Hello, all!
I recently finished watching the Netflix original television show, The Punisher. I want to talk about the show a bit without giving any spoilers. Well, not really.
I thoroughly enjoyed it for a few different reasons. For one, people died, even main characters for no reason. This show is about military conspiracies and cover-ups, so you can bet your ass there was plenty of gunfire and hand-to-hand combat. The thing is, so many movies and TV shows are afraid to kill off characters right from the start. Usually, you want to have an elaborate backstory or reasoning as to why they were killed. The thing is, it isn't always like that in real life. Some people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time and you are given little time to grieve in that moment.
The main reason I loved this show was because it drew parallels to my favorite graphic novel of all time: The Crow by James O'Barr. Now, I have not read Marvel's The Punisher comics, but I was familiar with the story itself before watching the show. Frank Castle is a soldier who was back home with his family when they were all gunned down right in front of him. His wife and two kids, gone in the blink of an eye. This begins a cycle of revenge that soon appears to be never ending.
The Crow is also about revenge for a lost loved one. Eric Draven witnesses his girlfriend's murder before dying himself. He later comes back from death as The Crow, an agent of revenge.
Now I am a sucker for a good revenge story, but what makes these two stories so special is the way they show the main character's suffering. Frank Castle and Eric Draven both go to extremes for their revenge, leaving pools of blood and dead bodies in their wake. They don't care about consequences. They don't care about right and wrong or crossing the line. In most cases, this would make them more of a villain than a hero. The truth is, they are more of an anti-hero: someone who doesn't do the morally right thing, but someone you can relate to and root for nonetheless.
Why relate to savage killers? With The Punisher, we are shown the world through Frank's eyes. Every day, he wakes up after dreams of his family. Whether they are pleasant memories, nightmares, or a cruel mix of both, it doesn't matter. We see how his loved ones are never far from his thoughts. He relives his pain over and over, again and again, and all he wants is his own form of justice since the system failed him.
The same is true with Eric Draven. Between scenes of violence, we are shown his memories of Shelly, the greatest love of his life. Even after his own death, he mourns her still and we are given every painful detail of his suffering.
This suffering is what makes these characters so relatable. Even as they break bones and fill men with bullets, we can't help but to root for them. The line between right and wrong is blurry, for sure, but these emotionally gutted individuals still elicit sympathy from the audience.
And last but not least, The Punisher is a new favorite because Jon Bernthal is an amazing actor that played the part so beautifully, that I was often trying not to sob out loud. His performance was powerful and moving. Plus, you know, eye candy!
I recommend this show to anyone who loves their action fast, their violence hard-core, and their hearts being ripped to shreds with those deep feels.
Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's anime time!
That's right folks! I took a hiatus from anime for a while there but then in December I decided it was time to start watching some new shows. Well, maybe not new but new to me. I'd watched the original Fullmetal Alchemist years ago and I was excited to watch the next series that was kind of a remake: Brotherhood. It had been on my Netflix list for quite some time and once I started watching it, my kids started watching it with me.
We got half way into season two when Netflix decided to take it off streaming. The day I was scrolling through my list over and over, growing more and more anxious as I just couldn't find it, yes, I think my neighbors may have heard my howls of rage once the truth finally washed over me like a stinky wave full of seaweed and crabs. It was gone. Who knows when, or if, they'll ever slap it back on there.
Feeling dejected, I thought, "Hey, if the kids want to watch with me, we can watch another series a bit more age appropriate." So I went to my anime shelf and pulled out Inuyasha. Now, the only real anime my kids have watched religiously are Hayao Miyazaki movies cause, let's face it, Studio Ghibli is like the Disney of anime. (Probably why Disney bought the rights to their English dubbed movies. They knew it was worth gold.) So when I brought out Inuyasha, my oldest only having vague memories of me watching it when she was a baby, they seemed interested enough.
You may not know this but Inuyasha is a super long series full of filler and almost as many flashbacks as Naruto. Yeah, that many. 167 episodes in the original series, 4 movies and another 26 episode ending series. That's a lot of Inuyasha! I figured a few episodes in and they'd be bored and ready to move on to something else, especially my six year old who has a short attention span.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Every day after school it's "Can we watch Inuyasha tonight?" and "Is it time to watch it yet?" and "When do we get to the movies?"
We've watched two seasons and the first movie together so far and I couldn't be happier. You have no idea of the joy I feel to have my kids share one of my "nerdy" hobbies. I could never watch anime with my parents or siblings cause it was "too weird" and "stupid foreign crap". Now here I am watching it with my own kids and loving every minute of it. I love seeing the surprise and joy on their faces with every plot twist. I take pride in explaining any small details the youngest may not have caught. Thanks Inuyasha (and Rumiko Takahashi of course), for bringing me that much closer to my kids.
My old email for years was otakuqueen and I used that handle a lot back in the day when I watched several hours of anime a week. The watching may have slowed down now but I still love my Japanese animation. I'm still an otaku and proud of it.
And maybe I'll teach my kids what that word means. If things continue on this track, I may have to.
