Chit Chat: Iron Man 3

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Anika

Chit chat is a dialogue between two or more of our contributors. It’s done online 99% of the time but you can imagine us discussing it over coffee. Or vodka, depending on the subject material.

Anika: Today we’re talking Iron Man 3. This conversation contains MANY SPOILERS for the film and franchise.

First, did you like it? How much? What grade might you give it?

Ali: I hate the grading system because… I just do. I always make up arbitraty numbers or letters. Like, I give Iron Man 3 a banana because it’s really good but it’s not my most favorite fruit.

Sara: I really, really enjoyed this movie. It exceeded my expectations and I spent such a long time after the movie ended remembering parts that made me happy or gasp out loud or really appreciate the genre that this movie is a part of. Iron Man was the first to kick off the Marvel Cinematic Universe and RDJ has shouldered a lot of weight since the beginning. He’s risen to the occasion and with Iron Man 3, he gave more depth to a Tony we all know well from the comics. I guess I give it an A- because I loved it, but there were weaknesses. And I am totally not as clever as Ali, forever sad about it.

Ali: Bananas aside, I agree with Sara. This installment gave Tony a LOT of depth. And I liked it for that.

Tony has a special room to display his issues.

Anika: I have to agree, this Tony Stark was my favourite Tony Stark other than the one that exists in my head … because he basically is the one that exists in my head. In every previous encounter, including Avengers, Pepper has been my favourite but in this one it was Tony. And it has a lot, if not everything, to do with his anxiety (you are not surprised) — what did you think of that arc?

Ali: I LOVED the panic attacks.

Sara: Tony was on top of the world at the beginning of the Avengers. He had the girl, the renewable energy source, the Iron Man suit, and a arc reactor that wasn’t turning his insides into sludge. He had nowhere to go but down. I really enjoyed his interactions with reality via the panic attacks.

Anika: Do you think that plotline reached a satisfactory conclusion?

Sara: Um, no. But I don’t think it was supposed to. I think that is best left up to Avengers 2, where Tony is going to have to make the concious decision to join up with the people that put him in the position of being lost in space. (I know nothing for sure, this is my guesstimation about what will happen in that movie)

Ali: I mean, it’s a bit tidy at the end because it’s a movie and it has to be. But I like that he’s having a panic attack on his way to fighting the bad guys. And I like that they show him learning to pull himself out of it.

Anika: I agree with both these points. (1) It has to be tied up for the movie but (2) the MCU is an ongoing drama . . . Just like the comic books it’s based on! Imagine that!

Sara: Word.

Ali: I like that while he’s having he first attack, he refuses to believe that’s what’s happening to him. I love Tony for his confidence and his brashness–he permantently has that youthful “I’m invincibleness”. And in this movie, he’s learning that that’s SO not the case anymore. It’s a very basic and very real lesson of growing up. And that’s really what Tony starts to do in this movie.

Anika: Which is interesting because it’s what he thought he was doing in the first movie but “coming of age” is a long journey.

Ali: It’s like Iron Man is “look at me being responsible and shit! I AM AN ADULT”, Iron Man 2 is “I AM AN ADULT YOU GUYS! I DRINK AND BLOW THINGS UP” and Avengers is “fine, I will work with you because I AM A GROWN UP NOW.” and then Iron Man 3 is “holy shit I’m an adult… this sucks.”

Sara: Yes. This movie was Tony in his late twenties.

Ali: Which I love because he should be well beyond that at this point!

Sara: I feel like Tony was in his “college years” for most of his life.

Anika: That’s what happens when you live without boundaries. Which is a great segue into Tony’s boundaries: Pepper and Rhodey. I want to start with Rhodey because I cannot say enough great things about him.

James Rhodes

Ali: I love Rhodey. And I love Don Cheadle. But it’s like when Jim Henson passed away and the Muppets all sounded wrong.

Anika: I sort of felt that way in 2, but not here. Here he owned it.

Sara: What? Why?! I vastly prefer Don Cheadle to Terrence Howard!

Ali: I keep expecting Terrance Howard and Don Cheadle seems to be doig a psuedo impersonation of Howard and it’s weird to me.

Sara: I think Don Cheadle really pulled off the wry and dry comedy that is needed for the role of Rhodey. And the scene with Rhodey and Tony in the resteraunt was everything I ever wanted for a post-Avengers Tony.

Ali: That restuarant scene was perfect.

Anika: I don’t have a preference for Howard or Cheadle — I wasn’t really invested in the character in the first two films. Only in his relationship to Tony. But in this film, well, Rhodey Rox!

Sara: I love how, like Cap, his patriotism and some what old school brand of heroism comes off as sincere and admirable, rather than douchey and two dimensional.

Ali: Yes!

Sara: He’s a perfect foil for the flashy and grandstanding rebel that is Tony and it’s why he works so well in this movie. This narrative was about Tony falling to pieces and needing something to hold onto. Rhodey (and Pepper) is that stability. He is steadfast and true and so very necessary to Tony’s development.

Pepper Potts

Anika: Now Pepper.

Ali: PEPPER FREAKING POTTS

Sara: Bless GP, that woman is flaw-free.

Ali: At the end? With the fire ninja stuff? She’s just the best ever.

Sara: My precious, kickass Pepperpot.

Anika: Y’all know I love Pepper. Pepper has been my girl since the first movie. But…

Ali: I love how at the start of the movie Tony’s all “I have to protect you because I can’t lose you.” And Pepper’s freaking Pepper. She’s capable and can take care of herself AND Tony. And I love, love, LOVE that they let her save him, in a very physical way, not once but TWICE.

Sara: “Got you.” I think that broke me so many times.

Ali: She is the very opposite of a damsel in distress.

Anika: But but but…. she was already. She was that in the first movie. In both the first and second films she literally runs INTO distress to save the day. Everybody loves kickass fire ninja hardcore Pepper and I’m over here all SHE WAS ALREADY PERFECT.

Sara: That’s the thing. Whether she’s in 4 inch Louboutins or overheating in spandex and sports bras, Pepper has always been HBIC. Because, so unlike Tony, she knows that her emotions (her worries, her grasp of reality) are not something to be avoided or buried. They are there to make you strong and that’s why she’s always been a HBIC and she’s always been Tony’s rock, even while she is tearing up or teetoring over the edge of some building. Pepper Potts is a woman that won’t let anything stop her from doing what needs to be done.

Ali: She was and she did. But I think with the other movies, it’s not as apparent to Tony.

Anika: I disagree, in the first she’s the one he counts on and in the second he gives her his company.

Ali: Like she’s saving the day and putting herself in danger, but she’s helping Tony. In this movie, she’s saving Tony.

Sara: Physically, maybe. But I think Pepper is a huge reason why Tony hasn’t expired in a pool of his own vomit. Or why he got up in the morning and did real people things. Pepper has been saving Tony ever since he met her.

Anika: I do love the ‘Got you’ scene but I didn’t love the end as much. “That was really violent” was maybe my favourite line reading in the whole movie but it WAS really violent which felt kinda off.

Sara: It was terrifying.

Anika: Though it may be all tied up in my general dislike of Killian as a villain. For me, the scene plays better in the rewrite in my head…

Ali: Did anyone notice his dragon tattoos? I was totally distracted by them.

Anika: Yeah, they popped out at the end there. I guess because he’s the real Mandarin??

Sara: Ooooooh, I didn’t get that from before.

This is the best image of the tattoos I could find. To make up for it Caroline sent me Guy Pearce with chest hair and tiger cubs.

This is the best image of the tattoos I could find. To make up for it Caroline sent me Guy Pearce unbuttoned with tiger cubs.

Ali: Like, were they there the whole time? Why don’t they blend in with the general fireness of his skin? Do you think he got them when he was still all pimply? Or did he get them because he got all bad ass?

Sara: I’d guess the latter.

Ali: I think he got them right after the roof-top incident. “I’ll show you Tony Stark! Look at my bad-ass dragons!”

Anika: Ahahaha, that is my headcanon now.

Sara: Same.

Anika: So, how strong did you find the villains? Killian, Maya, “Mandarin”?

Mandarin?

Ali: I loved the twist with the Mandarin. I thought it was brilliant. Well, I thought Ben Kingsley as Trevor was brilliant.

Anika: I started to suspect something when they were discussing “the Master” but I really enjoyed that, yes.

Sara: This is just the most brillant of analyses and everyone needs to read this at some point. It says anything I want to say about it.

Ali: I was kinda bummed Maya ended up being Team Bad Guy.

Anika: That’s in my rewrite-the-ending too! There is no reason for her to be dead. And she cared about Tony AND Pepper. I wanted and expected her to come back for the final battle.

Ali: I mean, she wasn’t a bad guy-bad guy. And I can see how she ended up there. But still. I had a sad. I think her getting killed goes back to the “really violent” thing. Killian is REALLY violent. Just insanely so. So I guess that went into establishing that?

Anika: I didn’t get Killian. Or I wanted him to be better I guess. I think the drama was that even Killian 2.0 was not a good enough foil for Tony Stark… But I wish that was more explicit or they played with it more or Tony realized it?

