The IndoPanda's Blog

It’s been four years since Toy Story 3 came out, and I bet everyone thought that would be the last time they would see their beloved group of toys in action.  Well you thought wrong.  As of November 6, 2014, Disney and Pixar released their plans for the future film, Toy Story 4, planned to be released 2017.

I grew up watching Toy Story.  The story, the characters, and everything are loved by all the fans.  I thought that Toy Story 3 had a very good story and ending to finish off the trilogy leaving everyone satisfied.  Andy goes off to college and the toys have a new home with Bonnie.  It’s a happy and perfect ending to the trilogy.  Some of us could assume that the cycle repeats as Bonnie grows up experiencing the same thing as Andy did.  I really don’t think there’s a need for to be a fourth movie to this amazing trilogy.  According to director John Lasseter, he stated in the news release that “We love these characters so much; they are like family to us.  We don’t want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses what’s gone before.”  Of course they wouldn’t want to ruin the great impression the movies have left on us.  If they want to continue the great legacy the previous movies have left behind, they need to do something extraordinary to this fourth movie.  The third movie was considered the best of the three and most popular.  I can’t wait to see what Disney and Pixar has in store for us.

I think one of the reasons Disney and Pixar are making Toy Story 4 is because directors are running out of ideas for movies.  There are some movie series that should just be left alone like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and in this case, Toy Story.  These movies have left such a great impression to their audiences that they should just be left alone, especially Star Wars.  As one of the greatest movie series in history, there are a lot of complaints how there shouldn’t be a seventh movie in the series because fans fear that it will ruin the legendary legacy the series left.  Movie directors need to come up with their own ideas for movies instead of trying to add on or remake movies that already exist.  In my opinion, they should just respect the fans’ wishes.

League of Legends, currently the most popular video game in the world.  A game with ten people, five on each team, and the goal is to work together to destroy the each other’s base.  Although this may be the most popular video game right now, there are several different aspects to the game that some people may not know.

First of all, how did this game become so popular in the few years it has been out?  Probably because of its easiness to learn the game and how user friendly it is.  Aside from the in-game tutorial, there are many guides on the web that show beginners how to play.  Also, for new players, there are in-game guidance systems and tips that make learning the game easier.  Since its release from beta to now, with increasing popularity, the game has been evolving to be community friendly to attract more players.  While mentioning the games evolution, every time a season is over, the gameplay changes a bit to give older players something new to learn.  And as you get used to playing the game, you can learn the more advanced techniques professional players use.  League of Legends has also drawn players that used to play other games like StarCraft or DOTA.  Some of my friends hate the game because many of their friends converted to League.  Playing League of Legends is really an intense gaming experience.

To new players, League of Legends may seem like a great game to play because of it being the most popular game and its attractiveness.  But in reality, League is one of the worst gaming communities.  Many of the players are toxic and rude, and there have been many complaints on how players act in game.  Like players will curse at other players or AFK (Away From Keyboard, leave the game).  These are just a few of the issues the League community has.  And it’s only been a bit over four years since the game’s release from beta.  Riot, the company that created League of Legends, is trying to do everything in their power to try and lessen the toxicity of the community.  They have recently implemented harsher punishments as a result.  If a player goes AFK, the player can be banned for several days.  And if a player is being toxic, the player will receive a chat restriction.  The toxicity has lessen thanks to these punishments, but there are still issues that haven’t been addressed.  There’s the issue of players scripting, basically cheating/hacking, and players intentionally doing things to upset their teams.  I know it’s hard for Riot to address all these problems, but there are still more issues than those two that are ruining the gaming experience.

Picture from the anime Code Geass.

Anime: a type of television animation from Japan.  It’s very similar to the cartoons shown on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network that we have in America, but at the same time, it’s completely different.  So why is anime becoming so popular?

