WisCon 36: Anime & Manga Programming Idea-Generation & Solidifaction Fest

[laceblade]

Way back in June, when WisCon 35 was still fresh, we had a conversation called WisCon 36 Anime/Manga Programming Idea-Generation Fest. I'd like to pick up some of the ideas we had there, and solidify them into panel descriptions.
I think it's cool to write things collectively, but if you would like to write & submit your own panel ideas for WisCon 36, about anime & manga or any other topic, you can go here to do so now! Anyone can suggest panel ideas: People who run the convention, authors, attendees, or people who have never attended WisCon and never will.

Typically, the Programming Committee will wordsmith descriptions quite a bit, but I think that anime and manga panels are often left untouched because those on Programming don’t know the terms, etc. That's why I'm big on wordsmithing these!

Goals of this post:
--Further develop ideas we were talking about earlier in the year
--Suggest new ideas if you've been thinking about stuff lately, or if you see something here that makes you want to write something else.

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General Question
For panel descriptions that include the names of manga-ka or other Japanese writers/artists/producers/creators, should we do [Family Name] [Given Name] or [Given Name] [Family Name]? I tend to go with the latter, but am very willing to listen to the input of others.

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Specific Panel Ideas
Disclaimer: There are ideas in the original post that are not included here, in all cases because I didn't feel confident enough to re-tool them myself. Feel free to revive them in the comments of this post.

"I've read Ooku; which manga series should I read next?"
After Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku won the Tiptree Award at WisCon 34, many WisCon attendees read manga for the first time. Veterans of anime and manga talk about their favorites, as well as series that share characteristics to Ooku.


Anime & Manga: What I read & watched in 2011
So, what manga have you read or reread this year? Which anime have you watched or re-watched? Any re-releases have you excited? Come listen to panelists chatter, and maybe get some ideas for what you'll read/watch next.
[Aside: Is this panel too similar to the one above it?]


Intended Audience in Anime/Manga
In Japan, manga series run in magazines marketed towards adult men, adult women, boys, and girls. Many series marketed toward adult men (sienen) feature attractive girls/women living their lives and having adventures. Does the fact that the series are marketed toward older men limit your personal enjoyment? Do you pay attention to the classifications of Japanese marketers?

Suggested series for discussion: K-On!, Gunslinger Girls, Victorian Romance Emma, Azumanga Daioh/Yosuba&!, Puella Shoujo Magi Madoka


Magical School Girls
In anime and manga, characters like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura are symbols of "girl power." Watch clips of classic magical school girl anime, and listen to panelists deconstruct the girls' sources of power, the motives of their animal sidekicks, and their outfits.

(Suggestions for clips of source material: Hime-chan no Ribon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Uta~Kata, Princess Tutu, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Full Moon o Sagashite, Shugo Chara!, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Pretty Cure, Sugar Sugar Rune, Mai Hime, Magic Knight Rayearth, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Cutey Honey, Pretear, etc. x1,000


SF and Fantasy in Classic Shôjo
Panelists will discuss classic titles, such as Princess Knight and Utena, and classic authors, such as Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya.


The Works of CLAMP
CLAMP is a four-women manga-producing team from Japan. Panelists will discuss their work, titles include Cardcaptor Sakura, X/1999, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHOLiC, and Gate 7.
[Aside: need more meat to this description?]


Deconstruction of Fairy Tales in Shoujo Anime/Manga
[Don't have much of a description yet]
Suggested series: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Princess Tutu, Notsume Yuujinchou


Anime Party
Like the vid party, but we'd show the first episodes of tons of anime shows all night! Alternatively, we could marathon a specific series.
I personally am uninterested in hosting a party (although would assist a host), and parties get set up in a different way than panels do (you have to contact the Parties Coordinator!). So if people are truly interested in this, you'd best organize yourselves in the comments, :O

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Ideas not exclusive to anime/manga

Pirating
Copyright, scanlations, fansubbing, electronic versions of media. Half our community hates it, and half depends on it. Let's have an honest discussion about the role of piracy in fandom.

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Commenting disclaimer: If you're reading this on LiveJournal, I would appreciate it if you could post your comments on the Dreamwidth post, so they're all in one spot. Of course, if you are unable to do so, comment at LJ.

Comments

I've read Ooku; which manga series should I read next?

