End Of January

Time flies while you are having fun. Sure.

I can’t believe that it has been 1 month since this blog was remade and it is soon to be February.

Ah well time to go into NS soon.

Going to sleep now. Nights people!

28/01/2008 = HAPPY BIRTHDAY RISA!!!

Well today is a very special day. It is because…..

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY SOTOHANA RISA!!!!!

The youngest member of BeForU finally turns 20! Hopefully she releases a new single soon.

Anyway, it seems that BeForU is having a site revampment on 25/02. I hope Miharu and Yoma comes back. Love them all.

Lovely. Nights people.

Credit Spamming

I seriously hate going to the arcade nowadays.

I just dropped down to the arcade to play DDR only to find 15 credits in line.

Pardon me for the expletives, but I would like to quote….

WHAT THE FUCK. 

Thank you very much for reading this rant. Nights.

People….

I don’t know what is wrong with me or the people around me, why the heck can’t I seem to even understand what the fuck they want?

Today’s movie outing is a disaster. So much for American Gangster.

Anyway it is a nice and pretty accurate biography.

I need to change out my spectacles tomorrow. My eyesight is getting worse and so are my social skills.

Gotta sleep now. Nights.

P.S I really need to find some goddamned time to do up this blog. It is as screwed up as it is before.

The Bunny Song

Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,
Hoppity Hoppity Hop,

Hop Hop Hop.

OMG IT IS ANOTHER USELESS POST BY SAINTESSHEART!!

Sorry I am feeling a little crazy today. Cya peeps. Nights.

Anime + Japan Is Doomed?

I just read Darkmirage’s post about anime sales and it suddenly struck me like I haven’t been really BOTHERING about Japan related stuff since the disbandment of BeForU.

Well in my personal opinion I think that anime has always been a very small market, and the refusal by the relevant industries to change marketing techniques is going to result in an economy crash.

Most of us here know that Japan does culture and robotics* exports, and Anime has been seen as a Japanese culture. Since the world is a rather busy and fast-paced place to be in nowadays, most of us don’t have the time to examine and “taste” other country’s culture, thus only a minority would even be bothered to watch anime (I used to be the only one in my class who watches anime other than Bleach and Naruto).

I started out with YST (Yoroiden-Samurai Troopers for those who are still toddlers in 1995 when it was dubbed by Channel Eight) when I was in Primary 1, and I was appalled by the significant difference anime was from cartoons. I would watch it before going for school/library (on weekends) at 10.00am, a used-to-be sacred timeslot for anime until it got replaced by the crappy kid-host shows.

I wasn’t really into anime then, just a little boy with no friends who engages in hikikomori activities day to day. Until Gundam Wing and Digimon Adventure. I had this friend who would share anime with me from time to time, and I have forgotten most of the titles with the exception of Zeta Gundam (I simply loved the way Tomino killed off the characters).

To me, anime is a glad solace I have in secondary school in which I suffered through (Damn the socialites. Damn them all.), as well as reading and gaming. I wouldn’t consider myself an otaku since I don’t read manga (I suck at Chinese.), but still, anime is more intriguing than schoolwork and regular TV serials. Though some of them are worse than the Speedy Gonzales cartoons (like Meteor Garden and G Gundam), anime is able to portray a visual form of fantasy and surrealism not found on any channel you turn to.

Back to the main topic, I don’t know what is wrong with Japan, but the way their people (not all though) complain about changing times and mindsets is no worse than the locals whining about the smallest inconvenience they encounter on a day-to-day basis. It is quite true that their country have unique pseudocultures which they can export, but what use is there for industries to complain about paradigm shifts, and if isolationism does happen, is it worth going through another Meiji Restoration just because of the undesirable change in the global market?

Here are the points covered by the primary reference :

Point 1 : 2007 was a calm year for the anime industry with a marked absence of new IPOs and mergers and acquisitions compared to previous years.

OPINION : It is 2007, the year right after 2006, which Haruhi pwned the anime market. IMO I couldn’t find another anime with an equally interesting storyline as the abovementioned. Let’s treat it as a calm after a storm. 2008 has a few things to look forward to though, like Code Geass 2 and the plot development for Gundam 00 .

Point 2 : Anime series are making less money and prime-time slots receive lower viewership.

OPINION : That is because all of the featured ones are getting to repetitive in terms of storyline, with little or no development in sequels. Could be the effect of Haruhi too.

Point 3 : The worst performing sector is DVD sales. Although as a whole it is stable, sales of individual titles have gone down.

OPINION : It never said anything about the sales of the other titles. Could some of them have gone up? Anyway physical distribution of media is slowly dying out as P2P becomes more widely known. Welcome to the age of technology Neanderthals, it is time to catch up.

Point 4 : There is still no sense of immediate danger as compared to market collapses overseas.

OPINION : That is the result of freak overseas marketing techniques, economic instability caused by the US dollar and oil prices, idiot censorship and the occasional bad luck. It is not like the first economic/marketing crisis such industries have seen.

Point 5 : Briefly mentions Geneon USA’s collapse and the Odex Incident in Singapore.

