Cihan Narin

Just a rambling list of favourites created out of boredom.

Favourite video game:

Hitman: World of Assassination (trilogy)

Top 10 Comic book/Manga writers:

Garth Ennis
Brian Michael Bendis
Tom Taylor
Tom King
Gail Simone
Grant Morrison
Geoff Johns
Kurt Busiek
Kazuo Koike
John Wagner
Alan Grant

Comic book artists:

Jim Lee
Marc Silvestri
Michael Turner
Steve Epting
Clay Mann
Jorge Jimenez
Fabok
Mike Deodato
Coipel
Maleev
Stuart Immonen
Jim Cheung
Sara Pichelli
David Marquez
Any Kubert
Ed Benes
Yasmine Putri
Tony Daniel
Trevor Hairsine
Simon Bisley
Victor Ibanez
Kim Jacinto
Brett Booth

Authors:

James Clavell
Dean Koontz
Kurt Vonnegut

Music:

Post-rock
Synthwave
Jazz
Pop (‘weird’ pop: Fiona Apple, Grimes, etc)
City Pop
Kpop
Hip Hop
Metal
Doomjazz
Soundtracks
Electronica

Movies:

The Last Samurai
The Matrix
Heat
Police Story
The Game
Die Hard
The Insider
Fight Club
Armor of God
Grosse Pointe Blank

Souls-genre games (in order of like to dislike):

Nioh
Bloodborne
Dark Souls 3
Demon Souls
Steelrising
Dark Souls 2
Elden Ring
— good but I gave up
Sekiro
Dark Souls
— did not like
Nioh 2
Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
Blasphemous 1
Surge
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Lords of the Fallen (original)
Mortal Shell

Canned Fish:

Mackerel
Herring
Anchovies
Sardines
Tuna (good with other food, too dry by itself)
Oysters

Star Wars novels (no order):

Bane trilogy
Deceived
Red Harvest
Lost Tribe of the Sith
Annihilation
The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural

Batman Villains:

Scarface
Bane
Ra’s Al Ghul
The Carpenter

DC Characters:

Batman
Tim Drake
Dick Grayson
Dinah Lance
Barbara Gordon (when she was in wheelchair and boss of several hero groups)
Renee Montoya (when she was a cop, not the Question)
Lady Shiva
Ollie Queen (Injustice / Mike Grell run)
Plastic Man (Injustice!)
The Question (only when written by O’Neil)
Ravager
Jeanette (Secret Six)

JRPGS:

Trails in the Sky 1
Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, 13
Chrono Trigger
Suikoden Tierkreis
Yakuza: Like A Dragon

WRPGS:

The Witcher 3
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Mass Effect trilogy
Cyberpunk 2077 (best city ever)

RTS GAMES:

Anno series
Total War series (Rome 2, Shogun 2, Attila)
Paradox grand strategy series (CK2, EU4, Imperator Rome)
Stronghold HD
Stronghold Crusader
Rise of Nations

Favourite X-people:

Emma Frost
James Madrox
Cable
Bishop
Sage

KPOP:

Blackpink
Loona (and all their off-shoots)
Le Sserafim
Red Velvet
New Jeans
kard
Itzy

GODZILLA:

Shin Godzilla
Godzilla: Minus One
Godzilla (original)
Godzilla: Final Wars

Cyberpunk Anime (no order):

Ghost in the Shell (2 movies + Stand Alone Complex TV show. Everything since then has been garbage)
Bubblegum Crisis
Cyber City Oedo 808
AD Police
Psycho-Pass (only 1st season. Everything since then has also been garbage)
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Fighting games:

Dead or Alive 6
Mortal Kombat 11
Guilty Gear Strive
DNF Duel

Fighting Game Characters:

Naguriyuki – Guilty Gear Strive
Spectre – DNF Duel (haven’t played her yet though!)
work in progress list

Anime opening credits:

AD Police (the original)
Cannon Busters

Post-rock Bands:

Mono
Yndi Halda – just their first iconic album though, everything they did since has not been my tup of tea
Caspian
This Will Destroy You
And So I Watch You From Afar
Explosions in the Sky

Best post-rock albums:

Yndi Halda – Enjoy Eternal Bliss
Mono – For My Parents
Mono – Hymn For the Eternal Wind
And So I Watch You from Afar – And So I Watch You from Afar
Caspian – Tertia?
This Will Destroy You – Tunnel Blanket

Best live albums:

Mono – Live in London with the Platinum Anniversary Orchestra

Metal Bands:

Trivium

Trivium albums in order:

Ascendency
Ember to Inferno
In Waves
The Crusade
Shogun

Marvel Events:

