Let's talk about the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2017

Well, last year I came back to blogging due to the Crunchyroll Anime Awards and then talked about the Oscars. This year, it's the opposite way around.

Anyway, I still needed to vent a little on this because the awards have been improved in comparison to last year, but there's still room left for further improvement. Let me explain...

The Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2017 - The Good, the bad & the ugly

Updated categories are both better and worse

First up, I'm glad Crunchyroll reorganized the voting categories. The awards look less like they were done by a random youtuber. Though they're still hit and miss.

The following are gone:

• Best Fight Scene
• Most Heartwarming Scene
• Best Couple

The following were added:

• Best Continuing Series - Nice addition, though the execution could be better
• Best Manga - Good!
• Best movie - Very good!
• Best (use of) CGI - Good!
• Best Score - Very good!
• Best Slice of Life series - Not good. Honestly this is a superfluous category! All of the nominees fit either in Comedy or Drama categories!

Note: While most of the manga from Best Manga are not from this year, the first volume of every nominee was released in English for the first time in 2017. The page could've used that asterisk, tbh.

The following categories are still missing (read: missed opportunities)

• Best Voice actor/actress in Japanese and in English DUB: Come on, Crunchyroll, get to it! I said this last year as well!
• Best Direction: no-brainer, right? I mean it's a default category in most tv/movie awards shows.
• Best Character Design: An underrated category. Animation is not only the animation, it's the overall character design as well.
• Best Short series: Anime of 10 minutes or below deserve some love!
• Best Original / Adapted story: It's a default category in movie award shows, so why not here? Yes, it's a difficult category because you would need to have knowledge of both the source material as well as the adaptation. But still...
• Best NEW series / Best Sequel: The Best continuing series is a good new addition, but I feel the choices in this category are a mixed bag (to say it nicely). I feel that a split of series in new/sequel/continuing series would generally improve this and would give a proper spotlight to all kinds of series.

About the Judges

While it does surprise me that 6 of the 7 judges of last year don't reprise their role (too much salt/backlash last year?), I'm kind of neutral on the choices this year. I don't know any of them personally, but CR has listed their credits and well... they're legit (no, really).

And while I do like that there are more judges than last year... 10 vs 7 is still not that much better. Not to mention the total lack of Anitubers now that Arcada/Glass Reflection hasn't returned as a judge. Why not ask the advice of somebody like SuperEyePatchWolf, UnderTheScope or even Digibro (just to name a few)? Heck, people like Geoff/Mother's Basement would've been a perfect judge when it comes to music, OPs and EDs - That IS his Youtube schtick!

On a side-note: Praise goes to those who deserve it. I love the addition of separate judges specifically for the best manga award. Good decision!

Weird and confusing voting method

Yeah, let's just say it out loud: The new website is not that good, the previous one was better. Yes, the new one does look more like a professional awards show website and less like a fan-site. But looks aren't everything, you know.

The first time I went to the new awards website, I was utterly confused. I saw the Crunchyroll promo that you could start voting, but the first three categories I clicked on were disabled with no information on when voting would become active. I honestly thought they f**ked up.

It wasn't until later I figured out that they split up the voting over a period of multiple weeks, with each period only allowing you to vote for a small group of categories. This in a clear attempt to trigger people's engagement multiple times and keep themselves trending for a longer period of time. (*sigh* I hate cheap marketing ploys like this)

But it was clear that this decision was made late in the game, because the website was not created to support this voting method. As I said, the categories you could actually vote for in the first week were not properly highlighted nor sorted. And there was no clear message on how the voting worked (unless you read multiple posts and ads from CR). And the black site color did NOT help any of this.

But I must be honest. Checking back on the site this week will show you proper fixes. The site has been cleaned up, categories have been clearly divided and proper dates on what you can vote for when have been added. Too bad this had to happen weeks after release (*sigh*). At least they listened to the initial feedback.

But in order to prevent this kind of backlash, here are a few tips for future improvements:

• A: Don't make the site background black. Using black backgrounds is cool when you're an edgy tween, but that's the only advantage it has. In reality black makes site layout harder. Layout and graphic mistakes are easier to spot, mixing in other colors can quickly look real ugly real fast and highlighting attempts are easily overlooked.
• B: The split time periods: Don't do this. It's a cheap marketing trick to stay trending on social media, but you can do this differently. IF you still want to use this method, open the categories in a cascade form like this year but close all categories together at the end date. This way the unlock will still trigger new topics, but nobody will be frustrated that you can't vote anymore for other categories.
• C: Make it visually stand out on which categories you can already vote and on which you cannot. It will only create frustration if you click on a category, only to find out voting still isn't available and you should come back "on a later date". Oh, and on that...
• D: All necessary information should be visible on the main page. Your voting site should NOT need several blog posts or news articles for explanation on how to vote, especially if that information is on a different website all together. If it does need extra explanation on another site, you're doing something wrong!

My votes

I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I'll probably film a vlog to go into more detail.

