Author Archives: Arleigh

Anime You Should Be Watching: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Posted on by Arleigh

“mahou shoujo” –  def. subgenre of Japanese anime and manga involving young girls (usually early to mid teens) with superhuman abilities who either volunteer or forced to fight for good and protect the Earth from destruction.

It has been awhile since I’ve profiled an anime series or OVA on the site. The great thing about attending anime/manga conventions is one discovers new anime or manga to obsesse over. This year, after a visit at this past April’s Anime Boston 2011, my latest anime obsession looks to be our latest “Anime of the Day”. My choice happens to be the latest in a long line of mahou shoujo anime series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

This series was actually recommended to me by someone on Twitter months ago but I was still hesistant to check it out until recently. It was while doing some last-minute research before heading over to Anime Boston 2011 that I finally latched onto Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This is peculiar since I’m not that much into the mahou shoujo (“magical girl”) subgenre of anime and manga. Fellow site writer pantsukudasai56 is the one who probably knows about this subgenre than I. It didn’t stop me from finally checking it out. Once back from Anime Boston 2011 I went and found all 12-episode of the first season (it’s just been recently announced that there’s to be a second season). I ended up watching all twelve episodes over a week and fell in love with it.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is about very cute teen high schoolgirls who suddenly get thrust into a world of magic and science. There’s a major character that I always call an anime series’ mascot and this time it’s a creature resembling something crossed between a bunny and a siamese cat. Kyuubei (others spell it’s name Kyubey, Kyubei, QB, etc…) is a very cute creature who will grant a chosen girl any wish they want as long as they enter into a contract with it to become a Puella Magi who is a girl with magical powers to fight evil and witches.

How can you not love this little guy…

The series’ animation and characters actually make it out to be a very cutesy anime. From the playful and gothic lolita-style design of the girls. Even the creature known as Kyuubei was drawn to elicit nothing but “awwwws” and “d’awwwws” from those who first see the initial episodes. But it’s not that which got me to love this series. Unlike most other mahou shoujo series this one actually becomes quite serious after a couple episodes and turns a major corner into becoming quite a dark series. This turn is even more disturbing considering that the animation continues to be cute and lighthearted. The look of the character design might turn some people off, but for this particular series the gosurori (“gothloli” aka “gothic lolita”) style fits the series and should change the minds of even those who hate the look.

The animation by the anime studio SHAFT is exquisite despite a few inconsistencies here and there, but overall it’s one of the more beautiful and inventive looking anime series of late. The writing by Urobuchi Gen is what sells the series as it combines the early cutesy nature of the series with the darker turns it makes until the very end which is heartbreaking and emotional, to say the least. Here’s to hoping that some enterprising and brave licensor in the U.S. like Sentai or FUNimation will take a chance and license the series for a North American release.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica looks to be the anime series of 2011 and has only been seen in Japan. How those outside Japan are able to see the twelve episode is something to be left unsaid. Maybe those still wanting to know the answer can enter into a contract with Kyuubei and find out.

Some of the transformation animations from the series…

Quickie Review: Fast Five (dir. by Justin Lin)

Posted on by Arleigh

It would seem that the summer blockbuster film season starts earlier and earlier with each passing year. It used to be that the film which premiered during the Memorial Day weekend was the one which began the season, but now films which come out first weekend of May get to have that honor. Then 2011 decides to change things up and herald the summer blockbuster season not in May but the last weekend of April. The film which gets to do the honor this year looks to be Justin Lin’s fun and very action-packed fourth sequel to the undying street-racing franchise which began with 2001’s The Fast and The Furious. This fifth entry in the franchise was simply titled, Fast Five.

The series had always been about the world of illegal street-racing whether it was set in Los Angeles, Miami or Tokyo. There was always that aspect of the story which tied all four previous films together. It would have skilled, beautiful women who followed the scene and, of course, the fast cars themselves. Things began to change a bit with the fourth film, Fast and Furious, as the street racing became not the main focal point of the story but just an aspect of it. The franchise began to take on an action-thriller role. While it was good to see changes to the franchise that began to get stale that fourth film didn’t pull off the necessary changes as well as it should’ve. It would seem that Justin Lin was just testing the waters and finally got what he wanted with Fast Five.

