January 2023 Patron Newsletter and Staff Recommendations

Happy New Year, AniFam!

We've been rushing all over the place working on premieres, recommendations, and best-of lists, but we do have one extra exciting announcement: we dusted off our YouTube channel!

Over the next few months we'll be uploading our podcast backlog onto YouTube in video format -- so if you've ever wanted to catch up on an older watchalong, now's the time!

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January Recommendations

Vampire in the Garden

Format: Anime (subbed and dubbed)

Picked by: Vrai

What’s it about? The sudden appearance and spread of vampires has driven humanity into a singular stronghold protected by an enormous lighthouse. Momo is the daughter of the commander and passed her military training with flying colors, but is a gentle soul at heart; the vampire queen, Lady Fine, pretends to dance her nights away but secretly yearns for a quiet place to die. After a chance meeting, the two set out to escape from the endless war [cue music].

Content warnings: Gore, war crimes, gun violence, body horror

Why we like it: What if a lesbian Romeo & Julietwas set against a fantasy Cold War backdrop, and the Russians were vampires?

This isn’t a story looking to reinvent the wheel; instead, it busts out a wheel with every bell, whistle, and streamer it can think of. The fights look lovely, as do the opulent scenes of vampire balls; there’s quiet intimacy in the scenes of music bringing people together. It does its best to avoid the trap of making an oppressed, feared fantasy group that actually is a threat by pivoting to focus on how both human and vampire cultures are driven to desperation by harsh circumstances and lack of resources, and how “paradise” is often built on the back of unseen suffering. All this is done somewhat broadly, since the five-episode miniseries dedicates a lot of time to those fights and musical montages, but it has an earnest feel. It’s also quite interesting to see the visuals drawn so heavily from Russian and Siberian culture, which isn’t as common in European-inspired fantasy anime.

The real draw here, though, is Momo and Fine’s relationship. Their growing closeness is depicted with a real warmth and chemistry that some series with double the runtime fail to capture; it really sells why they go to such lengths for one another despite how recently they met. There is the usual heads-up for most supernatural being/human romances that Momo is apparently 14 (though a full working adult in her society) and Fine is several hundred years old (though it’s a major point that she’s been basically emotionally dead since a tragedy when she was roughly Momo’s age). The course of their relationship is very emotionally rather than physically driven, though, and the visuals sidestep fanservice or sexualization of the cast in general despite multiple bathing scenes.

There’s also the drawback for many that this is a tragic romance, something folks may or may not want to engage with given that tragic endings have overwhelmingly outnumbered happy endings for queer couples until quite recently. That said, the story telegraphs its intent from word one and ends on a hopeful note that doesn’t feel like you’ve wasted your time investing in these characters. The roughly film-length running time is a major bonus on that end as well. If you want to admire visual panache with some heart attached to it, this is a good evening’s watch.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Format: Game (PS4, PS5, PC)

Picked by: Caitlin

What’s it about? The Shinra Power Company generates power using mako energy drawn from the Planet, an enterprise that has made them so powerful and wealthy that they run the two-tiered city of Midgar. Mako is wonderfully convenient, but there are concerns about its sustainability, and the guerilla environmentalist group AVALANCHE wants to do whatever it takes to save the Planet. Into this conflict steps Cloud Strife, a former elite soldier of Shinra’s private army turned mercenary. He claims to only be in it for the money, but with his personal connections to the conflict, he may be more involved than he claims.

Content warnings: violence, terrorism, kidnapping, children in peril, gaslighting, implied sexual assault, environmental destruction, destiny and fate, PTSD, fat jokes

Why we like it: Chances are, if you’re interested in Final Fantasy VII: Remake, you’ve probably played it by now. On the off chance you’re on the fence, however, I heartily encourage you to give it a play.

Final Fantasy VII has, for a long time, embodied Square Enix’s willingness to try something different, with its fantasy-tinged science-fiction setting, political themes touching on environmentalism and class inequality, and having a character die permanently midway through. It’s one of the best-loved JRPGs of all time for a reason, and the remake was expected to offer an updated version of the same story.

My friends, that is not what Remake is. Yes, it does still have everything that made VII such a legendary game, but Nomura gonna Nomura, so of course they had to get weird with it. Instead of a straightforward adaptation with modernized gameplay and graphics, Remake also explores questions of just what it means to redo a story – do you have to tell it in the same way, or can you do something different? How will the fans react? Is following the same plot beats any different from locking characters into an unalterable destiny, and is it not the nature of heroes to fight such things? It also reclaims characters who have long been miswritten both in supplementary materials and fanon. Cloud isn’t cool, he’s an awkward dork with PTSD who doesn’t know how to talk to people, Aerith is flirtatious and fiery, and so on.

Furthermore, if you are as bad at games as I am (which is to say, extremely terrible) and are worried about the action RPG gameplay making it inaccessible, don’t fear. Play on classic mode, and you’ll sail through the fights which require just enough effort that you don’t feel like you’re watching a movie.