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t-SHIrt GIVEAWAY

FrEE poStErS INSIdE! KILLING BITES AND LOVE LIVE! THE MOVIE

FrESH ANIME

HOT NEW SHOWS STREAMING NOW INCLUDING ZOMBIE LAND SAGA REVENGE

ANIME • ASIAN FILM • MANGA • j-cuLturE • MuSIc

Issue 209

cAStLEVANIA THE END OF NETFLIX’S VAMPIRE DRAMA

tHE GAZEttE

WE SPEAK WITH THE BAND ABOUT THEIR NEW ALBUM, MASS

MANGA cAFÉS

RELAX AND EXPLORE JAPAN’S OTAKU PARADISE £4.99

AS CASTLEVANIA COMES TO A CLOSE, WE LOOK BACK ON THE HORROR ACTION SERIES!

©SOTSU•SUNRISE

CONTENTS 044

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056

REVIEWS 038 040 060 060 061 064 064 065 074 075 075 076 076 077 089 090

004 N E O M A G A Z I N E J U L Y 2 0 2 1

YASUKE EDEN BLACK CLOVER 3:1 PTU ENCOUNTER OF THE SPOOKY KIND CASTLEVANIA SERIES 2 IREZUMI KILLING BITES DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN LOVE LIVE! THE SCHOOL IDOL MOVIE RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE INFINITE DENDROGRAM MIITOPIA MOVIE ROUND-UP ANIME ROUND-UP GODZILLA VS KONG

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CONTENTS FEATURES 008 IDOL THOUGHTS Celebrate the release of Love Live! The School Idol Movie!

036 THE GAZETTE Discover what it took to produce the band’s tenth album, MASS

042 YOUR KOREAN PANTRY What you need to cook Korean dishes at home

044 THE END OF CASTLEVANIA We look back on the horror action series after its final episodes...

062 GUILTY GEAR The development team on bringing —Strive— to life

098 SCARLET NEXUS A closer look at the character roster for Bandai Namco’s new JRPG!

LIFESTYLE 027 MAHIRU’S PAGE

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Mahiru goes hunting some monsters...

046 ARTIST SHOWCASE Beautiful artwork from readers

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068 COSPLAY STARS Great cosplay photos from readers in Preston!

070 WE LOVE THIS STUFF! Delicious Japanese snacks, pretty hair ornaments, T-shirts, and more!

056 J-LIFE Want to share a booth at a manga café with Mark Guthrie?

NEW IN JAPAN 028 ZOMBIE LAND SAGA REVENGE A comeback in the offing, dried squid to prepare, and a maniac for a manager!

032 MANGA SNAPSHOT Jonathan Clements cracks the spine of an anthology designed to experiment on its readers

030 TOKYO REVENGERS Controversial culture clashes in this anime featuring violent teen gangs who also really, really like swastikas...

REGULARS 006 EDITORIAL Meet the team

079 MANGA EXTRACT From Saturday AM, it’s HENSHIN!

014 NEWS NETWORK

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Events, new releases, music charts, premieres and more

054 NEXT ISSUE

086 SUBSCRIPTION OFFER Get money-off a 12 issue UK subscription with our limited time offer

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066 COMPETITION Win an amazing Blu-ray bundle from Criterion!

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EDITORIAL

MEET THE TEAM TOM SMITH My phone is fast becoming my gaming device of choice! I finished the first half of FANTASIAN on Apple Arcade. It was great but only the first half of the game is finished. So I’ve been enjoying the quirky Japanese journey of World’s End Club while waiting for part two.

the GazettE, interviewed on page 036.

DAVID WEST

WELCOME WELCOME TO issue 209 of NEO! I’ll just crack open a nice bottle of Fabuki Spring to tell you about my name change to celebrate our flipper cover feature for Scarlet Nexus! That’s right, I’ve decided to go with Gemma Garrison from now on; a nice, burly name for a nice burly editor! Well, maybe not, but I have to admit it was funny to see my first name being given to what our writer David West describes as ‘the tank of the party’. I’ve been called worse... I’ll take it. Flip this issue to read all about Bandai Namco’s new JRPG! Our main cover stars this issue are from Love Live! The School Idol Movie, and our feature on page 008 takes a look at the franchise and compares it to the real life world of the idol in Japan and Korea. Let’s just say, when it comes to the world of the idol, truth is stranger than fiction... If you’re a music fan, you won’t want to miss our interview with the GazettE on page 036 as they talk about their tenth album, MASS, and how much they miss touring since the pandemic hit. All that, and our usual news, previews, features, and reviews – plus, if you head on over to page 056, our man in Japan, Mark Guthrie, will take you on a tour of a manga café. Isn’t that nice?! Until next time!

GEMMA COX, EDITOR

I’ve been listening to Japanese thrash metal diehards Outrage, after discovering their singer through his work on the Guilty Gear soundtracks. Their latest album, Run Riot, is thrashtastic. And it was a treat to revisit Sammo Hung’s Encounter Of The Spooky Kind on Blu-ray.

JONATHAN CLEMENTS I see Naomi Osaka is making headlines again only two months after being our cover girl in Manga Snapshot. Glad to see her striking a blow against the inanity of sports press conferences. “How did you feel when you hit that ball?” “Er… great.”

MARK GUTHRIE Barely able to tell Doraemon from Dragon Slayer, I’m not exactly au fait with manga. However, after discovering manga cafés this month, my eyes are now open to what its fans are really like. Dirty buggers! Though, not you NEO readers, I’m sure...

ANDREW OSMOND I enjoyed Gundam Seed, released as an Ultimate Edition recently. So I’m very pleased to hear that Seed’s world will be making a comeback in a new movie sequel by the show’s original director Mitsuo Fukuda, and based on ideas by his late wife, Seed scriptwriter Chiaki Morosawa.

DOMINIC CUTHBERT

Head to page 056 to hang out with Mark at a manga café!

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Ahead of the summer viewing season starting, I’ve been catching up with outstanding spring series. There’s been plenty of highlights this year, with To Your Eternity and Vivy-Fluorite Eye’s Song- being two favourites.

IDOL THOUGHTS Do idol hands do the devil’s work, or is it all just girls having fun and enjoying their youth? NEO’s David West explores the distance between the sunny fantasy of Love Live! The School Idol Movie and the strange reality of the idol industry. When they were handing out the Ten Commandments, Japan apparently missed the memo about not worshipping idols. In 2017, Japan’s idol industry generated 366 billion yen in spending, which is over £23 million. It’s a huge business for those at the top, but it all begins with teenage girls dreaming of stardom. Love Live! The School Idol Movie is the first feature film in the Love Live! franchise, which tells the story of Honoka and her pals at Otonokizaka Academy who form a school idol group called μ, which stands for ‘Muse’ (not to be confused with the British rock band). It’s a happy, upbeat tale of friendship, chasing your dreams, and growing up, but the reality of the idol world is a little more complicated than that. The concept of the idol first emerged in the 1970s with the success of singers like Saori Minami, Mari Amachi and Rumiko Koyanagi. Minami had her first hit in 1971 with the song 17-Sai, which means ‘17-Year-Old’ and together the three rising stars were referred to in the press as the Three Young Girls – San Min Musume – so right from the start, youth was an essential aspect of the idol identity. The first golden age of idols in Japan was in the 1980s, during the economic boom years, but there has been a resurgence of public demand for idols since the turn of the

century, led by the group Morning Musume, which formed in 1997. At present there are an estimated 10,000 idols active in the industry, dominated by the likes of AKB48, Momoiro Clover Z, and the solo artist Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Love Live! never seeks nor attempts to be any sort of searing expose of the idol industry, it’s much too cheery for that, but it does touch on some of the issues around the industry. Initially, the girls form their group μ to enter an idol contest in a bid to save their school from closing. In the second season of the anime series and in The School Idol Movie, the three oldest members approach graduation, throwing the future of the group into doubt. Idols undeniably have a short shelf life. They embody kawaii, the notion of cuteness, so once they enter adulthood, they ‘graduate’ from their groups. Thereafter they either give up the entertainment industry or go on to become actresses, models, or solo artists – but idols, almost by definition, are teenagers, harking back to Saori Minami’s song 17-Sai. One of the stranger aspects to the idol business in Japan is the balance between physical attractiveness and perceived innocence. The girls who become professional idols are presented as being >>>

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IDOL THOUGHTS

IDOLS IN SPACE Proving just how flexible the idol concept can be, the anime series AKB0048 features the idol group as planet-hopping freedom fighters taking on the evil, oppressive Deep Galactic Trade Organisation that has banned entertainment. In the show, the girls are not only skilled at singing and dancing, but hand-tohand combat.

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>>> ‘pure’.

As part of kawaii, they must appear virginal, but equally there’s no denying the fact that the overwhelming majority of their audience are adult men, so the girls have to be pure and kawaii and sexually desirable. Yes, it’s creepy. In the West, pop music is overwhelmingly marketed at the young, but that’s not the case with idol groups. The girls are not allowed to have boyfriends or relationships as that would diminish their appeal to the core fanbase, who want to entertain fantasies about them. In 2013 a member of AKB48, Minami Minegishi, was photographed leaving her boyfriend’s apartment after spending the night there. Minegishi issued a tearful apology video and shaved her head as an act of contrition, pleading for fans’ forgiveness. While she was allowed to resume her career with the group, her distraught behaviour was unsettling to say the least. There are similar strictures on the behaviour of Korea’s popstars, who are expected to give up any thought of a social life or romance while pursuing their careers. That said, compared to their Japanese counterparts, Korean female popstars are presented in

NEO MAGAZINE JULY 2021

an even more aggressively sexual manner. Refreshingly, Love Live! is noticeable for the way in which it does not sexualise the girls in the group. There is no fanservice or panty shots and the anime is kawaii without the creepiness. However, the movie does see Honoka and her friends face the prospect of finishing school and moving on from being idols, tacitly acknowledging the short window of opportunity that idol culture affords them.

THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION In Korea, future stars are recruited during adolescence and undergo years of training in dancing and singing before they are presented to the public. However, for idols in Japan, their development is very much part of the process to be presented to their fans. This explains the difference in the levels of accomplishment between Korean and Japanese pop groups. Watch any K-pop act and the dance routines are detailed, complicated, but always immaculately performed. Choreography is drilled until it’s perfect, but Japanese idols have much shorter training periods and make their debuts while still a work in progress. Part of the appeal for their fans

“IN 2013 A MEMBER OF AKB48, MINAMI MINEGISHI, WAS PHOTOGRAPHED LEAVING HER BOYFRIEND’S APARTMENT AFTER SPENDING THE NIGHT THERE. MINEGISHI ISSUED A TEARFUL APOLOGY VIDEO AND SHAVED HER HEAD AS AN ACT OF CONTRITION, PLEADING FOR FANS’ FORGIVENESS.” is watching their favourite idols develop and improve, so they don’t want to see just the final, finished product, but every stumbling step along the way. Compared to K-pop stars, most idols perform relatively simple choreography, and their execution can seem sloppy, missing steps or even hitting the wrong notes while singing. This represents Japanese ideals of trying your best and moving forwards despite the obstacles in your way. Many groups begin performing for free in public parks and open spaces, learning on the job, and fans root for their favourites, becoming emotionally engaged with their journey towards stardom. Even when K-pop artists release dance rehearsal videos, it’s always after they’ve mastered the routine, but Japanese fans seem to savour the experience of seeing their idols working at their craft. In Love Live!, Honoka frequently talks about the importance of doing their best and the girls rehearse their songs and dancing in their free time, rather than in the regimented schedules of K-pop trainees. True to life, their choreography is charming but quite unsophisticated, a far cry from K-pop’s ultra-slick professionalism.

TRAPPED BY FAME

MAKING TROUBLE In Love Live!, the girls in μ organise almost everything themselves, putting on their own shows, and writing their own music. They identify as school idols and their activities are connected to their high school, rather than being their careers. There has been some movement in Japan to the establishment of idol clubs as after-school societies, in part as a way to protect aspiring idols from the often-harsh realities of the industry by making sure they are supervised by teachers, not managers. In 2018, four members of the idol group Nijiiro Fanfare went public to expose their treatment at the hands of their management. The girls alleged they had been forced into signing unbreakable seven-year contracts which left the members with no take home pay after all of the expenses deducted from their salaries by their management, D-Topia Inc. When they asked to be released from their contracts, they were told they’d never work in the industry again. That’s not even the strangest example of the twisted relationship between the idols and their managers. In 2019, idol Maho Yamaguchi, a member of the AKB48 >>>

Earlier this year a Russian man named Vladislav Ivanov was invited to participate in the Chinese boy band reality TV contest Produce Camp when producers noticed him working as a translator. Despite pleading for fans not to vote for him, he ended up stuck on the show for three months.

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IDOL THOUGHTS

“PART OF THE APPEAL FOR THEIR FANS IS WATCHING THEIR FAVOURITE IDOLS DEVELOP AND IMPROVE, SO THEY DON’T WANT TO SEE JUST THE FINAL, FINISHED PRODUCT, BUT EVERY STUMBLING STEP ALONG THE WAY.”

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>>> offshoot NGT48, was assaulted by two men outside

The events where fans meet their favourite idols and shake their hands are known as akushukai. One common practice is for fans to have to buy a CD to qualify for a handshake meeting, which has helped Japan’s music industry defy the global shift away from physical media to streaming.

her apartment. Yamaguchi alleged that her address had been leaked by rival members of NGT48. When her management failed to take any action to prosecute the assailants or the alleged leakers, Maho went public with the story but, in a bizarre twist, then had to apologise for ‘making trouble’. There was a public backlash against the management for victim blaming, but the whole incident was a troubling reminder of the fact that idols are never meant to do anything that threatens their image of cuteness and innocence. AKS, the management company, later successfully sued the two men for loss of earnings as a result of the disruption to NGT48’s public appearances. In the Yamaguchi incident, the two men were university students, a reminder that the idols’ fanbase is dominated by grown men. Popular groups hold handshake events, when fans can meet the girls in person and literally shake their hands. That’s not very Japanese – what happened to bowing? – but it’s all about that fan-to-idol contact that the devotees crave. These too can go wrong. In 2014, two members of AKB48 were attacked by an obsessed fan wielding a handsaw. Thereafter, the group introduced security checks, but it’s a reminder of the line between fandom and fixation. While idols must be pure and unobtainable,

NEO MAGAZINE JULY 2021

there’s a lot of pressure with social media for them to share their lives with their fans, to maintain the appearance of being open and available. Satoshi Kon’s brilliant and disturbing 1997 film Perfect Blue features an idol cracking under the strain of dealing with a stalker who’s angry after she leaves her successful idol group to try to become an actress. The story addresses the image that idols are expected to present to the world and what happens when that’s disrupted. In her first role as an actress, Mima, the protagonist, is cast as a stripper and she must film a scene in which her character suffers a sexual assault, which leads to a furious backlash from her fans, who want her to remain unsullied in their eyes. Idols are not allowed to become sexually mature women, they must stay innocent girls, which helps explain why their careers end once they’re in their 20s unless they can transition into a new area of the entertainment industry.

INTERNATIONAL IDOLATRY In Love Live! The School Idol Movie, the girls travel from Japan to New York for a performance. The anxiety they express about visiting the city reflects the apprehension many Japanese feeling about travelling in the West and particularly the United States, which has a reputation

for being unsafe compared to Japan. While it’s fun to watch Honoka and co. as they explore New York, the Japanese idol industry has notably failed to make an impression in the West. Unlike K-pop’s success, with BTS’s fame and a devoted and active fandom, there’s been no comparable breakout act from Japan. Perhaps this goes back to the way that Japanese fans enjoy watching acts improve and grow, accepting all their flaws as part of that process, where Western fans are much more accustomed to consuming a slick, finished product. One shared quality between K-pop stars and Western pop acts is the desire to only present their best image to the public. The closest thing to an idol group to have achieved any significant recognition in the West is BABYMETAL, but that’s arguably the exception that proves the rule. While the group certainly has the kawaii and cuteness factor, fans in the West seem to be responding to the music and the sense of fun in their performances, rather than offering the worship that idols generate in Japan. And BABYMETAL’s audience in the West is largely drawn from the metal community,

which tends to be younger and more diverse than the adult men who attend AKB48 concerts in their legions. In Love Live!, the focus is not on the audiences who attend the girls’ performances, but when they are shown, they tend to be composed of young girls, like those onstage, or a general cross section of society. When μ become famous following their New York show, they are mobbed (in the politest, most respectful, and orderly way) by other young girls asking for their autographs and photos. Honoka and the group represent an aspirational ideal of cuteness, talent, and popularity to their young fans who gush over how kawaii all the members of μ are, and happily it’s all without any of the baggage of idols in the real world. If the push to establish more idol clubs in schools gathers momentum, it’s possible that life could imitate art and girls can get back to experiencing the joy of music and dance without having to worry about aggressive fans, unbreakable contracts, and objectification. In the meantime, there’s Love Live! The School Idol Movie coming to Blu-ray on 19 July from Anime Limited.

PENSIONER POP STARS The notable exception to the youth-obsessed side of J-pop girl bands is KBG84. This group of women with an average age of 84 formed on the island of Kohama, part of Okinawa prefecture, and they scored an unexpected hit in 2015 with their song Come On And Dance, Kohama Island.

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LEAD NEWS W O R D S B Y A ND R E W O S M O ND

BERSERK’S FATHER DIES Fandom reeled at the sudden death of Berserk artist Kentaro Miura. We look back at the ultimate dark fantasy manga. On May 6, the manga artist Kentaro Miura died at the age of 54 from an acute aortic dissection. The tragic news was kept private for two weeks, only breaking on May 20. For most of his life, Miura had been known for his manga Berserk, which he had begun 32 years earlier in 1989. It’s an epic story, which fans have found through different routes – Miura’s original manga and also its anime adaptations. One of those adaptations is a cinema film trilogy, made by Studio 4°C. The first film, subtitled The Egg of the King, begins like Game of Thrones or Kingdom of Heaven. A mass of armoured men storm a medieval-style castle. One of the foot soldiers, only a youth, is already making a name for himself. He takes on a massive enemy knight in single combat and cleaves his head in two. The youth’s name is Guts, and never did a name suit its owner better. Miura’s original manga starts very differently. Guts is having an intimate experience with a beautiful woman. Then the woman suddenly transforms into a shark-toothed, scaly devil, and we mean a literal devil. What can the hero do? Why, jam his metal gun-arm into its mouth and blast it back to Hell. Both beginnings capture different parts of Berserk’s appeal: gritty human conflict and far farther-fetched fantasy. Actually, the battle in

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Egg of the King is where the story really starts; the manga opening is a flash-forward to much later in Berserk’s timeline. Back in his youth, Guts’ fighting feats draw the attention of an androgynously beautiful, snowy haired man called Griffith, charismatic leader of the Band of the Hawk. This upsets Casca, the Hawk’s sole woman fighter, who reveres Griffith and is appalled at his indulgence towards Guts. So starts the most famous part of the Berserk story, which covers ten volumes of the manga (books three to 13) and is an arc called The Golden Age. At heart, this is a character drama between Guts, Griffith and Casca, plotting their paths surely and elegantly over several years. It’s a mostly human story at this stage, though Guts soon encounters a demon monster early on, which prophecies terrible things ahead. As Griffith courts royalty, he uses Guts as his hand in the shadows, ready to cover himself in gore for his master. The Golden Age is the basis for the film trilogy, but it had been adapted in anime already. The first version was made back in 1997, a TV series by the Pokémon studio OLM. It had cruder artwork, but many fans consider it captured the manga’s spirit. Reviewing the series, NEO called it a great tragedy. “You’re sucked into a story that, for all its campy, rip-roaring elements, feels more like literature.

GUTS AND KEN Among the Japanese influences which Miura cited for Berserk, one will be familiar to old-school manga (and “Manga”) fans – Fist of the North Star. In fact, Miura worked more than once with Fist’s artist Buronson, including collaborating with him on a 1992 strip called Japan. In his obituary of Miura on the AllTheAnime website, Jonathan Clements comments, “Miura would observe in later life that the bluster and gigantism of Fist of the North Star had been a major influence on him as a manga creator.” COULD GUTS GO ON? One question is whether Miura’s passing also marks the end of the Berserk story. Reportedly, there was an ambiguous tweet by Miura’s assistant, which may imply that a continuation is being considered. However, Berserk’s story and art was so closely tied to Miura that it’s dubious fans would accept anyone else taking over. Perhaps rather than continuing the comic, the story could be sequelled someday in anime form. But perhaps the most respectful thing would be to leave Berserk at the point where Miura departed.

