Lydia Peever's Blog, page 64

Ottawa Pop Expo and the HWA

Good news, everyone! Sean Moreland and I will be haunting the Horror Writers Association table at Ottawa PopExpo this year. Not only will we be on hand to answer questions about the HWA, writing, horror and all that dark stuff, 20 per cent of any sales are donated to the HWA Hardship Fund as well. I’ll have my camera handy as those in the know know how much I like chasing down Pyramid Head and other horror characters in cosplay.

[image error]We will also be on hand for a panel on Saturday at noon. “Scared Into Our Wits: Writing, Horror and the Horror Writers Association” will take place in Meeting Room C. For those who are shy to ask us at the table, or just love panels, come by and we will be talking about writing, the changing face of horror and what groups like the HWA offer authors.

Check out our guest information and learn more at the PopExpo site. Readabout me here and Sean here. Looking forward to this weekend, and we hope you are too!

There is always a horror presence at conventions like this. Whether we are grouped together, as at FanExpo, or have to carve out a corner ourselves, there is always huge support from one another and fellow creators and fans in the crowd. Thanks to Steve Villeneuve of Montreal HorrorFest and Montreal ComicCon for the invite. Thanks to Postscripts To Darkness (yes, you Sean) and everywhere else I’ve published; Ottawa Horror and Zombieinfo.com for letting me imbibe your sweet workahol on convention floors; and wow, special thank you to the HWA founders and members – especially the Ontario Chapter – for trudging along in the snow for decades before us ~ let’s have a haunted weekend, shall we?

Dead Cells horror anime podcast: Berserk

Hi there, I am typicallydia and welcome to Reanimation on the dead as hell horror podcast. today we are going to descend into hell with Berserk. Because this is such a sprawling and involved franchise, i am going to kind of blend my review and concern the series and ovas as one body of work to save time.

The original series ran from October 1997 to march 1998. The OVAs, known as Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I, II, and III is a retelling of that series. The Egg of the King came out in February 2012, followed by The Battle for Doldrey in June 2012, and The Advent, which I will certainly focus on since that is the most horrific of the group, came out in February 2013. They were done by Studio 4 degrees celsius, or studio 4c, who you may know from Steamboy, some Batman: Gotham Knight, and Detroit Metal City. Due to a clash of taste between purists and style fans, there is a lot of criticism of the animation and cg styles used in the recent feature length series, but really, it doesn’t look to bad. Characters having robotic features is the main complaint, but there are way worse examples of this in many other anime. It is not hitting motion comic levels of static cells, so i can’t complain.

the animation of the original series is smooth as could be attained at the time. colours are medium, neither too bright or too muted, and very pleasing overall. the level of detail is middling as well. These were done by Oriental Light and Magic, famed for the Pokemon series as well as the Wedding Peach and a Guyver installation. All those are very indicative of their anime style.

At 25 episodes it is a good marathon watch and while not streaming officially, you can check YouTube or Viz or order the “Box of War” boxed set from AnimeWorks.

Berserk reminds me of the kind of 80s animation that would give me a wicked headache in grade school. as rough as the title song is, I loved it, as again it reminds me of the garage bands that gave me headaches in the 80s too, that would be ‘tell me why’ by the penpals. The closing theme ‘waiting so long’ by silver Fins, is much better with a slow calm acoustic dirge coupled with swelling cellos. beautiful stuff that serves as a balm for the violence you’ve just been given over too. exactly what an end theme is supposed to do!

I can’t recall the songs from the OVA, but they were not as oddly remarkable as the music used to the original series. However, the sound design for the contemporary feature length installations is far better.

the first episode is a good introduction to the main character, Guts, a rogue mercenary. it works well to plunge you into the mystery surrounding Guts, his skills as well as his alliances. it also takes away from the relative yawn of the first half of the second episode which serves to build back story and shows us a young Guts operating in much the same way as the older Guts we first met with only shorter hair on top, and a much smaller sword.

the second bit of the second episode contains some classic underworld and horrific imagery with Guts being pinned in a pile of skulls.

Basically, the whole anime arc opens with Guts having a really really big sword made and donning the armour of the Black Swordsman he has become, then we fall into the story of how he came to be the black Swordsman.

