Anime World Order Show # 69c – Doujinshi 101 with Zero-chan

Show 69 concludes with Clarissa and Zero-chan’s introduction to doujinshi. But since that would be ONLY an hour, we’ve got yet another news segment in front of it too.

Let’s News! (0:00 – 56:44)
No point in reintroducing ourselves since this is the third part of what is technically one episode! Note: the Deep Discount 20% off sale of madness is underway as is Right Stuf’s Geneon closeout. We’ve each spent so much money that we should set ourselves up as affiliates or something at this point.

Bandai Visual to be liquidated. Now let’s hope that Bandai Visual’s business practices don’t infect Bandai Entertainment’s. And speaking of companies on the rocks, Tokyopop to be Liquidated. Look forward to Tokyopop to redouble their efforts on getting Princess Ai out there in FORCE. Also, here’s an update on the layoffs that happened. Super Techno Arts has halted the distribution of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Anime in the US. Which doesn’t make that much of a difference since you couldn’t actually find the show anyway! And on the subject of Jojo’s, here’s what happens when religious fundamentalists WHO DIDN’T EVEN FUCKING BUY THE SHOW start complaining about religious insensitivity. Also, Bandai Entertainment talks about increasing episode count on their DVDs. Towards the Terra will get 8 episodes a disk and Gurren Lagann will get 9 episodes a disk for the sub only release as an example. ADV also confirms that there’s more ADV manga coming in the form of Yotsuba& and Cromartie. Woo! That just happens to be the two manga series that we care about too! Also, Gurren Lagann is getting on the Sci-Fi channel. Were people watching their Ani-Mondays (be careful, that link is dangerous)? Gaogaigar is getting the second half of the show released on DVD this coming August. This show sold so horribly that they dropped the dub. If you didn’t pick this up before there’s a box set for the first series coming out very soon too. Ed Chavez of the Mangacast podcast has put out a rather complete list of all manga that has been cancelled in the US [Update: link deleted as his site no longer exists!]. If you read a lot, chances are this is a rather annoying list (what happened to the rest of Exaxxion!?). Also, we tread in to dangerous territory by talking about a potentially incredible video game, Capcom vs. Tatsunoko! If you don’t know what the deal is with this well listen to the podcast and check out this list to see what could potentially be in the game. Maybe now you can see why we’re excited?

Doujinshi 101 (56:44 – 1:43:19)
Before we dive into the garden of madness, we play two highly appropriate voicemails. This segment might cover information that’s common knowledge, but think of it as an extended introduction to doujinshi in general. Please note that Zero-chan’s microphone sucks and it took a lot of work just to get the audio to where it is here. Foam windscreens and pop filters are a podcaster’s key to a brighter tomorrow!

Clarissa here, with a few links where you can get information about or purchase doujinshi. Some of these were mentioned specifically in the show but perhaps not all of them.

Doujinshi information:

What is the Comic Market? – Courtesy of Zero-chan, here’s a presentation from February by the Comic Market Preparation Committee that goes over a lot of info about the event.

Ketto.com – This site is Japanese only, so it may not be useful for many of you, but this site has a listing of probably every single doujin event being held. Unfortunately they don’t have anything before 2000 listed, but for anything recent or upcoming you’re good.

Akihabara Channel – For the English-only crowd, here’s one you can read. It only covers events in the Tokyo and Osaka areas, but that’s rather a lot of them.

Doujinshi Database – Gerald and I are contributers on this site and I spend way too many hours adding books, artists and events (pulled from Ketto) along with romanizing titles. Like most doujinshi stuff overseas, there’s rather a lot of porn, but it’s intended to be an info repository for all doujins. There’s a lot of non-porn getting added currently off listings from Toranoana and such, and if you want more non-smut info available please sign up and help out. There’s so many artists, writers and books we need all the contributions we can get.

Purchasing doujinshi:

JPQueen – This store sells commercial manga, anime and goods along with doujinshi and everything is in English. Their prices can be a bit high on some things but you can find some good deals too, and I’ve never had an issue buying from them.

