Kevin Mohammed

Kevin Mohammed

Fiction writer and anime sommlier wishing to enhance his writing skills and abilities.

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Latest Articles

Latest Topics

8

Sci-Fi: Slowly Becoming a Reality

Talk about various science fiction series and the types of technology or concepts which were once thought to be unbelievable, but have become reality, today.

An example of this is how Star Trek and other shows would have holographic projectors or screen talking which enabled the ability of sight in long-distance communications. Nowadays we have various means of video chatting with people from around the world such as Facetime that seem to have been encouraged by shows like Star Trek.

  • The movies Johnny Mnemonic and Back to the Future 2 are good movies to look into. – JennyCardinal 8 years ago
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  • Look at some of the cyberpunk genre like Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash and William Gibson's Neuromancer and compare their use of the internet with the reality it's become. – Tarben 8 years ago
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  • Could the writer of this piece also examine ways we've sidestepped expectation? For instance, in older films we often see "the year is 2015, we have a permanent colony on the moon" or Back to the Future's infamous hover boards (not hand-free exploding segways we call hover boards). There are more extreme examples of cultural ideals, like assuming that we might have achieved world peace, have evolved beyond the discriminations of gender and race. I think examining how we've achieved Sci-Fi and how we've failed it would be a nice contrast. – Piper CJ 8 years ago
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  • To Piper, yes! That gives the article a more diverse viewpoint for readers. I feel by showing what has been done, what we have yet to accomplish, or attempted acts to resemble concepts in science fiction would help give more insight. Also Jenny and Tarben, those are all definitely some great resources for the article! – Kevin Mohammed 8 years ago
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  • I think Samsung used a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey in court when Apple sued them, claiming that they had ripped off the basic design of the iPhone touch screen. Their argument was that the idea had already existed in the sci-fi imaginary, and therefore was not an original idea from Apple. – TKing 8 years ago
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  • There's at least one then-futuristic film I've seen that had personalized street and, I think, train station advertising change as each person passed. Personal advertising has been on the internet for a while, and might soon be here on the street. It's always the love of amassing even more money by the already-mega rich that drives these advances, so when it'll really piss them off when I refuse installment of their microchip so they can market me. I'll be laughing at them from my prison cell. Take that. I've read that Gen X has been written off by marketers as too difficult to predict (read, "lead like sheep"). Good work, Gen X'ers. Make 'em work for it. – Tigey 8 years ago
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American Superheroes and Their Influence on Anime

Discuss the relativity between American superhero culture and the concept of heroes in anime series such as My Hero Academia, One-Punch Man, Tiger and Bunny, and other series.

  • There is the potential of outlining a history between the two, and specifically focussing on how it has moulded shonen and seinen (since most of the other genres haven't been impacted by American comic culture). – Chesarka 8 years ago
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Yugioh Arc V: The Time and Space Continum and Cameo Characters

One thing that Arc V’s success is banking off of is its ability to not only venture into dimension (one for each summoning), but to also bring back characters from the previous season (GX, 5Ds, Zexal).

This creates the possibility of having the protagonist, Sakaki Yuya face off against various duelist that have been known to be the best (Jack Atlas, Crow Hogan, Kite) and draws upon the appeal and nostalgia factor of the viewers while also giving an interesting story in which the characters are introduced into a different type of environment.

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    Afterlife as Portrayed by Death Parade

    Analyze the 2015 hit anime series, Death Parade, and discuss the meaning of the afterlife according to the series. What are the rules of the afterlife and the beings that reside within it? Talk about the concept of good and evil, what is deemed to be right and wrong and the effect that it has on the characters in the future.

    • I would love to write on this topic as well. Death Parade is awesome haha. But when you say the rules of the afterlife according to the series in relation to the western view of the afterlife (heaven vs hell) or in terms of reincarnation? (Like how the characters can relive their lives if they win) Also, I think you should also maybe consider the middle ground of good and evil, or the idea of the spectator, as seen through Decim. He isn't good or evil but seems to have some sense of morality? – kmjp 8 years ago
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    Awesome Shin Megami Tensai Games for People New to the Series (Besides Persona 4)

    Persona 4 and it’s spinoffs have tended to be everyone’s go-to game when it comes to the Shin Megami Tensai series. Especially with the new Persona 5 and SMTxFE coming out, what are some other great games to start out with and prepare for some of these new games.

    Talk about some other Shin Megami Tensai games that make the series the fantasic blockbuster it is such as Devil Survivor, the original Shin Megami Tensai games, Soul Hackers, etc.

