Comics Are Trying to Break Your Heart #17: The Shonen Problem

01 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Anime, Comic Books, Comics Are Trying to Break Your Heart, manga

Comics Are Trying to Break Your Heart #17 by Drew Barth

The Shonen Problem

Everyone loves a good Shonen series. They’re fast-paced, filled to bursting with action, typically include an expansive cast of characters for anyone to grow attached to, and are fairly fun with that right balance of drama to keep a reader interested. In many ways, Shonen manga and anime are quite similar to monthly superhero comics. And while tastes and styles are different, audiences come to each genre for the same thing: story, characters, and action.

Shonen Jump began as a weekly magazine in Japan roughly fifty years ago and has gone on to become iconic in its status as both the best-selling manga magazine as well as the starting place for many of the most well-known manga in the world. Nearly every major manga series to become popular in the states originated in Shonen Jump—One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Fist of the North Star, etc.

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The most popular, beloved series to come out of Shonen Jump is Dragon Ball. Created by Akira Toriyama in 1984, Dragon Ball is to Shonen what Batman is to superhero comics. Dragon Ball as a series has been ubiquitous in popular culture from recent fighting games to Patti Smith (thatPatti Smith) sitting down and enjoying the latest Dragon Ball film. Or perhaps you would prefer this fine fashion from Forever 21? But as a result of Dragon Ball’s ubiquity and popularity, its flaws have also influenced many other popular Shonen series as well.

If you have read Dragon Ball Z or watched the anime when they were younger, then you know the Shonen formula: There’s a bad guy. How do we handle the bad guy? We hit him real hard. That didn’t work. We hit him even harder. That sort of worked, but now the bad guy is also hitting harder. We almost lose and the bad guy is calling us pathetic. Now we’re going to scream and think about our friends/family until we can hit the bad guy SO MUCH HARDERand then we win. We celebrate.

But now there’s another bad guy who hits hard enough to blow up a planet. Guess we got to train/scream/charge up/etc. until we can also hit the new bad guy even harder.

From Dragon Ball Z’s Saiyan Saga onward, that’s more or less how stories unfold. Of course there were more nice character moments, some smaller villains, a bit of comedy, and an android marriage, but the beats perpetually returned to that same cycle.

Many other series ended up falling into this pattern as well. Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach were, and still are, among the other most popular series released by Shonen Jumpbut they still fall into these simplified drama trappings.

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As long as the main characters can power up through training or sheer force of will, they will always win in the end. Whether it be in the form of a character going Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, utilizing the final techniques of the Sage Art, opening their final Bankai, or going into Gear Four, there’s always another level for all of these main characters to power up to defeat the nextbad guy in a long line of bad guys.

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When many of these series have hundreds of chapters and have been going on for over twenty years in some cases, the constant powering up and fights become repetitiously, repeatedly, redundantly tiresome.

However, this narrative weakness reminds me of a broader problem with Shonen and other manga genres: many manga chapters are published in various weekly magazines, be it Shonen Jump, Big Comic, etc., and many series chapters are anywhere from ten to eighteen pages. That is sixty to a hundred panels of penciled, inked, finished, and lettered manga in a single week, not including the labor for the mangaka to actually write the story and dialogue. The crunch time for a manga chapter sounds terrible, and with only the mangaka and maybe a couple assistants if they can afford them, I can understand why so many of the most popular Shonen series fall into the above tropes.

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At the same time, the tropes are partly why people love Shonen. Reading through chapter #645 of Naruto likely has the same effect as reading Detective Comics #1002. For readers, there is a familiarity with the characters, the setting, and the action that is likely comforting. Shonen manga provides a slightly different use of character since a series is typically a single creative mind working toward an end goal with all the character growth and development that comes with the years of a series being published. But, like with Superhero comics, there is that tendency to fall into the above tropes since there is only so far a creator can take the one or two characters a series is focused on. It makes me wonder: are there are any Shonen series that are roughly thirty years old that don’t have the typical Shonen issues?

Get excited. Next week is a Bizarre Adventure.

drew barth

Drew Barth (Episode 331) is a writer residing in Winter Park, FL. He received his MFA from the University of Central Florida. Right now, he’s worrying about his cat.

The Curator of Schlock #267: Fist of the North Star

05 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in animation, Anime, Film, The Curator of Schlock

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The Curator of Schlock #267 by Jeff Shuster

Fist of the North Star

Welcome all my friends to the show that never ends.

