Straight versus Slash Pairings

One of my best friends, whom I call "Hikari" on the internet, labels herself as a fujoshi. According to Anime News Network, this term means "literally "rotten girl," referring to female fans of BL (Boy's Love). The term fujoshi is often used to refer to female otaku in general, however strictly speaking, a female otaku who is not a fan of BL should not be called a fujoshi."
In short: a yaoi fangirl.
Here, I will not deny it: I enjoy yaoi as much as the next girl. However, with any fanbase, hobby or social group, negative stereotypes are attached. I've met various peers younger than me who were watching hard-core shows and reading explicit doujinshi before their freshman year in high school. In all honesty, these cases make me wince. My first encounter with doujinshi was when I was roughly fourteen or fifteen; my fanfiction career didn't start up until I was sixteen; and I've only recently watched my first BL anime this past January, that being Junjou Romantica which is arguably on the tamer side of the spectrum than certain other shows. This being said, I'd like to share a few of my views on the yaoi world, flaws and upsides alike.

Marik Ishtar and Yami Bakura from Yu-Gi-Oh! Artist currently unknown.

First of all, if you're an anti-yaoi girl or a straight guy, you may currently be partaking in two actions: scratching your head or sighing with relief.
First: you may wonder why a girl like Hikari, who comes from a conservative family and approaches a one-year anniversary with her heterosexual partner would enjoy and obsess over... Well, gay porn for lack of a better word. This goes for the massive LGBT population within the anime, game and cosplay community - why would a lesbian enjoy seeing two guys go at it?
I brought this up in discussion with a professional therapist. She very easily stated that sexuality and pornography (though not all yaoi is porn) are two very separate areas. The best example is pointing out how a homophobic man will drool over the sight of two girls kissing - how is a teenager squealing over her laptop any different?
As for the second option - the relieved exhale - save it. It doesn't matter what fandom you love, what shows or movies you have stocked up on Netflix. No one can escape a slash pairing.
If you're trying to argue, claiming you don't partake in anime or manga, that you only play Portal, not Final Fantasy, it doesn't matter.
Whatever the medium, whoever the characters, slash has invaded everything from Harry Potter to South Park. I once stumbled across a picture putting Peeta and Gale from The Hunger Games into each other's arms.

Kyle and Stan from South Park. Art credit goes to greteling on deviantArt.

Moving on: stereotypes.
The conventional fujoshi and weeaboo are lumped together forming a terrifying image of a girl with bubble gum-pink hair looking at you wide-eyed and crying in a high-pitched mispronounced voice, "SO KAWAII DESU!!!"
I'm fortunate not to have these people in my life.
A while back, I was discussing Soul Eater with Spoonychan, an well-known cosplayer and online friend of mine. Her most recent cosplay is that of Death the Kid, and I brought up a recent event I'd been at where a couple was cosplaying said character and Soul together as a slash pairing. We both agreed that we didn't approve of the couple, myself being a strong supporter of Soul and Maka and a closeted lover of Black Star and Tsubaki together - both are heterosexual pairings.
Spoony's older YouTube videos date back to roughly four years ago most of this - guess what - supporting yaoi and shonen-ai while her former cosplay partner, Arxaith, turned me into the fanfiction writer I am today. This doesn't mean, however, Spoony has to only partake in same-sex pairings.
Is this sinking in, yet?

Nick and Ellis from Left 4 Dead 2. Art credit goes to Kaizokukaze on deviantArt.

Really, what else is there to say? I'm not expecting this blog post to change any minds, but I hope it can answer some questions. At the end of the day, friends that yaoi together stay together. Being a squealing fangirl causes strong bonds of friendship... And produces some very interesting art and writing.

Shizuo and Izaya from Durarara! Cosplay credit goes to NamelessCosplay on deviantArt.

