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hooked-on-elvis · 6 months

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Elvis Presley in "Kid Galahad" (1962) 🥊💥

Directed by Phil Karlson and released by United Artists in August 1962. The movie opened at #9 at the American box office. Variety ranked it #37 on its list of the top-grossing films of 1962. "Kid Galahad" with Elvis Presley is a remake of the 1937 version starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart and directed by Michael Curtiz, who also directed the 1958 Presley film "King Creole" released in 1958. Its actually said that Elvis prefered Mr. Curtiz had directed "Kid Galahad" instead of the actual director, just because he thought Michael was a perfect fit for this production.

#PLOT

Willy Grogan (Gig Young) is a small-time boxing promoter and innkeeper based in the Catskills resort region of Cream Valley, New York. He is a contemptible man who is in debt and pays little attention to the woman who loves him, Dolly (Lola Albright), a chain-smoking, love-starved woman residing at the camp. Walter Gulick (Elvis Presley) arrives, a young man recently discharged from the army (they based Elvis' character on his real life pretty frequently on the scripts. Elvis had been discharged from the army a year before, in March 1960. This wasn't the first of his characters to be a former soldier tho) who loves the peaceful setting almost as much as he loves working on old cars. Walter wishes to find work as a mechanic at a nearby garage.

[Sub-plot/romance] When Willy's younger sister Rose (Joan Blackman) shows up unexpectedly, she becomes interested in Walter. Willy objects because he doesn't want Rose to fall for a "grease monkey" mechanic and two-bit boxer. Dolly is envious of the young couple's romance and resents Willy's interference.

Walter, in need of work, accepts a job as a sparring partner and knocks out one of Willy's top fighters. Even tho Walter is not a professional boxer, Willy, afraid of his debts expiring, convinces Walter, dubbed as "Kid Galahad" for him, to try his hand in a real bout. Both men are reluctant but need money. Walter begins training under the watchful eye of Lew Nyack, Willy's top trainer (Charles Bronson).

Some fights here and there, and then there's the biggest fight, the ultimate challenge. Will Walter win the competition even being an amateur boxing fighter?

Place your bets🥊💥

PRODUCTION, ACTORS AND SOUNDTRACK

Professional boxing coach "Mushy" Callahan trained Elvis for the fight scenes. He is credited as "Technical Advisor" for this movie. Above we see Elvis Presley practicing with Mushy Callahan on the set of Kid Galahad, 1961.

Kid Galahad was shot on location in Idyllwild, California and onset in Hollywood, CA.

Shooting began in early November 1961 at Hidden Lodge, Idyllwild, California, before a storm forced a move to Hollywood.

Above, Elvis between takes on the "Kid Galahad", 1961.

Makeup shots for Kid Galahad at Culver Studios, Culver City, CA, 1962

Elvis shows what he looks like after he gets slammed. I believe they intentionally opted for "smoothing" the makeup bruises big time, since it's a pretty shocking image seeing Elvis like in the last two pictures, specially. Like, wtf?! It really shocked me seeing this picture. Now imagine this beaten up Elvis in motion on the big screen for thousands of teenagers to see. It looks straight out from a horror picture, doesn't it? Great talented makeup artist tho!

ELVIS' CO-STARS in 'Kid Galahad' (1962)

Presley's co-starts in "Kid Galahad" were Joan Blackman, Lola Albright, Charles Bronson and Gig Young.

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And last but not least, the movie soundtrack

"Kid Galahad" (EP) released on August, 1962.

Six songs were recorded for the film and the soundtrack was issued as an extended play record in August 1962 to coincide with the film's premiere. Recorded on October, 1962, at Radio Recorders (Hollywood), the EP "Kid Galahad" was released in August 28, 1962.

The tracks featured on this EP were: "King of the Whole Wide World", "This Is Living", "Riding the Rainbow", "Home Is Where the Heart Is", "I Got Lucky" and "A Whistling Tune" — As the plots for Presley films became interchangeable, songs rejected for a certain storyline could later be used for an entirely different film, as with "A Whistling Tune" which had been omitted from Presley's previous film "Follow That Dream" (1962) but found a place here instead.

The featured song from the album, "King of the Whole Wide World", received Top 40 radio airplay and reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

youtube

"I Got Lucky" on scene from "Kid Galahad"

RECEPTION

"Kid Galahad" didn't have a warm reception among critics.

Variety's note was: "The story may be old, the direction not especially perceptive, the performances in several cases pretty poor, but United Artists' 'Kid Galahad' is apt to be a moneymaker in spite of all this." Another critics report, John L. Scott in the Los Angeles Times called the story "old hat" but thought that it "should more than satisfy the horde of Presley fans."

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If you like this movie or not, it serves an undeniable purpose: Giving Elvis fans their well-deserved Elvis appreciation time. ❤️‍🔥

I don't know about you but I find Elvis incredibly, and specially, sexy in tank tops, cotton short-sleeves T-shirts and sweatshirts. In that movie EP delivers that all at once. The ultimate [hunk] boy next door.

... let's not forget the shirtless scenes. Yeah... the shirtless scenes. 🫠

Yeah, leaving aside the movie, Elvis Presley's our ultimate champion winning with a high score. He holds the champion's belt for the hottest/sexier man ever alive since the 50s. No one take over his title, no one can beat Elvis Presley. 🏆✨

Elvis Presley in "Kid Galahad" (1962).

#suddenly i feel like watching 'kid galahad' again #but whaaaaaat the fuck #not a single minute of peace #sweaty presley is something else #whew 🥵🥵🥵#elvis #elvis presley #elvis history #elvis the king #elvis fans #elvis music #60s box office movies #elvis fandom #hollywood golden age #60s elvis #60s movies #1962 movies #1962 #Youtube

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astoundingbeyondbelief · 2 years

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Kaiju Week in Review (October 9-15, 2022)

Supreme shock sensation of our times: a Godzilla comic released on schedule! Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - All Hail the King! #1 dropped on Wednesday. I'll confess I forgot about it for a couple of days; your priorities get scrambled when you're recovering from knee surgery. This is a direct sequel to last year's Monsters & Protectors; I don't recommend going in blind. Two big reasons to pick it up: Gabara's debut in American comics (in a dream, natch) and a professional Xilien troll who muses over which reaction .gif he should deploy. Yeah, me too.

Toho released a teaser and this very cool still for the upcoming short Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan's Attack, showing off the Showa Gigan replica suit Shinichi Wakasa built. It's strange to see it opposite FinalGoji (presumably the same stunt suit from last year's Godzilla vs. Hedorah short). I guess it's just his destiny to face Godzilla suits that are barely holding themselves together.