• Best Action: My Hero Academia
• Best Drama: While real difficult to choose between Rakugo Shinju, March comes in like a Lion & Made in Abyss, I ended up choosing for March comes in like a Lion. The series needs some love!
• Best Comedy: There is no question here: KonoSuba Season 2!
• Best Slice of Life: Redundant category, but from these nominees: Sakura Quest
• Best Continuing series: Questionable choices, since some are sequel and others are actually continuing series. Best sequel is March comes in like a lion (which I voted for), but best actual ongoing series form this list would be Dragon Ball Super.
• Best Girl: The girls from My Hero Academia honestly deserve a best girl category by themselves (lol). But if you make me choose between Ochako & Tsuyu, my vote goes to Ochako (with Tsuyu a VERY close second).
• Best Boy: Kazuma without a doubt. And err... Fafnir? Really? Why?
• Best hero: I was originally going to vote for Deku. But after hearing Geoff's arguments on why Nanachi deserves the win in this category, I changed my mind. Thus: Nanachi.
• Best Villain: Stain. While Tanya is a masterful villain (or anti-hero depending on your point of view), it's Stain that stood out so much he outshined every other villain of the entire series.
• Best Manga: I'm not going to vote for this, since I haven't read most of the titles and thus cannot give an honest answer.
• Best OP: Winter 2017 had the best OPs of the entire year, though my favorite did not make the list (my vote would've gone to Fhána - Blue Sky Rhapsody from Ms Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. So from the choices available, I'm going to pick One III Notes with Shadow & Truth (from ACCA)
• Best ED: Again my choice is not on the list (the ED from Saga of Tanya the Evil: Aoi Yuuki - Los! Los! Los!). But after taking some time and missing the deadline for the category (hence my frustration) I finally listened to all nominees and would've chosen Chorogonzu - Ishukan Communication from Ms. Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.
• Best Film: A Silent Voice, with In This Corner of the World a close second.
• Best (use of) CG: Important category, considering how often this gets f**ked up in anime series. One series did NOT f**k up at all and that is Land of the Lustrous.
• Best Score: My heart bleeds because I have to choose between two great scores (ACCA and Made in Abyss). But in the end I have to go for Made in Abyss, because it elevated an already great anime into even greater heights.
• Best Animation: How is it fair that movie-level animation is compared to tv-level animation? I refused to vote for A Silent Voice because of this. My vote went to the best animation in a TV-series: March comes in like a Lion. See my review for a more detailed explanation.
• Anime of the Year: No best Yuri-on-Ice of the year? Good! With the awards starting a little later and no late fall anime that took the internet by storm, all anime now have a fair chance. My vote goes to the only anime that actually succeeded in making me cry... multiple times: Made in Abyss. Don't let this cutesy art fool you, this anime starts of "light", but gets drenched in darkness the further you go into the series. I was genuinely sad that the last episode ended (even if it was extra long), because I wanted more.

Afterword

As I said, I'll try to make a vlog for a more detailed explanation (try, no promises). But these are my choices for the Anime Awards.

Until next time, V out.

Let's talk about the Oscar nominations

Yeah, it's that time of the year again. Oscar nominations time always gets people up in a jiffy. So let's get back to this blog and give my two cents.
Also, there's also a bit of misinformation going around (including coming from some famous anitubers), so let me try to set a few things straight while stating my own opinion.

#1: Your Name could NEVER get an Oscar nomination this year!

NO, I am NOT dissing the movie. Your Name is a good movie. But it got submitted for the Oscar nominations LAST YEAR. And if you know a little bit of award shows (of any kind): You can only submit a movie ONE TIME ONLY!. And since the studio behind Your Name did that last year (see my previous Oscars blog post for more on that).

It's as simple as that: It was already submitted last year, so it cannot get submitted again.

Would it have been better if the studio/distributor had waited until 2017 for submission? Yes, defintely! They got way better word-of-mouth this year, made several headlines and so on. They might have had an actual fighting chance for that nomination.
But as they say: Hindsight is 20/20.

#2: There is NOT a bias against anime in America, there's a bias against animation

The majority of the academy voters historically don't like the Animated Feature category at all (like EVERY movie in this category). Don't forget: this category is one of the few that has its own set of submissions, compared to the other categories. This means the voters need to watch more movies. Dozens of more movies that they probably did not watch while they were in theater.

It's a public secret that many of the "old gray voters" hardly watch ANY off the nominees (let alone every submission) and just vote for whatever their (grand)kids talked about the past year or whatever was the hottest take in the movie festival circuit. And unlike the Short movie or International movie categories where there isn't a word-of-mouth or "hot take", this is one category where they CAN skip most movies on their to-watch list.

And recently it's only gotten worse now that not only "animation veterans" can vote for the nominees, but EVERY academy award voter has a say. In other words, less good quality movies and more mediocre movies like Boss Baby & Ferdinand.

No, this is not fair. But until the Academy finally cleans house in their voting public this practice is not going to change. And on the other end, there are a lot of (internet) critics that feel the same frustration and want to get in to make the awards more fair, but seem to hit the wall of "you need to know the right people".
Youtube movie critic Chris Stuckmann is known to be one such person and has been trying to get into that circuit to help reform and improve the awards. I can only hope people like him do get in and make it better on the long run.

#3: Several anime movies already got nominated in the past, so why not this year?

All nominated anime movies were Ghibli movies or Ghibli-produced movies (ref: The Red Turtle - see this blog post for more info).

And the only reason Ghibli movies end up being nominated is because John Lasseter of Pixar (now Disney) really pushed the Academy to get a nomination for Spirited Away. Don't forget: in order to get a nomination, you need to know the right people. And once you receive an Oscar, the Oscar door will always be open in the future. So that is why Ghibli films will always be considered for nominations in the future.

Yes, there is still that chance to be nominated as part of the 1-2 art-house-movies that get nominated each year (e.g. this year's The Breadwinner & Loving Vincent). But those nominations are mostly done by the critics to save face in the movie festival circuit since they've received TONS of praise over there. So the chance of those two winning is close to 0%.

#4: Boss Baby & Ferdinand did NOT deserve that nomination

Yes, I feel the same way. But read #2 again. Not enough people elegible for voting watch animated movies. If their grandkids talked about Boss Baby a lot, there's a chance it will be nominated. And due to the huge box office success of Boss Baby (almost 500 million dollar worldwide), the chances for a nomination were real. Just be glad the Emoji movie didn't get a nomination (*shudders*).

#5 Do the Oscars even matter anymore?

I can hear many people say "The Oscars don't matter anymore" or "they're always wrong or choose wrong anyway".

