Representation of Yokai (Demon, Ghost, Monster) in Anime & Wuxia

Yokai/Youkai can mean a ghost, monster, demon, spirits, phantom or strange apparition. This word was derived from the Chinese kanji: Yao Guai, 妖怪 (yao means demon/monster and guai means weird).

We see lots of these monsters in various Anime, such as Yu Yu Hakusho, D.Grayman, Blood+, Shounen Onmyouji, Ghost Hunt, Inuyasha and more.



The translation for Yokai I've seen most is "Demon", or "Monster". A good example is Inuyasha, he is known as half-demon. But, is the word "Demon" the same as what we're used to? No. I believe Demons in Anime translated from Yokai are very different. They're more like monsters, than demons that burn in hell. I think by watching many Anime with the concept of demons, people have adapted a different meaning to that word.

Is Demon a good translation for Yokai? I actually can't think of a better word. Monsters also have its own meaning in English, so I don't think it would fit all the time, since Yokai can be anything that's seen as a creature, that's strange. However, many Yokai are really not that scary and can just be big looking creatures or even animals. In Yu Yu Hakusho, Yokai are

Yokai (in this case, Yaoguai) is also portrayed a lot in Wuxia as well, especially in mythological and game-based series like Chinese Paladin, Xuan Yuan Sword and Strange Tales of Liaozhai. In those shows, usually a Yaoguai is not a human (huh, of course!) and they are some form of animal spirit. Some of them may be nasty, for example - we may call it a spider demon, others can appear to be good, like a mermaid spirit.



(She's known as the butterfly spirit in Chinese Paladin, but she is grouped as a monster)

Many shows have debated whether Yokai/Yaoguai are good or evil. In shows like Xuan Yuan Sword and Chinese Paladin, those so-called Demons often show human emotions. Often, humans in the shows have impure thoughts and turn evil. That started the talk of, "if humans go down the wrong path, and demons want to be kind, then what's the difference between the two?"

This is explored in great detail with Ningke from Xuan Yuan Sword, as she was a demoness, yet she had good in her heart.

When Characters Self-Sacrifice in Anime & TV Series [Spoilers]

In Anime and Wuxia, many characters choose to sacrifice themselves for someone else. They may be the hero/heroine, an ex-villain, or even just a normal person, but their selfless decisions to put themselves in danger for someone else often makes them very noble and memorable and leaves us wondering - what motivated them to do that? What exactly was going through their mind at the moment of sacrifice?



Firstly, I'd like to split the "sacrifice" into three types: Love, Righteousness and Repayment.

Sacrifice for Love

Sacrificing for love is when a character uses their own love to protect someone they love. The person they love may be a romantic partner or a family member, but these characters regard their loved one very highly, to the point where they will do whatever it takes to keep their loved one happy or alive, even if it cost their own lives.

Example 1 is Hinata from Naruto, although she didn't die, but she jumped in front of Pain's attacks to block them from Naruto, because she loved him.



Another example is Yueru in Chinese Paladin, even though she loved Li Xiaoyao, choose to sacrifice herself so he and the girl he loved could live together because she just wanted him to be happy, regardless of who he is with.

Example 3 would be Al from Fullmetal Alchemist, who sacrifices himself near the end of the series to bring back Edward's missing arm so he can defeat their Father.

Fourth example is Yu'er sacrificing her last bit of her energy to protect Jingchou in Xuan Yuan Sword when Blood Pearl was taking everyone's lives, she said "if in this world, only one of us can survive - it has to be you."

Final example is Xiao Yao from Fairy of the Chalice, she exchanged her own life (thousand years of cultivation) to bring back the wife of the man she loved back from the dead. She had no regrets whatsoever, even though she would turn into ashes herself.

I believe these characters care so much about the person they love in such a selfless way, that they don't even spend a minute thinking about their own fate.

Sacrifice for Righteousness

These characters choose to sacrifice for someone (they may not even know well) because it was the right thing to do. These characters have a strong sense of what's right and wrong, although they may not admit it or realize it at first, but they will show it with their action when the critical time comes.



An excellent example of sacrificing for righteousness is when Yusuke in Yu Yu Hakusho pushed a small boy out of the way from a moving vehicle and then got hit himself and died.

Example 2 is when Chiyo in Naruto sacrificed her remaining Life Energy to resurrect Gaara, redeeming her part in the sealing of the Ichibi.

The third example is in Gurren Lagann, during the final battle with the Anti-Spiral, Kittan sacrificed himself to give the others a chance to win the battle. He did it because he knew it was the right thing to do, that it would give Dai-Gurren a chance to save the world.

Example 4 is Madoka in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, she makes a huge sacrifice with her wish - where is granted the ability to destroy all witches before they are born. She effectively becomes a god. However, she is written out of existence, unable to be known to or interact with anyone. The only person who remembers her is Homura.

