Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[Gryphon]

[Nik Hasta]

Agreed. Granted, there is a TON of stuff with the fighting, but there's also stuff about life.

And the technical stuff is among the best I've ever seen.

Yeah, it amused me that Rival!Character is basically, in another manga, the de facto protagonist. Distinctive tattoos, troubled background, adherence to a more archaic style, almost weirdly and impossibly good at fighting, shady mafia ties and so on.

Whereas Meguru, the actual protagonist, is just like... a guy? He's got normal desires and normal drive and connections and stuff. His generic-ness is actually pretty engaging.

I think it's an interesting series in that while it focuses a lot on the technical aspects and beats of MMA, the emotional core of the story is more this quiet and soulful reflection on everyday trauma. I found the sequence where the Fighter's Brew crew travelled to a disaster relief zone.

It's quite mature storytelling, it's not preoccupied with the more "WHY DO I FIGHT?! I MUST BE STRONG?!" stuff that something like Baki gets so into. I mean, I enjoy that stuff as well, but this is a much quieter and more gentle sort of thing. It's a nice change of pace.

[Sharpandpointies]

Yeah, it amused me that Rival!Character is basically, in another manga, the de facto protagonist. Distinctive tattoos, troubled background, adherence to a more archaic style, almost weirdly and impossibly good at fighting, shady mafia ties and so on.

Whereas Meguru, the actual protagonist, is just like... a guy? He's got normal desires and normal drive and connections and stuff. His generic-ness is actually pretty engaging.

Absolutely.

I think it's an interesting series in that while it focuses a lot on the technical aspects and beats of MMA, the emotional core of the story is more this quiet and soulful reflection on everyday trauma. I found the sequence where the Fighter's Brew crew travelled to a disaster relief zone.

It's quite mature storytelling, it's not preoccupied with the more "WHY DO I FIGHT?! I MUST BE STRONG?!" stuff that something like Baki gets so into. I mean, I enjoy that stuff as well, but this is a much quieter and more gentle sort of thing. It's a nice change of pace.

I'm rather tired of the whole 'I must be stronk!' thing I see in a lot of manga. Sometimes, I feel it comes from a massive ego coupled with a lack of self-confidence. At least in part. It's never presented that way, but jeez...no other reason for fighting than being strong. Seems like that's what was clearly missing in the lives of those characters, at least to themselves.

Whereas Meguru? He just thinks MMA is fun. Same with a bunch of the others. I just read the final fight for Maki again, against Aya, and they gave a whole lot of background for Aya AFTER the fight. Really makes her feel like a real person as well, and she's in it because...she likes it. Not 'I MUST BE BESTEST', though obviously there's some competitive feelings. Nope. "Wow. This feels great. I haven't felt this alive in a long time."

Everyone feels real. Even Rival!Character, once we get past the veneer. He's not someone I like, but he's human, not a shallow creation who exists to be beaten.

And yeah, when we arrived at the disaster relief part, that was just...wow. Talk about a manga writer/artist stepping up, and hitting it out of the park.

[Sharpandpointies]

As a side note, Aya's issue with fighting struck a chord with me, myself. I was a lot like her - VERY hesitant and nervous before matches. Tense would be putting it mildly. Then - both in Judo and in the heavy-to-full contact sparring we used to do in my second club - once I got going, something changed in my head.

For the worse a few times, which is one reason why I'm glad I don't fight any more. But always, always, it became so much easier to fight after struggling a little or taking a couple of hits.

Too easy in at least one case.

Anyway, even just that 'human-ness' of a character really gave them depth for me.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Less-than impressed by this, will likely pass.

13 Assassins made films in this genre need to up their game, sadly none of them have.

[Sharpandpointies]

13 Assassins made films in this genre need to up their game, sadly none of them have.

Chanbara stuff really needs to be good, and this...I'm iffy on what I see.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Chanbara stuff really needs to be good, and this...I'm iffy on what I see.

A lotta jump cuts and crappy fight choreography?

[Sharpandpointies]

A lotta jump cuts and crappy fight choreography?

I can take a little of that, if it's well-done in a dramatic way. I mean, High&Low isn't exactly the epitome of cinematography, but I love the fights.

But yeah, this is...a lot. Of bleah.

Maaaan, I remember watching Zaitoichi, the Beat Takashi version, and seeing that actor who played the ronin in an interview afterward. Turns out the guy NEVER touched a sword before that movie in his life, so when he got the part, he went insane on training himself to actually be able to handle a sword PROPERLY, make cuts look like cuts, use the thing instinctively, etc. And he pulled it off - everything his character did in that movie, that was him.

Perfect? No, there are guys leading with their bodies, here, it's staged (obviously), there's the CGI blood which I didn't like in this movie. But it works, and he looks like he knows what he's doing (despite being a complete amateur only months before filming).

This? Lots of vague waving of swords as if they're...I don't know, batons.

[Sharpandpointies]

In other news, Sia's movie "Music" has arrived at 8% on the Rotten Tomatoes tomatometer, and 13% audience score.

Headline should read: Fake Woke Star Demonstrates Ableism, Gets Panned With Good Reason.

[Nik Hasta]

In other news, Sia's movie "Music" has arrived at 8% on the Rotten Tomatoes tomatometer, and 13% audience score.

Headline should read: Fake Woke Star Demonstrates Ableism, Gets Panned With Good Reason.

Her relationship with her child muse is really disturbing.

[Guy1]

Less-than impressed by this, will likely pass.

You aren't missing much.

[Gryphon]

[Sharpandpointies]

Her relationship with her child muse is really disturbing.

*googles*

And Asia is looking even worse, now. Ugh.

[Sharpandpointies]

You aren't missing much.

There are a few things in that clip that aren’t awful.

There’s a lot that is. :P

[Postmania]

So apparently, they are making a game with Gollum as the protagonist...