Recently, my father decided to take the whole family on a 5-day trip to Paris which, besides everything else (entailing a LOT of walking), meant I would be able to visit Rue Dante, Paris’s main geek artery. During one of my forays there, I stumbled upon a group of French cosplayers, who decided to celebrate Toussaints (All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween, although in France it’s a week-long holiday) by dressing up as DC characters from the BATMAN menagerie and visiting comic shops up and down this very special street – “Album”, “Pulp’s”, “Little Tokyo” and a number of other shops were happy to receive them. Evident;y, I could not stand idly and not photograph them.

On another note, while tracking down the itinerary I had written for my two heroines in Paris, over the course of “Culture Pop” (included in the detective story collection DANGER ENTRANCE, sadly only available in Greek), I stumbled upon a Manga Café on Rue des Carmes, the owner of which kindly let me take some photos as well. It’s not much: seven photos in all, but two for two in the space of such a small stay is pretty indicative of wonders waiting around every corner.

That is all for now. There;s some more stuff from France I want to show you, but I’ll take care of that ina couple of days.

Cheers,

Speedgrapher

Prologues, intros ans updates aside, I finally managed to finish Natsuo Kirino’s other book that has been translated in Greek by Metaichmio Publications, entitled OUT (of course, it’s also been translated in English by Vintage Books and Kodansha USA – take your pick). Remember how I had said that REAL WORLD was more of a psychological drama and depiction of the distorted views of Japanese teenagers? Well, the drama element is also present here, but the wealth of different, interesting characters, as well as a number of derangements they have  or develop, evident or subtle, turns this book into a celebration of Alfred Hitchcock’s ROPE. But, once again, I am getting ahead of myself…

The book begins as the story of four women (do I see a pattern there? Four girl students in REAL WORLD, four adult women here…) working part-time in the night shift of a bento box factory, in what must have been one of the most glum cities of the Tokyo Prefecture, some time around the 90s (or perhaps as far back as the 80s – clues in the book could not point me to something more). These are, in order of age, Yoshi Azuma, Masako Katori, Yayoi Yamamoto and Kuniko Jonuchi. Their lives, are, to say the least, rather miserable, though at first they bear them with the stoic outlook that is on the surface of most Japanese people: Yoshi, whom they call the Captain (I suspect that is “Kaichou” translated) at thefactory, as she is the eldest, tries to make ends meet while taking care of her half-paralyzed mother-in-law and catering to her adolescent daughter’s monetary needs (usually, as idiotic as most adolescent needs). Masako has to deal with the near-android coldness and routine of her family, her husband drawing ever further away from her and their 17-year-old son, having dropped school, never speaking a word out of some ill-defined spite. Yayoi has to deal with an uncaring, abusive husband who has turned to gambling and escorts, blowing away all their savings, exposing her and their children to the danger of becoming destitute. Finally, Kuniko, a rather unsympathetic character, who progressively became the object of my disgust, is a fat, ugly young woman obsessed with the skin-deep prestige of expensive brands and living with an impotent male partner, who decides to leave her and take all the money he could dig up from their common savings. Meanwhile, not only can she not pay her numerous debts, she  also starts to worry about paying of a loan-shark from whom she borrowed to pay them off in the first place.

Out.

A rather miserable bunch and yet they somehow find a niche of reality to exist in, trudging along night in and night out; that is, until one of them is pushed over the edge and takes the other three along for the ride. Yayoi’ s husband, as mentioned above, is frequenting a hostess club and gambles away at an illegal casino situated in the same building. Both are owned by ex-yakuza Mitsuyoshi Satake, a calm, rather frugal man with a peculiar, eerie quality about him. In fact, many years ago, Satake had brutally raped, tortured and murdered a woman stealing business from his gang; in a sick manner, twisted beyond all belief, he found the apex of pleasure by puncturing her body numerous times with a knife and raping her at the same time as sticking his fingers deep into her wounds, gaining a sense of their bodies almost fusing through copious amounts of blood. After that, he has never been with another woman, nor has resorted to any violence worth mentioning, his criminal activity restricted to his two illegal establishments. In fact, until his past is revealed by the narrator, Satake seems the perfect  underworld gentleman.

