Senin, 27 Juli 2009

Tracing The Roots of Anime

From the popular Transformers movie release to the Yu-Gi-Oh! cards your kids might have, anime has certainly left its mark on the world in recent years. Understanding its roots, though, is the key to predicting where this ever-changing genre is headed.

Before you can understand the history of anime, maybe it's first necessary to understand exactly what anime is. "Anime" literally means animation in Japanese. It does not distinguish one style from another; it's simply a way to talk about animation of all types.

Worldwide, though, anime is what we call a particular style of Japanese art and animation. Because of its popularity in recent years, the term ‘anime' has come to mean a style rather than animation that comes specifically from Japan. Through the years, anime has also been known by other names. Japanime is one, and Japanimation is another. Manga is a more recent, and perhaps controversial, term for anime-style comic books.

A Bit of History

While lots of animation was produced in Japan from about 1917 on, the anime that we know and love today is considered to have been created by Tezuka Osamu, who started drawing comic books in 1947. His character Astroboy (or Tetsuwan Atomu as he is known in Japan) hit television screens around Japan in 1963, which is generally considered to be the first mainstream anime cartoon. What's more is that Tezuka Osamu helped to create the giant robot genre that has been such an ongoing theme in both anime and manga.

Anime became such a popular art form in Japan because the live action film genre was simply too expensive to be a hit. As a result, some of the same thematic steps western filmmakers were taking in the world of live action were being taken in Japanese animation simultaneously.

The Real Difference

As a whole, anime is quite different from American animation. Anime encompasses complex story lines of nearly every genre as well as thought-provoking characters that most American animation stays away from. Since American animation is considered "kid's stuff," and anime is a mainstream form of entertainment for all kinds of people in Japan, lots of people misinterpret anime's intentions.

While some of anime is okay for you and your children to view together, many films contain adult themes and situations that aren't okay for younger viewers. Keep in mind that Japan has very different attitudes about nudity, strong language, and violence, so plopping your toddler down in front of anime because it's a cartoon just isn't a good idea.

Like the Idea?

If you're interested in exploring anime further, there are several films that are considered to be classics to the genre as a whole. Try starting with Princess Mononoke. With a strong plot and beautiful style, you're sure to fall in love with this type of animation instantly.

Inuyasha - Son of a Demon Dog


INUYASHA

DEEP THROW THE WISHING WELL

WHAT?

KNEEL DEMON DOG

DID SESSHOUMARU’S ARM EVER GROW BACK?

SWIM FOR IT

A HERO’S JOURNEY

TALL TALES

INUYASHA

Here’s the lowdown, “Inuyasha” is the story of a 15 year old schoolgirl named Kagome Higurashi who lives at a Japanese shrine. She just happens to be the reincarnation of an ancient priestess named Kikyo. Kikyo guarded the sacred Shikon no Tama, also known as the ‘Jewel of Four Souls’. Long ago Kikyo captured and sealed away a half-demon named Inuyasha who was attempting to steal the jewel in order to become a full-fledged demon. Kikyo ultimately died and had the jewel burned with her body.

DEEP THROW THE WISHING WELL

One day, Kagome was pulled into an ancient well and plunged deep into the past, 50 years after Kikyo’s death. This is the world feudal era Japan in the 1500’s and there she meets up with Kaede, Kikyo’s sister. Kaede realizes Kagome is Kikyo’s reincarnation and together they find out that the sacred jewel is hidden inside Kagome’s body. By accident the jewel is ripped from her body and the dog-demon, Inuyasha is released. He of course, immediately wants the jewel for himself. To thwart his attempts, Kaede casts a spell on him where he must wear a necklace that allows Kaede to control his actions with one simple word, “Sit!”. If you’re not interested in the story at this point, you’re just not getting it. This is cool stuff.

WHAT?

Inuyasha is pronounced, (ee-new-yah-sha)

KNEEL DEMON DOG

When Kagome says the magic word it forces Inuyasha face first into the ground. The precious jewel accidently gets shattered while they try to retrieve it from a giant bird who stole it. And together, Kaede and Inuyasha must find all the shards and put it back together before it falls into the wrong hands. Theirs is a match made in heaven and they must learn to get along in order to survive. A new twist on a ‘girl and her demon dog’.

DID SESSHOUMARU’S ARM EVER GROW BACK?

You know a show has to be good if a fan has to ask if one of the characters’ left arm ever grew back after the lead character hacked it off before transforming into a giant furry white dog.

SWIM FOR IT

Luckily for American fans, the good people at the Cartoon Network regularly added ‘Inuyasha’ to the Adult Swim line up. After seeing the Japanese version as well, the English dubbed version and the voice talent really help fill out the world. If you liked the Japanese animated films, ‘Spirited Away’ or ‘Princess Mononoke’ or live action fare like, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, ‘Angel’ or ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’, then you definitely should give ‘Inuyasha’ a whirl.

A HERO’S JOURNEY

Asides from the inventive mythological influenced set up, the ‘Inuyasha’ series and films are just really well told stories. The half hour episodes truly pack it in and give you dynamic and rich story is a compact time frame.

TALL TALES

Just to keep you guys up with the ‘Inuyasha’ universe, there have been three feature length films released, “Inuyasha: Love that Transcends Time”, “Inuyasha: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass” and most recently – “Inuyasha: Sword to Rule the World”.

Jumat, 24 Juli 2009

SpongeBob SquarePants


SpongeBob SquarePants is an animated series the most popular on Nickelodeon. Initially, this cartoon series shown in 1999 in the United States and created by Stephen Hillenburg, an animator and marin biologist, and he diterbit by syarikat, United plankton Pictures Inc. This series of cartoons showing in Malaysia menerusi channel TV3 and Nickelodeon, and also through the channel TV9 to dialihbahasa was in Malay.

In this series dipopulerkan by LaTiVi (now TvOne), and the right to run events that are produced by Nickelodeon bought by Global TV. This cartoon was created by a marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg and then released through the company plankton United Pictures Inc. This serial settings are in the Pacific Ocean in the city of "Bikini Bottom".

