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douxreviews · 5 years

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American Gods - ‘Come to Jesus’ Review

Wednesday: "What do you believe, Shadow?" Shadow: "Everything."

American Gods finishes its first season strong, but storms brewing both in front of and behind the camera leave us with questions...

Let's just deal with the elephant in the room up front, since it sort of colors everything about this episode. If you're not the sort of person who follows behind the scenes shenanigans in TV production, allow me to introduce you to the elephant.

A few months after the initial airing of the season one finale, word came out that the showrunners, Brian Fuller and Michael Green, were exiting the show. Details were scarce, and those we did get were probably overblown to a degree, but the general reason given at the time was the traditional 'creative differences' with just a dash of 'budgetary concerns.' The first series had come in enthusiastically over budget, which probably didn't make the network terribly happy but seems unlikely to be a deal killer on its own. Reports that Fuller and Green quit after clashes with Neil Gaiman over the direction of the show seem equally unlikely, as Neil is a profoundly decent human being and I just can't see him doing that sort of thing.

I suspect, and this is purely my opinion, that it was a combination of little things and was probably fairly amicable. It would appear, based on choices that they made in series one, that Fuller and Green saw the show more as an anthology series, with Wednesday and Shadow serving as a vehicle to explore other stories set in the universe. Gaiman was reported as wanting a more direct adaptation of the novel. The network, probably a little irritated with the overspending, came down on Gaiman's side, and so Fuller and Green moved on to other projects.

Again that's just my personal guess. What we do know for certain is that whatever happened behind the scenes led to both Gillian Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth deciding not to return for season two, which leaves a curious plot void after the conclusion of this episode.

We'll look at how this was handled when we talk about the season two premiere, but for now suffice it to say that it's impossible to watch this episode without being aware that both of them are about to exit prematurely, which definitely affects watching it now.

Whew. That's a lot of preliminary elephant.

So, after that brief come to Jesus moment, let's talk about 'Come to Jesus.'

As long as I'm breaking my own rules about what we do and don't consider in these reviews, I'll note that Jesus is notably absent in the novel. He gets a couple of mentions, but never actually pops in to have a chat. In the 10th anniversary edition there's a sort of appendix where Neil includes a portion of a chapter where Shadow meets Jesus, but notes that the interaction never felt exactly right for the story and so he kept not including it in the novel proper.

Here, almost as if to compensate, we have a lot of Jesuses. So many Jesuses that we're going to need a collective noun for a group of Jesuses, and I'm going to suggest that we call it a Faith. So, Wednesday and Shadow, and Mad Sweeney and Laura, arrive independently at the home of Ostara, aka Easter. Ostara is one of your 'harvest/fertility/spring/rebirth' sort of deities, and the nominal foundation of the holiday of Easter before early Christianity colonized it. She has the whole place tatted up for her annual celebration of herself, Easter, and is politely ignoring the many Jesuses who have kind of overrun the place.

So, no visual metaphor for the displacement of old beliefs there, no sir.

Easter is kind of a crystallization of a couple of things that have been going on over the course of the first season. For one thing she's the final instance of Wednesday individually seeking out an old god, wherever they might have ended up, and making a sales pitch for them to join his upcoming war. The fact that he appears to be successful in this case is deeply entwined with the other plot thread which she represents. Namely, the various ways that many of the old gods have or have not been co-opted and suborned by the new gods who have replaced them. Czernobog was never suborned, he was forgotten and left to rot. Vulcan allowed himself to be redefined completely, substituting bullets for volcanoes. Wednesday was offered the same deal as Vulcan and turned it down. Sweeney was never important enough for the new gods to even bother with – he'd been co-opted by General Mills long before. And Bilquis... well, we'll come back to Bilquis in a moment.

Easter shows us yet another variation on the theme; instead of being redefined, she's allowed herself to be overwritten. Christianity came along and claimed her special day, and pretended that the bunnies and the eggs had been part of their thing all along. And over the centuries, as the focus on her special day turned more and more away from her and toward whichever Jesus you happened to root for, she became more and more entrenched in her self delusion that it was really still all about her, deep down. They still followed all the old practices with the egg hiding and the rabbits, so she couldn't have been forgotten. Kristin Chenoweth did a great job here showing us a woman whose illusions are being brutally stripped away. She's made herself comfortable behind a layer of artifice, and once that's gone she faces the situation and reclaims her power. That's the point of her elaborate hairstyle coming undone and her hair falling wildly around her shoulders while Media's hat blows away. It's the pagan forces reasserting their power over the forces retraining them.

That said, while I appreciate what's happening thematically, and Mr. Wednesday is clearly successful in convincing Easter to reclaim her power and force humanity to worship her again, I'm almost positive that if Kentucky had a huge crop blight humanity's first response probably wouldn't be, 'Oh, I guess we should probably pray to Easter to take care of this.' Call me cynical.

Women being disempowered by men who fear them was a pretty strong theme all around this episode, and nowhere more so than the story of Bilquis, as told to us by Mr. Nancy. The visuals of Bilquis were great, particularly the fade from her ancient face makeup to her disco face makeup. I really like that we saw her in pre-revolutionary Tehran in the 70s. It's a period that American schools say absolutely nothing about, as if we talked about it we might have to discuss our own unfortunate involvement. Generally, I expect that US audiences know next to nothing about what Iran was like before the revolution, and that may be partly what made the incoming revolutionaries shooting up Bilquis' disco such a strong image for the female disempowerment metaphor they were building.

Watching Bilquis slowly deteriorate in the new world was heartbreaking, and it made perfect sense that she'd fall in with the new gods after Technical Boy offered her a new altar in the form of hook up aps. She doesn't seem to happy to be working for them now, however. It'll be interesting to see where that goes.

Which brings us to Laura, yet another woman who men are attempting to disempower. In this case it was Mr. Wednesday, via Mad Sweeney who had her killed, or as Sweeney puts it, 'sacrificed,' for no other reason than that he needed her out of the way so he could get to Shadow. And because it was a god who had her killed, Easter can't give her back the gift of life, which is convenient from a storytelling perspective. It also presented a great opportunity for the story to have Laura find out that Wednesday had her killed and sabotaged her casino robbery. Although I feel like we as a people need to accept that the 'eye holds the last image before it's death' trope is kind of tired at this point. Maybe let's rest that one for awhile.

So, ultimately season one was all about two things. Getting Shadow to a place where he is ready to believe in the existence of Odin and the other gods, and getting Mr. World to a place where he's willing to publicly commit to going to war against the old gods. Thanks to a prodigious sprinkling of Jesuses, this episode accomplishes both. I could have lived without Wednesday running over the bunnies though.

Quotes:

Mr. Nancy: "We should start with a story." Wednesday: "Oh Jesus, Nancy." Mr. Nancy: "I’m gonna tell you a story." Wednesday: "We haven’t got time for a story. Just do the f**king work." Mr. Nancy: "Let me tell a goddamn story!"

Mr. Nancy: "So long as I’m still alive, I can adapt. I still know what I am."

Technical boy: "Worship is a volume business. Whosoever has the most followers wins the game."

Wednesday: "Do not confuse confusion for anger."

Shadow: "I love Easter." Wednesday: "Many do. Some for the rabbits. Some for the resurrection."

Wednesday: "Believing is seeing. Gods are real if you believe in them."

Jesus: "I… feel terrible about this."

Technical Boy: "Hands free, honeypot. I have no intention of spending the rest of my days feeding your soul from the vagina nebula."

Media: "We popularized the pagan. We practically invented brunch."

Laura: "I will squeeze them straight out of the sack. It’ll be like shucking peas. I swear to Jesus. He’s right outside."

Media: "Put a pillow over that feeling and bear down until it stops kicking."

Bits and Pieces:

-- Jesus, sitting cross legged on the surface of a swimming pool with a drink sets his glass down next to him. The glass immediately sinks to the bottom of the pool. I get why they couldn't resist that sight gag, but there was really no reason for him to be sitting on the pool otherwise. Still funny, though.

-- So, after killing Vulcan, Mr. Wednesday and Shadow went directly to Mr. Nancy's place so that he could make them dapper new suits for the Easter party. Nancy knows that Wednesday killed Vulcan, but Easter believes the lie that it was the new gods who did it. That whole plotline is a little muddy.

-- What exactly is Mr. Nancy's relationship with the spiders? Are they his friends? Does he control them? I have so many questions.

-- I really hope Orlando Jones is enjoying his wardrobe for this series, because I certainly am. His outfits get more and more fabulous.

-- Are the bunnies all CGI? They have to be CGI, right?

-- One of the available Easter cookies was a sugar cookie in the shape of a hand, with red jelly in a neat circle in the center of the palm. I watched this episode four times before getting that.

-- I'm old enough that I remember it firsthand, but it seems just unfathomable that there was a point when smoking on airplanes was a thing.

-- Media seemed genuinely sad to lose Easter as a friend.

-- There's an adorable moment when Easter primps herself in her reflection on the sword while Wednesday is giving her his sales pitch.

-- Do ice cream trucks automatically play music when they're in gear? Because TV shows are unable to resist the music playing in inappropriate circumstances.

-- Sweeney still didn't tell Laura what he sacrificed for her last episode, even when she had him four feet in the air by his balls.

-- It was a serious mistake for Media to take the hard line with Easter over Mr. Wednesday's offer. That's what ultimately made up Easter's mind.

-- Technical boy comes up as 'The Man' on Bilquis' phone. You just know that he programmed that himself.

-- Genre fans should note, the primary Jesus we see here is played by Jeremy Davies. He's as good as you're imagining.

A really strong finish for a really strong year. Easter and Media are going to be missed.

Three and three quarter out of four CGI Bunnies. Is that allowed?

