First, I have a few announcements to make:

• At the Manime panel, in my loathing rant of hipster douchebags and their theft of the manliness of the beard, I promised, in the heat of my passionate fury, to take it back. They can keep their shitty Pabst Blue Ribbon and their sad obsession of liking things ironically, but the beard is coming back to true men dammit! I promised to sport a manly beard at this year’s Metrocon in Tampa, or else Brotha Kyo gets to kick me in the nuts.
• I won’t be doing events at Metrocon, but I will be there hanging out and enjoying myself there.
• I am going to start up “Kent Ward’s MANcast of Awesome!” this spring. The podcast will cover all things manly in the world of martial arts movies, videogames, Manime, 80s action flicks, norse mythology, and ass-kicking in general. Stay tuned!
• Anime Festival Orlando is coming up in August. It’s the best anime convention in Florida(I’ll be happy to give you a manly headbutt if you disagree with me) and they have started pre-registration. Be there or you’re already dead.
• I’m fucking awesome and don’t you forget it!

And now, my report!

“In Anime is Already Dead?”, I discussed the rise and fall of anime in the 2000s, citing factors that lead to anime’s near demise. Moe anime(fetish anime about little girls being boring every episode) was considered a major culprit, but the lack of risks and variety of newer anime and the fact that America has caught up with Japan in anime releases are also problems.

When anime boomed in the early part of last decade, there was 30+ years of great stuff to get from Japan and on to U.S. retail shelves. Anything that was crap was abandoned for the most part. Halfway through the decade, all that was left was the stuff that just came out in Japan. Because the load of good anime was already blown quickly, there really wasn’t much good anime left to release.

Sure, great stuff like Full Metal Alchemist, Baccano!, Summer Wars, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann have recently come out, but those good series and movies are far and few between now. Because of this, along with the glut of moe shows and generic shounen shows about twelve year old kids with powers being impossibly cool, the interest has died down over here.

I made some points on where anime needs to go and I think I will follow this up with a talk “How to make anime cool again” at a later convention.

The “Panel about Everything” was a joke name inspired by a panel that happens at some other convention. It was actually a convention etiquette panel. But we didn’t want to call it that because the people who need to be taught about that the most would not show up. They didn’t anyways but there was some great discussion with both the audience and my co-panelists. Some great stories were shared too! Maybe calling it “Super Kawaii-chan Glompfest Desu” will attract the audience I am aiming for with this?

“It’s MANIME! The Manly Anime panel” was clearly the best part about all of MegaCon, period. If you did not go, then you wasted your money and wristband. That is the fucking truth. Everyone who did go, in fact, became manlier just by being there! Brotha Kyo and I covered a final revision of the Twelve Laws of True Man and we are hoping to get such laws published. I heard at least one feminist was angry during our panel but my manly spirit does not care too much about that. Maybe she should have brought us sandwiches if she was that offended? That would have fixed her good.

We discussed what made anime manly citing examples such as Fist of the North Star, Beserk, Grappler Baki, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Violence Hero Riki-Oh! We also made time to give some love to Cobra: The Animation, Guin Saga, and the granddaddy of Manime… Golgo 13! Granted, these series have excess amounts of violence, muscles, and testosterone; however those are all core ingredients of Manime.

It was the good time had by all who did not have sand in their vagina! For some reason, these three bros were upset that we did not cite Kamina and Gurren Lagann at all in the panel? I still have no idea why. Kamina has more in common with Street Fighter’s Dan Hibiki than he does the likes of Kenshiro, Gutz, and Duke Togo. I should have blown them off but I felt the need to have a debate. I hope to be able to write more in-depth on this matter later.

I helped out with other events in addition to mine. Most notably, the Cyberia dance that Anime Sushi puts on at MegaCon every year. It’s a dance for weeaboos to have seizures with glowsticks while loud electronic music and phat beats are blasting out of the speakers.

I worked security along with my friend Shawn and nobody dared to start a fight, have sex, or break out the pepper spray. This is sad because we were given permission to destroy people if such things were to happen. Perhaps, they felt our manly aura and knew the line to never cross? The dance went on without much incident to speak of, though I did have to clean up someone’s puke off of the dance floor.

MegaCon was a fun experience this year! I got to cosplay classic Terry Bogard on Friday which is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. In addition, I spent plenty of time with close friends while even making new ones. I got some cool gifts from friends and a very sweet girl brought me homemade sandwiches and cookies that gave me super powers! I bought myself the Baccano! boxset from FUNimation’s booth(which I started watching that last night!) and I saw some good panels that I helped schedule. I didn’t get to meet any guests, which I don’t feel bad about because it was they who missed out by not meeting me!