    • This would be interesting. I think factors like mood, difficulty, genre, and contents warning(i.e. strong religious content for SMT 2) should be considered to make the list since SMT was used to be more of hardcore gamers' series; some gamers might be put off by older series' first person RPG perspective, or might not be interested in emotionally stressful scenes etc. Of course, people might be even more intrigued when there is a warning sign. – idleric 8 years ago
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    • I can understand that. Of course the term "to each his own" is a commonality in the SMT games as each series displays different gameplay and depth into each story. So it would definitely be best if when talking about a game, the writer of the article mentions mechanics that differ from other games of the series and how they may appeal to certain gamers. For example, Devil Survivor carries a style of game mechanics similar to Fire Emblem square movement mechanics mixed in with Pokemon-style battle style. Basically if you like this play style then you might like this game kinda thing. – Kevin Mohammed 8 years ago
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    Published

    The Popularity of Dynasty Warriors Spin-Offs

    Recently there has been a rise in gaming of series that are either a part of the Dynasty Warriors series or spin-offs of it. Most recently there has been Pirate Warriors 3 (One Piece), Hyrule Warriors (Legend of Zelda), and Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below (Dragon Quest.) There is even news of an Attack on Titan and Arslan spin-off games.

    The unique style of Dynasty Warrior gaming has become immensely popular. For those who don’t know, let me give you a short background on the game mechanics in Dynasty Warriors. Dynasty Warriors offers a unique form of combat in which the player fights as one of the main forces of a large army against another army’s forces. This also means fighting countless hordes of enemies, capture enemy bases and territories, while also protecting your own territories against enemy forces all along with you army of allies. With these features, it truly makes it feel like there are multiple event going on at once and gives the player an immense feeling of freedom.

    What stick out the most in the spin-offs are not the mechanics however, but the simplicity and play through of the game. While a lot may be going on at any moment n the game, the game manages to stay simple for people to play and get the most of the story as they have seemed to find a medium between it being too difficult where a person would give up or too easy where t would become boring.

    Spin-offs of these games tends to have massive amounts of story and characters each with their own diverse style of weaponry and combat. There are even some relationships between certain characters that is more illustrated in these games then even in their own respective series.

    • I would note that most players (at least in the West) interested in the game generally care little about the plot. However. With spin offs like Hyrule Warriors, the plot becomes significantly more interesting. – Jemarc Axinto 8 years ago
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    • I would say the main appeal is that Dynasty Warriors series are "easy". It might not be that easy compared to other action games nowadays, but when the series first came out, the action game scene was dominated by stylish action games like Devil May Cry which required some skills to kill enemies with ease. But Dynasty Warriors' main concept was to emulate the feel of being "the warrior who could match ten thousands men"(epitome given to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in real history) with easy control. No need to have back-forward-attack then press attack after neutral lever to unleash combos in DW; all you need to do is to press few buttons and enemies fall down like dead leaves. Also, Dynasty Warriors series tend to emphasize characters and dramas more than other action games. If you look at DW or Samurai Warriors, there are literally more than 30~40 playable characters, with distinctive designs or weapons of their own. This allows the gamers to play as their favorite NPC or minor characters, or even villains. The constant conversation between characters during the battle makes each very dramatic, which appeals to the gamers who want to see more character interactions or what if scenarios. This is very interesting topic. I will write on this topic. – idleric 8 years ago
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    • My Son is big fan of this Dynasty Warriors series. – WilliamRiley 8 years ago
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    Characters That Deserve Their Own Series: Klein

    The topic I would like to discuss focuses on side characters that could be used for a spin-off series and how it can be done. First off what is a spin-off series? A spin-off can be defined as: Something that is imitative or derivative of an earlier work, product, or establishment; especially: a television show starring a character popular in a secondary role of an earlier show.

    In the West, there are plenty of series that get spin-off to try and continue squeezing out of the success of a popular series. In anime, there have been many successful spin-off series such as Scientific Railgun and Fate/kaleid, but also plenty that have not had as much success as their originals such as Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals or Soul Eater Not!

    So what exactly are some qualities that make up a good protagonist? The first and most important piece is that they must be able to "Stand Alone" in their own series. How tied to the original protagonist of the series are they? Is it going to be in continuity to the original series?

    So who is a character that can have a great spin-off series? An example of which being Klein from Sword Art Online. Personally I loved Klein from the moment I met him, but his character often became forgotten until seen once again. He had that kind of comedic but strong personality and had the potential to be more of a fan favorite but never really got the amount of time he deserved.

    Klein is the first person Kirito, the protagonist of the series, is introduced to. In the first episode, an inexperienced Klein is taught by Kirito how to defeat monsters, with Klein thinking that a boar was actually a boss monster. Later on we see Klein actually leading his very own guild, Fuurinkazan (lit. "Wind, Woods, Fire and Mountain") and coming just as far as Kirito has without his wide range of experience and skill.