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

#American Gods #Shadow Moon #Mr Wednesday #Laura Moon #Mad Sweeney #Easter #American Gods Reviews #Doux Reviews #TV Reviews

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amisbro · 6 years

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Deep Dive: Utapri Movie and beyond

So earlier today I was telling a friend of mine on twitter in @heavens-saved-my-life that I was going to be talking about UtaPri because its that time when we get closer to the start of all the chaos with all the big releases coming out and I have to start to think about WHAT is possibly going to happen soon. Now before we get started I must make mention of this The title is “UtaPri Movie and beyond” BUT we are going to start with the buildup FIRST and THEN get into the actual movie and beyond cos a lot of crazy s**t is about to go down for UtaPri and we need to really take hold of it Let’s get started

Alright so between NOW and the end of the year the big things that we already know are happening/coming out are as follows Shining Live’s 1st Anniversary around the end of this month QUARTET NIGHT’s Duet Dramas in October A Shuffle Unit MV CD set in November And the first Drama CD for Oto/Van/Ai on Van’s birthday no less...interesting time for his birthday to be sure! You will note that I omitted for now the “STARISH BEST” CD and the HEAVENS “Mini Album”. I did that because as of now we don’t know when those are coming out but I think its safe to say that they are going to be sometime at the end of this year but its a matter of “When”. It should also be noted that the QN event will be taking place in November as well so that is definitely something to think about when we look at how jammed up this year is with events and releases THIS however brings us to the Duets and thinking about the idea that ,with the releases ending February of 2019, that the Movie couldn’t be that far behind right? WELL... Something I have been thinking about recently is that Broccoli has had the project for Dolce Vita going LONGER than the movie coming up. The game was announced at the 6th Anniversary with HEAVENS being revealed at the Anniversary before this one. Now when you take into consideration also that ,at least for Western markets, the gamecards for the VITA stop production as of March of next year then things get interesting. Now...how would this effect the movie? One thing I keep thinking about is HEAVENS’ role within the game and the movie coming up. The CDs are “trio” CDs and that could lead for some interesting potential given that they are going to be considered “drama” CDs. One thing I have wondered lately is this: Are the CDs just going to be the song for the units and then the Drama OR...could they do this Track 1 is the Trio song 2-4 would be a solo song for the members of the units track 5 is the drama then a couple more for the off vocals Another way they could do it (if they wanted to) would be like this Track 1 is the drama Track 2 is the main song 3-5 are solos 6-9 would be the off vocal versions. THIS is something I was thinking about for the CDs and if this is what they would do then I’m cool with it. If they do just the “dramas” and the one song that’s fine too...but there is something I considered over the past few months IF (and I mean IF) they are using the CDs to do the the story and then the movie is the concert...that could be an issue. The reason is that because the CDs are never sold with an English translation on the booklet (and this CAN be done...I own a couple of CDs that have the JP lyrics and the English or Romanji so its NOT like that can’t be done) then the fans are fucked unless someone LITERALLY buys each CD with the intent to translate all the dramas and even then by the time those get posted are you still interested in them? Now let’s talk about the game and why I was wondering about the track listing For at least the first two seasons the CDs had one song which was the insert for that character/group and the other was used for a game. If I remember right the ones for S1 had songs from “Debut” in them and then 2000% was for one of the All-Star games...so far those are the only ones of memory I remember being used for games that were on the Anime singles. If they are planning to have songs for all the characters in the game then you need to create a B-Side for each one of them UNLESS Brocc intends to use the songs from S4 for that purpose but then that would be weird cos you are using “old songs” to market for the game...see the problem? Now this is just Dolce and MLKingdom I’m talking here...we haven’t even DISCUSSED beyond that! Well before that we have to go over this as it pertains to HEAVENS 2019 is going to be a very interesting year for the group that you could argue SHOULDN’T be in the position they are. They are a group that ,let’s be fair, WAS an Antag group in Season 2 that got beat ,should have disbanded but got saved, and then reappeared at the end of Season 3 cos apparently Shining and Raging were in cahoots the whole time up until all hell broke loose with the EiiOto episode. Ironically THAT has become a pretty popular ship in Japan with all the fanart I see for them together (even the fem versions which is interesting). (and for anyone curious Yamato/Kira and Eiji/Yamato is apparently a thing over there too) The thing is that HEAVENS SHOULDN’T be in the position they are and even I can freely admit that. Brocc has allowed them to remain long enough where they are gaining a following (at least on twitter) and now they have a store coming and their own radio show next year. THIS makes me wonder Brocc’s plan with the series because you CAN’T just stop it after starting to give HEAVENS their own store and stuff now. Maybe if they were kept as pure Antags and they were beat in S2 and gone I don’t think anyone would care but now the group is about 5 years old in total with 3 being a 7 member unit and getting traction. THAT could have either BEEN in the plan from the start with them OR it could have been something that was pure accident...I’m very close to thinking the latter. HEAVENS’ future I think will be determined with their single coming up near the end of this year (and the possible concert for them after that) because if they start to really get traction in Japan (and Korea as well from what I have seen which shocks me somewhat) AND they can start to become more accepted in the West like STARISH or QN did then we have the makings for a genuine rivalry because you will have 3 very strong and healthy fanbases that want to see what is next for their groups. THIS brings me to “What should Broccoli do after the movie?” Let’s say the movie does well enough (and with three years production time it kind of better at this point) and Brocc sees that UtaPri is still being supported strongly at least Domestically in Japan (and to a lesser extent internationally) they might consider doing a “10th Anniversary season” for the Anime in 2021 which ,if they do, I would LOVE for them to do one season that is purely HEAVENS and no distractions and the reason is this IF we are to assume that this movie will be the “send off” for STARISH (and possibly QN and I am not sure about either right now) then it would be nice to see HEAVENS get a run on their own so we can develop them NOT as Antagonists anymore but more as people that want to establish their own identity and brand. I think that is part of the issue Broccoli kind of has with them now is they are so stuck on doing things for them like they are STARISH or QN that all people might see them as internationally is “carbon copies: and that is what I want to see them get away from. Show US that HEAVENS is more than just a “rival group” and show us what makes them special. I think some of us kind of ALREADY know but some might still need convincing and I get it but how is going to be the important part. Do I think Broccoli has a plan for HEAVENS right now? I do but what is going to be interesting because if they keep tying them to STARISH then they can’t grow as a group cos they will live in their shadow to be honest. Now they have QN members to deal with and ,even though they stuck up for them at the Triple S, the idea that QN would want to see them “grow” would be an interesting development. Keep this in mind too In a good number of these its one HEAVENS member to a STARISH and a QN member. The ONLY one that is different is the one with Nagi/Shion/Syo and its a very interesting thing there because the question I would ask then is this “What role will the QN members play in these dramas? Are they the buffers between HEAVENS and STARISH members or are they going to side with their Agencymates?” I still think that it would be interesting for them to introduce a manager for HEAVENS and come up with some plotline where they get infatuated with Nanami and that could cause a unique bridge for Season 5 because ,if you want to keep it going, you could have now two separate things going with Shining and Raging offices going at it for the ultimate popularity...okay STARISH might win in the end in that season BUT as we know in the real world HEAVENS has beaten STARISH in the peak ranks before. There are #’s to back this up. Again though everything I am going on is speculation. I think for now its going to be interesting because of the fact that the “Drama CDs” are ending at the end of February so I’m wondering when you would air the movie? One idea I had was in July because ,look it up, and its the 8 year Anniversary of Season 1 next year in July. I think that would be a fitting bookend for the Anime for sure. OH...there is ONE OTHER THING I thought about recently While the Anime hasn’t been officially/publicly declared as “ended” I did recent;y think about this The month that the season STARTED in was October One thing I have noticed at times is that when some Animes air any other time of the year they usually are going to get another season. Now...I looked it up and one of the last Animes I remember watching start to finish that has had a “definitive end” at this point is K Project because ,despite the OVAs that are coming out, there has not been a new season announced. For those of us that forgot K Project’s “final season” aired from 10/3/2015 to 12/26/2015...almost parallel to UtaPri no? The difference between K Project and UtaPri was that when they showed Adolf Weismann sitting in Shiro’s old apartment they basically said about K Project “Game Over” The thing is that at least made some kind of sense cos you got to meet JUNGLE in the Movie a little bit and we saw them TRULY get theirs in “Return of Kings” so that ending fit like a glove The end of Season 4 for Utapri for SOME might probably signify the end of the series (and if it is then fine I can live with it somewhat now) but the thing is with UtaPri there was no one that NEEDED to “get theirs” and in reality all the groups should have been allowed to be happy. Okay we know what one of the final scenes for the season was with all of them singing “Legend Star” together but think about this from the perspective of a HEAVENS fan after watching your group get the crap kicked out them to a degree with the ending not so much being “happy” but one of those you reluctantly come to terms with cos you think eventually you get YOUR moment and you are happy with it. I think that is why I am reluctant to think Brocc is just gonna pull the plug on the Anime when it no doubt still makes them money along with their CDs...I defy you to show me that it doesn’t and if you can then great but right now I think its probably one of their more popular franchises so why can it? If they think Classical Stars is going to blow up like UtaPri they MIGHT be setting themselves up for a cold dose of reality BUT we’ll wait and see. I think for a lot of fans (myself included) the day we have to accept UtaPri is “over” is gonna be hell. Like when it happens we are gonna be in tears because of the fact that ,no matter what group you affiliate with or who your “best boy” is, UtaPri is going to be such an integral part in all of our lives that NOT hearing from any of the members of STARISH ,QN or HEAVENS would SUCK! What does Broc have in store for us after the movie in 2019? Hopefully a lot more content musicwise and hopefully they keep expanding UtaPri because there is still A LOT of growth for it to have but they have to be willing to not pull the plug before it reaches its peak potential. Anywho I believe I kept you long enough. I hope you all have a grand rest of your night and I will see you in the next post take care my fellow Princes and Princesses

#Amisbro #deep dive #uta no prince sama #I had A LOT of shit on my head #hopefully you enjoy this cos I wanted to write this for a good while now

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kazarinn · 7 years

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10 Years of Hatsune Miku ~The World She Showed Me~ - Interview with Hachi and ryo

A translation of the first of a series of Vocaloid-related articles held by music website Music Natalie to commemorate Miku’s upcoming 10th birthday, an interview with Hachi (Kenshi Yonezu) and ryo of supercell.

The past and the future of the Vocaloid scene reflected in their eyes --

For Music Natalie's special feature "10 Years of Hatsune Miku ~The New World She Showed Me~”, our first part centers around the first conversation between Hachi (Kenshi Yonezu), who released his first Vocaloid song in four years "Dune" as the theme song for Magical Mirai 2017, and ryo, known for his activities under supercell and EGOIST.

For Hatsune Miku's tenth anniversary, we had a conversation with these two, who made a name for themselves through the songs their Miku songs released on Nico Nico Douga.

I don’t quite remember, but it feels like it was just a thing that happened

–Is this your first time meeting each other? ryo: This is the first time. Hachi: We’ve never met each other before, not even once. ryo-san was from the generation before me to begin with, so by the time I started he’d already become like a legendary or historical figure. I always wondered what kind of person he might be, since he was a pretty influential person after all, so I’d figured he’d be an interesting person to talk to. Since people like ryo were actively involved in cultivating the soil where my roots in Vocaloid began.

–What’s your first impression of each other? Hachi: He’s wearing my “LOSER” T-shirt! I’m thinking, “I can’t believe he went through all that trouble.” (laughs) So I think he’s a really nice person. ryo: If he hadn’t noticed I was wearing the T-shirt, I’d have probably thought “I don’t like this guy at all”, so I’m glad we got that off the table (laughs) Well, I’m actually a passive sort of person, so I wouldn’t have minded if that were the case.

