Immortallium's Blog

My Complete And Total Opposition To Piracy

Published August 26, 2021

When it comes to the general anime and manga fandom in the West, I’ve noticed that there are many who not only embrace piracy but hold it up on a pedestal, criticising those who point out the problems with their practises by claiming that true anime and manga fans pirate, that they can’t afford it, that anime and manga take too long to be translated officially etc. Today, I thought I might take a look at the history of anime and manga piracy, the flaws in the arguments in favour of piracy and why I have both a complete and total opposition to the practise.

First, we should take a look at the history of anime and manga piracy and why the modern implementation of it is completely different to the historical. Around the 1980s, anime clubs began to be established in numerous cities within the United States. These clubs access to anime was restricted as anime was rarely licensed in America and, when it was, tended to be butchered from its original form. In order to show anime at these clubs, VHS copies of anime in their original format with fan made subtitles known as “Fansubs” began to be produced so that fans could watch these shows. However, while technically illegal in that a copyrighted work was being distributed without the express permission of the copyright holder, the scale was so limited and controlled, due to the fact you needed to have a physical VHS in hand, that they were often ignored. In contrast, modern fansubs are produced for and distributed via the internet, a platform that is notoriously difficult to control content on and the scale is no longer a few thousand people but millions upon millions.

海賊版、無くしていきたいです。
海賊版が次から次へ湧いて出てきても、読者の方々が海賊版を読まないでいてくれさえすればいいのです。
お金を払ってまで読みたくないな、と思われたならそれは私と作品の実力不足なのでそれはそれでいいのです。海賊版で読むくらいなら読まないで欲しいです。
— Gino0808@❄️🦀ドラマ化！ (@0808gino) January 4, 2021

The manga artist Gino0808 stated that they didn’t want you to read their manga at all if you were going to pirate it.

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Hideaki Anno, The Ultimate Otaku

Published August 23, 2021

With the release of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time and the announcement that the OVA series Gunbuster is getting a Blu-ray release in America with a brand new English dub, the name “Hideaki Anno” seems to be on everyone’s tongues recently. However, while I could certainly write an article on the filmography of Hideaki Anno (which I should probably do someday), I’ve become more interested in him lately due to his lifestyle, his passions and being, in my own words, the ultimate otaku.

I should probably first define what an otaku is. The term “Otaku” is basically the Japanese equivalent of the word “Nerd” and while the word can refer to a variety of interests in Japan, in the West the word is typically associated with enthusiasts of Japanese popular culture, specifically anime and manga. While the word is considered to be offensive in Japan, typically because it implies a lack of social skills, the word has been embraced by the Western fandom to identify themselves. However, even the most seemingly passionate of Western otaku pale in comparison to Hideaki Anno, the ultimate otaku.

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My Thoughts On The New Handheld Steam Deck

Published August 19, 2021

On the 15th of July, 2021, the Valve Corporation, the creator of Steam and many revered gaming franchises, announced that they were developing a handheld gaming device called the Steam Deck. Given the lacklustre announcement of the new Switch OLED, the internet grew excited at a new handheld gaming device that could compete with Nintendo as they’re the only major gaming company with handheld devices on offer. Given how exciting the Steam Deck might be for both PC gaming, of which I’m quite the fan, and handheld gaming, I thought it might be interesting to share my thoughts on the device.

