I missed last week, which sucks, but I want to at least make a short post this week since I want to try and do this weekly!! Aaah!!!!!
My class schedule is pretty booked and my one seminar is a lot of work but it's a really cool seminar so I'm going to explain it. It's a project-based class where we are combing the archives of the university to find examples of black students in the past who may have been ignored or actively "erased" from the university's records. The professor is this dope guy who makes the majority of the white people in the class uncomfortable by dropping one liners like "black bodies are the defining commodity of America" and it's the best!!!
I also started my new part-time job at a supermarket deli and it's exhausting and draining but not as exhausting or draining as the movie theater I worked at!!!!! AAAAHHH!!!!!!
LIFE IS HAAARD!!!!!!!!!
Friday, January 31, 2020
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Worm's Delve into Lupin - 1/?
Lupin the Third is a series I've always been super interested in. It has a slick style and all the characters are cool as hell. Up until a few weeks ago, however, I'd only ever watched a few scattered episodes of the anime, mostly stuff from part 1 and part 5 with a good friend of mine. I decided that I might as well get into the series sooner rather than later, and I sat down and watched some of the short-form stuff. Specifically Castle of Cagliostro, Jigen's Gravestone, Goemon's Bloodspray, and Fujiko Mine's Lie.
Something I have always appreciated about Lupin is the fact that, as a franchise, It's almost impossible to go wrong with entry points. Every character is so efficiently designed that, when I first looked at key art of them, I felt like I knew their whole deal, and the general premise is just so easy to get and enjoy. It's just "watch this goofy gang of cool characters get into crime-related shenanigans, occasionally goofy occasionally serious." Which for a series like Lupin that is focused way more on the shenanigans and aesthetic over deep character development and intricate, thought provoking themes on the level of your Serial Experiments Lains or Tatami Galaxys is good. I love that I can show people the cast of Lupin and they can point at one of the main characters and go "Wow they look cool as hell."
So yeah, this is going to be me chronicling my dive into Lupin. However many blog posts this takes only time will tell, but I'm excited regardless. We're gonna go in the order that I watched things, which for the OVAs is going to be funny because I watched them in reverse order, and still haven't watched the anime continuity they're a part of, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. I'll be giving arbitrary number ratings to each of them, so I'll put my usual ratings guideline here for posterity, since this is the first post of its kind on my blog. I rate things very squarely based on emotional response I have. If I rate it a 7 or higher I recommend it. Also, themes/story/characters are slightly more important to me than visuals, but visuals will still bump a score up if they are that good, think something like the movie Redline.
10 (Incredible): an absolute favorite of mine. I probably cried a lot, and I revisit it a lot. Makes me big think often.
9 (Fantastic): Probably made me cry or think a lot. Enjoyed very much.
8 (Great): Something I really liked a lot. Excels in at least one area that isn't story whilw
7 (Good): A series I liked a fair bit.
6 (Fine): A series that was fine and that I enjoyed enough.
5 (Okay): A series that was a-ok in my books. Probably fell short of my expectations.
4 (Eh): A series that fell very short.
3 (Ehh): Ehhhhh
2 (Bad): Self explanatory.
1 (Terrible): Terrible.
I'm gonna be real here for a hot minute, I really like this movie but it feels super overrated. So many people tout this as a masterpiece when it's really just like, a Good Movie. I watched this one twice, once with the 1991 dub with David Hayter and another time a week later with the Japanese dub and accurate subtitles.
We follow Lupin and Jigen, swiftly joined by Goemon, on a whimsical adventure through the fictional country of Cagliostro as they hunt for the mythical "Goat Bills," counterfeit money so good it's better than real money. They swiftly run into both Fujiko and Zenigata, but also a deep, history spanning conspiracy of espionage and illuminati-level government control. Wild stuff.
The 1991 dub is pretty in-tone with the movie, but ruins a bunch of key scenes with really weird script changes. It turns Lupin into slightly more of a do-gooder than the JP script. I had a lot of fun with it regardless. When I watched the JP version I had a way better time, though. The JP script has less lines, and therefore makes a lot of the really impactful ones hit harder, letting moments of silence breathe in a way the 1991 dub does not.
