It's start is rough, I will fully admit that. And it's not likely to appeal to people who aren't already deep into Fate/ via at least watching the UFOtables Animes. It even helps to be familiar with other Nasuverse works, like Tsukihime (who's Anime adaptation isn't great, but more enjoyable then Deen/Stay Night) and Kara no Kyoukai which also has a great UFOtable Anime.
A lot of what happens in the early episodes will hopefully be easier to follow once it's Dubbed.
But it really picks up with episode 8, I'm writing this after just finishing episode 11 and it's getting really good.
I like that there is no clear main character, and that it's not easy to pick a side in this war. At the moment I feel more invested in the Black team, which is interesting given how at the start it seemed like they were setting them up to be the villains.
Astolfo and Jeanne are the best characters so far. Astolfo is the number one Trap. And I seem to love every Anime take on Jeanne d'Arc.
Spoiler Warning.
Monday, September 11, 2017
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Nostalgia Goggles
When I criticize someone for being blinded by Nostalgia, it's never to criticize them for liking something. I completely disagree with the whole "people only like it because their Nostalgic for it" attitude. Any movie or TV show or song or Cartoon or Game has to do something right in order to become something people will be nostalgic for.
There seems to be an attitude that kids will just enjoy anything, and then Nostalgia will make some unwilling to see it's flaws as an adult. Well I can tell you that is false. I have Anti-Nostalgia for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I was made to watch that in school (I still don't see how a movie about a magical chocolate factory was educational) and I hated every minute of it. Now I am willing to acknowledge it must have done something right if lots of other people like it, but whatever it did right is not something I can relate to at all.
There are other things I failed to enjoy as a kid that I can appreciate now. Like ironically enough The Lion King, I was a hater of that movie when I was little.
If you're Nostalgic for something, that is proof it was good. Your inability to enjoy it now that you're older doesn't invalidate it, it just means what you enjoy has changed, and that's fine. I personally however think it's a good thing that I can still enjoy just about everything I liked as a kid, and that maturity has only increased and never decreased what I can enjoy.
So when Digibro says something like "I enjoyed Sonic Adventure 2 as a kid, but I know it's a bad game now". I just laugh at him. If anything, when it comes to media made for kids, you should perhaps consider that a kid's opinion on it is more valid then an adult's. I however still like the Sonic Adventure games.
The Nostalgia Filter is a bad thing only when it causes people to constantly trash what's new in comparison to the equivalents they grew up with. Constantly being annoyed at tolerance of weaknesses in modern media that absolutely existed in what they grew up with, but are selectively ignoring. We see this with Star Wars Prequel haters, and with lots of other nerdy media.
Popcorn action films have always been ridiculous. Mainstream Hip Hop has always included a lot of songs that don't hold up well under lyrical scrutiny. SciFi has always tended to be more Fi then Sci. And Anime has always been pretty formulaic.
Pro-Wrestling is the one form of entertainment media where I fear that I have or will become what I hate on this issue.
I'm Nostalgic for plenty of other stuff. But no where else do I fail to see the value in what's new. With Music I feel I have definitely become less harsh of a critic. My preferences with Anime are very much post 2000, I am perhaps the Anti-thesis of ThatAnimeSnob even more so then Digibro. My favorite Live Action Western TV show is one that just ended, Pretty Little Liars. And Superhero movies have definitely only gotten better. And I think Frozen is the absolute best Disney film.
Now with Video Games, I'm definitely a Retro-Gamer, I like 8 and 16 bit the best. But it's never with a lack of ability with get why people would enjoy newer fully 3D stuff.
But Pro-Wrestling, especially the WWE, is something where I can rarely get why anyone still tolerates it. Now there are lots of things you can point to as objective evidence that the quality has gone down, Raw's Ratings have been consistently low. And I've seen on YouTube lots of Wrestling fans younger then me who wouldn't have grown up on the Attitude Era in the same way I did expressing similar frustrations. And the Crowds in the arenas mostly seem apathetic to what is going on.
The thing is, to some extent I've been feeling this way since 2000, since we were still in the Attitude Era, a year many people think was the WWF's best. But it's gone up and down. The last time I was truly excited about Wrestling was in 2013 and early 2014, the year of Daniel Bryan. So it's definitely at it's worst now, I feel like I was being a stupid picky douche for not getting the Ruthless Aggression era when I compare it to what's going on now.
