'White Box' Gems

Behind-the-scenes snippets from the world of anime, manga and games...

[whiteboxgems]

Looking back on 2014, part 5: the question of 'equality'

Looking back on 2014, part 5: the question of ‘equality’

A marker for discrimination…

Amongst the series I followed this year, there were two that touched on the question of equality and inequality, but as one left a much poorer impression on my mind, I will only talk about the other here, it being The Irregular at a Magic High School (aka Mahouka). Not surprisingly, the way Mahoukatackled this issue generated a lot of controversy, as people…

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[sywtwfs]

2019-2020 ISU Grand Prix Assignments (as of June 20)

Entries subject to change.

[chibipika]

Every time a post on queerplatonic relationships makes its way around tumblr, the comments are inevitably filled with a flood of “IT’S CALLED FRIENDSHIP” or “WHY DO YOU NEED A WORD FOR THIS.”

Do you honestly think society regards friendship as an acceptable substitute for romance and marriage?  The thing is, most aros would LOVE if it could just be called friendship.

Because that would mean a world where:

Friendships are considered equal to or sometimes *SHOCK HORROR* more important than romantic relationships.  This is not an exceptional occurrence.

Romantic partners know that they might not be their datemate’s Most Important Person and are not bothered by this.

People commonly plan major life events around their friends up to and including housing, finances, employment, ect.

It is common for people to be in their 30s, 40s, 50s, hell even old age having lived with friends that entire time and no one has ever asked them why they’re not married.

It is common for people to have a committed lifelong partnership with their friend and no one bats an eye.

Having a life friend is considered something that can be regarded as equally close to marriage.  It is also taken just as seriously.

Until the day that those are true, friendship is unfortunately not an accurate word to convey the types of relationships we’re talking about. 

[whiteboxgems]

In reply to a recent ask

To the person who sent me a translation ask recently, I didn’t want to post the question in public, so I hope you see this.

I’m still not sure if I want to (or should) post translations to what you asked about. But if you want to contact me privately (e.g. on Twitter DM, or the ask system here), I’ll be happy to try to fill you in.

(Also, apologies for the delayed reply: I don’t really check tumblr much anymore)

[sakugabooru]

Yuri On ICE!!! Interview: Character Designer And Chief Animation Director Tadashi Hiramatsu

One year after it became a megahit and to celebrate the birthday of its protagonist, we bring you a new Yuri On ICE!!! translation. Back when the show aired we had a lot of translated insight on th…

[chilly-territory]

Kiznaiver: Interview with Okada Mari [BD5]

A short interview that could be found in the booklet to BD5 of Kiznaiver

Interview 05

Series composition and script: Okada Mari “In the final episode I could finally rest easy as the 8 of them were able to get along in the end”

Keep reading

[whiteboxgems]

Code Geass’s main writer takes a trip down memory lane

With just one week until the first of the Code Geass recap films hits Japanese cinemas, Series Composer and main writer Ōkouchi Ichirō took to Twitter yesterday to reveal some early production soun…

After a year of celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the original series, the first of the retelling movies--Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion: The Awakening Path--opened in Japan yesterday. In the lead-up to that, Code Geass main writer Ōkouchi Ichirō posted about some of the memories he had from working on the original series. Since Geass is probably the show that started my interest in anime pre-production, there was no way I would not translate them. And boy did it bring back the memories! Perhaps it’s time I dig up those old books and start figuring out what happened all those years ago!

p.s. I also did parts 2 (Spoiler warning!), 3 and 4, for those who are interested.

[thatshamelessyaoishipper]

伊藤憲子 on Twitter

“勇利文字 #手書きの文字はその人の性格や特性を端的に表していると言われています”

Did you ever wonder what Yuuri’s handwriting looks like? We see it a few times in the anime but Itou Noriko - one of yoi’s key animators - recently posted the picture in the link above with the description “Yuuri’s handwriting”. Turns out she was the one responsible for all of Yuuri’s hand-written notes and of course, the famous 愛 in episode 5.

The hashtag in the post and the thing she wrote in Yuuri’s style say the same thing:

It is said that one’s handwriting frankly depicts one’s personality and characteristics.

In the resulting thread, she ponders that Yuuri’s hand-writing may not be very youthful and may resemble the hand-writing of a mother.

