Year: 2009

Otaku Diaries Part 1: Lies, damn lies, and statistics

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So begins what is our most ambitious project so far, the Otaku Diaries. The Otaku Diaries is a peek into the minds and lives of a diverse selection of members of anime fandom. We asked for their stories of what makes them fans and how has their anime fandom effected their lives and loves. We asked what do anime and manga fans have in common and what makes them individuals. We have asked how they feel about anime and manga, their fellow fans , and themselves. I am sure anyone who has ever been a part of an anime club or gone to a convention has wonder what is up with that guy or what is that girl’s story. The people who responded to fill out the survey come from a wide of variety of backgrounds from all over the world. We had participants of all ages, genders, ethnicities, professions, and backgrounds. The only requirement that was a necessity was a love of anime and manga.

This idea came up quite suddenly and almost as suddenly it became a reality. Maybe we are just a curious duo, and since we paint ourselves as sleuths maybe this is no surprise, but we just plain wanted to know about the growing hordes of otaku out there. People involved heavily in a hobby have something that bonds them to their fellow connoisseurs. However, it becomes increasingly clear the more people you meet that there is no one story that is the same and many don’t seem to deem their peers as equals. But maybe, just maybe, there are more things to relate to than previously thought. In fact, one of the reasons I was curious to do this is the sweeping diversity and sometimes fracturing of anime fandom.

We asked 40 anime fans for a brief self-description along with 125 questions broken into in three categories. Questions asked about the user’s relationships, self-image, and views of otakudom. We tried to pick questions that gave us a detailed look into the lives of each of our participants. Through these answers we hopped to gain a better understanding of how each participant dealt with their friends, families, lovers, fellow anime fans, and themselves.

Any good research should start with some basic statistics of your group! So before diving in to the more telling answers in coming posts we wanted you to have any idea of just who our participants are:

 

Our goal was never to view fandom as a whole because our sample size is just too small. It would be nice to do so but we just don’t have the man power and time for that sort of experiment. We would need at least 1,000 participants to make any sort solid conclusions. Instead we focused on getting a more intimate look at a smaller sample size. So when we makes observations it is important to remember that we are only basing our observations on the people included in our survey. We are not as foolish as to assume that a sample of 40 people necessarily fully represent of all of anime fandom. If we were to do that, just by our statistics only we would conclude that there are no gays or lesbians in anime and manga fandom. Which is clearly crazy talk. Such a small sample size will also lead to some amount of skewed results due to the roulette of chance. This does not mean that there is nothing to be gained other than entertainment for the experiment. There are truths and revelations in our participants answers. They are just more likely to be personal answers rather than universal ones.

I don’t think we have aspired so high as to make any concrete observations here. Heck, we are missing the entire non-English speaking world of anime fans! But there is something to be learned from any one person, let alone having 40 telling you their stories. I was looking forward to seeing the varying degrees by which all fans live but also to see how their stories relate to my own. Perhaps that sounds incredibly self-serving but I think everyone, us included, will walk away from this venture with a bit of a better understanding of their fellow anime neighbors.

Look for a new Otaku Diaries Post
the first Monday of every month!

Contest + Happy 2nd Birthday, Reverse Thieves!

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Year number two. I am impressed that we made it this far. It is hardly the most momentous anniversary. I am certainly going to save the major theatrics for atleast the 5 year anniversary.  Still I’m majorly overjoyed that we have made it this far. We have had a lot of major changes over 2008 and 2009. We started the Ongoing Investigations, which I like a lot. We shook up the current look of the site well. I know Narutaki wants to change to look of the site again but I don’t think he is in a major rush. We started participating on Twitter. This has not only grown interest in the blog but I have met a good deal of cool people thought it, too. We are steadily gaining more of a readership but I don’t think we will ever be cool enough to be in the top 10 anime blogs. On the other hand, as long as we continue we will always have a steady readership who likes what we bring to the table. We are also just getting better at doing the blog all the time. Back in the day it was many times a rush to get articles up on time. Now we have a good stockpile in advance. The fact that Narutaki can take a vacation and nothing appears to change is a major success. We also have a clearer voice and a better vision of what we want to do. The blog is a piece of art that is in constant revision. I am curious what we will add this year. I am personally hoping for more Saber and Galaxy Angel.

