Is a very good and very fun Animated movie I highly recommend.
I'm a fan of both Dark Batman and Fun Batman, in theory I ultimately like Dark Batman more. But lately it seems like it's only the people making Fun Batman who know how to get it right. Basically once Nolan left the films things went downhill for the Dark Knight.
For Dark Batman we've had at best the misguided Snyder-Affleck take, entertaining but uninspired animated movies that awkwardly mix up Morrison's Batman and New52 Batman missing the point of what worked about both, a botched adaptation of the massively overrated Killing Joke, and most recently the horribly insulting Gotham By Gaslight adaptation.
But for Fun Batman we have the underrated Batman Unlimited films, the perfect Adam West and Burt Ward animated movies, and now this wonderful film. It shouldn't be inherently easier to get this version right, as reactions to the Shumacher films show there are ways to make jokes out of these characters that simply saying "It's like the Silver Age" doesn't forgive. I've become much more accepting of those two films over the years, but even I still say they are not as well done as what these actual Cartoons have done in recent years.
My preference for the Dark Knight is what we had in the Comics of the first half of the 2000s and very late 90s, so my personal advice would be for people to use those Comics as their blueprint, there are things from this era I dislike, but mostly that's what I'm nostalgic for. I don't want Batman to be like that from the start however, I want him to be like the O'Niel or Bronze Age Batman (or BTAS and Begins) to start with, but to become hardened by years of losing allies and seemingly failing to make any real progress in his mission. And after that period I do like Morrison's vision for bringing him back from that dark edge.
It's become trendy for the kinds of Batman fans who are hosting Podcasts to reject the Batman I like the most. The takes on Batman that Michael Bailey and the Knigthcast podcast prefer are part of how I view the Dark Knight's biography. But mostly what offends me is when My Batman is talked about as if he's the same as Frank Miller's Batman. My Batman at even his Darkest point in War Games and the OMAC Project is not nearly as unstable as the DKR Batman, and he's certainly nothing like THE GODDAMN BATMAN or The Fixer.
Back to the main topic. What I mainly want to talk here is an observation that is inherently a spoiler. So if you haven't seen the movie and are planning to, don't read the rest.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Anime Weekly Updates, Omer 36: Magical Girl Site and Bullying
I don't have anything to say about the Anime I've watched this week. Just be aware that I'm still following all the same shows I was last week.
What I do want to do is briefly comment again on why I'm enjoying Magical Girl Site.
Gigguk in his Spring 2017 Anime video was very dismissive of the show. Talking about it like how over the top the bullying is makes it so he can't take it seriously.
As someone who actually did experience bullying in School, and knows full well many others had it worse then I did. It's the watered down treatment of bullying in most High School fiction like Mean Girls I can't take seriously. To the point where I'd rather they not address it at all if they're not gonna go all the way with it.
The reason so many people out there are so dismissive of Bullying, the reason they can get away with saying people need to just "Man up" and take it or stand up for themselves. Is because they don't know what it's actually like, that it's unending unrelenting psychological torture.
One of the many reasons it saddens me that IMDB's message boards are gone is because of it's board for the 2003 lifetime movie Odd Girl Out. It was filled with comments from people who experienced bullying in school saying this was the one movie that depicted it right. The one time someone tried to start a thread saying they found it unrealistic it got countless responses from people testifying to how very realistic it was. So I hate that all of that documentation is gone.
Now my solution to this problem isn't the same as others speaking out about it would propose. I think we simply shouldn't have a Public School System, or at least not in the form it is now. When you take humans who aren't fully developed away from their parents for half their waking hours and put them into a microcosm of society, these problems are inevitable. For most of human history we understood that this was not a good idea.
What I do want to do is briefly comment again on why I'm enjoying Magical Girl Site.
Gigguk in his Spring 2017 Anime video was very dismissive of the show. Talking about it like how over the top the bullying is makes it so he can't take it seriously.
As someone who actually did experience bullying in School, and knows full well many others had it worse then I did. It's the watered down treatment of bullying in most High School fiction like Mean Girls I can't take seriously. To the point where I'd rather they not address it at all if they're not gonna go all the way with it.
The reason so many people out there are so dismissive of Bullying, the reason they can get away with saying people need to just "Man up" and take it or stand up for themselves. Is because they don't know what it's actually like, that it's unending unrelenting psychological torture.
