Month: January 2011
New era in more ways than one at Marvel?
Axel Alonso’s promotion to editor-in-chief at Marvel slipped me by. Still, I cannot understand anyone actually defending outgoing Quesada’s reign as EIC at Marvel….any rebounding of company fortunes has more to do with the shrewd handling of the film franchise rights of Marvel properties rather than any outstanding work done on the actual comics for the main part. Even beyond the large picture stuff like allowing Bendis to almost singlehandedly destroy the X-Men material with House of M as well as the string of Avengers-centric mega-event fiascos that followed, the man was responsible for some pretty odious stuff like his support of the Greg Land Formerly Known as an Artist(tm) (complete with hilarious admission of his light box mastery.) Most importantly, and the biggest bugbear for Spidey fans, his unleashing of One More Day/Brand New Day was one of the most spectacularly hamfisted (say would say childishly spiteful) attempts at retconning in the recent history of mainstream Western comics.
So, I guess the main point is that Axel Alonso can hardly do any worse. A lot of people point to his tenure as X-Men editor, but the majority of the damage was already done before he took over and its clear Marvel’s focus has shifted from the X-Men as the main selling point for the company. There’s also a two-way feedback loop involved with the film projects, with the X-Men films generally seen as taking a hit in quality from X3 onwards and being propped up by Wolverine, which ironically used to be a strong, legitimate concern that was laid at the door of the comic properties. There is also suspicion that readers were burnt out on the mutant equality premise, which was rehashed so many times that it seemed near-necromantic.
Going forward post-Siege Marvel is making things simple with the Heroic Age material, and while reactions are mixed the approach is probably more beneficial for attracting new readers rather than stimulating the entrenched fanbase. Alonso will probably have his work cut out for him, and he is/was heavily involved in the HA conceptualization so this is an important test for the company going forward.
“Do they have sensitive musicians on Planet X?”
“Comedy is the universal language!”
Level E is pretty much the show with the best execution this winter, even if Puella managed to be a bigger “hook” in terms of invoking curiosity in the next episode. Given the shows that has entered my queue so far have fairly conventional plot flow and simple premises, what really separates wheat from the chaff is execution. In this Level E has it in spades.
Shortly before I started writing this I wasn’t even aware Togashi (he of YuYu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter fame) drew Level E in the mid 90s. This manga cum anime is clearly a different bent from his usual shounen stuff, and there is some really inspired stuff at times in the first episode, with sly playful digs at the alien visitation tropes in science fiction (nothing is complete if it doesn’t have an ET gag). Amnesia of our blond bishounen friend from afar is toyed with and discarded within ten minutes, and the interplay between him and Yukitaka reaches near manzai levels with healthy dollops of sardonic wit. The setting plays nicely with the comedy, with the town presenting a slight aura of menace to balance things out, but not in an overwhelming fashion.
Other elements like the music and art direction is decent, but not fantastic. Colours are clean and lines on the character designs are generally sharp, if not exactly fully integrated in tone with the backgrounds. The OP/EDs are at least not your usual J-pop drivel, which is enough of a plus factor for me in these trying times of otaku pandering on Nico. I even had a pleasant surprise in hearing Koyasu Takehito’s voice in the preview, and sure enough, he was there when I checked the credits.
This is probably the first show of the season I’m giving an unequivocal thumbs up without adopting a wait and see for the 2nd episode, but most importantly, it gives me a Occult Academy vibe that offers hope that Level E will fulfill the promise that Occult gave but only rarely delivered after the first 2 arcs. Occult had a serious problem in integrating its meandering arcs within a largely disappointing main plot thread, so I want Level E to succeed where Occult did not. For those not aware, Fall 2010 was also hugely dominated by comedies like Ika Musume, Panty and Stocking, Soredemo, Kuragehime and even Star Driver, so having a new one this season markedly different in approach (except perhaps SHAFT-ish Soredemo) is refreshing. Here’s a figurative toast to it doing well.
