My not-so-guilty Saturday morning cartoon guility pleasure has been Cartoon Network’s “Ben 10″ for a while now. It is the story of a kid who finds an alien watch, called the “Omnitrix”, that allows him to shift his DNA to a variety of different alien forms, each with distinct abilities, in order to fight intergalactic n’er do wells. He travels around the country with his grandfather, Max, and his cousin, Gwen in a motor home solving crimes and keeping order in an alien-infested world. This weekend I watched the debut episode of the new season: “Ben 10 Alien Force”.
I forget at which precise point I stumbled across this show two years ago, but it struck me a well-written and fun adventure series. Recently, the studio decided to relaunch the show. In a brilliant move rarely seen in american animation, the creators felt that the time was right to get away from the “villain of the week” cycle and take the chance on exploring what would happen to the characters and their adventures once they got older.
For this season they accelerated Ben Tennyson and company 5 years into the future. Ben is now a high-schooler who has retired his super-hero spurs and Gwen is continuing her over-achiving and excelling at martial arts. The pilot opens with Ben and Gwen enjoying a normal life, but this all changes when they discover that their Grandpa, Max, has gone missing. Their investigation into his whereabouts quickly gets them wrapped up in an alien arms deal, and it becomes apparent that Max’s disappearance has some serious implications beyond his absence. Ben makes the decision to “go hero” once again and dons the Omnitrix. However, the Omnitrix behaves differently this time around and Ben is presented with a variety of new alien forms to utilize. As they fight their way through the first episode, their former foe, Kevin Levin, joins them in their search for Grandpa. The three of them defeat their alien, arms-dealing foe, but find that they have just scratched the intergalactic surface of unraveling the mystery surrounding Grandpa Max’s disappearance.
In terms of evolving the series, I really appreciate that they decided to do this overhaul before the show got stale. The characters have more nuanced personalities, and they have clearly matured. The show also featured a darker feel, both in terms of color palette and tone. I was initially reluctant to take the plunge into “Alien Force”, and so I let the new episodes languish on my Tivo out of fear that the retooling would ruin a series I really enjoyed. Luckily, the creators assuaged my doubts with the pilot, and I am looking forward to watching the new adventures unfold.
This past weekend I sat down to watch the latest Evangelion DVD. Gainax has returned their seminal anime series that debuted in the mid-90’s. The “rebuilds” are a revisiting of the original story, told in four new films. The first three will retell the happenings of the series, while the forth will present a new conclusion. I first watched the series in a bit of a bender when several college friends and I watched every episode in succession our sophomore year.
The DVD recently came out in Japan, and I finally felt mentally prepared this weekend to dive into the film. Although I missed not having the movie open with the original theme, Cruel Angel’s Thesis, I was instantly struck with the visual beauty of the presentation. The film has many shots similar (if not identical) to those that can be found in the original series, and so you can’t help but notice how much better everything looks this time around. Throughout my viewing I had a continuous string of “wow” moments as I smiled in appreciation at being able to soak in the visual upgrade.
In terms of story, the first film tackles the first six episodes of the series. While certain sacrifices have to be made in order to compress the story into the film-sized chunk, I actually enjoyed absorbing the story through a film’s narrative. They did an excellent job of not just making the film feel like a stilted stitching of the episodes, but instead they sprinkled various elements across the duration of the movie to help provide a cohesive story arc. Of course, the movie’s ending provides little closure, but I’d put it on emotional par with Empire Strikes Back, if not a little more upbeat.
I’m not going to even begin to delve into the mythology in this post; that is worthy of a book. I will say that if you haven’t experienced “Eva”, you owe it to yourself to do so. If you can happen to track down this DVD, definitely give it a watch.
Upon the recommendation of my friend, I have begun reading the Death Note manga series, and have been voraciously tearing my way through the volumes. After scouring Santa Monica in search of the right volume numbers and having a tough time of it, I decided to place an order for a bunch of volumes on Amazon.
I was elated to discover that they qualify for a special where you can pick up four books for the price of three. Perhaps this has been available for a while and I just haven’t been buying enough books, but I’ll definitely be taking advantage of it now. This is a great way to flesh out your manga collection, and I’m going to be giving Amazon Prime some exercise as a result.