One of the many reasons it saddens me that IMDB's message boards are gone is because of it's board for the 2003 lifetime movie Odd Girl Out. It was filled with comments from people who experienced bullying in school saying this was the one movie that depicted it right. The one time someone tried to start a thread saying they found it unrealistic it got countless responses from people testifying to how very realistic it was. So I hate that all of that documentation is gone.
Now my solution to this problem isn't the same as others speaking out about it would propose. I think we simply shouldn't have a Public School System, or at least not in the form it is now. When you take humans who aren't fully developed away from their parents for half their waking hours and put them into a microcosm of society, these problems are inevitable. For most of human history we understood that this was not a good idea.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
This is a post about Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works
I only know the story via the UFOtable Anime (as Dubbed by Aniplex), but what I have to say is applicable to the Visual Novel as well, and probably the I'm sure horribly condensed Studio Deen movie.
This post revolves around a major Spoiler. The story is well known enough that it should be like spoiling that Samus is female, but Anime is niche so I don't want to risk it.
So only read on if you know all the major Spoilers of the Unlimited Blade Works route.
This post revolves around a major Spoiler. The story is well known enough that it should be like spoiling that Samus is female, but Anime is niche so I don't want to risk it.
So only read on if you know all the major Spoilers of the Unlimited Blade Works route.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Infinity War feels like an Event Comic
I like Event Comics, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, and Superman Our Worlds At War are among my favorite Comic Book stories. I don't like how they've become overused, how it feels like there are no breaks between them now. But they are a concept I can get behind and at least a few have been executed really well. I want to read more of the ones I haven't gotten to yet, from Final Crisis to the ones the 90s had.
They are one aspect of what I love about Comics I figured would never get translated to film, not even in Animation. And it amazes me that the world of Live Action Superhero films tried it and succeeded at it before any Animated project did.
I was never really buying that what The Avengers film was doing was so difficult. In terms of the kind of narrative it is, it had absolutely been done before, we'd had movies about Superhero teams before, and X-Men was just as star studded. And we'd seen them plenty in Animation. The Avengers was only different in that they were a team of characters from prior movies, but we'd also had crossover films before.
I scoffed and still scoff at the idea that Civil War proved you needed the emotional investment of the prior movies to make a Versus film work. I remain of the opposite mindset, a Verses story is only acceptable to me when it's how they meet. And so for all my issues with Batman V Superman I still maintain it to be a better Verses movie.
But the unique feeling of an Event Comic, especially one that felt built up to for years as Infinite Crisis did in 2005, is what you truly can't do without a Shared Universe.
Cause you see I've never read a Justice League or Teen Titans comic truly caring if the continuity between the team and solo stories lined up, it's nice when they do and some such references exist. But all you need to do is look at is Dick Grayson's love life to see that those respective writings teams weren't actually on the same page. And so that's why the animated ones worked just fine as stand alone films.
It's the event Comics that when handled well feel like everything in many prior comic story-lines were building up to it in some way or another. Both the solos and the team ups. Bringing together events from different corners of the universe, and in a sense different genres. And that is where Infinity War has truly justified the MCU. I don't agree with everything in today's Mother's Basement video, but it's still a good break down. Thanos Is the Protagonist - How Infinity War Works.
It juggles it's cast well, has interactions between established characters I never would have thought of, like Bucky and Rocket. And while the story was scattered for much of it, everything was basically brought together by the end.
The good Event comics are ones where the basic story absolutely does work with only the actual limited series. But reading the tie-in comics can still feel like they add to it in meaningful yet not required ways and isn't just an excuse to put the event's name on the cover. And that is the one aspect Infinity War can't really have an equivalent for. Some might compare what's going on in the TV shows that I don't watch anymore, but at the end of the day even they will be events set before or after it, not another angle on during it like Teen Titans Life and Death is for Infinite Crisis.
But that's the only factor really missing, yes it's scale is still smaller compared to any true Crisis, but the other DC events I've read are on the same scale as Infinity War or below it.
That's the weird thing, in terms of Comics I'm mainly a DC fan, but am loving this MCU film for evoking similar feelings in me as some of my favorite DC Comics.
