Anime and Bangladesh: The 90's Connection

Bangladesh and Anime:

The 90s’ Connection

By Le Chupacabra

A quick glance at the wall clock shows the time as 5:30pm. Outside, the summer Sun has sunk low and casts cool shadows all over the place. The sky is a bluish-purple and the clouds are still white and fluffy; the chance of rainfall is quite slim. Ah, perfect conditions.

It's time to prepare yourself then. Call your cousin (or heck, cousins) over and ring up your friends…

… Robotech is about to begin on Star Plus.

What, you were expecting, cricket or something? Well, not for me.

During the mid-1990's, my (and certainly many others') evenings were characterised by half-an-hour of blistering fast fighter jets that miraculously (I was six) transformed into sleek robots armed with all manner of laser rifles, mounted machine guns and of course, an infinite stock of missiles with wonderfully ceaseless smoke trails. Robotech was its name and despite being a pretty old anime series already, it was rather brilliant. Granted, most of the story and characterisations zoomed over my head, but what bits I caught could be deemed 'ultra cool' for me. And even if all the plot pouting lost me, there was still some very awesome fighting as the consolation prize. Watching the Veritech jet fighters pirouette through barrages of gunfire to emerge unscathed from the smoke and then slickly transforming into the Guardian mode and unleashing their own salvo of heat-seeking missiles - the warhead count numbering in quadruple figures, it seemed - that was entertainment like no other. Back then, the now-ancient artwork was considered incredible and how could one not like it with all those superb robot designs? I'd wager that even now Robotech could hold its own - heck, if Victory Gundam can do it, why not? But best of all was the music; call it outdated, call it pointless… but the music was (and still is, in my opinion) the very definition of memorable. A decade on from the ending, and I still recall some of the tunes. A particularly unforgettable moment for me was when the story arc made the huge leap over to the bit with the Cyclotrons and the alien Invid. I simply didn't understand how or why back then, and I was so disappointed that the Veritech fighter parts were over that I decided never to watch Robotech again. Fortunately, curiosity got the better of me and the good times rolled again - the last arc of Robotech was still brilliant.

Within the next few years, Star Plus started degenerating into yet another pointless Hindi channel. At first, the shows were dubbed in the language (Small Wonder, we will never forget) but later they were completely replaced with the forerunners of today's never-ending serials beginning with the letter 'K'. Anime, it seemed, was being snubbed rather badly. Even early morning showings of Sabre Rider and the Star Sheriffs slowly vanished. However, it was replaced by G.I. Joe which was much better, so no big loss. However, waking up that early made it a bit tasteless. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ran for a while during the afternoons, but that didn't last too long either. Pity, because that was my favourite cartoon when I was younger. (Okay, so both of those weren't anime, but you know… I'm kinda being washed over with nostalgia while writing this - work with me here!)

Salvation came after three years and two house shifts in the form of a little channel called AXN aka Action TV.

At first, I didn't pay much heed to it - after all, they still showed too many 'reality TV' shows on it. It wasn't until I was really bored that I flicked on to the channel while at my grandmother's house. What a fight scene it was... Himura Kenshin versus Aoshi Shinomori! It was a fantastically tense clash of two great swordsmen and the battle choreography was superb; I was hooked within minutes! After that, I caught every episode of Samurai X (aka Rurouni Kenshin) and I absolutely loved it! The final fight with Shishio was breathtaking but no other scene stayed with me like that one with Aoshi - after all, that was the one that got me interested in Samurai X in the first place! The later episodes spiralled rapidly away from a coherent storyline but back then, it didn't matter; those episodes were entertaining at the very least. The ending song during the Shishio saga (Heart of Sword, FYI) still stands as an all-time favourite. And in 2004, I bought the DVD boxed set of the entire Rurouni Kenshin series - one of the very few anime I have in original DVD form.

Another anime that was shown alongside Samurai X was Flame of Recca. I don't remember too much about it (they are showing it on Animax, so yeah I'm watching it again), but it was a great example of those tournament based anime that keep throwing an endless barrage of increasingly powerful.

Foes. Of course, the hero hovers near the brink of death only to burst forth with hitherto unseen powers galore; a certain Mr Goku can attest to such a formula. However, the fight scenes were still superbly entertaining and it was quite an imaginative show as well. The recent and super-popular anime Naruto owes many of its fight scenes, techniques and what-not to Flame of Recca. Recca Hanabishi, Naruto fans all over the world salute you!