Amid the huge battles, many of the best scenes are the characters’ eloquent speeches, even soliloquies, about their drives and dreams. Never has a gorefest had so many tear-jerking scenes.” Later in The Golden Age, there are shock turnarounds, leading to a finale where Hell literally breaks loose – Berserk’s equivalent of Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding, though Miura began his epic years before George R.R. Martin started his. After that, Berserk runs on thousands of more pages, changing greatly in nature as it does so, though Guts remains at the centre. Writing on Anime News Network, Jason Thompson, who was a longserving editor at VIZ Media, argues that post Golden Age, Berserk eventually becomes “the story of a fantasy RPG party of heroes with a magic user, a thief, some elves etc… but there’s still lots of rape and gore.” Indeed, Miura’s manga is far more explicit than any of the anime adaptations. At its most extreme, it can be like Overfiend or Violence Jack. Yet Guts’ new allies lighten the journey, even as new enemies pour in endlessly. One arc features, in Thompson’s words, “armies of crocodilemen and elephant-men and sorcerers and gigantic demons.” But there’s also an old enemy, one who traces all the way back to The Golden Age, tying the saga together. As the time of Miura’s death, Berserk’s publication had slowed, but the

40th volume of the manga came out in Japan in 2018. Further chapters were intermittently published in Berserk’s home of the last three decades, the bimonthly Young Animal. Despite the dizzying number of arcs and enemies which had come and gone, Guts’ story was still unresolved when Miura died.

“A HAPPY PERSON.” The impact of Berserk, not just in Japan but around the world, is reflected in one truly remarkable fact. It relates to the seven “Deluxe” translated volumes of the Berserk manga, published by Dark Horse Comics, with an eighth due in July. Each volume collects three of the original Japanese “tankobon” books. After Miura’s death was announced, all eight of these collected volumes were ranking in the best-selling books on the American Amazon site. We should specify, we don’t mean best-selling manga or graphic novels. We’re talking about best-selling books overall. The first volume reached number four in the bestseller list on the day that Miura’s death was announced, and all eight books reached the top 20. In its heartfelt obituary of Miura, Young Animal’s Editorial Department said, “We are at a loss as to how to cope with this painful reality. We just cannot find the words, to be honest. Our memories >>>

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LEAD NEWS

>>> of him are delightful and filled with his smile from the times when were together; he always talked so happily about his favourite comics, cartoons and movies. We had honestly never seen him angry or upset. He was a happy person with the heart of a young boy.” Fans worldwide paid tribute to Miura. Many of them gathered in an online game, Final Fantasy XIV – something that would have seemed like fantasy itself back when Berserk began. PC Gamer reported that, “Thousands of fans donned their Dark Knight gear” – which resembles Guts’ armour – “and stood vigil in the streets of one of the main cities, Ul’Dah.” FF XIV’s creator Naoki Yoshida told the site that Berserk indeed inspired the Dark Knight in the game. “We took inspiration from the way that Guts stands in those panels in Berserk.” Anime News Network reported that many other Japanese artists posted touching tributes to Miura and the legacy of the work he had left behind. Fairy Tail’s Hiro Mashima tweeted that, “Berserk is what

allowed my youth to stay with me… Now I am stunned in grief.” Soul Eater’s Atsushi Okubo wrote, “Beloved across generations, Berserk was the Bible of my friend group.” Another tribute came from America, from Adam Deats, the assistant director of the animated Castlevania. “I cannot express how important Berserk has been to us as a source of inspiration… It defined what dark fantasy was for us.” George Morikawa, who draws the epic boxing manga Hajime no Ippo, recalled how Miura assisted him as a teenager. He particularly remembered the day that Miura showed Morikawa his sketchbook. “It stopped my heart and gave me goosebumps,” Morikawa remembered. “Within were drawings of fairies, a certain brand (mark), a swordsman wielding a huge sword… all drawn in thick lines. ‘What’s all this?’ I asked him. ‘They’re what’s inside my head,’ he answered. ‘I want to get better, so I thought I should draw them.’”

COMPETITION TIME!

WIN A JUNJI-ITO GHOUL TEE COURTESY OF This month, we’re giving NEO readers the opportunity to win this Junji Ito t-shirt courtesy of HMV! Junji Ito’s comic books have been consistent best sellers for many years and related pop culture merchandise has been eagerly sought after by fans. In celebration of this, HMV are giving lucky fans the fantastic chance of winning this t-shirt which is also available to purchase in all HMV stores, or online at hmv.com/store. Since 1987 Junji Ito has been writing stories which have consistently gained popularity over time. Over the past 20 years many of these stories have been adapted to film or television enabling a wider audience to appreciate his work. Not for the faint hearted, the subject matter is very much on the dark side, and tackles subjects such as jealousy, envy, body horror, society breakdown and the contrast between beauty and death!

WHICH FAMOUS HORROR STORY DID JUNJI ITO ADAPT FOR AN EISNER AWARD-WINNING MANGA? A) MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN B) BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA C) ANNE RICE’S INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE You can enter by emailing your answer along with your name and address to neomagcomp@gmail.com, with the subject header NEO 209 HMV Junji Ito competition. Alternatively, you can enter by sending the correct answer on the back of a postcard, along with your address, to the Uncooked Media editorial address printed on page 054. Closing date: 15 July For terms and conditions please see page 066

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THE MONOGATARI SAGA CONTINUES.

OWARIMONOGATARI PART 3 Out on Blu-ray 5th July

available from all good stockists

THIRTY YEARS OF CELSYS JONATHAN CLEMENTS ON THE BIGGEST ANIME PLAYER HARDLY ANYONE HAS HEARD OF.

his month sees the 30th anniversary of one of the most influential companies in the history of Japanese animation. Despite being a fundamental part of modern Japanese media, the name Celsys is largely unspoken among anime fans, unless those anime fans happen to be historians or professional animators. Celsys was founded in May 1991 to make the digital animation software package that would come to be known as RETAS Pro. Within a year, timid animators working on a Fist of the North Star game at Toei would try out this “Revolutionary Engineering Total Animation System,” a basket of programs including Stylos, for creating digital “pencil” images, Traceman for in-betweening, Paintman for colouring and Core RETAS for integrating all the other elements. The Windows version also added Movie Edit Pro, which allowed for the addition of limited special effects.

“DESPITE BEING A FUNDAMENTAL PART OF MODERN JAPANESE MEDIA, THE NAME CELSYS IS LARGELY UNSPOKEN AMONG ANIME FANS, UNLESS THOSE ANIME FANS HAPPEN TO BE HISTORIANS OR PROFESSIONAL ANIMATORS.” RETAS was released at a watershed moment in the history of computing, as the falling costs of hardware made mass adoption of software a possibility. By 1997, Toei had begun phasing out its analogue animation units – Dr Slump and Spooky Kitaro, despite continuing to look like analogue animation, were soon created solely inside computers. As the Pokémon boom led to a surge in animation contracts, overseas studios were increasingly able to integrate their work down a phoneline, and multimedia operations were thrilled at the chance to have all their assets digitised from the outset. Celsys’ own publicity has boasted that up to 90% of all modern anime “use RETAS Pro” in their production, although I suspect what that means is that they use RETAS Pro in part of their production. Some companies may work solely in RETAS, but others still just use it for Paintman these days. Regardless, the Celsys name is something you will

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find associated with vast numbers of modern anime, and as the price of the software dropped during the noughties from £4,000 to £240, suddenly the world was full of have-a-go-heroes like Makoto Shinkai, who’d worked out that you didn’t need a studio of 200 people anymore, you just needed a big desktop machine and lots of time. In 2013, even Sazae-san, the last anime to be made in the old-fashioned way, gave up and became an all-digital operation. Celsys went on to be similarly ubiquitous in the worlds of e-book readers (CLIP STUDIO READER) and digital manga production (Manga Studio). In other words, their engine is chugging away behind almost all the electronic, streaming or downloadable light novels, cartoons and comics consumed in modern Japan. Happy birthday to them.

1. Launched in 1991, the software soon became indispensable. 2. A huge part of the anime industry, Celsys’ software is used in 90% of anime productions.

©Soborou,Kodansha/”Why the hell are you here,Teacher!?” Animation Committee

//COMING UP WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE, TEACHER!? O U T: 2 3 A U GU S T 2 0 2 1 D I S T R IB U T O R : M V M High school hijinks are the order of the day in Why The Hell Are You Here, Teacher!? Adapted from the manga by Soborou, the erotic comedy series follows teenager Ichiro Sato who attends Kawanuma West school. His teacher Kana Kojima has a reputation as a ferocious disciplinarian, but somehow Ichiro keeps finding himself in increasingly compromising situations with the buxom Kojima. And he’s not the only member of the student body getting up close and personal to an attractive educator.

NEO’S TOP MUSIC STORIES: THE HOTTEST NEWS FROM THE EAST Events are back! Kind of! Maybe! We hope! They’ll be stripped down, in some cases, but we’ll take it! There are plenty of new releases from Japan and Korea hitting the UK on CD, vinyl, and tape cassette over the coming weeks too.

the GazettE Japan’s visual kei veterans have been pulling out all the stops around the release of their tenth album MASS. For starters, in the days leading up to the release, they streamed their last three tour videos in full on YouTube for free, with nearly no notice! It’s the first time they’ve ever done such a thing, and despite the lack of warning, over 50,000 fans stopped what they were doing to tune in and watch from around the world. In another unprecedented move, the GazettE also announced that each copy of MASS purchased from JPU Records, which includes English lyric translations and romaji transliterations, will receive a unique code. This code, along with codes from the Japanese editions, can be used by fans to enter a lottery for a limited “Sign session & Talk

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NEO MAGAZINE JULY 2021

show” online event that’s exclusively being held for fans outside of Japan. The codes can be registered via a special website between 1 July – 3 July 2021, where lucky winners will find out instantly if their code will grant them access to the online event on 24 July 2021. If they win they can choose to take part in a talk session with the band, or for a digital autograph session. The more lottery codes you have, the greater your chances (and more sessions you can partake in!). MASS was released just as we went to press and had already topped metal charts around the world, including number one in the UK’s metal rankings on iTunes and Amazon. Well done boys! Read their interview on the album later on in this very issue!

FEMM

Drinking Boys and Girls Choir

Sentient J-pop mannequins FEMM have been relentlessly releasing new content over the last six months. The latest offering is bass heavy new single Private Dancer, the video to which sees the duo return to their latex aesthetic and features some really cool image mapping technology and lasers (lasers are always cool). The track mixes decedent dance and goth rock together and was produced by ADP (Dua Lipa) and the Grammy, Brit and Mercury Prize nominated Jenn Decilveo (Miley Cyrus). On talking about the character portrayed in the lyrics, FEMM’s RiRi tells us, “confidence is sexy. She is strong and fierce. She doesn’t take no as an answer. She loves every inch of herself being a woman. It’s cool to sing this character as FEMM. It’s a new vibe for us and we are loving it. The song starts off with a mysterious tone, then goes into harder beats. For sure it’s gonna make you wanna dance. If you get more into it, the more you can really feel that strong confident sexy woman.”

South Korean punk kids Drinking Boys and Girls Choir are getting ready for the follow up their fast-paced debut album Keep Drinking. Now, slightly older and stressed out by world events, the band returns with a slightly less playful second album. Entitled Marriage License, the release is available physically only on limited yellow vinyl, and available to preorder now on Bandcamp ahead of release in August. If you can’t wait until then, the album hits digital platforms from 21 July and just had the music video to track There Is No Spring released on YouTube. This time around their politics are fiercer, they reflect on their outrage at the Nth Room Case, there is wider questioning of gender roles and the patriarchy as old views and assumptions are called out and tossed in the bin. Marriage License reflects a band who don’t feel it’s a time to mess about. But still, those punk riffs are catchy!

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE ORCHESTRA WORLD TOUR The London leg of The Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour has been rescheduled to 19 September 2021! Tickets are back on sale for the two sessions taking place that day. The first starts at 2pm, and the latter from 7pm. At the time of writing coronavirus restrictions have resulted in the VIP Meet & Greet sessions being scrapped entirely. The performance has also been stripped down slightly as Yoshi, the vocalist of FF7R’s ending song Hollow, will no longer be attending or performing, and all mention of composer Masashi Hamauzu’s attendance has been removed from the event listing too. However, event organisers AWR do promise an event full of music from the original game and remake, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and Maida Vale Singers, led by Grammy award winning conductor Arnie Roth, along with HD video scenes from the game created exclusively for this tour. Tickets are on sale now from the Royal Albert Hall’s website, and range between £20-£90.

SCANDAL You don’t need us to tell you how the pandemic put a spanner in the works for pretty much everyone. For SCANDAL, they planned to do a world tour (the UK date has been postponed until October 2021) and to celebrate their 15th anniversary in style. While it’s still unsure what exactly they can and can’t do, one thing they can do is release new material! This year saw them release limited single eternal, and now they follow it up with Ivory. Out from 16 June as a limited-edition tape cassette (100 copies only from JPU Records’ website), the song has been written by the band’s guitarist MAMI and includes an acoustic version of the track as a B-side. Those familiar with J-pop may also recognise an arrangement credit on the track to musician Kouhei Munemoto, whose work includes KinKi Kids, KAT-TUN and Momoiro Clover Z.

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UK release schedule Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files

MANGA

ANIME Date title 21/06 21/06 21/06 21/06 21/06 28/06 28/06 28/06 28/06 05/07 05/07 12/07 12/07 12/07 12/07 12/07 19/07 19/07 19/07 19/07 26/07 26/07 26/07 02/08 02/08 09/08 16/08 23/08 23/08 30/08 30/08 06/09

Distributor

Hunter x Hunter set 5 (blu-ray) Plunderer 1:1 (ltd ed / blu-ray / DVD) anemone: eureka seven Hi-evolution (Collector’s blu-ray, blu-ray, DVD) Mobile suit Gundam thunderbolt bandit Flower (blu-ray) Your Name (4K Collector’s) Dragon ball Z: season 7 Castlevania – season 2 (Collector’s, blu-ray) Mobile suit Gundam iron blooded orphans Part 1 (blu-ray) lupin the third: the Woman Called Fujiko Mine (Collectors’) infinite Dendrogram season 1 (Collectors’ / blu-ray) owarimonogatari Part 3 (blu-ray) lord el-Melloi ii’s Case Files Collection (blu-ray) rosario + Vampire Collection (blu-ray) black Clover 3:1 (blu-ray) Fruits basket 2:2 (DVD / blu-ray / Collectors’) Mobile suit turn a Gundam Part 2 (blu-ray) Killing bites Collection (blu-ray) No Guns life: season 2 (blu-ray) love live! the school idol Movie (Collector’s blu-ray) Demon slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Part 2 (Collector’s) Dragon ball Z: season 9 (blu-ray / Collectors’) Penguindrum (Collector’s edition) Mirai Nikki: the Future Diary (Collector’s edition) Gleipnir season 1 (blu-ray) Yu Yu Hakusho season 1 (blu-ray) Zoku owarimonogatari (blu-ray) K-on! Complete (limited) Plunderer 1:2 (blu-ray) Why the Hell are You Here, teacher!? (blu-ray) Paranoia agent (blu-ray) Fire Force 2:1 (blu-ray) My Hero academia 4:2 (ltd ed / blu-ray / DVD)

Funimation Funimation anime limited anime limited anime limited Funimation anime limited anime limited anime limited Funimation MVM MVM MVM Funimation Funimation anime limited MVM Funimation anime limited anime limited Funimation anime limited anime limited Funimation Funimation MVM Funimation Funimation MVM MVM Funimation Funimation

Plunderer 1:1

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Date title 217/06 17/06 17/06 17/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 22/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06

the reprise of the spear Hero 4: the Manga Companion Final Fantasy XiV: the art of ishgard -the scars of WarFinal Fantasy XiV: the art of ishgard -stone and steelbaKeMoNoGatari 9 Cells at Work! 6 Cells at Work! CoDe blaCK 8 Gleipnir 9 Kiss Me at the stroke of Midnight 12 Perfect World 7 sayonara, Football 6 sweat and soap 8 that time i Got reincarnated as a slime: trinity in tempest5 a sister’s all You Need.10 (light novel) Goblin slayer side story ii: Dai Katana 2 (light novel) Konosuba! 14 (light novel) solo leveling2 (light novel) suppose a Kid from the last Dungeon… 6 (light novel) that time i Got reincarnated as a slime 11 (light novel) the intuition of Haruhi suzumiya (light novel) Wizards of Mickey 2 your name. the official Visual Guide the rising of the shield Hero 20 suppose a Kid from the last Dungeon 4 urusei Yatsura 10 beastars 12 Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku 8 No Guns life 10 Zom 100: bucket list of the Dead 2 the Way of the Househusband 5 levius/est 8 seraph of the end 21 Chainsaw Man 5

Distributor one Peace books square enix square enix Vertical Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Yen Press Yen Press Yen Press Yen Press Yen Press Yen Press Yen Press Yen Press Yen Press one Peace books square enix ViZ signature ViZ signature ViZ signature ViZ signature ViZ signature ViZ signature ViZ signature shonen Jump shonen Jump

Date title

Date title 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 24/06 29/06 29/06 29/06 29/06 29/06 29/06 29/06 29/06 29/06 29/06 29/06 01/07 01/07 06/07 06/07 06/07 06/07 06/07 06/07 06/07 06/07 06/07 06/07 06/07 06/07

Distributor

We Never learn 16 shonen Jump Jujutsu Kaisen 10 shonen Jump one Piece (omnibus edition) 31 shonen Jump twin star exorcists 22 shonen Jump spy x Family 5 shonen Jump Dragon ball super 13 shonen Jump one-Punch Man 22 shonen Jump My Hero academia 28 shonen Jump Demon slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 22 shonen Jump Cardcaptor sakura: Clear Card 9 Kodansha Codename: sailor V eternal edition 1 (sailor Moon eternal edition 11) Kodansha Codename: sailor V eternal edition 2 (sailor Moon eternal edition 12) Kodansha eDeNs Zero 12 Kodansha love and lies 11 Kodansha Peach boy riverside 1 Kodansha the Witch and the beast 6 Kodansha uQ HolDer! 22 Kodansha Kyle’s little sister Yen Press Wizards of Mickey 4 Yen Press Zo Zo Zombie 11 Yen Press Heaven’s Door: extra Works last Gasp Monogatari series box set, Final season Vertical Cardcaptor sakura Collector’s edition 9 Kodansha orient 3 Kodansha orient 4 Kodansha sachi’s Monstrous appetite 3 Kodansha shaman King omnibus 3 (Vol. 7-9) Kodansha shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 5 Kodansha sweat and soap 7 Kodansha Horimiya 15 Yen Press in another World with My smartphone 2 Yen Press No Matter How i look at it, it’s You Guys’ Fault i’m Not Popular! 18 Yen Press the Hero is overpowered but overly Cautious 3 Yen Press the Vampire and His Pleasant Companions 3 Yen Press

Picadilly

08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 08/07 13/07 13/07 13/07 13/07 13/07 13/07 13/07 13/07 15/07 15/07 20/07

Distributor

Pretty boy Detective Club 1 aPosiMZ 7 Yona of the Dawn 30 Yakuza lover 1 takane & Hana 17 Vampire Knight: Memories 6 Pokémon adventures Collector’s edition 8 Komi Can’t Communicate 13 How Do We relationship?3 World Piece 1 Call of the Night 2 Caste Heaven, 6 Kirby Manga Mania 1 battle angel alita 1 (Paperback) Chasing after aoi Koshiba 3 Grand blue Dreaming 15 Heaven’s Design team 5 the Quintessential Quintuplets 14 those Not-so-sweet boys 4 toppu GP 5 Yuri is My Job! 7 the Great Jahy Will Not be Defeated! 1 soul eater: the Perfect edition 4 battle angel alita Mars Chronicle 7

Vertical Vertical shojo beat shojo beat shojo beat shojo beat ViZ Media shonen sunday ViZ Media ViZ originals shonen sunday sublime ViZ Media Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha Kodansha square enix square enix Kodansha

ASIAN FILM Date title 18/06 21/06 21/06 21/06 21/06 21/06 21/06 28/06 05/07 05/07 16/07 19/07 19/07 26/07 26/07 26/07 06/08 16/08 16/08 23/08 30/08 03/09 20/09 20/09

Distributor

Monster Hunter encounter of the spooky Kind Ptu Forbidden City Cop erotic Ghost story Piccadilly irezumi tekuza’s barbara Crazy samurai 400 vs 1 Mortal Kombat the Witches of the orient Plurality Wild search the Daimajin trilogy Millionaires’ express robotrix Minamata riki-oh: story of ricky a tale of two sisters blind beast the Chinese boxer shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings Disciples of shaolin the Flag of iron

sony Pictures eureka eureka 88 Films 88 Films bFi arrow Video third Window Films Dazzler Media Warner bros Modern Films signature entertainment eureka arrow Video eureka 88 Films Vertigo releasing 88 Films arrow Video arrow Video 88 Films Walt Disney/Dreamworks 88 Films 88 Films

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02 5

NEWS W O R D S B Y D AV ID W E S T

QUEENS OF THE COURT

SATURDAY AM STRIKES BACK! Diversity manga champs spread their wings The pandemic has been tough on publishers everywhere, but digital manga brand saturday AM are ready to roar back with new projects and collaborations aplenty. renowned for their commitment to diversity and attracting creators from all backgrounds and countries, saturday AM has announced that characters from their anthology series are featured in a new mobile video game, FLICK SOLITAIRE, giving the classic card game a manga makeover. “It’s our first time having all of our characters appear in a game and we couldn’t be more satisfied,” says founder Frederick Jones. “This is a modern version of SOLITAIRE with different play modes, cool 3D effects, and varying deck themes. The Saturday AM Deck includes new, exclusive artwork for all 52 cards, custom sound effects, and characters from Saturday AM, Saturday PM, Saturday BRUNCH, and even our newest brand, Saturday AFTERNOON!” You can find the game on ios and Android app stores. secondly, the publisher has teamed up with Los Angeles band urban renewal Project to create a manga-style comic to accompany their album POSSE COMITATVS, coming out in the us on record store Day. Finally, they’re launching a free app called PILOT MANGA by Saturday AM! featuring both new and existing manga series including October Legion, which Jones compares to Saint Seiya, Benedict Nick The Phenomenal Brick in the spirit of Gintama, and Change The World which taps into a Death Note vibe. Plus, there will be contests for up-and-coming creators with prizes including Wacom tablets. For more info visit www. saturday-am.com/pilotmanga.