–Hahaha. What does ryo-san think of Hachi-san? ryo: In the end I, and all the other Vocaloid producers at the time, really liked Hachi. Everyone’s got their own taste in music, but even now we’re still talking about Yonezu-san at the recording studio. So that’s the image I had whenever we had that kind of conversation.

–We already brought it up a little while ago, but can you tell me more about the difference between the generations in which ryo-san and Hachi-san started Vocaloid? Hachi: I started putting Vocaloid songs up on Nico Nico Douga in 2009. As for ryo-san... ryo: I started in 2007. Hachi: So it’s a two-year difference. Two years was a very long time for the Vocaloid scene at the time, and that alone was enough to make it into a completely different world. ryo-san’s “Melt” was an explosive hit, and at first I was only watching from off to the side. I thought, “Huh, this is interesting,” and that’s how I got to know of Hatsune Miku. “All I have to do is get her for 15,000 yen and I’ll be able to get involved, too.” So I’m absolutely certain that the Vocaloid scene was able to get off its feet because ryo-san was there.

Hatsune Miku sings an original song, “Melt”

ryo: I hadn’t actually spent that much time as a Vocaloid producer, though. I posted my first song in 2007, and then I went up to an illustrator and said “Comiket’s in two weeks, so let’s make a CD.” It’s not really a “period I was active with Vocaloid” as much as I only made around five songs, and while I was making music all sorts of stuff happened so I don’t really remember what I was doing. I don’t really think consciously of it as “I got here with Vocaloid” as much as it’s more like “now that I think about it, that’s how I got here”. It’s like how you look back at yourself in ten years and realize “oh, I’m older now”. So even now, I don’t really know what exactly I am in this situation. Hachi: It’s true that he only put up five songs or so, but all of them were huge hits, and by the time I’d gotten there he was already gone, so he was like some kind of haze that you can’t tell if it really existed or not. Personally, even I don’t remember much of that time. It’s like a single moment that had just happened. Like ryo-san said, it’s closer to the feeling of “now that I think about it, it was like that.”

Fame as a Vocaloid producer leading to the Grand Line

–After posting “Melt”, “Love is War”, “World is Mine”, and “Black★Rock Shooter” to Nico Nico Douga as a Vocaloid producer, ryo-san shifted his focus to work with major labels. What was the reason for this?

Hatsune Miku sings an original song, “World is Mine”

ryo: I just wanted to make more music. I wanted to know more about work in the studio and the process of songwriting. So I figured I should go to more places where there’s more people. Even if you’re at the top, if you’re in a small place, it’s bound to happen. It’s just like that. Hachi: That’s what all the Vocaloid producers at the time were thinking. I don’t know if “becoming famous” is the way to put it, but it’s more like wanting to move to what One Piece would call the Grand Line. It was like a bridge to becoming popular and moving to the Grand Line. Nowadays it’s possible to experience Vocaloid even when you’re young, but our generation didn’t have that, and so since we grew up with other kinds of music, I think we naturally had the desire to go there eventually. I came in with a desire to do Japanese-style rock, and I became acquainted with Vocaloid when I was 18, and of course it was fun and the scene is undoubtedly an attractive place, but as soon as I was able to see the bridge to the Grand Line, I ended up wanting to go there. Although some Vocaloid people have ended up coming back from the Grand Line. ryo: You’ve come back once in a while too, haven’t you, Hachi-san? When you make a good song and everyone on Nico Nico Douga gets excited, it’s like coming home again. It was like that with “Donut Hole”, wasn’t it?

GUMI MV “Donut Hole”

Hachi: It’s like my hometown. I’ve never actually said “I’m going to stop making Vocaloid things.” You could say “I ended up stopping,” but even then that’s not really it. It’s more like “if I don’t feel up to it, I’ll keep it as a place to come back to when I want to.” ryo: I know that feeling, it’s really like a hometown. Fundamentally, I enjoy singing in my own voice with my own words. Vocaloid is a device that allows me to do that for myself. If I sang myself, nobody would listen to that, but if I have a Vocaloid sing it in the way I would do it, with my own words and melody, everyone will listen and sing along. Right now, when I make songs with a singer, I give them a temporary guide version that I sang myself, and even though the song is super-cute it’s all in my voice so I think “if this goes out to the world it’s all over” (laughs). Since it’s a temporary guide, it doesn’t matter who sings it, but if a Vocaloid sings it, people say “cute!” or “I like it!” to, so seeing that I wonder if it’s okay for me to be someone who does things behind the scenes (laughs).

Vocaloid gives you tendinitis just by working with it for a month...

–Does ryo-san also feel like he’s “stopped” or “ended production” on Vocaloid works, or is it like Hachi-san where he “keeps it as a place to come back to when he wants to”? ryo: Simply speaking, I want to put all I have into everything I do, so when I do it I want to do it all the way. In order to make a Vocaloid song, I have to sing it once, then convert it into data, then separate the consonants, then import it again and edit the pitch, and if that doesn’t sound good, then I have to start from scratch...I end up doing that over and over again. Considering the limitations of my abilities at this point in time, preparing the Vocaloid vocals alone would take a month. It really breaks my heart. Actually, I ended up getting tendinitis. I have to hold the mouse in a certain way. No matter how long I end up working I’m always thinking about how to avoid tendinitis. I adjust the height of the armrest and fix my right arm to it and continue working. If you do that, you can go through a lot (laughs).

–Amazing! Just like a true artist. ryo: It sounds silly, but it’s important! If your teeth start to hurt, you’re not going to feel up to making music. It gets really painful when you do it for hours every day. So I started asking myself, “look, why and whom for are you making music in the first place?” Going through all that, after I stopped making Vocaloid songs I figured “okay, I’m done with Vocaloid,” but then after a year I started thinking “wait, no, that was fun” (laughs). Hachi: I know that feeling. It’s not a Vocaloid song, but I drew the animation for “Eine Kleine” all by myself. Doing that really ends up giving you tendinitis. In the end I was shaking and thinking “I am never doing this ever again”, but then after a year or two I started thinking “hey, wasn’t that fun?”

Kenshi Yonezu MV “Eine Kleine”

–What do you think it is that makes you both forget the pain of making it and gives you the feeling of “let’s do it again”? ryo: In the end, making music is a pretty lonely job for your soul. When you have a normal job, you have set working hours and you get the money for the work you put in. But for people like us who make a living by selling what we make, there’s no room for compromise. Of course, it’s fine to decide that you can’t continue because your arms are sore from tendinitis, but if you keep thinking that way, you’ll die even if you make it to the Grand Line. If you want to survive, even if it’s crude or unsightly, you have to hoist your sails up, and no matter how the wind blows, even if it finally calms down, you need to have the perseverance to continue from there. It’s like that. You feel the pain right after you’ve finished it, but after a few years you look at it and think “ah, that was fun.” Hachi: It’s the feeling of being trapped in work. At the beginning you just casually think “eh, I’ll just try it”... ryo: Exactly. And then later you end up thinking “Why did I say I was gonna do that?!” (laughs) But you can’t just take it back and say “sorry, can’t do it.” Hachi: So while you’re working on it, you end up getting mad at yourself for saying “I’ll do it!” so enthusiastically (laughs).

The Vocaloid community was a place for all of us who were thrown away

–How did the two of you see your lives change after coming into contact with Vocaloid and choosing to make things with it? Hachi: I started a band in middle school, but that didn’t work out at all. It didn’t matter how many people we had, we weren’t really good at making anything. In middle school, and later in high school, I always had the dream of starting a band, but I had no hope at all. That’s when people like ryo-san appeared, and that’s what I would call “my encounter with Vocaloid”. The Vocaloid community at the time was filled with all kinds of people with their dreams crushed, people whose bands had fallen apart, people who had wanted to make one but didn’t have the confidence to, and finally turned to Vocaloid as an alternative option. It was a receptacle for all of us who were thrown away like trash, and I was one of them. So I was able to find something I could do in a way that agreed with me, and it worked out perfectly. That was Vocaloid, I think. It really was a chance encounter. So I’m really thankful that something like Vocaloid existed for me, because it made me into what I am now. That’s how I feel. ryo: I was in a band, too. I played the drums, though. As a teenager I participated at a live house, in the contest called “TEENS MUSIC FESTIVAL” that was going on at the time. It worked out pretty well back then, but the singer ended up being hard to work with. After leaving university, I worked in the electrical business for around six years, but I’d always loved music. I wanted to work for myself, so I thought about buying myself something to make songs with. While I was thinking “I really just want to get out of this job,” I met Hatsune Miku. This was around the time Nico Nico Douga was starting to get fashionable, so I was watching and thinking “that looks interesting,” “I want to be a part of such a dazzling place.” It was something like “if you pay 15,000 yen, you can be one, too.” And then suddenly, an SFX company started to recruit engineers, and I made an original song so that I could apply there. That’s where it all started. Hachi: In the end, that’s what a Vocaloid producer is. It’s a gathering of people who wouldn’t have made it in the previous generation. There are many people out there who may have had talent in making songs but were buried under it all, ending up living and dying without being noticed by anyone. I talked with a lot of other people, and we were all like that. So you could say we were lucky. ryo: We were lucky. You should make that the headline of this interview (laughs).

–How did ryo-san come to know about Hachi-san? ryo: From around 2009. Hachi-san was singing a song that he’d made a long time ago. Probably something he’d made in high school. There were around six songs, I just happened to hear them. Hachi: Something like that. There were something like twenty to thirty songs at the beginning, but then I ended up deleting most of them so there were only around six left. And then I ended up deleting those six. ryo: I heard them and thought “oh, so this guy sings too.”

The worst thing is something that doesn’t stir the emotions

–Which song of Hachi-san’s does ryo-san like? ryo: “WORLD’S END UMBRELLA”, which has a whole video included with it. People like cosMo@BousouP and Yuuyu-kun were all saying “I wanna make something like this!” So I listened to it and thought, “it’s really good.” It’s different, but it’s really good. You can still cry through all the chaos, and it touches your heart. The arrangement is completely different from that of the old version “THE WORLD END UMBRELLA”. Like everything that was once monochrome suddenly became color. I was thinking, “I wonder why it ended up this way,” so what happened there?

【Original song PV】WORLD'S END UMBRELLA【Hatsune Miku】【Original song PV】THE WORLD END UMBRELLA【Hatsune Miku】

Hachi: I don’t remember (laughs). Probably I just wasn’t satisfied with the old version and decided to redo it. I really wasn’t thinking about it very hard when I was making music back then. I didn’t know anything about music theory, all I did was just plunk the notes downwards on the sequencer piano roll and go “hey, I like how this sounds”, and then if it worked out just go like “ah.” So I probably just listened to it again and thought, why don’t I try making this again? ryo: But you released “THE WORLD END UMBRELLA” in June 2009 and “WORLD’S END UMBRELLA” in February 2010, so that’s half a year. That’s really short. I want to know what happened during that time (laughs). Hachi: That whole environment was really exciting. You could meet people you wouldn’t have met otherwise if it hadn’t been for Vocaloid. All sorts of songs that made you go “What the hell is this?!” It felt like I’d jumped into the melting pot of discovery, so it was so exciting that I got immersed in it. I was probably influenced by that.

