#I didn’t think it would become one of my favorite sentai

[lialovesstuff]

Happy first anniversary to boonboomger ❤️💙🩷🖤🧡💜

This season has made me so happy beyond words and am so happy I gave it a chance 🥹

I miss them so much and I can’t wait to meet them again

[reversemoon255]

Avataro Sentai Donbrothers Series Review

Before going into the series proper, I want to quickly cover the Don Onitaijin Expansion Set. The new hips have a lot more posability, but only the hips; Don Robotaro has nothing else. I like the new hands, and I think the fan and chair are cool for display purposes, but the backdrop is just a cardboard screen; I really wish it had some small plastic clips for the edges to keep it at a good angle and weighed down. And the new hips don’t have the C-clips on the back, so you can’t put the shield there for Kiwamii, but you can form it otherwise. Overall, it’s neat, but probably not worth it, and if you really want to experience the hips, I’d suggest getting the Murasame version. Hard to go wrong with black and gold. Now, onto the show!

The Good: I think we could all tell from the first poster that this was going to be a very crazy series in many ways. Rather than having a plot, it runs a series of subplots, with almost every character having one that is slowly touched upon and wrapped up by the end of the show. They ranged in exposure and importance, but they did reward you for watching every episode.

There were so many characters... Tarou took to typical complaints you hear about Red Rangers and turned them on their head. He’s a total chosen one, perfect at everything, and higher than thou, but everyone hates him for it. He’s so perfect it’s annoying, and while everyone eventually warms up to him, his personality does rub people the wrong way through most of the show. It’s a great and hilarious interpretation of those tropes.

Before the series was fully announced, and knowing that the X1s and X6s are usually the oddballs, I was thinking this would be the perfect time for a female Red Ranger, and while of course that didn’t happen, we did end up getting a female lead O_O Haruka was pretty interesting, with her subplot revolving around being accused of plagiarism. And since she had the most internal monologues, a lot of screen time, and opened and closed the season, you could consider her the main character. While her subplot ended very abruptly, it also ended in a totally extreme and insane way befitting this series.

Saruhara didn’t have a subplot, but he was very involved in other characters’. He was a very unique character, but I really don’t have much to say about him apart from that?

I was totally expecting Inuzuka and Kijino to come to blows and kill each other over Natsumi early on and get replaced by people in normal costumes. Didn’t happen, happy it didn’t, and I do actually appreciate how weird their designs are and that they stuck with them for the entire show. Inuzuka and Kijino had parallel and intersecting subplots involving them being in love with a woman and her monster clone. I’m actually pretty happy with how this series of subplots ended. Yes, Inuzuka didn’t end up with Natsuki, but I feel like this was probably the happiest ending these characters could have gotten, with both of them ending up with someone who cares about them, even if it isn’t the person they started the series with.

Jiro’s an odd duck. He’s pretty important for the first 10 or so episodes after he shows up, then he just kinda shows up during fight scenes until the end of the show when he suddenly becomes relevant again. He is an interesting character, having two personalities with separate transformations, it’s mostly his later revelations feel unearned, like that may not have been his original direction.

Sonoi is one of my favorite types of comedic characters. The serious, stoic character that does silly things that don’t match his character. He might be my favorite character from the show. His subplot was growing to love humans and his weird semi-romance with Tarou (which I describe that way, but I ate it up).

Sononi had one of the best and most nuanced character evolutions across the show, slowly going from a somewhat vain character that doesn’t understand love, to totally love struck, but in a very believable way. Her subplot was tied into Inuzuka’s, and I’m happy they did end up together. Even if Inuzuka did love Natsuki, hearing her catchphrase again at the end of the show, “I bet you say that to all the girls,” really redefines their relationship we see through flashback. He was very faithful, but she never expected him to be, while Sononi saw and respected that commitment, eventually wanting it for herself, but not wanting it enough to ruin the relationship he already had. A+ character.

In comparison to the other two, Sonoza doesn’t have as much going on. A decent comedy character that paired well with Haruka. He was a complementary player in Haruka’s story and development, but didn’t have a lot going on by himself.

Don Murasame isn’t really a character. He’s like if Zubaan could talk. I like him, he’s cool, but they didn’t really do a lot with him apart from be rebellious on occasion. I do like that he stood with the team in the finale.

And last we have the returning Kaito. No idea why he returned, but he was a nice addition that added an air of (unanswered) mystery. I really hope we learn what his whole deal is in the V-Cinema crossover with Zenkaiger.

The Bad: The show isn’t without its issues. The series has an issue of hyper fixating on a specific subplot or a character to the detriment of other aspects of the show. As I mentioned, Jiro and Murasame were two characters who were hurt by this focus, having a decent amount of buildup when they first appeared, but fell off shortly after. There were also a few minor elements to were left to the wayside, like Tarou, Jiro, and Murasame’s ability to turn into tiny avatars, or the team’s ability to turn into other Sentai members.

The ending also comes out of nowhere. It feels like the sealing of the Bestial Forest was supposed to be the series’ climax, but they had so much they needed to wrap up afterward that it killed the momentum. This is coupled by the fact that, the longer the series went on, the more it feels like a slice-of-life comedy rather than a Sentai series. Like, the characters in this series are great, but without the typical dynamic ending Sentai is known for, it feels like the ending was a bit of a fizzle.

There was also a lot of unanswered world building. The Anoni lose a lot of importance and screen time as the series goes on, we don’t learn a lot about the Cerebrans, or the weird digital doors, or who Mother is, or what’s up with Kaito being there. There’re a lot of unanswered questions.

Overall, it’s a good season, with very strong characters, but fumbles some of the more Sentai elements of the show. As for my toy recommendations for this year, I would suggest Black Onitaijin Murasame since it’s a single purchase with the improved hips (and a great color scheme), and pick up either or both Toradragonjin and Palanquin Phoenix if they suit your fancy.

[just-a-gay-toku-girl]

This chapter comes to a close

As you’ve seen by my posts I’ve recently been watching through Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, and just last night at the time of writing this I watched the final episode. This is significant to me because it was the first sentai I watched all the way through that was from before I became a sentai fan (Which was around the halfway point of Zyuohger). Why did I pick Shinkenger as my first? Partially because I like the suits, partially because the opening theme is a bop, and partially because I had seen parts of power rangers Samurai and I was just curious. So having finished the series (still having some movies to watch) I thought it would be fun to give my thoughts on the show and its characters, no note just talking about my thoughts on the show as a whole(Beware as I won’t shy away from spoilers). Starting with...

The Villains 

Arguably the villains can be just as important to the success of a show or movie as the main characters are. They need to be intimidating and powerful to make them seem like a real threat to the team, and I think the Gedoushu manage to accomplish that well enough. The suit designs for the main generals are ok, very intricate but not overly so (The exception to that being Dokoku who just has a bit to much going in his design IMO). One of my favorite things about this group is their main goal: raising the level of the Sanzu river so it’ll flood into the human world, To do this they have to create negative emotions in humans. It’s not often that bad guys in these shows actually have a goal besides just world domination. This actually gives the individual monsters more purpose than just attempting to destroy the rangers, plus it means that whenever they attack their scoring at least a small victory as the river will raise ever so slightly. Another small thing to mention before I get into the main villains as individuals is that despite being evil there seemed to be a bit of comradery between at least the main 3. It wasn’t brought up too often but a scene that stuck out to me was at the end when Dokoku and Shitari seem to be just the least bit saddened by Dayu’s death. Granted that could just be them being thankful that her death made Dokoku stronger but I digress. Onto the individual villains from least to most favorite

Shitari

There’s not much to say about Shitari since I can’t actually remember him doing much throughout the show. He may have helped with the plots of a few filler episodes and commanded a few monsters but that’s about it. Really the most notable thing about him is that his actor also plays Brook in One Piece so part of me was always expecting him to ask to see Dayu’s panties.

Dokoku

Surprisingly the big bad of this season just barely escapes being the worst villain. Much like Shitari he doesn’t actually do much throughout the season, what places him higher than Shitari is two things: 1. he has a reason for being idle throughout the show being that unlike other Gedoushu he can’t stay in the human world for more than 3 minutes without drying up severely and being out of commission for the next week, though we never are really told why that is. 2. When he eventually DID actually do something he was damn powerful. Easily walking through the shinkengers in their first battle. Not to mention it was clear even with monsters that seemed more intimidating than him they still were afraid of him and his power.

Dayuu

Honestly I don’t have much to say about her either. Most of the villains were decent at being villains but for the most part kinda unremarkable. What puts Dayuu and Juzo is just the fact that they had backstories and pretty interesting ones at that. Dayuu after finding out the man she loved had married another woman was consumed with jealousy and burned him and his wife to death. That is friggin metal as hell and I love it. In a series like this where full scale invasions from aliens are common place in rare to see something so small scale like this to be treated as serious as it is. It really makes her feel more human as a villain, which I dig.

Juzo

Juzo was easily my favorite villain in Shinkenger. And no not just because he was played by my favorite character from 555. Like Dayu he had a really interesting backstory that made him feel a lot more human (Despite the whole point of his arc being that he wasn’t human.) Basically he found out he was dying and decided to take a couple people down with him which led to him becoming a Gedou. In the earlier episodes he seemed to be sort of an anti hero, not necessarily working for the Gedou and even saving Shinken red’s life on a couple of occasions just because he wanted so desperately to fight red himself. That is until close to the end of the show when he basically said “I don’t care if my family’s souls are suffering because of me, let them suffer.” to show there really wasn’t a shred of humanity left within him. Not to mention he had an amazing death scene that I won’t say anything because it’s best seen for yourself. 

Now with the bag guys done I’m gonna move onto the actual shinkengers. like before it’ll be least to most favorite

Shinken Green - Tani Chiaki

In this case saying Chiaki is my least favorite really just means I didn’t like him as much as the others but I still did like him. Admittedly there wasn’t much to Chiaki in terms of an arc, just that in the beginning he had an inferiority complex that made him not want to follow orders but that kinda went away after one episode. What I liked more about him was his personality, very happy-go-lucky while still taking his role as a shinkenger seriously. He’s also very friendly, being the first to make friend’s with Genta when he joined the team as well as having a good relationship with every other ranger and even Jii. He really is fun to watch but not much else.

Shinken Pink - Shiraishi Mako

Mako is a very kind person and wants to help those in need, however she only helps those in need and as soon as they don’t need her she leaves them. She’s one of the older Shinkengers thus earning her the affectionate nickname of “Big sis” from the rest of the team. However that’s basically all there is to her. She doesn’t change that much and overall has the lowest amount of character focus episodes. But she’s cute so that puts her above Chiaki.

Shinken Blue - Ikenami Ryunosuke

Ryunosuke is easily the most dedicated to his role as a samurai,he’s kind, hardworking and he’s loyal to a fault which ends up creating an internal debate for him when he discovers the person he’s pledged his life to isn’t the actual Shiba head. Being that he was a kabuki actor his movements and mannerisms are very lively and wild, it’s really just a joy to watch how his actor portrayed him. He definitely carried the show’s energy for the most part. I also loved watching his interactions with the others and when he’s forced to work with them. Some highlights of his include the episode where him and Chiaki get glued together and the episode where Genta tries to follow him around to learn to be a samurai.

Shinken Red - Shiba Takeru/Shiba Kaoru

I lump both of them together mainly because we didn’t see enough of Kaoru for me to really make a judgement of her yet I still wanted to mention her. I’ll say this, I did like her. She was definitely worthy of being the first female red ranger. I appreciate that despite her recognizing herself as the strongest she never tried to put the others down for being weaker than her, even berating her retainer for doing just that. I’ll admit the thing at the end with her “Adopting” Takeru was kinda weird but it showed she recognized the team was stronger with Takeru.

As for Takeru himself I really enjoyed him. Stoic, intimidating, and cold at the beginning but as time went on and he developed relationships with the rest of the team he slowly began opening up to them more and more. So much so that by the end he was joking around just as much as they were. And the twist of him not actually being of the Shiba household I thought was executed pretty well, I would’ve been genuinely surprised by it had power rangers not done the same thing. He was a really solid character and easily one of my favorite red rangers.

Shinken Gold - Umemori Genta

Genta was a unique 6th ranger in that he was mostly comedic relief, but a damn good one. He had me genuinely laughing out loud a few times. despite being a comedic character they managed to have a few serious plots with him that turned out alright. Not much more to say about him, he’s funny and (as the show called him) an extraordinary good boy

Shinken Yellow - Hanaori Kotoha 

Easily my favorite of the shinkengers, Kotoha is the youngest and therefore least experienced of the team. Originally her older sister was meant to take the role of yellow but fell ill before the events of the show leaving Kotoha to take her place. This of course makes her feel inferior to the others and ike she isn’t a real samurai, just a substitute for her sister. Eventually though after Jii learns of her insecurities he helps reassure her that everyone thinks of her as a real samurai. Although this part of her character isn’t really seen until close to the end, it was that which made me love her character, hell I even shed a tear or two during her last character focus episode. Plus she is downright adorable so there’s nothing not to love about her.

Final thoughts

Overall I think Shinkenger was a really good show, easily in my top 5 sentai (although that’s not saying much since most of the sentai I’ve seen have been pretty Meh). As I mentioned the suits are really well designed, and the opening song as well as the fight songs are just badass. The characters are all really good with the weakest of them just being the ones that were under developed. The story while not necessarily ground breaking it was still enjoyable to watch and I wouldn’t mind coming back to it pretty soon, but for now I need to move on to a different sentai.

