Quarantine Control #29: Relaxing Spiders, Panthers, and Witches

It was easy to relax a bit when Covid-19 cases were falling around several parts of the world hit hard when the pandemic started, shown through how officials slowly reopened businesses and establishments in these territories, albeit with restrictions depending on the location. But this scenario opened the door for the virus roaring back. When people see officials ease restrictions, they believe it’s also fine for them to have gatherings. This has, unsurprisingly, proven fatal, one of the biggest reasons why cases are rising in several parts of the world again. Refreshingly, it’s not solely the United States this time.

Good thing we didn’t do anything crazy like end Quarantine Control. We’re in this for as long as the ride goes.

 

Joseph Daniels

We’re getting closer and closer to the one year milestone of the Covid-19 pandemic and the world is sliding further and further into crisis.  Yesterday, my province broke its record for the most new cases in a single day, and our neighbour Alberta did the same.  While other provinces experienced their own major surges, Barack Obama held Canada up as an example for the United States to follow.  I’m not feeling like we’re setting a good example right now, but admittedly we are still doing better than our neighbour to the south.

There’s seemingly no end in sight and I imagine it’s impacting the mental health of the otherwise physically healthy.  I know I’ve gotten to the point where I would love to just move to the Yukon for several months, rent a cabin or an apartment or something, take a space heater with me along with a ton of blankets and both my current PlayStation (4) and my favourite past PlayStation (2), plus a laptop for PC gaming and anime and just ride this thing out until it’s over.

I’m sure a lot of us are having a hard time getting to sleep, due to all the stress and anxiety.  Myself, I’ve been using TPR’s “melancholy tribute” albums to help me sleep on nights I’m having trouble.  I love his Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana tributes, as well as Final Fantasy X, and I hope someday he’ll do a Xenogears tribute album, because that would turn out amazing.

Yesterday, I brought up ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response in my review of OneRoom.  An entire genre of audio recordings have been created in a few short years to help create this meridian response in their listeners and help them sleep.  Many of these recordings have been uploaded as podcasts or as YouTube videos.  As I mentioned in the review, my favourites are the ones which feature a little bit of a plot to them and offer a first person, semi-interactive experience.  Some examples of this genre include:

PonyASMR Project

Released to YouTube, this project’s videos are very few and far between, but that’s because they release really lengthy videos which also include a long section at the end of them to allow for their listeners to relax and fall asleep, feeling like they’re actually in the presence of a character from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.  There are very few actual videos out, unfortunately, but what does exist is very high quality.  These are my favorites out of everything I’ve listened to.

The Office ASMR – A Podcast to Sleep To

I don’t actually listen to this one since I’m not really interested in The Office, but I gave part of the first episode a go and if you happen to like The Office, this is the podcast for you.  Its creator basically narrates each episode of the American version of the sitcom using his ASMR voice, and releases an episode a week.  The first three seasons have all been given the ASMR treatment, and this week will be the beginning of season four.  There were nine seasons in total, and a total episode count of 201, so this podcast has a lot of ground left to cover.

Goodnight Moon

I found this channel on YouTube while writing my OneRoom review and gave a couple videos a try.  The videos I chose at “random” (I chose videos that sounded like they had an interesting story to them) boast very high production values, excellent set and costume design, and scenarios that are very well acted.  The actress who films each video really plays up the “ASMR voice” at times, whispering her way through her lines as quietly as possible when such isn’t strictly necessary.  Unfortunately, it leans a bit too close to the whispery “wizard state” from Hello From The Magic Tavern for my taste.  However, like I did with OneRoom last week, I’m recommending everyone reading this to at least give the channel a try.

Hopefully there’s something here that’ll help you cut through some of the anxiety over Covid-19 and let you get some rest tonight.  I know it seems like it’s all doom and gloom right now, but I promise that we will get out from under this, no matter how hard certain entitled assholes work to keep the virus active.

