The Official Newsletter of the Manga Anime Society at the University of Minnesota.

October 30, 2004

MAS Monitor - Vol 13


The MAS Monitor – Volume 13
October 30th, 2004

Newsletter main email – masnokaihoo@hotmail.com

Staff
- Jessi Silver – jessi@gonein60fps.net
- Peter – heath_darkness@hotmail.com
- Nastassja Riemermann
- Vu Dang
- Mark McPherson
- Setsuki Korinzu

With special guest columnist Taichiro Endo
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Table of Contents
*MAS News
*Features
    -Taichiro’s Column
*Reviews
   -The Sound of the Waves
   -Growing Up
*Entertainment
   -Red Light Run
*Industry
   -DVD Release Dates
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MAS News
Jessi Silver

Did everyone have fun at the Halloween party? In spite of a few glitches (darn the awful sound system in that room), almost everything went smoothly. Congratulations to the participants in the Delinquent contest and Cosplay contest. Everyone did a great job entertaining the audience and showing off their skills.

Taichiro wowed us with another of his great presentations about Japanese Otaku culture. Be sure to check out his column in this issue of the newsletter if you were gone on Thursday, because he goes over the points of his presentation.

Also check out Vu’s story, Red Light Run, found in the entertainment section of the newsletter. It’s very good.

And this is just for my own information. Out of all of you who receive this newsletter, no one has ever really given me much feedback about what they like or dislike. So I’d like people to leave me comments or email me just to let me know what they like, dislike and think could be included in the newsletter that isn’t already. It would be really helpful.

Thanks, and enjoy this week’s newsletter.

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Features
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Taichiro’s column
Taichiro Endo

Hello, this is Taichiro. How was my Halloween presentation? In this column, I will review my presentation and summarize the points.

Genshiken
Genshiken is an anime which started this October. The theme of this anime is the life of Japanese Otaku university students. It depicts how Japanese otaku have fun by attending Comic Market, going to Akihabara, chatting in their meeting room, etc. If you are interested in Japanese otaku culture, this is the best material to learn about it.


Comic Market
Comic Market is the biggest Dojinshi (fan-made comics) convention in Japan. It is held in both August and December, and about 500,000 otaku attend each convention. The big 3 events of Comic Market are the Dojinshi Market, Company booths and Cosplay.

The Dojinshi Market is a place to sell and buy Dojinshi. About 10,000 circles (clubs that produce Dojinshi) come to sell their Dojinshi each day. About 60-70% of them are for adults. Since some big circles pull in many thousands of dollars a day, they are sometimes called professional Dojin authors.

The Company booths are places for companies to sell their products. Since many companies sell special limited goods there, fans make long lines in order to buy them. We sometimes need to wait 2, 3 or more hours.

Cosplay is also a big event of Comic Market. Different from the convention in U.S, what cosplayers do is just walk around the convention center. Many thousands of cosplayers come to Comic Market, and more cameramen come to take their pictures.


Japanese Otaku Club
Japanese Universities also have several Otaku-related clubs. The size and activities depend on each club, but in many cases the number of members is fewer than in American Anime club like MAS, and some of them make Dojinshi as their main activity.

We do not have a custom to gather and watch anime in a theater like MAS. What we usually do is to gather in the meeting room and spend time chatting, gaming, reading manga, etc. Many members bring some otaku related stuff such as manga, figures, and computer games to the meeting room, so the room is filled with these kinds of deep things.

Akihabara
Akihabara is an area of downtown in Tokyo with many otaku-related stores. The scenery of Akihabara is very characteristic; you can see many advertising displays of anime characters. Let’s see some examples.

Dojin shops are stores that have Dojinshi, Dojin Goods, Dojin software, etc. Dojinshi is becoming a big business in Japan.

Gashapon hall is a store filled with trading figure vending machines called Gashapon. We can see these kinds of vending machines in the U.S. but the interesting point is that the large floor of this store is filled only with these vending machines.

You can see arcade games both in Japan and the U.S. but the different point is that big arcade game complexes called game centers exist in Japan. Some of the arcade games are networked and players can compete with each other. We can find charismatic game players in some game centers.

Akihabara has many bookstores that sell manga. We can find almost all manga there.

Cosplay café is also a specialty of Akihabara. The main kind of Cosplay café is a Maid café where the waitresses cosplay as maids to serve customers. About 12 of these kinds of cafés and bars are around Akihabara. In some famous cafés, waitresses are sometimes treated like idols. We can even buy character goods of waitresses in cosplay cafés.

That is a quick review note of my presentation. If you have some question or comments, feel free to contact me at endo0013(at)umn.edu.

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Reviews
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Animated Classics of Japanese Literature: The Sound of the Waves, Parts 1 & 2
Reviewed by Mark McPherson
Length: 50 minutes
Year Created: 1986
Content: Contains nudity and adult situations.

According to her biography, Mishima Yukio was one of the most talented writers of the 20th century. She lived from 1925 to 1970 and won the Shinchosha Literary Prize for her book “The Sound of the Waves” in 1954. What better way to celebrate her work than to be reproduced in the form of an anime.

The story takes place during the post World War 2 era in a small village by the sea. Shinji is a poor fishermen who valiantly continues his work to support his mom and his brother. Though he is not rich, he is happy with his life until he meets Hatsue, the daughter of rich fisherman. Despite her marriage already being arranged with a more wealthy and cocky man, Hatsue takes a liking to Shinji. The two meet in secrecy in order to prevent rumors from spreading around the village. However, Hatsue’s sister, Chiyoko, is very interested in Shinji. The two lovers, angered by their other relationships tearing them apart, finally have an embarrassing moment looking at each other’s body. Hatsue realizes then that she wants to marry Shinji, but rumors about their relationship start to leak out and cause much anger within the village. Chiyoko becomes depressed that Shinji does not return her feelings of love for him, but she understands that Shinji needs to be with Hatsue. The question still remains as to how the two lovers are to be engaged if marriage has already been arranged. In order to get Hatsue’s father’s approval, Shinji must prove his courage and strength by overcoming the raging sea as a sailor.

What makes the Sound of Waves so interesting is that this romantic story has a solid foot in reality and there is still an element of fantasy the story. It ends with Shinji getting the girl, but only after having proved himself to win the admiration of her father. Both characters Shinji and Hatsue want to prove their worth to society. Shinji wants to be more than just a poor fisherman and Hatsue wants to pick her own husband instead of an arranged marriage. These two characters don’t feel weak, but everyone else in the village is an obstacle for them. Observing how Shinji and Hatsue push their emotions of love without taking the Romeo and Juliet route shows a lot of creativity in Mishima’s original story. As for the others characters, they too will make the audience connect with them. I felt sorry for Chiyoko being pushed away by Shinji and felt angered by how Hatsue’s arranged husband is rather arrogant.

Now comes the most difficult part of my review to write: The animation style. The character designs are pretty simplistic. There isn’t too much detail to the characters themselves as there is no white in their eyes. I found this to be a problem as some of the emotions the characters were trying to express were not conveyed properly through the animation. The characters designs are pretty interesting and different, but they could have had more expression. Yet, I feel if this anime had more detail, it would take away a certain sense of reality to the tale. Aside from the animation, the direction was excellent. Part 1 is cut off in a moment of tension between Shinji and Hatsue when they are staring at each others naked bodies by a fire which makes for a perfect cliff hanger. I also admire the camera angles used in this sequence such as the side shot of the two lovers looking at each other through the flames of a roaring fire. I found the music to fit the mood perfectly for this tale with a light and touching soundtrack.

While the animation may disgust many people, those who can look past some of the flaws in the animation will find a good story. The characters aren’t flat, the relationships feel real and the setting is unique. If you are looking for spectacular, cutesy, detailed animation, look somewhere else, but if you’re looking for a good real deal tale of romance, this anime is for you. Overall, Sound of Waves is a light anime that doesn’t require any action, machines or magic to be enjoyable.

Pros: Great story with exceptional direction and touching music.

Cons: The simplistic animation may be too hard for some to watch.

Grade: B


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Animated Classics of Japanese Literature: Growing Up
Reviewed by Mark McPherson
Length: 25 minutes
Year Created: 1986
Content: Contains mild violence and adult situations.

Animated Classics of Japanese Literature takes famous stories from Japan and animates them into a half hour show. Growing Up was originally written by Higuchi Ichiyo. Higuchi was born in 1872 and struggled to overcome poverty and health issues, but was able to publish some acclaimed work of literature. Higuchi Ichiyo died from tuberculosis at the young age of twenty-four.

Growing Up is a story that takes place in the Meiji ere about, well, growing up. Shota is the son of a drunken monk and Midori is the sister of a geisha prostitute. Shota and Midori’s friends see the two as destined lovers. Shota is very shy as he lives a long ways away from his friends. Midori is very cheerful as she loves each and every living thing and shares her sister’s money with her friends. The two seem like the perfect match. However, their moods begin to change in a breakdown of communication. Shota fears being made fun of by his friends for being seen with Midori so he avoids her. In return, Midori thinks Shota is being stuck up and refuses to speak to him as well. Their relationship becomes even worse as Shota’s friends are harassed by a gang who wants to get back at them. It isn’t long before both Shota and Midori get a cold slap of reality and realize nothing can stay the same forever.

Did I mention that Shota and Midori were children? Yet, both of these characters are very powerful at one point or another in this anime. There is one scene in which the rival gang harasses one of Midori’s friends and Midori stands up to the gang by stating that if they want to fight someone, fight her. Shota really becomes a powerful character towards the end of the show. There is a scene when Midori is crying after realizing she cannot escape what fate has in store for her and Shota becomes angry that Midori can’t accept what she cannot change. In addition to the lovers, there are other characters who assume the role of the threshold guardian, the trickster and the mentor. The story has a tragic ending, but it works in terms of children learning to grow up.

Much like the previous Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, this anime experimented with a different style. At first, the scroll drawn backgrounds were appealing, but then I witnessed the characters signs. While taking a close look at some of the characters, there is definite art style the character designers were going for, but it doesn’t quite hold up as well in the animation. With Midori and Shota, the style works as they both resemble characters from scrolls. However, some of the characters will remind you of the animation styles used in Dennis the Menace and Scooby Doo. This is the anime’s biggest flaw as the character designs don’t work as well with the animation. It almost feels as if the animation directors were trying too hard to come up with a new style and ended up with a bizarre final product.

