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When your clan leader starts demanding his son kills him in ritual combat, it’s gonna furrow a few brows!

There’s not going to be an update next week as the holidays have finally caught up to me! regular updates will continue the week after (granted, we’re getting pretty close to the end here, folks). We here at Bushido Studios apologize for this delay and throw ourselves on our blades in dishonor. Joe, you go first. (Have I made this joke previously in the past 17 years? I legitimately can’t remember)

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Oh hey, I haven’t drawn those guys in a while! Well, at least Ryoku I haven’t drawn in a REALLY long time…

I saw Bumblebee yesterday, and it was alright! I would describe it as ‘amusing’, which is a significant step up from the Bayformer movies, which I would describe as ‘torture’. Sitting next to them, Bumblebee feels like a masterpiece of cinema. The movie is a little too Saturday-morning-cartoon with its logic and a little too roller coaster with its tone to be a great movie, but it’s got plenty of 80’s music, enjoyably hammy characterization, a handful of effective emotional moments, and transformers that actually look like the toys. And it’s actually under two hours long! nice! (I am of the opinion that movies based on 80’s kids merchandise should not legally be allowed to run longer than two hours.)

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Come on, Ken! Suzuka has spies and knows the guard post changes, and maybe it’d take a few more minutes, but…oh well.

I hope everyone had an already holiday thing! I finally saw Into the Spiderverse, and I think it’s my favorite movie of the year, and easily my favorite Spiderman movie! Good stuff, highly recommend and all that. Also finally started playing God of War, and it is also quite good. I’m getting in the best of 2018’s media right at the tail end.

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Yep, just a normal day at Wataro Castle, nothing weird about this.

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And we’re back! And so is Yukizane! Looks like everything’s gonna be OKAY.

I’ve been watching SSSS.Gridman, which, I mean, so far, is GREAT. It has a simple premise, and does a great job of slowing expanding its world while adhering to an episodic format. It’s basically an animated version of a Tokusatsu show, which is a fun gimmick. The animation is also great, as it’s a Studio Trigger project, and their shows are always top notch. I guess I don’t have too much to say about it other than I recommend it to anyone looking for a great anime and the opening theme is just the catchiest piece of Jpop I’ve heard in a while.

I’m also watching my way through Netflix’s She-Ra, and, dang, it’s really fun! The first episode straight up starts off with Adora, a supersoldier badass raised by the evil Horde, entering into mock combat training against rebel insurgents. Not what I was expecting! the story feels like a really clever, contemporary take on the original concept, with an enjoyably diverse cast of characters. It pays A LOT of homages to Star Wars, which doesn’t hurt my enjoyment of the show. There’s a decent amount of screen time given to its villain characters, which helps add some stakes and depth to the overall military conflict, which feels reminiscent of Avatar. I actually think a comparison to Avatar isn’t off the table, She-Ra’s chemistry feels very similar. I haven’t finished the first season, and it’ll likely have more seasons to come, but it may end up being one of the stronger kids’ action cartoons on offer, especially if it keeps raising the stakes and its story arcs carry enough emotional impact at their climax. Also, the show has a really good soundtrack (not including the super corny 20 second opening song).

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Oh, who’s this now?? (honestly, I’m sure we all know who it is.)

NO UPDATE NEXT WEEK
Hope everyone had a satisfactory holiday weekend. It slowed down page production on our end, so there won’t be an update next week. I want to try to use the extra time to finish inking more pages and get a little buffer going. The pages are drawn and written well in advance, but inking and coloring are pretty much happening week by week!

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Hirotomo likes to go big or go home!

I saw Overlord yesterday, it was quite good! It was full of solid characterization, expertly maintained high tension, and well utilized tropes. I’d say the one big let down is that there’s actually not enough nazi zombie stuff! And it maybe could’ve worked at being a little more clever with its plot twists, red herrings, and jump scares. Still, despite not much caring for zombies, I’d easily recommend Overlord as an exciting, high energy action horror film.

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“Wait, can we pause for a second? I’ve got a long list of questions here and you keep giving me more…”

I know some of you are Brandon Sanderson fans! I’m currently working my way through his latest book, Skyward, which has this comfortable 80’s scifi vibe. It’s borrows a bit from The Last Starfighter, Flight of the Navigator, and Iron Eagle. I’m loving it to death, but maybe that’s in large part because it’s about teenage starfighter pilots, which sounds like a comic I’ve toyed with making myself. It is definitely not trying to be hard scifi, but that’s totally fine, because it’s a ton of fun. Sanderson picks some of the best scifi plot and character tropes to weave into the book, and although I could see the story going down a very overdone plot twist, based on Sanderson’s track record with clever writing, I’m still expecting the wildly unexpected. We’ll see!

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That reaction was…underwhelming.

I just finished up the second season of the Castlevania animated series on Netflix, and I love it. All the main characters get a lot of great moments. I’m not super thrilled about the protagonists spending, like, four episodes in a library, but the backstabbing politics of the vampire court are easily engaging enough on their own. The significant use of game lore is smartly incorporated into the show’s world so it never feels like unnecessary fan service. The fight scenes are beautifully animated, the voice acting is great, the music is suitably moody and gothic, and although I would’ve dug some rockin’ tunes from the games, outside of the epic orchestral version of Bloody Tears in episode 7, it probably wouldn’t have suited the macabre, nihilistic tone the show was going for.

I’m glad Castlevania already has a third season ordered by Netflix. I’d recommend it to pretty much anyone who likes cool, schlocky, violent stuff but also wants a solid story. There have been some game franchises that have gotten decent animation adaptations, but this is still probably one of, if not the, best.

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This was potentially Yori’s best plan to date!  Although, I mean, I’d probably prefer Ken’s.

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