Sorry its been a while since I last made an apperance here. Please forgive me! :)
Well, its been in all the papers, on all the news channels, splashed across every internet forum....yes- Michael Jackson passed away on Thursday 25th June 09. Of course like everyone when I first heard the 'rumour', I was thinking who could be sick in the head to spread something around like this. Unfortunately, for once this was no rumour.
I cant claim to be a hardcore MJ fan...or even say that I own all of his iconic albums- because I dont. BUT on reflection his music has seeped into my sub-conscious for the last 23years of my life without me even knowing. There have been countless times on the dancefloor Ive been wailing out "Billie Jean is not my lover!!" and it never gets old. Countless weddings or family gatherings where an older gentleman does his own take of the moonwalk and crotch grabbing. Cringeworthy? Yes but it never gets old. Time after time- every new artist coming out states that MJ is their inspiration. There has to be a reason. MJ broke down stereotypes, barriers and created his own creative outlet that many have tried to emulate since his Thriller days.
What has troubled me since his death is how the media HOUNDED him. It seems the last 20 years have been a personal vendetta against this man. He has spent 45 years of his life in the spotlight...this is all he has known. At least he can start living his life now wherever he is. He wont be hounded no more.
The whole world under appreciated MJ whilst he was here, and I feel many now are beginning to realise what they've lost.
Rest Now In Peace MJ and be assured your legacy will live on forever.
Anime Action is the Neek’s special relatively spoiler free short anime focused segment. Every Thursday I, Kweku, will attempt to broaden your animated palette or, if you’ve never seen one before, point you in the right direction for where to start. Remember: Just because it’s animated doesn’t mean it’s just for kids!
Hello again faithful readers,
Last time we looked at Hajime No Ippo, an amazing boxing anime high I highly recommend. This time however, I’ll be bringing Avatar to your attention, and while it’s arguably not an anime (it’s an American cartoon produced and shown by Nickelodeon) it is drawn in a distinctly Japanese approach with a clear anime style colour selection. Avatar: The Last Airbender (which I’ll refer to as A:TLA from here on) is not to be confused with James Cameron’s upcoming 3-D sci-fi hyper-super-epic Avatar.
A:TLA follows the story of the eponymous Avatar himself, Aang, the last of his people; a tribe of Air element shaman. The term “bender” does not mark him as a homosexual (as I have often heard) but rather refers to the ability to control the preceding element, so we see Fire, Water and Earth benders populating the vibrant world Avatar is set in. It’s interesting to note that the fighting styles for each elemental tribe are based on real world martial arts styles such as Tai Chi and Hung Ga.
The avatar himself is kind of an all powerful person assigned to watch over the world and ensure peace and co-existence between the people of each of the four elements. He does this though the mastery of all 4 elements. Unfortunately for almost everyone, Aang has been trapped in Ice for the past 100 years oblivious to the genocidal war waged by Fire Nation. The three books/seasons follow the tale of Aang and his few allies trying desperately to end the war and defeat the Fire Lord.
I was initially sceptical of A:TLA because of its very young target audience of 6-11 years-old but the show had received huge critical praise so I ploughed on and was pleasantly surprised. The plot is excellent and very original. Despite its fantastical nature, I never found myself really questioning its believability or the various twists and turns along the way, especially as most things are explained later on. I also loved the feel of the show. If you told me that it was an Asian produced anime, I really wouldn’t be surprised as the show’s creators have done an outstanding job of creating this fusion of an oriental/westernised world. On top of this the voice acting is excellent and it’s here the show perhaps benefits the most from its western production as it is free of the horrible English speaking dubbings that plague most Anime. Instead the voice actors are clearly given a great deal of freedom to express themselves without the constraints of bad script translations among other things.
From the action junkie perspective A:TLA has plenty to satisfy. It is excellently drawn with good detail to show off the excellent fighting sequences particularly in the third Book. In fact I’d go as far to say that some of the fights are among the best I’ve seen in a sub-adult animated show. My only criticism is that the Avatar might have been even better if it had aimed for an older audience and had really gone all out for certain things. Occasionally I got the sense that things like the love story sub-plot that runs through the whole show could’ve been explored more deeply but that said it had a satisfactory ending. The Fire Nation however could have (and maybe should have) been portrayed as more of the brutal superpower. I’m probably nit-picking here because it’s hard to find any real negatives to associate with A:TLA and I really loved the way the art style of every nation really emphasised their nature (harsh aggressive lines emphasised with aggressive menacing reds and black for Fire Nation in contrast to softer shapes highlighted by blues and whites for the more passive Air Nomads) yet I wish we had been more of the brutality of the Fire Nation.
A:TLA is a special show which I highly recommend. It’s enjoyable, fun and touching with plenty to satisfy people of all age groups. Those who watched the episodes when they were first shown had to deal with the irritation of inconsistent episode release times with something like a 3 month gap between the first and second halves of the final series but it was certainly worth the wait. The season finale was truly spectacular.
Action: 8/10 Animation: 8/10 Story: 8/10
Overall (not an average): 8/10
It’s also great to know that a live action A:TLA movie is in the later stages of production directed by M. Night Shyamalan and plans to stick faithfully to the series by being a trilogy with each movie representing one of the three series’. I’ll keep you updated on that one but I was very impressed by the trailer. Check it out.
While Avatar: The Last Airbender is not yet in their selection you can watch most anime online at www.animeseason.com.
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