#the rondo trilogy

[toshitophchan]

Roddacember 2023 Day 12 | Memorable Deception Moment

Deception is either making you go 0.0 or >:O, there is no inbetween

[madrone33]

Are you looking for more Emily Rodda specifically? Because if so;

If you like riddles and prophecies, and tiny introverted sheep boy being the bravest kid because true bravery is being terrified out of your mind and doing it anyway, I suggest Rowan of Rin.

If you like wacky storybook fantasy amalgamation with impulsive anxious teens getting yeeted into it, then The Rondo Trilogy is pretty great.

If you want more Shadow Lord but this time with a boy who really doesn't want to get caught up in anything please god just let him save his family and go home- then The Three Doors trilogy is fantastic.

I don't know anything about Star of Deltora, so sorry can't give a suggestion there 'cause I haven't read it, but yeah, hope you have fun!

Alright, I’m doing it. I’m expanding beyond DQ and am heading into the other series

[livefromcastledracula]

Book Carmilla vs Adaptations (SPOILERS)

Here are a few 'interesting' adaptations. I like some of them for their own merits, but mostly dislike them as Carmilla adaptations for the below reasons, with some notable exceptions: Vampyr: The Dream of Allan Gray (1932 film): The first Carmilla inspired movie, although it keeps almost NOTHING from the novella except 'female vampire'. In this case, a creepy old lady rather than a charming young lesbian. This is a really moody, slow, acid trip of a film though, a treat for fans of vintage vampire film. (3/10) Hammer Karnstein Trilogy: The Vampire Lovers is the gayest and most book-accurate. Carmilla still kisses/seduces men before killing them, boo. The second one her identically-named reincarnation is blonde and has sex with / falls in love with a man booooooo. She's not in the third one at all. It's all very 70's and nowhere near queer enough, but at least we got the incomparable Ingrid Pitt in the first movie. 5/10. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust: 'Carmilla' shows up as a surprise third act villain. She's an elegant and imposing vampire queen with a castle called "Cjethe" and the Vampire King offed her previously for being A Bit Too Extra. She's... Bathory. She's Elizabeth Bathory, right down to the name of her historical castle, the elaborate gowns and the blood-bathing. Bathory in Castlevania Nocturne even looks a lot like this one. Cool scary vampire lady, but Carmilla In Name Only. 4/10 Castlevania (Games): She's fine here, but mostly just kind of a big Dracula groupie like most of the other non-Dracula vampires. Often depicting as a flying skull or mask crying bloody tears, with optional succubus-like figure reclining on top of it. Cool. Rondo of Blood has her appear together with a ninja vampire Laura with bunny ears because why the hell not. 6/10 Castlevania (Netflix show): Baddass, angry Karen. She's amazing in the first season when she's scheming against Dracula, but after that she just sort of sits on her butt sipping wine and griping about men for a whole season until Isaac storms her castle. A cool character but not a great Carmilla, because Carmilla for me is defined by how much she loves women, not how much she hates men. Still amazing voice work by Jaime Murray though and her last stand was insanely baddass. 7/10

Carmilla Web Series / Movie: My favorite adaptation. It's obviously playing waaaay fast and loose with the canon and reframing her as a charming antihero in a zany urban fantasy, but there's deep current of love for the source material, especially in the movie. Natasha Negovanlis has charisma off the charts and the Hollstein romance is adorable. This Carmilla might be a black-leather-wearing snarky millenial goth with a Canadian accent, but as the show goes on it peels back layer after layer of the romantic, poetic, wistful, world-weary immortal hinted at by the novella. This show redeems LeFanu's lovelorn villain in all the best ways. 10/10. 2019 movie / Styria movie: I still haven't seen these, have heard good things about the gothic cinematography on the most recent one but not good things about the rest of it. The trailer looked moody and pretty though, I may watch it at some point.

[simonsquest]

What is your favorite CV game starring Simon? :P

With regard to gameplay, I have to give it to Castlevania 1. But a close second is Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate. The game felt very accessible to play, maintaining the linear Classicvania style (which is my preference) with a little bit of Metroidvania, but not so much that it felt like a huge undertaking. It's my favourite of the LoS trilogy for gameplay alone. And it technically stars Simon! :P For favourite plot, ambience, and OST - Castlevania 2, of course. :) (But I'm terrible at actually playing the game, lol.) I like both Castlevania Chronicles and Super Castlevania IV but the colour palette can sometimes feel a bit muted and muddy in both, so they lack the strong aesthetic pull (dark but with high contrast, bright colours, etc) that I would give to other Classicvania games like Castlevania 3, Rondo, Bloodlines and The Adventure: ReBirth. There were also some areas that I really struggled with in both games. I haven't given Vampire Killer a fair chance. It's a title I need to revisit. I love Haunted Castle for its shorter game length but its difficulty is brutal. But you really can't beat the aesthetics of the first stage where it fades from day to night through the cemetery while Cross Your Heart plays. :) It's so good!

