#youth election turnout

[tomorrowusa]

Two headlines which help explain the victory of Poland's pro-democracy opposition in Sunday's election...

Opozycja zmobilizowała niegłosujących. Na PiS głosował żelazny elektorat (The opposition mobilized non-voters. An iron electorate voted for PiS)

Stats are preliminary, but voter turnout was around 73% in Sunday's parliamentary election – a post-Communist high. The opposition got out the vote – big time. As many as 31% of the eligible voters who did not vote in the 2019 election voted in this one. Meanwhile, the ruling party whose acronym is PiS tightly held on to its own voters; it wasn't enough for them. 87% of PiS voters had voted in 2019.

Wśród młodych najwięcej stracił PiS (PiS lost most among young people)

Of the five party groupings which won seats in the Sejm, PiS came in fifth among voters under 30. Donald Tusk's Koalicja Obywatelska (KO) came in first and Lewnica came in second. The rigid socially conservative agenda of PiS was regarded as repulsive by many young people in Poland.

But wait, there's more!

One aspect of the youth vote which the second TVN24 article did not emphasize is that women were particularly important in the turnout. This is from a DW article about the defeat of PiS.

High turnout thanks to young and female voters

Observers say young and female voters, motivated by the issue of abortion rights — which the ruling PiS has sought to curtail and Donald Tusk has promised to liberalize — turned out in large numbers to support opposition parties. "Until recently, half of women said they would not vote," sociologist Justyna Kajta of SWPS University in Warsaw told AFP news agency. "Now these exit polls actually show more women than men voted."

From "half of women said they would not vote" to "more women than men voted" shows how decisive increased involvement by women, especially younger women, can be.

During the 2020 demonstrations against the extremist anti-abortion law authored by PiS I saw a sign which this election reminded me of. It displayed a fundamental truth as well as a great bilingual political pun based on a classic song by Bob Marley.

The word kraj is pronounced like the English word cry. In Polish, kraj means country though in certain contexts it tends to refer to Poland in particular. For language nerds, you may recognize it as coming from the same Slavic root as Ukraine (Ukraina as written in Polish).

For a well-functioning country, you need active participation by women in the political process. That happened this week in Poland. ❤️🇵🇱

So massive GOTV and appealing to forward-looking young people had a considerable impact in Poland. Those are lessons which should not be overlooked by center-left parties and coalitions in other countries.

BTW, a second exit poll was released for Sunday's election. It showed the current opposition with 249 seats in the Sejm; that's one more than the earlier poll. But the official results should be available by the middle of the week.

[jomiddlemarch]

So, 27% of youth age 18-29 voted in the midterms. Based on my extensive experience in text-banking and my entire career working with adolescents and youth, what I’m NOT going to do is castigate young people for not turning out to vote in a higher percentage...BECAUSE THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO MAKE IT HARD FOR THEM!

- they have the least experience and habit of voting

- they have to contend with figuring out voter registration rules that vary from state-to-state

- mail-in ballots are not reliably received nor processed in several states

- they have fewer financial resources to help them get to the polls (gas money, bus passes, time off low-paid work are all factors)

- there are not enough polling places on/near college campuses (having to wait in incredibly long lines for hours is an example of voter suppression!)

What I AM going to do is praise the young voters who made a huge difference in the recent election and work to support organizations that increase youth turnout and write postcards to young voters and continue text banking. If we got 27% this time, we could get 30-40% next go round.

[iwriteaboutfeminism]

I think that for people who are still undecided on whether they will vote, continuing to give them lists of reasons to vote which are made up of reasons that have already not convinced them to vote, won't help you accomplish your goal of turning out new voters- which is what can really swing elections in your favor.

So let's brainstorm.

Because if our messaging isn't moving potential voters, it's on us to update our messaging.

What's something that would convince you to vote that you haven't already heard 100 times?

[saotome-michi]

The Youth Vote in 2022

National Youth Turnout: 23% - That's lower than in the historic 2018 cycle (28%) which broke records for turnout, but much higher than in 2014, when only 13% of youth voted.

Top Turnout States: Michigan had the highest youth turnout in the country (37%), with Minnesota, Maine, Oregon, and Colorado also above 30%.

Lowest Turnout States: Oklahoma, Alabama, Indiana, West Virginia, and Tennessee all had youth turnout at or below 15%.

Four States Surpassed 2018: Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and Arkansas were the only states to have a higher youth turnout in 2022 than in 2018. In those first three states, Democrats won competitive statewide races for governor and/or U.S. Senate.

Election Policies Matter: Many of the states with the highest youth turnout have policies like automatic and same-day registration that make it easier for young people to register and vote. Many of the states with lower turnout do not have these policies in place or have restrictions like voter ID laws.

Upward Trend Since 2014: All but one state for which we have data (Louisiana) had higher youth turnout in 2022 than in 2014, suggesting a broad trend of increased youth voting over the past decade.

[wilwheaton]

Current data debunks the conventional wisdom that younger Americans don’t vote (and therefore can be ignored). Young voters turned out where it mattered most in 2022, namely in swing states with competitive races. The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tuft University’s post-2022 election study found that youth turnout in Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon and Pennsylvania exceeded 32 percent. Atrocious turnout rates below 20 percent in states such as Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia dragged down the national youth turnout rate. The significance of the youth vote shouldn’t be underestimated. “If the elections had been decided by voters 45 and older, Republicans would have won the House by an even greater margin and likely taken the Senate,” polling analyst John Della Volpe wrote in the New York Times after the election.