As a young sword fighter, he was noticed by the leader of the Band of the Hawks, Griffith. Within time, he came to serve Griffith and was paired up with his commander Cazca. This is the basic love-hate triangle of the story, if there is one to be had.

Guts becomes Griffiths right hand and as he climbs the social ladder, he pisses off pretty much anyone that comes in contact with him, from demons to the monarchy. After he and the Hawks have reached their pinnacle of success – i.e killing anyone they come across – Guts leaves the band. He’s helped Griffith is whatever way he felt he owed them and his service tenure is closed, simple as that. After a bit of pissing and moaning, he leaves.

Griffith finally pisses of everyone that is left alive and is thrown in prison and tortured impossibly for what seems like eternity. He is stuck in a kind of Chateau D’If place goverened by a Martin Lomax type guy, so fans of the Count of Monte Cristo and Human Centipede 2 can have those worlds collide. Meanwhile, Guts has it out with Cazca in some of the strangest fugitive naked cave dwelling shit ever. He then not only returns to rescue Griffith, but returns to restore the Hawks to the former glory as an army.

This all backfired horribly as not only has Griffiths mind deteriorated terribly under torture, he’s always been a complete snake anyway – not to mention, he is imbued with supernatural powers of The God Hand. These are five angel demon types that make up the Hand of God, but once the series ends up in hell proper, you see there is no god there as we know it.

I found it wasn’t made entirely clear in the anime nor in the OVA and i suspect, like some anime, they rely on the success of the manga to filling the blanks.

from the Berserk wiki, we have the cheat sheet of the God Hand

“God Hand are a powerful group of five reality warping angels (or demons), each corresponding to a finger or thumb, directly below the Idea of Evil in power and authority. All of them were originally humans who were chosen by the Idea of Evil to serve its purpose of giving reason for humanity’s suffering. They each possessed and used a Crimson Behelit like the one Griffith used (The Egg of the Emperor) in order to transcend their humanity. It is unknown whether there are five Crimson Behelits or whether the same one came to each of them in turn.

The God Hand using corpses to manifest into the world during the Incarnation Ceremony

The God Hand can’t take corporeal form in the mortal plane. If they do appear there, it is a construct, formed by whatever is at hand. They can also appear when summoned by a Behelit for the purpose of creating Apostles or during the Eclipse which happens only once every 216 years and marks the birth of a new God Hand, wherein there is an area that acts as a junction in between the astral realm and the human realm. After the World Transformation they can now manifest in the physical plane without the need of a constructed avatar.“

For what purpose? Destroying the world I suppose. Having Hell On Earth. Gathering souls and carcasses with which to construct face mountains and more god hands maybe, i’m not that sure.

Having the five angels summoned by amulets is similar to Lamarchand’s box. the entrance of the cenobites is pale in comparison to the entrance of the God Hand, The God Hand however, relies on astrophysical occurrences, involves an eclipse, and a massive inescapable rift between hell and reality. The Cenobites are free agents in comparison. There are many Clive Barker type comparisons, Hellraiser, Tortured Souls, In the Hills The Cities, and more if you watch close.

this series is a good example of how horror elements can exist in action, sci fi and drama. just like other modes of delivery, film, comic, games and books, horror fans can look in the dark alley of any genre and find a little grue to grind on. this is the sword and religious action anime angle of that. if you can enjoy that sort of story you will enjoy Berserk. while not horror at all, it does have some occult, supernatural angels. guts and glory with emphasis on the guts.

if you were to fast forward to the final episode for the visual payoff alone it’s worth it. scenes of hell straight from an Escher and Clive Barker inspired land of wall to wall death and blood serve as a backdrop for desperation that our heroes have succumbed to. amazing monsters and a slick kind of perfection to the end of this story works waiting through 25 episodes… though you’d have to be pretty into the story.

it is steeped in male warriors fighting, it’s not fueled on 100 per cent sausage power. apparently the rapes and disemboweling were tame when compared to the manga, and I wish it hadn’t been, as that should have been more interesting than the control triangle happening between the three main characters, Guts, Griffith and Cazca. while Berserk may of not enjoyed such a wide appreciation,  it would have been another entry for horror fans of action such as Fist of the North Star and Ninja Scroll.