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Hey! I've been obsessed with Elisabeth: das Musical for a good while and one of the things I really like about it is the way it comments on Sissi-media. However, Im saying that as someone who really only knows about that media through cultural osmosis and hasnt really seen any of it. And since I'm gonna have a bunch of free time the next few weeks, I thought it would be interesting to watch all* the media about Elisabeth I can get my hands on and review it and just talk about my thoughts on it. I'm also gonna watch all* the Rudolf media I can find as part of this little project because, I might as well

*by 'all media' I mostly mean stuff like movies, series and stageplays, obviously I know there's books but I'm not really in a place where I can focus on reading a bunch of stuff, but I know that the trilogy is based on books, and if I can find free audiobooks online I'll listen to those

I also want to give a quick disclaimer that I'm not a history person, I know very little about all this, so I'm not gonna get too much into the historical accuracy of any of these pieces. I mean, maybe this whole thing will get me to do research into the actual history, I actually have been wanting to do that more since Ive started engaging with the Elisabeth das Musical fandom and seen all these people talk about how much reasearch they do for fanfics and stuff, and its making me feel a little left out ngl, but I struggle with actually doing that for reasons I dont really want to get into. Long story short, if I dont approach historical topics very carefully Im gonna end up with horrible intrusive thoughts that last for days, and I'd like to avoid that but I need to figure out how to do that first.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for now. I'll put everything I want to watch in order under the readmore. I'm pretty sure I got everything (that i can access atleast), but if you feel like Im missing anything please tell me, I want to be thorough and I would really appreciate it ^^

• Kaiserin Elisabeth von Österreich (1921)

• Elisabeth von Österreich (1931)

• The King Steps Out (1936)

• Mayerling (1936) (with english subtitles)

• L'Aigle à deux Têtes (1948) (with english subtitles)

• Le Secret de Mayerling (1949) (with german subtitles)

• Ludwig II. — Glanz und Ende eines Königs (1955)

• Sissi (1955)

• Kronprinz Rudolfs letzte Liebe (1956)

• Sissi, die junge Kaiserin (1956)

• Mayerling (1957)

• Sissi — Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957)

• Mayerling (1968)

• Elisabeth Kaiserin von Österreich (1972)

• Ludwig (1973) (with german subtitles)

• Viza Privati, Pubbliche Virtú (1976) (with german subtitles)

• Der Kronprinz (1989)

• Sisi und der Kaiserkuß (1991)

• Elisabeth: das Musical (1992 Austrian proshot)

• Elisabeth: Ai to shi no Rondo (1996 Snow Troupe Proshot) (with english subs)

• Elisabeth: das Musical (2004 Hungarian proshot) (with english subs)

• Kronprinz Rudolfs letzte Liebe (longer original version split into two parts: Kronprinz Rudolf — der Rebell (Part 1) und Kronprinz Rudolf — Mayerling (Part 2), same as 'Kronprinz Rudolf — Sissi's einziger Sohn) (2006)

• Lissi und der wilde Kaiser (2007)

• Sisi (2009)

• Rudolf: Affaire Mayerling (2009)

• Sisi... und ich erzähle euch die Wahrheit (2012)

• Sisi (2021)

• The Empress (2021)

• Sisi & Ich (2023)

Media I am aware of but could not access:

• Leibfiaker Bratfisch/Day Geheimnis von Mayerling/Die Tragödie eines Prinzen (1919/1924-1925)

• Tragödie im Hause Habsburg/Der Prinz der Legende (1924) (<- I was very surprised that I wasnt able to find these two anywhere since theyre old silent films and would think they would be archived somewhere, and I couldve sworn Ive seen gifs or screenshots of Tragödie im Hause Habsburg on tumblr, so idk, if anyone could point me to where I could watch these, I would really appreciate it)

• The Last Half Hour: The Mayerling Story (1951)

• Sissi — Beuteljahre einer Kaiserin (1989)

• all the various Mayerling-shows by the Takarazuka revue

[goawaypopup]

Roddacember Day 15: Playful

I'm going to mix things up a bit with this one.

The anthology copy I had of Deltora Quest as a kid had an excerpt from The Key to Rondo at the end. I didn't read it every time I read the book, but I read it enough times to have that mental image of butterflies being sucked into a music box ingrained into my small brain.

Now, fantasy based on the "real" modern world doesn't usually have quite the same pull to me, so I didn't actually look for a copy until uh, last month, actually! I didn't even know it was a trilogy until I got to the end of the first one and found the promotional section.

And it's actually really good!

There's a reason Australia keeps giving Rodda so many kids' literature medals. The thoughtful characters, the rich world, and especially that plot-twisty quality are all still there.

The thing that really distinguishes Rondo from the barrel of isekai-type fantasy adventures, for me, is how well-defined the boundaries of Rondo are. Rondo is not exactly a special world outside our own. It is literally a music box. It has talking animals and people with fairy-tale roles because they were made from whole cloth by some guy who imagined them that way. Just look at this bit: "Are the people who run the toy factory really called Dolly and Teddy?" Leo interrupted suddenly. "Yes," said the man, looking surprised. "I told you!" "And the tavern landlord's called Jolly, and the flower seller's called Posy, and the pie man is Crumbles and there's a policeman called Officer Begood?" Leo went on, his voice rising in disbelief. Mimi gave a snort of nervous laughter. "Ah!" said the man, his face clearing. "You mean the names suit the people? Yes. Quite a coincidence, isn't it? Happens a lot around here, for some reason."

