Take A Pick Tuesday - Parasyte The Maxim

Take A Pick Tuesday: Parasyte The Maxim

 

 

 

 

I’ve been waiting for this one to wrap up to write a hefty article about it. Surprise and no surprise. A fantastic show that really puts the observation of humanity under the microscope, especially when that humanity in question is due to an alien parasite in you, one that is morphing you, transforming you from one tragedy to another. Yet there is the desire to remain human and cling to all the things that humanity stands for. Well the best things about them anyways. As well as clinging to those you care about, that you can only keep with you humanity intact. The greatest question is though what does it mean to be human?

 

        A whole species of parasites descends unto the human race in secret, going inside the body of unsuspected humans in order to mask what they really are, feeding on other humans to survive. Shinichi Izumi also has a parasite enter his body but like some it’s goal of reaching the head never happens and stops in his arm. Something he helps to do in a way. Naturally Shinichi freaks out when he realizes what resides in his hand,  the parasite who names itself Migi explains for what purpose the parasites had come to Earth, not aligned with any of the others, the creature is interested in its own survival which means Shinichi survival too. However that would also include for the both of them surviving to understand the way they think, morals or logic against what seems like morals, as well as the lives that could be threatened because of their known existence among other parasites, the threats would include Shinichi’s loved ones as well as himself.

 

 

 

      This show is a about a lot of things, of course the infiltration of us as a species by another species, what it might be like especially if the other was a parasite that used us in order to survive and achieve their goals. How easy it could become for them to do so, the dangers of it for us but also for them, having to be outnumbered and deal with the consequences of being in a human body, their needs for survival and dealing with things they might be unprepared for, such as pregnancy for example. Yup that’s right pregnancy.  It’s also about the human heart, direct tie to humanity, what drives us to overcome things. How love and caring for someone can recognize the change in those that they care about. What it means to hides one’s personal sufferings, the cost of it even when it’s a sacrifice for those you love. Because truly it’s never simple. 

 

With the parasites we get an outlook at our society as a whole and if it feels familiar and yet you still find it strange and tragic at times, that’s ok you’re merely looking at in at another perspective. Perhaps even looking at it through Migi’s lens, the parasite that comes into the main character Shinichi you seem to relate more to what he describes as unnecessary things that often are associated with the human emotions, you may find yourself agreeing for many reasons but why might be a thing that becomes clearer late. However it won’t stop you from seeing thing in Shinichi’s perspective, one that questions but also tries to protect the things in the world he sees, his humanity drives him in conflict with the parasite in him. Sure the parasite seem cruel, devouring especially in the beginning but it’s like a buffet, yet human violence tends to match it tic for tat. The violence first brought on towards Shinichi and everything that follows. I’m not just talking about delinquents from the street either.

 

     It’s why I say surprise and no surprise, surprise at how the show lures you in so fast, how surprising the story unfolds, unrelenting at times even downright gruesome and yet not for the sake of it. I mean the transformations really more human flesh to the most monstrous images possible. Still it never loses it heart, ironically it never loses the human factor, what we are plays a constant factor in even the most intense scenes. When the scenes focus on the drama it actually does a terrific job, you can see a character for a mere two episodes but grow attached to them very quickly. Coming from Madhouse, the animation shows its mettle from the transformations of normalcy to that of the parasites that are underneath, to the incredible cuteness that Migi just has, especially when Migi is doing what might seem like mundane things, surfing the web, reading a book. As well as growing to care how Shinichi feels about things even if he has to state the realistic situation sometimes that they’re in.

 

 

      It also isn’t surprising because of the popular the manga is, how long adaptions have waited to be done. There was quite an anticipation for this show, at least from people that read the manga when it came out, it delivers in my opinion in full. When it previewed the last episode I found myself saying but why but it was in a good way. Of course with depth comes heart breaking moments even when whatever it is happens to be over and the situation has moved on when Shinichi revisits the thought you can’t help but feel sad. If we call this horror than this is one of the aspects I love about the genre, though we may call it action instead or drama that’s ok. The horrific aspects set a tone for things I loved but I often find whatever else it has to be the things I come to love.  Some anime do that so well, I count Parasite among them.

     Some interesting things you'll notice right away about the show is the characters, how those closest to him can notice the steady change once Migi is a part of him. There is even one character that is fixated on him and has a sort of six sense when it comes to his presence. This is out of the love she feels for him of course even though she can sense other parasites. She isn't the only human either, later you see a murderer in prison that authorities use when they're trying to sense which humans the parasites are living in. I'd say that is a bit of a spoiler but not really, which such a large infiltration and all the human murders, it isn't surprising that the government would become aware of there presence even if many of them are already a part of that government. It would seem clear with there emotionless faces and piercing eyes that seem lifeless but things would change in some that would make that harder, for all of them though even though they hide their presence they don't try very hard. Shinichi's own friend and love interest Satomi Murano has a lot of problems with what she senses in him and the feeling that he is keeping something from her, even the horrors he'll go through are left to linger on his soul, mostly because he can share the truth with her, at times pushing her away. The titles of the episodes, often referring to classic books has a way of helping with the tone as does the music, which adds the intensity, heartbreak and rare peaceful moments in the series  

 

      To show something as evil and hateful is one thing, to come to understand that it’s much more complex is another. There is a scene later in the series where they show what it would be like for Migi and Shinichi to be separated, how lonely it can be. It follows with Shinichi being taken into an elderly woman’s house, how she grows attached to him, how loneliness would come to her if he left. There it show that it might not be as different between the two species as we think. Even more though is his decision to do something, which makes her fear for him knowing that it’s dangerous and he could be throwing his life away to do it. This woman has one of the best quotes in the series, when the smoke clears it becomes clear that there will be an answer given to the questions that arise from the show. What the answers may be though might come to shock you, Instead of condemning what we’ve seen, we are forced to look at, and how they could be a part of nature as much as everything else is. Is that wrong?

