So, I had thought about writing about Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, but I’ve been lazy. I did binge watch it with a very good friend when I was in the Philippines (oh right, I need to talk about that eventually) but I’ve just been sick. The short jist of it is that I went to Japan and the Philippines in November, my first since 2018 before the COVID years, and when I came back, I went from 96°F/35°C to just about 35°F/2°C.
I’m still recovering from that cold. My voice is still raspy after having lost it for two days due to excessive coughing.
Anyways, this is my spoiler-free thoughts on Godzilla Minus One.
For my last post for this series, everything from Tales of the Gun to Crest/Banner of the Stars, all come to a point here. Calvin and Hobbes is my first real media memory. That time in our childhood where we wake up and just start remembering things. I remember waking up in my aunt’s home in Tarlac. In terms of books, I’m pretty sure I had like, children’s books and whatnot, but my earliest memory about books, television, and other forms of media was truly looking through a Calvin and Hobbes collection.
I learned how to read with Calvin and Hobbes, and you can say my sense of wonder and imagination was influenced directly by that strip. I saw most of the strip and read as many of the collections as I could. It was printed in the comics pages of my local newspaper when I came to live with my mom and dad. I can’t really explain how important it was for me, but it is. It was a comic strip that had many layers that even now as an adult, reading up on something or another, I now understood what Mr. Watterson was saying.
There’s really nothing I can add without rambling on, so I can only say this now: Thank you Bill Watterson, for creating something that proved to be the foundation of my childhood and of me.
I was also today years old when I realized he had published a new book, called The Mysteries, released a few days ago on the 10th of October.
Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars was originally my favorite ‘space opera’ sort of anime. It has since been overtaken by yesterday’s entry, but still solidly up in my top ten of anime I would love to watch. There is something about Jinto and Lafiel’s story that I find endearing. Maybe I’m just a sucker for friends turning into lovers.
The series revolves around Jinto (Abh: Linn ssynec Rocr Ïarlucec Dreuc Haïder Ghintec), the Count of the Hyde system and one of the great nobles of the Humankind Empire of Abh; and Lafiel (Abh: Ablïarsec néïc Dubreuscr Bœrh Parhynr Lamhirh), princess of the Humankind Empire of Abh, granddaughter of the current Empress Ramaj and in the line of succession. Jinto and Lafiel share a very close relationship, stemming from Jinto’s lacking understanding of the who’s who of Imperials and treating Lafiel as just another person rather than the princess she is in their first meeting.
The story itself is a budding romance set within a massive universe-spanning war between the aforementioned Humankind Empire of Abh, and the ‘Four Nations Alliance’, the four other major powers of known space. The often thought of but never truly asked or explored question being, how would Lafiel deal with the fact that as a Lander, Jinto has a shorter lifespan than she does. I think it’s answered in (spoilers) the end of the last series (the light novel and manga continues).
“I will become his world, and make him my world.”
– Lafiel
I will admit, I spent about an hour writing and rewriting a condensation of the plot before I gave up. Unlike yesterday, where Legend of the Galactic Heroes would be one of the anime to help support my own political leanings, I have very fond memories of Crest/Banner of the Stars but nothing as profound to add. It’s one of my first manga I ever bought with what I consider my own money, and honestly I should go and find the DVDs.
I should also buy a portable DVD player or get a DVD/BluRay drive again.
In the process of doing some proofreading on this post, I shared it with my good friend who I met long ago. Actually in a small little enthusiast website for this show when I was curious to know more about the anime and setting. Now I’m not the best at knowing my anime voice actors, but I was told “they got expensive”. Lafiel was voiced by Ayako Kawasumi, who voiced Saber in Fate/Stay Night.
Basically this was the Discord conversation:
“And now sad”
“because we’ll never get the rest animated”
-oh?-
“Uh… Lafiel’s VA now costs more than their entire budget”
“Basically SnS2 and 3 did “ok” but not spectacular, and then Lafiel’s VA got some small role. Like… Saber from Fate/Stay Night.”
“…And now she’s 1 of the most expensive VAs in the industry”
“Ekuryua is voiced by Signum”
“Also Dunsanyu’s VA died of old age”
“Spoor’s VA is the main girl in the new Lupin movie, etc.”
“The Alliance perished precisely because such men were kept below mid-level ranks. Don’t punish them. For the time being, appoint obedient ones only to operate internal affairs.”
