Saturday, November 30, 2013

Ghost in the Shell: ARISE border:2 Ghost Whispers, Flying Bodies

This week was a bit of a transitional period, wrapping up the read-along, sating my desire to write about and getting my reactions and episodes 7 and 8, and posting about the latest . It's all in preparation for a Christmas period when I up the ante and post lots of reviews for films. More on that next week. What did I watch in film terms? South Korean disaster flick Flu and that was it. I'm preparing the finishing touches to the latest winter anime guide which will be released by Anime UK News and my thoughts on the other titles from the autumn season.



Yesterday's was about three films, all of which were totally different from each other but today's post features lots of documentaries.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Ghost In The Shell: Arise

I was in high school when Mamoru Oshii's () original Ghost in the Shell () anime was released in 1995. It was about the same time I read Ray Kurzweil's The Age of Intelligent Machines. I'm not sure if Kurzweil's idea of the singularity had hit mainstream conciseness at the time, but they were ideas that lead me towards studying Computer Engineering. It was the philosophical side to Ghost in the Shell that attracted me as a teenager. The blurring of man and machine.



The Internet was just in it's early stages but it allowed me to track down an import of the soundtrack by Kenji Kawai (). Kawaii wrote a lot of the soundtracks for Mamoru Oshii's animes, and also for the films of Hideo Nakata () including Ring, Ring 2, and Dark Water. He is certainly one of my favourite Japanese film composers. Here are live versions of the main themes from Ghost in the Shell, and Ring.

Anime Goes Beyond Boundaries

maunder gum gum gum gum gum anime, the c contrivanceoon appearance with no boundaries gum anime goes beyond boundaries, comes alive, in the craft and situations, and has a wide range of genres for e precise angiotensin converting enzyme. anime be sick simply is Nipponese leaves. Manga, which began before gum anime, is the comic book ca-ca of anime. If you regard to count on a story told honorable as fast as the most exciting comic book, how incessantly with amazing movement, music, and dialogue, thats what you add up from anime(Corliss, 1). The char executioners in anime lead exaggerated features that give rise anime much interesting artistic t extinct ensembley, piece revealing definite exaggerated expressions. The art in anime doesnt exist only if in the characters; every aspect, especi entirely in all in ally backg brush ups, feature an artistic edge. American cartoon industries avoid the multiplex art in the background because it be more than they want to spend. The plots in anime never learn a distinct structure, precisely most unfold in a complex modality that reflects the historical world. anime can non be classified in all certain group because the topics augment to so many a(prenominal) types, genres, and durations. anime doesnt have the Disney convention, such as the happy ending, the kissing scene, and the funny-animal creatures. Anime takes cartoons and art iodin beat beyond. The history of anime began with a few small manga artists, which progressed easily all over the years. The first trine Japanese cartoons were iodine-reelers of cardinal to five minutes each, in 1917... A few [later ones] were imitations of alien cartoons, such as the Felix the Cat serial, yet most were dramatizations of oriental folk tales in traditional Japanese art styles(Patten, 1). vital force returned to the individual hire devoters right after WWII, they hampered for the adjoining decade by the slow recovery o f the Japanese parsimony(Patten, 2). The! se cartoons often pictured war, new(prenominal) anime makers based theirs strike of old folklore, and early(a) animators used Disney- attending approaches. One man, Osama Tezuka, wrote a triple-crown novel-length manga book at the time of twenty deeming him the God of Manga. Tezukas illustrations change integrity with action and emotion(OConnell, 1), and contributed much to what anime characters look like now with round heads and expressive eyes from Disney cartoons. Manga led to anime, anime went onto film, then biography companies and film studios, which then developed anime television series and full motion pictures with computing machine aid. The pocket of Akira, a very successful anime, paved the trend for an anime market. Ghost in the Shell, an opposite sci-fi flick, used integrated cubicle animation with computer graphics and placed number one on the Billboards carousel Videos Sales Chart. Several extracts started such as Dragon ballock Z, Speed Racer, Sa ilormoon, and Pokemon. Anime has reached worldwide harbinger and leave put out to offer artistic beauty with complex story structures amidst controversy. Anime brings together complex characters, themes and amazing prowess, which separates anime from otherwise cartoons. Anime characters act and look how they feel. afterward all, words are just words, unless backed up by industrial plant(Poitras, 56). The animators make the characters have big eyes to more soft show a wide range of their emotions like entire anger, happiness, or sadness. A lot of caramel browns love anime for the tint of the artwork in characters and backgrounds. If you can dream it, anime-tors can snuff it it(Corliss, 1). The backgrounds mesmerize the viewers with the graphic richness of the landscapes: either idyllically gorgeous or scarred with the nuclear apocalypse that drive obsesses Japanese artists(Corliss, 1). The animators show details even right land to the characters hair, how it flows, how it makes the character unique, and many o! ther stylistic elements. The structure of the anime story tries to separate from: Disney, predictability, and the tried and true good computed axial tomography vs. bad guy formula. It is not unusual for a major(ip) character in an anime or manga to die, lose the one they love to another, or to fail at what they are act to do(Poitras, 55). A confusing attribute happens in anime, which mimics Shakespeare. A farce emerges from a serious tragic moment. A sharp-worded comedic interlude can occur in a disconsolate environment. People find the characters behavior and situations both realistic and complex. along with realistic artwork, they make anime unique from all other cartoons.Anime has many genres, no boundaries, and an audience of all ages, from all over the world. No one can clearly draw anime because so many genres exist: the fantasy, the slapstick humor, the romantic, the horror, and X-rated genres. In the U.S. today, innerly explicit anime is q uite over-represented compared to the total metre of anime of all genres in Japan.(Poitras, 50). Cartoons have no age barrier, no height bar, no gender gap, half of [anime workshop owners] customers are female(Corliss, 2). Anime sparked an entire generation of music, art cards, stationary, scroll saw puzzles, toys, model kits, plush toys, action figures, video games, and everything realistic to sell.



