Sports Post: Why we're daisuki for Daisuke

Ask an American baseball fan why Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is so compelling and they might say it's because he "performs well under pressure and has a dizzying arsenal of pitches." And they would be lying, because that easily describes five other top-notch pitchers in the league. No, the real reasons for Daisukemania are as much cultural as they are statistical and mechanical:

An exotic look. Cut the melting-pot crap. You can celebrate globalization and color-blindness all you want, but no matter how you look at it, Matsuzaka IS a minority in the majors, and that IS part of his appeal. His face is foreign, his language is foreign, his playing background is foreign, and so of course he stands out.

A legendary back story. It's a tale repeated so many times that you might as well file it with the Momotaro and Bamboo Princess folktales: at the Koshien high school championships, Matsuzaka throws 250 pitches in a 17-inning complete game, then pitches in relief for a come-from-behind win the next day, THEN throws a no-hitter in the final. Honestly, if you told me that Matsuzaka also sees spirits and has the soul of a nine-tailed fox inside him, I would not be surprised in the least.

A dash of Eastern mysticism. One word: GYROBALL*. Matsuzaka doesn't even throw it, but the mere idea of a Mysterious Mindbending Japanese Pitch is enough to get the imagination going, sort of like the baseball equivalent of ninjutsu or onmyou-do or any of those Ancient East Asian Arts that are supposed to give you special powers, except they really don't. Like Hideo Nomo's contorted delivery, or Ichiro Suzuki's blinding speed, the idea of exotic skills possessed by an exotic ballplayer makes them that much more fascinating.

*Note: The gyroball is simply a fastball that spins longitudinally (like a bullet) rather than the traditional backspin, and this confuses the hell out of hitters because it looks like the ball is just floating at them. So don't listen to anyone who says "It's a slider that breaks really funny" or whatever.

Comics Post: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth.

I don't know what the deal is with British people, but it would not be the first time that Asian comics have inspired Christian recruitment materials. No, I'm not talking about that Serenity series (compare and contrast! British vs. American "Christian manga"), but the work of Jack T. Chick, arguably the world's most famous Christian evangelist in the comics medium. According to the review section of Chickcomics.com, The Wicked Magistrate (1989) was "a custom tract made especially for a Korean audience and was originally printed only in that language," which in parlance would make it a genuine "Christian manhwa."


Looking at the preview they give you, it seems to owe more to the Chinese kung-fu comics tradition more than anything, but eh, a comic in Korean printed in Korea is a Korean comic, so whatchagonnado? The story itself is basically an Orientalized version of one of Jesus' parables, so it's not quite as exciting as, say, the Dungeons and Dragons one. A translated English version is available but you have to sign up for the Chick club.

Sadly, it seems that Chick is yet to rail against the dangers of Japanese comics and cartoons, which are obvious hotbeds of sin. C'mon, false-god worship (Oh My Goddess!), witchcraft and sorcery (Bleach), adultery (any shoujo and josei romance EVAR), even entire genres devoted to homosexuality? Fish in a barrel, people! But maybe Jack Chick is the kind of guy who prefers a challenge. And proving that Pokémon is Satanic is beneath even his dignity.

Literature Post: What is a "book," anyway?

Seen on Episode 2 of Lucky Star:

"There was this thing on TV about the average number of books a person in Japan reads annually, and they said to omit manga and limit the count to normal books."
"Well, manga is..."
"Do light novels count?"
"I'm not sure. Light novels should be okay..."
"What about artbooks?"
"Since they're called books, they might count..."
"Other fantasy stuff like Harry Potter is considered normal ... So what do you call a normal book?"

What is a "normal" book indeed? Over the centuries, prose text has become synonymous with the book, although one is merely the symbolic medium through which information is conveyed, and the other is the physical container. Perhaps our fictional TV survey would have been more correct to ask "How many novels do you read annually?"

I think it speaks to the wonderful versatility of the book that it can be used to contain so many forms of information and entertainment: text, images, and everything on the sliding scale in between. And yet when someone says "I'm not really into books," they might just mean they don't read full-out novels, but have no problem with comics, video game strategy guides, or photobooks, all of which are, ostensibly, in book format, yet lack the traits of what society perceives as a "normal" book.

But trying to pin restrictors on the definition of "book" is silly anyway. We live in a world where no form of art or entertainment exists in a bubble, and you would be some kind of fool to think that your medium of choice is immune to outside influences and cross-marketing opportunities. Even a "bookstore" has long stopped being a bookstore; it's more like a multimedia store with a coffee shop. I mean, what kind of Borders is this where I can buy a greeting card, the latest Oscar-contending movie, and a mochaccino?

