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So the newest issue of NEO arrived on my doorstep on Wednesday. For those not living in the UK or for those living in the UK and simply unaware NEO is a UK based publication dedicated to Animé, Manga, Games and Asian film. I've been subscribed to this publication for something like five years now (since issue 18). It's been described as the UK equivalent of the now defunct Newtype USA, especially with the redesign which is what I'm writing about today.

Issues 82 marks yet another redesign and I think the mag is all the better for it. The old design was full of acid colours, felt confused and rather dated. This new design uses colour reservedly in the layout itself, saving it for the copious amounts of screen shots and promotional artwork contained within (as well as the short, full-colour comic story mid-way through this issue). The modern layout brings the mag bang up to date, makes the mag look fresh and also gives it a sense of professionalism. The overall tone of the mag hasn't changed but I am pleased to see an article on the series Wandering Son-a show about transgender issues and something much more meaty than many of the other series usually featured in the NEO (though that's no fault of the magazine itself. The article in question discusses the Japanese's somewhat immature attitude to sex and sexuality in its opening paragraph).

The magazine is still mostly a light hearted affair with it's 'wacky' captions (that I feel occasionally come across as 'trying way too hard'). Which is understandable as a sudden change in appearance and tone would likely alienate much of NEO's readership (Which would suck). My personal preference would be to see much meatier articles that go into greater depth about the series they're covering. Possibly plot analysis of retro series? IDK LOL :'D I personally feel that the publication needs to adopt a much more 'film literate' tone (But that may just be me).

None of the series reviewed this issue are rated lower than three stars which is a bit of a shame-the publication seems to still be playing it rather safe (some may say too safe). That said, I definitely want to check out Summer Wars which is this issues main review.

Coming towards the end of the magazine are two double sided pages of posters-a much requested and welcome addition to the magazine. For a publication dedicated to such visual stories it's a wonder this wasn't made a regular feature a long time ago...

Now, if you'll excuse me I've got a Summer Wars poster to add to my wall...
~~...and possibly a Battle Vixens Pin-Up too...~~

TL;DR: Don't hate on the new NEO, I like it and I think it's a step in the right direction.

Join us next time which will hopefully be sometime next week as opposed to sometime next year.

Current Music: I Hate You All by Foetus

So I just came across the trailer for Insidious on IWatchStuff.com and I thought I'd give my thoughts on it. Possible spoilers ahead.
But first, here's that trailer:

The article on it informs us that it's from the producers of Paranormal Activity (YAY!) and the writing-directing team of Saw (BOO!) But that said it seems that, as with a lot of film projects, the producers have a great deal of creative control with this one. From just watching the trailer we can spot a fair few similarities between this and the Paranormal Activity series. For instance they're going with a similar plot line to the "It's not the house that's haunted, it's you" seen in Paranormal Activity (The actual quote is "I don't think bad wiring is the problem here...It's not the house that's haunted, it's your son"). This, I like-it's a conflict the protagonists cannot simply run from which is what I liked about the maker's earlier work. The producer's creative influence can also be seen in the way the scenes we're shown (for which there is no guarantee that they'll all show up in the final product) are shot, especially in the opening of this trailer. Allow me to elaborate. Whilst it seems that this is a definite move away from the 'THIS TTLY HAPPENED YOU GUISE' Blair Witch Project direction of Paranormal Activity the first few close up shots of this trailer seem somewhat reminiscent of the documentary-style of film-making for the makers' prior projects (In B4 the obligatory cries of "Well someone does Film Studies!" As a matter of fact, we are studying documentaries at the moment). The trailer seems to stick pretty faithfully to the typical horror movie trailer formula though. That said, it did pique my interest enough to wiki the film and wiktionary the film's title (Insidious is an excellent title, as it happens XD).

Having enjoyed the cinema-going experience of Paranormal Activity 2 I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm tempted to go and see this one too. However, even from the trailer it looks wholly predictable; it's likely I would only be going to see what kind of scares they end up pulling off. Furthermore, what the IWatchStuff.com article described as 'Stoner Darth Maul' could become something of a laughable element (That said, it was the screen cap of that same 'guy going to Burning Man' that piqued my interest enough to click through to the trailer). It seems like I'll be waiting for the reviews on this one.

