Category: Fandom

The Universe Where Tokyopop is Still King

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I took my first overseas vacation this summer to Hungary, Austria, and Germany. It was a mind expanding experience. I saw amazing cities, ate delicious food, and broadened my understanding of Europe, the world, and myself. It was pretty much all you could ask out of my first international trip. Nowhere I went felt utterly alien or insanely different from my experiences in the United States. A mixture of globalism, cultural exchange, and communication have made it that you can go to any major city in the world and get by fairly well without any major inconvenience. (A smart phone is a godsend in such a situation.) That said only the most jaded or ethnocentric travelers could not notice that there are a mixture of major and minor differences between various cities in the same state let alone cities in different countries and on different continents. Finding and appreciating those differences is one of the subtle but rewarding parts of travel.

Now I being me decided that I would do three things in every country I visited.

I would:

  1. Eat a donut from a shop I could not visit in the US. No German Dunkin’ Donuts for this guy.
  2. Buy paprika chips for Kate. (Side Note: If you want to get on Kate’s good side one of the keys to that is the gift of paprika chips.)
  3. Visit a comic book store.

If you curious about the results of the first two I can tell you about that outside of this post. This is a Reverse Thieves article not something for the Junk Food Gourmet. But the third goal was as eye-opening as any other part of my journey. I think I learned quite a bit the manga market quite by accident.

DISCLAIMER: I was in Hungary, Austria, and Germany for a little over a week and no more than that. If anyone who has actually lived in any of those countries recently wishes to weigh in I would greatly appreciate it. I fully admit that any conclusions I come to in this post could be either incorrect because I have a very small sample size. I am hardly touting myself as an international manga expert. My name is not Ed Chavez. Consider this post more of a hypothesis I wish to put forward to be peer-reviewed than an absolute proclamation of the truth.

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Kenjiro Hata, Nous Voilà!

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French Hayatehisui_icon_4040 So I just checked the statics for the site. Beside of course the United States, the country we have gotten the most traffic from this year is France. So on the off-chance we have a small but silent French readership (as opposed to people just coming to the site for pictures) I decided to write this post.

So Kate’s old advice is NEVER look at the guest listing for Japan Expo France because it will only cause you heartbreak when you see who they get every year. I normally follow her advice BUT I can’t help what I randomly see on Twitter. Anyone who has talked to me for more than a month usually notices that I will bring up Type-Moon and Hayate the Combat Butler whenever I can. Naturally that also means that I follow Kenjiro Hata, the author of Hayate, on Twitter. So I just saw a tweet from him about be excited to pack for his big trip to France. At first I was just glad he was getting out of the studio and having some fun. Mangaka stepping away from their titles is often good for their health and creativity.  Then it hit me what time of the year it was. It was no a regular vacation. He was going to Japan Expo. A quick check proved my deduction was correct.

So here is where I ask for help. I can’t make it to Japan Expo. That is just crazy talk. BUT someone who regularly reads the blog might be going. So I have three requests.

1. Could anyone get me Kenjiro Hata’s autograph? I know that getting a mangaka’s autograph can eat up a chunk of your convention but I figure it can’t hurt to ask. He is probably my favorite mangaka. If I can’t meet him then getting his autograph would be the next best thing. I’m willing to do some sort of autograph exchange from anyone at Otakon his year if that makes the offer more tempting.

2. If that is too much all I would ask is that someone attend his panel and tell me what is said there. The more information about Kenjiro Hata, Hayate, and/or Seiyu’s Life! I could get the happier I would be.

3. If anyone attends one of his panels and does not have their own question during Q&A I would love if anyone could ask any of the follow questions:

  • Is Sonia Shaflnarz based on Ciel from Tsukihime?
  • Will Orumuzuto Nadja ever make the jump into the main Hayate story or will she always be in the omake limbo?
  • What is the most obscure reference you have ever made in one of your manga?
  • What was the most important lesson you learned from Kōji Kumeta?
  • What is your favorite classic manga you think everyone should read?

I hate to have to beg like this but I am not sure if I will get another chance like this anytime soon. If it were anyone else I would not be so adamant about it. I admit this is a crazy shot in the dark but I would greatly appreciate any of this if someone had the ability to help me out.

The Speakeasy #060: Even Steven, 2014 Roundup

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Drink #060: Even Steven
2014 Roundup

We end our 5th year of podcasting, as we usually do, with a look back on the anime and manga news of 2104. A year is always a hard thing to sum up with even 2 hours of discussion but we try our best to get something coherent from our experiences if nothing else. We also got questions from Twitter. Shocking!

There will be some format changes with the podcast starting next  year so if your curious you will have to wait until the end to see what they are.

(Listen)

And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink:

Even Steven

  • 1/3 oz. Peppermint Schnapps
  • 1/3 oz. 80 proof vodka
  • 1/3 oz. Lime Juice

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