One night, after Yayoi’s husband has lost every last yen of their savings, has stalked one of the hostesses to her home address over the past week (a Chinese girl, Anna, who is in love with Satake) and then tries to gamble on credit, Satake  ends up kicking him out and having to rough him up a bit. By the time Kenji Yamamoto gets home, Yayoi has been obsessing with the bruise on her stomach, from where he punched her, when she screamed at him for gambling away their savings. Now, feeling like the complete loser that he is, after being thrown out the club and being beaten, he tries to demean her even further, not even turning around to look at her. That is the tipping point, where Yayoi snaps: she wraps her belt around his neck and tightens it until he is dead, all the while repeating to herself like a mantra that she wished him gone and only half-realizing that she is strangling him.

Suddenly, he is dead, she is liberated, a weight lifted from her heart and shoulders. The elation does not last, as she realizes she now has a dead body in her entrance hall and absolutely no idea what to do with it. She decides to call Masako and ask her to help her dispose of it. Masako reacts in an unexpectedly and rather chillingly calm manner, deciding that the best way is to chop him into small pieces, effectively separating all the joints, emptying the organs and removing the head; and feels she should call on Yoshi’s help, who is desperate for money and can make a hefty sum by being paid from Yayoi for the task, who intended to borrow the money from her parents. Masako, on the other hand, initially asks for nothing and even she cannot say why with certainty.

After she convinces Yoshi, she puts the body in the trunk of her car and goes to her shift as usual, waiting for the morning to deal with the gruesome business. Somewhere along the way to the factory, she is attacked by a Brazilian immigrant worker, Kazuo Miyamori (actually, half Brazilian, half-Japanese), who seems intent upon sexually assaulting her and yet she easily talks him down and leaves him in awe of her. His behavior definitely points to something else than your run-of–the-mill sexual predator.

Mind you, all this takes place during the first 100 pages out of a staggering 545 (416 in the English edition). Over the course of the book, with the body being chopped to pieces, Kuniko becoming involved, the pieces being disposed of, the police becoming involved and investigating, Satake becoming a suspect and the four women becoming slowly or rapidly altered from the experience, there’s a lot to chew on here. What starts out as one battered woman’s bid for freedom and dignity and another’s offer of a helping hand, rapidly turns into a spiral (however, not necessarily a downward one) of intrigue, greed and (further) murder. This is definitely not the law’s side of the story, although its representatives are far from two-dimensional, as they were in REAL WORLD.

OUT is more of a crime thriller than a detective story, since any and all truly interesting detective work and maneuvering is done by people who are, both essentially and typically, on the wrong side of the law, some even on the wrong side of humanity. It’s a surreal dance of monsters slumbering as banal people and people finding that, when all meaning is lost in life, not necessarily in the aftermath of a tragedy, there is a terrifying aspect of humanity that does justice to the biblical concept of inherent evil.

All in all it was a very satisfying book, much more carefully planned and laid out, its characters frightfully believable and once more, a portrayal of the sick underbelly of Japanese society, an underbelly that doesn’t hide exclusively in the slums and criminal syndicates, but in the average home where reigns supreme the anguish of a deafening silence and the unthinkable lies just beyond the self-induced numbness. I highly recommend it.

See you around,

Speedgrapher

]]> http://otakulens.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/oni-market-29-out-by-natsuo-kirino/feed/ 0 Speedgrapher 2011-08-11 - Out http://otakulens.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/oni-market-28-kokuhaku-confessions/ http://otakulens.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/oni-market-28-kokuhaku-confessions/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 03:52:48 +0000 speedxgrapher http://otakulens.wordpress.com/?p=4574 ]]> Here we are again, not nearly as much time having elapsed from the last update as (what has ended up being the) usual. Whereas once I had the luxury (and, let us be honest, the drive) to update my blogs on a regular basis, especially this one, now I follow the “having something interesting to share” pattern. Thankfully, apparently such things have started emerging again (with the exception of the whole Japanese disaster, which has taken quite a bit of space here and for which I am NOT thankful), so it seems you will be seeing more of me (lucky you, heh).