SpongeBob SquarePants is a spons who lives in a pineapple in the sea in the city of Bikini Bottom, Squidward Tentacles, when tetanggannya octopus is an animal that lives in the home moai. Neighbors SpongeBob and the other akrabnya friend, Patrick Star a pink sea stars, live under a rock. Squidward's house is located between the home Spongebob and Patrick's house, and this is the meresahkan Squidward.

SpongeBob and his friends live in the city of Bikini Bottom in the Pacific ocean. Bikini Bottom dilihatkan as a normal city with the city center, edge of town, the beach area, airport, sea and flower arrangements on your own amusement park. Stephen Hillenburg said once that Bikini Bottom-up more or less based on the city of Seattle, Washington.

Pets SpongeBob is a sea snail called Gary, who "mengiau" like a cat. Although many do not speak (except in a few episodes), fiber-fiber is able to understand another look. Moreover, sea worms and bark like a dog dirantai. Jellyfish equated with the bees, the sound of whispering, sengatan can (but look like electric shocks), and the "jelly" delicious, make fun of the name "jellyfish", while the jelly with honey bees. Fish role as citizens of the city but not as important character.

SpongeBob is penyerap, yellow, and these holes, working as a chef at the Krusty Krab, a fast food restaurant food, where Squidward also worked as a cashier. Krusty Krab is owned Eugene H. Krabs (Mr. Krabs). Sheldon J. Plankton bebuyutan Krabs is the enemy that has a fast food restaurant food low stages chum called The Bucket located opposite the Krusty Krab. The chum Bucket apparently never visited by customers, and plankton to spend most of the time to design the equipment to steal Krabby Patty burger recipe property Mr. Krabs. Plankton only successfully steal the recipe in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie; formula was never shown to the audience. Plankton computer wife, Karen, once in a while helping in the design or jahatnya contend with.

One of SpongeBob is Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel who comes from Texas and live in the anti-air turret in Bikini Bottom. He was transported to the sea by employers-employers in the form of chimpanzee. When outside kubahnya, he was wearing clothes like astronauts.

Population Bikini Bottom drive boats as though the car. SpongeBob is still studying in school after failing the driving test driving hundreds of times. Every movement of the bubbles to mengingkatkan audience that this story berlatarkan sea. However, there is a phase-phase in which there is a separate selapisan water from sea water (such as Tasik beach) and start a fire in the sea water.

Avatar: The Legend of Aang


Avatar, the last wind controllers; known as Avatar: The Last Airbender in the United States and some countries) is an animated television series shown by the United States television network Nickelodeon. Taking place in the world of martial arts and magic elements of nature with the influence of Asia, following the adventure story for the sake of the adventure of a degree called Avatar Aang and his friends on their way to save the world from the State Fire impure. Serial written this book in serial form, with each episodenya considered as a "chapter" (chapter), and each season is called the "book" (book). In Indonesia, the film is displayed by Global TV.

Avatar: The Legend of Aang take place in a fantasy world, where people live, fantastik various animals, and spirits. Human civilization divided into the four-nation, The Water (Water Tribe), Kingdom of Earth (Earth Kingdom), nomadic Air (Air Nomads), and the State Fire (Fire Nation). In every nation there are those who are called Bender (literally means "Pembengkok", but in this case is "Control") that has the ability to control elements of nature according to their nations. Control the natural elements of art is a fusion style of martial arts and magic elements of nature.

In each generation, there is someone who is able to control every element, which is called as the Avatar, the spirit of the planet incarnate in human form. When an Avatar dies, he will be born again in a nation that always turn alternately in accordance with the cycle Avatar, which along with the seasons: winter for water, spring for earth, summer for fire, and autumn for air. Legend says that the Avatar must learn the art elements according to the order, starting with the elements of the original peoples of the Avatar, but sometimes this can dilewat order if circumstances force. Learn the elements of control contrary to the original elements of a nation is very difficult because of differences in style of martial arts and its doctrines.

Seabad before the opening of the story of this series, Aang, a boy aged wind controllers 12 years of Air Temple Southern Air owned by the nomadic, was told by the elders that he is "the Avatar". Typically, a teak Avatar told himself as an Avatar go when he was 16 years old, however, the biksu fear that war will occur between the four nations will soon take place and in a short time Questioner akan needed to maintain balance and peace of the world. This makes Aang is confusion and depression. Short stories, fading Aang's Southern Air Temple, but in the middle of the road he met with a very large storm, and he along with Appa (a giant flying bison own) fall in the sink to the sea. But Aang immediately make the air around the ball body and Appa that he does not wet. Freeze the ball in the air in the surrounding water so that Aang and Appa in bongkahan imprisoned in ice.

In episode "The Boy in the Iceberg," two teenagers from the Southern Water Tribe named Katara - a water control - and a brother named Sokka, Aang finds a bongkahan in ice, and then they membebaskannya. Then the explanation of them, know that during Aang he disappears, the fear of a monk akan war has become a reality. For many years he was vague during, which the State Fire control the house fire, to demolish the other three nations, namely the Kingdom of Earth, The Water, Air and nomadic. All the air temples destroyed, including the nomadic Air, be all that can not bereinkarnasi Avatar. This is causing Aang to be the last air controllers in the face of the earth. It is the duty to learn the four elements, in order to overcome the fires of King and bring back peace and harmony on earth. To run a task, accompanied by the Aang Katara and Sokka, along with two animal peliharaannya - Momo and Appa - to seek expert control elements and learning to become an Avatar, and at the same time they must avoid catching the efforts by the State Fire .

