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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW: Talking About That Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Ending

A note on safety: The following movie review undertook the strictest of safety procedures to watch the anime film in cinemas in Japan, including washing hands with disinfectant before and after, sitting in seats apart from others, going to a cinema outside of the busy metro area, and wearing a mask during the entire runtime of the movie. We strongly urge everyone to follow the recommended safety protocol in your country and always wear a mask when in public — not just for your sake, but everyone else’s as well.

For those who are outside of Japan and want to know how the latest (and final) Evangelion film stacks up, we have already published our completely spoiler-free review. For those that want to know more, please read on.

After the airing of the NHK documentary which followed Hideaki Anno and the four-year production of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, the unofficial “spoiler ban” was lifted by Studio Khara on March 22. This means, as much as Khara is concerned, we are free to discuss anything and everything Evangelion: 3.0+1.0, like how [omitted for spoilers] kills [spoilers] and LCL [spoilers].

Seriously though, if you don’t want to read any spoilers for Evangelion: 3.0+1.0, then leave. Immediately. Close the tab, don’t scroll down.

This is a warning.

I’m not kidding.

I’m putting an image here as a buffer. It's sweet right?

If you scroll past the next image you will be spoiled for everything in the film. This is your last warning.

"Asuka" as a kid

Welcome to Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time where I may have lied in my previous review, cause things go tumbling down — but in a good way. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t recall the exact right terminology here on out: between the Doors of Guf, the hundreds of Evangelion models and ships we see, and that ending, it’s hard to keep it all in one head. That’s why this film has four directors.

If you’re already here, you’ve probably read the synopsis going around the internet right now. Yes, it explains what happens on screen, but experiencing it is a different story. Evangelion 3.0+1.0 takes a lot of cues from The End of Evangelion in its final act, but prior to that it is mostly a story of growth for Shinji, where he rejects being depressed (after a heart to heart with black-suit Rei, who then turns into LCL), learns that things aren’t 100% his fault. Shinji goes on to tackle his source of depression head-on; owning up to his past mistakes and taking down his father, who is now literally just a vessel of his own desires.

Unholy Gendo

Something truly missing from Evangelion 3.0, and one of the reasons I loved Evangelion 2.22, was just the gang hanging out together and interacting with the — very scarred — world around them. That scar has vastly grown throughout the 14 years Shinji was missing from the actual 3rd impact (the one at the end of 2.22 was a “near-impact event”) which saw the world covered in the red haze we saw in 3.0. Luckily, WILLE has purification pods that keep the core-ification of the world at bay. We saw that being used in the 12-minute preview, but throughout the film, they’re used extensively to keep the Evangelion wandering the landscapes on the red earth away from the villages that are helping the WILLE cause. They need to get food from somewhere.

This is where we spend a lot of time learning how the characters from Shinji’s class all survived, got paired off, and that Asuka is staying (and is probably in love) with Kensuke. She confesses to Shinji that she loved him when they were kids, but 28-year-old Asuka can’t keep loving someone who hasn’t changed in 14 years. Shinji does accept the confession, saying to her that he loved her too, and she turns into LCL — though that’s in the Anti-Universe and after Asuka meets the “original” Asuka (I’ll get into that). As I said, it’s The End of Evangelion 2.0.

Rei discovering herself in the village

One of the nicest parts of the film is black-suit Rei discovering human emotion and society in the village. Being a clone that likely spent all of her time locked in her room (and without the love of the now inhuman Gendo, which original Rei got), it was unlikely that she learned anything that makes humans human. The concept of “hello” and babies from Toji and Hikari confuses her as she finds a place herself in this village. Admittedly, it was sad to see her go and turn into LCL (from a lack of LCL exposure), but serving as the catalyst for Shinji to get over himself and face his demons was worth it … I guess?

After this, Shinji grows up. Even Mari on a re-introductory sniff claims as much. During his time in the village, he discovers how the settlement stays afloat and that the 14-year-old son of Misato and Kaji (the latter perished in the real 3rd impact) helps keep the village alive. A picture of Shinji and Kaji Jr. helps warm Misato’s chilled heart and gives her the confidence to let Shinji pilot Unit 01 again, much to the disdain of multiple members of the WILLE crew.

All of this is nice. Unlike the despair and hopelessness felt in 3.0, the entire first three parts of the film are uplifting and bring moments of joy. Seeing black-suit Rei smile as she came to terms with herself was just utterly beautiful.

Then Shinji decides to get in the robot.

This is where I’m going to get into the Hideaki Anno talk, because this film, as well as the rest of the anime versions of the Evangelion franchise up to this point, is basically just a self-examination of the man’s mental state. In the spoiler-free review, I called Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 the antithesis of Evangelion: 3.0. And that’s true, but it is also an antithesis to The End of Evangelion: A rejection of the depression Anno felt while creating the 20-plus-year-old film. There’s no doubt in my mind that the journey of Shinji through these Rebuild films is the journey of Anno creating Evangelion, with 3.0 being the lowest point.

But this isn’t just felt in the story of 3.0+1.0, it’s also felt in the way it was presented. The entire final act of the film is basically a happier version of the “tumbling down” scene from The End of Evangelion, just with some more interesting aspects to it along with some inventive filmmaking — including making Lillith’s face live-action. That was haunting.

This includes the above scene, which got a lot of flak on social media for being very poorly animated when it appeared in a trailer. Even I was confused over the inclusion of such poor animation in what is one of the most hyped anime films of all time. Funnily enough, it was Anno trolling. The scene comes from the ending, where the two Eva’s fight through the history of Evangelion, with this scene either representing a testing stage for CGI or one of the many Evangelion video games. The poor animation makes sense in the film … mostly.

Over multiple film-like sets, the two Evangelions duke it out — one with Shinji, the other Gendo — over their ideals. This takes them to Misato’s apartment, the school, and even where Pen-Pen (or his offspring, I don’t know how long Penguins live) resides in 3.0+1.0. Before cutting to each of the different scenes, an Eva smashes through the set wall and onto a production stage.

I also said in the spoiler-free review that Anno “takes everything he knows about animation and filmmaking to deliver the perfect end to Evangelion,” and it shows when you see the (animated) production stage filled with props, miniature cities, and controls that you’d probably see on a production stage for a live-action Evangelion. Again though, this part is animated.

Mari at the End

The surrealness doesn’t end here. When Shinji “wins” and chooses to reset the world without Evangelion, the animation breaks. Shinji devolves into key animation, then layouts, then into a storyboard, which is then broken by Mari bringing color back into Shinji’s world on that beach. No “how disgusting” here, only happiness.

The film ends with an adult Mari and an adult Shinji at Ube Station. As the music of Hikaru Utada’s “One Last Kiss” swelled up through the speakers, the animated backgrounds slowly transitioned into a live-action drone shot of the area surrounding the hometown of Hideaki Anno.

A poster for Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 showing Shinji on the tracks outside Ube Station, which I discussed when the poster was first released.

This is how I know Hideaki Anno is done with Evangelion. While yes, he has said he is done and feels no personal connection to the franchise anymore, the end of the film is a deeply personal one that clearly shows the anime creator cares about his creation and is now happy enough to see leave home and become its own thing — if anyone else chooses to pick it up.

Shin Evangelion (the Japanese name for the film) is the true form of Evangelion that Anno set out to create over 25 years ago. While it wouldn’t have looked anything like it does now, the emotion poured into one of the longest animated films ever made makes that point as clear as the bright blue sea.

Some other various interesting spoiler points:

I’m not sure if character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto was lying about him not knowing Mari’s story and just making that one-shot chapter of the Evangelion manga on a whim or whether Anno took what Sadamoto wrote and expanded on it, cause Mari was right there in school with Gendo and Yui exactly as the chapter laid it out. Unless she’s also a clone...

There’s a really good shot of CG Asuka trying to force-feed Shinji, which was a direct evolution from this test footage back in 2018.

On the topic of Asuka, she had a small version of a purification pod in her eye that, when opened, unleashed an angel, and in turn let her meet her “original.” It’s not explained whether the original is Langley Soryu from the TV anime series or not.

Also, she’s a clone, like Rei and Kaworu as part of the “Shikinami” series. Interestingly, Mari Makinami also has “nami” in her name...

Ritsuko did nothing but shoot Gendo, mimicking the scene from The End of Evangelion. The shot was as useless as her character arc in the Rebuild films.

This film has to be set in at least the third continuity of Evangelion, as the TV series is directly referenced in the production stage and thrice does mean three...

Sakura is one of the most grounded characters in the film, with her asking the true question of “why the heck are you letting him in ANOTHER Evangelion?!” Let’s hope the live-action world she is now in is good to her.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time is currently showing in theaters across Japan, there’s no word on an international release at this stage.

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.

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

By: Daryl Harding

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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stillness-in-green · 4 years ago

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Idk if anyone told you but the MVA OST leaked, with themes for both the League and the MLA. If you haven't listened to it yet, please do! And if you have, what are your thoughts? I think Mine Woman and RE-DESTRO slap for 2 characters that got shafted hard by canon so I appreciate them a lot.

I have listened to them, and I like several of them! I feel like I need to lead with that, because I'm about to add some criticism about my previous responses to BNHA's score for context, so it's important to know that I genuinely do enjoy quite a few of these.

So, I haven't listened to a lot of Yuki Hayashi's scores, but he's definitely done work I've liked! He composed the music for several of the more recent PreCure shows, including their movies; I particularly loved his finale for the 15th anniversary film, which prominently featured a truly delightful medley of every team's opening theme. I'm also very fond of some of his pieces for Kiznaiver and Welcome to the Ballroom.

His BNHA work, though, I feel like suffers from two main problems: the tracks are too short to work up a good head, and yet, despite that short length, they sometimes feel exhaustingly over the top. (Did Shigaraki's theme really need crying children to get across the point that he's bad news?) I've long felt that the BNHA anime wants me to feel like everything is way more Epic and Stirring and Dramatic than I actually find the material to be, so curiously, the music winds up having a distancing effect rather than drawing me in. This is frequently compounded by placement choices that feel so staggeringly poor that I'm often left wondering whether the staff chose the music out of a hat! (Seriously, why does a fairly rote test of character in Nighteye's office warrant doom choirs?)