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In the 1960s, a Japanese women’s volleyball team demolished the competition so comprehensively that the press in the soviet union dubbed them ‘The Witches of The orient’. French filmmaker Julien Faraut’s new documentary looks at their rise to fame through archive footage and interviews with four former members of the squad, looking back on their trials and triumphs. Formed by workers at a textile factory in osaka in the late 1950s, the team’s ruthless coach Hirobumi Daimatsu notoriously made them train through the night. After winning the world championships, the witches set their sights on the Tokyo olympics of 1964, carrying the hopes of the entire country on their shoulders. Their story inspired manga and anime like Chikako urano’s Attack No. 1, the first televised female sports anime. The Witches Of The Orient opens in cinemas on 16 July from Modern Films.

Mary skelter Finale

Dungeons AnD DrAgons Two new JrPgs are incoming this year from Idea Factory. Following its debut on the Ps4, Dragon Star Varnir will arrive on the nintendo switch this summer. The turn-based rPg concerns a knight called Zephy who is meant to hunt witches that spawn dragons, until he’s mortally wounded in battle and saved by two witches. To repay their kindness, he becomes their staunchest defender. Mary Skelter Finale is heading for the nintendo switch and Ps4 in the autumn. This dungeon-crawler sees a boy called Jack lead a team of Blood Maidens through a trap and enemy-filled underground prison, hoping to reach the surface. each Blood Maiden is based on the heroine of a different fairy tale given a dark twist.

MONSTER HUNTER RISE NEO’S RESIDENT IDOL MAHIRU JOINS THE HUNT… In March Monster Hunter Rise was released on Nintendo Switch, and I’ve been addicted ever since! I’m especially excited because the day I’m writing this is the same day as a new update that introduces more content to the game. I really enjoy fighting huge monsters that are dozens of times larger than my character! It’s fun to use different types of weapons, to capture and defeat enemies, and of course, getting the sweet rewards and rare parts. You can create weapons and armour with different characteristics depending on which parts you get from the defeated monster, and you can make it cute and cool. As you level up, you can wear layers, so if you want to make

your character super cute, you can! Just place some strong layers underneath, and they won’t take too much damage! I really like this feature. I was first introduced to the series with Monster Hunter World on PS4, but it was a little difficult, so I soon gave up… but! This time, Monster Hunter Rise can be played anywhere, so I’m enjoying playing it outside. It’s really fun to team up with your friends and take down a boss. I can’t go out because of the pandemic, so I only play games to pass the time and to socialise. It’s great that I can be united with friend in Japan and around the world! Let’s go and hunt monsters together! Mahiru’s Instagram is @mahiru104, and Twitter is @lunch_mahiru.

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02 7

ANIME EXPOSÉ

ZOMBIE LAND SAGA REVENGE still with zero cannibalism

The firsT parT of Zombie Land Saga’s second season has two great ideas for staging songs. The episode starts not with sakura, who was the viewpoint character for Saga’s first season, but with ai, one of the pro-in-life idols; she’s the one who was big in the noughties. When we see ai, she’s not in the group’s shared old dark house. Nor is she dancing on the stage. No, she’s punching in a time card for her day job, which is helping her town’s big industry – preparing yummy dried squid. The other workers accept ai fine, though a motherly type worries about this girl who always looks so sickly. When you’re a zombie, it’s hard to fake a healthy complexion. The workers gather on the rooftop at the start of the day, looking out to sea on a clear morning. ai is invited to lead the company’s stirring anthem. This turns out to be a wonderfully silly, completely wholehearted ode to the shrimp the workers are preparing – completely in line with the silliness and wholeheartedness of Zombie Land Saga. and the other great staging idea in part one? The idols have to do a comeback performance while the audience is having a pitched battle. hold the press – i think we’ve found the hook for the next huge Shonen Jump fight franchise. Too late, i’ve copyrighted the idea. hold on – why a comeback? The last time we saw the idols, they were triumphantly on the up, delivering a rapturously-received show. That’s all

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explained in a quick “in the meantime” flashback. it turns out that after that show, their maniac manager Kotaro booked the girls in a stadium with 30,000 seats… and sold five hundred. That fiasco left them debtridden and demoralised, which is why sakura and the other idols have day jobs now. if that sounds like an excuse to reset the story and rehash it, don’t worry. The characters are still growing, and so’s the series. pretty much everyone’s back: sakura, ai, saki, Yugiri, Lily, Junko and Tae – Tae’s vocab is still restricted to “growl” and “snarl.” That reminds me; zombie poodle romero is back too. as with the first season, the episodes tend to highlight each of the girls in turn, though not just them. part 1 actually focuses more on Kotaro, who seems even more unhinged than usual by his failure to push the girls into the mainstream. it serves to remind us of the show’s number-one question; exactly how and why has Kotaro raised these girls from the dead? We won’t get any answers quickly, but it’s a sign of Saga’s advancement that even Kotaro is getting funnier and more interesting, after being the shouty weak link last season. he gets a Fullmetal Jacket “army instructor” scene that’s a gem; later he delivers a crazed pep talk punctuated by guitar riffs. ai also gets an intriguing story arc, reflecting the fact that her old

ALSO STREAMING…

SHADOWS HOUSE

“IF THAT SOUNDS LIKE AN EXCUSE TO RESET THE STORY AND REHASH IT, DON’T WORRY. THE CHARACTERS ARE STILL GROWING, AND SO’S THE SERIES.”

Like MAPPA, the CloverWorks studio is having a busy year, though perhaps not a great one. Last season, its original series Wonder Egg Priority won fan acclaim, but its eagerly-awaited second season of Promised Neverland went down about as well as the end of Game of Thrones. The studio’s entry this season is called Shadows House, about Emilico, a very cute girl who lives in the titular house. She’s designated a “Living Doll” and serves her mistress, a shadow figure who emits clouds of soot.

MARS RED Vampires and the army – it sounds like the basis of some pulp actioner like Hellsing. But Mars Red is different – a far more literary character drama, set in 1920s Japan, where vampires are used to take down other vampires (so it’s not entirely different from Hellsing). Rather than a manga, Mars Red originated as a theatre reading – that’s most unusual, though a theatre reading was also the basis of an American adult stop-motion film called Anomolisa a few years ago, by Charlie Kaufman.

group, iron frill, is still around. in fact, it’s coming down to the sticks, and its lead singer has heard there’s this weird provincial band, containing a girl who’s the spit of frill’s late leader…

JapaN’s goT TaLeNT one outstanding episode, foregrounding everyone’s favourite trans idol Lily, starts from the most unpromising of set-ups – a TV talent show. You might remember how that was used as a device in shinichiro Watanabe’s Carole and Tuesday a couple of years ago. in that case, the contest stretched over umpteen episodes and stalled the anime terribly. Zombie Land Saga Revenge does it right, throwing out surprise developments, a joyous twist payoff and a sweet coda celebrating the show’s niceness. add to that an opening sequence that’s exuberant and inventive even by anime standards, with graphics which evoke saul Bass and Cowboy Bebop. oh, and there’s an interlude in one episode

that foregrounds the 1980s idol, Junko. she looks down on the sea and sings a languidly old-fashioned song, while the colours fade and the screen ratio changes to 4:3. it’s really beautiful… and half a minute later, there’s a joke about a zombie girl losing her head, and somehow it goes together like magic. (or like a zombie girl sticking herself back together.) But there’s a sour note in the real world. The series is made by Mappa, which also made the recent Jujutsu Kaisen and is now toiling on the final season of Attack on Titan. in mid-May, Anime News Network reported on the Tweets by a freelance animator. This animator claimed that Mappa was pushing its workers into “factory” conditions; that the animators weren’t being trained properly; and that they were forced to redo their work over and over. Zombie Land Saga Revenge is an ode to the joy of creative work. it would be terrible if Mappa was killing that spirit, in the people behind the images that shine so bright.

SUPER CUB For anyone not versed in motorbikes, the Super Cub is a model made by Honda. A second-hand specimen is purchased by Koguma, a loner schoolgirl in a country region. Plenty of anime put girls and vehicles together, often for impure reasons (we refer you to Kandagawa Jet Girls). However, Super Cub has been praised for focusing on the girl, and what the bike means to her life. Based on light novels, the anime is by the newbie studio Kai, founded in 2019.

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02 9

ANIME EXPOSÉ

TOKYO REVENGERS I was a time-travelling teen delinquent. 1

One Of the anime we covered last issue was The Snow White Notes, about a young shamisen player. In the first episode, the musician travels to tokyo… and he almost immediately gets attacked by a thug in the city centre. “honestly,” this column commented, “tokyo in anime is a million times more dangerous than the real place.” Well, now we’re looking at Tokyo Revengers, and you could raise that to a billion. This is a tokyo inhabited by lethal teen gangs with two favourite pursuits; waddling around in absurdly baggy trousers, and breaking people’s heads. They ride motorbikes too, but that seems an afterthought. normally, there are few pastimes more futile than calling out implausible things in anime. however, Tokyo Revengers isn’t set in an Akira future or an alternate timeline; this is an ostensibly real tokyo. If you know the city, much of the show’s action takes place round familiar landmarks in Shinjuku and Shibuya. It’s also specifically set in 2017 and 2005 – we’ll explain that in a second. That makes Revengers a wild anachronism. There were delinquent school gangs and biker gangs in Japan, but their heyday was decades earlier. (Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo’s violent visions were rooted in the tokyo of the 1970s.) That doesn’t make Revengers any sillier than other anime, but given that its settings and dates are so specific, it’s worth pointing out. So: Revengers is a violent teen gang show, importing the ethos of Akira into the present day. It’s also a time-travel thriller with shades of Erased. We start in 2017 with takemichi, a no-hoper approaching 30, in a dead-end job

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and a squalid apartment. The show stresses how horrible his apartment is by the fact that one visitor is so grossed out that he instantly dons a facemask in self-defence. Of course, viewers today have to remind themselves that that’s anything out of the ordinary. On the news, takemichi hears about carnage at a festival, where warring gang members killed innocent bystanders. One of the dead is a young woman called hinata tachibana. takemichi recognises the name – she was his one and only girlfriend, back when they were at tokyo middle school. But the news seems part and parcel of takemichi’s hopeless life now, where he bows and scrapes to everyone from his bratty boss to the preteen delinquents on the street. And then while he’s at a station travelling home, someone shoves him off the platform in front of a train. Game over.

BAcK tO SchOOl Or rather, as it turns out, game on. takemichi finds himself in 2005; time has reset to his middle-school days and he’s a teenager again. Then a lot of things happen, but the upshot is he can turn his destiny around. If he can infiltrate himself into the delinquent gangs in 2005, then he has a chance to avert the tragedy in 2017 – it’s established quickly that history can definitely be changed. Moreover, he also has the chance to redo his own youth, to stop being the cringing victim and find his well-hidden inner hero. his allies include the teen hinata, a girl so fierce she makes the gang goons step back. It’s a decent set-up, and so far it’s a bumpily, artlessly enjoyable show,

STIGMATISED SYMBOL The swastika issue has become especially fraught in Japan in recent years. In 2016, it was announced that it would no longer be used on Japanese maps – instead, temples would be designated by a “pagoda” symbol. That won’t stop you finding the symbol on buildings in Japan; on Buddhist structures, for example. Then again, last year a global fashion brand (Shein) had to apologise for selling a swastika necklace, even as a Buddhist symbol. The stigma attached to the swastika is just too great.

THE DIRECTOR 2

The show is directed by Koichi Hatsumi, who has credits all over the map – directing the penultimate Gundam Unicorn OVA, for instance. He had other director credits on Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga, Deadman Wonderland and Gangsta. The latter two were very obviously unfinished in anime form, which could be an issue for Tokyo Revengers as well. It’s a long manga – 22 volumes as of writing, and the story’s not over yet. Written by Ken Wakui, it’s published in Weekly Shonen Magazine.

1. PANIC! PANIC! 2. The present-day Takemichi researches his past. 3. Just your everyday teen gang beating.

though nothing in the early episodes challenges Erased. As in that series, the hero moves periodically between his past and present, which varies the action while opening up a host of holes about the time-travel logic which probably won’t be filled. however, you may find the show less like Erased than a “second chance at school” fantasy, like the anime ReLife or that unsung Zac efron film classic, 17 Again. Revengers is a violent show, but that hasn’t bothered the censors. however, something about the anime has troubled the censors, and it’s a fascinating issue. You see, the main gang in the series is called the Manji gang. “Manji” is the Japanese name for the symbol that we know as the swastika. As you probably know, the swastika symbol was not created by the nazis. The symbol is millennia old, and central to many religions, with absolutely nothing to do with the nazis’ loathsome beliefs. In Japan, you often used to see the symbol on maps, denoting Buddhist temples. This has led to rows over how this looks to non-Japanese tourists (see top right). In Revengers, the gang members sometimes wear swastikas on their uniforms, visible in many shots. As of writing, this had massive consequences when part 5 was streamed on crunchyroll, with many shots cropped, stretched or obscured to remove the symbol. On the one hand, it’s a terribly hamfisted erasure of cultural differences. On the other hand, the swastika is seen as so obscene in many countries that there may be no alternative. But how much more may need to be censored in upcoming episodes?

LIVE-ACTION REVENGERS The Tokyo Revengers strip is also becoming a live-action film, due for release on July 19 in Japan. It’s directed by Tsutomu Hanabusa, who also made the live-action TV version of the crazy-gambling Kakegurui which you can find on Netflix. It’ll be interesting to see if the Revengers film makes any more effort to get round the “offensive symbol” problem than the anime has done. Of course, if it doesn’t, then we may not see the film in Britain for that exact reason.

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KOCHI-WHATTY?

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Do not despair if you have never heard of Kochikame: Tokyo Beat Cops, or to give it its full title, This is the Police Box Opposite Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward. Despite being a manga of record-breaking length, adapted into an eight-year anime series, two movies and a TV show, this tale of slacker suburban cops has never made it into English… although you can watch it in Hindi!

MANGA SNAPSHOT

JUMP SQUARE RISE Jonathan Clements is all new, new, NEW. Also new. I S S UE # 1 2 // D E BU T Y E A R : 2 0 1 8 // PA GE C O UN T: C . 5 0 0 // P UB L I S HE R : S HUE I S H A // P R I C E : 7 6 0 Y E N (£ 5 . 0 0) // C Y C L E : Q U A R T E R LY

If you thINk that looks like an androgynous come-hither cover, then you’d be right (1). Allen Walker is staring right out at you like a smouldering ex, daring you to reach out and touch him. Remember all those good times you used to have? Life not treating you well right now? Let’s catch up. Buy me now, and find out how many clowns I’ve killed recently [your exes may vary – this is an oddly regular conversation for me]. I often talk in these pages about the turnaround times on magazines for children and teens – the fact that much Japanese animation, for example, appears to work on a 24-month product cycle. The publishers of Shonen Jump seem to have a slightly longer-term readership, but seem ready to proclaim something is “all-new”, relatively confident that nobody will notice, once every four years or so. Jump Square RISE, for example, was inaugurated in 2018 as a replacement for Jump Square Crown. Jump Square Crown sprang into being as a replacement for Jump Square LaB in 2015. Jump Square LaB began publishing as a substitute for Jump Square 19 in 2011… Jump Square 19 was spun off from Jump Square II, which began publication in 2009. And Jump Square itself only started running in 2007, spun off, of course, as the “Supreme Quality” publication for readers of the original Shonen Jump, designed to maintain their attention as they got older. In other words, the publisher Shueisha would really like it if you started reading Shonen Jump as a pre-teen, “graduated” to Jump Square when you hit middle school, and as you reached your later teens, could maybe be persuaded to try something “new”, like Jump Square RISE, the “Supreme Quality Manga Magazine” that hosts a bunch of much-loved older titles, as well as some experiments and one-shots from artists you might not have encountered before. our cover story, written in huge letters, but so typographically dispersed as to be hard to spot at a first glance, is D.Gray-man (2), katsura hoshino’s long-running tale of Victorian exorcists, which like the archetypal reader of this magazine, started off in Jump in 2004, and has migrated from publication to publication as the years went by. Cover star

“IT, LIKE ITS MANY FORERUNNERS IN THE JUMP STABLE, IS ALSO INTENDED AS A VENUE FOR YOUNG, UP-AND-COMING TALENT, A PLACE FOR THEM TO PUBLISH ONE-SHOTS AND MARKET-TESTERS.”