I contemplated for  a while what sentai to watch next, between Goseiger, Goonger, Dekaranger, Magiranger, Bioman and a few others. Ultimately tho I decided that since one of my favorite things about sentai is the crossovers I should go back and watch all the crossovers, so I’ll start with the season that made these team ups an annual thing. So if I ever make another Long ass post like this, then you’ll be hearing of the fight to protect earth against the evile Baranoia army in Chouriki Sentai Ohranger

[tokupedia]

Halloween 2019 costume ideas: Power Rangers pt. 2

Jason Bischoff’s Beast Morpher Rangers

Jason Bischoff was the former global marketing guy for Hasbro and is an artist.

He is a genuine fan of tokusatsu (mentioned Kamen Rider on his Twitter and his love of Ex-Aid and several Heisei Rider shows) and it shows. In his final months with Hasbro, he and a buddy of his named Micheal O’ Hare came up with art for concepts of new Rangers not original to the Go-Busters source material.

The first is a Green Ranger based on the Frog Buddyroid from the Go-Busters Summer Film, “what if she had a Ranger companion”?  The next is a gray Polar Bear Ranger and an Orange female scorpion Ranger based on Jason’s viewings of Kyuranger and Sasori Orange. 

A Bat Ranger based on Blaze, a “what if the bad guy reformed and got a new suit” kind of thing. (though given its Batman’s 80th, you could also use it as an excuse to go around saying in a gravely voice “I’m Bat-Ranger!”) 

Lastly, a Magenta Sea Urchin Ranger and Hammerhead Beast Bot for you and a buddy to dress up as. 

X-Men/Power Rangers Amalgam

A while ago at the Edmonton Expo in Alberta, Canada, Jason David Frank discovered a cosplay that had to be seen to be believed. A Canadian fan mixed the White Ranger with Wolverine. Mr. JDF then posted this to instagram

Now, this isn’t the first time that X-Men and Power Rangers have crossed paths as both shared the Fox Kids block on Saturday Mornings in the 1990s and a SDCC gatefold variant cover paid tribute to X-Men #1. Not to mention MMPR’s comic rights were once with Marvel and the whole Marvel/Super Sentai connection. The idea of X-Men Rangers is an interesting one, why not complete it?

Cyclops Red, Jubilee Yellow, Beast Blue, Pink Phoenix (if considering season 2 MMPR), Gambit Black and Rouge Green. As an alternative to Wolvie, Storm can be the White Ranger or added as the 7th Ranger team member of any color you choose. Add a Professor Z (a tube head in a hover wheelchair or a blue bald guy) and you have the complete set! Or go wild and make a Brotherhood of Mutants version of a Ranger Team!

Lord “Zackkon”

Submitted for your approval, one Zachary Taylor, a virtuous teen who was offered a deal with the devil to be something greater, but refused. What if the youth, resentful of the choice of his team’s leadership, accepted the path that Rita Repulsa offered? 

I envision a Black Ranger who fuses his power first with the Dragon Coin, but then with powers of Green and Black Rangers after him. The core idea is to combine the Mastodon motif with a Dragon in a way that aesthetically looks good. 

Remi, the Orange Solar Ranger 

(Ari’s Legacy Wars Bio confirms it!)

Last year, I pitched to the fandom to option dressing up as newest kid on the block, Ari aka the (Purple) Solar Ranger. This year, I’m submitting her life partner and love Remi who became the most recent addition to the Solar Rangers and another of a growing number of representatives of LGBTQ+ heroes. For those looking to cosplay with the person they love or for a fun cosmic night of Halloween, here is a Ranger couple that we hope to see more of in the future.

A Morphing Master

The Morphing Masters are the mysterious all powerful beings who protected the Morphin Grid and dedicated their lives to studying it. The Boom! Studios comics dedicated some time to explaining them a bit more in Beyond the Grid, including a new look. 

Why be a mere three dimensional linear being on All Hallow’s Eve or at a con when you can wear a look that says “I am a supreme being beyond your trivialities and I look fabulous doing it.” 

Warbunny

Aka my new favorite Power Rangers monster. Warbunny is a ‘roided up anthropomorphic rabbit whom, if his Conan inspired garb hasn’t telegraphed, talks like a certain former Governator and wields a large Warhammer that fires energy blasts. Cosplayers who do Warcraft costumes and other fantasy cosplay might gravitate towards this one since it parodies Arnie and Conan.

The Soul Era MMPR Rangers

In the comics, we learn there was a ill fated team in 1969 which fought Psycho Green. Pitch: What if there were a MMPR Rangers team 5 years later in 1975, the year Gorenger was created? The era of disco and soul, big cars, afro hair kung fu movies and Watergate. The challenge I present is combining the Gorenger suits with the MMPR suits. 

Disco collar capes, platform heel variants of the boots, flashy brighter neon colors with glitter and woodgrain on the weapons because products in the 1970s had woodgrain even if it didn’t make any aesthetic sense to do so. Civilian forms would be based on 1970s fashion, at least one Ranger should have a real or fake Burt Reynolds-sized mustache and/or afro for period accuracy. 

Dark Super Megaforce Yellow

For Ranger fans who wanna let out their inner bad girl, I present another Dark Ranger redesign of a Power Ranger from Battle For the Grid. The Gokaiger suit decked out in black and pants and a gold trim “coat” is just so good, really makes the yellow pop and looks more “piratey” than the standard suit. As you can see you can opt for an all black undershirt and yellow gloves or vice versa.

A new standard Lord Drakkon created for evil Rangers is that unlike their heroic counterparts, all of them have blood red visors instead of the standard black tint. (This also recently extends to Sentai, but we’ll get to that later.)

Houou Ranger (Chun-Li ver.)

While Ryu got to play Power Ranger, the devs of Legacy Wars decided to let none of the other characters participate in the fun. Many fans who love and respect Chun-Li were naturally outraged that she got shafted and began speculating what kind of Blue Ranger she would be. There was artistic debate as to what motif she would have with most gravitating towards a tiger, a peacock or her totem of fighting style, the crane.

I on the other hand think if Ryu lifted a Dairanger’s name for his Ranger form, it only makes sense the developers would do the same for Chun Li and give her a Chinese Phoenix motif.

The common consensus all fans share is that such a form has parts of Miss Li’s costume as part of her Ranger outfit much like with Ryu Ranger with his boxing gloves, bandanna and black belt. Whatever you choose, you are sure to be a knockout!

Supersonic Green

The first Green gone bad chronologically in the comics, Trek was a bitter Xybiran who got sick of being benched while his team went on missions and soon that bitterness turned into hate as he empathically read the feelings of his teammates about him. He murdered his entire team and then pledged allegiance to Dark Specter to become Psycho Green.

The Fiveman team these Supersonic Rangers are based on never had a sixth ranger, since sixth Rangers were not really a thing until Zyuranger. This bring up one conundrum for this Ranger in terms of those wishing to design a full costume...what exactly is Trek’s helmet motif? 

For those who have never seen Fiveman, the theme was about types of school education each Ranger was part of. Red was a science teacher, Blue was a physical education teacher, Black was a language teacher, Pink was a math teacher and Yellow was a music teacher. 

I suppose a history book on the helmet for social studies would be appropriate as would be an apple or money symbols for home economics. It should be noted if one commits to making a helmet, the Fiveman/Supersonic Ranger helmet visors each have lines running through them to signify their numerical designation (Red has 1, Blue has 2 etc.) so Green would have six. 

That’s all I’ve got! 

Happy Halloween Ranger Nation! 

[loopy777]

You've got me curious now as to what anime youve seen, enjoyed and why.

Oof, I don’t track that type of thing. I’ve been asked about anime I like previously, and I feel like I always forget something. I suppose I should start a MyAnimeList one of these days, just for reference.

So let’s list everything I can remember, as well as a pithy reaction.

Baccano!This one is just so much fun. It’s violent and crass in a classy way, it’s funny in a weird way, and it’s a great example of a non-linear narrative. I love it.

Code Geass (Season 1)Ugh, I only watched this one because people solicited my opinion on it. Well, my opinion is that it’s not as smart as it wants to be, there’s too much contrived melodrama (and considering the wild premise, that’s saying something), and Kallen would be a wonderful and interesting character if she wasn’t always being demeaned for fan-service. I quit when the first season finale kicked off, because I felt things were just getting too contrived. I hear it really fell apart in the second season.

Cowboy BebopI found this a bit pretentious. It had good episodes and bad episodes. The production quality is good. But I'm not sure why it's legendary. Still, I liked its sense of humor, and enjoyed it when it wasn’t trying to be super serious. My favorite character is Ed.

Demon SlayerI'm mainly watching this because my brother wanted to give it a try on Toonami, but I kind of checked out when it unceremoniously removed everything difficult about the sister being a demon and made her into an order-following sidekick that fits in a suitcase. Now the latest episode introduced a loud annoying side character, so we may quit. I have no idea why this one is so popular.

Fullmetal AlchemistCovered

Gatchaman CrowdsI was asked to watch this one, as well, but it went a lot better than Code Geass. It’s a bit weird, and I think it's naively optimistic about the internet in many ways, but I still found it's exploration of Internet-age superheroes to be interesting, and it's the best, most mature take on the Power Rangers-style ‘sentai’ genre that I've seen. I don't know how well it matches up with its Gatchaman legacy, but as its own thing, it's pretty good.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (including 2nd Gig)This is another legendary one that I think is good but a bit over-rated. It's a good piece of modern Cyberpunk, but it's very talky, and very jargon-filled. I'm almost convinced that the viewer is not meant to follow half of the conversations, that they're just part of the ambiance. I tended to like the stand-alone episodes better than the storyline episodes. Still, it’s a very smart series, and probably the best thing in the franchise, from what I’ve heard.

Log Horizon (first season only)I’ll tell you what- I think it’s possible to make a good anime with the premise of people from the modern, real world entering a fantasy realm (either another dimension or a VR video game). Log Horizon did not end up being that ideal. The main character is a Gary Stu, his romances with girls who are either ten years old or just look like they’re ten years old are creepy, and it got boring seeing the protagonists’ plans always succeed without much of a hitch.

Lupin III (series 4 and 5)I like this franchise when it's being clever, when it's springing a twist while playing fair. Sometimes, though, it doesn't play fair with its twists, leaving me underwhelmed. And while the regular cast is amusing, they're fairly shallow characters; this isn't always a bad thing, as that allows them to slot into all kinds of genre fare, but does limit the storytelling ambitions. It’s fine.

Macross franchiseSuper Dimensional Fortress MacrossI still like the original, despite how dated it is. It's probably the best possible implementation of 'soap opera in space.'

Macross PlusI'm not sure why this one is so revered. I feel like it doesn't play fair with its mystery, despite being such a short story, and whole thing with the killer popstar AI just left me cold.

Macross 7I like the music, but the story really drags for the first half with a formula that’s repeated far too long, and then falls apart in the end. The love triangle isn’t resolved, and in fact I’m of the opinion that two of the participants didn’t even know they were in competition. The bad guys are allowed to sail off into the sunset, forgiven, despite still inhabiting the bodies of kidnapped humans. But this isn't a series you watch for the story; this is a series you watch because you like the idea of a rockstar flying into space in a transforming mecha, controlled by an electric guitar, to sing at alien invaders. Personally, I think the idea is dumb. Plus, this ruins the premise of the original series by adding in what is effectively magic.

Macross ZeroThis is pretty good and has the best dogfights in the series, but it has one of those weird arty endings that anime sometimes likes to do where no one can tell what actually happened and we need to find translated interviews with the creative team to get it explained.

Macross FrontierBy this point, I was wondering why everyone is so eager for the Macross franchise to get American distribution. It’s better than Macross 7, but feels like a first draft of the intended story, and the creative team lost track of their own subplots. The two AU movies do a more satisfying take on the same basic story, but sometimes they come across like an abridged recap of the series, so you really need to watch everything to get a satisfying experience. That said, the final experience was indeed fairly satisfying, making this the second best thing in the franchise for me. Still, I wouldn’t say it lives up to the original in any way.

Macross DeltaBoy, this one was dumb. Everything wrong with Frontier is worse here, with none of the good stuff.

The Melancholy of Haruhi SuzumiyaI still want an ending for this, despite nothing worthwhile coming from it since 2011. It wouldn't even be hard to pick it up again; set it in modern times, and explain the fact that everyone has smartphones now to be a result of some weird off-screen Haruhi antics.

Mobile Suit Gundam franchiseMobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded OrphansI've only ever experienced the Gundam franchise because my brother wants to get into it and he keeps trying to find a vector. This was my first experience with it, and I found it very 'teenage boy,' in both tone and story. I was underwhelmed.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096Another case where the storytellers reached the end only to have forgotten the rest of the story. Why does that happen so often in anime? And I think it assumes the viewer is familiar with the whole rest of the franchise, because there was a lot that just went straight over my head but didn't seem like it was supposed to. Nice animation and art style, though.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Advent of the Red CometEverything I said about Unicorn, only more.

My Hero AcademiaCovered

NichijouThis thing is still hilarious, even after a rewatch. Stick with the sub, as the new dub's voice-acting doesn't have the same range and power of the original, losing a lot of the humor.

Outlaw Star I'm struggling to remember a lot of this one. it’s another I watched because my brother was interested in it. I do recall that it was a fairly standard Space Western that ends in a way that's more like serious science fiction, and that for some reason a Japanese swordswoman in classic clothing was part of the cast. Now I wonder if that was an homage to Lupin III. Or maybe Japan just really loves throwing classic samurai into everything, regardless of setting or genre.

