What’s the Plot of Dan Da Dan?

Well, the basis of what kicks off the story is there is a boy who believe in aliens. And a girl who believes in ghosts and spirits. The match made in heaven, right? Nope, both of them think that the other is crazy and decide that the other should go to a spot, alone at night, where these events are rumored to have occurred.

That’s the basics of the plot. You likely can guess what happens next for both of them. But that’s the fun of the story to see how that unfolds so I won’t go further into what happens.

The Anime Adaptation

So let’s start out by digging into if this is a good adaptation. I think that the visuals are some of the more enjoyable that I’ve seen in an anime in a while. It leans into elements that make sense to create a stark contrast around. So it is more than just your standard animation which I’m really enjoying. The aesthetic element works as well to demonstrate the plot elements of the story.

And I am watching the dub of it. Cruchyroll seems to be keeping up with it well, so I plan to keep going that way. But the dub works as well. The main two characters are really the voices you’ve heard through two episodes. And I think that they did a solid job finding voice talent for it. The plot and story aren’t going to give them the most room to stretch their voice acting chops, but it’s good voice acting.

Compared to the Manga

But let’s dive in a little bit further. How does it compare to the manga? Is it a faithful adaptation of what happens in the manga?

I think to both of those questions I can say yes thus far. The story for Dan Da Dan’s anime is very much what I remember from the manga. And they are sticking very true to it which I appreciate. There is some room to deviate from it, but not that much in terms of what the story is doing.

And I think because they went for unique visuals that element feels like the manga as well. I’m not sure that the manga as massively changes the tone, at least in the visual sense. But there is almost always a shift that happens. So I think the anime is faithful to what as well.

Should You Watch Dan Da Dan?

I haven’t talked much about the tone of the show. I like the supernatural elements of the story and I think that brings some of the fun. But it is more than just that in Dan Da Dan. There is an enjoyable story, good humor, and you do care about the characters.

That is what I want to see continued in the anime. The groundwork has been laid for it. And they are being very faithful to the manga in the anime. So if they keep it up, it is going to be a fun show. Is it going to be the best anime of all time, certainly not. Is it going to be a bad anime, certainly not. But it has the potential to be a really fun show with really fun characters that is worth most people checking out. And I think that Dan Da Dan thus far has done a good job of not feeling just like another anime.

Are you watching Dan Da Dan?

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Ranking My Sci-Fi Games

16. Star Wars: Destiny

I don’t dislike Star Wars: Destiny, I just find that I have room for one collectible game in my life. And right now that is Magic: The Gathering. Destiny is fun, though, because it is cheaper to play. And I know someone who has a bunch of cards (they bought all of mine) so I can play it if I want that way. But it’s a good head to head game.

15: Firefly: The Game

This is a game that I really need to give another chance. Again, I don’t dislike this game, it’s just that I kind of played it once. Everyone was learning and nothing was going that well for us in it. And it just got longer and longer without making progress. But I see how the game works and I think there are some cool elements there. And I know there are people who really like the game. So I want to try it again and set aside the time and group to really play it.

14: Legendary Encounters: Firefly

Much like Firefly: The Game, Legendary Encounters Firefly is one that I’ve had fun with, but I want to play more. I really like the show, and I think that the Encounters version of Legendary works better than the Marvel version. And it also falls into the category of I know someone who owns the game, so I could pretty easily play it again if I wanted.

13: Cosmic Encounter

Cosmic Encounter is one that I had in my collection, I really enjoyed, and I traded away. Mainly because I don’t think I can get it to the table all that often. Cosmic Encounter is a really silly negotiation game that works when people lean into that negotiation. There is strategy to the game, but you need to lean into that negotiation to make it work. So it just limits who I can play it with, but I’d never turn down a chance to play Cosmic Encounter.

12: Cry Havoc

Cry Havoc was high on my Top 100 a few years ago, and it dropped down and I sold it. Again, a game that I really enjoy and I would play any chance I could. But it’s an asymmetric game so it is a bit harder to teach and play. With that, I prefer Root to it which is in the same family of asymmetric games. But this is a fun area control game with a cool combat mechanic that is simple but different.

11: Star Wars: Imperial Assault

More Star Wars on the list. Imperial Assault also left the collection only because it is a campaign game. Campaign games are harder to get to the table for sure and Imperial Assault is not exception. I want to get it back sometime and play it. I liked the app that you can use with it to play fully cooperatively. And I like that it feels like a Star Wars adventure.

