Wednesday, December 30, 2020

The Land of Obscusion's Twelve Favorite Posts of 2019 & 2020!! Part 2

Looking back at that first part of this (two-year-spanning) "favorite posts" list, I definitely put the massive efforts into it, the stuff that took literal months to fully do. It was a great reminder of the sheer insanity I had put myself through the past two years, and I really have to avoid doing that to myself like; plan smarter, not harder. Regardless, there were still way more "traditional" articles/pieces/posts/etc. over these past two years, so let's end off by looking back at more of these less insane but still cool subjects that I covered. And what better year to start seeing off the hellish year that was 2020 by looking back at the 75th Anniversary of one of the most horrific moments in world history, and the way those who survived it were horribly treated by their own country!

Trust me, things will get more upbeat after this first one.

It's been more than a century since World War I was a thing, "The War to End All Wars" as they called it, while 2020 marked 75 years since the end of World War II... Because the first was so much trouble that they had to make it double. And how did WWII end, pray tell? By President Harry S. Truman feeling that it was necessary to drop two atomic bombs onto Japan, specifically Hiroshima & Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens, as well as 1 British, 7 Dutch, and 12 American prisoners of war! You know what was even "better"? The post-war "hibakusha" being treated like horrible monsters by their own fellow Japanese, and looked at as potential science examination subjects by the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission! Thankfully, one of those very hibakusha, the late Keiji Nakazawa, wound up becoming a mangaka, eventually creating the manga Barefoot Gen, which showed the trials & tribulations Nakazawa went through (by way of fictional proxy Gen Nagaoka) after surviving the Hiroshima bombing as a child. However, I knew that other people would cover the obvious subject of Nakazawa's iconic manga for the 75th Anniversary of the atomic bomb (props to Bennett the Sage for an excellent video about the anime movies), so what I felt was worth writing about was how Nakazawa first told his feelings on what happened that day... specifically the sheer anger & hatred he had.

After his mother died in 1966, leaving literally no bones from cremation due to radiation poisoning, Nakazawa created a one-shot called Kuroi Ame ni Utarete/Struck By Black Rain, the first piece of fiction in Japan to actually cover the plight of the hibakusha, and how their own country treats them like utter crap; he was willing to even get arrested by the CIA, as long as the manga got published. The one-shot was popular, so Nakazawa created another seven one-shots, creating the Kuroi Series, covering other aspects of life as a hibakusha, and showing that they're still just as human as they ever were. Then in 1984, in an obvious attempt to take advantage of Madhouse's anime movie adaptation of Barefoot Gen, Tsuchida Production produced an feature-length anime of Kuroi Ame ni Utarete, with Nakazawa helping write the script. An original plot implementing elements from pretty much all of the Kuroi Series one-shots, it sadly wasn't quite as good as the one shots, due to subpar animation & a plot that feels much too hateful towards its cast, the very hibakusha you were supposed to sympathize with. It felt very much like the blatant cash grab it was intended to be, though at least the musical score by Kitaro was great, as expected.

Still, reading the entire Kuroi Series & watching the anime (& then watching both Barefoot Gen anime movies not long later) was a very sobering way to experience the 75th Anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. I saw the justified anger Keiji Nakazawa had in regards to what the bomb did to him, his family, and everyone else who experienced it firsthand, and then I saw how he transformed that anger into a story that allowed him to show everyone that there was life after the bomb for the hibakusha; things can always get better, and that anger can't be your driving force in life. If nothing else, it makes for a great lesson to take as we leave 2020.


Retrospect in Retrograde: Clockwork Fighters: Hiwou's War & Next Senki Ehrgeiz (March 29, 2019 & May 3, 2020)
To move over to a much more upbeat subject, I am so happy that I introduced Retrospect in Retrograde back in 2018. If you go back to my early reviews, especially the ones from 2012 & earlier, you'd see that they're mostly shorter affairs, often because many of them were going off of mere memory, and this was especially for the longer-form TV series; there are exceptions, but not a ton. So in 2018 I decided to come up with the idea of re-reviewing anime that I had not given longer-form reviews of, and each & every one of these RiR articles have been a great time. Therefore, since this list covers two years I think it's only appropriate that I include two RiR articles. First up is Clockwork Fighters: Hiwou's War, the first anime produced by Studio Bones (& the only pre-digital anime the studio ever made), a mech(-ish) anime taking place during the Bakumatsu period written by Noboru "Sho" Aikawa. In the original review I focused almost exclusively on how it was a good example of "kids' anime" being good for all, but in the re-review I delved much deeper into the use of historical events & actual people, while also showing how Aikawa's usual penchant for political commentary was slipped into a story meant to be watched primarily by families, not just kids. Overall, it's an anime that really should be given a second look by people, especially those who love Japanese history, but I highly doubt it'll ever be given that kind of opportunity, sadly.