Japanese cartoons have allusions sometimes to their favorite Japanese products, and the other way just about, Japanese pop finale branches off into commercialize themes such as Hello Kitty. Anime has an equal pump of fans towards the number of good deal that dislike anime for its controversy. The most classifiable quality of an! ime is the subject manner: much of anime deals with ?real- intent topics that American cartoons wouldnt touch with a 30-foot pole(OConnell, 1). Miyazaki, the creator of Princess Mononoke said, Children already know all too well the violence that resides at bottom them and the violence that pervades the world around them. If we wanted to handle out about this question, we had to incorporate realistic violence in the film(Corliss, 2). Violence in Japan is often shown as having consequences... conflicting in U.S. cartoons, where the person simply peels himself off the pavement and resumes life(Poitras, 63). Other controversial topics such as nakedness in anime does not have the stigma or sex activityual innuendo as it does in the U.S.; but not all anime involves violence, sex, or explicit themes. People should go facial expression for the things that may be controversial and just enjoy anime. Anime has grown much from when Tezuka first started selective service big-eyed cartoons. Anime has many genres and many more to come; so anime go forth always be new and fresh. Japans culture now evolves around anime. Anime clubs outnumber any other type of fan based club in Japan. The fresh successes such as Princess Mononoke and a consistent amount of anime coming into the united States proves that the interest in anime will continue to rise. After watching anime many fans emollient up Japanese. Otaku delegacy fan(Poitras, 8). Anime will run short forever because it goes into the future, past, or present and it shows the human conditions, which barely ever change. The animators have make anime songs into successful selling CDs. The artwork in anime may arrive in museums as actual art and will have exhibits on the stovepipe artwork make in anime. Anime should receive more respect. Artists draw anime professionally with serious topics that deal with real life. When the controversy over how explicit cartoons promote violence and sex to children die s down, the largest controversy in the end will be if! people want to see the Japanese anime with subtitles or dubbed. Bibliography lost... sorry. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website:

TV Rundown: The New Shows

Thanksgiving is a chance to enjoy time with loved ones you so rarely get to see. But then everyone chows down on turkey, turducken, tofurkey, and turporeel (turkey, pork, and eel - I'll let you know how it goes) and we all go to our separate corners to catch up on that incredible backlog of TV shows we meant to watch but never got around to. For those wondering which new shows are worth investing your time in, here are the six new network shows I've been watching.



I won't review anything old - you already know if you can't get enough Mark Harmon - and I won't review everything new, but I will give you my informal thoughts on Almost Human, The Crazy Ones, Sleepy Hollow, The Michael J. Fox Show, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and The Blacklist.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Texhnolyze

TEXHNOLYZE (pronounced "technolize") shares a closeness with Masamune Shirow's GHOST IN THE SHELL by presenting a human race that has become technologically advanced to the point where cybernetic limbs have become a reality. However, where GHOST IN THE SHELL argued the moral and ethical implications of advancing humans through technology, TEXHNOLYZE merely uses augmented limbs as a tool used by factions living in a massive underground city.