My MacBook Pro power cord died on me again. This happens from time to time. Maybe I need to hang it up and buy a PC. So I’ll be wrapping up Anime Month today even though it’s April. Tonight’s feature is 1986’s Fist of the North Star from director Toyoo Ashida. This movie is guaranteed to blow your head apart. Sorry. I’ve got Emerson, Lake & Palmer on my brain. Maybe because I saw so many brains exploding out of heads in Fist of the North Star. Fist1 This might be the most violent animated motion picture I have ever seen. Hell, this might be the violent motion picture I’ve ever seen. Fist of the North Star begins with the world being nuked into oblivion. Must have been the Soviets. Or maybe it was Matthew Broderick. At any rate, you see the full horror of that nuclear fallout, people stumbling around as their skins melt off. The aftermath leaves the world a wasteland reminiscent of the Mad Max movies. Only the strong survive in this cruel, new world.

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Enter our hero, Ken (voiced by John Vickery), a martial arts master with the title of Fist of the North Star. While traveling with his fiancé, Julia (voiced by Melodee Spivack), he gets challenged by the Fist of the South Star, Shin (voiced by Michael McConnohie). Shin is Ken’s best friend from childhood, but he wants Julia for himself so he challenges Ken to a fight. One thing to note about many of the men in this film is that they’ve got muscles upon muscles upon muscles. Arms and legs shaped like tree trunks. I wonder how these men can pack on the muscle when food is so scarce in this post-apocalyptic world.

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Ken loses the bout and is left for dead. Shin and his gang of hooligans make off with Julia. Fast-forward a year. A gang of marauders is chasing two kids named Bat and Lin. I think Lin has some psionic powers because she summons Ken from the wasteland. Ken fights the marauders and knocks a couple of ruined skyscrapers over. This movie is kind of a blur to me. Maybe it’s because I can’t keep track of whose head exploded when and where.

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Yes, Ken has a martial arts technique where he touches pressure points on another guy’s head resulting in his opponent’s brain exploding from his skull. People get killed in all sorts of ways in this movie. Some get crisscrossed into chunks. Others spill their guts all over the ground. It’s all really quit nasty. Still, if you look past the carnage, you’ve got a movie that champions love, honor, and the restoration of the Earth to a green paradise. I think they released a Fist of the North Star video game last year. You get to explode men’s heads in the game. It’s amazing what they can do with technology these days.

Photo by Leslie Salas.

Jeffrey Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, and episode 284) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.

The Curator of Schlock #266: Twilight of the Cockroaches

22 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in animation, Anime, The Curator of Schlock

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The Curator of Schlock #266 by Jeff Shuster

Twilight of the Cockroaches

Not to be confused with Grave of the Fireflies.

The VHS cassette box for Twilight of the Cockroaches, a live action/anime hybrid movie, has a quote from Richard Harrington of The Washington Post. He says, “Could do for cockroaches what ‘The Secret of NIMH’ did for rats.” Now I know you kids have never heard of the Don Bluth animated masterpiece, The Secret of NIMH. It tanked at the box office leading Don Bluth to spend his energy making the arcade game Dragon’s Lair. You remember Dragon’s Lair, don’t ya? It was featured on that Stranger Things show that you guys love so much.

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Anyway, we’re not here to talk about The Secret of NIMH. Tonight’s feature is 1987’s Twilight of the Cockroaches from director Hiroaki Yoshida, a movie that proves that cockroaches are people too. The movie centers around a pretty, young cockroach named Naomi (voiced by Rebecca Forstadt) who’s engaged to a boring, yet stable young cockroach named Ichiro (voiced by Stephen Apostolina). They live an idyllic life with their community of roaches in the apartment of a Japanese bachelor named Saito (Kaoru Kobayashi), who gave up killing roaches when his wife and daughter left him. Saito lets the roaches roam free in his apartment, letting them eat whatever they want.

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What on Earth am I watching here? Twilight of the Cockroaches is an interesting production in that it combines live-action acting with animation not unlike Mary Poppinsor Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The technique is rather neat, featuring animated cockroaches against a backdrop of real life images such as Nike footwear and Heinz Ketchup bottles. While the movie does feature human characters in the form of Saito and his eventual girlfriend, Momoko (Setsuko Karasuma), the story focuses on the cockroaches, kind of like the latest Planet of the Apes movie. Except the cockroaches get their butt kicked in this movie.

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A young woman named Momoko lives in the apartment across the way from Saito and she hates cockroaches. She buys all kind of sprays and traps, trying her damnedest to eliminate every cockroach in the vicinity. As a result, the tribe of cockroaches living on her property is a warrior tribe. One of these warriors is a handsome cockroach named Hans. He even has a cleft chin. After an excursion, he finds his way over to Saito’s apartment and Naomi falls for him instantly. Hans recovers and returns to his tribe, but Naomi follows him. They begin a torrid affair. Oh, along the way, Naomi runs into a talking turd. The talking turd is done with clay animation. What on Earth am I watching here?