Allen Walker, fighting evil for the last decade and a half, is spending much of these later chapters recounting his back-story, explaining where he got his name from, which turns out to have been chosen in memory of a muchmissed pet from his childhood days in the circus – in that regard, this issue’s chapter is a huge moment in Allen’s past, amounting to an origin story for his super-powers. Perhaps it’s my imagination, but D.Gray-man seems to be rather under-represented in this issue. Despite being splashed all over the cover, and appearing in the contents list to span 30 pages, this issue’s chapter only actually covers 19 pages, barely enough time for a little fight scene, distinguished by hoshino’s intricate double-page splashes. one can hardly fault her for taking it a little bit easy after 17 years, but one suspects that Allen’s starry-faced appearance on the cover of this issue is a gentle come-on to fans who have stopped reading the series, hoping to lure them back to it. Another golden oldie now running in RISE is Blood Blockade Battlefront (3) by yasuhiro Nightow – in fact it is the BBB sequel, “Back 2 Back”. Since it is a direct continuation, and continues to feature superpowered leading man Leonardo Watch fighting monstrous terrorists in hellsalem’s Lot (a post-apocalyptic New york City), one suspects that the renaming is a similarly pragmatic attempt to get new readers to clamber aboard a new volume “1”, rather than what we might more honestly call the tenth volume of an ongoing series. Perhaps Nightow was expecting his opening pages to run in a colour section, because they are oddly dark in black and white. A new direction for an old hand crops up unexpectedly in Mr Clice (4), a comedy espionage manga by the much-lauded osamu Akimoto, who spent 40 years drawing Kochikame: Tokyo Beat Cops for Shonen Jump. Mr Clice is a little divertimento for his old age, a spoof of numerous spy thrillers, but particularly of the long-running Golgo 13, in which a secret agent is hit by a truck in the midst of a fight with a kGB rival. his brain, however, is saved, and transplanted into the athletic body of a female tennis player who happened to die on the same day. Chris/Christine is aghast at what has happened to him/her – I’ll stop here, before we all get cancelled, and say that because Chris refuses to identify as female, he is still resolutely a he. And he doesn’t like it one little bit: his male colleagues are suddenly condescending and flirtatious; his female colleagues have lost all interest in him, and nobody takes him seriously. Early episodes featured some subplots about bionic implants and bullet-proof skin, but such sci-fi upgrades seem to have been forgotten by this 16th chapter, which instead concentrates on Chris’s over-blown tough-guy antics, like James Bond after gender re-assignment. And here’s a real blast from the past, Beet the Vandel Buster (5) by Riku Sanjo and koji Inada, still running here in RISE 15 years after it bowed out in its original home at Jump. Van-Dels (“vampire devils”) are attacking the world, leading young Beet to volunteer to be a sort of bounty-hunter >>>

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03 3

“THE PUBLISHER SHUEISHA WOULD REALLY LIKE IT IF YOU STARTED READING SHONEN JUMP AS A PRE-TEEN, “GRADUATED” TO JUMP SQUARE WHEN YOU HIT MIDDLE SCHOOL, AND AS YOU REACHED YOUR LATER TEENS, COULD MAYBE BE PERSUADED TO TRY SOMETHING “NEW”, LIKE JUMP SQUARE RISE, THE “SUPREME QUALITY MANGA MAGAZINE”.” BEET THE STATS At 36 pages, Beet the Vandelbuster probably cost something like £4,000 to initiate in this issue of RISE. That’s a lot of money to spend on a franchise that quit the mainstream 15 years ago, unless someone thinks that money is well-spent on bringing in readers. At a fiver each, there would need to be 800 of them to justify the expense. Are we really pandering to a niche that small? And if we are, much respect!

>>> exorcist… look, the plot is the same as all the other Shonen Jump plots. What interests me most about Beet is how damn obscure it is. There was an anime spin-off, but it was snatched up in English by Illumitoon Entertainment, a texan operation set up by refugees from funimation, which tanked soon afterwards in the 2006 anime slump, leaving only a single DVD released. But someone clearly loves this story enough to keep it limping along in Japan – somewhere there is a market-research report that guarantees x number of old-school fans will pick up RISE just to read it.

ON THE RISE But the chance to catch up with old friends is only half the appeal of RISE. It, like its many forerunners in the Jump stable, is also intended as a venue for young, up-andcoming talent, a place for them to publish one-shots and market-testers. This is a fascinating area for the manga historian, as the prototype versions of so many serials end up invisible to the English reader. This is a place where

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we might see a bunch of also-rans going nowhere, but also the early germs of titles that are fated to be approved, focus-grouped, re-market-tested, re-focus-grouped, and, if they are lucky, launched with a grand fanfare as big serials in the pages of Shonen Jump itself. So, the titles I am discussing below are either things you will never hear of again, or the first appearances of franchises that you can brag about knowing in their infancy about five years down the line. Sheep on the Mountain (6) by Misuo Irarai is catnip for a troubled teenager – accounts of school days being harangued by teachers and set upon by bullies. But these are merely memories, recounted in passing by the same boy transformed, his hair now white, his eyes now red, standing in the post-apocalyptic ruins of the city he once lived in. he recalls the first manifestations of his shinshi – a type of animal familiar that protects him and fights on his behalf. he is not the only one marked with an angelic halo as a marker of his power – his earnest schoolgirl classmate, who packs him a lunch like all

earnest Japanese schoolgirl classmates in manga, also has a familiar of her own. They have a chance, vaguely hinted at, to journey back in time, to re-enter the human world, and to somehow stop the disaster they know to be impending – sort of Deep Cover, in a school, with animal totems that can fight each other. Numbers (7), by Katsu Sonomi sounds like the set-up to a zillion light novels – obsessed computer gamer and convenience store McJobber Mr Shirako is inadvertently sucked into the titular interdimensional god-game, in which various players take on the representations of magical playing cards. Grudgingly, in order to secure money for an impoverished colleague, he agrees to fight in just one round… But you know that if readers like this enough, or if a cardor toy-company is prepared to get behind a multi-media launch, that there will be a bunch more. And what will that look like? Little Conqueror (8) by Yohan gives us an indicator, in which the manga creator has plainly been told that his earlier Endless wasn’t up to scratch, but that its leading lady had potential, and that he should try to shove her into a different story. I tell you this not because I am ridiculously clued up on obscure manga, but because the editors tell us themselves – seemingly inviting readers to observe the development of a world-beating story as it goes through a prolonged editorial process. Well… I say editorial “process”. Someone had a meeting, presumably, where they decided that an alien invasion fleet sent to attack the Earth should be led by a capricious mini-princess, and that she should have a combat-android avatar on Earth who is comedically trying to fit in at a Japanese school. Little Conqueror

mashes together a bunch of tropes that have proved popular in previous teen manga – a sexy, supercompetent sci-fi super-girlfriend, who for reasons of alien mind control, occasionally acts like a stupid little child. Anyone hoping for something less formulaic is sure to be disappointed with The Gentleman Bodyguard (9) by Ryuji Kunimoto, in which the father of a piano prodigy hires a bodyguard to protect his daughter. Leonardo, the bodyguard, is a gentleman. We know this because he has a top hat and a cane. Assassins come after Emma the pianist, and Leonardo fights them off, fading away into the crowd after his mission is over, like Cityhunter… Except he can hardly fade away, as he is wearing a giant top hat. Look, there he is, you can still see him, he’s really obvious! I lack the understanding of a Shonen Jump editor as to which unsubtle nuance in a limited number of stereotypes is a winning formula for multimedia success. Half the stories in these pages feel like they could have been written with fridge magnets, with random rearrangements of words like “android”, “girlfriend” and “demon.” But as the recurrent renamings of Jump RISE itself over the last decade, Jump doesn’t need to aim for real originality; it just needs to find which particular combination of terms like “trapped in a woman’s body”, “invading the Earth”, “in love with a gangster” need to be slotted into which order to hit today’s teens in the right place. It might look like reinventing the wheel, but kids only get to be 14 once, and next year’s batch is sure to be enthusing at their first-ever sight of a crime-fighting… witch… with a… (rolls dice) yellow (rolls dice) parrot who has to (rolls dice) collect all the (rolls dice) weasels.

GRAY AREAS D.Gray-man creator Katsura Hoshino left her home province of Shiga to become an animator in Tokyo while still a teenager. Disenchanted with the low pay of the anime business, she drifted into manga creation with the one-shot Zone in 2002. D.Grayman was cannibalised from Zone a couple of years later, tailored for the younger Jump readership by throwing away the original protagonist and concentrating instead on the female juvenile lead, now a boy called Allen.

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03 5

AOI

KAI

REITA

Mass Hysteria

Japan’s metal titans are on ferocious form with their tenth album. the GazettE tell NEO’s David West about missing their fans, why a great record is like a delicious meal, and pushing their sound forwards on MASS. It may have been two years since they were last able to set foot onstage in front of an audience of howling fans, with the pandemic bringing touring to a shuddering halt, but the GazettE sound undaunted and unstoppable on MASS. The tenth album from the reigning champions of visual kei has topped the metal charts on Amazon and iTunes, but the GazettE has never been a band to rest on their laurels. “For me, I’m always working to exceed what we did before, so regardless I’m always motivated to push forwards and reach our highest production level yet,” says guitarist URUHA. “It’s definitely a milestone,” says bassist REITA about the significance of album number ten. “It would feel even more like one if we were on tour though. I feel that my own expectations, and the expectations of the other members, are even bigger than those of the fans.” “Just because it’s our tenth album doesn’t mean it should be put on a pedestal,” adds drummer KAI, “but as a career milestone it’s an achievement. It’s also something that we cannot possibly make without expectations from fans, so I’m grateful for that pressure!” For guitarist AOI, the fact that the band has been unable to play live during the pandemic has somewhat dimmed his sense of accomplishment. “World events and my own personal demons have stood in the way from feeling like a proper milestone,” says AOI. “When I make a piece of music, I’m often projecting my mental state into a new shape. As such, I don’t really feel any pressure. That’s not to say there aren’t parts I don’t

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like, but it’s hard for me to convey such nuances with words.”

LIGHT, SHADE AND SLAMMING BREAKDOWNS MASS exemplifies the stylistic range of the GazettE, from crushingly heavy tracks like FRENZY, to the reflective, introspective vibe of MOMENT. “I believe the essence of the GazettE’s sound is the continued expression of these three things; intensity, melody, and atmosphere,” says REITA. There’s a consensus amongst the band that their music only achieves its fullest expression when they’re laying waste to a crowd. “There’s certainly songs with varying atmospheres on this record,” says KAI, “each of them a powerful weapon in the arsenal of the GazettE, and I believe the true essence is found when we perform live. When I’m working on new material at the back of my mind, I’m imagining how this is going to be performed.” “The most important thing to consider is how the performance of a particular song fits in with the flow of a show,” confirms AOI. “Because of this, individual songs can be extravagant or calm. I want people to enjoy the album as if it’s a fine meal with a variety of dishes, and not just one main dish.” The chemistry within the quintet is the key to the group’s multifarious musical moods. “We’re a band of many parts and skills,” says AOI, “where there’s something missing another member can fill the space and bring back the balance. That’s how we were able to maintain balance. Together we can be a strong unit.” Usually someone brings a demo song to the rest of the band that just

RUKI

needs everyone to add their finishing touches. “This time we did it that way too, but also the tracks HOLD and FRENZY were made from scratch with all the members involved,” says KAI. Those are the two songs on MASS that evolved the most from their conception to the final versions. “There was an intro we had that was difficult to progress from,” says REITA. “We took some time out and discussed about what we can do to fix it, while also imagining the excitement of playing it live. We kept trying and testing to see what would work until we settled on the version you hear now.”

RUSSIAN LUNCHBOXES AND CONQUERING THE WORLD It’s clear that the whole band is eager to get back to gigging as soon it’s safe to do so, even if this has been a chance to recharge their batteries. “I feel like we’ve lost valuable time for all those involved in the live music industry. Like with athletes, sometimes a small break can make a big difference,” says AOI. REITA’s been putting the excessive energy to good use. “It’s made me hit the gym more than usual to work on my strength and to release stress,” he says. “At least when I hit the stage again, I’ll be in my best physical condition yet!” The fact that MASS has topped the metal charts outside Japan is eloquent testament to how popular the quintet has

URUHA

become with the global headbanging community. “It still blows my mind that we cannot speak another language except Japanese, yet our music can cross many seas. I’m very grateful to have such a special opportunity,” says AOI, while REITA picks Russia’s Kubana rock festival as his most memorable gig outside Japan, the food notwithstanding. “It took us over 30 hours to get there, and then the bus from the airport to the hotel took a while too,” he says. “By the time we finally arrived it was the middle of the night and I was starving. I was handed a lunchbox with my room key, and I opened it up I was surprised to find a banana and some cucumbers.” Meanwhile, AOI vividly recalls the first time the band played in the UK, even with a tinge of regret. “From the day before the show many people had lined up outside the venue, and I realised that all these people had big expectations for us,” he says. “However, on that day, the venue was double-booked due to a mistake by the promoter, and we had to end early. As a result, from the past 12 years I have felt as if I have estranged my fans by betraying them. I’m really grateful to everyone who accepted the GazettE when we visited in 2019 and asked us to come again. Of course, once the situation in the world calms down, I definitely want to come back to the UK!” “Of course!” declares KAI. “Where there’s a call for the GazettE we will surely answer!” Heed the call, metalheads! MASS is out now from JPU Records.

“JUST BECAUSE IT’S OUR TENTH ALBUM DOESN’T MEAN IT SHOULD BE PUT ON A PEDESTAL, BUT AS A CAREER MILESTONE IT’S AN ACHIEVEMENT. IT’S ALSO SOMETHING THAT WE CANNOT POSSIBLY MAKE WITHOUT EXPECTATIONS FROM FANS, SO I’M GRATEFUL FOR THAT PRESSURE!” KAI

RHYTHMIC RELEASE KAI unleashed his lockdown frustrations on his drums. “As a way to deal with my feelings I’ve been practicing and imagining that we’re in front of an audience,” he says. “It’s been two years now since we were last onstage, so next time I’m there, let’s push things beyond the boundaries of imagination!”

MAKING THE CUT The band started off with a collection of 40 songs that were gradually narrowed down to the 11 that made the album. “There was no particular reason the final songs made the cut besides the inspiration that came from all five members,” says KAI. “These were the ones we thought were the absolute coolest of the bunch!”

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03 7

W O R D S B Y A ND R E W O S M O ND

[ANIME REVIEW]

YASUKE Way of the Black Samurai O U T N O W // NE T F L I X // 1 5 // A C T I O N , FA N TA S Y, HI S T O R Y // 1 8 0 MINS // 6 E P I S O D E S

VOICE TRACK The edition streaming on Netflix is in both English and Japanese, but English is specified as the “Original” track. While a few fans may start complaining about inauthenticity, there’s a precedent from 20 years ago – Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s excellent action film Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, which was recorded in English first, so that was very much its original track. In Yasuke, the title hero is voiced by LeKeith Lee Stanfield who was recently Oscarnominated for his role in the film Judas and the Black Messiah.

PLOT In 16th-century Japan, Yasuke was once the samurai servant of the great warlord Nobunaga Oda. Many years after Oda’s fall, the reclusive Yasuke just wants to be forgotten, but his new adventure is about to begin.

asuke’s title character is a samurai-turned-ronin, outstanding not just for his fighting prowess but for his Blackness in medieval Japan. Based on a historical figure, his skin colour is highlighted more than it was for the heroes in Yasuke’s predecessor, Cannon Busters. Both series were created and directed by LeSean Thomas, the most prominent American artist in the anime industry. In Yasuke, some characters object loudly to the protagonist’s presence in the samurai elite, serving the legendary warlord Nobunaga Oda (see boxout). Yet Yasuke’s presence is one of the least incongruous elements in the anime. This is, after all, a series with fighters (not Yasuke) who transform like X-Men mutants, or wield paranormal forces like Doctor Strange, or who summon what are pretty much “Stand” magic warriors from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. And there are mecha too, both robot power suits and AI androids… and yes, this is still meant to be

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16th-century Japan. Elsewhere in this issue (p.030), there’s a writeup of the new series Tokyo Revengers. This write-up acknowledges that calling out unlikely things in anime is usually futile, but that some implausibilities do matter. Anime reality isn’t endlessly stretchable at all times. Like Tokyo Revengers, Yasuke is rooted in a specific reality. It starts with the fall of Nobunaga in 1582, the “Honnoji Incident” that’s one of the most famous points of Japanese history. In the series, that’s presented with masses of warring magic-wielders and robot suits… which would be fine if this was a wild phantasmagoria like Kill la Kill or Batman Ninja. Instead, Yasuke becomes much more reserved, a straight-feeling period adventure drama (with Castlevania-level gore) that has magic, mutants and mecha breaking in on it. “Historical” anime have accommodated monsters and magic comfortably from Ninja Scroll to Demon Slayer. But adding AI and mecha as well… It makes no sense, and not in the enjoyable way that anime often doesn’t make sense. It could have worked if, for example, Yasuke was framed as an online VR game, with some player-characters “respecting” history and others using anachronistic identities. But in telling a straight adventure in a world with the coherence of The Lego Movie, Yasuke sabotages the viewer’s enjoyment. But it hardly ruins it. The series is best taken as a Ninja Scroll-style adventure with an ageing Yasuke, long retired after enduring a samurai’s nightmare – he had to assist in the seppuku suicide of his lord. Then he’s obliged to take

NOBUNAGA ODA

up a new mission, protecting a young girl in whom a great power is growing. It’s the warrior-guards-child scenario of Moribito or Sword of the Stranger, but Yasuke’s opponents are far wilder. There’s an early bar brawl in which Yasuke is confronted by the girl’s pursuers – well, some of them, attacking with laser beams and wolfgirl claws. For all the earlier complaints, it’s a really good fight, and there are others as good.

“ANIMATED BY MAPPA, WITH BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER DESIGNS BY REDLINE’S TAKESHI KOIKE, MANY OF YASUKE’S SCENES LOOK SUPERB.” If Yasuke was a terse actioner like Ninja Scroll, 90 minutes or so, then the complaints about the show’s unreality would matter far less. But it’s twice that length, and goes unwisely for a momentum-sapping flashback structure, jumping back periodically to show Yasuke’s samurai servitude. It’s bitty and half-cooked, like watching recaps from a series we’ve not seen. One of the flashbacks’ best suggestions is of the bloody mix that’s Nobunaga. Yasuke’s master is both a monstrous killer and a radical progressive; his friendship with Yasuke is colourblind in a way that actually has meaning. The anime could have explored Nobunaga and Yasuke’s relationship

far closer, like Griffith and Guts in Berserk. Instead, it oscillates between too many stories, irreconcilably different. Animated by MAPPA, with beautiful character designs by Redline’s Takeshi Koike, many of Yasuke’s scenes look superb. But its adrenaline falls short of the visionary violence of Ninja Scroll’s Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Again, shorter could have been better. Yasuke’s battles start cancelling each other out by later episodes, and even the backgrounds get too abstract at the end, muddying the fights’ space and scale. Anime reality is negotiable, but not if you throw too much of it away. The flashbacks peter out midway, but the new characters who come on aren’t anywhere as interesting as Nobunaga, and they’re not enlivened by a script that’s increasingly content to use throwaway lines from B-movies. Midway through the series, Yasuke is tortured. This scene may be meant, bizarrely enough, to remove such imagery from its historically-loaded, morally queasy associations in modern media. The Black hero suffers, but like a Kawajiri hero, not like the one in Django Unchained. But over Yasuke’s length, the hero’s presence is diluted by too many other characters scrabbling for too little time. For instance, an evil Catholic priest makes a strong impact, but he makes Yasuke’s Big Villain suffer in comparison later. It’s one of so many instances where this interesting but frustrating series gets in the way of itself. A beautiful-looking anime with some great action, tons of potentials… and infuriating problems.

As a historical personage, the muchfeared Japanese warlord Nobunaga Oda has been depicted in anime many times before. He has violent isekai afterlife adventures in Drifters, by Hellsing’s creator Kouta Hirano. Nobunaga Concerto puts him into an elaborate time-travel scenario. Nobunaga the Fool put him into a wild alternate-history mash-up with Joan of Arc and Leonardo da Vinci. Another alternate version of Nobunaga figures in The Ambition of Oda Nobuna, only this one is a girl…

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W O R D S B Y D AV ID W E S T

[ANIME REVIEW]

EDEN

A short, sweet sci-fi mini-series

O U T N O W // NE T F L I X // P G // A D V E N T UR E , S C I - F I // S T R E A MIN G // 1 0 0 MINS // 4 E P IS O D E S

PLOT In a future where humanity has long since disappeared, two robots in the city of Eden find an infant in a stasis capsule and decide to raise her in secret.

TRIVIA

In 2012, Leach successfully used the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform to produce the anime short KickHeart. Masaaki Yuasa wrote and directed the 12-minute film about two pro-wrestlers called Romeo and Juliet.

his four-episode original Netflix mini-series is produced and created by Justin Leach, whose career has spanned working in both Japan and the US with credits including Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the Ice Age movies, and serving as CG producer on Mamoru Oshii’s Innocence: Ghost In The Shell 2. For Eden he teams up with director Yasuhiro Irie, who was the principal director on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Cowboy Bebop character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, so it’s a heavyweight creative team. Eden uses CG animation rendered in an anime style and yet the series seems to draw inspiration from the former champions of hand drawn animation Studio Ghibli. There’s the young, idealistic and brave heroine in Sara, the girl discovered by the two robots E92 and A37. Sara has bright red hair like Fio, Arrietty and Ponyo, the colour scheme is vibrant and rich, favouring warm tones, and the characters are drawn with strong, clean lines, like classic Ghibli.