Tennessee's expulsion of two lawmakers might reshape politics - The Washington Post

If America is going to be saved from Fascism, we will have Zoomers and Millennials to thank for it.

I’m just one Old, but I’m here to support y’all. Just tell me where the barricade is and I’ll show up.

[traegorn]

hey! pagan here! you have the political knowledge of a fourth grader. please consider reading some theory before expounding on liberal taking points that are utterly useless.

So the other day I was fucking your dad while your mom was watching. He wasn't saying much on account of the ball gag, but she was asking me some questions about youth voter turnout for some reason. Mostly she wanted to know why 18-24 year olds seem so much less likely to vote than those 25 and older.

I started to explain, while really giving it to your Dad, that the main reason folks that young don't vote, contrary to popular belief, ends up being habit more than anything else.

As I started to give your dad the reach around, I explained that if we pull up something like the American National Election Studies Cumulative Datafile and do a historical comparison to twenty-one to twenty-seven year olds prior to the passage of the twenty-sixth amendment we see similar pattern to eighteen to twenty-four year olds post twenty-sixth.

Your mom then asked if that held up for midterm elections, and I pointed out that our data's not as solid with the ANES file for midterms, but yeah it seems to.

Anyways, that's when your Dad came and your mom paid me my fifty bucks and I left.

[the-cimmerians]

At midnight on Saturday, more than 20 anti-LGBTQ+ bills died in West Virginia after the legislature adjourned sine die. Bills that did not pass included the misleadingly named "Women’s Bill of Rights," which would have ended legal recognition for transgender people in the state, as well as a bill that would have prohibited gender-affirming care for all transgender youth. West Virginia is the second state in a week hinting that anti-transgender legislative attacks are encountering resistance. Last week, Florida's legislature also adjourned, effectively killing dozens of anti-transgender bills.

One bill that failed to pass as the West Virginia legislature adjourned was House Bill 5243, also known as the misleadingly-named "Women’s Bill of Rights" by its proponents. The bill primarily aimed to exclude transgender individuals from all legal gender protections in the state. Riley Gaines, who heavily promoted the bill, joined Governor Jim Justice at a press conference where it was announced as a major policy priority. The proposed legislation would have led to bathroom restrictions, prohibitions on driver's license and ID changes, and the elimination of legal recognition for transgender people's gender identities. Despite frantic, last-minute efforts by some Republicans to pass it, Democratic lawmakers countered by proposing dozens of amendments for debate. As a result, Republicans placed it at the bottom of the calendar.

“HB 5243 offered no real tangible protections for cisgender women, all while punching down on another marginalized community, and sought to erase protections for transgender West Virginians,” says Ash Orr, a trans organizer in West Virginia, “Essentially, it amounted to yet another culture war bill designed to divert attention from genuine issues affecting all residents of West Virginia.”

Another bill that did not pass in West Virginia was House Bill 5297, which sought to entirely prohibit gender-affirming care for all transgender youth. The state had previously enacted a ban on gender-affirming care, but it included an exception for transgender youth experiencing "severe dysphoria." HB 5297 aimed to eliminate that exception. More than 400 health care providers signed a letter opposing the bill, describing gender-affirming care as lifesaving and urging the legislature to reject it. The bill failed to pass before the legislature adjourned, meaning that at least some transgender youth in the state will continue to be able to receive care, making it one of the few red states where this is still the case.

The state is the latest in a series of developments suggesting that the anti-transgender panic gripping the GOP may be diminishing in the lead-up to the 2024 elections. Florida also recently adjourned without passing numerous anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Recent elections have raised questions about the effectiveness of anti-transgender policies in driving voter turnout. In 2023, more than 70% of Moms for Liberty candidates were defeated. The Virginia legislature shifted to Democratic control, despite Governor Youngkin's efforts to campaign for Republicans by emphasizing anti-transgender politics as a policy priority. Governor Andy Beshear was reelected in Kentucky despite substantial ad expenditures attacking him for vetoing anti-transgender legislation.

When asked about the failure of these to pass, Orr stated, “The truth is, transgender people of all ages are living happy, complete, and beautiful lives - this contradicts the false narrative created around our community by anti-transgender politicians.”

The only bill that did pass in the state was a bill that would stop non-binary gender markers on birth certificates, though it is unclear what effect the legislation would have given that the state did not have a history of issuing such birth certificates.

Although these bills are failing to pass in states that have historically targeted transgender individuals, it remains unclear whether their failure signifies a genuine shift away from targeting LGBTQ+ people or merely a pause in anticipation of the 2024 election outcomes. The threat remains significant in many areas, with a few extreme bills being enacted this year, including a gender-affirming care ban in Wyoming and an adult bathroom ban in Utah. Additionally, some new states have witnessed the successful advancement of anti-trans legislation, such as a "Parents Rights in Education" bill in Washington, which could lead to forced outings, and a bill in New Hampshire that permits sports and bathroom bans. The national budget debate also includes anti-trans provisions that are still under negotiation.

Nevertheless, activists in states that have experienced the most severe attacks see reasons for celebration and hope. The failure of dozens of bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community means that residents in these states will have another year to prepare and strategize. If the 2024 elections yield unfavorable results for Republicans who have advocated anti-transgender legislation, similar to the outcomes in 2022 and 2023, it could further argue against the political viability of making these bills a policy priority. Most importantly, transgender individuals in these states are granted the valuable gift of time to catch their breath following the relentless barrage of legislative efforts that have dominated political discourse over the past five years.

