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Issue 3 - Animation Liberation

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<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine 2


<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine<br />

<strong>Issue</strong> 3<br />

“Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room!<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine 3


TABLE OF CONTENTS<br />

Avant-garde: a letter from Japan 7<br />

Tribute: Ani-magic 8<br />

Convention review: Sakuracon 10<br />

The essence of cyberpunk 20<br />

Collector’s Corner: Marvel Tsunami 30<br />

Anime and the paradox of progress 37<br />

Chibi-Tokyo Presents: Mikomicon’s Nick Kurachi 43<br />

Preservation: A SPRAY OF PLUM BLOSSOMS/<br />

TWO STARS IN THE MILKY WAY 48<br />

Glossary 51<br />

Pictures: Friends We Met Along the Way 52<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine 4


(About Us)<br />

ANIMATION LIBERATION (AL) was started by a<br />

group of friends from North County San Diego,<br />

California. Branching out from both the college<br />

anime clubs and discontent with today’s unfair<br />

market, we decided to present panels and become<br />

more active within the local anime community.<br />

Our first panel was done in January 2007 at Anime<br />

Los Angeles. Within that year, we traveled and<br />

presented panels in Arizona (Anizona), Northern<br />

California (Fanime, Sac-anime) and Nevada (Anime<br />

Vegas) well giving away over 4,000 dollars of<br />

manga to attendees and fans.<br />

Our main function was to critique exploitation<br />

found within the Manga/Anime market, while<br />

simultaneously promoting grassroots activism and<br />

small conventions. The end result was very<br />

political. Some heavy perspectives can be found<br />

here: some writers are communist, some writers are<br />

anarcho-leftist, and some writers are capitalist.<br />

Politics aside, I hope that all anime fans who read<br />

this will be entertained and consider the time spent<br />

worthwhile.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine, Volume one, <strong>Issue</strong> one (V.1 #3).This publication may be may be<br />

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including<br />

photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without specific written<br />

permission from <strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine. The views expressed herein are those of the authors,<br />

and not necessarily of the publishers. Publisher cannot be responsible for any unsolicited articles or<br />

materials, or the return of such items. Publisher cannot be held responsible for content. The information<br />

contained herein is for educational purposes only and is not intended as advice for self-treatment.<br />

Milo Winter’s “Ugly Duckling”, and “The Girl Who trod on the loaf.”Copyrighted to respective owners.<br />

This image is an illustration of art. The copyright for it is most likely owned by either the<br />

publisher/producer and/or artist(s) producing the work in question. It is believed that the use of lowresolution<br />

images of character artwork qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law<br />

Unless otherwise noted, all articles are Copyleft 2008. Printed in the U.S.A<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine<br />

LIBERATORS<br />

President:<br />

Austin Wright<br />

Staff Writers:<br />

Jacob Guevara<br />

Contributing Writers:<br />

Edgar Anzo<br />

Scott Carrasco<br />

Daniel Mendoza<br />

Teuvan<br />

Pennie Tovar<br />

Special Thanks:<br />

Revell Walker<br />

Jeremy Lopett<br />

Daniel Armstrong<br />

David Cirone<br />

Chibi-Tokyo<br />

Nick Kurachi<br />

Tony Young<br />

Hazel Chaz<br />

Victoria Robinson<br />

Contact Us<br />

Email:<br />

president@animationliberation.com<br />

Website:<br />

www.animationliberation.com


Hello everyone!<br />

Drama! Drama! Drama!<br />

Letter from the Editor<br />

We are behind schedule. We would have liked to add a critique of Marvel's Ultimate X-men. A boycott of Marvel, and the interviews<br />

of Jeremy Loppet and Borneo—put we ran out of time. (hopefully, they will be in the next issue!) Please accept what we have thus<br />

far!<br />

Since our last issue, we have visited Idaho's Anime Oasis and Washington's Sakuracon. It was quite the treat to such distances and<br />

meet such people. Almost all the pictures found in this issue wear taken at Anime Oasis.<br />

There is a new section for this issue: avant-garde. The aim will be to present literary works that may not yet be acceptable to formal<br />

publications. This time, it is a piece of found art, taken from the email of Pennie Tovar talking about Japan—I found it quite<br />

enjoyable.<br />

Also Teuvan granted us permission to use his Sakuracon review—which was originally posted on his deviantart. Many thanks go out<br />

to him as well.<br />

Jacob continues being awesome with two essays this issue: the essence of cyberpunk and anime and the paradox of progress. He is<br />

singlehandedly the most important and hard working person for this magazine. Without him, this issue would never have been<br />

released.<br />

Chibi-tokyo recorded this Nick Kurachi at Anime Expo 2007, this was in between year one and two of Mikomicon. Nick is an<br />

awesome guy, and I hope he is having fun in Japan!<br />

“Collector's Corner”, “Preservation” and “Pictures” have all returned! The older Chinese films will keep being reviewed, because that<br />

era is simply fascinating! Eventually, I'd like to write an essay on China and Japan's cinematic involvement with each other: these<br />

reviews are laying down a foundation for the essay.<br />

Fanime 2008 is in two days! Let's party! If you run into us outside of a panel, you're welcome to come visit our hotel room, go out to<br />

lunch and dinner with us, or just follow us around. We're all friends.<br />

PS: the pictures section contains only girls...I apologize for my behavior.<br />

Peace.<br />

Austin Wright<br />

May 20 th 2008.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine6


Avant-garde: A letter from Japan<br />

How are you? It's warming up in Japan, which is great because I am getting<br />

tired of all the rain and wet clothes and riding in trains with people wearing<br />

wet clothes. I hate that humid stickiness from people breathing on each other<br />

in an enclosed space. Sometimes the windows get so fogged up in the morning<br />

that it's hard to tell what time of day it is outside. It's times like these<br />

that I just close my eyes and try hard to pretend I am somewhere else. Worse<br />

yet is when I decide to wear my glasses. The moment I enter the train, my<br />

glasses get all fogged up and then I look like a total nerd because it's hard<br />

to keep your cool when your glasses are clouded over and you have no eyes. Of<br />

course, I can't take them off to wipe the condensation because my arms are<br />

trapped under three big guys in suits. People grunt and grimace and, above<br />

all, it's not a pretty scene. But it's warming up like I said so that means<br />

less humid morning trains. Ah yes, Spring is here. Spring Equinox is March<br />

20, right? Then again, that only leads to a new set of challenges.<br />

The Sakura are slowly beginning to open and that means that kafoon is in the<br />

air. No, contrary to what you may think, Kafoon is not love. Rather, Ka means<br />

flower and foon means powder, so you can imagine lots of flower powder and then<br />

you can imagine lots of people inflicted with what is called in Japanese<br />

kafooncho, or hayfever. Lots of Japanese are miserable with allergies. They<br />

call it ALLERGY ATTACK! People wear masks to shield themselves from the<br />

kafoon, but it's not enough, and lots of mornings I see the same grumpy people<br />

only slightly grumpier and miserable from the looks of their runny noses and<br />

watering eyes. I so glad I am not affected by kafoon. I can enjoy the sakura<br />

blossoms in their entirety. Poor Davey, though, he is like a prisoner in the<br />

apartment.<br />

His nose is chapped from always rubbing a tissue on it, and he sneezes all the<br />

time. He can't sleep on his side because his nose drips, and he has a<br />

difficult time breathing. But he's fighting through it, as miserable as he is.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine7


Tribute to Ani-magic:<br />

My first convention was AX 2005, and by the time I got into the rest of the convention<br />

circuit, I felt as if the past innocence and ingenuity were entirely over and all that was left<br />

were the fading ripples of the generation before. Acknowledging that Anime Expo is a<br />

hollow shell that sweeps up all the “I-can-only-afford-one-convention-a-year” crowd, those<br />

who are drawn to the community and social atmosphere are graced with several other<br />

conventions to choose from throughout the year.<br />

Isolation is very difficult, for us as a fringe culture, to attain at a convention. Most<br />

conventions do not have the option to fully seize a location—the general public who are<br />

also in the proximity remind us of the outside world and tend to detract from the<br />

atmosphere we create. There is only one convention where I was able to completely<br />

separate myself from the outside world, where the specific location and environment<br />

created by the people made me most happy: Ani-Magic.<br />

Ani-magic was held the Best Western Antelope Valley Inn (AVI) in Lancaster (44055 Sierra<br />

Highway, Lancaster, California, 93534-4412)—it was in the middle of nowhere; there was a<br />

7-11 to one side, and there was a Mexican Food restaurant on the other side, aside from<br />

that where wasn’t much else anywhere. 2007’s Ani-magic was a blast—it was practically a<br />

commune—no written schedule, gatherings were held during the day, while parties and a<br />

dance were held at night: it was the friendliest and most sociable convention I had ever<br />

attended. However, attendance was quite low, and as a consequence Ani-Magic 2008 has<br />

moved down to a two-day convention and has changed locations (Scheduled for October<br />

18th and 19th at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds).<br />

If Ani-magic ends up never returning to the AVI, the last stronghold of early 2000 con<br />

ideology which it represented will have died, and with it an era. This new era has<br />

conventions filled with a reactionary generation—force fed Cartoon-Network and lacking<br />

the uniqueness and individuality found from those socializing backing at early 2000. The<br />

convention circuit is loosing certain traits that are qualitatively distinct from the outside<br />

world: pop culture and television, which Japanese culture previously provided an escape<br />

from, are now adopting their elements.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine8


Though the era of innocence and amazement that people like Revell, Adella, and Nessa<br />

helped create passed away probably back in 2004 (the year that Anime-Expo’s attendance<br />

practically doubled), I feel that Ani-magic was able to keep it alive for a few more years<br />

after that. Those who were at Ani-magic’s AVI and experienced the very same communion<br />

I felt (though I jumped on the boat at the very end), I consider them my friends. I will wish<br />

that some con will eventually come around and be able to replicate the atmosphere that<br />

Ani-magic was able to. Perhaps it just difficult for me to accept that I missed out on a<br />

culture and experience that I was about five years too late in joining, but I take the change<br />

of venues very personally and it depresses me greatly.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine9


Convention Report: Sakuracon<br />

I have returned from Sakura-Con 2008, more or less intact, and I shall share with you<br />

now the tales of my journey.<br />

You may have noticed that I've added a few pictures from the convention to my gallery.<br />

Those are just some of my favorites, and there's a ton of great material in the Photobucket<br />

album, so be sure to check it out. Also, feel free to hail me as the "King of Redeye." I<br />

wasn't picky about what I dumped into the album, so quality may vary greatly.<br />

Anyway...now I'll go over what I spent my time doing at the con, starting with a quick<br />

summary of the day before the con.<br />

I got into Seattle at around noon on Thursday, so there was still some time to kill before<br />

the pre-registration line began. I spent most of this time wandering through the Pike<br />

Street Market, which is something I would HIGHLY recommend doing. It's one of the<br />

most cool, surreal marketplaces I've ever seen. I only ended up buying a couple volumes<br />

of manga from the bookstores there, but it was fun to look around.<br />

The pre-registration line went smoothly. I somehow had the luck of getting in line next to<br />

group that was going to do Gurren Lagann cosplay the next day, so I had fun chatting<br />

with them. I also encountered a Waldo cosplayer, and managed to get a crowd shot with<br />

him in it, making a fairly neat live action "Where's Waldo" pic. Well, it's actually fairly<br />

obvious where he is, but I still like the picture. You can find it in the Photobucket album.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine10


The rest of pre-registration was fairly uneventful. We cheered, we sang, we chanted.<br />

Pretty much the usual routine you'd expect from a registration line at an anime<br />

convention. I got my bag of goodies and badge without any problems, and headed back to<br />

the house I was staying at to visit with relatives for a while.<br />

And now, we move on to Friday...<br />

I got to the convention center at around 7AM. Nothing was really going on, or for that<br />

matter open, at that point. Still, I had fun wandering around, and I got some excellent<br />

pictures of cosplayers since there were no crowds to get in the way. I particularly liked<br />

the Portal people and the Dahlia from Ace Attorney. There was a white mage, whose<br />

picture I have on Photobucket, that had a damn near perfect outfit. Even though I'm not a<br />

hardcore Final Fantasy fan, their costume ended up being among my favorites. On the<br />

whole, not a lot happened until around 10AM, when I attended the opening ceremonies.<br />

Also, I probably should have mentioned earlier, but here's a quick rundown of what I was<br />

wearing: A "Genuflect Or Die" t-shirt, which a total of three people acknowledged. A<br />

blue backpack with a Laughing Man logo pasted to it, which came in handy for carrying<br />

around my stuff from the exhibitor's hall. And aside from that, it was my usual attire,<br />

consisting of sneakers and sweat pants. So, yeah, I didn't cosplay. But I was still dressed<br />

appropriately. I was thinking of doing a Kaiji cosplay for this year's Kumoricon, but I<br />

didn't have enough time to prepare it for Sakura-Con. Anyway, continuing on...<br />

The opening ceremonies went by pretty routinely. Several of the guests were introduced,<br />

some staffers gave entertaining speeches, we got to see a "making of Sakura-Con" video,<br />

and so on. The chairman (or someone) listed off the Washington State counties that have<br />

a lower population than the anticipated turnout of this year's Sakura-Con, which was sort<br />

of amusing. The highlight of this event, however, came during a speech by Seattle's<br />

Japanese Consult General. During his speech, he started talking about anime he watched<br />

as a child. Then he pulled out a Doraemon mask and put it on. That was quite possibly<br />

the most perfect thing he could have done, and the audience (myself included) loved it.<br />

After the opening ceremonies wrapped up, I did a little more hall wandering and photo<br />

taking before entering the line to the exhibitors hall. A line for the hall actually existed a<br />

while before I was aware of it, so I was pretty far back in line, to the point where I was<br />

legitimately worried. Still, once the hall officially opened, the line moved fast and I got in<br />

very quickly.<br />

The exhibitors hall didn't have a lot of the stuff I was hoping to find, but it was still very<br />

fun to look around. One of the dealers selling swords had the most impressive shop setup<br />

I've ever seen. Lots of special effects, like flames shooting up and multi-colored lights, as<br />

well as a great merchandise layout.<br />

I ended up spending around $175 overall, which was only about half of what I brought<br />

with me. I spent $30 on Portal t-shirt and a book, which I got signed, at the Penny Arcade<br />

panel. I spent $7 on a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure mystery figure box, which I absolutely<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine11


couldn't pass up. And the rest of the money? Hentai doujinshi.<br />

I'm much happier with what I bought than I was at either of the two Kumoricons I've<br />

attended, at which I spent amounts that would make a lesser weeaboo shudder in fear and<br />

disgust. The reason for this happiness is because I found some of the best doujinshi and<br />

hentai manga I could have found.<br />

I found my all-time favorite hentai manga, Sei So Tsui Dan Sha. I've heard that translates<br />

into "The Boy With The Detachable Penis Who Turns Into A Large Black Man," but I<br />

can't confirm that title. Still, it would be very accurate. I also found something that I had<br />

spent some time desperately searching for online: A classic hentai manga called Dark<br />

