The fat princess must become the sugarless girl. MUZiC, double-you-tee-eff??!!

This was WTF Month 2009:

• Aya Takano’s Space Ship EE (sci-fi, romance, slice of life)
• Rabbit Revelry: Say Hello, Rabbit-Chan (Rabbit IRC channel debut)
• F4U’s The Violation of Two Vases (hentai, lolipops, tentacle)
• Okama’s Food Girls chapters 1-3 (comedy, ecchi, artwork)
• Leiji Matsumoto’s Firefly Inn chapter 5: “Firefly Inn of Horror” (comedy, historical)
• pageratta’s Sadomi chapters 1-18 (comedy, school life, insanity)
• pageratta’s Sadomi chapters 19-35 (see above)
• Usamaru Furuya’s Plastic Girl (po-mo slice of avant garde life……oh, and schoolgirls, I guess)

prettyprophet: I’ll be the first to say that WTF Month failed.

funny_bunny: IT WAS MOI WHO WAS FIRST.

prettyprophet: In public, I mean. And fuck you, you didn’t say anything.

Lavie Rhap: Let’s all just agree that WTF Month was not considered a success by certain Rabbits…although for different reasons than one may assume.

nde: It wasn’t really that WTF.

funny_bunny: Not WTF ENOUGH.

prettyprophet: Word up. Retrospective time, nde, start it.

nde: Not sure what to say.

prettyprophet: Fine, fuck, I’ll start it.

funny_bunny: STORYTIME.

On Space Ship EE

prettyprophet: Ok, this was THE project that started everything, literally. When alpha brought the scans to us, ak jumped on it. But since there weren’t any chapter breaks, we had to release all in one go; therefore we saved the fucking thing up over months of work. It was tiring. I remember when I first read it, I was like, “Huh, think this is going to be a mindfuck?” And ak’s all, “Nah, it’s fine.” And once we read the script……yeah, it was damn straightforward. So as a WTF release, it failed. Oh sure, it’s an amazing piece of work by Aya, but who cares about THAT?

Lavie Rhap: We’ll have a proper retrospective and personal thoughts on Space Ship EE in another post.

On Rabbit-chan

nde: It’s the IRC channel, on irchighway. I don’t really use IRC.

prettyprophet: Word.

Lavie Rhap: I as well; sorry, Funny.

prettyprophet: Well, I use it for downloads.

funny_bunny: YOU’RE ALL TRAITORS. REVOLUTIONARIES IN THE EVENING!

On The Violation of Two Vases

Lavie Rhap: An interesting…and according to Prophet, inevitable release.

prettyprophet: There was just no way we could’ve held off on doing tentacles and lolipops. All these Japanophiles thrive on it.

Lavie Rhap: I don’t recall Pat doing so…

nde: She has.

funny_bunny: I have! IN ABUNDANCE.

prettyprophet: Hey, you said Christmas for that one. Anyways, this wasn’t WTF because it’s sadly the standard these days. Go figure.

On Food Girls

funny_bunny: HOW FATTENING. Fit for a princess or a prince!

prettyprophet: I want everyone to know that every time you read something translated by the Ghost, you’re reading something made possible through slave labor.

funny_bunny: I am a MASTERFUL MASTER. BUT NO MERCY.

Lavie Rhap: As you can see with this release, we’re very much fans of Okama. Food Girls was on the informal agenda for quite some time.

prettyprophet: And no one told me about it.

nde: Funny said to keep it quiet.

funny_bunny: It was a surprise! TAO TAO TAO TAO TAO.

prettyprophet: Yeah, more work. Great surprise.

funny_bunny: Not WTF because girls really DO taste good!

On Firefly Inn

prettyprophet: Our opening salvo with Harroku Scans. Had no idea it was part of a larger volume; I just found the chapter randomly and now we can’t find the rest of it. It’s oneshot enough, so don’t worry about background info. It’s by Leiji, it’s old, so naturally you whipper-snappers won’t care.

funny_bunny: THE END OF SPACE PIRATE JOLLY RABBIT PRODUCTIONS SO SOON??

Lavie Rhap: We didn’t feel this qualified for WTF either as it was simply sexual farce; seeing how such relationships are tolerated and sometimes promoted in our modern culture, there was nothing too astounding in this.

funny_bunny: Let’s dress nde all pretty.

Lavie Rhap: I believe I have make-up on me…

On Sadomi

nde: Sadism.

prettyprophet: Commissioned by thismanoverthere. Can you believe it? The one thing that actually is really WTF-worthy…….is something that got sent to us by someone else.

funny_bunny: Bollocks is what it is!

Lavie Rhap: A 4-panel comic on the sadist child Sadomi, who is a Grade 4 student.

prettyprophet: Alright, let’s try and figure it out: who would be who? I’m telling you, Sadomi = Funny, Ed, 7672359440’s threesome love child.

Lavie Rhap: I could see Funny more as Nagomi, the class president.

prettyprophet: What, bipolar?

funny_bunny: More like INFINpolar! Prophet can be SENSEI.

prettyprophet: What with all the shit I have to put up with, yeah. Let’s give Lavie normal girl: Tomomi.

