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arcaneranger · 5 years

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Final Thoughts - Netflix Exclusives 2018

Oh my god you guys, I’m finally done. I’m free from the prison of 2018, just in time to actually finish my premieres for spring of 2019. But first, let’s talk!

2018 was the year that Netflix really went all-in on producing its own anime and picking up some big names, so we saw Devilman Crybaby made specifically for the service and high-profile shows like Dragon Pilot and Hi-Score Girl basically hijacked by the streaming service and delayed for months in the U.S. so that the biggest name in the game could release everything in bingeable packages. Unfortunately, bringing in an auteur like Masaaki Yuasa for Crybaby and throwing all the damn money at him worked so well that, long before any of these shows would even premiere, they decided to seemingly take any anime pitch under the sun, and wound up financing disasters like Hero Mask and B: The Beginning. Really, these shows kind of run the full gamut from garbage to god-tier, with an unfortunate tipping of the scale in the wrong direction. I haven’t gotten to see Ingress yet at the time of publication though, so we’ll have to see whether 2019 will start in a good direction.

ANYWAY.

DROPPED

WORST OF NETFLIX: Back Street Girls -GOKUDOLS-

I still don’t get how anyone thought this was worth promoting. The entire concept is offensive, and yet it was directed by a master and veteran of the medium (who is also a woman), leading me to just throw my hands in the air and resign myself to never having a satisfactory answer for why Netflix would pick this up to begin with. Dropped after 1 episode.

Hero Mask

One of the most incompetently written first episodes I’ve ever seen gave me absolutely no hope that Hero Mask was going to actualize into anything watchable or even average-looking. It was boring and unintelligible. Dropped after 1 episode.

Fate/EXTRA: Last Encore

What the fuck was Akiyuki Shinbo even doing on Fate? Did he do this at the expense of season 3 of March comes in like a lion or something? Probably not, but geez... This seems much more like someone attempting to copy his style than the genuine article, but nope, there’s his director credit. In the end, I suppose that Fate/EXTRA, despite being a very interesting game, was not ever going to be adapted well - the protagonist is almost literally a blank slate for a self-insert of the player, and their servant is also not set in stone - but I kind of would have rather had nothing than this. Dropped after 2 episodes.

SWORDGAI The Animation

Oh hey, yet another “the Animation”, it definitely doesn’t sound pretentious yet. I don’t have much to say on SWORDGAI, or at least not any more than anyone else - it’s stupid, very earnestly stupid, and doesn’t seem aware enough of that fact to be entertaining for more than a hate watch - and my hate plate is full already. Dropped after 1 episode.

Last Hope

I remember almost nothing about Last Hope other than that it was both pretentious and nonsensical, which kind of illustrates why Yoshiyuki Tomino is wise enough to stay out of anything that isn’t his beautiful Gundam baby, and it’s a shame that Kawamori (father of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross) doesn’t stick with what he knows, which is mech design. (No, seriously, he’s got a ton of credits on MAL and they’re almost all for that.) Dropped after 1 episode.

BAKI

Oh, BAKI, it’s okay, you’re a remnant from a different time. That time was right around when Mars of Destruction seemed like a good idea. It’s not that bad so I shouldn’t really mention them in the same sentence, but the hyper-violent imagery of this show is on the level of the Berserk manga. It’s unfortunate that I had to leave it after one episode because Netflix picked up a sequel that relies heavily on your pre-existing investment (just like with the Dragons TV show, for the record). Dropped after 1 episode.

A.I.C.O. Incarnation

I stuck with this one longer than any other that I didn’t drop, but in hindsight I shouldn’t have wasted my time. It’s one of the worst-looking Bones productions I’ve ever seen and the plot is a dumb ripoff of a much better science fiction series. Dropped after six episodes.

B: The Beginning

Probably the biggest waste of money on this list, B has such lavish animation that you can almost forget that you have absolutely no clue what’s happening or what the context of the story even is. It tries really hard to be both Psycho-Pass and Death Note at the same time to the point of cutting between them multiple times per scene, and it just ends up a badly jumbled mess, albeit one with really pretty colors. Dropped after 3 episodes.

Kakegurui

I still don’t have much to say here because the topic has been so thoroughly covered by The Anime Pope, so I’ll resummarize here - this is a show about gambling where the stakes seem utterly meaningless, even though it tries to impress us by showering money on the characters.

Children of the Whales

It’s so pretty, but it’s so boring. Children of the Whales succeeds in looking beautiful, but fails as a story that wants to be grim and apocalyptic but comes across as a soft-hearted small-village story that gets surprisingly violent four episodes in. This should have been the tone from the beginning, and the entire thing needed a good kick in the pants. Dropped after five episodes.

FINISHED

Sirius the Jaeger (6/10)

One that I waited a long time for after seeing the PV at Anime Central last year, and wound up pretty disappointed by in general. It looks nice (...at first), given that P.A. Works at least knows how to make a show visually appealing on a consistent basis, but the plot jumps so far into cliched stupidity by the end that, even though it had a few twists I wasn’t expecting, they couldn’t save it from being something I won’t recommend to anyone with as much anime experience as myself.

Lost Song (7/10)

(Author’s note: Yeah, apparently nobody on all of Tumblr has made a GIF of this one...)

Lost Song was a pleasant surprise that I wasn’t expecting to be invested enough to finish. One of the best of LIDENFILMS’ output, it manages to weave together a decent fantasy Symphogear AU fanfic, with interesting third-act twists peppering the last few episodes that made it memorable despite looking pretty generic. There’s a sequel due this year, too!

Hi Score Girl (7/10)

A very visually distinctive show with a neat concept that didn’t dive far enough into the heavy subjects it brings up, Hi Score Girl sits in a place where I like the presentation of it a lot more than I like the story. Don’t get me wrong, the romance is certainly cute, and I won’t begrudge a love triangle if it’s meant to be the primary conflict of a show, but the fact that it spent most of its last episode setting up for later robbed it of the chance to give us a satisfying place to leave off until the next part of this adaptation. Luckily, it got a second season, hopefully to finish the adaptation later this year.

Forest of Piano (7/10)

A good first try by a fledgling studio, but not one that lives up to what it really wants to be due to some very bad habits. I still distinctly remember the constant character shilling, and it feels like the story could have happened a little faster if not for the breaks every few minutes to heap praise upon the protagonist. Also, the mo-cap piano playing still looks weird. I’ll probably watch the sequel though, to see if it gets concluded well.

Dragon Pilot: Hisone to Masotan (8/10)

I literally just did my write-up for this one, so I don’t have much new to say here, but I’m pleased that Dragon Pilot turned out as well as it did despite not being what I quite expected from it.

Aggretsuko (8/10)

A fantastic and rather unorthodox look at what it’s actually like to be an adult in the Japanese workforce, Aggretsuko was an early darling of the year, and the only things that could have made it better were a more interesting visual presentation and a less squirrelly ending. Shame that the Christmas Special was...not good.

Devilman Crybaby (9/10)

It was so, so good...right up until the end. Yeah, that’s the only thing holding this back from a perfect score - I really, really hate the ending, and it needed to be changed. I know that, for most people, the best show of the year was either this one, or the most conspicuous work that hasn’t yet appeared on this list, though, so…

BEST NETFLIX SHOW OF THE YEAR: Violet Evergarden (10/10)

Oh God, what beautiful cry-porn. I hope that Kyoto Animation was paid well for their best show in years, and I’m kind of shocked that the two shows that made me sob the most this year both came out in the same season (thanks, A Place Further Than the Universe). I won’t spoil more than I did in my original review, but Netflix should be pushing this to literally everyone who would be even casually interested in watching it.

And that’s it! Last but not least, the last list won’t be a roundup of the whole year (since, you know, I’ve already done that in big chunks), but a list of the Class of 2018 Superlatives. Look forward to it!

#arcaneanime #netflix 2018 #violet evergarden #devilman crybaby #aggretsuko #lost song #sirius the jaeger #dragon pilot #hi score girl #forest of piano

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saltwife · 5 years

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SDF Macross Ep. 11: First Contact

We pick up where we left off, with Breetai laying the smack down on the humans.

