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Category: Other

Why You Should Watch Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared

I have spoken before about my desire to see more horror animation. While there are plenty of anime (and some western animation) that feature horror elements, they are more often than not driven by some other aspects such as action or sci-fi. While thinking about this, I rewatched a web series (whether it counts as animation or not is debatable) called Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared and was reminded how much of what I was looking for could be found in this show.

I discovered the first episode of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared when (like many people I assume) a friend showed it to me. I can remember not thinking much of it at the time, admiring the production value but finding the shock value ending a little tasteless. In 2015 while watching an episode of the Game Grumps playthrough of Bloodborne, Danny compared one of the monsters to a character from Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared. Interested, I decided to watch the four episodes that were uploaded at that point and realized that I had seen the first episode years before.

A promotional poster for the series.
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The Strange World of Dreamworks 2D Animated Films

I’m sure that we are all familiar with the Dreamworks Animation brand which has released films such as the Shrek franchise, the Kung Fu Panda series, the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy and more. These are all 3D CGI animated films and I do believe it is fair to say that 3D animation is what most people think of when they think of Dreamworks. However, did you know that of the first 7 films that Dreamworks Animation produced, only 2 of them were 3D CG films with the other 5 films animated in 2D?

It’s an interesting array of films as well with The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Joseph: King of Dreams (2000), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003). Featuring 2 bible stories, a legendary city, a literary adaptation and a semi-historical film, these films are a strange mix when it comes to quality and animation.

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Manga Adaptations: Taking Advantage of a New Medium

As a fan of anime and manga, my time and money are precious resources. Since they are limited, the question becomes “Is it worth experiencing the same story in another format?” The answer is complicated with plenty of exceptions and personal taste.

The first thing to clarify is that I am going to focus on adaptations where the story is practically identical. There are many adaptations where the creators decide to go a different direction to the manga. In these cases, you are experiencing a new story with different plot threads and arcs. Famous examples include the 2003 adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist where the latter half of the show is different from the manga and the 2001 series of Hellsing which featured stories not found in the manga.

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How Hard it is to Collect Western Animated TV Series (On This Side)

While I do spend a lot of time discussing anime, I am also a fan of Western animation. There is no doubt in my mind that there have been many amazing animated series created in the West that put much of anime to shame. However, living in Ireland where much of our DVDs and Blu-Rays are released by UK based distributors, I have found it very hard to collect Western animated TV series.

Let’s start off by saying that there are certain animated series that are widely available over here. From series such as The Simpsons, Futurama, Spongebob Squarepants and more, these are a few examples of shows that are easy enough to find on DVD (notice I’m leaving out Blu-Ray).

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My History with the Marvel Cinematic Universe

This might seem like an unusual post to write as I have hardly talked about the Marvel Cinematic Universe (henceforth referred to as the MCU) before so this might seem out of the blue. However, I have been thinking a lot about the MCU as of late and thought that I’d discuss my history with the films. Unsurprisingly, the first MCU film I saw was Iron Man (2008). The first film in what would become the MCU, I can remember being at a friend’s house and he decided to play the DVD of Iron Man. Not knowing anything about the…

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Christmas in Japan

In the run up to Christmas, I have been thinking about how different cultures celebrate this event. Unsurprisingly, the culture I’m most interested in is Japanese. Japan has a unique culture compared to the west and, as one might expect, celebrates Christmas in some very different and even unusual ways. Christmas has not traditionally been celebrated in Japan with Christmas only beginning to be celebrated post World War II. This is down to the fact that Christianity is a minority religion in Japan with only an estimated 3 millions Christians out of a population of 126 million. Because of this,…

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Animating Western Animation and Anime: The Differences

I’m sure that as many of you began watching anime, you noticed how different it was from western animation. The content and art style are certainly two notable aspects that differentiate this medium from western animation. However, these are not necessarily unique to anime with a lot of western animation now embracing the content and art style. Instead, I want to focus on the differences in animation techniques and how they give anime a distinct feel. In order to explain how the animation techniques of anime are so unique, I first have to explain the techniques of western animation. Looking…

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What is a 10?

There is a question that always frustrates me a little when I’m asked. If something is wrong with me and I go see a doctor, I’m asked “On a scale of 1 to 10, how is your pain?” This is a very important question for doctors to ask but what bothers me about it is that it relies on the patients interpretation of their own pain. A pain of 5 for one patient could be a 3 to another patient. In that same way, I can sometimes feel that is applicable when it comes to scoring media. Scoring media is…

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My Argument for more Horror Animation

As has been well-established in “Why I like Anime” and “Why I love Halloween again!“, I am a big fan of both Horror and Animation. It is a shame then how infrequent horror animation is. I know what you’re thinking “Immortallium, are you mad? There are tons of horror animated movies/shows.” However, hear me out. It is true that there are many animated movies and shows that dabble in horror. However, I think there is a big difference between dabbling in horror and embracing it. In the past when I have complained about the dearth of Horror Animation, people have…

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Final Girl: Sexism or Feminism

I want to start by saying that I consider myself a feminist. I believe that women should have equal rights with men and that they should not have to suffer abuse whether physically or emotionally. Having said all this, I do find myself questioning my thoughts and opinions on how women are portrayed in media on a regular basis. None has created such debate in my head as “the Final Girl”. As I mentioned in my article “Why I love Halloween again!“, I adore horror films. However, a common trope of many horror films is that of a girl who,…

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