 

     So if our nature is just as brutal, than what is it that makes us human, maybe not better after all but simply what we are An intense episode would put all the questions and supposed answers to the test. It would show the extreme in the connection with Shinichi and Satomi, we protect those that we care about, we survive like the rest, while that might sound barbaric, Parasyte manages to make it show us as equals even show what we have in common.   You’ve got to give Parasyte kudos for managing to remain true in what the show had been about in the start, it moves fast but you feel very close with the characters. Ultimately it manages to reach into you and touch your heart in ways other horror related titles wish they could, not only that but it stands as a terrific anime, that will keep you both on the edge of your seat and have your mind wandering about it long enough to convince you to give it another watch one of many more I’m sure.

Take A Pick Tuesday: You're Lie In April

 Take A Pick Tuesday : You’re Lie In April

 

Can Music Transcend Words? Can Love Transcend All?

 

This might sound strange but watching “Your Lie In April” makes me feel as though it’s daytime even when I’m watching it during the night. Not to downplay the night scenes that naturally are plentiful, it’s only to describe the beauty of the show, it’s beautiful in every sense of the word, the coloring plays into the brightness and makes it shine yet it never feels too in your face, like it’s trying, no it is a natural beauty that flows through the entire show. Music which plays a major part in the show going hand in hand with love seem destined to be the center piece when everything around it is held together so well.

 

       It begins with a chance meeting when Kosei who is asked to tag along as his friend is supposed to meet a girl interested in him, when he gets there alone at first he finds a girl playing with children. The music as she plays is like a spring awakening for him and though he might not know it yet it would be what would connect the two characters, in music and in a unspoken love as they face the trials and tribulations of their past and the things that loom in the future, could their bond through music and the feeling for each other truly give them the strength to face everything that is front of them.

     From the cherry blossoms, a warm pink that rustles with a flair, jumping on to the characters as well as the mood, to the showcase of how Kaori Miyazono plays the violin, the character herself the focus of the main character Kosei Arima is beautiful ,to the point where you might find someone watching it with you or yourself commenting on her beauty, it’s only heightened when they show her playing, even drenched with sweat they do well to show the passion the characters have, by no one’s other tune but their own, especially Kaori and especially in Kosei's eyes, which show that everything about her manages to pierce the character’s long standing armor. They go through lengths to show how a violinist would play on stage, the sound of music matches well with the way she plays, it again shows how well the series is animated, the whole thing is beautiful but they know how to make the individual aspects shine. Once that is accomplished they know how to make them a part of something even bigger. It seems destiny that Kosei would play the piano besides her, she has that raw love for music the way it had always lived inside him and would be brought out.

     You feel it, the main character feels it and everyone in the audience feel it and that’s the point, it hits home to us as it does to Kosei who in flashbacks at first is shown as an amazing pianist, so she manages to match him tit for tat.  Before anything really starts, all of this truly sparks from their first meeting, no words of confession, no words of interest and yet eyes can say a world of things to come, they manage to show what his first meeting of her could mean, a redemption of sorts for him or the sense he no longer needs to ask for forgiveness, she is the color that we see, for him and we hope it’s the same for her at some point, hope in this case might seem insane, any doubts Kosei has of himself could be vanquished in a moment if you could see how Kaori looks at him. That is where their chemistry lies and even through the great ordeals that face them, it is one of the strongest aspects that continue to carry us throughout.

       That is important because of how grey and dim Kosei's world can be with flashbacks of why he is the way he is, his friends know for the most part, yet you feel his isolation during his look back to his sick and dying mother training him to be the top pianist in her place. His face filled with bruises, showing her abuse both physical and mental in the fact that he is willing to accept anything she dishes out to him in order to make her happy. Mind you he is even younger than, so it shows how disturbing it can be that he is so willing to oblige. It makes you long for the world of color and hope again, also allowing him not to be seen as just another depressing character, your given the chance to understand him right from the start. It's the ghosts of these memories that literally come out and attack him as he returns to play the piano through Kaori's encouragement or should I say physical forcefulness. Scenes where he just like when he stopped when younger, cannot hear the notes, scenes of him playing as if he is underwater. Trying to reach something in order to return to the surface. These psychological scenes balance well somehow to the amount of humor that is placed in the show, he is a part of a good deal of it too, showing another of the show’s strength, balancing all the aspects that as said before do not feel forced,  they are all a part of how the show is and how these kids are too.

 

      With it centering around classical music this show is no slouch in how it sounds, not just with how the character play the instruments in the animation, no it's taking the music and running with it, from his first viewing of her playing with the little kids in the playground, how music is involved in everything to Kaori's stunning performance that she managed to own, despite everyone else in the competition playing the same song, it’s blasphemy that she take it down the route she did according to the judges and yet it’s beautiful, it’s free and sort of the point in what he needs to see. Right away before she got on and certainly after you can see Kosei's desire for the piano crawling back and maybe his desire for life too. You'll be witness to an amazing show of piano playing, that reaches unspeakable levels as the show progress by him and the rivals he pushes to have their music speak for their experiences and feelings.