[laceblade]

Discuss this idea in this thread!


After Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku won the Tiptree Award at WisCon 34, many WisCon attendees read manga for the first time. Veterans of anime and manga talk about their favorites, as well as series that share characteristics to Ooku.

Re: I've read Ooku; which manga series should I read next?

[bibliofile]

So this would have to have elements of Manga 101, yes? And maybe how Ooku can be seen as both manga and graphic novel, and how those things differ? Because IIRC manga isn't just a format, necessarily, though some (Western) people see graphic novels as "just" a format.

I'm speaking as someone who has read some manga but doesn't know very much about it. I'm aware that some people have discussed this seriously, but I don't know what those discussions covered. And I'd be very interested in reading more manga! but I don't know where to start (besides the odd title that the library acquires).

Um, or something?

Anime & Manga: What I read & watched in 2011

[laceblade]

Discuss this idea in this thread!


So, what manga have you read or reread this year? Which anime have you watched or re-watched? Any re-releases have you excited? Come listen to panelists chatter, and maybe get some ideas for what you'll read/watch next.
[Aside: Is this panel too similar to the one above it?]

Intended Audience in Anime/Manga

[laceblade]

Discuss this idea in this thread!


In Japan, manga series run in magazines marketed towards adult men, adult women, boys, and girls. Many series marketed toward adult men (sienen) feature attractive girls/women living their lives and having adventures. Does the fact that the series are marketed toward older men limit your personal enjoyment? Do you pay attention to the classifications of Japanese marketers?

Suggested series for discussion: K-On!, Gunslinger Girls, Victorian Romance Emma, Azumanga Daioh/Yosuba&!, Puella Shoujo Magi Madoka

Re: Intended Audience in Anime/Manga

[heavenscalyx]

I'd also like to be part of discussing the upsurge in titles that are less specifically geared at one gender or another (specifically lacking the cinematographic markers that identify such -- like panty shots for the older male-oriented stuff and the usual shoujo or josei markers) that have strong female characters. I'm thinking of Yoshitoshi ABe's stuff -- Serial Experiments Lain, Niea_7, and, especially, Haibane Renmei -- as well as bizarre series like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. One could argue, for instance, that Evangelion and Escaflowne, as relatively explicit crossover attempts, were groundbreaking for more crossover-type series like these.

Re: Intended Audience in Anime/Manga

[laceblade]

HMMM. See, it's partly this distinction that gives me confusion. An example for me is the series K-ON! There aren't habitual panty shots in K-ON! (there is one embarrassing moment, but it is actually part of the plot and not just randomass (har har)). It's a show about girls who hang out and form a band. They eat cake, they go to school, they hang out after school and on the weekends. To me, everything about this show screams, "It's for girls!"
But K-ON! is classified as "moe," and it runs in a sienen magazine. So is it specifically geared at men, or at women? Is K-ON! considered "male-oriented"?? I have no idea! If it is geared toward men, I don't know why, or what marks it as such.
I'm not always sure what the markers are; sometimes I'm surprised to find out that something's considered "moe" or "sienen;" with series like Yotsuba&!, I feel mildly disturbed and kind of don't want to know why.

I think partly I'm having trouble fully following your comment. You talk about an upsurge, presumably a recent one, but Lain is as old as Escaflowne/Evangelion, right?

Re: Intended Audience in Anime/Manga

[heavenscalyx]

Lain isn't as old as Esca/Eva, though it is old. HR and Niea are also older (early 2000s, IIRC); I was so very sad that ABe got into doing Technolyze, because I loved what he was doing with female characters, and Technolyze was so very dark and dreary. I've just been seeing more crossover stuff over time. Like Full Metal Alchemist and Last Exile, with all the shounen military flavor, but we see a lot of the type of emotional development that started with Eva laced throughout. Scrapped Princess! Now, Scrapped Princess is fascinating for its crossover stuff, and I recall when we were watching it that we were talking about the feminist elements.

I guess I may be spinning off-topic a fair amount. I may have to cook up a panel description for this sort of thing.

The other thing that sprang to mind when I saw the "intended audience" part of this was the yuri classification -- intended for adult men -- but I was also thinking about the redefinition that lesbian mangaka have engaged in (making yuri by and for women), as well as the redefinition of the genre that we've engaged in in USian fandom.

