Category: 2021

The Fantastic And Wonderful Anime Director Mamoru Hosoda

Published August 12, 2021

I was perusing the news recently when I spotted something quite interesting. Mamoru Hosoda’s new film “Belle” debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and the audience responded after a screening by giving Mamoru Hosoda a 14 minute standing ovation! This news reminded me that, while I have written about other anime directors before such as Makoto Shinkai, I have yet to write about the fantastic and wonderful director Mamoru Hosoda himself, something which I’m going to rectify.

Mamoru Hosoda started off his career by working at Toei Animation, one of the oldest and more revered anime studios in Japan. During this time, it’s notable that Mamoru Hosoda directed two Digimon shorts films, “Digimon Adventure” and “Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!” which would later be recut along with another Digimon film into the Western release of “Digimon: The Movie”. Later on, Studio Ghibli chose Mamoru Hosoda to direct Howl’s Moving Castle but, after creative differences, he ultimately left the project.

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An Overview Of The Godzilla Franchise

Published August 9, 2021

For many years, I’d been waiting patiently for an opportunity to begin watching the Godzilla films, arguably one of the most important franchises in Japanese popular culture. Recently, I began watching the Godzilla movies after I picked up Criterion’s release of the Showa era Godzilla films and have since become determined to explore the world of tokusatsu in greater depth. However, with an official 36 Godzilla films, many people are understandably confused or intimidated by the series and, so, I decided that it would be worth providing an overview of the Godzilla franchise and the eras and timelines.

Arguably the most important film in the franchise is the one that started it all, the original 1954 film that introduced the world to Godzilla (known in Japanese as Gojira). The film opens up with several Japanese fishing vessels being destroyed mysteriously and the discovery of a giant radioactive creature that threatens Japan. The film was the originator of “Suitmation”, a technique developed by the late Eiji Tsuburaya which had the monster portrayed by a person in a latex suit. This technique would go on to become a staple of not only the kaiju industry but the tokusatsu industry as a whole. However, another important aspect of the original Godzilla film is that it would become the springboard from which nearly every Godzilla timeline would begin.

The Japanese language poster for the original Godzilla film released in 1954.

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My Thoughts On The Price Of Video Games

Published August 5, 2021

The past year or so has seen several AAA game publishers make the decision to raise the price of their video games to $70. Understandably, this has raised concern amongst gamers and led to a debate on the true value of video games. In order to give my own thoughts on the price of video games, I’ve decided to share a bit of my history with video games, their prices and to then discuss my thoughts on video games prices in the modern era.

First, I should explain that I’ve always had a skewed view when it comes to the value of video games. The first video game to ever have a major effect on me was Final Fantasy IV. While a short JRPG by today’s standard, I can remember spending at least over 50 hours playing the game as a kid due in part to both being unfamiliar with the genre and inefficient time management. Nonetheless, I was hooked on JRPGs and sought out others of its kind. I even dipped my toes into Western RPGs as well and came to expect that all video games would take at least 30 hours or more. However, as I began to branch out into other video game genres, I came to the realisation that many other video games averaged around 10-20 hours. This caused me to reject purchasing many other game genres for a while and to favour RPGs since I felt that I got more value out of them. I eventually got past this and came to appreciate the variety of genres in the video game medium but I think it’s important that you’re aware of this history.

For me, Final Fantasy IV and many other RPGs set unrealistic expectations for the length of video games in general.

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Manga Series With The Most Volumes

Published August 2, 2021

Recently, it was announced that the manga series Golgo 13 had broken a record set by Kochikame in 2016 for most volumes released in a series, surpassing the latter after they released their 201st volume. This feat is highly impressive and I decided that it was time to take a look at a few manga series that are noteworthy for having an incredible number of volumes.

Of course, we should start with the new champion, Golgo 13. Originally beginning in October, 1968, in Big Comic, Golgo 13 already had the record for longest-running manga series. Golgo 13 follows an assassin named Duke Togo who operates under the alias Golgo 13 and is one of the greatest snipers in the world. The series is episodic with Duke Togo hired to assassinate a particular target, going over the challenges associated with these jobs and Duke Togo taking an incredibly difficult shot that successfully kills the target. Golgo 13 is an incredibly successful series, having sold around 300 million copies and becoming the best-selling seinen manga of all time. It’s also amazing to note that Takao Saito, the mangaka, only recently took his first hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic! Despite this success, the series is highly underrepresented in English, having only seen a best of compilation by Viz Media.

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Why Toonami Was So Important For Western Anime Fandom

Published July 29, 2021

The late 1990s and early 2000s was a very exciting time to be a fan of anime. What had once been a relatively niche product which often saw dramatic edits and changes to try to appeal to Americans began to hit mainstream popularity and, while many edits continued to occur, series and films began to be released in a more loyal fashion. While there were many avenues that the burgeoning Western anime fans could pursue to experience the world of anime, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at one particular source, Toonami, and how it contributed to the rising Western fandom.

