New England Meets Anime Boston
Anime is universal when it comes to fans admiring the content. Without an established fanbase, there might be less anime in the industry due to lack of money. It is very important for people to support their creators in anime and manga. One way in supporting creators is to start a group of like-minded individuals bonding over anime. This is true for the New England's locker room where an anime club is formed and embraced by the Patriots. A group of people with similar passions makes anime universal and makes people if they want to contribute to merchandise or sales of anime. Patriots' locker room was a story where an anime club met Anime Boston. According to the tweet from @Patriots, the players who went to Anime Boston in 2018 were Lawrence Guy, Deatrich Wise Jr., Keionta Davis, Ufomba Kamalu, and Adam Butler. The tweet was posted on May 9, 2019, and stirred a lot of fan reaction at the announcement. This just goes to show how much impact anime really has on mainstream media. Also, there are other associations in sports with anime like The New Day from WWE and Johnny O’Bryant in Philadelphia 76ers. The New Day is a tag team of three people and were seen dressed up as Super Saiyans at WWE's Wrestlemania 32. Johnny O’Bryant was so love in anime that he started his own manga company at Noir Caesar and the website for that is https://www.noircaesar.com/. At the end of the day, we are only humans and the love of anime is shared by many. Let's hope for athletes continuing to love anime and spread the message that anime has redeeming qualities.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2019-05-09/new-england-patriots-anime-club-toured-anime-boston/.146546
Kingdom Anime In Live Action
Recently, you all know that a live action adaption of Detective Pikachu is coming out. Did you know this coming summer is expecting another live-action movie of anime? The series being produced is no other than Kingdom itself. Kingdom is a popular seinen anime with connections to the Warring States period of China. With the historical aspect, the show really provides the struggles and war-like conditions in the anime. Xin and Piao are war-orphans in the kingdom of Qin where they strive for the title of “Great Generals of the Heavens.” These unlikely friends face struggles and try to live out the dream of generals in Qin. Funimation is handling this project of live action and is distributing the movie in the United States and Canada. The rise of live actions in anime is beginning to take shape and formed itself into notary as of late. The combination of war and China gives this anime an edge in an interesting storyline. Kingdom's origins came from the Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump in 2006 and eventually started airing the anime in 2013 to 2014. It has taken five years to officially release the adaption into live action. Kingdom has already made 31 million dollars in the Japanese theaters before coming to the Americas. Is the verdict of Kingdom coming to America going to be good or bad? Are Xin and Piao going to achieve their status of great generals and how are they going to keep it? With all of these unanswered questions, we will have to wait until the movie and find out. Who knows, we could get a huge spike in the near future of live actions movies from anime and other Japan-based entertainment. Kingdom is a movie that is a worthy contender for live action and should be watched for the love of anime.
https://comicbook.com/anime/2019/05/08/kingdom-live-action-anime-adaptation-arrives-in-us-theaters-this/
Anime Memes Galore
Anime has moments in the plot where life and the show combine in relatable content. Fans capture these common moments and create new meaning with the established source material. Today is where fans take an image from anime and attach words to them. Memes literally make pictures closer to the saying of “A picture is worth a thousand words.” These memes will capture real-life experiences and bring life to new meanings in pixels advocating reality. The memes that are being discussed are When I Bring Food To School..., How Anime Looks When I'm Alone..., So You Think Anime Is Just For Children?..., Laziness Is The Mother Of All Bad Habits..., and When Somebody Mentions Cake. “When I Bring Food to School and my Friends Look at Me,” is a meme from Akame Ga Kill. There has to be a type of food where you would protect it like Kurome trying to protect her cookies in the photo. “How Anime Looks When I'm Alone,” is regarding when somebody like your parents comes in and questions what you are watching. It might be a little awkward when your parents or a friend come in to see either blood on screen in Attack On Titan or ecchi fanservice in No Game No Life according to the meme. “So You Think Anime Is Just For Children?” is a meme of Kuroyukihime from Accel World talking about maturity. People judge fans of anime and often think the shows are childish which some shows could traumatize children. Shikamaru is pictured in “Laziness Is The Mother Of All Bad Habits” which suits his character really well. His favorite catchphrase is “what a drag?” and laziness causes all kinds of problems which can trigger other habits like not working. “When Somebody Mentions Cake” describes the relationship of Natsu and Gray always fighting and Erza Scarlett breaking them up. The analogy of cake is perfect for Fairy Tail because everyone wants cake and Erza will even fight Natsu and Gray to get a good piece. These memes were really fun to discuss and there are another five memes on screenrant.com in the link below.