–And which song of ryo-san’s does Hachi-san like? Hachi: The first song I heard was “Melt”, and the melody and lyrics are nice, and the drum line snare that goes like “su-ta-tan!” is very nice, it’s very solid as a pop song. But beyond that, there’s something that’s hard to quantify. It’s hard to put it into words, but when you listen to Mr.Children or the Southern All-Stars, you consider them a “great standard”. But when you try to analyze Mr.Children or the Southern All-Stars’ music, you realize there’s some complex things going on in there, and you realize “it’s not just your ordinary good song”. When I first heard ryo-san’s songs I wondered if they were made up of something like that, too. The music has intensity in itself. I was greatly affected by it. ryo: Intensity is important. The worst thing is something that doesn’t stir the emotions. In the end, most people are going about their lives thinking “fuck my life” in some form. If your song isn’t strong enough to save the life of the person listening to it, there’s no meaning in it. It’s important to have the strength to justify why someone should waste their time on your song. In my case, I figured I’d need raw power for something like that, so I imported some drum sounds from the UK. I wanted it to be loud and clear.

–What do you think is special about Hatsune Miku as a Vocaloid in particular? Although there’s all kinds of Vocaloid software now. Hachi: Hatsune Miku was the first one I got...Well, she’s cute, isn’t she? ryo: Yeah, she’s cute. There was this one article where I said “I wanted to make a cute girl sing a cute song, so I did.” Hachi: I think different people are attracted to different things about Hatsune Miku, but when I was 18 years old and trying to figure out what to do, I saw a cute girl that you could have sing for you for 15,000 yen. That sounded pretty convenient to me. ryo: I’m surrounded by a lot of artists, and they all say it’s easy to draw her. If you draw her quickly in a sketchbook and show it to someone, even a child in elementary school will be happy to see it and say “Oh, it’s Miku-chan!” Hachi: That’s right. All you have to do is draw a girl with blue hair and twintails. ryo: A lot of the illustrators I know love Hachi-san. Even now they’ve been following Yonezu-san, buying his CDs when they come out and listening to the songs, and then they tell me what they thought. And it’s like, “Wait, but I’m not Hachi-san.” (laughs) They started just by drawing, but then they came to like Vocaloid and music, so it’s nice to see that trend work in reverse.

What’s the meaning behind “Dune”?

–Hachi-san released a song “Dune” for this year’s Magical Mirai, but how did he end up making it?

Hachi MV “Dune” feat. Hatsune Miku

Hachi: When I first got the request, I thought, “what should I do...” Recently, I’ve started keeping an eye on Nico Nico Douga. I checked the rankings all the way up to when I’d faded from the scene. What can I say, it was a completely different world from the time when I’d been posting. There’s a general feeling that Nico Nico Douga itself is becoming somewhat of a desert. So as I was thinking, “ah, this is a desert,” I thought it’d be interesting if I made a song about the scenery of Nico Nico Douga, which used to be somewhat of my hometown, becoming more like a desert. There’s still people there, but I thought it’d be okay to represent it as a desert, so while I was thinking that, I got the request. ryo: I haven’t seen it yet (this interview was done in mid-July, before the release of the music video). Can I hear it now?

–All right, let’s make it quick.

(Playing the song)

Hachi: Oh no, I’m not feeling good about this (laughs). ryo: (after finishing it) This is good. I like it. It makes me want to sing along, it’s got Hachi-san stamped all over it, and there’s some very modern parts to it. I like how it takes off with a bang at the chorus, too. How’d you do that part? Hachi: I sang the chorus parts myself. ryo: I thought so. Of course you would (laughs). It certainly lives up to expectations. Like, “just like a big-name P” (laughs). Everyone’s going to have high expectations for this song, right? It’s going to live up to them, and then it’s going to go beyond and hit you in places you won’t expect. That’s the mark of a good song. I thought the tempo might be a bit faster, but it wasn’t.

–It’s at 95 BPM, which is quite slow. Hachi: Something like that. I think something like 180-200 BPM is the standard for Vocaloid songs. I made songs like that too, but it didn’t feel right for me to do the same thing again, coming back after all this time. I didn’t want to do something completely different, though, so I was worried about finding that balance in between. ryo: But the melody goes quickly, so it doesn’t feel slow. As soon as she starts singing, the words come out quickly, like Ed Sheeran.

–The second half uses a lot of triplets and goes from trap to hip-hop. ryo: Yes, yes, it’s like something that keeps pulling at you continually. And it’s amazing how you can hear all the consonants clearly. With Vocaloid, it’s hard to make the consonants audible. And with the chorus parts in, it’s even easier to hear. The guitar part is cool, and the rhythm is very Yonezu-san-like. It’s a good song. Hachi: Thank you very much. You don’t see a lot of trap and hip-hop in Nico Nico Douga, so it was fun to put that in.

We need some cheeky upstart of the kind to completely ignore Hachi

–There’s also the lyrics “the existence that was born from the Melt sensation”. ryo: I’m grateful I get to see something like “Melt sensation” referring to me. But I also thought “the cynicism here is incredible” (laughs). There’s lines from old Hachi songs embedded in the lyrics, and people who recognize it will think, “huh? Isn’t that from that song?” And then he says “the desert that’s already been abandoned”. What are you going to do after making a song like that?

–But beyond Hachi-san just being cynical, there’s also a sort of desire to connect to the future, isn’t there? Hachi: Yes. Please connect us to the future. Because I can’t do much anymore.

–It’s like the lyrics are saying “please do what you will, the way you like.” Hachi: Basically, what I’m saying is “it’s not me who should be doing it.” I would like “Dune” to be something that helps trigger it, but in the end I don’t want people to think it’s something made to turn everything on its head. I want more and more new people to come out instead. As in, I’d be happier if this makes even one more tree grow in the desert. Then someone will come and cultivate the soil around the tree, and then plant rice or something, and then ideally it’ll all work out from there. ryo: But when you put out a song at this quality, I feel like nobody’s going to be able to say anything and they’ll all keep quiet. Nobody’s going to want to criticize it and they’ll just be like “oh, I’m sorry” (laughs). Hachi-san really is the dominating presence here. Hachi: Isn’t that a good thing? If some cheeky upstart comes out and says “Who cares about Hachi? I’m gonna change the world!” or something like that. That’s probably what we need. ryo: Exactly. We need some brat to come up and write some answer song like “who the hell is this Hachi guy anyway?”

–So you want the younger generation to bring out their talents. ryo: Of course, you can’t do that if you don’t have persuasive power. And the worst is if people say “that person says good things, but the important part is their music and it’s awful.” It might seem difficult for Vocaloid producers to get over this huge wall and come out, but I also want to say “hey, all of you, get out here.” Hachi: Yeah, I’d like them all to come out. There are a lot of people from the new generation making an appearance, like Balloon and NayutalieN and n-buna-kun, so I’d like to cheer them on. And those kids have even younger kids who are being inspired by them...so I want this cycle to continue.

I usually use Western name order for my translations, but Hatsune Miku is Hatsune Miku.

Literally the title is “the new scenery [景色] she showed me”, but that doesn’t make for very good English.

Look, you and I all know that the song’s actual title in Japanese is “Sand Planet” (砂の惑星), but the official title is “Dune”. I may have a habit of avoiding official titles when I deem them to be sufficiently stupid, but deviant as it is I do not personally find this translation choice to be particularly stupid, so it stays as “Dune” here whether you like it or not.

“LOSER”, naturally, refers to the Kenshi Yonezu song.

The word that Hachi uses to refer to becoming a famous Vocaloid producer, 売れた, has a specific connotation of being able to sell well.

A live house is basically just a small Japanese concert venue where small music acts play.

Hachi refers to Mr.Children and the Southern All-Stars.

Yes, the article actually has ryo flatly stating "fuck my life” in English (accompanied by a helpful Japanese translation that literally reads “my life is awful”.)

Alternate translation by vgperson here.

#Vocaloid #Hachi #ryo #Hatsune Miku

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stacks-reviews · 7 years

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October and November Awesomeness

A while back I mentioned that October and November were going to kick ass this year. Thought I would finally share the reasons why.

In Books --A 10th anniversary edition of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (10/3) New cover, never-before-seen illustrations, updated and detailed world map, new author’s note, appendix with calendar system and currencies, and a pronunciation guide.

--The Illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (10/3)

--Rat Queens Volume 4 by Kurtis J. Wiebe and illustrated by Own Gieni (10/17) Very excited to read more about the Rat Queens.

--Harry Potter: A Journey Through a History of magic by the British Library (10/20) The first of the two new HP books set to be released this year.

--A collectors edition of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (10/31) A new cove with metallic ink, fan art end papers, a glossary, an interview between the author and editor, original Tales from the world, and a ‘reading ribbon of great fanciness’. There is a B&N exclusive edition of it that is listed as including “A look at Lila Barn’s London” which is not listed on the other edition. Though I would classify that as being part of the Tales. I’m not positive and I’ve been having some trouble trying to find a resource listing all the differences at the moment. Other than that, the main difference is the B&N edition’s cover is similar to the standard cover in appearance. While the other CE has a black cover. I like the black cover better cause it helps it stand out as a collector’s edition but I might end up getting the B&N if it has exclusive, additional extras.

--The Perfect Shadow by Brent Weeks (11/7) The prequel novella to the Night Angel Trilogy that I have been waiting to see a physical release of for a long time. Can’t wait.

--Ghost in the Shell manga box set by Shirow Masamune (11/14) This one makes me a bit mad. If I had known they would be releasing a set I would have held off on buying them all when they were rereleased back in February. March for me though cause it kept getting pushed back where I order them. Other than its box (which there is currently no image of that I’ve seen) it comes with a lithograph created by Masamune.

--Rose Volume 1 by Meredith Finch and illustrated by Ig Guara (11/28) I can’t wait to try out this series.

In Movies --Spider-Man Homecoming (10/17)

--Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and Ponyo The first wave of Studio Ghibli films to be rereleaed by GKids with Shout Factory. If you were not aware, when these films were first released by Disney they did not give the Japanese audio tracks a proper subtitling. They used dubtitles (when watching some in Japanese it gets you the subtitles to the English version. But GKids is supposed to be giving them the actual translation.

--Anohana The Flower We Saw that Day (10/31) I really love this show. I already own it but I’ll need to get this edition so I can cry my eyes out in two languages.

