Over the weekend of March 21-23, both site contributor pantsukudasai56 and I were in Boston, MA to attend the annual Anime Boston convention. We’ve done this 3 times in the past 6 years and each time is as fun as the last. This year the convention’s theme was “Magic & Mischief”.
The convention wasn’t as anticipated as previous ones because of the uncharacteristic lack of a great guest line-up. There’s the usual American voice-actor guests which always dominates not just Anime Boston but most North American anime conventions. There’s the usual annual appearance of voice-actor Greg Ayres, Kyle Hebert, Wendee Lee and Trina Nishimura, but leading up to the start of the convention only a couple of Japanese guests of honors have been announced. One was veteran seiyuu Yuu Asakawa (who I had already met over at Anime Expo 2010) and the other being Cowboy Bebop screenwriter Dai Sato.
Here are the cosplay pictures that both pantsukudasai56 and I were able to catch during the convention. As I continue to improve as an amateur photographer I hope to get better and more pics with future attended cons.
The second AMV winner to come out of last weekend’s Anime Boston 2014 was for Best Action.
“Valor” by MycathatesyouAMV pretty much a montage of the hyper-fast battle scenes from the current anime of the moment, Kill la Kill. The editor uses Celldweller’s “Tough Guy” track and just goes with the tempo and speed of the song to focus on the insane action this anime series has become quite well-known for.
Definitely a better Best Action winner than last year’s Anime Boston action winner.
This year’s Anime Boston actually had quite the line-up of AMV winners. Most of the time a con may have a couple of great winners, some good ones and the rest the usual meh. This wasn’t the case with Anime Boston 2014.
The latest AMV of the Day comes courtesy of AMV editor AdventLostKaichou who entered the anime music video “Time Falls Away” which promptly won in two categories: Judges’ Choice and Best Drama. Winning in one category is celebration enough, but winning in another means this particular video struck a chord with the judges and audience alike.
I haven’t seen the anime used for the video. It’s an 11-episode series from 2009 titled Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 and after watching this video I’m more than likely going to hunt this series down and watch it in one marathon sitting.
Anime Boston is now over and if there was one thing I learned of importance during my 3-day attendance it’s how to spot and survive a particular type of person. I’m talking about the yandere.
So, the latest Song of the Day is the song by Vocaloid artist MAYU simply titled, “An Earnest Unrequited Love, Wanting to Make it Bear a Little.”
I would usually post the lyrics below, but it’s better to watch the video and sing along with the lyrics added in for convenience.
The latest beauty to grace the site is the gorgeous Hwang Mi Hee of South Korea.
Born on January 21, 1982 in Seoul, Hwang Mi Hee has become one of the most popular and race queens in South Korea. She showed a talent for being a model at quite an early age and in time was discovered at an auto show. She soon became one of South Korea’s most sought after race queen model and considered by many in her country and outside as one of the most beautiful women in the world.
She has so far haven’t strayed too far from the racing scene in Asia, but has expanded her modeling career to include fashion in addition to remaining a top race queen model.
Today, will be Day Zero for Anime Boston 2014 which I shall be attending (pantsukudasai56 will be arriving later tonight). So, while I am attending all things otaku here in Boston here’s the latest AMV of the Day.
It’s another Nichijou anime music video and this one is just as good and funny as the previous ones before it. The song used this time around by amv editor xNekoAMV is “Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)” by Foster the People. Like other featured Nichijou videos this one is just as hilarious and irreverent. The image of Hakase and Sakamoto above is not in the video but was chosen just because it’s damn hilarious.
Anime:Nichijou
Song:“Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)” by Foster the People
Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead began with a tune recognizable to many gamers who played through Bethesda’s Fallout 3.
“Maybe” by The Ink Spots have been used many times to highlight simpler, idyllic times when compared to post-apocalyptic wastelands. It worked well for Fallout 3 and definitely lent an eerie, disturbing quality to the flash forward opening to the latest episode of The Walking Dead.
Maybe
Maybe you’ll think of me
When you are all alone
Maybe the one who is waiting for you
Will prove untrue, then what will you do?
Maybe you’ll sit and sigh, wishing that I were near
Then maybe you’ll ask me to come back again
And maybe I’ll say maybe.
Maybe you’ll think of me
When you are all alone
Maybe the one who is waiting for you
Will prove untrue, then what will I do?
Maybe, you’ll sit and sigh, wishing that I were near
Then maybe you’ll ask me to come back again
“Just look at the flowers, Lizzie. Just look at the flowers.” — Carol Peletier
The Walking Dead tv series has always diverged from the comic book source to keep fans of the books guessing. Some fans of the comic books have complained about this since it would mean discarding certain subplots and characters that they love but were really non-essential to the overall story being told for the tv series version. Yet, the writers of the show, through the comic book’s creator Robert Kirkman, have mined the comic book source for material that remains important to the show’s narrative.
The latest episode, “The Grove”, takes a disturbing but very important subplot from the comics and manages to adapt it for the tv series in a way that made it one of the series’ best.
