Happy birthday to me, bitches! I am the old two-seven (27 for you fucktards, and there are a lot of you) and needless to say it is “teh suck”. I hate getting older. With that being said, it is time for…
CHACHI’S BIRTHDAY OMNIBUS!!!
Let’s get this party started right!
How was NDK this year?
Well, NDK this year had its moments. The big issue I had was that…I saw the same shit last year. There was nothing new in the vendor fair. Shit, everything was in the same fucking spots for Christ’s sake. I can only stand so much Inuyasha, Bleach and Naruto before even I have enough and flip out. Oh, and can yaoi please go away? Dude on dude manga has become mainstream (they sell that shit in Best Buy and Borders) so it is no longer taboo. Besides, gay is the new Black. And by “black” I mean negros.
The guests were the same as the last three years although they did bring back the Taiko drummers this year. Thankfully they left Piano Squall’s gay ass back in Gay Town because if there is one thing this years Con didn’t need, it was more gay. The karaoke wasn’t as fun as last year (although adding David to the mix added more funny quips. And the dialog between Nolan and myself about putting women in boxes went over well with some people) and they wouldn’t let us be a team this time. GO TEAM VENTURE! Eh, we liked it. The J-pop Dance party…had no fucking J-pop and NO FUCKING DANCING. I swear, anime fans piss me off. More on that later.
The second day was lackluster as the AMV contest was bleh. You cant really top “Dangeresque” and “Bring Me My Bride” but still:
OR DID I?! Priceless. This year, the only real good ones were “Code Monkey” and “Pirating Movies via One Piece”. The rest were rather boring (especially drama which needs to be an award given out before the fucking ceremony, Grammy style) although I do appreciate the work all the contestants put into the videos. After a long break, we went to the Costume/Cosplay Competition which was….average. Nothing mindblowing like last year (Mega Man, Voltron, the Bleach Cosplay sketch at the end was sidesplitting) but not really BAD. Just not memorable. Except for my quips of “Wait…Dumbledor is dead?!” and “So….most of this is terrible”. Oh, and big ups to the dude in front that laughed at my Malice Mizer reference about the girls that dressed up as Dir En Grey. I’m sorry, but they aren’t as good as everyone thinks IMHO.
Lastly, after a long break Zach, Joe (who is Mormon. W00T!) and I decided to have a few drinks. By a few, I mean a fucking lot. I mean I was ready to rave it out by the time I was finished. So to end the night was the rave (which is what the J-Pop Dance party ended up being because anime fans have no fucking rhythm) and it wasn’t bad. I stood around talking for the first 10 minutes or so when I just asked a girl to dance and said “We might as well not have fun together”. After that, it was pretty fun until some assholes took me back to the boys and wouldn’t let me stay with my friends and their feel good candy. Amy was going to have my love child and name it Skyyyyyy….
Overall, this NDK wasn’t as good as last years (Limbo with a zanpaktou is fucking awesome no matter how you slice it. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Slice…) but it was a tad better than the first one I attended in 2005. I feel bad for Joe and David (who went to a Con for their first times) because they had NO IDEA what they were in for. Dudes dressed as chicks, the “aroma de nerd” and overall geek-out factor probably means they wont return. I enjoyed myself and got a new Karaoke Kon. All in all, not bad, not good.
NDK 2007 receives…
6.5 out of 10 Stars
(Yuna saved NK as she gave it 3 points by herself. That girl is fucking FINE. She is smooth....and sexy....and FIY-YI-YINE! And legal!)
Let’s keep the bus moving!
Why did you quit your job?
Well, there comes a point where you have to hit the reset button when you play a game to a point where there is no real way to beat the game or even advance any further (Anyone that has played RPG where you need an artifact to beat a boss and you didn’t get it knows what I mean). I had to hit reset or at least go back to my last save. Not like the moves you made were bad, but you could have taken a bit more time and formulated a strategy to get to a better place in the game to defeat the Materia Keeper. I hope that explains it. That and I can’t be a cube monkey anymore.
People all over the blog, join hands! Hop on the Chachi Bus!
Why do you hate Adult Swim/Cartoon Network anime?
Okay, I had this discussion at Borders and the comic book store a few times over the last month or so leading up to NDK. Those of you that watched Naruto in its subtitled form (from Dattebayo or others) know that the voices of the characters sound like adults even though they are children. You know that the intro and ending themes of the show are some of the greatest out there (Akeboshi, FLOW, Hearts Grow, Sambomaster and others) and are in some cases a drawing point to the show. You are fully aware the battles are violent and that the fights are actually well done (Unlike Gruntfest Z):
So why in the Cartoon Network/dubbed version do the kids sound like Gilbert Godfried with a concussion, the music is replaced by stock bullshit and the fight look like schoolyard slapfests?
I don’t like Cartoon Network because they don’t know how to re-package anime for shit. The fact is that shows are BUTCHERED by Cartoon Network because they try to make ALL anime for kids. It isn’t for fucking kids. Pokemon, yes. Card Captor Sakura, HELLS TO THE NO. It is for young adults and adults. I am not talking about hentai, yuri or yaoi (ugh to both…) when I say that. I am talking about One Piece, Naruto, Eureka Seven, Bleach and pretty much all the shows on Cartoon Network. Now, Adult Swim is a different animal. The music is untouched for Blood+ (Which I will argue has maybe the best opening/ending themes EVER, although the show is kind of bland), Bleach and Eureka Seven (Halcali, bitches! WHAT?!) but the voices are shit. Flat out shit. I have yet to EVER hear a good dub for an anime (Slayers has its moments and Kare Kano is TOLERABLE when it comes to the female voice actors. The men suck ass, yaoi style) and with the popularity rising you figure they would do more to curb the crappy acting. It really makes people not watch the show and go to fansubs. Which brings me to the next stop on the bus…
Do you think fansubbing is bad for anime?