[kp777]

By Kenny Stancil

Common Dreams

Apr 25, 2023

"We need you to deliver the bold ideas that our generation cannot live without—stop the climate crisis, fight for the rights and dignity of immigrants, impose real gun control—and run on a bold platform that will get our generation out to vote."

In response to U.S. President Joe Biden's Tuesday announcement that he is seeking reelection in 2024, four youth-led advocacy groups urged the incumbent to push for progressive priorities during the remainder of his first term and campaign on policies that motivate young voters to cast ballots for him.

In a letter addressed to Biden, March for Our Lives, Gen Z for Change, Sunrise Movement, and United We Dream Action wrote: "If we're going to excite one of the leading voting blocs for Democrats, we need you to deliver the bold ideas that our generation cannot live without—stop the climate crisis, fight for the rights and dignity of immigrants, impose real gun control—and run on a bold platform that will get our generation out to vote."

"As the organizers of millions of young people across the country, we know that in order to secure wins against fascism in the 2024 presidential election, Millennials and Gen Z will have to turn out to vote in full force," the groups argued, sounding the alarm about the dire consequences likely to ensue if the increasingly authoritarian Republican Party takes control of the White House.

"Young people are not just a necessary part of a winning Democratic coalition, but the keystone precondition for Democratic victory... When Democrats energize and mobilize our generations, they win elections. When they don't, they lose."

"Following the results of 2018, 2020, 2022, and most recently the Wisconsin Supreme Court election in 2023, it is clear that young people are not just a necessary part of a winning Democratic coalition, but the keystone precondition for Democratic victory," says the letter. "The equation is simple. When Democrats energize and mobilize our generations, they win elections. When they don't, they lose."

"Going into 2024, our youth coalition is deeply committed to defeating fascist, right-wing extremism and the eventual Republican presidential nominee," the letter continues. "Young people are clear that the runaway extremism of abortion bans, threats to trans students, criminalization of immigrants, and the all-out assault on our climate are existential threats to our generation and generations to come."

However, when the Biden administration makes "bad decisions"—such as approving the Willow oil drilling venture and other fossil fuel projects, entertaining the revival of migrant family detentions, or otherwise "settling for the status quo"—it becomes "harder for us to get young people to the polls," the groups lamented. "That's why we need you to listen and co-govern with us if we're going to be able to mobilize the young voters we need to win."

The organizations implored Biden "to lead with our generation's values and policies at the forefront of your campaign and your next year in office," contending that his 2020 platform was essential to defeating former President Donald Trump—who is seeking the Republican nomination for 2024 despite facing various legal issues—and that progressive policymaking, particularly last summer, inspired the young voters who ultimately minimized the Democratic Party's losses in the 2022 midterms.

In the spring of 2022, "young voters were largely disillusioned with politics and were not excited to vote," states the letter. "That changed once you passed a historic climate bill, passed overdue gun safety legislation, and sought to cancel student loan debt—resulting in the second-highest youth midterm turnout in the past 30 years. Now, more than ever, we cannot abandon this two-part strategy—run on bold ideas young people can rally behind and have significant legislative victories to back them up."

"We urge you to not leave our generation behind as you build your new campaign. Do not take our generation for granted."

"Going into the 2024 presidential election, it is clear that our opponents are getting even more ruthless and extreme," the groups warned. "Across the country we've seen abortion bans, transgender bathroom bans, [and] book bans in schools imposed by Republican extremists. We've seen Republican electeds say they will do nothing to stop gun violence, expel those who disagree with them from office, and attempt to ban educational opportunities and threaten the livelihood of immigrants in our communities. They must be stopped."

"We urge you to not leave our generation behind as you build your new campaign," says the letter. "Do not take our generation for granted."

"We are a generation that grew up through crisis—from watching storms decimate our communities to practicing school shooter drills to living through a global pandemic," the letter adds. "Throughout all of these crises, young people have shown up to demand the transformational change the country needs. We are fighters for a better world. That will not change in 2024."

[tamamatango]

“Keroro Gunsgo To The Polls”: The Possible Behind-the-Scenes of the Ad-nime Short Nobody Expected

A much less existentially depressing display of political campaign buffoonery.

Here’s yet another unplanned post from me. The other long-form ones I was talking about before I keep putting off because of work and also another pretty ambitious project I’m putting together taking my attention—I don’t know how or when to talk about it here juuuuust yet, but it exists in public and some of you already know what it is/have seen it, so stay tuned perhaps.

As you can see from the video link/photo, this post is a writeup about a surprise video apparently commissioned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that uses the Keroro characters to encourage young people to go out and vote in the upcoming elections for the Governor of Tokyo. It came out about a week ago, but I initially glossed over it because…well, I thought it wasn’t new. After all, the copyright DOES attribute the copyright to 2014 and it looks very similar to the Flash anime at first glance, so…this must be a reupload from the 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election or something, right?

Upon looking more deeply into it, no. There’s no record of this ever existing before this week, and it was later confirmed to be new via social media channels. Which means this is technically a brand new piece of animated Keroro content, which I pledged I would report on. So here I am. Whoopee.

This post is going to be about the short from a production standpoint, primarily. I’m not going to spend time on the plot (if you want to call it that lol), as it was already pretty succinctly summarized by this post here by @unfo11owmelol , and I can say it’s more or less accurate, so thank you! I will make a comment in that the Dororo ranting about plastic thing seems to just be a running gag he has now—he was always an environmentalist of course, but his hatred of plastic specifically is kind of new; it was even a major punchline in this month’s manga chapter. In fact, this short has the manga’s quirks written all over it. It’s almost as if Yoshizaki himself was heavily involved in it. Oh wait, he was. But we’ll get to that.