This latest film in the franchise barely has any street-racing in the film. There’s a short sequence 2/3’s of the way in and Lin also inserts a couple of obligatory slo-mo scenes of street-racers gathering to show-off their rides and women, but Fast Five is more of a caper film than a street-racing one. It actually owes a lot more to the Ocean’s 11 films than anything else. We have returning character in Vin Diesel’s Dominic Torreto and his sister Mia (played by the radiant Jordana Brewster). Paul Walker as his erstwhile ally Brian O’Conner returns as well. It’s these three who anchor the heist team which would include returning characters from the previous four films. There’s the hothead Vince (Matt Schulze) from the first film. Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) come in from the second film. Sung Kang’s character Han from the third film appears so does Gisele, Tego and Rico from the fourth film. These returning character make-up what I would only call as Torreto’s Ten.

Fast Five begins just as the previous film ended as O’Conner and Mia break Dom out of the prison bus taking him to prison. From there the film moves to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where these three fugitives take on a job to earn themselves some money only to realize that they’ve inadvertently gone to work for Reyes, Rio’s most powerful crimelord (Joaquim de Almeida), who now has his sights on Dom’s crew. Not to make Dom’s life any easier is a Federal Task Force sent in to take him back to the U.S. in the form of Hobbs (played by Dwayne Johnson) and his elite team of agents. Dom and his crew will now have to escape not just Reyes and his thugs but Hobbs and his men. It’s the plan to do just both that make up most of the film’s story.

Justin Lin does a great job in not just explaining the details of the heist beforehand, but he does so without getting the film into too much of an expository exercise. He shows just as much as tell the job Torreto’s Ten must pull off if they’re to ever win their freedom. It’s the set-up to the heist and the execution of it which tie-in all the many, well-staged action sequences the film has. While street-racing has been relegated to just obligatory short scenes this film doesn’t lack for exciting carmeggedon and mayhem. From the prison bus escape to begin the film to the daring train robbery which follows it right down to the bank vault heist which takes up the last 10-15 minutes of the film. That sequence alone makes this film worth seeing as we see a 10-ton bank vault being hauled at high-speed through the streets of downtown Rio. Buildings get totaled and cars get tossed and smashed like tinker toys. Yet, as the PG-13 rating would point out we don’t know or see if anyone actually dies.

It’s that rating which keeps this film from ever joining the exploitation and grindhouse pedigree of such car mayhem films as Vanishing Point, Two-Lane Blacktop and Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. But despite the limitations a PG-13 rating puts on Justin Lin’s Fast Five the film ends up becoming a very fun and exhilirating action-heist film that gives some new life to a franchise that was down to fumes. It helped that we get some good performances from most of the leads (Paul Walker still can’t do anything outside of performing as a surfer from California). It was also the addition of Dwayne Johnson as Federal Super-Agent Luke Hobbs which gives the film some of it’s fun. Johnson was able to match Diesel’s Dominic Torreto for the title of most badass in the film. In fact, the fight between the two was one of the highlights of the film (even though I still think Johnson probably would kick Diesel’s ass 100 out of 100 times).

Fast Five doesn’t disappoint and more than earns the honor of starting up 2011’s summer blockbuster season. Justin Lin has delivered a film in this franchise which stands out from the rest and more than likely reboots the series from a street-racing one and into just a plain old action series. His work in this film and how he handled the action also adds some credence and justification in him being given the next film in the Terminator franchise. He may just be the one to bring back some life into that dying franchise. So, strap on the seat belt and grab onto to something because Fast Five may just be one of the few films this summer that delivered on everything it promises in terms of action and fun.

Scenes I Love: Black Lagoon

Posted on by Arleigh

During this past Anime Boston 2011 there was one panel where I and fellow site writer, pantsukudasai56, sat in and had one of the better times during the convention weekend. It was the panel being held by the on-line podcast and site, Anime World Order, and it was called “Anime’s Craziest Deaths”. It was pretty much two hours of just watching clips of some of the craziest death scenes in anime history. One which stood out and had quite a reaction from the crowd was from the action anime series, Black Lagoon.

This scenes qualifies as one I love just for it’s sheer audacity and craziness which typifies much of the action genre in anime. Black Lagoon has so many cool and crazy characters that it was only fair that the show contain scenes and sequences to match their personalities. This scenes pits the protagonists’ WW2-era PT boat versus a Soviet-era Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship. Now one would ask how could an antiquated PT boat even take on such a heavily-armed and heavily-armored chopper gunship whose sole purpose is to take on tanks and armored vehicles.

Well, glad you asked.

