Temporal Paralysis

After attending to my private instructor driving lesson (damn I still stall the engine over right-hand turn manoeuvres and clutch control!) in the evening, I went down to Sunshine Plaza to collect my DVDs and grab some more manga. (After the Odex fiasco, I have absolutely avoided any of their products, because I spite them for their actions.) It seemed to me that I have relied more on Ani-Play for my R1 DVDs (thanks, Stripey, for the info of the next best avenue for legitimate R2 & R3 DVDs!).

Since Friday was also the day that I was to meet my contemporaries (for the uninitiated: “friends”), I wanted to wear something different. And since the fellow over at HWZ-EDMW has finished making the T-shirts, I went over to his place personally to get the T-shirt.

So, here it is, my T-shirt.

The T-shirt costs around S$8.50, and anyway, I bought it, because it’d be nice to show my stand in the saga.

Before meeting up, I went down to Ani-Play to collect my loots. Apparently the whole thing costs me a whopping S$427.50! I don’t mind, though: at least I don’t go splurging on more figurines. (Unfortunately, my dear otaku friends, my preferences stops at figurines.)

After chatting with the owner for some time, I went down to TCC to get some refreshments, and meet up. It was nice to see the same people again. We chatted basically LuckyStar material (a.k.a. random topic), and then we get down to the saga. Oh, there’s lots of discussion made, unfortunately, I don’t really contribute much to the debate.

So, after going back home, this is my loot.

To be honest, nothing on the Internet is “much ado about nothing.” As how any technology can be abused to no end, the applications of Internet use is also being abused to no ends.

Much of the spirit of what this post is, is about how my favourite hobby has degenerated into something what one blogger calls “a cesspool.”

I have to admit, as he calls it, that much of what we do today is the result of “self” interests. It’s interesting to note, that the concept of “self” has been the key feature in human survival. Because each human understood “self”, the relative emotion, “selfish”, has also become a key feature in ensuring human survival.

A local newspaper (I have no reference/pictures to put up since SPH “forbids upload of content in any form… without prior permission.”) just have to make my day, and prominently display one-page length article about the Japanese’ attempts against P2P (courtesy of ANN.) This newspaper has, in my opinion, a very biased stand against end-users using P2P; previously it has erroneously reported one of Odex’s director’s admission of “bragging” by 2 months (it was, at that press time, 3 weeks before, courtesy of ZDNet Asia), and if one can read between the lines, the constant report of Odex’s activities, such as their invitation of the Japanese companies, and bringing in Mark Ishikawa, the CEO of BayTSP, one can deduce that it is indeed biased. Apart from the fact that it is a tabloid newspaper.

I don’t intend to take sides, but the whole issue of the “end times of fansubbing” is a bit exaggerated. We have to admit that the more sensible people will also be “hauled up along with the black sheep” in the long run. I don’t understand any more of the so-called “fansubbing wars,” but all in all, where is sensibility, people? I don’t think your brain “had just evaporated into nothingness?”

Last time, it was just a collection of Danbooru clone links. Now, it’s back to normal.

The rest, they say, is history.

I’m so sucky at caption-writing in Blogger. Probably that’s because that’s all in the trend right now, and I’m too lazy to format it to look like other blogs who have pictures and captions and all.

You guys might be wondering why I spent/invest my time to this saga. That said, you’re free to speculate, while I set up my links to the video, and my analysis on the whole program episode.

The segment: YouTube – The Odex Saga – Get Rea!, Channel NewsAsia, 15 October 2007

Analysis:

The segment itself is part of a larger 22-minute show, highlighting the concern for an invasion of privacy. It includes a cover on video surveillance in almost every place (streets, shopping malls etc.), this saga and how the Internet is able to track you down even to the minute details – and the risks of identity theft –.

The saga was hotly watched by segments of the animé community, although expectations are low, considering how CNA did not touch specifically on the Odex saga. That said, one of the interviewees mentioned something about how it’s easy to “shoot people off” and report to the police over copyright infringement because of the legality of mp3s inside most people’s players.

This is interesting. For example, I am angry that my CD sales are down. I can just ask for a huge court order to haul up all the people who have mp3 players because their mp3s are “downloaded illegally” from the cyberspace. Since mp3 has become ubiquitous to our young generation’s lifestyle, imagine the idiocy (but legally right, so to say).

