The OQ Weekly (16 July 2021) - The 'Snake Oil' Edition
The best curated newsletter in the Japanese pop-culture world.
Just a few words and I am going to leave you in peace to read your anime digest: When something seems to good to be true, it probably is. And some unsolicited advice, because I am tiny and cute and purple and mascots that are tiny and cute and purple never lie: Do your research before you give your money.
I am Ura, your taking-care-of-your-wallet friend in this amazing journey into Japanese pop, geek, and sub culture.
Thank you for joining us.
1
Not a sound investment.
Boasting an impressive library of titles and an assistant AI, Anime Tube sounded like it had the potential to be an amazing new player in the anime streaming space. Unfortunately, things weren’t quite so simple.
A closer look at what the ambitious anime streaming service aimed to achieve through its Kickstarter reveals several red flags, misleading claims, and a lack of understanding of how the anime industry actually works. Perhaps one of the most ridiculous ideas was to obtain over 5000 titles with no money set aside for licensing, including some that are already available via other companies.
Shawne Kleckner, president of Right Stuf, publicly responded to the company on Twitter noting that they had yet to start any licensing discussions for their series. In a now-deleted tweet responding to the claim, they stated that they had contacted Shawne via LinkedIn, but were yet to receive a response. Clearly, this is a very liberal interpretation of what it means for an anime to be ‘under discussion.’
Luckily, the campaign has now been suspended by Kickstarter, but it remains one of the most egregious examples of crowdfunding gone wrong in recent memory. Many industry professionals have criticized it as a ‘total scam,’ with Media OCD's Justin Sevakis saying ‘Anyone intrigued or thinking of donating to AnimeTube's Kickstarter should… not.’
Check out Kim Morrissy and Lynzee Loveridge’s article on Anime News Network for more details.
2
Finally, some good news.
Two pieces of news hit Final Fantasy fans like a truck this week: one about the latest entry in the series, while the other concerns Final Fantasy X.
First of all, Final Fantasy XVI might be further along than we think. Comments made by director Tetsuya Nomura during the annual fourteen-hour ‘Letter from the Producer’ Final Fantasy XIV stream confirmed that the writing for the main scenario and the recording for the English-language voiceover was nearly done, suggesting that a large portion of the game is already complete.
‘Sure,’ Corey Prasek remarks, ‘they still need to squash bugs and whatnot, but I think the game is honestly much further along than we all expect.’
Secondly, comments made in an interview between Nomura, Final Fantasy X director Motomu Toriyama and Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu confirmed that a scenario for a sequel to Final Fantasy X-2 has been written. Penned by Kazushige Nojima, it would presumably be called Final Fantasy X-3, but will remain on hold until Final Fantasy 7 Remake is complete for now.
‘Final Fantasy X is one of the most popular games in the Final Fantasy series, particularly in Japan... It makes sense for SQUARE ENIX to want to revisit that story, especially after the FFX series was expanded upon yet again in the Final Fantasy X/X-2HD Remaster.’ (Liam Wiseman, IGN)
3
Lost and found.
Long thought to be lost, a partial copy of the 1935 Princess Kaguya film featuring special effects from a young Eiji Tsuburaya has been miraculously uncovered.
Tsuburuya is now renowned for his work on the Ultraman series and Showa-era Godzilla, but this was back at the start of his career. In one of the clips shown, you can see how Tsuburaya used special effects and multiple exposures to make it appear as if Princess Kaguya was glowing inside of a bamboo chute as the centuries-old tale states, with projections and more for the moon and sky effects.
‘Certain parallels in the effects can be found between and the 1927 German film Metropolis, although the effects showcased in the brief public clip do showcase unique ideas not found in the earlier production,’ Alicia Haddick states.
While the full, 75-minute version of the film remains lost, a 33-minute version made for export was found in the UK. Now that it has been restored by the National Film Archive of Japan, there are plans for it to be screened domestically on September 4 and 5. Those currently in Japan shouldn’t miss this golden opportunity to see the early career stylings of a visual effects master!
