September Archives - Immortallium's Blog

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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How Important is 4K Resolution for Anime?

Published September 17, 2020

I was perusing my email lately when I noticed Anime Ltd (All the Anime) advertising a 4K UHD (Ultra-High-Definition) release of Weathering With You, the latest (as of this article) Makoto Shinkai film. This got me thinking about whether a 4K resolution release for anime is truly important or not.

To discuss this topic, I should first explain how animating anime digitally affected resolution. It has been traditionally much easier to create HD masters for media produced on film and media produced digitally in HD. However, the late 1990s/early 2000s saw anime created digitally in standard definition and the problem with digital is that, once you have created the master, you cannot create a native resolution higher than the original. A good example of this is Cowboy Bebop which saw the 2D elements animated on film and the 3D elements animated digitally. When the blu-ray was released, it became quite clear that, while the 2D art and animation looked very sharp and clean, the 3D elements had a less graceful appearance.

The 4K UHD release of Weathering With You by Anime Ltd.

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Can the Epic Games Store Survive?

Published September 14, 2020

It has been a while since I last discussed the Epic Games Store but I thought, with the recent clash between Apple and Epic, that it might be worth discussing how the Epic Games Store has performed so far and if it is likely to survive and become a long term competitor to Steam.

The first thing that I should clarify is that I have never used the Epic Games Store myself. Instead I have been keeping tabs on how it has affected the video game industry and I have spoken before about how I considered the Epic Games Store to be a good thing for the industry. However, I have many concerns that the Epic Games Store may not be able to survive the many fights that Epic are initiating.

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Mangaka Whose Works I’d like to see in English

Published September 10, 2020

With the amount of manga that is released in English, it is easy to think that we have access to pretty much everything that Japan has to offer. However, while we have seen the release of many classic manga lately (the release of Rose of Versailles in English is particularly noteworthy), there are still plenty of mangaka whom I’d like to see more of their works released in English.

Speaking of Rose of Versailles, I’d like to see more titles from the Year 24 Group released for English speaking audiences. I’ve mentioned the Year 24 Group before but for those unfamiliar with them, the Year 24 Group are a group of female mangaka who redefined Shojo manga in the 1970s and tackled taboo subjects such as gender and sexuality in their titles. While we have seen titles such as Rose of Versailles, Heart of Thomas, Toward the Terra and more translated, I would love to see their works continue to be released in English.

From Eroica With Love saw only 15 of its 39 volumes released in English.

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How Crowdfunding is Used to Produce Anime

Published September 7, 2020

Crowdfunding has become quite popular in recent years and the anime industry has certainly taken note of this. While I have covered this topic before with regards to manga, I think it might be interesting to see how crowdfunding can be used to produce anime that might not be otherwise created.

Before we begin examining the use of modern crowdfunding for the production of anime, I think it’s noteworthy that the core concept of crowdfunding is not foreign to the production of anime. When I discussed the economics of anime, I pointed out how anime is typically sold for $60 for 4 episodes in Japan (variants of this exist of course but this is the most common). In a sense, with only a few thousand people buying each release, this process is similar to crowdfunding except that the money comes in at the end rather than at the beginning.

The cast of Psycho-Pass 3. — Psycho-Pass 3 was sold for around $100 for a Blu-Ray with only two episodes!

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The Use of Animation for Propaganda

Published September 3, 2020

I recently decided to review the first feature length anime film “Momotaro: Sacred Sailors” which was originally released in 1945 and was funded by the Japanese Naval Ministry. The content of the film sought to portray Japanese imperialism as necessary in the face of Western nations and a good thing for the local populations under occupation (something which is easily disproven). Reviewing this film made me think of the use of other animation for propaganda purposes.

I should start off by defining what propaganda is. Propaganda is defined as “ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause” and, while commonly associated with government, can refer to any group who wish to spread their own ideology or discredit their opponents. Designating certain films as “propaganda” can be controversial and I will be trying to stick with examples that are universally recognized as propaganda.

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Category: September