#the only bummer to having a special interest is The Autism

[systemic-chaos]

I would KILL to have someone else to talk about The Hotel Podcast with other than my partner. I joined the official discord but that many people makes me nervous (which is also why I kinda stopped talking in every good discord server I've ever been in) so if anyone knows of some smaller discord servers or just wants to send me asks or messages I'd be ETERNALLY grateful

[deltaengineering]

Fall Anime 2019 Part 4: also, he has a gun for a head

Beastars

So here’s the CG anime that everyone for some reason decided way in advance would be the best show of the season, more or less by default. I was very skeptical of this for a multitude of reasons. First of all, that is a bad name for a show and you can’t convince me otherwise. It’s actually even worse because you’re supposed to write it in all caps, but I refuse. Second, it has a terribly on the nose conceit in which all sorts of animals live together in a high school setting and it’s all metaphorical ‘n shit. The main character is a wolf but get this, he’s actually all sensitive and quiet! Yeah, this is definitely rated D for Deep. And finally it’s by Orange, the CG studio that got an inordinate amount of acclaim for making Houseki no Kuni, the show that everyone thinks looks great and finally made CG anime worthwhile (actual real fact: HnK does not look great most of the time and CG anime was worthwhile well before it). 

But enough about my preconceptions since Beastars is... pretty good, actually. If you ignore the setting, which is indeed terribly on the nose. And there’s not much else to say about the story so far besides it. However, it looks significantly better than Houseki no Kuni because it actually has really good character animation throughout instead of a one-minute action scene with flashy spinny camera tricks every other episode. The directing’s strong too, even if the show conspicuously mainly consists of obvious manga panels. I’m still not too hot on the animal stuff but the general writing seems to be sufficiently competent it would work simply on a character level. So I don’t love it, but it seems solid enough to see if it goes somewhere with its “Zootopia but also Beverly Hills 90210 but also they eat each other sometimes″ plot.

Rifle is Beautiful

Remember the whole “anime about some assorted anime girls joining a club doing an oddly specific activity” thing? This is another one of those, and now it’s about air rifle sports shooting. Except it’s not about air rifle sports shooting because that’s apparently way too violent, so they use rifles that look like exactly like air rifles but are actually based on lasers or really bright flashlights (they can’t keep their bullshit straight between scenes, sorry) instead. I just don’t think “girls doing activities” anime should blatantly misrepresent their subject matter like that, you know? With the possible exception of idol anime that is, ain’t nobody who wants to hear about that shit. Apart from that it’s nothing special, so if you are really into air rifles and wish to watch an anime that’s not about those, knock yourself out. It goes through a whole “club needs 5 members” arc in the first half of the first episode, so I really can’t say where it goes next. Nowhere much, I would guess.

Oh right, there’s one more thing: They frequently render the bodies in CG and the heads in traditional drawings, and they do it every time when they’d actually have to draw a rifle otherwise. It’s a weird effect that I think I haven’t seen anywhere else before, and it’s not great but also not terrible. And it’s the most interesting thing about the entire show.

Kabukicho Sherlock

“Let’s take a bunch of public domain characters and put them into a hip modern setting” seems to be its own genre at the moment, and not only because the BBC did that with S. Holmes, Esq. already. Obviously this show is influenced by that (besides other public domain namedroppers like Bungou Stray Dogs), mostly in Watson and his relationship with Sherlock, but Sherlock-san is rather different here; he’s neither the classic Victorian bohemian nor the abrasive sociopath of the BBC version, and tends more towards a bumbling 90s pop culture version of autism and/or general wackiness here. These two are surrounded by a bunch of campy transvestites for some reason, and I’m not quite sure whether I’m supposed to find this particular stereotype offensive or empowering this week, but it sure is annoying. And it has the same character designer as Joker Game, so if you like chiseled, angular anime men, you’re in for a treat here - even if they tend to wear a lot of makeup and dresses sometimes. I don’t know man, it seems sort of okay-ish for the most part but it’s neither as funny as they think, nor as weird as they think, nor is the murder of the week intriguing at all. Oh yeah, he’s hunting noted public domain character Jack the Ripper. Because of course he is.

