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dropintomanga · 4 years

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Can Sports Manga Really Break Through in North America?

Here we are in the summer of 2020 and it’s usually San Diego Comic-Con time. And with it comes discussion of how manga is doing in 2020. There was a Manga Publishing Industry Roundtable discussion at Comic-Con with representatives from almost all of the U.S. manga publishers (which you can watch here) about what’s happening in the U.S. side of things. While manga sales have dropped due to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have rebounded back in some ways. A great thing about this is that it’s not just mainstream titles that are selling; it’s also series that are from other genres like slice-of-life and horror.

Which now leads into the title of this post because at the end of the discussion, publishers were asked about what they would like to see in the future. Erik Ko, chief of operations at UDON Comics, said something that really piqued my interest. He said that he wants to see if sports manga can truly break out in North America (i.e. reach levels of sales and popularity a la My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, etc.). Erik mentioned how his daughter loves Haikyu!! on Crunchyroll and watched all 3 seasons multiple times (It’s also mentioned that Haikyu!! sold well during the pandemic for its U.S. publisher Viz Media).

While the manga has officially ended as of this writing, Haikyu!! will last for a while as the anime will have a 4th season and possibly more. However, while Haikyu!! is loved by a lot of anime/manga fans, it’s not exactly a series that has gotten EVERY shonen fan or manga reader talking. With the many sports manga licenses that manga publishers have gotten over the past few years, it doesn’t sound like there’s significant traction.

This does beg the question of what will it take for sports manga to really catch the eyes of manga readers here in the United States.

For starters, I’ll discuss a bit about the history of sports anime here in the United States. It’s been noted that a lot of sports anime do not tend to sell well over here. There was an Answerman article on Anime News Network answering “Why Do Sports Anime Bomb in North America?” that really goes into this. While it’s noted in the article that Yuri!! on Ice and Free! are indeed sports anime and have sold well, almost all discussion about those series revolves around the relationships between the male characters. Sports play second fiddle to the relationships compared to series like Haikyu!!, Slam Dunk, and Captain Tsubasa (where the sports aspect is still preached a lot).

Speaking of Captain Tsubasa, if you don’t know about this series, this is the one sports anime/manga that generated a lot of love overseas in countries that worship football/soccer. In the Manga: The Citi Exhibition book, there was an article on the promotion of Captain Tsubasa in Baghdad, Iraq by the Japan Self-Defense Force. The series was promoted via pictures on water distribution tanks in Iraq in the mid-2000s’ as a way to make Iraqi children smile. During the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Japan would later work with Iraqi media channels to show programming that would help encourage the country. One of these shows happened to be Captain Tsubasa, which was dubbed in Arabic. The series’ fandom took off from there and more places in the Middle East (like Saudi Arabia) even got in on the action using hacked satellites to watch.

I wonder if this is what Erik Ko wants to see - something like Captain Tsubasa that not only gets fans gushing about the story and characters, but also inspires kids to become professional athletes or at least become more physically active in their own lives.

A big problem that gets in the way of this happening in the U.S. is how sports culture is like over here. How do I explain this? I’ll use a quote from a 2016 article in the Milwaukee Independent about Anime Milwaukee.

“While the Anime Milwaukee convention does not collect statistical data about those who attend, walking around the convention provided empirical confirmation of how Anime speaks to multi-generational and multi-cultural people.

Anime itself will not solve the very real problems faced by disadvantaged residents in Milwaukee.

But unlike the adversarial escapism offered by sports teams and the nature of competitive games, the appeal of Anime is with its positive messages. Where as sports is an unrealistic role model for struggling youth, for the most part Anime offers socially beneficial and moral examples.”

Sports in the United States are very much “us versus them.” In Japan, sports focuses on healthy competition between players. At least, that’s what Japanese sports stories try to focus on. While healthy competition between players does happen over here, it either doesn’t get shown as much in U.S. sports media or that competition becomes toxic to the point it hurts innocent people. In the U.S., you’re supposed to win and get recognized in order to move ahead in your respective sport via whatever means necessary. A good example is college basketball over here and how competitive schools have been involved in recruiting scandals over the best high school players. Another example is the psychological trauma faced by the number of young female athletes who were sexually abused/harassed and forced to believe that it was all part of the process to get ahead in their respective sport. I want to note that sports programs in the U.S. are often heavily underfunded, which adds to the pressure that faces any youth going through sports programs.

There’s also this tendency to view athletes over here as all-knowing celebrity gods (i.e. athletes who say awful things with confidence on social media) or people that only know how to play their respective sport (ie. the “shut up and dribble” comment to outspoken basketball players on social issues). There’s no in-between where we get to see the complete humanity of the athlete.

This does tie into how sports fans and anime/manga fans may not get along. You usually learn more about the nuanced aspects of life from outside sports than within. Sports over here preach some questionable values that anime/manga fans sometimes don’t believe in. Add the fact that sports is shoved down Americans’ throats so much and you can see why not everyone over watches sports. I do want to note that there are U.S. pro athletes showcasing their love for anime. While this is nice to see, almost all the titles they grew up watching are mainstream shonen/shojo. I’m curious if athletes would watch series like Haikyu!!, Kuroko’s Basketball, Eyeshield 21, etc., but then I wonder if they would keep watching as they can only handle so much sports drama as it’s part of their everyday reality.

So what will it take for a sports manga to break through in a big way? Viz Media tried to promote Slam Dunk here using the NBA to promote literacy in 2008. I also found out that Tokyopop tried to do something with the NBA via its Cine-Manga initiative in the mid-2000s’ and it only lasted from 2004-2007. So to that extent, there probably has to some kind of manga that’s similar to the now-famous The Last Dance documentary, which chronicled Michael Jordan’s last championship run with the Chicago Bulls in the 1997-1998 NBA season.

Though honestly, it’s gonna take a mangaka who’s really interested in all aspects of American sports culture to come up with that kind of story. What might be better is that the story heavily criticizes the culture in a compelling and sometimes humorous way. I think that’s what will really get all U.S. manga fans and comic fans interested, especially those who are sick of commercialized sports exposure wherever they go. I do think over time as anime/manga continue to be accepted in the geek ecosystem, we can see this kind of story take off.

