Author Archives: Watch With Zeh

Tokyo Revengers – Season One & Two

Okay, 

So this one is a little different. I haven’t done posts on individual episodes. Nor am I going to do separate posts for each season of this anime. The reason for this is pretty simple. I ended up binging two seasons in the span of a week.   

And that definitely says something. I first found out about Tokyo Revengers from a friend of mine. We were talking about the different anime we were watching and he highly recommended this one. So I gave it a shot, and oh boy do I not regret that one bit. 

I’d say the storyline is rather simple, but it’s not. It follows Takemichi Hanagaki, a self proclaimed loser who is one day watching the news and sees that his ex girlfriend from middle school and her brother have been killed in a gang related attack. That same day, Takemichi is pushed onto the train tracks in an attempt on his life, however he saved. The incident sparks in him a power of time travel, and he goes back twelve years to when he was in middle school, and part of the gang that kills his girlfriend in the future. 

Takemichi Hanagaki

The two seasons are essentially Takemichi going forward and back in time with the goal of saving those who die in the gang violence as a result of this once pure gaggle of motorcycle riding middle schoolers turn bad for unknown reasons in the future. I’m skipping over a lot of detail here but to go into all of it would be to almost write a book in and of itself.

What I really loved about this anime is that the main character, Takemichi is the hero. But he’s kind of useless. Essentially every fight he gets in results with him getting absolutely pummelled. He’s not meant to be physically strong, or even a cool guy character. What makes him the hero is his spirit. Takemichi doesn’t really win any fights, but he never loses them either. He simply doesn’t let himself loose. No matter how big the opponent, and how beaten up he already his, Takemichi always gets back up and keeps fighting. That’s what makes him a hero. 

I really like that idea. I found myself cheering Takemichi on despite knowing he’d never be the one to win the fight. Instead by putting on display his unbreakable character, he inspires the other characters around him to be better. So, you don’t need to be big, strong, or cool to be the hero. Takemichi shows anyone can be the hero if we have an unbreakable spirit. 

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The Last of Us – Episode 10

WOW WHAT A SEASON FINALE

I am in shock…

At the point of me writing this, the finale happened a minute ago so I’m not really spoiling anything. Plus who is even reading these besides my TA (Hi Micky). 

Anyways, so they finally get Ellie to the fireflies, the resistance group, in order for to make a cure for the cordyceps infection because Ellie is immune. However, since the virus grows in the brain, they need to extract some stuff from there on Ellie. Which means she wouldn’t survive the process. The fireflies don’t tell Ellie that however and just say they’re gonna run some tests. Kind of shady, but I mean at the same time a little humane? I mean it would be so brutal to be like “oh thanks for surviving this long on the journey to find us, we’ll kill you now”.  So that was out of the question.

However, they do tell Joel. this is where it got nuts. Joel was told what was gonna happen, and then went “Naw” (not a direct quote) and then kinda just killed them all. 

So in the span of 15 minutes, Joel pretty much did what the military couldn’t do, and did it singlehandedly. Okay cool. Joel is kind of a machine when it comes to violence. Now, I’m really conflicted with this one. I can understand Joel’s reasoning. Ellie is pretty much his daughter now and he doesn’t want her to die. However, in the process of making sure that doesn’t happen, Joel effectively kills people who were trying to do good by creating a cure and opposing a brutal military regime. Not only that, but he also kills the doctor and surgeon who maybe could have created the cure. 

So, I get why Joel did it. But in doing so he set humanity back a good few steps. Not to mention after the fact he lies to Ellie about what was going to happen. It really brings up some serious moral questions I think. It also brings back the family theme again. Joel has lost so much in his life, I don’t think he could stand to lose again. Yet I don’t really think he was justified in what he did. To put it simply, murder no good. 

Anyways, here are some of my favourite frames from this season finale:

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The Last of Us – Episode Eight

I didn’t like this episode.

Episode Eight of The Last of Us is different. There was a very clear tone change made apparent from the start of the episode. A show that has always been rather dark, got darker. 

This episode takes weird twists and turns. Warped religion, torture, sexual assault, and cannibalism. It almost felt out of left field. Yet, it belonged. The world has fallen, and there are no rules anymore. At least, that’s what is going on in the show. This really emphasized that. This isn’t one of those apocalypse tropes where there’s no government but everyone still somehow upholds a sense of morality. No, this is not that. What we get instead is depravity, and it fits. Mostly, because if the world were to fall I think it would be the truth of it. We already teeter the line, sans apocalypse. 

In this episode, we also see the resilience of Ellie. She takes care of Joel, who is barely conscious with an infected wound. Not only that, but she successfully hunts a deer for them to eat, though they never do actually get to eat it. But when she gets captured by another group, Ellie shows some true grit and keeps her fighting spirit up, taking out a couple of the captors before escaping back to Joel. 

I have to say, I do like the fact that Joel’s character has taken a bit of a back seat since the sixth episode. Ellie definitely deserves to be the star of the show for at least two episodes. It really does wonders for character development. I think this might be because in this storyline Joel appears to be the typical strong stoic man, protecting Ellie from everyone on their journey. But what we have been shown instead is that even Joel is fallible. And more than that, what we are shown is that Ellie can take care of herself and Joel also. It really brings up this idea of Joel acting as an adopted father to Ellie. After all, family takes care of each other, it’s never really one way. We see this theme really being harped on again at the end of the episode when Ellie and Joel reunite. It’s a really touching sentiment I think. That even though the world has fallen to depravity, what endures is family.

Kind of sappy, kind of sweet. 

Anyways, no stills from this episode, it was kind of gross to look at. 

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Process Post Ten

Copyright is a hot topic, and always has been. After all, there are so many definitions as to what exactly constitutes intellectual property. The law may have one definition, and then we as individuals may have opinions and thoughts of our own as to what intellectual property is exactly. 

Peter Henein’s “You Say Tomaydo , I Say No Copyright Infringement: Recipe Book Not An Original Compilation” brings up a really interesting case of copyright infringement, or rather a lack thereof. The case involved two restaurant business partners who had parted ways. One of the partners held ownership over the restaurant and all associated materials. The other who had then started up a catering company was apparently using the same restaurants recipe book for their catered food. So, this caused a lawsuit between the two as one maintained the ownership of initial restaurants materials, recipes included.

But did he?

Well, after what I assume would be a long and arduous trial, the judge found the defendant not guilty. So, it would seem as though the business partner who used the same recipes in his new catering company did not infringe on any copyright. But how?

Well, according to the judge, recipes are not protectable under copyright. A list of ingredients, according to the judge are merely statement of facts and as such are not copyrightable. Then, when it comes to the instructions for preparation, well those are statutorily excluded from copyright protection in the United States. In my opinion, this ruling does make sense. After all, there are so many different versions of the same recipe out there that are virtually the same with maybe slight exceptions. It does not seem like recipes are something that can be reasonably copyrighted. 

But how does this affect what we do here?

When it comes to my site and copyright, the outlook is rather simple. If I were to be posting up the full episodes of the television shows I review, or even the full films, then I would definitely be violating some copyright. However, there’s a reason I don’t do that, beyond being sued. I like to think there are certain ethical obligations we all have in life, and this is one of them, especially as someone who would loosely call themselves an artist. 

The content of my site doesn’t infringe on any copyright. After all, it’s mostly just me talking about what I thought of a certain episode or film. Having an opinion doesn’t violate copyright (thankfully).

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Process Post Nine

Community is important. After all is said and done, it’s really the only adaptive advantage us Homo Sapiens have over the rest of the animal planet. 

So how and why is it that the internet seems at times to be so divisive? Even within our smaller communities online, there seem to be those who just don’t want to contribute, at least not in a productive sense. We know these people as trolls, haters, or any of the many other terms we may have for these people. 

I have to admit, as someone on TikTok and other social media, sometimes trolls can be funny. It’s a fine line between being mean and being funny. In fact, I think in many ways comedians tow that same fine line. But that only accounts for what I would call tasteful trolling. The rest of it seems to be born of hate, spite, and malice. In other words, some of our worst qualities as a species. 

In Maria Konnikova’s “The Psychology of Online Comments” we learn more into just why it is that the online platform tends to bring this dark side out of people. I wasn’t surprised to find out that anonymity plays a huge role in this. Yet, what’s actually at play here is a false sense of anonymity. After all, no one is really anonymous on the internet. If someone really wants to find out who you are, they can. 

Anyways, in the article, Konnikova goes onto talk about the different ways anonymity can also be beneficial in fostering a sense of community. These are things I had not really thought of. For example, anonymity could actually encourage people to participate constructively without having to stand out as an individual. Also, promotes the sharing of creative ideas, because people fear judgement less. So, it would seem that my initial negative thoughts on internet anonymity may have a few misgivings. Though I do think that the negatives are certainly apparent, it looks like there may be some benefits after all. 

This made me think of developing my own community guidelines, though I have yet to receive a single comment on any of these posts >:)

My Community Guidelines

  • No Racism, Hate Speech, Or Discrimination of any form
  • No sharing of explicit materials
  • No cursing or foul language 
  • No Spam
  • No Spreading of Misinformation

These are the rules of my site. I plan to uphold them through moderation of comments, should I get any. I think they’re rather basic. Many of them are the same rules we learn in grade school. If I had to state all these rules in one sentence…

Just be a kind, decent human being.

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The Last of Us – Episode Seven

It happened again…

I don’t know why I’m surprised every time we get a gut-wrenching episode, and I’m not referring to the baseball bat lodged in Joel’s stomach. 

Oh don’t worry he can’t die yet that wouldn’t work for the story. 

Anyways, I am really glad we finally got more on Ellies backstory. There was too much vagueness there for a bit too long I think. I mean, there are only nine episodes in this season and we get her backstory on the seventh? Seems a little late in my opinion. But as they say, better late than never I suppose. 

I really like how the entire episode built up to the point when Ellie finds out she’s immune to the fungal infection. Rather, it builds up to the event that causes her to find out she’s immune. To put it simply, she got bit. But what I also really liked is that this episode showed what she was up to before she joins the fireflies, the resistance forces. 

I liked this not so much for the character depth, which was great, but rather cause it answered a question I’ve had for awhile now. 

How is a child raised through the apocalypse?

Well, in the case of Ellie, it was military school. Makes sense. In fact, that’s probably one of the better ways to be brought up during the apocalypse, in my opinion. Also, what this episode really highlighted too is how much we take for granted in our youth. Seeing Ellie go to the abandoned mall and be absolutely mind-blown by so many simple things like a carousel sees strange. After all, such seemingly ordinary things have been staples in many of our upbringings. So, seeing it all be so foreign to Ellie really made me think about how much society would change in such situations. But more than that, it made me think back on the mundanity of my own childhood. A good one to be sure, and I’m blessed for that. Yet, it’s not something we often consider really. It’s easy to look back at the good times and reminisce, but we rarely ever think about how drastically different those times could have been. After all, we were just children and the world around us is completely out of our control. 

This episode really made me grateful for the life I’ve gotten to live. It’s been a good one.

With a bit of luck, and a bit of grit, it’ll continue to be so 🙂

Some of my favourite frames:

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Process Post Eight

Before a couple of minutes ago, I had no idea what transmedia story telling was.

According to Wikipedia, transmedia storytelling is “the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies”. 

This got me thinking about how I could adopt more transmedia techniques to what I’m doing here.

So, I did some more research and found Dream Farm Studios’ “What is transmedia storytelling? Theory to practice +Examples & Case Studies“. What I discovered is that transmedia storytelling isn’t really a very new concept. That, and it isn’t really something I can adopt in its traditional sense. Take for example The Witcher series. Am I talking about the videos games? The tv series? Or the books? 

The Witcher started out as a book series, adapted into a video game, and then adapted into a television series. This is a perfect case study of transmedia storytelling. What we see is the same story being told and adapted into different formats. In the case of The Witcher, it went from book, to video game, to tv series. 

So how would this idea work for me?

First, this blog is definitely not going to see video game, nor television adaptation. I fear even I would not want to consume that media. Although it could be something like “blog writing simulator”. It could compete with lawn mowing simulator for sure. 

Anyways, jokes aside I think transmedia storytelling would work pretty well for me. Where it differs from its traditional techniques is in how and what it is adapted to. So, instead of being turned into tv, or video game, my blog could see different versions of its content. The idea at play here is very similar to just repurposing content, though it has potential to go beyond repurpose. 

Some ways in which I can apply transmedia techniques to my blog would be taking my content and putting it in different formats. What this looks like can be the start of a YouTube channel. The reason Youtube would be a really good launching point is because I can take my written content and make full length video content based off of it. From those YouTube videos, I can use a clever bit of editing and turn it into a YouTube short, Instagram Reel, and a TikTok video. Now, if I were even cleverer I could even have my YouTube videos script written such that an audio only version of it could serve as a podcast available on Spotify or wherever else podcasts are found (can you tell I never hopped on that trend). 

So, if I were going to adopt transmedia techniques, that’s how I’d do it. 

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Process Post Seven

Analytics

If you are reading this, I have your data.

Well, at least some of it. Cause when you clicked onto this site you left a footprint and I can see where you came from and when you left. This is the case for every site we visit nowadays. It seems rather odd, perhaps a little scary in the 1984ish way Big Brother is watching us. But should we worry? What are we actually leaving behind?

Well, after reading “On advertising – Maria Popvova” by Tom Bleymaier, I learnt that people can be really slick with how they go about using analytics and referral links. The article talks about Maria Popvova’s site which is run off of donations on the merit of it being an ad free site. However, Bleymaier notes that Popvova is also using amazon’s affiliate link program in which if a user uses one of the links off the site, Popvova gets 10% of the cart total amount from that purchase. Seems a little shady in my opinion. If you’re getting money from the amazon links, I don’t think you can call your site ad free, and Bleymaier points out the same thing in the article.

What I can promise here is that I won’t do anything sketchy like that. Not to mention them fact that I don’t plan on asking for donations nor using any affiliate links or advertising. This isn’t the place for that. But more so, in those amazon affiliate links, when you use them, the person who set them up in this case being Popvova can see everything you bought in that one trip to amazon. I really don’t like that. To be honest, it doesn’t make much sense to me why they would need to see that information, or even why they would have access to it in the first place. 

Conclusion 

Thus, what I am proposing for my site. No, what I will be doing for my site is this. 

This site is a safe space. I am not tracking your data, and keeping tabs on you. Nor will I. 

I will not be pasting adverts everywhere, nor ask you for donations.

To be honest, though I do have Google Analytics set up for this set, I never really even check it. I don’t really care for the data. After all, I’m not trying to sell you anything.

At the most, maybe I’m trying to sell you on watching a tv show or movie but then again, in the nicest way possible, this is more for me than for you. 

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The Last of Us – Episode Six

REUNITED!!!!

It finally happened. Joel and his brother Tommy are finally reunited! 

To be honest I was surprised it happened so soon. I thought for sure it would take longer for them to get back together than six episodes. However, I guess it’s not the main plot going on here, even though it was kind of the whole motivation for Joel. 

The Plot Thickens

Okay… so there are a few we need to talk about. First of all, Tommy got married? And is going to be a dad?? You’d think that a whole fungal zombie apocalypse would be enough to put procreation on hold for a minute right? That’s just my thoughts. Yet, they are living in a very Wild West-esque little colony that seems safe and full of good people. This probably means it’s not gonna last. At least, if all other apocalypse tropes are upheld it’ll definitely go bad. 

Also, Joel seems to have a heart condition and so he tries to get Tommy to take Ellie the rest of the journey. Then, she refuses and only wants Joel to go with her, and there’s frankly a bit of inconsequential and useless floundering before Joel decides to keep going after all. 

Another thing is Joel himself. Slowly but surely, we’re finding out more about Joel’s character. It’s slowly turning out that he might not be the good guy we all expect him to be. All of the episodes we’ve seen so far tend to paint Joel in a more sympathetic light. Yet, when we finally meet Tommy, we learn there might be a reason why Tommy stopped answering the radio from Joel. Turns out, Joel has done some awful things to some not so awful, and awful people alike. Tommy, feeling a bit remorseful of what they did together, is trying to turn a new leaf. So, it would seem like Tommy doesn’t really want Joel there. I mean, I don’t think it would be too personal, but at the same time you’d think you’d want to hold onto your only living post-apocalypse relative. Maybe that’s just me though. 

The end of this episode was a cliff hanger. Which I have to say, really sucks. I get it, they’re a tried and true method for leaving the audience wanting more, and keeping them thinking about the show all week until the next episode. Cool, it works.  BUT…BUT… they’re such a pain. JUST TELL US!!!! 

Me hating on the cliff hanger just proves their efficiency.

Anyways, here are some of my favourite frames from this episode.

The Two Brothers
Something out of a Western
A prospering yet doomed settlement

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