The Wicked and The Divine written by Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Jamie McKelvie
Showing posts with label gods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gods. Show all posts
Friday, April 15, 2016
Comic Review: The Wicked and The Divine (volumes one and two)
While I haven't been watching a lot of movies lately I am been up to my ears in comics and manga! Part of this is that I on occasion remember that the DC library actually stocks current comic series and I finally had a chance to check out a series I had quite a bit of good buzz about. Actually, I only requested the first volume, as soon as I tore through it I immediately jumped back online for the second volume and I'm hoping they get the third trade soon!
Monday, January 25, 2016
Anime Review: Noragami Aragoto
It's a little awkward that I'm just now starting on the fall shows this late into January so let's get started my favorite [one and done] fall show from this past year and one of my favorites of the entire year as well.
Noragami Aragoto
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Book Review: City of Stairs
It's a little hard to tell but I think I've made some good progress on my books-to-read list which is always a nice thing. I've been able to knock off some stuff I've had on the list for years and found that by now my library systems have a surprising number of 2014 books. Not everything (they seem to have gotten in Children of a Hidden Sea and then promptly lost it) but enough things that I always have something nice to read these days!
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Anime Review: Red Data Girl
And now it's time to start talking about the spring 2013 anime series, hurray because I was running out of time to watch a full series for review every week. Once I start talking about the summer shows I'll make an overview/wrap-up post for the spring anime on my tumblr or such since I ended up cutting a lot of shows this time around, this is actually one of only four reviews which might surprise some people since I did not like the first episode at all. But Funimation licensed it and like I said I would I tried out a couple more episodes on their site and by the second episode I was hooked, this one really does have a three episode hump you need to get over, just like everyone was telling me.
Red Data Girl
Summary: Izumiko has grown up living with an older caretaker couple in a shrine deep in the mountains while her parents live in Tokyo and while she's never quite felt normal (frying every electronic you come into contact with will do that) she's content with her life. So she's rather confused when an old friend of her mother's appears and says that his son will now serve Izumiko as a servant (and he is NOT happy about this) because she has great and unusual powers that require some help protecting.
The Good: It's hard to articulate why the second episode worked so much better for me than the first one did but by the third episode the plot has started moving, the characters have started talking to each other (both literally and in the sense of "they are exchanging ideas") and the tone (quiet yet with mystical things happening underneath) of is established and it all starts to blend. It may seem a little odd when I both describe the tone like that and say that the show is rather quick paced and chock-full of plot but it is, although I suspect this has more to do with the abbreviated length than anything else. The character development is a bit more spotty but by the end I can safely say that the characters aren't who they started out being and it's for the better. All in all it's a bit hard to explain why but the show really clicked for me I enjoyed it's plotting, character interaction, and overall tone well enough that it's a must buy for me at some point.
The Bad: This is a 12 episode anime based off of a six book novel series (I believe it's completed at six volumes but I'm not 100% positive) and only manages to cover five of them, I believe that makes a large problem very clear. Although, having read a summary of the last volume I'm not sure it even clears up some of the questions I had at the end of the series which isn't exactly a good thing either. Oddly enough the show does have decent pacing but you can tell it would have been much better if it had been two-cours long instead and had time to breath instead of cramming plot points into every last minute of each episode and would have let the character development feel a tad bit more natural. Finally, for me this anime reminded me of both Ghost Hound and Studio Ghibli's work but with one key difference, while all the strange things going on in GH were explained (to both the characters and the viewers), and likewise each Ghibli film takes time to explain at least a bit of it's mythology, this series seemed to assume that it's viewers understand a lot about Shintoism and Shugendo (which I hadn't even heard about prior to this series), in addition to some Japanese history, which makes some of the plot points a little hard to follow. I'll probably end up skimming every forum thread I can find on the show to see if anyone can fill in the blanks and before I rewatch this show, which I do plan to do someday, I'm going to read up as much as I can about Shintoism and Shugendo to see if some thing make a bit more sense a second time around.