“If I were to liken them to the effluvium of sewage, then that old man who died at Marr-Adetta was the pure water of the mountains. A Phoenix revives from within the ashes. From half-burned ground, revival cannot be gained. That old man knew it. I will execute them and make them apologize to the old man in Valhalla.”
– Kaiser Reinhard von Lohengram, “The Edict of the Winter Rose Garden”, Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA
I know it is foolish to form political ideas from media. There is ample evidence just browsing my Twitter/X timeline of examples of someone taking one thing and going for the end zone with it. Even for fans of the show, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the more politically online will just take one thing and run with it. Typically on idolizing Reinhard who took the reigns of power and conquered the galaxy. I think that is a very shallow understanding of a show that I praise not only for its writing, but also for its world building, story telling, and its core cast of characters.
“The people have democratic principles on their lips but cannot spare the effort to safeguard it! The collapse of an autocracy is the sin of its rulers and leaders. But the collapse of a democracy is the sin of every citizen!”
– Admiral Alexander Bewcock, “Sudden Change”, Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA
I have waxed long and poetic about the show, especially when I compared it to it’s visually updated reimagining. Rather than give me a cause du jour that I pick up and drop like a perpetually online, politics addled Twitter/X user; I say the show has sharpened and defined what I already believed in.
I believe that it is the job of the rulers to govern wisely, and for the people to elect its representatives for the good of the nation. To do so without care for the future, without careful stewardship, can only lead to ruin.
I am a fan of democracy, particularly the republican form of democracy. Direct democracy to me is a tad foolish and senseless, beholden to mob rule. And even then, republican democracy is susceptible to corruption. Some may say my own beloved adopted nation, the United States of America, is a fallen democracy. Tensions between political parties, and groups of citizens with different views, are high. Some may even say we are at the precipice of the future of this nation. Which view of a future America depends on what view he or she holds. Truly a trying time for us all.
And that leads me back to why I chose those three quotes, two from Kaiser Reinhard from the end of the series, and from Admiral Bewcock at the half-way point.
There are idealists and noble people in the Free Planets Alliance. They were people in the government who did their jobs dutifully even in the face of the enlightened despotism that had defeated their nation. It was with the military officers and soldiers who upheld not just the last battles of a dying nation. But also those who followed Admiral Yang Wen-li’s decision to follow the chain of command and surrender in the conclusion of the first Imperial-FPA war. And also carried out their little rebel fleet that would be the seed of democracy in the burned land.
If I were to take away anything from the OVA series and how it stuck with me throughout my life, it’s in those three quotes. The first was amazement that the ones upholding republican ideals were kept low and away from positions of power. The second is that those in power will do anything to stay in power. And the third is that it is up to the citizenry to maintain democracy lest it fall into despotism.
If that’s all I gather from the show as a whole, be it the OVA or reimagined series, I can certainly drink to that.
Okay, the other important lesson from Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
Stargate SG-1 is likely one of my last anticipated live action shows I watched on American television. Expanding from the 1994 feature film, it follows the titular team of explorers as Earth explores the Stargate network and come into conflict with the remaining system lords of the Goa’uld. In time the Goa’uld is defeated, but many new enemies have arrived to take their place such as the Replicators, Ori, etc.. A spin off series called Stargate: Atlantis is about the eponymous city set in the nearby Pegasus galaxy and their conflict with the alien bloodsuckers called the Wraith. And last with Stargate: Universe, a short-lived series that explores the universe aboard an automated Ancient starship called ‘Destiny’.
As a kid, watching most of the early Goa’uld and Anubis arc Stargate was always a treat, and I enjoyed the growth of the original Stargate team to a close-knit family. That and of course I was always amused that the Goa’uld were damn near comedic in their tactics.
Speaking of, one can’t forget the gun most closely associated with Stargate and the promise of the future, today. The FN P90. In a scene many fans love to point out, it is a weapon of war meant to kill your enemies, not intimidate em.
A short one today. I remember Haruhi mostly because it was the first anime I watched with friends. Like, in high school and online. And again one of the things that made me realize just how diverse anime can be. That and I enjoyed the episode where they fought against the Computer club and won only because Yuki Nagato discovered them cheating. That and we were all Kyon at one point, and Haruhi as well.
I remember it fondly just for the innocence of that time, before everything happened. One day I was chatting and talking with people. The next, my back hurts, I have some TMJ pain, and I’m turning 35 in about 6 days.
Sometimes I yearn for a return to that time, and that’s what Haruhi represents. That small snapshot in time where my most important thing was remembering to pack the right binders for the next day’s classes and not the other day’s.
