Code Geass Man: Kastel of the Rebellion – Episode 26: But What About the Clannad Man?

Five minutes after I published my previous post, I tweeted how I wasn’t able to differentiate the Clannad Man drama and Code Geass because I was following the former and watching the latter at the same time. Both are entertaining trainwrecks that make no sense.

A few seconds later, Key15th updated. The lastest post: Clannad Man wrote a supposedly full disclosure of the Kickstarter post.

I laughed.

I clicked on the link and the post starts with:

I write to you today utterly dejected.

鮫。

Dejectedkastel doesn’t like to read long blog posts, especially ones that mean nothing in the end. Have you folks read Politics and the English Language? George Orwell laments how writing in those days (and even now) are convoluted with passive phrases, sentences that mean nothing, and et cetera. Political writing is filled with those. After all, passive sentences, especially one written in a passive voice, can be used to convolute a meaning of a sentence; it’s boring to read a passive sentence.

In fact, this is like reading a statement from a politician who took a picture of his wiener and claiming he didn’t do it.

Recall the various “I’m sorry” campaigns by Tiger Woods, that BP manager guy during the oil spill, and so on. They all use the same techniques to shift their blame towards other people. As you read these selected quotes from the myriad bullshits and my analysis on them, tell me — do you want to trust Clannad Man again?

I have “over-quoted” them in case someone says they’re unfairly selected.

1. It was due to the uncertainty regarding which studio(s) might be ultimately be involved in the production that led me to use ‘The Grand X-Change Co.’ as the providers of the production team. In retrospect, this usage appears especially ignorant because it creates a sense of conflict of interest when there otherwise wouldn’t be any. Note: this is what happens when you write and proofread documents in the early hours of the morning. Generally, it’s a bad idea.

First off, the hilarious “note” is, if I may use a cliche, a ticking time-bomb. Why, I ask, did Clannad Man compile a set of legal documents in “the early hours of the morning” if he knows “this is what happens”? It’s a pretty dangerous situation to just say, “Oops, my bad.”

I must also note the lack of “I”s. In the whole post, he writes a million “I” but he avoided saying “I”. Rather, it’s a “you”. This disingenuous blame-shifting becomes like this:

“Hey, imagine you’re writing documents at like 6AM. That’s what happens.”

It’s a subtle way of saying, “I wrote documents at 6AM. I’m kinda dumb.”

2. Regarding the second Kickstarter update: when Takahiro Baba tweeted his concern about the project after being told of its suspicious nature, I considered how the situation could be approached. I chose to have a sense of optimism, believing that I could quickly respond, explain what my intentions were, and clear up any misunderstandings quickly. I even thought that I might be able to use the campaign as a way to quantify signs of enthusiasm from members of the Key community to suggest that there was a stronger potential for profitability in localizing Key games than what he might otherwise have thought.

In the political science world, this is a textbook example of ‘spinning the facts’. It is the act of disingenuously changing actual facts to “truths” that favor for or against an opinion. In this case, Clannad Man either believes Takahiro Baba’s “WHAT THE HECK IS THIS IS THIS SOME SORT OF SCAM” leads to a friendly discussion or he’s spinning the truth.

“But Kastel, he might genuinely believe it!”

If this is true, then where’s the Kickstarter explanation to Baba? Okay, let’s give him a chance and assume that he really did believe it and is now preparing his explanation. Then, why the fabulous #TLWiki entrance?

There is no rational explanation for this. Either he is completely out of his mind or he is spinning the truth. And it’s to preserve his public image.

3. Unfortunately, I am not particularly competent in Japanese and could not find a way to convey my thoughts without another’s assistance… By the time I realized I would unable to find a translator to assist with my efforts, it was already too late for me to modify the Kickstarter update, making it almost seem like a mockery.

The more you read this, I hope you, my readers, begin to ask yourself questions. This one is fairly easy: “Why didn’t you get a translator in the first place?” Clannad Man already got a bunch of cameramen supposedly. And this is a documentary set in Japan! Wouldn’t it make sense to get a Japanese translator? I mean, how the hell are you going to communicate with the locals?

I cannot, for one, believe this is due to reckless management. There are way too many logistical errors to account. It’s also unfortunate the last sentence of that quote is a lie. You are in fact allowed to modify the pledges; you just can’t modify pledges that were already pledged.

4. Unable to communicate my intentions or those of fans, and with growing suspicion surrounding the documentary due to lacking information, the logical course of action seemed to be to shut down the project and evaluate everything people were now posting about on various social networks, blogs, etc.

This is a great way to call out me and my blogger friends. I, the esteemed blogger of the aptly named “Oppai is Justice”, have covered this news from day 1. Other bloggers have followed suit and I have linked to them. A wonderful circlejerk that I am proud to be part of. It is my pleasure to help the public find out the truth, not the lies you spin.

So I found it distasteful that you say these readers of ours are supposedly “evaluating” the facts. As if the facts are “subjective”. So I ask you: do you feel happy being called “evaluators” of the truth? As if the facts of the truth can be wrong because of your “evaluation”?