As to the MVA tracks specifically, I wish there could have been tracks that sounded a bit more fun or heroic, given that the League in MVA really are the heroes for the arc, complete with Shigaraki suddenly having access to Shonen Nakama Tropes and getting all these little comedic reaction takes. It'd be nice if the music could cue in and let the League have some aural triumph without being all doom all the time ("Oh, no! The villains are winning!" Yes, they are; let them have this for one arc, would you?)

But that said, I do rather like most of these! There are some that I do suspect will fall prey to the This Is Too Much Drama, Would You Please Ratchet Back? problem, but there are also some that I can imagine playing better in the context of the show than they do in isolation, and some that feel like they could even be exactly what I was dreaming about, if they go where I hope they will. For some individual thoughts, see below:

The Mission of the Stealth Hawks: A reasonable enough little tense atmospheric piece. Doesn't jump out at me.

Different Ability Liberation Army: I always approach the MLA as styling themselves as an army, but in reality being more of a sect--far more cult than militia-- I appreciate that if they can't have a good dramatic march despite having Army, like, right there in the title, I'm glad I could get church bells instead. On the whole, though, this is a good example of the first problem I mentioned having with Hayashi's work for BNHA--his pieces tend to be pretty short, and it takes them so long to land on a melody that by the time they find one, there's hardly any time to develop it before the song ends. Even a lot of the hero pieces are like that, and the villain songs, even more so. That said, I do like the horror strings that creep in around the 1.25 mark, blossom at 1.45, and float on through 2.10. I just wish they went on longer. Admittedly, "erratic church bells and horror strings" is still not the choice I would have made for the MLA's main theme. I really would have preferred something with a more militant air; as it is, this sort of feels like it scores a creepy prologue that plays before the opening credits kick in and then the episode proper starts. Which isn't a bad description for the way the dinner scene played in the manga, but thanks to the anime's decision to reshuffle everything, I don't think that dinner scene's going to maintain that feeling of "prologue" when we finally get to it.

My Villain Academia: Better on the melodic front; I enjoy the drama at .43, the dancing tension at 1.05, and particularly the minor strings from 1.25 that just keep climbing until everything else drops out around 2.10. I do wish it found a better place to end rather than noodling on for a further thirty seconds, but the melody will get a more central, and more bombastic, treatment in the final track, so it's probably okay for it to trail off here. (It's also apparently a reprise of a villain theme from the very first season's OST, which is rad. More on that in the Track 11 blurb.)

Second Coming: This is a bizarre one because, while I complained that Hayashi's BNHA tracks are usually short, this one is a full six and a half minutes--except that it falls clearly into movements of about a minute each, with clear lulls in between. I wish it was twelve minutes and everything was twice as long! As it is, I'm highly doubtful that we're going to hear this one played in its entirety anywhere, since I can't imagine what scenes would require this specific sequence of musical passages at this length. 0.00 - 1.01: I love that the song kicks in comparatively quickly; the first minute's passage has a great, thrumming drive that very nearly hits major key towards the end. 1.02 - 1.53: The drive picks up pace in the second minute before the chorus arrives, and for once, I am very prepared to love a BNHA choir piece. I hope this is what plays when Deika's going up in ash. 1.54 - 3.01: I love the melodic line being carried by the intentionally hard to distinguish violin and whatever brass instrument the violin's trading off with in the third minute. It's bit out of place with the rest of the track, but I like it quite a bit on its own, and it does have a similar sound as some of the "dirty" brass in RE-DESTRO and Mine Woman. It's probably too long for RD's childhood flashback, but I wonder if it'll play for an MLA character somewhere? 3.02 - 4.07: The fourth minute has some very fun drums, but otherwise doesn't jump out at me as much of the rest of the track. I'm very curious to know when this will play, though. 4.08 - 5.32: The fifth minute, god bless, has some proper march drums--I like this passage a lot, particularly when it come back in the sixth minute accompanied by the choir. I like this because the key is minor but it's not "oooo scaaaary" minor; it's more dramatic, a bit tragic, but triumphant too--pretty much perfect for Re-Destro, Spinner and Machia's moment of revelation in the crater. I wish it were longer. 5.33 - 6.36: And here for the end we're back to the driving guitar and some fun low-thrum strings and percussive chain sounds. Like the fourth passage, it's fun, but jumps out at me less, particularly as the song's finale.

Gigantomachia: This is an extremely boss kaiju song. Seriously, that brass in the opening could come right out of a Toho flick. Extremely good walking calamity number, love that distorted synth stuff towards the end. It's going to sound great when (if) it plays over Machia leaving the villa, the hand rising up through the floor behind Toga, Momo and the other students surveying the desolation left in his wake, and so on. (I know that's all Season Six material, shhhh. I hope they use this piece there.)

Mine Woman: This is so fun. And so extremely superior that that awful Christmas insert song! I'm glad Curious got this at least, and I love the moment the beat drops at the one-minute mark, and that interwoven sax. So good. It's hard to imagine the fight between Toga and Curious being paced to this song, mind, but it's real good, anyway.

TOGA's Nature: This one showcases the other problem I have with Hayashi's BNHA work, especially his stuff for the villains: it feels very on the nose in a way that tips over into being Too Much. The birdsong, I think, is on the nose but in an effective, playful way, with the natural beauty of the birds undercut by the lovely but ominous piano/synth melody. I am considerably less kindly disposed to the creepy child laughter, which just feels on the nose in a thuddingly obvious way--though I do like the way it slides in when the birdsong fades. I like, too, the sort of cloudy roaring reprise of the melodic line that kicks in around the 1.10 mark. It feels like an effective echo of Toga--cute but creepy as a young girl, and then, after she snaps, creepy in the same way but now you can't ignore it.

Symbol of Fear: The beginning doesn't do much for me, but I enjoy the howl that gives way to the organs at 1.15; while it's too action-heavy to be Tenko, the transition does still put me in mind of Tenko wandering the streets, internally crying for anyone to help him, and the person who finally does is--well. I like that the organ nurtures that howl into something considerably more dire, though you still get a return to that guttural cry periodically. While it is, again, difficult to imagine this scoring the scenes between AFO and Tenko's first meeting and Tenko being formally named Tomura--it's much too bombastic--it does still feel like an excellent representation of AFO sculpting Tomura's formless, aimless rage into something that really could tear down the world.

I Don't Kill My Friends: It would have been really nice if they'd let the most significant, unadulterated personal triumph of the arc sound actually fun. Why does the Sad Man's Parade song sound so upset?? @aysall predicts that it'll play over Twice's confrontation with Hawks and death scene, and I can see it working extremely well there, but it's a pretty weird call for the Dead Man's Parade bit, if that is indeed what this is intended to evoke. Quibbling about the title aside, I do like the way this pulses and throbs, something like an exposed wound, which is not a bad description of poor Jin's mentality. I still hope this isn't what scores his breakthrough, though. As I said previously, the villains are the heroes for just this one arc, and it'd be nice if the score could reflect that at least a little.

RE-DESTRO: I like this one a lot. I love the interwoven layers of that dirty sax and the Big and Dramatic orchestral strings + brass, but both of them undercut with that regular, machine beeping that could almost be a heart monitor, but mostly isn't--right up until the long beep at 1.52/1.53. It feels like a strong illustration of the titular character's different personas--his attempts at casual, friendly villainy (like menacing Giran or chatting with Shigaraki on the phone), him when he's thundering full-volume about the weight of his legacy at people (THE BLOOD OF DESTRO FLOWS THROUGH THESE VEINS I AM RE-DESTRO), and, beneath it all, the constant little thread of stress that Rikiya can never escape (right up until Shigaraki). I probably wouldn't love it so much in isolation, but I'm easy to win over with the right character association. XD

Paranormal Liberation Front: Very fun grubby guitar intro. It also has much the clearest melodic throughline, which inclines me towards it. What inclines me to it even more is the knowledge (per @aysall again) that it's the same main melody as the track Villains Theme from the very first season's OST. That track already having used its allotted Doom Choir quotient, this track makes do with less synth and a lot more orchestra and chunky bass backing, which is much to its benefit, I feel. I do wish it had any of the MLA's theme in it, to represent the merger, but admittedly, it'd be hard to make that very audible when the MLA theme has…next to no central melody, percussive rhythm, etc. Still, as an evolution of the League to something bigger, classier, and far more dangerous, it's real good--just long enough to develop into itself and explore its central leitmotif. Probably my favorite track simply on its own merits.

Thanks for the ask, anon! I'd listened to the tracks once driving around for work, but sitting down with them properly gave me a greater appreciation for them, and now I'll definitely have an ear out for them when we get to this material in the anime…

….whenever that winds up being. *sob*

#bnha #music #stillness answers #my villain academia #reviews?#league of villains #meta liberation army #shigaraki tomura #yotsubashi rikiya

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comicteaparty · 5 years ago

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March 28th-April 3rd, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from March 28th, 2020 to April 3rd, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

How many hours do you work on your comic per week, and how do you manager to balance that with other responsibilities?

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

heheh So we are.. cheating a bit Both me and my coworker are unemployed, and is working on hour comic, like was it a full time job. It is our passion project, and dream that we can work and live of makeing comics. In Denmark you can apply for grants from the government, but you need to have releashed a book before that is possible. We are useing the comic, to show potentional clients in the future what we can do. For now we are working on it from 09:00-17:00 ish (with a long lunch break) while applying for other kinds of grants, and also does all the things we are supposed to to get our unemplyment money, and searching for jobs, and freelance gigs, gathering the courage to start our own small company (not right now though) and yeaah time will tell

carcarchu

@Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS that doesn't sound like cheating to me? more like using the tools at your disposal to turn your passion into a viable career

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

hehe it feels a little like cheating! there are some debates about if it is okay or not, but we think that strengthening our skills is a good use of our time

eli [a winged tale]

Haha also not cheating! It’s great you’re using the time to chase the dream I’m curious what’s your breakdown for those time working on the comic? As for me, usually 1-2 hours a day with a bit more on the weekend if time permits. These days with the quarantine it’s about 2-3 h a day

DanitheCarutor

Since I'm unemployed until who knows when I've been working on my comic between 40-50 hours a week about 6 to 7 days a week... most weeks. Some days, like update day or chore day, I hardly work on the comic or don't work on it at all. Admittedly I'm not the best at balancing drawing with other responsibilities, sometimes I get so into it that I forget about daily house chores, other weeks I do the opposite and only do house chores which makes me totally behind of comic stuff. I can't seem to find a good middle ground, it always turns into completely focusing on one or the other.