4
The master returns.
Hiromu Arakawa will be launching a new manga in the pages of Monthly Shonen Gangan, the magazine where the Fullmetal Alchemist magic began twenty years ago.
Judging from the teaser visual shared, Hiromu Arakawa’s new series doesn’t appear to be a slice of life like Silver Spoon. Things look a bit too poised and dramatic for that, while the figure on the right looks a lot like Riza Hawkeye. We don’t know if there are any links with Fullmetal Alchemist just yet, but there appears to be an entrance to a traditional Japanese shrine on the bottom left, hinting that it might have something to do with real-life history.
Moreover, this marks the first time since Fullmetal Alchemist ended over a decade ago that Arakawa has drawn for Monthy Shonen Gangan. More or less straight after that, the author launched Silver Spoon in Weekly Shonen Sunday, published by Shogakukan. She also began to adapt Yoshiki Tanaka’s The Heroic Legend of Arslan novels for Bessatsu Shonen Magazine in 2013 (Kodansha), so she’s changed publishers and publications quite a bit.
‘Returning to the home of her breakout hit could ultimately be an inconsequential choice, but could also give us some indication as to what Hiromu Arakawa’s new series might be like.’ (Jacob Parker-Dalton)
5
25 years of your true self.
A total of seven projects are being teased in celebration of the Persona series’ 25th anniversary this year. What might Atlus have in store for us?
First of all, these projects were announced via a special 25th anniversary website alongside a number of Persona-related goods. Nevertheless, the main attraction here are the mysterious projects, the first of which is set to be unveiled in September of this year. The remaining six are hidden behind a scrambled screen that has a question mark on it.
As a result, there isn’t much information on what the Persona 25th anniversary actually entails, but we do know that announcements related to it will stretch from September this year to Fall 2022. Might the long-awaited remasters come in that time? PC ports for titles other than Persona 4? How about Persona 6? Who knows.
‘In the last ten years, Persona has grown to be a massively worldwide brand with fans all over the world and as a fan myself, I look forward to seeing what will be coming for the franchise over the next year.’ (Corey)
6
Sniping the record.
Golgo 13 has officially received the Guinness World Record for most volumes published in a single manga series, surpassing the previous record holder KochiKame.
Beginning the series all the way back in 1968 for Big Comic, original author Saito Takao was always strongly influenced by the gekiga movement and saw Golgo 13 as one part of his attempts to bring its ideals into the mainstream. He also developed a cooperative method of production very early on that is arguably the reason why Golgo 13 has continued so long: instead of coming up with stories himself, he draws chapters based on scripts provided by employees of his company Saito Productions.
Volume 201 is what eventually tipped Golgo 13 over the edge and allowed the series to take the Guinness World Record for most volumes published in a single manga series from KochiKame: Osamu Takimoto’s comedy series that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1976 to 2016. Nevertheless, the road to volume 201 hasn’t been easy, with the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) causing the series to take its first ever hiatus last year.
‘Will Golgo 13 ever end? It seems impossible to imagine at the minute, but Takao has had an ending in mind ever since the very beginning. Big Comic also announced in 2015 that the series was moving ‘towards conclusion,’ so there’s that… For now, Takao can enjoy celebrating his momentous achievement.’ (Jacob)
7
More robots, more markets.
As if Super Robot Wars 30 having more robots than ever wasn’t good enough, the title is also making its way outside of Japan for the first time in a decade.
If you haven’t heard of Super Robot Wars before, then it essentially acts as a big RPG crossover between various mecha series. Of course, stuff like Gundam is here, but now Code Geass and SSSS.GRIDMAN are joining the fight for the thirtieth entry in the long-running series. You can check out the full list of new participants via our website.