Gunslinger Girl was my introduction to an interesting aspect of anime, and that is the level of detail in firearms. Whereas we get gun shaped firearms in most western animation and cartoons, Japanese Anime was rife with shows that realistically portray firearms. It was around this time too that shows like Noir and Madlax were also airing, but I caught those later in life.
There’s no denying I’m a bit of a gun nut, and watching Gunslinger Girl and being all impressively detailed firearms just clicked in me. And then we come to one of my earlier anime crushes. Like yeah, as a kid I had liked Sailor Mercury and Jupiter (gasp). But as I grew older I sorta only gravitated to a few characters. Like Kiddy Phenil from Silent Möbius and Mana Tatsumiya from Mahou Sensei Negima!
I might have a thing for dark skinned gunslingers who can beat the crap outta me.
What caught my eye when I first saw the series in like, a late night run or something on the Independent Film Channel (my parents bought the nicer packages because it contained The Filipino Channel at the time), was that marvelous opening and this damn handsome girl in a suit and trenchcoat. Looking around the ‘net I realized she used the M1897 Trench Gun. Okay, sold, according to my teenaged brain.
Treila from the Girls’ Frontline x Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino- crossover, drawn by duoyuanjun
I did eventually buy the first DVD set and some of the manga. It’s actually one of my first items of anime merch, manga, or DVDs I got. Some birthday money and Best Buy gift cards for the DVD set, and same with the manga, but with Borders Book Store gift cards. Oh right, same for the wall scroll. The wall scroll was also my first one too.
Anyways, Gunslinger Girl had an impact on me not only because of a teenage crush on…yet another dark skinned kinda tsundere waifu (Kiddy Phenil, Mana Tatsumiya, then Treila). But also because it was one of those ‘serious’ anime shows that seemed to be leagues ahead of what Toonami at the time was offering. It became another show on another channel to keep an eye out on and try to catch when it aired (normally done at late night and stuff before infomercials).
Watching with the volume down because any louder my parents would wake and the graphic content possibly setting off my parents. It was seeing these girls, broken and used by their handlers as deniable assets by the Italian government that carried the show outside a teenage infatuation of a well dressed lady with a shotgun.
Okay also add the fact that it wasn’t screaming at your opponent for twenty seasons and fight for two seconds.
Okay I swear I’ll only make fun of Dragon Ball Z…maybe a few more times in this Birthday Countdown series.
The ending wasn’t bad either. We don’t really talk about Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-.
Top Gear for many people refers to the rebooted show that started in 2002 featuring the iconic trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. Also joining in would be The Stig, the show’s ‘tame racing driver’ and his/her/it’s numerous cousins like ‘Big Stig’ and ‘Attack Stig’. In series one, a man named Jason Dawe filled in as the third presenter before being replaced by James May.
I was first made aware of Top Gear from someone showing me the machinima that recreated their Range Rover Sport vs Challenger II in Battlefield 2. I enjoyed it and had a laugh. And then little by little I saw clips of the show here and there. Some I only saw once or twice on YouTube back in its wild west days. Then later in college I finally saw the show in full watching the segment asking ‘Did the communists make a good car?‘ (Series 12, ep 8) as well as the Ford Fiesta ‘road test’. In time I went back and watched all the old series through a variety of means, and even saw the American attempt at the show.
But as many would say, the main draw has always been the dynamic between the hosts. The loud and brash Jeremy Clarkson, the skittish and excitable Richard Hammond, and the pedantic and level-headed James May. In the time they all worked together, there forged a bond that was inseparable. It was a bunch of guys who are knowledgeable about cars but that seemed to take a back seat to their hi-jinks. I enjoyed their banter and interplay over the years, even when in later series it seemed the scripts were more forced and some skits, while technically amazing, were not as well done.
But that is neither here or there. I won’t go through my feelings about Jeremy’s various controversies. Most I thought was the BBC getting their panties in a wad over the complaints of busybodies. I’ve since made peace with his actions towards the producer, and it seems telling that James and Richard followed Jeremy out of the BBC to their own ventures with Amazon.
There have been others who have waxed long and poetic about the impact the trio has had on their lives. For me, they made being a car enthusiast fun, and often provided a nice form of escapism in getting to drive in vehicles I can only dream about. Its why I consider it an impact on my life.