10: Shadowrun Crossfire

I almost didn’t add this to the list, I don’t know where I want to put Cyber-Punk. But Cyber-Punk is Sci-fi. Shadowrun Crossfire is a game of deck building and defeating challenges, getting XP, and leveling up your characters slowly. That’s the big knock on the game that you don’t level up fast enough, but people house rule around that. It is one I need to dive more into the game, I think you can play it solo, even if it is multi-handed solo gaming.

9: Gravwell

Gravwell is an abstract game with a space theme put on top of it. In particular Gravwell has you getting passed through a wormhole that is closing and now you use different elements to try and escape back. But the different element either pull you towards the nearest object, push you from it, or pull them towards you. It’s a fun little puzzle that keeps it close until someone can get the right cards to make it to the end.

8: Star Wars: Rebellion

Star Wars in a box, as people like to call it. Star Wars: Rebellion has the Rebels trying to undermine the Empire and complete missions. The Empire is trying to figure out where the Rebels secret base is. All while building up troops and skirmishing as you go. It’s a massive two player game, but an amazing one. If you have the time it is worth sitting down with an getting that original trilogy Star Wars feel.

7: Under Falling Skies

Under Falling Skies is Space Invaders meets Independence Day. This is a solo game about fighting off waves of alien ships and researching the mother ship in order to beat the game. I have yet to beat the game, but it is a lot of fun. But I always feel like I’m getting close. I also really like that high numbers make some ships descend faster but are more useful to research or blow up ships. It’s a clever system and a pretty big little game.

6: Galaxy Trucker

I normally don’t like real time games but Galaxy Trucker is an exception. In Galaxy Trucker you build out your cargo ship as fast as you can. Then you sit back an watch it get blown up. Well, ideally not blown up, and ideally you pick up cargo along the way. You deal with asteroids, space pirates, and come across planets full of goods along the way. It might be too chaotic for some, but I really like it.

5: Battlestar Galactica

BSG (Battlestar Galactica) is a massive game of survival when you might have hidden traitors among you. The Cylons are aboard the ship and you might not even know you are one. This is a massive three hours deduction, survival, even a bit of social deduction game. You try and figure out who is a Cylon and if you can get them off the ship in time before they mess everything up. But that’s way easier said than done.

4: T.I.M.E Stories

TIME Stories is almost any setting. There is Ancient Egypt, a land of dragons, pirates, zombies taking over a town, an asylum, you name it. But the core conceit of the game is that you are launching out, sending your mind back in time from the future, to deal with these problems, where time is changing. The concept is amazing, and I have liked each adventure I’ve gone on. I wish it had more of a story running throughout, but the different missions all feel unique.

3: Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns

Rogue Angels isn’t even out yet, I have only played it on TableTop Simulator (TTS) but it is amazing. You can watch my play through of it here with the designer, Emil Larson. The game just works, it is a dungeon crawl style game in space. But it isn’t a dungeon crawl game where you just go in fight the monsters and leave. You make important decisions. And you upgrade your character as you go. There is so much I like about this game. When I get a physical copy, I suspect it’ll move up higher.

2: Clank! In! Space!

Clank! In! Space! is a deck building adventure game where you are breaking into a spaceship, trying to be as quiet as possible so you don’t Clank about. But to move faster, defeat more bad guys, and generally win the game, you will need to Clank. Plus there is a push your luck element where you want to get as far in as you can to get the best treasure. But the longer you are in the ship, the more clank and damage you can accrue.

1: XenoShyft: Onslaught

XenoShyft is a tower defense deck building game with some amazing cooperative elements to it. Mainly, I can buy a card and then give you that card if you need help. You only have two troops to defend your side of the base in your hand, I can help you get more. I can even drop in a paratrooper in the middle of fighting a wave of bugs. Add in that you always get money, that’s even better. I rarely defeat the waves of bugs, but it’s so much fun to try.

Final Thoughts

I own a fair number more Sci-Fi themed games that I need to try. Middara blends Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Nemesis is basically Aliens the board game. And I just realized that I missed Not Alone on the list, probably top 6-7. But I still think there are more fantasy games out there that look interesting.

Some that I don’t own that I really should try are the different Dune games. I own the one based on the Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game system which I need to carve out a weekend chunk of time to play.