 

Geoffrey Barnes

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
Source: Blu-ray
Episodes: 1 Movie

What’s immediately appealing with Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is how it’s an unapologetically “black” film, but doesn’t fit the mold of a black film per se, if you get my drift. It focuses on and serves as an introduction for Miles Morales, an exceptional Afro-Latino student who loves Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and is going through his own high school-aged struggles in life. But his personal drama intensifies when he’s bitten by a radioactive spider himself, and develops powers similar to Peter. It only gets more complicated when he meets a bunch of individuals who serve as Spider-Man or an equivalent to the character in their own timelines and universes, after a machine from the Kingpin goes haywire, hence the “Spiderverse.”

I said this is a “black” movie because the struggles Miles goes through a part of the young black experience, for those who aspire to be better than average in life and run into several obstacles along the way — more than usual. Miles goes through realistic issues, including his relationship with his mother and uncle, but especially his attachment to his father. Miles’ father is a police officer who feels he hasn’t always been there for him enough despite his best intentions, though his dislike of Spider-Man doesn’t help given who and what Miles eventually becomes. The movie won’t put off the kind of person who would say “Oh, this movie is a little too black for me” (not that anyone who’d say that is worth taking seriously), but the story resonates with anyone who knows a similar struggle, so to speak.

His struggles as Spider-Man (this is not a spoiler) serve as a subtle allegory for the struggle young people go through, especially young black men. Simply donning the Spider-Man mask or suit isn’t enough; it requires determination and dedication for aspiring heroes to reach their potential. What’s memorable in Spiderverse is how Miles does so in his own unique way, differing from Parker’s many origin stories. It’s a memorable introduction despite differing from the comics and other works like the Marvel’s Spider-Man video game. It’s memorable because of that, in fact.

The superlative animation helps, with a presentation that at times makes it resemble a high-budget motion comic. The soundtrack heavily relies on hip-hop and R&B tracks, which all fit the movie’s themes as a “black” film.

Spiderverse did well enough in theaters despite being the lowest-grossing Spider-Man film, thanks to moviegoers finding live-action films more “serious.” But watching it now, I feel like it still didn’t get the respect it deserved when it came out two years ago. I enjoyed it more than any other Spider-Man film, including Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the sequel can’t come soon enough.

Black Panther
Source: Blu-ray
Episodes: 1 Movie

Like Spiderverse, Black Panther is also a “black” movie, to no surprise. (I featured both movies this week for good reason.) Black Panther has always been one of the most notable black heroes in comics, those who had to be called “Black something” for readership to identify them as black. But it also resembles Spiderverse in how it’s very much a “black” film that’s not enough of one to push away anyone who’d feel guilty about watching one. The movie serves as a proper introduction to T’Challa, previously a big part of Captain America: Civil War, along with the characters associated with him and the fictional African country of Wakanda. It’s one of the best representations of Afrofuturism in movies around.

Black Panther’s overall story isn’t the most original around, the core drama of which involves one Erik Killmonger, who returns to Wakanda to be their king over T’Challa. In this way, it shows how stories don’t have to be innovative to be entertaining, considering how rare it is to see an African tale like this presented in a cinematic film. The acting chops of the tragically late Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan as T’Challa and Killmonger, respectively, help. This logic applies to most Marvel films.

I enjoyed how Killmonger was a deeper villain than any plot description could let on. His intention for taking over Wakanda was to help distribute weapons and equipment made with strong and resilient vibranium alloy to give rebel groups, especially black-led groups, an edge in skirmishes happening against their oppressors across the world. I can see why this started a conversation about whether he was in the right. But it’s Wakanda’s goal to not further fester violence worldwide, hence their wishes to stay largely isolated. I’m not going to delve completely into the conclusion here despite this movie being nearly three years old, but it’s clear by the end that Killmonger’s point at least somewhat resonated within Wakanda. It’s not a simple tale of right and wrong.

