Category: Anime

Fate/Zero: Spoilers, Anakin Skywalker Becomes Darth Vader

6 Comments

SPOILERS FOR FATE/STAY NIGHT AND FATE/ZERO

While there is a good deal of Sayre’s law styled controversy surrounding the Aniblog Tourney, I do find that it can a show you a previously unseen segment of the anime and manga blogosphere if you let it. While perusing sites that are participating in the tournament, I came upon a curious phenomenon surrounding Fate/Zero. There were several blogs that were reviewing Fate/Zero without ever experiencing the original material that Fate/Zero is a prequel to. That sort of blew my mind. But then again, it is not that hard to imagine. The Fate/Stay Night anime came out in 2006 so there is the distinct possibility that a good number of current anime fans have neither watched the original anime or played the visual novel but at the same time are interested in watching Fate/Zero cold. Like many things that fascinate me it is not that the phenomenon is that hard to imagine. What caught my attention was how it changed the way the bloggers looked at the show.

Continue reading →

The Speakeasy #028: The Portal Two – A Talk About Sequels, Re-tellings, and Extended Universes

3 Comments

Drink #028: The Portal Two
A Talk About Sequels, Re-tellings,
and Extended Universes

Inspired by the new season of shows that include a new Lupin III, more Eureka Seven, and newbie-friendly Saint Seiya, we jump into a discussion about anime which expand their settings or characters over time. Not every series is written in a way to extend it into an ongoing franchise so when a series is ridiculously popular the creators usually have to work some major mojo to be able to create new material. The simplest way it to create a sequel or a prequel but you can’t always do that especially when a story has a very hard beginning, middle, and end. Sometimes they must find a way to retell the same story with a new twist. Other times they explore different parts of the universe they created away from or only tangentially related to the original story. This podcast focuses on what works and what does not when you expand on a story. Also we give our secret wish list to what stories we would love to see more of.

RSS Feed     –     iTunes Feed

(Listen)

And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink:

The Portal Two

  • Blue Curacao
  • Vodka Lemonade 
  • Cointreau Rum 
  • Orangina

“This drink is, of course, designed to resemble the two coloured portals from the excellent sci-fi puzzle game. For the blue version, get a small tumbler and pour in 10ml of Blue Curacao, 10ml of vodka and top up with lemonade. For orange you’ll need another tumbler, this time filled with 10ml of Cointreau, 10ml of rum and Orangina. If you fancy, you can jazz the glasses up with coloured sugar rims. Simply pour some sugar into a sandwich bag with the relevant food colouring, shake them up, pour the resulting mix into a dish and dip your tumbler in. “You can mix the portals together if you like,” says James. “It’s a very orangey flavour, which we thought tied in with The Orange Box, the compilation in which the original Portal appeared.”

Fate/Zero S2 TV #003: Heroes, Villains, Cowards, and Pawns

1 Comment

This is an episode the brings home the true nature of some of the major players in Fate/Zero. It will solidify your opinion of some characters. If you thought certain people were horrible, cruel, naive, and/or noble than all doubts will be cleared away. Other people who you maybe have been sympathetic towards or felt conflicted about their motives will no longer give you a feeling that is quite so on the fence. And other people you admired might not have you looking at them the same way after this episode. But no matter what your opinion you see what happens when push comes to shove, and all the chips are on the line, what these characters have inside of them. No matter what you will find that you will have an opinion about the members of Team Lancer and Team Saber.

Continue reading →