What is similar to that is the lead in story-lines. Of the many that lead into Infinite Crisis, I feel only Identity Crisis and OMAC Project even come close to being required reading, they make a good trilogy. But others add it, like Villains United, the entire Geoff Johns Teen Titans run, the Powergirl and Supergirl story-lines (the latter spinning out of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies), JLA Crisis of Conscience, Superman: Sacrifice. And that's just stuff I took an interest in, fans of other DC comics from 2003-2005 could list many more. (I left out a lot of Batverse stuff that also comes out of War Games which is it's own can of worms I have complicated feelings on.)
The other thing I like about having a proper shared universe are what I call not the small things but the medium things. Things that are less then a full team up but more then a mere throw away reference or brief cameo. These things are why Spiderman Homecoming worked, the one aspect of Spiderman as a teenage Superhero missing from the pre MCU films was him a teenage Superhero in a world with adult Superheroes. That's the role Tony Stark plays in it. And the one reason something like a Tim Drake Robin solo film I figured could never be made was that his comics rarely have Batman gone eternity, they are solo adventures but still of an active sidekick. And I assumed you can't have a movie with Batman that isn't going to be Batman. But Spiderman Homecoming tells me that maybe they can make a Robin movie work some day, with Ben Affleck having the same amount of screen time as RDJr did here.
The true sign of the MCU's victory over DC is that certain DC fans like myself feel like what I want from DC is being provided by Marvel.
They are one aspect of what I love about Comics I figured would never get translated to film, not even in Animation. And it amazes me that the world of Live Action Superhero films tried it and succeeded at it before any Animated project did.
I was never really buying that what The Avengers film was doing was so difficult. In terms of the kind of narrative it is, it had absolutely been done before, we'd had movies about Superhero teams before, and X-Men was just as star studded. And we'd seen them plenty in Animation. The Avengers was only different in that they were a team of characters from prior movies, but we'd also had crossover films before.
I scoffed and still scoff at the idea that Civil War proved you needed the emotional investment of the prior movies to make a Versus film work. I remain of the opposite mindset, a Verses story is only acceptable to me when it's how they meet. And so for all my issues with Batman V Superman I still maintain it to be a better Verses movie.
But the unique feeling of an Event Comic, especially one that felt built up to for years as Infinite Crisis did in 2005, is what you truly can't do without a Shared Universe.
Cause you see I've never read a Justice League or Teen Titans comic truly caring if the continuity between the team and solo stories lined up, it's nice when they do and some such references exist. But all you need to do is look at is Dick Grayson's love life to see that those respective writings teams weren't actually on the same page. And so that's why the animated ones worked just fine as stand alone films.
It's the event Comics that when handled well feel like everything in many prior comic story-lines were building up to it in some way or another. Both the solos and the team ups. Bringing together events from different corners of the universe, and in a sense different genres. And that is where Infinity War has truly justified the MCU. I don't agree with everything in today's Mother's Basement video, but it's still a good break down. Thanos Is the Protagonist - How Infinity War Works.
It juggles it's cast well, has interactions between established characters I never would have thought of, like Bucky and Rocket. And while the story was scattered for much of it, everything was basically brought together by the end.
The good Event comics are ones where the basic story absolutely does work with only the actual limited series. But reading the tie-in comics can still feel like they add to it in meaningful yet not required ways and isn't just an excuse to put the event's name on the cover. And that is the one aspect Infinity War can't really have an equivalent for. Some might compare what's going on in the TV shows that I don't watch anymore, but at the end of the day even they will be events set before or after it, not another angle on during it like Teen Titans Life and Death is for Infinite Crisis.
But that's the only factor really missing, yes it's scale is still smaller compared to any true Crisis, but the other DC events I've read are on the same scale as Infinity War or below it.
That's the weird thing, in terms of Comics I'm mainly a DC fan, but am loving this MCU film for evoking similar feelings in me as some of my favorite DC Comics.
What is similar to that is the lead in story-lines. Of the many that lead into Infinite Crisis, I feel only Identity Crisis and OMAC Project even come close to being required reading, they make a good trilogy. But others add it, like Villains United, the entire Geoff Johns Teen Titans run, the Powergirl and Supergirl story-lines (the latter spinning out of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies), JLA Crisis of Conscience, Superman: Sacrifice. And that's just stuff I took an interest in, fans of other DC comics from 2003-2005 could list many more. (I left out a lot of Batverse stuff that also comes out of War Games which is it's own can of worms I have complicated feelings on.)
