Monday, October 15, 2012

My Personal Experiences With The Raildex Franchise.

You Will Love Me~


I am going be bluntly honest here with everyone. I only happened to watch rail-gun first while I was still on my highschoo/middle school fix of shows with comedy/sol about girls and rail-gun fit that. Aside from the five or six heavily action oriented episodes out of 25 "which I still happened to enjoy". I just found Rail-Gun to be overall title to watch with a huge cast of like-able characters and while having a kick-ass female lead misaka that doesn't take bull-sh** from no one.


Something else I wish to point out is that I did not watch the first season of to aru no index until I realized that rail-gun was spin-off of the series. Finding this out peaked my interest even more to watch/read source the material index to see who tomua and index. The main reason for this was my interest was in the back stories/history for all of the characters which I'm a sadly huge sucker for, no matter how cheesy they end up being. This lead me into reading most of the source material such as the light novels, manga and watching more the index anime when the second season did come out.


I do apologize for the TL;DR but it needed to be taken care of so do me favor and kiss my a** if you don't like it. Well I will keep you all informed on anymore index/rail-gun news developments that do happen later this month. I do wish to through up a tidbit of information for you all, if you wish to legally watch/stream index/rail-gun head over to funimations site and buy the Index season one dvd's later this year. I shall catch you all around later then, peace out~


So what is your personal experience with the rail-dex franchise?? Any characters you really like or dislike?? Just leave some feedback to let know!


Index Stream
Rail-Gun Stream

-Cecil The Dark Knight~


Friday, October 12, 2012

Oh The Pleasure Of Moving~

I Don't Even Know...


Well as some of you know I'm currently stage of moving into an apartment on the 13th of this month, out from a house I've been living in for nearly fourteen years now. I could sweat with the details but the sole reason has to do with foreclosure on the said house, my father running off leaving me and my mother in debt  leaving me to help her out through a twenty four year shattered marriage nearly a year ago. Oh by the way don't you  even dare to start fucking judging me because I live with my mother due to some assholes mid life crisis. 

Now the other lovely side to this having to blow through two thousand four hundred dollars of my savings that I planned on buying a used car and moving out on is just gone. So I'm stuck again with out any car but hell at least I'm working part-time at the dollar general to help pull my weight now. I've had so much built up anger and hate over the past year which is one of the reasons I really haven't been as activate as I should have been nor is my attitude in the "I give a fuck department".

All of this ranting aside I'm just wanting to let everyone know since I'm moving to a new place I'll be with out any net accesses form four to seven days so I can't even work on projects/post I already had planned. I'm not gong to dwell anymore on my personal life for now. More or less I just needed to give you all a heads up of whats really going on and when I get back into my comfort zone this site will pick back up like it was last year. Well that sums up this lovely mess, I'll catch you all in week don't wait up for me~.

-Cecil The Dark Knight~

Monday, October 1, 2012

Motivation, I Sadly Lack This...

My Current State Of Mind 

As the header states this is probably one of my biggest flaws a person that I really need to work on. Hell it has been a damn month since I last posted here and I apologize for that. My lack of motivation isn't sadly unless I'm doing work at my job on a set schedule to do chores. Sadly even on days off or weeks I still have no motivation for doing any type of reviews for anime that stream, visual novels that read through, or even tech devices I mess around with but I just need a little push.

This is something I really do need to work on if I'm going to run a successful blog/website however I do need your help to motivate, by just simply sending me a email, or leaving feed-back after-this post. I'm am just simply asking what type of material do you want to see covered here, reviews, news, creative writing and how frequent do you want to see said material? Well I hope to hear back from you guys soon, catch ya later~

-CecilTheDarkKnight~

Gmail


Friday, August 31, 2012

Happy 5th B-day Miku-Chan~



To wrap august up I've decided to a small Image dump in celebration of  Hatsune's Miku's birthday. The famous fictional pop-idol is celebrating her 5th birthday her. Hatsune Miku is based off a 2004 synthesizer software called Vocaloid. Well I could keep info dumping on Miku but just read the hyper-link I posted, al enjoy some nice fan-art I dug around the net for her birth day celebration.














Well that should wrap-up things nicely, I really hope you all really enjoyed those pics. Please feel free to leave some feed back, also enjoy this video I uploaded to you-tube as well, catch you later.

~Cecilthedarkknight


 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Interview with the mistress of manga Debaoki~

My Personal Drawing~

Having run across many fun people on twitter, one person I have chatted with countless times is Deb Aoki. Among all of all the people I've talked to on manga, graphic novels and other kinds of comics, licensing issues and bootleg issues is far beyond my own expertise. So I decided to send her some interview questions based on the digital shift in the western market for manga, graphic novels, manga, comics or the state of illegal apps on Ios. I hope you enjoy reading these and give her shout out on twitter some time as a thank you.





