#3 decades with an anime adaption in each…. an icon

[what-the-fuck-khr]

as mentioned in a tweet I saw, Amano now has 3 manga adapted into anime + a very successful anime that she designed the characters for and thus stuck so impressively well to adapting her art style that it’s now one of the main things that makes the series that series!

she has Katekyo Hitman Reborn! (Manga: 2004 Anime: 2006), ēlDLIVE (Manga: 2013 Anime: 2017) and soon Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri (Manga: 2020 Anime: TBA) plus her work with Psycho-Pass (Anime: 2012 Light Novel: 2013), and multiple original one-shots under her belt! this also means she’ll have 3 manga/anime under her belt across 3 seperate decades!

[kursed-arcana]

Sailor Moon Cosmos Review

“We’re all lonely stars searching for companionship.

Each and everyone of us carries a star deep within our hearts”

Like most fans I’ve been waiting for most of my life for Sailor moon to get a proper adaptation, and like the rest of crystal, this is not it. Just like eternal, this suffers from the worst flaws of crystal, amplified by a ridiculously short run time. Again instead of prioritizing manga content we are plagued by cheap senseless fanservice and references to the past series. There are few meaningful additions to the story which honestly is a travesty considering how vague parts of the ending are even in manga form. For a franchise as popular worldwide as Sailor moon to be done such a disservice, what does that mean for the future of anime as a whole?

Let’s start with some surface level criticism. We get cheap and lazy references to the old anime like Mamo’s clothing in the airport scene, the outer guardians finally get their final attacks animated only to be done the disservice of changing them into energy balls like the the old anime and crystal did for their initial attacks, and while I was prepared to complain about the iconic transformation sequences and attack animations cutting into the shockingly short runtime, the anime actually plaid those moments on double time (praise Neo Queen Serenity, we need the runtime for everything else). However back to criticism. Instead of Sailor Venus’s love and galaxia shock being animated with the stars and galaxy beads from the manga we get the same generic stock animation. Toei has once again proved they don’t know how to handle this cash cow of a franchise beyond cheap lazy tricks to appeal to basic nostalgia. Toei I promise you, it’s worth putting in some effort. If you used your collective intelligence you’d realize you could have sold proplicas of the new attack. But hey what do I know, I mean you couldn’t even be bothered to animate that the inner guardians now have physical objects for their weapons like the outer cast. God forbid we reinstate more of the world building you scrapped in eternal. Let’s just let Toei continue to pop out proplicas mainly for the 90s version of everything.

What’s good? The nostalgia of course. That’s literally the most effort they put into this. I’ve been endlessly obsessed with the opening animations since they got added to YouTube last year and they are still flawlessly done. The new vocals are fantastic and the visuals do an excellent job of foreshadowing the plot. The best part of oppening one is the future fading away in front of Chibiusa, and opening two’s highlight is of course the Sailor Galaxia and Kakyuu moment, as well as the galaxy cauldron being shown in the beginning.

Their fantastic visuals show toei knows what fans love, and yet why did they put so little effort into adapting the content itself? It’s honestly just as fascinating as it is rage enducing. For a series as world renowned, and with a company created by Takeuchi to protect it how could things be done so lazily? It’s 2024, this fandom has survived and thrived for over 3 decades, we jump at all content and all merch. Do better Toei, we may be simps, but we want effort.

With the preamble done, let’s dive in

Questions and uncertainties have plagued the fandom since the manga ended decades ago. Do we learn more about Sailor Cosmos and her war against Chaos? No time for that. Do we learn the fates of Usagi’s family and our beloved feline friends? Thank Neo Queen Serenity yes. Do we get an additional glimpse into the future to see for certain if Chibiusa ever reunites with Helios after their promise? Lol of course not. That would be ground breaking amd meaningful and we have to save time for what was originally cheap filler tin the 90s, the Iconic transformations and stock footage attacks that were done so lazily for the movie.

At the very least between all the cuts I get to see my beloved Asanuma one last time. He may have suffered having his scenes cut in early seasons but it’s refreshing to see him one last time. For those who don’t remember him, he is Mamo’s underclassmen, a boy with a crush on Mako and one of the few civilians trusted with their secret. A true shame that like most civilian side characters he fell out of focus as the plot got heavier and thicker with supernatural threats. It was my hope this movie would resolve some of the dropped plotlines of the series like Mako x Asanuma, but alas no time for that or any reveals for the side cast. But think of how nice it would have been for Mamo to actually be shown interacting with guy friends instead of the girls the whole time. Asanuma was truly a delight and good ally for him.

Now I need to give credit where credit is due. Despite the cuts and break neck pace, it expanded on several thing people have complained about for years. Naru is shown for the first time since the infinity arc and we thankfully know she went to high-school with the girls and see her eating with Usagi, Haruka and Michirru. Honestly no notes on that. We get the Starlights putting up a fight before they die unlike the manga where they’re attacked while unconscious. Now Toei, I’m giving you praise for this, but you ruined it by not giving them and Kakyuu a proper send off at the end. They earned it, they fought hard to bring peace and deserved to receive a proper goodbye before disappearing back to their home planet.

We also get a rather awkward (yet also refreshing) scene where Usagi returns home at the end and see Shingo for the first time in years! Even better, we get confirmation her whole family and the cats survived / got revived. Now the edgy subset of the fandom can finally shut up and accept reality, cause Cosmos knows the rest of us are tired of those inane questions popping up monthly. We needed more of this, the story is designed to be expanded on in adaptations, not have content skipped. And it’s nice to see Shoujo Queen Takeuchi sensei managed to get some brief complaints people have had resolved. Now let the next reboot do better Queen, your fandom needs you!

Let’s keep the praise going, the character models are even more perfect then they were in eternal. Sailor Cosmos is especially gorgeous. And we even are treated to a new character design, we get a proper look at Sailor Chaos for the first time ever! And Takeuchi slayed it with the medusa inspiration for her. Let’s talk transformation sequences next. The starlights get underwhelming references to their old sequences, Cosmos and chibi chibi get scraps, Kakyuu faired slightly better then the starlights but nothing spectacular. Sailor Quartet? Nothing at all. Sailor moon herself though got more then one transformation. The first referenced stars, even used the locket and the second one is absolutely brilliant. It’s full of references to past 90s ones. My favorite part by far is the feathers making her skirt like the S transformation with the heart. But guess who finally got the solid gold treatment transformation wise? My girl Chibiusa. It’s flawless. Cute and feminine and 100% her. We even get a new adorable emblem (Maybe locket). A+ work. 100% makes up for her only having a short one in the 90s (with the exception of the movie), a horrible one in crystal 2 and 3z and the same joined sequence in eternal as supers. This was worth the wait, too bad Saturn didn’t get that effort for her transformation in eternal. We waited 30 years and got scraps with that one.

Now the songs are on point. I praise the new oppening and endings elsewhere, but the new version of the 3 lights song (search for your love) is also excellent. And what’s more, we get the adorable marriage song to close the series, and a phenomenal new piece in moon flower. A beautiful song written as if Sailor moon is singing it to chibi chibi. It captured the theme of the movie and conveys it beautifully.

At its core, this story arc is about stripping away everything that gives Usagi her strength and seeing what happens when she is forced into an unthinkable despair. Her love, friends, family, her child and the promised future our all mercilessly destroyed in front of her eyes. But what is on the other side of despair? For Usagi, it’s still hope and compassion. She does not give into despair, she rises above her losses and overcomes her pain, showing mercy to her enemies and accepting that her actions may not be the best path forward for the world, but having faith that she can overcome any obstacle. Sailor Cosmos, her future self, the guardian who failed to stop chaos and lost hope, even has her passion reignited, she takes Usagi’s strength and accepts that she wasn’t wrong to make the choice she did. With this newfound resolve, she decides to continue her never ending war against Chaos, no matter the pain it brings her.

I think it’s important to point out that Cosmos and Chaos are the 2 states of the universe in Greek mythology. Chaos is the absence of life in the universe, a state of void and indistinguishable matter, while Cosmos is the presence of order in the universe or the universe itself. While Sailor Galaxia strived to be the strongest sailor in the Galaxy these two primordial forces of good and evil are the real deal. I encourage casual fans to look up various names you may not recognize so you can truly appreciate the lore. Some members of the Shadow Galactic Empire are also references to the mythologies that helped inspire this beloved series.

Lets talk about the end. We see a beautiful moment in time, the wedding day for Usagi and Mamo, as well as the day that Chibiusa is conceived. We end with her gaining everything she desired and close on this bittersweet ending with a closing monologue by Mamo. His words hang over visuals of their past and present meetings, as well as their future together. A truly flawless moment thatreally hammers home that this is the end while also setting up Sailor Moon’s future as Sailor Comos. Mamo can see visions of the future, his closing monologue about her living on beyond everyone else’s lifespan is a fact that we see with Sailor Cosmos.” Sailor Moon you will without a doubt live on forever. You are the most beautiful star and you will shine brightly until the end of time.” A bittersweet prophecy to close our beloved series.

10/10 would still recommend. When you wait most of your life to see some of your favorite moments on screen, you’re sadly forced to take what you can get and enjoy the ride despite the faults. I still recommend this train wreck of a movie to any Sailor moon fan who treasures the manga’s impeccable and breathtaking story, and for those who have never read it, please no the content is far superior in manga form. The story still moves at a fast pace. But it’s slow as hell compared to the movies. The characters, dialogue and world building is phenomenal in manga form, you can get so much out of each panel and it’s a shame that once again, instead of expanding on the fantastic lore, we’re plagued with an adaptation the cuts content. Each chapter of the manga is packed with dialogue and content because it was designed to move rapidly, so the anime which was always just a short ways behind, would have a lot to work with. I encourage you all to imagine what we could have had if crystal and the movies that followed were given adequate runtime, to not only fully adapt the content of each chapter, but expand on it in meaningful ways. While the first season of crystal did toy with this idea, it didn’t implement it well and wasn’t given enough runtime to do it without cuts and several meandering questionable changes. It’s a shame instead of improving from there we just got worse, cutting just as much content and barely adding scraps, even in the grand finale.

Hopefully in the future we are given a truly excellent reboot of the main series that doesn’t start off as a cheap cash grab and end as a decent yet disappointing adaptation overall. However in the meantime, I’ll settle for an adaptation of the iconic Prequel that started it all Codename Sailor V, or even a season adapting the collection of side stories. Get on it Toei, you know you want more of our money.

Stray notes for those who want more

The body horror is censored as expected. So the deaths are less impactful

Sadly Chibi Moon and the Sailor quartet get minimal screen time just like in the manga. While their 2 iconic attacks are shown, they’re done in a minimalistic way with very little fanfare. They are cute like the girls but should have been so much more considering these are their joint attacks and they only ones we will see from them. Like at least make pink ladies freezing kiss pink. Amazoness arrow was actually really cute and really them though.

Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne get a slightly more detailed flashback where we see their plants fully.

Honestly it fills me with rage that eternal movies were such a mediocre adaptation of my favorite arc. The dream arc solves many of the complaints people had about the manga, by expanding the lore around the guardians and highlighting each of them and their pasts. It’s truly a beautiful arc that sets up Cosmos, and despite taking years for it to release, it didn’t receive half the effort that Cosmos received. Cosmos proves that they could have done a beautiful job with eternal despite its ridiculously short runtime and cut content. While Cosmos had slightly more chapters to adapt, it feels like significantly less content was cutz plus it had some brief additions.

One more eternal complaint. They skipped the full backstories of the castles in eternal, but they get one line here by Pluto explaining their origin as gifts from Queen Serenity. It may be included at last, but that doesn’t make them skipping them or the power guardians explanation in eternal less infuriating.

As an English dub watcher, got to point out that they couldn’t even be bother to get Asanuma’s original va back for this. Always nice when they put no effort into consistency. To further illustrate just how lazy some casting choices continue to be even here at the end, They have Amalee play heavy metal Papillion, most likely for the sole reason that her vtuber persona is butterfly themed. If that’s all it takes. To get a role these days then I don’t even know what to say. But good for her.

And with that I’m done. If you want more sassy complaints or praise, feel free to send me a message. I love talking Sailor Moon.

And remember, Sailor moon says "the Moonlight is a messenger of love"

[mediamixs]

Top 10 horror tv series of the 80's

The 1980s was a significant decade for horror television, marked by a surge in anthology series and innovative storytelling. Here are ten of the best horror TV series from that era:

1. Tales from the Crypt (1989-1996) A hallmark of '80s horror, this anthology series featured the iconic Crypt Keeper as host. Each episode presented a unique horror story, often with dark humor and unexpected twists. It became a cultural phenomenon, spawning two films and an animated series.

2. The Hitchhiker (1983-1991) This anthology series explored the darker side of humanity through various chilling tales introduced by a mysterious hitchhiker. Its unpredictable plots and blend of horror with adult themes made it stand out during its run.

3. Freddy’s Nightmares (1988-1990)

Set in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" universe, this anthology featured Freddy Krueger as the host. While it included horror elements, it also infused humor, showcasing various stories tied to the infamous Springwood slasher.

4. Hammer House of Horror (1980) Produced by the legendary Hammer Films, this British anthology series consisted of thirteen episodes that covered various horror themes, including ghosts and werewolves. Notable episodes like "The House That Bled to Death" have been recognized for their chilling narratives.

5. Darkroom (1981-1982) Hosted by James Coburn, this short-lived series featured adaptations of stories from renowned writers like Cornell Woolrich and Robert Bloch. Its eerie atmosphere and compelling stories left a lasting impression on viewers.

6. Monsters (1988-1991) This anthology series showcased a variety of horror tales, often with a comedic twist. Each episode featured different monsters or supernatural elements, appealing to both horror fans and casual viewers alike.

7. Tales from the Darkside (1983-1988) Another influential anthology, it presented a mix of horror, fantasy, and science fiction stories. With its memorable tagline "The dark side is always there," it became a staple for late-night viewing.

8. The Munsters Today (1988-1991) A revival of the classic sitcom, this show continued the adventures of the Munster family with a modern twist. While more comedic than horrific, it retained its spooky charm and attracted a new generation of fans.

9. Werewolf (1987-1988) This series followed Eric Cord, who was cursed to become a werewolf. Combining elements of action and horror, it focused on his quest to break the curse while evading those who wanted to hunt him down[.

10. Amazing Stories (1985-1987) Though not exclusively horror, Steven Spielberg's anthology series featured several episodes with horror themes and supernatural elements. Its high production values and imaginative storytelling made it a beloved show during its time.

These series not only defined the horror genre on television during the 1980s but also paved the way for future shows in the genre, leaving an indelible mark on pop culture.

[harapeveco]

miss harapeveco since we are in the topic of anime pls drop some recommendations I don’t have anything to watch 

Omg oks so I have a very shitty taste in anime so this will be a very disappointing list but the ones I mostly recommend are:

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: literally every scene is funny and iconic, it also invented m/f yaoi don’t ask it makes sense

Owari no Seraph: I mean this very unironically this anime fucking sucks but in a good way like nothing is ever explained, nothing makes sense and they gaslight you into believing the main boys are gonna be endgame by showing you a homoerotic scene of blood drinking. Just roll with it and don’t ask questions it’s better that way

The Persona 3 movies and the Persona 4/5 anime: the movies are really good they did a good job condensing +80 hours of gameplay in 4 movies (except the third movie but we don’t talk about that). Now when it comes to the persona 4 anime you can tell they didn’t give a shit that thing is just 24 episodes full of jokes and comedy the game wishes it had holy shit it’s really funny for no reason. The persona 5 anime is more complex in the sense that it’s very unwatchable if you go to it expecting something good. It’s bad it’s very bad it’s poorly animated and rushed and it’s just borderline unwatchable but it is really funny if you wanna have a good laugh about how bad something is I recommend it

Osomatsu-san: the first episode of the first season being yeeted into oblivion bc it was very much illegal to show all of it makes it worth it. Keep in mind this is an adult show (even if it doesn’t look like it) so there’s a lot of crude humor and sex jokes but all the characters are such trashy people I like to see them suffer 

Kiss him not me: if you are a shipper this one is for you. Basically the MC is a yaoi obsessed fan girl who wants to see her classmates date each other yaoinly but they want to date her instead 

ID Invaded: really good anime with a really good mystery and plot! Main character did everything wrong but I still love him also Sou did the opening for it 

Happy sugar life: very fucked up horror about a high schooler in love with a literal child but it doesn’t go like you think it goes, they don’t portray it as romantic or cute they very much portray it as the fucked up thing it is and how wrong it is. It’s good if you like feeling unsettled and like to watch things go from 0 to 100 real fast

The promised neverland: amazing series with an amazing mystery and atmosphere! It’s a shame it only has one season tho I hope they make a second season of it in the future but it’s a shame it only has one

Dr stone: it has science, it’s horny, you have over the top characters, what more do you want

Natsume book of friends: you love to cry? You wanna cry after watching every single episode? Ofc you do! This shit will hit you in the gut so hard you will never recover. A beautiful story about acceptance, platonic love, found family and yokai with the best and most realistic character development I’ve ever seen 

Gegege no Kitaro: this one is very broad bc no kidding this anime gets a new adaptation every decade. There’s a 60s version, a 70s version, an 80s version, a 90s version, a 2007 version, a 2008 version that is more adult and follows the manga and a 2018 version too if you like recent stuff more. Most of these are lost media tho good luck trying to find any version that is not the 2018 one. I forgot about the plot of it yeh uhhh basically a kid ghost is a medium between humans and yokai but he mostly play favorites with the yokai and sometimes fucks the humans over so idk if he’s really a medium, he’s very biased about it

The dangers in my heart: I talked about this one before but I’m talking about it again idc. Really cute and wholesome the MC is kinda horny but he’s like 14 boys at that age are pretty horny we have to stop pretending they aren’t. The first 3 episodes are so cringe they are very painful to watch but if you can go through them you will witness what I think it’s the cutest romance after horimiya. I don’t usually read manga bc I have the attention span of a rock but even I did a binge read of it bc it was just so good

King’s game: edgier than shadow the hedgehog 2006, it’s painfully bad like I can’t even begin to explain how horrible this anime is but good lord it made me laugh all the way through 

Chuubyo gekihatsu boy: one of the main characters is a catboy called Rei Tsukumo and another character is a cringe Utaite what more can I say? It’s just dumb cringe kids being dumb as fuck for 12 episodes and you know what? It’s very good at it

Horimiya: just watch it for the love of god just watch it

Sasaki to Miyano: you have miyano who is like “I wonder if I’m gay??? I’m not sure???” While he reads gay manga and straight up imagines himself kissing his guy friend in the mouth like bestie COME ON

Thats all the anime I can think of the top of my head, well adding anime classics like fullmetal alchemist brotherhood, haikyuu, my hero academia (I only follow it bc the Todoroki family drama is the only thing well written in it), dragon ball (not dragon ball z bc as much as I like it I prefer dragon ball and the cutesy adventure aesthetic it has) and ofc how to forget sonic x 

[music-observer]

Disney CEO Bob Iger Announces Development of Iconic Franchise Follow-Ups

Fans of beloved characters Elsa, Buzz Lightyear and Judy Hopps can rest easy knowing they haven’t seen the last of them. Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that the studio is currently developing new sequels for the Frozen, Toy Story and Zootopia franchises.

This move by Disney is not unexpected, as all three franchises have proven to be huge commercial and cultural hits. 

With the original film’s over $1 billion worldwide box office haul, a sequel that also set records, a hit Broadway musical, and a ton of merchandise and theme park attractions, the Frozen franchise has become a cultural phenomenon.

