Azumanga Daioh Omnibus review

I’ve read two series by mangaka Kiyohiko Azuma and unsurprisingly it’s his two most popular series: Azumanga Daioh and Yotsuba&!. I have no recollection as to why I picked up the omnibus edition of Azumanga Daioh as I don’t think I knew of Azuma before I made the purchase. Likewise, I only bought the first volume of Yotsuba&! after finishing Azumanga Daioh. Really though, none of that matters because I’m glad I discovered Azuma and his work. He is, quite clearly, one of the funniest comics creators working today and nobody does slice of life storytelling quite as exiting, refreshing and insightful. The most enjoyable thing about his manga is that he doesn’t take slice of life as meaning introspective or melodramatic manga. He conveys a wide range of emotion but never strays too far from humorous elements. It’s excellent, accessible humour that deals with a wide range of subjects, yet it all feels so effortless. I would be surprised that there aren’t more people doing this kind of work until I realized that it must be rather challenging to make manga so good look so easy.

When it comes to plot, Azumanga Daioh really doesn’t have much going on. That’s fine because it’s not a manga in the same vein of which most comics readers are familiar with. The series is technically yonkoma, a four-panel comic strip. The panels are traditionally the same size and shape and are stacked vertically with the first panel being on top and the final panel being on the bottom. There are two strips per page and like all manga, you read the right strip first before moving on to the left one. Like a lot of Japanese art forms there is a very specific structure to the yonkoma.

It’s interesting to compare Azuma’s four-panel strips to similar comic strips found in North American publications. It’s different from famous strips like Peanuts, Bloom County or Calvin & Hobbes because the effectiveness of some strips depend more heavily upon being read at the same time as other strips taking place before or after them. Certainly the American comic strips also had storylines but the individual strips making up a larger story had to stand on their own as they were originally serialized in daily newspapers. Some of the yonkoma in Azumanga Daioh simply don’t work well as individual strips. After reading several strips it’s not surprising to hear that the manga was originally serialized in a magazine titled Dengeki Daioh where several strips were grouped together to form chapters. Azuma’s name and the title of the magazine also served as the basis for the manga’s title.

Yet the manga strips are also different from serialized adventure comic strips. When it comes to adventure strips there are some which were serialized in Sunday newspapers but others that also ran in daily newspaper. I’m thinking specifically of the latter but unfortunately the only example I can come up with right now is the Star Trek comic strip from the late 70s and early 80s. In Star Trek the story would continue each day in strips made up of (mostly) three panels and with a full page on Sundays. That kind of storytelling is very choppy due to repetitive panels from one day to the next. Azumanga Daioh is quick and punchy but it has more focus on the individual strips because of the goal to make a gag of them. The individual strips don’t concern themselves with advancing the plot. It’s difficult to describe how Azumanga Daioh simultaneously reminds me of gag strips and adventure strips while also being a separate kind of strip altogether.

Azumanga Daioh is as concerned with the structure of each four panel gag as it is about tying those gags into storylines of various lengths. Azuma is actually good at doing both though and the omnibus collects a fair amount of individual gags and gags that depend upon the strips preceding it or following it. I mentioned earlier that plot doesn’t matter much, and it doesn’t. The plot of the entire series is about a group of girls attending their final three years of high school and studying for their college acceptance exams. That’s it but that’s all the series needs because the focus is never really on anything for longer than Azuma needs it to be in order to tell his jokes. In the case of this particular manga, the plot is simply a form of set dressing to allow the presence of specific kind of characters and letting them run wild. The simple structure which is equal parts rigid (the four panel yonkoma) and supple (the story’s high school setting) gives Azuma the freedom to focus on characters and that’s where the manga really succeeds.

Like most successful American comic strips the humour is derived from how well the reader knows the characters. Good characterization acts as a short hand for making jokes. A particular character in one situation is funny while another wouldn’t be. Writers form situations around specific characters and the combination of characters and events (or characters with other characters) result in humorous interactions. Azumanga has five main characters (all students) with three main supporting characters (all teachers). Along with a few more supporting characters and the high school setting, Azuma is able to provide a wide range of different kinds of jokes but based on his characters he also develops some standard strip formats.

Early on there are strips that focus on Yukari-sensei standing before the class in front of the chalkboard. The bottoms of the panels are framed by the students’ heads, shaded. It’s used throughout the entire manga and often to good effect as Yukari seems to speak to herself just as much as she speaks with her students. I particularly like how it makes the reader feel like they’re one of the students sitting in class.

Azuma breaks from the four-panel yonkoma format of the strip on occasion.

There is a short description of the main characters on the back of the omnibus edition that reads as follows:

Sakaki - strong and silent with a soft fuzzy center
Chiyo - a towering intellect wrapped in a ten-year-old package
Tomo - The Mouth
Yomi - should stop eating if she wants to lose weight
Osaka - well, she’s . . . different

At first glance the characters seem one-dimensional and that’s ok because the narrative format is such that simpler is better. Still, the characters are better defined as the manga progresses and soon you know them so well that you can anticipate the kind of strip you’re about to read just by seeing which characters are in it. I particularly enjoy how the girls influence one another. The character interactions are one of the things that make this manga so great. Consider Chiyo, the pre-teen prodigy of the series. She’s easily the smartest of all the students in her class but she is also incredibly caring. When her dimwitted friend Osaka learns the secret to splitting chopsticks without breaking them she appropriates it as her personal good luck routine. While finding this particular behaviour odd Chiyo chooses to split chopsticks when her friends are writing an entrance exam. In fact, she buys disposable chopsticks in bulk and proceeds to split them expertly over and over.

A popular form of humour is observational comedy. There are quite a bit of jokes in this book that make observations on Japanese subject matter. For fans of anime and manga it might be easy to follow the more obscure jokes. For newer fans of manga they’ll get most jokes but they will have difficulty understanding some of the more complicated jokes. It’s not a major criticism of the work since most of the jokes are easily understood because the information necessary for understanding the gag are present in the four panels. Likewise there are certain elements in the humour that transcend different cultures or language barriers. One of the pleasures of reading this book is learning about Japan. As a slice-of-life story there are many elements that seem strange or simply different from what we know but the further you get in the book the more you become familiar with it all. I’ve read a lot of manga but most of it has been science fiction or shounen and so learning about house gifts, kotatsu, watermelon splitting, Osaka humour and American humour has been delightful.  The laugher helps with the learning curve.

Osaka is already not the brightest of people but she's even less aware of her
surroundings when she just waking up. 