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah when I get in the zone, time flies and life gets put to the wayside

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

So I have no school or work, so the webcomic has become almost a fulltime project for me

I average about 10 hours per day working on it, not counting on chores and exercise

Another thing I worry about is the possibility of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is why I've been relentless with exercise, too

I guess it's just a combination of relentless reminders and also sheer willpower that gets me to do other responsibilities haha

@eli [a winged tale] also I know that feeling

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

So since my school had to cancel, I have to be more responsible for my online course. Sometimes I give myself 2 days off each week to work more into my upcoming webcomic but I have to switch my mind for school work, online classes. Also extra time for food. I need to get back into exercise or I feel exhausted more easily. I keep a wall schedule so that I make it a routine to write what I'll do every 3 or 5 days, to keep my active brain reminded(edited)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I spent the majority of last year (fun)employed (partially by choice, partially not! my previous job let me go rather unceremoniously... and I needed a hiatus anyway... so it worked out) so I poured a lot more hours into that chapter of Phantomarine than I usually did. I worked on it almost every day - at least for a couple of hours, but sometimes up to a full eight-hour day. That number has dipped tremendously since I’ve gone back to work, but I’m spreading the same amount of time out in a broader way. I’m trying to get a good buffer during my hiatus, so I can work and draw in a healthy balance. I don’t have crazy overtime at my current job like I did at my last one, so that’s already a comfort. I’m confident I’ll be able to hit a good stride once the comic returns in June (edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Can’t wait Lady!!

Feather J. Fern

Two part time jobs, and school killed my comic, but I been working on getting one panel done a day, which is around 30minutes to an hour if possible.

eli [a winged tale]

My routine used to be rendering on the commute but now just once in am and once pm until this limbo time is clarified

That’s awesome Feather! It’s so rewarding when everything comes together after putting effort everyday

Feather J. Fern

Once school is done in two more weeks I will be more free to do things so I hope to get maybe two panels done in a day XD

Online school, stupid quarantine

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Due to the pandemic im mostly off school and my part time job so i spend like 4-5 hours on my comic per day. Still would like try to get a page done per day but lmao digital painting is slowwww

eli [a winged tale]

What’s everyone’s tips for breaks/stretches/balance? I feel like I certainly need to revisit these to avoid burnout and continue feeling motivated!

Feather J. Fern

Actually there was a cool manga artist who's tip was literally he only worked working hours. His mornings are free and since manga was his job, he worked form 12-6, giving him 2 hours to do other work he needs to get done, and takes morning walks and stuff.

Another person I know had "No working weekends" as a thing becuase they are a freelancer.

I personally have try to make sure I ahve a routine, and actually, stretch before drawing.

Streetch before, during a break, and then after, to keep that body nice and warmed up

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Health-wise there's this hing for your : every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. I'm not good at following this, but when I do it, it helps a lot.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Despite the current pandemic, my work-life hasn't changed much (unless you count stress getting in the way). I am currently "unemployed," but I do consider comicking my full-time job. I am also not very good at balancing work and life. Something's always gotta give. Last year, I worked at a job that basically ruined my ability to work on my comic. I worked 30-40 hours typically, ruined my sleep schedule, took work home sometimes, and was constantly exhausted. This is what resulted in my year and a half long hiatus, and it's what drove me to work like hell on my comic when I quit. Now (when I'm in the groove and not suffering from art block), I typically spend 60-70 hours on my comic and get 2-3 pages done: - 30 hours sketching (I know, ridiculous) - 5 hours filling in base colors - 20-25 hours painting - 5 hours adding text, speech bubbles, sfx, and finishing touches - 1-2 hours formatting for Webtoon I also spend some time throughout the week typing up the script, doing concept art for things coming in the future of the comic, and preparing for conventions, but I can't tell you exactly how much time.

eli [a winged tale]

Thanks for the breakdown! I’m always keen to learn from everyone and seeing how the workflow is like for different people

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

oh don't forget to do wrist stretches!

eli [a winged tale]

Ahh formatting time is always so tedious for me!

Yes wrist exercises! Any recommendations?

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

hmmm well the easiest one is literally just shaking it out

like every hour

and I also like to hold my arm out parallel, point my fingers up and using my other hand to pull the fingers back so i'm stretching the wrist

then I point the fingers down and pull on the fingers until my wrist is stretching

eli [a winged tale]

Awesome. Will be adopting those!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I'm pretty fast. 2-6 hours per page, depending on how detailed it is. Average of 3-4. I could probably do 2 pages/ week easily enough, but don't want to do more than that. I'm the kind of person who always needs to be doing a million different things. I need to leave time for my other hobbies and my paintings and my academics and extracurriculars. Otherwise I'd get burnt out doing one thing only

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

@eli [a winged tale] So since it is both me and @Q (Wayfinders: Off Course) working, we start with working on a rough each, our goal is one step (so rough, ink, color) for two pages pr day, pr person. So in a weak the goal is four finished pages a week, and then we upload 3 pages per week. So it is divided that in the morning we start at 09:00 in the morning, maybe checking mail, being practical or whatever. Then we work until 12:00 were we eat lunch, go for a long nice walk and then we go back to work between 13:00 and 14:00 ish and then work until 17:00 when we begin to prepare dinner. Then of course breaks inbetween

Q (Wayfinders: Off Course)

It’s pretty wild to be able to dedicate your entire day to comics like that

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

damn you all work fast

do you guys have any tips on how to work on a webcomic faster?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Lol, I wish!

Still looking for those magical secrets

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@shadowhood (SunnyxRain) You know the 80-20 rule? You can get 80% of the result with 20% of the effort? My comic is very messy if you zoom in. I don't spend time making sure the linework or the coloring is perfectly clean. Also, I'm pretty fast at drawing figures. I used to practice figure drawing a lot by rushing to draw strangers irl before they moved, or by drawing a bunch of fast figures from the free figure drawing model websites online. I've also taken a figure drawing course (didn't even have to pay because it was part of my university! Even if you don't have that option you can probably find free life drawing sessions on Meetup or similar!) which really helped me streamline my process for drawing people

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Oh I see! Yes, I used to take life drawing classes too! And your response makes me feel a lot better

I tend to be a bit messy with inking, and since i'm a perfectionist a lot of my time is wasted on editing/clean up

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've seen cronaj draw, and while I think the results look excellent, I think her method is a kind of inefficient. She draws like a printer, nearly finishing one detailed body part before moving on the the next. I think maybe if she drew in a more classical way, going from a gesture drawing to progressively more detailed, it might help her be faster and her poses more cohesive and dynamic. Maybe working on 1 or 5 min figures would help? Practicing things like this?

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah I try to do figure practices for efficiency

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I heard that there are some online life drawing vids you can follow too

but what are your experiences with online life drawing vids versus the real thing

like is there a real difference?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

found some of my old 1 minutes

To me there's not too much difference

I've heard some people say that life drawing is either way easier or way harder though. Because of your depth perception when looking at a real person

But the bruises on my legs can attest to my horrid depth perception haha. That might be why I don't notice a difference

Actually those previous sketches might be 30 seconds? I don't remember

I would recommend you try both but right now we pretty much only have the online option haha

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah I’ve done both and I think irl creates complexity with depth and the interactions with others etc is helpful but online is my go to for flexibility

I think having a process streamlined will make things more efficient. The downside is that it might feel tedious and I do switch it up from time to time for variety

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Might feel uncomfortable but that's how you know you're improving

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

There is a TON of difference for me. I HAVE to look at a physical model in front of me.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Can't get better if you always do the same things

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

This is what my brain does.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I wonder- could drawing yourself in a mirror be a decent substitute?

If youre lucky you might also be able to ask an SO or roommate to model for you. Should probably pay them back by cooking for them or something though

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Brain: sees a real model in front of me Brain: translates 3D to 2D, result: drawing Brain: sees a photo/video of a model Brain: SHIT. That's supposed to be 3D, isn't it? Brain: Translates 2D to 3D (basically re-constructing it in my head, or attempting to re-construct) so that it can translate it back to 2D Brain: BSOD

There's some online resources out there that have "3D" photos... you know, two near-identical images side by side, so if you look at it cross-eyed, it becomes 3D?

But I can't do those because I get a headache X'D

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Just thinking about drawing from that makes me dizzy

eli [a winged tale]

Oh interesting!

Yeah maybe looking out the window to draw people would be the way to go...

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

But maybe figure drawing in VR exists?

eli [a winged tale]

Balcony figure drawings

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I live on the top floor so those are going to be some very small figures

eli [a winged tale]

For ants

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Once this coronavirus thing is over, there's lots of ways you can do gesture drawings from just random people -- bus stops, cafes, museums (I have not done this, but people who have done this report this is really good because others assume you're drawing the artworks. XD)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've done this a lot

Sometimes I've even shown people drawing of themselves if they've turned out particularly nice

They've always taken it well

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I like drawing my professors because they use hand gestures a lot when they talk

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Airport was REALLY good for finding people stuck in one pose indefinitely

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

they alwayas laugh when I show them

eli [a winged tale]

Shadow omg I do that too

Draws classmates

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

yeah the only issue i have with drawing classmates

is that they're always doing the "i'm using my phone" pose

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Become the master of drawing people on their phones

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Maybe try drawing children on the playground?

This works better if you're a woman

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

oh thank jesus

I also like going to the zoo or the museum

or the aquarium if i'm feeling adventurous

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I am a University student so I also have some pretty interestng drawings of people asleep in weird poses

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I really need to start going to weekly figure drawing sessions once this is over (there's one here... 20 min drive... 8AM Saturdays )

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

ditto or just go to the park and draw

and @Eightfish (Puppeteer) I've had some.....weird poses from all my profs

one guy was incredibly hard to draw; he was VERY enthusiastic about showing us knife skills

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The parks here are too spacious, to a degree where it's weird to get close enough to people

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Bring binoculars

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Don't worry ma'am I'm an artist

nothing sketchy

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

(except my sketch)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

A+ pun right there

another place to go for figure drawing

theaters

like.....opera/plays

I once tried drawing the men dancing in the Newsies musical

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Tried that once, but it took me out of the performance

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

same i was dazzled by dancing men

aaaaand then i abandoned sketching at all when they started throwing newspaper strips into the audience

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

But they were giving you free paper!

