I have a really hard time believing when people tell me that they don’t like anime. They may think that they don’t like anime, they may not have ever seen an anime that they like, they may only have ever been exposed to the dubbed, edited, and sanitized anime found on TV for children, but still, for them to say that they don’t like anime and just be done with it, never to give it a second look, is just ignorant.

Anime is not a genre. It’s just a medium, another way to tell a story. Any story. To say that you don’t like anime is like saying you don’t like movies or books or vegetables. There is such a wide variety of anime out there, encompassing all genres for all age groups, that I refuse to believe a person can’t at least find one that they enjoy. And once you find one and start to become accustomed to the culture behind it all, it’s really easy to get right into it and start widening your horizons. Soon you’ll be checking out all sorts of various shows based on topics that you’d probably never even think to watch and find yourself enjoying the hell out of them.

Case in point is the show I just started watching this past weekend. It’s called “Yakitate Japan” and it’s all about making bread. Yeah, that’s right, I said bread. Now, I’ve never once baked bread before, and I can’t say that I have much interest in the expansive universe of bread, but I’ve totally gotten into this show. Essentially it starts off with the typical anime cliche of a young boy who has a natural gift and a lot of potential, but is quite clueless of the details regarding the world he is about to enter. He has but one goal; to create a bread that will overtake rice in the hearts and minds of the Japanese people and become worthy of being known as Japan’s national bread. Sound exciting? Ok, no, not really. But in it’s execution is where it really shines. The animation, direction, characters, wild imagery, and storytelling take this topic that most would find boring and turn it into a very compelling series. Plus, the attention to detail is fascinating. All of the science and chemistry that’s involved with baking is in there, so even if you had no interest in the topic beforehand, it becomes a lot of fun to learn something new through watching a cartoon.

The other quality I like about this show is the cultural quirkiness about it. The Japanese language makes for a lot of potential puns, and this show is full of them. Even the name of the show itself is a play on words. “Yakitate Japan” essentially translates to “Freshly Baked Japan” or something along those lines. “Pan” is Japanese for bread, and thus the word “Japan” in this context is a clever way of saying “Japanese bread“. Luckily, the people responsible for the fansubs have taken it upon themselves to explain all the puns. Makes me feel somewhat cultured to learn about the subtleties of the language like this.

This is the kind of show that would never come out of the US animation industry. While the suits in LA are worried about key demographics and selling toys, shows like this are coming from Japan. It may seem strange at first to admit that you’re watching a cartoon about bread, but it’s so entertaining that you can’t help but to enjoy it. I’ll be watching this show for awhile. So for all you haters out there who refuse on whatever principals to watch any and all anime, I urge you to branch out a little and try something new. I guarantee that if you look hard enough, you’ll find a freshly baked series that you’ll enjoy.

Sayonara.

Finally, after years of delays, the Special Edition DVD of the spectacular animated film “The Iron Giant” is available today.

Words can not express how much I love this movie. It’s easily one of the best animated movies to be released within the past 10 years. It’s an all ages movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s a kiddie movie. It’s just as thrilling and gripping to an adult as it is to kids. There’s no singing animals or dancing teacups, it’s just a solid movie that happens to be animated.

I remember seeing it when it first came out. Aside from my dad, my sister, and myself, the theater was pretty much empty. I left thinking what a shame it was that only a handful of people turned out to see such an amazing film. Sure enough, when the box office results came in later that weekend, The Iron Giant was buried in 8th place. How sad. Warner Bros. did very little to promote their own product. But the movie’s reputation would spread over time. When it was released to video, I was working at a video store and did my best to use my position of authority over the masses of pop-movie consumers to make sure that everyone knew how great that movie is. Nowadays most people who know what they’re talking about know how great this movie is, but it’s still largely unknown to the general public.

There has been a standard DVD available for quite some time, but it was a barebones release. The promised Special Edition was constantly pushed back and was released now in order to capitalize on director Brad Bird’s new movie, “The Incredibles“. It shouldn’t have taken so long to get here, but it’s here now. So if you love animation, hell, if you just love good movies, then go and show your support for this underrated gem of a film and check this movie out.

Everyone should see this movie. Everyone. Don’t be a gun. Watch it.

Sayonara.

Had an interesting and somewhat difficult time teaching yesterday. Not because of the students, though. They were great. It was because of the building and the people running it. The rooms that we usually hold our classes in were occupied and became change rooms for some sort of ballet recital. There were little girls in pink tutus with their panicking parents all over the place. It was insanity. So it was arranged for me to have a room somewhere else. Unfortunately, this room was pretty far away from the usual place where the students know to show up, throwing a huge monkey wrench into the operation.