1. How do you think the digital transition of manga in the west is
being handled by online sites and tablet devices?
A: I think it's going pretty well. After years of being at a virtual
standstill, a lot is happening in the digital publishing space for manga
nowadays. This is largely thanks to 1) the arrival of a lot of reasonably
priced devices on the market, 

2) the fact that more and more people own
them and 

3) many have discovered that it's fun to read comics on them.
We're seeing a lot more manga becoming available in English legally,
digitally than ever before.

Granted, I only have an iPad, and iPhone, and a laptop computer, so I
can't say how good or poor the experience is on other devices like Kindle,
Nook, or Android tablets/phones, but I'm pretty satisfied with what we
have available today. VIZ Manga, Dark Horse Digital, Yen Press, Kodansha
Comics, Digital Manga, Manga University, plus JManga, and various indies
like GEN Manga, ComicLoud, Manga Magazine, and several comics sites and
applications like ComiXology, Graphic.ly, Panelfly, etc. are all offering
manga online, in various ways. The selection is still relatively small
compared to all the manga that was published in print in Japan and North
America over the past few decades – but keep in mind that the shift toward
digital publishing is

The only downside is that buying digital manga means having to use digital
payment systems, which require a credit card. The downside to this is that
a lot of younger readers who enjoy manga simply don't have credit cards –
so it's not as easy for a teen or tween to buy some of these digital-only
titles / magazine subscriptions, whereas before, you could just go to the
bookstore or comic shop and buy what you like. Now, if you don't have a
credit or debit card, you have to ask your parents to buy online comics,
which I'd imagine must be a hassle.

But I think the manga publishers are aware of this, and I think they are
looking for some kind of solution. I feel like they have been pretty
responsive to fans' requests, so I see continual, steady improvement day
by day.
.but keep in mind that the shift toward digital publishing is a relatively new development



2. Do you think it's possible to create a free, yet legal site
dedicated to reading manga or doujinshi online??


To be honest, no. Not unless artists and publishers were willing to do it
just for giggles / be willing to forgo getting paid. I don't think people
realize the expenses involved with publishing manga, and how few people
(in US book-buying market) actually read / buy manga. Yes, there's a lot
of people who read manga, but it's but a fraction of the amount of people
who read manga in Japan. Manga is a niche within a niche of a niche – far
fewer people read manga online than say, read the NY Times online. While
the NY Times makes some content available for free, they do rely on
subscribers too, not just ad venue.

Online advertising only brings in so much revenue, and I don't see how
just ads would generate enough money to pay for expenses like translators,
graphic designers, editors, artists, and stuff like server/bandwidth
expenses, R&D to continually improve the websites/apps. If huge newspapers
and large mainstream online magazines are struggling to find ways to make
digital publishing as profitable as print was, then I don't think it's any
easier for manga publishers to do it either.

Besides needing to pay the people who translate, edit and do graphic
design on the manga you like to read, any online publisher also needs to
get agreement from the Japanese licensors: the publishers and comic
creators. Without OK from these people, nothing will happen – or at least
nothing legit.

There are doujinshi websites – in fact, Digital Manga is working with DL
Site to make translated doujinshi available online. But I don't think it
will be free.

There are free, all you can read webcomic sites out there too. But if
they're free, are the comics on there as consistently good as the manga
you buy from VIZ, Dark Horse, Yen Press, etc.? A website can offer all the
free manga/webcomics for free they like, but if it's not any good, then
that's no bargain for fans, now is it?

JManga is trying to offer a new strategy with JManga 7 where they'll offer
serialized chapters of new manga online to read for free, with the hope
that you'll pay for the complete volume later. This is promising, so we'll
see how it goes. But make no mistake – if the vast majority of the JManga
7 readers only read the free content / don't subscribe/pay for the premium
content/early preview privileges, and don't buy more JManga manga, then I
don't think this experiment will last very long.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, manga publishing is a business, not a
charity. Manga publishers and artists deserve to make money for bringing
us great manga. There are too many reasons why "free, all-you-can-eat"
manga websites aren't financially feasible in the current business climate
for book publishers, not just manga publishers.



3. What are your thoughts on scanlations and the amount of sites or
apps dedicated to hosting said illegal material?
I think scanlation is something that started out with good intentions (I
love this manga, I want other people to love it too) that has just gotten
way out of hand.

It's created this perception with some fans that manga has no value, that
you should never have to pay to read manga, that it should always be free
to read/consume and that anyone who draws, writes, translates manga should
do it simply for love, not money.  That's bullshit.