 Shin Chuuka Ichiban!

I am told this is the sequel to episode 19 of a 52-episode anime TV show from 1997. Okay. I am also told to not dare watch this without the important setup therein, which makes me think I should pay less attention to what I’m told because understanding Shin Chuuka Ichiban and its backstory is not hard at all. Kid is superawesome cooking champion in ancient China and goes around clowning on lesser cooks, got it. It’s not a complicated setup and it’s not a complicated genre either: This seems to be mostly about sick shounen cooking duels. Besides the setting, the main difference between this and Shokugeki no Soma seems to be that SnS goes for ridiculous and Chuuka Ichiban goes for epic - which is to say that it fancies itself emotional as well. Apart from that it’s what you’d expect from a cooking shounen, big moves, big reactions, huge twists and so on. One notable thing is that this show looks really, really nice. Production I.G seems to be establishing a sideline in taking stuff from the 90s and updating it with smoother animation and shinier lighting, while keeping the overall look intact; They did it for Mahoujin Guru Guru, and this looks much the same. Still, I’m just fundamentally not really interested in what appears to be a very straightforward cooking shounen from the 90s.

Assassins Pride

Straight from the Department of Chuuni, we have this light novel masterpiece about a cool as fuck teenage assassin who teleports behind u and nothin personells fools all day. He then meets a princess he’s supposed to off but just kinda decides not to, probably because she seems to be smitten by his m’lady act. Now he has to use his sick skillz to keep them both alive. It’s awful and terrible and no good and also kind of adorable. This truly is the most 13 AND A HALF MOM years old anime in a while, and it’s not even isekai! The writing’s just so amateurish and corny you can’t help but smile when princesses exposit their backstory for no reason while being accosted by pumpkin monsters (without knowing that Awessassin McCooldude happens to be listening in, which is certainly convenient). Or when the episode ends with the man just reading the synopsis of the show out again, in case you were too fascinated by this plot to pay attention to what it’s about. Yeah I’m not going to watch this in a thousand years, but it sure made me chuckle. Your mileage may vary.

Mugen no Juunin - Immortal

Speaking of 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔢𝔡𝔤𝔢, another anime adaptation of Blade of the Immortal appeared! You know, the manga for the cultured and historically minded guro fan. The first episode of Blade of the Immortal runs with this and is an arthouse production that someone most definitely directed the shit out of. I don’t think I’ve seen this much directing since, well, Sarazanmai, but “Ikuhara amounts of directing” is pretty much the idea here. And most of the time it even works! The quickly edited, disorienting style gives episode 1 a feeling closer to horror than to a cool swordmen action show, and that really brings out the best in the material, which is grotesque splatter bordering on the comical - It’s somehow a better Junji Ito anime than the actual Junji Ito anime. I think it tries too hard in a few places, but at least it does try.

But then I watched the second episode and that one’s a fairly conventional splatter-comedy swordin’ anime. I am not at all pleased with this development. The third episode was better again and seemed to split the difference between 1 and 2, even if it mostly uses the tricky editing to save on effort in the action –  I would much prefer actually readable fights and the wacky mannerisms in the more psychological stuff, thank you very much. Based on episode 1 I thought we might have something special here, but as of episode 3 I’d already merely call it pretty decent. I guess I’ll still stick with it but man, that’s a real bummer.

No Guns Life

No Guns Life is a neo-noir thriller about a guy who has a gun for a head. That’s fuckin rad and exactly the kind of silliness I am totally down for. He also has a gun for a hand, and there’s also some battle nun’s who carry revolvers with two cylinders, so in short I think the title is false advertising. This sounds very wacky (and it is), but it also takes its noir very seriously, down to details more wannabe neo-noirs tend to neglect (like being set right after a big war). The look and feel is pretty excellent, with sharp design and high-contrast artwork, and the music goes all in on the moody saxophone as you’d expect. And there’s some really adorable “look mom, I’m writing” stuff about how Man With Gun For A Head really “needs someone to pull his trigger” and so on (which is, as the astute reader might remember, at the back of his head). It feels like a throwback but then I can’t really think of many 80s/90s shows like this, so it’s actually more like the sort of faux-retro idea Trigger/Imaishi would come up with on a lark. Trigger/Imaishi would, of course, make a far worse anime out of it, so it’s all good. Well, it has some pacing problems and as always it’s a fine line between amusingly camp and not so amusingly camp anymore, but No Guns Life seems to have enough real qualities that it can probably stand on its own even when its conceptual gimmick eventually doesn’t suffice anymore. I give it a two gun’s up.