Another example is Jing Tian from Chinese Paladin 3 willing to use most of his life to exchange for and revive all those who were killed by Evil Sword Immortal.

The final example is the epic scene in Strange Hero Yi Zhi Mei when the brocade guards realized that Li Gexiao was all along doing the right thing, even though he was framed and was sentenced to death, but the guards realized what wrong or right meant, and in the name of justice, they decided to give him to a count of ten where they wouldn't see a thing (so they could use this time to escape), even though doing this would put them and their families in great risk.



Sacrificing for righteousness may be even harder than for love. My thoughts are, perhaps these people have a very firm beliefs. Or perhaps they were inspired by someone else's sense of justice and came to a realization on what they should be doing. As what Yumeke said, Anime characters who sacrifice for righteousness may be influenced by the samurai ethos, also known as Bushido (way of the warrior) - underlines four main concepts: Law of honor, obedience, duty, and self-sacrifice. Again, this is why I say Wuxia and many Action Anime are very similar. Wuxia (Wu literaly is the same word as Bo in Japanese) means martial arts or warrior, and the concept of chivalry, righteousness and self-sacrifice are all quite similar. (That's why Anime fans should totally try out some Wuxia series - Watch Top Recommendations here!)

Sacrifice for Repayment

Sacrificing for repayment is the third form of sacrifice I've seen in shows. Usually, these characters were formally evil and undergo a great change after they were inspired by another character (usually the hero) or was saved by someone. These characters often come back and save the hero or another good character as repayment.

An example is Gaara, after battling with Naruto and realizing that true strength came from protecting those he loved, Gaara began to realize his mistakes, and thus changed. In a later episode, he came back to save Rock Lee as he was about to be defeated. Although Gaara didn't die, he used up almost all his energy to help Rock Lee, which signifies that he was ready to sacrifice his life for it.



Another example is Vegeta from Dragonball Z. Even after he was spared by Goku after their fight on earth, he was still evil for a while but there were several times when he saved or helped the good guys. When he went to earth and lived there for a while, he gradually became good and if not for him, Gohan would have never defeated cell. He stumbled again when he accepted the Majan Power but realized his mistake and sacrificed himself (by blowing himself up) to try and save the world and his family from Buu.

My Thoughts on Sacrifices

I find self-sacrifices in both Anime and Wuxia very appealing, because I love seeing characters think for others. Also, it's something that I feel would be hard to imagine in real life, as we're not even in these situations, so it would be impossible to know what we'd do, but in a fantasy world, it's always nice to know that such nobel and selfless characters exist.



(Yu'er's sacrifice in Xuan Yuan Sword, giving her last energy to Jingchou)

How Humor is Portrayed through Expressions in Anime/TV Series

I've been watching a lot of Anime and Wuxia, and I noticed that most Anime and Wuxia I love are ones filled with humor. Then, I started thinking. What makes these shows funny? Why do we find certain things funny? What exactly makes us laugh? I didn't really know the answer at first, so I decided to take a couple of scenes I thought were hilarious and deconstruct them, to find out exactly what I thought was funny. One of the things that distinctively stood out was expressions/voice.

I am aware there are many more ways to portray humor but this article will be just focusing on expressions and voice.

Humor through Expression and Voice



(Hilarious angry expression from One Piece)

One of the major ways to convey humor in both Anime and Wuxia is through expressions. In Anime, expressions may be an exaggerated face, or funny looking eyes and teeth that looks completely different from how they usually look. Their teeth may be huge and in zigzags and so on.

I think one of the main things that make us laugh is when something unexpected happens. That also applies to when someone says something unexpected. That also explains why we don't usually find something as funny (or we don't laugh as much) the second time. That's because we already know and was expecting it. Perhaps we find these expressions funny because we usually don't see them.

An equivalent of that in Wuxia would be when characters have funny voices, expressions on their faces and just act completely crazy or random. That can be perceived as really funny, especially if we're not used to a character acting this way. An example of that would be Jianchi in Xuan Yuan Sword. After his souls got removed, he turned into a crazy madman. Probably one of the funniest characters I've seen a long time, Jianchi's humor comes from his voice, facial expressions and madness.

Here's an example of that on an MV I made:



Sometimes, we may be expecting a character to say something, but the character says something completely the opposite (with a funny face), and if that manages to catch us off guard, we will probably find it very funny. Also, the other character's reaction can also play an important role in how funny the scene is. Sometimes, you can just tell naturally, that a reaction is funny. As you do when you tell a funny joke and you can tell how people felt with their reactions.