It’s always a little tricky to talk about humour comics because you can’t really retell the jokes effectively. Explaining gags takes away what makes them work in the first place. That’s why I chose to focus on the structural elements of the manga as they’ll likely be as new and different to English reading audiences than the content itself. Azumanga Daioh’s strength is its characters. They don’t really change much during the course of the manga but we get to know them so well they really don’t need to do much towards the end to make us smile and laugh. That’s not the say the humour isn’t consistent throughout, it is, but you get to know Tomo and the gang so well you want to spend more time with them. Nearly anybody who picks up this manga will find it delightful as the pages are just filled with laughs it’s impossible not to enjoy yourself. With all four volumes collected into one omnibus edition, including insightful translation notes, it’s a bargain you can’t pass up. 

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998): Odd(-numbered), but Good

There are many thoughts about the Star Trek movies floating around online. Many people will tell you that the movies that are numbered with even numbers are the best (Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, The Undiscovered Country, First Contact). Star Trek: Nemesis is usually excluded from this rule and if we’re sticking to it, I would also include Intro Darkness (it being the twelfth installment) as an exception since it is utter shit. I’ve never been a big fan of that theory, not only because it’s a gross generalization but also because there are too many exceptions. It also leaves out The Motion Picture, Generations and Insurrection. While those three movies have their issues I consider them to be good movies. At the very least, they occupy the space between the better movies and the worst movies on the quality measuring stick.

Regular contributor at Tor.com, Ryan Britt, presents his own theory in his article “Forget Odds Vs. Evens: Bad Star Trek Can Be Detected By Their Subtitles”. In his interesting article, he posits that all Star Trek movies are problematic to a degree and that they don’t compare favourably against their televised counterparts on the small screen. He then offers his own explanation as to why we continue to have Star Trek movies and asks what they should be about? “The answer is: they should be about something specific.” His proceeds to write about each movie in turn passing judgement on vague titles and praising those that dared be accurate. It’s a fun take on the idea on the categorization methods of Star Trek movies based on their quality.

Those are just two of the many theories out there. While researching a bit online I found a page at TV Tropes titled “Star Trek Movie Curse” which list several other ways that people have figured out to categorize the good Star Trek movies from the bad. The most interesting one here states that any movie that has a main character singing is a bad one. That’s kind of ridiculous, isn’t it? Still, it made me chuckle that someone not only pointed it out the pattern but argued that it is a legitimate way to distinguish good movies from the bad.

Aside from being fun conversation starters, I find these classifications of Star Trek movies to be pretty useless. I’d go so far as to say they focus they steer the conversation towards the bad movies or, more generally, the negative aspects of the franchise. When I think of Star Trek I think about the good, I celebrate it and I try to convert some of my friends to the world of Star Trek fandom. I do this simply because I like Star Trek and I think it’s a better investment of my time than nitpicking every little thing I don’t like about the nearly 50 year old franchise. When people tell me that there is only one good The Next Generation movie or that Star Trek: Insurrection is an atrocious movie without telling me why; I can’t help but feel defensive. It’s actually quite good. It’s not only the second best TNG movie, it’s better than some of The Original Series movies.

The plot of the movie is actually quite simple. The crew of the Enterprise-E uncover a suspicious alliance between the Federation and an alien group called the Son’a. They are observing a peaceful people call the Ba’ku. Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew are initially asked to intervene in a secret mission after Lieutenant Commander Data malfunctions. Upon further investigation it is discovered that the Son’a and Admiral Matthew Dougherty are planning to deport all 600 Ba’ku in order to populate their homeworld. Due to radiation from the planet’s rings, the Ba’ku people become for all intents and purposes immortal after becoming permanent residents of the planet. It is because of the promise of immortality that the Son’a and Admiral Dougherty want to take control of the planet. Picard and his crew become the only line of defence for the Ba’ku and for preserving the moral integrity of the United Federation of Planets.

More than any other Star Trek movie, Insurrection has oft been criticized for too closely resembling an episode of the TV series on which the movies are based. I’ve always found this to be an odd accusation as I believe it’s that resemblance to TNG that makes this such an enjoyable movie.

One of the main contributing factors to this movie being structured more like a long television episode rather than a summer blockbuster is that significant members of the production crew also worked extensively on TNG during its run. Jonathan Frakes who, aside from portraying Commander Riker, also directed such episodes as “The Offspring”, “Reunion”, and “Cause and Effect”. He also directed the spectacular eight film Star Trek: First Contact. His inclusion in the director’s chair likely had an impact on the inclusion of humour and the smaller character moments in the movie. Two other important crew members include producer Rick Berman who work as executive producer not only on TNG but also for Deep Space Nine and Voyager and many of the movies. With Insurrection scriptwriter and showrunner for TNG, Michael Piller, writes his first Star Trek movie script based on a story idea he had with Berman. Piller even had help from Ira Steven Behr on the first draft of the script. Behr is yet another important figure of Star Trek television as he served as executive producer, showrunner and scriptwriter for Deep Space Nine. It’s hard to argue that the difference in tone between this movie and most of the other Star Trek movies has nothing to do with the above mentioned crewmembers.  

While I disagree that Insurrection lacks scope, the comments that it resembles a long episode of TNG are valid. I personally don’t see anything wrong with that. How many episode of Star Trek have fallen flat because of a lack of breathing room or because of unsatisfactory or low-budget special effects? It’s a joy for fans to have a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously and that doesn’t try to make Star Trek fit the blockbuster movie formula. There are several elements from TNG runs on the small screen that are included in this film, not least of them humour and (how dare they?) an intellectually stimulating plot with the added bonus of themes. I can’t forget to mention that the characters themselves are equally important to the movie’s overall enjoyable tone. They’re not simply cookie-cutter action heroes at play.

There are many elements that make Insurrection work and one of them is that it actually takes the time to focus on characters. For the most part it’s allowing them to be affected by the advancement of the plot and other times it’s simply to let them be, well, characters. This is done by showing off their unique attributes and letting them interact with each other. It works well for this kind of movie based on a long-running TV series.

After eight Star Trek movies and hundreds of episodes it might not seem like a big deal but TNG has a large cast. While the movies and episodes tend to focus on a few characters more than others it’s important to actually take stock of just how many main characters headline this movie. Just looking at the Enterprise’s officers this movie already has an ensemble cast. Throw in important Ba’ku characters and couple of villains and it almost feels bloated. Not every main character appeared in every single TNG episode and while it works well for television to have certain characters highlighted in individual-centric episode, it would be a disappointment to exclude a main crewmember. It doesn’t truly matter if their time in the spotlight is a crucial part of the plot, what’s important is that they get some screen time. There have been many episodes that felt rushed or weren’t able to play with certain ideas in a satisfying way. Insurrection has room to breathe and it’s welcoming to see the cast and the crew take advantage of that.

