February Archives - Immortallium's Blog

A Spotlight On The Spectacular Clamp Collective

Published February 28, 2022

It’s been quite a while since I last decided to shine a spotlight on someone. Considering how much I enjoy the works of the Clamp collective as well as having a discussion with someone recently how about intermittingly they release manga these days, I thought it worth shining a spotlight on the spectacular Clamp collective.

Interestingly, the Clamp collective initially began as a doujinshi group in the mid-1980s, producing doujinshi versions of Captain Tsubasa and Saint Seiya. The group originally consisted of eleven women and they began to create an original doujinshi work called RG Veda. They were eventually approached by an editor for a manga magazine called Wings who wished for Clamp to work for them. After a rocky start to their professional career, RG Veda ultimately proved to be a successful series and allowed Clamp to break into the industry.

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The Fascinating History Of Anime Studio Sunrise

Published February 24, 2022

It was recently brought to my attention that Sunrise, undoubtedly one of my favourite anime studios, is going to be changing their name to Bandai Namco Filmworks in April. While it makes sense for Bandai Namco to consolidate their companies via a rebranding, I still admit that it saddens me to see this. Sunrise has always been an anime studio close to my heart and, considering how much I love their works, I thought it worth taking a look at the fascinating history of Sunrise.

Sunrise began in 1972 when a group of former employees of Mushi Production, the animation studio established by the legendary Osamu Tezuka, set up their own animation studio. By the end of the year, they had managed to release their first anime series, Hazedon. As time went on, they started to specialise in mecha anime, producing such series as Zero Tester, Brave Raideen and Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 while still producing non-mecha series such as La Seine no Hoshi, Kum-Kum and the 1970s Cyborg 009 anime series.

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The Surprising Popularity Of Alice In Wonderland In Japan

Published February 21, 2022

I was recently listening to Dev Game Club, a podcast I’ve mentioned before, where they were discussing Kingdom Hearts, a game that I recall playing extensively during my childhood. While a lot of their discussion was quite fascinating to hear, I was particularly fascinated by their confusion over the first three Disney worlds you travel to. Considering the game came out in 2002, Tarzan (1999) and Hercules (1997) make sense but they were confused by the presence of Alice in Wonderland (1951) as one of the first worlds. One of them brought up the possibility that Disney’s Alice in Wonderland might be more popular in Japan than in the West. Thinking back, I do recall seeing numerous references to Alice in Wonderland in Japanese media. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the surprising popularity of Alice in Wonderland in Japan.

First off, let’s discuss the release of the original novel in Japan. I’ve found conflicting information on when the first Japanese edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was released with one source stating that it was first released in 1899 while another states that it was 1910. Regardless of when it was first released, it has continued to see numerous Japanese translations over the years.

A Japanese edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

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The Strange But Necessary Cloud Gaming On Switch

Published February 17, 2022

With the announcement that the Kingdom Hearts series is coming to Switch via cloud gaming, now seems to be a good time to discuss the development of cloud gaming on the Switch, how it is strange, messy and technically insufficient but also why it’s necessary.

Let’s start by discussing the Switch in the modern day. First off, there is absolutely no doubt that the Switch has been a successful console. It recently surpassed the lifetime sales of the Nintendo Wii as well as the first PlayStation console, continues to outsell all modern consoles combined on a weekly basis and has been a strong vehicle for the incredibly strong sales figures of nearly all of Nintendo’s games. However, it is a relatively weak system that saw numerous games struggle to be ported in the eighth generation of consoles, let alone games developed for the ninth generation. Cloud gaming theoretically allows the Switch to run games that its hardware couldn’t run natively. However, there are a few problems presented by this solution.

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What Are Spin-Off Manga And Some Interesting Examples

Published February 14, 2022

Spin-offs are increasingly prevalent in our modern culture. After all, it’s easier to sell something that’s related to a previous property than a completely new IP. While I would argue that Japanese media isn’t quite as fanatical about spin-offs as Western works, that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what spin-off manga are as well as some interesting examples.

We should start off by defining what a spin-off manga is. A spin-off is a work that’s set in the same universe as the original media but may follow either a previous side-character or brand new characters while expanding on certain worldbuilding aspects. This is in contrast to a sequel that would be a direct continuation of the story of the original media.

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The Surprising Appeal Of Episodic Anime

Published February 10, 2022

If you’re an anime fan, I’m sure you’ve been tempted to show a series that you’ve found incredible to your friends. I know I have but I’ve also run into the problem that most anime is serialised, meaning that I have to show them many episodes of setup before the series can reach the best bits. Considering how limited the time we hang out together can be, it can be hard to get invested in something that seemingly appears to be all setup. Instead, besides movies, I’ve found it more useful to show them episodic anime that I really like which has resulted in a surprising appeal for me when it comes to these series.

Don’t get me wrong, serialised storytelling is one of the things that attracted me to anime. Back when I first discovered anime, I was watching a lot of Western adult animated series and being able to watch an animated series that took the time to develop the story and not wrap everything up within a single episode felt very refreshing. I still tend to prefer this type of storytelling but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like to watch some episodic series every now and again. The fact that it’s easy to show to my friends is a bonus!

The cast of Lupin the 3rd. — Lupin the Third.

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My Ranking Of The Disney Animated Canon Part 3

Published February 7, 2022

Here is the conclusion to “My Ranking Of The Disney Animated Canon Part 2“.

19. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a fantastic showcase for what makes the franchise special. The characters are all so warm and lovable and interact incredibly well off of each other. While the stories are quite simple, I think it works to the films benefit for the most part. The animation is also quite nice although the standout is easily the Heffalumps and Woozles sequence.

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My Ranking Of The Disney Animated Canon Part 2

Published February 3, 2022

Here is my continuation of “My Ranking Of The Disney Animated Canon Part 1“

38. Oliver & Company

Oliver & Company is a film that I found surprisingly enjoyable. While several of the characters are forgettable, I do like the characters of Oliver, Dodger and Fagin quite a bit and care about what happens to them. The animation is very pleasant as well, more so for the characters since there are some scratchy backgrounds of New York City that I don’t care for.

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Category: February

19. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

38. Oliver & Company