Psycho-Pass Movie PV

This PV was released sometime near the end of Psycho Pass 2. Urobuchi Gen will be writing the script along with Fukami Makoto which made me really happy. Throughout this PV, there is text accompanied by voice to build up hype. The PV starts by having text come on the screen saying, "A future world where a every person's psychological state can be scanned and quantified." This is attracting point of the series, making people imagine what a world would be be like if that was true. All while having a character talk about the plot of the story, foreign terrorist invasion, the video does not put itself looking at that character but new unknown characters. The camera shows different shots of Akane, showing her determination. After that, text is placed in the middle of screen saying that the world is the stage while having an airplane fly across. Showing the war that is going to happen in this world, there is also a foreign character introduced.
After that intense moment, the PV starts adding intense text to the middle and music that fits the mood, mentioned in an earlier media blog. This constant addition of text to the middle of the screen while switching to video and having someone calmly give some exposition while being towards the end of the video makes the viewer remember this part better.
One of the most prominent moments in this PV is when Kougami is reintroduced. He has not really made an appearance in season two which made some people unhappy. With this movie showing this, it makes the psychographics more clear. Get it? Psychographics. Psycho-Pass. Haha. I made the same joke but with graphics on another media blog. Anyways, it targets people who are already fans of the series and are looking forward for advancements in the story. Although not narrow, Gen probably made the the target demographics regarding age not children because of the gore and the deep Orwellian themes it explores.
The PV ends with Akane saying, "You are under arrest" which is something she says as an advocator of justice. The very end shows the release date with background that looks like the setting season one had which makes people think about that story and makes them want to see this even more. There is a darker color scheme to set a more serious mood.
On a side note, the animation looks really pretty. I cannot wait to watch this.

Merchants of Cool

In class, we watched a film called Merchants of Cool. It discussed businesses' desires to find out what is "cool" and sell it to teenagers. However, as companies are searching for what is cool and as teenagers are trying to match what is cool portrayed by the media, the line between media and teenagers is blurred. The video introduced interesting phenomenons such as midrifts and mooks. Midrifts are an archetype where young girls know how to act sexually as the result of media's oversexualization. Mooks are an archetype where young people are arrested in adolescence, never grow up, and "don't care." Midrifts are very common in our society today. We can see them all the time. Mooks are also very common.

During a part in the video, someone went in a teenager's room to gather information on what is "cool." That part has gathered mostly negative reactions from many people, considering it creepy. However, I am pretty sure the teenager is getting paid to do this, so it must have been consensual. I do not see what is wrong with it.

We shut the door in their bedrooms and talk to them about issues that they feel like are really important to them. We talk with them about what it's like to date today, what it's like dealing with their parents, what things stress them out the most, what things are, like, really on the hearts and minds of them and their peers.

This type of information seems like it is not very secretive and it would be great if a person could be paid to tell that information. However, this does contribute to the issue I mentioned earlier about the blurring line as this type of information is helping out the media create content that is more appealing to their audience. They use this information to create a cool image and teenagers try to match that. I do not know how many people they surveyed by going in their house, but it should have been a lot because one person is not a good sample size.

Reboot PV

Created by JimmyThumb-P and illustrated by JET, this PV features Miku (blueish green hair), Zimi (brown hair), and Luka (pink hair). This video starts off with the three friends playing. Zimi then gives her two friends star shaped key chains as a symbol of their friendship. The three girls walk around town with their umbrella together. Another time, as they are eating ice-cream, Luka pushes Miku which makes her drop her ice-cream. Miku responds by pushing her too. This causes Luka and Miku to fight and as an effect, Luka's keychain falls to the ground. Zimi heads towards it and attempts to retrieve it, but she is hit by a truck and dies. When Miku and Luka are at her funeral, Miku yells and cries, probably blaming herself for what happened, while Zimi's spirit is still there. As time goes on, Miku and Luka grow further and further apart as when Luka looks at Miku, she just looks away, all while Zimi watches. Although Zimi is unable to rest peacefully, she still follows Luka around. Seeing a poster about an astronomy research society with a star (just like the star that Zimi gave), she decides to join, but when she enters she sees that Miku is also there. She tries to leave, but Miku grabs her by the hand and does not let her leave. They start crying and reunite as friends. The two friends return the the place where Zimi gave them the key chains, turning them into a necklace and an earring.  Zimi's soul, finally seeing that her two friends finally reunited, is able to rest peacefully.