Even with the lacking animation and character designs, I have to admire the staff for trying to break away from conventional anime style. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. With Growing Up, it didn’t work, but now animators can learn from these errors. If nothing else, Growing Up as itself is a good story and it is such a shame that people will be paying more attention to the less then perfect animation instead of the story itself.

Pros: A well-written original story with unique characters.

Cons: The experimental animation will fail to attract viewers who put quality over story; eerie animation technique and character designs reminiscent of some Hanna Barbera cartoons.

Grade: C

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Entertainment
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Red Light Run
By Vu Dang
“How long you been coming to this bar, Lou? Nine years? Ten years?”

“Since last week.”

“Whatever. Just tell me something.” Wesley pointed at the jukebox beside the bar.

“That song’s been playing constantly since I got here. Just tell me, who the fuck keeps putting in quarters for that song?”

Lou shrugged. Then he slid off his stool and walked up to the jukebox, slipped in a nickel, and restarted the song.

“The hell you do that for?”

Lou shrugged again.

“You see?” Wesley said. “Nothing makes any sense. Just now I saw you put a nickel into the jukebox. I think I’m dreaming, Lou.”

Dream, dream, dream, wailed the Everly Brothers from their vinyl confines.

“I’m supposed to be at my wedding right now,” Wesley said. “Everybody’s at the chapel waiting for me. Just look at me, all dressed up and nice. I love my fiancé. But you know what the problem is?”

“What?”

Wesley grabbed the green Heineken bottle off the counter.

“The problem is, I can’t wake up.”

He swung the bottle at Lou’s head. Lou’s head exploded. Bits of bone and blood splattered the counter. Tiny spiders spilled out from the newly-opened hole.

“See that?”

“Jeez-Louise,” Lou said. “How come you never complained about this before?”

From behind Wesley, a bray of laughter. He ignored it. “I just realized it this morning.”

“So you had to go and bust my head open. Thanks a lot.”

“Well, thanks for putting on that song, jackass!”

“Hey, fellas.” It was the bartender, working a washcloth on the shot glasses. “Tell you what. Have a couple of drinks on me. Relax.”

He gave them beers. For the next couple of hours, Wesley, Lou, and the bartender drank and talked about their jobs, and on occasion flipped on the television just to see what was on. Before they knew it, the sun was rising (or, at least, the redness was getting brighter). Lou had to bid Wesley goodbye. He grabbed his coat and left—blood, brains, spiders, and all.

Wesley sighed and leaned his head up.

What the hell am I doing here?

Wesley noticed the group pictures lining the top of the wall. There he was, his arm slung around Christie, on the far left side of the photo with most of the college football team and their mascot, Rabie the Squirrel, all arm-locked and half-drunk off their asses.

Wesley jerked up. He took the bartender by his collar. “Listen! You have to help me.”

“What, what?”

“I have a wedding. I love Christie. See that picture over there? That’s my fiancé. You have to help me.”

“I don’t—”

“Someone’s playing a horrible trick on me. I’m in a dream. I can’t wake up.”

Blinding red light was spilling through the window and smacking the bartender on the side of the face. He looked utterly plastic.

“Maybe you should step outside,” the bartender said, “go for a walk.”

“You don’t understand. If I don’t wake up, I can’t—” Wesley felt his jacket crawling all over him with sweat. “Shit. I want to tell her how much I love her.”

“Just relax, buddy. Relax yourself and turn around.”

“What?”

“Turn around.”

The bartender winked. Wesley did as he was told.

Sitting at the booth in the corner was a bald man, looked to be in his twenties, with a wide, silver-toothed grin on his face. He was in sharp relief to the gray, smoke-stained slabs of wood veneer, as he was shirtless and pale as a baby, yet he was a part of the booth, his body sunk deep into the green pleather. Across the man’s neck was a thick band of red paint. It could’ve been blood.

“There’s your man,” the bartender said.

“You.” Wesley approached him. “You’ve always been there, haven’t you?”

The man nodded.

“You’re the one who’s always laughing.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“You mind telling me what’s going on?”

“Sure.” He crossed his legs. “I’m keeping you here.”

Wesley launched at him, grabbed his neck. “Why? I have a wedding, god damn it! Tell me why you’re doing this to me!” His neck was as hard as a bundle of steel cables. “Tell me, you creep!”

“Look at your hands.”

Wesley jerked back. Red paint from the man’s neck was all over his hands. “I get it now. I’m dead.”

The men burst out laughing. “Sorry. Too many episodes of Twilight Zone.” He signaled the bartender to switch off the TV.

"No, you’re not dead. Heavens, it’s nothing so trite as that. And you are asleep. But this isn’t a dream.”

“Then what is it?”

“A nightmare.”

The man’s eyes squeezed into pinholes like on the face of a doll with its eyes ripped off. “My name’s Cracken.”

“Ten years, Cracken!”

“Thought you’d have had it figured out sooner. Hey, bartender. You mind?”

The bartender nodded, slipped a quarter into the slot, and the moment the song ended, punched up the numbers for the Everly Brothers.

Dreeeeaam. Dream-dream-dream-dream—

“I’ll kill you,” Wesley said. He crashed a beer bottle against the counter.

“All right, all right,” Cracken said. “Enough of the dramatics. You want to get out of here and go to your wedding? Fine. But on certain conditions.”

Wesley held the broken bottle to Cracken’s neck.

“Whoa, no harm done,” Cracken said. He put up his hands for Wesley to see. “I just think you’re fun to watch, that’s all.” He was a cripple. All kinds of wires and attachments were screwed into his hands. “I live through others. That’s what I do.”

“But you can do that by turning on a TV.”

“The key concept here,” he said, “is authenticity.”

“How about an authentic bottle in your neck?”

Cracken continued: “Even the most well-publicized celebrity is but a shadow of a man, one whose life it would do me no more to follow than if I followed my own. You are a real man, Wesley, the only one here.”

The bottle broke in Wesley’s hand, cutting it.

“And now that you’re aware,” he said, “we can make a deal.”

“A deal?”

“Have a seat.”

Wesley backed away from him. Behind Cracken was a Budweiser mirror. Wesley saw himself therein, the same man from ten years ago, who had fallen asleep on his brother’s couch waiting for the limo to arrive—now a little better from the booze, but otherwise the same.

“Ten years,” Wesley said.

The dart board. In ten year’s time, Wesley must have thrown a hundred thousand darts at that board. The bathroom. He must have gone in and out of it more times than any bathroom in his whole life.

Cracken leaned an elbow on the table top. “Let’s make sure we’re in full understanding, shall we?”

Slowly, Wesley nodded.
********************
Wesley sprang awake. He checked his watch. By his best calculation, two hours had passed since he first lay down.

His older brother popped into the room.

“You doing okay, bro?”

“Martin!”

“The limo should be here any minute.”

Wesley had to blink several times to get the sleep out of his eyes, but when his vision cleared, he could see the dashing young man his brother was.

“I can’t believe it’s you, Martin.”

“Of course it’s me. I’ll see you at the chapel, ‘kay?”

His brother left.
********************
White ribbons bulged from a bed of paper flowers above the double doors, forming a curtain that swayed with each billow of air from the chapel’s cool interior. By the time Wesley arrived, where most of the guests were already in attendance. He saw his younger brother Arnold, that infallible prick. Haven’t seen you in a long time, how’s the laundry biz? He saw his ten-year-old niece Rachel at Arnold’s side. She was drawing purple flowers on the inside flap of a hymnal.

Martin, the best man, was waiting for him at the altar.

“Looking good, bro.”

The procession began. The ushers entered first, followed by the ring bearer and the flower girl.

And then Christie came in. Christie, resplendent in a frame of lace and veil and sunshine, of Auburn hair and white halation in her mortal glory. Christie, whose laughter resounded in his memory for all the eternity which he had been without her, whose favorite food was Chinese takeout, whose favorite color was red.

The priest began.

“Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today—”

Wesley swept her into his arms and planted a big wet kiss on her lips. The viewers gasped.

Martin whispered, “Celebration comes after you tie the knot.”

Lord love it, the officiant had to pry Wesley off for normal procedure to resume.

Which, by all accounts, didn’t happen. They kissed for as long as the priest talked. The priest, being a most experienced practitioner, delivered an abridged version of the rites. Christie gave her vows. Wesley gave his.

When all was said and done, the priest pronounced: “You may now kiss the bride.”

“A foregone conclusion, if I may say so,” Martin said.

At the reception, they cut cake, threw the bouquet, danced the cha-cha, ate Italian chicken, and drank. They opened wedding gifts before an adoring crowd.

“Wow!” Christie said. “A CD rack. Wes, honey, look.”

Wesley was at the far end of the table clutching a toaster to his chest and weeping madly. He suddenly jumped up with the toaster held high.

“I’m so lucky I can’t believe I didn’t realize, I’m so goddamn lucky this is the best day of my life I’m so lucky!”

He pumped the toaster into the air, and entreated Arnold and Rachel to join him by giving them each wedding gifts, an espresso machine for Arnold, a blender for Rachel.

Christie took him aside. “What’s gone over you?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just, something like this, you wish it could last forever. You know?”

Christie grinned. “That’s why we have our memories.”

“And photographers,” the photographer said. He took their picture: a teary-eyed Wesley in Christie’s arms with his head on her shoulder.

Wesley checked his watch. “My god, we have to go!”

“Wait, what about—”

“There’s no time. We’re both out of time.”

He led her to the fire escape.

“I don’t understand,” Christie said.

Behind the cake table on the other end of the room, bright red light was seeping through the edges of the wall and ceiling. Some of the old bats, come to refresh themselves on punch, noticed the light and began backing away.

“What is that?” Christie said.

The light burst through the wall in a dense vertical sheet and started edging its way forward.

Wesley waved his hand high.

“This is goodbye! I love each and every one of you! Mama, Daddy, Arnold, Martin, I love all of you!” Wesley stooped down to pat Rachel on the shoulder. “Keep the blender. Don’t do drugs.” He shouted down the questions of the guests in attendance with a last “Goodbye!” and then left.

No fire alarm went off when they opened the door—some fire exit! He and Christy rushed for the limousine. The light was edging its way out through the restaurant windows. (For this being light, it could pass through transparent objects and the like.) Waiters and attendants were running out before it, who weren’t altogether comfortable being near such an anomaly.

Wesley told the driver: “Go.”

The limousine took off. Wesley turned to Christie. “Listen to me. Do you remember that sports bar we used to go to back in college?”

