#this is an absolute mish mash of genres so?? enjoy?

[cullxtheherd]

𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚞𝚛𝚕

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘: no one 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆: @bomberanians, @malka-lisitsa, @sukoshimikan, @iblewthewhistle, @laindtt, @holmestheheart, @𝖸𝖮𝖴! 𝗂𝖿 𝗂 𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗀𝗈𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝗂 𝖺𝗉𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗂𝗓𝖾!! 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗉𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾 𝗈𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗂𝖼𝗂𝗉𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗂𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗈, 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗂𝗌 𝗓𝖾𝗋𝗈 𝗈𝖻𝗅𝗂𝗀𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇!!

𝐂: 𝒔𝒖𝒃 𝒖𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒏 - 𝒄𝒊𝒓𝒒𝒖𝒆 [🆇] 𝐔: 𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒏 - 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔 [🆇] 𝐋: 𝒕𝒆𝒅𝒚 - 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 & 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 [🆇] 𝐋: 𝒑𝒐𝒈𝒐 - 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 [🆇] 𝐗: 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 - �� [🆇] 𝐓: 𝒈𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 - 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 [🆇] 𝐇: 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒍 & 𝒔𝒎𝒂̊𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 - 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 [🆇] 𝐄: 𝒆𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒏 - 𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 [🆇] 𝐇: 𝒚𝒐𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒆 & 𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒔 - 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆 [🆇] 𝐄: 𝒇𝒐𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 - 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 (𝒂𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄) [🆇] 𝐑: 𝒊𝒓𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒆- 𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒖𝒏 [🆇] 𝐃: 𝒍𝒖𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏 - 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒙 [🆇]

[circuit-music]

2022 Music Recommendations

2022 – What an interesting year. Parts of it felt like maybe, just maybe, there was some progress and rebuilding being made from the fallout of a global pandemic.  Yet there was still that feeling of uncertainty and something else I can’t quite put my finger on.  A friend of mine said earlier in the year “I liked listening to music before my anxiety ruined it for me!”.  That elicited a mild chuckle, but sure, I get it - It’s a weird time. Events and life moving in multiple directions with music so often in parallel to that

Observations and listening habits: • Techno-ebm still ruling the majority of what I listen to and purchase.  In that genre, enjoyed the new releases from General Dynamics, Comfort Cure, Konkurs, GBxCL, Maedon, Yansyet, and Damaged Clock amongst others, • That new beat/Italo/future-synth sound had some absolute bangers. Pablo Bozzi remains such a skilled and incredible talent.  His own solo material and his collab with Hayden of Phase Fatale as Soft Crash were both remarkable. Tracks from Infravision, Fractions and Normal Bias all astounding. A fun and uplifting style. • Synthpop and Wave continued to be robust this year with releases from Minuit Machine, Figure Section, Boy Harsher (that “Machina” track was EVERYWHERE!!!), Sacred Skin, Handful of Snowdrops and more. My most favorite in this category included the “We Were Never Lost” album from Causeway that included an awesome cover of New Order’s “Your Silent Face”. • Alternative, Pop, Shoegaze, Post-Punk records from Hatchie,  Placebo, Mint-Julep,  The Present Moment, were welcome listens.   • The old industrial genre still churns and occasionally my ears will listen. New X Marks the Pedwalk was another sensational example of that projects superiority with future-pop. New Noise Unit came as a surprise and was a mish mash of styles/ideas that didn’t always work in my opinion but a track like “Alone Again” was a real gem. • The Serfs and Kubler-Ross get special mention for assiduously nailing the minimal analog industrial/ebm dance sounds of yesteryear with a modern touch. SO GOOD!!! • Essential reissues from Front Line Assembly and Delerium, Portion Control, Mentallo and the Fixer, and Dive were great to see. If you missed them the first time around now is your chance for rediscovery. The Sigbefia Five/Formal Defect was especially epic as prices for the OG were skyrocketing in value. • I need to think of a creative descriptor name for acts like Zola Jesus and King Dude. Two artist whose albums this year were among the most cathartic releases I experienced.  Uncommonly poignant, moody and so much more. I felt both drained and liberated after listening to each. • Biggest surprise of the year: Xpropaganda. 37 years after the masterpiece “A Secret Wish” Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag release the remarkable stunning comeback LP, The Heart Is Strange. intricately detailed it picks up naturally where “A Secret Wish left off – dramatic, soothing and peaceful.

::: ::: :::

Ah, I could go on and on. I love writing and talking about music. Your comments and conversation are welcome, but let’s wrap this up…

This isn’t a top 10, top 25 or even a top 50. Instead, it’s an A-Z recommendation list encompassing many genres as those lines are getting more and more blurred. A good tune is a good tune, regardless of genre.  

HIGHLY encourage you to get out there and seek out new music; Visit the record stores, go hear a new DJ, fire up Spotify or another streaming service, check out some new music via podcast, DJ mixes, label sites, online retailers, even Facebook. One of the best sources for discovering new music is BandCamp – a plethora of discoveries to be found out there. If you do the work, you’ll be rewarded ;)     Speaking of Spotify – I made a playlist this year featuring plenty of the bands on my list. There’s at least a track or more from the artist who have a presence on Spotify. Sadly a few bands on this list aren’t on the platform but check BandCamp and you can have a listen. Here’s the link:   https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1kGOD6hX5NpsDtuglS3W5Y?si=bd8c29a32bb14267

As in years past I’m certain I missed a few things, ignored the hype on certain releases or just plain forgotten something. It’s a chore to compile this list, but I love to do it. There’s a ton of new pioneering music out there for sure waiting to be discovered and it’s the “what’s next” that keeps me a motivated music fan. There’s never a dull moment in speaking, writing, DJ'ing or promoting new music, so I’ll keep doing it and hopefully be a guide for you all ;).   If it needs mention and I overlooked it - I may do an addendum in the next week or so. Anyways, got your notepaper and plenty of beverages ready? Don’t be a TL:DR (Too Long: Didn’t Read) fool. Read up. Enjoy the music of 2022!

Alpha Sect - Internet Rebels (single) Blac Kolor – Roots (ep) Boy Harsher - The Runner (OST) Causeway - We Were Never Lost (album) Cold Cave - Godstar cover (single) Comfort Cure - Cuts the Line (Single) Comfort Cure - Rain on the Bar (Single)

 Comfort Cure - They Told You Wrong (Single) Crystal Geometry - I Stare Into Darkness Crystal Geometry - Thorned (ep) Crystal Geometry – We Are Not Alone (single) Cyan ID - Silent Past Wounds (album) Damaged Clock - Circulo Vicioso (album) Dive - Behind the Sun (album re-issue) Endless Nothing – Omnia Fert Aetas (ep) Evil Dust -Dresden (album) Extensive Infraction - Social Coma (ep) Faux Fear – Perfect Blue (ep) Faux Fear – Uncharted <<<>>> Legacy (single) Figure Section – Mirages (album) Figure Section – Trompe La Mort (single) Fractions – Daytona (ep) Fractions – Rize (single) Front Line Assembly - Corroded/Disorder
(album re-issue) Front Line Assembly - The Initial Command (album re-issue) Front Line Assembly - Total Terror 1 (album re-issue) Front Line Assembly - Total Terror 2 (album re-issue) GBxCL – Consensus Omnium (single) GBxCL – Exordium (single) GBxCL - Total Denial (single) General Dynamics - Weaponize Your Dreams (album) Halv Drom - Serpent Scan (album) Handful of Snowdrops - Hope TM (single) Hatchie - Giving the World Away (album) Hatchie – Nosedive (single) Infravision – That Beat In My Heart (single) King Dude – Death (album) Klack - Beat Unity (ep) Klack - Believe (single) Konkurs - Mind Stimulant (album) Krishna Goineau Feat, MCL – 80’s Tape (album) Kubler Ross - Kubler Ross (album) Leathers – Runaway (single) Leathers – Ultraviolet (single) Light Asylum - Dark Allies (Pablo Bozzi edit digital single) Lust For Youth – Accidental Win (single) Maedon - Now I am Become Death (album) Maedon - Now I am Become Death (Remixes) (ep) Maedon-X – The Lion and the Ram (album) Max Und Max - World Clash (ep_ Mentallo and the Fixer - No Rest for the Wicked 30th Anniversary (album re-issue) Mind | Matter – A Travers L’Acheron (single) Mind | Matter - les brumes de l'abandon (ep) Mint Julep – Covers (album) Mint Julep – Daydream (single) Minuit Machine – 24 (album) Minuit Machine – Follower (single) Minuit Machine - Lion in A Cage (single) Nasdrowie – Extract (ep) Nasdrowie – The Phantom Images 2 (single) New Frames – Ashes (ep)  New Frames – RNF4 (ep) NGHTLY - Il Venerdì Dell'Arte (ep) NNHMN – Arabische Ritter (single) NNHMN - For the Comfort of Your Exstazy (ep) Noise Unit – Cheeba City Blues (Album) Normal Bias - Normal Bias (ep) NZM 99 – Disaster (single) NZM 99 – Analogia (ep) NZM 99 - Requiem of Art (album) Pablo Bozzi - Ghost of Chance (album) Pablo Bozzi - Magnetisma (ep) Pablo Bozzi - Street Reign (ep) Placebo - Never Let Me Go (album) Placebo – Shout (single) Poison Point - Poisoned Gloves (album) Portion Control – Dissolve Plus (album re-issue) Qual – Re-animated (album) Red Deviil - Monster Room (ep) Rhys Fulber - Collapsing Empires (album) Sacred Skin - Killer’s Mind (single) Sacred Skin - The Decline of Pleasure (album)