The second RiR article is Next Senki Ehrgeiz, a re-review of the subject of the third anime I ever reviewed on the blog, and a personal favorite of mine. This was a bit of an interesting anime to re-review in more detail, namely because I had already done so via other articles over the years. Therefore, while some of the details can be found in other Ehrgeiz-related articles on the blog, this re-review essentially compiles all of it into a single article, delves a bit deeper into what I feel is the core theme of the series (i.e. "how ambition affects people in different ways"), includes as much bonus content as I could give (even translating an interview with director Toshifumi Kawase on my own for extra info), & overall is the best I could give for an anime that, though not one of my all-time favorites, still resonates with me in some way, and one that I hope can one day be given another chance in English officially, as unlikely as it is to ever happen. As for what else you can expect from Retrospect in Retrograde, I still have enough potential re-reviews in mind to last me the next four years at least (since I only do two every year), so stay guaranteed that I do have things planned.


Mach Go Go Go: Restart (June 6, 2020)
This year finally marked the end of me knocking off the small remainder of 12 anime I once said in 2012 I "Want to Review... But Can't (Anytime Soon, at Least)", even if only partially, something that I felt just had to be accomplished before hitting the 10th Anniversary. That being said, I did do a sequel list in 2015 with an additional 12 anime I would love to review "but can't", and while I have since covered three of those picks in full, one of them partially, and do have the ability to eventually cover another three at some point or another, it's definitely a list that I know I can never completely fulfill, mainly due to the inclusion of effectively "lost" anime, like the all-CG Xevious movie (I wrote OF it before, but can never actually write about it), the Kochikame anime pilot from 1985, or the Butsu Zone anime pilot that might not even exist in the first place. Regardless, while I could have certainly picked Giant Gorg, the last of the original 12 I finally got to, for this list, I decided to instead go with one of the latter 12 that I finally got to, especially since this one was chosen to be Review #250!

For the longest time, it seemed as if Tatsunoko's Speed Racer, known in Japan as Mach Go Go Go, would remain caught in the weird & bizarre hands of Speed Racer Enterprises, but in 2013 that all changed with a lawsuit that resulted in the late Tatsuo Yoshida's studio finally getting complete ownership back. From there, the license wound up in the hands of FUNimation, which gave the iconic English dub a new & HD remastered release, while also releasing a Collector's Edition that housed Speed Racer, the original Mach Go Go Go, and even 1997 reboot Mach Go Go Go: Restart, the latter two with official English subtitles for the first time ever. Unfortunately, both of the original Japanese shows were only ever made available through that hideous giant bust of Speed himself, likely as a concession to Tatsunoko as I doubt FUNi really cared about those versions, and it's no longer available for $99 over at Amazon like it used to be, so now those shows are sadly no longer legally accessible in a (semi-)reasonable fashion. Still, considering the wild history Restart went through, especially in regards to its two English dubs, I felt that it was more than worthy of being a Milestone Review. The end result was an anime that I had a lot of fun with for the first 2/3, before getting absolutely let down by its complete shift in focus for the last 13 episodes, and while Speed Racer Y2K was an interesting little pilot dub, Speed Racer X was such a weird final (& unfinished, due to a different lawsuit) product, due to DiC not really learning how to adapt to the different environment anime on American TV was at in 2002.

While I have written about anime that I know most people may never have the chance to actually watch, it does pain me that the same applies to Mach Go Go Go: Restart, since it was officially released in North America, but done so in a way that actively prevents most people from ever seeing it; neither Japanese show is even streaming, which is just messed up. While that last third of Restart is really dire, outside of a single episode that's just outstanding, the first 21 episodes are really cool & definitely worth a watch.

While anime & manga is the primary focus here at The Land of Obscusion, I do occasionally experiment & break out into covering non-Japanese products, and this retrospective from the start of this year, before everything went belly up, was definitely experimental. I do watch a fair number of "video producers", a.k.a. "YouTubers", and one of my favorites is Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug, creator of comic book critique series Atop the Fourth Wall. While it's normally known as the place "Where Bad Comics Burn", Linkara has done numerous retrospectives for legitimately good comic book characters & series, and I thought it'd be fun to try to replicate/imitate/copy/"ape" his format for a comic series that I've heard some good about, but had never read before: DC's Resurrection Man. Therefore, instead of my general overview format, I essentially went over the story of the comic (both its original 90s series & its New 52 reboot) in chronological order, though I did still try to prevent from simply explaining everything. I'm not sure how well received this experiment was, though I did receive a comment about it going into spoilers, so I have no idea if I'll ever try this format again.

That being said, however, Resurrection Man was truly a comic series worth giving a retrospective for. Created by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, the original 27-issue run from 1997-1999 is just amazing, telling an enthralling story about an amnesiac who can't stay dead & instead revives with a new superpower over & over, his journey to regain his memories & find a new life to live, and the occasional interactions he makes with the DC Universe along the way. Though the series is at its best for the first 12 issues, which tell a (more or less) complete story, the remaining 15 issues do have their moments & are still worth a read, if you want more. As for the New 52 reboot from 2011-2012, I have less nice things to say. While it's great to see Abnett & Lanning returning to pen the story, it was sadly a victim of modern-day comic storytelling & its penchant for not simply letting a storyline breathe; it's not absolute crap, but it's easy to see why it only lasted 13 issues. If the concept alone for Resurrection Man has your interest, then by all means read the original 90s series, since DC does offer it (& the reboot) digitally today, so it's immensely easy to "dig into", to quote Linkara.

