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celebistar · 11 months

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Nobunagun Lore (after almost 10 years)

Hot damn some juicy lore tidbits dropped from the esteemed Hisa-sensei today after... *checks calendar* almost 10 years since the end of the anime (not quite the manga). Long story short, this year is Hisa Masato's 20th anniversary since his professional debut as a manga artist and to commemorate it, he's opened up a Marshmallow Q&A account (you may ask if you are so inclined; questions are accepted until June 26 and note you need to register an account and it's in Japanese but a translator should do the trick)

Naturally, someone (not me surprise but I can probably guess who the asker was) asked about Nobunagun - more specifically, some more backstory about Adam. The question is as follows:

(translated with deepL) My favorite character in your works is Adam of Nobunagun, and I would be very interested to know what his occupation was before he joined DOGOO, or if you have any other information about his past settings. I would appreciate it if you could tell me what kind of occupation he had before he joined DOGOO.

Sensei, well, went out of his way to answer for more than just Adam:

(translated with deepL)

I have vaguely thought about the setting for Nobunagan, as I have thought about publishing a character book doujinshi in the past. The setting is that Adam's father is the president of a large British company (with knighthood). When he finds out that his son is an e-gene holder, he takes his company on a noblesse oblige and cooperates with DOGOO. I think Adam himself worked for the company for a while. Gandhi was a terrible delinquent, living a rough life with constant fights and brawls in the alleys of India, and the two (Adam and Mahesh) were assigned to the same platoon, but their opposite circumstances must have made them irreconcilable at first. They must have been going through a lot. Cyx is a highway patrol rider. She was one of the police officers seconded by the Mongolian government when they participated in DOGOO. Geronimo is a waitress at a diner, but she is a fighter. One day she was in jail for beating up a customer who insulted her colleague, when Vidocq, who had guessed that an e-gene holder was around here, found her. Vidocq's guard at the time was Cyx, who was also awakened to the e-gene when she met Geronimo.

Ramblings under the cut

Ok so first off holy shit has my entire headcanon, backstory for Adam has been completely thrown out the window 😭😭 lmaoo but to be fair, I always knew this would likely happen. Let's be real, we learn almost nothing about the holder's past lives before DOGOO except Sio and the Commander, so everything is/was based off pure speculation. For the record, I had imagined (perhaps somewhat stereotypically) that Adam came from a rougher background, raised by a single mom and never knew his dad; while not outright poor, I had always imagined that his childhood had been difficult and rather lonely, and he grew up quick and learned to fend for himself out of necessity. Needless to say the fact that it seems to be implied now that he's not only got both parents (?) but if his father is the head of a knighted company then he's very likely pretty well-off, if not outright wealthy.

Which is, uh, quite a 180 from the 'single parent fend for yourself' background I have been writing about in my fics 😅 I think I took this route b/c of his connection to Jack the Ripper (East End was kinda poor) and his rough, abrasive attitude. Which is not what I would have expected if he'd had a rather refined upbringing. But then again, I think it's implied (and I do write this in my fics) that his attitude as "Jack" is kind of a facade, and Adam is actually more laid-back. (But probably not all of it)

This does raise some...interesting, contradictions, shall we say? Or rather, it does render a lot of my fics where I try to expand on Adam's backstory rather...invalid. First off, he's a rich kid. Second, sensei says that he worked for a while at the family company...while again, we have no real data like ages, this does imply that Adam is a couple years older than Sio. Which I have always imagined myself, but it seems likely that the gap is probably larger than I had imagined. In my stories, I always pin them around 2-3 years apart (except for AUs), but given logic and this new information, it would probably be more realistic to say 3-5 (or possibly more; we don't know when he started working or for how long, could be anywhere from a few months to a few years). I'm not gonna harp on age-gap or whatever, even though Sio's a high schooler and Adam is very well already an adult when they meet, hey at least she's a senior so it's very possible she's already 18 by the time they actually get together. However, there goes my 'Adam as a university student' theory...

(Tbh I am not sure how to feel if say, Sio was 17-18 and Adam was like 24-25 when they meet; look I am no prude and I don't give a shit but it is still something to really ruminate on...on the other hand, Japanese fans love the trope of older boyfriend/younger girlfriend and maybe it'll make for some interesting fic material later)

ANYWAY. Also I wonder if Adam ever resented his father for the noblesse oblige. Did he chafe at his rich childhood? Take it all in stride and is actually secretly really upper class? Get into trouble as a way of rebelling and only reluctantly worked for his father/joined DOGOO b/c deep down he felt he had to? (scribbles fic ideas)

I do like how sensei said that Adam and Mahesh didn't get along at first lol. That I could definitely imagine, but it's ironic b/c in my fics my background for Adam/Mahesh are totally switched; I imagined (well okay my mutual did) that Mahesh was from a rich family who pressured him into joining DOGOO, while Adam had street smarts from fending for himself. Apparently it's the other way around - Adam from the rich family that joined DOGOO out of duty while Mahesh was a street kid from the slums. But they do hint that Mahesh used to be quite different before he joined DOGOO and that he's not all he seems, so it does fit.

But it's funny to imagine Gandhi being a total delinquent and Jack the Ripper being all 'by the book' lol.

Cyx/Vidocq/Geronimo's pasts are the most fun. Cyx being a highway patrol explains a lot of her motorcycle skills, and Geronimo being a waitress (let's be real, native people are totally oppressed and good job opportunities are hard to come by for them) who sticks up for her coworkers with physical altercations are totally in character. What's really interesting is how Cyx/Vidocq were already acquainted, and that Vidocq seems to be one of the first/core DOGOO e-gene holders; after all, he goes to investigate the rumors of Geronimo's e-gene ability. It's almost like he's Dr. Xavier from X-Men, looking for his fellow holders.

And Cyx being assigned to escort Vidocq as he looks for holders, and when she and Geronimo meet, they trigger each others' 'awakening'...which I interpret that e-genes can and do sense/resonate when in the vicinity of another. This probably also explains why Cyx and Geronimo are so close. Maybe Cyx credits Geronimo for her awakening. The Princess nickname probably came from this meeting as well.

Whew. That was quite an info dump, and from just one question. If and when more Nobunagun-related questions are answered, I'll be sure to post them here!

(I have half a mind to re-write all the fics where I talk about Adam's backstory just to retcon them but that's too complicated and too much work. Also those stories kinda need my headcanon to work)

#nobunagun #lore dump #holy crap sensei dropped a bombshell #tbh im a bit depressed #MY FICS ARE WROOONGNGG #lmao #i guess this just means #I'LL HAVE TO WRITE MOAR TO MAKE UP FOR IT #im trying but i'll be honest i've been having bad anxiety lately #no energy to do anything creative #but definitely gonna file this away #for when i feel better

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fantomcomics · 2 years

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What’s Out This Week? 9/21

IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE FALL WHAT IS THIS HEAT NO THANK YOU HARRUMPH

Aliengaged #1 - Greg White & Colin Ingersol

As an alien attack rampages the city, Garrett accepts that his time has finally come. It's the end of life as he knows it... as a single man, that is. Blinded by love, Garrett is blissfully unaware of his apocalyptic surroundings as he strolls through the mania to pop the question to his girlfriend, Claire. Meanwhile, Garrett's best friend, Morris, races through the city to save them both.

Azza The Barbed #1 (of 5) - Pat Shand & Rio Burton

Writer Pat Shand and artist Rio Burton launch a new fantasy epic! Azza was born into a family that, for generations, served in the Obsidian Guard, a military unit of holy warriors. During Azza's Coronation, a magical ceremony that would imbue her with a holy glowing power, something went wrong. Instead of the sacred Obsidian tattoos, she became marred with thorned, black markings and was banished by her people. Now, Azza lives in solitude guarding a great evil... but when that evil escapes and begins to spread its wicked power, Azza must make a choice: save the people that expelled her or allow her home town to fall to evil. With an emotional, comedic, and awe-inspiring story of empowerment, Azza the Barbed blends fantasy, adventure, mythology, horror, and action in this unforgettable new series.

Birdking Vol 1 - Daniel Freedman & Crom

From the creators of Raiders Daniel Freedman and Crom, comes an original dark fantasy graphic novel of epic adventure and magic. Bianca, teenage apprentice to an infamous arcane blacksmith, is forced to flee her homeland and seek out Atlas, a fabled land of light ruled by "the clean god." She is joined by a mysterious guardian spirit known only as the "BirdKing." Together they will have to overcome dozens of enemies to reach Atlas and along the way, unravel the mystery of the BirdKing and their ancestral connection.

Chilling Adventures Presents: Weirder Mysteries - Ron Robbins, Ryan Jampole, Adam Gorham & Various

Riverdale is known to be a hotbed of strange happenings and paranormal activity... always has been and always will be. Take a look as a few extra-special case files are opened that highlight the weird occurrences that happen in the small, quiet town, in a one-shot anthology that's equal parts The X-Files and Black Mirror. *

Creepshow #1 (of 5) - Chris Burnham & John McCrea

The worldwide phenomenon based on the hit Shudder TV series comes to comics in a star-studded five-issue anthology series that will SCARE YOU TO DEATH.

In the debut issue, CHRIS BURNHAM (DIE!DIE!DIE!, NAMELESS) terrifies with a tale of trick or treaters who are taught what happens when you mess with the wrong house.

Then, legendary Batman: The Animated Series creator PAUL DINI, STEPHEN LANGFORD, and JOHN McCREA (DEAD EYES, Hitman) petrify with the party antics of Shingo, the birthday clown with an appetite for more than cake!

Stuff Of Nightmares #1 (of 5) - R. L. Stine, A.L. Kaplan & Francesco Francavilla

R.L Stine is back-but not for the faint of heart-with a chilling take on an iconic character, perfect for fans of Fear Street and EC Comics horror titles! In the first of Stine's reanimated reimaginings, you're familiar with the classic tale of a mad scientist hell-bent on creating life, but what these two demented brothers have created is something else entirely! Horror lovers won't want to miss the legendary author's return to comics in his first creator-owned single issue series, with art by A.L. Kaplan (Maw, Jim Henson's The Storyteller). Fans also won't want to miss celebrating this milestone event with a Björn Barends variant signed by R.L. Stine and not one but two extra spooky glow in the dark covers by Francesco Francavilla and original Goosebumps cover artist Tim Jacobus!

Look Back GN - Tatsuki Fujimoto

Two young artists from a small town inspire each other to improve their art and become manga creators. But as they grow up, a terrible tragedy will change their lives forever.

Heaven’s Rejects #1 - Gregory Wright, Scott Sackett & Alex Monik

What if Charlie's Angels were real angels? When three violent, foulangels are dumped on Earth after flunking out of Heaven's army, they find out the hard way that life ain't cheap. Good deeds don't pay the rent, so these angels agree to freelance for a gang of demons, killing their evil rivals for cash. The angels get paid, fight wickedness, and take money away from bad guys. That's good, right? Join this angelic suicide squad on a wild ride into epic, mythological action. Your job still sucks, but these ladies have it worse. Say YES to Heaven's Rejects!

Momo Blood Taker Vol 1 GN - Akira Sugito

A hardboiled and supernatural murder mystery from the creator of Boku Girl! Washed-up Tokyo detective Mikogami Keiji is investigating a series of murders where the victims have been torn apart and drained of all blood. Could these grisly new killings be related to the decade-old unsolved murder of the woman he loved? As he renews his vow to find the creature that killed her, he has no idea he's being stalked by a silver-haired girl with secrets of her own. Quicker than you can say "vampire," Mikogami finds himself embroiled in a frightening conspiracy with actual monsters he'll do whatever it takes in his quest for revenge.

