Category: 2021

Why Anime Is Sometimes Localised To Hide Their Country Of Origin

Published November 25, 2021

When I was a child, I ended up watching a lot of series that I would later discover were anime series. From Pokémon to Beyblades to Yu-Gi-Oh! to Medabots to many more, it’s surprising how much anime I watched back then. However, I was completely unaware that these shows that I enjoyed so much were from Japan! Why was I and so many others oblivious to this information? The answer is surprisingly straightforward, because the American licensors didn’t want you to know! Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at why anime is sometimes localised to hide their country of origin.

I should start off by clarifying that I will be looking at localisation when it comes to English language releases of these shows. Anime has been incredibly popular internationally for decades and it’s explosion in popularity in the English speaking world was actually later than many other countries. However, I’m quite unsure about how heavy-handed censorship and localisation were in these countries and, if you’re aware of how this was handled in particular countries, feel free to comment below.

Those aren’t donuts! Those are rice balls!

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Why I Love To Be Able To See Concept Art

Published November 22, 2021

There are a wide variety of extras that I love to get along with the media that I enjoy. From commentaries to behind the scenes information to appendixes, there is so much extra content that I love to see included with releases. However, an area that I would love to see more from would be concept art, an extra that I would consider to be highly underrated.

First, let’s discuss what concept art is. Concept art is artwork that is produced for a wide variety of creative mediums such as animation, graphic novels, video games, live-action media etc. These concept art will develop ideas for characters, settings, technology etc. and will tend to go through several iterations as feedback, both creative and practical, is received. Concept art can be used for a variety of purposes from advertising to refining the product itself to even seeking funding from investors.

Original concept art for Darth Maul which is drastically different to how he would later appear in the Star Wars franchise.

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Games for Windows Live And Its Cursed Legacy

Published November 18, 2021

I recently saw an article from PC Gamer that Fallout 3 had patched out Games for Windows Live on Steam. While not significant news for many, I would imagine many people these days don’t even know what Games for Windows Live was, it not only reminded me of the existence of Games for Windows Live but the many problems that its cursed legacy continues to produce in modern PC gaming.

I should first begin by explaining what Games for Windows Live was. Back in 2006, Microsoft launched a brand called “Games for Windows“, an initiative to regulate PC games more similarly to the console market and to increase accessibility. Examples of features that were included as part of this branding were easy installation, compatibility with 64-bit operating systems, supporting a wide variety of resolutions, support for Xbox controllers etc. Additionally, games that passed these criteria and were accepted into the program had Games for Windows branding across the top of their case in order to differentiate them from PC games that weren’t Games for Windows.

Observe the Games for Windows branding across the top of the box.

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Manga Remakes: Examples And Why They’re Rare

Published November 15, 2021

It is a fact that remakes are becoming increasingly common across numerous entertainment industries. From films to gaming to anime, it feels like remakes are becoming more and more prevalent, perhaps overwhelmingly so. However, it occurred to me the other day that there aren’t that many manga remakes. Therefore, I thought it might be worth looking at a few examples of manga remakes and why they’re so rare compared to other media.

Let’s start off by looking at a few examples. A notable example of a manga remake would be Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage. Written by the legendary Leiji Matsumoto, author of the original 1978 Space Pirate Captain Harlock, with the art handled by Kōichi Shimahoshi, Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage retells the story of the original manga while expanding on certain story elements and connecting more strongly with Leiji Matsumoto’s other series.

The volume 2 English language cover for Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage.

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The Unique, Stunning Experimental Anime Shorts Of Osamu Tezuka

Published November 11, 2021

I recently read The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime, a manga biography of the life of Osamu Tezuka, and found a particular aspect of his career especially fascinating. I was already quite familiar with his manga works, his anime offerings such as Animerama etc. but I was really surprised to learn how many anime shorts he produced over his career. These anime shorts were experimental, unique, stunning and I wanted to tell others about this incredible aspect of Osamu Tezuka.

In order to explain the production of his first experimental short, I have to discuss the state of anime at the time. In the early 1960s, the television industry was booming in Japan but TV anime was practically non-existent due to competition from American animation. Tezuka, however, believed in the potential of animation and was determined to develop animation both for television and short films that would push the boundaries of the medium. This resulted in the studio’s first projects being the Astro Boy television series, which I’ve spoken about before, and the experimental shorts “Tales of a Street Corner” and “Male”.

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The Important Animator Ralph Bakshi Part 2

Published November 8, 2021

Here is my continuation of “The Important Animator Ralph Bakshi Part 1“.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is American-Pop-Poster-538x1024.jpg — American Pop (1981)

After The Lord of the Rings, Ralph Bakshi wanted to create another original film and approached Columbia Pictures to finance his next film. After securing the deal, Ralph set about making a film that would incorporate a large number of songs into a story that stretched across multiple generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family. Similar to The Lord of the Rings, American Pop used a lot of rotoscoping to create the animation although it also incorporated other techniques such as live-action and archival footage as well. The film was ultimately successful when it was released in 1981, doing well at the box office and being warmly received.