A cold opening that manages to be both quaint, idyllic and disturbing which sets the tone for the rest of the episode sees the return of the group led by Carol. It’s a group that could almost be seen as a makeshift family unit. There’s Carol the loving, yet stern mother who wants to make sure her daughters learn how to survive in this dangerous, new world while Tyreese remains te compassionate and protective father. Lizzie, Mika and Rick’s baby daughter Judith make up the children who must now adapt to this new world or perish.
First off, Judith remains the blank slate in the show. She’s the first baby born after the world went to hell and thus will have to grow up in it’s new environs and new set of morals and principles. The old civilization is gone and while people try to hold onto what made that civilization tick only those willing to adapt to this new world seem to survive. Now, Lizzie and Mika were already forming their own personalities and sets of morals when the zombie apocalypse hit. We see the two Samuels girl go in differing paths in how they cope with this new world.
While seeing these two girls’ inability to adapt to the world post-zombie apocalypse was a nice theme to explore the episode really focused on the group’s maternal unit. This latest episode was a culmination of the new Carol Peletier that season 4 unleashed on an unsuspecting audience.
This was a character that we saw as being the meek victim of spousal abuse even before the zombies arrived. Her emotional trauma would continue with the loss of her young daughter Sophia in season 2 and almost dying during break in prison security in season 3. Yet, by the time season 4 rolled around we see her become a hardened survivor who has turned the corner and decided she will not remain a victim anymore and make sure those people see as being helpless (the young children in the group) learn how to defend themselves from zombies and humans alike.
The titular grove the group stumbles upon early in the episode has an almost mystical quality to it. An idyllic locale in the middle of literal hell on earth. There’s untainted well water to be had, a pecan grove for food and even a solitary deer that seems to come by at the most opportune time for meat. Hell, the cabin even has a working gas stove (probably a propane tank fed one) and a secure enough fence of barbed wire to fend off the random zombies that may wander by. It’s almost paradise in comparison to the different place Carol, Tyreese and the girls have had to call shelter.
It is no wonder that both Tyreese and Carol entertain the idea of maybe staying at the grove and making a life for themselves with the girls instead of continuing onto the unknown potential haven that is Terminus. But one thing this show has been consistent about when it comes to it’s characters seeming to find peace and tranquility is that it will pull the rug from under them to reveal that things are not ideal and that it’s just a veneer over the ugliness and brutality this new world has turned into.
The rug gets pulled out gradually from beneath Carol’s feet as both Mika and Lizzie continue to fail in heeding her teachings about survival. Mike remains adamant about not ever wanting to hurt anyone alive (she makes some headway in killing off some zombies during the episode) which Carol sees as dangerously naive of the young girl. Lizzie on the other hand begins to reveal an even more dangerous quality which would turn tragic by episode’s end.
By this time many will have written and discussed the events involving Lizzie and Mika that would add another emotional stone on Carol’s back. It’s a sequence that’s as disturbing as anything this show has put on the air in the last four years. It’s not often that children get killed in tv shows (well except for Law and Order: SVU) and yet The Walking Dead manages to do it twice in one night and both times it’s not gratuitous or meant to be entertaining. both Mika and Lizzie’s death become a sort of crucible Carol must go through to find a sort of equilibrium between the nurturing mother she was before season 4 and the cold, pragmatic survivor she has become this season. She still remains conscious to the fact that hard decisions need to be made for the greater good and she makes it ones again when Lizzie murders her younger sister Mika. It’s a murder not done in spite or malice. Lizzie truly believes that Mika will return and remember not to attack her friends and family.
In the end, the grove ceases to be the ideal haven Carol and Tyreese saw it as in the beginning and realize it’s just another place to leave behind with bad memories. It’s become another haunted place for the next people to find and wonder what happened to the previous inhabitants and what caused them to leave behind three small graves in the flower and pecan grove.
Notes
Tonight’s episode was written by showrunner Scott M. Gimple and directed by Michael Satrazemis.
The cold opening sequence was a nice touch using The Ink Spot’s “Maybe” song that was also used in the Bethesda post-apocalyptic game, Fallout 3.
Mika definitely came off as being the more intelligent of the two sisters. Though as many would probably point out, just as Carol did, her inability to hurt other people who will want to hurt her will get her killed sooner or later.
Lizzie’s personality matches very closely that of the comic book Carol who began to see the zombies as more her friends than a danger. I’m sure Kirkman had a hand in helping Gimple round out the character of the elder Samuels girl.
I noticed that the pistol that Mika carried with her was a Smith & Wesson M&P 9 (full-size one even) just for the fact that I also own one so it was very recognizable.
The different subplots involving the scattered groups of prison survivors seem to be following an uneven timeline within this midseason narrative. The fire and smoke seen by Carol, Tyreese and the girls would mean that they’re at least a day behind Daryl and Beth.
Gimple must’ve been a fan of Steinbeck because tonight’s episode had a very Of Mice and Men feel to it right up to the sequence with Carol and Lizzie in the end.
