Hello, OTAQUESTers!
Last week, we added a new section to our newsletter: our Video Corner! Each week we will be sharing with you the latest video from our YouTube channel, OTAQUEST in Japan.
Also, starting from today, OTAQUEST is adding a new music column to its array. Patrick St. Michel, our music writer, runs an email newsletter called Make Believe Mailer, an offshoot of his decade-long blog Make Believe Melodies. Once a month, he will offer a personal selection of the best-of, highlighting Japanese songs worth your time, and other developments in the world of Japanese music. You can find a link to the first article after your weekly news.
I am Ura, your tour guide in this amazing journey into Japanese pop, geek, and sub culture.
Thank you for joining us.
1
You haven’t heard of Winter 2021’s most popular show.
It’s called Molcar, and it’s a stop-motion anime about anthropomorphized guinea pigs that are actually, um, cars.
Since beginning on 5 January, the short, three-minute episodes have clocked in millions of views on Bandai Visual’s official YouTube channel, where they are uploaded a couple of days after initially airing on Japanese TV. They’re only available for a week, however, so make sure that you’re subscribed to catch them before they’re gone!
Alicia Haddick explains the show’s tremendous success as follows: ‘It’s a self-contained, short moment of blissful cheer to brighten up any day, short enough for any commute... Designs are simple and the setting is inviting, the fluffy characters created in stop-motion inviting the audience into the episode. Turning them into the equivalent of pets and having them act as such is also an ingenious move that only endears them to the audience.’
Attack on Titan: The Final Season, eat your heart out.
2
Tanjiro stops the publishing recession.
Partly due to the enormous success of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, the publishing industry recorded one of its lowest declines last year, but there’s still a ways to go.
According to a report published by Shuppan Geppo, sales of print books and magazines only fell by 1% in 2020, the lowest decline since the ‘publishing recession’ started back in 2006. That’s still only a relative decline, however, and e-book sales continued to grow by 28%; the stay at home guidance and State of Emergency also played a part in driving Japanese consumers to read again.
Will Kimetsu no Yaiba continue to drive book sales and possibly even lead to an increase next year? Jacob Parker-Dalton doesn’t think so. ‘The series has already concluded, meaning that no new volumes will be hitting store shelves to attract new customers and bring in money from already existing ones... While Studio Ufotable’s anime adaptation is still ongoing, the amount of promotion it can do for an already concluded series is limited.’
Still, the effects of the series’ success are surprising.
3
Bringing out the big guns.
The nominees for the 14th Annual Manga Taisho awards are out, including many series we’ve talked about before. These awards, in particular, are worth paying attention to.
The nominees include Oshi no Ko by Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari, Sousou no Frieren by Kanehito Yamada and Abetsuka, Kaiju No. 8 by Naoya Matsumoto, and SPY x FAMILY by Tatsuya Endo, alongside six others. An author by the name of Yama Wayama actually has two titles in the top ten, which is worth pointing out.
As Chris Cimi explains: ‘The Manga Taisho awards, on their fourteenth incarnation, differentiate themselves by being primarily decided by booksellers who have their ear to the ground.’ They can therefore be trusted as a bit more of an accurate reflection of what’s up and coming in Japan right now.
Apart from us, of course.
4
The power of the internet.
Manga originally published online dominated Hon no Hikidashi’s list of highest selling debut volumes last year, confirming that paper magazines are no longer in the driving seat.
Taking the number one spot was Kaiju No. 8, which was already mentioned before in the previous Manga Taisho piece and is published on Jump Plus. Coming up in number two, though, is a truly curious series: This Croc Will Die in 100 Days, the Twitter webcomic phenomena that took Japan by storm when it ended earlier last year. You can guess the ending, but it was incredibly effective.
As Jacob explains, ‘Both of these series were published online, proving that you don’t need to be published in one of the big weekly manga magazines anymore to see mainstream success.’
Even so, such Weekly Shonen Jump and Weekly Shonen Magazine series as Burn the Witch and A Couple of Cuckoos managed to come in at number three and number four respectively. So it’s not over for the big boys yet.
5
Unravel… remixed?
The Tokyo Ghoul anime’s iconic first OP is getting a remix by Yorushika, of all groups.
Intended for the upcoming Sui Ishida exhibition in Ikebukuro, it will play as part of an original video presentation at the entrance. It’s unfortunate that travel to Japan is severely limited right now, as we’re super curious to hear what it sounds like: cringe or based?