Christie nodded. “O’Flatulie’s, right?”

“That’s the one. Let’s go there now.”

“Right now?”

“For old time’s sake.”

She frowned.

“Christie, do you remember that time at the bar, the whole football team was there, and Rabie the Squirrel was there and all we did for two hours was drink beer and listen to Rabie tell jokes?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you remember the joke that made you laugh so hard, you cried?”

“I’m not—”

“Rabie said: what does a true country hick like to do on Halloween?”

She said nothing.

“He likes to pump kin. It was terrible, but you laughed so hard, Christie.”

“You know, that joke is terrible.”

“The sound you made when you laugh, though. That was better than the best joke, the way you shook up when you laughed. That was the first time I knew you were it. I was drunker than hell, but I knew.”

Wesley looked out of the rear window and saw the light. It was now several blocks wide, and gaining on them at the decent speed of a funeral procession.

“Wes?”

“What?”

“Let’s go to O’Flatulie’s.”

Wesley smiled. He grabbed the mic. “Hey, driver. Go down University and look for a bar called O’Flatulie’s, got it?”

“Sure thing.”

He put the mic down. “Christie, whatever happens, just understand, I can’t live without you.”

She said nothing more. In his heart, he believed, then, that she truly did understand what was happening. On her face was a certainty, that which would pronounce herself his wife to the world.

You caught me, Wes.

It had been a week after the proposal.

Isn’t that bad luck?

I can’t help myself. Christie Evans. It has such a nice ring to it.

They sat in silence for an age. Then the limo arrived at the bar.

Inside, Tenants were enjoying their drinks and catching snippets of the baseball game that was going on. Wesley pulled up a stool beside the neon “open” sign and watched the light approaching the establishment. He held onto Christie’s hand.

(“And if I touched it?” he asked. “You die.” Cracken said.)

The light reached the sidewalk, and then began wrapping itself around the entire building, until all of the windows were blotted out in its red glow. There the light stayed.

“I think the management’s putting up their Christmas lights a little early,” Wesley said. “Here, have a seat.”

“Hey, you two love birds,” the bartender said.

“A couple of beers, please.”

From behind, he could hear Cracken. “Quite the procrastinators, aren’t we?”

Wesley ignored him.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed your wedding.”

Wesley turned to Christie. “It was pure magic.”

She nodded.

“Your lack of punctuality certainly had me going,” Cracken said. “Don’t make a habit of it.”

Ten more years, Scissorhands. Ten more and we get to leave. And if you don’t make good on your promise, I’ll find a way to kill you, I swear.

Lou walked into the bar, draped his coat over one of the stools, and spoke to the bartender: “I’ll have a spritzer. Nothing heavy tonight. I’m trying to cut back a little.” He patted Wesley on the back. “Boy, don’t you two look like a happy couple. Nice dress. ”

“Thank you,” Christie said.

Lou smiled, then tipped his glass into the hole on the left side of his head.

The bartender was at the jukebox. “Say, who’s in the mood for some music?” A blue pterodactyl crashed through the front window and ripped off the bartender’s right ear. “Oh! Ooooh Jesus Christ!”

“Hey, put on that dream song,” Lou said.

“Sure.”

Using one hand to stem the flow of blood, the bartender dropped a dime in and punched up the numbers for All I Want to do is Dream. When Christie heard the intro, her eyes got wide.

“Wes, honey, our song!”

God she was beautiful.

“Come on.” She took hold of Wesley’s hands and led him out on the open space between the stools and tables. Thick red blood came flooding out of the cracks in the hard wood. They danced, slow with their eyes locked on each other, feeling the slight spatter against their shoes.

Wesley was scarcely aware of a stranger braying laughter from a dark place far, far behind him. But her eyes were all he could see; eyes green and bright with a light of their own, to cast glare on the glasses that littered the empty tables, and on the windows that pulsed with red.

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Industry
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DVD Release Dates, brought to you by www.animeondvd.com

11-02-2004
Burn-Up Scramble Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 3) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Cybuster Vol. #1 (of 6) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Ikki-Tosen Vol. #2 (of 4) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
New Fist of the North Star Vol. #2 (of 3) ADV Films
Robotech Remastered: Extended Edition Vol. #06 (of 7) ADV Films

11-09-2004
Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi Vol. #3 (also w/figures) (of 3) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Argentosoma Complete Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
Black Jack Vol. #5 (of 5) Central Park Media
Boys Over Flowers Vol. #08 (of 0) Viz, LLC.
Bubblegum Crisis Box Set (of 1) AnimEigo
DNAngel Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 7) ADV Films
Dragon Drive Vol. #04 (of 10) Bandai Entertainment
Fancy Lala Complete Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
Fruits Basket Box Set (of 1) FUNimation Productions
Gungrave Vol. #3 (of 7) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Initial D Limited Edition Box Set 1 (of 1) TOKYOPOP
Initial D Vol. #08 (of 0) TOKYOPOP
Kikaider Perfect Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
Maison Plaisir Xtreme Series Edition (of 1) Anime
Munto (of 1) Central Park Media
Pokemon Advanced Vol. #05: (of 0) Viz, LLC.
Pokemon Advanced Vol. #06: (of 0) Viz, LLC.
Rave Master Vol. #02 (of 13) TOKYOPOP
s-CRY-ed Complete Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
Saikano Vol. #4 (of 4) Viz, LLC.
Spiral Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 6) FUNimation Productions
Submarine 707R (also Limited Edition) (of 1) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Tsukikage Ran Complete Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
UC Gundam Movie Pack (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
Zentrix Collection 2 (of 2) Bandai Entertainment
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October 15, 2004


The MAS Monitor – Volume 12
October 15th, 2004

Newsletter main email – masnokaihoo@hotmail.com

Staff
- Jessi Silver – jessi@gonein60fps.net
- Peter – heath_darkness@hotmail.com
- Nastassja Riemermann
- Vu Dang
- Mark McPherson
- Setsuki Korinzu

With special guest columnist Taichiro Endo
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.:Table of Contents

*MAS News
*Features
    -Taichiro's Column
    -Jessi’s Rom Corner
*Reviews
   -Cyborg 009
   -Master Keaton
*Entertainment
   -The Killer and the Ride
   -Riddles
   -Weblinks of the Week
*Industry News
   -DVDRelease Dates
*Comment on this Issue
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MAS News
By Jessi Silver

Well, as you may all know by now, the MAS Halloween Bash of 2004 is swiftly approaching. Lots of cool events are planned as usual, including the cosplay contest, delinquent contest, and raffle. For those of you planning on entering the cosplay contest, send Lori an email at tachikoma01@gmail.com, including with it your name, your character’s name, the show/game/whatever they’re from, and any music you’d like played during your performance.

The party itself will be held in Moos Tower room 2-620, a larger room near the door. Try not to arrive much before 6pm, which is when the party officially starts. The party is free for all paid members, and 2 dollars for non-members. Bring your friends! The schedule for the party is as follows:

6:00- doors officially open
Prince of Tennis, Haunted Racket Episode
The Portrait of Little Cossette
7:00 Taichiro's Presentation
7:30 "Walk like a Delinquent" contest.
8:00 Cosplay and Raffle
9:00 GTO ghost episode
Requiem from the Darkness episode 01
10:00 Everyone goes home.

Everyone be sure to come and have a good time, and bring a friend with you :)

On another note, those of you who have LiveJournal accounts might be interested in joining the mas_at_lj community, run by Nastassja. You can post anything relating to MAS, anime or any topic you feel is related somehow (and I'm sure there are many). Go ahead and try it out, it could use some more members :)

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Features
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Cosplay
Taichiro Endo

As you know, Cosplay (Costume Play) is dressing up as characters from anime, manga and computer games, or sometimes as people from music bands and live action shows. It is becoming more popular in many countries, especially in Japan and the U.S. However, what cosplayers do looks different on the surface in both countries as was noted in my last column: “At Anime Expo, cosplayers took pictures of each other, but at Comic Market, cameramen keep taking pictures and cosplayers keep having their pictures taken, in many cases.” Though both are big and famous conventions in each country, the style of cosplay is very different. In this column, I will discuss why this difference occurs at Comic Market and at Anime Expo.

We can come up with several ideas to explain this difference. I think the most common idea is the cultural differences, for example, like the idea that the “shy” Japanese don’t communicate with cosplayers they don’t already know. This is the most common and basic idea used in comparing Japanese and American culture. We can also find answers from the area of gender, since many male cameramen come to Comic Market to take pictures of female cosplayers dressing up as pretty characters in Japan. I am not sure whether this “male cameramen – female cosplayers” construct is common in the U.S. or not. Both of these ideas are assuredly parts of reasons behind this difference, and to talk about these aspects must be interesting. However, in this column, I will focus on other aspects: the sense of purpose of cosplayers and the number of cameramen. The sense of purpose of cosplayers makes the difference between each convention, and the number of cameramen changes the sense of purpose. This spiral decides the style of cosplay in conventions.

Let’s start with the history of Cosplay in Japan. We do not have any reliable documents that state the origin of Cosplay in Japan, but it is said that some fans started dressing as anime characters around the middle of the 1960s. However, since those cases were just for individual fun, people did not consider them Cosplay per se. The case that is first assumed to be Cosplay appeared in the early 1970s in some Science Fiction Conventions. Some fans attended these conventions wearing the costumes of Sci-Fi characters. Since the fans of this time already knew that some Americans dressed up as characters at Sci-Fi conventions, Cosplay might have originated in the U.S. and then may have been copied and expanded-upon in Japan. After the Comic Market was founded in 1975, some fans started attending these kinds of Dojin conventions with cosplay, e.g. some salesclerks of Dojin circles. The custom of cosplay was getting spread little by little in Dojin conventions during this age; however, the word ‘Cosplay’ had not been born yet.

The concept of Cosplay first appeared in the media in 1980 by the name “Tominoko-zoku”. Fanroad, a communication magazine for anime and manga fans, was launched this year, featuring an event about Gundam which was held by that magazine in Harajuku (the city in Tokyo). Some fans attended this event wearing costumes of Gundam characters, and were called “Tominoko-zoku” in that magazine. I need to go into a little detail to explain what that means. The first point is that the director of Gundam is Yoshiyuki Tomino. The first part of “Tominoko-zoku” is from his name. The second point is that the group of people called “Takenoko-zoku” took Harajuku by storm at that time. I don’t have enough space to explain it in detail, but it is enough to know that they were a group of people who shared a particular fashion in Harajuku. By combining “Tomino” and “Takenoko-zoku”, the coined term “Tominoko-zoku” was born, implying “the group of people sharing the fashion made by Tomino”. “Tominoko-zoku” was the first term given to people who dressed up as anime and manga characters.