I cannot hope to comprehensively cover the deluge of Godzilla merchandise forever threatening my bank account in this column, but I would like to spotlight this enamel Baragon pin, designed by Christian Gonzalez for Ghost X Ghost. When I saw it my hands simply moved to order of their own volition.

The Dino De Laurentiis King Kong films are getting format upgrades. StudioCanal has a 4K restoration of the 1976 remake slated for November 28, while Umbrella Entertainment is bringing King Kong Lives, long out of print in the States, to Blu-ray on January 18. Neither company is American, but 4Ks don't have region codes and I hear Umbrella Blu-rays are typically region-free.

Probably neither will be a buy for me. The color grading on the 4K King Kong doesn't look great, and the special features don't measure up to the Blu-ray Shout! released last year. I will grant that the King Kong Lives Blu looks like a winner, with great packaging and new special features including a Ray Morton audio commentary. (They had to be new; the old DVD didn't have a thing to mine.) But it's not exactly one of my favorites, and since Shout! recently picked up the rights to it, I'd rather hold out for a version I don't have to import.

Just over a year after it premiered at Fantastic Fest, Iké Boys is out on digital courtesy of (they just keep coming up) Shout! Factory. Hopefully a physical release will follow, because this heartfelt American tribute to tokusatsu doesn't deserve to be buried in the Google Play Store. Set in the last month of 1999, it concerns a pair of Oklahoma tokusatsu geeks and a Japanese exchange student trying to prevent the apocalypse, empowered by the obscure 1969 anime film that predicted it. It's very low-budget and hits a lot of predictable coming-of-age beats, but it's got a good heart and Yumiko Shaku (yes, Akane in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla) classes it up. Also... it's not often I'm pandered to so directly. The director's one of us, to put it mildly.

Big thing are happening on the bootleg circuit... a couple of them last week, but I never posted about them on Tumblr and this is the first installment of this column. Yesterday, Skeweds Translations posted fansubs for What to Do with the Dead Kaiju?, Toei and Shochiku's kaiju comedy with no U.S. release outside of film festivals in sight. The film is catastrophically bad, I'm sorry to say, failing as a satire and as a genre exercise; Day of the Kaiju handled the same premise far better in a quarter of the time. But if you're so inclined, you can find a copy of the movie itself on the cat site... along with a higher-quality copy of Shin Ultraman than was uploaded there previously. I don't know where these things are coming from (Zarab?), but I'm not complaining.

And in the how-can-this-be-real category, a treat for your ears: the recently unearthed Hong Kong dub of Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen. As in Godzilla vs. Megalon, Ted Thomas, Chris Hilton, and Warren Rooke voice many of the characters. You won't believe the words coming out of their mouths—I don't think they did either. Between the child murder, checkmated atheist, and Hanuman's unquenchable thirst for carnage, this was always one of the kaiju movies with the most jaw drops per minute, and it just got better. A VHS containing the dub turned up in Lebanon; @Redcome40977685, @PrissMegaforce, Omayyad, and Elie Al Hajj got it digitized and @spacehunter-m synced the audio up to a fine-looking widescreen version.

#kaiju week in review #godzilla #godzilla monsters and protectors all hail the king #fest godzilla 3 gigan's attack #gigan #gabara #baragon #king kong #king kong 1976 #king kong lives #home video #ike boys #what to do with the dead kaiju?#hanuman and the seven ultramen #kaiju

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bentosandbox · 1 year

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AKCN LNY Post-Stream rambling

Hyper Hopium Edition

oh my fucking god when i saw all the sand my heart jumped like crazy half because of RAT's association with sand but also THE SETTING REFERENCING A WUXIA FLICK I WATCHED MONTHS AGO (Flying Swords of Dragon Gate/龙门飞甲)

Eureka even mentions that the place has been featured in a film called 玉门风云 which i‘m preddy sure is a parody of the above or 龙门客栈/Dragon Gate Inn which 龙门飞甲 is actually a re-remake/reimagining? of

AK's poster and irl posters of the og Dragon Gate Inn and the remakes

Another poster cause I thought the title matched pretty well

the story is Not Good(YMMV) and it REALLY shows its age but it is very campy and the visuals are very pretty and the girls are very cool also kinda fruity lol so i recommend a casual watch if you like that kind of stuff (don't recommend the EN dub though unless you want like pauly shore pinocchio lvl of cringe(?)

? WHAT'S THIS ABOUT...?

Through the woods, across a river, into the mountains. After the affairs that transpired in Yumen, A female vigilante* leaves the city, determined to keep advancing into the Jianghu. During an accident, she chances upon a youth that has gone astray, and sends them back to their home town. But the bizarre attitude of the villagers cannot help but make you wonder if there was something else behind all this… In this story, we will witness an absurd drama in the north-west region of Yan, and meet Mulberry as well as other familiar figures. Who is good, and who is evil? We leave it to you to judge.

(Hopium starts here)

*They use 女侠 here, and if we don't consider any of the new characters whom we know nothing about, there's really only 2 people that fit it

So… I haven't like read Waai Fu's material a morbillion times like Chen's so someone correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is that her story kind of veers towards more of locating/surpassing her father while Chen's main issue is of who is she to judge what's right or wrong

but idk its just a Game Theory (tm) maybe it's fucking Lin Yuxia of all people that would be hilarious tbh i'm just very happy to get a wuxia story lmao (ItW had elements but just didn't do it for me...)

#arknights #bentotexto #i should tag all these tl posts under something

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lacrimosathedark · 3 months

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I know I'm probably a weirdo for this, but one day I got to thinking, what if Pokemon was lingually accurate? Like, if characters were named appropriately based on their region? So I actually went through Bulbapedia and compiled a list of every major character's names in other languages. And just in case anyone else was curious, I thought I'd share it.

I'm going from the English base, so I'm majorly not including Unova, Galar, and most of Alola. Ones that are weird or are migrants I give explanations for.

Kanto: Japanese

Red: Same in English and Japanese

Leaf: Same in English and Japanese

Blue: Technically referred to as Green in Japanese since the original games were Red and Green (hence remakes being FireRed and LeafGreen), but is considered Blue internationally and it makes more sense to me (Red picks Charmander, rival picks Squirtle to be better, thus Blue).

Kakeru (Chase)

Ayumi (Elaine)

Shin (Trace)

Takeshi (Brock)

Kasumi (Misty)

Lt. Surge: His original title is "The Lightning American" and there's a whole tribute gym to his in Alola, so it's very likely he's from an America-inspired region, thus English name.

