Anime Roundup

It's time for another Anime Roundup!

Assassination Classroom

An octopus-like alien destroys most of the moon, then threatens to destroy Earth. But first, he wants to...be a junior high teacher? And his students are tasked with killing him? And it turns out that he's actually a really good teacher? I'm telling you, I don't know where some of these manga and anime creators get their premises from, but they are usually genius (despite how bonkers-sounding some of them may be). I have to admit, I wasn't too sure about this one at first, but it quickly grew on me.

Shangri-La Frontier

A high school student and expert video gamer starts playing an immersive VRMMORPG (virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game, say that ten times fast) and, well, continues to play it. A large portion of most episodes are basically battles that make the viewer feel as if they're actually watching someone play an action RPG, which is more entertaining than it sounds (people really do this, A LOT, in case you weren't aware. Second Player Score's bass player used to play games on our Twitch Channel). The stakes are generally low and there are some vague storylines happening on the fringes that involve the makers of the game and another gamer who has a crush on the main character, but that's not really why we're here, now, is it?

Chainsmoker Cat

In a world (yes, you have to say it in that voice) where "beast-folk" (basically, cat-people) live amongst "regular" humans, one cat-woman struggles to pay rent and stay employed while dealing with her serious cigarette-smoking addiction. The show, which usually consists of several vignettes per episode, is crude and gross but also funny, especially when it introduces a stressed-out human manga artist who I desperately hope is based on the actual artist who created the manga that the show is based on. Bonus points for amazingly catchy theme songs, and also for how the show makes you feel like your life is nowhere near as bad in comparison.

Sparks of Tomorrow

A story about an alternate history where steam power remained the dominant form of energy and electricity never really took off, this one contains all the classic elements: a MacGuffin (object that everyone is after), betrayal, romance, a cackling bad guy, twists, action, humor, and a big climactic finish. Also, robots (albeit crude ones). My favorite episode, though, is the one in the middle of the season where three of the female characters form a band and write and perform some seriously METAL songs.

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part 1

Normally, I don't include subsequent seasons or movies of shows that I've already covered (with a few exceptions), but I had to mention this one, which is the first of three films that will wrap up the final arc of the Demon Slayer story. I originally did not know how many parts there would be, but halfway through this one I said out loud to my TV, "There is no way this is going to wrap up any time soon." And, I mean, if you're at all familiar with this anime or the manga it's based on, that should come as no surprise, since Upper Rank Demons (the show's bad guys) are REALLY INCREDIBLY HARD to kill. Like, really. Can't wait for Part 2!

Pacific Stageworks

This past Sunday, I was able to catch the tail end of a workshop presented by Pacific Stageworks, a nonprofit organization based in Vancouver, WA that produces theatrical stage plays.

As I've learned during my journey to produce the Joel Suzuki musical, a workshop in theatre terms is sort of an advanced table read, where experienced actors (but not necessarily the final cast) act out the script in its entirety but without costumes and makeup and with little-to-no staging, and then afterwards they give notes and suggestions to the director, whose main goal at that point is to decide if the play is ready to go into full-scale production or if it needs more work.

After the workshop was over, I was able to meet with PSW's Artistic Director and his wife, both of whom were very cool and gracious and have WAAAAY more theatre experience than I do. We talked about my play, expanding on some brief prior email exchanges that we had, and they said that we could possibly collaborate on putting together a workshop for Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers. Very exciting!

So after that, I sent them the script, and we'll see where it goes from there. In the meantime, if you're in the Vancouver, WA area* and want to get involved with their organization, they are actively looking for volunteers (I signed up). You can find their Facebook page with their contact info here.

* Like yours truly, PSW is dedicated to building the local arts community on this side of the Columbia River. Nothing personal, Portland!

Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors

This past Sunday, I saw my first live stage play in years (the last one was The Book of Mormon). It was called Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors.

It was at Magenta Theater, which is the main community theater here in Vancouver, Washington. Confession time: I had never been there before! So I wanted to go mostly as a recon mission to check out the venue and see a live production there, possibly in hopes of trying to rent it for the Joel Suzuki stage play.

But it turned out to be more than recon; I had a great time. The play was a lot of fun, and the actors knocked it out of the park (just five of them performed all the roles, which was cool to see since I'm planning on having most of the actors in my play do something similar). I also got a few good ideas, like utilizing more incidental music and sound effects as well as employing stage hands to move stuff around (I cannot believe I did not consider that before).

I attended the final showing, so unfortunately you've missed out if you haven't seen it already. But hopefully it'll make a return engagement next year (or if you're not in the Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR area, maybe it's currently playing somewhere near you)!

Digitech Drop

At Second Player Score practice this past Sunday, our bass player Dan brought over something that could be a game-changer.

It's a guitar effects pedal called Digitech Drop (or I guess its full name is Digitech Drop Polyphonic Drop-tune Pitch-Shift Pedal, which is quite the mouthful). What it lets you do is lower your guitar or bass tuning by half-steps, all the way down to a full octave, with a simple turn of a dial instead of physically (and painstakingly) retuning the instrument one string at a time.