- Much luvz, Hideki

Mangaman

I love the library, and I think everyone should have a library card. My neighborhood library is where I read the entire Rurouni Kenshin and Buso Renkin manga series. There, I found Afterschool Noghtmare which remains one of my top favorite comics of all time, and where I have also found some very BAD material.
Recently, on one of my annual visits, I picked up a hardback book titled Mangaman.

The book - more like a graphic novel rather than a manga - takes place in an American town named Castleton. Before to a local annual get-together for high school seniors to drink and party, a girl named Marissa Montaigne and her friend Lexa argue about the leading lady's decisions in their last year of school - dumping her uber-popular boyfriend and wearing outrageous outfits ranging to fem!Indiana Jones to Marilyn Monroe - while vaguely mentioning an article in Time magazine. Supposedly, a scientist recently made contact with a boy from another dimension, who is now stuck in our world. Late for the party, Marissa has a run-in with her ex, and they're interrupted by the very boy mentioned earlier. His name is Ryoko Kiyama, and appears to be a living manga character.
Marissa, fed up with her superficial classmates and old life latches on to Ryoko, amazed by a boy who drops speed lines and sound effects in class. As they grow closer, he teaches her to see the world in 2-D. However, not everyone welcomes Ryoko into the community. Shunned for being different, he's persecuted and even attacked all while monsters called Kaiju are determined to enter Castleton through the still-open dimensional rip.

Really, Mangaman was just a fun book to read, plain and simple. Ryoko and his scientist guardian are likeable, Marissa's movements drawn in classic American Superman-esque style are gorgeous, and the gags about the manga world versus ours had me stifling giggles. The fact that Ryoko will have to mop up water from a personal rain cloud or yank hearts off his eyes after seeing Marissa in a kimono make up for the slightly cliched style he's drawn in - something akin to Sailor Moon rather than a modern manga. Then again, that goes for the western characters as well, as they are drawn by a woman who once worked on the Superman comics. The dialogue is realistic, the pace is fast but enjoyable, and throw in a reference to Article 175 and you have a fantastic, quick and easy read for almost anyone - manga-lovers trying to get into Western comics or vice-versa.
I highly, highly recommend Mangaman.

- Much luvz, Hideki.

Sac-Anime 2012

Written here, out of laziness.
Sorry for the inconvenience. ^_^"
- Much luvz, Hideki.

What's the deal with that "Cupcakes" fanfiction?

Here's a post for you bronies out there. And for my regular readers: Warning! The following blog post discusses adult material and extreme violence. (No, this isn't turning into a My Little Pony blog, but this has been on my mind.)

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Everyone's heard of the wildly-popular newest generation of ponies. The series features new characters, a larger fanbase, songs, and superior animation and voice-acting as opposed to previous shots at the franchise. The army of bronies and pegasisters has given way to countless videos, pieces of fanart, and the dreaded fanfiction.

Last January, at an non-confirmed date a mysterious story titled Cupcakes was posted on 4chan. So far, the author SEEMS to be someone by the name of Sergeant Sprinkles, but that too is not certain. Here's where the story gets difficult: to get a full (and safe) synopsis of the fanfiction, if you're unfamiliar with it, click here. If you're too lazy to do that, here's the short version: Pinkie Pie (shown above right) drugs and kidnaps Rainbow Dash. When Rainbow Dash wakes up, the story that follows is something of a mix of Sweeny Todd and Silence of the Lambs as she's tortured to death for the "special ingredient" in Pinkie's delicious cupcakes.

Charming, isn't it?

To make things clear: No, i haven't read this fanfiction, and I don't plan to any time soon. The last time I read a grimdark fanfiction, it was by accident and I didn't sleep properly for the next forty-eight hours. As for Cupcakes, it's caused an uproar of either praise or rants of condemnation from bronies in every nook and cranny of the internet. Putting shipping and pairings aside, let's go over the reactions...

