The Three Musketeers reimagined in the 1940s

Another idea that’s been in my head for awhile is the idea of reimagining The Three Musketeers in the context of an alt-history version France/Belgium under Nazi Occupation.  With Brunswick being not just a person the Queen is having an affair with but a British Spy she is sharing intelligence with while publicly collaborating. And  the four main characters are also double agents whose true loyalty is to the resistance.

There is some interesting real history you can draw on for all this.  

This version of Richelieu you could partly base on Cardinal Emmanuel Celestin Suhard.

France didn’t have a Monarchy anymore at this time in real history but partly French Speaking Belgium did.  Leopold III can be the basis for this Louis XIII and the Queen as Princess Lilian.

And maybe you could then go further and adapt the plots of the sequels in the context of European Politics of the 60s and 70s.

Richard III and The July Revolution

When I finally saw the Ian McKellan Richard III film I was a bit disappointed, his performance was great and there were interesting ideas to come from the concept of adapting this play to the 1930s.  But those ideas weren’t explored fully and the other performances were kinda dull.  

But my biggest pet peeve was removing Margaret of Anjou, now her presence in this play is it’s most explicit historical inaccuracy, the historical Margaret was not in England anymore during any of this time period, but an adaptation that removes it from even the pretense of being about actual history doesn’t need to worry about that.  As a story, her functioning as a Prophetess of Doom is a lot of why this play works and is why I’m glad the first version of it I ever watched was The Hollow Crown series where she’s played by Sophi Okonedo.

Thinking about the idea of adapting this play to other time periods got me to thinking as a part-time Francophile about the idea of using it as a framing device for a fictionalization of the July Revolution of 1830.

Charles X of France and this popular view of Richard III have in common being the youngest of three brothers who was more of a blatant tyrant then his older brothers and the end of his Dynasty overthrown in a Revolution that could also be viewed as more of a Coup. 

Charles was also rumored to have had an extramarital affair with Marie Antionette. Meanwhile he never married a daughter of Marie Antionette but his son did.

Orleans would thus fill the role of Richmond and everyone’s favorite crossover plot-line between the American and French Revolution the Marquis de Lafayette can fill the role of Lord Stanley crowning the new King at the end.

But here’s where specifically my Shadowmen interests come into play. The quasi Prophetess role of Margaret of Anjou can be filled by Josephine Balsamo the Countess of Cagliostro.  As a daughter of Josephine she too has a connection to a recently overthrown dynasty.

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.

He also wasn't the hyper rationalist modern people like to assume someone that smart would be.  In Hound of the Baskerviles he actually says he can't rule out the possibility something Supernatrual is actually happening but that's he's investigating for a natrual epxlanation simply because if it is Supernatural he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

He also certianly wasn’t an Atheist.

The appalling travesty that was BBC’s Sherlock has infested the Sherlock Holmes fandom like a malignant tumour so I want you all to know how awesome the OG literary Holmes was:

The literary Sherlock Holmes was an autistic coded character before people knew what autism was.

The literary Sherlock Holmes was an explicitly aromantic character before people had a word for that.

Literary Holmes solved mysteries not merely for the intellectual stimulation but also out of a genuine desire to do good. He cared deeply about every client. HE WAS NOT A HIGH-FUNCTIONING SOCIOPATH! He could definitely be insensitive and blunt but he was not callous or unfeeling.

Literary Sherlock threatened to beat a guy who was being creepy with his own stepdaughter.

Literary Sherlock learned to grow past his misogyny after a woman outsmarted him.

In particular, he was always respectful to Mrs Hudson, never belittling or talking down to her (the otherwise enjoyable Guy Ritchie films screw this up too). In fact, they got along so well that they were actually a very popular ship back in the day.

Literary Holmes would NEVER call Watson an idiot. He was his only friend who he loved and respected, even if he did get frustrated with him sometimes. He didn’t need to belittle others to feel powerful.

Literary Holmes and Watson broke into a corrupt man’s house and witnessed him being murdered by a woman he was blackmailing. They knew exactly who she was but they let her get away because they were chaotic good like that.

Literary Holmes had HUMILITY: something a smug prig like Steven Moffat will never understand. He could be arrogant but he had a sense of humour and was willing to admit when he was wrong. And he was wrong sometimes because he was a flawed human being, not some gross male power fantasy.

