Animax’s Blog

PHOTO CREDITS: The Evil Obataku by ClaudiaKat

I’ve
been very busy this week with deadlines and numerous interviews for the
magazine I work for, and giving a little assistance for a monumental
project that Animax has planned. To amuse myself with the very little
free time I have, I’ve been monitoring the blog to see how you people
would conduct yourselves this time. I wish I could say that there’s an
improvement, but it’s not significant enough to impress me, sad to say.
In fact, I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry that a couple of
people in the SEA site has been asking questions about the Animax voice
actors when I have already posted not just one, but SEVEN interviews
with them. See what happens when you don’t even bother to read the blog
and just waste valuable "Members Speak" space with idle chatting,
requests for "Add me", annoying quarreling, and asking really stupid
questions like "What is this?"?

Since
the issues regarding the blog and the Animax website would not die
without giving you a clear picture of what exactly is going on, then
let me give you my frank comments on this matter, especially since Shin
Angel decided to put her two cents in, most of which I DON’T agree
with. I SHOULD have done this before, especially during the brouhaha
that took place in the India site over the removal of the "CSI
Section", but I respected the decision of the Webmaster to let the
Moderators take care of things. And what did the Moderators get for
doing their jobs? Just a lot of grief and verbal abuse, which they DO
NOT DESERVE. Well, I’ve kept my silence long enough, SO LISTEN UP!!

The Disappearance of the "CSI Section"

When
the CSI Section was added to the site, it was for the purpose of
allowing members to post arts, pictures and videos, which you have
created or taken with your cameras. However, MOST members only read the
first part of the rule and DID NOT read the part that the arts, pics
and videos should be something that YOU HAVE MADE. Common sense people. What’s the point of having the word "CREATE" in the name of the section if you share stuff that you did not make to begin with?

So what were the abuses that were committed that prompted the removal of the CSI section?

1.
Posting of copyrighted arts by the original manga/anime artists. Some
members even had the nerve to claim them as their own arts.

2. Posting of arts by other fan artists and blatantly claiming them for your own

3.
Posting Animated Music Videos or AMVs (This is a double violation of
copyright because you used a clip from an anime AND music from
well-known artists)

Some
people have been whining about why they shouldn’t be allowed to share
the stuff that they have stored in their computers. If you had even
bothered to check where you’ve been taking your pics, you would have
seen that ALL GALLERY AND LIVEJOURNAL SITES HAVE COPYRIGHT AND LEGAL
DISCLAIMERS. Those pics you have stolen were meant for your personal enjoyment.
Distributing them to other sites without even putting the copyright
notices is already infringement. Let me also say this point blank. The
Animax site is VERY, VERY STRICT when it comes to copyrighted images.
It is a condition that was made known to me even before I started
writing the blog because the Japanese animation companies are strongly
implementing this. In fact, as the Animax blogger, in case you haven’t
noticed, I make it a point to always get the copyright notice for every
image I put into the blog.

When
you mule-headed people started posting arts and videos that NEVER
belonged to you, you have inadvertently caused serious LEGAL issues for
the Animax website. Since you cannot be reasoned with, judging from
your fuming comments, better to get rid of the "CSI Section" altogether.

The So-Called "Glitches" in the Site

Why
is it that certain members are quick to blame technical problems in the
site to the Webmaster? Have you even bothered to think that you may be
also causing the numerous technical problems that are afflicting this
site? I may not be in charge of the technical matters here, but even a
moron could see the kind of abuse that you people have been putting the
site through.

Want some concrete examples?

1. Frequent changing of avatars

2.
Frequent changing of Profiles (Why you even bother to list down all the
anime that you’ve watched and loved defies logic? Why not say you love
all anime that Animax has aired. PERIOD.)

3. Frequent changing of nicks (Why? To hide yourselves whenever you’ve done something wrong in the blog?)

4.
Congesting the comments boxes of the blog and Profiles with ridiculous
"friendship spam" and ASCII art. Oh, to those of you who love to post
anime lyrics, even that is copyright infringement!