Something about this setup, the way that Rondo was made as a self-contained playground, appeals to me in a similar way to the Deltora books, and a number of other things I like.

A beautiful little system that nevertheless holds an incredible array of fantastical phenomena, which are well-defined enough to understand and theorize about their behavior.

Dang, I wish I had a music box full of, uh, fully independent human lives.

[lil-doodles]

As we ease into the Halloween season I would like to announce that I will be posting a new hand drawn spooky drawing daily throughout October as part of Drawlloween 2024. Here is a little teaser, a redrawn (from my sketchbook) of "He Who Kills", the Zuni hunter doll that appeared in the third segment of the made for TV movie Trilogy Of Terror (written by none other than the great Richard Matheson). Although Karen Black was in all three segments this guy was really the star of the show! This drawing is not part of the challenge because I drew it on my computer using Photoshop and my Wacom tablet. Keep watching this Tumblr throughout October for more Halloween fun and, as always, check out my website www.deadcatcomix.com for more artwork. Below I present to you the list of drawings for Drawlloween 2024, join along if you like!

Drawlloween 2024

Tor Johnson

Rondo Hatton

Baron Samedi (Sugar Hill)

Gwynplaine-The Man Who Laughs

Rigo-The Monster

The Fly (1958 Version)

Fiend Without a Face

Night of the Demon

The Wasp Woman

Eegah!

Astro-Zombies

The Amazing Colossal Man

The Catman of Paris

The Golem

Vampyr

The Alligator People

The Ghoul

Equinox

From Hell It Came

Morgan-The Old Dark House

The Hideous Sun Demon

The Dark eyes of London

The Face At The Window

The Devil Commands

The She-Creature

Mad Love

The Incredible Melting Man

It! The Terror Beyond Space

Kongo

White Zombie

The Mole People

[hrodvitnon]

So, I heard Castlevania Nocturne season 2 is in the works. Big excite! That being said!

I'm overall fine with Nocturne as is if only because I know that Castlevania is no stranger to negative fan feedback whether it's legitimate grievances or petty complaints (and Nocturne is flawed, I won't argue that) – just look at the series history. Simon's Quest being a different sequel like Adventure of Link, 64 being called the worst Castlevania game for years (go watch Ragnarrox's video on it), Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin having an anime art style despite Rondo being just as anime if not more so, Symphony being too easy, Ecclesia being too hard, the very existence of Judgment and its take on the characters, Shadowvania being fine or a God of War ripoff. There will ALWAYS be Castlevania fans who dislike something, whether it's retconning Sonya Belmont or Netflixvania simply existing.

I've also played very few games in the entire series (GBA trilogy, SotN, Order of Ecclesia, Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate, bit of Dracula X) so the changes in Nocturne don't bother me that much if at all, and my general sense of being fine with Nocturne set in the French Revolution boils down to "Rondo was set during that period and France is one of the stages in Bloodlines". It also helps that I don't have as much energy for vitriol in my old by tumblr standards age, and I know adaptations will change things for better or worse... and Nocturne could have been worse. Imagine if Uwe Boll directed Nocturne.

So far Season 1 presents a fast and loose adaptation of Rondo of Blood with elements from Bloodlines and a dash of Aria of Sorrow (the eclipse) and a smidge of Harmony of Dissonance, just as the previous series adapted Dracula's Curse with bits from Curse of Darkness (Hector and Isaac) and Symphony of the Night (character designs and Lisa's death). Nocturne needs to adapt Rondo in order to properly introduce Richter and Maria and set things up for Symphony, obviously. Assuming it goes that far in future seasons, which it might.

But depending on how things go, once Nocturne is finished with Rondo and if it moves on to Symphony, there's a key element of SotN's story that falls apart when you remember that Dracula and Lisa were resurrected at the end of Castlevania Season 4; SotN happens because Richter is possessed and brings back both the Castle and Dracula, but you can't resurrect someone who's still alive, assuming Dracula hasn't died in the interim between Season 4 and Nocturne, and a whole village was being built around the still standing Castle last time we saw it. So what happens then?

An important thing to note is that Lament of Innocence, chronologically the first game in the timeline, happened in Netflixvania; Trevor mentions Leon Belmont, the game's protagonist. Lament is also where we see Dracula's origins not as a Wallachian prince turned vampire, but as Leon's friend Mathias Cronqvist – a fellow crusader who after the death of his wife Elizabetha, became Dracula by taking the soul of the vampire Walter Bernhard into a vampiric treasure called the Crimson Stone, which is basically if a Philosopher's Stone gave you vampirism because that's a kind of immortality. (There's also the Ebony Stone which is a vampire treasure like the Crimson Stone, the colors are important because there's some alchemy in Lament.)

