Robot Carnival- Cult Manga Review

I do love me a good old anthology series, they are short and if you get bored you only have to wait a few minutes for another episode to come on. Additionally, you avoid the bloat and filler as with each episode being self contained and everyone has their own opinion on what one is the best.

I had heard of Robot Carnival, it was described as a manga Fantasia which is very high praise indeed, but had never seen it. I sought to acquire a way to watch it and I finally managed to and I do have to say that it is indeed a tour de force of Japanese animation from the 80s.

There are 9 segments, each with their own story and director.

1: Opening by Atsuko Fukushima and Katsuhiro Otomo, has a barren post-apocalyptic village in the desert being barrage by the Robot Carnival. Fireworks, bombs and explosions ensure as the village is destroyed as the carnival makes its way onwards, ever oblivious to the suffering it has just caused.

2: Franken's Gears by Koji Morimoto has a scientist create a robot. He is pleased with his creation and teaches it to move only for it to turn and kill him.

3: Deprive by Hidetoshi Omori is like an awesome anime music video in which a young woman is taken by an attacking alien army. Her friend, a cybernetically enhanced boy, take the fight to the aliens and aims to rescue her against a backdrop of a large scale alien army.

4: Presence by Yasuomi Umetsu is about a married but unfulfilled inventor who creates an automaton. The automaton falls in love with the inventor but he destroys it as he can't love it back. Years later he regrets it as she still haunts his waking dreams.

5: Star Light Angel by Hiroyuki Kitazume is a tale of two friends who go to a robot themed amusement park. When one friend goes to meet her friends boyfriend she realises that he is a cad who gifted her a star necklace. Heartbroken she runs off, meets a robot who falls in love and tackles an evil robot. It all ends well as the girl and boy start to date. Totally weird but cool.

6: Cloud by Mao Lamdo is a beautiful short that features a robot boy walking and the background around him changing into wonderful surreal landscapes before he ascends to the skies.

7: Strange Tales of Meiji Machine Culture: The Westerner's Invasion by Hiroyuki Kitakubo takes us back to the early Meiji period and features two mechs fighting it out in their wood and cogs runs machines. It is a war of attrition as the mechs destoy that which they set out to protect.

8: Chicken Man and Redneck by Takashi Nakamura has a mech destroying the city by converting electrical machines into heinous machines which take over the land. It reminds me of A Night On Bald Mountain part of Fantasia in that the creatures all slowly march in time to the music and raise merry heck.

9: Ending by Atsuko Fukushima and Katsuhiro Otomo features the giant Robot Carnival coming to rest on the dunes and crumbling as the credits roll.

The music by the legendary Joe Hisaishi is sublime and adds much to panoply of creativity here. Some of the stories are fun and throwaway whilst others will haunt you long after you watch it. This is an amazing cultural artefact of a time when Japan's bubble economy was riding high and shows a confident and strident people making boundary pushing art. I'm glad to have seen it and I'm sure you will be too.

Monster City- Cult Manga Review

This is a bit of the throwback and was considered a bit of a classic back in the early days of manga in the UK. Alongside Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Wicked City and Ninja Scroll, we had the Cyberpunk Collection, Dominion Tank Police, Vampire Hunter D, Crying Freeman and Doomed Megalopolis, these were everywhere wherever manga was available in the early 90s.

Monster City or Monster City Shinjuki as I knew it from advertising in the UK, is a pretty good showcase of 80s animation. The opening fight scene set the mood as good fights against evil, but good loses and an area of Tokyo is take over by the demons. The area goes to pot (and real estate prices tumble) as the demons seek to revive an elder demon god. The son of the hero, Kyoya, is called upon when the President's daughter, Sayaka Rama, to help defeat the forces of evil and save her President father by going to the heart of Demon City Shinjuku, defeat the 3 sub-bosses before facing the acolyte, Rebi Rah, who is aiming to resurrect the eldritch gods from the demon realm.

Overall, the plot is pretty simple and makes sense as it is very videogamey. The animation is gorgeous, fluid and has that Kawajiri sense of style which was very evocative of 'Japanimation' that looked head and shoulders above most other animation studios from the time. The character designs are excellent and have aged pretty well considering it is nearly 40 years old. An aspect I appreciate is that it isn't too fanservicey or cringy but it is the 80s so we still get classics like, "I'm gonna tear his head off and shove it up his a$$". This is one of the most edge lordy things in this manga but then, it was the late 80s so that 'tude fits with the times. More problematic is when our' hero' decides to sleep on the floor and share the bed otherwise he might not be able to help himself to attack the woman who is accompanying him on this mission.

However, I do appreciate that Sayaka has some agency and is determined to find out what is going on in order to save her father. This is tempered by the fact that she is incredibly gullible and almost  gets assaulted before she is saved, but she does get swindled out of cash.

Kyoya is the stereotypical slacker who is a chauvinist but has the potential for greatness through his sword fighting skills, if he inky applied himself. Their team up works as they save each other a couple of times and it all is sealed with a (consensual) kiss after the defeat of 3 henchbeaasts and a disciple before the Elder Demon God's are released into our realm.

The film has voice acting that is indicative of the quality for the time. The American President's daughter sounds Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom plummy British whilst the kid who helps them sounds like the dreadful Slow Poke Rodriguez who has a stereotypical Mexican accent that is from those banned old Tom and Jerry. The kids supposed to be a tween but sounds like an old man who's smoked 20 a day all his life. The dub is so bad but I love it; it is a creature of its time but my gosh is the animation and framing lush.

Overall, whilst definitely not amazing, Monster City is better than most anime from the 80s and isn't too problematic. It's worth the 80 mins or so of your time.

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- The Last Guardian- Video Games As Art

LINK- Shadow of the Colossus- Book Review

LINK: Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- The Midnight Library and the Idea That You Can’t Go Home Again

Manga Mania and Me

Over the new year, I planned on using my annual month long abstinence from gaming in January to catch up on the television shows, movies, comics and books I’d collated. Whilst visiting my family in Barking in December, I visited the local CEX and found the Haibane Renmei bluray set. I bought it as it is one of my favourite series ever. This lit a fire in me; I needed to get back on that manga train and reserve some space for retro anime and manga from the 80s and 90s. To help me compile a watch list I started to look through my old Manga Mania, Anime FX and Manga Max collections and this sent me down a rabbit-hole.

Manga Mania was an incredibly formative read for me in my early teen years as it published some great manga stories (including the entire run of Akira) whilst also talking about the wider manga and anime scene through informative articles. This was where I learned about Ghibli before it was a thing in the West as well as other series which would gain traction over time including Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and many others.
Regular writers Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements were the arbiters of good taste, much like Kieron Gillen and Julian 'Jaz' Rignall were for videogames and Q magazine was for music (until that crazily overenthusiastic review of Oasis' Be Here Now which is a meh album at best). These enthusiasts spoke from experience and their longform essays became formative in my interest in Japan, turning me from a weeb to a full on Japanophile.

Manga Mania was cool but it went through a cringy phase with covers featuring badly cosplaying women and splash words that emphasised SEX! VIOLENCE! etc.... It was so edgy try-hard at a time. When I was trying to convince many people that manga wasn't all sex, violence, tentacles or mysogyny the biggest magazine on the matter was putting these key words on the cover! This was the time of lad's mags, frosted tips, 'largin' it' and Nu Metal so these were weird times indeed.

Luckily though, Manga Max came out a short while later and I appreciated its move back to the centre, more sensible ground. It was a more premium looking product and looked classy- think Edge videogames magazine rather than Games Master magazine (I loved Games Master magazine when I read it in WHSmiths so that’s not a knock but it was definitely a different vibe to Edge and has aged less well)

Looking back now, I can see where my interest in writing about my various interests comes from... It's from these magazines I consumed in my youth. I have less time now and so I only buy the 3 magazines each month, Edge (videogames), Retro Gamer (err, does was it says on the tin) and Infinity (Cult Retro Pop Culture).