Meanwhile, Toy Story has been an integral part of the Disney/Pixar brand for decades, with sequels like Toy Story 3 and 4 each grossing over $1 billion in theaters.  

Although Zootopia has yet to receive a sequel, the first film was a huge hit, grossing $1.025 billion worldwide and inspired a Disney+ spin-off series. This just shows the timeless charm and popularity of these beloved characters.  

Disney made a wise choice to keep these franchises going because audiences have shown a lot of affection and love for these characters and their stories.

The company’s commitment to these franchises is a testament to its ability to create timeless and enduring stories that capture the hearts of audiences around the world. 

Prime Movies

Disney has enjoyed great success with franchises such as Frozen, Toy Story, and Zootopia, but not all animation ventures have been successful. 

The studio’s most recent release, Strange World, only earned $74 million at the global box office, a far cry from the billion-dollar success of other Disney films.

However, it’s worth noting that some of Disney’s original animated movies have performed better on streaming platforms than in theaters. Encanto is a prime example, earning $257 million at the box office before becoming a hit on Disney+. 

This trend highlights the shift in consumer behavior towards streaming, and Disney’s ability to adapt and find success through different avenues.

The recent investor call with Disney CEO Bob Iger also revealed that the company will be cutting 7,000 jobs as part of its effort to find $5.5 billion in savings. 

Despite this, Iger also announced plans to bring James Cameron’s Avatar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The new attraction, details of which have yet to be revealed, is expected to be similar to the popular Pandora attraction in Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Overall, while Disney’s recent original animated ventures may not have performed as well as its franchises, the company is still poised for success with its plans for new sequels for Frozen, Toy Story, and Zootopia, as well as its continued presence in the theme park and streaming space. 

With a track record of adaptation and innovation, Disney is sure to remain a leader in the entertainment industry for years to come.

Fans can expect more information about these new sequels soon, but for now, they can rest assured knowing that the adventures of Elsa, Buzz Lightyear, and Judy Hopps are far from over. 

Get ready to join them on new and exciting journeys, as we haven’t seen the last of these beloved characters just yet...Read More

Read also: Experience the Excitement of the Digital Frontier with Tron Lightcycle Run

Source: Music Observer

[themovieblogonline]

Books That Became Films: The Blockbusters

The film industry never runs out of inspiration, especially when it comes to children’s adventures. Many of your favorite movies started as beloved books, each with its own unique charm. Here are some iconic books that became films. - The BFG (1989) Giants don’t have to be scary, and one little girl is determined to prove it. Roald Dahl’s 1982 classic, The BFG (The Big Friendly Giant), has been a fan favorite for decades. The story has been adapted into a 1989 animated film, a 2016 Disney live-action movie, and a stage play that debuted at Wimbledon Stadium in 1991.   - Charlotte’s Web (1973 E. B. White created literary magic with Charlotte’s Web, a touching tale of friendship between a spider and a pig whose life is at risk. The book was first adapted into a film in 1973 and later in 2006. In the same year, a live-action adaptation hit the screens, and a video game was released. The story also inspired a musical that premiered at Opera Delaware in 1989.   3. How To Train Your Dragon (2010) Cressida Cowell’s series about Viking children and their dragons became an instant hit. DreamWorks recognized the potential and developed a full-fledged How to Train Your Dragon franchise, with three movies already in the can. The story of Hiccup and Toothless continues to captivate audiences worldwide.   - Madeline Lost In Paris (1999) One of my all-time favorites, Madeline: Lost in Paris, is an underrated masterpiece. Based on the beloved children’s books by Ludwig Bemelmans, this film follows a group of girls studying at a Catholic school in Paris. It’s a heartwarming, emotional tale that has spawned movies, video games, toys, and more. The beautiful graphics and touching storyline make this television film a must-watch. - Coraline (2009) Would you trade your eyes for buttons to have a perfect life? Neil Gaiman’s fantasy-horror novel Coraline captured the imaginations of both kids and adults. The story was brought to life in a 2009 stop-motion animated film, followed by a 2018 opera and a 2005 musical. There’s even a video game that lets you explore Coraline’s eerie world. - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009) In a world where food falls from the sky, anything can happen. Judi Barrett’s quirky book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs has spawned three books and two animated films released by Sony Pictures in 2009 and 2013. The whimsical concept is sure to bring a smile to your face.     - Pinocchio (1940) The tale of a wooden boy whose nose grows when he lies is a timeless classic. The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi has been adapted into numerous live-action and animated films, including the iconic 1940 Disney movie. From stage plays to video games, Pinocchio’s journey from puppet to real boy remains one of the most beloved stories in children’s literature.   - Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) At this point, we're all convinced how great a Roald Dahl adaptation can be. With several of his classics turned into iconic films, this one is no exception. A sly fox wanting to survive with his cunning instincts, that’s Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. Published in 1970, it has been adapted into a 2009 stop-motion film, as well as a 2019 opera, that won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Opera.  - The Grinch (2018) Dr. Seuss’s mischievous, Christmas-hating Grinch has been the subject of many adaptations, including the 2018 animated feature and a 2007 San Diego musical. The Grinch’s journey from heartless recluse to holiday hero is a festive favorite.     - Peter Pan (1988) Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up, is a creation of J. M. Barrie. His adventures in Neverland have sparked the imagination of countless children and have been adapted into numerous films, including the 1953 Disney classic and live-action movies in 1988 and 2003. Peter’s escapades with Wendy, Captain Hook, and the Lost Boys remain a fantasy at its finest. Whether you prefer reading the original books or watching the film adaptations, these timeless books that became films offer something for everyone. Who knows? They might just become your new favorites. Read the full article

[appsworldforever]

Tekken 3

A Timeless Fighting Game Classic

In the realm of fighting games, few titles have achieved the legendary status and enduring appeal of Tekken 3 mod Apk. Developed and published by Namco, Tekken 3 debuted in arcades in 1997 and quickly became a staple in gaming culture.

Influencing generations of players and setting benchmarks for the genre. Let's delve into what makes Tekken 3 a timeless classic and why it continues to hold a special place in the hearts of gamers worldwide.

A Leap Forward in Fighting Game Mechanics

Tekken 3 marked a significant evolution in the Tekken series, introducing refined gameplay mechanics, fluid animation, and a diverse roster of characters. The game retained the series' signature 3D fighting style but enhanced it with smoother movements, more intricate combos, and a balanced combat system that appealed to both casual players and competitive fighters alike.

Iconic Characters and Personalities

One of Tekken 3's greatest strengths lies in its memorable roster of characters, each with their own unique fighting styles and personalities. From the stoic Jin Kazama and the enigmatic Yoshimitsu to the formidable martial artist Hwoarang and the robotic powerhouse Jack, the game offered a diverse array of fighters, each with their own backstory and motivations. Players could master their favorite characters' movesets, experimenting with combos and strategies to dominate opponents in fierce one-on-one battles.

Innovative Game Modes and Features

Beyond its engaging gameplay, Tekken 3 introduced innovative game modes that added depth and replayability. The "Tekken Force" mode allowed players to engage in side-scrolling beat 'em up action, exploring stages and defeating waves of enemies—a departure from the traditional versus mode that provided a refreshing change of pace. Additionally, the game included a robust training mode where players could hone their skills, learn advanced techniques, and perfect their timing—a crucial aspect for competitive play and mastering complex combos.

Impact on Gaming Culture and Legacy

Tekken 3's influence extended beyond its gameplay mechanics and character roster. It became a cultural phenomenon, sparking tournaments, community gatherings, and discussions among gaming enthusiasts. The game's competitive scene flourished, with players around the world competing in arcade tournaments and later, on home consoles, solidifying Tekken 3's reputation as a cornerstone of competitive fighting game history.

Technical Achievement and Visual Appeal

Visually, Tekken 3 was ahead of its time, showcasing detailed character models, vibrant stages, and smooth animations that pushed the limits of what was possible on arcade hardware at the time. The game's environments ranged from traditional dojo settings to futuristic landscapes, each meticulously designed to complement the diverse roster of fighters and enhance the overall immersion for players.

Enduring Popularity and Adaptations

Even decades after its initial release, Tekken 3 continues to captivate new generations of players through various adaptations and re-releases on modern gaming platforms. Its legacy is celebrated through digital archives, nostalgic retrospectives, and fan communities dedicated to preserving its impact on gaming history. The game's enduring popularity speaks to its timeless appeal and the lasting impression it has left on the fighting game genre.

Conclusion: The Legacy Continues

In conclusion, Tekken 3 remains a testament to the artistry and innovation of its creators, delivering a gaming experience that transcends time and continues to captivate audiences worldwide. From its revolutionary gameplay mechanics and diverse character roster to its impact on gaming culture and competitive esports, Tekken 3 stands as a shining example of what a fighting game classic should aspire to be. As gaming technology evolves, the legacy of Tekken 3 serves as a reminder of the enduring power of great gameplay, compelling storytelling, and memorable characters—an achievement that will resonate with gamers for generations to come.

[devilmaycryshop]

The Demonic World of Devil May Cry: A Visual Spectacle- At Devil May Cry Shop

The world of Devil May Cry is a thrilling and terrifying realm that has captivated gamers and fans alike for over two decades. With its breathtaking visuals, heart-pumping action, and dark, demonic creatures, Devil May Cry has become a beloved franchise that has spawned multiple games, anime adaptations, and even a manga series. But what makes Devil May Cry truly special is its ability to transport players and viewers into a demonic world unlike any other.

At the heart of this world lies the Devil May Cry shop, the base of operations for the franchise's protagonist, Dante. It is here that Dante receives his missions and prepares himself for battle against the forces of darkness. The shop's iconic design, with its gothic architecture and eerie lighting, sets the stage for the intense battles that await players in each installment of the series.

But the Devil May Cry shop is just the beginning of the demonic world that players and fans have come to know and love. From the towering demons that stalk the streets to the fiery underworld that Dante must navigate, each aspect of the Devil May Cry universe is a visual spectacle that draws players and viewers deeper into the world of demons and darkness.

In this article, we will explore the demonic world of Devil May Cry and delve into the rich lore, stunning visuals, and heart-pounding action that have made this franchise a fan favorite for over 20 years.

1.The Evolution of Devil May Cry's Demonic World: A Look Back at the Franchise's History

The Devil May Cry franchise has been thrilling fans for over two decades with its demonic world, heart-pumping action, and captivating characters. As the franchise has evolved, so too has the demonic world that players and fans have come to love. In this article, we will take a look back at the history of Devil May Cry's demonic world, from its inception to its current state.

The first Devil May Cry game was released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2, and it introduced players to the character of Dante, a half-demon demon hunter. The game's demonic world was inspired by Gothic and Renaissance art, and it featured a mix of medieval and modern architecture. The demons that Dante faced were inspired by various mythological creatures, including vampires, demons, and dragons.

With the release of Devil May Cry 2 in 2003, the franchise's demonic world began to expand. The game introduced new environments, such as a desert and an underground laboratory, and featured new demon types, including zombie-like creatures and demonic knights. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, released in 2005, further expanded the demonic world with the introduction of the demon world, a parallel dimension where demons reside. This game also introduced new demon types, including giant beasts and demonic puppets.

Devil May Cry 4, released in 2008, continued to expand the demonic world by introducing a new playable character, Nero, who possessed demonic powers similar to Dante's. The game also featured new environments, such as a snow-covered castle and a city engulfed in flames. Devil May Cry 5, released in 2019, further built upon the franchise's demonic world by introducing new demon types and environments, such as a demonic amusement park and a demon-infested city.

Throughout the franchise's history, the demonic world of Devil May Cry has continued to evolve, with each installment introducing new demon types, environments, and characters. The franchise's demonic world has become more intricate and detailed over time, with stunning graphics and immersive environments that draw players and fans deeper into the world of demons and darkness.

In conclusion, the evolution of Devil May Cry's demonic world has been a key factor in the franchise's success. From its Gothic and Renaissance-inspired architecture to its diverse demon types and immersive environments, the demonic world of Devil May Cry has captivated fans for over two decades. As the franchise continues to evolve, fans can expect to see even more exciting and terrifying demons, environments, and characters in the demonic world of Devil May Cry.

2.A Visual Feast: The Stunning Graphics and Design of Devil May Cry's Demonic World

The Devil May Cry franchise has always been known for its stunning graphics and visually captivating design. From the intricate details of the demonic creatures to the gothic architecture of the game's environments, Devil May Cry's demonic world is a visual feast for players and fans alike.

One of the most striking aspects of Devil May Cry's demonic world is the attention to detail in the game's graphics. The franchise has always pushed the boundaries of gaming graphics, with each new installment featuring even more stunning visuals than the last. The demons themselves are intricately designed, with each creature possessing unique features and abilities that set them apart from one another. The game's environments are equally stunning, with each level featuring intricate details that create a fully immersive experience for players.

The design of Devil May Cry's demonic world is heavily influenced by Gothic and Renaissance art. The architecture of the game's environments is a mix of medieval and modern, with towering castles, ornate cathedrals, and sprawling cities all featuring prominently in the franchise. The game's designers have paid close attention to every detail, from the intricate carvings on the walls to the flickering candles that illuminate the game's darker corners.

In addition to the stunning graphics and design, the music and sound effects of Devil May Cry's demonic world add to the overall atmosphere of the game. The franchise's music is a blend of heavy metal and orchestral arrangements, creating an epic and dramatic soundtrack that perfectly complements the game's intense action sequences. The sound effects of the game are also expertly crafted, with each demon possessing its own unique sound effects that make them even more terrifying to face in battle.

In conclusion, Devil May Cry's demonic world is a visual feast that has captivated fans for over two decades. The attention to detail in the game's graphics and design, combined with the expertly crafted music and sound effects, create an immersive experience that transports players into a world of demons and darkness. With each new installment of the franchise, fans can expect even more stunning visuals and design, making Devil May Cry's demonic world one of the most visually captivating in gaming history.

3."The Creatures of the Demonic World: A Guide to Devil May Cry's Most Terrifying Foes"

The world of Devil May Cry is filled with terrifying creatures that lurk in the shadows, waiting to pounce on their unsuspecting prey. From towering demons to smaller, more agile foes, each creature in Devil May Cry possesses its own unique set of strengths and weaknesses, making them a formidable opponent for even the most skilled demon hunters. In this article, we will take a closer look at some of the most terrifying creatures of Devil May Cry's demonic world.

The Hell Vanguard: These towering demons are one of the most common foes in Devil May Cry. They possess immense strength and are able to wield large weapons with ease. Their most notable feature is their ability to teleport, making them a difficult opponent to keep track of.

The Blood-Goyles: These winged demons are fast and agile, able to swoop down on their prey with deadly accuracy. They have sharp claws and teeth, and are able to spew streams of corrosive acid from their mouths.

The Enigmas: These large, spider-like demons are able to spin webs that can trap their prey. They also possess powerful legs that allow them to jump great distances, making them a difficult opponent to evade.

The Berial: This towering demon is one of the most powerful in Devil May Cry's demonic world. It possesses immense strength and is able to summon fire from the depths of Hell itself. Its fiery attacks can quickly reduce even the most skilled demon hunter to ashes.

The Marionettes: These demonic puppets are able to control the bodies of their victims, turning them into mindless slaves that do their bidding. They are quick and agile, able to dart around the battlefield with ease.

The Nelo Angelo: This powerful demon is actually a corrupted version of Dante's own brother, Vergil. He possesses immense strength and is able to summon powerful magical attacks. His swordsmanship skills are unmatched, making him a formidable opponent in close combat.

In conclusion, Devil May Cry's demonic world is filled with terrifying creatures that will test even the most skilled demon hunters. Each creature possesses its own unique set of strengths and weaknesses, making them a formidable opponent to face in battle. Whether you're facing off against a towering Hell Vanguard or a swarm of agile Blood-Goyles, Devil May Cry's demonic world is filled with challenges that will keep players on the edge of their seat.

In conclusion, the demonic world of Devil May Cry is a visual spectacle that has captivated fans for over two decades. From the stunning graphics and design to the heart-pumping action and terrifying creatures, Devil May Cry's demonic world is a true work of art. The franchise's attention to detail and commitment to creating an immersive experience for players has made it one of the most beloved and iconic franchises in gaming history.

If you're a fan of Devil May Cry's demonic world, be sure to check out the official Devil May Cry shop at https://devilmaycry.shop. Here, you can find a wide range of merchandise and apparel featuring your favorite characters and creatures from the franchise. Whether you're looking for a stylish Devil May Cry t-shirt or a collectible figurine of Dante or Vergil, the Devil May Cry shop has everything you need to show off your love for this iconic franchise.

So, what are you waiting for? Dive into the demonic world of Devil May Cry and experience the stunning visuals, heart-pumping action, and terrifying creatures that have made this franchise a true masterpiece. And don't forget to visit the official Devil May Cry shop to get your hands on the latest and greatest merchandise from this iconic franchise.

[aquilaofarkham]

Much like his infamous father, the aesthetic of Alucard has changed tremendously since Castlevania’s start in the 1980s—yet certain things about him never change at all. He began as the mirror image of Dracula; a hark back to the days of masculine Hammer Horror films, Christopher Lee, and Bela Lugosi. Then his image changed dramatically into the androgynous gothic aristocrat most people know him as today. This essay will examine Alucard’s design, the certain artistic and social trends which might have influenced it, and how it has evolved into what it is now.

☽ Read the full piece here or click the read more for the text only version ☽

INTRODUCTION

Published in 2017, Carol Dyhouse’s Heartthrobs: A History of Women and Desire examines how certain cultural trends can influence what women may find attractive or stimulating in a male character. By using popular archetypes such as the Prince Charming, the bad boy, and the tall dark handsome stranger, Dyhouse seeks to explain why these particular men appeal to the largest demographic beyond mere superfluous infatuation. In one chapter titled “Dark Princes, Foreign Powers: Desert Lovers, Outsiders, and Vampires”, she touches upon the fascination most audiences have with moody and darkly seductive vampires. Dyhouse exposits that the reason for this fascination is the inherent dangerous allure of taming someone—or something—so dominating and masculine, perhaps even evil, yet hides their supposed sensitivity behind a Byronic demeanour.

This is simply one example of how the general depiction of vampires in mainstream media has evolved over time. Because the concept itself is as old as the folklore and superstitions it originates from, thus varying from culture to culture, there is no right or wrong way to represent a vampire, desirable or not. The Caribbean Soucouyant is described as a beautiful woman who sheds her skin at night and enters her victims’ bedrooms disguised as an aura of light before consuming their blood. In Ancient Roman mythology there are tales of the Strix, an owl-like creature that comes out at night to drink human blood until it can take no more. Even the Chupacabra, a popular cryptid supposedly first spotted in Puerto Rico, has been referred to as being vampiric because of the way it sucks blood out of goats, leaving behind a dried up corpse.

However, it is a rare thing to find any of these vampires in popular media. Instead, most modern audiences are shown Dyhouse’s vampire: the brooding, masculine alpha male in both appearance and personality. A viewer may wish to be with that character, or they might wish to become just like that character. 