Until then, if you happen to be someone who likes both sports and anime/manga in a level-headed manner like me, you’re doing alright. It’s hard to occupy both spaces when you’re supposed to choose a side. Although I liked physical education during my school days, I can understand why anyone whose hobbies lie more towards the artistic and creative side disliked physical education possibly due to the structure in how it’s taught. I know sports anime lovers that dislike watching real sports in general and I get why.

Hearing Erik’s comments made me wonder about the beauty of sports manga. Now that I think hard about it, sports anime/manga are a intersection of both the “nerd” and “jock” in a way that helps everyone. To be honest, that intersection is what really bridges gaps that makes people better. It’s what truly completes a person. I’ll use this example - you can’t have mental health without physical health and vice versa. Some kind of exercise can help the mind while learning how your mind works can help you do better in physical activities that connect people together.

Maybe more importantly, what sports manga tends to preach is that winning shouldn’t be everything. Right now, everyone is encouraged to win at something just for a taste of meaningless status and we’re seeing how that mentality can ruin someone. Sports, with all of its benefits freed from corporate influence, are supposed to teach us (like all great manga stories do) that there’s no “us versus them,” there’s only “us” in the end.

And that kind of story deserves to hit a home run that rounds all the bases to reach a celebratory and meaningful win for the world.

#sports manga #manga industry #manga #mental health #psychology #sports culture #sports fandom #manga fandom

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sonderrow-moved · 4 years

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LINK TO QUINN LINK TO JAEL LINK TO ROY

LIKE for a preestablished relationship/plotting line with Archer… BUT have at least one category in mind before I hop in your IMs!

I entirely get the urge of wanting to roleplay, expand our muses together, and this is my personal starting pack for Archer! If you’re hooked to one category but don’t think your muse can fit still HMU about it and I’ll see how we can work that out!

REMINDER I HAVE A LOT OF THREADS. Like often a lot. Roleplaying is something that effortlessly really relaxes me, but I am still one human. I like to see all my threads through no matter how long the wait is and do my best ! Thus we might not be threading right off the bat depending on how much stuff I have, but everything established can get into asks, dash shenanigans, etc. What matters is that it shapes our characters. 🙏

BUSINESS PEERS. Archer’s professional and very efficient work ethic made him notorious in unspoken matters as someone who will get things done with no needs of public recognition… which would lead to inner, private and ultimately more treasured recognition. He used to have clients, partners and met a lot of others at parties he went frequently to, mostly charity parties often disguised as business ones. Those partners may have known his father, maybe his grandfather, or maybe they’re fresh right out the bat, maybe the Kessler company sought them, maybe your muse’s company sought them and you stumbled upon him. Mind you that Archer has made the scandalous decision to sell the majority of his actions towards the company and doesn’t get more involved than necessary with its activities. This profile fits to every muse high enough in the business ranks to meet Archer; at least chief of a team in a department. It’s all about title. Do be reminded that the Kessler company is known to have an illegal and scandalous history as of NOW and that a lawful good muse would probably not want to be associated with it, or any muse wanting to go legal.

LEGAL WORKERS. With the horribly enormous pile of cases Archer’s been involved with, he needs a lawyer cabinet to back him and his business. Multiple ones. Maybe it is a genuinely crooked one, or a blindly optimistic one who believes his claims of innocence and being against the world, maybe the whole cabinet is broken and as a newly employed lawyer you are still too innocent until you notice. Law enforcers and government representatives knows how much Archer is guilty (or not), making him infamous in their ranks as one of those irritating cases where the system doesn’t seem to work. For muses working in the justice system, on any side, from judge to prison guard.

“FRIENDS”. Archer lost all of his friends when he was accused and imprisoned. He would have done the same thing; every one who was still linked by friendship to him risked everything. You’re one of those, because you’re not an idiot… or maybe you are and you did lose everything to keep your integrity. Or maybe you really were too stupid and loyal and believed Archer did nothing. This applies to particular muses who can fit in a scenario like this. Although for the sake of social standing Archer could “befriend” quite some people, he had a particular preference towards artists and introverted yet talented minds who had lots of potential, wanting to make them grow.

CRIMINALS. Con artists, mafiosos, yakuzas, drug dealers, maybe assassins, thieves, hackers, corrupted law enforcement agents, rich guys with illegal fetishes… Archer has dealt at least with all of them at least once. As a “cleaner” before he finally sat down on the CEO chair, Archer was the one who by circumstances became known for his professionalism, cool head and ability to erase any evidence from even the most alarming and need-to-be-quickly-done situation. Even a killer who does so as a hobby or for personal gain would eventually be caught as he goes on, unless he can take a contract or too, and have him give a helping hand in exchange for secrecy. This applies to muses with at least a medium-ranked profile in the underground (so no simple alley drug dealer unless plotted).

ENTERTAINERS & SEX WORKERS. Given how Archer sees sex as being an extremely powerful tool, he often got around the latter, choosing carefully which escort he’ll personally put at his services. Archer kept the best ones at hand, to please contacts and clients. He respects them for their work, but he wanted professionalism from you and not cry if you got almost cut in half after a night. Although he stepped down from his CEO position, Archer was pushed into his sire’s hotel line, which secretly dealt with human trafficking and prostitution. With his experience, he slowly is coming back and is moving all his contacts over there, wanting to change his approach. Despite the need of running a very real business, he cannot ignore the amount of work his sire’s illegal business brings. This profile fills every muse working in the sex business outside camshows and movies. They don’t have to be the ones close to Archer.

VICTIM(S). Archer is a very high-rated criminal. Although he has only been found guilty of extortion, corruption, blackmailing, piracy and other business-linked crimes, he was accused but not found guilty of sequestration, serial murder, serial rape, torture, committing indignity to a body, publishing obscene material, harassment, insert lots of other legal terms surrounding this. Accusations which have been highly mediatized given how high profile he was at the time, him being used as a scapegoat and the scandal only worsened when it was said it was both on minors and adults. I won’t get too much on what the truth is, but if you’d like your muse to be victim of Archer’s real crime(s), do hit me up I’ll be very selective on this given it’s important to his background story. This profile would fit highly disturbed muse, hobos, prostitutes, people living in very poor districts, pretty much people who have the perfect victim profile. OR it can also be other businessmen, common people, those who would have their life ruined indirectly or directly any organization Archer was or is involved with, the most common being as putting you in debt with the mafia knocking at your door to kill you, break your legs or torture someone you love until you give them what they want.