Kamis, 23 Juli 2009

The Anime Sensation, Aka The Japanese Invasion

The Anime Sensation has been around for many years. But it is only in recent years it has become so prevalent in American society. For literally decades Anime, otherwise known as Japanese animation has been becoming more mainstream for decades. The first one that most people remember tend to come from a small list of two. They either remember Star Blazers (aka SpaceCruiser Yamamoto) or they remember Akira, an anime movie that was ground breaking in many ways. There are also a few who first were introduced to Anime by Robotech. Robotech was much like Star Blazers in the fact that it was a large re-write of the stories from the original Japanese based stories. At the time of those releases, it was thought that a direct conversion of the stories would not hold the attention of American audiences. While it is debatable if that is a true supposition or not, the fact remains that Robotech, Star Blazers, and Akira were and are profitable franchises in the Anime field.

Now, in the 21st century there are many variations of Anime that have reached the American Shores. Once we invaded Japanese territory with weapons of personal destruction, now the Japanese have invaded our shores, with entertaining Anime. There are so many titles and types it defies easy listing. There are the types that first invaded, that are very much like Robotech. There is X-rated Anime, some that are so bad, such as the Legend of the Overlord, that any child viewing them could easily be scarred for life. Although adults may find such "tentacle love" as found and Overfiend entertaining and even exciting, it is most decidedly not for children.

Amime will show your common entertainment seeking American a different type of entertainment in the sort of creative animation that is very much beyond that of non-Japanese created animation. It is not to say that there are not some creative things to come from American studios, it is to say that the Japanese have been doing it longer, and in this authors opinion, better.

So the next time you are looking for something new to see, check out a little Anime. It wont hurt. And if you can not decide which one, we have two suggestions. Legend of the Overfiend which is very much an adult thing, or Akira, but this is close to the adult only, save that Akira is all violence and the Legend, well that is sex and violence. Some might call Legend straight up disgusting, but that is for you to decide for yourself I would think.

Otaku Nation: Anime's Effect on American Pop Culture

The modern age of Anime arrive in Japan in the 1960s, and over the course of the next decade or so boomed into the giant robot, space battle genre bender that we would soon recognize as the anime of today.

Evolving over the next 30 years or so, it reached a peak where it could begin to overtake and become an integral part of other cultures, much like the Hollywood of the 1930s quickly grew to encompass the rest of the world and inform their pop culture. In the same manner, American pop culture becomes increasingly informed by the trends and cult response to anime.

Anime first appeared in the US market in the 60s with shows like Kimba the White Lion and Astroboy. However, the national consciousness as to where these shows came from as well as the poor marketing of the shows made them forgettable and rather than a jumping in point, they act as a nostalgic reminder.

When Speed Racer arrived, the beginnings of a true consciousness that Japan was creating something new and exciting began to set in. The popularity of Speed Racer was never that of its American contemporaries, but it created in a set fanbase the willingness to devour newer offerings later on in Starblazers and Robotech (a convoluted perversion of multiple animes, but still a relative success in the states). Still, the affect was mostly underground.

In the 1980s, the introduction of Beta and VHS made it possible to join together with friends and watch more varying forms of anime. Truly it was the technological revolutions of the coming years that would make it truly possible for anime to perforate the American entertainment bubble. When Akira arrived in 1989, the effect was palpable. Receiving only a limited American screen release, few saw it in initial release, but the copying of VHS tapes and word of mouth made it something of a cult sensation. Those that knew of Akira were fans for life, eagerly awaiting their chance to partake more and more of the growing trends out of Japan.

For Japan’s part, this era was a period of major expansion, a veritable boom in the business. The 1980s saw the success of shows like Gundam and Dragon Ball overgrow the national consciousness and become runaway sensations. The explosion of the manga industry before hand, with serializations of works by Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo in the early 80s simmered in the youth of Japan and finally seeing the commercial possibilities of these works, creating in the process a major conglomerate of companies in the Akira Committee to bring the massive budget of Akira to fruition.

By the 90s anime was the mainstream in Japan, and the result was the ramping up of production and increased output of shows. In part because of the simple, streamlined art style, multiple artist were able to work on a single project and create on episode a week for years at a time, resulting in monumental runs such as the case of Dragonball (156 episodes) and Dragonball Z (276 episodes). The ability to serialize and turn a story into something that millions of youths would tune into each and every week made companies billions (of yen) and secured the kinds of commercial sponsorships and funding necessary to undertake incredible projects that would require vast sums of money to complete.

Back in America, a few executives were beginning to see the effect these shows were having in Japan. Slowly and very carefully they began taking the most popular, Dragonball Z and Sailormoon for example and finding timeslots very early in the day, before the daily retinue of American cartoons, testing the waters of marketability. In 1995, the trickle of anime into the states was just that, a relative trickle. Sailormoon aired every morning in syndication, but chopped up and missing key seasons to relate the endings of important storylines. Dragonball Z ran an equally mild run early on Saturdays in syndication that was abruptly cut when the rights to the show were lost by the initial company and purchased by Funimation.

All the while, works from Japanese masters like Hayao Miyazaki were being overlooked, passing unnoticed through limited release in the states, while making him a God of his craft in Japan. All the while companies like Manga, Funimation, and Viz were buying up licenses and releasing little known, untraceable shows that no one knew the origin of. The shows were treated poorly, often dubbed and cut up to match American audiences. Viz even launched the first Anime magazine in 1993 with Animerica, primarily reviewing their own products but still giving a view of the culture that no one knew anything about.

But, in 1995, the release of the shows in America along with the premiere and rave reviews of Neon Genesis Evangelion in Japan, Otaku interest abroad began to spike. Otaku is a bid of a misnomer as it’s a bit of an insult in Japan, a mean spirited way to call someone a nerd. Here though, it generally means a purveyor of Japanese pop-culture and with the Otaku so in style right now it’s less of an insult than a clique. The import and fan subbing of shows began in earnest via VHS editing software that few if anyone had access to. The early 90s was a time of massive growth of interest in the little known import of Anime though, and the American marketplace wasn’t slow to react.

In 1997, television networks made broad sweeping moves to bring shows to the mainstream. The Sci-Fi channel had always had a small niche in its latenight line up for cult classics like Vampire Hunter D, but Warner Bros finally brought the genre to primetime. Funimation finally got their licensing figured out and Dragonball Z saw its triumphant return to the Cartoon Network, with new episodes to follow a year and a half later. And in 1998, a little known video game for the Gameboy exploded in the American market, bringing along with it its entire arsenal of marketing ploys, including the overwhelmingly childish, but enormously popular Pokemon anime. Finally, children across the nation were gluing themselves to the television set as earnestly as their Japanese counterparts had for nearly a decade before hand.

