While I do appreciate CG animated and stop-motion films, I still like traditional animation the most and am always eager to learn more about it, particularly given how rare it can be to see a Western traditional animated film these days. One of the less appreciated, at least from a mainstream audience, aspects of traditional animation was the use of multiplane cameras, an important revolution when it came to the production of animation.
Let’s start by describing what a multiplane camera is. The multiplane camera is actually a setup which sees a camera placed facing down at the top while beneath it are several layers, each containing drawn artwork which are carefully transparent at key locations. They are then moved at different speeds while shots are taken frame by frame. It’s a complicated and labour intensive process but the benefits and applications are remarkable.
A diagram of a multiplane camera setup being presented by Walt Disney.
You would think the release of a brilliant video game, Baldur’s Gate 3, would be a cause of celebration, especially one that has proven financially successful despite being part of the niche CRPG subgenre of RPGs. However, the reaction from developers has been surprisingly mixed with some praising what Larian Studios has accomplished while others reacted by stating that people shouldn’t look at Baldur’s Gate 3 as a new standard for RPGs. This debacle has unknowingly shined a spotlight on several concerns that I have so I thought it would be worth discussing some of the things that the modern video game industry needs to change.
Let’s get the whole developer debate out of the way so that I can focus on more important issues. My personal opinion is that the developers attempting to defend themselves from potential criticism preemptively have missed the point when it comes to Baldur’s Gate 3 and its potential impact. Having yet to play the game (I still have to catch up on the Divinity: Original Sin games), it seems that most consider Baldur’s Gate 3 to be a masterpiece and I would completely disagree if the sentiment of gamers was demanding that every RPG that comes out be a masterpiece on the same level. However, I don’t believe that’s what’s happening. Instead, people are simply asking that these developers examine the many things that make Baldur’s Gate 3 great, which from what I’ve heard is primarily the freedom to make whatever choices you want and solve problems in abstract and creative ways, and to integrate it into their own games. To argue that Baldur’s Gate 3 is simply an anomaly and that we should simply pretend that it doesn’t exist is completely ludicrous.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has served as a surprising catalyst for debate on the modern video game industry.
Osamu Tezuka did a great many things when it comes to the mediums of anime and manga. Beyond revolutionising TV animation in Japan and producing experimental animated shorts, he produced a great many anime and manga, so many in fact that even dedicated fans often find themselves surprised to learn of something that he’d made. This is where we come to the bible anime that Osamu Tezuka worked on during the last years of his life. Do you already know of Osamu Tezuka’s bible anime? You don’t? Let me tell you all about it then.
The genesis for this series (pun intended) began in 1984 when Osamu Tezuka was contacted by the Vatican, indirectly through the Italian TV network RAI, to adapt the bible into an animated series. As you may imagine, Osamu Tezuka was enthusiastic about the project and eventually agreed to adapt the Old Testament, making sure that it was not watered down to pander to kids. He worked on the pilot for the series, an adaptation of Noah’s Ark, for two years before passing away in 1989. Understandably, this left the future of the series in question.
The first episode of the completed series adapted the story of Adam and Eve.
Anyone who’s familiar with anime, manga, video games or many other forms of Japanese media will know that vampires are a popular subject with numerous vampire fictions being created throughout the history of these mediums. However, it may surprise you to learn that vampires have only recently grown popular in Japan and, so, I thought I’d take a look at the history of vampires in Japanese media.
To begin, it’s interesting to note that vampires are foreign to Japan with vampires typically associated with European mythology. However, blood-drinking creatures can be found in a wide variety of cultures worldwide and Japan is no exception. Amongst the yokai of Japan, two particularly notable examples that drink blood are the Rokurokubi, creatures who look like women but are capable of extending their neck in a snake-like manner or even detaching their head and flying around, and the Nure-onna, creatures that look like snakes with the head of women, sometimes with arms as well, that uses their tongue to suck the blood out of a body.
When it comes to the most notable video game genres, I think many will view role-playing games (RPG) as being one of the most important within the entire industry. They were among the earliest video games developed with dnd, a video game adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons, being released in 1975 and many of the best-selling video game franchises continue to be RPGs! However, the current state of RPG video games isn’t exactly what I’d hoped for and, so, I believe it important that I share my thoughts and opinions on the matter.
The first thing I want to start with is a question that I think many of you will be confused by, what do we look for in an RPG? This may seem like a strange thing to ask but it’s something that I think varies greatly from person to person. I myself know some people who consider the most important part of an RPG to be its story while others prioritise the gameplay. Even within these camps, I see a lot of variety in what they want. Some are satisfied with a well-written story and predetermined characters and choices, often associated with JRPGs, while others want one where you’re able to create your character and shape the story as you want. Some want an in-depth RPG system where skills and mechanics cover a vast array of things such as conversations, perception, wisdom, spells, weapons, trinkets etc. which allows for a wide variety of character builds while others want a more simple and straightforward system which focuses more on combat. The variety within this genre is staggering but this can result in a dearth of content for fans of particular subgenres.
