A (late) Ghost in the Shell fan even review

After years of development hell, The Ghost in the Shell feature film is finally done and set to release at the end of march. While the film has faced a few backlash from its choice in casting, the film has gained a dedicated follower of fans that are looking forward to this film. This can definitely be seen from its fan event that was held earlier this month to promote the film.

Ghost in the Shell is a long running anime franchise that started with the 1990 manga by Masamune Shirow and made popular internationally with the animated film by Momoru Oshii. The story varies with each new iteration, but at the core, the franchise tells the story of human turned cyborg Motoko Kusanagi( AKA Major) leading a spec ops organization known as Section 9. The franchise is known by fans for its philosophical and psychological themes of technology and transhumanism.

The film, directed by Rupert Sanders(Snow White and the Huntsman) stars Scarlett Johansan(Avengers) as the Major in here first year leading the Section 9 team where she comes face to face with a mysterious figure that seems to know more about here past than she does.

To promote the film further, Paramount and IMAX held a fan event across several theaters in the US that offered fans an exclusive first look at the film. The show started at 7, but fans were already forming a long line outside the theater an hour early as it was first come first serve. But they didn't have to wait long, as viewers were let in early to admire the concept art and props that were displayed in front of the theater before the screening began. Posters were also given from the film such as the infamous robot Geisha from the first trailer and the even more infamous Batou cybernetic eyes.

By the time everyone were seated in the massive IMAX theater the screening was finally about to start but not before a surprise appearance by Rupert Sanders who told us a little bit about how he got the job and how he use various iterations of the franchise to compose an original story for the film. The screening finally began with the first 12 minutes of the film followed by a short trailer. Not to give too much about the preview away, but if you are already familiar with the scene featuring the robot geisha’s, the you already saw a good chunk of the preview Nonetheless, it was a fun and action packed scene to watch, especially in IMAX.. The preview wasn’t the end of this event though, as several fans who exited the theater were able to meet the Sanders and some even able to get a photo or autograph.

All in all, the event was a fun experience with fun gifts and fun surprises. Having a event for a film with such a niche audience alone was especially fun and being able to see several fans of different demographics, young and old is what make going to these events the most fun.

Ghost in the Shell, the live action film adaptation of the long running anime franchises, debuts March 31.

Gatchaman, the superhero movie that almost was

So originally I was gonna talk about the new Power Rangers movie and the trailer that came out, but after procrastinating and being so busy I feel the hype of the trailer has died down and figured I will instead talk about something just as good, Gatchaman and it's movie that was never made

What is Gatchamam?

In case you don't know, Gatchaman was basically Power Rangers before Power Rangers. It was an anime made in the 1970s about five teenagers(consist of their leader Ken, Joe, Jun, Ryo, and Jin) who dressed in bird themed spandex to fight an evil terrorist organization named Galactar, lead by the evil Berg Katse and mysterious alien Leader X. The anime lasted for 105 episodes and led to two more sequel series Gatchaman 2 and Gatchaman F. The series was adapted in 1976 by Sandy Frank renamed Battle of the Planets and again as G-force: Guardians of Space. Long story short, both adaptations were known for toning down the violence and giving it a more sci-fi feel. Even though this series didn't gain the same popularity as the most early anime in the US such as Speed Racer and Voltron, the series still gained a small cult following in the US which led to a comic book series by Top Cow, along with the series re-released and uncut for the fist time in 2006.

It was around this time that Imagi studios(the studio behind the films TMNT and Astro Boy) also announced that they were in the process of making an animated feature based on the property. This was proudly promoted by the studio with early posters, promotional events, and teaser trailers. Despite the promotion though, behind the scenes the movie suffered from major symptoms of development hell. From the start of the announcement, the film suffered rewrites and director changes up until the studio shutdown in 2009, before the Gatchaman movie being released. Fortunately though their have been several concept art and animatic that made it's way online that helped give fans a good grasp of what the movie entailed.

The Trailers

Let's first start with two of the teaser trailers released online during the development of the movie. Similar to Pixar trailers, these teasers didn't give tell too much about the actual movie, but were more like shorts that gave us a good idea about the movie. The first one is features the team thwarting what looks like a robbery attempt by Galactor, While the second shows the team stopping a giant robot from terrorizing the city.

The second batch of trailers are a little more interesting since it features scenes taken from what little they finished off the movie and offered an idea of what the plot may have been like. The first one I actually got to see at Anime Expo in 2009. One of the things worth taking from these trailers is that it hints that the character Joe is meant to be the surrogate audience for the film. A few other snippets if an African American Dr.Nambu and a car chase involving Joe.

