Happy New Year!!!

Azmaria's Christmas

As she stares into the shop windows

She can see her reflection among the passing people

For the first time she believes what's new to her

The two, the order, beginning to tell her something new

For the first time she sees herself

Their voices chiming in her head, alive in this feeling, the scene she is a part of

She believes now she answers, she believes

That all things on Christmas are real

Happy Holidays to You From ASOC

Take A Pick Christmas Edition: Chrono Crusade

Take A Pick Christmas Edition : Chrono Crusade

 

So how is this for a premise, set in the roaring twenties, where bootlegging, gambling the spread of jazz and behind the dark corners devil worshiping rule. One nun from the Magdalene Order and a devil fight the creatures back to the darkness they came from, exterminating them when blessed weaponry and intervening when a human gets in over their heads in dealings with a devil. That’s the premise for Chrono Crusade a twenty four episode series based on the manga by Daisuke Moriyama.  On their journey the two main characters Rosette Christopher ( the nun) and Chrono (the devil) along with fighting against the devils for the order, they also search for Rosette’s  younger brother Joshua and hope to restore the victims of an incident long ago that has shaped everything for the two.

 

 

 

       In this journey they will deal with a new threat unlike any other the order has faced but two themselves know well enough, another group of devils that are rebelling against pandemonium and hope to challenge heaven and bring their own vision of the end of the world to life. Despite the dreary situations they deal with there’s plenty of humor, just trying to see Rosesste fit in with the rest of the order of nuns with her temper is funny in itself as it is to see Chrono to have to be the voice of reason, a usually kind and warm hearted devil, just don’t piss him off.  While Chrono Crusade has been criticized for its serious or dramatic moments turning without warning into humor and has been considered at times unbalanced for this reason it seems instead to be a way for both of us and the characters not to be consumed by the darkness of the problems around them and in life even the most serious of situations often have humor and a switch off not too far off, just a part of life I suppose.  Pretty much the show knows how dark it can get and will do so, more so than you might think after the first few episodes and it might just want to pull back a bit just to bring it back doubled later on. There are also moments that are heartwarming that come back to the underlining themes of the shows, such as Azamaria someone saved by the two and taken in by the order experiencing her first Christmas when she was told before that Santa doesn’t exist. See where I’m going with this week’s choice.

 

      Of course another element is horror in the show which gets to take center stage more often than not, after all with everything that’s going on it usually goes hand in hand, a red moon, a Jesus crying out tears of blood, rituals done by humans to summon devils,  if nothing else it runs parallel to many the horror movies out there of course though that isn’t Chrono Crusade’s sole purpose, like all the other genres it flirts with the story happens to touch on these things, you see the danger and feel the gravity of the situation. With an interesting display of wickedness that hides behind any era, especially the one the show is set in nicknamed the Roaring 20’s, one of several eras where the United States had reached a height of prosperity while also defining the lines set between the rich and poor, they would be shown in the anime along with shades of foreshadowing of things to come such as The Depression and of course World War II or the second storm if you will. 



 There is indeed the aspect of romance which is hard to miss, the relationship of the two main characters is sincere and Chrono's dedication to her is beyond words, you'll see what I mean. After all what Rosette wears around her neck is connected to Chrono their contract which costs her something dear they are already connected, her devotion to finding her brother is proof of that but in this journey you can see her devotion might be as much to Chrono as his is to her. Eat your heart out Father Remington. Chrono Crusade plays with these things becoming effected by them and effecting them in return as well and things might seem sort of bleak in the show but do not forget what one of the important themes of the show is. Before I get into that, a worthy comparison to the show is the original manga that ran for eight volumes, there are differences that I won’t spoil but it might be interesting to read after or before the show. The theme and message of the show really has to do with the characters more than anything, hope, what the main cast of characters seek, no matter how impossible things may seem at time, no matter how bleak  that one should never stop hoping.

 

 

 

 

Anime Quote

"What is important is to know fear and yet take a step forward" - Rosette Christopher, Chrono Crusade

Ani Poetry -The Nameless Monster II : A Poem For Monster

The Nameless Monster II

 

The days are perfect but the nights are filled with thoughts of a monster staring at her from the dark

Only the eyes are clear, the greatest terror would be the shadows lifting from the rest of it, revealing what this monster might be

The days are busy, filled with work and school and life but something feels like its missing, more so than the routine does for most

There’s guilt though in the smiling faces of her parents, there’s guilt about asking them questions about things you can’t remember. It comes from the truth that they always make you smile, they’ve always strived for her happiness

The man in the comfortable chair, nicely dressed asks her how she feels, when she tells him of the terror he assures her everything will be fine with his professional neutral expression, the one she’s come to depend on.

The one that fills her with a delusional haven. Everything will be alright he says.

Everything will be alright her friends say, the rest of their words tend to be muddled, she clings desperately to them to avoid the parts of her mind that scare her and make her curious. It never speaks but she hears a strong wind blowing, one that’s cold and feels as though she’s felt it before.

