Japanese Media in 1997 Fun Post!

With the release of "KATAOMOI." only three days away, it's time to jump into a post about one of my favorite things related to it -  Japanese media! 1997 was a great year for Japanese media. In fact, it was a part of the great music and movie "boom," when records were broken to new astronomical heights. Some records were so crazy that the odds of them ever being broken now are slim to none, granted the great decline of Japanese physical record sales.

Music

Perhaps the biggest news for J-pop in 1997 was that of superstar idol Namie Amuro smashing the record for most copies sold by a  female solo artist for a single. Her classic "Can You Celebrate?" (written and produced by Tetsuya Komuro, who pretty much dominated music in the 90s) sold a whopping 2.3 MILLION copies in Japan alone. A record that hasn't even come close to being broken by another female solo artist.

Anime

The 90s were a golden era for many anime fans around the world. One of the most (relevant to our stories here, anyway) famous shows to come out in 1997 was Revolutionary Girl Utena, a cult classic that on the surface is about surreal sword fights and roses, but deep down is more about gender roles, existentialism,  and lots and lots of phallic imagery.

Oh, and Pokemon came out that year too.

Movies/Drama

Although 90s dramas from Japan are probably not as well known as their anime counterparts, 1997 was still a monumental year for the format. One of the biggest dramas that year was "Love Generation", a romance starring superstar Takuya Kimura. The drama touched on Japanese business culture, social conformity, and, of course, love triangles. The drama enjoyed very high ratings of 30% and was the first winner of the Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix.

 
Video Games

1997 was the year of the Nintendo 64 in Japan. Franchises such as Mario, StarFox, and Zelda all got huge reboots that put them on the 3D map for generations to come. While it's difficult to say what's a "1997 game" due to release lags, one of the most beloved games to make it's mark in 1997 was MarioKart 64. An ultimate party game, MarioKart could have been played by even the most casual of gamers. And probably was. MarioKart has always been a video game staple in parties in Japan!

You know, watching all these clips is making me think 1997 was a pretty awesome year.

"In the name of copy-editing I will rewrite you!" and other ways Sailor Moon creeps into my author life.

What I see when I edit.

If you follow me on Twitter you've probably noticed that every night (er, my time) I've been re-watching Sailor Moon Super and live-commentating every episode I feel like watching. Well, imagine my ~surprise~ when last night we got an episode where the victim was an author and the monster-of-the-day sent after him was supposed to be...an editor.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL.

I am now a huge fan of Uhenshuu (the name of the monster, which essentially means the noun version of "editing"), and she's quite possibly my favorite monster-of-the-day in the history of Sailor Moon. And since there's over 150 of them (gotta catch 'em all amirite) that kinda says something. She's pretty much everything a nightmare editor is supposed to be, all the way down to her attacks. I would explain, but here! Have Youtube clips instead! (No subs so I've translated what she's saying down below.)

@ 0:17 : Are you obeying your deadlines?!

@ 0:00 : My ultimate attack, WHITE MANUSCRIPT HELL!
@ 0:12 : Next is PHOTOCOMPOSITION!
@ 0:19 : Heh, heh. Cut and paste...snip, snip!
@ 0:25 : Hey, wait...wait a minute! What are you planning?!
@ 0:28 : Make sure you get a good clipping of her!
@ 0:30 : Hey now!

@ : 0:10 : Even if it's a sudden storm I'm okay!
@ : 0:16 : G pen, round pen, and kabra pen!
@ : 0:25 : MANUSCRIPT HELL!!
@ : 0:37 : Sudden strength before a deadline!
@ : 0:41 : Borderline, safe!

I'm thinking that I could really use somebody like Uhenshuu in my life, man. You know, that editor in glasses and questionable fashion that yells things like "MANUSCRIPT HELL! HOW DOES IT FEEL?!" while throwing giant pens at me and making me cry until I finish my novel. But this could only work if I have Sailor Venus on hand to call her off whenever I want. She's like the IRL version of Write or Die!

Seriously, though, the whole time I was watching this I kept thinking about how "real" it is, when you consider her as a metaphor of writers and editors combined - we pretty much say all those things in our heads as it is. "WHITE MANUSCRIPT HELL!" is so hilarious because we've all been there yo. Staring at that white space going "WHY ISN'T THERE A NOVEL HERE OMG" and, if you have an editor/agent/publisher, hoping that they don't call up and ask you if you're "OBEYING YOUR DEADLINES!"

Then again you might get the "SUDDEN STRENGTH BEFORE A DEADLINE" and be "BORDERLINE, SAFE!"

You can watch the whole episode (with subtitles) here!

I'm done, indeed. Bye!

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is copyright to Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha, Toei, and everyone else who well, owns copyright to it. No infringement intended. Take it up with Youtube. Screencaps from soul-hunter.org