#that sub design was so cool though shoutouts to the sub designer | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

saffronapplemanga · 1 year

Text

Recent Read Manga Recommendation Round Up (plus anime!) - Part 3

Manga/anime I’ve been enjoying recently! Links to part 1 and part 2.

Twitter link to this post here.

~Links to my other manga posts~ My personal favs/ones I super enjoyed will have a ✨ on them :)

PLEASE LOOK UP ANY TRIGGER WARNINGS!

CRIME, ACTION, DRAMA

✨GANGSTA. by Kohske

(8 volumes + chapters released past vol.8, hiatus)

Available in English

Please check out my dedicated post I linked for this series. I worked super hard on it!

If you take one recommendation from this list, let it be GANGSTA. I’m begging… This series is going in my all-time favs. I have a whole “Why You Should Check GANGSTA. Out” section in my dedicated post, so definitely take a look at that! But in short: Do you enjoy great character writing? A diverse, adult cast featuring different races and disability rep (deaf MC)? A gritty setting? A FOUND FAMILY OF DORKS?

I'm obsessed and I'm making it my mission to take as many of you down with me as possible...

TIME TRAVEL, SUPERNATURAL

Link Click directed by Li Haoling

(24 Episodes - Season 2 Coming Soon)

Link Click is a donghua from Studio LAN and streamed on Bilibili — the Chinese streaming service that I do some subs for, if you're unfamiliar with them — as well as Funimation. I enjoyed the art, animation, and atmosphere. The premise is that two guys working at a print shop time travel through photos to help their clients. And who doesn't love a trio of kids with a big-hearted jokester, the quiet, mature one, and a feisty girl who reins them in? I think this is my first donghua and I enjoyed it!

Plus, the opening and ending themes are pretty slick ->

youtube

Season 1 Opening Theme - Adding it to the playlist.

MECH, POLITICAL, SCHOOL

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury by Yatate Hajime

(12 Episodes + Prologue - Season 2 currently airing)

Let me tell you about me and Gundam.

I used to work at a translation company in Tokyo where I translated some Gundam figure commercials/interviews (which are currently privated on Youtube, unfortunately) amongst other things. I'm telling you guys, every time I walked into the office and saw an email from Bandai/TAMASHII NATIONS with a new Gundam translation request in my inbox, I would cry a lot little inside. I had never watched anything Gundam and didn't know what the heck was going on in the stuff I had to translate. There was this one interview with a figure designer where I was like, "Oh, you have to be a Gundam fan to understand what the heck he's talking about..." I remember me, another translator, and our editor staring at our screens exasperated. We managed, though. Big shoutout to the Gundam Wiki — not that I understood anything from it LOL.

If you told me back then that I would enjoy a Gundam thing, I would've laughed — but here I am, enjoying a Gundam thing. I'm not into mechs, even though I think robots/robot-adjacent stuff + space are cool. Still, I could never get into mechs for some reason. So if you're like me, try The Witch from Mercury. Our MCs are these two girls who end up engaged to each other in a rather hilarious way imo, with a colorful cast of supporting characters. The political themes I hear Gundam is known for really hooked me, and I LOVE how the kids handle a situation they end up in. I won't say more so as not to spoil it, but I think this is a great entry point for Gundam newbies!

youtube

Season 1 Opening Theme - Am I turning into a Gundam fan? Wild. Who would've thought the day would come? What if I start getting into Gunpla? A slippery slope, really.

SLICE OF LIFE, SCHOOL

✨Skip and Loafer by Takamatsu Misaki

(8 volumes, ongoing) + Season 1 Anime

Available in English

I remember seeing volume one of this series at the bookstore I frequented in Ikebukuro Station when it had just come out. Sooooo many times, I almost picked it up over the years. But I always passed because I was swamped with work, school, and current reads.

Now, I have a little more time on my hands, and the new anime adaptation has so much love put into it! A great coming-of-age story following young Mitsumi as she moves to the big city for school. This series is so wholesome, it's cavity-inducing.

youtube

This opening is the most delightful thing~

SLICE OF LIFE

Hotel Metsäpeuraan e Youkoso by Fukuta Seira

(2 volumes, ongoing)

JP only

In the mountains of Finland is a hotel run by two men. One day they see a young man outside in a snowstorm, and bring him inside. The men can tell that teenager Jun seems to have a heavy past and offer him a job and place to stay at the hotel.

Super cute, wholesome, and has great found family vibes!

SLICE OF LIFE, FOOD

Samenai Machi no Kisaten by Hasha

(2 volumes, complete)

JP only

A chill read with a touch of melancholy. At the end of each chapter is a recipe! The art is very cute and pleasing.

DYSTOPIAN, SCI-FI

✨Fool Night by Yasuda Kasumi

(6 volumes, ongoing)

JP only

In the future, the sky is blacked out, not allowing any sun through. To survive, technology has been developed to turn people into plants. I'm in love with the art and atmosphere of this series. I can't wait to read more!

ROMANCE

Gakusou by Tsurimaki Nodoka

(oneshot)

JP only

This is a super short one-chapter oneshot. Cute little read with lovely art! By the same author as 聖血の海獣/Seiketsu no Kemono, a 3-volume manga I've been meaning to read.

LGBTQ+, DRAMA, COMEDY

To Strip The Flesh by Tooda Oto

(oneshot/anthology)

Available in English

An anthology that has some funny stories, and some that made me feel too seen...

DYSTOPIAN, SCI-FI, CRIME, ACTION, POLITICAL

✨PSYCHO-PASS by Urobuchi Gen

Check anilist for all content because the seasons, movies, manga, light novels, and watch order are a little all over the place.

The Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami manga is available in English from publisher Dark Horse.

Set in the future, Japan has implemented a surveillance state that measures people's psyche and flags anyone with the potential to do crime, even if they have not done anything or will never have done anything.

I watched season one back when it first came out in 2012. Since then, I would see ads for new content at the train stations in Japan and thought I’d catch up. There’s a new movie, PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE, releasing May 12, 2023.

