Akihabara to all over the world!!!

Hello, hello, hello!

Our task this week is to talk about a music video. So! Let me introduce you to the wacky world of Dempagumi.inc and their video for a song called "W.W.D."!

First a little about Dempagumi.inc. Dempagumi.inc is an idol group from Japan, formed in 2008. Their image is heavily influenced by otaku culture (= people enthusiastic about manga, anime and such) and all have their own otaku thing they're interested in and which they represent. Their music style is "denpa", which means that their songs are strange and energetic. Denpa songs often have catchy tunes and their lyrics make no sense. Off-key singing is a also a thing, so don't be surprised when you listen to denpa songs for the first time!

W.W.D. is probably my favourite track from them and I will get to that more on a later point. Here's the video I'm talking about!

Like I said, normally denpa songs don't really make any sense, but W.W.D. is an exception. It tells the backstories of the members and how they've met accidentally before the group was even put together. I don't know if it's just a marketing gimmick, but it's a nice story anyway. I'm not going to comment much more on the how they met-part since I want to focus more on the message of this song.

The songs starts with each one greeting the viewers in different languages, thus welcoming everyone to watch their video. Dempagumi.inc has declared that they want to be known world-wide and even the song's name means "World Wide Dempa".

Then the actual story begins with the members talking about their problems before Dempagumi.inc was formed. I'll briefly list here what everyone's problems were, in the order of appearance:
Mirin: Was bullied, "the arcade was the only place I could call home"
Nemu: Wanted to pursue an art career, but had struggles with it
Risa: Was lonely, radio being her only friend
Pinky: Did odottemita and was glued in front of the computer for views
Eimi: Used to live on the countryside, when all the interesting things were in Tokyo
Moga: Played online games all the time, sometimes even using her foot in addition to her hands while playing

All the problems are very relatable, especially for an otaku like myself. It's clever, since I can imagine others in the fanbase really living these lyrics as well. The song has an atmosphere of "showing off to everybody after a poor start at life", with things like "Don’t underestimate our start from nothing!" and "Even though it’s just a small, small stage right now, someday we’ll reach out to the huge, huge world with our wings outstretched". It carries a strong message of hope for people who feel like they're alone, who don't have any goals in their lives etc. It's like "we used to be sad, but then we found each other and now we're making our dreams come true together and you can do it too", since a big part of the song is pointing out the fact that now that they're together, they're strong and happy.

Otakus are not always well-received, even in Japan. So, seeing Dempagumi.inc we can feel like these shining idols are people just like us, with feelings of being rejected and having to struggle with society. It's a very clever concept. Most of the Dempagumi fans are otaku men after all so marketing these girls who understand them is a good tactic of gaining popularity. I don't know if the same concept would work with otaku idols who are men, since idol industry mostly a business targeted at male audience and well, the male audience usually wants to see female idols. It sounds so soulless when I put it that way but, that's how I see it. However!! Dempagumi.inc itself is not soulless. It's full of joy and fun times. They always seem to be having so much fun on stage and during MC's and interviews. That happiness really sticks with you!

There's not much to say about the music video. It goes along the story that the song tells. It's actually pretty toned-town from Dempagumi's usual videos! They are usually full of very colorful elements and oddities, this one sort of makes much more sense while still staying true to it's denpa roots.

Why do I like this song and Dempagumi.inc? I'm a person who never gives up, that's why W.W.D. really makes my heart sing! I'm also the odd one out, so I can really relate to these girls. I sometimes feel like I'm too old to like Japanese popculture or that I am too old to do odottemita, but seeing Dempagumi.inc being so passionate about otaku culture and dancing even though they're older than me, I feel like I can freely be who I want to be, regardless of my age. I especially relate to Eimi Naruse, the energetic girl who really likes anime and manga. She's my favorite and so inspirational!!

Eitasooo!! Source

BABYUUUN thoughts,

Oona

PS! You can find the translated lyrics to W.W.D. here, if you're interested!

Media observation #4

Hello everybody!

Today I'm going to post about a viral video that's going around internet right now. It's Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen by Piko-Taro!

It absolutely makes no sense and all the sense at the same time. What I find interesting, apart from the magnificent creation itself, is that this video was downloaded to YouTube one month ago. Why did it become popular now, one month later? I didn't find an answer to this, but I guess someone shared it to some big site like 9GAG and it took off from there to the western world. Asians have made many parody videos out of PPAP which probably has helped spread the word.

This beautiful masterpiece is made by Piko-Taro, which is a character created by DJ Kosaka Daimaou. Some have even called it the next Gangnam Style (which still is the most watched YouTube video ever)! I personally don't think this will create such a craze, but let's just enjoy this pen-fruit madness while it lasts!