Join us next time when I rant about a favourite animé, manga and Asian film publication of mine. ^^

Current Location: Home
Current Music: Stay In My Memory by BIM

(Wow, no post in nearly half a year...I'll try not to do that again. In the mean time, have the salvaged remains of a post I was working on.)

At a party not too long ago I was discussing the film Battle Royale with a friend of mine. We both loved the first one and then got to talking about the sequel. He'd not seen it and I had. After ranting about how bad I thought that film was the host, a boy called Sasha, comes over and asks,
"Were you guys just talking about Twilight?"
"Uhm...no. Why?"
"Because I heard the phrases 'poorly written' and 'poorly acted'."

In this generation one will either find themselves adoring or loathing Stephanie Meyer's shockingly successful series. One will either find themselves obsessing over whether they're Team Jacob or Team Edward or they shall find themselves totally failing to see the appeal of what some consider to be essentially a choice between bestiality or necrophilia. As you can probably tell, I myself am not a fan of the Twilight books in particular. And I'll tell you why.

Firstly, given my last entry, I do acknowledge how odd my admitting to disliking something may come across as to some people. But that last entry wasn't about blindly liking everything everyone else likes; my last entry was about tolerating what interests others. That still applies here too. I'm not trying to demonize fans of the series, this is simply why I dislike the series (and possibly how some fans appreciate it. The tolerance thing works both ways).

Now secondly let me stress that I did try to give this series a chance. Just before the books got CRAZY!Ridiculous popular I remember hearing about Meyer's version of vampires and thought that it was an interesting take on the lore but nothing OMG! AMAZING! I didn't fully comprehend how ridiculous sparkly vampires would look until the Twilight-hate band wagon started up good and proper...and then I was forced to watch the first film. Yeah, I am of the opinion that Edward looked like he'd had a bucket of craft glitter dumped on him...Don't even get me started on the performances (I don't mean to boast but as someone whose been acting since before they can remember I know a good performance when I see it and I didn't see a great many decent performances in that film). But perhaps I'm being too harsh. Well, as it happens...

Speaking of my involvement in drama, a few years ago I was involved in a particular group and had been for the better part of a decade. Back stage at one of the last shows I ever did with them there was a copy of the first book in the series floating around. I thought I may as well see what all the fuss was about. I found, after the first few pages, I didn't like Meyer's writing style; the phrasing was awkward and it didn't flow naturally. I didn't finish the book but by the time I'd started reading I already knew what happened at least one book on.

To properly critique the 'saga' some people may feel that I need to have read all of it and watched all of the films. But I gave it a a chance, didn't enjoy it and I don't see why I should invest much more time in something I don't enjoy (Bitching about it TTLY doesn't factor in to that, right?) So now you know this is the opinion of someone on the outside of the Twilight bubble looking in.

Speaking of the Twilight bubble, another reason I'm not a huge fan of the series is the fans themselves; they're scary. Indeed, I acknowledge that animé fans can be just as scary if not scarier but that was briefly covered in my last post. Indeed, I'm guessing most of those that end up reading this have watched this and have probably laughed at it too. It is a little bit cringe worthy to watch but I've heard a fair few stories (of questionable validity, mind) where they've even turned violent (There was even a board detailing such instances known as The Twihard Attack Directory but that appears to be defunct now. Some people may think it's a little harsh to paint such an overly negative picture of the fans. I find it more worrying that there was a need for such a directory to exist in the first place. This is where that 'tolerance works both ways' thing factors in; fighting intolerance with intolerance never works). The violent fans aren't the only scary ones either. Returning to the fans in my old drama group for a moment, there was one younger girl among them who was only about eleven at the time. And that is the thing that bothers me the most; that a story about a girl that *SPOILER!* gets pregnant and married before the age of twenty has such young members in its fanbase. I really dislike that it's a lifestyle that is portrayed as something to strive for; I dislike that lust and uninformed decisions are portrayed as the components of a healthy relationship here (Mind you, that can be said for a great deal of YA Romance fiction, I suppose). And that is my main problem with Twilight. But I doubt it's a cultural phenomenon that's going to go away any time soon and I doubt that we won't see something similar with a different series a few years down the line.