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The animation is smooth and polished. Action scenes, from chases through the desert to a tussle between two giant mecha, are lively and fun, although as the series feels pitched squarely at the family audience, there’s nothing too intense or threatening. While they may be robots, E92 and A37 are respectively Sara’s father and mother. In the English dub, David Tennant channels the nervous energy of Anthony Daniels’ C-3PO as E92, keeping a hint of his Scottish accent, while Rosario Dawson brings the maternal instincts out of A37. The villain of the tale is Zero, the commander of the security services in the robot world, voiced by Neil Patrick Harris. Compared to A37 and E92, Zero actually has the more interesting character arc as his motivations and backstory gradually become clear. Sara is a likeable heroine, and the script has enough depth for her to question why she isn’t a robot like her parents and to long to meet another human. While Zero and his legion of robotic soldiers bring some sense of menace, the overall tone is light and cheerful, certainly not dark and dystopian despite being set in a world where the humans have vanished. With the pedigree of the voice cast and creative team, Eden may suffer from some weight of expectation from anyone hoping for a timeless classic for the ages. What Leach and Irie offer is an upbeat, all-ages adventure exploring themes about the importance of family, forgiveness and redemption, wrapped up in a shiny sci-fi package.

THE ESSENTIAL KOREAN PANTRY Korean cuisine is taking off in the UK in a big way – we show you how to stock your pantry to cook your favourite dishes at home!

ESSEntial Pantry inGrEDiEntS Short grain white rice This variety of rice can be used for Japanese food, including sushi, as well as Korean food. With a shorter grain, it has a stickier consistency which makes it easier to pick up with chopsticks! Cook a large batch of rice and you can freeze the extra. Simply wrap it up or box it while it’s warm (this will help it retain moisture) and allow to cool, then freeze. Reheat in a microwave for steaming hot, fluffy rice in minutes.

Doenjang Very similar to Japanese miso paste, doenjang holds a similar importance in the Korean diet as a base for soups, broths and stews. While miso is subtle and has a sweetness, doejang has a richer, more complex taste.

Korean red chilli pepper flakes / Gochugaru There’s no substitute for this beautifully crimson, flaked chilli powder. Made from a seedless variety of chilli called taeyang-cho, gochugaru is one of the main ingredients in two Korean staples, kimchi and gochujang, but gochugaru can also be added to marinades, soups and stews to enhance the flavour.

Korean red chilli pepper paste / Gochujang Imparting a spicy, glutinous quality to foods, gochujang is an essential seasoning in the Korean pantry. Once opened, like doenjang, it must be kept in the fridge, but it will keep for a long time. It’s an ingredient in many Korean dishes like bibimbap, and can be combined with doenjang to make ssamjang, a lovely dipping sauce which you can also purchase ready-made. In Korean supermarkets, gochujang is often in a red tub, while doenjang comes in a brown tub, and ssamjang is in a green tub.

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Soy Sauce Used in most Asian cuisines, a hefty bottle of soy sauce will disappear in no time if you regularly cook dishes like teriyaki (remember our easy recipe – 1tbp soy sauce, 1tbsp mirin, 1 tsp sugar, simmered until thick). It will keep for a long time if stored in a cool, dark place.

Korean Soup Soy Sauce

Korean Fish Sauce

Don’t be fooled by the lighter appearance of Soup Soy Sauce, it’s actually much saltier than regular soy sauce, meaning you need to use less and can achieve a lighter colour for broths by using this condiment.

Korean fish sauce has a slightly different taste than Thai fish sauce – if you have to substitute the latter, try using a little less – around .75tbsp rather than a full tablespoon. When added to dishes, it shouldn’t impart a strong fishy flavour, but rather an umami punch. If you already have a different type of fish sauce, experiment with the taste before buying a new bottle.

Kimchi Koreans eat on average 36.1kg of kimchi every year according to the World Institute of Kimchi, and 63% of this is home made. Making your own kimchi is a fun and rewarding experience, but make sure you have a taste for it first – there are plenty of fresh kimchi brands available to purchase. Kimchi is usually made from Chinese leaf (napa cabbage) and Korean radish, along with a paste made of gochugaru, spring onions, flour, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, and other seasonings. It’s eaten with almost every meal. You must keep kimchi in the fridge.

Mirin A super sweet Japanese rice wine, this is only ever used for cooking and has a syrup-like taste and consistency. Often used instead of or as well as sugar to impart a sweet flavour to dishes.

KOREAN YOUTUBE CHANNELS

FUTURE NEIGHBOR English-speaking duo Daniel and Katie live in Seoul and upload helpful recipe tutorials to their channel weekly. They even upload recipes for set menus so you can see how to put together a balanced Korean meal. You can also view their recipes at futuredish.com!

planD A self-described homebody enjoys cosying up and cooking comfort food in a hypnotic everyday life channel. These self-described ‘ordinary days’ include the preparation and consumption of elaborate and delicious meals, as well as crafting.

Sesame seeds and sesame oil White and black sesame seeds are used in Korean cooking, mostly as a garnish. Buy untoasted ones and then you can toast them yourself for a much better taste and aroma. Sesame oil is used as a garnish, drizzled onto dishes to impart a sweet, nutty taste. Don’t use it to cook with!

CAFE709

Korean Soup Stock Base Unlike Japanese dashi, which is made of kombu and bonito flakes, Korean soup stock uses dried anchovies. If you already have Japanese dashi, you can use this, but purchasing stock bags for anchovykelp stock is a handy short cut, or you can purchase kombu (which comes in thick, salty strips) and dried anchovies to make your own stock.

Follow the daily life of this Korean couple living in Japan as they prepare and cook a variety of Asian dishes, including Korean and Japanese cuisine. These soothing videos of everyday chores are addictive, simple, and fun.

Fresh ingredients

ROHA

You’d be surprised how few specialist fresh ingredients you need for Korean cooking – you might have most of these in your kitchen already! Korean cooking uses garlic, ginger, spring onions, onions, Chinese leaf cabbage, and carrots. Perilla leaves and Korean radish (similar to daikon or mooli) might be harder to find, but are also fairly commonly used.

An upmarket, luxury lifestyle is on show here as Korean housewife Roha, who recently welcomed a newborn into the family, cooks, cleans and eats delicious food in her swish apartment, stocked with all the latest gadgets you could wish for!

NEXT TIME: KOREAN RECIPES!

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A TRAVELLER’S GUIDE TO CASTLEVANIA as the fourth season of Netflix’s anime-style horror series is released, andrew Osmond grabs his crucifix for an overview of the gory saga. What is Castlevania? it’s an animated series with buckets of blood, nay, oceans of gore, severed heads, diced-up dismemberings and assorted flying eyeballs. its salty script has more f-bombs than the old anime dubs of the 1990s. Oh, and it has sex too – not a big part of the series, but there’s one racy montage to have you wondering how on Earth Netflix got away with a “15.” Okay, let’s get more specific. Castlevania is a show inspired by videogames – not a single game, but a long franchise of Japanese games that goes back to the 1980s and spans more than 30 titles. it features Dracula, from the Victorian vampire novel, but he’s not the show’s main character. Castlevania is much more of an ensemble, multi-stranded series with various colourful characters on often separate journeys, and a story that gets more and more sprawling through its four seasons. it’s ostensibly set in the 15th century, but this is the kind of netherworld that could be as easily post-apocalypse as medieval, where the sun seldom shines, woods are full of monsters, and priests are closet satanists or open sadists. The hero’s a world-weary, foul-mouthed tramp called trevor Belmont, who’s extremely good at fighting monsters. to his own dismay, he gets roped into a series of deadly missions and massive battles, which might just possibly save the world. ah, we forgot to mention – Dracula, the King of vampires, has declared a crusade to wipe humans from the face of the planet, in revenge for the fate of his wife, a human herself. it might not sound very rational, but that’s Dracula’s towering rage for you. and trevor

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just happens to be the last-living survivor of a fabled family of monster slayers, the one human who might take Dracula and his allies down. The series was primarily animated in texas, by the Powerhouse studio, though some of it was outsourced to other parts of the world. One of the contributing studios was MOi in south Korea, which also contributed to america’s avatar: The last airbender and Japan’s Berserk film trilogy. Castlevania feels very reminiscent of Berserk in places, especially a setpiece in the fourth season where one character – a woman, as it happens – dons heavy armour, takes up a very, very large sword and goes out to chop up the enemy with a vigour to impress Guts himself. another obvious comparison point is Japan’s vampire Hunter D. as in that franchise, one of the monster fighters is a half-vampire; this time it’s Dracula’s own estranged son, named alucard. (Yes, we know what it spells backwards.) alucard spends some of the series fighting beside trevor, though ‘beside’ is a stretch, given the two heroes have the kind of quarrel that the average eight-year-old would find childish. trying to keep peace between them is the young human woman, sypha, who’s a scholar and a warrior wizard… though she loves to knock spots off trevor as they travel together.

GORE AND GOAT JOKES Castlevania is unusual in that it’s a Western animated production that’s a lengthy serial with an ongoing story (32 episodes across four seasons);

WARREN ELLIS

that’s emphatically not for kids; and isn’t primarily a comedy. admittedly, Castlevania still has far more humour than Berserk or vampire Hunter D. The opening episode goes from an apocalyptic splatter scene of people being ripped apart by Dracula’s monsters, to a pub argument about… well, there’s a goat involved. Like many anime, though, Castlevania gets much grimmer as it goes on. This is a show where you should be careful of liking any character too much, not just because they might die horribly, but because they might turn out to be people who deserve to die horribly. Nonetheless, humour runs through the show. Calling Castlevania an action series is a bit misleading. Yes, it does have frenzied, epic battle scenes, exhausting to watch, and these are the show’s tentpoles. But a larger part of the running time actually consists of dialoguebased character scenes, where characters consider their motivations or circle each other warily. The scenes are allowed to run on much longer than in most animation, anime or not. This combo, of long conversations alternating with gory violence, is more Game of Thrones than vampire Hunter D. Castlevania certainly feels like a “written” show, which is awkward given recent reports about its big-name writer, Warren Ellis (see boxout). While the first two seasons foreground trevor, sypha and alucard, other characters grow in importance. some are vampires, including a quartet of women who are far more fleshed out than female vampires used to be in

old Dracula flicks. Then there are humans who support Dracula, considering that the world’s so wretched that it would be better ended. By the later seasons, we also have Bill Nighy voicing an enigmatic alchemist with shades of Doctor strange, and Malcolm McDowell as a very British vampire called Varney, named after a “penny dreadful” monster who’s older than Dracula. Other voices to listen for include Jason isaacs as a Judge who rules the village in the third season, and Matt Frewer – who played the vintage “virtual” star Max headroom in the 1980s – as a ruthless Bishop in the opening episodes. The show’s pacing can be absurdly slow, while its love of swearing can befoul dramatic moments. The show’s backgrounds are beautiful, and its character designs look great, but its character animation often feels jittery and functional, even in spectacular fights – certainly if you judge them against the flair of the best action anime. still, the massive, explosive scale of Castlevania’s fights is a blast, and there are outstanding sections, such as the Berserk-style set-piece mentioned earlier, and that sexdeath montage that crashes battle carnage together with wild copulation. The last episode of the fourth season seems to bring the story to a clear end. Reportedly, more Castlevania is being considered, but it seems likely to be a soft reboot of some kind. after all, the original Castlevania games were set across many different centuries, and with many different hero Belmonts…

The whole of the animated Castlevania was scripted by Britain’s Warren Ellis, who’s been famed among comic book fans for decades for his original creations – though he admitted he’d never played any of the Castlevania games! He was the co-creator of the gritty superhero strip The Authority, as well as scripting titles including Transmetropolitan and Global Frequency. He also contributed to the likes of X-Men and Iron Man. In 2020, though, Ellis was tainted by accusations from multiple women – not for criminal behaviour, but for alleged patterns of deceitful and manipulative relationships with literally dozens of women.

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NEO ARTIST SHOWCASE

THE BEST IN READER TALENT EVERY ISSUE, NEO WILL BE FEATURING OUR FAVOURITE WORK FROM ARTISTS INSPIRED BY ANIME, MANGA AND GAMES NAME TAN YIAN, ARIEL

AGE 20 BASED IN SINGAPORE PROFESSION ILLUSTRATOR FAVOURITE PASTTIME I LIKE WATCHING OTHERS PLAY GAMES WITH INTERESTING VISUALS!

BIOGRAPHY I’ve been drawing since I was in kindergarten, when my mom complimented the family portrait I had drawn in school and hung it up on our wall. I’m pretty sure that piece of paper is long gone by now but I remember quite vividly that it was the moment my passion was sparked. I was open to all forms of art if it was available to me. Which is to say, I mostly stuck with paper and graphite; I was only exposed to paints, charcoal, ink and other expensive-sounding materials in school which I really appreciated. I was convinced that I loved art enough to officially study it for Os in secondary school, except for the fact that I hated Art Theory and my parents saw no future for me there. So, we negotiated that I take the “normal” route and studied Science just to at least open up more options should I decide Art was not for me. Eventually, I received my certificate, entered Singapore Polytechnic’s Game Design and Development course via EAE and officially began my journey to understanding what it was I wanted to do. I initially thought I wanted to make art for games, in particular. However, interning at Collateral Damage Studios made me realise that it really didn’t matter; I liked making art, it did not have to be for games, animations or comics. I’m more adept with digital illustrations than traditional nowadays, though. I make art that I like. To see others appreciate and enjoy my work is what makes me happiest. To that end, I’ll keep improving and exploring possibilities. See more of Collateral Damage Studios on their website here: www.collateralds.com.

1. Genshin Impact: Noelle fanart: I just think she’s neat. 2. TWEWY: Uzuki & Kariya fanart: The World Ends With You (NDS/iOS/Android/Switch) fanart of my two favourite Reapers because we’re getting an anime and a sequel! 3. FE3H: The Trio: Fire Emblem: Three Houses Fanart of my favourite trio of the Black Eagles. I love them.

INSPIRATION

NEO WANTS YOU

Art that gives me feelings. Illustrations / comics / music with stories to tell, or

If you are interested in submitting work to be featured in the NEO ARTIST SHOWCASE, please email neomageditorial@gmail.com with ‘ARTIST SHOWCASE’ as your subject header, along with an internet link with examples of your work.

even just a small message to convey. Just things to occupy my brain as I draw. I’m more invested in fanart for games because of how open-ended they are due to varying player choices and how it results in many interesting views (and fanart).

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NEXT ISSUE! July ’21 • Issue 209 www.uncookedmedia.co.uk Uncooked Media Ltd, PO Box 6337, Bournemouth, BH1 9EH Telephone 01202 087627 Email neo@selectps.com Web www.uncookedmedia.co.uk

The NEO Team Editor Gemma Cox Group Art Editor Claire Trent Contributors David West, Jonathan Clements, Mark Guthrie, Andrew Osmond, Dominic Cuthbert, David Thomas, Michael Dodson, and Mahiru Kurumizawa NEO logo designed by Terratag www.terratag.com

TO YOUR ETERNITY FROM THE WRITER OF A SILENT VOICE COMES THIS EXTRAORDINARY EPIC

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Licensing To discuss magazine licensing or content syndication please email contact@selectps.com

VIVY: FLUORITE EYE’S SONG Photos by Adam Miller

CAN A SONGSTRESS AI SAVE OUR FUTURE? FIND OUT IN WIT STUDIO’S NEW SERIES

CONVIENIENT JAPAN FROM BEER, CHILLI, R AMEN, AND DASHI TO THE MORE ‘UNUSUAL’ WARES, WE CHECK OUT VENDING MACHINES IN JAPAN

PLUS: WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE, TEACHER!? / KOREAN RECIPES / PENGUINDRUM + MORE!

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Distributed through the UK newstrade by Seymour Ltd, 0207 429 4000 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT Distributed through the UK/US specialist trade by Diamond Comic Distributors, 020 8536 5730 Printed in the UK by MRC Print Ltd, 21 East Hanningfield Industrial Estate, Old Church Road, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8AB

NEO is published every month by Uncooked Media Ltd. All text and layout remains the copyright of Uncooked Media Ltd. NEO is a fully independent publication and its views are not those of any company mentioned herein. All characters and artwork shown in this magazine remain the © and trademark or their respective owners. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher. NEO can accept no responsibility for inaccuracies or complaints arising from editorial or advertising within this magazine. All letters and emails received will be considered for publication, but we cannot provide personal replies. The publishers cannot be held responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, transparencies or artwork. Please do not call, email or write to enquire whether your unsolicited submission has been received, as our priority is the production of the magazine. NEO © 2015 Uncooked Media Ltd ISSN 1744-9596

SHOUTING MANGA! MANGA! MANGA! Mark Guthrie gets to grips with Japan’s manga cafés When I was a kid, my sister and I would spend the summer holidays with our grandparents in Peterlee, a small town in County Durham. Not because my parents wanted to get rid of us, of course, but rather that my Grandma Margaret and Granda Bill loved our company so much. Well, that’s what my mum told us. Anyway, I digress. While those long summers were predominantly spent playing football in backstreets or running wild in the nearby woods, our days of freedom were punctuated by my grandma’s frequent shopping trips. My gran, you see, loved a bargain, and for hours we would trawl the markets and charity shops. While my sister also caught the bargain bug, I’d usually have spent most of my meagre pocket money on sweets as soon as I’d got my grubby mitts on it and was thus left to mope as ‘the women’ mooched. However, my spirits always perked up as we left the shops, because it meant that it was time to hit the café. And these weren’t the sort of cafés that you Gen Z-ers frequent, with your hand-ground Indonesian beans and artisanal snacks, and nor were they the soulless conglomerate coffee shops that spread further and faster than ‘rona. No, these were proper cafés with proper people, huge

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urns of tea and the scent of frying oil always in the air. I loved the hours spent in these places, glugging down orange squash and demolishing rock cakes piled so high they would have made Sherpa Tenzing quake with fear. But most of all, I loved to watch my gran chat with everyone and anyone, and then gossip about them with the next person who came in. She was in her element, and I loved to see it. Yes, if there was one thing that my gran loved more than a bargain, it was a stop at a café. Mind you, quite what she’d make of a manga café, I’ve not a bloody clue.

MANGA AND MUCH MORE The first manga café – known locally as manga kissa [short for kissaten, meaning café] – opened in 1978 in my current home of Nagoya. As such, I thought I’d make a pilgrimage to it for you lovely NEO readers, however try as I might, I’ve not been able to find where it is or, most likely, was. Saying that, even if I were to uncover it, it’s highly unlikely that, historical value aside, it would be of any interest. Nothing more than a place where customers can sit and read comics. Compared to the manga cafés of today, that sounds dull as hell. >>>

1. Because reading manga is a hungry business. 2. Mark enjoys a socially distanced interaction with the manga. 3. So, what are you getting from the snack selection? 4. Ooo, it’s like a visit to NEO Towers. 5. Some of the more, ahem, specialised manga. (No, we don’t have those to hand here at NEO...)

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ManBoo is one of the most popular mangacafé chains.

It’s called ‘plus’, so it must be good!

It’s not a café without coffee!

“YOU WILL EITHER GET YOUR OWN PRIVATE BOOTH WITH A DESK THAT INCLUDES A COMPUTER WITH A SUPER-FAST FIBRE CONNECTION, OR YOU GET A FULLY ENCLOSED CAPSULE WITH A FUTON MATTRESS SO THAT YOU CAN SPRAWL OUT AND READ YOUR MANGA IN PURE COMFORT.” You see, nowadays manga cafés are a blend of coffee shop, internet café, onanist pleasure dome, library and capsule hotel all rolled into one, and they are nationwide. The general deal is that you stump up about ¥300 for the first 30 minutes, but should you so wish, you can stay for an entire 24 hour stretch for about ¥4,000. And I know what you’re thinking, “that’s a bit pricy just to read a few comics”, but believe me, you get a whole lot more bang for your buck (sometimes quite literally, more on which later) than just a lending library.

