'Finally, a wiener that can go anywhere!' by Kara
Tuesday, July 28, 2015 at 1:55 PM

What was I saying? Oh, right. Otaku no Video.

So if you've not heard, AnimEigo Kickstarted a new release of Otaku no Video set to drop in 2016 for the show's 25th anniversary. For those who don't know, OnV is I guess sort of the Trekkies of anime: half live-action mockumentary, half anime OVA about two dudes who aspire to become the biggest goddamn nerds on the planet. The anime segment is based veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery VEEEEEEEEERY loosely on the early days of Gainax (as in they leave out the whole part where one of the guys in question was independently wealthy because his parents made a killing on knockoff polo shirts).

Anyway, it's a definite must-see for fans. Not only because it itself is history, but also because it's probably the most self-aware and honest love letter to Japanese culture you're gonna see short of Japanorama and it's dripping with references.

So not only did they crowdfund it, they also decided to crowdsource the work. Well, I was all about this. I stepped in saying I'd like to work on editing/proofing the subtitles, which was one of the jobs they had open. I showed them my resume and told them about my general knowledge of the subject matter.

And was told 'Uh, yeah, actually we're probably gonna need you updating the liner notes instead.'

So a small group and I have been working away at 50 pages of liner notes. Definitely outdated because they were written in 1993 and so a lot of the 'still running' shows or 'still living' politicians they mention are long gone. But there's also information we can get hold of now that we couldn't before, as well as a wider knowledge base so that we can go in and go 'Wait, no, that's not what Minky Momo is about' or 'Hey, there are actually 6 blatant giant robot references in this two-second crowd scene, not 5.' It was actually a bit surreal to correct information on a referenced show at one point and be like 'My source is me, I worked on this show.'

At any rate, the team behind it are diverse enough that it looks like we're catching everything and making the new notes something pretty awesome and informative. I occasionally peep in on what's going on in the other project chat rooms and ... well, let's just say they care and this is gonna be awesome.

Work never ends.

If you have been, don't say that.