Conversations: Gundam 00, Part 1

Posted on September 25, 2010 by J Sensei

So Let’s Communicate

Blogging is about communication. It’s essentially a conversation. But, it’s hard to have a one-sided conversation. I’ve decided to start a different kind: blogging interviews with people interested in different aspects of Japanese culture. In this case, a very modern piece of culture.

So, let me introduce you to an acquaintance of mine by his Internet handle, Velocity7.

It’s hard to get an advanced conversation with people at large without going through a few steps first, so let’s plunge in.

Gundam 00 Interview with Velocity7: Part 1

Q. What attracted you to Gundam 00 in the first place?

Velocity7: It was the first show to cover the Anno Domini era, and that we had been hammered with some not so great series (Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny) that I felt it might be a little interesting to see what could happen with the series. Exia’s basic and simple design also held a level of attractiveness that I’m sure raked in many viewers.

Q. What are your general impressions of the show?

Velocity7: Initially, the show started off with some premises similar to Gundam Wing, and eventually got a little boring due to all the stuff being predictable during the interventions Celestial Being carried out. The political aspect Gundam 00 took on was much more raw and gritty, yet at the same time it felt like it was taking energy away from the show. It wasn’t until Lockon Stratos died near the end of season 1, that my interest in the show was reignited and got me to re-watch everything leading up to the season finale.

Following that, season 2 was actually a lot more interesting and more on the sci-fi side of things than political. There were more interesting problems to tackle, and it was nice that Director Mizushima had at least left some things foreshadowed so we wouldn’t be totally surprised by another Lockon Stratos, among other things. As mysteries unraveled, like the existence of Innovades and the evolution of the Innovator, the true purpose of the GN drive, and why Celestial Being did what it did in 2307; everything started coming together and made for an interesting Gundam show that few in the Gundam metaseries could rival.

The show itself was displayed in HD format, the first for a Gundam series. It also minimized stock footage to a degree such that viewers would not even notice; if you look at previous Gundam TV series, often you will find stock footage at least 30% of the time or so. Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny had much higher percentages in my opinion. Gundam 00 had brilliant animation, and taking the time to split the series into two seasons really paid off.

It should also be noted that when the Gundam 00 special editions were put together, Special Edition 1 covered all of season 1, but Special Editions 2 and 3 covered season 2. This goes to show that there was more interest in the latter half of the series, and although the special editions don’t edit scenes together completely well, it still serves as a good summary for the series if you are interested in seeing the movie, Gundam 00: A wakening of the Trailblazer. I’m looking forward to watching that, even if I have to buy it on BD myself.

The best part of the show, is that despite having an introduction not unlike Gundam Wing, it wasn’t like Gundam Wing at all. And that’s a plus, because I was really only able to enjoy Endless Waltz.

Q. What do you think about the central messages of the show? (Communication overcoming war, etc.)

Velocity7: If you watch only the first few episodes of Gundam 00, you will think the message is “War is bad”. Of course that’s an obvious point, but it’s actually not the case. It’s not that war isn’t bad or anything, because the Gundams themselves also take part in war to stop war, a contradiction in itself. Stopping war in that way is not the way to go, and despite that, all of season 1 was a setup for the real stuff in season 2.

The true message of Gundam 00 is that understanding is needed in order to achieve peace. Obviously, you can’t expect peace if you try to understand a maniacal killer like Ali-al Saachez (who, by the way, ranks as one of my favorite antagonists), but it also gives you insight into why characters do the things they do. You see the little, minor things that develop, and it helps a viewer understand why Setsuna was a child soldier and ended up in Celestial Being, why Tieria warmed up to human beings, and why Neil was more hotblooded about revenge than Lyle was. But once understanding is achieved between characters, you will find they get along very well, and that is the true message that is being driven home.

Stay Tuned For More About Gundam 00!

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Tokyo Game Show 2010 Footage

Posted on September 25, 2010 by J Sensei

I used to know someone at DigInfo that put this video out. No Japanese to try to mentally translate. Just watch and enjoy.

Games covered: The next fighting games in the Naruto and DBZ franchises, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3, Ridge Racer 7 3D license ver., God Eater Burst.

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Anime Review: Heroman

Posted on September 25, 2010 by J Sensei

So, Did It End Well?

Hell, Yeah.

I’ve been bullish on Heroman for some time. The only real question was if the final episode would live up to the high quality of show that this has become, managing to evade cliches like an agile point guard while delivering a very American feel to an anime show, running a strong 26 episodes.

