Category: Other

Interesting Manga That You Might Have Missed – Recommendations

Published May 16, 2022

I’ve previously recommended manga that I would consider to be less popular but still great and, given how popular that article has turned out to be, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some manga that you might have missed and give some recommendations. The goal of this article will be to try to appeal to both those who are very familiar with manga and those who are just looking for some manga to get started with.

Utsubora, also known as Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist, was released by Vertical in 2013 and was originally released in Manga Erotics F, an experimental manga magazine. The manga opens up with a young woman committing suicide and Shun Mizorogi, an author with a mysterious relationship with the young woman, comes across her sister who resembles her in nearly every way. What follows is a very compelling mystery drama that manages to grip your attention as you figure out what is going on. The artwork is also very stylised with some excellent use of negative spacing. There is some strong sexual content so those that are squeamish may want to avoid Utsubora but others should definitely seek it out.

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The Surprisingly Different Experience Of Japanese Movie Theatres

Published May 12, 2022

As a Gundam fan, you can imagine that I was quite curious about how Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway, the newest film in the Gundam franchise, would do both critically and financially. While keeping an eye on the box office news, I noticed an article from Anime News Network called “Gundam: Hathaway Film Sells Over 53,000 Blu-ray Discs Just in Theaters“. This news made me think about how surprisingly different the experience of going to Japanese movie theatres can be and so I thought I’d take a look at it.

Understandably, the basics are the same. You go to a movie theatre, select your film and then watch the movie on a large screen with a crowd of people. However, various other aspects can feel quite different or unusual. Beyond the staff seeming exceptionally nice compared to the staff of so many other countries, some of the larger movie theatres allow you to select which seat you wish to be seated in.

The Japanese poster for Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway.

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The Surprising Benefits Of Off-Model Animation

Published May 2, 2022

Producing animation is a large, laborious and complex process and it’s not uncommon to see signs that animation is being rushed and taking shortcuts. One of the more infamous and well-known signs of this is off-model animation. Typically viewed negatively, there are times where animators intentionally use off-model animation in a positive way. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at off-model animation, some of the surprising benefits of it and some examples.

I should first start off by explaining, for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, what off-model animation is. When developing animation, it’s common to use model sheets to maintain a consistent look and art style between all of the people working on the project. However, due to time constraints, outsourcing, lack of budget etc., it’s very possible that some animation is going to slip through which looks inconsistent with the rest of the art.

A pretty infamous off-model shot of Belle from Belle’s Magical World.

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Why I Hate The Disney Death Trope In Media

Published April 28, 2022

I recently wrote several articles where I ranked the 58 Disney Animated Canon films that I had seen. However, as much as I enjoy Disney animated films, I’ve always been frustrated by a particular trope that developed over the course of their films, Disney Death. Considering how I feel about this particular trope, as well as how I see it in other media as well, I thought it would be interesting to discuss my reasons for why I hate Disney Death.

I should start by defining what the Disney Death trope is. Disney Death refers to any situation where a character seemingly dies near the end of the media, only to reveal at the end that they are, in fact, alive. The original purpose of this trope seems pretty obvious, to shock the audience and raise the stakes for the climax without actually killing the character and upsetting the audience. I could understand how, with sharp writing and infrequent use, this trope could prove to be effective but, all too often, it’s predictable and poorly executed.

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My Ranking Of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Franchise

Published April 14, 2022

Having recently covered the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise in my “An Overview Of The Weird Texas Chainsaw Massacre Franchise“, I’ve since managed to watch each and every film in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. Considering how integral the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was for my love of horror films, I thought it would be interesting to do a ranking of all of the films in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and to explain my thoughts and opinions on each entry.

9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

The poster for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.

I’m sure it’ll be pretty controversial to say that the 2006 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, the prequel to the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, is the worst Texas Chainsaw Massacre film but I think it commits the gravest sin that any piece of entertainment can commit, it’s boring. If you think about it hard enough with relation to the 2003 movie, you will quickly realise how the film is going to end, taking away any tension that The Beginning might’ve been able to muster in the first place. Besides that, the movie provides us little in the way of meaningful answers to questions we might’ve had after watching the remake, instead ticking off a list of pointless small details from the 2003 film. Additionally, having heard that this film was the goriest Texas Chainsaw film, I was very disappointed to find no where near the level of gore that I was hoping to see (I watched the uncut version BTW).

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The Strange Practise Of Fifteening In Anime Releases And More

Published April 4, 2022

I was recently watching the original 1988 Appleseed film with some people and even though we were watching it in Japanese, since it had dubtitles, we noticed an ungodly amount of swearing with it culminating in the villain screaming “fucking cocksuckers” as his vehicle was destroyed. This quite shocked the people I was with so I had to explain to them both the concept of dubtitles and fifteening. This made me realise that many people these days may be unfamiliar with the concept of fifteening and, given how it isn’t exclusive to anime, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the strange practise of fifteening in anime releases and more.

I should first define what fifteening is. Fifteening is a term that was developed to refer to Manga Entertainment’s practise of producing English dubs with added swear words in order to artificially increase the BBFC age rating of the product they were selling, usually to a 15. This was because they decided that higher age ratings would be more appealing to their audience and they needed to make adjustments to achieve this.

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Henshin Heroes And Their Prevalence In Japanese Popular Culture

Published March 21, 2022

As someone who’s recently become fascinated by tokusatsu, I’ve been coming across various terms that I was previously unaware of before. One of these terms stood out to me though since it’s actually surprisingly applicable to various forms of entertainment outside of tokusatsu. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at Henshin Heroes and their prevalence in Japanese popular culture.

First off, I should explain what a Henshin Hero is. The Japanese word “Henshin” literally translates to transformation or metamorphosis. Thus, when we refer to a Henshin Hero, we are referring to a heroic character who transforms in order to gain access to their powers. I’m sure many of you can already think of various examples when it comes to Japanese media that this term applies to but let’s take a look at a few specific genres and examples.

Kamen Rider transforming while shouting “Henshin!”.

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An Overview Of The Weird Texas Chainsaw Massacre Franchise

Published March 7, 2022

With the release of a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre film via Netflix, I thought it would be worth doing an overview of this weird franchise. I’ve always been entranced by this series ever since I came across the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre film in a book dedicated to the best films of all time. I immediately recognised that the character of Leatherface, the chainsaw wielding man, was an intricate part of popular culture in the form of the man with the hockey mask and chainsaw, a blend of Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise and Leatherface, and was immediately drawn to watch the film.

The poster of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The original 1974 film “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” follows a group of young adults who are travelling to a home belonging to some relatives and end up running into Leatherface and his family. Something that will stand out to many people who watch the film is how surprisingly bloodless the film actually is. This is due to the director, Tobe Hooper, intending the film to get a PG rating from the MPAA. Not only did the film not get a PG rating, instead earning an R rating, but the film was also restricted or banned in numerous countries around the world. This is a shame as I have no hesitation in saying that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of the greatest horror films I have ever seen with some incredibly believable performances, outstanding cinematography and music as well as one of the greatest chase scenes in the history of cinema. No matter what you think of horror films, I think you NEED to see The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

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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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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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