I just came back from an 11-day holiday, the longest I have taken in like six years. Maybe I’ll blog about it later (I have never watched so many live pro wrestling events in my life). Told myself before I left that I will disconnect myself completely from work, not caring about what happens in the office. Which was what I did.
So now that I’m back, I took a quick glance at what my understudy replacements have done in my absence, and I am not happy. Sigh. If I ever leave this job, or have to go on an extended hiatus, our company’s Japanese SNS accounts are bloody screwed.
To celebrate the announcement of a new NieR: Automata Game of the Year edition coming out in 2019, hungry_clicker posted this on his Twitter a few days ago. Perfect timing.
I’ve viewed so many fan artworks of 2B by now that it’s very rare to see a piece that does not focus on her upskirt. So many artists choose to overly sexualise her to the point that I wonder how many of them have actually played the damn game (to FULL completion for all five main endings).
Wonderful rendition of Ryougi, in her Saber-class incarnation for Fate/Grand Order. This is a fan version inspired by the original, official FGO artwork for Ryougi:
More than a decade ago I remember watching an anime music video on YouTube titled “Toph – Numb”. It was one of the best AMVs I’ve ever seen, and is a gold-standard example of how AMVs should be done: The chosen scenes and images perfectly match the lyrics sung by Chester Bannington, and the video effects are in-sync with the song’s rhythm.
Unfortunately, that YouTube video has long been removed due to copyright issues (YouTube’s audio algorithm is very anal about licensed music). I was randomly browsing Dailymotion and discovered to my delight that someone had uploaded it there.
I’m embedding the video here in this blog post for posterity. Rest in peace, Mr Bannington.
– Pete Burns, vocalist of Dead or Alive. Quote taken from this book excerpt.
If you don’t know who Pete Burns is, he is the lead vocalist of the British pop group Dead or Alive. You’ve probably encountered their most famous 1984 song You Spin Me Round:
Rest in peace, Mr Burns. I applaud your raw courage and creative determination to express your music in the way that you want.
I don’t really consider myself a Castlevania aficianado, nor an expert on the series’ lore. My first encounter with the games was Symphony of the Night on the original PlayStation, then later the Nintendo DS games Dawn of Sorrow,Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia. I enjoyed the 2D action-RPG combat and plethora of weapons and abilities that you could use; the dungeon exploration mixed with puzzle-solving; and the bestiary of ghouls, goblins, and wicked monstrosities.
I also really appreciated the background story and setting for each of the games, and the Netflix series has done a good job of summarising all of it: The lineage of the Belmont bloodline and Belnades family as vampire hunters and magical sorcerers respectively; Alucard’s half-vampire heritage and why he chose to side with humanity. They’re all adapted quite faithfully for the animated series and are brought to life with the superb British voice acting. I mean, it stars freaking Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont and Graham McTavish as Dracula, both very well-known and accomplished British actors.
One thing I like about Netflix is how you can access different language dubs by switching your account profile’s language settings. I was very eager to listen to the Japanese dub, and was absolutely thrilled that Alucard’s JP voice was done by Shinichiro Miki. I recognise his voice instantly, anywhere and anytime: His most recent, prominent role was in Dragon Ball Super as the voice of Zamasu. If you’re a frequent anime watcher of the last few years then you’ve no doubt heard Miki’s voice before. He likes to play villainous or morally ambiguous characters.
Castlevania is rated M18, and I soon discovered why. It’s a very violent series, more violent than most anime shows airing on Japanese TV. There’s a lot of blood, decapitations, and organs being ripped out. Such a level of violence would never make it past TV censors, so I guess this is one advantage of being a Netflix-exclusive show.
The action sequences for some of the fights are very well-executed. I’ve gone back and replayed the duel between Alucard and Trevor several times now. It’s easy to follow, choreographed in a manner that makes the battle feel impactful, and depicts the immortal powers of Alucard and the human resourcefulness of the Belmonts in series-faithful fashion.
I also loved how it took 11 episodes for the classic Vampire Killer theme to appear in the show. If you’ve ever played any Castlevania game, you’ll know how it sounds like. The build-up to that moment was great and it’s a subtle reference meant for fans of the series.
Speaking of Netflix, I have no idea how Konami and Netflix collaborated to produce this series. What was the level of involvement, if any, that Konami had on production? If my gut feeling is correct, I think the answer is zero: Konami have been treating their videogame properties like trash for the past few years. You’ve no doubt heard many negative reports about how they mishandled and mistreated their employees over Metal Gear Solid V. That level of ineptitude also extends to their Castlevania series: The last “proper” Castlevania game, Lords of Shadow 2, came out in 2014. This was followed by a pachinko game in 2015 (I’m not kidding), and after that a Castlevania mobile game will also be released.
For fuck’s sake, Castlevania on mobile??
That’s a discussion for another day. Let us celebrate the wonders of Netflix instead, an online-viewing platform that is bringing so many adaptations that no one asked for to life on the big screen. I have resisted Netflix for the longest time because I’m a traditionalist for physical media — if I really like something, I will go out and purchase it to add to my Blu-ray collection.
Castlevania, Stranger Things, Daredevil, they’ve all shown me that sometimes, it’s ok to go full digital. Also please give us more Japanese dubs. It is very important.
Shounen anime, done correctly, is all about learning how to surpass your limits to overcome overwhelming odds. It’s a storytelling staple of many action shows (not just animated but also live-action), where we see the protagonist training, fighting, and finding a way to win against a powerful enemy.
Dragon Ball Z, the second arc following the original Dragon Ball series, is a difficult title to recommend today to someone who has never watched it, even if they are fans of action or shounen anime. It has 291 episodes for crying out loud. If you add in the episodes of the original Dragon Ball, that’s over 400 episodes!!
Love it or hate it, it’s impossible to ignore the impact that DBZ has had over action anime. Many of the stereotypes and cliches found in shounen anime titles were all originally inspired by DBZ.
The author of the video sums it up best:
Dragon Ball Z wasn’t a story about getting what you want, it was one about surpassing who you are.
The “indiepocalypse” discussion was back recently among the games media. If you’re a game or software developer, or someone who’s interested in making games, I highly recommend reading this article.
For those that don’t know, The Indiepocalyspe refers to how there seems to be way too many indie games on the market right, making it difficult for consumers to discover and play the genuinely good ones under all that rubble.
I’m not a game developer, but I am sympathetic towards creative arts, something which the author of this article equates videogame development to: Making an indie game is like starting a band. You do it not for money, but for the development of your own creative skills and self-fulfillment of whatever personal goals you are trying to accomplish.
The author also mentions how Steam and the Apple store are extremely bad at curating games, which I totally agree. Another reason why I’m trying to move away from Steam as a digital platform for buying games.
My dad shared this on WhatsApp awhile back. I had no idea that a group of sharks could be called a “shiver”. I wonder if Jaws had any influence on that.
Playing videogames and reading about videogames consumes most of my free time. I try to play everything except for rhythm games. Also enjoys sports, animation, comics, Japanese language studies, and the occasional American TV drama. Learning violin. Contributes to Dugout and No Game No Talk.
