Laputa: Castle in the Sky

Laputa: Castle in the Sky / 天空の城ラピュタ - H. Miyazaki

Laputa: Castle in the Sky - Anime - Hayao Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli

This animated fantasy-adventure film comes from 1986, and is Studio Ghibli's first release. 

I've seen and enjoyed a lot of Studio Ghibli's work, such as Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Princess Mononoke (1997), and a few others. The earliest work I'd seen by Miyazaki was Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), and I've always been curious to see how the earlier works stand next to the bigger titles in the Ghibli catalogue. 

Just like anything from the 80's, whether it be film of music, Castle in the Sky has that certain unmistakable 80's vibe and quality to it, and the style reminds me a little of 80's cartoons like Ulysses 31 and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. I think it's the art style but also the surroundings of the fantasy elements that make me drawn that comparison.

What I've always liked about Studio Ghibli was their work was sublime compared to Disney animation, and their stories were always more immersive and not broken up by annoying singalong songs, but concentrating on adventure and storytelling prowess orchestrated through superior animation. I'm not an anime or animation expert, but I've always enjoyed anime that is accessible to a wider audience and doesn't have the characters emoting in the typical trope that anime is now known for. That's why a lot of 80's stuff sits well with me.

Castle in the Sky isn't as glossy or as rich as the studio's later releases, but I really enjoyed the story complete with sky pirates, a floating sky castle, and a mining community town. Oh, and a magic crystal and a lost civilisation! The action scenes are superb, and there's some romanticism elements later on where some of the art direction comes across as really gorgeous.

This title really provides wonderful storytelling and adventure, something that both adults and children would be thrilled by, and as I grow older, it's the charm that these films offer that I find so endearing.

It's classic fantasy delivered in a sublime fashion by Miyazaki, and perhaps at this stage in Ghibli's catalogue is perhaps only missing the full musical score to go with it (although what is there is pretty decent, just not as prevalent as later releases). Ghibli's works later become a lot grander and richer in scope, but the substance and qualities of this film offer something uniquely nostalgic for fantasy fans of the 80's. 

Castlevania TV Series

Castlevania - Netflix TV Series - Warren Ellis

Castlevania is a video game series by Konami, but in this post, we're discussing the Netflix animated series produced written by comic book legend, Warren Ellis. I have watched the currently available three seasons, and eagerly await the fourth. As the reader, you will find this post spoiler-free.

I can't ignore the origins of the series, which is worth discussing. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, released back on the PlayStation 1 in 1997, is hailed as one of the best video games of all time. However, the first two seasons of Castlevania adapt a much earlier game in the series, Castlevania III that was released way in 1989 on the original Nintendo (NES), which received moderate reviews.

Honestly... whether you have an interest in video games at all, let alone Castlevania, is irrelevant. I for one have played only a few hours of the first Nintendo DS release, Dawn of Sorrow, and whilst I enjoy it as a game, as I do Nintendo's Metroid games of the same genre, I find them difficult -- even more so on a handheld system as I suffer from hand cramps when using them.

Castlevania is a strange thing to adapt, especially from the third game in 1989, as video games weren't known for their storytelling prowess back in the 8-bit era. In fact, the third season adapts the 2005 entry, Curse of Darkness, which was released on the PlayStation 2. which actually received mixed reviews.

There is a dark fantasy world depicted in these games, of which the series boasts a whopping thrity-one titles. The games are feature vampires, vampire slayers, curses, monsters, monster slayers... but also quite a lot of video game lore, which for a series spanning multiple decades, isn't surprising.

What is surprising, is that the games haven't seen a release since 2014's Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, from the PlayStation 3 era, and that Konami, insead of giving gamers a new Castlevania title in this now six year hiatus, instead decided to produce an animated TV series distributed by Netflix.

What surprises me me, as a comic book fan, especially of Warren Ellis and his work on comic series like Transmetropolitan, Hellblazer, and X-Men, is that via my research, I've discovered that Ellis didn't even know what Castlevania was when this was pitched to him twelve years ago. The main thing of note wrote Ellis' works, is that he has written for Marvel animated series before, and even the widely acclaimed horror video game, Dead Space.

My surprise doesn't end there. My fiancée, who is not an avid comic book fan, or gamer, marathoned the entire series on Netflix, and wanted to rewatch it with me.

Nor does my surprise even end there. I was surprised at how good the quality of the writing was: the plot; the turns and twists; and, the characterisation and quality of English voice acting from The Hobbits'  Richard Armitage and Graham McTavish, amongst others delivered so well.

Whilst produced by experienced Japanese animators, Castlevania doesn't feel like Japanese anime (of which I am not an expert), with all its usual tropes and clichés. I actually felt that the quality of writing was on par with Game of Thrones' first four seasons.

We had a climactic finish in the first season that opened the story up to a wild, spiral of plotting and intrigue, followed by excitement and wonder throughout. We have character redemptions, and characters portrayed as truly grey: neither atypical evil villians or good heroes. Of course, each episode is condensed into a mere twenty minute run time, and the first season is only four episodes, but such constraints for me now make sense as to why they hired Ellis with his experience of writing Dead Space and comic book issues.

This is a true gem of a well-written series, whether you have an interest or not in video games, comic books, or animation. I think after the bitterly sour taste that the ending of Game of Thrones still leaves me with, there is more to explore in what you could call an alternative to big budget media.

Animated series, video games, and comic books: I feel this is their time to be noticed now more than ever as a salvation for the storytelling abilities power house productions have failed to achieve. They are a viable solution in tackling the greed, egos and overall derailing we saw from the directors and celebrity actors in larger budget releases, and the aforementioned areas are ones where I certainly am going to be dwelling in for a while, and perhaps blogging more about with an open mind.