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And I just chilled.

Okay...but I'm not bishounen enough...unless you think a 1/4 Asian Drew Carey is bishounen. I mean, ladies...I know you lovez da yaoi moments...but don't you wanna see dem yaoi moments with dem beautiful mens? ^.^

I don't know...if it'll get me some chicks, I'd do it. ^_^

Let's just hope SKN didn't say it out of jealousy, thinking he can no longer have KinFreon or something.  XD  :lol:

Whoa...that was not something I wanted to wake up to... ^_^;;; *mixes 151 with his Diet Coke*

And that's all I liked. I was giving her some mad love for her mad manga art skillz, yo! ^_^ I don't care whether or not she has a boyfriend...young women in general just scare me anyway. Took me a lot of courage for me to compliment her. ^_^;;;

#_# That's it. I'm outta here. I'm tired of being wrongfully judged.

snootch to the nootch!

Dude, I'm SO high...

It's the Circle of Love, baby! Can you feel The Love tonight? Awwww, yeah! ^_^

I'm gonna miss those days. Now it's getting to where anime and manga are going to have to be "solitary pursuits" (just like how I was into airplanes in high school) since the culture no longer accepts me; at least in the Pacific Northwest.

Ah, well...just gotta change schools. ^_^

Currently, I'm not in the right frame of mind to come up with anything of my own in response to that...but here's something I remembered commenting to someone in my LiveJournal around this time last year...

Anime is a fad in our mainstream American culture. A fad that is burning at it's highest flash, fanned by curiosity and the pursuit of dollar signs. Long regarded as an underground genre of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy community, anime in the US has worked it's way up from becoming the fodder of college nerds to a widely-accepted form of entertainment to those who are tired of the cliches churned out by our creative geniuses.

But as with any conflgration, the fire will die down, if not be put out. Yes, one day anime will fade back into relative obscurity and intellectual stigma. When the smallest of embers burn out and the smoke clears, only the true fans will remain. The true fans who have been there since it's haughty days of collegiate subculture. The true fans who know that there is more to anime than giant robots, magic girls, and dueling monsters. The true fans who feel deep in their heart the passion and love for this art form from another nation, regardless of monetary income and material accumulation. Hereforth, it is these true fans who have not merely chosen anime...for anime has chosen them.

Beautiful, darling! Very, very marvelous! The ladies in the drawings are sexy and...finely applied. ^_^ You have, what the kids call...da mad skillz, yo! Keep it going, keep it beautiful, and keep it real. ^_~

Look, there he is!

Start the Escalade, foo!

and so...we ride.

["Otaku no Video"]

I couldn't find their manga, their selection sucked, or their employees who, while well-versed in everything from Shakespeare to Sidney Sheldon, were complete idiots when it came to manga and remained oblivious to the mainstreaming of Japanese visual literature.

Not another one....

Listen, you. Thats because there IS NO MAINSTREAMING OF ANIME AND MANGA. Its NOT mainstream, and it NEVER will be. At least not in the forseeable future. It IS more popular than it used to be, yes, but it is still very much a niche market. This is the reason why companies continue to hack up anime for use on tv, because the original versrion is too japanese and that is NOT popular. Many otaku who surround themselves constantly with other otaku (like us) often cloud our own visions with the illusion that there are many more otaku than there really are, because those are the only people we see.

The fact of the matter is, while unlike five years ago the average american citizen may actually know what anime is, they still are not a hardcore fan. They may watch occassionally, but chances are small, and those that do probably watch the "americanized" versions.

Simply put, cartoons are still more popular than anime. Thus, when companies prep anime to be shown on television, they do their best to turn it from an anime into a cartoon, as cartoons are FAR more accepted, popular, and (most importantly) profitable.

The point is anime and manga are NOT mainstream in america, no matter what you may want or may fool yourself into believing. To expect the clerks at any given bookstore to have anything above a passing knowlege that "Manga is over there *point*" is to expect them to have indepth knowlege about every genre and subgenre ever. And if youve ever been to a REAL bookstore, you should know that thats just stupid. Romeo and Juliet alone probably outsells most of the manga section combined. Be glad they have any at all.

Well...I admit, I try to "dumb it down" to B&N employees by asking about "graphic novels", though usually I'd still get "huh?" or "are you talking about novels with explicitly-worded gory content?" or perhaps even looking at me with the stupid "Gah, you read comic books?" look. As having been both an employee and consumer of the retail world, I expect anyone at any store to have at least a basic knowledge of their product, whether they're selling vacuums, TV's, model airplanes, designer fragrances, whatever else. At its' heart, this is more of a consumer satisfaction and customer service issue than anything.

