Immortallium's Blog

Interesting Studio Ghibli Film Adaptations of Western Literature

Published December 24, 2020

With the upcoming release of Studio Ghibli’s Earwig and the Witch, I thought it might be interesting to look at some Studio Ghibli film adaptations of Western literature. While some of their films have certainly been influenced by Western novels, such as Laputa: Castle in the Sky which was partially inspired by the floating island of Laputa in Gulliver’s Travels, I will be focusing specifically on movies that are clearly adaptations.

Considering that Studio Ghibli have been producing films since 1986, it is interesting to note that their first adaptation of Western literature was released in 2004. Until then, many of Studio Ghibli’s films were either based on Japanese novels and manga or were original works.

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The Inconsistent Quality of Square Enix Remasters

Published December 21, 2020

Recently I was perusing my Twitter timeline when I saw Square Enix announce a remaster of SaGa Frontier. I confess that I had never heard of this game, which given the fact that it was never released in Europe is understandable, but while I’m excited to try out another classic Square Enix JRPG, I remain cautious due to the fact that Square Enix is well known for the inconsistent quality of their remasters.

As you might be aware, I am a big fan of Square Enix and their game catalogue. I can remember the joy I felt back in 2013 when both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII saw a rerelease on Steam. I wouldn’t exactly call these releases remasters as they were very heavily based on the ports released by Eidos Interactive but they were noteworthy for being relatively basic, lacking some of the polish we’ve come to expect such as the correct button graphics and questionable audio quality. “Well” I thought, “at least it’s a start. They’ll improve the quality of their releases in the future.” How could I have known that I would be both right and wrong!

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The Most Popular Manga Never Released in English

Published December 17, 2020

I have spoken before about the differences between otaku fandom in Japan and the West when it comes to anime but I believe it’s just as important to point out the differences in popularity of manga series as well. One of the most obvious differences between the fandoms, and the subject of this article, is how some of the most popular manga series of all time have yet to be released in English.

Of course, popularity can be highly subjective with many different ways of gauging how popular different series are. In the case of this article, I will be looking at some of the best selling manga series of all time that have, somehow, still not been released in English. I was also tempted to include series such as Golgo 13 and Oishinbo which have only seen best of releases in English but decided to stick with series that have never seen an English release whatsoever.

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How Can I Watch Anime Online Legally?

Published December 14, 2020

Nearly a year ago, I posted an article called “How Can I Read Manga Online Legally?” which covered various digital manga services that allowed you to read manga online legally. I’ve recently decided that now would be a good time to discuss some of the options that you have when it comes to ways you can watch anime online legally.

Even a cursory search for ways to watch anime online legally will likely bring you to Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll offers a catalogue of hundreds upon hundreds of anime series and has recently begun to produce anime and animated series under the label “Crunchyroll Originals“. The service is available for free although you will come across plenty of advertising although subscribing to the service will remove the ads amongst various other benefits. It’s worth noting that series on the service can be restricted by region and the majority of their catalogue is Japanese language only with various subtitles provided.

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Japanese Mythological Creatures in Anime, Manga and Video Games

Published December 10, 2020

I’ve spoken about Japanese Mythology before but my focus was primarily on the folktales and stories and how that has impacted Japanese storytelling. However, I believe it’s also important to take a look at the various mythological creatures found in Japanese folklore as you’ll find them frequently referred to in the worlds of anime, manga and video games.

Japanese folklore is surprisingly diverse and it’s worth noting that there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of mythological creatures scattered throughout these myths. However, I’m going to be focusing on a few that are commonly found in anime and manga and even some other mediums.

As far as I’m concerned, kitsune are easily the most famous of all Japan’s mythological creatures. Kitsune, often referred to as fox spirits, resemble a red fox but can possess up to nine tails. Beyond their supernatural powers (the ability to shapeshift is commonly associated with them) and their fierce intellect, they’re surprisingly varied with many kitsune considered tricksters who deceive humans while others are considered to be messengers of the kami Inari who help and assist humans.

A statue of a kitsune that serves the kami Inari.

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A Discussion of my Current Experience With VR

Published December 7, 2020

I’ve spoken before about my thoughts on VR and a very limited encounter with VR when I had the opportunity to play “Don’t Let Go!” at a con. Since then, I have picked up a VR headset and, while I would still consider myself quite the novice when it comes to VR, I believe that I’ve gained enough experience to at least have a discussion of my current views on VR.