This media experience made me feel sad by affecting me emotionally. The very girl that united them with a symbol ended up dying which seemed very unfair. This reaction is not exclusive to me as many other people felt the same way. It is appealing to a person's very emotions.

There are great camera angles and colors in this video. In the beginning, the camera looks towards the sky as they are together with their friendship with a yellow, bright type of color. This color represents the strong bonds they have with each other. It fits perfectly with the stars that are placed with the sky. After Zimi is killed, the mood changes completely. There starts to be more black after Zimi's death like with the thick clouds, heavy rain, and black cat. People associate black with a more negative feeling. At the end when the friends reunite, the weather is not bright orange in the beginning but is not cloudy either. It is a bright night sky with stars out that represent their friendship.

This video was made for the music, so it is, of course, prevalent. The lyrics contain words like "fading," "remember," and "grief." These words's connotations further help emphasize the video's appeal to a person's emotions. The song is very relaxing and sad because of how it is sang. The plot I described earlier even further emphasizes this because the very person the unites them together through the power of friendship is killed and causes their friendship to fall apart. This causes their audience to place themselves in their shows and think about what it would feel like.

Overall, to me, this video represents the power of friendship and truly appealed to my emotions. Just like many others, points in plot where she died and at the end where they were reunited were the most memorable. This is one of my favorite PVs. People other than me might interpret this different than me if they, for example, hate this type of music or maybe if they are not fans of animated works.

Psycho Pass Opening 1- Abnormalize

This song is the first opening for the anime, Psycho Pass. 

The background of this video and the lyrics both carry a darker connotation which creates a more serious mood. The song relates to the anime.

Things that I can’t show to anyone are flooding my mind
I’ve gone lost in a world where not even mistakes exist

This is referring to to the anime, a society where people cannot hide anything as scanners will constantly be scanning your mental state. They have to constantly repress their ideas which makes them become vegetables.

This is a “world” phenomenon where only the visible things are real
and that has been rubbed in to an unbelievable degree
So can I expose it for what it is?

This is referring to the price of that kind of society. The citizens are ignorant of how the society actually functions and just continues to live.
You’re also in this plastic beautiful world

In a world that’s too pretty, I can’t see the light for some reason

 This is talking about the perfect society where scanners scan you, determining the possibility of you committing a crime and the lack of joy in that kind of society as he cannot see the "light."
Through the song, the idea of a society of living without stress and having everything predetermined is examined. It is pretty Orwellian. People cannot struggle over what they want to be or other important decisions. They are just following what the system says is better.



The song is a rock song which matches the message it is trying to convey. Using a more relaxing song or a more happy melody song would not have given off a serious mood.

This song was sung by Ling Tosite Sigure who sing these moods of songs for different anime.

The visuals in the beginning consist of blue and green colors which contribute to the negative mood. There is also a woman falling in deep water, probably because they are unable to escape the society. The visuals are a bit abstract which is a good way to attract someone's attention (gestalt).

Different people may view this message differently than me. People who are unfamiliar with this type of animation might just think it is just some strange video. I liked this opening video because it related perfectly with the anime. 

Wacom Bamboo: A print ad

This is a print ad for the Bamboo tablet. Being a graphics tablet, the psychographics are quite obvious. Hahaha. Anyways, this ad focuses on people with interests and hobbies in art as that is the purpose of a tablet.
 Being quite expensive, this tablet focuses on people in the middle class who can afford them.

The pen with many tools emphasizes the technological prowess it has and the creativity possible. This is creating a need to dominate as it is saying that we lack those tools currently and cannot be as creative to our full potential if we do do not buy. A pen holds the ability to do so much and they are saying that theirs can do more. This is an example of avante garde as it saying their product is special because it has the extra tools. Under the pen is the actual tablet itself with a simple, blue background. This is creating a positive mood where the customer feels they have many possibilities in drawing.

The words say, "Creativity has no boundaries." The word "creativity creates the perfect connotation for their psychographic. The words "no boundaries" makes the customer feel like their skill can go as high as possible which is, again, a need for dominance.