Happy Otaku Site – This one’s been around for a long time now. I’ve ordered from him a couple of times, and he seems reliable. He stocks some older books and smaller fandoms as well.

Comiket Online Shopping Service – Buy through Comiket here, but honestly their prices are rather high and for fujoshi the selection is pretty bad.

Again, there are a lot of small stores online like Manga Store Kawaii, Kitty Cafe (what used to be the Aestheticism Cybershoppe for you longer-term yaoi fans) and the shop linked with the English version of Akibablog.

If you want to buy from sites like Yahoo! Japan Auctions or Toranoana (or Toranoana Princess Side) you’ll need a proxy service. There are a lot of these, many very small and mostly known of through word of mouth, so it can be difficult to find the best one. Rinkya is one of the biggest and most convenient, but their fees are quite high so you pay a lot for that. I generally use Celga; they’re a bit less convenient but their fees are somewhat lower.

As I mentioned, there’s also digital doujin purchases. I usually prefer to get physical books, because sometimes there are things that just don’t carry over into the scans. For example, I have a couple of Black Jack doujins with textured covers so they have a particular varied feel when you hold them; there are also some books with elaborate layered covers and such. But if all you’d be reading is scans anyway, and/or you can’t find the books, putting down a few bucks for one of these is a pretty good deal.

DLsite has an English version which makes things easier, but you can also purchase from the original Japanese version of DLsite, which sometimes has different items; anime blog Heisei Democracy has a guide for purchasing from the Japanese version. I had thought it was possible to purchase from Digiket but it looks like they may require a Japanese credit card or prepaid web money card.

We didn’t actually record a closing segment, so it’s somewhat of a mystery as to what Show 70 will be about. Expect a review of Tekkonkinkreet, and possibly–POSSIBLY–the second pillar of the Holy Manga Video Trinity of Suck. No guarantees though.

74 Replies to “Anime World Order Show # 69c – Doujinshi 101 with Zero-chan”

  1. I can understand Daryl’s frustration, but that’s because I have first-hand experience on the amount of work it takes to produce, record, and edit a podcast. To give an example, it took me a total of eight hours of solid work to edit and upload the Fist of the North Star Podcast over at Greatest Movie EVER. The finished podcast is only 40 minutes long. One of the first pieces of feedback I got for all that effort was a thread on Dave and Joel’s forum suggesting I should be murdered for not involving the boys from Fast Karate. :-/

    The average episode of AnimeWorldOrder is between 1.5 and 2.5 hours long. That’s an incredible amount of editing, which the AWO crew has to do in addition to their day jobs, school classes, and in some cases writing for OtakuUSA magainze. They don’t need prodding, they need positive reinforcement. Begging for content doesn’t make it arrive any quicker.

  2. Yeah…after reading my last post, I just wanted to reiterate that, while I’m always eager to hear a new episode, I understand they take time. When I discovered A.W.O. two years ago, it not only became the first podcast I followed regularly, it renewed my faith in anime journalism–and that’s an important thing for me, having written about anime since honeys was wearing Sassoon. The fact you’ve been able to carry over your perspectives into the print realm with Otaku USA can only be to the good.

  3. What’s changed about anime journalism and what in AWO have you found worthy of such uhm..endorsement?

    I almost rarely read the mags. I hung around forums or got the 411 browsing AWT or from a friend who has always been with it. AWO has shown and informed me to some alternatives to keeping up with the jones AND that I can look more indepth into my fandom without necessarily having to master japanese already and scanlating a series or be into digisubs. In some ways it felt like the fandom got weirdly insular and less festive in the early aughts thanks to digisubs. Just got here, click here, get this, plus major technical stuff that just flew over my head.

    You sound like you’re more a proffessional so I am curious what you get out of the podcast?

  4. I don’t know that anime journalism has changed, but I do feel it needs renewal on occasion–meaning a fresh voice with a different tone. As has been said, you don’t really need a magazine for raw news-as-it-happens anymore, but as for what it means–perspective, commentary…that’s a place for the journalist.