The Context

As previously mentioned, this short was commissioned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and posted exclusively to their YouTube channel. This is where I was going to have a few sentences about how it was literally exclusively on the YouTube channel because none of the official social media accounts posted about it, but as I was writing the last 40% of the post, Keroro PR and one of the Tokyo government accounts finally mentioned it. So give a pat on the back to ol’ Kirb’s amazing procrastination abilities. Anyways, for the whole week before they finally decided to acknowledge its existence, it literally just dropped on YouTube with no warning and the only reason anybody on social media knew about it is because people whose YT feeds it popped up on were like hey what the fuck is this.

“What the fuck is this” is a pretty good question. While the fact that it’s about the gubernatorial election specifically isn’t directly mentioned in the video, it was pretty obvious given the timing, as it’s set to occur on July 7. I am not the most knowledgeable about Japanese politics as a whole, but this year’s race for governor is apparently particularly competitive, with over 50 candidates running. Here’s a short article giving a rundown of the race so far. The top issue is unsurprisingly the low birthrate, which has been causing panic over the fate of Japan’s economy for a considerably long time now. That’s why the government is very concerned that the voter disparity is incredibly polarizing, with young people voting much less than the elderly.

Well, what better way to fix low youth vote turnout than with anime? After all, the Zillenials want nothing more than to obsess over fictional characters while the world crumbles around them into inevitable disrepair I’m not projecting at all. The irony here is that, when the anime was originally in its prime at least, Keroro’s target audience was elementary schoolers. Indeed, the short definitely has the aura of a PSA they’d show to children, but obviously children are not voting. There’s even a point in the video where Tamama says going to the polling place is an opportunity to visit your childhood school, which is a statement more relatable to young adults. I guess at this point the main audience for Keroro really is considered to be the people who grew up with it in their child/teen years—unless the actual new anime gets a primetime kids’ TV slot, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Considering this is the most viewed PSA about the election on their YouTube channel by far, I guess it worked to an extent? It’s currently hovering just under 20k views, which isn’t really too much in the grand scheme. But now that it’s been officially shared on social media, perhaps that’ll give it a boost. Will most of these viewers actually go out to vote is the question…

Production staff peculiarities

As with any animated Keroro content following the end of the Flash anime—which until the new show airs has basically just been this, the new project announcement trailer, and some anti-piracy ad they were doing in movie theaters that they ironically scrubbed from the internet—BN Pictures is credited as the animation studio (though the studio Sugarless Factory assisted; they pretty much exclusively do production assistance for various projects). This is interesting because it looks completely unlike anything they’ve ever done. Unless I’m missing something, none of the anime they’ve produced before have been done in a similar Flash-like style.

Now, as we Internet addicts all know, Flash has been officially dead for a few years now. However, it might still be used very rarely in lowkey web animations like this, although a friend who knows more about anime production than I do told me even those are more commonly made using Live2D now. The credits for this short are very…short, but the director and a couple of other animators worked on a particular Flash-animated series called Oshiri Kajiri Mushi (“Bottom Biting Bug”) that first aired on the TV channel NHK in 2012. I’m guessing these staff are freelance, as that show was produced by the studio Kinema Citrus (a team founded by ex-members of Production I.G and Bones), and were possibly brought on to this short because they had experience with the software. If it is animated using something like Live2D, the experience still applies, as it’s apparently more similar to Flash than something more commonly used in anime like Clip Studio Paint. The director also has 3D CG credits and there is a credit here for “motion” that includes his name, so maybe a little of that was used as well. (Wouldn’t be able to tell myself—most experience I have with 3D animation is a one semester Maya course I took in high school lol).

Curiously, despite the potentially similar animation software and very similar artstyle + color palette, none of the animation staff, as far as I can tell, worked on the 2014 Flash anime. That is, except for…Mine Yoshizaki.

On all animated Keroro media, Yoshizaki’s primary official credit is “original creator,” of course. As the series creator, he would of course participate to a degree in most things related to the 2004 series, doing stuff like sitting in on some writing and recording sessions, contributing ideas/concept art here and there, and so on. There’s actually a Newtype article from around the announcement of the first movie I dug up that was officially translated into English, in which Yoshizaki talks about the pressure of being in that role. Most mangaka interviews I’ve seen about their involvement in their works’ anime adaptations are pretty overwhelmingly positive, but he was definitely more mixed. This might be a post for another day, since I have some speculations about his relationship to the anime as a whole. Damn, I need to stop coming up with essay ideas that are probably too big for my pea brain.

Anyway, Yoshizaki was quite a bit more involved in the 2014 series. He served as one of two people responsible for series composition (scriptwriting), though that could be because the Flash anime was a much more direct adaptation of the manga than the original anime, which might as well have been an entirely different series. IIRC, some episodes of Flash were literally 1:1 with the manga’s script…so I guess that counts as writing the anime too lol. He also storyboarded a few episodes and wrote the opening theme song’s lyrics. The next Keroro animation after that was the anti-piracy theater ad in 2021, which he storyboarded for. But you’ll notice with all the credits we’ve discussed so far that he was never involved with the animation proper past the storyboarding stage…until now!