Now the movies set out to do it all over again but in the shorter delivery with less censorship constraints. The third installation is really the siren song for horror fans.

Berserk: Golden Age Arc III: The Advent  The third act of the third ova is where it all gets really really good. Griffith has a moment that sparks a cataclysmic eclipse and plunges his estranged army including Guts and Cazca into hell.

Comparing it to the original run, it’s hard to pick a favourite as the original vision of hell, while not a visual or visceral, held a deeper terror. one contained in the mind and unseen, where everything in the OVA is spattered on screen. Some of the highlights of the OVA are the vast amounts of blood. It’s really over the top and i loved every minute of that. The vision of Guts falling down a cliffside made of the gore drenched faces of the souls of the damned was kind of amazing, then he stabs in with his blade to slow his descent much like a pirate riding down a sail from the crows nest. ripping through face after face as he goes – and not too long after he takes another knife ride down the face hill, splitting thousands of them in half all over again. so gory. You get to see more of that in the OVAs than you do in the series as the fight scenes are on a much larger scale and the amount of blood spilled, limbs and torsos flying increased tenfold.

even from the beginning of The Descent, images of the emaciated and nearly dead Griffith are the stuff of nightmares. If you are creeped out by Zelda in Pet Semetery or the starved man in se7en you will get squicked out by Griffith.

Once Griffith is imbued with the power of the Hand of God, he changes back into the strong, rapey, vicious type, hell-bent of destroying Guts mind then his body. Jealous rage much? Guts’ sword has always been bigger. There is even a scene of a naked Guts holding his massive sword like a giant cock in case you didn’t quite get the parallel.

All in all, while not horror proper, Berserk is a classic hell ride. In between an epic saga with huge morally driven battles, you get rapey vile back-stories, then blood blood and more blood. I make it sound alright, but honestly, I had to really reach to enjoy this entirely. Just not my thing. the story was just too rich yet the characters were not very compelling. Guts is too gruff, Cazca is too girly and Griffith… well, i liked Griffith.

If this sounds like your thing, start with the anime which lets the story really sit with you as it unravels. If you would rather get straight to the spatter, skip off to the third OVA and let it fly.

If there is something bloodier out there you think i should watch, let me know on twitter at typicallydia, or tumblr, reddit, instagram, wherever you hang out online. This has been reanimation, where we have such sights to show you.

 

Halloween 2014 – Dead Air and kitty ears

Last night and this week has held some of the most fun halloweek shenanigans. After winning an amazing prize pack at the Wonder Geeks Activate! Treehouse of Terror burlesque night for my Wednesday Addams costume, I ended up at Swizzles where they were spinning some industrial tunes once again. Quel suprise!

[Note: last day to get a free copy of Pray Lied Eve!]

Last night was Zombie Strippers at Babylon, with maniacal musical guests Patron Saint of Plagues. Rubber Steve was there in his darlingly deviant Stabby the Clown gear you may recall from zombie walk (check Ottawa Horror for photos)  where we did the time warp again and he won a super prize for his costume too! Award winning costumes, right here, baby. Eat your heart out. At the WGA show, I won eyeball salt and pepper shakers, a massive zombie shirt that I will be sewing into a cute dress and bottle opener from Ottawa Horror and Zombieinfo.com with a load of  Hello Horror art by my favourite artist Adam Tupper. So, as Halloween proper begins, I’m  enjoying the hell out of my cheap-ass kitty ears over breakfast.Yup. That’s a no make-up selfie taken moments ago. We wake up early here at typicallydia.com… then it’s  Nightmare Before Christmas until the sun sets. Can’t  wait to creep on all the photos that will be posted over the next week, as this is truly ghouly the most wonderful time of the year For now, I am pleased to urge you to check out today’s episode of Dead Air, where Wes tells the tale of how the show came to be. Happy Halloween, everybloody!