And meanwhile the Pre-Atitude area periods of WWF where they weren't doing that well financially, from 92-96, are periods where I enjoy most of what I've watched from it. So I still fear my Nostalgia Goggles are a major factor in why I can't enjoy it now.
But at least I'm self aware about it.
There seems to be an attitude that kids will just enjoy anything, and then Nostalgia will make some unwilling to see it's flaws as an adult. Well I can tell you that is false. I have Anti-Nostalgia for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I was made to watch that in school (I still don't see how a movie about a magical chocolate factory was educational) and I hated every minute of it. Now I am willing to acknowledge it must have done something right if lots of other people like it, but whatever it did right is not something I can relate to at all.
There are other things I failed to enjoy as a kid that I can appreciate now. Like ironically enough The Lion King, I was a hater of that movie when I was little.
If you're Nostalgic for something, that is proof it was good. Your inability to enjoy it now that you're older doesn't invalidate it, it just means what you enjoy has changed, and that's fine. I personally however think it's a good thing that I can still enjoy just about everything I liked as a kid, and that maturity has only increased and never decreased what I can enjoy.
So when Digibro says something like "I enjoyed Sonic Adventure 2 as a kid, but I know it's a bad game now". I just laugh at him. If anything, when it comes to media made for kids, you should perhaps consider that a kid's opinion on it is more valid then an adult's. I however still like the Sonic Adventure games.
The Nostalgia Filter is a bad thing only when it causes people to constantly trash what's new in comparison to the equivalents they grew up with. Constantly being annoyed at tolerance of weaknesses in modern media that absolutely existed in what they grew up with, but are selectively ignoring. We see this with Star Wars Prequel haters, and with lots of other nerdy media.
Popcorn action films have always been ridiculous. Mainstream Hip Hop has always included a lot of songs that don't hold up well under lyrical scrutiny. SciFi has always tended to be more Fi then Sci. And Anime has always been pretty formulaic.
Pro-Wrestling is the one form of entertainment media where I fear that I have or will become what I hate on this issue.
I'm Nostalgic for plenty of other stuff. But no where else do I fail to see the value in what's new. With Music I feel I have definitely become less harsh of a critic. My preferences with Anime are very much post 2000, I am perhaps the Anti-thesis of ThatAnimeSnob even more so then Digibro. My favorite Live Action Western TV show is one that just ended, Pretty Little Liars. And Superhero movies have definitely only gotten better. And I think Frozen is the absolute best Disney film.
Now with Video Games, I'm definitely a Retro-Gamer, I like 8 and 16 bit the best. But it's never with a lack of ability with get why people would enjoy newer fully 3D stuff.
But Pro-Wrestling, especially the WWE, is something where I can rarely get why anyone still tolerates it. Now there are lots of things you can point to as objective evidence that the quality has gone down, Raw's Ratings have been consistently low. And I've seen on YouTube lots of Wrestling fans younger then me who wouldn't have grown up on the Attitude Era in the same way I did expressing similar frustrations. And the Crowds in the arenas mostly seem apathetic to what is going on.
The thing is, to some extent I've been feeling this way since 2000, since we were still in the Attitude Era, a year many people think was the WWF's best. But it's gone up and down. The last time I was truly excited about Wrestling was in 2013 and early 2014, the year of Daniel Bryan. So it's definitely at it's worst now, I feel like I was being a stupid picky douche for not getting the Ruthless Aggression era when I compare it to what's going on now.
And meanwhile the Pre-Atitude area periods of WWF where they weren't doing that well financially, from 92-96, are periods where I enjoy most of what I've watched from it. So I still fear my Nostalgia Goggles are a major factor in why I can't enjoy it now.
But at least I'm self aware about it.
Monday, September 4, 2017
The Animatrix and Batman:Gotham Knight
I added these to My Anime List recently though it wasn't recently I watched them.
My earlier declaration that besides a few Saturday Morning kids shows I'd seen no Anime before I first watched Noir around 2005 or 2006, were neglecting to include The Animatrix.