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Saito and Momoko also fall for each other. She moves into Saito’s apartment. so we know what that means. What follows is truly horrifying, a genocide of a race of creatures who just wanted to live peacefully with their human hosts. The warrior tribe of cockroaches comes to aid of the soft, yuppie tribe, but they get wiped out too. Naomi survives, pregnant with the next generation of cockroaches, immune to the poisons currently used by humans. This will force the humans to create deadlier poisons that will lead to even tougher cockroaches developing immunity to such poisons. Such is the fate of the cockroach as decreed by the god of the cockroaches. What on Earth am I watching here?

Jeffrey Shuster 3

Jeffrey Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, and episode 284) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.

The Curator of Schlock #265: The Professional: Golgo 13

15 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in animation, Anime, The Curator of Schlock, Uncategorized

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The Professional: Golgo 13

Sex & Violence: The Motion Picture

I was on a James Bond kick around the same time I started getting into state of the art Japanese animation. Naturally, I wanted these two interests to converge in the form of an anime that resembled a Bond film. Eventually, I would discover Lupin the 3^rd, a series of television shows and movies about the world’s greatest gentleman thief. I believe I wrote about them years ago on this blog, no doubt overflowing with sentimentality for Lupin and company. But when I first looked for a Bond-style anime, I discovered The Professional: Golgo 13, a deeply depressing movie about an international assassin.

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1983’sThe Professional: Golgo 13from director Osamu Dezaki is a journey into a nihilistic hellscape. Duke Togo (voiced by Greg Snegoff) is a contract killer known as Golgo 13 who always sees the job through no matter the damage or consequences. Richard Dawson (voiced by Michael McConnohie) is the richest man in the world since he’s the president of a huge oil conglomerate. At Richard Dawson’s 62^ndbirthday party, Golgo 13 shoots and kills Richard’s son, Robert Dawson, right as Richard is about to hand over the reigns of Dawson Oil to his heir.

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Thus begins the hunt for Golgo 13. Richard Dawson has operatives from CIA, the FBI, and the United States military at his disposal, all with one mission: the tracking down and killing of Golgo 13. During the movie, we get to see how Golgo 13 operates whether he’s assassinating a Mafia Don in Sicily or shooting en ex-Nazi SS officer in a New York City high rise. Golgo 13 spends his time between missions bedding beautiful women, drinking liquor, and smoking Parliaments. Golgo 13 also has allies that supply him with information and equipment to aid his assassinations.

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Dawson’s subordinates attempt to kill Golgo 13 time and again, only to have him escape or worse, actually retaliate and waste them. Duke Togo is an expert and sniping and close combat. Dawson’s thirst for revenge grows with each failure. He sacrifices what’s left of his family on this mad quest for vengeance, teaching his eight year-old granddaughter how to shoot a handgun so she’ll have a chance to assassinate Golgo 13 when the time is right. He also employs demented psychopaths in his mission to destroy Golgo 13.

One such psychopath is the Snake, a gangly man with serpent like eyes and teeth that resemble snake fangs. The Snake agrees to help Dawson if he’s allowed to have his way with Dawson’s daughter-in-law. Dawson reluctantly agrees, locking her in a room with the Snake, and a disturbing scene follows. The Snake manages to kills some of Golgo 13’s allies, sinking his blades into this one guy’s torso causing him to shower the room with blood.

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Richard Dawson convinces the CIA to release a couple of death row inmates known as Gold and Silver, former assassins driven insane after being dropped in a jungle in South America with no provisions and no weapons. They survived, slaughtering 2,000 guerilla fighters, but were driven insane by the experience. The CIA doesn’t like this idea, telling Dawson this doesn’t serve the public interest like when he ordered the CIA to assassinate President Kennedy.

Eventually, this all leads to a showdown with Dawson Tower, with Golgo 13 fighting off demented assassins while avoiding gunfire from several attack helicopters. This is a movie about evil people doing terrible things to one another. By the way, I learned years later that Takeo Saito, the creator of Golgo13, actually wrote James Bond comics for Japanese audiences. This makes me wonder if Takeo Saito saw James Bond as an assassin, no better than a man like Duke Togo.

Jeffrey Shuster 3 Jeffrey Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, and episode 284) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.

The Curator of Schlock #264: Lily C.A.T.

08 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in animation, Anime, The Curator of Schlock

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The Curator of Schlock #264 by Jeff Shuster

Lily C.A.T.

Not for kids.

Streamline Pictures was instrumental in bringing state of the art Japanese animation to the United States back in the early 90s. It wasn’t marketed as anime like it is now. There was no existing audience for Japanese animation like there is today. A man named Carl Macek brought features stateside for distribution under his Streamline Pictures label. These features were often dubbed in English and released on videocassette. On cassette cases you’d often find a “NOT FOR KIDS” sticker fixed to the box featuring a caricature of a confused, freckle-faced young boy. These stickers always disturbed me, my mind conjuring images of young children being irrevocably scarred by witnessing animated sex and violence. NOT FOR KIDS stickers also elicited my feelings of guilt over not watching something more wholesome, but I couldn’t turn away from the exotic nature of these curiosities from Japan.