I'm enjoying revisiting these various old manga magazines and am creating a list of manga and anime I will watch over the next year. I missed a lot in my youth due to lack of availability, time, constraints and generally just living my life and going out with friends to London and gigs. Now, I have a little more time set aside each evening and will watch what I missed.

I know there's so much manga and anime out there but I miss the community that existed when I was younger. This sounds incredibly hipster and gatekeepery but it's not meant to; I'm just getting older so it's hard to connect with people my age on the matter. I've joined a couple of FB groups and that's on the older animations so that's good.

There is just so much content that we are constantly moving on, very few things are allowed to bed in and become part of the zeitgeist. We had limited funds and availability and so, when my group of friends and peers would share a VHS tape it became a water-cooler conversation situation... but in the playgrounds as we were young tweens. The cost of those old VHS tapes was prohibitively high so you'd watch and rewatch those same tapes, cherishing them... even if they were a bit crap sometime (I’m looking at you Legend of the Four Kings- which my best mate at the time owned). Like the odd duff videogame you'd buy based on screenshots at the back of the cassette tape, you'd have almost a Stockholm Syndrome level of affection even though everyone knew that it was inherently rubbish

When Channel 4 started showing manga and anime late at night, it became *THE* conversation for a lot of my friends and I. We would discuss plot points, art styles, music and all that went with the show. However, with the emergence of DVDs and the Internet there wasn't a monoculture anymore. It was great for access to a wider variety of content, but it also meant we lost that sense of community. No doubt, a lot of that is due to my age; I'm 43 years old and the cool stuff now is not stuff I've seen or I'm into and I get that. Also, there's just sooo much stuff out there so where to begin? I do like going to conventions and seeing the variety of costumes and merchandise out there- there really is stuff for everybody and I’m pleased that manga has become mainstream.

I'm not decrying options but the choice paralysis that hits when you have too many options is real. With Gamepass and PS + I could have access to thousands of games but sometimes it's exhausting so I go revisit an old favourite. That's what I'm doing now with manga. I haven't got time for a 1000+ episodes of One Piece but I can spare a few hours for GTO, Death Note or Future Boy Conan.

Manga Mania was a hugely formative part of my life and, even though it's not a big a part as it used to be, it still informs much of my interests nowadays. I’ve had a blast looking through the magazines and will endeavour to keep them forevermore.

Future Boy Conan- Series Review

I'm a huge Mysterious Cities of Gold fan and had heard that it was part inspired by a series called Future Boy Conan. I'd never seen this series before, as it was never shown in the UK to my knowledge, but had heard that it was definitely worth a watch. When a Blu-ray was released, I jumped on it and ordered it on release day. However, it sat in my pile of shame for over a year until I finally got around to it earlier this month.

Even though the series is old and I have no personal attachment to it, I hoped that I was nuanced enough to overlook its nearly 50 plus year old production values in order to appreciate what many others saw in as it's inherent good qualities. I can honestly say that, after its 11 hour runtime, I was very impressed.

The show starts off very quickly, with a prologue about Earth being destroyed by man's folly in 2008 by using ultra-magnetic weapons that destabilised the Earth's poles, creating natural disaster and breaking up the landmasses.

Fast forward a few decades and one of the scientists, now an old man, takes care of a boy he helped raise on the island. When the boy, Conan, find a mysterious girl, Lana, washed up on their shore they help get her back to health.

When a military force from Industria take her and kill the old man, the boy travels across the world to rescue her. What follows is a heartfelt and adventurous tale of friendship, resilience and heart as Conan attempts to rescue Lana and finds out about the wider world.

After Lana is rescued, Conan and Jimsy get to experience life in her village of High Harbor. They get to understand what it is to be part of a community and the difficulties that arise during difficult times in a close community. The socio-political conversation is thoughtful as the people fight back against Industria.
After a tsunami nearly devastates High Harbor, Conan decides to go to Industria to help the people there after the consequences of the giant wave. His selflessness and empathy, even for those who want to harm him, is heartening to see and a good message for people of all ages to follow. I won't spoil the ending but the last 3 episodes are some of the most intense and we'll-paced episodes of any serial ever.

There are a lot of aspects of the show that probably wouldn't be allowed on children's TV nowadays, like underage drinking, smoking and physical abuse where the kids are smacked on the rump with planks and beaten up. This definitely IS your dad's animation. I haven't clutched my pearls this hard since Upin and Ipin were smacked across the face for lying! Additionally, there's difficult stuff to cover like branding, slavery and imperialism but it's all dealt with pretty sympathetically and no-one is presented as irredeemable. We get an insight into the imperial powers intentions through the actions of Monsley, a General of sorts who carry out most of Industria's orders without question. When we gain a flashback as to her origin story it offers insight into her motivation. Characters are well fleshed out and we understand them even if we don’t agree with them or their actions.

The animation, under the direction of the legendary future Ghibli animator Hayao Miyazaki, is brilliant and consistent throughout. The backgrounds are extremely detailed and create a believable world. The character designs are superb and have a timeless quality, belying it's age whilst the pacing is excellent throughout. The High Harbor episodes, where the characters get a taste of island life offers insight into society post-catastrophe, is thankfully well done. They do not overstay their welcome, unlike those in Nadia: Secret of Blue Water where island episodes killed the pacing for several episodes.

The Blu-ray transfer is excellent as the colours really pop and the animation is crystal clear with little to no blurring, colour bleeding, fuzz, scratching, artefacting or pop in. It's an excellent way to presents the show in the best possible way and I can see why the show is so highly regarded. In the West we had cheaply animated children's shows but rarely did they have the lavish production costs, focus on character and story that this has. The only thing that came close would be the Disney movies but a 26 part TV animated series aimed at kids didn't really take off until the 80s when we had DIC produced shows like Ulysses 31, Belle and Sabastian and MCOG as well as BRB’sWillie Fogg and Dogtanian.

Future Boy Conan is a remarkable piece of work and, whilst not the rosetta stone for many series, it is a landmark production that obviously affected the animation industry going forward. It is well worth your time!

LINK- Mysterious Cities of Gold Season 3 (English Dub) -Complete Series Review

LINK- MCOG Series 2 Review

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- The Last Guardian- Video Games As Art

LINK- Shadow of the Colossus- Book Review

LINK: Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- The Midnight Library and the Idea That You Can’t Go Home Again

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

Manga and Me

In Japan, manga has been a part of the culture for a long time. The origins of manga are debated and The Handscroll of Frolicking Animals by Kitazawa Rakuten is considered a major influence, but generally it gained prominence in the post World War 2 era where artists such as Osamu Tezuka brought some levity and lightness to proceedings with Mighty Atom or Astro Boy as he's known in the West. Tezuka was to manga what Will Eisner was to American comics; the medium existed before their arrival but they brought it to the fore and forever changed it.

There was a giant Astroboy figure at the Manga Exhibition at the British Museum.

As a young boy growing up in east London, England, I didn't know anything about manga or anime but I was consuming it unknowingly through shows such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold and Ulysses 31. One Saturday I went into my local WHSmith’s and saw issue 22 of a magazine called Manga Mania and was taken by the big eyes, spiky hair style and tiny mouth and nose of the cover star that reminded me so much of the animation style I liked. When I picked it up, from the top shelf next to the more salacious magazines, I felt a bit of a rebel but upon opening it the kinetic imagery and artistry blew me away. Flicking through it I saw a mention of The Mysterious Cities of Gold in the letter pages and knew I had found something special.

My uncle who was only slightly older than me, saw that I had an interest in manga and gave me Devilman and Akira to borrow on VHS- not bad for a 13 year old kid enthralled by this new genre. At the time Akira blew my mind, I didn't understand it then and don't even pretend to now but I knew that I was watching something special

My interest in manga peaked at the same time of the Marvel and DC comic boom in the early to mid 90's and I soon forged a group of friends who became Japanophiles and comic buddies, recording and swapping recordings off the Sci-fi Channel and Channel 4 late on Saturday nights. However, getting some cool or fresh manga was difficult as it was still pretty cult. I’d buy some items from my local comic store, Rodney’s Books and Comics but this was quite limited.

