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So…2017 was a hell of a year. Both eventful and in some respects…hellish. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some high points. We had a series of favorites, so check out the other posts if you’re interested in the other genres.

SHOKUGEKI NO SOMA

There are two types of people in this world: those that have discovered this godly perfection and those that are suffering.

Tired of your shōnen protagonist winning their battles through bad writing and sheer luck rather than relying on skills they’ve honed for years? Sick of girls and women in these series constantly shoved to the background with shallow story arcs and laughable skill sets? My g, do you like food?!

Rarely has there been anime outside of the classic canon (e.g. Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z) that I have not only watched consistently, but hooked as many of my friends on as possible because it’s so good. Main character Yukihira Soma is just the right amount of stubborn and knowledgable to feel relatable, and every single member of the supporting cast is lovable with their own quirks and cooking styles. Because the story is grounded in reality the stakes actually feel much higher than your run-of-the-mill fighting narrative. I’m talking whole ass plot twists that aren’t some sudden magical BS but still leave you with your jaw agape. Also, the food shots? Gorgeous. The smallest catch is there’s equal opportunity fanservice, but we’re all mature here, right? – Lauren

BLOOD BLOCKADE BATTLEFRONT BEYOND

For me, there’s no feeling that matches the buzz I get when I blindly take a chance on an anime and find out it’s straight flames. There aren’t any standards placed on it and I get to just sit back and escape into a completely new world. My latest venture into a fictional universe came through Blood Blockade Battlefront.

The series is in its second season as it follows the adventures of a secret organization full of monster hunters in a city that’s three years removed from a cataclysmic shift that brought Otherworld entities to the surface. Every character gets their moment to shine as the action is incredibly entertaining and rewatchable. Oh, and the soundtrack is awesome with jazzy, R&B undertones. – Keith

MY HERO ACADEMIA

Listen. Do you know how many “high school tournaments where the protagonist has to prove themselves” story arcs I’ve seen in all my time watching anime? Do you know how hard it is to get hyped when a series does the ‘if you want to succeed, here is a series of tasks that will push you to the limit’ slow burn reveal at the start of the season? My Hero Academia‘s sophomore season had all of the framework of your classic shōnen series and then some, but damnit if it wasn’t the most fun I had watching any show in quite some time.

The show is quirky (pun very much intended) and vibrant. The premise is one that is instantly familiar, but My Hero Academia separates itself with its unique character designs and the fascinating journey of Izuku Midoriya, hero name: Deku. The animation is fluid and gorgeous, the fight sequences are clever and kinetic, the music always gets me hype. It’s a love letter to superheroes. It’s a love letter to the fans of superheroes. It walks a delicate line between silly and serious, and it’s a series that truly goes beyond, PLUS ULTRA. – Mikkel

BLACKOUT 2022 (anime short)

If you knew how much I liked Blade Runner 2049, you’d understand that I’d seek out anything and everything having to do with that universe that I could get my hands on. And that’s how I found Blackout 2022.

It’s an anime short directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, who I hear is a pretty big deal. It follows Iggy and Trixie, two replicants that cause the infamous blackout that restructured the entire landscape of the Blade Runner universe. It’s only mentioned in exposition in the actual film, so watching this short provided some much needed context.

It’s so well done it left me wanting to order the series the second it ended. It’s beautifully shot and perfectly captures the look and feel of this world. Neon signs? Dark alleys? Existential themes? All of the above and so much more.

And have I talked about Iggy? He’s a black replicant with freeform dreads. And he’s got that silky smooth Kevin Michael Richardson-esque voice. He also kicks ass. Need I say more?

Take. My. Money. – Morgan

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The post BNP Staff Favorites for 2017: Anime appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

BBC Radio 4 has posted all six episodes of their adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys, and they’re available to listen to for free for the next 20-something days (depending on the individual episode’s air date and the location where you’re listening). The first episode premiered on Christmas, with one new episode airing per day for the next five days after that, so now they’re all ready to listen to!

Anansi Boys follows Fat Charlie Nancy after he discovers that not only is his father the trickster god Anansi, but he has a brother he’s never met before. “A gentle boy whose dad made him feel small,” the summary reads, “Fat Charlie Nancy is now overwhelmed by the discovery of a brother he never knew he had (not to mention the fact that his dad is the Spider God Anansi). As Spider (not so much feckless as absent on the day they handed out feck) tramples carelessly across Charlie’s life, Charlie begins to discover in himself a growing fire.”

The original novel debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list, and later won both the Locus Award and the British Fantasy Society Award. Dirk Maggs adapted it for radio.

Adjoa Andoh, who voices Birdwoman in the adaptation, also spoke about growing up with the Anansi stories thanks to her father. “[Anansi] can be foolish, he can be prideful, he can be super skillful and persuasive; generally, he gets his comeuppance,” she explained. “In the West Indies, he was Brer Anansi, so Brother Anansi. That’s what I grew up with. There was Brer Rabbit, there was Brer Anansi, there’s a Brer Spider. (Put Brer on any animal you like, actually.) And in Ghana, there’d be stories of him tricking people into getting him the palm wine, climbing the trees for them … Yeah, he’s a fun character for kids, because he’s naughty.”

Ever since you all helped me get hooked on podcasts with your wonderful recommendations, I’ve also been getting into radio adaptations of books. While I’m only three episodes into Anansi Boys, I’ve been adoring the voice work so far.

