[Update2023: Small parts of this I don't support anymore.]
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Saturday, June 13, 2020
More Anime 2020 progress
Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Tower of God episode 5 was again very good.
Khun is one of a particular kind of male Anime character that I am sexually attracted to, but I don’t think I can claim to be Queer over that because I don’t think any flesh and blood human being of any gender could actually recreate their appeal in real life. Other similar looking characters would include Near on Death Note, Akise from Future Diary, and I guess Kowaru would be the original.
Episode 5 of The 8th Son has me pretty hopeful we’ll be getting another non Monogamous arrangement like we had in Smartphone.
Episode 5 of Hamefura brought some more drama into the show. It seems like this rumored to be a Bastard plot point isn’t one our MC was aware of from the game.
I’m unsure what to expect from the current release schedule of Railgun T.
I became fans of two Yuri Manga series in the meantime. Her Elder Sister has a crush on her, but she doesn’t mind. And Between Philia and Eros which is currently lacking a page on MAL. I also enjoyed a one off called Yutori Senpen which is not quite as great a Yuri NTR as Your Fault but was pretty good.
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Tower of God episode 5 was again very good.
Khun is one of a particular kind of male Anime character that I am sexually attracted to, but I don’t think I can claim to be Queer over that because I don’t think any flesh and blood human being of any gender could actually recreate their appeal in real life. Other similar looking characters would include Near on Death Note, Akise from Future Diary, and I guess Kowaru would be the original.
Episode 5 of The 8th Son has me pretty hopeful we’ll be getting another non Monogamous arrangement like we had in Smartphone.
Episode 5 of Hamefura brought some more drama into the show. It seems like this rumored to be a Bastard plot point isn’t one our MC was aware of from the game.
I’m unsure what to expect from the current release schedule of Railgun T.
I became fans of two Yuri Manga series in the meantime. Her Elder Sister has a crush on her, but she doesn’t mind. And Between Philia and Eros which is currently lacking a page on MAL. I also enjoyed a one off called Yutori Senpen which is not quite as great a Yuri NTR as Your Fault but was pretty good.
Thursday, June 11, 2020
I have now seen Luc Besson's Leon: The Professional
Notorious Anituber Digi-nee has said in a few places that when you’re a fan of a certain artist or work of art you should also check out what prior art influenced them. Rick Worley I’m sure would agree, his frustration with most Star Wars fans is partly their lack of interest in actually watching the older films that were an influence on George Lucas in making the 6 Star Wars films, especially the more obscure ones.
I agree on principle, but it can be difficult when the older work you’re aware of that has influenced what you like is more obscure.
La Femme Nikita and Leon: The Professional are two Luc Besson films that are frequently cited as the principal inspirations for my absolute favorite Anime, Noir. So I’ve been meaning to try and watch them for a while and finally got around to getting started.
I decided to watch Leon first partly because it’s the one that’s in English, and because I like Jean Reno via Godzilla 98 and Natalie Portman as one of the internet’s most vocal Prequel Stans. And Gary Oldman is the real best performance of The Dark Knight trilogy so I also expected him to be good.
However it also turned out to be the one that was a lot easier to find. I had wanted see both movies the same day and do one blog post for both of them, but that didn't work out. So I'm writing this having at this time still only seen Leon.
It turns out this particular genre of film isn’t all Luc Besson has done and there are in fact two Besson films I’d already seen, The Messenger and much of The Fifth Element. I’m really not a fan of The Messenger.
I saw this movie's influence on Noir quite a bit, which is exciting since I was/am kind of expecting it to be the less significant influence of the two. I saw it in the general style, in many of the tactics of the titular assassin, but I also saw specific details that I think Noir was homaging in pretty meaningful ways. I even think the movie’s music was a little bit of an influence on what Yuki Kajura did, it’s still very different Yuki totally did her own thing, but I do think she also watched this movie.
The film is good, in addition to being an influence on future Anime I also see how it is both similar to and distinguishes itself from the general trends of 90s crime fiction, like the works of Tarantino. If you like those kinds of movies you’ll probably also see something in this one.
Part of the reason La Femme Nikita is so hard to find is that in general popculture that movie has been eclipsed by it’s TV reboots. But those TV shows while having technically the same starting premise are barely the same genre. If you’re a fan of those shows and want a similar Anime I’m more inclined to recommend Witch Hunter Robin. Of those two shows I've watched the first season and a half of the CW's Nikita and the pilot of the late 90s Canadian show. Going off that both shows have their strong suits.
I do already know enough about that premise to say that Gunslinger Girl might actually be the Anime with a more similar premise then Noir given its emphasis on the older male handlers. I like Noir partly for its lack of any significant male characters.