TL;DR: I'm not a fan of Twilight. Go read The Last Vampire by Christopher Pike, The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith and Hellsing by Kohta Hirano instead*. Also, this.

Side Note: Seventh book in The Last Vampire series released in late 2010? I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS! *Happy Dance*

*: At least in those series the unhealthy relationships and bat-shit insanity of the plot is portrayed as just that and isn't prettied up (in fact, it's actually rather enjoyable in an unabashed way; one can't dither about such things). ^_^

Join us next time when 'next time' isn't five months from now...

Current Location: Home
Current Music: Haunted by Poe

For a portion of my early educational life I was bullied. I won't dwell on it too much but one reason I was bullied was because of my interests. From a young age I'd been a fan of animé and manga. I remember seeing Spirited Away at the cinema and watching Sailor Moon during my Saturday afternoons. I got my first Graphic novel when I was 11 (it was volume one of Inuyasha). My comics pile is nearly up to my waist now. There was a very small group of us at my secondary school who shared this interest with me. We were picked on quite a lot for it. I remember watching Princess Mononoke for the first time at a friend's Halloween get-together. That same friend also gave me the first two OVA episodes of Vampire Princess Miyu on VHS. That evening felt like a rite of passage. XD

People at school just didn't understand the draw of these animated films. They also refused to even attempt to understand. And that's what got to me. If they'd watched a couple of Miyazaki films and gone "Nah, sorry, not my thing" I wouldn't be writing this entry. It's the fact they 'knocked it before they tried it' and then went on to make me dread coming into school because of this judgement.

A few months ago I was discussing a friend's interest in Japanese Animated Films. The person I was discussing this with, a boy called Adam, saw this interest as immature and childish. I valued both people involved as friends however I stayed quiet. A short while later I was having a similar conversation with another friend, Fran, and she couldn't see the appeal of Japanese Animated Films either, seeing them as generally kind of dumb. Neither friend had seen many films of the genre, their viewing experience and opinions limited to the likes of Poke'mon.

Since these discussions Adam's girlfriend has gotten him to watch Jyu-Oh-Sei (which he now adores) and Fran has been exposed to copious amounts of Miyazaki films. She's currently borrowing my copy of Howl's Moving Castle. She tells me she's 'seen it, like, eight times' and that she 'love[s] that film so much!'

I remember telling Fran prior to her seeing these films that Animé as a form of entertainment is not lesser, it is only different. There are some good animé films/series and there are also some truly god-awful ones, as with all other genres. It's similar to the debate for graphic novels and comics though attitudes towards the medium have shifted remarkably with film adaptations such as Watchmen and Kick-ass (though a giant step was taken back with the Dragon Ball movie. UGGGH...).

At any rate, I'm by no means saying that you'll definitely love Animé if you give it a chance. Another friend of mine, Phyllis, dislikes animé rather a lot. Her reasons for disliking it mainly lie with the scary corners of the fandom. It's not that she dislikes the idea of fandom (she's very active in the Harry Potter and Robin Hood fandom community) rather that the animé fandom community has it's own special brand of crazy that proves too much for some fan boys and girls (this is something I'm totally not denying; the fan girls can be pretty rabid at times). Which is fine by me; she gave it a chance, she didn't like it herself and she doesn't begrudge me for liking it.

What I'm asking for here is a bit more tolerance and open mindedness. That's all. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If someone's interest isn't causing themselves or others any sort of harm and pursuing it makes them happy then what's wrong with that?

Thanks for reading. Join us next time in which I explain why I despise Twilight...

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: I Would Never Wanna Be Young Again by Gogol Bordello

So, I got the latest issue of Neo this morning. It was the 2010 preview issue and I came across a small boxout talking about Final Fantasy XIII.

They're using a song sung by Leona Lewis as the theme song.