 

 

 

Ten Albums

I was nominated on facebook to post ten albums that shaped me in some way. As I thought on it, I figured i would post it here as well. Music is woven so deep into my life, daily activities and childhood, it is hard to pick ten since albums released this year continue to shape me. So, here are ten that I have bought and re-bought or at least know every note of.

1.  killer – alice cooper

My parents had this on vinyl. It was already worn to hell by the time I got to it, and I am lucky they weren’t sick of it by then. Even my grandmother liked this one, but her favorite was ‘The Ballad of Dwight Frye” off Love It To Death while i was a “Dead Babies” fan.

2. the wall – pink floyd

When my uncle saw I was enthralled with this pick from his vinyl collection, he had me read all the lyrics. Then, he made it clear that if i had any questions that I should ask. The subject matter wasn’t something that should fester in a ten year old girls mind, so he made himself available as a sounding board. This was the first album he acted as mentor with, for which I am eternally grateful. I only wish more kids had gatekeepers like this. The kind that leave the gates wide open.

3. The land of rape and honey – ministry

This was the first CD I bought. My father had picked up an amp, speakers, a cassette component and CD player so I would leave his stereo alone and keep my noise in my room. My mom took us out, and bought me a few CDs. After getting a few things I had on cassette and vinyl, I bought this–my first industrial band–which i still love.

4. vital idol – billy idol

This would likely rank as my parent’s guilty pleasure. They have really great taste in music, and this somehow felt like bubble gum pop in our house. Pretty damn good selection for pop! The video for White Wedding was played over and over, and this cassette found a home in the family car as a perfect ‘best of’ album.

5. bad habits – the monks

This was the first album of my parents I wanted to have as my own. I asked for it but was denied. It featured the most interesting cover and ridiculous lyrics, and in hindsight was just ridiculous music. I was singing ‘Drugs in my Pocket’ in grade four and a teacher heard. He got a real big kick out of me that day.

6. master of puppets – metallica

This was the first album pushed on me by a boy. I became an instant fan and bought a copy for myself. This also was the beginning of music being pushed on me by boys. Why do they do that? No idea, but i suppose it is nice to have something in common, something to share. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) still runs through my head as often as Battery.

7. feed us a fetus – dayglo abortions

I heard this through my friend Kim who in turn had heard it through her older brother. It made me wish I had an older brother, since they never pushed music on you but just had it around for the taking. My parents hated it, hell, everyone’s parents hated it I guess. Years later, I find out one of my uncles is a big fan when he expressed slight jealousy that i finally got to see them play.

8. the downward spiral – nine inch nails

is this not on nearly every list? it had a profound effect on how i thought about music, and how quickly the underground could rise up and consume the thoughts of even the most staunch jock. after seeing a black tape ribbon encased trent do “Wish” on muchmusic, i was intrigued, but i had no idea how attached i would get to his music with TDS. broken and fixed were already in heavy rotation and, well, the downward spiral matched my personality better by the time it came out.

9. eliminator – zz top

yup. billy gibbons. i heard this album so many times, i think every note was etched on my brain. close friends covered nearly every song to near perfection and it was pretty much on the radio non stop. still is, if you listen to that kind of radio still.

10. who made who – ac/dc

stephen king and hard rock? yes please! by the time this album came out i was already well on my way to being some kind of deviant, so watching Maximum Overdrive with this as the soundtrack was some kind of dark heaven for me. Still is, really, thought it’s not an album I own anymore. DT is my favourite song, mostly because of the images from the film.

 

 

Halloween Podcasts and Treats

Every day may be Halloween, but when it comes to horror art, every Halloween is so very different.

Sure, I am giving away Pray Lied Eve again this year. Seeing as so many downloaded the three-story collection and raved about it, just as many missed out. So, my stories will be free on Kindle from October 27 to midnight on All Hallows Eve. Of course, if you want them now there are e-books and paperback on Amazon.

There is a Halloween themed story too!

“Kaia is haunted by fingerprints marring the basement door. No matter how hard she scrubs, they return day after day. The only things in the cellar are old Halloween decorations, and she double checks, everyday.” – of ‘Everyday’ featured in Pray Lied Eve.

