Kris' Ramblings

Wow, the spring anime season was good. I watched three series, one I'd been anticipating and two that weren't even on my radar.

First, "Kaiju No. 8". I've been following the manga since it started, and it's a great, fun series with a likeable cast. The anime adds to it some truly awesome action animation and great music. Plus, watching the story's beginning has reminded me how I was hooked in at the start. It's a fantastic show, and I'm happy a second season has already been announced.

Then, there's the shows that I picked up by chance, "Tonari no Yokai-san" and "Wind Breaker".

I thought "Tonari no Yokai-san" was going to be my relaxing show. Just a gentle, Miyazaki-esque drama about a little village where humans and youkai or other supernatural beings live in relative harmony. Plus the bonus of getting to explore such a charming world through the eyes of Buchio, a former housecat who, as he was dying of old age, wanted to stay with his loving family so badly he transformed into a nekomata, a two-tailed youkai cat with shape-changing powers. The show was so much more than I expected. Yes, Buchio was adorable and my favorite character. But, beyond that... Firstly, it's not just the one village - it's an entire world where humans and the supernatural co-exist. We get to see beyond Japan with a brief trip to England, and there's even a (real world style, not sci-fi) space station crewed by humans and other beings. Secondly, well, I won't spoil it. But, the show went places I didn't expect, brought me to tears, and resolved just as it should. (And, no, I don't expect more of this one. It's apparently adapted from a manga that only has four volumes.)

Then, there's the season's surprise favorite, "Wind Breaker". I don't-- How did this happen?! I was promised some great fight animation, so I went in for what I thought would be one episode of an otherwise uninteresting delinquent show. I mean, there weren't even any superpowers! Yet, somehow, I watched and loved the entire season. The animation is stunning with full-bodied fights executed in-camera and each character given a unique fighting style. But, it's so much more than that. The cast is great, each introduced character instantly standing out and almost all of the Bofurin crew having some charm. The lead, Sakura, is especially endearing. Granted, it helps that he reminded me heavily of early Rin from "Blue Exorcist" ;) ...Though he's definitely more of a classic tsundere with that instant blush of his whenever anyone is kind to him. It was a joy to watch his character grow across just thirteen episodes, and I can't wait for the already announced season two!

A few weeks ago, I managed to catch an IMAX showing of "Godzilla Minus One". It immediately took the spot as the best Godzilla movie I've seen and the best movie I saw all year. It's magnificent.

I've always felt that the human storylines in kaiju movies are necessary and not just filler because, without people to care about, there's no story. But, "Minus One" is the first time the human story became the best part of the movie to me. I was never waiting for the movie to get back to the good stuff with Godzilla. Not that Godzilla's scenes are in any way lacking. In fact, for the first time, I found him genuinely frightening. Mainly because Toho finally abandoned their oneupsmanship game with Legendary and, rather than making an ever larger Godzilla, made him smaller again. At a size that's terrifyingly huge but not so huge he's a walking mountain, unaware of the tiny lives skittering away from him. He is very, very aware, and that's what makes him terrifying.

It wasn't the most fun-for-my-inner-child Godzilla entry and certainly not an easy watch for me. It was by turns tense and gut-wrenching and heartbreaking, but, by the end, I was ready to stand and cheer. Ultimately, it was a triumphant, uplifting story, and I can't wait to see it again.

I keep forgetting to talk about the "Gamera: Rebirth" series. Not because it wasn't good, but because I watched it around the time a new kitten fell into my lap and turned everything upside-down for a bit.

Anyway, while not perfect story or animation-wise, I really enjoyed it. It combined every era of Gamera. Zigra, Jiger, Guiron, and Viras appeared for the first time since the Showa era with fantastically updated designs. The tone was very Heisei era. And, the handling of the child characters was in the vein of "Gamera, the Brave", keeping them well-written as characters and part of the story for logical plot reasons. There were a lot of smaller nods to past movies to enjoy as well. Some very spoilery, so I won't get into that. The kaiju fights were fantastic with some clever powers and counters to them. Also, it had the absolute best use of tanks in a kaiju movie I've seen. Of course, it should have after the tank division's constant random cameos every episode. Anyway, for once, they didn't stand still to get picked off but took evasive maneuvers and were surprisingly effective against the Hyper Gyaos. Plus, the commander being properly awesome after all his build-up.

And, I absolutely love Gamera's new theme. Very reminiscent of "Pacific Rim". I approve ;) ...Though the acoustic guitar arrangement of the old Gamera march in the final credits was oddly enjoyable too. Even if it did put the original ear-worm in my head again.

So, yeah. Good series. I'd happily watch more if they make it, and I'm definitely ready for a new movie.

Now, to get myself to a showing of "Godzilla Minus One"....

So, I haven't done movie chatter in a while... I'll try not to dump any major spoilers, but there may be some. Thus, I'm putting it all behind the cut.

( Click for my chatter )

So, I've been seeing the news that Gamera is getting a new project, reportedly an anime series. Finally! Since "Gamera the Brave" and the 90's Gamera trilogy is what got me into kaiju movies, Gamera has long been my favorite. And, I'd been missing him through the current kaiju boom, so it's great to see him finally making his comeback. May it lead to more.

So, yes, fannish ramblings from me. Since they're spoilery, I'll put the "Ao no/Blue Exorcist" ones behind a cut.

( Ao no/Blue Exorcist Recent Chapters Rambling )

Continuing my kaiju obsession, I finally broke down and bought this recent Gamera set. It is very nice. The older release I had tended to subtitle only plot critical dialogue and occasionally missed some of that. And, it was sub-only, so... Oh, and catching this in the opening credits of "Gamera vs. Barugon" was hilarious.