This sort of shift in regards to creating the “ideal” vampire is most evident in how the image of Dracula has been adapted, interpreted, and revamped in order to keep up with changing trends. In Bram Stoker’s original 1897 novel of the same name, Dracula is presented as the ultimate evil; an ancient, almost grotesque devil that ensnares the most unsuspecting victims and slowly corrupts their innocence until they are either subservient to him (Renfield, the three brides) or lost to their own bloodlust (Lucy Westenra). In the end, he can only be defeated through the joined actions of a steadfast if not ragtag group of self-proclaimed vampire hunters that includes a professor, a nobleman, a doctor, and a cowboy. His monstrousness in following adaptations remains, but it is often undercut by attempts to give his character far more pathos than the original source material presents him with. Dracula has become everything: a monster, a lover, a warrior, a lonely soul searching for companionship, a conquerer, a comedian, and of course, the final boss of a thirty-year-old video game franchise.

Which brings us to the topic of this essay; not Dracula per say, but his son. Even if someone has never played a single instalment of Castlevania or watched the ongoing animated Netflix series, it is still most likely that they have heard of or seen the character of Alucard through cultural osmosis thanks to social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and the like. Over the thirty-plus years in which Castlevania has remained within the public’s consciousness, Alucard has become one of the most popular characters of the franchise, if not the most popular. Since his debut as a leading man in the hit game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, he has taken his place beside other protagonists like Simon Belmont, a character who was arguably the face of Castlevania before 1997, the year in which Symphony of the Night was released. Alucard is an iconic component of the series and thanks in part to the mainstream online streaming service Netflix, he is now more present in the public eye than ever before whether through official marketing strategies or fanworks.

It is easy to see why. Alucard’s backstory and current struggles are quite similar to the defining characteristics of the Byronic hero. Being the son of the human doctor Lisa Țepeș, a symbol of goodness and martyrdom in all adaptations, and the lord of all vampires Dracula, Alucard (also referred to by his birth name Adrian Fahrenheit Țepeș) feels constantly torn between the two halves of himself. He maintains his moralistic values towards protecting humanity, despite being forced to make hard decisions, and despite parts of humanity not being kind to him in turn, yet is always tempted by his more monstrous inheritance. The idea of a hero who carries a dark burden while aspiring towards nobility is something that appeals to many audiences. We relate to their struggles, cheer for them when they triumph, and share their pain when they fail. Alucard (as most casual viewers see him) is the very personification of the Carol Dyhouse vampire: mysterious, melancholic, dominating, yet sensitive and striving for compassion. Perceived as a supposed “bad boy” on the surface by people who take him at face value, yet in reality is anything but.

Then there is Alucard’s appearance, an element that is intrinsically tied to how he has been portrayed over the decades and the focus of this essay. Much like his infamous father, the aesthetic of Alucard has changed tremendously since Castlevania’s start in the 1980s—yet certain things about him never change at all. He began as the mirror image of Dracula; a hark back to the days of masculine Hammer Horror films, Christopher Lee, and Bela Lugosi. Then his image changed dramatically into the androgynous gothic aristocrat most people know him as today. This essay will examine Alucard’s design, the certain artistic and social trends which might have influenced it, and how it has evolved into what it is now. Parts will include theoretical, analytical, and hypothetical stances, but it’s overall purpose is to be merely observational.

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What is Castlevania?

We start this examination at the most obvious place, with the most obvious question. Like all franchises, Castlevania has had its peaks, low points, and dry spells. Developed by Konami and directed by Hitoshi Akamatsu, the first instalment was released in 1986 then distributed in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System the following year. Its pixelated gameplay consists of jumping from platform to platform and fighting enemies across eighteen stages all to reach the final boss, Dracula himself. Much like the gameplay, the story of Castlevania is simple. You play as Simon Belmont; a legendary vampire hunter and the only one who can defeat Dracula. His arsenal includes holy water, axes, and throwing daggers among many others, but his most important weapon is a consecrated whip known as the vampire killer, another iconic staple of the Castlevania image.

Due to positive reception from critics and the public alike, Castlevania joined other titles including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Mega Man as one of the most defining video games of the 1980s. As for the series itself, Castlevania started the first era known by many fans and aficionados as the “Classicvania” phase, which continued until the late 1990s. It was then followed by the “Metroidvania” era, the “3-D Vania” era during the early to mid 2000s, an reboot phase during the early 2010s, and finally a renaissance or “revival” age where a sudden boom in new or re-released Castlevania content helped boost interest and popularity in the franchise. Each of these eras detail how the games changed in terms of gameplay, design, and storytelling. The following timeline gives a general overview of the different phases along with their corresponding dates and instalments.

Classicvania refers to Castlevania games that maintain the original’s simplicity in gameplay, basic storytelling, and pixelated design. In other words, working within the console limitations of the time. They are usually side-scrolling platformers with an emphasis on finding hidden objects and defeating a variety of smaller enemies until the player faces off against the penultimate boss. Following games like Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest and Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse were more ambitious than their predecessor as they both introduced new story elements that offered multiple endings and branching pathways. In Dracula’s Curse, there are four playable characters each with their own unique gameplay. However, the most basic plot of the first game is present within both of these titles . Namely, find Dracula and kill Dracula. Like with The Legend of Zelda’s Link facing off against Ganon or Mario fighting Bowser, the quest to destroy Dracula is the most fundamental aspect to Castlevania. Nearly every game had to end with his defeat. In terms of gameplay, it was all about the journey to Dracula’s castle. 

As video games grew more and more complex leading into the 1990s, Castlevania’s tried and true formula began to mature as well. The series took a drastic turn with the 1997 release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, a game which started the Metroidvania phase. This not only refers to the stylistic and gameplay changes of the franchise itself, but also refers to an entire subgenre of video games. Combining key components from Castlevania and Nintendo’s popular science fiction action series Metroid, Metroidvania games emphasize non-linear exploration and more traditional RPG elements including a massive array of collectable weapons, power-ups, character statistics, and armor. Symphony of the Night pioneered this trend while later titles like Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow solidified it. Nowadays, Metroidvanias are common amongst independent developers while garnering critical praise. Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night are just a few examples of modern Metroidvanias that use the formula to create familiar yet still distinct gaming experiences. 

Then came the early to mid 2000s and many video games were perfecting the use of 3-D modelling, free control over the camera, and detailed environments. Similar to what other long-running video game franchises were doing at the time, Castlevania began experimenting with 3-D in 1999 with Castlevania 64 and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, both developed for the Nintendo 64 console. 64 received moderately positive reviews while the reception for its companion was far more mixed, though with Nintendo 64’s discontinuation in 2002, both games have unfortunately fallen into obscurity. 

A year later, Castlevania returned to 3-D with Castlevania: Lament of Innocence for the Playstation 2. This marked Koji Igarashi’s first foray into 3-D as well as the series’ first ever M-rated instalment. While not the most sophisticated or complex 3-D Vania (or one that manages to hold up over time in terms of graphics), Lament of Innocence was a considerable improvement over 64 and Legacy of Darkness. Other 3-D Vania titles include Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, Castlevania: Judgment, and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP, a remake of the Classicvania game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood which merged 3-D models, environments, and traditional platforming mechanics emblematic of early Castlevania. It is important to note that during this particular era, there were outliers to the changing formula that included Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, both games which added to the Metroidvania genre. 

Despite many of the aforementioned games becoming cult classics and fan favourites, this was an era in which Castlevania struggled to maintain its relevance, confused by its own identity according to most critics. Attempts to try something original usually fell flat or failed to resonate with audiences and certain callbacks to what worked in the past were met with indifference. 

By the 2010s, the Castlevania brand changed yet again and stirred even more division amongst critics, fans, and casual players. This was not necessarily a dark age for the franchise but it was a strange age; the black sheep of Castlevania. In 2010, Konami released Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, a complete reboot of the series with new gameplay, new characters, and new lore unrelated to previous instalments. The few elements tying it to classic Castlevania games were recurring enemies, platforming, and the return of the iconic whip used as both a weapon and another means of getting from one area to another. Other gameplay features included puzzle-solving, exploration, and hack-and-slash combat. But what makes Lords of Shadow so divisive amongst fans is its story. The player follows Gabriel Belmont, a holy warrior on a quest to save his deceased wife’s soul from Limbo. From that basic plot point, the storyline diverges immensely from previous Castlevania titles, becoming more and more complicated until Gabriel makes the ultimate sacrifice and turns into the very monster that haunted other Belmont heroes for centuries: Dracula. While a dark plot twist and a far cry from the hopeful endings of past games, the concept of a more tortured and reluctant Dracula who was once the hero had already been introduced in older Dracula adaptations (the Francis Ford Coppola directed Dracula being a major example of this trend in media).

Despite strong opinions on how much the story of Lords of Shadow diverged from the original timeline, it was positively received by critics, garnering an overall score of 85 on Metacritic. This prompted Konami to continue with the release of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow—Mirror of Fate and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. Mirror of Fate returned to the series’ platforming and side-scrolling roots with stylized 3-D models and cutscenes. It received mixed reviews, as did its successor Lords of Shadow 2. While Mirror of Fate felt more like a classic stand-alone Castlevania with Dracula back as its main antagonist, the return of Simon Belmont, and the inclusion of Alucard, Lords of Shadow 2 carried over plot elements from its two predecessors along with new additions, turning an already complicated story into something more contrived. 

Finally, there came a much needed revival phase for the franchise. Netflix’s adaptation of Castlevania animated by Powerhouse Animation Studios based in Austen, Texas and directed by Samuel Deats and co-directed by Adam Deats aired its first season during July 2017 with four episodes. Season two aired in October 2018 with eight episodes followed by a ten episode third season in March 2020. Season four was announced by Netflix three weeks after the release of season three. The show combines traditional western 2-D animation with elements from Japanese anime and is a loose adaptation of Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse combined with plot details from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and original story concepts. But the influx of new Castlevania content did not stop with the show. Before the release of season two, Nintendo announced that classic protagonists Simon Belmont and Richter Belmont would join the ever-growing roster of playable characters in their hit fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With their addition also came the inclusion of iconic Castlevania environments, music, weapons, and supporting characters like Dracula and Alucard. 

During the year-long gap between seasons two and three of the Netflix show, Konami released Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls, a side-scrolling platformer and gacha game for mobile devices. The appeal of Grimoire of Souls is the combination of popular Castlevania characters each from a different game in the series interacting with one another along with a near endless supply of collectable weapons, outfits, power-ups, and armor accompanied by new art. Another ongoing endeavor by Konami in partnership with Sony to bring collective awareness back to one of their flagship titles is the re-releasing of past Castlevania games. This began with Castlevania: Requiem, in which buyers received both Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood for the Playstation 4 in 2018. This was followed the next year with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, a bundle that included a number of Classicvania titles for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, Steam, and Nintendo Switch.

Like Dracula, the Belmonts, and the vampire killer, one other element tying these five eras together is the presence of Alucard and his various forms in each one.

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Masculinity in 1980s Media

When it comes to media and various forms of the liberal arts be it entertainment, fashion, music, etc., we are currently in the middle of a phenomenon known as the thirty year cycle. Patrick Metzgar of The Patterning describes this trend as a pop cultural pattern that is, in his words, “forever obsessed with a nostalgia pendulum that regularly resurfaces things from 30 years ago”. Nowadays, media seems to be fixated with a romanticized view of the 1980s from bold and flashy fashion trends, to current music that relies on the use of synthesizers, to of course visual mass media that capitalizes on pop culture icons of the 80s. This can refer to remakes, reboots, and sequels; the first cinematic chapter of Stephen King’s IT, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, and both Ghostbusters remakes are prime examples—but the thirty year cycle can also include original media that is heavily influenced or oversaturated with nostalgia. Netflix’s blockbuster series Stranger Things is this pattern’s biggest and most overt product. 

To further explain how the thirty year cycle works with another example, Star Wars began as a nostalgia trip and emulation of vintage science fiction serials from the 1950s and 60s, the most prominent influence being Flash Gordon. This comparison is partially due to George Lucas’ original attempts to license the Flash Gordon brand before using it as prime inspiration for Star Wars: A New Hope and subsequent sequels. After Lucas sold his production company Lucasfilms to Disney, three more Star Wars films were released, borrowing many aesthetic and story elements from Lucas’ original trilogy while becoming emulations of nostalgia themselves. 

The current influx of Castlevania content could be emblematic of this very same pattern in visual media, being an 80s property itself, but what do we actually remember from the 1980s? Thanks to the thirty year cycle, the general public definitely acknowledges and enjoys all the fun things about the decade. Movie theatres were dominated by the teen flicks of John Hughes, the fantasy genre found a comeback due to the resurgence of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic works along with the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, and people were dancing their worries away to the songs of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Madonna. Then there were the things that most properties taking part in the thirty year cycle choose to ignore or gloss over, with some exceptions. The rise of child disappearances, prompting the term “stranger danger”, the continuation of satanic panic from the 70s which caused the shutdown and incarceration of hundreds of innocent caretakers, and the deaths of thousands due to President Reagan’s homophobia, conservatism, and inability to act upon the AIDS crisis. 

The 1980s also saw a shift in masculinity and how it was represented towards the public whether through advertising, television, cinema, or music. In M.D. Kibby’s essay Real Men: Representations of Masculinity in 80s Cinema, he reveals that “television columns in the popular press argued that viewers were tired of liberated heroes and longed for the return of the macho leading man” (Kibby, 21). Yet there seemed to be a certain “splitness” to the masculine traits found within fictional characters and public personas; something that tried to deconstruct hyper-masculinity while also reviling in it, particularly when it came to white, cisgendered men. Wendy Somerson further describes this dichotomy: “The white male subject is split. On one hand, he takes up the feminized personality of the victim, but on the other hand, he enacts fantasies of hypermasculinized heroism” (Somerson, 143). Somerson explains how the media played up this juxtaposition of “soft masculinity”, where men are portrayed as victimized, helpless, and childlike. In other words, “soft men who represent a reaction against the traditional sexist ‘Fifties man’ and lack a strong male role model” (Somerson, 143). A sort of self-flagellation or masochism in response to the toxic and patriarchal gender roles of three decades previous. Yet this softening of male representation was automatically seen as traditionally “feminine” and femininity almost always equated to childlike weakness. Then in western media, there came the advent of male madness and the fetishization of violent men. Films like Scarface, Die Hard, and any of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s filmography helped to solidify the wide appeal of these hyper-masculine and “men out of control” tropes which were preceded by Martin Scorcese’s critical and cult favourite Taxi Driver.

There were exceptions to this rule; or at the very least attempted exceptions that only managed to do more harm to the concept of a feminized man while also doubling down on the standard tropes of the decade. One shallow example of this balancing act between femininity and masculinity in 80s western media was the hit crime show Miami Vice and Sonny, a character who is entirely defined by his image. In Kibby’s words, “he is a beautiful consumer image, a position usually reserved for women; and he is in continual conflict with work, that which fundamentally defines him as a man” (Kibby, 21). Therein lies the problematic elements of this characterization. Sonny’s hyper-masculine traits of violence and emotionlessness serve as a reaffirmation of his manufactured maleness towards the audience.

Returning to the subject of Schwarzenegger, his influence on 80s media that continued well into the 90s ties directly to how fantasy evolved during this decade while also drawing upon inspirations from earlier trends. The most notable example is his portrayal of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian in the 1982 film directed by John Milius. Already a classic character from 1930s serials and later comic strips, the movie (while polarizing amongst critics who described it as a “psychopathic Star Wars, stupid and stupefying”) brought the iconic image of a muscle-bound warrior wielding a sword as half-naked women fawn at his feet back into the collective consciousness of many fantasy fans. The character and world of Conan romanticizes the use of violence, strength, and pure might in order to achieve victory. This aesthetic of hyper-masculinity, violence, and sexuality in fantasy art was arguably perfected by the works of Frank Frazetta, a frequent artist for Conan properties. The early Castlevania games drew inspiration from this exact aesthetic for its leading hero Simon Belmont and directly appropriated one of Frazetta’s pieces for the cover of the first game.

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Hammer Horror & Gender

Conan the Barbarian, Frank Frazetta, and similar fantasy icons were just a few influences on the overall feel of 80s Castlevania. Its other major influence harks back to a much earlier and far more gothic trend in media. Castlevania director Hitoshi Akamatsu stated that while the first game was in development, they were inspired by earlier cinematic horror trends and “wanted players to feel like they were in a classic horror movie”. This specific influence forms the very backbone of the Castlevania image. Namely: gothic castles, an atmosphere of constant uncanny dread, and a range of colourful enemies from Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, to of course Dracula. The massive popularity and recognizability of these three characters can be credited to the classic Universal Pictures’ monster movies of the 1930s, but there was another film studio that put its own spin on Dracula and served as another source of inspiration for future Castlevania properties.

The London-based film company Hammer Film Productions was established in 1934 then quickly filed bankruptcy a mere three years later after their films failed to earn back their budget through ticket sales. What saved them was the horror genre itself as their first official title under the ‘Hammer Horror’ brand The Curse of Frankenstein starring Hammer regular Peter Cushing was released in 1957 to enormous profit in both Britain and overseas. With one successful adaptation of a horror legend under their belt, Hammer’s next venture seemed obvious. Dracula (also known by its retitle Horror of Dracula) followed hot off the heels of Frankenstein and once again starred Peter Cushing as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, a much younger and more dashing version of his literary counterpart. Helsing faces off against the titular fanged villain, played by Christopher Lee, whose portrayal of Dracula became the face of Hammer Horror for decades to come. 

Horror of Dracula spawned eight sequels spanning across the 60s and 70s, each dealing with the resurrection or convoluted return of the Prince of Darkness (sound familiar?) Yet these were not the same gothic films pioneered by Universal Studios with fog machines, high melodrama, and disturbingly quiet atmosphere. Christopher Lee’s Dracula and Bela Lugosi’s Dracula are two entirely separate beasts. While nearly identical in design (slicked back hair, long flowing black cape, and a dignified, regal demeanor), Lugosi is subtle, using only his piercing stare as a means of intimidation and power—in the 1930s, smaller details meant bigger scares. For Hammer Horror, when it comes time to show Dracula’s true nature, Lee bares his blood-covered fangs and acts like an animal coveting their prey. Hammer’s overall approach to horror involved bigger production sets, low-cut nightgowns, and bright red blood that contrasted against the muted, desaturated look of each film. And much like the media of 1980, when it came to their characters, the Dracula films fell back on what was expected by society to be ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ while also making slight commentary on those very preconceived traits.

The main theme surrounding each male cast in these films is endangered male authority. Dracula and Van Helsing are without a doubt the most powerful, domineering characters in the story, particularly Helsing. As author Peter Hutchings describes in his book Hammer & Beyond: The British Horror Film, “the figure of the (male) vampire hunter is always one of authority, certainty, and stability (...) he is the only one with enough logical sense to know how to defeat the ultimate evil, thus saving the female characters and weaker male characters from being further victimized” (Hutchings, 124). The key definition here is ‘weaker male characters’. Hammer’s Dracula explores the absolute power of male authority in, yet it also reveals how easily this authority can be weakened. This is shown through the characters of Jonathan Harker and Arthur Holmwood, who differ slightly from how they are portrayed in Stoker’s novel. While Dracula does weaken them both, they manage to join Helsing and defeat the monster through cooperation and teamwork. In fact, it is Harker who lands one of the final killing strikes against Dracula. However, the Jonathan Harker of Hammer’s Dracula is transformed into a vampire against his will and disposed of before the finale. His death, in the words of Hutchings, “underlines the way in which throughout the film masculinity is seen (...) as arrested, in a permanently weakened state” (Hutchings, 117).