At any rate, I have a couple of things lined up for you:

Item #1: I know I have posted the professed “Final Update” on this matter, but now that we know the things bought with the money raised from the charity event have reached their destination, we’ve really come full circle. Here is Hiromi Komatsu’s “thank you” mail:

Dear Olga

We’ve got all your presents at 2nd of this month. All of your stuff are fine, cute and with good sense of design. Some of them have been already taken for kids. Not only kids but also their parents seem happy with your stuff. I really thank you for this and kind words always.

I have a dream here, Olga.When people in my home town can live in peace and quiet some day, I’m sure to go to Greece. If I can meet you there, that would be fantastic.

Take care, Olga, and have fun with your family and friends!

Hiromi Komatsu

Item #2: Kokuhaku (Confessions). This is obviously the main subject of this post, a 2010 Japanese live-action movie (as in “traditional cinema”, not anime you bleedin’ otaku!), which I watched with some friends on DVD the other day. It was described as a “psychological thriller”, but Japanese live-action cinema being what it is (i.e. usually a disappointment), we did not really expect much. The short description said that a Middle School teacher, Yoko Moriguchi (played by Takako Matsu), has her life torn down, when her 4-year-old daughter is murdered by two of her students (aged 13, I think) and after she quits her job, she resolves to get revenge on them. Sounded fairly interesting, so we gave it a shot.

Let’s start with first impressions: great photography, great shooting and carefully picked music but the fact of the matter was, the first 15 minutes were dominated by Moriguchi’s near-monologue in front of her class (she was their homeroom teacher), as they mostly ignore her. However, the movie actually begins with them drinking little cartons of milk, as part of a government campaign (this is important for later). At first she goes on and on about  renowned Dr. Sakuranomiya, who was her inspiration as a whole and who sadly died of AIDS. Then she announces that she is going to retire because of her daughter’ s death, a murder in fact by two students in that very same classroom and goes as far as saying that she thinks she has been a bad teacher because she wanted to be devoted to her dingle parenting. Thus far, the speech being completely rehearsed and delivered in a droning, monotonous voice, evokes almost no reaction from a class of misconducting, bullying, text-messaging 13-year-olds and yawns from us.

Then, surely and steadily, Moriguchi ups the ante, saying that Sakuranomiya was her lover and once-future husband, that he gave her HIV and that they decided not to marry, in order to avoid stigmatizing their child. The reaction is almost instantaneous, as students shy away from her in panic, as if she is carrying the plague and freak at her merest touch. Various scenes make perfectly clear that, not only her students ignore basic facts about AIDS, but also many adults have complete and hysterical misconceptions on it. Further on, talking 0f her daughter’s murder, she mentions facts, referring to the perpetrators as students A and B, as well as the reactions of student B’s mother, who finds no fault with her son (naturally). She also says that the Juvenile Law part of the Japanese Criminal Justice System protects them from any actual prosecution, so they can walk away from this murder without any real consequences. At this point, the downward spiral begins, as Moriguchi is of course not satisfied with such leniency: therefore, the milk cartons of the two murderers, she informs them, were laced with her dead lover’s  HIV-infected blood! Gasps of horror from the class, round of applause from us.

From this point onward, there is not a dull moment in the movie, as we see the impact of these news on the two boys, as well as the reaction of their classmates (which is bullying, a lot of it!), which is a spiral of madness and hate. The movie is segmented as its title: confessions. So gradually, we get all the facts of the story from the viewpoint of each character, including, the teacher, the murderers, one of the two murderers’ mother, as well as the other’s girlfriend. Amazingly, it is both a mind and time trip, which largely revolves around Shuya Watanabe’ s (student A) mother complex and rejection issues, as well as his conviction that he is a genius (of which his mother, a brilliant mechanic, convinced him at a very young age, then abandoned him).