Literary Holmes respected the working class and was often disdainful of the rich. In Victorian England!

Literary Holmes indirectly caused the death of a guy who abused (and implicitly molested) his daughters and he didn’t give a single fuck about it.

At the end of the series, Holmes retires to Sussex to keep bees. Beekeepers are awesome.

Detective Conan is another Anime Franchise that Shadowman style Francophiles should check out.

And not just because of the Lupin III crossovers.

First of all Kaitou Kid is in many ways much more like the original Arsene Lupin then Lupin III is.  The 3rd Detective Conan film, The Last Wizard of The Century in particular really does feel like a classical Arsene Lupin novel.

Meanwhile the In Universe fictional character of The Night Baron feels like an homage to Fantomas.  And like Lupin III there is a lot of those absurdly believable masks that the 60s Fantomas films made popular.

The big thing is how much the the shows long villains, The Black Organization, feel like Paul Feval’s Les Habits Noirs/The Black Coats, I know I’ve said that about this Anime villains before but this dwarfs how similar I felt anyone previously was.  It may well be just a collection of coincidences, from them wearing literal Black Coats to the reveal that their leader in a mysterious wealthy old man who supposedly died at 100 years old over 20 years ago. To Gin and Vodka as a pair having that “Tall and the Short one” visual going for them.

And then there’s how the very concept of a Teenage Super Sleuth was something the French innovated, starting with Feval’s Pistolet, made most famous by Gaston Leroux’s Rouletabille, and then Lupin fans of course should remember Beutrelet from The Hollow Needle.

I don’t understand the Hate for #FullmetalAlchemist #ConquerorOfShamballa?

This movie tends to be hated even by people who defend the 2003 series and it’s ending.  I thought it was pretty great.

Ya know what, I even think it’d be a pretty enjoyable film as a stand alone for people who didn’t see the series.  Yes they’ll be more confused by some stuff.

But just imagine telling people there is this Anime movie set in Weimar Germany that has Parallel Worlds, Alchemy and a little Steam Punk/Diesel Punk and Frtiz Lang helping stop a Nazi Plot.  I know many Nerds who’d totally dig that regardless of the continuity lock out.

And speaking of it’s Nazi plot, the fact that it’s about early Nazi history helps it not avoid what I usually criticize movies that vaguely vilify the Nazis for avoiding.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie about this time period actually include both The Jews and the Roma.  And yes while the slur is used at first once Ed is informed he defaults to using their proper name.

I’ve now finished the Anime and read plenty of spoilers relating to the Source Material.  Another work of western fiction that would make an interesting comparison is the Clue movie.

I gave the Anime 10/10 on MAL.  It was a unique ride, the first few episodes were a fun little Tropey spiritual successor to Higurashi.  Then when I thought it was time to start the next Timeline or Route it does something unexpected, first a kind of Meta scene that was not completely unfathomable to a savvy Anime viewer, but then things went off the rails fast.  I was never not genuinely enjoying the show, but a lot many episodes my comments on it on Twitter were mostly having fun with how ridiculous it gets.  But then the Penultimate episode brought me to tears, that kind of range is what so far only Anime has ever pulled off.

This Anime however it not popular with the Visual Novel fans at all.  Higurashi also gains a large degree of criticism from VN fans, but that’s mostly just a matter of execution, what was emphasized and what was left out.  But it is definitely 99% still the exact same sequence of events.

Umineko’s Anime however is very clearly a distinct Continuity.  A lot of why is the kind of generally only expect to happen when the Adaptation starts before the source material is finished.  And the Anime is technically unfinished, it only covers half the arcs.  But a lot of it is a product of there being certain things you kind can’t be as ambiguous with in a fully dramatized medium.  There are certain things can avoid in a novel without the reader noticing that you simply can’t on screen.

For my tastes however what this Anime does is preferable to why the VNs go especially in the context of why I love Higurashi so much and watching this as a follow up.  And the VNs do a certain Mystery trope I’ve grown to particularly hate so I’d much rather watch the version where that clearly isn’t happening.

However in the context of what the VNs are doing, I would suggest it’s fans try just enjoying the Anime as itself a Fantasy Scenario version of the first 4 arcs.  Perhaps then you can just appreciate what the Anime does do well as an Anime and take a break from complaining about it not being the same.

I have started Umineko When They Cry

As of now just finished episode 5.  