First of all, I would like to share the story of how I got my VR headset. Around the time I wrote my previous article discussing VR, I decided to begin saving money to acquire a VR headset. My target was the Valve Index, a headset developed by the Valve Corporation, primarily because of the controllers. However, the high price tag and lack of availability gave me cause to believe that it would be a few years until I got the chance to experience VR again. However, the release of the Oculus Quest 2 changed that. With higher resolution than even the Valve Index and a much more affordable price tag, I decided that it was enough to begin my VR journey.

Look what arrived today! pic.twitter.com/xzNW3zmJls
— Eoghan O'Connell (@Immortallium_) October 16, 2020

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Two Manga Series Where I Wish The Ending Was Expanded

Published December 3, 2020

The decision of how to end a story can be quite a complex one and plenty of wonderful stories have ended up tainted by an ending that casts an unpleasant experience over the whole series (I’m looking at you Bunny Drop!). However, there are times where an ending hints at something fascinating but, possibly in the interest of concluding the story, decides to leave it unexplored. Therefore, I thought it might interesting to discuss some manga series where I wish that certain aspects of the ending had been expanded.

As you might imagine from the title, this article will contain spoilers for the manga series that I am going to discuss and I am going to try my best to provide a structure so that you can avoid encountering these spoilers for any series that you are interested in reading. Each manga series will be given a title to indicate where the discussion begins and will only end when the next title appears. In order to comply with this structure, I will also be providing a title to the concluding paragraph, something I don’t typically do, in order to differentiate it from the preceding manga discussion.

Girl Friends

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What are One Cour Anime Series and some Recommendations

Published November 30, 2020

In my personal experience, I’ve noticed that a common misconception amongst people who are unfamiliar with anime (and even some who’ve had some experience with the medium) is that anime series run for hundreds upon hundreds of episodes. While I can understand where this confusion can arise from, since many of the more popular anime series run continuously, seemingly without end, it is important to be aware that many anime series are divided into “Cours”. Therefore, I will discuss what cours are and give some recommendations when it comes to one cour anime series.

To begin, a cour is defined as “a three-month unit of television broadcasting” and typically refers to Japanese programming (whether or not it be anime) that runs between 10 to 14 episodes long. Thus, you will commonly see anime divided into one cour, two cour or a split cour. One cour and two cour are self-explanatory but a split cour refers to a series that airs the first 10 to 14 episodes and proceeds to skip a cour before airing the second cour.

One of the first one cour series that I watched was Baccano!

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Did You Know that there’s Censorship on Disney+!

Published November 26, 2020

I don’t think there can be any doubt that Disney+ has been a massive success with an estimated 73.7 million subscribers as of the 20th of September 2020. I can still remember the massive hype surrounding the service as it approached its 12th of November 2019 release and it seems that many people are pleased with the content. However, it’s important to know that several of Disney+’s releases feature censorship in strange and unusual ways.

The confusion surrounding censorship on Disney+ began with a statement that plays before several of their programs/films. Basically, it states that the program/film is presented in its original form but contains outdated depictions. This may seem to be acceptable (a similar statement appears in a lot of Osamu Tezuka’s manga) but the problem lies in the fact that the programs/films ARE censored with films such as the 1992 Aladdin, Toy Story 2 and Lilo & Stitch featuring censorship despite possessing this message. The statement was altered recently and now features a message that I find surprisingly similar to Whoopi Goldberg’s message at the beginning of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. Even so, the fact that censorship is occurring while Disney continue to claim that the programs/films are presented in their original form is, as you might imagine, something that I’m fundamentally opposed to.

The new message that plays before certain Disney programs/films.

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A History of Sega in Celebration of their 60th Anniversary

Published November 23, 2020

Recently, I was perusing Twitter and came across the fact that Sega is celebrating their 60th anniversary. As part of this, they have established a website called “sega60th.com” and are holding weekly events around their various studios. While the events have thus far, with regards to my interests, been lacklustre with few to no announcements when it comes to new games or ports, I still think this is an excellent opportunity to discuss the history of Sega as part of the celebration of their 60th anniversary.

Sega has its origins in a company called “Service Games” (notice what you get if you take the first two letters of each word) that was originally established to distribute coin-operated machines such as slot machines and jukeboxes. This company was later dissolved and, the company that we are familiar with today, Sega was established on the 3rd of June, 1960. Sega continued their focus on coin-operated machines and it wasn’t until the late 1960s that we began to see the first signs of what Sega would become.

An image of some of Sega’s early slot machines.

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