Pen-pineapple-apple pen thoughts,
Oona

About predicting success

Hello to you all readers out there, I hope you are feeling well!

This week's task was to read an article about predicting success in the movie business. It was indeed an interesting read.

I agree partially with William Goldman's opinion about "nobody knows anything" in movies and actually with all art in general. I can't deny the success Epagogix and Platinum Blue have had with predicting success but as an artist I can't say that everything can be predictable. If we could predict everything, nothing new would ever be created. We can always create something new that can't be measured with science. But saying that "nobody knows anything" is a bit off, since as the article proved, we do know something. Maybe we could think of it more like "somebody knows something, but it's still not the whole truth"...? This all also depends on how you view success: for others it's only the monetary worth, but for people like me, a movie is successful if it awakens emotions and makes you really experience something new. You can measure the success of a piece of media with so much more than just how much money it made. What good is a blockbuster movie if nobody actually cherishes it? I hate seeing people lose their ambition in front of money.

I personally am very, very frustrated with media content being produced using a formula. I want people to broaden their horizons and create whatever they want to create, not just calculate what masses like. It's very uncreative... I feel like making everything by formula is in the way of some sort of general artistic progress. Art is all about freedom and doing whatever you like. Trying to fit that into a formula is impossible. But this is a matter of perspective and opinion, others see media, culture and art as a tool for business and it's working, but for me it's something else entirely.

Seeing all these same, used movie plots over and over again... Hearing all these songs which use the same melodies, same atmospheres... I find myself question the masses all the time. Why are these sort of songs and movies working? Don't people have thirst for anything more special? Why are they so easily satisfied? It's all very confusing. And very frustrating.

I didn't strongly agree or disagree with the article. It told a story and that's why it was biased towards the predicting mechanisms, but it didn't fully agree with them either. It showed that even the mechanisms can be flawed, although most of the time they seemed to be working. Or they just picked the success stories to that article, who knows.

Be ambitious, people.
Happy thoughts,
Oona

Media observation #3

Hello readers!

Today I'm going to talk a little about dating hot fictional men. Like I always do.

The game in question is Mystic Messenger, a mobile game released in July 2016 developed by a South Korean company called Cheritz. It's a really popular game at the moment (...inside it's demographic audience...) which adds an interesting twist to the world of otome games.

First, let me tell you a little about otome games in general. Otome games are mainly targeted at female gamers and most of the games are developed in Japan. They often include several good-looking male characters which you can have an in-game love story with. Of course these games have a main plot too, but seriously, most of the people play these games just to bask in the admiration of fictional men.

The main plot of Mystic Messenger (spoiler free) is that when you start the game, your character is connected to a chat room with a person called "Unknown". Due to a series of events, you end up in another chat room, which is used by an organization called R.F.A. Your character ends up joining that organization and that's where the fun begins.

Mystic Messenger is a really fresh and interesting game. Usually in these sort of games you interact with the character face-to-face, just like in visual novels. In Mystic Messenger, you interact with characters via in-app text messages. It's like a social media platform for a group of fictional characters. This is only my opinion, but texting with the characters gives them more personality than in most otome games. The way the characters use emoticons, the way they type, the topics they discuss about... It's like you're getting a lot more personal touch of the characters than usually. It's a really fun experience.

I also think it's a very narrative game, since it relies heavily on text. I picked this one when we had to discuss narrative games in last week's lesson. Of course you have to do some things, like send a couple of e-mails and pick dialogue options that please the guy you're going after, but otherwise there isn't much game mechanics. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the conversations.

At the moment I'm in the middle of my second playthrough. The first one ended miserably in a bad end after 5 minutes of playing. So yeah, I don't actually know the whole plot or how my first MM romance will turn out to be! I feel like I picked the wrong guy though, but since I've wasted almost a week on him already I might as well see this through and then go for another guy next time. I think there's also an option to date a girl, but because I haven't gone through her route, I don't know for sure. That would be awesome though. Romance between girl characters is rare in these sort of games, since they usually only focus on dating male characters.

I found this game from my go-to social media, Twitter, a couple of weeks back when people suddenly started talking about it. At the moment there are several Twitter accounts dedicated just for memes of this game! There's also quite a lot of fanart available. If you want to be part of a community that's very active right now, I recommend giving this game a try! You can download it from Google Play or App Store and it's free with in-game purchases (in case you want to buy in-game things, the game won't force you to buy anything). I hope someone tries it out! (There's nothing wrong with admiring fictional men and their cheesy pick-up lines, just do it.)

Exceptionally happy thoughts,
Oona

Textual analysis in video games (?!)

Hello!

I gotta say, I understood nothing of that column. Like nothing at all. Maybe the general idea but all else was just gibberish to me. So I apologize beforehand that my answers probably have nothing to do with the text we had to read.