Doughnuts And Doom GN - Balazs Lorinczi

Being a teenage witch-or rock star-is tougher than it looks! Flying brooms and electric guitars set hearts aflame in this fantastically fizzy graphic novel. When Margot meets Elena, emotions run high, magic is in the air, and doughnuts... float? One is a stressed-out witch trying to get her potions business off the ground, the other is a struggling rock musician whose band is going nowhere. Neither of them are having a good time! No wonder things quickly escalate from words to literal sparks flying when they first meet. Could this be the start of a delicious new relationship... or is a bad-luck curse leading them to certain doom?

Vanish #1 - Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman

Oliver Harrison was a mythical hero who slayed the greatest threat to his realm before even hitting puberty. But that was then.

As an adult, Oliver leads an average cookie-cutter suburban life-aside from the fact that he's mentally unstable, massively paranoid, smokes like a chimney, and gets blackout drunk every night to hide from his horrific nightmares. Will the arrival of a superhero team called the Prestige prove the madness isn't all in Oliver's head? And what about all the epic fantasy crap from his childhood? Join us for a brutal as hell tale of magical worlds, gifted youth, evil sorcerers, superheroes, war, blood, guts, and death that punches you right in the face!

Josee The Tiger & The Fish GN - Seiko Tanabe & Nao Emoto

Josee has been in a wheelchair since she was a child, and has lived her life through pictures, books, and her imagination. One day, she meets Tsuneo, a college student, and while they clash at first, the two soon grow closer than expected. She takes this chance to venture outside with Tsuneo to experience a new world where surprises await.

Monotone Blue GN - Nagabe

The critically acclaimed creator of The Girl From the Other Side and The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms returns with this gorgeous Boys' Love/BL tale about animal boys falling in love! Hachi the cat finds most things monotonous, but at the top of his list is high school and all that comes with it. But when Aoi the lizard-a quiet, high-achieving transfer student-arrives, Hachi catches a glimpse of a brighter, more colorful life. If Hachi can help Aoi open up, unlocking new feelings in the process, maybe his life won't be so bland, after all.

My Body Created A Human: A Love Story GN - Emma Ahlqvist

A graphic novel style memoir about the weirdness and wonder of pregnancy and early motherhood, told with humor and frankness. Emma Ahlqvist's graphic memoir about the birth and early moments of raising her first child is a wry and resonant portrayal of both the challenges and excitement of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and embracing the experience of motherhood. Told with black-and-white drawings and short, frank captions, Ahlqvist considers everything from lactation woes, anxieties about late capitalism and global warming, the challenges of sharing labor equally as a couple-and the genuine rewards of bringing a human into the world.

Whatcha snagging this week, Fantomites?

#What's Out This Week?#My Body Created A Human: A Love Story #Monotone Blue #Josee The Tiger & The Fish #Vanish #Doughnuts And Doom #Momo Blood Taker #Heaven’s Rejects #Look Back #Stuff Of Nightmares #Creepshow #Chilling Adventures Presents: Weirder Mysteries #Birdking #Azza The Barbed #Aliengaged #comic #comics #comic book #comic books

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greysagent · 2 years

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Freeter volleyball manga

FREETER VOLLEYBALL MANGA MOVIE

In 1997, Aiba made his drama debut portraying Akira, one of the many children left to survive in a city under government lockdown after a mysterious disease wipes out all the adults, in the drama Bokura no Yūki: Miman Toshi ( ぼくらの勇気, Our Courage: Miman City). He portrayed a young man hovering over life and death due to a violent traffic accident. Īiba reunited with director Keiko Miyata ( 宮田慶子, Miyata Keiko), who has been the director for his stage plays since 2005, and took on the lead role for Kimi to Miru Sen no Yume ( 君と見る千の夢, The Thousand Dreams I Dream With You), which ran from May 5 to 24, 2010.

FREETER VOLLEYBALL MANGA MOVIE

In early 2008, Aiba was given the lead role of Colin Briggs in the stage play called Greenfingers, which was adapted from the movie of the same name. It was the first stage adaptation of the 1993 film Untamed Heart. In 2007, Aiba portrayed Adam, a shy young man with a heart defect, in Wasurerarenai Hito ( 忘れられない人, Unforgettable Person). In 2005, Aiba took up the lead role of Keiji Takashima ( 高島啓治, Takashima Keiji), a naive but honest station attendant living in a world after a World War III nuclear war, in Tsubame no Iru Eki ( 燕のいる駅, A Station with Swallows). Acting career Stage Īiba began acting in a 1997 stage play based on an American coming of age film called Stand by Me with future bandmates Jun Matsumoto and Kazunari Ninomiya. Aiba also used to play the saxophone however, due to the collapse of one of his lungs in 2002, he was forced to stop playing due to the operation he had to undergo. For his solo song "Hello Goodbye", Aiba played the harmonica portion of the song throughout Arashi's Arashi Marks 2008 Dream-A-Live and Arashi Marks Arashi Around Asia 2008 concert tours. In collaboration with the other members, he has written the lyrics to "Fight Song" and "5x10". Music career įor music-related releases and activities as a member of Arashi, see Arashi. Wanting to play basketball with them, he sent in the application to join the talent agency himself, without exactly knowing what the agency specialized in until the day of auditions. Prior to joining Johnny & Associates, Aiba watched a program called Love Love SMAP ( 愛ラブSMAP, Ai Rabu SMAP) and saw SMAP playing basketball on television. Aiba was raised by his grandparents until he was four years old because his parents were busy running their newly opened Chinese cuisine restaurant then. He has a younger brother who is four years younger. Other than saying that he would wait, Tego did not hide his possessive eyes.Aiba was born in Hanamigawa, Chiba as the first child of his family. It was the first time in his life that he had ambitions other than swordsmanship. “Even though I knew at first that you didn’t see me as a real man”Īfter discovering his shocking secret, Aine felt her heart explode, as if she wanted to stay still. I’ve read novels that have been changed halfway, but this is the first novel where the character’s gender is changed. “At first I thought it was good that we became friends”Īine quickly swallowed the saliva down her neck. As of now, I’m pretending to believe he’s the most sophisticated manhood ever, but what is he supposed to be a real man? But perfect from bottom to top. So, I entrusted my body to nature, just like that, day by day.īut I don’t know when I became the fiancée of the female lead disguised as a male. What about my role? what should I do now?Ī.: Don’t stay here and mess with your brain. Q.: The person who appears in front of me is currently the female lead in the original but is in a state of disguised as a male! She replaced her twin brother who died in an accident.

#Freeter volleyball manga

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man-creates-dinosaurs · 3 years

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February is over and I’m ready to offically declare this month Kaijū Māchi.

Fans and aficionados of giant monsters here’s the date-to-date breakdown of all the kaijū content coming at us in March be it TV, comics, home video, or a couple of highly anticipated feature films… March 2: Monster Hunter - Blu-ray release for the 2020 film based on the hit Capcom game and co-produced by Toho. I only know one person whose seen this and he said it was surprisingly faithful to the game and much more gory then anticipated. March 4: Pacific Rim the Black - New anime series premiering on Netflix set in the Pacific Rim universe. This story takes place during the events of the 2013 film when Australia was overrun by kaijū. Early reviews say its good. March 8: Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time - The long awaited and frequently delayed final film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series finally has its Japanese theatrical release. No word yet on when American fans can look forward to seeing how Hideaki Anno’s increasingly off the wall re-imagining of his iconic franchise wraps up. March 17: Marvel’s second Ultraman comic series, The Trials of Ultraman, debuts with a cover by Matt Frank. But how will it compare with James Harren’s ultra-violent homage to the same franchise, Ultramega (Image/Skybound), also dropping the same day? March 23: The 4th Vol of the English translation of the manga Kaiju Girl Caramelise drops. I haven’t read this series myself but it’s apparently about a girl who transforms into a Godzilla-like monster when embarassed. UPDATE: March 25: Godzilla: Singular Point - Fans have long clamored for a proper Godzilla anime series and Godzilla: Singular Point looks like it may finally be it. While it was previously assumed that the entire series would make its worldwide debute on Netflix this month we now know this is not the case. March 30: WB Archive is releasing the obscure Tsuburaya/Rankin-Bass co-production The Bermuda Depths (1978) on Blu-ray. The film involves the Bermuda triangle, a mermaid, and a kaijū-sized sea turtle. Also being released this day are two new graphic novels from Legendary Picture’s comic imprint both serving as prequels to the feature film Godzilla vs Kong. “Dominion” will focus on Godzilla while “Kingdom Kong” focuses on, you guessed it, Kong. Both with cover art by the legendary Art Adams. March 31: Godzilla vs Kong - The long awaited and frequently delayed final film in WB/Legendary Picture’s MonsterVerse has its US theatrical release while also simultaneously debuting on the HBO Max streaming service due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. “Late March” No solid release date yet but independent home video distributor SRS has promised to release the obscure Korean kaijū film War of the God Monsters (1985) on Blu-ray this month; also with a cover by Matt Frank. This film’s SFX content was cobbled together almost entirely from episodes of the TV series Return of Ultraman (1971). So if you’ve ever wanted Ultraman with no superheroes and just kaijū this may be the film for you.

#Godzilla #King Kong #godzilla vs kong #war of the god monsters #the bermuda depths #Pacific Rim #pacific rim the black #netflix #comics #comic books #ultraman #neon genesis evangelion #monster hunter #manga #Marvel Comics #marvel #anime

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godofsexdrugsandrocknroll · 3 years

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Green Lantern Jaune!AU

*In the middle of the Fall of Beacon*

Jaune: *To Cinder* In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night--

Cinder: *Hopped up on her ego* Really? This is the best you have, Nikos? A cheat who’s read too much manga?

Pyrrha: *Staring in horror*

Jaune: --No Evil Shall Escape My Sight!

Cinder: *Rolls her eyes, aims arrow at Jaune instead*

Jaune: Let Those Who Worship Evil’s Might, Beware My Power--

Cinder: *Shoots arrow*

Jaune: Green Lantern’s Light!

*A flash of green and Jaune’s wearing Alan Scott’s Kingdom Come Green Lantern suit*

Cinder: What!?

Pyrrha: *Gapes*

Cinder’s Arrow: *Disintegrates*

Jaune: Don’t worry Pyrrha, I got this!

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Jacques Schnee: *Blinded by Jaune’s transformation* What the devil!?

Weiss: *Sees her chance, kicks her father in the groin* That dolt, what does he think he’s doing? *Worriedly, poorly mimicking Jaune’s voice* ‘Oh no, I can’t do that Snow Angel, it’s bad enough I let you know but Remnant’s nowhere near ready for the attention of the rest of the galaxy!’ How is transforming in front of all of Vale supposed to be keeping that a secret!? *Stalks off worriedly in Jaune’s direction*

Jacques Schnee: *Rolls on the ground in agony*

-----------------

Blake: *Stemming Yang’s bleeding* I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so--

*Jaune transforms, Blake yelps*

Blake: *Gapes at the barely visible figure of Jaune* W-what!? Jaune’s the Emerald Knight!?

Yang: *Waking, weakly* B-Blake?

Blake: *Still stunned but realizes she can’t run now, not with Yang looking like at her like that*

-----------------

Adam Taurus: *Seething in apocalyptic fury* You again. You bastard, you just won’t stop interfering where you don’t belong!

White Fang Grunt: *Terrified of the emerald glow* Sir? What do we do? The last time we fought the Emerald Knight he nearly killed you.

Adam Taurus: *Audibly grinds teeth* We retreat.

White Fang Grunt: Sir!?

Adam Taurus: Don't make me repeat myself. We retreat. The only way we live to fight another day is if we live and that accursed blight on faunuskind won’t hesitate to kill our brothers and sisters in droves if we fight him now!