And the reason I’m talking about it here is because (at least it’s initial set up) is very indebted to literally traditions started by Gatson Leroux and Ponson Du Terril.  It also reminds me of themes Brian Stableford talked about discussing certain Paul Feval novels,

I can certainly now add this to the discussion of Witch Anime I’d started in response to In Praise of Shadows.

https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/10/anime-2020-and-witches.html

However the show also exists in the same Universe as Higurashi,  and the traits it has that are innate to the Visual Novel tradition will become apparent over time.

It also reminds me of the last episode of the Inma Youjo OVA series from the 90s.  But that could easily be a coincidence.

The show is good so far, I recommend it.

I have started Umineko When They Cry

As of now just finished episode 5.  

And the reason I’m talking about it here is because (at least it’s initial set up) is very indebted to literally traditions started by Gatson Leroux and Ponson Du Terril.  It also reminds me of themes Brian Stableford talked about discussing certain Paul Feval novels,

I can certainly now add this to the discussion of Witch Anime I’d started in response to In Praise of Shadows.

https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/10/anime-2020-and-witches.html

However the show also exists in the same Universe as Higurashi,  and the traits it has that are innate to the Visual Novel tradition will become apparent over time.

It also reminds me of the last episode of the Inma Youjo OVA series from the 90s.  But that could easily be a coincidence.

The show is good so far, I recommend it.

I've now seen the Live Action Lady Oscar movie

I had binged all 40 episodes of The Rose of Versailles on Hulu fairly recently when I started this blog. I knew this movies existed back then, but I did not know it was in English, I assumed as a French production it would have been in French.  That assumption isn't why I didn't watch it right away, I watched the Anime in Japanese with Subs and already had experience watching movies in French thanks to my BlackCoatPress interests (which was itself a factor in why this was one of the first Anime I watched when I decided to start truly diving into Anime). What I had also assumed was that it would be pretty much impossible for me to find to watch without spending a lot of money just like most old French movies based on Paul Feval, Ponson du Terril and Eugene Sue novels.  However recent events on Twitter had brought knowledge of where to watch it to my attention. I consider the movie overall good, but in a unique way. Generally my advice is to watch adaptations before the source material so comparisons won't constantly be bothering you, if the source material is better then you'll have saved the better experience for last. In this case however the main strength of the film is the acting.  And very little of it is any major deviation from the source material, but it's very condensed, the Anime is 40 episodes while the runtime of this movie is equivalent to the runtime of 6 episodes.  I have a feeling this movie will have a very limited appeal to viewers who don't already know the fullness of the Anime's story-line, to them it won't really stand on it's own at all. But for those of us who have the ablity to put it in context what is adapted looks as good as this possibly ever could look in live action, I certainly don't trust the trend of historical fiction in modern Hollywood to aesthetically do the Anime justice. As I said the strongest point of the film is the acting.  Chiefly Lady Oscar herself played by Catriona MacColl.  I read on Wikipedia some critics thought she wasn't Androgynous enough, and I think that misses the point.  Lady Oscar in the Anime does not look like Haruka Tenoh or a stereotypical Butch Lesbian.  I feel like what the people making that criticism wanted is exactly what I would hate about how Hollywood would probably do it. At some points the film oddly felt like a Hammer film.  But I should clarify what I mean by that, Hammer did make more then just Horror, they also made odd little limited budget historical films sometimes.  The actor plainly Andre sounded kinda like several of Hammer random Junior Leads (often named Paul) but according to Wikipedia he's not one of them. The Anime is in my opinion the best fictionalization of this time period I've seen thus far.  What it does get wrong are mistakes by no means unique to this franchise, like making Robespierre a leader of the Revolutionaries a lot sooner then he actually was.  This film is about the same in historical accuracy but is generally more enjoyable to watch as just Lady Oscar's story then the time period in the general.  Which is shown by comparing the titles, Lady Oscar is the title character of the movie but the Anime's title character is technically Marie Antoinette. The only thing I was truly disappointed by about the film was the ending.  So now I shall fully enter spoiler territory. Read more »

I stumbled upon an Anime called Arcana Famiglia.

Full title Arcana Famiglia: La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/12967/Arcana_Famiglia

Something about the basic description had me wondering if maybe, maybe, somehow this came from someone in Japan who had familiarity with Paul Feval’s works.  The “Papa” having a daughter named Felicità , the literal Black Coats, the Vigilante pretense. 