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

THEY WERE

i'll take what i can get

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) While I agree that my method of drawing is "inefficient," I do not draw like a printer. There are videos of people drawing like a printer and it's not what I'm doing. I have done gesture drawing before, but it always looked incredibly abstract, and not quite like people, which is fine, but not what I'm going for. I treat gesture drawing like a warm-up exercise. It doesn't really do anything for my end result, but gets my drawing muscles stretched out.(edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Gesture drawings are definitely a good warmup!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Perhaps it was an inappropriate analogy. What works for me I guess wouldn't work for everyone. I was trying to offer advice because whenever you talk about how much time you spend on art and you work life balance it's commendable but also dismaying. I hope you find something that works for you in the future

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Oh god.. I sometimes work 6 hours a day. I guess thats like 30 hours a week? Crazy to think about, it's like a full job

Oooh you guys are sharing figure drawings... I swant to show some of mine

Behold

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

My figure drawing usually breaks down into like, medical anatomy study. I feel like I understand body shapes better by including the muscles & bones

carcarchu

ABS the most important figure study

Deo101 [Millennium]

ah figure drawing? I love figure drawing ^^

I do like a lot but this kinda thing is most of it

anyways as for the question at hand, I do a lot of different things for my comics weekly. My millennium pages take me 2-6 hours i would say, but I also have patreon things I need to do so I'd say i spend 10-15 hours on it a week. for my other comic, I spend about 6 hours an update, and it updates every other week. but honestly, all of my free time goes to assorted comics. If i'm not working on school work or chatting with people, I'm working on things for patreon, potential merch, or other comics I want to start sometime.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Oooh nice poses!!’

Deo101 [Millennium]

thanks!! I have a ton of gesture/figure drawings but these ones are my most recent that I have saved to my computer i think

10 minutes im pretty sure. very good for speeding up

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Those look really nice, good values

Deo101 [Millennium]

thanks ^^ I really hate working in charcoal honestly, it kinda always winds up hurting my body somehow, but its very quick sooooooo

kayotics

My answer for the prompt question has changed a lot since I started quarantine lmao... I used to do about 10 hours of work throughout the week on my comic page (usually after work, I have an office job) but ironically it’s gotten harder while I work from home. I’ve been struggling to find time since I don’t have a separation between work and home now, and putting the boundaries up of “I’m not always available” to coworkers is difficult.

Also on figure studies: they’re a great way to practice speed. I use the concepts of figure drawings all the time.

RebelVampire

@kayotics As someone who always works from home doing remote contract work, I have to say I think this is something a lot of people underestimate about work at home life. In that it's sometimes really difficult to establish boundaries with ppl and make them understand you aren't always available and also aren't gonna work billions of hours of overtime. So I'm sorry to hear that's affecting your comic work.

Shadowmark Productions

I work anywhere from 6-8 hours a day on comic stuff. That’s an average though. Sometimes I slack and need to pull all nighters to make up for it. Yes, I am terrible at time management. They say entrepreneurs are the only people willing to work 80 hours a week for themselves so they do not have to work 40 hours a week for someone else. I guess webcomic creators are the only people willing to work 80+ hours a week so that they can... go to work for someone else afterwards

AntiBunny

4 days of procrastinating, 1 of procrastinating and hating myself, and 2 of actual comic drawing seems to make up my weekly comic making schedule. :p

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I can only imagine how stressed I would be if I forced myself to update weekly

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

This is a hard question to answer because it varies a lot depending on my energy levels. Ideally I’d spend several hours a day on comics, but realistically I draw as much as possible when I have the energy (5+ hours a day for as many days in a row as I can handle it) and then go weeks or months too tired to do comics. On average, barring any long periods of exhaustion or other interruptions from RL, I spend about 20+ hours a week making pages for my comics.

sagaholmgaard

I prefer to work on my comic for about an hour ever morning and maybe 2-3 hours in the evening, that's the ideal routine for me. Right now I sadly have a lot of schoolwork to do (writing my thesis) so i might get less than 30 minutes in the morning and then feel rlly tired in the evening so I dont get as much time then either. but oh well!

I can still work for 4-5 hours on the weekends so I manage ^^(edited)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

The whole stay-indoors order's currently completely wrecked my pattern, but before that I did between 3-4 hours a day.

Shadowmark Productions

Can’t imagine the stress of a daily or even weekly posting schedule. Hats off.

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #creator babble #creator interview #comic creator interview #comic tea party #ctp

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marshmallowgoop · 6 years ago

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Kill la Kill Books!

Got a small haul of Kill la Kill books the other day!

SUSHIO CLUB LOVE LOVE KLKL has been a glaring omission from my collection, so when I saw a listing of the book for 3,600 yen—which usually goes for 10,000+ these days—I bought it right away.

And I figured I might as well pick up a few more things while I was at it, right? To make the shipping more cost effective?

That’s definitely the only reason.

But anyway, my growing mass of Kill la Kill books and magazines has now reached 36 items.

And I’ve talked about some of this merch before; you can find my post about the Febri volume 21 issue here, my post about Fractal 10 here, my post about the Talking About Composite books, The Complete Script Book, and The Art of KLK Vol. 3 here (and I have a whole tag for the script book, #klk-script-book), and I yammer on about the nine Blu-ray key art collection and artboard books here. I also have several essays discussing the official manga adaptation:

Kill la Kill Manga Chapter 7

Kill la Kill Manga Volume 3, Chapters 8-17: Thoughts and Impressions

Kill la Kill Manga Volume 3: Translation Notes, Anime Differences

Kill la Kill Manga Volume 3: Worth it?

Manga Differences

And now, I wanna briefly (lol) yap about the six new additions to my collection.

Because I have a lot of love in my heart for this ridiculous, ridiculous anime.

SUSHIO CLUB LOVE LOVE KLKL

So, I got this book for cheap because it was allegedly in poor shape and “not suitable for collection.”

(My reaction to “not suitable for collection” is always, “It’s suitable for my garbage collection! I’ll give your ‘ugly’ copies a loving home!”)

But, like? There are a couple of dents and folded corners, but the condition is really not bad at all. The art is completely intact and beautiful.

Sushio—who is the character designer for Kill la Kill—has shared much of this book on his Twitter, and I would definitely recommend fans of the series to scroll through his photos and have a look. There’s such a cute, sweet charm to Sushio’s work, and along with the polished, colored pages from LOVE LOVE that he shares online, he also shares sketches of his own fanart for the series, too.

(Okay, maybe this isn’t exactly the best demonstration of Sushio’s absolutely precious artwork, but. It’s one of my favorites from the book. Ryuko resorting to such wild extremes to be with Senketsu again is just. My heart. Kill la Kill is actually adorable.)

In any case, I don’t think any of the content in LOVE LOVE was new to me, but there’s just really something about having the book in my hands. I know there’s such a strong desire for digital media these days, but call me old-fashioned—there’s nothing quite like holding this art and really seeing every stroke and line in person.

Being able to physically flip through the pages also makes me notice things I didn’t before. For instance, I found myself charmed by the little detail of Barazo, Mako’s father, loving and adoring Sukuyo, Mako’s mother.

I mean, aw? It’s stuff like this that really makes me wish Kill la Kill were a kids’ show (as Sushio himself seemed to want!) Barazo is so much more likeable when there aren’t any signs of his less-than-pleasant behavior and he’s a loving, supportive husband and father.

Seriously!

Another thing I notice from having the book now is the order in which the pages are organized. Like, I couldn’t help but be amused about how Ryuko gets her own page here...

(Smiling for her Starketsu in the sky, right? Just like he asks her to in “Till I Die”?)

...and then the next pages have Satsuki beside Nonon and Mako (and Mataro) beside Ira...

...which strikes me as a bit funny because this isn’t exactly how Sushio organized his Tweets of these images. There, Satsuki was next to Ryuko, Nonon was next to no one, Mako and Mataro were next to Ira, and Uzu was next to Houka:

So, in LOVE LOVE, is Sushio deliberately trying to say something with the changed placement? Especially when it comes to the direction of the ladies’ eyes?

Yeah???

I kid, I kid.

(But really, it looks much better to give Ryuko her own page and not have Nonon standing next to nobody.)

Also, one of the first things that popped out to me about LOVE LOVE is how Senketsu’s pages are right next to Ryuko’s pages. As they should be.

They belong together, okay?!

And speaking of Senketsu and Ryuko, I remember a comment years back that said you could probably find pics of your OTP with matching expressions in this book.

But, uh. Just compare Senketsu posing to Ryuko posing...

They’re kind of different types of people, lol.

But hey, they do both make cute sneezy faces.

As a final note about my copy of LOVE LOVE, I will say that my only disappointment is that I received the version with print errors. As such, this page of Nui...

...was accidentally printed twice, and I miss out on this page of Nui as a result:

There are also some minor goofs, like Mako’s arm getting cut off by the background here:

But considering I got this beautiful thing for only 3,600 yen, I really can’t complain!

Now I just need Sushiotan 2 to complete my Sushio Kill la Kill doujin collection....

Takepro

This charming little volume is a collection of animator fanart for the show (and other shows). The book includes a short profile for each featured artist, and their big Kill la Kill pieces are—like all titles in Kill la Kill—named after classic Japanese pop songs. You can read and see more about Takepro here.

It’s hard to pick favorites from this doujin because there is so much adorable and wonderful artwork, but I especially love Naoki Takeda’s “ここに幸あり,” or “Here is My Happiness,” named after the song by Yoshitsu Ootsu.

youtube

The picture features Ryuko, Mako, and Satsuki sitting together, all having a good time, and there’s just something so sweet about seeing happy Satsuki.

I also found an English translation of the song’s lyrics, courtesy of beast-senior 810:

The storm breaks and the rain falls Thorny as the women's path might be I would still keep on living with you And my happiness is here in the blue sky

I could not tell anybody of my scars A bird of love that resided in my chest If only I wander about crying and evading A sorrowful night wind will blow through the streets

I call out your name from the bottom of my heart Who will be awaiting me at the end of the echoes? Snuggle up to you and cheerfully look up to your face And my happiness is here in the white clouds

Aw. This song is so Satsuki.

And speaking of Satsuki, I can’t get over how cute she and Ryuko look on the cover of this book. Like??

Aw!

I also am quite fond of a small piece by Syuichi Iseki, which is in a super-deformed style and features Satsuki comforting Nonon after her uniform is destroyed during the Naturals Election. Nonon cries, and Satsuki pats her head. In the background, Ira looks distressed at the display, Houka seems to be deciphering it, and Mako smiles. It’s really, really cute.