This theme of weakened authority extends to Holmwood in a more obvious and unsettling manner. In another deviation from the source material, Lucy Westenra, best friend to Mina Murray and fiancé to Arthur Holmwood, is now Holmwood’s sister and Harker’s fiancé. Lucy’s story still plays out more or less the same way it did in the novel; Dracula routinely drains her of blood until she becomes a vampire, asserting his dominance both physically and mentally. This according to Hutchings is the entirety of Dracula’s plan; a project “to restore male authority over women by taking the latter away from the weak men, establishing himself as the immortal, sole patriarch” (Hutchings, 119). Meanwhile, it is Helsing’s mission to protect men like Arthur Holmwood, yet seems only concerned with establishing his own dominance and does nothing to reestablish Holmwood’s masculinity or authority. Due to the damage done by Dracula and the failings of Helsing, Holmwood never regains this authority, even towards the end when he is forced to murder his own sister. His reaction goes as follows: “as she is staked he clutches his chest, his identification with her at this moment, when she is restored to a passivity which is conventionally feminine, suggesting a femininity within him which the film equates with weakness” (Hutchings, 117).

So Van Helsing succeeds in his mission to defeat his ultimate rival, but Dracula is victorious in his own right. With Jonathan Harker gone, Lucy Holmwood dead, and Arthur Holmwood further emasculated, he succeeds in breaking down previous male power structures while putting himself in their place as the all-powerful, all-dominant male presence. This is the very formula in which early Hammer Dracula films were built upon; “with vampire and vampire hunter mutually defining an endangered male authority, and the woman functioning in part as the site of their struggle (...) forged within and responded to British social reality of the middle and late 1950s” (Hutchings, 123).

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Alucard c. 1989

As for Castlevania’s Dracula, his earliest design takes more from Christopher Lee’s portrayal than from Bela Lugosi or Bram Stoker’s original vision. His appearance on the first ever box art bears a striking resemblance to one of the most famous stills from Horror of Dracula. Even in pixelated form, Dracula’s imposing model is more characteristic of Christopher Lee than Bela Lugosi.

Being his son, it would make logical sense for the first appearance of Alucard in Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse to resemble his father. His 1989 design carries over everything from the slick dark hair, sharp claws, and shapeless long cloak but adds a certain juvenile element—or rather, a more human element. This makes sense in the context of the game’s plot. Despite being the third title, Dracula��s Curse acts as the starting point to the Castlevania timeline (before it was replaced by Castlevania: Legends in 1997, which was then retconned and also replaced by Castlevania: Lament of Innocence in 2003 as the definitive prequel of the series). Set nearly two centuries before Simon Belmont’s time, Dracula’s Curse follows Simon’s ancestor Trevor Belmont as he is called to action by the church to defeat Dracula once he begins a reign of terror across Wallachia, now known as modern day Romania. It is a reluctant decision by the church, since the Belmont family has been exiled due to fear and superstition surrounding their supposed inhuman powers. 

This is one example of how despite the current technological limitations, later Castlevania games were able to add more in-depth story elements little by little beyond “find Dracula, kill Dracula”. This began as early as Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest by giving Simon a much stronger motivation in his mission and the inclusion of multiple endings. The improvements made throughout the Classicvania era were relatively small while further character and story complexities remained either limited or unexplored, but they were improvements nonetheless.

Another example of this slight progress in storytelling was Castlevania 3’s introduction of multiple playable characters each with a unique backstory of their own. The supporting cast includes Sypha Belnades, a powerful sorceress disguised as a humble monk who meets Trevor after he saves her from being frozen in stone by a cyclops, and Grant Danasty, a pirate who fell under Dracula’s influence before Trevor helped him break free from his curse. Then there is of course Adrian Fahrenheit Țepeș who changed his name to Alucard, the opposite of Dracula, as a symbol of rebellion against his tyrannical father. Yet Castlevania was not the first to conceptualize the very character of Alucard; someone who is the son of Dracula and whose name is quite literally the backwards spelling of his fathers’. That idea started with Universal’s 1943 venture Son of Dracula, a sequel to the 1931 classic that unfortunately failed to match the original’s effective atmosphere, scares, and story. In it, Alucard is undoubtedly the villain whereas in Dracula’s Curse, he is one of the heroes. Moral and noble, able to sway Trevor Belmont’s preconceptions of vampiric creatures, and with an odd sympathy for the monster that is his father. Alucard even goes as far as to force himself into an eternal slumber after the defeat of Dracula in order to “purge the world of his own cursed bloodline” (the reason given by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night’s opening narration).

When it comes to design, Castlevania’s Alucard does the curious job of fitting in with the franchises’ established aesthetic yet at the same time, he manages to stand out the most—in fact, all the main characters do. Everyone from Trevor, Sypha, to Grant all look as though they belong in different stories from different genres. Grant’s design is more typical of the classic pirate image one would find in old illustrated editions of Robinson Crusoe’s Treasure Island or in a classic swashbuckler like 1935’s Captain Blood starring Errol Flynn. Sypha might look more at home in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign or an early Legend of Zelda title with a large hood obscuring her facial features, oversized blue robes, and a magical staff all of which are commonplace for a fantasy mage of the 1980s. Trevor’s design is nearly identical to Simon’s right down to the whip, long hair, and barbarian-esque attire which, as mentioned previously, was taken directly from Conan the Barbarian. 

Judging Alucard solely from official character art ranging from posters to other promotional materials, he seems to be the only one who belongs in the gothic horror atmosphere of Dracula’s Curse. As the physically largest and most supernaturally natured of the main cast, he is in almost every way a copy of his father—a young Christopher Lee’s Dracula complete with fangs and cape. Yet his path as a hero within the game’s narrative along with smaller, near missable details in his design (his ingame magenta cape, the styling of his hair in certain official art, and the loose-fitting cravat around his neck) further separates him from the absolute evil and domination that is Dracula. Alucard is a rebel and an outsider, just like Trevor, Sypha, and Grant. In a way, they mirror the same vampire killing troupe from Bram Stoker’s novel; a group of people all from different facets of life who come together to defeat a common foe. 

The son of Dracula also shares similar traits with Hammer’s Van Helsing. Same as the Belmonts (who as vampire hunters are exactly like Helsing in everything except name), Alucard is portrayed as one of the few remaining beacons of masculinity with enough strength, skill, and logical sense who can defeat Dracula, another symbol of patriarchal power. With Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse, we begin to see Alucard’s dual nature in aesthetics that is automatically tied to his characterization; a balance that many Byronic heroes try to strike between masculine domination and moralistic sensitivity and goodness that is often misconstrued as weakly feminine. For now though, especially in appearance, Alucard’s persona takes more from the trends that influenced his allies (namely Trevor and Simon Belmont) and his enemy (Dracula). This of course would change drastically alongside the Castlevania franchise itself come the 1990s.

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Gender Expression & The 1990s Goth Scene

When a person sees or hears the word “gothic”, it conjures up a very specific mental image—dark and stormy nights spent inside an extravagant castle that is host to either a dashing vampire with a thirst for blood, vengeful ghosts of the past come to haunt some unfortunate living soul, or a mad scientist determined to cheat death and bring life to a corpse sewn from various body parts. In other words, a scenario that would be the focus of some Halloween television special or a daring novel from the mid to late Victorian era. Gothicism has had its place in artistic and cultural circles long before the likes of Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and even before Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, a late 18th century novel that arguably started the gothic horror subgenre. 

The term itself originated in 17th century Sweden as a descriptor of the national romanticism concerning the North Germanic Goths, a tribe which occupied much of Medieval Götaland. It was a period of historical revisionism in which the Goths and other Viking tribes were depicted as heroic and heavily romanticised. Yet more than ever before, gothicism is now associated with a highly specific (and in many ways personal) form of artistic and gender expression. It started with the golden age of gothic Medieval architecture that had its revival multiple centuries later during the Victorian era, then morphed into one of the darkest if not melodramatic literary movements, and finally grew a new identity throughout the 1990s. For this portion, we will focus on the gothic aesthetic as it pertains to fashion and music.

Arguably, the advent of the modern goth subculture as it is known nowadays began with the 1979 song “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” from Northampton’s own rock troupe Bauhaus. The overall aesthetic of the song, accompanying live performances, and the band itself helped shaped the main themes of current gothicism including, but not limited to, “macabre funeral musical tone and tempo, to lyrical references to the undead, to deep voiced eerie vocals, to a dark twisted form of androgyny in the appearance of the band and most of its following” (Hodkinson, 35-64). This emphasis on physical androgyny in a genre that was predominantly focused on depictions of undeniable masculinity was especially important to the 80s and 90s goth scene. Bauhaus opened the gates in which other goth and post-punk bands gained popularity outside of underground venues, including The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Southern Death Cult. Much like Bauhaus’ “twisted form of androgyny”, these other bands pioneered a romantic yet darkly feminine aesthetic which was then embraced by their fans. It wasn’t until the producer of Joy Division Tony Wilson along with members from Southern Death Cult and U.K. Decay mentioned the word “goth” in passing that this growing musical and aesthetic subculture finally had a name for itself. 

The goth movement of the 1990s became an interesting mesh of nonconformity and individual expression while also emphasising the need for a mutual connection through shared interests and similar aesthetics. Unique social outsiders looking for a sense of community and belonging—not unlike Stoker’s vampire hunting troupe or the main cast of Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse. Paul Hodkinson author of Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture describes the ways in which goths were able to expand their social networking while making the subculture their own. In order to gain further respect and recognition within the community, “they usually sought to select their own individual concoction from the range of acceptable artefacts and themes and also to make subtle additions and adaptations from beyond the established stylistic boundaries” (Hodkinson, 35-64). This was one of the ways in which the goth subculture was able to grow and evolve while maintaining some typical aesthetics. Those aesthetics that had already become gothic staples as far back as classic Victorian horror included crucifixes, bats, and vampires; all of which were presented by young modern goths, as Hodkinson puts it, “sometimes in a tongue-in-cheek self-conscious manner, sometimes not” (Hodkinson, 35-64).

The vampire, as it appeared in visual mass media of the time, was also instrumental to the 90s gothic scene, reinforcing certain physical identifiers such as long dark hair, pale make-up, and sometimes blackened sunglasses. This was especially popular amongst male goths who embodied traditional gothic traits like dark femininity and androgyny, which had already been long established within the subculture. 

As always, television and film did more to reinforce these subcultural trends as recognizable stereotypes, usually in a negative manner, than it did to help people embrace them. In media aimed towards a primarily teenage and young adult demographic, if a character did not possess the traditional traits of a hyper-masculine man, they instead fit into two different molds; either the neurotic geek or the melodramatic, moody goth. However, there were forms of media during the 90s that did manage to embrace and even relish with no sense of irony in the gothic aesthetic. 

Two films which helped to build upon the enthusiasm for the vampire were Francis Ford Coppola’s lavish adaptation of Stoker’s novel titled Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Gary Oldman in the titular role of Dracula and another adaptation of a more recent gothic favourite among goths, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. The majority of the male goth scene especially emulated Oldman’s portrayal of Dracula when in the film he transforms into a much younger, more seductive version of himself in order to blend in with society, everything down to the shaded Victorian sunglasses and the long flowing hair; a vision of classic, sleek androgyny combined with an intimidating demeanor without being overly hyper-masculine. 

Primarily taking place during the 18th and 19th century, Interview with the Vampire (the film and the original novel) also encouraged this very same trend, helping to establish European aristocratic elements into the gothic aesthetic; elements such as lace frills, finely tailored petticoats, corsets, and a general aura of delicacy. 

Going back to Hodkinson’s findings, he states that “without actually rendering such categories insignificant, goth had from its very beginnings been characterized by the predominance, for both males and females, of particular kinds of style which would normally be associated with femininity” (Hodkinson, 35-64). However, it is important to acknowledge that the western goth subculture as described in this section, while a haven for various forms of gender expression, placed heavy emphasis on thin, white bodies. Over the years, diversity within the community has been promoted and encouraged, but rarely do we see it as the forefront face of gothicism.

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The Japanese Goth Scene & Ayami Kojima

Modern gothicism was not limited to North America or Europe. In Japan, the subculture had evolved into its own form of self-expression through clothing and music that took inspiration from a variety of 18th and 19th century themes (mostly originating from European countries). Yet despite the numerous western influences, the eastern goth community during the 1990s and early 2000s embraced itself as something unique and wholly Japanese; in other words, different from what was happening within the North American movement at the same time. To refresh the memory, western goth culture focused primarily on the macabre that included completely black, moody wardrobes with an air of dark femininity. Japanese goth culture maintained those feminine traits, but included elements that were far more decadent, frivolous, and played further into the already established aristocratic motifs of gothicism. This created a new fashion subculture known as Gothic Lolita or Goth-Loli (no reference to the Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita or the themes presented within the text itself). 

In Style Deficit Disorder: Harajuku street fashion, a retrospective on the history of modern Japanese street fashion, the Goth-Loli image is described as “an amalgam of Phantom of the Opera, Alice in Wonderland, and Edgar Allan Poe” (Godoy; Hirakawa, 160). It was an aesthetic that took the western notion of “gothic” to higher levels with a heavier emphasis on opulence and an excessive decorative style—think Gothic meets Baroque meets Rococo. Teresa Younker, author of Lolita: Dreaming, Despairing, Defying, suggests that during the early years of the Gothic Lolita movement, it acted as a form of escapism for many young Japanese individuals searching for a way out of conformity. She states that “rather than dealing with the difficult reality of rapid commercialization, destabilization of society, a rigid social system, and an increasingly body-focused fashion norm, a select group of youth chose to find comfort in the over-the-top imaginary world of lace, frills, bows, tulle, and ribbons”. One pioneer that helped to bring the Goth-Loli image at the forefront of Japanese underground and street fashion the likes of Harajuku was the fashion magazine Gothic & Lolita Bible. Launched in 2001 by Index Communication and Mariko Suzuki, each issue acted as a sort of catalogue book for popular gothic and lolita trends that expanded to art, music, manga, and more. 

According to Style Deficit Disorder, during this time when Gothic & Lolita Bible had helped bring the subculture into a larger collective awareness, the Goth-Loli image became “inspired by a yearning for something romantic overseas (...) and after taking on the “Harajuku Fashion,” ended up travelling overseas, while remaining a slightly strange fashion indigenous to Japan” (Godoy; Hirakawa, 137). Then came KERA Maniac, another magazine launched in 2003 that had “even darker clothing and international style points and references, such as features on the life and art of Lewis Carroll, Japanese ball-jointed dolls, or interviews with icons like Courtney Love” (Godoy; Hirakawa, 140). The fashion trends that both Gothic & Lolita Bible and KERA Maniac focused on also found popularity amongst visual kei bands which were usually all male performers who began sporting the very same ultra-feminine, ultra-aristocratic Goth-Loli brands that were always featured in these magazines. 

Similar to traditional Kabuki theatre, “this visual-kei placed great importance on the gorgeous spectacle created onstage” (Godoy; Hirakawa, 135). One particular visual kei performer of the early 2000s that became Gothic & Lolita Bible’s biggest and most frequent collaborator was Mana. Best known for his musical and fashion career, Mana describes his onstage persona, merging aristocratic goth with elegant gothic lolita, as “either male or female but it is also neither male nor female. It is both devil and angel. The pursuit of a middle ground” (Godoy; Hirakawa, 159).

Opulence, decadence, and femininity with a dark undertone are all apt terms to describe the image of Japanese gothicism during the 90s and early aughts. They are also perfect descriptors of how artist Ayami Kojima changed the face of Castlevania from a franchise inspired by classic horror and fantasy to something more distinct. As a self-taught artist mainly working with acrylics, India ink, and finger smudging among other methods, 1997’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was Kojima’s first major title as the lead character designer. Over the years she worked on a number of separate video games including Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors, along with other Castlevania titles. Before then, she made a name for herself as a freelance artist mainly working on novel covers and even collaborated with Vampire Hunter D creator Kikuchi Hideyuki for a prequel to his series. Kojima has been dubbed by fans as “the queen of Castlevania” due to her iconic contributions to the franchise. 

Kojima’s influences cover a wide array of themes from the seemingly obvious (classic horror, shounen manga, and East Asian history) to disturbingly eclectic (surgery, body modification, and body horror). It is safe to assume that her resume for Castlevania involves some of her tamer works when compared to what else is featured in her 2010 artbook Santa Lilio Sangre. Yet even when her more personal art pieces rear into the grotesquely unsettling, they always maintain an air of softness and femininity. Kojima is never afraid to show how the surreal, the intense, or the horrifying can also be beautiful. Many of her pieces include details emblematic of gothicism; skulls, bloodied flowers, the abundance of religious motifs, and lavish backgrounds are all commonplace, especially in her Castlevania art. Her models themselves—most often androgynous men with sharp cheekbones, flowing hair, and piercing gazes—look as though they would fit right into a gothic visual kei band or the pages of Gothic & Lolita Bible.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair was the final Castlevania game Kojima worked on, as well as her last game overall. It wasn’t until 2019 when she reappeared with new pieces including promotional artwork for former Castlevania co-worker Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and a collaboration with Japanese musician Kamijo on his newest album. Her work has also appeared in the February 2020 issue of TezuComi, depicting a much lighter and softer side of her aesthetic. Ayami Kojima may have moved onto other projects, but the way in which she forever influenced the Castlevania image is still being drawn upon and emulated to this day.

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Alucard c. 1997

There were actually three versions of Alucard during the 1990s, each of which were products of their time for different reasons. The first example is not only the most well known amongst fans and casual onlookers alike, but it is also the one design of Alucard that manages to stand the test of time. Ayami Kojima redesigned a number of classic Castlevania characters, giving them the gothic androgynous demeanour her art was known for. Most fans will say with some degree of jest that once Kojima joined Konami, Castlevania grew to look less like the masculine power fantasy it started as and more like a bishounen manga. No matter the differing opinions on the overall stylistic change of the series, Kojima’s reimagining of Alucard for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is undoubtedly iconic. His backstory has more or less remained the same, carried over from Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse. After killing his father Dracula, Alucard, unable to fully process his actions or his bloodline, decides to force himself into a centuries long slumber in order to rid the world of his dark powers. Symphony of the Night begins with the Byronic dhampir prince waking up after nearly 300 years have passed once Dracula’s castle mysteriously reappears in close proximity to his resting place. The only difference this time is there seems to be no Belmont to take care of it, unlike previous years when Dracula is resurrected. Determined to finish what was started during the 15th century, the player takes Alucard on a journey throughout the castle, which has now become larger and more challenging than past incarnations.

Despite being somewhat of a direct sequel to Dracula’s Curse, Symphony’s Alucard is not the same dhampir as his 80s counterpart. Gone are any similarities to Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee; now Alucard bears more of a resemblance to Anne Rice’s own literary muse Lestat de Lioncourt from her ongoing Vampire Chronicles. Instead of slicked back dark hair, thick golden locks (which were originally black to match his father) cascade down Alucard’s figure, swaying with his every pixelated movement. Heeled leather boots, a black coat with gold embellishments along with an abnormally large collar underneath a flowing cape, and a high-collared cravat replace the simplistic wardrobe of 80s Alucard—from a traditional, minimalist goth mirroring his father’s masculinity to an extravagant, aristocratic goth with his own intense, almost macabre femininity.

With the early Metroidvanias came the inclusion of detailed character portraits designed by Ayami Kojima which would appear alongside a dialogue box to further establish the illusion of the characters speaking to each other. Symphony of the Night was one of the first titles where players got to see Alucard’s ingame expression and it looked exactly as it did on every piece of promotional poster and artwork. The same piercing glare, furrowed brow, and unshakeable inhuman determination, the sort that is also reflected in his limited mannerisms and character—all of which are displayed upon an immaculate face that rarely if ever smiles. Just by looking at his facial design nearly hidden behind locks of hair that always seems meticulously styled, it is clear that Alucard cannot and will not diverge from his mission. The only moment in the game when his stoic facade breaks completely is when he faces off against the Succubus, who tempts Alucard to give into his vampiric nature by disguising herself as his deceased mother Lisa. Yet even then he sees through her charade and, depending on the player’s ability, quickly disposes of her. 