Wirbel. I'm in love with the art style more than the content, and I was amazed to find it<br />

for only $10 in the "cheapy h-manga box."<br />

I also picked up some of my favorite doujinshi for Gurren Lagann, Negima, Tsukihime,<br />

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and a couple other series. The highlight of this, however, is<br />

the two Elfen Lied doujinshi I found. Elfen Lied doujinshi are impossible to find, even<br />

online. And here I was able to find two, one of which I had never seen anywhere before.<br />

Incidentally, this is where one of my few regrets from the convention comes from.<br />

Someone pointed out to me at a later time that one of the Elfen Lied doujinshi was<br />

created by one of the Japanese mangaka guests. So if I had noticed this earlier, I might<br />

have been able to get her to sign it for me. Well, it could have been a little awkward to<br />

hand a female Japanese mangaka a piece of lesbian porn she drew as an amateur, asking<br />

her to sign it. But still... I would have done it. Totally.<br />

At 2:30, I went to the Penny Arcade panel. Despite arriving pretty much on-the-dot, I got<br />

a seat in the center, toward the front, about 10 feet from the stage. It was one of those<br />

random loose seats that people always overlook. I was thinking I'd have to sit in the far<br />

back corner since I came in so late, but obviously this was not a problem.<br />

The panel was great. It was basically a big Q&A session, with them giving very<br />

entertaining answers. I asked what the longest they've spent customizing a character was.<br />

I think Gabe's response was City of Heroes, which doesn't surprise me in the least.<br />

Tycho's response was Mass Effect, which isn't a game I'm familiar with but I have heard<br />

it has a good customization system.<br />

The best part of their panel was when someone asked if one of them had ever played a<br />

practical joke on the other that went too far. Gabe started out by saying they don't really<br />

play practical jokes on eachother, but while he was saying this Tycho sort of glared at<br />

him, and interrupted him saying "what about the time you almost pushed me out the<br />

fucking window?" He proceeded to tell the story of how Gabe placed a fake hand in his<br />

desk, which happened to have a large window directly behind. Either way, it was a very<br />

amusing response.<br />

Someone also made them a set of Twisp & Catsby dolls, which they allowed to have<br />

passed around the audience. The dolls actually made it through the crowd unscathed, and<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine12


eturned to the stage by the end. I was able to handle them myself, and they were very<br />

well-made. It's sort of amazing that something like that can be passed through a crowd of<br />

several hundred people and make it back fine, but I suppose anime conventions bring out<br />

a pretty good crowd on the whole. Besides, if anyone had tried anything, they would have<br />

been raped, beaten, and shamed from polite society.<br />

After I left the panel, I stopped by to catch the last bit of the Scandal concert. I had sort of<br />

wanted to go to this, but in the end I chose the Penny Arcade panel instead. Still, I'm glad<br />

I was able to see them perform a little bit.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine13


Between events at this point, there was a Gurren Lagann photoshoot in one of the lobbies.<br />

The shoot involved some excellent cosplayers, including one of the best Kamina's I've<br />

ever seen. There were some overlapping cosplays, with three Viral's and two Yoko's, but<br />

everyone was very well-dressed and into the spirit of things. The picture I put up here,<br />

"Pierce The Heavens," was taken at the shoot. There are a lot of other good pictures in the<br />

Photobucket album, one or two of which I'm considering putting up here as well. I was<br />

also able to hang out with one of my friends from college at around this point, and I<br />

happened to run into my favorite cosplayer of the convention: Mokou from Touhou. For<br />

the most part, I was amazed that someone would be awesome enough to do a Touhou<br />

cosplayer, but her costume was actually very well-made. Either way, I consider her to be<br />

winner of the convention.<br />

At 6PM, I went to the Dreamcatchers performance. I actually got in line for this one, and<br />

ended up with an excellent seat toward the front center once again. The performance was<br />

very, very good. It mostly consisted of them doing live dubbing for various anime,<br />

including the "All men are not created equal" speech from Code Geass, the watergun<br />

fight from Higurashi, and a couple scenes from other random anime. They also did the<br />

Lucky Star dance and had an all-male sing along of the Mikuru song from episode 1 of<br />

Haruhi.<br />

One of the more impressive bits of their performance was an on-stage fight with wooden<br />

Kendo swords. The performers looked like they were really into it, and if anyone less<br />

skilled had attempted it I'm sure someone would have ended up hurt. Still, they pulled it<br />

off perfectly. At one point, one was disarmed by the other, which resulted in his sword<br />

flipping up high above the stage. It landed safely, so I figure they had practiced that quite<br />

a bit. The pulled off a very dramatic, over-the-top finale, which involved switching of<br />

weapons and desperate final attacks. I would highly recommend trying to find a video of<br />

this on Youtube. It's worth watching.<br />

One minor highlight from this event came just before the Mikuru song. The Haruhi<br />

cosplayer they had on stage said, "Kyon, Itsuki, get to it!" In response to that, one of the<br />

girls sitting on front of me screamed "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!" This struck me<br />

as being hilarious.<br />

I wandered the halls for a little while after the performance. I stopped by the Neko Dance<br />

briefly, but gave up trying to dance with a backpack on. From there, I went over to check<br />

out the Mangakas' Secret Lives panel. What that boiled down to was a group of guys<br />

talking about hentai drawn by popular manga artists, with hilariously censored pictures<br />

on powerpoint. Everyone was also given free yaoi at the end of the panel, due to reasons<br />

beyond proper explanation. Of course, I was gracious enough to give mine to a nearby<br />

fangirl.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine14


The Anime Hunters: Unfiltered panel came after that. I've actually become sort of a fan<br />

of them, but I wasn't able to come to their panel during the day. So instead, I went to this<br />

one. And it was quite good. I found out that they'll be hosting this year's Kumoricon,<br />

which makes me look forward to the opening ceremonies a whole lot more. Overall, it<br />

was a damn entertaining panel, and went on a little longer than it was scheduled for.<br />

Which, of course, was a good thing.<br />

To top off the evening, I went to the Star Wars panel, entitled "Anakin, You're Breaking<br />

My Heart!" I missed the first part due to Anime Hunters going over, but I was there for<br />

the madlibs. Now, since this panel was in the middle of the night, they could get away<br />

with quite a bit with these, creating some of the dirtiest, grossest madlibs you're ever<br />

likely to come across. If you too would like to hear the tale of an Imperial Officer fapping<br />

upon Darth Vader with teenaged angst, look it up on Youtube.<br />

At this point, I was pretty damn tired. I waited around in hopes of hanging out at the<br />

4chan panel's line, but that never happened. So I decided to head home and get some<br />

sleep for tomorrow.<br />

And then Saturday began...<br />

I got to the convention center at around 10AM. The first thing I did was hit the exhibitors<br />

hall. This is actually where I got the two Elfen Lied doujins, because the guy told me he'd<br />

be bringing them in on Saturday morning. Other than that, I pretty much hall-wandered<br />

until 11AM, when I headed over to the Vic Mignogna performance.<br />

I didn't really have any personal feelings about Vic going in, but there wasn't much else<br />

going on and I was curious to see the performance. It was actually very entertaining, and<br />

he sang quite well. There were some hilariously bad technical problems toward the end,<br />

resulting in one of the videos he wanted to show being cut. Still, it was a very good<br />

performance, and although it sort of catered to the Fullmetal Alchemist fan crowd, I<br />

enjoyed it a lot.<br />

I was going to try and get his autograph afterwards. I wanted him to sign a Japanese<br />

volume 14 of Fullmetal Alchemist, which I had Tiffany Grant sign at 2006's Kumoricon.<br />

The idea was to get all the people who had the Fullmetal Alchemist and Gurren Lagann<br />

dub cast in common to sign this random goddamn book. But the insanely long line for<br />

autographs discouraged me from this right away, and so I hall-wandered once again until<br />

it came time to line up for Ali Project.<br />

The line for the concert was far and away the longest line I was subjected to, aside from<br />

the one for pre-registration. Still, at this point I was willing to take a break, and I ran<br />

across some interesting people to talk to. I talked to a girl about Satoshi Kon movies for a<br />

while, got a few good pictures, went through some of my more SFW from the exhibitors<br />

hall, and so on. Also, I forgot to mention, but I also picked up the Yoko artbook at the<br />

exhibitors hall, which is now one of my most highly treasured possessions.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine15


The concert itself was amazing. I had never heard Ketchup Mania before, but they were<br />

very fun to listen to, and the band was extremely energetic. They definitely exceeded my<br />

expectations by a long shot. The Ali Project concert was one of the things I looked<br />

forward to most in the convention, and it more than lived up to my expectations. They<br />

were very fun to watch perform, and their music was excellent. Overall, the concert was<br />

an awesome experience.<br />

After the concert, I went to the Japanese Mangaka panel. This was basically a joint Q&A<br />

with the creators of Ikkitousen and Karin, with assistance from translators since the<br />

mangaka didn't speak English. I was sort of surprised by the low turnout, actually. There<br />

were only around thirty or forty people there, and for something like that I expected a lot<br />

more. Nonetheless, it was a good panel, and it was fun to see the authors in person. We<br />

played rock paper scissors for posters with the Ikkitousen creator at the end. I ended up<br />

losing, but I have no regrets.<br />

There was a bit of a gap in my schedule between that and the next event. During this<br />

time, I pretty much wandered around, got something to eat, took pictures, explored the<br />

convention center, and dropped in on the cosplay contest briefly, yet long enough to<br />

confirm that it's a universal rule that cosplay contests must suck.<br />

And so it came time for what turned out to be the highlight of the convention for me: The<br />

World of Visual Novels panel. From what I read about it on the forums, I got the<br />

impression that it would just be an introduction to visual novels for newbies. Yet I<br />

figured since there was nothing better to do at the time, I might as well stop by to see if<br />

anyone with a high power level happened to be attending.<br />

I must stress again: This panel was easily the best part of any convention I've ever<br />

attended.<br />

Now, the scheduled panel itself was quite good. It was hosted by a Hakuoro cosplayer<br />

who I wouldn't hesitate to call an expert on visual novels. He gave a pretty<br />

comprehensive history of visual novels, gave information on how to get visual novels and<br />

what some of the more popular current titles were, and went over various other aspects of<br />

the medium. Basically, it was as good as I could have expected it to be.<br />

Then the panel ended and things got epic.<br />

Most of the audience left, but there was still a little over a dozen people left. We decided<br />

to keep doing stuff, since enough people were interested. We looked at a few visual<br />

novels on the host's laptop, and he gave us a little more visual novel information more<br />

suited to hardcore fans. Eventually, things slowed down a little, and we were about to<br />

figure out something else to do. Then I pulled out my flash drive with OMGWTFOTL<br />

and offered to share it. He said sure, and began playing it...<br />

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I think most of the people in the audience had already played OMGWTFOTL. Even so,<br />

it's the type of thing you can read over and over and still be entertained by. Plus it's rather<br />

short and fast-paced, making it well-suited for this type of event. While it was playing, a<br />

couple people in the audience started reading the text out loud. This caught on, and we<br />

established voice actors for each character.<br />

Adding voices to OMGWTFOTL, especially unprofessional ones, adds a whole hell of a<br />

lot to it. It was hilarious. We had a Jun cosplayer (male, of course) do the female voices,<br />

and many lulz were had when the female character's "boyish charm" and "flat chest" were<br />

described. We played through damn near the entire visual novel that way, until we finally<br />

reached the "FIN" screen and decided to move on to something else.<br />

As the night progressed, we voice acted other visual novels and played other obscure<br />

doujin games. By this point, everyone left in the room had a ridiculously high power<br />

level, dwarfing even my own. For several hours, we entertained ourselves with pretty<br />

much any digital media we could get access to. Several people brought in their laptops,<br />

and I regretted not loading up my flash drive with more cool stuff before coming to the<br />

convention.<br />

At around 3AM, I decided to step out to check out the 4chan panel. The 4chan panel was<br />

right behind the Ali Project concert as one of the main things I had been looking forward<br />

to, so I kind of had my hopes up. Actually, I heard from someone in the visual novel<br />

panel that the Saturday morning one, which I was unable to attend, sort of sucked. So I<br />

wasn't expecting the Sunday morning one to be a lot better. Still, I had been looking<br />

forward to it, and I wanted to check it out for myself.<br />

So at around 3AM, I walk in the door. Less than a minute passes before they start<br />

showing lesbian cosplay porn on the projector.<br />

My fears that the panel would be shut down changed to hopes after I heard the host<br />

speak. He was a thin man with long blond hair, and possibly one of the most irritating<br />

people I've ever come across. He gave a speech about how he wants 4chan to become<br />

more "politically involved," and to protest things other than Scientology. This, of course,<br />

was met with someone yelling "NOT YOUR PERSONAL ARMY" at him.<br />

Still, he went on, ranting about the political power of 4chan and how "Anonymous is like<br />

a religion." I shit you not, he said that he "hates churches" and that "4chan is a good<br />

replacement for that kind of organization." And he was absolutely dead serious the entire<br />

time. I wish I had thought to record this, but I was too baffled to think straight.<br />

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He also admitted that the only board he regularly visits on 4chan is Cosplay & CGL, and<br />

that he didn't have your authorization for the panel. His speeches were full of ridiculously<br />

long pauses, non-fluencies, and most of what he did manage to say didn't make a<br />

goddamn bit of sense. I later found out that he was friends with a group of people who<br />

were doing heroin at the convention, which helped explain a number of things.<br />

Eventually, he left, and we were subjected to hearing random people tell shitty, unrelated<br />

stories and jokes. Almost nothing at the panel had anything to do with 4chan. I spoke<br />

with several of the attendees, and most of them had no idea what 4chan was and had<br />

never been on the site. They were just there because it was the only thing happening at<br />

the time. The few anons I came across agreed with me that the panel was shit. After<br />

giving it far too much of a chance, I left, returning to the visual novel / Touhou panel.<br />

Later, I heard that the 4chan panel was shut down because of the porn, and that the police<br />

apparently got involved. I have no idea exactly what happened with that, but I'd love to<br />

find out.<br />

Right before I left the convention at 7AM, I walked by the room they held the panel at.<br />

On the schedule board where it listed the panel, someone had marked out 4chan and<br />

written "no" above it, with "lulz" over to the side. On the blank space under it, they wrote<br />

something like "random people talking about shit for no apparent reason." I don't know<br />

who did that, but I wanted to high-five them or something.<br />

I actually emailed Moot about this, explaining how the host of this panel had managed to<br />

effectively piss into the ocean of piss. I figured that in case no one else had bitched about<br />

the panel yet, that he should know.<br />

Anyway, I spent the rest of the convention at the visual novel panel. I had to leave at<br />

7AM, and luckily it lasted until right before then. We spent 10 hours in that workshop<br />

overall, whereas the original panel was only supposed to last an hour. Lucky for us<br />

nothing was scheduled in there. I found out about a few nifty doujin games.<br />

Cat Mario is sort of a parody of Super Mario Bros. that screws you over at every point<br />

possible, in creative and exciting ways.<br />

Touhou Hana is a strip mahjong Touhou doujin game. Nothing else needs be said for<br />

that.<br />

Though I'd seen pictures of it before, I found out the details concerning the Touhou mods<br />

for GTA. The thought of playing that game with an all-Touhou cast amused me far too<br />

greatly, and persuaded me to actually go out and buy the game once I got home. Haven't<br />

installed it yet, but I've got the mod ready and I'll get on that tomorrow.<br />