--Castle In the Sky, Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind (10/31) The second wave of the Gkids rereleases

--Project Ito: Genocidal Organ (11/7) I enjoyed Empire of Corpses but I still need to watch Harmony and this one.

--Your Name (11/7) I haven’t had an opportunity to see this hit film. I want to know if it really lives up to the hype. There is a standard edition and a limited. The LE has a clipboard box, a 60 page art book, an art digipack, and the soundtrack by RADWIMPS on two discs.

--Haikyu S1 (11/14) All twenty-five episodes of the hit volleyball series. There is a standard edition and a collector’s edition. The CE has a clipboard box, a hardcover booklet, art cards, character trading cards, a Karasuno token, and a set of nine bird pens. S2 has a CE that comes out in January and is listed to having the exact same items but with different images. For example the trading cards for S2 shows some of the characters from different teams while S1′s is everyone from Karasuno.

--Porco Rosso, The Secret World of Arrietty (11/21) Third wave of the rereleaes by GKids.

In Games --Fire Emblem Warriors on Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch (10/20) I’m always excited for a new Fire Emblem Game. The Switch copy is about $20 more than the 3DS version. I might end up getting the Switch edition because I want to build its library but I haven’t decided yet. The Switch did get a special edition that includes character art cards, slip case for the cards, a dual-sided poster, and three cd’s of game music.

--.hack//G.U. Recode (11/3) I’ve never got to play a .hack game so I really want to get this. I love .hack.

--Rime for Nintendo Switch (11/4) It is already out on the PS4 but I’ve been debating if I’d rather take it with me on the Switch. But the Switch version is $10 more than the PS4 version.

--Pokemon Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon Nintendo 3DS (11/17) I wasn’t that crazy about Sun and Moon. I didn’t pour as much time into it as I usually do with any Pokemon game but I still liked them. I have every game (minus the Ranger and Mystery Dungeon titles) and I still love playing them so I’ll be getting the new editions.

--Skyrim for Nintendo Switch (11/17) I just got this last black Friday for my PS4 so I don’t know if I’ll be getting this edition. But I know this one is highly anticipated by fans.

Manga There’s a lot of new volumes I’m looking forward to. --Assassination Classroom Volume 18 by Yusei Matsui (10/3) --The Water Dragon’s Bride Volume 3 by Rei Toma (10/3) --Gangsta: Cursed Volume 3 by Kohske and illustrated by Kamo Syuhei (10/10) --Tokyo Ghoul: re Volume 1 by Sui Ishida (10/17) --Nekogahara Stray Cat Samurai Volume 3 by Hiroyuki Takei (10/17) It’s exactly what it sounds like. Is surprisingly violent. The first volume was fun but there was something in the second volume I wasn’t very fond of. --Land of the Lustrous Volume 3 by Haruko Ishikawa (10/24) --Erased Volume 3 by Kei Sanbe (10/31) --The Girl from the Other Side Siuil A Run Volume 3 by Nagabe (10/31) --To Your Eternity Volume 1 by Yoshitoki Oima (10/31) By the same author of A Silent Voice. --My Hero Academia Volume 10 by Kohei Horikoshi (11/7) --Descending Stories Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju Volume 4 by Haruko Kumota (11/7) --A Silent Voice Box Set by Yoshitoki Oima I’ve only read the first volume but I know it is a great series. I am debating about someday getting the box set so that I can continue it. --Fairy Tail Volume 62 by Hiro Mashima (11/14) --Frau Faust Volume 2 by Kore Yamazaki (11/14) --Arakawa Under the Bridge Volume 1 by Hikaru Nakamura (11/21) I have the anime. It’s crazy and fun. I still need to finish the second half. --Children of the Whales Volume 1 by Abi Umeda (11/21) --Fairy Tail Volume 63 by Hiro Mashima (11/28) Final volume of the main series. I do find it a little odd that 62 and 63 are coming out within a week of each other. I’m not surprised that the might release at the same time, but why would they put a week in between them.

There are a couple of books that was originally supposed to be released in these two months but they were pushed back. December also had a great list of new releases but since this one is already so long (by time I thought about making it two separate posts for each month, it was too late to go back) I’ll hold off on it for now.

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hellyeahdelain · 7 years

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Delain is certainly a hard-working band! In addition to putting out new albums every two years, they constantly tour around the world to the delight of their fans. They recently celebrated a huge milestone in their career with their 10th Anniversary Concert in Amsterdam last December and have been heavily touring last year’s new album “Moonbathers”. I caught up with the band during their first headlining North American tour and had a chance to chat with keyboardist, composer, and band founder, Martijn Westerholt. We had a chance to discuss the current tour, their Anniversary show, new music, and future plans. Here is how it went:

Afternoiz: This is Joe Prostredny with Afternoiz and I’m here with Martijn of Delain! How are you doing today?

Martijn: Good! Yeah! This is our fifth show or sixth one and we’re getting into the structure and the groove so yeah, it’s good!

Afternoiz: Every time I’ve interviewed one of you guys in the past… at least once a year for the past few years, I’ve asked the same question every time. “When are you going to headline in North America?” But I don’t have to ask it this time because you’re finally doing it!

Martijn: Yep! We’re doing it!

Afternoiz: We’re here in Baltimore, which is one of the earlier dates of the tour. How is the tour going so far?

Martijn: Good! Because you never know until you go on tour… bands go with the crew and the whole production thing. It has been heavy I have to say, to get everything, the production on the road. The vibe is really good but it’s just a lot of work. We have to get into the groove of that and get everything structured and I think now we’re getting there so, yeah, it’s good!

Afternoiz: For a lot of North American fans, except for some of the crazier ones like me that fly over the Atlantic, this is their first chance to see you perform a longer set… unlike your spoiled European fans who get that all the time. What has the fan feedback been? I know it’s only been a few shows so far.

Martijn: Good! And it’s actually what you said people are finally (getting) a longer set. They never hear you play this song or that song and now we can do it and that’s great. I think there’s taste for more, so to say.

Afternoiz: It’s the first time all six of you have been here… at the same time?

Martijn: Yeah! At first we didn’t have six band members, but five. And then we got a substitute for the one then we got a substitute for the other and now we’re all here, finally!

Afternoiz: Finally! And you’re sharing the stage with HammerFall! How have they been to work with?

Martijn: Yeah! They are fantastic; they are great guys. They are really relaxed. And it’s a lot of drinking together I guess. With Swedish people means you really have to watch out (laughs).

Afternoiz: Really! (laughs) In my experience… with Dutch people you have to watch out too!

Martijn: Really? I think the Dutch people are more screwed in that regard. (laughs) But it’s good and nice people and the cooperation goes really well.

Afternoiz: The last time I did an interview with you guys, you were on your last North American tour which was about a year ago. You were touring the newest album, ‘Moonbathers’, but it hadn’t been released yet. We had the EP, ‘Lunar Prelude’, but fans had not heard the entire album yet. But you’ve been touring the album a lot in the last year. What’s the fan reception of the album?

Martijn: Really good! I think it’s one of the best actually. Normally we play a lot of songs off of ‘Moonbathers’ and before this album release it was always a collection of songs from this album or songs from that album and the album we released it wasn’t even so much many songs played and with this album it is. A lot of these songs are normally played live which is a good sign I think. We select the songs in accordance to how people react or respond to it, like a balance in the set list. And that goes with this album exceptionally well, actually.

Afternoiz: Does it get hard after you’ve been touring, and you have a lot of albums now, to let go of some of the earlier songs that were real popular?… your signature songs? Do you have to let them go because you’ve got to get the newer ones in?

Martijn: No, it’s not a “Kill your darling” situation. It’s actually the other way around. It gets easier and easier to get a really good balance in your set list and in your live show because some songs are better in this place of a set list or some songs are better in that place… in terms of buildup because that it what you want. You want to build up your set with a good balance and interaction etcetera. And the more material you have to build with the easier it gets.

Afternoiz: This current tour is a pretty big one, twenty-three cities, if I’m not mistaken!

Martijn: Twenty-three cities, yeah… I think that’s right.

Afternoiz: Is there any place you’re really looking forward to hitting?

Martijn: I like to do west because it’s nice and warm…

Afternoiz: (laughs)… not like rainy New York?

Martijn: No… because we have plenty of that in the Netherlands… but of course I just like to tour the states. Also here in Baltimore and also New York. And there’s an extra bonus appeal to me when we come to California and Arizona. My girlfriend is from Arizona so I’m also there privately a lot. But all places have their charm I think.

Afternoiz: You had a day off yesterday… actually, I think you spent three days in New York, right?

Martijn: Actually, yesterday we did Baltimore and before that we did New York City and New Jersey. We took a cab to the city to downtown Manhattan which is great always. Yeah, it was cool!

Afternoiz: Anything special you like to do on your days off?

Martijn: Well, this is not going to entertain people by saying this, but I love my hotel! Netflix and some nice food on the side and just do nothing. Couple of emails perhaps. But rest.

Afternoiz: Rest is important! Other than New York City on Monday, the last time I saw you was at the 10th anniversary show at Paradiso in Amsterdam in December. From the perspective of an audience member, I thought it was phenomenal! Over the top and one of the best shows I’ve seen your guys do. And I’ve seen a lot! Maybe not as many as some, but…

Martijn: (laughs) Yes, you’re an expert!

Afternoiz: How did you guys feel like it went?

Martijn: It was very special. The vibe was very special. After the show I was actually very pissed off because a lot of stuff we’d planned didn’t work out. We had far more confetti moments planned for example. Light moments which didn’t work and I didn’t like that because it was a DVD so it’s about what people see and not only what people hear. You come to watch a band, you don’t come to listen to a band, you come to watch a band. And in that regard I also didn’t like the attitude of the venue because we were not allowed to do anything and they made problems out of everything. I wanted to use this system; this backdrop which falls down but I couldn’t because “the roof would fall down” and that kind of stuff. This is the last time we will do that venue. Although the vibe was great and the fans were phenomenal and everybody had fun so I also count my blessings. But for the next anniversary, I want to redo it (laughs)!

Afternoiz: That would be the fifteen year or the twenty?

Martijn: Yeah, both (laughs)!

Afternoiz: I saw you guys briefly before the anniversary show at the VIP birthday party and you guys are always very friendly at meet and greets. But you guys seemed more nervous… distracted…

Martijn: Yeah, we were totally overstretched and I actually didn’t have time for this VIP… but of course you have to when you promise people that. And on top also there the venue screwed up by opening the doors for the normal crowd [before the VIP fans were let in]… which we fixed by offering everybody [the opportunity] to watch at a sound check [at a future show]… so some people went to another show and saw our sound check and even walked on stage while we played.

Afternoiz: That’s a great experience!