OPINION : Not sure about Geneon though, but I do know that Odex is just another lawsuit blown out of proportion, in which the business’ inferior marketing and negligent quality control lead to poor sales, which the bosses aptly blamed on the filesharing community. Going by the ideals of compromise and my personal the rhetoric “It is not my blowing fault that you suck” , such a situation could be averted if attention is paid to the overseas fan communities, by both Odex and the relevant anime companies involved in the fiasco.

Point 6 : Attributes the problems faced overseas to the development of digital fansubbing since the turn of the millennium.

OPINION : When a piece of new technology is created, it is meant to be used to aid humankind. Though its usage leaves much to be thought about, things are not created for no apparent reason. If something has absolutely no use and no value, it wouldn’t exist.

Point 7 : Online file-sharing did not catch on among anime fans in Japan initially, allegedly due to their more cautious attitudes towards the net.

OPINION : Since when did Japan’s anime fans adopt that more cautious attitude towards the net? Did the person who wrote this point REALLY did his/her research, or is it just like that blood-type theory of personality back four-fifths of a century ago?

Point 8 : However, it is gaining popularity now and Japanese fans are approaching the state of the English fansubbing community in 2000.

OPINION : It is obvious that such a thing is a trend, and possibly considered a step ahead for anime as fan communities around the world are drawn closer by the universality of the lingua franca.

Point 9 : Fansubs used to serve as promotion for DVDs but now foreign viewers are contented with just the digital rip.

OPINION : If you want people to support your products, then you have to make sure that it is a better offer than every other source available. Not all of the downloaders are freeloaders. Some of them DO actually buy the stuff if they like it. A “want” is a “need”, and it is simply a “need” of satisfication or happiness. Satisfy them or make them happy, that is the way much of the commercial world works (or the rest of the world for that matter and from a certain POV).

Point 10 : It is very likely that Japan’s anime DVD market will eventually go the same path as younger Japanese people grow used to file-sharing technology.

OPINION : Technology has always been rapidly advancing, and file-sharing has become a norm as consumers ride cyber-waves for search of their desired needs and wants. The ones who capitalise on the advantages of the Internet shall be duly and greatly rewarded, just like the way AC current was revolutionised as a way of transmitting energy to individual households. And PLEASE don’t tell me that the education system and relevant departments of law, as well as related personnel of the fore-mentioned parts of the Japanese society, exist for no apparent reason.

Point 11 : Online distribution is an important growth area and many companies, such as Bandai and Toei, are attempting it.

OPINION : That is the way to go. Trying out new technology rather than sitting there and complaining about how it has eroded moral values. In evolution, you have to advance both physically and mentally first before thinking about what you can do to prevent repercussions. If you don’t change your mindset first, how the heck are you going to deal with future problems the new-fangled stuff have caused? It IS possible that one can achieve advancement with minimum or no loss to morals. It depends on how the person does it, or whether the person is willing to do it or not.

Point 12 : However, online distribution can only produce extra income for companies with huge collections of past works and does not earn enough to substain new on-going titles.

OPINION : There is more than one way to market a product. As long as the title is praiseworthy, I don’t see why it can’t earn money. Besides STOP BEING LAZY AND PURITANICAL about the ways of doing business. Brains are meant to be used for thinking up new ideas, not just for rote memorisation of formulae and facts.

Okay this is just another pointless and bigoted post. I am going to sleep now. Nights.

* = I am not sure if this includes Gundam or other super-robot anime/manga/products.

Lazy Lazy Lazy

Been quite a while since I updated my blog.

Yay. I jus went to the arcade and……

I FINALLY PASSED UNDER THE SKY ON EXPERT!!! W00T!!!!!

Okay I need to sleep. Working tomorrow. Nights peeps.

Violence

I think I have been playing too many violent games.

Everytime someone offends me, the first thing I do is to look for weak points to attack. Usually these plans end with killing finishers like neckbreaking, head stomping, etc. And being in the customer service line gives me plenty of these kind of people.

I need to get a life. I am degrading.

Sleeping now. Nights.

Glorious Days

Glorious Days (Noria)
La La La La La La La La La La La La La….
I want to find the heart of my truth someday

so 鏡の中の空間, 瞬間　世の中の偽善から逃げ出し
Yo…なぜ”standard”で生きていく? YAH!
自分中心いんじゃない!　人を気にせずいんじゃない!
ホントをさらけ出し生きてけば so もっとラクになる so…

青く澄んだ空に祈り続けて　美しい世界をここに
希望に満ち　優しさ広げて素晴らしい日々を….

悩みなんて1つもない　悲しくない?　誰もいない?
光と影を両手に　共存生活, 競争生活

Translations
La la la la…
I want to find my heart’s truth someday.

So, I’m escaping from the time & space inside the mirror,
from the hypocrisy of this world.
Yo, why keep on living the “standard”? YAH!
It’s good to have a heart in you!
It’s good to separate yourself from other people!
If we live to expose the truth, it’ll be easier, so…

We continue praying to the clearing blue sky on this beautiful world.
Full of hopes, kindness expands through these glorious days…

Without even one worry, aren’t you sad? Nobody’s there?
The light and the shadows within both hands are living together, competing for existence.

Okay I had left this computer on for close to 48 hours. Time to switch it off. Nights people.

Work Work Work Work

I can’t believe that I am wasting most of my time working and sleeping.

I need to find something to do before Haruhi abandons this world!

I am going to sleep now. Nights.