    Instead of this being a lone wolf series, it will be one more about Klein’s growth as a player and as a leader of Fuurinkazan and the brotherhood within his guild. It may deal with the death of some of his closest comrades, but the ability to continue on even after their deaths. The series can go more into detail and information about the world of Sword Art Online from the experience of a first-time player compared to Kirito as an experience beta-player.

    • I think this is a potentially engaging and hilarious idea, but I would say that whoever writes it should probably find a different character or characters to headline, as 'Klein deserves his own show' has become kind of a meme and it would be really hard to determine the tone of the writing by focusing on him seriously in this way. – ChristopherKay 8 years ago
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    Latest Tides

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    Tidereview

    Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Volume One - Light Novel Review

    Danmachi is an action/adventure/romance/comedy series that take a whole new spin off of the RPG-styled anime, as to the characters it is not a videogame, but their every day life. Each element that you see in a RPG-series such as dungeons, statuses, monsters, drop items, magic, and skills are all a part of this series. Throughout the novel, they do an excellent job of explaining the purpose of each respective element in the story.

    The novel’s point of view constantly shifts between a first-person view by the protagonist, Bell Cranel, first-person views of the other characters, and even a third-person view to give the most detail about the world to the viewer. This helps enhance the overall storytelling of the series as it gives the reader an idea of the mentality of various characters throughout the story and gives the reader a more personal connect to each character. This aspect is surprisingly rare in light novel series as most of them purely focus on a third-person point of view which does vary in usefulness from time to time.

    The series has its share of rich laugh out loud comedy and epic moments that could leave anyone in true suspense as this wild ride of a novel has only just begun.

    Rating: 4.5/5

    • Solid review, I never considered watching the anime, but I just might be tempted to take a look at the light novel! – CheesyJ 8 years ago
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    • I'm truly glad to hear it! It's a fantastic read. As of right now there are 4 volumes that have been released stateside with the 5th volume coming out sometime in March! – Kevin Mohammed 8 years ago
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    • An interesting review. Can I ask, how does it compare to game based series like the .Hack franchise? – mattdoylemedia 8 years ago
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    • While series like .Hack have the VRMMORPG kind of style, the world in which DanMachi takes place is basically their already existent reality. While it does have various terms that can relate to that kind of theme such as "Level", "Skill", "Stats", and "Drop Items", they explain how these terms and items would be used in the construction of what they consider to be an ordinary society. – Kevin Mohammed 8 years ago
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    Latest Comments

    Kevin Mohammed

    Really well done article! I loved the first season of Aggretsuko on Netflix and am looking forward to the new season coming next month!

    Aggretsuko: Sugar, Spice, and Death Metal's Nice
    Kevin Mohammed

    I very much enjoyed Re:Zero and thought that Subaru’s psychological confrontation with experiencing death and the worst possible outcomes at times was demonstrated very well. He seemed originally to be a very hapless person and basically did whatever he wanted, but slowly he grew to learn the toll his power had on his mind which became a major point in the second half of the series.

    Re:Zero - Love, fate and sins
    Kevin Mohammed

    Thank you very much for your kind comments! I am happy to know that you enjoyed my article!

    Surviving SHIMONETA: Living in a World Without Dirty Jokes
    Kevin Mohammed

    In a way masks are both the truth and the lies that a person hold to appease others. But as with many characters, one lie leads to another bigger lie as it tumbles down like a snowball on a white mountain. It’s kind of like that saying “You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain” in a way.

    I agree that while Heart of Darkness is a very complex read, I am quite fond of the story.

    Heart of Darkness: The Two-Sided Mask of Kurtz
    Kevin Mohammed

    Right?! One thing that I look for these days is an anime that after watching an episode it makes you think and this show totally hit the nail on the head with how original the concept of the series was to how the characters lived within this dystopia.

    Surviving SHIMONETA: Living in a World Without Dirty Jokes
    Kevin Mohammed

    Well with what happened to Anna’s VA it might be hard, especially filling those shoes.

    Surviving SHIMONETA: Living in a World Without Dirty Jokes
    Kevin Mohammed

    Monster Musume is also a fanservice-themed series that actually has a very deep under theme of racism. It’s very interesting when you look at it from that perspective.

    Surviving SHIMONETA: Living in a World Without Dirty Jokes
    Kevin Mohammed

    I liked how even the concept of censorship throughout the series could be considered to be a form or joke too! XD

    Surviving SHIMONETA: Living in a World Without Dirty Jokes