-----------------

Nora: --EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ren: *Sighs in defeat*

Nora: *Stops, cackling maniacally* If fearless leader’s a superhero then that means we are too, Renny! *Pink electricity crackles, Nora’s eyes begin glowing pink* Call me Thundermaiden! *Lifts Magnhild*

Worried Beowolf: Aroo?

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Velvet: *Breathes* Bloody rippa.

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Coco: *Lips pressed together, exhales explosively* Nine out of ten. That armor is sleek, aesthetically pleasing from any angle, those pauldrons are just muah and if Arc had been born with just one more X chromosome I’d have my head buried in his thighs and he’d be screaming my name for that fucking cape. *Sighs wistfully*

Neptune: *To himself* Oh yeah, because now’s the time for a boner.

Reese Chloris: *Zipping about* Maybe focus on the badass armor later, cause if you haven’t noticed-- *Is cut off by the roar of Coco’s minigun*

Coco: Yeah, yeah.

-----------------

Emerald: Get back here you traitorous coward!

Mercury: *Running away* Nope, fuck that! My old man fought the Emerald Knight last year, got his ass whooped up and down the Purple River and the Emerald Knight just straight up disappeared the fucker! Not only is fighting that dude suicide but I owe him one!

Emerald: You traitor! How dare you turn your back on Cinder, after all she’s done for you!

Mercury: *Rolls his eyes, kicks a Beringel at a now shrieking Emerald* Cinder offers me the chance to kill my old man. Emerald Knight wipes him off the face of Remnant. And these are the people I worked with.

-----------------

Ruby: Pyrrha, don’t worry, I’m holy guacamole with a side of chips. *Stares at Jaune in awe* OMIGOSH YOUR ARMOR IS SO COOL!

Cinder: *Incoherent screaming*

Ruby: *Gasps at Jaune’s massive emerald longsword* Th-th-th-th-- *Goes into a pitch only dogs can hear*

Jaune: *Cuts through two more of Cinder’s swords, creates a massive riot shield to block fire* Like Crocea Mors, Rubes? *Ruby shatters glass with her voice* Just a bit of my power. Alright, enough of you.

Cinder: You dare!? I am the Fall Maiden and I will have your girlfriend’s soul!

Jaune: Uh, Weiss is nowhere near--

Pyrrha: *Slumps, mutters* Thank you for reminding me Jaune, I had almost forgotten.

Jaune: You say something Pyr?

Cinder: *Flabbergasted* Then why!? Why stand in my path!? This will only end one way, you cheat! You’re a nobody! Nothing you have can stand before the powers of the Maidens! Not your strange aura or your paltry armor!

Jaune: Because. Pyrrha’s my friend. *Pyrrha gets teary eyed* It's not about where you were born or the powers you have or what you wear on your chest; it's about what you do. It’s about your actions. And I refuse to let innocent people be hurt in your lust for power! *Disappears Crocea Mors, creates heavy shackle constructs on Cinder and a muzzle construct over her mouth* And you’re right. The Guardians of Oa will be your judgment.

Cinder: *Wide eyed, stunned at her immediate defeat*

Ruby: *Gapes, is inspired by his words*

Pyrrha: *Stunned, happy to be alive, touched*

Weiss: *Arrives* Our hero. *Smiles* So much for secrecy, huh?

Jaune: *Sheepishly* Heh, yeah. Not sure Remnant’s really ready for the Corps. and all that comes with it but no way could I call myself a Lantern if I let Pyro Lady here get her way.

Weiss: *Haughtily* Yes, quite. *Smiles cheerfully* Well the good news is you seem to have given the others a second wind. *Gestures, strokes Jaune’s cheek*

Jaune: *Stares blankly as Huntsmen and Huntress tear through Grimm like they’re barely there, sees retreating White Fang and Atlas making arrests, mowing down Grimm; Grins* All in a--

Grimm Dragon: *Roars*

Cinder: *Eyes widen in glee*

Weiss: *Clutches Jaune’s side, aims Myrtenaster*

Jaune: AAAHHH! DRAGON! Trust in instincts!

*Giant green penis construct forms above the Dragon and slams down onto it, crushing the body*

Cinder: *Goes into catatonic shock*

Jaune: *Ignores Weiss pounding on his chest as she blushes furiously* Instincts bad!

Grimm Dragon: *Dies feeling oddly humiliated*

Weiss: Why!? Of all the things, why t-t-t-t-t-t-t-that!

Jaune: *Embarrassed, not making eye contact with a stunned Ruby or Pyrrha, defends himself* I didn’t hear you complaining last night when I made to-scale copies of Jaune Jr. so you could get spitroasted by your boyfriend! I *realizes what he just said* Oops.

Weiss: *Mortified beyond belief* I-I, you, n-no... *Sees gaping Ruby and Pyrrha, buries her face in his cape* H-he’s lying! I-I, noooo, I hate yoooooouuu!!!!!!

Jaune: I love you too, Snow Angel. *Blushes* Well, as far as official debuts go that could have been worse.

Winter: *Sounding angry and embarrassed as she stomps up the CCT stairs* W-Weiss, I’m well aware of how happy you are in your relationship but that is no reason to allow your boyfriend to advertise to the world in s-s-such lewd detail his p-p-p-his dingaling!

Yang: *Further down the stairs, sounding pained* BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Weiss: *Face is a tomato and she starts kicking an embarrassed Jaune’s armored shin*

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One: Look my Homelander avatar in the eyes and tell me Alan Scott’s armor in Kingdom Come wasn’t just made for a GL!Jaune story.

Two: Yes, that is a (very lightly) paraphrased Superman quote Jaune used.

Three: Instincts bad is a reference to a Spider-Man panel.

Four: Velvet is terribly accurate. My girlfriend is Australian and she uses ‘ripper’ regularly. It’s basically Australian for awesome.

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omniversalobservations · 3 years

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Wrestle Kingdom 11 (April 2017)

Tiger Mask is the persona of several Japanese professional wrestlers. The persona was inspired by the title character in Ikki Kajiwara's and Naoki Tsuji's 1968 manga series, Tiger Mask about a professional wrestler who was a feared heel in the United States, but became a face after returning to Japan when a young boy said that he wanted to be a villain like Tiger Mask when he grew up.

In the early 1980s, the bookers in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion licensed the character and created a real-life Tiger Mask, originally portrayed by Satoru Sayama, to help boost their junior heavyweight division. In the United States, Tiger Mask was the first wrestler to simultaneously hold the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Sayama played the role until 1983, when he left New Japan due to his hatred for the backstage politics of professional wrestling in general. As Tiger Mask, Sayama feuded with Kuniaki Kobayashi, Canada's Bret Hart, England's Chris Adams, Steve Wright and legendary Dynamite Kid, Mexico's Fishman and the original Black Tiger (see below).

In 1984, the rights to the Tiger Mask gimmick were bought by All Japan Pro Wrestling and given to Mitsuharu Misawa. Misawa also feuded with Dynamite Kid and Kuniaki Kobayashi, as well as Chavo Guerrero, Sr. and Atsushi Onita; he then moved up to the heavyweight division to feud, albeit unsuccessfully, with Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu. In May 1990, after Tenryu left All Japan, Misawa gave up the mask in the middle of a match to wrestle as himself.

New Japan's Koji Kanemoto became the third Tiger Mask in March 1992, but was unsuccessful due to the dominance of Jyushin Thunder Liger. Kanemoto was never able to win a title as Tiger Mask, and eventually lost the mask in a mask-vs-mask match against Liger in January 1994.

Since 1995, the name Tiger Mask has been held by Yoshihiro Yamazaki, who was trained directly (and is officially endorsed) by Sayama. Tiger Mask IV, originally based at Michinoku Pro Wrestling, entered New Japan in 2002.

A fifth generation Tiger Mask, MMA fighter Ikuhisa Minowa, debuted on July 18, 2010 alongside the original Tiger Mask, Sayama, in a tag match for Maki Dojo.

In conjunction with the launch of the Tiger Mask W anime series, NJPW debuted Tiger Mask W on October 10, 2016, at King of Pro-Wrestling. This character was portrayed by Kota Ibushi and teamed with Tiger Mask IV in a match against Kazuchika Okada and Gedo.

In October 2018, Satoru Sayama announced the debut of Shinsetsu Tiger Mask, a student of his with Shinsetsu meaning "true teachings" in Japanese.

Source: Wikipedia

Sure, let’s get the wink-wink nudge-nudge out of the way first. Tiger Mask W is Kota Ibushi and Tiger The Dark is ACH. There, we exposed the business. Now can we just focus on how much fun this was, please?

This was pretty much everything I wanted it to be, aside from Yellow Devil running in and laying down the challenge to Tiger Mask for Invasion Attack. I don’t know if you’ve been keeping up with the Tiger Mask W anime, but New Japan went way further than they had to in the pursuit of making this feel like it was part of the show’s universe. For crying out loud, they got Haruna’s voice actress to introduce Tiger Mask in full Haruna cosplay. This is how Wrestle Kingdom STARTED, people.

Also, major props for making sure the Tiger The Dark’s moveset was authentic to the show. Both the Darkness Hold submission and the Darkness Driver tombstone were on display here, which is especially crazy when you consider that the Darkness Hold only debuted last episode and oh god I’ve become THAT fan. Still, if you know anything about ACH, this is probably his dream come true. “Please study this anime very carefully, because we need you to be the real life version of one of the characters.”

Source: Uproxx

Tiger Mask is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Naoki Tsuji. It was later adapted into an anime series by Toei Animation.

In the manga and anime, Tiger Mask was a feared heel wrestler in America who was extremely vicious in the ring. After returning to Japan, Tiger Mask joined the Japanese League headed by Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki (also Real Life wrestlers) who were then on the verge of kicking him out for his use of villainous techniques. Tiger Mask (whose real name was Naoto Date) was raised in an orphanage, and later joined Tiger's Cave (a criminal cartel whose main activity was to train young people to become Heel wrestlers) to become "Strong as a Tiger".

To save the orphanage where he was born and raised, he decided to go against the main rule of Tiger's Cave (all wrestlers must give 50% of their income to the organisation) and as such he was marked a "traitor" and other wrestlers from the Cave tried to kill him in the ring (while hired assassins tried to do the same outside of the ring).

When an orphan living in the same orphanage as Naoto started to take his heel persona as a life model, Tiger Mask decided to fight honestly in the ring, starting a series of confrontations that eventually brought him up against the Big Bad, the master of Tiger's Cave.

Most people outside Japan, though, only know Tiger Mask as a real professional wrestler from a fad in The '80s. While it only began as a homage and promotion to the fictional character, it grew into a popularity of its own, especially in the West, due to the memorable Dynamite Kid fights. Since then five wrestlers have adopted Tiger's identity: Satoru Sayama, Mitsuharu Misawa, Koji Kanemoto, Yoshihiro Yamazaki and Ikuhisa Minowa, in that order. (Before them, there was also Samson Kutsuwada in Korea, but that didn't spawn a continuous legacy.)

A sequel titled Tiger Mask W premiered in 2016.

Source: TV Tropes

(images via YouTube)

#wrestling #NJPW #Tiger Mask

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letterboxd · 3 years

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Best of Sundance 2021.

From pandemic-era stories, via portraits of grief, to the serendipitous 1969 trilogy, the Letterboxd crew recaps our favorite films from the first major festival of the year.

Sundance heralds a new season of storytelling, with insights into what’s concerning filmmakers at present, and what artistic innovations may be on the horizon. As with every film festival, there were spooky coincidences and intersecting themes, whether it was a proliferation of pandemic-era stories, or extraordinary portraits of women working through grief (Land, Hive, The World to Come), or the incredible serendipity of the festival’s ‘1969 trilogy’, covering pivotal moments in Black American history: Summer of Soul (...Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Judas and the Black Messiah and the joyful Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street.