I've been having a lot of dumb, edgy fun with this series and its on-the-nose political themes. It's kinda camp-y? I do wish it spent more time on character moments, though.

I love me a trio (which seems to be a theme in this round-up lol) and this series has a good trio! Akane is such a great character, and Shinya and MY BOY GINOZA NOBUCHIKA!!! have been thoroughly entertaining me.

I love him. I wanna bully him and stuff him into a locker...

69 notes · View notes

bohdiemakesmusic · 10 months

Text

FIRST BEHIND THE SCENES WIP THING

ALRIGHT so i've been talking big talk about doing BTS and WIP shit, so here the fuck we go!!! Trying out a little fun piece in a major key since I'm a sad bitch and all I ever write seems to be in either a microtonal key I can't identify or a variation of C minor, D minor, A minor, a lydian mode, or a random pentatonic scale walk-around. This one's in 'ol basic something major. I dunno I didn't do no fuckin' fancy music theory classes.

BOOM THERE'S THE SHEET FOR THE LEAD MELODY FOR YOU NERDS WHO UNDERSTAND THIS SHIT

and for you COOL SEXY PEOPLE who don't care about music theory here's the piano roll

so true.

anyway, you may be asking yourself: "BUT BOHDIE, WHAT KEY IS THE SONG IN? WHAT TEMPO? HOW'D YOU WRITE THE MELODY???" and to that I say, this is you:

but sure, i'll humour you:

i don't know

120 BPM or something

with my mind

TIME TO MAKE THE DRUMS

wait i hate programming drum machines. and using a sampler sounds fucking boring right now too... "just stack bunch of built-in-daw loops ur not gonna release this anyway" say my demons....

today my demons win.

SO THE DRUMS ARE DONE :)

i've never been fucking good at making drums so if I can get something that sounds halfway fucking coherent then I'll go with it. Y'know what I AM good at though????

sound design

SO OUT COMES DIGITALIS AS USUAL BECAUSE NOTHING ELSE GETS THAT CRUNCHY DIGITAL SOUND LIKE THOSE ABBERANT DSP BOYS (shoutout btw I genuinely love digitalis and I also use Sketch Cassette far more than I should for that saturation and wobble)

HOW DOES BOHDIE SOUND DESIGN?

I'm gonna make a whole series of posts dedicated to just sound design at some point because BOY do I love just Fucking around with knobs and dials and buttons and claiming I have a profession. Shaping a sound into something I want it to be is kinda easy for me personally. How it usually goes is something like

Take a sound that is a good basis for the end product. Doesn't have to sound even anything like it, it could just have some of the elements you want. EG for this track I needed something organic and familiar sounding to start off with, as the end result I wanted to get was something familiar, yet warped and destroyed

Determine what you want to turn the sound into. Ideally this comes before even step one, but we'll ignore that

(here's the fun bit) GO FUCKING NUTS WITH PLUGINS. if you have outboard stuff that can achieve the same result, though, USE THAT. I just bought two (2) tape players/recorders on the cheap (more about what I'm using those for in another post one day)

TO CONCLUDE

Rounding out my insane ramblings on this post, I'm gonna mention the instrumentation, plugins, and other miscellaneous stuff in case you're interested: Mainly used Baby Audio's BA-01 synth, that goes for the bass tracks, pad and melody (although not the sub bass I used a built-in 808 for that) Plugins, as mentioned, a lot of Digitalis for digitising the cool organic, not-quite-there voices, as well as Deelay for the delay, RC-20 to add some flutter and noise, and a built in EQ and compression for light initial mixing. Boring stuff tbh :(

Also here's the bass that I forgot to squeeze in Elsewhere

TUNE IN NEXT TIME WHERE I LOSE MY FUCKING MIND EVEN FURTHER

#would you believe that this is my fucking job?#idm music #producer #shitpost #music #synthwave #lofi #music shitposting #abberant dsp are fucking goated seriously #wip #music wip #behind the scenes

2 notes · View notes

beneaththetangles · 3 years

Text

Review: Aria the Animation (Blu-Ray)

The year is 2301 A.D. If you’re a Klingon, it’s a great year for a nice, sweet, warm Bloodwine. However, if you’re 15-year-old Akari Mizunashi, it’s a great year to make a major life-changing move to make your dreams come true. To each their own, really. Our salmon-haired girl is on her way from Manhome (Earth) to the terraformed planet Aqua (formerly Mars) to live out her dream of being a gondolier, also known as an Undine, for the water guiding Aria Company located in Neo-Venezia, a recreation of the actual city on Manhome. Under the tutelage of her manager Alicia, company president Aria, and fellow journeymen Aika and Alice, Akari learns about the many wonders of Neo-Venezia while honing her skills to become a top-tier Prima undine, while sharing her knowledge and love with the visitors of the fair city on the water.

I think we can all say that the year 2020 has been, to quote Queen Elizabeth II, a “annus horribilis,” or “horrible year.” (And considering that Her Majesty is 94 years young, she would be the expert). However, if there’s one thing that has gotten me through this “annus horribilis,” it’s finding happiness wherever and however I can. And honestly, I feel that a prodigious source of happiness can be found in this 13-episode Blu-Ray set. Aria The Animation is a beautiful introduction to a world where time just seems to slow down, people are happy and cheerful as they go about their day to day lives, the air is filled with glorious smells of baking bread and briny seas, the loudest sound you’ll probably hear is the chime of the bell tower on the hour or rambunctious laughing kids, and the daily trip to the market is always peppered with greetings from the locals who are genuinely concerned about your well-being. The world of the Aria series is one that is much better than ours but populated by people that are, for the most part, the same as you and me. We all know someone that is happy-go-lucky like Akari, or someone who is shy yet snarky like Alice, or someone who is headstrong and a little bossy like Aika. These characters are just so perfectly written, and watching their evolution throughout the series is nothing short of amazing.