A lot of people love Horizon Zero Dawn but I found it lacking when it came to what I look for in an RPG.
Video games and manga have a long and intertwined history. In the early days of video games, manga was often used to promote new games or to tell stories that were too complex to fit into the limited gameplay of the time. This need has waned as video games have become more and more capable of telling their story without the aid of additional media. Regardless of this, many manga based off of video games continue to be produced and I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the more notable ones.
Let’s start off with, as far as I can tell, the best-selling manga based on a video game, Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai. Based on the popular Dragon Quest video game series, The Adventures of Dai follows the titular character as, after being the only human on an island called Delmurin that was filled with monsters after the fall of the last demon lord, he learns that the demon lord has returned and that he must be trained by the previous hero, Avan, to fight against this menace. The series has proved popular with numerous anime adaptations and several video games and an estimated 50 million volumes sold as of 2022.
I love the medium of film and I can acknowledge the great effort that goes into making them. However, I, like most people, have found myself drawn to particular directors whose works left a profound impact on me. To give some criteria for this article, I have to have seen at least half or more of a directors filmography, I’m going to be generous and say that they only need to have directed two or more films and their body of work needs to have transcended entertainment and affected me on a personal level. This last criteria is the most important because there are many directors out there who are highly regarded and, while I appreciate the craftsmanship of their films, their movies don’t leave me thinking and contemplating them long afterwards. With all that said and done and in no particular order, let’s take a look at some of the movie directors that I consider to be my favourite.
1. Wes Craven
I recently had a bit of a Wes Craven marathon where I watched fifteen out of the twenty films that he directed over the course of his lifetime with his films that I haven’t seen being Swamp Thing, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, Deadly Friend, Vampire in Brooklyn and Music of the Heart. Like many people, I started with his Scream films and A Nightmare on Elm Street and loved them with A Nightmare on Elm Street briefly becoming my favourite horror film of all time. I experienced other films from him in piecemeal over the years such as The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes but I finally settled down to watch as many of his films as I could recently. As you may imagine, watching the majority of his work one after another gave me a deep appreciation for his talent and, while there were a few that I didn’t care for like My Soul to Take and Cursed, his films have proved to stick with me for both the right and wrong reasons with The People Under the Stairs being an underrated masterpiece and Shocker being a movie that’s so crazy and all over the place that I derive great pleasure from watching it.
FromSoftware is well-known these days for their many successful games such as the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Elden Ring. However, as I noted before, FromSoftware’s history extends well before these games with two particularly notable series being King’s Field and Armored Core. While we’ve yet to see a new King’s Field game or even a rerelease of the older titles, it was with great excitement that we learned that FromSoftware is making another Armored Core game. So, with the upcoming release of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the history of these video games.
The first Armored Core game was released for the PlayStation in 1997 and was FromSoftware’s first non-King’s Field game. As with all other entries of the franchise, the player controls a highly customisable mech that proceeds through selectable missions with third-person shooter gameplay. Along with single-player, the game also contained a local multiplayer mode that allowed players to fight each other in large maps. While I’m unsure how the game performed commercially, it must’ve been successful as it led to numerous future entries.
Those of you who are familiar with the channel will know that the premise is that I, Eoghan, assist a friend of mine, Kathlynn, in playing hard games. I’ve dubbed it the “Guided Blind Let’s Play” which was inspired by some Dark Souls playthroughs I saw before on YouTube and which I believe allows the strength of a blind playthrough to shine while eliminating many of its weaknesses. One component of this though is that it requires at least one participant to have played through the game previously so that they can assist.
Why don’t we start by introducing yourselves to the readers?
Yennie Fer: Hello! I am Yennie Fer. I am an author and the main artist of Remote Angel. I have been doing art nearly my whole life and picked up on writing as a passion in 2020.
Banunu: So my name is Banunu. I have always had a passion for reading and writing. When I reached middle school, I decided that I wanted to start seriously pursuing it.
Banunu (left) Yennie Fer (right)
And since Remote Angel is the topic today, could you give us a brief overview of the premise?
Yennie Fer: Sure! After a freak accident of an attempted assault, Alice Desangi wakes up in a different apocalyptic universe. Gifted with mysterious powers of an earth angel, she dies in unfortunate occurrences. She wakes up to relive that day again in a confused manner. Depending on her choices, they could change history.
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