The words also use a simplistic font placed at the bottom which further emphasizes the mood I mentioned earlier. They are black while the tablet itself is also black which associates those words to the tablet better.

AKB0048: Madison and Vine, Love Marks, and Narrow Casting

When I first stumbled on this anime, the synopsis was so ridiculous that I had to watch it. It is about a world where entertainment is banned and there are idols that perform guerrilla performances in order to bring their fans entertainment. It is based off a real and popular idol group, AKB48. It may have been a surprise to some as Kawamori Shouji was the main writer and director for the series.

Throughout the series, there were constant references to the real idol group. There were songs from the group. This is an example of Madison and Vine. They mixed entertainment with advertising. With anime being such an effective medium to reach their audience and the strong pathos that they conveyed, this is considered both love marks and narrow casting.
Even so, I don't might the native advertising at all because it fits perfectly with the entertainment. They belong perfectly with each other. By having them both in there, people will have a more positive mindset towards the real group and will have a higher chance in buying their products.

Many techniques are being employed in order to attract the audience's attention. As I have said earlier, the silly plot would already attract people, people that are already fans of the group, and fans of anime. There are more.

As you can see from the video, the lady says, "AKB has evolved from idols you go to see into idols who come to see you." The first part is referring to the real group and the second part is referring to the anime. The is not only advertising but it is also creating a need for affiliation. People really feel a connection and is why the pathos is so strong. People connect themselves with it because people would not want their entertainment to be taken away. It is inevitable that people will do entertainment but entertainment is banned. The main characters are the ones that are against the entertainment ban which makes the audience feel a stronger and more positive connection with them.  They used the medium that is anime which is the perfect audience for people who like entertainment. Words with positive connotations are used like "legendary," "reborn," "hope," "miraculous," "never stop," "speedy," "cute," etc.

With their hard work and dedication shown, we associate them with extreme emotion. We associate certain bonds with them. In effect, "They didn't like them, they didn't admire them, they didn't respect them, they didn't use them. None of that wimpy-wompy stuff. They loved them."

The whole series was actually very entertaining. Were the different marketing techniques successful? Yes, it even made me want to check out the real group because of the more positive emotion it made me feel. This was quite a common reaction in the anime community. Although I may not be a fan of the real group, this was a perfect combination of advertising and entertainment.

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time: An Analysis

This is a movie I enjoyed and have watched about 3 times. To many people, fans of Yu-Gi-Oh may mean kids or people without other things to do. For the people unfamiliar with the movie, I will break it up.

The movie starts out with Yusei who has a nightmare about an incident his father created and his friends decide to cheer him up through a duel. However, a mysterious foe appears and duels Yusei instead. He ends up taking his Stardust Dragon and tells him to fall along with his era.

Through the power of the power of his friends, he is able to use the Crimson Dragon's power to travel to the past. He meets with Judai and Yugi from another era and they are determined to defeat the person who took Yusei's card, Paradox. They end up defeating him and peace returns.







The creator created this with the purpose of boosting the sales but also to convey certain thematic ideas. Some of those thematic ideas include friendship, love, and perseverance. Paradox's ideology stems from the fact that his future was destroyed by human contradiction. His solution is to go back in time in order to destroy the game of Duel Monsters. In order to do so, destruction must happen. However, he is defeated with the very game that he was aiming to destroy. The characters are able to cooperate together with their bonds and monsters to overcome Paradox who carried with him a message of fear. Duel Monsters and friends represent hope. Instead of dwelling on the past, they overcome obstacles and move towards a better future. In this case, this message was quite literal as they really did travel through time. This message is really easy for people to project their own meaning on to it. This was done on purpose to appeal to more of an audience and to apply this insight to life to be more motivational to more people. 

Let's look at the back story for each character. Yusei was born into an unfair caste system and was able to overcome that. Judai fell to the desire of power, but he was able to overcome that. Yugi was involved in magical items that caused death, but he was able to overcome that. Even if you are born in the wrong family, even if you fall to power, and even if there is death, you can overcome it. This is a more detailed version of the previous insight and is, again, vague which allows for the viewer to project their own meaning on to it which makes it more comforting to the viewer. In our society, many of us are born into a family that is not very successful, but we can overcome that. The same applies for power and death. The creator is clearly trying to make his audience live the life you have and make it a happy one. This is a good way of appealing to the reader as these are common situations people find themselves in. 