I am happy to say that the ending did not disappoint: not in tone, gravitas, character development, victory, and triumph.

I’ll say a few words in spoilers below but, let me just say, it’s great, enjoy it, eps would be rated 9 or 10 pretty much throughout, and I strongly recommend it for general audiences (there’s no real gore at all aside from some aliens turned to goo in comic fashion, and it’s green goo so can’t be confused with blood at all).

show

This show has maintained high standards of animation quality, characters (and not cleanly subservient to cliche, which is important for freshness), and an overall sense of, it’s like comic book stuff, but we have not seen its exact ilk before. It’s very nice to see, and most importantly, you don’t feel guilty about cheering for the good guys. That’s an additional factor to me that makes this excellent entertainment and pure fun.

Rating: 10/10. I dare you to watch it and disagree.

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Anime Review: Occult Academy (Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin)

Posted on September 24, 2010 by J Sensei

Normally, I’d review an anime after it ends, but the climax of the show has come and gone with episode 12. So, I’ll proceed here and try not to do any spoilers per se.

One Stop Occult Trope Shopping

This anime takes all your millennial cult stuff – Nostradamus, mothmen, little green men, ghosts, ghouls – and combines them with further fantastical elements such as magic, a time traveler coming back in time to save the world (who ends up being a bumbling secondary lead), and, well, Maya.

Maya Kumashiro, heiress to the academy after her father is murdered.

What a character.

The above image shows her during one of her kinder phases. She has a great facial range and can be very nice, and also, very violent, irate, jealous, incredulous, disgusted, and so forth. She’s rarely honest about her feelings in words, and always honest about them in deeds.

See, Japan goes for the sincerity thing.

Anyway, Kumashiro is a pun.

Kuma is bear.

Shiro is white.

She’s like a sexier female version of a panda bear.

As in, try to cuddle up to her and she’ll claw you from head to toe.

Maya, put bluntly, totally makes this show.

A Fine Cast of Characters

While Maya makes the show, her school friends and other complete oddballs truly make the show compelling. In fact, our time traveler is almost obscenely normal – a necessary feature for this show, frankly.

We have a Total Occult Otaku schoolgirl, a Tomboy Best Friend schoolgirl, an overweight dousing rod specialist (whose rods actually work), a mechanic whose wrenches large and small provide him with some weaponry (serving as a supporting cast character through some of the craziness), and well, the rest would get into spoiler territory quickly.

Point is, the work may be fiction, but the characters are “real” inasmuch they have a ton of genuine emotional content.

This is a Good Thing.

Saving The World From Destruction

See, the point of the show is finding the so-called Nostradamus’ Key, the prophesied bringer of doom that will lead the world to destruction when the year 2000 comes around. In the future, aliens invade and well… think Terminator, without the cyborgs coming back in time (or having to, as the “local” trouble is very considerable).

So this becomes a quest to find the Key and save the world, traveling down a winding path full of hoaxes and “real occult” stuff with a lot of mad twists to it.

But seriously, watch this show for Maya.

I didn’t regret it.

Disclaimer

None of the occult stuff portrayed in the show is real whatsoever… unless you believe it to be.

(Stolen from the show.)

Conclusion: Surprisingly Entertaining

There’s a lot in this show that you wouldn’t think would work out. Also, anyone desperate to find a strong male lead needs to look somewhere else; Bunmei is not it. We have Maya for that.

But, every character fulfills a fine role. If these were real-life actors, we’d be giving out Emmy’s for the acting performances. A character-driven show with characters up to the task can be a very fine thing to watch.

It’s not for everyone, but I rode the bumps and thoroughly enjoyed the high points so I strongly recommend the show. It has been a good ride, and like I keep saying, Maya makes it all worthwhile.

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Anime Review: High School of the Dead

Posted on September 24, 2010 by J Sensei

So, The Anime Is Over.

High School of the Dead ran for twelve largely action-packed episodes filled with modern horror. By modern, I mean sailor fuku, panty shots, and extreme behavior by the humans in the midst of the zombie apocalypse, culminating in a nuclear weapon’s EMP pulse wiping out some remaining bastions of civilization against the undead hordes.

I don’t believe that this is spoiling anything because, put simply, the anime doesn’t “end,” plot-wise; it simply expires.