Miyazaki’s new film played to better reception, receiving a proper release via Miramax. Princess Mononoke was a success in the terms of the time, even receiving the coveted two thumbs up (let alone a review at all) from Siskel and Ebert. Films began to arrive in America more liberally, still finding limited release, but release at least. And the shows began to pour in. At the time, the fansub scene was more or less the only way to get access to some of the more obscure titles being released in Japan. But as the market boomed, so did the licensing by major companies, and it actually started to become illegal to fansub certain shows because they might be released by a company eventually.

Thus began the final and full assimilation of Japanese pop culture into American. The DVD format sped up the process, as more episodes of a show could be packed into a disc than a VHS and production costs plummeted, removing a lot of the financial risk of an untested foreign product in the American marketplace. Cartoon Network debuted its Toonami afternoon cartoon slot, in which they featured anime that had been around for a little while, but managed to appeal to a much larger demographic and spread the word about these great story driven cartoons from across the ocean. An entire generation grew into the growing popularity and became entranced by the epic storylines, amazing storytelling and ability to show in a cartoon what many considered adult themes and much more mature perspectives on things like competition and personal success. The Japanese ability to cross genre and the extremely high production values that started to go into shows made in the late 90s and beyond meant amazing shows that appealed not just to children but to adults and beyond.

What started as a crossover, slowly began to actually change the way in which American’s marketed their television to children. Shows with more adult content appeared, and in some cases emulated the Japanese format. The writers at Pixar crafted brilliant, more maturely themed cartoons without the silly musicals of Disney past, and Disney even dissolved their tried format in favor of more mature, complete stories. The devolution of American quality in cartoons though as they attempted to match the output meant even more Japanese entries in the market. Now, if you turn on Fox kids in the morning you’ll find over half of the shows on are animes. And Cartoon Network still presents multiple entries themselves, with more mature offerings in their Adult Swim block late at night. Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animation in 2003 and South Park, the quintessential American barometer of cultural trends at first knocked the trend with their Chinpokemon episode, later to embrace it (while still mocking it) via changing their own art style in the Weapons episode just a couple years ago.

Nowadays, you’ll find anime oriented t-shirts everywhere, an entire aisle devoted to DVD releases in Best Buy (compared to the one row only seven years ago) and the success of the Anime Network, a channel solely devoted to Anime programming. Magazines like Newtype, a Japanese trade magazine for the Anime industry is now translated and released in America every month with previews of new shows, and American directors like James Cameron are looking to direct live action versions of manga like Battle Angel Alita.

Now, we see new releases from Japan within six months, and the fansub community has to scramble to keep up with what’s legal and what’s not legal to offer via their online services. The internet itself has made it a huge community, where a show can be recorded on Japanese television, ripped and subbed, then uploaded within a couple hours for the world to view. There’s no lay over, and new shows are immediately available. And it’s evident in the universities too. Japanese is one of the most sought after languages, filling up immediately with a yard long waiting list every year, and more sections being added every year.

Japanese pop culture managed to tap a certain perspective that American counterparts were unable to do themselves and in so doing, cornered and grew in a market that few thought existed in America.

Rabu, 22 Juli 2009

Sherlock Holmes

"In teaching the treatment of disease and accident, all careful teachers have first to show the student how to recognise accurately the case. The recognition depends in great measure on the accurate and rapid appreciation of small points in which the diseased differs from the healthy state. In fact, the student must be taught to observe. To interest him in this kind of work we teachers find it useful to show the student how much a trained use of the observation can discover in ordinary matters, such as the previous history, nationality, and occupation of a patient."

The above quote is by Dr Joseph Bell (1837-1911), who was a professor of clinical surgery at Edinburh University. He came from a distingushed medical family. His great grandfather being Benjamin Bell, also a noted forensic surgeon. Another relative was Charles Bell, who described (and had named after him) the condition known as Bells' Palsey. Whenever Queen Victoria was in Scotland, Bell was her personal surgeon, and later was honorary surgeon to Edward VII. He was well known and respected before Arthur Conan Doyle met him, having published a number of medical textbooks, and prolific journal articles, and for 23 years he was editor of the Edinburgh Medical Journal.

He was a popular lecturer at the university, his lectures invariably attended to capacity. It was whist studying medicine at Edinburgh in 1877 that Arthur Conan Doyle first met Bell, and was immediately impressed. Doyle proved to be a first rate student, and Bell in turn was equally complimentary, writing of Doyle "Dr. Conan Doyle's education as a student of medicine taught him how to observe, and his practice has been a splendid training for a man such as he is, gifted with eyes, memory, and imagination. Eyes and ears which can see and hear, memory to record at once and recall at pleasure the impressions of the senses, and imagination capable of weaving a theory or piecing together a broken chain or unravelling a tangled clue. Such are the implements of his trade to a successful diagnostician." He went on to add that Doyle's gift as a natural story teller in combination with these attributes only made it a matter of choice as to wether he wrote detective stories, or saved his strength for a great historical romance.

By the end of Conan Doyle's second year at the University Bell selected him to be his clerk and assistant at the Royal Infirmary's open clinic. In this position Conan Doyle often heard Bell make "amazing" deductions whilst leading students on his rounds. On one occasion he witnessed Bell telling students that a new patient was a recently discharged non-commisioned officer who had been serving in a Highland regiment stationed in Barbados. Going on to explain "You see gentlemen, the man was a respectful man but did not remove his hat. They do not in the army, but he would have learned civilian ways had he been long discharged. He has an air of authority and is obviously Scottish. As to Barbados, his complaint is elephantiasis, which is West Indian, and not British."

