I've been meaning to get around to doing this for some time, but actually following through took until today.
GreyDuck posted a long time ago about a Livejournal Crossposter plugin for Wordpress, which would in theory allow me to have my posts here doubled on my Livejournal, which has, despite my conscious best efforts, withered into a dwindling stub of its former glory. Now, indeed, you may have twice of me, though I may not be half the man I used to be.
Or something.
This being a Test Post, I must explore the outer edges of what is allowed, and what might send me spiralling, howling in black despair, into the nether pits of the Data Vampires which inhabit the spaces between the Series Of Tubes, waiting for the next unwary userly morsel to stray into their range. The boundaries are unclear, but to trespass would be folly of the highest order, sending the unfortunate lost to the void forevermore.
I have no clue how the images in this post will turn up. On the one hand, I have a fairly standard maximum width of 500 pixels, and it is good form to define the image attributes. On the other hand, as far as I know, Animeblogger does not, by default, allow hotlinking of images, and I am not certain that I want to or am allowed to change this, which may lead to my Livejournal friendslist witnessing a Large Blank Space staring at them in an embarrassed manner, not quite able to explain oneself about what one is supposed to do in this instance of Internet faux pas. If it does not work out, then I shall have to think of something, although turning off the plugin would probably be a good start.
I have set the "More" tag to lead back to this post on Moe Check, rather than an LJ-cut on my Livejournal, as is also an option, since I believe that if the images Do Not Work and the reader has to click anyway, I may as well make them click on a link which provides the full experience unsullied by blank expanses of nothingness where pictures are meant to be. In addition, this might also help for the image-heavy posts, such as the Nanoha GamerS comic abominations. Now, in order to do this, I have to be able to fill up enough space to warrant the use of the "More" tag in the first place. I mean, I could Lorem Ipsum my way through a couple of thousand words, but that would be cheating. And boring. I don't mind cheating, but being boring is unforgivable.
So what should I talk about this time? Well, since I am currently occupied with fanfiction, it might not fall amiss to ramble on about something absolutely nobody cares about. It may not be as pretty as a Lorem Ipsum, but at least it'll be of vague interest to me.
Although to call Suzumiya Haruhi no Seitenkan a "fanfic" is probably somewhat inaccurate, I admit. (Warning: spoilers for the novels follow.)
This isn't to say that I'm abandoning all my other stories, but like my habit of starting new characters in City of Heroes without first attending to the level grinding of older ones (a habit known among CoH players, and probably MMORPG players in general, as "altitis"), I shall be juggling multiple self-imposed responsibilities in the service of my hobbies, in much the same way I will move mountains for that which I find interesting, but will recoil away from anything remotely resembling actual work.
Shin of Atarashii Prelude has made posts on this phenomenon here, here, and here, if you wish to find out more. I have inadvertantly ramped up my participation in the associated AnimeSuki thread, which has taken on the self-appointed task of establishing what appears to be an unofficial Official Fanon, at least with regards to the AnimeSuki community, if not wider. I have no official place or title in this New Order, but I spam my input anyway, because the Muse is a chronic workaholic.
For those who are inveterately lazy, I welcome you as fellow slackers, and provide a brief summary of the concept: switch the genders of the characters in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Explore the possibilities.
My interest in this endeavour is manifold, and I should admit in the interests of full disclosure that not all of the reasons are entirely wholesome. The general impression of Female Kyon, who has apparently gained a fandom nickname of "Kyonko" (there's a whole list of fandom nicknames for the genderswapped counterparts, as well as alternates due to this being fandom), is that of a short ponytailed snarky girl. Someone described her as "aww… tiny little cute sarcastic person", and I keep that description close to my fanboy heart, if only because it is reinforced by the fanart (mostly worksafe) of exactly that.
But I've always identified more easily with Itsuki, and in keeping with the "more good-looking than thou" motif, Female Itsuki provides the eye-candy. (If you're wondering, Female Itsuki's Japanese fandom name is Itsuki-with-different-kanji, while her English fandom name is Itsuko. I tried to push for "Mitsuki" a bit half-heartedly, but it didn't stick.)
On a more rarefied level above the cries of "squeee cute", I've always been fascinated by switching gender roles in stories. And I do mean "gender roles", using the slightly more sociological definition, rather than simply changing the Y chromosome to X and vice versa. If I change the characters from male to female, and vice versa, what would the effects be on both their fictional environment and the consumers of that fiction?
Almost by necessity, the large-scale "everyone changes" projects are the domain of fanfiction. There are several stories out there with a single character, or perhaps a very small group of them, who change genders, but everyone else remains the same. Whether or not gender roles are explored in the first place, and how far they go if so, varies greatly. In Ranma 1/2, Ranma's experiences with cold water are often played up for comedy, or occasionally as an aspect of battle. In Kashimashi, Hazumu's alien-induced sex change focuses on the romantic angle, and takes a back seat to the love triangle which forms (with all three participants being female).