Despite his delicate feminine features, emotional softness is not one of Alucard’s strongest suits in Symphony. Though for someone in his position, someone who must remain steadfast and succeed in his goal or else fail the rest of humanity, where little else matters, Alucard’s occasional coldness (a trait that would return in recent Castlevania instalments) makes sense. There is a scene near at the climax of the game where he exposits to the other main protagonists Richter Belmont and Maria Renard about how painful it felt to destroy his father a second time, but he reframes it as a lesson about the importance of standing up against evil rather than an admission of his own vulnerability. However, he does choose to stay in the world of mortal humans instead of returning to his coffin (depending on which ending the player achieves).

The second 90s version of Alucard is a curious case of emulation, drawing inspiration from both Kojima’s redesign and other Japanese art styles of the 1990s. Castlevania Legends was released for the Game Boy the exact same year as Symphony of the Night and acted as a prequel to Dracula’s Curse, following its protagonist Sonia Belmont as she traverses through Dracula’s castle alongside Alucard and becomes the first Belmont in history to defeat him. It was then retconned after the release of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence in 2003 due to how its story conflicted with the overall timeline of the series. As with most of the earliest Game Boy titles, the ingame graphics of Legends are held back by the technological limitations, but the box art and subsequent character concepts reveal the game’s aesthetic which seems to take the most inspiration from other Japanese franchises of the decade. The biggest example would be Slayers, a popular comedic fantasy series that included light novels, manga, and anime. Legends Alucard is portrayed in this particular animated style, yet his design itself is very similar to how he looks in Symphony of the Night with only minor exceptions. 

The third and arguably most obscure 90s Alucard comes from the animated children’s show Captain N: The Game Master, a crossover that brought together popular Nintendo characters like Mega Man, Kid Icarus, and Simon Belmont. The episodes were presented as traditional monsters of the week, meaning each one focused on a brand new story or environment usually taken from Nintendo games. One episode that aired in 1993 centered on Castlevania and featured a comedic and parodied version of Alucard. Although the episode took elements from Dracula’s Curse, Alucard was meant to be a stereotypical representation of rebellious 90s youth, i.e. an overemphasis on skateboarding and “radical” culture. A colorful, kid-friendly version of the character that was never meant to be taken seriously; much like the rest of the show.

Out of the three variations, Ayami Kojima’s Alucard is the one that made the biggest and longest lasting impact on Castlevania. Redesigning an iconic franchise or character always comes with its own risks and gambles. In the case of Symphony of Night, the gamble made by Kojima—and by extension Konami and director Koji Igarashi—paid off. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said regarding Alucard’s next major change as a character and an image. 

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Lords of Shadow

“What motivates a man to confront the challenges that most of us would run from?” This is a question put forth by Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, the first attempt by Konami to reinvigorate and inject new life into the Castlevania brand name by completing rebooting the universe. Starting from scratch as it were. Originally, Lords of Shadow seemed to have no connection to the Castlevania franchise. Announced by Konami during a games convention in 2008, this was meant to give more attention and not distract from the upcoming Castlevania: Judgment. However, merely a year later at Electronic Entertainment Expo, it was revealed that Lords of Shadow was in fact the next major step that Konami was taking with Castlevania. From its announcement and early trailers, the game was already generating a healthy amount of media buzz due to its updated graphics, design, and gameplay. Having Konami alumni, video game auteur, and creator of the critically acclaimed Metal Gear series Hideo Kojima attached to the project also helped to generate initial hype for this new phase of Castlevania (though it should be noted that Kojima was only credited as a consultant and advisor for the Lords of Shadow development team). After nearly a decade of near hits, substantial misses, and a lack of focus for the franchise, Castlevania had once again become one of the most highly anticipated upcoming games. To quote gaming news and reviews website GamesRadar+ at the time, “this could be a megaton release”.

And it was—so to speak. As mentioned in previous sections, the first Lords of Shadow did relatively well, garnering critical and commercial success. By November of 2010, nearly one million copies had sold in North America and Europe alone. While not a monumental achievement or a record breaker, Lords of Shadow soon became the highest selling Castlevania game of all time. But enough time has passed since its release and nowadays, fans look back upon this reinvented Castlevania timeline pushed by Konami with mixed feelings, some more negative than others. 

The main criticism is that when it comes to gameplay, environment, and story, Lords of Shadow changed too much from its original source material. Change is not always a terrible thing especially in regards to long-running franchises and Castlevania had already gone through one massive upheaval with Symphony of the Night. Although the difference is how well that dramatic change was executed and how players reacted to it. For many, Lords of Shadow felt less like the game it was supposed to be emulating and more like other action hack-and-slashers of the time. The gameplay didn’t feel like Castlevania, it felt like Devil May Cry. Elements of the story didn’t feel like Castlevania, they felt like God of War. Each boss fight didn’t feel like Castlevania, they felt like Shadow of the Colossus (a frequent comment made by fans). Despite the familiar elements from past games that made their way into this new instalment, for many, Lords of Shadow was too little of Castlevania and too much of everything else that surrounded its development. Meanwhile, the afformented familiar elements seemed like attempts at fanservice in order to make sure that longtime fans felt more at home.

Does the game and its following sequels still hold any merit in terms of aesthetic and story? They do, especially when it comes to its style. Lords of Shadow, its midquel Mirror of Fate, and the sequel Lords of Shadow 2 are not unappealing games to look at. When examining the concept art of characters, enemies, and environments, one could argue that the Lords of Shadow series has some of the most visually striking Castlevania art in the series. The monster designs in particular take on a much grander, ambitious, and menacing presence that take inspiration from various mythological and biblical sources, the best example being Leviathan from Lords of Shadow 2. 

By the 2010s, AAA video games in general were going through a sort of golden age with titles such as Assassin’s Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Red Dead Redemption among many others. Not only were the stories and gameplay mechanics improving by ten folds, so too were the graphical capacities that each game could uphold. Due to technological advancements, Castlevania had the chance to become more detailed and fleshed out than before. The locations of Lords of Shadow and its sequels, which ranged from gothic castles, to modern decrepit cities, to fantastical forests, grew lusher and more opulent while the monsters evolved past the traditional skeletons of the series into far more imposing nightmarish creatures.

The first game along with Mirror of Fate kept themselves fairly grounded in their respective environments. Nearly every character looks as though they firmly belong in the gothic fantasy world they inhabit. Gabriel Belmont and the rest of the Brotherhood of Light are dressed in robes reminiscent of medieval knights (with a few non-historical embellishments) while the vampiric characters of Carmilla and Laura dress in the same manner that typical vampires would. However, a new location known as Castlevania City was introduced in Lords of Shadow 2, modelled after a 21st century metropolitan cityscape. Characters with designs more suited to God of War or Soul Calibur intermingle with NPCs dressed in modern clothing, further highlighting the clash of aesthetics. While this is not the first time Castlevania has featured environments populated with humans, the constant shifting between a dark urban landscape with more science fiction elements than fantasy and the traditional gothic setting of Dracula’s castle can feel like whiplash. 

The Lords of Shadow timeline was an ambitious attempt by Konami to try and give fans a Castlevania experience they had not seen before. New concepts that were previously unexplored or only alluded to in past games were now at the forefront. Yet the liberties that each game took with established Castlevania lore, both in terms of story and design, were perhaps too ambitious. The biggest example is the choice to have the Belmont protagonist turn into Dracula through a combined act of despair and selflessness, but Alucard went through a number of changes as well. Transforming him from the golden-haired aristocrat of the 90s and 2000s into an amalgamation of dark fantasy tropes. 

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Alucard c. 2014

After the success of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Alucard reappeared in a number of following titles, most of which depicted him in his typical black and gold wardrobe. There were exceptions, including Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and its direct sequel Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow where he adopts the alias of Genya Arikado, an agent for a futuristic Japanese organization dedicated to stopping any probable resurrections of Dracula. Because of this need to appear more human and hide his true heritage, Genya’s appearance is simple and possibly one of Ayami Kojima’s most minimalistic character designs; a black suit, shoulder length black hair, and the job is done. In Dawn of Sorrow, Alucard briefly appears as himself, drawn in a less detailed anime style that softens his once intensely stoic expression first seen in Symphony. The next exception is Castlevania: Judgment, a fighting game where characters from separate games and time periods are brought together to face off against one another. Konami brought on Takeshi Obata (who by then was famously known for his work on Death Note) as the lead character designer and in many regards had a similar aesthetic to Ayami Kojima, creating lavish gothic pieces that were heavily detailed and thematic. 

Like Kojima, Obata was given free range to reconceptualize all of the characters appearing in Judgment with little to no remaining motifs from previous designs. This included Alucard, who dons a suit of silver armor and long white hair to match it. Judgment’s Alucard marked a turning point for the character in terms of appearance; a gradual change that was solidified by Lords of Shadow.

This is where things get complicated. While Castlevania could be considered a horror series solely based on its references, aesthetic, and monsters, nearly every iteration whether it comes down to the games or other forms of media tends to veer more towards the dark fantasy genre. Edward James and Farah Mendleson’s Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature describe the distinction between traditional horror and dark fantasy as a genre “whose protagonists believe themselves to inhabit the world of consensual mundane reality and learn otherwise, not by walking through a portal into some other world, or by being devoured or destroyed irrevocably, but by learning to live with new knowledge and sometimes with new flesh” (James; Mendleson, 218). While horror is a genre of despair, directly confronting audience members with the worst of humanity and the supernatural, “the protagonist of dark fantasy comes through that jeopardy to a kind of chastened wisdom” (James; Mendleson, 217). 

Dark fantasy is ultimately a genre of acceptance (i.e. characters accepting a horrible change or embracing the world they have been forcibly thrown into), but it also represents a rejection of traditional tropes implemented by the works of Tolkien or the Brothers Grimm, thus defining itself by that very same act of rejection. An example of this is the theme of failure, which is common in many dark fantasy stories. There are far more unhappy or bittersweet endings than happy ones while the construction of the classic hero’s journey hinges more on all the possible ways in which the protagonist could fail in their quest. 

Going off from this definition, the Lords of Shadow timeline fits squarely into the dark fantasy genre, especially concerning its two leading men. We already know that Gabriel Belmont sacrifices his humanity in order to become Dracula, but what happens to his son borders on a Greek tragedy. Before the “deaths” of Gabriel and Maria, they had a son named Trevor who was immediately taken into the care of the Brotherhood of Light and kept away from his father in order to protect him. Years later when Trevor is an adult with a family of his own, he vows to defeat Dracula for bringing shame and dishonor upon the Belmont bloodline. Yet when their eventual confrontation happens, Dracula easily beats Trevor who, on the verge of death, reveals the truth about his connection to the lord of vampires. In a desperate act of regret, Dracula forces Trevor to drink his blood and places him into a coffin labeled “Alucard” where he will seemingly rest for eternity.

Time passes and Trevor Belmont—now transformed into the vampire Alucard—awakens, just as he did at the beginning of Dracula’s Curse and Symphony of the Night. During his disappearance, his wife Sypha Belnades was killed by Dracula’s creatures, orphaning their son Simon Belmont. The two eventually meet and work together to stop Dracula, but Alucard cannot bring himself to tell Simon the truth.

Despite a well-deserved happy ending in Lords of Shadow 2 (he and his father reconcile before going off to presumably live a peaceful life), the character of Trevor/Alucard is built upon the same themes of failure and learning to accept terrible change found within dark fantasy. His design is especially reminiscent of one of the darkest and most tortured protagonists in the genre, Michael Moorcock’s Elric from his Elric of Melniboné series. First appearing in the June 1961 issue of Science Fantasy, he stands out amongst most sword and sorcery heroes, different from the hypermasculinity of Conan the Barbarian for his embittered personality, philosophical motifs, and memorable design. Elric is constantly described as looking deathly pale with skin “the color of a bleached skull; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white” (Moorcock, 3) and a body that needs a steady stream of potions in order to function properly or else he will gradually grow weaker, nearer towards the edge of death—more a corpse than a human being. 

Lords of Shadow Alucard is very much like a walking corpse as well. His long hair is the same milk-white tone as Elrics’, his skin is deprived of any real color, and his open chest outfit reveals a body that is both robust yet emaciated. Moorcock’s Elric was the prototype for many other white haired, pale faced, otherworldly antiheroes in fantasy that came afterwards and the darkly ethereal aesthetic that reflected his constant state of self-loathing and tragedy was the most ideal fit for this new version of Alucard. Both fail as traditional fantasy heroes, both abhor their physical states, yet both learn to embrace it at the same time.

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A Brief History of Modern Animation

Before we move onto the final iteration of Dracula’s son, let us first acquaint ourselves with an artistic medium that has not been fully discussed yet. This essay has gone into detail concerning the aesthetics of video games, fashion, filmmaking, and music, but where does animation fit in? Since 1891’s Pauvre Pierrot, the only surviving short film predating the silent era with 500 individually painted frames, animation has evolved into one of the most expressive, diverse, and groundbreaking art forms of the modern age. There were earlier methods that fit into the animation mold before Pauvre Pierrot including but not limited to shadow play, magic lantern shows, and the phenakistoscope, one of the first devices to use rapid succession in order to make still images look as though they were moving. Throughout the 20th century, with the help of mainstream studios like Warner Bros. and of course Walt Disney, the medium quickly began to encompass a variety of techniques and styles beyond a series of drawings on paper. Some of the more recognizable and unique styles are as followed:

Digital 2-D animation

Digital 3-D animation

Stop-motion

Puppetry

Claymation

Rotoscoping

Motion capture

Cut-out animation

Paint-on-glass

The most common forms used in film and television are traditional hand drawn and digital 3-D, sometimes merged together in the same product. There has been much debate over which animation technique has more artistic merit and is more “authentic” to the medium, but the reality is that there is no singular true form of animation. Each style brings its own advantages, challenges, and all depends on how it is being used to tell a specific story or evoke a feeling within the audience. For example, the 2017 semi-biographical movie Loving Vincent is animated in a nontraditional style with oil paints in order to create the illusion of a Vincent Van Gogh painting that has come to life. As Loving Vincent is about the influential painter himself and his tragic life, this animation technique works to the film’s advantage. If the story had used a more traditional form like 2-D or 3-D, it might not have had the same impact. Another example like the film A Scanner Darkly starring Keanu Reeves uses a somewhat controversial technique known as rotoscoping, which entails tracing over live action scenes in order to give it a realistic yet still animated feel. A Scanner Darkly is a futuristic crime thriller meant to evoke a sense of surrealism and discomfort, making the uncanniness of rotoscoping the perfect fit for its artificial atmosphere. 

Throughout its history, animation has gone through a number of phases corresponding to political, artistic, and historical events such as propaganda shorts from Walt Disney during World War II and the rise of adult-oriented animators who rode the wave of countercultural movements during the late 1960s and early 70s. Animation meant for older audiences was especially coming into its own as most audiences had become more comfortable associating the medium with the family friendly formula perfected by the Disney company. The only other western mainstream animation studio that could stand toe to toe with Disney while also dabbling in mature subject matter at the time was Warner Bros. and its juggernaut Looney Tunes, which even then was mostly relegated to smoking, slapstick violence, and mild suggestive material. Meanwhile, the works of Ralph Bakshi, arguably the father of elevated adult animated features, dealt with everything from dark humor, sexuality, profanity, and complex themes most of which delved into pure shock value and were highly offensive in order to make a statement. There were later exceptions to this approach including Bakshi’s own adaptation of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Wizards, and Fire and Ice, a high profile collaboration with Frank Frazetta, in which both films utilized rotoscope animation to create unique, fantasy-based experiences for mature viewers.

With the right amount of funds and creativity, other countries began developing their own animated features with distinct styles that reflected the culture, social norms, and history in which they originated from. The 1960s are referred to as “the rise of Japanese animation”, or as it came to be known worldwide as anime, thanks to iconic characters of the decade like Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, and Speed Racer. The longest running anime with over 7,700 episodes to date is Sazae-san, based on the popular 1940s comic strip of the same name. Western audiences commonly associate modern anime with over the top scenarios, animation, and facial movements while having little to no basis in reality when it comes to either story or character design. 

While the Walt Disney company was steadily losing its monopoly on the animation industry with financial and critical disappointments (making room for other animators like Don Bluth) until it's renaissance during the 1990s, the 1980s turned into a golden age for ambitious, groundbreaking anime projects. Not only were films like Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, Barefoot Gen, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind among many others, appealing to a wide variety of audiences, they were also bold enough to tackle mature, complex subject matter with a certain degree of nuance that complimented each film’s unique but often times bizarre or surreal styles. Akira watches like a violent cyberpunk splatterfest with extreme body horror and juvenile delinquency, yet its borderline exploitative methods serve a larger purpose. Akira takes place in a bleak, dystopian Japan where Tokyo has been rebuilt after its destruction in 1988, setting up an allegorical story that directly confronts government experimentation and the fallout of nuclear warfare.

Artists of all mediums have always influenced one another and the impact that anime has had on western animation continues to this day whether through passing tongue-in-cheek references, taking inspiration from common anime tropes while also depicting them through a western lens, or shows that feature a heavily emulated anime style like Avatar: The Last Airbender and its successor The Legend of Korra. Then there are shows that completely blur the lines between western animation and anime, with the ultimate distinction usually coming down to where it was originally developed (i.e. North America or Japan).

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Alucard c. 2017

The overall aesthetic and image of Netflix’s Castlevania is built upon a number of different influences, the majority of which come from Japanese animation. Executive producer and long time Castlevania fan Adi Shankar has gone on record saying that the show is partially “an homage to those OVAs that I would watch on TV (...) and I was like, “This is beautiful, and it’s an art form”. He has also directly compared the show to those golden age-era ultra violent anime features of the 80s and 90s, including titles such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Ninja Scroll. Director Samuel Deats, another avid Castlevania fan, has mentioned the long-running manga series Berserk along with its 1997 anime adaptation as one of the animation team’s primary inspirations numerous times, explaining in further detail in a 2017 interview with io9: “I pulled out my ‘I love the Berserk manga, Blade the Immortal’ and all that. That dark fantasy style of storytelling, character design, how gorey it gets… I put together a bunch of drawings and sketches, and a few color images that channeled all of that”.

Watching Castlevania, the aesthetic references to Berserk are obvious. Both series merge together medieval fantasy elements with gruesome horror but they are also similar in their particular animation styles. One director from Korean studio MOI Animation who partnered with Powerhouse Animation collaborated on the feature length film Berserk: The Golden Age—The Egg of the King along with its two sequels. But the biggest inspiration for the design of Castlevania, especially when it comes to its characters, is Ayami Kojima herself. 

From the pre-production phase, the team at Powerhouse knew they wanted Kojima’s art to be the main basis of how the finished product would look and feel. According to Samuel Deats, “In the back of everyone’s heads, we knew that we wanted to heavily reference the style Ayami Kojima used in the Castlevania games. We wanted to bring the same shade-before-image sort of thing”. However, due to the sheer amount of details and embroidered style of Kojima’s aesthetic, many of her original designs had to be simplified into 2-D animated forms (just as they had to be reduced into pixelated form for Symphony of the Night).