And yes, there is a lot of truth in those statements. You don't hear people talk about Oscar-awarded movies at all, safe the next Oscar period. BUT having an Oscar (or even a nomination) for your movie or the category you worked in IS a status symbol and the best possible addition on your resumé.

In fact, of all award shows out there, the only one that people in the industry or in the press will keep referring to IS the Oscars. You won at Cannes/Sundance? Nobody cares; you had great feedback at the Writers Guild awards: Who remembers that? You got nominated for an Oscar? AMAZING!

I mean, no matter what Crunchyroll is going to do with their anime awards, is anyone going to refer to certain anime as: "anime-award winning title"? No. But with Oscars, that is a Yes.

And that is why the Oscars will matter, even if they keep making shitty decisions and award all the wrong movies, year after year.

#6: What movie do I think is going to win / should have been nominated?

• Anime movie that should have been nominated: A Silent Voice and In This Corner of the World.
• Will win: Coco, without a doubt.

I haven't seen A Silent Voice yet (have it on Blu-Ray, ready to be watched), but I did see ITCOTW last year at the Anima festival last year (read my review here). But from what I hear / have seen both movies would've been award-material... if they were done in Live Action in Hollywood.

A movie about the consequences of bullying and about deaf people? That's right in the Oscarbait category. A period piece about the consequences of war in Japan? Yeah, definite nomination! If only those grey oldtimers would bother to watch these movies... sigh.

#On a side-note: What does an anime movie have to do to get a submission/nomination?

Well, read the rulebook: http://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/90aa_rules.pdf

If you don't want to read it all, I'll list up a few important rules (for the full list, RTFM!):

• The movie must meet feature length (thus >40 minutes runtime).
• Image & Sound must meet DC (Digital Cinema) standards. Thus direct-to-video movies cannot apply.
• It must have been released in at least 1 L.A. County commercial theater in the past calendar year (January 1 - midnight December 31st). Note: Special previews and festival screenings can count as well under certain circumstances (too many to list here, rtfm).
• Only the first and earliest theatrical run in LA county counts. Re-runs on later dates, or runs in other theaters in the same county do not count.
• The movie must have run at least 7 consecutive days in that year with at least 3 screenings per day, including one in the primetime hours (6-10 pm) and those showings must be with paid admission (promo/press showings do not count).
• It must have been advertised & exploited properly, like any other movie during that period.
• The first screening of that movie must be (completely) shown in theaters. Movies that are first spread via TV, DVD/BR or Internet (read as: Netflix movies) are exempt. Note: After that first screening, everything is allowed again.
• Broadcasts must be either with English audio or with English subtitles if English audio is not available.

There are other (administrative) rules (filling in forms, exact timeframes, ways of submitting the films and actors, etc). But if you're in need of those, you're better off reading the rulebook yourself.

Not to mention that if you want to get in favor of the Academy, you'll need the dreaded "Oscar Tour", going on promo tours; handing out free copies of the movies to all the voters, etc. Not every studio wants to do that effort.

Afterword

Yes, another post since months! Hurrah!

I can't help it. If I see something that bugs me, I feel the need to write about it. But I'll probably skip doing anime reviews. I got bored out after trying to watch every series of the last Spring season (watching to many "meh" anime is bad for morale) and never really got back "in". Not to mention that past few seasons were pretty mediocre. Yeah, even the current one. I've seen the best anime, but that's about it. I do have a few more topics I wanna talk about, but that will be for a later post.

Until that time, V out.

Casually dropping a Yu-Gi-Oh banlist like Lolkonami does...

Today in Konami office:
- "Hey, err... when are we going to release that new Forbidden & Limited list again?"
* "Wait, we didn't release it last week? We were supposed to release that last week to..."
- "Didn't get that memo."
* "Oh holy F...."

New Forbidden & Limited list, effective from NOW!

The list

Source: http://yugioh-card.com/uk/gameplay/detail.php?id=1155

Listed are only the changes for TCG.

Forbidden

• Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter (from unlimited)
• Grandsoil the Elemental Lord (from unlimited)
• True King Lithosagym, the Disaster (from unlimited)
• Denglong, First of the Yang Zing (from unlimited)
• Daigusto Emeral (from unlimited)
• Zoodiac Broadbull (from unlimited)
• Zoodiac Drident (from unlimited)

Limited

• Ignis Heat, the True Dracowarrior (from unlimited)
• Miscellaneousaurus (from unlimited)
• Zoodiac Ratpier (from semi-limited)
• Dark Hole (from semi-limited)
• Gateway of the Six (from forbidden)
• Interrupted Kaiju Slumber (from semi-limited)
• True King’s Return (from unlimited)

Semi-Limited

• Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (from limited)
• Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer (from limited)
• Mathematician (from limited)
• Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (from limited)
• T.G. Hyper Librarian (from limited)
• Brain Control (from limited)
• Burial From a Different Dimension (from limited)
• El Shaddoll Fusion (from limited)
• Preparation of Rites (from limited)

Unlimited

• Debris Dragon (from smi-limited)
• Honest (from semi-limited)
• Rescue Cat (from limited)
• Rescue Rabbit (from limited)
• Summoner Monk (from semi-limited)
• Witch of the Black Forest (from forbidden)
• Charge of the Light Brigade (from semi-limited)
• Dragon Ravine (from semi-imited)
• Wavering Eyes (from forbidden)

First thoughts

Oh, jeezes, Konami. Didn't the list get an approval last Friday? This is so friggin' random, casually dropping the list on a Monday and saying it's effective on the day the list drops? That's why we keep calling you Lolkonami.

So since the list just dropped like a few hours ago, so I'm still processing this. Because at first glance, the hits seem... kind of random.

Okay, hits like Broadbull and Drident were to be expected. But I did NOT expect Dino's to get slaughtered this way. And True kings? I think they're somewhat fine. Because even with all the True Draco cards being on this list, Master Peace, Diagram and Heritage did NOT get hit, nor did Terraforming.