I particularly like seeing that the workaholic crewmembers occasionally let loose and have a good time, mostly because it gives the movie a sense of realism (who doesn’t goof off at work, even occasionally?) and infuses it with humour. It doesn’t all work well. Worf in particular kind of gets the short end of the stick and so does Dr. Crusher with her boob humour but the fact that it’s there is important. Even the tacky moments avoid being gratuitous because it makes sense to have a character like Worf present on the Ba’ku planet. Even if you don’t like the idea of Klingon acne you can at still appreciate the writer’s attempt to show the effects of the Ba’ku planet on different characters, especially those of different physiology.

There are many humorous elements to enjoy in this movie and it’s refreshing to see so many because the TV series was regularly infused with humour. The quality of that humour is another issue altogether but it was part of the show’s bread and butter. Just to name a few, this movie includes jokes regarding Worf’s regression to adolescence, the rise of Picard’s libido, Troi and Riker’s flirtation. Certainly, your mileage may vary based on your sense of humour but I appreciate the effort to bring some levity to the movie as it not only prevents it from being taken too seriously but it’s indicative of its lack of concern for being perceived as edgy or badass. If there is one unattractive feature to long-lasting franchises it’s an identity crisis and Star Trek has certainly had its fair share. Luckily, Insurrection avoids it for the most part by sticking to its television roots and using many recurring and important elements of TNG.

In short, these characters are truly unique. They’re not the same characters wearing different coloured uniforms and performing the same tasks. They have different insight into the world. It makes sense that Data and Picard are those that are most affected by the Ba’ku; Data because of his wide-eyes curiosity and Picard for his romanticism and staunch moral values. That’s not to say the other characters aren’t affected by the events and the movie justifiably shows that.

Another reason some people don’t like the film is that the villain feels underwhelming. That’s a silly criticism for Star Trek. Even if Insurrection has long been mistaken as a blockbuster film, Star Trek has never solely been a villain-of-the-week kind of television show. It could more accurately be described as the-strange-happening-of-the-week or even the-encounter-of-the-week. That makes sense considering the show’s initial precise of exploration, research and discovery. The problem is that when you transpose that to the big screen, there is a sense of obligation to also introduce a major villain in each film. This is particularly true of all Star Trek films following The Wrath of Khan. I would hope that after seeing the tenth film, Star Trek: Nemesis, that fans would have given Insurrection a bit more slack on this point but negative comments towards Ahdar Ru’afo (played by F. Murray Abraham) have persisted.

The thing about Star Trek is that the antagonisms in its stories can be a wide range of things. Evil individuals are but one of many other options. As it’s often been the case during TNG’s television run, the crew of the Enterprise are battling against an action that has immediate consequences for a specific group but that same action could lead to further consequences for an increasingly large population of the planet or even the galaxy.

Some problems are too complex to simply be tossed aside and Insurrection gives us at least two very good antagonists for Picard and his officers. The first, of course, is the leader of the Son’a, Ru’afo, and the second is corruption within the organization of the Federation. The movie’s true villains aren’t individuals; they just act as figureheads to more abstract ideals that cause the characters and the viewers to think about the causality of our actions and the difficulties of dealing with other species and cultures. One of Star Trek’s biggest strengths is to entertain while also stimulating intellectual discussions. It’s because of that reason, more than any other, that I consider Star Trek: Insurrection to be a good film.

After two large-scale stories, Insurrection provides an equally interesting story but the conflict is moral and immediate instead of physical and temporal like the previous two TNG movies. Insurrection actually spends most of its time in service of story and the development of thematic elements that feel true to the characters of TNG as well as Star Trek as a whole. The movie swerves into the territory of generic blockbusters toward the end but the rest of the movie makes up for it by focusing on story rather than the size of its explosions.

Some of the themes include aging, eternal live, the value of life and the importance of stopping to smell the roses. All of these themes are very relative today and will likely endure as our culture seems to continue celebrating the successes of youth while ignoring the contributions of our elders. Technological advancements have made it so that we’re constantly bombarded with information and we’ve become increasingly preoccupied with quantity instead of quality. Thanks to the internet we experience a much wider variety of things but we do so only on the surface by acquiring information in summarized or condensed forms instead of fully experiencing the originals. We’re attracted by things that are new and we forget about everything that occurred even days prior. It’s not just our entertainment, we’ve become a culture of consumers and our interests lie in information gathering, not in acquiring experience, understanding or appreciation for the world around us. It’s also true of how we deal with people.

There is also a theme of technophobia. One of the differences between the Ba’ku and the Son’a is that the Ba’ku have relinquished their dependences on technology while the Son’a has grown increasingly dependent on it. Throw in the Federation and their use of technology and the commentary you can take from it is that the Federation more closely resembles the Son’a which makes me think that Admiral Dougherty’s alliance with them isn’t coincidental. Technology, in this case, can be seen as the harbinger of the erosion of values and the degradation of interpersonal relationships.

Ba’ku and Son’a have the same origins but there are differences in the way they act and the lessons that they’re taught. The result is the development of two very distinct cultures. Sure, it’s a little heavy-handed but it gets the message across. More importantly, Michael Piller remembers that this is a Star Trek movie and so he takes the theme of technophobia and makes it a positive one. It’s nurture, not nature that makes the Ba’ku and their way of life so enticing and attractive. Certainly their incredibly long  life span helped them achieve their peaceful existence but they still achieved inner peace and understanding on their own. Even after relinquishing their daily use of technology they are discovered that there are many lessons to be learned and anyone can do it, all we need is a little patience, a desire to learn and the ability to listen to our surroundings. This is clearly demonstrated during Picard’s time on the planet. More

Regardless of whether or not you agree with any of the various Star Trek movies curses or generalizations, one thing is clear. It’s kind of a bad habit to frequently discuss one or more of the movie curses. It’s a bad habit I hope will eventually fall by the wayside as fandom steps up and starts looking at the movies based on their individual merits instead of dismissing them because of their subtitles, numbering or the inclusion of a singing cast member. You might disagree with me that Insurrection is a good movie and that’s fine, as long as you don’t start telling me it’s impossible for it to be a good movie because it’s the ninth instalment in the franchise and that it’s numbering equates it to a bad movie. Give me something less vague, something that shows you’ve actually put some thought into it and that you’re not just repeating the tired and uninformative Odds vs. Evens classification. I’m starting to sound grumpier and more serious than I want to but I still sound less ridiculous than fans who are adamant about telling me The Search for Spock is a terrible movie “because the curse”! At least Ryan Britt is having fun in his article and doesn’t take himself too seriously.

I concede to defending only one of the bad Star Trek movies in this article but I think I make my point clear by defending it without employing either an established Star Trek movie classification or introducing a new one. For me, Star Trek: Insurrection will always be a good movie. It might not be the best but the good far outweighs the bad and that’s all I need from the humble instalment in the Star Trek franchise. Ok, I’m stepping off my soapbox.

Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson volume 1 review

Walter Simonson is one of the great writer/artists of the comics industry. His spectacular run on Thor during the 80s is loved by fans and critics alike. While I regret to say I haven’t read the entire run what I have read is nothing less than spectacular. I was able to collect three of the older trades which were out-of-print for years and I refuse to buy the one volume omnibus that was release because it’s incredibly impractical. Sure, Marvel has rereleased the five trade paperbacks but the colouring has been redone and I do not like the sample’s I’ve seen. I’m sure I’ll give in and buy the last two volumes eventually but that time isn’t now. When I encountered the three also-out-of-print Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson volumes I jumped at the opportunity to buy and read Simonson’s run on the title.

This volume, the first of three, collects issues #334-341 of Fantastic Four. Issues #334 and 335 are pencilled by Rick Buckley with Romeo Tanghal on ink, issue #336 is pencilled by Ron Lim with Mike DeCarlo on inks and the remaining issues #337-341 are pencilled and inked by Simonson who also wrote all of the issues in this collection. The book ends with an interview with Simonson circa 1989 which was originally published in Marvel Age #80.

The collection is made of two separate stories. Issues #334-336 begin with a story of everyday life at the Baxter building. Reed has been updating the security system and a slew of D-list villains, barely associated with the Fantastic Four in the pass (if at all), are coincidentally testing those system updates as they try to barge into the tower and cause a ruckus. The issue ends with the team having recently left the building and on route to for Washington where they will be appearing as witnesses to a senate hearing on a bill proposing superhuman registration. The first issue of his run is a fun introduction to the incarnation of the Fantastic Four team at that point. We’re reintroduced to all the main characters including Reed and Sue’s children and the Thing’s replacement on the team as he is currently depowered. The multiple fights with the D-list villains make for welcomed action breaks from the day-to-day activities of the heroes but it also serves a purpose in the larger three issues arc.

Things get kicked up a notch when they arrive at the senate hearing. The following couple of issues focus on the hearing itself where the Fantastic Four get regularly interrupted by relatively unknown Marvel supervillains. Again the arrival of the villains and the subsequent fights provide much needed humorous interludes to the political debate. That’s truly what Simonson gives us during the hearing issues, a debate. Reed Richards and his team provide arguments and some evidence against legislation that would force all superheroes to register with the American government. Comparisons are made with the mutant community and with firearm registration. Differentiations between teams such as the Fantastic Four who do not have a secret identity and publically share their identity are made with other teams and heroes who hide their identity for necessary reasons, not least of which is to protect their family and friends from being dragged into the dangerous and regularly lethal occupation of vigilantism and superheroics. While some of the arguments are simplistic they kind of have to be because this is still, after all, a comic book about a superhero family. The fact remains these are engaging issues that adequately reflect the more wholesome title of Fantastic Four as Marvel’s First Family of superheroes. The B-plot about the D-list villains also plays out effectively in the end but really, the best thing about their inclusion is preventing this storyline from taking itself too seriously.

I appreciate that Simonson kept the Fantastic Four’s first adventure in this volume grounded in the Marvel universe. Not only do we get plenty of guest-villains but Ms. Marvel makes appearance too. The art by Rick Buckley and Ron Lim with inks by Romeo Tanghal and Mike DeCarlo also kept us in a more realistic setting with their down-to-earth art. I’m not familiar with any of their work aside from Ron Lim but their style is classic 1980s art and it works very well. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing about Simonson’s art in the second story. He’s out of this world, as is the story taking place, and while I marvelled at it for the first two issues or so, it got rather tiring by the last few issues. Mostly because it’s nearly five complete issues of characters zipping through Time and Space on Reed Richard’s time sled and battling larger than life cosmic entities. It’s bad because the story is stretched out over too many issues. Moreover, the main story itself feels like something Simonson carried over from his time writing other Marvel series, particularly The Avengers. There are also so many guest characters that they all contribute to nullify the effect of the other guests stars. To name most of the big one, Iron Man, Thor, Galactus, the Black Celestial, Gladiator, Death’s Head and Kang the Conqueror all make appearances in this story. There are also a couple villains which had appeared in The Avengers during another storyline but are finishing up their own story in the pages of Fantastic Four.

The problem with the second story is that it’s a poor story that is nicely illustrated by a skilled artist. Writer-Simonson did a poor job but Artist-Simonson did a good job. The biggest problem is that this story feels very self-gratifying, in part because it feels like a continuation of stories began in different titles, and the result is a disappointing story for the reader. The whole thing would have been better if there was a few less guest stars and a couple issues where shaved off. The stakes get so ridiculously high so quickly and things just continued to get more ridiculous with each issue. There is so much pseudo-science psychobabble that it’s difficult to be invested in anything that’s happening. There are too many wild concepts at play and they’re battling with one another. To end, there are so many strong antagonists at play that the story can’t help but be resolved in a disappointing way. How can the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Thor believable defeat all those villains?

Truly, the highlight of this collection is the first three issues. I’d like to think that the rest of Simonson’s run is better and I hope it is. He’s good at playing with big ideas but apparently a little restraint on his part is needed. I still look forward to the following two volumes but I admit it’s mostly for the art at this point but there is still hope that he’ll write an engaging story. This collection is an oddity as one story shows him as a skilled writer working with other artists and the other story shows him as a poor writer but a good artist. I’d rather read a comic by Simonson that is both well written and skilfully illustrated. Don’t disappoint me, volume 2.

The Blog Fantastic 031: The Forest of Doom review

Sometimes the internet amazes me with its accidental usefulness. A short while ago I was searching for an action packed fantasy novel and so I searched for “best fighting fantasy novel” and an image for The Forest of Doom popped up. Immediately I recognized the cover. This is the book I borrowed from my elementary school library. Except for the words, it was in French book, this was the exact cover of a book that has been in my mind for years. I may even have mentioned it on the blog one or twice. I remember this book because of its striking cover, it’s simply gorgeous, but also because it’s the only choose-you-own-adventure fantasy novel I’ve ever encountered. More than that, I remember there was a character sheet and dice rolling involved. At the time, I didn’t use the adventure sheet, didn’t keep score when I fought monsters, and I didn’t roll any dice. I didn’t want to write in the book because I’ve always taken good care of books. Worse, I didn’t have a way of scanning the pages and making copies so I read without playing but it amazed me nonetheless. Simply put, it was a wonderful reading experience. I never remembered what the title was so I haven’t been able to search for it with any success. Thus it stayed lost to me until a couple weeks ago. Thanks, Internet.