I should probably first start by giving my thoughts on handheld gaming in general. As a child, I was quite the enthusiast of handheld gaming devices. One of my first gaming devices was a Game Boy Colour on which I enthusiastically played the first and second generation Pokémon games. The Game Boy Advance was probably the peak of my excitement for handheld gaming devices. Generation three of Pokémon was the generation that I spent the most time playing and I became enthusiastic about many other franchises such as Fire Emblem, handheld versions of the Final Fantasy games, Advance Wars etc. While I did pick up a Nintendo DS as well as a Sony PSP, I spent less time playing them than I did previous handhelds as my enthusiasm for PC gaming was on the rise. Once the Nintendo 3DS, Sony PS Vita and Nintendo Switch had been released, I had lost almost all interest in portable gaming and didn’t bother picking up any of these new consoles. I confess that when I first heard that the Nintendo Switch was going to be a hybrid system that involved both portable and home gaming, I assumed that it was just a gimmick and that the system would do poorly just like the Wii U did. Turns out that I was completely wrong on that account since the Nintendo Switch is now estimated to have sold around 89 million units and has proven that there is still a demand for portable gaming.

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An Overview of Tankobon And Other Interesting Manga Formats

Published August 16, 2021

I’ve spoken before about how manga is typically released within manga magazines in Japan. However, I have not spoken about (or if I have, only touched upon) how manga is released when a number of chapters are collected together and released in a single book. Considering how important these releases are for the medium of manga, both within Japan and without, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at an overview of tankobon and other formats.

Having already mentioned it, let’s take a look at tankobon and what they are. The most typical way for manga chapters to be collected into, tankobon are volumes of manga that typically collect 180-200 pages of a manga (although exceptions do exist) into a single book. These books are typically 11 cm by 17.5 cm and higher quality paper than what would be seen in a manga magazine. Most Western releases of manga are released in this format as well although it’s worth pointing out that the majority of Western tankobon are slightly bigger with dimensions of 13 cm by 19 cm.

A size comparison between volume 15 of the Japanese edition of Bakuman (left) and the volume 15 release of the Western edition of Bakuman (right).

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The Fantastic And Wonderful Anime Director Mamoru Hosoda

Published August 12, 2021

I was perusing the news recently when I spotted something quite interesting. Mamoru Hosoda’s new film “Belle” debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and the audience responded after a screening by giving Mamoru Hosoda a 14 minute standing ovation! This news reminded me that, while I have written about other anime directors before such as Makoto Shinkai, I have yet to write about the fantastic and wonderful director Mamoru Hosoda himself, something which I’m going to rectify.

Mamoru Hosoda started off his career by working at Toei Animation, one of the oldest and more revered anime studios in Japan. During this time, it’s notable that Mamoru Hosoda directed two Digimon shorts films, “Digimon Adventure” and “Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!” which would later be recut along with another Digimon film into the Western release of “Digimon: The Movie”. Later on, Studio Ghibli chose Mamoru Hosoda to direct Howl’s Moving Castle but, after creative differences, he ultimately left the project.

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An Overview Of The Godzilla Franchise

Published August 9, 2021

For many years, I’d been waiting patiently for an opportunity to begin watching the Godzilla films, arguably one of the most important franchises in Japanese popular culture. Recently, I began watching the Godzilla movies after I picked up Criterion’s release of the Showa era Godzilla films and have since become determined to explore the world of tokusatsu in greater depth. However, with an official 36 Godzilla films, many people are understandably confused or intimidated by the series and, so, I decided that it would be worth providing an overview of the Godzilla franchise and the eras and timelines.

Arguably the most important film in the franchise is the one that started it all, the original 1954 film that introduced the world to Godzilla (known in Japanese as Gojira). The film opens up with several Japanese fishing vessels being destroyed mysteriously and the discovery of a giant radioactive creature that threatens Japan. The film was the originator of “Suitmation”, a technique developed by the late Eiji Tsuburaya which had the monster portrayed by a person in a latex suit. This technique would go on to become a staple of not only the kaiju industry but the tokusatsu industry as a whole. However, another important aspect of the original Godzilla film is that it would become the springboard from which nearly every Godzilla timeline would begin.

The Japanese language poster for the original Godzilla film released in 1954.

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My Thoughts On The Price Of Video Games

Published August 5, 2021

The past year or so has seen several AAA game publishers make the decision to raise the price of their video games to $70. Understandably, this has raised concern amongst gamers and led to a debate on the true value of video games. In order to give my own thoughts on the price of video games, I’ve decided to share a bit of my history with video games, their prices and to then discuss my thoughts on video games prices in the modern era.