Pokemon (part of first series)I was in high school when this franchise first came to America, and for some reason all the geeks in my high school thought it was the greatest thing. The games were good, yeah, but the anime? I don't think it's bad for a kiddie cartoon, but it obviously has no greater ambitions than pleasantly occupying the kids for 22 minutes. Personally, what I really want is a series about Team Rocket done in the style of Cowboy Bebop.

Princess TutuCo-owner of the Best Magical Girl designation. I forget who asked me to watch this, but I owe them.

Puella Magi Madoka MagicaCo-owner of the Best Magical Girl designation. I still haven't bothered with anything but the original series, and I continue to be happy with that choice.

Samurai ChamplooI liked this better than Cowboy Bebop, but only because its ambitions were lower. It leaned more into its genre, had fun with its style more even when being serious, and as a result became more enjoyable. I overall liked going on a journey with these rascals, but I think it ended at a good point. I don’t need more.

Spice & Wolf (first season)I watched this on someone's suggestion, and found it a little underwhelming. What I really appreciated were the two main characters, especially that they seem to be into each other, romantically and sexually, and aren't freaked out by it while at the same time not being in a hurry to become a couple. It was just a kind of, "Yeah, this could really be something if we ever find the time." It was so amazingly mature and real. Too bad the main Economics plotlines just wound up being tepid.

Tekkaman BladeMy thoughts haven't changed on this.

Tiger & BunnyI'm still fond of this one, and I'm actually kind of curious to revisit it in light of My Hero Academia.

Transformers ‘Unicron Trilogy’These three cartoons are true anime, produced by and for Japan. (The other cartoons in the franchise were written, and sometimes animated, in the west.) It's garbage that assumes its child audience are morons, and on top of that the first two series wound up with laughably bad dubs. How this trilogy revitalized the franchise, I have no idea, and thankfully I'll never have to worry about it.

Volton (original)Either this or Robotech/Macross was my first anime; I was too young to say which I discovered first. I'll admit that the original Voltron isn't good, despite the toy being neat, but I have a soft spot for it. I tried the Netflix reboot, watching the first three episodes, and found it to be vacuous junk. Maybe some day a version of this will come along that will do justice to the toy.

And I think that’s it. If I remember anything I left off, I’ll reblog with the addition.

[venus-says]

Mashin Sentai Kiramager Episode ZERO

It's a shame this wasn't released last year, it would perfectly match the Aikatsu and Prichan themes.

So, I have no experience with Sentai, the closest I got to it was a few Power Ranger seasons I watched as a kid, now that I started watching Kamen Rider it was just natural that someday I'd dip my toes in the sentai world and seeing that a new season is starting I thought this was a good time to start.

But what really drove me to decide to watch this show was seeing people I follow on twitter commenting about it, which lead to me watching the press conference where I saw many resemblances of Hikaru from Star Twinkle and their Red and seeing how my road with Hikaru was full of highs and lows it got me curious to see how a different show would tackle a similar character.

Of course, in this Episode Zero the Red doesn't appear much, which is understandable since this is supposed to be another perspective on what I believe will be the first episode of the show, but it was good to have some sense of the tone of this show and it was quite interesting. I wonder how much of this backstory will eventually be used in-show because they have some very crucial stuff here and I'm afraid they're gonna pull a Kamen Rider and make important explanations to happen only in an extra release that not everyone will have access to. But that's a thing for the future, let me focus on the now.

I have to admit, this episode kinda started in the bad side with me because I really don't like the look of the Crystalians, the black guy who's revealed to be with the villains looks kinda decent in his original form, but gosh Mabushina and her dad creep the fuck out of me. I think it's the eyes and the mouth being part of the mask and not moving, I know it was probably the only way to do it using a mask but still, I don't like it. And gosh they also have hair which makes everything way weirder and just makes me want to run to the mountains. I think the whole Crystalia crew doesn't speak well with me because I also don't like the Kirama Stones, again I get that that's probably the only way to make sentient gems without having to spend a whole bunch of money with extra CGI every episode, this still doesn't make them sit well with me.

And I think this is the biggest problem for me of this entire "movie" that is everything seems very fake. I don't know if it's a problem with the acting, or if is the fact they had a limited amount of time and they had way too much stuff they wanted to do so they took off transitions which gives the impression of everything being staged. I guess the answer to this will only come up when I actually watch the show.

Going into characters, to start I don't know anyone's name, I watched this without subs I didn't catch their names so I'll be calling them for their colors.

I feel like we have a very odd dynamic where everyone else in this team is super special but the Red, who's supposed to be the main character is this random awkward high school kid, which is not to say that this isn't interesting it just seems like an odd choice. Red can be an interesting character but if they don't tone him down a bit after a few episodes I feel like he'll just become annoying so I hope they work well with his character. Green seems like a lot of fun, she's probably my favorite of the Kiramagers, which is odd to say since she didn't do a lot but she has left a very good impression on me. Blue is the one who left me the most disappointed, when we first see him he's acting and the Blue Kiramastone chooses him because of his abilities with a sword, and so I thought "oh hey, they gonna make a joke out of this" because you know acted fights are more choreography than actual skill so I this would become a thing where he was scouted for his sword skills but he has none, but no, he does have abilities with a sword, and he's the stoic douche bag type too... I feel like I'll have problems with him. Yellow didn't leave much of an impression on me, I really don't remember anything about him other than he's a gamer. Pink is a bit of frustration because I wanted the more feminine to not be associated with the pink color, but that's just a personal thing because she's a lot of fun as well, there's a moment during the fight where she uses one of the pawns as a bench and she sits there and start shooting people and I'm living for it, but I'll call bs if she has her age revealed and she's not at least 25, if she's a well-known surgeon she shouldn't be as young as the rest of the cast, don't screw this up, please. Surprisingly enough the character I liked the most was the PPAP guy, I thought he would be very extra and annoying but I really enjoyed the dude, he seems like a good support guy and I'm glad he's a part of this.

Lastly, going into the visuals, I absolutely hate their transformation items, there's no reason for them to be that big. The suits alone look very pajama-y to me, I don't know if it's because they're too sparkly or if I'm just not used to it, but I like the "accessories" of it, like the belt looks like a seat belt which is fun, the shoulder pads look good, and I really like the sash that simulates a street and the gem on top is like a vehicle in said street. But what really sells this suit is the helmets! Those helmets look good as hell, the gems are so beautiful and sparkly I LOVE IT! I'm not the biggest fan of their weapons, because they're all one color for the entire group and this color is a color that is part of the team so it seems like everyone is just using Blue's weapons, but I like how they divided Yellow and Pink as range fighters with the guns, and Green and Blue as close-range fighters, it's diverse and I like the dynamic. It's fun that the gun has to be loaded with medals, it reminded me of OOO, but I'm not sure why are that a thing and I'm confused about this element being present.

I think that's all I have to say. I'm still not sure if I'll cover this show weekly, or even if I'll cover it all, but I'll be watching the show at least for the first month or so and I wanted to share how my first contact with Sentai was so that's what this post was for. What are your thoughts on Kiramager? Let me know in the comments, also please tell me if you're interested in seeing me cover this series weekly, and please leave suggestion of other seasons that I should watch, I don't think I'll be tackling Sentai in the same way I'm watching the previous Kamen Rider series because I already have way too much in my plate but I wanna watch other seasons and I want some recommendations. Anyway, thank you so much for reading, I'll see you all in the future (hopefully). Bye-bye~

[himitsusentaiblog]

so I have to admit, I feel like an apostate. I'm about 20 episodes into Zyuranger, and it just doesn't seem very good compared to Jetman? Jetman had a tone problem, but it had characters and adult themes and interesting villains. So far, I can't really figure out what makes these heroes different, and there's a lot of focus on children, and it's impossible to take Burai seriously when he's next to Bandora, whose entire group are comic relief almost. So does this get better? Or is it just bad?

It’s VERY VERY different from Choujin Sentai Jetman. Zyuranger aimed to be more humorous and light-hearted than Jetman and take Super Sentai away from the science fiction it had been for, well, pretty much its entire existence and try a more fantasy setting.

The show can seem like complete and utter tonal whiplash when compared to its immediate predecessor and I can understand someone who was a huge fan of the way Jetman handled character and theme (especially with its villains) being put off by Zyuranger’s silliness. However, I would never call the series bad.  It’s just really different.  

Of course, I saw Zyuranger before I ever saw Jetman and with a ton of series in between so it wasn’t as suddenly weird and different to me. It certainly wasn’t as goofy as Gekisou Sentai Carranger, which if you’re not liking the way Zyuranger does things I would recommend skipping that one. Still, I do find the humor to be pretty fun and I like a lot of the villains (well, aside from the two most useless ones) especially Bandora, Grifforzer and Lami.

The focus on kids was just the producer’s aiming the show more at the core demographic.  This is a kids’ show after all and it’s been a trope for a very long time that there be episodes focuses on a kid of kids of the week.  Zyuranger seems to have more of these than a lot of the other shows in its era and the balance gets restored in later shows. 

Kids are also a major theme in this show, given Bandora’s absolute hatred of children (which spawns from her origin story you will see later if you keep watching).  That may be a major turn off for someone seeking a much more tightly focused narrative and attention paid to the heroes but it didn’t bother me too much.  Heck, if you want a tight narrative, try the series after Zyuranger, Gosei Sentai Dairanger is probably the most tightly plotted series of the 1990s.

But is Zyuranger bad?  I don’t think so.  I know some people who consider it one of their favorites of all time.  Is it silly?  Oh heck yes.  But it does get more serious later on once things really get rolling.  Burai also becomes a much more interesting character once he stops hanging around Bandora and joins the heroes.

But, this show just might not be your cup of tea.  If you don’t enjoy it, that’s ok!  Not ever series is going to appeal to every fan.  Some of my favorites in the franchise are hated by other fans and I’m ok with that.  Everyone had different tastes and no one can tell you you are wrong for not liking a popular series or for loving one everyone else dumps on.  

To each their own as it should be!

Thanks for the Question!

[medea10]

My Review of Domestic Girlfriend

[pkmatrix]

The Order I Saw the Godzilla Movies In (Revised)

I recently revised my personal timeline of when and how I became a Godzilla fan when I realized that my “obviously wrong” memory of starting in January 1994 was, in fact, 100% correct.  So, considering that, here’s the (rough) order I saw the Godzilla movies, how, and briefly my initial reaction:

1. Godzilla vs. Megalon - Circa 1990. This was the first Godzilla movie I remember seeing, a VHS copy my aunt bought for my younger cousin in the bargain bin someplace (wild guess: a Bradlees department store in Saddle Brook, NJ) . She'd put it on TV while my cousin and I were playing, but I never gave much thought to it. 2. Godzilla 1985 - January 9, 1994.  My family was over at my grandmother's house for a family party on the day of the NFC Wild Card game between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings.  I happened to catch a commercial for the 5 P.M. movie on WPIX-11 out of New York, which that day happened to be Godzilla 1985. I was going through a Dinosaur and Monster craze at the time (thanks to Jurassic Park and Power Rangers) and made a point of watching it because it looked like the COOLEST THING EVER.  It blew my mind!  I wouldn't shut up about it for weeks! 3. Terror of Mechagodzilla - January 15?, 1994.  Since I was talking nonstop about Godzilla everyday since seeing G85, my Dad took me to the local videostore a week or so later and rented this, the only Godzilla movie they had, for me to watch. I remember being confused by this movie and didn't care much for it. 4. - 7. Godzilla, King of the Monsters, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, and Godzilla's Revenge - January 29 and 30, 1994. Shortly after watching ToMG, I found out that TNT’s MonsterVision was having a Godzilla night on January 29. I was SUPER-excited for it, and the marathon is really what cemented my fandom. I remember recognizing immediately that GKOTM was the original movie (and, for some reason, thought Goji's ears were horns).  The marathon started at 8 PM and I stayed up to watch that one, falling asleep some time during Mothra vs. Godzilla.  I watched the rest the next day on tape. That video was one of my most prized possessions as a kid, right up until I got the Simitar VHS set in 1998!  Interesting to note: this broadcast of Godzilla vs. Monster Zero cut the entire second Planet X sequence.  The characters leaving Earth with Godzilla and Rodan is cut off by a commercial break, and when the movie resumes is when Fuji and Glenn leave Planet X with the tape.  While I saw screenshots of the sequence in G-Fan, from 1994 until some time in 1999 when I finally sat to watch the Simitar release of the movie, I was completely unaware the Godzilla/Rodan v. Ghidorah fight, the Godzilla dancing scene, or the scene with Glenn and the multiple Kumi Mizunos were actually real scenes and not just promotional shots. 8. King Kong vs. Godzilla - April 3, 1994.  My family often merges my birthday party with Easter because the two fall so close to each other most years, and this was one of them.  I received the movie as a birthday gift from, I believe, one of my aunts. I remember being surprised the movie existed at all, the idea that King Kong and Godzilla COULD fight each other hadn't hit me yet. After this point my recollection is vague.  I'll give this in what I think is rough order. 9. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep - Spring/Summer 1994??? We got the 1992 Goodtimes release from a bargain bin, either in Kmart or Bradlees. I remember being disappointed by this one.

10. Destroy All Monsters - Summer 1994. My parents bought it from a shortlived kaiju/sentai/henshin stand my family discovered on the Boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ. It was by the Funtime Pier, nearish the Sawmill. The owner saw I was a wide-eyed kid who'd just discovered the fandom, and talked up the movie (I didn't need much convincing). 11. Godzilla vs. Mothra - Summer 1994. I don't remember buying this movie, but I know I saw it well before I saw Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla ‘93 because the tape had the early teaser trailer for it that mostly was showing off the poster, making the movie look way darker and more badass than it turned out to be. I’m certain I bought it from the same stand in Seaside Heights, and in fact it may have been the same day as DAM. I don't remember, though.  I'm only certain I saw it before the end of Summer 1994.