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Which brings us to tonight’s feature, 1987’s Lily C.A.T. from director Hisayuki Toriumi. How does this film earn the “NOT FOR KIDS” label? Well, it’s basically an Alien knockoff with a little bit of John Carpenter’s The Thing thrown in. And we can forgive the movie for this since Alien basically ripped off It! The Terror From Beyond Space. The movie begins with members of the Sincam corporation getting ready for cryostasis aboard the starship, the Saides. Sincam employs people from all over the world. The crews mission is scope out some planet that’s twenty light years away, meaning the crew will be away from Earth for about forty years.

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That’s a long time. Heck. If you do two missions, that will be eighty years. Think about all that could change. You’ll come back to Earth, ask for a cool, refreshing Coca-Cola Classic only to discover that New Coke has made a triumphant comeback. Talk about a waking nightmare.

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Crewmembers have different reasons for wanting to leave the Earth for forty years. One blonde-haired jock type wants to use the money he earns from the trip to do some serious damage when he gets back while he’s still young enough to do some serious damage. Nancy Strauch (voiced by Julie Maddalena), the daughter of the President of the Sincam corporation, is taking the journey so she can get revenge on the best friend that stole her boyfriend. She’ll show up back on Earth all young and pretty when her friend is old and wrinkly. I don’t think Nancy thought this out. Captain Mike Hamilton (voiced by Mike Reynolds) keeps going on these trips because he’s too out of step with the times whenever he comes back to Earth.

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There are also a couple of “time jumpers” mixed in with the regular crew. Time jumpers are fugitives that board starships hoping to hide out from the law for forty years. What else? There’s an alien bacterium absorbing members of the crew into a monstrous mass so that’s creepy. There’s also an evil robot sent by the corporation that’s disguised as a cat. So the crew of the Saides has a lot to worry about. Will they survive? I’m sure at least one of them will. That’s how these Alien movies tend to go.

Photo by Leslie Salas

Jeffrey Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, and episode 284) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.

The Curator of Schlock #263: Alita: Battle Angel

01 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in animation, Anime, The Curator of Schlock

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The Curator of Schlock #263 by Jeff Shuster

Alita: Battle Angel

I liked it.

I’ve got nothing prepared this week. Digging up schlock from decades upon decades of film is hard work. I took a break and went to movies, went to check out the latest James Cameron milestone, Alita: Battle Angel. Not that James Cameron directed it, that duty fell to Robert Rodriguez, but whatever. I’ve liked his movies, too. He directed Planet Terror, a movie that spoofed that much-revered classic, Nightmare City. Without Planet Terror, there may not be a Museum of Schlock, so kudos.

But Alita: Battle Angel isn’t schlock, but perhaps it has schlock origins? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines schlock as “of low quality or value.” Certainly Japanese animation was at one point considered to be of low quality or value. Maybe it was because Japanese animation studios toiled under greater budgetary restraints than that of their American counterparts. Maybe it was because they didn’t hit the number of frames per second that their American counterparts strived for. Maybe it had something to do with anti-Japanese sentiment that was still rampant in the 1980s, a holdover from World War II. I used to hear the term “cheap Japanese cartoons” being tossed around when I was a kid, no doubt intended to discourage kids like me from watching Robotech or The Mysterious Cities of Gold. It didn’t work.

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But being into Japanese animation was strange. Heck, being an adult who was into American cartoons was considered strange, but being into exotic cartoons from the Land of the Rising Sun? Forget about it. There were no fandoms back then except for Star Trek fans. No conventions or cosplay–except for Star Trek fans. I didn’t have Internet access until 1995. There was no connecting with people of similar weird interests. You got little exposure to things outside of the mainstream, having to rely on word of mouth and friends brave enough to fork over money for expensive VHS tapes featuring the latest in state of the art Japanese animation. One day, a friend loaned me a VHS tape titled Battle Angel Alita.

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Battle Angel Alita was what was known as OVA in Japan. It’s an abbreviation for Original Video Animation. This was animation produced solely for those purchasing it on VHS or Laser Disc. These were usually limited series featuring animation of a higher quality that what was made for television. OVAs are notorious for being unfinished. In just two 30-minute episodes, Battle Angel Alita introduced me to a teenage girl cyborg fighting for justice and survival in a scrap-heap city lorded over by a city of elites that floated above them in the sky.