So while I was working on trying to find that movie I decided to watch another more recent piece of East Asian media that cites Nikita as it’s inspiration, a South Korean movie called The Villainess. It was… interesting. I don't think I'll be writing anything about it but it was interesting.
I agree on principle, but it can be difficult when the older work you’re aware of that has influenced what you like is more obscure.
La Femme Nikita and Leon: The Professional are two Luc Besson films that are frequently cited as the principal inspirations for my absolute favorite Anime, Noir. So I’ve been meaning to try and watch them for a while and finally got around to getting started.
I decided to watch Leon first partly because it’s the one that’s in English, and because I like Jean Reno via Godzilla 98 and Natalie Portman as one of the internet’s most vocal Prequel Stans. And Gary Oldman is the real best performance of The Dark Knight trilogy so I also expected him to be good.
However it also turned out to be the one that was a lot easier to find. I had wanted see both movies the same day and do one blog post for both of them, but that didn't work out. So I'm writing this having at this time still only seen Leon.
It turns out this particular genre of film isn’t all Luc Besson has done and there are in fact two Besson films I’d already seen, The Messenger and much of The Fifth Element. I’m really not a fan of The Messenger.
I saw this movie's influence on Noir quite a bit, which is exciting since I was/am kind of expecting it to be the less significant influence of the two. I saw it in the general style, in many of the tactics of the titular assassin, but I also saw specific details that I think Noir was homaging in pretty meaningful ways. I even think the movie’s music was a little bit of an influence on what Yuki Kajura did, it’s still very different Yuki totally did her own thing, but I do think she also watched this movie.
The film is good, in addition to being an influence on future Anime I also see how it is both similar to and distinguishes itself from the general trends of 90s crime fiction, like the works of Tarantino. If you like those kinds of movies you’ll probably also see something in this one.
Part of the reason La Femme Nikita is so hard to find is that in general popculture that movie has been eclipsed by it’s TV reboots. But those TV shows while having technically the same starting premise are barely the same genre. If you’re a fan of those shows and want a similar Anime I’m more inclined to recommend Witch Hunter Robin. Of those two shows I've watched the first season and a half of the CW's Nikita and the pilot of the late 90s Canadian show. Going off that both shows have their strong suits.
I do already know enough about that premise to say that Gunslinger Girl might actually be the Anime with a more similar premise then Noir given its emphasis on the older male handlers. I like Noir partly for its lack of any significant male characters.
So while I was working on trying to find that movie I decided to watch another more recent piece of East Asian media that cites Nikita as it’s inspiration, a South Korean movie called The Villainess. It was… interesting. I don't think I'll be writing anything about it but it was interesting.
Sunday, June 7, 2020
Juneime 2020
Tower of God episode 4 was quite an unexpected turn of events.
Episode 4 of 8th Son was pretty eventful.
Here’s the Twitter thread of my Yu-No: A Girl Who Chants Love At The Bound Of This World rewatch.
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir/status/1269053998000193536
In summery it's still a show I highly recommend.
Episode 10 of Railgun T was fantastic, this season is going to be awesome.
Hamefura episode 4 has an interesting casting decision, the protagonist now sounds like she’s the one who should be a stereotypical stuck up rich girl.
Episode 4 of 8th Son was pretty eventful.
Here’s the Twitter thread of my Yu-No: A Girl Who Chants Love At The Bound Of This World rewatch.
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir/status/1269053998000193536
In summery it's still a show I highly recommend.
Episode 10 of Railgun T was fantastic, this season is going to be awesome.
Hamefura episode 4 has an interesting casting decision, the protagonist now sounds like she’s the one who should be a stereotypical stuck up rich girl.
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Raiders of The Lost Ark as a religious movie
It can be easy to write off all the Indiana Jones movies as films where the sacred relic of the film is just a magical McGuffin and not at all about the religion the relic is supposed to be sacred to.
But when comparing Raiders to the others, it is apparent how the Jewish director of these films has far more actual reverence for the Ark's God then any others. And this may be a factor in why this movie is still considered the best of the series.
Spielberg is also a fan of Cecil B Demille's The Ten Commandments, I've seen him refer to the parting of the Red Sea as the greatest special effect in film history. Before it had it's own sequels I think Raiders was meant to kind of work as in continuity with that movie, it's approach to depicting the presence of YHWH is kind of similar.
What's also interesting is how our protagonist is the only character in the film who has no belief in the supernatural (this becomes a continuity issue later with Temple of Doom being supposedly a Prequel). Even the villains believe in it in some capacity, the Nazis have no respect for the actual religion the Ark represents but still expect it to be a super-weapon for them.
This makes Raiders oddly similar to a lot of Evangelical Christian films, like the turn of the century End Times movies I've seen way too many of. They tend to be movies where the main protagonist is a non believer for most of the narrative, but still nominally a good guy even in this Fundamentalist universe because they don't approve of the totalitarian dictatorship.