    And also, of course, journalists who talk about the appeal of anime of the past, not just today. There will be a day, after all, when Lucky Star and Haruhi are considered old-school; it happens to everything. In the early ’90s, foreign fans often thought of AKIRA as an excellent film, but one that was having too much influence on people’s perceptions of anime (i.e., good anime = “like AKIRA”). But today, AKIRA is a film that came out before many fans were born. Even Evangelion has been re-made now. The point is that anime fans need to find out there’s all kinds of things out there from the past they might enjoy. Some of them are even better animated than today’s work–anime doesn’t always progress; sometimes it takes a step back. As Dave Merrill recently said of 1983’s TV show GIANT GORG:

    “Watching the show, you’re struck by how it makes modern anime shows look cheap in comparison. There aren’t any recycled ‘transformation’ scenes. Every episode features new backgrounds and new characters, and there’s none of this business where characters talk in silhouette or with their faces turned away so mouth movements don’t have to be animated. There aren’t any shoddy digital zooms or pans. There’s none of the painfully transparent appeals to fetishes – no maids, no harems, no DD+ cups, no Nazi uniforms or elaborate goth outfits – that make up so much of the modern anime market, at least the anime market we see here. Nope, just good old fashioned adventure anime made the old-fashioned way, by hand.”

    And I don’t feel it’s only newer fans who have something to learn from A.W.O. I never particularly liked Macross: Do You Remember Love, but A.W.O.’s review of it was moving, and made me feel ashamed. Likewise, there’s recent stuff I didn’t know about until they covered it, such as Ookiku Furikabutte. The Janus-headed podcast that is A.W.O. looks to past, present, and future, like, uh, Janus. If Janus had three heads, two male, one female.

    A.W.O. is pretty honest about their feelings, and not in the “im gun t kil ppl n akiba tday k thnx bai wrld” way, either. They swear a lot, which I think is a useful journalistic tactic in discussing anime and manga. They talk up-front about sex, politics, and racism in a way a lot of J-pop journalism doesn’t. But most of all is their overall effect: informative and entertaining. They’ve got both personality and knowledge.

  5. Bandai Entertainment seems to have a good release schedule ( Code Geass and Lucky Star ) for example, and I think that Bandai Visual will be forced look at the numbers and realize this fact.

    As for the manga market, I could have sworn that, despite the Tokyopop split/refactoring/liquidation, the manga market was on the rise as compared to the anime market, which seems to be plateauing out.

    As a quick comment about the site, maybe you could have an episode index. I know there is a review index and a index by date (month to be precise), but perhaps you could have a list of all the episodes on one page ( like a site map). This came up while i was listening to one of your older shows, and wanted to find some show notes. The shows to be reviewed had not yet been announced and i was listening on ipod, so the date was kind of hard to find out.

  6. Jason,

    Would just viewing the feed itself count as an episode index? If you click the link to the Podcast RSS Feed, it should on one single page display every episode, a brief description of what they’re about, plus a link to the full thread.

  7. If the GoLion boxsets sell well I wonder if there is a slim chance Media Blasters would bring out the uncut Dairugger or Electric God Albegas animes.I highly doubt they would bring out the other voltron shows uncut but man that would rule.

    When it comes to super robots Im pretty sure Daryls fav is Getter robo. Im a sucker for Gold Lightan myself.
    Clarissa and Gerald what is your picks for favourite super robots of all times??

  8. I believe that Media Blasters said that they’d release Dairugger XV along with Vechicle Voltron. I consider this and Golion a special case (I highly doubt anymore old super robot shows like those would be released).

    I would however be interested to be if Saber Riders (with uncut Bismark) getting a release. Heck, I’d also want Macron-1 (I hope the fact that the show used 80’s songs wouldn’t cause a problem) and Mighty Orbots.

    Basically, I’d want Media Blasters to be the one to bring out these old localized robot shows.

  9. “I would however be interested to be if Saber Riders (with uncut Bismark) getting a release.”