On
a lark, my nephew Enzo experimented with the functions of the site. All
the problems that you’ve been complaining about (profiles, avatars
wouldn’t load, etc.) DID NOT exist during the early hours of the
morning. Why? Because most of you who have been abusing these functions
are probably asleep. Also, if your profiles and avatars wouldn’t load,
DON’T PUSH THE SITE by reloading again and again and again. If it
doesn’t appear after 24-hours, that’s when you try again.

Shin
Angel, you suggested to delete the Profiles of inactive members. Just
how sure are you that they are inactive? I’ve actually spoken to a few
of these so-called "inactive" members and the reason why they aren’t
active is because 1) they were turned off by the idle chatting and 2)
they couldn’t comment at all. Just because they lurk doesn’t give any
member the right to delete their Profiles in order for you to abuse the
site even further with empty chats.

Oh,
there’s also one favorite suggestion – put a "Delete" function in the
Members Speak portion of the blog. Come on, people! You’re practically
lazy enough deleting comments in your own Profiles. How could you even
be counted on to delete hundreds of chat comments in the blog? If I
remember correctly, one avid chatter and nick changer was even
wondering why the Webmaster hasn’t cleaned up the Members Speak box.
You chat and let someone else clean up for you? That’s ridiculous! The
Webmaster has more important things to do than just clean up your
chatter.

This Thing About Netiquette

Shin
Angel took offense with my nephew’s comment about the "stupidity" of
certain members not knowing where chatting is or is not allowed. As a
moderator of not just one but THREE communities, IGNORANCE IS NOT AN
EXCUSE FOR NEWBIES. The only mistake that I could see that Animax made
is that they were too lenient enough to assume that you people would
know how you should behave in the proper forums. But it’s obvious that
you don’t. Some of you are obviously members of other forums and, yet,
you behave terribly in the Animax website in comparison to the other
groups you’re members of.

In
every forum, every community I’ve been to, the rules are the same –
conduct yourselves properly, no flaming, no spoilers, respect the
Moderators, chat in chatrooms, express your views in blogs and forums,
if you want to fight with someone then do it privately, etc. The Animax
website is no different from these communities. Besides, should each
and everyone of you need to have a set of rules for you to behave
properly and decently? In fact, there is only ONE rule that you should
remember – DO UNTO OTHERS WHAT YOU WOULD WANT OTHERS TO DO UNTO YOU.
That’s the core of Netiquette.

Let
me give you a heads up on this. I know a lot of you are requesting for
changes to the website. Yes, there will be changes in the offing.
HOWEVER, THESE CHANGES ARE USELESS IF YOU
MEMBERS CONTINUE TO ACT THE WAY YOU DO. A lot of you may not like it,
but I’m already preparing a set of rules and recommendations on how
affairs in any Interactive sections of this site will be conducted. I
honestly believe that conditions as they are now necessitate STRICTER
measures in the future.

I have
a strong respect for Animax and their staff. But sad to say, with many
of you acting like spoiled brats, you have given the website a very bad
impression upon those who visit it. People already think of anime fans
as rude and obnoxious. Should you even justify their opinions by acting
the same way in the Animax site?

[PHOTO CREDITS: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto/SHUEISHA Inc.]

MAJOR RANT AHEAD!
Let’s get this out of the way first. Sorry for the delay in posting
this blog. I wish I could honestly say that it’s entirely due to the
medical convention I attended this week. But suffice to say, I’m more
than annoyed to want to update the blog, because this would end up
clearing the "Comments" box for CERTAIN PEOPLE in the SEA site who have
been abusing it for their own personal chatroom. Worse, all throughout
the convention, I’ve even had some Animax fans who are close friends of
mine actually text me to complain that they could not comment at all
because the "Comments" section has been smothered with useless chatter.
One friend who is an avid blogger said that "Don’t these people know
what they’re doing violates Netiquette? Are they THAT STUPID that they
don’t know that there are proper venues where they could chat?" Even my
nephew has frowned upon this, saying that this would actually warrant
an outright ban in other forums, and he is right. I have been tolerant
of all these "Add Me" requests. Heck, I even tried to be exceptionally
tolerant of FOUR PEOPLE who have turned the blog into a chatroom. BUT,
I had to draw the line when these same people began fighting among each
other, and quite publicly IN THE BLOG. Have you no sense of decency,
for crying out loud?!

