THE MORNING LIST
After a successful first season, the series Arcanafrom the French studio Fortiche Production, returns to Netflix starting Saturday, November 9. Class struggle, 19th century aesthetics and steam engines… If it is a story, based on the world of the world-popular video game League of LegendsAlthough it happily mixes genres, it undoubtedly appeals to a particular aesthetic: steampunk. Born in literature, this stylistic trend has invaded all media since the 1990s, from video games to role-playing games, including manga.
“The Difference Machine”: a classic to start with
1855: The industrial revolution is in full swing in a London that also discovers the advantages and disadvantages of computing. Thanks to the power of steam and the work of mathematician Charles Babbage, “differentiation machines” capable of carrying out complex operations are disrupting life in the capital of the British Empire. And face the violent opposition of a Luddite movement willing to take up arms to put an end to this technological revolution with sometimes dramatic social consequences… Ironically, this essential novel of the genre was written by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, both main creators from Another genre of science fiction: cyberpunk.
“Castle Falkenstein”: a role-playing game in a crazy world
You have always dreamed of rubbing shoulders with Jules Vernes (promoted Minister of Sciences of Napoleon III) and Louis II of Bavaria (our ally of the French in the war against Bismarck and his henchmen of perfidious Albion), but also of exploring New Europe through aboard a steam engine in search of dragons? Get out your character sheets: the Falkenstein Castle tabletop role-playing game is for you. This very good game from the 90s was republished in 2021 (by Lapin Marteau editions) and, in addition to an original rules system (which prefers cards to dice), offers a desired immersion in a crazy world, which mixes retroscience futuristic and magic.
“Dishonored”: a video game where magic and technology coexist
First real hit from French studio Arkane Lyon (which has no relation to the series Arcana), the video game dishonor allows you to explore the island city of Dunwall, where magic and technology coexist. From the sewers to the rooftops, from the slums to the luxurious apartments, from the plague victims to the recovering bourgeois, the city is the image of its injustice erected into a system, where rudimentary technology is used to oppress. Corvo, our protagonist, has become a free electron between these two worlds. This guard responsible for the empress’s security is the victim of a trap and finds himself accused of her murder. He escapes and gains supernatural powers that allow him to quietly take revenge on the conspirators. However, the more brutal and unjust their methods, the more the city seems to become distorted.
“Levius”: a manga about mechanical boxing
In a universe reminiscent of industrial-era Europe after a devastating war, this three-volume manga develops the adventures of young Levius Cromwell, a talented fighter in a very fashionable discipline: mechanical boxing. The participants, who have the peculiarity of having teeth and devices grafted in place of their limbs, are sponsored by large industrialists and compete in an arena in the style of the Roman Colosseum. With its story where hand-to-hand combat sometimes gives way to slightly more political intrigues, the mangaka Haruhisa Nakata does not always manage to move away from the clichés of this type of intrigues starring dark characters. However, it offers interesting graphic experiments, halfway between digital drawing and the more incisive inking inherited from pencil holder practices. Completed in 2014 in Japan, its story was followed in comics with Levius East. It was also adapted into an animated series which is now available, for example, on Netflix.
“The Legend of Korra”: an animated series between tradition and modernity
Yes the animated series Avatar. The last airbender takes place in a feudal universe inspired by Asian cultures, The legend of Korra It takes place seventy years later. To the martial arts and the mastery of the elements we now add all the social and political progress linked to the arrival of technologies at the end of the 19th century.my century. Why listen to traditions when you have the steam locomotive? The internal combustion engine? Radio communication? If the first season explores the egalitarian issues that destroy even cultures, the fourth describes the thirst for conquest provoked by technology. In the midst of all this, Korra, at first fiery, then plagued by doubt, is the“avatar”the one who dominates the four elements. Its heavy spiritual heritage is difficult to convince in a world that is now moving too quickly.
“Pax Automata”: strange creatures in Paris
What if, thanks to automata, Napoleon III had won the Battle of Sedan and maintained France as an empire? This is the starting point of Pax Automataa uchronia published in 2022 that begins on the eve of the 1889 Universal Exhibition, in a Paris where mechanical creatures put themselves at the service of men. However, on the condition that they do not adopt a too humanoid appearance, thus violating a set of laws called “Pax Automata”. In the midst of this excitement, Philémon, an apprentice airplane pilot, will come face to face with a boy with curious powers (reminiscent of the Japanese cyberpunk masterpiece). akira). The young man and his companions will follow the trail of the manufacturer of this hyper-realistic mechanical being, who could very well want to undermine the security of the Empire. In a bustling atmosphere where the aristocracy of the Belle Époque and the circus artists of the Bois de Vincennes mix, Ariel Holzl weaves an adventure as detailed as it is exciting, thus offering a beautiful example of a French steampunk youth novel.