When it comes to the main trinity of shows, which consists (currently) of Aria the Animation, Aria the Natural and Aria the Origination, Aria the Animation acts as a 13-episode character establishing piece; that is, the show focuses more on telling us who these characters are that we will come to know and love for 55 episodes (and counting). Animation doesn’t focus too much on the world of Neo-Venezia outside of the this series; heck, only until one of the later episodes do we find out the history of Aqua, and only then it’s done in a weird sort of “time-travel but not really” way (It’s clunky, but it does the job). Aria the Natural (which we’ll touch on later) focuses more on the world of Neo-Venezia and the people outside of the circle with whom our main crew share their lives. Aria the Origination (which we’ll touch on—say it with me—LATER) brings it all together, acting as a “finale” for the entire series, but honestly, considering the nature of the overall show, Origination doesn’t really feel like a “Goodbye.” It’s more like a “Sorry you have to go, but we’ll be here when you get back.”

The music of Aria the Animation is a feast for the ears. From the OP “Undine” as performed by Yui Makino to the ED “Rainbow” by Round Table feat. nino, the music in this show act just as the waterways in Neo-Venezia; connecting the entire city together while remaining a natural fixture of the surroundings. It’s there but it’s never omnipresent. There are moments when the only sound is the gentle lapping of the water, the clunking of the oars, or the seagulls flying overhead. Granted, there are times when certain instrumental pieces are reused, but honestly, the music is so relaxing, you don’t mind it. At least, I didn’t, for what it’s worth. Also, I have to give a shoutout to the late Eri Kawai who played the singing voice for Orange Planet Prima Undine Athena Glory. Her voice is downright amazing in this, sounding otherworldly beautiful, if that makes any sense.

Ironically, if there’s anything I have to dock Aria the Animation for, it’s…well…the animation. Don’t get me wrong, the Aria series is GORGEOUS, animated with the kind of love and attention to detail that this series so richly deserves. Though it should be said that, when compared to the other series, which admittedly were created a couple years apart from each other, Animation doesn’t quite look as good. Some of the character designs look a little off, as compared to the rest of the series. Sadly, the change from DVD to Blu-Ray didn’t do the show any favors as the original show was in 4:3 format, and all subsequent Blu-Rays are in 16:9. But aside from that, Animation looks stunning. The level of detail to small things like the subtle decay of the buildings and the glistening oars as they rise from the water looks as though they were animated with such loving care, and that translates well over to the Blu-Ray.

Speaking of the Blu-Ray set, there’s a lot to love here. Typically I don’t double-dip when it comes to buying anime. I’m one-and-done purchaser with VERY FEW exceptions. Aria is one of those exceptions. While I already owned the original DVD thin-pack set, I knew that I had to invest in the Blu-Ray when it came out. Though I did have some concerns that they wouldn’t bring over the extras from the DVDs to the Blu-Rays. Thankfully, all the extras from the original DVD Box set follow over to the new Blu-Ray release, including interviews with the Japanese seiyuu for Akari, Aika and Alice, and the amusing and informative mini-documentary, “Sato-Jun’s Venice. I’m Sorry!” (Sato-Jun being the director’s nickname) where the director and several production staff go to Venice to scout locations used in the series and take reference pictures. In addition to the original DVD extras, we also get a commentary track with the English VAs and ADR Director, which is always a joy to listen to and should be done more.

While on the subject of English dub, it should be noted that thanks to a very successful Kickstarter fundraiser (their initial target goal was $110,000; the final total was $595,676–that’s what we like to call “making bank” boys and girls), the entirety of the Aria franchise was not only given a Blu-Ray treatment, it was also given an English dub for the very first time. For years after I purchased my DVD sets, I was cool with the idea that Aria might never get an English dub. I was under the belief that maybe there wouldn’t be enough interest in the series to warrant it getting a dub. I mean, who goes back and dubs a show long after the original sub-only release has been put out there for the masses? That’s just silly, right? Shows how much I know. Admittedly, it was jarring to hear these characters speak English after going so many years hearing these characters in Japanese. It took a bit of adjustment for me, especially when it comes to Akari, as the Japanese voice actress sounds noticeably different from the English actress, but after a couple episodes, I not only got used to it, I grew to love the dub as being yet another beautiful entry in the sweeping history of Aria, especially when you consider that this was fan-funded. Yes, there are a few little rough spots in the beginning, but as the show goes on, and in the subsequent series, the actresses play the characters like they’ve played them for years. There was love put in this project, boys and girls, and it shows.

As I write this review, COVID-19 is still running amuck through the country with little signs of stopping, the Election is still bringing LOADS of drama, and that stupid Chevrolet “I Love It” Commercial is playing on my TV during halftime of the 49ers/Saints Game. But I know that if I go to my shelf, pull out my Blu-Ray copy of Aria the Animation, and pop it in my player, I’m gonna leave this “annus horribilis” behind and get pleasantly lost in the canals of Neo Venezia with a salmon-haired journeyman and her friends training to be the very best like no one ever was (and if you thought I wasn’t going to make that joke, you REALLY don’t know me). Aria the Animation serves as a gentle and pleasant “Buon Giorno” to the world of Aria, a place of sunshine and miracles that is much needed in this time of darkness–

Oh, well, crap. Sorry, Aika. Lets run the scores:

Final Score:

Story & Premise – 24 out of 25 Characters – 25 out of 25 Animation & Music -24 out of 25 Performances – 25 out of 25

Score: 98/100 – “A”

=====

Aria the Animation can be purchased from Right Stuf and can be streamed (sub only) on Crunchyroll.

#Anime #Reviews #Anime Reviews #ARIA the ANIMATION #Articles #Author: The Cajun Samurai

4 notes · View notes

jacereviews · 5 years

Text

Review: Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

Television (Anime) Consumed in: English Sub Note: This review covers only the 50 episodes of TV Zeta, not A New Translation. For the sake of discussion I will have to cover the plot of Gundam 0079.

March 2nd, 1985 the second series of Gundam made its debut, Zeta Gundam. While the 0079 movies may have put Gundam on the map, it’s Zeta you still hear people discussing to this day. Revered by many as a classic, and one of the best mecha anime of the 80s, Zeta’s a big name, but does it hold up to it? Let’s rock.