The whole movie is an elegy to the cruelty and stupidity of adolescence, the hubris of privileged youth (believe me, for all their problems, these kids had not had to fight for anything yet) and how, when taken too far, those who afford them this protection can utterly destroy them. It is also a disturbing look into Japan’s youth, much like REAL WORLD, where juvenile delinquency is glorified, a tendency represented by Mizuki Kitahara (who idolizes Lunacy Girl, a teen murderer who poisoned her parents and becomes the girlfriend of Shuya). Furthermore, the movie is not afraid to point the finger at the parents who are responsible for the delinquency of these children, whether by pampering or negligence and abuse, the two extremes represented by the two murderers’ mothers. In the end, they too will pay the ultimate price.

However, the story reigns in its theme and avoids the mistake of creating an all-around “hate film”. With the exception of Moriguchi’s daughter (a “background victim” to the movie ‘s action), everyone who is destroyed absolutely deserves it. In contrast, the replacement teacher of Moriguchi-sensei, nicknamed Werther (played by Masaki Okada), who is only guilty of being good-natured, naive and hopelessly optimistic, merely has his feelings hurt and Moriguchi-sensei herself is obviously left with nothing when her revenge is done, but not before she has completely taken apart the lives of the two young murderers, both metaphorically and actually, inflicting upon them the full extent of the loss she feels, without ever being caught – it’ s the essence of Nemesis, as the ancients called it, only set in modern-day Japan.

Even with all I have said, I have not gone into any terrible spoilers, for the way everything comes together and more so, the way everything is depicted, is the true treat of this movie. It has the careful plotting of a Sherlock Holmes mystery and the emotional impact of Greek tragedy, centered around the theme of vengeance. Just be patient for the first 15 minutes. It will all make sense in the end and it is totally worth it. The movie was based on the novel of Kanae Minato.

Item #3: Tatsumi: A Life in Animation. As I have said before, I have stopped watching anime for quite some time, but this is one I am willing to give a try. It deals with the real life, as well as the stories of post WWII manga creator Yoshihiro Tatsumi, one of the most “human” and iconic storytellers of manga. This goes beyond retro: it is history, treated by a modern medium.

Well, that is all for today and quite a bit, if I do say so myself. Keep reading. You never know what else I might dig up.

Peace,

Speedgrapher

It all started with an idea over coffee, the event took place on the 15th of April and just two short weeks later we were able to send our boxed prayers and support, with the help of everyone who chose to lend a hand in helping these people in need. Did we change the world? No. Did we turn the tide of this disaster? Surely not, but we did what we could , knowing that each person receiving help is one less person in dire need of it; and when every such gesture is added to the others, then perhaps change can be effected, hope restored, lives rebuilt. We are but a pebble and proud to count ourselves among every other pebble of support from around the world.

The clothes have shipped and are on their way to Fukushima as we speak.

It’ s been an interesting process, revealing how easily will turns into a way, as well as how unwillingness can be an insurmountable obstacle. If anything, it was a very edifying experience, illustrating not just the weight of words and images, but also the deeper meaning of one’ s presence or absence. Thank you all for your support – you know who you are.

Peace,

Speedgrapher

P.S. If you are interested in the full story, you can begin here, then read the two previous posts on this blog. Also, KrizD has posted more photos of the clothes’ shipping on his blog. All photos are courtesy of Kyoshiro.

*   *   *

Hello, Ms Olga K.

I am Hiromi Komatsu who is in charge of a warehouse that goods to people in Iwaki should be in. First of all, I’d like to say that we really thank you for your kindness and concerns. Clothes for kids are acceptable. I’d like to ask you to do below if it’s possible.

(1) Boxes should be separate into three categories ; for babies, boys, girls.
(2) Lists of goods inside boxes in brief would be appreciated.
(3) Second hand clothes are also no problem only if they look fine.
(4) Please let us know how many boxes you will send before you ship them.

Our address is here.

to Komatsu
Iwaki branch of Nihon Univa Counter Crisis Team
c/o Kasano Insurance Company
Tabata 8, Kamiyada-cho, Jouban,
Iwaki-city, Fukushima 971-8131
Japan

or you can copy and paste below.

〒971-8131　福島県いわき市常磐上矢田町田端８
（株）カサノ特級保険内
日本ユニバ　いわき支部　小松
Japan

We have a web site to show people our activities. Please check it out when you have spare time. It’s only in Japanese but there are many photos in there I hope that you could understand it.