      An interesting way to push him too, for example Kaori conspires with one of his best friends Tsubaki Sawabe (who has been secretly in love with him for like forever, though it isn't much of a secret to the viewer) to have him accompany her violin performance which of course he feels he cannot do, not good enough for them as they plaster notes of the piece all over the classrooms, blast it on the speakers in the school, all around his home and on his phone too. When they’re not doing that they are beating him silly trying to convince him, often you’ll find him bleeding on the ground and what seems like out of his head. Once they manage to convince him, everything between him and Kaori seems ready to spark, of course they’ll will be challenges along the way as well as there is in the performance. Failing and succeeding, overcoming and who allows you to are themes that work they’re way step by step for a conclusion you can only hope will mean everything will be alright. After all the show is riddled with misunderstandings and love triangles, squares and maybe a singular line that was really only meant to be. Yet something greater is on the horizon, a true challenge to any resolution gained.

 

        Even the setting of the characters in middle school which for most of us, those days are long gone but do not put a hinder on the show, we aren’t busy questioning why it’s there because we aren’t placing them in a single time, for them this is a definitive change for all of them whatever may come and that is something that involves their whole life. Bringing an answer to youth with problems, is it really the end of the world some of their issues, perhaps not or perhaps it can be life changing. We understand the weight of it and allow the show to draw us in,  effectively crossing the line from melodramatic to dramatic, easy to tip the line yet the right story it never even gets close to it, things we may believe wouldn’t matter will matter to us as much as it does for the characters. To add to this the problems they have are very real, in fact you wonder how anyone could really come to terms with it, much less children. Love and music save us, directs us and is ultimately our freedom, it might seem on the surface to cause a gagging relax on the greatest of skeptics but there is truth in it, that’s why when a show does it right you can feel it or else why watch it in the first place right?

The show focuses heavily on Kosei and how Kaori effects his world as he wrestles with it’s changes and the deep affection he feels for her even though for some reason he feels like the odd man out. I think personally it’s crazy that he feels like friend A as they say it in the show simply because she was supposed to be introduced to his friend, the ladies man Ryota Watari. Especially after everything they went through. Right off the bat you can tell that Karoi and Kosei connection is deep, so much so there isn't this mystifying question on the character's faces for three parts of the series like in most shows, so how he can believe such a thing is a little strange but it might be more along the lines of the how wounded he’d become over the years than the actual belief of it in normal circumstances.  Eventually we do get into Kaori’s story although they leave a great deal out not because they don’t want to fill in the details but simply because that is going to be the greatest challenge in the show. Once they do it comes almost all at once and by the end of the show all the things you get off of these two characters is completely understood.  

      If you find a purpose through love and a way to stand to it, can it overcome, anything, anything that will come afterwards or do you shatter returning to what you’d been from the start. It won’t take long when you feel certain tragic events unfold, it’s no secret but the show makes you hope, that is a part of what the show is meant to do, you stop lying to yourself  and find any actual lie that was said is only meant to direct you to the truth. No matter what that truth may mean. Yeah it might sound a little philosophical but that’s the obvious meaning seen plain in all it’s complex details and colors. Don’t believe me, listen to Kaori’s own philosophical out views both positive and negative or her quotes from characters of the Peanuts comic strip.

You’re Lie in April is meant to expose your heart and follow it, that doesn’t necessarily have to be categorized as a school romance/ drama, that can be something that many works of arts become.  It accomplishes everything it sets out to do, including moving you to the last moment, powerful in a way that it doesn’t flaunt, this show just is. If by the end it feels like this show has changed something, then you’re in good company and you’re also witness to one of the most amazing animes in years.

Having Your Hands Full With A Handful

Having Your Hands Full With A Handful

 

 

 Once In a while this little segment might help you find a list of shows you may want to check out, whether all a part of the same service, company, release during the month. I like to call it Having Your Hands Full With A Handful. Which every eager anime fan always wants when it comes to having shows to watch. If you see the show brought up in some form or way in the future, it could be because you heard it first or hey maybe it even was mentioned before. For this particular article, here are a handful of shows if you’re visiting Cruncyrolll for the first time or just got yourself a fancy subscription you might want to check out. There are a ton of great shows and these could be the first patch for you to enjoy or the next. In my opinion I believe you should run not walk to whatever device, whether phone, tablet, laptop/ computer or TV and start watching now.

 

Space Brothers – A story of two brothers that dream of going to space. Fast forward to present day of them older Mutta Namba, once a car designer has lost his job after head butting his supervisor. The reason? Why he was making fun of his little brother Hibito who happen to be in the newspapers. Out of work he remembers the dreams that followed him for so long, looking up to the sky wondering what it’d be like if he followed his dream to become an astronaunt. Hibito had grown up to do just that and is set to be the first Japanese man to land on the moon. When he finds out about his older brother predicaments, having always looked up to him remembering the two’s promise to go to space together, he knows that Mutta is destined to go to space just like him. Without knowing his application was sent in, Mutwa is accepted to take the Astronaut test at JAXA and his chance of joining his brother in space like they had always dreamed. The show is uplifting, inspiring, funny and always touching, it’s reputation precedes it and with good reason, a rare insight into what it is like to dream to go to the stars and one of the most accurate depictions of it in anime period, if you need a reason to be hooked on Cruncyroll than this one might be a wise choice for you.