It was a great weekend and a lot of hard work and I look forward to new followers on my Twitter, more readers for this blog, and soon enough – the MANcast!

I will be hosting several panels and events at the convention in the Anime Events Track. It would be in your best interest to attend them if you happen to be going!

Anime is Already Dead?
Friday, March 12th from 2:30pm – 3:30pm in W224B

Anime in America boomed with tremendous popularity in the beginning of the last decade and by now the bubble has burst. What happened and who is to blame? What about anime has changed over the past ten years? Is there hope for the Japanese import? The founder of the Propeller Anime Club provides insight into this matter and how it will affect anime fandom in the future.

The Panel about Everything!
Friday, March 12th from 4:30pm – 6:00pm in W224B

Everything you should hear about convention culture will be discussed! Convention survival, how to talk to girls, the dos and don’ts of anime conventions, and all the dark secrets of the anime community will be covered!

(Note: I am not an expert on how to talk to girls, but my co-panelists are!)

It’s MANIME! The Manly Anime Panel
Saturday, March 13th from 12:30pm – 1:30pm in W224B

Learn what is to be a true man and makes a manly anime! This one is for fans of series like Fist of the North Star, Berserk, and other testosterone-filled classics! Both old and new anime of manly proportions shall be covered and you will even learn the gospel that is the Twelve Laws of True Man!

(Note: If you don’t go to this panel, then you are already dead!)

That is it for my panels! My club will also be running the Ninja Olympics, the Quickdraw! Contest, and Karaoke on Sunday! The anime events schedule looks better than ever this year at MegaCon so definitely check out as much as you can while you enjoy the convention. See you guys in March!

Sometimes, I wonder why people have negative year end reflections every year that I have known them. It really makes me wonder what they are really trying to do with their lives. I’ve come to believe that you have to make the most of every moment in your life or else you are not living.

This has been a weird decade for the world overall. I can’t even describe it without writing an essay where I will most likely contradict myself often. However, I really hope the world changes in the next decade- and for the better. But it is going to be our responsibility to make that happen. I really think in this decade, too many people gave up on personal responsibility and depended far too much on people with authority to do things for them that they should have done themselves. And really, because of the lack of personal responsibility, we let our whole country fall apart.

Our economy would not be the way it is now if Americans didn’t become so lazy and health care wouldn’t be such a critical issue if everyone took better care of themselves. That is the basic truth that no politician will ever have the balls to tell the people. We are the only people who can make our lives good; nobody else can do that for us.

Enough of the negative; this has been a year for me that I will never forget. I’m going to now list every significant thing that happened that defined Kent Ward in 2009.