At first, we were going to apply it to the Joel Suzuki musical stage play, to accommodate different vocal ranges of the yet-to-be-cast actors. But then I had an epiphany and realized that hey, we could use it to make some of our songs easier to sing for ME.

You see, over time I've found some of our own songs harder and harder to sing, mostly because of notes in the upper areas of my vocal register. Why I wrote those songs like that, I am not sure, but I do know that I had an easier time singing them when (1) I was younger, (2) we practiced and performed more frequently and for longer durations. But lately, it had gotten to the point where my voice would give out in the middle of sets, so I started making set lists comprised exclusively of songs that never hit the extremes of my range (which excluded a lot of our better material).

But when we practiced with this pedal, we were able to lower the key that the songs were in, and voila! I was able to hit all the notes easy-peasy without stress or strain. Now, I actually kind of want to play more shows (hassles regarding lugging gear and staying up past my bedtime notwithstanding). And I mean, I know we could have gotten the same effect by using additional guitars that were already detuned, but when you're a poor indie local band like us, who wants to mess around with carrying extra instruments and dealing with truss rod adjustments, etc. (something that probably only guitar and bass nerds will understand)? Instead, with just a tiny effects pedal that costs around $150-200, we have unlocked a whole new level of potential.

Does this mean you'll be seeing more frequent announcements for SPS gigs? We shall see!

Stage Play Status Update

Here's the latest status update on Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers, the musical stage play adaptation of Volume One.

- Wrote out the arrangements for the stage play versions of the songs so that I'd have something to actually look at during band practice instead of trying to perform them from memory.

- Finished reading Writing Musical Theater (very helpful, highly recommended).

- Watched what seemed like a relatively low-budget production of Rent. At least it seemed relatively low-budget when compared to the other stuff I've seen recently (Frozen, Hamilton). But it was still excellent, as the performances, script, and music really carried it. Makes me hopeful for what we might be able to accomplish with little money (although I think we will have some pretty sweet special effects regardless).

- Speaking of money, I came up with a preliminary budget. I think we can pull this off for around $20-25k, which is about what we spent on Hold My Beer. Fortunately we are saving on things like rights and royalties (since I wrote the script and music), a director (which is me), and the pit band (my band). Still, if we can raise more, that would be great, since I would like to pay our cast and crew--for which my goal is to employ as much autistic and neurodivergent talent as possible--as much as possible.

- Finally worked up the courage to watch the video footage of the table read we did in late August. Everyone did a great job; that's not what I was nervous about. I was wondering how the script, story, and flow would sound. But it was actually quite good! And I know I'm probably biased, but I do tend to be my own worst critic, so.

- Booked a visit to PHAME in Portland, a nonprofit performing arts school that serves the intellectual and developmental disability community. It won't happen until November because part of the I-5 freeway between Vancouver, WA and Portland has been shut down for five weeks, but when I do go, I'm hoping I can find people who are interested in working on the play.

- Set our opening date as January 2028 and emailed a local venue to see if they will rent to us. Fingers crossed!

The Autograph King Premiere

Tonight, The Autograph King makes its theatrical debut!

What is The Autograph King, you ask? It's a documentary film about Shamim Dana (aka the titular "Autograph King"), a young man who was born with multiple intellectual and developmental disabilities but has managed to thrive thanks to his family's love and support along with his special interest (collecting autographs). Loyal readers of this blog may remember when I spent a day hanging out with Shamim last June. I also interviewed him for an article in the Summer 2025 issue of Spectrum Life Magazine.

I was fortunate enough to view an early cut of the film, which was directed by Scott Zakarin (whose credits include Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters, & Marvels), and it was terrific. So if you happen to be in the Portland, OR area tonight, head over to Act V Theaters in Cornelius and check it out--that is, if tickets are still available! The premiere is hosted by The Connection Club, a Portland-based nonprofit, and will feature a red carpet entrance, light refreshments, swag bags, and more. Here's the schedule for the evening:

6pm - 7pm: Red carpet reception

7pm - 730pm: Filmmaker Q&A

730pm - 9pm: Film screening

Hope to see you there!

Songwriting Workshop

This Saturday, as an instructor for Autism Empowerment's Neurodivergent Creators Collective, I'll be presenting a workshop on writing your own songs!

I'll be covering subjects like where to find inspiration, whether to start with music or lyrics, why anime theme songs are so good, and however much more I can cram into an hour-long session.

As for my qualifications as a songwriting instructor, regular readers of this blog know that I've been writing songs and playing in bands most of my life. I'm certainly no Rivers Cuomo*, but I've written songs that have been licensed for use by TV shows like The Golf Channel, MLB Network, and Access Hollywood as well as a Muzak-like service waaaay back in the day (it's been so long, I've forgotten their name). So yeah, I collect my $2.10 royalty check every quarter.

The workshop is free and will take place over Zoom from 2pm-3pm Pacific Time. If you're interested in attending, it's not too late to register! Just go to this link. Hope to see you there!

* Although I think I could probably take him in a best two-out-of-three guitar shredding contest