The Animatics

After Imagi Studios shut down and the movie was cancelled, several animatics and concept art surfaced online that offered us a bigger scope of what the movie was about. There was an animatic reel on Vimeo that feature a huge chunk of the film. It showed a flashback of Joe's parents being assassinated by Galactor, followed by his discovering the team while on a rooftop for some reason, the introduction to a more menacing Berg Katse, discovering the the team's airship the God Phoenix. Unfortunately, I have been trouble finding this video again so until then you will have to use your imagination. But the clips do further confirm Joe character was meant to be the surrogate audience as a lot of the clips implies he is the last to be recruited and a lot of the animatics seem to focus on him.

Fortunately though. on YouTube there is one more animatic that appears to be the climax of the film. In the clip, the team activate the God Phoenix Fiery mode to destroy a mecha that was crash landing towards the city.

Lets Put It Together

So with the information we have, how about we try to put together a full summary of movie might of been

• I'm guessing the first scene of the movie will be the flashback of Joe and his parents assassination by Galactor. Followed by his discovery of the team on the rooftop
• The next scene is possibly the team individually trying to recruit Joe to the team
• Joe then gets arrested, I'm guessing it has to do with the car chase scene involving Joe and the weapons dealers. Instead of going to jail, Joe is taken to the Gatchaman base where he meets Dr.Nambu and most likely told who exactly this team is and where he fits into all of it.
• The base is attacked by Galactor where Dr.Nambu is kidnapped but believed to be dead by the team.
• The team eventually come across the God Pheonix. Is is also around this time that Joe officialy joins the team.
• The team use the God Pheonix to destroy Galactors mech and the live happily ever after

Conclusion
It was a shame this movie never saw the light of day. Besides a parody done in a Sonic the Hedgehog comic, this was one the things that Gatchaman. But with it being a pretty niche property, see why trying to get it off the ground was such a hard thing for the studio. Gatchaman eventually did get a live action feature film in japan along with a anime reboot around 2013 and the animation studio Nelvana also annouce last year plans to make an new series based of the Battle of the Planets dub but not much has surfaced since the announcement.

But every now and then, I can't help but wonder what it would be like if this Imagi film actually got released. Would the film just come and go with a modest box office result like the last two Imagi films, or would have been the thing that could revitalize the franchise here in the west.

Need help drawing, try these guys.

One of the best ways to help yourself when having trouble draw is watching others perform their own craft, and one of the best places to sources for that is of course Youtube. Whether you need help with perspective drawing or a little help with getting the eyes right on your favorite anime character, YouTube has thousand of channels where dozens of artists have taken the time to offer there help.






Art of Wei(https://www.youtube.com/user/WeiWorks)

With the power of his graphite pencil. Wei provides us with a wide array of tutorials such as drawing simple anime/cartoon characters to much more detailed work such as celebrity faces and objects. Wei does a good job at showing how using simple shapes can help bring out the best out of any drawing and help get you started in creating objects and figures.





Mangaka X(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrtQEUI5xtlfPcO8xJYO-Fg)

Ever wonder how your favorite mangaka drew his characters, well you may be able to find out thanks to the channel Mnagaka X. Mangaka X has several videos of well known manga artist such as Yu-Gi-Oh! artist Kazuki Takahashi and Dragonball Akira Toriyama drawing there most well known characters from start to finish. One of the fun things about this channel is that you get to see each artist has a different approach to drawing which shows that there is no one set way to draw a human figure. This channel is pretty new and doesn't update consistently, but it is still worth the look.



Jake Parker(https://www.youtube.com/user/jakeparker44)

Jake Parker has several videos of him drawing cute and whimsical illustrations of monster and robot. But if you were to ask most who already familiar with his channel this is not the reason most come to his channel. While drawing his cute little robots he, will also give advice on several artist related topics such as freelancing, what to do with old sketchbooks, and plenty more. It is because of this, that Jake Parkers channels is perfect for up and coming illustrators and artist.




Of course these are only a handful of artist out there on YouTube. If there is any problems any artist is facing in terms of finding tutorials, then YouTube is one of the best place to find simple to in-depth advice.

Is the term "cult flm" changing(again)?

Nowadays if you ask someone what a cult film is, the most likely answer is probably a movie like Donnie Darko. I mean of course for most people a cult film is just a film that is vintage and low budget right? But is it possible for other movies to become a cult film, like maybe Transformers? Sure it may not be low budget, but it does fit the bill.




First we should define what a cult film actually is,  a cult film is by strict definition a film that has a small but dedicated fanbase despite a films critic reception. Over the years though the meaning has changed with films such as Rocky Horror Picture, Labyrinth, and Donnie Darko gaining cult status. It is because these particular films and others like them gaining the status that there is a somewhat misconception that cult films are. It can be easily believed that cult films have to be either from the 80s, quirky and bizarre, or a independent low budget film. This isn't entirely the case since not every film with those symptoms have gone on to be remembered as cult classics.