First, let’s discuss the origins of Toonami. Originally releasing as a programming block within Cartoon Network in 1997 to replace the Super Adventures block, it oriented itself as focused on action animated series, in contrast to the comedy series typical for the channel. The early years predominantly focused on Western animated series although we did see a smattering of anime series such as Voltron, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z. However, the brand was refocused in 1999 with the establishment of a new host for the channel, T.O.M., and the announcement of Toonami Midnight Run, a programming block that would air after midnight and show content too violent or inappropriate for the daytime Toonami block.

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The Tokyo 2020 Olympics And Japanese Popular Culture

Published July 26, 2021

As this article is being written, the amusingly named Tokyo 2020 Olympics are due to begin on the 23rd of July, 2021 and proceed until the 8th of August, 2021. Barring some catastrophe, it seems unlikely that they are going to get postponed again like they were last year. Taking this into account, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and how Japan has decided to use it as a vehicle to promote Japanese popular culture worldwide.

First, I should clarify that I myself have little to no interest in the Olympics and I can only imagine that I’d end up watching them if someone physically restrained me to a chair and forced me to watch them! However, I do confess that I’m quite interested to see how the Japanese government handles their “Cool Japan” push in the context of the games and whether this is ultimately a success.

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Why The Original Prices Of Games On Steam Are Hardly Ever Reduced Outside of Sales

Published July 22, 2021

I think it’s fair to say that I’m a big fan of PC gaming. The PC is my ~~primary~~ only gaming platform and while I have a few problems with Steam, the platform has become my go-to for acquiring and playing PC games. However, something that I’ve been thinking about for some time (you’ll see later in this article how long that has been) is why the original prices of games on Steam are hardly ever reduced outside of sales.

Interestingly, this question has been on my mind for a long time. I recently remembered that I complained about this very issue in a letter I had sent to Total PC Gaming (anyone remember that magazine) and, after a little bit of searching, I managed to find it in the December 2008 copy! Close to 13 years ago! It actually amazes me to realise how long I’ve been pondering this issue but, thanks to a few recent news stories and a very helpful website, I finally feel capable of tackling this issue.

The letter I sent to Total PC Gaming around December 2008.

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The Unusual Genre of Harem

Published July 19, 2021

One of the reasons that I originally fell in love with the mediums of manga and anime were the variety of genres and storytelling formats that had developed in contrast to the, at the time, stale stories told by Western animation. However, a controversial genre commonly seen in manga and anime and certainly one of the more unusual ones has to be the harem genre.

First, I should explain the origins of the word “harem” since that by itself explains quite a bit about what you’ll find when you begin to explore the genre. Harem is originally a Turkish word that referred to areas within a house that were exclusive to women. Interestingly, this word developed from the Arabic word “Haram” which literally translates as forbidden. However, the word harem tends to have a different definition in the English language, that being the women who make up a polygynous marriage. When it comes to the harem genre of manga, anime etc., it is this particular definition that is closest to what you will experience.

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Why Product Placement In Anime Is So Fascinating

Published July 15, 2021

Developing entertainment media can be quite an expensive process and there is always the risk that the media in question may end up losing money. Therefore, any attempt that can be made to guarantee revenue before the uncertain consumer spending comes into the picture can be incredibly important. I recently talked about the relationship between anime and sponsorships and I thought it might be fascinating to take a look at product placement in anime.

Firstly, I should explain what product placement is in general. When it comes to entertainment mediums such as movies or TV shows, product placement refers to any situation where a company that develops a product pays the creators of the movie/show to display the product in an overt fashion. This could be as simple as having the characters mention the brand in a sentence, having the brand appear in the background or it could show the characters using the product in question.

An image from Tiger and Bunny advertising Pepsi. — Tiger and Bunny had an interesting mix of real and fake product placement.

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The Wondrous World Of Tokusatsu

Published July 12, 2021

I was recently on UK Anime Network going through news with regards to anime and manga when I came across a review for the 1954 Godzilla movie, part of a bigger box set. Upon doing some research, I quickly found out that it was on offer on Amazon and, having had the first Godzilla on my wishlist since 2013, I quickly bought it and posted an unboxing video of it. Having watched a few Godzilla movies now, I have suddenly whetted my appetite for the wondrous world of tokusatsu. Considering how obscure tokusatsu can be compared to anime and manga, I thought it might worth examining what tokusatsu is, the history and some of the more notable entries in the medium.

First, it is worth noting that the word “Tokusatsu” is made up of the characters 特撮 which can be translated as “special effects” but now also refers to a genre of Japanese live-action films or TV series that are heavily reliant on special effects. I confess that I was initially confused as to how, beyond the fact that they were Japanese, this differentiated them from the films produced in other countries that also rely on special effects. The difference lies in the reliance on practical effects during filming rather than creating the special effect through editing such as stop-motion.

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