Anime, Cartoons, Comics! Plight Vol. 3, No 5- Terror and Mystery in the Western Frontier

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Welcome to another round of sum_guy’s Plight. Unfortunately, I don’t have a fun theme that connects my pieces to each other so I guess we’ll have to just enjoy them for what they are. Or maybe that’s the theme :p… No it’s not there is no theme.

Featured comic: Essex County

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First up is a Canadian graphic novel by Jeff Lemire called Essex County. This story is told as a trilogy of small town tales that revolve around the lives of a few small tall folk from the small town of, you guessed it, Essex County. The copy I have also included an additional two stories called "The Essex County Boxing Club" and "The Sad and Lonely Life of Eddie Elephant Ears".

The art itself is a little rough and sketchy looking, but the stories themselves are quite something; encapsulating a degree of emotions ranging from sadness to nostalgia to heartwarming and repeat 3-5 times over. The themes of each tale is greatly exposed through Lemire’s use of dialogue and really portrays that of small town rural Ontario, Canada. Essex County’s tales are pretty great on their own but they really hammer it home when they connect to each other at the end. It’s safe to say then that Lemire couldn’t have done a better choice telling this through the graphic novel medium as without it I don’t think it’d be that special; and this is saying something with some pages being composed of either simplistic dialogue or silence.

Seriously, if there’s one piece I urge you to read at the end of this Plight it’s this one as I simply couldn’t put it down and I had to continue and finish the tale. It’s a great palette cleanser in both art and story from what’s been out from a bit. That and Lemire is the guy who revived people’s interests in the paltry Nu52 reboot of Green Arrow.

Featured anime: Zankyou no Terror/ Terror in Resonance

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Second piece on the list is Terror in Resonance. The show itself spans 11 short episodes, and frankly could have done with a bit more. The plot follows the story of two young terrorists going by the alias of Sphinx who decide to "wake up the world" through a series of terrorist attacks in Tokyo, Japan. In the process of one of the attacks, the two kidnap and enlist a young woman holding her hostage as insurance from the police, and to keep their identities somewhat secret. What follows then is a game of cat and mouse between the police and Sphinx with the threat of attack escalating to possible nuclear nuclear bomb.

Despite my concerns with the amount of episodes, the show itself is pretty good and a friend of mine recommended it to me praising the uniqueness of the setting and how great the art looks. In particular there’s a specific scene near the end of the season that probably had the best use of animation and soundtrack to convey both the stakes and a range of emotions (Also helps Yoko Kanno is the one doing the score). Again, there is some negative opinion in the fact that a couple more episodes could help develop some of the characters or make their largest threat feel very consequential. Also, if you recalled my thoughts about it on an earlier plight, you’ll likely share some initial frustrations with the characterization of the young woman who is held hostage as somewhat underdeveloped. However, upon some post show reflecting it made sense to see why acted as she did and helped put this show as one my of my Plight approved pieces..

Featured cartoon: Mike Tyson Mysteries

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I actually came across this one on a whim in trying to get caught up on Adventure Time. Basic premise: Mike Tyson (voiced by Mike Tyson), a spellbound pigeon, a sassy ghost, and Tyson’s in-show adopted Korean daughter travel the world Scooby style to solve the mystery of the week.

Now this is a recent Adult Swim show and each episode has only been about 15 minutes long (I think there are about 6 at the time of me writing this) so expect some weird hijinks and some foul mouthed humour. That being said this show is hilarious and one of the better things showing on Adult Swim. The art style really does feel like something out of recent Hanna-Barbara and I love how every episode ends with a little Looney Toons window of IRL Mike Tyson giving some last words and commentary regarding the episode to some nice calm jazz music in the background of the credit screen.

Oh, and if that is not enough the show is simulcast on Netflix (or at least the Canadian one) and the pigeon as a character was specifically requested by Tyson himself as that’s his favourite animal or something.

Bonus Christmas Episode: Spectacular Spider-Man: Reinforcements

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Both a favourite Spider-Man, let alone a Christmas episode! Peter has to deal with the Sinister Six as all they want for Christmas is Spider-Man dead! Episode opens with snow, music and some Spider-Man Christmas puns. It also continues the "Master Planner arc" and the decision between Stacey and Mary Jane. This was one of my favourite multi-villain episodes in the series second only to "Gangland".

Well that’s it everyone! Plight success and just in time for the holidays ;) Hope everyone has time to enjoy their favourite series and mediums and maybe even make some time for some of the above. Happy Holidays!

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