Another extract from Schoolgirl Milky Crisis, a Newtype USA column about how toy companies make their decisions.
State of Play
7
Author Archives: ixarette
Questions from the Big Giant Heads (Part Three)
Fear Factor
TV Programming For Beginners
In my anime dungeon, where I torment fans who displease me, there is a special chamber for people who think that getting anime on TV is easy. Fans are locked in a room until they come up with their idea of a perfect evening’s anime viewing. Then I make them name the other eighteen hours they haven’t considered yet. Then I make them do it 365 more times, without once including a show that they wouldn’t want to watch themselves. After the wailing has finished, when their schedule is finally written in thirteen color-coded inks, I walk in and take away half the titles.
The Ascent of Manga
Today’s Independent newspaper has a nice chunky feature on manga, which, for a pleasant change, actually talks a bit about real Japanese comics. There is even a Schoolgirl Milky Namecheck, since, as ever, I am the bad guy who dares to suggest that manga come from Japan.
Questions from the Big Giant Heads (Part Two)
Excuses, Excuses
Among the 400+ pages of Schoolgirl Milky Crisis, this is just one of the many articles that have been taken from my long-running column in the British magazine NEO. So if you’re an American fan, the chances are high you have never seen this before: Continue reading
Questions from the Big Giant Heads (Part One)
As promised, the first part of the ‘the all encompassing answers to every question I’ve ever been asked…probably’.
Endorsements
As part of the process of getting Schoolgirl Milky Crisis ready, the Big Giant Heads asked around the anime industry if, you know, a book of my speeches and articles was a good idea. These are some of the very nice replies they got back:
My 1919
My 1919
Last week I was at the Imperial War Museum for the launch of the Makers of the Modern World series – a massive set of biographies covering all of the main delegates at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The Paris Peace Conference was a legendary gathering of the greatest minds of the 20th century, and not just among the diplomats. A young Ernest Hemingway covered the conference as a journalist; Lawrence of Arabia was an adviser to the Arab delegation; even Ho Chi Minh was there, working as a pastry chef while trying to put the case for an independent Indochina.
The Makers of the Modern World is proper, posh history (I’ve written the books on the Chinese and Japanese delegates) but talk at the party turned to the Paris Conference in works of fiction and film. The young Indiana Jones, according to Lucasfilm’s chronicles, was working there as an interpreter. A Dangerous Man (1990) starred Ralph Fiennes in what was intended as a semi-sequel to Lawrence of Arabia. And then, of course, there’s My 1919.
Indexing
The artwork has been handed in, the pages are laid out, the spelling has been checked. Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is almost ready for the printers. But the Big Giant Heads had one last surprise up their sleeves – the index, the final, crucial adornment of a book. It’s the author’s recognition that his book might be put to unexpected uses by readers and researchers in unforeseen disciplines. Far too many Japanese books don’t have one, and it makes life very difficult for researchers if one isn’t there.
The Official Schoolgirl Milky Crisis Blog 