And it pretty much continues in this vein!

He knocks Kakizaki AND HIS MECH out cold. Max is all :surprised pikachu: because he just blew him into space wtf. While this is happening some Zentraedi scoops Lisa up into a bag. A BAG. Breetai beats the living shit out of Lil’ Hikaru with his BARE HANDS, ultimately impaling the valkyrie on some… idk, coat hooks?

Why don’t you... hang around for a while? :v

Rick ejects to try and escape but Breetai LEAPS into the air and snatches him. Lil’ Hikaru’s mech explodes from the abuse, blowing a hole into the hull (again) and sucking Max out into space (again). Don’t worry though, Breetai is fine.

This is literal... Zentraedi higher ups are actually genetically engineered to be smarter and tougher!

The Zentraedi put the humans in the shame tube. THE SHAME TUBE!!

What’s this? Another thing VLD ‘referenced’? :O

While B&E discuss what they are, the humans wake up and immediately start bickering. Rick says some incredibly fucked up shit to Misa. He blames her for the recon pilot getting killed. And then, these gems!!!

LIKE WHOAH HOLY SHIT RICK. I honestly don’t remember him saying anything this blatantly horrible, although my sister says it wasn’t that different. For some reason instead of giving him the dick punch he so richly deserves, Misa just tells him to watch how he talks to a superior officer and that she can do those things too.

B& E watch them fight and Exedore comments that men and women being together in the same place leads to disaster. No honey, that’s just Rick. Anyway it’s giving Breetai (and me) a headache so they turn off the monitor. They decide that they need to bring the prisoners to the Main Fleet for their head dude to decide what to do.

Meanwhile Max sneaks back into the ship via a hole in the hull before they fold, and back on the Macross, Roy breaks the news to Minmay that Rick is missing; I do not care. He is very tall though.

We learn that time passes differently during a fold… An hour in hyperspace apparently equals like 10 days back on the Macross, and Lil’ Hikaru is missing Minmay’s debut, boo hoo.

As the Zentraedi ship defolds, the humans are dismayed and astonished by the sheer size of the main fleet. They fly into some kind of a giant asteroid base. Meanwhile Max beats up a hapless Zentraedi who was just trying to go to the toilet, and steals his uniform.

Breetai prepares to make his report to Bodolzaa, which will take place on his own ship so the humans don’t contaminate the core with their gross human cooties. Bodolzaa starts interrogating them, which immediately hits a snag when the Zentraedi can’t grasp the concept of ‘civilians’ and ‘before I was in the military’. They also demand to know how men and women can live together, and why they have chosen to become miclones. Misa at first refuses to answer, so Bodolzaa decides a display of force is in order and shows images of the fleet destroying a planet. She judges that they must have something he wants or he would have blown up Earth and the ship already, so she calls his bluff. Get dunked on Baldy.

The power of… friendship? (spoiler alert no, it’s boning)

This does not make Bodolzaa happy. He scoops her up and demands again to know why she became a miclone, threatening to kill her until the guys tell him they were born this way. This leads into the world’s worst sex ed class…

Poor Exedore, his giant brain is breaking.

Sounds fake but ok

Oh my God Breetai. At least Misa didn’t break out a powerpoint. Hayao gets as far as explaining that they kiss and “hold each other” before Bodolzaa demands that they (he and Rick) demonstrate. Thank God he didn’t hear what comes next or this would have been a very different anime. Because it’s the 80s Lil’ Hikaru refuses to kiss a dude, so Misa volunteers and orders him to kiss her.

The Zentraedi are FREAKING OUT.

Protoculture is mentioned. Bodolzaa orders the humans taken away. The shame tube is too good for them now and they’re tossed into what appears to be a closet, while the Zentraedi try to figure out what the fuck just happened. The lower ranking scouts don’t even know what Protoculture is, so we’re treated to some exposition! In the “time of Protoculture” the ancestors of the Zentraedi used to be miclone-sized, and all lived together, and had something called ‘culture;’ but most records of this time have been lost. Now they believe that if anyone comes in contact with protoculture they become unable to fight and will be destroyed… This is srs bsns.

The secret of protoculture is obviously bangin’.

We end with some gratuitous Minmay singing, which is thankfully much less painful than the English version. It’s just sort of bland and generic 80s anime music as opposed to horrible, grating nonsense.

This episode had no Khyron, but loads of Breetai so it still gets a thumbs up from me. I love this big hairy cyclops man. :3

Next episode is ‘Big Escape’!

#macross #super dimension fortress macross #robotech #breetai #britai #exedore #hikaru ichijo #misa hayase #lynn minmay #roy focker #saltwife blogs macross #first contact #the adventures of lil' hikaru

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acid-eater · 5 years

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LOGH 100 Question Meme

Under the cut bc this is huge

1) How did you get into LOGH?

It was back in 98 when I used to “work” with some friends fansubbing anime in a home studio. One day one of my friends, who used to go to japan a lot because his family was living there as dekasegi, brought some episodes of logh (half of the 1st season) telling us that we should start subbing it because it was “the best space opera ever to exist”. We found the script on the internet and watched it. It was awesome, but we never subbed it because we were too lazy.

2) What did you watch/read from LOGH? I haven’t watched Golden Wings

3) Which one did you get started with? the first of the 110 episodes

4) What do you plan to watch/read from LOGH in the future? hmm nothing I guess

5) What books do you own from LOGH? Yoshiki Tanaka‘s novels

6)What video support do you own from LOGH? 720p and old 480p

7)What LOGH videogames do you own? Physical copy none, but I have all pc88 and pc98 games (only to take screenshots because I can’t play them in japanese haha)

8)What’s your favorite LOGH videogame? n/a

9)What goods from LOGH do you own (toys, clothes, etc.) this is everything logh related I own

(thanks to my favorite girls hisohiso and karisomeotome)

10)If you could wish for a LOGH good that doesn’t exist yet, what would that be? idk, an audiobook, maybe?

11)Do you own LOGH models? Nope

12)Did you ever thought “OH MY GOD I AM A LOGH FREAK”? Nope

13)Did you ever sang a LOGH song in a karaoke? No, I’ve never been to a karaoke x_x

14)What is your favorite season of the show? 2

15)And your less favorite? Maybe 1? x_x Idk...

16)What is your favorite episode and/or movie? episode 54

17)Favorite scene or event? Reinhard and Yang Wenli meeting

18)Favorite battle? Vermillion! (see? 2nd season is the best) but also Shiva

19)Less favorite scene or event? 3 terrible scenes involving: kircheis, yang wenli and reuenthal

20)Favorite song? I love Hikaru no Hashi wo Koete and Sea of the Stars

21)Favorite sountrack? Mahler’s Symphony No 2, “Resurrection”. Mostly because of episode 98 ;____;

22)Favorite quote? “Information is a living organism - with a short lifespan.” Yang the Wenli on Spiral Labyrinth and “The people have democratic principles on their lips, but cannot spare the effort to safeguard them! The collapse of a government is the sin of its rulers and leaders. The collapse of democratic rule is the sin of every citizen.” Bucock - The man, the legend

23)Who would you have sided with if you had a choice? The solitary and hopeless struggle of Jessica Edwards

24)Where would you live? In Heinessenpolis

25)What job/function would you have had? an irrelevant one

26)Which character is the most alike to you? I have NO idea

27)Which character would you like to be like? Ugh... Bucock, maybe.