On another occasion, also witnessed by Doyle, a mans address, combined with the callused ball of his thumb indicated to Bell that the man was a sailmaker. The reasoning being that he lived on a street near the docks, and sail makers typically have calloused thumbs from stitching the heavy canvas sails.

Many other incidents of similar nature were witnessed by Doyle and were often used in Sherlock Holmes stories later. In A Study In Scarlet, Holmes explains to Watson why he concludes that a man had recently been in Afghanistan. "Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly an army doctor then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff an unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan."

It is obvious that Conan Doyle was much influenced by the charismatic Bell, and based his famous detective Sherlock Holmes largely upon him. Although the character first created by Edgar Allan Poe in "The Murders In The Rue Morgue", that is Auguste C. Dupin, undoubtedly also was incorporated into the persona, It is my (and that of others far more knowledgable than I) opinion that Dr. Joseph Bell was in fact the real Sherlock Holmes.

Detective Conan


Detektif Conan (bahasa Jepang: 名探偵コナン Meitantei Konan) adalah sebuah manga dan anime detektif karangan Gosho Aoyama. Detektif Conan diterbitkan dalam majalah Weekly Shōnen Sunday. Selain dalam format manga dan anime, Detektif Conan juga telah dibuat dalam bentuk film dan drama TV.

Detektif Conan menceritakan tentang Shinichi Kudo, seorang detektif SMA, yang tubuhnya mengecil akibat obat yang diberikan oleh sebuah organisasi misterius tanpa diketahui organisasi tersebut. Supaya identitas aslinya tidak diketahui organisasi tersebut, Shinichi menyamar sebagai Conan Edogawa, dan tinggal di kantor Detektif Kogoro Mouri. Conan Edogawa telah banyak membantu Kogoro memecahkan kasus, sehingga Kogoro menjadi detektif terkenal.

Shinichi Kudo, detektif SMA yang memiliki kemampuan luar biasa dalam menganalisa kasus-kasus kriminal terkena suatu masalah besar ketika tiba-tiba dirinya menjadi mengecil setelah diberi minum obat misterius, yang kemudian diketahui adalah racun berkode APTX 4869, oleh 2 anggota Organisasi Hitam yaitu Gin dan Vodka. Saat kejadian itu Shinichi dan Ran Mouri sedang berkencan di sebuah taman tema (theme park) yang bernama "Tropical Land". Kemudian, Shinichi bertemu dengan dua orang yang mencurigakan, dan Shinichi pun membuntuti mereka. Karena keasyikan mengintip transaksi gelap yang dilakukan Vodka dengan seorang usahawan, tanpa sadar Shinichi dipukul oleh Gin, dan dicekoki obat misterius yang dimaksud untuk membunuh Shinichi.

Namun ternyata obat tersebut tidak membunuh Shinichi, melainkan terjadi efek samping dari obat tersebut yang mengakibatkan tubuhnya mengecil seperti bocah berusia tujuh tahun.

Kemudian atas saran dari Profesor Agasa, Shinichi mengganti namanya menjadi Conan Edogawa. Nama "Conan" berasal dari nama pengarang buku detektif terkenal Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, sedangkan nama "Edogawa" berasal dari nama Edogawa Ranpo. Conan lalu mulai mencari tahu seluk beluk organisasi misterius tersebut, sambil tinggal di rumah teman sejak kecilnya, Ran Mouri, yang tidak mengetahui identitas asli Conan.

Karena mengecilnya tubuh Shinichi, pada mulanya analisis Conan sama sekali tidak dipercaya karena dianggap sebagai anak kecil. Jadi, Conan terpaksa membuat ayah Ran, Kogoro Mouri, yang merupakan seorang detektif payah, untuk memecahkan berbagai kasus kejahatan, dengan harapan dapat melacak jejak organisasi tersebut. Kemudian kisah selanjutnya menjadi semakin rumit dan melibatkan berbagai individu.

Anggota Organisasi Hitam yang telah diketahui adalah Gin, Vodka, Vermouth, Pisco, Tequilla, Calvados, Chianti, Keel, Coroon, Sherry serta big boss yang selalu ditampilkan secara blur/kabur.

Selasa, 21 Juli 2009

Ben 10 Alien Force


Ben 10 Alien Force, a sequel to Ben 10, is a marvelous and an interesting anime Television series, which is the result of hard work done by Dwayne McDuffie and Glen Murakami and the studio "Man of Action". The studio is a group of 4 young creative personalities named, Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle. Ben 10 Alien Force is produced by Cartoon Network Studios, and is based on the central figure Ben Tennyson. He is now 15 years of age and has grown up to become a more matured guy with a clear outlook towards life. He has removed the Omnitix, and has tasted the good and challenging adventures out there.

Now, in Ben 10 Alien Force, you see there is a fanatic aliens known as Highbreed have surreptitiously com on Earth and they have the mission to ruin the earth and kill its inhabitants altogether. Max, who is Ben's grandfather and also an active member of the planet-defending Plumbers has already gone out there to protect the humanity from their evil deeds, but nobody has heard of him ever since. There stands no choice in front of Ben, but to use Omnitrix to fight the aliens back from the earth. Omnitrix has adapted according to his teenage body, and this has resulted into new forms and functions, and makes Ben ready to go for fighting the aliens.

Ben is supported in his endeavor by Cousin Gwen, and both have their natural abilities enhanced to give the Highbreed a tough blow. Ben's formal rival, Kevin Levin who worked in Null Void is also coming in front and joining his hand.

The cartoon animated series has all its drama and adventure lined up for the children and the adults. What's more, the animated series has got all the super digital sound and backed by orphic music scores. The best thing is that you don't get bored while watching the entire series. Ben is leading the fight the war against the aliens and also on his mission to look for Max. In the time of five years that has past, been has become more matured and he has all the goals set in line to go ahead with the mission along with his cronies. Come and explore the adventure filled mission where the fight for the cause is truly realized by the saviors who are packed with their guns.