Production Values: The good thing about waiting for the Funimation stream was that while I still wasn't watching an HD, 720p stream of the show it was still much better than the screenshots I've seen of the NicoNico streams (which were still way better than the stream I saw of the first episode) and looked rather gorgeous. The use of color and light was nice and the final episode had some really smoothly animated action sequences, that more than made up for waiting for the two week delay. As for the music, both the opening and ending songs took a while to grow on me but by the end I really adored those around and they certainly fit the tone of the series nicely (although I had an odd moment when I realized that the last time I heard the singer of the ED was for one of Humanity Has Declined's songs which is almost thematically opposite of this show).
This one gets a 3.5 or 4 out of 5 for me and I do plan on buying the show if Funimation acquires the rest of the rights. For those interested, it's streaming on Funimation's site and on Hulu and if the idea of a mash-up between Ghost Hound and Studio Ghibli's works interests you then by all means give the first two or three episodes a try, even if the first doesn't quite click for you try the second as well!
Red Data Girl
Summary: Izumiko has grown up living with an older caretaker couple in a shrine deep in the mountains while her parents live in Tokyo and while she's never quite felt normal (frying every electronic you come into contact with will do that) she's content with her life. So she's rather confused when an old friend of her mother's appears and says that his son will now serve Izumiko as a servant (and he is NOT happy about this) because she has great and unusual powers that require some help protecting.
The Good: It's hard to articulate why the second episode worked so much better for me than the first one did but by the third episode the plot has started moving, the characters have started talking to each other (both literally and in the sense of "they are exchanging ideas") and the tone (quiet yet with mystical things happening underneath) of is established and it all starts to blend. It may seem a little odd when I both describe the tone like that and say that the show is rather quick paced and chock-full of plot but it is, although I suspect this has more to do with the abbreviated length than anything else. The character development is a bit more spotty but by the end I can safely say that the characters aren't who they started out being and it's for the better. All in all it's a bit hard to explain why but the show really clicked for me I enjoyed it's plotting, character interaction, and overall tone well enough that it's a must buy for me at some point.
The Bad: This is a 12 episode anime based off of a six book novel series (I believe it's completed at six volumes but I'm not 100% positive) and only manages to cover five of them, I believe that makes a large problem very clear. Although, having read a summary of the last volume I'm not sure it even clears up some of the questions I had at the end of the series which isn't exactly a good thing either. Oddly enough the show does have decent pacing but you can tell it would have been much better if it had been two-cours long instead and had time to breath instead of cramming plot points into every last minute of each episode and would have let the character development feel a tad bit more natural. Finally, for me this anime reminded me of both Ghost Hound and Studio Ghibli's work but with one key difference, while all the strange things going on in GH were explained (to both the characters and the viewers), and likewise each Ghibli film takes time to explain at least a bit of it's mythology, this series seemed to assume that it's viewers understand a lot about Shintoism and Shugendo (which I hadn't even heard about prior to this series), in addition to some Japanese history, which makes some of the plot points a little hard to follow. I'll probably end up skimming every forum thread I can find on the show to see if anyone can fill in the blanks and before I rewatch this show, which I do plan to do someday, I'm going to read up as much as I can about Shintoism and Shugendo to see if some thing make a bit more sense a second time around.
Production Values: The good thing about waiting for the Funimation stream was that while I still wasn't watching an HD, 720p stream of the show it was still much better than the screenshots I've seen of the NicoNico streams (which were still way better than the stream I saw of the first episode) and looked rather gorgeous. The use of color and light was nice and the final episode had some really smoothly animated action sequences, that more than made up for waiting for the two week delay. As for the music, both the opening and ending songs took a while to grow on me but by the end I really adored those around and they certainly fit the tone of the series nicely (although I had an odd moment when I realized that the last time I heard the singer of the ED was for one of Humanity Has Declined's songs which is almost thematically opposite of this show).