The other thing I like about having a proper shared universe are what I call not the small things but the medium things. Things that are less then a full team up but more then a mere throw away reference or brief cameo. These things are why Spiderman Homecoming worked, the one aspect of Spiderman as a teenage Superhero missing from the pre MCU films was him a teenage Superhero in a world with adult Superheroes. That's the role Tony Stark plays in it. And the one reason something like a Tim Drake Robin solo film I figured could never be made was that his comics rarely have Batman gone eternity, they are solo adventures but still of an active sidekick. And I assumed you can't have a movie with Batman that isn't going to be Batman. But Spiderman Homecoming tells me that maybe they can make a Robin movie work some day, with Ben Affleck having the same amount of screen time as RDJr did here.
The true sign of the MCU's victory over DC is that certain DC fans like myself feel like what I want from DC is being provided by Marvel.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Anime Weekly Updates, Omer 29: Spring has truely arrived.
Well this last week wound up being fairly busy.
It's been a little over a week actually, so I've seen two episodes of Hugtto Precure, and I'm definitely enjoying this Lulu arc so far.
The second core of Katana Maidens got off to a pretty interesting start. If the second Core can top the first Core this will probably be the show of the year.
Episode two of Legend of The Galactic Heroes was pretty good, what I thought was happening at the end of episode 1 turns out to be wrong because I had TLJ on the brain. Still I do think this may turn out to be better Star Wars then the actual Star Wars we've been getting.
Steins;Gate 0 had a pretty good start. The Dub actually had Monica Rail speaking Japanese which sounded strangely awesome. And for the time being I'm optimistic that they'll be handling Ruka's gender identity better now.
I also started and caught up on both Comic Girls and Last Period. They're both pretty fun shows.
Episode 5 of the Fate/ Cooking show also dropped, this one focused a lot on Sakura. I think I've developed a Purple Hair fetish.
And then Magical Girl Site had a pretty tense and eventful episode 5.
I haven't spent as much time watching older shows as I wanted to, though I did finish Amagi Brilliant Park. But I'll fix that in due time.
I've decided I am gonna wait on Full Metal Panic.
Over all I'd say this Spring Season is gonna be pretty good.
It's been a little over a week actually, so I've seen two episodes of Hugtto Precure, and I'm definitely enjoying this Lulu arc so far.
The second core of Katana Maidens got off to a pretty interesting start. If the second Core can top the first Core this will probably be the show of the year.
Episode two of Legend of The Galactic Heroes was pretty good, what I thought was happening at the end of episode 1 turns out to be wrong because I had TLJ on the brain. Still I do think this may turn out to be better Star Wars then the actual Star Wars we've been getting.
Steins;Gate 0 had a pretty good start. The Dub actually had Monica Rail speaking Japanese which sounded strangely awesome. And for the time being I'm optimistic that they'll be handling Ruka's gender identity better now.
I also started and caught up on both Comic Girls and Last Period. They're both pretty fun shows.
Episode 5 of the Fate/ Cooking show also dropped, this one focused a lot on Sakura. I think I've developed a Purple Hair fetish.
And then Magical Girl Site had a pretty tense and eventful episode 5.
I haven't spent as much time watching older shows as I wanted to, though I did finish Amagi Brilliant Park. But I'll fix that in due time.
I've decided I am gonna wait on Full Metal Panic.
Over all I'd say this Spring Season is gonna be pretty good.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Infinity War has reignited my excitement for Superhero movies.
It's difficult to explain my feelings here. Since on an individual basis I have generally been liking the Phase Three MCU films the best so far, and yet at the same time was kind of tiring of them as a whole.
But I really wanted the DC Cinematic Universe to be better as someone who's more of a DC fan. And so when I wound up feeling disillusioned with Batman V Superman it began a slow fading out of my interest in the genre. And it helped that my discovery of Anime gave me something to fill that void.
It would never have been completely gone, as Batman in particular is my oldest Fandom and and for a long time this genre was the center piece of my Geekdom. But the last three DC movies were all ones I left the theaters with initially high praise for but that I slowly soured on. And that it's been basically the same with the new Star Wars movies had me feeling that I may have only Anime to rely on.