For the longest time, cartoons like Tom & Jerry, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Legend of Korra were my favorite shows.  Until my friend introduced me to anime.  It was something new and different that I had never seen before.  That’s one of the reasons I am more interested in anime than cartoons, and started watching a lot more anime.  Another reason was the storyline.  Many of the storylines tend to be more serious and realistic.  And even though the anime may involve magic or some non-realistic element, the way it is presented makes it seem realistic. 

If I had to guess why it’s becoming so popular, it’s because it’s unique.  The art styles and storylines are different in many ways from the cartoons in America.  As Americans, we grew up watching cartoons that were mostly not so realistic like Hey Arnold! or Scooby-Doo.  The characters in Hey Arnold! have weird figures like Arnold’s football-shaped head, or in Scooby-Doo, a talking dog.  In anime, like 99 percent of the time, the characters resemble a normal person’s body.  I think that’s one point that makes anime very appealing.  And the other point, the storyline.  Where in some cartoons, there really is no storyline, but just random stories in every episode, like Adventure Time, the majority of animes have a storyline where each individual episode is connected to other episodes.  I suppose that’s because the animes come from a written manga that has the storyline already set.  The closest American cartoon I can think of that’s very similar to anime is Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra.  Having an episode connect to the next one keeps the viewer on their toes because of the anticipation what happens next.  Unlike those cartoons with no storylines, there is no need for anticipation since the episodes are going to be random anyways.  The way I see it, anime is like a cartoon version of a television show series like NCIS or Chuck.  And almost any type of genre you want to watch, there’s an anime for that.  If you want romance, watch Kaichō wa Maid-sama! If you want action/adventure, watch Code Geass.  And the list goes on and on.  So anime has three things that appeal to viewers that American cartoons lack- a variety of genre, a storyline, and appealing artwork.

Working at a restaurant, I see a lot of kids with their parents’ iPads or iPhones.  It’s not uncommon to see parents letting their kids use their devices while they wait for food.  But there was this one family where each of them had an iPhone.  I wouldn’t be so surprised if the kids were at least in middle school, but from their looks, they seemed to be in elementary school.  Since when did elementary school kids need iPhones?  Aren’t they a bit young to own a cellphone?  And that family wasn’t the only one.  There are plenty of more families like them.  Just from seeing this, I think kids are growing up way too fast.

In my family, my older sister got her first cellphone in high school because she needed a way to contact us if she went out with friends.  I got my first cellphone in eighth grade because I was on the soccer team and needed a way to contact my parents to pick me up.  Why do elementary school kids need cellphones at such an early age?  The majority of elementary school kids I know don’t even own a cellphone, and at that age, I would think the only reason they have a cellphone is to play games on it.  The cellphone wasn’t even invented for the sole purpose of playing games.  It was invented to communicate with other people.  And I highly doubt elementary school kids text or call their friends since only a few of them actually own cellphones.  Now, it’s getting more and more common for kids to have cellphones.  The way I see it, as we progress with our technology, future generations will grow up having this technology at an early age. 

What happened to kids playing outside with their friends?  What happened to kids just going outside in general?  At my cousin’s sixth birthday party, all the kids there were younger than me.  The plan was to go to the park after dinner, but that almost didn’t happen.  All of them were hooked up on playing games on the Wii.  I was the only one who wanted to go to the park.  Eventually, we did end up going to the park, and it was a lot more fun than staying inside and playing video games.  When I was nine, most of my time would be spent outside with my friends.  There are still kids around that age in my neighborhood, but I never see them outside.  I assume they’re inside glooming over their iPad or laptop.  And it’ll probably get worse as time progresses.  I fear that eventually, kids won’t even go outside to play anymore.  They’ll all be on the computers playing online together.  They are basically doing what I’m doing at my age right now.  That’s totally wrong.  They should be outside enjoying the sun and fresh air instead of being cooped up inside their house.

Want to know every students’ worst enemy?  I’ll give you a hint: it’s has to do with time.  If you answered procrastination, you’re absolutely right.  Because of procrastination, students tend to struggle more while in school.  Everyone has this problem.  It isn’t necessarily a problem for students only, but it is most commonly seen in students.