In SotN Alucard describes the Castle as "a creature of chaos. It may take many incarnations." Apparently in the game Dracula's Curse, Dracula made a pact with the Evil God – who may or may not be Satan, somebody at Konami please clarify – to gain the power of Chaos (and also a monster horde), which would neatly explain why Netflix Drac needed a year to prep his assault after Lisa was burned at the stake. In Aria of Sorrow (in which Dracula dies for good in 1999 and is reincarnated as Soma Cruz), the final boss is literally Chaos, and its second form takes the appearance of (among other things) a black stone that flashes red – Castlevania is a creature of Chaos and the center of it is the Crimson Stone, the origin of Dracula's power.

In Dawn of Sorrow, the cult under Celia Fortner created a "perfect replica" of the Castle and wants to make a whole new Dracula; it isn't outright stated iirc, been a while since I played it, but I'm guessing the implication is that Celia created another Crimson Stone to be a new Chaos for the Castle. Plus, with two candidates being groomed for the Dark Lord position (and Soma himself being Dracula reborn and getting involved), someone would have to be sacrificed like Walter was so someone can become Dracula 2.0.

However, I don't recall seeing a Crimson Stone in Netflixvania, which is interesting considering the focus on alchemy once Saint Germain gets involved. Considering how spotty Trevor's knowledge of the Belmont family's history is, he probably didn't know how Dracula became Dracula. Maybe Leon took that knowledge to the grave, or maybe Sypha uncovered the identity of the man who became Dracula years later while she and Trevor raised their child Simon. If Nocturne will one day adapt Symphony, it needs to address the lack of a Dracula to resurrect. Maybe it can take a leaf out of Dawn of Sorrow's book and have a cult just try to make a new Dracula to replace the old one, and the party meets up with the Vlad Tepes Formerly Known as Dracula in order for him to explain how he became what he is and what the cult is doing, not to mention the whole possessed Richter part... or, perhaps the cult mind controls Richter into going through the motions so he can be forced to sacrifice someone, perhaps one of vampiric blood like Alucard, to take on the Dark Lord's mantle. It certainly wouldn't be the first time a Belmont became a Dracula!

[pritishsblog]

BEST DIRECTORS IN CINEMA-3

Hi everyone! This blog is going to be the 3rd part of 8 Part Series of who I think are the Best Directors Cinema as ever seen

And today I will be talking about

SATYAJIT RAY

Satyajit Ray (born May 2, 1921, Calcutta [now Kolkata], India—died April 23, 1992, Calcutta) was a Bengali motion-picture director, writer, and illustrator who brought the Indian cinema to world recognition with Pather Panchali (1955; The Song of the Road) and its two sequels, known as the Apu Trilogy. As a director, Ray was noted for his humanism, his versatility, and his detailed control over his films and their music. He was one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century.

(Early Life)

Ray was an only child whose father died in 1923. His grandfather was a writer and illustrator, and his father, Sukumar Ray, was a writer and illustrator of Bengali nonsense verse. Ray grew up in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and was looked after by his mother. He entered a government school, where he was taught chiefly in Bengali, and then studied at Presidency College, Calcutta’s leading college, where he was taught in English. By the time he graduated in 1940, he was fluent in both languages. In 1940 his mother persuaded him to attend art school at Santiniketan, Rabindranath Tagore’s rural university northwest of Calcutta. There Ray, whose interests had been exclusively urban and Western-oriented, was exposed to Indian and other Eastern art and gained a deeper appreciation of both Eastern and Western culture, a harmonious combination that is evident in his films.

(His Famous Works)

Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955) won eleven international prizes, including the inaugural Best Human Document award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. This film, along with Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) (1959), form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. He also authored several short stories and novels, primarily for young children and teenagers. Popular characters created by Ray include Feluda the sleuth, Professor Shonku the scientist, Tarini Khuro the storyteller, and Lalmohan Ganguly the novelist.

(Filmmaking Style)

His Filmmaking

Ray had been subconsciously paying a tribute to Jean Renoir throughout his career, who influenced him the most.Ray considered script-writing to be an integral part of direction. Initially he refused to make a film in any language other than Bengali. In his two non-Bengali feature films, he wrote the script in English; translators adapted it into Hindustani under Ray's supervision.The narrative structure of Ray's films are represented by musical forms such as sonata, fugue and rondo. Kanchenjunga, Nayak and Aranyer Din Ratri are examples of this structure.

(His Filmography)

Ray made over 36 feature film in his 4 decade long. He made movies such as Pather Panchali in 1955,Aparajito in 1956,Parash Pathar and Jalsaghar in 1958, Apur Sansar in 1959, Devi in 1960. He made movies such as Teen Kanya in 1961, Kanchenjungha and Abhijan in 1962,Mahanagar in 1963,Charulata and Two I'm 1964,Kapurush-0-Mahapurush in 1965,Nayak in 1966,Chiriyakhana in 1967,Goopy Gyne & Bagha Byne in 1969,Aranyer Din Ratri and Pratiwandi in 1970, Seemabaddha and Sikkim in 1971,Inner Eyes in 1972,Ashani Sanket in 1973,Sonar Kella in 1974,Jana Aranyw in 1975,Bala in 1976,Shatranj ka Khilari in 1977,Joi Baba Felunath in 1979,Hirak Rajar Deshe and Pikoo in 1980,Sadgati in 1981,Ghare Bhare in 1984,Sukumar Ray in 1987,Ganashatru and Shakha Proshakha in 1990,Agantuk in 1990.