What are your favorite board games with a Sci-Fi theme?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

How To Play Under Falling Skies

Under Falling Skies is kind of a tower defense style game where there is a mothership coming towards your underground base and there are small ships coming down as well. You are trying to keep the small ships from reaching landfall and blowing them up, as too many land, you lose. Plus then you need to research the alien mother ship before it hits landfall.

In the game you roll dice and you place one per column. The dice can be used to get energy, unlock new areas, launch fighter ships, research, or fire flak cannons. Then the alien ships will move down based off of the number on each die. But they move down one less in a column where the flak cannon is firing.

Research you get to move up on the research track as much as you can based off of the total of your dice values. Energy you gain based off die value, and the fighters you launch deal damage to certain spots in the sky based off of the die value. Finally, the little drill that unlocks new areas advances to where the die was placed. You check and see if you’ve researched the last thing, otherwise the mothership lowers.

What I Don’t Like?

One thing that isn’t my favorite in the game is the amount of house keeping that the game has. By that I mean everything I need to check. It slows down some parts of the puzzle of the game. When I place a die, I need to look at see how far they will move down. Then after all the dice are placed, I need to calculate that and move the ships again. It’s not too much or too slow, but it is more than I like.

It’s a minor thing that is more of an annoyance that I don’t like, but the ships are too pointy. Yes, this is absurd to complain about, but it’s something I don’t like. The edges of the alien ships are sharp, and I’d prefer something that’s smoother. It does also make them slightly harder to pick up. So since they are harder to pick up now you really jam your fingers onto them.

What I Like?

I really like the theme of the game and the speed of the solo play. I call this Space Invaders, but you win by blowing up the mothership. So it feels like Space Invaders mixed with Independence Day. So the theme really works, and then it’s a fast game as well. I do think the house keeping does slow things down, sometimes, but after a play, I knew how most things worked.

I also like the dice placement element. What I didn’t mention is that you roll once. Now, there are ways to roll again, if you place a white die. But the idea that higher value dice are more powerful, but they also move ships further. So the whole thing creates a good puzzle. You want to do a lot of research, you want to launch powerful fighters, you want more energy. But all of those move the alien ships further.

And while I haven’t won yet, I like that the game is always close for me. In my three plays, each one ends with me needing to get that last push of research and just ending up short. I probably need to focus a bit more on research sooner. But I love a cooperative game where it’s always on that edge of will I win or not, and Under Falling Skies, it’s on that edge.

Who Is It For?

Under Falling Skies is a solo only game, so that’s going to limit who it is for. Unlike some solo games where you maybe could kind of have a person playing the bad guy, this one is so automated with the aliens that it wouldn’t be f un. Actually, you as the player make the decision what the aliens do based off dice placement. So this is a game for a solo gamer.

I don’t know what this is the first game I would get, though, for someone who wants to get into solo gaming. There is just enough house keeping that it might feel like a lot to start. And with a bigger box size and price point than some solo games, I think there are better ones to test the water with. But if someone is looking to take the next step into solo gaming, Under Falling Skies will be great.

Under Falling Skies – Final Thoughts

Is Under Falling Skies my top solo game? I don’t think so, but it is very enjoyable. I really like how the dice placement works in the game. And the theme, for me, helps sell the game. I played Space Invaders growing up, and while that wasn’t my main computer or video game, there is nostalgia too it, same with Independence Day.

And one thing that I haven’t mentioned is the campaign mode. There is a reason that I haven’t mentioned it, I have yet to play it. The base game, thus far, is enough. There is variability just with the cities you have there and that changes up the bunker. There is so much variability just with the base game that the campaign, I will get to, but one eventually.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: B

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Pros

• Based on existing game
• Awaken Realms has a great track record
• Cooperative/Semi-cooperative/Solo play
• Theme, described as playing Alien movies without the IP (Intellectual Property)

Cons

• Spendy
• Even spendier if you go all in base game and standalone expansion
• Game Length

Page Thoughts

Awaken Realms is the current “King of Kickstarter” having taken that crown, in my opinion, from CMON. And even though they don’t hold the top spot for a board game, that’d be Frosthaven, they just do consistently good work throughout and the quality of their games is very high.

I don’t actually love that you get so much in terms of components and minis to start, I want some game play information higher up, and in particular, how does this different from something like Nemesis, the base game. However, even with that, I’m glad to see that the core concept of the game seems to have said the same.