Erika: Same in English and Japanese

Kyou (Koga)

Anzu (Janine)

Natsume (Sabrina)

Katsura (Blaine)

Kanna (Lorelei)

Siba (Bruno)

Kikuko (Agatha)

Wataru (Lance)

Rocket-dan (Team Rocket): Literally written in katakana "ro-ke-t(su)-to"

Sakaki (Giovanni)

Ohkido Yukinari-hakase (Professor Samuel Oak)

Johto: Japanese

Hibiki (Ethan)

Kris: Same in English and Japanese

Kotone (Lyra)

Silver: Same in English and Japanese

Hayato (Falkner)

Tsukushi (Bugsy)

Akane (Whitney)

Matsuba (Morty)

Shijima (Chuck)

Mikan (Jasmine)

Yanagi (Pryce)

Ibuki (Clair)

Itsuki (Will)

Karin (Karen)

Minaki (Eusine)

Apollo (Archer)

Athena (Arianna)

Lambda (Petrel)

Lance (Proton): Yes, this is confusing with the Indigo Champion's English name being Lance.

Utsugi-hakase (Professor Elm)

Hoenn: Japanese

Yuuki (Brendan)

Haruka (May)

Mitsuru (Wally)

Tsutsuji (Roxanne)

Touki (Brawly)

Tessen (Wattson)

Asuna (Flannery)

Senri (Norman)

Nagi (Winona)

Fū (Tate)

Lan (Liza)

Juan: His Japanese name is Adan, but he uses different foreign words by localization (English in Japanese, Spanish in Viz's anime dub, and French in the Adventures manga's translation) so is likely foreign. Juan is his name in English, German, and French.

Mikuri (Wallace) Rune no Tami (Sootopolitan)

Kagetsu (Sidney)

Fuyou (Phoebe)

Glacia: Her name in Japanese is Prim, but she's implied to be from a more Western-based region. Glacia is her name in both English and French.

Genji (Drake)

Tsuwabuki Daigo (Steven Stone)

Datsura (Noland) Factory Head: Same in English and Japanese

Kogomi (Greta) Arena Captain (Arena Tycoon)

Tucker: Implied to be foreign, especially as his Japanese name is Heath. Tucker is his English name, and most other Romantic translations are loosely similar and come from the respective languages' word for "tactics". Dome Superstar (Dome Ace)

Azami (Lucy) Tube Queen (Pike Queen)

Ukon (Spenser) Palace Guardian (Palace Maven)

Jindai (Brandon) Pyramid King: Same in English and Japanese

Lila (Anabel) Tower Tycoon (Salon Maiden)

Higana (Zinnia) Denshousha (Lorekeeper)

Lutia (Lisia) Lutti (Lissi)

Tylulu (Ali): Lisia's Altaria

Magma-dan (Team Magma): Literally written in katakana "ma-gu-ma"

Matsubusa (Maxie)

Kagari (Courtney)

Homura (Tabitha)

Aqua-dan (Team Aqua): Literally written in katakana "a-ku-a"

Aogiri (Archie)

Ushio (Matt)

Izumi (Shelly)

Odomaki-hakase (Professor Birch)

Sinnoh: Japanese

Kouki (Lucas)

Hikari (Dawn)

Jun (Barry)

Hyouta (Roark)

Natane (Gardenia)

Sumomo (Maylene)

Maximum Mask (Crasher Wake): Maybe a little more clearly than the English name, it's a stage name and his real name is unknown. He's called "Maxi" for short, so it could just be that.

Fantina or Kiméra: Her name in Japanese is Melissa, which is a clearly Western name along with using foreign phrases. The difficulty here is in original Japanese (as well as French, logically) she speaks English, while most other localizations she speaks French. Fantina is her name in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Kiméra is her name in French.

Suzuna (Candice)

Denzi (Volkner)

Ryou (Aaron)

Kikuno (Bertha)

Ōba (Flint)

Goyou (Lucian)

Shirona (Cynthia)

Kurotsugu (Palmer) Tower Tycoon: Same in English and Japanese

Neziki (Thorton) Factory Head: Same in English and Japanese

Dahlia: Same in English and Japanese Roulette Goddess (Arcade Star)

Kokuran (Darach): His Lady may be likely Unovan, but his lineage is never specified and he seems to have a Hisuian ancestor, so him being from Sinnoh is likely, hence Japanese name. Castle Butler (Castle Valet)

Argenta or Kate: Kate is her name in Japanese and is clearly Western. Argenta is her name in English, German, and Spanish. Stage Madonna (Hall Matron)

Momi (Cheryl)

Gen (Riley)

Baku (Buck)

Miru (Mira)

Mai (Marley)

Looker: Honestly, I just prefer Looker because it seems smoother to say as a codename than his Japanese codename which is Handsome. Looker also has the double meaning that Handsome doesn't, like he's looking/watching, because he's a detective. Looker is also his name in Portuguese, and sometimes in German, Spanish, and Italian. Every one of his codenames is a reference to his appearance ex. LeBelle in German and Beladonis in French.

Ginga-dan (Team Galaxy)

Akagi (Cyrus)

Mars: Same in English and Japanese

Jupiter: Same in English and Japanese

Saturn: Same in English and Japanese

Pluto (Charon)

Nanakamado-hakase (Professor Rowan)

Hisui: Japanese

Teru (Rei) Chō satai (Survey Corps' (Trainer class))

Shō (Akari) Chō satai (Survey Corps' (Trainer class))

Ginga-dan (Galaxy Expedition Team): Shares it's name with the modern Team Galaxy in Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and Italian.

Kamado or Denboku: His original home region is unknown and he bears Galarian armor that looks strikingly similar to Kalosian Wikstrom. Denboku is from raidenboku, an alternate reading of the Japanese rowan, nanakamado, which is Rowan's Japanese name. Kamado also comes from nanakamado.

Shimaboshi (Cyllene): She is originally from Hoenn, but Hoenn is also Japanese so that means nothing for her name.

Perilla (Zisu) Keibi-tai (Security Corps)

Kine (Pesselle) Iryō-tai (Medical Corps)

Tao Hua: Same in English and Japanese Seizō-tai (Supply Corps)

Sazanka (Sanqua) Kenchiku-tai (Construction Corps)

Nabana (Colza): His original region is apparently unknown, but Japanese is still a safe bet. Also most other localizations stem from Nabana rather than Colza. Hatasaku-tai (Agriculture Corps)

Haku (Rye) Hatasaku-tai (Agriculture Corps)

Mube (Beni): His home region is apparently unknown, but Japanese is a safe bet. Imozuru-tei (The Wallflower): [directly from Bulbapedia] From imozuru (vines of Japanese mountain yam or sweet potato), Mitsuru (Wally), and tei (common suffix in restaurant names)

Taisai (Choy)

Sharon (Anthe): Oddly, Sharon is her Japanese name.