Of course as watching the first episode as soon as the “Papa” said he was only 59 years old I went “Nope, this spring Chicken is no Colonel Bozzo-Corona”.

Still, it is certainly an interesting curiosity for Shadowmen fans to check out, it does have an English Dub.

Something else about Princess Principal is I feel the episodes should be watched in Chronological order.

2, 3, 5, 4, 9, 1, 7, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12

An update on my Black Coat Press and Tales of The Shadowmen interests

https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2018/10/an-update-on-my-black-coat-press-and.html

Been a while since I said much specifically on that subject.  It’ll be awhile before I can contribute to the Tales of The Shadowmen anthology series since the story ideas I’ve been having lately haven’t been on that subject, Anime has taken over my imagination.  And of course I always have trouble getting my stories actually written down anyway, having an explicit deadline helped motivate me when I was writing TOTS stories. I also feel bad that I still haven’t finished The Companions of Silence, I bought the book early this year and started it, I like it as much as I do most Paul Feval stuff, but my mind has been fixating on other things.  This February The White Wolf is being released, it has had English versions before but they’re rare and hard to find.  I hope they follow that up with The She Wolf. I spent a good deal of time last year recommending Princess Principal to fellow Shadowmen fans.  It’s set in an alternate Steam Punk version of Victorian England, but a lot of it’s themes feel more appropriate for post-Revolutionary France.  But regardless plenty of the French novels we like used Britain as a setting, from The Mysteries of London to the last three Rocambole novels to John Devil. I bring it up again now because it’s Dub has finally dropped.  Now I haven’t watched said Dub yet, I know from the trailer they actually went with British Accents which is a decision I’m actually rather skeptical of.  Noir’s Dub worked great without any accents, I love Anime dub VAs but accents aren’t their strong suite.  Still I will give a shot eventually. The show is legally streaming on both HIDIVE and Amazon Prime, I think only HIDIVE has the Dub but I’m unsure, it may be you need to buy the DVDs for the full Dub.  Either way neither can be streamed for free, they are not making it easy for me to show this show to outsiders. A lot happens in Anime that reminds me of my Francophilic tendencies.   This coming Fall Season will have yet another Anime version of Jeanne d'Arc in a show that’s also about Alchemy.  We also had more Lupin III Anime this year, I won’t be watching Part V till it’s Dub airs however, which based on the time-frame for Part IV I suspect will be next year.   All the main Lupin III shows are on Crunchyroll Subbed right now, but suddenly The Woman Called Fujiko Mine isn’t streaming anywhere. Thanks to Hulu dropping most of what it had, Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena can’t be legally streamed anywhere now either. That’s really frustrating. Lastly I want to talk about an observation I made about Pokemon Heroes: Latios & Latias, the Fifth Pokemon movie.  This observation can only be fully understood by others who have read Knightshade (Brian Stableford’s translation of Paul Feval’s Le Chevalier Ténèbre), including it’s introduction and afterward material. I feel that Annie and Oakley can be thematically compared to the Ténèbre Brothers.  They are called sisters in material I’ve read though I don’t recall that being explicitly stated in the Dub.  Oakley is definitely Avarice.  Calling Annie “Lust” may be a bit more of a stretch since it’s a kid’s movie and all, but she is very vain and likes pretty shiny things, and is officially described as the prettier one.  This parallel is most likely a coincidence, but I enjoy making parallels between the works of this semi forgotten author and modern Nerd media.

An update on my Black Coat Press and Tales of The Shadowmen interests

https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2018/10/an-update-on-my-black-coat-press-and.html

