So I watched the Japanese series Ultraman Nexus and am now depressed, and for that I heartily recommend it. It really shows what a goofy premise can be when the creators grow a pair, knuckle down and see just where they can take a concept. For those who don't know what Ultraman is: giant superhero fights kaiju, that's the idea. I won't go into details because it would spoil it quite a bit, but the series is on Youtube so check it out. What is the bleakest thing you guys have seen that you loved?
Holy Shit That Was Bleak, I Love It
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Dark Souls fits that build for me.
The entire thing takes place in a decaying, dying world, and every character you interact with eventually hollows, dies, or goes mad and tries to kill you. You're always alone in a world that actively tries to punish you at every turn. The atmosphere is always choking, and makes you feel claustrophobic in every environment regardless of how large it may be because you're always on the look out for the next attack, the next ambush, the next betrayal. Playing the game is physically and emotionally draining, and you know what? It's fantastic.
The entire thing takes place in a decaying, dying world, and every character you interact with eventually hollows, dies, or goes mad and tries to kill you. You're always alone in a world that actively tries to punish you at every turn. The atmosphere is always choking, and makes you feel claustrophobic in every environment regardless of how large it may be because you're always on the look out for the next attack, the next ambush, the next betrayal. Playing the game is physically and emotionally draining, and you know what? It's fantastic.
Welp that's something else I'm gonna have to watch, maybe after Digimon Tamers to fit in with the theme lol.
I guess the standard answer here is The Road and Evangelion but a film which I can't recommend enough in this respect, and just as a great film in general, is Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. No other Korean film I've seen comes close to executing how grim the idea of revenge and "he who fights monsters," is. The cinematography, plot, soundtrack, and just everything comes together to create a genuinely bleak experience that compels you to ask yourself what is the point of it all.
I guess the standard answer here is The Road and Evangelion but a film which I can't recommend enough in this respect, and just as a great film in general, is Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. No other Korean film I've seen comes close to executing how grim the idea of revenge and "he who fights monsters," is. The cinematography, plot, soundtrack, and just everything comes together to create a genuinely bleak experience that compels you to ask yourself what is the point of it all.
Cronenberg's The Fly
I generally dislike stories that are overly bleak just for the sake of it, like Grave of the Fireflies, but The Fly circumvents this with its science fiction framing. The movie is basically about a guy who catches a horrible physically and mentally debilitating desease. And we watch him suffer from beginning to end.
But it's because of the sci fi angle that the misery and grief of the situation never becomes overwhelming, since you're still curious as to how this man will mutate even further. Cronenberg has been known to say that without the sci fi this movie would've been unbearable to watch, and he's right.
I generally dislike stories that are overly bleak just for the sake of it, like Grave of the Fireflies, but The Fly circumvents this with its science fiction framing. The movie is basically about a guy who catches a horrible physically and mentally debilitating desease. And we watch him suffer from beginning to end.
But it's because of the sci fi angle that the misery and grief of the situation never becomes overwhelming, since you're still curious as to how this man will mutate even further. Cronenberg has been known to say that without the sci fi this movie would've been unbearable to watch, and he's right.
Bah.. you guys aren't trying..
Woman in the Dunes, either the Kobo Abe novel or the Teshigahara film since the film is a completely straight adaptation.
The book is probably bleaker though, simply because the subtext is really obvious and the subtext is that life is essentially boring, transient and pointless and that even hoping for something better than that is merely an exercise you do to keep you sane.
Heck, I've got a whole bunch of these. Japanese literature is pretty goth sometimes.
Woman in the Dunes, either the Kobo Abe novel or the Teshigahara film since the film is a completely straight adaptation.
The book is probably bleaker though, simply because the subtext is really obvious and the subtext is that life is essentially boring, transient and pointless and that even hoping for something better than that is merely an exercise you do to keep you sane.
Heck, I've got a whole bunch of these. Japanese literature is pretty goth sometimes.
A lot of Radiohead songs are this for me, particularly Sail To The Moon and How To Disappear Completely. As are some films. Saving Private Ryan is the one that springs to mind, but if I thought about it there'd be others.
The Doctor Who episode "Midnight". It's a deconstruction of the standard Doctor Who formula. The Doctor is stranded with a bunch of other tourists inside a broken shuttle that is being assaulted by a mysterious body-snatching alien. The Doctor's attempts to do his usual thing completely backfires and causes the tourists to become suspicious of him, eventually turning on him, believing that he's the dangerous alien. It's bleak, it's creepy, and it's the best episode of the entire Doctor Who revival.
Not sure if it counts, but the ending to the first Smokin' Aces is really rather depressing, since it renders all the death, murder and people getting chainsawed completely pointless.
First time I saw a movie that left me feeling empty. It was a strange and uncomfortable, yet not completely unpleasant, feeling.
First time I saw a movie that left me feeling empty. It was a strange and uncomfortable, yet not completely unpleasant, feeling.
There was an Astro Boy story from the original Astro Boy manga, where a bunch of aliens were going to kill everyone on Earth by having a comet hit Earth. Thing is, there was no way to stop them. No way at all. As the comet got closer, the effects on Earth killed thousands of people, and we got to see how those that hadn't died yet handled the impending armageddon. In the end Astro Boy mangaed to stop it of course[footnote]which you darn well knew was going to happen so don't complain[/footnote], but it was still really bleak to see an Astro Boy comic about an impending doomsday, and where thousands of people did die with no Dragon Ball Z-esque resurrection in the end.
