Kazuo Umezu's 55th Anniversary Dinner Show (Part 1)

Last Sunday was Umezu Kazuo’s 55th Anniversary Dinner Show at Odaiba’s Culture Culture. This was a very personal event, an eat-and-greet of sorts with Kazz's long-time supporters seated around him. Tickets, of course, were open to the public, but you start to notice the same fans at these venues, making you feel like part of an extended Addam's family.

Since this is a dinner show, the obvious highlight would be the food. And since this is an Umezu event, the menu is guaranteed to be as stomach turning as his manga.

Squirmy Turd Curry


Not so obviously disgusting until you pour the drippy brown curry over the rice. The carrots should have been baby corn, however.

Makoto-Chan Macho-Me Macho-Me Onigiri



Wherever there’s one Macho-Me another is sure to follow… Though seemingly benign, especially in comparison to the rest of the night's fare, imagine having to cut the seaweed into hundreds of tiny circles and teardrops. Gyoe!

Chicken George Happy Birthday Chicken



As prophesized in the manga Fourteen, in the future chickens will be grown in vats as lumps of protein, ready to eat! Of course, this will be due to species extinction, not humanitarian reasons.

Cat-Eyed Boy Yokai Tumor Balls



Cancer cells are tuned specifically to their host body, making them benign to others. You can eat all the tumors you want and not worry about a thing!

Makoto-Chan GWASH!! Pancakes



Imagine all the damage you could do with a Gwash-shaped branding iron. Mark my words, self-cauterization will be the next big thing in fandom.

Meoto Garasu (夫婦烏)



Between mouthfuls of questionable quinine we were treated to musical acts from four of Kazz’s alter egos. Meoto Garasu (夫婦烏) warmed the crowd up with a haunting though disappointingly short set. Don’t worry, they’re not transvestites. Rather, they’re cosplaying the family from the Orochi movie, with Demerin as the father, Matsuda-San from Shogakukan Productions as the mother, and Kazz as the darling daughter Yoshiko. You can see them performing Shinjuku Garasu in this clip from last September’s Umezz Carnival Special Rock Live.




Caps



Kazz teams up with his guitarist Kurobe-sensei to form Caps, a hip-shaking duo all about old time rock ‘n roll. With shimmering costumes and provocative pelvic thrusts, he gave it his all to show the crowed a good time. Their longest set list to date included the theme from Cat Eyed Boy, Heartbreak Hotel, Rock Around the Clock and Paul Anka's You Are My Destiny. Be it behind his drawing easel or under the stage lights, Kazz is a true entertainer.

Kazz and Golden Friends (Keiko Tomokiyo and Demerin)



“Everyone houses a snake within themselves... And today, it wakens” The band of prophets carries their warnings across the shifting sands to the ports of Odaiba. Sadly you have to see their staccato shuffling in person for the full sensuously creepy effect, but at least you can hear the Snake Girl song on Youtube.

The GWASH!! Makoto-Chan Dancers



No event would be complete without the Gwash dancers to bring it all back home with Gwash!! Makoto-Chan. They seem to multiply like viruses and every time there’s more and more of them, spilling over the stage and threatening to overtake the audience. This time around Demerin traded in her pink Makoto Mushi outfit for Cat-Eyed Boy cosplay.

How does a 73-year old keep himself surrounded with throngs of young, attractive women? The secret to his rock star lifestyle lies with his young, attractive heroines...

NEXT TIME: Umezz Girls Top 10 Countdown!

Famimode: Kick Off 2010 With a Trip Back to 1985

For those of us that spent our formative years in the 80's, a certain part of our brain is now dedicated to the bips and bleeps that filled the pizza parlors and lazy days of our youth . These neurons are forever wasted, ruined by Saturday mornings spent digesting mechanized musical loops and sugared cereals. For those of us that were there, this 3-channel sound has become a comfort food of sorts. As much as we'd like to go back to this carefree time, things will never be the same. Our tastes have grown up, wittingly or otherwise. The magic that filled these old consoles has literally turned to dust.

Events like Famimode are there to make our memories palatable once more.


Meteor sponsors this annual all-night party that brings together musicians, performing artists, and vendors of the 8-bit persuasion. Meteor itself is what would happen if Beams opened a Famicon store—trendy, subdued, and overpriced. Reliving your childhood comes at a price, but you’ve got to pay your dues to be part of the club, right?

