Monday, 21 April 2008

Stitch in Okinawa!

A few weeks ago I went to the Tokyo Big Site (it's HUGE!) to see an international anime convention. Apparently it's really famous and a must see but for some reason I'd never been there before.

It's kind of funny. Most people who know me will describe me as an anime freak but in reality I only read / watch one or two series and this became very apparent when I went with Nikki and we only recognised about 5 of the 100 series on show.

Unfortunately a lot of the shows on display looked beyond clichéd and boring and we actually found the best works on display in the University / College student areas.

There were a few official highlights, one of which (and you may think this strange) for me was the announced Lilo and Stitch Japanese spin off anime series featuring Stitch as he moves from Hawaii (where all the movies and tv episodes have been set so far) to a fictional island in Okinawa!

I'm a big fan of the Lilo and Stitch series and absolutely love everything Okinawan so I personally can't wait for this series to start later this year in October.

To help promote the series to investors and fans, Disney created a huge walk through (cardboard) Okinawan style house (notice the colour of the roof tiles and how the concrete is used to hold it together) which was decorated with pictures of the new characters and those that would be returning.

What I thought was interesting was that they're ditching the Hawaiian girl, Lilo in favour of a new Okinawan girl character and instead of an older sister they're having an old grandmother figure both of which actually look Okinawan in their features.

Stitch's alien friends seem to be following him (names escape me at the moment) as well as his rarely seen in the series but insanely popular in Japan, pink girlfriend.

Stitch was also shown playing an Okinawan guitar (sanshin) instead of his Elvis inspired guitar.

I'm loving it.

So many of the children I teach watch Lilo and Stitch and want to learn the guitar and hula because of it. While this is great, if this new Stitch series inspires interest in the lesser known Okinawan culture within Japan and Internationally I feel a lot more will have been achieved.

Currently noone even knows what Okinawa is let alone it's location or history.

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Labels: Anime and Manga, japan, Okinawa