5. People chose to ask what locations would be traveled to. This information was intended to be shared with everyone as time went on; as of the last time I checked the document, there were 74 locations from Key works (and their respective anime adaptations) which were identified with a handful of other ‘bonus material’ locations which were on route. However, as it stands, the list is incomplete; I intended to map out several other locations I had identified over the coming weeks. Due to weather, unexpected closures, holidays, etc., not all of the locations were going to be covered, though it provided the project with flexibility going forward. (I’d still like to release the completed location list on Google Maps at a later time, however.)

An incomplete list? My, nice traveling plans you got there. It is also amusing to note that all of these stuff can be found on the web. I just Googled and found a nice blog on Clannad.

Maybe you should plan in the afternoon, not the morning, Clannad Man.

6. Some people have mentioned that I should be ashamed for claiming other people’s credit for having claimed to have led the English localization projects for Clannad, Little Busters!, and Tomoyo After. I have never had any intention of taking credit for other people’s work. I oversaw and helped restart the VN Division at Doki for a time and organized for those projects to be continued by Doki from the prior project masters. As patches from Doki for Clannad & Little Busters! have not yet been released, some people feel that terminology is more appropriate than saying I ‘led’ them. To me, the terminology seems like a minor issue; I give all the credit in the world to the previous project leaders and contributors to these projects for having made the sacrifices necessary to spread Key’s beautiful stories to fans around the world. Early work on Clannad, Kanon, etc. was instrumental in fostering my interest in Key works, and I hold nothing but appreciation for having been exposed to it.

I like nuances. Especially when it’s dumb~

The most incriminating quote is “To me, the terminology seems like a minor issue”, which is a contradiction to this whole paragraph. How does the previously quoted sentence align itself to “I have never had any intention of taking credit for other people’s work”? These statements clash with each other. It’s like saying, “I don’t think calling myself a leader is a big issue; on the other hand, here are the actual leaders and contributors for these projects.”

Also, I find this sentence, “I give all the credit in the world to the previous project leaders and contributors to these projects for having made the sacrifices necessary to spread Key’s beautiful stories to fans around the world”, pandering Maji 2000%.

And the “some people” obviously refers to the #TLWiki peeps including myself. Just say our names already!

7. While my errors have been careless, incompetent, foolish, and have led some to believe me to be a scam artist, I would actually like to thank those who called out these problems (though it would have been nice if I was contacted directly first so this ordeal could have been presented).

Again, this is shifting the blame. “Though it would have been nice if I was already contacted directly first”? Well, Clannad Man is blaming two demographics, the first being #TLWiki and the second this Kickstarter’s backers.

“Their backers? How?”

Clannad Man is arguing that people who took notice of this Kickstarter should have contacted him in the first place. There are only two groups who noticed them. In essence, he is blaming his Kickstarter supporters as well for not notifying him.

He’s a really good guy.

8. I mentioned on the Kickstarter page FAQ that I went through the platform to allow for open accountability. That’s exactly what I got; for this reason, I can be glad that the system worked. I would very much encourage someone to continue this effort if they are so inclined, as the early success of the project suggests that there is a demand for such a documentary to take place.

This is a politically correct way to say, “Oops, my bad. Someone, please take up this mess for me. I’m outta here.”

9.I don’t know if my words will reach whoever is reading this, but nonetheless, I offer my sincere apologies for anyone who may have been affected or adversely affected by the existence of this Kickstarter in any way. I tried to get this going in a limited timeframe, and that caused me to make careless errors and take shortcuts in my personal review process which I would never otherwise find acceptable.

I’ll let the readers have fun with this. Especially this “pls pity me” phrase, “I don’t know if my words will reach whoever is reading this”.

10. My intentions have always been to spread the joy of Key works with as many people as possible and to be a part of the vibrant community that has been fostered. I would love to continue to do so and sincerely hope I will not be ostracized for my errors. As those that know me can attest, I would never intentionally do something to harm the Key community.

This has been a very long few days. I need to rest. I wish everyone reading all the best.

Sincerely hope that you will not be ostracized for your errors? Uh, sure. I guess so. Hoping doesn’t mean the community will forgive you.

As you may have noted, there are zero sorrys. There is “sincere apologies” in the 9th quote, but that’s it. One instance of actual apology.

This is what I mean about long posts meaning nothing. In the end, the title of that post is a lie. All of this post, especially the quotes I picked out, have nothing to do with apology.

Sure, he ‘regrets’ his decisions. But to the naysayers out there, can you find another statement that says, “Look, I’m sorry for doing this” that isn’t the “sincere apologies” sentence? There isn’t. I checked.

The whole post is basically, “Okay, I did this Error X but here’s why.” And the explanations are nothing but shifting the blame or spinning the truth around. This is not an apology; this is shifting the blame.

Clannad Man is not the hero the international KEY community needs.

I like to give thanks to Good_Haro, Kaisos, flamingspinach, and other people who I forgot for helping me understand this mess. You guys are a big help.