It aggravates me that the people who make money off scanlations and those
bullshit apps are not the original artists, or even the people who do the
translations. These websites DON'T pay the artists/translators who create
the content on their websites, but they profit from hosting content that
they didn't create by selling ads. Sure, it's profitable to run this kind
of website. They don't have to pay those inconvenient expenses like paying
licensing fees, or paying translators or graphic designers a living wage.

I have a lot of friends who are comics creators – heck, I'm a half-baked
cartoonist myself. I don't know if you can ever understand how it feels
until someone you created is stolen, and is used to make someone else (not
you) money; money that you will never get a share of. Worst of all, it's a
situation that you'll likely never be able to stop.

For me the bottom line is, did you get the artists' permission to post
that work? Are you sharing whatever revenue you're making from your with
the comics creators/artists and the editors, translators, etc. who drew,
wrote, edited, translated, scanned, cleaned up, etc. those pages that
you're posting on your website? If the answer is no to both of those
questions, then you're not doing the creators of the manga you love so
much any favors at all.



4. Do you think that people should be careful importing risqué
manga such as kodomo no jikan or comic lo given recent issues lately?
Let's just say I wouldn't do it.

Ryan Matheson spoke at Comic-Con, and the manga/artwork that got him
searched, arrested and thrown in jail for in Canada was relatively mild. I
think the political climate is such that it doesn't make sense to take
risks with importing potentially problematic material.

The problem is that manga has a visual style that often depicts characters
as younger than they really are. And for people who aren't familiar with
manga/anime art styles, if they see a comic character with large sparkly
eyes and small build, it looks like a child. And if that said character is
seen doing 'grown-up' stuff – then well… you see where this is going?

And come on. Is Kodomo no Jikan really that good of a manga? I haven't
read it myself, but I can think of tons more interesting manga that I'd
rather read, rather import from Japan. It's not like there isn't smut to
be had via US publishers (Digital Manga'sProject H Hentai imprint comes
to mind). It's not worth it.



5. This goes back to question three do you think that it would be
okay to import a manga from Japan then download the scanlations for your
personal use?

By visiting a scanlation site, you're still supporting them, financially.
Your presence on their websites = traffic, and the more traffic a given
website gets = they make more money from the online ads posted on their
site.

So even if you buy one copy of the manga, when you visit a scanlation
site, you're creating traffic to the site, which = money for that website,
and therefore, you're encouraging these sites to continue. By allowing
these sites to continue to make money, you're facilitating making an
unauthorized copy of said manga available online, and making it available
to many, many thousands of people who will never buy a legal (Japanese or
English) edition of that same manga.

Yes, some people will discover this manga via reading it on a scanlation
site, and may become a big fan that will buy the manga through legal
channels when it's available. But honestly, the vast majority won't spend
a dime on it. And that's more lost potential sales that your purchasing of
a single legal copy can't quite compensate for.

In the end, you're still causing a net negative effect to the artist /
comic creator. Your math may differ from mine, but that's how I see it.

6. To wrap this up what are some of your favorite manga
series/genres and why?
Hm. I love all kinds of manga. My first love is shojo manga, and that's
probably my favorite. But I also enjoy seinen, shonen, and josei manga.  I
like romances, comedies, action manga, slice of life manga… literally, all
kinds.

I like manga that teaches me something new while entertaining me. I also
love manga that shows a real mastery of the art. I like manga that makes
me laugh. And I'm a sucker for sports manga, because I don't actually
enjoy watching sports on TV, but I like the drama and real-life action in
these series that make me appreciate a sport I'd otherwise never get into.

Some of my current faves include Blue Exorcist, Kekkaishi, Ooku, Eyeshield
21, Cross Game, Slam Dunk, Drops of God, Chi's Sweet Home, Yotsuba,
Dorohedoro, A Drunken Dream, GoGo Monster, Children of the Sea, Summit of
the Gods, and Skip Beat.

Hope that helps. Sorry to take so long to reply. Let me know if you have
any follow-up questions or need anything else.

Thanks!
-Deb
Deb Aoki
Guide to Manga
manga.about.com


About.com | Need. Know. Accomplish
About.com is part of The New York Times Company



Update:
I did have a quick chat with Deb on twitter on Kodomo No Jikan and explained to her what kind of series it was. I think that she understands that it's not completely just smut or baseless sex acts/lolicon but she did help point out the usual truths on the matter. This is the said quote below from our conversation on Aug 30th 

there are just some titles that are too hot to handle in the US, and that's just how it goes. it's another reason to learn JP.

-Cecil The Dark Knight~