Kongō-dan (Diamond Clan)

Seki (Adaman) Osa (Clan Leader)

Yone (Mai) Captain (Warden)

Hinatsu (Arezu) Captain (Warden)

Susuki (Iscan) Captain (Warden)

Tsubaki (Melli) Captain (Warden)

Wasabi (Sabi) Captain (Warden)

Shinju-dan (Pearl Clan)

Kai (Irida) Osa (Clan Leader)

Kikui (Lian) Captain (Warden)

Yūgao (Calaba) Captain (Warden)

Garana (Palina) Captain (Warden)

Hamarenge (Gaeric) Captain (Warden)

Shō-Chiku-Ba (Miss Fortunes)

Omatsu (Charm) Yatō (Bandit)

Otake (Clover) Yatō (Bandit)

Oume (Coin) Yatō (Bandit)

Ichō Shōkai (Ginkgo Guild)

Ginnan (Ginter)

Tsuiri (Tuli)

Volo: Same in English and Japanese Pokemon Tsukai (Pokemon Wielder)

Cogito (Cogita): She is a whole ass mystery, but Cogita (her name in English and German) is just a (non-existent) feminine form of Cogito, her Japanese name, which comes from Latin and basically means "I think", as in Decaretes' "cogito, ergo sum" or "I think, therefore I am". French and Chinese use the respective language's variation of the phrase as a base for her name, while Spanish and Italian use Greek words, for "wisdom" and "intelligence" respectively.

Professor Laventon: He's Galarian, so his name is English.

Unova: English The only ones I'm doing here are ones that AREN'T necessarily the English version.

Clay or Yakon: I've heard Clay may play on Japanese businessman tropes, and he has an ancestor in Hisui, so his name could be either of these.

Lacey or Taro: As Clay's daughter, her situation is the same as his.

Cyrano or Mirtilo: English and Spanish names respectively. Lives in Unova, but as Clavel's classmate could be from Paldea maybe? Saffron or Milo: As above

Kalos: French

Kalem (Calem)

Serena: Same in English and French

Sannah (Shauna)

Trevor: Same in English and French

Tierno: Same in English and French

Violette (Viola)

Lino (Grant)

Cornélia (Korrina) Héritière (Successor)

Amaro (Ramos)

Lem (Clemont)

Mache (Valerie): Mache is actually originally from Johto, hence her Japanese name.

Astera (Olympia)

Urup (Wulfric): Given he likely has a Hisuian ancestor, it wouldn't be unlikely for his name to be Japanese. Luckily, his Japanese and French names are the same!

Malva: Same in English and French

Narcisse (Siebold)

Wikstrom or Thyméo: Since we know his armor is likely Galarian his English name isn't out of place, but his French name is Thyméo.

Dracéna (Drasna)

Dianthéa (Diantha) Grande-Duchesse (Grand Duchess)

Aurore (Morgan)

Méridia (Dana)

Vesper (Evelyn)

Nix (Nita)

Millie (Emma) Elili (Essentia) Femme Louche (Suspicious Woman) Enfant Louche (Suspicious Child) Jeune Femme Louche (Suspicious Lady)

Gribouille (Mimi): Millie's Espurr friend

Team Flare: Apparently the same in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Lysandre: Same in English and French

Ancolie (Aliana)

Brasénie (Bryony)

Cyane (Celosia)

Myosotis (Mable)

Xanthin (Xerosic)

Professeur Platane (Professor Sycamore): Somewhat surprisingly, his Japanese and French names are the same, though they do both originate from the French word platane.

Alola: English Hawaii is an American state, and there isn't a Native Hawaiian translation of the games, so English is the default language here. But Hawaii does have ties to the East, so I will use some of the Japanese names if they make more sense to me. Most are just slight spelling changes anyhow.

Yo (Elio): Moved from Kanto to Alola, so Japanese name.

Mizuki (Selene): Moved from Kanto to Alola, so Japanese name.

Ma'o (Mallow): Technically her Japanese name is just Mao, but ma'o is the Hawaiian word for Hawaiian cotton and I feel spelling it that way feels better.

Sophocles or Māmane: Both names after the same plant, the Sophora chrysophylla, it's common and local Hawaiian name being māmane.

Hapu'u (Hapu): Hapu'u is her name in Japanese and comes from hāpuʻu, the Hawaaian tree fern.

Molayne or Mullein: Molayne is just a different spelling tbh and I kinda think it looks better.

Skipping Galar; there aren't really a lot of clear foreigners besides Kabu whose name is the same.

Paldea: Spanish and Portuguese I look at both languages because Paldea is based on the Iberian Peninsula and not just Spain. However, with Portuguese, I'm having to look at Brazilian Portuguese, which is not quite the same as European Portuguese, because that's almost all that's on Bulbapedia. I generally choose whether to use Spanish or Portuguese based on if said name is also the same as the English and/or Japanese name. Or default if only one is available. Also uhh my order might be a bit weird here because I didn't get to actually play these games. I kinda assumed you go through the teachers before Gym Leaders, so...yeah. I can re-order it later if that's wrong or confusing.

Florian: From an unknown region, but the same in English, German, Spanish, French, and Italian.

Juliana: From an unknown region, but the same in English, German, Spanish, French, and Italian.

Nemo(?): She is noted to not be from Paldea but her home isn't specified so it could be anything. Nemona is her name in English and E. Portuguese, Nemo in Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Thai, Noêmia in B. Portuguese, Nemila in German, Nemola in Indonesian, and Nemi in Italian. The odd ones out are Mencía in Spanish and Menzi in French.

Arven: Same in English and B. Portuguese

Academia Naranja (Naranja Academy)

Academia Uva (Uva Academy)

Miriam: Same in English and B. Portuguese

Saguaro: Same in English, Japanese, and B. Portuguese (as well as German and French)

Dendra: Same in English and B. Portuguese

Cloe or Mora (Raifort): Cloe is her name in Spanish, and Mora is her name in French, which I only include because her English/Japanese name Raifort is from the French word for horseradish apparently, so maybe she's Kalosian.

Silvio (Salvatore)

Mila (Tyme)

Jacques (Jacq): The B. Portuguese name as it's closer to his English name. His Spanish name is Cinio, which is Spanish for his Japanese name, Zinnia, which could be confusing considering Higana.

Clavel: Same in Japanese, Spanish, German, French, and Italian. English and B. Portuguese just adds another L. Clive: Same in English and B. Portuguese Director Escolar (Director)

Catarina (Katy): Her B. Portuguese name, which is closer to her name in English (Katy) and Japanese (Kaede).

