Right, I’ll try and keep this as brief as possible.

Last night, inspired by the latest ‘foreign pirates are killing anime’ outburst from the Japanese industry, I fell into one of my usual rants on Twitter:

“The anime industry avoiding the same elephant in the room as music industry did 10 yrs ago: consumers know worthless product when they see it.

My point isn’t about ‘defending piracy’ – it’s about giving it a cultural context.”

Well, I thought what I was trying to say was fairly straightforward – that like the music biz the anime industry had devalued its own product so much that it is hard to act surprised that people don’t want to pay for it. But judging from the flood of responses I got, apparently a few things need clarifying. Lets have a look:

Wow, what show are you talking about?

I’m not talking about any specific shows, I’m talking about how anime in general is – rightly or wrongly – perceived.

Your theory makes no sense, because good shows sell just as badly or worse as bad shows.

Well, for a start, that’s not my theory at all.

My point is not ‘anime doesn’t sell because it’s low quality’, it’s ‘it is seen as acceptable to steal any anime because it’s all viewed as disposable’. My argument is that this is exactly what happened to the music industry: in a desperate attempt to exploit every revenue opportunity while also reducing costs and investment it devalued its own product to the point that consumers feel little unease with obtaining it illegally.

Nah, it’s not the industry’s fault – people pirate because they are evil and immoral.

Um, maybe. I like to be a little less nihilistic than that. Besides, there are examples of people (I’m thinking Cory Doctorow and Radiohead here) in other media making a success of asking people for money while giving away their work. Perhaps what is needed is some risk taking and imaginative thinking?

OK you clever bastard, so what did the music industry do to solve all this?

Well, the industry itself did nothing really to solve it. What it mainly did was gripe and whine and bitch and demand pointless, ineffectual legal action while still taking the same attitude to the product it was churning out. Sound familiar?

In the end it wasn’t the traditional industry that tried to fix things, but Apple and iTunes that stepped in to present a different model.

WHAT? BUT iTUNES AND APPLE ARE EVIL!!??!?!!?

Yeah, OK. I know what you’re saying – iTunes has many, many issues. Sadly this is not that debate. What is interesting about iTunes is that it showed that by finding sensible price points, breaking up albums into smaller products, supporting micro-transactions and making the whole process very quick and easy it is possible to convince some consumers (in fact, a very large number of consumers) that buying legitimately is less hassle than piracy.

But the anime industry isn’t Apple! It can’t afford to start up a version of iTunes, plus the model doesn’t fit anime at all?

Sheesh, stop taking me so literally. I’m not saying an ‘Itunes for anime’ is the answer. Not at all. To be honest I don’t have a firm answer. I’m just some mouthy Brit on teh internets, its not actually my job to provide any answers. I’d like to think there are people out there in the industry who are much cleverer than me and whose job actually should be to come up with answers, and I can just go back to drinking and babbling on in an amusing chimney sweep’s accent.

But you must have some suggestions?

Well, if we can get back to what started all this: my main suggestion is that the industry stops whining about piracy and using it to deflect blame away from how it has devalued its own product. Connected with that it could stop throwing hissy fits and pulling simulcasts or not allowing foreign distributors from putting out boxsets and blurays. That would all be a good start towards calming down and trying to find a way out of this mess. Or maybe it really is too late.

So this just sounds like your usual ranting – you’re blaming the death of the industry on moe and lolicon and some shows that YOU don’t like despite being quite popular with fans.

Okay. Please – just take a deep breath and read this whole post again. Please.

But commercialization and sponsorship has been part of anime since day one, this isn’t a new thing.

Exactly – and the same is true within music – pop music has been used to sell other products etc since the 1950s. That’s not a criticism of my argument – its further evidence for it! You’d hope that after half a century of doing exactly what I’m describing here that both industries would act less surprised that consumers view their products as low value and disposable. I mean, how stupid do they really think we are?

But what is wrong with a show being disposable? I quite like some shows that I admit are disposable.

There’s nothing wrong with a show itself being disposable! There is always going to be disposable product in every entertainment industry, plus ‘disposableness’ is in itself – like quality – a subjective term.

