The OQ Weekly (18 March 2021) - The Vtubers Feet Edition
The best curated newsletter in the Japanese pop-culture world.
Helloooooo, OTAQUESTers! *urahighfive*
There is a perfectly good reason for that seemingly clickbaity title, and trust me, it will all make sense as you go through this newsletter.
First, I don’t really do clickbait. I was raised in a nurturing website that values honesty and creative expression. Second, as a cute and irresistible digital mascot, I know that design-wise, avatars are at the mercy of their creators. We may be sentient fictional characters (any objections?), but we didn’t come out of nothing.
Now the question is: Do Vtubers dream of digital feet?
As long as there are fans supporting them, they won’t have to.
If you want to talk about ANYTHING but feet, don’t forget to join our Discord! We talk about more than just anime, manga, and games, too.
I am Ura, your not-a-vtuber-(yet) guide in this amazing journey into Japanese pop, geek, and sub culture.
Thank you for joining us.
1
Cover controversy cleared.
Three weeks ago, rumored artist of the Hololive Alternative manga Mizuryu Kei cut all ties with Cover Corp after a Twitter tantrum. Now, we finally have some concrete details on the situation.
First of all, Cover confirmed that there was indeed a manga attached to the project that the company and the artist had been negotiating ‘for a long time.’ However, due to ‘various circumstances,’ it was ‘reluctantly decided’ that it would be abandoned. The company apologized to all the fans that were looking forward to the manga and promised that ‘suitable compensation’ would be paid to the artist.
This doesn’t actually confirm that Mizuryu Kei was the one working on the manga, but the artist put out a statement of his own that more or less confirms it. He said that ‘since an apology has already been put out from the other side… I will refrain from saying anything more than what is contained in that statement,’ but explained that some of the information spread by way of his bilibili channel was false. This is because the channel is not run by him, but ‘volunteers.’
With this, the controversy surrounding Cover Corp, Mizuryu Kei, and the Hololive Alternative manga appears to be cleared up, but as Jacob Parker-Dalton says: ‘The real question… is where the Hololive Alternative project is supposed to go from here.’ The whole virtual world lies in the balance.
2
Besting the box office.
Eiga Natalie spoke to three Japanese movie producers about the impact COVID-19 had on their distribution plans in the past year, discovering several clever ways to overcome it.
Wife of a Spy, for example, worked with bookstores to push the novelization and reach those older audiences that may have felt more urgency to stay away from theaters. Around the Edge of the Stand extended its showing period to overcome the limited numbers of screens afforded to it as an indie production. Stigimatized Properties also did deals with YouTubers to create web advertisements that captured the more comedic aspects of the film. It also released without much competition in the early months following the reopening of Japanese theaters.
As Alicia Haddick notes, ‘Cinemas were obviously hit hard by the pandemic, and none of the Japanese producers spoken to by Eiga Natalie could definitively say revenues weren’t impacted by the pandemic. However, as plans changed, some noted the benefits of releasing at the time it did, and how their movies were still able to have a cultural impact on audiences regardless of their circumstances.’
That just goes to show that when there’s a will, there’s a way.
3
Forwards and backwards.
2021 marks 46 years since Shotaro Ishinomori’s Super Sentai burst onto the scene, and Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger was touted as a bit of sea change for the franchise. We have our thoughts.
Chris Cimi remarks that ‘Despite the changes to the plastic-wrapping, the show made to sell plastic to 8-year-old boys ultimately doesn’t stray too far from its traditions.’ Although some changes to the old sentai formula are present, the overall structure is intact: it still has a charismatic, handsome young male lead taking down robotic bad guys with a smile. The only real difference is arguably that the characters are in costume most of the time.
Curiously enough, this may have had something to do with COVID-19: walking around in rubber contraptions all day every day sure does a lot to ward off a deadly virus that’s transmitted mainly through the air. That might date Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger a bit, but does speak to the fact that nearly every industry has had to adapt to the prevailing circumstances.
But hey, at least the kids’ll have something to watch, right?
4
Not scratch and sniff.
If you were on Twitter at any point on Monday, then you may have noticed a weird trend: various VTubers posting pictures of their virtual feet.
According to Polygon, the deluge was started by @Torte_Kamakraya, who posted a picture of her shoes with the hashtag #Vtuberの靴が見たい (I want to see VTubers’ shoes). Very quickly, this grew into a Twitter phenomenon of epic proportions: almost every single virtual personality under the sun was posting pictures of their lower parts, regardless of whether they wore shoes or not. Hence, ‘feet’ become the main focus.
But why? Apart from people online being really quite disgusting, this is probably because we hardly ever get to see below the waist of most VTubers, given that they stream from the shoulders up. As Jacob says, ‘This trend therefore offers fans a rare chance to truly take in all angles of their favorite VTubers’ designs, starting at the bottom.’
I have feet too, but I won’t show you.
5
Sweeping the awards.
The results of the 15th annual Manga Taisho awards are in, and saw Kanehito Yamada and Abetsuka’s Sousou no Frieren go home with a surprise win.
Looking closely at the final points awarded by the judges, we can see that the scale of Frieren’s win was actually quite considerable: there are a full 24 points between it and the runner-up, Chi. -Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite- by Uoto. That’s absolutely well deserved, as the series was probably one of our favorites last year.