Also, on the Zoodiac side, Zoodiac Barrage also did not get hit, making Zoodiac still alive... somewhat (as an engine, rather than a full deck). Most surprising to see not getting hit is ABC.

What I'm also surprised about is the massive push to get re-aligned with the OCG list. A lot of these hits are to make the lists (somewhat) hole again. But then on the other hand we get random hits again, like Grandsoil and Daigusto Emeral. Yes, they're great cards... but OP enough to be forbidden? No way.

What decks are going to be best?

SPYRAL, definitely. Especially after the release of Double Helix this October (*cough*definite secret rare*cough*). Then I assume Invoked to finally take flight (in combination with what's left of Zoodiac or True Draco) and ABC will probably see a return in popularity. And last but not least: Red-Eyes (with the release of Legendary Duelists) + Zombies (with possibly the new Vendread support in Circuit Break).

That's it for now. I'm now going to sit down, take my popcorn and see how the rest of the world is going to process this random list drop.
Until next time, V out.

About the October Forbidden & Limited List for OCG and its impact on the TCG list

Hey, I'm here with another Yu-Gi-Oh update. No TCG Forbidden and Limited list yet, but a new one for the OCG has just been announced.

I'll give you a run-down of what has changed, why some cards have gotten hit or released, the difference between OCG and TCG, and thus also the possible impact on the soon-to-come TCG Forbidden and limited list.

V takes a look at the October 1st Yu-Gi-Oh OCG Forbidden & Limited List

The Changes in OCG

Source: https://ygorganization.com/ocg-october-1st-forbiddenlimited-list/
Date: From 01 October 2017 onward

Newly Forbidden in the OCG

• Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King (from limited)
• Dragonic Diagram (from Limited)

Newly Limited:

• Tribe-Infecting Virus (from forbidden!)
• Aleister the Invoker (from unlimited)
• Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter (from unlimited)
• Souleating Oviraptor (from unlimited)
• Babycerasaurus (from unlimited)
• ABC-Dragon Buster (from unlimited)
• Denglong, First of the Yang Zing (from unlimited)
• Terraforming (from semi-limited)
• Spellbook of Secrets (from unlimited)
• True Draco Heritage (from unlimited)
• True King’s Return (from unlimited)
• Trickstar Reincarnation (from unlimited)

Newly Semi-Limited

• Summoner Monk (from limited)
• Windwitch – Ice Bell(from unlimited)
• Maxx “C” (from unlimited)
• Pot of Avarice (from limited)
• Future Fusion (from limited)
• Fossil Dig (from unlimited)

Newly Unlimited

• Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer (from semi-limited)
• Witch of the Black Forest (from semi-limited)
• Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss (from semi-limited)
• Rescue Cat (from semi-limited)
• Burial from a Different Dimension (from semi-limited)
• Fire Formation – Tenki (from semi-limited)
• Preparation of Rites (from semi-limited)
• Saqlifice (from semi-limited)
• Domain of the True Monarchs (from semi-limited)
• Wavering Eyes (from semi-limited)
• Dragon Ravine (from semi-limited)

Thoughts

This list truly feels like an "out with the old, in with the new" kind of list. Almost every Top tier deck gets hit!

True Draco doesn't just get hit, it gets BUTCHERED. Master Peace and Diagram were already limited, but now they're forbidden + an additional hit on Heritage, Return and Dinomight Knight. Ouch.

Also, Dino's get a massive hit with Babycerasaurus, Fossil Dig and Oviraptor (double ouch).

Then also a hit on Aleister (Invoked is now dead, I assume?), ABC-Dragon (necessary), Yang Zing, Spellbooks (booh!) and even Trickstars (wow, that's fast!).

And err... the return of Tribe-Infecting Virus? Not sure what to think of it. No card text update has been announced (yet).

So what decks will survive? SPYRAL (no, really! Did you see the latest OCG weekly list?)! Plus the recently updated classic decks like HERO, Six Samurai and Red-Eyes. We may even see a return of previous hard-hitters like Blue-Eyes and Shiranui. And maybe we'll even see a rise of decks that have flown under the radar like Chaossworn and World Chalice!

It'll be interesting to see how the OCG evolves this coming October.

Possible influence on the TCG F&L list

We've been waiting on the new TCG banlist for a few weeks now. Each weekend us players are looking at each other and expect it to drop anytime. But until the moment of this post, we got nothing.

But looking at this list and the previous list for the OCG, it becomes a little easier to see what is going to get hit in the TCG

• While I expect no butchering of True Draco like in the OCG, it WILL get hit. Master Peace & Diagram will become either limited or forbidden. And I don't know what other cards will take a hit.
• RIP Zoodiacs. You cannot deny it. The OCG has Broadbull, Drident and Barrage FORBIDDEN and Ratpier limited. TCG will follow this example, no doubt about it.
• ABC will see their Dragon (limited) and Union Hangar (semi-limited) take a hit.
• Frogzoic? Yeah, say goodbye to Toadally Awesome (limited in OCG).
• Yang Zing? Not sure it if Denglong wil take the same hit over here. Maybe in a future list.
• Invoked? Doubt it. Kinda flew under the radar here, so I doubt Aleister will become limited like in the OCG. We'll see.
• Dino's? Nah, too soon. Maybe the semi-limit on Fossil Dig will happen, like how Ratpier got semi'd last list.
• Other one-of's? Gofu may become Limited, just like Kaiju Slumber. Terraforming WILL take a hit (became a little TOO good as of late). Card of Demise may become Semi or Fully limited. And probably we'll see a limit to Fairy Tail - Snow as well, just like Psy-Framelord Omega (cards are too good).