Satyajit Ray on 1994 stamp of India

Portrait of Satyajit Ray

(Awards & Honors)

Ray received many awards including 36 National Film Awards. He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1985 and Legion Of Honor in 1987. The Government of India also awarded him with Padma Bhusan in 1965. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992 at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. He also won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival

(Legacy)

Ray is considered one of the greatest film directors of all time. He is a cultural icon in India and in Bengali communities worldwide. Following his death, the city of Calcutta came to a virtual standstill, as hundreds of thousands of people gathered around his house to pay their last respects. Ray's influence has been widespread and deep in Bengali cinema; many Bengali directors, including Aparna Sen, Rituparno Ghosh and Gautam Ghose as well as Vishal Bhardwaj, Dibakar Banerjee, Shyam Benegal and Sujoy Ghosh from Hindi cinema in India, Tareq Masud and Tanvir Mokammel in Bangladesh, and Aneel Ahmad in England, have been influenced by his craft.Beyond India, filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, James Ivory, Abbas Kiarostami, Elia Kazan, William Wyler,François Truffaut, John Huston, Carlos Saura, Isao Takahata, Oliver Stone,Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson,Danny Boyle and Christopher Nolan.

(Sources)

And that's it for this part folks, I'll meet you with another blog about some the Greatest Directors Cinema has ever seen, Until then

CIAO

[disgruntledexplainer]

Rondo is wild

the underlying concept of the Rondo series is wild. It's an entire fantasy world in many ways similar to that of narnia, but instead of existing in a separate universe it is embedded into our universe, literally painted on the surface of a music box. a lot of the magic of that series comes from that; a creature can study the surface of the music box to see what is going on in that world at any given time, can teleport by exiting the painting and re-entering it, can alter time by winding or stopping the key, can cause massive earthquakes by lightly jostling the box while the key is turning, and can alter reality at will by taking the brush that originally painted Rondo into the world and simply willing changes to occur.

on top of that, there are subtle things as well. like small animals can find the places where the layers of paint intersect and crawl from one to another, which can result in them traveling quite the distance if perspective has resulted in the layers being "far apart" from each-other. wizards don't work magic, but rather create inventions based on what they have heard of or seen in the real world which everyone, including themselves, believe to be magic. it's like if you took a flashlight into narnia and one of the dwarves took a look at it, started making his own, and called himself a wizard.

all the other magic of course comes from the fact that the painted world is meant to depict fairy tale creatures, so there are talking pigs and wolves and dragons and ginger-bread men and faeries all about. A dragon isn't able to breath fire because of some underlying magic principle, but rather because he is a dragon and breathing fire is just what dragons are supposed to be able to do. and the talking animals? they talk because animals talk in a faerie tale, and the person who painted the box was deliberately painting a faerie-tale world.

all of that from the premise of a world painted on the surface of a music box, that people can pass between when the key turns.

btw it was written by emily rodda, the same woman who wrote Deltora Quest, Rowan of Rin, and the Three Doors Trilogy.

[spinningbuster98]

Super Castlevania IV Part 2: Is this really a remake?

I think everyone knows that, despite its title, Super Castlevania IV is not an actual sequel but rather a remake of the original Castlevania on NES.

In fact in Japan this game is simply known as Akumajou Dracula, the same title as that game in Japan. The 4 here was most likely added by Konami of America in order to sell this as a sequel to the NES trilogy in hopes of boosting sales.

But honestly: would you really have guessed that this was a remake without knowing about this info beforehand?

What does this game have in common with the original really? There’s Simon yeah sure. But he’s been given a slight redesign, now with a more greenish looking armor and brown hair. They could have named him like Jack Belmont or something and this would no longer be a remake because really the name Simon is the only thing truly tying this game to the NES original

We have completely new levels, not just these first few located outside the castle, even once you’re inside the levels are just completely different both in theme and structure

The bosses are mostly original

Even the music is about 97% new stuff, Vampire Killer is the only track returning from the original and it only plays during the first half of the final stage!

I find this aspect of the game interesting because nowadays we live in an age where videogame remakes are a dime a dozen and they very often are radically different from the originals, mainly because they serve as excuses from big companies to make a new game without having to make everything from scratch while also cashing in on the original games’ popularity, just look at all the Resident Evil Remakes!

And for as beloved as Super Castlevania IV is...it’s really no different in its approach. You can’t say it’s paying respect to the original when there’s barely any sign of it in the first place!

Really the only reason why I think people don’t make a fuss over this is because:

1) The original had pretty much no in-game story so this version runs no risk of pissing anyone off from that POV

2) It came out during a period where videogame remakes were a much rarer phenomenon so people don’t really view it in the same vein

3) It was a lot of people’s first Castlevania game or at least they grew up with it

In fact you could even argue that it’s not very faithful to the classic formula even from a gameplay perspective: after all this game completely alters the classic controls.

Now sue I know that everyone loves the multiple whip attacks and the controllable jumps...but it baffles me that everyone would consider it an undisputed improvement, implying that the previous controls were inherently broken.