Jacob has a bit to say on SPY x FAMILY’s placement dead last. ‘When it first started, it [SPY x FAMILY] was winning award ceremonies left right and center, but not the Manga Taisho award: it was nominated in 2020, but didn’t win. Given that Blue Period also got nominated twice before winning last year, many (including myself) thought 2021 might just be the year. Alas, it was not to be… Does this speak to the apparent stagnation of the series’ overall formula, or simply the fact that the initial hype has died down after nearly two years of publication?’
Well, I don’t know about that - SPY x FAMILY is still pretty good. But I honestly might like Sousou no Frieren even better… Hmm. I’ll get back to you on that.
6
Getting ahead of the pack.
As part of a series of wide-ranging reforms, the Tokyo International Film Festival has become the first major film festival in Asia to sign a gender parity pledge for showcased productions.
The charter has already been signed by 156 other film festivals, including such major events as the Cannes, Berlin, and Venice Film Festival, but the Tokyo Film Festival is one of the first major events in Asia to do so. It commits the festival to working towards gender parity on executive boards, compiling statistics on the gender of production staff, as well as more selection transparency.
Stemming from this, a major staff shake-up has been announced: Shozo Ichiyama, experienced producer and previous head of Tokyo Filmex, will be replacing Yoshi Yatabe as the programming director, who has been in the post since 2004. Takeo Hisamatsu will also be stepping down from his role as festival director, while famed Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu will continue to work closely with the event by way of his Asia Lounge Conversation series.
Alicia says that ‘Hiroyasu Ando’s appointment to festival chairman in 2019 came with an aim to boost the festival’s global relevancy,’ so it’s perhaps no surprise to see that the Tokyo Film Festival has followed the likes of Cannes and Berlin. Nevertheless, it might inspire other events in Asia to do the same, going some way to promote gender parity in filmmaking.
7
Surprise surprise.
Evangelion 3.0+1.0 continues to dominate the Japanese box office, earning just over 3.3 billion yen in its first week. In other news, water is wet.
One third of the total weekly sales came during the weekend, meaning that fans were more than happy to turn out in the middle of their work week to witness the final chapter in the Evangelion franchise. It had a very unusual release date for a major film, coming out on Monday, as explained in previous articles.
In other Evangelion news, one of the first ever Akihabara maid cafés Cure Maid announced that they would be running their first collaboration with the franchise in ten years, bringing two titans of Japanese pop culture together once again. Pixiv also got in on the fun by fully transforming their entire website into a bonafide Evangelion playground. Oh, and there’s also a terrifying life-size Rei figure on sale now.
No more Evangelion, I promise.
8
Whither Hobonichi Mother?
Mother creator Shigesato Itoi is letting you decide the future of his company Hobonichi’s Mother project by answering a survey about your history with the franchise.
As Corey Prasek notes, ‘The survey is pretty cut and dry at face value.’ It asks you about your history with the Mother series, which title is your favorite, how you first came into contact with it, etc. At the end, it gives you a thank you image that you can download along with some of your answers, as well as your randomly assigned avatar. It doesn’t take long to complete.
More importantly, the survey allows you to send a personal message to the Hobonichi team, giving you a chance to offer your feedback. Taken alongside the recent announcement that a second Pollyanna tribute comic was in the works and looking for artists, it seems as if the project is at a crossroads right now. As a result, you may have a chance to influence its future direction.
9
Behind the scenes, but not really.
There are promo videos, and then there is whatever PlayStation Japan posted to YouTube on Tuesday.
Taking the form of a ‘behind the scenes’ video, it acts as less of an ordinary promo and more of a ‘here’s what we have planned.’ It is, however, definitely a lot more polished than what an actual making-of video would be; nevertheless, you’d be hard pressed to deny that it is eye-catching, and was a unique way for PlayStation to tell us what is coming to their newest console in the next couple of months.
So, what is coming? Well, there’s no new announcements here: just a sizzle reel featuring footage from the likes of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Resident Evil Village, Guilty Gear Strive, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, etc. etc.
I would take this opportunity to get excited, but getting my hands on any of the latest consoles is still proving to be an impossible task!
10
Urasawa played guitar…
Naoki Urasawa is a man of many talents. While he’s known mostly as a mangaka, his recent collaboration with Kazuyoshi Saitou has also revealed that he has serious animation chops!
Originally coming about because Saitou and Urasawa were already close friends, the 20th Century Boys and Monster creator put together ‘around 1000’ frames of animation for a music video set to the track ‘Boy’ from Saitou’s forthcoming album. While the result isn’t as smooth as other animated music videos we’ve seen in the past, it does fit the energy of the song perfectly and contains all of Urasawa’s idiosyncrasies: best friends, childhood nostalgia, and good old rock n’ roll music.
Ironically, this might be the first time we’ve seen any of Urasawa’s work in animation for a long time. As Jacob remarks, ‘the last time that any of his manga got animated was in 2005, when Monster finished airing!’ Anyone still holding out for that Pluto anime might have to lobby Urasawa to do it himself.
Video Corner
‘Thanks to the appearance of Pyra and Mythra in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is back in the limelight once again. Releasing in the same year as the Nintendo Switch, it was proof of not only the Switch’s abilities in creating an open-world, but also proof of developer Monolith Soft’s talents in creating one. And although it’s been many years since then and one very important expansion later, it’s still worth talking about the creation of this beloved RPG.’
See you next week!
Ura and the OTAQUEST team.
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