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Sam and Charlotte sit down and chat with composer extraordinaire Kevin Penkin. Kevin is the composer of such anime and video games as: Made in Abyss (winner of the 2017 Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best Score), Tower of God, Eden, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Norn9 and many more. We talk about Kevin's musical background, his artistic process, influences and inevitably we all get 'Perthed'.
Kevin Penkin
Charlie
Sam
The "Abyss" is the last unexplored place in the world. Strange and wonderful creatures roam within, and it is full of precious relics that present humans can't recreate. Those that dare to explore the depths are known as "Cave Raiders." An orphan girl named Riko lives on the rim. Her dream is to become a Cave Raider like her mother and solve the mysteries of the cave system. One day, Riko starts exploring the caves and discovers a robot who resembles a human boy. (Source: Anime News Network, edited) Note: The last episode aired with a runtime of ~48 minutes as opposed to the standard 24 minute long episode.
Several hundred years ago, humans were nearly exterminated by titans. Titans are typically several stories tall, seem to have no intelligence, devour human beings and, worst of all, seem to do it for the pleasure rather than as a food source. A small percentage of humanity survived by walling themselves in a city protected by extremely high walls, even taller than the biggest of titans. Flash forward to the present and the city has not seen a titan in over 100 years. Teenage boy Eren and his foster sister Mikasa witness something horrific as the city walls are destroyed by a colossal titan that appears out of thin air. As the smaller titans flood the city, the two kids watch in horror as their mother is eaten alive. Eren vows that he will murder every single titan and take revenge for all of mankind.
Goku is back with his new son, Gohan, but just when things are getting settled down, the adventures continue. Whether he is facing enemies such as Freeza, Cell, or Boo, Goku is proven to be an elite of his own and discovers his race, Saiyan. He meets many new people, gaining allies and well as enemies, as he still finds time to raise a family and be the happy-go-lucky Saiyan he is.rn(Source: Anime News Network)
Enter a world in the distant future, where Bounty Hunters roam the solar system. Spike and Jet, bounty hunting partners, set out on journeys in an ever struggling effort to win bounty rewards to survive. While traveling, they meet up with other very interesting people. Could Faye, the beautiful and ridiculously poor gambler, Edward, the computer genius, and Ein, the engineered dog be a good addition to the group?
The story takes place a little in the future. Guided by one particular song, young elementary school student Suzuhara Sorata, from the Heisei Era, is warped through a time skip to an unfamiliar place that looks much like the towns from the Meiji or Taishou period from his textbooks. In this world, he meets three young ladies and nine young men and joins them on a journey aboard the mysterious Norn ship, a giant globe that floats in midair. Otomate made the announcement at the "Norn9 with Ark & for Spica" event at Tokyo's Nakano Sun Plaza on 2nd March 2014.
It is the year 2025, five years since devastating terrorist attacks put an end to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The UN has taken control of the former Olympic site on the edge of Tokyo Bay, placing it beyond Japan’s jurisdiction. Hana Togetsu is a seventeen-year-old high school student who lives in the area. Not your typical teen, she belongs to a special unit run by the UN. Hana is sent on a mission as a transfer student to a public high school on Enoshima Island. Her target: Shunichi Nanase, a boy in her class. As Hana is about to make contact with her target, a middle-aged man appears at the school asking for Shunichi. The situation turns critical when the American military arrives at the school in pursuit of the man. As the bloodshed escalates, another teenage girl begins to make her way to the island to break the deadlock. (Source: Official Website)
There is a tower that summons chosen people called "Regulars" with the promise of granting their deepest desires. Whether it be wealth, fame, authority, or something that surpasses them all—everything awaits those who reach the top. Twenty-Fifth Bam is a boy who had only known a dark cave, a dirty cloth, and an unreachable light his entire life. So when a girl named Rachel came to him through the light, his entire world changed. Becoming close friends with Rachel, he learned various things about the outside world from her. But when Rachel says she must leave him to climb the Tower, his world shatters around him. Vowing to follow after her no matter what it takes, he sets his sight on the tower, and a miracle occurs. Thus begins the journey of Bam, a young boy who was not chosen by the Tower but opened its gates by himself. They call his kind "Irregulars"—beings that have shaken the very foundation of the Tower each time they set foot inside it.