Yoshie Endo’s “僕笑っちゃいます,” or “I’m Laughing,” named for the song by Shingo Kazami, is also real cute. It depicts Mataro holding up Guts, who licks his face. It’s another one of those, “I-so-wish-Kill-la-Kill-were-a-kids’-show” kinda pieces....

youtube

Hiroyuki Imaishi’s Doujin

Admittedly, I don’t actually know the title of this one, but it’s a very small doujin by Kill la Kill director Hiroyuki Imaishi. There isn’t too much Kill la Kill content, but there are two pages of Ryuko and Satsuki in their respective Kamui, accompanied by some text.

I thought the text might be something about the show, but it seems like it’s actually about Imaishi’s experience working on the show. And... it’s rather sad? He talks about how he’s able to accomplish more now, but he also has to consider a lot more as well, and he doesn’t have the time and energy that he used to. It’s a lot about aging and growing old.

At least, I think that’s what’s being communicated. Here’s a transcription, though:

なんだろう。

初会社役員とか。

昔よりやれることは増えたが考えなきゃいけないことも増えて時間と体力は足りなくなっていく。

年相応とも言える。

だけどいつまでも大人気なく生きていきたいものだ。

One last interesting thing about this doujin is the material it’s made from; it’s different than any other book in my collection. I’m not an artist, so forgive me if I sound totally ignorant here, but the paper reminds me watercolor paper. It definitely took me by surprise!

SL Sketch 3

SL Sketch 3 is a small fan doujin by Buzin. You can find most of the art in this book on their Tumblr!

Sketch 3 is a really fun collection of sketches, and I especially love the cover. I’m so desperate for art where Senketsu is acknowledged as an actual person that I’m just all heart eyes over Ryuko smiling at him here.

March 2014 Newtype

Okay, so this one’s really a magazine, not a book, but wow. I was taken aback by what’s inside!

I’ll definitely have to look at this issue in more depth because there are a bunch of Kill la Kill goodies in here that I didn’t even expect. And I don’t think most of it has been translated at all!

I also realized that I’ve been mixing up my Newtypes and will have to fix my resources page. But on the bright side, there is so much to love about this issue.

Like, the Elite Four Light Novel got reprinted in the Kamui Bansho, but it’s way better here because it has pictures!

I also love how Nonon, out of all the Elite Four, is the only one who stands beside Satsuki in these illustrations.

And I don’t even know what this is (VR or something with Ami Koshimizu, Ryuko’s VA?), but it’s cute and got me smiling:

And Ryo Akizuki, the mangaka for the official Kill la Kill manga, made a small comic about his experience working on the project. I like the little title panel with Ryuko, Senketsu, and Mako a lot:

Plus, there’s a shiny ad for the manga’s second volume, too:

One of the things that most caught my interest, though, is an article about the second opening song for Kill la Kill, GARNiDELiA’s “ambiguous”:

I got so curious about this bit because I’ve heard varying, conflicting information regarding the meaning behind the song’s lyrics. On the one hand, I’ve heard that half of the song is from Ryuko to Senketsu, and the other half is from Satsuki to Ryuko. On the other hand, I’ve heard that the whole song is from Satsuki to Ryuko. But I’ve never found any concrete sources for either of these claims!

So, I was hoping the Newtype article would help, but it’ll take a lot more digging into. Still, briefly looking over the page, I did find this bit:

そんな私の思いと歌詞が一致しました。『キルラキル』でいう流子ちゃんと神衣・鮮血の関係に近いかもしれませんね。

Roughly, it says, “As such, my thoughts about the song agreed with its lyrics. You might say it’s like the relationship between Ryuko and Kamui Senketsu in Kill la Kill.”

I’m not totally sure about the context here—and I admittedly don’t even know the author’s involvement in the making of "ambiguous”—but this article might explain where the Ryuko-and-Senketsu reading of the song came from. It’s definitely something I’d like to delve into more.

Because I really love the Ryuko-and-Senketsu reading of the song, okay, and I’d love some actually official backup for it!

Finally, another favorite part of the Newtype is simply all the art. Takafumi Hori’s spread is particularly great:

(You can find a cleaner image here.)

Just... dang. I wish I got a little poster of this instead of the ones actually included in the Newtype! The artwork is just stunning.

And one of the cutest things about the Newtype is all the fanart from its readers! I particularly love the little Valentine’s Day special; there’s an illustration of Ryuko giving Senketsu chocolate, and there’s also a Ryumako piece, too!

Kill la Kill Storyboard Ep. 01

Finally, one of my favorites from this haul is the Kill la Kill Storyboard Ep. 01. The book was included as a shop bonus for the original Japanese Blu-ray/DVD release, though I was able to win it by itself in an auction. I do think I overpaid a bit, but gosh, it’s a lovely addition to my collection. It’s just really neat to see the production process of an anime in action. I wish there were storyboard books for every episode in the show!

Hiroyuki Imaishi’s storyboards are also just super amusing. Here is a small sampling of some of my faves (because there is so much gold in here, my goodness):

And that’s all for now!

...I guess this really wasn’t so brief at all, huh?

Shocker.

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officialotakudome · 4 years ago

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New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, And More

New Post has been published on https://otakudome.com/peacock-streaming-service-review/

Peacock Streaming Service Review

NBC Universal is now the owner of a fresh in-house streaming service. Acting as a competitor to Netflix, Amazon Prime & perhaps more appropriately HBO Max, Paramount+, and CBS All Access the service unlike the aforementioned offers both a premium and free subscription option. While a handful of content is locked behind premium, the free offerings aren’t too shabby.

Peacock is a 2020 over-the-top streaming service it is owned and operated by NBC Universal. It is currently available in free and premium ad & premium ad free subscriptions priced at $4.99 & $9.99 respectively. Annual premium tiers are offered at $50 and $100 respectively.

Editor’s Note: This review is based upon the three different subscription tiers currently offered by Peacock. Peacock was reviewed on an iPhone SE 2nd Gen, Windows laptop, and Playstation 4.

Peacock’s user interface.

As everyone and their grandma is coming up with their own in-house streaming services to get a piece of the pie originally baked by Netflix it was only a matter of time before a Hollywood giant like NBC Universal got onboard. With streaming becoming ever more competitive and lucrative it is a bit surprising that NBC and Comcast hadn’t gotten on with their own service much sooner, especially after HBO Max was announced years prior to its initial launch. I will say that NBC Universal offering a free tier instead of forcing people to sign up out of the gate is a brilliant strategy. But if they want to entice people into sticking around they might want to offer a bit more on the originals side for free viewers.

Peacock’s channel guide.

THE GOOD: Peacock was launched in April 2020 for a preview to Xfinity users before opening up to the public just three months later. While I can’t speak from the perspective of the Xfinity customers that were lucky enough to experience the early build of the service as a public customer I can honestly say that so far, I’m impressed with what I’ve seen from Peacock. As I probably mentioned in my HBO Max review Peacock is a fresh service so some hiccups are always expected. But unless those technical issues are embarrassingly bad the content library will always be the big selling point for these things.

So what exactly is offered from NBC Universal’s extensive, endless tape library? Quite a bit actually. From the free tier there’s a ton of options for starters next day access to premiere NBCU shows become available with no extra cost or cable provider needed. Live news and sports can also be accessed from the free tier, free users also have access to currently aired seasons regardless of whether they just aired weeks or months ago. Though some content is locked to premium due to being made a Peacock exclusive. This is a bit of a raw deal for fans of AP Bio which stars Glen Howerton as it suffers from this fate. Though in fairness, AP Bio was moved to Peacock because the series was revived for it after initially being cancelled following it’s second season.

Peacock stands out by offering what other streamers don’t; an impressive free library.

In regards to the premium offerings of Peacock there’s the aforementioned AP Bio season three and it’s upcoming fourth season. For wrestling fans there’s also WWE content available from it’s run of documentaries. Speaking of, starting March 18, 2021 WWE Network will be absorbed into Peacock meaning the entire WWE library will become available in addition to premiere episodes of NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live at no additional cost to premium subscribers. Peacock also has classic and modern films & TV shows like the original Jurassic Park trilogy, Everybody Hates Chris, Trolls World Tour, Superstore, and the original Saved by the Bell. Original to Peacock include a remake of Saved by the Bell, Curious George (which is apparently still on the air), a reboot of Punky Brewster coming in February, and other shows.

Peacock offers a bold blend of old school and modern classics between it’s free and premium services.

THE BAD: It should be noted that this could possibly be pinned down to internet speed/amount of devices connected, but I have experienced some issues with the UI. For example, something so simple as starting from where I left off on an episode just flat out refused to work for me on Peacock. This was regardless of whether I was taking advantage of the premium or free options. Not everyone is going to have the same problem(s) as me at least I hope to God, but that’s a pretty dependent feature to just not work. There’s also a bit of heavy lag when browsing throughout the UI, most of this was on my laptop and PS4 so I’m going to give the service the benefit of the doubt by placing the blame on speed or lack thereof. While Peacock has one of the strongest free content libraries I’ve probably ever seen from a premium service I do think they could do a bit more to entice subs. For example, why not offer a season or half of a season for an original of the would be customer’s choice? Maybe offer select content from premium channels outside of first episodes? These are just some thoughts the fact that Peacock offers an annual ad tier at $50 is probably more than enough to satisfy people into signing up.

Another thing hurting Peacock is the fact that many key NBCU properties such as The Office will be leaving the service due to NBCU signing those properties off to other services for a limited window exclusivity. There’s also a lack of major user profile features that kind of limits control for personal preferences. I’m more than sure these issues will be wrinkled out over time, but it’s something that’s definitely going to be a turn off for several potential customers.

Peacock’s user interface for mobile.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: While still fairly young Peacock is making some smart moves to take aim at it’s competition. The free tier is way more impressive than it was expected to be though it admittedly has room to be even better which says a lot about Peacock’s potential. While the original content is nice I think Peacock might have a harder time making it a selling point compared to other streamers. There’s also some UI issues that need to be worked on depending on the device, but again this could be put down to speed. Some strong NBCU properties like The Office are also leaving the service soon due to previous deals which could be an unfortunate deal breaker for would be Peacock subscribers. Even with all of it’s issues Peacock has a strong future just simply based on it’s free offerings alone, but it’s variety heavy library does a solid job of helping it stand out from other streaming services. Otaku Dome gives Peacock a 78 out of 100.