Been a while since I said much specifically on that subject.  It'll be awhile before I can contribute to the Tales of The Shadowmen anthology series since the story ideas I've been having lately haven't been on that subject, Anime has taken over my imagination.  And of course I always have trouble getting my stories actually written down anyway, having an explicit deadline helped motivate me when I was writing TOTS stories. I also feel bad that I still haven't finished The Companions of Silence, I bought the book early this year and started it, I like it as much as I do most Paul Feval stuff, but my mind has been fixating on other things.  This February The White Wolf is being released, it has had English versions before but they're rare and hard to find.  I hope they follow that up with The She Wolf. I spent a good deal of time last year recommending Princess Principal to fellow Shadowmen fans.  It's set in an alternate Steam Punk version of Victorian England, but a lot of it's themes feel more appropriate for post-Revolutionary France.  But regardless plenty of the French novels we like used Britain as a setting, from The Mysteries of London to the last three Rocambole novels to John Devil. I bring it up again now because it's Dub has finally dropped.  Now I haven't watched said Dub yet, I know from the trailer they actually went with British Accents which is a decision I'm actually rather skeptical of.  Noir's Dub worked great without any accents, I love Anime dub VAs but accents aren't their strong suite.  Still I will give a shot eventually. The show is legally streaming on both HIDIVE and Amazon Prime, I think only HIDIVE has the Dub but I'm unsure, it may be you need to buy the DVDs for the full Dub.  Either way neither can be streamed for free, they are not making it easy for me to show this show to outsiders. A lot happens in Anime that reminds me of my Francophilic tendencies.   This coming Fall Season will have yet another Anime version of Jeanne d'Arc in a show that's also about Alchemy.  We also had more Lupin III Anime this year, I won't be watching Part V till it's Dub airs however, which based on the time-frame for Part IV I suspect will be next year.   All the main Lupin III shows are on Crunchyroll Subbed right now, but suddenly The Woman Called Fujiko Mine isn't streaming anywhere. Thanks to Hulu dropping most of what it had, Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena can't be legally streamed anywhere now either. That's really frustrating. Lastly I want to talk about an observation I made about Pokemon Heroes: Latios & Latias, the Fifth Pokemon movie.  This observation can only be fully understood by others who have read Knightshade (Brian Stableford's translation of Paul Feval's Le Chevalier Ténèbre), including it's introduction and afterward material. I feel that Annie and Oakley can be thematically compared to the Ténèbre Brothers.  They are called sisters in material I've read though I don't recall that being explicitly stated in the Dub.  Oakley is definitely Avarice.  Calling Annie "Lust" may be a bit more of a stretch since it's a kid's movie and all, but she is very vain and likes pretty shiny things, and is officially described as the prettier one.  This parallel is most likely a coincidence, but I enjoy making parallels between the works of this semi forgotten author and modern Nerd media.

If only there had been a similar market for bootlegging old Pulpy French movies and TV shows like Adaptations of the works of Paul Feval and Ponson Du Terril.

Years ago, I purchased this bootleg copy of Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, the anime loosely based on the book (from what I thought was a legitimate store). I found it again while cleaning out my room, and decided to share some of the finer moments. BEHOLD!

Shoutout to dragon-noises for introducing this to me. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Noir: Shades of Darkness

https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir/status/959397849325867010

Well, the Double Pay wall obstacle is now gone, all you need is an Amazon Prime subscription to watch it legally.

I want to recommend Princess Principal to Tales of The Shadowmen fans

I want to recommend Princess Principal to Tales of The Shadowmen fans 

It was an Anime that aired during the Summer 2017 season.  I loved it.   And it reminded me of my time spent reading BlackCoatPress and Rocambole books quite a bit. It’s set in a Steam Punk alternate history London.  Now maybe it’s only because I’ve read more 19th Century French popular fictions and English that it reminds me of French stuff more.  But there are some obvious French Revolution references, and the Dukes mentioned sound like French Dukedoms. Like a lot of Anime, it is very Rocambolesque. For the current season Code:Realize is explicitly referencing most French novels yet with a London setting.  So perhaps that’s just how Anime currently does it.

A good analysis for a good Anime.  It’s far from my favorite, but was an early important one.

The Consulting Analyst – At the Shore

-Vrai Kaiser

The intro is here.

We’ve reached the end of a road.

Episode Specifics: This is a little bit difficult to summarize in a concise way, since it’s effectively a 20-minute “where are they now?” segment—the curtains close on the drama of Edmond Dantes, literally, and Gankutsuou’s narration is ceded over to Albert’s as time skips forward five years. The answer, by the way, is “happy, or on the way to being so.” It’s a relentlessly hopeful ending that sees the near-completion of a peace treaty between future-Paris and The Empire (attempting to discuss future politics in vague and metaphorical ways continues to be the series’ weak point), all of the characters happy in their chosen careers or with people they cared about, and with the past left behind but not forgotten. Maximilien retires from being a soldier; Mercedes moves back to her beloved hometown; Peppo becomes a model, and Haydee is about to be crowned with Albert as the ambassador from Earth.

Read the rest over at the blog!