And next to those hits, we may also see the return of a few cards, like Chaos Emperor Dragon, Chicken Game (with Terraforming getting hit), Book of Moon, E-HERO Stratos (#FreeStratos), Brionac, Witch of the Black Forest, Rescue Cat, Rescue Rabbit (#FreeRabbit) and maybe even Cyber-Stein. But that's just wild speculations based on the current OCG list.

Will the TCG list hit more cards than its OCG counterpart? Yeah, probably. The TCG F&L list is famous for being more strict than its OCG counterpart. So who knows?

That's it from me now. I'm going to refresh the TCG Forbidden and Limited list page a few more times, just to be sure...

Until next [F5] time, V out [F5].

V Reviews the Deah Note Netflix Movie - A rushed mess

Last week the Death Note Netflix movie was finally released to Netflix. And it was received with "mixed" responses (to say it nicely). But as I promised earlier on, I sat down and took an attempt to watch it.

I nodded approvingly (a few times), I cringed (A LOT) and I literally rolled over the floor laughing at the horribly stupid finale. That's the movie in one sentence. Let's dig a little deeper in what worked and what did NOT work in the Death Note movie.

V reviews: The Netflix Death Note movie

Casting: A mixed bag

This movie caught a lot of flack for the whitewashing of Asian roles and portraying everything in an American setting instead of Japan. I could only sigh at the ignorance of such comments. Come on people, People if you want this in an Asian setting, go watch the Japanese Death note movies. There's like six of them now.

This is an American adaptation, get over it already. Could there have been made more roles available for Asian actors? Yeah, definitely! But we got what we've got.

And what we got is poor. Let's run over this quickly:

• Horrible casting choices: Nat Wolff as Light, Margaret Qualley as Mia and Shea Whigham as James Turner.
  Wolff is a B-grade Tobey Maguire. He looks nor acts nothing like Light from the manga/anime (safe maybe the last five minutes). Margaret looks like she would fit right in a high-school movie like Mean Girls, rather than anything related to Death Note. The most out of place character is probably Shea, who looks and acts like he has no clue in what kind of movie he's in THE ENTIRE TIME and he has no chemistry with any other character in the movie.
• Okay casting choices: Lakeith Stanfield as L and Paul Nakauchi as Watari.
  Both are clearly good actors who are giving it the best they can. But the script often forces these two to do or say stupid shit. Don't blame the actors, blame the script.
  Also, can anybody explain to me how the only Asian actor casted ended up playing the one character that ISN'T Asian in the original story? (*facepalming*)
• Amazing casting choice: Willem Dafoe as Ryuk. I honestly can't imagine anybody else in Hollywood as the Death God and he NAILS it! I get that the number of appearances were limited due to budget constraints; but every scene with Dafoe in it was elevated to a new height.

Pacing: Rush rush rush

The biggest flaw this movie has is that the entire feature is rushed beyond belief. The original series and manga is slowly paced, which is very fitting for a suspenseful thriller. Every chapter, every episode is paced and filled in such a way to keep you on the edge of your seat.

But in this movie everything rushes by you so fast, it's very hard to catch the minor details (apples, marbles, pictures, etc) and it makes the plot details harder to follow to those unfamiliar with the source material. It also has a consequence that things that could've been missed suddenly need to be repeated.

Honestly, this should've been a Netflix (mini-)series. This so more time could be spent on character development and the plot twists.

Image and Sound: Good and bloody awful (respectively)

The overall imagery and cinematography is one of the few things I can applaud in this movie. The overall feeling I get from watching this movie, the angles, the set pieces, etc... it's all good looking and would've made for a good movie (if the rest would've been good). There's a lot of visual clues and hints of events to come for those that spot it.

But the music? Oh my god, it's frigging awful. The overall soundtrack is bad enough as it is (it's like fit for a B or C-level movie), but the songs that are inserted in the third act are not only distracting, they literally made me roll over the floor laughing because they're so horribly chosen and don't fit the mood of the scene AT ALL.

The song used at the Ferris wheel climax is (no joke) Chicago with I don't want to live without your love. The choice is so baffling, it made me laugh non-stop for at least five minutes. The song used when Light explains his plan (The power of love from Jennifer Rush) is equally weird and distracting. And both should be moments that require your full attention. But it does the exact opposite. After the movie ended, I could only think about the stupid music and not about how the movie actually ended. That's the effect the music has on you.

The Screenplay: In need of at least two more rewrites

I need to give the movie some praise: There are hints of a good story in this script. There's a few changes to the source material that either make more sense in the modern US setting or help with Light's motivation to kill criminals.

Let me give you an example. In the manga the sole reason Light starts killing criminals in his Death Note is boredom. No, he literally says so in the first chapter and the chapter is equally named Boredom. But the change that Light is taking revenge for a failing justice system in this movie is kind of a better motivation, don't you think so?

However, for every change to the source material that is good, there's two other changes that are awful or horribly dated in 80s/90s movie cliches.

A few examples: Making Mia a cheerleader (dated cliche), removing Matsuda from the story (he's essential to the story, so why?), forcing Watari to do Light's bidding (HOW? WHY? That's impossible!), skipping out on the Lind L Tailor scene and ruining the follow-up with Light's father (WHY? The Lind L Tailor scene twist is amazing).

Killing L live on a worldwide broadcast, only to reveal it's a dupe? Brilliant!

Turning Light from a tactical mastermind into a sad duped kid

While I applaud the fact that the creators have tried to make Mia more manipulative herself (rather than be manipulated in the source material), the fact that Light is left as a sad little shell of his manga counterpart is what makes fans of the original rage on the internet. There's a reason why I keep comparing him to Tobey Maguire. He's really similar to Tobey's performance as Spider-Man in the Raimi trilogy (up to and including sad and angry faces).

Clearly the face of self-confidence and wit that Light is supposed to be...

