Return of the Revenge of the Son of Saying Hi to Josiah!

[Neo Zanther]

Hi.

Almost want to say the same thing for you Shauni depending on when you go and how much it would cost to get from Germany to England.

[Silver]

Class today sucked! In Holocaust Studies, this one girl spent two hours arguing with the professor about the definitions of "race" and "racism". The... definitions. There's plenty of room for heated argument on the subject, but how can you not understand what the word means after two hours? I'm paying for this class, and I'd like a refund of my two hours... and in literature after the Holocaust, it was a really depressing, bloody gross WWII movie about a bunch of German soldiers that died for absolutely no reason. Sort of thing that'll really dampen your mood at 10 AM. Aaaand then I got to rush off to work right afterwards. I got to leave a bit early at least; I really didn't feel like cleaning the popper. But they sent me home and made Joe do it instead! Yay!

All the same, it sure is a good thing my birthday was yesterday instead of today... yep, if today was my birthday, that would really suck.

[shauni]

Hi.

Almost want to say the same thing for you Shauni depending on when you go and how much it would cost to get from Germany to England.

Not as cheap as it should be I'm afraid.

I watched a program called "Human Zoo" the other day. it shows you were the taboo of "race" came into account.

I personally feel that people are different in little ways, but on the same token as a whole we are fundamentally the same over all.

[shauni]

Hi Josiah!

You are the only person I know that has been to Japan. Can you help me out? We don't want a package holiday as it cost like £5000 which is a HELL of a lot, so we are looking to self book. Are there any good, cheap hotels around Tokyo that aren't awful? Also, can you recommend anything to do around Hiroshima apart from the memorial park as we are going down that way? its so far wanted to spend a few days that end of Japan.

Also, is the weather good in May? That's when we were planning to go

Thanks!

[Josiah]

Hi! There's plenty of decent hotels in and around Tokyo. I recommend JAPANiCAN for finding and booking Japanese hotels. It's got a good system, a lot of hotels, and it's all in English. It's what I use about 90% of the time when looking for a hotel in Japan. Just expect hotel rooms to be smaller than you're used to.

For Hiroshima... I stayed there overnight once, but didn't actually do anything in city itself. I mean, you're not all that far from Miyajima, which makes for a pretty awesome day trip (see my entry for Friday, March 4). Or if you like really long bike rides you could go to Onomichi and bike across the islands and bridges to Shikoku (see the entry for Thursday, March 3). Neither of those are actually in Hiroshima though. For more about what to do in the city, I'd recommend checking a good tour book. That said, there isn't all that much to do in Hiroshima from a tourist perspective (that's why I didn't stay there long). If you want to go south from Tokyo a ways, you'd find a lot more to do in and around places like Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Takamatsu, Matsumoto, and Nagasaki.

Whether in May will very a bit depending on what part of the country you're in, but should be pretty pleasant overall. Just make sure you carry a small umbrella around.

[shauni]

Thanks Josiah. I'll have a look at those links!

[PoisonWing14]

Moi,

Well, I've been away for a bit...yeah, no real explanation. I'm just lazy.

So, yesterday was the first meeting of my school's Anime Club. Still very small, but we're hoping to change that by getting a few more members this year.
Also, yesterday morning, one of my friends, that I can only describe as a "sophisticated otaku", told me and several other friends that we were failures as otakus and she was going to teach us how to be better. She then wrote down some people (and what they are), amine, and 5 important words, that somebody should know as a basic otaku. I shall write them down here exactally as she wrote them.

People:
Tezuka Osamu - Godfather of ALL ANIME
Katsuhiro Otomu - GREATEST DIRECTOR EVER
Satoshi Kon - 'Nother good director

Animes:
Astro Boy, Cowboy Bebop, Gundam, Pokemon, Digimon, DBZ

Words:
Sugoi, Neko, Kawaii, Desu, Desu

So, I guess I'm on my way to being a better otaku...that's a good thing, right?

Stay radical people! Peace off!

[Silver]

Poison, do the world a favor? Deck 'er. If ANYONE EVER says the words "Kawaii," "Sugoi," or "Neko" in an otherwise English sentence, deck them too!

[Josiah]

Hi! I'm kinda agreeing with Silver here... As much as I liked the first Digimon series (it went downhill after that, especially in series 2), I wouldn't include it in any sort of top 5 anime list (be it best, most influential, or whatever). As for the people... Otomu and Kon have been involved with some fairly major anime and/or manga but I think most people would agree that neither should be ranked above Hayao Miyazaki.

[shauni]

My advice, just enjoy anime. Why put lists and labels and must say phrases...lord.

There should be no "If you haven't watched this you aren't into Anime" things...

I don't like Bleach. I like Naruto but don't like Bleach but was told if I like Naruto I SHOULD like Bleach, but I can't get into it.

I like Fruits Basket but I also like Akira. Anime is a broad umbrella that a lot of stuff falls into, therefor the people that like it should not be so narrow minded about other people that like Anime, for every different type of person in the world, there is a different type of anime.