I think the future is either bright or dark: perhaps those who longed for the permanency of Internet freedom, you are the dying breed. Sooner or later, like the frontier US states, the Internet will be regulated, unless the young generation (the real movers of the future trends) speak up and stop the witch hunt and unbridled ligitations.

Related links:

• Anime Banzai — Video: Odex saga in Get Rea! on Channel NewsAsia (Youtube)
• The Singapore Daily – The Odex Saga Links

To whoever stole their merchandise:

Please have a heart. I know this is a long shot, but if you desire it so much, be a good anime fan and buy it. Stealing does you no good, both your conscience (if you have any), and your parents.

If you steal for the desire to resell it, two words for you:

Please die.

As of 0000 hours, on the 12 Oct, 2007, SGCafe, frequented by many people in the anime community, was temporarily shut down by its owner, Kenshin.

I have yet to understand the underlying motive behind the closure, but given what was posted on the abovementioned forum, there are a few kitsches that the owner are upset, resulting in the closure.

I would like to point out to readers out there, especially those within the anime community: this may be just a temporary closure. Please read up the notice IN FULL before concluding any statement. Please be fair in judging the whole episode, and weigh the options based on what was given.

It’s a setback for the anime community. I hope for a quick resolution on the matter, and a consensus be met on both parties.

Probably because of the Odex saga, in addition to my inability to reel in the prospect of watching anything online (yeah, we’re looking at those free video-on-demand websites), my interests in this fall’s animé has somewhat dampened.

After the collapse of Geneon (I still want my Hellsing Ultimate! — hey, does that mean I can d/l? [/joke]), the disastrous non-showing of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai (School Days is so overrated, I think) on several Japanese TV stations, and the general apathy I’m feeling, after investing much of my effort in the current saga in Singapore, and my work schedule, etc. It all adds to the melancholy (not related to that obnoxious girl, nor that “oh noes, they rippedz fansubs’ subs!11one“) I am feeling.

I might probably be following Shakugan No Shana, because I just loved tsunderes for no reasons whatsoever. And because I followed last seasons’. (Just to digress a bit: Odex’s releases had several omission/mistranslations of certain characters because of “religious and censorship concerns,” which the Board of Film Censors have rightfully rebut — kudos for speaking up for the artistic community currently hands tied by greedy distributors and middlemen in that pursuit of more money.)

Gundam 00 — now this one, is a difficult show. I actually loved Gundam SEED sub-franchise, not because of the lame one-on-one or one-on-many fights, but because of the background, underlying story of the purpose of wars. (And, yes, I’m still searching for that “elusive limited edition”, if you know what I mean.) According to some whom I spoke/read, this show at least doesn’t feature “Gundam hijack” — a very clichéd plot mechanism the Gundam franchise seemed to suffer — and there’s no hint of fanservice ala Lacus Clyne. Maybe I’ll look into this show when I feel like it.

Somehow, I felt like watching You’re Under Arrest! Full Throttle. It’s ironic, because frankly speaking, I’ve never watched the original series nor the sequel OVAs, but the word-of-mouth I kept hearing seemed to pander on showering this series with praise, regardless of logic-defying physics the shows seemed to portray (and admittedly so, says the rest of the aniblogging community). I’m gonna watch this, once I clear this country of the Odex mess. (I hoped. )

Do not talk about Clannad, or D.C. II: given a chance, I’ll let the HiguKai girls have a go mincing them to pieces, and serve me some.

Majority of shows seemed to pander along those fantasy themes: I discover something “magical,” then realized it has world-bending properties, and it’s up to me to save the world, while taking the lead in “screwing” the girls I meet to “unlock” their abilities, so that they complement this “magical” thingamajig. Maybe. I’m still waiting for a.f.k.’s “Mr. Despair”, though. It’s my antacid for this season.

And, as I was writing this post, I felt melancholic listening to Do As Infinity’s songs. Darn I missed their rock-girl-voice mix.

Long before Odex came into existence, Games Mart had already been releasing anime releases.

According to an anecdote taken from a very confidential source, Games Mart used to be co-owned by three people. According to this person (whom we shall name him SD), the three co-owners were at loggerheads over how the business should run. In particular, one of the co-owners (I call him Gendl), of whom SD had a cordial relationship with, did not agree with some of the business practices that the other two were running. In spite of that, they did managed to release some shows. After one year and a couple of months later, Gendl quit from the business.