    Media Blasters said flat out that they won’t be doing Saber Rider. There’s a torrent of the whole series with the video from the German DVDs and audio from peoples’ VHS.

    There were also plans for a German sub-only release of Bismark uncut, but the licensor there was unable to secure the rights. I’ve got the Japanese discs and would love to start fansubbing the show if anybody wants to translate. =)

  10. “Heck, I’d also want Macron-1 (I hope the fact that the show used 80’s songs wouldn’t cause a problem)”

    Was the original Shrungle (Or what ever that fucking show was called) relesed in any form in america? Cause that was one of the shows that made up macron-1.

    I was just hopeing that would finally release Maple Town on dvd, i hear there was a spanish dvd set relesed. Maybe that and Palm Town (Maple Towns sequel) But that was never dubbed in english.

    I think Albegas might be difficult to get, since it was never part of Voltron to begin with. Plus old giant robot shows don’t sell very well.

    Speaking of giant robots….. Does anyone know about a show called The Red Baron? I saw a spanish dubbed version called El Rajo Baron (Sorry if i fucked up the spanish).

    That’s it for now.

  11. The Moogle Master said:I think Albegas might be difficult to get, since it was never part of Voltron to begin with.

    Albegas was bought to become the third part of voltron,Gladiator Voltron.
    They may still have the northamerican rights to if even though the plan for the 3rd voltron flopped

  12. A couple of A-Kons a go, I talked to Andy at Hen Da Ne, or those guys who bark out “YAOOIIIII!” in the dealers’ room, and, after some pasty 13 year old tried to hit me up to buy some dojinshi for him, we talked about the non-porn dojin market. Obviously, that market is HUEG in Japan, but has little utility here, since most are in heavily Kanji text. Seeing your favorite character get cornholed by 6 guys is a pretty universal concept to understand, getting obsessively detailed information about them or the equipment, car, etc. is not. That said, Andy did inform me that, as an example non-porno dojinshi, he had purchased fan-made Pokemon GURPS module. Being the big RPG gamer, I would kill to see something like this and wish something more like fan-made RPG module and sourcebook dojin would be more available here.

    I’d like to congratulate Zerochan for surviving this ordeal. I swear I will eventually get around to that Vanessa Lewis fanart I promised to you.

    Also, “Nerd Tits Girl” is now one of my favorite catchphrases. Thanks Daryl.

  13. Every time I read one of these posts of yours, it’s always inevitably when I’m doing something related to the podcast: either watching something or editing audio. Then after I read your comment, I suddenly no longer feel like doing anything podcast related and stop. Which is what I have just done.

    Daryl: Threatening to take your ball home is not very mature. Yes, vz comes off a little young and enthusiastic, but he wasn’t trying to offend you. Yes, AWO is produced by you guys out of the goodness of your hearts. I am being completely sincere when I say that, and I appreciate the time you three put into the show.

    But if a simple, innocent question about the show can bother you so much, well… Maybe you should just take a break from the show, the internet or whatever. I certainly don’t want to derive enjoyment from a show that is so much of a burden to you.

  14. I’m not as young as I sound (26).

    What’s wrong with being enthusiastic? I just really like to talk about what I like. Maybe the problem is that I still have the zeal which alot of the older fandom seems to lack (what happened to Mike Toole?).

    I sent you an e-mail so I hope to hear your answer (read it on the show if you want).

  15. Obviously, Daryl was just being a bit pithy, not malicious. Like Paul said, all of AWO is under a lot of RL stress. But in the past, you guys have spoken negatively about 4chan, IRC and some anime clubs as places where people get abuse heaped on them for doing an @find or asking naive questions. I certainly don’t want AWO to become like that.

    I say this with the utmost respect, but I don’t care if you ever release another show. What you’ve given me in the course of 69 shows is beyond invaluable, and can never be repaid. So, if the production of the show is anything of a hassle, by all means, just stop.

