The Sky Has Limits

The Evolution of a TV Series

Having finished X-Men: The Animated Series, I am now delving into X-Men Evolution, another animated romp that began in 2000 and lasted four seasons.  This bout was intended for a younger audience and views the X-Men as teenagers, growing into their powers.

Higher quality animation and better direction are the two most obvious things about this series, despite its interpretation of the comic series.  I wasn't sure if I would like it at first, but it has proven to be entertaining.  Now that I'm into the second season, things are starting to warm up, and I'm actually very impressed by the depth of the characters in the episode I just saw.

In this series, the love triangle develops between Rogue, Jean Grey and Cyclops (Scott).  Because this is about the genesis of the X-men, Cyclops and Jean Grey are not a couple quite yet.  Scott, who only  has eyes for the perfect Jean (all-star athlete, A-student scholar, and stunningly beautiful) tries to out-macho a jock at school also vying for Jean's attention.  Rogue (who is dark, moody, and emo) assumes she will never have a chance with Scott, so she buries her feelings.  Meanwhile, Jean, who is always trying to be Super-Woman, is loosing control of her power and ends up in a coma, with surges of power swirling around her and tearing things apart.  To save her, Rogue must touch Jean to temporarily sap her energy (and personality) so Scott can focus her attention and bring her back to reality.  But the brilliant writing comes in when Scott is forced to talk to Jean through Rogue, giving Rogue a moment of bliss as Scott expresses himself to her (Jean).

It's kind of amazing to watch how well thought out the characters are, even though they are not following cannon perfectly.  The show has decided that it's more important to stay true to personalities and the natural situations that would develop from those, rather than force the pre-constructed scenarios of the comic onto their new interpretation.  For instance, Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) is portrayed as the valley girl and Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) as the flirty goof-ball.  At first, Kitty wants nothing to do with Kurt, but over time, they develop a relationship due to the similar nature of their powers (being able to go, basically, anywhere they want).  Very cool.

That being said, it is very obviously a show about teen angst, with everyone's maturity being parallel to the control they gain over their powers.  Still, for a show targeted at teens, it's pretty smart, and not afraid of gentle subtlety and nudging to tell the story.  If only that could be said for some adult TV series.

X-Men (and X-Women)

I happened upon a torrent that had the complete X-Men Animated Series which aired on Fox for 5 seasons, starting in 1992.  As this was something I caught bits and pieces of in my high school years, and I had always been curious about it, i figured I'd give it a try.  This is an extra bonus, as the series has never been released in it's entirety on VHS or DVD.  Although some episodes have made it onto DVD, they are categorized by character or plot element, and lack continuity, so finding all 5 seasons was the only way I would ever consider watching it.

As with many TV series that go on to become great, the first season is a bit rocky.  My standards of animation have gone up considerably (it really is not very good) and they spend so much time desperately trying to expose as many of the popular mutants as they can, much of the (re-)written storyline ends up confusing and shallow.  But this and the Spider-Man animated series were really my first quality exposure to Marvel, and part of what fueled my interest in the modern movies, so I shall persevere.  Now that I'm wading into the second season, things are much better, with a bit more depth into the character scenarios and the writers taking their time to get where they want to be.  The voice-acting is top-notch, which, I have noted before, makes a phenomenal difference.

Amidst the confusion, I turned to the Wikipedia entries, which have been extremely helpful in sorting things out and keeping people straight.  Unfortunately, this has also led to some disappointment with the animated series because I was led to believe the series stays fairly true to cannon, and this is simply not the case.  While the characters seem to be pretty well represented (powers/personality) and some of the histories and associations are accurate, certain aspects have simply been re-written.  Now, to be fair, some of the comic cannon origins and happenings are extremely complex and entire seasons could be devoted to one character's accurate story.  Then you add in the retcons and the writers must have had a hell of a time trying to figure out how to cram a concept into 20 minutes of animation.  And the show reveals it's low budget when you see new characters wearing X-Men insignia and uniform before they even know what the X-Men are.  But since the writers have begun slowing things down a bit, the show has become much more intriguing.  And I get to see Rogue.

