How nerdy are you when you recognize melodic similarities in theme songs from different Anime series? Otaku alert!

So when the fifth ending theme song, Ray Of Light by Shoko Nakagawa, premiered on episode 51 of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, I couldn’t help but notice a similar tune in a much earlier Anime, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, and one of its ending themes. Keep in mind that I find far-fetched resemblances in many things. Such as my post about Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes looking like Alucard who also resembles Carmen Sandiego.

First up, Ray Of Light in FMA: Brotherhood. Pay attention to the background strings from the beginning of the video to about the 0:32 point:

Now onto Yuu Yuu Hakusho’s Anbaransu na Kiss o Shite (Kissing the Unbalanced) by Takahashi Hiro. The similar background melody starts at the 1:12 mark:

Is it just me? Or do you catch the similarities as well?

-phibz.

PS: Click the links on the song titles to check out the full version of the songs.

I’m proud to be part of a creative group of people who are brilliant enough to create great works of awesomeoness (and otakuness), shown in the Central Squares Saga. In the name of loving martial arts, anime, and all things nerdy, Central Squares is a true testament to the power of popular youth media, both Eastern and Western.

In 2006, the first installment of the Central Squares Saga garnered over 18,000 views on YouTube with its intended slapstick cheesiness and low-budget appearance. Above all, its ridiculous humour caught the unexpected waves of the Internet. Unknown to many, the title “Central Squares” has no direct connection to the narrative (or lack thereof) of the video series, but is simply the name of the area of York University in which it was filmed.

A surprise to most, four years later, a sequel was born. With a better set of hands provided by the Heroic Melon Collective and a departure from the beloved handycam look, Central Squares II was bigger, better, flashier, and more nerdy, with a plethora of references to popular video games, anime and television shows:

Dragonball, Star Wars, Naruto, you name it, and Central Squares II pays homage to it in some way. If my nerdiness serves me right, I counted at least 9 references to popular youth media. As I mentioned on our Twitter page, “It has references up the BUTT!”, which makes it all the more epic.

It took four years before a sequel was released, do we have to wait until 2014 before we see Central Squares III? I highly doubt that. Considering the diverse body of work the HMC have created, they are more than capable (not including myself, of course) of doing one, if not two, more installments to this great fanboy saga. With that said, RJ Tumanguil (Perfect Destiny Pictures) has sacrificed blood, sweat, tears, and many nights of sleep to polish the grand display of special effects in CS2. For now, we’ll let the trooper rest. For now (:

-phibz.

Even though we are at the 19th day of the new decade, the Decading Bananas series shall continue until the end of January, as it still marks the events and cultures of the past 10 years. In Part III of Decading Bananas, we are going to open a time capsule of sorts and reveal what kind of influences, interests and fads I was into, as an unknowing young Banana, a short decade ago.

Every time I visit Hong Kong, I always experience several attacks of nostalgia during the journey home from the airport. Even just sitting in my room (which has evolved over the years) and panning my eyes across the short buildings of the neighbourhood, history, my history, naturally unfolds in my mind. This time around I wanted to look for objects that would help me pinpoint what I kind of culture, media and fads I was into around 10 years ago. To my surprise, it was sitting on my shelf the whole time. And this is what I found:

Ten years ago I was an avid collector of CoCo, a bi-weekly comic magazine printed in Hong Kong that regularly featured Japanese manga, local comics as well as gaming news. It was first released in 1997 around the time British rule was handed back to China. Whether the Handover had significance in the birth of this magazine is unknown, but I will look into it. I actually own several issues from 1997 but shall only highlight the ’99 and ’00 issues as it marks what happened a decade ago. The snapshots that follow are the popular trends, manga and culture I, and many other teens, were into at the brink of the millennium.

Like many 10-12 year olds back in late 1999 and early 2000s, I was very much immersed in the global Digimon fad. Ten years ago in Hong Kong, you would be hard pressed to find a kid who did not own Digimon product. Many had 7 or more Digimon Virtual Pets attached to a single key chain, myself included. CoCo followed this trend religiously, to the point where they printed Digimon fan-fiction created by local Hong Kong artists:

In this fan-fiction, Tai has Gomamon and an overweight ExVeemon as his partners

Decapitated DarkTyrannomon versus Etemon

Puppetmon on CoCo cover

*Nerd Alert!* Digimon Adventure was in the midst of airing in Japan at this point, and I don’t think they reached the Dark Masters arc yet. The Puppetmon on this cover of CoCo was to promote the latest Digimon Virtual Pet device that was released, Digimon Pendulum IV: Wind Guardians.