Sara: Charisma is a poor substitute for genius and that is what Killian tried to pull over on everyone.

Ali: I’m kind of glad he wasn’t that great a foil. Because I think we got to see and appreciate more of Tony’s struggle with Tony. I think if they developed Killian and Mandarin more it would have competed too much.

Anika: I don’t think I want more development, I just thought the themes that I was drawn to were too vague? So I don’t know if they were intentional? Which usually doesn’t bother me, but it does here.

Sara: I agree. I kept waiting for a bigger plot or bigger bad, I guess. As it was, I never understood what Killian was getting at.

Anika: Yeah, what was he even trying to do?

Ali: He was evil and trying to take over the world, duh.

No one can grasp my evil plan.

Anika: I must assume the VP plot is on the cutting room floor somewhere because it was super random. Also, unrelated, why did this movie come out in May and not for Christmas?

Sara: To sell the DVD for Christmas?

Ali: Ha! I was thinking the same thing – with all the holiday stuff.

Sara: Yeah, Aldrich even kind of rhymes with the Grinch. If I were more clever, I would rewrite the song with appropriate and funny lyrics. But, alas.

Ali: Look, every bad guy can’t be Loki.

Anika: Hey, I’d settle for Justin Hammer.

Sara: Marvel villians aren’t good enough for me.

Anika: There are two more supporting characters to discuss, Happy and Harley. Aside: Everyone in this movie has a crazy name.

From the junior novelization.

Sara: It’s hilarious to me that with Jon Favereau’s demotion from director also had Happy demoted to even less screentime.

Anika: He had more to do though.

Ali: I was gonna say, Happy actually did stuff in this one!

Anika: He was pretty lovable.

Sara: Happy is always lovable and Tony described him as his best friend. Adorbs and totally insulting to Rhodey. Just what Tony strives in life to do.

Anika: And I liked the kid. I liked that Tony basically treated him like one of his robots, which really is more affection than he affords the average person.

Ali: Ha! He did! The kid took the place of the robot!

Harley is the Tin Dog.

Sara: I loved that comic relief. So needed!

Ali: I love how genius that kid was.

Anika: I liked how normal the town was, too. Like it wasn’t dumbed down or full of freaks just because it was small town Tennessee instead of New York or Malibu. I think the crux of it is I really loved all the details in this movie, but the big picture not as much.

How about we wrap up with favourite moments?

Ali: Pepper and Maya being all serious talking about life and real stuff. I saw it and I was like OMG BECHDEL TEST!

Anika: Passed!

Sara: YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

Ali: HURRAH!

Ali: I was so excited!

Sara: It’s sad how excited we get because it almost never happens.

Ali: I think that’s why I was so upset she ended up being a villain because she had this really great moment with Pepper.

Anika: I am convinced she had a change of heart because of Pepper.

Sara: Her death was just so stupid.

Ali: Joss Whedon TOTES would have killed her.

Sara: Yeah, but in a better way!

Ali: I think Maya was totally honest and real in that conversation. She wasn’t just trying to manipulate Pepper.

Anika: Right! And Pepper surprised her by understanding. And then she sees Killian hurting Pepper and using her… it’s not faith in Tony that changes her mind, it’s Pepper.

Near death experiences change a person.

Anika: Also, I ship it.

Sara: Lol, of course.

Anika: I think the rest of her story was cut too. But she can come back. I will start a petition to put her in an Avengers film.

Sara: Where do I sign?

Anika: Other favourite moments:

Ali: Ummmmmmm……giant bunny?

Sara: Barrel of Monkeys.

Ali: Good one! Puppy dog eyes not working?

Anika: When Tony had empty armor walking around and Pepper did not bat one eyelash. She didn’t even look at it.

Ali: Ooh! Ohh! Trevor and the stinky bathroom!

Sara: I was so distracted by Pepper’s abs and Rhodey’s arms for the entirety of that last scene.

Anika: Tony going back for DUM-E. I could cry.

Ali: SCIENCE BROS and the after-credit scene!!!!

Marks

Anika’s Rewrite:

Pepper whacks Killian with the pipe.
Tony: I got nothing.
Pepper engages Killian in a debate… “Why are you DOING this? This isn’t YOU?”
Killian: Exactly!
He starts to monologue about his cray idea that anonymity is power and he can be anything and anyone even Tony Stark!
Pepper: You’re nothing like Tony Stark. You chose to be nothing.
Killian: *rage*
Tony: Come on, Pep, he’s not worth our time.
Killian: *RAGE*
Killian goes in for the kill on retreating Tony and Pepper.
Maya appears and blasts him out of the sky.
Pepper: That was really –
Tony: Hot, yes.

Maya Hansen for Avengers 2!

Shoujoverse manga roundup: “The Magical Girl: Part 2”

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Anika

by Marie

Cardcaptor Sakura

It is a truth universally acknowledged by TV Tropes that the Magical Girl genre would be incomplete without a discussion of Cardcaptor Sakura. A quick perusal of site would reveal that not only did they choose her as the genre’s banner girl, but also gave her the silver medal for being its second most popular icon following Sailor Moon. And that’s a tough act to follow.

Cardcaptor Sakura is one of the most well known titles from the all-female manga artist group, CLAMP—whom I mentioned in my last post as the creators of Magic Knight Rayearth. Some fun facts include the group’s humble beginnings as a doujinshi circle (doujinshi meaning “self-published” or “amateur” manga). In any case, it seems that you can’t think about CLAMP without thinking of Cardcaptor Sakura either. In fact, those characters have endured so well that they were reincarnated for titles like Tsubasa (see pic below).

Like most adolescents winding down from Pokemon fever, I tuned in to the Kids WB during the weekends to see what other anime was out there (weekdays afterschool were reserved for the Toonami block). Cardcaptor Sakura (renamed Cardcaptors for American audiences) was one of the shows that fit my bill and paid with interest. It was also one of the few instances I had growing up where watching the anime influenced me to read the manga.

As to my opinion on which medium is better, I think that depends on the amount of depth you’re looking for. As TV Tropes is quick to point out, the manga only featured 19 cards while the anime featured 52 (a full deck). This invited roles to have more dimension, storylines to branch further out, and feature anime-exclusive characters like Meiling. However, one could argue that despite the expansion, the anime’s English dub was lacking in depth overall since its ruthless censorship eliminated much of the backstory.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with either the manga or the anime, Cardcaptor Sakura is the story of a young girl who comes across a set of magical items known as Clow Cards. After accidentally releasing the entities that were sealed inside them, it becomes her responsibility to re-capture them before they wreak havoc in the town that she lives in. As I’ve mentioned before, this kind of mystical endowment echoes a lot of Magical Girl titles aside from Sailor Moon. Often, the heroine doesn’t choose to be who she is, but rather she’s “forced” into her role by way of moral obligation.

This kind of moral obligation acts as the inciting incident for other shoujo manga—Fushigu Yuugi, The Vision of Escaflowne, and of course Inuyasha come to mind. Like Revolutionary Girl Utena, these titles tend to be classified as more Action/Adventure genres or Fantasy/Romance versus Magical Girl. To be honest, I’m not sure how the lines for each genre are drawn. But I think it’s safe to say that each of these titles–CardCaptor
Sakura included—add to the shoujo milieu in rich ways that are often overlooked. What other genre, for example, would portray same-sex relationships or transgender identities without the stigma that we would normally see elsewhere?

It’s easy to see why Sakura fits the Magical Girl genre to a tee. In addition to called attacks, glamorous transformation sequences, and an adorable otherworldly companion, she has a wardrobe full of fantastical outfits that predate Lady Gaga. She’s a very young protagonist as well—younger than Sailor Moon since her adventures begin as early as elementary school. Nevertheless, she’s a heroine that’s determined and a friend that’s just as compassionate.

Perhaps what sets Sakura apart from her predecessor was the emphasis on the strength of the individual versus the strength of the whole group. Sure, Sakura had her allies and supporters— but she often could only rely herself to carry out the plot’s major turning points. And that kind of proactive self-confidence (especially in a protagonist that’s so young) is definitely something I can get behind.

W.I.T.C.H.

One of the best things that made Sailor Moon such a fun series was the ability pick which Sailor Scout you were. Each of the Scouts had their own specific personality traits, but they were still universal enough to largely appeal to their demographic. For me, it was always hard to choose. At the time, I think I picked a different Sailor Scout every week.

Obviously, this idiosyncrasy carries over to other Magical Girl titles. In fact, I feel that it plays a major factor in why Magical Girl titles are so popular. W.I.T.C.H., an Italian comic series published by Disney Italia, is definitely a Magical Girl title that has this criterion. I think it’s also a title worth mentioning given that it made in Europe and therefore integrates a lot of shoujo influences.

First published in April 2001, the series was created by Alessandro Barbucci, Barbara Cenpa, and Elisabetta Gnone. The series concluded last year in October. There was an animated adaptation as well, which aired on Jetix. It might be worth noting that the television series varies largely from the comic book series, and the fandom is generally divided on which was better. Personally, I feel that one’s loyalty depends on which medium you were exposed to first.