Lastly, finally watched the movie "Ladyhawke", which MintySage has been singing the praises of for years. I somehow missed this movie back in the 80's. Having seen it now, I enjoyed it. Oddly, it reminds me of "Dragonheart". It's a fantasy, but there's exactly one fantasy element - the curse - in the same way "Dragonheart" has only the one, last dragon. Still, the cast and scope is so small and focused this works fine. The weirdest element is the synth score main title music. It sounds more like the opener to an 80's TV show than a serious fantasy movie. But, it definitely put me in that 80's groove.

Soooo, Christmas!

It was a good, if oddly busy season. Thanks to a new job (and some happy timing with the weekends), I've now enjoyed the longest Christmas vacation since college. It's been awesome! I've spent most of the time with family doing last minute shopping, eating out, watching movies, etc.

And, of course, I made it my mission, as I do every year, to get my hands on everything peppermint I could find. Here's this year's haul. (Many thanks to my enablers, chiefly my aunt and jordannamorgan.) I also tried my hand at making my own peppermint bark. This is my second, prettier batch. Though it still got a little crumbly when I broke it up.

Also, while I was late, I did manage to finish some Christmas art. I made an odd choice this year and opted to do a SWAT Kat version of that ubiquitous red truck with Christmas tree.

Gift-wise, I got some nice fandom goodies - the second season of the anime "Assassination Classroom", a couple more MCU blu-rays for my (very behind) home collection, older favorite movie "DragonHeart" on blu-ray, some vintage "Ultraman" for my kaiju collection, and a few cute Ao no/Blue Exorcist goodies. Then there's my two big items - the former which I bought for myself after making some extra money - the complete collection of classic/Showa Era Godzilla films and the final, all-in-one "Fullmetal Alchemist" manga art collection.

The only downside to this year was that there was no Fandom Stocking. So, no flood of shorts from me in early January. But, I will try to get more "Pact" and "dragon!Roy" coming along soon.

So, I've now seen "Godzilla: King of the Monsters". It was as much fun as I'd hoped. Fantastic monster battles, an incredible and terrifying Ghidorah design, some darkly beautiful imagery... Oh, and the return of the Akira Ifukube theme made me squee.

Also, it was nice to see "Gary" (Kyle Chandler) again. I always loved him back on the late 90's TV series "Early Edition". Honestly, I liked the whole new Monarch team introduced for this movie. They brought some welcome humor to the apocalyptic proceedings.

Also, all the concentrated awesome prompted me to finally make a Godzilla icon:

I used my favorite Godzilla design from the Godzilla 2000/Millennium movie with some of the gorgeous blues used in the "King of the Monsters" posters.

So, I've now finished the 80's/90's Heisei Godzilla series.

I'm sad to see it end. The movies aren't likely to crack my top ten list of most re-watchable movies and I think the 90's Gamera Trilogy still wins for my favorite kaiju movies, but I wholly enjoyed this series. Random comments:

--I loved the old-school suits, models, and other practical effects. While a lot of the green-screen work was shaky and the limits of the budget show in a few street scenes where it's obvious some people aren't part of the movie... and thus aren't reacting to Godzilla rampaging just two blocks behind them, the practical effects were usually incredibly detailed. This era's Mechagodzilla was a special favorite, and the models and suits used to bring it to life were great.

--I've gotten the impression that the human castmembers are usually considered nothing but plot devices in these movies while the monsters are the real draw. But, I actually liked the protagonists of most of the movies and was solidly rooting for them against Godzilla. Particular standouts were Kazuma from "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II" and Miki, who is the only regular across the movies to have a story arc.

--Despite the above point, I do confess to a sniffle when Godzilla died at the end of "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah". He was the antagonist, but given his last acts were just trying to see his son - the only other of his kind - one last time, well...

--Little Godzilla is adorable, and I rather wish he'd gotten a movie of his own after aging up to Godzilla Junior.

Well, I guess it's on to the 2000's era movies now. Though there are only six of them. But, I do mean to get to the older movies too. I've already randomly watched the non-Godzilla "Space Amoeba" from the same company just because this movie poster looked at a glance like Gamera photobombing his rival company's movie.

So, I finally finished the 90's Gamera trilogy. And, you know what? It was really good.

No, I'm not kidding. It's well-made, the special effects by and large hold up, heroines Nagamine and Asagi as well as poor luckless Osako are engaging, and it's generally like watching a good sci-fi/fantasy anime. Because I can't not think anime when Gamera goes all shounen Determinator toward the end of the third movie, blasts off his own hand to free himself, and then absorbs his opponent's attack to make a new hand out of fire. And, all that rather than use the hand in which he was holding a rescued girl who hated him and who had caused much of the movie's trouble.

So, yeah, I've been pulled down the kaiju rabbit hole. Honestly, "Pacific Rim" probably started it. From there, it was off to the adorable "Gamera the Brave" then the excellent trilogy, and then... Well, yes, I did take a peek at the first three of the 60's Gamera movies. Because the entire original run came on the same bargain basement set as the 90's movies, and I figured, why not? The three older entries I watched can't compare to the later movies, but I found "Gamera vs. Gyaos" to be pretty fun in its way.

Anyway, I'm all outta Gamera now*, so, there's only one place to go from here. Godzilla. And, Amazon with their $5 add-on DVD's has been merrily enabling me. I figure I'll eventually work my way through the 80's/90's Heisei series and some of the 2000's standalone movies, and then come back and gabble some more.

...No, none of this has given me a fanfic bug, so you can stop worrying. This is a fandom like the MCU, which I love, but only occasionally gabble about because, for whatever reason, it doesn't demand art and fic from me.

(* Unless the proposed new movie happens. Warning: trailer includes some violent/unpleasant imagery.)