The hybrid model of this year’s Sundance meant more film lovers across the United States—a record number of you, in fact—‘attended’ the prestigious indie showcase. Our Festiville team (Gemma Gracewood, Aaron Yap, Ella Kemp, Selome Hailu, Jack Moulton and Dominic Corry) scanned your Letterboxd reviews and compared them with our notes to arrive at these seventeen feature-length documentary and narrative picks from Sundance 2021. There are plenty more we enjoyed, but these are the films we can’t stop thinking about.

Documentary features

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Directed by Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (AKA Questlove)

One hot summer five decades ago, there was a free concert series at a park in Harlem. It was huge, and it was lovely, and then it was forgotten. The Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 brought together some of the world’s most beloved Black artists to connect with Black audiences. The star power and the size of the crowds alone should have been enough to immortalize the event à la Woodstock—which happened the same summer, the film emphasizes. But no one cared to buy up the footage until Ahmir-Khalib Thompson, better known as Questlove, came along.

It would have been easy to oversimplify such a rich archive by stringing together the performances, seeking out some talking heads, and calling it a day. But Questlove was both careful and ebullient in his approach. “Summer of Soul is a monumental concert documentary and a fantastic piece of reclaimed archived footage. There is perhaps no one better suited to curate this essential footage than Questlove, whose expertise and passion for the music shines through,” writes Matthew on Letterboxd. The film is inventive with its use of present interviews, bringing in both artists and attendees not just to speak on their experiences, but to react to and relive the footage. The director reaches past the festival itself, providing thorough social context that takes in the moon landing, the assassinations of Black political figures, and more. By overlapping different styles of documentary filmmaking, Questlove’s directorial debut embraces the breadth and simultaneity of Black resilience and joy. A deserving winner of both the Grand Jury and Audience awards (and many of our unofficial Letterboxd awards). —SH

Flee Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Flee is the type of discovery Sundance is designed for. Danish documentarian Jonas Poher Rasmussen tells the poignant story of his close friend and former classmate (using the pseudonym ‘Amin Nawabi’) and his daring escape from persecution in 1990s Afghanistan. Rasmussen always approaches tender topics with sensitivity and takes further steps to protect his friend’s identity by illustrating the film almost entirely in immersive animation, following in the footsteps of Waltz With Bashir and Tower. It’s a film aware of its subjectivity, allowing the animated scenes to alternate between the playful joy of nostalgia and the mournful pain of an unforgettable memory. However, these are intercepted by dramatic archive footage that oppressively brings the reality home.

“Remarkably singular, yet that is what makes it so universal,” writes Paul. “So many ugly truths about the immigration experience—the impossible choices forced upon people, and the inability to really be able to explain all of it to people in your new life… You can hear the longing in his voice, the fear in his whisper. Some don’t get the easy path.” Winner of the World Cinema (Documentary) Grand Jury Prize and quickly acquired by Neon, Flee is guaranteed to be a film you’ll hear a lot about for the rest of 2021. —JM

Taming the Garden Directed by Salomé Jashi

There’s always a moment at a film festival when fatigue sets in, when the empathy machine overwhelms, and when I hit that moment in 2021, I took the advice of filmmaker and Sundance veteran Jim Cummings, who told us: “If you’re ever stressed or tired, watch a documentary to reset yourself.” Taming the Garden wasn’t initially on my hit-list, but it’s one of those moments when the ‘close your eyes and point at a random title’ trick paid off. Documentary director Salomé Jashi does the Lorax’s work, documenting the impact and grief caused by billionaire former Georgian PM Bidzina Ivanishvili’s obsession with collecting ancient trees for his private arboretum.

“A movie that is strangely both infuriating and relaxing” writes Todd, of the long, locked-off wide shots showing the intense process of removing large, old trees from their village homes. There’s no narration, instead Jashi eavesdrops on locals as they gossip about Ivanishvili, argue about whether the money is worth it, and a feisty, irritated 90-year-old warns of the impending environmental fallout. “What you get out of it is absolutely proportional to what you put into it,” writes David, who recommends this film get the IMAX treatment. It’s arboriculture as ASMR, the timeline cleanse my Sundance needed. The extraordinary images of treasured trees being barged across the sea will become iconic. —GG

The Most Beautiful Boy in the World Directed by Kristian Petri and Kristina Lindström

Where Taming the Garden succeeds through pure observation, The Most Beautiful Boy in the World relies on the complete participation of its title subject, actor Björn Andrésen, who was thrust into the spotlight as a teenager. Cast by Italian director Lucino Visconti in Death in Venice, a 1971 adaptation of Thomas Mann’s novella about obsession and fatal longing, Andrésen spent the 1970s as an object of lust, with a side-gig as a blonde pop star in Japan, inspiring many manga artists along the way.

As we know by now (Alex Winter’s Showbiz Kids is a handy companion to this film), young stardom comes at a price, one that Andrésen was not well-placed to pay even before his fateful audition for Visconti. But he’s still alive, still acting (he’s Dan in Midsommar), and ready to face the mysteries of his past. Like Benjamin Ree’s excellent The Painter and the Thief from last year, this documentary is a constantly unfolding detective story, notable for great archive footage, and a deep kindness towards its reticent yet wide-open subject. —GG

All Light, Everywhere Directed by Theo Anthony

Threading the blind spots between Étienne-Jules Marey’s 19th-century “photographic rifle”, camera-carrying war pigeons and Axon’s body-cam tech, Theo Anthony’s inquisitive, mind-expanding doc about the false promise of the all-seeing eye is absorbing, scary, urgent. It’s the greatest Minority Report origin story you didn’t know you needed.

Augmented by Dan Deacon’s electronic soundscapes and Keaver Brenai’s lullingly robotic narration, All Light, Everywhere proves to be a captivating, intricately balanced experience that Harris describes as “one part Adam Curtis-esque cine-essay”, “one part structural experiment in the vein of Koyaanisqatsi” and “one part accidental character study of two of the most familiar yet strikingly unique evil, conservative capitalists…”. Yes, there’s a tremendous amount to download, but Anthony’s expert weaving, as AC writes, “make its numerous subjects burst with clarity and profundity.” For curious cinephiles, the oldest movie on Letterboxd, Jules Jenssen’s Passage de Vénus (1874), makes a cameo. —AY

The Sparks Brothers Directed by Edgar Wright

Conceived at a Sparks gig in 2017 upon the encouragement of fellow writer-director Phil Lord, Edgar Wright broke his streak of riotous comedies with his first (of many, we hope) rockumentary. While somewhat overstuffed—this is, after all, his longest film by nearly fifteen minutes—The Sparks Brothers speaks only to Wright’s unrestrained passion for his art-pop Gods, exploring all the nooks and crannies of Sparks’ sprawling career, with unprecedented access to brothers and bandmates Ron and Russell Mael.

Nobody else can quite pin them down, so Wright dedicates his time to put every pin in them while he can, building a mythology and breaking it down, while coloring the film with irresistible dives into film history, whimsically animated anecdotes and cheeky captions. “Sparks rules. Edgar Wright rules. There’s no way this wasn’t going to rule”, proclaims Nick, “every Sparks song is its own world, with characters, rules, jokes and layers of narrative irony. What a lovely ode to a creative partnership that was founded on sticking to one’s artistic guns, no matter what may have been fashionable at the time.” —JM

Narrative features

The Pink Cloud Written and directed by Iuli Gerbase

The Pink Cloud is disorienting and full of déjà vu. Brazilian writer-director Iuli Gerbase constructs characters that are damned to have to settle when it comes to human connection. Giovana and Yago’s pleasant one-night stand lasts longer than expected when the titular pink cloud emerges from the sky, full of a mysterious and deadly gas that forces everyone to stay locked where they stand. Sound familiar? Reserve your groans—The Pink Cloud wasn’t churned out to figure out “what it all means” before the pandemic is even over. Gerbase wrote and shot the film prior to the discovery of Covid-19.

It’s “striking in its ability to prophesize a pandemic and a feeling unknown at the time of its conception. What was once science fiction hits so close now,” writes Sam. As uncanny as the quarantine narrative feels, what’s truly harrowing is how well the film predicts and understands interiorities that the pandemic later exacerbated. Above all, Giovana is a woman with unmet needs. She is a good partner, good mother and good person even when she doesn’t want to be. Even those who love her cannot see how their expectations strip her of her personhood, and the film dares to ask what escape there might be when love itself leaves you lonely. —SH

Together Together Written and directed by Nikole Beckwith

Every festival needs at least one indie relationship dramedy, and Together Together filled that role at Sundance 2021 with a healthy degree of subversion. It follows rom-com structure while ostensibly avoiding romance, instead focusing on how cultivating adult friendships can be just hard, if not harder.

Writer-director Nikole Beckwith warmly examines the limits of the platonic, and Patti Harrison and Ed Helms are brilliantly cast as the not-couple: a single soon-to-be father and the surrogate carrying his child. They poke at each other’s boundaries with a subtle desperation to know what makes a friendship appropriate or real. As Jacob writes: “It’s cute and serious, charming without being quirky. It’s a movie that deals with the struggle of being alone in this world, but offers a shimmer of hope that even if you don’t fall in fantastical, romantic, Hollywood love… there are people out there for you.” —SH

Hive Written and directed by Blerta Basholli

Hive, for some, may fall into the “nothing much happens” slice-of-life genre, but Blerta Basholli’s directorial debut holds an ocean of pain in its small tale, asking us to consider the heavy lifting that women must always do in the aftermath of war. As Liz writes, “Hive is not just a story about grief and trauma in a patriarchy-dominated culture, but of perseverance and the bonds created by the survivors who must begin to consider the future without their husbands.”

Yllka Gashi is an understated hero as Fahrjie, a mother-of-two who sets about organizing work for the women of her village, while awaiting news of her missing husband—one of thousands unaccounted for, years after the Kosovo War has ended. The townsmen have many opinions about how women should and shouldn’t mourn, work, socialize, parent, drive cars and, basically, get on with living, but Fahrjie persists, and Basholli sticks close with an unfussy, tender eye. “It felt like I was a fly on the wall, witnessing something that was actually happening,” writes Arthur. Just as in Robin Wright’s Land and Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come, Hive pays off in the rare, beaming smile of its protagonist. —GG

On the Count of Three Directed by Jerrod Carmichael, written by Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch

It starts with an image: two best friends pointing guns at each other’s heads. There’s no anger, there’s no hatred—this is an act of merciful brotherly love. How do you have a bleak, gun-totin’ buddy-comedy in 2021 and be critically embraced without contradicting your gun-control retweets or appearing as though your film is the dying embers of Tarantino-tinged student films?

Comedian Jerrod Carmichael’s acerbic directorial debut On the Count of Three achieves this by calling it out every step of the way. Guns are a tool to give insecure men the illusion of power. They are indeed a tool too terrifying to trust in the hands of untrained citizens. Carmichael also stars, alongside Christopher Abbott, who has never been more hilarious or more tragic, bringing pathos to a cathartic rendition of Papa Roach’s ‘Last Resort’. Above all, Carmichael and Abbott’s shared struggle and bond communicates the millennial malaise: how can you save others if you can’t save yourself? “Here’s what it boils down to: life is fucking hard”, Laura sums up, “and sometimes the most we can hope for is to have a best friend who loves you [and] to be a best friend who loves. It doesn’t make life any easier, but it sure helps.” Sundance 2021 is one for the books when it comes to documentaries, but On the Count of Three stands out in the fiction lineup this year. —JM

Censor Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond, written by Bailey-Bond and Anthony Fletcher

The first of several upcoming films inspired by the ‘video nasty’ moral panic over gory horror in mid-’80s Britain, Prano Bailey-Bond leans heavily into both the period and the genre in telling the story of a film censor (a phenomenal Niamh Algar—vulnerable and steely at the same time) who begins to suspect a banned movie may hold the key to her sister’s childhood disappearance. Often dreamlike, occasionally phantasmagorical and repeatedly traumatic, even if the worst gore presented (as seen in the impressively authentic fictional horrors being appraised) appears via a screen, providing a welcome degree of separation.