Even when she ‘s assured everything will be find without warning things can bring it back to memory, or strike her with terror, the very though has caused her to collapse before. Is something triggering it from a memory, is it the thing that lurks in her nightmares almost unseen.  The eyes she remembers, the part that holds a world of shadows

 

 

Everything will be alright she says to herself, it is and yet why does something wrong keep calling for her. It’s the eyes in the shadow, they’re telling you where to kill them, without the words just the memory of the sound, of strong blowing cold winds, it’s howling of victory. She nearly died along with someone else

 But they’re not dead, they’re not dead. It’s just another nightmare, lose yourself in the routine push the thoughts away she tells herself. Find the beauty in what some aren’t lucky to have

Until it comes to you, the curiosity, the birthday you’ve always questioned, at last a stranger says they’ll come to tell you the truth.

You promise you’ll be home, the guilt only grows with a simple lie, one simple lie and any truth you find will at last rest that part of you that questions, at last you’ll be able to enjoy the life you have.

The castle echoes from times long gone, there’s history in every stone.  Heidelberg Castle in all it’s glory, the night sky could have spectra after spectra leaping  from it and she wouldn’t notice. I was born to smother you with flowers it said. Her answer is supposed to be there but there is nothing but a lone light illuminating the loneliness of night time, except there is something as she gets closer a man whose eyes bulge from his head, fear and greed rule them.

A man calls her by another name after she saves him, a man who keeps calling her Ana. He tells her that he knew her and another, something tell you it’s the one that should be dead, the one whose eyes stare at you from the shadows.

 

As he speaks to her there is confusion and there’s a light that points to all the things she’s come to question, the shadows are her memories that she couldn’t recall but there’s one thing she’ll come to remember. You killed the beast she says to herself. You killed your brother but this man has brought him back to life.

There is terror on his face, as he tell you the truth right before the horror, these aren’t your real parents and yet they were your real parents, they were to you. In the home that always had its light on, dark now, like most of the castle from afar and that feeling from before is coming back again

 In the home with the warm smiles, lifeless with two bodies laid out, it’s a façade. The lies she told pull her heart to shreds, the guilt she felt was now a fire that burns her insides. She had lost more than what she was looking for, she’s lost everything.

 

 The doctor tries to bring the man next to her parents to life, in this moment though she believes the man can’t bring anything back to life, for he brought back death.

 She couldn’t move, not for the detectives that picked her and the doctor up, not for the fall into the river. Only to blame the man who resurrected the monster. Yet his kindness did not elude her. It was no one’s fault, no one’s responsibility, only hers to end the life that she should have a long time ago. Yet he was her twin and she couldn’t look away from the truth, something far worse had turned him into this.

Take A Pick Tuesday: Yu Yu Hakusho

                                      Take A Pick Tuesday: Yu Yu Hakusho

 

 

 

This is probably one of the easiest of anime to write about for me because I’ve seen every episode a million times. Being one of my favorite anime I’ve converted people into anime fans with this show, along with best that’s out there. One of the top shows in the 90’s in Japan, going into stiff competition with other juggernauts at the time and  would be followed by those that would in the years that follow reach the US to help spread anime even further in the US and around the world. Of course the show itself would be picked up by one of the largest distribution companies now,here in the US and help in that era of anime explosion. That would be where I was exposed to it, on Toonami, at times heavily edited, whats Sakyo's finger doing, later I'd learn holding a cigarette, still I never saw anything quite like it before.  I have always been drawn to Yu Yu Hakusho by its sheer honest storytelling, never mind that it’s a shonen show and had some of the most impressive action sequences I’ve ever seen. Action is fine but to me only when there is a strong story driving it. In that sense Yu Yu Hakusho had managed to do what all anime strive to do, surpass there genre to become an all-around great show, I could count as many moments that are memorable simply from the conversation  some of the characters are having and find them equal to any scenes that include some sort of fighting in them. I could also find there to be as many scenes that make me laugh, still laugh actually and those that move me in the deepest of ways, it pulls on all the right heart strings and brings out all the right emotions. That is why to my personal victory it has remained an anime I recommend to anyone I know that wants to get into anime or anyone that hasn’t seen it yet. So whether you’ve seen it or not it’s this week’s Take A Pick Tuesday.

 

         The premise has you introduced to the main character Yusuke Urameshi, who is already dead, the first episode retraces what led to his death, which was getting hit by a car in order to save a boy’s life. Right away you see Yusuke’s problem with most people as they haul him away into the ambulance declaring him dead already or in his eyes simply writing him off. Doing so introduces us to his life, how people see him and shows how misunderstood our character is. Yusuke is considered a juvenile delinquent, who only lives with his mother,who tends to binge drink and disappear from time to time. School hates him for all the fights he gets in when he actually goes. To him the world gives him a plate of crap so he gives it right back to them. Yet inside Yusuke is a good kid, unfortunately no one gives him the time of day to really see that, well almost no one. One of the few that understands this is Keiko Yukimora, childhood friend and love interest, she sees the good in Yusuke even if they fight and she has to more or less tame him when most fail at it. Mostly Keiko spends time worrying about him, always trying to get him to go to school and behave, she sees Yusuke as someone who spends more time being alone than with other people, a thing that deeply bothers her. There is a good chance that Yusuke understands Keiko more than anyone else does and no matter what she says knows it and vice versa. Despite the wishes of their teachers, Keiko tries her best to look out for Yusuke and would come to be the person he depends on the most once he realizes his predicament. Now the teachers Yusuke has are pretty evil, which they show and it proves that sometimes when a kid is telling you that a grown up is being messed up toward them, it can be true. Paying kids to beat up someone who pledged not to fight so his friend doesn't lose his job, which is supporting his whole household is evil, especial when he follows to make sure the job gets done. A teacher that plants a student's fountain pen in another student's pocket just to frame him and get him expelled, pushing him further by calling his mom a whore is evil! Come on people. Of course the million dollar question is whose going to believe him right.