This was the local comic store in Barking and was legendary for those in the scene.

Later on, when I got my part time job at Peacock’s in Ilford, I had disposable income and so could afford to buy stuff from Forbidden Planet. It was amazing but came at a premium price. Here are a few of the soundtracks I still have which are in my collection.

I visited the Manga Exhibition at the British Museum and loved the scope of it!

Later on, with the advent of the internet, getting stuff became easier as I could always get things on ebay, usually bootleg copies of stuff that hadn't made its way West yet. I'd buy a series, usually for about £15 to £20 and consume it over the coming weeks. I found that the guy I was buying from lived just in the next town so I'd get on the bus, pop over to his house and buy a few series at a time. This was how I watched Haibane Renmei, Cowboy Bebop, Serial Experiment Lain, Vampire Princess Miyu TV series, 3x3 Eyes, The Big O, Giant Robo and many, many others.

With the onset of Bear Share, Limewire and Pirate Bay and other file sharing platforms I just bought a hard drive and got loads of stuff that way but the DVDs were the best for me as they felt real and looked impressive rather than ephemeral and disposable.

These are bootleg soundtracks I burnt in the early 00s.

I visited Japan over 10 years ago and love it.

I still have a lot of these bootleg series in the loft, alongside my real copies of stuff I bought, but these were halcyon days of anime and manga and I miss the camaraderie of a tight group sharing and discussing cult stuff. Manga was one of my first true loves and one that has survived to this day, at least to some lesser extent. Manga is in my lifeblood and even though it doesn't feature as prominently in my daily life as it once did for me, it was formative in my youth and for that I am still grateful.

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK: Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

Vampire Hunter D- Cult Manga OAV Review

In Japan, manga has been a part of the culture for a long time. The origins of manga are debated and The Handscroll of Frolicking Animals by Kitazawa Rakuten is considered a major influence, but generally it gained prominence in the post World War 2 era where artists such as Osamu Tezuka brought some levity and lightness to proceedings with Mighty Atom or Astro Boy as he's known in the West. Tezuka was to manga what Will Eisner was to American comics; the medium existed before their arrival but they brought it to the fore and forever changed it.

As a young boy growing up in east London, England, I didn't know anything about manga or anime but I was consuming it unknowingly through shows such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold and Ulysses 31.
One Saturday, I went into my local WH Smith and saw issue 22 of a magazine called Manga Mania and was taken by the big eyes, spiky hair style and tiny mouth and nose of the cover star that reminded me so much of the animation style I liked. When I picked it up, from the top shelf next to the more salacious magazines, I felt a bit of a rebel but upon opening it the kinetic imagery and artistry blew me away. Flicking through it I saw a mention of The Mysterious Cities of Gold in the letter pages and knew I had found something special.

I was lucky enough to visit Japan in 2013.

My uncle who was only slightly older than me, saw that I had an interest in manga and gave me Devilman and Akira to borrow on VHS- not bad for a 13 year old kid enthralled by this new genre. At the time Akira blew my mind, I didn't understand it then and don't even pretend to now but I knew that I was watching something special.

One of the other manga VHS tapes I was given early on in my journey was Vampire Hunter D. I watched it at the time and loved the moody art style and its similarity to Castlevania, a videogame series I enjoyed on the NES and Megadrive at the time. Since then, I have become more aware of the artist Yohitaka Amano, who contributed to the D design as well as the art for many Final Fantasy videogames. So, on this wet, cold and dark night I thought I’d settle down and watch the Vampire Hunter D OAV film.

In the film, the world's humans live in fear of the vampires and beasts that haunt the land. When a young maiden, Doris, is attacked and marked as the new bride for the evil Count she seeks help from a mysterious swordsman. Known simply as D, the dhampir (part human-part vampire) rides to the castle and an epic battle begins.

Watching the film for the first time in about 25 years, one of the things that struck me is how like a videogame it really is. D goes to the castle to confront the Count but is sent down into the castles depths. He then goes through a sort of boss rush where he fights against various creatures, including the three Midwich Medusa sisters, a ghost wolf, a spider throwing hunchback, before rescuing Doris. However, this continues the story on from where a game would usually end. Doris’ brother is kidnapped so D has to go back and rescue him, then he is killed but rises again before he has a final confrontation with the big bad.

This 1985 OAV is a handsome piece of work, obviously created with a good budget that takes advantage of the format of the time to be a tight 81 minutes. The film does contain lots of gore and there is a bit of gratuitous nudity as the young maiden, Doris, is in the shower for a non-essential scene but, surprisingly for the time it was created, it remains relatively non-offensive.

Manga was one of my first true loves and one that has survived to this day, at least to a lesser extent. Manga is in my lifeblood and even though it doesn't feature as prominently in my daily life as it once did for me, it was formative in my youth and for that I am still grateful. Films like this remind me why I fell in love with the medium in the first place.

LINK- Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- My Visit to the Cartoon Museum in London

LINK- Manga Exhibition at the British Museum: Review

LINK: Preserving the Spirit of Media Past

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

LINK- On, and On and Colston (Or, ‘How We Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism in GB’)

Vampire Princess Miyu OVA- Cult Manga Review

During the Japanese bubble economy of the 80s, the animation studios released original video animations at a premium price. These films usually featured high quality animation and were released in waves, based on the success of sales.

The Vampire Princess Miyu OVA was released on 2 VHS tapes, each lasting just under an hour and containing 2 episodes. The AIC published films were based on the manga by Narumi Kakinouchi and Toshiki Hirano. I was attracted to the anime as I was going through a horror phase back in the mid to late 90s and, whilst not a metal head or goth, the character design had me intrigued. It stood out against the harem and ultra violent anime available at the time.

The story is quite simple: a mysterious vampire girl seems to be implicated in numerous strange occurances, often involving the victims being drained of blood. Hot on her trail is spiritualist Himiko, who seeks to save people again this scourge but is there more to this figure than meets the eye.

In the first episode, she helps a young couple who worry that their daughter is in a deep coma due to a vampires bite. In the second, a young teenage boy faces pressure from his family to succeed and achieve and the pressure drives him to seek freedom away from them. When a young lady promises to keep him young and carefree how can he resist? In the third episode, Himiko helps Miyu recover Larva from the Lord of the Abyss after he failed to kill Miyu. It's a good look at the relationship between Miyu and her familiar and offers a glimpse into bit of their origins. In the final episode, we see Miyu's origin and also learn of the link between Himiko and Miyu. This is quite an affecting episode and ties a bow on the premise of the follow up TV series.

I have a real affection for this OVA, even after about 30 years after last seeing it. The story is simple but effective but it's the mood and world it creates that appeals. There is a sense of mystery to Miyu's origins and who Larva, her familiar, is to her. The way the evil Shinma feed off the darkness of the human souls is intriguing and each episode is self contained, Kolchak style with a monster of the week format whilst also providing a breadcrumb trail of information about the series namesake protagonist.

The art direction is excellent and the pastel saturated effect makes the characters really pop in the foreground. When you take into account the stunning music by Kenji Kawai and wonderful colour palette of the in between world, you realise that this was a quite unique proposition in the West; a romantic and wistful vampire love story years before Twilight was even a twinkle in Stephanie Meyer's eye.

The standout episode is the second one as the Noh music and art direction are incredibly strong. It has a quick pace but more than that, we see the more human side of Miyu and sense her loneliness.

So Miyu is not as frenetic or action packed as a lot of manga from back then but it does have that certain style and atmosphere that creates an unsettling feeling. The show is relatively free of the clichés and tropes that pepper the manga and anime landscape today and for that it deserved to be commended. The OAV would be surpassed in terms of developing Miyu's character several years later in the 26 part TV series but for a 2 hour collection, the Miyu OAVs are a vibe. So much so that I even have 2 cels from the TV series in my collection which I love.

