Quarantine Control #51: Man, I Wish I Had an Alchemist

It’s been documented several times over the last month that we’re nearing the end of this COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to vaccine distribution. But “nearing” couldn’t have been emphasized enough. From here, people around the world needed to use their brains by staying vigilant and taking precautions to prevent further spread. It shouldn’t be a surprise by this point that they have not.

Cases are trending upward in several countries and states within the United States, because like impatient junkies, people stopped social distancing too early. They weren’t all on Spring Break either. States and countries loosening restrictions didn’t help, and gave the wrong impressions.

You know where the best place to remain is by now, unless you have to go out. It’s the place where you can watch and play entertaining stuff, like we continue to do.

 

Geoffrey Barnes

Hey, I watched more anime.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009)
Source: HBO Max
Episodes: 1-32 (of 64 total)

I’ve both read and heard for years that Fullmetal Alchemist was one of the best shonen titles released in the anime and manga world in the 2000s, and that Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was the superior of the two anime adaptations. But I am a stubborn fool and refused to watch Brotherhood before tackling the 2003 TV series, because that’s just how I am. I want to see everything in order, and the supposed-inferior work before the superior one, unless the inferior one is egregiously terrible. I enjoyed the original series when I watched it a year ago (one of the first anime series I watched after stay-at-home orders started rolling out around the US), so I didn’t regret this plan. But I didn’t want to watch Brotherhood immediately after finishing it for fear that I would have been too tired of it by the end. Neither of these series are short, after all, and Brotherhood is a little longer.

I knew Brotherhood would be better, being a direct adaptation of the Hiromu Arakawa manga series instead of a loose adaptation based on it. I was not prepared for how much better it would be.

The early plot beats are familiar, from aspects of the manga the 2003 anime almost directly adapted. There’s, for instance, the flashback detailing how protagonists Edward and Alphonse Elric lost their limbs and body, respectively, and what their largest itinerary is on their quest. There’s also the battle against Father Cornello and their befriending of Rose. Not all of the stories in Brotherhood take place in the same order, and the conclusions have minor differences in a couple of cases, but they’re largely identical.

But even with those familiar stories, the quicker pacing was appreciated. There were several small stories that took two to three episodes to resolve in the 2003 anime that finished in one episode this time around. It’s amazing what not having to worry about catching up to the manga’s story can do for a production.

Brotherhood started off good, but it was around the mid-teens when the series started gripping me, the point at which I got into the “just one more episode” groove. This not-so-coincidentally happens around the time when the plot starts diverging from the 2003 series and fully begins to stand out on its own. (Yes, I know it’s the 2003 series that actually diverged, but you know what I mean here.) It’s also when the story starts taking itself more seriously, with less humor being haphazardly inserted into the dramatic bits to try and lighten the mood. The humorous bits never felt out of place, particularly with all the characters who mistake Al for the Fullmetal Alchemist instead of Ed or mock Ed’s height (or lack of it), but it’s later on when the series starts learning the best places to implement the slapstick material.

The only part I’ll miss from the 2003 series is how it gave some minor characters more of a story or involved them further in the plot. Lust, for example, was given several changes in the previous series, to the point of being given a sympathetic background and overall purpose. Not so for Brotherhood, where she’s more of a generic sexy villainess. Sheska was considerably more involved with the plot than she was here, where makes sporadic appearances after first being introduced. I don’t consider this a problem given the place Brotherhood makes for new characters — as in, characters from the manga that never made it to the previous anime.

I’ve already seen enough to conclude that Brotherhood is much better than the 2003 series (which, again, was also good), and I’m only halfway through. There are bound to be plenty more twists along the way, along with what I hope is an actually satisfying ending.

 

Joseph Daniels

I recently was reading a book called Windfall by Tempe O’kun.  It stars a husky named Max Saber, visiting his best friend, an otter named Kylie Bevy in the titular New England town she calls home.  The two were part of the cast of a mildly successful paranormal television show called Strangeville, kind of a cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Eerie Indiana and other shows like that.  Both Kylie and Max have been dealing with the show’s cancellation.  What do you do when something that’s been your life for several years ends?

