Category: 2020

The Importance of the Element of Wonder in Storytelling

Published October 22, 2020

Whenever I’m writing these articles, I typically pick a YouTube video to play in the background on loop. I was recently recommended the first opening of Naruto (R★O★C★K★S) and I decided to take YouTube up on their offer. Upon watching it though, I was immediately filled with an unusual feeling. I knew it wasn’t nostalgia as I’m quite familiar with that feeling and, upon a few days reflection, I eventually realised that what I was remembering was a faint memory of the wonder I felt when I first began watching Naruto. That realisation made me consider the importance of the element of wonder in storytelling and inspired me to discuss the topic.

There are many wonderful pieces of media featuring children discovering the world and their sense of wonder for relatively banal aspects of everyday life. However, my focus is going to be on stories of adventure throughout anime, manga and video games and how the element of wonder enhances the storytelling.

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Really Difficult Video Games with a Child-Friendly Art Style

Published October 19, 2020

I was recently playing a video game called “Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair” and, as they passed by, people would ask me why I was playing a kid’s game. I was so amused at this interpretation that I decided to show them the titular Impossible Lair. Brutal and unrelenting, they very quickly realized how difficult the game was and conceded. While I’ve spoken about difficulty in video games before, I thought it might be interesting to look at difficult video games that have a child-friendly art style.

When it comes to difficult video games with a child-friendly art style, my go-to example is typically the original Mega Man series. Originally released in 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the original Mega Man games have seen 11 main entries with games 1-8 released from 1987 to 1996 and 9-11 released between 2008-2018 and have proven to be a major success with many spin-off sub-series, television adaptations and comics.

Who would guess from this artwork that the games were so difficult!

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Interesting Manga Related to Western Properties

Published October 15, 2020

Whenever I and many other people think of manga series, we tend to think of titles original to the medium of manga. However, the manga industry does not exist in a vacuum and is influenced by the trends and fads of popular culture. Many Western properties are quite popular in Japan and I think it’s worth discussing the many interesting manga related to these franchises.

If I were to mention Batman, you would probably think of the Christopher Nolan films or perhaps the Arkham video games. However, the peak of Batman’s popularity in Japan was during the time of the 1966-68 Batman TV series starring Adam West. This prompted publisher Shōnen Gahōsha to license the franchise and develop a manga series written by mangaka Jiro Kuwata.

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What is the Purpose of Anime Openings and Endings?

Published October 12, 2020

Anyone who has sat down to watch an anime TV series has probably taken note of the opening and ending credits which are quite long by modern standards and often feature higher-quality animation than in the TV show itself. To many people, these credit sequences are bothersome with many of my friends informing me that they tend to skip anime intros and outros once they have seen them a few times. However, the purpose behind these openings and endings are fascinating and I think it’s worth discussing why anime studios continue to create these sequences.

When an anime is being developed, a group called a production committee is typically established where various companies invest in the show and are awarded certain rights such as merchandising, domestic broadcast rights, overseas distribution etc. Quite often, one of the companies involved will be a music company that wishes to distribute the soundtrack of the show and, as part of the agreement, the company usually decides to promote some of their talent’s songs through the openings and endings of the anime in question.

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My Thoughts on Final Fantasy XVI and the Series’ Future

Published October 8, 2020

I would like to start by saying that I’m a big fan of the Final Fantasy franchise. Final Fantasy IX is my favourite video game ever and many other entries in the series rank amongst the best games I have ever played. I would argue that Final Fantasy has had a profound impact on my life and how I view the world and, with this in mind, I decided that I should share my thoughts on the recently announced Final Fantasy XVI and the series’ future.

I will start off by ignoring the fact that Square Enix have retracted the announcement that Final Fantasy XVI was coming to PC (which, understandably, I find frustrating). Instead, I would like to focus on the game itself, the people who have been assigned to the game and how it relates to prior games. It should also be noted that the game was only recently announced and the information that I am about to discuss could very well change in the future.