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Overall, this was the best convention I've been to so far, and aside from the 4chan panel I<br />

have almost no complaints. The visual novel panel exceeded my expectations far more<br />

than enough to make up for what few failures there were. And so at 7AM, I made the<br />

journey home, listening to a mixed disk of IOSYS and the Kaiji OST on my merry way...<br />

Tomorrow's the first day of Spring quarter in college for me, and my arm is killing me<br />

from typing. So this should be the end for now. One other thing worth noting is that I'm<br />

looking into getting a Wii. Also, I know I claim to be a writer and that I've been posting<br />

pictures almost exclusively lately, but I'll try to remedy that soon. Until then, so long...<br />

To read more about Teuvan and his writings, please visit:<br />

http://teuvan.deviantart.com/<br />

http://teuvan.blogspot.com/<br />

These three pictures were taken from Teuvan's personal photobucket. His review and<br />

pictures are copywrighted and owned by him.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine19


The Essence Of Cyberpunk<br />

Cyberpunk is both unique and fleeting much like the social system it reflects,<br />

criticizes and embodies in its occupation as an unhappy medium between science fiction's<br />

two broadest categories: "hard" science fiction which primarily focuses on future<br />

technology and "soft" science fiction which primarily focuses on future society. That is<br />

because the social system underlying cyberpunk, capitalism, occupies an uncomfortable<br />

time period that exists between eras: feudalism and socialism. The elements of cyberpunk<br />

are hence contradictory and paradoxical, because the sub-genre reflects a social system<br />

with elements of these two eras. The first era is feudalism, a system dominated by<br />

military hierarchies, chance events, superstition, authoritarianism, and an inflexible<br />

system of social stratification. For sake of contrast, some examples of feudal science<br />

fiction are Starship Troopers, Battletech, and Dune. The second era is socialism, which is<br />

the complete opposite of feudalism: it liberates the individual to pursue their selfdetermined<br />

careers by freeing them of class restrictions both de jure and de facto, it<br />

likewise removes authoritarianism and the role of chance events in determining the future<br />

by democratizing both politics and the economy. Isaac Asimov’s Robot, Empire and<br />

Foundation series are examples of socialist science fiction.<br />

In the words of Marxist literary critic Christopher Caudwell (1):<br />

“Here is the secret paradox of bourgeois development and decline. The bourgeois<br />

abandoned feudal relations in the name of a liberty which he visualised as<br />

freedom from social restraints. Such a liberty would have led to savagery. But in<br />

fact the liberty he claimed – ‘unrestricted’ private property – really involved<br />

restraint, that is, it gave rise to complex forms of social organisation, which were<br />

more many-sided, more incessant, and more all-pervading, than feudal restraints.<br />

Thus the cash relation, which he conceived as putting an end to all social<br />

restraints, and thus giving him liberty, did give him a larger measure of liberty<br />

than in feudalism, but in the opposite way to his expectations, by imposing far<br />

more complex organisations than those of feudal civilisation. All the elaborate<br />

forms of bourgeois contracts, market organisation, industrial structure, national<br />

States, trade unions, tariffs, imperialism and bureaucratic democratic government,<br />

the iron pressure of the consumer and the labour market, the dole, subsidy,<br />

bounties – all these multifarious forms of social organisation – were brought into<br />

being by a class that demanded the dissolution of social organisation. And the fact<br />

that bourgeois civilisation obtained a greater measure of control over its<br />

environment than feudal – and was that much freer – is precisely because all these<br />

complex social organisations were brought into being – but brought blindly.”<br />

That is why capitalism, and its accompanying sci-fi aesthetic "cyberpunk" are<br />

both self-contradictory: they present a world that has ended much of the legal aspects of<br />

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the feudal system (those of form), but have not yet ended those aspects that exist as a<br />

matter of fact (those of substance). Take for instance the issue of free speech. According<br />

to law most industrialized nations have implemented legislation that protects free speech,<br />

but more often then not the citizens are not actualizing their free speech. Most of the<br />

citizens are either too busy, lack the knowledge, the police protection and the resources to<br />

speak as freely as the wealthiest or most powerful people in their societies. The centers of<br />

speech: those of the mainstream media – the television, newspapers, radio and other news<br />

networks- are dominated by major corporations which often times have little, if any,<br />

public participation(2). Another example is how most industrialized nations claim to be<br />

democratic, yet to even consider running for office a candidate will usually need to be<br />

extremely wealthy. (3) Likewise most citizens lack the time and resources to sufficiently<br />

research and monitor the political process so as to make an informed vote. (4) Much of<br />

the time, the social system is legally democratic, but it is often times run like a<br />

dictatorship in daily life, with laws being made, enforced or broken by judges, politicians,<br />

religious authorities and corporate leaders while the public conducts its day to day life<br />

largely unaware of anything more then their daily routine. Work places are hardly<br />

democratic, with the CEO giving orders and everyone having to obey without question.<br />

Thus cyberpunk exists in an era that is at a cross-roads: on the one hand it is dominated<br />

by dictatorial forces (corporations, ruling classes, political/religious institutions) and yet<br />

on the other hand there are some elements of democratic centralism (constitutions,<br />

democratic institutions, individual liberties).<br />

Cyberpunk also presents the paradoxical nature of progress in a quasi-democratic<br />

social system in which the potential offered by technology is often times subverted by<br />

exploitative private hierarchies. The benefits offered by new chemicals, which can be<br />

used to create pesticides, plastics, and other materials which make our lives easier are<br />

offset by the pollution and toxins that accompany their manufacture and use, matters<br />

which are of little concern to the owners of such chemical factories who reside safely<br />

insulated from outside dangers within their gated communities. (5) (6) The free time<br />

offered by labor saving devices are usually mitigated by profit seeking corporations<br />

which use such technology to dominate the worker and the economy, and by such<br />

domination control the workplace so as to slowly give the workers more hours, with<br />

fewer benefits by threatening such workers with unemployment. Hence a machine that<br />

can do the work of twenty people, usually does not give them more free time and<br />

opportunity so much as it puts them out of a job. This makes it so that for the average<br />

person technology often times determines how we live, instead allowing us to determine<br />

how we will live using such technology. Even the people at the top of society are not<br />

immune to this, as they are often times subject to competition, and thus find their own<br />

actions restricted to what allows them to maintain profit- less their shareholders find a<br />

new CEO, another company purchases their assets or a rival firm drive them out of<br />

business. Thus what once appears to offer so much hope and empowerment ends up<br />

creating a general sense of alienation, powerlessness and despair. That is how cyberpunk<br />

is: politically anarchistic while economically authoritarian, high-tech and low-life, with<br />

technology offering so much potential yet paradoxically reducing people to a state of de<br />

facto serfdom.<br />

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And the ways in which such technological paradoxes manifest themselves in<br />

cyberpunk abound: William Gibson's SimStims offer the greatest experiences to the<br />

average person by allowing the user to remotely experience the life of a celebrity through<br />

their eyes-however in the process the user usually ends up losing the desire to experience<br />

their own lives. Cybernetic implants (perhaps the most essential and representative<br />

technology in the cyberpunk genre) allow people to augment their intellect, memory and<br />

physical ability, though generally at a cost of their humanity and/or identity as is the case<br />

in such cyberpunk classics as Jonny Mnemonic, Ghost in the Shell and/or Neuromancer-since<br />

to maintain such augmentation in an increasingly competitive environment the user<br />

is forced to acquire ever more funds. The cybernetically augmented persons therefore end<br />

up giving up their friends and family to free up time and maintain professionalism (i.e.<br />

the hackers in Neuromancer), or they end up giving up their childhood to free up space<br />

for memory (Johnny Mnemonic) and/or they give up their ownership of their own bodies-<br />

becoming the cyber-shell property of a government or corporate entity (Ghost in the<br />

Shell). Cyberpunk societies are thus unique in that they occupy a place where technology<br />

both liberates and enslaves mankind-leading to intrinsically quasi-unpredictable, counterintuitive<br />

consequences for a society completely at the mercy of the latest technological<br />

trend, and they are fleeting because they take place within a historical era composed of<br />

many contradictory elements- elements which make such a social systems inherently<br />

unstable and bound to change in one direction or the other. (7)<br />

Karl Marx first formulated how capitalism causes technology to increase the<br />

exploitation of the worker, both in terms of alienating labor and with respect to<br />

expropriating surplus value. The formula was simple- the more efficient the machinery,<br />

the less workers you need for a company to operate with equal profit in a finite market.<br />

If the market is likewise competitive, industries will be increasingly forced to lay surplus<br />

labor off in order to maintain higher profit margins. These higher rates of profit will be<br />

reinvested into more efficient machinery making the worker even more superfluous. This<br />

allows the capitalist as the owner of such machinery/capital to then reduce how much<br />

profit is given back to the individual worker, as surplus labor created by increased<br />

efficiency always serves as a political leverage by which to threaten workers who do not<br />

accept what the capitalist is willing to pay. Likewise, since more and more of the<br />

production is machine driven, the profits can be more claimed to be the property of the<br />

capitalist. In other words- if a worker does 50% of the work, and the machine 50% of the<br />

work the worker can claim he is entitled to 50% of the profit. If the worker does 10% of<br />

the work and the machine 90%, the worker can only claim ownership of 10% of the profit<br />

since the capitalist is the owner of the machine. Since the worker is also the general<br />

consumer a company can not only be seen as exploiting the worker, but with the<br />

consumer as well. The more money the company can milk out of the consumer for a<br />

cheaper product, the more the company will profit. If a company can sell an inferior<br />

product for more money the company increases profits. If the company can get people to<br />

buy products they don’t need, that is even better. Consider the wide array of<br />

pharmaceuticals over-prescribed under the pressure of corporate lobbyists who pressure<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine22


doctors-with payments and favors- to prescribe a certain amount of medicine each month<br />

regardless of necessity. (8) The over-prescription of Ritalin being a classic example. (9)<br />

Thus a private company will sell a product harmful to the consumer for their personal<br />

profit.<br />

In other words because the company controls the means of production, it can<br />

increasingly use such control to force workers to accept any wages the company prefers<br />

to pay while simultaneously making this same worker, in the role of a consumer, accept<br />

any product the company wishes to sell them at the price the company wants to set.<br />

Since Marx, further ways in which capitalism generally harms society have been<br />

formulated by noting that supposedly free markets are susceptible to externalities (i.e.<br />

extra costs generated for those not consenting to a transaction). Some examples of<br />

externalities include pollution, cancers and other diseases created by tobacco products,<br />

environmental destruction, increased poverty and the crime it breeds when workers are<br />

laid off or a store out-competed and a variety of other effects that create costs for society<br />

that a corporation rarely has to pay for.<br />

Indeed the very idea of a lasting free market can be seen as fundamentally<br />

questionable. Anyone who has accumulated enough wealth will likely influence politics<br />

so as to bias political process to their favor. In some cases large corporations have even<br />

gone to the extremes of hiring their own secret police-as Wal-Mart, Taco Bell and Kraft<br />

have done in order to spy on environmental groups. (10) (11) Another example is how<br />

major corporations use their political party to influence legislation through lobbying. (12)<br />

(13) Thus even a market which begins in a state of total freedom and perfect competition<br />

will eventually by undermined by the accumulation of capital and the accompanying<br />

political power such accumulation grants large, private firms. This undermining of<br />

capitalism by its own institutions can already be seen with respect to the role corporations<br />

play in preventing new enterprises from establishing themselves, and new innovations<br />

from entering the market.<br />

In the words of Karl Popper, capitalism is subject to the paradox of freedom (i.e.<br />

how the freedom from the government and to own property interferes with another<br />

person’s freedom to live apart from economic coercion). He refutes the idea that people<br />

would be completely free if they simply removed oppressive feudal governments:<br />

“"I believe that the injustice and inhumanity of the unrestrained 'capitalist system'<br />

described by Marx cannot be questioned; but it can be interpreted in terms of what<br />

we called, in a previous chapter, the paradox of freedom. Freedom, we have seen,<br />

defeats itself, if it is unlimited. Unlimited freedom means that a strong man is free<br />

to bully one who is weak and to rob him of his freedom. This is why we demand<br />

that the state should limit freedom to a certain extent, so that everyone's freedom<br />

is protected by law. Nobody should be at the mercy of others, but all should have a<br />

right to be protected by the state.<br />

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Now I believe that these considerations, originally meant to apply to the realm of<br />

brute-force, of physically intimidation, must be applied to the economic realm<br />

also. Even if the state protects its citizens from being bullied by physical violence<br />

(as it does, in principle, under the system of unrestrained capitalism), it may<br />

defeat our ends by its failure to protect them from the misuse of economic power.<br />

In such a state, the economically strong is still free to bully one who is<br />

economically weak, and to rob him of his freedom. Under these circumstances,<br />

unlimited economic freedom can be just as self-defeating as unlimited physical<br />

freedom, and economic power may be nearly as dangerous as physical violence;<br />

for those who possess as surplus of food can force who are starving into a 'freely'<br />

accepted servitude, without using violence. And assuming that the state limits its<br />

activities to the suppression of violence (and to the protection of property), a<br />

minority which is economically strong may in this way exploit the majority of<br />

those who are economically weak. ” (14)<br />

Cyberpunk is an artistic style in which the paradox of freedom permeates. This<br />

has been a staple of the genre from its very origins.<br />

The origins of cyberpunk are most famously associated with William Gibson; it is<br />

mostly agreed that Gibson created the first cyberpunk series (the Sprawl trilogy), but the<br />

origins of the sub-genre are complex and myriad. Indeed Gibson may have captured the<br />

cyberpunk essence of "high-tech" better then most, but the writing of other authors<br />

contained staples of cyberpunk long-before Gibson. Phillip K. Dick pioneered the<br />

question of dystopian technology in an in-between feudal/socialist era with his novel “Do<br />

Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” published in 1966 (about twenty years before the<br />

term cyberpunk was coined) in which technology has created a society dominated by<br />

large state-sponsored corporations, with several inhumane and dehumanizing<br />

applications.<br />

Note then that it is the social fabric and not technology by itself that defines the<br />

genre. Other sci-fi stories can have hackers, or cybernetics, or the equivalent of<br />

SimStims, but unless there general economic/political atmosphere is anarchistic, unless<br />

there is a sense of exploitation, alienation and/or dehumanization the novel generally will<br />

not have the cyberpunk feel. Any novel in which the social system is not capitalist, can be<br />

more easily defined as “hard”, soft, feudal or socialist science fiction then cyberpunk.<br />

From the beginning cyberpunk has also contained strong elements of social<br />

criticism with respect to man’s relation to technology. In Do Androids dream of Electric<br />

Sheep, the people on Earth live in barely habitable pockets, as the planet has been made<br />

toxic by radioactive pollution, with almost all natural plants and animals having died off,<br />

and being replaced by artificial copies. Even personhood is for sale, in the form of biosynthetic<br />

androids. Though arguably more social sci-fi then cyberpunk, K. Dick’s novel<br />

introduced several elements which have recurred throughout the sub-genre involving the<br />

alienation created by technology, the undesired yet inevitable replacement of the natural<br />

with the artificial and the questions of personhood which arises when such technology<br />

becomes widespread to the point where it is imbued into the very fabric of social<br />

