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While production for the fan maligned live-action Akira adaptation may have screeched to a halt as of January 5, 2012, Otomo Katsuhiro–the original creator for the manga and anime–is ever busy with an upcoming art exhibit at the 3331 Chiyoda Arts Centre in Tokyo, Japan, showcased between April 9th to March 30th, 2012. The Genga Exhibition, as it is called, already has a catalogue available for pre-order on Amazon.co.jp. So far, unpublished art for Kaba 2 will be showcased alongside pieces from his other work. In addition to that, a special discussion will occur live on UStream between Katsuhiro-san, Blood: The Last Vampire‘s Katsuya Terada, and Perfect Blue‘s Hisashi Higuchi on April 9th, 8 p.m. Japan local time. Guests are required to purchase their tickets in advance at Lawson’s convenience stores for admittance at a designated time. What’s better is that this is an opportunity to geek out for a good cause. Thirty percent of ticket proceeds go towards helping victims of the 3/11 Earthquake. Nothing’s set in stone, but I’ll definitely try to make it out there sometime in April or May and report further on the exhibit. Tickets are on sale 1500円 for adults, 800円 for students, and 500円 for junior high school students. For more information, visit 3331 Chiyoda Arts homepage or follow them on Twitter and Facebook. 6-11-14 Sotokanda Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo 101-0021 TEL：+81(0)3-6803-2441 / FAX：+81(0)3-6803-2442 / E-MAIL：info@3331.jp
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Say the word “Postmodern” and a tide of ideas flood the imagination. Structuralism, metanarratives, semiotics, and other obscure studies come to mind. At best they sound intelligently incomprehensible. At worst they reek of fashionable nonsense. Hiroki Azuma’s book, Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals, reads like neither. Unlike the milieu of thinkers who dwell in the pages of academic journals, Azuma’s prose is accessibly lucid despite the citation of high-minded thinkers and philosophers like Jean Baudrillard, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and G.W.F. Hegel. He eschews a pedantic writing style in favor of a lucid journalistic one to analyze and explain the phenomena of Japan’s most notorious caste of social pariahs: the Otaku. Japan’s homegrown niche of anime geeks may seem like a pretentiously unrelated topic for the lofty heights of philosophy and theory. That is, it would be if Azuma didn’t make such compelling claims. The core argument of the book centers on the collapse of the “Grand Narrative” concerning Otaku consumption. Look at the Grand Narrative as a sense of meaning or purpose, but while the rest of the world was in conflict during the Cold War, Japan only had industry and consumption as a guiding light. The Otaku substituted this with fictional narratives to fill the void, but even this was insufficient. Azuma noted that late into the 1990s, consumers ceased to show as much interest in the plots of anime so much as their characters. Azuma uses the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime as an example. Multiple narratives currently exist for the Eva franchise through various multimedia projects, but most have little to do with the “original”. “[The Otaku] did not really have a concern for the entire world of Evangelion,” Azuma writes. “Instead they focused exclusively on the setting and character designs as objects for exclusive interpretation.” In other words, the characters, not the story were its fans’ passion “One might argue that the original TV series of Evangelion [still] continued to function as an entry…into the grand narrative. However, Otaku culture of the few years since Evangelion is rapidly abandoning the need for even this entry point,” writes Azuma. The emergence of Di Gi Charot enforces his claim. An anime gaming dealership originally created its protagonist, Digiko, as a mascot for its enterprise. No narrative existed prior to this character’s conception, yet an anime and series of novels came to fruition following Digiko’s growing popularity. Even the character Usada Hikaru’s name was determined by a fan poll. In this instance, the “database” of anonymous fans directly influenced the creation of these characters without any sign of original authorship. With the collapse of the Grand Narrative then, what alternative framework is there for seeing the world? “It is easier to comprehend the world through a database model,” Azuma writes. “An easily understandable example of this is the Internet. The Net has no center. That is, no hidden grand narrative regulates all Web pages.” What’s left are different parts for consumers to pick and choose from the database and craft together and render...
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It’s 2012 and no progress yet on the live-action adaptation of the Akira anime. Rest assured, Bandai is releasing a replica of Kaneda’s jacket in the mean time. The jacket is to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Otomo Katsuhiro’s manga and it’s yours for the low, low price of 69,800 yen. You can purchase it here on Bandai’s Namco page or the official website for the anniversary.
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All you need to know is January 26-Feb 12th. Here’s a link to the schedule and it’s in two locations, Santa Monica and Hollywood. You have little excuses if you’re a fan and in LA. There’s also some rarities so do take a look at the calendar. Miyazaki is more than Totoro! (American Cinematique – Miyazaki)
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LA County Museum of Art will be presenting new, English-subtitled 35mm prints of two Hayao Miyazaki films: CASTLE IN THE SKY (the very first Ghibli feature is having its 25th anniversary) and SPIRITED AWAY (10th anniversary). CASTLE will screen at 4:30 pm and SPIRITED will screen at 7:30 pm. Want to go? We have some FREE TICKETS. Yes, you can go to both screenings and also receive a one sheet (it’s some type of promo material poster or smaller image) for the upcoming Ghibli feature, Secret World of Arrietty. We have a few sets to give away. If you want in: Just send us the reason why you’d like to go. Hopefully it’s more than a sentence. We might publish it in a future blog post and hopefully it’ll warm people’s hearts like Miyazaki’s movies do. Send it to: info (at) giantrobot.com
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