The word “Cosplay” was born in early part of the 1980s. We have no certain documents that explain the origin of this word, including who coined it, but it is generally said that the word Cosplay became famous among anime fans around this time. One of the reasons for this breakthrough was the big hit of “Urusei Yatsura”, called “Lum Urusei Yatsura” or “The return of Lum” in the U.S. Many girls attended the Comic Market wearing Lum costumes, and were featured by the media. Masses of people first knew the word Cosplay and what it meant from that particular situation. This is just an aside; because the police regarded Lum’s cosplay as too lascivious, beginning in 1983, cosplayers from Comic Market were faced with restrictions regarding what types of costumes they could wear in public. From the early part of 1980s, cosplay continued getting popular little by little, and after the hit Sailor Moon, the Comic Market finally made a big space for cosplay called the Cosplay Square.

The next breakthrough for Cosplay was the middle of 1990s, caused by the big boom of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Some anime fan cultures were featured by the media, and Cosplay also got famous among the masses during this time. Several media outlets, including TV stations and magazines, came to Comic Market to feature the Cosplay. Numerous people still believe that the Comic Market is only an event for Cosplay because the media only focused on Cosplay at Comic Market.

From this time, the middle of 1990s, new outlets of cosplay were also born: Cosplay parties and the introduction of commercial capital. A Cosplay party is a gathering of cosplayers with Dance, Karaoke, short dramas by cosplayers, photo sessions, talk shows, etc. Since they could not hold these kinds of parties at Dojinshi Conventions, they independently planned to have these interaction-based cosplay events. Several companies also began Cosplay business at that time. The most notable is the Costuming Company; they sold completed costumes. Though cosplayers had made all the costumes for cosplay by themselves before this time, this buy-and-play style became rapidly popular, and expanded the cosplay population by involving people who may not have been able to create their own costume. This flow continued and the first Cosplay Café was finally born in 1998. Though it was just one booth of a Tokyo Character show, it did good business from the amazement and curiosity of its patrons. The first real Cosplay Café was opened the following year in Akihabara, and a few years later, Cosplay Cafe experienced a big boom after the opening of a Cosplay Café Mary’s (the name was changed to Cafe Mai:lish later) in 2002. Now about 20 Cosplay Cafés and Bars exist even just in the area around Akihabara.

From this brief history of Cosplay, we can say that there are 2 types of Cosplay events in Japan: Dojinshi Conventions and Cosplay parties. As you know, Comic Market is included in the Dojinshi Convention category; however, since Comic Market is far larger and more focused on cosplay than other conventions, I will consider Comic Market as one special case. As I mentioned, the characteristic of the Cosplay at Comic Market is that only cameramen take pictures. In contrast, Cosplayers take pictures of each other at Anime Expo. Though there are exceptions, including the case that several Cosplayers take pictures of each other in Comic Market, and there are non-cosplaying cameramen at Anime Expo, this tendency is roughly correct for each convention.

Now I consider Comic Market to be a stage for Cosplayers to show off their Cosplay, and Anime Expo is more of a place of interaction for Cosplayers. Since most cosplayers at Comic Market attend without carrying a camera and do not talk to other cosplayers in many cases, we can say that they attend Comic Market to show off their cosplay. In contrast, we can say that the purpose for cosplayers in Anime Expo is to engage in interaction, based on their behavior. The Cosplay competition at Anime Expo is similar to the former case, and the Cosplay Party is similar to the latter case, too. “Make sure that when we interact with other cosplayers, we also show off our own cosplay.” The show of Cosplay is included in the interaction.

Here, let’s put together the purposes of cosplayers in these 4 cosplay events.
Comic Market: Most people attend to show off. Few people attend for the purposes of interaction.
Cosplay Party: Most people attend for interaction. Few people attend to show.
Anime Expo: Almost all people attend for interaction.
Cosplay Competition: Almost all people attend to show.

Since the photo shoot is one-way in the case of shows, the differences between Comic Market and Anime Expo are highlighted in this way. The style of Cosplayers is decided by the purpose of joining the convention.

In the next step, we will consider the number of non-cosplaying cameramen at each convention. In Comic Market, since the number of non-cosplaying cameramen is far larger than the cosplayers, the aspect of “showing off” is emphasized more. On the other hand, since the number of non-cosplaying cameramen is relatively few at Anime Expo, the aspect of interaction remains. However, we can also say that if the number of non-cosplaying cameramen increased by a large amount, the aspect of Cosplay at Anime Expo could be changed to the “show” style. Assuming that 50 cameramen are there for each cosplayer, they cannot interact any more even if they want interaction. If that situation is going to continue, the purpose of the cosplayers would naturally change to the “show” type. The number of non-cosplay cameramen changes the purpose of the Cosplayers.

What it comes down to is this: We have 2 senses of purpose for attending a Cosplay event. One is to show off cosplay by considering the convention hall as a stage. The other is to interact with other cosplayers by considering the convention hall as a place of interaction. These starting values first decide the aspect of convention: one-way photo shoot or interaction with each-other. In addition to this, the number of non-cosplay cameramen changes the sense of purpose of Cosplayers. Once the non-cosplay cameramen increase by a certain amount, the aspect of “show” is emphasized. In contrast, once the number of non-cosplaying cameramen becomes few, now the aspect of interaction is emphasized. The sense of purpose of the cosplayers makes the differences occur between each convention, and the number of cameramen changes the sense of purpose. This spiral decides the style of cosplay in conventions.

Therefore, the difference of Cosplay in Comic Market and Anime Expo is considered to be both from the difference of purpose, show or interaction, and the number of non-cosplaying cameramen.

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Jessi’s Rom Corner
Jessi Silver



This week’s unusual specimen is a Japanese game titled “Yume Penguin Monogatari” or “Dream Penguin Tale”. In this game, you’re an overweight penguin who has to lose weight before your girlfriend decides to go out with another guy instead. The premise is unusual and rather humorous, but the game itself is pretty fun, if a little easy.



You start off the game as an extremely fat penguin with little in the way of mobility. To attack foes, you have to leap up clumsily and body slam them. However, once you begin to lose weight, which is accomplished by swallowing diet drinks, your mobility improves quite a bit and you can hop on your enemies or, eventually, you can shoot things from your mouth at them. The enemies just don’t sit there and take it, though. They’re working for your penguin girl’s other suitor, and they’ll try anything to get you to gain weight, including tossing food right at you. Not very conducive to a good diet. Falling in the water will also expand your waistline, so it’s best to avoid that fate.



Your level of fitness is shown by a gauge in your menu bar. At the end of each level, you must be up to a certain level of fitness to pass to the next stage. No worries if you don’t make it, though; as far as I can tell, you get unlimited chances to try each stage over again, so you’re bound to get it right eventually.



The game is otherwise a basic run-and-jump platformer, though there are a couple of stages where you find yourself manning a small airplane, so that adds variety. The original concept and cute characters give it a charm, though, which makes it more interesting than many basic NES platformers.



Get the Japanese version of the rom here
Get the English version here

Get an emulator to play the game here

*If you have a suggestion for an NES game to be featured in a future issue, go ahead and email me at jessi@gonein60fps.net, I probably have whatever game you're thinking of :)

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Reviews
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Cyborg 009
Reviewed by Mark McPherson
Length: 52 episodes
Year Created: 2001
Content: Contains mild violence.

Remember the 60’s? Of course you don’t, you are too young (although if you can recall, you’re probably too old). The 1960’s was when anime series were just beginning to be invented. While mecha, Shoujo and Shounen took center stage, Shotaro Ishinomori's created an entirely new series combining the super hero abilities of expanding technology along with the current political state of the world with Cyborg 009. While the 1964 manga is pretty dated today dealing with such old issues as Vietnam and the Cold War, this 2001 TV series proves that these characters can transcend time.

Taking place right after the creation of 009, Joe Shimamura awakes to discover he is the newest cyborg called 009. He was captured by the evil organization known as Black Ghost, who wants to dominate the world by selling weapons of mass destruction to wealthy nations. Black Ghost’s latest experiment is the creation of cybernetic organisms to be used as weapons. Through a series of encounters with Black Ghost’s military strength, 009 is finally united with the other eight cyborgs. 001, although just a baby, has telekinetic powers. 002 is a cocky American with jets in his boots that allow him to go Mach 2. 003 is a French dancer with the cybernetic ability to see and hear things from long distances. 004 is the perfect war machine equipped with machine gun fingers, knee missiles and blade on the side of his hand. 005 is a Native American with the strength of ten men (well, not quite ten men, but you get the idea). 006 is a Chinese chef with the cybernetic ability to blow fire. 007 is a British actor with the ability to change his cellular structure. 008 is an African with the cybernetic ability to move fluidly underwater. Together, they form an alliance with Doctor Gilmore, one of Black Ghost’s scientists, in order to escape Black Ghost. Of course, this is not a simple task as the team is constantly chased around the globe by the Black Ghost organization. This plucky group of cyborgs from different nations band together to put a stop to international warfare (which is easier said than done).

Obviously, some parts of the original manga had to be changed in order to make the story seem as though it were taking place in the present. The first thing that had to be changed was some of the character’s background story. For instance, 008 was originally sold for slavery in Africa, but captured by Black Ghost after he tried to escape his master. Such a display would cause controversy in this day and age, so 008’s story was changed to him being a member of a military resistance group in Africa which is actually closer to what Africa is like in the present. 002’s background was largely based on the West Side Story stereotypes which is how most of Japan saw America. The story keeps 002 as a gang member, but the ridiculous dancing and war with the Mexicans was cut for obvious reasons. One problem with the characters background was that 001-004 were all captured at a certain point in time that is reflected in the manga. In order to avoid cutting up their backgrounds, the writers decided that 001-004 were frozen for a few years before they could be complete. This allowed some of their key stories to be kept such as 004’s escape from Nazi Germany and 001’s dad giving him away at the same time as the first heart transplant. Thankfully, all the sagas from the original manga have been included in this series

Animation wise, Cyborg 009 is top notch in both frame-rate and color. In addition, most of the original character designs have been kept intact. The only character design that seems to have changed from the manga was 008 and that is understandable considering they made him look like a monkey with big lips. The music is by far the series biggest strength with an epic orchestra score and catchy techno opening and closings. As far as recreating old anime TV series, Cyborg 009 has received the star treatment. The only downside is that storyline shows its age in most episodes and while that isn’t a bad thing for fans of the original series, it may turn off newcomers. The story is fairly simple as the cyborgs try to fight for world piece which is always out of grasp. Back in the 1960’s, Cyborg 009 was the thinking man’s superhero show, but in today media market with so many complex stories, Cyborg 009’s premise is a bit dated. Still, the show has an equal balance of physical comedy and action that can please just about anyone. While the opening episodes are pretty straight forwards with their mission to destroy Black Ghost, a lot of the later episodes deal with more serious issues such as man’s destruction of mother nature and how humans will always create war.

