Otaku Links: a farewell to JManga, and are anime fans misunderstood?

13 years ago

Two fan filmmakers are attempting to crowd-fund a documentary on the subject of “anime and its misunderstood fandom.” It’s nowhere close to meeting its goal, but I’m curious about how they might tackle the “misunderstood” part. Are anime fans still at the stage where we have to explain ourselves to outsiders? Watch their pitch video and see for yourself.

Aja writes about how a commercial for a nonexistent swimming anime amassed an enormous fan following.

Over at Sexy Videogame Land, Leigh Alexander writes about the short-lived security gamers find through playing life simulations:

They call some large-scale simulations “god games” because you play god – but maybe they take a role in our lives like religion, a repetitive ritual that makes us feel less afraid, like success is always attainable because the system is fair.

Heard about this through Manga Therapy: How Crunchyroll built up a marketing strategy that hinges on the cosplay elite. What do you think about the practice of using fans as voluntary or paid PR?

Sad times: first Google Reader announced it was shutting down, and then JManga just a few hours later! My guess as to why the 1.5-year-old digital manga experiment is ending? The subscription service doesn’t allow you to download manga once you buy it, something that illegal scanlations offer easily.

Steven Savage writes about yet another perk to blogging: it accelerates your writing and editing feedback loop.

Finally, here’s a catchy soundtrack to your weekend—Chrono Jigga, a mashup CD of Chrono Trigger and Jay-Z. I’m amazed by how well these two sounds work together!

(Photo via Victoria Holden, social media marketing manager at Crunchyroll.)

Welcome to Otaku Journalist 3.0

Uncategorized

13 years ago

So long to Otaku Journalist 2.0.

After nearly two years, I thought it was time for an update, both in my blog’s look and direction.

Over the last two weeks I’ve been building this theme off of the base of Purple Pro, a free WordPress theme from ThemeMotive. Going for a modern look, I tweaked the PHP skeleton and did a complete CSS overhaul. I wanted the site to be newsier, easier to read, and scream “2013” instead of “LiveJournal!”

But the visual changes are just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll notice I’ve swapped my menu with four brand new pages—What’s “Otaku?”, About the Site, About the Author, and The Bookstore. By succinctly explaining “otaku,” I’m trying to make the blog more accessible to newcomers. As fandom topics become more newsworthy every day, I think a lot more people than just hardcore fans are curious about fandom reporting.

But the biggest change of all was my biggest decision: I’ve decided to give away my Otaku Journalist Guides for free. After writing the first three and about half of the fourth, I lost my motivation. I realized it was because I was reaching so few people by putting up a paywall. I deeply appreciate everyone who DID buy a guide, but it’s time to open the floodgates and see if there is any more interest. I’m hoping your readership is what I need to motivate me to finish the series!

Thank you for continuing to read Otaku Journalist through its many evolutions. I think you’ll really like what’s coming up.

When is it OK to write for free?

Journalism

13 years ago

Being a freelance writer can be like hurling yourself repeatedly at a brick wall.

Every day, I wake up and pitch the best ideas I can think of to half a dozen different news outlets. Most of them I will never hear from again. But the slight possibility that one in twenty will respond is my sole motivation.

I’ve been freelancing since I left the Daily Dot in December, and only now am I able to pay (some of) my bills. As Susannah wrote, they call it freelancing because a lot of the time, you feel like you’re working for free much of the time.

Still, a recent discussion on compensation for writers made it clear that my path isn’t the only way to get a byline. There are plenty of people out there who are both willing and able to write for free. Some are professionals in another field who write columns for pleasure and recognition. Others are students or interns. I used to be one of the latter.

I wrote that post back in 2010, so I don’t necessarily agree now with everything I said about working for free. But I still believe this: It was worth it because I needed the internship experience more than the company needed me. Three years later, I still think this is the only reason anyone should write for free.

Just last year I wrote a lengthy article on Homestuck fandom for CNN. I did not get paid for this article. I’m not surprised if you didn’t realize that since 1) CNN is an enormous company with lots of money and 2) I intentionally omitted that detail when I wrote about the article, because I felt like a failure. What kind of person works for free and has the nerve to call herself a professional writer?