Any fan of fantasy that grew up during the 80s or early 90s is probably familiar with this type of book, if not with this book specifically. Fighting Fantasy books were a huge hit at the time and they’ve had a resurgence of sort in the last decade. Recently they’ve been taking on the form of mobile and table apps with apparent success. For those who aren’t familiar with Fighting Fantasy, it’s a series of novels that combined choose-your-own-adventure books and table top role playing games in the vein of Dungeons & Dragons. The result is a role playing adventure you can play on your own and essentially anywhere. To be clear, the kind of enjoyment you get out of book like The Forest of Doom is more akin to playing a game of adventuring and monster slaying that the kind of entertainment you would get out of a straight-up novel. If you need more information about these books or if you’re simply interested in the origin of Fighting Fantasy, I urge you to read Damien McFerran’s comprehensive history of the series at Euro Gamer. It’s the best article I’ve found on the subject.

The Forest of Doom is the third book in the Fighting Fantasy series. It is written by Ian Linginstone with interior illustrations by Malcolm Barter and a cover y Iain McCaig. The story is quite simple, you are on the edges of a forest when a dying dwarf stumbles onto your campsite. Before dying he entrusts you with a mission to find the legendary Hammer of Stonebridge and he pays you 30 gold pieces for it. You must journey into Darkwood Forest and find both pieces of the hammer as the head and the handle are separated. In the forest you must face all manner of foul beasts and evil creatures. It’s a simple but effective setup for the adventure. “Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need to make your journey. YOU decide which parths to take, which dangers to risk and which monster to fight.” Game on!

I had three adventures with The Forest of Doom. My first one was a blast but ultimately a pretty spectacular failure as far as completing my mission. I made it through the forest but I almost died several times and the monsters I managed to kill almost had the best of me. I didn’t find any of the hammer pieces and when I arrived at Stonebridge I met a disappointed dwarf who gave me the option of walking around the forest to start my adventure anew. While do just that I was attacked and killed by Wild Hill Men. I didn’t do anything that I had set out to do. My game was essentially an exercise in putting off the inevitable death that awaited me in the eponymous Forest of Doom.

My second adventure actually went better. I was a little more informed as to what to expect in the forest and so I was able to prepare for it. I went in a completely different direction than my first trip partly because I wanted to explore the rest of the forest and also because I didn’t find anything of value in my first trip. Shortly after I stared the second adventure I found my first piece of the Legendary Hammer. It took a long time and a lot of exploring to find the second piece but I had some good enough stats that I was able to make it through the forest without too much trouble. I had to use my provisions to heal regularly but avoiding death is basically all you need to do to keep going. After finding the second piece of the hammer I fought the Wyvern a second time, it was easier because I had a flute, and walked triumphantly into Stonebridge where the dwarves rewarded me with riches. I’m actually a little disappointing the second go around was more or less easy. It could also be that my first trip into Darkwood was pitiful and my second trip only looks good in comparison.

The third round was actually played by Lisa, my young sister-in-law. She’s twelve and I thought she might be the right age group to really appreciate this kind of book. She also happens to be a fan of fantasy and science fiction movies, many of which we watched together. She was incredibly lucky with her dice roles before the start of the game so two of her three stats were maxed out and the third one was only missing one point to be at its maximum. Naturally, it was advantageous to her during gameplay. She started out being very careful and pretty skittish. She ran away from potentially dangerous sounds or dark tunnels in the ground. After I commented on this she started to be a little more daring. After about two fights with monsters her confidence shot through the roof. She became arrogant and overly confident in her skills as a fighter. At that point she started to actively seek out opponents and she more or less forgot about her mission. In one memorable series of battles, she went down a well and crawled through three separate tunnels not, you must understand, in search of the Hammer of Stonebridge, but in order to slay all of the Gremlins she could find. She found five and none of them could even remotely stand up to her since her Skill and Stamina were so high (she kept her Stamina high by using her meal provisions and regaining her Stamina points when it got too low, which wasn’t often). The game lasted for nearly three hours and she only lost after being killed after restarting from the beginning when she arrived at Stonebridge empty handed. Her stats were helpful through the entire game but in the end, her complete disregard for her safety resulting from the confidence she placed in her Skill and Stamina resulted in her downfall.

It was a joy to play with her. I read the passages in the book, putting emphasis here and there (“The forest of dooooom”, “Out from the shadows emerged . . . a werewolf!”). I also rolled the dice for the various monsters. It certainly made it more entertaining for her because she didn’t need to worry about the rules but they’re simple enough that she picked up very quickly and I didn’t even need to say anything to her. She knew what to do and when and understood why. I also let her do most of the math in her head which is a good exercise for since we often defer to calculators when they’re not really needed. I’m pleased to say she even wrote out additions and subtractions on her adventure sheet when she wanted to make sure she was calculating correctly. Another reason I liked to read for her was that it prevented her from cheating! It’s far too easy to cheat while playing a Fighting Fantasy gamebook but by relinquishing that control to me she was unable to try cheating though she jokingly asked if she could back track a few time knowing that I wouldn’t let her.

I’ll have to bring another Fighting Fantasy book the next I visit because she had so much fun. Even her dad who was watching TV shouted a few suggestions from the other room. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the story’s events that you can barely resist jumping in, even if it’s only temporary. I didn’t have as much fun reading The Forest of Doom alone but that’s ok because I’ve found a partner who’s willing to play along with me. It’s not exactly a two-player game but we made it work and we both had fun. That’s really what these books are about and it’s surprising how invested you get when you’re at the heart of the story and are given control to do as you please. After playing my first Fighting Fantasy book, as opposed to simply reading it like I did when I was young, it’s clear to me why they were so popular before and continue to endure today.

Consider it Covered:

The cover of The Forest of Doom by Iain McCaig is pretty spectacular. Even though I haven’t seen it in several years, I still recognized it immediately for what it was. It imprinted itself into my brain. The forest he draws looks pretty dense and everything looks a little bit sickly. It gives off the impression of danger. The monster is superb. It’s original yet a little familiar; probably do to its reptilian features and humanoid shape. The face has all the elements of a human face (eyes, nose and mouth) but the proportions and shape of those features have little bearing on anything human. Likewise the hands are one finger short and too long to look too human. It’s clearly a monster but it also looks as though it’s a creature that thinks. It looks deadly not only because of its claws, spikes and sharp teeth but because it looks intelligent enough to know how to use them in the most effective ways. What makes this cover so effective is that you feel the danger and the creature’s hand is curled in such a ways as to taunt you to enter at your own peril. Come into Darkwood Forest and see what else you’ll find there. It’s great stuff.