12. Godzilla vs. Gigan - 1994/1995??? Our family's favorite videostore was this place on Main Ave. in Lodi, NJ, across from the Kmart. It was AWESOME. It had EVERYTHING. It had a huge Sci-Fi/Horror section and was single-handedly the biggest reason why I was able to see as many Godzilla movies as I did as a kid (as well as many Gamera movies, plus a bunch of other genre films, PLUS the classic Universal Horror films).  The VHS was the the New World Video or '92 StarMaker release, I'm not entirely sure. The picture of Godzilla on the ground, appearing bloody and dead, was what caught my attention and made me rent it. I remember being surprised by how dark this one was.

13. Godzilla Raids Again - 1994/1995??? I spotted this one while browsing the videos in Lodi and was intrigued by the box art (it was the Video Treasures release). I've always liked this one a lot because it was a direct sequel to the first movie, because I liked both monsters' designs, and thought they had a really cool fight. 14. Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster - 1994/1995??? Honestly? I don't remember. Either I rented it from the store in Lodi or recorded it off the TV. I don't remember how I felt after seeing it, it didn't leave much of an impression on me at the time.  Now, it's one of my favorite Godzilla movies!

15 .Godzilla vs. Hedorah - Summer 1995. Rented the Orion Pictures VHS from the videostore in Lodi. I don't recall my initial reaction.

16. Godzilla vs. Biollante - Summer 1995. I went with my Dad to a supermarket in East Rutherford for groceries one afternoon, and while there we visited the videstore across the street. As had become my SOP by that point, I went to the Sci-Fi section and looked for Godzilla movies and I discovered it there. The cover caught me immediately, like GvMG2's cover it was SO COOL. We rented it, and I was doubly surprised to discover that this was a direct sequel to Godzilla 1985! AWESOME! Then, triply surprised by the violent opening sequence - so surprised that I actually ejected the tape to double-check that this was a Godzilla movie. By the time I finished watching it the first time, I had been permanently fixed as my favorite Godzilla movie. ^___^

17. Son of Godzilla - Summer 1995. Fairly certain we rented it from the videostore in Lodi. I liked this one and actually used to watch it a lot. 18. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla - Summer 1995.  Rented the '92 StarMaker VHS from the videostore in Lodi. This quickly became one of my favorites! I later bought the GoodTimes "Godzilla vs. Cosmic Monster" version from a bargain bin in Kmart, thinking it was a different movie, only to discover that it was an edited down version of GvMG (I could tell since the StarMaker version had the opening scene with Anguirus, the Cosmic Monster version did not). 19. - 20. Godzilla vs. Super-Mechagodzilla and Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla - Summer 1995.  While on a day trip to Sandy Hook in South Jersey I convinced my parents to drive all the way down to Seaside Heights so I could buy these, as I’d spotted them when we were in Seaside Heights last time. I watched Space Godzilla that night - this would be the first Godzilla movie I ever watched in Japanese without subs (it was a theatrical camcorder bootleg, I remember hearing the audience and seeing people getting up and walking around), I ate it up anyway. ^_^ I watched GvMG2 the next day while at a family party in Pennsylvania and loved it. ^_^ From this point forward the order is accurate. 21. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah - Possibly 1996. I became aware of this movie when I walked into the Garden State Plaza's Starlog store in Summer 1994, I think, (long since closed) and spotted stills of Mecha King Ghidorah and Godzillasaurus. I ended up buying a subbed bootleg from The Outer Limits in Clifton, NJ in either late 1995 or some time in 1996. 22. Godzilla vs. Destroyah - Summer 1996 or 1997. I also bought this, subbed, from The Outer Limits in Clifton, NJ. I remember buying this one in the summer, and it having been a very long time after it came out, so I'm leaning toward it having been Summer of 1997. This was one of the last movies I saw before Zilla'98 came out. I remember liking it quite a lot, and eventually it became one of the most-watched Heisei films for me. 23. Godzilla (1998) - May 1998. Saw it at the Highway Theater in Fair Lawn, NJ. I remember liking it after walking out of the theater. I didn't "decide" that I "hated" it until I read the next issue of G-Fan and realized all the other fans had hated it, so I switched gears and claimed to hate it too. I didn't change my mind about it until I gave it a second chance in 2002. Today I'm mostly neutral toward it, my biggest criticism being that it’s really dull. 24. Godzilla 2000 - August 2000. Saw it at the Clifton Commons theater in Clifton, NJ. For some reason, I wasn't excited about seeing this one and ended up waiting a week before going. I remember walking away happy I saw it, but not crazy about it. It left little impression on me for years after, although more recently I’ve come around and nowadays like it quite a lot. :) 25. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus - Summer 2001. Bought this, subbed, from The Outer Limits in Clifton, NJ. I didn't care much for it (I also didn't find out about the after-credits sequence until it came out on video in the U.S. officially). 26. GMK - Summer 2002 or 2003. Bought this, subbed, from The Outer Limits in Clifton, NJ. Being a fan of the Heisei Gamera films by this point, I was pretty disappointed by this movie. I remember not liking much of anything about it. Since then, I've 100% reversed and its now one of my favorite Post-'80s Godzilla films. 27. Godzilla against Mechagodzilla - 2004 or 2005. Don't recall how I got this one, it might've been Christmas 2004. I liked it quite a lot at the time, and thus far has held up on repeat viewings. 28. Godzilla (1954) - Fall 2004. One of the last things I bought from the Outer Limits before the store closed. I watched it in my dorm room during my first semester of college and remember being amazed, it was like seeing the movie again for the first time. ^_^ 29. Godzilla: Tokyo SOS - 2005. Bought it from the FYE in the Paramus Park Mall, I think. I didn't like it at all. I thought it was a serious let down after GxMG, and felt that movie deserved better than a bad remake of Mothra vs. Godzilla.   I've since revised my opinion and like it more, but still think it should have been better. 30. Godzilla: Final Wars - 2005. Bought it from the FYE in the Paramus Park Mall, I think.  At the time I liked it and for years thought other fans were being too hard on it.   After rewatching it again around 2013 or so, though, it plummeted through the floor to me and my opinion wasn’t nearly so high.  I slowly warmed back up to it, eventually deciding to make my own fan edit which is now my preferred version to watch.

31. Godzilla (2014) - May 2014.  Saw it at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, NJ on opening night.   Loved it!  One of the rare movies I went back and saw again in theaters, and has only gotten better after the many repeat viewings since.  ^_^

32. The Return of Godzilla - 2015???  Considering this was only a few years ago, I’m really sort of baffled that I can’t figure out when I bought this??  After years of waiting, I got impatient for an official U.S. release and imported a copy from Japan.  It was wonderful to see the movie that made me a fan again after so long, even if it wasn’t the G’85 version, but I found the Japanese version surprisingly lacking compared to the Americanized version (which I soon after found a bootleg to compare).  The lack of music and many of what I feel were poorer editing choices really hurt the Japanese cut for me, and to this day the pure Japanese cut of this film is my lead favorite version (my preferred, these days, is the Godzilla: Resurrection fan edit).

33. Shin Godzilla - October 2016.  Saw this in, I believe, Fort Lee, NJ when it was having its theatrical run.  Loved it!  Second Godzilla movie I’d gotten my now brother-in-law to come see (I brought him to a screening of G’54 in New York City in 2014).

34. Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters - 2018.  I saw this as soon as it hit Netflix and while I enjoyed it, my feelings have been mixed.  I love the creativity of it, but it’s a pretty slow movie and not one I see myself returning to much.  One of the only ones I don’t own a copy of.

35. Godzilla: Mechagodzilla City - 2018. Yeah, screw the official title of this, it’s Mechagodzilla City for me.  I liked this one MUCH more than PotM, a truly inspired take on the Godzilla and Mechagodzilla rivalry.  Very much enjoyed!  Also don’t own a copy, since Netflix has yet to give it a physical release.

36. Godzilla: King of the Monsters - May 2019.  Saw this one in theaters at least twice, once in I believe Secaucus and again in Holmdel.  I think I saw it once more in Paramus, too.  Unbelievably enjoyable movie, and easily one of my absolute favorites of this year.  ^_^

39. King Kong vs. Godzilla (Japanese Version) - December 2019.  Finally got a chance to sit and watch this recently thanks to the Criterion set.  Loved it!

38. Godzilla: The Planet Eater - 2019???  Okay, time to come clean: I technically haven’t actually seen this one yet.  ^^()

[techouspeaks]

Classic Reviews: Big Bad Beetle Borgs and Metalix!

“Three typical, average kids were founded by Saban! Just by luck, got picked up and now they’re a PR spin off!”

I know, that was bad and I should feel bad but I don’t. Least not that much...

So, I was looking to review something and I decided to do some series that I’ve done only brief look upons, such as the series from my top “90s Kids Shows That No One Talks About” and go on from there.

I’ve talked about Big Bad Beetle Borgs before but not in good details. I’ll try to keep from repeating too much and just get my basic thoughts on it. The real question is whether this series is better or worse than Power Rangers?

Big Bad Beetle Borgs is a series by Seban Entertainment who gave you series such as Power Rangers, X-Men (1994-1997) and the infamous but kinda famous dub of Samurai Pizza Cats. Like Power Rangers, Seban obtained clips from the original B-Fighter sentai series from Japan and combine it with it’s own story, characters and gags. The show ran for two seasons which is the same as B-Fighter and first aired September 7th 1996 and the second season aired in March 2nd 1998. 

The show unlike Power Rangers, kinda had a sitcom element and wasn’t as serious as Power Rangers would get. It had a more comedic tone, making this especially for younger kids. It was basically the Power Rangers for kids that couldn’t handle the “heavy” drama that Power Rangers, least the later series, had. Does that make it good or bad? Well let’s look at the story.

The story focuses on three kids as I said, name Drew, his sister Jo and their friend Roland. The three kids are basically your average kids as the theme states. They like to read comic books and kinda had the 90s theme going on of liking things that were “EXTREME” and used a bit dated 90s catchphrases. Though I will say that they weren’t too bad on that. They did use the catchphrases a lot less. In fact I think Flabber, the ghost they freed did more the catchphrases than the kids, now that I think about it. I’ll get to him in a bit.

One day the bullies of the town (And I guess their school. I’m trying to remember if you ever did see the school.), dare them to go into the Hillhurst Mansion, an old, fallen apart, abandon mansion on the outskirts of town that’s said to be haunted. When the kids do, both the bullies and our three heroes discover that the house is indeed haunted, by monsters that are loosely inspired by the classic horror monsters of the golden age. The monsters chase the kids around the house trying to eat them, until the three kids stumble upon an old pipe organ. When the kids play the organ, it frees a ghost named Flabber, who you could argue is trying to be like Genie from Aladdin. He’s got blue skin and tries different impressions and is able to grant wishes. At least one wish out of gratitude. 

The kids wish to become the Beetleborgs, the heroes from their favorite comic book series and as he does, he accidentally releases the villains of the comic, the Magnavores. Now it’s up to the three kids to be Beetleborgs and save their town from the Magnavores and try to get them back into the comic, which the kids make no hesitation to agreeing upon.

Later series, Metalix had the Beetleborgs go up against new villains and try to gain the “Astral Borgs”, which were special and more powerful allies, along with the Monster’s new recruit of “Little Ghoul”.

Is it as bad or good as Power Rangers? To be honest, I think it’s a little better than Power Rangers, at least in my perspective and mainly in the campiness of it. The one thing about Power Rangers is that it’s doing all the corniness with teens to near adults and sometimes that works fine in some series like my favorite series Wild Force, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder and Maho Tsukai! (Just kidding!), Mystic Force, but other times, especially the first series, it’s pretty painful to sit through, least in my opinion.

BBB handles this campiness well. It knows what it wants to be and gives the kids what they want. They want to feel like they can be the hero, they want to see Flabber doing fun little magic tricks, they want to see the fight scenes and they want to see some good old fashion slapstick. Being it’s kids and not teens or adults as the main heroes, the campiness fits more at home in this series. 

The series also has a bit of heart to it. You can tell the actors playing their roles had a good time. Well, at least for the most part. Some of the kids kinda feel bored at times. At least sometimes. Other times they seem to enjoy their roles fine but it just seems to be the adults that had the most fun. The kids act fine in this but other times when the drama was big, their acting could have used a bit more energy, but they were kids at the time and for Seban no less. I mean Seban is not exactly a dub of quality as many would know! You can tell they were at least trying with what they were given.

The characters are well likable too. The kids for the most part are likable and charming and seem to have enough character to them enough to identify them. Drew is the typical kid that wants to be the leader and the “cool type” but he’s also down to earth. I’m glad they didn’t make him too cocky or too “extreme 90s” like so many of the “cool kids” were at that time. 

Jo is your tomboy girl but she can be like her brother, she can be rather down to earth when she needs to be. I also like how they explained why she looked and sound different after the original actress left. Wolfie casts a spell from a magic book, changing her appearance and then Flabber counters a spell so that she would look the same as before to everyone else, but to those who witness the first spell being cast would see her as her new appearance. That’s actually kinda clever. Usually when an actress or actor leaves, they do something, like another option they could have went with was to have Jo go to boarding school or something and have her be replaced by another tomboy girl. Shoot, maybe a foreign exchange thing but I guess because Jo was well liked by the kids, they just didn’t want to replace the character so they just made a clever idea to keep the character and explain why she looked and sound different. 