Something I have always appreciated about Lupin is the fact that, as a franchise, It's almost impossible to go wrong with entry points. Every character is so efficiently designed that, when I first looked at key art of them, I felt like I knew their whole deal, and the general premise is just so easy to get and enjoy. It's just "watch this goofy gang of cool characters get into crime-related shenanigans, occasionally goofy occasionally serious." Which for a series like Lupin that is focused way more on the shenanigans and aesthetic over deep character development and intricate, thought provoking themes on the level of your Serial Experiments Lains or Tatami Galaxys is good. I love that I can show people the cast of Lupin and they can point at one of the main characters and go "Wow they look cool as hell."
Jigen is my favorite.
For the uninitiated, you have the titular Lupin the Third
(center), who is the "gadget guy." The face of the series and a goofy
guy, he's canonically related to French character Arsene Lupin.
Then you have Daisuke Jigen (right of Lupin), the "gun guy." He's the
best gunman in the world (unless he isn't.) Ishikawa Goemon (the samurai
looking guy to the left of Lupin). He's the "cool one," a samurai who
doesn't kill unless absolutely necessary. Lupin crosses paths frequently
with femme fatale Fujiko Mine (the only woman in the image below).
She's like, the best of all of the trio. A cool, sexy, badass woman
adept with gadgets and guns, she frequently outsmarts Lupin. The two
have an on-off thing going on. More off than on, really. Finally you
have Inspector Zenigata (far left), an Interpol agent constantly on the
hunt for Lupin. They're all just the best.
So yeah, this is going to be me chronicling my dive into Lupin. However many blog posts this takes only time will tell, but I'm excited regardless. We're gonna go in the order that I watched things, which for the OVAs is going to be funny because I watched them in reverse order, and still haven't watched the anime continuity they're a part of, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. I'll be giving arbitrary number ratings to each of them, so I'll put my usual ratings guideline here for posterity, since this is the first post of its kind on my blog. I rate things very squarely based on emotional response I have. If I rate it a 7 or higher I recommend it. Also, themes/story/characters are slightly more important to me than visuals, but visuals will still bump a score up if they are that good, think something like the movie Redline.
10 (Incredible): an absolute favorite of mine. I probably cried a lot, and I revisit it a lot. Makes me big think often.
9 (Fantastic): Probably made me cry or think a lot. Enjoyed very much.
8 (Great): Something I really liked a lot. Excels in at least one area that isn't story whilw
7 (Good): A series I liked a fair bit.
6 (Fine): A series that was fine and that I enjoyed enough.
5 (Okay): A series that was a-ok in my books. Probably fell short of my expectations.
4 (Eh): A series that fell very short.
3 (Ehh): Ehhhhh
2 (Bad): Self explanatory.
1 (Terrible): Terrible.
Lupin the Third: the Castle of Cagliostro
I'm gonna be real here for a hot minute, I really like this movie but it feels super overrated. So many people tout this as a masterpiece when it's really just like, a Good Movie. I watched this one twice, once with the 1991 dub with David Hayter and another time a week later with the Japanese dub and accurate subtitles.
We follow Lupin and Jigen, swiftly joined by Goemon, on a whimsical adventure through the fictional country of Cagliostro as they hunt for the mythical "Goat Bills," counterfeit money so good it's better than real money. They swiftly run into both Fujiko and Zenigata, but also a deep, history spanning conspiracy of espionage and illuminati-level government control. Wild stuff.
The 1991 dub is pretty in-tone with the movie, but ruins a bunch of key scenes with really weird script changes. It turns Lupin into slightly more of a do-gooder than the JP script. I had a lot of fun with it regardless. When I watched the JP version I had a way better time, though. The JP script has less lines, and therefore makes a lot of the really impactful ones hit harder, letting moments of silence breathe in a way the 1991 dub does not.
Two bros just chillen in Europe.
One thing I will absolutely give this movie credit for is the visuals. Hayao Miyazaki directing a pretty movie is a given, but the backgrounds are gorgeous and there's some wonderful shots. Actually like, watching it is a wonderful experience. The story is punchy and fun and has a conclusion that was not what I expected but I am happy it had. It's a movie that I feel I could comfortably show just about anyone who is okay with subtitles. A goofy, fun romp with an instantly lovable cast and lacking in a single dull moment. A solid 7/10 in my books.