Also, B&N practically "hides" their manga, either mixing them with confusing American comic graphic novels or, even more crazily yet, meshing them in the "Science Fiction/Fantasy" category. Which in itself may work for such masterworks as "Gundam" or "Inu-Yasha", but alienates other titles of different genres.

I choose Waldenbooks because their manga are clearly identified, properly organized, and, in most locations, easy to find (such as with attention-grabbing graphics and displays or, in the case of the location at the Tacoma Mall, practically the first thing you see). And their employees, while most of them probably wouldn't know jack-sprat about "Kare Kano" or "Chobits", can easily guide you to that section in a friendly, knowledgable, non-patronizing manner. Because after all...in the end you're spending money at their store, whether you're buying classics, Clancy, Clavell, CLAMP, or even a few pictorials or Idiot's Guides. With that, they want you to keep coming and doing such. On another note, if there was a "Complete Idiot's Guide To Customer Service", I'd suggest it to the morons at B&N. But that's my opinion, and where I shop is my choice. You have your opinion, and where you shop is your choice. Isn't our country great? ^_^

*clears throat*

Anyway...on the other point...I understand your zealous fervor as a fan of anime, manga, and other Japanese pop culture as a whole. I share your pride in our beautiful culture, and it sometimes pains me to think of the sad word of "mainstreaming" (which I foreshadowingly ranted about in a newsgroup years ago...perhaps I should find it on Google Groups). Yet the thing we can't deny, no matter how much we try, is that such mediums are being localized and mainstreamed by corporate schmucks who only care about making money (the most notorious of them all being Stuart Levy, co-founder of Mixx Entertainment/TOKYOPOP, whom I had the sad and dubious honor of meeting as a guest at Baka Con 98 where he proceeded to treat us anime otaku like the scum on the bottom of his shoe...except we'd be the scum who'd make him money in this "Japanimation comic book" scheme). These hucksters are even starting to cash in on the exotic and intellectual allure of "anime" and "manga", rather than just classify them as just "cartoons" and "comics" as they might be known here.

There are two reasons why anime localized for our consumption seems so "cartoony"...mostly so that we, in our still majorly American culture, can understand and digest the story and characters better; and, sadly, to not piss off "angry parents with powerful lawyers" that will take away the corporate money and, of course, prevent more anime and manga from being brought here. That's not to say that anime and manga don't sell. The serials depicted on Adult Swim are just as profitable, if not more, than those on Toonami or Kids WB or wherever else anime is shown to a more widespread market. Almost every corporation dealing in popular culture on this side of the lake is catching on to not really just another "cartoon fad", but onto the magically entertaining and profitable rubber-suited monster that is anime...so the so-called "mainstreaming" is becoming just as sad a fact of life in our capitalist nation as some heartless developer buying and demolishing the neighborhood we live in so they can build a shopping mall. We can't fight the free-market economy, no matter how hard we try. Moreso...we just end up its' willing pawns, even if only subconsciously.

In "mainstreaming", I applaud that our favorite media is being more widely distributed and available. With that, I laud the fact that more people are getting into our interest, whether it be more people cultivating their manga art skills, more anime clubs popping up, or even more people coming to party with us at our conventions, if not more conventions forming themselves. In fact...I see you and others cheering J-pop music being distributed by our country's own recording industry (of course that's the same recording industry who wants to send high-powered lawyers after your folks if they find even one single mp3 on your hard drive through your p2p client). Your words were even "speak with your wallet". That's exactly what the youth of our nation is doing with the rest of Japanese pop culture being released here. Since the corporations are making more money, they can afford to bring more good stuff here from that crazy fantasyland we know as Japan.

Alas...even I know there's a dark side to "mainstreaming"...

Anime otakudom may be gaining more members through this more widely available medium. But as more seemingly "normal" people join us, we otaku are starting to lose our cultural identity. Our beautiful culture as a whole is changing. We used to be a merry group of intellectuals, shunned by general society and "the beautiful people" as "nerds", yet we didn't give a care because we anime otaku were all friends...united under the banner of Japanese popular culture. Anime gave us all a sense of unity, of togetherness, even a sense of community and brotherhood. Sure, anime was harder to find back then, but we had our ways. Even if it meant programming our VCR's to tape "Sailor Moon", "Teknoman", or even "Samurai Pizza Cats" as we headed off to our schooling or jobs. And anime conventions...at least the ones I remember going to back then, were all about Fanime's "By Fans, For Fans" credo...just a bunch of people getting together to have anime-type fun (never been to a Fanime yet, so I can't say anything else about it in particular; though I remember back when it was the closest anime con for us in the Pacific Northwest to even go to...which led to the forming of Baka Con 98--the convention that came be known as Sakura Con).

