holy hell that's a lot of inspiration (pt 1)

this is about to be a lot because I've been insanely into so many things. I'll break this up into 2 posts. First, I'll start with some shows I'm completely smitten about (as in, I watched each episode as it aired or binged it if the whole season dropped). Next, I'll do toys and books and everything else.

1. Arcane. If you haven't gotten into it, it's incredible. I can't stop telling all my non-gamer friends to watch it because it really has so little to do with League of Legends, the game. It's just about the lore, which honestly has such a compelling storyline and the lowest threshold for understanding that virtually anyone can watch it and enjoy it. I'm not a fan of Imagine Dragons so that is my ONLY dislike about the entire show. That's huge, given I am so picky about storytelling, character development, dialogue, plot twists, animation, lighting, sound, VFX... like on these marks? Arcane stole my heart. The character animation is compelling and after being desensitized by Pixar's extremely exaggerated 3D facial expressions for the last 20 movies... I could not believe the effect Arcane's character animations had on me. They were subtle, nuanced, and incredibly realistic. Nothing overly squashed or stretched like the more cartoon proportions of the more common 3D characters. Arcane's characters matched more realistic body proportions to more realistic facial animations. This was awesome in my opinion, because unlike Final Fantasy (something also 3D and with similar human-proportions) the expressions were more dialed in without going over the top. The storytelling was superb. I am obsessed with space operas, fantasy feudalism, and basically any story that portrays multiple character universes within a single universe. Popular examples include Star Wars and Game of Thrones. Arcane is more like Game of Thrones in the magic style of world building where if a nation has dragons, then every societal member is influenced by that governing power... this has always been my favorite genre because I think it's imposible to truly depict the human condition without also vividly depicting the world the character lives in. No world is unstained by politics, social-economic inequities, power struggles, and divide in ideology. Arcane shows you how each world lives and then picks a few characters from each world and shows you how they crash into each other. It's breathtaking and I cried multiple times. The art style would take me weeks to talk about. I actually already stalk 1 of the VFX artists prior to the show so when the first episode aired, I couldn't believe my eyes. Almost all the VFX in Arcane is 2D animated. Yes, it's a 3D animated show... with 2D animated effects. Think about that for a second. The smoke, fire, explosions, magic, etc... all hand cranked. I could talk about the stunning 3D but I'm gna be honest, I have no idea how they did it. I assume all the 3D texture maps were baked with the lighting per scene, but the way it looks like a literal Art Station concept art illustration is completely beyond me. I am so proud for whoever at League decided to dump their money into INVENTING A NEW STYLE OF 3D.... it's the pinacle of success to me when you make that much money and then actually invest it into research instead of I don't know, something greedy. Kudos to everyone who worked on this beast. I literally cannot wait for more.

2. Invincible. OKAY I lied I didn't watch this one when it came out back in March so I feel incredibly late for saying this but DAMN. I haven't been drawn into an American super heroes universe since The Boys (also good, but I rank Invincible higher). I have a hard time getting into super hero movies but this one has incredibly kind and good hearted realistic characters that… get into some unjust universe being universe shit. They make human errors and while I sit and wait for each character to do something malicious on purpose every single episode, they simply don’t. I think that’s awesome because you don’t need “evil” to drive a plot. There are little world building concepts in there that I absolutely love about the government and the aliens… and while it is extremely raw, it doesn’t over do it. Even it’s mention of social media isn’t cringe as hell. It’s a world that I found myself deeply invested in and characters I found myself loving despite coming into it with the MOST skepticism a viewer could have. The foreshadowing is awesome and what I thought was going to be just an action packed super hero show turned into a sci-fi psychological mystery. One of my favorite genres. Also it's like the animated Justice League had a baby with animated Batman and then made it super bloody... without making it feel unnecessarily bloody. So sick.

3. Heike Monogatari. Okay enough American stuff, this anime won my heart. I didn’t know it was going to wreck me the way it did but man. I am not into historical anime at all. This show is not for you if you have a hard time remembering names if none of the characters have colorful hair. The show is produced by Science Saru. Yes, THE animation studio run by Masaaki Yuasa and created some of my favorite anime of all time *cough* ping pong the night is short walk on girl keep your hands off eizouken devilman crybaby space dandy *cough* When I saw this label of course I told myself yeah, get into it on the first day it airs. Did I? No. Because I knew it was a Japanese period historical drama which meant a lot of Japanese feudalism and I just… love sci-fi man. After 5 weeks, I finally dove in and wow. Masaaki Yuasa does not disappoint. Visually? THE most stunning anime of this season, hands down. Gorgeous and sometimes made me think, did they animate that on 24s because that was way too smooth. It is a tear jerking story about the rise and fall of the Taira clan, AKA the Heike, an influential family during a time of peace and war. The twist is the main character, Biwa, has the ability to see the future. I really don’t want to spoil anything but there were so many times where I had to just pause and go back to just take in the visual treats. That, and I had to re-read the subtitles because it moves FAST. It’ll go from “leader of the clan is considering marrying daughter off for power” to the wedding in the next cut scene. They don’t waste a single frame in this show because SO MUCH HAPPENS. The show doesn’t hold your hand at all, it’ll just time skip and you have to take every visual/narrative cue they drop to even understand it’s now years in the future. Awesome show.