“Me! Me!”
Man, the guy couldn’t even wait past ONE game to say this. It doesn’t take a genius to guess his innermost thoughts when he was passed over when Hodgson was appointed Pool manager, heh.
Taiwan Long Juan Feng Vs. Mad Men : Are the two really THAT different?
I am not embarrassed to admit this, but most people who knows me were shocked (or disgusted) when I told them I follow “Taiwan Long Juan Feng” almost every night when I can. But even a show as crazy as that begins to bore me after the same shit happens for the umpteenth time.
So recently, I started watching the critically acclaimed “Mad Men”.
You know, the show where:
- Every male character wears a suit;
- Everybody drinks excessively like it’s going out of fashion;
- Every characters have random sex with everyone else;
- The one where every woman has the hots for the lead actor…
Hmm… guess these two shows have more in common than I thought.
Kinda makes you wonder if there’s a Jon Hamm/Christina Hendricks concert around the corner.
The Curious Case of the Missing Rambo Film
Has anyone ever noticed that there was an error in the sequence of Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo franchise?
John Rambo first appeared in 1982 in “First Blood”;
A 1985 sequel was made, titled “Rambo : First Blood Part II”
So, why the heck was the 1988 sequel after that named “Rambo III” instead of “First Blood Part III” ???
To make things more bizzare… 20 years on, Stallone returned to make a ‘prequel’ to Rambo III, titling the fourth installment… RAMBO. (which technically mean it is RAMBO 1?)
So, the question is… if they do make a FIFTH movie, should it be titled RAMBO II , or First Blood Part III?
As Alice would say, “Curiouser and Curiouser.”
Freezing the anime in two pictures
Striiiiiike Two!
tsuntsun so soon? Oh my
Strike Witches with Mio and a harem lead. I hope there are no sky barnacles though. PASS.
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Little girls and twirling henshins, Iteration No X
Nanoha, SHAFT style
So, did Puella Magi Madoka Magica produce a good first episode? In terms of working as a series hook, I would say yes. This being a SHAFT production that isn’t gag-based, I never really expect the first ep to produce a clear picture, at least in terms of plot development. All we’ve seen so far are the usual cliches, amongst them a happy family, a magical animal and a mysterious transfer student. Shinbo’s attempt to take on the mahou shoujo genre does have all the signature visual touches you expect from the guy. Given that I generally like his body of work, I remain cautiously optimistic for the moment.
Warning: Improbability field (and jiggle) detected
I can’t believe the first new show of the season I watched is Rainbow Gate, which bodes extremely ill for the rest of the stuff coming down the pipeline.
There is precious little to talk about, and seasoned anime watchers already know what the series is aiming just by looking at the promotion pic. So yes, it’s an ecchi show and no, everything else is terrible, like a hobo’s version of Saki. I won’t even say the ecchi is decent either, considering the scenarios are so uninspired it’s clear the entire production team just phoned it in with the camera angles that are Aika-esque, but not quite. The sheer absurdity of a casino hiring an odd-jobs variant of a croupier with an aura of luck can be left as an exercise for the the watcher. I got a little bit of solace though in that her role didn’t require Marina Inoue to use her tsuntsun voice, which would be pretty tiring sans any good writing, which is manifestly not present here.
I once mentioned in a conversation that R:RG would be a good tourist board advertisement for a certain banana island republic that just happens to have two casinos. Given the origins of the titular character as a pachinko mascot girl I’m sure that giving the impression that the casino is a HAPPYFUN place (and not a Kaiji-ish nightmare pit where hopes go to die) was the general idea. Granted, did it have to be so silly it involves a little pipsqueak wandering around on the casino (and outdoors!) without supervision and a horrible episodic plot revolving around a damn teddy bear?
It’s going to be a long hard winter.
(Evryone would actually give this show a thumbs up if it featured Nicholas Cage as a permanent side character every ep, and he’s faithful to his portrayal in THOSE ads. Just sayin’.)