Roland is the only one that I kinda don’t get into. He’s fine, he’s just not very interesting and I don’t remember him getting a whole lot of character development or focus a lot. Make whatever racist comment about it. To me, I think they just didn’t know what to do with him but needed a 3rd character and an excuse for the kids to get the comics easily and for the kids to be really close to the adult characters of the Comic Book store, without it being seen as creepy.

Though one character I barely remember was Josh. A kinda resident “popular kid” who temporarily becomes the White Blaster Borg to fight and defeat the Shadow Borg, in a Yin Yang sorta way. I just remember he and Drew were rivals for the affection of the popular pretty girl in their town and that he would lose his powers forever since his sole purpose was to defeat Shadowborg, which he didn’t care too much because being a superhero was too much for him.

Flabber, while you can tell he’s trying to be the Genie from Aladdin, especially the fact he has blue skin and has magic, as well as do impressions of other things and famous people and references, he doesn’t feel like a total rip off. He does generally have his own sense of identity and it’s hard not to like him, least for me. He can be a little annoying with his antics, but he’s still quite charming and helpful and usually I don’t like Elvis impersonators, but he doesn’t do that too much despite being dressed like one. Put it short, I like Flabber and while I can see what he’s trying to do, he doesn’t feel like a total rip off the Genie. 

Flabber also helps defend the kids against the Hillhurst Monsters who tend to try to eat the kids. By the end of the first series though, they ultimately quit doing so and do occasionally help the kids out on their adventures.

The Hillhurst Monsters too have their own personalities and quirks. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that that’s what drove the kids into the series. The actors who did the monsters seemed to have a lot of fun and a lot of the series episodes focused on them despite being mostly comedic relieves. Each episode ending credits had the monsters do some crazy high jinks while the credits rolled. They each have their own back stories and we even see some personal endeavors they have to face from time to time.

First you have Count Fangula who is a vampire that isn’t quite competent in his vampire skills. He tries to but more often then not fails.He almost gets sent away by the master of vampires that looks exactly like Vlad the Impaler, for having a victim count that’s too low. He’s the only one that can tell what Wolfie is saying. He also seems to be the most sensitive sorta, next to Frankie, but also sensible. He knows when to back down most of the time and seems to have good surviving instincts out of all them and is easily scared the most.

Wolfie or Wolfgang is a werewolf that eventually joins the residents of Hillhurst in the first season. He’s probably the most bravest as he has tangled with the bad guys more than once. He barks and makes Scooby Doo like noises and as said, Fangula understands what he’s saying and translates. He acts sorta like their dog and sleeps in a dog house next to Frankie.

Frankenbeans or Frankie as he’s called, is as you expect a Frankenstein type monster. He’s talks more like a toddler and literally has no brain, which is the cause a lot of jokes involving him. He’s rather the most innocent of the monsters because of this. He can be a bit more threatening when angered, sometimes even the other monsters can be a bit intimidated by him since he’s got incredible strength.

Mums is a 5,000 year old mummy who was once a prince that got entombed for kissing Cleopatra in public. He’s a bit sarcastic and can be very funny and comes up with the most insults and jokes. He also seems to be the most encouraging and helpful of the bunch, giving ideas for plans and schemes, sometimes even thinking of good solutions for the Beetleborgs from time to time.

Eventually, the Hillhurst residents get another resident called “Little Ghoul” who happens to be the Grim Reaper’s niece in training. She’s sarcastic, violent and a bit of brat! So much so that despite her pint size body, she even scares the other monsters especially in her true form, which she hides under a hood. She has high respect for the Astralborgs, the powerful allies I mentioned earlier and will help them out without hesitation. 

The first bad guys were actually kind of interesting. They’re the typical bad guys that just want to cause trouble for the sake of it but they have such personality that makes them stand out. The three main goons are Typhus, Noxic and Jara and they actually prefer chilling out and scaring the heck out of people most of the time. Typhus loves to eat, Noxic is the smart one that was voiced by Impmon/Veemon from Digimon and Jara was the sassy female villain that also gained a few chuckles since she was the more competent of the two.   Even Vextor, the main boss has some pretty funny moments and interesting design. (My favorite line was when he said to his three henchman  "If there's a brain cell among you, it's dying of loneliness!" )

The bad guys for Metalix though are pretty lame...There’s nothing really that stands out about them. I mean, I thought it was pretty funny that the main boss, (yeah I don’t care about his name), actually grants a kid’s wish to have a monkey instead of a dog after the boy helps him. That’s pretty funny but yeah, the villains in Metalix are pretty weak.

I actually forgot to mention what Metalix is about. It’s pretty much the same thing as the first series but we’re introduce to the new villains and a “twisted” comic book artist named Les Fortunes (Get it?) that is the brother to the comic book artist for the BBB comic books, Arthur “Art” Fortunes. Art decides to help the BBB by making new armor and weapons that Flabber can bring to life. He actually does show up in the first season but returns more often in the second season.

This sounds cool but it kinda ends up pretty weak. For one thing, again not so creative villains. Again, at least with the first ones, they have personality. Here they don’t. The concept of the good artist vs the bad artist is an interesting idea but it’s not done very well here. First, Les is pretty creepy and unsettling also aside from being twisted, what did he actually do to warrant being in jail? I can think of one thing and lets just say he shouldn’t be around kids... Plus, the brother, Art, while likable enough, their rivalry is too childish and out there for even this series. I mean, yeah the adults here act way out there but this is way too out there.

Does this mean the second series is bad? Well, it’s not horrible or unwatchable, it’s just kinda weak in some areas but it still does focus on random adventures, introducing new characters including a fourth Beetleborg and focusing on the Monsters of HillHurst, so it doesn’t change too much from the first plot. It’s just kind of weak with what should be an interesting concept and the new villains just lack a personality that stands out. Shoot, the new villains are called the “Crustaceans” and only one is actually a fish monster that’s not even based on a crustacean of any sort! Did one of the staff members had something against sea food and decided that should be the villains? Even so none of the other Crustacean soldiers are based on aquatic animals. You got Horribelle that’s based I think on a mantis, a fish monster and the main boss is a triceratops.

So yeah new ideas that just simply needed to be thought out better,  but the heart and most of the other adventures remain roughly same as the first. 

The animation and effects are cheesy as well as you would expect from a Seban Power Ranger’s spin off, though the parts with the Comic Book transformation and transits are done very well and creatively.

I can’t be too hard on this show. It’s a show that isn’t good but it’s charming and fun and that’s what this series was meant to be. A cheesy, creative and fun adventures with a colorful cast of characters. Sure there isn’t anything much for adults in it but if you like corny, cheesy goodness, I would give this a go, especially if you are Power Rangers fan and can enjoy the corniness that PR can bring. There’s nothing at all bad in it for kids or any horrible lessons, so I definitely do recommend it for young children to watch it. I give the first series 6 1/2 stars out of 10 even if I’m being a bit generous and Metalix 5 1/2 stars. Not good, not bad. Just a right in the middle corny fun to bug out on.

BBB: 6 1/2 Stars!

Metalix: 5 1/2!

Level: Good!

[reversemoon255]

Delicious Party Precure

This was a very back to basics season. Not that that’s a bad thing; in fact, I’d say it’s almost a necessity for rotating cast shows like this. If you’re a show that relies on following and breaking a certain set of tropes, you occasionally need a reminder/reset season to help reestablish your audience. Super Sentai recently did this with Ryusoulger before embarking on some wildly different seasons, and the last “basic” Precure season was probably Smile from 10 years ago, so it’s definitely time for a refresher.

The Good: Let’s start by talking about characters. Unlike Manatsu before her, Yui does go through a bit of development, though it is subtle. She doesn’t really change character at all, still remaining a cheerful, helpful girl throughout, but she’s constantly learning the depth of the messages her grandmother left her throughout and that there are exceptions to her sayings.

I was very concerned when they showed off that Kome-Kome could transform into a baby, but luckily that only lasted a few episodes before she started growing up, and she definitely matured emotionally as well as physically. She was also helpful in giving a child’s perspective on food, which is nice for a season about food targeted at kids. I particularly enjoyed the bell pepper episode, even if I don’t understand that particular Japanese trope. (Are they just more bitter over there?)

You know who else didn’t like peppers? Kokone. When they introduced her as someone who enjoys being alone, I enjoyed that a lot even if it didn’t go anywhere. By their very nature, Precure kinda have to be extroverts, so having her be more introverted in personality rather than hobby (like other Precure) is cool. Again, didn’t go anywhere, but still. Then her big thing was getting friends, and after that it was dealing with her relationship with her parents. Her character focus changed a lot, but it was always about relationships. And her final big confrontation about either being with her parents or friends is something I feel a lot of people can relate to.

Ran was probably my favorite this season. I like that yellow has just become the “oddball,” “let’s do something interesting” character. She’s eccentric, overly dramatic about food, wants to be an influencer. I like that the writers actually acknowledged that influencer is a viable passion. Very fun, even if she never went through anything as dramatic as the other characters. The weird thing about Ran, though, is… she’s Chinese, right? Like, they never say it in the show, but she lives in a Chinese restaurant, her aesthetic is “panda,” her costume design is based on a Chinese dress, Men-Men is an eastern dragon, they even gave her a different skin tone than the other girls. The fact that they never addressed it feels like overhead was all, “sure, you can have a Chinese Precure, but you can’t say she’s Chinese,” because of how Japan and China historically don’t like each other. Just felt odd.

Amane is a typical villain turned hero. Most of her story was her coming to grips with the fact that she was evil, even if she wasn’t in control of her actions. She didn’t really develop in the same way as the other girls, but she was also the most mature and was frequently an important side character in other people’s episodic stories, adding an ear or perspective, and being able to admit when the advice she’d give was off. I still think she should have been named Cure Gentle, though. Both a good name, and fully accepting it would put a nice cap on coming to terms.

I enjoy that, at least once, we got a male hero character with Takumi. It’s kinda funny how important he was to the plot while simultaneously being such a side character in the actual series. He only has one or two episodes devoted to any individual development, but he does have a distinct personality.

And last is Rosemary, who I also enjoyed. Always nice having a major character who’s gay (even if, because this is a kids’ show, they never expressly say it). They were able to show off how powerful he was early on, gave a good reason for his power to be diminished until near the end of the show, and in the meantime was able to be a good source of wisdom for the girls. He managed to balance being both character and plot important to a better degree than Takumi, and I really enjoyed the little speech he gave in the final episode about how important the legend of the Precure was to him growing up.

The more seasons we go through that try being more episodic than ongoing, the better I think the formula gets. The plot this time around was more of a background element most of the time, like previous seasons, but small tidbits were integrated into more episodes, especially as the season went on. Having the enemy generals be defeated and rotate out also helped in this regard, which is a point in this season’s favor over the previous two. As for plot quality, it was ok. The ramping effects of the enemies stealing food was cool, the shots of restaurants closed down (even early on) were very sinister even if we weren’t sure why. Nothing super crazy happened until the end, but it was a good, relatively ramping plot that worked well with the episodic nature of the show.

Lastly, I thought the designs were neat. Each Precure’s outfit was based on a different type of party dress, the food elements were there but subtle, and it didn’t step on Kira Kira’s toes at all. Also, the fairies were all cute. Always a plus.

The Bad: This series was overall very unoffensive, so there isn’t much to say on the point of negatives. I said in the opening why I think it’s good this season was very by-the-books, even if not everyone may agree. I can certainly understand why that would put someone off compared to something a little more off the walls and story driven, like Go! Princess or Star Twinkle.

If I had to complain about anything, it’s probably that I won’t remember this season too well. It’s fine, it’s serviceable, but nothing really stands out about it besides Black Pepper, who was not a major character.

Overall, it’s fine. Plenty of good, not a lot of bad, but not a lot to make it stand out from the crowd, sadly. As for Hirogaru Sky! Precure, I hate babies, as I have brought up many a time, but the idea of a Precure who actively wants to be a hero is pretty enthralling. Blue as main is a nice shake-up, even if it’s just aesthetic. Yeah, I’m going in with tentative optimism.

[bwprowl]

I really dig how Bandai’s Super Mini-Pla line is coming out with affordable, fully-functioned versions of more and more classic Sentai Mecha (as well as others, hey Voltron and Gridman!). Case in point: I really never thought I’d get a good toy of the regular robot from my long-standing fave Choujin Sentai Jetman, but here I am now, having assembled Jet Icarus in sweet tiny plastic-model form. Barely took me an afternoon, and it was definitely worth it.

The individual jets of the Jetmans aren’t exactly the most thrilling designs on their own. Sentai was just moving away from boxy vehicles bashing together at this point (with Zyuranger’s mecha a year later really revolutionizing things), so what you get is five chunky planes doing their best to look distinctive and evocative of their namesake birds. Jet Hawk being the center Red of the bunch is the most individualistic, but also kind of the most unintentionally hilarious? Like it has to form the center torso of the robot, so it’s curiously cuboid in a very noticeable way, even as you assemble and fiddle with it and realize how much moving bits it has going on to facilitate all that. Honestly, putting it together and seeing how it works makes me appreciate it more in spite of its, shall we say, charming proportions.

Conversely, Jet Swan and Jet ‘Condol’ make for probably the most coherent jets, and they’re barely distinct as a result. The design of Jet Icarus as a whole is really committed to a homogenized combined robot form, and that means these bits forming the legs get to be as similar as possible. It’s actually nice assembling them, once again, to really become aware of the bits they have that do differentiate them, like the wing shapes and accompanying decals, and how Jet Swan tries to work in more whites and pinks while the Condor just commits to the overall black scheme with some red accents.