 Schwefelgelb - Whirlpool-Gedanken (ep) SDH - Maybe a Body (ep) Sigbefia Five/Formal Defect – Behind Impuls Records (album re-issue) Silent Servant - Optimistic Decay (single) Soft Crash – Artificial Tears (single) Soft Crash - Your Last Everything (album) Spike Hellis - Spike Hellis (album) Termination_800 - Cyborg Remix (album) Termination_800 – Opfor Target (ep) The Present Moment - Enough to Drive You Mad (album) The Present Moment - News For You (single) The Serfs - Primal Matter (album) The Serfs – Stimuli (Kontravoid Remix single) Various Artist - Tartarus (with Alpha Sect, Facets, Gegen Mann and more) (album) Various Artist - Unholy Body Tempo (with Cyan ID, Red Devill, GBxCL, etc…) (album) Venon Vampires - Luxury In Deceit (album) WLDV – Lots of bandcamp singles X Marks the Pedwalk - New/End (album) XPropaganda - The Heart Is Strange (album) Yansyet – System 189 (single) Yansyet - Tears of the Motherland (ep) Yansyet – The Shining (ep) Zola Jesus – Alive in Cappadocia (ep) Zola Jesus – Arkhon (album)

[askyourwritergrandma]

hello fellow writers,

Grandma has been scrolling through various writing tags and the reblogs and replies to older writing advice.  The one, unfortunate, but most common thing that I see is a down-hearted, fatalistic sense of inevitable failure.  There are so many writers on tumblr that seem to truly feel that they cannot possibly accomplish one thing or another (without it being clear if that their goal).  

While I intended this blog to be mostly about the nuts and bolts of writing, I feel like we definitely need to talk about the elephant currently stomping all over tumblr.

How can I call myself a writer if I can’t or do not write ________?

Here’s the thing, if you write then you are a writer.  If you write flash fiction, fanficition, short fiction, scripts, comics, novellas, novels or epics you are a writer.  If you write couplets, limericks, haikus or poetry in general, you are a writer.  That’s it, the only requirement to call yourself a writer is writing.

So why do so many people on tumblr feel like they aren’t or cannot?

Sadly, like most things that have both a for profit and higher education aspect to them, there is a nonsensical hierarchy to writing.  Everyone who has ever so much as glanced at the internet has been subjected to the idea of ‘tiers’ within writing.  Whether you’re found the long fiction is better than short, published is better than fanfic, traditional publishing is better than self published, straight fiction is better than gay (or vice-versa), you have seen this made up mish-mash of rules and general gobblygook.

This is what I know after writing for decades and attaining none of the made-up writer victories, you absolutely can do anything that you want to do as long as you want to do it for your own reasons.  I spent years of my life writing my novels toward the mindset of being published and I hated it.  There are so many rules and expectations about writing to be published.  There are limitations that I don’t particularly care for.  And because you are writing to sell the story in the end, you have to be mindful of what the market for your story is like because if it is not going to turn a profit, it will not be published.

I write whatever I want, when the mood strikes, and I share it when I feel like it.  That’s what makes me happy.  My goals shift based on what I think I’m weak on as a writer.  Today, maybe I’m working on improving my settings.  Tomorrow, maybe I’m strengthening my plots.  Next Wednesday, maybe I’m figuring out how to force two people who can’t stand one another to fall in love.

When you think of your goals for your writing, do not think of the made-up, arbitrary nonsense goals of the greater writing internet.  Maybe you do want to write to get published and that’s fantastic.  But if you are beating yourself up because you don’t feel good enough to be published and you’re constantly feeling down and defeated about it?  That’s not a goal for you, that’s a made-up cage keeping you from enjoying something.

If you don’t feel like you’re good enough to get published, ask yourself if that’s really your present goal?  Maybe you just want to write for now.  Maybe you want to write romance or horror or comedy or all of them because you haven’t found the genre that feels right for you.  

If you’re not feeling like you can write long fic and all the tips and tricks you see feel insurmountable, short stories are wonderful.  (I, for instance, cannot write a short story to save my life.  I just can’t without maximum, constant, painful effort and I hate it.)  Make your goals fit what you want, you want to tell a story and you like them to be smaller. 

If your goals make you feel like a constant failure, they are not goals that suit you.  That could mean they aren’t want you want but what you feel like you have to do or they do not fit where you are as a writer.  Because writing is a skill, you have to tailor your goals to the place you are now to improve.  Meaning, if you are writing pretty successful, good, confident 5k stories deciding your next story is going to be a 100k fantasy odyssey is not necessarily your best bet.  

Both a 5k story and a 100k story have the same value.  They aren’t imaginary tiers of accomplishment.  Writing a 5k short story and a 100k long story are entirely different skill sets.  You can build up and to get from one to the other, but it takes practice because it takes entirely different elements to accomplish each.

The too long didn’t read point I am making, my sweet writing friends, is that your writing goals should be reasonable, attainable and inspiring.  If you sit down to write and you feel crushed by the goal you have set, it is none of those things.

So, writing exercise for the week is to look at your goals, to really, really look at them, and make sure they fit where you are and where you want to go.

Good luck friends!

[lit--bitch]

Current-Reads (13/04/20 - 18/04/20) 🎺🐝

(Disclosure: I know one of the writers (Annie Dobson) I’m featuring in the current-reads this week through Writing Squad. I also know Tom Bland who runs Spontaneous Poetics but I don’t personally know the two writers whose work I’ve enjoyed on the zine. And I don’t know anybody else sadly, probably because I’m a loner and a loser). 

Here’s the standard preface: every Sunday without fail I throw up the freshest literature and photography I’ve read over the week, sometimes it’s a book, sometimes it’s a piece I saw in a magazine or an online zine, sometimes it’s something I saw on social media, etc. Sometimes I add ‘RECOMMEND’ next to a few of the titles, but that’s not to say I don’t recommend all of them, I just love some pieces more than others. C’est la vie. And any titles that you see in bold are hyperlinked so if you click or tap them they’ll direct you straight to the source... or shopping basket. 

Anyway I’m just gonna get right into it. 

So this week I’ve been reading C.C. Hannett / kmwgh’s Lockdown Life and Charles Theonia’s Two Poems on Queen Mob’s Teahouse, I’ve read Haibun/Uncertainty/A Promise To Your Clothes from Jane Burns on Spontaneous Poetics and I flipped right back to September 2019 and re-read E.A.B’s have a wank because it’s fitting advice for our current predicament. I’ve returned to Patrick Süskind’s Perfume and I’ve been falling in love with Ariana Reines’s The Cow all over again, (whose new collection, A Sand Book, I’ll be reviewing in a few weeks time). Also been reading Annie Dobson’s Before The Ghost Town on the Writing Squad’s Staying Home series which boasts brilliant work. I can never get over how many amazing writers there are in the world. I’ve also discovered a new photographer with a brand new book out from Palm* Studios, Molly Matalon’s When a Man Loves a Woman. 

***

E.A.B’s have a wank, Spontaneous Poetics (21/09/2019): I keep going back to this specific piece because this poem makes you feel like you’re stood outside the John Snow in Soho, completely wasted, having a cig with a friend who’s also pissed up too. That’s the feeling I get from E.A.B’s work. She’s memorable and familiar and probably has a decent right hook. This poem is short, succinct, and means exactly what it means. I love work that is entitled quite plainly, in a way doesn’t subvert expectation—it’s tongue-in-cheek and funny. It’s also pretty good advice for when you’re in the midst of a global pandemic... or a personal crisis, I’m not sure what the difference is anymore. She also has another one up on Spontaneous Poetics, which is equally brilliant, blue balls at the end of humanity. 

Jane Burn’s Haibun/Uncertainty/A Promise To Your Clothes, Spontaneous Poetics (17/04/2020): This is a deeply sad poem eclipsed by grief and time’s relentless push and pull. It also has some absolutely beautiful personification, and it’s in the description of these vernacular objects that you really feel the subject’s hurting. ‘You’ is so empowering here, because it attempts to universalise the reader’s accessibility to the ardour of experience in this work, but is equally an attempt to sever the writer’s ‘You’ from themselves as ‘I’. This poem tells us that some pain is so painful, we can never fully accept that it has been ours to bear. 

Annie Dobson’s Before The Ghost Town, Staying Home from The Writing Squad (RECOMMEND): I’m not saying this just to be kind, all of the work on Staying Home is absolutely brilliant (discluding my own work, I promise I’m not that full of it) but Annie’s piece happened to be one of the first I read and I still think about it. Annie probably doesn’t know this but I stalk her writing. I’m her big fat secret admirer. Quintessentially British, her work smacks of kitchen-sink realism and cherry chapsticks you get in the chemist’s. I always get a noughties vibe from Annie’s writing, I always know what she’s on about. She doesn’t make the banality of life mystical, she treats the ordinary as well, just ordinary, and that’s magical enough anyway. Before The Ghost Town is a mish-mash of genres, it’s an essay but it’s a thought piece but it reads like a diary-entry and is formatted like poetry in some places. More than anything it’s a document on civilisation in Lewisham during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how full the world is still despite the reductive effects of a worldwide crisis. It’s a political critique on how fucked the UK government is, and how community is still one of the most valuable things we have in a world that is trying to make you fight over the last bag of fucking bread flour. It’s honest and sad and retrospective. It’s also filled with promise. I absolutely loved it. 