We will definitely send your clothes to children in North-East Japan.

Thank you again, Ms Olga K., for your heart warming presents.

*   *   *

Again, thank you all who attended or contributed to this effort and know that the people benefiting from it truly appreciate it.

Happy Easter Everyone,

Speedgrapher

That said, just a week after the convention, we got together with a couple of friends and hosted a charity music event for the victims of the recent earthquake, tsunami and danger of radioactive exposure from the reactor on Fukushima (where radiation levels have now reached those of the Chernobyl disaster, although the contamination is not as widespread).

The whole idea was first mentioned by Kyoshiro around a month ago and after a get-together, KrizD, N8, Bloody K. and myself were on board (as well as Kami, added later). Details on the event were posted on Facebook, a number of blogs, Anime.gr, communicated via posters, as well as a donation box, placed at the entrance of the Hellenic-American Union, over the three days of the comic book convention.

Although we encountered a number of problems at the beginning of the event, with a bit of obsessive compulsion, divine intervention and the presence of one Alexander Markezis, CFO of a corporation known only as “Tremere”, we were able to get the whole thing off the ground. I would like to take a moment and thank all of you who attended this very special event, thereby showing true affection for this country, whose culture we so cherish. Even at the outset, there were those who said that it was meaningless, that any amount we gathered would be insignificant in the face of the disaster, or by comparison to Japan’s economy. I said it then and I say it now: no amount of help is meaningless. No, it won’t save Japan, it won’t even be noticed by anyone other than those who receive the help, but, in this case they are all we care about, the only thing that matters. It is what we could do, so we did it. Pure and simple.

As we speak, the amount collected has been used to buy clothes for children in the struck areas, which will be then distributed via a local relief group in Fukushima. Again, thank you all for being there.

As for the event itself, our roster and succession at the decks was a bit wacky, with KrizD starting, followed by Kami, followed by myself and finally, our lovely freak, N8. We also had a small exhibition at Da Sein’s basement, comprised of photos from various areas struck by the three calamities, as well as art from all over the world, drawn in support of Japan. Furthermore, Kyoshiro selected some pieces from the blog Voices From Japan, which consist Tweets from and related to the situation in the country. I translated the texts into Greek and Kyoshiro was in charge of editing, printing and setting up our exhibits.

Although not at my best (far from it, in fact – three days of COMICDOM and the post-Con edit-binge stretched me to my absolute limit, which accounts for falling asleep at 19:00 this past Monday and waking at 06:30 on Tuesday), I did take some pictures at the event and so I shall cease my rant and leave you with these. Enjoy.

Yours in earnest,

Speedgrapher

P.S. You might notice I still use the nicknames from way back when. This probably won’t change, so learn to live with it.

It is only fitting then, that today I am going to talk about a book called Real World, written by crime novelist Natsuo Kirino. It is very easy for people not living in Japan (or never even having gone there) to view the country where manga, anime, cosplay and Harajuku Style originated, through the prism that these hobbies afford (for, make no mistake, outside Japan, hobbies they indeed are). The reality of the matter is, Japan is comprised mainly of white collar workers, people slavering away in the anime and manga industry,  repressed and depressed teenagers  and a demographic from 16-25, who comprise the “freak” culture we so love to emulate here in the West, a skin that is usually shed on the 25th year, to join the working masses. Even most J-rockers, so highly idolized by girls and girly women, have other, common jobs to support their income. Furthermore, Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, flirting around and at times reaching #4 (lowest place I could find being #7 in 2007, I think) in the course of the past decade.

Natsuo Kirino is painfully aware of all these and yet more disillusioning facts about her country, so she sets the scene, events and characters in a way that showcases the many skeletons in Japan’s social closet. The actual crime is – at least in my opinion – just a pretext to talk about the real, sad, gritty world of modern Japan. I am getting ahead of myself though, but I wanted to establish a baseline that explains the structure of the actual story, at least in part.