Another major trend in Hong Kong were fighting games such as Street Fighter and King of Fighters. At around the turn of the millenium SNK versus Capcom was released and CoCo followed suit, releasing fan-fictions along the way:

The Match Of The Millenium, well titled

Kyo and Ryu powering up

SNK VS Capcom Fanfiction opening

Noticed how they covered up Mai’s cleavage? Censoring at its best (:

Continuing with another trend in CoCo at the time was Bomberman, but not in the regular sense. These are Bombermen who have marbles at their core, who can either shoot energy blasts out of them, or are used as toys used by teens at tournaments. Both types of these marble-Bombermen have spawned into manga and anime series:

Marble-Bomberman Toys

Marble-Bomberman Toys

Marble-Bomberman Manga

From 1999 to 2000, the world was in between the 1998 France FIFA World Cup and the upcoming 2002 Korea/Japan FIFA World Cup. Even though we were in between the two events, local Hong Kong artists and CoCo kept the football (soccer, for you North Americans) spirit alive through parodies and fan-fiction comics:

Ronaldo caricature on CoCo cover

World Cup manga in CoCo

The once hugely popular Mini-4WD trend was going downhill at this point in time, but CoCo continued to feature them in their issues going into the millennium:

Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go MAX promotion

Let's & Go manga in CoCo

Here are some remaining trends, manga and anime that were highlighted by CoCo 10 years ago:

So there you have it. What one of the creators of TheBananaTimes was into 10 years ago. Needless to say my love and passion for anime and manga remains unchanged, but of course I have become more selective to which ones I watch and read. For example, no matter how sexually desperate I was as a young pubescent boy, I would never find the weird-looking big-breasted women in the snapshot above, attractive in any sense. The same goes for now…

Manga and Anime will always be a big part of my creative life and personal life, and it seemed that way back in the year 1999 and 2000 (:

-phibz.

The 1st of four short-posts today. The Hollywood Foreign Press released 15 animated films that could be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the upcoming Golden Globe awards in January 2010. The 15 considerations are:

• 9
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
• Battle For Terra
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Disney’s A Christmas Carol
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
• Mary and Max
• The Missing Lynx
• Monsters VS Aliens
• Planet 51
• Ponyo
• The Princess and the Frog
• Up

Riding the excess waves of the Academy Awards (their gluttonous expansion of 10 Best Picture nominees), the Golden Globes have 5 Best Animated Feature nominee slots this year. The Oscars and Globes sure are desperate to eat up airtime. Anyhow, here are my predictions for Best Animated Feature: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, A Christmas Carol, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Princess and the Frog, Up

Granted, I didn’t watch all of the films (didn’t even hear of Battle For Terra or The Missing Lynx until today) but I believe Ponyo won’t make the cut. A couple of months back I gave Ponyo a 7 out of 10 rating and I think even that was a little generous. In my opinion, it was definitely Miyazaki’s weakest piece. Especially with Up campaigning for a spot on the 10-seater Best Picture limousine at the Oscars, winning Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes won’t be surprising, anyone other film is just playing catch up. (no one REALLY cares about the Globes, they nominated Tom Cruise for Best Supporting Actor last year for goodness’ sake!). Then again, seeing how random the Globes are, all of my predictions are as plausible as Ditto morphing into Agumon (click the links, they’re funny). So Ponyo has as good of a chance to be nominated as the rest of the 14.

-phibz.

Akira Toriyama, the famed creator of the immortal Dragonball franchise, is releasing a new manga mini-series!

