Though I haven't seen a whole lot of productions by Studio Trigger, the are still one of my favorite anime studios. I think my love for them started with Kill La Kill. They are especially good at character designs and the use of colors. You can see this clear-as-day in Kill La Kill with the differing designs of Ryuko and Satsuki. Though that show didn't have a whole lot going for it story-wise, it was still a fun time with great animation and a great soundtrack. Needless to say, when I saw the promotional art for their Spring 2016 series, Kiznaiver, I needed to get my very own ticket for the Trigger hype train! A brand new interesting world with great character designs and (hopefully) over-the-top fight scenes! But does Kiznaiver live up to my expectations?

Kiznaiver takes place in a fictional city, Sugamori, in the real-life country, Japan. It stars a colorful cast of characters that so far are mostly stereotypes that we've seen in anime before. We have Agata, or Kacchon, who is a lonely downer with a strange ability not to feel pain; his best friend, Takashiro, who is turning out to be a tsundere who constantly tries to give Kacchon life advice; Nico, the fairy-loving oddball; Tenga, the rough-and-tough jock of the team; Yuta, the popular kid with an embarrassing past; Maki, the mysterious jerk; Hisomu, a pain-loving newcomer; and finally, Sonozaki who is the - from what I can tell - the antagonist of the series. Though none of these character have had a whole lot of development, besides maybe Agata, their personalities are interesting and entertaining enough that I can see where development could take place. And, of course, the character designs are great. I especially like Tenga's design. His bright-yellow shirt and slick-red hair explain his personality perfectly and all of the other characters' designs follow suit.

I didn't know what the story was going in but I was pleasantly surprised. The gist of it is that these seven individuals have been kidnapped and, after being released, realize that they now all share pain with each other. Whether falling down stairs, spraining a wrist, or even jumping off a bridge, the pain of their experiences are split between the seven of them - kind of. You see, as mentioned earlier, Agata doesn't feel pain. Though this ability hasn't been explained yet, it does give him a very interesting backstory which helps me find him interesting because otherwise I just wouldn't. The mysteriousness that each of the characters hold is one of my favorite things about the show so far and already, only three episodes in, I am learning more about each of them. The only question is what they will do with the story. Usually after the first two or three episodes of a series I can generally tell where it is going to go but with Kiznaiver I have no idea. At first I got the impression of a grand mystery that would focus on Agata but near the end of the third episode I was getting a 'fight against the establishment' vibe. This is two parts exciting and one part terrifying as Sword Art Online also kept me guessing and some may know what I think of the show.

I've already mentioned the character designs but the animation is especially top-notch. Though there haven't been any crazy fights yet, which is disappointing, the colors and overall amazing animation is still very interesting to look at. However, this does make me afraid that the budget wasn't meant for action and now I'm second guessing whether this will be an action-oriented series at all. At the time, I have no idea where the show is going to go.

So far Kiznaiver is a fantastic looking and wonderfully designed show with characters that, though not particularly interesting right now, have a lot of room to grow. So far this entire anime season is great and I can't wait to see what it has to offer.

Kiznaiver looks promising!
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
I tend to stay away from remakes or re-imaginings of movies that are considered by many to be classics. For me, it started with Snow White and the Huntsman. I never saw the original Disney classic Snow White but I can say with utmost certainty that Snow White and the Huntsman is the most average movie I have ever seen. Though that film is a post for another day, I can't help but think that movies like these are nothing more than cash grabs. John Favreau's The Jungle Book may have started as one of these pointless remakes at first, but the final cut turned out to be a great film with fantastic character development, surprisingly great visuals, and a very compelling story about a boy growing into his own man.

I love almost every single character in this film. Bill Murray's Baloo is two parts hilarious and one part heroic and Ben Kingsly's Bagheera is one of my favorite performances of this year. Mowgli is really what makes this movie shine, however. It's hard to explain but the kid who plays the role just seems so genuine. From what I know The Jungle Book is one of his first major acting roles and it barely shows here. Even though every scene is actually just him talking to a blue wall, I didn't catch hardly any lines where he was emotionless or stagnant. Mowgli is the hero, but there can't be a hero without a villain and Shere Khan was one of the best things about the film. Idris Elba's performance mixed with the way his scenes were directed make for a fantastic villain. As soon as he enters a scene nothing else matters. His plans are simple and direct: as soon as the peace between the animals is over, Mowgli is dead. I can't talk about Jungle Book characters without mentioning Christopher Walken's amazing King Louis. This IS the best character in the entire film. His entrance starts out mysterious and slowly builds throughout the sequence until the climax where he gets up from his throne and attacks. Everything about the scene is absolutely stunning. The only character related problem I have is with the hypnotic snake, Kaa. Though her introduction is great and the atmosphere of her domain is unsettling, her only purpose for the story is to explain the secret history between Shere Khan and Mowgli that Shere Khan ends up explaining later on anyway. It isn't exactly detrimental to the plot, but rather a minor annoyance. It really just seemed that Disney shoe-horned her character in for nostalgia.