"How does the role of the player affect the meaning in video games?"

What is "the meaning" in this context? I'm going to assume there's no hidden meaning in "the meaning of video games" and it just simply means the meaning of a game's plot or something else that can awake some sort of feelings. (Did I say "mean" enough?)

I think the role of the player affects the meaning of a game greatly, mostly because people interpret things differently. The same game might have different meanings for different players. The games awaken memories and feelings in the player that speak to them in many levels. You bring a part of yourself to the game just being you and seeing the plot through your eyes, mirroring the experiences through your own life. Because of that, everyone's gaming experience is unique.

Of course there is a more straightforward way of telling how the role of the player affects the meaning in video games. In many games, you can choose what to do. Because of your choices, the plot, game outcome and possibly your character will be affected. For example in books, the plot will always be the same, no matter who reads it. But with video games, there are possibilities that the outcome of the game will always, or at least often, be different: for example I don't think anyone will ever play a round of Tetris exactly like a previously played round. That's how much the player affects the meaning of a game.

"How is it different from analysing other forms of media?"
There are so many more things to take into account and that's the biggest difference in my opinion. You can analyze a book but you could probably make a book out of analyzing one video game. They have so much material in them for analyzing: controls, character design, the game mechanics, landscapes, visuals, the writing, characters, representation, how the game is build, music, entertainment value, the list goes on... It almost feels like you could take other forms of media like books, comics, movies and music, add them together and you'd almost have a game analysis. Almost.

"Pick a video game you are familiar with and write about how meaning, theme or representation is constructed within it."

Once again, I'm assuming things because ~I have no idea what I'm doing~ and writing a little something about representation of minorities in Dragon Age: Inquisition. I'm a big fan of Dragon Age series and mainly because of the characters and how well they've been written. What makes me super happy is that DA is truly trying to give everyone their deserved spotlight. There's a lesbian character, a gay character (Although, being gay is not okay in Tevinter, but apparently it's way more common elsewhere in Thedas), a transgender character, a pansexual character and many different ethnic groups. Racism inside human race is not that common (if I recall correctly, it's been a while since I last played) although racism between different races is one of the themes of DA games.

One good example of representation in DA is how you can be a female, leading a HUGE organization and nobody bats an eye. 4/5 (or even 5/6) of the core, leading members of the inquisition can be female and it is not commented in any way. No hate, just business. There are a lot of other female characters in leading positions as well, like Vivienne, a black woman who's an enchantress in Imperial Court (which is by the way lead by an empress). And the women are not even dressed in an overly-sexy manner, but in whatever style fits the character.

I highly recommend DA games for anyone who seeks games with variety in characters. All of the characters are written really well. It seems like the game makers just take whatever is wrong in our world and correct it in their games and make sure that none of the characters question it (for example, female in a leading position). It's so awesome.

Media observation #2

Hello!

This time I'll tell you about my dance hobby. Some might think what dancing has to do with media but here's the catch: social media plays a big part in this specific hobby. I'm talking about "odottemita".

Odottemita is a japanese term and it means "tried to dance". Basically odottemita is about learning a choreography, filming it and uploading it to YouTube. Think of it like this: You learn the choreography for Michael Jackson's "Thriller", film it and upload it online. You've done an odottemita video, congratulations!

That's basically odottemita but in reality odottemita is mostly just Japanese songs with choreographies made by the Japanese. I think there might be the same situation than with the word "manga", in Japanese manga means all comics in general (including Donald Duck, Tintin etc.) but in western countries manga means just Japanese comics. So maybe for Japanese people odottemita means that you can dance to any kind of music but in western countries it points specifically to the Japanese music. Well, this is just my theory, since I have never seen a dance made to western music being labeled as "odottemita".

There are three ways to learn an odottemita dance:

1. Japanese pop idols. It's very common that Japanese pop idols have dance choreographies for their songs. Almost every song has a little choreography. The problem with learning from these idols is that usually uploading your dance cover to YouTube can be tricky since the songs are copyrighted.

Above you can see an example of an idol group (Dempagumi.inc) performing their song & dance "Future Diver" and then an odottemita version (by Hitode Army) of that said song. As you can see, due to copyright issues the pitch of the song has been raised. Doesn't that filming location look strangely familiar...?

2. Learning from another odorite. Odorite means a person, who does odottemita. One of the nice little things of odottemita is that you learn from other dancers like you. Because a big part of odottemita is sharing your videos to the world, you can find new dance covers easily. If one choreography catches your eye, you can learn it and upload your own version online. Other odorites are eager to see you interpretation of a dance!

 

Above you can see Kamen Liar 217's choreography for a song called "Onegai Darling" and Yakko's cover of that same choreography.