Toriyama is BACK! …well, for now. It IS only a mini-series. He hasn’t released a full-fledged series since Dragonball, and that ended 14 years ago. But then again, who needs to release ANYTHING when you created the single most-successful manga/anime franchise in history. Then Hollywood and James Wong went and ruined it for everyone… EVERYONE! FUUUUUU-

Akira Toriyama has collaborated with DNA² creator, Masakazu Katsura, and created a new manga mini-series titled Jiya (if you haven’t read DNA², check it out, it’s very sexy) . It slated for release in 2010′s first issue of Weekly Young Jump magazine on December 10th. The story is said to be a “super science-fiction action” with an “alien of justice” as the protagonist:

[More at AnimeNewsNetwork]

In keeping with the science-fiction genre, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 released its latest promotional poster. It looks like mobile-suit heaven.. I made the mistake and watched the leaked bootleg footage of the film shown at the latest Comic-Con. After that, I was screaming like Kate in Paranormal Activity, because I wanted to watch the film so f***in’ badly! So for your sake, I won’t post the link of that god-forsaken video.

On a less frustrating note, notice the similarities with Iron Man and Jiya? They both have that cat teeth thing going on with their masks.

[From IWatchStuff]

Spoiler: Warmachine got shorter, slimmer and hustles less in Iron Man 2.

-phibz.

After a long day, some of us guys from the HMC went to eat at a pho restaurant. And we met a celebrity from the not so distant future. Here’s the funny photo:

Okay. Maybe you don’t see the hilarity or resemblance. But we spat out our food when we saw this! Dr. Zoidberg!

Just a short random antic for you guys

-phibz.

The Banana Times reporting from Hong Kong!

I have decided to continue the nerdiness and write another post about Anime and Manga because.. Well. Why the hell not?

Since I returned to Hong Kong from Beijing, I made sure I had my Canon Digital IXUS 75 in my pocket ready to capture some interesting images for myself and for the blog at any given moment. Ever since Hong Kong allowed unlimited customization on license plates, its been a lot easier to not only catch Anime/Manga references, but also easier to make fun of the locals and their English (I guess I used to be one? Not anymore? I’ve been Bananaized).

Helo Kity? So its hee-low kai-tee. Looks like something from Engrish.com

D…Gary-Man?! Another lost child of Engrish. Satoshi Tajiri is gonna be piiissed. Or rather, whoever came up with the English names for the Pokemon characters is gonna be pissed. How the fuck does Satoshi become Ash Ketchum? (ZOMG EVA REBUILD 1.0 DVD!!!)

Okay, this isn’t Anime or Manga related (a Winnie The Pooh manga would be kinda cool?) but its pretty post-worthy. Look how he judges us with his ignorant smile..

Okay. WSJ means Wall Street Journal, but it can also stand for Weekly Shonen Jump! The most popular manga magazine in the WORLD? Duh. I know its a stretch, but hey, it works. And what’s the deal of releasing the Wall Street Journal on September 11th..

Yamada! Hermes is EVERYWHERE in Hong Kong!
I know its a popular luxury fashion brand and its in a lot of places,  but the train man inside of me just had to take picture. And to end it off:

Suneo from Doraemon says FOK!

I have a few more days left in Hong Kong, so the search for more Anime/Manga references continues! Until next time.

Yes. This is where I am, where I grew up, where The Dark Knight was filmed (and yes, I did take this photo).

-phibz.

Also known as ACGHK, it is Hong Kong’s annual comic, animation, games and book fair held every summer. The games and comics fair were separate but merged in 2008. The day before we flew to Beijing, The Banana Times took the opportunity to catch the last day of the fair with hopes of seeing what was left of manga and anime awesomeness. First things first, I had to find the Alchemist.

I was watching some Hong Kong television and I managed to catch an episode of FMA:B in Cantonese, and they were only ONE episode behind the Japanese release schedule. But they translated the new series as “Fullmetal Alchemist FA”, which is just saying the title twice..

The Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood stall:

The Hong Kong Convention crowd:

Hey, that’s a pretty cool-looking action figure. It kinda looks like a – no way…

Your eyes are not deceiving you. That is some sort of manga character made out of a shoe. Remember that great South Park episode with the Chinpokomon? Someone took it way too seriously (0:34 mark).

One Piece x Dragonball Z Cross Epoch! Son Luffy! Awesomeness! And my nerdiness would not be complete without wearing a t-shirt that had “manga” written printed on it (or man hua/man hwa if you’re Chinese or Korean).

I wish I could compare the atmosphere, structure and fandom of Asian conventions and North American conventions but unfortunately, due to my ignorance and inexperience, I have yet to attend an Anime or Manga convention in the West. But I can say one thing for sure. Geeks, nerds and Otaku are everywhere, and we’re only growing. Hell, the term “Densha Otoko” has crept its way into contemporary Hong Kong culture already.

