Merry Christmas, everyone! Christmas Day may be over, but the season isn't. As I wished for, I received the Steven Universe complete collection DVD set from my parents Santa Claus. And boy is it pure gorgeous eye candy! There's a lot to look at here, so sit back, relax, and read along with me.
The top image is of course the box cover, and it pops with the rainbows. The art is an image of the Gem Temple and beach house from the show.
The sides of the box also contain great art and rainbow effects.
The back shows the rest of Beach City and a description as well as the logos for the show, movie, and epilogue series.
It is now December, and with it an opportunity to update this blog. Today I'll be talking about the classic 80s cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power. The 2018 Tumblr fanfic reboot can suck it.
I recently started watching this series out of curiosity on YouTube on a curated playlist that has all the episodes in order. You can see it for yourself here. I am currently on episode 18 as of this post, and from what I've seen, it's actually really good.
I unfortunately didn't grow up with this series since I was not an 80s kid and it didn't air reruns on any major network during my formative years. Thankfully with modern technology previously unwatchable titles are now accessible.
The premise of the show is as follows: Adora is a force captain of the Horde, an evil organization that has been conquering planets. One day, Adora finds out that she is the long-lost twin sister of Prince Adam/He-Man who was kidnapped as a child and raised by Hordak and Shadow Weaver to serve the Horde. She discovers a magic sword, and when she raises it and shouts "For the honor of Grayskull!" she transforms into She-Ra. She's like proto-Sailor Moon.
Oh yeah, and her horse can transform too, similar to He-Man's pet tiger. Neato.
Adora leaves the Horde and joins the Rebellion. Keeping her other persona a secret, Adora as She-Ra helps those in need and fights off the Horde with He-Man and the rest.
The animation is limited as was typical of television cartoons of the time, but it makes up for it with its storylines and characters. My favorite character so far has to be Kowl. Madame Razz is a close second.
I'll be watching more and may do a series overview once I've finished. I'm quite impressed by this, and I hope the rest of the series will continue promising.
To preface, I'll state upfront that I am half Filipino on my mother's side. Growing up, I didn't think I would ever see explicit Filipino characters outside of what was produced in the Philippines. That changed in 2017 when I saw Lars Barriga from Steven Universe make an ube cake in one episode. It blew my mind to see a Filipino character in a major Western production. Ever since then, I've been interested in seeing Filipinos in mainstream media.
So imagine my surprise when I found the trailer for a Filipino animated film being produced for Netflix:
Content warning: violence, implied sex scenes
Hayop Ka!, which means "you animal" in Tagalog, is a story about a cat named Nimfa who works as a saleswoman. She has a dog boyfriend who works as a janitor. One day she meets another male dog who is rich, and after falling for him she must decide if she will go for him or stay with her boyfriend. Basically, a generic love triangle story that has been told millions of times before.
The animation and backgrounds look very impressive for an international non-anime film. The characters are anthropomorphic animals along the veins of other Netflix properties like Beastars and Aggretsuko. Heck, the main character almost resembles Nicole Watterson from The Amazing World of Gumball minus the blue fur.
I would like to see this out of curiosity, but unfortunately, it isn't available in the US, only in select regions. As long as this is better than The Nutshack, the gosh-awful attempt to have a mainstream television series featuring a Filipino cast, then I'd consider this a win for Filipino animation, or at least a step in the right direction.
While the US and the world await the results of the presidential election, I recommend visiting Deus ex Magical Girl. This website is the main reason that I started this blog. The creator D. G. D. Davidson is an anime fan (particularly of the magical girl variety, hence the website title), a librarian and archeologist, an author, and a Catholic. His schtick mostly consists of reviewing magical girl anime and manga and occasionally giving commentary on Western media.
I've been following him for about five years since I looked up a review of Sailor Moon Crystal on his older defunct blog Sci Fi Catholic. After reading his material I was inspired to create a blog where I talk about my interests in much the same manner as he. Thus Clear Is a Belle was born.
Over the weekend, one of my online friends brought this to my attention. Steven Universe is getting a complete series release on physical media for the first time! The complete collection includes the series, the movie, and the epilogue series Steven Universe Future as well as tons of special features.
As expected, some fans are frustrated that this is only on DVD when there should be a Blu-ray version as well. I understand their concern, as Blu-rays have much better picture and audio quality, but for me I don't really care. In fact, this is convenient since I can play this on my computer and take screenshots. Eventually I want to discuss this series and offer my personal take on it.
The collection is currently available for pre-order on the WBShop for $89.99 and on RightStuf for $80.99. The item releases on November 3rd, the day that the show aired its first episode back in 2013.
To end this post, here is the image of the back of the box. Let's hope and pray this collection doesn't disappoint!
ADDENDUM (10/5/2020): More details have come out about the release, which you can read here.
After a couple months of hiatus, here is another YouTube video from Clownfish TV, because I love their commentary on pop culture. Kneon and Geeky Sparkles analyze a cringe-inducing article on SyFy Wire that attacks 1980s cartoons and 80s kids to make the argument that modern animation is much better and more "progressive." The author of the article is someone who wasn't even alive during that time, likely a Millennial or Gen Z.