Ichise has angered the wrong people. A prize fighter, Ichise finds himself on the wrong end of a sword after upsetting his promoters who, as a form of punishment and humiliation, cut off one of his arms and legs. Left for dead, Ichise is "rescued" by a genius doctor who fits him with experimental cybernetic limbs in a process called Texhnolyzation--one that is usually reserved for the elite members of the Organo, a yakuza-like organization that rules the city of Lux. The Organo are beset by two factions: the Salvation Union, a group that advocates human purity, and the Racan, a gang of young Texhnolyzed toughs with access to weapons and nothing to do. At the center of this volatile mix is a young girl named Ran who has the ability to see into a person's future.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

"Almost Human": Some Thoughts and a Sneak Peek at the Season

Kennex (Karl Urban) looking terse as usual. Credit: FOX/Almost Human Facebook page



We've got some stuff to talk about! Thankfully, not as much stuff as Almost Human, but I've got some things to discuss. You've probably thought about some of what I'm about to say yourself.

Animate! The Sci-Fi Fanatic BIG 20: Anime

What better way to promote and shine a light on anime than to present to you anime animated.

Can you think of a better way to taste the possibilities?


The Sci-Fi Fanatic BIG 10: Greatest Science Fiction Films Of The 1970s

John Kenneth Muir is running one of his week long, popular Reader's Poll Lists at . Who doesn't love a good list?I know I'm an addict.He generously offers readers to contribute.He posted a list from yours truly . Be sure to check out the rest.Here's an amped up version of that same post.



The subject is the GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION FILMS OF THE 1970S.So I offer you MUSINGS OF A SCI-FI FANATIC'S BIG 10: GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION FILMS OF THE 1970S.

Ghost in the Shell (Response Post)

Ghost in the Shell was an anime sci-fi film released in 1995 that was based on the already best selling Japanese manga series. Originally animated by game designer's Production I.G, and directed by anime enthusiast Mamoru Oshii, it's no surprise that the film became as renown as it did in the anime community. Not only do critics and fans agree that the animation is superb, they also made other side notes on topics ranging from Oshii's wise choice of music to the heartfelt emotional story that the viewer gets sucked into.



While Ghost in the Shell is known to pay attention to touchy subjects at times, critics mainly took notice on the topic of sexuality. Talked and debated about quite frequently is the controversy on how some of the characters are made up to look and function. Arguments stem from critics claiming some women in the film are made up to look and act as men, and even go as far to debate about an interrupted menstral cycle. Adult anime films that were made before these revolutionary hits often didn't touch on risky and debatable topics, and tended to cling on to the more family-friendly material. While some of the content is debatable for an anime film for its time, but nonetheless has brought forward a new sense of the term "anime".

Anime Isn't Special

When people asked before "Why do you watch anime?" - I never really had an answer, I watch anime because I like the way it looks and it has enough stories I enjoy. I also watch western television and don't think one form is better than the other. I also read a lot of books, and I love reading books, and you'll be hard pressed to convince me most anime beats most books I read (though the reverse is slightly tilted in books' favour). I always noted it at strange that I do watch all this anime, but it's just TV, and I happen to watch it to a large degree instead of western television, but I'm not sure there's any deep reason for it.



Hachiman from OreGairu telling us how special he is, a notion the show spares no sympathy towards.

Top 10 Studios

Since anyone who reads this blog knows I'm obsessed with studios, here's the the top favorites list.



The order is based on the success rate percentage of each studio which I calculate carefully.

Robotics;Notes

Robotics;Notes is an anime from Production I.G, you may know them from their work with Ghost in the Shell and the Blood franchise. It's based on a visual novel game by 5pb, the same group that was responsible for Steins;Gate and a list of other games you've probably never heard of. Since their stuff doesn't usually leave Japan. That all sounds pretty promising to me. Let's take a look at the anime and see how long that lasts.



The story follows a young man named Kai and his friend Akiho, who comprise the robotics club of Tanegashima High School. But all isn't going well. They have no funding with which to finish their giant robot and the principal wants to shut them down. To further complicate matters, Kai stumbles upon a mysterious program called the Kimijima report. To its credit, Robotics;Notes does have some interesting ideas, its technology is futuristic but most of it does come across as plausible, and its main plot thread does have some good moments. However, the ending is weak and it's very slowly paced. It isn't until the 16th episode that the major plot threads start paying off. Up until that point it's all build up and the concepts they're working with really aren't interesting enough to merit that much build up. Consequently, a lot of the early episodes just drag. The major romance sub-plot also falls rather flat. They give you some idea that the characters might possibly care for each other beyond friendship throughout the anime, but they never give you a reason to care. Which resulted in me not being able to find a damn to give when they had their obligatory pairing up scene towards the end. In fact, the anime would have been stronger without that sub-plot. What there is of it is just cliched and they could've done everything exactly the same with the characters in question just being good friends.

Ergo Proxy Ep3: Mazecity & Ep4: Futu-Risk

Since seeing PACIFIC RIM (2013) in July, I've turned a good deal of my spare time to kaiju and anime. It has certainly infiltrated my infrequent posting and it's been fun to get back to it.I suspect that pattern will continue in the run up to Christmas.Can you believe it's almost Christmas? It seems like yesterday I just saw PACIFIC RIM. Can we enjoy Thanksgiving first?