NEAR THE VICTIM(S). There are suspicions your friend/lover/brother/whatever was done wrong because of Archer. Maybe you’re the one who pressed charges. Maybe it’s not you, but in some way you were involved indirectly in the scandal and it did something to you and you have your own opinion on it. Maybe you seek where Archer is to kill him, maybe just talk to him and understand… something.This profile fits a muse who has lost someone close to them in suspicious circumstances.

PARTNER IN CRIME. You were there and you liked every bit of it probably (or if not you’re surely dead). VERY SELECTIVE. This profile fits muse with probable sociopathic and/or psychopathic tendencies who knows their way across the most fucked-up places of the underworld.

OBSESSION. High profile criminals with atrocious records are known to, sadly, have, yes,fans. Your muse believes that Archer did most of what he was accused for, choose to your discretion. Maybe they wanted to visit him, maybe they sent him gifts and mails, maybe they were already almost obsessed with him BEFORE he was accused given his bit of a disturbed but extremely charismatic and successful behavior and just FELL more as he was sequestrated. This profile fits muse going to the simple nerd with morbid curiosity to the very intense stalker.

MATCHMAKING. Since his teens, Archer has met multiple people for a potential marriage; the woman in question and the relatives that accompany her. And… when bored, his sister has the nasty habit of wanting to play matchmaker with him; Archer may not be the best person, but he’d hate to not make up to someone his hell of a relative tricked. Self explanatory. Archer’s sister, Eve (Everleigh), is owner of two modern galleries, so single people susceptible to befriend her could fall into that trap.

SCHOOL FACES. Archer cut next to every tie which couldn’t help in business after he graduated from university. It was brutal and without much warning although given how he was drawn to his duty, nobody was surprised. Archer got schooled at home as a child after becoming a depressed before going to a rich high-end private school. Afterwards, he became a star tennis player and the moral support of the team. He was also the president of a literature club where he was able to bond a bit with nerds and was known to tutors younger kids he believed had potential to help his reputation or parents who had power to help his family. Archer was mostly loved by everyone, but still bullied the weak or didn’t hesitate to stomp on other to raise himself higher. Victims of his young impulses, partner or rival in the tennis court, maybe the librarian, maybe a classmate, maybe someone from another school who always saw him and wanted to know him. This profile fits muses that Archer would not talk to unless he knew them from the past. Mostly younger muses that leads a life that has nothing to do with his work. RP can be during his younger years or simply skipped to the main verse.

MEALS. As a vampire, Archer consolidated his hypnotic powers and feeding, starting to leave some preys alive, but dazed and forgetful at times. On top of the numbness and blinding aphrodisiac the poison in his biting provides, he is able to leave the impression like their meeting was a dream; victims will remember vaguely his face, voice or other depending on characters, but not remember the feeding. However, willing and loyal ones may even befriend Archer, who finds consenting people much easier to deal with than laying bodies and sudden disappearances. This profile fits grey morale muses, ones who loves the supernatural, masochists, etc. who’d trade their blood and silence in exchange of being around a vampire. Archer only feeds on females if they ask directly for it or if there is nothing else, highly preferring to feed on males, which is linked to his sexual preferences.

RED LIGHT DISTRICT. Archer has become a prominent figure of the red light district; as the one guy who owned everything (which is not true, but blown out of proportions). Due to the forceful, ruthless and undeniably lustful reputation his sire has, being the envoy puts him in a powerful position where the line between him and the one who turned him might blur to others, as if they were the same person. Anything new in the district goes through him and pros and cons are weighted for healthy competition. Outside the hotels and their affiliated businesses, Archer personally owns two bars; one is lounge gay bar and the other one of the same style, only for the supernaturals of every shape and form, with products to cater their needs. Both are actually places made to cater to his difficult and high maintenance taste; if you cannot find it, do it yourself. Those bars include their own staff, which he selects himself to make sure nobody he would find inappropriate works under his image. As for the hotel line itself, it includes its own staff, administration, underground administration and staff, restaurant staff and entertainment staff for diverse shows and parties thrown. This profile fits any muse which would frequent the red light district, from newcomers to others looking for a job, frequent visitors and owners of businesses. From the woman who runs an escort club with a heart of steel to the bartender who just wants to pay his education fees to the security guard who has nightmare about the noises he hears behind closed doors.

HITMEN. You were paid to fuck with him, but thing is it’s pretty complicated. This profile is picky since obviously the attempt is going to fail and you cannot always RP back and forth attempts. This would be nearly a comical bond with a need to plot a resolution depending on your muse!

SUBMISSIVES. Archer’s history as a dom was… infamous. Long story short, he was known to be good, but dangerous. With a more stable mind he wouldn’t mind going back to one of his favorite hobbies. The deal is simple; he owns the person obviously, no penetration sex, no deep kissing, no romance (which doesn’t mean no affection or love) and not to start screaming about it on the streets. Although he wouldn’t mind so much now to play by the rules, if allowed Archer will become ruthless, enjoying giving permanent marks on others and inflict gradually harsher punishments or rewards. This profile fits, well, masochists and submissives people, from any form and shape really (a victim is a victim) who are willing to give their body for a mutual game, be they be paying Archer or not. Very selective… because Archer is difficult. The way he treats your muse can be from pretty sweet to downward harsh… entirely depends on what degree he finds your muse attractive. Beware scars and broken parts. Sessions can last from one evening to a whole weekend.

MISC.I’ll add more when I think of them! DO THROW ME YOUR IDEAS LET’S GO.

Like with any interaction, relationships are officially in the singleverse timeline if it is roleplayed to a minimum extensively. Looking forwards to write with you!