While Cyborg 009 isn’t a very complex story and may not have your typical anime character designs, it serves as an entertaining piece of both nostalgia and action. If you are looking for a series with a light (but not devoid of) story and plenty of action with a good soundtrack, Cyborg 009 is a series I would recommend. It won’t become the next Cowboy Bebop or Evangelion, but it is entertaining and fun to follow and I am content with the show being nothing more or less than that.

Factoid: Shotaro Ishinomori sadly passed away in the production of this show.

Pros: Excellent animation; good action; fun to compare with the original manga; original character designs.

Cons: Story may be too light for today’s edgier anime.

Grade: B+

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Master Keaton
Reviewed by Mark McPherson
Length: 39 episodes
Year Created: 1998
Content: Contains mild violence.

One of the many elements I love about anime is the massive audience appeal. Anime is not geared towards one crowd as there are many series and movies that target children, teenagers and adults of all ages. Master Keaton happens to be a favorite series of mine as it appeals to a smaller fraction of the anime demographic: a sophisticated adult.

Originally adapted from Hokusei Katsushika and Naoki Urasawa’s 1988 manga, Master Keaton tells the story of Taichi Hiraga Keaton. Keaton is a half-English, half-Japanese ex-SAS instructor. He now works as a university teacher, insurance investigator for Lloyds of London and an archeologist. He is divorced from his wife, but still has a stable relationship with his daughter, Yuriko. Keaton’s past seems very complex already, but the series itself contains more facts about Keaton’s past. His missions and adventures take him around the globe from his home in Japan to the streets of the UK. Each episode Keaton could be involved in anything from negotiating with terrorists to lecturing a class of students. No matter what Keaton is involved in on his journeys, it is always extremely interesting and entertaining. Along the way, Keaton manages to meet some interesting people such as a group of German bounty hunters; a descendant of Russia’s Nicholas the Second and even some old friends and mentors from his past. In addition to the stand alone episodes that slowly reveal Keaton’s past, there is also a continuing story of Keaton trying to discover a lost civilization through his archeology adventures.

Master Keaton has this uncommon warmth. The plot is pretty serious most of the time, but the series has a very equal balance of light humor. Some episodes will seem very tense like an episode in which Keaton teams up with a bounty hunting group to rescue to a kidnapped terrorist seeking asylum, yet the mood is very light. Even in an episode where Keaton is protecting a man called Semionov from the Russian mafia, Semionov takes the grave situation very lightly as he believes to truly live you have to experience all life has to offer. I guess you could say that is the overall tone of the show. There is plenty one can accomplish in a lifetime and Keaton is doing just that. Each episode also has a bit of theme. In an episode in which Keaton is discovering a lost civilization in Roman ruins, his college friends tell him of how her mother defeated a Nazi tank with her own two hands. This comes into play later on as they use the same tactic to defeat a group of bulldozers coming to destroy the ruins. There are also some rather interesting examinations of history such as trying to deceiver who built the pyramids and what really happen to Nicholas the Second’s treasure during the war.

The character designs I found to be very interesting. There is some realism to the characters, yet they are able to convey a wide range of emotion without venturing outside their original design. This type of design fits perfectly as Keaton is 35 and most of the characters he meets are middle-aged. There is also a very distinct style to the animation. There are mostly light colors used and when we see a character in sunlight, there is an almost white glistening to the skin. The soundtrack is a rather odd mix of Celtic and assorted orchestra music. The opening and closings are a bit odd. The opening features a mix of bagpipe, accordion and flute while the animation is of Keaton’s family getting in touch with nature. The closing animation is mostly still shots with a bit of guitar thrown in. Aside from the rather odd opening and closings, the soundtrack adds more sophistication to the series. This brings me to another point: Master Keaton is a series with a solid foot in reality. There is no magic or mecha. Only pure human emotion and intrigue make up this series. That is why I always refer to Master Keaton as the thinking man’s anime. Sadly, this is the series’ biggest fault. Since the characters aren’t attractive young adults and the story doesn’t contain any fantasy elements, Master Keaton will fly off of most anime fan’s radar and it is such a shame.

Right from the start, Master Keaton is an extremely interesting and entertaining show that quickly grows on you. What intrigues me the most about this series is there is a good mixture of light comedy, intrigue, intelligence, emotion and tension and none of it feels out of place or thrown in for balance. In an anime market overflowing with giant robots and fantasy elements, Master Keaton is a welcome change of pace. The series won’t have mass-market appeal, but it will remain one of the most underrated anime series ever made.

Pros: Excellent storytelling; an involving plot; interesting characters; a great anime for adults.

Cons: The bright colors may be too much for some; little appeal to the typical anime crowd.

Grade: A

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Entertainment
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The Killer and the Ride
By Vu Dang

“Police have discovered yet a fifth body in the rash of highway murders in connection with the Clayton Killer...”

David Fletcher switched off the radio. It was times like these he wanted more to be someone else than ever. He wished he could steal the faces of those who passed him by, just rip them off and slap them over his own like a Halloween mask. About now, anyone’s face would do. Like the gas station attendant earlier that morning. Or the guy on the lawn mower with the peaceful look on his face.

Better yet, one of his own victims.

He supposed that’s why he kept their clothes, not only because it was soft, light, and feathery like the feathers of a bird. But that to wear them, one became as they. Birds light and soft; birds floating effortlessly in the breeze. If he had his way, he would drive forever on that back road stretch, with the windows down and the cold air washing over the pink bikini top strewn over his hairy chest.

A trooper, however, had pulled him over.

“What’s the problem, officer?” Dave said.

“None but a seatbelt regulation just came into effect a week ago.”

“Oh?”

The trooper took out his pen and booklet. “Yep. According to the new law, I can bust you if you don’t have your seatbelt on. No other violations necessary.”

“Sheesh.”

“You mind stepping out of the car?”

Dave did as he was told. The trooper looked at him without word, though the smacks of the trooper’s bubble gum seemed to say it all: the hell kind of bet you lose, boy?

“What’s this all about, officer?” Dave said.

“Hope you don’t mind if I have a look through the back seat.”

“Why?”

“As you may or may not know, there’s a killer on the loose. Does most of his killing round backwoods roads like these.”

“The Clayton killer?”

“That’s the one.”

“I assure you, officer, I’m no killer.”

The trooper opened the back door of his car. “Like as not, it’s captain’s orders.”

He started rummaging through the piles of women’s clothes, which spilled from the foot wells like so many clearance items at the k-mart dollar bin. Beneath the piles he found a machete without its sleeve, which he held up with an inquisitive eye.

Dave was quick to explain: “I was on my way to grandma’s to help with the yard brush.”

“That’s some mighty wild yard brush she’s got.”

“She lives in the boonies.”

The trooper gave a low grunt, than set about digging further. In time, he uncovered a bowie knife, three bottles of poison caplets, a hacksaw, a katana blade, a chainsaw, and the April issue of Home & Garden magazine.

“The weapons belong to grandma.”

“The better to kill you with, my dear?”

Dave let out an uneasy laugh. The trooper wasn’t laughing. He turned back to dig further. Dave began edging toward the trooper, whose gun stuck out of his hip like a golf club in a caddy sack. The trooper wouldn’t see it coming, occupied as he was with the evidence in the backseat.

And with the trooper dead, nobody would know about the Home & Garden.

Dave was within two paces of him when the trooper ducked out of the back seat with several jars of pickle juice in his hand. “These for your grandma too?”

“Yes sir.”

The trooper unscrewed one of them and sniffed. “Smells fresh.”

“Only the best for her.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to come with me.”

“But it’s just--”

The trooper threw Dave against the car and handcuffed him.

“I swear to you, officer, I didn’t kill no one.”

“Sure. And those jars of pickle juice just materialized out of the blue.”

Once Dave was secured in the back seat of the trooper’s car, the trooper called in for evidence collection, than drove Dave to a side road-- presumably a shortcut to the station.

They pulled to a stop.

“Where am I?” Dave said.

“Oh, just a little place I like to go to drain the lizard’s neck, if you catch my, meanin.”

The trooper got out, popped open the trunk, and withdrew what looked like rope and a knife.

“What? What’s happening?” Dave said.

“I’m giving you a dose of retribution for those pickle jars you stole. Imagine all those poor women...”

“Listen. I’m not the killer. I swear to you. I’ll admit, I stole those pickle jars and clothes, but I didn’t kill anyone!”

“Oh. I believe you.”

The trooper opened the door, rope in hand. Then Dave realized all too late. “You’re him. You’re the Clayton Killer!”

“Yessss.” The grin on the trooper’s eyes and the glean on his mouth were as evil as the day was bright.

As the trooper’s poison gas filled the air, Dave’s last vision was that of the trooper’s radio. It was a Kregg Model 10 portable with dedicated noise decoupling. It wasn’t the standard model. He noticed something else-- the paint job on the trooper’s car was service 112, which was outdated. And the registration number was missing from the car. Plus, the trooper had too many buttons on his uniform. And the gun was nonstandard issue 9mm Beretta with hollow-tipped bullets laced with cyanide.

It could all mean only one thing: grandma was not going to be having her yard brush cleared that day. And what will his friends think of him after his death? When they discover the Home & Garden?

To be continued...

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Riddles
Compiled by Jessi Silver

1. A coin collector was in very high spirits. He’d just made what he considered to be the purchase of a lifetime – an extremely rare coin made in the era of the Ancient Greeks. It was dated B.C. 314, quite an old specimen. All he had to do was to go get it officially appraised, and he was headed to the local museum to do that just then.

When he got there, he presented the coin, placed in a decorative box lined with velvet and a silk handkerchief, to the appraiser, and waited for the good news.