1. I started off the year right with the now legendary Down Right Fierce New Year’s Day Party. The main highlight was that I got so wasted that I Falcon Punched a friend in the chest because I thought he was raping a girl I liked at the time. He was actually trying to hug her goodbye and was on the ground hacking for six minutes for no good reason whatsoever. He helped me clean my house the next morning.
2. Four years ago, I had graduated Full Sail University with a Bachelor’s of Game Design and Development. There has been a lot of uncertainty – that I refused to show – about where it would take me. Sometime after I graduated, I was offered a chance to be a lab specialist at the school. I took it and over time, I became one of the best. I constantly challenged myself and it was a great opportunity to get better and meet lots of great people. I’m really glad for the experience because it did so much for me as a person as it did for my career.
3. I was also proud of myself for being able to take charge as head lab specialist for courses such as OpenGL and Real Time Animation this year. It was a lot of responsibility in addition to already being in charge of Engine Development I. It wore on me a lot and I still wonder how I was able to keep my sanity. Richard and Shawn provided me with many opportunities to advance myself and I am truly grateful for that.
4. The last one about my time at Full Sail: I created new lecture and lab material for RTA that would help students with getting animations working in their games sooner in their final Game Project course. It seemed like it took most groups two or three months to get that sort of thing working, but now they have a system in place that they can adapt right from the get-go.
5. I participated in the Global Game Jam in January, which is a 48-hour game making event. I really am proud I did that because it really lit a fire in my belly that I kept going for the rest of the year. I also got to work with badasses such as David Brown and Jay Baird.
6. Over the years, being exposed to epics such as Fist of the North Star, Berserk, The Alphabet of Manliness, 24, The Epic of Gilgamesh and every single Bruce Lee movie, I had started to develop ideas of what a man should be. My personal experiences were also a big factor in all of this. I noticed over the years that the manly spirit has died amongst many of my fellow brethren and that there was confusion on what makes a man manly. So I co-wrote the Twelve Laws of True Man, which I think does a good job for providing laws for true men to live by. When I first presented it, my audience was the local anime community, but I will write a revised version in the future where my audience will be all of humanity.
7. This year has been an awesome year for the Propeller Anime Club! We kicked ass at several conventions, organized a couple of fun game tournaments, did a lot of outings, got drunk together once or twice(the truth comes out!), and of course we watched lots of great anime – both old and new. I plan to write a reflection on the club blog, but I truly appreciate the amount of time I spent on the club. Hell, I’ll even go so far as to say that the Propeller Anime Club is what people should look towards as an example when one would want to describe an excellent anime club.
8. Speaking of anime conventions – ANIME FESTIVAL ORLANDO 10! Oh man, that was such a good life victory for me. AFO, every year, is the best damn anime convention in Florida and if you think otherwise then you must be retarded. Myself, and many others, worked our damn hardest to put on Swords of Orlandia III this year. The live action game has now become the premiere anime convention experience in the entire state, if not the country. I am really proud of how the game turned out and that many people enjoyed it. The icing on the cake was being made one AFO’s newest staff members because of my efforts(and those of the people who supported me helped with that too!).
9. I went to Disney World for the first time since I was twelve a little while ago. I went with one of my best friends, Fuzzy, and a couple of deceitful women. It was a double date that epically failed for both of us but the trip was still fun regardless of that. I loved Epcot the most out of the trip and I can’t wait to go back and drink around the world!
10. I played Beyond Good & Evil this year and I am really glad I did. What a fantastic game!
11. I really don’t think that this was the “Year of the Fighting Game” that I was hoping for, but I did get Street Fighter IV, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, The King of Fighters XII, and Tekken 6. I really feel like there was far more hype than delivery with the return of fighting games in mainstream gaming, but the games were still better than most of everything else that came out this year(which really isn’t saying much). I plan to write about Tekken 6, which I have determined to be this year’s best fighting game. Don’t worry; I am about as surprised as you are.
12. Since I was ten, I’ve always wanted to take martial arts. This past month, I finally did. I am still a beginner when it comes to Muay Thai and I have some interesting bruises on my body because of it. However! It was about damn time that I finally got to follow this path I dreamed of for so long. I look forward to getting better at it and becoming more of a complete person as a result.
13. My brother, my parents, and I had Thanksgiving together in Alabama this year. We haven’t had Thanksgiving together in six years so this was definitely an accomplishment! I also discovered Grey Goose vodka during this trip and I love it so~
14. I saw Dethklok and Mastodon with excellent friends Jacob and Jess last month. I wouldn’t exactly call the experience “Metal.” The show was at the Hardly Rock, where moshing and crowd surfing is forbidden. People tried to mosh anyways but it was pathetic. I really feel like half the people who showed up were just posers that were there because they watch Adult Swim. We showed up to the concert after the opening acts played and I somehow made it to the front. Actually, it was easy; just about everyone else there was a pussy so knocking them out of my way as I made it front and center at the concert wasn’t much of a challenge. I had my horns closer to Dethklok front man Brendon Small than anyone else, which automatically makes me the most metal person that went to the concert.
15. I left Full Sail to become a game developer simulation scientist.
16. I really think I became a legitimate adult this year. I am more proud of this than anything. I’ve accomplished a lot this year, but I also had to deal with some supreme bullshit along the way. Despite that, all the experiences I’ve had up to this point have made me who I am today and will help make me into a better person in the future. I have learned so much about life this year and I think from this point on, if I truly make the effort, then life will continue to be good.

 It’s been real good, 2009! I couldn’t have asked for a better year or a better way to end the decade! Here’s to the future!

In the middle of the panel, myself and fellow panelists Shawn Wilson and Mike “Brotha Kyo” Burgess presented the Twelve Laws of True Man, which are more or less commandments that one would follow if one were to be a real man. These laws were created as a result of what our current generation of young adults have degenerated into in the wake of Harry Potter, Twilight, superficial pop music such as emo, along with plenty of bad anime that feature male characters looking feminine and whining all day. We not only had to clearly define what made manly anime like Fist of the North Star manly, but also provide laws for men to live by. The laws were well-received by both our male and female members, which was really surprising with the latter crowd.

By popular request, I have decided to post these laws of the website to be used for reference. These are taken directly from our PowerPoint presentation so any animating introductions we had for dramatic effect are gone. However, I think this method works far more than just listing the laws. I will also explain why we chose these laws. Oh and by we, I mean myself, Mike, and my roommate Taylor. Anyways, it’s time to travel the path of true man once again!

