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Saturday, June 27, 2015

Simoun

Simoun is a 2006 anime made by Studio Deen and directed by Junji Nishimura. It takes place on the planet Daikariu, a world in which everyone is biologically born female. When they reach the age of seventeen, the denizens of this world embark on a pilgrimage to a holy spring, where they are given the opportunity to either stay female or become male. One of the nations of this world, the theocracy Simulacrum, has grown to prosperity thanks to its monopoly on the advanced helical technology. As a consequence of this, Simulacrum is under attack by the allied forces of the nations Argentum and Plumbum, both of which wants to steal this technology for their own uses. Simulacrum is defended by priestesses known as Sibyllae, who flies into battle in advanced airships called Simoun. The anime follows one fleet of Simoun; Chor Tempest, as its members deal with the war as well as their relationship with each other.



Simoun's biggest asset is without a doubt its cast of characters. The members of Chor Tempest all have distinct personalities, their quirks and foibles are portrayed well and they are, all in all, easy to get attached to. I think my favorite character was Mamiina, she starts out as a pretty dislikable character, but even then I thought she was interesting. Her resentment towards Rodoraemon and her willingness to do whatever it took to get ahead while not justified, are at least somewhat understandable once her backstory comes to light. Point is, Mamiina is not a jerk just for the sake of being a jerk and as the show progresses, Mamiina's more positive traits becomes more and more apparent and she ends up being what is probably Simoun's most empathetic character. That said, I could easily have picked Neviril, or Rodoraemon or Paraietta as my favorite. As I said, the characterization on this show is very good.



On the visual side of things, Simoun may not be as exciting as some other anime I've seen, but I still thought the visuals were good: I found the aerial-sequences to be thrilling and the character-designs appealing. As for the soundtrack, its of a consistently high quality, with the music reflecting the mood of what's happening very well.
If I have any criticisms against Simoun, I guess it would be that the actual plot evolving the war is not quite as interesting as the characters or the setting of the show. Don't get me wrong, the plot isn't bad or anything, but its not exactly amazing either.

Some of the characters who are identified as male are clearly voiced by women. I think I understand the reason for this, but it was still pretty distracting at first.
A word of warning: There's a lot of kissing going on in Simoun. So, if you have a problem with that, I wouldn't recommend watching the show.

To the rest of you, though, Simoun comes warmly recommended. If I ever do an expanded version of my Top Animated Shows list, it'd definitely be on it somewhere.




Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Comics That Should Be Translated: Murena



Its the year 54 AD. The emperor Claudius rules over the Roman Empire, while planning to have his son, Britannicus, inherit the position when he's gone. However, Claudius' wife, Agrippina has other plans: She would much rather have her own son from a previous marriage, Nero, installed on the throne, so that she can rule the empire through him.
Lucius Murena is a young patrician, whose mother Lollia, secretly happens to be the Emperor's lover. When Agrippina learns of Claudius' and Lollia's relationship, she decided that the latter must be done away with, especially since Claudius is planning to divorce Agrippina and have her and her son sent into exile. Lucius, who is a friend of Nero's, decide to plead with the latter for his mother's life, but will Nero be able to stand up to Agrippina?





The above describes some of the events that occur in the first volume of Murena, a French comic written by Jean Dufaux and drawn by Philippe Delaby. The history of ancient Rome is a topic that has fascinated writers for centuries; from William Shakespeare to Robert Graves and Colleen McCullough and has helped spawn such great works of literature as I, Claudius and The Masters of Rome among others. Murena is just as rich a work as any of the aforementioned master-pieces and is warmly recommended to anyone with an interest in historical fiction.



Jean Dufaux is one of the most prolific writers of European comics today, his work can be a bit hit-or-miss (he wrote the Blake & Mortimer comic The Septimus Wave, which I consider to be the absolute nadir of that classic series). With Murena, however, Dufaux has definitely struck lightning. The comic especially shines when it comes to its cast of characters, each one interesting in their own way. As is perhaps expected, the characters who can be described as good are outnumbered by the bad ones. There is no shortage of villains in this comic, from schemers like Agrippina and Poppaea to brutes like the bloodthirsty gladiator, Massam. In contrast to these evil-doers, stands characters like the Nubian gladiator Balba, who becomes a loyal servant of Britannicus after the latter pleaded for his life.

As for Lucius Murena, the comic may carry his name, but as the story progresses it becomes more and more evident that he's not its main character. No, that honor goes to none other than Nero, who is also the comic's most interesting haracter. When he's first introduced to the reader, Nero comes across as a pretty sympathetic figure; a teenager who wants to make a name for himself as a poet and who doesn't seem to have any real desire to rule. Of course, we all know that this won't last. It doesn't take long for Agrippina to find a way to make her son into her (albeit, reluctant at first) accomplice, what the empress doesn't count on is that Nero is not going to be quite the subservient puppet she intended him to be.

This post have focused quite a bit on Dufaux' story, but one can't talk about Murena without mentioning Philippe Delaby's artwork, which is nothing short of superb. Sadly, Delaby passed away in 2014. He did manage to finish the ninth volume in the series, though Murena has been stuck in limbo since. Perhaps its for the best, any artist who seek to take up Delaby's pen is sure to have their work cut out for them.




Monday, June 1, 2015

Bloodline

So, I just finished Bloodline, the latest (I think?) original show from Netflix. Man, that was some truly great television; a bit slow in the beginning (unlike say, Wolf Hall, there were moments where I really felt the length of the episodes at times), but once it gained momentum, it never stopped. The last few episodes were some of the most riveting ones I've seen on TV recently.


Ben Mendelsohn plays Danny Rayburn, the estranged oldest son of the well-regarded family, who has returned to settle some old scores. I found Danny to be a very intriguing character, he reminded me a lot of one of literature's greatest avengers: Dumas' Edmond Dantes. Much like the self-styled Count of Monte Cristo, Danny is a character that its easy to feel bad for due to the way his family treated him in the past, but at the same time, he's also a person obsessed with vengeance, no matter the cost. Mendelsohn did a fantastic job playing Danny, making the character at turns charming, sympathetic and menacing. The scenes he shared with his brother (played by Kyle Chandler) were particularly intense and made me think a bit of the rivalry between De Niro and Pacino in the excellent Michael Mann film Heat.

I must say that I'm a bit skeptical to the idea of a second season though. The first season ends on a (frankly, rather cheesy) reveal, but personally, I think I'd have liked it if the creators of the show had just made this a mini-series. Oh, well, I'm still going to give the second season a try and even if it fails, I can at least recommend the first season of Bloodline to anyone in the mood for a good, suspenseful family-drama/revenge-story.