And then there’s the arms, Jet Owl and Jet Swallow (go ahead and laugh). These are definitely the most clearly-compromised, being as they are Just Arms with wing-packs stapled on. Jet Owl in particular with its underslung surfboard and adorable bug-eyes at least rocks its particular flavor of goofy. Meanwhile, I may be biased since Ako is my favorite Birdman ranger by a country mile, but I think Jet Swallow works pretty well for what it is, mounting that sleek shield-to-be set of moving wing-blades on top and wearing that swish blue color scheme and narrowed eyes like a boss.

As is often the case with these types of Sentai bots, there’s an intermediary big-combined-vehicle thing mode for these, and it’s actually really cool. I’ve always loved how impressively-solid the Jet Harken looks, bits and corners folding out to streamline the thing into a singular wedge shape. It’d make for an impressive combined display on its own if you had a flight stand for it. Anyway, the transformation and combination to this or the proper Jet Icarus mode can be surprisingly involved. Well, the legs and chest anyway, the arms just kinda pop on. There is some slight partsforming here, having to swap some panels on the feet and attach the fists, but it’s surprisingly unobtrusive given what I’ve seen other Mini-Pla get up to.

And the combined Jet Icarus is pretty impressive in this format. I’ve always dug the heck out of what an unabashedly basic design this thing goes for, you can practically *see* the cardboard boxes they built the suit out of. It’s honestly more impressive that they figured out a working transformation to this simply-shaped mecha from the variously-angular jets, and the model kit shows how it works quite nicely. This is also where the details of the Super Mini-Pla get to shine, with the pre-painted gold chest bits and head details adding that extra touch of quality you would want with being the only working toy of this thing available in the past twenty years. He’s super-posable too, with fairly complex hip jointing and Gundam-skirt-style armor to accommodate it, elbows and knees with tons of range, even some pretty broad ankle posability. It’s pulled off via some pseudo-sliders that I’m not crazy about, it kinda feels like you’re about the disassemble the feet if you pull them out too far. But my misgivings aside, they do work just fine. It’s also got an absolute buttload of weapons. I think I naturally favor the ol’ sword and shield, but if you want you can kit the robot out with any combination of the absurd amount of pointy things it includes, particularly the friggin’ giant morning star.

Even apart from the association with one of my favorite toku series ever, this is just a cool little set of model kits that combine into one bigger, cooler model. Like a lot of the Super Mini-Pla sets, it properly captures the old-school appeal of a design like this, while updating its functionality to the standards we would want. It’s a fun build, with a fun toy resulting once you’re done. I’m real glad I picked it up, and that I didn’t wait too long to put it together. *looks forlornly at lingering unbuilt model kits*

Hope you had fun, everyone! Stay cool, and I’ll see you next time!

[sol1056]

strife, sven vs shiro, surnames

first anon:

Look this season is bad, there are a lot of negative things that deserve criticism in this season. I don't necessarily think the season is as bad as we've been making it out to be, some things were tainted more by frustration and got caught in the crossfire. There is a legitimate discussion to be had about those things as a community, and having a healthy respectful analysis as a community can help.

I think the determination of good or bad depends entirely on each individual’s criteria of what must be present for a show to satisfy, and what must not be present. For me, it’s blatant ableism and racism, combined with the most extreme case of multiple bury-your-gays in one season that I’ve seen in awhile.

Yeah, for me it was exactly as bad as I’m making it out to be. The only thing caught in this crossfire was my previous respect for Dreamworks as a production company capable of reliably decent entertainment. 

Okay, next topics, behind the cut.

Sven vs Shiro

Looking back on how the EPs were essentially going to treat Shiro’s character like Sven in [the original Voltron,] I often wonder why they even changed his character. Name I can kinda get, but everything else didn’t need to change about Shiro who is Sven. Shiro’s story could have been told with him in the blue lion. There’s zero reason why they would switch him to the Black Lion, if his role was to just die like Sven.

and another in the same vein:

I find the writing decision behind Shiro to be really really weird. They tried to market Shiro as Sven but write him as not-Sven. Yet his character was to end up in the same fate as Sven. Dead/Not a vital part of the team.  If Shiro was always supposed to be Sven why not put him in Blue?

Everything can be traced back, by LM’s own admission, to her insistence that the colors ‘make sense.’ As a white girl growing up in what was probably white middle america, she had no exposure to the Japanese tradition of color signifying roles, so the red/blue/black/etc meant nothing to her. And in the 30 years since, she’s apparently never tried to find out, either. 

From an interview last fall: 

I’m a slave to my nostalgia for the original where the colors were all wonkadoo and wrong colors in the wrong lions. But that’s just kind of what I remember from being a kid, and more so than Keith being in the Black Lion, I remember Keith wearing red ... when I would see people kind of change things up for the comics or for other Voltron shows, they would usually change the outfits, and ... I was like, “No, no, no, that’s not the right character! You’re all wrong!” So it was my ask to like, “Can we please have them just start in the lion that correlates with the color, and then when they ultimately evolve and they move up it’ll make sense why?”

The biggest problem here is that the characters were wearing the right colors for their cultural origins. Keith was Red because the leader wears Red, in uniform and in casual dress, and the Sentai tradition goes all the way back to Kabuki on that one. Same with the other colors, which signify the character’s role on the team. I’ll leave the specifics to those better versed in the Sentai traditions ( @nomadicism? @thegunheart?).  

Even with that, it didn’t really matter. The lions were just big machines, after all. No one was ‘chosen’ and the lions weren’t sentient; there was no special need to be in sync or fly together. Becoming Voltron was just a series of mechanical moves and bam, you have big machine. At some point Keith flew Green, and later Lance flew Blue (even though it was Allura’s lion, ‘cause in the casual sexism of the time, of course the guy wouldn’t be a passenger, he’d drive even if it was her car). 

As a kid, I saw it as: Keith flying a black lion meant about as much as my mom driving an orange station wagon. There was never mention of why Keith wore red and flew Black (among others), or why Lance wore blue but flew Red (among others). It just was. I rolled with it because the show never told me it needed to be a concern. I’ve spoken with others who were bothered, and plenty who weren’t; my point is that LM's confusion isn’t universal. 

So, yes: LM insisted VLD start with the pilots in lions that corresponded to their color, and rationalized it by associating those colors with Western meanings. The lions were no longer simply machines; they were now linked to each pilot by personality and metaphor. 

Another anon:

In S3 we get the switch while also shown the previous paladins. Very easily the audience can make connections with the s1/2 paladins and the paladins of old: Zarkon and Shiro both calm, no nonsense ... Alfor and Keith jumping into battle sword first, Lance and Blaytz being relaxed and social, etc. Then you get the switch and you add the third new paladin for each lion and, yeah, one of these paladins is not like the others.

Exactly, After putting in all that effort to tie lions to pilots thematically, you can’t just ‘evolve’ the characters into new colors without a very good reason as to why the original correlation no longer applies. Frankly, “after thirty years of cultural ignorance, one of the showrunners feels like it finally makes sense” is just not a good enough reason.

As a result, the lion swap made the mismatched colors even more jarring than the original series. Especially for those who’d never watched the original and therefore didn’t realize what LM was attempting to ‘fix’ --- and you can see that in the growing frustration as we come up on S8: an awful lot of people want to know why the paladins haven’t switched their uniforms to match their current lions. After all, if the bond represents personality, why would you continue to dress as what you were, if you’ve evolved into something new?

Which would completely defeat the entire point of the switch, because Keith would no longer be the-one-in-red but flying Black. This is why I see nostalgia as blinding this reboot: the EPs/writers seem unable to set aside that other story --- the one they’re not telling --- and focus on the one they’re telling now.

who needs surnames anyway

I seriously don't get why we don't know Lance and Hunk's surnames, though. At this point i've just accepted that certain stuff about Keith is a mystery and probably a future plot point so they want to keep his last name and ethnicity a secret. But there's no reason to be like that for Lance and Hunk. Did they want to come up with new surnames because they didn't want to use McClain and Garrett? Also does Allura have a fancy full name like Coran Hieronymus Wimbledon Smythe?

and

“But the Paladins last name's are spoilers.” What in the actua -- How could that possibly be? Are you saying they all have the same last name or something? SERIOUSLY! What kind of logic is this? It is not that hard to come up with a surname. If you are not going to take the time to make it thematic, just google something and slap it on there. No one is going to look too hard at it anyway.

First, if Keith’s surname is some kinda plot point, we’re way past the point the story should’ve spilled on that, already. If nothing else, give the kid an alias that he thinks is his real name. The fanbase could roll with Pidge being an alias; there’s no reason it couldn’t for anyone else, too. 

Maybe the EPs/writers maxed themselves out by giving Pidge two full names, with first and last. Wiped their quota right out, and there was nothing left for Keith, Lance, or Hunk. 

More seriously, previous surnames were either unofficially imported from GoLion (which did provide surnames), or were bestowed by the Devil’s Due comics (Serrano and Garrett come from that, I think). There’s a chance those names may be ‘owned’ by whomever holds the copyright on those comics. Why the EPs/writers didn’t just come up with some other set of names, I can’t fathom, and we may never get a good explanation. 

Then again, they couldn’t even figure out ages; we never got official heights, nor biographies nor hobbies or favorite areas of study or anything. Clearly the VLD staff did eventually realize these are pertinent questions to a fandom (even outside the realm of fanworks), because they provided all that and plenty more when they posted introductions for the Garrison cadets on the website. 

Why they couldn’t also go back and edit the actual protagonists so they get the same amount of attention is frankly beyond me.   

[animereviewsandotherstuff]

Top 5 anime of 2018

Pop Team Epic

Anime as a medium is something that allows for great experimentation and artistic expression that not every delves into, and that is ultimately okay. Not every show has to be something new and exciting. But then there comes a show like Pop Team Epic. A 4-koma manga that takes the slice of life genre and plays with it by adding absurdist ideas and a healthy dose of meta humor. A manga like that is not something I would ever expect to see adapted into anime. The jokes are super quick and sometimes work on anti-humor, the art is simplistic on purpose, and there is no story just gags. But I am very happy someone had more foresight then I did and just adapted it whole hog. This anime takes what it means to be an anime and turns it on its head. The first episode started on a completely different generic anime about a guy and idols and a possible harem and immediately swerves into the show proper. Every show ended with a preview for that fictional show. The ending theme was sung by different people every episode. The who was only half the run time and then it would run again with a different set of voice actors, swapping from an all woman pair to an all guy pair. Sometimes this would change whole jokes as the voice actors would make different choices. They would swap between different art styles and redo whole segments between episodes swapping between Pop Team Epic proper and Bob Epic Team. They had a segment all in french, animated in a third completely different style from the previous 2 which cost a ton of money to make and was written by a french intern who never read the series or something. The last episode had a live action pop singer bring the one of the main characters come back to life. This show was beautiful. It was a true work of art with layers of meaning and references, an experimentation of what an anime could be. Not every show should be this, but more shows should be able to just go wild with what an anime could be. Or maybe I was just thinking of Hellshake Yano.

Yuru Camp

There is a genre of anime I like a lot even though I usually know the return on investment for watching them is not super great. The best way to describe this genre is “the author has a very specific hyper-fixation and wants to write about it but doesn’t know how, so makes moe girls talk about it instead.” This is a very hit or miss genre but sometimes a show will come out of it that will stick with me forever. And Yuru Camp is one of those shows. Yuru Camp is a show all about girls camping. The authors love of camping really comes through, as the characters talk about the rules of camping and how to do it safely, and about how expensive the gear for camping is. The conversations the characters had felt surprisingly natural. Some of the back and forth the characters had felt like a conversation I could have with my friends. The best part about this show was how relaxing it was. This show was a calming breath. It was a show that knows how to set back and let a scene breath, like you are one with nature, fitting for a camping show. There is another genre of anime I like that can be hit or miss, known as healing anime. Healing anime are soft, kind, relaxing shows that are like chicken soup for the soul. Yuru camp is like that. It is relaxing and kind and made my day every time I watched it. But the most impressive thing this show did was make me, someone who hates nature and being in nature, actually consider camping for a few seconds.

Cells at Work

I am not someone who enjoys the intricacy of the human body. It is a gross thing we are all forced to live in. so when this show was first announced I had a bit of trepidation about this show. I don’t like watching the workings of the human body, it makes me uncomfortable. But this show was really was able to get past my initial discomfort and make the human body something interesting and more fun.  The story of the human body as told from the perspective of the cells who help run the body was perfectly told. It makes you sympathetic for your blood, fighting against the germs and diseases we come into contact with, rooting for the red blood cells who deliver your oxygen and the white blood cells who protect you, and makes you intimately familiar with your lymph nodes, and sweat glands. I really appreciated the small arc involving cancer of all things. Cancer as told from the perspective of the cells is really interesting, watching there fellow cells not become infected but born so, and the necessary need to kill them coupled with the inherent want to protect the body is an interesting perspective to take. It is not saying cancer is good or anything ridiculous like that, but it is just a perspective I was not expecting and one that led to an interesting story. The anthropomorphizing of the body and its cellular interactions was clever and engaging and made this a show I was glad to watch.

Planet With

I am not the first person to say this but this was the best show to come out of 2007. Everything about this show felt like a throwback to a very specific era of anime. A story about giant physic armors controlled by young teens and young adults fighting against aliens, the reversal of who were truly the good guys and truly the bad guys.  The larger themes of why one should fight and shouldn't fight, of growing up and reality being greater then any passive but beautiful fantasy, all fit into a show from a decade ago. Even the maid girl and the giant cat alien and the high school club for people who like supernatural stuff, the transfer student with amnesia being the main character, all of it fits a show that could have been a 52 episode series with slow reveals and mysteries and filler beach episodes. But instead this show was a tight 12 episodes. Each episode packed so much information and plot and action, it feels like watching more then your actually getting. It is concise but the emotional impact of every reveal and every hit is perfectly done. The best show of 2007 was also one of the best shows of 2018.