Molly Matalon, When a Man Loves a Woman: For a long time I shot pictures of men on 35mm to 120mm. I often felt strange doing it. I was used to the dogma of typical male politics; boys don’t cry, having a tough dad, penis envy, etc. It didn’t interest me anymore; the object of masculinity in its most vulnerable, in its deepest sensitivities was the impetus behind my desire to photograph men. Molly Matalon takes pictures of men I wish I had taken. But I don’t think she reverses the power dynamics, per se, although you can absolutely make the case for this, even argue her work is a case for the female gaze. But for me, she strips away these typical power dynamics, she doesn’t polarise herself as the subject, or the object. I don’t see tensions between sexes in these images. I see vulnerability, I see trust, I see relationships. I see men just as worthy of depiction as flowers, as fruits. I feel softness, I feel curves. The photographs in When a Man Loves a Woman are works of of idealisation of woman is implied by man, man as woman, woman as man, the fragile unity in these two creatures, and their reciprocations. She’s absolutely one to watch. 

Ariana Reines, The Cow (RECOMMEND): Ariana Reines is a writer so dear to me, that I can’t really contain in words just how much impact she’s had on me. I salute Elizabeth Ellen (a wonderful writer, and an editor at HOBART magazine in Los Angeles) who, one day, was moving apartments and very generously sent me a box of books all the way from the USA to my parents’ house in Manchester. In that box amongst many books lay Tiqqun’s Theory of the Young-Girl translated by Ariana Reines, and her debut collection, The Cow. So if it wasn’t for Elizabeth, I wouldn’t have read any Ariana Reines until probably much later on in life. At least, I’d like to think I’d have come across Ariana at some point anyway. 

The Cow was published in 2006 by my all-time fav magazine/publisher, Fence. The Cow isn’t poetry, isn’t prose, it’s not an essay, it’s just not any genre at all. And the fact you can’t categorise it is just really is emblematic of Ariana Reines as a writer, because she doesn’t redefine the dimensions of genres, she fucking blitzes them up in a big genre-food-processor. The Cow is the mythologisation and de-mythologisation of the woman as cow. It is the consumption and defecation of woman as cow. It is a lamentation. It is raw. It is beastly. It is thoughts and statistics and menstruation and abbattoirs. It is a dark work of art, and it’s one of the most beautiful, angry and strong texts I’ve ever read. It’s one of those books I think about often. I’d be engrossed on London tubes re-reading this over and over. It’s absolutely everything. 

Patrick Süskind, Perfume (RECOMMEND): Ah, the mothership. Patrick Süskind is... one of a kind. I borrowed the book from my best friend James and after reading it, I read it again. I still haven’t given back James’s copy (which I really need to), and I recently bought a UK first-edition of Perfume so now I can say it’s on my bookshelf. Reading Perfume is an intoxicating experience... I guess it’s because of the way Süskind writes about smell, and he writes about it so vividly that, for me at least, it can induce olfactory hallucinations. It’s not just about the story of a murderer with a superhuman power for scent, it’s about our relationship with different smells we come across throughout our life, their pungency and their ability to kind of tattoo our memory. You can recall scents in a way that you might not be able to with sounds. I don’t remember fully the way my maternal grandmother sounded, she passed when I was a little girl, but I still know her smell. It’s Youth Dew and sweets. Perfume induces sensations and memories in me. It’s a text I go back to time and time again. 

C.C. Hannett / kmwgh’s Lockdown Life, Queen Mob’s Tea House (03/04/2020): Queen Mob’s Tea House is a new fav of mine and their zine kind of reminds me of the Richmond Tea Rooms in Manchester’s Gay Village. They’re a bit Alice in Wonderland, a bit occult, a bit down-the-rabbit-hole, pink and sparkly, with black lace. If that description of the zine borders on pretension then, sorry. I have zine synaethesia. So these poems from ‘C.C. Hannett / kmwgh’ (I’m not sure I understand the name) were awesome little tidbits on living through a global pandemic. An ellision of pop culture, absurdity and tenderness. A reminder that we will never get this time back, and that if you’ve got the luxury of being with your loved ones right now, cherish it. I also really loved the last line of this guy’s bio, no social media handles or website, just: “You can find him if you want to.” Lol. 

Charles Theonia, Two Poems, Queen Mob’s Tea House (24/05/2017) (RECOMMEND): I loved both of these poems but I mostly wanted to talk about ‘shame’. I enjoyed ‘shame’ for its density—it’s a single block paragraph—the format has a weight to it, like that of feeling shame. I know this was published in 2017, basically I was just surfing the zine’s website and clicked on Queen of Pentacles (I was intrigued bc I read Tarot) and this was the  latest entry on there. I enjoy the bluntness and conversational-ism of these two pieces, but I particularly loved ‘shame’ for the way it unpacks shame as a multi-faceted, festering spawn that drags you under, and under, and under. Its resonance is powerful. 

*** Anyway that is enough from me zis week. Next Friday I’m reviewing Charlotte Geater’s poems for my fbi agent which is again from Bad Betty Press. Stay safe, eat cake. xxxxxx

[bidonica]

Hi (and happy Holidays) ! Here have some end-of-year book asks: 2, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12.

Happy holidays to you too!✨❄️

2. No rereads this year, although I keep meaning to do that with asoiaf so I’m ready for when twow drops 🌝

5. I think that genre wise this year was a pretty even split between mystery/thrillers and literary fiction? Interestingly, a few of those mysteries actually had a comedic slant

6. See the reread question! Also I am still reading Fire and Blood and have yet to finish it so I’m sort of counting it as “meant to read but didn’t get around to”

10. I think it was the only book released this year that I read, but it’s also one that I really enjoyed: I Leoni di Sicilia by Stefania Auci, which was translated as The Florios of Sicily in English. It’s a historical novel about a Calabrese family who started out as the owners of a small pharmacy after moving to Sicily and then climb the ranks of the Palermo élite thanks to their entrepreneurial intuition (i.e. they invented canned tuna).

11. Il Sergente nella Neve by Mario Rigoni Stern. It’s a memoir about when the Italian army had to disastrously retire from the Russian front in WW2. It’s the sort of book you get as a school assignment in Italy, and that one time I chose another on the same theme that literally bored me to death, so that kind of soured me on the genre for a few years. Since then I had seen a play/monologue adapting Rigoni Stern’s book and decided I should give it a try, and boy did it deserve it. The compassion, humanity and moral clarity of those pages just stay with you and it’s no surprise that Rigoni Stern came back from that war an anti fascist and a pacifist.

12. Oh god the biggest disappointment was La Ragazza nella Nebbia by Donato Carrisi, which did a lot of the things I just HATE in a book - like trying to make the location as generic as possible by using a mish-mash of names from different nationalities - and is still getting a film adapation. Absolute drivel, even as far as trashy thrillers go.

[zippityzap]

My Top 5 Favourite Sonic Underground Songs

Making a show with a musical number or song in every episode is an ambitious task. While some shows such as Phineas and Ferb handled this quite well, many other shows, namely Sonic Underground, struggled. But amidst the random mish-mash of genres and the odd visual effects slapped over the musical segments, Underground did have a number of songs that weren’t bad. Today I list my personal top 5.

5) I Wish I Could Go Faster [Episode 18]

The reason why I’ve put this on the list is will be a common theme, namely I really like Manic’s singing in it. Despite not singing as much as the other two, I personally think Manic is the best singer out of the triplets. It’s really no surprise that his singing VA, Tyley Ross, is a Grammy nominee and has won awards for musical theatre. I’m happy he has a successful career outside of the show.

4) The Sound of Freedom [Episode 38]

During the last stint of episodes, I noticed there were a lot of songs that weren’t very specific to the plot of the episode, but rather were about the resistance in general, with an overarching theme of “fuck you Robotnik.” The quality of the songs definitely increased during this period and if this list were any longer they’d make up the majority of it. For this top 5, I only wanted to limit it to one of these, for variety’s sake.

I choose Sound of Freedom specially because there’s a line I really like, “we have lost so many friends” It injected some emotion into the song, which was much appreciated.

3) I Can Do That for You [Episode 27]

Once again, Manic’s verse in this song sounds AMAZING. I love it. Sonic and Sonia’s singing was good in this song as well. Not to mention it’s a catchy song. That one gif of Robotnik dancing came from this episode for a reason.

2)We Need to Be Free [Episode 11]

You may remember my very enthusiastic reaction to this song during the retrospective. You must realise that at that point, we’d gotten song after song that were boring, mediocre or just plain weird. So to have a song that was good felt incredible. But even without that context this song is great. Like, really, really great. Sonic and Manic are just belting it out and it is wonderful.

My only nit-pick is that the song is way too short, I wanted more. Come to think of it, a lot of the good songs felt short while the bad ones dragged on forever. Maybe that’s just the way I perceived it.

(Honourable Mention) The Opening Theme

[Link to the video because Tumblr is stupid and I can’t embed more than 5 videos]

I didn’t put this one on the list since it wasn’t technically wasn’t part of any episode, but it would be a sin if I didn’t mention it.

Let’s face it. Underground had a weird premise. A very interesting premise but nonetheless if you describe the show to someone who’s never heard of it and their knowledge of Sonic only comes from the games, the concept of ‘Sonic is a prince and a triplet, and he and his siblings own magical necklaces that turn into instruments that double as weapons’ is odd and confusing to say the least.

This is where the absolute brilliance of the intro comes in. When paired with the animation, this song manages; in the space of a minute, to relay all of the necessary backstory in way that gets you fuckin’ PUMPED to watch an episode. …or at least catches your interest.

