Okay, that wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. For some reason I thought this was a somewhat longer piece proffered as an alternate ending to the series, rather than the mid-series side story episode that it actually looks to be. Which thoroughly confused me, as its been so long since I’ve seen the show, I couldn’t figure out when it was supposed to be taking place. On its own, its a pretty standard Gonzo episode, not outstanding, but also not venturing into LOL-Gonzo territory. My primary draw for the show is honestly the character design work of Ugetsu Hakua, as he draws some simply breathtaking stuff (note to self, really do need to get around to picking up Flamboyant one of these days), and evidence of his awesome really wasn’t on display here, so that also brought things down a bit. All in all? It’d work much better with a recent viewing of the series, possibly even finding a spot to slip it in mid-show, but on its own, there’s really no point to watching it.
A dark, violent, and utterly alien cybernetic dystopia, where no one can remember what the ground or the sky are like and new horrors lurk around every corner. Exactly the sort of setting, storytelling, and characters I love, I really should have read this ages ago, and started to at one point, but then never kept up. Because I’m dumb. Tons of pages without a single speech bubble or sound effect as our protagonist makes his way through the enormous superstructure that is our setting, a construct literally thousands upon thousands of stories tall, searching for people with unmutated genes, while fighting off any threats that present themselves. Not a happy work by any means, lots of time spent alone, and even when he does meet up with someone not trying to kill him, they usually end up dead anyways from yet another mutant or cyborg. Really good stuff, and I’m going to be sad when I get through the three volumes I have, as I know I’ll be completely hooked by then.
Well, I probably should have paid more attention there… Seems this is the fourth collection of a series of Slayers shorts, I thought it was a one-off :\ Still, given the nature of the book, there wasn’t any sort of overarching plot that I could see, and it focused on the Lina–Naga pairing that I’m most used to from the movies/OVAs. A few silly little plots, plenty of bust-jokes, and lots of over the top violent reactions from Lina at said bust jokes, which really, is about what I expected. Its a fun formula, and rarely ceases to amuse, but it’s very clearly not anything highbrow, or ever pretending to be. Now I need to track down the other volumes, dammit.
One of the collections in the Director’s Label series of DVDs, this collects 27 music videos, miscellaneous stories, and a 75 minute film, though for the purposes of this, and my particular interests, I’m only looks at the music videos (someday I’ll get back to the rest of the material, probably about the time I do the same for the Spike Lee collection). From Daft Punk’s Around the World, the White Stripes videos, and The Science of Sleep, I knew he was living in a world of his own, but until sitting down with this, I had now idea of much of an understatement that was. Each video finds itself doing something completely different from the last, and so even if you don’t like what he’s doing with the one you’re watching, chances are there’ll be something to like in the next. Consistent through each video there’s absolutely meticulous construction to it all, no matter how lo-fi it looks, and an unbelievably amazing talent for manipulating the camera. Even the animations carry a uniquely Gondry vibe to them as he shifts from medium to medium. Lots of stuff I’ve never seen here before, and I can easily say that I appreciate him much more now, a savant of the whimsical, as it were. Honestly, my only complaint is the Bjork overload, with 6 music videos from her, and that’s really only because she herself creeps me the hell out.
And the weekend of bad continues. Picking up where the first volume leaves off, our team of kung fu soccer ‘brothers’ work their way through the tournament, racking up an impressive string of victories. That is, of course, until they meet up with Team Evil in the finals and find themselves faced with a team so drugged up and cheat-happy that it would make the recent baseball scandals seem like harmless little pranks. With a little help from the awkward girlfriend with giant shoulder pads, our hero wins the day, absolutely destroying the opposing team, succeeding in bringing kung fu to the masses. Only the book never shows off the awesome final sequence where everyone on the streets is using it to hilarious effect. Sigh. If you absolutely must have more Shaolin Soccer, or don’t have the time to pop in the movie, this adaptation might suffice, but aside from the intro and rather good special effects illustrations, you won’t be missing much of anything if you decide to pass.
Behold the power of Tony Jaa’s name, it can make me buy a completely terrible movie. Playing the villain’s lead hench, even his pair of fight scenes couldn’t save this movie. Very much the definition of a B-movie, but unfortunately one that doesn’t quite swing back from bad to awesomely bad (though the subs do try). Still, it does have its moments- ridiculously squeaky voices for any minor baddie, ‘fearsome’ tribals who turn out to be a very cowardly lot, a ninja zombie that only takes a grenade to go down(thank god that’s not the case with Left 4 Dead), near-infinite ammo, and the real life version of Final Fight’s Mike Haggar. All in all, probably not even worth a cheap rental, maybe if you’ve got a Netflix account or can bum it off of someone if you really need to see it while waiting for another real Tony Jaa movie to come out.