      Being a ghost Yusuke is visited by the grim reaper who happens to be a pretty blue hair girl on an oar, wearing a pink kimono whose first introduction to him in the English dub is Bingo.  When she tells Yusuke the rare occurrence of an unplanned death has happened, she tries to tell him that he can take an ordeal to get his life back, Yusuke though isn’t sure coming back to life is all that great of an idea. As proof was his retracing  his day of what happened, actually going to school, arguing with Keiko, then dealing with two kids that were planning to use his name in a lie, a teacher that caught his reaction and tried to blame him for harassing them, causing him to leave school despite the pleas of an understanding principal. It seemed like it couldn’t get worse until he goes home to his mother who he argues with, storms out and deals with Kuwabara, a rival he’s beaten up more times than he can count, beats him up one more time he won't count and at last sees a kid chasing a ball into the streets. It shows Yusuke as a caring person when he scolds the child and then tries to cheer him up with funny faces.  Unfortunately the kid didn’t listen and chased the ball into the streets anyways and when a speeding car is coming down the street nonetheless. Thus his life is ended and finds the boy survived with minor injuries and actually wouldn’t have died anyways, the reason Spirit World where Botan is from and where the dead go for placement of where they'll spend eternity, is offering him an ordeal,because not even they were expecting him to give his life for anyone let alone a child. This being said Botan tells him he should take the day to think about it, what follows is Yusuke watching his own wake, a devastated Keiko, Kuwabara having to be dragged out by his friends because of a sorrowful rage and principal Takanaka who stops two of Yusuke teachers from badmouthing him and cries in front of his picture, believing he could have made something special of himself and in front of his mother who continues to call out his name. One of the best scenes is when the boy he died for, comes with his mother and thanks him and asks his mother why all those people were crying for Yusuke, he goes on to tell her how nice he was and said he guessed that they wanted to play with him too. That’s when Yusuke realizes that there are people that care about him and maybe him deciding to leave the world would hurt people around him, people he may never get a chance to know really love him.  It would come to this many times, the bonds he would have with the other characters, a pivotal moment with his mentor Genkai when she tells him “every decision you make, effects the countless people who care about you." Yusuke is quite the badass with the bad attitude but he really does care about people, no matter what he does, he would have to see that they’re his reason.

 

        Yusuke goes through with the ordeal meeting the prince of the Spirit World and son to King Yama, Koenma who appears as just a baby with a pacifier but of course has lived for centuries. During his ordeal he’ll have to help Kuwabara past his exam in order to save a friend’s job and protect Keiko as well as his own body from burning. All the while his bonds with those on Earth would grow, this unusual combination in him would make it so Koenma makes him a spirit detective when he becomes human again. Pegging on Yusuke’s natural fighting ability along with spirit energy he awakens in him, he would have him investigate various criminals who at first seem to be demons but will also be humans to help protect people in both the human world and the spirit world. As you watch you see that the crisises that come force Yusuke to often deal with foes and problems he isn’t ready for and also shows that the more dangerous the situation the greater his strength becomes, especially when those he cares about are in danger. Even though we know Yusuke is a swell guy his journey as spirit detective also helps develop him as a person and a character as well, not only him but two of the demons he would encounter in his first case. Kurama, a demon that took over a new born human and happened to be a very old fox demon bandit that  had grown close to the human mother that would raise him and Hiei a no nonsense criminal that holds a very mysterious power as well as a very mysterious third eye, the Jagan. Naturally Botan tags along and is the messenger between Koenma and Yusuke when a big case or crisis pops up.  Of course his rival would also become his best friend Kuwabara who would get caught up in his spirit detective cases and even Keiko who he tries to hide it from becomes aware and it only adds to the worrying she does for him as well as the cause of him being absent from her life more often than she would wish.

 

          The story as well as some of his adversaries are compelling, as are the characters that you can find very relatable, what of the great things about the show. As Yu Yu Hakusho progress further you find it hard to call his foes villains, they’re reasons certainly resonate and help to mold the maturity that would grow in Yusuke. Whether witness to a human forcing a demon to cry for the jewels her tears create, showing the cruelty of humans can be just as bad as demons, to a demon who can change the growth of his muscles causing him to have massive and I do mean massive power, said demon even forces Yusuke and his friends to take part in The Dark Tournament, a ruthless torment where demons take part for bragging rights when it comes to power and very wealthy humans can bet on it.  If he refuses he will be killed along with everyone else he cares about, forcing the potential this demon, Toguro sees in him. Why go that far actually has a lot more depth than you think and direct links to those in Yusuke’s life. It also forces him to deal with someone like him, such as the rouge spirit detective Shinobu Sensui, as they see what sort of person would try to open a tunnel from human world to demon world, with seven personalities, Yusuke witnesses the truth of what makes this human’s soul tortured in what I think is an unbelievable arc properly titled Chapter Black. Which leads into the very questions this character asks, are all demons evil or is it all humans, something major happens to cause him to look into this deeper, as well as the many politics that are happening in demon world, maybe in all of this he will find out what’s most important and what exactly he’s living and fighting for.