The appraiser took one look at it, handed it back, and announced that it was a fake. How did he know?

2. Cathy has six pairs of black gloves and six pairs of brown gloves in her drawer. In complete darkness, how many gloves must she take from the drawer in order to be sure to get a pair that match?

3. Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain in the world?

If you think you know the answers, leave a comment. People with correct answers will get their name listed in the next issue.

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Weblinks of the Week
By Jessi Silver

If you want a time-waster that will drive you absolutely insane, then try out the fun-copter game. Just hold your left mouse button to make the helicopter go up, release it for the helicopter to drop. Avoid the obstacles to get as far as you can.

Fun Copter

Along the same lines, this game, called “Defend your Castle” involves you picking up little stick men and tossing them around until they die, so they don’t bust up your castle. It cracks me up

Defend Your Castle

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Industry News
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DVD Release Dates brought to you by www.animeondvd.com.

10-19-2004

BASToF Syndrome Vol. #5 (of 6) ADV Films
Dragonball Z TV #66: Cell Games: Awakening (of 0) FUNimation Productions
Geisters: Fractions of the Earth Vol. #2 (of 6) Anime Crash
Get Backers Vol. #02 (of 10) ADV Films
Heroic Legend of Arislan Set (of 1) Central Park Media
Kiddy Grade Vol. #7 (of 0) FUNimation Productions
Megaman: NT Warrior Vol. #02 (of 0) Viz, LLC
Mezzo Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 3) ADV Films
Night Walker Set (of 1) Central Park Media
Parasite Dolls (of 1) ADV Films
Shaman King Vol. #01 (of 22) FUNimation Productions
Shaman King Vol. #02 (of 22) FUNimation Productions
Shootfighter Tekken Vol. #2 (of 3) Central Park Media
Sister Princess Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 7) ADV Films
Texhnolyze Vol. #4 (of 6) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Xpress Train (of 0) Anime 18
Yu Yu Hakusho: The Dark Tournament Box Set 2 (of 0) FUNimation Productions
YuGiOh (Uncut) Vol. #01: The Shadow Games (of 0) FUNimation Productions
YuGiOh (Uncut) Vol. #02: The Insector Combo (of 0) FUNimation Productions

10-26-2004

.hack//SIGN Complete Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
Angel Tales Vol. #3 (of 4) Bandai Entertainment
Aquarian Age Vol. #2 (of 3) ADV Films
Bubblegum Crisis 2040 Essential Anime Vol. #1 (of 3) ADV Films
Chu2 Vol. #1 (of 1) NuTech Digital, Inc.
Dream Hazard (of 1) NuTech Digital, Inc.
Escaflowne Perfect Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
Flame of Recca Vol. #01 (of 0) Viz, LLC.
Gad Guard Vol. #3 (of 7) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Geneshaft Complete Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
Giant Robo Vol. #1 (also w/Special Model Box) (of 4) Media Blasters
Gravitation Vol. #4 (of 4) Right Stuf International, Inc
Inu Yasha Vol. #23 (of 0) Viz, LLC.
Kaleido Star Vol. #5 (of 6) ADV Films
Maiden of Deliverance (of 1) Kitty Media
Marmalade Boy Collection 2 (of 4) TOKYOPOP
Miami Guns Vol. #4 (of 4) AN Entertainment
MoMone (of 1) NuTech Digital, Inc.
Paranoia Agent Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 4) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Pianist (of 1) NuTech Digital, Inc.
Pokemon: Master Quest Vol. #01 (of 1) Viz, LLC.
Project Arms Vol. #11 (of 0) Viz, LLC
R.O.D. the TV Vol. #3 (of 7) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Sakura Taisen: Sumire (of 0) FUNimation Productions
Sakura Wars OVA Essential Anime (of 1) ADV Films
Stratos 4 Vol. #3 (of 4) Bandai Entertainment
Super Atragon Essential Anime (of 1) ADV Films
Twelve Kingdoms Vol. #08 (of 0) Media Blasters
Vanilla Series: Hooligan (of 0) Critical Mass Video
Witch Hunter Robin Complete Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment

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October 02, 2004

The MAS Monitor, October 1st, 2004


The MAS Monitor – Volume 11
October 1st, 2004

Newsletter main email – masnokaihoo@hotmail.com

Staff
- Jessi Silver – jessi@gonein60fps.net
- Peter – heath_darkness@hotmail.com
- Nastassja Riemermann
- Vu Dang
- Mark McPherson
- Setsuki Korinzu

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.:Table of Contents
- MAS News
- Features
    - Taichiro's Column
    - Ask Mark
    - Jessi's Rom Corner
- Reviews
    - Lupin III: First Contact
- Entertainment
    - Spectacle
    - Vu's Opinionettes
    - Weblinks
- Industry News
    - DVD Release Dates
-Comment on this Issue

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MAS News
By Jessi Silver

Last week’s karaoke night was a great success, so thanks for everyone who showed up and sang their heart out.

This Monday there’ll be a planning meeting in order to work things out for the annual MAS Halloween party, so anyone interested should show up to the Moos Tower coffee/lounge area at 8:00pm. Bring anything you want, but especially your suggestions.

As you can see, the Newsletter got a bit of a makeover. In spite of how I liked the html version of the Newsletter which was published two weeks ago, I succumbed to the fact that using blogger to publish will ultimately be a lot quicker, and I can keep much better track of the archives. Plus, this also gives you guys the ability to give instant feedback via the comment option. At the bottom of each post is a link to the comment page, and anyone can comment (even people who don’t have a blogger screen name). This will be extremely useful, both for feedback about improvements we can make, and for replies about contests when we have them eventually. So be sure to take advantage of that and tell me how you like this layout.

I’m still looking for MAS artists/writers for our creative talent feature. If you like to do artwork or write fiction, contact me at my email below and we’ll work out how to feature you in an upcoming issue.

I’m also still looking for contributors for the newsletter, so if you’ve got any articles burning a hole in your computer, or are dying to review the latest movie you’ve seen, send it my way. Email all submissions to jessi@gonein60fps.net, and I’ll be sure to include it in a future issue.

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Features
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Anime Conventions: A Comparison
By Taichiro Endo

Hi, this is Taichiro. Do you guys still remember me? For new members, I will introduce myself briefly. I am an international student from Japan. I have stayed in U.S about 1 year. Since fall semester of last year, I have been introducing aspects of Japanese Otaku culture to the members of the Manga Anime Society. I had presentations on MAS special days including last year’s Halloween Party, Valentines Party, etc, and also had serialized columns in the MAS Newsletter. This semester, I am planning to have 3 presentations and 6 columns. I hope you guys will like them.

In this column, I will talk about Anime Expo 2004 which was held in Anaheim CA, since I was able to attend this wonderful convention this summer. It was held from July 2nd to the 5th at the Anaheim Convention Center. I will first explain about Anime Expo, and then compare it with the largest Japanese convention, Comic Market. I will use both my personal point of view of my experiences and outside data for comparison.

Anime Expo is the biggest Anime Convention in the U.S. and was founded in 1992. It was first held in San Jose, CA by a Japanese company to show Japanese animation to an American audience, and the participants numbered only about 1700. However, the number of attendees each year rapidly increased, reaching nearly 20,000 this year. Volunteer staff at the first convention organized an NPO “Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation” to hold Anime Expo. Since this convention is now organized by the NPO, not by commercial companies, it can introduce Anime not for the purposes of advertisement, but for fans for fun!

Anime Expo has several kinds of shows, exhibitions and competitions; there are many 24-hour anime shows, a Cosplay competition, a Karaoke competition, panel discussions, workshops, talk shows, song shows, gaming rooms, art shows, a dance party, video game show, etc… Since most participants stayed in the Marriot Anaheim Hotel, the convention center was full of cosplayers; they changed their clothing in their room and came down to the venue directly.

The commercial exhibition was huge, also. Numerous companies opened branch shops in the Exhibit Hall to sell and advertise their products. An interesting point is that this exhibition hall was one of the biggest highlights of Anime Expo 2004, though fans held this convention for fans. The existence of an “Exhibition-Only Ticket” showcased the presence of the Exhibit Hall. In fact, many participants just stopping-by visited this Hall only. The companies opening branch shops in the Exhibit Hall can generally be categorized in 4 types: Japanese Anime product companies, branches of Japanese companies in the U.S., American sales subsidiaries and American outlets.

A major example of Japanese Anime product companies in the Exhibition Hall was BANDAI VISUAL. This company brought its own products to the U.S. by itself instead of through its American sales subsidiary. Its products are always shown on a big screen for the purposes of advertising.

VIZ is a major example of a branch of a Japanese company in U.S. Many of you guys may know the name of this company since it has issued about 1/3 of the manga titles in the U.S. The American version of Shonen Jump is also issued by VIZ. This company was originally the branch of a Japanese publishing company called Shogakukan, which issues the 3rd highest-selling (1.17 million copied a week) comic magazine Shonen Sunday in Japan. Several years later, the publishing company Shueisha, which issues the 1st highest-selling (3 million copies a week) comic magazine Shonen Jump in Japan, bought 50% of VIZ’s stock. Now this company gets to issue the American version of both companies’ comics in the U.S.

Major examples of American sales subsidiaries are TOKYOPOP and ADV. TOKYOPOP mainly sells the comics of Kodansha, which issues the 2nd highest-selling (2.95 million copies a week) comics magazine Shonen Magazine in Japan, but not exclusively. ADV mainly sells the products of Kadokawa and its associated companies, which issues the anime magazine Newtype in Japan. ADV has the top anime distribution in the U.S.

Finally, we could find plenty of American outlets including akibaotaku.com. These companies import many Anime/Manga related products and sell them in their own stores.

From my point of view, this Company Exhibition Hall was the liveliest place at Anime Expo 2004. The cosplay competition was also a big and important event, but only lasted a few hours. The Exhibition Hall was open almost all day with a high concentration of participants. If this hall didn’t exist, Anime Expo would become much less popular. This fact is a little ironic, because Anime Expo is held by NPO for fans, not for companies.

However, a similar phenomenon also happened in Japan. Comic Market is the biggest Dojinshi convention in the world. It was founded in 1975 to sell and buy home-made Manga by fans, and was increased to such a large scale that about 510 thousand people attend this convention during its 3 days. The interesting point is that after the Comic Market put in company space in 1996, this space got to be in extremely high demand, sometimes more than the space for Dojinshi.