Hoshiai no Sora / Stars Align

And finally, here’s an anime about middle schooler softboys playing a tennis just as soft as themselves, while being henpecked by the elites on the girl’s team. This is not an “actual” sports anime though: for starters, it’s not based on some shounen manga and is an anime original with quite some staff pedigree instead. It’s also more of a character drama that already goes to some surprisingly real places by the end of episode 1, reminiscent of the recent and quite good Run with the Wind. Furthermore, it looks delicious, with minimalist but distinctive and varied character designs and animation that’s both extremely detailed for a TV anime and also not trying to shove that fact into your face with flashy stunt cuts. In short, this show seems very simple at first glance but every aspect of it just oozes quality. If nothing else, it’s already worth watching just for the excellent ending sequence where the characters show off their “best” dance moves and the chunky student council president dunks on everyone. This one caught me by surprise and it’s an easy pick for most promising show of the season.

[conroyr]

April 15: Free day! Write about any topic you want!

I’m gonna use this free day to talk about one of my biggest special interests: comedy.

My parents were never super into comedy growing up (my dad liked to think he was funny when nobody else did) so my first big introduction into the world of stand-up and sketch comedy was YouTube. I idolized people like Nigahiga, Smosh, Kevjumba, and Tobuscus (yes I know what he did but let’s not think about that) because I saw a bunch of kids who were working with what they had and loving what they do. I remember thinking “I could do that.”

My love for some of these guys faded out over time, which is a bummer. See the problem I have with a lot of YouTubers nowadays is that it’s all about the brand, the model, and the formula, and there’s not a lot of room for trying new things or moving up. I liked people like Nigahiga and Smosh, but eventually their material began to wear on me, since the videos just got super repetitive and predictable. You gotta try new things if you want to keep getting better, and that’s something I knew before I was even a comedian.

Of course, some new comedians arrived to fill the void, which is where Donald Glover and Derrick Comedy come in. I discovered Derrick around the same time as I found out about everyone else, and I loved them, but they stopped uploading in 2010. Initially I was sad, but then I discovered that one of the members, Donald Glover, had his own rap career, several stand-up specials, and a TV show called Community. While it wasn’t exactly the same, I fell in love with Donald’s stand-up right away; even though he actually became a big name celebrity beyond YouTube, his material still had the same home-grown feel and genuine reliability that I loved so much in the early YouTubers. He talked about stuff like cereals and Toys R’ Us; stuff that I as a kid knew about and could connect to! I learned that there was more to comedy than just talking to a camera, and whatever it was, I wanted to find out.

When comedy became a special interest of mine, I found other comedians to emulate. There were stand-up comics such as Bo Burnham, John Mulaney, and Patton Oswalt, and there were sketch shows like Key and Peele, as well as SNL of course. I performed stand-up for the first time when I was seventeen, just doing a bit on Lasqueti Island’s Annual Comedy Show, but then I would come to host the show just two years later. I began attending and performing my material at open mics, where I met other people who shared my passion. Not only that, I learned that I could use my comedy to shine light onto certain topics, such as my autism and my depression. In my opinion, it’s an important skill to be able to laugh easily and often, and if I can help someone else take a load off and have fun, I’m going to do it.

[adverteasingyouthisisworthmoney]

An Alternative Demension, Excuse Me, I Mean Theory

Psychologist: “How’s your undercover case going?”

Undercover Person: “Um, not the best, like, ever.”

Psychologist: “What about the time you had to spend so many years making sure that raging, shit-throwing, violent schizophrenic didn’t kill you or someone else because the person who should have gotten them treatment refused?”

Undercover Person: “Oh, yeah, that was rough. The person who refused to get them treatment was an evil I’ve yet to see again however. No sarcasm either, suicidal dementia at such an early age coupled with paedophilic personality traits and truly homicidal tendencies when given the proper simulated opportunity.”