 

 

       Directed by Noboyuki Abe, Yu Yu Hakusho runs about 112 episodes which sounds long until it wraps you in and you’re addicted, plus compared to some anime out there who have four times it’s number, the show really is a drop in the bucket but it never feels like their stretching things out. The story as it continues goes deeper in its characters and best of all answers all your questions whether you wondered or not, why Koenma is always sucking on his pacifier, why do demons manage to get into human world at all and who exactly is the narrator. Face it they all get answered and it shows in a way that can make other anime green with envy, noted has to be the animation that goes through many changes, whether it’s the coloring or the shadows which add on or minimize, they seem to fit the tone of the episodes well and of course the many unique characters, the way they look, the way they talk and their backstory makes Yu Yu Hakusho truly unforgettable. If you’ve ever watched the Bount Saga of Bleach although it was what we call a filler arc it was also a tribute to the Chapter Black arc of Yu Yu Haksuho just to show you how far the influences of the show reach and yes the show it still a household name when it comes to anime. Its been voted many times on the 100 greatest anime of all tine and rightly so. So there it is, my early Christmas present to myself, giving Yu Yu Hakusho it’s Take A Pick Tuesday spotlight which I could go on with for another hundred pages or so. Lastly Yu Yu Hakusho is also very easy to get. Being one of Funimation’s first shows it helped expand their titles that would come after it  and has been re-released on DVD a couple of times and recently Blu ray in the form of four very affordable box sets. While purist will run to the Japanese audio, one of the things I give kudos to, is the line writers and voice actors and just about everyone else that was a part of the translation, is that they gave Yu Yu Hakusho its own unique spin that adds a little more flair to the characters in what’s fantastic voice acting. Look closely and you’ll see that some of the lead actors in the show Justin Cook and John Burgmeier who contributed to the line production and script adaption. So enjoy the show for all the things that make it wonderful and for those ready to watch heads up its addictive. 

A Podcast Companion

https://soundcloud.com/rats-on-a-plague-podcast

*Need more otaku time, well for more ideas why not hop on to the newly minted podcast Rats On A Plague Ship. A podcast that speaks on all matters of geekdom with yours truly and my fellow co-host Sal Almaraz. The true cure to when the hours feel like they drag!

 

Quote of The Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I don't think anyone is born knowing why they're here. It's just something you have to find as you go along"  -Tohru Honda 

Ani Poetry:The Nameless Monster I : A Poem for Monster

The Nameless Monster I

 

A cold wind of death blows between a border as twins nearly collapse, once found so many would know the fear of having no name

The doctor sees his life is a sham, there are those that to find themselves equal with the rest of the world, the rest of the world to them shouldn’t have the opportunity to live

Screams and pleas are noiseless, they are in a world that hears or sees nothing, a world that is about to shatter

Unknown at the time as it watches the doctor’s world crumble, collapsed, forcing to believe his choice was wrong

The choice that all life is created equal, yet there are smiles that lift from the black abyss of sickness, injury and dangers of death

These things convince him that no loss of his is too great for the smiles he’s able to create

His choice is not wrong yet it brings him to the building of cement and emptiness, it brings him to a night where rain will burst like sadness upon the face of the world

It will bring him to the shadows of a young man, a man that was a boy once, the boy that helped him make his choice

As he watches the young man takes the choices away from others, is this his legacy? Believing in what’s right and it causes so many lives

Never mind that the smiling inspector with the hands that input cares not of the horror of this, never mind that you’re seen as the very thing you’ve witnessed

You must stop the monster that taunts with many names, many lives, that taunts with choices and takes them all away. You must stop this monster and yet what about their life, what about the choices that were taken away from them. Weren’t all lives equal? How will you face the truth, to the little girl, now the young woman, the twin that finds out her nightmare hasn’t ended only been shared because of you.

When she realizes you’re a victim and makes her choice how will you choose?

Aren’t all lives equal? To only you this question is asked, a stranger drifting in the country where you help those around you but none could ever hope to help you. To this question you will be constantly asked.

A Poem For Laboon: A Wave From A Distant Memory

Laboon

 

 

The mountain is unmoved but my eyes are closed, I do not see failure in the pain of the collision

I only feel the urge to continue, to break through this invincible wall and reunite with those whose waves are distant memories

Memories that play on my mind in unexpected times,

 Like visiting ghosts

 I do not wish to call the past

There are others that say I have scars but I do not believe them, surely I couldn’t be hurt, wounded means a prelude to defeat and I will not see them wave from a distant memory

The days move are so I assume, for every moment is the same for me, every moment is another attempt to break through

When a set of visitors appear one day, beyond the man that waits inside of me

They in different acts earn my trust, they in different acts show me a reflection

What I see should cause pain to me but it does not, a strange one has sworn a promise with paint upon my scars and a smile like one so very long ago

The rocks are unmoved but my eyes are closed, I no longer need to attempt to break through them

For what’s on the other side will return to me someday, I hear them already, waves from a distant memory

A-Sexual Characters in Anime

                                                 A-Sexual Characters in Anime

 

 

In this list will look at A-Sexual characters in the world of anime. Not to say it’s such a horrible thing or that there is anything wrong with it, to me one of the coolest characters ever is Sherlock Holmes and for all parts counted he’s A-Sexual, just a look at characters who seem to have other things on their mind other than someone they love. Maybe that’s not fair, all these characters have love whether the sea, food or their goals, it’s just not love in the sense that most would think.

