2021 Archives - Page 11 of 11 - Immortallium's Blog

What Happened To Manga Entertainment’s Cartoon Network Releases?

Published January 14, 2021

Those of you familiar with my story of how I got into anime will know that I’m not just a fan of anime but animation as a whole. However, I’ve found it surprisingly difficult to collect Western animated series over here in Ireland and that difficulty was part of the reason why I celebrated the news that Manga Entertainment was going to be releasing some Cartoon Network series. However, as of 2021, I have to ask the question “What happened to Manga Entertainment’s Cartoon Network Releases?”

I should begin by explaining why the release of Cartoon Network series was so significant. Cartoon Network has been at the forefront of the rise in quality in Western Animated TV series with many of their shows such as Adventure Time, Steven Universe, Regular Show and many others garnering critical acclaim and loyal fanbases. Several attempts have been made to release these shows in the UK and Ireland in the past with a particularly notable example being the original Adventure Time releases which saw entire episodes missing.

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Character Creation in Video Games

Published January 11, 2021

I’ve recently finished playing Dragon Age: Origins and have begun playing its sequel Dragon Age II. One of the first things you will do when starting one of these games is designing the character that you will be guiding throughout the adventure (although Dragon Age II did briefly concern me that I might not be able to do so). This made me think about how enjoyable character creation in video games can be and thought it might be interesting to examine the topic.

The history of character creation in video games can be traced back to tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and many others which saw players create a character by choosing their race, gender, stats, skills, background etc. Understandably, when video game developers began to design video game RPGs, many were inspired by these tabletop role-playing games and adapted many of their systems into gameplay.

A example of the character creation system from the Demon’s Souls Remake.

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Some Of The Best Short Manga Series That I’ve Read

Published January 7, 2021

With so many long-running manga series being so popular, it’s easy to overlook the many shorter titles that the medium has to offer. I’ve spoken before about how much I enjoy one-shot manga and thought it might be interesting to discuss some of the best manga series that I’ve read that I consider to be short.

Of course, it would probably help if I clarify what I mean by short. While many people will have different opinions on what a short manga series is, for the purposes of this article, my definition of short will be that it was originally released in five volumes or less in their Japanese release while being more than a single volume. I will also be trying to focus on series that I have not spoken about too frequently on this blog with a perfect example being Girl Friends which I have often stated to be one of my favourite manga of all time.

The cover for the English language release of Ayako by Osamu Tezuka.

What is World Masterpiece Theater Anime?

Published January 4, 2021

When I was watching Discotek Media’s release of Dororo, partway through the series a title card called “Calpis Manga Theater” was added to the beginning of each episode. As you might imagine, this caught my attention and I quickly found out that the Dororo anime was the first entry in what would become known as World Masterpiece Theater.

World Masterpiece Theater aired on Fuji TV from 1969 to 1997 and then from 2007 to 2009 and typically saw classic works of Western literature adapted into anime series. The title went through several name changes such as the first name I mentioned “Calpis Manga Theater” to “World Masterpiece Theater” to “House Foods World Masterpiece Theater” to name a few.

Category: 2021

What Happened To Manga Entertainment’s Cartoon Network Releases?

Character Creation in Video Games

Some Of The Best Short Manga Series That I’ve Read

What is World Masterpiece Theater Anime?