Not only was Yoshizaki credited as original creator as usual, he also did directorial supervision, storyboarding, and was a key animator—the only key animator, in fact! I know it’s just a five-minute short, but the Flash series’s episodes were even shorter than that and had multiple key animators per episode, so this is kind of a big deal. It also might explain why the character designs look just a little bit more on-model to the manga designs than Flash’s did, even though they look almost identical at a cursory glance. It’s easiest to tell by looking at the less-rounded head shapes, plus a few minor details like Tamama’s eye highlights and the bridge of Kururu’s glasses. I am very normal, how could you tell?

So yeah, this makes this short the most Yoshizaki has ever been involved with the actual animation process. I can’t say it gives him the most additional credits, as it’s tied with the Flash series for three extra, but it’s something!

Closing out the staff section, some notes about the cast. As you might expect, the usual actors reprise their roles. Most notably, Mamiko Noto is back to play Mois for what I believe (unless I’m missing a random collab or something) is her first time in the role in ten years, and she pretty much didn’t miss a beat! In addition to Fuyuki and Natsumi’s VAs playing them recently at the Keroro expo, that’s three additional voices besides the Keroro Platoon’s that presumably are still going to be able to return for the new anime.

Otherwise, the platoon sounds pretty much like they did in the anniversary trailer and various other small projects like the anti-piracy ad and Tales of the Rays collab from last year (they each had multiple spoken lines there). Keroro sounds a tad deeper; Tamama has some of the Jibanyan nasal now; Giroro didn’t really talk much but sounds mostly the same; Dororo is also a bit deeper and sounds kinda awkward but I think that’s less the voice direction and more Yoshizaki possibly wrote the dialogue and he speaks more assertively in the manga lol; Kururu sounds literally the exact same because Koyasu is a magic man.

Made in [Insert Year]?? (Ft. A lesson in trademarking)

I mentioned this at the beginning of this post, but for a solid few days, I really thought this video was just an ancient (2014 feels ancient now anyway) reupload. After all, the copyright string says 2014, and only media produced during the Flash series era has that copyright year, so I brushed it off. Here, let me show you all the anime copyright strings per the current anime portal:

There’s no 2004 date on the TV series’s copyright, probably because it covers the entire series from 2004–2011, plus now 2024 onward (and possibly the anti-piracy ad from 2021 as well), and also most anime-branded merch and things. But when the show was airing proper, it was attributed to 2004 (you can see this in the opening credits of any season). The 2006–2010 dates are for each individual movie. And there’s the 2014 copyright that’s the exact same as the video’s, though here it is for the Flash anime, as there’s pictures of it on the anime portal site. As an aside, before 2015, Sunrise was listed instead of BNP. At some point all anime rights got retroactively transferred from Sunrise Inc. to BNP—not sure how or when exactly that occurred. For the movies, there were slight shakeups in the production committee as well (you can see my new project trailer analysis for more on that kind of stuff).

As you can see, copyright strings for the series are attributed to the year each individual “product” came out in, for the most part. But now we know that this ad is brand new. So…does this mean this political ad is counted as part of the Flash anime? They obviously didn’t plan to include this specific video ten years ago (unless Kadokawa bought out an oracle or something, wouldn’t surprise me). Maybe they left the door open to more episodes of the Flash anime proper, but that isn’t what this was advertised as.

Well, I have a theory. A theory that might be totally wrong, but a theory nonetheless. Let’s go on a massive tangent about the Japanese trademark system! (Disclaimer: I have no formal training in the legal field. I just have really weird research hobbies.)

I’m going to focus on two basic principles here. First, once trademarks in Japan are officially registered, they are active for ten years before the copyright applicant must reapply to renew ownership of the trademark for another ten years. Second, trademarks have to be filed under certain classifications that basically tell the JPO (Japan Patent Office) what goods and/or services the applicant plans to use the trademark for. This means that sometimes the same trademark will be filed multiple times for different use classes. The classifications are each given a two digit class number, which is further subdivided into five-character group code(s).

You can actually search through all public patents yourself on J-PlatPat, and the site is machine translated into English (though you still have to type the copyright you’re looking for in Japanese). Let’s take a look at the three different filings for ケロロ軍曹 (just the name of the series itself, not the logo).

I’m on my phone so I couldn’t fit the entire window, but the important information is here. Kadokawa Corporation is the filer for all of these, though Yoshizaki’s name is probably also on whatever application documents they sent, which aren’t viewable. The three versions of the trademark were filed on different dates about a year apart. You’ll see that class 16 is there twice. For the first filing, it was class 16 and multiple group codes designating different kinds of goods (class 28 also contains goods-related things); the second filing covers a single group code protecting “printed matter” (presumably this was to cover any physical distributions of the manga).

I’m going to take a closer look at the third filing, which was officially registered in 2004. Class 09 covers a shitload of different goods and services, like way too many to list. What I’m thinking is that the first set of goods trademarks filed in 2001 was just to cover the kind of stuff they’d attach to issues of Shonen Ace and volume releases as giveaways—paper goods, board game-type items, and toys/dolls are all covered under it. Then in 2003, in preparation for the inevitable merchandise and collaboration dump the anime would lead to, they opened the floodgates to literally any Material Thing they could think to cover. Like, I’m pretty sure we never got any Keroro-branded egg candlers, fire alarms, or “cigar lighters for automobiles”, but might as well cover all your bases. Wouldn’t want the local fire department handing out emergency gear with your cartoon frog on it without permission, you know.