Ah, Rogue...  my first cartoon crush (She-Ra and Jem don't count--I was too young to know my folly).  Although other girls have come and gone, she will always have that special place in my heart.  When this series dropped, I had a close friend who was very into comics, and Rogue caused a ridiculous amount of probing on my part, gleaning as much information as I could while trying not to drool on his comic book collection.  His largest concern was whether Rogue or Psylocke had bigger tits (SFW) and I think we know how I would answer that.

So, a beautiful young girl, sultry and demure with a playful spunk, is gifted with the ability to steal the life-force, powers, and mind of those she makes skin-to-skin contact with.  This also steals from her the beauty of intimacy with any other human beings, creating a tragic premise.  I have no idea how this was exemplified in the comics, but the animated series does an amazing job with her character, displaying instant rants of frustration when another shows flirtatious interest:  "This ain't no joke, sugar!  When I kiss you, you don't wake up..."  And you can forget that awkward "older brother-ish, but I'm attracted to you" thing with Wolverine and the fleeting romance with Iceman from the movies.  Her thematically-correct love interest has "sparked" more fan art and creativity from the comic community than anything else I've seen.

Sidebar:  When looking for the above image of my favorite cell-shaded lady, I found a very peculiar gallery of popular girls from animated TV shows drawn in light-bondage and being tickled (probably NSFW).  The strangest part of this is that the artists have gone to great pains to replicate the animation style from the show.  I can't decide if I find April O'Neil or Daphne more disturbingly accurate.  It's not really porn, unless you consider animated, fully-clothed and tied up girls a type of porn.  Okay, so maybe it's technically porn, but there's not really any skin.

Sidebar #2:  I was onboard pretty much the whole way with a lot of the ridiculousness that has been thrown into these comics.  So-and-so dies, but not really--it was just a clone!--so they are back, but with different powers, etc.  And then I read about the book, Planet X.  It seems that Wolverine liked to hang with Mr. Worf on the Holodeck when the Enterprise zoomed by for a visit.  The irony of such a union is probably not lost on Scott, who recently mentioned another unholy matrimony, however, Planet X gets pre-cog awards because it mentions a striking resemblance between Picard and Professor Xavier before the first X-Men movie touched down.

Rumors In My Ghost

As I was adding the comprehensive (and unbelievably brilliant) Ghost in the Shell official soundtrack collection to my iPod, I was looking through the vast Wikipedia logs and happened upon this nugget in the manga section:

"As of 2008 DreamWorks acquired the rights to produce a 3-D live action film adaptation of the original manga with Stephen Spielberg tipping the scales in DreamWorks favor. So far Avi Arad and Steven Paul are confirmed producers and Jamie Moss will be adapting the manga into a screenplay."

This reeks of bullshit.

First, the cited source for this entry was completely absent, which made me worried.  A quick jaunt to the IMDB raised my spirits, as there is a listing for a 2011 version of the film (which you must be an IMDB Pro member to see info on).  Apparently, there was Wired article about it that slipped completely under my radar in April, and it turns out that Spielberg himself is a big fan.

Live-action GitS in 3-D?!?!  This sounds too amazingly good to be true!  I am praying to every god I know of that this doesn't fall to the same depths as some previous attempts at this type of film.  Here's hoping that if Stephen thinks he can still direct movies about Indiana (not the state), then maybe he could try his hand at some more Sci-Fi.

Of Robots

A while ago I started reminiscing about my Hastings College days (one semester back in '96) and the fondness I had for an anime called Robotech.  This reminded me of the $200+ dollars I spent collecting the Neon Genesis Evangelion DVDs when they were released three years later.  All of this was probably a big result of my childhood love:  Transformers.

Transformers

While I doubt anyone has NOT heard of them at this point, I did actually watch the original animated series (OMG, was it really that bad?) and had quite an extensive collection of the brilliantly engineered toys, including the triple changing fortresses, Omega Supreme and Trypticon.  The original movie held a special place in my heart, mostly because it introduced us to Unicron (voiced by Orson Wells)--a transformer so large it feasts on planets for its energy.