https://screenrant.com/funniest-anime-memes/
Highest Grossing Franchises
The market for anime has expanded far pass from a show or a comic version to adaptions into more of reality. Anime has caught the attention of people in the world of Hollywood to high selling merchandise and finally other money making departments like clothing brands. When it comes to appealing in a series, anime sure has the appeal to make it more profitable than other animations like cartoons sometimes. Two shows that come to mind for the highest grossing franchises are Pokemon and Hello Kitty. These franchises have generated a net worth of about 170 billion dollars. Pokemon has risen to fame to the top spot and has an outstanding worth of 90 billion dollars. Hello Kitty follows in a close second by only 10 billion dollars less than Pokemon. A bulk of Pokemon earnings deprive in licensed merchandise and the others are the card and video games. Fun fact, Pokemon has two-thirds of its profits thanks to merchandising while Hello Kitty has more than 98 percent of profit in merchandising. These brands originate from Japan and have high appeal in the lure of each brand. Pokemon has a simple message of striving for better and “Catch them all.” Hello Kitty was first a means for female audiences in a product line for customers then made itself in an animated series and manga. Both these popular means of staple pieces capture a market for children and adults alike. Hello Kitty connected with a fanbase expanding over forty years and Pokemon is reaching about twenty-four years in the industry. Also, other noteworthy mentions of other Japanese related franchises are Shonen Jump and Fist of the North Star. Shonen Jump surpasses Spiderman and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the scope of sales based on a brand. Fist of the North Star makes a claim in making more money in a franchise than Lord of the Rings, Toy Story, and James Bond movies. If it is one thing that this list has revealed is that the Japan market for entertainment has engulfed the world in a frenzy of geek culture. I suggest you in taking a look in franchises and research see how your favorite fandom ranks with titans of entertainment.
https://comicbook.com/2019/05/06/anime-are-the-highest-grossing-franchises/
Ls and Anime
Today is a challenge where a blog has to follow one letter of the alphabet. The official challenge is hosted on the Anime Amino and is called What does it stand for? L is the choice for the challenge by The Cat Lady. L is for life, love, learning, light-hearted moments, letting go, loss, and leaving a legacy. Life is a cycle where people live between the stages of birth and death. It is the life between that makes living worthy to experience the good and bad. A good way to watch life in anime is any splice of life focusing on the simplicity of living. Love is an emotion where it is absolutely needed in humans and Lovely Complex follows love to a tee. The show embraces the story of Koizumi Risa and Ootani Atsushi's journey from friends to lovers in a meaningful relationship. They do say that a book is mightier than the sword and Land of the Lustrous is all gun hoe about learning. There are germs in the show who have to learn the ins and outs of being the specimen that they are. Light-hearted moments are times of joy and cheerfulness in no troubles at all. Laid-back Camp explores a group of girls where they camp and enjoy the scenery of nature. Letting go are situations of painful memories either holding onto someone or something from your past. Liz to Aoi Tori is a perfect example of letting go because Mizore is holding on the belief of becoming friends with Nozomi once again to no avail. Loss is a heavy concept of someone's death to something important to them lost to a person or people. 91 Days is an anime following the idea of loss in the main character, Lagusa Angelo. Leaving a legacy is a constant theme of one's worth and the impact on the lives left behind of one's death. Lyza in Made in Abyss earned the nickname of “Lyza the Annihilator” concerning a legacy. The Ls of anime was very successful in capturing the challenge's goal and the freedom in writing of it.
