#it's been years of drought anime wise for this genre

[lale-txt]

i'm gonna tell my grandkids this was Gojo after i successfully managed to drag him out of the shonen and put him into a cute shoujo slice of life ♡

[aion-rsa]

Netflix’s He-Man Isn’t for Parents, It’s For a New Generation

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The Masters of the Universe franchise is experiencing a major resurgence, with three new series on Netflix after a drought of animated content after the 2002 MOTU series ended in 2004. The new era has been an altogether unexpected one for the franchise. Leading off with a new version of She-Ra, a character not seen in animation since the ‘80s, the show boldly aimed its stories at a new and more diverse group of viewers. Even with its eschewing of direct connections to He-Man the show delighted in its references and use of the wider MOTU mythology.

Then we got Masters of the Universe: Revelation. Where many updates of old franchises simply take concepts and do a modern take on them, Revelation instead was a love letter to fans of the franchise. It wasn’t a reboot of He-Man, it was a continuation of the original show. It was filled to the brim with references and callbacks, both obvious and deep cut. This was a show that wasn’t just using nostalgia as a marketing tactic, it was actively courting its original audience and making something specific for them.

Now we come to Netflix’s new He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Another kids series like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power but this time utilizing the flagship elements of the franchise. That gang’s all here – He-Man, Skeletor, Teela, Man at Arms, Cringer, Evil-Lyn, etc. In some ways this is the more prototypical example of a nostalgic reboot, one that takes certain elements of the past and remixes them for a new generation. However this show goes even farther than She-Ra in its straying from the source material.

The new He-Man has its own unique story-telling sense. The plot isn’t a retread of what came before, in this version Adam doesn’t remember his past and discovers the powers of He-Man in his teens. Where before only he wielded the power of Grayskull, now a whole team is able to call on its power, turning the show from one with a clear main character to an ensemble piece. It boldly reimagines the look of classic characters, still retaining key visual markers, but breathing new and modern design sensibilities in them, much of this aided by the show’s use of CGI instead of traditional animation.

Jeff Matsuda, co-executive producer of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, knew full well that while it was essential to honor the original series and core aspects of the franchise, the important thing was to create something that the new generation of kids could own for themselves.

“We have ours,” Jeff explains, referring to longtime fans of the franchise, “and all the iterations, but it’s nice for kids (because) they want to own something themselves. I have kids and if it’s something that has to do with their dad, they’re ‘ah, no, thanks.’ They want something of their own to enjoy.”

This doesn’t mean the new series is He-Man in name only. Showrunner Rob David makes it clear that they’re standing on the shoulders of the many creative’s who’ve had a hand in the franchise. The new creative team’s goal however was to take everything that came before, distill it to its core essence, and find a way of reimagining it, “for a kid today who needs it to reflect both that kid’s hopes, dreams, world, and aspirations on their terms.”

One of the biggest elements of that was changing He-Man a.k.a. Adam himself. In the original series He-Man is a larger than life hero who begins the series fully formed and ready to take on evil with very few doubts in his mind. David wanted the new version of He-Man to reflect how the concept of a hero has changed over the years.

“Our need for heroes is not for instant perfect heroes. It is to show the challenge and journey of becoming a hero.”

This core ethos for the show meant sweeping changes to the story. One example of this is in the changes to the character of Duncan aka Man-At-Arms. In the original series he was an older mentor to He-Man and the father of Teela. In the new series, he and Adam are the same age and there’s no relation to Teela. These changes were made to aid Adam’s larger arc of having to grow into being a hero. He couldn’t have someone like Man-At-Arms around to protect him. However, the new Man-At-Arms  does maintain his role of being a master inventor so a core part of the original character is still there.

This would have left the new series without a mentor character, something David stressed was something that couldn’t be discarded from a MOTU series. This led to Cringer, formerly a comedic sidekick, to fill that mentor role. This keeps that core mentor element but also lets the series bring a new take to the story with the concept of a whole team utilizing the power of Grayskull.

“The archetypes are always there even when they’re re-imagined for a new audience,” David says.

In keeping with this being a new take on He-Man, the creative team didn’t just look for inspiration from the original series but drew on multiple new sources. One easily recognizable influence is the genre of Tokusatsu, Japanese special effects series that include Super Sentai (better known in America for being adapted into Power Rangers.) He-Man and the rest of the cast all have colorful stock transformation sequences that play in most of the episodes. They wear armor and each character has their own stock attack animation sequences.