Although the objective of each convention is different (fan communication at Anime Expo as opposed to the selling and buying of Dojinshi in Comic Market), both of them are in danger of being conquered by companies. I’m not suggesting that this is a problem since this is a demand of fans, but it seems a bit ironic.

We can find more differences and similarities between the two conventions. Since the number of participants of Comic Market is too numerous, most of them cannot stay in hotels around the convention center. Participants cause traffic jams, and many of them wait outside of the convention center throughout the night. Can you imagine that 10 thousand people are waiting around the convention center throughout the night? It is one of the big problems of Comic Market.

What participants mostly do in each convention is also different. What they do in Comic Market is to stand in a queue and wait! In order to buy Dojinshi created by famous circles, sometimes people need to wait a few hours, in some cases this might be half of the day. Most Americans may think that that’s too boring, and it is boring actually, but many Japanese Otaku can and will wait to get what they want. Many people wait throughout the night around the convention center to be able to enter quickly when entrances are opened in order to line up as early as they can.

On the other hand, many participants also attend the cosplay promenade instead of queuing. In contrast to Anime Expo, Comic Market does not have a cosplay contest. Participants change their clothes and just walk around the convention center. Many people come to Comic Market in order to take pictures of cosplayers. At Anime Expo, cosplayers took pictures of each other, but at Comic Market, cameramen keep taking pictures and cosplayers keep having their pictures taken, in many cases.

Though many special events are held at Anime Expo, Comic Market does not have any official shows, workshops, parties or competitions. They are sometimes held only in the booths of some companies.

These are some main differences and similarities of Anime Expo and Comic Market. In summary, Anime Expo is held to have communication with anime fans, and have a fun time through Anime. In contrast, Japanese Otaku come to Comic Market to queue and buy what they want. Though some other Japanese conventions attach more weight to communication, they are still "queue-and-buy"-based conventions. I cannot say which is better because the origin and objective of each convention is completely different. I can have a fun time at Anime Expo, and I can receive great contentment at Comic Market in return for physical fatigue.

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Ask Mark
By Mark McPherson

If you’d like Mark to answer any anime-related questions, feel free to email them to: anime_expert88@hotmail.com

"Tell us about the 1990 Grimm’s Fairy Tales anime."
-Setsuki

This particular anime series started in the late-80’s, animated by Nippon and lasted 47 episodes (or 2 seasons). Each episode would have a different fairy tale and sometimes it would take a few episodes to tell each story. Puss and Boots was separated into two parts, Snow White into four parts (if you don’t count Snow White and Red Rose), Frog Prince into two parts and Cinderella into two parts. However, most of these fairy tales have had their own anime.

“Puss in Boots” was an 80 minute anime film back in 1969 with Hayao Miyazaki being one of the animators no less. Since it was animated with Toei, it was released into the US Saturday morning kid market along with Toei’s other anime films, “Jack and the Witch” and “Treasure Island”. It later went on to two more movies through the 70’s (“Three Musketeers in Boots” and “Puss and Boots: Around the World in 80 Days”) and a 26 episode TV show in the early 90’s which featured cameos by Dracula, Hansel and Gretel and Snow White. “Snow White” was later made into a 52 episode TV series in 94 animated by Tatsunoko Studios. There is also a new Snow White story in a series called “Pretear” which is setup a bit more like Utena, but I won’t delve any deeper into that. “Cinderella” was a 26 episode TV series also animated by Tatsunoko in 96, but this time, instead of trying to stretch the original plot, there are a few more elements added to the story such as pirates and Cinderella and her prince disguising themselves in order to meet each other. Of course, the series has the traditional ending to the fairy tale. There have also been erotic versions of the story in anime such as “Adult Fairy Tales” and “Cinderella Express”.

There was also another fairy tale anime being released the same time as “Grimms’ Fairy Tales” called “Video Picture Book”. It was 50 episodes with each episode being 12 minutes in length. In addition to taking stories from Grimm, the series also featured fairy tales from Aesop’s Fables, Tales of Hans Christian Anderson and Arabian Nights. Of course, all these fairy tales also have their own anime series/movies, but I won’t list all of them. Getting back to “Grimms’ Fairy Tales”, the series was broadcasted on Nickelodeon under the title “Grimm Masterpiece Theater”. The show was directed by Kerrigan Mahan (voice actor for most of Streamline’s anime dubs) and Tom Wyner (now an ADR script writer for “GTO” and voice actor on “Wolf’s Rain” and “Kaze no Yojimbo”). I forgot their names, but the series voice talent featured the same actress who does the voice of Misty on “PokeMon” played the role of Briar Rose and the actor who did the voice of one of the Red Dragon elders in “Cowboy Bebop” did some of the other voices. It’s been a long time since I saw the show, but I can still remember some of the credits and the voices. Here is a list of all the episodes:

1. The Brementown Musicians
2. Hansel and Gretel
3. The Frog Prince (first half)
4. The Frog Prince (second half)
5. Red-Riding Hood
6. The Golden Goose
7. Puss 'n Boots (first half)
8. Puss 'n Boots (second half)
9. Snow White and Rose Red
10. Snow White (1/4)
11. Snow White (2/4)
12. Snow White (3/4)
13. Snow White (4/4)
14. The Six Who Went Far
15. The Water of Life
16. Bluebeard
17. Jorinde and Joringel
18. Rose-Bud
19. Old Sultan
20. King Grizzle Beard
21. The Demon and the Great Demon King
22. The Shoes that won't stop dancing
23. Cinderella (first half)
24. Cinderella (second half)
25. The Crystal Ball
26. The Wedding of Miss Fox
27. Story of a Summer Garden and a Winter Garden
28. Donkey Cabbage
29. Rapunzel
30. The Old Woman in the Forest
31. The Grave Mound
32. The Wolf and the Fox
33. Mother Holle
34. The Six Swans
35. The Thousand Animal Hides
36. Brother and Sister
37. The Four Skillful Brothers
38. The Monster in the Glass Jar
39. The Iron Stove
40. The Man Wearing a Bearskin
41. The Hare and the Hedgehog
42. Iron Hands
43. The Brave Little Tailor
44. The Wren and the Bear
45. The Fairy's Name (Rumplestiltskin)
46. The Witch in the Water
47. Death's Godfather
-Mark

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Jessi’s Retro Rom Corner
By Jessi Silver

If you know me, you know that I’m a big fan of retro gaming. Even today, I love to bust out my NES and play a few rounds of the original Tetris or Super Mario Brothers. Within the past year, I came into an extensive collection of NES Roms; “rips” of video games that you can play on your computer using a program called an emulator. Now I’d like to start sharing my favorites with you.



I played a rom the other day which is based on the show known in the US as “Samurai Pizza Cats”, known in Japan as “Kyatto Ninden Teyande”. The rom itself comes with 10 options. I thought at first that they were ten different games, but they’re really just save points to the different levels. If you’re lazy, you can skip to any level you want, but I played the game all the way through.

The game is entirely in Japanese, but don’t let that stop you from trying it out even if you have no background in the language. There are cut scenes in between each level, and you can pretty much figure out what’s going on from there. The basic premise: there’s some baddy making things crappy for the Cats, so you have to go and stop him. I believe someone may have been kidnapped in all of this, but I didn’t pay too much attention.



At the beginning of each level, you can pick from one of the three main characters: Yattaro, a white-armored cat who fights with a sword, Sukashi, a blue-armored cat who fights with what looks like a parasol, and Pururon, a pink-armored female cat who fights by clawing the living bejeezus out of any enemy she encounters. There’s nothing too different about any of them, so I suppose you can choose purely from personal preference; I found myself using the white guy just because he was quicker with his sword and seemed to have a longer reach.



The game itself is just your basic NES platformer. Enemies come at you, you slash at them and they die. You also collect items. Hearts refill your life, and other items refill your magic powers (Ninpo) and your “help” bar. There are alternate routes that you can take through almost any level, so it’s mildly fun just to try out different routes. You’re given the option of switching to four different “helper” cats, each with his own special power. There’s one guy who bashes through rocks, another who has a flying machine you can use to reach high places, and another guy with a drill. I never did manage to figure out what the fourth guy’s power was, but I’m sure it’s something extremely awesome that I just somehow managed to miss.



The graphics are pretty okay-ish; I mean, we’re talking about NES here so it’s nothing spectacular, but I liked the graphical style and I recognized that it was from the Pizza Cats cartoon even without connecting the Japanese title with the American one.

Anyway, if you’ve got some free time, go ahead and try the game out:

An NES emulator (Nester, my personal favorite) can be downloaded here

The rom can be downloaded here

Stay tuned next time for more walks through the land of NES obscurity (and possibly something else that’s fun to play).

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Reviews
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Lupin the Third: First Contact (Episode 0)
Reviewed by Mark McPherson
Length: 90 minutes
Year Created: 2001.
Content: Contains mild violence, brief nudity and adult situations.

While Lupin’s TV specials continue to chug along, younger fans or those new to the Lupin franchise are beginning to have questions. Why did Jigen and Goemon join Lupin in his heists? Why is Zenigata so determined to catch Lupin? What does Fujiko see in Lupin anyway? So, without the hassle of going back to the original 1971 series, we are treated to an updated TV special of how all these characters came together.

The story starts off with Jigen agreeing to tell a reporter the story of how he met Lupin. The setting is New York where Jigen is working as a hired gun for the Galves family mafia. He encounters Lupin in disguise trying to steal the Galves treasure, impenetrable steel that contains a scroll for making a special sword (this is how Goemon gets tied in later). Lupin escapes once the rest of Galves’ men enter the room, but Jigen is impressed by how Lupin was able to skillfully evade Jigen’s expert shots. After a crazy car chase, Lupin’s friend, Brad, states that he intends to steal the treasure since Lupin failed. Brad fails miserably, but is able to hand the treasure over to Lupin before he dies. This leads Lupin to meet Brad’s girlfriend, Fujiko, who Lupin discovers is very cold-hearted. However, Fujiko decides to work with Lupin to open the steel scroll holder that contains the scrolls for the ultimate steel. During this time, Zenigata heads to New York to catch Fujiko initially, but later becomes infatuated with Lupin. Though he mostly gets in the way of the NYPD, he teams up with an older detective to track down Fujiko. Lupin finally decides that the only way to open the scroll is to cut it open with the legendary steel made from the formula in the scroll. As with most of his heists, Lupin makes a declaration to steal this sword from the Dalheid Trade Center at 9pm. During the heist, Zenigata learns first-hand just how well Lupin does with disguises. After his success with stealing the treasure, Jigen shows up for a duel with Lupin, no sooner than the Galves mafia shows up to capture both of them and they have Fujiko hostage. It is at this time Goemon enters to swipe the sword and save all their butts. Of course, now Jigen wants a duel with Goemon, but not before Lupin tries to steal the sword back and gets into a chase with Goemon until he eventually slices open the scroll holder. After that, it’s an all-out brawl between Lupin’s new gang and the Galves family.

