…Stupid
…What, it’s true isn’t it?
But no, seriously, winter is coming, from work to the new anime season to new writers to…the site? Yep, after two years with the same logo and banner, I thought it was time for a change. Much, much thanks to Alcina for creating them after I gave her a deadline of the end of December. I did hope to have it on the New Year’s, but I got it when I got it. No sense in complaining, really.
The only thing I can complain about is, will there be some great reads on the internet for this column? I expect that there will be, and you will like it a lot. And yes, I expect to be consistent on RRM. I’m going to go out on the limb that what happened last year was a blip on the radar. I think reading other blogs is a good thing. Granted, there’s a lot of them out there that do the same thing everyone else does, and I personally recommend you don’t go completely crazy by following as many blogs as I do (I expect it to grow this year). However, I hope you can rely on this space to provide you some links that you’ll find interesting, insightful, and all that good stuff.
So, let’s get to it…
“Supporting Your Comics Ecosystem in 2015” by Erica Friedman
“You probably have a job. A lot of us have jobs that are regularly demeaned and dismissed by people who don’t get the amount of effort that our work takes. Even ridiculously hard jobs like being a doctor – people bitch about how much money they make, not realizing that your doctor’s visit fee covers the salaries of a half-dozen people, the office space, equipment, and yes, the insurance and things you don’t feel like you ought to have to pay for.
Entertainment is created by artists, but also by their assistants, their editors, the art directors, the layout people, the printers, and web developers, sales people, delivery people, all the way down to the part-time bookstore employees who shelve stuff and the post office who delivers it. I know you know this, but I want to say it: If you have ever once thought “hey. I want to work in comics” you might also want to think about this – if everyone makes comics, but no one buys them – where does the money come from? When you buy something, you are contributing to a larger economic system that sustains those jobs and the people who work them.”
Erica’s post is a good reminder of A) stuff that needs about as much elaboration as possible on the internets and B) hey, it’s true! Everyone needs money to do things, and that of course goes for the creators of the manga you’re reading in a not so good place. We’ve been in a weird place where we can’t find an easy way to consume what we like, and if it’s free, that means it’s on us to consume it because…well, we can? But hey, some of those dollars can certainly go to the creators so they can make some money and continue to do what they love. Because I think it’s just the right thing to do, I think.
I should also mention that yeah, you may expect this site to do some type of post involving manga and reading and all that stuff. Just saying.
“Translation Diary, Part One” by Kathryn
Kathryn wants to publish a translation of feminist author Kurahashi Yumiko’s 1984 short story collection Otona no Tame no Zankoku douwa, translated as Cruel Fairy Tales for Adults. It is described in this article as a collection of Japanese and Western fairytales, but grown up a bit and, with cruel included, grim. Kathyrn thinks this work should be in English, with her target goal to be in January 2017. I don’t know if I would be interested in such a project, but the important thing is she’s going to detail the process she’s going through to get this published somehow on her blog. That’s a good thing!
Anime and Manga Reads
- Alain highlights Naoki Urasawa’s Master Keaton as his manga of the month, and well, that certainly is a good title to highlight since I actually read it a week ago!
- Self-starting anisong artist Choucho is going to be in Las Vegas for the Lantis Festival (January 16-17), and Japanator managed to ask her a few questions by email.
- Anne has basically planned out her community game along for 2015, and I don’t know if that’s terrifying or not. That’s scary.
- Need a roundup of all the LN’s in 2014 that were released by publishers? Cho’s got your back!
- Have some things foreigners seem to like while living in Japan. There’s 8 of them.
- The Seattle Asian Art Museum sure seems to be a nice place to go for moe!…wait, actually interesting moe?
- Emily writes about Tsukimonogatari, and one of the ends of Koyomi Araragi.
- I’m just going to say reading OPUS means you like tragedy. That means you’re just a horrible human being. Go read OPUS and be a horrible human being.
- The OG is wondering if he should have some guest reviewers of Yuri on his blog. Or more like he knows he wants to!
- Finally, have a reminder that cosplay is subjective, for a number of reasons.
Tweets From The New Old Year
"Ryuko, something's wrong… for some reason, I can't see him!" pic.twitter.com/wQnoOta3WO
— Triple-Q (@TripleKyun) December 12, 2014
Here's our interview with Hatsumi Takada, the voice of Kaori in "In Search of the Lost Future" http://t.co/SwcYduakH0 pic.twitter.com/pP6ZFjGIsE
— FUNimation (@FUNimation) December 13, 2014
I know what movers I'm using when I move pic.twitter.com/DSPOf5x0kn
— U GOT A TWIN OR NAH (@gIubber) December 13, 2014
I'm browsing random anime pictures since I'm bored, but.. WTF? pic.twitter.com/PzxhqVYGEn
— Kai (@KaiPercival) December 14, 2014
Inio Asano x Pokémon pour la couverture du magazine SWITCH de janvier ! pic.twitter.com/4veptbpzqT
— Fabien Vautrin (@_FabV) December 16, 2014
Wolf girl hate watch report: "I'm not an object" ERIKA FINALLY NOW GO RECOVER YOUR LOST SELF-RESPECT
— sidekick (@N4gaiyume) December 20, 2014
Oh whoa, ppl in a forum having a reasonable discussion about how the perception that anime is getting worse is biased http://t.co/fZHvZZN5W0
— lace trader (@zetsubouzhainu) January 1, 2015
What Happens When a Guy Who Doesn't Know Shit About Anime Watches Anime http://t.co/E4wI1hCQ9d
— Tony Yao (@MangaTherapy) December 3, 2014
How to Navigate Comiket http://t.co/suxe5A8LIo
— Baka-Raptor (@Baka_Raptor) January 2, 2015
Vertical’s Ed Chavez On Finding Great Comics For Women And Surviving The Manga Bubble http://t.co/RIrQB1ucNc pic.twitter.com/tCBHbLM9cF
— ComicsAlliance (@comicsalliance) November 29, 2014
Who's the Cutest? pic.twitter.com/FMADppw8gx
— Drag Me To Work (@kanapy05) November 25, 2014
Video Time!
(Credit to nyankoto for finding this video)