Separation of rich and poor

Many techniques are being used to attract people's attention. For example, there is a need for affiliation as friendship is strongly emphasized. The fact that combined all three main characters together in one movie is enough to appeal to a certain audience. When I saw the trailer for this movie, I could not wait for it to come out because I always wanted to see see all the characters in one movie. The trailer contained words of positive and exciting connotation to make the viewer want to watch the movie. 
Different people might understand this message differently than me as they have grown up with a series in a different light, watching the dubbed version. Someone else watching this might think it is just a card game. Some people might think it means something else. Some people might think it was just pretty. To me, this movie was something I had always dreamed about even before the trailer was released. 

Keystone Pipeline

There have been numerous debates and discussions to whether the Keystone pipeline is good or bad. Sen. John Hoeven wrote here supporting it and Brendan Smith wrote here arguing against it. They both employ the power of language to support their claim. John uses many words with positive connotations like "big," "finally within reach," "focused," "win-win," "good," etc. Even though these words are a bit vague, he does not simply move on with the next topic. Instead, he explains those words throughout his text so that his choice of words are clear. He establishes good ethos by connecting himself through the topic. He talks about his involvement in this project as a senator and Governor and addresses some other people's point of views on the topic. 

Brenden starts out with a picture with fire burning. It evokes a feeling of negativity when looked at. He tries to establish his ethos by throwing out random statistics. This is just jargon and would be confusing to the average layman. However, this does in fact boost his ethos as they come from credible sources. He brings out these statistics, and then he goes on to call the reader to take action. Establishing that the average layman may not understand what he is saying, all he will understand is the call and be under the impression that the argument was really well made. He turns every statistic into a big deal. He associates the pipeline with words with a negative connotation like "threat," "extreme," "floods," "bad," etc. 

Both of them do a good job establishing their point through a clear thesis and provide evidence to back that up in an understandable order. As I have mentioned, the argument against provided an emotion evoking picture. It also appeals to reader, just in a confusing way. The argument does the same, just in a more understandable way. Both of them establish pathos by ending their text with a call to action regarding the future which makes the reader feel a feeling of action and motivation. 

Even though I have not properly researched this subject and do not know a lot about it, from just these two articles, the first is more convincing as it was more clear. Although this was the case for me, it is understandable that other people would fall under the power of the second article's pathos. 

My Relationship With Media

Our world is filled with media and we are all constantly exposed to it.

We are exposed to ads constantly whether we realize it or not. We see people showing off products and we see products which makes us, in effect, want the product. I am not invulnerable from that exposure as I constantly feel like my life would be better if I owned this or that.

However, unlike probably many of my peers, I am unfamiliar with much of American commercials, music videos, songs, TV shows, etc as the media I am most influenced by is the internet I visit. Living in America, I know these things are inescapable, but most of the time, I only seem to know the names of these media through other people talking about it on reddit.

Reddit is one type of social media. There are many other popular ones including Facebook, Twitter, instagram, etc. However, I only find myself using reddit, Facebook, YouTube, and other forum sites for my current interests. I use reddit the most because it is the most interesting. I do check Facebook everyday, but I find that the more I scroll down, the more click bait articles I see that a lot of my friends click on. I also see an increasingly amount of click bait videos on YouTube and the rise of bad quality content, but I still continue to use it. My peers usually possess a phone in which they can access some of these media when they aren't at home, but I don't possess one that can do so. I find that my peers are constantly on their phone, whether it's playing a game or checking their whatever.

Although I am unfamiliar with American television shows, I am familiar with Japanese anime. I never voluntarily consume American television shows, but I will do the same with anime through a streaming site or a torrent site like Nyaa or BakaBT. I usually get my music from the same sources I get my anime, but sometimes If I'm lazy, I will use YouTube, but it is very frustrating if the content is blocked in my country. I play games from all sorts of places including America.

Again, even if I only browse media that interests me, I am exposed to all sorts of media out there. Media is very important to my life and I couldn't think about living without it. I use the internet everyday from the moment I get home and I just cannot escape the impact of it as I am very reliant on it. That is not bad because media has allowed for us to be exposed to more and more new things and ideas. 

Isn't it cool?