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runadamsrun · 4 years ago

Photo

It’s been a while since I’ve put anything up on my Tumblr.

One reason is because I’ve been busy. Teaching is an awful lot of work. Of course, it’s been so much easier this year with the pandemic going on and schools being closed (I’m personally loving this though, so sorry everyone). Virtual/distance/online (whatever you want to call it) teaching has made this job so much easier, and so much more refreshing, compared to what I went through my first year last year.

So yeah. While it has been much easier, I’ve still been busy because I’ve had to change up my lesson plans. Like, adapting them to make them online-learning-friendly. I’ve also been trying to change my curriculum map to better connect and tie in the subjects students will be learning throughout the year (to like, connect what they’re learning in the first unit, for example, and make it relevant and come up later even in the latter part of the school year). So there’s that too.

...

But another reason why it’s been so long since I’ve put anything on my Tumblr is because I’ve been... waiting, I guess. And hoping that I’m wrong, and just... my wishing that there’s some logical, or romantic, explanation for what I’m about to talk about. I’d say this is probably my main reason; because I’ve been too afraid to put it into text and out into the universe.

But just the other day, on the 10th of November (I remember because I spent Veterans Day the next day brainstorming how to finish up this post), I finished one of my favorite (maybe after HakoMari) light novel series of all time: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. And to summarize it with a few words, there are these two “siblings” who are really, really in love with each other; like, a completely and genuinely true love. And with complete trust and dedication in each other. And I guess... finishing the series and seeing the true love between the two characters made me reflect on my own life.

After all, it’s in the middle of November, and right now, I feel like I need to put this down somewhere. Because the way things are looking is so different from... that. That I can’t help but feel bitter and depressed and just... hurt.

...

I first met my senpai in February over 4 years ago (in 2016). If you look far back enough in my Tumblr, you’ll see that post: when I first met her at KPQ. It’s been over 4 and a half years since that day, and it’s been a ridiculous roller coaster between us with so many ups and downs I’ve lost count.

When I first met her in the game, I admittedly thought her character looked cute. Of course, I know it’s just a character sprite. I could make a girl character myself and no one would be the wiser. But well, that was my first impression I guess.

Then she spent hours in KPQ leveling me, and we added each other to our buddy lists at the end of it, I think... with the promise that we’d meet up in the future to level together. I saw her again not too long later, and we talked, and I probably asked her a question or something. And she gave me advice for something or another. And it wasn’t just one time, but I’d ask her many questions, and she’d always have an answer for me. She was kind of like an upperclassman, who I could turn to and rely on if I ever needed anything. So that’s why she was my senpai.

At this time, I think I got really attached to her. As in, I suppose infatuated? Like, to the person behind the character sprite. She was helpful, kind, knowledgeable, and patient.

When she first left me for no apparent reason, I was emotionally crushed. And as I said at the time, there was no reason why I should’ve felt that way for someone who I’d only known for maybe tens of hours online, and without even knowing anything about them (like, all our conversations at that point had been only related to the game).

She came back the next day, and she... thought nothing of her actions at the time, despite my reaction the day before. Despite how she had to have known how I felt. But I brushed it off because I was just so glad she came back. Now by this point, I look back to the me of 4 years ago, and I wonder what was going on through my head, and why I was so attached to her. I think... maybe it’s because I didn’t really have romantic interests at that moment (I still don’t, as of my writing this), and I wanted someone? And I guess I had seen enough anime/manga/novels and stuff where the protagonist just happens to... by coincidence or fate, meet their person on the other end of the red string of fate. Kind of like... Kirito and Asuna, or Weed and Seoyoon. In a game, even.

We spent some time together, doing Maple stuff, and I still didn’t know anything about her. Then she left a second time about a month later, this time cutting me off entirely, and saying that I’d find someone better.

This time I was angry, of course. But... I don’t know. Well, it’s all there in some March 2016 posts. I don’t really want to go into it. But I think I was angry at the time because I felt like... I’d been leashed and my emotions toyed with. She knew just how attached I was to her, and... looking at our conversation at that time, it’s almost like I played right into it, into this drama or play of hers.

Then in September of 2016, she reached out to me on the game’s forum (it has a private messaging system where you can start a conversation with someone, and communicate back and forth) and apologized, telling me how she had to have a surgery. And as a result, she cut out everyone she knew so it wouldn’t hurt. Hence her behavior toward me. I also mentioned this in an earlier post not too far back.

And after she sent that message, I forgave her, and we both logged on and met up. And she told me her story “in person”. And we reconnected. I think... our relationship became a lot better, and it felt more genuine. It definitely felt somewhat different from before. And her opening up about why she had left made me feel... mmm... I guess special? Because I imagined she wouldn’t tell anyone else about that surgery, but me in particular. Maybe I was special to her.

Then the game released a big patch (New Source) and the game became basically unplayable for most of 2017, so we only kind of stayed in touch through the forum’s private messages. But it wasn’t even really “staying in touch”. As you’ll see me mention later throughout this post, that conversation on the forums between us? 80% of the messages are from my end. (I know how this sounds; I’m disgusted with myself too, fucking creep and weird me.)

In 2018, I commissioned the piece of art up there for her birthday in April (it’s the draft, because I don’t want to put up the completed version). She loved it. And... for the rest of the year, she was basically gone. Completely off the radar. That is, didn’t respond to any of the private messages on the forums either. But she came back near the end of the year, and... mmm. It was because she got into a car accident, according to her (hence the MIA). But I mean, I only heard about it once I coincidentally found her online in the game and she told me. I wouldn’t have heard about it otherwise, definitely not through the forums.

But anyway... she would need to have a surgery. So we got married in-game.

...

As I’m writing this and looking back, I’m tearing up. Damn it. Because... ugh. Because it was my dream, and my dream came true.

In my character’s inventory, I always held onto the materials needed for a wedding ring, and the wedding quests, and stuff.

And they were finally going to be of use.

I held onto those items because... I’m not really sure why. Maybe I wanted to be ready for an impossibility? I had always said that I wouldn’t ever marry anyone else in the game except for her, despite guildies wanting to marry me for Onyx Apples (a rare consumable from doing a married-people-only party quest). Up until that point, I was pretty confident that my character would stay single forever. But then she... asked me if I ever thought of getting married. And then I proposed to her. And she said yes.

So we got married.

I guess I felt insecure after the two times she left me. I’m a horrible, insecure person, but I always had a fear that one day, she wouldn’t want to meet me or associate with me in-game anymore. Idk. Or worse, that maybe she’d pick up someone else and be their... senpai, for lack of a better word. Someone to replace me.

So us getting married... made it official. Made me someone who’d be bound to her. And that was, and still is, the highlight of all the time I’ve spent in that game.

It was cute, honestly. We had to meet one of the NPCs, called “Mom and Dad”, to get their permission. Well, she had to, specifically. So she asked me if I was ready to meet her parents. And once we got there, she even jokingly said, “Oh no, they don’t trust us.” And... it was really cute. And sweet.

And then she disappeared after that.

In 2019, she was also... MIA throughout most of it. Meaning, I probably saw her, at most, several tens of hours the entire year. The only method I had of reaching her was through the forum’s private messaging, of course. In the latter half of the year, we met up... kind of on-and-off and fought bosses. That was basically the year for us summed up, and there wasn’t any real progress or communication. Of course, also basically no replies in the private messages.

In 2020, I’d like to think it was an improvement. When I saw her again in February, I tried to talk to her about things not related to the game, and learn more about her as a person. I asked her about her favorite songs, or if she liked Harry Potter (because I’d like to take her to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter one day); she did, of course. And... I tried. I mean, I really, really did. To get to know her better, I mean.

I essentially confessed, and told her she made my experience on MapleRoyals what it was. That she was my raison d'être, and the only reason why I logged on. I asked her if she used Discord, or Skype, or anything, and she said no to everything. And she said that... she preferred to be in contact through the forum’s private messaging system. Which... has been bad, to say the least. Most of it is just me... messaging and... not getting any response.

And at the end of it all, to my essentially-a-confession... she asked me if I wanted to re-attempt a boss fight. And she told me she had to go afterwards.

...

And anyway, the last time I heard from her, it was some time in March this year. She told me she’d be busy with a project, and that she’d be back some time in May or June.

And that’s been... it. Despite my using the forum private messages, I haven’t heard from her since.

I’m reading this post over again before I submit it, and... I admit. I sound crazy. I sound fucking creepy. I sound insane. I sound delusional. I’m admitting it. I sound creepy, and delusional, and crazy, and insane.

But it’s hard to really... describe how many hours we’ve spent together in-game. I can confidently say it’d number in the hundreds of hours together. Most of it was us just grinding mobs, or fighting bosses, and very little of it was us actually talking (again, only recently in the beginning of 2020 did I make headway and talk to her about non-game stuff). But... I’d like to think there was some meaning to all those hours we spent together. And I’d like to think that I meant something to her. Because... after all, why else would you spend so many hours with someone, over the course of 4 years, in this crazy, stupid roller coaster ride right?

I don’t know who she is behind that character sprite, behind the screen. I don’t know much about her at all, aside from her name, her favorite song, and whether or not she likes Harry Potter. And some other things (kinda more personal I guess).

But goddamn it. I was, and still am, in love with whoever is behind that character. And... maybe when I confessed, I wasn’t clear enough, despite... how clear I think I was?

Because how do you become any more clear without sounding like a creep making unwanted advances? You can’t. I also... at the time, wanted to keep what we had between us (whatever you can call everything I described above) than risk losing her, and losing everything. That thought absolutely terrified me.

And now, I don’t know what she thinks of me. And as a result, here we are, and here I am.

Over half a year later and nothing from her. I don’t know what she’s doing. I don’t know if she’s okay. I don’t know... well, anything about her really. It just... fucking sucks, when I feel like... all that time we spent together has meant so much to me. And on the other hand, maybe it’s meant not much, or nothing, to her. Otherwise, wouldn’t she have checked her private messages and responded? At least once?

God fucking damn it. I know this is the case. But I still miss her. And... I’m still in love with her.

I’m fucking scum. Aren’t I fucking disgusting.