Plus, the song itself is bitchin’. I never skipped the intro and sang along to it every single time I watched an episode for the retrospectives. I cannot possibly heap enough praise onto it.

1) Someday [Episode 1]

The only negative I can give to this song is that it was too good for the first episode. Say you’re watching the series for the first time. You’ve seen the awesome intro and you’ve just finished watching the first episode. It was a good episode and a good song, you have your hopes up for the rest of the series…only for them to be dashed as you watch more episodes and find that no other song lives up to ‘Someday’.

But why exactly is ‘Someday’ so good? Well, for starters, it has that rock feel I associate with SU. From the opening chords to Sonic’s singing voice, it has the ambience you want from a show that not just centres on a rock band, but also has the grandness of its overarching rebellion plot.

It also fits so well with the episode and its story. While I enjoyed the generalness of the songs towards the end of the series, admittedly it was a cop out for them to not really integrate with the episode’s plot. Meanwhile, the earlier episodes have songs that match the theme/plot of the episode, trying out new genres but unfortunately sacrificing the quality of the songs while they’re at it. ‘Someday, however, reaches the perfect compromise. The lyrics are incredibly focused on the plot of the episode: of the triplets eventually reuniting and meeting for the first time, yet at the same time the song sounds good and is fun to listen to. It’s the sort of song I don’t mind having stuck in my head. It was unfortunate they were never really able to reach this balance again.

So, that was my list. Keep in mind this is my personal opinion and that music taste is highly subjective, so please don’t be disappointed if your favourite wasn’t on the list. I’d love to hear from you guys what your favourite songs from this series were

[charredasperity]

Animes with little to no female sexualization/objectification:

I know there's a lot of people who swear off anime as a whole because of sexualization/fanservice that gives it a bad rep to outsiders, so here's a few anime recommendations spanning different genres with little to none.

1. Princess Principal (Action) 

 While the "cute" character designs might set off some people's fight or flight response, this is not at all a moe anime, this is a serious spy thriller set in an art deco version of Europe. It's dark to its core without ever being creepy about it.  There are only two scenes of a woman showing off her body in the show, and it's only to cause a distraction so the rest of the gang can get the jump on a target, as well as being very tame.

2. Yuru Camp (Slice of life) 

 A totally innocent anime about a bunch of girls who love camping, no sexual scenes whatsoever. You could watch this anime with your grandmother (provided she's willing to read subtitles)

3. Love Live! (Musical) 

Basically a series about a bunch of pop idol enthusiasts who learn to sing and dance to become idols themselves, no sexualization. Plus it’s got some hella catchy tunes!

4. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Action/Supernatural thriller) 

One of, if not the best anime of all time. This follows two boys who lost their bodies attempting to save their dead mother and end up in the middle of a war. There's multiple female supporting characters and they're all treated as powerful and with respect, it helps that the series was written by a woman.

5. G Gundam (Mecha/Action) 

If Gurren Lagann's constant sexualization of its female lead put you off, this has all the over the top action without the creep factor. True, the women wear skintight suits, but so do all of the men. Partial nudity is only shown in the final episode.

6. Little Witch Academia (Adventure/Comedy) 

This follows a young girl enrolling in a school for witches and trying to make it through despite having little to no magical ability. It's basically Harry Potter meets Sabrina. While the OVAs are better, the series ain't bad either! This is a fun show the whole family can enjoy.

7. Fate Zero (Action/Drama) 

The prequel to the popular Fate series is also its crowning achievement. This series is set in a global war for the legendary Holy Grail, fought by the reincarnations of ancient heroes, and boasts some of the best 2d animation ever put on screen. (Just try to ignore the source material)

8. Amanchu! (Feel-good/Slice of life) 

While you'd think an anime about girls swimming all day would be excuse for a bunch of perversion, I assure you this is not Free! with girls. This is completely innocent story about two girls and their friends learning to safely enjoy their hobby, which happens to be diving! The art and soundtrack make this the perfect anime to chill out watching, and it also has a (canon!) wlw love story tucked away in it.

9. Re:Creators (Sci-fi?) 

This show answers what every writer has asked in their minds "What would happen if what I created was real and met me face to face?" This is a mish-mash of several different genres, and every character is given respect. (The two most powerful characters are women!)

10. Mitsuboshi Colors (Comedy) 

Again, don't let the art style put you off. This is a cute show about three terrible children who see themselves as the defenders of a town, and go around solving self-appointed cases, often making things worse in the process.

11. Pop Team Epic (???) 

This is what I could only describe as "Anime Eric Andre" It's basically very short comedy sketches that are completely absurdist and off the wall. If that's your bag, you'll probably enjoy this.

12. Nichijou (Comedy) 

Another absurdist comedy but a bit more grounded, this follows the life of three highschool girls and an unrelated child genius and her robot caretaker who overreact to situations in their absolute extremes. Just watch the Coffee bit to see what I mean.

13. Mob Psycho 100 (Comedy/Action/Supernatural) 

The story of the daily life of an incredibly powerful psychic child who wishes he was normal, and his deeply flawed mentor who helps him find a place in the world. This is full of laughs and has a completely unique animation style.

14. Kemono Friends (Adventure) 

While obviously meant for kids, this anime builds a world and characters in a way so unique that it's even entertaining for adults. Don't be put off by its low budget animation, this show's full of heart and will leave you smiling.

15. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Psychological Horror) 

Another key example of "Dark as hell without sexual violence" This anime shows what happens when theprotagonists lose and give into despair. Though not to say this show is devoid of light. What makes this show is it’s surrealist visuals which change from episode to episode.

16.  Sailor Moon (Action) 

On the polar opposite side of things we have the Grandmother of the modern Magical Girl show. This follows 5 girls who use their magic powers to kick monster butt while balancing a normal life. Basically anime power rangers, this was the original Girl Power anime.

17. Aggretsuko (Agressive Retsuko)

This is an adult anime, but not in the way you’d think hearing that. It centers around a 26 year old woman trapped in a stress-filled office job struggling with overwork, dating, friendships, and troublesome peers, just like any 20-something would, but she relieves stress by singing death metal. This is a hilarious show that young adults will absolutely relate to without resorting to being crass or offensive. Also it’s by the people who made Hello Kitty, believe it or not!

18. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

This is an anime about animation! The series focuses around a girl with a hyperactive imagination, her no-nonsense wealth-chasing best friend, and an actress trying to live simply who start a 3-person animation studio behind their school and find art inspiration in anything and everything in their surroundings. The art in this show is lovely and it really gets you in the mood to draw up something yourself!

There's plenty more, but those are just the ones I could think of right off of the top of my head. You shouldn't disregard an entire entertainment medium because of a couple bad apples. For anime fans, if you have other recommendations, please add onto the list!

[wallsinner]

ANONYMOUS ASKED:  what do you think the snk characters favourite bands would be in the modern day? 

Okay, just to preface because music is so subjective, these are just my headcanons and interpretations and I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with them, but hey, diff opinions make the world go round, right? Also I’m just doing the 104th and Veterans, or I’ll be here all night.

Christa and Sasha would pretty much be into “chart” music, so whatever is hot on the radio at the moment. Sasha is ARMY and her bias is V, he reminds her of Connie. Both of them pretty much despise Justin Bieber. Mikasa also sort of fits into this category, but really she just likes stuff that have a good beat that she can run to.

Ymir is into female driven bands like Hole, Bikini Kill and Paramore. Her guilty pleasures include Lana del Rey and Halsey (though she hated Closer) and she’s trying to introduce Christa into more music like it. She has a thing for Melanie Martinez, but don’t ask her about it because she’ll either deny it or punch you. She h a t e s Taylor Swift with a passion.

Bertholdt is into some heavier music and nobody is ever going to let him live down the fact that he went through a Slipknot phase during middle school. He favors modern bands like Trivium and Bullet for My Valentine. Levi, Hanji and Mike listen to the same genre, but they’re more into older stuff Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Metallica and AC/DC. Hanji actively recommends Bertholdt a lot of stuff.

Reiner and Connie favor hip hop music. Reiner’s really into Eminem and he’s absolutely sorry not sorry about it, whilst Connie digs Kanye. They both love Beyonce, Drake and Gorillaz and a lot of old stuff like 2Pac and Biggie.

Annie secretly loves Lady Gaga and Beyonce and she’s not ashamed of it as long as nobody finds out, so does Mikasa. Other than that she enjoys electropop, such as Chvrches, Capital Cities and Icona Pop.

Eren and Jean are both into rock/pop punk music. Eren sways modern such as Blink-182, Fall Out Boy and Green Day and obviously he’s in the middle of a Twenty One Pilots phase. Jean sways more towards Nirvana and The Doors. They’re both fans of The Beatles, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, etc. Both adored My Chemical Romance, but then so do most of them.

Marco’s into synthpop. His playlist is full of bands like Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys and The Human League. He loves him some Two Door Cinema Club, MGMT and Capital Cities.

Armin isn’t huge into music, he’ll listen to whatevers on the radio or his friends playlists and go to the shows they want to go to, he mainly likes songs rather than bands and most of the music he listens to is a mish mash of the stuff his friends have sent him.

Erwin thinks it’s the 1700’s and listens a lot of classical stuff, but he also has a special place in his heart for musicians like Adele and Amy Winehouse. He quite enjoys some Guns and Roses at times, much to Levi’s chagrin.