28)Who is your favorite character? Miracle Yang

29)Which character were you impressed by the most? Reuenthal

30)Your OTP…? Mitts & Reuenthal

31)…and NOTP? all the hetero u_u

32)Who is the perfect, ideal couple? Reinhardo-sama and Kircheis

33)Less favorite character? Every fuckin Phezzani (except for Boris Konev)

34)Who is the sassiest man in the galaxy? Dusty or Schenkopp

35)Who is the smartest character? Oberstein

36)And the sexiest? Reuenthal

37)Who has the best strategy? Yang Wenli

38)Who has the best strategy from the opposite side? Reinhard

39)Who has the worst strategy? Braunschweig is really incompetent

40)Who is the most evil? The whole Terraist Church and of course the Phezzani behind it

41)Who is the most honest? Kircheis and Mittermeyer

42)Which character can’t be ignored yet not your favorite one? Cazellnu

43)WHO IS GALAXY’S GREATEST HERO? maybe kesler, maybe mitts

44)Favorite ship (as in spaceship not your OTP again)? Barbarossa

45)Favorite planet? Heinessen

46)Who are, gradually, the five best officers from the Alliance? Bucock, Yang, Julian, Schenkopp, Dusty

47)And from the Empire? Reuenthal, Muller, Kessler,Mitts, Oberstein

48)Who would you like to have as your subordinate? Julian

49)Who would you like to have as your superior? Yang or Bucock or Merkatz

50)Who would you hate to have as your superior? Reinhard u_u

WOW!! Halfway through, here’s a cookie!!

51)Who would you hate to have as your subordinate? Poplan

52)Who would you like to have as your opponent? Reinhard

53)Who would you hate to have as your opponent? Yang

54)If you could befriend a character, who would that be? Mittermeyer

55)Which character would you have a talk with? Mittermeyer

56)If you could be one of the characters for one day, who would it be and when? One of Cazellnu daughters

57)Which character could you fall in love with? Reuenthal

58)Which character do you want to treat badly? Reuenthal lol

59)Which character would you have liked to live? Kircheis (end of the anime) and Yang

60)Which character do you wish to see dead (earlier)? Rubinsky

61)What death affected you the most? 3: kircheis, yang and reuenthal

62)What death did you celebrate? Rubinsky

63)What death is the most heroical? Bucock

64)What death is the silliest? Andrew Fork

65)Who is right of Yang and Reinhard? Yang

66)Between the Trunicht Government and the Goldenbaum Government, which would you choose? Revolution!!!!

67)If you were in Yang’s position, how would you have reacted to the Greenhill Coup d’Etat? The NSMC was a mistake and it would obviously destroy itself, Yang did well in putting that guy (I forgot his name) to talk publicly denouncing that the coup was supported by the Empire, but he took so long to actually attack them somehow.

68)Who used the best technique to destroy the Artemis necklackle, Kircheis or Yang? Yang

69) Would you have killed Reinhard in Vermillion if you were in Yang’s position? Without a doubt

70)Who would you have sided with in Merkatz place? He did the right thing, I would do the same.

71)If it were you instead of Yang, would you have sided with Reinhard after the battle of Vermillion? No. Impossible.

72)Do you prefer Oberstein or Bittenfeld? Tough one... Bittenfeld, probably

73)Were you sad about Oberstein’s death? More than I expected tbh

74)If you could choose to marry either Frederica or Hilda, who would it be? Frederica, for sure.

75)Who do you think Julian slept with? Mashengo (my otp)

76)In your humble opinion, how many times did Reinhard and Hilda did “the thing”? lol just once and she probably didn't even cum

77)Do you think Reinhard was poisoned? Some questions are better left unanswered

78)Do you prefer the books, the anime or the manga (or the remake :B)? Anime

79)Do you like Golden Wings/Ougon no Tsubasa? haven’t seen

79)Do you wish the OVA looked like GW/OnT? Noooo

80)Do you like other works from Yoshiki Tanaka? I don’t know any other

81)Do you like other works from Noboru Ishiguro? Of course! Especially Macross, Megazone and Yamato.

82)Who is your favorite seiyuu? I don’t have one.

83)Who would you like to see in your own language dubcast? huh no one

84)Who is your favorite classical music composer from the soundtrack? Gustav Mahler

85)If there was a LOGH live action movie, who would you like to see in the cast? Please, no.

86)Do you have friends you can share your love for LOGH with? YES!

87)Are you a LOGH proselyte and try to get new people into it? All the time (it never works tho)

88)What is the message from LOGH you will remember? obviously “In every time, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same.”

89)What did you like in LOGH? A LOT of things. I liked the writing, the fact that the story is thought and presented as if it were historical data, is really believable most of the time. I like the characters, aesthetically speaking, their design are so varied and unique I could pretty much imagine how they would look like as real people. On a psychological level as well, their variety and depth is amazing and I mention this show as an example on how the best stories are those where both the plot and the characters are awesome.

90)What did you hate in LOGH? That it had to end

91)What do you think of democracy as depicted in LOGH? Democracy is not something that should be taken for granted and LOGH has the best way to remind us about it.

92)What do you think of autocracy as depicted in LOGH? Obviously depicted in a positive way but doesn’t neglect to highlight the limits of this system as well, with Reinhard’s statement that Alec should not reign were he unfitting for the task and him agreeing to give the Empire a constitution.

93)Did LOGH changed your views about politics or history? Not really, it just reassured things I’ve already known and presented they

94)How did you feel after finishing episode 110? Ewige Wiederkunft

95)How would you describe LOGH in few words? A modern definition of an Epic.

96)What do you expect from LOGH in the future? Nothing

97)Do you casually read LOGH fanfiction? No

98)Do you casually write LOGH fanficition? Nope

99)Do you casually draw LOGH-related art? No D:

100)Any last words?

Because I said too many NOs in the last questions.

Congratulations! You did it! A true galactic hero!

Don’t forget to tag your post with #logh100questions so I we can read your answers (and send you the official Galactic Hero Medal (made of fine Swiss chocolate ;D)

[Translated from the original french meme from this forum:http://www.cosmic-era.com/forum/][Some questions were replaced because of reasons]

BLANK MEME here

#logh100questions #logh #personal shit #this has been on my drafts for years and I even had to update some answers

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go-our-own-ways · 5 years

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Gundam NT - Experience and Initial Thoughts

Hello tumblr...it’s only been 94857589746575 years, eh?

Well. So it finally happened. Gundam NT finally got an official run in America, and I finally got to see it. I’ve finally seen the dang mecha movie that I’ve been dying to see since last November.

Finally!!!

But, not without some dramatic mishaps at first (lol).

I was lucky enough to have my local theater showing the movie, but it took them 20 minutes to get the movie running (it was just a dead screen up until then)...only for us to realize it was for Bohemian Rhapsody, and not, in fact, for Gundam NT. Some jokes were made from the other movie-goers (”Gee, Macross sure looks funny!” “Hey Hawthorn you okay there?”) but soon the chatter turned into serious consternation and concern. Eventually, theater staff told us the movie couldn’t be shown because the projector didn’t have it, so we all filed out of the theater to head to Guest Services. While we waited in line to get vouchers (in lieu of a refund), we were also told that staff was working to fix the issue, so we were welcome to go back to the theater to wait it out.

And boy am I glad I decided to go back up, because soon enough, they had it up and running. THANK GOD.

Unfortunately, they skipped over most of the bonus footage featuring the interview and introduction from the producer and director in the interest of time... I’m actually really sad and salty about that, but it’s better than not seeing the movie at all, at least.

And so, after like 30-40 (or maybe more?!) minutes delay...we finally began the movie proper. LMAO.

Before diving into things, a bit of a head’s up:

Frankly, I’m new to Gundam, and I’m by no means well-versed in Gundam lore. Additionally, I’m also not someone who is usually nitpicky about details in animation or story-telling. So, my POV is basically of a casual bystander who happened to check out the franchise, and decided to stick around because it seems fun and interesting. If you’re someone who is more or less opposite to me...then this “review” of sorts is definitely not for you.

Actual movie thoughts under the cut! Not spoiler free!!!

I’m not gonna lie...honestly my memory of the movie is really cluttered and foggy. However, despite this, I still very much enjoyed watching the movie!