Hello Kitty History and Character Facts



The most well known and loved character of Hello Kitty has several friends, Mama, Papa, Mimmy, Tim and Tammy, Mory, Cathy, Jody, Thomas and others. Hers is a world filled with family, caring fun, good manners and polite friends. Hello Kitty lives with her family, her mama, papa, and her twin sister Mimmy. She is one of the most popular fictional characters created by the Japanese company Sanrio. Hello Kitty started out by becoming very popular in Japan amongst school aged girls, and then made her way to Britain and America.

Despite being born in Japan, Hello Kitty is British and her family lives in Suburban London. Her weight is described as being that of three shiny apples and her favorite food is Apple Pie made by Mama. Hello Kitty likes traveling, music, reading, yummy cookies, making new friends and collecting lots of cute items like sweets and goldfish. Hello Kitty is still a kitten despite being born on November 1, 1974, such is the luck of a fictional cartoon character.

Hello Kitty has been the star of her own anime series in Japan and America. She’s been a part of Hello Kitty’s Animation Theatre, which featured remakes of popular fairy tales. Hello Kitty has her own line of Hello Kitty products which range from plushy animal toys to purses to cute clothing. Even popular stars in Hollywood have been seen wearing the Hello Kitty line of clothing. You’ll even see Hello Kitty stamped boldly on her own Mastercard Debit card. The littlest fans of Hello Kitty will be glad to know that soon Hello Kitty will appear in her own claymation series called Hello Kitty’s Stump Village.

Hello Kitty makes for a great party theme for a girls party up through the preteen years. She’s an excellent party theme character for a slumber party and you are certain to find lots of pillows, blankets and sleeping bags with the Hello Kitty character on them.

Minggu, 19 Juli 2009

Bakugan - The Hot, New Game Coming to a Galaxy Near You


What do you call a world out of balance where a galaxy called Vestroia, inhabited by miniature warriors begins to merge with the human world, upsetting the natural balance of both?

What do you call a Japanese TV anime program that debuted on TV Tokyo in '07 with over fifty episodes and within a year, exploded in popularity in both Canadian and US markets?

Further, What do you call a board game that ties this galactic world and the anime program together into a phenomena resulting in hosted tournaments by Toys "R" Us in both summers since the program was released?

If you're a young, trend-setting game enthusiast, then you already know to call this the world of 'Bakugan Battle Brawlers.'

Since the anime series debuted, the Bakugan game has taken on a life of its own. The series, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, and the game were developed and released in conjunction by Sega Toys and Spin Master. The game uses metal cards and magnetic spring-loaded miniature figures, called Bakugan--small creatures set into conflict by the battle brawlers who wield them.

The story is about Dan Kuso and his five friends (Runo, Marucho, Shun, Alice, and Julie) who, one day, witness random cards falling out of the sky. From this surreal event, they created a card game called Bakugan. The group collectively call themselves Battle Brawlers having the aim to restore balance between the galaxy of Vestroia and the human world with which it had begun to merge. The creatures of Vestroia are known as Bakugan, and an evil Bakugan, Naga, has upset the natural balance by stealing the silent core. Accompanied by a human named Michael, Naga seeks the infinity core, further disrupting the balance between both worlds. Now the Battle Brawlers find themselves in constant battle for the fate of Vestroia against such foes as Masquerade, Hal-G, and the Bakugan Naga.

Taking on the role of a Bakugan Battle Brawler, each player uses selected "Bakugan warriors" -- fearsome creatures like Juggernoids, Fear rippers, and "Robatallians -- to earn points against their opponents by rolling them into battle. The Bakugan warriors take the shape of magnetic marbles which instantly pop open into Bakugan warrior action figures when rolled onto metal Gate Cards. Players use a bit of creativity and a whole lot of strategy to place their Gate Cards, each one affecting the battle in different ways.

To play Bakugan, players typically set up the game on a board called the Bakugan battle arena and use Bakugan warriors (magnetic marbles), cards, and accessories of their choice) to begin the game.

Anime Wallpaper




Anime Wallpaper This is a very funny and unique in a lot of which show an animation in this, please see your next ok...


By : Lupus

Sabtu, 18 Juli 2009

Hentai Story

Hentai (変態 or へんたい?) Hentai.ogg listen is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly Japanese anime, manga and computer games (see Japanese pornography). In Japan it can be used to mean "metamorphosis" or "abnormality". The word "hentai" has a negative connotation to the Japanese and is commonly used to mean "sexually perverted".

In Japanese the word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 (hen meaning "change" "weird" or "strange") and 態 (tai meaning "attitude" or "appearance"). The term is used as a shortened form of the phrase 変態性欲 (hentai seiyoku), or "sexual perversion". In slang, 変態 (hentai) is used as an insult meaning roughly "pervert" or "weirdo". The term is not often applied to pornography in Japan. Instead, terms such as 18-kin (18禁, literally "18-prohibited") meaning "prohibited to those not yet 18 years old", and seijin manga (成人漫画 "adult manga") are used when referring to pornography. The English letters AV are also used, standing for adult video.


There are two main categories of hentai: works that feature mainly heterosexual interactions (often abbreviated as "het"),[citation needed] and those that feature mainly homosexual interactions. This second group can be further split into yaoi and yuri subgroups. Yaoi refers to male homosexual pairings, and yuri to female homosexual pairings. (Note that both yaoi and, to a lesser extent, yuri are predominantly aimed at members of the opposite sex from the persons depicted.)

Yaoi is predominantly aimed at a female audience and commonly features males of ambiguous gender—in both physical appearance and mannerism—called bishōnen, literally "beautiful boy". Some feature biseinen ("beautiful man"), males of more adult or masculine appearance than bishōnen. Less common are bara—larger, often heavily muscled and sometimes hairy males, the yaoi counterpart of the "bear" in gay pornography—as well as oyaji (meaning "daddy" or "uncle"), featuring middle-aged and elderly men; these types are mainly found in material aimed at gay men, which may be called bara or 'men's love' (ML), and is considered to be distinct from yaoi. Yaoi also extends beyond the (sexually explicit) hentai genre, since it is an applies to any anime/manga material that includes male homosexuality (except for that actually aimed at a gay male audience). In Western usage, yaoi is distinguished from shōnen-ai (literally, "boy-love"), in which two males merely express romantic feelings for each other without actually having sexual relations. Women interested in Yaoi are called "Fujoshi" (腐女子), a pun which translate loosely as "rotten girl" or "rotten woman". Compare fag hag and slash fandom.