Miscellaneous Reviews 12: Dragon Ball Z Viz Big 01 and Skeleton Crew

Dragon Ball Z Viz Big volume 1 by Akira Toriyama:

I was introduced to Dragon Ball Z before ever being aware of Dragon Ball. Nowadays I consider both series to be one long series as it originally way in Japan. The popular series by creator Akira Toriyama was split into two different series in North America. The first series chronicles Goku’s childhood and rise to becoming the most powerful fighter on the planet. The second series tells of Goku’s ever-increasing strength caused by the necessity of regularly saving his adopted home planet of Earth and sometimes the entire universe. I suspect that even if the series had not been split in two we would still consider these volumes of Dragon Ball Z (volumes 1, 2 and 3 collected together in this edition) as a clear departure from the earlier Dragon Ball volumes.

At this point in the series the story has pulled away from the collection of Dragon Balls which was more of an adventure story with a focus on martial arts. The whole thing was also a vehicle for Toriyama’s sense of humour which dominated his first manga series, Dr. Slump. Dragon Ball Z focused much more on the fighting component and saw characters becoming increasingly, even ridiculously powerful during its publication. Even in the first volume you notice that loveable characters from Goku’s younger years will be playing a much smaller role during his years as Earth’s champion simply because they’re not strong enough to fight along with him against their new enemies. They still maintain a key role in the series but it’s mostly to provide additional character interactions, character development, and comic relief.

The most noteworthy change though is that Toriyama provides one of the most incredible retcon, or retroactive continuity, that I can remember so clearly. He did a radical change in Goku’s backstory by making him an alien. We learn that he’s native of planet Vegeta and he’s a Saiyan, a race of bloodthirsty warriors who completely eradicate planets of their sentient life forms in order to sell off the planets to rich clients. This is where the series attains its vast scope; from now on the outcome of Goku and the Z-Fighters battles will have consequences on the intergalactic scale. There are a few other retcons aside from Goku’s heritage but they all fall under the same category of the story’s overall expansion. We learn that the Demon King Piccolo and his god-like counterpart Kami are not mythological or supernatural beings, they too are aliens. Namekians, to be precise. In Dragon Ball Kami was thought to be one of the higher rankings of celestial officials but we quickly learn that there are other guardians above him with the introduction of King Kay who watches over the north quadrant of the galaxy.

The first three volumes of Dragon Ball Z are very impressive. Toriyama manages to completely change his story from an adventure, quest and coming of age story to a grand scale fighting extravaganza on the intergalactic level. The most impressive thing about this change in direction is that he did it without losing the main elements of the 16 volumes that preceded the arrival of Saiyans on Earth. Indeed, many of the characters from Dragon Ball will be present until the very last chapters of Dragon Ball Z. It’s all very different but also quite familiar, allowing fans of young Goku to join up with new fans of adult Goku in enjoying one of the most popular and loved action manga of all time.

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King:

In an effort to get over my unfounded prejudice against Stephen King and his massive body of work, I’m been sampling some of his books. Even though this is my second attempt to read Skeleton Crew the results have been pretty positive so far. The first time I read this collection of short stories and one novella, I couldn’t get past “The Monkey”. I really enjoyed “The Mist”, so much in fact that I wrote a review of just that story, but everything I read after it didn’t work for me. I wasn’t entirely surprised by this since I’ve found that collections of stories tend to vary greatly in quality and this is true of Skeleton Crew. Some stories were simply bad while other’s had a tone or style that didn’t particularly grab me. That’s not to say there aren’t any good stories. There are but I’m not able to recommended Skeleton Crew in its entirety. Instead, I would recommend the stories I think are the best or at least the most interesting thing and then let the reader decide if they’d like to read the rest. Here are a few quick thoughts on the stories I liked the most.

                                                                                                                                        

"The Mist"

Similarly to ‘Salem’s Lot what makes this story shine is the villagers and how they interact. The core of the story is surviving an invasion on inter-dimensional monsters but the monsters aren’t the focus of the story. It’s a character piece at heart and at just over a 100 pages it pretty powerfully condensed.

"Mrs. Todd's Shortcut"

This is a fun story that also deals with other dimensions. One woman’s passion for finding shortcuts leads her to speeding down roads that few or none others have travelled down before. It has a build but the entire thing is just off kilter enough to work well, even if you know how the story will end by the time you reach the halfway point. I’d like to read more stories like these. There is a definitive supernatural bent but there’s not real horror in sight.

"The Jaunt"

“The Jaunt”, is another story that can’t be described simply as horror though there is a clear horror element to it. It’s one of King’s few (so I’m told) science fiction stories. A father tells his family of the history of Jaunting, a form of teleportation that has been popularized in the future. During the telling he struggles to provide a complete narrative while also hiding some of the more unpleasant truths about Jaunting. He fails by leaving his listeners more curious than informed and the consequence is unsettling.

"The Raft"

This is probably the purest dose of horror in this collection. It’s incredibly straightforward but that simplicity helps it work. Four students go swimming out to the raft in the middle of a lake at midnight. It’s their last time swimming before the raft gets put away for the winter. They’re met by a dark oil slick on the surface of the water which proceeds to terrorize and attack them. It’s a chilling and gory story that completely captivated me. It’s probably the story that engaged me the most from all the other stories in Skeleton Crew.

"The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands"

I like this story more for the bookends than the story of the title. Again, it’s a story told within a story. King creates a gentlemen’s club with a never-aging butler and patrons that all seem to have dark secrets. The telling of “The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands” is one of those secret stories. While anybody with a bit of imagination can figure out why he doesn’t shake hands, the atmospheric tone of the storytelling made it a worthwhile read for me.

"Beachworld"

I found King’s second science fiction story in Skeleton Crew to be a disappointment but it was a good disappointing story. The story is too simple and even though I’ve only read a very small amount of stories by King, it has a pretty common structure amongst his work. Characters come face to face with an incarnation of evil, in this case a desert planet that appears to be sentient, and one of them stares into the abyss and is unable to look away, resulting in his destruction. It’s the one story I would have liked to see further developed as it could have been better or at least more interesting than how it is now.

"Survivor Type"

A man finds himself the lone survivor of a sunken cruise ship. He’s on an island with no food and a large amount of heroin. The story is told through his diary entries which become increasingly disjointed and strange as he slips into insanity. The best thing about this story is that King takes it to its natural conclusion and I appreciated that.