Nevertheless, Censor is definitely not for the faint of heart, but old-school horror aficionados will squeal with delight at the aesthetic commitment. “I’m so ecstatic that horror is in the hands of immensely talented women going absolutely batshit in front of and behind the camera.” writes Erik. (Same here!) “A great ode to the video-nasty era and paying tribute to the great horror auteurs of the ’80s such as Argento, De Palma and Cronenberg while also doing something new with the genre. Loved this!” writes John, effectively encapsulating Censor’s unfettered film-nerd appeal. —DC

CODA Written and directed by Siân Heder

A film so earnest it shouldn’t work, with a heart so big it should surely not fit the size of the screen, CODA broke records (the first US dramatic film in Sundance history to win all three top prizes; the 25-million-dollar sale to Apple Studios), and won the world over like no other film. “A unique take on something we’ve seen so much,” writes Amanda, nailing the special appeal of Siân Heder’s coming-of-ager and family portrait. Emilia Jones plays Ruby, the only hearing person in her deaf family, at war between the family business and her passion for singing. While Heder is technically remaking the French film La Famille Bélier, the decision to cast brilliant deaf actors—Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin and Daniel Durant—makes this feel brand new.

But it’s not just about representation for the sake of it. A sense of authenticity, in humor as much as affection, shines through. With a script that’s 40 per cent ASL, so many of the jokes are visual gags, poking fun at Tinder and rap music, but a lot of the film’s most poignant moments are silent as well. And in Ruby’s own world, too, choir kids will feel seen. “I approve of this very specific alto representation and the brilliant casting of the entire choir,” Laura confirms in her review. Come for the fearless, empathetic family portrait, stay for the High School Musical vibes that actually ring true. —EK

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun

Perhaps the most singular addition to the recent flurry of Extremely Online cinema—Searching, Spree, Host, et al—Jane Schoenbrun’s feature debut ushers the viewer into a haunted, hypno-drone miasma of delirium-inducing YouTube time-suck, tenebrous creepypasta lore and painfully intimate webcam confessionals. Featuring an extraordinarily unaffected, fearless performance by newcomer Anna Cobb, the film “unpacks the mythology of adolescence in a way that’s so harrowingly familiar and also so otherworldly”, writes Kristen. Not since Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse has there been such an eerily lonely, and at times strangely beautiful, evocation of the liminal spaces between virtual and real worlds.

For members of the trans community, it’s also a work that translates that experience to screen with uncommon authenticity. “What Schoenbrun has accomplished with the form of We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is akin to catching a wisp of smoke,” writes Willow, “because the images, mood and aesthetic that they have brought to life is one that is understood completely by trans people as one of familiarity, without also plunging into the obvious melodrama, or liberal back-patting that is usually associated with ‘good’ direct representation.” One of the most original, compelling new voices to emerge from Sundance this year. —AY

Judas and the Black Messiah Directed by Shaka King, written by King, Will Berson, Kenneth Lucas and Keith Lucas

It was always going to take a visionary, uncompromising filmmaker to bring the story of Fred Hampton, the deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party, to life. Shaka King casts Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton, and LaKeith Stanfield as William “Wild Bill” O’Neal, the FBI informant whose betrayal leads to Hampton’s assassination. Both actors have never been better, particularly Kaluuya who Fran Hoepfner calls “entrancing, magnetic, fizzling, romantic, riveting, endlessly watchable.”

Judas and the Black Messiah is an electric, involving watch: not just replaying history by following a certain biopic template. Instead, it’s a film with something to say—on power, on fear, on war and on freedom. “Shaka King’s name better reverberate through the halls of every studio after this,” writes Demi. A talent like this, capable of framing such a revolution, doesn’t come around so often. We’d better listen up. —EK

Pleasure Directed by Ninja Thyberg, written by Thyberg and Peter Modestij

A24’s first purchase of 2021. Ironically titled on multiple levels, Pleasure is a brutal film that you endure more than enjoy. But one thing you can’t do is forget it. Ninja Thyberg’s debut feature follows a young Swedish woman (Sofia Kappel) who arrives in Los Angeles with dreams of porn stardom under the name ‘Bella Cherry’. Although Bella is clear-eyed about the business she’s getting into, Thyberg doesn’t shy away from any of the awfulness she faces in order to succeed in an industry rife with exploitation and abuse. Bella does make allies, and the film isn’t suggesting that porn is only stocked with villains, but the ultimate cost is clear, even if it ends on an ever-so-slightly ambiguous note.

Touching as it does on ambition, friendship and betrayal in the sex business, Pleasure is often oddly reminiscent of Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls. Or rather, the gritty film Showgirls was claiming to be, as opposed to the camp classic it became. There’s nothing campy here. Kappel is raw and fearless in the lead, but never lets the viewer lose touch with her humanity. Emma puts it well: “Kappel gives the hardest, most provocative and transfixing performance I’ve seen all festival.” “My whole body was physically tense during this,” writes Gillian, while Keegan perhaps speaks for most when she says “Great film, never want to see it again.” —DC

Coming Home in the Dark Directed by James Ashcroft, written by Ashcroft and Eli Kent

A family camping trip amidst some typically stunnin—and casually foreboding— New Zealand scenery is upended by a shocking rug-pull of violence that gives way to sustained terror represented by Daniel Gillies’ disturbingly calm psychopath. The set-up of this thriller initially suggests a spin on the backwoods brutality thriller, but as Coming Home in the Dark progresses and hope dissipates, the motivations reveal themselves to be much more personal in nature, and informed on a thematic level by New Zealand’s colonial crimes against its Indigenous population. It’s a stark and haunting film that remains disorientating and unpredictable throughout, repeatedly daring the viewer to anticipate what will happen next, only to casually stomp on each glimmer of a positive outcome.

It’s so captivatingly bleak that a viewing of it, as Collins Ezeanyim’s eloquent reaction points out, does not lend itself to completing domestic tasks. The film marks an auspicious debut for director and co-writer James Ashcroft. Jacob writes that he “will probably follow James Ashcroft’s career to the gates of Hell after this one”. Justin hits the nail on the head with his description: “Lean and exceptionally brutal road/revenge film … that trades in genre tropes, especially those of Ozploitation and ’70s Italian exploitation, but contextualizes them in the dark history of its country of origin.” —DC

The World to Come Directed by Mona Fastvold, written by Ron Hansen and Jim Shepard

Mona Fastvold has not made the first, nor probably the last, period romance about forbidden lesbian love. But The World to Come focuses on a specific pocket in time, a world contained in Jim Shepard’s short story ‘Love & Hydrogen’ from within the collection giving the film its name. Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby are Abigail and Tallie, farming neighbors, stifled by their husbands, who find brief moments of solace, of astonishment and joy, together. What shines here is the script, a verbose, delicate narration that emanates beauty more than pretence. “So beautifully restrained and yet I felt everything,” Iana writes.

And you can feel the fluidity and elegance in the way the film sounds, too: composer Daniel Blumberg’s clarinet theme converses with the dialogue and tells you when your heart can break, when you must pause, when the end is near. “So much heartache. So much hunger. So much longing. Waves of love and grief and love and grief,” writes Claira, capturing the ebb and flow of emotion that keeps The World to Come in your mind long after the screen has gone silent. —EK

Related content

The 2021 Sundance Film Festival lineup by Letterboxd rating

Letterboxd’s ‘Official’ Top 50 of 2021

Awards Season 2020-2021: our awards-tracker list

Letterboxd’s Festiville HQ: our home for up-to-the-minute festival coverage

#sundance #sundance film festival #sundance 2021 #sundance2021 #questlove #summer of soul #black woodstock #shaka king #judas and the black messiah #letterboxd top 50 #best of sundance 2021 #letterboxd

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sad-emo-dip-dye · 7 months

Note

top five bsd theories?

1. Atsushi is in some way a manifestation of the book

2. That Atsushi’s parents are alive and Important somehow

3. That Oda was holding on to Dazai in his last moments so he wouldnt have to experience his own death twice through his ability

4. That Dazai met fyodor in the period between leaving the mafia and joining the agency

5. I’m like so convinced Adam is gonna make a manga debut. This is a hill I will die on.

#I need more atsushi backstory desperately #also idk what counts as a theory and just a hc? I kinda feel like I’m answering wrong idk #but yeah adam manga debut when?#bsd #annies asks

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captainmactaggart · 4 years

Text

Geddes Line Profiles (Series 2)

What with yesterday having seen the publication of the final episode of Geddes Line, I thought it’d be nice to showcase all the profiles I did for all the characters who made their debut in this series. This post covers all the characters officially introduced in the second half of the series.

KAREN BAUER - General manager of Wall2Wall Security Solutions. Very pleasant, amiable, and a bit of a nerd. German Shepherd. (Episode 15)

HAROLD MEAD - Known professionally as just Harry. Burglar. The brains (relatively speaking) of a two-man operation. Weasel. (Episode 15)

FREDRICK MCGINNIS - Known professionally as just Fred. Burglar. The muscle in a two-man operation. Wolf. (Episode 15)

DYLAN RHYS - The father of Sam Rhys, and the current owner of Rhys Interstellar, a vast business conglomerate spanning the Sol System, and surrounding districts. Welsh Foxhound. (Episode 17 - previously mentioned in Episode 12)

MYFANWY RHYS - Dylan's wife. Sam's mother. Something of a socialite in her own right. Arguably the true brains of Rhys Interstellar. Welsh Foxhound. (Episode 17 - previously mentioned in Episode 12)

METIN BALIK - Former street urchin turned revolutionary turned corporate hitman. Panther. (Episode 17)

TEMEL KIZARTMASI - Metin's right-hand man. Does all the heavy manual labour. Dog. (Episode 17)

CAPTAIN NATALIE COAL - Now-widowed wife-with-benefits of Captain Darkblade. A fairly notorious space pirate in her own right. Captain of the pirate cruiser Flare of the Phoenix. White Shepherd. (Episode 18)

LAWRENCE ASPINALL - Former regional secretary for Movados Interstela (one of the largest civilian transport unions in the Galaxy). A distant uncle of Damaris Moss. Red Fox. (Episode 19)

ADAM BRIDGER - Lawrence's opposite number down in the Core Systems. Very much still employed in his position. Border Collie. (Episode 19)

NORIKO MORI - Older sister of Kyoko Geddes (and therefore also Alasdair’s sister-in-law). Manga writer and artist. Raccoon. (Episode 20)

VALDIS WESTERWAL - Wife of Noriko Mori. Avant-garde artist. Just a bit strange in general, really. Silver Vixen. (Episode 20)

WS RHONA RANKIN - A police sergeant working in Kyle Abbin. Doesn’t tend to have much to do in this relatively crime-free town, but always on the alert, on the off chance that one should occur. Border Collie. (Episode 22)

FRANCO VALLONE - Proprietor of Franco's Traditional Fish Bar up at Tiree Outpost. Possible former mob boss as well. Weasel. (Episode 23)

ELETTRA VALLONE - Franco's wife. Just as bitter and ill-tempered as her husband. Weasel. (Episode 23)

ROSALVA VALLONE (alias ROSIE) - Daughter of Franco and Elettra. Much more open-minded and pleasant than the two of them put together. Weasel. (Episode 23)

GERRY CALDER - Proprietor of Calder's Takeaway, also up at Tiree Outpost. Much better at business than Franco, particularly when it comes to customer relations. Fox. (Episode 23)

JUDITH CALDER - Gerry's wife. Comes from a more new-age background. Doesn't approve of much of the food her husband sells, but still supports him anyway. Red Vixen. (Episode 23)

ELVIS CALDER - Son of Gerry and Judith, and potential heir to the fortunes of Calder's Takeaway. Not very good at standing up for himself - his only means of rebelling against his parents is secretly seeing Rosie Vallone on the side. Fox. (Episode 23)

NINA SPEKTOR - Wife of Vladimir. Mother of Veronika, and now grandmother of Natasha. Doesn’t overtly share any of her family’s criminal ties, but still a rather shady character in her own right. (Episode 24 - previously mentioned in Episode 55 of SPCM)

DR FRANCINE TIERNEY - The head doctor of the maternity ward onboard the hospital ship Loch Lomond. Probably the most qualified out of anyone in her ward. Border Collie. (Episode 25)

NURSE ROSALIE MCCABE - One of the nurses under Dr Tierney's command. Slightly more interested in the equipment than in her patients. Scottish Wildcat. (Episode 25)

NURSE SUSIE CAMPBELL - Another of Dr Tierney's nurses. Tends to pay more attention to the patients than Nurse Rosalie does. Rabbit. (Episode 26)

DR ROBERTSON - Another doctor onboard the Loch Lomond, though which field of healthcare he works in is uncertain. Doesn’t actually appear in the series - his part in Episode 26 was cut after the profile was done, and replaced with one final appearance by the author’s squirrel alter-ego. Raccoon.