The difference is Indiana Jones at the end does not say the sinner's prayer or repent of any sins or dedicate his life to YHWH, he doesn't even really show any actual Faith, he still doesn't believe until he actually sees stuff happening. He and Marion are spared the Wrath of YWHW because they're not guilty of the sins of the Nazis.
My soterology is no longer the same as most American Evangelicals. I believe Salvation is ultimately universal, and what Judgments God does carry out are not something you can get out of simply by believing in Him, in fact in many cases His Judgment will be harshest on Believers.
So Raiders of The Lost Ark manages to be quite unintentionally what these Evangelical non-believer finds God narratives should be.
But when comparing Raiders to the others, it is apparent how the Jewish director of these films has far more actual reverence for the Ark's God then any others. And this may be a factor in why this movie is still considered the best of the series.
Spielberg is also a fan of Cecil B Demille's The Ten Commandments, I've seen him refer to the parting of the Red Sea as the greatest special effect in film history. Before it had it's own sequels I think Raiders was meant to kind of work as in continuity with that movie, it's approach to depicting the presence of YHWH is kind of similar.
What's also interesting is how our protagonist is the only character in the film who has no belief in the supernatural (this becomes a continuity issue later with Temple of Doom being supposedly a Prequel). Even the villains believe in it in some capacity, the Nazis have no respect for the actual religion the Ark represents but still expect it to be a super-weapon for them.
This makes Raiders oddly similar to a lot of Evangelical Christian films, like the turn of the century End Times movies I've seen way too many of. They tend to be movies where the main protagonist is a non believer for most of the narrative, but still nominally a good guy even in this Fundamentalist universe because they don't approve of the totalitarian dictatorship.
The difference is Indiana Jones at the end does not say the sinner's prayer or repent of any sins or dedicate his life to YHWH, he doesn't even really show any actual Faith, he still doesn't believe until he actually sees stuff happening. He and Marion are spared the Wrath of YWHW because they're not guilty of the sins of the Nazis.
My soterology is no longer the same as most American Evangelicals. I believe Salvation is ultimately universal, and what Judgments God does carry out are not something you can get out of simply by believing in Him, in fact in many cases His Judgment will be harshest on Believers.
So Raiders of The Lost Ark manages to be quite unintentionally what these Evangelical non-believer finds God narratives should be.
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Anime 2020 the end of May
Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Tower of God episode 3 was pretty good.
Ya know David was also The 8th Son of Jesse. In episode 3 it becomes clear younger children being passed over is a theme of this show beyond just the title character. And to many that is also one of the themes of the overarching meta narrative of The Bible. I found the drama of episode 3 pretty interesting, I hope the show picks up some steam now that the party is established.
Hamefura episode 3 was pretty good, they’re finally past the loli phase.
It looks like Raingun T’s Dub is on hiatus again.
I decided to check out the first three episodes of Fruits Basket 2019 Dubbed (I am not yet familiar with the classic version, I want to again be one of those judging the reboot without making that comparison). They were pretty enjoyable.
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Tower of God episode 3 was pretty good.
Ya know David was also The 8th Son of Jesse. In episode 3 it becomes clear younger children being passed over is a theme of this show beyond just the title character. And to many that is also one of the themes of the overarching meta narrative of The Bible. I found the drama of episode 3 pretty interesting, I hope the show picks up some steam now that the party is established.
Hamefura episode 3 was pretty good, they’re finally past the loli phase.
It looks like Raingun T’s Dub is on hiatus again.
I decided to check out the first three episodes of Fruits Basket 2019 Dubbed (I am not yet familiar with the classic version, I want to again be one of those judging the reboot without making that comparison). They were pretty enjoyable.
Friday, May 29, 2020
I've now seen the Live Action Lady Oscar movie
I had binged all 40 episodes of The Rose of Versailles on Hulu fairly recently when I started this blog.
I knew this movie existed back then, but I did not know it was in English, I assumed as a French production it would have been in French. That assumption isn't why I didn't watch it right away, I watched the Anime in Japanese with Subs and already had experience watching movies in French thanks to my BlackCoatPress interests (which was itself a factor in why this was one of the first Anime I watched when I decided to start truly diving into Anime).
What I had also assumed was that it would be pretty much impossible for me to find to watch without spending a lot of money just like most old French movies based on Paul Feval, Ponson du Terril and Eugene Sue novels. However recent events on Twitter had brought knowledge of where to watch it to my attention.
I consider the movie overall good, but in a unique way.
Generally my advice is to watch adaptations before the source material so comparisons won't constantly be bothering you, if the source material is better then you'll have saved the better experience for last.