But Infinity War was amazing, it managed to truly feel like a Crisis level Event done on the Big Screen in Live Action with Live Actors.
And the knowledge that Donna Troy will be coming to the Titans show they're making also livens me up.
So my investment in this genre is renewed. Anime is still gonna gonna be what this Blog talks about the most. But I no longer feel like it was going to inevitably become an Anime only blog.
But I really wanted the DC Cinematic Universe to be better as someone who's more of a DC fan. And so when I wound up feeling disillusioned with Batman V Superman it began a slow fading out of my interest in the genre. And it helped that my discovery of Anime gave me something to fill that void.
It would never have been completely gone, as Batman in particular is my oldest Fandom and and for a long time this genre was the center piece of my Geekdom. But the last three DC movies were all ones I left the theaters with initially high praise for but that I slowly soured on. And that it's been basically the same with the new Star Wars movies had me feeling that I may have only Anime to rely on.
But Infinity War was amazing, it managed to truly feel like a Crisis level Event done on the Big Screen in Live Action with Live Actors.
And the knowledge that Donna Troy will be coming to the Titans show they're making also livens me up.
So my investment in this genre is renewed. Anime is still gonna gonna be what this Blog talks about the most. But I no longer feel like it was going to inevitably become an Anime only blog.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
SaGa Frontier deserves some credit in the History of Female Representation in Video Games.
First off, yes it is still problematic that out of 7 main protagonists only 2 are women while 4 are men, it is good that the Robot seems to be defined gender neutrally.
What I like however is that the main supporting characters for the female leads are also women. It annoys me how in movies like Rogue One the progress made by having a female lead is undermined by her still being given all men as her supporting cast.
First I should back up and provide some context.
SaGa Frontier has a unique premise among JRPGs, each protagonist has a completely different story, but they are all taking place in the same world, visiting the same cities on the same map and having largely the same side-quests. It's an interesting premise I'd like to see more of.
Aselus story is probably the most blatantly Feminist, the main villain is quite literally a Feudal Patriarch. And she is canonically Gay, it's not just subtext.
Emelia's two main supporting party members are Annie and Best Girl Liza. This story is definitely about straight women however, though I'm sure it's inspired just as much Femslash fan fiction.
I can see being annoyed at how much Emelia's story is about her Boyfriend, being framed for his murder and then once out of prison being motivated by wanting to find the real killer and get revenge. Thing is, that's a pretty common story for Male protagonists, in Film Noirs and Neo-Noirs, their wife or girlfriend is killed and they're framed for it. So I found it interesting to see a woman get that story for a change.
There is a lot more to these stories, but I've decided I don't want to spoil too much.
I haven't actually played this game yet, I'm going off Let's Plays here. But I think I might be able to handle it better then most RPGs. Like Mario RPG it doesn't have random encounters, it looks kinda like Mario RPG in a lot of ways really. It also looks beautiful and has wonderful Music.
What I like however is that the main supporting characters for the female leads are also women. It annoys me how in movies like Rogue One the progress made by having a female lead is undermined by her still being given all men as her supporting cast.
First I should back up and provide some context.
SaGa Frontier has a unique premise among JRPGs, each protagonist has a completely different story, but they are all taking place in the same world, visiting the same cities on the same map and having largely the same side-quests. It's an interesting premise I'd like to see more of.
Aselus story is probably the most blatantly Feminist, the main villain is quite literally a Feudal Patriarch. And she is canonically Gay, it's not just subtext.
Emelia's two main supporting party members are Annie and Best Girl Liza. This story is definitely about straight women however, though I'm sure it's inspired just as much Femslash fan fiction.
I can see being annoyed at how much Emelia's story is about her Boyfriend, being framed for his murder and then once out of prison being motivated by wanting to find the real killer and get revenge. Thing is, that's a pretty common story for Male protagonists, in Film Noirs and Neo-Noirs, their wife or girlfriend is killed and they're framed for it. So I found it interesting to see a woman get that story for a change.
There is a lot more to these stories, but I've decided I don't want to spoil too much.
I haven't actually played this game yet, I'm going off Let's Plays here. But I think I might be able to handle it better then most RPGs. Like Mario RPG it doesn't have random encounters, it looks kinda like Mario RPG in a lot of ways really. It also looks beautiful and has wonderful Music.
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