Now we get to the different part. Last year I was featured on The Wicked Library and again this year, but as a standalone story. As mentioned in the previous post, ‘Tapestry’ will be read by the extra wicked Nelson Pyles. The show was pushed back a week, but that is okay by me, wanna know why?

Triple Shot! Not only will I be on The Wicked Library, there will be a new Dead As Hell Horror Podcast coming, and from what I gather, it is a special for the season. I pre-taped a nice little extra for the show about a topic and author very dear to me, so wait and listen for that. Also, Wes and I have shows in the can, and as part of the regular Dead Air horror podcast weekly special right now, one of those sexy beasts is being unleashed.  Rawr.

Three podcasts. All Lydia. Can you dig it like a deep, deep grave?!  I can. Check out Dead Air. In the most recent issue, we talk about ‘Macabre’ which I suspect only half of you have seen. It was spotted on the Netflix, so add it to your 30 Days Of Horror viewing ~

The Wicked Library – Episode 507

Tapestry – Rob Thompson

This coming Friday, I will have a story featured on the creepy cool podcast The Wicked Library! It will mark the fourth appearance of my work, and third season I’ve been included on. Pretty Exciting if you ask me. The last few stories have been exceptional. Not that every story that makes the cut there isn’t, just lately the picks have had my rapt attention and actually creeped me out. Notably, the sci-fi-horror “Cutting the Cord” by Joseph Williams and “Dog Days” by Mae March. Really solid scares there.

The Librarian will be reading “Tapestry” which was published last year in Postscripts To Darkness 4. It was paired with artwork by Rob Thompson, which I am still insanely flattered over.

Anyhow, until the episode artwork is unveiled and the show on the road, here are some of the previous seasons I’ve been on. Follow them on twitter @WickedLibrary, facebook or check their website for more linkage. Thank you, Nelson (and hey, buy his book of which I am a superfan) and Maddie Von Stark. You two do a stellar job bringing the fear for everyone to hear ~

Thicker Than – Episode 401 – originally published in For When The Veil Drops

Bad Shepherd – Special Episode and Episode 206 – originally published in Pray Lied Eve

Someday – Halloween Special – web exclusive story!

 

Once the episode is up I will update here. So excited to hear Nelson’s voice over new equipment reading my stuff again, and ever so grateful I can be part of your Wicked Library experience.

 

Dead Cells horror anime podcast: Parasyte

Hi there, i am typicallydia and welcome to Reanimation on the dead as hell horror podcast. today we are going to talk about the very recent anime Parasyte – The Maxim.

This is from Studio Madhouse, who you may know from Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Death Note, and Chobits. They have worked with Marvel and Studio Ghibli, so all of that means this is sure to be a tightly tuned and high quality anime. The story handling remains to be seen, yet so far I find it gory, moody and well written.

It is adapted from the manga written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki, published from 1990 to 1995. Tokyopop and Del Rey released it in North America, and I am kind of surprised it took this long to develop into a series. It’s kind of exploded though, with the first of two live action films that will hit japan on Halloween this year, Ii can’t wait to see what sort of reception it gets and future releases overseas.

The theme song, as I mentioned in a previous episode is growing on me. Like a parasite maybe. “Let Me Hear” by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is worth searching out on YouTube to give you an idea of the anime style if you watch the opening credits.

The story so far revolves around Shinichi Izumi a seventeen year old student. Shinichi has what his parents think is a nightmare about a snake burrowing into his arm. By the next day he is feeling weird and already has improved reflexes. His hand isn’t behaving properly otherwise, groping a girl at school and fidgiting with his smartphone in class, when he isn’t the type to do these things. It is only when he threatens his right hand that it starts talking to him. As messed up as that is, in it’s kinda adorable, childish and sleepy little voice.

It has it’s own personality and learns fast. it can sense other parasites but has no recollection of what it is or where it came from. all it knows is that it matured in his hand before it could hit his brain and take over his body, much to the misfortune of them both.

Meanwhile, other parasites have infected others and a rash of violent murder is taking place in Tokyo. it even affects  animals like dogs in a rather creepy meeting with a doggy host. if you are cranky about animals being hurt in horror, be careful as the dog does not make it. there are other scenes of animal cruelty, and though avenged and part if the plot, some may not like it.