As a bonus, she adds that she would want Yurio’s hand-writing to be messy and “boyish” and that it would be cute to see him do his best and still struggle to write his own name in Japanese. She posted the following photo as an example of what she’s imagining:

It says Yurio and Yuri Plisetsky, but yeah, it’s badly written and in the wrong characters (hiragana instead of katakana). Which is exactly what a 16 year old who has never tried writing in Japanese would do so I love it, it’s very fitting.

This sort of came out of nowhere but it’s a cute little snapshot of what yoi staff thinks and talks about in their free time. What do you guys think?

[fanfarefolly]

These are adorable and I live for this kind of background info. It’s such a great example of the kind of detail that went into character building.

[whiteboxgems]

Just wanted to note that this didn’t actually come out of nowhere. Just before Itou-san started that thread as Yuuri, she was chatting with a friend about how handwriting can reveal your personality. Both conversations are pretty cute by themselves, but they’re even better if you read the second one after the first. ^^ I’ve summarised a bit more of both of them here, if anyone’s interested.

[whiteboxgems]

Yuri!!! on ICE, one year on…

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since that first episode dropped on us. Whilst I have yet to make it to an actual skating competition or ice show (it WILL happen!), Yuri!!! on IC…

Well, for the 1st anniversary, I decided to translate a few things related to Victor’s Free Program: Aria 《Stammi vicino, non te ne andare》.

Happy Anniversary, everyone.

[whiteboxgems]

On fandom interpretations and culture

(aka, a brief response to part of an ask I received)

Part of the reason is my own views abt Japan & anime (and its intended audience in general). I feel a lot of harsh views come from a very western-centric POV and carries their own cultural baggage.            

Thank you for the comment. This is something I’ve been thinking a lot about myself recently, and I’ve definitely found it reflected in the conversations I’ve had, both about the show in question and others as well. In fact, the people whose views are consistently the most different from my own are Americans. But one thing common with everyone whose views I’ve shared to at least a certain extent is that we’re all very familiar with Japanese culture. One of the reasons for that is that we also tend to be older fans, so we’ve seen and read a lot more than most.

In fact, this is something I’ve been researching recently, so if you’re ok with it, please message me – I’d really like to have a more in-depth discussion about it!

[whiteboxgems]

How old is nishida nozomi?

Personally, I’d guess she’s in her early twenties, but she hasn’t made her age public, so only the people close to her will know for sure. ^^

[toraonice]

Yuri on Ice BD choreography commentary translation - Volume 4

You’re seeing right… At last, the full translation of the choreography commentary from the BD/DVD vol.4! I’ve just been really busy, I haven’t abandoned the project of translating all the BD/DVDs of course. The commentary is by Kenji Miyamoto & Mitsurou Kubo, as usual. This time it’s Guang-Hong’s FS, Chris’ FS, Phichit’s FS, Georgi’s FS, Seung-gil’s SP, Michele’s SP and JJ’s SP. As you can guess from the list it was very long so it took a long time to write down and translate (I’m already scared of vol.5 lol).

Notes: -It’s two people talking, not a written interview, so expect them to hop from one subject to another within the same sentence… Even if it sounds a bit unconnected at times, that’s how they said it. -I still arranged it a little to make it easier to understand as written material, by removing lots of “ehm” “uuhm” “you know” “yes” (I especially removed all instances where someone says “yes” in the middle of the other speaking) and fumbled words. -Amusingly enough both their initials are KM/MK, but I used the surname initials so M is Miyamoto and K is Kubo. -I put (LOL) when they’re laughing because otherwise some lines might sound serious while they’re actually joking.

***VERY IMPORTANT*** Do NOT use this translation for subtitles, in ANY way. I don’t support the upload of bonuses contained in BDs/DVDs, as they are meant to be (as the word says) bonuses for the people who spent money to purchase them. Unfortunately A*ex is a b*tch but still…

Translation under the cut.

Keep reading

[whiteboxgems]

Regardless of what people say about me, I DO NOT participate in the behaviours I’ve noted here, and I sincerely hope that no one who follows me does so either.

And no matter whose ‘side’ you are on, please don’t do any of this. Ignore, block and report if you need to, but don’t stoop to being a bully.