 

You’re Lie In April- Another show filled with dreams, their weight and their importance is the romantic You’re Lie In April.  Kosei Arima was once a child prodigy as a pianist, the tragedy during that time involving his mother had stopped him from pursing it further. That all changes in a moment when he meets gifted Violinist Kaori Miyazono in a park, she would bring him closer to the piano once more and face him with a real reason to play as both confront the massive challenges in this life and the love they would feel from it, daring them to push ever further. The show is fantastic, perfect to a tee if you enjoy music as well as the classical sense I recommend checking this show out because the performances are emotional showing how pivotal the emotion is, you can taste the emotions in the air during the music and the colors of life as the two characters connect. If love gives you a greater value of life then this show is an insight into how. Resolutions coming through performances as they are outside them, with such well thought out character devolvement with a small well-knit cast and connection, as said before this takes the concept of romance to it truest form. Anyone concerned of any aspect that this show might seem like on the surface should place that aside and watch this milestone of a show. Seriously.

 

Parasyte The Maximum.  A show that comes at you with the speed of a rocket, is Parasyte the Maxium. As an alien parasitic race decends on Earth, Shinichi Izumi will find one of the creatures inside him, his arm to be precise who would be called Migi. Realizing that the two are depended on each other’s survival they are faced with the concern of other parasites infiltrating human society that can pose a threat to them, as well as anyone else. The questions of morality for a human and the reasoning for another being are often crossing each other for the two, especially when the show takes its turn to the very personal. It moves you along with it in something that is both thrilling, in parts horrifying when the parasites reveal themselves in the humans and genuinely emotional. I’m not just talking for the humans like Shinichi only, even though his struggles are often tear jerkers. Even with scenes of action, the show is thought provoking on the question of what it is to be human, to become human or to become something else.

      Which it helps to view on many levels. Of course with all the well thought out questions presented you’ll wonder is there an answer to them or should I say do the characters have answers for them, well yes there is. The resolution on the many questions presented by the show and Shinchi and Migi themselves bring up, reach a final answer that might shock you or make you say you know what that’s true or at the least say I suppose that makes sense. If not it will at least make you think in yet another perspective that opens up a whole new realm of thoughts.  A show a long time in the making based on an extremely popular manga in the 90’s. Parasyte transcends genres with ease to put on display what a show is like when it grabs you and you find yourself grabbing back.

 

Durarara X2 – After a few years of anticipation Durarara returns with it’s large cast of characters only to add another truckload of characters. There’s a story in every place in the city, nowhere truer than in Ikebukuro, even if it’s been a while since you’ve watched the first season the show reminds you that it’s pace and multiple perspectives even of the same events can be fascinating. It challenges you to catch all the foreshadowing around every corner and believe you me something’s coming. That’s the thing  about the series, you find yourself content to sort of linger, lost in the characters and yet it’s always driving toward a bigger storyline. There is something about the show that captures the essence of a city, sort of embracing it with love but revealing a core that’s present in all while still making Ikebukuro distinctive.  Those who never saw the first season or simply need a refresher are in luck as its first show is also on Cruncyroll. It might feel more natural that way because trust me when I say, the show picks up where the other left off, it’s a new chapter but a part of the same story. This is a story you’ll want to stick around for as even from the start you can tell there will be much more to say than in just this season.

 

Magic Kaito 1412 – A new show for the magician under the moonlight, the rival of Conan Edogawa from Detective Conan. The show looks at how and why Kaito Kuroba became a magician having it’s own share of mysteries but of course it’s main draw is it’s magic. Which the show does with some unbelievable animation as we see Kaito on his many announced thefts always having to face Ginzo Nakamori who happens to be the father of his child friend and love interest Aoko. You get cool insight into how the tricks are done and yet it doesn't spoil that special feeling that’s always been attached to Kid Kaito.

       The interesting thing about this character is his thefts are not for personal gain. What he’s searching for is connected to the circumstances surrounding his father supposed death and a organization he has to look into who may very well be responsible for it. The show has to be a magician as well to manage his life as a student and managing to be there for Aoko as well,  while trying to keep what he does a secret. Their love connection is a little more willd and energized compared to Conan and Ran’s, Kaito tends to make fun of Aoko, antagonizing her in sometimes perverted ways and or simply with magic, although he’s also shown the other side that actually cares about her. If he has one thing over Shinichi it’s that he wasn’t fed an experimental pill that turned him into a child and now can say his feelings for her, so no excuse now. Another interesting thing is since the jewels as said have as specific reason for why they’re in his crosshairs, most of the time he brings them back by mailing them to the Inspector which probably keeps Ginzo's reputation intact. If you need another reason to watch it than try for a moment to consider it it’s own thing in some ways and you might succeed after all Gosho Aoyama created the Kid Kaito manga first.