If you are okay about people being slaughtered though, the second episode starts out with a splash! It becomes apparent the other parasite hosts are impossibly strong. In contrast, Migi, meaning right as in right hand, is still adorable.

The killings are happening worldwide and dubbed “The Mincemeat Murders” on account of the state of the horribly mutilated corpses. Shinichi is the only one that seems to know why this is all happening, though other hosts seem somewhat sentient and seem to be seeking him out.

Fans of Videodrome, From Beyond and even the liquid morphing T2 will enjoy the transformations which are awfully visceral. My only complaint is they border on silly looking most times. Not one attack so far hasn’t looked a little silly. I suppose we can’t argue what looks possible and impossible here, as the transformations depicted seem more magical than biological so we enter a bio-illogical place which makes body horror less fun in my opinion, when you don’t have the supernatural to explain it away.For body horror to really be effective, in my opinion, it need to adhere to earth physics, biological truths and physiological tolerances.

Until a supernatural presence explains the plasticity of humans infected, I’ll just grin and bear it. The score helps. Typical anime upbeat synthy flute music is co-mingled with harsh dubstep. I prefer my anime with metal, but I’m won over by the placement of the abrasive music as it rends your attention while bodies are being rent in half. Always a nice mix.

So Parasyte – it is airing right now on NTV and being simulcast on crunchyroll. As we speak I am waiting on episode three, so if you haven’t checked this out yet it is a good time to catch up on it.

If you have a favourite body horror anime or infectious parasite j-horror, let me know on the Dead as Hell Horror Podcast website at deadashellhp.com, or wherever you hang out online. This has been ReAnimeTion and I am typicallydia.

Dead Air Podcast ~ Episode 1

The idea for the Dead Air Podcast has been cooking well before I’d been on any other podcast to date. Since I had helped as teaching assistant after graduating journalism for many classes including broadcast journalism for three years, and had a placement at CBC Radio, it seems natural. The first time the idea of being part of a horror podcast came about  I was opposed. I knew the technicality behind production. I could write a script maybe. I sounded okay. Yet, I felt I had nothing to say. Also, I figured podcasts involved having a brand to attach a good show to and had to be hours long since that is what it seemed the hardcore horror fans wanted.

Then I had a few pints with Wes ‘Dead Air’ Knipe.

We didn’t even need an audience.

Wes also has a background in broadcast that morphed somehow into horror journalism. So it was all horror talk, all the time. We veritably needle one another along with filmmakers, then lead one another into laughing so hard we may choke on our drinks. In between, somehow, lies very serious horror discussion. All we needed do is hit record. Honestly. The most fun part is the lack of hard research and us relying solely on our adoration of this vast genre we have immersed ourselves in since elementary school.

The story of how we came to have six episodes in the can is long-ish and maybe we will tell you sometime. For now, here is a fresh pot with another served up each week this October. More will come as we never stop watching movies and talking about them. Let us know what you think on the soundcloud or wherever you hang out online.

The TTC Leprechaun Douche May Be My Hero

… but we don’t know that yet.

We don’t know a lot of things. What she might have said or done or how she may have looked at him – and perhaps these are things the alleged vicitm can’t recall or would deem irrelevant.  We don’t know what was in the bag. We don’t know his mental state, his physical state, his spiritual state, where his pot of gold is or even if that is indeed an actual bowler.

We don’t know if maybe he knew her.

We don’t know if this is staged.

We don’t know that even if I’m wrong and she’s right that she has or does not have any right to post him all over the web, call him names,  and incite others to do the same.

A good person I know just suggested breaking his finger. That seems no better to me. In fact, it’s worse.

See, I can fully understand having nearly been in his exact position in public many many many times.  Dealing with humans is hard and some days are worse than others. Once in a while I really want to scream “Fuck you and your stroller/groceries/purse/guitar. Fuck you right in your mouth! I am not a second-rate citizen you self-entitled shit, so stand. Stand, suffer and shove that shitty look you just gave me right up your super tight A-type personality ass!”  But, I don’t.  Usually I screw those headphones in tight and ignore you so hard it nearly hurts.

He hit somewhere in between those two extremes. That’s all.

