One of the (not so latest) announcements for Showgate was their name change from Toshiba Entertainment to Showgate in June of this year. Showgate’s line-up for 2007 are:

• Ghost Hound
• Kyoshiro and the Eternal Sky
• Nana Tsurio
• Cool and Sweet
• Black Blood Brothers
• Project Blue, SOS
• Karas, Episodes 4, 5, 6
• Tokyo Zombie
• Devil May Cry

The highly anticipated Devil May Cry anime series is currently airing in Japan. It will be released on DVD in December of this year in Japan. Showgate is currently negotiating with ADV as to when the DMC DVD will be released in the US.

Commenting on the story itself for the Devil May Cry anime series, Showgate representatives stated:

…the story does not closely follow the games. The focus will be primarily on Dante and his daily life but Lady and Trish will also make appearances….

Karas 4,5, and 6 will be released at the end of this year.

Superflat Art

One of the many great panels at Anime Central this year was called “Superflat Artists“. As a big fan of Japanese pop art (especially superflat), I was pretty excited to check this one out.

So what is superflat art? Here’s a great summary:

“Superflat is a postmodern art movement, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime. In a response to the homogenization of Japanese media and art, “Superflat” attempts to critique the vacuity of post-war Japanese culture, including criticisms of the otaku lifestyle, consumerism, and related issues.”

Most superflat artists use a combination of their fine art skills and that in the commercial world. Their design elements can be seen in numerous consumer products such as handbags, dresses, ashtrays and toys. But at the same time, their work is shown in prestigious galleries all over the world. I think it’s the balance between art and commercialism that makes it so interesting to anime fans and fine art lovers.

Two leaders of the superflat art movement are Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami.

Yoshitomo Nara

Nara is typically considered a superflat artist whose style is often referred to as ‘cutism’. Nara’s work is typically childlike but scary. Many of his paintings feature “a lone, bitter child who is isolated on the canvas”. His work is also known for featuring dogs. His work can be found everywhere in Japan; from galleries to ashtrays! View more of Yoshitomo Nara’s art.

Takashi Murakami

Murakami is considered ‘the man’ when it comes to superflat. His work has been displayed in many galleries throughout Japan and the world! Murakami is actually a big fan of anime and manga, even though his work often makes fun of anime stereotypes, LOL. There’s a great lecture I found online that nicely sums up Mr. Murakami’s contribution to superflat. An excerpt:

Murakami himself belongs to the first otaku generation, which consists of those who are born around 1960 (Murakami was born in 1962), and he admits publicly that his superflat style was established based on both Japanese premodern art tradition and postmodern otaku products. Murakami’s superflat conceptuality highlights an artistic quality of the otaku sensibilities. Nevertheless, the actual relationship between superflat and otaku is more complicated than an influence. To understand its entanglement, we should note the fact that otaku culture and its products have generally suffered an unjustified disregard by many intellectuals and critics these 10-15 years in Japan, while they are very often argued as a kind of sociological phenomena. Murakami’s project is now changing this situation but sometimes he still faces misunderstanding. We can point out three causes in this neglect of the otaku culture. I think the understanding of those factors is essential to understand the cultural position of the superflat and the structure of Japanese postmodernity.

View more of Takashi Murakami’s art

There are a variety of other, well-established superflat artists. Here are a few:

Izumi Kato

Deals with topics such as the aging Japanese population. View more of Izumi Kato’s art.

Hideaki Kawashima

Floating heads with large blue eyes dominate Kawashima’s work. The characters are often asexual. View more of Hideaki Kawashima’s art.

Kenji Yanobe

Yanobe tackles subjects like the dualism of atomic power - like how it can provide power, but it can also be used as a weapon. View more of Kenji Yanobe’s art.

Chiho Aoshima

Aoshima’s work is simply amazing. Larger-than-life creatures dominate the canvas - you have to see it to believe it! Check out Chiho Aoshima’s art here and the Tokyo Girls Bravo Show!

If you enjoy their work, you might want to check out these superflat artists too:

• Noboru Tsubaki’s art
• Aya Takano’s art also view more art
• Seth Fisher’s Marvel Comics ’superflat’ style art

Oh, and another site you should check out is Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.. This is the company founded by Takashi Murakami - I think you’ll like it!

I had the pleasure of meeting Trigun and Gungrave creator Yasuhiro Nightow during Anime Central 2007. I participated in a round table discussion with Mr. Nightow and character designer Noriyuki Zinguji, who has worked on Trigun, sCRYED and Hellsing. Both guests were very pleasant, thoughtful and provided very detailed answers to the questions that we asked.

Mr. Nightow has worked in a variety of creative fields. When he’s not working on the Trigun Maximum manga (which continues Vash’s story), he’s either designing action figures, working on games or assisting with anime production.

I asked Mr. Nightow if there was a drastically different way he works between the manga and videogame world. He said that one of the main differences is that for videogames (specifically Gungrave), he approached the design of the characters from the back first. His reason for doing things this way were due to the fact that in the Gungrave game, you’re playing as Beyond the Grave, so the player would see over his shoulder. Then he began working on the backgrounds and environments. When asked if there was anything he would change about the game, he said “No”.