Alucard’s animated design is the best example of this simplification process, but it took some trial and error in order to arrive at the finished product. When Castlevania was originally planned as a movie, his design veered closer to the otherworldliness and corpse-like aesthetic of Lords of Shadow Alucard—something that looked as far from a human being let alone a dhampir as possible. Following the years of stifled development until Netflix picked up the project, Powerhouse opted to fall back on Kojima’s artwork for sheer iconography and recognizability. 

On the one hand, animated Alucard’s facial expressions are identical to his game counterpart with the exception of a few liberties taken; same determined scowl, same intensely golden eyes, and same lush eyelashes (there’s even a note from his character sheet specifically stating that they must cast shadows for close-ups). Most of all, the same feminine androgyny of Kojima’s work. But there are just as many omitted details from Alucard’s updated model as there are those that were carried over from the original design. When compared to Symphony of the Night, his wardrobe seems to be severely lacking in excessive ornaments, instead opting for a sleek black coat with simple gold embellishments, knee high boots with a slight heel, and a white shirt with an open v-neckline. Despite these supposedly easy changes and evocation of Kojima’s art style, Alucard is still one of the more difficult characters to animate as stated by Deats: “I mean, Alucard has to be just right. You can’t miss an eyelash on him without it looking weird”. 

For the most part, it shows in the final product. There are moments when the animation goes off model (as is the case with most 2-D animated shows for time and budgetary reasons), but rarely is Alucard drawn from an unflattering angle. The other reason for his change in design is the fact that Castlevania takes place three centuries before the events of Symphony of the Night. Because of the story constraints and console limitations, players were not given an in-depth look at Alucard’s character beyond his quest to defeat Dracula and the guilt he felt afterwards. It would make sense that his demeanor differs from the stoic nature of how he reacts to certain situations three hundred years later. As a result, Alucard is given a toned-down design to reflect what he might have been like as a younger, brasher, and more immature version of himself.

This immaturity and juvenile nature of his visual image comes through in his portrayal. While the show is in its third season, we will primarily focus on season two as when compared to the others, it revolves around Alucard’s personal journey towards an important aspect of his long established character the most; namely, the reason for his rebellion against Dracula and his eventual act of patricide. Because Alucard only appears as a silhouette in episode one then makes his full introduction during the last fifteen minutes of the final episode, season one gives the audience a very limited idea of his character. What we do get from Alucard is the same impression that Symphony of the Night left fans with: someone who is determined, intensely fixated on his goal, and is willing to use any means to accomplish it—even if it involves striking a tentative truce between a vampire hunter and a scholar of magic. Season two expands upon this, showing an Alucard who is soft-spoken, careful in his mannerisms, more feminine than masculine, yet always rises to the occasion whenever he needs to match Trevor Belmont’s own crassness. For all of his grace, Alucard’s high emotions coupled with an unchecked immaturity (especially in the presence of Trevor) show how ill-equipped he is when dealing with human interactions.

One other piece of evidence that adds to this chink in Alucard’s carefully crafted metaphorical armor is the goal of stopping his father. Throughout small interactions and moments of dialogue, the truce struck between him, Trevor, and Sypha eventually develops into more of a friendship, yet Alucard continues to suffer from extreme tunnel vision, going as far as to chastise his two companionships whenever they get too distracted or unfocused from their mission. This character flaw is also touched upon in Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls when characters remark upon Alucard’s (otherwise referred in the game as Arikado) overly serious nature. A flaw that does more to unintentionally push others away rather than any attempt to bring them closer to him.

When Alucard finally achieves his goal of killing Dracula, it leaves him feeling hollow. He doesn’t quite know how to fully process this ultimate decision, maintaining a delicate sense of composure on the outside while in the presence of others. It’s only when Alucard is left alone does he allow the emotions of everything that has just happened to overwhelm him in a moment of genuine vulnerability that was only alluded to in previous scenes.

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Conclusion

Despite the show being renewed for a fourth season, the future of the Castlevania franchise in general remains uncertain. There’s been no talk of any other past games being set for rerelease, Grimoire of Souls continues to make sporadic updates to its gacha system rather than its story mode, and Konami has since chosen to take a step back from developing video games in favour of manufacturing pachislot machines. Symphony of the Night and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night creator Koji Igarashi has mentioned in past interviews that should Konami somehow make a return to Castlevania, he would be willing to direct a new instalment. But at the present time, rumors have remained rumors and there are no signs of a new official Castlevania game in the near future whether developed by Konami or an outside company.

No matter what direction Castlevania takes in the years to come, it seems as though Alucard will always follow it, just as Dracula and the Belmonts will as well. This is his franchise as much as it is theirs thanks to continued fan popularity. He’s taken many forms in the past thirty years and become the visual representation of certain trends, yet one thing about him never changes: he is still Dracula’s son, the opposite of his father. He can be cruel, powerful, cold, and everything else a Byronic hero should be yet he can also reject his masculine inheritance in both character and aesthetic. 

Above all else, the human side of Alucard is greater than the monstrous side.

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References

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James, Edward; Mendlesohn, Farah. The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Kibby, M.D. Real Men: Representations of Masculinity in the Eighties Cinema. Sydney: Western Sydney University Thesis Collection, 1997.

Kojima, Ayami. Santa Lilio Sangre. ToÌ"kyoÌ" : Asukashinsha, 2010.

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Moorcock, Michael. Elric of Melniboné. New York: Ace Fantasy, 1987.

Narcisse, Evan. “The Animation Studio That Made Castlevania Explains Why It Was A Dream Project.” io9. Gizmodo, 2017. https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-animation-studio-that-made-castlevania-explains-why-1797476526

Younker, Terasa. “Japanese Lolita: Dreaming, Despairing, Defying.” Standford Journal of East Asian Affairs, 2012, 97-110.

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The Cinematic Legacy of Lupin: Arsène Lupin’s Live-Action Filmography

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When Netflix premiered the first season of Lupin last January, 70 million sheltered-in-place households ravenously binged it, making the series the most-watched non-English show for its premiere month on the streamer so far. Lupin steals a page from French literature. The hero of Lupin, Assane Diop (Omar Sy) is inspired by France’s iconic ‘Gentleman Thief’ Arsène Lupin, a fictional figure created by French writer Maurice Leblanc in 1905. 

Lupin was the subject of some two dozen books by Leblanc, who continued adding into his literary franchise until well into the 1930s. Akin to Robin Hood, Lupin stole from the rich, and often did good deeds despite his thieving capers. He was a master of deception and disguise, a lady killer who always operated with a classy panache. With a legacy spanning more than a century, there have been plenty of live-action depictions in film and TV.

The First Lupin Films are Over a Hundred Years Old

The earliest cinematic portrayals of Lupin were in black and white, and many have been lost. One of the very first was a U.S. production, a short film titled The Gentleman Burglar in 1908. William Ranows, a veteran of over sixty films, played Lupin. It was directed by one of the first film directors ever, Edwin Porter, who worked for Edison. 

Leblanc was a contemporary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Consequently, Holmes appears in a few Lupin stories. Doyle took legal action against Leblanc, forcing the name change in Lupin stories to the thinly disguised ‘Herlock Sholmes.’ As Holmes is loved by the British, Lupin is cherished by the French, and both characters became global icons. Consequently, among the many film and TV adaptations, several that depicted their rivalry regardless of copyright issues. In 1910, a German film serial titled Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes starred Paul Otto as Lupin and Viggo Larsen as Holmes (Larsen also served as director.) There were allegedly five installments in the series, but they’ve all been lost. 

France produced Arsène Lupin contre Ganimard in 1914 with Georges Tréville as Lupin (Inspector Ganimard was constantly on Lupin’s trail). The silent film Arsène Lupin came out of Britain in 1916 with Gerald Ames in the titular role, followed by more U.S. productions: Arsène Lupin (1917) starring Earle Williams, The Teeth of the Tiger (1919) with David Powell, which is also lost, and 813 starring Wedgwood Nowell. 813 was the title of Leblanc’s fourth Lupin book. 

Lupin and the Barrymore Clan of Actors

The legendary thespian John Barrymore played Lupin in 1932’s Arsène Lupin. He took on the role under one of Lupin’s aliases, the Duke of Charmerace. His brother, Lionel Barrymore, played another Lupin nemesis, Detective Guerchard. Given the illustrious cast, this is a standout Lupin film, although there isn’t a shred of Frenchness in Barrymore’s interpretation. Coincidentally, John Barrymore also played Holmes in Sherlock Holmes a decade earlier. He is also the grandfather of Drew Barrymore. 

Barrymore’s Arsène Lupin revolved around the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Historically, the Da Vinci masterpiece was stolen in 1911 and recovered in 1913. This inspired a Lupin short story, a parody akin to early fanfiction that was not written by Leblanc. In 1912, mystery writer Carolyn Wells published The Adventure Of The Mona Lisa which imagined Holmes and Lupin to be part of the International Society of Infallible Detectives alongside A. J. Raffles, Monsieur Lecoq, and other crime-solving luminaries. Barrymore’s Arsène Lupin does not retell this tale, but the theft of the Mona Lisa comes up again in other Lupin films because it’s France so robbing the Louvre is a common plot point. Netflix’s Lupin begins with Diop’s heist of the Queen’s necklace from the Louvre, an Easter egg referring to Leblanc’s original Lupin short story, ‘The Queen’s Necklace’ published in 1906.

The ‘30s delivered two more Lupin films. The French-made Arsène Lupin detective (1937) starred Jules Berry as Lupin and the American-made Arsène Lupin Returns (1938) with Melvyn Douglas who was credited under another Lupin alias Rene Farrand (Lupin has a lot of aliases). Despite being a completely different production, Douglas’ film was an attempt to capitalize on the success of Barrymore’s film as both films were from MGM. Universal Studios entered the fray soon after with their version Enter Arsène Lupin (1944) starring Charles Korvin. The following year, the Mexican-made Arsenio Lupin (1945) featured Ramón Pereda as the French thief. That film also starred José Baviera as Sherlock. 

The Early Japanese Lupin Adaptations

Lupin captured the hearts of the Japanese. Ironically, Japanese speakers have a difficult time pronouncing ‘L’s so Lupin is usually renamed as ‘Rupan’ or ‘Wolf’ (Lupine means wolf-like – remember Remus Lupin from Harry Potter). As early as 1923, Japan also delivered a silent version of 813, retitled Hachi Ichi San, starring Komei Minami as the renamed Lupin character of Akira Naruse. 

In the ‘50s, Japan produced 3 films that credit Leblanc: Nanatsu-no Houseki (1950) with Keiji Sada, Tora no-Kiba (1951) with Ken Uehara, and Kao-no Nai Otoko (1955) with Eiji Okada. However, post-WWII Japan has obscured most of the details on these films. Like Hachi Ichi San, these Japanese versions laid the foundations for the Lupin III, which debuted as a manga in 1967 and spawned a major manga and anime franchise. In karmic retribution for Leblanc poaching Sherlock, Japan stole Lupin. Lupin III was Arsène Lupin’s grandson. 

Notably, the second Lupin III feature film, The Castle of Cagliostro, marked the directorial debut of famed animator Hayao Miyazaki and is considered a groundbreaking classic that inspired Pixar and Disney (Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective (1986) pilfered the finale clockwork fight from The Castle of Cagliostro). In the wake of the anime Lupin III Part I (1971), Japan produced some anime films that were more loyal to Leblanc, notably Kaitō Lupin: 813 no Nazo (1979) and Lupin tai Holmes (1981). However, this article is focused upon live-action adaptations. Lupin III is another topic entirely. 

In the late ‘50s and into the ‘70s, France reclaimed her celebrated son. Robert Lamoureux became Lupin for two films, Les aventures d’Arsène Lupin (1957) and Signé Arsène Lupin (1959). A comedy version pitted rival sons of Lupin against each other in Arsène Lupin contre Arsène Lupin (1962). Playing the Lupin brothers were Jean-Pierre Cassel and Jean-Claude Brialy. 

Lupin on the Small Screen

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TV

From Lupin III to Inspector Gadget: Examining the Heirs of Arsène Lupin

By Natalie Zutter

France also delivered several TV series. Arsène Lupin ran from 1971 to 1974 and starred Georges Descrières. It encompassed 26 60-minute episodes. L’Île aux trente cercueils (1979) is often included in Lupin filmographies because it is based on a Leblanc novel published in 1919 in which Lupin makes a guest appearance. However, he was omitted from this six-episode miniseries, so it doesn’t quite count. Arsène Lupin joue et perd (1980) was another six-episode miniseries loosely based on ‘813’ with Jean-Claude Brialy from the 1962 comedy. 

One more French TV show, Le Retour d’Arsène Lupin, was televised in two seasons, 1989-1990 and 1995-1996. These were 90-minute episodes with 12 in season 1 and eight in season 2. François Dunoyer starred as Lupin.

And in 2007, the largest Lupin TV show ran for a whopping 96 episodes plus one special. Lupin was made in the Philippines no less, starring Richard Gutierrez as André Lupin

Lupin in the Last Decade 

In 2011, Japan delivered one more live-action film Lupin no Kiganjo starring Kōichi Yamadera. Based on Leblanc’s 3rd Lupin book, L’aiguille Creuse, the film is reset in modern Japan.

In the strangest permutation of Japanese Lupins, Daughter of Lupin was a TV series that is an odd hybrid of Lupin III and Leblanc’s work. A campy sitcom in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet, Hana (Kyoko Fukada) comes from a family of thieves known as the L clan who are inspired by Lupin. Her lover, Kazuma (Koji Seto), is from a family of cops. When in thief mode, Hana wears a carnival mask and a velvet catsuit. It’s goofy, sort of a live action version of anime. It ran for two seasons in 2019 and 2020.

The Lupin Adaptation You Should See 

The strongest modern adaptation of Leblanc’s iconic burglar is the period film Arsène Lupin (2004). It’s an actioner, a creation story for Lupin, starting from his childhood and moving rapidly to him becoming a master gentleman thief. Romain Duris plays the titular role, and the film is in French. Backing Duris are veteran actresses Kristin Scott Thomas as Comtesse de Cagliostro and Eva Green as Clarisse de Dreux-Soubise. The story is absurd, like a mash-up between a superhero film and the DaVinci code, and it gets a bit muddled in the telling. However, it’s shot on location (including the Louvre) and encapsulates the spirit of Leblanc’s character in an updated fashion. It’s a perfect primer for Lupin Season 2.

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Lupin seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Netflix now.

The post The Cinematic Legacy of Lupin: Arsène Lupin’s Live-Action Filmography appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2U0px1N

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: The Top 10 Fight Scenes of 2020 According to YOU!

  One of the defining features of anime as a medium are the fight scenes. From their diversity of visuals and dramatic staging to their use in narrative development to the off-the-wall powers and techniques their characters employ. Watching weightless CG battles in superhero flicks, it’s hard not to feel like Hollywood is decades behind. Let’s fix that by letting YOU decide who gets some accolades.

  If you’ve read this article’s companion pieces on 2020’s OPs and EDs you know the drill. What follows is a list of the Top 10 fight scenes of 2020 as determined by viewership on the Crunchyroll Collection YouTube channel, weighted at 30 days so anime from earlier in the year don’t get an advantage and to balance flash-in-the-pan popularity vs iconic moments that will continue on in the fandom’s consciousness. It’s not a perfect metric but I’ve gotta say, the results do show some great taste ...

  10. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? - Ais vs Asterius

    Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? has always been measured with its action, honing its greatest moments into dramatic peaks, so it was great we were able to finish 2020 with not only some of its biggest battles, but Ais finally stepping on the gas for the first time on television since 2017 by battling the legendary minotaur Asterius. Ais didn’t disappoint, as she shouldn’t with her place at the very top of the adventuring world and an unreachable ideal Bell aspires to. Also, opening the fight by shearing off her opponent’s arm may be the most brutal kickoff to a Danmachi fight we’ve seen yet. This battle topped 500k in its first 30 days and I’m confident will make a lasting impression.

  9. Tsugumomo2 - Kazuya vs Kyouka

    Tsugumomo’s second season delivered some absolutely huge battles, but I gotta say I’m surprised the top fight wasn’t Kanaka terrorizing the entire cast of the series with their hunt for blood. That said, Kazuya’s battle against Kyouka had some spectacular effects, a few creative obi adaptations, a divine possession, and a shorted punch to secure the victory so it had all the primary features that make Tsugumomo fights great … And for fans of the series, yes it also had that … This fight drew 600k views in its first 30 days to secure its spot on the list.

  8. A Certain Scientific Railgun T - Level 6 Mikasa vs Touma and Sogiita

    A Certain Magical Index and its various spinoffs have a penchant for going completely off the rails very quickly. This fight in spinoff A Certain Scientific Railgun T is every bit as absurd. Mikasa is pushed into Level 6, giving her godlike power and sending her into a berserk state that only Touma’s magic destroying hand can take down. We also get a guest appearance from one of the series' best side characters in Sogiita whose ability to literally turn guts into power is impossible not to love. 

  Basically, the fight was amazing, Mikasa’s Level 6 form and its absurd power were wonderfully adapted by JC Staff and Touma and Sogiita showed off some amazing combo attacks to prevents the destruction of the city. In particular, Sogiita’s “Super Amazing” punch and princess carrying Touma drew 700k viewers in its first 30 days.

  7. Golden Kamuy - The Stenka

    The most common phrase I hear from Golden Kamuy fans is that the series is underappreciated and, as a Golden Kamuy fan, I’m inclined to agree. This series is so violent, I’m constantly surprised by what it gets away with. I’m hard-pressed to think of another series that has aired in the past five years with the same level of brutality. Basically, I’m saying I’m overjoyed to see Golden Kamuy made the list, even if it's from one of its most tame battles that is simply a no-holds-barred free-for-all where everyone gets their nose broken by a berserk Sugimoto. 

  Might have been the JoJo's reference (not really) but this battle got 700k views in 30 days and just barely beat out Railgun T by ~1k views.

  6. JUJUTSU KAISEN - Gojo vs Sukuna

    Another series I’m unsurprised to see on the list but with an unexpected battle. I would have imagined Gojo’s battle against Jogo might have drawn more attention, or perhaps more recently, Itadori’s battle with Mahito. This clip does make sense after a fashion. It was a breakout moment where MAPPA showed they really meant business adapting JUJUTSU KAISEN and the fight was between two characters that have become fan favorites. 

  Definitely, a defining moment that pulled in double the seventh placer's views at 1.4 million in its first 30 days! Since JUJUTSU KAISEN is still attracting new fans and already topping popularity lists, I imagine it would have been even higher given a bit more time in 2020. Gojo vs Sukuna has continued its upward climb to almost 3 million views, putting it only a few days away from claiming the Number 4 spot in lifetime views. Not bad for an anime in the year's final quarter!

  5. Boruto - Sarada vs Sakura

    BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS has delivered spectacularly animated battles for just about its entire run that prove this anime is no afterthought to the Naruto franchise. Despite a wide selection of quality battles that dropped in 2020, I must admit I knew this one would be at the top. What self-respecting Naruto fan wouldn’t be interested in seeing a less-than-friendly mother/daughter slugfest between Sarada and Sakura? Although theoretically a training match to help Sarada develop her Sharingan, the amount of destruction makes it clear that one wrong move and even Sakura’s medical Jutsu would have trouble putting either of them back together again.

  The Uchiha family battle secured its place with 1.5 million views in its first 30 days. Sarada's family moments, even the ones without fighting, are always winners and Sarada vs Sakura is the third youngest clip on the list so I'm guessing this one is going to withstand the test of time.