[aion-rsa]

15 Best Nintendo Franchises Ranked

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Sony and Microsoft super fans will have a hard time admitting it, but Nintendo has created the most incredible catalog of properties in the history of gaming. They may get made fun of for their slow development time and occasionally repetitive entries within their biggest franchises, but people just can’t get enough of that feeling they get when they re-discover Mario jumping on Goombas or Kirby transforming into his nemeses.

With nearly four decades of game creation to explore, it’s hard to rank the absolute best franchises from Nintendo’s considerable history, but that’s exactly what we’ve set out to do. To clear up any confusion, this isn’t a list of the best characters in Nintendo’s history, so you may see Mario starring in multiple entries in this hierarchy (he’s dipped his gloves into just about everything). This also isn’t a ranking of individual Nintendo games, though the overall quality of the individual games within these franchises obviously influenced their ranking.

From sci-fi foxes and pink puffs to mascot brawlers and pocket monsters, these are the 15 best Nintendo franchises ever:

15. Mario Party

Board games have sometimes struggled to battle the popular perception that they’re an outdated form of entertainment. People (sometimes falsely) believe kids don’t have the attention span required to sit still and enjoy them for more than a few minutes, and adults sometimes get tired of trying to get enough people together to play one. Of course, before Mario Party, few people realized how strong the relationship between video games and board games could be.

For over two decades, Mario Party has been delighting families (and driving them crazy) with its wild hijinks, creative minigames, and whimsical board designs associated with the Mushroom Kingdom and its colorful inhabitants. Some entries are obviously more memorable than others (Mario Party 2 is the arguable high point of the franchise), but all of them have the same objective: to encourage in-person multiplayer gaming with people you care about.

14. F-Zero

Before he was known as a Super Smash Bros. staple, Captain Falcon and his iconic Blue Falcon racer led a franchise that many racing fans still call one of the most intense ever. The franchise combines strong gameplay with revolutionary characterization and world-building in a genre that typically isn’t known for either of those qualities. 

Sadly, it’s hard to talk about F-Zero without eventually addressing the fact that it is a mostly defunct relic from Nintendo’s past. There still hasn’t been a mainstream series release since the critically acclaimed F-Zero GX for the Gamecube in 2003, but the fire that fans have for this series’ unique futuristic environments, blazing speed, and racer backstories still burns bright in 2021. 

13. WarioWare

Humor is sometimes severely lacking in gaming, especially at a time when so many violent and cinematic franchises command the attention of the masses. Thankfully, Wario has always had enough fart jokes, snarky comments, and crude companions to make up for the dearth of humor on the gaming market. Of course, WarioWare is so much more than a few laughs and the five-second microgames that compose the core gameplay of the series. 

The franchise has been a pioneer in creative character building, multiplayer functionality, and innovative game design since 2003. Up until the Wii U, audiences could expect Wario, Jimmy T, Mona, and Dr. Crygor to showcase the technological potential of a new Nintendo console. We’ll all be treated to that zaniness again when WarioWare: Get It Together! launches on September 10 for the Switch.

12. Star Fox

It’s hard to emulate the sci-fi/fantasy mix of Star Wars with anthropomorphic animals and not have the whole thing feel corny, but Shigeru Miyamoto pulled it off when he created the Star Fox franchise in the early 1990s. Fox McCloud and his ragtag cohort of pilots introduced sharp-as-nails on-rails shooting to the Nintendo universe, and the gameplay of the first two (officially released) titles in this series has been hard to beat in the decades since. 

This franchise briefly attempted to explore third-person action gameplay with Star Fox Adventure and Star Fox Assault, but the series sadly fell into the abyss in the 2010s. Despite those recent shortcomings, the furry friends that fly through space will always hold a special place in Nintendo gamers’ hearts for as long as people can access a SNES and Nintendo 64. Do a barrel roll! 

11. Pikmin

The Pikmin series is one of Nintendo’s most daring ventures. It’s essentially a mish-mash of genres that ultimately feels like a strategy/adventure/platform/puzzle/collect-a-thon game. Against all odds, the series combines all of those unique elements rather well and even adds a surprising amount of emotional baggage to the equation. There’s nothing quite like the horror of watching the nickel-sized Captain Olimar and his resilient Pikmin soldiers get snuffed out in a second by a Red Bulborb (shudders). 

The franchise has only had four true entries (three on consoles, one on handheld), but that just keeps everyone hungry for more. The third title was also re-released for the Switch in 2020, and there have been rumors of a fourth console entry in the works since 2015. Hopefully, that sequel becomes a reality soon, because few games in the Big N canon offer so much variety. 

10. Donkey Kong

This franchise essentially gave birth to the entire Nintendo empire as we know it today. After all, the original Donkey Kong arcade game gave Nintendo the financial resources it needed to go on to do even bigger and better things. Better yet, DK became a charismatic fan-favorite character in his own right who has been severely disrespected and forgotten about in recent years.

Always in the shadow of the Mario platformers, and even occasionally demoted to sports and party game fodder, the Donkey Kong franchise still features some of the best games in Nintendo history. Donkey Kong Country and its sequels on the SNES revolutionized 2.5-dimensional graphics, Donkey Kong 64 was a peak 3D experience on the Nintendo 64, and Donkey Konga forced millions of parents to buy plastic bongo drums for their living rooms. It’s too bad we didn’t get anything good for this series’ 40th anniversary this past summer. 

9. Kirby

The “Super Tuff Pink Puff” and his large library of games have an enormous following largely because they can lay claim to being the ultimate representation of what gaming should be: flat-out fun. Kirby’s joyful exterior pairs with a fierce interior to create the perfect balance of a cuddly badass. His trademark mechanic (acquiring the abilities of his enemies on the fly) was revolutionary in the 1990s though it admittedly grew a little stale in the three decades since. 

Nintendo seemed to eventually realize that the franchise was growing repetitive and has since tried to spice things up with entries like 2010’s Kirby’s Epic Yarn (an artsy alternative to the typical platforming in the series) and several brawling-style games (i.e. Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Kirby Fighters 2). No matter the genre, this franchise remains one of the most accessible properties in Nintendo’s portfolio.

8. Animal Crossing

There’s no way Nintendo could have known that was initially seen as their spin on The Sims would turn into such a phenomenon. That title effectively introduced many of the hallmark traits of this series that both casual and hardcore fans have come to adore, such as a real-time internal clock and the ability to interact with animals of all kinds as a curious villager in a town that you get to mold and watch grow.

Most recently, Animal Crossing: New Horizons demonstrated gaming’s ability to bring the world together even when they’re separated by thousands of miles and incredible circumstances. The coronavirus pandemic destroyed lives, careers, and economies, but 32 million copies of that title circulated the planet and even provided a little bit of carefree immersion amongst some very dark days. There’s really no greater feat that a video game can possibly accomplish. 

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7. Mario Kart

The racing genre is hard to get right, but sticking Mario and all of his friends into some wonky karts and letting the items fly has been simultaneously fun and infuriating for decades now. The franchise has brilliantly found ways to tweak and improve a tried and true formula with each new installment, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe may just be the perfect racing game. 

We all know that Nintendo has had a difficult time competing with the other major players in the industry when it comes to online play, but Mario Kart 8 is one of the only examples of the Big N creating a truly great experience in that department. Ruining someone’s morning with a blue shell halfway across the world right before you go to bed is something that can’t be replicated in any other game series. 

6. Fire Emblem

Long before Marth and Roy joined the Super Smash Bros roster, the Fire Emblem franchise became the pinnacle of tough-as-nails strategy gaming in Japan. As the strategy series started to trickle into the homes of more gamers, the entire Western world finally got to experience its brilliantly designed character development, storytelling, and tactical game boards set in visually creative fantasy lands. 

Fire Emblem Awakening essentially saved the entire property when it exploded in sales for the 3DS in 2013, and it’s only been up from there. Fire Emblem: Three Houses expanded the series’ secondary and tertiary elements to great success, but we all know that the foundational reason for the fun is always the chess match between the gamer’s army and the CPU’s enemy faction. This franchise has one of the brightest futures in the industry. 

5. Super Smash Bros.

When Masahiro Sakurai led development on the original Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 he probably had no idea he was working on the ultimate fighting event in gaming history. Every sequel that has followed has expanded on the original’s revolutionary mechanics and style that quickly broke the boundaries of what many believed multiplayer fighting games could be. 

By the time we got to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it became clear to everyone that this series is now a celebration of not only Nintendo as a company but characters previously outside of the conglomerate’s giant grasp. The franchise’s inclusion of Sonic the Hedgehog, Solid Snake, Cloud Strife, and many others demonstrate the power of Smash‘s orbit to bring the entire industry together for one very special gaming experience. 

4. Metroid

Nintendo’s incredible catalog lacks atmospheric, dark, science-fiction properties. Thankfully, Samus Aran’s three-decade-long struggle to take down Space Pirates and battle Ridley has always filled the void. There’s nothing else in gaming that quite challenges Metroid’s ability to combine adventuring, platforming, and puzzle-solving into one incredible entity. 

The series features multiple games that are in the running for the best of their generation, and the anticipation for Metroid Dread shows that fans desperately want to explore the moody depths of Brinstar, Zebes, and Tallon IV for as long as Nintendo will allow them to. 

3. Pokémon

We’ve finally hit the big three Nintendo properties. If you account for all the Pokémon apparel, TV series, movies, trading cards, and more that have spawned from the video games, it’s certainly easy to argue that this franchise is worthy of the top spot on the list. Honestly, though, this series is worthy of at least the third spot on this list based purely on the brilliance of its original adventure. 