Inspiration for Trigun was a mixture of ideas that Mr. Nightow had bubbling around in his head. He liked the contrast between cybertech and western, but the main concept of Vash stems from his desire to tell a story of a character with a strong sense of virtue. Some of the themes he wanted to explore included ideas on life and anti-violence. Some of those concepts have darkened over the years, but his ideas are constantly changing, so a lot of those original ideas show up from time to time.

His favorite ‘western’ (and possibly some inspiration for Trigun) is ‘Wild Wild West’. Or ‘The Wild Bunch’.

He is very inspired when he sees people cosplay as his characters. He once asked a cosplayer why they would go though so much trouble to make a costume for such a complex character design. The fan told him that his work is so inspiring, he had to make it work. So Mr. Nightow is a big fan of people who cosplayer as characters from his creations.

A few questions were asked about some of the ‘non work-related’ things he does. Some of Mr. Nightow’s favorite videogames are God of War and Tomb Raider (for Playstation).

Mr. Nightow would like to tell aspiring artists to “draw every day - practice/practice/practice!” He also said that “no one ever becomes a manga artist without first creating their own manga!”

Overall it was really great to meet such talented creators from Japan. I really appreciate both of their work and am greatful that they took the time out of their day to answer questions.

I admit I’m a bit of a closet lolita. Last year’s panel on the subject had me hooked, so there was no way I was missing either, The Way of the Lolita or the Gothic Lolita Fashion Show.

I arrived at the The Way of the Lolita 30 minutes beforehand and met the moderator, Kurololi Roku. She’s been an Aristocrat for four years and she loves the long dresses and elegant lines that style showcases. She first became interested in the lolita fashion four years ago after finding this unique Japanese style online. Her passion for speaking about lolitas is what spurred her to co-moderate the panel this year.

Kurololi Roku, Roku for short, likes the overall lolita fashion since it has elements of American Goth but, also, because it’s an elegant and beautiful style; something which American Goth can lack at times Her favorite sub-genres within lolita are the mature and sophisticated Aristocrat, and the male style, Ojisama.

Roku started the panel by saying, “It’s called Gothic and Lolita, not Gothic Lolita.” Then she went into the three primary styles of Gothic and Lolita, aka the Gothic and Lolita color wheel. These would be: Lolita, Gothic, and Punk and all the sub-genres within it. Just like an actual color wheel, one could mix gothic with lolita and get Gothic Lolita, mix Gothic and punk to get Punk Gothic and so on and so on (would Sweet Punk work?)

She also debunked the theory that EGL and EGA are actually loli styles; they’re not. Mana, a popular Visual Kei singer developed a loli brand and called it “Elegant Gothic Lolita” and “Elegant Gothic Aristocrat”. It’s a no-no to refer to a style by these terms. It’d be like calling an American urban street style, Nike.

Lolita fashion first started round 1979. There was a fashion brand called Pink House that created pretty clothes for housewives to wear. It’s a rumor that Pink House was the first house to manufacture this fashion. Pink House no longer makes loli-esque clothing.

Gothic and Lolita are NOT cosplay. However, there are cosplay lolitas. Meaning, that most lolitas dress up loli because they would normally dress that way. There are people, on the other hand, who dress loli as a cosplay. Make sense?

While this panel stressed that people interested in lolita should make it unique to themselves, there still seem to be many gals/guys who adhere to a set of rules. Some American lolis have a strict code for being lolita. Any deviation from these guidelines results in the equivalent of an online and/or verbal drive-by. Novala, a Japanese author accredited to helping to create lolita fashion, had this to say in the latest Gothic & Lolita Bible in a article called, “Rules of the Lolita”, about the matter :

“So you say you want to become a Lolita.
It’s okay if you just become one, but you’re asking me.
What do I do to become a Lolita?
I don’t have a set response.
Well, I’ll need a headdress, and a pannier.
Does my outfit coordination look funny?
Am I making mistakes in Lolita?
Hey, why do you want to be a Lolita anyway?
Well, it’s popular, and my friends are doing it…
But, there aren’t any requirements to becoming a Lolita.
If you just imitate it, you’ll eventually achieve the appearance.
But I want to think about it.
Who are you living for?
If you think about your situation, you’re just afraid of being lonely.
You’re shouting out for freedom, but you’re only comfortable within rules.
I admire you for not offering up your full submission.
You Vivienne Westwood girls who don’t know who the Sex Pistols are.
Even when wearing a sweater, a princess is still a princess.
My rules for Lolita are my rules alone,
and only you can come to realize your own Lolita rules.
My gods and your gods are different.
There are angels wrapped in elegant love, striking tambourines, and if you keep them inside, they’ll be there to do their job when you take out your sword and fight.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to hear them.
I have a hint for you, though.
I’m not the only one who has realized this.
The answer to your thoughts about wanting to be proper.
Embroider frills to the bottom of your heart!
Place a tiara atop your soul!
And most of all, have pride.”