It all starts on a particularly searing Japanese Summer, when a student of K High School (I assume this stands for an actual school and avoids lawsuits) murders his mother with a baseball bat and turns fugitive. His neighbor, 17-year-old Toshi Yamanaka, hears the sound of breaking glass from next door and sees him leaving his home with a calm, near-stupefied smile on his face, as she makes for her cram class. Although she does wonder about the sound and her neighbor’s expression, the heat and prospect of the day’s work do not let her dwell on it too much. In the course of the book, we learn that the killer’s name is Ryo, but she and her friends basically call him “Worm”, because of his tall, lanky body and listless movements.

Real World.

After a number of pages detailing her outlook on life and her opinion of her three closest friends (each going by a different nickname, those being Teroki, the no-nonsense serious one, Yuzan the repressed, boyish lesbian still suffering from her mother’s death and Kirarin – after Kirarin Revolution – the happy-go-lucky, beautiful, self-prostituting one), Toshi finds herself crossing paths with the Worm once more, when he steals her bicycle and cell-phone while she is in cram school. This gives him access to her three friends’ numbers, setting off a chain of events bound to end in tragedy. The strange – to the outside observer – thing is that each of the four girls makes a conscious choice to have dealings with the Worm, whether by not giving him up to the police or even sleeping with him.

The book’s chapters each bear one of the five characters’ names and are narrated from their point of view, giving us access to their most intimate thoughts and personal worlds (which word could be easily substituted by “Hells”). None can truly accept who and what they are, trying on a number of masks and facades, thinking to hide themselves even from those closest to them, naturally ignoring the fact that they are not fooling anyone. However, humanity’s deafening silence, exacerbated in the Japanese urban setting, ensures that they never challenge each other, until they reach a breaking point. The Worm is the only exception, as his initial action has set him apart (at least as he perceives it) from the rest of society, so he finds himself freed from its bonds, yet shackled by the lack of structure it offers.

Most disturbing of all is the rampant idolization and apparent identification of his peers, not with him as a person, but as a welcome societal aberration: murdering his mother and the prospect of murdering his father has made him a symbol of freedom and independence. Sadder still Kirarin’s idea that a teenage murderer must be a really deep and interesting guy to date (in sharp contrast to her dull life and the pointless one-night stands in Shinjuku) and when he proves otherwise, an effective way to get back at the boyfriend she still cries over.

My one problem with this book was the fact that the murder was only a pretext: there was no mystery, not even a real fugitive-type story. In that sense, it was completely off mark from what I expected. Its essence was rather that, even faced with the profound event of knowing and/or socializing with a murderer, Japanese teenagers feel too old to trust in their parents’ wisdom of age (which parents, truth be told, have very little rapport with the reality of their children) and yet their naiveté on the implications of events happening outside the norm of their (granted, distorted) teenage lives, borders on idiocy. They are born to and bred for schizophrenia, a fact which was interesting to look at from the viewpoint of a woman living in modern-day Japan.

So I guess the verdict, for something totally different than what I expected, is favorable and next I will be trying her other translated book, Out, which was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award and seems more geared towards blood and grit. Both have been translated in English and Greek (Greek editions by Metaichmio Publications). It is highly recommended for anyone who wants a taste of real Japan, but not really for anyone looking to read a good detective story.

See you around,

Speedgrapher

P.S. In a number of instances, the book refers to Seito Sakakibara (mainly as the Worm identifies his own, post-murder societal condition with Sakakibara’s), also known as the Kobe killer. Sakakibara was the alias given to then (1997) 14-year-old Shinichiro Azuma, who bludgeoned a 10-year old girl to death with a hammer,  then killed and decapitated an 11-year-old boy, leaving his head at the boy’s school’s gate, stuffed with a taunting message to the police. Sakakibara was in fact released on parole 7 years later, under peculiar legal circumstances and there have been a number of sightings over the years, often weird and controversial. You can read more here and here, but what I find most interesting is the fact that he blamed the Japanese school system for his actions, as well as that, people commenting on his actions, believe that may very well be so.

Night Elf Cosplay by helloloveducks of deviantArt. Simple materials, elegant result.