Subsequently, Games Mart were raided in 2000 for the very same crimes that Odex were now honkering after end-users.

But the purpose of this post wasn’t to talk about the current saga. I’m talking about one of the shows that Games Mart released in local production.

That show, was called “起動戦士ガンダム００８３：Stardust Memory.”

The show, made in 1990 by Sunrise Inc., was acquired by Games Mart in the year 2000 (the same year when they were raided), and was subsequently released for local distribution. Judging from the external appearance of the box, it’s pretty clear that they had went the idea of a game box model, when they conceptualized this release. (To be honest with you, it kind of reminded me of those nondescript boxes you see everyday. Which cheapens the value of the series.)

The box contains the shows in (S)VCD (well, at least somebody did made the acknowledgement to use a better format than the current succesor, or was it not?), a surreptitiously dual copies of a storybook, a handbook (primer into the Mobile Suit Gundam Universal Century storyline), and — get this — a commemorative TransitLink card!

What we have here, guys, is a rare piece of antiquity from the dark ages of pre-Internet days.

The following pictures are some of the sample shots I took from the first (S)VCD on the VCD holders.

Just to take note: it’s a VCD quality, so don’t expect high-end goodness.

Back when Games Mart were still around, Gendl had the balls to at least did something to “pull” their potential customers with freebies and goodness stuff. No matter that the format was in VCD.

After he pulled out, the remaining two were left to their devices, which led to the company’s downfall.

I won’t say whether these two are exactly the people behind Odex, or otherwise. My intention by posting this, is to highlight where exactly Odex’s predecessor did, and I will let readers to infer whether the product quality had went down since.

In Singapore, there is a vocal, and substantial, anime community that was recently unanimous in principle concerning the Odex saga. However, within the anime community itself, the fandom is also further divided into several groups. Here is my best attempt at discerning the divisions between the groups.

The majority of the anime community forms what I called a “Sino-centric” majority. Racial tendencies aside, several of these fans started out during the 1980s, when SBC 8 (as it was then called before Channel 8 was conceptualized) featured a lot of anime like Macross, Sakura Wars and so on. Most Generation Y fans (born during the 1980s) got hooked to anime by virtue of Chuang Yi, who started out not quite pristinely, churning out manga that piqued the interests of these fans. Most of them sticked to either local or Taiwanese publishers for their consumption of manga. As for anime, until the recent boom in fansubbing, they relied on what was shown on SBC/Channel 8 for the fixes. When Starhub bought over SCV in 1998, some Chinese channels that showcased anime were also aired to cater these fans.

The more rarer, and perhaps most revered, group are called “the Japanese.” Several of these fans have since created their own blogs. These fans have since outgrown their casual interest in anime, and have proceeded in learning Japanese in order to comprehend/understand most of the dialogues found in anime/manga. They preferred the original compositions (which is usually written/spoken in Japanese), have an interestingly high fascinations in overspending (possibly because their spending sprees are better documented), and understood the little nuances in Japanese culture, and especially the otaku subculture, that will otherwise leave the rest of anime fans out there quite flabbergasted.

The other side of the coin, the “English-speaking” fans, mostly comes from backgrounds that are either expatriate, non-Mandarin-speaking or are just casual anime fans. This group rely on fansubs to satiate their anime cravings, and while they do exhibit similar behaviour to that of the “Japanese,” their escapades are not usually documented much. Usually they rely on R1 DVDs (shows translated in the US) whenever their means are available.

It is understood that this division is but a simplistic viewpoint of the divisions of anime fandom in Singapore. Granted certain fans do overlap 2 or all of the above groups I mentioned, so what I documented here is otherwise just a general sketching. I’ve not yet taken into account generational gaps, in relation to first generation to third generation fans. The first generation fans had already taken interest in anime long before fansubbing culture takes off globally. The second relied on VHS fansubs or “shows passed on by friends or relatives.” The third generation concerns those post-fansubbing boom.

I might have written some erroneous claims here, so feel free to comment on them on this blog. Feedback is much appreciated, and I would like to hear your views on the so-called anime fan divisions in Singapore.