Translated by Curiosity

Two other guidelines set up by Novala are:

• Skirts must go below the knee
• Bangs must hit the eyebrows

Curiosity, the lolita co-moderator, showed up in time to add her translation of the article to the conversation. She’s a full time loli, choosing to wear name brand lolita fashions 24-7. When asked how much of a budget a loli would need to be that dedicated, she said “Astronomical”. Still haven’t found an exact number for that…

The panel wrapped up and we took our leave, but not without having a quick word with Curiosity. I’m afraid I gushed a bit when I said that her panel last year was what got me interested in lolita fashion. I then invited her to write for the site. I hope she does; she’s one enlightened and enlightening lolita!

UPDATED: Watch a video excerpt of the panel:

On Saturday night at Anime Central 2007, the Spoony Bards played a variety of anime-related songs. I managed to grab video of one song in particular - a cover of Steve Conte’s “Call Me, Call Me” from Cowboy Bebop. I really love their rendition of the song!

You can check out the Spoony Bards website for more information about the band!

Ok, so from a logistics point of view, ACen was BAAADDDD. It wasn’t the fault of any one person, thing, or act of god/ Nature that ACen went down the way it did. But, it still, nonetheless, went down in a bad way.

For a minute, I’ll put on my Blogger/ Press hat and analyze: ACen was disorganized and lacked the key communications that would have allowed all the programming and panels to run on time and in an effective manner. Info was either late in coming, didn’t arrive at all, or was misinterpreted.

From a fan’s POV, ACen had some cool panels, killer guests, and great bands. The con drew *RUMOR ALERT* 17,000+ people and cosplayers were everywhere. However, also from a fan’s POV, I saw that the hotel was getting trashed (I didn’t actually witness any wanton acts of vandalism, just the filth and destruction) the pre-reg and Masquerade were horribly mismanaged and the fact that ACen wasn’t really celebrating it’s 10th anniversary the way it should have was disturbing.

There were only two pieces of 10th anniversary swag at the merchandise booth and I felt there should have been much, much more. There also weren’t any panels or events that pushed the 10th year angle. 10 years as the Midwest’s Largest Anime con/ *RUMOR ALERT* /second largest con in the nation is something to celebrate. This con felt like it forgot it’s own birthday. 10 Years= Big Deal. No Big Deal= Disappointment

Also, for some strange reason, the variety of cosplayers wasn’t as vast as it was last year. There were many obscure cosplays and a ton of very well constructed cosplays, a gaggle of gothic lolitas, but nothing like the veritable cornucopia of cosplay that we had last year. Was there a some malaise that hit cosplayers this year? Did I miss that many cosplays? Whatever the reason, I wished I had seen a bigger variety of cosplays.

Overall, I’m right dead in the middle of loathing and loving this year’s Anime Central. This is only my second con (ever) so while I can’t say too much how this compares to other cons, I can say that I wish ACen 2007 had been handled better.

What about you guys? How was your con experience? Anything happen to sour you on ACen or did you have such a blast that you say, “Something went wrong?” What was your experience like?

Here’s an excerpt of my live audio recording of the Yasuhiro Nightow interview where he talks about new projects and how he’s working on pre-production of a new Trigun anime series! You’ll hear his translator speaking, then Mr. Nightow, then some people in the room.

Yasuhiro Nightow - Trigun 2 on the way (.mp3, 1.9mb, right-click to download)

This year, we’re doing something a lil’ different on the site in regards to cosplay. This year, we’re holding The Anime Blog’s first ever People’s Choice Awards in Cosplay. You - the Con-Goer and You - the Reader, will finally be able to vote for who you feel really shone this year in the sphere of cosplay. To that end, we’re even letting You nominate cosplays!

We’re now accepting nominees, in the form of photos, for our People’s Choice Awards. Send us your best, i.e., clearest and most in focus, photos of your nominations in the following categories:

• Best Crossplay
• Best Male Cosplay
• Best Female Cosplay
• Sexiest Male Cosplay
• Sexiest Female Cosplay
• Most Obscure Cosplay
• Best Out of Context Cosplay
• Cutest Lolita
• Best Lolita
• Best Neko-kun
• Best Neko-mimi
• Best Original Cosplay

Please send nominations by Monday, May 28th, 2007. Vote for the top 5 nominees beginning Friday, June 1st, 2007 and ending Saturday, June 9th, 2007. Winners will be announced on Sunday, June 10th, 2007!

For those unclear on what we mean by Out of Context, keep in mind that cosplaying Japanese culture is good at an anime con. And while Captain Jack Sparrow is also good, he just doesn’t quite go with the anime theme. Savvy? So, remember that out of context cosplays are those that have little to no connection to anime and Japanese culture. Spider-Man is another OC. The Spartans were also wayyyy OC. Catching on? Now you too can play the OC game!

Remember to send us your nominees!!!