While the latest offering was decent, it was not what I would really label as "good".  A brief search turned up a well done fan-made trailer for a sequel, as well as a hilarious trailer for a video game.  While I am sure this IP is not dead, I am not really sure it's "alive" yet, either.

Robotech

Where to start?  I watched the first series of this from start to finish when I was probably 15 and loved it.  I was overjoyed to discover there was more when I got to college, but never got to see it all.  The Wikipedia entry was a real eye-opener, as was Scott's vehemence towards the 3rd series bastardization of an anime called Genesis Climber Mospeada, which (like the 2nd season) has nothing to do with the original season's anime in Japan, but was re-tooled to make money on the IP in the U.S.  I learned of the Invid from the RPG that some of my friends were playing at the time and they rapidly became one of my favorite aliens.  In the spirit of understanding the concepts as they were originally intended, I tried to watch Mospeada in Japanese.  Unfortunately, it was really bad.  Even with the pathetic English dubbing to drag continuity into it, the Robotech version has not aged well, either, though I can now say I've been all the way through it.  I also have PDF versions of the entire RPG collection now, should anyone ever feel the urge to get their protoculture on.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

If you know anything about anime, you've heard of Evangelion.  Wired said back in the day that it "would do for anime in Japan what The X-Files did for cult sci-fi in America".  After investing hours of anticipation and countless paychecks on the DVDs, the rumors about the final two episodes of the series started to circulate just before their release in the States.  I became concerned that the Japanese strangeness would baffle me on my favorite new series.  I was right, but for the wrong reasons.  The last two episodes get very philosophical and start to play around with your perceptions as they follow the mind of the main character down his road of self-discovery.  In an attempt to either make more money, or explain these concepts more clearly, they produced a set of movies called The End of Evangelion that first recap the entire series, then offer a slightly different presentation on what happens in the final two episodes.

Of course, I didn't know any of this until I started reading Wikipedia's take on the finale, and like a light-bulb going on, I suddenly understood so much more.  Nevertheless, Gainax has commissioned another retelling in the form of four shorter movies that will incorporate some expert CG and "a very new-feeling Evangelion world".  I am both elated and saddened by this, because while the original set was confusing, the incredible aspects of it are the very real manifestations of teenage angst.  While the main character (14-year-old Shinji Ikari) may be asked to fight insurmountable odds, many teenagers discover around that age that they now have incredible pressures and responsibilities they never knew existed.  In the end, Shinji must decide if life as he knows it should continue, and while I'm not suicidal, this was a very real struggle for me to come to grips with when I was young.  I hope that this is not lost on the new stage.

Meanwhile, I have seen the newest movie, Evangelion 1.0: You Are [Not] Alone, and the end result is fucking amazing.  Stunning computer graphics have been seamlessly added to gorgeously re-inked animation. The final battle with the angel Ramiel, is breathtaking and much, much, more extravagant than the one in the series.  It gives me goosebumps to think of what they will do when the get to Leliel.  That trailer does not do it justice, and I highly recommend you go get the film yourself.

Exercise Your Brain

I just finished watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, and the last movie, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society (cripes; say that five times fast).  I must admit that I am really impressed with what these shows have to offer.  I don't know how popular this series is around Japan (or even here) but after viewing them all, I am starting to see a real work of art here.  It's not for everyone--dialog heavy, no woman with a chest smaller than 40 DD (and half naked), and the flow of continuity is broken up by vaguely related "stand alone" episodes; that said, there are some reasons to love Stand Alone Complex.

This really is a different type of Japanese animation that seems to blend some neat qualities together in one show.  There is a very tangible emotional level for the main character, even though she is monotone and often expressionless.  You feel Major Kusanagi through the reactions of everyone around her.  Ghost in the Shell has never been afraid to connect you with their world through extended scenes of artistic imagery, and this is true of all the animated incarnations.  Plus, this show goes to greater lengths to create a believable future Japan than anything I have seen before.  Car models are slightly adapted versions of our current offerings (licensed, I'm sure) and you get a tremendous amount of back story about how people steadily integrate cybernetic technology with their physical beings and what impact this has on society.  And the story is not just crazy futuristic occurrences, it's about people, which makes it very easy to relate to.