This law came up first because we all have that friend who used to hang out with us but would constantly bail on us the second he got a girlfriend. The worst part is when he planned to hang out with us but couldn’t because his girlfriend couldn’t make it or didn’t want to go. Disappointing.

This is a result of modern-day women(young women, specifically) feeling a sense of entitlement to do as they please. Young women will constantly lie, fake illness(and periods), have zero ability to cook and clean, bail out on plans, date unmanly losers(see True Man Law #1), wear terrible eighties fashion, and blame others for their mistakes and lack of efficiency. They will almost ALWAYS pass blame. There is not a thing that is ever their fault and they will be sure to let you know that everything is yours. It takes a while for a man to be able to figure out what to do to correct this problem, but based on my experience, I find that the sting of a man’s back hand sends a good message. Use it when appropriate as a form of discipline, and not out of your own weakness. Speaking of which…

Sometimes a woman will make the mistake of surrounding herself with unmanly losers. I have no idea why. Some women will develop a spinal cord and call these losers out on the bullshit that ironically women are infamous for pulling. A woman can probably handle this situation just fine, but if that is not the case, feel free to dispense your man justice upon the unmanly loser. The closer this happens to a kitchen, the better. Also, make sure they bring you a real beer; not some ungodly swill such as Heineken or PBR.

This is almost like a reversal of True Man Law #1. A lot of the True Man Laws do deal with women because they can potentially cause us a great amount of problems. The trick is knowing how to solve the problem, which these laws will help you with. Long story short, if your female friend stops hanging out with you because she has an insecure boyfriend, show him what for!

I shouldn’t even need to explain this; however, if your beef jerky comes packaged, you open it with your teeth, dammit!

I don’t need to explain this either. If a woman needs explaining on this, True Man Law #2 helps. Also, that’s Ace from One Piece. After my panel, an attendee asked why One Piece wasn’t included. There is indeed a lot of manly moments in that series, but it’s so well known that I preferred to cover series that are far more manly.

This was inspired by being in lab one day. I substituted for DirectX and the lab involved playing sound for when Ryu’s sprite did a Hadoken or Shoryuken move. They actually had already implemented  proper input code to check for the controller input to do a Hadoken. So checkoff required them performing the controller input so that Ryu could do the move and play the sound effect. A student didn’t know how to do a Hadoken and a friend was going to take the controller and do it for him. I yelled at him and said something like “NO! He has to do this on his own because it’s part of being a man!” That statement apparently made me famous with that class before I get to officially have them as students in OpenGL. Honestly, I have no clue as to what a student who doesn’t know how to Hadoken is doing in a game development program. Disappointing.

True Story. Also, that web comic is funny. A man hits a woman with a car and the guy in the webcomic asks what the car was doing in the kitchen. Classic sexist comedy!

I’ve been eating really healthy the past couple months and exercising more. I’ve also been practicing martial arts. I have buffed up a little and lost over 2o pounds since I changed my ways in late June. It has been pretty awesome and I will have to say that taking care of yourself and staying in great shape is part of being a man. If you need advice on this, I am willing to help you out. Oh, I forgot to mention this during the panel, but if you want to know is a relationship is worth having, then Enter the Dragon will let you know. Any woman who doesn’t want to watch that classic isn’t worth dating. Give them the option to watch that or a Johnny Depp movie to see where they really stand on the scale of desirability.

Damn straight! Brotha Kyo proposed this and I agree 100%! The nose is where you want to aim when headbutting because it will do tons of damage to your opponent and not so much to yourself. Plus that picture of Hanma Baki headbutting Olvia Biscuit is freaking AMAZING!

This law has been inspired by the greatness of Fist of the North Star! This part and the next part decree when it is acceptable for a man to cry.

I guess if your parents die of illness, it’s okay to cry. But you damn well better beat that illness down during your quest of revenge!

Parents have failed this country. I have never seen kids so rotten, so stupid, and having such a sense of entitlement such as they do now. Just the fact that kids find themselves entitled to anything proves that parents have failed to raise their kids properly. Maddox wrote an article about child discipline. I suggest you read it.

There may be some confusion with this law. I didn’t think about until just now. While it is important to help a manly friend get a woman, what if she isn’t qualified to be in a relationship with him? Well, makes sure that you give him your thoughts. Otherwise, help him out! Women sometimes need to be told that going out with a manly man is what’s best for them and it’s important to let them know that when it comes to your friend. Remember, guide the cock; do not block it!

That’s it for the man laws! I hope this has been very educational for you because the path of being a man is a very hard one. You will have to endure many trials and make many tough choices. Mistakes will be made but you can learn from those too. I can be found on Twitter if you need further counsel.