This one gets a 3.5 or 4 out of 5 for me and I do plan on buying the show if Funimation acquires the rest of the rights. For those interested, it's streaming on Funimation's site and on Hulu and if the idea of a mash-up between Ghost Hound and Studio Ghibli's works interests you then by all means give the first two or three episodes a try, even if the first doesn't quite click for you try the second as well!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Anime Review: Kamisama Kiss
Continuing along with the just finished fall series (although I only had three, one-cour series this time, just about everything is carrying over into the winter but that's the subject for tomorrow's post), I had actually heard of this series before the annoucement since Viz Media has licensed the manga over here in the US (under their Shojo Beat imprint). So I tried reading some of it, kind of got into it but not really into it so I was pretty excited for the anime and hoped that it would just flow a bit better this way. Sadly the anime ended right where I stopped reading the manga so it didn't cover any new material, really wish I had planned that better but oh well.
Kamisama Kiss (Kamisama Hajimemashita)
Summary: Nanami lost her mother at a young age and now her father has run away from his gambling debts and all their assets have been seized leaving her with literally nothing. She's determined to do something about it but before she can think of anything she finds herself helping a man get away from a dog and he offers her a place to stay in return. What he didn't mention was that his place was in fact a dilapidated shrine and in the process he just made Nanami a god....
The Good: Since there's no good place to mention this otherwise, the title translates more or less into "I Became a God", best guess for why that was changed for English is for alliterative reasons/American idea of god is pretty different. Moving on, this show almost feels like it was based on a story from the early 2000s since it's so, clean in some ways. No fanservice (unless you count fox boys with long hair and all their clothes on fanservice), the romantic pairing is established pretty early on, no gimmicks, the characters never have too much trouble overcoming the problems placed before them, it just has a cleanness to it that I don't see that much these days (or maybe I'm not reading as much shojo so I'm just not coming across it as often, also totally possible). Funny enough, considering how they share a director, I think this show has the potential to be to a lot of early high schoolers what Fruits Basket was to me and my friends, a gateway anime which I think is a good thing (although my inner cynic says it probably won't work out that neatly).
The Bad: When the director (Akitaro Daichi) was first announced I said I was a little worried since I just didn't like how he did parts of Fruits Basket (and it's no secret in the fandom that he and the manga-ka disagreed so much that that's why there's no second season) and yeah, again I didn't like the ending he had here. As I said earlier, I had read up to this point so I remembered a bit so I went, checked, and yep, not only did he squish in parts from the next arc (and they only had two episodes to wrap up!) but a lot of the stuff I didn't like (Nanami running away) was anime original. I'm guessing he felt like there wasn't enough drama already and wanted to add in more but I thought it was a poor choice. But mostly my problems lie with the source material, while there are some underlying plot threads throughout the entire story (which were brought up here, and ended up going no where since they haven't yet been resolved) the story has a ton of silly side stories and I do wish it underwent Cerebus Syndrome to an extent, or at least had fewer side stories (hell, I was starting to wonder if the anime was making up filler for some unknown reason).
The Audio: I might get pelted by the fans for this but, I didn't really like neither the opening song nor the ending. There wasn't anything wrong with either of them (Funimation translated the lyrics so I can say that they matched the show well enough) but they both had the wrong tone for me, they were too girly and simpering and I just wanted something a little more upbeat (or at least a more upbeat opening and make the current opening the ending). Didn't have any trouble with the voice acting however, every one sounded good
The Visuals: I don't know what it is but Nanami's design just doesn't quite work for me. It's almost there, and I like around 75% of the other character designs in the show, but there's just something a little off. Maybe it was the color scheme, that also seemed oddly bright and cheerful and I would have liked it to have been a little more muted, although looking at the manga book covers I can say that I can see where they got the general scheme from.