As Cimi explains, ‘Yorushika won themselves a lot of fans over the last couple of years with their playful melodies and artful aesthetic, and just the idea of getting to hear their (producers’) version of the song read as a pure genius idea.’
Plus, ‘Independent of if you like Tokyo Ghoul...“Unravel” dominated as arguably the second biggest anime opening phenomenon of the 2010s, just behind the original Attack on Titan opening.’
Absolutely.
6
Manga Mito Remastered.
The classic anime series Manga Mito Komon is getting a remaster in Japan that not only includes updated visuals, but also the original pilot episodes for the first time ever.
These episodes have never been released publicly before and will be only available to those who pick up the remaster’s first print run, so make sure to act quickly if you’re interested. There are also two other pilots from the same studio on the disk, both based on traditional Japanese folklore.
Still, if you haven’t heard of the series before, Alicia explains its significance as follows: ‘A fantasy-themed loose adaptation of Japan’s longest-running jidaigeki TV drama ever... the staff list includes director Kazuyuki Okasako, who worked on several classic anime like Game Center Arashi… alongside Keisuke Morishita, best known for his character design and animation work on the likes of Mazinger Z.’
7
Get in the massive robot, Shinji.
Ever wanted a 160 cm tall Evangelion Unit 13 figure? Your wish is Prime1Studio’s command.
Available for preorder with an expected shipping date of sometime between April and June 2022, this absolute unit of a figure will set you back a cool ¥167,900 (about $1,550 USD). Unless you have a hedge fund burning a hole in your pocket, chances are that you won’t be able to pick this one up any time soon, so us peasants can feel content just looking at the video.
As Corey Prasek says, ‘It seems like anywhere you look recently, there is news about Evangelion in some fashion.’ This one has definitely cut through the rest and drawn a lot of attention due to its size, however, and ‘will certainly be the talk of the town if you get one of these in your possession.’
8
Living in a Hell’s Paradise.
The beginning of this week saw the announcement of a Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku anime, but what was curious is that it was announced just as the manga came to an end.
Literally so: the series’ final chapter carried not just the story’s conclusion, but also the announcement that the manga would be turned into a TV anime. We don't know who will be handling the adaptation, however, nor do we know when it is coming out, so what draw more attention was the timing of this project’s announcement.
‘...the real story here is that a Jigokuraku anime adaptation has been announced despite the source material coming to an end. This is quite surprising, as the project will therefore no longer benefit from cross-media promotion; there is also now a definitive end that any adaptation will have to respect. Perhaps ten years ago, this wouldn’t have been a very attractive set of prospects for a potential producer.’ (Jacob)
9
Escaping the online room.
Detective Conan’s latest real escape game will take place online, ensuring that even the pandemic can’t get in the way of Japan’s latest craze.
SCRAP is the one putting this together, and they’ve been behind some of the most industry-defining and viral escape games in recent years. Yet, the stay at home order means that many Japanese people don’t feel comfortable heading down to downtown Tokyo, putting a severe damper on those activities.
Starting with Detective Conan, however, the company hope to bring their activities online. Details on how this will work exactly are, admittedly, a little vague, but as Corey says: ‘It’s really nice to see that companies are doing everything they can in their power to make sure that people still have things to do, even if they have to stay safe at home.’
That goes for overseas fans, too.
10
Looking through the Mame Kurogouchi window.
Former Act-Age artist and illustrator Shiro Usazaki contributed three pieces to the latest edition of SPUR magazine, showing what kind of shape her career is taking, if only temporarily.
These three pieces are intended to illustrate fashion designer Mame Kurogouchi’s upcoming Spring/Summer 2021 collection, all themed around the concept of ‘window.’ A video interview on SPUR’s YouTube channel gives some context as to what Usazaki was thinking when she drew these pieces, although it is a little esoteric.
Usazaki has done a lot of illustration work as of late, most recently for Shueisha’s Monthly Playboy magazine. Given that she hasn’t managed to put together a new manga series yet, it’s great to even get a chance to see more of her fantastic art: ‘If Usazaki continues to do collaborations for the time being, then so be it!’ (Jacob)
Japanese Music Highlights - January 2021
Video Corner
The Most Popular Anime of Winter 2021 Is Molcar, A Stop-Motion Series About Guinea Pig Cars
See you next week!
The OTAQUEST team.
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