Martijn: Yeah! Because fans are so important. Because of them we can do this and we are here. But we were really, really on edge there.

Afternoiz: Well, that’s understandable.

Martijn: Yeah, it was a very important show… the most important show… thus far.

Afternoiz: You’ll be releasing a DVD of the show. How far along is that?

Martijn: We will release this summer so actually it’s worked on right now. I was a little bit nervous because of course we are on tour right now and there’s almost nothing you can do. It’s a totally different animal being on tour than making an album or a DVD. But the plan is to finish it in June and then release it somewhere in August or September. That’s the plan, yeah.

Afternoiz: Is it just going to be the show or will there be extras thrown in?

Martijn: Extras as well. We’re going to do a lot of stuff on there.

Afternoiz: Any hints or do we have to wait?

Martijn: We’re working on a small documentary bonus thing and videos and that kind of stuff that we’re going to put on there as well. Just a collection of ten years of Delain.

Afternoiz: You have another special series of shows coming up at the end of the year, ‘Danse Macabre’. What can you tell us about that? Obviously, it’s heavily featuring Marco Hietala from Nightwish because he’s right there in the center of all of you on the posters.

Martijn: Yeah, together with us, you’re right. We got a lot of requests from fans asking if Marco could join us… also here in the states…but it’s difficult because he has his own schedule and to fly him over to the states, yeah that’s ridiculous and of course not possible. But he has a sabbatical year this year, so I called him and said hey, what about doing a couple of shows with us and make it kind of a mini tour and make it a special thing together. Because a combination of Marco and Delain is a unique combination so that’s when we made up this tour with six shows and we’re going to do special songs. It’s meant to be a very, very special mini tour. Both in production and in songs we play and of course having Marco on stage with us.

Afternoiz: I, unfortunately, am going to have to miss that tour…

Martijn: Oh… too bad!

Afternoiz: Yeah, I know!… It’s terrible!

Martijn: It will not be the last time we perform with Marco, so…

Afternoiz: What else do you have planned for 2017?

Martijn: We’re going to do a couple festivals. Last year, it was really rush hour when it came to festival season, but this year we’re speeding down a little bit in that regard because we have a new album to make but we will still do a couple festivals. We’ll do Summer Breeze which is a big one in Europe and we’ll do Greenfield, a big one in Switzerland, and a couple others. So, we will do some festivals, yeah.

Afternoiz: And you’re headlining the Female Metal Event in Eindhoven, right?

Martijn: Yes! FemMe Fest, exactly!

Afternoiz: … in September. Now that one I will be at!

Martijn: Ah! OK, good!

Afternoiz: You mentioned you’ll be working on Delain’s next album already this summer?

Martijn: Yeah. We have to because if we were to start working on it next year, then we’re talking 2019/2020 for a new release and that’s just too far away. So this is why we have to get into it because writing music and the other band members are getting more involved and we have to develop that. So yeah, working on new stuff!

Afternoiz: Does the writing process flow from one album to the next? Or do you take a mental break when one album is done?

Martijn: We take a mental break. I was feeling… (make hand motions)

Afternoiz: Wound up?

Martijn: Yeah, exactly! All the juice is out and you have to recharge again to write new music. So…

Afternoiz: Well sadly our time is coming to an end, but I’m really looking forward to seeing you onstage tonight. Do you have any final words for your fans?

Martijn: Yeah! Especially for the American ones here that we feel very supported. We’ve got a fan who is driving our bus, our Nightliner, Ken. And Chip, another fan, he helps us with storing our American equipment. American fans are so dedicated and it’s incredible!

Afternoiz: We gotta keep you coming back! (laughs)

Martijn: We will! We will for sure.

#Delain #interview

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daniellethamasa · 4 years

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Hey all, Dani here.

Okay, this might end up being a slightly longer post, because I’m combining my usual weekly wrap-up with my monthly wrap-up. Otherwise I would just end up having two posts that have a 50% overlap and that seemed silly to me. Anyway. Wow, we made it through March and we have reached April. After all the crap of last month in the world, I am sincerely hoping and putting all the good vibes and positive thoughts that I can to the universe so that April is better.

As usual with my monthly wrap-up, let’s start off by checking in on my overall goals for the year.

Reading: I finished 25 books in March, which is pretty awesome. So I’m up to a total of 71 books read so far in 2020. This puts me in a very good spot for my Goodreads challenge of reading 125 books in the year–I always start low on my challenge goal and then increase as needed throughout the year. It will probably end up being somewhere around 200-230 like last year, I hope anyway.

Blogging: Well, I’ve done really well with this category for the month. I posted every day, and have been doing well with my Manga Monday bonus posts, as well as bringing in a handful of other bonus posts. I’m hoping to keep up this momentum in April, but my job parameters are changing again next week so I have no idea how that will end up affecting things. I mean, I know I’m going to have to deal with major muscle soreness, but aside from that, there’s the stress of working around other people.

Writing: Oh man, I pretty much failed on the writing front again this month; I mean, unless you count the blogging, because I did manage quite a few words on the blog. I have thought about writing, and I guess technically I have done a lot of mental writing, which is worth nothing in reality, but at least I have more of my book thought out.

Conventions: Lexington Comic and Toy Con was postponed until mid-May, and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to go then, but depending on world events, it might get postponed again or cancelled all together. My friends at Colorworld Books are trying to continue with their business as a digital affair, but 99% of the profits were made from attending conventions, so this has been a struggle for them. If you want to go check out their online store, that would be great. They have metal art prints and bookmarks, geeky t-shirts, and books. Oh, and you can use ConLife30 for 30% off of all metal, or CORONACON for 10% off any shirts.

With that done, I’m going to jump into the standard watches and other activities wrap-up from my weekly posts. I’ve been playing Animal Crossing on my Switch. Not a whole lot. Maybe a half-hour or so a day, because I also have to work and read and blog and all of that, but I’m enjoying it so far. Oh, and for our 3 year anniversary I bought Damian an air fryer and got myself an Instant Pot, so I’m going to be trying some Instant Pot recipes here soon; I’m really excited about that. As for watches, we finished Season 1 of “Grimm” and started Season 2. Damian is really enjoying this show, so we pretty much watch it whenever we have time together. But I guess we’ll be getting more time together starting next week since we’ll finally be on the same shift again. Other than that I finished watching Season 2 of “Shadowhunters,” and I’ve been keeping up with the latest season of “Survivor” and with awesome and musical new show “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.”

All right, let’s jump into the reading portion of the wrap-up. If I have a review up already for the book, I will include a link to that post, just in case you missed it or want to check it out.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente — 4 stars

Black Clover Volume 20 by Yuki Tabata — 5 stars

Magus of the Library Volume 3 by Mitsi Izumi — 5 stars

My Hero Academia School Briefs Volume 1 by Anri Yoshi — 4.5 stars

My Hero Academia School Briefs Volume 2 by Anri Yoshi — 4 stars

My Hero Academia School Briefs Volume 3 by Anri Yoshi — 5 stars

My Hero Academia School Briefs Volume 4 by Anri Yoshi — 4.5 stars

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows — 4.5 stars

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon — 4.5 stars

Homerooms and Hall Passes by Tom O’Donnell — 4 stars

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer — 4 stars

Light the Dark edited by — 4 stars

The Adventurers Guild: The Night of Dangers by Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos — 5 stars

The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures by Noelle Stevenson — 5 stars

Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell — 5 stars

Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco — 5 stars

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace — 4.5 stars

Between Burning Worlds by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell — 5 stars

Manga Classics: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen — 4 stars

City of Bones: 10th Anniversary Edition by Cassandra Clare — 4 stars

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton — 5 stars

Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams — 5 stars

The Girl from the Other Side Volume 8 by Nagabe — 5 stars

Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa — 5 stars

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas — 4 stars

For the books I haven’t reviewed yet, I have most of them already planned for April–aside from manga, which I have planned out through like June already. So that’s pretty exciting, if I can keep up with my blog schedule anyway. I’m hoping so. I’m a bit more organized than I have been in previous years.

Okay, let’s talk about current reads. I’m trying to bounce between the topics of my weekly and monthly wrap-ups so I remember to include everything. I’m in the middle of a few pretty great reads already, so April is already feeling like a pretty darn amazing reading month and it literally just started. Like, one chapter into Bonds of Brass and I was hooked. The Winter Duke was a little bit slower to start, but I’m liking it well enough. And of course, I’m doing a Shadowhunters re-read right now, so I can maybe catch up on the series by finally reading the books I’ve put off for several years.

All right let’s move on to the book haul portion of the post. I don’t exactly have an unhaul portion right now, which is okay because I wouldn’t have anywhere to unhaul them to anyway. That has to wait until all the businesses are able to open back up and all that. But, I have been trying to support authors and indie bookstores and such, so I have temporarily cancelled my book-buying restrictions.

And now for the OwlCrate unboxing. This was a special edition of the book subscription box because it was their 5 year anniversary. They celebrated with a different colored box and an extra special item inside. Plus, the OwlCrate edition of the book has shiny silver edged pages.

From there, I guess it’s time to talk about my TBRs for the month. Yes, TBRs, because I’m hoping to do a bunch of reading in the month of April.

First, I’m participating in the OWLs Magical Readathon, and going for the wizarding career of Trader of Magical Tomes. This means I have to read 4 books: Ancient Runes, Charms, History of Magic, and Transfiguration.

Then, I’m hoping to spotlight books about books and libraries for National Library Week April 19-25, so I have a separate TBR planned for that week. If I manage to get these books read, expect plenty of bonus posts that week.

Finally, there’s a couple other readathons. First I’m hoping to participate in the Basically Readathon this weekend. It is a 24 Hour Readathon hosted by Basically Britt. This is a 24 Hour Readathon on Sunday, and the goal for this round is to read a book that has been on your TBR forever. I don’t know if I’m going to tackle that specific goal, and I won’t get to read the whole 24 hours because I’ll have to go to bed so I can wake up for work Monday morning (yuck), but I’m hoping to do some good reading anyway.

Then there’s Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon, which is April 25th. I haven’t selected my TBR for this one yet, because I’ll probably wait until closer to the day of the readathon, but I have loved participating in this event for the past few years.

And there might be one more readathon I’m participating in, but it hasn’t been announced just yet, so I’ll keep you posted on whether it’s happening in April or if we’re pushing it back to May.

But, as you can see, there’s a whole lot of books that I am hoping to read in the month of April. Okay, just counted, and there’s 26 books. I read 25 in March, so that isn’t out of the realm of possibility. I think my best month since I started this blog was a May a couple years ago where I read 31 books in a month. I feel pretty good about that.

Oh man, I just looked at my blogging calendar and I have 41 posts planned for April. I sincerely hope I can keep up with all of those posts.