So...pacing. I’m no expert, but I seriously feel like this movie could have benefited from getting like maybe 2 hours of screen time rather than an hour and thirty minutes. It felt like the production team was trying to cram SO MUCH into TOO LITTLE time that the whole movie felt really fast. Despite this, the tension build-up was definitely there, especially as we got closer and closer to the end. About halfway into the movie I began to clutch my coat and scarf (it was quite chilly out today) really tightly just out of the continued anticipation of what will happen next...needless to say, my hands are now very sore, lol.

I do wish the plot wasn’t revealed in such a non-linear way. Of course, flashbacks and the like are sure to be used in storytelling, but much of NT’s story-telling felt more like oddly-placed snippets that went back in time, rather than a series of flashbacks. For the most part, I’d say each of the trips back into the past were important and revealed important information...but it made the movie feel cluttered and kind of all over the place. And honestly, the non-linear way NT’s narrative was told made it difficult to keep up with what was going on and how everything tied into it all until the very, very end. That’s probably my one gripe about this movie, I think.

Now, despite the pacing and the scrambled nature of the plotline, NT was still a lot of fun for me to watch, and I think I can credit the fight scenes, the characters, and the acting for that. The fight scenes were thrilling to see on a BIG ASS SCREEN, for one. And then just generally anxiously waiting at the edge of my seat to see how the battle would pan out is of course always a thrilling part of (my so far very short) Gundam experience. Animation-wise I really don’t know if I can say anything, since I didn’t notice anything especially jarring or bad. But, I’m also terrible at noticing small details when it comes to animation, so it could have also missed it.

The characters were a pleasure to watch, in my opinion. Rita honestly seemed like a cooky mystic Newytpe for most of the movie, and it really grated on my nerves. I kept thinking, “Surely there’s more to her than wondering about heaven and wanting to be reincarnated as a bird.” But the very end of the movie finally revealed the more human side of her, and that definitely made me feel better about her as a character. I do wish they could have shown more of Rita’s human-ness, but I suppose in the interest of time, they couldn’t.

Michelle seemed really cool, up until she started to look like a nasty manipulative player with huge stakes on the line. But as more and more of her story unfolded, I began to see the layers of the onion, so to speak. I was glad that she wasn’t just a vengeful person greedy for power, and at the same time I was also glad she wasn’t just another corner in a love triangle. Her humanity was evident, but I wished that we could have seen more of it through showing rather than telling. Ultimately, it was Brick who made the final reveal on Michelle’s true character in his last message to Jona, and I just wish that we could’ve seen more of it through Michelle’s own actions instead. We did get glimpses of it, of course, and I suppose maybe choosing to not show it much was to reflect that side of Michelle’s character--someone who guards her personal emotions closely and puts on a show, a facade for the public to see. But even then, I still wish we could’ve had more glimpses into Michelle’s humanity through her own actions.

Jona, Jona, Jona... Where do I even begin. Ultimately, I resonated with his humanity the most, I think. Seeing how much he still thought about those years with the lab even after all this time, how angry he was with Michelle, how distraught he was over Rita being taken away...it all felt very raw and very human. I guess it was just all very relatable, seeing how emotional Jona could be. I’m a pretty emotional person myself in the sense that I feel emotions very intensely, and it seemed like Jona’s personality was like that, too.

He says a line towards the end of the movie where he’s wondering out loud what is the point of continuing to live. He pretty much wonders, after the only people you cared about have left, after you’ve witnessed such horrendous things, after you’ve had to LIVE through such awful events...what even is the point anymore? I really felt for him in that moment. It made me remember how much I’ve wanted to give up before when everything seemed to be terrible and miserable in life. When nothing seems to go well, what point is there to continue going on, right?

Then there’s the returning characters from Unicorn. I was happy to see all the characters who returned, of course, but MAN...I was SO happy to see Banagher finally, at the very end of the movie. And the words of encouragement he says to Jona...the classic “Even so...” MAN. MAN OH MAN did I cry...! Like I mentioned before, I was already really resonating with Jona in like the prior scene, so the emotion from seeing Banagher again combined with the emotions from HEARING those words of hope...that really did a number on my heart, and in a good way.

The dub cast did a fantastic job, I thought. Normally, I feel like I’m suffering every time I have to watch a dub, but the cast made it work for this movie. I think the only bone I have to pick would be Rita’s dub actress, and that may just be personal preference. I figure the actress was told to sound kind of mystic and airy (since that’s basically Rita’s personality for about 99% of the movie, so that’s a fair direction to take with the acting), but it sounded a smidge too...fake? plastic? for me to really buy into. But again, this is probably just me being picky, lol. I LOVED the acting for the other 3 main characters though (Jona, Michelle, and Zoltan). I have to commend Jona’s dub actor (Griffin Puatu) because he really pulled off a similar tone and feel to Enoki Junya’s acting, I thought. (At least, based on the long preview; I’ve yet to watch the first 23 minutes of the JP version of the movie.) I have other thoughts for the other actors but I think I’ll leave them for another day... Also, I’m merely a fan when it comes to voice acting, so these are purely just the feelings and thoughts the performances gave me as a viewer, and nothing more.��

So, after having seen Unicorn AND Narrative, I really get the sense that the story of Newtypes, and I guess Gundam on the whole, is about humanity. At its very core, Gundam is seeking to tell a story about the differences that could tear us apart, but also the humanity that holds us together. It feels like watching a story that tries to remind us that at the end of the day, no matter our differences, we’re all human, and we ought to remember that if we ever hope to survive as a species.

Furthermore, I really feel like Gundam is trying to show the importance of both communication and emotion. Both UC and NT showed how Newtypes can communicate on a higher level, but that communication typically ultimately conveyed the person’s feelings and will. Sure, we got thoughts and important backstory too, but I think the main thing we tend to get from their communications is emotion--what is that person feeling, and how is that emotion then translating into the actions they’re taking. Not only that, but we also then see the subsequent actions taken in response to being revealed someone’s deepest, innermost feelings. Of course, there were times when the person was mercilessly murdered, be it by accident/misunderstanding or out of “necessity,” but there were also moments where the action taken ended up being to withdraw an attack, or to let go of the captured person.

Maybe this is just me going off on a limb, but I think that’s a really important message to take in. Communication is important, but what’s even more important is communicating our emotions to others, and respecting others’ emotions in turn. That’s probably the big message I take away from seeing the Newtypes’ stories in Unicorn and Narrative.

Well, needless to say, I’m now very curious to see how the UC plotline continues on. We’re already slated for another movie this upcoming winter, so I guess I’ll have to wait until then. In the meantime...I suppose I’ll finally get around to finishing Origin (lol). Even if the next movie doesn’t show much of the previous characters, or even if the JP voice cast doesn’t feature anyone I know, I think I know too much of the plot now to be able to abandon the series.

All in all, NT was a fun movie to watch. I definitely don’t recommend watching it if you haven’t watched Unicorn yet, but once you get through Unicorn, NT is a nice way to wrap up the story from that point of the UC timeline.

Now to eagerly await the BD release for those sweet, sweet bonus materials! :3c

#this ended up way longer than I originally intended oops #oh well!!! LOL #gundam NT

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raechelpapaya · 7 years

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Anime that my cousin has shown me that I'll also rec to you

I've realized that I've recently watched and completed a lot of anime that my cousin has shown me that I ended up liking a lot more than I thought I would, so I thought I'd recommend some to you guys.

Katanagatari, a 2010 anime from White Fox (who has also done The Devil is a Part Timer, Re:Zero, and Steins;Gate).

Katanagatari is about a young man named Shichika Yasuri who is a swordsman who fights without a sword. Shichika is sought out by Togame, a strategist who wants him to help her seek out the twelve Deviant blades (a set of twelve blades that were created by alchemy and magic by a reclusive swordsmith) as a gift to the shogunate. Shichika agrees and travels around Japan with Togame to challenge each of the wielders of the Deviant blades to obtain the blades.