Freedom of choice is a good thing, most times, and if I can choose to walk into a modern American "bookstore" and make a purchase without getting a single book, then I can very well choose to read any "book" I like regardless of its text-to-image ratio. The container stays the same, but the medium is highly mutable; conversely, the same medium can be adapted to many different containers, as our little philosophers in Lucky Star get the last laugh:

"And the TV show ended by saying how young people are becoming increasingly illiterate, but doesn't browsing the Internet and blogging actually improve your literacy?"

Movie Post: What 5,537 moviegoers want you to watch

Don't you just love offbeat entertainment polls? A recent one asks the Japanese public, What Japanese films would you recommend to foreigners? The answers may surprise you. Highly recommended are the works of Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyazaki ... and Clint Eastwood?

I checked over the list and realized I've only seen the animated ones. I find this horrifically embarrassing. (Yes, I've never seen Seven Samurai, not even the whacko Gonzo version with the 17th-century mechas and whatever.)

But also, I do not see how the Death Note movie would be recommended viewing for ANYONE, unless you had the hots for L, or something. Read the comic, for crap's sake.

Comics Post: Why manga is like the L.A. Lakers

In 2003, the National Basketball Association made a slight tweak to their playoff tournament format. The first round of the playoffs, with 16 teams competing to advance, used to consist of a best-of-5 series—whoever won 3 games first advanced to the next round. That year, it became a best-of-7 series, and whoever won 4 games first would advance.

Stuff like this does not just happen randomly. What happened that year was, the Los Angeles Lakers—who play in one of the NBA's biggest TV markets and featured two of the league's biggest stars at the time, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant—had finished with just a 5th seed in the Western Conference. The once-mighty Lakers did not look so mighty that year, and certain businesspersons were deathly afraid that the Lakers might actually be eliminated in the first round, and so it would be necessary to grab as many TV and advertising dollars as possible while they were still in the playoffs.

Hence, the extension from a best-of-5 series to a best-of-7 series. All in the name of getting the Lakers on TV as much as possible.

Of course, that's not what they'll really tell you, but that was the scuttlebutt among sports analysts and media pundits, and who am I to disagree? Random whim, or sneaky yet logical conclusion? ... I know which one I'd pick.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, the Eisner Awards are the playoffs of the comics world, at least in America. And "Team Manga" has emerged as the L.A. Lakers of comics, a dominant market force bolstered by a couple of stars named Naruto Uzumaki and Tohru Honda (#15!!!!). Even their cheerleaders are popular! And just because of that market dominance, the Eisners had to change the rules of the competition.

Say hello to Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan, folks.

At least they weren't sneaky about it. This is about the most open way of saying, "Well, crap, guys, there's just so much material being brought over from Japan that it's not fair to be shoehorning it in the 'International' category with Franck LeFranc And His Froo-Froo French Comic From France. There's not enough room ... so we'll MAKE room."

So Japan gets its own category now in the 2007 Comic-Con Playoffs. It's clunky, it's arbitrary, but it's fair.

What isn't fair is this year's choice of nominees. I can think of at least 5 series that outrank the Oldboy manga, and at least 10 that would be better picks than the schlock-horror of After School Nightmare. Unless by "Best U.S. Edition" they mean who wrote the best English script and uses the best paper and ink and does the best cultural notes, in which case I would like to know why Del Rey got shut out.

This is why I'm skeptical any form of awards programs in the arts. Everyone's got some agenda to push, and awards tend to say more about the kind of people giving them out than the thing being awarded. (Coulda been worse, coulda been the "American Anime Awards," which weren't even awarded at an anime convention...) So I applaud the Eisners for their broad gesture, but I take back that applause for wasting it on a couple of really dumb nominations.

Culture Post: If I were in Tokyo, I'd go to this

Seen on ANN: Broadcasters Tokyo FM and SkyPerfecTV are sponsoring Moe-Fes 2007, a one-day event on May 13 celebrating "idols, cosplayers, maid cafés, and more." It's like everything awesome all in one place! The lineup of musical entertainment is particularly intriguing as they don't sound like the names of any idols I'VE ever heard of, but only cool people know who they are. Probably.

Your Spring 2007 anime guide

Pure water help chronicle
Ah, spring! Season of cherry blossoms, sinus allergies, and anime premieres on Japanese TV. Too busy to check with rambly fansites nitpicking every detail? Not enough free time in the day to follow scene-by-scene transcriptions? Then use this rapid-fire, one-shot guide to this season's highlights:

Bokurano It would be easy, if you were a fool, to dismiss this as yet another Evangelion clone where Little Kids Save The World With Giant Robots And It Is Very Depressing. But we are talking about the work of Mohiro Kitoh, who already freaked us out with Shadow Star Narutaru, so be engrossed. Be very engrossed.
El Cazador de la Bruja I wanted to get on Bee Train's case for making the same damn anime for, like, the 7th time in a row, except that this one has a Wild West flavor to make things interesting. Hot girls with guns embark on perilous journey towards a promised land. In Arizona. Where everyone speaks Japanese.
Claymore Of course they were never going to match the gorgeous woodcut look of the manga. But for a fantasy work, Claymore plays it straight up and solid, with monster-slaying blood and guts and swordplay. Quick to jump into the story and surprisingly non-confusing (you only need to learn about 3 names for the first episode).
Darker than BLACK And then there's maddeningly confusing, like this disjointed thriller where psychic-powered beings wreak havoc in our modern world and everyone is angry and upset, probably because they ended up in this weak-butt storyline where nobody will tell them what they're fighting or how or why.
Gigantic Formula Something about the big-eyed, pouty-lipped character design tickled me. It was like Kamichu with mechas. Unfortunately, that visual flair was the only interesting thing, because in the future, world wars will be fought by giant robots representing each country, and only teenagers will pilot them. Snore.
Hayate the Combat Butler I always like to look for the one stupid-funny comedy that's secretly awesome (Magikano, Ramen Musume Whatever) and I think I have found this season's WINNAR. A goofy title, relentless fourth wall breakage, a script loaded with zingers, and also, Santa Claus is God. Genius.
Heroic Age Studio Xebec's ambitious, epic space opera that's just a music score short of breaking into Wagner. Ultra-enlightened humans with dorky Greek names go spacefaring, seeking out some guy in the boonies, and battle ensues. Dear God, please give me back Nadesico and Stellvia, which at least were cute and fun.
Hitohira Some folks are jumping the bandwagon for this one because of "vague yuri hints," which shows how desperate people are for any excuse to fap. Besides the whiny lead character and lackluster plot direction, did anyone else happen to notice the UGLIEST SCHOOL UNIFORMS EVER?
iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia Can't they just make a plain anime about idol singers? (Hello, Kirarin.) But noooOOOOooo, they have to stick giant robots in it. Because in the future, teenage pop stars make ideal candidates for operating heavy machinery. What the crap, people, I think I'll stick to my figurines.
Kamichama Karin Karin may not be operating heavy machinery, but she has the powers of a god, which is probably even worse. Look, I love Koge-Donbo's cuter-than-cute style, but the generic magical-girl execution of this one leaves something to be desired. Please, animate Yoki Koto Kiku instead.
Lucky Star Hooray! Finally, a worthy successor to the Azumanga Daioh / Ichigo Mashimaro tradition of loopy all-girl comedy. Looks a bit low-budget, but any cast of characters that can prattle on for six straight minutes about how to eat food is clearly possessed of some kind of postmodern brilliance.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS What do you get when you crossbreed bad magical girl clichés with bad military clichés? THIS! No wonder normal people think Japanese cartoons are dumb. Death would be too kind a punishment for the animators who worked on this eye-assaulting, brain-killing trash.
Moonlight Mile It's Planetes: the Early Years! No, seriously, it's a solid, realistic look at putting people into space, so you already know whether you like this kind of stuff or not. An "extreme adventurer" (he climbs Mt. Everest in Ep 1) sets out to become an astronaut, which of course will be Very Very Cool.
Murder Princess (OAV) This one probably wins on sheer badassed-ness, because who wouldn't be cheering on a princess that goes around murdering people? The body-switch is a bit gimmicky—as are the fantasy trappings in general—but, eh, I'll take it for a mindless action time-killer.
Nagasarete Airantou A hapless schoolboy accidentally gets washed up on an island where the entire population happens to be female. What, you were expecting something clever? It's not even like the girls are hot or anything, as they appear to have been created by first-timers who just discovered How To Draw books.
Romeo x Juliet What am I supposed to say? It's Romeo and freakin' Juliet. That's an insufferable geek discussion just waiting to happen. Gotta love the grand set design and epic scale of this one, but between the flying horses and the cross-dressing Juliet, it's just A BIT out of context. Your call, England.
Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit) This historical fantasy is probably the best of the sword-and-sorcery set this season, with rich (and well-researched) visuals, a strong lead character, and a story hook that's simple yet captivating. Can a skilled warrior woman protect the royal prince? Tune in and find out, I know I will!
Sola A fascinating main character is one of the best hooks you can have: this one features a guy who's obsessed with taking pictures of the sky. Interesting enough, although the execution through the first episode is kind of slow, and as soon as SOMETHING INTERESTING happens, it's credits time. Stick around for Episode 2?
Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann You never can tell with Gainax. Sometimes they're brilliant, sometimes they're hopeless, but this one seems to be trending toward the former, with the maniacal energy of FLCL and Dead Leaves in a neo-retro mecha world. Hopefully that energy can carry on as a young boy explores and battles a hostile planet.

And that's that. It isn't everything, but it's the highlights. Seriously, though, what's with all the giant robot waves? Well, as long as middle- and high-school kids continue to decide the fate of the world, I'm sure we're all in good hands. I hope. I pray.