King’s ideas for short stories are generally pretty straight forward with the occasional twist ending. The problem with that is he takes time with his stories. He doesn’t rush to the end and he doesn’t drop the entire idea on the reader in just a few pages. This has the unfortunate consequence of making quite a few stories in this book slow to read and difficult to get through, not because of their difficulty but because it doesn’t successfully engage the reader. On the other hand, his better stories are a delight to read. Even some of the longer ones or those that have a simple idea that doesn’t hide away from the reader or is revealed in a twist ending. Reading “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut” it was clear that she would find a shortcut but what wasn’t obvious is the nature of that shortcut. Add to that a good style and an enjoyable pace and the result is one of the better stories. Likewise, “Survivor Type” and “The Raft” are very simple stories but King’s commitment to taking the story to their just conclusion is what makes them compulsively readable and enjoyable (well, a specific kind of enjoyable – they are pretty gruesome) stories.

                                                             

The Blog Fantastic 030: Dragonsinger review

Dragonsinger is the second part of the second trilogy of the Dragonriders of Pern series. When I wrote about the first part of the trilogy, Dragonsong, I provided some context as to its publication. The same applies to Dragonsinger. Actually, in many ways both books resemble each other. When I started to read the book it quickly became apparent that it’s more of a continuation of Dragonsong than an actual sequel. However I do agree with splitting up the book in two as the first book focuses on Menolly’s life at Half-Circle Sea Hold and her eventual escape while the second book focuses on her arrival at the Harper Hall where she will be receiving her training in harper craft.

I enjoyed my stay at the Harper Hall but I admit that I’m a little bummed out I was accompanied by Menolly the whole time. I like Pern, I really like Robinton and, more importantly, the storytelling in this book is enjoyable. It’s surprising that McCaffrey can write what more or less amounts to slice of life storytelling in an engaging way. There isn’t a villain, there isn’t a fantasy quest or many other science fiction and fantasy tropes. Instead, the book focuses on one of McCaffrey’s main themes: mankind’s ability to learn and improve. This theme is explored on a few levels. One the macro level, the series’ story, there are many elements in Dragonsinger that deal with the development of the Harper Hall with the inclusion of fire lizards and one of the most promising female apprentices. This also ties into the overarching plot of Pern’s reorganization after the return of threadfall in the Ninth Pass. On the micro level, the book’s story, Menolly actually faces a few challenges. Her reputation as a musical prodigy still holds up but she does face a few new challenges. She learns that she has limitations. She’s not particularly good at singing and one of her most valuable classes is singing lessons with Shonagar, the Voice Master.

Another thing that McCaffrey did well was introducing and developing the Harper Hall. Again, this was important not only for Menolly’s story but also the ongoing narrative of the Dragonriders of Pern up to this point in the series chronology. In Dragonflight and Dragonquest the main focus of the story is on Benden Weyr and the Dragonriders. We’re aware of the existence and some of the roles that the craft halls have but this is the first time that a main story takes place within of the halls. It was interesting to see how the storytelling and the organization of the individuals who work and live at the hall resembled the depiction of schools for magic in works of fantasy. I’m not sure if it’s just me or if there really is a comparison that come be made with places such as Hogwarts from Harry Potter and the School for Wizards on Roke Island in the Earthsea series. It must be tricky to write about something not everybody is familiar with. Magic is one thing but music, even though not everybody understands and not in the same way, especially not classical music, must also be difficult to explain to someone who doesn’t have that training. McCaffrey is pretty adept at writing about music in a way that provides detail without overwhelming readers with it. Even though I didn’t fully understand all the musical details, it was enough to allow me to stay engaged in the story and even flesh out additional conflict between characters.

That brings us to my main critique of this book. It has the same problem that Dragonsong had: Menolly is too good at everything she does. Menolly can’t fail and even worse than that she doesn’t even have to try hard. McCaffrey attempted to give her a handicap by giving Menolly an injury in the first book. She sliced her hand open while gutting a fish and she was poorly healed and her hand has scarred over, severely restricting the movement of her hand. Luckily, she’s so still that she can easily come up with variations that will accommodate her wounded hand while playing music on her gitar. Similarly, we learn in Dragonsinger that Menolly’s voice skills aren’t on the same level as her other musical skills. She’s given special one-on-one instruction by the Voice Master and in less than a week she appears to have mastered the art of singing. Menolly is so much better than everybody else that training to develop her weaknesses is easy for her. This kind of behaviour makes for very little conflict and personal growth. Instead of acknowledging her talents and using them in interesting or beneficial ways she’s glib about it. She acts as though she doesn’t realize just how good she is and it makes her unlikeable. What could easily have been an empowering story for young female readers turns into an exercise in arrogance and petty junior-high level drama. When Menolly dislikes a character it’s obviously because that other person is bad and deserves to be disliked. She’s never in the wrong and when others try to point out Menolly’s flaws many other characters come to her defence. The most frustrating quality that McCaffrey gives Menolly is her inability to understand her abilities in comparison to that of others. I think it’s supposed to make Menolly look like a nice person but it just backfires.

Since I’m (re)reading the series in publication order, I’ll be reading The White Dragon next and taking a break from Menolly. I’m glad I read the first two books of the Harper Hall Trilogy as they’ve provided me with a different point of view on the Dragonriders of Pern series but they were also frustrating, albeit in different ways as the principal trilogy. To be clear, I like Menolly in small doses and I would love for her to be given a challenge worthy of her skills as she is quite capable but so far she’s just coasting and it’s boring and frustrating to read about. I’ll be glad to return to the rest of Pern as I’m anxious to read about Jaxom and his white dragon. I’m also looking forward to seeing how the story of Dragonquest continues to develop. I’ll be returning to the Harper Hall Trilogy with the final book, Dragondrums which thankfully deals with another character other than Menolly, Piemur a character introduced in Dragonsinger that I happen to like quite a bit.

                                                                                                                                                                               

Consider it covered:

Here are some quick thoughts on the cover to my edition of Dragonsinger (pictured above). While I really like the Michael Whelan covers for The Dragonriders of Pern series it’s nice to have a cover by a different artist. In this case, Elizabeth Malczynski, who also did the cover of my edition of Dragonsong. Appropriately the focus is on Menolly and her fire lizards. They’re depicted in a stylized way, with very lean and accented features, particularly the wings and the claws. The result is nice but otherwise unbelievable. Like many artists who draw dragons, regardless of their size, I find that the wings are unrealistically small. I find it hard to believe that they could actually take flight. I’m a bit conflicted with this cover because while it’s a rather nice image with interesting details in the windows’ arches and the characters clothing and the scaly little dragons, it doesn’t do justice to the source material. I find it difficult to believe that there is such detailed architecture on Pern. Most Forts and Holds are carved out of mountainsides and it’s very hard to believe that such detail heavy sculptures were carved out of rocks which are likely sedimentary stone. Same goes for the clothing. Pern is a place where animal hide is a staple of everybody’s wardrobe. Fine dresses like the ones on this cover are likely somewhat rare to see. All of this nit picking doesn’t really matter because the artist gets the tone more or less spot-on. Menolly is pleased to be in a place where she feels accepted and many people at the Harper Hall are happy to have her. However, like the back cover shows, some people are less than pleased at Menolly’s arrival and serve as main antagonists to the story. The details might not be exact but the overall image works. My complaints are minor because I think I prefer a cover like this one knowing I have many other covers that portray the world of Pern a bit more accurately. 