A great advantage of humor through expressions is that you don't need to have any prior knowledge, as jokes often reference something that requires knowledge beforehand. Watching funny expressions in Anime is like watching Mr Bean and laughing to his silliness - you don't even need to know English to get the humor. Although in Anime, you will need to know what they're saying, but at least you don't need to have knowledge about something beforehand to understand the joke.

Scene Analysis

I'm going to be analyzing a scene from Bleach, which you can watch here.

In the first scene, Ichigo was asking Urahara why didn't he tell the truth in a very serious tone. Then, Urahara unexpectedly said "exactly right", with "GUILTY happy" face! Then, Ichigo elbows him and says, "that just pisses me off". I thought the build up of comedy began with Urahara replied, then it got funnier when Ichigo reacted the way he did (with the angry face and saying it pisses me off in that tone).



Let's also look at the One Piece example. Sanji and Zoro are sleeping on the ground. They hear Nami calling them to wake up, and Sanji was being all flirty towards Zoro (asking for a kiss hahaha!), thinking it was Nami. Then the both of them wake up, and of course, Sanji was the first to call Zoro a bastard with a disgusting face that scared him half to death. Of course, Zoro returned that hilarious expression.

I'm a huge fan of funny expressions like that and I think what makes them so funny is that we weren't expecting them.

Judging Impressions - What Makes a Good Anime?

After spending some time thinking about what exactly makes a good Anime, I did some research on the internet and thought about my own preferences, I came up with a list of important things that people are looking for when judging Anime.



Artwork/Graphics

People tend to be attracted to things that look good at first. This works well for first impressions and most people tend to first look at how appearances are than the quality of it inside! How many times have we gained interest of a series by just looking at its poster or cover? The saying "judging a book by its cover" is true, and a lot of us do it without even thinking. Just think about it. Have we ever liked a villain because he/she looked sexy or hot? Have we not liked a character as much because we thought they were ugly? Have we particularly liked a character because they look beautiful? Although not everyone judges like that, a fair amount will tell you they are attracted to a character because of the way they look. This is not wrong, because it's as if we're programmed to like things that look aesthetically pretty to us. This is similar to when we judge new Anime, we will look at how it looks. For anime, people are likely to judge on how good the artwork looks. For live action, people will probably look at how the main characters look. This is what I call, the initial excitement/glow, where we are draw to something we think looks good at first. This is not to say later on, we wouldn't get tired of it, because good looks fade over time. We're going to eventually be after something more. This brings us to the next point --

Story

The story of the Anime is crucial. Having good artwork/great looking people is not enough if we want to capture people's attention for a long time. Perhaps people may be draw by looks at first, but it won't be long before they'll be judging by the story. Story can also be broken down in parts:

Concept - Firstly, people may look at the concept of the plot and see if it's fitting got their taste. The concept is just the overall story idea. Some may feel particularly unique, others may seem more cliched. Concept gives people an idea what the entire story is going to be about. Series can do extremely well even if there are many cliched concepts, as long as there's something particularly unique that defines this series.

Evolution of plot/Pacing - Has things progressed and are moving forward or are they kind of stuck in one place? Is the show paced fast or slow? Here, we look at how much happens in each episode. A slower paced show may not work for people who wants things to happen quick, fast, instantly - with a lot of action. Not saying slower paced plots are bad, but people generally like to feel that things are happening and story is progressing. If an Anime is story driven, having pointless things in the series that don't contribute to the story would not be a good idea.

Depth/Values - This is an important trait for me personally. I know it also appeals to many. If a story talks about values and philosophy about life, love and what it means to be a hero, that automatically makes the show special. Shows that really touch on core values and the importance of one's action makes a huge impact on some. Those are what makes a series extremely memorable.

Understanding - Is the series easy to understand or is it extremely confusing? Of course, many people love very complex stories, but some people like myself find those hard to understand, and when the mind gives up trying to understand, we automatically lose a bit of interest. I think having a series told in a very easy to understand way is very important. This reminds me of when we read these textbooks we read - words are so long, proper and professional sounding, but in reality they're confusing as anything and I really just want to understand what they're talking about! As for series, people would definitely want to understand it. Spending a long time to comprehend its meaning may become a reluctance for some to continue watching.

Traditions - Series shouldn't be afraid to break traditions. Examples include: Relationships doesn't have to start at the end of a series. When a character in that position is always portrayed a certain way such as being mean, it's not wrong to make them nice for a change. All of those traditions could be challenged and broken, making the series seem more unique.

Characters

Characters is extremely important to judging a show. We all do it - we form an opinion about what we think of the main characters because they drive the plot.