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shih-coulda-had-it · 5 years

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get better (plus ultra!)

/trips over, falls into bnha without ever having picked up the manga or watched a complete episode/ oh fuck

/trips over, falls into nightmight/ oh fuck

Premise: Fix-it! Despite his mortal injuries, Sir Nighteye pulls through at the hospital. He has no emergency contacts beyond his agency, but never fear, All Might is here! With U.A. as his place for convalescence, Sir Nighteye mends his future.

At the end of it--and isn’t that funny, how you think of ends, when there are no ends, just a few stuttered beats and the renewal of the passage of time--you do go home with Toshinori Yagi. It’s the twisted fulfillment of a dream you’ve nursed since his debut, and something you didn’t want to happen, diminished as you are now. But it was a condition the hospital forced on you, adamant that the newly disabled does not bumble into a shameful death the first hour outside of medical care.

The two of you get a cab. The driver is discreet, provided by U.A. Yagi slides into the backseat first, folding his lanky limbs and bowing his wild-maned head. An orderly waits to assist you, should you falter.

You do not falter. You may have lost your stomach, and your left arm, but you have always been possessed of that unique mindset to power through loss.

Slowly, painfully, you bend yourself into the backseat. Yagi looks at you with shadowed eyes, the blue irises burning bright nevertheless. You meet the gaze and do not flinch.

“You aren’t obligated to do this,” you say, and the orderly shuts the cab door to punctuate your remark. The driver hits the ignition, and the cab gets off to a smooth start.

All Might is an intelligent hero, but his intelligence lies in battle strategy and tactics. Snap judgments, helped by snap reflexes. You’re good at that too, which is why All Might accepted you as a sidekick when he never agreed to any before.

What you are both terrible at is communicating anything relative to feelings.

Well. That’s what you claim.

“I’m not,” he acknowledges, and you blink at the honesty. It hurts a little, and something in you wants to flex your phantom arm and fiddle with a stamp-weight. Instead, you grit your teeth and stare at the sharp cheekbones and stark jawline. Yagi exhales, a little frustrated. With you, with his words, who knows, but he stresses, “I want to do this. Help you, I mean.”

“It’s guilt,” you reflexively analyze. “Which you shouldn’t feel, because you didn’t cause my injuries. Don’t pity me.”

He refutes you, of course, but there is a strangeness to his responses, something you are just now recognizing. “If it’s guilt, then it’s because I am trying to make up for years of silence,” Yagi says. A little mischievously, he adds, “If you don’t want to talk to me, of course, there are plenty of students to hide behind.”

You don’t follow. “Students?” you echo. You take a second to reorient yourself, take a glance outside at the passing streets. “... You live on-campus.” A serene confirmation, and you dart a swift look at him.

You had heard from Mirio about the Heights Alliance buildings, built in the span of three days, housing classes of U.A. A dormitory per class, twelve divisions per year, thirty-six buildings in total to account for all students. You didn’t think teachers lived there too. No. You didn’t think All Might would live there, and risk being seen in his true form.

“We had the option not to,” says Yagi, with this odd note of fondness, “but I find the antics of the children to be too amusing to miss out on. And we are a form of protection.”

“You’re a glorified room assistant,” you conclude, “and an overstressed guardian to at least twenty teenagers. Tell me you live with 3-A.”

Arguably the calmest of the lot, and objectively the most mature, if any teenager could be described as mature. You are thirty-eight years old, being taken to live on a high-school campus for your convalescence. And, more likely, you are going to be plied with students to teach because Nedzu has seen the miracles you’ve wrought with Mirio, and you are going to have to retire from field-work at your agency and take up teaching.

“1-A,” he corrects, and you give him such a dead-eyed look, he laughs.

1/?

#bnha #nightmight #shih.txt #title references frank turner's song #i've seen like two fanmade civilian names for nighteye:#enishi kenma or [surname] osamu #so i've gone back to the 2010s for their second person pov #can i get a 10k fic of mutual pining and domestics please

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sepublic · 5 years

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A Monsterverse Gigan Movie Proposal

The movie opens up on a bit of a news-style documentary, discussing the cultural impact the Kaiju have had on us. We see various clips of the Kaijus’ impact; We have memes, plushies and toys designed after them. People have capitalized by selling merchandise and food themed after famous Kaiju. Cashiers get an extra tip by having boxes encouraging customers to vote with money who is better; Godzilla or Kong?

There are talkshows, documentaries, conspiracies, all that jazz. High-end fashion is deliberately fashioned after Kaiju, with those designed after Kaiju such as Ghidorah or Hedorah being particularly controversial. There are even religious movements and straight-up cults that worship the Kaiju as gods.

Everyone’s talking about Godzilla, Mothra, or Rodan and whatnot. People make art, and photos taken by drones are all the craze by tabloids and news outlets. People tend to make protests about the Kaiju, either advocating their destruction, or further cooperation, such as by leaving them alone, or tending to them, etc. As a way to build funds and encourage societal awareness and acceptance of Kaiju, Monarch has even authorized little tours where people can get relatively close to friendlier Kaiju, such as Baragon or even Godzilla!

Alas, it’s not all fun and games, as there are many illegal versions of these officially-santcioned tours. The government has designated ‘Kaiju Parks’, areas where Kaiju tend to roam that are cut off from the rest of humanity for obvious reasons. While there are official tours through these parks to observe friendlier Kaiju (from afar, of course), others are a lot less… legal.

And we see this in the film, where a boat illegally takes some tourists up-close to a slumbring Kaiju on some rocks in the ocean. While the tourists take pictures and selfies, the boat-driver quietly tries to take skin samples of the Kaiju, hoping to make a profit, when people suddenly begin disappearing, because surprise- The remaining Kamacuras, now more grown, has upgraded their camouflage to full-on invisibility and is using humanity’s tendency to flock towards Kaiju to get some meals!

Ultimately, the movie is meant to discuss theatrics, culture, and our relationship with Kaiju and how we interact with them, and vice-versa… Or more properly, how we REACT to them, because by the end of the day we’re just ants in their eyes. And while society’s acceptance and relationship with the Kaiju has begun to peak, there are still those who would sabotage it, for a wide variety of reasons.

After this big reveal and discussion, we cut to our regular human protagonists, as well as two new faces. One of them is a struggling, online artist who regularly draws Kaiju and posts them online, although she is disappointed by her lack of reblogs and thus has to work at some low-end job to survive. This Artist (who will be called as such for now) is clearly based off of Gengo Kotaka, and is additionally a bit of a meta representation of artists who post their works online but unfortunately get little attention.

Artist also has another friend who draws, who is not-so-subtly implied to be a bit of a Monsterfucker, especially with her fanart (which is straight-up images from that one Godzilla manga where the monsters are buff and humanoid). Artist goes through her usual routine, lamenting a lack of commissions or anyone else interested in her work, when she suddenly gets an email!

It’s from World Children’s Land, a company dedicated to the construction of Theme Parks and other attractions! The email is sent by a Japanese entrepreneur, who explains how he has had plans to create a themepark centered around Kaiju, for all ages! His plans for it are big, too- He hopes that this park, named Monsterland/Kaijuland, will become big enough to rival attractions such as Six Flags, Legoland, and even Disney World!

Anyhow, the Entrepeneur noticed Artist’s work online, and impressed, is hoping to hire her to work as a graphics designer and cartoonist for Monsterland. Artist, thrilled to not only get work but also a job centered around her passion and hyperfixation, gleefully accepts her participation in this ambitious project.

We learn more about Monsterland, as we see it getting constructed. It’s huge, about the size of your typical Disneyland, maybe even bigger. It has many attractions, including a hotel for guests to stay at, multiple rides based off of various Kaiju, restauraunts and appropriately-themed food, etc. There’s even a section for particularly high-class adults to party and discuss their love for Kaiju.

And Monsterland’s biggest attraction? Why, it’s none other than a giant statue of Godzilla himself, the biggest in existence! It’s not quite the Big G’s size, but it’s close to it, and most impressive! It even lights up to mimic his Atomic Breath!

The project was started by our entrepreneur (dubbed C1 until I figure out an actual name) and his protégé of sorts, C2. Both are from Japan, and explain to various news outlets how their main motivation for creating Monsterland is to celebrate mutually with fans all over the world their love of Kaiju, as well as encouraging an appreciation and understanding of the creatures.

And to do this, C1 reveals that the Grand Opening’s tickets will be set at a lower price than usual! Lo and behold, Monsterland’s reception is amazing as pre-orders and tickets are rapidly sold out in record time, with Monster fans of all ages and locales marking their calendars and plans to attend Monsterland.

Amidst all of these reveals, we also see our typical Monarch protagonists and Zilla, who has grown since his debut (although he’s still pretty small compared to other Kaiju). Zilla ends up fighting Crustaceous Rex, a giant crustacean-cephalopod monster that emerges from the deep. Zilla manages to win and C-Rex slinks off, although it’s clear it’s formed a bit of a rivalry with Zilla now.

Other characters include Cameron Winters- While based off of the character from the 1998 Animated series, the two are pretty different. For starters, Cameron is female, and a PoC (probably African-American). A wealthy entrepreneur, Cameron is known for her striking white hair and her cunning wit.

Having found no one she can actually bear to marry and have children with, Cameron, feeling the desire for a protégé, has adopted a hapless orphan girl and begun to raise her as a successor of sorts. This successor (named S for now) seems reserved and well-off, but deep down she’s uncomfortable from all of the pressures placed on her and desires freedom to be herself.

Cameron is involved with some operation of sorts that has something to do with Monsterland, and S is just there for the ride. Also introduced is a hippy-type character who wants humanity to leave the Kaiju alone and whatnot.

As Monsterland begins to form, it becomes clear that C1 and C2 are a bit suspicious. Aside from the two tending to act very stilted and forced, Artist notices while wandering around a few weird things every now and then. At one point, she swears she hears a loud skittering noise, even as she observes other employees who are stiff like C1. She eavesdrops on large shipments of materials such as Lead, and is at one point caught sneaking by C2. She’s spared and let off, and C1 advises his protégé to leave her be, as she’s ‘just doing her job and being curious’.