Sexy-synthesizer

The Famicon only represents one of many possible flavors of game music, so it was nice to get things started with a sampling of the greatest hits of our gneration, from the Atari to a live vocal version of Katamari Damashi. While I dug the Player 1/Player 2 themed hoodies, there’s only so much two DJs can do simultaneously when you’re not actually spinning records. At one point they broke out a Super Famicon and had P2 playing Chrono Trigger while the other one keyed in sound effects and mixed loops. Nothing makes the kids shuffle furiously back and forth like Frog’s theme, let me tell you.



Choose between either The 80's or pitch correction, you can't have both at once!

Kplecraft



Their pre-programmed hooks struck the perfect balance between feeling like they could be from any number of classic titles, while stopping short of being so derivative as to actually be recognizable. And that’s the beauty of it. KPLECRAFT best personified the underlying theme of the night—Taking something old and familiar as a base to build upon layers of creativity. In this clip they’re messing around with a saxophone and hand drums, but at the show they also had an electric mandolin and didgeridoo that totally sealed the deal.



Kirby's Dreamland or Naked Lunch? You be the judge.

Consumers



Sporting slick full motion video and eight hundred dollar track jackets, Consumers made the other performer look like chumps. And yeah, they’re pretty awesome, until the front man opens his mouth and starts rapping like a salary-man version of B-Dash. Naturally the crowd ate it up. At an event dedicated to all things pixel, being square is the best thing you could do.



This song's pretty alright because the doofus with the mike keeps his mouth shut.


Omodaka



Never underestimate the Game Boy. The original Brick lived for nearly 10 years despite the fact that its electronic guts were already rotten at the time of it’s launch. Nintendo is now being forced to create upgrades for the DS after accidentally selling a copy to every man, women, child, and grandparent in Japan. People are drawn to the glow of its LED screen like our ancestors were to the stars.

Omodaka is well aware of the mysterious power the device holds over people. He opens his set with the familiar echoing ping of the DS. Unwittingly you react—oh my God, he’s making music on the Game Boy! The trap is set, here comes the net. Suddenly his chip tunes are replaced with electric folk songs and avante guard spoken word skits. But by now you’re enjoying yourself too much to care that you’ve been duped into watching genre-bending performance art.



Kayo-Kyoku, skeletons, and Game Genie noise. Everything I've ever wanted out of life in one place.

Omodaka’s subservient performance belongs more in one of Shoji Terayama’s sideshows than a dance club, and I love him for that. For his final song, he spoke through a voice changer, inciting the crowd shout their hearts out on the 4th beat. Are you ready? An on-stage television counted down with the music. 4-3-2-1-SCREAM!

Silence.

The text on the television responded on cue,

“The despair deepens”

That says more about video gaming than most would like to admit.

But wait, isn’t this supposed to be a feel-good event? At this rate I’m going to start contemplating what would have happened if I had better spend my childhood learning an instrument, or getting to know my grandparents better, or volunteering in the community. I need to cleanse my palette. I need something like… Famicon Big Battle!

The Playoffs



Qualifiers were held off to the side throughout the night were entrants vied for top scores and clear times in fairly standard fare, such as Super Mario Brothers and Clu Clu Land. Once the dust cleared, the 8 players left standing were called to the stage to bring the knowledge in a head-to-head showdown.

The top 4 qualifier was Olympic games. Players hunkered down, their free hand braced on the side of the table, poised as if they meant to out-press Takahashi Meijin himself. It was like Over the Top meets The Wizard, with veins popping and sweat flying and people pulling every secret maneuver in the book.

The Final Four



And then there were 4. Their challenge: Get the highest score in the first three stages of Arakanoid using a stupidly sensitive trackball controller. This dude with the McDonald's track jacket and matching lucha mask was last year's champion, but his meaty hands lacked the finesse needed to caress his way to the final round. Better luck next year buddy.

FUN FACT: Doraemon’s original voice actress, Nobuyo Ohyama, is the #2 Arakanoid player in the world. Whenever she visits another country, she makes it her mission to blast all the high scores of whatever machine she finds.

The Championship



It all came down to who could be the biggest dick in Ice Climbers. I’m glad my parents never bought this for me as a kid or my siblings would have lynched me with the controller cord. Things are cold on Icicle Mountain and only one man comes back down alive.

