School Girls and Mobile Suits

[oldwrench]

Well, I'm back. I don't have time to tell much tonight, but it was a great experience. An academic experience, nothing like a con. I'll write more later. ...... And yes, I did meet Yashitoshi Abe, and he signed my Texhnolyze box.

[oldwrench]

The SGMS is put on by the people of the Minnesota College of Art and Design, MCAD. They have been doing this for eight years and it and are quite good at it, other than always being late.

The first thing was the Fresh Fruits Basket Fashion Show. THis has become a pretty big thing, They have a runway and lights, there were about 60 fashions to show, and there even were fashion press there covering it. I have some fairly poor pictures from it. It's mostly victorian and lolita type fashions. I'll post some picts, if any turned out, when I get a chance.

Second was a very interesting lecture "Draped in Darkness, Caressed with Cuteness: The Allure and Dichotomy of Kawaii Noir Fashion". I think Sakura would have loved this one. Think of Hello Kitty, in goth punk. Black dress, with an anarchy symbol on front, black eye make-up, and a black bow with a scull in the center.... An artist to look for is Mizuno Junko. It was interesting how different cultures are picking up on this, and their interpretation. Since my memory sucks..... I won't be able to tell you a lot about these things. I hope you get the picture though, something cute, but sinister too. Funniest picture she had was the Hello Kitty Darth Vader. A darth Vader cosplay costume, in pink and white, with a yellow cape, a Hello Kitty icon on the front. Her question, was this Kawaii Noir...... or just weird?

That was all we did Friday night, I'll tell more later.

[Sakura]

I'll post some picts, if any turned out, when I get a chance.

Any chance you could make it a story instead? I like the idea of gothic-lolita-hello-kitty-mecha-armor (especially with lots of frills + ribbons)

I mean: Evil frills + ribbons.

[oldwrench]

I don't have time for picts yet........ and I really don't know how I would make them into a story. Maybe you could give me some idea Sakura...... maybe pm me?

Saturday morning started with three junior scholar papers.

Anime/Manga - A Turning Point for Art: This paper was quite interesting, pointing out how art had been very regional in its development, until now. THe state of global communications has made Manga and Anime the first truly global art form. Manga art can now be found being produced in most areas of the world, thanks to the internet.

Supreman vs. Ultraman: Localizing Superheros in Japan and America: It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between the two types of superhero. One big difference I remember is US superheroes are generaly independent, sometimes with a subordinate partner. Japanese are usually a part of a team, they all get together to save the world.

Ronin vs. Cowboy: Two cultures, One Hero: The picture of the wandering samurai and the lone cowboy, it's interesting how often films of the two copy each other. In fact, the movie The Magnificent Seven, is based directly on the movie, Seven Samurai. She pointed out a lot of similarities between the cowboy and the ronin samurai.

[Sakura]

I don't have time for picts yet........ and I really don't know how I would make them into a story. Maybe you could give me some idea Sakura...... maybe pm me?

Same as JHawkNH, give me the pics and a subtitle. See his pages.

[Ntoonz]

Ronin vs. Cowboy: Two cultures, One Hero: The picture of the wandering samurai and the lone cowboy, it's interesting how often films of the two copy each other. In fact, the movie The Magnificent Seven, is based directly on the movie, Seven Samurai. She pointed out a lot of similarities between the cowboy and the ronin samurai.

I've just borrowed a couple of Akira Kurosawa movies from the library. I recall hearing somewhere that he was a director of westerns at heart - just so happened that those westerns were set in feudal Japan. Yojimbo and Sanjuro are wonderful examples. Just like The Seven Samurai, all you have to do is change the scenery and costuming a bit.

(100th post! Whoo hoo!)

[oldwrench]

I really am working on the pictures, I just didn't get a lot of time over the weekend. And Ntoonz is right, Kurasawa was a big fan of the American old west.

[oldwrench]

The first guest lecturer on Saturday was Dr Marc Hairston, of the University of Dallas Texas, NASA scientist, and anime fan. His seventh time lecturing at SGMS.He's around my age, so there are a few of us older guys around. He is an expert on the works of ABe, Miyazaki, and on hard science in anime. His lecture was "Return to Old Home, New thoughts on Haibane Renmei, and other works of ABe." It was an interesting lecture, mostly covering the two works that are ABe's own stories, Niea_7 and Haibane Renmei. Niea was written when Japan was under economic turmoil. Many people were out of work, and times were hard for many. The work is a comedy and a social commentary. The strange aliens represent the many foreign influences that infiltrate Japanese society. I wish my memory were better because He had many good points about Haibane Renmei. There are many things going on in that anime. It is a mixture of western and eastern religious ideas. The Buddhist idea of moving from one level to another, the Catholic idea of a purgatory, the ideas of sin and redemption. The story of Raka gaining forgiveness from the bird with her burying of the bones in the well. The story of Reiki's earning forgiveness by learning to trust Raka to help her. the story of the names written on the tags....... Oh, by the way, ABe told us that the design of those name tags came to him when he was drunk in a bar....... the beer bottle he was drinking had a small logo on the bottom of the label....... he liked it and decided he had to use it in the manga.

THis is Dr Hairston's web page, it's interesting. http://www.utdallas.edu/~hairston/

another one.... http://www.utdallas.edu/research/spaces ... rview.html

[oldwrench]

Back again, on to the next lecture. It was "Keitai Shoujo, Girl Mobilized." This is a game and an anime in Japan. The lecture got into anime dating games, and the importance of cell phones in Japanese society. It's about a high school boy, Hiro, who doesn't have a girl friend. He downloads a phone wallpaper of a cute girl, and his phone turns into the tiny girl, about the size of the phone. She tells him, if he doesn't get a girlfriend by Christmas, she can't turn back into his phone, and can't get back to her world. The five episodes are about the five girls Hiro meets and the viewers got to vote on which girl Hiro should get to go out with in episode six. It might be an interesting one to check out. BOST TV had it on the net for free viewing. http://www.bosttv.com/series/keitaishoujo/ Wish I'd have known about it then. Might be able to find it elsewhere though.

[oldwrench]

Our next hour of lecture was by Christopher Bolton, a college professor. My son told me his lectures in previous years were so advanced that they were very hard to understand. I must have gotten lucky, his lecture was interesting and easy enough for me to understand.

Angels, Ghosts and Haunted Histories in the Work of Oshii Mamoru:
The lecture centered around Oshii's works, BLood the last Vampire, Ghost in the Shell, and Jin Rho. He compared the characters in Oshiis works with their western counterparts. Saya, in Blood, with the legend of the vampire Dracula. The advance of the technological being, compared Frankenstein's monster and Major Makoto from Ghost in the shell. Finally he talked of the similarities and differences in the bestial stories represented by the legendary werewolf, and Fuse, the soldier of the wolf brigade in Jin Rho. There were many similarities and many differences in the old western stories and the modern Japanese works, but you could see where Oshii was inspired by the old classics.

info on Oshii.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclo ... .php?id=52
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamoru_Oshii