Back or Brick

For me, this was one that I had missed before I was really checking out kickstarter, that is the base game for Nemesis. So when I heard a standalone expansion was coming for it, I thought that might be a good jumping off point, and then it came out that you can actually get the base game as part of it as well. So for me, this was an easy Back but not for the standalone expansion. If that hits retail I’ll get it later, but more because I wanted to get the base game. So I am backing for that, to get the original game and it’s expansions, even though that’s a bit more expensive. For me, the theme just sounds great, and while it can be played and is made to be played semi-cooperatively, it seems like one that is going to be tough enough that you can probably just play fully cooperative. But, yeah, I love the alien theme, I like the horror element to the game, this is the type of game for me.

How about you, is this a back or a brick?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

So, I decided, what are the Top 10 Demos that I want to check out at GenCon? Keeping in mind that Fantasy Flight hasn’t announced anything yet, and I know there will be more added and surprises that are showing up there.

Ten – Zona: The Secret of Chernobyl – A long title, but an interesting sounding game. You are going through and trying to collect secrets before you go into the sarcophagus of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The first person to succeed wins the game, but it’s possible for time to run out and everyone to lose the game. It seems like an interesting race against the clock.

Nine – Calico – For something complete different, this game is about cats and making quilts. It’s going to be more of a puzzle game, but the artwork looks very cute and the game just have a very satisfying look and seems like it would be a relaxing game to play. I think with it’s theme, if it’s a good game, it would be a good entry level game.

Eight – Deranged – To start, the artwork on this game looks very cool. It’s creepy and monstrous, but not gross. Second, this game has people turning into monsters, having to hunt down and kill the other players characters to turn back into a human themselves. It seems interesting, a modular board and variable player powers make me want to check out this game. I also like the weird horror theme that it has going on.

Seven – Arkeis – Arkeis seems like it’s a super natural adventure game, but instead of it being Lovecraftian, we get ancient Egypt and exploring a tomb. It looks to use the box as a game board and I’m assuming different games can be played in different configurations. But any game that has that adventure and exploration feel, it seems like a lot of fun, and it seems to be driven by storytelling, which is great.

Six – Nemesis – This one is already out, but it’s just for demo at GenCon. From Awaken Realms, Nemesis is an Aliens game, just without the IP for Aliens. You’re trying to navigate a ship back to Earth (or some planet), but everyone has their own secret objective, and did I mention, there are aliens on the ship that are most definitely trying to kill you.

Five – IT: Evil Below – I don’t know much of anything about this game. And it’s a game built upon an IP (intellectual property), which can be hit or miss, but I’m a big fan of Stephen King and It, so I want to check the game out and see if it can take any of the creep factor from the book and add it into the game.

Four – Mystery House – What makes Mystery House so interesting is that it uses it’s box to create a game board where you can’t see everything in it. So you’re going around blind searching for things, and it seems like it’s going to build up a good amount of suspense. There’s also a companion app for it, which I find interesting. It seems like a game that is going to have some wow factor on the table.

Three – Sleeping Gods – From Ryan Laukat and Red Raven Games, this game is in the line of his storybook games like Near and Far, and Above and Below. His artwork, as always, is amazing, and the idea of sailing around and completing missions, it seems interesting. It’s also a campaign game as you go through and explore the world. Definitely one that I want to see on the table.

Two – Iron Forest – This game is from the same company as Ice Cool and uses a lot of the same mechanisms as Ice Cool. But instead of a nice high school, it’s a board that goes up levels, with an elevator that you launch yourself from the first floor to the second floor and spots to drop back down. This game just seems like a lot of fun to see and demo.

One – Floor Plan – This is a roll and write game, but it looks interesting. It’s a game where you are building your floor plan (hence the name) for a house. Adding in bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, etc, but you have to make sure you’re putting in doors, and other features to score you more points.

Yeah, Dungeons and Dragons is epic fantasy and we’re adding aliens into the mix. And not just some weird creatures from another plane, we’re adding in spaceships and craziness like that to Dungeons and Dragons, deal with it!

In all seriousness, you can turn Dungeons and Dragons into whatever game you want, and clearly I’m joking around at the top, but it isn’t something that I’ve written about before.

So how is this game going to work?

I have a couple of different ideas. The first being that there is a crashed spaceship that the players are tasked with exploring. It’s something that the people know about but no one has ever been able to get into it. The players are now tasked by some adventuring outlet to figure out a way to get into it.

That’s the point where I’d kick off the adventure. The player characters are off to get this open and dealing with getting to the inhabitable area and fighting some things like goblins or some bandits who have set-up camp around the spaceship. Once they’ve gotten it cleared out, they now have to figure out how to get in.

With getting in, get a bit meta with it. Make it something that the players would recognize, but not the player characters. Or create a puzzle for the players, not the characters. I think that can be the reason that no one has gotten into it before, because anything too obvious or too easy, why hasn’t someone gotten in before. Create a tricky set of puzzles, or create it as a challenge for the players. You can even create an in game mechanic of some sort for the players to get a more information about it, if you need to.

Once they are in two things should happen. It should still be a challenge to explore because it’s all weird and foreign to the players, and there is probably still an active defense. But, more importantly, and not known to the players, them opening up the ship has caused a distress signal to be sent, so now there are going to be aliens coming to their world. However, that’s going to take a bit as the world you’re characters are on is at the edge of the universe. I’d eventually have the player characters figure out that the message has been sent.

So now there is only a limited amount of time for the PCs to figure out how to defend against the aliens. Especially since they should already be familiar with the alien technology and how dangerous it can be. And most likely they are going to need to get the ship back into the air. You can hand wave some of the figuring out what everything is, mainly just focus on the main systems, getting weapons, getting engines, and getting it off the ground. I’d make there to be some fetch quests of sorts where the players need to either get back and put back something that was scavenged off the outside of the spaceship or something that looks similar to something on their world that is broken on the ship.

And then you get to end by turning it into a Star Wars game. Where the players have fixed up the ship and find them up against an Imperial Cruiser. Now, that is a bit absurd, but not too absurd for this game. But I’d end the campaign with a space battle. Give them a warm-up battle against a scout ship but then have to take on a small salvage fleet.

Now, that’s game one, the other one is that the alien’s have already attacked. Borrowing from Stargate SG1, it’s possible that because you’re less advanced than the aliens, you are slave labor. And you were recently taking off of one planet and you want to stop the alien slavery.

In this one it’s about escaping where ever the PC’s are. This will be some combat and a lot of stealth. The PC’s are going to need to escape and get onto a ship, but the ship isn’t something that the players should be able to figure out, so a lot of the game can be done as stealth on a ship and trying to avoid the aliens.

I’d have the players hop to the main planet at some point and get stranded there. In fact, you could plant as a plot thread that they can wipe the coordinates from a main computer or mark their planet as destroyed or some terrible event having happened to save their planet. Again, really lean into the alien nature of this for the players. Have the jail cells on the ship be pretty normal to what their fantasy culture would expect, so you get that reveal for the PC’s of what has happened.

The end game should definitely be to get back to their planet though. I think compared to the other game, this one can be run faster and run at a lower character level. You never what them to feel like they can completely go toe to toe with a large number of aliens.

Do either of these seem like fun games to play? Which one would you prefer to play or run?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Ultraman, the Netflix show, is based off of the same character as the 1966-1967 show from Japan. The original show revolves around aliens attacking earth and until Ultraman shows up, the Science Patrol (yes, it’s called the Science Patrol), are unable to drive back the aliens. Now, it’s the next generation of Ultraman. The Science patrol is still around, but the alien threat is now from aliens who are living on earth. When an alien shows up that was last seen 12 years ago when a plane crashed killing everyone on board, the Science Patrol kicks it up a notch.

The show isn’t all that complex a show plot wise, it’s aliens do something, and the human who is Ultraman shows up and has a moral quandary about he’s doing. And it kind of repeats that trope throughout the show, but it does have some through lines in the show. Especially at the end of the season you get a through line in a few episodes. This isn’t a show that has a ton of major through lines though. You tend to just get two or three episodes that are somewhat tied together. But I think some of that simplicity is what makes the show work. They don’t try and confuse it too much with misdirection upon misdirection.

I think it also works because the style of animation on the show is an interesting 3D anime style animation. It wasn’t something that I thought I’d like, but they do a solid job with it. I do think that there are a few spots where it is rough around the edges, but in some ways, that’s some of the charm of the animation style. You get that billow of smoke that looks solid, but not as good as you thought it was going to be. And since it is based off of something in the 1960’s, not sure how faithfully, having that little bit of feel where it’s trying to do something on the cutting edge is fun. It kind of works with the premise of Ultraman, and you also end up with some 3D animations that are just amazing.

Anime shows often come down to how the voice acting is done, especially in watching a dub. Netflix didn’t really hold back on getting talent for this, which was great. You have Josh Hutcherson voicing the main character and Critical Role cast members Matt Mercer and Liam O’Brien voicing character as well. So you have solid voice acting, and there’s something fun about recognizing voices in an anime, especially when it isn’t just the main few voice actors that you get on many a Funimation dubbed show.

Overall, this is a very fun show. It doesn’t try to be too much and do too much. As Kristen said about it, there’s just something fun about it, and I think that is the best away to describe it. It’s definitely a show for teenagers and adults, but it doesn’t mean that it’s too heavy. And it doesn’t have sex in it really, there’s just alien blood and once in a while human blood and various gore that you see. Even that isn’t too bad compared to what it could have been. And it’s just nice to have that action show where the character is growing that doesn’t end up relying on violence of fan service. So don’t go into it expecting anything that profound or deep, but do expect a good time.

Have you watched Ultraman on Netflix? Did you like the show?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Little Witch Academia

It’s about witches, it counts. This show isn’t so much a horror show but gives you that more fun kid focused Halloween feel. It’s about a girl who doesn’t have that much magical talent but really wants to become a witch, like her hero Shiny Chariot. It follows her adventures and misadventures around the school and sometimes deals with deeper things, but often times is just cute and goofy.  It definitely doesn’t fit the horror side of Halloween at all, but still feels properly thematic for the holiday.

Ghost Hunt

This is the opposite of Little Witch Academia, it’s about a paranormal investigator and the high school girl who helps him on the investigations, there are also other people who help as well from time to time. The cases they take on are often quite horrific and they definitely go for some jump scares, but mainly it’s just intense and disturbing. One thing that I really enjoy about this anime is that the cases are fairly short. So instead of just have one off episodes facing off against a monster, you get three to five episodes, but it isn’t isn’t so much that the whole show feels like it’s dragging out a single story.

Tokyo Ravens

I actually wouldn’t recommend this anime too highly because the story is just okay. However, it does fit into the Halloween theme as there are some horror elements in there. It’s about a group of students who are fighting against monsters in the system of their world. The plot is a little bit thin and predictable, however, and it has some of the weirder anime dynamics.

Blood Blockade Battlefront

Another one that I wouldn’t completely call traditional Halloween. This show definitely doesn’t have the purest horror feel, but in a world where there was a convergence between two worlds and there are crazy alien creatures and humans living together, it does fit into the Halloween theme. It’s also not like this show doesn’t have some weird or unsettling things that are horror like as well. This is a very well done anime, and the story arcs, especially in the first season, are really well done. Probably the best part about the anime is the world that was built. It’s so crazy and so well done. The one downside for me is the build up to the moves, where they announce them and you see it written on the screen as well. The anime is also very pretty to watch as compared to some of the other ones.

Soul Eater

Death is leading a school that is going to fight witches, what could be more Halloween? Probably quite a number of animes, but this one does have a few undertones that match up with Halloween. This falls into the same category as Little Witch Academia where it’s much sillier. But it has that goofy kids feeling for Halloween while getting heavier and darker at times. The anime doesn’t end extremely well, but generally is a really fun anime. I would compare it to the heaviness of a movie like A Nightmare Before Christmas, where it can have a couple creepy moments here and there, but generally is more light hearted, and it has one of the better anime characters of all time in Excalibur, he sings with a voice like an angel.

Now, I’m sure there are a ton more animes that I could have mentioned, had I watched them. I thought about D.Gray-man, but the anime is just too long for the amount of story that happens in it, and I might have given up on completing it because I didn’t care that much about what was happening in it anymore. There are other animes that I’ve seen which have some horror episodes are smaller horror arcs, but generally don’t give off a monster,  horror, or Halloween feeling like the animes that I’m looking for in these articles.

What are some of your favorite horror based animes? I know that I’m always looking for more that are good in that genre.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Quickly, 10 Cloverfield Lane is in fact tied into Cloverfield, somehow. The plot is very different though, as compared to a situation where there is a monster attacking a city and using a found footage film to figure out what is going on, this was a crisply shot film that actually had a very small area. The vast majority of the movie is set in a small bomb shelter with three characters.

The plot of the film surrounds Michelle who was leaving her boyfriend and got into a car accident. She was knocked unconscious and when coming to, she finds herself in a bomb shelter with Howard and Emmett. Something has happened outside, they tell her, and it isn’t safe to be out there. She’s not so sure on the intentions of Howard in particular, though. Is this situation what it actually seems, or does Howard have a more nefarious plan that he is plotting?

What makes this film tick is the amazing acting. John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr make this film as Howard, Michelle, and Emmett respectively. In particular, John Goodman’s character, who is a conspiracy nut and completely paranoid about everything, is wonderfully portrayed. He gets into that character and has an amazing set of ticks that go along with it. Emmett and Michelle constantly are causing him to go into those ticks. Being that this is such a localized film where they are stuck in the bomb shelter the acting needs to be phenomenal. Without that, the film would have felt off or felt low budget. We’ll talk about feeling low budget with Cloverfield Paradox soon.

I think, one big thing to know, if my love of the first film and your love of creature features makes you want to watch all of these, is to understand that this is something very very different. While the other is a creature feature, this one is much more of psychological thriller versus a crazy alien movie. I’ve seen a few psychological thrillers before, and 10 Cloverfield Lane holds up against a lot of them. I do feel like this movie doesn’t step too far away from the original Cloverfield in that it still has the sense of mystery and wondering what is happening, just in a very different way that the original had, and I do appreciate that is what the series seems to be going for.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Please step back to a safe distance, please remain calm, we have the situation under control.

First thing that I want to talk about is the dichotomy of this film. There are what I would call two distinct parts to this film. The main body of 10 Cloverfield Lane is their time in the bomb shelter. This film leans into the psychological aspect of being a prisoner for Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s character, Michelle. But, you always have the idea that things are way worse than it actually seems. Then you get to the world outside of the bomb shelter. One of the big mysteries of the movie, at least for about the first third, is if there is actually something going on in the outside world, then the question is if that thing is actually as bad as Howard claims. The fact that the outside world, while not quite what Howard claims has aliens roaming it is really interesting. The level of truth behind what Howard said as compared to why Howard made the claims is interesting. The whole alien sequence though does feel like it might just be a different movie, maybe the start of the 10 Cloverifeld Lane sequel.

Now, I did want to talk more about John Goodman’s performance. The ticks are amazing, and you know for a long time that John Goodman’s character is unstable and definitely has kidnapped at least a woman before and kept her trapped in the bomb shelter. Besides just the ticks that he had a wonderful moment, where, after Emmett was killed by him, he shaves. Now, you don’t see the actual  act of shaving, but having had scruffy facial hair throughout the movie, and not always dressing the neatest, the second Emmett dies, he now makes his real intentions clear. It’s a very well done and generally pretty twisted in terms of how he plays the role. You always know something is off with Howard, but you don’t really get the full idea of what it is until later on.

Another interesting thing that I want to mention with this is Howard’s daughter. This is something that with a quick watch of it, might seem like situation where it’s another lie that Howard has told. However, it is something that Emmett corroborates. It leaves a ton of questions open about Howard, how he ended up that way, and so many other things that are going on with him. Did his wife and daughter leave because of his paranoia, his conspiracy theories, or is it something worse. It’s not something that the film needs to go into, but it is an interesting piece of the film. It adds to the mystery of Howard and why he is the way that he is. It’s a disturbing piece of the mystery, most definitely, but also a good piece as it doesn’t make him just a bad guy. Now, maybe he’s even a worse guy, but Emmett’s ability to talk about Howard’s life and what he’s seen of Howard before Howard kills him, of course, is interesting. Again, doesn’t make Howard less creepy, but it also doesn’t set him up just to be a bad guy for bad guys sake.

Finally, the aliens. I talked some about how this movie has two distinct parts, the part where Michelle is in the bomb shelter, and the end twenty minutes or so with the aliens. Are the aliens need for this film? I don’t really think that they are. Does it tie it more into the first Cloverfield film? I would say that it definitely does. Like I said, the part with the aliens maybe should have been at the start of Cloverfield Paradox to tie that film into the series even more so. But I’ll get that in a week or so. Again, not to take away from Howard’s creepiness in the film, but the fact that it adds some credibility to what Howard had been saying and Howard’s concern is interesting to me. Again, I think it comes down to the fact that while Howard is clearly the villain of the film, and that title is deservingly placed upon him,  it’s interesting to see the nuggets of truth that he put in to build up his lie. It opens up a ton of questions about his mental state which is clearly not good and how he’s warping and justifying things in his head.

For some final thoughts, this is a great film, as in well done, good story, good acting, every piece hits in this film. John Goodman is a star of the show, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. back up that performance amazingly. It’s going to go into the rotation of films that I’ll watch every few years just because of how it tells it’s story. I want to see more films like it, where it doesn’t rely on jump scares to build up tension, but builds up mystery and suspense and horror as time goes on. It’s the classic closed world situation, where the person has to deal with everything going on around them because of the bunker. That’s something that I appreciate in a film, and to see it handled a different way than it was in Cloverfield which has a bigger closed world and has the first person view for the movie, I think it works really well. I highly recommend this film, but will warn that there are definitely parts of this film that could be triggering to people, so know that going in, have someone who has seen it before or who isn’t worried about looking up more spoilers on it to let you know.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Where even to begin with sci-fi shows? What makes sci-fi shows that have been successful interesting and long-lasting?

The biggest reason for me, as to why I watch sci-fi and fantasy shows, even though I’ll just be touching on sci-fi right now, is that they are good escapism. I like the idea of escaping and exploring something that is different from what my normal life is. Sci-Fi shows are about high adventure and something that is very foreign to what I know.

But another big reason is the way sci-fi shows are able to touch on situations and real-life scenarios. They can delve into an issue that would otherwise be too fraught, as it would hit too close to home if it was set in the world as we know it. They can touch on many different areas of politics and human interactions that we see as part of our normal life. It helps to separate an issue from what we know and what we already feel about it. And sci-fi does a great job of slipping it into shows, especially long lasting ones, so it maintains an enjoyable quality throughout while still raising topics that we don’t normally want to think about, or that we think about in only one given way.

So, that is is why I enjoy sci-fi shows, along with more reasons that are generally on a show-by-show basis.

What would you recommend to watch?

Why, thank you for asking!

Doctor Who: The Classic series, not so much. It is kind of entertaining, but doesn’t hold up well to time, so it is better to start with the newer Doctor Who series. We have an article up on the site already giving more detail into what Doctor Who is, and some suggestions of episodes to watch to get a feel for the show. The new Doctor Who series does start off fairly rough with episodes that aren’t as well-written and that have poor special effects, but it gets greatly better over time.

Star Trek The Next Generation: I haven’t seen all of the show, but the episodes that I’ve watched I’ve greatly enjoyed. It hits on one of the big things that I like about Ssci-fi shows (actually, both), but anything where they are traveling to distant worlds, meeting aliens, and having adventures in space, and sometimes taking themselves very seriously for deep episodes, is a show that I enjoy a lot.

Stargate SG1: My guess is this will be one of the more controversial on the list, but I really enjoy it. It blends a lot of action with a rich mythology of the universe, and it generally doesn’t take itself too seriously. The big hook to me was the fact that it delves a lot into Egyptian Mythology while playing off of alien worlds. This one has the least amount of non-human aliens of any of the shows, but it is still enjoyable as they tie history into the different civilizations that are visited. And the mechanic for travel is very unique.

Eureka: This one definitely doesn’t take itself seriously either. A show about a town of super geniuses who don’t have that much common sense and are regularly getting into trouble? That sounds interesting. Throw in an average-Joe sheriff who finds himself accidentally in this town, and it’s great. There’s good humor throughout the show and some nice character development as well. If you are looking for something to challenge you and really force you to think, this isn’t the show, but it’s rare that Eureka misses on an episode, and throughout its run, it was always enjoyable. Colin Ferguson is amazing in the role as the sheriff and does a great job with the physical nature of much of the comedy.

Killjoys: This one is going onto its second season, but it is one of a few rare sci-fi shows that is coming out right now. It is about a group of bounty hunters who live out on a far part of the universe. Earth to them isn’t a thing, and they have their own galaxy and group of planets that have their sets of problems. The galaxy they are in has a lot of depth and a lot of intrigue. What I like about it, though, is that while it is serious and the worlds and political problems are serious, the show also has many lighter moments as well. This allowed me to watch it without feeling dragged down or like nothing was really happening, like some shows out there.

Firefly: This one I put down at the end along with Killjoys for one reason: if you get really sucked into these sci-fi shows, there isn’t that much of either. Thankfully, Killjoys is continuing, but Firefly, a short-lived sci-fi western ran for all of 14 episodes. It is a fun romp that starts to get into the depth of the political governments and could have built from there, but mainly it was a lot of fun, with very unique characters and well-played roles. I’d highly recommend it, and if you enjoy it, you will be left wanting a whole lot more.

Now that you have a point to start bingeing on sci-fi shows, what are some that you’ve watched an really enjoyed? I wanted to say more, but that might have gotten a bit overwhelming.

———————————
Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.