Some might be thinking this is how all the members of Lupin’s gang originally met. This is both true and false. The movie does give an explanation why Jigen and Fujiko joined up since they have been with Lupin from the beginning, but Goemon’s recruitment is a bit distorted. In the original 1971 series, Goemon first met Lupin through his crazy master who wanted him dead and he didn’t actually become Lupin’s friend until an episode involving stealing scrolls to make an ancient sword. There are similar events in First Contact that resemble Goemon’s first encounters with Lupin such as the chase scene through traffic which is pretty much a frame-by-frame reproduction of Goemon and Lupin’s first battle in the original series. Of course, some of the classic Lupin stunts are here such as driving half a car, using dummies for diversions and emptying an entire room out the window to get rid of cops and mobsters. Also, since the movie takes place in New York, you can expect some wild English from the Japanese voice actors including “Oh My God” and “Jesus”. There is an interesting scene in which Zenigata is asking for hamburgers and the vender cannot understand him since he pronounces it “hambargar”.

The animation for this particular Lupin special is excellent. New York is very detailed, the buildings look fantastic and the buildings with English names on them are spelled with no mispronunciation. My only problem is with the character designs. The designs of Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, Fujiko and Zenigata are all well done, but some of the other characters, such as Brad, look too modernized and feel too distant from the Monkey Punch style. The animation is accompanied by an excellent jazz soundtrack. The Japanese voice actors, while they don’t hold a candle compared to the original voices, do a good job of getting in character. Lupin sounds very sly and funny while Zenigata is just as bumbling. If you’re an avid Lupin watcher, you know that Fujiko’s appearance changes all too often. For First Contact, she has the classic long brown hair and motorcycle suit, but when we snap back to the present at the end, she is the more modernized Fujiko with blonde hair and tight leather. Thankfully, there have been no other changes to the rest of the cast.

While this cunning caper doesn’t quite feel like Episode 0, it does make for one heck of a great Lupin film. Unless you absolutely hate Monkey Punch, there is nothing wrong with this film. All the characters are properly introduced and they all get enough screen time for you to get to know them and the action is consistent with the story. I only wish all Lupin TV specials could be as skillfully crafted as this First Contact. If there is one movie that can convince you to watch Lupin the Third, First Contact makes an excellent intro into the wild adventures of Lupin.

Pros: Great story; thrilling plot; good character development; great animation with a smooth jazz track to boot; a great watch for both new and old fans alike.

Cons: The Monkey Punch style may not be everyone’s favorite cup of tea.

Grade: A

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Entertainment
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Spectacle
By Vu Dang

Sam Lords had done it. He had become a semi-finalist on the new television reality series Top Comic. It was his moment; his time to shine and show America what he was made of. He got up in front of the judges.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen,” Sam said. “You know, friends always tell me I’m a pretty funny guy, so that’s why I’m here. Anyway, how are y’all doing--”

“Just get on with it,” the judge said.

Sam cleared his throat. “So I was coming in to have Lasik, right? And the doctor said, ‘that’ll be $400.00 per eye,’ and I gave him $1,600.00 but he just sort of looked at me funny. I said, ‘what, can’t you see I have four eyes?’”

Silence.

“See, I used to wear glasses,” Sam said. “But I guess you can’t tell because of the surgery.”

“We get it. It’s just not funny,” said Bob, one of the judges.

Sam’s throat suddenly felt tight. “All right. Okay. How about this. I was in a traffic jam the other day, and it was so bad, let me tell ya, people were taking rides from hitchhikers!”

All he saw on the audience’s face was puzzlement. The microphone suddenly felt slippery in his grip. “Okay, okay, so you ever walk into an airport turnstile the wrong way? Well, I saw the plane from Bangkok had arrived--” Lord love it, his eyeballs were getting tingly. “--at gate 12A and, and oh my god! My eyeballs!” Sam grasped his face. They were gone. “Holy shirts! My eyeballs popped out of my head! Oh my god!”

“Listen, man,” Bob said, “You’re not funny. Just accept it and go.”

Sam got down on the floor to search for them. “It’s the doctor! That goddamn doctor must have hated my ‘four eyes’ joke.”

“We all do,” another judge said.

“But that’s no reason to--Jesus Christ; can’t you see I’m blind?”

The audience started clapping. Sam faced the darkness above him and screamed. “Why? Why!”

The guards led him off stage. One of them stopped to pick up his eyeballs for later reattachment.

“Everybody a big round of applause for Sam Lords!”

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Vu Dang’s Opinionettes
By Vu Dang

Opinionette #1:
So I saw this commercial after Jeopardy. This old guy and his wife were jogging and she says, “We worry about our cholesterol.” Then the guy says, “So we take our leak every day.” I was like, “‘Our leak?’ How does taking your leak lower cholesterol?”
Then they showed the box of Garlique. And I said, “Oh! ‘We take Garlique every day.’”
A moment later, I thought, joke’s on them. They have to worry about high cholesterol.

Opinionette #2:
Who’s all seen this before:
Guy asks, “Hey, what’s this anime about?”
Girl says, “Get this, it’s got a ninja, a rocket ship, and a goat that pees rainbows.”
Girl pauses for laughter. Nobody laughs. She pauses some more. Pauses. Keep pausing. Pause forever. That’s right, because it’s not funny and it’s a gross oversimplification of the anime being asked about.
That was how I got duped into voting for Niea_7 a couple of summers ago. Someone said: “It’s an anime about an alien who lives in a bath house by this one dude.” After watching the series, I said, “Hey, this is more like, totally unfunny anime about evil alien bitch who annoys the hell out of student girl in a quaint small town setting.” I suppose this year, because of summer previewing, the problem isn’t as bad. Though I’m sure during one of the sessions, someone has said something like, “The first ten episodes are kinda slow, but trust me. Later on in the series there’s a giant robot cow.”

Opinionette #3:
I saw this public service ad that said, “Kids who eat dinner with their families are less likely to drink, smoke, or abuse drugs.” I walked off the bus thinking, maybe it’s time I took out that loan for the Mercedes Benz, because people with expensive cars are more likely to be rich. It amazes me how often correlation is taken as causation--just the sort of thing you’d give to a parent who has no clue how to raise their kids and needs quick answers to what is really a deep-seated problem. I commend the public service ads-- they’re the only form of drug prevention out there besides Awareness Day at your high school, D.A.R.E., and TV--but really, we can do better.

Opinionette #4:
I see this happening all the time: this guy on the bus has to get off on the next stop, but instead of pulling on the rope right away, he times it. His hand hovers over the rope for about three minutes, then about a block from the stop, he tugs, then breathes a sigh of relief, because had he pulled at the wrong time, the bus driver skips over the next stop and drives to Montana. Why do people do this? Why the poor faith in the bus driver’s short term memory?

And then I realized, one fine day, the reason why. A passenger tugged on the rope and four people, including me, needed to get off at the next stop. The bus driver came to the stop to tell the people waiting there to get on the bus right behind us, and then closed the door without letting anyone out. Boy did we raise our voices then!

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Weblinks of the Week
By Jessi Silver

Since school’s been in session for almost a month now, and I’m sure most of you would really appreciate something to take your mind off of your impending midterms, I’ve got some funny links this week to try and lighten your spirits (or at least distract you).

The first link is for those of you who remember the old computer game, Duke Nukem 3d. It’s a page full of bloopers Duke’s voice actor recorded. Be sure to listen for the Simpsons voices he does, they’re great:

Duke’s Blunders

The second link is for those of you who feel like you need some games to help you take a break from your homework. At the Popcap.com website, you can play all sorts of java games for free (though a few games require a small one-time install so you can play them properly).

Popcap

Lastly, I’m sure you’ve all encountered instances of really bad English, and luckily there’s a website devoted to just that! Check out the extensive archives of poor grammar, spelling and just plain weirdness at Engrish.com

Engrish.com

That’s all for this week, stay entertained everyone!

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Industry News
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Anime DVD release dates for the next two weeks, brought to you by our friends at www.animeondvd.com.

10-05-2004

Inu Yasha Vol. #22 (of 0) Viz, LLC.
Knights of the Zodiac Vol. #07 (of 10) ADV Films
Tenchi Muyo GXP Vol. #6 (of 0) FUNimation Productions
Urusei Yatsura Movie 4: Lum the Forever (of 6) AnimEigo
Wedding Peach Vol. #06 (also w/box) (of 10) ADV Films
Yu Yu Hakusho Vol. #26: Born Anew (of 0) FUNimation Productions

10-12-2004

Aura Battler Dunbine Vol. #09 (of 12) ADV Films
Azumanga Daioh Vol. #5 (of 6) ADV Films
Banner of the Stars II Complete Collection (of 1) Bandai Entertainment
Case Closed: Case 04 Vol. #02: The Desperate Truth (of 5) FUNimation Productions
eX-Driver The Movie (of 0) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Fighting Spirit Vol. #02 (of 0) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Gokusen Vol. #1 (also w/premium) (of 3) Media Blasters
GTO Box Set 2 (of 2) TOKYOPOP
Gundam SEED Vol. #02 (of 10) Bandai Entertainment
Gundam SEED Vol. #03 (of 10) Bandai Entertainment
Kaze No Yojimbo Vol. #4 (of 6) Bandai Entertainment
Last Exile Vol. #6 (of 7) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc. 75
Lupin the 3rd TV Vol. #08: Sweet Betrayals (of 10) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat Vol. #4 (of 4) ADV Films
Peacemaker Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 7) ADV Films
Rave Master Vol. #01 (of 13) TOKYOPOP
Superior Defender Gundam Force Vol. #05 (of 0) Bandai Entertainment
Superior Defender Gundam Force Vol. #06 (of 0) Bandai Entertainment
Swallowtail Inn (of 1) Kitty Media
Tsukihime, Lunar Legend Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 3) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
Wolf's Rain Vol. #3 (of 6) Bandai Entertainment
Zentrix Collection 1 (of 2) Bandai Entertainment


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