Forget your Swiffer… It’s time for Mop Cat!

So I finally got a chance to watch Blood: The Last Vampire live Action.

It pays the original animated short film a wonderful homage and they could not have casted a better looking Saya… the rest of the non fighting supporting characters? Yeah, they could have… (Mini Rant: why is it so hard to find Japanese actors to play Japanese people? Not every non Japanese is oblivious bad Japanese dialogue.)

Now, I’ve only seen the short film and have yet to read or see the successor series Blood+. So I’m not sure how closely the film follows the “Blood line” after the mini boss is defeated. However film scripting and editing wise I can see how this movie would be trashed by critics alike.

But if you were a fan of the original animated short film, hong kong fights or my Chocolate review, then you will love blood. Go for the Blu Ray disc.

Anyone else? Rental…

Still one of the best anime adapted movies.

Here’s another sweet reason to support the cause… HAMMER TIME!

For the first time in Intermixi history, the Winter Maximum Extremist Tour makes it’s debut!

We’ll be heading to Tokyo, then the city of Hokkaido for the the 61st Sapporo Snow Festival!

Let’s not forget exploring Mount Fuji, dipping inside a real Japanese onsen are included as well in this winter getaway!

Click here for more information!

Are you near the Orange County, California area?

If so, you might be interested in the Japanese Street Fair this Sunday.

They’ll have a lot of stuff going on like: Sumo Wrestling, Japan Style Fashion Show and
Costume Play Show by Akihabara Maids!

And it’s only $2 to get in? Wow!

Check out their website directly here.

The Otaku Encyclopedia: An Insider’s Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan
By Patrick W. Galbraith
Kodansha

If you had told me in the early 90’s that I’d end up reviewing a book designed to explain highly-specific colloquial Japanese pop culture terms to an unknowing foreign audience, I’d have told you that you were street-rat insane. Then again, if you were living in La Porte Texas in the early 90’s then you were probably out of your damned mind anyway.

And here I am, reviewing this book.

Part of the problem about writing a compendium like this is that the big question isn’t “what’s in it?” but “what’s NOT in it?” Make no mistake: Patrick Galbraith, Intermixi’s famed cos-playing Akiba tour guide and Tokyo University PhD candidate, has definitely taken the path of greatest resistance here in trying to collect and elucidate the crème de la crème of Japan’s otaku lexicon. Couple this with his eye for detail and a willingness to research phenomenon that are highly subjective to fans the world over and you could see how easily the mark could’ve been missed with this project.

The good news? It wasn’t missed at all.

Clocking in at 248 pages, this nifty little tome is not at all a stop-gap thrown-together play for the attention of the manga cows at Borders. Instead it’s a lively and colorful guide to understanding some strikingly singular codewords which are liberally used in Japanese culture today.

“But I already know what moe means!” you say? Well, simmer down Johnny I-Know-Everything, because Galbraith goes all in with the explanations here. Rather than provide a dry and clinical delineation of words and phrases seen in your average harem anime, Galbraith gets down to the nitty gritty, explaining both the words and the concepts and histories that underlie them. This makes the ride a lot more fun and colorful, and adds a lot of spice to a book that could all too easily turn into a morass of dry terminology and katakana Engrish.

The nature of the beast dictates that Galbraith couldn’t cover everything, but he most certainly tried. Some exemptions could be confounding for the Japan-experienced otaku (“No Book-off?!?”), but in 248 pages you can’t have the world. The Otaku Encyclopedia provides the kind of in-depth research that would easily fire your engines if you were to undertake a travail like researching the particulars of Sora-mimi, H, Meruhen, et al. To top that off, meticulous attention is paid to notable historical figures and incidents in otaku culture both in Japan AND over-seas. This is a welcome development in that many enthusiasts would remain completely unaware of some of these details as their immediate cultural impact has long since transmogrified into touchstones for genre exercises or even punchlines. I can tell that all of you Matsuda Seiko fans are stoked!

Sprinkled throughout the book are 12 interviews with a number of interesting Otaku personalities, including former Gainax “Otaking” Okada Toshio, Gurren Lagann OP singer and otaku blog queen Nakagawa Shoko, and a rather interesting classic video game collector by the name of Anno Haruna. All of them come across as passionate and sincere, and Galbraith’s questions are not softballs but well-crafted and contextually appropriate for the topics discussed.

The Otaku encyclopedia’s graphic design and book quality is top-natch. Tankoban-sized (yes, it’s covered in the book too) and printed on high quality stock, the book features a hefty amount of pictures in both color and black and white in addition to a refreshingly bright and exciting layout. Moe-pon, the mascot featured on the front cover, pops up here and there through the book and has an interesting degree of interplay with the text, although she’s nowhere to be found cracking jokes when things like real-life murder cases are mentioned.

The only complaint I’ve heard from friends is that the book seems on the surface to be “too male”, but that may be a simple promotional conceit considering the hefty amount of coverage that things like yaoi, comike, and seme/uke receive. Target audience-wise this is a fine book for the beginning, intermediate, or “dabbling” Japanese pop culture fan, and I’d recommend it highly to open-minded parents or even teachers who are interested in ascertaining a bit more information about the ongoing manga invasion. The writing is brisk and clear, the size and length are easy-to-digest but not insubstantial, and the price as well as the book itself is quite attractive.

Gaman shi-you, ne?

Simply put… a video about Love Hotels. What a concept.

Recently Intermixi’s owner (and our boss) Isaac (more known to the world as Akasan) took some long awaited personal time off after the Tokyo Game Show tour. One of his last stops was super country side Yame, Fukuoka. (home of the currently jailed former Livedoor.jp president, betcha didn’t know that huh?)

Yame is very, very country side and is know for it’s miles and miles of rice fields, there’s only one Mcdonalds and the bathroom irrigation system is something best left to the imagination. Thus you won’t find too many foreigners out here, let alone someone that looks like our Akasan.

See what happens when Aka visit a daycare center and basically gives these young kids a shock!!! Will they love or flee?

Cont: (And yes… he wears that Intermixi hoodie everywhere.)

BONUS:

Here’s Aka trying to teach young Kouta how to play a “Rock Band style” drum machine. With the drooling chin, at least he got the “druggie” part of the rock lifestyle down…

Japanese lesson for today: “Wakaru?” (Do you understand?)

Wanna know how they do Halloween in Japan?

Here’s a video of the Japanese Halloween Parade in Kawasaki!

(Detroit Metal City @ :30 Satsugai!!!)