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Examining the Use of Japanese Mythology in Manga

Published October 5, 2020

Mythology has been a critical component of storytelling for millennia across the many cultures of the world. Any country that produces media is bound to be influenced by their myths, whether that be a conscious decision or otherwise. Japan is no exception and, since a lot of mangaka use Japanese mythology as a way to express themselves through their manga, I decided that the topic was worth examining.

The first manga series that I would like to tackle is Naruto, a series very dear to my heart. Set in a Japanese-style fantasy world, Masashi Kishimoto makes frequent use of Japanese mythology to enhance the world he has built. One of the most notable examples is the use of Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru, referred to in Naruto as The Legendary Sannin, who come from The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya. Many of the aspects that make the characters stand out such as the trios association with toads, slugs and snakes respectively, Jiraiya’s love for Tsunade and the conflict between Jiraiya and Orochimaru is preserved (although, understandably, Masashi Kishimoto decided to change other aspects of the characters).

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Voice Actor Spotlight: Kiyoshi Kobayashi

Published October 1, 2020

I don’t often choose to shine the spotlight on a voice actor but I have decided to make an exception and discuss the legendary Kiyoshi Kobayashi. I feel that his long career covering a wide range of media such as anime, live-action dubbing, video games etc. is well worth highlighting.

Easily his most famous role is Daisuke Jigen from the Lupin the Third franchise. An expert gunslinger and best friend to Lupin the Third, Jigen might possibly be my favourite character in the series with many of the episodes focusing on him among my favourites (I often joke that Jigen might be one of the few anime characters I could cosplay). This is helped with an outstanding performance from Kiyoshi Kobayashi who portrays Jigen with a very layered performance, managing to balance stoicism, humour and emotion all at once.

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Why I Don’t Watch the Disney Live-Action Remakes

Published September 28, 2020

It’s been very interesting to watch the recent controversy erupt around the new live-action Mulan film. With all of the calls to boycott the new film, I’m thinking that now might be a good time to share my thoughts on the push from Disney to produce live-action remakes of their classic animated films and the reasons why I have chosen not to watch them.

I should start off by saying that I am a big fan of Disney animated films with my DVD/Blu-Ray collection proudly containing over 50 of their movies. I and many others consider many of them to be amongst the greatest animated films of all time and I believe that the majority of these films take full advantage of the medium to tell unique stories in stylistic ways that would (at least theoretically) not be possible in a live-action setting.

Mulan has now become one of the most controversial films of 2020.

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The Significance of Video Game Anniversaries

Published September 24, 2020

September 13th was the 35th anniversary of the Super Mario franchise and Nintendo decided to celebrate by announcing Super Mario 3D All-Stars, a collection of 3 3D Super Mario games, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. A variety of other products and events were also unveiled and this got me thinking about video game anniversaries in general and their significance.

The video game industry as a whole is still pretty young with the first commercialised video game only being released in 1971 (which, interestingly, makes 2021 the 50th anniversary of the video game industry!). I suspect that this adds gravitas to many of these anniversaries as the industry celebrates its heritage.

The arcade cabinet for Computer Space, the first commercially available video game, released in 1971.

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How Big Are Manga Markets in Non-English/Japanese Speaking Countries?

Published September 21, 2020

Whenever I’m discussing manga, I tend to focus on the Japanese and English speaking markets. The reasons for this are that the Japanese market is the original and more likely to have an impact on market trends while the focus on the English speaking market is due the fact that I and most of my readers speak English. However, this can sometimes cause people to underestimate how big the manga markets can be in these non-English/Japanese speaking countries and I think it’s important that I at least discuss them within this article.

Arguably the most notable non-English/Japanese speaking manga market is France. The manga released in France tend to be more varied than those found in the US with an estimated 41 publishers of manga. These cover a wide range of more experimental manga than is typically found in other markets (although mainstream titles remain the bestsellers). Just like many markets, the French manga market originally developed based on the popularity of anime in the 80s and 90s. I always find it interesting (and a little funny) how shocked people are when I explain how the French market is as big as (if not bigger) than the US manga market.

The French cover of Attack on Titan Volume 31.

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