#preest #long post #.saved

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paradox-media · 5 years

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The reality of exploitation in the Korean pop industry

The Korean pop industry has blossomed worldwide over the last few years, with the likes of BTS, Monsta X and DPR Live playing sold out shows across London. But is there a darker reality behind the pristine front that is shown to the media?

The difference in culture can be confusing to those not in the loop, and firstly proves that the Korean and Western industries are worlds apart, from their media releases to public appearances and meeting fans. This aspect along is enough to perplex some and leads to explain why a large majority of people will simply pass off the genre entirely. Despite this, there are an equally large amount of those who consider themselves fans and will follow their idols to the ends of the earth.

The social media age has allowed younger generations to branch out and become involved with trends and cultures that were before very cut off.

For a lot of fans, the only way to keep up with relevant news is through the modern media, and through online translations. Twitter, for example, is the main platform for this information to be spread through, as its readily available to a variety of international users and fans. Using BTS as an example once more, the amount of almost immediate translations below their posts allows those international fans to stay up to date with what is happening. Over the last few years, and with the rise of the genre in general outside of Korea, idols and management alike have to consider the fact that only a small percentage of fans will be able to natively speak Korean, and have started to adhere to this fact through official English translations, or the idols themselves learning English to be able to interact with fans on a deeper level.

RM, of BTS, has shown this aspect recently while the band were playing two sold out shows at the O2, by answering questions in fluent English whilst also translating to his fellow bandmates. This understanding of who their audience are and how to include them more.

Many journalists today will use social media and online platforms to publish their work and promote their publication, making the use of these platforms available to an even larger audience. For example, writers like Taylor Glasby and Tamar Herman use their Twitter followers to promote their articles and to interact with the fan bases.

This also means that fans of idols can interact and create projects such as celebrations of members birthdays and such. For example, a large project that went viral in the community earlier this year named “The Purple Ribbon Army”. This project was formed after members of BTS’ Army fanbase noticed that the idols were getting mobbed and harassed whilst arriving at airports across the world.

This show of solidarity between fans allows outsiders to understand how the fandom works, and the love and affection that is shown towards idols. Despite this, the fact that this type of project needs to be accomplished shows that a small majority of fans don’t have respect for idols and will go to great lengths just to catch a glimpse.

Being able to see this side to fans and the culture makes it easier to understand why and how exploitation is happening inside the companies themselves. Looking further into this aspect reveals a few things: the level at which Korean idols are held is so high that they really are considered “idols”, and that the fans have the same mentality too.

The larger majority of kpop fans will often condemn this behaviour and speak out about is on social media, but of course there will always be the minority that paints an uglier picture for everyone else.

Another large part of the problem is the way that scandals are viewed within the community. For example, the recent CUBE scandal between Hyuna, (Kim Hyun-ah), and E’Dawn, (Kim Hyo-jong), resulting in their cancellation of contract.

Dating within the idol industry in Korea is a very taboo subject, and most are not allowed to openly date until their contracts are finished, and recently this pair have broken that rule, publicly announcing that they were in fact a couple. A few days later, Hyuna was kicked from all CUBE appearances and schedules without being told, and only found out due to online media. This alone proves that many companies believe that their idols can be replaced, and don’t have compassion for their emotions. E’Dawn was then also kicked from CUBE and Pentagon.

This caused huge backlash online, hundreds of fans claiming that Hyuna made the company what it was, and that they would suffer without her. This has proved to be very true, with her and E’Dawn still flourishing on social media and being invited to various awards shows without being affiliated with a company.

The fact that CUBE decided that they could simply take presidency over Hyuna’s career proves that they don’t really have any respect for her as a person or as an individual, and more so as an object and money maker. Fans across the globe have not been blind the way that the company treated the two artists, and a few months later the company have still not recovered fully.

Online sources confirmed the rumours hours after CUBE had originally denied all claims, Soompi wrote; “the two wanted to publicly acknowledge their relationship so they could confidently stand in front of their fans.” This alone shows the respect and love that the idols have for their fans, in relation to the way they are treated by their companies.

Another example of mistreatment or overworking of an idol is the death of Kim Jonghyun, who committed suicide late last year. He was a profound singer-songwriter, producer, radio host and an author under SM Entertainment for 9 years with band SHINee.

The way that mental health is viewed in celebrities in any part of the world is as a taboo, many not understanding how a person who “has so much” can still be so ill. This warped way of viewing mental health as a whole is why many people, idol or not, feel like they can’t come forward with their issues. The World Health Organisation estimates that each year, “approximately one million people die from suicide, a global morality rate of 16 people per 100,000, one death every 40 seconds.” This fact alone is enough to be distressing, and even long-term fans of SHINee didn’t notice any signs.

Jonghyun’s death came as a complete shock to the industry, friends and fans alike, and everything came to a standstill on social media. The effect that this had on both hardcore fans and casual fans was clear, and everyone within the community mourned for weeks.

This showed both the kpop community and the rest of the world that anyone can suffer with mental illness, and can suffer severely in silence without anyone even noticing.

Quoting an 18-year-old Chinese fan, Chen Jialin, “I am so sad that I cannot even cry,” “My heart aches so much.” Many others tweeted similar reactions, hashtags were trended and fans stopped together to mourn. The way that this trauma caused people to come together despite differences shows how incredible this community can be.

A lot of fans feel that idols should have easy access to mental health related facilities like doctors, psychiatrists and therapy due to their hectic schedules. Companies should be responsible for making sure that their groups are not only physically fit, but also mentally fit, which is just as important.

Quoting Taylor Glasby on the topic,“Having been encouraged by Jonghyun’s mother to continue making music together, the four members began to pick up the pieces, eventually celebrating their 10th anniversary with a new album and a fan-meet, where Minho humbly asked for fans’ support as they moved forward with their lives.”

SM Entertainment opened a memorial for Jonghyun at Coex Artium in Seoul in late January, but soon closed it a few months later to replace it with a museum, that many fans thought was distasteful.

