Quarantine Control #191: The Guild of Blue Titans

DC Staff | November 30, 2023 | Animation, Features, Movies, Reviews, Television | No Comments

Sure, there’s a lot of bad news out there. But something very, very good just happened: Henry Kissinger has died. The man was a well-known war criminal for bombing and calling for the bombing of several countries around the world, not even waiting for congressional authorization to do so. There were memes about how he just wouldn’t die despite deserving it, to the point that Twitter accounts and websites were made about it. Comeuppance was bound to come eventually, and man does it feel sweet. It’s even better that he went out before former president Jimmy Carter, who continues to live in hospice care. The Kissinger Pack was smoked last night.

Angela Moseley

Attack on Titan Final Season: The Final Chapters, Special 2 (2023)
Source: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 1 movie-length episode

When I originally started Attack on Titan a decade ago I didn’t think I’d be waiting quite so long for the conclusion of this show. Of course, no one saw a gap of four years between season 1 and season 2 coming. Afterward, no one predicted the show being handed over from Studio Wit to MAPPA and season 4 taking another three years to complete. The manga itself wouldn’t end until 2021. Still, fans of the animated adaptation traveled a long journey and the end is finally here. What I found surprising is how few people in my anime circles actually discussed the ending of this show. It could be a side effect of Twitter swirling the drain after new management took over, but I didn’t see much in terms of conversation on Mastodon or Bluesky. Perhaps I might have become TOO good at dodging spoilers regarding franchises that catch my interest. Or more realistically, I’ve just been too busy with life to seek out said conversations and they no longer passively come my way.

I will say I am annoyed at how long it took to wrap up the final season of Attack on Titan. Again, we’ve been on this “final season” for nearly three years now. Even so, I’m grateful this series has received a proper ending when so many other anime adaptations are either never finished, have an anime-only ending, or are revived long after the manga ended. As for the ending itself, I’d been hearing since 2021 how many people found it to be disappointing. I went in with dread and came out with mixed feelings. I certainly didn’t hate it, but I could see why purely in terms of story it left a bad taste in people’s mouths. It was the very definition of a bittersweet ending, with a heavier emphasis on the bitter side. I feel Attack on Titan was brilliant in its subversions and executions, yet this story wasn’t meant to have the rosier outlook that people might have wanted.

The action picks up right where the first special left off. The Scout Regiment teams up with the surviving defectors and warriors from Marley in order to confront Eren directly. At the moment their plan is to sever his connection to Zeke, aka the Beast titan, in order to stop the Rumbling. As they battle atop Eren’s gigantic Founder Titan, the Rumbling continues. Entire civilizations are trampled into dust, people who are unaware of Marley or the Titans find themselves crushed underfoot, and even wildlife and habitats are destroyed. The remnants of humanity try their best to flee.

Knowing what’s at stake should they fail, the Scouts and the Warriors try to find Zeke, but Eren and Ymir put up an impressive defense. Ymir being the Founding Titan has the power to recreate past Shifter Titans who all gang up on and slowly start to overwhelm the Scouts. Worse yet, Armin, their trump card with his ability to explosively transform into the Colossal Titan is kidnapped by another Beast Titan. Seeing the plan start to fall apart, Pieck, the Cart Titan, attempts to separate Eren from the Founding Titan’s body with explosives. Unfortunately, she’s pinned by another titan and is unable to press the detonator. As the situation starts to look hopeless, Falco arrives to help the group with Annie and Gabi in tow, his Jaw Titan having gained the ability to fly thanks to its massive wings. Finding their resolve yet again, the group charges in this time determined to stop Eren once and for all.

First of all, let’s start with the high points. The animation here is beautiful. MAPPA being the ones to animate season 4 meant it looked a little rough at times. A few years later, this is clearly a studio that has found their footing and the budget to give Attack on Titan an incredible sendoff. When fights occur, the animation is always fast-paced and fluid. The dizzying angles provided by the Scouts’ OMD gear are in full play, and makes for some unique shots and crazy angles. This uniqueness is one of the things that make you appreciate how well animation can look when it has a proper budget. The titans this time around more mostly CGI, but fortunately they don’t really clash with the 2D animation.

In terms of plot, the series already revealed its right hook with the end of the Final Season episodes and the first special. Eren has already made his choice regarding all the power he has amassed and how he will unleash it on humanity. At this point we’re merely witnessing the aftermath of such a monumentally destructive decision. As the Scout Regiment tries their best to stop things from getting worse, we have Eren basically justifying his choices to his friends.

Your mileage will vary on how much you agree or disagree with Eren’s reasoning, but no one disputes how gruesome the results of his actions are. Personally, I feel like there could have been another way if Eren had been a little less prideful or a little less brash in his decision-making. A less destructive solution was implemented only after the chaos, and it simply had me shaking my head. At least the show and various other characters go out of their way to admonish Eren for the choices he ultimately made. Considering the kid’s attitude at the start of the show and what he does by the show’s end as an adult, one can only marvel at the bitter irony of it all.