 

One Piece – So I threw a big one in here, in the sense that it's popular and long running. However my choices always have to do with what I love to watch about them. It’s easy to find dozens of shows that do something wrong, it’s harder to find shows you can love, after all it’s why we watch Anime to enjoy ourselves, it’s also why I enjoy writing about them. If that speaks on any sort of freedom than it may connect with what One Piece is truly about. Luffy as a child dreamed of becoming a pirate even though he ate the devil fruit which made him a rubber man. No devil fruit eater can swim, they’ll sink and drown, if that wasn't enough of a challenge Luffy doesn't even have a ship or crew when he starts out, he’ll figure it out on the way though he figures as he sails to the grandline and beyond, in search of One Piece the treasure of Gold Roger who used to be King of The Pirates as he becomes the next King of the Pirates!

      One Piece is both popular and long running, what I love about One Piece is it’s storytelling, with all the craziness there are honest emotions driving the show, it can go dark places and than it could make you laugh a few episodes later. The characters are always something new, the main cast can’t help it but put a smile on your face, they are so distinctive as are the other thousand characters in the series but it’s what makes them so important in the Straw Hat Crew and you have to love it that in many ways their captain didn’t plan it, he simply wanted it when it was right in front of him. If anything he willed it to happen. 

      They kind of guide you through all wonderful, beautiful, unique aspects of the world of One Piece. There are the places that you won’t believe, each island like it’s own world, in the sky, and even below water, nothing is off limits. Weather can change in an instant depending on the sea you’re on, animals of all sizes and appearances can and will appear, powers you won’t believe, most from devil fruit eaters much like Luffy and some of the other crew members, as well as friends and foes in the series. Some are just human but extremely gifted, swordsman that can cut through large seemingly indestructiable things, those who can move fast, kick so hard their foot is on fire and even air walk.  You'll feel thrilled in every episode and the last thing you see makes you wish you could watch the next episode.

      The foreshadowing is of epic proportions and nothing feels like a repeat, the author may not flaunt it but he has a real grasp on the way people are sometimes, how goverments work, how public opinon can work, how power struggles can work and how deep this show is. You love the show for the way it fills you with joy, you expect everything to work in a certain way, almost make up your mind on it only to be shown that it isn’t necessarily going to happen. That’s also what makes the main cast and Luffy so cool, it can be as rough as our world but they don’t care, it isn’t going to stop them. They may not want to be looked at as heroes after all their pirates but you can’t help but do so. The very aspect of them supposed to be viewed as evil to some in the show, shows that it isn’t too far of a stretch to incorporate many views of the same thing. You love them but yes pirates are something to fear too, plenty of others to root for but some are just messed up, to a new level of they got go, not to mention those that aren’t pirates, tyrants, rulers, regular people and the government. The supposed good guys have a lot of not nice people with rank, even if there are some that are awesome and you love as much as their enemy the pirates.

 This one is truly one for the books and how long it’s run despite being intimidating to people getting into anime or those that are used to shorter series, even those that have topped out at two hundred to three hundred episodes, it’s part of the show’s charm.  Another bonus is Cruncyroll now has all the episodes from the start until the present. So if you’re squinting with some doubts or just holding mangas of your other favoirtie shows and wondering to add another to the handful, then give it a try. There’s many the anime I’ve seen and I’m not ashamed to count this among my favorites.

 

    Not the handful you expected, that's ok consider this a segment that  will pop up more often than not, giving a handful to the possible jaded, or uncertain fan who doesn't know where to look next. It's not always that there's nothing to watch but rather it can be a bit overwhelming even for people that have been watching for years and years. Even if you're waiting for that certain show and don't see it in these handfuls, by no means does it mean it won't be spotlighted anyways.

Take A Pick Tuesday : Berserk

Take A Pick Tuesday: Berserk

 



 

Welcome to the brutal world of Berserk.  Having a bad day in a demon infested world, marked with a strange symbol which means you’re haunted everywhere you go? Yeah me too but take heart, the main character in this show has the same problem, in fact he’s got a lot more problems than that. This is an anime that everyone should see or at least try, it’ll be your guess in what you might expect in this show but you’ll find more than you bargained for, usually that's a bad thing but for an anime like this it makes it all the more compelling.

      Berserk is an interesting breed as after the first episode, we move backwards and then forward again. Set in a type of medieval era with a sense that the world has ended but is still continuing we follow Gutts, referred to as the Black Swordsman who moves through a demon infested world just like us, many of which are oppressing the people, controlling the monarchies and making life more miserable than it probably was beforehand. The only thorn on their side, an unrelenting opposition, in the form of the black swordsman.

      However Guts of course doesn’t hunt these demons for nothing, in fact he doesn’t hunt them for the oppressed people either, he isn't without morals, he's just seen so much and is a complicated complex character. So it does seem askew in the manga in the beginning as opposed to the anime. Yet what are those reasons for this, we don't know quite yet but what we do know is that he’s branded, that what he hunts is also hunting him and no night can come with sleep unless nightmares are alongside them. 

         No matter how you feel about Gutts, the one thing you have to know is he doesn't quit, doesn’t surrender, defying destiny and continuing to live for others sake. Once they finish the first episode and look back to the past, everything they show you that came before is thought out so well. It starts with him as a mercenary, younger, thinner but the fierceness is eyes is present, something they later explain from when he was a baby to a child. A necessity to survive, although survive for what is the journey will see Gutts undergo.