SSSS Gridman

Tokusatsu and anime are two great tastes that seem to rarely come together. It might be that there is something lost when live action goes to animation, at least when tokusatsu does so. Something intrinsic about tokusatsu, something that is fundamental to it, doesn't always survive the jump. This cannot be said about SSSS Gridman. This show captures the spirit and heart of tokusatsu shows and takes it to another level. It is a love letter to tokusatsu as a medium and to the original Gridman. The fact that the title of the show is a reference to the American adaptation, Super Human Samurai Syber Squad, alone shows a knowledge and love of the material. But at the same time I never felt the show was bogged down by references and external knowledge. Yes there were millions of references to other tokusatsu series, mainly Ultraman but not Ultraman alone, but you didn’t need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Japanese live action shows to enjoy the show. They enhanced but never detracted in my opinion. Same with the fact that the show itself is a sequal to the original Gridman series while still standing entirely on its own. If you never watched the original you are fine, but it is enhanced so much with that knowledge.  And the ending had me in tears. I don’t want to spoil anything for these shows but like many tokusatsu series finales this one too made me tear up slightly. Truly a show I will carry with me into the future.

And those were my thoughts on the year of anime. This of course isn’t counting tokusatsu I watched but I love Kamen Rider and Super Sentai enough that they would be a permanent place on this list, so its only fair I keep them off. There was a ton of good shows other then these five, but I am looking forward to the new year ahead. So until next time, keep on watching.

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Select: An Old Weeb's Thesis

These last three seasons of anime have been absolutely amazing. Bangers, he lot of them! I discovered brand new shows which have found their way into the upper echelon of my all-time favorites and others which had already made their claim, came through with a resurgent fury. Obviously I'm speaking about Overlord in that regard but where would it fall in a top tn all-time list for me? What does my top ten all-time anime list even look like? Would i be able to stop at ten or would this be riddle with titles sharing spaces. I decided to actually take the time and think about this thing, really sus out where the chips will fall. I have been watching anime since the late Eighties so, with my catalog of completed narratives, this might be a long f*cking list! But a fun one to put together, i think. Spoiler alert, EVA is number one, that is for sure.

10. Voltron

This is the first anime i remember ever seeing. I was VERY young when this aired and super into robots at the time. Transformers was my sh*t, still is, so when i stumbled upon the bastardized version of Go-Lion airing on US televisions back in the late Eighties, i was all over it. Understand, Voltron is bad. It’s an incoherent mess that chopped and screwed several space robot anime into one show. This was kind of the flavor at the time, see Robotech, so the version of Go-Lion i got was an absolute quagmire. That said, i was, like, four or five hen i first saw this show and the toys were AMAZING! When i got older, and anime became far more mainstream, i finally got to see the original Go-Lion and it turned out to be a solid f*cking show. While i absolutely enjoy that version, that old frankensteined version from my childhood, will always have a place in my heart. It also instilled a love for giant robot anime, one that left a clear path for EVA to top this list.

9. Sailor Moon

Yes, i love Sailor Moon. I have since i was in the fifth grade. I was all over this thing as a kid. Back then, i was already full Weeb, we were called “Otaku” back then, and out anime offerings were slim at best. When i found out that one was airing on TV regularly, at the ass-crack of dawn, i was all over it. I used to wake up at five am to watch that sh*t. I had tapes, upon tapes, upon tapes, recorded on the little TV/VCR combo i got when i was seven years old. Interestingly enough, this was my Dragon Ball z before i actually watched Dragon Ball Z. I adored Usagi and her misadventures in love. Sailor Moon was so ahead of it’s time in terms of representation and LBGTQ+ content, a fact that wasn’t lost on my ten year old self. I remember that first season vividly, Queen Beryl sending Zoisite and Malachite to wreck on the Sailor Scouts for reasons. as an adult, i appreciate it’s place in the annals of anime history but back then, i was just keen on all the magical girl and super sentai elements, both of which would become foundation blocks for my tastes going forward. Sailor Moon directly influenced my love for things like Power Rangers and Kamen Rider. For that, I'll love Princess Serena forever.

8. Chobits

Chobits was a surprise for me. It was a bonus addition from a bootleg DVD site i used to buy from. I didn’t pat for it at all but it ended up being my favorite thing from that company and immediately entered my top ten. You have to understand, i was re-evaluating so much of my life at that point. I had just graduated high school, started listening to other types of music, watching other genres of film, playing RPGs seriously for the first time, so giving Chobits a shot was just a whim. Up to that point, i had kind of written off the lovey-dovery, slice of life, romance anime as “Girly sh*t”. I didn’t think there was anything there for me. Like, Clamp, in general, was a whole enigma to my sensibilities back then. And then Chobits happened. Literally blew the doors of my ignorance. I fell in love with this show. I mean, the second those first few notes of Let Me Be With You hit, i was hooked. Without Chobits, i would have never given shows like ToraDora, My Dress-up Darling, A Silent Voice, or My Love Story; All of which i count as favorites.

7. The Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor

Yo, Guyver blew my mind when i first saw it back in the mid-Nineties. I as old enough to trawl the anime section of video rental stores and stumbled across this pure, Golden Age, gem. I as aware of The Guyver because of the live action adaption “starring” Mark Hamill but i was not prepared for experiencing the wildly visceral nature of the source material. My goodness, was this everything to me! The violence, the brutality, that detailed gore. Man, watching Guyver literally melt into a pile of meaty sludge after Enzyme tore out his Control Metal, haunted my dreams for days after. Up to that point, i had seen brutality in anime (Literally watched Wicked City not a year before) but this was different. This was meant for teenagers. I wasn’t much younger than that, around twelve i think, and it made me realize that Japan was on something completely different. Guyver as the first uncut anime i remember seeing and it was f*cking visceral. I loved it so much! Blood, tits, unadulterated violence, adult themes; Everything a pre-teen would want and i wanted it all! Guyver set the stage for me almost always searching out the purest for of anime, the one which aired in Japan rather than the US. This single show is what made me seek out the alternative narratives for everything that came after.

6. The Big O

If Tim Burton wrote and directed an mecha anime, you’d get The Big O. This show is amazing! I loved the story it told, the ambiguity of it’s nature, and the general vibe of artificiality that makes up Paradigm City. The Big O was the first anime i recalled, being absolutely incoherent but, at the same time, wonderfully endearing. Roger Smith, or as i like to think of him, Anime Batman, really left an impression with his Art Deco adventures. Giant robots, a former bank being his Batcave, awesome adventures, a solid monster-of-the-week formula for the first season; The Big O was tailor made for me. Even his Robin was dope. Or should i day, Nightingale. The Big O showed me what could be done with enigma and an eye toward character in study in anime. The first season of Big O came through and blew my mind. I waited with baited breath for a second season, a conclusion to the narrative i had become so invested with. It would take three years but that wrap around ending was a brilliant choice, allowing me ( and the denizens o f that world) to live in Paradigm City forever. The Big O immediately became a show i would cherish. Hell, the first gift my kid sister ever gave me was a Big O boxset.

5a. BLEACH

It’s weird to have BLEACH at this pot on my list because i absolutely adore this show so much. Seeing BLEACH for the first time, and reading it for that matter, caused a quantum shift in what i understood Shonen anime to be. Up to that point, it was all Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho and then BLEACH came through and gave me something better. BLEAH was the first Shonen anime i remember to actually have a solid f*cking plot. Like, those first two arcs are top tier storytelling and i was captivated by them Aizen’s machinations were everything and, even though the following arcs were considerably less in quality, i chock that up to Jump forcing Kubo to prematurely extend his manga a la Toriyama after the Freezer saga. Even with Kubo's drop in passion after the Soul Society arc, BLEACH continued to live rent free in my head. That art style definitely informed my own, becoming a huge stepping stone in how i draw the human form. For that fact, alone, BLEACH would make this list but the world Kubo dreamed up is so much more than that. Mans is on record as to wanting to just draw dope sh*t and BLEACH is one of the dopest things out there!

5b. Overlord

Way back in the year 2015, during the height of the Isekai boom, i stumbled across this weirdly designed take on what i could only intercept as Skeletor from He-Man. As an Eighties kid, i was well verse in Masters of the Universe, though i didn’t really like the show. I did like the ideas behind, the world crafted and, more to the point, Skeletor, himself. I often wondered what Eternia would be if Skelly-boy actually took it over. Well, Overlord answered that question for me and I've been a fan ever since. This thing wasn’t like any other “Reincarnated into a fantasy world” i had ever seen before. Indeed, the world, itself, was the draw. It was planted with awesome characters, but the overall detail in the rules of that world were amazing to me. Maruyama really put a lot of effort into the lore of his anti-He-Man narrative and i am a sucker for ore. It’s why i enjoy things like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Overlord is up there for me in terms of epicness and easily slotted it’s way into my top ten, even if it shares this spot with two other entries.

5c. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime

A few years after Ainz blew my mind with the potential of world building, Slime came through and did it again with law building. I’m not going to sit here and deny that Slime is every bit the series as Overlord and BLEACH, it definitely is, but the magic system in this show is so much better, it’s insane. Fuse really put time into weaving this system together and it shows. I love the nod toward the RPG style narrative, building upon skill and magic levels like an old Final Fantasy title. You can definitely feel a Squenix influence in there, which is right up my alley because i am a straight up FF shill. More than that, i find the character work in this story to be incredibly strong. Like, i care about these characters WAY more than i should. All of them, even the borderline background cats. They all get time to shine and i can’t wait to see where this story goes. Honestly, i actually spoiled myself a bit and kind of know where it ends up, but seeing the ride to that conclusion is going to be fantastic. All three of these entries at five still have always to go for completion but they have definitely proven worthy to make this list.

4a. Fate/Stay Night

I struggled with this one. I struggled with just adding the entirety of the Fate franchise. I’m talking Apocrypha, Unlimited Blade Works,Grand Order,  Zero, Extra, and especially Heaven’s Fell. In all honesty, this spot should be for Heaven’s Feel. I loved those movies. I loves that route in the game. I love Sakura Matou. She's my favorite Master. But i also love Mordred. That’s painfully clear if you have been frequenting this blog over the years. Mordred is from Apocrypha. Then there’s Nero, Gilgamesh, and Kiritsugu; All from the aforementioned series. Plus, Prototype got an OAD and I've heard rumors of a Strange Fake adaption in the works. I love the entirety of the Fate franchise but, none of these entries would even be a blip on my radar if not for the 2006 adaption of arguably the weakest route in the entire game, Stay Night. Fate/Stay Night makes it on this list, and at such a high spot, for what came after. I liked Stay Night, don’t misunderstand, but everything, and i mean everything, which came after, has been superior. None of it would even be a thing, however, without this first attempt which is why it’s one of my all-time favorites. Plus, i like this route more than UBW in the game, anyway.

4b. Bakemonogatari

Bake is in the same situation as Fate. I wanted to put the entire franchise on here but there is one, specific, story which stand out more than the others. Kizumonogatai. Shinobu or, rather, Kissshot, is an arguably top three all-time favorite anime character for me and it was Kizumonogatari where we got the most of her. i actually own all three Kizu films and even the novel, itself, I loved that character but i wouldn’t know anything about her without Bake. I’m not slighting the first entry into the world of Monogatari, mind you. Quite the contrary actually, I love Bake. It’s my second favorite story after Kizu but that’s by degrees. In terms of character development, i think Nekomonogatari (Black) is superior than Bake in almost every way. Kabukimonogatari went a long way to fleshing our Koyomi and even gave us a look at an adult Mayoi, as well as solid Shinobu content. I can go on and on about the other Monogatari series and how they do the narrative better than the first, but Bakemongatari WAS the first. Without it, i wouldn’t even know the other stories were a thing. That’s why it’s here. That’s why it deserves to be here. Just like Fate/Stay Night.

3. Dragon Ball Z

Listen, DBZ is not “good”. The narrative is all over the place and the plot is paper thin, at best. The “story” is basically there to frame the battles and, my goodness, were those battles straight up spectacle! I remember, vividly, watching the first beam clash between Goku and Vegeta. A full power Galick Gun against a Kaioken x 4 Kamehameha? God, that clash was brilliant. That entire scrap was brilliant. The Saiyan arc set a pace for that show which became the blueprint for Shonen anything going forward. The story was trash, though. So why do i love this sh*t so much that i would put it at three in my all-time list? Influence. Dragon Ball Z introduced me to my second favorite anime character (again, this is a 1a/1b situation) after Rei Ayanami, Vegeta IV. Vegeta is one of the most complete characters ever brought to life through the anime genre and i loved witnessing every second of that journey. By the time he sacrifices himself to Buu, i was in it for life. It made me happy to see that development continue in Super. More than that, Toriyama’s art style influenced my own, for years, until i caught wind of Tite Kubo.

2a. Akira

It was hard trying to place this one but, when i thought abut it, Akira had to sit here along with GitS. I saw Akira, long ago, on cable. the Sci-fi channel used to have these specials very year, one was Godzilla and the other was Anime. It was called Japanimation back then but one of the first films i remember seeing during one of these marathons, was Akira. The thing is, though, i remembered seeing this movie BEFORE that. Watching it on TV like that just reminded me of everything had already witnessed in a time i had long since forgot. I don’t know when i first saw Akira. I can’t remember. But i had to have seen it before i was seven years old. What that mans is Akira has been with me for as long as i can remember. It’s no the first anime i have ever seen, that’s probably Go-Lion (Voltron here in the States) but it had to be one of the first ten. How can it not be number two on my all-time list with that level of pedigree?