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I think it was after Titanic got released that James Cameron said he was going to make a movie based on a Japanese comic book titled Alita. While I appreciated that Cameron was a fan of this underground comic, I never expected this project to get off the ground. Never in a million years did I expect an adaption of some VHS Japanese animation I borrowed from a friend in the mid 90s to be turned into a movie with a huge budget, state-of-the-art special effects, and an all star cast. And the movie is great, the best blockbuster of the year. Stop reading and go see it. I want a sequel.

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And we will be covering anime features from the 1990s for the rest of this month. Until next week.

Photo by Leslie Salas.

Jeffrey Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, and episode 284) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.

The Curator of Schlock #242: Batman Ninja

21 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in animation, Anime, Film, The Curator of Schlock

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The Curator of Schlock #242 by Jeff Shuster

Batman Ninja

Batman + Ancient Japan = Awesome!

Batman Day has come and gone. The Sewer King display at The Museum of Schlock was a resounding success with a whole five patrons’ eyes transfixed on the five animation cells from The Underdwellers episode of Batman: The Animated Series that John King purchased for around $76,000.

Now, while the Sewer King may be my favorite Batman villain, Gorilla Grodd is my favorite DC villain of all time. He’s the Flash’s arch-nemesis, a hyper-intelligent, evolved gorilla with psychic powers. What more can you ask for in a super villain? Imagine my elation that he’s front and center in the Japanese-animated production, Batman Ninja (Ninja Battoman in Japan), from director Junpei Mizusaki with character designs from Takashi Okazaki, the creator of Afro Samurai.

The animation is among the best ever created anywhere.

We will be covering the Japanese language version of this movie not the English language dub which features a different script.

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I don’t even know where to start with this film. There’s a scene toward the end where a giant Batman (composed of thousands of monkeys and flying bats) fist-fights a giant Joker robot composed of mechanized Japanese castles to the tune of Japanese hip hop. It’s movies like these that remind me of why I do what I do.

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Batman Ninja begins with Gorilla Grodd (voiced by Takehito Koyasu) testing out a time/space machine at Arkham Asylum with the inmates as test subjects. Batman interferes, the machine gets damaged, Batman gets sucked through a vortex, and ends up in Feudal Japan. He skirmishes with some local samurai wearing Joker masks, tries to grapple hook out of there before realizing there are no buildings higher than two stories in the town.

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Turns out the Joker (voiced by Wataru Takagi) and Harley Quinn (voiced by Rie Kugimiya) are in charge of this part of Japan. In fact, several of Batman’s rogues gallery are lords in charge of different territories. These include Two-Face, The Penguin, Poison Ivy, and Deathstroke. Batman learns all of this from Catwoman (voiced by Ai Kakuma) who informs him that she, the villains, and the whole Bat Family arrived in Japan two years before Batman showed up, something about him being the furthest away from the time portal. The Bat Family consists of Nightwing, Robin, Red Robin (I don’t know who that is.), Red Hood (Isn’t he a bad guy?), and Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred has been busy trying to recreate his fine English cooking in Feudal Japan, even going so far as to ferment green tea leaves to make black tea.

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There’s a Bat Ninja clan who believe in a prophesy that a man dressed as a Bat will travel from the future (obviously) and save Japan, restoring order from the chaos.

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What else? Gorilla Grodd wants to turn Japan into a safe haven for simians from all over the world. The Joker and Harley Quinn become poor Japanese farmers after losing their memories only to regain them and become super villains once again. There’s the aforementioned battle between the giant Batman and the giant Joker robot. Robin gets a pet monkey. Or does Red Robin get a pet monkey? I don’t know.

My mind is a scramble right now. Maybe it was seeing Bane portrayed as a sumo wrestler. Or maybe it was that hot springs scene with Gorilla Grodd.

But it was all worth it. Every single human being must watch this masterpiece.

Photo by Leslie Salas.

Jeffrey Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, and episode 284) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.

21st Century Brontë #30: Holding on to Challenges

08 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in 21st Century Bronte, Anime

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Holiday Matsuri

21st Century Brontë #30 by Brontë Bettencourt

Holding on to Challenges

In my undergrad days, I directed several Murder Mystery Nights for the University of Central Florida’s anime club.

The event combines scripted scenes and improv. The characters are chosen from anime or anime-related content based on that evening’s theme.

With other writers, we created a script based off of how these pre-existing characters might react to each other, keeping true to the canon of our beloved material. There are challenges with writing a bunch of characters whose powers in their own world makes sense, but clash when set against others’ powers.

I was terrified of what I agreed to undertake when I became director. I hadn’t been given a chance to lead any major project until that point; I was unsure if I would be successful. But if no one had stepped up at that moment, the tradition that I joined as a college freshman would’ve been discontinued. I didn’t want the concept to be discontinued.

