? I guess I'll have to watch one to find out. EX: Xenosaga, Bubblegum Crisis, Afro Samurai  

Drama

A very broad genre. If the Anime tells a story that has character developement in it, then it can usually be categorized under Drama. EX: Darker than Black, Baccano!, Mushi-Shi

Fan Service

Bahaha. I think my mentor told me about this one already. Fan Service Animes are those that make girls squee and fanstasize about character relationships, or ones that have very suggestive material. And when I say suggestive, I mean like a girl's boobs breasts being "accidentally" shoved in a guy's face. In other words, add in things just for the sake of pleasing the audience. These are usually paired with comedy. EX: Goshusho Sama Ninomiya Kun, Girls Bravo, Kanokon

Fantasy

Anything from swords, magic and monsters, to Spirit Bombs, to anything unlikely (people with wings). Usually paired with other genres. EX: Digimon, Dragonball, Fairy Tail 

Harem

Almost like a suggestive dating game, Harem Animes feature a single male lead character, and a bunch a floofy girls as the rest of the cast. But he can only pick one! EX: Ah! My Goddess, Shuffle!, Gun X Sword

Historical

These are actually more of historical fiction. If the Anime takes place in a distinct time period of the past (colonial times, ancient Japan), and or makes references to real historical events (the Great Wall, the Great Fire of London) then it will be classified at least partly by the Historical genre. EX: Black Butler, Samurai 7, Shigurui

Horror

With the intent to scare, or with the use of intense violence or demonic practices. EX: Dead Space, Hell Girl, Deadman Wonderland

Live Action

If there are real people on your TV instead of cartoons, it's live action. EX: Goemon, Shinobi, The Treasure Hunter

Magical Girl

The main character is a girl and she has some specal ability she must put to use. Go figure. It's not uncommon to see this combined with Bishoujo. EX: Strike Witches, Sasami Magical Girls Club, UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie

Martial Arts

It's a battle with punches and kicks! Usually modeled after Karate, Judo, Aikido, Kung-Fu or Boxing, Martial Arts Animes also fall under action, and usually Shonen. EX: Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho

Mecha

ROBOTS!!!

Moe
This is an interesting genre. Moe is litterally Japanese slang for being in fake love with a cute cartoon and thier features. In the case for Anime, moe usually refers to a show with a cute, prepubescent to pubescent ages girl. Moe is not a very large genre by any means, and it is often used to trim downt he bigger genres. EX: Air, MoonPhase, Bamboo Blade

Myster

If at any point in the Anime, if the antagonist is unknown or out of reach to the protagonist, than it has qualified to be part of this genre. Ex: Last Exile, Tokyo Majin, Speed Grapher

Reverse Harem

Only slightly better than Harem Animes, Reveres Harems feature a single girl lead character, and an array of boys as the cast. But she can only pick one! EX: Fruits Basket, Ouran High School Host Club, The Wallflower

Romance

The focus of this genre is love and relationships. Nuff said. EX: Eden of the East, Kaze no Stigma, Peach Girl

School

Either the plot takes place at a school, or the main characters are students. EX: Soul Eater, Slam Dunk, School Rumble 

Sci Fi

When the story's plot can't happen without the concept of computers, machines, science, technology, space, aliens or robots. Can (and usually is) paired with the Fantasy genre. EX: Desert Punk, Gad Guard, Summer Wars 

Shonen

Hopefully you remember the translation of Bishonen. However, unlike Bishonen, Shonen Animes don't focus on the look of the boys as much as how the boys contribute to the plot. In other words, the attractiveness of the characters is void. Besides the fact that the main characters are almost always going to be males, the Shonen genre targets a male audience. These shows are made to appeal to boys' inner caveman. EX: One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball Z

Slice of Life

The shows of this genre either have little plot OR are focused on generating a nostalgic or motiviational feel. A template would be following the life of a student that goes through something many other people may have gone through. In other words, these are usually clean Animes that exist for the sole purpose to simply entertain captivated audiences. EX: Big Windup!, Mongolian Chop Squad, Mushi-Shi

Space

Not just outer space, but anything "other worldly" in essence. EX: Origin, Robotech, Moonlight Mile

Sports

Baseball, Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis, Martial Arts, Racing, etc. EX: Air Gear, Inazuma Eleven, Prince of Tennis

Super Power

When the protagonist has some sort of special ablitily. EX: Trigun, X, D.Gray-man

Supernatural

This is the broad genre that covers anything that is out of the ordinary or not really possible. Magic, Super Powers, Demons and Incantations are all the norm here. However, unlike Fantasy and Sci Fi, there's no obligation to have a wierd creature in the show. EX: Black Blood Brothers, Black Cat, Blassreiter

Yuri

Homosexual interations between two women. It can be sexual, spiritual, emotional, or strongly implied. It offends me that FUNIMATION has these, but not it's twin Yaoi (which is the same thing only with men). Lord knows how bad these things can get. EX: RIN, Shattered Angels, Venus Versus Virus

Well this took a long time to write up. I'll just be glad that I can copy and paste this into my final essay at the end of the school year.

pirates and boots...

There's a ton of information on this industry, and I've just now gotten to a point where I can analyze the data and regurgitate my findings in my own fluency. Although my Engrish Teacher would like to disagree, I've found that Wikipedia is a very useful and valid source of info regarding the Anime industry. Here's why: there's not any "scientific" or "researched" findings concerning Anime, Manga, or Japanese entertainment. The only bits information available are given by people who are already involved with the industry in some way, shape or form (translators, publishers, fans, etc.). So Wikipedia is a pretty valid source, considering the only people editing the content are people who think they know what they're talking about.