Lavie Rhap: Considering how bizarre the rest of the cast is, I’ll take that as a compliment.

funny_bunny: Now nde…

prettyprophet: Easy. Heromi.

nde: Minus the blood.

On Plastic Girl

Lavie Rhap: Originally there was discussion on whether or not to end on Furuya’s Plastic Girl, as it gave the impression of being a bit too WTF-inducing. Matsumoto’s Firefly Inn was first choice, to provide more levity at the end.

prettyprophet: But after reading the script, we felt Plastic Girl wasn’t WTF at all. Well, us girls thought so. And some of the boys. So fuck it, ended on it.

Lavie Rhap: We reasoned that Plastic Girl made sense as an exploration of the adolescent female’s psyche; true, there were elements that we disagreed with, or, in Prophet’s case, were wholly against, but many of the Rabbits are already beyond girlhood and thus it was expected that we not understand certain plights.

prettyprophet: Cultural differences, that age gap turning us into cynical adults……..man, you guys know I ain’t the whole pining-for-the-past type…..but….

nde: Looking back isn’t a weakness.

funny_bunny: Sure it is! Onward! ONWARD!

prettyprophet: Says the kid promoting this thing the most.

funny_bunny: Plastic Girl! USAMARU! USAGI! TEDDY! TEDDIE!

Lavie Rhap: There will also be another retrospective post focused on Plastic Girl soon.

prettyprophet: Furuya, we love you.

funny_bunny: MORE MORE MORE!

+++++++++++

prettyprophet: And that was WTF Month. Maybe our last…….god, this was tiring. Oh, and for those wondering, the past three ACHTUNG pics I picked were from Mecha Fetus. Artists Kinuko, EU03, and Paul, respectively.

Lavie Rhap: Extend your thanks to ak and Ghost, our translators.

nde: alphabetsoup as provider and scanner, holstein, Kawaii Pattycakes, and Peking Duck as cleaners/typesetters/quality control, and Fallen of Harroku as cleaner.

prettyprophet: This’ll be the only time we make this a big thing. We’re taking a break after. I’m going to get out of the city, play some Devil Survivor……what the fuck is everyone else going to do?

Lavie Rhap: I assume you’re talking about “that” trip?

prettyprophet: Holla.

nde: So we’re going too.

funny_bunny: I’m not! I’m going to stay and do lots and lots of Rabbity work! ALL BY MYSELF.

prettyprophet: Fuck off, you’re coming.

funny_bunny: DEVIL SURVIVOR! I’m going to go Haru route!

nde: Naoya.

prettyprophet: Naoya. Lavie, pick one.

Lavie Rhap: I’m somewhat lacking on knowledge of the paths?

prettyprophet: Just pick a hot guy.

Lavie Rhap: Weren’t they mostly children?

prettyprophet: That’s what I thought. But then Kaido, the thug, he’s like 20. Naoya’s 24, Gin’s 25.

Lavie Rhap: Gin was the one who looked like a barkeep?

funny_bunny: That’s what he is!

Lavie Rhap: Gin then.

nde: I’ll give you the second playthrough.

funny_bunny: Rabbits, over and out!

prettyprophet: WTF Month true end.

“We know a place where no spaceships go
We know a place where no subs go
Hey! No cars go
Hey! No cars go
Where we know”

Title: Space Ship EE
Author: Aya Takano
Artist: Aya Takano
ISBN: 4-939148-06-8
Publisher: Kaikai Kiki
First Published: July 2002
Format: Softcover
Language: English
Original Language: Japanese
Translated: Yes
Pages: 184
Buy here: Giant Robot

Download:

On Depositfiles
On Mediafire
On Megaupload
On BakaBT

PSP Widescreen Download:

On Mediafire

++++++

prettyprophet: Take in the future.

funny_bunny: Aya Takano! SPACE SHIP EE!

Lavie Rhap: Our grand secret project of some months, as graced to us by alphabetsoup and translated by ak.

nde: Script edited and typeset by Prophet and myself. Cleaned by Patty and Funny.

prettyprophet: Checked over repeatedly by a fuckton of people; mainly me, Lavie, Funny, Duck, and ak. I still think there’s stuff missed.

funny_bunny: CHILLAX, DAMN YOUR SOUL.

Lavie Rhap: It’s fine, Prophet, you needn’t worry.

prettyprophet: I have to worry.

funny_bunny: Don’t! Besides, if anything’s wrong, everyone can blame me! Or nde. Yeah, blame nde!

nde: Sure.

prettyprophet: Anyways, there’s a lot we CAN say about this release.

Lavie Rhap: Such as the fact that there were no chapters, forcing us to release the entire comic altogether at once.

funny_bunny: And how cleaning DESTROYED my eyes!

prettyprophet: But you know what? We’re just going to leave you with Aya and “Space Ship EE”. It’s like with Benjamin and “One Day”.

nde: Nothing needs to be said.

prettyprophet: Not on our part. Though I’ll probably rant on it soon enough.