Before Gainax blew our minds with Neon Genesis Evangelion and FLCL they created a short film for the Japan Science Fiction Convention. The burgeoning animation team, featuring greats such as Hideaki Anno, debuted their first film at the con (a.k.a. “Daicon”) in 1983 to critical acclaim.
Two years later, they returned to Daicon and debuted the “Daicon IV Opening Animation”, which was not only a satire that featured the prominent use of characters from American and Japanese animation, but also an overwhelming and visually stunning short in its own right.
Unfortunately, it is extremely hard to find a copy of this film beyond the grainy versions available online. The film was set to the song “Twilight” by Electric Light Orchestra, which they did not have the rights to. This licensing issue has squashed the possibility of legitimate distribution. It was pressed in very limited quantities on laserdisc. I was fortunate enough to see an incredibly high quality version when attending “Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture” exhibit at the Japan Society in New York.
So enjoy this film that helped launch Gainax and is a landmark work in animation history.
One would think that the combined brain-power of the masterminds behind heavyweights like Fullmetal Alchemist and Spider-Man would be able to come up with a more compelling title for their joint venture than Hero Man. Well, unfortunately, they didn’t. However, this television series collaboration between Stan Lee and Studio Bones could turn out to be a crossover mecha hit.
American and Japanese animation have had a deep level of reciprocal influence as each seems to cycle through influencing the other. This fusion demonstrates how the TV markets may be starting to converge. However, I think it will be a long time before we see American animation creating the compelling content of an equal caliber to their Japanese counterparts. But with the contributions of Pixar and certain burts of genius like Batman the Animated Series there is hope. Perhaps Hero Man will help accelerate the maturity of american animation.
April 25th is an important day to me. No, it isn’t a holiday nor a family memeber’s birthday, but it is a historical day. Today is the day that the new Neon Genesis Evangelion Movie, Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, comes out on DVD in Japan. This retelling is the first of four films that will cover the complete story arc as well as an all-new ending. While I certainly can’t condone piracy, if you happen to have a friend flying back from Japan today who happens to be willing to personally subtitle the whole film for you, I would definitely recommend it. Check out the trailer for the film below.
“Ghost in the Shell” helped cement my love of cyberpunk and sparked my interest in how the web can serve as a manifestation of our collective subconscious. I have an original pencil-sketch from the movie that greets me every time I come home. So when I came across the following news, I gagged a little.
According to this article on Anime News Network, DreamWorks has optioned “Ghost in the Shell” and will be turning it into a live-action film. This was something I joked about when I heard that “Akira” would be getting a similar makeover. It seems that as Hollywood runs out of comic book plots to maim they are turning to seminal anime films.
DreamWorks, I implore you, please do not make this another “Ultra Violet”. Do this film justice. Restore my faith in mankind. Seriously.
The trailer for the new Batman animated project I have written about previously has hit the web. This project is a direct-to-video release that features a series of short films that fill in the story gaps between “Batman Begins” and this summer’s “Dark Knight”. I can’t wait to pick this one up on Blu-Ray and see what happens when premiere anime directors tackle the american comic icon.
Sorry Eva fans, there is no secret governmental organization working to protect Tokyo-3. Instead, NERV is Cisco’s “Networked Emergency Response Vehicle.” This specialized vehicle serves as a mobile command center to aide during disaster relief.
“Wolf’s Rain” takes place in a dystopian world ravaged by war where the last remnants of the human race are scattered about the globe in city-states. These cities are the last safe enclaves for mankind, and are ruled by a near-mythical echelon known as “The Nobles”. Intermingled with these city-dwellers are the final descendents of the thought-to-be-extinct race of wolves. The wolves possess the ability to shift their shape between their animal form and that of a person, and it is through this device that they are able to remain undetected as they too scrounge through life trying to make ends meet.
The story revolves around a pack of wolves that come across each other and are led by a mysterious new-comer to the city, Kiba. Kiba is on a quest for the mythical “paradise”, and is driven by his determination that there is this heaven-on-earth that holds the secret to salvation for all wolves. Others join him in this search, and the plot that unfolds details the adventures of the pack as they go out in search of their promised land.
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