These monthly update posts are starting to get repetitive. I keep complaining about how I haven’t been doing much blogging lately and coming up with vapid excuses for my lack of activity. So I figured I might as well fess up now and admit that I’ve turned into a riajuu pig lately.
Somehow, after all these years of only loving my waifus, I have become interested in a 3D person. This month, I have been engaging heavily in filthy, degenerate behaviour. In other words, going on dates. Whenever I think about what I have become, I think that I should explode.
Long story short, I haven’t been doing much writing lately.
I do still have some things to mention in today’s post, however. First off, I tweaked my Translations Commissions page. Take the time to familiarise yourself with it if you haven’t already.
In other news, my translation of Koichi Kikuta’s interview is finally available on Wave Motion Cannon, so do give that a look! I was also enthused enough about Konosuba to write about it on Crunchyroll this week, so if you want to hear me gushing about the art and animation in detail, look no further.
By the way, if you’re interested in buying the Konosuba light novel, Bookwalker Global has a special campaign at the moment. Buy the Ebook from them and you’ll stand a chance to win autographed merch from them. I wasn’t paid to plug Bookwalker, btw, I just think that Amazon sucks.
Aaaaand… that’s pretty much all I have to report for this month. Since I haven’t done that much writing myself, I’d like to use this post to highlight Karice’s article on Yuri on Ice fan translations. I think it’s an important post that you should all read, especially if you care about what anime creators say about their work. The English anime fandom is rife with misconceptions about how the anime industry works, and part of the reason for that is the language gap. What few translations exist can be twisted out of their original context. Fans have mistranslated and/or misquoted creators before, and it’s happening again now in the Yuri on Ice fandom.
Remember: the creators are only human too. You don’t have to accept what they say as the ultimate truth on the matter. You’re free to form your own interpretation of an anime – that’s what art is all about. But don’t twist a person’s words out of context; that’s just disrespectful.
I may have been too busy with riajuu things to write much this month, but I do have some articles planned for March, so fear not, my readers. The Sword Art Online movie is getting its worldwide release on the 9th, and in order to get myself hyped, I’ve been reading more of Reki Kawahara’s works. I swear upon my life that no matter how much of a riajuu I become I will never stop loving Sword Art Online. Is anyone else as hyped about the movie as I am??
Frog-kun's Blog 
同様に私をカウント！
俺完全にローカル言語で吹き替えとはいえ最近のアニメ シリーズを放送するローカル テレビ ・ チャンネルの一からこまごまと全体アニメは見ていません。
俺は物語そのものに追いつくことができることを願っています。
Whats this about you going on dates? Are you sure your not lying about this riajuu life and you got hit in the head and have entered depths in your mind which you have never crossed and now you’ve reached the point you can’t tell fiction from reality? It’s about time you’ve reach this point :D LOL! Whether you really are delusional or I’m simply a jealous lonely perverted idiot teenager with too much time on his hands and should get a real life, all that matters is if your happy!
You have so much faith in me, brah
You’ve been dating? Well, congrats. I’ve never dated or anything of the like as I generally try to keep focus on getting through school. But hey congrats.
“The Sword Art Online movie is getting its worldwide release on the 9th, and in order to get myself hyped, I’ve been reading more of Reki Kawahara’s works. I swear upon my life that no matter how much of a riajuu I become I will never stop loving Sword Art Online. Is anyone else as hyped about the movie as I am??”
I’m excited for it! Its not be released anywhere really close to me but I’m still excited. Though, it will probably be awhile before I’m able to see it, but hey I’m patient.
Good luck with your schooling, Russell! You can date when you’re finished, like me.
Shame to hear that the SAO movie won’t be coming out near you, though. I know you’re such a big fan of the series. Hopefully you’ll get to see it sooner rather than later!
Thanks, hopefully I will.
Don’t tell them, Frog, we need to keep our love secret! *gets hit on the head*
I know that love is suffering but don’t hurt yourself Melody, we need you
Awww <3
I hope she's cute and caring. :3
I need to get back to writing, I was busy with midterms and unusual gaming hype…
I really enjoyed your SAO article on ANN. It’s interesting to see how the common complaints about Kawahara’s writing was how certain social issues bubble up in his stories without self-awareness (like Kibaou’s beef about the beta testers), but it does appear that Kawahara has become quite self-aware about the meta-level things about his writing.
As for the appeal of SAO, I think that the pure aesthetic level doesn’t get enough credit. Even as I roll my eyes a bit at Kirito’s Special Snowflake Black Trenchcoat get-up because of the in-story context, it’s still iconic and cool-looking, to where I’m going to be drawing a crossover fanart, putting another character in that clothing. The design of the Kirito’s swords, especially the Elucidator, are really cool. Asuna isn’t just another long-haired beauty, she’s got that iconic braid-tail hairdo. The original promo images of Kirito and Asuna back-to-back, the still of their swords crossed as they’re stuck in the ground at the end of the OP, those are great imagery! And so you see cosplay after cosplay by people who aren’t even that big of SAO fans, and the swords sell like gangbusters in the Dealer’s Hall. Klein’s samurai get-up is cool. The Ordinal Scale designs are super pretty, too.
It’s not a coincidence that the SAO facial design is similar to the type popularized by KyoAni, and which also underlines the crisp art that has made Citrus the top yuri manga. In a visual medium, the audience is primarily attracted to the visuals, and SAO’s art delivers.
Even when the writing falls down, there’s this thought that these designs could reach their full potential in service of a better story, which fires up the creative juices. (As mentioned before, I’m stealing the bits I like for my crossover)
Incidentally, Shingo Adachi, the character designer of the anime, said something similar today at the movie’s Hollywood premiere: “I tend to think the bulk of my real work is to come up with all the promotional material. No matter how good the film is, if there’s no one at the theater then there’s no one there to appreciate it. So I tend to think my real work is coming up with those promotional stills.” He supervised at least 100 posters and stills. It’s definitely something the anime staff put thought into.
d-die
I expect you to have met your date because she was cosplaying Frog-girl from MHA. I demand nothing less from you if you are to keep your street cred.
Or swamp cred. Pond. Whatever.
“Somehow, after all these years of only loving my waifus, I have become interested in a 3D person.”
— I have never understood why this must be mutually exclusive. Does that mean I was never otaku even during my most anime-fanatic phase?
That being said, good luck on your relationship. It takes lots of work~