Quarantine Control #66: Warriors and VODs in Another World
There was hope that this pandemic would largely be a memory in countries lucky enough to have vaccines freely available by now. This can partially be pinned on the White House’s now-optimistic goal of having at least 70 percent of the American populace vaccinated by Independence Day. But there were two issues hampering this analysis. The first is how the pandemic won’t truly be over in countries that don’t have vaccines, where variants are free to form and spread. The other issue is the sheer number of moronic anti-vaxxers in the US, which prevented the aforementioned goal from being reached. Thus, we’re all still in this.
Hmm, maybe the potential end of the pandemic shouldn’t have been referenced in these ledes for so long. Whoops.
Geoffrey Barnes
Warrior (2019)
Source: HBO Max
Episodes: 13 (All of the first season and one-third of the second season)
Warrior seemed like a winner right from its synopsis. It’s a series focused on martial arts based on a concept written by Bruce Lee in the early 1970s that was never produced, and takes place in the United States in the late 19th century, a time when many Chinese people came to the country looking for a better life. The series immediately stood out thanks to the dearth of martial arts-focused series made in America around these days, with the only possible competition being the new Kung Fu series on CW. Not to mention this was airing on Cinemax (and now HBO Max), where the creators were free to get away with all kinds of violent and risqué content they couldn’t on other channels. It was one of the first shows I wanted to watch with an HBO Max subscription, and I now largely have — though it wasn’t one of the first. I am not that great at this.
The fittingly majority-Asian series follows the perspective of Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), who comes to the US through San Francisco primarily in search of a better life during the Tong Wars. That’s “primarily” because he’s also arrived to try and find his sister, who travelled to the country before him. It was difficult for someone in his position to make a good living while not getting involved in one of the gangs fighting in a bitter skirmish, which is why he ends up joining Hop Wei, the most powerful tong group in Chinatown. Sahm and his cohorts seek to establish a stable footing in the segment of the city through legal and illegal methods, while also dealing with a heap of overt anti-Asian racism that existed around the country at the time and hasn’t entirely diminished since.
The series does a good job establishing who the primary characters and what their motivations are early on, though the overarching story is a little muddled between the early and middle points of the first season. There are enough developments involving the characters and happenings around San Francisco circa the 1870s to keep anyone interested, but I had a hell of a time telling exactly where the plot was going halfway through season one. It starts landing on more stable footing for the last batch of episodes, where the primary focus shifts to the gang and war activity in Chinatown, with the efforts of police and politicians cracking down on the Chinese-American community happening in the background.
The series has fully found its grove by the time the second season starts. This was around the time HBO knew they had a good hit on their hands, which explains why the lighting, scene direction, and fight choreography are considerably better. It was peculiar that the first season had lighting more common with horror movies, where even daytime scenes were so dark that it was tough to make out some characters, let alone the action. I’m glad the team was given the resources to fix this, and with more entertaining and frequent fights to boot.
Warrior’s existence is justified through the amount of content they were able to get away with on Cinemax/HBO Max. It’s a violent show with characters being shot, stabbed, having their eyes gouged out, limbs taken off (including their heads), and more. I couldn’t help but say “Fatality” to myself during a few of them. It didn’t help here that the series was being promoted with the new Mortal Kombat film in social media ads around April and May, and that Joe Taslim, who played Bi-Han/Sub-Zero in the movie, plays Li Yong in this series. There’s plenty of sex and nudity to come along with the bloody content, and anyone who played a drinking game with the number of f-bombs dropped in each episode would surely die. But it’s all necessary in portraying how rough and raw Chinatown in San Francisco was for Asian immigrants during this period, and none of it feels edgy or over the top.
The series uses Asian-American and Asian-Canadian actors for the roles, despite how immigrants from China would have had trouble learning and speaking English initially and would have an accent when doing so. Too many viewers would have trouble understanding English spoken with a Chinese accent, so this decision makes sense. This also doesn’t detract from the experience, considering Cantonese is used in scenes where it’s necessary.
I still have about seven episodes left to watch, but I’d be surprised if the second season didn’t end with as big of a bang as the first season given the way it started. I should be all set for the third season whenever it premiers on HBO Max.
Joseph Daniels
We are now exactly one week away from the official North American release of the second season of Beastars. Before I get into that, I want to talk about an anime I recently discovered.
Drug Store in Another World – The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist (2021)
Source: Crunchyroll
Episodes: Ongoing (1 so far)
At this point, I can only guess what the significance of the title is. Supposedly, this is an isekai anime, but it doesn’t begin with the pharmacist character getting hit by a truck and waking up in a fantasy world. We can only assume he’s from our world based on the title, because the first episode shows him already established in this world.
I suppose we’re also assuming he’s taking inspiration from knowledge he picked up in our world, too, or else the rest of the title wouldn’t make sense either. But that’s the thing. Based on the first episode only, there’s no indication that this is a man that crossed over from another world. Take away the isekai aspect of this anime and there’d be very little difference between Drug Store in Another World and Monster Girl Doctor.
The description on Crunchyroll seems to indicate an origin story we’ve not seen yet, so maybe that’ll be episode two. Reiji Kirio was apparently a salaryman in our world who walked through a portal to another world and discovered he had new skills he could call upon which sound like they belong in an Atelier game. I wonder if that means he can go home if he tried. I know that sometimes, it can feel tempting to leave your life behind and embrace the other world, but I’m sure there are some things about our world he would miss.
Then again, he would likely miss his new friends. Reiji runs his pharmacy with the help of a ghost and a werewolf, and given how popular his Super (Energy) Potion is, he seems to be incredibly successful at what he does.
He also turned item crafting into a dance, which looks ridiculous, you’d have to see it to believe it.
One thing I’ve noticed about anime is that other shows I recommend based on the strength of one or two episodes eventually features elements that I would not have recommended so I’m morbidly curious how this show is going to betray me. New episodes are uploaded every Wednesday.
Jonah Scott’s VOD channel (2020)
Source: YouTube
The voice of Legoshi has his own Twitch channel, and he uploads his streams onto YouTube. Occasionally, he has his fellow Beastars cast members on and it’s fun to watch (and/or listen to; I had a few of these videos running when I was grinding a few levels in Final Fantasy V recently). If you’ve watched season one of Beastars a hundred times already and you simply can’t wait one more week for season two, this channel may tide you over for the final few days of waiting.
And of course, next week:
Beastars (2019)
Source: Netflix
Episodes: 12 24
Looking forward to it!
It’s too easy to predict precisely which areas in the US have been resistant to getting vaccinated, and it’s going to be tough to convince these people that getting the shots will help them. The stories about the hesitancy are frustrating to hear for anyone who’s been vaccinated and remains immunocompromised (or knows someone who is). Stay safe. Let’s stop this conclusion here before venturing into any predictions that come true.
About The Author
dcstaff
The collective will of the Damage Control staff combined into a single article.