Classicvania controls were designed to be like this in tandem with the level design. You could even argue that having to master these limited controls is a big part of the series’ identity at this point and I’m sure this is what the developers at the time thought too because no other game in the series will replicate IV’s controls: Rondo and Bloodlines at most give you some very limited directional whipping and the ability to stir your jumps only slightly along with the ability to jump on and off stairs, but never the complete package

By giving the player so much more control over the character you essentially take away not only a big chunck of the challenge but also some of the gameplay depth: where once you’d have to carefully maneuver around enemies in order to win now it’s usually just a metter of whipping them from whatever angle you are. Plus there’s also the fact that the crucifix subweapon has been made disgustingly broken: wanna win in Super Castlevania IV? Find the crucifix and then find the double and triple shot power ups. Congratulations now nothing save from instakill obstacles will stop you as these things absolutely melt enemies and even bosses!

Now personally I don’t really mind this too much because there’s still usually a certain degree of precision that you have to put into your whipping even with the multidirectional attacks and the platforming can still get tricky on the occasion, so i do still believe that the overall spirit of the classic is preserved here but in a new form

But it’s important to consider that it is indeed a new form, not simply some sort of natural evolution that is guaranteed to be faithful to the original. It is perfectly valid to be unhappy with how this game changes up the classic formula and it’s the main reason why I personally wouldn’t call this “the definitive version of Castlevania 1″, even though I still really like it, certainly more than the original

[toshitophchan]

Roddacember 2023 Day 19 | Abstract Design

A music box, a gang of misfit teens, and some evil botany- just Rodda design things

[northstararia]

Unpopular opinion Castlevania edition:

-I don’t like Trevor’s Netflix design I much prefer his Curse of Darkness and Judgment design (I don’t like his Dracula’s Curse does but that’s a story for another time

-the 3D games deserve a remake just like how Metal Gear and Silent Hill do

-the N64 games are not as bad as people make them out to be

-Cornell and his story should be canon to the main timeline

-Christopher and Soleyiu deserve better

-After Castlevania: Nocturne, Soma Cruz or the Morris clan should be the next one to get a series

-Judgement is a decent game and a lot of the designs are amazing

-Trevor is not the best Belmont, but he’s definitely not the worst

-Hector was done so poorly in the Netflix series.

-(speaking of the Netflix series) Lenore is not “best girl,” Sypha is right there

-They shouldn’t have brought Lisa back at the end of Castlevania season 4. (It defeats the whole point of the show and it will just make it confusing down the line)

-I hate Simon’s barbarian look. I much prefer his Ayami Kojima look with the red hair

-Simon and Richter should’ve had duel designs in Smash Bros

-the og Game Boy games need to remade and readily available for everyone

-I hate the generic anime art style some of the games had (it made sense for Rondo and Portrait but not for Dawn)

-Shanoa is severely underrated

-put the 3D games into their own collection if they’re not gonna get remade

-Grant Danasty deserves better and he should’ve been in the SHOW! (I’m gonna fight for Grant till the day I die)

-The Lords of Shadow trilogy could’ve been great but it just wasn’t after the first game (Alucard did look great tho 🫣)

-I wish we could’ve gotten more from the Morris clan

~anyways that’s all for me rn. Have a good night. Stay Spooky~

🦇💀

[historyhermann]

D4DJ Review

D4DJ is music anime directed by Seiji Mizushima. It is part of a Japanese music media franchise of the same name, standing for Dig Delight Direct Drive DJ, consisting of live performances, a rhythm game, a standalone episode, and more. The series, which began airing in 2020, currently has two seasons. This post will have spoilers.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the twenty-first article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on January 30, 2023.

The plot of D4DJ's first season, also known as D4DJ First Mix, revolves around an idolish DJ unit at Yoba Academy which plays a mix of J-pop and dubstep. It is headed by Rinku Aimoto (voiced by Yuka Nishio), who returns to Japan after living on an unnamed African island. On her first day at the academy, She is inspired to create DJ unit with school DJ Maho Akashi (voiced by Maho Akashi), also known as DJ Mash, after seeing a performance by a hip hop unit named Peaky P-key. Easily excitable, her catchphrase ("happy around!") becomes the name of their DJ unit.

This music group later gains two additional members: a VJ and talented illustration named Muni Ohnaruto (voiced by Haruka Mimura) and wealthy-born Rei Togetsuwho who is skilled at playing the piano. Each person gets their role in the unit. Rinku becomes the main singer and dancer. Muni is the group's VJ, Maho is the group DJ, and Rei becomes composer and arranger of the group.

Like many anime with similar themes, music is front and center in the series. It informs the actions and dialogue of the characters, with the story almost built around the songs. In fact, the ending sequence of the season one episodes only focuses on Maho dancing and messing around at her DJ station.

This contrasts with other music series which aired last year, such as Shine Post, League of Nations Air Force Aviation Magic Band Luminous Witches, and the idolish Cue! Those series primarily focus on a single music group. D4DJ focuses on multiple groups at the same time. On the other hand, D4DJ is similar to the aforementioned series in that all of the characters in the series are female. Male characters briefly appear but are never part of the show's primary cast.