Brais or Brás (Brassius): His Spanish and B. Portuguese names respectively, as both are very close to his English name.

Kissera (Iono): Her B. Portuguese name, comes from "O que será?" apparently meaning "what will it be?", which is closer to the intent behind her name in Japanese (Nanjyamo, name given to an unusually large tree that grows in a particular place; literally meaning "What is it?") and English (Iono, as in "I don't know") than her Spanish name, e-Nigma. Which makes me think of the Riddler.

Fuco (Kufo)

Laureano or Lauro (Larry): His Spanish and B. Portuguese names respectively. Larry could be a nickname for either though.

Lima or Citrina (Ryme): Her Spanish and B. Portuguese names respectively. Lima has the same puns on lime and rhyme that English and Japanese does, but tbh makes me think more of lima beans. Citrina is from citrino (citrus).

Tuli or Tulipa (Tulip): Her Spanish and B. Portuguese names respectively.

Grusha: Actually may be from an unrevealed Russian region as his name is Russian. It's also the same in most languages.

Cayena or Kaya (Rika): Her Spanish and B. Portuguese names respectively. Both come from cayenne, which isn't in her Japanese or English names. Her Japanese name is Chili, and Rika comes from paprika.

Poppy: Her name in English, Japanese, and B. Portuguese as well as German and Indonesian.

Hassel?: From and unknown region so could literally be anything, and all his names are very different.

Ságita or Guita (Geeta): Her Spanish and B. Portuguese names respectively. Supercampeona (Top Champion)

Team Star: Same in English and Spanish as well as German, French, and Italian

Penny: Actually from Galar, so her English name. Cassiopeia or Casiopea: English and Spanish forms respectively, referencing the constellation.

Giacomo: Same in English and B. Portuguese DJ Vil (DJ Vice)

Melo or Mélia (Mela): Spanish and B. Portuguese respectively.

Henzo (Atticus): Spanish name. Not like English or Japanese name, but his whole ninja theming makes Henzo fit better than the B. Portuguese Érico.

Ortega: Same in English and B. Portuguese, similar to Japanese, French, and Korean Ortiga.

Erin or Êri (Eri): Spanish and B. Portuguese respectively.

Profesor Sada: Same in English and EUROPEAN Portuguese, listed for once.

Profesor Turo: Same in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Kitakami: Japanese Not a region itself I don't think, but it's not connected to a specific region I don't think, so.

Zeiyu (Carmine)

Suguri (Kieran) Sugu (Kiki)

Sazare (Perrin): Actually from Sinnoh, but this is where you meet her so here she is. Shashinka (Photographer)

What do you think? Did I forget anyone important?

Okay this took way too long for something probably no one will see okaybaiiiiii

#Pokemon #Languages #Names #idk man I did this for funsies

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pixelgrotto · 1 year

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Clonevania: Master of Darkness

If you follow me on Twitter, you might've seen that my brother recently gifted me a Steam Deck for a wedding present. Being the educated soul that I am, my first priority with this impressive handheld was not to play the shiny new remake of Resident Evil 4, but to put emulators and ROMs on it so I could successfully play games released three decades ago.

One of these games was 1992's Master of Darkness, which was released for both the Sega Master System and the Game Gear. Master of Darkness has at least three names depending on its platform and region, and the few people who've written about it on the internet have called it Vampire, Vampire: Master of Darkness or In The Wake of Vampire, creating the illusion that this lone game is an entire franchise.

But Master of Darkness is the exact opposite of a franchise - rather, it's a single title that Sega released to mimic Castlevania when Konami's series was still a Nintendo exclusive. It falls fully in clone territory, and I first became aware of this game when I was a kid reading through the section on The Castlevania Dungeon about "Castlevania-like games." There, it's described as "worth a shot, if only to see the shamelessness."

I'll dare to make a hot take and call that a harsh analysis of Master of Darkness, though maybe I just have a high tolerance for obscure games that resemble more famous titles when you squint. Master of Darkness is far from the crappiest Castlevania clone I've played (that award goes to Castle of Shadows, a piece of mobile shovelware that's no longer available on any app stores), and there's a special kind of B-movie charm that the game radiates.

Instead of putting you in the role of a buff Belmont vampire hunter, for instance, you play a London occultism expert dubbed Ferdinand Social - a truly top-tier name for a protagonist. Social learns that Dracula is going to wreak havoc thanks to his trusty ouija board, which sends him an eerie message one night and serves as Master of Darkness' creative password screen. Taking his knife in hand, Social pursues leads to the Thames and faces Jack the Ripper, who's collecting bodies to fuel Dracula's resurrection. Social's journey then takes him to a creepy house of wax, a graveyard, a laboratory, and finally Transylvania itself.

It's an interesting selection of levels, and while you'll occasionally have to navigate Social through stained glass towers filled with swinging pendulums exported from just about any Castlevania, there are also some original moments. The house of wax, in particular, really makes the skin crawl with poltergeist-animated furniture and creepy women in white who only become alive after you move past them. The late 1800s setting also adds a Hammer Horror-esque flair to Master of Darkness that sets it apart from Castlevania, a series primarily known for its pre-Victorian vampire killing romps (with the exception of a handful of entries - most notably Bloodlines and Portrait of Ruin, neither of which had been released back in '92).

But while Master of Darkness' levels might be charming for evoking the same aesthetic as '70s British horror, they drag with repetitive design. Each level relies way too much on stairs, and while Social isn't as annoying to control on staicases as Simon Belmont was, Simon always traversed through tight levels that never got monotonous. In contrast, each level of Master of Darkness is huge, and after the twentieth staircase, it all starts to blend together. The game also has a habit of locking the player in a single room and forcing them to survive a gauntlet of foes, which becomes old fast. Then there's the last level - a labyrinth of interconnected screens that's just as much fun as most labyrinths are in video games.

Master of Darkness could've benefited from tighter level design for sure. And to stand out from Castlevania, it also could've done away with Dracula as a big boss, since his final appearance is pretty unmemorable anyway. Any other famous horror presence would've helped this game stand out from its competition, and besides, Ferdinand Social seems like an everyman sort of dude. I can easily see his ouija board warning him about Frankenstein's monster, a demon lord or some other denizen of evildom.

Social never got a chance to fight alternate baddies, since Castlevania stopped being a Nintendo exclusive when Bloodlines hit the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in '94, and I doubt that a huge contingent of Sega owners wanted the clone once the real thing was accessible. Still, something about Master of Darkness sticks with me, and it's certainly worthy of an afternoon if you enjoy emulating forgotten gems with say, a Steam Deck.