Just to have some
peace and quiet, I have OFFICIALLY reported this matter AND these
people personally to the Animax Webmaster, who is also just as
irritated as I am simply because clearing up your unnecessary chats is
added work for them. I really don’t know if Animax fans are really that
clueless about socializing on the Net and Netiquette. If you want to
chat, you DO NOT do it in blogs. I personally chat with people on MIRC.
Heck, just download the program and you could already enter a number of
empty chatrooms wherein you could chat to your hearts content. I’ve
seen that some of you even have Yahoo accounts. Form your own Yahoo
Groups. Yahoo Groups has a chatroom function. I should know because I
also have my own chatroom, but I found MIRC more convenient and faster.

Since practically
no one in SEA was able to put in questions thanks to these irritating
chatters, I’ll just be answering the questions from the India readers
instead.

This is in
reference to the article entitled "Top Japanese Anime Naruto Set to
arrive in India via Animax." Just do a search on Yahoo because the
writer deleted this post, presumably due to the large number of hate
mail he got from Indian viewers, but you could still view it in Cache.

I wish I could say that I was totally caught by surprise when Naruto’s
premiere was announced on the rival network, but I wasn’t. What DID
surprise me was the aforementioned article. Before I read this article,
the magazine I work for got a press release from the rival channel,
announcing that Naruto anime was going to be aired in the U.S.
From personal experience, I’ve noticed that anime acquired by the U.S.
channel subsequently get aired in the Asian region. I’m pretty sure
Animax India was negotiating for Naruto, but with the U.S. acquisition, you should already expect talks to bog down, as what obviously happened in this case.

I think it would
also be best to say this now. The Philippines is heavily into anime, so
you have several channels in my country alone airing anime. Sometimes,
certain distributors would sell the title for exclusive airing in the
Philippines ALONE. Since Singapore, India and the Philippines share the
same Animax feed, there is a strong likelihood that Singapore and India
may not be able to watch certain anime by virtue of an exclusive airing
license that was paid for by networks in my country. The closest
example that I could give are the Oscar Awards. One time, a free TV
network actually sued a cable channel for airing the Oscars in the
Philippines because they have exclusive rights to the broadcast. Since
then, this cable channel could only air the Oscars AFTER it has been
aired in my country. The same, it seems, applies here.

Any news on Gakuen Alice Season 2?

Bad news, I’m afraid. It seems the production company does not have the budget to make a Season 2 of Alice Academy.
But according to my nephew, they are still looking into the possibility
since it is a very popular title. When a Season 2 will be greenlighted
will, for now, remain a question. Definitely, it will not happen this
year.

Each anime, TV
show and movie has an airing license that could either be limited to 1)
a certain period of time (like 2-3 years) or 2) a certain number of
airings. Once the license has expired OR the above conditions (and
others like them) have been met, a TV network could no longer air the
show WITHOUT buying/renewing the license again. This is the reason why Wolf’s Rain and GetBackers,
which were shown when Animax was launched, are not airing anymore.
IMHO, why should I dish out good money for a rerun when I could use it
to buy a new title?

Simply put, because many Animax viewers request them.

The main
difference is that actors for film and stage have the convenience of
being able to use facial expression and body language aside from their
voice. For voice actors, they have to rely solely on using their voice
and imagination (for radio dramas) and the movements/expressions of the
characters in anime. Putting it this way, a regular actor may not have
an effective speaking voice, but could make up for it with facial
expression and body language. This is not true for voice actors. In the
case of anime, it’s the voice actor who provides the voice and the
anime character the emotions and actions. If both are not in sync,
you’d have a disastrous performance. That is why, with a few notable
exceptions, only a few actors possess the talent to become good voice
actors as well. If you want a real good example of an actor who is also
a fine voice actor, check out Hugo Weaving’s performance in V For Vendetta.