Magical School Girls

[laceblade]

Discuss this idea in this thread!


In anime and manga, characters like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura are symbols of "girl power." Watch clips of classic magical school girl anime, and listen to panelists deconstruct the girls' sources of power, the motives of their animal sidekicks, and their outfits.

(Suggestions for clips of source material: Hime-chan no Ribon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Uta~Kata, Princess Tutu, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Full Moon o Sagashite, Shugo Chara!, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Pretty Cure, Sugar Sugar Rune, Mai Hime, Magic Knight Rayearth, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Cutey Honey, Pretear, etc. x1,000

Re: Magical School Girls

[heavenscalyx]

I think in any discussion of magical girls, one needs to consider the characters' agency and how it interplays with gender. For instance, agency -- the taking of it for herself, the effects of giving it up -- is one of the essential turning points of the plot of Utena. But many of the more traditional magical girls don't have a choice about becoming magical girls, and often don't have a lot of agency around other life decisions. (And in some anime -- Escaflowne leaps to mind -- the girl's agency is specifically blamed for all the bad things that happened in the story.)

Re: Magical School Girls

[laceblade]

I AM INTRIGUE! This is also like, the central theme of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
If we watch first episodes of magical girl shows in the Anime Party (thread below, for anyone else reading!), this would be a neat thing to discuss, since episode 1 is where the initial transformation happens, whether it's someone's will or not, Madoka being the only show to resist this (I think?! Haven't seen them all, haha).

SF and Fantasy in Classic Shôjo

[laceblade]

Discuss this idea in this thread!


Panelists will discuss classic titles, such as Princess Knight and Utena, and classic authors, such as Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya.

The Works of CLAMP

[laceblade]

The Works of CLAMP


CLAMP is a four-women manga-producing team from Japan. Panelists will discuss their work, titles include Cardcaptor Sakura, X/1999, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHOLiC, and Gate 7.
[Aside: need more meat to this description?]

Deconstruction of Fairy Tales in Shoujo Anime/Manga

[laceblade]

Discuss this idea in this thread!


[Don't have much of a description yet]
Suggested series: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Princess Tutu, Notsume Yuujinchou

Re: Deconstruction of Fairy Tales in Shoujo Anime/Manga

[affreca]

I would love to be on a panel like this. Utena has so many possible interpretations.

Re: Deconstruction of Fairy Tales in Shoujo Anime/Manga

[heavenscalyx]

I'm looking at the spread of Utena appearing in the panel descriptions and wondering if there oughtn't to be a panel just on Utena as the iconic (and still unique) feminist anime.

Anime Party

[laceblade]

Discuss this idea in this thread!


Like the vid party, but we'd show the first episodes of tons of anime shows all night! Alternatively, we could marathon a specific series.

Re: Anime Party

[heavenscalyx]

I think if one were to marathon a specific series, it would have to be one of the short ones (unless you were going to do, say, a weekend-long Utena marathon). Four pop to mind immediately: Haibane Renmei, Serial Experiments Lain, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (original version), and Mushi-shi.

Re: Anime Party

[laceblade]

Isn't Mushi-shi 26 episodes?

The others = good suggestions! I wouldn't mind rewatching Haibane Renmei, which I didn't hugely care for the first time around, but might appreciate more now.

So, a 12-episode series would take about 4 hours, right? I'm assuming that we only need to watch OPs and EDs every hour or so, haha.


One thing that comes to mind with an anime party is that, if we marathon one series, it makes it harder for people to drop by. Like, a n00b to the series might not want to sit in for the last hour without having seen episodes 1-9. For this reason, I wonder if first episodes might be better?

Re: Anime Party

[heavenscalyx]

Well, the nice thing about Mushi-Shi is that there's very little continuity between episodes -- people can walk in and walk out and practically every episode is its own short story.

Oooh, just thought of another fun one like that, which is shorter: Seraphim Call! Every episode is a different girl, and her own short story.

(Though it occurs to me that marathoning the first story arc of Utena would be a nice introduction, and with the remastered set and all...)