PLOT: Universal Century 0087, the One-Year War between the Earth Federation and Zeon is long over, however peace is not to be had. In response to the remnants of Zeon, the federation has created a police-like military organization called the Titans to control Zeon and other spacenoid groups to prevent them from uprising and resisting the Federation’s control. To do this the Titans have been given borderline free reign to do whatever they see fit to do their job, no matter how atrocious it may be. In response to the unchecked reign of the titans, a resistance group called the Anti-Earth Union Group (or simply AEUG) has risen up to fight back. During an AEUG mission led the mysterious blonde pilot who always covers his eyes and his past named Quattro Bajeena to the colony Green Noa, a young man called Kamille Bidan steals a prototype Gundam Mk. II belonging to the Titans. The two cross paths and Kamille ultimately ends up joining Quattro on the Argama as it sails out to fight the Titans. From the get-go we have a story both similar and dissimilar to the prior series. Once again we have a young man piloting a Gundam on a white ship as it battles enemies, but instead of being a traditional soldier, we’re now following a rebellion. It takes awhile for the plot to get truly moving, but when it goes it goes. The Titans are a hateable cast of villains, unlike the Zeon of the first series the Titans are mostly irredeemable. The Titan cast is likeable at best and cartoonishly evil at worst. There was never a Ramba Ral style villain where it felt like that without the war they’d be our friend. As it goes on the plot gets more and more interesting with webs of betrayals, cyber-newtypes, and even the remnants of Zeon. Especially of note is the ending of Zeta, which without going into detail, is both narratively satisfying, thematically resonant, and quite shocking for a series aimed at young audiences. Very few series have an ending that really make me sit back and consider it like Zeta’s and that’s a good thing for Zeta. However the story is not without its flaws. The first 10 episodes can be kind of a drag, and the once again episodic format can lead to some weak and borderline filler episodes. I feel the series could’ve shaved off 10 episodes and be better for it. The biggest problem I had with Zeta however, is the amount of things that happen off-screen and details the series feels like it doesn’t need to give to the audience. Many a times I found myself confused or questioning stuff and just had to concluding that some change happened off-screen. Characters swap ships on both sides with little notice, and operations fly by with people hardly mentioning it. It made the whole experience way less cohesive. The series also had a few cases of trying to emulate the original series for no good reason, such as bringing kids on board the Argama half-way through. It made sense for the White Base to have kids but the Argama really didn’t need them and it just felt like poor decision making. However by the end I felt that the pluses far outshine the negatives and ultimately lead to this series being one hell of a ride.

8/10, it’s good, messy, but good. Ending earns a whole point on its own.

CHARACTERS: Let’s start with Kamille Bidan himself. Kamille starts off as an obnoxious brat, a lot of my early enjoyment was seeing people beat the shit out of him, but he honestly grew on me, and by the end he’d gone through quite the character arc. He’s a good mc, but takes a damn long time to become that. Luckily he’s not alone. Let’s discuss the overly familiar looking Quattro Bajeena, doesn’t that scar look familiar? Might he be the Red Comet of Zeon? No he can’t be... But he is definitely a highlight of the series. The audience is invested in him from the get-go, and throughout the series we see him mentoring Kamille and doing some amazing stuff in his own right. He’s only human and has his flaws too, but whatever flaws they may be are something you forget when you see his speech during the Day of Dakar. Zeta’s also notable (by the audience and Kamille) for its sizeable female cast. Emma, Reccoa, and Fa Yuriy are all notable female characters put in powerful roles. Even if Reccoa’s later arc may inspire some ire from viewers they’re all great characters with their own interesting arcs. Another thing I’ve got to give Zeta a lot of credit is for how it used the returning characters from the first series. My boy Bright Noa shows up in episode 1, and many of the White Base members make some kind of reappearance (not really a spoiler because it’s in the opening). We get to see how they’ve lived their lives since the events of 0079, and they have many interesting scenes without it ever feeling like the series is too dependent on them (save for Bright). The problem I had with Zeta characters, is a lot of them act out and act irrationally. Now this isn’t necessarily bad character writing, but when someone acts out and takes a mech, does something stupid with it, and the next day is piloting a mech again it raises a few eyebrows. It can also get obnoxious with how many characters are being overly emotional twats, but I never found any of the Argama crew to be entirely irredeemable idiots. They were just flawed people in a stressful situation. The Titans on the other hand had what I felt to be a relatively lacking cast. While the character of Jerid and his varied love interests were all likeable, with Jerid himself being a standout likeable douche, aside from Jerid they didn’t get character arcs. Otherwise like Titans consisted of pitiable cyber-newtypes, hand-rubbing schemers, and straight up assholes. Aside from the cyber-newtypes none were very redeemable. The cyber-newtype Murasame Four was notable but limited by her limited screen time. They tried to make Paptimus Scirroco into a new Char, but he just felt way less interesting than Zeon’s red comet. The ultimate leader of the Titans, Jamitov, was just a bog standard evil politician. All in all only Jerid and Four were interesting characters, and only Jerid lived up to much potential. While you didn’t have any Garmas or Ramba Rals to make the war seem like a curse causing good people to die on either side, the Titans did fill the role of hateable villain well. Without going into too much detail, I do want to give a shoutout to Haman Karn. She was a rather engaging character but pretty much everything about her involves spoilers.

8/10, a lot of good characters, a lot of hateable villains, but most of the best characters are repeats from 0079.

VISUALS: Now probably the biggest improvement from 0079 is the animation. The noticeable errors of 0079 are gone, replaced with some truly gorgeous and fluid animation. Zeta has a lot of sakuga packing, and when it wants to move well it damn does. However when it doesn’t care it’ll freely use a lot of cheap tricks that the skilled eye will notice, but what doesn’t? The actual art of the series I’m less in love with. There were less moments of truly interesting visuals than 0079, but being okay is okay. The character designs were mostly fine, with a few (Jamaican in particular) being very dull. The mecha design is a mixed bag with me. The designs feel way less varied than 0079, with a lot of mechs feeling like the same skeleton with different overly ornate decorations. As cool as they looked I found myself just shaking my head and saying “Really?” at some of the more over-ornate designs. However the thing that bugged me the most was the Titans using Zeon-esque mechs. Being part of the Earth Federation you’d assume they’d use Federation mechs, but instead they use mechs designed like their original enemies. This didn’t make much sense outside of the meta-reasoning “Villain mechs in Gundam need the domed one-eye design.” However everything I’m saying is simply nitpicks.

