Death Note: Manga: Black Edition Vols I-VI (2011)

Death Note: Black Edition (2011)

Author: Tsugumi Ohba  |  Illustrator: Takeshi Obata

Page Count: Approx 400 in each volume (2424 in total)

"We’re both using them as bait to lure each other out...and we’re both well aware of that…"

At its most basic level, Death Note is the story of two determined individuals, each of whom have people that support them in various ways.

The first is Light Yagami, a seventeen-year-old high school student with a high IQ, an elevated sense of superiority and a tendency to get bored easily. He wants to make the world a better place and doesn't care who he has to step on to achieve it.

The second is his nemesis, the mysteriously named L, a young, reclusive detective with a sharp, analytical and overly-suspicious mind. L never fails in anything he does but he's never been up against anyone quite as merciless as Light Yagami before.

What unfolds is a battle of skills, wills and wits between a pair of evenly matched masters of second-guessing and deductive reasoning.

Zatoichi: Manga (2006)

Zatoichi (2006)

Authors: Kan Shimozawa / Hiroshi Hirata  |  Illustrator: Hiroshi Hirata | Page Count: 218

"Don’t make me responsible for what’s happening around me!"

A one-shot manga containing two Zatoichi adventures, both adapted from one of the many films that starred Shintarô Katsu in the lead role. If you're not familiar with the character, Ichi is a blind masseur (Zato is his title) who's also a master swordsman. He tries to avoid conflict, but his compassion always seems to place him in the thick of it.

The first story is The Ballad of Zatoichi, adapted from the 13th film in the series, Zatoichi's Vengeance (1966). Ichi undertakes a dying man’s wish and unwittingly becomes a role model for an orphan as a result. It's largely faithful to the film, but some scenes are omitted and some new ones added.

Of the missing scenes the most prominent is the story of the whore and her lover, an element that carried a large part of the emotional weight. The book is weakened by its absence. It's debatable whether or not the additional content makes the story better but it certainly puts a different slant on things.

Burzum (1992-96)

Burzum (inc. Aske EP) (1993/92)

The term 'Burzum' first appeared in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books. It means 'darkness' in the Black Speech created by Sauron.

The first Burzum album takes the early Bathory sound and imbues it with Varg Vikernes' conceptual ideas: auditory landscapes that reflected the birthing of evil from the womb of Mordor as described in Tolkien's writings. It's cold and desolate; a soundtrack to pain and decay.

It's a little uneven compared to his later works, but remains an essential purchase for anyone interested in the Norwegian Black Metal scene.

Elvira: Films (1988-2001)

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)

Dir. James Signorelli

Late night TV host Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) quits her crummy job and travels to a sexually-repressed town in Massachusetts that's like a late 1960s sitcom. Whist there the leggy host offends ninety-percent of the locals with her outspoken views and her outstanding cleavage. But while the anti-fun brigade (i.e. the town council) is fuming, the youth of the backwards town are on her side.

It's a cult film with a whopping amount of tame innuendo (mostly tit-jokes) and intentionally bad wisecracks that'll either make sense to your inner teenager or have you scratching yourself while periodically checking your wristwatch (or phone).

It may even struggle to hold the attention of anyone born after the mid 80s, but that isn't me.

The B+W science fiction film featured at the beginning is an AIP release called It Conquered the World (1956), directed by Roger Corman. I remember seeing it as a kid for the first time, at home on a school day. I was off sick, but not too sick that I couldn't watch daytime TV.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise (2013-14)

Border 1: Ghost Pain (2013)

Dirs. Kazuchika Kise / Masahiko Murata | Length: 58 mins (approx)

A four-episode GitS prequel series set in 2027, which is just two years before the events in Dir. Mamoru Oshii's 1995 Ghost in the Shell movie.

The story revolves around an incident in Newport City, a murder, that's being investigated by two separate organisations: namely Unit 501 — of which series protagonist and "full-body cyborg" Motoko Kusanagi is a member — and Public Security, headed by a man named Aramaki. Section 9's interest extends beyond the obvious, and they enlist the aid of Kusanagi in getting to the truth of the matter.

Despite the changes since the previous TV series (GitS: Stand Alone Complex), there's still much the same. Dirs. Kise and Murata's framing, scenery and even camera movements are similar to SAC's.

Of the two main differences, the first, Motoko, is less upsetting than I'd feared. Because it's a prequel, she's younger and less experienced. She also looks odd, but only for a short time. Her confidence, her movements and her decision making is as normal, so I was able to look beyond the shell very quickly; it's her, there's no doubt of that.

Roger Corman / Edgar Allan Poe (1960-65)

The Fall of the House of Usher (1960)
Dir. Roger Corman

The first of seven Roger Corman films that claim to be based on the works of American author Edgar Allan Poe relies heavily on the deep, rich textures of Vincent Price. The dialogue he's given only occasionally sounds like it came from Poe's own mind, but the hinge on madness — the deranged grip of nervous agitation that many of his protagonists find themselves inexorably in — is firmly in place, the crumbling house reflective of the Ushers' state of mind.

It invents a new character and does away with an original one, while the shift to third person robbed it of a potentially weighty V/O, but it's something that I've come to accept.

The paintings hanging in the halls are atypical of the era, but they’re amazing, nonetheless.

DUNE: The Original Novels (1965-85)

Dune (1965)

Author: Frank Herbert  |  Page Count: 562 (605 inc. Appendices)

"What do you despise? By this are you truly known."

-From 'Manual of Muad’Dib' by the Princess Irulan

Frank Herbert's Dune Saga is the story of the planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, upon which is found a rare and valuable resource that every Great House in existence depends upon. Without it interstellar trade would end. Even the Emperor of the Known Universe would be rendered mostly powerless in all but name. Whosoever controls the retrieval and distribution of that specific resource will be a formidable foe in a never-ending and far-reaching power struggle.

The first book concentrates on the rise of a reluctant messianic figure from not-quite-humble beginnings towards something he never expected to be.

The two things are connected but are each only a small part of what the novel contains. There's a staggering amount of depth beneath the surface, exploring everything from petty feuds and familial concerns to the basic needs of evolution, ecology, society and the intersection of religion, politics and power.