Honestly, I kinda wish some studio would get the rights from Sega for a remake. I doubt they're interested, but Lizardcube - the company that made Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap and Streets of Rage 4 - would be a great choice. Drop the Dracula stuff for a focus on other gothic icons, fix the repetitive levels, invest in hand-drawn art, and boom, you've got something that could win a niche yet loyal audience, especially since Castlevania is now a series pretty much stuck in limbo. Personally, if I were in charge of the never-will-happen Master of Darkness reboot, I'd make Jack the Ripper the main bad guy. Maybe Jack's killing victims to power some kind of immortality soul engine, and Ferdinand Social has to navigate through ten London landmarks to bring him to justice, culminating in an awesome fight on the clock hands of Big Ben. Now that's a plot worthy of a Hammer flick.

#pixel grotto #now playing #master of darkness #castlevania

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kuuderekun · 1 year

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Case Closed AKA Detective Conan is on Tubi.TV

Only the first of those titles will actually show up when you search for it. There are now 50 episodes Dubbed, and all of the same episodes can also be watched Subbed and maybe more by the time I get this posted.

Case Closed Dubbed

https://tubitv.com/series/300008260/case-closed-dubbed?start=true

Case Closed Subbed

https://tubitv.com/series/300010357/case-closed-subbed?start=true

Initially it was only the first 10, of those 971-974 is an interesting 4 parter and the best of those 10 which are all muliti parters.

The best one off episodes from in the first 20 are 978-980, any of those three could make a neat first impression of the show.

984-985 is a Kaitou Kid case featuring some of the regional recurring characters that is pretty good.

988 and 992 are Sonoko Deduction Queen episodes and I guess I just feel bad for the BangZoom actress never getting to do one of these since it never happens in the movies. At any rate both these episodes are pretty cool.

But perhaps the best episodes Dubbed on Tubi so far are 993-995 Makoto Kyogoku the Understudy. It's the Dub debut in any cast for Sera Masumi and a pretty perfect episode to introduce her with. Makoto's character is also perhaps better represented here then in the Blue Sapphire movie. The episode has an isolated case that's interesting but happens do a decent amount of Lore refreshing that I think makes it a good set of episodes for newbies. And also plenty of moments that are just plain fun.

1000-1001 is actually a remake of an early case, episode 11 on Crunchyroll and Filmrise and 11-12 in the Funimation Dub. It's a stand alone case plot-wise but story wise is important to why saving the lives of even the culprits is important to Conan. But it has a potentially problematic element that makes my feelings towards it mixed. At any rate I really don't consider this remake the optimal viewing experience anyway, the tone and mood of this story really is better served by Retro Conan's artstyle.

1002 is the lead in episode for The Scarlet Bullet. How these lead in episodes actually relate to the film in question is usually pretty abstract, they are by no means necessary. Part of why I think a mistake was made is that even before these finally went up I was expecting that 1002 might be skipped for the purpose of saving it for being a bonus feature when Scarlet Bullet finally gets an English BluRay release. I would probably like this episode more if I wasn't as politically informed as I am, this is practically a PSA episode about littering that really plays into the Liberal individualizing of the issue.

1004-1005 is another good 3 parther.

Episode 1009 is a fun Detective Boys episode. 1010 is a unique episode that I found pretty fun, and it;s another appearance of Danny's.

1011-112 is pretty interesting. It's the first Columbo type Case in these Tubi Dubbed episodes so far, and the Dub debuts of both the Kindergarden Teacher and Yamamura the Gunma inspector. I was actually suprised how well Yamamura's voice turned out, he fits the character perfectly.

1013 is one is a really compelling episode.

#Case Closed #Detective Conan #Anime #Dubs #Dubbed

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fatehbaz · 2 years

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[T]he late 19th century [...] was a golden age of media frenzies [...]. The fantasy [...] spread quickly throughout European and American presses. [...] The dream of creating a Saharan Sea still has clickbait value today. [...] Ridiculous schemes [...] entrenching warped understandings of the desert as a vacant land awaiting improvement.

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Captain François Roudaire (1836-1885) was convinced that a large inland sea could be created in the Sahara Desert across southeastern Algeria and southern Tunisia. The French military surveyor received funding from public and private sources in the 1870s to carry out feasibility studies on that region’s chotts or shebkas, seasonal salt lakes that are sometimes found below sea level. The centerpiece of his proposal was a long canal from Tunisia’s coast on the Gulf of Gabes to low-lying chotts in the interior. Once the Mediterranean began to flow into the desert, Roudaire believed, the Saharan climate would become cooler and the rate of precipitation in the region would increase. His announcement in the widely-read Parisian periodical Revue des deux Mondes on May 15, 1874 that French engineers could build “une mer intérieure en Algérie” stirred up the imaginations of the capital’s political, social, and scientific elite. Ferdinand de Lesseps, whose success in the Suez Canal project led him to seek similarly grandiose opportunities to remake the world (e.g. in Panama), soon joined the project and helped with funding.

Roudaire’s most prominent critic was Ernest Cosson, a senior member of the Société botanique de France and an expert on North African botany. Cosson and many of his colleagues in metropolitan scientific associations rejected the plan for several reasons: its clearly negative consequences of an infusion of salt water for native flora (particularly the date trees on which Saharan oasis agriculture depended); the engineering nightmare posed by a canal up to 150 miles in length; the highly questionable nature of Roudaire’s claims about climatic change; and the social unrest that would have followed the substantial expropriation of native land. The scientific community’s dismissal of the scheme, the state’s loss of interest when the difficulty of the project became clear, and the deaths of Roudaire in 1885 and de Lesseps in 1894 ended the Saharan Sea project.

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However, the Saharan Sea dream has lived on. In fiction, it first appeared in British journalist Louis Tracy’s futuristic An American Emperor: The Story of the Fourth Empire of France (serialized in Pearson’s Weekly, 1896-97) [...]. Jules Verne’s L’Invasion de la mer (1905) describes a future conflict between colonizers attempting to build the sea and native Saharans who opposed the European effort. [...]

Several historians have already ably examined the scheme as it relates to the history of European imperialism in Africa and the history of European understandings of desertification and geo-engineering [...]. What I find illuminating in the Roudaire affair is the important role of newspapers and journals. The power of popular media to drive scientific inquiry has become quite clear [...].