You see, I thought both these projects where just Anime inspired and wouldn't really have pages on MAL. But I discovered recently that they do.
The Animatrix I remember enjoying, but I'm not sure I can give a solid score to it.
The problem with Gotham Knight is first that it was too short as most DC animated films were. But also that it's pretense of being an expansion of the Nolanverse never felt valid, because Nolan had nothing to do with it. It was a cheap attempt by Warner to cash in on The Animatrix's success that missed the actual point.
I think I have a review of Gotham Knight still up on IMDB, but my perspective then was not the same as it would be now.
My earlier declaration that besides a few Saturday Morning kids shows I'd seen no Anime before I first watched Noir around 2005 or 2006, were neglecting to include The Animatrix.
You see, I thought both these projects where just Anime inspired and wouldn't really have pages on MAL. But I discovered recently that they do.
The Animatrix I remember enjoying, but I'm not sure I can give a solid score to it.
The problem with Gotham Knight is first that it was too short as most DC animated films were. But also that it's pretense of being an expansion of the Nolanverse never felt valid, because Nolan had nothing to do with it. It was a cheap attempt by Warner to cash in on The Animatrix's success that missed the actual point.
I think I have a review of Gotham Knight still up on IMDB, but my perspective then was not the same as it would be now.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
The Netflix Death Note Movie
There were things good about the movie, DeFoe as Ryuk was a treat, and at some points it felt like maybe Mia has more agency then any previous woman in a Death Note story. All the actors did well with what they were given.
The first thing that annoys me is that the point of my defense of Light being White, the reason I still think Light can only be White in any future attempt at another American set Death Note. Was completely undermined by having him be this obvious potential school shooter. Light is supposed to be privileged.
I had also already talked about how Death Note should be done as a series, Netfix is specializing in TV serises right now, so that makes it doubly annoying.
The first scene between Light and his Dad just had me thinking "setting it in America shouldn't mean shoehorning in American cliches".
All the characters and dynamics felt different. Again they made Light too sympathetic.
It bugs me even that they never included a defaulting to death by Heart Attack. Clearly these people were more interested in the excuse to do Omen/Final Destination style death scenes.
The thing is, I can forgive a lot of liberties if I feel like in some weird way it still captures the spirit or the gist of what Death Note's real appeal was. I've even said that all things considered the Super Mario Bros movie is a good Mario movie. It's not by the book faithful, but it's a fun wacky goofy colorful self parody with some heart to it. That's what the best story driven Mario games are like.
The number one thing that I wanted from Death Note was a battle of wits, I wanted it to feel like two characters constantly trying to out think and out smart each others. I wanted the tension of Light and L trying to read each other. This movie was ultimately too rushed to ever pull that off, or seem like it was trying to.
At the very end we a get the typical "here's how he did it all" sequence. The Death Note Anime also did that revealing it latter thing, but it still felt consistent with the character we had been following. I felt the 2015 Light Yagami was being too stupid early on, but at least there was some build up there.
One final little thing. Does the Death Note Anime exist in this movie's universe??? There are several reasons why it clearly doesn't. But why else would Light Turner expect Mia to be able to see Ryuk from just touching the Death Note? There is really no logical reason to assume that, Light in the Anime had not at all suspected that could happen before Ryuk warned him. That scene is clearly just there to tell the audience "hey we changed this rule, for no plot relevant reason". This is why I hate the "Show don't tell rule" because we get scenes like this that look stupid and awkward instead of just simple exposition.
The first thing that annoys me is that the point of my defense of Light being White, the reason I still think Light can only be White in any future attempt at another American set Death Note. Was completely undermined by having him be this obvious potential school shooter. Light is supposed to be privileged.
I had also already talked about how Death Note should be done as a series, Netfix is specializing in TV serises right now, so that makes it doubly annoying.
The first scene between Light and his Dad just had me thinking "setting it in America shouldn't mean shoehorning in American cliches".
All the characters and dynamics felt different. Again they made Light too sympathetic.
It bugs me even that they never included a defaulting to death by Heart Attack. Clearly these people were more interested in the excuse to do Omen/Final Destination style death scenes.