Matsuda says this wasn’t completely intentional but, “being Japanese, I grew up with a lot of that stuff. Sometimes I’d be like, ‘why do I love it when there’s a team of people that all have a specific color for each person?”’

He also points to Goonies and Stranger Things as inspiration for the team dynamic of the series. 

“Anytime you have kids becoming friends and hanging out, it is exactly where I love to be.”

While a small group of fans may argue that the series should stick close to its roots, a franchise like He-Man needs to reinvent itself to stay relevant. It can’t just keep going back to the well and redoing the same old stories. The creative team of Netflix’s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe made sure to draw inspiration from the past because without that it wouldn’t be MOTU, but they also weren’t afraid to take the franchise in a new direction. Especially with two other recent MOTU shows for fans to watch and enjoy, this was the perfect and right time for the franchise to take a chance.

The franchise also can’t keep being made exclusively for older fans. This series, like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power before it, is wisely aimed at the new generation and in the long run the franchise will benefit from it. What may seem new and different now is something that, in 20 or 30 years, will be another beloved part of a long franchise. That isn’t to say old school fans can’t enjoy the series, there’s a lot to love about it if you’re a hardcore fan or just an adult looking to watch a fun show, but it’s nice to know that today’s generation will have a He-Man series to call their own.

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He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is available to stream on Netflix now.

The post Netflix’s He-Man Isn’t for Parents, It’s For a New Generation appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[onestowatch]

Au/Ra on Writing Fan Fiction, Anime, and Not Having to Always “Stay Happy” [Q&A]

Meet Au/Ra, the new wave cool girl carrying the dark pop genre into the light. The singer has lived quite a life and made remarkable career moves in spite of only being 17. After touring with the likes of ALMA, Lewis Capaldi, and Nina Nesbitt, Au/RA is back to releasing her electronic-backed, vividly emotional singles like “Dance in the Dark” and “Medicine.” 

With her eye-catching green hair tied back in a ponytail, we got a chance to talk to Au/Ra about her Caribbean upbringing, Lord of The Rings, and her brand new music video for “Stay Happy” just before her show at School Night in Los Angeles.

OTW: Soundcheck sounded great. Is this your first show in a while?

Au/Ra:: Yes, in a while! It’s crazy how time flies by so quickly, because I was on tour here last year ALMA. I haven’t been back since then, so it’s really cool.

OTW: I know you mentioned previously playing AnimeCon. I’m wondering if your album artwork is a nod to anime at all?

Au/Ra: It definitely is an ode to anime, I’d say. I’ve been really inspired by the art and culture behind anime. I think at the very start of my making music, I always had it in my head that all of my artwork would be illustrated. I just didn’t see myself as an artist with a bunch of photography with my face on everything. 

OTW: Wow, you know it’s a hot take to do that!

OTW: Yeah, we just kind of continued with it. And I don’t plan on stopping because I just really love how it looks. I do wish I could draw like that though. It’s not me, because I’m terrible at drawing!

OTW: Oh so am I! I can only do stick figures and such. 

Au/Ra: Same! I’m all doodles. I think the only thing I can draw is anime eyes. I’m just not good with full faces! But I’ve been working with different illustrators basically. It’s so crazy because the way I found them was just by DM’ing them on Instagram. I’ll go on an explore page and go through anime art. Then I’ll look up the illustrator and DM them, like, “Are you looking for commissions?” 

OTW: They’ve done great work! So you were raised in Ibiza and moved to the Caribbean. How did all of this happen?

Au/Ra: It’s sort of a strange thing, and I grew up thinking it was normal! And of course, all of my friends there had a story like that. They had all moved there with their families from different countries as well. Some had been born and raised there, so I think it’s something we all did get used to. And now since everyone’s started moving away, and doing their own thing, we’ve all come back to the island and been like, “Wow it’s a big world out there. And the way that we’ve been raised here, is not normal!” It’s different. 

OTW: What was it like? I mean you live where people vacation!

Au/Ra: Kind of! That was kind of like the thing. But it was different after you’ve lived there because you experience all sides of the island. It’s a beautiful place and I’m so lucky to have grown up there. The beaches are stunning, the food is amazing, and the people are lovely. But there definitely are some struggles too. Like sometimes there is a lack of resources, especially during droughts. We had to order like 15 water trucks to fill up our cistern. Hurricanes, power cuts are a regular thing as well. It’s an island! 