@hqminho: “jonghyun deserves a permanent memorial he did so much for sm and for everyone else, he deserves so much better I’m so bitter”

The way that fans reacted to SM closing the memorial was overwhelmed with backlash, claiming that Jonghyun deserves better for everything he had done for SM and for the industry after his 10 years with SHINee.

Understanding mental health can be a hugely difficult thing, even for those you know personally. But being able to advocate for better help for idols and celebrities will help prevent this from happening in the future.

The overlying question remains, are Korean companies exploiting their idols? The answer is definitely not black and white. Exploitation may be a word too big for this situation, but companies can definitely learn from experience that idols are still human beings with emotions and limits, and sometimes pushing back a debut or release will benefit them in the long run.

#feature #Kpop feature #kpop journalism #journalism #exploitation

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yeonchi · 6 years

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2017 In Review

It’s been a very eventful and turbulent year, with quite a few things, both good and bad, happening all over the network.

Over on the Waifu Network, I’ve restarted Waifu Pros and Cons with the intention of hopefully posting at least one entry per month. The posts on the Waifu Network are pretty much linked to my anime posting on Facebook, so I needn’t make original posts for every page, which makes my life very easier.

We’ve introduced Ritsu’s brother and Azusa’s boyfriend, Satoshi Tainaka, as a new poster on the Waifu Network this year. This was a tie-in to the series A Month of Summer Azusas and its mini-series The Missing Pics on the Ecchi Waifu Network, which (despite delays) went off without a hitch. Anime Tiddie Check was also intended to be a series that estimated the breast sizes of the Waifu Network girls and compared various artists’ (official and fanart) interpretations and portrayals of them. However, it was made a one-off instalment for the K-On girls because there was a lack of viable nude group fanart for the other series we’ve featured.

I’d like to take a moment to pay tribute to three people who inspired me to begin the Koei Warriors Rant Series, namely Matthew Barth, Nathan Kennedy and Mansour Abdulla. Matthew became an admin on the Fans of Anime page for a little bit, but he was a staunch proponent of English voices in Koei Warriors games. Nathan was fighting with depression for a long time (as far as I knew), so I was particularly concerned for him. He deactivated his account in September this year and I haven’t heard from him since. Mansour became disillusioned with Koei Tecmo omitting English voices from their games and gave up on them a while back, even when I transitioned to discussing Japanese game localisation in the West. An honourable mention also goes to Scooter McDowell for helping me out with compiling the EX and Musou attack list for the characters in Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires, which was a big help for me at the time (it’s been a few years, so you should be able to find that information on wikis already).

The #NoDubNoBuy page will be changing its name to English Dubbed Game News from January 18, 2018 and we will no longer be reposting negative comments in the name-and-shame album as it has now been deleted. I will not confirm or deny the fact that recent events have influenced this decision, but regardless of this, I stand by what I said about the comments and the people who wrote them. More information can be found in this post.

The Undub page has strangely gone dead recently as their last update (at the time of writing) was posted on September 9. In the months before this, they have been promoting a website known as Own Your Game, which provides information on games that have physical releases, whether Western or Japanese. They have even gone to great lengths to show the text and voice languages that the game has, which fits with their standard of games being released with dual audio and as many text languages as possible. (UPDATE: 3 January 2018 - Apparantly, the Undub page is not dead. Thanks for clearing that up.)

Over the past three years, you may have seen me comment about English dubs on some posts on the Koei Tecmo Facebook page. I’ve decided to drop that because I feel that my time and efforts are wasted trying to convince a bunch of sheep to support dual audio when Koei Tecmo doesn’t make any effort towards dubbing their games. I’ll admit that I’ve lost interest in Dynasty Warriors and other Koei Warriors games recently because of this and other commitments. I’ve expanded to talking about English dub in general over the past few years, but right now, I just feel like posting news about games that have been dubbed or not. If that helps the English dub fanbase, then I’m happy with it.

I had plans to revive the Sea Princesses cartoon in order to complete the Sea Princesses Wiki, but I’ve decided to put that on hiatus because I’ve heard nothing regarding reruns or fansubs over the past year. I was going to post details about my proposed fansub project, but I’ve decided to put that on hold as well because I’ve been very busy (and not because no one would be interested in it, in case people are pointing that out). The vandalism of pages on the wiki is also continuing, but I’ve decided that it would be a waste of time to continue undoing random changes made by stupid people who have no idea about the cartoon (and rightly so).

Obviously, we’ve had a few conflicts with some people over the years and out of all of them, I think we’ve only had one or two that have escalated. Despite everything that has happened, I think that the main reason as to why the Network has continued to survive to this day is because we stood tall and maintained the high ground in the face of adversity. People have tried to discredit us over the years, but they failed because of various factors - they may have made points that were missing the point, they may not fully understand the topic in question, or they were just being petty (because I already proved that they were morally worse than me). I’m actually tempted to generalise all my naysayers in a negative light, but in the end, all I can count on is the satisfaction of being on the moral high ground. If you want to win an argument with me, your best bet is to just have a polite and civilised discussion, otherwise, it’ll just end up in a conflict with stupid people fighting stupid with stupid.

I’ve stopped actively looking for people to admin my Facebook pages as I’ve found that there hasn’t been a lot of interest in it over the past few years. It’s really sad when you’ve already hired admins to post on your pages and they don’t do anything, which makes you think that they probably shouldn’t have applied to be an admin in the first place. Personally, I think the way I’m running my pages is going good so far, even if the growth is a bit slow because I don’t use dishonest methods to promote my pages.

Speaking of pages, the rumour about non-business pages being deleted is still going on. Even though the timing of the rumour coincides with recent events that caused me to be postblocked three times in a month, I still think that it is bullshit. I won’t elaborate any further on this, but I hope that the people responsible for the reports thinks about the irreversible damage they have caused just for being petty on social media.