The guy on the left ended up winning. For his contributions to humanity he was crowned Grand Poobah of hipster gamers 2010, a title he will surely be back to defend next year.

And make no mistake, the people backing this event are dyed-in-the-flannel hipsters. I say that with begrudging respect. Unlike most subculture clubs in Japanese, these guys are trying to break free of the limits imposed on their genre and do something innovative. Perhaps it's because the fan base is so varied, or because the basic recipe is so simple, but the acts tonight all moved in different directions while maintaining a cohesive vibe.

I can respect them for that. Though I don't necessarily buy into it.

Though I do regret not picking up Omodaka's album.

Umezu Kazuo Documentary Finally Here!

Koji Ito, one of the webmasters from Umezu Kazuo's official homepage, followed the legendary manga creator for three years to create this documentary that showcases Umezu's personal life, from his musical side projects to the lawsuit over his Makoto-Chan House , whose inside decor needs to be seen to be believed.



I was fortunate enough to be invited to an advance press screening. More than just a documentary about Umezu's work, it offers a behind-the-scenes look into manga production and design, in addition to exploring Japan's issues with creativity and art appreciation.

The limited run starts November 23rd and continues through mid-December, so get to the Tollywood Theatre in Shimo-Kitazawa while you still have the chance!

If that's not enough Umezu-stalking for you, word on the street has it that he will be making an appearance at the University of Tokyo's Komaba Festival on November 22nd, although the exact details are yet unknown. Can we hope for another live performance?

Manga-Ka Band Wars Report!

The undisputed grand master of manga, Osamu Tezuka, once said that a good manga artist should arm themselves with three weapons. He was referring to writing three successful titles in three different genres. But times have changed. Manga artists these days are blowing up the scene as photographers, figure makers, columnists, and, true to their indie roots, garage musicians!

Last Sunday, Shinjuku Red Cloth hosted a night of bands led by underground manga authors and personalities. We went in somewhat apprehensive of the comic writers' power to rock, but by the end of the night they had converted us into a loyal believers.

Yojo Jin’in/Excess personnel (余剰人員)
Yusaku Hanakuma (花くまゆうさく), Tokyo Zombie

These guys set the tone of the night with their amateurish but heartfelt cover of Under My Thumb. They weren’t the best band there, but that’s not the point—People didn’t come out to have a Phrygian scale pissing contest. Everyone was content to just do their thing and hang with their contemporaries. That’s not to say that their final song, Ningen Roller, didn’t bring the noise!

Taske

You have to respect Taske for being a self-made man. Or women. Or whatever. Actually, I'm not sure what Taske is, but I do know that it has to be seen to be believed. This entity of unintentional hilarity has compiled a book of reprehensible poems and was more than happy to give a live reading for everyone locked into the club.

(Taske video coming soon!)

Taske’s shtick is funny for about ten minutes, at which point you realize there is no shtick and grow fearful for your own safety. Even the most extreme entertainers turn off the switch when they go home. Taske, not so much.

The Feavers

Tomohiro Koizumi (小泉智浩) (Seishun Kinzoku Bat, To appear in AX Volume 1

If you write comics about awkward twenty-somethings who have fallen through the cracks of society, then forming a college hardcore band ten years after the fact is the next logical step. There’s something cathartic about watching someone else’s eyes bug out for a change in rage over girls and their crappy nine-to-five.

They even had their own mascot, Taske, to incite the crowd with it’s raving and impromptu air guitar. Koizumi hyped Taske’s poems which is what got it through the door in the first place, so I assume he feels responsible to placate Taske with stage time in order to keep it from blitzing the stage and destroying other bands’ instruments.

Takashi Imashiro Band

A last minute addition, this funky trio laid down some smooth psychedelic riffs and washed the taste of Taske from our mouths. While they only played three songs, each was a marathon jam session of King Crimson proportions.

Tokarevs (トカレフズ)
Yusaku Hanakuma (花くまゆうさく), Tokyo Zombie
Maho Shimao (しまおまほ),　Artist, Radio Police

Tokarevs is essentially Joyo Jin’in with pair of lovely ladies taking over the vocals. The disconnect of watching men in jumpsuits perform old idol songs like Koi wa Question was nothing compared to the shock of realizing that we've become such sentimental fogies that we can appreciate folksy songs like RC Succession's debut single, Takarakuji wa Kawanai (I Don't Play the Lotto).