OTW: Has living there influenced your music at all? Or at least how you approach music-making? 

Au/Ra: It definitely did. I think the reason why I got into creative writing and songwriting was because I didn’t really have access to TV or the internet for a while. It really gave me time to focus on that. And eventually, when I got my laptop, I started uploading and writing everything there. But I think it’s just the outlook–you know, treasuring resources more. I mean right now, it’s so crazy with climate change and everything that’s happening in the world. 

That, of course, has been happening for ages, but now people are actually talking about it. Like Greta Thunberg; She is so cool. I’m in awe of her. She’s wise beyond her years. But I’ve been more inclined to talk about things in my music that aren’t talked about as much. Definitely growing up with not having access to certain things all the time, and seeing what that is like when you don’t have water or power anymore. I think it formed a different perspective I have on things. My first song “Concrete Jungle” really addressed all of that. That and several social issues too. 

OTW: On the subject of writing, I read somewhere that your stage name comes from a Lord of the Rings fan fiction you wrote.

Au/Ra: Ugh! I’m such a nerd! It’s really funny because I started writing and getting really into Lord of the Rings when I was 12. I could even speak Elvish for a little bit.

OTW: Oh wow so when other kids went Harry Potter, you went Lord of The Rings. 

Au/Ra: I went Lord of the Rings, yeah I went back! (laughs) I had such a big crush on Legolas. After watching the movies, I read the books and got into it. Then I wrote fan fiction about one of the characters, and her original name was Aurethial. I always loved the word aura, and what it meant. When I was 14, I went back to that when I was thinking of what my artist name should be. I might as well use that. The slash, I wish it had a big meaning behind it but, there is another artist Aurora. She’s Scandinavian and really cool. She was up-and-coming then, and I didn’t want to confuse people. 

OTW: Lovely origin story! Speaking of origin stories, I know you’ve been doing this for two years, but when did you really start getting into music?

Au/Ra: When I was 12, that’s probably when I was officially like I want to do this. It’s only five years ago. I was in the same choir since I was nine, so I think that helped me get over my stage fright. I always loved singing, and my family is in the music industry. Music was always something I was around the creation of–my dad’s a producer and mom is a songwriter. I actually worked with them before I worked with anyone else.

OTW: Nice, so they were pretty supportive of this?

Au/ra: Ehh, no... At first, they weren’t. No.. (laughs) They were like, “You can’t do this.” We had gone through quite a hard time being in the music industry though, especially in the early 2000s. You know, when streaming was first developing and physical sales were going down. So they were like “No, no, no. This is not a promising career right now.” And I then I just took matters into my own hands and started uploading Youtube music videos. My dad saw them and was like “Oh this is not-” and he helped me start making proper videos.

OTW: So once they saw you were serious about it-

Au/ra: I was really stubborn too. So once they saw how dedicated I was to it, they were more supportive and open to taking me seriously. 

OTW: We’ve got to talk about “Stay Happy.” It touches on so many things I think us young people struggle with, like fomo and making new fake friends. Where did the idea for “Stay Happy” come from?

Au/Ra: I was going through a weird time where I was really neutral. I wasn’t very happy or sad. It was just kind of like this weird middle feeling, and I didn’t know what to do. I thought it would just go away after a while. But I found after some time that if I tried to make myself happier again, I was just faking it. So like what do I do? And writing about it was part of what helped me solve it. As cheesy as that sounds, that actually just helped me figure out what it was and accept it. It’s just a phase. It’s alright, and life can be like that sometimes. And there are other people who feel this way too. So it’s a nice reminder that everyone has little happy/sad moments and that’s life. 

OTW: Life has its ups and downs. The part about life hacks too–that got me.

Au/Ra: Yeah! You know you go on wikiHow and look up things? That was the whole thought behind the video. It was me trying stereotypical ways to make myself feel happy again. I did have an idea to have a puppy. I’ve been trying to get a puppy into a music video for a while now. I just wanted the puppy to lick my face, but me be ignoring it, as if I’m sabotaging my own happiness by ignoring this cute puppy. That didn’t work. I feel like all of my videos are pretty dark. But this one is much more quirky. 

OTW: When is even more new music coming?

Au/Ra: Soonish. It’s all being planned. You can always count on me to release new music. I won’t just disappear. 

OTW: Who are your Ones To Watch?

Au/Ra: I absolutely love girl in red. She’s incredible! I also love Cavetown and IDER. They’re great. I saw them live last month and they were amazing.