Personality - Characters should not just be empty vases to look at. Characters who simply has a gorgeous look but no depth would not truly enter someone's heart, except for those who are just after some pleasure! Whiny and useless characters are a big no-no, unless they truly go through great development. Firstly, are there anything unique about the main characters? I stress main characters because that's the most focused on. In well developed characters, there's always a trait about them that defines this character and instantly makes them unique. In addition, characters should be three dimensional, with many sides of them. Sometimes, certain traits about characters may also annoy people, which can be a problem in hooking new watchers. Most people don't like it when a character is portrayed as an absolutely perfect and flawless. That to most audience, they may see this character as unrealistic in almost every way as nobody is capable of being this perfect, predictable, not interesting, one dimensional and so on. Perfect characters may also suffer development and change. Finally, all characters should get pretty equal amount of screen time and not have one completely overwhelm the others.

Development - We like seeing depth in characters, their past, conflicts and changes. Character development is extremely important - If a character begins a certain way, is her attitude explained well? This is important because we often don't like it when characters are mean just for the sake of it, but if it's explained that she is mean because of a horrifying experience of her childhood, that usually makes it understandable. Same with if a character is evil, we want to know why they're evil, how they came to it. If a character is always depressed, we also want to know why, especially if things around we see don't seem to be causing it. Not only that, development throughout the series is very important. Seeing them change throughout the series is really satisfying for many, especially in a positive way. Back stories are really important in developing characters.

Strength/Ability - Is this character strong or weak? In many series, females tend to be portrayed as weaker and needing men to finish their fights. This may automatically turn some people, especially females off, if they are looking for a kickass and independent female, they'll probably not be happy if the female character can't fight well and need to be protected.

Relatable - Audiences are likely to really love a character if there's something about them to connects to them personally, like an emotional attachment - whether it's their personality, beliefs or experiences. If one can relate to another, they would feel that they're no longer alone in the world, that someone is going through what they are. Connections like this usually makes a long impression on the person. However, this may be hard to achieve because everyone is different, with unique experiences, so no one character will ever relate to everyone.

Secondary Characters - If there are lots of secondary characters, they should have a purpose and not be forgotten after a while. If someone's wondering why on earth this character even exist, then it's a problem.

Genre

Is the genre portrayed well? If it's an action series, are there plenty of cool, awesome battles? People would be pretty WTFing if a comedy show is nothing but horror. That's a little extreme, but think about it: If there's two stories, one meant to be scary and one meant to be funny - but the script was done so badly you don't know which was meant to be funny or scary, then that's a huge problem. If people are expecting a certain genre, that genre should be written out well. For example, horror stories should be frightening. Comedies should be funny, romance stories should explore love in depth, adventure stories should have plenty of adventures and action and so forth. I also think it's not wrong to mix a few genres together, if they can fit. If done well, adventure, action, romance and comedy can go extremely well together.

The Anime can be completely filler driven and still be good and loved, if that's the way it's meant to be. But, don't give people the wrong impressions! That's the important part. If someone is expecting something, they probably won't be happy if it turns out very different.

Humor - An element that can be used for many genres. Funny scenes/comedy is something that can be implemented in almost any genre, except for horror and highly suspenseful stories. When something is humorous, it will help relax people and make them laugh. If humor is done well, it can be a big attraction. Remember when you took a lecture at college and those professors that bored the shit out of you cos they were talking on and on in a monotone and made you fall asleep? And then, there was the rare few that made their speech extremely funny, that an hour felt like 5 minutes and left you wanting more? This works exactly the same in shows. If done well and put in the appropriate places, comedy can be a major strength in people's judgement in shows.

Other Factors

There are many other factors that also contribute to how well a series does.

Music - Music should be used appropriately, so don't put a love song when someone's battling. Sad scenes should have sad music and so forth. Also, having good OST/background music is a bonus and will make people remember the show more.

Acting - Acting or voice acting can be important. Is the character's emotions portrayed well? If they are meant to be sad, are they sounding sad? Can they make you feel sad as well?

Fight Choreography - Fight scenes, if choreographed well, can be really exciting. Many people are looking for some good action, and seeing unique battle movies can really draw them in.

Color - Lots of colors matter, as many who love Anime enjoy its bright and shining colors. This goes the same with live action, having many colors just makes it happier to watch. I personally don't like it when TV Shows/Movies attempt to create a really blue/dark color scheme if the story isn't meant to be really dark and horrific. There's really no need for that and just darkens my mood. It may do the same to others as well.

Adaptation - If the Anime is an adaptation of a manga or novel, it should stay as true to the original as possible.

Filler - If an Anime has a story and people watch it for the story, having fillers will likely to turn people off, unless they are done extremely well, and not those fillers where an extra character is invented just for the purpose of fillers and almost the same thing happens in every episode.

Ending - For some people, a bad ending can ruin the entire series. Endings should be planned out carefully. That's not to say endings should be happy or sad, but it should serve the purpose of the show. Say, if a show is about learning a certain lesson - and this lesson comes with death, and if the Anime ended with death, that would serve its purpose. However, if the Anime is about one character working towards a goal for a very long time, they should achieve it in the end! Overly tragic endings where everybody dies is unnecessary and would probably enrage a lot of people, especially if the bad guys won and the good people had to die.