The issue is this though: don’t whine about something being disposable if you made it that way. If you are a studio that makes shallow, disposable product then don’t act all surprised if people might enjoy watching it once, but don’t want to pay to own a handful of episodes of it on an overpriced DVD. You can’t blame them for that. Instead you need to find alternative ways of monetizing that one, single viewing. Or to price it far more realistically. Again this is how iTunes works, by charging mere pennies for products that its customers view as largely disposable. Not perfect for the artist and industry arguably, but its still a lot better than someone just stealing it.

Or, of course, you need to make a less disposable product in the first place….but lets stop there before we start going around in circles again, shall we?

It’s always a buzz when you find that you have a connection with an artist you admire; it somehow feels like it brings you a little bit closer to understanding them and their work.

I’ve been a fan of anime screenwriter Dai Sato ever since his work on Cowboy Bebop, and more recently enjoyed his writing on the OVA Freedom. Those of you that follow my ramblings on Twitter will probably remember me flipping out recently when I stumbled across the list of episode titles for his series Eureka 7, and wondered what the hell I was going on about. So Sato-san had named the episodes after some songs? Big deal. Not the first time it’s happened in anime, and it almost certainly won’t be the last.

The thing was, Sato hadn’t picked a bunch of well known pop songs, the majority of the tracks he’d chosen were underground house and techno classics from the 1990s – and more to the point, some of my favourite records of all time. Looking at that list triggered an instant flashback to my younger years, times when I would go partying for days on end, memories of long summer beat-filled nights and dreams of being a superstar DJ. These are records I own, still, on vinyl – and although there are never played anymore they sit next to me right now – as parting with them would be like letting go of part of my past. And with Sato-san being only a few years older than me, I can only assume the same music is part of his past too.

I only just started to actually watch Eureka 7 this weekend, and was thrilled to find the musical references weren’t limited to just the titles, but are littered throughout the script. I’ll post my views on the show when I’ve watched more – but so far based on the opening episodes it seems like an interesting, but fairly standard coming-of-age mecha-drama – which is just fine by me, seeing as the music he references was pretty much the soundtrack of my own coming-of-age story. Sadly the music itself didn’t make it into the show – whether for licensing reasons or that the studio didn’t feel it was appropriate – so for those of you who have no idea what I’m going on about, below is a selection of the tunes that we apparently both love.

Maybe one day I’ll get to meet Sato-san and we can talk about music. Maybe one day he’ll come round here and we can flick through my vinyl collection together. It’s pretty damn unlikely. Not that it really matters though, I’m happy enough right now just knowing the connection is there.

808 State – ‘Pacific State’

Hardfloor – ‘Aceperience 1′

F.U.S.E – ‘Substance Abuse’

Jeff Mills – ‘Changes of Life’

Tuff Little Unit – ‘Join the Future’

Red Planet – ‘Star Dancer’

Primal Scream – ‘Higher than the Sun’

Rhythim is Rhythim – ‘The Beginning’

LFO – ‘We Are Back’

The Beastie Boys – ‘Sure Shot’

If you’ve been lucky you may have missed – buried away amongst all the other media hype and internet buzz – the controversy over Disney’s decision to re-record the Ponyo theme tune. I first found out about it over at The Ghibli Blog, and I have to say I was pretty shocked. The original is a cheerful, simple nursery rhyme sung by a child – reminiscent in many ways of the My Neighbour Totoro ending theme – and always makes me smile when I hear it, if for nothing more than it reminds of visiting Japan last year, where it was still being played wherever you went.

It’s hard to imagine a piece of music more suited to the children’s fairy tale that is Ponyo, but apparently Disney reckon they can. And that involves taking the original, speeding it up and drenching it in bad synth riffs, generic beats and – shudder – auto tune vocals. The song has been re-recorded by Disney engineered celebrity fetuses Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas – who also provide the voices for the two child protagonists on the English, and according to most reports do a great job with the script, despite being so recently ejected from the Mouse’s secret talent-birthing lab. Don’t get me wrong – I can understand why Disney have made this move – as an attempt to introduce Ponyo to their legions of pre-pubescent fans – but the manner the have gone about it seems ill-advised, and the result like the punchline to a tired, unfunny joke. Sure, the song needed translating for the dub – but could it have not retained it’s original production style?