Pokémon is special because it focuses on the relationship between humans and animals. Even though the pocket monsters you capture aren’t technically your pets, they sure feel like it after you’ve formed a connection with them after hours and hours of play. This franchise will continue to flourish for as long as Nintendo can think of new types of Pokémon for us to catch in each new generation of games.

2. Super Mario

Nintendo’s mascot has expanded into so many different waters that we sometimes forget just how brilliant his main franchise is. The Super Mario platformers have grown gaming’s potential with nearly every new release, and they have made millions fall in love with the medium for 35 years now. 

It would be easy for Nintendo to rest on Super Mario’s laurels and pump out the same thing year after year, but that almost feels sacrilegious. Instead, every new entry has its own signature style that is ultimately duplicated and admired for years to come. Super Mario continues to open up countless possibilities for platforming and the rest of the gaming industry.

1. The Legend of Zelda

Link’s adventures in Hyrule get the slight edge over Mario’s adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom because no other franchise in gaming has demonstrated that videogames are art on the same level as literature, film, or television as consistently or for as long as much of The Legend of Zelda has. This franchise is more than a game; it’s an experience.

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Boss battles, weapon upgrades, niche characters you meet along the way, and complex dungeons that double as playgrounds for the mind are all trademarks of this series that will never grow old. With this series’ recent evolution into an open-world experience that is changing the ways we think of that genre, there’s no telling how many more incredible gaming experiences we will ultimately owe this franchise in the coming years.

The post 15 Best Nintendo Franchises Ranked appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[writin-bout-games-blog]

Goty 2k18

Here are the best games I played in 2018; honorable mentions are for either games I played this year that released outside of 2018 or remasters that don’t count.

Honorable Mentions: 

Hollow Knight (PS4/Xbox One/Switch/PC) - I didn’t play this 2017 release until the Switch version this year, but it’s the best game I played in 2018, and maybe the best Metroidvania I’ve ever played as well. It has a bit of a slow start in terms of seeing new areas and gaining new abilities, but stick with it and it becomes one of the most rewarding games I’ve ever experienced.

Yakuza 0 (PS4/PC) - Narrative oriented games have never been my bag, but I’ve rarely felt this invested in a story in any medium. The characters are immediately memorable, at once both over the top caricatures of goofy hyper masculinity and oddly thoughtful yakuza members concerned with their community and just being human. I’ve never seen a story so masterfully jump back and forth between overwrought anime nonsense and down to earth character beats, all while retaining its unique sense of self. It’s a lovable soap opera starring handsome criminal boys with hearts of gold, and shouldn’t be missed by anyone.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (PS4/Switch/PS Vita) - This series has been around for decades, and I never gave it a glance until I heard a bit of the soundtrack for this entry. It lacks polish and has a pretty simplistic combat system, at least on the default difficulty setting, but it’s one of the most interesting JRPGs I’ve ever played, as the entire game takes place on a deserted island after a ship is destroyed by a kraken-esque creature. Oh, and the aforementioned soundtrack is absolutely delightful, with cheesy electric guitars around every corner. It’s the perfect game to unwind with before bed on your Switch.

Katamari Damacy Reroll (Switch/PC) - It wouldn’t be fair for the best game of 2004 to also be the best game of 2018, so it’s been excluded here. But make no mistake, this is the best purchase you can make this year.

Actual games of the year:

12. Far: Lone Sails (PC) - I fucking love games where you operate a large vessel by controlling a small character inside of it. I’m not sure how to describe this type of sub-genre, but Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime and Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime are the only other examples I know of. And while those are fast, goofy, frenetic and colorful experiences, Lone Sails takes the concept and applies it to a linear, artsy indie game. And it turns out, making one of “those” indie games and coupling it with a fun and relatively unexplored gameplay conceit makes for an extremely memorable experience; the first time my train-shuttle-car-thingie reached full speed as I perfectly managed my fuel, steam and acceleration is something that’s stuck with me all year. The only thing keeping this game from rising higher up this list is that I think it’s painfully short at around 2 hours long, and I say that as someone that loves shorter experiences. A more fully fleshed out sequel or spiritual successor has the potential to be considered an all-time great.

11. Donut County (PS4/Xbox One/Switch/PC/iOS) - The soundtrack for this game alone is clever enough to deserve a spot on this list, honestly. And clever is the best word to describe Donut County as a (w)hole. Having not heard pretty much anything about the game going in besides general good word of mouth, I was genuinely stunned as I realized the entire game was nothing but moving a hole around and growing bigger as I sucked up objects in a stylized world. In all respects, this game feels like the western equivalent of Katamari Damacy, though there are probably some poignant think pieces to be written comparing Katamari’s building with Donut County’s destruction. Regardless, Donut County is delightful. The humor may not be for everyone (I personally loved how accurately the dialogue captures the tone of texts between 20-somethings), but there’s something for everyone to enjoy here.

10. God of War (PS4) - God of War is interesting. It feels like a mish mash of pretty much all the non-shooter related hot trends in video games right now, and yet doesn’t really excel at any of them. The story’s fine, though I think both Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption 2 told far more nuanced and interesting ones this year in the western-developed AAA space. The combat feels great for the first couple of hours, and BOY DOES THROWING THAT AXE AND RECALLING IT FEEL AMAZING, but encounters aren’t really changed up at all past the halfway point of the game, and the combat in general feels like it’s shown you its entire hand within a couple of hours. And yet, everything about the game is so memorable. From punching indestructible gods through mountains in the first 15 minutes of the game to hanging out with a sardonic decapitated head, I feel like this is the most I’ve thought about an action game after completion besides Bloodborne. It doesn’t hurt that this might be the best looking game I’ve ever seen, either. It might just be the meatloaf and mashed potatoes of video games, but it’s some pretty damn good meatloaf.

9. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (PS4/Xbox One/Switch/PC later) - There are plenty of sidescrolling indie metroidvania throwbacks these days. Oddly, there’s also been a fair few games in the oft overlooked Wonder Boy vein lately, the series Monster Boy belongs to. There aren’t a lot of downright pleasant games made in this style lately though, and pleasant is the perfect word to describe the time spent exploring this game. The visuals are absolutely gorgeous, the soundtrack is second only to Celeste this year, and the game somehow manages to feel like playing a Master System game without all of the drawbacks a statement like that would normally entail. What holds this game back from true greatness for me is that some of the later dungeon and boss designs are remarkably unclear in their progression, mostly the haunted mansion area. That said, these are relatively small complaints in a surprisingly large adventure, and the different animal abilities are truly brilliant. Monster Boy occupies the same space for me as last year’s truly incredible SteamWorld Dig 2, and if that doesn’t sell you on the game then nothing will.

8. Yakuza Kiwami 2 (PS4) - Everything stated above in the Honorable Mentions section applies here; Yakuza is a series about lovable handsome crime boys playing the role of boy scouts in their community, if the boy scouts kicked motorcycles at bad guys. I will say that Kiwami 2 never approaches the pure brilliance that was Yakuza 0, but most of that can largely be attributed to the fact that this game is a remake of a 12-year-old video game from two console generations ago. And don’t let that statement deter you; the story is as engaging as ever, and Kiwami 2 also shares with 0 the most fun game within a game I’ve ever played - the cabaret club management sim, which tasks you with recruiting hostesses to take on an evil circuit of club owners in a tournament of taking money from lonely Japanese businessmen. It’s as absurd as it sounds, and far more engaging than it seems, which kind of summarizes the series as a whole. My only caveat with this entry is that I would consider it absolutely crucial to play through 0 and Kiwami 1 before this, as there are some emotional seeds planted in those two games that come to tear-jerking fruition here.

7. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of An Elusive Age (PS4/PC/Switch later) - With the sales and reception of both this and Octopath Traveler, 2018 seems like the year in which throwback JRPGs came into vogue, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I grew up loving the genre, but post high school my love largely faded for any of them that weren’t Pokemon or Mario adjacent. While I still think there’s a lot of self reflection for the genre to accomplish that Dragon Quest is existentially incapable of doing (as its own design and fandom have prevented it from making any meaningful mechanical progression in decades), DQ11 succeeds in that it’s just a really fantastic video game. Its story is always captivating and repeatedly goes in directions I never expected. Its characters are simple and painted in broad strokes (I mean that in the best way possible) while remaining some of the best written and most engaging party members I’ve ever encountered. And its battle system is oldschool, somewhat archaic and even punishing without ever feeling unfair, and it has just enough new mechanics to constantly give the player a wider swath of options than the series has ever had before without relinquishing the series trademark simplicity. It’s the most I’ve enjoyed a tradition JRPG since Chrono Trigger, and I was never once bored in my 70+ hours of playtime. Really, the only complaint I can level against the game is that the series composer is a monstrous piece of homophobic trash that deserves to be launched into a brick wall via trebuchet.

6. Mega Man 11 (PS4/Xbox One/Switch/PC) - Who would have imagined that a new Mega Man game under contemporary Capcom could end up being great? The soundtrack is extremely disappointing and the Wily stages are a series lowpoint (especially when compared to the previous two Mega Man games), but everything else in this game is operating at heights the series has never previously achieved. The mark of a good Mega Man game is how versatile the robot master’s weapons are within the actual platforming segments, and 11’s level and enemy design are completely built around using these weapons and the new double gear system as well, which allows a player to increase their firepower or slow down time at will. Every ability is not only useful but fun to use as well, even the obligatory shield weapon. Much like what last year’s Sonic Mania did for Sonic, there has never been a better time to try out Mega Man.