The story follows five teenage protagonists who are chosen to become the Guardians of Kandrakar (an “ethereal” dimension that exists at the center of our universe). Again, one can note that theme of mystical endowment. These girls are charged with protecting Kandrakar from its enemies and are thus granted the powers of five elements: earth, air, fire, water, and “quintessence” (energy). These elements can be combined or work in tandem to achieve different effects. The full potential of their powers are also affected by whether or not the team is in harmony. Their names Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin form the acronym W.I.T.C.H.

The comic book series progresses over the course of many different sagas, with each arc featuring the kinds of storylines that are reserved for high fantasy novels. There are other kingdoms, other worlds, and other guardians that have their own intrigues, high stakes, and of course great drama—both in high school and otherwise. That’s another reason why I think Magical Girl genres are so popular: it’s hard not to like a heroine that has to deal with saving the world and then have to study for a Chem final afterwards.

That being said, I think it’s a good series for young fans to get into, especially if they’re still trying to get their feet wet!

Whedonverse comics roundup: Willow

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Anika

by Gabby

“The Body” is the first episode I’ve ever watched of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I was in the 6th grade. I knew what the show was, having caught a few minutes here of there. But that night, I switched the TV on, and “The Body” was starting. I was transfixed by what I saw on the screen. It was like walking into a room where two people are having a very intense conversation; I knew I shouldn’t be watching, but I couldn’t look away.

I don’t remember much details from that first viewing. I didn’t watch another episode of BtVS until four years ago when I decided to start from the beginning.

The one thing I remember very vividly is Willow not knowing what to wear. I remember thinking: “I would have no idea what to wear if someone close to me died”.

And with that, Willow became my favorite character. My love for her wormed its way into my subconscious from that moment on, ensuring that when I began my BtVS marathon in earnest all my attention would be focused on her.

Through the series, Willow underwent many transformations without losing what I find makes her her: her yearning to always do the right thing.

There’s just one problem: the “right thing” is a highly subjective concept, and Willow, as we have come to know her, is a very self-centered person. The major decisions she has taken in her life have always had a self-serving purpose: tweaking Tara’s memory to make her forget their fights, bringing Buffy back to life because she couldn’t stand to live without her, always searching to absorb magic to make her more powerful… All under the guise of “doing the right thing”.

The last time we saw Willow was in the pages of Angel & Faith. She was leaving Quor’toth in a quest to bring magic back to Earth after the Seed of Wonder’s destruction by Buffy at the end of Buffy: Season 8. This is where her miniseries, that ran from November 2012 to March 2013, picks up.

I’ll proceed a little differently from my usual Whedonverse recap & reviews. I won’t be splitting this piece by issue, but by “parts”, that I feel flow better with the story.

PART 1: Marrack and the first attempt

From Quor’toth, Willow follows a magical trail that brings her to a foreign dimension. She wishes to find a source of magic so potent that, using the scythe, she will be able to shoot some magic into the Earth. In this new realm, she meets Marrack, a human turned demon-like after he got stuck following the end of magic on Earth. Immediately, it is established that Willow and Marrack have two very different objectives: she wants to bring magic back to Earth and share it with everyone, while he wants to seize it for himself, for power and vengeance.

Already, though, Willow feels the need to proclaim that she’s not doing it for herself:

This is something of a running theme in Willow’s life: magic has always been her weakness, and while she craves it, she knows to be weary of it, for Dark Willow is just around the corner. This is something that will become central in this story. We’ll get back to it.

With an incantation, a trail of fire seems to lead to a magical source. By following it, they find a pond with mystical properties, guarded by a Lewis-Carol-esque caterpillar. At first, they think they’ve found the magical reserve their looking for; however, the pond is the “Spring of memory”, and this brings us to the second central theme of the miniseries. Memory is a concept that resonates with me. I’ve always found “moments”, be they in TV shows or in real life, to be very powerful things. When I remember a specific moment, or watch one, the feelings and thoughts I had while experiencing it for the first time flood my mind. I think it’s the closest thing to time travel that we presently have. The caterpillar echoes this sentiment when he says:

“Whatever we do, wherever we go… Our memories are all we really have, you know?”

When Willow drinks from the pond, every defining moment of her life is depicted in a wonderful full page spread, and just seeing those drawings brought tears to my eyes.

The caterpillar encourages the travellers to carry a canteen of this water, and, after fighting some nasty demons, the pair is off to follow the path once more. As they explore, the dichotomy between Marrack and Willow’s philosophies increases, as Willow chastises the demon, saying that if she chooses his path (of disregard for others and roughness), she will get all “black eyed and terrifying”. But yet, the caterpillar has parting words:

“Energy is released by opposing forces. The lights casts thick shadows, and the path of righteousness employs very dark gatekeepers”.

Could it be that Willow needs this Marrack person to achieve her goal? At this point in the story, I thought so. After all, Willow overcame her darkness in Quor’toth and clearly symbolises the light, whereas Marrack embraces the dark.

But it’s about to get a lot more complex than that, as they come upon no other than Aluwyn, the Saga Vasuki.

Part 2: Aluwyn and the second attempt

After finding Aluwyn and some other mystical witches, Marrack and Willow enter the “Witches paradise”, a place surrounding a magical waterfall that house witches from all the realms. Willow is sure that the deep well of magic is here, so she wastes no time and slices through the waterfall with the scythe; but it doesn’t work. Aluwyn tells Willow that for her idea to work, there needs to be magic on the other side, too.

Willow, desperate, slashes at the waterfall until Marrack interrupts by grabbing the scythe. This move angers Aluwyn, and the witches cast out the man from their sacred place.

Now, there’s room for Willow to explore some of the things the witches can offer her to try and bring magic back to Earth. A mirror supposed to bring answers gives her a glimpse of Marrack which confuses her. A sea creature gives her snapshots of the meaning of her life, where she understands that there is good in everything, and evil, too, but the thoughts escape her as she moves away from the creature.

But as Willow involves herself more and more into this magical sisterhood, her memories start to fade. She even says that “parts of her old life are disappearing”, and a witch says that her own old life seems like a life lived by someone else. It is here that Willow faces her biggest challenge yet. She has found what she is looking for: a place with magic. Her selfish nature is brought back to the surface, as she moves further and further away from the goal of her quest. I start to wonder, was she *really* hoping to bring magic back to Earth for an altruistic purpose?

After Aluwyn and Willow spend a “magical” night together, Willow falls asleep dreaming a peaceful dream, only to be awaken by Marrack who’s wormed his way into her dream. There, he gives her the awakening that she needs: he tells her she’s doing what she swore she wouldn’t (abusing magic, though in a different way that she’s used to). He shows her the faces of the people she intended to save:

But it doesn’t have the desired effect, because she wakes up saying that he’s a liar. However, it does plant a seed of doubt.

You see, Willow has to “feel” things. Unlike me, where only thinking about or seeing a moment sends me back to that place, Willow has to experience them with her senses, submerge herself in them.

And that’s what happens when, thirsty, she reaches for her canteen containing the “Spring of memory water”. Here, I become weary of Aluwyn, as she wants to stop Willow from drinking it, after removing her scythe from her. But she drinks it anyway, and that’s when she feels, thus remembers, all of the people she meant to save.

We learn that Aluwyn, trickster god that she is, wanted Willow for herself, as well as giving her what Aluwyn thought she needed. After Willow confronts her, they somewhat make up, and she’s now ready to embark on her final journey. Having now remembered all that she needed to in order to complete her quest, she needs to settle one last thing.

Has she convinced herself that she wants to share the power? Is she fully entrenched in the “light”, and now needs to find the “dark” to bring back magic to Earth? Or is it something else entirely?

Part 3: Willow and the third attempt

So Willow heads off to find Marrack, as he’s the only person so far as motivated as herself to achieve the task they’d set out to do. They cast an incantation and reach a realm full of pure magic.

Willow sits down, ready to absorb all the magic and “become the light”. And this is where it gets interesting. Willow has been trying so hard, ever since the beginning of season 7, to keep Dark Willow at bay, suppressing every impulse she had that reminded her of “that time”, a lot like Angel does with Angelus. But Dark Willow isn’t like Angelus; she doesn’t exist outside of Willow. She *is* Willow, albeit a very dangerous and uncontrollable one. But every time Dark Willow popped up, it’s because Willow was in a very bad emotional or physical place.

Here, in this far removed realm, she finally understands that she embodies both dark and light, and none of them at the same time: she’s just Willow, and all the spectrum of herself that comes with it.

So now that we understand that Willow is the key to bringing magic back to Earth all by herself, what is Marrack’s purpose? If he doesn’t act as Willow’s foil, what is he, exactly?