Talking Dead Guests: Melissa McBride of The Walking Dead, Yvette Nicole Brown from Community and WWE’s CM Punk.
With the trailer for the James Brown biopic now out for people to watch I just thought it would be appropriate I share one of my favorite scenes from the many years of watching Saturday Night Live.
Before he became a mega superstar during the 80’s, Eddie Murphy was just part of the ever-changing cast of comedians for Saturday Night Live. One of the funniest skits had Eddie as James Brown doing the intro to his very own talk show, Celebrity Hot Tub.
“Why hurt yourself when you can hurt other people.” — Joe
The Walking Dead has taken on a new narrative path since it’s return after this season’s mid-season break. One of the biggest complaints that some fans and critics have had about the show has been the lack of character development for many of the roles in the show. We’re not talking about people who show up for a scene or an episode or two. It’s for those who have become regulars through the show’s many season.
Well, it looks like from the show’s writers will be trying to rectify that flaw this second half of season 4.
Since the show’s return from it’s mid-season break it’s taken on an almost zealous attempt to show the audience more of who these people truly are. Each new episode in this second half has been more about exploring each surviving character’s backstory either through some sort of flashback (like we saw tonight with the cold opening showing Bob’s lonely existence before being found by Daryl and Glenn pre-prison attack) or some of the quieter moments of exposition between characters (last week’s episode between Daryl and Beth was a prime example of this). We’ve gotten to learn more about our favorite zombie apocalypse survivors. They’ve shown themselves to be more than what the previous seasons have made us to think of them.
Tonight’s episode continued to explore the growing relationship (whether romantic or platonic) between resident badass Daryl Dixon and bright-eyed optimist Beth Greene. We see him trying to teach the younger Greene girl how to become a better with the crossbow and be a better tracker. Throughout their section of tonight’s episoode we see Daryl become more protective of young Beth Greene. The false front he’s put up in the past to avoid getting closer to people has started to come down. In past season fans and writers have looked at Daryl Dixon as someone who probably would be better off being alone instead of trying to deal with a dysfunctional “family” unit of survivors. He’s the only one who seems to be ready-made for this zombie apocalypse.
Yet, as we’ve seen in the second half of this season being alone is something that he doesn’t want to ever return to. He may remain gruff and surly, but his need to be around those who care about him and people who he wants to belong with has made him a more well-rounded badass. The way the Daryl and Beth half of the episode ended it’s going to be interesting if his need to belong with a group will cause him to forget the humanity he has found while being with Rick’s group.
The theme of being alone continues, and actually began, with the Bob, Sasha and Maggie half of tonight’s episode which was aptly titled, “Alone”. Bob’s time being alone in the wilderness was the cold opening for tonight’s episode and revealed much about the enigmatic Bob. This was all done with Bob not speaking a line of dialogue in the first few minutes. He seemed able enough to survive on his own, but the moment Glenn and Daryl arrive and offers him sanctuary back in the prison he accepts with no questions asked.
It’s a theme that runs throughout tonight’s episode. Being alone may make it easier to survive. No one to worry about. Only have to keep one person alive. But for these survivors it’s the comfort of having others looking out for you which makes it all worth the headaches and drama that comes with being involved with other people. These lone wolf survivors may be great at surviving on their own, but they also want to be doing more than just survive. They want to live and being with others. It makes them feel more human and gives them a higher purpose than just trying to survive day to day.
Some fans may not be liking this more introspective turn of The Walking Dead this second half of the season. There’s still some gruesome scees to be had, but there’s also many more quiet scenes of just characters interacting with each other minus the violence and brutality inherent in a show about the zombie apocalypse.
Notes
Tonight’s episode was written by Curtis Gwinn and directed by Ernest Dickerson.
Some great genuinely scary moments in tonight’s episode: the fog sequence with the zombies involving Bob, Maggie and Sasha was shot and directed well by veteran director Ernest Dickerson (who has directed some of the best episodes in the series). Another was Daryl finding himself stuck in a room filling up with zombies and the only way out was going through them.
Tonight’s episode was the strongest of this season’s second half. We just didn’t get to learn about some of the things which motivates Bob, but also what made Sasha and Maggie such good survivors. Larry Gilliard, Jr. hasn’t been given enough chances to stretch his acting skills this season, but tonight he was allowed to do just that and he passed with flying colors.
Beth is really thirsting for some of Daryl and was really apparent in tonight’s episode. This should make Daryl/Carol shippers not very happy at all.
For Dead Rising fans tonight’s episode should bring a smile to their faces as we see Maggie become an expert in zombie killing just using a street sign pole and it’s very sharp squared steel sign.
The episode opened and ended with the song “Blackbird Song” by Lee DeWyze.
Jeff Kober returns as the leader of the small band of raiders we saw in the episode “Claimed”. His return may mean he’s the big baddie for this second half as the different groups make their way to Terminus.
Talking Dead Guests: Sonequa Martin-Green and Lauren Cohan, Sasha and Maggie of The Walking Dead.