LINK: Japan- My Journey to the East

LINK- The Last Guardian- Video Games As Art

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Twin Peaks Retrospective

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

LINK- On, and On and Conston (Or, ‘How We Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism in GB’)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’

LINK: Let’s All Create a ‘New Normal’.

Magnetic Rose (Otomo's Memories)- Cult Film Review

Katsuhiro Otomo is a manga legend, rising to prominence with his seminal masterpiece Akira. It was the first real breakthrough worldwide manga hit, spread initially by word of mouth and then gaining a cult fandom until it broke through to the mainstream thanks to the terrific but confusing film.

For his follow up work, Otomo went a little more left field, creating a comic anthology series of which 3 were turned into an animated film called Memories. I knew of the film due to the soundtrack that I purchased at Forbidden Planet for a then-princely sum of £25. I was intrigued by the cover and when I saw that one of the composers was Yoko Kanno, whose work I'd loved in 'Macross Plus, I bought it. The music was mesmerising, bringing together Puccini's Madame Butterfly with Kanno's wending jazzy brassiness. It is a hauntingly beautiful score and I played it for years before ever seeing the film.

In the late 90s, the emergence of the internet made buying, selling and trading anime much easier and so, after striking an friendship with a fellow manga and anime fan, I received a copied VHS of Memories.

Now, all three short films are worthy of attention but for this review I specifically want to shine a light on the first, Magnetic Rose. I only read one comic from the anthology series and that was Magnetic Rose, but that was after having watched the 50 minute enthralling sci-fi horror/ psychological film

I only recently found out that Magnetic Rose was written by the late, great, gone-too-soon Satoshi Kon who made Paprika, Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Paranoia Agent and Tokyo Godfathers, and looking at those works, the psychological angle is obvious. The storyline is about a salvage ship on their way home receiving a distress signal. Following protocol, they go to provide assistance only to find a graveyard of ships all merged together in the shape of a rose. As the crew explore the interior they encounter a facsimile of a baroque world but there seems to be a presence within which means harm.

I won't spoil it but the atmosphere created, enhances by the evocative operatic soundtrack, is second to none and the film will linger in your mind long after the denouement. The animation is sublime and has some of the most technically impressive multi-plane shots seen at the time, lending the film a lived-in free movement which is appropriate for space.

I've been into manga and anime for over 30 years and this particular film is one of my all-time favourites. Even after all these years, the film haunts me.

Hell Baby- Graphic Novel Review

To start my inaugural retro graphic novel reviews, I thought I’d revisit one of my first ever if not the first graphic novel I ever owned. I may be misremembering but I believe I got this for free with a copy of Manga Mania. It was in a sealed poly bag alongside the comic and at the time I remember being very excited. That would place it around the time I was about 11 years old and boy, at the time did I find it disturbing and edgy.

Hell Baby by Hideshi Hino

The cover is pretty horrific but wait until you see the art inside. The black and white images really pop.

This one-and-done horror story tells the simple tale of a demonic baby, who is abandoned by her father at birth due to her horrific appearance and lust for blood. She is forced to grow up in the Junkyard of the World, struggling against other scavengers. When she dies soon after, a mysterious force resurrects her and guides her on a path of vengeance. Upon reaching the age of seven, she makes her way back into the bright lights of the big city to cause terror and mayhem.

The story is slight, but in a world of never ending manga its quite nice to have a complete story told as a one shot. The entire tale reminds me of The Simpsons Tree House of Horror VII where Bart discovers he had an evil twin, Hugo, living in the attic as his parents realised that he was the 'evil' twin.

Having grown up a bit since its first reading, I have to say that I really like the simplicity of the story. Hideshi Hino's art is simple but this is powerful as the tale of revenge and redemption is vividly brought to life with the gushes of geyser like blood spray interspersed with the innocence of the 'good' twin. Re-reading this after nearly 30 years I was transported to when I first read it in my home in Barking all those years ago, shocked yet thrilled by the emotive, bittersweet tale.

Whilst not a masterpiece by any means, Hino's Hell Baby is a worthwhile read for the tale it tells in a quick bitesize way; some of the images will stick with you for a long time and isn't that the mark of a horror story?

Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World- Book Review (and Personal Reflections)

As an anime and manga fan in the late 80s, 90s and early 00s I was a Japanophile and thought the country a fascinating place, full of the coolest games, best technology and innovations. However, programmes about Japan in the 80s and 90s made the country seem strange, kooky and this was sometimes mixed with a bit of exotic 'otherness' with a smidge of racist undertones. Even recently, a *groan* content creator with multi-million YouTube subscribers went into the country and made fun of Japan, even sharing video footage of a dead suicide victim in a forest known for people ending their life and making fun near a corpse. So I am really pleased that ‘Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World’ by Matt Alt treats the country and culture with respect and examines the land with a more anthropological lens but via the medium of its technological innovations.

I visited Japan in 2013 and visited Tokyo and Kyoto. I fulfilled one of my dream!

I visited Japan in 2013 and visited Tokyo and Kyoto. I fulfilled one of my dream!

Where its economy and technology gained Japan prominence and financial muscle in the 1950, 60 and 70s, much to this chagrin of many Boomers who railed against a Japan that they saw as either producing inferior products or producing good at a much cheaper price due to lower labour costs, it was arguably the video games, anime, manga, fashion and fantasy delivery devices that made it culturally change the world and perhaps has a larger global impact in the 1980s, 90s and 00s,

In an interesting gambit as Alt looks at how each of these fantasy delivery devices saw Japan emerge from its insular nature to take over the world through pop culture rather than just through purely economic or financial means with companies like Toyota or Honda etc. The Gameboy, Sony Walkman and video games were all inessential, inescapable and influential and this meant that they changed the way we saw the world rather than being refined products of what went before.

It also asserts that the late state capitalism, which the Japanese society has been experiencing since the bubble crash in 1989, has been prescient for much that is occurring in the West; adults consuming 'childish' media, digital pets, a love of kawaii (cute things) and hakikomori, where people stay at home as ‘shut-ins’ and avoid society Japan did it first and we are now feeling that wave in the West with 'adulting' meaning playing at 'growing up', shut-ins, a love of geek culture becoming the norm rather than the unique. Heady and profound stuff indeed!

The book's prologue starts with a discussion of how Final Fantasy 7 represented a confident Japan looking outward after the economic bubble burst in 1989 which led to years of political and financial instability.

I like how Alt discusses that even before the devastation wrought by the bombs of WW2, Japan always had a sense of playfulness and fun with a heavy emphasis on toys. In fact Japan was one of the primary supplier of the world's toys, alongside Germany and Britain. It prided itself on artisanal pieces and after the war it used scrap materials to create new toys, starting with Jeep models created from scraps of tin. Alt tackles the misconception that Japan only became playful post-war due to the influence of American military rule. In fact Japan had for many centuries had a child-centric culture where wrapping, boxes and gorgeous presentation were considered as important as the gift itself.

Part I is entitled 'The Fall 1945' and Alt starts with the tin toy market that exploded post war, as toy creator Kosuge et al. recycled used tin cans and metal waste from military compounds to create new tin toys which they sold in Japan and in America.

The next big event was the release of the Osamu Tezuka classic, Mighty Atom or Astro Boy as he's known in the West. This was a landmark affair and forever changed the manga/ comic scene. However, during the 60s there rose a more gritty and violent manga art style - Gekiga- and this was not one beholden to the restrictions of the Comic Code that limited its American counterparts.

The late 60s is where student riots and protest took place as the youth felt disenfranchised and disempowered from an establishment that was complicit in the bombing of Vietnam. After the government tried to pass a law prohibiting large protests, a large protest took place to protest against this. It was a time of financial stagnation for many in the country as too many graduates and not enough jobs affected the prospects of the youth.