       Berserk is a look into the dark, defying expectations and somehow managing to continue despite the losses one makes. It’s also an intelligent show that mediates on the aspects of ambition, power, love,  are these things what you want or do you deny them, what forges your path and why, who do you follow, who do you lead, whose life do you live for, others or your own, what's the value in your life, is it something you never saw before.  What do you continue forward for. What do you seek, how far will you go to reach them,  What are all the consequences for these feelings, what moves us to continue? Can you change the path anyone else walks, could you see it happening and if it does, is there anything you can do to make it right.

        With his unusual strength and his very long sword, no pun intended, Gutts is a killing machine that is a force to be reckoned with. However he soon find his match comes in the form of a dashing leader of a band of mercenaries called The Band of The Hawk, their leader is Griffin. Unlike Gutts, he has the face of a noble, light skin, almost feminine appearance but it doesn’t stop him from being every inch of what makes him a leader of fierce warriors, powerful, a sense of ambition that no particular title in the established society can hold for him. Someone destined to ascend.

       As he manages to defeat Gutts and keep him alive, he asks him to follow him until he is strong enough to do otherwise, become a tool to help Griffin go from leader of a mercenary group, to a noble knight and possibly a king. That would seem unlikely and indeed it does to those that would come to know the Band of The Hawk but soon they'll realize far from impossible. As Gutts slowly becomes a part of The Band of The Hawk, at first without any interest in Griffin's ambitions as opposed to those in the group like Casca, he rises, to help lead on the battlefield, to count the warriors as friends, and respect Griffin. Even if it means he goes toe to toe with Casca one of the other commanders of The Band of The Hawk at every turn, especially when her careful planning in battle has to give way to his headstrong reckless style. Which of course could kill the others and ruin everything they've fought for, instead though it has the opposite effect. 

       Griffin’s center of attention before Gutts came into the picture was Casca, she’s as fierce as anyone else, her decisions not just in battle as we soon see but in everything, are based on how they will affect Griffin and his reputation and she doesn’t like Gutts reckless attitude and yet would share with him such an important connection that would shift the storyline.  Although in a sense her biggest beef with Gutts could be downright jealousy, she worked hard for her place in the Band of The Hawk, owing Griffin her life and her heart has belonged to him since.

      Yet Gutts may represent something, perhaps not at first but eventually that could change that, perhaps her eventual insight into another side of him is also the same insight he'll find in himself, changing not just things for himself but Casca and everyone, even Griffin will not be immune to it.  and what does that mean for her, someone whose pledged her life to another’s dreams, maybe something as vital as for him?

 

          This show seems like an epic of coming into power, the Band of The Hawk, starts to serve a kingdom, helping the armies of this kingdom to win several conflicts, Griffin doing this allows his status to grow just as he hopes for, becoming a knight, his journey to become king. Even slowly courting the princess. While we see his bond grow with Gutts we also see the secrets on the many dark deals Griffin was forced to make to help alone his climb to power. All those around him like Gutts and Casca are there to assure it to happen, they want it to happen soon. Even if it means that soon he isn't the only committing dark deeds behind the scenes but also Gutts, finding himself doing horrible things for the sole purpose of Griffin's ascent and to protect him from others in court that would see his reputation crumble.

       At this point we only get occasional hint to the supernatural/horror underpinnings we saw in the first episode, the strange necklace around Griffin's neck, the strange creature they encounter in the midst of one of their battles. It's warning to Gutts in what following Griffin would mean. Often I've wondered what it would be like as a live action film and how surprised people would be when they saw this particular arc in Berserk. The strange things that are to come, only are intiated when Gutts decides to leave The Band Of The Hawk, realizing he can't continue to live for another's sake/ambition but finally has found a deeper meaning in his own. Despite his love for all of them and even Casca , he feels it's the only path he can choose. 

   

        What's the most painful thing to watch, is it some of the back deal things Gutts does for Griffin, like killing a witness that was a child, pretty awful but the show makes their climatic rematch the hardest thing to watch of all. We all knew with the growing strength that Griffin has now, I mean there is a fantastic scene where he stays behind and fights a hundred men, which your sure ok he's gonna die but no, he kills  100 men, you know when you see things like this, that the rematch is going to have to go in Gutt's favor.   Such dedication that we've seen throughout the series is what drives the show and its characters,it’s their strength but it can also be their downfall as we now see.

Proving that the show knows how to do everything right, transcending from the major battles that came before, ones that could make Bernard Cornwell proud, to intrigue, the realistic reasoning in the characters, and a lot of longing, what if’s and desire to make sure everything descended to the ground like a meteor.

       That should be enough, I mean the series has an infamous cliffhanger that should drive you crazy but only adds to joy of the series, not only that but hindsight really does close out and yet more had come in the form of a trilogy of movies. Also enjoyable it manages to add a whole other element into the retelling of Berserk. Except we want to know what happens next right and that seemed unlikely to some but never doubt anime. In the midst of a hiatus by author Kentaro Miura, creator of Berserk due to working on another project for a while, it seemed like the conclusion of the manga would take just as long.

     However while waiting the exciting announcement came that a new series will be made this year for Berserk and all the teasers have involved Gutts in his black swordsman get up which means only that we will be able to go further in the series. How it will all wind up is something will have to look ahead to but the ride going there should be as fantastic as the rest of the series. If you never read the manga, I encourage you to do so, we’re on par with Japan with the same volume number at the moment.  You can see where the lush details that look like they belong to a bygone era in painting form, the intricate details in the backgrounds, more European than Japanese and the vivid realistic detail of the characters, gruesome and beautiful, human and awful come from. 