Included among these materials are some items that might be a bit more relevant to our case here. There’s a number of clauses related to physical and digital film, photography, and other media: “CD-ROM and DVD and other recording media, electronic publications, downloadable music, downloadable image[s]”. Now, while this doesn’t cover “animation” specifically, it can possibly be stretched to fit that definition. This is especially because, in Japanese, the term the MTL output as “images” is actually eizou, which can refer to both images and video.

So, the version of the trademark registered for the brand in 2004 likely covers certain media-related things. There are other classes that include the word “animation” specifically, but it’s possible that those classes weren’t classified the same way back then as they are now, and maybe anything film-related could’ve been interpreted by the law to include animation. Nowadays, though there are specific classifications for animation, specifically “animation available for download.” This subgroup actually happens to fall under class 09, though other classes contain similar items as well, such as class 41. You can search classes by number or keyword if you’re curious about this.

As I pointed out before I presented this data, all of these particular filings are for specifically ケロロ軍曹, not ケロロ. If ケロロ is to be used in isolation, it would have to be specified as such in the registration data, because what’s actually stopping someone else from coming along and trademarking just ケロロ? Now, remember the name of the Flash anime? That’s right—ケロロ. Just “Keroro”, not “Keroro Gunso.” Incidentally, this video is actually not formally titled under ケロロ軍曹 (despite what the thumbnail says). The only name in the title of the actual video is ケロロ.

So here is my theory. Maybe it’s a hypothetical, but I’m going to treat it like it’s concrete for argument’s sake. In 2014, to prepare for the Flash anime and related branding, Kadokawa filed for the trademark ケロロ—individually, without 軍曹. Because it was the 2010s at that point, it’s possible that downloadable animation was more specifically defined in the group codes filed for, even though the Flash anime did air on TV (again, the strategy to this is about covering as many potential use cases as possible for maximum copyright protection). Maybe it was under class 09, maybe it was another class, or even more than one. For whatever reason, the trademark is not publicly available. But because of what kind of animation/video/whatever that specific trademark covers, this little election video is covered under that 2014 trademark.

You might recall how I said trademarks have to be renewed every ten years. Incidentally, it just so happens that 2014 was ten years ago. Most likely, the (secret?) trademark was recently renewed so that stuff like this would be allowed to be made and can continue to be made in the future, independently from “Keroro Gunso” as defined by the 2004-verse and the manga proper. And because 2014 is the original filing year of that trademark, that is the year that is displayed with this project, even if the trademark was renewed in 2024, or some other recent year. By the way, all the ケロロ軍曹 trademarks I covered were also renewed this decade, so Kadokawa can keep on doing whatever exactly they were doing with those. There’s probably even more hidden-from-public-view trademarks, who knows, there’s a thousand potential asterisks here but you get the picture.

Fascinating, isn’t it? As I said, it’s possible that I’m just talking out of my ass and all of this is either way more simple or way more complicated than I’m making it out to be, in which case I just wasted multiple paragraphs of your time. But hey, at least it was a fun lesson, right? I’m not the only one interested in this, right? RIGHT?!?!?!

Okay, I’m just about done here, but I’m going to tell you something plot twisty. Do you know what actually first clued me in to the fact that this was not made in 2014 before it was confirmed to be the case? Not the upload date. Not the fact that nobody ever talked about it prior to a week ago. Not even all the probably useless copyright shit I just spent a whole other post’s worth of words on.

It was this part of the video:

See, in this screenshot, if you look really closely, you’ll notice that Kururu is using an iPhone parody with three cameras. The first iPhones with three cameras were released in 2019. Therefore, this could not have been made in 2014. This stupid detail is what it took to get me to think about this video for more than thirty seconds.

Thank you, Kururu’s crippling iPhone addiction.

So yeah, go out and vote or whatever, wherever you guys are. Otherwise you’ll have to look Mois in the eyes and tell her no, and that will make her very sad, and she might blow up the planet as consequence. Not that the planet isn’t already being destroyed. Any of my fellow Americans want to join me for a screaming session following the last few days of federal fuckery? I’ll bring chocolate-covered pretzels to snack on and we’ll write the names of corporate lobbyists on them, it’ll be fun.

[ceilidhtransing]

If you're eligible to vote in the upcoming UK general election, please for the love of god vote against the Tories

The 2024 Conservative manifesto is a total disaster for LGBTQ rights, particularly those of trans, nonbinary and intersex people.

A smattering of fun things they plan to do if elected:

Change the Equality Act such that the “sex” category only means “biological sex”, thus removing discrimination protections for trans and nonbinary people

Codify that an individual “can only have one sex in the eyes of the law”, denying nonbinary people the right to have their gender legally recognised

Force teachers to follow recent government guidance that bans discussion of gender identity in schools and outs gender-questioning kids to their parents

Ban gender-neutral healthcare terminology like “chest-feeding” or “birthing parent”

Legislate to permanently prevent the private prescription of puberty blockers for trans, nonbinary and questioning youth

That last one is a biggie. You read it right - they have already banned any new prescriptions for puberty blockers on the NHS; now they want to make it illegal to even access them privately, through services like GenderGP or YourGP or GenderCare or any other non-NHS provider. I'm sure I don't need to detail at length how devastating this would be to so many young people and their families.

And aside from these specific promises, this section of their manifesto is full of transphobic dogwhistles like “biological sex is a reality” and that a ban on conversion therapy is a “complex issue”.