>>>

NOT YOUR AVERAGE LIBRARY First and foremost, of course, the rationale behind a manga café is to read manga, usually following the yomi-houdai [all-you-can-read, or free read] concept, which means that for your hourly fee, should you so wish, you could spend your entire time scouring the thousands of magazines to your heart’s content. And this doesn’t only include the mainstream canon of Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto. No, there are all genres, all titles and most places even stock specialised manga (and you can read into that precisely what you wish, pun very much intended).

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So, perhaps right now you are imagining some heavily-tomed library with leather chairs and broad oak tables, like those of the Ivy League American colleges that you see in the movies, but rather than the ditzy cheerleader-type pounding the books in order to win the debate and prove that she’s no airhead, instead dozens of otaku [enthusiasts / nerds] with noses deep in comics. Well, if you were thinking of that rather convoluted scene, you couldn’t be more wrong. No, while some manga kissa do have open reading areas, depending on which option you plump for, you will either get your own private booth with a desk that includes a computer with a super-fast fibre connection, or you get a fully enclosed capsule with a futon mattress so that you can sprawl out and read your manga in pure comfort and lock your door so that you can enjoy your reading in total silence. That’s if you just want to read, of course.

EAT, DRINK AND WATCH TELLY (ONLINE) As the Jesus Christ who lived and died in Japan (look it up, seriously) might have said, “man cannot live on manga alone”, and so it is fortunate

Definitely enough room for a nap.

that many manga kissa have other activities for you to enjoy. First of all, there is the aforementioned PC upon which you cannot only muck about on social media, but can also watch TV or anime movies, and the café generally has hundreds of DVDs that you can borrow (and yes, I know that DVDs aren’t really a thing anymore, but you try telling Japan that. The place still runs on faxes!). There will generally be a drinks station with unlimited access (nonalcoholic, unfortunately), if you get peckish there are usually vending machines selling all sorts of random food (while Japan may be behind in visual tech, they are super advanced in instant food technology), or they may just have a microwave so that you can pop to the conbini [convenience store], pick up some grub, heat it up and dine in your booth in style. Furthermore, there are dedicated gaming computers, showers, printercopiers and some places even have games such as karaoke, pool and darts.

LOVE MANGA HOTEL And by now, you might be starting to think that manga kissa sound a bit like hotel complexes, and if you were, then you’d be right. Having grown from simple cafés, today manga kissa resemble hotels so closely that for many people this has become their primary purpose. Visiting Tokyo but don’t have the cash to splash on The Hyatt? Well, a 24 hour stay at ManBoo! in Shinjuku will set you back just ¥3,600. Or what if you’ve gone for a night out on the town, missed the last subway and don’t have the stamina to stay out all night (a situation that, unfortunately, comes to us all in time, Gen-Zers)? Well, a manga kissa is the perfect spot to while away those bleary hours before dawn. And what if you want to spend time with amorous intent…? Of course, there are love hotels aplenty, but increasingly manga kissa are competing

for this market space. Many personal booths are large enough to fit two (or more) people, and frequently couples who are too tight to splurge on a love hotel will head to their nearest manga spot. The aforementioned ManBoo! does a deal where you can add an extra person to your booth for just ¥400. And it’s not only for couples, as manga cafés offer privacy for people who wish to spend a bit of ‘alone time’. In fact, as well as their ‘specialised’ comics, many manga kissa quite happily advertise video channels with ‘lots of free adult content’. Furthermore, some even sell ‘joke’ toys for personal enjoyment. Though, if you are now thinking “gross, I don’t want to go somewhere in which people have been pleasuring themselves”, well in that case you should perhaps reconsider staying in any hotel ever again! Mind you, as much as she loved cafés, and as open minded as she was, I’m pretty sure that my grandma would have drawn the line there.

There are three floors of manga, and this is how you find what you want.

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W O R D S B Y D AV ID W E S T

[FILM REVIEW]

PTU

One night in Hong Kong

2 1 JUNE // E UR E K A ! // 1 5 // T HR IL L E R // £ 2 0 . 9 9 ( B L U - R AY ) // 1 0 3 MINS

TRIVIA In 2008, PTU was followed by the fivefilm series Tactical Unit, which reunited Lam Suet and Simon Yam. Johnnie To produced but didn’t direct any of the sequels.

PLOT When Anti-Crime Division Sgt. Lo (Lam Suet) loses his gun after a nocturnal run-in with some triads, Sgt. Mike Ho (Simon Yam) promises to help him find it before dawn.

Johnnie To’s 2003 police thriller makes its welcome arrival on Blu-ray. Shot intermittently over a production period spanning three years, PTU still feels like one of To’s tightest, most focussed films. The story takes place over a single night in Hong Kong and To and cinematographer Cheng Siu-Keung imagine the city

as a shadow-filled noir landscape inhabited by rival factions on both sides of the law. Much as John Woo does in Hard Boiled, To sees the cops and the gangsters as reflections of one another. Ho and his squad prowl the dark streets exuding an air of menace that they validate by beating up suspects. In To’s world, the cops are not the representatives of justice and order, but another gang defending their turf and flexing their muscles. Yam is particularly impressive as Ho, almost underplaying the performance. He never has to raise his voice, but he drips with the promise of pent-up violence waiting for release. A police procedural delivered with impeccable style and a bone-dry sense of humour, PTU finds To in his element. Sleek, bleak, and absurd.

W O R D S B Y D O MINI C C U T HBE R T

[ANIME REVIEW]

BLACK CLOVER SEASON 3 PART 1 12 JULY // F UNIM AT ION // 12 // A C T ION , FA N TA SY, A D V EN T URE // £ 2 2 .9 9 (BLU - R AY ) // 2 3 0 MINS // 10 EPIS ODE S

ON HOLD The Black Clover anime ended abruptly in March 2021 with episode 170 – despite series creator, Yuki Tabata, still writing the manga. However, it’s understood to be on hiatus, not cancelled.

PLOT As the elves pursue the Clover Kingdom, Asta discovers that his newest sword may be the key to stopping them and keeping human souls from being lost to the underworld forever. Season three drops you right in at the deep end. More than a hundred episodes in and the show has more than hit its groove, with only short flashbacks to get the ball rolling again. But a long-running shonen series wouldn’t be worth its salt without ample jumping on points for newcomers. There’s a lot to catch up on, but there’s worse places to start

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with Black Clover than here. It’s a strong arc with the ante very much upped, and battles galore. Overall, the series strikes a fine balance between the grimdark of, say, Berserk and the brighter, lighter tone of Fairy Tail. The world building, while nothing on Naruto or One Piece, has plenty of sword and sorcery charm. Asta is plucky enough not to be another cardboard cut-out hero, while the rest of the cast oscillate between enticing, irritable or just plain throwaway. If fairies, floating grimoires and god-like swords aren’t your jam, best give Black Clover a miss. For seasoned fans and newcomers alike, the opening handful of season three’s episodes offers a bounty of battles and thrills.

W O R D S B Y D AV ID W E S T

[FILM REVIEW]

ENCOUNTER OF THE SPOOKY KIND Hung brings his magic touch to horror 2 1 JUNE // E UR E K A ! // 1 5 // H O R R O R , C O ME D Y, M A R T I A L A R T S // £ 2 2 . 9 9 ( B L U - R AY ) // 1 0 3 MINS PLOT Facing assassination at the hands of the sorcerer Chin Hoi (Peter Chan), Cheung (Sammo Hung) turns to priest Tsui (Chung Fat) for protection from the supernatural forces unleashed against him.

D TRIVIA

Encounter Of The Spooky Kind II, released in 1990, was directed by Mr Vampire’s Ricky Lau. Hung produced and starred in the film, but it’s not a direct sequel.

irector and star Sammo Hung took the Hong Kong martial arts film into bold, new territory with Encounter Of The Spooky Kind in 1980. Prior to that, Hung’s films had been firmly rooted in kung fu cinema, from his directorial debut The Iron Fisted Monk to kung fu comedies like Enter The Fat Dragon and Knockabout. With Encounter, Hung threw in magic, horror, and a hopping vampire in a thrilling cross-genre mash-up, while still showcasing his remarkable agility and martial arts skills. Depending on the translation, his character is called Big Guts Cheung, Bold Cheung, or Courageous Cheung, but his bravery notwithstanding, unlucky Cheung earns the ire of the wealthy Master Tam (Huang Ha) who is having an affair with Cheung’s wife (Leung Suet-Mei). After he’s nearly caught in the act, Tam decides to get rid of Cheung and hires Maoshan Taoist priest Chin Hoi to do the deed. This leads to a series of set pieces as Chin tries different magical means to kill Cheung, including unleashing

a geung si – Chinese vampire – on him. Cheung’s defender is played by Chung Fat, who spent most of his career playing villains and heavies, but he’s great as the noble Tsui even as he’s cast against type. The stunt work, by Hung and his team, is tremendous. The following year Hung would start the process of reinventing Hong Kong fight choreography with Prodigal Son, wherein he really began to refine his use of camerawork and editing, but with Encounter he’s so acrobatic and quick that the choreography dazzles. There’s clever use of wirework for the hopping vampire, emphasising its unnaturalness, and Hung’s ability to weave the magic into the fight scenes is marvellously inventive. In the big showdown, both Chin Hoi and Tsui summon Chinese deities to possess the combatants, leading to great displays of spear, sword, and some monkey style kung fu from Hung. The horror elements are laced with Hung’s sense of humour, so there’s slapstick even when he’s tussling with a walking corpse. A few years later, Hung produced Mr Vampire and it’s easy to see the roots of the hopping vampire genre here, with the blend of gags, martial arts, and a distinctly Hong Kong school of horror. It might be over 40 years old, but Encounter Of The Spooky Kind still feels fresh, funny and original. A landmark movie in Cantonese cinema and the career of Sammo Hung, it’s a treat to have it available on Blu-ray.

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STRIVE FOR VICTORY As the hit beat ‘em up series returns for more elegantly realised mayhem, NEO’s David West talks to the development team about renewing the franchise with Guilty Gear – Strive – and why it’s impossible to truly master a fighting game. After over 20 years of beatdowns and beautiful anime visuals, Arc System Works’ fabled fighting series is set for a major reboot with Guilty Gear – Strive –, aka GGST. The new game was announced in 2018 and after three years of development and beta tests, it’s ready to rumble. The original Guilty Gear debuted in 1998, and GGST marks the eighth main entry in the franchise created by Daisuke Ishiwatari. Development director Akira Katano was introduced to the joys of fighting games by another all-time classic of the genre. “It was Street Fighter II. I think this is the case for many of the team members, including Ishiwatari,” says Katano. “I knew about the original Guilty Gear, but the first one I played seriously was Guilty Gear X. I was really impressed that I could control an anime character, and I got really into the battles.” Like Street Fighter II, GGST uses a 2D combat format but visually it couldn’t be further from that venerable arcade beat ‘em up. The characters are brought to life using 3D cell shading that makes them pop out of the screen, reminiscent of the approach Arc System Works used in 2018’s Dragon Ball FighterZ. It’s an aesthetic created through the combined talents of the character designers, animators and developers. “First, we create a test build of the game, and then work on brushing up the visuals and mechanics while actually playing the game together,” says Art Director Hidehiko Sakamura. Apparently, it’s not a cheap or

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easy process. “This increases the development time and cost, but we believe it improves the quality of the final product,” he says.

CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER The game comes with 15 playable characters at launch, each with their own unique look and fighting style. Some characters are all-rounders, like the villainous Sol Badguy, the upbeat and kawaii May, or the handsome, noble Ky Kiske. Some fight best at long range, like Axl Low, while a powerhouse like the massive, armoured Potemkin might lack Axl’s speed but more than makes up for it with sheer strength and high damage throws. There’s the vampire samurai Nagoriyuki with his deadly blade and Blood Rage state to enhance his attacks, or for players who feel the need for speed, there’s Millia Rage with her rapid-fire combos, so there’s a character to suit every temperament and playing style. “There are too many to choose just one,” says producer Takeshi Yamanaka when asked which fighter is dearest to his heart, “but for my own personal favourite, I would say Nagoriyuki is my favourite in GGST.” Once you’ve explored the opening 15-strong roster, there’s still scope for more combatants to join the fray via DLC. “As we’ve announced, we have plans for five additional playable characters and an additional story in the Season Pass,” says Yamanaka. “We will also

ROCK N RUMBLE The Guilty Gear series is famed for its raucous metal soundtracks, with music composed by Daisuke Ishiwatari himself and vocals by Naoki Hashimoto from thrash metallers Outrage. “A character’s theme is their identity,” says producer Yamanaka. “We hope for their theme to stay in the hearts of the players forever.”

THE SMELL OF VICTORY The GGST Ultimate Edition includes the Digital Soundtrack with 40 instrumentals and 15 vocal tracks, including the GGST theme Smell Of The Game. The Guilty Gear X BlazBlue Music Live concerts have been a hit in Japan and producer Yamanaka hopes they can resume “after the world recovers from Covid-19.”

“I FEEL THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THAT WE MADE IT EASY TO MATCH WITH PLAYERS AT THE SAME LEVEL. AS LONG AS THIS IS POSSIBLE, THE GAME SHOULD BE FUN FOR BOTH NEW AND EXPERIENCED PLAYERS. BEYOND THAT, AS FAR AS GAMEPLAY GOES, WE DESIGNED THE GAME SO THAT YOU CAN HAVE A MATCH WITHOUT MEMORIZING BATTLE MECHANICS AND TECHNIQUES.” be providing free additional content and updates. We hope everyone is looking forward to more GGST!” The developers made in-progress builds of the game available to fans in two Open Beta tests, to gauge their reaction. “We received a large amount of feedback,” says Katano. “There were responses from players who don’t normally play fighting games, as well. It was really beneficial for us as a company to hear opinions we wouldn’t normally be in touch with during development.” Based on the feedback, adjustments were made, although Katano isn’t telling what they were. “I can’t go into too much detail, but for our final adjustments, we have improved GGST’s play feel as an action game,” he says.

FIRST, MASTER THYSELF The game offers different modes of play – Tutorial, Arcade, Mission, Survival, Training – the first and last of those will no doubt help newbies to the Guilty Gear world looking for their first taste of the action. That’s particularly important for a franchise renowned for the depth and richness of its combat system, where button-mashing really won’t open up the path to victory. “Although this is limited to an advanced level of play, I would say it is more difficult than previous Guilty Gear games,” says Katano. “Personally, however, I don’t believe it is possible to truly ‘master’ the controls of any fighting game.” That’s very Zen, sir. There’s even an option for those who want to sit back and soak up the plot or who fancy a little break from delivering smackdowns. “The Story Mode only involves watching the story, and contains no battles,” says Katano, although the personalities of the brawlers always bubble

up to the surface whatever mode you choose. “You can enjoy banter between the individual characters in Arcade Mode,” he says.

LAG BEGONE! In online gameplay, the Tower System helps players find opponents with comparable skills, meeting up in the virtual lobby. “I feel the most important thing is that we made it easy to match with players at the same level,” says Katano. “As long as this is possible, the game should be fun for both new and experienced players. Beyond that, as far as gameplay goes, we designed the game so that you can have a match without memorizing battle mechanics and techniques. By making each technique and tactic difficult to use, in turn, we’ve made sure GGST is even deeper than prior titles in the series.” One common bugbear for online fighting games has always been issues with lag, but Arc System Works has developed their own rollback Netcode specifically to tackle that problem, allowing players to take on fellow competitors anywhere around the world. “It is absolutely necessary to have stress-free online matches, and I feel online tournaments will be a major focus going forward,” says Katano. “We have limited the number of online modes in GGST. There are only two, the Online Lobby and Player Matches. The match rules change depending on the lobby environment, and you can enter matchmaking while playing Training Mode right from the main menu.” Get your fight on, Guilty Gear – Strive – is out now for the PlayStation4, PlayStation5, and PC from Bandai Namco Entertainment.

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W O R D S B Y D AV ID T H O M A S

[ANIME REVIEW]

CASTLEVANIA SEASON 2 2 8 JUNE // A NIME L IMI T E D // 1 5 // S UP E R N AT UR A L , FA N TA S Y // £ 5 9 . 9 9 (C O L L E C T O R ’ S , B L U - R AY ) // 2 0 5 MINS // 8 E P I S O D E S PLOT Alucard, son of Dracula, journeys on with Trevor Belmont, a vampire hunter, and Sypha Belnades, a witch, with the aim of ending his father’s reign of terror.

KEY TALENT Trevor Belmont is voiced by Richard Armitage, best known for his live-action roles as Thorin (The Hobbit trilogy) and Francis Dolarhyde (Hannibal).

Holding the title of the first great video game adaptation, the second season of Castlevania continues to raise the bar. With double the number of episodes of its preceding season, it kicks off a whole lot slower than fans will expect. Lengthy conversations fill episodes, rather than the action expected of a series focused around defeating a genocidal vampire lord and his hordes of followers.

However, the exposition of the primary antagonist, Dracula, brings new depth to the villainy. Bolstered by additions to his army, including the sharp tongued Carmilla, he becomes a complex and horrifying foe for his son and his companions. The series has its swathes of highs and lows but shines brightest in impressively tense combat scenes that trade dialogue for gore, accompanied by an atmospheric and haunting soundtrack that forgives any earlier pacing issues. Expanding on the world of the first season, Castlevania’s second outing brings the best battles scenes yet, along with lots of exposition and easter eggs for fans of the games. Castlevania has earned its spot as a must-watch.

W O R D S B Y D AV ID W E S T [FILM REVIEW]

IREZUMI

Come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly

2 1 JUNE // A R R O W V ID E O // 1 5 // D R A M A // £ 24 . 9 9 ( B L U - R AY ) // 8 6 MINS

TRIVIA Tanizaki’s 1910 novel Shisei – meaning The Tattooist – has been filmed multiple times, including by Hisayasu Sato in 2006. Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters was adapted by Kon Ichikawa in 1983.

PLOT Sold to a geisha house and given a huge spider demon tattoo after trying to elope with her lover, Otsuya (Ayako Wakao) seeks revenge on the men who wronged her. Adapted from the novel by Junichiro Tanizaki and directed by Yasuzo Masamura, Irezumi is a lurid tale of lust, vengeance and madness, tonally akin to Edgar Allen Poe. Ayako Wakao excels in the lead role, manipulating the men who desire her, each one unknowingly caught in her web. The script compares Otsuya to the predatory spider tattooed

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on her back, and the tattooist, Seikichi (Gaku Yamamoto), wonders if the image he considers to be his greatest creation has unleashed a monster on the world. The violence is bloody and intense, but the film looks gorgeous. Shot entirely on sets, the film has striking lighting and precise, formalistic framing by cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, who shot Yojimbo and Rashomon. A nocturnal scene on a bridge in the snow could be a painting while the sets and costumes are lavish with Wakao wearing a series of beautiful kimonos. Irezumi feels like a dark reflection of the Pygmalion story, in which the artist’s creation is irresistible but deadly, but it’s hard not to root for Otsuya as she wages her ruthless campaign against the patriarchy.

W O R D S B Y D O MINI C C U T HBE R T

[ANIME REVIEW]

KILLING BITES Furious furries 1 9 JU LY // M V M // 1 8 // A C T I O N , E C C HI , S C I - F I // £ 2 9 . 9 9 ( B L U R AY ) // 3 0 0 MINS // 1 2 E P I S O D E S PLOT Meeting Hitomi Uzaki pulls Yuya Nomoto into a world of arena fights were Therianthropes – genetically engineered fighters – duke it out to the death in matches known as Killing Bites.