https://aminoapps.com/c/anime/page/blog/the-ls-in-life/x2t2_ux75X2M5K7rpnEb7epVop2j0xcB
Japan's Cinco De Mayo
Festivals are things that Japan really serious for social gatherings and overall fun with these events. Anime is no exception when endorsing cultural festivals, especially in the school genre. Sometimes, we see a high school setting celebrating a cultural festival usually ran by student activities committee or clubs. Festivals are always seen in the anime world because a time of fun sets the mood for friends and relationships in anime. A chance to let loose makes people feel good and experience a break on life. Japan has many festivals where the purpose is to celebrate one's heritage and others from foreign sources. One of the foreign-based festivals is Cinco De Mayo based from Mexico and the Battle of Puebla. By the way, Cinco De Mayo is a holiday that focuses on Mexico's attempt to fend off the French, not Mexican Independence Day. Mexican food is often hard to find in Japan but the festival will embrace this idea a lot and focus on many aspects of cultural events. Anyway, anime has made you want to participate in festivities and events occurring. Also, festivals play an important role in a series like maybe an entire arc in the manga or anime. For example, the Grand Magic Games in Fairy Tail sets up the hidden villain in the midst of everything. Another one is the Moon Banquet Festival Arc in Food Wars's Third Plate where the fiery cooks at Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute compete on booths selling food. When you see a festival arc, do not let it be boring but try to watch it. The event is set to be on May 11th to May 12th instead of May 5th for a celebration of Cinco De Mayo. I hope that this small insight in Cinco De Mayo gives a clue in Japanese culture and their appreciation for other countries around the world.
https://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/cinco-de-mayo/4799
“May The Quirk Be With You”
Hero My Academia or M.H.A has brought numerous fans to the superhero opera in Japan in anime. If you do not know what this show is, then you are you going to find out. The show has a main character who strives to be a superhero like Japan's Symbol of Peace All Might. Most humans in the show have a unique quirk or special ability to call their own. Boku is one of the ten percent that does not have a special quirk in his genetics. One day, he meets an unlikely encounter with a weird phenomenon that grants an ability that changes the status of quirk-less. Today is where heroes meet space in a similar cover of Star Wars and a parody of Star Wars. Academia's creator took inspiration from the poster of the first Star Wars movie in 1977 for a manga cover. The manga cover was in Volume 20 in the Cultural Festival Arc of the series. Just like the poster, we have Deku pointing his One For All power towards the sky in a similar fashion like Luke Skywalker and his lightsaber. One other Star Wars content was the parody of Heroes Wars: The Quirk Awakens. Quirk and hero are words that replace words in the original title of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The parody creates a nostalgic feeling of the Star Wars combined with My Hero Academia characters in the fan art. M.H.A. characters in the fan art are Ochako Uraraka, Katsuki Bakugo, Tenya Iida, All Might, Eijiro Kirishima, Shoto Todoroki, Shota Aizawa, Izuku Midoriya, Endeavor, All For One, Dabi, and Hawks. If one thing can be taken from this, it is that May forth is very iconic for its familiarity as Star Wars Day. For more information, check out the manga cover and the parody on everyeye.it or visit the original versions of the content on the page.
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=https://anime.everyeye.it/notizie/my-hero-academia-trasforma-star-wars-simpatica-illustrazione-376048.html&prev=search
Anime Space Explored
Space is an entire subgenre of anime and many shows take place in space through battles or other planets. Today is National Space Day and tomorrow is a day of “May the Force be with you” in celebration of Star Wars on May Fourth. With back to back theme days of space, it would be an injustice not a list of space anime. These anime are Legend of the Galactic Heros, Space Battleship Yamato 2199, Space Dandy, Planetes, Space Brothers, and Gunbuster 2 or Diebuster. Legend of the Galactic Heros is an anime remake on Hidive streaming platform. The show explores two similar minded individuals who very clever and rage a galactic war with all the twists seen in the Gundam series. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 has the human population scarce and experience the decline from aliens. Yamato comes to the rescue and uses his spaceship to combat the threat of aliens. Space Dandy has a pretty interesting connection with Cowboy Bebop as Shinichirō Watanabe was both the director of Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy. Also, this is a show that makes the idea of bounty hunter funnier than Cowboy Bebop and each episode is done by different directors. Planetes follows a crew of passengers who are all janitors in a ship. They all take you on a journey with drama and romance along being on the ship in space. Space Brothers is a tale of brothers who to go to space. The experiences of the brothers make you feel close to them without knowing the characters in real life. Gunbuster 2 is a stand-alone series and they battle space monsters. Thanks for Natasha H on Crunchyroll News for her supporting piece on National Space Day.