Opening/Ending Themes - Having a gripping opening with a really catchy song is likely to get people's attention!

The First Impression Matters!

First impressions matters so don't make the first 10 freaking episodes boring! Sorry, just had to get that out. Many people these days judge on the first episode. Heck, maybe even the first 10 minutes. It's always a problem if the first episodes start out slow or confusing. It would be even greater of a problem if the first season/s start with very poor graphics. Because some people can't look past the initial impression, I think it's crucial to make at least the first few episodes as interesting as possible. I will never understand why some companies produce one of the moat awesome shows ever, but give it a super slow start for the first 2-10 episodes. People generally aren't that patient, unless they were previously a fan of something similar. A long back story in the beginning of the series about the previous generation may also not do that well, especially if it's 2 episodes long in length, because those are usually trying to explain a tragedy that happened and overall has a very different feeling to the rest of the series. Filler episodes for the beginning of the series is a serious detriment. However, just because there's a strong start, that doesn't mean it should have a weak end. It should stay consistent as much as possible.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, everyone has their preferences, but most people tend to judge on animation, story and characters. Put care towards them, the anime should be good. That will never mean everyone's going to like it, but at least it can guarantee a big group of people.

Spoilers - How important are they to you?

When watching Anime or any show with heavy storylines, there's often one thing we think about - spoilers! I've met plenty of people with different thoughts on spoilers. Here are some in particular I've noticed about how people are with spoilers:



1) Love spoilers to a certain extent
2) Detest spoilers and finds that any spoiler will ruin the series
3) Don't really mind them
4) ME: WATCH THE WHOLE DARN ENDING BEFORE I WATCH THE BEGINNING, GET TOTALLY LOST AND... -- To the general public, try avoiding this, cos it does take away the excitement of watching the show!

Love spoilers to a certain extent

Those type of people usually enjoy a certain amount of spoilers, they will look up information sometimes and don't mind when someone spoils them. Perhaps, they would even read a spoiler website or detailed summary or skip a little ahead. Usually, these people are happy to know about what happened in the ending. To these people, spoiler actually gives them something to look forward to. Usually, people who enjoy spoilers are also those who are impatient to wait and find out for what happens in the story. That insanity of not knowing drives them to their early grave. So, in order to satisfy them, they must know some spoilers!

Detest spoilers and finds that any spoiler will ruin the series

Those people hate spoilers! Detest it with everything they've got. They will avoid reading anything that might potentially contain spoilers, because spoilers ruin the excitement of the story for them. To these people, spoilers truly mean spoilers - it will literally spoil the show. The whole point of watching a show or anything similar (book, movie, game) is to find out the information yourself. Those people will immediately tell you to stop if you start talking about spoilers. To these people, I feel that they watch the series and enjoy that mystery of not knowing and finding out at the appropriate times. These people usually are much more patient.

Don't really mind them

Some are in between, they don't like to be spoiled too much but don't mind knowing a tiny bit - no major spoilers though! For these people, they usually like to know who died in the series, but they don't want to know if something really unexpected or exciting happens.

The Conclusion

I believe spoilers are good or bad surprises in the series that we don't see coming. When we don't like being spoiled, it usually means that we'll get a much greater reaction if we don't know what will happen because sometimes, a good surprise makes us become overjoyed, excited and jumpy!

For people like me who has to watch the end before I even the series, well, that's just me and I'm a madwoman so people shouldn't take me seriously and don't try and do that cos it does get rid of a lot of excitement knowing what will happen. HECK, I'VE EVEN WATCHED A SHOW BACKWARDS because I wanted to know what happened. It truly is a unique experience. Also, I always like to know who will die in a show because dying is a bad surprise and I like to be prepared. Despite my madness with spoilers, believe it or not - there are times when I don't like to be spoiled!

However, I think it's rather cool and interesting how all of us have different feelings towards spoilers, some like it and others don't! I still think the good old spoiler tags are important.

Image Source: animeyourway

What are your reasons for Anime Blogging?

After reading a couple of posts on acerailgun and kaminarianimeit about blogging competition, as well as thepantlessanimeblogger's goal is to reach 1,000 Anime reviews. That had me thinking. Why do we start an Anime Blog? What are our goals and will competition help us or ruin us?

Reasons why people start Anime Blogs



I've seen many reasons why people start Anime Blogs. Some love it because they have a passion for writing and analyzing, they love to share their ideas and thoughts. Others start it to reach certain goals (perhaps they want to watch and review a certain amount of Anime.) But I believe all serious Anime Bloggers have one thing in common: We love Anime and we want to share our thoughts and ideas.