As it turns out, he’s a physical manifestation of a very bad memory: Rack, the junkie that helped her feed her addiction in season 6. They get at each others throats, and as Rack slices the air with the scythe trying to harm Willow, he unveils a heart entangled in a web of veins and arteries floating in a starlit sky. They fight some more, as the heart sends forth ripples of energy, and Willow uses this to fully embrace the new-found revelation that she’s making great strides at becoming less of a selfish person:

Rack is finally defeated, but by something a little odd that looks like white blood cells. Sure enough, Willow is floating in the “embodiment of magic”. It reflects what she’s beginning to understand:

I love this. I feel like it redeems season 6’s Willow for me, as I now more fully understand the motivations behind her addiction, and her subsequent “dark magic rampage”. I always felt like it was a ploy, a bad metaphor pushed too far for drug addiction. But seen in the light of Willow as a selfish person, that can’t accept the bad parts of herself and has to feel things to really be alive and remember the important facets of her life, it changes my perspective. If anything, the miniseries exposed more sides of the Willow I always thought of as my favorite character without really knowing why, and gave me a reason to love her.

As she herself comes to these realization, the heart gives her a gift; for magic to exist on Earth, it can’t be funneled from somewhere else. It only lives where it is inherent. So the “embodiment of magic” fills Willow’s heart with magic, as she will become the vessel of magic that the Earth needs. As she gazes at our home planet from the stars, she wonders at San Francisco and proclaims that she misses her Scoobies…

Embodiment of magic: You missed them while still among them. Will that remain a problem?
Willow: … No.
Embodiment of Magic: Then the power you sought is within you.
Willow: But I don’t know what to do with it.
Embodiment of Magic: No? Now you can find out.

As Willow walks down the streets of San Francisco, she understands that, as the only person on Earth possessing magic, she needs to share it. And as she walks past a little boy, her magic floats through him, and he starts drawing something beautiful and fantastical where there was a blank slate before.

With the end of this miniseries comes the end of my Whedonverse comics roundup for Buffy: Season 9. If you haven’t been catching up on Angel & Faith or Buffy, you’re missing some real interesting guest stars, beautiful art, a gay self-made slayer and a certain englishman who is almost-resurrected.

What did you think of this miniseries? And what about that cover art, eh? David Mack is a genius.

Shoujoverse manga roundup: “The Magical Girl: Part 1”

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Anika

by Marie

First, what is shoujo manga?

I’ve always been called a Girly Girl.

True, I like dresses. I like make-up. I like shoes. I like waving my arms around to catchy pop songs (because I don’t really know how to dance). I also like glitter and I’m not afraid to admit it—at least, not anymore.

My guilty pleasure.

In middle school, I walked around with a plastic Spice Girls pencil case and a Lisa Frank trapper keeper (mine had the unicorn). It was a time when the phrase “Girl Power” was said without irony. I wore big-ass bows in my hair and I was also still shamelessly into Disney princesses. Like I mentioned in a previous article, I can still recite the entire script of Beauty and the Beast verbatim. It wasn’t exactly my best party trick, but then I didn’t have many party tricks to begin with—or parties to go to.

It doesn’t take a genius to calculate how much I was picked on for enjoying the things that made me happy. To continue with that metaphor, the torture was exponential. So in the midst of my adolescent angst, I turned to shoujo for refuge. Finally, I thought. Here was a genre that not only “got me”, but validated who I was at the time. At first glance, shoujo seems to be the epitome of what can be culturally considered as “Girly.” Young girls are, after all, its target demographic. Just as young boys are the target demographic of shounen.

My refuge (though I don’t actually own these shelves).

When some people think “Girly Girl”, they usually think “vain and shallow.” Girly Girls tend to be the Mean Girls in teen dramas: they’re superficial, territorial, and ultimately ineffectual. They‘re vacuous in that they tend not to think beyond managing their image. Their antics are childish and so are their goals.

Now, this doesn’t mean that I’m vilifying anyone that’s not considered “Girly Girl.” In fact, I find the term “Tomboy” as equally off-putting. I’m just saying that the subject of femininity is an arena that goes beyond petty labels—and that such labels shouldn’t exist in the first place. Can’t girls just be who they are whether they’re into the “cutesy” stuff or not?

Shoujo was what first brought me to that conclusion.

What is Magical Girl manga?

My initial foray into shoujo was Sailor Moon, which is often considered as the title that popularized the Magical Girl subgenre and brought it to the West. Sailor Moon really deserves a post of its own—and it will during one of our next Skipping to Conclusions series! But for now, the main focus of this post will be on the Magical Girl subgenre itself, since I consider it one of shoujo’s most easily recognized icons.

From the Magical Girl Project. Check them out on Tumblr!

In a lot of ways, the Magical Girl subgenre could be viewed as an insult to young girls. Its critics usually pan it for all the “cutesy” weird stuff: bright colors, cheesy pop songs, over the top costumes, campy dialogue, talking animals, and unusually well endowed twelve-year-olds. And yea, I can’t argue that there’s some pretty bad stuff out there. But isn’t that true of all genres (or subgenres for that matter)?

The point is, there’s some good stuff out there too—and I consider it my duty to list them off throughout this roundup series and represent them properly.

So what exactly are the characteristics of Magical Girl manga? For starters, there’s usually:

A young heroine or group of young heroines.
An emphasis on friendship and its ability to sustain.
Magic and/or a transformation; an alter-ego.

According to Wikipedia, Magical Girls can generally be divided into four archetypes:

The Cute Witch.
The Idol Performer.
The Warrior Woman.
The Phantom Thief.

The next titles I plan to talk about fall under the Warrior Woman archetype. While this action-oriented archetype could easily be dismissed as “Barbie with a Sword”—which would actually be kind of awesome—there’s a lot more to it than that. Whatever superhuman abilities the Warrior Woman has, she is paradoxically the most emotionally vulnerable. Her “transformation” is not so much about quirkily named attacks as it is about finding inner-strength. This is further complicated by the fact that more often than not, her “transformation” was never intentional but the result of an accident. Therefore, the first title I’d like to introduce is:

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Now that’s a Barbie with a Sword!

This series follows its titular character Utena who, after a life-altering encounter with a valiant prince, makes it her dream to marry one.

Just kidding.

What actually happens is that she decides to become a valiant prince. With this goal in mind, she transfers to the prestigious Ohtori Academy where her ambitions become entangled with swordfights, storybook characters, and a nefarious student council that holds the secret to a world-changing power. You know, typical high school stuff.

But don’t be fooled by the short shorts and the long pink hair. Utena establishes herself as a formidable opponent, both as a duelist and as a loyal friend. As a protagonist, she appears to embody both feminine and masculine traits. This also manifests itself in the way that she dresses, since she insists on wearing a male uniform at school.

One of the inciting incidents in the first volume is Utena’s attainment of the “Sword of Dios” and her engagement to Anshii Himemiya, the “Rose Bride.” Her connection to both can grant her the power to revolutionize the world, as long as she can defend her title from other duelists. But her connection to both is unwitting and before she knows it, she’s caught up in a game she had no intention of playing.

Suffice to say, the topics of gender and sexuality have a kind of fluid, even omniscient presence throughout the series. In fact, the series itself is can be considered highly allegorical and metaphysical—especially in later arcs. But rather than take away focus from the story, I think these topics add more depth. There are many examples of complex issues. For instance, Anshii Himemiya is an extremely shy and passive student that considers herself a possession. She resigns herself to obeying whoever happens to “win” her without question. Obviously, this goes against Utena’s chivalrous principles and becomes one of the many obstacles in her quest to emulate the prince she admires so deeply.

That being said, I feel that Revolutionary Girl Utena is also an extremely subversive title. In many ways, it works to deconstruct not only the Magical Girl genre, but also the entirety of shoujo. Yet in doing so, this title still adds many layers in the form of providing different perspectives. Regardless, it’s definitely one that I would recommend.

Magic Knight Rayearth

So now that I’ve had a chance to talk about female princes, it only makes sense that I mention female knights too. And make no mistake: these are girls with a destiny. In the same vein as Utena, these knights are tasked with saving a princess as well as a world on the brink of destruction. Dramatic, insensate, and apocalyptic evil tend to be a common trope in many Magical Girl titles. Ornately crafted armor that seems in tune with some kind of element is also a common trope, as seen below:

On a tangential note, I love the manga-creator team, CLAMP for a number of reasons. Not the least of which was their most popular title Cardcaptor Sakura—whom I will also hopefully get to comment on in future posts! But since Magic Knight Rayearth was my first introduction to the ever-expanding CLAMPverse, I felt that I couldn’t resist. In any case, what follows is the annotated version of the plot.

The story follows three protagonists: Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi. Initially, the girls aren’t even friends and don’t even go to the same school. They just happen to run into one another on a school field trip. Out of nowhere, they are swallowed by a strange light and are spirited away to the world of Cephiro. Here, the three girls discover that they are the Magic Knights of Legend and that they were summoned by Cephiro’s princess to help save her dying world.

From left to right: Fuu, Umi, and Hikaru.