D8

I know I'm fairly late to the party on this one with this being announced back in November of this year. But I still feel the need to comment on this. The theme song for this game has gone through some changes. Originally the theme song and much of the rest of the score for the game was announced as being composed by company veteran Nobuo Uematsu. However, the task was reassigned to Dirge of Cerberus' composer and Final Fantasy X co-composer Masashi Hamauzu. The theme song was originally a song called Kimi ga Irukara featuring vocals by Sayuri Sugawara. I've listened to this theme song and it feels like a Final Fantasy theme through and through to me, complete with wishy washy lyrics sung in mostly Japanese with a bit of English thrown in for good measure. I don't love this song but it feels like a Final Fantasy theme to me. Now, as for the Leona Lewis track they've chosen to replace it, My Hands...uh...it's a Leona Lewis track. :/

I can understand that sometimes elements of a game are scrapped and replaced. I can understand that sometimes changes need to be made for the localisation (I.E. censoring nudity on a certain sprite in Final Fantasy VI). What I can't get my head around is why they've picked this particular song to replace the original. Especially seeing as My Hands is sung entirely in English and the audience this game will initially be exposed to is Japanese. I would've thought they'd have used Kimi ga Irukara for the Japanese release and possibly My Hands for the European and North American release. But then, one would've thought that, after nearly two decades of releases in the west, the franchise would've built a name for itself and would be able to get away with a theme song sung in Japanese (which is exactly what it did with Final Fantasy X's theme song Suteki Da Ne). However, when a game has been released in the west with an English version of the theme song, it's usually been the original Japanese singer whose sung it (Angela Aki singing Kiss Me Goodbye in Final Fantasy XII). Even when they've picked a different singer to sing the theme song for the European and North American releases it's always been only a translation of the Japanese version of the theme song into English (Final Fantasy X-2's theme songs sung by Kumi Koda on the Japanese release and Jade Villalon on the North American and European release) So it has been the same theme song but just in a different language. So...I'm a little confused as to why they picked an entirely different song this time around...

But anyway, at this current point in time it remains unclear as to whether or not the original song will still be included in the North American and European release. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. The game is set to be released in the West on March 9th 2010, having already been released in Japan on the 17th of this month and subsequently getting a near-perfect 39/40 from Famitsū Magazine...Regardless of which theme song they choose I, personally, still have high hopes for this game.

Right, I'm off to have some good, clean fun this New Years Eve. See ya next year! 8D

Current Location: Home

^A reference to this Nostalgia Critic Review.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
...And if you don't celebrate that specific holiday...ah...SEASON'S GREETINGS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
...to whoever (if anyone at all) reads this silly little blog of mine.

A few projects vaguely planned in my head for the New Year.
However I'm not sure when (if at all) they'll come to fruition.
We shall see.

I feel that a few choice words may be in order for the Doctor Who Christmas Special...

Current Mood: tired

So, after reading this article (Which, whilst informative, didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know) it turns out Japan's latest virtual idol will be getting an animé. Sort of.

The first few Black Rock Shooter song music videos starred a character that wasn't Miku but appeared to at least be very loosely based on her. This animé appears to be based on those music videos, complete with Not!Miku in the starring role.

The new anime, based on and taking it's name from the Supercell song that uses Miku's vocals, Black Rock Shooter is set to air some time in Spring of 2010 (Some sources I've seen are pinning it down to April). A pilot animation was released back in September, though. HAVE AT IT!

From what I can deduce it looks like a magical girl anime with a Hero/Villain dynamic similar to that between Miaka and Yui in Fushigi Yugi (If someone could kindly direct me to the TV tropes article for that kinda dynamic...). But I'm just guessing.

Also, in terms of animation style, it seems that they've gone for a very modern, minimalist shoujo-y, wide-eyed style. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing and is quite fitting for this type of series, I imagine. However I'm not sure it's to my liking; whilst I agree that less is often more some of the frames in the pilot animation look lazy and cheap (For example, the shot with Not!Miku leaping off into the...sky?). Furthermore those giant, puppy dog eyes, which are often an integral part of that particular style, often creep me the hell out.

That being said I'm still gonna give this animé a chance as it doesn't look like your run of the mill magical girl series. Case in point, Not!Miku is wearing shorts as opposed to a too-short-skirt and is also wearing a whole lot of black instead of a whole lot of pink. So...I'm giving this series a chance purely based upon a single character design? Mind you, not a lot more is given away in this pilot animation that we don't already know if we've seen the various Black Rock Shooter music videos. XD In addition to this, I wanna know what the deal is with Not!Miku's (literally) flaming eye. I'd also be interested to see what type of story they're able to glean from a couple of fan-made music videos...