Life goes on, and Kylie finds herself investigating her own family’s history, for she’s begun to uncover startling secrets, ones that put her own sanity in question.  Meanwhile, she’s also dealing with a sudden romantic interest in Max, one that she has no idea how to handle, or even how to approach him about.  Or whether she even should, what with her family’s history.

I’m loving the book so far.  Tempe O’kun has always been able to write compelling characters, especially of the female variety.  Kylie is such an appealing girl that you can’t help but cheer for her and hope she gets her husky (she does).  Even before their romantic relationship starts, she’s such a cutie, all nervous and second guessing herself and struggling to figure out how to bring up her crush.  Once she spills the beans, she doesn’t lose even a bit of this cuteness, for now she can be even more silly-cute with Max as they figure out how to be in a relationship together.  The book makes having an otter girl for a girlfriend seem so very appealing.

Man, I wish I had an otter girlfriend.

The Helpful Fox Senko-san (2019)
Source: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 12

I also watched some anime recently.  The Helpful Fox Senko-san is about a kitsune who has decided to visit a human named Kuroto Nakano to help him relax and hopefully get rid of an air of dark energy that seems to be following him around.  He’s a workaholic who often lets himself be talked into staying late and has little to no energy left to do what needs to be done at home.  He doesn’t even have time to properly feed himself!  So Senko lets herself into his apartment and becomes his caretaker.  She cooks meals for him and does his housework.

There are occasional moments in the series where Senko pampers Kuroto directly, like in episode two where she cleans his ears.  Scenes like those feel very much like ASMR videos, a concept which I originally brought up in Quarantine Control when talking about One Room.

And speaking of One Room, at the very end of each episode, there’s a short segment titled Super Senko-san Time.  We watch the scene in first person style from Kuroto’s point of view and, like the title suggests, the scene usually features Senko interacting with him.  This is a true first person style which doesn’t suddenly shift camera angles, unlike One Room.  Whenever Kuroto answers in the affirmative, he nods and you can see the camera move with his head.  In just this last minute or so of each episode, the anime does what One Room should’ve but didn’t.

In episode five, a second kitsune shows up to help, named Shiro, presumably because one kitsune is never enough and there has to be some kind of jealousy subplot in a show like this, I guess.  There’s also a third kitsune that eventually joins the cast near the end of the series.  Despite the antics of the kitsunes whenever more than one of them are around, the anime does a great job of showing just how handy having one around would be.  Doesn’t everyone want to be taken care of every once in a while, to not have to worry about where they’re going to find the time to feed themselves when they get home?

That said, I am getting a little tired of clueless male characters in shows like this.

Man, I wish I had a fox caretaker.

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (2017)
Source: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 14

I also started watching this series, too.  Similar to The Helpful Fox Senko-San, an office worker finds herself suddenly having to cope with being helped by a supernatural being.  In this series, the office worker is Miss Kobayashi and the supernatural being is Tohru, a dragon whom Miss Kobayashi rescues, and this dragon refuses to let such a debt go unpaid.

In fact, because of Miss Kobayashi’s actions, Tohru has fallen in love.  It will definitely not be easy living with a dragon who has decided she’s romantically linked with a human, but I’m sure Miss Kobayashi will be able to cope.

Tohru has a lot to learn about being a maid, she can catch criminals in a single bound and she’s very much infatuated with Miss Kobayashi.  The series is very much a romantic comedy, where Tohru struggles with learning how to properly help Miss Kobayashi and also tries to maybe win her heart, too.

At least, that’s the impression I get from the first couple episodes.  I really enjoy the series so far, as Miss Kobayashi is a breath of fresh air after watching shows with protagonists like Kuroto.  I look forward to watching the rest, especially since there’s finally a second season coming out later this year.  (Not the studio’s fault it was delayed, this is what happens when an insane wacko arsonist attacks your place of employment and murders a bunch of you including the director of the first season of the show.)  There’s just something appealing about not only the idea of having a dragon around, but seeing her in human form with her dragon tail still visible.

Man, I wish I had a dragon maid.

 

The last week should have made it clear that all the conclusions from weeks ago (including some for these blogs) were a little too optimistic. Never underestimate the number of people who can screw up in unison. Yet, the pandemic situation is looking better than it did with people getting vaccinated, so perhaps we can soon get back to more “normal” events by the end of the year — besides mass-killing events.