4. Fun shows I watch before I fall asleep that are relatively exciting but aren’t as captivating as the ones I listed above:

Platinum End. Basically Future Diary but by the guys who made Death Note. They don’t pull any stops and it’s raw as hell. There are a feeeeeww slow moments and the animation doesn’t have me completely gagged but the story is awesome so far. I will say, I picked this one up because the manga is incredible and LOOK AT THIS MANGA COVER... I am a die hard fan of Takeshi Obata and I swear he's the god of copic markers.

86. It’s now the second part of a long 1st season but yeah more war, more trauma, and incredible robot fight scenes. It’s beautiful and idk why but it feels kinda slept on.

Takt Op Destiny. I was so close to dropping this after like the 3rd episode because something about it being in America felt forced to me BUT I pushed through and it got a bit better. I think the music battle part is an interesting and less explored concept in anime but it’s novel at best. The story itself hasn’t done anything that made me go WHOA and it’s hard for me to connect to any of the characters. They’re a bit flat to me but Destiny is slowly growing on me. I’m honestly here for action animations and that’s about it.

Sakugan. I dropped but I’ll pick this back up. It’s not BAD but it’s a bit cliche. Father daughter duo meets Gurren Lagann underground world except Kamina and Simon had more depth. Fun and cute nonetheless.

Cowboy Bepop (live action). It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Of the anime adaptations out there, it’s actually pretty good (lol look up the dragonball ones). I think the show focuses too much on Julia and Vicious who are almost invisible in the anime. It tries too hard to fit the Netflix mold for 8 episode action thrillers when the original was more… Space Dandy-esque slice of life another day in the galaxy storytelling that hinted at their pasts. Still not bad but not great. Casting was mid except for Jet. Jet was the only character that felt real HAHA

Komi San can’t Communicate. The production value is sky high because it's a Netflix project but the pacing is… a bit slow for me. I don’t have the patience for Komi’s communication issues HAHAHA so I dropped. I honestly prefer My Senpai is So Annoying because it reminds me of ToraDora meets My Love Story and every waking moment I need a cute romcom to fulfill my needs. 

5. Old shows I’m revisiting that are worth mentioning.

Revolutionary Girl Utena. This show is a slay. I can’t believe I haven’t finished it. A lot of the tropes will feel oldschool but that’s because dude, this anime came from a time when we were DISCOVERING these tropes haha. Keeping that in mind, it’s fun and despite the age, I find myself more invested in the characters than a lot of shows from this current season.

The Itaden Deities Know Only Peace. This show is wild. They do not hold back at all. Sometimes, they high key cross lines LOL but it’s honestly fun. Haven’t had a show like this in a while that just made me guess AND laugh at the same time.

Boogiepop and Others. Incredibly tricky show. It’s split into story arcs so after watching 3 episodes, I found myself completely confused about what the hell was going on in episode 4. I’ve see the first Boogiepop Phantom (pictured because i love the 90s style) but turns out it was just an extremely loose adaptation of the hit light novel series... this is also reflected in how bad it is. It's almost unwatchable imo. This 2019 version (boogiepop and others) follows the light novel closest to the original storyline and there’s a lot of twists and turns I found myself captivated by. Overall, it’s kinda hard to follow because you’ve got a ton of characters that all… painfully don’t look that much different from each other so you’ve got to memorize a lot of names plus it isn’t action packed. It’s strictly a psychological thriller but I found myself a cult fan of it, if I may so myself. I also love the OP song. OH I will add that the original 90s version had a killer sound track. I play it almost all the time.

Mezzo Forte. I just wanted to watch this OVA again for the millionth time because a part of me really wants to emulate 2D animation of this calibur but… we’ll see. You’ve probably seen gifs or images of this on Pinterest if you’ve never seen it but it’s from 2000 and is about 3 mercenaries that fuck shit up. The character designs are superb and the stylistic choices, fight scenes, and art style.... *chefs kiss* Story is nothing special.

There’s more but lemme… do that in a end of the year anime wrap up post HAHA next post, toys and books and everything else~~