I could only cringe at the scene where Light rushes up to Mia and says: "I have a Death Note." No really, that literally happens in the movie. He was almost begging her: "Give me attention, I have an object that may interest you!". That is 100% the complete opposite of anything Light Yagami would ever do.

What is missing from the movie

First and furmost, both famous memes are not present. The iconic scene of "I'll take a potato chip and eat it!" is nowhere to be seen, nor is the "All according to Keikaku/plan" line. But I can understand that some higher ups would be opposed to silly lines like that if they don't get the context of the source material and fandom.

But several characters have been scratched from this movie to my surprise. Yes, the absence of Light's mother is explained in the movie. But Light also has no sister in the movie (as if to emphasize that Light is a loner?).

The most surprising absence however is the character of Matsuda (or whatever they would've renamed him). Of all supporting characters, Matsuda is on one end the most sympathetic character (as the bumbling rookie cop that believes in justice), but is an essential audience point of view character. He could be the one that asks the difficult moral questions or helps avoid plot holes by asking typical "how does this work" or "how do you know that" questions.
And he would've fit right in the movie as partner to Light's father, maybe as "the only cop that sides with him", or "too young and inexperienced to judge him".

And trust me, adding a character like Matsuda would've livened up this otherwise dreary and rushed plot. Heck, due to what happens in the final episode of the anime/manga, he's technically a major character. So scratching him from the story is a missed opportunity.

Matsuda, the heart and soul of the series

Afterthought

This movie is just another wasted opportunity. And honestly, it could've been a lot better with only a handful of script rewrites. It's like they had to push this through a budgeted schedule and a lot of things ended up suffering because of it.

In the end, it's just another anime adaptation that we can put on the pile of "failed attempts". I wonder what the next one is going to be.

Rating: 5/10. It has traces of a good movie, but doesn't go further than "traces". Skip it, unless you're really interested in how they f**ked this one up.

Until next time, V out.

A talk about anime, Netflix, Funimation, Sony, Aniplex and Daisuki

Wow, it's been quite a news heavy week on anime side. Usually I don't bother doing "anime news" posts, since most people know to check the ANN and CR news page from time to time. But this time around, I wanted to give a few remarks. Since there's a LOT going on which has a BIG impact on the future of how we watch anime in the future.

As usual, I first looked at this with a negative approach ("All signs of a new anime bubble!"). But after a few days of thinking this through, I realized it may not be as negative as I first thought. It's just... change. And we'll have to adapt to change, whether we like that or not.

Let's go over these news stories one by one.

Netflix announces huge anime lineup for the following year

Sources: Various, from Netflix' YT channel to various press releases on ANN, Comicbooknews and others. This week was a huge week for Netflix announcements concerning anime. Netflix had a huge press conference in Japan and announced several new series coming to Netflix in the following year and gave a few dates for expected updates. Here's the updates to already known titles:

• Little Witch Academia (second half): August 15
• Fate Apocrypha (season 1): November 2 (US/CAN), December 2 (rest of world)
• Kakegurui: 2018 (no exact date)
• Children of the Whale: Already announced earlier this month, but re-confirmed this Wednesday. The anime starts airing on Netflix Japan this coming Fall season. Rest of the world will be later.
• Godzilla: Monster Planet: Also a re-confirmation. The animated Godzilla movie will first run in Japanese theaters in November of this year. After the theater run, it will become available on Netflix Worldwide.
• A.I.C.O. Incarnation: A Studio Bones anime original for Netflix. It's 12 episodes and will air in Spring 2018 (worldwide?).
• Devilman Crybaby: It's confirmed to be 10 episodes that will air in Spring 2018. If you're unfamiliar with Devilman, Netflix currently streams the series Cyborg 009 Vs Devilman. You may want to watch that if you want to have an idea of what Devilman is about.
• Baki: I'm excited for this. I like the Baki series manga (127 volumes at this moment and still running) and has already resulted in an OVA and 2 seasons of 24 episodes back in 2001. This new anime is based on the "Baki" sub-series which ran between 1999 and 2005, and will focus on the "Most Evil Death Row Convicts" story arc, which is set after the series that have already been animated (hint). The anime will be animated by TMS Entertainment (I like their more seinen-focused direction in the last few years) and will consist of 26 episodes. The anime will air (in Japan) somewhere in 2017 (I presume in December?). No news on when it will air in the West. Somehow I hope that the other Baki series will get a Netflix release as well. May help re-vive interest in the Baki franchise.
• Cannon Busters: LeSean Thomas' comic book already had a Shortfilm anime adaptation funded via Kickstarter (cool). An now Studio Satelight is doing a 12-episode series of it. I can only say: Awesome. No specific date yet, but let's assume somewhere in 2018.
• Lost Song: An anime original series co-created by Liden Films (infamous for Berserk '16) & DWANGO (known for Mirai Nikki among others). The anime will air in Japan starting January '18 and will probably see a release in the West on a later date.
• Sword Gai: The manga created by the same guy who brought the world Kamen Rider is finally getting an anime adaptation. The production had some delay (it was originally announced back in 2014), but will finally see the light of day this coming Spring 2018... Globally! Animation will be done by Studio DLE inc. (known for Akiba's Trip amonst others).
• B: the Beginning: First announced as "Perfect Bones", but now renamed to B the Beginning (with B standing for Bones, I guess?). The story is an anime original and created by Studio I.G. And the anime will be released worldwide on Netflix in Spring 2018.
• Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya: A CG remake of the original Saint Seiya fits in with the dozens of remakes of classic anime series. It was only a matter of time Saint Seiya would be handled. However: The first season of this new series will be 12 episodes and will contain the start up to the Silver Saints Story arc... which was 35 episodes in the original. I have mixed feelings about this. I realize there's a HUGE amount of filler in the original series (not to mention slow pacing), but this reduction is just ridiculous. On animation side, this is a Toei franchise, so it's animated by Toei... in full CG. Also mixed feelings on that.
• Rilakkuma: Kids anime about bears in Miffy / Hello Kitty style. No surprise, it's from the company behind Hello Kitty. Much ignored by news outlets due to it being a kiddy anime. But presumed release somewhere in 2018.
• And last but not least... Violet Evergarden: Just announced yesterday in Germany's AnimagiC 2017. Kyoto Animation's new Project already had its first episode premiered at Anime Expo a few weeks ago and did the same now at AnimagiC, with a full panel explaining further details. The show will air on Netflix Japan this upcoming January, with the rest of the world following in Spring 2018.