The 1970s saw the popularisation of karaoke machines. The idea of karaoke singalongs were not invented by the Japanese but rather had existed in many forms, including singalong Fleischer cartoons where viewers sang along to the bouncing red ball, juke boxes and various 8 track contraptions. What Japan did was popularise the concept by making it easy, portable and intuitive to use by simply adding a microphone to a 8-track player and speaker. It was crude and simple but had appeal for the salaryman (a portmanteau of 'salaried office worker') as these workers had the unenviable task of building Japan back up after the war. They often worked crushing hours in dull offices with no chance for their personality to come through but karaoke was their chance to shine and experience a kind of freedom and camaraderie. Karaoke machines were initially found in 'Love Hotels' but spread across the country as it offered the fantasy of being a singer, primarily in bars and watering holes and then from the privacy of your own home.

The chapter on Hello Kitty is amazing as she is one of the most licenced products in the world and earns revenues of over half a billion dollars, more than the NFL! It started innocently enough with cute and small pocket purses and now extends to kawaii (cute) stationary, toiletries and even onto the notepad of a feared rebel Jihadist leader. You gotta admit, this feline’s got reach! We learn that the minimalist design was created to shift everyday kitchen and homewares but then moved onto more frivolous items such as packs of tissues, erasers and pretty much anything as the young girls from the 70s became independent, financially responsible adults with cash to spare, much like the 00s and 10s fad in the West to repackage nostalgia from the 90s at a premium (remember all those 'Top 100 cartoons/ TV programmes/ 90’s moments etc programmes). This economy of design was influential in Japan as it led to similar economy of design moments across media, such as with the creation of Pacman, Digdug or Mario, which were also hampered with technical limitations that necessitated creativity, the mother of invention.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the rise of Sony and its portable electronic goods. It was a fascinating listen as it showed that rather than being inferior, as many in the West claimed out of jealousy and worry, the portable Sony radio used the most innovative technology of the time, including transistors, to create a fantasy device that was coveted by all around the world. In fact, Frank Sinatra was given one alongside a Walkman as he was the first real Sony brand ambassador. Fascinating stuff!

We then get a quick insight into arcade and pachinko machines and specifically how Space Invaders took arcade games to the world, being the first Japanese fantasy device to sweep the world.

It was after riding this wave for so long that we get the Lost Decades, the era when Japan's economy was in freefall after the bubble burst in 1989. I remember this from my childhood as the image of a Japanese banking guy crying and asking for forgiveness was shared across news channels. As a kid I didn't quite get what was going on but seeing an adult crying in the news was seared into my memory. This is a very interesting topic for Alt and he covers this dark time in Japan.

He shares how the film 'Battle Royale' captured the mood of the nation as it showed the youth rebelling against authority and the dystopia consequences. The film isn't obviously based on a real life situation but captured the mood of the country well. As companies went bankrupt and suicide rates spiked the youth looked for an outlet, which led to heightened personalised fashion, a rise in cosplay and fandom in public spaces (esp. Harajuku), a growth in video games but also hakikomori, a process of shut-ins who subsisted with the barest minimum but managed by being plugged into their interests at home.

However, from this darkness rose schoolgirls and young women who helped pick up the pieces of their shattered country. Chapter 6, Empire of the Schoolgirls, looks at how they it was this demographic embraced a chance to be a more active part of economic society and became taste makers in things thought juvenile, Hello Kitty, highly kitsch cheap fashion, cute (kawaii) fashion and expensive but playful jewellery. It was they who embraced new technologies better and more voraciously than anyone else, for example when the iPhone launched it was a huge success across the world, except in Japan where girls didn't like it as it didn't have emojis. Apple learned their lesson and made sure they included emojis from there on out... Lessons about the buying power of this market were learned. Also fashion brands learned from Hello Kitty about ‘Communication Cosmetics’, providing practical or fancy goods with a logo or icon that brought about a collegiate or group atmosphere. I experience this sometimes when I wear my video game themed tops, which have a subtle detail harkening back to video games of my youth and I occasionally have someone chat to me. My clothing is like an affiliation or a collective memory of a tribe.


Chapter 7, The New Anime Century, is all about manga and anime. As an Evangelion fan, the chapter on the release of the much hyped 'End of Evangelion' was interesting as it showed how an emotionally scarred and impotent main character, Shinji Ikari, chimed with many of the youths of 1995. With the economy still in tatters and the prospects looking gloomy, Ikari embodied the emasculation that many in the patriarchal society felt. In fact, when I travelled to Japan in 2013 Evangelion adverts still proliferated, shilling new perfumes. The show has had a looong tail and when it was brought over to Netflix earlier this year after years of legal wrangling about various rights issues it was considered a huge coup. Evangelion stood on the shoulders of giants as a giant robot existential series, Gundam. Gundam came out in the early 80s and was a phenomenon. Similar to Star Wars in style but more akin to Star Trek with its long syndication and iterative series, the original Gundam aired for 39 episodes out of a projected 52 and was considered a failure as it failed to shift toys, the measure of anime success. However, protests, marches and gatherings led to new movies, syndication and the rise of ‘Otaku’, obsessive fans. As usual wider society condemned this and there was plenty of youth bashing but what was not realised was that Gundam has created a new way to celebrate fandom as cosplay became the norm and the ephemera of comics, novelisation, models and other collectables based on an intellectual property became the norm. This was new.

We then get a short discussion about how Akira brought 'mature' animation to the art houses of America and Europe, garnering much respect and awe for its music, attention to detail and creativity. What interested audiences was that the art style Was one many recognised from shows in their youth like

This led to many Western countries buying, editing and dubbing old anime and bringing it to their audiences, we had the likes of Star Blazer (Battleship Yamato), Robotech (Macross) and many others. Being American centric, this chapter misses out on the fact that DIC produced many French-Japanese co-produced shows like Mysterious Cities of Gold, Ulysses 31 and the like and so in Europe the anime art style was a huge part of my and many childhoods. The ascent to Akira wasn't so out of left field as we had been brought up on the art form, even if we didn't necessarily know it. My uncle gave me Akira and Devilman on VHS as an 12 year old and it blew my mind. Alt does have a discussion about VHS and how copies of anime and manga shows were shared and grew from cult to mainstream so he is on point there.

This culminated in the Oscar success of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away which brought anime into the mainstream and Western public consciousness. This was quickly seen in the Animatrix, the Wachowski's sideward tip of the hat at the Matrix's anime and manga forebears. Anime influence also crept into Kill Bill and in series such as Avatar: The Last Airbender the animated series (forget the godawful Shyamalan movie).

Chapter 8 entitled 'Gaming the World' looks at how Nintendo rose to prominence but with the usual American-centric 'Video Game Crash'. It's a compelling if oft told tale which didn't affect Europe which was thriving with its microcomputer scene but in this telling Mario saved the day. As well as the usual retread of the console wars of the 90s with Sega vs. Nintendo duking it out, we get an interesting section on the rise of Pokemon as the unlikely Gameboy system seller in 1998 (a decade after its first release), as well as a look at this multi-media success story which still successfully earns billions every year.

Chapter 9, ‘The Antisocial Network’, looks at the Internet and how it brought different tribes together. 2chan was originally an otaku site where people could share stories, anime and manga but morphed into a more chaotic force, embracing all that is good and the bad. This reached a crescendo with #Gamergate which under the guise of ethics in video game journalism was more like a misogynistic screed against women in the industry. I remember at the time being embarrassed to be a gamer as this became world news as many in the industry were threatened with real world violence whilst also enduring horrific online abuse. This hate hidden under the pretense for 'Freedom of Speech' was tapped into by Steve Bannon, Brietbart and the alt-Right and led to a huge wave of Republican support. However, much good has come out of this forum including Anonymous and its support for Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring and support for Hong Kongers against draconian Chinese extradition laws. To be sure 2chan was the progenitor of these online chat spaces and forums but it has had a long tail and its effects are reverberating worldwide.