The show's additional units are just as talented as Happy Around! There's hip hop-themed Peaky P-key, sci-fi themed Photon Maiden, tropical-themed Merm4id, gothic rock-themed Rondo, lolita-themed Lyrical Lily, and gothic-themed Abyssmare. Each of these units has their own strengths and weaknesses. Even though they often compete with one another, they collaborate with one each especially when holding civic events.

While there isn't anything to write home about, when it comes to the show's plot, the songs each band performs are catchy and stick with you. The episodes have some similarities with many episodes of LoliRock, in the episodes often have a music video of sorts at the end. Despite this, the characters are given enough definition that you sympathize with their struggles.

What other series has two characters engaged in a rap battle (as shown above) about their feelings? There isn't one that comes to mind, making D4DJ unique in this regard. Even Disney series like Elena of Avalor, Hamster & Gretel, Milo Murphy's Law, Phineas & Ferb or Mira Royal Detective don't even come close.

The series has as much glitz as the recent seasons of Love Live! Superstar!! and Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, both of which have all-female casts. Even so, it is different, primarily because the animation style is more 3D, as much as DreamWorks productions using computer animation, like Guillermo del Toro's Tales of Arcadia trilogy series.

Personally, I tend to prefer 2D animation in currently airing Western animations like The Ghost and Molly McGee and The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, or the style of classic anime such as Sailor Moon and Dear Brother. Even so, I appreciate the more realistic and less "cartoony" styles in the recently concluded Undone and the 2018 film I Lost My Body, to give two examples.

As such, it took me some time to adapt to the animation style of D4DJ. However, the distinct character personalities made me more invested in the story and journey of these characters, as they try and make a name for themselves. This interconnects with the focus on music, creating songs, and the importance of having a fun time.

Unsurprisingly, behind all of the optimism and exuberance, especially of Rinku, is drama. For instance, in the show's first season, Rinku and Muni have a falling out, and almost drift apart, while Maho often overworks herself. As such, it shares some of the same anti-overwork themes manifested in series like as the well-regarded isekai I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level.

The often fast-paced nature of D4DJ makes it different from the easy-going nature of the slice-of-life musical comedy, K-On!, or the classic surreal comedy Azumanga Daioh. In some ways this is a positive, since it makes you feel the hyper for the show's songs just like the characters.

Rei counters this exuberance, since she can be a more reserved, yet talented piano player, partially because of strict expectations her parents hoisted upon her. Through the group, her character gets a chance to cast those rules aside and be as free as the optimistic Rinku, coming into her own as the show's first season progresses.

The second season, also known as D4DJ All Mix, changes up the story entirely. Instead of focusing on Happy Around!, it pivots to Lyrical Lily, DJ group whose members attend a well-regarded all-girls Catholic school named Arisugawa Academy. All the previous musical groups which have appeared in the series are pulled in, as Lyrical Lily enlists their help in an event to revitalize their town.

Unfortunately, these episodes do not pick up where the first season leaves off. In order to understand what is happening, viewers would need to play the video games of the franchise or watch the spin-off anime series, D4DJ Petit Mix. This confusion is compounded by the layout of the show on Crunchyroll, which treats the show's first and second seasons as separate shows.

This is remedied by the official D4DJ English YouTube channel, where viewers can watch music videos, OVA, a voice drama, or episodes of the show's seasons free-of-charge. The episodes air on Crunchyroll first and then are available on YouTube.

The series is similar to many female-centered idol anime for one major reason: it has yuri subtext. This is not unique. Shine Post, League of Nations Air Force Aviation Magic Band Luminous Witches, Cue!, and the two Love Live! series, which aired last year, all have similar subtext to varying degrees.

In fact, two of the members of the UniChØrd DJ unit, Kokoa Shinomiya and Hayate Tendо̄ , are in a canon romantic relationship, making them the first canon lesbian characters in the D4DJ franchise. Both attend Arisugawa Academy, like the members of Lyrical Lily, making it likely they will have a role in this anime.

Yuripedia has pages on six characters in the series, noting the closeness between Happy Around! members Rinku and Maho, Muni of Happy Around! getting jealous when Rinku gives attention to those other than herself, the habit of Noa Fukushima (VJ in Photon Maiden) to collect cute things and love "cute girls" (like Muni), and additional yuri subtext manifested by Aoi Miyake (a DJ in Rondo) and Haruna Kasuga (a member of Lyrical Lily). Such yuri subtext goes beyond these six characters.

The setting of the second season partially at an all-girls Catholic school hints at possible additional yuri themes. After all, the classic yuri, and Class S, series Maria Watches Over Us, known as Maria-sama ga Miteru and Marimite in Japan, is set at a fictional Catholic girls school named Lillian Girls' Academy in Musashino, Tokyo. The focus on Lyrical Lily in D4DJ is not all bad because viewers are shown some character depth, showing the closeness between these girls, and making them relatable.

The excitability of D4DJ's characters shines through in their voice acting. For instance, those who voiced the Lyrical Lily members are shown having a fun time in the above video. Some of the show's cast have provided voices to characters in music-themed series (BanG Dream! and Wake Up, Girls!) and shows in additional genres, such as Luck & Logic, Assault Lily, Komi Can't Communicate, Wandering Son, Non Non Biyori, and Do It Yourself!!