 

Ash Ketchum- The eternal journey of Ash Ketchum to be a Pokémon Master has taken him far and wide, with all sorts of people who have other Pokémon goals.  Ash has commented several times that he didn’t know what everyone was talking about when the conversation turned to love, he himself had a possible love interest but he was just too oblivious to notice. Perhaps above all the other reasons that was why Misty left. Not to say she’s the only one there was or could have been, oh Ash you heartbreaker. Maybe though Ash does have love, one for his goal to become a Pokémon Master and his love for his best friend Pikachu. Although that has been slight shifts in X and Y for Ash with the connections to those he travels with linked a little closer to home so anything is possible. Are maybe what a lot of people my generation are rooting for will happen, Misty will come back full time and they'll finally hook up. Granted they're all supposed to be kids but for the future it would sure be a nice epilogue.

 

 

 

Luffy- Sure he might be made of rubber but that doesn’t mean he’s using it for those purposes. It’s not that Luffy is clueless about love or what it’s supposed to mean, it just doesn’t seem to be on his mind is all. If anything we can associate his love with those he cares about and as the name has suggested once upon a time, perhaps the romance is with the freedom, the ocean, the adventure and the desires that he has along his journey. Not to say Luffy doesn’t have those that are digging his stretch arm self, Boa Hancock one of the Seven Warlords comes across him, queen of an island of women or amazon if you will. Luffy manages to do something to her that no other man has ever been able to do, to the point that the others think she’s fallen sick, it’s only her falling for Luffy and at that point he would win her over without ever returning her feelings. Not to say she is the only one, maybe it’s just the romantic in me but there are a couple of other ladies I always thought might be interested in the boy with the straw hat.

 

Goku – While it’s true that Goku is married with children and understand the concept of the birds and the bees, it can also be said that he was a little clueless back in the day and considering his priorities sometimes, not to say the world isn’t a priority there is still the distinct possibility that Goku might be a little A-Sexual.  It’s hard to gloss over the fact that Chi Chi his wife had to kind of trick him into marrying her, when younger he saw it as more of a fighting challenge. Vegeta isn’t the most romantic man ever but considering he had tried to destroy the Earth before and was someone most of the Z fighters were scared of for some time then he must have done quite the wooing to get Bulma to marry him. Not to mention he’s around her a lot more than Goku has been around Bulma. I suppose being dead can prevent you from being with your wife but it still doesn’t stop Goku from saving the world!

 

Ichigo Kurosawki – Perhaps out of the bunch he would seem unlikely, he blushes at certain moments, he’s gone to rescue both Rukia and Orihime and even those both clearly care about him where is the advancement in the relationship. Could it be the dreaded love triangle or simply that giant stamped A on Ichigo’s head. I mean if having entire arcs to save someone doesn’t get you a date besides when you’re slaying hollows than what’s the problem. In truth I’ve always seen Ichigo and Rukia making far more progress in the show as a possible couple than they did. Whatever you do Ichigo don’t ask Rukia’s stepbrother for love advice, that might be a bit of a sore spot for him. I don’t know maybe the most frustrating thing is that in a way it’s focused on a lot, yet development often can be slow once the problems are resolved. Perhaps a gift of which your name means to them can get things rolling Ichigo, just saying.

 

Heiji Hattori – The detective of the west, some might even say the Kudo of the west from Detective Conan. While Shinichi Kudo has the obstacle of being a little boy’s body to prevent him to tell  Ran the truth, it hasn’t stopped him from confessing and while Ran seems a little slow on the uptake at time, she’s certainly more progress than Kazuha Toyama. Heiji seems far more interested in Conan’s love life than his own, in fact it seems like he’s unaware that he has a love life with his childhood friend, although she isn’t as oblivious. Which is awfully funny considering the seventh movie was dedicated to Heji’s past and who might have been his first true love, see the revelation in that and it’ll make you scratch you head on the progress on all things love for Heiji. If anything it might make him closer to Sherlock than Conan in that sense. Just another one that makes you scratch your head, see if you can find an episode where she’s talking to another boy and it upsets him, he isn’t even sure why, something he openly admits.

 

Of course there are plenty of other characters out there that seem to sort of miss the message or the hints at times but watching these guy’s, you feel better with your love life and if there isn’t one than you have learned the first valuable lesson, don’t be oblivious.

When You're Trying To Focus On Something

Take A Pick Tuesday : Monster

Take A Pick Tuesday: Monster

 

 

Whether A Fluke or Keaton’s winning smile, the Master Keaton Take A Pick Tuesday a couple of weeks had enough readers to make me give in to the urge to write about another anime by the same creator, Monster. Some shows are good, some shows are great, some shows are great and important; Monster falls under the category of the latter. With all the insight you get inside the human soul, what we as people are capable of, you would think it would be more than you could bear to see in another episode but also you see the compassion, redemption, love and hope that are also there within the show, not to mention the quiet moments and the wonderful scenery that breathes in between the dialogue of the show. In that sense there is similarities to Master Keaton and of course some of those moments are the show’s all on its own.  Monster is that good and while it may be a 70+ episode journey, it’s easy to find the episode count fly by.