In those cases, the plot is that the character used to be Male, and now he's Female. (Or vice versa, but I'll use Male-to-Female as a convenient example.) The main characters know that the Female used to be Male. The story, if it bothers to, could revolve around how the former Male now comes to terms with being Female, and how the other characters react with the Female That Is when they're used to the Male That Was.
And then there's the other approach, which is that the character has always been Female, and how this would make the story inherently different from the canon Male version. Expand it, and now everyone is genderswapped; how does this change things? Alter the initial conditions, and watch how the experiment progresses.
To take the MoHS example, we have Haruhi Suzumiya, loud and brash. Now convert her to one Haruki Suzumiya (the Japanese fandom appears to prefer the name "Haruhiko", as in "Haru-hiko" rather than "Haruhi-ko"), and consider what reactions to this person would be like. Would he be seen as a delinquent? Would he be called a "loudmouthed nutjob" to his face? In fact, how different would he be, when he gets going, from the stereotypical loud-and-brash shounen protagonist made of GUTS and COURAGE?
What of Mikuru Asahina, now converted into a shy wide-eyed boy named Mitsuru Asahina? Opinions appear divided about whether he's still supposed to wear the bunnygirl outfit, even after the change. Is he to crossdress (the costumes forced on him by Haruki, of course)? Would he be wearing a maid outfit, or a butler outfit? Would The Adventures of Asahina Mitsuru Episode 00 be focused on the travails of a time-travelling combat butler?
Such considerations can occupy us happily for weeks. The genderswapped versions of the girls into bishounen appears to have a surprisingly high acceptance rate among the male portion of the fandom, and the guys-into-girls of Itsuki and Kyon have garnered approval from the female portion. Apparently the appeal of Altered Interactions is enough to overpower the mere lure of fanservice.
I will have to admit that when writing out the first-person narrative of Kyonko, I have drawn heavily on my experiences in female-dominated fandom communities. After Fandom Wank and Television Without Pity, neither of which I have participated in but both of which I have delved deeply into, I have no illusions on women being any more "gentle" than men. I have ramped up the snark and sarcasm level, and may Haruhi have mercy on my ficwriting soul.
I'm sure that you may have already seen this from other sources, but in case you haven't, the PS2 game Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi (which gets translated to "The Perplexity of Haruhi Suzumiya") was released, and with it was the Hare Hare Yukai dance with the CG characters from the game (wearing their Dragon Quest parody outfits). (Standard Youtube disclaimer applies.)
The main reason I'm posting this is to post the Nico Nico upload of the video (registration required), which should be seen if only for the way the comments go nuts when Koizumi appears. He is, according to the comments on the Livejournal community entry from whence I found the video, so very swishy.
Anime: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Music: "Twilight" – Electric Light Orchestra
Contains only a small helping of bunnygirl, sadly.
41MB h264 mp4 encode, for those who understand such arcane terms. Nobody really knows if Haruhi feels at all satisfied now that she's created the SOS Brigade; one can but hope.
UPDATE: Actually, yanno, added links.
I've said it time and before, and yet I keep forgetting it myself: never HTML when drunk, people.
Now, before I begin, I'd like to mention the obvious disclaimer that this is entirely my views, my speculations, and most definitely my opinions. Someone else may have a directly contradictory viewpoint, and it may be just as valid. Also, it may well turn out that I am one hundred percent incorrect on every aspect of the matter. This is a random blog, not an academic presentation.
I'm sure that anyone who's been in the fandom for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for an extended amount of time will have at least heard of the term "Haruhiism". It is stated to be a sort of belief system, perhaps even religion, which stems from the show. I doubt the creators of the term (whether Kyoto Animation or Tanigawa Nagaru) actually intended this seriously, but the term has obviously grown past the original roots.
The problem is that I've met several people who appear to be offended simply by claims of Haruhiism's status as any sort of religion. Now, to be absolutely above-board and open with this, I suppose I can be described as an apathetic agnostic: I don't know if there's any God or gods, and I don't particularly care. Therefore, I do not and cannot understand all the myriad viewpoints unique (or not so much) to being a member of a religion: what may seem offensive to a religious person may be just amusing or mildly interesting to me. If I offend anyone with inaccurate portrayals or misconceptions of what is, I understand, a very serious subject matter, I apologize in advance.
Having said that, I suppose I should present what may well be the most controversial statement I will ever make on this blog or elsewhere:
Hopefully this works better than the last time. I only have Firefox 2.0.0.3 and IE 7.something to test with.
I'm extremely impressed with how the video creator managed to keep the various Lucky Star attributes (like Konata's extremely long hair and short height) and split them into The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya characters. (Tsuruya gets the long hair, Yuki gets the shortness.) Also, Yuki never actually smiles in the video, despite her usually taking Tsukasa's place.
Bonus points for Churuya dancing the Pani Poni Dash second opening dance.
Sendspace
AMV.org link coming when I get around to uploading it.
Anime: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Music: "Omoide wa Okusenman" – Family Comcert (feat. GOMU)
Occasionally I wonder how the various members of the SOS Brigade will look back on their high school life. In the case of the time-traveller, she did mention that it was fun, and yet highly embarrassing. I suppose everything is relatively more fun when one is looking back at it through the lens of nostalgia.