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existence. Likewise mega-corporations, the dominant institution of cyberpunk and in all<br />

likelihood our own society is presented. Also issues of moral ambiguity and the typical<br />

cyberpunk archetype of the lonely free-lance protagonist are presented in the blade runner<br />

Rick Decker. It is the mix of all these elements that makes the novel among the first with<br />

the cyberpunk feel. The actual term cyberpunk however was coined by Bruce Bethke in his<br />

novel “Cyberpunk”. The element of future jargon was largely presented in “A Clock work<br />

Orange”. The hacker hero was archetyped in John Brunner’s “A Shockwave Rider” and<br />

cybernetic implants were presented in Alfred Bester’s “The Stars my Destination”. Pohl<br />

and Kornbluth's “Wolfbane” introduces the concept of man linked to machines.<br />

It is understandable to see why the cyberpunk genre was created—since then to<br />

now, our society has been moving more and more in that direction. The time period in<br />

which these authors generally crafted the sub-genre (from around the 1960s onward)<br />

should be no surprise given the social structure that was emerging. The 1960s and 70s<br />

saw the advent of the “me” generations, and the decline of the middle class as<br />

privatization movements swept across the United States. Since the 1950s onward the<br />

economic trends have been towards increased inequality, ever larger corporations, less<br />

social cohesion and an even smaller pie for the working class. (15) Since the 1970s the<br />

average wage for workers declined by 30% (16) and more and more often social<br />

programs are continuously undermined by tax breaks given to the wealthy elite under the<br />

rationale of trickle-down theory, with the latest round of tax cuts given by the Bush<br />

administration being the equivalent to over three times what was spent on the Iraq War.<br />

(17) At the same time the costs of housing, college tuition, and many other necessities<br />

like gasoline, have risen sharply. As a consequence homelessness has increased, even for<br />

the employed. Indeed in 2005 a survey of 24 cities found that 13% of homeless persons<br />

are employed. And this has occurred even as the number of millionaires and billionaires<br />

has increased. (18) According to the Wall Street Journal the millionaire population<br />

increased by 8.3% from 2004 to 2005. The total number of super-rich increased by 11.6%<br />

worldwide. And even more staggering their total actual wealth increased by 16.8%, or<br />

13.1 trillion dollars, meaning the wealthiest people on Earth have more economic power<br />

then the United States as a whole. (19)<br />

How can democracy possibly survive in such a state of extreme inequality?<br />

Apparently the answer may well be that it can’t. Two recent articles by Foreign Affairs<br />

(20) (21) (the nation’s, and perhaps world’s leading journal for world political analysis)<br />

show that authoritarian states are on the rebound. The once taken for granted link<br />

between freedom and technology, which presumed that technology would lead to a strong<br />

middle class that demands democratic mechanisms has been disproven by the continued<br />

existence of sophisticated autocracies like those of China, Russia, Thailand and Nigeria<br />

where dictators have learned to manage technology so as to accrue the economic benefits<br />

while denying political freedoms. Even in the United States such a trend has been<br />

observed as the corporate dominated Republican Party captured nearly all three branches<br />

of government in 2004.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine25


It is no surprise then that William Gibson has argued that we are already living in the<br />

cyberpunk era in his latest novels “Pattern Recognition” and “Spook Country”. To take<br />

an excerpt from one of his interviews:<br />

“Amazon.com: The line on your last book, Pattern Recognition was that the<br />

present had caught up with William Gibson's future. So many of the things you<br />

imagined have come true that in a way it seems like we're all living in science<br />

fiction now. Is that the way you felt when you came to write that book, that the<br />

real world had caught up with your ideas?<br />

Gibson: Well, I thought that writing about the world today as I perceive it would<br />

probably be more challenging, in the real sense of science fiction, than continuing<br />

just to make things up. And I found that to absolutely be the case. If I'm going to<br />

write fiction set in an imaginary future now, I'm going to need a yardstick that<br />

gives me some accurate sense of how weird things are now. 'Cause I'm going to<br />

have to go beyond that. And I think over the course of these last two books--I<br />

don't think I'm done yet--I've been getting a yardstick together. But I don't know if<br />

I'll be able to do it again. I don't know if I'll be able to make up an imaginary<br />

future in the same way. In the '80s and '90s--as strange as it may seem to say this-we<br />

had such luxury of stability. Things weren't changing quite so quickly in the<br />

'80s and '90s. And when things are changing too quickly, as one of the characters<br />

in Pattern Recognition says, you don't have any place to stand from which to<br />

imagine a very elaborate future. “<br />

Hence we are in many ways already in the cyberpunk era and may be so for a<br />

while. The capitalist dystopias once presented only in fiction, are now becoming the very<br />

society’s in which we now live. However just like any system both cyberpunk and its<br />

underlying system-capitalism will inevitably end. Such an ending will come in part by<br />

means of new technology, like robotics which may replace human labor entirely leaving<br />

society no choice but to adopt a welfare state. Likewise such an end may come about by<br />

people rising to claim their democratic privileges on their own terms, as has been the case<br />

recently in many Latin American countries ranging from Bolivia to Venezuela.<br />

Marx predicted not only the rise of dystopian capitalism but its probable end as<br />

more and more people pushed into the categorized of have not begin to realize that their<br />

economic interests lie in changing the fundamental property relations of society. Class<br />

antagonism at this point will be simplified and made clear, allowing for new conceptions<br />

of liberty not defined solely on the basis of negative freedoms.<br />

“Each step to higher consciousness is made actively with struggle and difficulty. It<br />

is man’s natural but fatal error to suppose that the path of liberty is easy, that<br />

liberty is a mere negative, a relaxation, the elimination of an obstacle in his path.<br />

But it is more than that. True freedom must be created as strenuously as we make<br />

the instruments of freedom, tools and machines. It must be wrested out of the<br />

heart of reality, including the inner reality of man’s minds.<br />

….<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine26


To the worker, subject to unemployment, starved in the midst of plenty, this path<br />

eventually becomes plain. Despite the assurances of the bourgeoisie that in a<br />

democratic or national State he is completely free, he revolts. And who, in those<br />

days, will stand by his side? Will the bourgeoisie, themselves pinched and<br />

disfranchised by the growing concentration of capital, discouraged, pessimistic,<br />

harried into war and oppression by ‘forces beyond control’, and yet still<br />

demanding liberty? On the answer to that question, which each individual<br />

bourgeois must make, sooner or later, will depend whether he strives in those days<br />

to make men free or to keep them in chains. And this too depends on whether he<br />

has understood the nature of liberty. The class to whom capitalism means liberty<br />

steadily contracts, but those once of that class who are now enslaved to war, and<br />

imperialism and poverty, still cling to that bourgeois interpretation of liberty that<br />

has abundantly proved its falsehood. They can only escape and become free by<br />

understanding the active nature of liberty, and by becoming conscious of the path<br />

they must follow to attain it. Their will is not free as long as they will liberty but<br />

produce unfreedom. It is only free when they will Communism and produce<br />

liberty.” (22)<br />

Just as slave-based and feudal systems saw their end the capitalist system-based<br />

on the exploitation of market labor will see its end come about by the very contradictions<br />

it exasperates. The capitalist system of competition out of necessity pushes more and<br />

more people into the positions of have-nots, and thus increases the numbers of its<br />

enemies daily. The competition between the capitalists themselves likewise serves to<br />

undermine any sense of political unity they may have. And the technology the capitalists<br />

create and must sell to consumers- in the form of computers, digital information, books,<br />

educational material, cell phones and other devices by which the general public can better<br />

communicate and better educate themselves on their own economic interests will<br />

inevitably lead to the undermining of the entire system. Though there may be periods of<br />

regression (just as there was in slave-based/feudal societies) where revolutionary<br />

movements are temporarily thwarted the general progression will lead further to the death<br />

knell of capitalism. This change cannot just come from technology or economic evolution<br />

but must also have a political element, to quote Karl Popper: “If this analysis is correct,<br />

when the nature of the remedy is clear. It must be a political remedy - a remedy similar to<br />

the one which we use against physical violence. We must construct social institutions,<br />

enforced by the power of the state, for the protection of the economically weak from the<br />

economically strong. The state must see to it that nobody need enter into an inequitable<br />

arrangement out of fear of starvation, or economic ruin. " (23)<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine27


And to quote Christopher Caudwell: “If we wish to move a stone, we must apply<br />

the leverage in the proper place. If we wish to change bourgeois social relations into<br />

communist, we must follow a certain path. The have-nots, the proletariat, must take over<br />

the means of production from the haves, the bourgeoisie, and since, as we saw, these two<br />

freedoms (negative and positive) are incompatible, restraint, in the form of the coercive<br />

State, must remain in being as long as the bourgeoisie try to get back their former<br />

property. But unlike the former situation, this stage is only temporary. This stage is what<br />

is known as the dictatorship of the proletariat, the necessary step from the dictatorship of<br />

the bourgeoisie – which is what the bourgeois State is – to the classless State, which is<br />

what Communism is.” (24) *see glossary<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine28


(1) Liberty<br />

A study in bourgeois illusion: http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/marxists/archive/caudwell/1938/liberty.htm<br />

FOOTNOTES:<br />

(2)*The top ten percent of the U.S. population owns 81.8 percent of the real estate, 81.2 percent of the stock, and 88 percent of the bonds. (Federal Reserve Bank data in Left Business Observer, No. 72,<br />

Apr. 3, 1996, p. 5). http://www.endgame.org/primer-wealth.html<br />

(3) The National Association of Secretaries of State estimates the elections will cost an average of $33 million per state. The costliest: California, at roughly $66 million. The least expensive is Wyoming, about<br />

$500,000. – from MSNBC’s: Election cost — $4 billion and climbing http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6388580/<br />

(4) This is especially true in America where: “Americans are working far harder than before. A husband and wife in the average middle-class household are, taken together, working 540 hours or three months more<br />

per year than such couples would have a quarter century ago, mainly because married women are working considerably longer hours than before. Viewed another way, the American worker’s financial squeeze has<br />

translated into a time squeeze. In a survey by the Families and Work Institute, two-thirds of employed parents responded that they didn’t have enough time with their kids, and just under two-thirds said they didn’t<br />

have enough time with their spouses. The typical American worker toils 1,804 hours a year, 135 hours more per year than the typical British worker, 240 hours more than the average French worker, and 370 hours<br />

(or nine full-time weeks) more than the average German worker. No one in the world’s advanced economies works more.” – From the New York Times’: Worked Over and Overworked<br />

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/business/20workexcerpt.html?_r=1&oref=slogin<br />

(5) “Billions of pounds of toxic chemicals are being released into the air and water of the United States, posing a major but little-studied threat to the health, development and learning ability of American children,<br />

according to a report issued last month by the National Environmental Trust, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Learning Disabilities Association of America.<br />

“Polluting Our Future: Chemical Pollution in the U.S. That Affects Child Development and Learning” focuses on the conclusions of a panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences. It cites figures on the<br />

release of two types of chemicals: neurological toxins, which harm a child's nervous system; and developmental toxins, which can affect the development of a fetus (structural or functional abnormalities, retardation<br />

or death).<br />

Most regulatory standards for allowable exposure to toxic substances consider cancer risk. However new chemicals released by industry do not have to be shown safe for children's developing bodies and brains. In<br />

1998 US companies reported to the Toxic Release Inventory, the national database created by the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, that they released 2.3 billion pounds of toxic<br />

chemicals into the air and water. More than half of these chemicals—1.2 billion pounds—are known or suspected developmental or neurological toxins. These reported emissions are only 5 percent of all chemical<br />

releases in the country.” - http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/oct2000/poll-o06.shtml<br />

(6) According to Doctor Samuel Epstein Chairmen of the cancer prevention coalition, and professor emeritus of environmental medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health modern industry is<br />

responsible for a sharp increase in the rates of cancer, which largely explains why it is roughly one in every two men and one of every three women will get cancer. Dr. Epstein has documented this epidemic of<br />

greatly increased rates of cancer, and has controlled for smoking, increased life expectancy, genetics and diet, finding that the increased rates of cancer cannot be explained by any of those variables, but can be<br />

explain by various chemicals added to multiple consumer products. http://www.preventcancer.com/publications/pdf/Interview%20%20June%2003.htm<br />

(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk<br />

(8) The Boston Globe: How Drug Lobbyists Influence Doctors http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2006/02/13/how_drug_lobbyists_influence_doctors/<br />

(9) http://www.add-adhd.org/ritalin.html<br />

(10) “A private security firm managed by former Secret Service officers spied on myriad environmental organizations throughout the 1990s and the year 2000, thieving documents, trying to plant undercover<br />

operations and collecting phone records of members, according to a new report.” - Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, NRA hired 'black ops' company that targeted environmental groups:<br />

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Police_rank_black_ops_on_environmental_0411.html<br />

(11) “Source: New York Times, May 5, 2007<br />

Author Eric Schlosser editorializes about "the growing threat to civil liberties posed by corporate spying," citing Burger King Corporation's spying on the Student/Farmworker Alliance and the Coalition of<br />

Immokalee Workers, through Cara Schaffer and her private security firm, Diplomatic Tactical Services. "The Bill of Rights was adopted to protect Americans from the abusive power of their government. I’ve come<br />

to believe that we now need a similar set of restrictions to defend against irresponsible corporate power. Today companies like Wal-Mart and ExxonMobil have annual revenues larger than the entire budgets of some<br />

states, and they employ former agents from the F.B.I., the C.I.A. and the Secret Service to do security work," Schlosser writes. "John Chidsey, the chief executive of Burger King, knew about the use of Diplomatic<br />

Tactical Services. Mr. Chidsey should get a chance to raise his right hand and tell members of Congress why he thinks this sort of behavior is acceptable." Meanwhile, Burger King says it is "investigating online<br />

postings made by one of its vice presidents vilifying the Coalition of Immokalee Workers," reports the Fort Myers News-Press”. http://www.prwatch.org/taxonomy/term/301/9<br />

(12) Ibid. 11<br />

(13) Top Lobbying Firms: http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=l<br />

(14) http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/books/popper_open_society.html<br />

(15) http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/introducing-this-blog/<br />

(16) http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/Why.pdf<br />

(17) http://www.cbpp.org/4-29-03bud.htm<br />

(18) Ibid 16<br />

(19) http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2007/06/27/more-millionaires-than-ever/<br />

(20) “The Return of Authoritarian Great Power”<br />

“Summary: Liberal democracy, led by the United States, may have emerged triumphant from the great struggles of the twentieth century. But the post-Cold War rise of economically successful -- and nondemocratic<br />

-- China and Russia may represent a viable alternative path to modernity that leaves liberal democracy's ultimate victory and future dominance in doubt.<br />

Azar Gat is Ezer Weizman Professor of National Security at Tel Aviv University and the author of War in Human Civilization.”<br />

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070701faessay86405/azar-gat/the-return-of-authoritarian-great-powers.html<br />