This is an escapist fantasy. Aside from not having chosen to wrap things up, this whole thing is not something that seems likely to have a happy ending. It is truly an apocalypse, with no hope, but with a core group of vibrant characters doing their best to survive.

Indeed, the whole point of this is wrapped up in the following statement:

“In spite of these circumstances – no, because of them – we are truly alive.”

That’s not word for word but, that’s mainly because the original trailed off a bit. We get the idea.

Pacifism Doesn’t Work On Zombies

Incidentally, love and peace doesn’t exactly work on the zombie hordes. In this show we get to see some people trying it, trying to understand these people, believing them to be ill rather than, well, the walking dead.

It doesn’t work.

At all.

An “Un-Japanese” Love of Guns

There’s some serious envy of Americans with their love of guns in this show. The chubby male support fire character turns out to have some rather wealthy bigshot parents, and thanks to this he was able to – get this – go to America and train for a month under an instructor from Blackwater. Yes, that Blackwater. The one that’s not even called that anymore (it’s Xe) due to its notoriety.

Anyway, the show finds a SWAT sniper in Japan’s top five (female, and friend of the most extremely busty character among the mains, a school teacher) whose house contains a stash of weapons that are, properly speaking, either really pushing it or completely illegal in Japan. Well, we know that a 20 shot clip on one gun is illegal. They’re not going to be arrested for it here though…

Driving Without A License

Early on the leading girl and the main male spot the front end of a cop car while riding on a bike without helmets and without a license. The girl goes on about how they’re gonna be arrested. Funny under the circumstances.

Not as funny when they find that a tractor trailer slammed into the cop car leaving two dead cops (from which one gun and some bullets were scrounged by the pair). But such are the circumstances.

I mean, normally high schoolers don’t get their hands on “real guns” or anything close. That’s why it’s an escapist fantasy, no?

The Extremes of Humanity

If there’s a real point to this, and I think there is, it’s simple: in a crisis, lemmings and sheep get slaughtered. You become a wolf or you join the slaughtered.

It’s not a matter of being physically superior, like being built like a linebacker, or having guns, or whatever. It’s a matter of will and spirit. Whatever form it takes, people can rise up to be counted.

I mean, the little girl the group saves (Alice, age 7) ends up being the gun otaku’s ammo replenishment girl. A little girl whose main job is otherwise to act cute. If she can find a way to contribute during a zombie apocalypse, surely, we all can.

Well, not that we should expect our own zombie apocalypse. But you get the drift.

Conclusion

  • Not for people bothered by gore or strong sexual suggestions.
  • Absolutely fantastic for people not bothered by that.
  • Pure entertainment that should be enjoyed as it was intended.
  • Better than homage, this beats out Western zombie movies.
  • It rocks.
  • Let me repeat myself. It rocks.

Highly recommended, if you’re not bothered by blood and the sexual suggestiveness. Honestly, I’m not a blood loving guy, but on zombies, it’s OK somehow.

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Densetsu No Yuusha no Densetsu: A Rant

Posted on September 20, 2010 by J Sensei

There Be Opinions Here

So, let’s leave the one-time, original purpose of this blog behind. Let’s not focus on language or education. Instead, let’s look at, not culture in abstract, but some very specific things about culture.

Namely, the anime “Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu” (yes, it sounds redundant), “Legend of the Legendary Heroes.”

The basic idea is simple: the Relics of the Legendary Heroes are this sword & sorcery world’s version of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), which the cursed main character, Ryner Lute, seeks for his peace loving, world reform aspirer Sion Astari, himself known as “the Hero King” but in truth, under siege by his own nobles after his rise to “power” in events that very much involved Ryner and his special curse: demon-possessed eyes that can instantly analyze/ copy/ acquire magic spells cast within their line of sight, an effect known and feared as “Alpha Stigma.”

The beautiful, hardcore swordswoman Feris Eris becomes Ryner’s partner in adventure as the two search for relics while… well, a lot of stuff is going on around them and back home. Seemingly almost emotionless from her lack of facial expression, Feris is a very mischievous girl at heart under a very stern exterior, with her own demons to fight well in the past and an older brother whose name of Lucille does nothing to diminish how this “guardian of the King” is… well, a monster. A flat-out monster of immense power. He’s not the only one in this show, either.

Good People, Bad World

This is not the only anime that does this, but it and the novels that spawned it are very… far out in this regard:

These are wonderful characters. Wonderful characters.