As I was playing Tetris DS, I happened upon the adjective that really described my take on SAC:  Cerebral.  There's a word you don't hear spoken of cinema often enough.  This show is not for the faint of thought, because it will force you to think very deeply on the plot, devoting entire episodes to it's contemplation.  2nd GIG is even more intense than the original, and the plot is much more intricate than the Laughing Man situation, though there is corollary to those events.  And it's all relevant; they do an extremely good job of tieing the philosophies and ideas of all the Stand Alone Complex iterations together, like lots of yummy ingredients in a soup.  While I found the first season easier to follow and a tad more charming, the second season felt more satisfying.  Furthermore, the ending in 2nd GIG is not as "cheap" in it's tactics as the first.

And the trimmings are amazing.  CG is spliced carefully in to accent the animation, rather than disrupt it.  Although the show (and the last movie) are not anywhere near as impressive an animation job as the original movie, it's still well done.  Music is stunningly atmospheric, with excellent direction and composition.  Sadly, the "Tachikoma Days" at the end of each show are not as good as the original season, though they did make a "trailer" for the movie you know had to be done:

...and the punchline may not be clear (due to poor dubbing) until you see this one...

Whispers in my Ghost

Riding the lightning of my newfound anime interest, I decided to probe for some new stuff and happened upon Ghost In The Shell:  Stand Alone Complex.  This series was published in 2002 and exists in the same concept as the Ghost In The Shell movie (based on the Manga) but with a divergent timeline story arc.  That is, the two are related in their universe, but not in any other way--same concepts, characters, etc, but different events.

After the flashy CG rendered opening, I was honestly disappointed when it turned out the series is actually traditionally animated (with CG enhancement).  This was kind of okay, because the opening is not that good--it just got my hopes up.  And while I can believe that the main character in the movie may have to go naked every once in a while to use her optic camouflage embedd skin, I have a hard time swallowing why Major Kusanagi now wears an outfit that looks like something from a Victoria's Secret rejected ideas pile.  Not to mention that now her clothes have optic camo, too, which makes me wonder why she's half-naked?  This, in tandem with the atrocious ending credits song, was enough to make me almost write the show off until I hit the fourth episode and two things happened.

First, I did not realize there are two types of episodes:  "Stand Alone" and "Complex".  The first three are the "Stand Alone" type, which are about the adventures of the Major and are intended to--you guessed it--stand alone.  Episodes 4-6 are the first of the "Complex" episodes which describe the main story arc surrounding the Laughing Man incident and has some really awesome writing.  From then on, I have eagerly anticipated eaach of the next "Complex" episodes, now completely riveted to the story.  Episode 9 takes place exclusively in an internet chat room discussing the possible motives, suspects, and companies invovled in the corporate scandals that made the Laughing Man a public icon.  Just brilliant stuff.  The rest of the episodes I can give or take, but they do add spice to the characters and give you a greater feeling of the world you are in.  I particularly like Bartou (tall, white-haired, stoic guy) much more in this series than in the movies.

The second thing that made me appreciate this series more was the realization that, after the sorry yowling of the end credits of each episode, there is a short animated special called "Tachikoma-Kun".  This features the antics of the genius-yet-childlike tachikoma from the series.  Tachikoma are the AI driven robot-spider-tanks that Section 9 whips out when they need some heavy weapons support.  They are fast, cunning, and they have all the charm of your younger sister.  That is--they are adorable, but they can get annoying.  Tachikoma-Kun is hillarious, following a couple of the tanks as they play and explore philosophy.

On another note, I will spare any other anime fans some wasted time and tell you that while I am an avid vampire-lover, Van Helsing is a heaping pile of constipated poo.  Their idea is neat, but the animation (which seems good at first) is pretty bad and the character development ends up being wacky and pointless.  I watched probably 8 episodes before I gave up.  I think I was so excited by the premise that I was really let down by it's lame execution.  Oh, well.