There was also another Astro Boy story, where... Well, I can't tell you what made it bleak because that's a spoiler. If you're really curious you can PM me or something.
There was also another Astro Boy story, where... Well, I can't tell you what made it bleak because that's a spoiler. If you're really curious you can PM me or something.
Ruins. I like the concept of 'Shit got fucked: The comic book', and it's a shame it was only two issues. I enjoyed the Rick Jones and Mar-Vell anecdotes the most, albeit 'Enjoyed' is perhaps the wrong word to use in the context, because the Gamma Bomb caused Bruce Banner to become a living tumor and the Kree were nuked in orbit and the survivors are living in concentration camps built off the Trinity test sites. I enjoyed just how depressing the whole thing was, like the fate of the X-Men as President Xavier's prisoners and Johnny Blaze's last ride. That and the alternate view on Peter Parker as a stuck up prick was one of the rare moments in the book that made me chuckle, shame it was followed by a bleak ending.
California in the summer. The Patriot missile bangs off the national guard mobile launch pad and blurs upward hungrily. It slams into the avengers quinjet amidships. Chilly drizzle evaporates as the explosives ignite. Lost, I watch superhumans burn in the midday sun.
The movie "Savior" fits that description for me, though ultimately it tries to end on a high note, it is a quite depressing most of the time.
This also reminds me of a movie (can't remember the name now) based on a true story of two brothers fighting in opposing sides of the korean war.
This also reminds me of a movie (can't remember the name now) based on a true story of two brothers fighting in opposing sides of the korean war.
Star Wars: Jedi Academy. Not for much of anything that anyone responds to in the story, the betrayal/dark side bit was visible roughly from the moment I met the character, but for how much killing you have to do added to the right mental conditioning.
Playing several years ago, I didn't so much as give a sideways glance to running countless warm bodies through with a much warmer lightsaber, frying tusken raiders with force lightning while invading their territory, throwing petty crooks were probably just desperate to make a living from the tops of buildings so high the floor was an invisible black mass, and expending any leftover explosive rounds on harmless jawas. All in good fun.
Between then and the next time I played, I'd become something of a compulsive role-player, trying to act in ways that make more sense than "Hello simulations, I'm here to pretend-murder you." So getting into the mindset I used in KOTOR, where pacifistic solutions were a thing, even if not a constant, I couldn't help notice that my light-side jedi character (forced name Jaden Korr) was more concerned with making quips and sarcasm than snuffing out 67 or so lives per mission. The game helpfully keeps count.
So, we have the "good guys" killing tons and tons of people because said people are usually up to something that may result in even more senseless death, like releasing a super rancor (that brown, snarly thing in the pit in Return of the Jedi on space steroids) into a very populated city. I'm reminded of Luke killing everyone on the Death Star (both of them, really) because it had a laser that blew up entire planets.
So yes, bleak, but the lightsaber fighting isn't any less fun for it all!
Playing several years ago, I didn't so much as give a sideways glance to running countless warm bodies through with a much warmer lightsaber, frying tusken raiders with force lightning while invading their territory, throwing petty crooks were probably just desperate to make a living from the tops of buildings so high the floor was an invisible black mass, and expending any leftover explosive rounds on harmless jawas. All in good fun.
Between then and the next time I played, I'd become something of a compulsive role-player, trying to act in ways that make more sense than "Hello simulations, I'm here to pretend-murder you." So getting into the mindset I used in KOTOR, where pacifistic solutions were a thing, even if not a constant, I couldn't help notice that my light-side jedi character (forced name Jaden Korr) was more concerned with making quips and sarcasm than snuffing out 67 or so lives per mission. The game helpfully keeps count.
So, we have the "good guys" killing tons and tons of people because said people are usually up to something that may result in even more senseless death, like releasing a super rancor (that brown, snarly thing in the pit in Return of the Jedi on space steroids) into a very populated city. I'm reminded of Luke killing everyone on the Death Star (both of them, really) because it had a laser that blew up entire planets.
So yes, bleak, but the lightsaber fighting isn't any less fun for it all!
Let's see, I do like a lot of dark stories, and I have quite a few that have managed to be emotionally draining, to me at least.
These stories come from different media,like Watchmen, Madoka Magica, Death Note, Attack on Titan, Breaking Bad, Berserk (I'm not finished with it quite yet, somewhat more than half-way through the manga but I can already say that this is one BRUTAL series) Seven and Apocalypse Now (seriously, that movie is HAUNTING).
I really like these types of stories.
These stories come from different media,like Watchmen, Madoka Magica, Death Note, Attack on Titan, Breaking Bad, Berserk (I'm not finished with it quite yet, somewhat more than half-way through the manga but I can already say that this is one BRUTAL series) Seven and Apocalypse Now (seriously, that movie is HAUNTING).
I really like these types of stories.
The Road was unrelenting in it's bleakness. It's story is so devoid of hope it's almost unforgettable. It's a wonderful, suicide inducing movie.