All right, well that’s it from me for now. I hope you all had a good reading month in March, and I hope your April reading is even better. Are you participating in any readathons this month? Let me know in the comments and I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.

March Wrap-Up and April TBRs/Weekly Wrap-Up (58) Hey all, Dani here. Okay, this might end up being a slightly longer post, because I'm combining my usual weekly wrap-up with my monthly wrap-up.

#ARC #Book Releases #Books!#Conventions #Dewey&039;s 24 Hour Readathon #Libraries #Literacy #Manga #Manga Monday #Middle Grade #Middle Grade March #Movies #Reading #Reading Challenge #Review #Video Game

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robertsmorgan · 7 years

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The Best Way To Help Your Child With Their Weight & Body Image – Video with Marc David

If you have kids in your life, you’re probably already aware that body image challenges start early. Numerous studies have shown that even elementary school children – especially girls – believe they need to change something about their body, whether it’s their weight, their hair, their freckles, or something else. It can be heartbreaking to watch the children we care about struggling with these issues, and so many grown-ups want to know what they can do to help. As it turns out, there IS one thing that we, as adults, can do to create an environment that truly supports our kids’ development of a healthy, positive body image. It’s something we actually have a lot of control over, and best of all, when we start doing this, it will immediately make our own lives better, too. Tune in to this empowering new video from IPEtv as Marc David, Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, shares the number one most important thing we can do to set our kids up for success when it comes to learning to love and respect their body.

In the comments below, please let us know your thoughts. We love hearing from you and we read and respond to every comment!

Here is a transcript of this week’s video:

Greetings, friends. I’m Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. I want to talk to you about the best way to help your child with their weight and with their body image.

Now, let’s say this. We live in a time when so many people, young and old, are experiencing an epidemic of body hate and body dissatisfaction. You can read the statistics. Nine out of 10 women polled are hitting on their bodies. Girls three to six years old, 40% of them are already dieting. They’re hating on their body. They’re wanting to change their body parts.

This is crazy. This is the kind of challenge that cuts to our core.

Hating our body, judging it, and believing that it’s unlovable in some way is the royal road to misery and an unhappy life.

Think about it. When we’re born into this world, watch a baby. They’re not sitting there worried about how they’re looking or running around naked or if they’ve got little bits of body fat here and there. Babies, infants, they are in love with their physiology. It’s just all one. It’s pleasure. It’s play. As so many people are struggling in silence with self-defeating thoughts about their own physical form. We’ve got to change that.

So an unhappy and unresolved body image, you know this. It keeps us small in our sense of self. It limits our personal growth. It stops our best creativity. And it leaves us far short of the beautiful potential that we are born with. Body hate shuts down the soul. It ruins us. It’s a soul crusher.

Now, an unhappy body image these days often starts at a young age. So if you’re a parent or you have kids in your life and you really want to help your child, especially if you’re a parent, you want to give them the best chance for a loving relationship with their body, there’s one strategy that will help you to succeed in such a brilliant and beautiful way that I’m going to tell you is absolutely necessary.

Here’s a strategy to help your kid: heal your own relationship with your body.

That’s it. Work on you. Work on your relationship with your body. Get to a place, please, as fast as you can where you forgive your own imperfections and where you let go of your own self-criticism. Stop the fight. Just stop the war because your children, our children pick up on who we are. Children are brilliant observers. They’re not good interpreters, but they’re brilliant observers. They will observe mommy, daddy hating on their own body. They’ll feel it. They’ll absorb it through the airwaves.

And, in a way, this is the beauty of our young ones. They want to be like us. And they will be like us. So it’s best to look in the mirror and to start to do work on self. It’s going to save your kids so much heartache and unnecessary waste of life energy as they get older.

So let me say that again. The greatest gift you can give your kids is to do your own work and do it now and stop the nonsense in your own head. Here’s how you start: call a cease-fire on self-attack. And I mean that. Just wake up and say cease-fire. Consciously choose to begin to love yourself in small ways. It’s a practice. You’ve got to practice that every day.

Every day practice gratitude in some way, shape, or form, for the body that you’ve been given. I know you’ve got complaints about it and this and that and all that. But balance out all those crazy complaints with some gratitude. Find ways every day to affirm love for your body.

Honestly, it is as simple as that because when you do work on yourself, you save future generations from pain and suffering. And you uplift them in ways that they’ll never know. And when you do that, when you do your work on self so your kids don’t have to finish up that work, we create such a better planet and such a better environment for all of us to thrive in.

And that, my friends, is the magic of the world.

Warmly, Marc David

To learn more about the breakthrough body of work we teach here at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, please sign up for our free video training series at ipe.tips. You’ll learn about the cutting-edge principles of Dynamic Eating Psychology and Mind Body Nutrition that have helped millions forever transform their relationship with food, body, and health. Lastly, we want to make sure you’re aware of our two premier offerings. Our Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training is an 8 month distance learning program that you can take from anywhere in the world to launch a new career or to augment an already existing health practice. And Transform Your Relationship with Food is our 8 week online program for anyone looking to take a big leap forward with food and body.

NOW AVAILABLE: SPECIAL 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss

Get My Book!

Get Your FREE Video Series

New Insights to Forever Transform Your Relationship with Food

from Robert Morgan Blog http://psychologyofeating.com/the-best-way-to-help-your-child-with-their-weight-body-image-video-with-marc-david/

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aion-rsa · 7 years

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CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2016: #75 – #51

Each year, CBR takes a thoughtful look at the comic book industry’s abundance of offerings and poll the passionate, thoughtful and always-opinionated CBR staff for their rankings of the top comics of the year. Every publisher putting out new comics material in English, regardless of genre or format, is fair game; each individual list is then factored in (all thanks to the power of mathematics and the magic of spreadsheets) to determine the overall Top 100 that will be unveiled on CBR over the course of this week.

2016 was another big year for the Top 100, once again with more than 40 contributors to the list and more than 200 comics nominated. That’s resulted in a typically diverse and sometimes unpredictable field: world-famous superheroes alongside creator-owned works; major publishers sharing space with indie favorites. Of course, even with 100 spots, no list can be an exhaustive collection of every noteworthy piece of work in a year, but the end result of the CBR Top 100 is a wide selection of eclectic comics and graphic novels worthy of attention.

On Monday, we started unveiling the list with entries No. 100 to 76, and the countdown continues today with No. 75 to 51, with more each day this week. Here’s the remaining schedule, mark your calendars accordingly (all times Eastern): Wednesday, 1/4, 3 p.m.: Top 50-26; Thursday, 1/5, 9 a.m.: Top 25-11; Thursday, 1/5, 3 p.m.: Top 10; Friday, 1/6, 9 a.m.: Master list.

Start perusing the list below, and if you feel so moved, take to Twitter and (politely) discuss your thoughts using the hashtag #CBRTop100. While you’re here, feel free revisit our Top 100 lists from previous years:

CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2015

CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2014

CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2013

CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2012

CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2011

CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2010

CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2009

CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2008

CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2016: 100 -> 76 | 75 -> 51 | 50 -> 26 | 25 -> 11 | 10 -> 1

75. The Goddamned

Written by Jason Aaron

Art by R. M. Guéra

Publisher: Image Comics

Cain, the inventor of murder, may need redemption in this series, but creators Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra do not. The series is violent, disgusting and sacrilegious: What the hell else could you want?

— CBR Contributing Writer Jason Strykowski

74. A.D.: After Death

Written by Scott Snyder

Art by Jeff Lemire

Publisher: Image Comics

Although there’s only been one volume so far [editor’s note: issue #2 was released on Dec. 28, after the cut-off for Top 100 voting], I think the first installment was absolutely brilliant. Innovative storytelling, distinctive visuals and huge themes make this one of the best and most original series of the year.

— CBR Contributing Writer Jason Wilkins

73. Nailbiter

Written by Joshua Williamson

Art by Mike Henderson

Publisher: Image Comics

The elevator pitch for “Nailbiter” is “Twin Peaks” meets “Seven.” Yes, it’s that good. It’s got amazing characters and a fantastic sense of horror and creeping dread, but where it really excels is pacing and reveals. With “Nailbiter,” Williamson and Henderson give a master class on long-form comic book mysteries. Each arc and issue offers up compelling reveals and makes you excited for the next big, exciting, and often creepy twist.

— CBR Staff Writer Dave Richards

72. Living Level 3: Iraq

Written by Joshua Dysart

Art by Alberto Ponticelli

Publisher: Published online by the World Food Programme

Joshua Dysart and his team dove into stories of refugees, migrants and hunger in the Middle East as part of a moving comic that blended fact, fiction and documentary. It was a heartbreaking journey, brought to life by the World Food Programme, telling the trials and tribulations that these people suffer day in, day out. From losing families to kids being sexually assaulted, kidnapped or killed, to children groomed as child soldiers, it’s not the easiest of reads, but one we need to dive into. Dysart spent time there interviewing, so this story’s as real as it gets. Bringing relief is an expensive and tedious task, and the awareness this comic spreads emphasizes that we need more of these stories.

— CBR Contributing Writer Renaldo Matadeen

71. Legend

Written by Samuel Sattin

Art by Chris Koehler

Publisher: Z2 Comics

Have you ever read the novel “Watership Down,” or at least seen the traumatizing animated adaptation? “Legend” kind of reads like that, only swap the rabbits with dogs and cats, and have it set after what appears to have been a zombie outbreak that wiped out humanity. Now throw in a mysterious creature of shadow and teeth called the “Endark.” Samuel Sattin and Chris Koehler show us what life is like for former household pets who have to live in this post-apocalyptic setting by blending spectacular artwork with the naive innocence of dog (and cat) logic.

— CBR List Editor Brian Patry

70. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Written by Kyle Higgins, Steve Orlando

Art by Hendry Prasetya, Thony Silas, Corin Howell

Publisher: BOOM! Studios

BOOM! Studios is doing a great job with the :Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” titles. There are faithful to the show while set in a similar, yet different, continuity. The issues capture the spirit of the show while giving it a bit more of a action movie feel to it. If you are a fan of Power Rangers or the Japanese “Super Sentai” shows it is based on, you are probably already getting and enjoying this title. If you don’t watch Power Rangers, the comic stands on its own merits and is a fun read.

— CBR Staff Writer John Mayo

69. Moon Knight

Written by Jeff Lemire

Art by Greg Smallwood, Francesco Francavilla, James Stokoe, Wilfredo Torres

Publisher: Marvel Comics

If you want a book that makes you think, look no further than the Jeff Lemire-written “Moon Knight.” Tackling mental illness, Lemire paints a picture where we’re left trying to decipher whether Moon Knight is a legitimate superhero or if it’s all just a figment of Marc Spector’s imagination.