For those unfamiliar or confused, this might clear things up. Or not.
This video is my first encode in *264. I have to admit to being rather impressed when the 3.5 GB lossless AVI file was reduced to a miniscule 17.1 MB MP4. Heck, I have some image files (mostly the HUEG LIEK XBOX ones from moe.imouto.org) that are larger than this.
Mentioned I before about the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya artbook received from a friend, from the December 2006 copy of Newtype. While flipping through its hallowed pages, one of the centerfolds (which I am told was originally printed in the Newtype October 2006 copy) was that of the above picture.
The first few times I looked at it, I simply basked in the picture composition, enjoying the picture as a whole. And then I got it in my head that maybe KyoAni put in some sort of reference, perhaps more books that Yuki would read or some such. Haruhi apparently has a fictional copy of her own book series, in a rather meta way, while I cannot quite make out the book Yuki is holding, but am sure that it is significant in some manner. The other books on the ground I don't recognize, but upon reading the title of the book Mikuru is holding, I just about fell out of my chair.
To be precise, the movie is not actually a retelling of the novel (which was published in 1965), but more a continuation or sequel, or so I hear. The movie (which is rather good in its own right) was released in July 15th 2006, which makes it plausible that the reference of the book in Mikuru's hand is based on that. Presumably that title was chosen because of the theme of, well, a time-travelling girl.
I kind of know the feeling of wishing to include random references in stories, just to see who will catch them. Often, the trick is never to make it utterly blatant unless going for complete parody, and definitely never to assume knowledge of the reference; the story should be enjoyable in its own right, divested of any pop culture baggage. But occasionally when writing, I'll toss in a throwaway line about something here, and a sideways glance about something else there, and soon it becomes a game of spot-the-reference, which does require a very canny editor to slice out. The audience wishes to experience a story, rather than a game of trivia, and any reference should be miniscule as to be irrelevant (tossed in just because "we need something there"), or useful to the story anyway. Thankfully, MoHS does this fairly well, and the references almost never detract from the story. (Heck, the original novels were full of references anyway, mostly via Kyon's and Haruhi's analogies.)
Basically, I know how easy it is to fall into the trap of "wouldn't this be cool", and any creators who manage not to let it take over their works gets my respect.
Anyway, a final note on this particular reference, and the reason I noticed it in the first place: another friend of mine was present when I received the artbook, and was raving enthusiastically about The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which won Animation Of The Year at the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2007. Quite coincidentally (or rather, not really that surprisingly), another award winner, this time in the Television category, was The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
As promised, the review of the first DVD of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This is likely to be long and overly obsessed with minor details.
The DVD case itself has Haruhi on the front cover holding a lemon. Why a lemon, I do not know. The artstyle resembles Itou Noizi's original rather than Shoko Ikeda's KyoAni version, but this may be incorrect. In any case, the blurb on the back:
I thought that when I entered high school, my days of believing in aliens, time travelers and ESPers were going to be over. That is until she introduced herself. Claiming to be interested in only aliens, time travelers, and ESPers, Haruhi Suzumiya was the strangest girl I've met in a long time…
Before I knew what's going on, I've been dragged into her weird club, and it looks like I'm not the only one who has been drafted into this 'SOS Brigade' of hers, because there are three other students who don't seem to be so ordinary themselves.
Either way we've all found ourselves caught up in Haruhi's quest to search for all things extraordinary. And what's this I hear about us making a movie? http://asosbrigade.com
Colours are approximations. They are also significant, because each one links to another small (circular) icon-sized image: namely Yuki Nagato's introduction in chronological episode 1, a chibi Haruhi doing the famous eyelid-tongue thing, Haruhi in her ouendan male uniform in the opening, Haruhi and Mikuru's first bunnysuit appearance in chronological episode 2, and the SOS emblem (non-reversed). The ASOS Brigade website URL doesn't seem to link to anything else (apart from the obvious).
The cover is not reversible; there's nothing on the flip side. Not that I was really expecting anything there, but one never knows. There's no insert, which I had been expecting, but I suppose the other extras make up for it. The case itself is an Amaray case with the two nubs, which may seem trivially unimportant to anyone who doesn't remember the old Scanavo cases. Yes, those Scanavo cases. If you don't know, be glad. But I digress.
The DVD has four episodes, namely the first "student movie" Episode 00, followed by the first three chronological episodes.
Mere words cannot describe the unspeakable joy I felt when I held in my hands the Limited Edition Box Set that came with the first Region 1 DVD of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I'm sure that you're all tired of the hyperbolic religious references by now, so I'll just assume that you've already gone through the mental image of me squeeing like an over-excited and disturbingly hyper fangirl who happens to not actually be female.
I lack an actual method for providing clear and high-quality pictures of my purchase, at least until I get my camera fixed. And so, this entire post will contain merely pictures that are only tangentially related to the box set, inasmuch as they may possibly have something to do with it apart from being of the same series.
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