So please, if you're eligible to vote on 4 July, go and vote against the Tories. No, I'm not saying you therefore “have to vote Labour”; there are plenty of valid reasons you might not want to vote for that party either, and you may well live in a constituency where Labour is not the primary competitor to the Conservatives anyway. But if you don't want to vote Labour - totally fair - at least go vote Liberal Democrat. Or Green. Or SNP. Or Plaid Cymru. Or something else that isn't this flaming binbag of rabid transphobes. I have a whole election masterpost pinned to the top of my blog that directs you to registering to vote, making sure you have the right ID, and finding out about anti-Tory tactical voting if that's something that you're interested in. If you're not already registered to vote, you have until midnight on 18 June to do so.

And I know that everyone is already saying with certainty that the Conservatives will face electoral wipeout this year. But it's a genuine risk that too many people will just take this for granted and not bother to vote because “the Tories aren't going to win anyway”, so they end up sneaking through with far more seats than expected because of crashingly low voter turnout. We can't just rest on our laurels here. Please do your small part to deny any more power to this hateful nightmare of a political party.

[onetimetwotimesthreetimess]

TO EVERYONE OF LEGAL AGE IN INDIA

If you are a citizen of the country, I am begging you to vote in the National Elections, 2024.

In 2014, the turnout of youth (inclusive of first time voters) was at a staggering 70%. In 2019, this number decreased quite a bit.

Today, in 2024, that number has decreased drastically. Voter registration among youth currently ranges for somewhere between 17% in Bihar, 21% in NCR, 23% in UP, to around 35% in major cities with maximum youth population.

Only 38% of the first time eligible voters have registers for National Elections this time.

I understand. We are all tired. The ruling party has made a mockery of the elections. I 100% get it. But please, you all need to vote. Even if you’re tired, even if you see no hope of things changing even this time. You still need to vote.

I know everybody says it but it bears repeating, every single vote counts.

If you are a student, there’s a holiday during all the 5 phase dates. If you are a working adult, your company legally needs to allow you a holiday on the day. I travelled back to my hometown to vote today because it fucking matters.

Please vote, if you can. Please vote, if you care.

This election results should not be about which party will lead the country to the top five developing nations. This elections should be about which party will let the country breathe for another four years.

I’m sincerely requesting you all to vote. If not today, then tomorrow, things will change. But they won’t, unless, you vote.

Vote for yourself. Vote for the ones who cannot. Vote for the ones whose voices will never be heard. Vote for the ones who made noise, made themselves hurt and are suffering for their words. Vote for everyone who dealt with unimaginable pain in the last 8 years. Vote to give this country another chance.

[tomorrowusa]

Turnout is the only factor that really matters in elections.  ☒

You doubt this?

Take a look at two recent elections in Virginia a year apart.

In the 2020 presidential election Joe Biden carried Virginia by 10.11%. In the 2021 gubernatorial election, Trump Republican Glenn Youngkin won by 1.94%.

While all age groups voted in lower numbers in 2021, people under 40 voted in substantially lower numbers and the number of those in the 18-29 group fell off a cliff.

In November of 2020, the two under 40 cohorts made up a healthy 29.83% of the Virginia vote. 12 months later, that percentage plummeted to 22.01%. In the same period, the three oldest cohorts saw their combined percentage leap from 54.35% to 62.41%. As a result, Virginia now has a governor in the form of Glenn Youngkin (AKA: “Trumpkin”) who repealed state protections for trans students, tried to recriminalize weed, and is opposed to increasing the minimum wage in the state.

Voting is the way you exercise power in a democracy. If you don’t vote, you are relinquishing power to those who do vote.

(Source of stats in tables - click “Final election” )

[m1shka-moon-bear-feelings]

Harris-Walz Ticket is Real Folks!

I'm satisfied with the VP pick for the Democratic party. At first, I was worried that they will pick Shapiro, arguably the worst pick between the three prospective VPs, as he had none of the space man appeal of Kelly and none of the progressive flair of Walz. While it can be argued that he could appeal to PA voters and snag a victory in the crucial battleground state, I believe a humble, Midwestern dad character is a great contrast to the youthful(I use this loosely) spunky energy of Harris herself, and has made many younger Democratic voters happy. This is possibly the most progressive, as well as the most electable Democratic ticket in a while. With Harris rising in the polls, her rallies being filled to the brim with people, and her policies being rather likable as well, this wonderful pick for her running mate is the icing on the cake. Trump has severely meddled his plans for being elected again with his pick of Vance, arguably the worst person to choose out of the choices he had. Catering to MAGA folks is not what got him elected in 2016, as he ran with the more moderate (but still bible-thumping) Pence. This pick is most definitely to appease MAGA political figures and voters, of which there aren't as many as it seems to be just looking at his horrible rally turnout in Georgia. Just know that it isn't joever folks, it's only Harristarted.

[ptseti]

KENYA ANTI-TAX PROTESTS START OF A REVOLUTION?

The weak-ass, lame-ass, corrupt politicians are seen fleeing from the people that elected them.

These past two weeks will go down in Kenya’s history as when the East African country’s youth cemented their place in national politics.

Rallying under the ‘Occupy Parliament’ slogan, Kenyans protested against the International Monetary Fund-backed tax proposals that President William Ruto says are necessary to shore up the treasury and offset runaway debts. While no official turnout figure is available, some online speculate that over 1 million protesters made their voices heard.

[karpad]

I want to use a metaphor of local government to elaborate on why you'll see people say "you say every election is the most important ever, fuck you." if you'll pardon the novella:

My political project is education. Public schools and, specifically libraries, are a treasure that I believe we should be building and supporting the way medieval dukes would build churches.