5. Call of Duty Black Ops 4: Blackout (PS4/Xbox One/PC) - The way in which the battle royale genre has overtaken video games is remarkable, though not as remarkable as the fact that a Call of Duty game is being included on one of my game of the year lists. I could go deep into how Blackout feels like a best-of compilation for the genre, or how remarkable it is that it retains the goofy, unpredictable nature of PUBG while actually feeling like a polished video game. But what’s most notable about the game for me is just how much fun I’ve had playing it with my friends. Video games mean a lot to me, and having a game in which our party chat can go from discussing poor life choices made by people we know to yelping as shots soar over our head as quickly as it takes for an armored truck to appear outside the house we’re hiding inside of is something truly special, and it’s something I’ve only encountered with this genre of games. Blackout may not add much of its own flavor to battle royale, and what little is there (the perk system and zombies) feels either broken or weirdly inconsequential. But sometimes, a less broken game with a slightly faster pace is all you need to become the most playable game of the genre, as well as the most I’ve ever enjoyed a multiplayer console shooter.

4. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch) - Smash is my all-time favorite multiplayer series, so the biggest character, stage and music roster to date makes this entry a no-brainer. I mean, I could spend multiple paragraphs absolutely gushing about how excited I am for all of the love the Castlevania series (another all-time favorite video game franchise) has received here alone. And that’s kind of the point. From Isabelle’s accidental murder sprees to K. Rool’s big belly rude boy moveset to Kirby sporting a beard after eating Solid Snake, with Ultimate it feels like nearly anyone that has ever played a video game can find something within that brings a smile to their face. And this is to say nothing of the over 1200(!) “spirits” in the game, all referencing even smaller and more obscure video game things. Will the game have an interesting competitive scene? I think so; I’m no pro, but the game feels so much better to me than any game in the series post Melee. Only time will tell how fun of a tournament game Ultimate ends up being, but as a celebration of the medium as a whole, this is a love letter to nearly all corners of the industry, no matter how niche. And that’s where my love of Super Smash Bros. has always stemmed from - its unflinching love and celebration of the things in my life that I love and want to celebrate. Plus, there’s Castlevania stuff in this one.

3. Tetris Effect (PS4) - Positivity in my life has been in short supply the past couple of years. To be more straightforward, the world has been an absolute fucking nuclear wasteland of hopelessness for the past couple of years. Hell, there’s an argument to be made that it’s been on this level for a while, and it’s my privilege that has prevented me from seeing that, which is even worse. My eyes have been opened, they cannot be closed, and while part of me wishes they could be, most of me can only stare with a grim sense of foreboding and wonder where the hell we’re going and how we fix all of this. So, Tetris then.

Tetris is simple and Tetris can be overwhelming. Add psychedelic visuals, spac- Enya-world music and the option to experience it all in virtual reality, and you have something simple, something overwhelming, and something oddly powerful. To say I had an emotional response to Tetris Effect is an oversimplification. Losing myself inside of my VR headset to clearing lines while dolphins made of light surrounded and splashed around me was beautiful, ridiculous, cheesy and, somehow, empowering. I’m under no illusion that the world is going to get better  while I hide inside, literally blind to everything going on around me, and no one should be. But the best art never was able to save us; it reminds us of what there is to lose and why the things we love are worth fighting for while also giving us the strength to do so. This sounds like a lot for what basically amounts to Tetris with cool music and visualizers, and I get that. But while writing and editing this piece, not only do I not feel like any of this has been hyperbolic per my experiences, re-reading my own words really just makes me want to play some more damn Tetris Effect.

2. Celeste (PS4/Xbox One/Switch/PC) - If Tetris Effect is your overly positive friend that can seemingly never be brought down by anything, Celeste is the friend that’s been through more than you could ever imagine and came out through the other side a better person, and not only knows you can as well, but actively pushes you to be the best you can be. This is both narratively true, as the surprisingly great story deals with depression and self-loathing and overcoming anxiety, but also what the game beats into you through your own act of playing it. Well, “beats into you” might be putting it lightly; “gently yet forcefully stabbing into you” is a bit more accurate. Yes, the game is an unbelievably hard platformer (at least on the B and C side levels), and it does take a lot of inspiration in its design from fellow platformer classic Super Meat Boy. But while Meat Boy makes your repeated deaths part of the punchline, Celeste prefers those failures to be recontextualized as experiences to be learned from. “You’re going to beat this level, and you’re going to beat this game. Just keep trying.” is what Celeste wants you to take from its harsh design. And maybe that kind of motivation doesn’t work for everyone, but the people that stick with the game found what will go down as one of the all-time greats in the genre, and certainly one of the best games of the decade.

Oh, and the soundtrack is fucking incredible too.

1. Monster Hunter World (PS4/Xbox One/PC) and Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch) - I knew something special was happening when I saw multiple Playstation friends who usually only play Call of Duty and sports games devoting dozens (or even hundreds) of hours to Monster Hunter World this year. I was skeptical, having tried to get into the series previously on the 3DS, but something just clicked this time that hadn’t before, and soon I was farming Nergigantes for entire evenings. The game was full of nothing but memorable moments, but realizing for the first time how the insect glaive worked and flipping through the air whacking a giant electric flying squirrel as we were both being chased by a fire breathing t-rex was the most out of control I’ve ever felt playing a video game while simultaneously being the coolest thing I’ve ever done in a video game. And to revisit that same scenario over a hundred hours later, armed with the knowledge that only experience can give of how to actually control my insect glaive flips, was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. All of the knowledge gained from World was then taken to MHGU on the Switch later this year, where my girlfriend and I put over 200 hours in and still have not seen all of the content within. If two grown adults sitting in a hotel room and screaming with delight when they see how cool the weapons they can forge from hunting a bubble dragon are isn’t an indication that their families should seek help, it means that Monster Hunter is pretty great.

So which game is better? My heart of hearts tells me World wins out by an inch for its extremely intelligent streamlined design and accessibility, but MHGU has dozens and dozens (and dozens and dozens) of different monsters to hunt and hundreds of weapons and armor sets to choose from, and having a full blown Monster Hunter on a portable with a decent screen and dual analog sticks is a great argument for the Switch entry. Really though, it doesn’t matter; these are both amazing games, and I wanted to give them both their due without using two slots. If weirdos on your friends list you haven’t talked to since high school who usually only buy FIFA can fall in love with Monhun, so can you.

[muzakmaker]

Madeon Achieved Fame Through Copyright Infringement, And That’s Okay.

Hugo Pierre Leclercq is a French Producer, DJ, and Singer-Songwriter and just generally a typical EDM artist. Better known by his stage name Madeon. While he had some prominence in the EDM community, winning some remix competitions, Leclercq started his rise to fame when he released a 39-song mashup/song (the two will be used interchangeably in this case) known as Pop Culture. The song was created live online on a 64-button drum pad (also called a launchpad, the name brand) from samples of various popular songs, all of which, according to my research, were at least popular in France and parts of Europe if not also more globally including the United States. The genres and styles of the artists included are widespread. There’s safer, poppier pieces from all eras including Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Katy Perry while also using rock artists like Linkin Park and Coldplay and Hip-Hop and R&B Artists like Gorillaz and the Black Eyed Peas. Even more interesting, Madeon also included samples from his fellow EDM artists, using Deadmau5 tracks and other artists’ remixes of popular tracks. To top it all off, Madeon sampled himself using his own remixes of Deadmau5’s Raise Your Weapon and Yelle’s Que Veux Tu. Madeon’s masterful blending of all the different sounds of these artists and producers into something entirely new and cohesive is a testament to his skill as an artist. This high level of skill coupled with the popularity of songs created an entirely unique listening experience that employs juxtaposition and pure joy which then pushed Madeon and his mashup into the spotlight and launched his career even when copyright and royalty restrictions kept the song confined to the Internet.

Song Breakdown

The song first opens with a short sample that neither I nor Whosampled.com can seem to identify, it is played first forwards, then backwards, then forwards again. Then the opening hard-cuts to several openings combined, the main two being the now “meme-song” Bag Raiders’ Shooting Stars’ simple snap pattern of an opening and a sped up version of the piano opening to Capsule’s Can I Have a Word, then jumping into the one of the primary beats of the song. This core loop is a little long and kind of strange to describe, For the sake of time, I will refer to the first part as the “Around the World” section, as its main hook before it repeats is a sample of Daft Punk’s Around the World. This section appears throughout the song and changes slightly every time to add a little flair for this live performance. After a few trips around the world (pun intended) we get the first taste of some cohesive theme lyrically to the seemingly random mish-mash of pieces. Madeon Plays the “Missing you” hook of of One-T + Cool-T’s The Magic Key

After that, the majority of the music drops out and leaves the listener floating while Madeon throws in the chorus of Boys & Girls by Martin Solveig, using this chorus brings the overall song sound closer to a remix rather than a mashup but the prevalence of other songs makes the song’s qualities as a mashup much more apparent.

After two repetitions of the line, it does one last one while building back up to jump back into the Around the World loop, again slightly changing every time. The song then drops out again, this time using a slightly modified version of The Who’s Baba O'Riley and begins another build up. First starting with the opening lines to Madonna’s Hung Up, her lines talking on the passage of time over the subtle sound of a ticking clock coupled with the floaty feeling of the song give a Sci-Fi time-travel type of sound. This is then followed by even more buildup from the “Missing you hook” again and vocals from Gossip’s Heavy Cross. Then the real drop for the song comes in with possibly the only part that is completely original to Madeon. He wails away on a synth he plays on the same launchpad. As stated before, this solo is the only completely new composition Madeon has in this song. Lastly, the song fades out in a way very similar, but, as usual, not quite the same as fade in from the beginning.