  16. Y’know, I never noticed this before, but sometimes, Daryl is kind of a dick to people.

    I’m only saying what everyone is thinking but won’t come out and say since they have too many years left to live!

    But seriously: the show itself is not a burden or a hassle or anything like that. If it was, we would all just stop doing it. If anything’s a burden and hassle, it’s having to deal with the exact same people doing the exact same irritating things after being told not to over the course of several weeks/months.

    If I say “hey, don’t race to make the first comment just so you can be the first comment” and the same people still do that, that is a hassle. If I say “please stop asking me the same question since my answer to you is always the same” and they keep asking anyway, that is a hassle. I’d be more apt to take everyone’s “Daryl is SO ON EDGE and NEEDS TO RELAX because he’s SNAPPING OVER NOTHING” remarks seriously if I was reacting that way to people who’d done something for the first time and didn’t already get told “hey, give it a rest already.” But everyone I call out has been doing something grating for a while even after being told to stop doing that. I feel zero guilt as a result.

    Show 70 is still not recorded, so the thing I’ve been working on is actually a bonus recording from JACON last month. In this, the role of Gerald will be played by P.T. Chapman and the role of Clarissa will be played by Joey Snackpants.

  17. Just to go back to the Fansub Documentary (The Pirate Bay uploader called it a rant). I just had finished watching it and I have to say it is like another comment has said of it–that every example he put on as “bad” was indeed bad. However he came across as a dick about it made it somewhat of an chore to follow (even though it was only about 30 minutes).

    Maybe its the shows I’m watching, but I never see that level of horror he claims offense to. Though I do agree on some of his points.

    Simply put, if you’re going to plaster your own credits in the OP or ED you need to translate what is already there. It always irks me whenever someone inserted their own names and never bothered to translate who produced the work. (If I remember correctly, a.f.k. even translated the title Sayonara Zetsub? Sensei to “Goodbye Despair Teacher”; along with a good portion of the actual credits)

    But when it comes to TL-notes, printed text and such–I just don’t see anything wrong with unless you did exactly what he done in his overdone example towards the end. Sure, I’ll admit some of the real fansubs he displayed were pretty bad; maybe they’re simply an overzealous fansub group? Hell I like seeing what the scribbles mean in Sayonara Zetsub? Sensei! (At least one comment here agrees with me!) Every time I watch a commercial DVD that even has a split second scene that focuses on some Japanese text I wish they did the same. (I don’t blame them though, DVD subtitles are ugly four color bitmaps that probably take up too much space to boot)

    Though most of his problems with the TL-Notes, printed text and such could go away if more fansubbers maded use of softsubs in a the containers they’re using (Matroska (aka MKV) supports multiple subtitle tracks). You wouldn’t need an accompanying text file, they could be just add an commentary track that some people could chose to follow. Perhaps adding a plain-text version of the default subtitles in another for those who don’t like colors or effects. (But OH how I can hear the ranting against softsubs now!)

    Grammar though (I admit I’m no writer) is something I can’t disagree on. If its too poor to understand I’ll just give up on it and not watch it. Plus I agree that if you use too many Japanese words it would be harder to follow (What the hell is a Gigai? And how would it fit? Fake body, false body, shell? (thanks Wikipedia) I need a thesaurus..)

    Perhaps in the end I’m just not as picky as he is? Perhaps I’m lazy for not wanting to go and search what that particular group of kanji meant? Or I just don’t see the payoff in translating something into English norms..

    But I think that is enough of my ideas on that for now…

  18. Daryl: What’s happened to Snackpants, anyway? He did two episodes of his podcast and his site just disappeared.

    I don’t know if you’ve heard much about the Capcom vs Tatsunoko game, but Tekkaman was just confirmed for it. I’m still holding out for the Samurai Pizza Cats myself.

  19. The only Berserk doujin I’ve ever seen was a yaoi one by Yonekura Kengo, who was featured in the previous AWO hentai episode.

  20. Ah, yes, the Kengo Berserk doujin.

    CJ Michalski, Himawari Souya and some others also did one, and I’ve seen a few more here and there.