Naofumi Iwatani, an uncharismatic Otaku who spends his days on games and manga, suddenly finds himself summoned to a parallel universe! He discovers he is one of four heroes equipped with legendary weapons and tasked with saving the world from its prophesied destruction. As the Shield Hero, the weakest of the heroes, all is not as it seems. Naofumi is soon alone, penniless, and betrayed. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to run, he is left with only his shield. Now, Naofumi must rise to become the legendary Shield Hero and save the world!
A boy fights... for "the right death." Hardship, regret, shame: the negative feelings that humans feel become Curses that lurk in our everyday lives. The Curses run rampant throughout the world, capable of leading people to terrible misfortune and even death. What's more, the Curses can only be exorcised by another Curse. Itadori Yuji is a boy with tremendous physical strength, though he lives a completely ordinary high school life. One day, to save a friend who has been attacked by Curses, he eats the finger of the Double-Faced Specter, taking the Curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares one body with the Double-Faced Specter. Guided by the most powerful of sorcerers, Gojou Satoru, Itadori is admitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Technical High School of Sorcery, an organization that fights the Curses... and thus begins the heroic tale of a boy who became a Curse to exorcise a Curse, a life from which he could never turn back.
The Cat Returns is something of a loose spin-off of "Whisper of the Heart" as it features two characters from that film: Muta (the cat from "Whisper") and the Baron (the cat statue from "Whisper"). There is no other connection between the two movies and this is not a sequel. The story is based on Neko no Danshaku (Baron of Cat) by Hiiragi Aoi. The main character of the story, Haru, is a clueless, ordinary 17-year-old girl. She has no special abilities and neither is she an extraordinary beauty. When faced with reality, she is unable to make decisions for herself, thus often sways to others' opinions to avoid challenge. One day, Haru saves the life of a cat without considering her own safety. The cat turns out to be the Cat Prince from the Kingdom of Cats, however as a result, Haru is trapped in the world of cats. Can Baron and Muta rescue Haru who has wandered into the world of cats? (Source: AniDB, edited)
Juna was just an ordinary high-school girl, right up until the day she died in a motorcycle accident. But there, in the twilight of death, she saw the future of the barren earth destroyed by the Raaja, and was offered a second chance at life if she would stop them. Now she must learn to cast aside her thoughtlessly destructive ways and face her destiny as the Avatar of Time, the one being who can decide the fate of the planet. (Source: Anime News Network)
Makoto Ito is a young Japanese high school student beginning his second term at the fictional Sakakino Academy. During his daily train rides to and from school, he becomes infatuated with fellow student Kotonoha Katsura; a girl that also commutes. When a new classmate acquaintance of his, Sekai Saionji, discovers his secret crush on Kotonoha, she helps introduce both of them to each other and over time they grow closer and agree to date. However in spite of her proud and triumphant matchmaking efforts, Sekai inadvertently becomes jealous of the new couple, having also developed feelings toward Makoto. The following afternoon on her way home at the nearby train station in front of the school, Sekai finds Makoto waiting for Kotonoha to rendezvous for a date. He sits with her and reiterates his appreciation for her help, and feeling heavily indebted, offers repayment anyway he can. Though she believes he is overreacting, Sekai decides to redeem her obligation by placing a kiss on his lips as her train pulls in; quickly rushing into an open passenger car and happily bidding a dumbstruck Makoto luck on his date. (Source: Wikipedia)
Kevin speaks at length about his admiration for composers Yoko Kanno 菅野 よう子 (Cowboy Bebop, The Cat Returns) and collaborator Nobuo Uematsu 植松 伸夫 (Final Fantasy) and we encourage you to check out the rest of their brilliant work. He also speaks about his working relationship with Kinema Citrus.
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