Lots of good news. But also lots of frustrated people due to the continuous delay of releases between East and West. Kakegurui will be released only "somewhere" in 2018? It's already the most pirated anime this season, and this announced delay is NOT going to help that (*sigh*). The few "worldwide" releases in this press conference may be a sign of changes to come in the future. Let's hope for that.

Oh, and on a side-note: The Live-action Death Note Netflix movie/flop(?) will be available from August 29. That'll be fun times for movie reviewers. I'm going to tune in as well then. Wish me luck.

Financial report states Netflix is in billion-dollar deep debt

Source: L.A. Times

Next to the big fun announcements, Netflix tried to make people forget about this earlier news report. Netflix apparently has a billion dollar debt... but it's normal, according to their investors? That's about the only positive thing I can say about this, but let's just say I'm a bit worried about the continued existence of Netflix.

The L.A. Times has created a report stating that Netflix has a debt of several BILLIONS of dollars (not millions but billions). And while the initial report was wrong, it's still a big red number. The correction?: L.A. Times originally stated the debt was 15.7 billion, while Netflix corrected that to 4.8. Okay, that's less than 10% of initially stated, so a correction was necessary. But 4.8 billion dollar is still a huge debt!

And yes, everybody invested in Netflix finds this apparently pretty normal since Netflix has always worked with debts in order to finance their business. And the financial "game plan" that Netflix has layed-out to its investors has them content with their plans for the future.

I'm no financial expert, so I personally can't say if this is a normal way of working for a streaming service or TV-station. And their financial plan may indeed succeed and bring them many years of success (god, I hope so). But I'm worried, because constant debts aren't healthy for any company. And I'm honestly not alone in this way of thinking. Industry experts are already warning for a "Netflix Bubble". Let's cross fingers and hope this isn't going to be a repeat of the anime bubble from a decade ago...

Funimation is bought by Sony Pictures

Source: Variety

The big surprise early this week was the bomb that Funimation has been bought by Sony Pictures Television Networks (that IS the full name of the TV-series sub branch of Sony) for the sum of $143 million. And yes, while it had been reported earlier this year that "multiple partners" were looking to purchase Funimation, it still feels like a surprise to anime fans in general.

And this should be good news, right? While Funimation is thé standard for licensing and dubbing anime in the US for the past two decades, it's still a relatively small player in the TV and movie business overall (don't forget, anime IS still considered a niche product in the entirety of entertainment). So having a big company like Sony behind its shoulders, should put them in a real solid foundation, and may push anime towards mainstream acceptation, right?

Yes, in theory. But it's having many people worry about the future of anime in America, not to mention the deal with Crunchyroll to share their streaming libraries. Sony Pictures isn't exactly been known for their "great business decisions" in the past few years (putting it nicely here).

There's also the fear that Funimation may close its streaming service all together to have everything move to Sony's online service "Crackle". And if you've never heard of that, neither did I until this week. That's how well known this service is in the world of streaming.

And while I think the dubbing division of Funi is in no risk of any change (in fact, Sony may take use of it), the current distribution partnerships (both of movie releases as physical releases) may have to merge with whatever Sony currently has.

Another good thing is that Funimation will have a hold of all Sony anime movies (like the Cowboy Bebop movie, Satoshi Kon's movies and others). Bad thing is that Funi may have to focus their dubbing efforts in Sony/Aniplex projects (read as: anything A1 Pictures spits out, whether it's "good" or horribly bad) and less on other projects.

But a lot of these questions are still up in the air. ANN's Answerman has tried to answer some questions. But for other effects, we'll have to see what announcements are going to be made in the coming weeks/months.

Although, while talking about Aniplex projects...

Daisuki officially ends on October 31

Source: Daisuki itself

One of the bigger Streaming Services of legal anime is Daisuki. I have been praising the service as one of the alternative streaming services. This service was part of Bandai-Namco and held most of its titles (availability depended on licenses).

And yes, It has quite a few anime series on its site, like Eromanga Sensei, a LOT of Gundam series including Iron-Blooded Orphans, Tales of Zesteria the X, One Punch Man and several others. Yes, even here in Belgium.

But people were aware that things had "slowed down" on the site recently. Several of its licenses were either ending or became available on other streaming sites (like the Gundam series becoming available on Crunchyroll) and no real new titles were added this summer season (that I'm aware of). They were also absent from recent anime conventions where they usually took part in.

So Tuesday came the announcement that the streaming service is officially ending at the end of October and in December everything that was connected to Daisuki will be removed from the internet.

Has this something to do with the Funimation deal? Yes, definitely! Aniplex (subsidiary of Sony) is one of the five studios who was partnered with Daisuki and had 13.4% of its shares. So yes, there IS a connection between the two cases.

Is this bad or good? THAT all depends on what the four other anime studios backing Daisuki are going to do. Aniplex obviously is going to use Funimation and/or Sony's streaming services for their anime. But are they going to "involve" the other animation studios behind Daisuki as well into their new plans (like Toei and TMS), or did Aniplex bail this "team-up" all together? The coming months will probably provide us with more answers.

Afterthoughts

There have been some questions about the financial gains of streaming sites in general, not to mention anime streaming sites (which, once again, is a niche). But all these news messages in this post are a sign that the anime industry is changing in general. If anything, I think this may push anime into actual mainstream and out of its niche.