At first, many fans were outraged that the piece had ever been written. Pinkie Pie was created as the happy, carefree pony of the six main cast members and it was wrong to think she'd ever harm her companions, especially not Rainbow Dash who she works hard to befriend very early on in the series. On top of this, the story was seen as overly-violent and mentally scarring. Having seen a fan-made "animated version" of Cupcakes, I definitely agree on that account.

The other group viewed it differently.

They seemed to delight in the idea of Pinkie Pie becoming a psychopath and spawned the pictures and spin-off fanfictions we now have lurking on the internet. Besides, it was just a fanfiction, right? At least it wasn't as bad as Sweet Apple Massacre. (Note to readers: Sweet Apple Massacre is another violent fanfiction that I haven't researched much OR read. After a quote from my brother, I don't plan to touch it with a twenty-foot pole. Before looking it up for yourself, know that it's easily the most-hated piece related to the Friendship is Magic boom yet to be created - much more so than Cupcakes.)

As a third party, trolls have started using cupcakes as a tool. Pinkie Pie sings to Applebloom (above right) about baking cupcakes in an episode of the actual show. The song itself is innocent, catchy, and fits Pinkie's canon personality. However, if you look up the song to listen to it on YouTube, you're most likely to see someone comment something along the lines of "Hey, you guys like cupcakes? You should read a fanfiction called 'cupcakes'. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie bake together - it's very beautifully written."

I saw this comment and responded immediately with the word "Troll". The writer's response was to continue to try and beckon me to read the story, proving again that TROLLS ARE STUPID.

Wrapping up what is no doubt the darkest post this blog has yet, what do I, Hideki think of the Cupcakes hype?

When I read fanfiction, or write it for that matter, my belief is this: Fanfiction is a way to see the characters you love in a situation that they haven't had a chance to experience in the show, movie, game, song, et cetera that they're featured in. Cupcakes follows this belief, HOWEVER: I'm also a stickler for in-character writing. Watching My Little Pony I admit, yes, Pinkie has that one episode where she loses grip on her sanity a bit, but my problem is that she had warning signs and was PROVOKED before slipping to the point of creating imaginary friends. As far as I know, there was no lead-up to drugging Rainbow Dash, a friend she's very close with. On top of this, Friendship is Magic is a KID'S SHOW. Yes, the brony community is greatly made up of adults, but originally the ponies were created with pre-pubescent girls in mind. That, and it's also shown on Saturday mornings on the Hub, a channel for children. That fact makes it hard for me to see any character from the show, let alone Pinkie, harming another in such a gruesome way. This also affects the fan-pairings in my mind: Yes, Pinkie Dash and ApplejackxRarity seem to make sense, but I don't care much for and fanfiction or fanart that go beyond pony-hugs and maybe a kiss on the cheek. (With the exception of The Party isn't Over Yet, which was so well-written it has parts that could practically be written into the show.)

No hard feelings towards those Cupcakes lovers, but I won't be joining you, I'm sorry to say.

- much luvz, Hideki.

RANT: Trolls are Stupid

Remember my blog post about going to WonderCon back in May?
While I was there, pushing my way through the crowds of people, some random guy and his friend passed by me and said very clearly something along the lines of "Look at all these assholes." followed by a chuckle from his companion.
I'm sorry sir, but you paid MONEY to get inside of a convention. So why are you bashing the people here? What, I wonder, is the point of spending a perfectly good Saturday afternoon in a place that you had to pay to get in to with when you're just there to make snarky comments about those who want to enjoy themselves?
This memory was brought up by a deviantArt member who posted a journal detailing someone saying they "HATE" what she's done to the new My Little Pony fandom. Whether you're a hardcore brony or don't give a Pinkie Pie cupcake about the show, the artist gave a very good argument:
She hadn't drawn the picture to offend anyone, and it wasn't targeted at the commentator, obviously - the two had never crossed paths before. The commentator made on of the most cowardly moves I've ever seen a troll make, however: they blocked the artist from commenting back. On a separate account, the artist chewed out the commentator rather explicitly, but as said before, made an excellent argument.