    A technical breakdown is all well and good, but what does it all mean? The truth is, Pop Culture does not have much, if any, deeper meaning to it. One could make an argument that Pop Culture was created as a critique of mainstream music by taking the typical pop sound and transforming into a EDM banger but that poppy influence is still very prevalent in the song, youredm.com went so far as to call the song “sweet, sugary, bubblegum ear candy.” It is also important to mention that EDM was arguably on the cusp of being mainstream or being very much in the mainstream by time Pop Culture was released in 2011. My evidence in the lack of Pop Culture’s meaning is rather strange: a lack of mainstream evidence. Basically every article I’ve found on Pop Culture is a more or less a puff piece that boils down to “Hey, check this out.” or just lists the songs samples and reminisces on its release nearly seven years ago now. Pop Culture is very much about having fun and just enjoying yourself. It uses its juxtaposition of very thick and very thin textures to give the listener distinct rises and falls to sway and dance to and keeps most of the parts on the line between predictable and random so the audience can keep up but remain surprised. The reception of this song on youtube and other forums is much better evidence of this song’s significance and impact. I have three youtube videos that show how the Internet Community latched onto the song to give it more depth. The first being the unofficial music video for the song:

Released a couple years after Pop Culture, This video is visually very interesting and, more importantly, helps to illustrate just how many songs that Madeon used. By splicing together the music videos of every song that is present in Pop Culture’s aural foreground (i.e. the pieces that are easier to hear, lyrics, riffs, and hooks as compared to just beats.) This splicing adds to Madeon’s already choppy and contrasting styles. The song that truly brought the song into the spotlight is Nathan Barnatt’s dance video to the song.

Being released soon after original Live Mashup video, this video pushed Pop Culture into the spotlight and it exemplifies the pure fun of Pop Culture in addition to bringing in EDM culture’s general love of self expression and just letting go. By depicting a rather plain guy just dancing in a wide variety of locales, the video also illustrates Madeon’s love of juxtaposition. Barnatt’s carefree attitude of just dancing wherever he pleases coupled with the occasional person in the background joining in really illustrates the song’s poppy fun aspects and self expression. Compounding on that, the moment right before the synth solo, where our protagonist thinks he’s about to be ridiculed and alienated. by deviating from the norm is instead embraced and internet illustrator Jenny Fine joins in on Nathan’s fun.

The last video I have to show is a bit of a left turn from the last two. It still shows Pop Culture’s two main elements of pure fun and contrast but in a different way. This video is titled Fan.tasia and is a modern take on Disney’s Fantasia set to Pop Culture.

This video is technically part of a broader class of youtube culture known as AMV’s or animated music videos, the majority of other AMV’s typically use clips from Anime, hence why you may often see the “A” stand for anime instead of animated. Fant.asia is what introduced me to Madeon’s song and his work in the first place. The exemplary video editing greatly adds to the song but in a different way from the other two. Fan.tasia typically uses much smoother cuts and transitions than Barnatt’s or the spliced-together music video. The juxtaposition instead lies in the wide variety of clips across Disney’s decades-long catalog and using scenes from Disney’s many musicals in a different context played against a style of music very different from the source material. The video content absolutely drips with childhood joy and nostalgia which is adds to Madeon’s music choices that themselves are fairly nostalgic by time Fan.tasia was released in 2016.

The three videos above illustrate just how much of an impact the song had in the Internet sphere but that begs the question: “Why on earth didn’t such a massive hit get more mainstream attention?” The unfortunate answer to that is never expressly said but seems rather apparent with enough thought, copyright infringement. A 39-song mashup most definitely infringes upon the copyrights of every song involved. Especially the more prominent songs like Magic key and Boys & Girls which are very much the standing dead center of the song. The inherently illegal nature of the song is potentially also the reason why the song got very little mainstream media attention outside of EDM news sites. Fortunately for Madeon, he still got several offers from record labels as a result of the song and the song is protected on the internet under fair use rules but likely cannot be released on a mainstream music platform, be it physical or digital, but that doesn’t matter. Pop Culture will remain in the digital consciousness for years to come through its creative editing, its unique fan-made videos and through the pure raw joy that it represents. That is the reason why I think that this song is a significant work and why I chose it to write for this project.

[drink-n-watch]

  Genre : Supernatural, drama,  psychological, 

Length: 32 minutes

Studio: ufotable

  You know how life is. A bit like. A large sea of boredom punctuated by seconds of intense terror. It’s also a bit like love, a mish mash of uncertainty and worry interrupted by moments of utter bliss. The trick is simply in finding those moments that make very thing else seem worthwhile and making sure they last as long as possible. You can’t get around pain or loss, the only way out is through. But you look hard enough, can find a light at the end of the tunnel. In the past few months, a number of young women have been wandering through the dark and now, it finally time to come out into the light.

As far as I know The Garden of Sinners – recalled into summer – extra chorus is the final installment in the franchise. At least I hope so. It felt very much like an ending. A little icing on the cake prologue to the entire the Garden of Sinners saga. If that sounds familiar, there’s a reason for that.

yay! First time we get a Touko puppet

This movie is only 30 minutes long and revisits a lot of the characters and events of previous movies. As such, the emphasis was given to clarity over creativity on the production side. A smart move if you ask me. Flashbacks have muted colour palettes to instantly distinguish them from current events. Linework and palettes are sharp. Voice acting is a touch more intense than usual but there were a lot of feelings to convey and a short time to do it in.

I have to say, visually, this movie looked a lot like the Fate franchise to me. I mean all the Garden of Sinners movies do up to a certain point but this time it seemed undeniable. I figure if you like the look of Unlimited Blade Works, you’ll most likely like the looks of The Garden of Sinners – recalled into summer – extra chorus as well. And for once, that’s really all I have to say about it.

for a second I thought this was a young Touko…it’s not – I was sad!

Like I said above, The Garden of Sinners – recalled into summer – extra chorus feels like an epilogue, which it is. It’s well made and it fits with the tone of the series while giving us just enough new information to not be completely redundant. It’s basically 3 short stories.

The first revolves around Shiki having to take care of Mikiya’s cat for a few days. Azaka also drops by. It’s very short but it allows us to see all these characters in a new light and Shiki has an uncharacteristic yet perfectly fitting emotional reaction. It was nice and added a layer of mundane realism to all three characters that really helped flesh them out as potentially real people.

she’s no Touk but Azka is always fun

The second dealt with the aftermath of the events at Reien Girl’s Academy from the point of view of a student we didn’t get to know before and the return of the improbably alive Fujino. This is the first time that we’ve got a chance to see how the waves of destruction Shiki leaves in her wake affect everyone else. It also showed us a matured and changed Fujino who manage to add such complexity and depth to her character in the few minutes she was on screen, that I sincerely wished this had been her character in movie 3.

Finally, a quick Christmas scene between Mikiya and Shiki, with a little comedy relief cameo from the lovely Azaka, wrapped everything up on an unexpectedly sweet note that nevertheless fit in well. The insistent of the start of a soft snowfall at the very end of the episode was a beautiful way to bookend this series where rain and snow have played such an important and omnipresent atmospheric role. It was a cautiously optimistic promise of happier days to come.

this was a lovely scene

What I’m saying is that this movie was good. It was well executed, nicely paced and just pleasant. It was also completely useless.

This is arguably the 4th ending to this franchise. the Garden of sinners Chapter 7: ……not nothing heart. (Murder Speculation Part B) had a saccharine Disneyesque ending that I personally thought did not suit the series well but nevertheless did provide closure. Final Chapter (8) was an actual epilogue both chronologically and spiritually which answered all my gripes about the previous ending and in my mind, put a cap on the series. Then, the Garden of Sinners – recalled into summer, gave us a new adventure with a decade flashforward that would give fans everything they could possibly want in ways of “what happened after” and at this point, was already somewhat unnecessary. Now this one just seems excessive.

It’s a shame because it’s not a bad movie. Maybe if I hadn’t watched them all so close together, it wouldn’t have felt this repetitive and I could have enjoyed it more. Like I said, the movie is decent on its own merits. You absolutely need to have seen a few Garden of Sinners movies to understand it, especially 3 and 6, but otherwise, I have no real complaints. But it’s also superfluous to it’s on franchise and I have to wonder why it was released.

so much lazing around in this franchise

This was a confusing review. Do I recommend The Garden of Sinners – recalled into summer – extra chorus? Maybe! I’m getting better at this!

Favourite character: Touko!

What this anime taught me: it really is all a matter of perspective

If everyone just treated each other like drunk girls do in public bathrooms, the world would be a better place

Suggested drink: White Christmas Mojito

Every time Touko smokes – take a deep breath

Every time Shiki is lazing around – take a sip

Every time anyone yawns – take a sip

Every time we see returning characters – take a snack

Every time events from past movies are mentioned – take a sip

Every time we see Yuko Andou – pour some out

 There are no pics of either Shiki or Mikiya in this post. Let me fix that!

        The Garden of Sinners – recalled into summer – extra chorus Genre : Supernatural, drama,  psychological,  Length: 32 minutes Studio: ufotable   You know how life is. A bit like.