I'll be following the anime industry related news more closely now. And it's bound to follow.

Until next time, V out.

Is Code of the Duelist is a total miss? - A Yu-Gi-Oh set review

Back from holiday! I took a break, started a subscription with Netflix that got me hooked... and I really need to finish a bunch of half-written blog posts now, do I? (*scratches head and swears*). Oh well, Shoganai. Let's start with this one, while it's fresh.

Now that Link Summoning has become a thing and with new rules, I decided to give Yu-Gi-Oh another shot. I participated in the sneak peek last weekend, but noticed a lack of interest in the set.

I hadn't really payed any attention to what was in the set, other than the Spellbook "Destiny Draw" card, so I was kind of surprised at the lackluster turnout at the events. Due to this, I wanted to dig a little deeper (that's what I do) and see what went wrong. And yes, the set is a total stinker. But it does have a handful of cards worth noting. Let's review:

Is Code of the Duelist a total miss?

A: No real money cards

Biggest problem from the get-go is that there are no cards in here that are worth a lot. There is no Ash Blossom or Pot of Desires or Solemn Strike or anything in here. The priciest card right now (before the set is even out) is Firewall Dragon, which you can get below €40. And that is the hero's key card at sneak peek price (you know that decreases real fast real soon). And "key card" means: This card will be reprinted over and over again, just like every other Key card (Utopia/Pendulum Dragon/Dark Magician/Neos/Stardust).

So underline is: You can buy it if you really need it for your deck. But you will regret spending money on it.

B: Trickstars is not the archetype you are looking for

Fact: Of the new archetypes in this and the next set, only Trickstar is doing anything in the OCG meta on a really small scale. And there's a big asterisk that needs to be added to it due to the OCG meta being different to ours. Over here, I doubt it will do anything at this moment and with the current cardpool. Yes, I know YOU can make a good deck that will do well at locals. But outside of that, nothing.

However, Trickstar Reincarnation itself can be used outside of the archetype and will become a key card in discard decks if that would ever become meta again (you never know with Yu-Gi-Oh). Banishing the opponent's current hand and forcing him to redraw IS an amazing effect.

So underline: Buy 3 Trickstar Reincarnations when they get cheaper, ignore the other Trickstars.

C: Forget about World Chalice

Thé new non-anime archetype that starts in this set is World Chalice (Star Chalice in OCG). You can instantly forget about it. It's not good and it receives very little support in the next set.

D: Chaossworn is not that good

Hate to be the one to tell you, but while the "Twilightsworn" cards may be a good addition to the Chaos Lightsworn decks... they're not good enough to make it tournament-worthy. The new Ryko is amazing, the new Lumina is Great! The new Lyla is good, Jain is "okay" and Punishment Dragon is very iffy and more of a brick draw than JD ever was. Not to mention that constantly banishing your Lightsworns and Twilightsworns is turning JD himself into a brick. You want to keep a certain amount of Lightsworns in the grave.

Maybe this could improve if more Twilightsworn cards would appear. But guess what: Next set has ZERO Twilightsworns. It's really a one-set addition (lol, wut?). So no Wulf, no Ehren, no Raiden or whatever. And that is bad, because I can imagine a bunch of card effects for them that could improve the deck (and I doubt I'm alone).

Underline: Ignore, unless you play Chaossworn. If so: Wait until the prices drop even further and then pick up 3 Lumina's, 2 Ryko's, 1 Punishment and 1-2 Lyla's just in case.

E: TCG Exclusives: F.A. is not good, too soon to judge Vendread

Of the TCG Exclusive card pool, the only cards that seem interesting are the TCG exclusive Vendread archetype, which focuses on ritual summoning Zombies, with huge boost effects. However, with only a handful of cards it's really too early to fully judge it.

Yes, in the future this archetype has the chance to be the next B.A. or Kozmo, But right now it's not good enough yet. But take note in case if it does get better, the most expensive card from the archetype is 5€ at sneak peek value (Vendread reorigin). Reason being that the Spyral dud is still fresh in people's mind.

Underline: Invest in single cards while everything is cheap. This could get good in the future, but beware that this might as well be another TCG hype dud.

F: OCG imports are underwhelming

I've complained about underwhelming OCG promo imports in the past. And this time is no different. The 10 cards that have been added are underwhelming to say it in a nice way. Yes, they all support some fan-favorite archetype (if you stretch the meaning of the words). But none of the archetypes have been relevant in a long while and with the Link format change I doubt that'll change. So no surprise that every card is a friggin' common in here.

G: Other cards worth noting?

The Supreme King Servant Dragons are in here, if you play the new Pendulum Magician Deck that focuses on summoning Z-ARC. That is a legit deck in the OCG, and luckily they're all just plain rares (*sigh of relief*).

Missus Radiant and Gaia Saber are somewhat splashable Link cards, considering there's nothing better in the market. Useful now, but you'll forget about them in a year or so. So pick them up, but don't spend TOO much on them.

Spellbook of Knowledge is the Destiny Draw card that Prophecy/Spellbook decks needed, but next to that it turns Spellbooks into a real engine that can be splashed everywhere. I've seen the combo of Spellbook Secrets/Knowledge/Magician pop up EVERYWHERE in the OCG. If you need to buy anything from this set, it's THIS card. Pick it up while it's still below €10. Because after people start noticing that this engine works, it's going to become expensive.

Overall: Is this set worth investing in?

No. But it's not a total disaster either. Buy those single cards where necessary. But keep in mind that buying a full box is going to guarantee you a net loss of value.

But buy those single cards while they're cheap. This set has a good chance to become another "Starstrike Blast". Horrible when released, but the splashable cards will see a price spike since nobody wants to buy boxes.

Until next time, V out.