The Epilogue ends with a look at Haruki Murakami's magical realism and how he taps into the confusing and often surreal situations that exist in the world; there is universality in his works about the human condition that appeals and speaks truth about our existential angst.

Alt says that the world has been led by an attention economy, clicking tapping and swiping away on our phones, but that Covid has created a a state of worldwide hakikomori, but in this case enforced ahut-ins and people have consumed video games, streamed shows via Netflix or Amazon Prime, read and listened to music but more than that, it has led to a spike in creativity.

He ends on a note of optimism that while Japan no longer is at the cutting edge of pop culture and technology, due in part to globalisation and the rise of China and South Korea, there is still much to learn from the country as many conditions in the West were first felt in Japan 2 decades ago, it was the true pioneer. However the success of Animal Crossing during the pandemic, Pokemon Go and hologram concerts (which originated in Japan with Hatsune Miku over a decade ago) shows Japan is still a potent cultural force.

Alt’s book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Japan and the look at the subcultures is fascinating stuff. A worthwhile read and highly recommended by me!

LINK- Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK: Preserving the Spirit of Media Past

LINK- Why I Collect

Enter the Anime- Review

Enter the Anime is an hour long documentary about the Japanese animation industry and the various counter-cultures it has spawned in the well-ordered and often rigidly structured country. What made this documentary an intriguing prospect was that the trailer stated that it would be presented by a self-proclaimed novice to the field, Director Alex Burunova. So, intrigued by the trailer I dived right in... but was it worth it?

Over the course of an hour, we journey with Burunova as she tries to discover the 'soul of anime' by talking with some of its key creators and people influenced by it. The entire documentary is shot in a kinetic style to suit who she is talking to and, at moments, is quite beautiful to look at but there is a major problem... the documentary only covers the anime on Netflix rather than the medium as a whole. The fact that most of the anime presented and discussed has only been released within the last 3 or so years means that, for an art form that spans over 70 years, the scope is somewhat limited.

With these limitations, we discover the following:

Adi Shankar, writer of the excellent Netflix Castlevania anime, was influenced by early 80s OVA's, which helped to inform the look of the Castlevania show, which is produced in the West but in the anime style.

The Director of Aggretsuko, Rarecho, believes that anime is art taken to its limits and that's why it has niches, sub-cultures and sub-cultures within subcultures. When there is the mundane people seek the unusual and different.

The 'three edgiest outlaws', Tetsuya Kinoshita, Yuji Higa (Producers of Kengan Ashura) and Seiji Kishi (Director of Kengan Ashura) discuss their love of hand crafted anime using CG and the time they met Arnold Schwarzenegger at the original Gold's Gym. They talk about using real martial artists to create the fight sequence and then the animators slow it down to animate the sequence.

Studio Toei Chairman Kozo Morishita tells us that as one of the longest running and well known anime houses, much of its catalogue is classic childhood fare, much like Disney is for many people here in the West. It has handled such properties as Dragonball Z, Slam Dunk and Saint Seiya. Morishita rather honestly states that Toei was created to raise the spirits of children after the loss of World War II.

This is all hardly groundbreaking stuff. The fact that the relationship between manga and anime isn't even looked at is a huge oversight in my opinion. The two art forms feed each other and are so intertwined, so to exclude one is to the detriment of the other.

Burunova also (briefly and only through one artist) explores the anime music scene and shows how the two are linked by chatting to Yoko Takahashi, singer of Evangelion's 'A Cruel Angel' s Thesis.' Takahashi makes an appearance and talks about her experience of Evangelion and the ardent fan base.

Kawaii (cute) culture is looked at and Rilakumma makes a giant headed appearance to discuss Japan's obsession with kawaii culture as a measure against 1960s stuffiness. In a similar way, Director Rarecho believes that Aggretsuko is a expression of female frustration in the workplace and sees the character as one of empowerment and a voice for many women in the workplace, which seems prescient in the time before #MeToo became a thing.

The rise of CG anime and the processes of its painstaking creation are discussed, but the general feeling is it makes the cost of the series more manageable and affordable in this online streaming world.

Overall, this is a disappointing documentary, one that will find it hard to reach the appropriate demographic. It is not comprehensive or detailed enough for your hardcore anime or Japanaphile (weeaboo) yet I think it will be too broad and meandering for a younger audience. In this day and age when anyone can be a content creator, I have found more interesting and informative videos on YouTube than this documentary provides. It is a shame as manga and anime has entered the zeitgeist in much of the world yet this documentary does a disservice with its Edge-Lord stylings and musings. Considering there is a huge exhibition at the British Museum currently and considering that Neon Genesis Evangelion, a landmark in anime is finally stream able after years out of circulation, reducing the medium to 'creators be cray cray, psycho, mad and other silly terms diminishes the artform.
Watch it if you must but not one I'd recommend to anyone. I've listed a few documentaries that I would recommend in the links below.

The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince- Video Games As Art

I recently finished a beautiful little puzzle-platforming game called The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince. The game has a stunning storybook art style and tells the dark fairytale-like story of a wolf who loves to sing. Once night, whilst singing her voice attracts the attention of a Prince who tries to find out who the voice belongs to. The wolf, worried that the Prince would see her monstrous form, accidentally blinds the Prince. The Prince is found by his troops and, due to his blindness, is considered imperfect and thrown into jail. Feeling guilty, the wolf visits a witch and gives up her voice for the ability to transform into a Princess. Using her newfound ability, the wolf/Princess busts the Prince out of jail and takes him across various levels back to the witch so can restore his sight.

The tale is very Hans Christian Anderson or Brothers Grimm but the lush art style is all manga. The game is a bit floaty and not as tightly controlled as Limbo or Inside but for a 4 to 5 hour game it is a great experience. Check out the screenshots from my play through.

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 6- Comic Review

This volume is an important one as it brings together most of the plot points about Alita and Erica and the socio-ploitocal history of Mars. For Alita fans, the true origins of Alita's 'birth' is revealed and we find out who her 'mother' is. In true Kishiro fashion it is anything but normal as the rug is swept from under as the expected royal lineage is not accurate. Alita’s birth does have parallels with many virgin birth stories, however I don't know of many miracle sprogs birthed from cancerous martian tumours. The shock of the reveal is grotesque in true Cronenbergian sense but with a dash of Kishiro nihilism.

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 6

The rest of the graphic novel moves at a cracking pace and we see the end of Baron Muster and Lady Kagura as they destroy each other in the most hideous fashion. This graphic novel series is dark and continues to get darker but I do hope that we move to the present and see what the endgame is for Alita and friends.

There is a long wait until the next volume releases near the end of the year so get comfy.

LINK- Alita: Battle Angel- Film Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 5- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 4- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 3- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 2- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 1- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: And So It Ends

LINK- The Moomins 80's Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Inspector Gadget Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

Alita: Battle Angel- Film Review

29 years after the source material first came out, Alita: Battle Angel has finally hit the theatres. I’ve been a HUGE fan of the series since its release in 1990 and over time have waited with bated breath for James Cameron, Mr Terminator/ Aliens/ Titanic/ Avatar to release the film he had optioned for sooo very long. With the success of Avatar, Cameron became too busy and passed the task onto Robert Rodriguez, a great/ good director with a variable success rate. I was concerned when the film was pushed back from its December release date and the trailers, while exciting, had me concerned. The online backlash *sigh* against the size of Alita’s eyes had me concerned that people were sharpening their knives for the film… so with some trepidation I kept away from all review, reports and social media on the film to see it fresh and uninfluenced, and I’m glad I did.

For those not in the know Battle Angel Alita is an ongoing manga comic book series that is a masterful piece of sci-fi. The story tells the dark tale of Alita, a young cyborg girl who is discovered broken but with her brain intact by Dr Daisuke Ido. Ido is delighted with his find and takes Alita to his home and repairs her. Over time there develops a father-daughter bond but Alita has amnesia and is unhappy as she wants to find out more about her mysterious past. Over time she learns that she knows the powerful 'Panzer Kurst' fighting technique and enters the Motorball Tournament, a Running Man/ Rollerball style gauntlet filled with cyborgs and other hideous mechanical marvels.

