April Updates

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all well. It's been a busy month for me, a bit challenging at work but lots of nice memories made too. I've made a habit of going to one of the local cinemas that screens a lot of anime films which has been really fun. I even brought one of my best friends to see Perfect Blue for the first time.

Most importantly, I can finally give the update I've been wanting to for so long: all the pre-production prep for the Umineko videos is done!!! I finished reading the manga this month, and have finally moved into scripting. I've segmented my notes into broad outlines for two videos, and have begun writing the first, which I'll produce in full (writing, recording, editing and release) before moving onto the second one. There's still the possibility of this plan changing if it makes more sense to collapse the videos into one (or change the focus of the essays, as can happen when writing), but I'm not keen on doing this and it's becoming quite unlikely at this stage.

From this point on, anything I have to say about these videos (and the videos themselves) will contain full spoilers for the series!

Both of these are working titles, but the first video I'll be working on and releasing is The Role of the Woman in Umineko. This video will look at the four Ushiromiya women (Natsuhi, Eva, Rosa and Kyrie), as well as Sayo/Shkanon/Beatrice, examining their characters and the question of what it means to be a woman.

Trauma, Healing and Subjective Truth in Umineko will be an Ange character analysis which also looks at how Umineko handles the titular themes (including on a metatextual level, with discussion of the witches/Ikuko and also Battler/Tohya).

My aim is to finish writing and recording the first video this month, and to edit and release it in June. I'm hoping for a similar timeline for the second video and thus to have that one out in August. I have been known to be completely wrong with these estimates -- it's always hard to plan around unexpected life and work commitments -- but this timeline is realistic enough to work towards, and I'll keep you all updated! This is also always hard to estimate, especially at this stage, but I'm expecting each video to be between 1 and 2 hours, with the first being the longer of the two.

I'm super happy to finally be able to provide this substantial update, and even moreso to be writing again. I realised it's been maybe over two years since I last wrote and released any analysis, which is insane. I've missed it a lot.

Otherwise this month, I watched Disney's Treasure Planet as it's one of my friend's favourite films -- I'm not much of a Disney watcher so it was fun! I also finally saw Katsuhiro Ootomo's Memories anthology at the cinema which was great to tick off the list. The animation was expectedly mind-blowing for 1995. I'd heard a lot about the first film in the anthology, Magnetic Rose, but was actually most impressed by the last one, Cannon Fodder. I liked that the last two films were tied together by their commentary on war and the development of nuclear weaponry.

In terms of videos, I liked Sarah Davis Baker's The Internet Used to Be a Place -- definitely one for Jacob Geller fans. I also found katie robinson's channel through online culture has distorted our perception of clothing poverty -- really well-produced and educational writing on the fashion industry that has given me a lot of pause for thought.

That's all for this month and looking forward to bringing more updates around the end of the month. Until then, take care!