Anime North 2010, I’ll see you soon.

-phibz.

Variety reports in next year’s Academy Awards ceremony, there will be 10 Best Picture nominees. That is twice more than the usual five. Sid Ganis of the Academy says that it will give other types of movies a chance at gold, such as documentary, foreign-language, animated feature and “maybe even a comedy”. In this economy it also won’t hurt films to have more credibility and coverage at the box office.

Since the recession I always thought the film industry, especially Hollywood, was one of few still reeling in the big bucks. I mean, I definitely did not stop going to the theaters when Wall Street crashed, and movie tickets aren’t cheap in Canada. After reading the article, I wasn’t sure if I was happy or angry.

First, after reading that a comedy now has a shot at the Best Picture nomination brought much joy to my heart. I was big supporter of Juno two years ago and I look forward to film of similar caliber to join the big drama boys again. Also, having ten nominations gives the good old indie films a chance as well. Although Slumdog Millionaire certainly proved that an independent picture can win without having to double the nomination slots.

On the other hand – why couldn’t this have happened last year! Last year would have been a great year to have ten Best Picture nominations. I really think the Academy made this decision in response to the huge fan criticism one how they omitted The Dark Knight and Wall-E from the Best Picture category. Lets take a look at last year:

2008 Best Picture nominees:
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Reader

In my opinion, these are the five other films I would’ve included if there were ten slots, and with reason:

Gran Torino

Why this movie failed to received a single nomination is beyond me. Clint Eastwood directed himself in another memorable performance. Eastwood plays Korean war veteran with a very racist vernacular and appears as the antagonist at the beginning of the film but shifts to touch your hearts towards the end. What struck me most was Eastwood’s choice of casting genuine Hmong people who have no acting experience to play the supporting cast. When you watch their performance you don’t notice bad acting, but rather their reactions in real life.

The Dark Knight

TDK got snubbed. Big time. The world was not ready for such an epic film, which is why the Academy is now compensating by doubling the Best Picture nominees. For those of you who’ve seen the film, you know why it should have been nominated. For those of you who haven’t, f*** you. Get off your ass and go watch it. Watching Heath Ledger as The Joker leaves you breathless and wondering if the film should have been called The Joker.

The Wrestler

One of the best slice-of-life dramas I have ever seen. Daron Aronofsky used subtle documentary techniques to show a segment of a post-prime wrestler’s life without having to elaborate a vast backstory. All you needed to know is that he’s old, out of work and clearly has issues, but you love him. Mickey Rourke’s comeback is definitely complete.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

The needed comedy to every Best Picture roster. VCB was a sexy romantic comedy that truly stayed away from its sappy, gut-wrenching conventions. There was no ideal happy ending or a scene with an unnecessary long kiss with a sunset in the background. There was foreign, fun, erotic romance to the point where there was a three-person couple. The dynamics of the relationships between characters accompanied with an optimistic narrator made the picture controversial, questionable but over all stimulating. If you know what I mean.

WALL-E

Arguably the best Pixar animated feature, and this is includes Up. I’d hate to discredit traditional animated classics such as Aladdin or The Lion King, so I would rank WALL-E as the best 3D animated feature film of all time. I would have never imagined an animated film to even dare to have such vivid documentary characteristics. But the environmental context of the film made it work wonderfully. There was no dialogue in first half hour of the film and I assure you, no one found that boring or unnecessary (I think). Our human race is relentlessly trying to create artificial intelligence to assimilate human characteristics, but we’re still very far from succeeding. After watching WALL-E, I can tell you this – Andrew Stanton, is the first to breathe true life, personality and love into robots.

There’s my make-belief list of the Ten 2008 Best Picture nominees.

Don’t stop watching movies, please.

-phibz.

I’m going to delay my movie review for Pixar’s Up a little more, and show you the colour script/storyboard of the movie. It is simple, beautiful and thoroughly proves that a picture is worth a thousand words.

The last image shows more emphasis on Russell’s Asian-ness. If it was a normal illustration or painting, it might be a little offensive, but its the simplistic portrayal of wider story so I think its alright.

More of the colour script at Lou Romano’s blog.

-phibz.