Category: Fantasy

Fate/Zero S2 TV #001: Kobayashi Was A Graduate of the AD Police School of Flight

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It is good to be back. I have enjoyed the little break from episode reviews but I am now ready to start writing about Fate/Zero again. Season 1 ended just before we could dive into a grand set piece battle on the river so it is good to be back. Now that we have passed the half way mark all bets are off. The immunity people had is slowly falling away as the number of episodes go down. Someone like Rider or Tokiomi is not going to go down easily but we know they are going to die. So their battles are a bit more tense because you are not sure when they are going to die. In fact Gen Urobuchi eliminates one major character in this episode and has set up some characters in very perilous situations at the end of the episode. People will die when they are killed. The kid gloves are off. Now it is on to the beginning.

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Manga of the Month: Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro

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Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro (棺担ぎのクロ。～懐中旅話～) by Satoko Kiyuduki

Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro had the pleasure of showing me there are 4-koma manga that I like! But then again, Kiyuduki doesn’t use the format in a traditional sense. Her low-key humor and simple but precise art makes this series a real charmer.

Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro follows the story of a haphazard group of travelers headed up by the mysterious, coffin-carrying, black clad, girl going by the name Kuro. She along with a bunch of bats (one snarky one in particular, Sen) pick up two little cat girls along the way. Where they are headed remains a rather amorphous concept though they do seem to be looking for someone. Along the way we learn bits of pieces of character’s past. Each traveler plays off the others; Kuro being none too talkative while the kids are little balls of energy and mischief. The series has a melancholy undertone, not unlike Kino’s Journey but also not that heavy, though it is balanced out by the adorable art style and banter.

The way Kiyuduki plays with the format is of particular interest from using one giant panel to tell a story to expanding an adventure to two or three times that of usual 4-koma. At times she is using the format merely as a structure but still these adventures feel like quick bites. The printing is also nice with many color pages to enjoy.

NYICFF 2012: Le Tableau, Paint Me a Movie

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Le Tableau was my final film for the festival, luckily this screening also featured the director and writer in a little Q&A after. This film while still for children is a little more mature in its execution. The animation and colors of a painterly quality will strike you first and captivate you, indeed it was the reason I wanted to see the film in the first place. Happily there is also an under current of independence and creating your own destiny making it more than just pretty to look at.

Le Tableau means The Painting, so that is where our story begins, inside an unfinished painting. A three caste systems has developed, diving those who are fully painted, those only half-painted, and those that remain sketches. Lola, a Halfie unperturbed by being “incomplete,” decides to journey to find the painter in hopes of helping her friend Claire who is in love with the free-thinking Alldunn Ramo. Ramo joins Lola on her quest as does the Sketchie Plume. Their adventure takes them beyond their painting into the world of the painter, meeting his other creations along the way.

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