3. Do a choreography yourself! That's rigt, making a choreography is not limited to pop idols, professional choreographers or famous odorites. Anyone can do a choreography, even though the song has a popular or official choreography already!

Above you can see Kamen Liar 217 dancing a cover of a song called "Dive to Blue" (official choreography) and then another choreography of the same song made by IG. I couldn't find a better example but as you can see, same song can have many different choreographies.

Odottemita wouldn't probably exist without the online part of the hobby. Nico Nico Douga (a service like YouTube, but Japanese) and YouTube play a big part in making odottemita the hobby it is, since they're the two biggest websites for odorites to upload their videos. In addition to using video services, a lot of odorites and odottemita groups have their own Twitter accounts, blogs and Facebook pages. Through their pages they connect with their fans and other odorites, share their videos, advertise their upcoming live performances and even sell fan merchandise.

Odottemita is not a mainstream hobby in Finland, but there are a couple of dance groups and soloists. It has been gaining popularity in the Finnish anime convention scene both dancer-wise and fan-wise. I'd say we're living odottemita's golden era right now in Finland! I hope things only get bigger from here. In Japan odottemita is on a whole different level though, people can actually make money out of it and some odorites and odottemita groups have become pop idols. We're a long way from that, but I think things are nice the way they are at the moment.

I hope this shed some light to the world of odottemita!
Happy thoughts,
Oona

Media observation

Hello, whoever is reading!

First of all, I have no idea if this task is correctly made but hey, at least I have something!

We were asked to write a media observation focusing on our own media consumption habits so I thought I'd write a little about how Twitter has changed my life over the past three years. I'm not going to link my Twitter here though because that would be a bit awkward. You're free to do some detective work though if you're too curious.

Twitter is a social media platform which base idea is very simple: you post short, 140 character messages, "tweets", online. You can also use hashtags and post pictures, videos and gifs. Sounds pretty much like Facebook but the main difference is the character limit and the fact that your account is public to everyone in the world, unless you specifically make your account private when only your followers can see your tweets. You can follow people that interest you and get their tweets to your Twitter timeline.

Twitter's strength is that it's probably the fastest way to get information when something big is happening. For example when terrorist attacks went down in Paris, people tweeted about it first, way before the online newspapers wrote anything about them. Twitter always shows trending hashtags so you know what's popular in different parts of the world. If one wants to be the first to know when things are happening, I strongly recommend using Twitter.

Let's move onto my Twitter habits. I'm part of the Finnish anime and convention scene and Twitter is at the moment one of the biggest platforms for us to share our interests. It's also one of the biggest communities in Finnish Twitter overall! We use Twitter to talk about conventions, what's going on in the scene, ongoing series, recommendations etc.

Study about Finnish Twitter usage from 2013. Manga/anime can be seen on upper left. After 2013, our scene has only been growing. Source: http://www.finnishtwitter.com/2013/02/19/presentation-finnish-twitter/

I started using Twitter more actively during 2013 because I liked how people tweeted about conventions and wanted to get into the scene better. I also felt like I could finally make myself visible, to have some sort of way to let my voice be heard. Starting to use Twitter has been one of the best decisions of my life and for many reasons: I've started two dance groups through Twitter, I've gotten lots of new friends and contacts via Twitter, I'm more into the scene than I've ever been, I've met people I can cosplay with and I've also learned to use Twitter for marketing my own projects. It has been a place for me with so many wonderful like-minded and supportive people, I just can't recommend it enough. Of course I understand that if there is no Twitter scene for your hobby, you might not end up with lots of new contacts, but at least you can give it a try!

My Twitter is pretty filtered though. I like to show the best side of me online, so I leave out political comments, curse words and too personal stuff. I want my Twitter to be a fun (or at least neutral) place for myself and especially my followers, they don't follow me for sad or irritating stuff anyway. One could say that I have an internet persona. Well, it's not a fake one, I don't act like I'm something else than I actually am, I just leave stuff out that I don't feel like belongs there and that should be OK. But is it really? I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Showing other parts of my persona would make people know me better. They would know a more "realistic" version of me. I think this whole "internet persona"-thing is terribly interesting, but I haven't followed my train of thought too far yet. I'd like to analyze this sort of things more, because can we trust what we see online? If everyone only shows their good sides, can we really know them? Is the lifestyle we admire just a fake one? Do we owe our followers that they know "who we really are"? Wow, I think we're going too deep for this time! But, something to think about! ;)

This concludes our topic this time! Now go and create a Twitter account so I can follow you!
Happy thoughts,
Oona

Introduction video

I've removed my introduction video from my blog because I don't like sharing my personal information online, but if you want to see it, please send me a message and I'll give you the link!