The thing is, I can forgive a lot of liberties if I feel like in some weird way it still captures the spirit or the gist of what Death Note's real appeal was. I've even said that all things considered the Super Mario Bros movie is a good Mario movie. It's not by the book faithful, but it's a fun wacky goofy colorful self parody with some heart to it. That's what the best story driven Mario games are like.
The number one thing that I wanted from Death Note was a battle of wits, I wanted it to feel like two characters constantly trying to out think and out smart each others. I wanted the tension of Light and L trying to read each other. This movie was ultimately too rushed to ever pull that off, or seem like it was trying to.
At the very end we a get the typical "here's how he did it all" sequence. The Death Note Anime also did that revealing it latter thing, but it still felt consistent with the character we had been following. I felt the 2015 Light Yagami was being too stupid early on, but at least there was some build up there.
One final little thing. Does the Death Note Anime exist in this movie's universe??? There are several reasons why it clearly doesn't. But why else would Light Turner expect Mia to be able to see Ryuk from just touching the Death Note? There is really no logical reason to assume that, Light in the Anime had not at all suspected that could happen before Ryuk warned him. That scene is clearly just there to tell the audience "hey we changed this rule, for no plot relevant reason". This is why I hate the "Show don't tell rule" because we get scenes like this that look stupid and awkward instead of just simple exposition.
Saturday, September 2, 2017
DC making a Flashpoint movie
I'm awfully late in reacting to this. It apparently became known back in July. I would have commented on it in the Zack Snyder post I did last month if I'd known about it, as it's further evidence DC probably isn't going to involve him their films anymore anyway.
The overall reputation of Flashpoint is that people love the story itself, but hate the New52 that it in Kayfabe created. I actually have my issues with the Flashpoint story even as a stand alone, chiefly how I feel it assassinated Diana and Arthur's characters. But there is good stuff in it, and I hope Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Thomas Wayne again.
I have enjoyed every DCEU movie so far. But I have issues with it, and a lot of that is it's New52 influence. Maybe the movie Flashpoint will be like the opposite, it'll change this depressing New52 inspired universe into the DC Universe I remember.
Some people think part of the plan is to replace Ben Afleck as Batman with someone younger. I'm tired of always getting young Batman.
I also would have liked to see an Ezra Miller solo Flash film. But I get that they are not going to be able to complete with the TV Show in anything other then having the resources necessary to do Flashpoint more accurately.
It could go either way. We'll have to wait and see.
The overall reputation of Flashpoint is that people love the story itself, but hate the New52 that it in Kayfabe created. I actually have my issues with the Flashpoint story even as a stand alone, chiefly how I feel it assassinated Diana and Arthur's characters. But there is good stuff in it, and I hope Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Thomas Wayne again.
I have enjoyed every DCEU movie so far. But I have issues with it, and a lot of that is it's New52 influence. Maybe the movie Flashpoint will be like the opposite, it'll change this depressing New52 inspired universe into the DC Universe I remember.
Some people think part of the plan is to replace Ben Afleck as Batman with someone younger. I'm tired of always getting young Batman.
I also would have liked to see an Ezra Miller solo Flash film. But I get that they are not going to be able to complete with the TV Show in anything other then having the resources necessary to do Flashpoint more accurately.
It could go either way. We'll have to wait and see.
Fate/Feminism
Fate/Stay Night, like other Visual Novels and Anime with Harem aspects, has a male main character and so the extent to which the story seemingly revolves around him can be seen as undermining what Feminist potential could come from having such a large cast of female characters.
However I think there is a lot of Feminist potential in the Fate/ franchise, maybe not always intentional from the original creators, but it’s there.
Spoiler Warning here, since I can’t really talk about any of this without spoiling stuff.
One of the reasons I don’t mind the supposed spoilers that come from watching Fate/Zero first is because I really see no downside to knowing Sakura and Rin are sisters from the start. I watched Unlimited Blade Works not knowing and just wondered why Sakura got so much attention early on only to be mostly forgotten. (I also didn’t really know the whole it’s only one route of the Visual Novel aspect.)
I think it majorly helps to watch Unlimited Blade Works Episode 0 knowing about Rin and Sakura, because then you fully get that the reason Rin saved Shirou is for Sakura. The love one woman has for her sister is why the male MC is even alive.