In this case however the main strength of the film is the acting. Very little of it is any major deviation from the source material, but it's very condensed, the Anime is 40 episodes while the runtime of this movie is equivalent to the runtime of 6 episodes. I have a feeling this movie will have a very limited appeal to viewers who don't already know the fullness of the Anime's story-line, to them it won't really stand on it's own at all.
But for those of us who have the ablity to put it in context what is adapted looks as good as this possibly ever could look in live action, I certainly don't trust the trends of historical fiction in modern Hollywood to aesthetically do this Anime justice.
As I said the strongest point of the film is the acting. Chiefly Lady Oscar herself played by Catriona MacColl. I read on Wikipedia some critics thought she wasn't Androgynous enough, and I think that misses the point. Lady Oscar in the Anime does not look like Haruka Tenoh or a stereotypical Butch Lesbian. I feel like what the people making that criticism wanted is exactly what I would hate about how Hollywood would probably do it today. Lady Oscar is a very feminine woman beneath that military uniform.
I knew this movie existed back then, but I did not know it was in English, I assumed as a French production it would have been in French. That assumption isn't why I didn't watch it right away, I watched the Anime in Japanese with Subs and already had experience watching movies in French thanks to my BlackCoatPress interests (which was itself a factor in why this was one of the first Anime I watched when I decided to start truly diving into Anime).
What I had also assumed was that it would be pretty much impossible for me to find to watch without spending a lot of money just like most old French movies based on Paul Feval, Ponson du Terril and Eugene Sue novels. However recent events on Twitter had brought knowledge of where to watch it to my attention.
I consider the movie overall good, but in a unique way.
Generally my advice is to watch adaptations before the source material so comparisons won't constantly be bothering you, if the source material is better then you'll have saved the better experience for last.
In this case however the main strength of the film is the acting. Very little of it is any major deviation from the source material, but it's very condensed, the Anime is 40 episodes while the runtime of this movie is equivalent to the runtime of 6 episodes. I have a feeling this movie will have a very limited appeal to viewers who don't already know the fullness of the Anime's story-line, to them it won't really stand on it's own at all.
But for those of us who have the ablity to put it in context what is adapted looks as good as this possibly ever could look in live action, I certainly don't trust the trends of historical fiction in modern Hollywood to aesthetically do this Anime justice.
As I said the strongest point of the film is the acting. Chiefly Lady Oscar herself played by Catriona MacColl. I read on Wikipedia some critics thought she wasn't Androgynous enough, and I think that misses the point. Lady Oscar in the Anime does not look like Haruka Tenoh or a stereotypical Butch Lesbian. I feel like what the people making that criticism wanted is exactly what I would hate about how Hollywood would probably do it today. Lady Oscar is a very feminine woman beneath that military uniform.
In fandom it has often been Trans Masculine fans who seek project onto Lady Oscar, but the plot to me really makes her more allegorically related to a Trans Femme, she's presenting masculine because she was raised that way not in-spite of how she was raised. But that could be my own personal bias speaking, as someone assigned male at birth currently questioning their gender identity.
At some points the film oddly felt like a Hammer film. But I should clarify what I mean by that, Hammer did make more then just Horror, they also made odd little limited budget historical films sometimes. The actor playing Andre sounded kinda like several of Hammer's random Junior Leads (often named Paul) but according to Wikipedia he's not one of them.
The Anime is in my opinion the best fictionalization of this time period I've seen thus far. What it does get wrong are mistakes by no means unique to this franchise, like making Robespierre a leader of the Revolutionaries a lot sooner then he actually was. This film is about the same in historical accuracy but is generally more enjoyable to watch as just Lady Oscar's story then the time period in general. Which is shown by comparing the titles, Lady Oscar is the title character of the movie but the Anime's title character is technically Marie Antoinette.
The only thing I was truly disappointed by about the film was the ending. So now I shall fully enter spoiler territory.
At some points the film oddly felt like a Hammer film. But I should clarify what I mean by that, Hammer did make more then just Horror, they also made odd little limited budget historical films sometimes. The actor playing Andre sounded kinda like several of Hammer's random Junior Leads (often named Paul) but according to Wikipedia he's not one of them.
The Anime is in my opinion the best fictionalization of this time period I've seen thus far. What it does get wrong are mistakes by no means unique to this franchise, like making Robespierre a leader of the Revolutionaries a lot sooner then he actually was. This film is about the same in historical accuracy but is generally more enjoyable to watch as just Lady Oscar's story then the time period in general. Which is shown by comparing the titles, Lady Oscar is the title character of the movie but the Anime's title character is technically Marie Antoinette.
The only thing I was truly disappointed by about the film was the ending. So now I shall fully enter spoiler territory.
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