Majesty

SPOILER ALERT
I am eager to put down the thoughts that have been running circles around my head since I began watching The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.  Unfortunately, that means I have to talk about some things that may ruin some of the fun of the show for people not in the know.  You have been warned.

I think I finally narrowed down what I like about the show to a couple of different things:

First, it truly does ask a little more of the audience than usual, and I like to think that there are directors our there who respect the more intelligent crowd.  While the cleverness of the writing wavers a little bit towards the end of the 14-episode series, I understand that they had to get where they were going, and you have to be a bit more literal when you are doing this.  Besides, as much as it does dig into some wild anime concepts, you need only focus on Haruhi for the satisfying punchline.  While my eyes did wander to Mikuru here and there (I'll get to her in a minute...), Haruhi is riveting and she tells the entire story with the rollercoaster of mental states she goes through.  The director gently leads you along the path, slowly tearing Haruhi down until, in the final episode, it is not she who is leading Kyon everywhere by the hand, but Kyon who has finally awakened.  In Haruhi's moment of apocalyptic weakness, Kyon finally steps up to the plate with confidence and knocks it out of the park.

While we're on the subject of Haruhi, my second point is how inspiring the main character really is.  Coming from someone who fears the sensual embrace of apathy, I was in love with Haruhi before I even knew it was she behind the camera in the first episode.  What makes her truly amazing is that her story, this whole anime, is about having dreams and achieveing them.  Haruhi does not just wait for things to happen--that actually pisses her off.  She is so fiercely determined to not have a boring life, that she warps reality with sheer will.  And she is completely ignorant of this abilitiy which just makes her more resolute.  Hence, chaotic things happen around her, yet she is innocent.  Of the many paradoxes in the show, this truth is at the core of it all:  that Haruhi must remain ignorant of her abilities, else they would be the norm, and she would again become bored.  It begs the question, what if we all have the power to shape our own reality?  Maybe we do, and the one rule is:  we'll never know.

My third point of interest in this show is Mikuru.  I can't decide which I love more--her gaggingly cute insecurity, or the fact that she is absolutely subservient to Haruhi.  She is Haruhi's toy in every way, and you just can't get enough of that flinching nervousness every time the "master" is around.  And I love how the show plays with her as well, giving those bare glimpses of fan service and throwing you curve balls, like the possibility of a relationship with Kyon.  I have seen characters like Mikuru in anime before, and completely understood their "subtle" role, and always found them incredibly annoying.  Here, the ecchi-fantasy is not trying to hide anything and I don't feel as if I'm being mentally treated like a 14 year old adolescent male.

Where to stop?  Kyon being the embodiment of whom I'm afriad I've become, but giving me hope because he saves it in the end?  The troupe facing off against a "Cave Cricket" that would probably make lunch out of a deep crow?  How about the rather decent J-pop song performed by ENOZ at the culture fair?

You get the point.  I loved it.  Short, but very, very sweet.

Evanescence

For those not in the know, the previous post is referencing a series of anime called The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.  That link does not go to my usual Wikipeda, because it actually spoiled a tad bit of this for me.  The link goes to one of the absolutely best reviews I have ever read, and it's still about 98% spoiler free.  I am barely ankle-deep in the series, but I feel I'm wading out into the ocean, not the lake.  I honestly do not even know where to start.

This series is possibly the most amazing anime I have ever seen.  What kills me is how utterly brilliant it is, and yet, if you were not paying attention, you would dismiss it as boring/clichéd/wacky.  The irony that I discovered this in boredom (after it was handed to me on a silver platter) is so heavy that I fear I will never know irony again.  It is possible that my attunement with the series' storyteller was the catalyst for my infatuative lust, but I really think it's just the genius of the show.