This anime is so hard to recommend which is such a shame because it’s such a wonderful anime. The art style of Katanagatari is so wonderful to look at and very pleasing to the eye. All the characters are dynamic and easily identifiable from one another, and their designs are so distinct and colorful. The story telling is wonderful and has a nice balance to action, romance, comedy, and drama. Seeing the relationship between Shichika and Togame grow is so nice and their relationship is pretty cute, and it’s nice how they grow to care for each other. But what makes this anime so hard to recommend is that it’s only 12 episodes long with each episode being about 50 minutes long, but each episode is about 45 minutes of dialogue and about 5 minutes of action. It’s pretty boring to just sit down and watch it which is a shame because it’s such a fascinating anime to watch with an interesting story and wonderful characters of every kind.

Tiger & Bunny, a 2011 anime from Sunrise (who you may also know from Gundam anime and the Love Live series).

I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people have already watched this anime given how wonderful it is, it’s almost a crime that I’ve only just recently watched it. For those who haven’t watched it, Tiger & Bunny is set in a world where some people have special powers called “NEXT” and are heroes. In this world, acts of heroism are displayed on televisions around the city in some sort of reality competition where heroes compete for the most points for doing acts of heroism to be ranked the best hero of the season. The main characters are Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, an old fashioned hero who has been losing popularity, and Barnaby Brooks Jr., a new young up and coming hero. Both heroes have the exact same power and have been forced to team up in which Kotetsu is to act as the sidekick to Barnaby’s main hero though the two don’t get along well due to their conflicting opinions.

I went into the anime for the main boys Kotetsu (a clumsy dad) and Barnaby (a serious but handsome young man) but stayed for the plot and the characters. The cast of other heroes is so wonderful. There will definitely be characters that you don’t like as much as others, but there aren’t really heroes that you’ll dislike either (at least for me). The growth between Kotetsu and Barnaby is really nice too, pretty organic in my opinion. It’s so rewarding seeing them grow together and their genuine care for one another. The anime only has one season (which is such a shame, I would love a second season) and two movies - the first movie being a recap of the anime series and the second movie being a sort of continuation, if I remember correctly. The anime is a full season long with 25 episodes for those who wanted to know. My little paragraphs don’t really do the characters or the shows justice but I recommend giving it a shot if you haven’t watched it, especially if you’re a fan of superhero type shows.

Working!! series, otherwise known as Wagnaria!!, it’s a 2010 anime series from A-1 Pictures (who you may also know from Sword Art Online, Magi, Black Butler, etc. they've done so much anime oh my god.)

I haven’t heard a lot about Working!! or even seen a lot from the series either. I know there’s been a lot of parodies done of the OPs and EDs because they’re really humorous and the songs are cute, but that’s about it. It’s a comedy anime with some romance in it. It features a high school student, Takanashi Souta, who begins working at a family restaurant chain with a cast of colorful employees who are noticeably weird to the otherwise rather normal Takanashi, though admittedly all the characters are weird. The anime is pretty light hearted and really only focuses on Takanashi and the antics that go on in the restaurant. Though a rather comedic series, the characters grow rather well over the span of the three seasons it has and it’s pretty refreshing seeing how they all change and interact with each other over the course of the series. The romances are pretty rewarding to see at the end of the series given how much you ended up rooting for them during the three seasons (and i’ve reblogged a bunch of scenes from the anime because I love it that much). Working!! has a total of three seasons (Working!!, Working’!!, and then Working!!!) with all three seasons having a total episode count of 40 episodes and one hour long special to close off the series. If you’re looking for something fun and light hearted, I recommend Working!!.

There is also WWW.Working!! which is set in a different branch of the restaurant from the first series and features a different cast of characters. WWW.Working!! features high school student, Higashida Daisuke, who begins begrudgingly working at the family restaurant when his father’s business goes bankrupt. The cast is just as wacky yet memorable as the ones from the first series, though they suffer from not having nearly as much character development as the cast from the original Working!! due to only having a half season (13 episodes), though the characters are just as funny and the relationships are pretty satisfying to watch unfold. Between the original and WWW.Working, I prefer the original but WWW.Working is still pretty good for anyone who wants something fun and comedic to watch.

Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru, a 2014 anime from Studio Gokumi (who has also recently done Tsurezure Children).

I don’t actually know if Yuki Yuna is well known or not since I don’t actively look up magical girl anime, which is what Yuki Yuna is. But it’s similar to Puella Magi Madoka Magica in that it’s a darker take on the magical girl genre. The story is about Yuki Yuna, the titular protagonist, who is a part of the Hero Club at her school which dedicates itself to helping people who request aid. Yuna and her friends eventually gain the ability to transform into magical girls with special powers and they dedicate themselves to protecting the world from doom.

Yuki Yuna is such a fascinating anime to me because it’s the kind of anime that has you pay attention to the smallest details in order to help you understand what is happening to the girls as the series progresses. It’s very fascinating watching every thing unravel and occur as the episodes go on and when you’re able to piece things together for yourself at the end of the series, it’s incredibly satisfying for the viewer. As mentioned before, Yuki Yuna is similar to Madoka Magica in that they’re both darker takes on the magical girl genre of anime so fans of Madoka Magica may also enjoy Yuki Yuna. But between the two shows, I prefer Yuki Yuna. In my opinion, Yuki Yuna does a good job of making me sympathize for the characters in a way that I didn’t really experience with the Madoka Magica cast. It’s an emotional journey for the characters and the ending is incredibly satisfying.

Macross Delta, a 2016 anime from Studio Nue and Satelight.

Macross Delta is the fourth TV series in the Macross series. It’s a sci-fi anime that features transforming mechas, space, romance, and music. As a person who isn’t really into mecha anime (except for Gurren Lagann), I thought I wasn’t really going to like the anime, but I actually ended up really liking it! Macross Delta takes place in a part of space that is plagued by a disease known as Var Syndrome, which turns people berserk but has no known cause. The series follows Hayate Immelman, a young man who dreams of flying and is recruited into the Delta Flight squad in order to protect the people he cares about, and Freyja Wion, a Windermerean girl who ran away from home with dreams of joining the idol group Walküre, who use their power of song to calm those affected with Var Syndrome. Walküre performs alongside Delta Flight squad in battle in order to neutralize the effects of Var Syndrome, even when the Delta Flight squad is forced to fight on the front lines of an upcoming war.

Macross Delta is such a weird combination of anime genres that you wouldn’t think they’d work but they do. The combat scenes in the anime are complimented really well with the songs from Walküre. The songs are all really catchy and really good quality, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to them. The Macross series is pretty infamous for love triangles and Macross Delta is no exception. While love triangles typically aren’t my thing, I think they handled it decently and it was rewarding to see who ends up together at the end of the series. Macross Delta is such an odd combination of genres, but I recommend it for those who like music and mechas. The series is one season long (26 episodes).

Macross Frontier, a 2008 anime from Studio Nue and Satelight.

Macross Frontier is the third TV series in the Macross series. Same as Macross Delta, it’s a sci-fi anime with transforming mechas, space, romance, and music, but with a style of music that was more prominent during the time it came out. I actually watched Macross Delta before I watched Macross Frontier and Delta is actually set some time after the events of Frontier, but I enjoyed Frontier just a bit more. Macross Frontier is set on a heavily populated interstellar ship that has it’s course set for the center of the universe and along the way the ship is attacked by a race of insect-like aliens known as Vajra, which brings the humans into a war with them. Frontier follows three protagonists: Saotome Alto who is a canonically pretty young man and a high school student at an academy for training pilots and dreams of flying in a real sky rather than the simulated one aboard the space ship, Sheryl Nome who is a self assured and proud popular pop idol known as the Galactic Fairy, and Ranka Lee who is a cheery girl who dreams of being a pop idol like Sheryl Nome.