  4. One Piece - Zoro vs Hitokiri Kamazo

    One Piece has been on a tear since the beginning of its much-anticipated Wano Kuni arc. Even after delivering a huge battle between Luffy and Katakuri at the end of Whole Cake, there has been a notable bump in the frequency and quality of standout animation in the long-running series, which is great to see since the Wano arc is a series of back-to-back skirmishes that can be elevated by some explosive visuals. 

  No moment this year stands out more in my memory than Zoro’s battle against Hitokiri Kamazo and it seems the fans agree. Zoro borrowing his enemy’s weapon to pull off an amazingly animated Purgatory Onigiri may be one of the coolest sequences in One Piece’s almost 1,000-episode long run. This moment also got 1.5 million views in 30 days, narrowing beating Boruto by about 13k views.

  3. Black Clover - Everyone vs The Devil

    Black Clover has grown as a production to develop a unique visual style for magic-heavy battles and really deliver some hugely impressive battles. It’s ramp up hit a peak in 2019 with the battle between Julius and Licht and it’s been riding high ever since. The top fight of 2020 is an obvious one, as the climactic moment of the series' insanely escalating arc kicked off by Julius and Licht’s battle. It seems like half the cast piled into Hell to take on the unnamed devil and his overpowered word soul magic. To be honest I was surprised the series kept going at all after a moment this climactic (I’m not complaining though).

  The final attack of this battle drew 1.6 million views in its first 30 days and now sits proudly in the Number 2 spot for lifetime views on this list at over 5.5 million!

  2. The God of High School - Jin vs Jaegal

    With its sheer number of lovingly animated battles, The God of High School was a shoo-in for this list and might represent 50 percent or more of its total entries if I hadn’t limited it to one entry per series. Jin vs Jaegal is a natural choice, as the climactic battle of the fast-paced fighting series which delivered on the much-anticipated reveal of Jin Mori’s charyeok. This one really put the god in the high school, jumping far past One Piece to pull 2.1 million views in its first month.

  1. My Hero Academia - Endeavor vs Special Nomu

    My Hero Academia had a huge climactic battle to cap off the winter season, so I gotta say I’m surprised to see it’s the other one that secured the top spot as the Number 1 battle of 2020. Deku vs Overhaul was a huge moment for the series and definitely sits in the upper half of this list, if not the Number 2 spot — but something about Endeavor fighting a Nomu really pulled in a crowd, even putting the clip on YouTube’s trending list. It continues to creep upward at 7.5 million views. One of the most-watched moments of the entire year!

  On reflection moments that show a theoretical power ceiling of a series are always impactful, such as Orochimaru’s battle with Sarutobi or even My Hero Academia’s own battle between All Might and All for One. Endeavor definitely pulled out the guns for this battle to leave an impression before the long wait until the next season ... Or maybe it was just because he said “plus ultra?” Regardless, Endeavor blasted past even the Number 2 spot on this list at 3.7 million views in its first 30 days.

  Those were the best battles of 2020 according to you and, consequently, the last of this series of Top 10 lists. When it comes to fights there’s a lot more to look forward to in 2021. Boruto, Black Clover, and One Piece have all been building toward their current arcs' big conflicts and each seems primed to pull the trigger early next year. If that weren’t enough JUJUTSU KAISEN is about to kick off its school event and MHA is set to make its return.

  That does it for 2020. Hope to see you all at the same time next year.

  If you feel the fandom has missed a great moment, feel free to share it in the comments below!

      Peter Fobian is an Associate Producer at Crunchyroll, writer for Anime Academy and Anime in America, and an editor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Peter Fobian

[animeman08]

Hulk

The Hulk is a fictional superhero appearing in publications by the American publisher Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of The Incredible Hulk (May 1962). In his comic book appearances, the character is both the Hulk, a green-skinned, hulking and muscular humanoid possessing a vast degree of physical strength, and his alter ego Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, a physically weak, socially withdrawn, and emotionally reserved physicist. The two exist as independent dissociative personalities, and resent each other.

Following his accidental exposure to gamma rays saving the life of Rick Jones during the detonation of an experimental bomb, Banner is physically transformed into the Hulk when subjected to emotional stress, at or against his will, often leading to destructive rampages and conflicts that complicate Banner's civilian life. The Hulk's level of strength is normally conveyed as proportionate to his level of anger. Commonly portrayed as a raging savage, the Hulk has been represented with other personalities based on Banner's fractured psyche, from a mindless, destructive force, to a brilliant warrior, or genius scientist in his own right. Despite both Hulk and Banner's desire for solitude, the character has a large supporting cast. This includes Banner's lover Betty Ross, his best friend Rick Jones, his cousin She-Hulk, and therapist and ally Doc Samson. In addition, the Hulk alter ego has many key supporting characters like his co-founders of the superhero team the Avengers, his queen Caiera, fellow warriors Korg and Miek, and sons Skaar and Hiro-Kala. However, his uncontrollable power has brought him into conflict with his fellow heroes and others. Despite this he tries his best to do what's right while battling villains such as Leader, Abomination, Absorbing Man and more.

Lee stated that the Hulk's creation was inspired by a combination of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Although the Hulk's coloration has varied throughout the character's publication history, the most usual color is green.

One of the most iconic characters in popular culture, the character has appeared on a variety of merchandise, such as clothing and collectable items, inspired real-world structures (such as theme park attractions), and been referenced in a number of media. Banner and the Hulk have been adapted in live-action, animated, and video game incarnations. The character was first played in a live-action feature film by Eric Bana. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character was portrayed by Edward Norton in the film The Incredible Hulk (2008) and by Mark Ruffalo in the films The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013) in a cameo, Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019) in a cameo, and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Ruffalo will reprise the role in the upcoming Disney+ series What If...? (2021) and She-Hulk (2022).

> Personality

Bruce Banner During his decades of publication, Banner has been portrayed differently, but common themes persist. Banner, a physicist, is sarcastic and seemingly very self-assured when he first appears in Incredible Hulk #1, but is also emotionally withdrawn. Banner designed the gamma bomb which caused his affliction, and the ironic twist of his self-inflicted fate has been one of the most persistent common themes. Arie Kaplan describes the character thus: "Robert Bruce Banner lives in a constant state of panic, always wary that the monster inside him will erupt, and therefore he can't form meaningful bonds with anyone." As a child, Banner's father Brian often got mad and physically abused both Banner and his mother, creating the psychological complex of fear, anger, and the fear of anger and the destruction it can cause that underlies the character. Banner has been shown to be emotionally repressed, but capable of deep love for Betty Ross, and for solving problems posed to him. Under the writing of Paul Jenkins, Banner was shown to be a capable fugitive, applying deductive reasoning and observation to figure out the events transpiring around him. On the occasions that Banner has controlled the Hulk's body, he has applied principles of physics to problems and challenges and used deductive reasoning. It was shown after his ability to turn into the Hulk was taken away by the Red Hulk that Banner has been extremely versatile as well as cunning when dealing with the many situations that followed. When he was briefly separated from the Hulk by Doom, Banner became criminally insane, driven by his desire to regain the power of the Hulk, but once the two recombined he came to accept that he was a better person with the Hulk to provide something for him to focus on controlling rather than allowing his intellect to run without restraint against the world.

Hulk The original Hulk was shown as grey and average in intelligence who roamed aimlessly and became annoyed at "puny" humans who took him for a dangerous monster. Shortly after becoming the Hulk, his transformation continued turning him green, coinciding with him beginning to display primitive speech, and by Incredible Hulk #4 radiation treatments gave Banner's mind complete control of the Hulk's body. While Banner relished his indestructibility and power, he was quick to anger and more aggressive in his Hulk form, and, while he became known as a hero alongside the Avengers, his increasing paranoia caused him to leave the group, believing he would never be trusted.

Originally, the Hulk was shown as simple minded and quick to anger. The Hulk generally divorces his identity from Banner's, decrying Banner as "puny Banner." From his earliest stories, the Hulk has been concerned with finding sanctuary and quiet and often is shown reacting emotionally to situations quickly. Grest and Weinberg call Hulk the "dark, primordial side of Banner's psyche." Even in the earliest appearances, Hulk spoke in the third person. Hulk retains a modest intelligence, thinking and talking in full sentences, and Lee even gives the Hulk expository dialogue in issue six, allowing readers to learn just what capabilities Hulk has, when the Hulk says, "But these muscles ain't just for show! All I gotta do is spring up and just keep goin'!" In the 1970s, Hulk was shown as more prone to anger and rage, and less talkative. Writers played with the nature of his transformations, briefly giving Banner control over the change, and the ability to maintain control of his Hulk form. Artistically and conceptually, the character has become progressively more muscular and powerful in the years since his debut.

Originally, Stan Lee wanted the Hulk to be grey, but, due to ink problems, Hulk's color was changed to green. This was later changed in the story to indicate that the Grey Hulk and the Savage Hulk are separate personalities or entities fighting for control in Bruce's subconscious. The Grey Hulk incarnation can do the more unscrupulous things that Banner could not bring himself to do, with many sources comparing the Grey Hulk to the moody teenager that Banner never allowed himself to be. While the Grey Hulk still had the "madder he gets, the stronger he gets" part that is similar to the Savage Hulk, it is on a much slower rate. It is said by Leader that the Grey Hulk is stronger on nights of the new moon and weaker on nights of the full moon. Originally, the night is when Bruce Banner becomes the Grey Hulk and changes back by dawn. In later comics, willpower or stress would have Banner turn into the Grey Hulk. During one storyline where he was placed under a spell to prevent him turning back into Bruce Banner and publicly presumed dead when he was teleported away from a gamma bomb explosion that destroyed an entire town, the Grey Hulk adopted a specific name as Joe Fixit, a security guard for a Las Vegas casino owner, with the Grey Hulk often being referred to as Joe after these events.

The Gravage Hulk is the result of Banner using the Gamma Projector on himself which merged his Savage Hulk and Grey Hulk personas. This form possesses the raw power of the Savage Hulk and the cunning intellect of the Grey Hulk. While he doesn't draw on anger to empower him, the Gravage Hulk persona draws on dimensional nexus energies to increase his strength.

The Dark Hulk persona is the result of Hulk being possessed by Shanzar. This form has black skin and is viciously strong.

The Guilt Hulk is a malevolent representation of Banner's abusive father, Brian Banner, that manifests itself in Banner's childhood memories.

The Devil Hulk or Immortal Hulk is the result of Hulk needing a father figure. While the character's physical appearance varies, he is always depicted as having glowing red eyes, and reptilian traits. The new form of Devil Hulk is the result of Banner and Hulk having been through different deaths and rebirths. This incarnation is articulate, smart, and cunning, and does merciless attacks on those who do harm. Unlike the other Hulk incarnations, Devil Hulk is content with waiting inside Bruce. If Bruce is injured by sunset, the Devil Hulk will emerge with his transformation being limited to night-time. Thanks to the Devil Hulk side and Banner working together, Devil Hulk can maintain his form in sunlight.

The Green Scar persona is unleashed on Sakaar and is an enraged version of Gravage Hulk. In addition, he is an expert in armed combat like the use of swords and shields. Green Scar is also a capable leader and an expert strategist.

Doc Green is a variation of the Merged Hulk persona that is the result of Extremis fixing Hulk's brain. This persona is powerful enough to destroy Tony Stark's mansion with one thunderclap.

> Powers and Abilities

Banner is considered one of the greatest scientific minds on Earth, possessing "a mind so brilliant it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test." Norman Osborn estimates that he is the fourth most-intelligent person on Earth. Banner holds expertise in biology, chemistry, engineering, medicine, physiology, and nuclear physics. Using this knowledge, he creates advanced technology dubbed "Bannertech", which is on par with technological development from Tony Stark or Doctor Doom. Some of these technologies include a force field that can protect him from the attacks of Hulk-level entities, and a teleporter.

The Hulk possesses the potential for seemingly limitless physical strength which is influenced by his emotional state, particularly his anger. This has been reflected in the repeated comment, "The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets." The cosmically-powerful entity known as the Beyonder once analyzed the Hulk's physiology, and claimed that the Hulk's potential strength had "no finite element inside." Hulk's strength has been depicted as sometimes limited by Banner's subconscious influence; when Jean Grey psionically "shut Banner off", Hulk became strong enough to overpower and destroy the physical form of the villain Onslaught. Writer Greg Pak described the Worldbreaker Hulk shown during World War Hulk as having a level of physical power where "Hulk was stronger than any mortal—and most immortals—who ever walked the Earth", and depicted the character as powerful enough to completely destroy entire planets. His strength allows him to leap into lower Earth orbit or across continents, and he has displayed superhuman speed. Exposure to radiation has also been shown to make the Hulk stronger. It is unknown how he gains biomass during transformation but it may be linked to One-Below-All.

His durability, regeneration, and endurance also increase in proportion to his temper. Hulk is resistant to injury or damage, though the degree to which varies between interpretations, but he has withstood the equivalent of solar temperatures, nuclear explosions, and planet-shattering impacts. Despite his remarkable resiliency, continuous barrages of high-caliber gunfire can hinder his movement to some degree while he can be temporarily subdued by intense attacks with chemical weapons such as anesthetic gases, although any interruption of such dosages will allow him to quickly recover. He has been shown to have both regenerative and adaptive healing abilities, including growing tissues to allow him to breathe underwater, surviving unprotected in space for extended periods, and when injured, healing from most wounds within seconds, including, on one occasion, the complete destruction of most of his body mass. His future self, "Maestro", was even eventually able to recover from being blown to pieces. As an effect, he has an extremely prolonged lifespan.

He also possesses less commonly described powers, including abilities allowing him to "home in" to his place of origin in New Mexico; resist psychic control, or unwilling transformation; grow stronger from radiation or dark magic; punch his way between separate temporal or spatial dimensions; and to see and interact with astral forms. Some of these abilities were in later years explained as being related; his ability to home in on the New Mexico bomb site was due to his latent ability to sense astral forms and spirits, since the bomb site was also the place where the Maestro's skeleton was and Maestro's spirit was calling out to him in order to absorb his radiation.

In the first Hulk comic series, "massive" doses of gamma rays would cause the Hulk to transform back to Banner, although this ability was written out of the character by the 1970s.

[metalgearkong]

Final Fantasy VII Remake - Review (PS4)

4/30/20

Developed by Square-Enix, released April 2020

Final Fantasy VII was the very first 3D polygonal entry in the Final Fantasy series released back in 1997. To this day, Final Fantasy VII is arguably the most influential and beloved JRPG of all time. When I was growing up I wasn’t a big fan of JRPGs yet. However my best friend(s)s for many year(s) were, and I experienced a lot of Final Fantasy (and other JRPGs) via osmosis. I played and completed the original Final Fantasy VII about 5 years ago, finally seeing what all the hype was about. The Final Fantasy VII remake was one of those highly anticipated titles that we thought would be a miracle if it saw the light of day, let alone being as good as it turned out. Finally, 5 years after the world got a taste of the teaser trailer we finally have the “final” product.

The reason I say “final” is because this is only part 1 of what I’m guessing will be 3 parts, extending and fleshing out everything about the original game in full current-gen presentation. Part 1 only covers the events of Midgar, about 5-6 hours of the original game (out of at least 40) and I finished the remake at about 34 hours. The developers at Square-Enix did a fantastic job making this remake feel like it still had a beginning, middle, and end, despite it covering such little territory from the original. Almost everything that extends the time, including dungeons, character development, side quests, and extra bosses was mostly executed very well.  Only a handful of times did I feel like some of the mini-games and side quests were annoying or a waste of time (don’t even get me started on the giant robotic hand crane puzzle). 

I had a tumultuous relationship with this remake to say the least, and my largest contention with the remake is the combat. I seem to be almost alone on this opinion, but hear me out. The combat could best be compared to Kingdom Hearts, only here, you can switch to different party members, controlling them directly. Also when using the in-game mini menu during a fight, the game will pause the combat allowing you to decide what to do with barely any frames passing by. Despite this remake’s tactical nature, whenever I had to fight more than 3 or so enemies at a time, battles would often turn into a frustrating muddle of a brawl. For example, locking-on has to be done manually, and then done manually again once that enemy is destroyed. Sometimes opponents can remove the lock-on by going invisible, digging below the ground, etc, and having to find a new enemy and manually lock-on again was annoying. 

Tips I Wish I Knew...

Use Cloud’s “Punisher” mode whenever facing opponents with physical close-range attacks and counter often

Customize shortcuts for each party member in the Main Menu and make item usage, spell usage, and special ability usage uniform between all characters

Immediately click the right stick to lock-on to ANY enemy so at least you can start working on them

Take control of a healing or long-distance ally when facing multiple or difficult foes in order to see the battlefield better

Only attack a bit at a time so you have the best chance to stop, dodge, or block if an enemy begins their attack

Use the Multiply Materia (I forgot what it’s called) on a supportive spell such as shields or healing

The camera added to the frustration as well. Instead of phasing through physical objects allowing you to fully see the battle, the camera gets caught up on walls and objects. This leads the camera to “zooming in” and me losing sight of my character and the enemies. Any fight in an arena smaller than a gymnasium has this problem. By far the largest frustration I had with the combat was the cheapness of it. For example, if you begin a combo of normal attacks, there’s no way to interrupt your own animations in order to do something different, such as blocking or dodging. It seemed like the enemies were much quicker at attacking, and would smack you with a high damage attack with no way to avoid it. The game strives for a semi-hack ‘n' slash genre of combat, but the mechanics are far and away not responsive enough for the player to actually react to what they need to react to.

Casting a spell, using an item, or executing a special ability have long durations as well, meaning you can easily be cancelled by an enemy attack or at the very least take damage while an animation is playing out. I get that this is a strategic live-combat JRPG, but it lead me to so much frustration and rage I had to move the difficulty down to Easy because Normal just seemed to cheap. It’s a shame because the entire rest of the game is so damned good, I don’t know how the ball was dropped so hard on the combat system. Again, this seems to be my opinion alone because I haven’t heard this criticism anywhere else, which adds to the feeling of frustration for me because it makes me feel “not good enough” despite being a lifelong and daily gamer. 

Not enough can be said about the character development and everything having to do with the narrative. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret have been iconic leads for over two decades, but compared to the ramke, they may as well have been cardboard cutouts. Every single cinematic is filled with amazing animation and cinematography, the likes I never expected to see. Characters look fantastic, sure, but the way they work off each other’s personalities and motives breathes new life into what was already considered a terrific game in terms of story. I like how Tifa has her reasons to hate Shinra, but is the most apprehensive about Avalanche’s terrorist actions. Barret comes off as a big meat head, but over time you see that he believes in every word he says. The music is also astounding as we not only hear familiar tracks, but many of the songs get several different remixes. Aerith’s theme in particular gets the most use and its variations make the biggest impacts, transforming what is normally background music into well defined leitmotifs used at all the right moments during the story.

Final Fantasy VII remake (part 1) is a dazzling, emotional, hugely impressive product. This is the the remake fans have only been dreaming about for many many years and I think it mostly pays off well. Virtually every aspect of this adaptation, including characters, music, locations, tone, enemies, and certain mechanics have been painstakingly recreated and reinvigorated to a successful degree that makes it all worth the wait. However, I am not a fan of the combat system and its such a strange thing to get wrong compared to how much of the game is so masterfully created. The additions to the story and lore (few that there are) also lead to unnecessary sections of the game, especially near the end, and has rightfully gotten a mixed reaction from fans of the original. I am desperately curious how the developers will sparse out the rest of the story in these remakes, beings there’s so much left to see and tell, but hope the combat system receives some polish and alterations before the end.