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My decision payed off. Through several shows I learned how to direct a major project, but also to accept help from other talented individuals. One of the oddest string of networking involved hunting a dude down who potentially knew how to sew clothes—because he was with another friend who had sewn cosplay as they bought food from my job, and that he (this friend of a friend) worked at Joann’s Fabrics. I reached out. It turns out that he did, in fact, make his own cosplay costumes, and even had the outfit already made for one of the characters in the show (made for a separate occasion entirely). I felt proud and a tad creepy.

I love directing Murder Mystery Night because of the high level of craft and creativity that goes into these shows. From cardboard boxes, we created vending machines with operational lights. Stagehands stood inside these boxes, where they engaged in transactions with the audience members. In another show, there was an entire subplot where the only goal of one of the characters was to enter the public swimming pool. This pool was represented by a round, inflatable kiddie pool, which wasn’t meant to be taken seriously at all. The audience definitely got a kick out of it.

All of that work was done for free.

Because of my experience, and due to this being Anime Spot’s tenth year as an official organization, the current board was ecstatic to have me direct. But I wonder if my fluctuating esteem as a creative mind has resulted in these mixed emotions. I knew how to direct this event well, so there was no challenge with directing this year’s show. I can’t tell if this is arrogance or complacency.

I’ve been out of undergrad for over a year. I am starting my MFA in Children and Young Adult Literature next January, but I still find myself contributing to these shows. Thanks to a suggestion from my friend Hannah, we’re performing this year’s show at a local anime convention, Holiday Matsuri. Hours of planning, rehearsals, and organizing have gone into a project that may result in connections and resume building. I did get a free weekend pass to attend the convention.

Maybe what adds to my complacency is that nowadays, I don’t need to Sherlock my way to finding connections. We wouldn’t have the awesome base of Death Parade as the foundation for this show, if not for my assistant director, Alexander. Most of the cast can sew and alter their cosplays, and help those who are less skilled. My other friends, Austin and Matt, have acquired and edited all the sounds and props. And we have not one, but two awesome flyers thanks to Imani and Hannah. And the Anime Spot officers also help with whatever funding we may need, as well as relations with the convention staff.

Over time, so many unique minds have gravitated to Murder Mystery Night. I’ve always been emotional with story endings, especially since I grow too attached and am vehemently against change. But I can’t hope to grow if I don’t accept new tasks that challenge me.

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I’ve heard Murder Mystery Night described as a “glorified fanfiction,” which I both loathe and love. The script is fan fiction because these stories take place outside the context of the characters’ respective series. We do distinguish what point the character is being written from in his or her respective show. We make educated guesses on how the characters will react to the synopsis. But the word glorified downplays everyone’s time, effort, and skill that goes into creating well-crafted stories. MMN is glorious fan fiction.

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My involvement with Murder Mystery Night may wane after this show. But the tools I’ve gained will help me tackle challenges that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise without such awesome experiences. And if you’re an Anime fan in the Orlando area December 16 through 18, definitely check out the show at Holiday Matsuri, if you can!

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21st Cen Bronté

Brontë Bettencourt (Episode 34, Episode 221) graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelors in English Creative Writing. When she’s not writing or working, she is a full time Dungeon Master and Youtube connoisseur.

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21st Century Brontë #29: The Fiction Lessons of FullMetal Alchemist

10 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in 21st Century Bronte, Anime

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Fullmetal Alchemist

21st Century Brontë #29 by Brontë Bettencourt

FullMetal Alchemist

In eighth grade, my friend Madison introduced me to an anime series entitled Fullmetal Alchemist at a time in life when I had to ask what the hell anime was.

The story: Edward and Alphonse Elric are two brothers who practice alchemy, a science that manipulates and alters matter by using natural energy.

In a failed attempt to bring their mother back to life, Ed loses his leg, while Al loses his entire body to a mysterious doorway known as The Gate of Truth. But Ed manages to embody Al’s soul into a suit of armor; Ed sacrifices his arm in the process in order to keep his brother alive. The two are on a quest for the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary transmutation amplifier that could make their bodies intact once more.

At the beginning of every episode, the rule of equivalent exchange is explained: one cannot gain something without giving up something equal in return. The Philosopher’s Stone is said to help the user avoid this rule, capable of feats such as, yes, the legendary one of transmuting standard metal into gold. But there is no evidence that such a stone exists, or could be created.

I love the series for a multitude of reasons, the first being the strength that family bonds provide. Ed and Al navigate the world at such a young age. Their personalities counteract one other’s. Ed is more hot-headed and realistic. Al more soft-spoken, and empathetic.

They encounter a false prophet who uses alchemy to persuade an entire town that he can perform miracles as a holy man. While Al agrees in the wrongness in the prophet’s acts, Al also notes the good that this hope provides the town. The brothers’ conversations serve as a way for audience to mediate on the moral issues instead of taking such morality as flimsy props with which to garland an action-oriented plot.