7/10, at worst we have functional art that suspends disbelief, at best we have gorgeous animation.

AUDIO: In all honesty, I don’t remember much of Zeta’s soundtrack which is an okay sign. What I do remember is pretty decent but nothing ever stuck out to me except the first opening. The first opening was a rather enjoyable song, the second was very mediocre. The ending theme for the whole time was entirely forgettable as you’re skipping to the next episode anyway. Sound design wise everything sounded fine and natural, despite sound effects in space. Voice acting was passable. Most of the voices fit well with no real stand out performances in my opinion. The voice of Bask Oum was notable for sounding overtly evil, so that was nice. However there were some voices that were not so great on minor characters. Every time the minor character Sydle talked I just wanted her to stop talking. Luckily she was incredibly minor.

6/10, functional with a demerit or two.

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

While not the perfect masterpiece many claim it to be, Zeta Gundam is something I’d personally recommend. With a powerful delivery of themes and a strong follow up to a good series, Zeta’s a fantastic watch. There’s a lot of great to be had here, though sadly the execution of the ideas is far from perfect. Held back by some bumps, Zeta nonetheless stands out as an excellent story animated quite well. The ending alone makes me want to raise the score even higher, but a show is more than it’s last five episodes. I now set out to continue my Gundam Quest with ZZ. I’ll probably get a lot of flack for rating the quintessential 80′s mecha so low, but don’t let a number understate how much I love this series.

#gundam #mobile suit gundam #mecha #classics #classic anime #anime #anime review #zeta gundam #kamille bidan

1 note · View note

bid00f-archive · 6 years

Note

my boy tamama for the character thing. and or keroro

Yeah buddy! Time for a double feature, I can practically write an essay about these two, though really, I can write an essay about all five of the main Keronians. It is Not That Deep, but it certainly could be. So, thank you! They are surprisingly interesting characters to talk about in length if you read between the lines, so time to blab about the sugar guzzling tadpole and the sergeant himself~!

Favorite Thing About Them:

🔰Ever since I got into Keroro like, three years back, I absolutely adored how he is the parody of the classic “cute and lovely” mascot character. He is obviously designed to look the cutest out of a cast of cute critters, just look at those huge eyes, sweet smile, and adorable little tail; so when it was shown that he has a less than cutesy side to him, I started to like him! It made him less of an archetype. I do have major issues with episode 7 Part B, but that was the episode that made me actually like Tamama since it showed that despite being cute, he still has problems and consequences for what he does which causes that sweet, sweet internal conflict.Tamama is truly a good guy, he just needs to grow but in an anime/manga that is like, 99.9% gags and slapstick that is on shaky ground.

⭐What I like most about Keroro is that, he can actually be a very sweet guy even though he usually has his own interests front and center. Episodes that show him actually helping out others tend to be the sweetest to watch, even when it ends more bittersweet, such as episode 5 when he tries to help a doomed toy store and its’ owner. He may be lazy and incompetent, or at least appears to be, but that is what actually makes him more appealing to me!

Least Favorite Thing About Them:

🔰 His love for Keroro, while sort of sweet, can make him do some uncool things. First example being the aforementioned episode 7 Part B, the episode is done less severely than in the manga where he kidnaps Angol Mois to take naughty photos of her to send to Keroro, even going as far to strip her down. The anime adaptation took it down a notch by having Tamama put her through “bootcamp”, but still, not cool! There is also episode 266 when he tries to kiss Keroro without his consent despite Keroro very obviously begging him not to, luckily Tamama realizes that the mature thing to do is to cut it out (plus he looked ridiculous in that pink lipstick) but again, still not cool! Actually, if I remember it right, he goes back at it by the end of the episode. What gives!

⭐Let’s be real here, there are times where Keroro is the one who first antagonizes Natsumi. She is already not very popular with fans because of her role, like how Dib is in Invader Zim though I am 95% sure that folks are less sympathetic to how many of Keroro’s schemes seem to focus more on just plain humiliating Natsumi than invading Pekopon because she is a girl. It is a shame because there is more to their relationship than being constantly at each other’s throats. In the beta, Keroro was supposed to be Natsumi’s Keronian partner and they still share enough similarities reminiscent of that. But anyway, sometimes it seems like Keroro targets Natsumi rather than her being the main obstacle blocking his invasion plans, since she is just a thirteen/fourteen year old kid it feels kind of weird to me. Prime example of this being episode 99.

Favorite Line: I still do not keep track of favorite lines, but here a paraphase from the dub that really made me laugh;

Tamama: “Well, he’s smarter than a jellybean, or most of ‘em.”

Angol Mois: “He tries his best when he’s not busy not trying.“

Tamama: “A jellybean can try but I’m still gonna eat it.”

brOTP:

🔰 Taruru for Tamama! Though I do ship them romantically together, it is an underrated and uncommon pairing but it actually has some traction on with JPN/Korean fans and for good reason! Taruru may not hero worship Tamama as much as he did, and they may have clashed during the Garuru Platoon arc, but there are still no hard feelings between the two!

Taruru still throws a shoutout to Tamama in the manga chapters afterwards, and in the anime, lying to Taruru about the Keroro Platoon and the Pekopon invasion was Tamama’s biggest regret until he comes to peace with it and that only happens seasons after the Garuru Arc, Tamama still remembered and felt bad about it for all that time, and resolved it peacefully, and felt much better after it! That is probably the closest thing Tamama will get to positive character development so savor it. Like the Chibi-Keroro segments, sometimes I wish that the audience could be shown snippets of Taruru and Tamama’s time training in the Keron Army together, it could be a great way to world build since the Keron Army is still shrouded with ~mystery~.