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The Important Animator Ralph Bakshi Part 1

Published November 4, 2021

I recently wrote about the amazing American animator Don Bluth and the impact his films have had on American animation. However, there is also another animator who contributed greatly to the development of American animation and that is the incredibly important Ralph Bakshi, a pioneer of independent, generally adult animation throughout the 70s and 80s.

Born in the city of Haifa in modern day Israel, then the British Mandate of Palestine, in 1938, he and his family emigrated to America in 1939. When Ralph was 15 years old, he discovered Gene Byrnes’ “Complete Guide to Cartooning” and studied the book intensely, learning the techniques associated with cartooning. By the age of 18, he was hired at the New York animation studio Terrytoons to clean animation cels. He worked on a variety of Terrytoons shows such as Heckle and Jeckle, Deputy Dawg and eventually created his own animation series for them, The Mighty Heroes. However, he was unhappy with the quality of the show due to limitations by the studio and left to create his own animation studio. He eventually came across the Fritz the Cat comic strip and became determined to produce a film based on it.

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The History Of The Resident Evil Franchise Part 2

Published November 1, 2021

Here is my continuation of “The History Of The Resident Evil Franchise Part 1“.

In 2007, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, a rail shooter game covering the events of Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, was released for the Nintendo Wii while the third Resident Evil film “Resident Evil: Extinction” was also released and performed well at the box office. In 2008, an animated film called Resident Evil: Degeneration was released and, unlike the live-action films, was actually canon to the universe of the video game series. In 2009, Resident Evil 5 was released with an emphasise on co-op gameplay. The game sold record numbers and was praised critically although some were concerned that the franchise was losing its horror roots in favour of action. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, a sequel to Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles that covered the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil – Code: Veronica was also released in 2009 while the next Resident Evil film “Resident Evil: Afterlife” was released in 2010 and proceeded to double the box office gross of Resident Evil: Extinction which had previously been the highest grossing movie in the franchise.

2012 saw an unbelievable wave of Resident Evil content with Resident Evil: Revelations released for the Nintendo 3DS, pushing the graphical limits of what the handheld was capable of, a squad-based co-op game called Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and the next major entry, Resident Evil 6. Despite selling millions of copies worldwide, Resident Evil 6 received backlash for continuing to strip away the survival horror elements and turning into an outright action game (perhaps a tad harsh in my personal opinion but I understand where they’re coming from). Additionally, the second Resident Evil animated film “Resident Evil: Damnation” was released while Resident Evil: Retribution, the fourth film in the live-action film series, continued to prove successful at the box office.

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The History Of The Resident Evil Franchise Part 1

Published October 28, 2021

When the topic of horror video games is brought up, it’s nearly inevitable that someone will mention Resident Evil. Having sold 117 million units since its inception, Resident Evil is not only the most successful horror video game franchise of all time but is also one of the best-selling video game series ever. In addition to numerous video game entries, this success has led to a wide variety of spin-offs such as movies, TV series etc. and, given how large the franchise can appear to be, I thought it would be worth covering the history of the Resident Evil franchise.

Let’s start with the history of the first game. The origins of the first Resident Evil game lies in an earlier game that was released by Capcom, the company that develops and releases Resident Evil. Sweet Home, released in 1989, was based on the Japanese movie of the same name and features characters exploring a mansion while encountering supernatural beings with the gameplay revolving around RPG mechanics as well as item management, puzzles and multiple endings based on how many characters survive. Tokuro Fujiwara, who had directed Sweet Home, assigned Shinji Mikami, who had previously worked on several Disney video games, to be the new game’s director in 1993 with the intention of remaking Sweet Home under a different name due to rights issues. Initially being developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System before switching to the PlayStation, Resident Evil was released in Japan in 1996 as “Bio Hazard” with the name Resident Evil being used in the Western release. The game stripped away the role-playing elements that were present in Sweet Home, emphasised zombies although other creatures do exist within the mansion and a third-person fixed camera inspired by the 1992 Alone in the Dark game. The game was a surprise success with the original release and a later director’s cut version selling a combined 5 million copies over their lifetime and is often credited with popularising the survival horror genre.

The cover for the Resident Evil PS1 release.

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The Fascinating History Of Horror Manga

Published October 25, 2021

It’s coming to that time of year again that I love so much, Halloween, when those who are unreceptive to the wonders of the horror genre suddenly become tolerant, perhaps even intrigued with horror media. Manga, as a storytelling medium, has a long and fascinating history with the horror genre and I thought it would be worth taking a look at how horror manga began and its place in the modern manga industry.

Horror manga began in the postwar period of Japan, first with the rise of lending libraries and then the popularity of the gekiga movement. In 1960, the legendary mangaka Shigeru Mizuki began releasing what would become his most famous series, GeGeGe no Kitarō, as a rental manga before later running in Weekly Shonen Magazine from 1965 until 1970. This series focused on yokai, spirits who appear in Japanese folklore and appear in a wide variety of forms and included many elements of horror, both genuine and comedic. GeGeGe no Kitarō proved to be very successful and has been adapted into numerous media such as anime, live-action films, video games etc.

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