(More on Maho Shimao Here)

Roden Ginza/Live Wire Ginza (漏電銀座)
Imiri Sakabashira (逆柱いみり), The Box Man, artist, To appear in AX Volume 1

Remember what we said earlier about how no one was here to show off their chops? Rouden Ginza blows that theory out of the water. They killed the stage and took no prisoners. Sakabashira made his Bo Diddley scream like a bloody goblin, and the minimalist, taught bass lines harkened back to goth rock you could actually dance to. Unfortunately we failed to record those songs, but the rest of their set was nothing short of electrifying.

(More on Imiri Sakabashira here)

Urbangals Quartet (アーバンギャルズカルテット）

Katsuwo Kawai (河井克夫), To appear in AX Volume 1
Jun Hanyunyuu (羽生生純), Koi no Mon
Michihiro Hori (堀道広),Seishun Uruwashi! Urushibu

This manga artist super group brought their Korgs out to play and assimilated the audience with their pre-programmed beats and synchronized fist pumping. Their group hypnosis must have worked, because two days after the fact we still can't get this chorus out of our heads:




Pathos (ペーソス)

There are some things that only an old man can know, such as the joy of watching one's daughter grow into a women, the best way to drink shochu, or what it feels like to have a prostate the size of a kiwi. Aging can be a gradual, lonely process. Thankfully, Pathos is there to help us find humor every step of the way to death’s door

Genki Ii Zo (げんきいいぞう)

The show couldn't go out with one foot in the grave! Suddenly there erupted a primal scream from the back, followed by this guy rushing the stage, carrying an acoustic guitar over his head like the Honkey Tonk Man. His paisley shirt, boxer shorts, and silken voice reminded us of Rage Kage from Tenacious D fame. Watch him lead the night's performers in one final send off!

Time for the artists to meet Joe Public! A manga author's work isn't finished until they ruin their drawing hand writing messages to the fans. At 200 yen per pop, these guys were practically begging to be bothered!

Looks like Shimao Maho liked our post about her show at Trancepop Gallery.

Imiri Sakabashira is in love with his guitar, but who wouldn't be?

Hanakuma with his heta uma drawings. So bad, they're good.

No, that's not a blind Buddha, it's Utamaru from Rhymester. You all owe it to yourselves to check out his Cinema Hustler movie podcast!

Not a moment went by without some form of spectacle to behold. You didn't even have a second to grab yourself a drink between bands (or, in VoidMare's case, hit the can) because they turned the interim period into an R-rated Reading Rainbow! We wish we had time to subtitle them, but they come with their own laugh track so you can figure out where the jokes are for yourself.

The New Kid is a Brain in a Jar

Women's Prison: Release the Bats



The Limits of Love



And there's hours more of this nonsense on the Kami-1 DVD!
These artists are relatively unknown even in Japan, but English translations of their works are starting to trickle out. Support starving Manga-Kas!

Mangaka Band Wars 2009

(Photos by VoidMare)

Mangaka Band Wars '09

For those of you Tokyo scumbags who read my previous posts and felt bummed you couldn't make it to Kyoto, here's some good news. "Mangaka Band Wars", a small annual music fest where underground cartoonists get together to show off their musical chops, will be held in Tokyo next weekend! Coincidentally, both of the artists I featured will be in the show! In addition to Ms. Shimao and Mr. Sakabashira, other talented, eccentric artists will also be there. Don't miss it!

"Mangaka Band Wars '09"
October 11, 2009 (Sun.) @ Shinjuku Red Cloth
TEL: 03-3202-5320
Open-5:00pm, Start-5:30pm
Ticket-1800yen + Drink (2300yen + D @ door)

Performers
Yojou Jin'in
Yoshiharu Mitsumoto(Junpu) + Yusaku Hanakuma (Tokyo Zombie)
Fevers
Tomohiro Koizumi (Seishun Kinzoku Bat)
Tokarevs
Maho Shimao + Yusaku Hanakuma
Rouden Ginza
Imiri Sakabashira
Urbangals Quartet
Katsuo Kawai (Nihon no Jitsuwa) + Jun Hanyunyu (Koi no Mon) + Michihiro Hori (Seishun Uruwashi! Urushibu)

Special Guests
Pathos
Genki Iizou
Odawara Dragon (Kogyaru-sushi)

There will be picture-story shows between band performances, so I hope you can hold it for extended periods of time!

Lawson ticket code: 74630