Over the course of the first 4 graphic novels Alita enters and becomes the champion of Motorball. The other 5 graphic novels see Alita try to live a ‘normal’ civilian life but life has other plans and there are plots to overthrow the floating city and bring equity to the Scrapyard… all pretty heady stuff!

Trying to fit over 1000 pages of comics into 2 hours would not be possible or advisable and so the film covers the first 3 graphic novels. The first 5 minutes of the movie whizz along at a cracking pace and the whole film moves from set-piece to set-piece effortlessly.

The first two series of Alita… clocking in at over 2000 pages easily!

The first two series of Alita… clocking in at over 2000 pages easily!

My heart soared with joy at seeing the scenes I'd imagined in my head for many years play out so spectacularly on the big screen. The scrapyard was bathed in a dirty golden glow as Ido finds Alita's broken body, her head and chest intact. The world of the scrapyard and the mysterious floating city of Zalem is beautifully realised, being one of the best cityscapes since Valarian, Blade Runner 2049 or Ghost in the Shell. The enlarges eyes of Alita drew initial criticism but within the first minute or so they just... blend in. When you have people with cyborg bodies roaming around slightly enlarges eyes on a robot girl seem less jarring, there isn't the uncanny valley that I and many others were worried about.

The fact that the United Republics of Mars - Earth conflict from much of Last Order and Mars Chronicle (the second and third Alita series) is mentioned is a nice inclusion for longtime fans as that’s a pretty deep cut, however it is covered well, as is the Panzer Kunst and Berserker Body. Without heavy exposition the concepts and background are explained, this is good work indeed, especially from a writing team not known for good scripting.

The love story doesn't always work as Rosa Salazar (Alita) is a much stronger actor that Keean Johnson (love interest, Hugo) in this film but the film works for me, not as an apologist for bad manga and anime conversions but generally as a bold sci-fi film. It is the best manga conversion so far and granted the bar was low but as a long time Alita fan (29 years) I was extremely happy with the end result.

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 3- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 2- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 1- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: And So It Ends

LINK- The Moomins 80's Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Inspector Gadget Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Sonic Mania Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack

LINK- Thomas Was Alone Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 4- Comic Review

Another Alita book and another change of pace as we settle on Erica and her life of villainy under Baron Muster. She assists Muster in his search for the Martian treasure and we find out that Erica is quite adept at solving puzzles and committing heinous acts of violence.

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 4

Young Yoko/ Alita is briefly mentioned and we see how she is settling into life at the Baumberg Mansion but this volume is really centred around Muster’s mission to find the secret Martian Tomb and the treasure within.

Muster is a comic book villain, all twirling moustache and cackling but in the very best sense. Just as you judge him as a power crazy monster a flashback on his youth shows his motivation and brings a bit of humanity into the proceedings.

The best aspect of this volume is the mystery around the cypher, which presents a puzzle for reader to solve. We learn about the Caeser Cypher and the importance of the book 'On War', its regular Dan Brown level stuff but does draw you in.

Battle Angel Alita Mars Chronicle is a thrill ride, you don't know where its taking you and can't predict what's coming up but by gum are you excited for what happens next. Kishiro has regained some of the momentum lost from Last Order but I hope we start to get some answers as to what the treasure is and what role Yoko/ Alita has to play in it.

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 3- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 2- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 1- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: And So It Ends

LINK- The Moomins 80's Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Inspector Gadget Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Sonic Mania Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack

LINK- Thomas Was Alone Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 3- Comic Review

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle has shown great promise with volume 1 taking us back to Alita's origin as a young orphaned 80% cyborg child named Yoko living on the war-torn surface of Mars with her friend Erica. Volume 2 returned to the present and had Yoko and Erica fighting after 200 years spent apart. Volume 3 returns us to the past to flesh out the storyline of Yoko and Erica in more detail. Yukito Kishiro has always had a bleak view of the world and here it gets incredibly dark as we find out about Erica's family, the tragedy of her past and maybe her descent to the dark side. We find out how the pair were separated yet their destinies forever entwined.

After she is separated from Yoko, who finds her birth mother, Erica no longer has the positive balance in her life and so when the new big bad- Baron Muster, who sports a horrendous deformity which Kishiro seems to revel in drawing, is revealed it is quite simple to work out why Erica would turn on her friend and become a mercenary.

So overall, this volume introduces yet more characters and more sub-plots but doesn't bring a sense of closure to all the other plot threads, however we now know why Erica turned to the dark side after Yoko left.

This series is setting things up but I hope that it doesn't become like Last Order and drag for too long with incidental characters that go nowhere. At the moment though it succeeds in drawing me in and keeping me invested in this dystopian world.

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 3 continues the journey of Yoko/ Alita on.

Tonbridge Comic-Con 2018 Builds on Previous Year Success

On one of the hottest days of the year hundreds of geeks and nerds (of which I am one) from various fandoms descended on the Angel Centre in Tonbridge to attend the second ever Tonbridge Comic-con.
I had even higher expectations than last year as that was the inaugural event and this, the sequel, had to be bigger, bolder... better. So how was it? Did it meet my expectations? Well, read on and find out...

Tonbridge Comic-Con 2018

As I approached the Angel Centre I could see a long line had formed and keeping the people entertained were various people in costume, there was Darth Vader, numerous Storm Troopers, a Sand Person, a Jawa and an Imperial Officer. People were getting their photos taken and children were kept enthralled/ terrified.
Inside there were lots of stalls selling all manner of geeky goods at a fair price including anime, manga, Marvel, DC and video game merch. A difference from last year was the amount of stalls as there seemed to be a lot more, but this was a good thing at they sold a wider range of products from last year. There were they typical Funko Pop Figs, t-shirts and posters but also there was a Disney Princess cupcake stall, wallets and purses and lots more vintage figures, annuals and collectable cards and stickers. I purchased some of these cards and was really pleased at the price (5 packs for £1) as well as 3 cupcakes (3 for £5, for my wife and 2 unwell daughters).

There were a few celebrities doing signings and photosincluding Jason Ybarra (Star Wars: Rogue One), Ian McNeice (Dr Who) and a free signed photo for all attendeed from Simon Fisher-Becker (Dr Who).
There were a few people dressed up, representing various fandoms, however not as many as last year but that was to be expected as the heat was oppressive.

Around the Angel Centre hall were lots of items and photo opportunity pieces of memorabilia and costumed folks which you could snap away at. There was the giant inflatable Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, a handmade Batmobile Tumbler and the Iron Throne. The atmosphere of the whole event was lovely and calm and outside the centre many attendees and cosplayers had a chance to congregate and share in their nerd-dom. The second Tonbridge Comic con has built upon last years successes and continues to grow. As a local event it is great and I look forward to it growing and expanding its scope and aspirations.

Overall this was a well organised event with lots of offer for families and young people, I hope next year it's even bigger and better next year!

I bought 5 packs of random cards and stickers for 1 pound... bargain! I wonder if the stick of chewing gum is any good?

Battle Angel Alita Back in Mars Chronicle

After a 4 year wait, (at least here in the West) Battle Angel Alita is back with the final arc in Mars Chronicle. The series, created by Yukito Kishiro, seemed to have run its course.

The first series, simply titled Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm in Japan) is a masterful piece of work which is an essential sci-fi read. Over 9 graphic novels we follow the adventures of Alita, a young cyborg girl who is discovered broken but with her brain intact by Dr Daisuke Ido. Ido is delighted with his find and takes Alita to his home and repairs her. Over time there develops a father-daughter bond but Alita has amnesia and is unhappy as she wants to find out more about her mysterious past. Over time she learns that she knows the powerful 'Panzer Kurst' fighting technique and enters the Motorball Tournament, a Running Man style gauntlet filled with cyborgs and other mechanical marvels. Over the course of 9 graphic novels Alita learns more about her past and the unfair society she lives in.