(21) “Development and Democracy”<br />

“Summary: Conventional wisdom has long assumed that economic liberalization undermines repressive regimes. Recent events, however, suggest that savvy autocrats have learned how to cut the cord between<br />

growth and freedom, enjoying the benefits of the former without the risks of the latter. Washington and international lenders should take note.<br />

BRUCE BUENO DE MESQUITA is Chair of the Department of Politics at New York University and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. GEORGE W. DOWNS is Professor of Politics and Dean of Social<br />

Sciences at New York University.“<br />

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050901faessay84507/bruce-bueno-de-mesquita-george-w-downs/development-and-democracy.html<br />

(22) Ibid, 1<br />

(23) Ibid, 14<br />

(24) “Pacifism and Violence a Study in Bourgeoisie Ethics” - http://www.marxists.org/archive/caudwell/1935/pacifism-violence.htm<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine29


COLLECTOR’S CORNER:<br />

Marvel’s Tsunami<br />

139 comics.<br />

Emma Frost August 2003 - February 2005 (18)<br />

Human Torch June 2003 - June 2004 (12)<br />

Ιnhumans June 2003 - June 2004 (12)<br />

Mystique June 2003 - April 2005 (24)<br />

Namor June 2003 - May 2004 (12)<br />

New Mutants (vol. 2) July 2003 - June 2004 (13)<br />

Runaways July 2003 - November 2004 (18)<br />

Sentinel June 2003 - April 2004 (12)<br />

Venom June 2003 - November 2004 (18)<br />

WIKI ARTICLE<br />

Tsunami was a failed imprint of Marvel Comics founded in January 2003.<br />

Marvel's goal was to create comic books that would appeal to manga readers.<br />

Other than in the art, the titles shared little in common, with, for example,<br />

Runaways and Sentinel being aimed at children and younger teenagers and<br />

Mystique touching on espionage and darker themes better suited for an older<br />

audience.<br />

The results were a mixed bag. While New Mutants, Mystique, Runaways and<br />

Sentinel earned critical acclaim and a devoted fan following, Human Torch,<br />

Namor and Venom were complete flops, with the last surviving to issue 18<br />

only on the back of exceptionally high initial sales. Many comic book fans<br />

regarded the entire imprint as a cheap attempt by Marvel Comics to capitalize<br />

on the growing popularity of Japanese manga. (though the Marvel<br />

Mangaverse was a much more blatant attempt at this)<br />

The imprint was discontinued in late 2003. Mystique was the longest<br />

continuously-running survivor - lasting until issue 24 overall, although it was<br />

folded into the regular, mainstream Marvel Comics imprint and had a change<br />

of writer as part of the X-Men: ReLoad event after issue 13, while New<br />

Mutants, also part of ReLoad, was relaunched from issue 1 as New X-Men:<br />

Academy X at the same time. Venom and Runaways carried the imprint<br />

branding for the longest period, lasting until issue 18, after which Runaways<br />

was briefly canceled before being relaunched as part of the Marvel Next<br />

initiative, while Venom was canceled outright. The other series were cancelled<br />

with issue 12.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine30


Since then, Runaways has received a boost from high Digest-sized trade<br />

paperback (TPB) sales, which was one of the reasons for its relaunch, while<br />

Sentinel was also revived, as a five-issue miniseries, for the same reason.<br />

However, Human Torch also received a single digest without signs of revival.<br />

NEW MUTANTS: New Mutants received a single standard-size TPB, of its first six<br />

issues, as well as complete collections in the same format of its successor series, New X-<br />

Men: Academy X, which was revamped shortly after House of M as simply New X-Men.<br />

Mystique and Venom were fully collected as standard-size TPBs, but shows no sign of<br />

being revived.<br />

RUNAWAYS: Runaways launched in 2002 as part of Marvel Comics' "Tsunami"<br />

imprint. After Marvel cancelled the Tsunami imprint in January 2003, the series moved to<br />

the "Marvel Age" imprint - as such, the individual story arcs for "Runaways" are<br />

collected in small, manga-sized trade paperbacks, but the hardcover compilations are<br />

compiled in normal sized books. In September 2004, the series ended at issue #18.<br />

Marvel revived the series in February 2005 and it has continued ever since.<br />

SENTINEL: Sentinel is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics as part<br />

of the Tsunami imprint. It is written by Sean McKeever and illustrated by UDON.<br />

Sentinel was originally launched in 2002 as part of Marvel Comics' Tsunami imprint. The<br />

series was cancelled after its 12th issue. The series returned in November 2005 with the<br />

original creative team for a limited five part mini-series. Three Sentinel digests, collecting<br />

the entire series, have been released:<br />

Title Material collected ISBN<br />

Sentinel vol. 1: Salvage Sentinel vol. 1 #1-6 TSUNAMI<br />

Sentinel vol. 2: No Hero Sentinel vol. 1 #7-12 TSUNAMI<br />

Sentinel vol. 3: Past Imperfect Sentinel vol. 2 #1-5 POST-TSUNAMI<br />

VENOM: Venom (Part of the tsunami imprint) 2003-2004. Released 18 issues.<br />

The story is that a clone of Venom attacks an Alaskan base and then fights the real Venom<br />

and Spider-man.<br />

EMMA FROST: In August 2003, writer Karl Bollers penned an ongoing series<br />

showcasing her origins titled Emma Frost. The series, which lasted for 18 issues, began<br />

during her days as a private school student and ended before her days as a Hellfire Club<br />

member. It introduced her father Winston as well as her brother Christian, also exploring<br />

the early days of her two sisters Adrienne and Cordelia.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine31


Oct 21, 2003 Eric J. Moreels<br />

Explanation from a forum:<br />

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22948<br />

Marvel's Tsunami umbrella titles have seen a veritible flash flood of news this week, with<br />

one series is set to end, a second to undergo another artist change, and two more to get price<br />

hikes. The tidal wave then struck hard with the news that the much-anticipated trade<br />

paperback collections, intended to put the books before their target new readers, have been<br />

cancelled.<br />

The planned collections of Sentinel, Runaways, Mystique, Human Torch, Namor, New<br />

Mutants, and Inhumans have all been cancelled, according to Diamond Comic Distributors.<br />

The cancellation is despite reported strong pre-orders for some, such as the Runaways trade<br />

as mentioned recently by series writer Brian K. Vaughan (see 'MARVEL'S RUNAWAYS TO<br />

KEEP RUNNING').<br />

In response to the cancellation announcement, Marvel has issued the following statement:<br />

"The Marvel Tsunami trade paperbacks have been cancelled due to overall sales that didn't<br />

meet our high expectations. And over the next few months, we'll be making other<br />

adjustments in price and scheduling in order to ensure the longest life possible for as many of<br />

these titles as we can, some of which have been praised by fans and critics and have found a<br />

loyal cult following. We have all seen what a vocal, dedicated fan base can do for titles that<br />

have never enjoyed chart-topping sales or regular trade paperback support, like Spider-Girl,<br />

soon to enter its SIXTH year of publication.<br />

Marvel understands that every book is somebody's favorite and that readers and retailers<br />

looking forward to the books are disappointed in this decision. We're faced with the reality of<br />

the marketplace, however, and we'll be using other available tools to continue to support<br />

these monthly series. For instance, Runaways #7, the start of that series' new, highlyaccessible<br />

second story arc, will be collected in next month's Marvel Previews #4 - our 99cent<br />

or FREE with Diamond's Previews solicitation catalog - exposing the acclaimed series<br />

to tens of thousands of new readers.<br />

There are no current plans to resolicit these trade paperbacks in the direct market."<br />

Diamond also announced that New Mutants and Venom would both be receiving cover price<br />

increases to $2.99, effective with the November-shipping issue #8 of each title.<br />

Speaking of the next generation of mutant heroes, New Mutants series writers Nunzio<br />

DeFilippis and Christina Weir provided ComiX-Fan with an update on the future of the title.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine32


"We've been told all is well, everyone is happy and that we've got a definite third arc, which<br />

is not quite a guarantee, but is a safe shot at at least 18 issues. <strong>Issue</strong> #12's script was delivered<br />

and we're talking about how to make the third arc launch play into the post-Morrison X-Men<br />

changes."<br />

And just as New Mutants recently saw a change in series artist from Keron Grant to Carlo<br />

Barberi, so too Namor will be undergoing an artist change - the second in it's short history.<br />

Marvel have confirmed that artist Pat Olliffe will be departing the series after only three<br />

issues, #7-10, and has moved on to pencil the Official Comic Book Adaptation for The<br />

Punisher movie which is being written by X-Statix scribe Peter Milligan.<br />

Contacted for comment on the situation and on the future of Namor, co-writer Andi Watson<br />

told ComiX-Fan that the series is written through to issue #12.<br />

"Bill {Jemas} plotted through 12 issues and I've written 12 issues," Watson said. "It's Bill's<br />

baby and I've got it eating and walking. I'm not gonna pre-empt any Marvel announcements<br />

but the facts are Namor was Bill's baby and Bill is no longer in editorial..."<br />

Watson also commented on the cancellation of the series' first trade, noting that the intended<br />

audience for the series will not be reached as a result.<br />

"The idea behind Namor was to create a book that teenage girls would read. Teenage girls<br />

don't go into comic shops, they go into book shops. The target audience for the book will<br />

now never see it. It's just another book that got mauled in the direct market and by the<br />

fanboys and will sink without trace. But yeah, Bill was keen to reach out to build new<br />

audiences for mainstream comic books but it's always gonna be a long term project that<br />

requires a longer term consideration of profit and loss. The direct market continues to shrink<br />

and appeal to an ever narrower demographic... we all know this, it's been happening for<br />

decades. I said the same thing when I started and it still holds true."<br />

Meanwhile, Watson's other planned Tsunami series, Quest with writer/artist Yuji Iwahara,<br />

looks to be well and truly buried so far as he is concerned. Originally solicited for a June<br />

release as part of Tsunami Wave 2, Marvel subsequently announced that the book would be<br />

rescheduled at a later date (see 'MARVEL RESCHEDULES TSUNAMI QUEST').<br />

"No plans to exhume Quest, not with any involvement from me anyway," said Watson.<br />

"Although with the changes at Marvel of late {editor} C.B. {Cebulski} might want to revisit<br />

it."<br />

One Tsunami title that will be ending soon is Kingpin. Writer Bruce Jones recently told The<br />

Pulse of his intent to end the series as of December's issue #7 with a view to eventually<br />

relaunching the series as a MAX title to allow for more mature-themed stories. Originally<br />

intended as a six-issue mini-series, Kingpin was subsequently granted ongoing status by<br />

Marvel upon its release as part of the second wave of Tsunami titles.<br />

Last but not least, and rumours have been swirling all week that Sentinel and Inhumans are<br />

set to be cancelled. Writer of both titles, Sean McKeever, was unavailable for comment on<br />

the speculation.<br />

Stay tuned to ComiX-Fan for news on Marvel's Tsunami titles as it comes to hand.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine33


EMMA FROST<br />

Cover Date: <strong>Issue</strong> Story Arc<br />

August 2003 Comic #1 Higher Learning, Part 1: Growing Pains<br />

September 2003 Comic #2 Higher Learning, Part 2<br />

October 2003 Comic #3 Higher Learning, Part 3<br />

December 2003 Comic #4 Higher Learning, Part 4<br />

January 2004 Comic #5 Higher Learning, Part 5<br />

February 2004 Comic #6 Higher Learning, Conclusion<br />

March 2004 Comic #7 Mind Games, Part 1: Hellfire<br />

April 2004 Comic #8 Mind Games, Part 2: Luck be a Lady<br />

May 2004 Comic #9 Mind Games, Part 3: Outrageous Fortune<br />

June 2004 Comic #10 Mind Games, Part 4: A Simple Plan<br />

July 2004 Comic #11 Mind Games, Part 5: Dirty Laundry<br />

August 2004 Comic #12 Mind Games, Part 6: Going Mental<br />

August 2004 Digest Vol 1. "Higher Learning”<br />

September 2004 Comic #13 Bloom, Part 1<br />

October 2004 Comic #14 Bloom, Part 2: Mutie<br />

November 2004 Comic #15 Bloom, Part 3: Mutie<br />

December 2004 Comic #16 Bloom, Part 4<br />

January 2005 Comic #17 Bloom, Part 5: Better Days<br />

February 2005 Comic #18 Bloom, Part 6<br />

August 2005 Digest Vol 2. "Mind Games"<br />

August 2005 Digest Vol 3. "Bloom"<br />

HUMAN TORCH<br />

Cover Date: <strong>Issue</strong> Story Arc<br />

June 2003 Comic #1 Burn, Part 1<br />

July 2003 Comic #2 Burn, Part 2<br />

August 2003 Comic #3 Burn, Part 3<br />

September 2003 Comic #4 Burn, Part 4<br />

October 2003 Comic #5 Burn, Part 5<br />

November 2003 Comic #6 Burn, Conclusion<br />

January 2004 Comic #7 A Plague of Locusts, Part 1: The Locust Project<br />

February 2004 Comic #8 A Plague of Locusts, Part 2: Gods and Monsters<br />

March 2004 Comic #9 A Plague of Locusts, Part 3: Long Live the King!<br />

April 2004 Comic #10 A Plague of Locusts, Part 4: And in the End...<br />

May 2004 Comic #11 Fire on the Water<br />

June 2004 Comic #12 Here there be Dragons!<br />

2005 Digest Vol 1. “Burn”<br />

INHUMANS<br />

Cover Date: <strong>Issue</strong> Story Arc<br />

June 2003 Comic #1 Lunar, Part 1<br />

July 2003 Comic #2 Lunar, Part 2<br />

August 2003 Comic #3<br />

September 2003 Comic #4 Culture Shock, Part 1<br />

October 2003 Comic #5 Culture Shock, Part 2<br />

November 2003 Comic #6<br />

December 2003 Comic #7<br />

January 2004 Comic #8<br />

February 2004 Comic #9<br />

March 2004 Comic #10<br />

May 2004 Comic #11 No Matter the Cost, Part 3<br />

June 2004 Comic #12 No Matter the Cost, Part 4<br />

2005 Digest Vol 1. “Culture Shock”<br />

MYSTIQUE<br />

Cover Date: <strong>Issue</strong> Story Arc<br />

June 2003 Comic #1 Dead Drop Gorgeous, Part 1<br />

July 2003 Comic #2 Dead Drop Gorgeous, Part 2<br />

August 2003 Comic #3 Dead Drop Gorgeous, Part 3<br />

September 2003 Comic #4 Dead Drop Gorgeous, Part 4<br />

October 2003 Comic #5 Dead Drop Gorgeous, Part 5<br />

November 2003 Comic #6 Dead Drop Gorgeous, Conclusion<br />

December 2003 Comic #7 Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy: Chapter 1<br />

January 2004 Comic #8 Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy: Chapter 2<br />

February 2004 Comic #9 Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy: Chapter 3<br />

March 2004 Comic #10 Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy: Chapter 4<br />

April 2004 Comic #11 Maker's Mark: Part One<br />

May 2004 Comic #12 Maker's Mark: Part Two<br />

June 2004 Comic #13 Maker's Mark: Part Three<br />

July 2004 Comic #14 Unnatural: Part One<br />

July 2004 Comic #15 Unnatural: Part Two<br />

August 2004 Comic #16 Unnatural: Part Three<br />

August 2004 Digest Vol 1. “Drop Dead Gorgeous”<br />

September 2004 Comic #17 Unnatural: Part Four<br />

October 2004 Comic #18 Unnatural: Part Five<br />

November 2004 Comic #19 Ingression<br />

November 2004 Digest Vol 2. “Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy”<br />

December 2004 Comic #20 Quiet: Part One<br />

Januaray 2005 Comic #21 Quiet: Part Two<br />

January 2005 Digest Vol 3 “Unnatural”<br />

February 2005 Comic #22 Quiet: Part Three<br />

March 2005 Comic #23 Quiet: Part Four<br />

April 2005 Comic #24 Quiet: Finale<br />

April 2005 Digest Vol 4. “Quiet”<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine34


NAMOR<br />

Cover Date: <strong>Issue</strong> Story Arc<br />

June 2003 Comic #1<br />

June 2003 Comic #2<br />

July 2003 Comic #3<br />

August 2003 Comic #4<br />

October 2003 Comic #5<br />

November 2003 Comic #6<br />

December 2003 Comic #7 In Deep, Part One<br />

December 2003 Comic #8 In Deep, Part Two<br />

January 2004 Comic #9 In Deep, Part Three<br />

February 2004 Comic #10 In Deep, Part Four<br />

March 2004 Comic #11 In Deep, Part Five<br />

May 2004 Comic #12 In Deep, Part Six<br />

NEW MUTANTS (VOLUME TWO)<br />

Cover Date: <strong>Issue</strong> Story Arc<br />

July 2003 Comic #1 The Wind Knows My Name<br />

August 2003 Comic #2 A Place in the World<br />

September 2003 Comic #3 Safe Haven<br />

October 2003 Comic #4 Freaks & Geeks<br />

November 2003 Comic #5 Not One of Us<br />

December 2003 Comic #6 (Just Like) Starting Over<br />

January 2003 Comic #7 The Ties that Bind (Part 1): Higher Learning<br />

January 2003 Comic #8 The Ties that Bind (Part 2): Parents Week<br />

February 2004 Comic #9 The Ties that Bind (Part 3)<br />

May 2004 Comic #10 The Ties that Bind (Part 4): A Few Small Repairs<br />

June 2004 Comic #11 The Ties that Bind (Part 5): Shy Girls<br />

June 2004 Comic #12 The Ties that Bind (Part 6): One of Us<br />

June 2004 Comic #13 The More Things Change...<br />

March 2005 Digest Vol 1. “Back to School”<br />

RUNAWAYS<br />

Cover Date: <strong>Issue</strong> Story Arc<br />

(July 2003 Runaways #1 and #2 & Sentinel #1 and #2 Marvel Must Have)<br />

July 2003 Comic #1 Pride and Joy, Chapter 1<br />

August 2003 Comic #2 Pride and Joy, Chapter 2<br />

September 2003 Comic #3 Pride and Joy, Chapter 3<br />

October 2003 Comic #4 Pride and Joy, Chapter 4<br />

November 2003 Comic #5 Pride and Joy, Chapter 5<br />

November 2003 Comic #6 Pride and Joy, Conclusion<br />

December 2003 Comic #7 Teenage Wasteland, Chapter 1<br />

January 2004 Comic #8 Teenage Wasteland, Chapter 2<br />

February 2004 Comic #9 Teenage Wasteland, Chapter 3<br />

March 2004 Comic #10 Teenage Wasteland, Conclusion<br />

April 2004 Comic #11 Lost and Found, Part 1<br />

April 2004 Comic #12 Lost and Found, Part 2<br />

May 2004 Comic #13 The Good Die Young, Chapter 1<br />

June 2004 Comic #14 The Good Die Young, Chapter 2<br />

July 2004 Comic #15 The Good Die Young, Chapter 3<br />

August 2004 Comic #16 The Good Die Young, Chapter 4<br />

October 2004 Comic #17 The Good Die Young, Conclusion<br />

November 2004 Comic #18 Eighteen<br />

HARDCOVER<br />

(January 2006) Runaways Vol. 1<br />

(December 2006) Runaways Vol. 2<br />

(May 2007) Runaways Vol. 3<br />

DIGEST<br />

(April 2004) Runaways Vol. 1<br />

(November 2004) Runaways Vol. 2<br />

(February 2005) Runaways Vol. 3<br />

(October 2005) Runaways Vol. 4<br />

(April 2006) Runaways Vol. 5<br />

(November 2006) Runaways Vol. 6<br />

(May 2007) Runaways Vol. 7<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine35


SENTINEL<br />

Cover Date: <strong>Issue</strong> Story Arc<br />

June 2003 Comic #1 Salvage, Part One<br />

July 2003 Comic #2 Salvage, Part Two<br />

August 2003 Comic #3 Salvage, Part Three<br />

September 2003 Comic #4 Salvage, Part Four<br />

October 2003 Comic #5 Salvage, Part Five<br />

November 2003 Comic #6 Salvage, Part Six<br />

December 2003 Comic #7 No Hero, Part One<br />

December 2003 Comic #8 No Hero, Part Two<br />

January 2004 Comic #9<br />

February 2004 Comic #10 Awakening, Part One<br />

March 2004 Comic #11 Awakening, Part Two<br />

April 2004 Comic #12 Awakening, Part Three<br />

April 2004 Digest #1 “Salvage”<br />

October 2004 Digest #2 “No Hero”<br />

June 2006 Digest #3 “Pccast Imperfect Digest”<br />

VENOM<br />

Cover Date: <strong>Issue</strong> Story Arc<br />

June 2003 Comic #1 Shiver. Part One<br />

July 2003 Comic #2 Shiver. Part Two<br />

August 2003 Comic #3 Shiver. Part Three<br />

September 2003 Comic #4 Shiver. Part Four<br />

October 2003 Comic #5 Shiver. Part Five<br />

November 2003 Comic #6 Run. Part One<br />

December 2003 Comic #7 Run. Part Two<br />

January 2004 Comic #8 Run. Part Three<br />

February 2004 Comic #9 Run. Part Four<br />

March 2004 Comic #10 Run. Part Five<br />

April 2004 Comic #11 Patterns. Part One<br />

May 2004 Comic #12 Patterns. Part Two<br />

June 2004 Comic #13 Patterns. Part Three<br />

July 2004 Comic #14 Twist. Part One<br />

July 2004 Digest Vol 1 “Shiver”<br />

August 2004 Comic #15 Twist. Part Two<br />

September 2004 Comic #16 Twist. Part Three<br />

October 2004 Comic #17 Twist. Part Four<br />

October 2004 Digest Vol 2 “Run”<br />

November 2004 Comic #18 Twist. Part Five<br />

December 2004 Digest Vol 3 “Twist”<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine36


Anime and the Paradox of Progress<br />

The Japanese experience with modernity, industrialization, and technological<br />

development* can be seen as a microcosm for that of other cultures because it was so<br />

rapid. This is especially true after World War II. As has been argued by the previous essay<br />

on the essence of cyberpunk, capitalism and the contradictions inherit with the system<br />

makes it so an exploitative social system will often subvert otherwise beneficial<br />

technological advances. The Japanese presentation of technology in anime is reflective of<br />

this. It begins with a Utopian view that focuses on technology’s potential benefits ,<br />

evolves into a dystopian view that focuses on the dangerous, dehumanizing and<br />

alienating effects of technology , and has recently evolved into a third viewpoint that<br />

highlights the paradoxical nature of technology against the backdrop of nostalgia and<br />

mysticism. This general progression expresses the Dialectical Materialist* process of<br />

change, likely because the material-historical reaction is so extreme. This summary is of<br />

course very general and some may argue that it is simplistic, yet I would argue that the<br />

description is not overly general as the trends summarized are still accurate, and useful.<br />

In other words there is a difference between generalizing and over-generalizing. Simply<br />

saying technology progresses can be seen as simplistic in that technology in various<br />

locations always progresses and regresses at various times, in various respects. Yet<br />

everyone is aware of the fact that technology has generally progressed. Hence the<br />

dialectical motion of Japan's cultural evolution with respect to its view of technology will<br />

of course have various elements of thesis, antithesis, and budding synthesis at various<br />

times, but overall trends will emerge as the material contradictions (i.e. opposing<br />

elements) negate each other over time.<br />

From early anime series like Mighty Atom* (1963-66), Mazinger Z (1972-74),<br />

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972-74), Space Battleship Yamato (1974-75), Mobile<br />

Suit Gundam (1979-80) and The Macross Saga (1982-85), the evolution of how<br />

technology was presented, from a more optimistic point of view to a more pessimistic<br />

point of view can already be seen. In Mighty Atom, technology is presented as innocent.<br />

When misused it is because of the evils that existed before the technology, problems that<br />

the technology itself is the solution to. In fact many problems in the series stem from<br />

mankind's prejudice against technology. Technology is presented as a dues ex machina, a<br />

means to salvation against otherwise unbeatable threats- be it alien invaders, tyrants, or<br />

other machines run amok. Technology in Mighty Atom thus works as a liberating force,<br />

providing great utility to a generally utopian society and being the tool of choice for<br />

heroes when such a society is under threat. Technology thus ends and prevents dystopias,<br />

as is the case when the hero-Mighty Atom-uses his technological might to liberate<br />

“Halava”-a chaotic, war torn country ruled by an oppressive despot, and also when<br />

Mighty Atom uses his power to fight off Hitlini (who's name is a combination of Hitler<br />

and Mussolini), a fascist ruler bent on world conquest. (1)<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine37


Mazinger Z also presents a rather light-hearted view of technology and symbolizes<br />

technology with the typical the technological marvel which is the world’s only hope.<br />

However hints of change can be seen regarding technology’s role. The villain is mad<br />

scientist who uses ancient technology to try and subvert the world, hence showing that<br />

the power of technology is extreme be it used for good or evil.<br />

Perhaps the high point of this capitalist-technophilia can be found in Space<br />

Battleship Yamato, where an upgraded version of a Japanese warship is used to explore<br />

the galaxy and save the Earth, even as the characters on board primarily pursue their selfinterest,<br />

which of course ends up serving the greater good via the “invisible hand”. In<br />

this series technology does cause great harm but the harm technology does stems not<br />

from free use, but from misuse by military empires who wish to use technology to further<br />

their ambitions. The problem is thus not with technology itself, but with the old feudal<br />

system. Indeed technology is presented as the only force which can protect free societies<br />

from such military-fascist states. This criticism of technology is light since it seems to do<br />

more to justify technologies free use and development then critique it, as it is presumed<br />

that if free society's do not fully utilize the potential of technology, it will be used more<br />

extensively by regressive then progressive forces, thus showing that the military use of<br />

technology is justified not just as a liberating force but due to the fact that such<br />

technology will be used by the enemy.<br />

From Mighty Atom and Mazinger Z to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, new<br />

concerns arise with respect to the the environment and the misuse of natural resources<br />

arise. Technology is still presented against a backdrop of helping the general welfare,<br />

liberating mankind from ceaseless toil and as necessary for self-defense, but the whole<br />

new issue of environmental destruction is presented. This marks a turning point in the<br />

view of technology, since it is recognized that the effects of technology may be harmful<br />

not just in the hands of military dictators and mad scientists, but even if normally used in<br />

a free society.<br />

The appearance of mecha oriented anime signals the beginning of an even bleaker<br />

view of technology. With Mobile Suit Gundam the alienating effects of technology begin<br />

to be explored. The pilots in the series, while wielding powerful weapons, generally find<br />

that it is often at the cost of trivializing the human being inside. Battles in the series<br />

contain scenes where entire scores of humans die surprisingly quickly and fleetingly,<br />

utterly powerless compared to the mechanical vehicles they pilot. The mecha, while<br />

empowering the pilot, paradoxically serves as a reminder that compared to the machine,<br />

the human is powerless. This trend continues into later Mecha animes, including<br />

Macross, VOTOMS, and Fang of the Sun Dougram. The trend of human trivializing<br />

violence in Mecha anime is well described in the words of Professor of Japanese<br />

Literature and Culture at the University of Texas, Austin:<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine38


“The mecha in all three works we are looking at are also excellent at killing.<br />

Indeed, many of the mecha anime’s narrative structures are built around at least<br />

one but often several long fight scenes of mecha on mecha, scenes that re not<br />

simply violent in terms of mechanical brutality but bloodily anthropomorphic as<br />

well. The fusion of human pilot inside armored machine leads to bizarre<br />

combinations of mechanical/organic violence in which huge machines combat<br />

each other in fantastic displays of mechanical agility while at the same time<br />

hinting at the organic bodies inside them with graphic glimpses of dismembered<br />

limbs flying around and blood seeping through mechanical armor. The power and<br />

exaltation of the augmented body noted by Springer and Theweleit** is clearly on<br />

display in mecha as well: indeed, it is the dominant trope around which mecha<br />

pilots revolve.” (2)<br />

Clearly with the advent of mecha anime the view of technology shifts from the<br />

extremely idealistic and utopian to that of emphasizing technologies’ destructive and<br />

alienating nature. It is at this point beginning in the 80s and culminating with the 90s<br />

recession that anime takes a much more pessimistic turn, not just with respect to<br />

technology but in general. As Professor Napier summarizes:<br />

“Speaking of trends, I would like to make a few other general remarks on the<br />

subject within anime narratives themselves. Although, as I have said, one needs to<br />

be cautious about overgeneralization because of the range and diversity of anime,<br />

I would like to venture a few speculations. Perhaps the most intriguing trend that I<br />

have noticed is a general darkening of anime subject matter. This is, of course, a<br />

relative distinction since one thing that attracted young Americans to anime from<br />

early on was the fact that it has consistently dealt with subjects that are more<br />

challenging and serious than those in most recent American cinematic products.<br />

That being said, I still would submit that anime directed toward middle schoolers<br />

seems to have taken on a more serious tone in the last few years. An example of<br />

this would be InuYasha, whose creator, Takahashi Rumiko, is known for such<br />

lighthearted works as Ranma ½ and Urusei Yatsura. In contrast, InuYasha, while<br />

still hugely entertaining, from its very beginning has dealt with issues of death,<br />

family dysfunction, and the burden of the past that seem out of place in the<br />

madcap realms of the previous series.” (3)<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine39


Undoubtedly the 90s depression, one described by Napier as “the longest collapse<br />

of any stock market seen since the Great Depression” has undoubtedly influenced this<br />

trend. But even then I would argue that such is only an exception that proves the rule with<br />

respect to the paradox of progress within a capitalist system. The fact is capitalist<br />

economies are prone to booms and busts. That is for several reasons, but primarily<br />

because there is always a contradiction created when treating the worker as a consumer.<br />

This creates opposing interests in capitalism in that each capitalist would prefer to pay his<br />

workers less, while making sure the working population in general buys more. Eventually<br />

this leads to events where workers in general may become under-paid, leading to a loss in<br />

sales in certain industries, leading to downsizing, leading to more workers being laid of<br />

or having their wage cuts in a negative cycle that can spiral and grow so as to consume<br />

the entire economy.<br />

Such a Depression following a multi-decade long period of prosperity in which<br />

during the 80s: “Japanese society, with its superb bureaucracy, efficiently functioning<br />

government, and high technological expertise existed as a utopian alternative to what<br />

many perceived as the corrupt and decadent societies of the West” most undoubtedly lead<br />

to the culture shocks that explain the change in attitudes, from the idealism of Mighty<br />