Attack on Titan also makes pains to once again state that fascism and genocide are bad, perhaps for the fans in the back who may feel otherwise. You know, the same fans who might look at Star Wars or Star Trek for their cool tech or fun stories, and completely miss the political allegory. Yes, Attack on Titan has its own political allegory and whether you feel some characters got off too lightly or their reasons were justified without their actions being justified, is up to you to figure out. Sometimes communication is a better option than straight-up violence, and the end of this series is as timely as hell. And yes, I’m thankful Eren’s not hailed as some kind of hero by the story itself.

After more than a decade after its premier, Attack on Titan has finally come to an end. If you’ve been holding off on the series until now, it’s a great time to dive in and find out why AoT has been such a phenomenon. The premise takes a wild turn in the final quarter of the series, but unpacking the mystery and the political intrigue is a fun part of the journey. The ultimate message avoids being too bleak, thankfully. Although the execution of the final chapters of this story may be hit or miss for some.

Geoffrey Barnes

Blue Beetle (2023)
Source: Max
Episodes: 1 movie

The fix for Blue Beetle was in from the start, even though Warner Bros. should have always been impressed with whatever results it garnered from the box office run. The movie was among the doomed slate of DC movie films due for release this year, alongside Shazam: Fury of the Gods and The Flash and the still-upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, all of which were being released before the grand DC Universe reboot from James Gunn and Peter Safran. This gave the feeling of the 2023 movies not mattering in the future grand scheme, with most of the stars being on their way out, or potentially taking different roles.

Of these, Blue Beetle was bound to suffer the most, thanks to being nowhere near as established of a name. It was the kind of property that would be tackled several movies into a Marvel Cinematic Universe-style plan. It was always risky, despite the movie originally being planned for a direct-to-streaming release on HBO Max. The fate is unfortunate for one of the better superhero movies this year.

The movie focuses on the exploits of Jamie Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), a young native of Palmera City after graduating from Gotham Law University. He hopes that it will be easy enough for him to find a job, only to discover that his family is in dire financial straits, a fact that was kept from him to not distract him from his studies. It’s as he’s looking for a new job that he stumbles upon a special bangle that looks like a metallic beetle known as the Scarab, which he and is family of course open despite being ordered not to. It wouldn’t have been much of a movie if they didn’t. The power in the bangle bonds with and establishes itself within Jamie, leading to him becoming a superhero known as the Blue Beetle.

Let’s be honest here: Blue Beetle doesn’t have the most original story. It’s, in fact, a typical superhero origin tale about an unsuspecting-but-well-meaning individual stumbling upon a special power and becoming a being with powers they don’t understand. Reyes spends a good portion of the movie not understanding his powers and the being established within him… until he eventually does. There are plenty of happy and tragic moments along the way to help establish the motives of Reyes, villain Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), nephew Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), and the Reyes family. No one will claim this movie does anything original.

But originality isn’t always a necessity. The movie powers through this minor criticism through its charms. There aren’t many superhero movies focused on Latin-American families in Texas, and the characters are developed well. It helps that this movie is very much a self-contained tale despite it existing in the now-old DC Extended Universe, as there are no references to other heroes outside Batman.

Look, I’m not going to lie here: This movie seriously spoke to me thanks to how it often feels like a Super Sentai/Power Rangers or Kamen/Masked Rider work. The movie was criticized from the first trailer for looking awfully similar to Power Rangers, but it should wear that as a badge of honor. Blue Beetle himself fights with the aid of more special effects than any of the Kamen Rider heroes, including those in higher-budgeted (though still low compared to Hollywood content) works like Shin Kamen Rider. But that’s not a big issue when the battles and scenarios themselves are fun. It also inherits the feel of Japanese tokusatsu works thanks to its strong focus on family and character development, all for the better.

The acting is also largely solid, with the cast consisting of several younger and largely-unknown (to most Americans, anyway) actors. I enjoyed Maridueña as Jamie, Belissa Escobedo as Jamie’s younger sister Milagro Reyes, and George Lopez as uncle Rudy Reyes. Sarandon was somewhat of a weaker point, though she was hardly bad. (It’s a shame she’s currently being cancelled.) I do think there were a handful of other actresses who could have done a better job, like Sharon Stone, who was first approached for the role. But she’s fine.

Blue Beetle deserved better, and still deserves better in the DC universe. Hopefully Gunn is serious about wanting to keep Jamie Reyes/Xolo Maridueña as Blue Beetle in the future DCU. Fortunately, the reportedly superlative streaming numbers for the film are good enough for Warner Bros. to truly keep the character around, despite the odds being stacked against them considering who’s running the company these days.