 

      The story of Monster focuses on Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a brilliant neuroseurgon destined to rise to the top in Eisler Memorial Hospital in Dusseldorf, Germany. Tenma is not only the director’s favorite due in part to the amazing surgeries he performs but also that director’s daughter’s finace. An incident with a grieving Turkish woman blaming Tenma for not operating on her husband, sure that if he did he would have saved him, begins to shake him deeply. Suddenly the world he realizes he’s a part of looks to be a horrible empty void, where people find more value in reputation and money than they do in human lives. He remembers that at the moment of preparation for an operation on the Turkish man, he was asked to go into another room and operate on a famous Opera singer, which would help to boost the hospital’s reputation even more. When the director and his fiancé write off the suffering woman’s complaint as if it meant nothing, even saying that lives aren’t created equal, something begins to change within him. It just so happens that the next time he’s called in for an emergency operation it’s a boy found shot in the head, his sister cationic from witnessing the trauma and the parents, two high profile escapees from the other side of the Berlin Wall murdered. Once again as he preps for this dangerous surgery that he feels only he can perform to save the boy’s life, he’s asked to operate on the Mayor just brought in. However Tenma sticks to his guns and the true reason that doctors should help save lives because all lives are created equal. Tenma saves the boy but seems to lose everything else, his engagement with the director’s daughter, as well as his position getting demoted.

 

        When Monster shows people being not so nice, they don’t pull any punches and of course you think wow can people really be that messed up and the answer is of course. That’s one of the reasons Monster is such a heavy hitter you can always find truth to the when people seem to act horribly, it happens all the time. The director and two other doctors even try to turn the recovering boy and his sister into a media circus, before they can though they’re all found dead, poisoned by a candy they all ate, gifts for the boy from the public. The hospital turns a 360 and Tenma is promoted, ironically it seems believing in the reason he’s a doctor had proved to be the right path after all. Then ten years later, at this point the Berlin Wall is taken down, a lock picker is brought to the hospital, after Tenma saves him and finds out he was attached with others that were involved with a series of murders of middle age German couples, he helps to convince the man to choose the right path and redeem himself until one night, the guard by the man’s room is found dead by the same candy that killed the two doctors and the director. The lock picker is running from something and by the time Dr. Tenma reaches him he sees him begging for Tenma to run, the reason is the young man standing in front of him, the monster, the one that was responsible for the murders and who hired him. The young man, Johan had been his name when he was brought to the hospital as a child, yes he turns out to be the boy Tenma had saved. Johan executes the man and leaves Tenma in a world that turns upside down once again.

 

       His reason had been the child but the child he saved turned out to become a serial killer. The police would have their doubts including one Inspector of the BKA, Inspector Lunge. Positive that Johan is a part of Tenma’s mind and that he’s responsible for the murders as well as the director and the doctors all those years ago, it leaves Tenma on the run. Yet he had already chosen to leave anyways, feeling responsible for bringing back Johan to life, he might choose to kill him but what he finds out about Johann and his missing twist sister Ana is far more, far worse than he could imagine. This leaves to question who are the real monster, Johan are those that had turned him into this, more of a cause of concern than his well-being Tenma is consumed by this traveling as far as he can to try and right this wrong. It follows you into the darkest corners of what people are capable of and Tenma is one of the many moral scales when we visit these dilemmas of the human soul. Having described all that is really I kid you not the synopsis. Monster is a layered, suspenseful, moving drama that if you haven’t seen it yet than I highly recommend it to be the choice for you this week.

 

        Whether on the country side, with the fields and the sun high in the air on a hot day or sinking on a waiting couple out of gas in the middle of nowhere, in the city with large buildings or the small villages “like from a fairy tale” to the neon lit red light districts, the show is quite beautiful, the animation embraces the moments in the story that leave the mind no choice but to linger. Monster explores the different parts of Germany and Prague as well, just like with Master Keaton, the characters have very human faces, each different from the other. I’ve heard some say the manga is more detailed but I have to say if the manga could move, the anime would be it to the tee. Even characters that don’t return over and over again leave a lasting impression because they do explore many perspective and many paths of the characters moving down different paths that basically lead to the same place, at times intersecting before the final destination, still have memorable qualities to them and no they aren’t fillers, not just hey this character met them moments, they build on the dilemmas of the characters and reinforce who they are and what it is they want. Even in the calmer moments of the show, shadows play a big part in the animation techniques, the sinister things around every turn, shrouding characters until it is time to find out who they are.  A technique that Urasawa actually uses quite often in his manga, always leaving the impact desired. Like Master Keaton if you were ever curious about the countries involved than you might be more so afterwards and if you live in them whether it’s everything you can recall or not, you will see a pattern in Urasawa’s works, there’s a clear interest in the countries he often uses in his works.