Likewise, Artist can’t complain because C1 is receptive to her art and encouraging, the first positive reception she’s gotten in a long while. Nevertheless, she takes note of what she’s noticed, even as the Hippy loudly protests outside.

The audience soon discovers the shadiness of Monsterland. C1 is apparently buying nuclear materials, and is working with Cameron Winters (who is for the most part unknowing of his true intentions) and other compatriots such as Raul, the new leader of the Red Bamboo, to illegally capture and smuggle various Lesser Kaiju.

Among these monsters are none other than Zilla, who gets kidnapped. Even as our Monarch protagonists try to find him, new incidents sprout up when Anguirus appears from the ocean and attacks a city!

For some reason, Anguirus is on the attack, despite being a normally peaceful Kaiju. He rampages through the city, smashing buildings as he heads for the center… When all of a sudden, he begins moving away from the city, further in-land. Similar incidents soon sprout up, with none other than Godzilla himself appearing.

In the wake of these attacks, everyone is talking and wondering why the two are acting strangely. Some at Monarch point out that the two Kaiju seem to be focused more on heading into the city and digging at various points, than they are at actually attacking things. Likewise, the two seem pretty careful, waiting for humans to get out of the way before moving in, and at one point Anguirus was even warded off by the military.

We eventually get a reveal of C1 interacting with none other than Alan Jonah himself (with Artist potentially catching this). We don’t get any context to their conversation, but Jonah is apparently wary of sabotaging Humanity’s one good deed in accepting the Kaiju. However, C1 convinces him that what they’re doing will result in Humanity being properly put in its place, once and for all.

Of course, Jonah is suspicious of C1, wondering if they have any other motives, but C1 remains adamant. He also notes that with Godzilla and Anguirus on his tail, Jonah doesn’t have much room nor time to think and be picky, and advises him to choose wisely. Jonah, weighing the situation, agrees to collaborate with C1 on his plan to ‘humble’ humanity. In return, he needs help from C1 in keeping Godzilla and Anguirus away while the plan unfolds, and C1 promises a potent ally…

We eventually cut to Godzilla roaming the wilderness in hot-pursuit of something, apparently looking towards the sky- When all of a sudden, we hear screams. We cut to none other than a new monster- Gigan, our psycho cybernetic space-chicken!

Gigan quickly proves his bloodlust in attacking hapless civilians, slicing apart buildings and reveling in the bloodshed. Godzilla, angered, challenges Gigan, but it doesn’t go well. Godzilla is caught off-guard by how incredibly sharp Gigan’s blades are, and the audience in-universe and out sees him bleed for the first time at Gigan’s hands.

Gigan quickly wounds Godzilla with countless cuts, bleeding him out as he takes sadistic pleasure in the battle. Before Gigan can finish off a delirious Godzilla, however, Kong comes in and rescues him. Gigan is driven off, and the two head to the ocean. Following this, Kaiju activity spikes as other Titans begin roaming around, apparently on Kong’s orders, looking out for something…

The film’s climax culminates when Monarch protagonists such as Mark, Madison, Nick, etc., are invited to the luxury, high-end party in Monsterland. Meanwhile, Artist notifies others in Monarch of what she’s seen and heard of, and Jonah begins coordinating his cargo towards Monsterland.

Cue Opening Day, as lots of fun is had and so forth. Rides are ridden, games are played, toys and plushies are handed out as guests treat themselves and bond with each other over a mutual love for Kaiju. At the high-end part of Monsterland, Madison is walking around in the highly luxurious party, which is populated by typical upper-crust people. Monarch is sure this is a trap, but they have no choice if they want to know- Plus, Zilla tends to listen to Nick and Madison anyway.

Eventually, Madison meets S, and as the two get to know each other, the big attraction for the luxury party is revealed. A giant, in-door dome opens up to reveal an arena, where captured monsters are forced to fight one another as the audience makes their bets!

Those at Monarch are clearly revolted, watching in horror as attractions such as Queen Bee or Rhinosaurus are made to duel. Worst of all, Raul takes center-stage, revealing himself to the protagonists and happily explaining how he became the new leader of the Red Bamboo. The other party guests jeer as the protagonists are rounded up, to be thrown into the arena with one of the monsters and executed amidst a bloodthirsty audience.

S, taking a liking to Madison, helps sneak her out of her confinement, explaining that she feels little love for Winters. Madison finds Zilla in his cage, and after comforting and calming him down, quickly notices Komodithrax, the monster who is supposed to kill her and the others.

Komodithrax is hostile, but Zilla manages to put in a good word for his human friends with her. A bit of a plan is hatched- Meanwhile, Godzilla and Anguirus arrive to attack Jonah’s cargo. Godzilla’s nuclear breath strikes an invisible object in the sky, revealing a cloaked, giant carrier transporting something…

The big death match between our human friends and Komodithrax arrives (after a cruel battle between Zilla and Rhinosaurus that the former wins). At first, Komodithrax seems ready to kill the protagonists as the audience jeers… But it’s just to stall and distract while S and a group of other protagonists, led by Artist, help free all of the monsters.

The monsters break free of their captivity, causing havoc as Zilla and Komodithrax break through the dome. The party-goers scream and flee as quite a few are maimed pretty gruesomely at the hands of monsters such as Queen Bee, who is able to rapidly-fire stingers from her abdomen, or Komodithrax, who lays smokey-gas traps before lighting them into explosions with a spark of flame.

It’s utter chaos, and as Madison and Nick direct Zilla, who helps guide the monsters to freedom with Komodithrax, the other protagonists storm the Tower of Operations, confronting C1 and C2.

The two reveal their plans, even as the scene cuts to showing the carrier, downed by Godzilla. The two head towards it… when it breaks opens, and out comes Ghidorah himself!

But he’s bit smaller, and weaker- He only has two heads and one tail, and can’t even generate storms! Luckily for him, he’s got back-up in the form of Gigan, who helps him fend off the duo as they head towards Monsterland.

The visitors panic as the two monsters get closer, and automated turrets rise from the walls of the park, keeping them confined. C1, with Jonah nearby, explains how Ghidorah needs to draw from huge sources of energy to regenerate- Like a volcano, for example.

Jonah has been slowly nursing Ghidorah back to health, but the process is taking a while and is imperfect. Thus, in comes C1, who reveals that they’ve built an incredibly powerful energy-generator at the center of the park, hidden by lead walls, right beneath the giant Godzilla statue.

C1 explains his plan- He allegedly feels that humanity has gotten too arrogant, too buddy-buddy with the Kaiju and need to remember their place. By creating Monsterland, the ultimately symbol of humanity’s love of Kaiju, he’s gathered Monsters’ biggest fans from all across the globe… Just so they can be slaughtered by the creatures they loved- In the case of the rich people, by the Lesser Kaiju (their release was actually planned by C2 and S was acting on his orders the whole time), or by King Ghidorah himself!

The plan is to have Gigan protect and lead Ghidorah to the energy generator in the park. Ghidorah, feeding off of the generator, will be able to fully regenerate back to his full-strength, and with Gigan’s help, he’ll slaughter all of the visitors and defeat Godzilla and eventually Kong, reclaiming his title as King of the Monsters.

His kingship regained, Ghidorah will resume his hunt and terraforming of the planet. Humanity will fear and hate the Kaiju, with the monsters’ biggest advocates having been slaughtered in one fell-swoop by the creatures they love in a symbolic act, while the rest are hunted down. An irreversible rift will be torn between Humans and Monster, as the former’s numbers are dwindled down. Due to their newfound hatred of Monsters, humans will refuse to rely on friendlier ones like Mothra, attacking them and sealing their doom in the process.

The protagonists are horrified, but eventually Mark calls out C1 on his alleged worship of the Kaiju, wondering if he has ulterior motives. C1 admits to this, nodding at Jonah and telling him that his use is served, and he is now free to do as he pleases. For a moment, things are at a stand-off, when one of the protagonists manages to shoot C1.

At first, they seem fazed… But then they quickly recover. More shots are fired but C1 keeps trudging onward, unaffected. Addressing Mark, C1 offers a hint to his true motives… Even as his body violently contorts, and out sprouts a hideous, cockroach-like monster, all Nosk from Hollow Knight-style!

C2 joins C1 as they attack the protagonists. Jonah realizes he’s made a mistake (big surprise there) and he flees with his group as they try to recoup and recover from the revelations. The protagonists try to survive, avoiding their attackers (dubbed Hunters), as other employees reveal their true natures as well.

S is surprised by this as well, and in the chaos she groups with Winters, who isn’t aware of her involvement. Meanwhile, Zilla arrives with his little army of monsters to destroy the armed turrets, briefly finding opposition from C-Rex, who arrives from the ocean for a rematch. C-Rex and Zilla clash, even as the visitors flee just in time to avoid Ghidorah and Gigan.

The two head straight for the Energy-generator, only for Kong to appear as Godzilla and Anguirus catch up. Cue a huge Monster battle as Monster Land is utterly destroyed. Gigan continues to show his bloodthirstiness, even as Ghidorah tries to make contact with the generator. Anguirus gets his face slashed, but Godzilla quickly shows he’s wizened up to Gigan’s act.

Amidst it all, the human protagonists desperately try to not die as the Hunters pursue them. Zilla comes to rescue them, his battle with C-Rex inadvertently taking down a few Hunters in the process. Winters even rallies some terrified rich people into helping her take down a Hunter using an axe and a chandelier.

The big Monster Battle with Ghidorah and Gigan VS Godzilla, Kong, and Anguirus culminates at the center of Monsterland, with the giant Godzilla statue and the Tower of Operations. The statue is utterly thrashed, thrown to the side as it slams into the Tower, and the chaos causes it to further topple.

Back on the ground-level, C1 and C2 are caught beneath the falling debris, mortally wounded and bleeding to death. Mark explains to a dying C1 that his plan has failed; Ghidorah won’t regenerate and will be defeated before he can. Humanity will continue to love Kaiju (er, probably) due to Godzilla and others saving them to begin with. Likewise, the visitors at the Theme Park were saved, so no tragedy there!

C1 is angry and lashes out for Mark, but he steps back as he and the others retreat, riding on Zilla’s back. C-Rex, defeated, stumbles back into the ocean, even as the other freed monsters watch the main battle at the center.

The battle reaches a climax when the energy generator opens up, now-activated with Ghidorah’s presence. Ghidorah briefly bites onto it, drawing energy as Ichi begins to grow from between Ni and Kevin… But luckily, the other Monsters pull him away. The battle ends when Kong uses Gigan’s own buzzsaw against himself, pushing Gigan’s left-arm into his chest and severing it at the elbow.

Wielding Gigan’s arm like a sword, Kong mortally wounds Gigan, briefly abandoning him to help the others keep away Ghidorah. Even as Gigan flees, flying into the atmosphere, Kong uses his blade to slice off Ghidorah’s legs at the kneecaps, and eventually his tail and wings. Ghidorah, immobilized, is finished off when Kong repeatedly stabs him in the back with Gigan’s blade.

Too wounded, Ghidorah falls unconscious, and the three Kaiju celebrate their victory. The human protagonists arrive alongside Monarch reinforcements, who begin to secure Ghidorah’s unconscious body. Military reinforcements fly after Gigan, attempting to shoot him down, when a giant golden object appears in space orbiting the planet. The craft beams up Gigan and disappears, to the shock of the protagonists.

Following this, a triumphant Kong splits off from Godzilla and Anguirus, leading some of the monsters to freedom, while the rest swim with Godzilla and Anguirus out into the ocean amidst the sunrise.