⭐Keroro and Kululu is like a match made in heaven! Okay, maybe I am exaggerating that but those two are yet another underrated pairing even though they work so well together in all the wrong ways; they both like to scheme and can be self-centered jerks but with a heart of gold… which is located deep, deep down in Kululu’s case. I wish there was more focus on these two in canon, Kululu is one of the very few characters who seems to catch on that there is more to Keroro than Gundam, Gundam, blah, blah. After all, Kululu is the whole reason why Keroro has the Keron ☆ (Star) in the first place; but why would Kululu pull the strings to bring who is probably the least qualified to one of the top positions in the Keron Army? Did he do it for kicks or does he actually think Keroro can somehow pull it off? …It is most likely the former, but at least Keroro can make the job *~interesting~*, Kululu likes chaos and things that go against the status quo to keep himself from getting too bored, Keroro practically makes it his job description. Kululu probably has all the opportunity and resources to move to a higher elite platoon if he wanted, Sergeant Major remember, so to me it sometimes almost seems like he sticks around just to see what Keroro does next…and how badly he can screw it up this time.

OTP:

🔰 KeroTama, baby’s first gays! Though honestly, I am not sure who was the first to bring it up but I second the idea that Keroro is sort of like, Tamama’s awakening. Sure he loves him, but Tamama is still young and as far as we know, nobody else has made him feel quite the same way as Keroro does and he copes with this badly. What I do like most about this pairing is that Tamama truly idolizes Keroro but he is just as ready to call him out and keep him in check too; like checks and balances, I think Keroro/any works best when he is with someone who is willing to go along with him but can also tell it to him straight. This is most apparent in the later (subbed) seasons and manga, Tamama becomes less of a yes-tadpole and more aware that Keroro is not the all mighty-hero he used to think back on Keron.

⭐On the other hand, for Keroro…he is my shipping bicycle, I dunno know exactly why but he seems to work out so well with so many characters though it varies a lot. Like, compare KeroDoro with KeroTama and the dynamics become very different; though for the record I am not a huge fan of KeroDoro due to how anime!Keroro lacks the most tact when it comes to Dororo, and how manga!Dororo basically treats Keroro like an annoying ex. Not exactly healthy but I do feel like there is potential if the two found some common ground and reconciliation, but that defeats the fun of shipping, canon is supposed to do the heavy lifting. So anyhoo, there is no OTP for Keroro; which may contradict what I had already said about Tamama, but in Keroro’s case it opens a whole different perspective.

nOTP:

🔰 Oh geeze, I think I have only seen this once and thank goodness but Tamama/Momoka. They are an underrated pair, Momoka herself is a very underrated character but together they are just plain underrated. Hm. I feel like the anime is somewhat at fault since Brutal Momoka is often seen snapping at Tamama, but to be fair, Brutal Momoka will snap at Paul, her guards, her maids, and just about anybody besides Fuyuki.

There are certainly moments cute moments between the two where you know they care for each beyond Momoka putting up with him so she can get closer to Fuyuki, and Tamama only sticking around to freeload, but I still think this comes across to an audience that Momoka does not care much for Tamama at all. I personally see their relationship more like an older brother and younger sister, which is kind of funny given Tamama’s more childish tendencies. I do feel like that he sees her as the little sister who can 100% beat him up while Momoka sees him as an older brother who can still annoy her sometimes at best…or a beloved pet at worst, which is not so bad since Tamama tried to do the same thing. They are two birds of a feather who flock together, but it is far, far, far away from a romantic context.

⭐A nOTP for Keroro would be Fuyuki, which for the life of me I have no idea why it has traction with JPN fans but it is…there, I guess. I think I see it popping up more often than GiroNatsu, to put it in perspective. Keroro is very obviously an adult, alien or not, and there is enough emphasis on the power of friendship to show that Fuyuki is doing what Mois should probably be taking notes on. Keroro is the fun and goofy adopted uncle who takes Fuyuki out for adventures, and they have been through like, six near-life or death experiences together and pulled through so if that is not a sign of a beautiful friendship then I dunno what is.

Random Headcanon:

🔰 Tamama likes eating fruits and vegetables, on an occasion! The food has to practically jump through hoops for him to accept it though. Fruit has to be candied or covered in chocolate, and the vegetables have to be very tender and thoroughly glazed with honey. It kind of defeats the purpose of healthy eating, but hey, Tamama may love sweets but even he has limits such as in episode 310.

⭐Keroro has ADHD and dyscalcuia, though the ADHD bit in particular might as well be canon. He is a very relatable character and call it self-projecting but I am preeetty sure that he has like, learning/neurodivergent disorders up the wazoo much like how Tamama acts like he has an almost textbook case of Borderline Personality Disorder. I doubt that Yoshizaki actually researches mental illnesses/disorders though, special mention going to his portrayal of Momoka and her mother’s disassociative disorders which are far from accurate.

Unpopular Opinion:

🔰 Tamama’s jealous behavior is not a good thing, it is not cute. I almost never find it funny, it is more…sad. Seeing him antagonize, hit, and verbally abuse Angol Mois is close to painful to watch because you know Tamama is only doing it to make himself feel better and Mois, who genuinely sees him as a close friend, just takes it and no one intervenes. In the end, Tamama still feels like crap and one way or another, gets what’s coming to him. There is no actual conflict resolution so the joke becomes old hat.

It may be played off for laughs, but Tamama’s infamous jealousy is self-destructive and while this may be ~relatable~ to other fans, it is obvious to see how unhappy Tamama is when it comes to dealing with his negative emotions or even maintaining a sense of self, like, his greatest fear is a glamorized version of himself as seen in episode 123. That was…interesting. When Tamama acts out on negative impluses, which is always, he never comes on top so why anybody would say “that’s so me!” especially when considering Tamama rarely makes the effort to hold his own actions accountable is beyond me.