And with this we can finally send off 2020, as the last two picks are from 2019.


Locked Out of the Shonen Jump Vault? (December 6, 13, & 20, 2019)
On rare occasion I include a December post, let alone multiple ones, and this three-part series of posts is one of those. Since I wasn't going to be making a "favorite posts" list in 2019, I decided to instead have some fun & celebrate the first anniversary of a new way to read manga legally, specifically Shonen Jump manga. On December 20, 2018 Viz Media ended the digital magazine equivalent of Weekly Shonen Jump it had been releasing, instead moving over to a subscription model with the appealing small cost of $1.99/month. The arguable main attraction, however, was that the subscription not only gave you access to the newest chapters of every single Jump manga Viz was releasing (which would become literally every manga that runs in the actual Japanese magazine), but subscribers also now had complete digital access to every single Shonen Jump manga (plus a handful of non-SJ manga) Viz has ever released in English via the Shonen Jump Vault!

Well... almost every one.

Even now, two years after this new service debuted, there are a good number of Jump manga that Viz has previously released in English that have yet to appear in the Jump Vault, and some of which will likely never be given that new lease on life. Therefore, in place of a list like this, I made a three-part list of manga that are (STILL!) "locked out of the Vault". Part 1 is what I categorized as "Simply Waiting for Their Turns", since Viz is already offering the manga in this part digitally, but aren't accessible via the subscription, & this includes the likes of Saint Seiya, Hoshin Engi, & the works of Yoshihiro Togashi & Masakazu Katsura; this is likely simply due to contractual issues, like all the mangaka not agreeing to certain terms. Part 2 is the "Acknowledged, but Unloved", which are titles that Viz has "fully" released in English (quotations for two odd exceptions) & still seem to have the licenses to (except for one), but has never offered digitally, due to plenty of reasons we can't figure out, & this included titles like Slam Dunk, Ultimate Muscle, Gin Tama, & Shaman King; yes, the last one is now available once again via Kodansha, but that's not Viz, so it still counts. Finally, Part 3 is those "Forgotten & Abandoned", as all but two are manga that Viz never actually finished (though one of them is just in retrospect), and look to no longer have the licenses to, making them the least likely to ever get added to the Vault; this includes titles like Beet the Vandel Buster, Reborn!, Dragon Drive, & Bastard!!. Obviously, there are some titles not included, and in that case I'm happy I never put in something like Fist of the North Star, which Viz is in fact giving a new chance!

Still, the fact that, out of all the manga I included in these three parts, only Shaman King has since had anything new happen to it, which only happened because it went to a completely different publisher, is kind of sad. Viz made some neat ado when they added in new "catalog" titles that weren't there at the start, so it's sad that it hasn't happened once since those early months. Still, the Jump Vault itself is more than worth the $1.99/month, so I can't complain much.

While I haven't been able to do so for every "favorite posts" list I've done, the last pick more often than not tends to be something that has some strong personal attachment for me. In that past it was the blog's first anniversary (2011), a review that I had put out the day my father passed away (2012), being a part of the ambitious Golden Ani-Versary project (2013), interviewing American Laser Games' Robert Grebe (2015), The Ages of Jump (2016), & the combination of interviewing Anime Midstream's Jimmy Taylor and the RiR for B't X (2018). Therefore, it only makes sense that this year's final pick, the one that puts an end to the 10th year of The Land of Obscusion, would be one of the retrospectives I did on my own journey towards what I do now on this very blog, and while I had fun looking back & writing about the old "AoD Proto-Blog" & my year as a regular-ish YouTube video producer, there was no contest to be had, because I just had to pick the article that started it all.

Almost anyone will tell you that nothing can (or will) happen unless you put forth the effort & get it started yourself. So when GameSpot, circa the early 00s, started allowing readers to submit small articles of their own for potential inclusion in a future "GameSpotting" feature, I decided to try my hand at it, even if only as nothing more than a personal challenge. So, with the Sega Genesis 32X on the mind, I wrote ~1,200 words in a single go, and after realizing that it actually looked complete hastily found some relevant pictures & submitted everything to the e-mail address GameSpot asked all "GuestSpotting" entries be sent to. This then resulted in a response asking for the images to be sent separately, due to how I originally included them, as they wanted to actually publish it on their website. If you want to full dilly-o then read the article itself, but needless to say it was this entire experience that solidified my feeling that writing should be my forte, and while I don't do this as a job in any way, it's been an active part of my life for more than an entire decade. There's literally no way I can thank the staff at GameSpot, circa 2004, enough for effectively encouraging me to be where I am today.
-----
And that's a wrap for 2020! As we finally bid farewell to this horrible year, may we all hope for better days in 2021, which honestly shouldn't be that hard to do in comparison to how 2020 went. As for me, I'll be spending January still looking back at what I've done these past 10 years, as now I want to look back at which anime I've reviewed were the "best" stuff I've had to pleasure to write about here, as well as which anime I've reviewed were the "most interesting"... Because only going with the "worst" just isn't my style.

No comments:

Post a Comment