       Not to mention the creatures,  like hell dreamed them up only because it’s reality, the demons are not to be shrugged off, just to give you a sense of the overcoming odds Gutts faces, even for him, it’s a lot. Not to mention characters you’ve never seen in the show and one you’ll see from the start, the fairy Puck!  

 

You see, nothing is a simple as a climb of power, we as humans have our emotions tangled up in everything, in each other, in our hopes and while that can be a beautiful thing and it can also be a devastating thing with consequences beyond our comprehension. That’s something chaotic and is definitely something berserk, in which, the series has earned its name.
 

Tatsumi

Tatsumi

Pour a cup of tea

Awaken your sense

To what you see and what is really underneath

It is clear if you look in his written words, in his drawings of two shades

As he weaves these tales for you, the ink is the strands that touch each other

They are here to show you:

The ashes on the wall, mother and son embrace, is not what it seems

How much of it is fueled by hate

The sounds of war have tried to past but there are echoes of it coming forth

Criminals shackled together, are they truly condemned, are they what we believe

Through the black and white lines, comes a grey most would not see

Wandering in this old abandoned dream

The one dismissed when it once was reality

Drifting in these experiences, they makes the stories real

They make the tales feel

Demanding out attention

It is from this life we honor

Every time we open one of his books

Every time we turn a page

Fandom Owes A Debt

 

Fandom Owes A Debt

 

I grew up in a house that held some Trekies that had been fans from the original series until the present. So having people devoted to a particular fandom seemed to open the gateway for my own, of many of them being anime. Though many is the time that I could sit down with them and watch a Star Trek episode, to this day see what TV both here and in Japan as well as film owe to the franchise and what icons like Leonard Nimoy had managed to for us as fans, for our aspirations when we would grow up and the pleasure we have gotten from the experience since. An icon in fandom is important, no one knows this more than the fans themselves, you’ll see plenty of stories when people go to conventions and see just how much of an impact they have made. No doubt Leonard Nimoy was one of those icons, in fact the character he played on Star Trek, Spock, could have had an extreme effect on the many characters that come from anime. Stoic, intelligent and cool.

 

 

 

        Offering a glimpse into the future is something that Anime/Manga are obsessed with. It helps us reach further and take some of those ideas, bring them here to the present and really examine them. Many things that were fiction in Star Trek have become science fact since then, thanks in large part to most of the people that developed the things we have being big fans of the show. In fact movies and shows to this day still touch on things that Star Trek was touching on years ago.  There are times that anime and manga walk down those paths as well.  A great way to question things and go further still,  you can never fault fandom from pushing people toward their dreams, how many people watched Indiana Jones and decided to become Archeologist is the same as seeing Leonard Nimoy’s character on the screen and wanted to pursue something close to that, it is also something anime and manga can do in a special way,  even with their special pilgrimages to places shows were set in, to actual professions of the characters we watch in anime and manga. To even watching shows with robots or say mobile suits and wondering if that’s possible to make and they have, in so many ways and will continue to do so. That saying that nerds rule the world is not an understatement, fandom pushes our imagination and challenges our ingenuity, it can also question the importance of certain things and maybe, hopefully prepare us for things we might not otherwise expect or have thought about until too late, in other words make us more aware of the world and beyond that around us.  

 

     Being in a house among fans taught me the value of carrying some respect as one towards those that contributed to my fandom in a large way, it’s a respect among anime fans that have striking similarities to Star Trek fans. The wonderful thing about fandom is often it can be connected, even those that may have never sat and watched an original Star Trek episode or even bothered to his cameo in the new films, might have heard his voice when they were holding the controller playing the Kingdom Hearts games, since he was the voice of Master Xehanort. One of my favorite games of all time actually.  Not to mention the actor has had credits in many films and shows you really should at least see once, if you think some of the top creators in Japan hadn’t than you’re crazy, shows like The Outer Limit and The Mission Impossible TV show. Already tributes have been made by fans all over the world in several games tributes will be made to the actor such as Star Trek Online, Elite: Dangerous and Star Commander. In Star Trek Online many players on the day of his passing had already acted on the tribute with thousands of players  going to the Vulcan planet in which the character Spock came from, paying their respects to the man that influenced their lives. In Canada many are giving a Spock treatment to their five dollar bills or ‘spocking a five”, drawing the character and altering the appearance of the currency.  

 

       If nothing else Leonard Nimoy was a part of something that is very important to fandom, offering something that people had never seen before and I’m not just talking about the story in the show, I’m talking about how many barriers they broke including racial ones in a rather tense time for such a thing.  Fandom is good with addressing and breaking through such issues. How right is it, that I would see those I grew up with as Star Trek fans and respected my love of anime and manga buy the Star Trek manga.  It felt like a circle had been made, a connection to the things that we love, that we share and helped influence us from there on. As a fan I felt obliged to give a thank you to an icon who managed to inspire a wave of hope and good will as well as contribute to the arts that all run parallel paths and sometimes send us down our paths in life.

