The trailer looked interesting so I wanted to check this out. Pretty decent setting so far; big mysterious mansion with kids uncovering the magic within it reminds me of The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) and The House with a Clock in its Walls (2018). Another thing I'm noticing lately is more and more films and TV shows are taking place and being filmed around my area - Massachusetts/Boston (including The Haunting of Hill House, The Christmas Chronicles, Ghostbusters (2016), I Feel Pretty (2018), Castle Rock season two, the list goes on). Right away, I recognize the kid who played Georgie in the recent It films and from The Prodigy, a horror film I saw last year, and of course the Ice Man himself Shawn Ashmore. Wait.. scratch that last one, I just looked up the cast, and it turns out that it's actually Aaron Ashmore who is a twin brother of Shawn Ashmore, surprisingly!
I haven't read the IDW comics that this show was based on, but I'm digging the concept of each key capable of a different ability. Apparently, there was a Locke & Key pilot back in 2011 that FOX refused to pick up, and a Hulu one in 2018. I have a feeling that the youngest Locke (played by Jackson Robert Scott) will be a gullible burden to the family, similar to the youngest child in the Lost In Space series. Let's see how this goes.
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Rocketeer in the comic book shop, Depeche Mode, a Dune book, and Fright Night poster are just some of the neat touches of 80s in this episode. Though I'm not quite convinced about the Voltron talk. How could they have possibly known about the origin of the Voltron show in that time if their only source of news would just be the television (which you don't see them watching much of), maybe magazines, and/or word of mouth? Kids in the 80s would only briefly chat about how cool a show like Voltron was, how it looked and style, but on average, wouldn't actually know that it was cut from Japanese animated shows. And with that, it would be boys that would talk about that show. I'm not trying to be misogynistic, but that's what a lot of animated shows were like back then, or how we the audience believed to be. Not to mention they're teenagers, which around that age, tend to be interested in more mature things other than cartoons. On another look, the characters seem to talk about what was of that time, but how about older long-running IPs like Godzilla or James Bond. Give it a little more "spacial environment" of the sort of things the characters could be into.
I saw the Deadly Class trailer back in May of 2018 which screamed Battle Royale so much that I had to check it out back to back with The Umbrella Academy. The soundtrack is singed with 80s rock tunes from the likes of The Cure, Depeche Mode, and New Order to set the gritty tone and era of the show. Personally, I prefer they use the 80s songs more meaningfully and cleverly than just for the sake of them being there. Otherwise, ambient scores fit better for me. Even a cassette player, boombox, and VHS tape of Faces of Death make an appearance. Though some of the dialogue, fashion, and architectural/set design are a little try-hard even for the year 1987. A bunch of bad kids from different backgrounds are recruited to an elite academy that teaches about violence and survival. We follow Marcus, a homeless orphan, fighting his way through life, not really getting along with many of the gangs and bullies at school. I can bet that he'll become friends with some of them later on like what's happening with him and Willie. The two even had a little argument over comic books such as X-Men and Dark Phoenix, haha. After all, Deadly Class is in fact based on a comic book series, so of course they had to throw that reference in there. :wink: I really like the pacing so far, at least for this first episode. I hope that continues with the rest the series.
Quick recap: The Kabaneri heroes are not trusted after the incident that happened last episode so they're placed at the back of the train for safety reasons. I know the samurai are just doing their job and keeping the royals and their people safe even though they can be jerks sometimes. The Kabaneri heroes would somehow have to earn the people's trust again in the next Kabane attack. They're met with the more powerful Kabane this time, and so this the chance for the Kabaneri to redeem themselves.
So now the next attack comes, and we get this nicely detailed cinematic shot of the Ikoma and Mumei dashing atop accompanied yet again with a vocal rock song to amp up the feel of the scene. Personally, I would prefer it just be orchestral/symphonic, but maybe the contemporary music is there to give it a sense of importance or something. This is just how Japanese cinema is now when it comes to their action films; just add a rock song in the background to be "cool". I'm not impressed with the music choice of that scene but whatever.
It's still a really good episode in the end. We learn a bit more about the characters, and what they're capable of. It was also nice to see Ayame getting in on the action too. If there's one episode to show someone a sneak peak of what goes on early on, I would show this one. I hope we see more environmental sceneries like that wide angle shot at the end with the view of the land as the train moves ahead; that was a beautiful shot. I liked how that end theme song just slow fades in and into the credits. Parts of the song's melody (and harmony) sounds very similar to "Simple and Clean" by Utada Hikaru.
We learn what a "Kabaneri" is in this one. We also get to see the mysterious Mumei in action. A vocal dance song is played while she fights the Kabane, that gives off a slick vibe to go along with how Mumei swiftly dashes and slashes her way down to the last Kabane. I'm sure Jpop listeners of today would recognize it. As for me, I'm out of the loop when it comes to Jpop music; but it felt modern and a bit out of place considering the setting of the enivronment. At this moment, I'm already thinking about how this story is moving along quickly as if it were a full-length feature film just by the quality and editing style. As I've mentioned previously, the characters have this very Haruhiko Mikimoto (Macross) style design which gives off this sweet classy look to them, especially for the female characters. That red cape gives Ikoma a sort of Trigun (1998) Vash look (blonde guy, gun, glasses, red cape, body armor). Maybe it was intended and was probably inspired by it.
I want to nitpick a bit. I feel like in today's Japanese animation, the male leads tend to kick and scream a lot and are very angsty like a child. It's different from the era of 80s and 90s animation that I grew up in where the characters are able to control their emotions and not so easily erratic about such small things. It's like that with Eren (Attack on Titan) and that kid in Parasyte: The Maxim (2014). Maybe these directors/writers wrote their characters this way where they evolve from a childish trait to a strong character in the end just so they can have that "character development." I just find it annoying and off-putting for me. Other than that, I'm still enjoying the action and the art work. Now on to episode 3!
Alright, I'm checking this new series out for the first time which is available for streaming on Steam (yes, the digital distribution platform). I saw the trailer on YouTube, and thought it looked really cool. What pulled me in was the art style which reminds me of classic 80s Macross /Robotech art (Haruhiko Mikimoto) in motion. Of course being a fan of horror, naturally I will like my zombie apocalypse just fine, and just after seeing Seoul Station (2016) - a Korean animated zombie film prequel to Train To Busan (2016). Also, with the steampunk Meiji/Taisho-era Japan setting, altogether creates this unique mixture.
It's a good first episode that wastes no time introducing the characters and what the situation is. They probably did it that way for those who are already familiar with WIT Studio's past works such as Attack on Titan (2013), would get right on board with this new series quickly and easily. We got our main protagonist named Ikoma who is secretly building a weapon to defend himself against these zombie/vampire-like monsters known as Kabane. That aspect already reminds me of the Katsuhiro Otomo film, STEAMBOY (2004).
Kabaneri is a good alternative to Attack on Titan, and will hold us off until we finally get new episodes of season two. Watching the series on Steam just feels right since it's wrapped around a steampunk setting. Now onto episode two!