Rumours have been spread about me being an “attention-seeking dork with no friends” in relation to the #NoDubNoBuy page and the Dub Logistics series, or me using my niche status on the internet to promote hate and harassment in relation to the political posts on Hong Kong news that a page related to the Network has posted. Firstly, I like to keep my personal life separate from my online life, so what right have you to make judgements about me based on my opinions? Secondly, I’m not the type of person who wants to be perceived that way (in fact, who does?). I like to see myself as an insightful person who likes to speak their mind about things. Obviously, I’ve kept myself informed regarding current affairs in Hong Kong and Mainland China and like other people, I have negative opinions regarding the current situation over there, particularly when it comes to governance and law enforcement (criminal activities). Granted, some offensive language may have been used, but chances are that other people have the same thoughts I have, even if they would have worded it differently.

(UPDATE: 3 January 2018 - Looking back, I’m not even sure what effect the other party was trying to achieve with the events of the feud. Him ‘flexing’ over my posts being reported was definitely a ruse to attract my attention, but it didn’t work well because I didn’t hear about it until three weeks after the first post was reported. As I mentioned, some of his actions did nothing to redeem himself, yet it didn’t seem to mean much to other people since they didn’t pay much attention to it. Personally, I still think that he is either trolling or being paranoid about his reputation. He can say that I’ve been wrong about him and I can say that he’s been wrong about me, but I think that both of us should be grateful in at least one aspect, including the fact that the feud hasn’t escalated to drama the likes of YouTube, 4chan, Reddit, or even Encyclopedia Dramatica, where other people could start taking sides and blowing things way out of proportion. I’d like to reiterate that all views and opinions of the feud have been left to each party’s own interpretation - this is just my side of it. Both of us have moved on from all this, so hopefully in time, it’ll all become a forgotten afterimage.)

Given that I’ve kept the Hong Kong page separate from the rest of the Network, the thing I’m trying to say here is “don’t believe the rumours”. I can only say this because I have a niche fanbase; if I was famous like Keemstar, Leafy or RiceGum, that statement wouldn’t stick with everyone. This is my way of telling you all to focus on the positives and not the negatives.

So, despite what others may say about my fanbase, I’d like to thank my fans for their continued support. You don’t need to be flattered or anything because I know who you are. I wish you all the best for 2018.

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magiclad-ty · 7 years

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Persona 5 Palaces/Bosses (SPOILERS)

The 9 Deadly Sins

1) Lust - Suguru Kamoshida

Former professional athlete and Olympic volleyball champion who later became the volleyball coach of Shujin Academy. He also began sexually harassing his female athletes and subjecting his male athletes to brutal "training" that was labeled as torture. Despite the blatant abuse happening, the students could not speak up against Kamoshida as the principal hushed any attempts of reporting Kamoshida. With no way for anyone to stop him at Shujin Academy, by the students, staff, and even the parents, Kamoshida began to see himself as nothing less than a king on campus.

2) Vanity - Ichiryusai Madarame Over the years, Madarame mentored many students, many of which lived with him in his humble shack near Shibuya. However, many found themselves ruined from their time there, losing passion in the arts or simply being casted aside once their artistic drives were depleted. One of Madarame's most famous paintings is the art piece titled "Sayuri", who inspired his most recent protégé, Yusuke Kitagawa, an orphaned boy, into entering the artistic world.. The painting in its original condition depicted a mother holding her newborn child. Shadow Madarame informs the group that it was Yusuke's mother who painted the original Sayuri and the baby is Yusuke. Madarame coveted the painting so much that when Yusuke's mother had a seizure, rather than call an ambulance, he simply left her alone to die, allowing him to take the painting with little opposition. To cover the picture's true intention, Madarame modified it into the Sayuri painting that he released to the public.

3) Gluttony - Junya Kaneshiro Kaneshiro is a Yakuza oyabun (the equivalent of a Mafia boss) who rose in the criminal underworld through clever use of blackmail students. Makoto risks herself by asking Kaneshiro's henchmen of his whereabouts, prompting the Thieves to follow her. This leads Kaneshiro to blackmail them by taking their pictures in his club and threatens to leak it to their school unless they pay him 3 million yen within 3 weeks.

4) Sloth - Futaba Sakura Futaba is a genius in computing, programming and hacking. However, a car incident that cost her mother, Wakaba Isshiki, her life causes Futaba to become a shut-in. Her relatives who have an eye on Wakaba's legacy blame the prodigy programmer based on a forged "suicide note," particularly after agents of the Conspiracy used it to bully her and manipulate Wakaba's family, hoping to keep her research for themselves. This, combined with abuse from most of her guardians before Sojiro, in particular her uncle Youji Isshiki refused to treat her as even a person, not even allowing her to bathe or have a proper bed. This caused her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder and extreme social anxiety. She has not attended school ever since graduating middle school. Her depression has worsened into outright suicidal impulses, and a delusional subconscious belief that her death would bring Wakaba back to life. Her desire for her own death causes a Palace to form in which the Sphinx, the representation of her self-loathing and belief that her mother's spirit hates her, fights Shadow Futaba for control of her mind.

5) Wrath - Cognitive Wakaba Isshiki Wakaba Isshiki was Futaba Sakura's mother and a prominent cognitive researcher focusing on a supernatural phenomenon about the cognitive world within the human's mind. Futaba thought she was a benevolent mother, until Wakaba died being crashed by a car on a crossroad before Futaba's eyes, but in reality was killed by Goro Akechi. Out of spite and to seize her research data secretly, his employers forged a suicide note and announced it aloud before Futaba and her relatives, in which Wakaba claimed she regretted giving birth to Futaba and as a result, she had destroyed all of her research. This revelation devastated Futaba and caused her to develop paranoid delusions of Wakaba's face overlaid on other people, constantly telling her how disappointed she was."Cognitive Wakaba Isshiki" is formed from Futaba's false belief that her mother resented her for being an obstacle to her career.

6) Greed - Kunikazu Okumura Kunikazu Okumura is the third president of Okumura Foods succeeded from his great-grandfather, he also has founded the fast food chain, Big Bang Burger. Kunikazu only has one daughter, Haru Okumura.His Palace is a spaceport formed from his desire for wealth, to manipulate his employees and his childhood memory of enjoying sci-fi shows and toys, but also his refusal to acknowledge how much he is hurting Haru with his greed, tacitly oblivious to what kind of person her arranged fiance Sugimura is due to the promise of Haru marrying into wealth. His stepping stone to political power is done by sacrificing Haru's happiness, he desires to exist in complete ignorance of every negative consequence of his actions, despite the fact that he is fully aware of how miserable his employees are and violent Sugimura is.