Yuri is very similar to yaoi, except that the focus is on female homosexual interactions. The characters in yuri are known as "bishōjo", meaning "beautiful girl". Shōjo-ai ("girl love") is a western term for the female equivalent of shōnen-ai; in Japan these works are also called yuri. Yuri may be aimed at (presumptively heterosexual) male, heterosexual female, or lesbian female audiences.

The scope of hentai encompasses the entire range of sexual fetishes, including:

  • Bakunyū, the depiction of women with large breasts. Literally translated to "bursting breasts".
  • Futanari, depictions of hermaphrodites or transsexuals that have both phallic genitalia (penis with scrotum, only a penile shaft, or an enlarged clitoris) and vaginal genitalia or a feminine hourglass shape including breasts and a penis plus scrotum.
  • BDSM, A spectrum of consensual sexual activities considered to be "kinky" or non mainstream, including such topics as power exchange (domination and submission), bondage, sadomasochism, spanking, etc..
  • Bestiality
  • Breast-oriented torture and Breast bondage, BDSM practices focusing on breasts, many times coupled with a variety of torture.
  • Erotic lactation
  • Lolicon, depicts prepubescent or preadolescent girls.
  • Maiesiophilia
  • Omorashi (オモラシ / おもらし / お漏らし?) in which individuals struggle with a full bladder before finally wetting themselves (also known as watersports).
  • Urolagnia: Urinating
  • Coprophilia: Feces
  • Shotacon, the depiction of young boys having intercourse with other young boys or older men, or depicting young boys with older women, known as "straight shota" in western jargon.
  • Tentacle rape, the depiction of tentacled creatures and sometimes monsters (fictional imaginative or otherwise, also includes alien-like creatures) engaging in sex or rape with girls and less often men.
  • Incest sexual activity with legal family members noticeably seen in The Sagara Family, a hentai computer game.

Anime and Hentai


The reason I say this is because 'hentai', unlike pornography, does not degrade women, and especially not in the same manner as pornography. Interesting fact actually - 'hentai' originally came about in Japan as porn was frowned upon due to its degradation of women.
It was because of this that the Japanese realized that they could still get their 'thrills' without having to degrade women, if they just made an anime with a sex theme.

And thus 'hentai' was born. It's strange to think that it was created just to stop women being seen as objects for mans' pleasure and abuse. And in a way, it was a truly groundbreaking creation. Since then, pornography has become common place in Japan, however, it is still not appreciated as much as 'hentai' - after all, in anime you can create any scenario, commit any acts, without the character REALLY being involved, used and abused etc.

With the introduction of 'hentai' have come many sub-genres, such as 'Yaoi' (men with men) and 'Lolicon' (Children with adults). The latter is a touchy subject here in the UK. Although 'theoretically' 'lolicon' has nothing to do with pedophilia since it's just a cartoon, however, in European countries it is still frowned upon...though I'm almost positive if you looked at the statistics with regards to pedophiles in Japan in correspondence with those in the UK, you would probably find that the UK has the highest crime rate.

But I will talk about the subject of 'Lolicon' in another post at a later date as there is much to be said on this subject. So I leave you to take in all that has been said today with regards to hentai, please feel free to comment about anything you have read here.

Rabu, 15 Juli 2009

Shojo and Anime For Girls

Anime, Japan's stylish animated storytelling is a big hit in many countries these days, and you can't turn around without hearing of a new anime series surfacing on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim or at your local Blockbuster. One of the big stereotypes of anime however, is that it's all for boys and nothing could be farther from the truth!

Shojo (sometimes spelled shoujo) anime is made for a younger, female audience with the emphasis being placed on personal relationships rather than world-shaking battles or politics. Whether you're looking for gift for a younger female cousin, or your friend feels that all anime is about men fighting in robot suits, there are a lot of different shows that will be perfectly suitable for even your girliest friend.

Fruits Basket

This series is one of the hottest sellers in the United States and with good reason! The story focuses on Tohru Honda, an orphaned high school girl who runs into a cursed family. Whenever a member of the wealthy mysterious Sohma family is hugged by a member of the opposite sex, they transform into one of the animals of the Chinese zodiac. As Tohru struggles to break the curse, the audience will be enjoy strong plotlines, engaging characters and hilarious situations.

Fushigi Yuugi

In this anime, which is often translated into "The Mysterious Play," a young girl falls through a portal in a book that takes her to ancient China. Once there, she is declared a priestess who must save the world by collecting the Celestial Warriors of the country and invoking a god. While Miaka is trying to do this, she must contend with being dragged back to her own world and dealing with mundane things like exams as well!

Angel Sanctuary

This dark, gothic story features a young boy who is the reincarnation of a rebellious angel. As both heavenly and infernal forces move to shape his awakening powers for their own ends, Setsuna Mudo must come to terms with his own conflicting emotions and find out what it is that he is willing to protect and fight for. This anime is not really suited for younger viewers, as it involves very adult themes.

Princess Tutu

If the idea of the protagonist starting out as duck who wants to save her prince appeals to you, than check out Princess Tutu. Ahiru is a young girl at a ballet school who has a crush on the quiet male lead dancer, Mytho, but she's also a duck... and a magical superheroine! This occasionally surreal, always adorable anime is ideal for both younger viewers and those who can't resist good animation and wonderful storytelling.

Here Is Greenwood

Getting away from the supernatural, Here Is Greenwood is the tale of a young student at boarding school for the first time. Kazuya Hasukawa is possibly the unluckiest boy ever; he falls in love only to have the object of his affections turn around and marry his brother. With a dorm full of fascinating characters that Kazuya just finds annoying and his double-crossing brother turning out to be the head of the infirmiry, Kazuya's in for a wild semester!

