Disqus - Latest Comments for Gundampilotspaz

Re: The Seven Year Itch

Gundampilotspaz — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 12:06:18 -0000

I relate to this sentiment extremely closely, especially with the upcoming Anime Boston, which will be my seventh in a row if I decide to go this year. I've been so focused on Anime Conventions and with anime culture at the height of my blog that it really got wrapped with with my identify and sense of self. Especially after I started giving panels.

After an Anime convention where I gave a panel I would go back to work, go back to the mundane normal life that I had left behind for three days. At an anime convention I knew people, I stood in front of crowds, and had the attention of people who wanted to hear what I had to say. Who laughed and clapped and cheered. Even as my interest in anime faded from it's height and I didn't want to focus all my writing time solely on anime, the convention experience that I had fostered over the years has no equivalent in any other fandom.

So I don't want to miss any chance I can to get those feeling, but I want to spend my money and vacation time traveling to new places and doing different things. It's a weird place to be. It's like being stuck between two different worlds.

Re: Series Review – Sora no Woto

Gundampilotspaz — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 23:24:26 -0000

Let me clear up one thing right off the bat: I love K-On!. I think K-On! is a fantastic show. I think the animation is fantastic, I love the characters, and I love the music. I own figures and plushies and probably will buy the overpriced Blu-Ray when Bandai finally releases them. I am a freak that way.

Moving past fact that Sora no Woto is obviously a derivative work... it has a lot of problems narratively that warrant a bad review. The pacing is insane, the plot doesn't show up until the final two episodes, and the world while beautiful and fantastically explored early in the series is never explored beyond the small town the show takes place in. The reason I was so fixated on the fact that the character personalities and designs are derivative is because that is what lured moe fans, like me, into the show. Sora no Woto never knew what it wanted to be and because of that as a series it squanders what was some rich potential. K-On! knows exactly what it is and uses it effectively.

The potential of Sora No Woto is encompassed in Episode 7, which is a stunning achievement as I stated in the review I want the story that is in that Episode of a world and people crippled by the the largest war imaginable. I want those emotions fleshed out and the world that war took place in fleshed out in detail. I wanted more history of the characters and what their individual experiences were as civilization crumbled around them. I didn't get that. I got a couple Moeblob characters running around in a field. That is why I was so angry at the Moe aspects of Sora no Woto: wasted potential.

Re: Type A vs. Type B Otaku: A False Choice

Gundampilotspaz — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 02:48:48 -0000

The categories themselves, even if they are attacking Moe fans, don't make any sense. If someone " simply enjoys anime" doesn't that imply they like all genres within the medium? It would make a Moe show and a Science Fiction show at the same level.

Plus, what does "proud of Japan's anime" even mean? How can you be proud of the entire medium... except for one certain part. If I'm a film buff do I have to be "proud of American films?" The language used in the definitions makes them invalid. It feels like they were written by a fifteen year old trying to start a flame war by using vague language and worthless blanket statements.

Re: Final Thoughts on Occult Academy

Gundampilotspaz — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 23:23:19 -0000

Paradox, meeting his younger self caused a rip in time and space to appear. It seems the aliens just found it and used the opportunity to invade earth. I assume this is independent from the "gate to hell" that Mikaze planned to open.

Re: Funimation to Stream Anime on Joost for free

Gundampilotspaz — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:14:13 -0000

Pretty much

Re: Bandai’s Change of Heart

Gundampilotspaz — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:45:50 -0000

"The price difference between the two anime markets is what killed BV USA and was what sparked Iyadomi’s controversial statement at the New York Anime Festival. You cannot sell DVDs in America at Japanese prices, but at the same time, you run the risk of Japanese importing American DVDs at a cheaper price instead of purchasing the DVD domestically."

In a couple years you aren't going to be able to sell any DVDs to anyone. Digital content will take over, and sooner than most people suspect. Anime fans tend to me more tech savvy (at least in the United States) than the average person. If they do not come out with affordable digital copies, or free ad supported digital copies, they will fail. I'm not talking about streaming either, I do not like streaming. I do not like the quality, I do not like the idea that I need to relay on Flash or Silverlight to watch the content, and I do not like the idea of not being able to access the content away from an internet connection. They know what we want. That's clear from the number of fansub groups and the quality and file size that those files go out in. We want high quality subtitled digital copies.

