For some reason I tend not to like Vocaloid music or producers, but so far there’s a single artist, that I found many years ago by pure accident while looking through the (long dead) UGUU netlabel, that has managed to surprise me in such a level that it has become one of my favorite Japanese artists in my repertoire. I’d like to introduce you to: わたしのココ (Watashi no Koko). わたしのココ is a mysterious, independent and experimental pop-noise virtual band from Japan that dances around beautiful poppy melodies and melancholic piano phrases while switching unpredictably to harsh ear-piercing noise and despair-filled lyrics, creating a surreal and melancholic, but beautiful soundscape flavored with dark and disturbing musical equivalents of rage-induced mental breakdowns.

So there was this book edited by the well-known Studio Osu and published by Kinejun in December 2009 called PLUS MADHOUSE 04 Rintaro¹. It’s one of the books from a series featuring directors from the anime studio Madhouse, and while it isn’t very long, it includes storyboards from well-known works and important testimony from several important people and, of course, Rintaro himself, showing in brevity how he managed to influence the history of anime.

They’re very valuable testimony about the reason for the high salaries in Mushi Production at the time of Osamu Tezuka, the working conditions of the anime industry at the time, and the relationship between anime and social movements.

Time ago, there was this obscure visual novel called ジサツのための１０１の方法; or, 101 ways to commit suicide (vndb), by the short-lived company Duke. Released in 2001 in Japan and written by Yamada Orochi, it had a niche but very obsessed following due its peculiar scenario, quirky art and extremely dark and twisted themes. It is well regarded by many as a classic cult utsuge and one of the few denpa games of its time.