Avengers Disassembled (2004)
Secret War #1-5 (2004)
House of M (2005)
Decimation (2006)
Civil War (2006)
The Initiative (2007)
World War Hulk (2007)
X-Men: Messiah Complex (2007)
Secret Invasion (2008)
Dark Reign (2008)
Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (2010)
Secret Wars (2015)
Civil War II (2016)

DC Events:

Death of Superman (1992)
Funeral for a Friend (1993)
Knightfall Saga (1993) (first half better than the rest)
Batman: Contagion (1996)
Batman: Cataclysm (1998)
Batman: No Man’s Land (1998) – favourite event
Batman: Officer Down (2001)
Bruce Wayne: Murderer? (2002)
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive (2002)
Forever Evil (2013)
New 52: Futures End (2014)
Multiversity (2014)
Darkseid War (2015)
Heroes in Crisis (2018)

Favourite comic book issues:

The New Avengers #44 – Bendis (Skrull plot to get info from Reed)
Ultimate X-Men #41 – Bendis (Wolverine has to deal with a teen that has a deadly mutation)
Batman: Gotham Knights #67 – Lieberman (guy finds out Bruce is Batman and blackmails him)
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2019) #6 – Tom Taylor (Spidey hangs out with a kid with Cancer)
Green Lanterns #9 – Sam Humphries (a loser is obsessed with being a Green Lantern)
Green Lanterns #15 – Sam humphries (a day in the life of Jess suffering anxiety)
Detective Comics #835+836 Absolute Terror – John Rozum (best Scarecrow story ever)
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #32-34 – James Robinson (Batman gives a new vigilante a chance)

Favourite Actors:

Tony Leung
Jackie Chan
Michael Douglas
Harrison Ford
Al Pacino
Christian Bale
Tom Cruise
Maggie Cheung
Song Kang-ho
Toshirō Mifune
Kurt Russell
Leslie Nieslen

Gundam Mechs:

Unicorn
F91

Wrestlers:

Swerve Strickland
Will Ospreay
The Young Bucks
Chris Brookes
Hyper Misao
Orange Cassidy
Samoa Joe
Mei Suruga
Toni Storm
Antonio Honda
Chie Koishikawa
Ram Kaicho
VENY
Maya Yukihi

Wrestling Referees:

Yukinori Matsui
Daisuke Kiso

Japanese Names:

Sumire
Haruka

Comic book eras:

Marvel – 2000-2010 (basically the ‘Bendis era’, culminating in Siege)
DC – 1986-2005 (DC fell off after Infinite Crisis changed the status quo, then New 52 killed it. Snyder’s awful writing dominated Batman and the Justice League for a decade after that)

Directors (no order):

The Wachowskis
Jackie Chan
Sammo Hung
Hwang Dong-hyuk
Michael Mann
Spielberg
Takeshi Kitano
Ridley Scott
Christopher Nolan
John McTiernan
Johnnie To
Denis Villenueve
Steven Soderbergh

Warhammer 40K factions (in order of like, based on novels):

Iron Snakes
Imperial Fists
Ultramarines
—- don’t like or hate
Iron Warriors

Warhammer 40K books ranked:

Brothers of the Snake – Dan Abnett 5/5
Ultramarines omnibus 1 – Graham McNeill 3/5
Iron Warriors omnibus – Graham McNeill 2/5
Space Marine – Ian Watson (dropped) 1/5

Artists:

JMW Turner
Ivan Aivazovsky

Favourite paintings (no order):

“Vengeance is Sworn” by Francesco Hayez
“The Ninth Wave” by Ivan Aivazovsky
“On the Storm” by Ivan Aivazovsky
“The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire” by JMW Turner
“The Dogana, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa” by JMW Turner

Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

This OVA will undoubtedly get much praise from people too quick to let the animation convince them they’ve witnessed something groundbreaking, when in reality, much like what occurs in the story itself, they’ve allowed themselves to be bamboozled by what’s in front of their faces while ignoring what’s behind it all.

Swinging your camera around like a 15 year old who just discovered editing software doesn’t really impress. The director’s immaturity behind the camera shows itself via his lack of restraint. Animation junkies, the kind of people who prioritize pretty visuals over substance and story wont notice or care.

The story was imaginative and with a slowly expanding scope that reaches a resounding climax, but this OVA loses points for the use of voice over which is not only one of the laziest devices used in screenwriting but also just irritating to listen to as well. It takes a master to convey a story with only necessary dialogue, it takes a generic director to explain everything through voice over.

So to sum up: an interesting premise populated by nonentities plucked from the Anime 101 playbook and directed by a Makoto Shinkai wannabe trying too hard to impress.