First, I should explain that I’ve always had a skewed view when it comes to the value of video games. The first video game to ever have a major effect on me was Final Fantasy IV. While a short JRPG by today’s standard, I can remember spending at least over 50 hours playing the game as a kid due in part to both being unfamiliar with the genre and inefficient time management. Nonetheless, I was hooked on JRPGs and sought out others of its kind. I even dipped my toes into Western RPGs as well and came to expect that all video games would take at least 30 hours or more. However, as I began to branch out into other video game genres, I came to the realisation that many other video games averaged around 10-20 hours. This caused me to reject purchasing many other game genres for a while and to favour RPGs since I felt that I got more value out of them. I eventually got past this and came to appreciate the variety of genres in the video game medium but I think it’s important that you’re aware of this history.

For me, Final Fantasy IV and many other RPGs set unrealistic expectations for the length of video games in general.

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Manga Series With The Most Volumes

Published August 2, 2021

Recently, it was announced that the manga series Golgo 13 had broken a record set by Kochikame in 2016 for most volumes released in a series, surpassing the latter after they released their 201st volume. This feat is highly impressive and I decided that it was time to take a look at a few manga series that are noteworthy for having an incredible number of volumes.

Of course, we should start with the new champion, Golgo 13. Originally beginning in October, 1968, in Big Comic, Golgo 13 already had the record for longest-running manga series. Golgo 13 follows an assassin named Duke Togo who operates under the alias Golgo 13 and is one of the greatest snipers in the world. The series is episodic with Duke Togo hired to assassinate a particular target, going over the challenges associated with these jobs and Duke Togo taking an incredibly difficult shot that successfully kills the target. Golgo 13 is an incredibly successful series, having sold around 300 million copies and becoming the best-selling seinen manga of all time. It’s also amazing to note that Takao Saito, the mangaka, only recently took his first hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic! Despite this success, the series is highly underrepresented in English, having only seen a best of compilation by Viz Media.

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Why Toonami Was So Important For Western Anime Fandom

Published July 29, 2021

The late 1990s and early 2000s was a very exciting time to be a fan of anime. What had once been a relatively niche product which often saw dramatic edits and changes to try to appeal to Americans began to hit mainstream popularity and, while many edits continued to occur, series and films began to be released in a more loyal fashion. While there were many avenues that the burgeoning Western anime fans could pursue to experience the world of anime, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at one particular source, Toonami, and how it contributed to the rising Western fandom.

First, let’s discuss the origins of Toonami. Originally releasing as a programming block within Cartoon Network in 1997 to replace the Super Adventures block, it oriented itself as focused on action animated series, in contrast to the comedy series typical for the channel. The early years predominantly focused on Western animated series although we did see a smattering of anime series such as Voltron, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z. However, the brand was refocused in 1999 with the establishment of a new host for the channel, T.O.M., and the announcement of Toonami Midnight Run, a programming block that would air after midnight and show content too violent or inappropriate for the daytime Toonami block.

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The Tokyo 2020 Olympics And Japanese Popular Culture

Published July 26, 2021

As this article is being written, the amusingly named Tokyo 2020 Olympics are due to begin on the 23rd of July, 2021 and proceed until the 8th of August, 2021. Barring some catastrophe, it seems unlikely that they are going to get postponed again like they were last year. Taking this into account, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and how Japan has decided to use it as a vehicle to promote Japanese popular culture worldwide.

First, I should clarify that I myself have little to no interest in the Olympics and I can only imagine that I’d end up watching them if someone physically restrained me to a chair and forced me to watch them! However, I do confess that I’m quite interested to see how the Japanese government handles their “Cool Japan” push in the context of the games and whether this is ultimately a success.

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