7) Envy - Sae Niijima Sae is a Public Prosecutor of the Tokyo District Special Investigation Department responsible for the Phantom Thieves of Hearts' case. When the incidents of mental breakdown in Tokyo has begun causing casualties, Sae begins looking for research about mental diseases, a search that leads her to the now deceased cognition scientist, Wakaba Isshiki. She visits Sojiro Sakura's cafe for investigation, but in order to protect Wakaba's daughter, Futaba, from any harm, Sojiro refuses to cooperate. Sae informs Sojiro that if he refuses, he'll likely end up in family court due to concerns about Futaba's living situation, and will almost certainly lose custody of her. When Akechi forces himself into the Phantom Thieves, he suggests that the gang should steal Sae's heart to stop her investigation, otherwise the Public Prosecutors Office may hold them responsible for the deaths of Kunikazu Okumura and the Principal Kobayakawa. Her Palace quickly shows just how jaded Sae truly is, with Makoto shocked at how bitter and spiteful her sister's Shadow Self is, and how she views her career as a rigged casino where only the corrupt thrive.

8) Pride - Masayoshi Shido Masayoshi Shido is a politician who has been a metropolitan assemblyman and a representative in the National Diet of Japan. He is now a cabinet minister who split from the ruling party to form the United Future Party. He is now running for election of the next prime minister of Japan. Secretly, however, he is the founder of a Conspiracy to obtain power by any means necessary, and is backed by Yaldabaoth, as Shido's ascent to power would cement authoritarian control over Japan and possibly the world. Shido's Palace which takes the shape of a luxurious cruise ship sailing across the sunken Japan. Shido turns out to be at the center of a conspiracy to rig the election for Prime Minister in his favor, allowing him to put his highly draconian and ultra-nationalistic political beliefs into effect, uncaring of the misery this would cause to Japan in general. He is also revealed to be the father of Goro Akechi, who is his illegitimate son. Shido uses Goro's fame as detective and desire to be acknowledged by him to force him to get rid of those who are opposing him to become the next Prime Minister by destroying their Palace, which results in severe mental disorders and ultimately kills them, framing the Phantom Thieves for these assassinations in the process.

9) Apathy (Acedia) - Mementos Mementos is the Palace for everyone's hearts. When Yaldabaoth awakes, and the Conspiracy starts invoking its power to control Tokyo directly, it is shown in the city's populace choosing to believe an obvious lie (that somehow, the Phantom Thieves are not responsible for the high-profile reforming of several individuals), rather than a cutting truth (that Masayoshi Shido was a terrible leader, and yet most of Japan still voted for him because of nothing but raw charisma), showing cowardice. As the Phantom Thieves manage to find their way into Mementos' core, it's also revealed that the Shadow Selves that had inhabited Mementos have been willingly imprisoned by Yaldabaoth, choosing to let him dictate the future rather than allowing fallible humans to make their own decisions

10) All the Deadly Sins - Yaldabaoth and Satanael Yaldabaoth, the "God of Control", imprisons Igor in Mementos and impersonates him since the beginning of the game. After being discovered, he then takes the role of the game's final boss. He is the Conductor of the Conspiracy to put Masayoshi Shido into political power, and sponsored the Phantom Thieves as a thought experiment and game to see if their salvation of the world as is or Goro Akechi's desire to destroy and recreate the world was stronger. He is described as being the manifestation of humanity's subconscious desire for order, warped to the point where he no longer cares for the human cost or morality of said order; in his view, humans are little more than livestock and lemmings for him to rule over and command due to their self-destructiveness and stupidity. He initially takes the form of the Holy Grail, which starts off as black before the flow of wishes for him to dominate the world revitalize him and turn the cup gold. Yaldabaoth harnesses the power of the deadly sins as proof of man's self-destructive nature during his boss fight. The Protags Persona, Satanael finishes him using a bullet harnessing the seven sins he condemns yet practices himself, putting a massive hole through his head. Shocked at the fact that he was beaten by a power that exceeded his own, Yaldabaoth realizes the true strength of the Trickster and ruefully acknowledges Igor's beliefs as he dissolves back into the original, mindless form of the Grail.

#Persona #persona 5 #p5 #spoilers

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willmeiertext · 7 years

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Behind the Fourth Wall: My Experience as a Museum Worker

It’s a unique experience, art-handling – being a “preparator” (which autocorrect thinks isn’t real). Like with any manual labor, it’s rad to get paid to work out. But obviously, there’s much more to it than that. You touch the untouchable things, you have keys to rooms many will never know exist full of objects to be seen by sometimes even fewer (I mean, the amount of pictures on my computer I wanted to include in this post and just...couldn’t...for whatever reason...it’s more than just a couple), and you live behind the fourth wall that is the magic of the completed exhibition. You built the wall. And in a way, it’s like there’s some of yourself sealed in there.

There’s a sort of trivial glory in it, but also a kind of hilarious demystification, a rapid desensitization to the wondrous. And a lot of the most menial labor you could possibly imagine. Dozens and dozens of hours of out-of-body audiobooking while waxing-on/off. I haven’t been doing it long enough to become jaded yet, but I know very few career preparators it hasn’t happened to. But really, would I be writing this if I didn’t think it was awesome?

I’ve had a lot of people over the years ask me how I came to do work like this, so I want to give that question a bit of attention:

I had an internship and then a job at a gallery in college, the H&R Block Artspace – which was run by a really brilliant director and showed world-class art, but mostly entailed sitting at a desk and socializing with visitors. But toward its end, I met some real-live art-handlers who chuckled with sympathy when I tried to get on with them. That small private company very shortly after, however, got the contract for several years of building traveling exhibits from New York’s American Museum of Natural History at a brand new nature and science museum outside Kansas City. And they needed a big team all of a sudden, and gave me a call. So I started out building dinosaurs.

