There will be no revolution

In September of 2011 I was at the official afterparty for the International Festival of Comics and Games in Łódź. It was the part of event during which all the official speeches were held and awards were handed out. And at the end, a musical act would play. That year the audience got a real treat - a joint performance by two esteemed artists. The first one was a well known local act called Cool Kids of Death, a somewhat controversial alternative rock outfit. The second was a famous Japanese video game music composer Akira Yamaoka, best known for the Silent Hill soundtrack. People who came to the show were probably expecting that the famous international guest would take the center stage and the local band would be the backup.

That didn't happen. The first half of the show was just CKOD playing their original songs. Public was lukewarm and mostly waiting for Akira to take the stage. That happened about half-way through the show - but public was suprised to learn that for this part, the ensemble is gonna keep playing local band's songs, just with addition of Yamaoka on guitar. The band already has two guitarists so quite frankly, an additional one didn't make much of a difference in the sound. Public groaned. Finally, the vocalist announced that it's time for songs from Silent Hill. And they played them, but for just 10 minutes - after 3 tracks, the show was over.

It was the first time I saw CKOD and I became a fan right away. I immediately connected with the sound and lyrics, the attitudes and the underlying message. They were my favorite band for a very long time and will probably always remain somewhere in my top 10. But as far as I know, a lot of people had the opposite reaction - they came there to see Akira and they hated the fact that he was a very small part of the show, and hated Cool Kids for "hogging the spotlight". The band gained one loyal fan, but put off the wide audience. Years later, I realize that this was the most CKOD outcome possible.

The many themes of Gatchaman Crowds

I love Gatchaman Crowds. I’ve been thinking about it a lot ever since having watched both seasons late last year, because there’s a lot to think about. It does so, so much cool stuff on all fronts - themes, iconography, storytelling, audiovisual artistry, I just can’t help but gush all over any and all of its facets pretty much all the time. From clever directing tricks to unusual topics touched upon, the show is truly exceptional and worth everyone’s attention.

So, what is it about? Well, it’s a difficult question to give a straightforward answer to, and it almost begs the cliched answer of “what is it NOT about?” Truthfully, I do think that you could make a convincing argument or at least five different things to be the one “it’s really about”. GC is so dense with plot points and theming that it’s hard to discuss it with an orthodox breakdown.

This is your usual spoiler warning. I won’t give a play-by-play of what happens in a given episode and I try to not give away too much in general, but I spoil the stuff I wouldn’t mind if someone spoiled me on, and I think I’m a bit more tolerant than average in that regard.