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods review

Like most other Canadian or American fans my introduction to Japanese anime and manga was through the Dragon Ball Z TV series. I remember being mesmerized every time the show was on. I didn’t have cable as a child and the only time I could watch it was when we visited my grandma. Lucky for me we visited often. Still, I only caught episodes sporadically here and there and my friends at school would fill me in on the episodes I missed. A few years later I got to watch both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z from start to finish. I loved it. Not just because of the crazy action and the innumerable types of power-ups. That was all good but what differentiated Dragon Ball Z from the rest of the action and brawling anime then and since was the characters and their zany humour. They’re well designed but they’re also individualized more than you were used to seeing in anime of that time period. Looking at a group picture of the main Dragon Ball Z characters you can easily spot your favourite characters because they personalities shine through in the way they’re illustrated. It was the beginning not only of my interest in Akira Toriyama and his body of work but also of manga and anime. Something that I continue to enjoy to this day though with a bit less excitement than I had when I initially started to explore manga.

The story of Battle of Gods takes place near the very end of the series, somewhere around the middle of the ten year jump before the final two chapters of the manga. Buu has been defeated and the Z-Fighters are enjoying their peaceful lives. Many galaxies away Beerus, the God of Destruction, wakes up after 39 years of sleep. He set himself an alarm to wake up because of a prophecy he heard that announced the arrival of a legendary Saiyan warrior. He’s interested in finding the Super Saiyan God and challenging him to a fight. Accompanied by his aid Whis, he makes his way to Earth where he thinks he’ll have his best chance of finding the Super Saiyan God because of the relatively high presence of Saiyans and half-Saiyans. On Earth both new arrivals crash Bulma’s birthday party. Eventually Beerus’s temper gets the better of him and the Z-Fighters are once again Earth’s final line of defence.

I quite liked Battle of Gods. My summary makes it sound like the plot resembles the plot of many other Dragon Ball Z stories. It’s true the series because pretty formulaic. The feel and tone of the movie fits quite nicely with the tone of the series. The focus isn’t on the action, it’s on the character interaction. There is an equal amount of time spent showing the events of the birthday party than there is devoted to the God of Destruction and his search for the Super Saiyan God. Nearly all the heroes of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z show up and it’s delightful to see them spending time together. Emperor Pilaf from Dragon Ball also makes an appearance. With the aid of Mai and Shou he attempts to steal the Dragon Balls to become rich. The goofing around that takes place in the story makes it pretty evident that Akira Toriyama played an active role in the development of the movie.

Unlike most of the previous 17 Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z movies, this one fits nicely in the timeline of the show. It’s not an alternate universe version of characters and stories. It’s set in the same timeline as the series and deals with the same incarnations of the characters we’ve come to know and love. To make things better a lot of the voice actors from the show returned for Battle of Gods. I would have been happy with another movie that didn’t fit with the show, another movie that didn’t “matter” but the fact this this one does fit in and feels like it matters makes it that much more enjoyable to watch. Granted, making a new movie in this franchise is definitively nostalgic but I don’t mind because it does something that the last few movies didn’t focus on. It’s refreshing and it makes it easier to forget the impulse to make yet another movie in this series.

That being said, this isn’t a perfect movie. There are a number of things I didn’t like and would like to see improved in the 19th Dragon Ball Z movie that is already rumoured to be in production. The first thing that comes to mind is that the movie introduces yet another Saiyan transformation form. It’s simply unnecessary at this point. It’s not nearly as exciting or meaningful as it’s intended to be. It also seems an odd choice of fighting technique to hinge a movie on considering how long it’s been since the last movie. I would have been just as happy to see character perform some of their classic techniques instead of being ridiculously outclassed and easily defeated.

I also wasn’t a fan of the animation. It was inconsistent and it didn’t transition well from the more traditional animation to the computer animation. I like how crisp the animation looks but the computer generated stuff just sticks out like a sore thumb. It doesn’t belong. Likewise, the camera angles used in the final battle is a nice touch but it’s too much. In the movie, characters that have spent years watching high speed battles admit to not being able to follow the fight between Beerus and Goku, that’s a problem. If the characters can’t follow the fight how are we, the viewer, supposed to be able to follow along? The animators’ intentions are obviously to provide fans with a fantastic battle scene and I appreciate the effort to show us something we haven’t already seen in the hundreds of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z episodes and previous movies but it fails. It’s flashy, unnecessary and ineffective. I would have preferred a movie made with only a single style of animation. I’m in support of a sleeker looking Dragon Ball Z but preferably something that also keeps the classic feel and look of the series.

Even the villain introduced in the films harkens back to some of Goku’s first adventures. Compared to many of the series’ villains were actually quite evil while others were simply goofy, yet powerful. Beerus falls into the latter category. He’s an antagonist, clearly, but I wouldn’t consider him evil. He’s too much of a buffoon for that and his main interest in the movie is similar to one of Goku’s own personal interest: he just wants to match his fighting strength to another extremely powerful being. For someone called the God of Destruction, destruction doesn’t appear to be on his mind as more than just an afterthought. He’s still threatening and works well as a villain because the movie does take the time to establish him as a threat but Beerus goes around seemingly in an attempt to undo the scriptwriters work and find an opponent to fight.

The movie is quite enjoyable. Most characters have their moments to shine. Oddly enough, my disappointment with this movie lies with the animation and the final battle scenes. You would think that having a new Dragon Ball Z movie would mean a movie with better animation. That’s only partially true as half the movie is very good and the other half is terrible. One of the staples of Dragon Ball Z is the battles and the ones in this movie are good but they’re not nearly as good as I was expecting nor are they as good as what we’ve seen in the series. The new Super Saiyan form is also unnecessary. Those problems aren’t enough to make this a bad movie though because the characters’ interactions, including new characters such as Whis and Beerus. It’s goofy fun and it works because it’s consistent with how we’ve seen the characters before. More importantly, the fighting and action in the series has plateaued, perhaps even on more than one occasion. The story formula of the series has been used to death and it’s nice to see Battle of Gods play around with that, albeit only a little bit. Dragon Ball Z is a classic and loved anime series not only because of the action but because of the characters and their odd-ball personalities. It’s refreshing to see a movie that focuses so much on heroes and villains goofing off. In many ways it feels like a throwback to Dragon Ball where humour was as much a part as the show as epic battles in which the universe hangs in the balance.