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Anime

Genshiken

If you’ve ever wanted to be a fly on the wall around people who are passionate about anime, manga, and the culture of Cool Japan in America, here’s your chance. I attended Sushi Night this past Saturday with the Austin Anime Meetup Group, where I and 6 others enjoyed the fare at Ryu of Japan and discussed our favorite topics. I recorded much of it on video, which I’ve edited and posted below, and we took lots of pictures.

Enjoy. But more importantly, join us next time. It really is a Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyukai (現代視覚文化研究会), or Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture.

Here’s the video:

Sushi Night at Ryu of Japan from Austin Otaku on Vimeo.

And here are some of the photos from the evening. We did something a little different this time around by passing around the camera and getting shots from all angles (and seeing who can’t take pictures as you’ll see in the slideshow at the end of the video).

Peace and Rabbit Ears Anime Group Discussing Anime
Emily and Anh Athrun Zala and Brian B
Maniacal Sushi Service Okonomiyaki
Austin Anime Meetup Group Eating Emily's Special Chopsticks

If you’re interested in checking out Ryu of Japan yourself, check out their website, or drop by at:

11101 Burnet Road
Austin, TX 78758
(512) 973-9498

If you want to join the Austin Anime Meetup Group, join us at our Meetup site.

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Patlabor – Something for Every Otaku

by AdamSimpson on January 24, 2010

Patlabor

Greetings, everyone.  I have brought my relentless charm to bear on the Austin Otaku and managed to secure myself a guest post here at AustinOtaku.com.  Hopefully this post will succeed in persuading you to try an anime title that I’ve enjoyed immensely.

Most otaku in the U.S. have found anime they like and learned how to search out similar titles to enjoy.  With rich offerings from genres like comedy, character drama, slice-of-life, romance, suspense, etc., otakus are never left empty-handed.  The enterprising otaku continues to broaden his or her knowledge of anime by sampling new genres and seeing what they have to offer.  That said, there is one genre that has trouble appealing to viewers outside of Japan.

Mecha, or giant robot, anime makes up a large part of the animation coming out of Japan.  Ever since Mighty Atom and Iron Man 28 in the 1960’s Japanese audiences have enjoyed seeing giant metal men save the day.  Mecha anime is so popular in the Land of the Rising Sun that it has become its own genre.

But for westerners it seems like too much to swallow.  Brightly colored machines that dwarf automobiles fist fighting in the streets of Tokyo seems like the stuff of Saturday morning cartoons.  The heavy use of strange technical terms doesn’t help, either.  What’s a “minovsky particle” and why should I care?  But to write off such a large portion of anime would deprive us of far too much.  Is there any mecha anime that has a lot to offer a non-science-fiction fan?  Perhaps something that will go easy on us non-techies?  Enter “Patlabor.”

Patlabor characters

The members of SV 2's second division.

Patlabor started with an OAV series in April 1998 and was so well received that it went on to produce a 47 episode television series, three high-budget movies and another OAV series.  Its popularity has continued for more than thirteen years because it has something to offer everyone.  After looking at the promotional artwork and art books you would get the impression Patlabor is an action-packed mecha show, but actually Patlabor is a collection of stories that spans every genre.  Action and suspense is mixed evenly with intelligent science-fiction, touching character drama, side-splitting comedy, slice-of-life stories and soap opera romance.

Patlabor characters

The stories center around the members of the Tokyo Police Department’s Special Vehicles Section 2 (SV 2).  SV 2’s first division is made up of competent, dedicated officers, but the second division somehow became a magnet for talented misfits.  The seven members of Division 2 are passionate and skilled people, but their personalities clash, and their offbeat approach to their work make for a very entertaining series.

Patlabor mecha

Although sparse, there is mecha action that won't disappoint.

Placed ten years in the future, Patlabor features giant robots that are just entering the police force to try and stop the criminal use of construction and military robots that is on the rise.  Although some stories involve mecha action, many don’t show the robots at all.  Instead of the tense military storylines or technical terms we expect from sci-fi anime, you’ll enjoy comedy, office romance, character-focused stories and much more.  Over the course of the television and OAV episodes you’ll get to know the characters well and what motivates each of them.  The movies switch gear a bit and offer intelligent science-fiction stories that involve suspense and commentary on modern society.