When Super Robot Wars 30 was first announced, it also became clear that the title would be getting a release in the Asian region. Usually, these versions are translated into English, so it would’ve been the best thing for the curious to import. Nevertheless, just a couple of days later, BANDAI NAMCO confirmed that they would be bringing the latest entry to western gamers on PC via Steam this October.
‘This marks the first time that Super Robot Wars has seen a western release in ten years. It also marks the first time that third-party licensed IPs will see an inclusion in a western release of the game. Some of them include Mobile Suit Gundam, Mazinger Z, Mazinkaiser, Getter Robo, and SSSS.Gridman.’ (Corey)
8
Humans are here to stay.
Paru Itagaki is launching a new manga titled SANDA in next week’s issue of Weekly Shonen Champion, cementing her pivot towards humanoid storytelling.
Although Itagaki is known for BEASTARS, her award-winning series about anthropomorphic animals, she recently penned a short manga for Manga Goraku by the name of Botabota. Following the story of a woman with an unusual affliction, it was notable as the first time that Itagaki had ever drawn humanoid characters in a major publication.
If you were hoping that Paru Itagaki might return to the world of anthropomorphic animals sometime in the near future, you may be disappointed. SANDA appears to be a fully fledged serialization for Weekly Shonen Champion instead of a limited-time thing, debuting alongside three others over the coming weeks. It takes place in the ‘near future,’ where the birth rate has decreased considerably.
‘Anyone who has yet to check out Botabota may be surprised at how well Itagaki can turn her hand to humans, but that is precisely why SANDA is so exciting: her new series may show off the extent of Paru Itagaki’s artistic evolution in a more mainstream publication.’ (Jacob Parker-Dalton)
9
Annoying AI.
Just as one chapter of Shuhei Miyazaki’s Me & Roboco delved into the titular robot maid’s annoying texting habits, you can experience them for yourself thanks to an AI based on Roboco’s personality.
Developed by rinna to mark one year since the series first launched in Weekly Shonen Jump, it brings to mind the part in chapter 48 where Bondo and friends try to navigate Roboco’s unique way of texting to invite her to a takoyaki party. The timing seems a little too perfect, so it was probably all planned from the very start.
Unfortunately, rinna’s AI doesn’t quite capture all of Roboco’s idiosyncrasies. She can only respond to messages that you send, but chapter 48 saw many of Bondo’s friends attest to the fact that Roboco would message them constantly until they responded. While that isn’t possible here, that might be a good thing depending on your point of view!
‘Rinna arguably already made their mark on this year by allowing Studio Orange to use their deep learning technology to create AI-generated background art for the opening of BEASTARS season 2, but this Roboco AI goes one step further. Based on the chatbot technology that they developed in cooperation with Microsoft before going independent, it brings the technology of the future a little closer to today.’ (Jacob)
10
Blockchain bushido.
Could the madness surrounding NFTs, cryptocurrency and the blockchain get any more absurd? Well, just wait until I say these two words: crypto samurais.
Studio GONZO announced last week that they were working on something by the name of SAMURAI cryptos. There’s very little information about what this project actually entails, but it probably has an anime element, considering that is what GONZO is known for. Furthermore, it might enjoy some sort of connection with Afro Samurai, because it is mentioned as a hashtag in the tweet.
Studio president Shinichiro Ishikawa remarked in his official statement that SAMURAI cryptos would bring in a ‘new era of animation for the NFT era with Japanese samurai.’ GONZO was created by former employees of Gainax before briefly being absorbed by Digimation, but perhaps the studio should’ve stayed dead if it is planning to revive its fortunes with the controversial NFT technology.
Have fun buying Samuraicoin, I guess.
Video Corner
‘Today, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword returns into the limelight after 10 years. The game initially launched back in 2011 as a title that would be able to make full advantage of the Wii Motion Plus. Coming off the critical success of Twilight Princess, it struggled to capture people’s hearts in the same way as many previous games in the series, but this is its second chance with updated graphics and a new control scheme.’
Video and Words by Callum May
See you next week!
Ura and the OTAQUEST team.
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