“The Age of Steam and Print,” as James Gelvin and Nile Green have dubbed the late 19th century, was a golden age of media frenzies and of international searches for the filler material that we sometimes call clickbait today. The newly cheap cost of printing in the 19th century, the revolutions in transportation and communication technology that enabled interesting stories to spread across national borders and oceans, and the competitive business environment of journalism, created strong incentives for editors and writers to prioritize quantity over quality, and to put fascination ahead of verification. The fantasy that Roudaire started in the Revue des deux Mondes, a popular avenue around the gatekeepers who controlled the publications of the traditional scientific societies, spread quickly throughout the European and American presses. Editors happily built the canals for Roudaire’s Saharan Sea dream to invade their empty column inches. “As it is today,” Hocine Bendjoudi and René Létolle wrote about the Roudaire episode, "journalists lacking copy periodically revived the affair in the opinion press."

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The dream of creating a Saharan Sea still has clickbait value today. Numerous videos on Y/outube, and articles in Co/nde Nast Traveler, Big Think, and Gi/zmodo under its ’Secret History’ tag, rehash previous work on the Roudaire scheme and its intellectual successors. The basis of European conceptions of the central Sahara changed from ignorance to fascination in the era of Roudaire, Philip Lehmann argues, and there it remains today. In our modern media environment, ridiculous schemes have lives of their own, periodically entertaining audiences for years and entrenching warped understandings of the desert as a vacant land awaiting improvement.

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Text by: Jackson R. Perry. “Filling The Empty Space: The Saharan Sea Project and the Modern Media Age.” Published at Georgetown Environmental History blog. 9 January 2020. [Bold emphasis, some paragraph breaks/contractions, and italicized first heading added by me.]

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duscarasheddinn · 2 years

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Mewtwo’s origins in the games and first movie

Back when the Kanto region in Pokemon was supposed to be the real Kanto in Japan, the journals in the Pokemon Mansion state that Mew gave live birth to Mewtwo on February 6th of an unspecified year (though my headcanon places it at some point in the 1990s given how Red and Green started development in 1990 and released in ‘96 even though it was delayed from a 1995 release, that being the reason why the start date for copyrights and/or trademarks in Pokemon is 1995 rather than 1996). This was before Pokemon breeding or eggs were introduced and is like how cloning works in real life.

The first Pokemon movie instead depicts Mewtwo as being grown in a test tube like the pop culture idea for clones depicts them in. Maybe it was so they didn’t have to show the horrific gene-splicing that turned Mewtwo into what it is today. Just so you know, there are technically two Japanese versions of the first movie, and no, I’m not talking about the CGI remake that I can’t stand to look at even in still frames. The original theatrical release was edited for home video to add CGI in some shots (like an opening door) and added an origin story for Mewtwo where it was seen when it was young. It looked so cute and used to be so sweet. It also explained the reason why Dr. Fuji would work with Giovanni (it’d benefit them both because Dr. Fuji would clone his dead daughter and Giovanni would get the most powerful Pokemon).

4Kids did fully dub this extended bit of the prologue, which added ten more minutes to the prologue and made it twenty minutes long, but due to controversy surrounding cloning, they chose not to put it in the theatrical release of their dub of the movie or even the DVD release of it. Instead, the ONLY time the dub of the extended ten minutes was released in DVD Region 1 (North America, which includes at least the United States and Canada) was as bonus material in the DVD of Mewtwo Returns, the made for TV feature length anime special that’s a sequel to the first movie. It was direct to video in the US and it’s probably safe to say that it’s been out of print for twenty years at this point.

#mewtwo #pokemon #pokemon mewtwo #pokemon the first movie #first pokemon movie #pokemon mewtwo strikes back #mewtwo strikes back #mewtwo returns #the uncut story of mewtwo's origin #cloning #clone

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the-monkey-ruler · 1 year

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Hunter x Hunter (2011) 全职猎人

Directors: Hiroshi Shinshina / Hiroyasu Aoki / Tetsuo Yajima / Kazuhiro Yoneda / Tomoya Takahashi / Masaki Matsumura / Masahiro Tomoda / Shinichiro Ushishima / Kenichi Takeshita

Screenwriter: Yoshihiro Togashi / Jun Maekawa / Mitsutake Hirota / Masaji Yonemura

Starring: Pan Huimei / Ise Moliya / Sawajo Miyuki / Fujiwara Keiji / Namikawa Daisuke / more...

Official site: www.ntv.co.jp/hunterhunter/

Genre: Comedy / Animation / Adventure

Country/Region of Manufacture: Japan

Language: Japanese

Date: 1999-10-16 (Japan) / 2011-10-02 (Japan)

Episodes: 148

Single episode length: 24 minutes

Also known as: Hunter / New Hunter x Hunter

IMDb: tt2098220

Type: Appropriation

Summary:

Gon (voiced by Pan Huimei) lost his parents since he was a child, and was raised by his aunt. The free sea and deep forest have cultivated his unique sensitivity and open-mindedness. After growing up, Gon accidentally learned that his father was not dead, and left him with a mission, which was to become a "hunter" and find him. "Hunter", the most glorious profession in that era, after many challenges and selections, only the best talents can obtain the hunter license, and with this license, you can survive more freely in this dangerous world go down. In order to follow in his father's footsteps, Gon is on the road. There are many reefs along this road, but Gon has made excellent friends by virtue of his instinct, Leori (voiced by Keiji Fujiwara) who volunteered to become a doctor, Kurapika (voiced by Keiji Fujiwara), the last cave Fire Eye tribe (voiced by Miyuki Zecheng), and Killua, the most important companion in his life (also voiced by Ise Jasmine). In addition, the fateful enemies also appeared - the Phantom Troupe.

This animation is a remake of MADEHOUSE in 2011. The plot is the same as the old version, but a new lineup of voice actors is used, and the production is more exquisite and detailed.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_%C3%97_Hunter

Link: https://kissanime.com.ru/Anime/Hunter-x-Hunter-2011.11869/ https://kissanime.com.ru/Anime/Hunter-x-Hunter-2011-Dub.17330/

#hunter x hunter #全职猎人 #jttw media #television #animation #Appropriation #Sun Wukong cameo

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druvjelly · 1 year

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So I know little to no japanese meaning that I’m unable to reach the Japanese web, which makes it impossible for me to know almost anything anything about the Japanese bioshock dub or the localization changes for the games before infinite (which came with a Japanese dub included, and apparently Elizabeth shares va with Jolyne in the jjba games)

This is the closet thing I have related to bioshock 2 when it comes to advertising.

But I have also found some YouTube clips of the game too.

youtube

Now the credits for the remastered only mention the English voice actors, which I found to be confusing because the Japanese dub is available in the remake (also my brother stole my computer mouse so there’s no way of me playing it atm). Meaning I might have to call my friend who owns the switch version just to see what he has to say.

Maybe it’s a region and platform exclusive thing, I own the PC and Switch version of little nightmares and the former has Swedish subs because the company who made is from Sweden. Meanwhile the switch version is only in the most translated language. But who knows.

