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Registration date: 07/10/2009
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Number of comments: 23

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Last 20 comments:

• On Is Fat Princess unintentionally racist? at 11/20 03:01am

  Utter nonsense.
  
  As other people have pointed out, cartoon characters as old as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny have four fingers, so do the Simpsons. Have they even been accused of unintentional racism?
  
  It is a long tradition in hand-drawn animation. Matt Groening said he did it in The Simpsons because it saves pencil mileage.

• On 61% of Japanese women peek at their husbands' cell phones at 11/18 04:11am

  This is why you need two cell phones.

• On JapanaTen: Ten most spineless male protagonists at 11/13 04:01am

  >>What about Manaka from ichigo 100%, he's the ultimate indecisive wimp!
  
  Ditto.
  
  

• On Get 19 seconds with Beckii Cruel at 11/09 05:31am

  "In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."
  
  "The future is now."

• On Toro gets evicted, new app to replace Mainichi Issho at 11/06 10:12am

  Actually I quite like the idea of challenging Toro and his fans with homelessness. It has resonance because of the current economic situation in Japan, with rising unemployment and homeless people.
  
  It also makes the rise back to power all the sweeter, which compensates the users for the cash they will have to pay over.
  
  I wouldn't have played the game myself but my daughter might.

• On Toro gets evicted, new app to replace Mainichi Issho at 11/05 05:25am

  Okay, disclosure first; I work for SCEE (not SCEJ.)
  
  The problem with this kind of offering is that it costs a surprising amount of money to put together.
  
  You need a team. You need a script writer, a couple of artists to build the content, a planner to hold organize everything and upload stuff into the content management system, and some time from a producer to manage the team and the budget. That’s all on top of having to write the code in the first place.
  
  You need technical backup to set up and run the CMS and the servers.
  
  You need to pay for all the above and for data service costs which get bigger the more popular the game becomes.
  
  All of that costs money and absorbs resources that could be allocated to a revenue generating project. The game isn’t generating any revenue from users so it only makes sense if it draws users to your site who spend on other things.
  
  I’m making an educated guess that SCEJ have run the numbers on Toro and found out they are losing money on the current service, so they have to make it cheaper or get people to pay for it.
  
  It looks like a fun game, maybe it’s worth $8 a month if you like it.
  

• On Japanese companies try a new way to combat Internet piracy at 10/28 04:36am

  The problem is the Japanese originators don't really care about the international market. Considering a lot of their own shows are finished cheaply at the last minute, they aren't going to upload a nicely subbed or dubbed international version even in English at the same time the domestic broadcast airs.
  
  A Japan based fan can record the show as it goes out, rip the recording, sub it and put it up on a filesharing site in a couple of days (I'm assuming several people working as a team.)
  
  If the fans can do it, I don't see why the actual publishing company can't do it and sell a subscription to their own site.

• On Noriko Sakai pleads gulity; prosecution seeks 18 months at 10/27 06:11am

  When you do a deal with the media industry in Japan it is even more of a deal with the devil than it would be in the UK.

• On Geisha ad banned in Britain for being too 'violent' at 10/22 03:21am

  If you look into Araki's oeuvre, you'll find he's done an awful lot of sexual photography including bondage.
  
  As for whether the advert is too much, Britain does have laws about the depiction of sexual violence, implied or not. It certainly isn't a normal situation being depicted, so you have to wonder what the relevance is for a tile company.
  
  People are entitled to complain the ASA if they are offended by an advert. The ASA will then take a view based on existing law and widespread standards. They may uphold the complaint or dismiss it.
  
  Look at it this way, if you and your 10-year old daughter were walking to the shops, and she saw that advert on the side of a bus and asked you what it means, how would you reply?

• On ANA asking customers for bathroom breaks before boarding in order to save money at 10/08 07:23am

  Say a long-haul flight has 400 passengers and on average they evacuate 0.5Kg of waster before boarding, that's 200Kg of take-off weight saved. It probably saves a bit of weight of water used for flushing the lavatory. So it could have some minor effect.
  
  It doesn't matter if you eat on the flight as the food is already on board.
  
  Ryanair in Europe announced they were going to charge passengers to go to the lavatory and the immediate response was "I haz bukkit". I think it was a publicity stunt though.

• On Leah Dizon makes her acting debut in EXILE's newest project at 10/07 03:01am

  I can see she has some special talents.

• On Ghost in the Shell 2.0 to get a theatrical release in the UK at 09/25 06:00am

  I saw the original at the London Film Festival when it was first released.
  
  I'm not convinced director's cuts always work -- look at how Lucas's revisionism weakened Star Wars.
  
  As there's plenty of other new films out soon. I may give this a miss.

• On Spice and Wolf author shows off his portfolio at 09/23 05:22am

  Portfolio management style depends on a number of factors, one of which is appetite for risk.
  
  With high exposure to a volatile exchange, the investor may get a rapid increase in value or may get wiped out.
  
  However a successful manga author can expect a continuing income stream from their existing work for years, and a good chance of further work in the future, even if their stocks tanked.
  
  Rumiko Takahashi became Japan's wealthiest woman thanks to the huge success of Urusei Yatsura.

• On Tuesday Otaku Debate: Hello Kitty vs Gloomy Bear at 09/16 07:54am

  If you think Hello Kitty does not take life clearly you are not aware of the Hello Kitty Space Marines:
  
  http://www.exlibrismortis.org/ExLibrisnewSistersArmy.html

• On Fuji TV celebrates Disaster Prevention Day by showing how gaijin don't know nothin' 'bout earthquakes at 09/03 09:46am

  The translator chose to translate the adjective 'omoshiroi' as fun. It can mean interesting. Another adjective for fun is 'tanoshii', which more directly means FUN, but the speakers did not use that word.
  
  Having been in a several minor earthquakes I can confirm that they are interesting. If you are not used to earthquakes it is a strange experience to feel the ground shaking under your feet. But I expect a major earthquake would be terrifying.

• On ADV is shutting down? No surprise there at 09/02 04:00am

  Is it fansubs that are killing Japanimation video companies?

• On Japanese eroge can do wonders for the game industry at 09/01 06:54am

  Eroge broadly speaking are quite similar to point and click adventures (a not completely dead genre) except you interact mainly via a text interface.
  
  I can't see them saving the games industry.
  
  

• On Japanese guro film ends up getting banned in the UK at 08/21 06:07am

  As a UK based member whose job involves him in dealings with the BBFC I would like to give some perspective on the reasons why this kind of movie may be banned.
  
  The BBFC is usually tougher on DVD releases than cinema releases because they can easily get into the hands of children.
  
  Usually if a film contains particularly disturbing clips of sexual violence, the BBFC will ask for them to be cut. However, if the amount of sexual violence in a work is so great that cutting it leaves nothing behind, the work as a whole will be refused a rating.
  
  That is what happened to the videogame Manhunt 2.

• On Robot fashion model steps on the catwalk, falls into the uncanny valley at 07/28 06:09am

  I prefer the silver body version. She is less uncanny when she looks like a humanoid robot than a robotic human.
  
  Why bother to make humanoid robots anyway? We haven't got a problem producing actual people.

• On First look at new Halo Legends anime featuring King Kong at 07/24 09:21am

  The contrast between the computer and the cel animation is particularly horrid.