https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2019/05/03-1/10-anime-recommendations-to-help-you-celebrate-national-space-day
Cosplayers Empowering Assertiveness
Anime is very known for diversity and often it plays in the genres of anime. Diversity is a welcoming quality of anime where the different shows are produced. The multiple shows available is an incentive for fans to explore the continuing and expansive catalog of content. Just as the diversity of shows are important so is the diversity in society. According to vice.com, diversity is playing a part in an empowering way of “black cosplayers.” Now, I think it is important for people to follow their passion and give their impact on society. The post today is about how the embracing anime influenced cosplayers to feel included and to go against stereotypes. These cosplayers of Shellanin, Kiera, Snitchery, BlackKrystel, and Mimi are all from Instagram and share their experiences of anime. Shellanin's exposure of anime came from the introduction of Cartoon Network's Toonami for anime. Suggested by Shellanin, “I want the world to reimagine what these characters would look like if they were me, a Black woman.” Kiera started her love of anime from a friend talking about Future Diaries. The series sparked her interest for anime and this passion for one fandom went to another through dressing up as characters. Snitchery began watching Japanese comics coming to life on screens when she found that the Pokemon franchise extended to more than just Pokemon Emerald. She has gone viral on Instagram for the makeup of anime characters mainly focused on headshots. BlackKrystel got her start in anime of shows showcasing bonds of friendship and following your gut. She feels strongly about anime that interoperates mental health and women in a positive fashion. Finally, Mimi's anime passion soon took a jump further by seeing Princess Mononoke to transform her adult life. According to Mimi, “...we are expected to only cosplay within our race and not other characters who are non-Black.” Wholeheartedly, I believe people of any nationality, ethnic background, religion, orientation, skin color, disability, or any other state of fortitude should seek out interests of what they love to do. This wholesome story of emotions and high pathos is from Janae Price on vice.com.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/panvnm/meet-the-black-anime-cosplayers-blowing-up-on-instagram-1
DVDs Transforming Anime
Anime has always adapted to mediums for broadcasting the entertainment of the content out to the public. The various mediums include VHS tapes, cable tv studios, drawing, online streaming, and even film on reels. The industry has undergone several changes but the one that might have had the greatest impact is the DVD. Before the age of the DVD, Japanese companies would try to sell their content to the international community and not showing the beginning and closing credits. America is one of those countries who thought that outsourcing would be a problem with advertising anime from Japan. Instead, they either made their own credits in English or have no credits at all. The goal was to make the anime material as less foreign as possible and without the presence of the credits is one way to do just that. Blame is put towards the 70s and 80s where distributors wanted the appeal of a show to have the feeling as another tv show in a country. Often, the process of making their own credits was subpar to those of the Japanese variety. As a response to this, produces of anime reacted with shelving of anime copies of openers and closers without the Japanese characters for international buyers. The idea of the DVD copies for digital access prompted extra content and the widespread notion of bonuses. Bonuses are money selling points where DVDs use added content as an endorsement launching new entertainment. DVDs changed how the interpretation of credits was viewed throughout anime and the fans. It took years later and the introduction of a new platform for streaming to even take off. People sometimes really do not do know the true worth of something until it is too late. I think that this what happened when people underestimated the true worth of credits in anime. DVDs might have been super popular but DVDs in Japan was treated “conservatively”. The word for stuffing content for bonuses was coined as a motive towards profit. The trend of adding bonuses might have transformed DVDs into a household name; however, it is a different story now. We can have content with “clean openings and endings” and now enjoy anime in a new light. What we treasure now in anime is all thanks to the innovation of great proportions? This was a segment from AnswerMan on Anime News Network by Justin Sevakis.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2019-05-01/.146269