I started this blog because I really love a lot of Adventure/Fantasy Anime, and although I had two websites: ancientchinese and digimonspirit, I really didn't have a place where I can share ALL my thoughts about all my interest. These sites are limited to one specific type of show, and I was sick of leaving shows I loved out! I wouldn't call this a completely 100% Anime Blog, since I do include articles about Wuxia, Games and Music, which I also love. The main theme of this is "Adventure" because that's where my greatest area of interest is.

What are our Goals to Anime Blogging?



(Thepantlessanimeblogger's Goal - Write 1000 Anime Reviews)

Do we have a set goal for our website? As I mentioned, The Pantless Anime Blogger's goal is to write 1000 reviews. I think that's an excellent goal, because I believe achievable goals can really motivate us. Other goals I've seen are, "I would like a set amount of hits/views and comments".

My goal for this website is to share all of my favorite shows and help people discover new things they may not have known. To elaborate, I like to connect interesting similarities between different types of show (for example: Wuxia and Anime) and point out things they have in common. I want people who love Wuxia to check out the Anime I love, and for Anime fans to check out the Wuxia I love. My goal is to help people find more shows they can enjoy. Another goal I have is to make this place resourceful for others and myself. I like to remember and reflect, and want this to be my ultimate reflection room for when I want to go back and read things I enjoyed.

I think the important thing about setting goals is not to make them hard to achieve. The goals must be realistic and something to be worked towards.

Will competition help us or ruin us?

Competition - That evil thing where we're either a winner or loser. I hate that! If everyone thought that, then I believe competition will ruin us. It will create barriers between bloggers, make one hate another or view them as threats. This reminds me of the whole "Show 1 vs Show 2" fiasco where one has to be better than another. It just turns around and brings hate. WTF is the point?



(Legend of the Condor Heroes 2008)

Competition done the right way is when people see another website as motivation to help them improve. Perhaps seeing the frequency and content of another site makes you want to work harder on your own. It's friendly, it does not make one person feel stupid and inadequate. It does not mean you go around saying yours is better or you get pissed off if your site had 500 and they had 501. It's wanting to improve yourself because they are a great example. It's being able to treat them as friends, not threats. You're not freakingYang Kang stabbing a dagger into Guo Jing because he's jealous that Guo Jing is more powerful (or Sasuke at Naruto for the same reason). It's the friendly "puppy fight" between Chai Hu and Li Gexiao, or Kuwabara and Yusuke.

My point is, good competition is done with love, you're aiming to be improve yourself, and not being the best. I guess the biggest question is: Are you viewing your competitor as a friend or foe? If you're viewing them as a friend, it's good competition.

A Response on Anime Region Locks

After reading about Region Locks, I thought I would make a post about it to share my thoughts. Please don't hold my words because I don't know the exact says, but I've wanted to reply this post as I feel there's something I can add.



Firstly, I will say that I do not understand the whole thing with "you can only change regions 4 times on the computer". WTF is the point? WHY? I better not get into that, otherwise I'd be ranting for a day. I would firstly like to respond to this quote:

Companies own the rights to a huge amount of shows, but choose to only make them available to the citizens of the USA. We who live in the rest of the world, we cannot watch a thing.

From my understanding of how licensing works (since I actually tried to look up these information to see if Wuxia could be licensed and talked to a few people who did this as a job), companies usually buy licenses to have certain Anime dubbed/streamed in a set country. For example, they will buy the license for US, and it may cost $8,000 per episode (this is just a guess). Licensing for multiple countries is bound to cost a lot more, so many companies may not choose to buy the license for more than one country. And because they don't have the license, they literally can't allow people from another country to view the video. At least, that's my understanding of how it works.

So it's all about money? Money-hungry bastards! - You might be thinking.

But I can't blame the licensing companies though, because it does cost quite a lot of money to license (separate from dubbing costs!), then the dubbing cost on its own can be up to $25,000 just to produce one episode - I phoned up Bang Zoom! Entertainment to ask about it a year ago. The cost goes to the entire adapting/scripting, voice acting, editing and putting it together, music compositions and so on. Although I don't know how much profit companies are making, I know I'd be bankrupt if I even did 1 episode. So, they rely on DVD sales, selling to TV Stations and other merchandise sales to make money.

If anyone's to be blamed, it would be those who are selling the license. I think it's unfair for them to go license per country. It should be license per language! So companies can get licenses for the English language and be allowed to show it in English speaking countries.