Yet the world they live in is plagued by inhuman humans, and not the “cursed” ones, no, it’s everyone else. They’re not subtle about it, either

It’s just incredible. It’s flat out cruel to see the world and specific people in it making these souls suffer, making the world, which is fundamentally populated by ordinary people, a dark and forbidding place under a thin veneer of respectability.

Put simply, the real problem is that a Ghandi cannot reform a world like this without taking up the mantle of a Genghis Khan. Therein lies the problem.

Sion has a very dark – in appearance and in heart – retainer who is, unlike the rest of his staff, pushing him to be the king that he “needs” to be, a king to make the kingdom the greatest in the world. This requires eliminating domestic opposition and creating war to then stop war and look like an even bigger hero. This is work too dirty for Sion to do by his lonesome, and it’d take the shine off him, so Milan Froward is quite happy to do the dirty work – and the dirty scheming – on Sion’s behalf. So, while his best friend Ryner is away hunting artifacts, the kingdom faces various crises and so forth.

World’s Greatest Slacker

Ryner is fundamentally likable for one simple reason: he is a triple-A class slacker, someone who hates to be bothered by things. He hates to be bothered by death and killing and war. He hates to be bothered by the whole business of saving the world. Yet he has a heart of gold under that ボケ (“boke,” glazed look) exterior. He seems like a dolt, but he really is a magical genius who is not nearly the woman-craving beast that Feris makes him out to be (for her own extensive amusement).

World’s Greatest Dango Addict

Speaking of Feris, she is not only a swordswoman of great skill in a nice light purple themed armor (and an alluring blonde, though a dangerously violent one). She is also a complete dango addict, someone who will literally partner with a triple-A class slacker and parade around the known world hunting for artifacts just because her king threatens to eliminate her favorite dango shop.

No, really, that’s why she agreed to this. As soon as she realized he was quite serious, she dragged Ryner off. Again, literally.

Very amusing scene.

Her defining character is really quite simple. She is the one who tells Ryner, at the moment that it really matters, “You are not a monster.” She really believes it, and without a doubt, this saves him from giving in to the possession that usually destroys the minds of Alpha Stigma bearers completely.

Though, Ryner is different/ special. If he wasn’t, it wouldn’t be much of a show.

World’s Most Bleeding Heart Royal

Sion is a sympathetic figure. It’s not that he asked to be king; he was at a royal magical academy because it was a great place to get rid of him when war with a nearby nation broke out. A classmate of his and Ryner’s betrayed the class to the enemy, though she wasn’t a bad person, either, and just wanted to escape from everything. Let’s not focus on her right now. The point is, Ryner’s powers went berserk and he nearly killed Sion and the girl also but found the strength of will to close the cursed eyes even after they had awakened.

So all of a sudden, Sion was a hero who’d defeated (?) the feared (for good reason) Magic Knights of the enemy nation and, due to a… vacancy that developed, he became king, and got Ryner sprung out of death row.

As of the middle of the anime, he stands atop a shaky throne. He has extremely good and loyal subordinates, people who really want to help him in his self-appointed mission to create a kingdom, and a world, where people can enjoy peace and happiness.

This is not going to end well.

The Real Problem

The real problem is… look, I love these characters. Most of the secondary leading characters are also great in various ways. Wonderful character designs. Even Milan, well, I can excuse the fact he exists because without darkness, there would be no plot. That’s not really the point, though.

The real problem is that it’s not a matter of orcs, or Sith, or ancient demons.

It’s the humans who are the vilest, evilest, darkest beings as far as the eye can see.

It’s more than this. It’s the common acceptance of the rightness of evil, of how it is natural, unquestionably practical, and how even casual, smiling cruelty is like having a drink of water. It makes actually trying to good seem like a crazy, foolish, exceptional thing.

I mean, yes, that’s the point I suppose, but when the darkness infects the good characters too, it’s particularly hard to watch. You want to see these things be overcome, but you know that it’s not going to be that simple.

A Love-Hate Relationship

So I love the characters, and I deeply appreciate what they’re trying to do, but it’s just really hard to get past the truly dismal version of humanity that we are shown. Every act of goodness seems drowned out by a thousand evils.

Culture Point: Militarists Are Evil

In terms of Japanese culture, the overall point is that people who warmonger must be really evil because the consequences are so bad for people.

Yet you cannot defeat evil people by pacifism.

This paradox is thought to turn good people bad. Or more to the point:

When faced with impossible choices, we make impossible choices, not necessarily because we ourselves are evil, but because we want to do good.