And that’s just one of a few reasons that Shirou’s importance to the story is seemingly only because he happens to have connections to all these important women. While in a more typical Fantasy/Harem hybrid it’s more like the women only matter because the super special Jesus-Kun main character likes them. Indeed you’ll notice in Fate/Zero that all four major Waifus of Fate/Stay Night were part of the Holy Grail War story well before Shirou was, they are all in the first episode of Fate/Zero while we don’t meet Shirou till the last one.
Outside of the main four, I find it interesting that the other two female servants, Rider and Caster, are both women from Greek mythology who have been the subject of a lot of Feminist criticism. Their stories are pretty clearly originally based on Misogynist archetypes, but women have sought to reclaim them. A YouTube channel specializing in Nasuverse Lore videos has done videos on Medusa and Medea. I feel like Fate’s takes on them definitely draws on the Feminist analysis of them. I can’t comment much on Medusa yet having not gotten to see a version of Heaven’s Feel. But Medea in Unlimited Blade Works is pretty interesting, calling her a Witch seems to be her Berserk button, and in her flashback episode she laments being again passed around, vilified and discarded by men.
Fate/Prototype is a short OVA that is based on what the original idea for Fate/Stay Night was before it evolved (makes me think it’d be cool to see some Cartoons based on the abandoned versions of Star Wars). It’s notable that it had a female lead and a male Saber. This female lead seems more like a proto-Rin then a female Shirou. But it’s definitely interesting that that is where the idea for Fate/ started.
I have praised Fate/Zero a lot, including calling it the best entry point into Fate/ for potential new fans. But my one issue with it is it’s not as good at it’s handling of female characters. It’s cast is overall much more masculine, with Saber herself being the only female Servant this time. And worst of all there is a lot of fridging, the worst of it being how we’re supposed to sympathize with Karia after he strangles the woman he claims he loves.
But Saber/Artoria is still great, and I love Irisviel. And I also like Maya, and I like that Irisviel is okay with Maya and Kiritsugu's relationship. And I think you could definitely see a Feminist commentary in Caster’s obsession with Jeanne d’Arc as he projects her onto a completely different woman.
The currently airing Fate/Apocrypha is difficult to comment on, I think I’ll understand it better once I can watch it Dubbed.
I don’t know a lot about Grand Order, I’ll be seeing the OVA when it’s Dub drops. What I do want to comment on briefly is that I heard it has Chevalier d’Eon, and depicts them as Non-Binary. I would prefer d’Eon be a Trans Woman as she was historically, but that is definitely better than what the Le Chevalier d’Eon anime did, pretty much removing the Queerness altogether.
I really like Fate/Khalied Liner Prisma Illya. I know it’s very fanservicey and trashy (I hear there was less Lewdness in the Manga). But it’s still a Magical Girl show and does what we western Feminists like best about Magical Girl shows. I’m going to quote a comment from that Dark Magical Girl article on AnimeFeminist, left by a user named GreyLurker.
"Fate/Kalieid liner is one of my favorite series in part because it has it's feet set in both sides of the issue. As part of the Fate universe it's naturaly stuck with a lot of dark elements but the Magical Girl elements directly oppose that. For a lot of things Illya can achieve the impossible because she believes in the ideals of a Magical Girl. She flies because Magical Girls fly. It's just obvious to her even if other characters tell her it's not possible.
Confronted with morality choices like "You can save your friend or you can save the world. Which will you choose" She essentially says "Screw that, I'm a Magical Girl so obviously I'm gonna save both and get the happy ending" She will save everyone because that is what Magical Girls Do.
and that faith lets her achieve the impossible."
Prisma Illy is also predictably subject to the most Yuri Shipping of any Fate/ show, because Magical Girls and Yuri naturally go together. But in the original VN Saber/Rin is technically canon thanks to the Threesome Ending. And there is a solid basis for shipping Rider and Sakura. And in Fate/Zero many have shipped Saber/Irisviel.
Other Nasuverse franchises like Tsukihime, Kara no Kyoukai and Canaan are also worth discussing. But that would make this post way too long.
So, the Fate/ franchise has it’s issues. But there is definitely a lot of value in it.