#personal

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eternalreviewrose · 8 years ago

Text

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi--REVIEW

Title: Boku Dake ga Inai Machi (ERASED) Length: 12 episodes Premiered: Winter 2016 Production Studio: A-1 Pictures Rating: R/NC17+

Summary: Satoru Fujinuma is a normal (struggling) manga artist and pizza delivery man with an extraordinary ability he calls “Revival”. He jumps at most five minutes back in time whenever tragedy around him strikes, and do his his naturally good nature, does his best to prevent them! When someone dear to him is killed, he somehow jumps back fifteen years, back to his fifth year of elementary, which is when his classmate, the mysterious Kayo Hinazuki, was murdered. He decides to help change the future and make sure Kayo stays alive.

Due to spoilers, my !personal! review will be under the ‘keep reading’

This anime wasn’t bad. It has been on my to-watch list ever since its premiere, and thanks to my being in an anime club, I’ve finally gotten a chance to watch it. I thought I would pace myself with the twelve episodes, seeing as I had about three days to complete it, but ended up going through the whole six hours with minimal breaks.

Another worry was its studio, A-1 Pictures, which I’ve had negative experiences with. For some reason, the shows I’ve watched from A-1 either are poorly adapted from source material (an entire season of Kuroshitsuji with terrible original characters to back me up) or they take on horrible series from the get-go (Sword Art Online, I’m looking at you).

Now for the actual review:

Characters: 8/10 The characters were very well written, in my opinion. Because Satoru was thrown back in time fifteen years, it was perfectly alright for him to have his adult thoughts while in his eleven-year-old body. The classmates were written nicely, and Satoru’s mother was superb. Even his co-workers were fine. However I feel as though Yashiro, or the teacher, was written too obviously. I knew he was the killer from maybe his second appearance, but that’s only because I’m a veteran and I knew a teacher wouldn’t have a prominent role in a drama-mystery series about murders and kidnappers. Admittedly, there were times where I thought maybe Kayo’s mother committed Kayo’s murder, but that died down when I found out Hiromi was also a victim. Also, for a negative tick, Kenya was too much of a smartass for me, being as he is only eleven throughout most of the series. That kid simply knew too much.

Art: 7/10 One reason I dislike A-1 Pictures is because a lot of times their shows end up suffering from ‘same-face syndrome’, and I feel like that happened here in some cases. I had to remind myself time and time again that Kayo’s mother and Sachiko (Satoru’s mother) were two different characters because their faces looked identical. I also for a long time thought that Satoru’s boss was one of his childhood friends, only because they looked similar. As for backgrounds, because this is based off of real areas of Japan, the localizational art isn’t bad. It’s accurate, and moreso during the time skip to 1988. One of my favorite shots is the repeated camera rolls. I don’t know why, but it’s mesmerizing.

Sound: 8/10 I honestly didn’t know that Asian Kung-Fu Generation still made music, as I remember listening to “Rewrite” from Fullmetal Alchemist back in 2003, but this opening “Re:Re” was amazing. I tend to skip anime openings to get on with the story, but I couldn’t do it. I only watched/listened to the ending once, (this is worse to say since I can’t remember what it’s called) and that’s simply because I was engrossed with the plot. But I do remember that it was a very beautiful song. The OSTs did a phenomenal job capturing the suspense and melancholy this show produced. The voices were excellent, even if Satoru and Kayo’s purposeful monotone voices irked me at times.

Story/Pacing: 7/10 A time skip is going to be obvious when dealing with a character that can time travel, so I will be overlooking anything dealing with that. When Satoru is a child, the narrative literally gives you the dates which things happen: Satoru and Kayo’s birthday is on March 2nd, and throughout the show, that fact doesn’t change or becomes ambiguous. In fact, we’re reminded over and over again that X-Day, or Kayo’s original day of death, was the night before her birthday, or March 1st. Keeping track of the dates like this is a very good way to slow down the storytelling process and keep the audience interested. The same cannot be said at the end of the series, after Satoru’s fifteen-year coma. From what I’ve read, the story is split into two arcs: the first being the entirety of Satoru’s jumps back into his childhood, up to the point where it is absolutely sure that none of the three targeted children died, and then the post-coma arc. The latter of the two lasted maybe, what, three episodes at best? Satoru woke up from his coma, ran into Yashiro again, and then helped put Yashiro behind bars. It’s rushed beyond belief, and that’s probably why it gets a lot of negative reviews, because the ending just wasn’t as exciting as the first half of the series. One downfall from the narrative is Satoru’s “Revival”, which is never explained. We never learn how it came to be, why only he has it in this universe, or why he is suddenly unable to use it at the end of the series. I feel as though this is just a plot point stuck onto Satoru’s already blunt and boring character, to make him stand out. I haven’t read too far into the manga, therefor I have no idea if it explains it there, but knowing about this ability would have made me a little happier.

Entertainment: 9/10 I could not put my laptop away unless it was to use the bathroom. I was immersed in this series from start to finish, even if I was falling off the track at the end due to the drop in story quality. It’s a murder-mystery that keeps you at the edge of your seat in a different way from all the rest, mainly due to its time travel and having children be the main characters for most of the story.

Overall: 7/10, specifially, 7.8/10 I would not mind watching this again. It kept me at the edge of my seat, entertained beyond belief, and itching to know if I was right about Yashiro being the killer from the moment I thought it was him. I greatly recommend this series, it’s not the best out there, but it’s most certainly a must-watch.

#erased #boku dake ga inai machi #anime review #review #erased review #boku dake ga inai machi review #anime

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the-cryptographer · 8 years ago

Photo

FEBRUARY MARCH CHALLENGE!!!

Yay! I did the thing! Below the cut you can find some silly answers and silly ms paint artwork~ It’s been forever since I’ve drawn and even more forever since I’ve drawn anime, so everything sucks but be kind, okay~

1. Favourite Character

This guy!!! I remember liking him immediately when I first watched in gradeschool, so he’s a longtime fave. I wish I remembered the basis for my affinity all those years ago, but it’s been lost to the tides of time. Now I kind of think about how his character works on two levels for me:

(1) On a kind of surface level, he’s just really fun to watch. His voice and his dialogue. The comedic expressions. The stupid accent in the dub. He’s temperamental and hammy. And, unlike a lot of the other characters, when he’s upset or unhappy, he’s generally driven towards being more active rather than being more passive - so instead of introspective scenes where he’s retreating into himself, you get all these scenes where he goes out and starts doing really dumb shit. He’s one of the few characters I pretty much universally enjoy watching for the theatrical value.

(2) And on a kind of deeper level, I just find him really inspirational. He’s far from a flawless character - there are so many ways he acts recklessly and makes mistakes, so many ways he can be grating and even cruel, and so many things he’s really not that good at. But he’s just so resilient and determined and such an aggressively good friend to Yuugi. I think especially with all the darker subtext in the manga, you can see the really bad places he’s come from, and how he’s been met with so much failure along the way - but he’s made it so far~ I wish we could all fall and get back on our feet as easily as Jounouchi.

2. Runner Up Character

Put-upon Egyptian Cult Leader!! Who I don’t believe I talk about enough.

He’s an exciting villain, imo!! He puts Yuugi & co in a lot of tight spots, and in a lot of ways didn’t seem to leave the story on the same page as them, but he comes through his arc just devastatingly sympathetic in my mind. I think it’s easy to sympathise with the way he’s at war with himself and his lot in life.

There’s kind of a lot of exciting attributes collected around him too - mind control and alternate personalities, Tomb Keeper politics and Rare Hunter politics, an uneasy partnership with the big bad of the series, and a really poorly established relationship with his brother Rishid that switches between master-subordinate, patient-caretaker, and older-and-younger siblings.

On a personal level though, I appreciate the way he’s willful and clever and lazy and manipulative and NEVER STOPS LYING. I appreciate how much he fights and loses hope and is renewed in his fight against his more insane tendencies. I appreciate that he doesn’t seem to develop genuine fondness for the protags so much as come to realise they’re his way out of this mess and pragmatically follow through on it. And I appreciate how he’s revealed to be fiercely caring towards his siblings in spite of all faults. And it feels so real and tender and angry and human, I even temporarily forget how awful he’s been mere hours before.

Admittedly, I don’t exactly have a clear picture of his fanon existence and what I’d like from it. Especially since I’m not super into the thiefship scene. I’d kind of like to read more about him though. Especially about him and his siblings, or him and Ryou, or him and Yuugi.

3. Favourite Protagonist

Cutie baby~

I guess... Yuugi and I... are maybe... kind of... alike? I’m like a tall, shitty version of him, lmao.

He is a passive pacifist sweetheart with too much self-doubt in his heart and too much porn under his mattress. I like how he grows into himself in the series and learns to be more assertive - but remains the calm, friendly, and trusting person he always was.

4. Favourite Villain

I guess this would be Malik again? Who even counts as a villain in ygo? All of them get redeemed.

I’m just gonna say Kaiba. Kaiba’s tried to kill enough of the protags to be a villain, lol. He’s weaseled his way into a central role in the series tho~ Mr. Popular~

I think I’ve talked quite a bit about why I like Kaiba - but he’s just so damaged and so weak and so strong. He builds death theme parks and shuts down weapons production. Compared to us average humans, he’s more capable of doing good and more capable of doing evil both. Also I project onto him like a mofo.

5. Favourite Yami

I guess this would also be Malik again - Malik’s disturbing split personality.

Naw, tho~ My new favourite Yami is Yami!Isis. All bow down to the cold, all-seeing Priestess.

6. Favourite Series

Season Zero. Or idk, I still have to watch Season Zero but I love manga Season Zero so I assume. Um, the manga? Or am I just supposed to say DM? I still haven’t gotten to watching GX at length but I will.

7. Favourite Arc

Season Zero

A different game every week. Mundane school life in Japan spiced up with pyromania. lots of character focus. Thug life. But I already kind of answered this for the last question.

Maybe Duellist Kingdom?

I like the duels in DK a lot - I know they didn’t follow the rules, but they’re kind of snappy and satisfying. And it has a lot of my favourite Seto moments and Mai moments. And I like the straightforwardness in the arc’s setup, the goals of the characters, and how it built up to the finals. I feel like there’s not a dull moment building up to the confrontation with Pegasus from the meeting with Seto before the castle - the way Atem lost to Seto, and then Seto getting his soul pilfered, and Tristan and the others climbing around the castle, and the Atem-Mai and Jou-Keith duels were some of the better ones in the series.

But my cracky id loves DOMA?