 

   Not to shake a stick at the music either, well-orchestrated it lifts your spirits in the quiet moments, even some closer to being festive and keeps you on the edge of your seat in the suspenseful moments and chills your blood during the many revelations in the show. As for the release of Monster it’s actually an interesting thing, VIZ licensed it and have released the first box set, the first 13 episodes and that was it. Some red tape along with a few other reasons prevented them from ever releasing the rest, despite this it had aired in its entirety on both Chiller, a horror channel as well as SyFy. Not only that there was a time it was on Netflix, Hulu, the whole nine yards. These days it’s a little harder to find Monster yet it is there. One place to check is on VIZ’s website, they stream episodes on there though lately even that has changed and then there is the Australian brand Madman Entertainment had planned a release a while back. There’s always a chance that it’ll be rereleased and this time in its entirety.  Another strong reason for this is that Guillermo Del Toro, big time director of Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Devil’s Backbone, Chronos and Pacific Rim, had submitted the script for a first season of a live action adaption of Monster for HBO. The script was approved by Naoki Urasawa who these days always wants to see the scripts to his works being adapted and it’s been a little quiet on that front but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Wait there’s more, VIZ has started doing some releasing on one front, manga. The manga was released from beginning to end a while back but VIZ decided to release Monster in these larger collections, Perfect Editions that are quite beautiful, two volumes are out already with a third coming out in January. Speaking of his other works, Master Keaton is getting released in manga form for really and truly the first time state side, the first volume coming out in January. If you find a way to watch the show then do so, don’t be afraid of the English Dub it’s done quite well, the voice actors nailed those characters  Caitlin Glass as Nine/ Ana and of course Liam O’Brien as Dr. Tenma. Monster explores what we are as human beings in full, there are a lot of things lying in those shadows but through them and those wicked truths we find a lot of beauty in the light too.

A Podcast Companion

https://soundcloud.com/rats-on-a-plague-podcast

*Need more otaku time, well for more ideas why not hop on to the newly minted podcast Rats On A Plague Ship. A podcast that speaks on all matters of geekdom with yours truly and my fellow co-host Sal Almaraz. The true cure to when the hours feel like they drag!

 
 

Quote of the day- Passing it on

Holiday Binge Watching Lists Part 1

 Holiday Binge Watching Lists: Part 1 Introductions

Following a major holiday like Thanksgiving we all pretty much know what we’re in store for.  Lots of food during Christmas and yes unlike the holiday we just passed, present exchange but what about the time leading up to it and even the time afterwards. More likely than not it would mean a lot of time on the sofa whether alone or with friends or with family on some serious binge watching. Maybe even lots of traveling with major downtime, perhaps you can watch a few things on apps on your phone or watch things on your computer if you’re the lucky sort.

      Hey maybe your looking for a few things to buy and carry with you to watch. Even better!  If you’re wondering what might be a great choice, the 1-2 days off might be a good chance to start or catch up on Anime with high episodes count. If not high episode count than just something you’ve been meaning to watch. Maybe this means continuing what you’ve already started but perhaps the one to choose or continue just might be on this list.

Part 1 will incorporate shows, some with the holiday factors others just simply because though Part 2 will be a selection of holiday episodes, I'm sure it'll be hard to squeeze in everything so feel free to post your favorite holiday anime episode.

For this one where going high on the episode count but have no fear other shows with lower episode counts await, don’t let that deter you from some truly fantastic shows.

One Piece – There’s a lot of reasons this could be an ideal binge watch. Compelling characters, long arcs perhaps but they all go into each other and man is there foreshadowing. One of the unique things about One Piece is that it never repeats itself and you can watch something on episode 50 and find it coming back to it closer to episode 300. The show is long I mean really long and still ongoing but take heart, it isn’t the longest show ever and it’s not something anyone expects to finish in a day.

       The point of binge watching isn’t always to finish but the journey itself and to make a little headway with all the free time and sometimes waiting time we have.  Another great thing about the show is that it’s available at a click of the button from Cruncyroll to Hulu. It's American distributor Funimation also streams it and like other online services streams news episodes straight from Japan.

      Let’s not forget that Funimation has repacked the sets so far in several types of collections which is a nice way to get a jump start on the series and on the horizon is another set that will put even more episodes together if you want to make less purchases and get more episodes out of it. Not to mention it's the perfect gift idea for that Otaku you know, whether they're somewhere in the middle or just own it at all, choosing One Piece isn't a stretch, pun intended.

 

Rurouni Kenshin-  There are times when looking back is looking ahead. Why not get around to some shows you never had a chance to see. Rurouni Kenshin has a mythos to it that is all of it’s own and the show definitely transports you to a unique era for Japan so in some ways you get to see what life was sort of like back then. It’s not as long as some of the modern day long running shows but that isn’t always a bad thing. With the third live action trilogy officially out, this is one of those shows everyone knows about but doesn’t always mean everyone has seen. It’s great for those that have come into anime only a couple of years ago. 

        Kenshin Himura is also a very original main character, loosely based off of an actual historical character you can sympathize with his philosophic out view of the world, he’s seen the war, he’s seen humanity diminished on both sides of war and truly he wants a simpler life, one of atonement of the things he’d done in the past. His choice to do this has him kind of settle down around a cast of characters that truthfully need someone with that sort of out view. What exactly happened to him in the past, what’s to atone for and what connection does it have to the people around him, well that’s why you have to watch it.

       Sure those answers are in an OVA detailing Kenshin past before he was a humble wanderer but whether you see it or not you should still see the show. An assassin during the war before the Meiji era, he has become a rurouni, when he begins to live and assist a young girl trying to keep alive her father's discipline, it seems the perfect humble place to reach out to those affected by the war but for those around him they will see that Kenshin's past will become a part of all their futures. 

        Yes the show had other reasons for the series ending during it’s run but it shouldn’t take away the accomplishment that it established by breeding a legendary character from a legendary anime. For a great show doesn’t only show conflict but questions the conflict as well, you have that with Rurouni Kenshin.