Frontier is similar to Macross Delta in that there is plenty of space fights in transforming mechas alongside pop music. The romance triangle is just as prominent but I think the end ship is also satisfying because of how the relationships between the characters develop. Frontier deals with a lot of anime tropes that were prominent during the time (you’ll know them when you see them), but I think it’s worth it to watch past them for the season finale which has been one of my favorite finales for a show in a long time. The characters are good and likable and some of them even experience romances of their own and it’s interesting to see where they’ll end up at the end of the series. The show is a full season with 25 episodes and two movies: Macross Frontier: The False Songstress and Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye. The False Songstress is an alternate telling of Frontier while The Wings of Goodbye acts as a sequel to the first movie and includes new songs.It’s fascinating seeing the characters grow during the show and the show has an incredible cast of voice actors too (if you’re particular about the seiyuus in the show) and a few of my favorites are there like Nakamura Yuuichi, Hiroshi Kamiya, Tomokazu Sugita, and Nakajima Megumi (the voice of Gumi from Vocaloid).

#anime #anime recommendation #Raechel rambles #just thought I'd share some anime because I've been completing anime left and right since hanging out with my cousin means marathoning anime

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blairtrabbit · 7 years

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Thoughts under the cut. Aka Why am I such a fucking downer on this why can’t I just enjoy things. Why must I be a nerd like this.

I have been trying to just let this image go because its an illustration out of context and we have no idea what they will look like rendered and moving in universe but there are a couple things really bothering me about this I have to talk about. 1. Why in the ever loving fuck does Danger Deux have a core reactor? Remember in the first movie when they were making their last stand pulling all the old guys out of retirement and the movie made a point of talking about how the Danger having a Reactor Core made it an obsolete model? The Gipsy Danger ran on nuclear power like the older units Cherno Alpha and Coyote Tango and the big glowy center on its chest is basically like a gigantic cooling unit. Its dangerous and was eventually changed because a. Having human pilots in a nuclear robot is incredibly dangerous if the shielding is faulty or something happens and it overheats during a battle. I recall Stacker suffering some repercussions because of that. b. Nuclear Robots blow up and could potentially hurt the environment or civilians. I vaguely recall the Danger doing something like that at the end of the movie. The Striker and the Typhoon were digitized being newer and better models. Its less dangerous for the pilots and for the area they are fighting in. So one would assume these brand spanking new robots are the latest and greatest models right? Thinner, lighter....so I repeat- Why. THE FUCK. Does Gipsy Danger 2:not-electric bugaloo run on a NUCLEAR CORE? probably because it looks good and no other reason and that pisses me off. 2.THEY DIDN’T JUST GIVE IT ONE CORE THEY GAVE IT TWO I AM DYING INSIDE. Actual conversation in the art department. Artist 1: Guys I am working on Gipsy 2:Back 2 tha Hood and I want it to look like the first one but different. How can I make it the same but..different. Artist 2: Mmm Well the first one had that cool nuclear core right? Artist 1: Yeah? Artist 2: How about. TWO CORES.

3. If they made Dangeresque 2 nuclear because of what happened with Striker and the electric pulse why aren’t all the Jaegers nuclear? So. When Newt drifted he gave the Precursors all this info about the Jaegers and Leatherback was able to use an electronic pulse to knock out the Striker and temporarily disable it. If the PPDC assumes this will happen again then wouldn’t they make all the Jaegers nuclear? Then why does only one have any kind of indication it runs on nuclear power? And why only Gipsy Danger 2:this time its personal? The answer is there is no reason. They just wanted people to be able to tell this robit was Gipsy Danger 2:I still know what you did last summer. I feel like Del Toro thought out almost every detail in the first movie and worked to make each Jaeger unique. This doesn’t bode well. 4.Why did they have to give these Jaegers almost identical color schemes to the Danger The Typhoon and the Eureka? In fact if you look at them for a few minutes you realize it's just the Danger The Typhoon and the Eureka with less personality. why did they remake three previous Jaegers instead of creating new original ones? You know why? Because they think we’re stupid. They think we’re stupid and we won’t know these are Jaegers 2 fast 2 furious without some painfully obvious references to the original film. Just like they think we needed Stacker to have a son otherwise we might have wandered into this movie and thought we it was Transformers 12:Age of Fucktron and wandered mindlessly away to see whatever Dreamworks movie is out. Why can’t you give me more credit Hollywood. I don’t need to have Khan to be the villain in my Star Trek movie to know that its a Star Trek movie. I don’t NEED to have a fugitive droid on a desert planet to know I’m watching a Star Wars movie. STOP TREATING ME LIKE I’M FUCKING FIVE YEARS OLD. I DON’T NEED A JAEGER WITH TWO CORE REACTORS. I CAN HANDLE NEW THINGS. 5.Look I know they’re just ripping off Manga/Anime Mech and Kaiju movies to begin with but at least the first time they tried to cover it a little better. The Crimson Typoon had a headlight for a head and three arms. The Cherno looked like a nuclear plant that could walk and even the Gipsy and the Striker had a very thick well thought out and original look. They moved ponderously and with weight. They were made too look like a person could wear them as a suit. Even if these are newer models all I can see is someone looking at Evangelion’s paper copying chunks of it and presenting it to their teacher expecting an unearned A+.I get it you guys took the original designs and threw some Gundam darts at them. You did your re-runs of Macross homework. I’m just...unimpressed and I bet you anything these things will move like they weigh four pounds. Oh god please let me be wrong on this. This leads me to my next question. 6. Why did all of them go on such dangerous diets? Did the Iphone teach us nothing? Making technology thin doesn’t make necessarily make it BETTER. Striker Eureka 2: The Squeakuel is the worst offender on this front. Its got this top heavy box sitting on top of an itty bitty waist. You know what I would go for if I was a Kaiju? Probably that waist. I mean i know its bikini season Striker 2: Back in the Habit but eat a fucking sandwich. 7. It better be just the illustration that has them looking this goddamn clean. Jaegers get dirty and rusty and covered with battle damage.Even Gipsy who was renovated and rebuilt from top to bottom had patches of paint and scratches and chips in places. These goddamn things look like toys. They look like plastic fresh out of box toys. In the movie they had better look at least slightly weathered even if they are new or I will glare at them the entire two hour running time. I will give them smouldering glares the likes of which has never been seen before or since. God please let the movie be more impressive than this. Also as an aside. Why are all the Jaeger pilots so young? Why is no one drifting with their parents? I feel like i’m seeing behind the scenes of fucking Pacific Rim babies or Pacific Rim High School musical. I have a feeling somebody higher up pressured them about using more of the young people to get those sweet tween dollars. But at least they hired a diverse cast. Are all the previous generation dead? Is Herc going to come back and train any of these people? Seems like a bit of a mess at the ole PPDC.

#nerd whining #whine whine #pacific rim 2 #design problems #i have 99 problems and at least 25 of them are pac rim 2 related #at least hermann and newt are gonna be there #and i do like john boyega #but come oooooon #pacific rim

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swipestream · 6 years

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Sensor Sweep: Celtic Fantasy, Donald Wollheim, Creepy Magazine, Hideous Creatures

Popular Culture (Men of Violence): Historical fiction special! Vikings! Roman soldiers! Pirates! Swash-buckling soldiers of fortune!68 pages, all colour, packed with reproductions of rare and unusual paperbacks.Articles, reviews, interviews and features on Casca, Gardner Fox, Henry Treece, Talbot Mundy, Rosemary Sutcliff, Rafael Sabatini and forgotten cover artists.

Fiction (DMR Books): Awhile back, Dave Ritzlin here at the DMR blog asked me to recommend some good Celtic fantasy fiction. Today being Celtic New Year’s Day, it seemed appropriate to start off the New Year with a list of quality Celtic fiction.

To be honest, I can’t say that I like the vast majority of the fantasy which has been marketed or labeled as “Celtic.” As the late, great Steve Tompkins noted long, long ago, “cheapjack Celticism” has reigned o’er the land of Celtic fantasy since at least the 1980s. Languid, matriarchal tree-huggery tends to be the order of the day in most “Celtic” fiction, with the authors in question either being pig-ignorant of Celtic history and culture or cherry-picking to suit their (boring) take on the subject.

Fiction (DMR Books): Don Wollheim died on November 2, 1990, leaving behind him a sword and sorcery legacy that has never been matched. In the rarefied Valhalla of S&S editors/publishers, Wollheim sits enthroned at the high table. He debuted or “broke out”–as in, “their first big splash in the paperback market”–more enduring and important characters in the S&S

pantheon than any other editor/publisher. It is as simple as that.