Manga Anime - A Brief History


If you look back at American and Western culture, comic books have been around for a long time, but only started to become popular (even mainstream) around the 1950's. The same is true of Eastern Culture including Japan and China. In Japan comics and cartoons are loosely termed Manga, which literally translates as "whimsical pictures".

Manga is often mistaken for Anime, which is similar but different. Anime is short for Animation and is a sort of subset of Manga which relates more to film. Though certainly the two forms have influenced and fed off of each other.

Just as comic strips have many applications in Western culture, Manga has a variety of uses in Eastern culture and regularly touches on sports, romance, history, science fiction, the business world, horror and politics and can be found in just about any aspect of Japanese life.

In recent years Manga has become huge in America and online. In 2006, Wikipedia reports that the U.S. market for manga was taking in around $200 million. Whereas during the 70's Japan only had a small influence on American cartoons (Speed Racer, etc), now many of the mainstream cartoons show a direct influence (Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, etc).

As Manga expands and becomes more and more popular and cross-cultural hundreds of new styles and subsets come into existence. You may have heard of Chibis, which are stylized Manga characters, or Q-version, a Chinese style where real life images are rendered in cartoon charictures. As the popularity of these styles increases the influences become more diluted and the boundaries between Eastern and Western animation and art styles will fade further and further.

Jumat, 10 Juli 2009

Japanese Anime


Japanese anime has been around for years and years. Anime itself spawned from manga (japanese comics) which began life around the 19th Century. The first style of manga was created by Japanese artist Hokusai. From Hokusai's original creations, manga developed into the style that we see today, artists using thick lines and vivid colours. The storylines of early manga were fantastical, often involving space ships, superheros, gods, dragons and alike. In the 1990's, anime left Japan, and its distribution became rather wide-spread over the western world - the Americas in particular. From then on, anime and japanimation went from strength to strength.

The 1990's and 2000's saw a rapid increase in demand for anime across western countries. Around 1993, the anime industry in America was worth mere thousands, but 10 years later, we saw the the industry go from being worth thousands, to being worth over 100 million dolars.

Spawning from anime, shows such as Power Rangers and VR Troopers exhibited similar ideas to those found in classic animated shows - fantasy stories about superheros, monsters, and evil villains. It is worth mentioning at this point that these shows, Power Rangers in particular, were hugely successful, airing nicely in America, Canada, Japan, and Europe.

Even though these TV shows weren't anime in the classic sense, there is clearly a link between the ideas presented in these shows, and those found in traditional anime. Companies like Bandai (the makers of Power Rangers) put an 'American spin' on an already successful 'method' of producing quality entertainment, and then reaped the profits.

Since that time, we have seen more traditional type anime creep ever so quickly into the western world due to the increased acceptance of it in western civilisation. Animated shows with traditional stylings such as Dragon Ball, Gundam, and Hamtaro, are almost household names in the Americas and Canada. The same is true in Britain and Europe.

With new technology on the horizon, better animation software and more powerful hardware, we can expect to see yet another rise in the fundraising power of the anime industry in the near future.

The Computer Animation


Computer helps for giving artificial life to images/graphics. In advance method of animation making, computer software has a great role. Computer only can help for making 2-D and 3-D animations easily. Animation is a graphic art that is unstable, uniquely run one after another within a frame area to create an illusion of movie. Software have that feature to shape the graphics one after another in a certain frame area. After compiling the frames, it generates a compact file that shows all the frames running the images sequentially.

Computer and Animator

Computer helps the animator for designing graphics, frame settings, color compositions, compilation of files. The computer technology brings the update methods through software that helps the animator putting his enormous ideas.

Virtual Animating Synthetic Motion

Popular animation movies have many types of characters and objects. For making them, the animators should know some basic knowledge on Kenematics, Articulated figure, effectors, Geometric (key frame techniques), Physical dynamics, Behavioral in individual and as a group and Motion Control Methods (MCM) etc. In 2-D and 3-D animation work some specific functions should be used. Kinematics is the study of the time related properties of motion such as position, acceleration, velocity and independent of the underlying forces that produce the motion. Articulated figure is a structure that consists of a series of rigid links connected at joints, frequently only revolute or rotary joints in computer animation. End effector is the free end of a chain of links, for example, a hand at the end of an arm in human character.

Motion twin, time line effect, morphing, masking, blurring, expanding, transitions, transform and explode are such activities used for object motion. Frame by frame motion in certain software is the best media for character motions. You can make some action buttons, movie clips for an interactive animation.

For character (i.e. human) animation the type of information of primary importance in animating an object, especially an articulated figure is very important. For a key frame system this is the angle of each of the joints. In a forward kinematics system the motion of all the joints in character is explicitly set by the animator. The animator would move the shoulder, arm, elbow, fore arm, hand, eye and lips. In inverse kinematics the animator moves the end effector and the system computes move the corresponding positions.

Animation software Tools

Software is a fantastic tool for creating the animated films, web site animations, animated comics, interface and emotional faces. Some exclusive Computer Animation creator software are eFrontier MotionArtist, efrontier Anime Studio, Anime Studio Pro, Morpheus Photo Animation Suite, Animations Plus, Cosmic Blobs, Macromedia Fireworks, Morpheus Photo Morpher, Poser 6/Shade LE Bundle, 3D Figure Design and Animation, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Flash Pro, Fireworks, Istopmotion (Macintosh), Comic Life Deluxe, Poser Figure Artist, Animations & More, Cosmic Blobs - Expansion Pack Collection, Adobe LiveMotion, PodMedia Creator, Fisher Price Magna Doodle, 3D Album Picture Pro, Macromedia Flash Pro , CoreFX Three Level Complete Drawing, Eovia Carrara 4 Pro Win/Mac , Poser Figure Artist , Headline Studio 1.0 , iAnimator, Wild Photo Effects (Jewel Case) , WebRazor Pro 2.0 , Corefx Three Level , ProVenture Creative Animator , Net Ad Creator and many more.

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