It’s a great film, and I’d love it if a sequel delved further into all the parts of Wakanda that weren’t shown in this film or in other Marvel movies. But the question now is whether we’ll get it. Chadwick Boseman lost his battle to colon cancer at the age of only 43 in late-August, leaving the ideas for a sequel up in the air. They’ll need time to discuss what to do with the next film, but I have hope that it will still come thanks to how much of a deserved cultural phenomenon this movie’s universe quickly became. The question is whether they have to recast T’Challa or make another character Black Panther (like in the franchise’s comic book history) to do it.

 

Angela Moseley

Burn the Witch (2020)
Source: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 3

If you’ve been following this blog for a long time you’ll know that I used to be a huge fan of Bleach. My love of this series ended when the anime ended in 2010 and I decided I didn’t want to follow the manga either. At the end of the day, Bleach had a lot of cool ideas, interesting characters, and a good plot, but the execution fell apart at the end. When I heard that Tite Kubo was starting up a new one-shot project with a more seasonal approach to writing manga (opposed to a weekly format), I was interested. Even better his project, Burn the Witch was getting an anime short. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I figured I’d give the project a chance.

Burn the Witch is actually a soft sequel of sorts to Bleach. It takes place in London instead of Japan and features an entirely different magical society. London is split into two realities. Front London is where life goes on as usual. People are obvious to magic and calamitous threats like dragons. In Reverse London people are able to see dragons and other supernatural creatures. The Natural Dragon Management Agency is responsible for the conservation of peaceful dragons and the extermination of evil, destructive dragons. The agency, Wing Bind is split into several ranks with the lowest ranked members being tasked with dragon conservation.

Ninny Spangcole performs as a singer in Front London while moonlighting as a member of Wing Bind in Reverse London. She’s joined by her somewhat dour partner, Noel Niihashi. The girls protect Reverse London for money and various achievements, rather than for the betterment of society. One day they are tasked with protecting Balgo Parks, a human who attracts dragons, also known as a Dragonclad. His appearance causes several monstrous dragons to appear and Bruno Bangnyfe, a high-ranking member of Wing Bind issues an order for Balgo to be detained and executed. (He makes sure to frame Balgo for terroristic violence to make sure he gets that execution order.) Ninny and Noel refuse to hand over Balgo. Things take a turn for the chaotic when a powerful dragon known as a Märchen and that has given the name Cinderella appears. The powerful dragon is able to shed dust that incinerates everything it touches. Bruno puts his pursuit of Balgo on hold and begrudgingly joins forces with Ninny and Noel to take down Cinderella before she destroys Reverse London.

At times Burn the Witch felt like watching the better parts of Bleach again. Other times it felt like Kubo was inspired by a little bit of Harry Potter and Monster Hunter, and decided to write a story containing elements infused with the stylishness his most popular work. The three episode movie by Studio Colorido was a great introduction, but it leaves more to be desired. Additionally, a lot of material seems to have been left out of Kubo’s manga works, as not a lot is explained about Wing Bind, Dragonclad, or even how Reverse London works in relationship to both Front London and the Soul Society. It’s clear that people gifted with the ability to use magic can see the supernatural and can travel between Front and Reverse easily. I’m not sure if those without magic ability can do the same. This sequel also doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the afterlife like Bleach. If I want to better understand how the world works and the meaning of the terminology thrown around, it seems as if I’ll need to read the one-shot manga.

All and all, Burn the Witch is an easy watch and is only about an hour long. You don’t really need to be a fan of Bleach to enjoy the show. The animation is fluid when it needs to be, the character designs are cool, the monster designs are nice and varied, and the overall look of the show is inviting especially if you enjoy urban environments. My only gripes is how little is explained and how abruptly the movie ends. Hopefully, this short will eventually pave the way for an entire anime adaptation once the manga version is further along.

 

It would be best if no one forgot the pandemic is still out there, and to hold off the parties and gatherings until a better time despite the temptation to do so. It’s also true that leaders in many countries, especially the US, could be doing more to prevent this. We’re all in the “learn to live with the virus” stage, whether leaders are openly saying it or not.