And of course, their various adventures around the world in cars I could only dream of, or in cars proving their worth in the wilderness of the world, really scratched that wanderlust as badly as Kino no Tabi has.
And it’s been a thing of mine to watch the Vietnam Special always on my birthday.
EDIT (2034 US Eastern, 10/6/2023): I want to say this scheduled post seemed a bit prophetic, I think? I know some people might say I wrote this to latch on to the news but I swear this was planned.
What news you ask? Well the news that broke earlier this evening that the BBC has reportedly cancelled the show following a horrific crash involving one of the current hosts last year. As of the time of this post’s writing, the BBC has not officially said they’ve cancelled the long running motoring program but a source close to the production team and executives have told the UK newspaper The Sun that it was over for the show.
In light of this new development, and how I and a few other fans considered the show dead years ago, I’d like to thank the trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May for the laughter, amusement, and memories.
The story is this man’s adventure in search of a hidden truth, and it would be no adventure if it did not happen to a man fit for adventure. If there were enough like him, the world would be a very safe place to live in, without becoming too dull to be worth living in.
–The Simple Act of Murder by Raymond Chandler
Hard Magic is the first book of what I consider the ‘best’ setting author Larry Correia has written. Set in an alternate 1930s where magic is known and relatively commonplace, it is a pulp-era detective novel that I found is better played out in audiobook form. Bronson Pinchot does pretty well though the best recitation of his in the audiobook would actually be in the third book of the series, Warbound, reciting the excerpt of The Simple Act of Murder by Raymond Chandler.
Like with most things Larry Correia writes, it’s lively and filled with action. The characters, including many of the antagonists, were relatable in a sense. I also enjoyed the stand alone stories like Detroit Christmas, Murder on the Orient Elite, and Tokyo Raider. I list only Hard Magic here instead of calling it ‘The Grimnoir Chronicles‘ or just listing Larry Correia (I very much enjoy his epic fantasy work Son of the Black Sword series) because for me, before the scope increased and more and more of the magic was explained, Hard Magic was ‘just right’.
Featuring an Imperial Japan that made the one in the real world seem like a piker, hell bent on a magicals-only sort of supremacy, the fight between the Imperium and the Grimnoir Knights was an interesting interplay between a superpower that has fingers in everyone’s pie and a plucky underground group resisting their plans for world domination. Then comes in former convicted murderer and hero of the Great War, Jake Sullivan; and Sally Faye Vierra an Okie Traveller. Facing off against Jake and Sally with their newfound allies would be Jake’s brother Madi, who sought power beyond all else and joined the Imperium as part of their Iron Guard; and the immortal wizard Okubo Tokugawa, Chairman of the Imperium and the power behind the Japanese Emperor.
I’ll be honest, the best part of the book was realizing that John Moses Browning, the most prolific firearms inventor in American history and quite possibly the world, had survived his death in 1921. But was also an active (the more polite way to say one with magic powers) and gifts Jake with a bullpup BAR and a 1911 fitted for people with his power (gravity spiker/heavies). Considering the size of a BAR, just imagining it as a bullpup was enough to make me swoon. If there’s one thing that Larry Correia writes, is that he gets guns. His work is filled with gun porn. The Grimnoir Chronicles not so much, and not in the Sons of the Black Swords (as far as I know so far), but there is pure radiated kinesthetic joy when you read or listen to Bronson Pinchot’s description of firearms when Larry writes it.
For that reason, I put Hard Magic here because it was the first of a series I enjoy the most and where I felt that Larry Correia has hit his stride as a writer.
Porco Rosso remains my favorite Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki film. Set in a romanticized Italy, it is about a bounty hunter named Porco, real name Marco, an Italian WWI flying ace who had been cursed to have a pig’s head after a sortie against Austro-Hungarian fighters. The film follows his exploits in during the ongoing depression and increasingly tight government controls. The movie puts on an air of whimsy and wonder in what should be a time of uncertainty and strife in inter-war Italy.
I love it because of that. A modern age adventure film that seems to focus more on the novelty of flight and romanticism of the setting than anything else. Others have pointed out that this is a critique of Japan during the bubble period of the 1980s. I can see it especially in the opening and ending chapters. Where there are rich and well to do men and women everywhere as opposed to the poor and downtrodden people in this time period.
I can see all that and look deeper, but in the end Porco Rosso to me is just a masterpiece by Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki. The film has since gained my appreciation and love, more so than My Neighbor Totoro (my first Ghibli film) and Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away (critically acclaimed films).
A Journey Through Life 