Using the websites and links from the websites that my mentor suggested, I've read and processes quite a good bit of information regarding Piracy and Bootlegging in the Anime industry. There's a few big points I'm going to scribble down for later use in the project.

- Piracy in the Anime world is rampant, mainly because most people don't recognize that it's taking place. The big killers: Fansubs, YouTube, and Torrents. Details on each are as follows:

- FANSUBS - Being a true fan of Anime and the likes is not a cheap hobby. Legal DVDs, music, posters, dolls and merchandise are rather pricey. America is a stingy tribe, and when there's a less expensive alternative to something, we jump on it like outsourcing. This is where fansubs come in. People get hold of a copy of an original Japanese Anime, and translate it on their own free time. The new free subtitled Anime is then distributed like the plague through the internet (or at least in the fAnime parts of the internet). While fansubs seem great as they advertise Anime for free., they aren't very legal nor are they nice. First of all, they're unlicensed translations that have no permissions from the original Japanese company. Secondly, when there's free version, nobody buys the original product, thus hurting the industry (according to keepanimealive, "an estimated $12 billion" is lost annually in the Anime industry due to fansubbing).
- YOUTUBE - Besides spreading around fansubbed versions of Animes, YouTube is notorious for having legal version of the Anime illegally uploaded to the site. For example. If FUNIMATION did a translation of Black Butler, some self proclaimed American "Otaku" will obtain the Anime and upload it into chunks of 3 parts per episode. However, YouTube has really been cracking down on this kind of stuff, and main-stream Animes rarely have sneaky uploads anymore. I must admit, I used to be a sucker for YouTube-ized Anime, although I was always suspicious as to how the uploader hadn't been sued yet. That being said, I haven't watched a YouTube Anime for quite a long time; Netflix is the way to go nowadays.
- TORRENTS - When I say "torrents" I am not singling out the specific .tor file. When I say "torrents" I'm refering to any process of illegely downloading a didgital version of an Anime or its Music via the internet. Torrenting is extremely common, along with downloads of .avi, .mov and .mp4 videos. It's prety self explainatory as to why downloading free stuff hurts the industry. 

 - Bootlegging is the process of selling fakes. Apparently, the Chinese and Taiwanese are notorious for being Anime bootleggers. They'll make their illegal copies and rip-offs of Anime look like the real deal by mimicking the publisher's logo, using similar colors, adding fake bar-codes, and so on and so on. The biggest issue with bootlegs isn't so much that they rip people of as much as it is people don't know when they're being ca-hooted. Bootlegging can be very well summed up in the beginning of the book I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN YOU!) by Stephen Colbert.

 This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to termites in the Anime world. I still personally wonder how producers and distributors of Anime feel about Hulu and Netflix. Do they get any profits from it? Or rather, do they make as much as they've earned?

a day in history...

Today is an extremely special day. On this day about eighteen years ago, a boy was born. This boy coincidentally had the same name as me, "Jonathan Stegall". Not much is known about that boy, and I'm pretty sure he disapeared forever. The child Jonathan will never exist again, and that makes me sad.

From this day forward, I would like to dedicate this day - December 9th - to this boy's forgotten existence. Although nobody will ever see him again, this day will serve as a tribute so that he may never be forgotten (something here sounds contradictory...). Although I never met this kid, I'm sure he was dreadfully attractive, athletic, and smart for his age.

SO! Let us raise our goblets today for Jonathan Stegall: the boy that didn't want to grow up, but did so by accident.

back on track...

My next big issue is finding a convention to go to. Why go to convention? Well there's a few reason I've got up my sleeve. First and foremost, all the cool kids do it. Second: it's not illegal yet. Thirly: DON'T DO DRUGS.

Now for my real reasons. Anime Conventions are huge places where anything Japanese culture takes place, and where many people involved in the industry make appearances. If I am to learn about the Anime Industry (which is my focus for this semester as I might remind you) I feel that a convention would be the place to do it. But I've got some issues*.

I've never been to one of these before, and I'm thoroughly worried that I'll end up twaddling around the whole wondering where I'm supposed to be and what I should be doing. I'm considering tagging along with a regular, but I have a feeling that won't be as easy to do as it sounds.
There's also the fact that I have no clue which one to go to or why some convention is better than the next. Currently, I've been looking at one called iKKiCON that's hosted in downtown Austin. Not only is its location convientiently close, but it's also not far from where I live!

After I get all my worries wiped away, I figure my main gameplan will be to take a lot of pictures and possible take notes on what I see there. Project-Credit wise, I could probably just take pictures and regurgitate my memories and the stories behind the pictures and it would earn my plenty points. But thats not the point. I am interested in this topic, and I want to go all the way.

And my new favorite cartoon on TV isn't an Anime. It's some show called The Amazing World of Gumball.

*I do not have issues

takin' a break...

November is rolling around. I really need to finish college apps. I've finished up my interview questions and will be sending them off soon. After that though, my days until November 11th will be strictly for college apps, starting today. Wait. I think I just contradicted myself.

College to-do list:

1-University of North Texas App
2-University of Texas App
3-University of Victoria App
4-Tulane University Scholarship Project

Granted, in my free time I will watch Anime to feel like I'm doing something. I recently finished watching one called "Baka and Test", and I'm in the middle of this ambient one called "Mushi-Shi". Occasionally I go back and watch one of the many 5-minute episodes of "Hetalia" just for laughs (or if I'm cleaning my room). Still need to do specific research on Anime though.