Joseph Daniels

I was originally going to write and submit this week’s Quarantine Control several weeks ago for #188, but then The Escapist imploded and I got distracted. As they say, though, better late than never.

The Guild (2007)
Source: YouTube; also the website in the screenshot
Episodes: 70
Tigers?: Look at the screen shot

Have you ever sat down to watch an episode of Friends, only to come away wondering if they gave the show the wrong title, or you somehow watched something else entirely? It sure seems like the titular Friends don’t actually act like friends. It makes it seem like the title of the show is just an ironic name and doesn’t pertain to the series. It’s named Friends but isn’t actually about people who are very friendly towards each other. Maybe I’m just walking in on the wrong episodes but I couldn’t possibly just randomly happen to watch only the bits of the series where the Friends act vapid and hostile towards one another, and somehow I miss the more heartwarming events in their lives.

I remember liking The Guild back in the day because it was about gamers, and my standards were much lower. The plot revolves around a gamer named Codex who is a part of the Knights of Good, a guild in an MMO with the generic name of The Game. The name of the game isn’t important here, what’s important is the guild itself and the crazy antics they get up to in each episode. For example, the first season mostly revolves around introducing the characters to us and exploring Zaboo’s unhealthy obsession with Codex, and subsequent seasons introduce new love interests for Codex which prompt increasingly over the top reactions from Zaboo. In season two, a hot stuntman makes Zaboo want to step up his own efforts to be a man in order to win Codex back, but he woefully misunderstands how romance and women are supposed to work.

In a way, reflecting back on this plot line, it sort of makes me think of one of the aspects of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off that I refused to spoil, but that I might want to someday discuss on this blog. I still wish to play coy about the series at this time, but I will say that there is a benefit to separating gaming and real life. Let’s just say that if you expect that you can get everything you want by beating up on a designated “final boss,” life doesn’t always work that way, and when things fall apart afterwards, you shouldn’t try to solve everything by grinding for ten years and beating up on a finaler boss. In the end, Zaboo has to hear from Codex that they can’t be together and it certainly has an effect on him. By season four, Zaboo is overcompensating for his heartbreak and constantly tells Codex about how happy and supportive he is when she accidentally sleeps with the leader of a rival guild.

The first season really drives home just how awful these characters actually are as people. Clara is the classic neglectful parent who ignores her children in order to play The Game with her guild. Bladezz is an immature teenaged griefer who somehow stays loyal to the Guild despite demonstrating that he has no qualms about betraying their trust. Tinkerballa is very manipulative of anyone she thinks she can get something from, and this includes Bladezz in season two. Vork is the guild’s leader and resorts to barely legal (and blatantly illegal) means in order to get by in life.

The first season also betrays just how low budget the series was, as it looks like it was mostly filmed on webcams. It really shows how different web video used to be, a decade and a half ago. It’s like if you were to look back on the older videos in Loading Ready Run’s library and compare it with their newer output. Nowadays, you really can’t get away with filming something in 360p when your audience on YouTube are expecting at least 720p, 60 frames per second and a widescreen aspect ratio.

When I mentioned commodoreHustle several weeks ago, I was reminded of how Internet comedy shows were, back when Loading Ready Run started the series. Sure, the characters in cH were awful towards one another, but it still seemed like they were all legitimately friends. Or at least, they weren’t so awful towards each other that they were going to destroy their friendships. I can’t help but wonder why the Knights of Good are still friends. And honestly, I blame shows like Friends for teaching its audience that characters are supposed to be awful towards one another for comedy to work.

Friends, of course, isn’t the only show that’s guilty of this. The Big Bang Theory is full of the same kind of humour, the main difference being that the Knights of Good actually look like they’re gaming when they play The Game, whereas the actors on The Big Bang Theory pound on their keyboards and shout into microphones when they’re all in the same room and it’s not really necessary. Admittedly, this is a generalization based on the episode where Sheldon wins and sells the Sword of Azeroth, but that scene has always stuck with me for how over the top and silly it was. It helps that Felicia Day is a gamer and actually did spend a couple years playing World of Warcraft before making The Guild, so she knows how to make it look like she’s actually trying to play a video game.

I’m going to assume that most guilds aren’t like the Knights of Good, but it makes me feel so much better about my decision to mostly stay out of guilds in Final Fantasy XIV. I have a few that I’m friendly towards, but I’m an independent player.

Anyway, speaking of unfinished business, I also have something from last week that I should address.

SK8 the Infinity (2021)
Source: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 12

I was right. The skateboarding scenes are indeed animated much better than the ones in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

This Week’s Short Film
Since we’re on the subject of classic Internet content…
Cows With Guns (2003; uploaded 2006)

Kissinger may be gone, but there are plenty of other ghouls who should disappear sometime tomorrow. There won’t be a list here, but you can use your imagination. One of them is even running for president again. Until next week, everyone, in the last and very Naughty and Nice month of the year.

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