Remember how I mentioned a dramatic, insensate, and apocalyptic evil tends to be a common trope? Ever stop and think why this evil tends to pitted against a bunch of high school girls? In fact, when the villain first catches wind of their presence, he calls them “a bunch of children.” Even allies call them this. But I think one of the most compelling elements of the Magical Girl genre is the staggering odds the main characters often face, yet somehow are able overcome. They mature throughout their arcs, but maintain their innocence.

Moreover, this is one of those titles that emphasize female friendships, rather than female rivalries. This is also something that I think the Magical Girl genre does very well, especially when the main characters form a team (sometimes colloquially referred to as senshi, Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi each have their own distinct personalities and balance each other out fairly well. In other words, you can regard them all as equals and what’s not to like about that?

So In Conclusion…

I’ll admit that both of these titles are little “out-of-the-box” in that they mix elements from other genres such as Mecha and Parallel World Fantasy. One could even argue that these shows succeed because they incorporate more shounen elements than they do shoujo. This month, I plan to post on something more “traditional”, whether it be a title like Pretty Cure or Tokyo Mew Mew. Like I mentioned earlier, my next post under our Skipping to Conclusions series will involve the reboot of Sailor Moon. So stay tuned!

In the meantime, I would love to hear what your favorite Magical Girl titles are.

Love Letter to a Comic Book: Spider-Girl

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Anika

by Anika (inspired by Love Letters to Novels)

Spider-Girl is my Valentine.

I’ve mentioned the first Spider-Girl series — the adventures of Mayday Parker, the daughter of Spider-Man — before. Several times. On this website, on tumblr, on twitter, in person. And each time I urge everyone to read it. Because I love it. But I’ve never reviewed it, or explained it, or gone into much detail beyond The Parkers are the BEST family EVER. Because… I love it. Irrationally and unconditionally, and I simply cannot write a balanced, eloquent, well-parsed, objective review or analysis. But I can write a love letter.

Comic books are like soap operas. They are serial and cyclical and nothing is forever. There are heroes and villains and everybody switches sides at some point. There are evil twins and forgotten brothers and imaginary friends and secret clones and one true loves and casual liaisons and good intentions and desperate choices and crossovers and melodrama. There are plenty of successful and entertaining comics that downplay this. But the series I love most are the ones that enjoy it.

Spider-Girl is a teen soap opera with a plucky protagonist and my favorite superhero as The Best Dad Ever. There are high school hijinks. There is a supervillain mafia. There are team ups with the Avengers. There is time travel. There is multigenerational relationship drama. May is kidnapped like twelve times because she is the daughter of Spider-Man and yet Peter’s identity remains secret throughout. There is a straight up secret clone-twin of May –

a scan of Spider-Girl featuring April in blue and black and May in red and blue

– who is taken in by the Parkers and named April before she turns to the darkside and becomes a vigilante by the name of Mayhem (!). There is basketball. There is symbiote crazyness. There are gangs. There are mutants and Jubilee leads the X-People. May has a baby brother, Benjy, who develops organic webs. There is a Spider-Girl comic within the comic. Basically all of Spidey’s traditional allies and villains have progeny and/or a legacy and May dates half of them. There is an awesome supporting cast of non-powered characters led by the Amazing Mary-Jane, Queen of the PTA. There are trips to and fights at the mall and the arcade and the comic shop.

a scan of May, dressed as Spider-Girl, kissing Normie, at Christmastime

And then there is Normie Osborn. May has a few love interests throughout her series (and she has a few series throughout her story – like her dad, she went through Adjectiveless, The Amazing, and The Spectacular) but the longest running, and my favorite, is Normie Osborn, son of Harry, grandson of Norman, and the new Green Goblin. He starts out as the main baddie until May figures out that he wants her to catch him and stop him and end him and she decides to save him instead. Normie then enters group therapy for supervillains (!) and starts to use his power for good. He’s not just the new Goblin, he also gets to be the new Venom, but because he’s already dealing with his own inner demons and predilections for evil, the symbiote decides it wants to turn good, too. Normie has severe Daddy issues and is haunted (literally) by his evil granddad. He has anti-Spider-Man tattoos and scars from suicide attempts. And he’s in love with May but refuses to be with her, or admit it to her, because she’s everything that is light in the world and he is everything that is dark. So he marries someone else and she hooks up with her BFF and it’s like Gossip Girl ended with Dan and Blair together because Chuck married that random french girl played by Fleur Delacour.

a gif of Chuck and Blair judging you

In other words, that’s perfectly fine but not in my reality.

In other other words, they are a ship designed for me.

And it is a comic designed for me.

They took my favourite superhero and made him a teen girl.

Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz’s Spider-Girl trades, in adorable ‘manga’ sized digests, are available used on Amazon for less than $5.00 each (shipping included!).

“Warm Bodies” : A Zombie Movie With a Heart

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Anika

by Jessica

I am not a fan of zombies. I could never get into them—they’re gross and scary and have no redeeming qualities, as far as I’m concerned. So it was a little surprising for me when, after seeing the trailer for Warm Bodies, I immediately though, “That looks like a film I would like to see.” Probably a lot of that had to do with the fact that Nicholas Hoult, who I’ve loved since I saw him over a decade ago in About a Boy, plays the lead character R. It also looked funny, and so I defied my natural inclination to cringe at all things zombie related and go see the film when it was released earlier this month.

a promotional shot of the film Warm Bodies: Julie clutching her zombie love, R

In case you don’t know already, the plot of Warm Bodies is simple: zombie-boy R falls in love with human girl Julie after eating her boyfriend’s brain. He saves/kidnaps her, and during the time they spend together he finds himself changing, becoming more and more human as his love for her grows. They’ve found a cure for the zombie apocalypse! But how to convince Julie’s father, the head of the human resistance, that the cure really works? Shenanigans ensue!

You may have noticed that the names of the two title characters are a thinly-veiled Romeo and Juliet reference, but never fear—with the exception of one balcony scene, that’s pretty much where the resemblances end.

A big victory for this movie is the likability of it’s main character, R. It’s hard to get an audience to root for someone who looks dead and eats brains on screen more than once. I can only assume that most of the credit for R’s winning disposition is due to author Isaac Marion, who wrote the novel the film is based on, but Hoult’s commitment to the role doesn’t hurt either—he seriously deserves some props for how long he had to act dead for. I had assumed that his return to humanity would progress at a rather rapid rate, because, gross, dead person. But Warm Bodies shows a lot of integrity in this department, and R’s change from undead to living is very gradual. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to have to keep your face so expressionless and shoulders so hunched. R only becomes really, truly alive-looking in the final scene of the film, and by then you’ve been waiting for it for so long that his rosy cheeks and tousled hair are even more adorable than they would be under normal circumstances (and that’s pretty adorable).

And R’s appearance isn’t his only charm. His internal dialogue as he faces the ups and downs…mostly downs…of life as a zombie is utterly charismatic, and often not too far off the mark from those many of us narrate ourselves: he feels he is different from those around him, he wants more from his life but he doesn’t know what to do about it, he likes a girl but is certain she will never return his feelings. In fact, my boyfriend loved this movie. He identified completely with R—“He epitomizes the plight of the socially awkward guy looking for love. I can get behind any movie that’s going to glorify that.” In addition, R is delightfully quirky. He likes records and collecting old things. You root for him, and that’s an important reason why this film works.

The film’s leading lady Julie, played by Teresa Palmer, also deserves praise. Although her performance wasn’t revolutionary, it was totally believable, which for a female character is saying something, in both the rom-com and horror industries. It’s always fun to see a bad-ass girl on the big screen, and Julie could shoot a semi-automatic and take down the undead with the best of them. She’s not complacent after finding herself stuck with a weird dead guy in a zombie-filled airport—she tries to escape multiple times, even though she inevitably gets trapped in some corner by people who want to eat her brains. At the same time, she hasn’t got a cliche tough-girl-I’ve been-hurt-before attitude. Julie has weathered horrific tragedies, but she still dreams of the day when life can return to normal, and is willing to put her trust in someone that for years she has been relentlessly assured is the enemy. She is nice, sweet, fun, strong, and pretty—it is not a stretch of the imagination to see why R likes her.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I’m a sucker for romantic comedies, and this falls firmly into that category, even if it does involve zombies. Further, it’s a very good romantic comedy. I’d put it right next to Sweet Home Alabama on my DVD shelf. Warm Bodies has it all: action, romance, a killer soundtrack—with tunes by Bon Iver and Bob Dylan, among others–and a couple of truly sweet scenes (I loved the moment when R and Julie drive around an abandoned red convertible). Plus the stakes are higher—a more decomposed form of undead called Bonies are trying to kill R and Julie to prevent knowledge of the cure from spreading, not to mention that Julie’s dad isn’t too hot on his daughter dating a dead guy. Warm Bodies manages to be engaging and cute without becoming too saccharine. Plus, there was only a teensy bit of brain eating. It’s a win all around.