Now, if you google “cosplay”, “cosplay photos” etc. you will get something in the area of 40000000 results, so this is not really a good way to go about looking for cosplay around the world. However, I stumbled on a thing called 2leep, which is an online application for associating blog content (and ultimately augmenting site views) an following a trail of “associated clicks” (and annoying pop-ups) I found a few interesting things. It’s mainly photographic material but it illustrates in an excellent manner some of the things that Tomodachi (affectionately or derisively known as the “Mother of Greek Cosplay”) has been running her mouth dry about: creative care, posture and (glaringly) physique.

Isaac Ferdinand von Kaempfer of Trinity Blood by Cytanin of deviantArt.

On the other hand, I found some articles and interviews (a good number featured in the newly established COSPLAY GEN Magazine) which illustrate the views of the people involved. One was a particularly interesting (though short) interview with a Chinese cosplayer, explaining why she chose the 1925 version of Hatsune Miku, one of the Vocaloid characters (the Vocaloid phenomenon being interesting and frightening in many different ways but that is a discussion for another time). It is also interesting that, although Chinese, in this case being a cosplayer transcends the rivers of spilt and bad blood between the two countries. Another, featured here (unfortunately in French), explains how Harajukers are gradually breaking with the Sunday Outing tradition, because they have had enough of tourists taking pictures, finding new locales unknown to non-natives. Now, in my mind, bizarre though these people may be, they treat this dressing up as part of their lives and not some excuse to indulge in camera whoring.

Hatsune Miku 1925 Version from COSPLAY GEN.

The things I have mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg: there are tons of sites, articles and photographs out there which, though serving different purposes, all underline one fundamental truth about cosplay: it’s an art celebrating one’s favorite characters, into which goes a great  deal of work and should be treated as such. On the other hand, cheap antics and poorly thought or executed dress-ups often become the subject of Failblog and Demotivational Posters. What follows is a small compilation of sites, posts and pages, which I believe one can find useful in truly understanding what cosplay is about and how people go about it on a global scale.

Tokyo Game Show 2010: cosplay in its natural environment.

51 Sexy Cosplays: because sexy doesn’t mean slutty or trashy. Good examples of attention to physique.

New Fashion Exploration – Cosplay: cosplay overview in a design blog. Note the variations, both of the cosplays, as well as of the character canon.

Pein Sexy no Jutsu by Cytanin of deviantArt. Not canon, yet exceptional (and I don't even like Naruto).

COSPLAY GEN: the magazine’s official site with tons of interviews, tutorials and other interesting material.

Doodles: a Singapore communication artist’s site which includes cosplay photography and her inspirations.

Dhalsim Cosplay: perhaps the best ever example of attention to physique.

Cloud Strife 8-bit Cosplay: the perfect example of cosplay not looking uber-cool, yet being celebrated as an authentic trip down memory lane (and I don’t even like FF7).

Living Cosplay 1: I think the photo and text will be self-expletive.

Living Cosplay 2 and above: this is a bit marginal, since Star Wars and Star Trek dress-up existed long before cosplay itself, but you get the idea.

So, what’s the conclusion? Well, there isn’t one apart from everything I have already said. All that remains is for aspiring cosplayers to browse through the info and get creative, or just drop the matter if they think it’s too much fuss. For the record, since I often hear the excuse “Japan is their home ground” or “you can’t compare stuff from conventions”, only one link is from a convention and of the photos posted here, none are Japanese (even though Hatsune’s cosplayer is Chinese).

Somewhere out there,

Speedgrapher

Rendition of Goku as a Chinese soldier, riding Kintou-un.

It was a paper article about Mao’s China and the role of posters in the People’s Republic (established 1946). At the time, poverty and illiteracy were rampant, so the posters served a double function: first, they conveyed their meaning in pictures, so the people did not have to be able to read the announcements and slogans posted on them and second, they were colorful and beautiful, ideal for decorating the home at a time when even money for food was scarce). The end result was people linking Chairman Mao and his regime to the intimacy of their own homes and to various figures drawn from myth, such as Goku, the Monkey King from the original Chinese epic Journey to the West (Saiyuki Monogatari in Japan), as well as “reverse” Momotaro tales (Momotaro is considered by many to have become widespread due to the character’s wide use as Japanese imperial propaganda supporting the colonization of China and Korea).