Which then leads to my argument, if by definition a movie that a rocky horror musical can also be a cult film such as a big budget franchise like the Transformers series. As we mention before, a cult film is a film that has a strong following despite reviews. Despite their sequels getting less and less reviews, the transformers film franchise stills seems to have its number of fans that allow the series to continue. It doesn't stop there a lot of other films such as Jupiter Ascending and even the DC films such as Batman V Superman is gaining quite the following despite it's initial reception.

  

Of course in the end time will also tell. Like Labyrinths, most films gain a cult status long after it's initial release. And while a lot of these films are off to a good start, it is to wonder if they will be fondly remembered ten year later.

Digimon Pre-Adventure Part 2

With 14 days left until the English release of Tri it's probably a good time for me to finish part 2 of the Digimon Pre-adventure series. This is a small series where I talk about a few of the digimon materials that were released before Digimon became an actual hit thanks to the Adventure anime. Basically the time when Metalgreymon was Blue instead orange.

If you want to read the first part you can do so here http://brainnonsense.blogspot.com/2016/08/digimon-pre-adventure-part-1.html




The Game

Digimon World debut in 1998 in Japan, but came out internationally around the time Adventure became popular and was a good mix of what Digimon became known for while still staying true to the virtual pets. The game featured the player being transported to the digital world to help out File Island. As I mentioned this game came out internationally when everyone was way more familiar with the anime than they were with the pets. This included me as well, while a loved getting to explore the eccentric digital world with my digimon like the kids in the show, I was taken a back by the digivolution system. unlike the show you couldn't automatically evolve Agumon to Greymon with a digivice and had to stop exploring to properly care for unless you want a Numemon( which happened more times than I can count.)

Despite it's flaws and glitches though the game became a cult hit with fans and Bandai eventually got  wind of this and released spiritual successors with Digimon World Re:Digitalze for the Vita and Digimon World: Next Order.

                                       

The Pilot Movie

Like the game the digimon movie came out internationally much later than it did in Japan. Internationally, the movie came out along with the following two films as one movie sometime around Adventure 02 was airing. In japan though, this movie came out a week before the actual anime and acted as sort of a pilot for the show.

In case you don't remember the story it involved a young Tai and Kari meeting there first digimon(a Koromon) four years before the series started. Hilarity ensues as the kids try to keep the monster under control until it grows too big for it's own good and begins to wander around town and soon began a fight with a wild digimon.


Like the Hurricane Touchdown movie, this film also offered a new tone not found within the anime. The movie was less of a shounen anime and reminded me more of movies like ET or Where The Wild Things Are as the the film focuses on the child like wonders of befriending a monster followed by the dangerous consequences.

What was probably the weirdest thing I took from this movie that still has me questioning it today was creating an agumon that was 10 times larger than was in they are known for. At first I figured that it was they're way of spectacle to the movie by presenting something you wouldn't find in the show, but after finding out it this actually served as the pilot, I do wonder if the original intent was to have rookie level digimon this size. The only problem with that theory though is that rookie levels from manga and games have been implied to be smaller and with not a lot of behind the scenes information, it's still up in the air how much was planned before and after the movie was made for the anime series. But it's still fun to speculate.

And now the real Adventure

A week after that the rest is history, Adventure debut on TV in japan, along with it coming out internationally shortly afterwards. The anime helped put digimon in the same league of other kids franchises with several other games, movies, and more merchandise to follow. And pretty soon, US fans will get to properly celebrate it's 15th anniversary with the English dub of Tri premiering this month. It will be fun to see the movie in theaters and I hope the event will bring the same excitement I had seeing the first episode on Fox Kids.

Trailer Friday

One thing that helps a tiring week a bit more enjoyable is finding new trailers on YouTube. I am sure I am not the only movie fan that at the end of the day will type "trailer 2016" and come across a few trailers that for movies you are either already excited about or ones you didn't even know were coming out next week.




Morgan

Despite the fact that I do love superhero/comic book films, it does seem lately that it's our only outlet nowadays for action or Sci-Fi movies. Fortunately there are still original movies still trying to come out and the one that has me intrigue the most is Morgan. From what I can understand, this film involves a corporate troubleshooter having to meet with a genetically created human Morgan and decide whether she a threat. This only the second trailer released so there isn't really anything new that you wouldn't find in the first trailer.


Death Note Light Up the New World

To celebrate its anniversary, Death Note has made a resurgence in the media realm. With a new TV drama, the American adaption finally in motion, and a new sequel for there film series that was released 10 years ago. Light Up the New World takes places in present days after the events of the first two films and like the franchise itself, Death Notes are making a come back. With six death notes appear on earth, it is up to L's apparent successor to track them and a new Kira down before it's too late.