Anime (Walker’s Retreat): Any Space Opera taking queues from Japan will not fail to acknowledge the Macross franchise. Starting in 1982 with Super Dimension Fortress Macross (which many of you known as the most popular part of Robotech), this is the #2 Real Robot franchise in Japan and has been since its debut (following the king that is Gundam). The consistent presence music as a power unto itself, the love triangles that drive the relationships, and their combination in the form of music that has now had inter-generational influence in anison and J-pop (and brought about the rise of Living Goddess Yoko Kanno).

Lovecraft and Gaming (Yog-Sothoth.com): My latest scrape of the internet reveals that Hideous Creatures: A Bestiary of the Cthulhu Mythos for Trail of Cthulhuhas been released. Kind of. Hideous Creatures… is officially on pre-order at Pelgrane’s web site, but an article comment reveals that you’ll receive the PDF as soon as you place the pre-order for the print edition. – That means it’s out. – The content is there for you to purchase and peruse now; the fact it’s digital bits rather than the 352 page hardback doesn’t alter the content (just the way it may be consumed). If you’re after a new bestiary of Cthulhoid creatures then have a look at Hideous Creatures… Pelgrane promises you something a little different.

Books (Atomic Junk Shop): Your Favorite Book Cover:

Oh my God that is an awful question for someone like me. I can’t decide. It really depends on the genre and the artist and what kind of mood I’m in that day. The best I can do is narrow it down to a few favorite artists. I think the artist that perfectly captured the spirit of the story more than anyone else is Gino d’Achille with his covers for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars books.

Fiction (Frontier Partisans): I was in the mood for some fun, for a read that strums the right chords but isn’t related to a project or anything that feels like work. That can be a problem for me. I tend to put way too much weight on my choices of fiction. Pondering this in preparation for Running Iron Report podcasts, I realized that I kind of expect a novel to rock my world, always seeking that visceral hit that I got when I was young and a novel would go to my head like strong wine. Chasing the high and most often finding myself dissatisfied.

It’s why I read very little fiction these days. I really don’t read just for funanymore. And that’s just stupid. I needed to get out of my own way and simply enjoy a yarn.

Over the weekend, I kept running across an author named Jonathan French and a book titled The Grey Bastards.

Comic Books (Paint Monk): Robert E. Howard is best known, and deservedly so, for Conan of Cimmeria, but he was a prolific author who wrote in several genres. While he arguably created the sword and sorcery tale, he also hammered out a staggering amount of pulp fiction, including westerns, boxing stories, detective yarns, and horror tales.

One of his best horror works was “Out of the Deep”, posthumously published in Magazine of Horror #18in their November 1967 issue.

Fiction (Tellers of Weird Tales): Before Spider-Man and Superman, before Marvel and DC, even before comic books, there was the word superhero. (1) My hypothesis is that the word and the concept originated in the 1890s, give or take a decade, just as so much of our popular culture originated at that time. In order to test my hypothesis, I have used an online search engine/database/index of newspapers dating to the nineteenth century. I can’t say that the newspaper articles I have found were actually the earliest occurrences in print of the following words. Even if they’re not, my guess is that they’re close, as ideas, concepts, and memes seem to arise at a certain time, often in a certain place, and in a certain society or culture.

Cinema (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): John Boorman’s Lord of the Rings

In 1970, The Lord of the Rings was everywhere, its eco-friendly escapism dovetailing neatly with the communal mindset of the post-Woodstock era. A film was inevitable, and rights-holder United Artists turned to John Boorman, a British director with a passion for Arthurian fantasy and – more importantly – a moderate hit under his belt in Point Blank. Joining forces with the young screenwriter Rospo Pallenberg, Boorman turned out a script that covers all three books, runs to 178 pages and is, without question, one of the weirdest documents in existence.

Comic Books (Pulp Archivist): In 1947’s Writer’s Digest, Stan Lee, then editor of Timely Comics, writes in his “There’s Money in Comics”:

One point which I can’t stress too strongly is: DON’T WRITE DOWN TO YOUR READERS! It is common knowledge that a large portion of comic magazine readers are adults, and the rest of the readers who may be kids are generally pretty sharp characters.

Comic Books (Paint Monk): Few comics had the impact on me that Creepy did. The first issue I got my hands on was issue 4 of the magazine, dated August of 1965. I hadn’t even been born yet when this issue dropped, but I happened upon it at a flea market we used to visit when I was a kid and remember vividly seeing that Frank Frazetta cover for the first time.

Gaming (Niche Gamer): Publisher Skybound Games has announced they’ve cancelled the planned physical release of Hollow Knight.

The August-announced retail version of the game is now longer happening. Here’s a statement from Skybound:

“We are saddened to share that we’ll no longer be working with Team Cherry to bring Hollow Knight to new platforms. We absolutely love the game and wish Team Cherry continued success. We look forward to seeing what’s next for them.”

Here’s a rundown on the game:

Popular Culture (Kairos): Author JD Cowan offers a grim prognosis on the fate of pop culture based on Hollywood’s manifest inability to connect with its audience.

The Predator is a shallow, spiritually dead movie of stolen imagination and rehashed ideas with a message that could only have been thought up by someone too pathetic to grow up beyond adolescence. And it was written by someone who was there when the original film was being made. And not a talentless man, either. He wrote the original two (and best) Lethal Weapon films as well as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He knows action and how to give the audience what they want.

Sensor Sweep: Celtic Fantasy, Donald Wollheim, Creepy Magazine, Hideous Creatures published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

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ianmoonestuff · 7 years

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AQOURS 1ST LOVE LIVE ~Step! ZERO to ONE~ Live Viewing Coverage in Malaysia

I really don’t know how to start this article with. It was a hell of a concert. Full of ups and downs kind of feelings. The memories that AQOURS had given us was quite priceless. As usual my article will be very long and VERY thorough.

So please, in order for you to fully enjoy reading my article, it is recommended for you to really spare some time, brew a cup of coffee(or tea, whichever you prefer) and sit back, take a deep breath and enjoy.

I’ll divide the coverage into Day 1, Day 2, personal opinions, the REAL things that happened during the Live Viewing in Malaysia and BONUS as I’ll explain one of the greatest history and memories in Love Live concerts.

Update: -Added video highlight from official sources. I also want to share the unofficial one but I lost it..sorry

https://www.facebook.com/GSCinemas/videos/10155217647297275/

DAY 1

(25th Feb)

GSC Movies stated that the official merchandises will be available to purchase starting 12.00pm until the concert began. I rushed there by train(as usual) in the morning. Some of my friends are already there as early as 6am or so I heard.

They only provided a very LIMITED item such as pamphlet, sub-unit rubber strap keychains and KingBlade.

And surprisingly everything went sold out fast for the FIRST hour!

Also we were featured on the big screen. The video was during the recent Final Love Live and the record breaking for the largest audience and 1st Live Viewing in Malaysia.

It’s time. People taking their seats.

Now some of the highlights from the concert. I won’t provide any pics because...it’s a rule duuh and I won’t gonna risk my country from getting ban. Also I won’t specify it much since you guys can read it more from many sources out there.

So they start with Aozora Jumping Heart followed by Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM and introductions. Everything went so well until...rainstorm came.

Yeah the live viewing got interrupted. I heard that Singapore were affected too. If it does then I’m not that surprise since it’s raining season now here in Southeast Asia. It happened to be during a raining season so can’t help much. We tried to warn people to keep switching off their phones. The least thing that we could do was do not disturb the signal. We missed Yume de Yozora wo Terashitai and Genki Zankai DAY! DAY! DAY! but quickly recovered until CYaRon’s mc part.

The funny thing was if you guys remember the 2nd or 3rd episode when Chika, You and Riko about to perform their first debut and everything doesn’t went well because of the thunderstorm? Yeah, it was the same thing that happened us. All of us were screaming “KISEKI!!!”. Some of us even sang some idol songs to calm us down(curse the guy who sang BokuHikari XD). The funny thing was they even sang some random songs from other idol anime like Macross Delta and iM@s.