Procrastination is most commonly described as “waiting to do something until the last minute.”  I think procrastination begins somewhere between middle school and high school.  In elementary school, you’re still a good student and you parents are always watching your back and making sure you’re doing all your schoolwork and homework.  But when you reach that middle school stage, your parents expect you to be responsible enough to keep track of what you have to do.  Huge mistake by parents in my opinion.  Entering middle school, you still have the habit of doing everything like when you were in elementary school.  But somewhere down the road, you’ll start delaying the work that you need to do.  At first you delay it a day.  Then you realize how long it took you to complete the work, so the next time you can delay it a few more days and relax.  And before you know it, it’s the day before the assignment is due.  That right there is a fine example of procrastination and only the beginning.  You might have been able to get away in middle school and parts of high school, but procrastination will eventually ruin you academic career.  Trust me, I’ve had the experience, and at the end of the day, I end up asking myself why I didn’t start sooner. 

I think procrastination is heavily involved with one’s confidence.  For example, being confident that you’ll be able to finish an assignment in an hour or so, so you delay the assignment until the day before.  However, you overestimate and end up rushing and panicking to get the assignment done.  In the end, you finish your assignment that ends up being half-assed and not how you expected it to be.  You definitely need to change your mind set on how confident you are on finishing the assignment on time to avoid any unnecessary issues.

So how do we, as students, “defeat” this great enemy?  Well, to be honest, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to stop procrastinating.  It’s like procrastination is part of human nature.  But there are always steps to decrease the amount of procrastinating we do.  For one thing, when receiving an assignment, you could always start on it right away and finish it immediately.  But we all know that’s not going to happen.  Instead, you could do bits and parts of it each day until the due date.  That way, you can relax each day and have some free time as well.  Like this blogging project I have.  I could have done two blogs a day and would have it completed within five days.  But instead, I procrastinated and have to do more blogs a day.  I’m sure there are other ways to decrease the amount of procrastinating done, but that’s all I can think of. 

Akihabara, the otaku central of the world.  Akiba, short for Akihabara, is a district in the city of Tokyo.  Out of all the districts in Japan, Akiba is one of the most unique and contains a lot of the anime culture from Japan. 

Akiba is a huge shopping district, and before it became the otaku shopping center it is now, it used to be a post-war black market and the shops there sold household electronic goods.  However, as household electronics became out of fashion, the sellers needed to sell products that would appeal to their customers, and the customers at the time were otakus.  Thus Akiba became otaku central. 

Now what exactly is in Akiba that would make it otaku central?  Well as I said before, a lot of the anime culture is in that district.  Many of the restaurants there all have some sort of anime culture in them.  There’s a restaurant there that is based off the anime Gundam.  There are a lot of Gundam animes, but basically, Gundam is a robot that is piloted by a human and used to fight other Gundams.  In the Gundam-themed restaurant, the servers dress up as Gundams.  Then there’s the maid cafes.  It’s one of the most popular attractions in Akiba.  It’s so popular that it has begun to spread to other countries like the United States, Taiwan, and South Korea.  A maid cafe is considered a cosplay restaurant, like the Gundam-themed restaurant, where the waitresses dress up as maids and act as servants to please their masters, the customers.  The treatment these maids give is completely different then just your usual cafe and makes the experience very unique.  I think I can say the cosplay restaurants in Akiba are one of a kind because restaurants outside of Japan don’t have costumes, but uniforms for their workers to wear.

The other day I was driving to school and listening to the Bert Show on Q100.  They talk about all kinds of interesting stuff from most annoying songs to ethnic issues.  Then the topic of harassment on women came up.  The hosts were talking about a video of a woman wearing a crewneck t-shirt and jeans walking around New York in silence for ten hours.  Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A.  During that time, many people, majority being males, greeted her.  Now you may think that greeting someone can’t possibly be harassment.  Well, you’re wrong.  The way these men greeted her was horrible and rude.  So does that mean as men, we shouldn’t greet women?  WRONG!  The only reason their greetings were considered harassment was because there was an intention behind it.  For example, the tone of the greeting can completely change how women view it.  If a guy says, “How’s it going?” in a normal voice, women see that as a normal greeting.  There is no intention behind it.  But if a guy says, “How’s it going?” with a certain tone, it can be viewed as harassment.  The way the greeting is said is a huge factor in this issue.

