Happy Monday! Our post on Subaru fans turning the mascot of a Japanese lad mag into a rally icon created a lot of conversation in the Autopian slack. Much of the debate was centered around the description of the magazine itself, the importance of various manga, and the popularity of various anime programs. Shockingly, one voice kept piping up with a seemingly large amount of expertise.
I thought this story would do well (it did fine), and I knew that the key was having a headline that was accurate while also not overselling it.
It does seem like a boob mag. I’m not sure that’s a thing. I really considered “lad mag” as that’s something a lot of people seem to know, but it doesn’t feel particularly FHMish. There’s not, to my knowledge, a Western equivalent of seinen manga, and I’m definitely not putting seinen manga in a headline. (We need people to actually read this stuff.)
Thus, the conversation continues:
::Lowers Glasses:: Oh really? He is correct, of course. Titles like “Initial D” are a big deal. They also appear next to stories like “The Witches of Adamas,” which is about a dude who produces diamonds every time he, ahem, mixes a batch. I don’t recommend Googling that.
Still, I wasn’t persuaded.
Patrick continues:
We eventually all coalesce around basically the original title and then, as he does so well, Patrick not only cleaned up the piece he also provided some important context… not only to the piece but also to how he seems to know so much on the topic:
(Editor’s Note: Yeah, I was a weird kid. I used to pick up whatever anime VHS tapes I could at my local Blockbuster. I am absolutely showing my age when I say that. The Guyver, Blue Seed, Macross Plus, Bubblegum Crisis, Ghost in the Shell, those shows and movies were some of my favorites. This is all way before anime got way more mainstream than it is now. If I wanted some really deep-cut shit, like the original Urusei Yatsura? I used to have to go to a weird store all the way across town where I could feel my dad judging me for not being more into like, football or baseball. At least I got into cars later; that made him happy. Anyway, you kids are so damn spoiled these days with your streaming networks. You have Crunchyroll, I had two episodes of Evangelion on VHS tapes that cost $30 in 1990s money. Two episodes! -PG)
And some more important context from Patrick, this morning, when I told him I was writing about this whole exchange:
I love having Patrick around.
I share the sense memory of digging through Blockbuster Shelves for Anime, I was a manager at my local store for a couple years. We employees guarded the anime like children and did our best to keep it in rental rotation so we could get more, because yeah that shit was hard to get in mid-90s America!
You lost my interest early you are all boobs.
I don’t really have a good place to post this, but I need to make sure the powers that be on this site are aware.
I’m losing patience waiting for the commenting features we’ve been promised. The site’s been live for a whole year. Matt told us it’s available and ready to turn on. That was a month ago.
Turn that shit on!
Right with you on searching the dark shelves at Blockbuster, Patrick. Except I was looking at foreign movies. Still trying to figure out the title of this Italian one where a guy who dubbed cartoons starts turning into one. Had a few good car stunts, too, including the first time I saw someone do a 180 & slide into a parallel parking place. The cabbie bringing his sex-therapist gf, iirc.
“Every cover is boobs”
Hahaha
I’m not an anime guy at all, but recently got into Cowboy Bebop.
It’s cool how it’s simultaneously a seminal piece of anime with a capital A Japanese culture while at the same time drawing from a huge amount of non-Japanese sources. It’s truly global.
Obviously, Blade Runner was a huge influence, but you can also perceive the touches of things like ’60s Bond-knockoff spy stuff, Gerry Anderson’s ’70s space shows, and ’50s American film noir.
I’m also not an anime guy, but I did love Cowboy Bebop.
I’m really enjoying these glimpses into headline making. As a non-journalist, the concept never crossed my mind. But seeing the back-and-forth on wording them *just right* really illustrates how difficult can be.
Content I never knew I wanted, but that is so new and entertaining. Great work, Autopian!
I was also into anime in the 90s and got out of it.
Then I went into a communications squadron in the USAF and it was guaranteed I’d get back into it, soooo…
Some of the current stuff is pretty f’ing solid. I love a good send up, no matter who is doing it, so One Punch Man is heavily favored right now.
“I’m fucking busy”
[mic drop]
The real question is: who in the slack has waifu stickers on their car?
Also that’s a decent point of contention. “Lad magazine” is probably an accurate descriptor, but the impact is lost because the content appears to be mostly *lewd*
Nice. If David was the one, then I would be really shocked.
Side note, check out Gunsmith Cats and Riding Bean for some the most accurate anime representations of a 67 Ford Fastback I have seen in Anime. Really paid close attention to the details.
Now I will go snicker at the name Boob Mag.
I’m trying to remember the name of the store that opened at the mall where I’d by my VHS anime… I could not afford all that I wanted, especially since I was just buying based on cover art. A thirty minute drive to the mall and $30 later, I could come home and see if I bought something cool or had chosen poorly. What a weird time to be a nerd.
Just wait until I start writing about Kamen Rider around here. He has a bike. It fits the vibes, right?
Kamen Rider is about bikes and friendship, I think it fits well! Not sure how much kicking you all do, or if David will try to move his rust collection to a moon base next, but still.
(POINTS TO THE LIST)
The masses also want a discussion of Tachikomas (Fuchikomas if we’re gonna be technical about it.)
…is there a Tales From the Slack Law? Because I wanna see it.
We too love having Patrick around.
D’awww! You’re too kind.
came here to say this.
Speak for yourself, dude!!
JK – I’m also happy to have PG here. 😀