Hayao Miyazaki: State of Wonder

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Anika

by Marie

Fans of Hayao Miyzaki may know that this past January 5th marked the 72nd birthday of one of the most influential animators in the industry. For the uninitiated, Miyazaki has been well known for the films he wrote, directed, and distributed through Studio Ghibli (which he co-founded). In fact, you may even recognize the large forest spirit on the company’s logo as Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro—more on that in a bit.

the Studio Ghibli logo

Despite popular comparisons of Miyazaki as the Eastern Walt Disney (or John Lasseter of Pixar, who also happens to be a fan of Miyazaki), there are still those who still have yet to see his films. If you happen to fall into this category, then you probably have annoying friends/co-workers/well-meaning significant others who constantly pester you to put him on your Netflix queue. I would know because I am that annoying friend/co-worker/well-meaning significant other. The conversation would most likely go like this:

“Hey, have you seen Princess Mononoke yet?”

“Princess Who? I don’t even–”

“Oh my God! Why are you such a terrible person? Here, let me strap you down into this chair introduce you to the magic that is in Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Hang on, I’ll go get more duct tape so you can stop struggling.”

Or something along those lines.

Now granted, there may be those who don’t enjoy anime—and that’s fine, we all have our flaws (just kidding). But for those of you are genuinely interested in the genre should at least know how much of an impact that Hayao Miyazaki has made in terms of style and storytelling. Most of his films often feature rich worlds that are rendered with incredible detail. In fact the only way I could think of describing how rich they are is that the experience is less like watching a movie and more like walking into a fairy tale. And that’s pretty rad. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise, however. Back in the day, Miyazaki personally reviewed every single frame from each of his movies. With Princess Mononoke, he redrew 80,000 of the frames himself.

Nowadays, Miyazaki delegates most of his work to his staff and tries to keep a balance between hand-drawn animation and computer-animation. Even if you don’t like anime, you may at least appreciate his desire for his films to remain 2D. His overall respect for traditional animation was transparently stated in Ghibliworld, when he said, “hand-drawing on paper is the fundamental of animation.”

And if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, then maybe his themes and characters would. Miyazaki has often been labeled as a “feminist” by his colleagues, not only because of the almost deferential way he treats women, but also because most of his films feature strong female protagonists. A lot these characters were created with the intent of having someone that young girls could look up to, such as in Spirited Away .

Often, these characters would undergo an emotional journey through a fantastical landscape where the innocence of childhood is challenged by outside forces. The result is a wondrous “coming-of-age” adventure/drama. Oh, and did I mention that Miyazaki also happens to be a pro-environment, pacifist, and super into flight and aircrafts? Or how he legitimately believes in the power of love since that often plays a key role in how his films are resolved?

In any case, the following is a list of movies that are not only my personal favorites, but also a good introduction to those that are still on the fence. And without further ado, one of the first Miyazaki films that you should see are…

1.Spirited Away

the poster for Spirited Away

This is on the top of my list not only because it won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002, but also because I think it encompasses a lot of the themes that I mentioned earlier: childhood, a coming-of-age, a fantastical landscape, and of course the power of love.

At first, you may not be taken with the ten-year-old protagonist, Chihiro Ogino. She can seem pretty ill tempered in the beginning since her parents decided to move to the countryside. While on their way to their new house, her parents take a wrong turn and walk through what looks like an abandoned amusement park. After crossing a dry riverbed, Chihiro’s parents unwittingly eat the food of the spirits that live on the other side. As a result, they become cursed and Chihiro becomes indebted to the witch, Yubaba who rules a bathhouse in this spirit world.

Along the way, Chihiro makes many allies—though not very easily, she often has to work for it. Among them are Haku, a river spirit who takes the form of both a dragon and a young boy; Lin, another worker in the bathhouse (whose voice actress in the English dub happened to also voice Megera from Disney’s Hercules); and Kamaji, a spider-like spirit (or yokai) who runs the boiler room in the bathhouse.

It’s been stated that one of Hayao Miyazaki’s largest influences were Lewis Caroll, which makes sense since a lot of the elements in this movie are reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. If anything, you should watch the film just for the bathhouse—it’s pretty epic in scale!

2.My Neighbor Totoro

You may not have seen the movie, but if you’ve probably seen plushies, figurines, and/or key chains of these adorably awkward creatures. On the whole, they look like a cross between a cat, a raccoon, and a panda. In my book, this translation for these creatures can also be, “the best things to hug ever.”

The story follows two young girls named Satsuki and Mei who are the daughters of a university professor. Like the protagonist in Spirited Away, these girls end up re-locating to an old house in the countryside so that they can be closer to the hospital where their mother is recovering. While there, the girls come in contact with many spirits that only they can see— not just the Totoro, but also the susuwatari (dust-like spirits that also incidentally appear in Spirited Away.

Another bonus perk is that if you are fond of cats, there is also a creature featured here call the Cat Bus. And amazingly, that is exactly what it sounds like.

3.Kiki’s Delivery Service

Holy frak, get thee to a DVD player!

This one is made it my list because of how its themes largely have to do with self-discovery; going through a trial and finding out just what you’re made of. It’s a little like Harry Potter if Harry was a girl and was forced to study abroad during his third year at Hogwarts. In the world of this movie, it’s traditional for young witches to do just that when they reach the age of thirteen. Kiki (voiced in the English dub by a young Kirsten Dunst) is nothing but excited to take on the world and make a place for herself in it. So, along with her broomstick and smart-talking cat companion, Jiji, she embarks on a thrilling journey into the big city…where everything isn’t as she thought it would be.

Probably one of the most poignant moments in the film is where Kiki loses her self-confidence and as a result, her powers diminish. It takes her quite a few obstacles to overcome her ensuing depression, but I think it’s one of the things that make this film really resonate since it’s an issue that many young girls (and boys) often face. Again, you have a heroine that you can really look up to. If you have any little ones, this might be a good starter.

4.Howl’s Moving Castle

Two words. Christian Bale.

Yes, the Dark Knight steps in to voice the handsome and charmingly rakish wizard, Howl in Miyazaki’s adaption of Diana Wynn Jones’ novel of the same name. I never read Jones, so I’m not able to make the proper comparisons. But even if the worlds of the film and the book don’t entirely align, I think that the film at very least makes a great tribute to the magic (both literal, and figurative) of its literary counterpart. Also thankfully, Bale doesn’t resort to using his Batman voice when playing this character.

This is actually one of the few films that Miyazaki has been involved in which features older characters. Often, his characters are children so it’s a little refreshing to have an older hero and heroine (and actually get a satisfying on-screen kiss). In any case, Howl’s Moving Castle features a young woman named Sophie who works as a hatter in a kingdom that is currently in the midst of war. On her way home, she encounters the vicious Witch of the Waste who transforms her into an old woman (presumably since Sophie has come in contact with Howl, albeit unknowingly). Eventually, Sophie finds her way to Howl’s rather haphazard-looking castle that walks on chicken legs. This may or may not be a nod to the Russian fairy tale character, Baba Yaga, who was said to live in a hut that stood on chicken legs.

All that aside, Howl’s Moving Castle is definitely a must-see. If not for the wizard fights and spells that can only be broken with true love, then maybe for the voice of Billy Crystal and probably the best freakout by a guy over the color of his hair.

6.Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

This is one of many Miyazaki films that featured a princess as the main character.

The film takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting in which human civilization was nearly destroyed after an event referred to as “The Seven Days of Fire.” After this event, the surviving humans made settlements that are scattered around what is known as the “Toxic Jungle” which is home to a host of lethal things that include giant mutant insects. The Valley of the Wind is one of these settlements scattered around the jungle.

The seeds of the environmental themes prevalent in Miyazaki’s later films can arguably be traced here. The settlers in the Valley of the Wind, for instance, hold fast to a prophecy that tells of a warrior that will one day reconcile and reunite man with nature. In fact, the crux of the film hinges on Nausicaa’s struggle against the Tolmekians—warriors from a distant kingdom intent on destroying the Toxic Jungle with an ancient biological weapon.

Oh, and did I mention the awesome jet-powered hand-glider she uses? Yea, she uses one of those.

7.Laputa: Castle in the Sky

This one holds some pretty significant importance since it was the first film produced and released by Studo Ghibli in 1986.

The film centers on around humans that built cities that flew in the sky. The movie itself contains a lot of aerial devices, specially designed airships, and flight sequences. It’s been noted that Miyazaki was largely influenced by the power of flight, since it is a form where people can defy gravity (in other words, achieve the impossible). In this film, most of these flying cities have been destroyed with the titular Laputa as the only exception.

The story follows a young girl named Sheeta who falls to the ground after her ship was
ambushed by air pirates. She survives due to the power of a crystal amulet she wears. While there, she meets a young boy named Pazu whose father has coincidentally been searching for Laputa. Eventually, the truth of Sheeta’s heritage comes to the surface. The discovery not only causes tension between her and Pazu, but also gives rise to the complications brought on by the many people who want to hold Sheeta captive.

There is also an amazing giant robot tossed into the fray.

And last but not least…

8.Princess Mononoke

This one holds a special place in my heart because it was one of the first Miyazaki movies that I saw growing up. Granted, it was probably a little too mature for my age but I think it worked out well since I kept seeing it from different angles as I got older. In other words, it’s a film that really “grows with you.”