We continue with the story of ERGO PROXY (2006).To catch up, here is the summary from the actual DVD of the first volume of four episodes.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise

The original Ghost in the Shell manga by Masamune Shirow and the film by Mamoru Oshii proved to be as iconic as Blade Runner, and truly defined the cyberpunk genre in the anime world. Even so, the later Stand-Alone Complex television series far outdid the originals in getting cyberpunk right.



Not only by avoiding the stale "robots are taking over!" meme that Hollywood writers can't get past. But in imagining a technological society just short of the "Singularity" (one of those evolutionary steps that will always be just over the horizon), and yet no more or less dystopian than this one.

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Sunday, November 3, 2013

All the things you would like to understand regarding anime

In case you are browsing the animecraving internet sites and downloading your most loved anime sequence, you arent alone. The trend for anime motion pictures, serials and comics is huge time trend between kids and younger grownups everywhere in the earth. If you are new to terms like animecraving, we have to get started with the beginning.What exactly is anime?The word "anime" usually means an abbreviation in the term "animation" while you may possibly have guessed. But what makes particular is always that, it has appear to denote animation that originates from Japan. When in Japan all kinds of animation are referred to as anime, outside the house this country, the term denotes animation that is generated in Japan. The term is distinctive as being the animation created below is distinctive from animation works during the rest of your globe. There are several internet sites named all around animecraving to replicate the popularity of animes. What provides on anime craving?The feel and appear of the anime movies developed in Japan is unique not only within the artwork and also within the one of a kind method of storytelling thats assumed. The themes and also the concepts in anime films are distinct which provides on animecraving. Its obtained a global viewers around the final 4 a long time. Because the animecraving comics and films are attracting many supporters from all around the earth, they can be becoming translated into a lot of languages and you can find generations of viewers inside the West who will be growing up looking at these sequence.In which to find animecraving shows?In case you are an animecraving admirer, you can definitely choose to see a large selection of choices. Animecraving fans will discover quite a few sites where by such demonstrates, collection and perhaps videos are offered totally free obtain or streaming on the web. You can even get posters or wallpapers in their most loved demonstrates and characters to obtain here. Animecraving apps for phones and tabs enable lovers to search out video games determined by their beloved exhibits.Functions of anime shows What helps make anime so specific is that it truly is unique with the animation created during the Western globe. The American cartoons like Spider Guy or Batman are distinctly various kinds than what 1 will see in anime series in animecraving sites. The various attributes of anime reveals are talked over underneath:Artwork - the artwork models in are diverse. They can be outlandish, straightforward or direct and flamboyant. Even the exhibits which can be based on essential artwork are visually hanging. Just about every variety of artwork appears to be like fresh and new in anime.Storytelling kinds - there are many animes that are based upon epic storylines. This sort of storylines run for hundreds and perhaps thousands of episodes. The most beneficial animes are people which produce emotional involvement within the viewers.Vast selection of topics - the wide variety of anime displays available signifies that each viewer will find a series dependant on his / her desire. From science fiction which include in Planetes to crime battling like Ghost in the Shell, you can find variations from the classic literary will work like Gankutsuou: The Depend of Monte Cristo or occasions of female empowerment like Nana.There is a great deal of the country s society intertwined during the anime collection. Anime will not be one particular style but contains of quite a few genres by using a distinctive platform and framework. The demonstrates may also be created for varying audiences and age groups which heightens the animecraving phenomenon.
Full Post

Various Stats From the Second Round of the Anime Music Tournament

We're picking up steam now. The second round of the Animusic Tournament has already finished and we're barreling through the third round as I write. Thanks to the seeding, the first round saw only a few truly tough match-ups to choose from; but, with each round going forward, it will get more and more difficult. I was curious to see if the increased competition in the second round would further the trends seen in the first round or introduce a new direction. This post will summarize what I found.



I hear Excel calling to me .

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Tachikoma Fascination

I managed to complete the 2002 26-episode anime series known as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and needed somewhere to direct my thoughts. Then I remembered that I had a blog.



GitS:SAC is a kind of gem in the vast ocean of anime. It's comparable to an adolescent boy who doesn't watch porn in the sense that you won't come across many of them unless you're looking real hard. You see, SAC is deep. And when I say deep I mean really deep. Really, really deep. Sometimes even too deep. But when it doesn't get lost in its own world and lose me in the process, it's a fantastic take on the future and tackles many political, philosophical, and technological themes that other anime series wouldn't dare lay their hands on. Kind of reminded me of a more convoluted version of Un-Go in that regard.