I like the idea of a run of first episodes! There's a bunch of stuff I keep meaning to check out, but getting DVDs from Netflix has surprisingly annoying overhead when one is spoiled by streaming. :)

Re: Anime Party

[laceblade]

I also can't watch anime fast enough on Netflix - my "Saved" section is a wasteland of anime DVDs they used to have but are now out of print, :[

Someone suggested a "Magical Girls 101" party, where we show first episodes of magical girl shows! I think that'd be pretty great for WisCon, helpful for n00bs, and a nice way to look at one specific history of anime.

This could combine with the "Magical Girls" panel idea up above (and the list of shows, bwaha) - someone could talk between episodes, or several someones.

Re: Anime Party

[heavenscalyx]

Yeah, I finally got around to getting the first disc of Witch Hunter Robin a couple weeks ago. My friends recommended it to me years ago. I also bog down on series because of mood or whatever, so I've just never gotten through Twelve Kingdoms or Kurau Phantom Memory. I just wish they'd freaking subtitle their streaming anime so I can watch it that way!

I like the Magical Girls 101 party idea!

Re: Anime Party

[laceblade]

Ugh, yes. I got rid of the streaming option on Netflix, just because there is so much streaming anime on Hulu and Anime News Network.

For the Magical Girls 101 party, now we just need someone to run the party!

Pirating

[laceblade]

Discuss this idea in this thread!


Copyright, scanlations, fansubbing, electronic versions of media. Half our community hates it, and half depends on it. Let's have an honest discussion about the role of piracy in fandom.

Re: Pirating

[julieandrews]

I know sometimes the panel descriptions are things the panel like to jump on an argue with. Like the phrase 'gay kiss' in a Torchwood panel description. So maybe you do want to keep this.

I was just thinking it's way more complicated than half hates it and half depends on it. I know many people draw their own personal lines in the sand. Fansubs are okay, scanlations are not. Fansubs of non-licensed are okay, licensed are not.

Of course that can be the whole meat of the panel, so maybe it's fine to phrase it that way to get people arguing. :)

Young whipper-snappers don't know how good they've got it with dozens of manga titles available in their public and school libraries *shakes fist*. Back in my day we bought the original Japanese and a dictionary!!

:)

Re: Pirating

[laceblade]

The phrasing isn't mine, it was suggested in the previous post.
I agree it's more complicated - I usually feel better about fansubs for non-licensed things for example, but I rarely buy any anime without sampling it first.

Do you have any suggestions for rephrasing? :D

Re: Pirating

[julieandrews]

Hrm..

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Copying, scanlations, fansubbing, fandubbing, downloads. Pirating anime and manga is a tradition amongst fans, especially those who aren't fluent in Japanese. Is this a moral and legal grey area? Do we all do it? Where is your personal line in the sand? Would there even be a Western fandom without it?

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I tend towards question marks when I write panel descriptions. :)

Re: Pirating

[heavenscalyx]

Young whipper-snappers don't know how good they've got it with dozens of manga titles available in their public and school libraries *shakes fist*. Back in my day we bought the original Japanese and a dictionary!!

Or struggled along with the American interpretations/remuddling of anime. *cough cough STAR BLAZERS cough cough cough ROBOTECH cough cough choke wheeze*

(I remember infuriating my mother because every summer afternoon at 2:30, I ran inside to watch the next installment of Star Blazers! She kept accusing me of getting caught up in a soap opera. :) )

I do feel quite ancient in anime fandom. There's one Utena forum I was frequenting for a while where I really was the oldest person there at one point, and I was a good 10 years older than the next in age order.

[oyceter]

Hi! Um, I am getting to this super late because I kind of forgot to pay attention to Wiscon deadlines, but was wondering if this post was still open? And if it's okay to link?

[laceblade]

Yes, still open, still okay to link. I was thinking about submitting these to Programming en masse, but it can totally wait a few days for more input! (I would love more input!)

[jiawen]

Echoing what I said in June, I'd still like a panel about F. Compo, possibly combined with one about Wandering Son. Perhaps a general panel about trans issues in manga & anime -- but specifically about trans issues (rather than being about gender in a broader sense, gender stereotypes, "gender confusion", etc.).

(Here through oyceter.)

[laceblade]

I hadn't taken a stab at a panel description for F. Compo because I haven't read it.
I actually haven't read Wandering Son, either.

Is something like, "Trans Issues in Manga & Anime - an open discussion about past and current series" broad enough but still specific enough to sound interesting?