Let's talk about my first impressions as I was watching episode one.  First off, the show opening theme is completely fucking ridiculous.  Sung off-tone, behind the beat, and with the most non-sensical lyrics I have ever seen on an anime translation (and that's saying a lot), I thought I was staring at a low-budget, poorly written anime entrance.  It features a variety of scenes (some horribly off-sync with the vocalist) featuring a girl in a bunny cosutme carrying a bunch of advertisement signs and talking about a miasma of topics from unrequited love from the future and running... (?), to "dance, dance, with me, baby!"  As it turns out, a low budget film with a poorly written entrance is exactly what you are supposed to think, it's just one step deeper into the anime than you originally realize.  The film makes about as much sense as the opening song, but it is at least narrated by a young man who obviously has some context for what you are seeing, but is as confused about some of it as you are (and he says so).

It was like a cosmic joke that I was totally getting from about the third sentence on.  A piece of cheese from the sandwich I was eating shot across the room and stuck to my Xbox because I was laughing so hard.  I was afraid my squealing giggles would be heard by my neighbors.  When you see scenes with actors unable to stay in character (because they themselves are laughing at the ensuing hilarity) alongside the director's inability to pull off their "camera pan-up" and "camera pan-down" scene fades, you cannot help but stare in awe at just how damn bad the film really is.  Compliment this with some of the best bad special effects attempts ever done, and you can skip the "suspension of disbelief" and  move right to forgetting that you're watching anime.  Tears were literally coarsing down my cheeks and I could not wipe the grin off my face until about two hours later while I was still working.  Fellow waiters were asking me if I just got a really good tip or something.

But the clincher is that occasionally in the film, something genuinely odd will happen (my moment of finally realizing this was when the cat talks at the very end) making you furrow your brow slightly and go, "Hunh.  That was weird."  What is being referenced is something that you must be much farther into the anime to grasp (I only know from what I accidentally read on Wikipedia) but this show is demanding much more from its viewers than anything I've seen in a while.  There are these subtle, intelligent little quirks that you can only catch if you are paying attention.  Not only that, but  the episodes are not displayed in chronological order, so you also have to switch off your conventional brain and just absorb what is given to you.  I will not spoil it for anyone reading who has not seen this series yet, but I will say only that Haruhi's fervent passion for something, anything other than just plain old existence goes way beyond abundant enthusiasm.

Aaron, I have said it in the past, and I will say it again:  you do not just know me, you understand me.  I sometimes have had such pinnacle moments of clarity when in both Scott's presence and yours that it makes me examine the word "destiny".

As soon as I finish devouring this show, I must pay creedence to that Cromartie High School disk you gave me a while back, Scott.

Boredom = Elation (?)

So.

I was trying to kill the last 20 minutes before  I go to work and since I just finished watching the American version of Robotech season 3, I had nothing to watch.  I decided to pop in a disc that has been sitting in my stash of "friends gave me anime, but I don't have time to watch it now" discs for a while, and watch the first episode.  I believe Aaron put this in my hands.  Or maybe Scott.  And I have three words for you:

What


The


Fuck

Pervert

Hentai:  Most people even remotely familiar with Japanese culture (or anime) know what it is, even if they don't know what it literally means.  I consider myself a fan of Hentai, if only because it allows you to do things that conventional porn only dreams of.  So much creativity and eroticism thrown together.  Plus, it has such a broad spectrum.  There is playful and suggestive work that never displays anything explicit, but sexuality is obviously a focus (like Boys Be and Sakura Diaries), as well as some things so filthy that it makes me wonder how much they had to pay some of the voice actors.

That beings said, this torrent is beyond my comprehension.

That link takes you to a torrent that has over 10,000 files of hentai in it.  "No big deal," you say, "It's probably just images", you say.  My personal image collection consists of 1600 images and takes up about 140MB.  The torrent is 157 gigabytes.  Giga-fucking-bytes.  And that's not all--every single file is compressed.  If I had the space, I would download it just to say I would never need to worry about having something new until I was too old to care.  Assuming every single zip file in that torrent is only one individual file, it would take you 30 years at one file per day to exhaust the supply.  Of course, it would also take you that long to decompress the entire load, so I guess it's a double edged sword.

So, anybody got a spare 1TB drive lying around I could borrow for 30 years?  ; )