O HEARD HER BEFORE? If Uzaki Hitomi sounds familiar that’s because you’ve heard Sora Amamiya lend her vocal talents to Akame ga Kill!, Plastic Memories, Punch Line and Tokyo Ghoul among others.

ver the last few years, there’s been a spate of anthropomorphic anime putting furry characters front and centre. This ain’t no neko either, but full-on human-animal hybrids. It’s hardly breaking new ground, but has, bizarrely, become part of the zeitgeist. That’s probably to do with Netflix throwing its weight behind the trend with titles like Beastars and BNA: Brand New Animal. While not the best entry in this flourishing canon, Killing Bites is far from the worst. The series’ bread and butter is action, ecchi, and beast girls, and where that triad’s concerned, it certainly won’t disappoint. The fight scenes – imagine furries locked into WWE cage matches to the death – make the leap from manga to animation with aplomb. Some fights are all build-up with only a few moves – as if Kurosawa storyboarded them. Others have all the high-octane energy of Bleach without the runtime (series director, Yasuto Nishikata, directed and

storyboarded episodes of Bleach. Go figure). There’s no removing the fan service and ecchi from that action, though the series is hardly the most egregious example of either. There’s not enough to entirely eclipse everything it has to offer, but connoisseurs might prefer Keijo or Prison School. One of Killing Bites’ greatest strengths, however, is its animation. Studio Liden Films is barely a decade old but it has built up an impressive back catalogue (including the criminally overlooked Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches and 2016’s Berserk). When they’re not trading blows at speeds to make Dragon Ball Z blush, there’s ample time given to building the atmosphere. Don’t worry, there’s still all the battle anime flourishes one would expect of a series like this. Characters are archetypal but here’s where Killing Bites can have its cake and eat it, as each of the hybrid characters embody the traits of the animal they’ve been gene edited to include. That said, the standout character is Uzaki Hitomi. That’ll come as no surprise to those who’ve already had the pleasure. Those who haven’t will soon learn why. She’s fierce and spunky, quick to action and will pick a fight with just about anyone. Though not a full on tsundere, she’s definitely sweet and salty and, whatever else can be said, her fights are a sheer joy to watch. She’s part honey badger! What’s not to love? Ecchi, action and more furries than you can shake a claw at, Killing Bites is a fun dumb mix that never outstays its welcome.

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WIN CRITERION COLLECTION BLU-RAY BUNDLE WORTH £80! This issue we have an amazing movie bundle to give away to three lucky readers! Included in the bundle are Blu-ray editions of the Criterion Collections’ Flowers of Shanghai, Kagemusha, Yi Yi, and Mishima. Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Flowers of Shanghai promises an intoxicating, gorgeous period piece, evoking a vanished world of decadence and cruelty. From one of the masters of global cinema comes Kagemusha, Akira Kurosawa’s tour de force historical epic that leads up to the stunning Battle of Nagashino. Edward Yang’s Yi Yi is a warm, sprawling, and dazzling epic that follows a middle class family in Taipei over the course of one year, and is one of the undisputed masterworks of the new century. And finally, Mishima is Paul Schrader’s unconventional biopic of Japanese playwright Yukio Mishima, full of gloriously stylised evocations of his fictional works. All special editions are priced £19.99, making this a bundle worth nearly £80! If you’d like to get your hands on one of our movie bundles, just answer the following question correctly and you’ll be entered into our prize draw:

WHICH OF THESE MOVIES IS NOT INCLUDED IN OUR CRITERION COLLECTION BUNDLE GIVEAWAY? 1) FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI 2) YI YI 3) DRUNKEN ANGEL You can enter by emailing your answer along with your name and address to neomagcomp@gmail.com, with the subject header NEO 209 Criterion Collection competition. Alternatively, you can enter by sending the correct answer on the back of a postcard, along with your address, to the Uncooked Media editorial address printed on page 054. Closing date: 15 July

TERMS AND CONDITIONS No correspondence will be entered into. No employees of Uncooked Media or the companies providing the prizes may enter. No cash alternative is offered to these prizes. Entries are only valid if they reach us by the closure date. Multiple entries will be disregarded. The publisher’s decision is final.

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COSPLAY CORNER TalenTed readers share Their cosplay snaps! all phoTos by phoTo rook (neil Taylor). insTagram: @phoTo.rook COSPLAYERS: Find this lancashire-based trio online at instagram! cherry renarde: www. instagram.com/skl_creative daryll raynsford: www. instagram.com/daryllrayy chris boyle: www.instagram. com/ricoromerocryptcat

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Cherry Renarde and Chris Boyle as Splicers from Bioshock.

Emily and Victor (cosplayed by Cherry Renarde and Daryll Raynsford) from Corpse Bride.

Sleeve from Altered Carbon. Cosplayer Cherry Renarde.

This tribute to slasher movies of the ‘80s features Cherry Renarde as Jenny, and Daryll Raynsford as Harvey.

Chris Boyle and Cherry Renarde as Cyberpunks, inspired by Cyberpunk 2077!

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WE LOVE THIS STUFF! Itching to snag some goodies? We’ve got the haul for you! 1

1. CAT DECORATIVE PLUSH TOILET ROLL HOLDER This is just adorable – why settle for anything that wasn’t… even in the loo?! £14.99 from tofucute.com.

2. J-FASHION VINYL STICKERS UK manga star Laura Watton has created these cool J-fashion stickers in gothic lolita, decora emo, and gothic lolita chibi styles! Just £2.50 each at www.pinkapplejam. com/store, or buy all three for £5.

3. AI NO MOCHI

This artisan company produce fresh mochi in a variety of delicious flavours, from classic matcha, to cookies and cream cheesecake, and pistachio cream! Purchase at ainomochi.com from £11.99 for a four piece sample box, or subscribe and save for £16.80 per month for a box of eight!

4. DECORA LOLLIPOP HAIR CLIP Designed in the UK, these decora-inspired pastel hair bows are sure to brighten up your hairdo! Purchase from www.pinkapplejam.com/ store for £7.50.

5. THE PRACTICE OF NOT THINKING This guide to mindful living was penned by former monk Ryunosuke Koike and shows you how to incorporate Zen practices into everyday life. Penguin, £9.99.

6. YONDU 3

It’s not made of a Marvel character, it’s a Korean plant-based soybean sauce you can add to all manner of dishes for an umami punch! Purchase from yondu.co.uk or Amazon for £6.88 for 275ml.

7. JPU LOGO TEES Head to JPUrecords.com to support official distribution, British businesses, and your favourite bands all in one spot! These official tees are £12.95.

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8. MY HERO ACADEMIA SHAKER BOTTLE

Check out this officially licenced shaker bottle from MHA, available for £12.99 from innergeek.co.uk with free UK standard delivery!

9. FEMM MINIDISCS Limited edition mini-discs for FEMM 404 Not Found are available now at JPUrecords. com for £12.95. Get the ultracool physical limited edition, or if you’re not quick enough, you can still download or stream from the site.

10. CHUPA CHUPS SPARKLING DRINK CAN

These sparkling soft drinks are hard to find in the UK, but you can purchase them for £2.60 from tofucute.com. They come in strawberry, orange or grape varieties and are based on the classic Chupa Chups lollipops!

11. DOUBLE-LAYERED GLASS ANIMAL MUGS Priced from around £10 each, these kawaii little double-walled mugs are available on Amazon.co.uk from various sellers. Pick up dog, bear, duck, and cat versions!

11 12

12. LOLLIPOP NECKLACES From PinkAppleJam come these cute twinning lollipop necklaces in sets of two, priced just £5 from www. pinkapplejam.com/store.

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W O R D S B Y D AV ID W E S T

SPOILER ALERT!

[ANIME REVIEW]

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA - THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN At least it’s not a replacement bus service O U T N O W // F UNIM AT I O N // 1 5 // FA N TA S Y, A C T I O N // T HE AT R I C A L // 1 1 7 MINS

PLOT Tanjiro and his friends are assigned to assist elite swordsman Rengoku in hunting the demon preying on the passengers aboard a train, but their foe lies waiting in their dreams.

A TRIVIA

Mugen Train is the first film to surpass 40 billion yen at the Japanese box office and has overtaken Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away as the topearning Japanese film globally.

word to the wise – spoilers ahead. Demon Slayer’s first movie outing follows on directly from the conclusion of the anime’s first season, so it’s not a spin-off or side quest, but the next chapter in Tanjiro’s tale. The film’s massive success in Japan, where it is now the top grossing anime feature of all time, suggests that was the right decision commercially. Yet, it means the story makes no concessions at all to newcomers and this feels less like a feature film and more like several episodes of the show strung together. The screenplay ticks off a lot of shonen anime clichés – offering no surprises – and the main weaknesses are how thin the characters are and the clumsy plot structure. The first antagonist is the train demon Enmu, a sort of Joker knock-off, who puts the passengers to sleep so that he can devour them. But when all the heroes are asleep and at his mercy, he doesn’t strike. There’s a convoluted plot device in

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which Enmu forces sleep-deprived children to enact his scheme, but then it becomes clear that he doesn’t need the kids to put Tanjiro to sleep at all. The way Tanjiro escapes the dreams is entirely tasteless – he slits his own throat to wake himself up, which would be bad enough if he did it once, but it happens over and over again. Once Enmu is defeated, a second, even stronger demon randomly pops up out of nowhere so that Rengoku gets the big climactic fight scene. Tanjiro is reduced to an observer and everyone wails with anguish when Rengoku is defeated, even though they hardly know him at all. The second demon, Akaza, is a generic bad guy who shows up for his fight and then leaves. Personality, backstory, or motivation are apparently not necessary as long as there’s a lot of shouting, bloodshed, and suffering. Nothing in the plot feels personally connected to Tanjiro and he’s fundamentally the same character at the end as he was at the start. There’s a strong, rousing score by Go Shiina and Yuki Kajiura, both regulars on the series, while production values are middling. The CGI on the train is not great with Enmu manifesting as a generic, amorphous blob, and the series has more imaginatively staged battles than those here. Mugen Train will surely satisfy anyone after a shonen action fix full of noise and violence, but it never sets its sights any higher than that.

W O R D S B Y D AV ID W E S T

[ANIME REVIEW]

LOVE LIVE! THE SCHOOL IDOL MOVIE 1 9 JULY // A NIME L IMI T E D // P G // C O ME D Y, MU S I C A L // £ 3 4 . 9 9 ( B L U - R AY ) // 1 0 0 MINS

TRIVIA The movie opened at #1 at the Japanese box office, becoming one of 2015’s top ten domestic releases and winning the Theatrical Animation Division at the Tokyo Anime Awards.

PLOT With three members of their school idol group approaching graduation, Honoka and her friends must decide whether or not to continue. The School Idol Movie picks up directly from season two of the Love Live! anime, but it’s easy to piece everything together for newbies. With regular director Takahiko Kyogoku at the helm, the film maintains the series’ cheery, breezy tone, while still making time for introspection. The story unfolds in three neat acts; the first follows the members of idol group μ on their trip to New

York, the second is Honoka agonising over their future, and the third is the build-up to their grand farewell concert. The drama in the second act is largely internal as Honoka confronts her fears about letting the group split up. While the pace dips just a little, it’s still engaging and a reminder that conflict doesn’t have to mean fighting ninjas or demons. Production values are excellent, it’s a sun-drenched, colourful watch, and the musical numbers are upbeat and energetic. Kyoguko throws in that most Japanese of images, a falling cherry blossom petal, to denote the closing of a chapter in Honoka’s life. Despite the image’s familiarity, it produces a surprisingly bittersweet moment.

[GAME REVIEW]

RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE MERCENARIES Once you complete the main game, you’ll unlock The Mercenaries, returning from previous instalments with a first person mode. Simply reach the goal before you run out of time – and kill everything in your path.

OU T NO W // PS 4 , PS5 , X BO X X // 18 // SUR V I VA L HORR OR // £4 9 .9 9 // PUBL ISHER C A P C OM // DE V E L OPER C A P C OM PLOT Ethan Winters is enjoying a well-earned retirement from killing monsters, when very unexpectedly, Chris Redfield turns up and ruins everything, transporting him to a village with even more monsters.

If anyone had any complaints that Resident Evil wasn’t scary enough anymore (even after Resi 7... you sure?), this instalment puts that right by painting your pants brown with a sequence that’s sure to go down in survival horror gaming history. Combining the jump

Just Run!

scares of early Resi games, the tension of the sadly defunct PTU demo, and the grotesquely OTT macabre horror of Silent Hill, there are parts of this game that’ll have you reaching for the light switch – or the off button. While Village has been memed to death thanks to its most colourful antagonist Lady Dimitrescu and her, ahem, girls, rest assured that’s only the beginning of this creepy action horror. We don’t blame you if you’d rather the whole game was just catching chickens so you and the Duke can chow down in peace. Village’s first person action adventure gameplay melded with jump scares and classic Resi puzzles makes this a fantastic and worthy addition to the franchise.

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W O R D S B Y D O MINI C C U T HBE R T

COMPLETE SERIES

[ANIME REVIEW]

INFINITE DENDROGRAM 0 5 JU LY // F UNIM AT I O N // 1 5 // IS E K A I , FA N TA S Y // £ 2 8 . 9 9 ( B L U - R AY ) // 3 2 0 MINS // 1 3 E P I S O D E S

NEED SOME NUANCE? For an anime about video games that has much more depth, heart and smarts, check out the underrated Recovery of an MMO Junkie.

PLOT Reiji Mukudori can finally afford a copy of Infinite Dendrogram, the world’s first successful full-dive VRMMORPG, wherein the possibilities are endless. Isekai anime are a dime a dozen. Barring a few inventive entries of late, the subgenre has long been down in the doldrums. Infinite Dendrogram was scraped from the bottom of the same barrel as other insipid entries like In Another World With My Smartphone. Produced by a mismatch of studios, the series is cobbled together from better titles including Summer

SNORPG

Wars, Log Horizon and, yes, even Sword Art Online. Even compared with the latter, it comes up short with predictable beats, a rushed plot, and the lack of any real objective. Sure, a world where there’s limitless possibilities sounds good, but really only reveals poor writing. This is exactly why light novel adaptations get a bad rep. Despite that, the series is far from unwatchable. There’s funny banter and a few rib-tickling moments. The setting isn’t without a few cool touches and some of the character designs are genuinely inspired – especially Figaro and Altimia A. Altar. Bright fun visuals and a plucky opening theme aren’t enough to make up for 13 episodes of regurgitated ideas, flat characters and dull plots.

W O R D S B Y MI C H A E L D O D S O N

[GAME REVIEW]

MIITOPIA

Take Mii On

O U T N O W // S W I T CH // 7 // R P G // £ 3 9 . 9 9 // PUBL ISHER NIN T END O // DE V E L OPER NIN T END O EPD , GRE Z Z O

HORSING AROUND New to the Switch version of Miitopia is the ability to add a horse to your party. A cute addition, even if it adds little in terms of gameplay.

PLOT In this HD remaster of the 2017 3DS game, set forth on a wacky journey across Miitopia in an attempt to reclaim the kingdom from the clutches of the Dark Lord and his army of evil minions. What we love most about Miitopia is the freedom you’re given to build the entire game’s cast however you like. We’ve always been fans of Nintendo’s cute Mii avatars, and on this version of the game’s upgraded and extremely comprehensive Mii maker (seriously, check out some

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pictures online of what’s possible to create now!), they’ve been given a new lease of life. As a somewhat simplistic RPG – characters move automatically along a series of branching paths with turnbased enemy encounters popping up every so often – a lot of your enjoyment of Miitopia will depend on how long you continue to find the quirky interactions between characters on your party amusing, because there’s no denying that the gameplay itself can become rather repetitive. If it gets its hooks into you, though, you’ll find a decently lengthy game (it took us around 35 hours to complete) that’s bursting with charm, and creative, tongue in cheek takes on traditional RPG tropes. A neat idea with incredibly linear gameplay.

W O R D S B Y D AV ID W E S T

NEO MOVIE RELEASE ROUND-UP

1. Nicholas Tse waiting patiently for the plot of Time And Tide to make sense. 2. Master Wang explains he was only in that girl’s room asking for directions to get out again. 3. The closest that Anna May Wong and Jameson Thomas were allowed to get onscreen. 4. California born-andraised, Anna May Wong came to London looking for better roles than she could find in the US.

FROM SILENT GLAMOUR TO A HOUSE OF PLEASURE AND A DOUBLE DOSE OF HONG KONG ACTION, DAVID WEST ROUNDS UP THE REST OF THE MONTH’S MOVIES. Eureka! brings Tsui Hark’s Time And Tide to Blu-ray. It was Tsui’s return to Hong Kong filmmaking after collaborating with Jean-Claude Van Damme in the late ‘90s. The plot involves two bodyguards-for-hire, Tyler (Nicholas Tse) and Jack (Wu Bai), getting entangled with drug cartels. It feels like Tsui was trying to capture some of Wong Kar-Wai’s style with the saturated colours of the lighting, optical printing for slow motion, the heavy use of voiceovers for exposition, and themes about people searching for a connection. Tsui throws the camera around wildly, but Tse is not a very compelling action star, and the Wong Kar-Wai riffs feel out of place amongst the shootouts. Shock Wave: Destruction Hong Kong reunites director Herman Yau and star Andy Lau for a sequel to their 2017 box office hit. This time Lau plays a former explosives disposal officer, Poon Shing-Fung, who becomes the prime suspect in the bombing of a hotel. The plot rapidly casts off any thoughts of credibility with wild twists about amnesia and personality changes. On the plus side, the action scenes are very strong with slick fight choreography, inventive chases, and lots of suitably impressive explosions. The film is out now on DVD and Blu-ray from Cine Asia. Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s period drama Flowers Of Shanghai joins the Criterion Collection in a new Blu-ray from Sony. The 4K transfer really brings out the sumptuous costumes, set design and gorgeous lighting by cinematographer Mark Lee. The story is adapted from an 1892 novel by Han Ziyun and concerns the rivalries within a Shanghai brothel frequented by Master Wang (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai). When Wang’s attentions wander away from his regular mistress Crimson (Michiko Hada), she becomes jealous of his new paramour, Jasmine (Vicky Wei). Each scene unfolds in a single take as Hou maintains a languid, unhurried pace that seems to match Master Wang’s opium-induced haze. The total effect transports the viewer into a world of candlelight, seduction, and manipulation.

Finally, the BFI brings E.A. Dupont’s 1929 silent classic Piccadilly to Blu-ray. Upscale London nightclub owner Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) discovers a new star attraction in scullery girl Shosho (Anna May Wong), provoking the jealousy of his sweetheart, dancer Mabel (Gilda Gray). Wong, the first Chinese-American movie star, is fabulous in the lead, going from innocent ingenue to temptress, although the prejudices of the period about interracial relationships mean Shosho is never allowed to kiss anyone onscreen. The movie drips with vintage glamour and the swinging score by composer Neil Brand evokes the buzzing energy of the jazz era. Recommended!

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077

MANGA EXTRACT

HENSHIN

By Mitch Proctor

This issue we have an extract of HENSHIN! by Mitch Proctor (@IAMBONIDLE on Instagram). We asked him how he came up with the concept. “A couple of years ago, I started sketching a goofy comic inspired by the nostalgia I had for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers when I was a kid,” he said. “When I got older, I found myself diving deeper into the world of Tokusatsu with Super Sentai shows (i.e. the Japanese version that Power Ranger adapts), Kamen Rider, and Ultraman. “The original concept was of a reluctant salaryman gaining Super Sentai powers and fighting kaiju. It soon evolved into a story about a journalism student named Alex who inherits his powers and becomes a hero while investigating a shady conspiracy. What made it additionally different was that the series takes place in Europe and our hero is a young gay man. “When Saturday AM approached me about working with them on a serialization, I thought this project would be a great fit as the story is a diverse version of the standard sentai tropes.” We wondered where Proctor saw the manga in five years’ time. “Well, Henshin! is currently released quarterly so in five more years we’ll be on chapter 25! Obviously, I would love an anime adaptation to help normalize the idea that our diverse cast of characters can be heroes regardless of their ethnicity, sexuality, and gender identity. That said, the one thing I want to see in five years is a big foam flame sword toy!” We also spoke to publisher Frederick Jones about upcoming Saturday AM projects. “Our seinen manga style magazine, Saturday PM #13, launched in May 2021! It features new manga installments of UNDERGROUND (featured in NEO 205), YELLOW STRINGER, OBLIVION ROUGE to name a few. “Our josei manga anthology, Saturday BRUNCH, releases issue #4 in June 2021 and celebrates its official first anniversary! All of the series will be present including GUNHILD (NEO 207), GRIMMHEIM, and KILLSHOT! “Finally,” he adds, “Saturday AM, our flagship shonen mag, releases issues 134 in May 2021 and 135 in June 2021. The issues include CLOCK STRIKER (NEO 203), APPLE BLACK (NEO 201), and HAMMER!” You can read all of these issues for free on their mobile app, Saturday AM: Global Comics (www. saturday-am.com/app). “We have even more announcements like our upcoming #summerofmanga but we’ll save that for next time,” Jones told us. “In the meantime, enjoy our HENSHIN! series on the next page.”