The original series peaks with the fifth graphic novel, Angel of Redemption but the rest of the series is still very high quality. The series continues for another 4 graphic novels and Angel's Ascension is a stunning conclusion to Yukito Kishiro's gritty cyberpunk masterpiece. In the end Alita finally discovers the ghastly secret of Tiphares, saves the floating city and the Scrapyard from destruction and finds love.

When I first read the series I loved the ending and thought that Kishiro had tied up the series wonderfully.

Then it was announced that the series would continue as Kishiro felt that the story wasn't finished yet. In a redux Last Order continued from Volume 9 of Battle Angel Alita, but diverged from the original ending. It ignored the transformation of Ketheres into a nanotechnological space flower, Alita's subsequent transformation into a flesh-and-blood human girl and her reunion with Figure, her love. Instead it takes place after Alita is killed by a doll bomb in the final volume of Battle Angel Alita.

Last Order is 19 graphic novels long and begins when Alita is resurrected by Desty Nova's nanotechnology in the floating city of Tiphares. The city's dark secrets are brutally exposed, but it turns out to be a small part of a complex world. Going into space with new and old companions alike, to look for her lost friend Lou Collins and to find out more about her forgotten past, Alita is caught up in an interplanetary struggle between the major powers of the colonized solar system. Along the way, she forms an alliance with three of the Alita Replicas who have now begun to think for themselves, an unsavory superhacker, and Nova himself when she enters the Zenith of Things Tournament (Z.O.T.T.), a fighting competition held every ten years. During the course of the story, more background about the setting of Battle Angel Alita that was not disclosed in the prior series is revealed, such as how the Earth emerged from a cataclysmic impact winter that wiped out most of the population. The series ends as Alita’s friends all converge to find out what happened to her after the Z.O.T.T. ending and roots break out across the solar system. The last two graphic novels act as an epilogue, showing us the lives of Alita’s friends as well as a final reveal of the protagonist that hinted at more to come...

My complete Alita collection.

From the sound of it Last Order sounds like more of the same and then some, but the story was extremely slow moving and the fighting so excessive that it actually ground the plot to a complete halt several times and over multiple volumes of the graphic novels. Many of the volumes were a chore to wade through as we were introduced to new characters and then told overly long back stories that no-one was really interested in. The final two volumes were especially disappointing for long term fans of the series, who had been following Alita's adventures for over 24 years.
There was a brief hiatus as Kishiro collected his thoughts but in 2015 he announced he was returning with a new Alita series, exploring her origins on Mars.

With Battle Angel Alita: Martian Chronicles I hope Kishiro regains his mastery over telling a griping, savage, brutal story expediently. I loved the first 9 graphic novels as they were brilliantly executed; moments of extreme violence were interspersed with deep introspective philosophising and beauty. With his expanded character roster and overwrought world building in Last Order I believe Kishiro lost sight of the story and heart and that was to the detriment of the series. There was no sense of urgency that made us empathise with Alita’s plight to find out who she was and where she came from. I am extremely excited for the Martian Chronicles but also cautiously optimistic. Here's hoping it finds Kishiro back on track and Alita back in fighting for form. A review will soon follow so keep updated!

Castlevania The Animated Series- Series Review (No Spoilers)

What is Castlevania, the animated series? A miserable pile of garbage or worth a watch?
When Netflix announced that it would be helping to produce an animated series on the classic Konami series of yore I was excited and then... trepidation hit. After all, how well have many Japanese and video game adaptations fared in the past? Not very well if you look at previous form: any one for any of the heinous Uwe Boll adaptations, the anemic American version of Death Note or the underwhelming Ghost in the Shell movie attest to that? So to say I was worried would be a fair assessment but after seeing the Castlevania trailer and hearing that it would be written by comic legend Warren Ellis (of The Authority and Transmetropolitan fame) my interest and hopes were piqued and raised. So how is the series?

Well, for the uninitiated Castlevania follows the adventures of the Belmont family and their multi generational battle against Dracula. When you get down to it the story is simple: the fight between good and evil. However within the first few minutes of the episodes there are shades of grey as the reasons for Dracula's hatred of the church are revealed. He becomes a more sympathetic villain than he is usually represented as in many other media. His hatred of the church and specifically the clergy forms the story arc of this series as the question of science versus religion is brought up.

There have been numerous games which have played with the official time line and lore so there is not a consistent story overall and so prior knowledge is not required to enjoy the show, but for fans of the games it contains elements from Castlevania III

The writing really is on point and even  though it is episodic, flows well, which you would expect from a renown comic writer such as Ellis. His sardonic wit comes through, especially near the end of episode 1, where Trevor Belmont hears the locals discuss their close parentage and beastiality. It seems almost Tarantino-esque as two locals discuss the misadventures of a fellow villager who has laid with his goats and sheep. I have faint echoes of Spider Jerusalem or Kev in my ears as I recall the scene as it is hilariously funny yet incredibly dark too.

The animation are art style are both exemplary and you can see that no expense has been spared. The design of the show is beautiful and there were moments in the show where  I paused to take in the true beauty of what was being represented. The art style recalls the best of go thick horror and reminded me of my youth watching Vampire Hunter D and Ninja Scroll. This animation is definitely meant for adults and the high level of blood, gore and dismemberment attests to the fact. The fight sequences are well animated and high octane without being as hyperstylised as Dragon Ball Z or many other anime or manga.

Special mention should be made of the voice actors, who are of a high caliber and contain some bona-fide Hollywood stars, which lend the whole series some gravitas and seriousness. 
Castlevania is a great animated show, recalling the best of anime whilst avoiding a lot of the tropes and fan service (read: panty shots of the female characters) which has blighted the medium over the last two decades. The story is intriguing and builds to a crescendo for the second series and based on what was shown here it should be a humdinger.
Fans of the video games should definitely check it out but also anyone interested in a quick bingeable animation show would be foolhardy to miss this.

Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

The Akira Symphonic Suite has finally been released on vinyl this September for the first time since its original 1988 pressing.

The record is housed in some heavy duty card with beautifulimages from the film on the cover, gatefold and dust jackets. The records are pressed on a pair of 180 gram black vinyl discs which have been re-recorded and remastered with the most advanced audio techniques available apparently. I don't have a fancy record player but listening to the LP was a revelation, it sounded so very different from the Akira CD I've listened to for years. There were sounds and instruments I hadn't heard before even though I have listened to the album many times before.

The Akira vinyl soundtrack is beautifully preseneted.

The album is a stunning piece of work which was composed by Dr. Shoji Yamashiro of the Geinoh Yamashirogumi collective, a group of over 100 individuals who worked together to create an evocative score which helped inform the way the futuristic aesthetic of the film was animated.

The tracks on this vinyl are:
Kaneda
Battle Against Clown
Winds Over Neo-Tokyo
Tetsuo
Doll's Polyphony
Shohmyoh
Mutation
Exodus From The Underground Fortress
Illusion
Requiem

The tracks are a strange fusion of music genres. As well as a mix of traditional Japanese and Indonesian gamelan music, which is present through much of the album, there are unique and strange moment like the creepy lullaby in Dolls Polyphony and the synthesiser led airy track, Wind Over Neo Tokyo. However the final piece, Requiem is the stunning culmination of all the constituent parts of the earlier tracks and is a suitably spectacular end to the album. The 14 minute track starts slowly and calmly then explodes with organs and booming drums before angelic singers chant the main characters names over and over to bring the soundtrack a fitting end.

I am so pleased that Akira Symphonic Suite has been re-released on vinyl as so many more people need to experience the music. The anime and manga has a huge cult following but due to the scarcity of the original vinyl release in 1988 the LP has been extremely rare and difficult to find. I feel pleased that this album has been made available once again for the fans.

LINK- The Moomins 80's Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Inspector Gadget Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Sonic Mania Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack