Uncategorized

https://blacknerdproblems.com/the-apothecary-diaries-trailer/

Earlier this year I wrote about the manga adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries that I was recommending to everyone and anyone that would listen. Originally based on superb light novels, the manga adaptation served up a fierce, multi-layered yet engaging narrative about a young woman using her talents to weed out corruption and better the lives of others. The Apothecary Diaries follows Maomao, a girl from the slums in Imperial China who’s kidnapped and forced to work as a servant in the Imperial Palace. 

Yet, the series truly took me by surprise with a cast of characters, major and minor, that populated a story that gave me mysteries being solved and people’s lives being impacted with lots of laughs along the way. Now that we’ve got an anime on the way, I am so pleased to see what makes it into this adaptation. Even from the trailer, it seems to be bringing all the flair and drama that I loved from the light novels and the manga versions.

---

It All Starts With A Mystery!

The Apothecary Diaries centers around the life of one young woman named Maomao, who lives in the East in a land ruled by the emperor; whose consorts and serving women live in a sprawling palace. She’s a seemingly plain girl who doesn’t raise many eyebrows and just tries to keep her head down as she completed her time of servitude in the palace as a maid. She finds this easier as she was recently kidnapped and sold off to this place as a servant. She’s actually the daughter of an apothecary father who serves mostly a district that caters to brothels and houses of pleasures. It is just her luck that there is a string of tragedies in this place of opulence for royalty–the heirs of the emperors, babies falling ill. There’s a great curse rumored to have befallen the place and our girl Maomao sees evidence to suggest otherwise.

The ante is upped as we see in the first ten seconds or so of the trailer a dressed up Maomao, all dolled up in fine clothing and makeup drinking something, and dramatically announcing after a moment that it is poisoned! Part of what makes The Apothecary Diaries a must watch is the level of mystery and infamy that companies each new case and dire situation that Maomao ends involved with, and she does her best to figure it all out in this place of perfumed sneers and high stakes. I also love how this trailer introduces Jinshi, who is employed in the palace as the head eunuch and is the first to realize the girl’s talents and perceptiveness. He’s an interesting character who lives to annoy her but also holds great power and responsibility. Their hilarious dynamic and how they act around each other is teased here in the trailer and it all looks so gorgeous!

Connections, Connections, Connections

Family is an important element in The Apothecary Diaries, or at least family ties. From royalty to ladies who work in red light districts to seemingly insignificant assistants to apothecaries who get swept up in palace politics, I am wondering just how in depth the anime will build upon and reveal when developing the characters of MaoMao and Jinshi in this adaptation. In the trailer, we see glimpses of all the emperor’s consorts, all who Maomao ends up entangled with as the story goes on. Some of these ladies are more influential than others, due to age, how many children they have and…the assets they have as well. In the trailer, we see one particular consort being in serious bad health and Maomao tasked to bring her back to health. This brought to mind the very first mystery that the teenager solves in the palace that cements her position as someone to watch.

The Apothecary Diaries is an anime to look out for and watch this Fall for those who love detective stories and narratives that keep bringing surprises around every corner. With even just these two major characters, MaoMao and Jinshi, I like to joke that it is seven degrees of separation with the level of persons connected to each other. From banished persons to secret babies to adopted family members to deceased parents, the story is filled with drama bombs that help color an already rich story bursting at the seams with intriguing twists. The longer Maomao sticks around, the more and more she gets sucked into more problems of the palace where her powers of deduction and curiosity endear her to more people; however, it bring more dangers to her front door. I am looking forward to stunning animation to complement an engaging story centering on a female protagonist in a historical setting that already has such a dedicated fandom already in place. Fall 2023 Season cannot come fast enough!

Based on the light novels by Natsu Hyuuga and Touko Shino, The Apothecary Diaries is being directed by Norihiko Naganuma (The Ancient Magus’ Bride), who also serves as series composer, and assistant-directed by Akinori Fudesaka (Tsuredure Children) at TOHO animation STUDIO and OLM, alongside these staff members as reported by Crunchyroll:

Character Designer: Yukiko Nakatani (Tropical-Rouge! Precure)
Color Designer: Misato Aida
Art Director: Katsumi Takao
CGI Director: Yu Nagai
Director of Photography: Rumi Ishiguro
Editor: Daisuke Imai
Sound Director: Shoji Hata
Music: Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss), Alisa Okehazama (JUJUTSU KAISEN)

Cover image via Crunchyroll.

---

The upcoming anime adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries will premiere this October as part of the Fall 2023 anime season.

Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram!

The post ‘The Apothecary Diaries’ Trailer Hints at Murder, Mystery and Even a Little Mayhem appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

https://blacknerdproblems.com/destiny-2-the-final-shape-showcase-breakdown/

I have written a variation of this intro more times than I care to count, but much like I continue to login every Tuesday I don’t mind it much because I still love the franchise.

Back in September 2014, I had just moved back to St. Louis after a year stint in Wisconsin that did not end up going the way I hoped. Most of my friends had scattered to the winds, and I was working a new job and needed something to occupy the time. After constantly being bombarded with ads, I decided to pick up Destiny which ended up being one of the most incidentally influential decisions I’ve made this decade. I am not an alpha or Day 1 guardian, but I have been playing since vanilla and we are now at the end of an epic several years in the making. The Light/Dark saga that started its crescendo with Shadowkeep is now entering the final verse with the Final Shape.

We have endured content droughts, vaulted content, sunsetting, power creep, and a litany of so called Destiny Killers that have fallen to the wayside. Jokes about dead game and make/break moments for the franchise have rung hollow. Say what you will, Bungie has managed to hold the collective attention of millions with their unique blend of science fiction and fantasy and the best feeling shooting mechanics throughout what has essentially been the same game across two titles and twenty some seasons.

And now, August 22, 2023 will mark the preview into the last major DLC for this particular iteration of the franchise before the next saga starts up. So let’s review the showcase together.

The Final Frontier

The main selling point of the Final Shape is that it serves as the epic conclusion, and the pivotal selling point s that we are going into the Heart of the Traveler. It’s described as a the first ever truly linear destination where we start in a familiar recreation of the Destiny 1 Tower that has been Tears of the Kingdom’ed as we progress forward towards the Witness’s Spire (it’s not a Destiny expansion without a Spire or several) in a world that is constantly responding to our memories and experiences throughout the last decade.

This also includes Cayde-6 (with a proper Nathan Fillion reprisal) rejoining us in the weird space, standing shoulder to shoulder with Ikora Ray (Mara Junot) and Commander Zavala (now played by Keith David, who is likely working on recording many lines of dialog for us), and the end of an era has never felt for monumental with the cast stacked and the stakes high.

While there was no mention of a third Darkness based subclass, Bungie did finally show that the Aspect/Fragment/Super framework they implemented in Witch Queen was put in for a reason as we got glimpses of new supers and aspects. This includes a Solar Buddy for Warlocks, pocket shield for Titans, and some Naruto $#!% for hunters.

New weapons include an energy Fusion with a permanent osmosis-esque effect that allows us to match our arsenal to our subclass completely. We’re looking at Golden Gun snipers, a Traveler Motion Wave Beam, and the return of fan favorites like Dragon’s Breath, Khovstov, and Red Death. As well as rocket pistols and support ARs, these will give us exotic level utility to legendary weapons that will enable new play styles.

And I’m very much ready to enter the Pale Heart on 2/27/2024, but there’s a spooky season we have to address first.

Season of the Witch

To figure out our way through the mysterious portal in the Traveler, we have to work with Savathun which means we’re enlisting the help of our favorite Hive expert, Eris. At this point, Eris has gone full Hive and asks us to provide tithing. The trailer features glimpses of what appears to be a hive-esque boomer weapon that makes moths, an involved Deck System that looks to add a significantly dimension to how we’ll approach buildcraft this season, and overall looks to be a good time.

Furthermore, since it is a very Hive-centric season we’re getting a reprised version of Crota’s End, which… is fine. It’s not my personal favorite, but that’s neither here nor there.

Wait, Is That Actual Onboarding and Future Support?

The last third of the showcase cover some general quality of life changes. While we knew about the return of Exotic Rotator mission (which have historically been some of the finest content to experience), Bungie surprised us with the Timeline Reflection which allows a player to go through historic moments of the Destiny 2 canon: one particular mission of note being Cayde’s Last Call. And rather than being faithful recreation, they have been edited to provide some additional lore clarity.

We got a peak of the LFG system that features a comprehensive tagging system (including inclusion tags to denote if you’re colorblind or have some other attribute that might need consideration). There was also the announcement that many of the end games activities would be at fixed power level and that higher level guardians could boost their lower-level compatriots so they aren’t left behind.

But perhaps the biggest paradigm shift is the fact that post Final Shape, Destiny 2 is moving from 4 seasons annuals to 3 episodes.

Seasonal Innovations:

Introducing: Episodes
Three Episodes per year with three acts per Episode
Playable as standalone experiences

https://t.co/RkESfDVi0U pic.twitter.com/2SMSKOXSUZ

— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame) August 22, 2023

With each episode having 3 acts, and each act spanning six weeks, there is the promise of a steady cadence of content going forward.

I’m biased to hell and back. It’s a franchise that I very much love and given the spectacle, I think it’s apparent the devs love the game to and I’m more than ready to not be a real person come February/March and reflect upon the Pale Heart.

Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram!

The post Every End is a Beginning – ‘Destiny 2:’ The Final Shape Showcase Breakdown appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

https://blacknerdproblems.com/when-the-anime-adaptation-doesnt-quite-nail-it/

I was watching Ooku on Netflix, the ten episode anime adaptation of a long running and favorite manga series of mine that I wrote about here after finally finishing reading it. Set In an alternate history of Japan where the male population is nearly decimated, eligible men serve as concubines to the woman shogun inside the walls of the Ooku. The series is centered on the men in this harem and the years of change and power–for only ten episodes it is an adaptation that I did not love completely. The story beats are there, there was obviously care for those who adapted the original story… the animation was just…stiff at times. 

Which is forgivable on my second rewatch, as I’m probably nitpicking in this ongoing famine of Shojo and Josei anime adaptations. I take that one the nose because I love Ooku and admit sometimes as fan I want something as close to perfection for the series and IPs that I adore the most.  I went on to think about other anime adaptations that were more or less, less successful in adapting their beloved source material on the big screen. Buckle up to prepare yourself for either some outrage or heart break for this short list of anime adaptations that did not nail it!

Spoilers past here: some minor and some major. Be advised before carrying on reading!

---

The Promised Neverland Season Two (2021) 

The year 2019 brought us The Promised Neverland, an incredible newer series with an intriguing premise that opened up to a story that centered children and their quest for agency and freedom. When three gifted kids at an isolated idyllic orphanage discover the secret and sinister purpose they were raised for, they look for a way to escape from their caretaker and the nefarious system in place and lead the other children in a risky escape plan. It is a series that focuses on found family, psychological reveals with a very dark narrative that is held together by these children, and their hope for a better tomorrow. When I rewatched the first season in preparation of writing this editorial, I found myself once again blown away by a near perfect adaptation: great pacing, the emotional pull from the characters evident and just a unique story present on screen.

This one wasn’t supposed to hurt me so bad!

So if there are two words that could perhaps best describe season two of The Promised Neverland, they are disjointed and rushed. While the first season adapted the first chunk of chapters very well, the second season went for a different direction of the story and these beloved characters. Other anime adaptations have done this, especially when the manga had not been already finished.  Yet, I was not prepared to see the full story rushed in such a way that eulogizes the series and glosses over so many arcs that carried so much of the overall story. 

What I will add is that as a positive that was done extremely well: the sense of urgency and terror of the children was a good lead in from the very first episode. Yet, there were so many missed opportunities. As someone who finally started reading the manga this year, seeing a whole character erased from the adaptation–the first adult male character that the children meet outside the farm was a shocker. Getting to read the Goldy Pond arc in the manga makes me so incredibly sad that it did not make it to the anime adaptation. It is a thrilling saga that really upped the ante and the overall story of children surviving and adapting to a terrible world and striving to change it.

One-Punch Man Season Two (2019)

In short, One-Punch Man is the story of Saitama, a hero that does it just for fun & can defeat his enemies with a single punch. What I learned watching the first spectacular animated adaptation back in 2015 is that it was an incredible mix of comedy and action. It left me belly laughing and already reaching for the manga again. It’s probably one of my favorite manga that delves into the gag manga genre in recent years. I loved this critique of heroes and good and evil and what one’s motivation can be when saving the world.  As regards to the hero character Superalloy Darkshine…we gotta talk about him and his early manga appearances another day.

Out of the three picks on this short list, One-Punch Man is the series that I had to ponder on the most. So if there is one word that could perhaps best describe season two of One Punch Man, it is a bit lackluster. This second season gets picked a lot in these conversations as it does a fairly decent job in adapting the source material–the manga. Viewers like me were happy to see the introduction of Garou–the martial artist, the villain known as the “Hero Hunter,” the big baddie who goes on to battle many heroes. He’s a very intriguing character who makes every hero he comes up against question themselves and their reasons for their work. In the manga, I was always super fascinated with his ongoing transformation where he becomes more monstrous when he fights. Season two also brought back many beloved heroes from S class to C class that brought back much continuity.

Where season two falters is that it is missing the spark of the visual treat that was the animation in the first season, especially that was seen in some of the spectacular fight scenes. Was there too big of an gap in the years that separated the first season and the second? Perhaps. Was the hype train, ultimately, too much for this series when it returned? Perhaps. Do we, as fans, expect too much as I noted in the intro with this piece? Perhaps. This second season of One-Punch Man is fine. This second season is okay, but it did not dazzle me like the first. With season three confirmed back in August of 2022, we can only wait to see if another season eventually manifests and–if it delivers for the fandom that is left waiting for more.

---

Fruits Basket (2001) in Comparison to Fruits Basket (2019)

Perhaps the most controversial pick on this short list, I ask that you sit for me for a moment before you come for me with pitchforks and fire. The Fruits Basket anime way back in the earlier 2000s was special to me. I was in high school, and it was the anime adaptation of one of my favorite Shojo series that was still ongoing and wasn’t complete. It was silly, unserious as all hell and just for nostalgia’s sake, a great look at what Shojo was back in the day. Featuring one lovable Tohru Honda who after her mother’s death, finds herself living with the Sohma family consisting of three cousins: Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure. She stumbles upon the Sohma family secret: when a member is hugged by the opposite gender or they are tired out, they turn into the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. 

Fruits Baskets is a well-loved series of the Shojo genre that is as much as a classic at this point in the game and one that was lovingly chosen once again to be animated to completion. The later reboot was given three whole seasons versus one. The legacy of Fruits Basket is an endearing one. It is a series that when one of my friends, with a now teenager, told me that she was currently reading it I ran to Twitter to announce my happiness and awe. So the main comparison other than length between the two adaptations is the tone, of course. While the earlier adaptation is much sillier and light-hearted, the newer and complete adaptation is darker and goes on to bring all the other characters and subplots to the manga missed in the original. The older version of animated Fruits Basket looks a bit dated, and the newer Fruits Basket’s animation is sleek and fresh on the screen. 

One thing that the rebooted adaptation got right was sharing and animating implied and explicit trauma and abuse of the characters. Think how Rin’s sad family life and the abandonment of her parents is masterfully represented as a play with a broken doll representing the girl. This was done sooooo well! On the other hand, there’s a lot to say about Shigure who comes across as even more manipulative and self-serving in the newer adaptation. Put it on the record: I want to fight him in every adaptation of FB and in every universe that I may or may not exist–the me there would also give him hands. 

Fruits Basket may be one of my fave Shojo series yet seeing the age gap romances and some character “quirks” like Kagura’s obsessive & violent love towards Kyo  (written for jokes that did not age well) still make me critique the series as a whole. We gotta critique what we love, y’all. Having all of Fruit Basket finally animated is a Shojo rarity which I am still thankful for. An animated prequel movie expanding on how Tohru’s parents met was released and added to the animated Fruits Basket cannon. While it is a beautiful story on characters I always wanted to know more about–it is serving up another anime gap romance that makes me sit on the fence when I think about the negative stereotype of Shojo (anime gap romances, out of pocket behavior like harassment for those romancing others, etc)–a genre I adore with all my heart.

A fuller, fleshed out version of animated Fruits Basket makes my heart soar. These are beloved characters that have been with me for a long time. (I was nicknamed the “Tohru” in my friends circles who read the manga back in high school.) And yet, I can also see everything that did not age well from the original series and the manga that I don’t mind confronting and elaborating on. Fruits Basket, the often joked about series about people transforming into animals, carries so much weight as a series I’ve often described as a series of young people tackling a (literal) generational curse. I love that this newer adaptation of Fruits Basket exist, flaws and all, because it is a blessed reminder that coming-of-age stories are messy, beautiful, and worth having courage to be the person you need to be and protect the people you love.

Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram!

The post When the Anime Adaptation Doesn’t Quite Nail It appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

https://www.thenerdelement.com/2023/09/04/disneylands-haunted-mansion-expansion/

Good evening, folks, Today I want to discuss some information about the expansion of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland! So, let’s get started!  The grounds near Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion will be expanded to accommodate a larger outdoor queue and a Madame Leota-themed retail shop, theme park officials announced last Tuesday. Construction on the new project will begin in January 2024, with the new additions expected to “build on the story and lore of the Haunted Mansion.” “The expanded queue will tie into these stories and more, including new gardens inspired by Master Gracey, Madame Leota and the one-eyed cat,” the Disney Parks blog said. Officials announced that the gardens will be decorated with elements ranging from a water fountain and gazebo to themed statuary and landscaping. The expansion will be a welcome addition for guests since the walkways in New Orleans Square, where the Haunted Mansion ride is located, can become congested with guests coming from or entering the various rides and restaurants in the area. Haunted Mansion fans will be happy to know that the pet cemetery and horse-drawn funeral hearse will still be located on the attraction grounds, according to a news release. Guests will disabilities will also be able to utilize a new elevator exit when they ride the attraction. The plaza adjacent to the new Tiana’s Palace will also receive new enhancements, theme park officials said. Also, as a reminder that Tiana’s Palace will be opening up on September 7^th.  The area will be transformed into a “park-like setting” where parkgoers can relax and enjoy live entertainment. More details about the project are expected to be released in the coming months. I think that this is a really interesting project and I am curious to see it when its all set and done. I think Disneyland wants more guests to come and visit more so that the parks can be really busy and not being left out and letting Universal Studios Hollywood get all the attention out of Disney. I believe that Disney wants fans to like Disney more than Universal. Of course, that’s just my own opinion, but that is what I believe.

So, what are your guy’s thoughts and comments down below?! I would love to hear your comments and thoughts on the expansion and the thought of Disney bringing more guests to their place than Universal Studios!

Stay tuned for Disney updates.

The post Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Expansion appeared first on The Nerd Element.