Re: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Gundampilotspaz — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:30:21 -0000

Fillion's character stopped being fun at the end of Act 2. That kind of depressed me. How can you not be rooting for Dr. Horrible at this point?

Re: Greg Ayres and the Fight Against Fansubs

Gundampilotspaz — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:51:34 -0000

Greg Ayres and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad fansubbers :

http://timetravelisawesome....

Re: Slayers Revolution opening

Gundampilotspaz — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:16:09 -0000

My mistake! I blame ANN using non-American date structure!

Re: Greg Ayres and the Fight Against Fansubs

Gundampilotspaz — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:00:54 -0000

The series of youtube videos I watched he seemed pretty hostile. Maybe it was just his energy? The one who seemed almost villain-ish like was Tiffany Grant. She was one of the only American VAs I respected because of her genuine Anime Fandom. I waited in line for 2 hours in 2003 for her autograph!

But I guess everyone gets that way when their jobs are on the line.

Re: Greg Ayres and the Fight Against Fansubs

Gundampilotspaz — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:55:42 -0000

Since when do American Licensing Companies demand respect? I'm the customer. They are trying to sell a product that I am willing to buy. I was even close to buying anime from iTunes but they do not offer subtitles with a Japanese language track.. Why should I pay money for something I do not want.

It is not being "selfish and disrespectful" to demand a product that I want from a company. If they don't provide the product I want then I'm going to get it some other way.

So I'm shaming the entire Anime community? Are you dictating what the moral standpoint of anyone who happens to watch anime should have? Morals are relative, someone might think that the American Licensing companies don't deserve money for anime they didn't create and instead spend hundreds of dollars on merchandise. Are they less of an anime fan for that?

Re: Greg Ayres and the Fight Against Fansubs

Gundampilotspaz — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:41:24 -0000

Education is going to effect a very small part of the community, that part he got right. But unfortunately making the fans adopt to an old model is not the way to save the industry. The way to save the industry is to adopt to the fans. We want the shows faster. We want them as downloads. We don't want to pay $30 for three episodes, we'd like to pay $1.99 or less per episode instead.

My immediate reaction to anyone who doesn't like me infringing on copyiright is this: "I want to use this media how I choose, I do not want to be restricted."

Hulu, for example, is a massive step forward towards giving the fans what they want. I don't mind sitting though sixty second ads every fifteen minutes if the content is free. This is the model all entertainment industries are going to have to adopt. But they also need to trust in the technology. As a fan I want to do more with this content than just stream it on my computer. I want to have this content is put it on my desktop, my laptop, my iPhone, and my AppleTV. I want to reencode and store it on DVD.

I'd prefer to do this with permission, but the industry refuses to give me that permission. Podcasters can send video down to me once a week over RSS and I can take that physical file and do what I want with it. Podcasters can put short thirty second ads to earn money for their content. If a podcaster can do it, with almost no money, than why can't the big guys do it?

Because the big studios are scared. They don't know how to adopt and how to change with technology or the demands of their fans. The answer to the declining anime industry is not education, it's evolution.

Even if they provide this content to me for nothing with ads, that doesn't mean I won't buy DVDs. In my mind hard media is dead. DVDs have become more of a piece of merchandise than as a way to get content. I own two version of Evangelion because I really liked the new packaging, and the fact that it was remastered in high quality helped. Even a few months ago I almost bought the new Evangelion collectors tin that had the same DVDs I already own because it was so pretty. I own two copies of the movie Serenity because the collectors edition looks so good on my shelf. I own the Lord of the Rings Trilogy TWICE. The Berserk Box Set is a work of Art. I could go on just describing my book shelves. DVDs are merchandise now, even pieces of art themselves.

He isn't wrong. Anyone who watches their industry going downhill is going to attempt to save it. He is just not approaching the problem correctly. He is taking the side of the suits who only care about the bottomline; do not adopt to the fans make the fans adopt to US.

Also, the attitude you take in this post isn't going to win you any points in the fansubbing communities. It's almost hostile. I'm sure it is not on purpose, but it's not flattering. Things like "These folks are already so close minded about the world around them that they cannot sympathize with the industry and community behind it." is not the way to get people like me to join your crusade. The way to get people like me to join your crusade is to fix the broken industry.

Re: DVD playing Wii delayed again

Gundampilotspaz — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:16:55 -0000

Exactly. It's silly to want every device that you own to be an all in one device. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo is using this claim to show the shareholders and fanboys that they don't really need the device to play DVDs.