In the aftermath of it all, humanity still appreciates the Kaiju as the reasons for Godzilla and Anguirus’ attacks are explained. Winters and S settle down, evading imprisonment through a bunch of legal loopholes, as Raul escapes into the night. The remaining Hunters escape, receiving assistance from none other than Jonah and his group. The protagonists are glad humans can still co-exist with Monsters, just as Serizawa wished, and Artist gets a new job working with Monarch and its Public Relations branch.

This is revealed at the end of the film, in news headlines credits, post-credits scenes, etc. The final post-credits scene reveals a strange, armored being sitting in a golden command-center, surrounded by some Hunters as she observes the news. Frustrated at C1 and C2’s dumb idea, noting the Controller never should’ve listened to them, she decides to take command and send in someone named Mugalu.

Additional Notes:

-Prior to the big corrupt Monster-fighting party, we see a random rich dude getting ready to go as his wife criticizes his love of Monsters, citing that it’ll get him killed or something like that. This is foreshadowing to how the upper-crust elites invited by C1 are victims themselves, with their wealthy loved ones and friends seeing their deaths and being horrified, using their influence to spread Anti-Kaiju sentiment.

-C1 briefly talks on a device with someone named ‘Zaguries’, reassuring her that the Controller’s faith in him is well-founded. The being at the end of the movie is implied to be Zaguries, who had doubts over C1’s plan.

-During the chaos when the Lesser Kaiju are released at the Monster-Fighting ring, Raul manages to survive and escape by revealing another orb-like device in his eye socket. It acts as a flashbang/grenade/smokebomb, helping cover his retreat as he escapes.

-On Gigan’s character;

Gigan is very clearly a cruel and sadistic Kaiju, reveling in the bloodshed as he attacks cities and takes glee from mass deaths. At times, the M-Hunters have to rein him in, as he gets distracted attacking people instead of doing his actual orders. Gigan quickly proves himself a brutal fighter, being the first to make Godzilla bleed. He repeatedly attacks Godzilla up-close, using his blades to hook onto Godzilla, and not giving him time to use his nuclear breath as he tears up his enemy.

Gigan also has the ability to fly- Thanks to his cybernetic enhancements, he can turn off his gravity, enabling him to float and fly through the sky like an eel swimming through water. Gigan still needs to have time to lift off with a running start, though.

Ultimately, Gigan is proven to be the quintessential bully, and he flees into space after getting his butt kicked brutally by Godzilla, Kong, and Anguirus in the final battle- As a bully, he’s inherently a coward. The Earth Defense Force tries to give chase, but ultimately Gigan escapes with his tail between his legs, leaving Ghidorah behind.

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theliterateape · 4 years

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The Cinema of 2019: A Literate Ape End-of-Year Review

By Don Hall and Brett Dworski

Editor’s Note:

With projects like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Watchmen, The Mandalorian, and pretty much everything produced for the CW, we are smack dab in the epicenter of the Age of Fan Fiction. The films of 2019 have some nods to this trend with Joker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Yesterday playing hard and loose with expanding the existing iconography to tell new stories.

We enjoyed a lot of movies in 2019. While not a banner year like 1968 or 1999, the year certainly had its standouts. Here is our end of the year list of the films that impacted us the most compiled by Don Hall and Brett Dworski, both film fans and people with acceptable vision and hearing.

NOTE: These are not ranked because generally, we believe the practice of ranking films is fucking stupid. However, we do rate them from 1 to 5 Apes. Enjoy.

Apollo 11

4 Apes (DH)

There really was a time when America was great. Sure, there was still segregation and violence, the war overseas, the draft, and the host of problems faced by the country but the men and women who took up Kennedy’s challenge to get a human being on the surface of the moon elevated us all. Apollo 11 is a documentary using entirely archival footage of this historic moment when mankind exceeded itself.

Honey Boy

1 Ape (BD)

The anticipated debut of writer Shia LaBeouf is choppy and disappointing. Newcomer Noah Jupe plays child actor Otis—based on LaBeouf—whose drunken father disrupts his recent success. The film’s inconsistencies stem across the plot, casting and performances. The father, played by LaBeouf, flops between abusive asshole and tender daddy by the minute; neither is compelling. Lucas Hedges, who plays Otis as a drug-abusing teenager, looks nothing like LaBeouf or Jupe. And once things get interesting, Otis forgives his pop and tells him he’s “going to make a movie about him.” Very original, Shia. The fact that Honey Boy is based on LaBeouf’s life is intriguing, but the film is ultimately a huge letdown.

Midsommar

4 Apes (DH)

Ari Astor gives us a twisted break up story wrapped in the bloody flowered crown of a horror film set in blinding sunlight. I loved Hereditary for a million reasons. I loved Midsommar for five: Florence Pugh, the bizarre mating ritual, the fucked up mushroom visuals, old people willingly plunging to their deaths, and a dude being stuffed into the skin of a recently slaughtered bear and burned alive.

Dolemite Is My Name

3 Apes (BD)

Eddie Murphy rewinds the clock to his Raw and Delirious days in this biopic of Rudy Ray Moore, a comedian and musician behind the Blaxploitation movement of the 1970s. While wildly erratic at times, it’s also an affectionate and sobering look at the hustle of show business. It took years for Murphy to ditch his affable family-man routine, but it was worth the wait: Dolemite Is My Name cements the raunchy, cocksure comic as one of the greatest talents of all time.

Yesterday

3 Apes (DH)

I wrote about this here. Loved it.

The Lighthouse

3 Apes (BD)

Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe are exhilarating in this delirious indie thriller. They play 19th century lighthouse keepers who struggle to maintain their sanity upon learning they’re stuck on an island off the coast of New England. The stunning black and white landscapes of Nova Scotia are overshadowed by Dafoe’s and Pattinson’s constant bickering, farting, masturbating, and binge drinking. The Lighthouse is bizarre, hilarious, terrifying, peculiar… and quite good. You’ll never view seagulls the same way after watching it.

Endgame

5 Apes (DH)

The culmination of nearly two dozen interconnected films all stemming from my Gen X childhood? I’ve been waiting since I read my first Avengers comic when I was ten years old for this and it did not disappoint. Packed with incredibly satisfying moments (Professor Hulk, Cap gets the Hammer, “...on your left...,” and “I... am... Iron Man”) this was the most fun three hours I could imagine that didn’t involve cheese or sex.

The Art of Self Defense

4 Apes (BD)

This deadpan and absurdist comedy highlights toxic masculinity through a ruthless karate class. Jessie Eisenberg plays Casey, a lonely, frightened accountant who enlists in the course after a mugging leaves him hospitalized. Led by a vain and puzzling instructor, the class soon absorbs Casey’s life and brainwashes him to commit barbaric acts beyond self-protection. Although clearly a blend of Fight Club and The Karate Kid, The Art of Self Defense carries an unusual rhythm that separates it from its predecessors—and displays a refreshing kind of filmmaking from newcomer Riley Streams.

Joker

4 Apes (DH)

The politics that suddenly surrounded this were nothing more than distraction. Was it a response to the humorless Woke culture? An Incel Fantasy? Who gives a fuck. It was a film that did something a lot of movies lately refuse to do—it surprised us. It also included an amazing, painful performance by Joaquin Phoenix and, like Logan before it, used the pop culture iconography of the comic book tropes and deepened them in ways that only a bold approach could.

High Life

4 Apes (BD)

Visually-stunning cinematography and a harrowing storyline carry High Life, one of the most daunting films of the year. Set in a futuristic world where death-row inmates are sent to conduct eerie experiments in outer space, High Life is as morbid as it is alluring. The movie—which was made in 2018 but not released in theaters until 2019—resembles a space version of The Shining with its isolation-leads-to-madness concept. While too edgy for some, High Life is one of the most uniquely made films in years.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

5 Apes (DH)

Tarantino’s homage to revisionist history, the plight of growing old and becoming replaceable, 1960s Hollywood, and chock full of snappy dialogue, incredible performances, and both a sense of celebration and melancholy makes this one of the best movies about movies ever made.

John Wick Chapter 3

5 Apes (DH)

With next year’s Keanu-mas when they release both John Wick 4 and the Matrix 4 movies on the same day (yes, I will participate fully) the franchise that spawned the newfound love for all things Reeves is absolutely worth noting. Full of that comic book/video game world-building, odd but sensible rituals and oaths and rules plus plenty of head-shot, bloody violence, I sat in a Las Vegas theater with a crowd and we all gasped, laughed, and applauded at the absolute action-porn that is John Wick. Yes, these films are pornography of comic book violence and Reeves is our big-dicked John Holmes.

The Painted Bird

5 Apes (BD)

Those seeking a feel good shan’t see The Painted Bird, a bloodcurdling Holocaust drama seen through the eyes of a child. Petr Kotlár gives a robust performance as a nameless boy fighting to survive the violent societal breakdown in Eastern Europe. In doing so, he experiences one nightmare after another—each worse than the former—and loses hope in human kindness along the way. The beautifully shot black-and-white landscapes are a mirage for the routine abuse the boy encounters, leaving audiences as numb to it as he is by the film’s end.

The Irishman

4 Apes (DH)

Scorsese caps a triptych of films over decades with this much slower but no less magnificent look into the Italian Mafia from the inside/out. Goodfellas is an Irish kid’s ascent and is an explosive young man’s movie. Casino is a Jewish man’s climb up in the Mob and, while still explosive, is a bit more subdued and a decidedly middle-aged man’s film. The Irishman is an old man’s view, looking back, reliving awful and magnificent moments.

Together, the three films mark a masterwork in a genius director’s canon.

Ad Astra

5 Apes (BD)

Ad Astra takes a different approach than most solar-system journeys by exploring the man behind the suit. Brad Pitt is Roy McBride, an accomplished astronaut whose dedication to space has damaged his marriage. When called upon for secret mission to Neptune, the stoic McBride finds he’s more than a government robot, and his ascent to madness results in one of Pitt’s finest performances. Supported by a wonderfully played asshole in Tommy Lee Jones, Ad Astra is as much a family drama as it is a space adventure.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

5 Apes (DH)

Sure, there were unanswered questions leftover and I really didn’t care for that kiss at the end but I loved this film from start to finish. Completing a story as massive and, in many ways, disconnected, was a tall order and I think Abrams and team did about as good a job as anyone could expect. This will be in rotation at least a couple more times in the next few weeks.

Marriage Story

5 Apes (BD)

Oscar-worthy performances from Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson drive Marriage Story, a clever, poignant narrative about divorce. Noah Baumbach’s behind-the-scenes view of the crippling situation separates it from movies alike, exploring factors beyond courtroom troubles and custody battles. Marriage Story empathetically—and even comically—shows both sides of the fight, and its effect will last far beyond the screen. Get your box of tissues ready.

Alita: Battle Angel

3 Apes (DH)

Not a Manga-Boy so the inconsistencies with the story and characters didn’t bother me. I thought this was the closest to watching a dramatic video game with some cool performances and great use of camera and technology. It was also the film I saw first as a resident of Las Vegas so that counts for something at least to me.

Parasite

5 Apes (BD)

Superbly written, shot and performed, Bong Joon-ho’s account of class discrimination in Korea is an electrifying and emotional masterpiece. What begins as a lighthearted story of two families—one rich, one destitute—spirals into shocking sequences of deception. It has every element of an instant classic: witty comedy, sexual tension, thrilling violence, social themes and a stunning finale that mirrors the horrors of reality. Calling it the best movie of 2019 isn’t enough: Parasite is one of the top films of the decade and transcends the arc of modern cinema.

#Movies of 2019 #Honey Boy #High Life #Parasite #Ad Astra #Once Upon a Time in Hollywood #Yesterday #Marriage Story #Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker #The Irishman #The Painted Bird #John Wick Chapter 3 — Parabellum #Joker #The Art of Self Defense #The Lighthouse #Dolemite Is My Name #Midsommar

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