I won the desktop category of the C3 Winter Contest with my Nausicaä wallpaper w00t!
…I’m putting the $20 winnings into a personal tablet fund. I’ve been saying that I’d get a tablet for YEARS. Maybe this will finally get me over the line 
Much thanks to Rain for putting on a nice contest for us! The new C3 404 Page Contest is another fun one with a great theme, so definitely swing by and check it out!
Came across Wildgrounds’ list of alternative Japanese animation a couple days ago and decided to give the videos a watch. Some were trippy, some were sweet, but they were certainly all different and worth checking out. Of the videos listed, I particularly enjoyed Mount Head and Day of Nose because the animation were more narrative-driven as opposed to style-driven (although both were stylish in their own way), but the one that resonated with me the most was Akino Kondoh‘s Ladybirds’ Requiem. Fluid, elegant, yet nostalgic at the same time, this may be one of the most beautifully surreal pieces of animation that I’ve seen in recent years.
I originally wanted to make January Studio Ghibli Month in honor of Hayao Miyazaki‘s 70th birthday, but as I started browsing through scans I realized that I had too many wall ideas and not enough time to deliver. So I figured, why not make this a year-long personal project? Expect to see a lot more Ghibli-related blog posts, tweets, and of course, Ghibli/Miyazaki walls from me throughout the year! This is not to say that I’ll only be making Studio Ghibli walls in 2011, but I will be prioritizing those WIPs. In the meantime, if there are any Studio Ghibli films that you’d like to see more walls for, please let me know!
P.S. Just realized that I’d forgotten to enable multiple selections – you can now vote for more than one Ghibli films that you’d like to see more walls of!
After reading Jason Thompson’s excellent review of Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä manga, I was inspired to watch this YouTube video on “The Birth of Studio Ghibli,” which was apparently a feature on the Nausicaä DVD. It’s definitely a must-watch for anyone interested in Studio Ghibli, not least because it explains how the name “Studio Ghibli” (mistakenly) came about, shows how Hideaki Anno became involved in Princess Mononoke, and also reveals why Hayao Miyazaki once spent a day in the field looking at women’s skirts.
In this documentary, Studio Ghibli Producer Toshio Suzuki explained how the Nausicaä manga came to be. Apparently when Suzuki had tried to pitch the concept of Nausicaä to different studios, he was flat out rejected as the producers couldn’t see the point of making a feature film without a manga to support the promotion. Suzuki then decided that if the producers wouldn’t let Miyazaki make the film without a source manga, Miyazaki would have to create that manga. As a result, the Nausicaä manga was published in 1982 and became the most popular feature in Animage one year later. The success of the Nausicaä manga paved the way for the production of the Nausicaä film that so many know and love, and the film was released in 1984. This sequence starts at the 5:50 mark in part 1 of the documentary on YouTube, and is definitely worth checking out in tandem with Jason Thompson’s column on the Nausicaä manga!
More fruits of Flickr browsing! I’m not a cosplayer so I might be spouting nonsense, but I’m guessing that Ghibli characters are hard to cosplay well, especially the ones with relatively simple designs (think Kiki, Ponyo, or Chihiro). Cosplay photos of the more elaborate Ghibli characters like Princess Mononoke or Howl can be a lot more visually impressive, especially with regards to the costuming. But at the same time, I’m equally (if not a tad more) impressed by cosplayers who can pull off the “simpler” Ghibli characters.
I finally managed to watch The Princess and the Frog with the bf and really, really enjoyed the movie. It was such a nice throwback to the heydays of traditional Disney animation, with lovable characters constantly bursting into song, a well-paced storyline, and a really heartwarming ending. I was especially impressed by the “Almost There” sequence, with its beautifully fluid animation that hearkened back to the era of Art Deco and jazz 
I feel like the new anime season will be slow, but there are still a fair number of shows that I’m interested to check out this season so I’m not sure if that sentiment is wholly justified. I blame all the WTF shows this winter, number one being Houkago no Pleiades. While Gainax’s involvement is promising, how the hell will (Subaru) cars be involved? Also, the trailer has no discernible plot to speak of, and apart from some of CLAMP’s works I’m generally not a big fan of magical girls. Maybe Gainax and Subaru are trying to go for an OS-tan type hit? I actually kinda want to know how this show works, but I’m not sure if I care enough to actually watch it myself. Hopefully the wonderful reviewers over at ANN will preview this one so I can find out more about the show without potentially subjecting myself to blatant marketing or whatever else
On a more positive note, I’m pretty excited about Kimi ni Todoke season 2. From the manga I know that season 2 should cover some fairly heartwrenching/heartwarming developments, so I look forward to picking up the new season. Gosick looks like another strong show from Bones that might be worth checking out. Fractale looks like a promising show as well, although my interest was mainly piqued by this thought-provoking Asahi.com article on director Yutaka Yamamoto:
Another concern for the industry is a possible shrinking fan base. Estimates put the population of die-hard anime fans at around 150,000. But Yamamoto suspects the number now falls short of 100,000.
Part of the reason, Yamamoto said, is that producers, including himself, devoted too much of their energies in creating cutesy “moe” (budding)-type characters in hopes of making sure-sell products in an already small market.
…His latest anime series, “Fractale,” to be aired from Jan. 13 on Fuji Television Network Inc., will target non-anime fans and one-time fans who have shifted away from the genre.
“The anime industry is said to have become introverted. But our business is about providing something fun and exciting to people. I decided to stop being inward-looking,” Yamamoto said.
Sounds good to me! Plus, Fractale is one of the noitaminA shows this season and this block has not failed to disappoint since the days of Honey & Clover. I’m about a third of the way through The Tatami Galaxy and am really enjoying it so far, plus I’ve heard really good things about Kuragehime, so I have high expectations for noitaminA to consistently deliver quality shows 
Last but certainly not least on my to-watch list is Hourou Musuko, the other new series in the noitaminA block. I’m particularly interested in this show because of its focus on transgender sexuality, and it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the anime context. Plus I’m in love with the trailer – the animation looks like moving watercolors!
So in a nutshell – continue love for Bones and noitaminA. I also look forward to adding other series to my long to-watch list depending on the word on the street!
Update: I thought Beelzebub had potential, but wasn’t sure if it’s worth checking out. I’m now convinced to at least give the first episode a try!
I’ve been looking at Japanese album covers lately for design inspiration, and I googled mink on a whim, mostly because I remembered seeing her e+motion album cover posted to Animepaper as a NANA scan:
I actually have no idea why this cover was tagged as a NANA scan, because as far as I can tell none of mink’s songs were ever used for the NANA series – not to say mink couldn’t have been inspired by Ai Yazawa’s work, of course. I’m also not sure who illustrated these album covers, but I suspect that mink herself might be the actual designer. In any case, these cover illustrations are really quite beautiful. I love the stark simplicity, the movement of the lines, and the abundant negative space.