This film looks surprisingly beautiful. The way it uses colors and atmosphere to show emotion is very clever in some scenes and the CG used for everything in the movie is done incredibly well. My only real problem with the animation is the animal's eyes. It might just have been me, but I felt that the eyes of the animals were almost too expressive. In a movie where keeping the animals looking as lifelike as possible is key, it caught me off guard and sometimes reminded me that they were in-fact computer generated. The music of The Jungle Book is really good. Though the original pieces made for the movie are slightly generic, the use of callback melodies was masterful. Speaking of which, this movie does have a few musical scenes. It isn't enough to really call it a musical but it did happen and it did catch me off guard. However, these scenes aren't too long and the way the film transitions from original pieces to 'Bear Necessities' or 'I Wanna Be like You' feels very natural and felt very satisfying.

Honestly, The Jungle Book was a huge surprise to me. I tend to trust sites like Rotten Tomatoes but when I see them give a Disney remake a 93% I get nervous walking into the theatre. This film is great. It has minor problems and doesn't do anything mind-blowing but for what it does, it does right.

The Jungle Book (2016) is a necessity.


Saturday, April 23, 2016
One of the most loved and hated form of commentary on YouTube and other online media outlets is the coverage of internet drama. From scummy scandals to YouTuber fame, these videos can rack up hundreds of thousands to even millions of views by simply covering the drama like Drama Alert or voicing ones opinions like ReviewTechUSA. Love it or hate it, these videos are watched. Is it because those using the internet like rumors or is there something more?

First of all, the elephant in the room. Recently there has been sexual assault allegations against a once huge YouTuber by the name of Toby Turner. This has blown up in the past week with some huge YouTubers defending him and others fighting against him. No matter what side you are on, you can't deny just how big this has become considering the sheer size of his past and even present career. Before this even happened some major channels such as PewDiePie and Markiplier have come out against these 'drama channels' for just swirling the bucket of blame and hate towards each other. These two make their own points on the matter but there is no doubt that they agree on one thing: drama is ruining the YouTube community. But is it really? Have we become so desensitized to online drama that we now accept it as part of what being a 'YouTuber' is? I don't think so. One aspect of this argument that these two don't seem to care about is the line between 'drama' and 'news'. Though this line is of different shades for different people, you can't deny that some of this drama that may or may not stir up controversy has to be talked about. This is where I must go back to the sexual assault allegations against Toby Turner. In the YouTube space, some might consider Tobuscus to be 'famous'. This being the case, ask yourself how you would feel if you replace 'Toby Turner' with 'Joseph Gordon-Levitt'. Then how would one approach this? One would present it as relevant news, just like it is with Toby Turner.

I am not against Mark or Felix in this discussion for I think that this type of stuff is interesting and needs to be brought up. I also highly respect these two and are subscribed to both of them, but I do believe that there is a line that needs to be brought up more often. . At the same time, they posted their videos about internet drama well before the Toby Turner case came up but we still need to be informed about what's going on. There are some really well done internet drama channels that present the facts first before forming opinion, like the aforementioned Drama Alert and ReviewTechUSA. Are there channels and websites that rush to conclusions just to stir the pot? Yes, of course but I don't believe the outcome is as harmful as some might perceive it to be.

In conclusion, are there awful channels and sites that will just report drama and slap the news sticker on it? Yes and shame on them for doing so but the general public of the internet needs to be informed about the things that they ought to be informed about.



Channels Mentioned
PewDiePie ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie
Markiplier ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/markiplierGAME
ReviewTechUSA ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/ReviewTechUSA
Drama Alert ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/NewDramaAlert
Monday, April 18, 2016
When I first started getting into anime I was all about Sword Art Online. It came about in a time of my life when I started getting really into video game worlds and the concept of VR was incredible to me. This show was what I had wanted. My favorite things combining into a concoction of action and adventure that I just couldn't put down. At least, that's how I felt for the first three episodes then the downhill slope of bad writing, plot-holes the size of New Mexico, and bland character arcs started being handed out like Snickers in a the candy store on 1st Street. In short, Sword Art Online is terrible.