Within local government, you'll find some liberals who, in general think I've got a pretty good idea, but they have other priorities as well, such as demarking county land for subdivision development and allocating funds for police to keep their downtown shopping district clean and safe (ie free of homeless people or youths). But there are also conservatives who want to turn the subdivisions into fiefdoms for their HOAs, oppose all my ideal funding projects and, indeed, any property tax funded projects of any kind, and want the brutalizing cops to be funded by federal grants and seizures from poor people

about a decade ago, due to a combination of term limits and support from up ticket voter turnout, one of those conservatives got elected. before the end of his 2 year term, he did indeed gut a bunch of these desired projects sold off local park land to developers who happened to be his brother in law's business partners, and similar shenanigans before the normal low-turnout elections got a big push from everyone agreeing this is not normal, is a big deal, and a drive to register a bunch of college students and local liberals pushed him back out.

now obviously, he wants back in and is re-running in every election he can, and will keep doing so because the Board of Commerce loves his crooked ass. But at least for the foreseeable future, so long as we maintain some kind of coalition, he doesn't stand a chance and we can keep him out. Which is great.

But here's the thing, there are, in fact, more liberals with their housing development goals ("student housing! we're a huge college town! that's important and will drive down prices!") and downtown renewal projects than my Friends of the Library expansion project. We have different goals, and I understand this.

So we need this coalition to keep the monsters out. but, and here's the important part, the liberals get to continue working on their project the entire time whenever my voting bloc keeps them in power, but rather than meeting their goals AND my goals, they ignore my goals and offer me only "well, you'd hate it even worse if that asshole got back. its important to keep him out."

Like, yes, I have more in common with them than I do with the conservative. But I am simultaneously important enough to need a coalition with, but not important enough for you to fulfill my political projects.

Which is kind of insulting. Either you need me, and therefore should act like it and do things I want, or you don't, in which case you can ignore me but I have no obligations to you either.

[invisibleicewands]

We, the undersigned, come together as creatives and artists, recognising the immense power held within each voice, especially those often underrepresented in our society. 

Art and creativity shapes and reflects the diverse experiences of our communities. It’s vital that politics does too, and that everyone’s voice is heard in our democracy. 

But in Britain today, as many as 8 million people are not registered to vote at their current address. Turnout of younger voters has been falling considerably.  New rules requiring photo ID risk excluding hundreds of thousands of citizens, and disproportionately affecting poorer people, those with disabilities and people from minority ethnic backgrounds.

We, the undersigned, stand united in our belief that participation in elections is not just a right, but a profound responsibility—one that should extend to everyone, at the heart of a vibrant democracy. 

That is why we urge you to join us in registering to vote for the upcoming local elections before the deadline of 23:59 on Tuesday 16 April, at https://qrco.de/giveanx. Remember, you are also eligible to register if you are a qualifying EU or Commonwealth citizen. 

We join hands with the young people leading the Give an X campaign in emphasising the importance of young people shaping the future, and we urge each and every citizen to claim their seat at the table.

Voting is not just casting a ballot; it is narrating the stories of our communities and painting a vision of a better tomorrow. In the face of huge challenges nationally and globally, that has never been more important.

Let’s all of us write the next chapter together. We Give an X – will you?

Signed,

Michael Sheen - Actor

Paapa Essiedu - Actor

Meera Syal CBE - Actor and writer

Armando Iannucci - OBE Writer, director, producer and performer

Amelia Dimoldenberg - Comedian and presenter

Billy Bragg - Singer and songwriter

Samuel West - Actor and director

Sharon Gaffka - TV personality

Es Devlin CBE - Artist and designer

Ahir Shah - Comedian

Ralf Little - Actor and writer

Sir Stephen Frears - Director

Misan Harriman - Photographer and Chair of the Southbank Centre

Mei Mac - Actor

Sally Lindsay - Actor

Siobhán McSweeney - Actor and presenter

Sir Alistair Spalding CBE - Artistic Director, Sadler's Wells

Alice Aedy - CEO, Earthrise

David Lan CBE - Writer, producer and director

Georgia Harrison - TV personality

Timothy Sheader - Artistic Director, Donmar Warehouse

Henny Finch - Executive Director, Donmar Warehouse

Paule Constable - Lighting designer and Associate Director of the National Theatre

Daniel Lismore - Sculptor and designer

Luke McQueen - Comedian

Elliot Levey - Actor

Joseph Henry - Architect

Charlie Condou - Actor

Seeta Indani - Dancer and actor

Ania Magliano - Comedian

John O'Farrell - Author and scriptwriter

Emily Berrington - Actor

Rebecca Hendin - Illustrator

Jack Guinness - Writer and founder of The Queer Bible

Michael French - Head of Games London

Joseph Zeal-Henry - Director, Sound Advice

Sacha Lord - Co-founder of The Warehouse Project & Parklife festival Sam Evans - Musical Director

Estelle van Warmelo - Director

Bernard Donoghue OBE - CEO, Association of Leading Visitor Attractions

Stephen Skeet - Director of Impact, Volunteering Matters

Kayleigh Wainwright - Director of Youth Sector Innovation, UK Youth

Joe Bailey - CEO, Brighten the Corners/Out Loud Music

Jack Gamble - Director, Campaign for the Arts

Mete Coban MBE - CEO, My Life My Say

Lauren Kay-Lambert - Co Managing Director, Shape History

Sami Gichki - Co-Chair of the #iWill Movement