On top of that fantastic Shinichiro Yokata mix I mentioned the other day, I’ve also been musically obsessing over “city pop” of late, after I came across this piece. Just let all the YouTube mixes on that page guide you through the smooth sounds of 80s Japan. Kinda goes well with my current 1986 movie marathon too.
Anne Ferrero is one of my favorite creators of video content (Branching Paths, Toco Toco TV) and she has just launched yet another series you can watch on YouTube called The Manga Concierge. As the title suggests, each episode takes a look at a few manga series. The first episode is themed on games, and includes the titles Banjo no Polaris (about chess), Final Re:Quest (inspired by Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, with art that looks like an 8-bit game), and Gutshot (about poker).
I’ve recently become excessively obsessed with Jeremy Parish’s fantastic YouTube Channel (yes, I’m ridiculously late to the party on this), and among everything I’ve been watching, I’ve been quite enjoying watching his “Good Nintentions: 1985” series (available in this handy playlist), which acts as a perfect accompaniment to my current 1985 movie marathoning (22 movies so far). Each video is a fantastic little documentary on the game it covers, and it’s just insane how he is able to produce such great videos, in such quantity, on such a consistent basis. The best news is that he has just stepped down from his role as editor-in-chief of USgamer (leaving the site in the capable hands of Kat Bailey) to devote all of his time on these videos and podcasts — you can support him through Patreon (and this Patreon is specifically for the video stuff).
The Japan Times has a piece up that looks at the popularity of foreign YouTubers in Japan, with a focus on a Canadian called Sharla, and her YouTube channel “Sharla in Japan.” It’s interesting to see how things have changed since we were seeing the start of stuff like this a decade or so ago (late 2000s), and how YouTube/Google in Japan is now actively supporting these people — in part with the “YouTube Space” at the Google offices, designed by my ex-employers, Klein Dytham architecture.
Following on my 80s anime playlist, I re-watched the two Daicon shorts, which I still find to be fantastic, especially the second one. These are animated shorts that were created for two conventions — Daicon III and IV — and have never been released commercially since they liberally borrow from all sorts of famous properties. Daicon IV is especially glorious, with its use of ELO’s “Twilight,” and was created by a who’s who of now famous anime directors — it was also the inspiration for the opening to the Train Man (Densha Otoko) series. Here are versions on YouTube: Daicon III & Daicon IV.
Nice photo? Sorry, but this is actually a pencil drawing. When I saw this post on Tokyo Soup, I couldn’t believe that all the images on show were drawings, but these YouTube videos are proof enough. They’re all done by illustrator Shinichi Furuya, and you really gotta wonder who he’s managed to achieve such a high level of realism through his pencil work.
You’ve seen the recently announced Nintendo Classic Mini Famicom, right? This video does a great job of showing it off, and although I’d sure like to get one, I’m still quite looking forward to getting the NES Classic Edition when it comes out.
The best thing about this announcement though is that Nintendo re-released GameCenter-CX segments that were produced for them, covering some of the games that will be included with the Mini Famicom. The easiest way to watch them is through this YouTube Playlist, which contains all of them, as well as a few more (like the recent Pokémon series). Thanks to my fellow GameCenter-CX addict and Arino Kacho fanclub member Kyle for the heads-up.
I just came across this fantastic tribute music collection to Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, by Bwana. Not only is the music fantastic, but I also love the scrolling page that was created to show off the music, and the imagery that inspired it. Scroll to the bottom to get access to MP3s, or listen to the music on YouTube. Thanks for the heads-up, Ron.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an intense and epic commercial for instant ramen. Nissin bringing it to the next level.
This is a really great UK documentary from 2002 about the Pixies, that you can watch on YouTube. It’s pretty neat seeing David Bowie, Radiohead, and PJ Harvey (and many others) wax poetically about their love for the band, and the parts from the London show you see (from a 1988 London gig) are so fantastic.