#bioshock #bioshock 2 #Youtube

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albertonykus · 1 year

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Doraemon Movie Review: Stand by Me Doraemon (2014)

What is Doraemon? The title character of the Doraemon manga and anime is a blue robotic cat from the 22nd Century who keeps an array of high-tech gadgets in a portable pocket dimension on his belly, and has traveled from the future to improve the fortunes of a hapless schoolboy named Nobita. Although relatively obscure in the English-speaking world, Doraemon is a Mickey-Mouse-level cultural icon in East Asia (and some other regions, too). The Doraemon franchise was a big part of my childhood, and there are still elements of it that I enjoy now.

Doraemon has released theatrical films almost annually since 1980, most of which involve Nobita and his friends (kind Shizuka, brash Gian, and crafty Suneo) getting swept into adventures thanks to Doraemon's gadgets. Despite being of potentially broad appeal to fans of science fiction and animated films, there are very few English reviews of the Doraemon movies, so I'm embarking on a project to write about all the films that have come out so far. Good luck to me…

Movie premise: A retelling of some of the most iconic stories from the Doraemon manga, woven into a continuous narrative and represented using 3D computer-generated imagery.

My spoiler-free take: Unpopular opinion time: I’m not a big fan of this movie. It doubles down on some of the less tasteful elements of the source material, and other than the 3D imagery, it does not stand out much from previous anime adaptations of the same stories.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT

Review: And now for something completely different! This is a special Doraemon movie that not only has a distinct art style and story structure from typical films in the franchise, but was released independently of the annual Doraemon movie lineup (coming out during the same year as the remake of Nobita and the Haunts of Evil). This approach evidently paid off, because Stand by Me Doraemon is the highest-grossing Doraemon film to date, earning over $183 million at the box office. It and its eventual sequel are also the most internationally accessible Doraemon works—as of the time of writing, they are the only Doraemon movies available on American and British Netflix, and are among the few to have received official English dubbing and subtitles.

All of that probably sets some lofty expectations. From what I’ve seen, plenty of viewers loved this movie. As for me though... to be honest, as someone who was already familiar with the stories adapted into this movie thanks to either the manga or classic anime, my initial impression of Stand by Me Doraemon was that it seemed like a straightforward compilation of stories I knew, except with slightly creepier character designs. Don’t get me wrong; the character models here are far from the worst examples I’ve seen of 2D characters being converted into 3D, but I still found them a bit uncanny. Doraemon’s gadgets, on the other hand, look very good in this film.

Upon further reflection, however, I think there’s more that bothers me about this movie than just the art style. I don’t plan on writing an in-depth analysis, but probably the most obvious flaw with the narrative here is how it handles Shizuka’s role in the story. I’ve made no secret of the fact that the Doraemon franchise can sometimes come across as antiquated if not downright misogynistic in its treatment of Shizuka. (Really, just the fact that there’s only one girl on the main cast stands out as an increasingly archaic trope nowadays. And before anyone points out that I’ve been guilty of this in my own work: yes, I’m well aware of it.) That’s not to say that Shizuka has never been characterized in compelling ways, but the fact that she has makes the sexism all the more jarring. I’m not pointing this out as an excuse to hate on Doraemon (I probably wouldn’t have written 30 individualized reviews for a franchise I hated), nor to suggest that the original manga be considered without its cultural and historical context. However, for a long-running franchise like this, recent works can (and should be) evaluated on how they adapt these elements of the source material based on modern standards.

Those who know Doraemon lore well are likely aware that one of the most dramatic changes to Nobita’s life due to Doraemon’s arrival is that Nobita and Shizuka end up married in the future (whereas originally, Nobita was fated to marry Gian’s sister, Jaiko). There are sound criticisms that could be leveled at how that storyline was written in the manga, but Stand by Me Doraemon performs worse here than the source material in at least one major way: it treats Shizuka as essentially nothing more than a prize for Nobita to win. In this movie, Doraemon makes it his explicit goal to ensure that Nobita and Shizuka get together, with little regard for how Shizuka feels about the whole thing. Meanwhile in the manga, even though Doraemon’s presence results in Nobita and Shizuka marrying, and the marriage is by all appearances meant to be a happy one, Doraemon never to my knowledge claims that this is the specific outcome he is striving for. In fact, let’s take a look at what classic Doraemon’s reaction is when Nobita gets agitated about the possibility that his future might change yet again and he won’t get to marry Shizuka...

(The grammar in these unofficial subtitles isn’t great, but you can probably get the gist. This comes from the 1999 adaptation of “Nobita’s the Night Before a Wedding”. A similar exchange occurs in the original 1981 manga.)

Speaking of the classic anime, I can’t help but feel that most of the stories adapted in Stand by Me Doraemon had already been done justice in previous anime renditions. I found the 1998 adaptation of “Goodbye, Doraemon” and 1999 adaptation of “Nobita’s the Night Before a Wedding” to be more enjoyable than this film, for instance. In “Nobita’s the Night Before a Wedding” (1999), it’s believable when Shizuka’s father appraises Nobita as a kind and compassionate person, because the episode takes the time to show Nobita doing nice things for others throughout. In Stand by Me Doraemon, the same statement is a more difficult pill to swallow.

Granted, an anime episode that can devote all 25 minutes of its runtime to a single storyline is not strictly comparable to a movie that has to fit seven stories into an hour and a half. At the same time, that highlights another limitation of Stand by Me Doraemon. Although Nobita can often be unlikable in the regular series, at least the sheer volume and diversity of stories provide him with opportunities to display other facets of his character, giving his friendships with Doraemon and Shizuka slightly more depth and credibility. Stand by Me Doraemon is tasked with introducing the premise of the entire franchise and constructing a complete arc out of a set of pre-selected, largely standalone stories in the time frame allotted to a standard animated film, leaving little room for asides or tangents that could potentially flesh out the characters beyond their most basic core traits.

At the end of the day, Stand by Me Doraemon is such an atypical Doraemon entry that I cannot truly recommend it as an introduction to the franchise. Simultaneously, its value to hardcore Doraemon fans also seems questionable (though I suspect that many of those same fans would disagree with me there!) given that the stories it’s based on have been adapted multiple times over, often in more satisfying ways. I can guess at a large part of why the movie has been so successful, however: the retelling of classic stories using “modernized” graphics probably appeals especially to those who are nostalgic for Doraemon but haven’t revisited the franchise in a long time, a demographic that most likely represents the majority of the audience in regions where the franchise is popular.

Star rating: ★★☆☆☆

#Doraemon #Anime #Stand by Me Doraemon #ドラえもん

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