The film takes place in feudal Japan and follows a young prince name Ashitaka who becomes cursed by a demon while defending his village. While the curse grants him skills like superhuman strength, he is told that it will eventually kill him. He is later told that his curse may be lifted if he asks for help from the Deer God (or “Forest Spirit” in the English dub).

On his journey, the prince becomes entangled in the conflict between the people of Tarataba (or “Iron Town”) and the gods who live in the surrounding forests. The town finds itself constantly under attack by the wolf god, Moro and her daughter, San (a human girl whom the locals call Princess Mononoke). What really struck me about this film was the way the characters are great composites of good and evil—each has their own capacity for cruelty and compassion. The film also does a really nice job of highlighting man’s complicated relationship with nature. The growing relationship between Ashitaka and San is another great selling point. As an outsider, Ashitaka is pulled into both sides of the conflict and like the viewer is unsure if he can save both.

Review: “The Blinding Knife” by Brent Weeks

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Jessica

The Blinding Knife, by Brent Weeks

by Jessica

If you haven’t read anything by Brent Weeks before, I suggest you stop reading this article and head out to your local library or bookstore and pick up his work. Weeks is part of a new echelon of fantasy writers that have burst onto the scene in the past few years, along with Patrick Rothfuss, Peter V. Brett, Brandon Sanderson, who are taking the genre of epic fantasy to a whole other dimension. Assassins, intrigue, romance—what’s not to love?

However, as much as I could gush about revitalizing the tropes of fantasy trilogies, I am here to talk about Weeks’ latest book, The Blinding Knife. Beware of spoilers from here on out!

the cover of the book The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks

The Blinding Knife is the much-anticipated sequel to The Black Prism and the second book in the Lightbringer series. The world of Lightbringer is one in which magic is inextricably linked to color—those who can work magic are those who are able to draft certain colors of light. Most drafters can only use one color, but some are born with the ability to draft two or three. One man, the Prism, is able to draft the entire spectrum. As such, he wields extreme power, responsible both for keeping the colors in balance and serving as a figurehead for the national religion, also based on the intricacies of color-magic.

Weeks drops you into a world rich with tension and political intrigue. Gavin Guile is the current Prism, having emerged victorious fifteen years ago from the False Prism’s War, which he waged against his own brother. Like most powerful leaders, Gavin keeps a secret—he is in fact not Gavin at all, but Dazen Guile, who has lived for over a decade disguised as his older brother. This alone seems fodder for some good reading based on Dazen-as-Gavin’s daily interactions—like with Karris, the woman he once loved (still does, as a matter of fact…) who later became engaged to Gavin and who thinks that Gavin jilted her after the war when really it was Dazen who didn’t want to have her love through false pretenses but only if she loved him for himself and of course he can’t tell her who he really is because then he would have to kill her and now she serves as one of his own elite bodyguards, and they deal with each other on a day-to-day basis and the sexual tension is maddening, and—

Whew. See what I mean?

The Black Prism begins when the Prism must go investigate reports of his (really Gavin’s) bastard son, Kip, in the land of Tyrea. By the end of the first book, the Prism has failed to defeat the king in Tyrea, ensuring that the war will spread to the rest of the Seven Satrapies. There is also an assassination attempt made upon his life with a very special kind of knife. Weeks’ employment of multiple perspectives throughout the narrative makes it clear to the reader that the gash the Prism receives from this knife has cost him the use of one of his colors, blue, but Dazen/Gavin takes the loss of blue to mean that he is dying.

That’s where The Blinding Knife opens. As the title hints, poor Prism Guile is due for further encounters with the blade that steals his magic before the 625-page installment has concluded. In the meantime, he goes about being dashing and heroic as always, though bending under the pressure of keeping his true identity and the loss of blue a secret. It seems he is constantly on the move, one chapter setting up a colony for the refugees he saved from Tyrea, then leading a political council, trying to convince everyone that there is, in fact, a war, and trying to defeat the Blue Wight, a type of monster-god that is forming in the middle of the ocean now that the Prism is no longer able to keep the color blue in Balance.

His compatriots from The Black Prism are equally busy. Karris, still serving as one of the Prism’s Blackguards, keeps Gavin company on his various mission, alternately saving his ass, thinking he’s a dick, and noticing that there is something familiar about the way he smiles (*cough* foreshadowing). Meanwhile, Kip is attempting to earn a spot in the next Blackguard training class, which taxes him physically and mentally. At the same time, he must deal with Andross Guile, Gavin’s father, who is less than pleased about the presence of a bastard besmirching his family line.

Liv Danavis, one-time ally of Kip and the Prism, has gone over to the dark side, serving in the army of The Color Prince. Liv’s story becomes a contemplation of ethics, tradition, and establishment, and a meditation on what can happen when people feel that the institutions they have put their faith in have failed them. Certainly Weeks intends for the reader to condemn her decisions—at one point Liv stands complacently by while women are hurled by catapult over the walls of the city—but she isn’t entirely unsympathetic either.

Oh, and the Prism’s brother Gavin is still wallowing in the prison his brother built for him.

The narrative is full of delightful twists, turns, and flights of fancy (a magical deck of cards that records moments in history is one of my favorites). After several years of reading fantasy, there are certain ways you expect things to go, and The Blinding Knife turns nearly all of them on their head.

I also appreciate that The Blinding Knife, besides just being a captivating story, is progressive in its depictions of women. Growing up reading the genre, I’ve had to sort of get used to the fact that women often take a backseat in fantasy novels, usually as pretty and scantily clad vehicles for emotional depth for the male characters if they are there at all. That’s not to say that there has been no progress at all—once women who read fantasy books when they were young grew up and started writing fantasy, the world gained many admirable heroines.

Still, even in these stories, the woman protagonist is usually the exception. She is exceptionally strong, gifted, or smart, indicating that the other women around her are not. I think this kind of world where women are the “exception” is in many ways a reflection of women writer’s own experiences. Fantasy and science fiction has long been a boy’s game, and consequently, the realm of epic fantasy writers has long been dominated by men. Women writers of epic fantasy are living in an exceptional world themselves.

However. Exceptional or not, I applaud everyone who has worked to create more heroic and realistic portrayals of women in their fantasy narratives. And Weeks does a particularly great job of it.

His women are everywhere, permeating every tier of the Lightbringer world. It’s like, I don’t know, real life. I’ve already mentioned Karris several times, so I’ll start with her. It’s true that she fulfills a traditional role as the unreachable love for the male protagonist, but I appreciate how much depth she’s got. For one thing, she’s not pining away in a tower somewhere, but instead is a member of the most elite fighting force in the world. She doesn’t simper or pander, but she can be kind and have true emotional depth as well. Karris can kill a man and cry about her brother being murdered fifteen years ago all in the same chapter. She’s awesome because she is a complete person who has motivations and passions that exist outside of the Prism’s desire for her.

But neither are women in Weeks’ world put on some pedestal of toughness and morality. Liv is certainly just as much of her own person as Karris is, but instead of using her strength for good we see her manipulated into fighting for the dark side. One of the most despicable characters in the novel is also a woman: Lady Aglaia Crassos, who violently whips her slaves because she gains sexual pleasure from watching them suffer. She is unbelievably cruel, but even Aglaia is a complete person rather than just a cardboard cutout of a wicked woman. There are others—including the White, who heads the government—but my favorite female character new to this installment is Teia, a girl who trains in the Blackguard class with Kip. She is smart, capable, brave, and there is no way that Kip could have made it through the training without her help. I really look forward to seeing what happens to her as the story moves ahead in the next two installments. Of course, Weeks’ world isn’t the perfect, but it seems like a very good start. A world where women are treated fairly and have equal opportunities—now that’s a delightful fantasy indeed. Too bad we’ll probably have to wait two more years for the sequel.

My Little Pony Comics are Magic

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Ali

Hey there, everypony! We’ve got some great news from Equestria: the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic comic book has been released! But we’ve got more than just a Party Canon planned for the happy event. A few of our most Fantastic Fanponies are going to talk about the comic and the Magic of Friendship. Put your hooves together for Ali Dash, Anika Pie, and Sigridjack.

ALI DASH
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic was 20% cooler than all the other comics I read this week. No really. I smiled the whole time I was reading it! And then I read it again because I just loved it so. Katie Cook and Andy Price did a fantastic job of capturing the fun and adventurous tone of the cartoon. But most importantly, they made sure the comic was full of heart. That’s really what makes My Little Pony Friendship is Magic such a wonderful property, whether you’re a seven-year-old girl, or a 30-year-old dude. I’m really, really excited for the next issue. It’s gonna be SO. AWESOME.

SIGRIDJACK
There’s, a, a Jean Grey pony and a Batman pony in the crowd scene. There’s a Blues Brothers reference. There’s a Fantastic Four reference. There’s meta-textual self-awareness. There’s a purely delightful sense of fun with the medium of comics — working with and around frames, dealing with text, use of color and motion.