Yet that is the path to darkness, is it not?

Theme: Friendship

Friendship is something that can get very, very tested, but true friendship rises to overcome well, the sheer awfulness of the world, among other things.

It is this that this series – and the existing line of novels – explores, ultimately.

Conclusion: It’s Not “Average”

I’ve heard people say, “Well this looks like a Slayers ripoff.” I think that’s two things.

A) Art style. Specifically, outfit design style. There is a point here.

B) Feris is basically a Gourry who is female, smarter than a jellyfish, and who has her own very large set of quirks, but well, she’s likable, and she’s pretty good.

The rest is as you see above. The content is a lot different – especially because in Slayers, the worst enemies are, well, demons and stuff.

Here, it’s people, which is compelling – very compelling – but a hell of a lot darker, plot-wise.

In the end, compelling is good.

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Nigirizushi: Hand-Pressed Sushi

Posted on September 17, 2010 by J Sensei

Pressed By The Chef’s Loving Hand

So, to “nigiru” is indeed to grasp. Nigirizushi (sushi > zushi, at the end of a compound word; this makes it easier to say) is grasped by the chef and pressed together. It is formed of some sort of meat pressed on top of sushi. The above picture shows ebi, or lobster, in this case. The meat is pressed on top of the sushi while the sushi is in an oblong rectangular box (which simply means that fish/ lobster face forward when being pressed). The sushi (vinegared rice) thus packed provides a stable foundation, and the nigirizushi can then be served as-is.

A variant is known as the gunkan maki (“battleship roll”), using nori seaweed to form a perimeter around the sushi rice that constitutes a “vessel” that can be filled with soft toppings. This invention, pioneered by the Ginza Kyubey restaurant in 1931, greatly expanded the variety of toppings that could be used with nigirizushi.

Now, for pretty much all of the history of sushi, the idea of this being done by a machine was ludicrous, but you may want to take a peek at the video below. Behold – a robot with a silicon hand that can pick up squishy meat correctly, and put it on top of sushi! The idea was to have something that could save time. I doubt it’s economical, but it sure is nifty.

Incidentally, the meat that is put over sushi rice like this is cut in two and served in pairs, allowing the eater to appreciate the taste more (by being, well, less of a chore to handle). This is sensible. I just wanted to mention this to put the above video in context.

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The Culture of Food: O-Nigiri

Posted on September 16, 2010 by J Sensei

Rice You Can Hold

For once, eating with your hands (in Japan)  is OK.

To nigiru is “To Grasp.”

O-Nigiri (Japanese: おにぎり、お握り) is sushi that you grasp while eating it.

Put simply, onigiri are rice balls with fillings of some kind.

Traditionally, these fillings included:

  • Pickled dry plums (umeboshi)
  • Salted bonito (katsuo-bushi)
  • Konbu seaweed (konbu)
  • Cod roe (tarako)

Cod roe for the Japanese market is actually one industry that has existed for many years in my tiny coastal community here in Nova Scotia, though overfishing etc. has decreased the quantity, and the Japanese economy has not been booming, either.

Anyway, the point behind these traditional fillings is simple: anything salty or sour acted like a natural preservative. The onigiri long precedes the electric refrigerator, after all. (If you didn’t know that, now you do!)

Today, onigiri are highly popular in Japan as a snack food. A wide variety of flavors and fillings are employed. Onigiri are widely sold at convenience stores all across Japan.

Note that the rice in onigiri is actually not vinegared, thus, it is not itself sushi. Nonetheless, onigiri are common, easy to make, and do not require any worrying about servings or other issues a chef might otherwise face, so you will find them in any sushi-ya (sushi restaurant) alongside quote unquote “sushi.” You can’t miss them. They’re everywhere.

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The Japanese Restaurant, Pt. 1

Posted on September 16, 2010 by J Sensei

You Know, The Rice Is The “Sushi.”

That’s right. It’s the rice, not the fish, that is, quote unquote, “sushi.” Sliced fish, usually skewered, is actually called sashimi.

If you didn’t know this, and even if you did, stay tuned for plenty more about the wonderful world of Japanese restaurants.

Sushi rice is actually vinegared rice, with the vinegar providing taste that rice alone would not. Also, Japanese rice is a type that neither clumps together to insane levels, nor is too long-grained to clump properly at all. Instead, it’s a sort of middle ground, requiring paste to really retain a clump. A very common way to get sushi rice to stay together is by using nori, a type of seaweed.