You can't like them all.

"basic otaku" That's just stupid, she should just be happy to met people that like Anime. For 3 years (when i first got into it for real, instead of just watching Pokemon and Digimon on TV.) I never met anyone with the same interests as me. It's only recently (in the last four years) I made some friends into it.

[Silver]

Yeah. There are a lot of different types of anime out there. Now, those series are all pretty classic, and far be it from me to tell you not to check them out. But if you don't want to/don't like them? That doesn't make you a "bad" otaku. The main issue with that list is that they're all pretty much the same genre! We already have a problem with people thinking that all anime is Dragon Ball/Sailor Moon/Pokemon. A list like that only makes it worse!

I like K-On but I also like Kaiji. There are so many different kinds of anime out there and so many great titles that get overlooked. If you want to call yourself "sophisticated," at least pick some artsy hipster stuff like Bakemonogatari and Mushishi. Geez...

I never had any interest in Digimon, haven't watched a single Gundam, and I've only seen bits and pieces of Dragon Ball and Astro Boy. I've spent over 70 days watching anime... you gonna tell me I'm a failure at a hobby?

Another thing is, anime is still happening! It didn't stop after the '90s! So why does this list only include series that are ten years old? Even going for totally mainstream series that fit into this same sort of genre, she's missing Gurren Lagann and Death Note and Durarara and a whole bunch more! I can't accept someone having a superiority complex if they think the stuff the watched when they were six is enough to make them an expert...

As Josiah pointed out, the list of directors is flawed, too. It's like your little friend has never watched Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away... Also, who's this Otomu person? I thought his name was Otomo.

Oh, and if anyone tries to tell you that you're not a "real" otaku if you don't know any Japanese, you can go ahead and deck them with the other guys. Watching only English dubs, while it really limits you because there are a lot of anime that never get dubbed, is perfectly fine if that's how you enjoy them. This is supposed to be for enjoyment, not status... but you miiight want to mention that saying "Kawaii Neko Desu" isn't gonna get her far in conversation Japanese.

[SuzuTitor]

Yay anime club horror stories!

Honestly, those who think they are the best otaku and only listing the mainstream is pretty... eh...
The mainstream are fantastic entry-tier anime, but only a few of them rank in my own personal top list.
I find it laughable that most of the stuff she listed were 90s anime. Also, they're specifically anime that were dubbed and put on TV.

You see, this is the kind of crap that makes anime clubs look bad.

I just had mine today, and while I wasn't around for much of it, I can say I like these guys. Their first rule was "no mainstream because we all watched that all ready". Everyone's pretty much open minded and good to watch anything that they haven't watched. A lot of the times it's anime I brought in that aired recently, but a lot of other stuff gets screened around too.
You see, a true anime fan doesn't limit themselves to their own nostalgia. Can you call a true gamer those who label everything from this generation crap because it's not what released in their childhood? I've met plenty of gamers like that, and this girl, she sounds like the anime version of that.

Also, like everyone else stated, don't through random Japanese words in your sentence. Unless they're proper nouns, it never looks good. Honestly, when it comes to anime fans, most people grow out of that after middle school...

[Josiah]

Hi! One of the most fun things about my anime club when I was in college was that we watched all sorts of things most of us never would have otherwise given a second look (many of which turned out to be awesome). Whenever it was time to start a new series, all the members would bring some things, we'd watch an episode or two of each, and vote. We watched some mainstream stuff from time to time but, often, most of us had already seen it so we'd go for something different. It really "expanded my horizons", so to speak. That said, Cowboy Bebop is excellent, as are a lot of the Gundam series, and DBZ is a landmark title, whether you like it or not. Pokémon and Digimon are hardly required viewing though. As for Astro Boy, it's another landmark (the original version, at least), but I still wouldn't call it a must see. Thing is, everyone has their own preferences. Like Silver and Colly have said, not have seen (or not liking) certain series, directors, etc, doesn't make you any more or less of a true fan.

[shauni]

I don't like much of the original Astro Boy, its a bit to "cute" drawing style wise, and it puts me off the anime's story line. Same goes for Kaiba, but I gave that a chance and I loved it. I need to watch a bit more astro boy, see if I can get past the artwork.

I loved the CGI remakee, so I guess I SHOULD try again.

[Saber Knight]

Heya

My anime experience is limited to Haruhi and Nichijou (well, and Digimon, I guess, and on that point I'd have to argue that Season 3 is my favourite), so I really don't have much to contribute here.

In more college-related news, homecoming is this weekend! For me, that means tons of band stuff, as a BUNCH of band alums return for homecoming, apparently. Everyone's talking about how crazy it's gonna get. Not to mention I have prelims (basically midterms, except Cornell divides semesters into thirds, so we have two prelims and a final per semester) starting next week.... so that should be fun. Yayyyy being crazy busy and going onto the forums instead of doing work!

But, yeah, despite all the insanity and work, loving college. Bunches of awesome friends, and the marching band/pep band is the best family I could have asked for (I mean, other than my family family, but that's a given). Soooo.... ta!