Nico Nico Douga announced they will delete videos containing materials from lots of anime companies from now. (See the news article here.) Okay, this means my favorite Code Geass MAD, Super Nippon Deluxe (Sunrise), and all those Haruhi MADs (Kadokawa) can go to the graveyard soon. Zepy pointed out that there are still Touhou, Idolm@ster, and other good stuffs left, so this is not going to be the end of Nico Nico Douga per se, but the place is going to be less lively from now on.
Or not? Youtube is doing the same thing, but there are still tons of copyrighted stuffs there. Can Nico Nico Douga best effort keeps up with the rate of users’ uploading? Probably not. The thing I’m afraid of the most is that Nico Nido Douga would pay the most of their deleting effort to videos in the Top 100 list, and videos with derived content that are left would all be crappy.
Okay, time for some conspiracy theory. Kadokawa is allowing Youtube to host user videos with its content, and they will share ads profit with one another and the makers of those videos. Plus, Gonzo is hosting its anime channel on Youtube. Could this be an attempt from these three companies to curb competition from Nico Nico Douga?
… was the most recent anime I marathoned. Oh, wait, it’s not an anime isn’t it? Well, but my mode of experiencing it totally was that of an anime. I watched a fellow named rrw32 played the game from start to finish at Nico Nico Douga. The list of movies he uploaded contains 78 episodes of about 20 minutes of gameplay, cut scenes, and skits. Took me about 3 days to finish the whole thing.
While I cannot say whether ToSR, as the Japanese abbreviate it, is a good game or not, I can say that it’s quite entertaining as an anime. Here are some reasons: Continue reading “Tales of Symphonia: Ratatosk no Kishi”
I’m at Episode 20 of Clannad now. There’s no complaint about the animation, the comedic timing, or the emotion KyoAni could project. So, expression-wise, Clannad gets an almost perfect score. Story-wise, it has down-to-earth stories that I think many find touching and easy to relate to. However, thinking about what happen to each family, I got a feeling that having a family is hard, and it sucks most of the time. Continue reading “Clannad: A Bleak Look at Family and Child Raising”
I didn’t sleep last night because I marathoned chapter 152-206 of Mahou Sensei Negima. It was that good. Here’s why:
Designs
Costumes, beasts, cities, environments, and battle choreography. Detailed and beautiful.
Akamatasu-sensei sure get himself a group of assistants with l33t skillz. Continue reading “Negima is Awesome”
The titular video, M.N.M.K. San Shimai wa Heibon Nanoka? (M.N.M.K.三姉妹は平凡なのか？ 最終鬼畜南家 【みなみけMAD】), is probably the best recent Nico Nico Douga remix. See for yourself how AWESOME it is below:
Continue reading “M.N.M.K. San Shimai wa Heibon Nanoka?”
If I learned something from watching Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei (hereby referred to as SZS), then it’s the fact that SZS is not a great show to marathon.
While this picture has something to do with the content,
it is clearly a shameless attempt to attract readers.
Continue reading “Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei”
I gave a talk on Nico Nico Douga at Barcamp Bangkok on January 26, 2008. The event itself was fun and I got to meet a lot of interesting people, many of whom shared some obsession with Japanese media like I do. I’m posting here a revised version of the talk script and the talk slide, in Lessig style. (Yeah, I’m a Lessig fanboy.)
Continue reading “The Evolution of Creativity: Nico Nico Douga and Doujinshi Subculture in Web 2.0″
Over at his post on copyright, omo got into an argument with Avatar on copyright over anime. Avatar’s argument is that, since making anime is so costly, you cannot let people torrent anime like music, manga, or any other media. Animators has to be fed so that they get their jobs done before the next episode airs. Someone has to pay for all this.
True. But that doesn’t mean that free download should be more controlled. Anime studios (not distributors) may be able survive through other means. In fact, in Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig (who Avatar claimed was going to kill anime) suggested a number of ways to make money out of free content. (His context is music, but it should be equally applied to movies as well.)
This picture has nothing to do with the content of this post. It is merely a shameless attempt to attract readers. Continue reading “Making Money out of Free Anime?”
Darkmirage blogged recently that Crypton sent Cease & Desist letter to a doujin circle that was trying to sell overpriced Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin dakimakura.
He purported that the dakimakura can be categorized as a mere bootlegger’s attempt to reap cash from the VOCALOID boom. As far as I understand his idea, CLOCK☆HEARTS is rightly served because it deviates from “the spirit of fan creations” by marketing, with an incorrect intention, products that lack creativity.
I don’t like the dichotomy of “good” and “bad” doujin activity he introduced. Here’s why… Continue reading “Crypton’s Cease and Desist Letter: My View”
I got a couple of weird kicks watching Hiyorin’s exploits in Lucky Star 18 & 19. I seriously thought she was the greatest character EVAR. Now I think I know why… Continue reading “Praise the Hiyorin”