A Fictional Scene

A young man of college student age, named Akira is entering a restaurant with his girlfriend, a woman of similar age named Naomi.

A waitress comes to greet them, making a bow.

Waitress: Irrashaimase. Nanmei-sama desu ka?

Akira: Futari desu.

Waitress: Douzo. Kochira e.

The Translation

Waitress: Welcome. How many are in your party?

Akira: Two people.

Waitress: Please, right this way.

Irrashaimase: A Basic of Hospitality

Irrashaimase is an over-the-top, honorific method of speaking. “Irasshai” is less over-the-top. However, a high class restaurant will use this archaic way of speaking to show customers the highest possible level of respect.

Strictly speaking, in linguistic terms, this is to raise the customers to the highest respect level, above that of the host/ hostess.

Nanmei: How Many Names Have You?

Taken too literally, “nanmei” is a compound word with “nan” being a “what?” type question, and “mei” being “name.” It’s really like asking how many heads of cattle there are in a herd, except we’re talking about people, not cows.

I feel very comfortable phrasing this as asking “how many people are in your party?”

Desu Ka: Polite Question Format

Putting desu affirms the sentence, and adding ka makes the sentence a question. Thus, “How many people are in your party?”

At any rate, it’s simply being polite.

Futari

Futari is a word that is, in kanji, literally “two” + “people.” Thus, two people, a pair, a couple, and so forth.

In response to this kind of question, “two people” seems a good way to look at it, but the word itself is more flexible than this.

A literal “party of two” would be “futarizure” (“tsure” at the end of a compound > “zure”), but what’s the point of being so technical? It’s the hostess trying to bend over backwards so that the guest can relax.

You will see this point arise again.

Douzo

Speaking more literally, we could take this like, “By all means.” That is, by all means, take your time. In reading this too literally, we would miss a more idiomatic sense: “Please.” It’s a gentle and friendly way of saying please that does not imply an obligation, but which confers right-of-way to the customer.

Kochira e

“Kochira” is quite literally this way, as in, this side, in the direction I am standing in.

The particle e indicates a general direction, and not a specific location. Thus, it works hand in hand with “this way.”

What We Didn’t See

We did not see either a copula (which works like is/ am/ are, like desu above) or a verb for the last sentence. Technically we didn’t see a “topic” either (in crude terms, the subject of the sentence) because the customers are well aware that they are the topic.  Nor does the waitress need to spell out that they should walk in her direction. This is obvious.

Japanese is a need-to-know language. If you already know it, people don’t want to say it and waste your precious time.

This is another feature of normal Japanese speech that is good to remember.

To Be Continued…

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Shiki, Ep. 10: Or, The Reason To Watch This Show

Posted on September 15, 2010 by J Sensei

It Took Ten Eps For A Masterpiece.

Not that I’m going to spoil except in the spoiler space, but this is a show that has been accused of starting slowly. This is not wholly without merit. Although we, the viewers, know better, the villagers either suspect nothing, or believe that there is some sort of epidemic that must be kept quiet to prevent panic, and so forth. Only our main character, Natsuno, is tipped off early on that something different is at work here.

Anyway, the bottom line is that the climax that takes place in episode 10 is simply not something that a normal story could have produced. In one blow, every bit of foreshadowing, building things up, creating tension with characters who know that there is no magic solution that will save everyone, and so forth, is justified in spades.

But, I shall say no more outside of spoilers.

What Happened: show

Rating: 10/10. I won’t say that for what preceded this, which I found interesting, but which many would have found slow-developing even as it got interesting, but this is nothing less than a horror masterpiece.

Largely, I don’t really care what happens after this, I will still consider this a show well worth watching. Next week should include info about the background so that we might have some clue as to the why of what’s taking place, which I certainly want to know, since there is a backstory to it that we don’t know yet. (Those who have not read the novel, anyway. I have not.)

But, I write these words for people like one friend of mine who watched two episodes and quit because it wasn’t moving fast enough. Also, for people who will never watch the show, or who genuinely don’t care about being spoiled.

Really, it’s not what happened that impressed me, it’s not even why, it’s how, and making the moment count. I respect that as a writer.

Anyway, those are my thoughts about it. Sorry that they are a little late, I have been a bit ill with a cold, but I hoped this would be interesting as an issue of culture, and not just entertainment.

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