The only way to answer that question is to watch the scene and just marvel at just how it’s level of craziness just continues to increase as the scene moves along to it’s surprising climax. All I can say about this scene is…

“Amen, hallelujah, peanut butter…”

Trailer: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Official Theatrical)

Posted on by Arleigh

OK, this latest trailer for Michael Bay’s third entry in the Transformers film franchise looks to try and ask forgiveness from it’s fans about what had transpired with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (cough, cough…Twins). This latest trailer looks to mine the current alien invasion trend happening in Hollywood for the last year or two.

I’m not going to say that Transformers: Dark of the Moon will be in the running for Best Picture, Best Screenplay or even Best Acting awards come awards season, but I do get a feeling from this trailer that this third entry will be darker and infinitely more fun and watchable than the second film. I actually think that Dark of the Moon is the true first sequel to the first film and that Revenge of the Fallen never occurred.

The look of Shockwave (one red-eye) is pretty awesome as are the look of the invading Decepticons (or are they another faction). I remember talk of Unicron (the giant planet transformer) was to appear in this film but I’m not sure if Unicron will appear as a planet or that giant snake-like transformer that was giving that Chicago high-rise a major case of the hugs.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is set for a July 1, 2011 release date.

X-Men: First Class (2nd Official Trailer)

Posted on by Arleigh

Today we saw the release of the second official trailer for the upcoming X-Men prequel/reboot helmed by British director Matthew Vaughn.

X-Men: First Class looks to show the early days when Professor X and Magneto were still friends and allies instead of the adversarial relationship they had in the first three films in the franchise. This new trailer shows more of the characters who will be involved in this film. It also shows the mutants and their powers in action. I must admit that I wasn’t too thrilled with the previous trailers shown about this film, but this latest shows more action and finally reveals it’s summer blockbuster pedigree. The sequence with Magneto lifting the submarine out of the water was really cool.

It’s still not the superhero film this summer that tops my must-see list, but this trailer has put this film in the running as one of the films I must-see.

X-Men: First Class is still slated to have a June 3, 2011 release.

AMV of the Day: Toradora! Rough Love (Grow A Pear)

Posted on by Arleigh

So, finally back from a near week of anime and manga festivities at this year’s Anime Boston. One of the things I’ve enjoyed while attending these anime conventions have been the creative AMV’s which come out during the the event’s AMV contests. This year the crop of AMVs which won the different categories were very unique and inventive. One such AMV which seem to think outside the box was in the Best Romance category. This AMV combined the Ke$ha song, “Grow A Pear”, with the romantic comedy anime series Toradora! with an end result that was quite funny and charming.

The video took the give-and-take and very hostile early relationship between the two main characters in the series, Taiga and Ryuji. The song matches up pretty well with these early scenes of tsudere hostility from Taiga towards Ryuji but it does finally build-up towards the inevitable admittance from both characters of their true feelings for each other. This video had won the Best Romance category and could easily have won the Best Comedy category as well, but with the quality of romance AMVs being quite lacking during this year’s Anime Boston it wasn’t a surprise that this particular AMV won.

Song: Grow A Pear – Ke$ha

Anime: Toradora!

Creator: l33tmeatwad

Song of the Day: Still Alive from Portal (by Jonathan Coulton and Ellen McClain)

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest “song of the day” comes in just in time to show that my major bout with the cold/flu last week and this weekend hasn’t taken me out. It’s also a proper choice with the release of Portal 2, Valve’s sequel to their very popular puzzle-shooter Portal. What better way to send me off to Anime Boston this weekend but with the very geeky and otaku anthem of “Still Alive”.

“Still Alive” is the end credits song which plays once the player has completed Portal. The voice who sings the song (written by songwriter Jonathan Coulton) is one Ellen McClain and she is suppose to be the AI-computer GLaDOS lamenting the player’s success and escape. The song became as big of a hit with gamers as the game it was part of. Pretty much a whole cottage industry of all things geek-culture sprung up around this song. Shirts were made, youtube videos of varying quality using the song were uploaded and comic book, gaming and anime convention goers worldwide adopted the song as their unofficial anthem.

The song is pretty cute and catchy. The way the lyrics were sung with such sweetness by singer Ellen McClain makes it such a happy ditty. But when stepping back from singing along one really has to look at the lyrics and see how dark and twisted “Still Alive” truly was and still is. And on that note, catch you allafter Anime Boston.