— CBR Contributing Writer Adam Barnhardt

68. Tomboy

Written & Illustrated by M. Goodwin

Publisher: Action Lab Comics

An incredible riff on the Magical Girl concept, twisted by crooked cops, murder and revenge, Action Lab’s “Tomboy” is marked by an incredible depth of character writing and a darkly stirring narrative. It is a credit not just to the talents of creator M. Goodwin and her collaborator Michelle Wong, but of the unique stories that Action Lab is unafraid to publish.

— CBR List Editor Steven E. Paugh

67. Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq

Written & Illustrated by Sarah Glidden

Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly

Traveling through Turkey, Iraq, and Syria with a team of freelance journalists, Sarah Glidden chronicled not only the stories of individual refugees and the aftermath of the Iraq War but also the process of journalism itself. Both sides of the story are fascinating and skillfully told.

— CBR Staff Writer Brigid Alverson

66. Giant Days

Written by John Allison

Art by Max Sarin

Publisher: BOOM! Studios/BOOM! Box

Every aspect of “Giant Days” seems designed for maximum comedic effect, and yet the craft on display flows so naturally and easily from creator John Allison, artist Max Sarin, inker Liz Fleming and colorist Whitney Cogar. The continuing adventures of Esther, Susan and Daisy are consistently delightful, whether they’re searching for a new apartment, fuming about ex-boyfriends or scheming for educational shortcuts. Allison’s dialogue doesn’t waste a word, Sarin’s storytelling is spot-on and Fleming and Cogar put the finishing touches on a series which, month in and month out, is virtually immaculate.

— CBR Staff Writer Tom Bondurant

65. Chew

Written by John Layman

Art by Rob Guillory

Publisher: Image Comics

Chew gave us its last great chomp this year as it finished its run. It’s one of those rare breeds of comics that gave us consistently great storytelling and art on a regular basis, and completed the mission it set out to do. Congrats to all involved on this masterpiece!

— CBR Contributing Writer George A. Tramountanas

64. Red Team: Double Tap, Center Mass

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Craig Cermak

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

This reads like a prime time television police procedural in all the right ways. Great story, excellent art. The first issue was one of the best comics I read all year and the subsequent issues have not disappointed. Highly recommended if you like the police procedural genre. Somehow both this series and the previous “Red Team” series a few years back flew completely under my radar. I love finding, to me at least, a hidden gem of a title.

— CBR Staff Writer John Mayo

63. Criminal: 10th Anniversary Special

Written by Ed Brubaker

Art by Sean Phillips

Publisher: Image Comics

After last year’s “Savage Sword of Criminal,” in which Tracy’s old man Teeg whittled away his time in the slammer through the comic adventures of a swashbuckling barbarian, Brubaker & Phillips made the metatextual pulp treasury an annual tradition with “Deadly Hands of Criminal,” in which Teeg and a 12-year-old Tracy are on the road getting into no good when Tracy discovers Fang the Kung-Fu Werewolf, a teenager with all manner of powers except any that might allow him any sense of control. The story might be Brubaker and Phillips’ masterpiece. Not only is the “Criminal” chapter a fantastic character exploration, but it’s a specifically tailored love letter to comics and the way comics get loved most, and best. It’s a proof of concept for the power and purpose of not only comics as a practical medium but also the surrounding collecting culture that forged it into what it is today. Not despite of but in fact because of its kung-fu werewolf star, “Deadly Hands” is a heartbreaking testament to the the loneliness and alienation that is so often discovered in adolescence, and achieves this while making the case that, in their way, if you love comics they can love you back.

— CBR Staff Writer Brendan McGuirk

62. Angel City

Written by Janet Harvey

Art by Megan Levens

Publisher: Oni Press

Everything about this miniseries has been incredible: strong women, complicated characters and a pitch-perfect yet updated take on noir. The writing and art works seamlessly together to provide texture and mood as former starlet Dolores Dare goes after a killer.

— CBR Contributing Writer Beth Bartlett

61. Daredevil

Written by Charles Soule

Art by Ron Garney, Goran Sudžuka, Matteo Buffagni

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Even though Matt Murdock is a fan-favorite character, the current run of “Daredevil” is a bit underrated currently. Donning a new black suit for his post-“Secret Wars run,” Daredevil battles the Hand before starting a rocky relationship with New Attilan and the Inhuman Royal Family. Alongside his new protege Blindspot, the Man without Fear is in the midst of another great era.

— CBR Contributing Writer Adam Barnhardt

60. Wonder Woman: The True Amazon

Written & Illustrated by Jill Thompson

Publisher: DC Comics

In this glorious masterpiece written and painted (yes, painted) by Jill Thompson, we get a Wonder Woman origin story (out of continuity) like no other. Rather than start off as strong, confident, wise and compassionate, she’s, uh, kind of a brat. The first girl born on the island of the Amazons in ages, Princess Diana is realistically spoiled rotten by such an environment and learns the hard way that there’s more to life than being worshipped and adored. Seeing her not-so-altruistic reasons for becoming a mighty warrior is surprisingly refreshing. The more you read, the more the story’s ending becomes predictable. Yet shockingly, seeing those predictions being met is incredibly fulfilling. This is a testament to Thompson’s simple, elegant storytelling method, which is beautifully enhanced by her equally elegant and stunning artwork.

— CBR List Editor Brian Patry

59. Equinoxes

Written & Illustrated by Cyril Pedrosa

Publisher: NBM Publishing

First published in English in North America this year, I was floored by the sheer amount of craft Cyril Pedrosa packs into this graphic novel. An engrossing, sophisticated exploration of human interaction that uses innovative visual storytelling to weave together multiple narratives into a beautiful, dynamic tapestry that resonates across time and space.

— CBR Contributing Writer Jason Wilkins

58. Nod Away

Written & Illustrated by Joshua Cotter

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books

Joshua W. Cotter’s first graphic novel in years is well worth the wait– and what’s fascinating is that, for a graphic novel that fans have been waiting for for so many years, “Nod Away” is very much about waiting, as the story is about that sense of dread in a horror film as things get worse and worse. Here, we are slowly given more and more information about a future society where the world is connected via the mind of a young girl, only that is just the first step in a darker conspiracy where the more we learn, the more disturbing things are. Cotter knows how to cut to the heart of characters, making his protagonists easily relatable, which makes the dread feel even worse, as we really like our scientist hero (who has to deal with sexism on top of all the horror stuff) and want things to go well for her. It’s a triumphant return by Cotter, and I selfishly hope we don’t have to wait this long for his next graphic novel.

— CBR Staff Writer Brian Cronin

57. Midnighter and Apollo

Written by Steve Orlando

Art by Fernando Blanco

Publisher: DC Comics

I was devastated when Steve Orlando’s “Midnighter” run ended, but this miniseries has more than made up for it. A refreshing new take on a relationship between two hyper-masculine men where stereotypes in and outside of the bedroom are constantly challenged. Their romantic journey together is rooted in honesty; things don’t just magically fix themselves when you get back together with an ex, you’ll still have problems. Also, Fernando Blanco’s ability to draw abs good enough to eat off of, along with stellar colors by Romulo Fajardo, Jr. I never knew I needed a comic about a guy going all the way to Hell to rescue his superhuman boyfriend until now; like a gay Western.

— CBR Contributing Writer Heather Knight

56. Animosity

Written by Marguerite Bennett

Art by Rafael de Latorre

Publisher: AfterShock Comics

A unique story in the dystopian genre where animals have “woken up” and, for the most part, no longer want to tolerate human existence. It’s as terrifying as it is beautiful, every issue nail-biting, painful and achingly good. It’s also about a young girl and her dog, but don’t mistake that for a nice story. Marguerite Bennett is at it again with another incredible book full of heart, complimented with art by Rafael de Latorre and colors by Rob Schwager. This comic is ruthless and unapologetic and worth every second of it.

— CBR Contributing Writer Heather Knight

55. A City Inside

Written & Illustrated by Tillie Walden

Publisher: Avery Hill Publishing

After a fantastic two-book debut in 2015, Tillie Walden released her third graphic novella in 2016. Like her earlier work, this one offers a narrative that is based more on the invocation of emotion than on action, and is all the more powerful for it. Her tumbling cityscapes and sense of architecture are delightfully beguiling and I am certain that 2017, which will see the release “Spinning,” her most extensive work to date, will be Walden’s breakout year.

— CBR Contributing Writer Rob Cave

54. Doom Patrol

Written by Gerard Way

Art by Nick Derington

Publisher: DC/Young Animal

Way and Derington’s “Doom Patrol” restores a frantic, surreal unpredictability to DC’s stable, requiring a whole new imprint to house it. The new series pays homage to Grant Morrison’s famous run without being beholden to it, creating new adventures for the strange heroes that feel just familiar enough before diving full-on into the carefully structured absurdities that fans crave. Oh, and it reads like a song.

— CBR Staff Writer Shaun Manning

53. Goldie Vance

Written by Hope Larson

Art by Brittney Williams

Publisher: BOOM! Studios/BOOM! Box

It may feel like damning something with faint praise to call it “smart,” but damned if that’s not what “Goldie Vance” is from top to bottom. Larson’s period piece about a plucky girl detective in a Florida resort cuts against the grain of by-the-numbers stories in comics and Middle Grade fiction with well-observed characters and a sharp, witty approach to historical fiction. And Williams’ art is nothing if not elegant, imbuing all the book’s ideas into the smoothest of lines. This isn’t the kind of book where you say, “How did no one think of this before?” It’s one where you go, “Thank God someone thought of this.”

— CBR Staff Writer Kiel Phegley

52. Archie

Written by Mark Waid, Lori Matsumoto

Art by Veronica Fish, Ryan Jampole, Thomas Pitilli, Joe Eisma

Publisher: Archie Comics

Each character lives with such honesty, such purity, such innocence — it makes me long for the simpler days of playing in a garage band or discovering a first love. Mark Waid has drawn me into the world of Riverdale and Pops’ so much that I wish I was friends with Archie, Betty and their gang of misfits. Veronica Fish’s artwork is bold and vibrant; perfectly complementing Waid’s storytelling, which makes every emotion each character feels even more palpable.

— CBR Staff Writer Lauren Gallaway

51. Star Wars

Written by Jason Aaron

Art by Leinil Yu, Jorge Molina, Mike Mayhew, Mike Deodato, Salvador Larroca

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Like the novels, the “Star Wars Rebels” cartoon and the “Star Wars: Battlefront” game, the Star Wars comics have largely done a great job of capturing the feeling of the films, while expanding upon the saga in interesting ways. This is especially true for these ongoing series, which have been smartly written, clever in their execution, and great at seamlessly adding new elements to the larger story.

— CBR Staff Writer Paul Semel

The post CBR’s Top 100 Comics of 2016: #75 – #51 appeared first on CBR.com.

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