My favourite part was when Guilty Kiss make their appearance with Strawberry Trapper song. KYAAAAAAAA!!!! It was a legit rock song sang by some cute girls and I LOVE IT. Their performance was FREAKING AWESOME!!! I CAN’T DESCRIBE MUCH HOW AWESOME THEY DID. EVERYONE CHEERS MAKE IT MORE PUMPED UP AND I CAN’T STOP TYPING IN CAPS!!! MY OSHI HAVE TO BE MARI AND AINYA, HER SEIYUU AND SOMEHOW I PICKED THE RIGHT GIRLLL!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH. LOCKK ON!!!!! MY KOKORO!!!!

Not to mentioned AZALEA!! Especially Arisha. Given that she’s also a gravure idol, man I can’t help but being amazed of how was she look with that dress. GOSH!!!

The live ended with Step! ZERO to ONE as one of the encore.

We actually did the largest AQOURS-SUNSHINE cheers but I forgot to take the picture because I was busy queuing in the arcade(my bad sorry )

DAY 2

(26th Feb)

Well the weather back then was pretty cloudy. I can expect many things can be happened during 2nd...which it was indeed happened.

I started a few bit late and the hall will be open on 2.30pm.

2nd day setlist was pretty much the same as first but they replaced AQOURS Heroes with humming Bird.

Somehow I did a good deed as a fellow Love Liver. Apparently a girl sitting beside me didn’t have any KB and judging by the way she act, she was a shy girl. Once the concert was about to start everyone were standing up except for her. So in order for not letting her felt left out, I offered let her borrowed one FLL KB(I actually brought three different kind of KBs during that time haha how convenience). She said she was kind of nervous(aww how cute) but I kept telling her that just enjoy the show, scream all you want and dance the hell all you want, we don’t judge here as we’re all Love Liver here. So I did showed her how to use the KB and yeah she missed some of the chants, cheers, calls but meh she was still learning.

Everything went so well and again like I said before since it was a raining season here...yes, we got another interruption and this time it was kinda frustrated for me. This because we still have a few more songs left to go and *boom* it happened. I heard people praying to God so it won’t happen that long, some of them even left the hall for awhile for a breather and yeah I did pray a lot too so we won’t missed much.

Then suddenly some guy screaming from outside the hall. He told us that they finally announced the 2nd season of AQOURS and 2nd Live Tour! We screamed with overjoyed but we still want to watch the broadcast.

Then the broadcast turned back into normal and it showed the last mc where Aikyan was crying about the announcement. I straight away grabbed my KBs and support her along with other cast. Thus, the 1st Live ended with a breeze...well...not ‘that’ breeze as I’ll talk about it later. Enjoyed some dinner with other Love Liver then went home with head full of memories and tiredness of supporting your favourite girls(I slept while standing in a train...no kidding)

Forgot to mention that we actually did made a flowerstand. We have representatives there who handle the flower for us.

Thanks to all who contributed for our project. Surprisingly we have one Indonesian contributor there who also joined our project. Incase people wondering, KEI is my nickname there.

Below are some shenanigans that we Malaysia’s Love Liver did haha

(Noticed that various idol series?)

The thing that he hold was actually AQOURS callbook.

...courtesy of Malaysia’s Love Liver.

Oh and if you decided to come here in Mid Valley, please visit Komugi bakery. I really love their meronpan. Wish you were here @emitsunosaurus-rex

And that’s all for AQOURS 1st Love Live ~Step ZERO to ONE~ coverage from me. Thanks for reading...you can go now...unless...

Rikako’s Breakdown

Yeah...it was one of those biggest moment in histories of Love Live live concerts. It literally hit me hard...VERY hard seeing RKK’s(Rikako) struggle for the sake of the concert, for the sake of other members and for the sake of her fans. We didn’t stop discussing about it after the concert was done. Even while we’re having a dinner. I had to ban myself from listening any AQOuRS songs after the incident in order to let the feeling cool down a bit...(but knowing internet’s natural being, I kept being hit by feelings everytime I checked my phone.)

It was a 2nd day live viewing. The seiyuu were already took their spot for Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare song. The piano was already there as usual. The idea of the performance was to imitate back episode 11 where we already know the story behind it was that Riko had a problem of playing piano and won’t play before this but then decided to join the competition...but since this is LIVE concert, it was a real business.

When Chika(Anchan) started to sing everything went well...until when the music was cut off. I actually did noticed a ‘wrong’ note being pressed resulting the music sounds a bit off. The rest of the seiyuu just continue on dancing and keep acting professional as they might be thinking it was just a technical problem and soon be over. The instrumental version was played a bit to cover RKK mistake but just for a few seconds as they realized that RKK...REALLY DO NEED HELP NOW!

A faint voice saying ”ごめんね”(gomenne) was heard and Anchan rushed to RKK and embraced her, hugged tightly and calmed her down followed by Ainya(Mari) and Suwawa(Kanan). The word ”大丈夫”(daijoubu) being repeated countless time in order to make sure RKK really calmed down. Anchan reached and gave her a water bottle and a towel. They hold her hands very tightly and keep on calming her down. Knowing Ainya’s personality, I already expected that she will rushed to RKK too(YOU GO GIRL!!).

Yes RKK had a panic attack. This might be because of the pressure she had to face when it comes to Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare song where she volunteered herself(if I’m not mistaken) to perform the piano part. I’ve to admit everything went very well on the 1st day and it was really great watching RKK performed. Having no background of any music theory, she practiced playing piano for the past 3 months...for her fans.

The crowds including me broke into tears. The incident really...really...really hit me VERY hard! At first I thought it was a gimmick to imitate back the scene where Riko can’t play piano...but it was a mistake and I’m really sorry for thinking it that way. I really am.

The crowd then switched their KB into sakura pink and keep chanting “RIKAKO!” countless time. I did the same and screamed my lungs out hoping my voice to reach out despite broadcasting in Malaysia. All of the crowd turned into a sea of sakura pink as a sign of supporting RKK. Tear-mark left on our face during that time.

Anchan, Suwawa and Ainya, they hugged each other for a very quite some time. Then they continued on taking their spot leaving RKK alone again and hoping everything will be fine. I still can’t forget RKK’s face and shaky hands from the camera view that mounted beside the piano as soon she about to start playing it.

They performed Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare as usual and this time without any mistake and no flaw. RKK’s performance on piano was flawless. Ending the song with a view of RKK pressing the last note...with her shaky hands trying to get that perfect sound...she pressed it. The last note was a bit off but I DON’T CARE!! RKK have done well for us. The audience still keeping their sakura pink KB and keep on chanting RKK’s name endlessly. The performance ended with You greeted ”ただいま”(tadaima) followed by ”おかえり” by RKK...with a smile.

Again...it was one of the greatest, heart warming moment in the history of Love Live concerts. Rikako eventhough you’re not my oshi, you’ve earned a special place in my heart because of your act of braveness facing your hardship, never give up and keep on smiling in the end...

There you have it, my coverage for the past 2 days. I was listening to Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare while finishing this article and yeah nonstop tears streaming out. Sorry for taking it too long as I was busy and calming myself up after that ‘incident’.

With 2nd season coming up and Next Step Project, I hope they realized that they are actually competing with their own senpai in this idol-anime world. Not to be rude but I’m looking forward for AQOURS to beat their senpai sometime haha

As always, feel free to contact me if there are any errors here and there. I won’t bite.

Pictures Credits: https://www.facebook.com/gscmovies/ https://www.facebook.com/scania.hokokonn https://www.facebook.com/sixthseal https://www.facebook.com/blesxjiarong https://www.facebook.com/aio015 https://www.facebook.com/thompson.enthusiast https://www.facebook.com/houjoufamily https://www.facebook.com/Chiu.K.Liang https://animatetimes.com My pictures My monochrome-themed instagram account

~If there’s a colour for courage, it would be sakura pink~

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