I don't find the initial set-up of Sword Art Online to be bad at all. It may not be the most innovative concept ever but it felt like there was effort put in right off the bat. The show presents itself very well in the first two episodes. The problem that the players face is instant and troubling, and their reactions seem genuine enough that, if dealt with better down the line, could've resulted into interesting character arcs and motivations. The first episode is really good at establishing the point of the show: Players are stuck in the game and will die in real life if they die in-game so the players want to, naturally, get out of said game. Simple, easy to understand, and intriguing. The second episode in any anime is usually used to set up character personalities and motivations. SAO also does this pretty well. Asuna is a mysterious bad-ass who is great in a leadership position and Kirito is a the best player we've seen because of his past as a beta tester of SAO, in a previous build of Aincrad, but can be a jerk because of his want to to be a sort of 'lone hero.' Naturally, these two personalities clash. In the third episode, however, everything that was interesting is thrown out the window for stupid, inconvenient side-plots that don't mean much to the overall story. This is the problem I have with SAO. Sure it looks pretty and handles it's beginning well but it lacks any progression to any character, setting, or theme that it can conjure up and quickly forget about. Early on in the series there is a plot about Kirito wanting to be a loner because his previous guild was all killed before his eyes. Seems fine and could be used a motivation for his personality but instead is quickly forgotten about and doesn't make any sense because he was like that before this plot thread even occurred. Asuna doesn't even have motivation. It hints once that she has a troubled home but it is never capitalized upon in order to have her character learn anything. All of those points don't even matter in the grand scheme of the show because the piece of the puzzle that bothers me the most is that SAO has a complete disregard for attempting to make a strong female character. This is all because of Kirito. In the first season of the show and much of the second Kirito is an unstoppable powerhouse with no flaws. Every single female character he meets ends up being saved by him and soon after integrated into his harem of stereotypes. I would at least mind it less if the girls he saved at least had personalities, instead of hobbies which SAO mistakes as hobbies. Later on in the series there is also a sentient AI character introduced known as Yui who's only purpose is to be an exposition dump in the second arc.

Speaking of the second arc: Alfheim is one of the worst written and paced anime I have ever had the chance to witness. Characters are introduced at random, the characters who have personality never get to develop because Kirito is always saving them in moments where they should grow stronger, and worst of all Asuna a literal bird in a cage that is waiting to be released by her savior, Kirito. How the second half of SAO treats its main female character and the only female character with any personality is downright disgusting. He is also the worst antagonist of the entire franchise thus far with really no reason for his action rather than wanting to marry a comatose Asuna and generally being a terrible person. Kirito's sister (yeah he has a sister now because plot device) is also terribly developed with a cliche anime arc of "I love my brother because Japan" storyline. 

The third arc and most of the second season of Sword Art Online starts out surprisingly interesting. The new MMO that he travels to named Gun Gale Online has a great atmosphere and feels surprisingly alive... for the first two episodes. After this point it follows all the terrible tropes that the first arc of SAO set in stone. It does have a few good moments, however. For example, the new female lead named Sinon has an interestingly tragic backstory. Unfortunately, the show doesn't use this to expand her character at all because Kirito is constantly getting in the way with all the saving lives he does because he is the embodiment of Video Game Jesus. The villain starts out interesting and threatening but quickly becomes predictable and unforgettable. It was also about this time in the show where I started to realize a very strange trend in the franchise. This is that every single time exposition needs to be explained it takes place in a cafe or bar or any place that served food. Once I noticed this it annoyed me so much that I even dropped the show for about three months. Like I said before, this arc does have some good moments. In the second episode, for example, when Kirito faces Death Gun for the first time he freezes up and has a panic attack about his first time killing someone is SAO. This was really good and gave some much needed conflict with his character. Unfortunately this is rarely brought up again and when it is in the last few episodes of the arc he seems already past it without the viewer seeing any progression. At least the second season left an impact, though a disgusted one. This arc is just completely forgettable. 

The next arc, named Caliber, is short, sweet, and stupid fun. That's it. No point to it. No character development. Just a quest in Alfheim. I do appreciate that Kirito's guild was showed working together efficiently but there was no development to any of the characters. 

The last arc in Sword Art Online II, named Mother's Rosario, is the best I've seen the show work. It isn't great by any means but it is good and does a whole lot right. Right off the bat Kirito is no longer the main character but rather Asuna which I've wanted since the Alfheim arc. He just isn't an interesting character and finally we get to see Asuna progressing as a person rather than a trophy wife for Kirito. Her relationship with the new swordsman Yuuki is very strong and fun as they have great chemistry. The other characters in Yuuki's guild, though not exceptionally deep, are also fun and each have somewhat of a personality. This one arc of six episodes is better than all the other 33 episodes that we had gotten up to this point. 

Sword Art Online is an extremely broken anime with only a handful of things going for it. Sure the music is nice and the visuals are very good but the story falls apart constantly, the characters are lifeless and have no drive, and it can even be offensive. 

Sword Art Online is broken beyond repair. 