Atom to the nihilism of Bubblegum Crash. Technology’s role in pollution, in warfare, and<br />

in breaking cultural norms, coupled with its dehumanizing potential was beginning to be<br />

explored even before such a crisis. It is thus likely that the economic Depression served<br />

as a catalyst in an already deepening petty-bourgeoisie neurosis.*<br />

This neurosis has been fully expressed in current cyberpunk and cyberpunkapocalyptic<br />

themed anime that have become more prevalent in recent years, which<br />

include the Patlabor, Bubblegum Crash, Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, Battle Angel and<br />

Akira series among many others. With respect to the former (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor)<br />

technology is depicted far more negatively, not just in the life of the protagonist or with<br />

respect to dramatic events, but more tellingly, with respect to the daily life of the average<br />

person then it was in the past. The economy is presented as far more unequal, with a<br />

greater disparity between the haves and the have nots. <strong>Issue</strong>s rarely before considered,<br />

such as those involving robot rights, robotic slavery, and the moral/practical<br />

consequences of such use or misuse of quasi-sentient machinery are explored. The<br />

influence of private industries on government comes more into play. And the general<br />

sense of confusion, a loss of identity, and general middle class insecurity is presented as<br />

the standard mode of existence. With respect to the latter this sense of anarchy is even<br />

more intense, with technology being almost completely out of control. Technology<br />

doesn’t just generally subvert society but threatens to destroy it. It is reflective of the<br />

words of Karl Marx: “Modern bourgeois society with its relations of production, of<br />

exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of<br />

production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the<br />

powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells.” (4) In other words<br />

technology is either subverting or has completely subverted humanity, to the point where<br />

corporations have begun to increase disparities in wealth with very little democratic<br />

oversight. The middle class is thus beginning to lose its power, and expresses such a loss<br />

in its identity with the loss of social stability in general.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine40


Such anime represents a world in which the only law is that of the market, in an<br />

Darwinian urban jungle in which whether or not you have sufficient cash literally<br />

determines whether you live or die. Perhaps this is most explicit Battle Angel in which<br />

the wealthy elite physically live above the lower classes in their own city-state existing<br />

upon a massive citadel, and where technological predators literally go about the relatively<br />

lawless slums murdering people for their cybernetic parts, organs and cash practically<br />

without any sort of reprehension. Ghost in the Shell attempts to make more of a peace<br />

with capitalism, especially in the movies and series but the fact of the matter is instability,<br />

social injustice, the general dehumanizing effects and alienating atmosphere are<br />

unavoidable aspects of the bourgeoisie system. Despite the authors attempt to find some<br />

solace and middle ground, the Ghost in the Shell movie presents persons who have their<br />

memories stolen, people who’s cybernetic bodies are literally owned, and in the sequel<br />

Ghost on the Shell: Innocence sex dolls with the memories of children implanted-a<br />

feature that harkens back to the day of laissez-faire Victorian era capitalism where child<br />

prostitutes regularly walked city streets. In the series Stand Alone Complex, the attempt at<br />

peace falters with respect to corporate terrorism, technologically induced and covered up<br />

diseases(IE: Cyber-brain sclerosis) and general corporate infiltration of the ostensibly<br />

democratic government. Such events add to a generally bleak background. This is the<br />

essence of the cyberpunk literature in Japan- technology has indeed made the average life<br />

better, but only with respect to conveniences, and the benefits are not distributed fairly or<br />

equally. For the vast majority life has lost a great deal of meaning outside of the most<br />

mundane human experiences; a drink at the coffee shop, a day in the office, reading a<br />

magazine, watching TV, and all the other daily experiences in which the human being<br />

becomes more of a passive participant then an active agent. A montage of this can be seen<br />

in the boat ride through the city in the original Ghost in the Shell where the main<br />

protagonist is viewing how various people live in the city. The sights presented, while<br />

ostensibly joyful and peaceful, are presented to the backdrop of a song which suggests<br />

both a sense of emptiness and nostalgia, and the city in which is punctuated with<br />

elements that suggest despair pollution in the lake, run down buildings, a stray dog. And<br />

the people while apparently happy and at peace may as well be lifeless dolls, as their<br />

actions blur to becoming increasingly similar, repetitive, and irrelevant.<br />

In Bubblegum Crash technology is presented paradoxically in that it both is the<br />

reason for, and the solution to the various problems that the Knight Sabers (power suited<br />

vigilante heroes) encounter. The Knight Sabers have to negate criminal, and terrorist acts<br />

committed by Boomers- powerful humanoid robots. The only way to stop the boomers<br />

however is with their power suits. A key example that illustrates this point is when Priss<br />

(the main protagonist and rebellious antihero figure) decides to abandon her power suit<br />

and ends up being kidnapped by Boomers, the highlight of which is when she punches<br />

the boomer with her unarmored in an act that is completely ineffectual. When Priss dons<br />

her armor she is able to kill the same Boomer with ease. Hence the fact is technology, by<br />

its very existence, has made us dependent on it for solving the problems that technology<br />

creates. Such a contradictory process highlights what historian Jared Diamond calls the<br />

“Invention is the Mother of Necessity” principle (5), in which technology alters the social<br />

structure to the point where it becomes necessary to now use the once optional<br />

technology in order function in the now altered society. An example of this being how the<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine41


invention of the automobile lead to people building far more spread out cities, creating<br />

situations where people now have to travel many miles in order to visit relatives or land a<br />

decent job.<br />

This powerlessness a person experiences without the aid of technology is what<br />

gives cyberpunk, both Japanese and Western, its sense of alienation. This sense of<br />

alienation is the recognition of the fact thatI every individual of the general public knows<br />

that unless he or she is a member of the bourgeoisie class that he or she is relatively<br />

powerless and irrelevant to society as a whole: “For all his other determinations appear in<br />

bourgeois society as inessential for man, for the individual, as merely external<br />

determinations which may be necessary for his existence in the whole – i.e. as a tie with<br />

the whole – but they constitute a tie which he can just as well cast away. (6) In other<br />

words whether you live or die will have little effect on your surrounding, capitalist<br />

society.<br />

*see glossary<br />

FOOTNOTES:<br />

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_anime<br />

(2) Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> by Susan J. Napier<br />

(3) Ibid, 2<br />

(4) The Communist Manifesto:<br />

http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html<br />

(5) see Jared Diamond’s: Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies<br />

Info on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns%2C_germs_and_steel<br />

(6) http://www.marxists.org/archive/meszaros/works/alien/meszaro2.htm<br />

*commonly referred to as Astro Boy in the United States<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine42


Chibi-Tokyo Presents:<br />

Mikomicon’s Nick Kurachi<br />

Scott: This is Scott Carrasco, we’re here from Chibi-Tokyo. And we are here with Nick Kurachi, the head<br />

of Mikomicon. Why don’t you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself and your con.<br />

Nick: Well, I guess it all started in 2001 when the CSUN [California State University Northridge] Anime<br />

Club was founded, I’ve been a member of it since then, officer on and off, currently the President of it.<br />

[Before Mikomicon even began, there were a] few years where I had been volunteering at smaller<br />

conventions. While I was there as an attendee, I would say to myself “this is a good convention.” And<br />

while I was there I would always to try helping the con out with something that I was pretty good at. When<br />

around other people working at the cons, I’d ask their opinion “so, what is it like? How are the people”<br />

And I’d hear different things. But I never really got around to [climbing to Staff or any other positions].<br />

With the Anime Club, being the vice-president at the time, we were approached [around mid-2005] by a<br />

non-profit charity called “Write-For-Hope” that was based in Simi Valley. They were interested in that<br />

was interested in bringing out a new event that would raise money and awareness for their charity. They<br />

[figured] that we would run it and organize it—and they basically would come in and seed money from it.<br />

I was presented with the opportunity of either trying to start at the bottom of some other con, or I could be<br />

Chairman right off the bat. *laughs* And with no other experience than that, I picked my staff! [And we<br />

had an] entire staff of seven for the first year, and not a single one had volunteered before at a convention.<br />

So we were coming in with fresh eyes, and a fan’s perspective on Anime cons.<br />

Scott: What is the anime movement like in Northridge?<br />

Nick: Well Northridge is just a small area within the San Fernando Valley. In this same area we have<br />

another anime convention called Anime Los Angeles, also known as ALA; which was just about four or<br />

five minutes away from us! Luckily, we are about six months apart, so thank God for us! Also within an<br />

hour drive we have PMX (Pacific Media Expo), and Ani-Magic, which is held up in Lancaster. Both of<br />

those cons were really close to our [first annual] date.<br />

Scott: In your first year, you pulled in 650 attendees, while going against two established conventions.<br />

Do you see these cons as competition? And what was the secret to your success?<br />

Nick: When we were originally planning Mikomicon we knew we would have to get a certain target<br />

number so we wouldn’t be too terribly in the red financially. After all, we were trying to raise money for a<br />

charity, and not run it into the ground. So, we wanted to pick a date where we were completely free and<br />

clear of any other cons that we felt were our competition, primarily PMX and ALA. We knew that PMX<br />

usually is in late August and September, and Ani-magic was usually in September. So we picked October.<br />

We announced our dates nine months beforehand. And as Summer came along, those other two cons<br />

announced their dates: we were smack dap in the middle of each of them with two weeks apart. It went<br />

Ani-magic [September 29-October 1st], Mikomicon [October 13-15, 2006], and PMX [October 28 th and<br />

29th] And we couldn’t believe it, we were like “what are you trying to do!” Because part of our plan for<br />

success was that we would be AFTER both of those cons, so we could go there, promote our con so<br />

afterwards they would head on over to our con.<br />

<strong>Animation</strong> <strong>Liberation</strong> Magazine43


So, we were stuck going up against two established cons! And even though we didn’t want to be between<br />

that, it was too late to change our date. We had already talked to our guests of honor and our vendors, and<br />

we had already gone over Anime Expo 2006 promoting ourselves with that date. We were still able to hit<br />

up Ani-magic as much as we could with advertising. We went to other events such as Nisei-week in Los<br />

Angeles.<br />

A lot of our success came from the fact that we were new and were offering something different. My staff<br />

and I had all gone to these other conventions, and there were things that we liked and loved, and there were<br />

of course other things that we didn’t like and didn’t love. And being fans ourselves, we though “lets take it<br />

to the next step and lets make things we want to make them.” And we offered the sorts of panels that we<br />

wanted to hear. Not to knock on any other convention, we’ll actually, I’ll go ahead and knock on AX,<br />

they’re big enough and I don’t think they’ll care what I say. But, damn, they’re corporate! This year at AX<br />

2007, other than a few panels that I wanted to see but couldn’t due to things running late and over time so I<br />

missed them, there wasn’t anything I was interested in. [Where as opposed to our con,] we offered up<br />

some different panels of things that we were interested in.<br />

Another success was that we had such an amazing staff. All of my staff was picked because I had personal<br />

relationships with them. I knew their background, and that they were enthusiastic about what they do. As<br />

an example for like our AGMV, which is what we called our AMV’s, it stands for Anime Games Music<br />

Video contest, and for our Masquerade. I knew that my staff had more experience with them than I did, so<br />

I told the staff “hey, these are your events. You have complete control over them. Go do whatever you<br />

want, and make it your own. I want you to run with them. If you have an idea, but you think it is<br />

completely stupid, I want to hear it, because, you know, maybe, it’s awesome!” Just because the big guys<br />

don’t do it, doesn’t mean we should follow them and not try anything different. Because of that, a lot of<br />

the panels and events all connected with the fans.<br />

Scott: Why have a convention for both Anime and Sci-fi? They seem like two different fields.<br />

Nick: You’re right, they are very different groups. And having them under the same roof, I think, is<br />

definitely interesting. But if you look around, it is not too unusual, look at Comic Con in San Diego: you<br />

have comics, sci-fi, I love their Stargate panels, and their Farscape Panel rocked two years ago! And even<br />

anime is growing down there. But for us and our relationship with Write-for-hope, there was some worry<br />

with PMX and Ani-magic being so close to us, that we might not get enough people, so we went multigenre<br />

in order to attract more people. There really is a lot of crossover. Anime and Sci-fi both have<br />

dynamic and compelling issues in the stories they tell that really aren’t found anywhere else—other than<br />

like comic book stores. And we are still working on how to reach the Sci-Fi crowd. It lets us offer more<br />

panels that hopefully crossover, or are completely new to the anime group Hopefully, it expands some<br />

horizons.<br />

We are not just anime fans. I love Sci-fi and I love comic books. There is more to us than just anime.<br />

Scott: I agree that there is more to anime fans than just anime. I personally am a huge Superman fan and I<br />

love Batman as well.<br />

(Interview intermission: there is a fiveteen minute pause where Mathias, along with a group of guys,<br />

try to convince a drunk girl to kiss and flash them)<br />

Scott: What was the average attendance size of your panels?<br />

Nick: Well our smallest panels had only five to seven people in them. And the average panel had about<br />

twelve people in them. But, our biggest panel, not including the Masquerade, was the three hour Johnny<br />

Yong Vosh panel. They were three separate panels, of course. But Johnny wanted to get in and get out as<br />

quick as possible. So we lined his panels up back-to-back. The first panel was a Eureka-Seven voice-cast<br />

panel. The second panel was a Bleach voice-cast panel, which had the American director and three<br />

characters: Ichigo, Rukia, and Orihime. The second panel was his own personal panel “all Johnny all the<br />

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time.” The room had a maximum capacity of seventy-five, and it stayed that way for three hours,<br />

sometimes dipping down to fifty people. Our fan secret is that we have fan-based panels.<br />

Scott: Using Anime Expo as an example, people don’t usually come to AX for the panels, probably<br />

because their panels are designed for such broad audiences. However, Mikomicon’s panels seemed to be<br />

more fan oriented and were aimed at a more specific audience. Three panels that stuck out were the<br />

“Benefits of E-book publishers”, “how to market one’s own work”, and “History of Japanese culture.”<br />

What do you think makes your panels more appealing to your attendees than, say, more industry driven<br />

cons at Anime Expo?<br />

Nick: Well, first I should talk about one of the panels you mentioned: The History of Japanese Culture.<br />

My anime club, just like a lot of your listeners out there, got me into taking Japanese Language Classes,<br />

nihongo. From that class, our sensei also taught a follow-up class called “Japanese Culture”. She kinda<br />

had a loyal fan base of students who would so around and take all her classes because she was such an<br />

awesome teacher. And when we were scheduling Mikomicon, I said “I want sensei to do a panel on<br />

Japanese culture.” So we asked her, Dr. Hiroda, if she would do a panel and just talk about all the things<br />

she has been talking about over the years. And these classes didn’t count for out G.E.’s and they don’t<br />

count for our majors. We took them because her classes were fascinating. So, any opportunity to share Dr.<br />