So I give this show a three or a three and a half out of five and I'm not sure if I plan on buying it. I probably should, and probably will, since obviously the only way to convince Funimation to license more shojo (yes, even thought Viz had the manga Funi has the anime) and I'm sure they'll dub it well as well, it just fell a little flat with me in the end. Thankfully it does seem to be doing well in Japan (apparently the streaming numbers for Funi were either the best or among the best they've ever had for a simulcast) so we *might* get a second season, it would be a shame to leave the few things they set up just hanging, although if not there's always the manga (although sadly not on the VizManga site yet).
Kamisama Kiss (Kamisama Hajimemashita)
Summary: Nanami lost her mother at a young age and now her father has run away from his gambling debts and all their assets have been seized leaving her with literally nothing. She's determined to do something about it but before she can think of anything she finds herself helping a man get away from a dog and he offers her a place to stay in return. What he didn't mention was that his place was in fact a dilapidated shrine and in the process he just made Nanami a god....
The Good: Since there's no good place to mention this otherwise, the title translates more or less into "I Became a God", best guess for why that was changed for English is for alliterative reasons/American idea of god is pretty different. Moving on, this show almost feels like it was based on a story from the early 2000s since it's so, clean in some ways. No fanservice (unless you count fox boys with long hair and all their clothes on fanservice), the romantic pairing is established pretty early on, no gimmicks, the characters never have too much trouble overcoming the problems placed before them, it just has a cleanness to it that I don't see that much these days (or maybe I'm not reading as much shojo so I'm just not coming across it as often, also totally possible). Funny enough, considering how they share a director, I think this show has the potential to be to a lot of early high schoolers what Fruits Basket was to me and my friends, a gateway anime which I think is a good thing (although my inner cynic says it probably won't work out that neatly).
The Bad: When the director (Akitaro Daichi) was first announced I said I was a little worried since I just didn't like how he did parts of Fruits Basket (and it's no secret in the fandom that he and the manga-ka disagreed so much that that's why there's no second season) and yeah, again I didn't like the ending he had here. As I said earlier, I had read up to this point so I remembered a bit so I went, checked, and yep, not only did he squish in parts from the next arc (and they only had two episodes to wrap up!) but a lot of the stuff I didn't like (Nanami running away) was anime original. I'm guessing he felt like there wasn't enough drama already and wanted to add in more but I thought it was a poor choice. But mostly my problems lie with the source material, while there are some underlying plot threads throughout the entire story (which were brought up here, and ended up going no where since they haven't yet been resolved) the story has a ton of silly side stories and I do wish it underwent Cerebus Syndrome to an extent, or at least had fewer side stories (hell, I was starting to wonder if the anime was making up filler for some unknown reason).
The Audio: I might get pelted by the fans for this but, I didn't really like neither the opening song nor the ending. There wasn't anything wrong with either of them (Funimation translated the lyrics so I can say that they matched the show well enough) but they both had the wrong tone for me, they were too girly and simpering and I just wanted something a little more upbeat (or at least a more upbeat opening and make the current opening the ending). Didn't have any trouble with the voice acting however, every one sounded good
The Visuals: I don't know what it is but Nanami's design just doesn't quite work for me. It's almost there, and I like around 75% of the other character designs in the show, but there's just something a little off. Maybe it was the color scheme, that also seemed oddly bright and cheerful and I would have liked it to have been a little more muted, although looking at the manga book covers I can say that I can see where they got the general scheme from.
So I give this show a three or a three and a half out of five and I'm not sure if I plan on buying it. I probably should, and probably will, since obviously the only way to convince Funimation to license more shojo (yes, even thought Viz had the manga Funi has the anime) and I'm sure they'll dub it well as well, it just fell a little flat with me in the end. Thankfully it does seem to be doing well in Japan (apparently the streaming numbers for Funi were either the best or among the best they've ever had for a simulcast) so we *might* get a second season, it would be a shame to leave the few things they set up just hanging, although if not there's always the manga (although sadly not on the VizManga site yet).