Lupin the Third: Fujiko Mine's Lie
This one is weird. It's the most recent Lupin OVA to come out and I had fun with it. These OVAs are all huge tonal whiplash from Cagliostro, but that's part of the fun of Lupin, I feel. Goofy castle swordfights one adventure, strange supernatural hitmen the next. Which is, smooth segue, the plot of this OVA is about Fujiko on the run from a hitman trying to extract the location of $500 million from a boy she is protecting. You get a nice look into Fujiko as a character and as a caretaker in this one. You also get to watch her womanly charms, her "poison," at her best.
Gorgeous key art.
This one was really fun until the last like, 10 minutes or so. It was already kinda slow and contemplative with a lot of quiet moments, but the ending took a left turn into weird stuff for a little bit that I felt kinda flubbed the landing. It was still cool though. I like the titular "lie" quite a bit.
One thing I cannot overstate is how gorgeous these OVAs are. Having watched some of Part 4, and clips from the series these OVAs are connected to, this is one of the series' best aesthetics. The colors pop and the animation is drool-worthy at times; the characters are slick looking, sporting more modern-feeling styles that just look good. The definition of eye candy.
Lupin losing the coat and Jigen rolling his sleeves up is just so COOL.
Watching this one first was weird, since it's the most recent one to come out and touches on plot points from the first two that I had not experienced. It's still really easy to follow, though. I have this one at a cool 6/10 on Myanimelist. Maybe a 7/10 later on after some thought.
Lupin the Third: The Bloodspray of Ishikawa Goemon
This OVA is cool as hell. Like, I don't even know really what to say about it. It's just like, really good and really cool. It follows Goemon who was hired by a crime syndicate as a bodyguard attempting to track down and kill a man responsible for the death of his boss. Real samurai code stuff. What follows is an adrenaline-fueled OVA with some truly badass swordplay and a final fight that is legendarily cool.
He's so cool.
Goemon himself always feels super enigmatic, and this OVA is no exception. It isn't focused on his inner monologues, and he barely speaks. However, you can, just like Goemon, feel the intent. He's a driven, quiet man, and it's so cool to watch his story unfold in this OVA.
The titular "bloodspray" is also well worth the price of admission. The last fourth of the OVA is a veritable fountain of blood as one of the most engaging sequences in all of the anime I've ever watched plays out, Goemon unsheathing his sword and going against his vow to not kill is a spectacle to behold.
It's just raspberry jam, he swears.
Something that this OVA and the Jigen OVA (as well as the Fujiko one, to a lesser extent) does well is the antagonists. The main antagonist of this OVA is a brutish, reckless, monster of a man, one who relies on his strength, a super cool parallel to Goemon's dextrous, efficient style where no movement feels wasted, no effort feels expended. All-in-all, it's a wonderful, visceral, drop-dead-gorgeous looking, and all-together adrenaline-pumping ride. An incredibly strong 8/10.
Lupin the Third: The Gravestone of Daisuke Jigen
The last OVA I watched, and the first chronologically, Jigen's Gravestone is weird. I like it a lot, I really do, but there's some hangups I have with it that keep it from being as good as the Goemon OVA. You'd think, with Jigen being my favorite, that this would then be my favorite OVA of the bunch! But it is not.
No cool key art this time, but at least Jigen still looks sick.
This one follows Jigen and Lupin as they attempt to outwit an assassin who has targeted Jigen. Said assassin makes graves for all his targets before they die, predicting their date of death. Hence the titular "gravestone." What follows is a tense, somewhat overlong game of cat and mouse. I say overlong because this OVA involves Fujiko quite a bit, and she spends an inordinate amount of time in this OVA bootycheeks-naked under threat of sexual assault. My buddy and I kept begging for her scenes to end. And they do, and the resolution to her plot is cool enough, there's just an uncomfortable amount of screentime dedicated to it. Not a dealbreaker though.
Like the Goemon OVA, the antagonist of this one rivals Jigen in prowess. An incredibly efficient sniper with a quick draw to put Jigen to shame, he's one cool guy. Watching him and Jigen duel it out is awesome, thought not quite as cool as Goemon's showdown in Bloodspray.
Such a badass.