I’m kind of shocked to see this all over my various interfeeds and surprised it hit the news. That not only the alleged victim of a snarky word and a shove felt the need to freak out online is one thing, but that so many people are ganging up on a complete stranger Scares The Fuck Out Of Me.

Consider that within minutes of this altercation, if she really didn’t do anything to provoke him, he probably felt kind of badly.

Just thinking that is good enough for me.

So yeah.

Don’t you have something better to do?

ReAnimeTion – S01E04 – Another – on the Dead As Hell Horror Podcast

Catch me on the latest Dead As Hell Horror Podcast Where I go on about a favourite horror anime, Another.

 

Join the conversation by leaving a note on facebook, twitter or call the voicemail at 513-580- HELL and leave your thoughts. As always, iTunes reviews are more than welcome~ email the show at deadashellhp@gmail.com

Listen to this segment on the Dead As Hell Horror Podcast

 

 

 

Today we are going to talk about the 2012 horror anime entitled “Another”. This is a take on a haunted high school ghost story with really devastating consequences. That is one thing I have to say about this anime right off, is that after a slow build up, the devastation and violence is really quite surprising. You may find that there are a lot of horror anime that take place in schools. I’d have to speculate it is because our Eastern counterparts spend more time there than we do in the West? Also, there are many ghost myths and demonic beings within Japan and China that do reside in schools. If you have more to add, let me know, but rest assured I don’t go seeking this theme. There are many more high school anime to come on ReAnimeTion, and for each one I feel like I pass on ten others. There just happen to be a lot of horror anime that take place in schools. There is a lot of mainstream anime that takes place in schools too.

Before I get into “Another”, there was a news item that caught my eye. In Quebec this week, a man was sentenced to 60 days for possession of hentai. It was viewed as animated child pornography under the Canadian law, and he was sentenced under the Canadian Criminal Code which prohibits any depiction of a minor in a sexual act. That’s fine. That makes sense. In fact, the criminal code prohibits basically everything that depicts any crime at all, when it comes to entertainment. I became familiar with the Criminal Code while writing. Someone alerted me to a short story I had written years ago that might be illegal. So I read up on it a little bit. Flash forward to a few years ago, interviewing horror filmmaker and special effects artist Remy Couture after he was charged with Corruption of Morals. He’d made a brutal and realistic horror film. He was charged under the same law. On one hand, I’d agree with anyone who says our laws governing what is moral or decent or art are outdated but on the other hand… the guy had a few hundred videos… and hundreds of links. For a moment, let us equate his fandom with any porn and I’d have to say he had quite a collection. Now, take into consideration he admitted to watching videos at work which was a Canadian Armed Forces base. Perhaps 60 days of incarceration to think this over is just what he needs. If only our Supreme Court would take that kind of time to think over our obscenity laws.

Anyway, back to less rape-y anime for a moment. Another is refreshing in that it has no huge overtones of love, infatuation, dating and all that trash. The one male-female relationship is nice and innocent. Even the one really awesome and thoroughly wrong chance they had for an epic panty shot was artfully avoided when a girls skirt obeyed the laws of gravity during her death. Amazing, I know. Then again, these are 15 year olds we are talking about!

The wiki synopsis goes “In 1972, Misaki, a popular student of Yomiyama North Middle School’s class 3-3, suddenly died partway through the school year. Devastated by the unexpected loss, the students and teachers behaved like Misaki was still alive, leading to a strange presence on the graduation photo. In Spring 1998, 15-year-old Kōichi Sakakibara transfers into Yomiyama’s class 3-3, where he meets Mei Misaki, a strange student whom their classmates and teachers seemingly ignore. The class is soon caught up in a strange phenomenon, in which students and their relatives begin to die in mysterious, gruesome ways. Realizing that these deaths are related to the “Misaki of 1972″, it is up to Kōichi and Mei to discover the cause of these mysterious deaths and figure out how to stop it before it kills them.”

Now, the similarities to Final Destination are apparent though I feel this has a far more interesting story and better character development of course because they have more time and also because none of these classmates are entirely disposable. You really do get to know each one, and each student is perfectly distinct. The deaths are a little less insane and later on there are more deaths due to desperation. More deaths than caused by the curse itself, that is, if the curse even exists. It could really be wild coincidence to a certain extent.