The voice cast for the radio adaptation includes Lenny Henry (who narrated the 2005 audio book) as Anansi, Jacob Anderson as Charlie, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Spider, as well as Earl Cameron, Tanya Moodie, Adjoa Andoh, Joseph Marcell, Sheila Atim, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Cecilia Noble, Angela Wynter, Ariyon Bakare, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Danielle Vitalis, Ronke Adekoluejo, Clifford Samuel, and Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong. You can see the full list of who plays who here.

(Image: BBC Radio 4)

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Throughout the past 12 months, we’ve talked about how 2017 was a great year for games. It is arguably the greatest start in video game history. I don’t really have to go over […]

The post The Most Shocking, Surprising, and Awesome Gaming Moments of 2017 appeared first on Geek.com.

On Thursday night, Wichita police shot and killed Andrew Finch after he was SWATted as part of a Call of Duty dispute that he himself wasn’t even involved in. “Swatting,” which has a storied and disturbing history in the gaming community, involves bringing the local SWAT team down on someone by calling with a false report of violence at their address. It has been used against women who turned down other gamers’ advances, against live-streamers on Twitch, and even against congressional representatives who propose harsher penalties for online harassment. And now, against Andrew Finch and his family.

As The Wichita Eagle reported, gamers on Twitter quickly began pointing to an argument over an online Call of Duty match, run using UMG Gaming’s platform with $1.50 wager, as the starting point for the SWATting. “Two teammates [on the losing team] who go by the handles ‘Miruhcle’ and ‘Baperizer’ got into an argument following a loss,” summarized GameInformer, “over public Twitter posts and private direct messages with each other. Baperizer brought in a third party, a user who calls themselves ‘Swautistic,’ to threaten a Swatting against Miruhcle. For whatever reason, Miruhcle upped the ante by taunting Baperizer and Swautistic by providing them with an address in Wichita, implying that the address was his.”

The address was instead Andrew Finch’s, and Swautistic allegedly took the bait and called the Wichita police describing an ongoing hostage situation at Finch’s address. In a since-deleted tweet on his now-suspended Twitter account, SWAuTistic denied responsibility for the attacks … but didn’t deny making the call. “I DIDNT GET ANYONE KILLED BECAUSE I DIDNT DISCHARGE A WEAPON AND BEING ASWAT MEMBER ISNT MY PROFESSION [sic],” he tweeted. A caller claiming to be SWAuTistic also participated in an interview with the YouTube channel Drama Alert in which he admitted to SWATting Finch’s address. Engadget also has more of SWAuTistic’s tweets, which suggest that he has SWATted others and called in bomb threats before.

The Los Angeles Police Department has since arrested 25-year-old Tyler Raj Barris in connection with the case.

While this is absolutely an illustration of the worst of the worst in toxic online behavior, Andrew Finch’s death isn’t simply an issue of SWATting and the callousness of some online gamers. It is also yet another example of the poor training and resulting police brutality that’s endemic in the United States. “What gives the cops the right to open fire?” Lisa Finch, the mother of victim Andrew Finch, said to The Washington Post. “Why didn’t they give him the same warning they gave us? That cop murdered my son over a false report.”

The Wichita police department issued their own statement on the incident. They claim that Finch only briefly complied with verbal commands to put his hands up, and when he reached for his waistband, an officer fired one round which killed him. You can watch the released body camera footage and determine things for yourself, but be warned that it contains graphic content.

“The irresponsible actions of a prankster put people and lives at risk,” said Wichita Police Department Deputy Chief Troy Livingston. “The incident was a nightmare for everyone involved, including the family and our police department. Due to the actions of a prankster, we have an innocent victim. If the false police call had not been made, we would not have been there … We don’t see it as a joke, it’s not a prank. It heightened the awareness of the officers, and we think it lead to this deadly encounter.”

However, the suggestion that “heightened awareness” should naturally make a SWAT team member trigger-happy only makes sense if your officers are, to put it bluntly, not particularly well-trained in deescalation or high-pressure situations. Police shootings in the U.S. are astronomically higher than those in other developed countries, and they aren’t even all reported to the FBI. Police training takes three years in Germany; it takes an average of 19 weeks in the United States. Only in the U.S. is it commonly accepted that “heightened awareness” and stress should make an officer – whose entire job is based around dealing professionally with that stress – more likely to pull out a gun. That absolutely needs to change.

Brianna Wu, herself a victim of horrific online harassment and currently a candidate for Congress, tweeted about the incident and the legal changes it should inspire.

Amazingly, Swatting people is not a federal crime. This matters, because these acts usually take place across state lines.

As your congresswoman, I would sign onto legislation that would put these criminals in federal prison. https://t.co/4BqhOZOZ9D

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) December 29, 2017

Humans tend to want one answer to a problem. But that doesn’t always work for complex issues.

I’m advocating for a federal anti-Swatting law. I also agree that training and accountability for law enforcement is paramount.

Both are critical. It’s not either-or.

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) December 29, 2017

RE: Federal anti-Swatting legislation:

Most people don’t realize this, but most of the laws for online crimes were written back in the 90s. Our congress is woefully, embarrassingly behind the times.

We need a congress that understands the Information Age.

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) December 30, 2017

This is a horrific incident in every way. No one should die because a stranger lost a $1.50 video game wager. No one should die because a police officer got jumpy. This was an entirely preventable death, caused by a stranger’s malice and a national crisis of police violence. It should never have happened.

(Via The Wichita Eagle, Game Informer, The Washington Post, Engadget, and BBC; image: Shutterstock)

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