So this is the room, sort of a dungeon/nursery in the lower floor of the Community Center’s library. I don’t know exactly the sort of activities that take place here, but I can tell just by looking around that I am far too old to take part in them. Not the ideal place to teach how to draw anime, but I had to roll with the punches. But the thing is that no one else who was working there knew that I would be occupying this room. So as I’m setting up before the students were to arrive, someone involved with the library looked inside with a “What the hell are you doing here?” kind attitude about her.

She says to me “Can I help you?“
And I say “Nope! I’m good!” Heh heh heh.

That’s not all, though. See the projector on the left side of the picture? I usually get a TV in my regular room that I can hook a DVD player up to show anime and illustrate certain points I try to make. I didn’t have the TV this time, so I hooked my DVD player up to that projector instead. There was a gigantic roll of shiny white paper there, so I decided that I’ll tape some of that to the wall to use as a makeshift screen for the projector. Well the aforementioned employee who tried to “help” me earlier came back as I was cutting a piece from the roll and was all upset, asking about if usage of this paper was in the contract with the building operators. All I could do is tell her who my boss was and to go talk to him. So a bit later he comes down and asks about this white paper he was told I was using.

I pointed to that. Already frazzled by the day’s events being sprung on him like this, he just sighed and said “Oh my God“, as if to wonder what the hell was wrong with these people.

So we go back upstairs and start rounding up our students. His students were put into a different room around the corner, while I had to wait for mine in the lobby and then take them through the library and then down into this dungeon. I did the class as best as I could under the circumstances, and the students were good sports about it. I was able to turn the experience into a running joke through the lesson, talking about how our classroom had been overrun by dancing zombies in pink tutus. I was not too far off from the truth.

I usually plaster the walls with anime posters, but this room already had a permanent set of decorations for young children that the students didn’t enjoy so much. Case in point is this politically correct, self affirming series of images taped to the wall.

Everyone can be a star? Yeah, except for the dude in the green shirt on the right. That guy is hopeless.

What a tiring day. When I got home I just crashed with exhaustion. I hope I don’t have to deal with that sort of thing again. Though I’m sure I’ll be dealing with some other disaster eventually anyway.

Sayonara.

You know, sometimes I’m am simply forced to sit back and scratch my head in utter bewilderment. This doesn’t happen very often, but when people prove, over and over again, just how dumb they are, I can’t help but to wonder… WHY?

If there are people out there who dislike my website so much, then why do they keep visiting it? If someone could please help me answer this question, perhaps I can finally find enlightenment. So please, tell me your theories, because it just doesn’t make any sense.

I would think that the concept of not exposing oneself to something they find unpleasant is fairly rudimentary, is it not? If you don’t like this website, then just don’t go to it anymore!

Is that so hard to understand?

Logic, people!

Sayonara.

I am at my wit’s end with this computer. It kept on resetting itself for no reason. Even after a clean install, it just kept happening. I did what I thought would fix it, but now I just get the good ol’ Blue Screen of Death. In fact, it’s probably going to happen again any time now, so I had better save this right now.

There. Saved.

I have no idea what is wrong. I’ve removed everything that this junkbox could possibly find offensive. But it just keeps happening. I’m this close to just gutting this system and using one computer instead of two, but I’d rather keep the other one separate for Photoshop and other more intensive applications, and this misbehaving one here for everything else. Sigh.

There. Saved again. Don’t you quit on me now!

Ok, so now to catch up on things.

On Sunday I went to see a screening of the original 1954 black and white Godzilla. I had actually tried to get tickets to see it on Friday, but it sold out and another screening was set up. This is the newly restored and subtitled print that has been making the rounds on the small theater circuit. Believe it or not, I actually saw the film at an art gallery, right beside where I used to go to school. That’s right, because Godzilla is an art film.

Laugh all you want, but that’s not actually too far from the truth. The original Godzilla is a very dark and artful movie, with a lot of allegory and social commentary when put into the context of the time. It seemed like a few people were there simply to laugh at the cheesiness, and sure, the first time you actually see Godzilla it is a bit silly, but as the movie went on I think people got into it and saw how serious it really is. After it was over I found that the people I watched it with had some interesting commentary. They saw Godzilla as the “good guy“. That’s a unique observation, and while I’m not going to say that it’s wrong, most people who studied the film would say that Godzilla is a villain, and his image was gradually softened as the movies of the Showa era went on. But the case could be made that Godzilla is simply the force of nature and mankind is the villain for waking him up. It’s a much different film than the dubbed and edited version staring Raymond Burr. There was more substance there since it related so closely to the Atomic Bombs that were dropped on Japan during World War II. The subject matter regarding weapons is still timely, and while the effects are dated as you’d expect from a movie this old, the destruction of Tokyo is an incredible and intense scene. It’s no wonder that people in Japan were lining up in front of theaters for hours to see this movie 50 years ago. I’m very glad that I went to see it and that I was joined by others who enjoyed it as well.

Now hopefully this computer will start being good so I won’t have to go all Godzilla on it.

Which reminds me. There. Saved again.

Sayonara.