I would probably be more receptive towards it if Tamama’s jealousy tick was not so selective. Like, you would think he would be more jealous and resentful of Giroro or even Dororo’s relationship with Keroro since those three have known each other since childhood and still keep it pretty tight; or even Pururu since she can be just as tooth-achingly sweet as Angol Mois and shares close moments with Keroro yet Tamama has never felt threatened by any of them.

Jealousy may be a natural emotion but Tamama’s attitude is unhealthy and it is flanderized to the extreme in the anime. He almost got himself killed for bottling up his negative feelings but lashing out at others (*cough*Angol Mois*cough*) is not the way to go either. The manga version of himself seems to be more adjusted, or at the least by comparison though the regrets and self-loathing is kept consistent. Tamama in the manga may not even be as infatuated with Keroro anymore, in the later volumes it so rarely gets brought up again and in particular, his reaction to being asked if he “still respected Keroro ” was such as strange response that I am just like 🤔. Of course, infatuation is different from love and “respect” could be just how Tamama no longer trusts in Keroro’s leadership at all, but still, the idea of Tamama not being obsessed with gaining Keroro’s affection anymore is almost like imagining an entirely different character after watching 300+ episodes. But, the way I see it…in the manga, the fixation is just not there anymore.

⭐For Keroro’s case, hmmmm…well, not much to say about Keroro since the anime and manga does a bang up job at calling out his flaws and holding him responsible when things mess up, he gets away with nothing. There is no widely accepted headcanon or canon interpretation of him that I feel like counteracting either; in my bloomin’ onion Keroro is well rounded enough for being the resident loser/villain protagonist.

Song I associate with them:

Party Up (Up In Here) by DMX 🔰

Crayola Sunrise by RunFoxRun! ⭐

Favorite picture of them:

This is so sweet, so pure, so perfect!

#anonymous #keroro #tamama #keroro gunso #gif #long post

30 notes · View notes

dragonflyprime-blog · 6 years

Text

The Struggles of Starting a Stream

Twitch is a widely known platform for people to broadcast activities. Most of it consists of gaming, but there are other ways for people to express themselves such as creative art streams, beauty streams, and even cooking and food streams. I just started streaming myself this past summer. My main focus is on games, a variety of them, as I don’t like sticking to a niche. I also plan on doing creative streams as I learn graphic design, illustration, photo editing and video editing. There is a difficulty involved with being new to the platform, though.

Starting out, a channel will have nothing going for it unless the streamer is already relatively well connected. In my case, I only have people I know in real life, and friends I’ve met online through games and other twitch channels. In a situation like mine, it is extremely difficult to garner a following. It almost never happens overnight - so it becomes a job. The most important thing to do is network. Meet more and more people, express your interest in streaming and become friends with community members. This is difficult because the first instinct anyone would have is to just self advertise and push your new channel on people. The issue with this is that you’re new. You have no content yet. People don’t know you, and therefore cannot vouch for you. There is an amount of credibility one must build before delving into the advertising aspect of streaming.

To build credibility, the best and easiest thing to do is - just stream. Do what you want on twitch. Play your favorite game over a few sessions of streams. Make some cool art. Discuss.. anything. Broadcasts save as “VODs” (videos on demand) so once you have some built up, you can refer people to those. After a while people will start tuning in to see you live and give you a follow and maybe even a shoutout if they broadcast too.

Follows and shoutouts are pivotal for a novice streamer. The first milestone a new person should aim to meet is the Affiliate program. The requirements are currently: reach 50 followers, stream 8 unique days in a month, stream 12 hours in a month, and maintain an average of 3 viewers in a month. These are all calculated over a 30 day period. The only way to reach this milestone is by putting in the work through streaming consistently, and networking. I was able to reach affiliate after about 5 months of streaming.

Many people have difficulty with this, as they approach networking wrong, or don’t improve their content as they go. This is the first point where a generation of streamers gets filtered, Those that succeed are able to start monetizing their channels.

Monetization is a tricky thing in succeeding this far. It’s a goal everyone wants to hit. “Oh I can make money playing video games for people.” It’s not that simple. This is where making friends comes in handy. Friends will be ready to support you and might be willing to subscribe to you off the bat. It’s a good start. Those that networked poorly and still made affiliate though - they might also end up digging and begging for the subscriptions that can get them paid. This is a bad look and many people fall into this trap.

At the moment of writing this blog, I haven’t streamed since I hit affiliate due to some precarious events in real life. But I’ve been working more on networking. In my case especially, I cannot even begin to talk about people subbing to my channel since there’s no content being produced. This brings me to my next point.

New streamers haven’t and shouldn’t commit fully to twitch. Real life happens. School, work, family - all factor into how a stream can be run. Obviously, a dedicated person can and will find a way around this, but sometimes, like in my case, there is no way around it. Sometimes life makes you put it on the shelf for a bit. This hurts a lot as people who have followed you may lose interest by the time you return if you do. I plan on returning, and I fear what my statistics will look like for a while after I come back.

In the end, it’s okay to endure the struggle. The struggle for many may even be a fun challenge - as it is for me. It depends on the work one puts in. Some people do it better than others. The important thing to take away from this is that you will only make it if you make yourself make it. Work hard, and make connections and friends. Twitch is all about branding. How one brands one’s self goes a long way. Especially larger streamers, as sponsorship opportunities open up. But from a beginner’s perspective, the hardest thing to do is believing in yourself.

So believe in yourself.

0 notes

txstletterheads · 7 years

Text

Modern Book Research — Stephan Tynes

My first book is “Swiss Graphic Design” by Richard Hollis. There is surprisingly no colophon in this book, or at least not one that I could find. Im going to take a not so wild guess and say the font is Helvetica. Helvetica falls within the Neo-Grotesque Sans classification of fonts. Swiss Graphic Design describes the origins and growth of the swiss international style. On a basic level, it is a history book. On a practical level, it is a guide.