Now, while Samurai X and Robotech retain a certain timeless quality, others faded from my memory. (Kudos to Lancer for the heads up.) One such anime was Ninja Robots. Yes, it of the same fight scene… over and over and over again! And now that I think about it… how did ninja fit into the context anyway? Somewhere in Japan, stealthy masked assassins are taking their own lives. Jokes aside, this has to be said: no matter corny or lame Ninja Robots may seem now, I (and plenty of others…. 'fess up you all) actually, honestly and genuinely liked and enjoyed the show. Besides the blatant copy-pasting of the aforementioned fight scenes, some of them were quite entertaining. The story wasn't too bad (or maybe that has to do with the fact that I reached an age where I could understand 'plotlines' - sorry, Robotech) and the artwork was quite decent. Let's not forget the, bless it, 'catchy' theme song - courtesy of the whole Americanisation process. Still, no matter how many times the Princess ended up being kidnapped (once you realise you can't count off your fingers, it was no longer funny), when Joe, Michael and Jenny (and later, Damien) strapped up into their robots to rescue her, you were rooting them on to victory. Cybertroooooooooooooooooon!

And, you cannot talk about anime in the 1990s without mention (unfortunately, that's all this one gets) of the one, the only… Speed Racer! *cue large-eyed, lopsided-mouth gasps of 'Oh!' ala Speed himself* What can you say about Speed Racer? (Preferably avoiding expletives). Nothing much. Of course, you could do some of those character expressions - they're a great hit when you and a bunch of friends go all nostalgic regarding TV shows. Speed Racer was embarrassingly corny and the constant exclamations made you roll your eyes, but hey, it was somewhat entertaining. Also without that Volcano Mountain race with the whole Snake (or was it Viper?) racing team, you wouldn't get that brilliantly hilarious parody episode of Dexter's Laboratory. Speaking of which, Dexter was at its satirical zenith during that time - the newer version lacks much of what made the old Dexter so bloody brilliant. Sad.

Lastly, and on a more serious tone, was the Anime Fest on Animax during the end of 1999. As a fitting end to that decade (and this article), that week highlighted some great anime films, particularly the subliminal Ghost in the Shell. That was the time when they also released The Matrix (the first, and brilliant, one) which shared much in common with Mamoru Oshii's animated opus; it was a doubly sweet dose of sci-fi centric philosophical musings. More importantly, it was also an indication of the burgeoning International audience for anime. And within a few weeks, we celebrated the New Year… the year 2000.

That golden decade ended on a fantastic note and was a forerunner of things to come. Cartoon Network picked up the slack with the loveable DragonBall Z and rather fun Cardcaptor Sakura. Unfortunately, it also started showing the inexplicably popular Pokemon, Digimon and Beyblade, and so on. One Piece is due to air soon (avoid the English dub, read the manga - bloody brilliant stuff!) The anime channel Animax commenced a few months back and we got access to anime like Gundam, Cowboy Bebop, GetBackers, Inu Yasha, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Ranma 1/2, Samurai X, Escaflowne and other wonderful shows. The sublime FullMetal Alchemist and entertaining Great Teacher Onizuka are due soon. Whoever's writing this piece in 2010 will need all of RS for that article then!

PS2 Game Review - Psychonauts

PsychoNauts

A PS2 Game Review
By Le Chupacabra

Excluding the typical dreams of endless plummets off cliffs or you trying to fight off bad guys only to find that you can’t use your super powers at all, the human psyche can be a pretty weird (understatement of the century!) and scary place at times. A visualization of everything that makes a person who she/he is - their joys, sorrows, fears, ambitions - could end up as something that would make Freud crap his pants. Or maybe not. Who knows? However, one thing is certain - a journey into a person’s mind could become an adventure like no other.

And that’s where Psychonauts comes in.

Born from the ingenious mind of Tim Schafer, Psychonauts is a game that puts you into the boots, or rather, the goggles of a young boy named Rasputin (‘Raz’ to his friends). Raz’s dream is to become a ‘psychonaut’ - a psychic warrior of sorts. The role of a psychonaut is to infiltrate the mind of other people and take care of whatever business is required. While that doesn’t sound too exciting, the possibilities are stupendous.