Still Alive

This was a triumph
I’m making a note here
HUGE SUCCESS
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction
Aperture Science

we do what we must because we can
for the good of all of us except for the ones who are dead
but there’s no sense crying over every mistake
you just keep on trying until you run out of cake
and the science gets done and you make a neat gun
for the people who are still alive

I’m not even angry
I’m being so sincere right now
even though you broke my heart and killed me
and torn into pieces
and threw every piece into a fire
as they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you!
Now these points of data make a wonderful line
and we’re out of beta, we’re releasing on time
so I’m glad I got burned
Think of all the things we learned for the people that are still alive

go ahead and leave me
I think I prefer to stay inside
maybe you’ll find someone else to help you
maybe black mesa
that was a joke, haha, fat chance
anyway this cake is great, it’s so delicious and moist
look at me still talking, when there’s science to do
when I look out there it makes me glad I’m not you
I’ve experiments to run, there is research to be done
on the people who are still alive

and believe me I am still alive
I’m doing science and I’m still alive
I feel FANTASTIC and I’m still alive
While you are dying I’ll be still alive
and when you’re dead I’ll be still alive
STILL ALIVE, still alive…


RIP: Tim Hetherington

Posted on by Arleigh

Today the film and journalist community has lost one of its bravest brothers as news reports have confirmed the death of Tim Hetherington. Mr Hetherington was an acclaimed British conflict photojournalist and co-director of the wartime documentary Restrepo which was nominated by the Academy for a Best Documentary in this past Academy Awards ceremony.

Mr. Hetherington was in the besieged Libyan city of Misrata when he suffered wounds from an RPG attack on April 20, 2011 that he would soon die from. Three other photojournalists working side-by-side with Mr. Hetherington were also  wounded with two of the photographers in severe to grave conditions (Chris Hondros and Guy Martin). The third photographer, Michael Christopher Brown, suffered non-life threatening injuries during the attack.

The loss of Mr. Hetherington is a blow to the documentary community and to the community of photojournalists who has taken it upon themselves to report and record the conflicts going around the world. Mr. Hetherington’s work on bringing to light the day-to-day life of American soldiers fighting in one of the most dangerous combat zones in the world with Restrepo has earned him accolades from colleagues and has earned him friends with the very subjects he chose to cover.

It is a sad day indeed this April 20, 2011. Tim Hetherington has been taken too early and his name and legacy will live on through his past work and the lives he helped cover and change through work he loved to do best.

EDIT: News has now come down that fellow photojournalist Chris Hondros has also died from wounds suffered during the same attack which took the life of war correspondent and docu-filmmaker Tim Hetherington.

Source: New York Times

Battlefield 3: “My Life” Trailer and 12-minute Gameplay Footage

Posted on by Arleigh

One game which has been on my radar for months now and will be so for the rest of the year until it comes out in November 2, 2011. That’s a long time to wait for a game, but just looking at the footage and the trailer has sold me on this game. As much as I enjoy playing Activision’s Call of Duty series (both it’s Modern Warfare and Black Ops iterations) it will be nice to finally get something new to beat back that juggernaut.

One thing which the Battlefield games have always had above and beyond every other FPS shooters is the ability in multiplayer to not just be a boots-on-the-gorund grunt but also drive tanks and armored vehicles, pilot gunships and fighters. It looks like from this latest trailer (making great use of the song “My Life” from the Swedish band jj.) that driving tanks and piloting jets is still part of the gameplay.

For a game that’s showing gameplay footage at Pre-Alpha Stage of development this game looks beautiful. It’s only a wonder how it will finally end up looking when it’s gone gold and released to the general public. A general public with cash waiting to be spent with me one of said cash spenders.

Review: Game of Thrones Ep. 01 “Winter Is Coming”

Posted on by Arleigh

[some spoilers]

George R.R. Martin’s historical fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, has been decades in the making and has gained such a massive and loyal following that when news arrived several years back that HBO will adapt the first book in the series, A Game of Thrones, the news was welcome with cheers and some trepidation. Cheers because finally one of the most beloved fantasy novels of the last couple decades was finally getting a live-action treatment it’s fans were clamoring for. The trepidation came from these very same fans hoping that those involved in adapting the book didn’t screw things up and ruin something very precious to them.

Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have adapted what some consider a very complex and dense fantasy novel and came up with something that stays true to the source material while still keeping things from becoming too overly complicated. The first episode is aptly titled, “Winter Is Coming” and we see the show begin with an impressive panoramic scene showing the Wall in all its imposing grandeur as several member’s of it’s Nightwatch Brotherhood venture north of it into the snow-covered, icy wasteland in search of the nomadic wildlings. Their search find them not just a tribe of wildlings (not in a condition one would consider living) and something else which their Brotherhood were created to protect the rest of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros south of the wall from. The Others make a brief and chilling appearance in the first ten minutes of the episode to give a glimpse as to the true danger poised to strike down on Westeros.

The episode soon moves to the kingdom who stands guard just south of the Wall and whose lord, Eddard Stark, stands to be one of the first line of defense against the winter that is coming and the dangers it brings. Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark is the sort of noble, uncompromising lord that stories of chivalry have taught readers for hundreds of years, but who really is the rare gem in a sea of rough and flawed stones that make up the other lords and knights of the Seven Kingdoms. We see him tending to his castle-fortress of Winterfell as he oversees not just his growing sons and daughters, but the sudden news that his old friend and liege, King Robert Baratheon (played with gluttonous glee by Mark Addy), will be arriving with his entourage to Winterfell.

The episode is slighty a few minutes above an hour in running time and in that time Benioff and Weiss were able to introduce a multitude of characters both large and small which would remain important throughout this series’ 10-episode run. We meet the rest of the Stark clan from Ned’s loyal and down-to-earth wife Catelyn (from House Tully) to his sons, Robb, Bran, Rickon and Jon Snow (Ned’s bastard son hence the “Snow” surname). Then there are his two daughters who are sun and moon in difference with Sansa the older and more social-conscious daughter to Arya the tomboy younger sister who wishes nothing more than to learn how to be a knight. Maisie Williams as Arya Stark is a joy to watch in her brief scenes in the episode. She fully embodies the spirit of Arya which has made the character such a fan favorite since she was first introduced by Martin to readers everywhere in August 1996.

Other fine performances of note in the episode were the ones put forth by Peter Dinklage as the dwarf Lannister brother to the gleaming beauties of his twin siblings, Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey in a haughty performance so similar to her Gorgo role in 300, but minus the nobility inherent in the title) and Jaime “Kingslayer” Lannister (Nicolas Coster-Waldau playing the role as a bon vivant, pretty boy knight). It doesn’t take long to see Dinklage not as a dwarf actor playing a dwarf role, but just as Tyrion the bitter, world-weary son who knows his place in the scheme of things and have accepted them thus making him one of the most honest characters in this episode to date outside of Ned Stark.

The cinematography for this first episode was stunning to say the least. From the frozen forests and domain north of the Wall shot in such stark white and blues to the lush and earthy look given to the tropical domain of the Dothraki where the surviving children of the former king of Westeros now reside looking to find allies to retake their rightful place as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Even Winterfell is given such loving detail in how its shot to allow it to gain a semblance of personality. A personality of a kingdom harsh and one to brook the foolhardy and soft. Winterfell looks like a place that produces hardy, fatalistic, but able men willing to do that which must be done.

For fans of the book this episode shouldn’t be too difficult to follow despite all the characters being introduced. In fact, for a first episode it really packs in the details that set’s up what will become the many different plot strands that will begin to weave itself into complex tapestry of a tale that will take audiences from the stark realm of the The Wall and Winterfell to the lush seat of power at King’s Landing to the tropical and savannah flatlands for the Dothraki realm. It’s this attention to detail that may lose some non-fans of the books as it could be too much too handle right away. But I think viewers of HBO drama series of the past should be well-versed in juggling such amounts of details right from the get-go. If loyal fans of the Wire, Oz, Deadwood, True Blood and The Sopranos can attest to it’s learning how to handle such details in stride and just let the story take them away.

“Winter Is Coming” goes a long way towards quieting any lasting trepidations fans of the novels may have of this live-action adaptation. All the hype and media ad blitz HBO has created to push this series had given it a high bar to reach before an episode had even aired, but now that the first one has aired I’m happy to say that it more than reached that high bar and looks to surpass it with each coming new episode. If there was ever a scent that should truly sell this show to fans and non-fans alike it is the final three minutes. As lurid and licentious a sequence as it may be it is also one that sets the wheels turning for the rest of the series and show that Game of Thrones is not your typical fantasy drama on TV.

As an aside, the second viewing of this episode I ended up muting the early intro sequence and just listened to German power metal band’s song about Game of Thrones…it actually fit in well according to my fantasy nerd sensibilities.