So how should we, as men, avoid the misunderstanding of our greeting being viewed as harassment?  For one thing, if the woman don’t respond to our greeting, don’t try and force them to say something back.  In the video, when the lady didn’t respond to one man’s greeting, he responded rudely saying, “Somebody’s acknowledging you for being beautiful.  You should say thank you more!  For real?”  That man might think that she’s being rude, but in reality, he’s the one being rude.  We should be considerate to them because maybe something happened in their past that we don’t know about.  For instance maybe when a woman responded to a man’s greeting, the man saw it as an invitation and harassed even further.  As one of the host said on the show, “Women are delicate.”  I won’t assume that all women are delicate, but I believe when it comes to this subject, I think they are.

To be, or not to be an otaku- that is the question.

So far all my blogs have been about anime and manga.  I guess you could say I really enjoy watching anime and reading manga a lot, which is basically the definition of being an otaku.  According to Google, an otaku is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests in, commonly anime and manga fandom.  But I wouldn’t go as far to call myself an otaku because depending on where you are, the term may mean nothing at all except like a label or something.  But in Japan, if you call yourself an otaku, the people around you may judge you.  It’s very interesting how one word can have a completely different effect in different cultures.

Outside of Japan, the term “otaku” is used loosely, so it may seem that being an otaku is okay since it only refers to people who enjoy watching or reading anime or manga.  A lot of my friends would call themselves otakus because that’s all it means to them and nothing else.  In Japan, the term is not thrown around loosely because it has a negative connotation, and people who consider themselves otakus are often looked down upon in society.  The meaning is still the same in Japan, but the people there worry about what others will think about them.  Why is the difference so extreme in Japan that society looks down on you if you call yourself an otaku?  Well that’s because there are extreme cases of being an otaku.  For instance, there are some Japanese men that have a high obsessive interest that they choose to “marry” a body pillow of their favorite character from an anime or manga.  Thus, society views them as a group of people that cannot connect to the real world, and since they are known as otakus, it gives a bad meaning to the word.

There are some animes that depict a character who is an otaku, and usually, the character will try to hide the fact that he/she is an otaku because he/she doesn’t want to be judged or treated differently.  The other day I asked my friend whether or not she would consider herself an otaku since she was the person that got me into anime and manga, and she immediately said, “No way in hell.”  But I guess that’s because she’s more into the Japanese culture and takes the meaning of the term more seriously.  I asked my other friend if he would consider himself an otaku and he said yes because he just watched and read anime and manga regularly.  I think he considers the term “otaku” to an anime nerd or something. 

So the question still stands: To be, or not to be an otaku.  As someone who enjoys watching and reading anime and manga, and not living in Japan, I guess I could consider myself an otaku.  It really just depends on how you see the word and the culture you’re in.  

Shingeki no Kyojin (SnK for short), or also known as Attack on Titan, is an anime and manga written by Hajime Isayama that became very popular in 2013.  It’s about humanity living behind walls to protect themselves from these human-eating giants, also known as the Titans.  Humanity’s only hope to defeat the Titans is to use the 3-D Maneuver Gear that allows them to fight back.

My friend posted this link on my Facebook wall: http://kotaku.com/attack-on-titan-marvel-characters-getting-official-c-1654205439?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow.  So apparently, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Hajime Isayama’s Shingeki no Kyojin are going to have a crossover.  I guess it may seem cool to have the web-swinging super hero Spider-Man to join in on the adventures of Eren Jaegar, one of the main characters, and his friends on their 3-D Maneuver Gear.  Sure, they both can swing around and fight the Titans, but I don’t know how I feel about it.  As a huge fan of Shingeki no Kyojin and of Spider-Man, I am absolutely against this idea.  Here's a teaser they revealed of the crossover.