I –

I am babbling, here, and I know it. I’m torn between trying to sell this comic to people who love comics but are side-eyeing My Little Pony, and trying to talk to people who already love the cartoon but are side-eyeing comics.

Both of you, just — take a deep breath and give this comic a shot. If you love comics, so does this comic. If you love My Little Pony and understand that Friendship is Magic, so does this comic. This is the most well-executed media tie-in comic I’ve ever seen.

ANIKA PIE
Sigridjack is right: this comic excels in the details. The title “The Return of Queen Chrysalis” appears on the first page, but I didn’t notice that my first read-thru. I noticed that Sweetie Belle’s box was labeled “Jungle Crooz” — a joke that has about three layers and that was page one. The comic knows its audience. But Ali Dash is also right: the fan service doesn’t overshadow the story or the fun.

Anyways, because I didn’t notice the title (because Pinkie Pies are not observant except when we want to be), I was surprised when Chrysalis was the plot. Or the pony behind the plot. Or the not-pony-but-pony-like-villain behind the plot. Point is I was surprised and also pleased to see her! I loved the second season finale and the characters it introduced but we barely got to know them on screen. I was expecting the comic to be a watered down version of the show that I would probably ignore, but instead it’s a companion book that I’m excited to support!

ALI DASH
Sigridjack, Doctor Whooves was in it TWICE! AND there’s a Katie Cook pony! TWICE! Also, I’m calling then the Blues Bronies because duh.

Anyway, back to Anika Pie’s thing about Queen Chrysalis and where this story’s going? Do you guys think we’ll get to see Shining Armor and Princess Cadence? OH! What about Princess Luna? Do you think the Cutie Mark Crusaders will FINALLY get their cutie marks?!! (Sheesh, I hope so ‘cause those fillies can be pretty annooooyiiiing sometimes). I want Rainbow Dash to do a Sonic RainBOOM!

I guess what I’m trying to say is, what would you like to see happen in the comics?

SIGRIDJACK
I want the comics to give us the depth the episodes don’t have time to dwell on. This issue? This story? PERFECT example. The comic can take the time to explore consequences, and how things affect other ponies, and what things mentioned in the show mean for Equestria.

ANIKA PIE
Okay, first, I love Shining Armor. He is a pony made for me. I want him to show up, sure (and Cadence), but what I’d love is a little mini-comic about filly Twilight and her BBBFF. Second, Princess Luna is never ever used enough and I would read or watch a whole separate series about her…but she is also somepony I worry about the various creators not doing her the way I want her to be done, so maybe the cameos are better. Third, I seriously doubt the Cutie Mark Crusaders will get their cutie marks in the sideline comic rather than the show. I loved that Chrysalis and the text of the comic pointed out how annoying that quest, and their obsession with it, can be. That’s another example of the layering of humor I was talking about, and the meta-textual self-awareness Sigridjack mentioned. I, personally, like the CMC — and their nemesis Diamond Tiara! Mean Girls Pony Style! — but the blank flank plots get tiresome, yes.

What I want to see MOST is Pinkie Sense. And any other Pinkie-is-Spidey references (ex: Pinkie is hanging upside down for no reason whatsoever).

ALI DASH
There seriously needs to be a team-up between Spider-Pinkie, the Mare Do Well, and Super Rainbow Dash. I would read the hooves off that comic!!

Should we gush about what an awesome job Katie Cook and Andy Price did with this book?

I totally love Cook’s web comic Gronk and she’s been pretty vocal about her love for My Little Pony Friendship is Magic on the interwebz. I know I was super excited when she was announced on the book. And she really did a fantastic job with these characters. She gets them inside and out and has each of their voices down perfectly. Plus she’s got a comics background, so the pacing and structure was really great for a comic. And man, that Andy Price knows how to draw a pony! He’s cartooning fits perfectly with the animation style of the show and his facial expressions are just priceless. There were a couple pages with like ALL OF THE PONIES and they look so fantastic and details. LURVE!

SIGRIDJACK
Cook and Price do something that has my utmost respect. At no point do they mock these ponies. There is love and affection and understanding, while at the same time recognition that this is … a comic book about ponies.

ANIKA PIE
The writing is spot on, especially the in-and-out-jokes as I have mentioned twice already. As far as art, I agree with Ali that the larger scenes with everypony were wonderfully detailed. My only issue is personal and has nothing to do with the artist or his style — because these ponies are already art it bugs me that they don’t look the same. I know that’s a weird thing to say about comics but it was my gut reaction: “this is an artist’s interpretation of Pinkie Pie, not actually Pinkie Pie” and that took me out of the story sometimes.

ALI DASH
OK! Lightning Round question: What’s your cutie mark? GO!

SIGRIDJACK
My Cutie Mark when I was twenty was a shield. Can your Cutie Mark change when you get older? PLEASE tell me it can! I would appreciate that!

If I received my Cutie Mark today, it would be a book.

ANIKA PIE
Pom-poms. I was never an actual cheerleader for an actual team or school (none of the schools I went to really had any) but it’s always been my role in a group. Plus I’m loud, hyper, easily underestimated, and I never give up (never surrender).

ALI DASH
I’mma go with a comic book. Or a curling stone. Or a cocktail. No, comics. Definitely comics.

“Battlestar Galactica” Returns in Internet Prequel Series

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Jessica

by Jessica

Three years after the end of Battlestar Galactica and two years after the ill-fated run of Caprica, fans can finally get their Cylon fix again with the new prequel series Blood and Chrome. The series consists of 10 webisodes and is being distributed on the web in conjunction with Machinima.com. The 10 installments will air as a film on the SyFy Channel in February of 2013. Beware—spoilers ahead! I’m not going to reveal too many plot points, but if you are planning on watching the series and want to know absolutely nothing, stop reading now!

Blood and Chrome follows the young William Adama after he is first assigned to serve as a pilot on the Galactica. Unsurprisingly, he’s a hot-shot rookie with a thirst to prove himself. Also unsurprisingly, he’s paired with a cantankerous older co-pilot who’s constantly berating Adama’s foolhardy nature and fierce belief in the righteousness of the Cylon War. The six episodes that have been released so far are also full of all of my favorite BSG traits: space fighting, mandatory hot, smart, bad-ass girl who is ethically ambiguous, death-defying flight stunts, surprise plot twists, and more space fighting.

I’m the type of person who gets very attached to characters in shows I watch, so I’m a big fan of getting to see things like Adama’s early years. Prequels are pure candy for me to watch—they don’t effect the outcome of the characters you know and love (there’s no risk—unlike in sequels, where one wrong turn can mar your view of a character forever), but you still get to have more of the fictional worlds and characters you love (since I don’t have enough TV eating up my free time already).

Thus, I’m enjoying B&C a lot, because much of the work of establishing the world and attachment to characters has already been accomplished in BSG. If I actually think about it, not that much has been done to create a real characterization of any of the figures on the show—just quick sketches of personality and hints of intriguing backgrounds—but this is a limitation of having such a short space to work with (the six-episodes out now still come in at under an hour of viewing time). Still, even somewhat weak characterization doesn’t take away from the show, I think because B&C does an excellent job of conveying a sense that even if the viewer doesn’t totally understand each character’s motives, the motives are definitely there, just outside the scope of what is actually being shown.

I was also surprised to find B&C managed to tug on my heartstrings in such a short amount of time. A major theme running through each episode is that of sacrifice and loss—what must be given up by individuals fighting in the war, whether it’s their lives, their families, or even just their happiness. There are moments woven throughout that manage to be very moving just on their own, and I found myself feeling furthered saddened because I knew the future held reams more terrible things for humans to go through in terms of Cylon interaction.

I’ll admit that I have yet to get around to watching Caprica, so I can’t speak to how B&C compares to it, but the mini-series seems right in line with the BSG I know and love. It immediately put me back into that world again, and I had no trouble engaging with the plot and new characters. Further, even though the show is airing on the web, production values are generally very high, and watching it on my laptop wasn’t significantly different from watching an episode of BSG, although the difference might be more noticeable on a higher definition screen. It’s a great way to re-immerse yourself in the world if you’re a fan—I got a little chill when Adama looked out the window and saw the Galactica hull for the first time—but is also totally accessible to newcomers (As my BSG-n00b boyfriend said: “I’d probably watch the rest of that.”).

What did you think, dear readers? Is Blood and Chrome a hit or miss? Do you wish there were more episodes? Let your dulcet tones be heard in the comments below!

Comics & Culture

Category Archives: Review

Chit Chat: Iron Man 3

Shoujoverse manga roundup: “The Magical Girl: Part 2”

Whedonverse comics roundup: Willow

Shoujoverse manga roundup: “The Magical Girl: Part 1”

Love Letter to a Comic Book: Spider-Girl

“Warm Bodies” : A Zombie Movie With a Heart

Hayao Miyazaki: State of Wonder

Review: “The Blinding Knife” by Brent Weeks

My Little Pony Comics are Magic

“Battlestar Galactica” Returns in Internet Prequel Series