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079

In this extract, a monster known as a kaiju has dropped out of the sky in front of our hero, Alex and his friend rosalia.

To be conTinued in HenSHin!

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08 7

Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files A NEW CHAPTER IN THE FATE SERIES UNIVERSE. Out on Blu-ray 12th July

available from all good stockists

W O R D S B Y A ND R E W O S M O ND

NEO ANIME RELEASE ROUND-UP FANTASY, GIRL GROUPS, AND VAMPIRES STALK THE UK RELEASE LIST THIS MONTH There’s a couple of rather different “girl group” titles coming out on 19 July. One is the Collector’s Blu-ray of Love Live! The School Idol Movie from Anime Limited. Or if cute singing idols aren’t your bag, there’s also the down and dirty death tournaments of Killing Bites, where the girls may be furry, but they can also be downright lethal. That’s a Blu-ray from MVM. Funimation’s releasing a new 4K edition of the original Ghost in the Shell film in both Collector’s and Standard formats on 12 July. The Collector’s Edition will contain art cards and a poster featuring new artwork, while both editions have a feature-length commentary track with the likes of Richard Epcar, the dub voice of Batou. A week earlier, on 5 July, there’s Infinite Dendrogram – it still sounds like a maths formula to us, but it’s the online fantasy world adventure that was broadcast last year. Funimation is giving it the Limited Blu-ray treatment, including an 80-page art book as well as art cards, a keychain and a sticker sheet. There’ll be a standard Blu-ray the same day. Another fantasy from Funimation, Bofuri, has been delayed a while but is now due on standard and Limited Blu-ray on 28 June. If you prefer heroes with guns where their heads should be, Funimation has the second season of No Guns Life on 19 July. Bad news, though, for readers patiently waiting for Golden Kamuy. That release has slipped back yet again, and is now scheduled for October. Anime Limited’s big titles include the second season of the horror-action game adaptation Castlevania on 28 June as a Collector’s Blu-ray – that one’s exclusive to AllTheAnime and Zavvi. Then on 19 July, there’s the second Collector’s Blu-ray of some show called Demon Slayer; we’ve never heard of it. Just jesting… On 12 July, harem demons abound in MVM’s collected release of Rosario+Vampire on Blu-ray. Staying with MVM, the third part of Owarimonogatari comes to Blu-ray on 5 July, and the slightly delayed Blu-ray of Lord

1. Slipping down the release schedules again is the muchdelayed Golden Kamuy from Funimation. 2. Funimation’s fantasy series Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense is due out the end of June. 3. Another delayed title, Lupin The Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, reviewed last issue. 4. Coming early summer is the first part of Anime Limited’s Turn A Gundam.

El-Melloi II’s Case Files is another 12 July release. Funimation reaches Season 8 of Dragon Ball Z on 28 June, collected in standard Blu-ray form and as a Limited Steelbook. Its release of Black Clover Season 3 Part 1 is on Blu-ray on 12 July. That’s also the new date for the delayed Fruits Basket Season 2 Part 2 in Blu-ray, DVD and Limited Combo forms. Anime Limited’s Collector’s Blu-ray of Lupin The Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine shifted back a bit, and is now due on 28 June. On the mecha side, there’ll be standard Blu-rays for the first half of Gundam IronBlood Orphans, also on 28 June and the second half of Turn A Gundam on 12 July.

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W O R D S B Y D AV ID W E S T

[FILM REVIEW]

GODZILLA VS. KONG The Kaiju Heavyweight Championship Fight OU T NOW // WARNER BROS // 12 // K AI JU, AC TION, SCI-FI // £ 19.99 (DVD), £26.99 (BLU-R AY ), £ 3 4.99 (4K ULTR A HD) // 118 MINS PLOT Titans collide as humanity recruits Kong’s help against Godzilla when the giant lizard suddenly becomes aggressive, while the Apex Cybernetics corporation plans a mission to the centre of the Earth.

B KONG RETURNS Netflix is currently developing a Skull Island anime series about Kong that will be produced by Powerhouse Animation, the folks behind Netflix’s Castlevania and Blood Of Zeus shows.

ack in 1962, Ishiro Honda first brought two of the biggest names in monster movies together for King Kong Vs. Godzilla, which was the third screen outing for the atomic powered lizard. The result was unashamedly camp and colourful, and it was a big hit in Japan. Director Adam Wingard’s film lacks Honda’s playful style and while it takes itself much more seriously, it’s just as silly. Wingard’s previous movie was the live action American version of Death Note for Netflix but try not to hold that against him. The film places itself firmly on Kong’s side. The opening sequence quickly anthropomorphises the big ape, showing him waking up, stretching, and taking a shower under a waterfall. Throughout the film there are close-ups of Kong’s eyes and face, and his human vocabulary of facial expressions make his feelings clearly apparent. Godzilla, by contrast, remains alien and unreadable, a remote engine of destruction, his entire personality expressed in his angry roar. It’s Kong who has the main character arc as he discovers his true

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homeland and finds a special, giant axe which comes in handy when it’s time to do the monster mash. The glowing magic axe is reminiscent of Thor’s hammer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and in many respects Godzilla Vs. Kong feels closer to a superhero crossover than a classic creature feature. It has many of the plot beats of a superhero film – the big stars fight when they first meet but invariably end up joining forces to defeat the real menace in the grand finale. The visual effects are excellent, as would be expected from a major release like this, and the tussles between the monsters are certainly more kinetic than those in Honda’s 1962 outing. The first encounter between Kong and Godzilla takes place on an aircraft carrier in a chaotic onslaught of crashing waves and colliding behemoths that certainly gets the blood pumping. The sound design is suitably cataclysmic, a barrage of explosions, roaring kaiju, and tearing metal. The use of ‘70s rock songs in the soundtrack is a motif the film shares with the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies, reinforcing the sense that the film wants to position itself in the same cultural space as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The human side of the story is where the film packs much less of a punch. There’s quite a large cast with two main plot strands to follow. Millie Bobby Brown returns from Godzilla: King Of The Monsters as plucky teen Madison Russell, still telling anyone who’ll listen that Godzilla is humanity’s friend. Along with her comedy sidekick pal Josh (Julian Dennison) and conspiracy

TRIVIA

Honda’s original Godzilla was partly inspired by the 1953 film The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, which was based on a short story by sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury.

theory podcaster Bernie (Bryan Tyree Henry), they infiltrate Apex Cybernetics with remarkable ease as Madison searches for the true cause of Godzilla’s aggression. It’s a lot of banter for a late payoff right in the final act.

“THE FIRST ENCOUNTER BETWEEN KONG AND GODZILLA TAKES PLACE ON AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER IN A CHAOTIC ONSLAUGHT OF CRASHING WAVES AND COLLIDING BEHEMOTHS THAT CERTAINLY GETS THE BLOOD PUMPING.” The second plotline revolves around the mission to the centre of the planet, referred to as Hollow Earth. That pulls in Dr Irene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), her adopted deaf daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle), and scientist Dr Lind (Alexander Skarsgård), who seems to have the most remarkably wide skillset, from writing research books about his Hollow Earth theory to being an incredibly capable pilot. There’s a rule of screenwriting that if you have a character that you want the audience to care about, have them save a cat. Jia is the cat in Godzilla Vs. Kong. The adorable, little deaf girl who can communicate

with Kong is there to try to add some emotional dimension to all the science talk and kaiju fights. It’s a lot for such small shoulders to carry as Skarsgård and Hall are too busy trying to keep up with the plot to have character arcs of their own. On the science front, the story is credited to five writers, but none of them seem interested in hard sci-fi or taking the science seriously. The Hollow Earth angle is borrowed from Jules Verne’s Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, published in 1864. The script adds in layers of technobabble about inverted gravity at the centre of the planet, but it’s never clear how the ecosystem functions in the Hollow Earth or where the daylight comes from. The complicated journey to reach there feels like an excuse to flex some visual effects muscles without adding anything to the plot. The original 1954 Godzilla may not have been big on details about how the Oxygen Destroyer worked, but it felt like it wanted its science to be grounded in some sense of reality and certainly carried a serious message about nuclear weapons. Here characters throw out lines like ‘It’s a living supercomputer’ with reference to the skull of a dead kaiju and then dash onto the next scene before anyone can ask what that means. While the humans are dwarfed by their colossal CG co-stars in every respect, Godzilla Vs. Kong works hard to upscale the monster-on-monster action of the previous films. The big question for the franchise now is where it goes from here.

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091

SEEING RED As The Others descend upon humanity to devour their minds, two new recruits will risk everything in the fight to determine the fate of an entire civilisation. NEO’s David West sees a future of horror and hope in Scarlet Nexus.

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SCARLET NEXUS

Up iN thE sky! is it a bird? is it a plane? is it Goku? Unfortunately, no, it’s The Others. Run for your life! A hideous chimera of human, animal, plant, and machine, The Others have been the scourge of mankind ever since the first of their terrifying kind dropped out of the heavens and set about on a rampage of destruction. Their grotesque goal - to feed on human brains… and they’re particularly keen on those noggins that are home to a rare hormone. in the future, some humans are born with a hormone in their brain that allows them to tap into powerful psionic abilities. The emergence of these people coincided with the arrival of The Others. Seemingly immune to conventional weapons, The Others devastated all in their path and it appeared humanity’s number was up in the face of their unstoppable tread. But with the psionically gifted humans trained to fight in the Other Suppression Force, the OSF, the pushback began to stem the tide of chaos as The Others emerged from their spawning ground in what has become known as The Extinction Belt. As the OSF stands on the frontline of this strange new battle for the future of the world, two newcomers with great potential join their ranks – Yuito Sumeragi and Kasane Randall. Can they drive back the strange invaders and unlock the secret behind this plague of horrors?

CHARACTER ROSTER Humanity’s last line of defense, the Other Suppression Force, or OSF. Don’t be tricked by their youthful appearances, some of these soldiers have decades of experience under their belts. With powers ranging from cryokinesis to aerokinesis, they’re a mighty bunch to reckon with!

THE BIRTH OF BRAIN PUNK Scarlet Nexus is an action RpG set in a technologically advanced society called New himuka and its main city Suoh, where civilisation is underpinned by a concept that the game’s creators describe as Brain punk. instead of using their mobile phones, citizens keep in touch with one another via the psynet, an internet for the mind. With The Others hungry for cerebellum munchies and the heroes all possessing the special hormone in their grey matter that gives them their powers, brains are a central motif in the game. Drawing inspiration from cyberpunk and anime, game director Kenji Anabuki and producer Keita iizuka of Bandai Namco Studios put their heads together and came up with the Brain punk concept. They’re both steeped in the RpG tradition. Anabuki has worked on Bandai Namco’s tales series, including Tales Of Vesperia and Tales Of Symphonia, while iizuka previously developed the action RpGs God Eater and Code Vein, both of which draw on anime aesthetics – while Code Vein boasts a distinctive cybergoth visual style that seems like an influence on Scarlet Nexus. Additionally, writer takumi Miyajima has also worked on some of the most iconic Tales of titles in the series, including Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Vesperia. Kyoto-based artist Masakazu Yamashiro is the twisted mastermind behind the terrifying designs of The Others. it’s his first time working on a videogame, but with such stunning, not to mention disturbing results, it seems unlikely to be the last. Yamashiro is known in Japan for his illustrations that blend the organic and inorganic to create provocative, unsettling images, so he was the natural choice to bring the thoroughly unnatural Others to life.

SHARING IS CARING OSF newbies Yuito Sumeragi and Kasane Randall are the two playable characters in the game and players must choose which of the pair will be the protagonist of their playthrough. Their stories are overlapping and parallel, the strings of their fates intertwined, but each has their own individual plotline to follow. in true RpG fashion, Yuito and Kasane lead a party of >>>

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Fabuki Spring Wielding the might of cryokinesis, Fabuki Spring has served with distinction in the OSF for 27 years, using his freezing powers to give The Others a case of the chills. His continued youthful appearance is the result of the drugs administered to OSF members to hold back the aging process, as it is believed that the younger the brain, the stronger the powers they can unleash. Fabuki is a team commander and a Septentrion, one of seven operatives who possess exceptionally advanced psionic skills. Despite his accomplishments, he has a kindly personality and friendly demeanour towards those under his command.

Gemma Garrison

Nagi Karman Like Yuito and Kasane, Nagi Karman is a rookie in the OSF. Going through the rigours of training together, Nagi and Yuito became pals, their friendship forged through the trials and tribulations of passing the OSF curriculum. Where many of their classmates felt uncomfortable around Yuito because of his family background, Nagi always accepted him for who he is. Nagi’s psionic gift is Aerokinesis, the power to control the air, and he wants to use his talent to protect the people of New Himuka. Not someone motivated by the desire for fame or glory, he has a cheery, upbeat disposition.

In RPG terms, Gemma Garrison is the tank of the party. His power of Sclerokinesis allows him to harden his body, making him highly resistant to injury, perfect for deploying in defensive strategies. But he’s not just a blocker; skilled in karate, Gemma can use his hardened limbs to deliver pulverising, punishing blows. A veteran of the conflict against The Others, he’s been soaking up damage in the OSF for 38 years. He’s reached the point where the aging process has started again, despite the drugs, so he knows he’s facing retirement soon as his powers begin to diminish. Utterly committed to his mission, he’s driven by a profound ambition to protect those around him.

Hanabi Ichijo Diminutive firecracker Hanabi Ichijo is a childhood friend of Yuito who was scouted by the OSF. They attended different training centres, since Yuito was a volunteer not a scouted recruit, but are reunited when they enter active duty. Hanabi’s gift is the power of pyrokinesis, allowing her to command fire. In combat, it’s a useful talent to tap into using the Struggle Arms System when facing a large number of enemies and is particularly effective if a foe is covered in oil. Hanabi has a happy, energetic personality, lighting up a room like the fireworks for which she is named.

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FEATURE

CHARACTER ROSTER

Kasane Randall

Luka Travers Don’t let his youthful appearance and unimposing physique fool you, Luka Travers is one of the most experienced and powerful psionics in the OSF. With 22 years of service, he’s one of the elite Septentrions alongside Fabuki Spring. With his aging process frozen so early in his physical development, Luka might look frail, but his power of teleportation and heavy hammer blows allow him to vanquish enemies using a highly effective hit-and-run style of combat. In addition to being hard to pin down thanks to his powers, his wealth of experience makes him cool-headed under pressure and an insightful tactician.

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Aloof but formidably talented, Kasane Randall was recruited by the OSF and graduated at the very top of her class. She can seem chilly and distant, but her life has been marked by tragedy. Her parents were killed by The Others when she was a child and she was adopted by the Randall family, owners of a powerful military corporation. The only person she seems close to is her adopted sister Naomi. In combat, Kasane uses her psychokinesis to control kunai, which she launches at her targets, preferring ranged attacks to close quarters engagement. She’s been haunted by a strange voice in her dreams, telling her to follow the red strings. What can it mean?

Tsugumi Nazar Shy and prone to stutter when she’s feeling nervous, Tsugumi Nazar is nonetheless an effective, reliable and capable member of the OSF, reaching the rank of First Lieutenant after 12 years fighting The Others. Tsugumi’s special power is the gift of clairvoyance, which enables her to see openings before they occur, allowing her to land critical hits on her foes with the utmost precision. It’s a power well worth tapping into during the chaotic heat of battle. When not slicing up The Others, she relaxes by spending time in nature and gardening, turning her hands to growing rare, exotic plants.

“KENJI ANABUKI HAS WORKED ON TALES OF VESPERIA AND TALES OF SYMPHONIA, WHILE KEITA IIZUKA PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED THE ACTION RPGS GOD EATER AND CODE VEIN.” >>> characters into battle, which unlocks a wider range of powers to deploy against the dreadful Others. Returning to the brain theme, the virtual Brain Link allow characters to join their minds together, the better to act in concert against the menaces that fall out of the heavens. in addition to allowing players the ability control how the supporting team members act during a fight, the Brain Link enables character interactions that will reveal more about the personalities and backstories of the OSF fighters. With the world in a perilous state, the OSF become celebrities, adored by the public and fawned over by the media. Alongside the Brain Net, which means that everyone’s perception of reality itself can be censored to protect their mental health (or perhaps for more nefarious purposes?), there’s not much in the way of privacy for Yuito and Kasane. it’s a lot of pressure when you’re trying to protect civilisation from collapsing as mutants drop out of the blue.

Yuito Sumeragi As a young boy, Yuito Sumeragi nearly fell victim to an attack by The Others before he was saved by the OSF. This incident inspired him to volunteer to join the force once he became old enough to enlist. He hails from a highly prestigious family – his ancestors founded New Himuka, his older brother works in the OSF command, and his father is no less than leader of the government. Despite his lofty pedigree, Yuito is not one to put on airs; rather he’s open, kind and friendly. He fights with a sword for close-range action alongside his psychokinetic abilities.

MIND OVER MATTER Battles take place in real time, rather than using the turnbased system mechanics of more traditional JRpGs, which increases the intensity of the gameplay. Yuito and Kasane possess psychokinetic abilities, which enable them to use objects in their environment against The Others. This can range from hurling smaller chunks of debris at enemies, to clobbering them with the full weight of a bus or subway train. Other team members bring different attributes to the table, from the hot and cold extremes of pyrokinesis and cryokinesis to clairvoyance and teleportation, so a wellbalanced squad will smooth out the rough road to victory. The Struggle Arms System allows Kasane or Yuito to combine their powers with those of a teammate, which can be deployed to boost a character’s stats, enhance their psychic gifts, or to blend powers together for devastating attacks, adding a jolt of electricity or fire damage to a psychokinetic smash. A special Brain Crush move, complete with cut scene animation, can even tear one of The Others into pieces with a single blow. Like any good RpG, Scarlet Nexus lets players level up their characters’ abilities and unlock new skills via the Brain Map pathway. There are three strands to the Brain Map – Expand, where new powers are found; Enhance, to pump up your powers; and Support, where you’ll find abilities that make your fighting more efficient, for example recovering more quickly from a knockdown, or more refined manipulation of objects using psychokinesis. Activating a Brain Field lets characters temporarily crank up their powers, but use it too long and they risk burning out their own brains, proving that the mind is a terrible thing to waste, even if The Others think it’s a great thing to taste. Join the fight to save the future, Scarlet Nexus comes to the pS4, pS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and pC via Steam on 25 June from Bandai Namco >>> Entertainment. >>>

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SCARLET NEXUS

BEYOND THE NEXUS Sunrise goes beyond the game with the Scarlet Nexus anime tO OFFER FANS the fullest Scarlet Nexus experience, Bandai Namco has teamed up with animation studio Sunrise for an anime series based on the game. Founded back in 1972, Sunrise has produced some of the most iconic properties in anime, including such fabled mecha titles as Patlabor, Code Geass: Lelouch Of The Rebellion, and the legendary, sprawling Gundam franchise. Other hits from the studio include the superheroes meet reality tV show Tiger & Bunny, the City Hunter anime, and Rumiko takahashi’s fantasy epic Inuyasha, so Scarlet Nexus is in good hands. The show will be helmed by hiroyuki Nishimura, making his debut as a series director but with a wealth of experience as an animator on everything from the Gundam franchise to Doraemon and Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie – Conqueror Of Shamballa. The two supervising writers are toshizo Nemoto, whose credits include Steins; Gate and Robotics; Notes from the excellent Science Adventure series; and Yoichi Kato, who’s written for a lot of big kids’ franchises like Duel Masters and Yo-

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Kai Watch, plus he’s another Gundam veteran. The voice actors from the game will reprise their roles for the anime. Kasane will be voiced by Asami Seto, who was Akira Mado in Tokyo Ghoul: re and Raphtalia in The Rising Of The Shield Hero, while Yuito will be played by Junya Enoki. his credits include voicing Shu Kurenai in Beyblade Burst and providing the voice of peter parker in the Japanese language dubs of Spider-man: Homecoming and Captain America: Civil War. There’s no word yet on whether the anime will mirror the events of the game or if the Sunrise creative team has created an original plotline with the existing characters. however, where the Scarlet Nexus game requires players to choose between Yuito and Kasane for the main plot, it appears that they will share the spotlight in the anime adaptation, which suggests it probably won’t be an exact copy of the game’s twin storylines. The series debuts in Japan on 1 July and will be available in the UK as a simulcast on the Funimation streaming service.

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