07-14-2024, 03:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-14-2024, 03:29 PM by J0EB. Edited 1 time in total.)
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7. Write 600 words or more on something about anything in the league that interests you. It could be related to statistics, a league issue that you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 600 words about your team’s participation on a Werewolf server or something.
I wanna talk about Chicago’s rebrand. Before we get into things, I have to place a disclaimer. I am what some would call, a weeb. I love anime, Japanese music, etc. I’m literally learning Japanese rn because I want to visit someday and experience their culture and beautiful landscapes first hand. So I am admittedly biased.
I really like the Osaka Kaiju. I think a team in Asia makes so much sense as the league was lacking there, and Japan is a great spot because it will resonate with more of the users across the ISFL. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a stronger Asian influence in the states than Anime. K-pop also comes to mind. (this is probably heavily based on where I live, I’d be very interested in discussing other Asian cultural elements that are popular globally). But even if Anime isn’t your thing, this branding still has you covered. Monster movies in recent years have been coming out nonstop, and they have their own cult following.
I think it’s difficult to find a non-cliche team name related to Japan, like Ninja’s or Samurai, that is also popular enough to be used as a team branding. I mean I even find Kaiju to be a bit Cliche, but I really appreciated the in-depth considerations made and explained in Chicago’s rebrand announcement post. Likewise, I’m glad Tokyo wasn’t chosen because that also feels too basic.
Moving ahead to the logo and color scheme itself, I think it looks very appealing. I love the contrast between the red and blue, I don’t think the league should be afraid to try out these uncommon color combos cause they end up looking sick. Red is way overused. But red and blue is new, it’s refreshing to see. With the old Butchers branding, I didn't mind the logo and I actually think it was a pretty creative theme for a team. But there are too many red teams in sports, so switching away from that but still paying homage to Chicago with red highlights in the logo is an excellent choice. I cannot wait to see some dope Kaiju jersey swaps.
Alongside all this, I think they also nailed the timing of this rebrand. I think most people across the league were caught off guard by this because typically what we've seen in the past is that bad teams will rebrand to try and emphasize a cultural change taking place and that sort of shift in direction. But Chicago has been doing pretty good in recent seasons so this isn't what this rebrand was done for. Chicago instead is recognizing that they've got a good thing going, and using the peak activity they have right now to make a team wide decision on a change of scenery.
I will say, I think they missed an incredible opportunity to use Kanji in an alternate logo. Kaiju in Kanji is: 怪獣. I understand that it would be difficult to find a font type that would accommodate this, but I think it could have been a cool statement to make. I mean theoretically, if there were international teams in the league, I'd imagine they'd have their names be in their native language for at least one logo, and then probably a romanized version like what we see across the league. It could've been a pretty creative move if possible.
There are a couple things I don't love about the rebrand, but it's just some small details. The field is too busy. I think it'd be fine for like a color rush field, but the skyline and everything along the bottom sideline isn't necessary. I like what they were going for and the idea behind it, it just doesn't look great imo. I also am not the biggest fan of the paw print/osaka flag secondary logo. Again, I like the idea behind it, but I think it just looks too cartoony I guess. the contrast between scary kaiju logo and cute paw print logo is just too strong.