Hiroda lessons will people is awesome.<br />

But, to answer your overall question. Where people at AX don’t really come for panels, but they come for<br />

whatever else, and Mikomicon had pretty full panels considering the fact that we only had 650 attendees<br />

for our first year. There isn’t much more to say other than our panels were fan oriented. That’s it. That’s<br />

our secret. I am putting it out there, and I hope no other con-chairs are listening in on this!<br />

This year’s Anime Expo...ITS CORPORATE! It’s been going corporate for a while now. My first AX was<br />

2002, and that was really when the whole corporate thing started for them. But, I was here with my friends,<br />

and there were so many fan panels and so many focus panels; they were led by fans. And as I said earlier, I<br />

don’t want to hear about your fall lineup. Unless you’re introducing a voice actor who’ll be doing<br />

autographs later, I just really don’t have much interest.<br />

As for Mikomicon, our smallest panel, the one with the fewest attendees there, it was a corporate panel.<br />

They were just talking about themselves, and they didn’t bring in any famous people or anything—it was<br />

just some representative from the office. I won’t say who the company is though.<br />

Scott: Could you tell us what the company’s name rhymes with?<br />

Nick: No comment. *laughs* I most certainly don’t want to burn any bridges before we even finish our<br />

second year. [I mean, being that we are a new con], we didn’t have huge corporate connections, which we<br />

didn’t want them to begin with, because it would have just overwhelmed our schedule--in the end, it all<br />

worked out for us.<br />

We did all sorts of panels that people had never heard of before. And people came. It wasn’t the same<br />

freakin’ panel that I read out in the AX program guide year after year. And I think that is what the big deal<br />

was.<br />

In [Anime Expo’s] defense, they have events going on all the time. They have outside events. Even a huge<br />

dealer’s hall that takes days to walk through...I didn’t have those things. So, maybe Mikomicon’s attendees<br />

*had* to go to our panels because that was what we were mainly offering.<br />

Early on in our forums, I sent out a message asking people what they wanted. And the first responder said<br />

“are you going to have focus panels?” I said, “hey you want them, you got them. If you or yours friends<br />

want to put them on and host them, tell me about it. Give them my card and contact number”...*pause*<br />

There were two people who I met here last year at AX who were freelance translators for Tokyopop and<br />

couple other companies. They expressed interest [in attending Mikomicon’s first year] but it didn’t work<br />

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out and they couldn’t get a ride down to Northridge. But, I just ran into them today, and I said “hey,<br />

remember me? Would you guys be interested in coming to Mikomicon’s second year and do that panel on<br />

‘how to become a translator for Tokyopop’ or just something like ‘how to get into scanlations’ and<br />

websites for that stuff”?<br />

OH! That brings me to another thing! Scanlations are probably a topic that AX cannot even talk about.<br />

They have so many connections within the industry that they simply have to restrict certain topics.<br />

Last year at AX I went to a panel featuring a major director. And he brought a special preview video that<br />

they have just been working their butts off to have ready by Anime Expo. And the last question asked in<br />

that panel, which was actually asked by one of my staff members, was “what is your opinion on how<br />

Americans are able to get anime from the internet?” An awkward smile came across the director’s face,<br />

and he said, basically the company line, “you should really buy the anime in stores.” And there was<br />

something, well it wasn’t anything like a wink, but it was like “I really wish I could tell you guys to<br />

download it, but I can’t.”<br />

And some of the topics that smaller conventions like Mikomicon can do--they are definitely the ones that<br />

are off limits to conventions that have a tight corporate grip, like AX. Taboo subjects!<br />

Scott: Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?<br />

Nick: Sure! First, I have to say thank you to all the industry and to the guests of honor for all the support<br />

we received; it was phenomenal! Every time I went to a smaller convention, this being before I went and<br />

started Mikomicon, I thought “these cons don’t have the big names that AX has.” No big deal though…<br />

So, when we started seeing if our guests of honor would [attend Mikomicon], we told them that this con<br />

would be run by a college anime club and co-sponsored by a charity; a charity which raises money for<br />

women shelters and homeless shelters. And when our guests of honor heard that, they were like “wow, that<br />

sounds great. I’ll help this con on it’s first year.” And they came in, and we had an amazing line-up of like<br />

twelve different guests of honor. Johnny Yong Bosch brought his band Eyeshine—and they’re coming<br />

back again for year two!<br />

[…]<br />

So, people were just amazed that we had that such a strong lineup for year one. But you know, it actually<br />

worked against us in a way, because some of the comments that I heard [were from people] expecting five<br />

to six thousand people for our first year—unfortunately they were disappointed by that, but hey in the<br />

future we could definitely have those numbers.<br />

Our location definitely helped us out. San Fernando Valley is a thirty minutes drive from pretty much from<br />

every since major dub studio. And that means that those dub actors pretty much live thirty minutes or so<br />

away from our con! They live maybe down the street. [When we talked with some of those dub actors,<br />

they were like] “Yeah, it’s in Northridge? And it’s for charity? I can take an hour out of my day, just<br />

swing in, and do a panel. Whatever makes people happy.” And we were so appreciative of that. I just<br />

cannot<br />

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Aside the website: Mikomicon.com, what else is there to plug?<br />

Oh, if someone has something to say about Mikomicon, I’ll listen to them. However long it takes. I talked<br />

to one person four hours today! Just getting their input and advice. I’d like to know what people thought<br />

wasn’t awesome—that way I can fix it, you know? At AX they call it Con gripe—and there is plenty to<br />

gripe about! From the very beginning, I was like “I don’t want to have Con Gripe, I want to have<br />

Conments.”<br />

Oh, we need volunteers! For the love of God, we need volunteers. [For year one], we thought we would<br />

have needed about thirty volunteers per shift to properly man the convention. *pause* ...we had two. And I<br />

only had a staff of seven! I was just running around like a lunatic, because we were so busy. If you go to<br />

the website, there will be information there, volunteers get in for free, and it will be cool. We won’t use<br />

you like slaves or anything,<br />

Last but not least, I would like to thank all the other cons for all helping each other out. ALA, PMX, Ani-<br />

Magic, they were all incredibly supportive. We will support each other. Mike from over at PMX, he has<br />

been incredibly helpful. Everyone lets everyone else hand out<br />

It has really been a warm reception. Well, except for AX. That is why we are out here—we have to go<br />

underground and guerilla-market ourselves here. But hey, they’re corporate, it doesn’t matter.<br />

Scott: I would like to thank you for your time, and thank you for such a great interview.<br />

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PRESERVATION:<br />

a spray of plum blossoms/two stars in the milky way<br />

This the second review in a row of Cinema Epoch's Chinese classics series. This DVD<br />

has two films from the golden era of Chinese cinema.<br />

I believe that, if you view these films through the context that one of their primary<br />

purposes were to show the common people of 1930’s China both the beauty of scenery<br />

and the ability of what a camera can capture, that these films are both successful and<br />

enjoyable to watch. Many people do not have either the patience or cultural<br />

understanding and appreciation for such films—however, if you’re one of the exceptions,<br />

this collection will be very rewarding.<br />

A Spray of Plum Blossoms<br />

A Spray of Plum Blossoms (Chinese: 一剪梅; pinyin: Yī jiǎn méi) is a 1931<br />

silent Chinese film directed by Bu Wancang and starring Ruan Lingyu, Wang<br />

Cilong and Jin Yan. It is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Two<br />

Gentlemen of Verona. The film is one of several collaborations between Bu<br />

Wancang and two of the top Chinese movie stars of the day Ruan Lingyu and the<br />

Korean-born Jin Yan and was produced by the Lianhua Film Company.<br />

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The film is noted for its attempted "Westernized stylings" including its surreal use<br />

of decor, women-soldiers with long hair, etc. The film also had English-subtitles,<br />

but as some scholars have noted, since few foreigners watched these films, the<br />

subtitles were more to give an air of the West rather than to serve any real<br />

purpose.<br />

Hu Luting (Valentine) and Bai Lede (Proteus), two graduates of Shanghai's<br />

military academy are best friends. While Hu Luting is sent to the far south to<br />

serve under General Shi, Bai remains in Shanghai, falling in love with Luting's<br />

sister, Hu Zhilu (Julia). Meanwhile Luting has fallen in love with General Shi's<br />

daughter, Shi Luohua (Silvia). When Bai is also sent south, tensions rise as he<br />

begins to feel attractions to Luohua.<br />

Even though this is a silent film, there is a soundtrack (recorded by Toshiyuki<br />

Hiraoka) that plays throughout the film; the music reminded me of Nobuo Uematsu’s<br />

work on Final Fantasy IV. The subtitles are shown on a separate screen, pausing the<br />

movie, and have the Chinese on top and the English on bottom. There is minimal film<br />

damage; although during outside scenes and the military march, there is an unfortunate<br />

amount of overexposure.<br />

The backgrounds are very detailed: ships are shown parting from a harbor, a<br />

group goes horseback riding, there is a dinner party featuring a grand buffet, and even an<br />

airplane landing (in the context of a 1931 foreign film, these are all impressive visuals).<br />

It is common to see both use of background and foreground in the same scene. Also<br />

some early film tricks are present: speeding up footage in order to make walking horses<br />

appear as if they are running; a bird-eye view of a dinner party, creating a symmetrical<br />

image. Many of the camera angels, props, and placement of characters bear resemblance<br />

to the era of theatre.<br />

The most powerful scene in the film was when the General “summons Ms.<br />

Silvia”, along with the soundtrack, playing a powerful piece that is reminiscent of<br />

Yasunori Mitsuda’s work on Chrono Trigger.<br />

There was social chastisement when a character mentioned a liberal idea—such as<br />

when Proteus was discouraged when he announced his intention to give up his military<br />

career for a girl; and there was disapproval among a crowd when a woman declined a<br />

marriage proposal because she loved someone else.<br />

Before the start of the film, is it safe to assume that the imperial government has<br />

been banished and been replaced by the nationalist government. There were abuses of<br />

National power; they unfairly banish a character in order to force a marriage, in a market<br />

scene the national government is seen as being violent-kicking over market food, and<br />

their judicial system was one step away from knowingly executing an innocent merchant.<br />

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An early quote from the film, “This is time for us to serve the country: we<br />

should refrain from being ruined by perfume and girls”, showcases the strong<br />

nationalistic themes present in this movie. At the end of the film forgiveness is easily<br />

given to those who have done wrong, and the intended romantification of the nationalist<br />

army is made clear. In the end, we are left with a recommendation of country taking<br />

precedence over personal love interests.<br />

Two Stars in the Milky Way:<br />

Between the two of these movies, Two Stars in the milky way, is far superior:<br />

there is a better presentation of the Chinese characters and subtitles, the actors are much<br />

more free in their motions and gestures (in A Spray of Plum Blossoms’ defense, most of<br />

the actors were portraying characters who were in the military and of high social<br />

standing), and finally the soundtrack seems to fit slightly better with this silent film—<br />

leaving a welcoming presence equivalent to that of chamber music. This film may have<br />

had a larger budget, than the previous film, but that is speculation on my part.<br />

Created in 1931, this is a film about the dramatics of filming; “Yan, a well-known<br />

actor, meets Li, a pretty singer who is to play with him in a film adaptation of an old<br />

Chinese play. The film is a success for both actors who soon become an ideal couple in<br />

real life, too. But Yan forgot to mention he was married. [...]” One of the biggest<br />

criticisms of this DVD is that they spoil the ending of this movie when you read the<br />

description of the film on the back of the DVD sleeve; if you pick this DVD, watch the<br />

movies before reading the synopsis.<br />

This film has more emphasis on acting than scenery; though there are some<br />

beautiful scenes throughout such as: a boat careening out in a lake; a cultural dance<br />

exhibited within a theatre; a lengthy filming scene taking place in a palace; and a formal<br />

dance held in a giant ballroom.<br />

There is a positive father figure in the film, he serves both has a sign of stability<br />

for other actors and comic relief for the audience.<br />

There are two notable quotes found within this film:<br />

“you must sacrifice your dream of happiness for the sake of honor.” and “The city is<br />

full of evils. We cannot live in it. We will go home and lead the life we used to<br />

lead.”<br />

Overall, these films convey a sense of nationalist value: placing arranged<br />

marriages over personal happiness, looking past the imperfections of a nationalist<br />

government and wholeheartedly embracing them, and concluding that the interaction of<br />

city and country people lead to tragedy.<br />

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Analysis and Synthesis<br />

GLOSSARY<br />

Analysis and Synthesis are philosophical terms denoting the processes of mentally breaking down of a whole into its<br />

constituent parts (analysis), and reconstituting a whole from its parts (synthesis).<br />

Dialectics is a unity of both analysis and synthesis.<br />

Both analysis and synthesis take part, alternately, in every stage of the cognition of a thing. Like “abstraction” and<br />

“generalisation”, both analysis and synthesis arrive at new knowledge of the thing, and both are required for an all-sided<br />

knowledge of a thing — breaking it down and identifying its various parts, aspects, and then arriving at a new<br />

understanding based on how the parts interact and merge with each other etc., and gaining a new conception of the parts.<br />

http://www. marxists. org/glossary/terms/a/n. htm#analysis<br />

The above definition helps me better explain what dialectics is.<br />

Second because I use it with respect to Japan and the essence of anime:<br />

Petty-bourgeois<br />

1) The class of small proprietors (for example, owners of small stores), and general handicrafts people of various types.<br />

This group has been disappearing since the industrial revolution, as large factories or retail outlets can produce and<br />

distribute commodities faster, better, and for a cheaper price than the small proprietors. While this class is most abundant<br />

in the least industrialized regions of the world, only dwindling remnants remain in more industrialized areas.<br />

These people are the foundation of the capitalist dream (aka “the American dream”): to start a small buisness and expand<br />

it into an empire. Much of capitalist growth and development comes from these people, while at the same time capitalism<br />

stamps out these people more and more with bigger and better industries that no small proprieter can compete against.<br />

Thus for the past few decades in the U.S., petty-bourgeois are given an enourmous variety of incentives, tax breaks,<br />

grants, loans, and ways to escape unscathed from a failed business.<br />

2) Also refers to the growing group of workers whose function is management of the bourgeois apparatus. These workers<br />

do not produce commodities, but instead manage the production, distribution, and/or exchange of commodities and/or<br />

services owned by their bourgeois employers.<br />

While these workers are a part of the working class because they receive a wage and their livelihood is dependent on that<br />

wage, they are separated from working class consciousness because they have day-to-day control, but not ownership,<br />

over the means of production, distribution, and exchange.<br />

http://www. marxists. org/glossary/terms/p/e. htm#petty-bourgeois<br />

petty-bourgeoisie neurosis: The insecurity expressed by the middle class (known in Marxism as petty bourgeoisie/tiny<br />

capitalists) as it realizes its own powerlessness and faces its inevitable extinction.<br />

Dialectical materialism is essentially characterized by the belief that history is the<br />

product of class struggle and obeys the general Hegelian principle of philosophy of<br />

history, that is the development of the thesis into its antithesis which is sublated by the<br />

"Aufhebung" (~ synthesis, a term not employed by Hegel in describing his dialectics.) —<br />

which conserves the thesis and the antithesis while at the same time abolishing it<br />

(Aufheben — this contradiction explains the difficulties of Hegel's thought).”<br />

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