What is irony? Irony is when you are watching the Bleach: Memories of Nobody fansub when they are having a panel discussion at NDK about how fansubbing is killing the anime industry. Yeah, I fucking rule. The fact is that fansubbing is revitalizing the industry for non-casual anime watchers. Die-hard fans (which I am on the lower segment of) watch fansubs because we don’t want to hear the vocal rape of our favorite characters on cable (or in shittier cases NETWORK) television. Also, since shows are licensed before being finished (Bleach, Naruto, Death Note, Darker Than Black, etc) many people want to watch them until the end and prefer to buy the DVD’s of they have the option of subtitles. Add in the fact that some shows are OVER ONE HUNDRED EPISODES BEHIND THE JAPANESE COUNTERPART and watching fansubs becomes the only option to stay current with your favorite shows.
Overall, fansubbing actually helps anime because it creates buzz about certain shows. I wouldn’t know about Bleach had Zach not told me to get back into it. Had I not heard about Death Note on message boards I wouldn’t have watched it. Fansubbing can help the anime world if they don’t turn into vaginas about it.
Let’s keep on movin, baby!
Does J-Pop have it’s place at an ANIME convention?
Hmm. I had this discussion in the dealer room (I went back for a badass wall scroll when I went back to my car on the first day) when I was looking through the music CD’s and only found anime soundtracks. Now much like The Rembrandts “I’ll Be There For You”is as much a part of “Friends” as Ross & Rachel, I believe that the openings of Bleach are just as important as the rivalry between Ichigo and Grimmjaw. With that being said, I think (THIS IS MY OPINION) that J-Pop DOES have a place at an anime convention. I will say 40% of anime fans don’t listen to J-Pop and that is sad because it plays a large part to the success of an anime. Look at some of the names associated with opening/closing themes in anime:
• L’Arc~en~Ciel
• Kumi Koda
• Orange Range
• FLOW
• Yui
• Maximum the Hormone
• Nana Kitade
• Ayumi Hamasaki
• Namie Amuro
• High and Mighty Color
• BoA
• Nightmare
• Home Made Kazoku
• Ai Otsuka
• Antic Cafe
• Aqua Timez
• Duran Duran (Speedgrapger, bitches!)
These are some of the biggest names in J-Pop and they have ALL done at least one opening/closing theme for a successful anime. So with that being said, at least the songs they performed should be available for purchase. Not only that, most people only know the staples of the anime openings and closings….which is pretty much Neon Genesis Evangelion. Which while it is good, it isnt great. I personally think that Duvet from Serial Experiments Lain is the best of all time:
Love that song. Either way, I think that more J-Pop themed events at NDK would have helped. A “Name That Tune” anime style would have rocked the box (between Zach, Nolan and I we would have it on LOCKDOWN) and if the J-Pop dance party would have played Bi (Who is Korean but is good stuff) or Namie Amuro it would have been awesome. Yet I know nerds cant dance but they did alright last year. Long story short, J-pop has its place at an anime convention because J-pop is a part of anime much like soundtracks were part of movies in the 80s. Remember Top Gun, Footloose and Purple Rain? I rest my case.
The bus is winding down to its last stop….
Fiddy or ‘Ye (50 Cent or Kanye West)
Well, all I can say is that I liked “Graduation”. It broke the theme from his last two albums (the college saga) but still shows some growth. Also shows some regression, meaning this was not as good as “College Dropout” but it was better than “Late Registration”. With that being said, 50 pretty much released every fucking song on his album as a single because all of them sucked (If you liked “I Get Money” then you need to be shot in the fucking face. I don’t care if you don’t like what I said, you are a fucking moron and need to be eliminated) so I can say that from what I heard his album odds are sucked. I will download a copy and give a better idea, but aside from the beat for “Ayo Technology” I could do without Curtis ever again. Hip hop shooting, where are ye? With that being said I give a full edge to Kanye West because despite his faults of being a total fucktard the man can make an album that is listenable. Here is to him maintaining the lead over 50 Cent and finally shutting him up once and for all. He will do what sadly bullets couldn’t. Man…I am kind of a dick. Eh, its how I roll. My blog, my fucking rules.
And that is the end of today’s Omnibus! Man, that was long. Well, I guess that is all for now. Happy birthday to me and whatnot. You know who gave me a birthday present? YUI!
I….LOVE…..YOU! Almost as much as I love that Tifa from NDK. Damn age laws. Japan would understand. I AM KIDDING! Party on everyone! Its my birf’day!
I will be going out in a bit. Anyone that wants to roll out (if you live in the area I mean) let me know. SLUMBER PAR-TAAAAY!
By the way, this was more coincidence than anything else buy I have just hit 400 posts on Blogger! That is all original material with a few breaks in between but an average of about a post every two days which is good for me. I want to thank all the people who visit the site regularly because I only do this site for the peeps. Here is to hopefully 400 more! Or not, I’m not big on the whole “OMG! 513 POSTS!!!1!11” type of action but it’s nice to know that people read my anger and don’t think it’s COMPLETELY offensive. Thank you again, I truly appreciate your visits and occasional comments.
Chachi Out.
