deguy's Blog

Paid a visit to Book-Off on the way back from work. I'm quite sure the title I'm looking for isn't to be found but I had a few minutes to burn off. It was sort of funny at times browsing the manga shelves going "Oh there's a copy of _____" and then realizing that copy was probably the amongst the books I had sold to the store a month or so ago. Gotta watch it eh? What could be more embarrassing than purchasing something one had sold off a short while ago?

Okay... I suspect a whole bunch of you weren't in elementary school then. But I've been out tonight drinking with friends to mark a stag party for an older(yes!) buddy who is getting married in a month's time. So here I am at 2AM watching the concert video of Shizuka Kudo at a tender age of twenty or so in 1990 singing her guts out. The rest of you can have your johnny come lately idols such as Leah Dizon. Eighteen years later and Shizuka is still my favourite idol singer. Didn't hurt that a lot of her big hits were co-written by chanteuse goddess Miyuki Nakajima. And Shizuka didn't record a song associated with an anime until "Pretty Cure". Ya gotta like that!

I strolled down to my local Book-Off store once more. The last few times I went there I unloaded manga, DVDs and CDs on them. This time I just bought stuff. One thing I didn't buy but I might go back for was a manga titled "G.I.D.". If I'm not mistaken it stands for "gender identity disorder". It sounds interesting. There's so much stuff out there that doesn't make it its way into the North American manga market. I have no real interest in the ten gazillionth volume of One Piece, Bleach or Naruto but odd ball stuff like "G.I.D."...that's more my pace. One needs challenges in life to feel alive, even if it's a small inconsequential things like selecting a manga title.

Anime Relations: Dennou Coil, Minami-ke

I meant to write this about two months ago but never got around to it. This thing called "Life" kept getting in the way. There's little time to write a blog entry when one is busy doing all sorts of other things (including 40+ Km of paddling per week).

Anyways, the topic on hand was the impression I got when I finished watching Denno Coil at around the same time I finished watching the R2 DVDs of Minami-ke. The contrast of the two shows got me thinking about my recent exposure to Japan (I spent 20 days in March of this year there). Because when I was there I kept an eye out for young families. In particular I just wanted to watch the dynamics of the individuals when they were in public. Don't ask me why but part of it came from a realization that Japan's population is in a shrinking state and if the current trend keeps up then it won't be too long before the county will be dependent on immigrants to be able to maintain its population. The days of the image of Japan as a homogeneous people are numbered. So observing the Japanese family became a focal point for me.

This brings me to the types of family values that were expressed in "Denno Coil" and "Minami-ke". The former is an NHK production and underneath all the techno talk and angst ridden youngsters one can see the core of any NHK production: traditional values. Denno Coil is unique in my anime viewing experience as it is a TV series that depicts the traditional Japanese extended family. Grandparents, parents, teachers and older relatives are not just background characters in this series. They interact with the young protagonists and have a bearing on how these youngsters deal with their issues. The story is a revealing one about relationships and on the surface it is a grand adventure. But it is infused with values that have been in place from the times when most of the population lived in a rural setting and extended families lived under a single roof.

The family construct in "Minami-ke" is a complete puzzle in contrast. There we have three sisters living in a sparse but spacious (read "pricey") apartment without any visible means of support. After all, all the girls are in school. The only relative we are introduced to is a cousin who isn't so much of an adult as he is a cut out to be. The other Minami household presented in the story is just as odd: three brothers with a kid sister in a house with no hint at any parents or adult guardians. Compared to the families in Denno Coil the families in Minami-ke are like children out of Peter Pan. (Of course one has to substitute "some generic japanese city" in place for Wonderland.) Yes, I do understand fully that Minami-ke is played out as a sequence of comic sketches. It's not meant to be serious or an accurate depiction of real life.

The observation I have here goes back to the companies who put their money on the line to make these two shows. I've always viewed NHK productions as being about upholding values and traditions. This being whether one is dealing with "taiga" drama, Kohaku Utagassen, kids shows, anime, documentaries or those short daily drama spots. Everything else is just commercial TV. Hence "Minami-ke" depicting a set of situations where absent adults are the norm. It's odd but it sells. The situation depicted may not be the norm in fact but in a back-handed way it can sound like an odd form of social commentary. But I'm probably reading more into the show than what is really there when I say that.

Anyways. Food for thought. If you can't go to Japan to view Japanese family dynamics then try and spot them in the anime you watch.

Anime Relations: Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito

I was driving home last night with my friend Richard on board when we passed a large collection of fire trucks, ambulances and police cars in front of a building. As always traffic slowed down as drivers checked out the flashing lights and all that. Between the two of us we figured it hadn't been a big fire, if there had been a fire at all, and hopefully no one had been injured (let alone killed). Checked on the news this morning and found this story: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/04/18/bc-burrard-suspected-lab.html. Okay. So that was the commotion eh? Anyways, the street was still blocked off when I passed the location after work today. Big fun in the little city.

I didn't bother checking the local CBC last night because I wanted to check out the NHL scores. After that I picked away at Flickr briefly, scanned ANN-FF and then turned to yet another episode of "Yami to Boshi to Hon no Tabi Bito". I was thinking of going through another episode of "Sketchbook Full Colour'S"(sic) but decided against it given the time of night it had become. "Yami to Boshi..." is one of those shows I stumbled across on some stranger's recommendation and decided to "Give it a try". Three or four months later and I'm about two thirds of the way through it. Can't exactly say I've gotten caught up in it but it isn't a total write-off either. It's just that I'm not energized enough to obsessively keep track of all of loose bits of the general plot.... Ah... The Stars and Ducks are tied now. Go Stars Go! That's more like it.

I sit next to the kitchenette on our floor at work...plus a meeting room. I was listening to a group of people coming out of yet another meeting and overheard a fellow use the hackneyed old phrase "We're not trying to re-invent the wheel here". For some odd reason my brain clicked into gear and I thought to myself, "Yeah, but I bet you wouldn't mind being able to take credit for that invention". Whatever. Work is a dangerous place. Way too often you hear someone blurting out something and then saying "Oh! Was that my outside voice?!". You get the idea. If we couldn't behave like smart asses most of us would've burned out ages ago. As the old Elvis Costello song went, "Welcome to the working week, I know it don't thrill you, I hope it won't kill you"(sic).

I've found a new vice... Flickr. Why? Because that's where I've uploaded all my recent vacation pics. Keeping tabs on photos, organizing them, watching stats on which of my photos have been viewed and finding out who has appropriated my work...for me right now it's more fun than anime. Getting ones work noticed appears to take a fair bit of work and I suppose one has to be really into that type of self-promotion to get any results. Anyways, I think I've gotten to the point where I have to cut back on it... Much like my anime and manga purchases. I've unloaded about a third of my manga at my local Book-Off during the past two weeks. Yesterday, I actually cancelled an online anime DVD purchase. Why? Why not. If the only constant in life is change then this is a good thing. Can't go on doing the same old thing until the end of my days. I suppose sticking with old habits is turning out to be like trying to re-invent the wheel.