First of all, Shingeki no Kyojin’s setting is completely different from Spider-Man’s.  I honestly have no idea how the people in charge of this crossover would be able to connect the two settings.  Shingeki no Kyojin takes place during a time period where all of a humanity is living behind walls to protect themselves from the Titans.  There is no modern day technology like computers or cellphones, and the most advanced technology they have is the 3-D Maneuver Gear.  Not to mention, SnK either takes way before Spider-Man, and humanity was able to defeat the Titans and take control of the world, or way after when Titans started appearing reducing humanity to how it is now in the current setting.  But that’s just my theory.  If the crossover was to really happen, Spider-Man would have to be sent through time to be in setting of SnK, and frankly, I wouldn’t like that.  And I’m sure other fans wouldn’t like it either.  Secondly, the art styles are completely different since one is American and the other is Japanese.  The people in charge of this crossover would have to decide who would do the artwork.  And if the finished product of the crossover doesn’t meet the fans’ expectations, people will seriously bash on the crossover on how it was a failure and shouldn’t have happened in the first place.  I honestly believe Marvel should keep out on this crossover with Spider-Man and Shingeki no Kyojin.

As a person who likes anime and manga a lot, I am absolutely against this crossover.  I feel like adding Spider-Man to Shingeki no Kyojin would ruin the story completely, even if the crossover is a side-story.  Marvel’s Spider-Man and Hajime Isayama’s Shingeki no Kyojin come from two completely different cultures.  This crossover is like water and oil.  Both substances will never mix together, they will always separate when combined, or in this case crossed over.  Just the idea of them being put together blows my mind. 

So the other day, my friend and I were talking about Grad Bash, my high school’s annual senior trip to Universal Studios. Unfortunately, Grad Bash was canceled the year after I had graduated, so unlike my friend, I was pretty lucky. After all the talk about Universal Studios, she showed me this video posted on tumblr about Universal Studios Japan: http://engshin.tumblr.com/post/98619198824/i-just-want-to-experience-this-even-just-once-in.  Universal Studios Japan has a One Piece land!  And just in case you don’t know what One Piece is, it is one of the most popular anime/manga that is about a pirate named Luffy and his crew on a journey to find “One Piece”, the ultimate treasure.  One Piece land is a seasonal event that occurs only during the summer. It has a premiere show that features interactive characters from the anime One Piece.  From the video I saw, it appears that actors cosplay as main characters and put on a show while the audience is ordering and eating food.  So kind of like a dinner theater.  I don’t believe that the Universal Studios here in America have that kind of event where actors will put on an act from some popular movie or television show for an audience, but I could be wrong.

I went on Universal Studios Japan's website, and the theme park appeared to be very similar to the Universal Studios Orlando and Hollywood, but with an addition of One Piece land.  Most of the attractions, rides, and shows in Universal Studios Japan are based off of American culture like the Spider-Man ride and the Hulk ride.  Since the anime culture is huge in Japan, it makes sense that an anime attraction was put into the theme park. Having One Piece land and other anime-based attractions in Universal Studios Japan separates itself from the other Universal Studios located around the world.  Since Universal Studios started in America, it’s interesting to see the two different cultures, American and Japanese, represented in two theme parks that is run by the same company.  

As I was saying before, most of the attractions come from American culture, and that culture was spread across the world to the different Universal Studios, which I believe is only Japan right now.  However, I have read some articles saying that there will be a Universal Studios South Korea and Bejing opening in the near future.  I can’t wait to see if those countries will add their own twist to the theme parks and add in some of their own cultural attractions like Japan.  Just throwing out some ideas, but maybe South Korea will have a gaming attraction since it is huge there.  And maybe Universal Studios Bejing will have an attraction that has something to do with martial arts.  Having any cultural feature in the theme parks will have a tremendous effect on how people view it due to its uniqueness.