Here’s a game where you begin by entering the mind of your military-oriented teacher, Coach Oleander, to do some basic training. On the way you’ll encounter emotional baggage which are, brilliantly, actual pieces of luggage! Later you’ll delve into your own mind to literally battle your inner demons. You’ll encounter figments of imagination, mental cobwebs, censors that try to boot you from other people’s minds and basically every psychiatry-related cliché in the book - all realised oh-so-creatively in visual form. That’s where the true beauty of this game lies: imaginative level design. Coach Oleander’s mind is a battlefield full of exploding shells, flying zeppelins and old film slides of his greatest achievements. Sasha Nien’s is a Spartan cube wherein all emotion and secrets are kept under tight lock - only by accident do you find out what sorrows he hides. There are the minds of your fellow students - each one is as unique as they come. Both like and unlike the real world, nothing is what it seems in these crazy locations. You’ll wonder whether what you’re seeing is true, or whether there are deeper secrets behind all the nooks and crannies. Each mind is a maze (pun intended) and presents a whole new set of challenges and more importantly, a perpetual feeling of wonder and amazement. If you think you’ve seen insanity, think again. While you enter relatively few minds compared to the huge cast of diverse, loveable characters you interact with - each one also provides a fantastic vehicle for characterization. It’s the mixture of what you see, hear and unearth during these psychic treks that flesh out the personalities in this game.

This naturally leads to one of best parts of the game: humour. The humour ranges from literal, in-your-face clichés (the mind-levels themselves!) to characters spewing innuendo left and right to classic slapstick. All this wonderful comedy is beautifully integrated into the whole experience thanks to some fantastic writing by Tim Schafer. Whether it’s the typical jock/bully Bobby or the adorable Dogen, each has some great dialogue that make them feel more believable than most game characters. You know what a broad spectrum of personalities the typical classroom contains, right? Psychonauts appreciates this (most of the characters are based on Tim Schafer’s schooldays) and you’ll end up finding more than just a few recognizable personas. That’s yet another aspect of Psychonauts that makes it so enjoyable - you can actually relate to and empathize with the people portrayed.

Since the game is all about psychic powers and all, Raz can actually hear the thoughts of the people around him - more opportunity for hilarity and especially so when these precocious kids are thinking ‘inappropriate’ thoughts.

Given the way the game is designed, Psychonauts works best as a platformer - and that’s pretty much how it plays. Raz has to overcome obstacles by a combination of jumping, double jumping, sliding, grabbing onto ledges… you get the point. He’s able to attack by creating a giant psychic hand that karate chops anyone foolish enough to impede his progress. You can even perform the classic jump-smash where you jump up and direct a heavy smash attack below you. All these traditional platformer maneuvers are augmented by various psychic attacks such as Pyrokinesis, telepathy and the such. There’s also a handy Lock-Strafe function ala Ratchet & Clank that makes combat much more enjoyable. As far as gameplay is concerned, Psychonauts is pretty solid stuff although the jumping lacks a grace period - you know, the part in other games where, if you miss a jump, your character can still grab the edge. Some jumps can be tricky and the camera can be somewhat unwieldy; this can cause frustration at times. Besides that, Psychonauts has the fundamentals down pat so it’s all good.

Artistically, Psychonauts is a work of genius. The characters are designed in a very Tim Burton-esque manner with deformed bodies, over-large heads and a certain air of eccentricity. Despite the fact that they look kind of weird, they still exude a lot of personality. But what will really blow you away is the level design of all the minds you enter. Innovative, amazing and truly insane - each one is a visual masterpiece that you’ll enjoy seeing over and over again. That’s the artistic portion though; Psychonauts won’t win any awards for technical graphics. The game suffers from a slightly rocky frame-rate, the loading is quite slow and the draw-distance (how far you can see in a game) is poor. The general graphics are pretty low-quality overall. The artistry makes up for this pretty well most of the time, but occasionally only just.

The sound department is an equal balance of good and bad. The voice acting is extremely enjoyable and recalls the perfectly camp yet loveable voices that characterize classic Hanna-Barbera toons. On the flip side, the music is commonplace to the point of being forgettable.

Psychonauts is a work of creativity and freshness with diverse level design, brilliant humour and truly wonderful characters. Despite some rather glaring flaws, it’s one of those gaming concepts that don’t come around very often so pick this up before it disappears.