Psychologist: “Oh bummer, yeah, they tried killing you for money or whatever, right?”

Undercover Person: “Yeah, I dunno man, mental illness is a bitch.”

Psychologist: “How’s your autism? Or is it Assbuger’s or whatever? We still have an actual schizophrenia diagnosis on record. Also depression and post-traumatic shock could be penciled in.”

Undercover Person: “Oh, nice, a Southpark fan. It’s definitely being selective again. Oh! Remember when you guys treated the schizophrenia with that really high-dose medication you weren’t totally sure would work and then I got all those other problems?”

Psychologist: “L.O.L! Man we really did a number on you. It was a lot easier considering you’ve been surrounded by stupid people your entire life. Bummer about the statute of limitations.”

Undercover Person: “Well, hey, I finally learned to deal with things as they happen versus just not deal with them. Unless a very obvious threat. You know how it goes in the field.”

Psychologist: “How so?”

Undercover Person: “Well, in my current environment I’m kind of fluctuating between being extremely calm and overly-nice/nonchalant or being unable to not say something rude to people I find horrifying due to their level of white trash, actually physically showing them or acting in a way that shows them how stupid and annoying they are, or just flat out exhibiting all the symptoms Helen Keller had.”

Psychologist: “Interesting! Are those other people still taking every opportunity possible to diagnose you and stir up repressed memories?”

Undercover Person: “They are! I have so many they’ll be busy with that until I’m reassigned. I think they’re just doing that because I’m similar to a couple of the hometown heros that people truly love and so they’re using me to figure out what those peoples’ deals are.”

Psychologist: “Pretty annoying.”

Undercover Person: “Well, I definitely should have been more responsible with my finances and should never have come back here to help family.”

Psychologist: “Oh you mean the Beverly Hillbilly Clampets if they all had the most complex and violent mental and emotional concerns possible due to an inability to take a step back, look at all the facts at hand, and then make more rational versus extreme emotional decisions?”

Undercover Person: “Well, we are all just doing our best. You know, I dealt with a couple cases where people were paying other people to frustrate and annoy their associates but it got to such an extent that we had to hire the mob to come in and murder the people paying and a few of the people taking the money to annoy, I mean it was such a fucking disaster.”

Psychologist: “Oh, I remember. Elaborate more.”

Undercover Person: “They were doing this thing trying to test out if people could decipher what is actually funny or if people were just pandering.”

Psychologist: “Very strange. Also, obviously pandering was the majority?”

Undercover Person: “Well, eventually it just turned out the entire area was filled with people who could only understand garbled, quasi, baby-talk nonsense and were showing signs of strange aggression and complete inability to be or recognize how to be a normal fucking person.”

Psychologist: “Lol, sounds like the makings for another zombie film. You know how that goes.”

Undercover Person: “Ha! Yeah. *air quotes* Call the CDC! We need special forces! *air quotes*.”

Psychologist: “Well I honestly can just either up your dose, you can contact the undercover DEA in the area, drink more, and then just ride it out I guess.”

Undercover Person: “Oh eventually everyone will be so obviously mentally useless we’ll either put the entire area on social security and manage things from there or a *air quotes* controlled burn *air quotes*.”

Psychologist: “Oh yeah! You’re right next to the arsenal and that one hacker guy has access to their mainframe and can just get that other guy on the inside everyone is constantly harassing to make a few moves to have the whole place cleared out, right?”

Undercover Person: “Yeah it’s a tremendous ticking time bomb however, luckily, again, the area is filled with such stupid and ineffective people this is probably going to end with the social security thing.”

Psychologist: “Get Bernie Sanders on the Line!”

Undercover Person: “Hahaha! Well, thanks doc. I’ll bug the DEA guy for something if I need to. Things aren’t as bad, still, as the time keeping the peace between the shit-throwing maniac and the suicidal-homocidal maniac so I’ll just be Helen Keller when I need to.”

Psychologist: “Good plan. Good luck out there!”

Undercover Person: “Oh *air quotes* for sure *air quotes* *eyeroll*.”

END SCENE