The times, they sure have a-changed, though...

Now, with this sad mainstreaming of our media, we're starting to attract the wrong people. Anime fandom, once barely even a mature collegiate subculture, has descended into an adolescent socio-political nightmare; it's getting to be more like high school, if you will. The "beautiful people" are starting to encroach upon our culture. And while they may take an interest in the media and its' culture (yes, you also notice how being a "nerd" in general is in fashion as well), they still bring their elitist tendencies with them and still make people like us feel inferior. We are starting to get more petty politics, cliquish factioning, interpersonal conflicts, snooty elitism, harried one-upmanship, and internal alienation than we'd like to have cared for years ago.

Even many conventions in themselves are changing. Many high-level staffers at other cons are turning into stuffy, uptight, corporate stuffed shirts who lose sight of their own anime otakuness in favor of pandering to the corporations, projecting a positive image to the mundanes, or even adopting the myopic delusion of "family-friendliness" (which, as many otaku know, is bullsnot because not all of anime is fluffy kids' cartoons). Some cons have even become so much like high school with the same kind of short-sighted administrators that see many old school, die-hard, party-hearty otaku as trenchcoated threats. Where we once were free to have fun and not give a care as long as we acted within reason and law, we now have to walk on eggshells...lest we be cast out unceremoniously by Con Security, even if our only sin was living life to the fullest.

Soup to nuts...I'm sure a lot of us got into anime and manga so we could be different, and to even escape the rigors of mundane high school society. Alas, with the mainstreaming of anime, we're losing our individuality and mundane high school society is following us like a lost puppy...that is, a lost puppy that's rabid and wants to tear us to shreds.

Don't blame me. Blame our country's humanity and its' relentless pursuit of the proverbial "dead presidents".

In closing, I have made my point. That is my opinion, which I have the right to. You have the freedom of choice to agree or disagree. You also have your opinion, which you have the right to. God Bless America! God Bless Otakudom!

Having said that...I still would like to see what Fanime has to offer. Even if I can't escape the high school society of anime fandom and its' conventions...sometimes the best thing to do is to just change schools. And kids...I am that mysterious transfer student you see and read so much about.

You'll hear from me. I am Kintaro Freon, a transplanted Californian from the Pacific Northwest, and I Am Otaku. Feel The Love, and Keep It Real. Peace out.

Required Viewing--"Otaku no Video" by GAINAX, released domestically on VHS and DVD by AnimEigo. DO NOT LOSE SIGHT!

HUH! I remember when I first discovered the manga section at Barnes and Noble.

*looks at Inu Yasha vol 1 in hands*
*looks at big, comfy chair*
*looks at clock on wall*
*has two hours to kill*

..........!!

*read*

I never liked Barnes & Noble...either because I couldn't find their manga, their selection sucked, or their employees who, while well-versed in everything from Shakespeare to Sidney Sheldon, were complete idiots when it came to manga and remained oblivious to the mainstreaming of Japanese visual literature. And there's only so much Starbucks a guy can smell at one time (yeah, odd, especially coming from someone who lives in the Pacific Northwest AND could take you on a walking tour of Seattle where one of the stops would be "Ground Zero"...the very first Starbucks Coffee ever established, located at Pike Place Market).

lol. And now that I work at gamestop, I get 30% off at barnes and noble! HA! (they own gamestop)

Oh, yeah, they do. ^_^ I get a 10% discount at Waldenbooks in the Preferred Reader Club. I save a whole buck for every $10 volume I buy. And, with tax, that usually gets me just a tad under the cover price (unless I shop in Portland, where they have a sales tax rate of zero). But then I also get points on my card, for every time I buy a manga, and that adds up to my 100-points-per-dollar goal to another $5 certificate. With as much manga as I buy, those points add up and I've been getting them certificates more often than when I was buying travel and cruise guides years ago. And yes...those $5 chits help big-time! ^_^

Ew, that was gross. ^_^

Can it get any better for us American anime/manga/J-pop culture fans? And I thought it was something special that Waldenbooks/Brentano's started selling manga. Heck that was so good...it was more than enough reason for me to renew my Preferred Reader membership that had been dormant for years since I stopped regularly buying travel guides and paperback novels.