Current Music: Koi Wa Sensou-Miku Hatsune

So Veritycakes* saw The Box on the weekend. She described the story as though the script writers had started writing it but got bored half way through and decided to write the rest of it whilst on crack...I had heard it was bad. So anyway, I pipe up "Oh yeah, I heard it was based on a Twilight Zone Episode." Veritycakes gives me a strange look...I soon realise I'd forgotten to say the word 'Zone' in my previous statement. I went back and corrected myself to which Veritycakes replied "Oh, yeah. I didn't think I'd seen Edward Cullen boppin' about."

...It amused me at the time. =_=; A proper update soon, hopefully. :]

*As you can probably guess Veritycakes is not her real name but a nickname I wish I got the chance to use more often.

So, I just saw an advert for the Vampire Diaries. This made me happy for several reasons. Number one, now I know for sure that it's going to be aired in the UK (I knew it was highly likely but one can never be certain about these things. For example, Silent Hill: Homecoming isn't going to be released in Japan. More on my beloved Silent Hill shortly).

Second, I've been wanting a guilty pleasure, teen drama to sink my teeth into (if you'll excuse the pun) for a little while now. The fact it's based on my second favourite Young Adult Fiction series is another reason and an added bonus for me. For the record, my absolute favourite Young Adult Book series is The Last Vampire novels written by Christopher Pike. No, I'm not a Twi-hard. You may breathe a sigh of relief.

I'm a little bit perplexed as to why Elena is a brown-eyed brunette, though (What's wrong with contacts and peroxide? Does the actress have an allergy or something?). Also, a bit miffed that Meredith won't be making an appearance (At least not immediately; it has been hinted that she will make an appearance later though. There is hope! 8D ). Elena, Bonnie and Meredith were like the perfect friendship sandwich-now their just a friendship Brunchetta!
...Wait, scratch the use of the word 'sandwich'...

However, I'm still looking forward to watching this when it airs in the UK in early 2010. :D I can't wait!

Current Music: The Wondersmith And His Sons-Astranautalis

^Right, now that we've got the Enter SHIT-ari reference out of the way, time for an update! 8D

In news that shouldn't come as any surprise I didn't 'win' NaNoWriMo this year. For those interested my final word count was 12, 438. Yeah, that's bad...Oh well, there's always next year. 8D

I'm not entirely sure as to wether I'll keep working on the story I started writing for NaNo this year. I know it's a first draft and that it's meant to suck but I still feel it sucks even for a first draft. :/ More on that 'project' later perhaps.

Now I shall turn my mind to other posts to put here in the future that are not writing related but more fandom-y in nature...and that are actually entertaining to read.

Speaking of fandom, having just been reminded of this by the song that's just come up on Random Play All, I cannot wait for February. 8DDD More on THAT later, as well.

In the mean time, I have a Psych Essay to write.
See you next time. :D

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Silent Hill (Original Theme)-Akira Yamaoka

Hello. I never know how to write these things.
...Uhm, welcome...I guess...
I created this account when I saw that DreamWidth was offering free account creation to NaNoWriMo participants and, having heard largely positive things about Dreamwidth, decided to create an account whilst the chance presented itself.

I already have a couple of blogs on other sites and have a vague idea of what I'll be using this one for. Speaking of those other blogs, I feel it's time for some plugs:
My Sketchblog
My Deviantart
My NaNoWriMo Author Page
I shall probably add to this list of links.

So that's the important stuff out of the way. Now for a little bit about yours truly.
My name is Jess, the papers call me a 'youngster', my friends call me 'weird', and my 'special' friends call me 'tits'. XD I am a 'bloody fan girl' because, indeed, I am a fan girl and I am also British. I have a thing for the colour purple. I have a thing for comics, eastern and western. A few of my favourites are Hellsing, Life, Megatokyo, When the Wind Blows and The Killing Joke. I like to read, write and draw. But I procrastinate a lot so my Magnum Opus is a ways off yet and then some. I am currently participating in this year's NaNoWriMo and have done so every year since 2006. I have never 'won'. I'm determined to do so this year, though.

And that's me in a nut shell. Not very interesting, I know, but at least we have something to work with. 8D I look forward to posting here again soon. Thank you for reading my ramblings.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Sympathy for the Devil-The Rolling Stones