Today, the posters are bought by Western collectors for huge sums – long past is the day when they adorned a poor Chinese student’s home. There is also a very interesting book by Taschen on them, conspicuously titled “Chinese Propaganda Posters”.

At any rate, I found it interesting, especially the picture, so here it is.

Cheers,

Speedgrapher

Let’s deviate a bit here and talk a bit more about CHORISSU: bottom line, it did not go well, despite what I was hoping for, given its run at the Con. We may have sold a couple hundred copies overall (I can’t be actually sure – I have lost track of the thing), but all the verbal feedback I got from comic shops, as well as some friends who have been in the fanzine scene far longer and far more regularly than I (not to mention some friends who work in graphic design), led me to one simple conclusion: we tanked it. There is no point in elaborating on the (varied) flaws and mistakes but suffice to say, the end result of the fanzine’s run got the team… disheartened – silently and discreetly perhaps (for the most part) but disheartened nonetheless. Although I did “lobby” for a second issue, which would incorporate some major changes and not repeat the majority of the mistakes, it never got off the e-talks and I sincerely doubt it will, anymore…

Now, given the facts described above, as well as Umi & Sora being on hold (for, as Kyoshiro had wisely predicted, real life will catch up sooner or later – two are outside the country on Erasmus programs, two are swamped with their studies and at least three with work), it should come as no surprise that I have been absent from this blog for so long. As for the so-called “J-scene”? Well, things are going as I feared they would – good cosplays are very few and far between (although Salonika seems to still resist – bless you Cassiel!), exhibitionism is now the main “theme” and worst of all (?), the new trend is Korean Pop (K-Pop) and soon, it seems, all-things-Korea (though I doubt it will last that long, since K-fans in Greece are a minority within the minority of J-fans) . I will be the first to say that most of J-Pop, especially the one I cannot associate with any anime, is more than a little annoying, but K-Pop is barely music at all and almost exclusively boy-band oriented. Sorry, no thanks – I couldn’t stand Backstreet Boys even as far back as junior high. Finally, all the varied teams that were popping left and right (which, in my opinion, were a good thing) have all but vanished. Over the last 7 months, the only event outside of Athens or Salonika proper was one organized in May, at Kerkyra’s Corfu – and then there was silence.

Where does that leave Otaku Lens then? Truth is, I am not sure. A couple of days ago I had a discussion with a friend over the net and she pointed out that Otaku Lens was not just about the parties, but also a number of other things related to modern Japanese culture. That much is true, I guess, with things filed under Oni Market and Nihon no Weirdness but one cannot deny that the main driving force was my love for what I hoped was growing in Greece and the documenting of it. Sadder still, over the past 6 months I have not found anything much to my liking in either the manga or anime departments…

Now, I imagine that the negativity fostered by what I see here in Greece affects my judgment, but there are some other factors to consider: for one, the translation industry of manga in English is waning, with ever fewer (and appallingly similar) things being solicited by American companies (just take a look at the DIAMOND PREVIEWS CATALOG and you’ll get the idea). I can’t find anything I have not already read in another title. As for anime, well, the disappointment is even worse: apart from re-issues of older series (we are talking torrent-wise here, which reflects the actual industry), I have found just two things which somewhat drew my interest, one being DANCE IN THE VAMPIRE BUND, which is nothing terribly special, just well-executed and AOI BUNGAKU, which takes classic Japanese literature (such as KOKORO) and re-interprets it in a more sinister light, which I have not yet watched. As for what is considered widely popular, it’s a complete nightmare: HIGH-SCHOOL OF THE DEAD. Boobs with a mind of their own, swords, guns and, well, zombies. I find zombie movies idiotic to begin with (except a few classics, such as ARMY OF DARKNESS and a funny one, SHAUN OF THE DEAD), zombie anime full of fan-service and devoid of scenario, don’t get me started…

So, again, I ask (probably just myself): where does that leave Otaku Lens? Still no idea but my intelligent friend (not to mention she is cute as a sugar-cane) has got me thinking and maybe the results of the process will be made available to you all. Only time will tell…

Until Yamato flies again,

Speedgrapher