It’s stupid and I know it’s stupid. But the silly villains. REAL MONSTERS. Mai having PTSD complications. Roadtrip in the USA. All the polarshipping. stfu - I can like DOMA if I want to like DOMA.

8+9. Favourite Quote & Runner Up Quote

I am so bad at remembering quotes. I mean, you can’t beat the Yuujou pun, I guess.

I suppose I like the speech Anzu gave Kaiba during DK, about the chip of life, and how Yuugi saved him. I don’t like Anzu’s speech in the dub, but for some reason Kaiba snapping back at her What do you have? with ‘I have all that I need!’ has really stuck with me - I have no idea why(??) But I even used that line in a fic.

I also like when Jounouchi goes on the date with Fake-Virtual-World!Mai. “Anywhere’s fine, so long as it’s with you.” Aww~

I’m not sure any of these are my favourite favourite, but I liked them all.

10. Funniest Moment of the Series

When Kaiba dropped a key into the ocean and somehow Jounouchi didn’t die, lmao

Okay, for reals tho, I’m not sure. But it was funny when Jounouchi almost fell off the balcony in Duellist Kingdom. And the potato song. And when Jounouchi called Kaiba on the phone and Otogi did the Kaiba imitation during DOMA. And when Kaiba and Mai got into a street race - NEVER FORGET!

11. Scariest Moment of the Series

OMG. When Bakura as Honda confronted Yuugi about giving up his wish, and Yuugi tearfully admits his wish was to have friends. Raw. Terrifying. I died.

Okay, again for reals. I guess that’s my admission that the series never managed to make me really fear for the characters. There are times when I scare myself thinking about how empty Kaiba must feel at times though.

12. Favourite Moment Overall

*plays Mystical Refpanel* “Jounouchi-kun… Daisuki da.”

13. Runner Up Moment

Mai giving Jounouchi the entry card during DK.

Mai’s so elegant. But, geez, this must have taken a lot out of her. She just lost her own duel - was just crying herself - has never really had friends before by her own admission. She does this with such seeming ease but she’s really putting herself out on a line here - and Jounouchi probably even doesn’t understand that - but he does all the right things anyhow <3

Yes all my favourite moments are people being nice to Jounouchi - shut up!

Other runner up moments are Rishid’s speech to Malik at the end of Battle City. Kaiba sacrificing Obelisk to summon the Blue Eyes during his duel with Isis. And I also like the very end of Duellist Kindgom and how Mai gets last minute invited on the helicopter ride. Which leads nicely into the next question.

14. Favourite Romantic Ship

Mai/Jounouchi/Kaiba.

Mai and Jounouchi are my favourite proto-romance in the series. Jounouchi and Kaiba are my favourite duo in the series for interesting and revealing character moments. All together they make the greatest ship of bad decisions ever invented.

15. Favourite Platonic Ship

There aren’t many things I only ship platonically. And for things I ship romantically and platonically – there are a ton. But shout-out goes to MaiKai for being the platonic bros of my OTP. I told you - NEVER FORGET that time they got into a street race.

I feel like there’s a lot to work with here though. High society. Introversion and the desire for isolation. Rigidity vs flexibility. Maturity and competence vs pettiness and complete and utter stupidity. Mai beta testing Legendary Heroes. Mai giving Kaiba ‘grown-up’ advice. Learning to trust. They will be drinking buddies. They must become drinking buddies.

16. Runner Up Ship

Honda & Otogi & Serenity.

I like them taking the train together in the manga, but it’s mostly an anime ship. I enjoy watching Otogi and Honda fighting each other for Serenity’s attention and getting completely wrapped up in each other in the process, lol. There’s a level of transparency to it that I find amusing. And it’s sweet the way they all move in to cover each others’ backs during the duel with Oota. They have their missteps, but it makes things feel rewarding when they come through for each other in the end. And, lol, this moment-

In the context of a romantic ship, Honda’s so romantically idealistic and Serenity’s so naively unindulgent - they’re both very stubborn in their own way, but I feel like Otogi is capable of bringing in the realism to mediate that situation. I think my headcanons are heavily influenced by this writer’s work. Even outside of a romantic context though, I want them to be an adventurous trio of friends, lol. I hope they all grow up and manage it in the future~

17. Another Runner Up Ship

Second runner up could be so many things, but this stands out as something I want to see more of - and also have a drawing:

Mai & Vivian.

Okay. But seriously. I want Great Wall of China fataleshipping adventures. I want them to be super catty friends. Please give me more of Mai postcanon female friends and femslash.

18. Favourite Monster

Dark Necrofear!

I talked about most of the cards in this post, but I’ll refresh your memory. (I haven’t made it far in Reshef, but Duel Links has left me feeling more or less the same regarding favourite cards.)

19. Runner Up Monster

REMEMBER WHEN KISARA WAS A CARD~

AU where Kisara is the Happy Queen of the Duel Monsters parallel universe, and Kaibaman is her dimension hopping servant.

20. Favourite Spell

One of these two.

21. Favourite Trap

Hahaha. Fuck Kaiba >:(

22. Design Your Own Character

No. I drew Asuka from GX instead.

23. Design Your Own Monster

I’ll do it one of these days~ But not today~

24. Favourite DSoD Moment

Idk, when Yuugi told Kaiba off? When Otogi and his dad showed up? When Jounouchi wrote his initials on his Duel Disk? When Honda and Yuugi rode a motorcycle and went to save Jounouchi? When Jounouchi and Honda rode a bike to school?

WHEN KAIBA WATCHED YUUGI PUT TOGETHER THE LAST PIECES OF THE PUZZLE AND HIS FAAAAACE D:

25. Favourite New Character in DSoD

MANI! SO CUTE! SO SWEET! SO CRAZY WHEN HE PUTS ON THE RING!

But Shadi also gets points here for being different enough that I can imagine him as a new character.

26. Least Favourite New Character

Sera.

27. DSoD Could Have Done _____ Better

Lots of stuff but I’m not in the mood rn. I liked the film overall.

28. Favourite New Card From DSoD

REMEMBER WHEN MAHAAD WAS A CARD~

OMG! That’s the end of the meme! It took forever, right? But thank you if you read all this way <3

#mine #FebYgoChallenge #meta lite #save me from this card game hell

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recentanimenews · 8 years ago

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My Week in Manga: February 27-March 5, 2017

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga the winner of the Tokyo ESP manga giveaway was announced. The post also includes a list of some of the manga available in English about psychics and/or espers. That was it for the blog, but as I previously mentioned, I had an all-day job interview last week which took up a fair amount of my time and attentions. Well, it turns out that they liked me, and I liked them, so it looks like I’ll be starting in a new position at a different library in May. It’s both very exciting and very nerve-wracking, but I think (hope!) it’s a good move for me. My day job will still have absolutely nothing to do with manga, though.

Elsewhere online last week there was ICv2’s annual Manga Week. A number of interesting manga-focused articles and interviews were posted, including a mention of some of Vertical Comics’ most recent licensing announcements: Arakawa Under the Bridge by Hikari Nakamura (the one I’m most excited for), Gundam Wing: The Glory of Losers by Tomofumi Ogasawara, Helvetica Standard by Keiichi Arawi, and Voices of a Distant Star by Makoto Shinkai and Mizu Sahara (technically a rescue as the manga was originally published in English by TokyoPop back in the day). Kodansha Comics recently made some announcements at ECCC. In addition to adding even more fantastic series to its digital initiative, Kodansha Comics is working on a Ghost in the Shell anthology similar to the Attack on Titan Anthology released last year. Should be interesting!

Quick Takes

Anonymous Noise, Volume 1 by Ryoko Fukuyama. I will pretty much give any manga a try if it’s even tangentially related to music, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that I would be interested in Anonymous Noise. The series follows Nino Arisugawa (called Alice, by some) who loves to sing. Expressing herself through music is an important part of who she is, but perhaps more importantly it’s how she connects to the people who mean the most to her. First there was Momo, Nino’s close childhood friend with a proclivity for making bad puns, and then there was Yuzu, who helped soothe Nino’s heartbreak with his own music when Momo’s family unexpectedly moves away. But after developing feelings for Nino, Yuzu suddenly disappears from her life, too. Fast forward a few years and the three of them are attending the same high school, although initially they don’t realize it. Most of the first volume feels like a prologue more than anything else, so I’m curious to see the direction the story proper will take from here. In addition to music, it seems that unrequited love will also be a major theme of Anonymous Noise. Complicated feelings of love, longing, loss, and loneliness set the tone for the series.

Big Kids by Michael DeForge. Due to my interest in alternative and independent comics, I’ve been aware of DeForge’s work for quite some time. However, I’ve never actually read any of DeForge’s comics until picking up Big Kids. To be honest, I think I was probably a little intimidated since DeForge is such a highly acclaimed and well-regarded artist. I recently came across Big Kids on display at my local comic book shop where flipped through a few pages before putting it back. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it and so ultimately brought a copy home with me. The small volume’s bright yellow cover burned itself onto my retinas, and it’s content has burned itself onto my soul. I’ve read through the comic several times now and I still can’t stop thinking about it. I don’t know that I completely understand everything about it, but Big Kids is a work that is both surreal, verging on abstract, and powerful. In part, the comic about growing up. After being dumped by his boyfriend, Adam wakes up one day to discover that he has become a tree. The world itself is still the same, it’s just that Adam now views it from a vastly different perspective. But while being a tree has its benefits, there’s also a sense of sadness and loss associated with it.

Haikyu!!, Volumes 6-9 by Haruichi Furudate. Out of all of the sports manga currently being released in print in English, Haikyu!! is definitely one of my favorites. Admittedly, I was a little worried that as the series entered its first tournament arc and became more focused on the games themselves I would lose some of my enthusiasm (I’m not especially interested in volleyball), but my fears appear to have been mostly unfounded. Occasionally Haikyu!! will get a little bogged down in the particulars of volleyball, but this is usually completely offset by the series’ incredibly engaging characters. I’m immensely enjoying seeing them grow and evolve not just as players, but as people. I absolutely love the manga’s approach to and emphasis on teamwork. Some of the characters are prodigies, but it is made very clear that a single person cannot win on their own. Often it’s the unassuming, “ordinary” players who dramatically shift the course and tone of a game. Everyone has their own talents and abilities and everyone has an important role to play. Haikyu!! may be a series about volleyball, but its themes and message are much more universal than that. The manga has great positivity and energy which makes it fun to read, too.

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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