Lavie Rhap: We’d rather not clutter your thoughts and feelings with our own experiences on the work-end.

prettyprophet: I’ll just say this: “Space Ship EE” is, to me, the first real completed Rabbit release. “Sweet Body” wasn’t translated, “One Day” was a joint with Illuminati, and even when “Acony” gets done, we picked it up instead of starting it on our own. But “Space Ship EE”, all Rabbit. Enjoy it.

Lavie Rhap: This has been the very first release of “WTF Month”. Expect further developments of the sort to come.

prettyprophet: Strange times, right here.

nde: But our worlds are always strange.

funny_bunny: Collect the sparkles! Swim the orbit!

Additional links:

Aya Takano
Kritik der Animationskraft
Villa Leporidae
RABBIT CONTEST

Vestido feito com sacos de lixo – por Jum Nakao

Esse fim de semana rolou a Virada Cultural, e para não cometer o erro do ano passado, resolvi fazer um roteiro de shows bem menor e fiz questão de incluir alguma coisa de cinema e de artes plásticas. O plano era arrumar tempo para astronomia também, mas os pés não deram conta.

O sábado começou cedinho, no MAM, onde pude conferir a exposição “Quando Vidas se Tornam Forma: Diálogo com o Futuro – Brasil / Japão”. A mostra propõe um entroncamento cultural entre oriente e ocidente, e inclui não apenas artes plásticas, como também arquitetura, moda e design de artistas brasileiros e japoneses. São 39 participantes e curadoria de Yuko Hasegawa, a responsável pelo Museu de arte contemporânea de Tóquio (MOT).

O título da exposição remete à notória exibição “Quando atitudes se tornam forma”, que aconteceu entre março e abril de 1969, em Berna, na Suíça e foi organizada por Harald Szeemann. Na ocasião, 68 artistas dos EUA e Europa fizeram história ao representar o eixo cultural do pós guerra, que dialoga com o nosso contexto histórico e enfoca a mudança da atividade humana, tomada como tema da arte contemporânea.

Mas mesmo pra quem não está nem aí para o blá blá blá histórico, vale conferir. Pinturas de Tomie Ohtake ao lado de telas de Os Gêmeos, vestidos de saco de lixo de Jum Nakao, fotos da coleção da estilista Isabela Capeto, os históricos Parangolés de Hélio Oiticica – com os quais você pode dançar usando fones de ouvido – e a instalação de Motohiko Odani (minha preferida), que através de espelhos, sons e projeções vai te transportar para outro lugar. Não perca.

Instalação de Motohiko Odani

El Viento, de Masakatsu Takagi

On the Way to Revolution, de Aya Takano

Parangolé Mangueira, de Hélio Oiticica

Onde: MAM (parque Ibirapuera – Portão 3)
Quando: De 11 de abril a 22 de junho, das 10h às 18h
Quanto: De terça a sábado, R$ 5,50; aos domingos, a entrada é gratuita

]]> http://dothuylinhs3183636.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/kakai-kiki/ Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:30:14 +0000 Linh Linh http://dothuylinhs3183636.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/kakai-kiki/

If you want to be a multimedia designer, I’m sure at least you have once heard about a Japanese contemporary artist / designer named Takashi Murakami. Murakami is not only considered as one of the most significant artist in 1990s but also famous his successful designs, for example, his advert and 5,000 USD bags for LV, or his illustrations in CD cover of Kanye West’s graduation album… Remember the example we have been shown in Dim1, an impressive short animation of Takashi murakami? I have found the video on youtube and bring it here for you ^^

However, in this entry, I don’t want to talk about Takashi anymore, because he has been too popular. This time, I want to introduce two other great Japanese artist related to Takashi Murakami. In fact, TK has formed a company in Japan, which called “kakaikiki”, you can see more information about this company in their official website here . Kakai kiki was built in order to find out talented Japanese artist at all age, so that the company can promote them internationally. Besides to Takashi Murakami, there are 6 other artists who are really important in Kakai Kiki. Among those 6 people, my most favorite is Aya Takano. Example of her artworks:

Aya Takano is not only wellknown in Japan but all over the world. She has hold exhibitions in many countries, here is one video clip I found that recorded her exhibition in Barcelona :

Well you can see all characters in her works are young girls, and they often appear naked. But with her manga-drawing style, people do not have bad impression, but when looking at the works, usually we find more things the artist wants to deliver than nudity or sex. All her works are done by hand and giving people different ways of understanding them. Firstly, the meanings of the pictures, is reflecting female thoughts in Japanese contemporary society, where flooded with bad things and crimes. Secondly, the artist express her dream land , that all people want to reach, a land that only exists in imagination.

The interesting part in the way Kakai kiki artists expressing their artworks is that, all their paintings are drawn in manga-style. There are 2 reasons for doing so: because using cute-characters/scenes will helps the ideas of the paintings easier to reach people mind, when ideas reflecting dark world, this will make people do not feel too gloomy emotions.

Well , these are only my own idea, when you look at her artworks, you may have your own thoughts or comments. However, undoubtedly, Aya Takano is one of the best artist in Japanese contemporary art at the moment, and her works, whatever you think they are, good or bad, dark or pure, you like them or not, usually people can not avoid but to be attracted by them.

Do Thuy Linh s3183636