You can check out both the versions below and make up your own mind, but coincidentally I was reading Miyazaki’s essay collection Starting Point: 1979-1996yesterday and found this quote – from his production plan for Totoro, written in 1986 – that seems hugely appropriate:

Animation theme songs are frequently used to promote pop idols. This may be trendy, but these singers lack vocal ability, and the current narrow range of song stylings does not capture the hearts of children.

What children long for are songs that they can sing by opening their mouths wide and raising their voices.

Hmm. Interesting. I wonder if Disney COO, Ponyo dub producer and Miyazaki fanatic John Lasseter has read that? I’d hope so, as it’s from a book he wrote the foreword for.

Well, I never thought I’d find myself talking about aging, over-rated pub-rockers Oasis on this site, but here we go – powerhouse studio Production IG announced today that their highly anticipated anime show Eden of the East will feature music from the band. To be precise Falling Down, a track off their Dig Out Your Soul recent album, will be used over the opening credits. Far more interesting to me than the music itself is the business wranglings that must have taken place behind the scenes to secure this sort of deal. Are Production IG so recession proof that they can splash out the cash for this kind of deal? Or are Oasis’ record company really desperate to drum up some interest in the Asian markets? I don’t, for a second, believe that the Gallagher brothers are anime fans, but I’m willing to be proven wrong.

Don’t panic though, IG music composer and living legend Kenji Kawai is back to compose the score. Phew.

The show itself looks very interesting – written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama (GiTS:SAC, Jin-Roh, Blood: The Last Vampire) it is the kind of mature anime that has been sadly largely lacking from Japanese schedules for the last few years. From the IG press release:

On November 22, 2010 ten missiles strike Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be called as “Careless Monday,” does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, 3 months later… Saki Morimi is a young woman currently in the United States of America on her graduation trip. But just when she is in front of the White House, Washington DC, she gets into trouble, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her. However, this man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, is a complete mystery. He appears to have lost his memory. and he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he’s holding with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash.

Check out the trailer and more info (in Japanese) here. The show premieres in Japan next month, with a connected feature film opening at cinemas later in the year. IG have obviously invested a lot in this project, so hopefully they feel they have something special. More details as I get them.

You’ve probably heard the news already.

If you haven’t, well…it’s finally happened. After months of Hollywood rumours and speculation, Fox have confirmed that they have greenlit a live action version of Cowboy Bebop with Keanu Reeves taking the lead role of Spike Spiegel.

Not that I’m anti the idea of a live action, high budget version – in fact, it’s something I’ve daydreamed about for years now. Done right it could be a fantastic piece of sci-fi action cinema. But, like probably every other single anime blogger out there, today I’m just a little concerned about that piece of casting.

Not that I hate Keanu – he was fine in the first Matrix flick, and the beautiful, hugely underrated A Scanner Darkly – it’s just that he was never who I had in mind for the role of Spike. I think I was probably hoping for an Asian actor. In fact, my first choice had always been Stephen Chow. He’s got the subtly, charisma and humour to pull off the role – not to mention the stunt and martial arts skills. But it’s Reeves we’ve got, and that’s not going to change – it’s clearly the main reason Fox has agreed to greenlight the project in the first place. What’s more pressing now is sorting out the rest of the cast.

Casting Jet Black is probably going to be the easiest part. Ron Perlman would be a great fit – age, look and delivery wise. I always had Jean Reno in my head for some reason, but maybe he’s a bit too, y’know, French.

Finding a convincing Faye Valentine is going to be much, much more difficult. Casting the solar system’s sexiest 200 year-old compulsive gambler needs to be done carefully. Again, Christina Ricci pops into my head, but then to be fair she’s been doing that for years anyway. Joking aside, she’s a perfect fit for the role, in both terms of looks and attitude. As for casting Edward…well, I don’t envy that job. Child actors scare the life out of me. I know one thing for sure, it can’t be fucking Dakota Fanning.

Perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves here though – before a cast, we need a director. And a script. We’ve got a producer apparently; Erwin Stoff, who worked on the aforementioned A Scanner Darkly. Even more positively Sunrise’s Kenji Uchida and and the godlike genius of Shinichiro Watanabe will serve as associate producers alongside series writer Keiko Nobumoto. Series producer Masahiko Minami will serve as a production consultant. Hmm. Maybe there’s hope for this project yet.

Let’s pray so, because if you’re going to do it, you need to do it right, first time. Because you’ve got to convince the studio that it’s worth letting you do two more. That’s the only way to do the show’s characters, story arcs and pacing justice. One of the main reasons Bebop worked so well was how gently it eased you into the characters, revealing their back stories slowly over time. The audience needs to find out about Spike’s shady past, about how Jet lost his arm, and why Faye’s heart-wrenching history has turned her into such a bitch. Cramming all that into one movie just won’t work though. Bebop is big, and it needs space to breath…

Oh, and Fox? One more thing. Don’t mess the music up. Use Yoko Kanno‘s orginal funk-jazz-country-techno score. If you need more of it, then pay her whatever it takes to make more. Please.

Next Week: Tim shares his views on the Hollywood adaptation of Samurai Champloo staring Jason Statham and Masi Oka.

UPDATED: I actually picked up the book this was taken from when i was in Tokyo – check out lots more images here.

This is just very cool: classic headphone designs modeled by anime girls. Click for a bigger versh.

Courtesy of Global Nerdy.

Not wanting to get peoples hopes up too much, but according to the Daily Mail Rider could be getting out in just a few weeks:

The 43-year-old is included on a list of possible pardons which will be dealt with during Ramadan, which falls in September. A spokesman for the DJ’s management said: ‘He’s bearing up but desperate to get out.’

Fingers crossed, stay tuned for more.

Ahh, my poor neglected readers. The image above is misleading – I’ve just been slack the last couple of weeks….actually, I’ve been far from slack if I’m truthful, things have been pretty hectic. Job interviews, freelance work, fixing my HTPC and some unusually good British weather have all conspired against me getting any blogging done. But, hopefully, this week will see me back with a vengence – expect reviews of Ghibli short Iblard Jikan, CGI anime Vexille and maybe the Speed Racer movie, a piece on essential anime movies, and perhaps some catch up reviews of Denno Coil and Freedom. Oh, and the possibility of something slightly new for the site – music reviews, specifically of the new Calibre and D-Bridge albums, when my promised copies hit the doormat…

Don’t touch that dial.

According to Variety today, Steven Speilberg’s Dreamworks studio has acquired the rights to produce a live action version of Ghost in the Shell. It’s not clear at this point whether the plan is to make an adaptation of Oshii’s 1995 movie, or Shirow’s 1989 manga, and the cynical among us (i.e. me) might jump to the conclusion that this is just a bandwagon jump after the announcement of the Akira live action flick. But apparently Spielberg ‘loves’ the original, and believes it is a ‘genre that has arrived’. Erm, OK Stevie. What genre, exactly? Cyberpunk? If so, then ‘fraid you’re jackin’ in about 20 years too late, chombatta.

So I love GiTS…Speilberg loves GiTS…who else? Well, Britney Spears, of course. Or at least the director of her latest video does, which freaked me out whilst channel surfing last night. It’s a poorly animated, very low budget, blatant rip off homage to the original movie, with the crack-loving starlet taking the role of everybody’s favourite cybernetic anti-terrorism agent. Hmmm. Check out the video below, though it’s probably worth turning the sound down. Obviously.

Actually, what made me laugh while searching for that on YouTube was the number of fan made alternative videos that have been uploaded – made from edited together clips of her old promos – because apparently her ‘real’ fans hate the anime style one. Excellent.

Cat Le-Huy, 31, head of technology for Big Brother makers Endemol, finally returned home last Thursday after being thrown behind bars on a holiday in the UAE in January, also for cannabis possession. He had less than 0.03 grams – about the same weight as a grain of salt, apparently – in his suitcase. What’s also interesting is that he shared a cell with Grooverider.

He’s told his side of the story to the Hampstead and Highgate Express, and it doesn’t make for very happy reading. It sounds pretty grim in there. Again, my best wishes to Rider and all his friends and family.