7/10

[gamex2020]

Best SNES Games

    List of All SNES Games Based on Movies

Here are the best SNES Games of all time. Check out our picks for the best SNES games!

3 Ninjas Kick Back

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $60-$70

This is an action-platformer with co-op gameplay and great sound design. The graphics and controls are a little lackluster.

The Addams Family

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $14-$17

Mediocre SNES platformers can often be saved with great mascots, and this is no exception. You only get to play as Gomez, and the only levels are in the family’s mansion, but it’s worth a play if you’re a fan.

Addams Family Values

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $14-$17

This is A Link to the Past, but with Uncle Fester and friends. The password system is infuriating, but the game itself is solid. Bonus points to the developers for making an action RPG with the license instead of a platformer.

Aladdin

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $15-$17

Aladdin is often considered one of the best licensed platformers of all time. The SNES version and the Genesis version have obvious differences, but they’re both masterpieces.

Alien 3

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $18-$20

Ripley makes her way through a passable run-and-gun adventure. This port is leagues ahead of the NES version, which was only released a few months earlier.

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $70-$75

Fievel gets to take down some 16-bit bosses with decent gameplay variety. The colors are sharp, and the levels aren’t too long are hard; this title is very kid friendly.

Batman Forever

Release Year: 1995

Current Value: $8

This is a truly terrible game that’s great fun to watch during speed run conventions. Notably, there is a “training mode” that attempts to be a fully-fledged tournament fighter, but it fails miserably.

Batman Returns

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $18-$20

Unlike Batman Forever, this is a creative side-scrolling action game that uses the Animated Series’ aesthetic effectively.

Beauty and the Beast

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $40-$45

This side-scrolling game is rather generic. You play as Beast and try to save Belle, but there’s little to separate it from other games in the genre.

Bebe’s Kids

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $33-$37

This is the slowest beat-em-up of all time. Walking is slow, attacking is slow, and enemies have seemingly infinite health. Stay away.

Beethoven: The Ultimate Canine Caper

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $8-$10

A simple platformer where you can play as a dog that barks at enemies for damage. No, it’s not about the composer.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $8-$10

This is a semi-sufficient replacement for gamers that crave more Castlevania. The graphics are a little gaudy, but you came to fight Dracula, and fight Dracula you shall.

Casper

Release Year: 1996

Current Value: $85-$100

This plays kind of like A Boy and his Blob, with Casper tethered to Kat Harvey. Oddly, the Japanese Super Famicom Casper is different, with the roles reversed in an isometric perspective.

Cliffhanger

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $5-$7

There’s less cliffhanging and more bad-guy punching. It’s a simple brawler based on a simple movie. Missed opportunity for a cliffhanger ending, of course.

Cool World

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $10-$13

Although a mediocre adventure game, this stays pretty close to the source material. It’s a lot more kid-friendly, though, and appropriate for Nintendo.

Cutthroat Island

Release Year: 1995

Current Value: $8-$10

Lukewarm swashbuckling action is backed up by nice graphics and music. It’s button mashing, but hey, swords are cool.

Demolition Man

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $15-$18

Mediocre platforming sometimes switches to decent top-down shooting. Don’t you wish it was one or the other? This could have been a decent Contra clone.

Dennis the Menace

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $8-$10

You have to collect all of Mr. Wilson’s coins and find two of Dennis’ friends. Notably, there’s a timer; it’s just as anxious as the movie.

Dinocity

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $13-$15

It’s based on the movie Adventures in Dinosaur City. The graphics and worlds are fun to explore, and the dinosaurs you choose actually affect gameplay.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $9-$12

Bruce Lee gets a well-deserved tournament fighter, but almost every aspect of the game is poor. At least Bruce Lee was given recognition by getting a character in every other fighting game series.

The Flintstones

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $10-$13

This game uses its overworld as a sort of board game, where landing on a space decides the level you play. Sometimes it’s shops, sometimes it’s bosses, sometimes it’s a normal platformer.

Home Alone

Release Year: 1991

Current Value: $8-$10

Not only does it not follow the movie, but this game can be completed in less than half an hour. Even Macaulay Culkin hates it.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $6-$8

There’s powerups, and this has a little more going for it than the first game, but it’s not a significant improvement. It’s a bit nice to powerslide into enemies.

Hook

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $23-$26

The gameplay is standard platforming, but the graphics are outstanding for the time period. It almost looks like modernized pixel art made with decades of experience.

The Hunt for Red October

Release Year: 1991

Current Value: $6-$8

There’s side-scrolling and underwater action, with Super Scope bonus levels. If you enjoyed Jaws on the NES, this might catch your fancy.

Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $30-$35

Few movie games effectively used the Mode 7 functionality on the SNES, but this game is a joy to look at. It’s the second most iconic sidescroller featuring whip-based combat.

Judge Dredd

Release Year: 1995

Current Value: $7-$9

Run-and-guns don’t often give you the option to arrest the enemies instead of blasting them to bits. There’s hard bosses to make it worth strolling through the brightly-covered comic book levels.

The Jungle Book

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $5-$7

This game picked up where the original Pitfall left off. It’s platforming with vine-swinging, so of course it’s satisfying. Is there any game with vine-swinging that isn’t?

Jurassic Park

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $5-$7

Grant has a chibi sprite in this game that utilizes alternating perspectives. Top-down shooting with explosives and tranquilizers switches to first-person gaming when entering a building. No continues and no passwords; you have to beat the whole thing in one go.

Last Action Hero

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $8-$10

Most of the Arnold Schwarzenegger games are shooters, but this one is a beat-em-up. The final boss of the game is the final boss of the movie to boot.

The Lawnmower Man

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $8-$10

Nothing to do with the movie, and nothing to do with the book. Yet, it’s just as weird as both. This is a first-person platformer, a first-person shooter, a sidescroller, and a shoot-em-up (with two different perspectives and three distinct styles) all at once. Each level is different.

Lethal Weapon

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $8-$10

It’s a platformer with shooting elements where you can play as Riggs or Murtaugh. Oddly enough, the developers opted for a more cartoony style than what you’d expect for an adaptation of the movie.

The Lion King

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $8-$10

One of Disney’s best games, this sold over a million copies in the U.S. alone. It’s really hard, but not terribly unfair.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $18-$20

Thank goodness you get to play as the monster and not some boring human. You can attack all of the vengeful townspeople to your heart’s content; the plot closely follows the 1994 film it’s based on, rather than the book or the old-school Universal movie.

The Mask

Release Year: 1995

Current Value: $35-$40

Gamers would pick this up for the humor and goof factor, and The Mask delivers. It’s a side-scroller with whacky attacks and ammo meters to manage.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie

Release Year: 1995

Current Value: $40-$50

Beat-em-ups suit the Power Rangers cast. Much like other games in the genre, it’s repetitive, but great for fans of the series. There’s six characters, though they do play relatively similarly.

No Escape

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $11-$13

No Escape’s graphics are really, really good, and it has awesome cutscenes to boot. Unfortunately, it controls really poorly. Something good got lost along the way.

Outlander

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $10-$12

Outlander was originally developed as a Mad Max game before the developers lost the rights. There’s driving and shooting, and walking and shooting. It’s a bit repetitive, but maybe it would have sold well with an actual license.

The Pagemaster

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $7-$9

Another Macaulay Culkin game with platforming, this time with magic combat and literature worlds. It’s not bad, but he hates this one too.

Pinocchio

Release Year: 1995

Current Value: $13-$15

Old-school platforming with an emphasis on puzzles. There’s storybook cutscenes too, which are a nice reward for finishing each level.

RoboCop 3

Release Year: 1991

Current Value: $13-$15

He’s slow in the movie, but does he have to be so slow in the game too? It would be funny if it weren’t so hard, though fans will get a kick out of it regardless.

The Rocketeer

Release Year: 1991

Current Value: $6-$8

Like many other games on this list, Rocketeer tries to mix genres; it’s half flying, a quarter shooting, and a quarter brawling. The flying segments would be interesting, but it asks you to look at a tiny camera window at the bottom of the screen instead of the big landscape that takes up the rest.

Snow White: Happily Ever After

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $23-$25

Targeted at casual gamers, this sidescroller has three difficulty levels. Though the gameplay isn’t extremely unique, you have to give credit to developers that knew their audience.

Stargate

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $10-$13

Though it controls decently, this is a run-of-the-mill platformer. They played it super safe with this one, considering Stargate lends itself to any number of genres.

Super Godzilla

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $12-$15

Super Godzilla is hard to classify; half of it is a slow one-on-one fighter, and the other half is tactical tile movement. The bottom half of the screen shows tiles you can move Godzilla to, while the top half shows the actual actions Godzilla is taking. It’s methodical and appropriate.

Super Star Wars

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $10-$12

Luke starts off with a blaster, and eventually upgrades to a lightsaber! There’s even more action than the movie for this sidescroller, plus a playable Han and Chewbacca. Even though it’s not subtitled, the game is based on Episode IV, clearly preparing for sequels. Don’t worry, there’s vehicle combat too.

Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $11-$13

Episode V follows the gameplay of its predecessor, adding new weapons and special moves for the characters. Plus, there’s double jumping and a final boss fight with Vader. However, the story isn’t finished…

Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $14-$16

Once again, this follows the Super Star Wars formula, but adds Leia and Wicket as playable characters. There’s more content and action-packed levels, and this is about as good as it gets for licensed games of the 16-bit era.

T2: The Arcade Game

Release Year: 1991

Current Value: $9-$11

This is a conversion of the lightgun arcade game; don’t bother playing without a Super Scope or a SNES Mouse. If you have either, this game is a super fun novelty.

The Terminator

Release Year: 1992

Current Value: $32-$35

Difficult side-scrolling with no continues are punctuated by fun driving segments. It’s harder than it is long, but you’d wish it was all driving.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $32-$35

It’s a sidescrolling adventure game, but half of it is escort levels. Plus, it’s not always easy to tell what you’re supposed to do. In short: quite frustrating.

Toy Story

Release Year: 1995

Current Value: $10-$13

Believe it or not, this is one of the best platformers on the system. It has awesome graphics, controls nicely and has fun levels. It sold so well, they ran out of chips to make more cartridges.

Toys

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $5-$7

This game is seriously unimpressive. You have to collect toys to fight the enemy with, but most of the screen is covered up by isometric tiles coated in eye-straining blue paint.

True Lies

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $30-$35

Reviews for this are polarized. It’s a top-down shooter almost reminiscent of modern games like Hotline Miami. It’s short, but very sweet.

Warlock

Release Year: 1994

Current Value: $10-$12

It’s repetitive and you won’t want to finish it, but the puzzles and spells of Warlock are impressive for a couple hours.

Wayne’s World

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $10-$12

It’s hard to be accurate to a movie like this, but the Wayne’s World game is goofy and fun. The graphics are pretty good, but it’s hard to pay attention to them with the game’s difficulty.

We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $6-$8

It uses the movie’s characters, but has a new plot to follow. The graphics are nice, but it’s a rather simple platformer. Great for kids.

The Wizard of Oz

Release Year: 1993

Current Value: $20-$25

It’s got some cool ideas; the main cast is all playable and there’s new locations to visit in the World of Oz. Unfortunately, the platforming is broken and the foreground and background blend together.

[angelofberlin2000]

By Rick Marshall 

August 21, 2019  2:25PM PST

It might be difficult to believe right now, but there was a point — not too long ago, in fact — when Keanu Reeves wasn’t everywhere you looked.

The recent news that Reeves would return to lead yet another installment of The Matrix franchise seemingly puts an exclamation point on the 54-year-old actor’s professional resurgence after nearly a decade out of the spotlight.

From carrying a new action franchise (and becoming one of the most sought-after cameos in the industry), to making headlines in the gaming world, to reprising one of his most iconic roles after a 15-year hiatus, Reeves’ ubiquitous presence these days is one of Hollywood’s most pleasant surprises.

It’s also a fascinating look at how one big hit — in this case, his starring role in John Wick — can shake things up and remind audiences why we liked an actor so much in the first place.

After rising to fame in the ’80s and ’90s with comedy hits like Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its sequel (as well as 1989’s Parenthood), Reeves moved into action-hero territory with ’90s classics Point Break and Speed, along with a high-profile horror role in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Like most prominent actors, his career during that era had its share of mild highs and lows, with his 1995 romance film A Walk in the Clouds and 1997 supernatural thriller The Devil’s Advocate both earning critical acclaim, while sci-fi adventures Johnny Mnemonic and Chain Reaction were widely panned.

Then The Matrix came along and changed everything.

Reeves’ portrayal of a mild-mannered computer programmer who becomes the cyberpunk savior of humanity in a war against sentient machines turned him from a reliable (if not particularly exciting) male lead to the coolest action hero in Hollywood. The Wachowskis’ groundbreaking 1999 film changed the game for visual effects and cinematography with its innovative fight choreography and set pieces heavily influenced by Hong Kong cinema and Japanese animation while exploring themes that are still highly relevant (and excitedly discussed) 20 years later.

The Matrix would go on to win four Academy Awards while establishing itself as one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made, with Reeves as the face of what would soon become a massive franchise.

The Matrix - Original theatrical Trailer

Two sequels to soon followed, with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions both hitting theaters in 2003 (a unique strategy, but one that seemed like an easy win given the first film’s success). The first of those sequels went on to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time worldwide, a record it held until Deadpool came along 13 years later.

At that point, Reeves was the star of one of Hollywood’s biggest, most visually stunning action franchises — and then, just a few years later, he seemed to fade into the background again.

In the years that followed, Reeves starred in a genre-spanning series of films peppered with indie darlings like The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and experimental projects like Richard Linklater’s rotoscoped adaptation of A Scanner Darkly. There were a few big-budget movies like the poorly reviewed remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still that arrived in theaters and quickly disappeared, but nothing approached the level of The Matrix franchise.

Man of Tai Chi - Officail Trailer (2013)

During this lull, Reeves found time for music, wrote a book, made his directorial debut in the under-appreciated martial-arts film The Man of Tai-Chi, and even produced a documentary about photography.

But things changed dramatically once again in 2014 when Reeves starred in a little-known action film directed by two former stuntmen called simply John Wick.

Much like The Matrix, John Wick drew inspiration from Hong Kong cinema, anime, and classic martial-arts movies for its tale of a former assassin who comes out of retirement when criminals kill his dog during a botched robbery. Directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch drew from their backgrounds to craft stunning fight sequences for the film that let Reeves carry each scene with his pensive stares and affinity for kung-fu filmmaking techniques, while simultaneously keeping the themes simple (revenge) and teasing the existence of a much larger world inhabited by its colorful cast of killers.

John Wick was a surprise hit, raking in more than $88 million worldwide on a meager (by Hollywood standards) budget of $20 million. It matched that box-office success with almost universally positive reviews, with some suggesting it was one of Reeves’ best performances to date. And just like that, Reeves was an action hero again.

JOHN WICK - Official Trailer #1 (2014)

Two sequels followed, and unlike The Matrix trilogy, the John Wick films — 2017’s John Wick: Chapter Two and 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum — only got more successful with each installment. The box-office returns increased with each sequel, and reviews got progressively more positive too (no small feat, given the first film’s 87% positive reviews), solidifying Reeves’ status as one of the hottest action stars in the industry all over again.

All it took was a black suit, a dead puppy, and a whole lot of bullets.

Given all of that, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Reeves is headed back to The Matrix universe (and Bill and Ted’s universe, for that matter). Between the success of the John Wick franchise to Reeves’ role in Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most anticipated video games of the upcoming year, to the calls for him to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to the frequent, real-life reminders that he might be one of the nicest people in Hollywood, there’s a strong argument to be made that Reeves is entering the best stage of his career so far as he approaches age 55.

It remains to be seen whether Reeves’ return to The Matrix can find the magic that the original film channeled, but with Lana Machowski behind the camera and Reeves in front of it — along with fellow Matrix veteran Carrie-Anne Moss — there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about taking the red pill and diving back into that sci-fi saga.

Reeves has already defied conventional wisdom by becoming an action hero so late in his career, but if there’s anything his trajectory has shown us, it’s that he’s the sort of actor who can surprise us in all the best ways.

[themovieblogonline]

Books That Became Films: The Blockbusters

The film industry never runs out of inspiration, especially when it comes to children’s adventures. Many of your favorite movies started as beloved books, each with its own unique charm. Here are some iconic books that became films. - The BFG (1989) Giants don’t have to be scary, and one little girl is determined to prove it. Roald Dahl’s 1982 classic, The BFG (The Big Friendly Giant), has been a fan favorite for decades. The story has been adapted into a 1989 animated film, a 2016 Disney live-action movie, and a stage play that debuted at Wimbledon Stadium in 1991.   - Charlotte’s Web (1973 E. B. White created literary magic with Charlotte’s Web, a touching tale of friendship between a spider and a pig whose life is at risk. The book was first adapted into a film in 1973 and later in 2006. In the same year, a live-action adaptation hit the screens, and a video game was released. The story also inspired a musical that premiered at Opera Delaware in 1989.   3. How To Train Your Dragon (2010) Cressida Cowell’s series about Viking children and their dragons became an instant hit. DreamWorks recognized the potential and developed a full-fledged How to Train Your Dragon franchise, with three movies already in the can. The story of Hiccup and Toothless continues to captivate audiences worldwide.   - Madeline Lost In Paris (1999) One of my all-time favorites, Madeline: Lost in Paris, is an underrated masterpiece. Based on the beloved children’s books by Ludwig Bemelmans, this film follows a group of girls studying at a Catholic school in Paris. It’s a heartwarming, emotional tale that has spawned movies, video games, toys, and more. The beautiful graphics and touching storyline make this television film a must-watch. - Coraline (2009) Would you trade your eyes for buttons to have a perfect life? Neil Gaiman’s fantasy-horror novel Coraline captured the imaginations of both kids and adults. The story was brought to life in a 2009 stop-motion animated film, followed by a 2018 opera and a 2005 musical. There’s even a video game that lets you explore Coraline’s eerie world. - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009) In a world where food falls from the sky, anything can happen. Judi Barrett’s quirky book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs has spawned three books and two animated films released by Sony Pictures in 2009 and 2013. The whimsical concept is sure to bring a smile to your face.     - Pinocchio (1940) The tale of a wooden boy whose nose grows when he lies is a timeless classic. The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi has been adapted into numerous live-action and animated films, including the iconic 1940 Disney movie. From stage plays to video games, Pinocchio’s journey from puppet to real boy remains one of the most beloved stories in children’s literature.   - Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) At this point, we're all convinced how great a Roald Dahl adaptation can be. With several of his classics turned into iconic films, this one is no exception. A sly fox wanting to survive with his cunning instincts, that’s Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. Published in 1970, it has been adapted into a 2009 stop-motion film, as well as a 2019 opera, that won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Opera.  - The Grinch (2018) Dr. Seuss’s mischievous, Christmas-hating Grinch has been the subject of many adaptations, including the 2018 animated feature and a 2007 San Diego musical. The Grinch’s journey from heartless recluse to holiday hero is a festive favorite.     - Peter Pan (1988) Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up, is a creation of J. M. Barrie. His adventures in Neverland have sparked the imagination of countless children and have been adapted into numerous films, including the 1953 Disney classic and live-action movies in 1988 and 2003. Peter’s escapades with Wendy, Captain Hook, and the Lost Boys remain a fantasy at its finest. Whether you prefer reading the original books or watching the film adaptations, these timeless books that became films offer something for everyone. Who knows? They might just become your new favorites. Read the full article