The brothers’ relationship strengthens them, helping them survive all the violence and fucked up ethics they encounter.

They have experienced loss and grief at such a young age. This is one of the ways the creator, Hiromu Arakawa, creates substantial relationships: the characters know what it is like to lose someone. This is what fuels the characters’ drive toward their goals.

The concept of equivalent exchange reoccurs throughout the show, since the characters need to sacrifice in order to achieve their goals. The complications of the magical science are explored in great length, and the brothers must learn to make wise and responsible decisions with the power they hold.

Even with proper training and discipline in transmutation, Ed and Al cannot prevent a State Alchemist named Shou Tucker from creating a talking chimera by transmuting his daughter and dog together. Tucker’s arrest feels mild compared to the atrocity he committed. We learn that the transmutation cannot be undone. The chimera is killed as a result. This devastates the brothers.

This is a lesson that Ed and Al carry with them for the rest of the series: despite their knowledge and power, bad things still happen to good people. Ed laments that despite being the youngest State Alchemist to receive his certifications, he is “a simple human who couldn’t save a little girl. Not even with alchemy.”

Fullmetal Alchemist means so much to me because of these hard lessons. I was around Ed and Al’s age when I delved into this series. I saw nothing wrong in their wanting to bring their mother back to life. But what made this story stand out from the other anime I was getting to know at the time was that the brothers operated in a world that didn’t cater to them.

In Sailor Moon, the characters overcome all obstacles with sheer faith in each other. In Yu Yu Hakusho, Yusuke Urameshi is brought back to life by the fifth episode to serve as a Spirit Detective for the Spirit World. And in Dragon Ball Z, a simple wish from the Dragon Balls bring the heroes back to life multiple times.

In Fullmetal Alchemist, the world never bends to Ed and Al’s wills.

There’s an episode where Ed is nearly murdered by a serial killer. When the average anime protagonist would train to overcome this obstacle, or acquire a more powerful weapon, Ed instead reflects on his own mortality. The show reminds us that this is still a child learning to cope with a traumatizing situation. Death is a real threat for these characters. I just wanted to see these characters happy, which stemmed from many, many stories derived from the source material manga.

Another reason why I love this series is how easily Arakawa can change the mood. When the moment calls for a serious instance, she definitely delivers. But she prevents the story from becoming too heavy with emotion, reminding the audience of relationships and characters that are at stake.

In the first episode of the anime series, Ed and Al arrive at a desert city. One of the first things that one of the townspeople asks them if whether the two are circus performers. Hilarity ensues when Al preforms alchemy, and the townspeople mistake him for the Fullmetal Alchemist since he wears a suit of armor. When Al explains that Ed is actually the Fullmetal Alchemist, the townspeople cannot believe that the title belongs to such a small person. Ed then assaults several people because he is incredibly insecure about his height.

We don’t learn that Ed has automail limbs and Al is a hollow suit of armor until later in the episode, when the false prophet I mentioned earlier comes to the realization. Up until this point we know that the Ed has a height complex, and Al is wearing armor in a desert, and they’re searching for the Philosopher’s tone. If we were faced with this dramatic reveal first, we wouldn’t care since we’d have no idea of who these brothers are, or why we should care about them. We’re concerned about these characters because the lighthearted moments prior got us invested early on.

I also adored this anime for its badass women. One is Winry Rockbell, a childhood friend to the Elric brothers and an automail mechanic. Although she excels in her craft in order to help Ed out, that isn’t her sole purpose for her occupation. She forces the brothers to make a detour to Rush Valley due to the place’s reputation for automail production. She swoons over cutting edge machinery. She never renounces her femininity.

Winry harbors feelings for Edward Elric, but this is a small part of her character. Her parents were murdered during the Ishvalan War when she was very young. She gets angry at Ed and Al for not keeping in touch due to her concern for them. In the 2003 anime, she and Ed do not even end up together, while in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Ed confesses his feelings in the very last episode. These characters exist outside of romance, while the romance exists as an extra component to layer the characters.

There are more badass female characters. but the males also blur the standard gender norms as well. There’s Maes Hughes, a Lieutenant Colonel who served in the Ishvalan War who swoons and pulls out photos of his wife and daughter every time they’re mentioned. There’s also Major Alex Louis Armstrong, an overly muscular man with an affinity for drawing, flexing, and detailed alchemic transmutations. Arakawa actually draws sparkles in every scene that Armstrong is in.

I enjoy this series so much because it set a standard for what anime could be. Despite all its cheerful moments, the series never shied away from grimmer, darker lessons, nor did it attempt to define more complex concepts such as God or death in simplistic, merely-entertaining ways. Fullmetal Alchemist skillfully told a story with beautifully flawed characters. And despite the hardships that everyone goes through, they are given an ending that doesn’t feel forced, or cheesy, or undeserving.