Patlabor truly has something for every otaku.  It’s sometimes surprising to me that so few of us otaku in the U.S. have given it a try.  If you’ve never tried mecha anime, let me recommend Patlabor.  If you’d like to read about Patlabor in more detail, GearsBlog has a few articles for you.  If you decide you’d like to see more of what mecha anime has to offer, stop by Gears Online.

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Merry Christmas from Austin Otaku

by Austin Otaku on December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas

Whether you personally celebrate Christmas or not, one thing you’re familiar with are Christmas episodes in your favorite animes and J-doramas. My personal favorite was the “Christmas Eve Festival” episode (#1) of “Toradora!” On the night of the school’s Christmas festival, Ryuji, being the caring person he is, rushes back to Taiga’s apartment after hearing she left to go wait for Santa Claus. Closer to the truth, she didn’t want to be a distraction for Ryuji because she knows he wants to confess his love to Minori after the party.

Ryuji as Santa with TaigaBut Ryuji knows that Taiga is all alone for Christmas. She doesn’t have a good relationship with her father, so she lives alone. So he dons a Christmas teddy bear suit and climbs into her apartment to fulfill her wish to see Santa. She is overcome with joy, hugging “Santa” and thanking him for coming.

Ultimately, this ruins his chances with Minori, but it illustrates what should be the nature of the season – the sacrifice of self in order to bring happiness to others.

What’s your favorite Christmas episode?

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Brochure: Guide for the Otaku in Exile

November 24, 2009
Austin Otaku

For the presentation on anime for JASGA and for my anime lunch with the Japan Club at LASA High School, I prepared a handout to give to attendees called “Austin Otaku’s Guide for the Otaku in Exile.” It’s kind of a tongue in cheek name, of course, since none of us are exiled from Akihabara [...]

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Photos from the Weekend of the Otaku

November 10, 2009
Austin Otaku

As my last post indicated, there were some really cool events available for Austin-area otaku to plug into this weekend, starting on Thursday with the Austin Anime Meetup Group’s Thursday Night Manga meeting and culminating on Sunday with the beginning of the San Antonio Museum of Art’s month-long tribute to the genius of Hayao [...]

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Jpop CDJapan


Let the Weekend of the Otaku Begin

November 5, 2009
Austin Otaku

It’s Thursday, and everyone knows that Thursday is the unofficial beginning of the weekend. Well, I’m also unofficially dubbing this weekend “The Weekend of the Otaku.” There are several activities to satiate your thirst for anime and manga. In fact, I’ll be heading out shortly for the first event in the lineup.

Thursday, Nov. 5 @7PM [...]

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Think There’s Nothing to do This Weekend? Let Austin Otaku Fill You In…

October 22, 2009
Austin Otaku

So, you’re in Austin, and you think there’s nothing for you to do this weekend? Oh, you know I can’t just leave you in the dark. There is plenty to keep you busy. … In fact, I have a feeling I’m going to be quite exhausted by Sunday evening.
Friday, October 23rd

UT Austin Anime Club – [...]

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San Antonio Museum to Honor Miyazaki with Film Festival & Lecture

October 17, 2009
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

The San Antonio Museum of Art continues its celebration of Japanese culture next month with a film festival series and lecture that honors the early work of critically-acclaimed anime writer/director Hayao Miyazaki.
From the official press release:
“Miyazaki’s feature-length films follow legendary characters, often based on mythology or graphic novels, who experience childhood adventure and questions of [...]

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Presentation on Anime for JASGA

October 5, 2009
Austin Otaku

This evening, I presented a lecture on behalf of the Japan-America Society of Greater Austin on the topic of “Anime.”  JASGA had asked me a few weeks ago to present on this topic. Initially, I was honored that they would think I was versed enough in this aspect of Japanese entertainment  to present to them.
And [...]

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