Happy birthday, us! Maybe two years is still a baby in blog years but it sure feels like an accomplishment to me. I have no intentions of stopping here. I have worked through anime burn out, writer’s block, sleep deprivation, and sickness. I am committed to this and the best part is I enjoy it! There have certainly been big changes over the year. I think the biggest has been our consistency of putting out blog posts, the schedule is really strict these days! Also we have stepped up to the plate and pursed events as press. We have even conducted some interviews! We conducted our first giveaway contest on the blog (and this is the second one!) We’ve also added guest writers, who appear infrequently, but always have something fun to add to the mix. Gosh, thinking on it now so much has happened, so many words have been written, and so much has been watched/read that it’s almost dizzying looking back! And by the way, I’m not planning on the changing the blog look anytime soon. As a designer I think I always play with the idea but I am pretty happy with the format at the moment even if I do have fits of creativity. I have no idea what is in store for the coming year, perhaps I just haven’t thought it over too much. Hopefully there are more toys!

CONTEST

The best part of any birthday party is presents! So we are giving you, our awesome readers, a chance to get some excellent gifts. We are giving away 3 prize packages all you have to do is e-mail us (reversethieves@gmail.com) your answer to this simple scenario:

You are a world famous thief, what was the caper that made you famous? Who is the rival that is always trying to foil your plans?

Entries are due by Sunday, July 5th. The winners will be announced on Friday, July 10th.

This contest has ended.

Manga of the Month: July

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Key to the Kingdom by Kyoko Shitou

Anything that even remotely looks like it could be high fantasy gets picked up by me this happens with varying results. However, with Key to the Kingdom it couldn’t have been a more worthy venture. This story starts perfectly and continues on with great vigor. Asta is the youngest prince, who has no desire to rule nor to hold a sword. So when the country’s rule lies in the hands of whoever can find the “key to the kingdom” it seems he will be able to leave his troubles in the hands of others. However, fate has other things in store as Badd, a retainer, drags him into looking for clues to the key’s whereabouts. Just as they start on their journey, arguing all the way, a Dragon Man appears on their path. It soon becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. A diverse cast emerges along the road as Asta resists but gets caught up in the complexity of the country’s history. The art is fluid even if it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. It is a wonderfully put together shojo fantasy filled with action, politics, dragons, mystery, and friendship. And at just six books it is a great read!

Touch by Mitsuru Adachi

I always had an interest in reading the works of Mitsuru Adachi. He is one of the great artists of the manga community that everyone talks about but rarely see any mainstream love for in America. I was waiting for some spark to give me the motivation to take the plunge into one of his manga series. That spark was the Cross Game anime. After seeing a few episodes I was sold on Mitsuru Adachi’s abilities as a storyteller. I decided if I was watching Cross Game I would go into Adachi’s back catalog and read through Touch to compare and contrast the two.

Kazuya and Tatsuya are twin brothers who seem as different as can be. Kazuya is the younger, upstanding, responsible, and focused young man who excels at everything he does including baseball. Tatsuya on the other hand is a perverted, irresponsible, slacker who does not really excel at anything. Kazuya is extremely popular with the girls while Tatsuya is much like Ataru, he hits on any pretty thing that moves but always strikes out. They are both in love with their next door neighbor Minami Asakura but everyone feels that Minami only has eyes for Kazuya. After Kazuya makes a promise to take Minami to Koshien and seems a lock in to deliver it seems that Tatsuya does not have a chance. But there are hints that Minami cares for Tasuya and possible more than his brother. But it often seems Tatsuya is his own worse enemy in developing their relationship.

Adachi is a master of melding the highs and lows of sports manga with the highs and lows of a well-crafted shonen romance. He is extremely skilled at making likable and instantly engaging characters. Tatsuya comes off as someone to root for right out of the gate. As the series goes on he we see he is a much more complex character but keeps the same energy from when we first met him. Shohei Harada is without a doubt the best character in the series. I will bring up the fact that Adachi’s simpler and somewhat traditional character designs might turn some people off. That is a shame, Adachi is able to draw out powerful emotions with his designs whether it be joy, sadness, anger, or passion. Easily worth checking out by anyone who wants a solid shonen romance. Hopefully one day someone in the U.S. will pick up Adachi’s manga and let people see how good he can be.