I see this sort of thing all the time on YouTube: someone posts an anime clip from the English dub of the show. Let's say it's Ichigo's transformation in Bleach for argument's sake. Johnny Yong Bosch is on the screen screaming or laughing maniacally as it's Hollow versus Soul Reaper in one body, and below there's the comment box. While I raise my eyebrows, impressed by Johnny's talent once again, people are writing careless messages like "the original's better" or "this dub sucks". You get the idea.
The most offensive one I recall was on a video posted by the voice-actor. Steve Blum is probably most well-known for his role as Oroshimaru and Zabuza in Naruto. He put his demo reel up on YouTube for loyal fans, and one gutsy viewer posted a comment saying they wished Steve was away from the microphone forever, mentioning a club for those with that shared belief.

Why on Earth have we slipped so low?
There is a very simple rule to anything on the internet: Don't like? Don't watch. Why is it so hard for people to understand this principle? Why waste your time torturing yourself with a show, dub, or even a CONVENTION for God's sake that you don't enjoy? Does the masochism make you cooler? If so, do you REALLY need to share your complaints with EVERYONE? Even if you disagree, what's the point in picking a fight with some hardcore fan? Believe me, I've tangled with enough Twilight fangirls to know how to say, "I don't like the series, okay? We don't have to talk about it." Rather than pick a fight. The argument will go nowhere, and someone will get hurt.

- Much luvz, Hideki.

Kingdom Hearts: A final end

When was the point where it stopped being fun?

Are you still waiting for your life to start?

Once upon a time in the far-away land on Eng, there lived a girl named Jenn who loved a girl named Kelly. Jenn needed a way for Kelly to notice her, so she donned her mullet wig and Organization XIII coat to start a web show. This is the story of the hugely popular Demyx Time YouTube series. What started as a crush spawned into a now widely-known internet sensation that's grown by over 40,000 subscribers, sprouted from one girl in with a camera to an entire cast and was born from a love story that's now touched hundreds of people's hearts.
However, all good things must come to an end.
After about four years, it was announced that the fifteenth and final episode of Demyx Time had been filmed, and the show would soon be ending. However, the end seemed to have a larger effect on Kelly and Jenn, the internet stars.
Trying to break away from their Kingdom Hearts roots, Parle Productions began releasing their newest series The Marauders, based off of Harry Potter. After various announcements about a Left 4 Dead music video to be filmed at the next convention they were attending, the two uploaded a video of them cosplaying Nick and Ellis from L4D2.
The newest video spawned countless comments somehow relating back to Demyx Time and The Sora Show. Yesterday, Kelly officially announced it on her journal:
Parle Productions is quitting Kingdom Hearts cosplay permanently.
Time has passed, and simply put, they're tired of Axel and Demyx. They've essentially exhausted Demyx Time, but Kelly mentioned that she doesn't enjoy playing Sora any longer either. Therefore: After the final episode of Demyx Time is released, Kingdom Hearts will end for Parle.
Today, Jenn put her final cosplay picture of Demyx on DeviantArt, and Kelly wrote an update detailing that they're looking for a house.
I'm sad to see it go: truly, I am.
If it weren't for web shows like theirs and The Misadventures of MarVex I'd have never enjoyed the fandom as much as I have. Also: Jenn and Kelly have helped me with some personal problems as well.

Parle isn't dead.

The Marauders will continue, and I'm hoping The Shinra Files will as well.
I hope Jenn and Kelly the best: whatever they choose to do, there's no point in doing it if they don't enjoy it as much as the people watching.

Parle, here's to you.
Have a good future.

- Much luvz, Hideki.

New Blog

I'm not done with anime, but someone new has appeared in my life.
Actually, three somethings.
I aqquired three hermit crabs last Saturday that are now alive and well at this very moment. Their names are Sei, Kino, and Marluxia. You can read it here.

Thanks!

- Much luvz, Hideki.