Thursday, April 14, 2016
I recently saw the movie adaptation to one of my favorite classic books of all time, The Great Gatsby. Though the themes were still intact and the overall story was true to its source material, it took out important plot elements and added in others. At first I was upset at these changes. I had the feeling of "how dare they ruin this story that I love." But after thinking about it more rationally I came to realize that most of these changes were for the better because of the story-telling medium that this classic was now in.

One aspect of storytelling that viewers have to take into account is that not everything that a book can accomplish can be done the same way as in a movie. In a work of literature the author can paint pictures of grand objects or settings with paragraphs describing the life that takes place there, the effect that it has on other settings, or even the history. In a movie, however, this can't be done so elegantly. Monologues are boring to an average viewer of a two to three hour flick so long paragraphs have to be transformed into sweeping shots from above or maybe just a steady shot with a few editing tricks to make the atmosphere special to the movie-goer. In a way, a movie can portrait a setting even more deeply than a book can because of the many types of editing, directing, or sound techniques that the creator of the film can use. Harry Potter is great example of this. Though I've never read the book, I can tell that the atmosphere presented in Hogwarts is taken into great consideration because of the wonderfully orchestrated soundtrack that compliments it. Because of John Williams' score of the movie it just feels magical.

Replacing or changing story elements in the transition from literature to film is what really annoys a lot of people. In the case of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald I believe the changes, though not necessary, do bring the film to be less contrived than it might have been if it followed the book to a tee. For instance, in the film version of The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann the main character Nick Carraway is an aspiring author first and a bondsman second. It may not seem like it but this small detail gives the writers of the movie credence to do much more with minor plot would-be annoyances like exposition. Because the story is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway in the future writing about Gatsby's life he can give the audience as much exposition as he likes without it feeling too forced. Adding plot threads isn't something that just happens from book to film but also in the reverse. In the book version of The Force Awakens Alan Dean Foster, who also wrote for the original trilogy book adaptations, goes into more detail about Supreme Leader Snoke's past. This includes the fact that he had apprentices before Kylo Ren, saw the Empire rise and fall, and even knew that Darth Vader was Luke's father. Because a book can be explained with words, the writer was able to add in so much more and even make the story make more sense in certain aspects.

So is the book always better than the movie? Well, no. A movie's audience has to recognize the fact that a movie can do things that a book can't and vice-versa. A movie can be directed a certain way, be edited, or given a score while a book has to be completely explained with words. A movie, better or not, is simply different.
Friday, April 08, 2016
I usually don't actively seek out comedies to watch. I generally don't find western comedy enjoyable and I've just assumed, wrongly, that eastern comedy was generally the same. I have seen anime with comedic tones in the past, like One Punch Man, but at the time I had just thought these were exceptions. Watamote has taught me differently and I can't thank it enough. Some comedic scenes in this show were so spot on that they almost had me in tears. The show would be nothing though without its character and it has plenty of it.

Tomoko Kuroki is a first-year at her new high school and she has the inability to socialize at all without some kind of companion with her. In middle school, her companion was her best friend Yuu Naruse but she has since gone to a different high school, thus leaving Tomoko with only herself to try to make it in, what she sees, to be a cruel world. The main and only character with a big role is Tomoko herself. She is the lifeblood of Watamote as the show is seen through her expressionless eyes. I say expressionless but really it only seems like that to someone who isn't Tomoko. In fact, she is exceptionally expressive and will hammer the audience with exactly what she is feeling by even relating her situation to other recent anime. She mentions Parasyte, Tokyo Ghoul, and many others. There is even a scene that parodies Studio Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart. This show really doesn't care about the fourth wall but that's where some of it's charm comes from. Most of the aspects that I love come from Tomoko, however. The comedy doesn't come from the situations she gets herself in but more from her reaction to those situations. Because the show is episodic in nature, being that Tomoko creates a new plan to become popular every episode, the writers can really take her character to many extremes. Overall, Watamote's story is one focused on comedy so there isn't a whole lot of growth but it isn't void of it either.

It is sad to say that Watamote doesn't have that memorable of a soundtrack. It isn't bad by any means and I really enjoy the OP and ED but everything in between is relatively bland. The animation doesn't stand out but it accomplishes what it said out to do. It does have a very great way of showing Tomoko's character. When she feels alone and invisible, she might become completely gray or even invisible with a thin outline. On the flip side, if she feels stand out and awkward everyone else will become gray and part of a mass of judgement that makes Tomoko look very awkward and uncomfortable. Again, nothing special but fine.

Watamote is a comedy that took me completely by surprise. Because of my past with comedies in general I was wary at first but am glad that I watched it. I do hope there is a Season 2 soon, though, because the ending wasn't quite what I wanted.

Watamote is hilarious and interesting. 
Wednesday, April 06, 2016
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