If you ignore my hairy legs in the picture you can see the title page of the book. Even though this page is extremely simple it sets up the books style and layout with just a few elements on the page. You can see these simple lines accompanied by a classic swiss san-serif typeface with the use of color, font weight, size, and position to show visual hierarchy on the page. The title pages use large red numbers at a font size of 71 points. There is only one thing that is loud and proud on the title pages, and the numbers are it. You can also see a 8 point body copy and page number on the page. The main heading is a bolded 24 point that makes itself noticeable while still not overwhelming the page. You can also make out is the grid.

This page hints at the consistent grid used throughout the text. The grid consists of 4 columns, and most of the pages have a 2 column span in the center. This book does an interesting thing; It takes the main body text and bolds it so that the readers eye goes straight to it. If you really analyze the page there is a lot going on, but with the bolded text, and the captions being slightly smaller at 7 points, the hierarchy works well. There are some other things to note about this book: thin lines separating the columns, and bolded text paired with regular text which results in the emphasis of both. What we also have is a set standard that the book uses throughout its layout. This book is personally right up my alley. I like it.

Just a small, not on-the-nitty-gritty-stuff: The book cover is 8 1/2 “ x 11″. The page sizes are 8 1/4″ x 10 5/8 “. Page margins are a 3/4″ interior, 1/2″ exterior, 1 1/8″ top, and 3/4″ bottom. The page columns have a 1 1/2 ″ wide content area, and a 1/4″ gutter. Page numbers are located in exterior margins. Folios use grid content lines in upper left and right hand corners.

The next book in my quest for the modern book design is one about the Bauhaus. The title is “Design & Style-7 Bauhaus 1919-1933.” This book makes so many shoutouts I may as well just say who did everything, so here we go.

Editor: Steven Heller, Designer: Seymore Chwast, Associate Editor: Julie Lasky, Researcher: Anne Fink, Printing: Lebanon Vallet Offset Inc., Annville PA, Paper: Mohawk Paper Mills, Inc., Cohoes, NY, Type: The Typecrafters Inc., New Yourk, NY.

Now that we got that out of the way, lets talk about this book.

So, this is another history book, kinda. It is exactly what it says it is. On the other end it seems to actually be designed in the style similar to the Bauhaus. The cover of the book is was drew me in when I first picked it up. As I flipped through it I caught myself saying over and over again, like an dreamy-eyed half-salivating fool “wow... cool!”

It is pretty cool though. I will post the measurements below, but I will just tell you that the book uses a 3 and 4 column grid. They are set in different margins and columns and gutters. Now, I’m not sure if they did this because it was accounting for the page size, or if these were duplications of older texts. It’s honestly hard to tell as you can see from the example above. Either way I’m not sure it really matters. I say that because the book is pretty much all over the place. There are interactive ads, photos of old posters, and on top of that there is a really cool type specimen just hanging out in the middle of the book. Check it out below.

I don’t know if Typography porn is a phrase, but If it were this book would be a great example. Anyways, I am getting way off track here. Lets get back to the book. In no place in this book could I find a written list of the typefaces used, but they did provide a type specimen and I am inclined to think that these were the ones they used by comparison. So, we have Futura, Frankfurt Am Main, and Bauersche Giesserei. Futura fits within the geometric sans category, and while I know very little about the other two, I am going to say the other fonts fit in the same category.

So, this is a hard kind of book to describe, because I can talk about the actual book, and I can talk about the work displayed in the book. The book itself has a very clear grid even though it is only used on a few pages. The work displayed in the book has kind of an almost grid. The Bauhaus work looks like the were playing with the idea of the grid and lining things up, but most of the time its still looks very cut and paste. It’s very cool, but I can’t say with certainty that there were clear rules that were followed all of the time. This fact actually relaxes my brain a little bit the ore I look at it. It’s calming and very interesting because so much of design in more modern design is very lined up and exact.

There is a lot to say about so much of this book. There is hierarchy in color, size, shapes, weights, lines, symmetry, and so much more. Each design unique and tends to think more outside the box. While some may be similar, no two are alike in exactly the same way. Before I get into the specs I would just say go look at this book. Its super cool and I’m glad that I found it.

Nitty gritty time.

The book is 10 1/8″ wide and 12″ tall. for the 3 column grid the margins are 3/8″ inner, 7/8″ outer, 1 1/16″ top, and 1/2″ on the bottom. The columns are 2 13/16″ and the gutters are 1/4″ on the 3 column grid. For the 4 column grid the margins are 7/16″ all around. The columns are 2 1/16″ and the gutters are 1/8″. It’s a pretty big difference otherwise I would not have mentioned it.

FONT SIZE! From high to low. 78 point main header. 10 point sub header. 9 point body copy. 8 point large text, page numbers, and captions. 6 point folio titles.

Now for the third and final book in my research! It’s all very exciting. This book is “ Grid systems,” by Josef Muller Brockmen. This book is a straight up manual for how to do stuff right. Well, what this guy thinks is right. This book goes over all kinds of stuff. Its basically how to setup everything you need in this grid system. I am going to make this little quicker than the other two books because this book can explain things better than I ever could, and its a classic type book. So, I don’t know why but I cant find any colophon in any of these books for some reason. Im going again with Helvetica which is a Neo-Grotesque Sans classification typeface.

The book is set up in a 4 column grid and does not stray away from this system throughout the entire book. The folios are set in the top left of a two column grid. Its pretty simple and straight to the point. The visual hierarchy uses font weight, size, position, and the actual grid system to create balance on the page. It really shows that a grid can make a difference if you know how to use it right. Pretty cool.

Nitty Gritty. Length and width is 8 3/8″ x 11 1/2″. Outer margin is 5/8″, inner margin is 6/8″, bottom margin is 1 5/16″, top margin is 11/16″. Columns are 1 7/16″ and gutters are 7/16″. FONT SIZES!(around) 70 point title page headings.12 point bolded headers in folio position. 10 point page numbers. 9 point regular size folios. 8 point body copy. 7 point captions. All in all three really great books. I want them for myself when I actually have more time to read them. I could go into way more detail about each, but I’ve said enough for today I think. :)— Stephan Tynes

0 notes