At the end of the day, though, this OVA is worth it. Like Fujiko's and Goemon's, the visuals are just to die for. Smooth animation, crisp colors and lines, a killer visual aesthetic, what's not to love? These OVAs feel like a love letter to a series I've only dipped my toe into, and I still love them to pieces, really. Gravestone gets a strong 7/10 to a light 8/10 from me, points docked mostly for the Fujiko plot.
What's Next For the Worm?
So, I have plans to watch part 4 with the same friend I watched the OVAs with, and part 5 with my wonderful girlfriend. I'm going to watch parts 1, 2, and 3 eventually, but for now I'm craving the same visual flair and serious tone of the OVAs, so I'm planning on biting into The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. I know it's super divisive, with people deriding the over-serious tone and pretentious presentation, but hey I love me some pretentious bullshit.
- Janurary 15th, 2020
Friday, January 10, 2020
Hello, Worm.
So, I've decided to start a blog. I like writing, and I like talking
about stuff I love, so fuck it why not. Especially since I'm going to be
trying to get into a bunch of good habits this upcoming year, so adding
"one blog post a week" sounds like just another good thing to keep me
occupied.
This year, on top of my really nice class schedule, I'm trying to work ~30 hours a week (need that moolah) and read at least 30 mins a day. I also would like to get in either a volume of manga/comic books or a 30-minute episode of anime or TV in a day. Obviously for reading I'm hopefully going to hit more than 30 minutes, but hey who knows!
I also want to try and downsize my time spent on social media and technology. I'm gonna be playing League of Legends around two to three times a week, but outside of hanging out with friends I don't want to be playing too many video games. I feel it would be more proactive to put my time spent playing video games towards either reading, writing, or working on videos.
I just want to be, in general, thinking less about technology. Which, to me basically means just moving over to the dark side and using Apple products. I got myself a nice MacBook Pro so I can just open it, use it for what I need, and close it without needing to mess around with my huge-ass Windows laptop. I am going to be trying to get an iPhone since those things are idiot-proof and less "complicated" than Androids.
I also want to write more, hence the blog. But I also want to write more fiction. My goal, by the end of the year, is to hit 50k+ words written of pure fiction. I'm going to be writing plenty of nonfiction by virtue of my class load this upcoming semester, but fiction is always fun and I always wish I that I write more so like, why not.
On top of all of that shit I am going to be watching what I eat and trying to get some more movement into my daily schedule. No more soda! Also keeping my finances more in check. Buying less stuff, especially less food. All that fun, starry-eyed New Years Resolution-type bullshittery.
What else, what else. Nothing else I really think I need to put on the table. So this in turn begs the question, what will I blog about? Who knows! But I will blog about something. That much I know.
- Jan 10th, 2020
This year, on top of my really nice class schedule, I'm trying to work ~30 hours a week (need that moolah) and read at least 30 mins a day. I also would like to get in either a volume of manga/comic books or a 30-minute episode of anime or TV in a day. Obviously for reading I'm hopefully going to hit more than 30 minutes, but hey who knows!
I also want to try and downsize my time spent on social media and technology. I'm gonna be playing League of Legends around two to three times a week, but outside of hanging out with friends I don't want to be playing too many video games. I feel it would be more proactive to put my time spent playing video games towards either reading, writing, or working on videos.
I just want to be, in general, thinking less about technology. Which, to me basically means just moving over to the dark side and using Apple products. I got myself a nice MacBook Pro so I can just open it, use it for what I need, and close it without needing to mess around with my huge-ass Windows laptop. I am going to be trying to get an iPhone since those things are idiot-proof and less "complicated" than Androids.
I also want to write more, hence the blog. But I also want to write more fiction. My goal, by the end of the year, is to hit 50k+ words written of pure fiction. I'm going to be writing plenty of nonfiction by virtue of my class load this upcoming semester, but fiction is always fun and I always wish I that I write more so like, why not.
On top of all of that shit I am going to be watching what I eat and trying to get some more movement into my daily schedule. No more soda! Also keeping my finances more in check. Buying less stuff, especially less food. All that fun, starry-eyed New Years Resolution-type bullshittery.
What else, what else. Nothing else I really think I need to put on the table. So this in turn begs the question, what will I blog about? Who knows! But I will blog about something. That much I know.
- Jan 10th, 2020
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