Guardians

Its seems that Russia is trying to cash in on the success of superhero movies in the west with the Guardians. Like the Death Note trailer this is the debut of the English trailer for the film. The trailer suggest it is about a team of either genetically created or enhanced humans who have to come together to fight an ancient threat. After seeing and loving the movie Night watch (which is considered to be Russia first high budget blockbuster, I have been waiting to see more European films take a crack at a Hollywood style film. And while I wasn't too impressed with what I saw before, this new trailer has me intrigued.


Rings

Samara returns and has upgraded her cursed video for the modern age as it seems she has converted her video to an MP4 and uploaded it online for new naïve victims to view. This one caught my interest because I had no idea there was a new one being made. Most likely because I don't pay to close attention to horror movies. Either way, finding out this movie is coming out is a somewhat nice surprise.


That's it for this week. Hopefully and surely there will be more to come so this can be a weekly thing.

Suicide Squad: The Expectations of Outsiders

One of the top summer films I was looking forward to was released a few weeks ago and with along with rumors of cut scenes, supposed multiple cuts, and early bad reviews, reception has become pretty mixed. If you were to ask me though, despite some flaws, this film did a good job at what I was hoping the film would do. Present these known baddies in as more than just criminals and use there known tropes and quirks as a means to separate itself from other superhero films.

These characters have a heart(well not all of them)

It can be argued that after the series Seinfeld, jerk ass characters became the norm for a lot of characters. several series and characters such as Archer, Deadpool, and even Rick and Morty have became popular for their use of characters that aren't the typical good guys that you see such action series and instead people who love to break the rules, swear, and show us how great it is to be a jerk. As interesting as these kind of characters were when I first discovered them, I got bored of it really fast. Eventually it just felt like all they had to make a jerk-ass anti-hero was kill a guy, make a vulgar pun or joke, and people loved it. Either that or make the jerk characters have so much insecurities and inner turmoil that they become a bummer like Bojack Horseman. Which is why it became a concern with me when it came to this movie. After all, a movie involving DC's most well known and popular villains for a wide audience was DC chance to cash in on this trope. Fortunately, that wasn't so much the case with Suicide Squad. While the beginning of the film and even trailers focused on the snarky and humor side of these characters, by the time they entered Mid Way City for their first mission became a different story. As the story goes on, the fast-like humor is drop as the characters start to warm up to each other and even visibly show actual. The film also makes an attempt to show that these guys don't necessary want to or even like to be villains but are because of bad choices leading them to a dark hole that is hard to get out of or because society treating them like such outsiders to a point that the feel that their purpose in life is to be the bad guy.

With several other that would rather glamorizing jerk like tendencies, it was nice and even a bit heartwarming to see characters to show that they have a heart that slowly grows throughout the film.


Magick


The Number one thing that got me looking forward to this movie and is still my number one thing about it was the use of the supernatural and magick. When it comes to a lot of superhero movies, heroes are mostly pit against adversary that are basically their superpower doppelganger. Krptonian vs Kryptonian, Super Soldier vs Super Soldier, Iron Man vs yet another business man in a tech suit. Even when we get villain that is different from the hero it tends to be someone who's powers are either otherworldly or science based. It seems that a lot of superheroes films tend to shy away from using elements that are fantasy based. Things such as the Mandarin rings are non-existence in his film debut and even Thor's magic aesthetic in films has been changed to have more of a sci-fi feel to it. This is probably the first movie since Hellboy that I have seen a comic book movie use occult magic played straight within a film and not only that have it faced against characters who have no real experience with the supernatural. It is this that makes the movie stand out pretty well against most superhero films as of late.(At least until Dr Strange comes out I'm sure)

Harley Quinn

I was never a huge fan of Harley Quinn.  For the longest time and kinda even now she is just known for being the Joker's girlfriend which can make her feel like a one note character. It's because of that I really had no interest in attempting to see more of here out side of here debut in Batman: The Animated Series. Since she was included in this movie, I had no choice but to see this character again. But to be honest I'm glad they included her because I felt this was a good opportunity to see the character in a different light and not tied too much to the Joker. In the end I think it work out well. As many can tell she no longer has too much of here clown aesthetic and to extent neither does the Joker. I think this was a good way to have two characters who are a couple able to two still be recognize as different people, similar to how parents stop dressing their set of twins in the same clothes.

Also I may be one of the few that is glad that the alleged extended Joker scenes were cut. While I understand that the Joker should be in the film due the fact that he is responsible for the creation of Harley's path to villainy, I don't think we need to be reminded that the two are in an on-off relationship in great detail yet again . And I said before, the less Joker, the more Harley has the chance to shine and develop into someone that is more than just girl-Joker.

Expectations
Is seems that the theme of this movie was expectations, Society of this films world only expect the worst of the Squad the same way some expected the worst from this film because of how different they are. But both the characters and this film showed that they there differences is what made them stand out from the rest and became the strong point for the film and characters.