    I wonder how many there are, and whether there’s a lot more than I think but nobody’s scanning or selling them.

  21. Being late in replying to this, figured I have time right now to do so. For a while there, I thought there was a restaurant where the waitresses wore that shirt (as seen in the mp3 tag). I’d go there! 🙂

    The Moogle Master said…
    I was happy to hear that Samurai Pizza Cats is coming out on dvd (I hope!). It was the first show i watched that i knew was japanese.

    I’ve probably had one before that personally.

    I had seen The Noozles, and The Lil Bits before, but i thought there were german or something.

    Much like the comment of Battle of the Planets resembling an Italian production Rob Fenelon mentioned what he thought of said show.

    Now if only they would release Maple Town, and fucking digimon…. Then i’d be a happy man!

    Rather see Belle & Sebastian myself (especially if a Japanese track would be included as well, didn’t realize what I missed out of hearing the theme songs performed by Mitsuko Horie).

    Also, the reason they tokyopop is in trouble is cause of all the shit they released, Like fucking S-Cry-ed (The anime sucked ass too) And that fucking Princess Ai shit!

    How about the OEL crap that got syndicated in sunday funnies? 🙂

    Was the original Shrungle (Or what ever that fucking show was called) relesed in any form in america? Cause that was one of the shows that made up macron-1.

    No (nether did Goshogun apart from the “Time Etranger” film that AWO reviewed previously).

    I was just hopeing that would finally release Maple Town on dvd, i hear there was a spanish dvd set relesed. Maybe that and Palm Town (Maple Towns sequel) But that was never dubbed in english.

    Welcome to the world of 80’s anime, where things either got picked up or not, and 20 years later you’d be combing the web for information and wished we had gotten it before when the time was right.

    I still never bought anything from BVUSA while they were alive, so I guess I missed out on splurging on that.

    Shame what has happened with Jojo’s due to some internet shieks out there. Wonder how much that background/cel might be worth now if I spot it on eBay that the Koran was written on? Thinking of ways they could digitally alter the anime in that case, I wonder what text could replace it instead?

    Being reminded tohoscope stuck up an 80’s Christian tape “Deception of a Generation” that doved into occultism in a number of toys and cartoons of the day over at AnimeHell.org. I had a laugh at seeing it.

    I feel sorry for those NewType USA subscribers who stayed up with PiQ, now they’re left in the dark after that venture dried up (assuming they’ll get any kind of refund at all). I personally still find it sucky I can’t get the ImaginAsian DVD’s due to the problem that occurred over a month ago, and don’t expect to see any used copies of those discs get sold for quite a long time.

    Thinking about those manga titles that saw unfinished runs or none at all, I was thinking of having read ComicsOne release of “Ginga Densetsu Weed” years back (didn’t know why I bough them but I liked the dust jackets they had for those books), and getting annoyed at the cliffhanger since they quite it after the third volume (and yet, there seems to be fans for that and the original “Ginga Nagareboshi Gin”, nice someone else picked up Crayon Shinchan I bothered to pick up ComicsOne’s releases before but don’t have much a nerve to re-buy (even for the accurate translations since ComicsOne loved to Americanize that series).

    I was impressed when I saw the first episode of GoLion and knew the first DVD set was worth getting (the uncensored trailer I saw on YouTube sold me).

  22. Clarissa, I suggest you check out the drama Fujoshi Deka available at d-addicts. It’s short 5 half hour episodes, and as far as I know subtitles aren’t available. The story of a young police woman who must use her deep knowledge of male/male relationship dynamics to solve the crimes her incompetent superiors cannot has got some, erm, quality to it.

    Okay, the show looks like an amateur production. I’m planning on using it my drama panel this year to illustrate the difference direction can make on a show that costs $7.95 to produce. It won’t be illustrating the positive side of direction, either. Still, some notes it hits just right: Shinsengumi fixations, what’s wrong with today’s you spouting hypocrites, and a darned effective explanation of uke and seme, complete with animal sound effects.

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