Friday, September 1, 2017
Why Kyoko Sakura is the most important character in Madoka Magica
That title is a bit of hyperbole, but it got your attention. Also this is an analysis based on the Canon as limited to the original 12 episode series, before we had the expanded universe and stories set in the abandoned timelines.
It’s easy to think of Kyoko as inherently less important than everyone else. She may be in more episodes and so probably has more screen time then Mami, but she’s not in the opening episodes and is killed off before the end. So it’s easy to write off her importance as just being her relevance to Sayaka’s arc. I think even most people who’d say Kyoko is their favorite character aren’t likely to argue that she’s super important to the plot.
I’ve long liked to note that in Episode 10, at the end of the 3rd timeline, what Madoka actually asks Homura to do is make sure she doesn’t get tricked again. Homura technically succeeded at that by early in episode 9, by then Madoka knows the major dark secrets. Homura doesn’t think of her mission as being that, but that is why the story has its happy resolution, because Madoka was able to make a fully informed choice to make the contract.
Kyoko’s involvement in this timeline is largely why all the secrets come out. Her fighting with Sayaka is why Madoka throws Sayaka’s Soul Gem. And while the writers said Sayaka always becomes a Witch (if she doesn’t die), Madoka may likely have never known about it if Kyoko didn’t take Sayaka’s body.
Now you may be thinking, “in a well written story everything that happens should be relevant to the resolution”. That is true, but this is why thinking about the other timelines is interesting.
Homura’s actions aren’t quite the only reason things play out differently each time. Some small things do randomly happen differently, right in the first episode Homura didn’t expect the Witch to attack that soon, or Sayaka to have a fire extinguisher.
It’s established in episode 6 that Homura has knowledge of Kyoko. But from what we see in Episode 10 that could have been from the 3rd timeline alone (Kyoko must have been called by Mami when Homura started saying she knew things Kyubey was keeping secret, something Homura doesn’t try on other timelines). So my suggestion is, maybe Kyoko coming to Mitakihara at all wasn’t common?
The end of Episode 4 implies Kyoko came to Mitakihara because Kyubey told her about Mami’s death. Homura’s behavior in the Charlotte situation implies to me it’s not the first timeline where someone was killed by her, but it may not have always been Mami. And even in other timelines where Mami dies who knows what small things may have affected Kyubey’s decision to get Kyoko involved.
The Different Story Manga involves Kyoko in one of the abandoned timelines where Mami doesn’t die, other EU works probably did too but I haven’t read them yet. But what I can say about The Different Story is it’s explanation for why Kyoko came even though Mami didn’t die feels rather forced and random.
So there is good reason to suspect Kyoko’s very presence in this timeline is a big factor in why it plays out differently. Small things making a big difference is a common theme in fantasy, like The Hobbits for example.
One of the reasons I think Kyoko is interesting is that she’s a Christian. Christians are a minority in Japan so it’s interesting when they show up in Anime. And I’ve become an increasingly unconventional Christian, even in the prequel story we’re given about Kyoko and Mami we still don’t know exactly what controversial doctrine Kyoko’s father was teaching, so I’m free to use my imagination if I want.
Kyoko’s arc is partly about how she lost her faith after her family died. Then finds it again in episode 9 before she dies.
Christian imagery popping up in Magical Girls shows isn’t exactly uncommon. (In fact it’s Shintoism being relevant that is rather rare. Having only Rei’s Miko duties in Sailor Moon and Yuki Yuna is a Hero) Haruka is a Christian in Sailor Moon (Ikuhara's version at least), and lots of Christian imagery is used in Wedding Peach and both of the 90s Magical Girl Thief shows. And elsewhere in the Madoka EU there is a Manga focused on Jeanne d’Arc.
That is kinda funny given how the Magical Girl concept isn’t exactly easily compatible with Christian theology. But whatever, I know some pretty radical Christians who are also into Star Wars.
Kyoko however is different from most of those examples in that her faith partly is her arc.
Kyoko however is different from most of those examples in that her faith partly is her arc.
So how is this ramble about Kyoko’s faith relevant to the main thesis of this post? It’s not really, more like an epilogue. But it means a Christian viewer can say a Christian saved the day if they wanted to.
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