In 2009, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was released as a more faithful adaptation to Arakawa’s story. The animation is more fluid and complex, especially during the fight scenes. There are more badass, well-fleshed out characters. The pacing is quicker, and different forms of alchemy such as alkahestry are introduced.

But you should still watch the 2003 anime before Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The former delves into complex topics. There is weight to the characters’ emotions. There is profound ambiguity.

One of the final scenes of the anime involves Ed and the antagonist, Dante, speaking to each other about equivalent exchange. Dante combats Ed’s ideologies of equivalent exchange, of how so many others also studied for countless hours in order to become a state alchemist, but because of luck Ed managed to seize the title. She counteracts the balance that equivalent exchange provides with the unpredictability of the world: “Equivalent exchange is a myth, a contrived order to give sense to a world that has none.” Instead of a battle, the animation distorts the room and characters as the law stated at the beginning of the anime is deconstructed.

Fullmetal Alchemist was the first anime to show me that anime could be an art form, and I also learned that I could confide in a medium that otherwise felt separate from my own.

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The Curator of Schlock #58: Lupin the 3rd (Dead or Alive)

26 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Anime, Film, The Curator of Schlock

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Lupin the 3rd: Dead or Alive

The Curator of Schlock #58 by Jeff Shuster

Lupin the 3^rd: Dead or Alive

Not to be confused with DOA: Dead or Alive

Who is Lupin the 3^rd? Is he a villainous criminal mastermind or a heroic kind-hearted thief? The latter of course! He’s not even remotely villainous. He rescues princesses from evil counts. He steals million dollar diamonds only to give the money away to some poor orphan whose parents were killed by the Nostradamus Sect. These week’s movie, Lupin the 3^rd: Dead or Alive, starts out in a nasty prison where the warden will let a few prisoners escape just so the guards can have some target practice. Then the warden lights a cigar that explodes. It turns out the warden was Lupin the 3^rd in disguise. He drives the prisoners away in a jeep while Apache helicopters fire missiles at him. That’s just the first five minutes of the movie.

I think it’s fitting that Lupin the 3^rd: Dead or Alive came out in 1996. That was the first year I discovered Lupin the 3^rd when I bought that VHS copy of The Mystery of Mamo. I do find myself waxing nostalgic when I write about these films. It wouldn’t be long before I started studying film at Manatee Community College, watching such classics as The 400 Blows and Sweet Sweetback’s Baadaasssss Song. It helped that film critics of the 90s such as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were very receptive to Japanese animation. A movie’s merit wasn’t judged based on what genre it came from. This made me more open-minded when it came to exploring films outside the mainstream whether they belonged to the French New Wave or those exotic animated features coming from Japan.

I was once asked if I thought that Japanese animation was better than American animation. I said no. You can’t really compare the two. The one distinction of note I’ve observed over the years is that Japanese animation tends to focus on detail whereas American animation tends to focus on fluidity of movement. I also feel that more inventive storytelling occurs in Japanese animation simply because they produce far more of it than we do.

If we take Lupin the 3^rd: Dead or Alive as an example, one might be tempted to write it off as a typical adventure movie. We have Lupin and company visiting the island paradise of Zufu in search of treasure. Unfortunately, a brutal dictator named General Headhunter rules Zufu. He lives up to that name whenever he chops the heads off of useless people or foolish subordinates. General Headhunter had also managed to execute the King of Zufu, but couldn’t disable able the defense mechanism guarding the nation’s treasure.

It’s the defense mechanism that sets this movie apart. The treasure is contained on an island where an aircraft carrier must have shipwrecked. When Lupin and company set foot inside, the computer on board reads them as intruders and employs nanotechnology against them. Knives and axes attached to tentacles form out of the dirt on the floor of the vessel and out of the sand outside. Microscopic robots are making all of this possible, and it will take a computer program to make the dirt inert. And when the dirt is rendered harmless, it’s revealed to be gold dust. I’m used to deadly traps guarding the treasure in adventure movies, but this is the first instance I’ve ever seen of the treasure being the deadly trap.

I hope you’ve enjoyed Lupin the 3^rd month. Like James Bond, he will return to The Museum of Schlock someday.

Five Things I Learned from Lupin the 3^rd Dead or Alive

There’s no point in trying to arrest Lupin the 3^rd. He’ll break out of jail in three days tops.
Exploding cigars come in handy during car chases.
Evil dictators will only hire you as their secretary after you have a bout of mortal combat with another candidate.
Having a one million dollar bounty on your head sure brings out the bounty hunters.
If your evil boss always kills the messenger, don’t be the one to deliver the message.

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