Tenuously a manga, closer to a manhua given its Chinese artist, but commissioned for the movie, it really is the awesome of the movie that drove me to pick it up (as part of that bag of as much as possible for $20 thing). While it sticks pretty close to the movie, it does add and alter some sequences, but for the better. Or it would if they weren’t trying to cover the entire movie in two short volumes. Entire conversations seem to be contracted to a few short sentences, quick moves from scene to scene, and things suddenly happening. Its a nice book to look at, sure, but really, you’re better off watching (the original non-US cut of) the movie, and then maybe taking a peek at this as a mere curiosity. Doubting that the second volume will really improve things, but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.
The trouble with reviewing a collection like this is that often the second disc doesn’t bring much new to the table to talk about. Still, there were some surprises, I don’t ever remember Jean and Scott almost getting married, or how fucking creepy Mr. Sinister looks. Hell, while I know /co/ brings it up from time to time, I don’t ever remember Morph (who’s quite different than the one I know and love in Exiles) even being in the show. The second Master Mold episode was familiar though, one of the maybe half-dozen I saw as a kid, but by far the most memorable. Most of the comments from the first disc still apply, particularly that it was a reasonably enjoyable watch all told. Unfortunately, the disc comes to a stop 3 episodes into the second season, leaving me hanging. Fortunately it didn’t split a two-parter across volumes, but still rather annoying. I doubt I’ll be going out to pick up the second volume right away, but it has certainly caused itself to jump a little higher in my priorities. Perhaps when we’re a bit closer to the next volume’s release I’ll look at grabbing it, there are 70-odd episodes to work with, after all.
Another skip day yesterday to consume this 2-disc collection of the old 90s X-Me cartoon. This was probably my first introduction to the X-Men way back when, but as with much of the cooler 90s cartoons, I was never able to watch much of it. Its a little strange to revisit the show, between X-Men Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men, I’ve gotten used to seeing them in a particular style. While the newer shows have a slicker, animation friendly design to everything, the design of the show very much holds to the look of the comics from that era, which must have made it a bitch to animate(as evidenced by the show’s IMDB trivia).
As the show works its way from episode to episode and arc to arc, its nice to see an ongoing continuity develop and be respected, especially in a kid’s show. Unfortunately, in being a kids show, this often comes at the expense of logic and some extremely questionable behavior from both the heroes and villains. Despite all that, its still the X-Men, and still entertaining to watch the classic tales come to life (and just as fun to make fun of the really bad bits). Throw in a healthy dose of character cameos and the ever-awesome X-Jet, and its becomes a fun way to spend an afternoon.
Another series down, and certainly pleased with how it all turned out. After being scouted by a weekly manga magazine for a professional gig, our lead (who has only been at it for a year and has barely broken past the smallest tier of doujinshi publishing) is quickly swept into a competition for the slot by a fellow creator in his circle of cute girls (who has been at it for some time and is part of one of the larger publishing groups). Succeeding in the challenge, he sets about with his work for the magazine, only to stumble on his way as his close childhood (girl) friend suddenly pulls away. Things are sussed out, success and happiness are in their grasp, and that’s all she wrote. Curious now to see how much of that is covered by the first season of the show, and how quickly it will make me try and get the second.
Through it all, and with the prior volumes, this has really been a story about chasing your dreams, taking challenges to it in stride, and working hard to overcome them while always striving to improve. While its a fairly common trope, and is itself an adaptation of the game, the execution here was nicely done, making for a fun read across the entire run. The last line in the book, “This is only one story of many you’ll find at a doujinshi convention,” really stood out for me, at the same time an acknowledgement of how small it is and an invitation to seek out others, or to even end up with one of your own. Its entirely true too- Genshiken and Welcome to the NHK, two of my favorites, also explore otaku culture with a similar scope, but tell entirely different stories in the process. Additionally, the entire culture surrounding fan interaction with others’ works in Japan truly fascinates me, and is one of the things that I would be most interested in exploring if/when I ever get to Japan (someday I may even do a proper writeup exploring that fascination).
Artists
Creators
Design
Friends
Local
Musicians
My Sites
Shirow
Webcomics
- 8-bit Theatre
- Alien Loves Predator
- Angry Zen Master
- AppleGeeks
- Errant Story
- Explosm.net
- Girl Genius Online
- Girls With Slingshots
- Go-Girly
- indexed
- indietits
- MacHall
- Megatokyo
- Penny-Arcade
- Real Life Comics
- Something Positive
- Sore Thumbs Online
- The Perry Bible Fellowship
- Three Panel Soul
- Underpower
- xkcd.com
Writers