The character voices of the series are consistent from season-to-season apart from Kanon Shizaki, who voiced Rei in season 1, but departed the D4DJ franchise in 2022. She was replaced by Maiko Irie in the second season. The same was the case for Ami Maeshima, who voiced Ibuki Niijima until 2022, with Kanon Nanaki taking her place this year.

D4DJ is bolstered by Bushiroad, a Japanese company which created the franchise. It is known for the Revue Starlight, BanG Dream!, and Tantei Opera Milky Holmes franchises. While all three have spawned anime series, the first two of these franchises have yuri subtext in their anime, just like D4DJ.

The series is further reinforced by the animation studio, Sanzigen, which animated the series. Interestingly, the studio itself is partially owned by Bushiroad. This studio previously produced the BanG Dream! anime series, along with Sakura Wars the Animation, From Argonavis (spinoff from BanG Dream!), and many others.

The director of both D4DJ seasons, Seiji Mizushima, is accomplished. He even studied dance music, which is an important part of the show itself, as is portraying being a DJ as realistically as possible. Mizushima previously directed episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Beatless.

Otherwise, the group Photon Maiden may be a reflection of the actual Japanese idol industry, as it is formed by an entertainment company. All the units apart from them are formed by the groups themselves, rather than a company. In Japan, idols are marketed and commercialized through merchandise and endorsements from talent agencies, and deal with ravenous loyal fans.

This series, unlike the short-lived Heroines Run the Show, which ran last year, does not focus on the darkness of the idol industry. The latter has grueling work conditions, bans on dating, and oft serialization, especially for female idols. Often this is not a subject in idol anime either because the characters put together idol groups on their own or those involved in the industry (including voice actresses or the idol groups) are part of the anime series.

While D4DJ is not my favorite music anime, as I enjoy the Love Live! franchise better, especially Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, it is still entertaining and stands firmly on its own in more ways than one.

The first and second seasons of D4DJ are currently streaming on Crunchyroll. Both seasons are also available free-of-charge on the official English D4DJ YouTube channel.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[maximuswolf]

My Halloween playlist this year

🎃My Halloween playlist this year🎃 Halloween Playlist: Video Games - Halloween playlist games◻ HellbladeThe Evil Within series◻ The Evil Within◻ The Evil Within 2◻ Blair Witch◻ Visage◻ Far Cry 5Resident Evil series◻ Resident Evil 2◻ Resident Evil 3◻ Resident Evil 8Batman Arkham series◻ Batman: Arkham Asylum◻ Batman: Arkham City◻ Batman: Arkham KnightCastlevania series◻ Castlevania: Rondo of Blood◻ Castlevania: SOTN◻ Castlevania: Circle of the Moon◻ Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow◻ Dying LightZombie Army series◻ Zombie Army Trilogy◻ Zombie Army 4: Dead WarDoom Franchise◻ DOOM◻ DOOM 2◻ DOOM 64◻ DOOM 3◻ DOOM: 2016◻ DOOM: Eternal◻ Days Gone◻ Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare◻ World War Z◻ Evil Dead◻ Alien: Isolation◻ Ghostbusters◻ Hogwarts: Legacyill probably only play a fraction of this but whatever. lemme know what youll be playing for halloween too. Submitted October 14, 2024 at 10:26AM by Thick_Ad_4761 https://ift.tt/SzVvhDL via /r/gaming

[tacklessfear]

Well I actually sat down and took inventory of what games I still have to play. And actually put them in order of what I'm going to play. So enjoy this list of what's to come lol. Some on the list might change depending on what new games come out (looking at you Tears of the Kingdom) but I had to make this list so I wouldn't sit there trying to figure out what to stream next lol Oblivion Farcry primal Elder scrolls online Farcry 5 Skyward sword Farcry new dawn Pokemon legends Arceus Far cry 6 Links awakening Pokemon mystery dungeon Subnautica Subnautica 0 Ocarina of time Sonic boom Twilight princess Sonic colors Majora's mask Fallout 4 RE 0 Dream Daddy RE 1 Doki Doki RE 2 Axion Verge 2 RE 3 Saints row 4 RE 4 Saints Row gat out of hell RE 5 Cuphead RE 6 Little nightmares RE Resistance Little nightmares 2 RE Re:verse Code Vein Castlevania Castlevania 2 Simons quest Castlevania 3 Dracula's curse Castlevania 4 Castlevania the adventure Castlevania 2 Belmont's revenge Castlevania bloodlines Kid Dracula History of Castlevania Castlevania circle of the moon Castlevania harmony of dissonance Castlevania aria of sorrow Castlevania dracula X Castlevania rondo of blood Castlevania symphony of the night Alien isolation 5 nights security breach Inside Danganronpa 1 Bloodborne Danganronpa 2 Ace attorney chronicles Danganronpa 3 Dark souls 1 Phoenix wright trilogy Dark souls 2 No mans sky Dark souls 3 Ark #havemercy https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvtAPBrxIk/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=