I could only
speak for the Philippines. In a previous interview I did with a voice
acting group in the 1990s, the rate then was USD 100 to 200 PER
episode. Now that voice talents are given the recognition that they
deserve, their talent fees have also gone up considerably.

No. Most of the
voice actors I know keep a day job. Competition is fierce for voice
acting jobs, which are sometimes far and few in between projects. Most
consider voice acting as a profitable hobby.

No, because Hiei
in India said it’s boring, so to those of you who are fans of the
Animax voice actors, blame him. I’m setting my sights higher by
interviewing key people from the top animation companies in Japan and,
hopefully, a few movie companies making anime-related projects. Animax
already gave me the greenlight for this, and this is what I’ll be
working on for the rest of the year.

I was thinking of
posting Part 2, which features a mock interview with the Shohoku Team
about what happened during the Inter High, later this week. But it
would largely depend upon the behavior of the peeps in the SEA site
since my posting this blog will be clearing up the "Comments" box for
them to abuse again. If I am riled up enough by their antics, the next
blog might be about Netiquette, at least to teach some of you how you
should behave in chatrooms, forums, blogs and such Net venues.

If you consider yourselves anime fans, the least you could do is to actually learn the terms being used. Kyou Kara Maou is
NOT yaoi. It is a "shoujo" title, or an anime that is aimed at girls
and young women, although some have argued that it is "shounen-ai" in
reference to Yuuri and Wolfram. Shoujo anime sometimes have hints of
"shounen-ai", or romances between boys and/or men. Anime/manga that are
really labeled as "shounen-ai" include Gravitation, Seimaden and Gorgeous Carat. One anime that also qualifies as "shounen-ai" is Koutetsu Sangokushi,
which I reviewed in a previous blog. "BL" ("Boy’s love") or what is
commonly known as "yaoi" should be limited to anime/manga that have
sexual content in them, whether they are pornographic or not. However,
some Japanese acquaintances have insisted that the brazenly
pornographic titles should be the ones labeled as "yaoi".

Oh, they do
listen. In the case of anime reruns, refer to my answer in the second
question. However, I must point out that anime fans actually have a
very bad rep for being rude, obnoxious and demanding. I personally find
it a huge turn off when some of you make rude demands instead of making
polite requests. It always pays to BE COURTEOUS AND POLITE. Always
remember that.

Technical problems? Email the Webmaster at webmaster@animax-asia.com for SEA and webmaster@animax-india.com for
India. HOWEVER, I must strongly mention that the reason why the site is
having problems to begin with is because there are a lot of you who
have been abusing the functions of the site. What is happening in the
"Comments" blog in the section is just one very good example. Be
responsible enough to delete old messages so as to not clutter your
Profiles. And I will repeat it again. DO NOT USE THE BLOG’S "COMMENTS" BOX FOR YOUR CHATROOM. As the popular line in that old TV series went — You REALLY wouldn’t like me when I’m angry, so DO NOT TRY MY PATIENCE!

FINALLY, Hiei’s question: How do you compute pi?

Pi is defined as
the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
Mathematician Archimedes originally computed pi with the formula: A =
pi r^2 (which is actually used to compute the area of a circle). With
the development of calculus, several formulas have been put forth to
compute pi with much greater accuracy, including Newton/Liebnitz
arctangent function (arctan(x) = x - x^3/3 + x^5/5 - x^7/7 + …) and
the one I was taught way back in High School, Machin’s Formula [(pi/4 =
4 arctan(1/5) - arctan(1/239)]. Since pi has an infinite number of
decimals, there is presently a race among scientists in computing the
most number of digits, with a formula developed by Indian mathematician
Ramanujan able to compute pi up to 17 million digits. Does this answer
your question, Hiei? NEXT TIME, young man! Don’t insult my
intelligence. You’re talking to a Science Major here.