Monday, March 12, 2012
Webcomic Review Month 2012: Gaia and Godseeker
Starting this week I'm also going to be posting updates on Wednesday otherwise the month will be over before I get to everything (and really need to start writing up reviews for everything else I have backlogged, I've got at least eight things already) so hopefully everyone can remember to come over more often (or just come and find two updates on Friday, that works too). The reviews from last year.
Gaia by Puri "Powree" Andini and Oliver Knörzer
Recently there have been growing tensions between the nations of Midgard, a long powerful country, and Cania where our protagonist Ilais Oter and his friends go to school to study magic and martial arts. But there is more to life than just school and sometimes that life can be rather deadly....
A younger comic but since it seems to be both moving and updating at a brisk pace, has already established a conflict and has introduced a number of characters I'm going to take the plunge and recommend it anyway. The original concept was for a video game, not a comic, and while that can be seen in areas it's actually not a bad thing (I can see a few things going on in the background which I guess would have been side quests in the game and I think that right now they just add a bit of character and make the comic a bit more fun). At this point it's a bit hard to tell where the story is going but I'm hoping it's a grand, world-saving adventure like the synopsis hints at.
Gaia is also published in German and fans are welcome to submit translations of the page beneath each page.
Godseeker by Lisa and Lee Blauersouth
I can't think of many other stories set in the stone age* and I rather like that the story has such a distinctive setting. I do however see a number of stories with gods in them yet it's unusual to see stories where the gods are active, central characters like Sombath is here and it's interesting to see how mortal she seems here (not in the sense that the Greek and Roman gods were with their decadence and imperfections but in the sense that Sombath is not all knowing and must seek out the truth about what really happened with her and the other gods). I also really like the artwork, there's a real variety of body types and everything, from the clothes to the setting, look natural. The story also has the feel of an old world epic, one where the characters challenge the gods themselves, and I can't wait to find out what is really going on behind the scenes.
*other than the Clan of the Cave Bear books which I will NOT be talking about again, oi.
Gaia by Puri "Powree" Andini and Oliver Knörzer
Recently there have been growing tensions between the nations of Midgard, a long powerful country, and Cania where our protagonist Ilais Oter and his friends go to school to study magic and martial arts. But there is more to life than just school and sometimes that life can be rather deadly....
A younger comic but since it seems to be both moving and updating at a brisk pace, has already established a conflict and has introduced a number of characters I'm going to take the plunge and recommend it anyway. The original concept was for a video game, not a comic, and while that can be seen in areas it's actually not a bad thing (I can see a few things going on in the background which I guess would have been side quests in the game and I think that right now they just add a bit of character and make the comic a bit more fun). At this point it's a bit hard to tell where the story is going but I'm hoping it's a grand, world-saving adventure like the synopsis hints at.
Gaia is also published in German and fans are welcome to submit translations of the page beneath each page.
Godseeker by Lisa and Lee Blauersouth
Long before modern history the gods created the world and humans who would worship them also came into existence. Time passed and now the fertility goddess Sombath has been called to Earth again only to discover that her powers are weak, her priest is trying to manipulate her and that something has happened to her memories as well. She does remember enough to realize that something happened differently from the myths told so she and the girl who called her, Myna, set off to find the truth.
I can't think of many other stories set in the stone age* and I rather like that the story has such a distinctive setting. I do however see a number of stories with gods in them yet it's unusual to see stories where the gods are active, central characters like Sombath is here and it's interesting to see how mortal she seems here (not in the sense that the Greek and Roman gods were with their decadence and imperfections but in the sense that Sombath is not all knowing and must seek out the truth about what really happened with her and the other gods). I also really like the artwork, there's a real variety of body types and everything, from the clothes to the setting, look natural. The story also has the feel of an old world epic, one where the characters challenge the gods themselves, and I can't wait to find out what is really going on behind the scenes.
*other than the Clan of the Cave Bear books which I will NOT be talking about again, oi.
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