It was a tough decision, but I eventually agreed to write for CNN without compensation because—you guessed it—I needed them more than they needed me. My rewards for this one article have been tremendous:

My article was popular. With 3,500 Facebook likes, 500+ tweets, and hundreds of thousands of hits, I was literally writing for exposure.
I have the dubious honor of being Wikipedia’s most cited authority on the Homestuck page.
I get to write that I’ve been published in CNN on my resume from now until forever.
I got to tackle a topic that’s important to me and fun to write. I think this is what Adrian Chen means when he talks about the “fulfillment factor.”

For me, these four reasons were enough to sway me into exchanging my hard work for something other than money. But whenever you’re forced into working for free, your ultimate decision will be personal. Will you be writing for real exposure (or are they just saying that)? Will it be a strong addition to your portfolio? And most importantly, do you need them more than they need you?

Because if they’re the ones propositioning you and not the other way around, it’s time to stick to your guns and ask to be paid what you’re worth.

(Photo by Douglas Porter on Flickr.)

Otaku Links: Writers, slackers, bloggers, fighters

Otaku Links

13 years ago

Anita Sarkeesian’s first Tropes vs. Women video, on Damsels in Distress in video games, is finally out. I’ve been waiting for this ever since I wrote about the project in June!

Kotaku wrote about the Fighting Is Magic brony game kerfuffle. Hasbro may have sent a C&D, but Lauren Faust is coming to the rescue with original characters. I understand Hasbro’s obligation to protect its copyright, but since the game wasn’t for profit, I thought it’d be easier for them to come to an agreement.

I’m reading The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon right now—it’s public domain if you want to snag it for free—and I just found out there’s a manga based on this 11th century classic presenting prim noblewoman Sei as a “slacker and blogger!”

How much should a writer be paid, if anything? This is especially fascinating to me since most of the discussion participants are editors, some of whom I plan on pitching soon! (Side note: when did Branch happen? Seems like social networks are popping up overnight.)

Lawrence Brenner tipped me off to the fact that Funimation is suing merchandisers over some of their cosplay items. This could become a very interesting discussion for fans—when we’re creating cosplay props and other items based on anime, where do you draw the line between homage and counterfeit?

This is the most relatable (and uncomfortable) Anime News Nina comic strip in ages.

My cousin and I spent Thursday night taking a trip down memory lane and rewatching our favorite Flash animations from the early ’00s. Remember We Drink Ritalin, Numa Numa Guy, Homestar Runner, and basically everything from You The Man Now Dog?

Sorry for the blogging silence lately. I’m actually working on a pretty intense redesign for Otaku Journalist—involving both content and appearance. Hope to be back on schedule soon!

(Photo via Equestria Gaming.)

Otaku Links: the gangster life and the freelance lifestyle

Otaku Links

13 years ago

I just discovered MC Melody Doll, a Gothic Lolita gangster rapper. Her music videos are definitely tongue in cheek! Bronies might recognize the composer she works with, The Living Tombstone. I’m trying to pitch this as a story idea to different news blogs, but I can’t find one that is interested yet. Know of any?

Speaking of which, on days when I get down about trying to make it as a freelancer, it really helps to have Susannah Breslin as a mentor. Here’s her Forbes blog post that touches on my frustrations more candidly than I can talk about them myself.

You’ve got to laugh at Said to Lady Journos, if just to keep from crying. Anonymous journalists submit the absurd sexist remarks they sometimes face on the job. Poynter did an interview with the woman behind the Tumblr.

This is surprising: Boys who love ‘Boys’ Love’ Manga on the Rise, Claims Article. Marketed at teenage girls and women, Boys’ Love portrays beautiful men who act nothing like gay or straight men would in real life. The article uses only anecdotal evidence and no statistics, so I’m not sure that its credible.

On a related note, my former colleague Aja Romano just wrote about the differences between Boys’ Love—manga targeted at straight women—and bara—manga targeted at gay men—in her latest column for After Elton.

Over on Tumblr, I participated in a discussion about New Enthusiasm, a moniker for the over-the-top excitement that geeks use to express ourselves. The Internet’s recent witch-hunt of a group of geeky teens hit close to home for me.

Finally, I just found out that Bluehost, my web hosting provider of choice, provides discounted rates for students and teachers! If you’re a student thinking about starting a blog, click this link instead of the affiliate link on my sidebar—it won’t earn me any money, but it’ll save you lots!

(Photo of MC Melody Doll by Deerstalker Pictures.)