(also on Twitter here)

[toraonice]

Yuri on Festival voice drama (detailed report)

I went to watch the next-day viewing of yesterday’s Yuri on Festival event, and this time I took notes for the drama so I’ll write a more detailed summary, also because this one isn’t going to be sold on DVD. I believe other people have probably written reports too, but in cases such as this I think “the more the merrier” because it’s not recorded so it’s better to have more accounts. Also, now you’ll start seeing more Japanese reports & art too. Most people were keeping quiet out of consideration for the ones who could only watch the viewing and didn’t want spoilers.

Official title of the drama: “Fundoshi da yo!!! Sekai Metsubou Daipinchi Hasetsu Kunchi Spiritual!!” which roughly translates to “Fundoshi!!! The world is in danger of being destroyed. Hasetsu Kunchi Spiritual!!”

It was in 3 parts, separated by game and information corners. I hope it’s not too confusing, but especially the last part is impossible to summarize decently because they talked a lot and I couldn’t possibly take note of everything, not to mention what they say is mostly crazy stuff, lol. For some parts and lines I double-checked looking at other Japanese comments online. If something is not clear feel free to send me an ask.

Continue under “keep reading”.

Keep reading

[whiteboxgems]

Thank you for writing this up so promptly!!

[toraonice]

Yuri on Festival

Today I went to the “Yuri on Festival” event, though it’s more correct to say that “I spent the weekend in Makuhari Messe” because I went there yesterday too for the advanced sale of the limited goods (I was expecting chaos today since the line was endless at the previous Stage event too, and I was right) and was there from the early morning today for the food and the anime screening.

The stage event didn’t have as much content as the Yuri on Stage in April, but it was still really funny. They are not releasing it on DVD though.

The voice drama was crazy, or more exactly SURREAL. With “surreal” I mean Yuuri being possessed by some kind of demon squid during a local traditional festival after getting jealous because Minami started to like another athlete (a real life skater by the way) and the others trying to save him, all of them wearing fundoshi… In the end Yuuri is saved by the power of love.

Highlights under “keep reading”.

Keep reading

[vocaotome]

Adding some more info for my records, according to what I found in twitter (that hasn’t already been covered by others here or here) 

-Apparently the “you were amazing last night” refers to how Yuuri and Toshiya (his dad) danced wearing fudonshis??? And Yurio was the one who brought this to light?

Yurio: If it isn’t the shitty pig who crazy danced in a fudonshi. Both of you,father & son, really went wild dancing. 

Yuuri: I want to stop being a human…

SO DOES THAT MEAN HE IS THE ONE WHO INSPIRED OTHERS TO WEAR FUDONSHIS? 

I’M SO PROUD OF MY BOY YUURI

A TRENDSETTER <3 

SPREADING THE APPEAL OF FUDONSHIS WITH HIS PEACH BOOTY

- This ;v;

[wavemotioncannon-blog]

INTERVIEW: AKIYUKI SHINBO (WEB ANIME STYLE 2/14/2005) PART 2

The following interview was originally posted on WEB Anime Style on February 14th, 2005. The interview has been translated by Twitter user @frog_kun © 2017 Wave Motion Cannon Want to see more cont…

►Read More Here!

The following interview is the second in a three part interview with Akiyuki Shinbo by Yuichiro Oguro. Shinbo goes into the details of Le Portrait de Petit Cossette, and mentioned the original intention of a sequel TV series. Be sure to read Part 1!

[whiteboxgems]

A short thank you note and a quick update

Also just wanted to say thank you to the people who reached out to me anonymously to let me know of the rumours being spread about me. Given who I hang out with in my part of AniTwitter, I got a pretty good laugh out of them. Let me stop there, however. I did make the decision to avoid posting about “the discourse” as much as possible from this month, so I’ll only respond to anon posts if they’re about something specific wrt my work. Unless it becomes necessary for me to do a “That’s what Otsuka said?!” post.

But thank you for your concern and support.

I do appreciate it, and please rest assured that I’m not letting it bother me. There’s simply too much to read, translate and write about!

I do hang out more on Twitter and WP if anyone wants to reach out to me on those platforms instead. But I will keep posting any relevant links and/or translation snippets here. Besides the skaters’ interviews, I’ve been working on a few of non-YOI related translations (specifically on Kizumonogatari, Fujiko Mine and A Silent Voice), so do keep an eye out for them if you’re interested in those shows.

I’ll also be working with a friend on the last few entries of an anime pre-production series that we started posting a couple of weeks ago. This is actually what I read/watch and translate behind-the-scenes material for, so feel free to check them out if you’re at all curious about how anime like YOI get made.