 

Galaxy Express 999/ Captain Harlock-    Galaxy Express 999 is a classic and for good reason, in a near future a boy named Tetsuro Hoshino manages to get the usually impossible chance to ride the Galaxy Express 999 and decides to travel it in search of a way to turn his body into one that is mechanical, a direct influence from the way his mother was murdered, as if this would solve all his problems. In this future, brains can be transferred to a mechanized body, with this Testuro could live forever.  Accompanied him as a sort of motherly figure is the mysterious Maetel who seems to have a vast knowledge of the many planets they visit, she’s said in many ways that he would not be as pleased to live forever with a mechanical body although it seems a philosophical journey from planet to planet is better proof.

       Of course Maetel doesn’t seem to force the boy to understand it either, at times she’s passive in other respects she can be stern but in a silent way it does seem as though she’s guiding him.  Immortality is often a question that comes up in the show since it’s shown in other lights in front of Testuro that show it to not be a great as it seems, there's an extra dimension to the character's and you'll question morals, ambitions, with many endings bitter sweet but always leaving you to ponder. 

     So it goes that this boy and the mysterious Maetel travel through the stars, in search of the planet where he can change his body to a mechanized one, his determination unwavering. You also get to learn about the train itself and others trains that run through the galaxy.  Part of the inspiration for Galaxy Express stems from the novel Night on the Galactic Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa where a train also travels across space. Leji Matsumato has made many other creations that have been just as important to anime as Galaxy Express 999, all of them show a running theme that is constantly revisited, the value of life.

       That is why though some episodes go a dark route and seem hopeless, truly they are showing the value of life in them. We will ignore the one where Maetel blew up a set of duel planets because that doesn’t count. The animation is done in a different style having been made so many years ago, to some it will seem dated but the imagination within it has no bounds and any other show from Matsumato’s works has his easy to recognized style, long slender characters, males with hair on their face, determined eyes, woman with long faces and large eyelashes. A contrast with the small stubby, mash potato faces of some of the characters which mixes imperfection with the perfection, in fact Testuro is one of the stubby character designs.


      Galaxy Express 999 can be viewed surprisingly in a lot of places, among them is Crunchyroll and Hulu. Another classic show that can be viewed on those two sites by Leji Matsumato is Captain Harlock and Netflix has the recent CGI film interpretation of the character. So go to town. If that isn’t enough for you there has been remakes, live action adaptions and further expoloration of the characters and the worlds he’s created, although not all the ones he wasn’t behind himself have made him very happy.

 

Hunter X Hunter- The holidays are usually supposed to be filled with wonder. Hunter X Hunter has plenty of that and adventure and a moving story. The manga by Yoshihiro Togashi has been running for a long time, with his frequent breaks for health reasons, it’s still ongoing and has seen a show in the 90’s. Along with an OVA. However it wasn’t until the recent Hunter X Hunter anime a couple years back that it really hit it wide over here in the US anime wise in my opinion.

        Enough so to spawn two movies and about 148 episodes. I guess that means it had to become even more popular in Japan too. Needless to say the manga isn’t finished so there’s always a chance Hunter X Hunter will bring more to the anime world.  The story follows Gon who journeys to take the Hunter Exam in order to follow his father’s footsteps thus finding his father Gin one of the greatest hunters of them all. They don’t ignore the fact that it seems as though his father had left him when he was little, in fact they don’t ignore anything which is what I love about the show/manga.

       Which doesn’t come as a surprise for me because although the world is wide, filled with people and hunters of all sorts, the show can be very personal which reminds me of Yu Yu Hakusho, which I always thought had deep storytelling that set it apart from all the other mainstream shonen shows. Also not surprising since it's from the same creator.  What a Hunter is, where Gon‘s journey takes him are things you’ll just have to see for yourself. See you can too. Hunter X Hunter is on Cruncyroll, Netflix and many other places., while your at it see  the other Yoshihiro classic, Yu Yu Hakusho.

Salior Moon Crystal – It’s very hard to watch anime and not know what Salior Moon is or at least know the name, it’s about as big as they get. One chosen girl Usgai Tsukino seems to be just another ordinary awkward teen except that she transforms to become a defender of good against the forces of evil. Along the way she will meet other guardians as they unite in their effort. The manga has been coming out in droves and has been a bestseller ever since so it was obvious that there are plenty of people hungry for the girls that gave magical girls that extra bump up in cred to return.

           Need an extra reason then maybe consider your switching from time to time in your binge watching and maybe the other is Hunter X Hunter or Yu Yu Hakusho which would mean you’re keeping it all in the family since Yoshihiro Togashi and Naoko Takuechui are married. Two creative worlds that have colloberated on things, nothing released here except the first volume of Hunter X Hunter which she had for a short time helped behind the scene of things. However it’s interesting to see Salior Moon and Hunter X Hunter and know they are connected in some way.

    
Those are some of the stables  and of course there are other seemingly obvious shows that could be worthy binge watches  whether because of length or how massively popular they are. Something we'll dive into one the next parts of our Holiday Binge Watching Lists- Stay Tuned. 

A Podcast Companion

https://soundcloud.com/rats-on-a-plague-podcast

*Need more otaku time, well for more ideas why not hop on to the newly minted podcast Rats On A Plague Ship. A podcast that speaks on all matters of geekdom with yours truly and my fellow co-host Sal Almaraz. The true cure to when the hours feel like they drag!