 

Take A Pick Tuesday: Claymore

                 Take A Pick Tuesday: Claymore

 

 

 

Of All the shows I wished would continue, well there are a lot actually a lot, we’ll have to list those later but Claymore does indeed come to mind. Not only was it a recommendation as of late to someone, it’s been rolling around in my mind. Why you might say, well the show like the manga is utterly fascinating, thrilling, brutal and beautiful, the story though seems to drive you to certain questions of survival and purpose. Set in a medieval backdrop, well what we consider to be medieval anyways or at least look at what our concept of Medieval is anyways. There are women clad in armor, those that towns usually allow inside out of fear even though their fear is also their protection. Women clad in armor carrying large Claymore swords hence the name that their given by the people, a part of an organization that disperses them in order to extinguish Yokai (Demons). We follow Clare ranked 47^th in the organization as she comes into a town in order to extinguish those that are hidden among a town and change the life of a boy named Raki forever.

 

 

 

       Claire herself will bring up some immediate questions on which way her moral compass points, the truth of the matter is though she is a good person, which you will see play a factor pretty early on for her, the decisions she sometimes make will be connected to her past and how she became who she is. Raki will become someone that she wants to protect, even if that mean sometimes that she cannot be by his side. Quite often in the manga actually. Perhaps fulfilling that wish that the person who managed to protect her was the one she always wished she could protect too. While Claire goes an accomplishes the assignments that the organization send her to do, there is a clear point hammered into the audience relatively early that she has her own agenda, someone she’s looking for. Once they spotlight a character called Teresa of The Faint Smile you’ll understand why. It’s also the reason you’ll see the determination that Claire has even when the odds are stacked up against her during the assignments, why exactly she is ranked so low and what it is that makes her so special. That determination would be a gateway into becoming stronger.

      To become stronger itself can become a conflict, one that to most Claymores is impossible to win, you see these women aren’t entirely human, they have the blood of those they hunt and the more they dive into the power, the greater the risk that they might change into them. What’s interesting about the power is that they say it’s akin to sexual pleasure, once you have the power you want more, the organization themselves found it was easier for women to control it as opposed to men which leaves questions on who were the claymore from before. Once you go beyond a certain point how do you maintain your humanity, one the greatest questions of the show. I won’t spoil it for you but the answer to that is a new dynamic in itself.  A reason to fight for, it can be more potent in some of the Claymores like Claire, something purer than following the orders they do, overcoming odds to see that wish fulfilled or to have it ruthlessly snatched away.

 

 

        The Claymores don’t need to eat very often, very little at that and they take their assignments from these men in black suits with black glasses. The reasons why they take them and what happens when they go against theirs and the organizations wishes, shows the dangers of who they take their orders from and the reason maybe that they hunt who they hunt in the first place. Claire will find herself asking some of those questions along with other Claymores and while some of the answers you get in the show prove how they are a part of the problems that the Claymores are dealing with, there are some answers you’ll find if you read the manga that might blow your mind. Other perspectives are key in the show as well, these aren’t just hunting machines with no aspirations, no former lives or dreams, they are more human than anything else, not all of what made them human is lost, not by a long shot. Some might not show it like the rest but there are things they want, it just so happens that sometimes that can be masked by strength, to be strong is to be alive to continue, so in some ways it isn’t masking anything at all.

 Sure Claire’s connection to Raki may be important to who she will become and vice versa, as well as a major driving force for the show but there are others. Those she will be connected to and literally will become a part of and those through bonds that go deeper than mere comrades in battle. You will see these characters mentioned after a while, other sides of the characters you may have thought were impossible as well. One character is Undine, a claymore that Claire would meet in the War of the North who had large muscles and carried two swords, one that was hers and one of a friend that had fallen in battle. She would attempt to appear as if nothing bothered her but like the muscles which hiding something underneath. A great example that those that dispatch them might only see them as tools of war and people might only see them as frightening killers but they are in fact people. In battle pieces of them are taken away sometimes and through extraordinary circumstances no matter for how short of a time, they are given it back.

      Whatever world they’re a part of seems to get both smaller and larger as the show progresses. Before Attack On Titan rolled around that strange placing of Medieval times, that fit into brutality more than an actual time in our history had belonged to a few other shows and titles. Some of which are recognized main stream, those that had you screaming no for certain characters had Claymore among them. I don’t even know if people watching it will recognize this but even when kindness pays a price in this show, it is always important.

 

     The show is easy to devour whole and the reasoning on why the series hadn’t bothered with a second season might be more along the reason of the magazine the manga had been published in, it took a while for it to find another home, truthfully it could be the wrench in the Madhouse’s plan to make more. Though with the last two episodes not in the manga that concluded the series, that could be a factor as well to have stopped the show from seeing another season come out from it, though to me, you can find a way around that, even if a certain part toward the end had been major in the manga, after all they only adapted the first eleven volumes, why stop there especially now with a completed story.

      With Anime though there are other factors and even if there weren’t it could just be that they had gotten caught up in making other shows and the chance had sailed. Even so it’s a show that is not to be missed, if you like a captivating storyline or more limbs flying off than a year's worth of horror movies than this show might be for you,  available at a reasonable price and there are plenty of resources to watch it, not to mention the manga which digs deeper and further of course is amazing and might have some of the answers to the questions you might have had.  With Claymore not a stranger to the streaming services and having an affordable release by Funimation for some years now it’s easy to watch. In fact it’s easy to read too, VIZ has plans to release a box set with all 27 volumes for those collectors who want to own it in style. So if you enjoy Claymore remember just because it hasn’t got a second season yet, doesn’t’ mean it won’t in the future.