What's sadder is that I've wanted Wuxia series to be licensed for the longest time, and I hate the fact that they are such awesome things that NOBODY IN THE WORLD KNOWS ABOUT! Series that I know many Anime fans would love, because of its similarities, yet nobody even heard of them. When you mention it to people, they just give you this blank face, thinking... WTF is Wuxia? Well, they are really cool shows that are action-packed, magical, with great story and character development. But since people never heard of it, most are too afraid to step out of their comfort zones to try. Yes, it's sad! And when I asked, the reason why people don't license them is because they can't make much money off them. The audience would be too old (like 17-25 years old) and wouldn't be interested to buy toys. Pffftd, yeah right! I'd pay $200 for a Yu'er figure (image below).



So I've kind of went off on a tangent, excuse me. My point is, the whole licensing process can cost a lot and because of that, it can limit certain countries. I'm not a fan of that, believe me. I think everyone in the world should be allowed to watch. I hate that my friends from let's say, GERMANY can never see the videos! Maybe this is the reason why there are so many fansubs and pirated versions out there, because people are just sick of that.

Sometimes, I feel that money ruins everything. Because of money, so many things can't happen! I do wonder what life would be if money didn't exist (we'd probably be exchanging pigs). But, I do hope that companies can find a way to get around the whole money issue so they can license for shows in all countries. Sometimes, I just wish we were free to upload anything we want on youtube and not worry about copyright, because seriously, who is getting hurt? I don't believe anyone is! It almost makes me wish "licensing" never existed, people made shows and not worry about money, that all countries could equally enjoy something. But, as long as money exist, I know that will never happen.

Fascinating Similarites between Anime & Wuxia - Continuity [Mini Series]

After reading Animeyume's article about Anime and Continuity, it has sparked a few ideas and I will be writing a series of posts with great detail on what I think are similar between Anime and Wuxia.



I know the average Anime fan would not know what Wuxia is, and that's alright, because I'm going to slowly explain and get people knowing more about it. Wuxia Series, or I also call it - Ancient Chinese Series, are ongoing TV Series set in Ancient China. You may think, this is ridiculous, what on earth could live action have in common with Anime?

Before anyone jumps to any conclusion, I will explain the first and major similarity: Continuity.

If you watch any American TV Show or even cartoon, you'll find that they are episodic, which means - each episode has its own beginning, middle and end. Unless episodes specifically say "part 1, part 2", you can expect the episode to end in a way, that if you start the next episode, you'll at least know what's going on. This is not the case for most Anime. How I would like to describe it is, imagine a big, long story that's over 1000 hours long (or however many). How anime works is that, you get a knife and cut up the entire story, so the concept of episodes is nothing but a time limit. The overall show of let's say, 1000 hours long is one, continuous story - most likely with many story arcs, subplots, resolutions and such. In other words, the story is told as a whole. In this time, you can expect to see the introductions of new characters and such. Usually, there's absolutely no way anyone would understand what's going on if they jump in from Episode 10. Another analogy would be to imagine yourself reading an ongoing comic/book, each page is an episode - and it is continuous. The book doesn't stop after page 1 and form its own ending. Rather, it continues.

To many people, this is something that requires a lot of dedication and attention. Perhaps this isn't the right type of show for those with shorter attention spam or simply don't have the time to watch. But for an Anime fan, this is probably the very reason why they love it.



(Image: Chinese Paladin 3)

Let me just say that Wuxia Series/Ancient Chinese Series are exactly the same. If you watch ANY one of them, whether they're 30 episodes long or 50, the story is continuous. There is no such thing as episodic Wuxia. The only thing that's episodic is probably sitcoms!

Wuxia generally also doesn't have many fillers, because they are filming on tight schedule and need to have everything done usually within 30 days, so they would not have time to film episodes of fillers. Usually, Wuxia series would get straight into the story and would continue from then onwards. Just like Anime, the end of each episode connects to the next like an ongoing story. Very much the same, it's like an overall, long story that's been cut up to pieces because of time constraints.

There are also arcs in Wuxia, just like in Anime. In an arc, it's usually telling a smaller storyline that's part of the whole. An example would be, a group of people have to travel to four different lands. Land A, B, C, and D. While they are traveling around Land A, that could be considered one arc, and when they move onto Land B, that would be another. In Wuxia, this works exactly the same. In Xuan Yuan Sword for example, the overall story is to collect the sacred artifacts and save the world, but that is broken down in arcs - the individual artifact, such as the first arc was about collecting the Kunlun Mirror, then it was to collect the Nuwa Stone, and so on. Many arcs also focus on a specific character. One more thing is, many times, characters who appear in earlier arcs will come back again in later arcs, making the story feel even more connected.

If Anime fans love watching Anime for its continuous, ongoing story, rather than episodic shows which has its own beginning, middle and end, they will definitely enjoy Wuxia for the same reasons. I would say, the two are structured almost exactly the same with its ongoing episodes. The only difference being that Wuxia generally doesn't have fillers because of filming schedules.

Find the top recommendations of Wuxia and watch these series online.

Female Characters in Anime and Games

If there was a Game/Anime like this, I would so absolutely watch it!



(Image Source: thejayphenrix)

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Anime and Games and this doesn't really affect my love and appreciation for them. When it comes to female characters in action/adventure type shows, I often wish they were portrayed a little differently. In most of the action series I've seen, the female usually don't fight as well as the males, often needing his rescue. Another thing that happens often is the girl will get captured and the males would then need to save her. See, I don't mind if this happens, but as a girl, it just irks me when it just happens to the girls. I think to be fair, the girls should save the guys a bit more often too! Not to say they don't, but just more often so it's balanced.

Examples: Naruto - Sakura gets into situations where the males need to save her. In Kakashi's flashback, Rin was also captured and needed the males to save her. Let's not mention Princess Peach... (That's why she's in this picture - I want her to save Mario and kick some ass one day!), in Digimon Frontier, Zoe was the only girl who needed the guys to finish her battle. In Sword Art Online, Asuna needs to be rescued as she is trapped in a cage.

I love all the shows above, but I just wish females were stronger. I understand that traditionally, females are seen as weaker and needing protection. But I don't think it would hurt to break that rule and have them kick ass. Though I realize there's a handful of awesome females who are total ass kickers, who I've blogged, but I just wish there were more.

If females were to be weak, I think having at least one main girl in any action show that can truly fight and help contribute is the key. When a show has one character, I tend to ignore anything else. It may have 10 others who constantly needs to be saved, but as long as there's one who stands out, I will forgive anything else.

What I would dream of seeing one day, is having one or more strong female lead characters in an action/adventure series (rather than a romance/magical girl - not that they're not good, but those characters use more magic than actual physical fighting) who can truly fight, and have moment where they rescue the guys, and at the same time, they show their intelligence through their action, and they can be really cute, bubbly, funny, sly, and protective at the same time.

(Okay, I'm thinking about Huang Rong again. I just can't help it, because she's like my fucking hero!)

Random Thoughts about Pokemon

I'm really enjoying some of the marathon of Pokemon I'm having lately, particularly for the nostalgic feelings. While I watch, I often pick up little things which I want to talk about.

Questions about Brock

I'm sure absolutely everyone has thought about this. How does Brock see without opening his eyes? What does his eyes even look like?

Another thing about Brock, since he falls in love with nearly all the girls in the show, why doesn't he like Misty? Or at least, why didn't he the first moment he saw her? He even thought her sisters were beautiful.

Ash Bouncing Pokeball at Pikachu



Why was Ash trying to bounce the Pokeball on Pikachu in the first episode, since he usually just points it at them and make them return that way.

Ash without his Hat

I can never get used to Ash without his hat. It's like, I am not used to seeing exactly how his hair is! The hat kind of almost makes his head/hair shape look different, so when he takes it off, it almost feels as if his hair is going the wrong direction! Haha!



Does anyone think Ash looks too different without the hat?

How Many Times has Team Rocket Blasted off?

Wow, I bet other people has thought of this! Watching them blast off just made me wonder exactly how many times! They at least blast off once in every episode. Occassionally, they blast off 2-3 times. Perhaps altogether, it makes it 750-800 times? I have no idea. I saw a forum thread that said they blasted off 1,000,000 times! Poor Team Rocket...



That also lead me to another question. Often, we see them land in a horribly sticky situation. For example in Snow Way Out, their balloon was stolen and they were stuck in a hot spring. How did they get themselves out of it? There are other worse situations where they've landed on a branch and is about to fall off a cliff.

How the heck does Team Rocket get out of all t heir Sticky Situations?

Pokemon can teach Concepts

Pokemon can even teach the way animals grow through the evolution of Caterpie to Metapod and then to Butterfree actually shows how worms... No, not worms. Caterpillars become butterfree butterflies!

Another example is through the Pokemon names. Yes, many of the names are quite similar to the animal's real names. For example: Charmeleon for chameleon. As a kid, I never knew there was a real lizard called chameleon until I watched Pokemon. I also didn't know "Ditto" means the same.

The concept of DNA/Cloning was completely unknown to me until I watched Pokemon: The First Movie. The whole Mewtwo cloned thing really helped me learn the concept. Since English was my second language, I was slower at learning things. It's always nice when a kids Anime like Pokemon can teach me about science. It makes me much more exciting than just learning it from books.



Charizard's Disobedience

Charizard being the one to rebel has always confused me, considering the circumstances of how he joined the team, when Ash, Misty and Brock did everything to save his life, and he was so willing to join them. If I were to choose, I think Bulbasaur should have been the one that disobeyed, because he seemed to be the tougher, and even challenged Ash to a match before joining. It's interesting that Charizard finally listened to Ash after the second time, Ash did everything he could to make sure his flame didn't go out on his tail.