After listening to this, I have much more respect for 80s cartoons. I am growing increasingly tired of creators rebooting old properties to make it in their image to push an agenda (looking at you, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power!) when they should be making original content instead.
School is or was a reality for almost all of us. We learned the basics like math, history, language, science, and so forth. For some of us, learning these subjects were hard. It could be difficult understanding things like multiplication and the three branches of government. Where could we turn to when we needed help? Other than tutors and family members, children living in the 1970s onward received aid in the form of animated television shorts known as Schoolhouse Rock! These music videos, which aired between programs on ABC, taught a generation how to multiply, how bills became laws, and how conjunctions function, among other things.
An interview with creator George Newall included in the complete series DVD box explains the creative genesis and impact, which I will reproduce here:
Q: HOW DID SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK GET ROLLING?
A: It all started in 1972 on a horseback ride in Wyoming where my boss, David McCall of McCaffery & McCall Advertising, heard his young son, who couldn't begin to remember multiplication tables, singing Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead lyrics. When Dave got back to New York, he commissioned Bob Dorough to set the multiplication tables to rock music. Bob responded with "Three is a Magic Number." The lyrics were so visual that my partner, Tom Yohe, drew a storyboard and met with Michael Eisner, who was then ABC's Vice President of Children's Programming. On the recommendation of the legendary animator, Chuck Jones, Eisner bought it on the spot. All it took was that one meeting. And that first song is still my favorite.
Q: LOOKING BACK, WHY DO YOU THINK IT WORKED SO WELL?
A: We never wrote "down" to kids. And we weren't in the television business. We had good paying day jobs and didn't worry about whether or not the shows would be picked up for the next season. Most importantly, we had the music of Bob Dorough, Lynn Ahrens and Dave Frishberg. Their songs gave Tom a creative leg up to start with. It was their music made visual by Tom's enormous talent for animation design that guided Schoolhouse Rock. Who could ever forget that "...sad little scrap of paper sitting on Capitol Hill"?
(Third question relates to one of the shorts which I will not spoil; thus I will skip it.)
Q: WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO REALIZE THE IMPACT YOU WERE MAKING ON YOUNG PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD?
A: We'd been off the air since 1986 when, in the early nineties, Tom got a call from Dartmouth College asking him to participate in a symposium sponsored by the senior class. Expecting 30 or 40 kids in a classroom, Tom was shocked to find himself in the largest auditorium on campus overflowing with 900 students who were boisterously singing our songs and clapping along -- before he showed a single film. A year or so later, while giving a seminar for the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, a student stood up and said, "I don't think you guys realize that Schoolhouse Rock defined my generation." No, we hadn't realized that.
Recently a news story broke out that the famous syrup Aunt Jemima will be changing its name since it's a racial stereotype. This comes days after George Floyd's murder and the protests and riots that have occurred since.
Earlier this year, Land O'Lakes stated they would be removing the Native American girl from their products since it's also a stereotype...or is it?
In the former example, the name change is justified. Calling a black person "aunt" or "uncle" is a reference to American slaves who lived in the house on plantations and enjoyed many privileges that other slaves did not have. Honestly, I'm surprised the name change did not occur sooner.
As for the latter example, the girl on the front is anything but a stereotype. In fact, the artist who drew her was Native American himself. The artist's daughter stated as much on Twitter.
That's the air of political correctness that has infected society. We think everything is "-ist" or "-phobic" or "appropriation" even when it isn't. There's a difference between stereotyping, representation, or even a light-hearted joke. Society needs to recognize that. We also can't pretend these stereotypes didn't exist, because then you run the risk of repeating them, as the saying goes.
To follow up from my last post, I present this video. Kneon and Geeky Sparkles from Clownfish TV on YouTube discuss She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Turns out there were issues present in the series long before the finale. Let this be a lesson on how not to reboot existing IP.
If I didn't know who these were, I would've sworn Catra was a dude. Source in the link below.
Welp, they've done it again, folks.
In the fifth season of Netflix's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a long-running fan ship "Catradora" was made canon when the main lead Adora and former villain Catra kiss. More info can be found in the link below, courtesy of One Angry Gamer, though I'll warn you that the ads and some of the comments are NSFW:
I didn't bother with She-Ra (not even a fan of the original), but honestly, I'm glad I didn't, and I'm not surprised in the least. The show already had so-called "queer representation" when one side character had two dads and one character identified as "non-binary," though at least in the latter, the character wasn't human and could shapeshift. What makes this egregious is that this is a reboot, and Adora was interested in men in the 80s. It reads like bad fan fiction and is a slap in the face of the original. Even if I don't give a flying fudge about this show, I can't help but be reminded that this is just one of many recent entries in the world of children's media that showcases and glorifies homosexual relationships, and it isn't slowing down anytime soon. Quite the opposite, actually.