The story really is about Mei. Forgetfulness, ostracization, and mob rule. Saying that all her classmates ignore her is an understatement. She really doesn’t exist. Having the new kid in class (Kōichi) not understand this, and start talking to her upsets the status quo. Not only because of the curse, but this mirrors the kind of silent bullying kids are prone to when faced with someone they don’t understand. Mei is deliciously creepy and I’m glad she develops some kind of relationship if only for a moment with the main boy lest she remain a near spectre. Let’s just pretend the Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul and Mei from Another can hang out for a second… because really, they even look alike without the eye patch.

It is amazing how kids can get so overwrought with the idea of a superstition when at 15 you really should have more to worry about especially in a culture where you are more often overwhelmed with class work and extracurricular activities. Supposing it is like the recent spate of Slenderman related hysteria. The Extra One curse and Slendymania are maybe part of the same thing. No voice of reason stepping in to set these kids straight.

The teacher stabbing his throat is the most amazing and gory anime death that is not supernaturally influenced, that I have seen in a long while. That is the voice of reason in this anime. The librarian, an amazingly cool character; this teacher that stabs himself in the neck, so cool, so gory; and their homeroom teaching assistant, she’s no help either. Anyway, the throat stabbing? It puts all the Death Note deaths to shame. The reactions too… nice… there is a little puking in this series but it’s not a highlight. Now you all are gonna think I’m into puke or something at the rate I mention it, so I guess I’m now looking for an amine that features puking. Anyway, there are some lovely atmospheric talks between Mei and Kōichi if you are into the creepy. If you are a spatter fan you may fall asleep at first. In that case, I’d say watch the first few episodes then skip off to episode 8 as the action really picks up after that. The story is fairly well crafted though, so it’s much more worth it to let it build from beginning to end. Fans of quiet horror like “The Others” and “Don’t be Afraid of the Dark” will enjoy the story building at work here.  Old ancient crones like me will enjoy that not only do these 21st century kids not bat an eyelash when presented with a cassette tape, they also know where to find a cassette tape player then they break the ribbon, and then they repair it!  I don’t know why I’m getting so excited about this, but you should be too. This must be fiction. So many kids wouldn’t know what to do with a cassette tape. Not only does the gore ramp up, the last two episodes are probably some of the sickest, most amazingly violent and horrifyingly brutal animation that I have seen in quite some time. Others agree though a lot of people say it is too slow of a build especially if you are going there to see this gory horror. But it’s well worth it if you are really hard pressed, maybe watch episode 9 to get a taste, then the last two episodes if you are gonna be that kid of dick. I’d really say stick around for the duration. It’s only 13 episodes long. A perfectly digestible anime to watch in like, a two-day binge.

There is a live-action film I haven’t watched, but if it is done with the flair of the Wallflower live action film or “Goth” by Otsuichi, then I’ll probably enjoy it. But I can’t see it having the same impact in that short delivery. That said, this series is not without its slow parts but compressing it into a feature film length? I don’t know if it would work.

This anime is brought to us by the studio P.A. Works who also did “Angel Beats” and they seem to work to all kinds of anime in partial format and put out some really amazing work. Hence, very clean artwork really good use of sound design. All very appropriate, making the anime very easy to digest and very easy to watch.

The opening theme, “Nightmare Contagion” by the band Ali Project isn’t very memorable and doesn’t stick in my head. And the end theme, by a band named Annabelle, nothing to write home about either. You can watch Another streaming, every single episode on Crunchyroll like I have or pick up a DVD for about $30 and Blu-ray. Check Amazon as I couldn’t find an official outlet to purchase these discs. Also, you can always head to your local comic book shop and ask them to order it in for you. It’s a very popular series and it’s only like a year and a half old, so you can probably find a copy on the shelves.

Next, we are going to be talking about the sickly sweet body horror Pupa!

If there is anything you think I should be watching, let me know on twitter @typicallydia or in the comments on the Dead As Hell horror podcast website or anywhere you hang out online.