There’s a very ad-hoc feeling to that sort of context. You need this thing to fit with that thing and if you’re tool-savvy enough, you make it happen. Sometimes it’s not pretty but if it’s safe to let the public walk under then it will work. It’s fun, or at least engaging – the small-scope part of the job which is just the constant problem-solving and spontaneous fabrication strategies.

But the bigger picture that fascinated me from the beginning about this kind of work was the collision of information and architecture. This is what will always carry over into my future pursuits: the question of, how do you best craft an architectural space, one inhabited momentarily by all varieties of people, the sole purpose of which is to educate each of those people about some element of culture in an engaging way?

I got my taste, but quickly realized that it’s incredibly hard to make a living in this career path. The nature of art-world work is that almost all positions are contract, meaning you need a minimum of probably 2-3 jobs at once to juggle in order to make it work, and still often there are dead periods where you are really panic-level strapped for cash. So I branched out quickly in as many relevant directions as I could, taking any skill-building entry-level job I could find. Some of the paths I took were fabrication-oriented: doing backend assembly of custom commercial cabinetry, then finish work on museum casework and artists’ sculptures. Some were art-handling: private transport and storage, hanging galleries, assisting professional artists on installs, etc. There’s a resume on my website *eye roll*.

Every one of these jobs I gained through face-to-face ‘networking’, through someone I met at another gig. Meaning at the recommendation of friends. Most of them I worked with my best friend, also Will, who got me into the world of art museums. Team Will, shoutout.

I’ve in turn gotten more than a couple of people their first museum jobs. There’s nowhere I’ve seen where ‘who you know’ matters more.

That being said, not everyone is cut out for it. Most aren’t. I just happen to associate with generally exceptional people ^______^ . It takes an eye for a ridiculous level of detail, and a hand that can consistently perform tasks attuned to that detail without fucking anything up. Plus snap-judgment problem solving skills for often dangerous and/or costly predicaments. You also generally need to be a fun person, since the work can get quite tense (understatement for the 60hr/wk installs my team is used to) and it helps to be able to lighten things up.

It’s interesting how many different skillsets and attitudes intersect in this world. You have very blue-collar-flavored work surrounded by typically intellectual types of people. The stakes are high (put it in the back of your mind that just about every individual object around you is worth more than you might ever make in your life, accumulated) so people are very serious, especially around art, and while there’s a special level of hero-ness in actually touching The Stuff, it can tend to involve less creativity, for good reason. I was a Lego kid, so the construction and space-creation side of the job was always a little more engaging for me, personally.

So I really lucked out to land where I’m at today at the Denver Art Museum. My current job is basically to assist in the construction, fabrication, assembly, and finishing of everything that exists between the empty room and the art. It’s called “Exhibitions Production”, and at DAM, what a ‘production’ it is. We do really high-dollar build-outs designed to be theatrically jaw-dropping to the public. At standards of craft that I’ve never seen anywhere else as ‘standard’ – think 1/16″ margins on nearly everything. Which, combined with the irregularly angled Liebeskind building we do most of our work in, makes my job pretty complicated. Which keeps me out of trouble, which is nice.

So back to how the hell I landed in such a good one:

In order to secure this job (they’re extremely coveted and basically impossible to get without personal invitation), I had to work as a guard, a ‘gallery host’, for half a year. I told my hiring managers in that interview that I only wanted the job to meet the art-handlers who I would be working for in the future. It was interesting to take a step back from the behind-the-scenes world I was used to and be basically at ground-level with the visitors, an underling of the museum social hierarchy who exists as a mediator of rules. By interesting I mean almost totally shitty, with the exception of a much slower-paced experience of observing many, many people engaging the same exhibits day after day. I had always worked to put the shows on, but by the time that is over with you are sick of the show and already on to the next thing anyways. Catharsis. This was sort of the opposite – like a Groundhog Day of visitors forever wiping their oily foreheads all over the fourth wall. Incident Report.

But it offered an opportunity to see both sides of the idea of ‘the exhibition’. The before and after. To watch people’s patterns of real-live interaction with shows that clearly had intricate thought put into specifically the visitor-engagement / education elements of their designs.

And it also worked: it gave me the opportunity to see someone pushing a cart full of tools, whose boss’s email I got from him, who I proceeded to harass frequently over the next half a year until he finally agreed to give me a trial run.

Since my promotion to the Exhibitions department, moving on to work with the designers and administrators in charge of those experiences I mentioned – that has been so fulfilling. It’s been the best job I’ve ever had, but beyond just enjoyable day-to-day-ness, it planted the seed that has grown into my biggest fascination now, which is the idea of the future of the museum experience.

“Museum Experience Design” – the museum in the digital age. Information architecture meets architecture. Rather than didactics for a universal audience, a modal, entirely custom veil of educational opportunity tailored to each visitor... That kind of thing. That’s where I’m headed. But that’s an entirely different topic.

For now I just feel super lucky to be on such a ridiculously talented team at a big, well-funded museum that puts on such extravagant shows. There’s a lot to observe, and a lot to learn.

I guess the moral of the story, if there is one, is that if you really want to get into this kind of work, you need to be talented, i.e. probably an artist (no, not a conceptual artist), but mainly you need to put yourself out there and meet the people who can hire you. And be relentless in trying to get them to do it. There aren’t a lot of these jobs but they’re worth trying to get.

If you land one, just make sure you don’t drop anything, then have fun.

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sonderrow-moved · 5 years

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LIKE for a preestablished relationship/plotting line with Archer… BUT have at least one category in mind before I hop in your IMs! LINK TO JAEL’S: TBA

Update from this post! I entirely get the urge of wanting to roleplay, expand our muses together, and this is my personal starting pack for Archer! I take good time to redo this post according to thecurrent timeline which changed drastically since the beginning of this blog. If you’re hooked to one category but don’t think your muse can fit still HMU about it and I’ll see how we can work that out! So here are roughly the categories for inspiration your muse could fit in!

MISC.I’ll add more when I think of them! DO THROW ME YOUR IDEAS LET’S GO.

Like with any interaction, relationships are officially in the singleverse timeline if it is roleplayed to a minimum extensively. Looking forwards to write with you!

#.preestablished

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