2b. Ghost in the Shell

Look, i love cyberpunk. That sh*t is easily my favorite genre of anything. You can write a sappy, cliche, uninspired story that would usually bore me to death but slap a cyberpunk skin on top of it? Yeah, I'm down to suffer for the cause. GitS is not that. Shirow built a whole ass classic with his tale of existential inquiry, wrapped with some of the staunchest political intrigue I've ever seen in an anime, outside of Gundam. More than that, his take on cyberpunk absolutely informed my own. When i think cyberpunk, i think Tachikomas, Ghosts, the net, and full cyborg bodies. Blade Runner was also a strong influence but that’s a much more stylized take on the genre. For me, GitS gets it right. It is the perfect balance between grounded reality and sci-fi magic, and that’s saying a lot because i grew up in the Eighties. Cyberpunk was almost exclusively the only genre of anime we got here in the States back then. Don’t misunderstand, i still enjoy those takes, Night City being the most recent to capture my heart thanks to Edgerunners, but the world of Major Kusanagi will always take the pole position. Along with Akira.

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion

EVA is my top anime, all-time. I’ve never been shy abut this. I love this show, man. I love this franchise. Anno crafted a goddamn masterpiece with this thing. I enjoy the Rebuild films and the manga adaption is a quietly superior telling of the story based strictly on the fact it had nine years to tell that story, but the OG anime is the best of that lot, for me. I had never seen anything so fluidly animated outside of Akira and GitS, let alone a mecha anime with this level of detail. The EVAs, as mechs, are top tier design, only beaten out in my heart by Gundam Epyon and, even then, it’s more a 1a/1b situation. EVA informed so much about my taste in anime going forward, it’s insane. Never mind the eternal Waifu battle shenanigans (Rei is best girl), but just in terms of overall storytelling, EVA raised the bar for me. I have no patience for flat characters or bland worlds because Neon Genesis Evangelion set the bar that high. Also, A Cruel Angel’s Thesis is the best goddamn opening an anime will ever have!

Honorable Mentions: Battle Angel Alita, FLCL, Erased, Goodbye, Mr. Despair, Perfect Blue, Deadman Wonderland, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, One-Punch Man, Ruroni Kenshin, Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, ToraDora, A Certain Magical Index, A Certain Scientific Railgun, A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, My Dress Up Darling, Bubblegum Crisis, Devilman Crybaby, Darling in the Franxx, Code Geass, Angel Beats, Re:Zero, Nausicca, Cromartie High, Blue Exorcist, Paranoia Agent, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Saga of Tanya the Evil, No Game No Live, Please, Teacher!

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Select: An Old Weeb's Thesis

These last three seasons of anime have been absolutely amazing. Bangers, he lot of them! I discovered brand new shows which have found their way into the upper echelon of my all-time favorites and others which had already made their claim, came through with a resurgent fury. Obviously I'm speaking about Overlord in that regard but where would it fall in a top tn all-time list for me? What does my top ten all-time anime list even look like? Would i be able to stop at ten or would this be riddle with titles sharing spaces. I decided to actually take the time and think about this thing, really sus out where the chips will fall. I have been watching anime since the late Eighties so, with my catalog of completed narratives, this might be a long f*cking list! But a fun one to put together, i think. Spoiler alert, EVA is number one, that is for sure.

10. Voltron

This is the first anime i remember ever seeing. I was VERY young when this aired and super into robots at the time. Transformers was my sh*t, still is, so when i stumbled upon the bastardized version of Go-Lion airing on US televisions back in the late Eighties, i was all over it. Understand, Voltron is bad. It’s an incoherent mess that chopped and screwed several space robot anime into one show. This was kind of the flavor at the time, see Robotech, so the version of Go-Lion i got was an absolute quagmire. That said, i was, like, four or five hen i first saw this show and the toys were AMAZING! When i got older, and anime became far more mainstream, i finally got to see the original Go-Lion and it turned out to be a solid f*cking show. While i absolutely enjoy that version, that old frankensteined version from my childhood, will always have a place in my heart. It also instilled a love for giant robot anime, one that left a clear path for EVA to top this list.

9. Sailor Moon

Yes, i love Sailor Moon. I have since i was in the fifth grade. I was all over this thing as a kid. Back then, i was already full Weeb, we were called “Otaku” back then, and out anime offerings were slim at best. When i found out that one was airing on TV regularly, at the ass-crack of dawn, i was all over it. I used to wake up at five am to watch that sh*t. I had tapes, upon tapes, upon tapes, recorded on the little TV/VCR combo i got when i was seven years old. Interestingly enough, this was my Dragon Ball z before i actually watched Dragon Ball Z. I adored Usagi and her misadventures in love. Sailor Moon was so ahead of it’s time in terms of representation and LBGTQ+ content, a fact that wasn’t lost on my ten year old self. I remember that first season vividly, Queen Beryl sending Zoisite and Malachite to wreck on the Sailor Scouts for reasons. as an adult, i appreciate it’s place in the annals of anime history but back then, i was just keen on all the magical girl and super sentai elements, both of which would become foundation blocks for my tastes going forward. Sailor Moon directly influenced my love for things like Power Rangers and Kamen Rider. For that, I'll love Princess Serena forever.

8. Chobits

Chobits was a surprise for me. It was a bonus addition from a bootleg DVD site i used to buy from. I didn’t pat for it at all but it ended up being my favorite thing from that company and immediately entered my top ten. You have to understand, i was re-evaluating so much of my life at that point. I had just graduated high school, started listening to other types of music, watching other genres of film, playing RPGs seriously for the first time, so giving Chobits a shot was just a whim. Up to that point, i had kind of written off the lovey-dovery, slice of life, romance anime as “Girly sh*t”. I didn’t think there was anything there for me. Like, Clamp, in general, was a whole enigma to my sensibilities back then. And then Chobits happened. Literally blew the doors of my ignorance. I fell in love with this show. I mean, the second those first few notes of Let Me Be With You hit, i was hooked. Without Chobits, i would have never given shows like ToraDora, My Dress-up Darling, A Silent Voice, or My Love Story; All of which i count as favorites.

7. The Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor

Yo, Guyver blew my mind when i first saw it back in the mid-Nineties. I as old enough to trawl the anime section of video rental stores and stumbled across this pure, Golden Age, gem. I as aware of The Guyver because of the live action adaption “starring” Mark Hamill but i was not prepared for experiencing the wildly visceral nature of the source material. My goodness, was this everything to me! The violence, the brutality, that detailed gore. Man, watching Guyver literally melt into a pile of meaty sludge after Enzyme tore out his Control Metal, haunted my dreams for days after. Up to that point, i had seen brutality in anime (Literally watched Wicked City not a year before) but this was different. This was meant for teenagers. I wasn’t much younger than that, around twelve i think, and it made me realize that Japan was on something completely different. Guyver as the first uncut anime i remember seeing and it was f*cking visceral. I loved it so much! Blood, tits, unadulterated violence, adult themes; Everything a pre-teen would want and i wanted it all! Guyver set the stage for me almost always searching out the purest for of anime, the one which aired in Japan rather than the US. This single show is what made me seek out the alternative narratives for everything that came after.

6. The Big O

If Tim Burton wrote and directed an mecha anime, you’d get The Big O. This show is amazing! I loved the story it told, the ambiguity of it’s nature, and the general vibe of artificiality that makes up Paradigm City. The Big O was the first anime i recalled, being absolutely incoherent but, at the same time, wonderfully endearing. Roger Smith, or as i like to think of him, Anime Batman, really left an impression with his Art Deco adventures. Giant robots, a former bank being his Batcave, awesome adventures, a solid monster-of-the-week formula for the first season; The Big O was tailor made for me. Even his Robin was dope. Or should i day, Nightingale. The Big O showed me what could be done with enigma and an eye toward character in study in anime. The first season of Big O came through and blew my mind. I waited with baited breath for a second season, a conclusion to the narrative i had become so invested with. It would take three years but that wrap around ending was a brilliant choice, allowing me ( and the denizens o f that world) to live in Paradigm City forever. The Big O immediately became a show i would cherish. Hell, the first gift my kid sister ever gave me was a Big O boxset.

5a. BLEACH

It’s weird to have BLEACH at this pot on my list because i absolutely adore this show so much. Seeing BLEACH for the first time, and reading it for that matter, caused a quantum shift in what i understood Shonen anime to be. Up to that point, it was all Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho and then BLEACH came through and gave me something better. BLEAH was the first Shonen anime i remember to actually have a solid f*cking plot. Like, those first two arcs are top tier storytelling and i was captivated by them Aizen’s machinations were everything and, even though the following arcs were considerably less in quality, i chock that up to Jump forcing Kubo to prematurely extend his manga a la Toriyama after the Freezer saga. Even with Kubo's drop in passion after the Soul Society arc, BLEACH continued to live rent free in my head. That art style definitely informed my own, becoming a huge stepping stone in how i draw the human form. For that fact, alone, BLEACH would make this list but the world Kubo dreamed up is so much more than that. Mans is on record as to wanting to just draw dope sh*t and BLEACH is one of the dopest things out there!

5b. Overlord

Way back in the year 2015, during the height of the Isekai boom, i stumbled across this weirdly designed take on what i could only intercept as Skeletor from He-Man. As an Eighties kid, i was well verse in Masters of the Universe, though i didn’t really like the show. I did like the ideas behind, the world crafted and, more to the point, Skeletor, himself. I often wondered what Eternia would be if Skelly-boy actually took it over. Well, Overlord answered that question for me and I've been a fan ever since. This thing wasn’t like any other “Reincarnated into a fantasy world” i had ever seen before. Indeed, the world, itself, was the draw. It was planted with awesome characters, but the overall detail in the rules of that world were amazing to me. Maruyama really put a lot of effort into the lore of his anti-He-Man narrative and i am a sucker for ore. It’s why i enjoy things like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Overlord is up there for me in terms of epicness and easily slotted it’s way into my top ten, even if it shares this spot with two other entries.

5c. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime

A few years after Ainz blew my mind with the potential of world building, Slime came through and did it again with law building. I’m not going to sit here and deny that Slime is every bit the series as Overlord and BLEACH, it definitely is, but the magic system in this show is so much better, it’s insane. Fuse really put time into weaving this system together and it shows. I love the nod toward the RPG style narrative, building upon skill and magic levels like an old Final Fantasy title. You can definitely feel a Squenix influence in there, which is right up my alley because i am a straight up FF shill. More than that, i find the character work in this story to be incredibly strong. Like, i care about these characters WAY more than i should. All of them, even the borderline background cats. They all get time to shine and i can’t wait to see where this story goes. Honestly, i actually spoiled myself a bit and kind of know where it ends up, but seeing the ride to that conclusion is going to be fantastic. All three of these entries at five still have always to go for completion but they have definitely proven worthy to make this list.

4a. Fate/Stay Night

I struggled with this one. I struggled with just adding the entirety of the Fate franchise. I’m talking Apocrypha, Unlimited Blade Works,Grand Order,  Zero, Extra, and especially Heaven’s Fell. In all honesty, this spot should be for Heaven’s Feel. I loved those movies. I loves that route in the game. I love Sakura Matou. She's my favorite Master. But i also love Mordred. That’s painfully clear if you have been frequenting this blog over the years. Mordred is from Apocrypha. Then there’s Nero, Gilgamesh, and Kiritsugu; All from the aforementioned series. Plus, Prototype got an OAD and I've heard rumors of a Strange Fake adaption in the works. I love the entirety of the Fate franchise but, none of these entries would even be a blip on my radar if not for the 2006 adaption of arguably the weakest route in the entire game, Stay Night. Fate/Stay Night makes it on this list, and at such a high spot, for what came after. I liked Stay Night, don’t misunderstand, but everything, and i mean everything, which came after, has been superior. None of it would even be a thing, however, without this first attempt which is why it’s one of my all-time favorites. Plus, i like this route more than UBW in the game, anyway.

4b. Bakemonogatari

Bake is in the same situation as Fate. I wanted to put the entire franchise on here but there is one, specific, story which stand out more than the others. Kizumonogatai. Shinobu or, rather, Kissshot, is an arguably top three all-time favorite anime character for me and it was Kizumonogatari where we got the most of her. i actually own all three Kizu films and even the novel, itself, I loved that character but i wouldn’t know anything about her without Bake. I’m not slighting the first entry into the world of Monogatari, mind you. Quite the contrary actually, I love Bake. It’s my second favorite story after Kizu but that’s by degrees. In terms of character development, i think Nekomonogatari (Black) is superior than Bake in almost every way. Kabukimonogatari went a long way to fleshing our Koyomi and even gave us a look at an adult Mayoi, as well as solid Shinobu content. I can go on and on about the other Monogatari series and how they do the narrative better than the first, but Bakemongatari WAS the first. Without it, i wouldn’t even know the other stories were a thing. That’s why it’s here. That’s why it deserves to be here. Just like Fate/Stay Night.

3. Dragon Ball Z

Listen, DBZ is not “good”. The narrative is all over the place and the plot is paper thin, at best. The “story” is basically there to frame the battles and, my goodness, were those battles straight up spectacle! I remember, vividly, watching the first beam clash between Goku and Vegeta. A full power Galick Gun against a Kaioken x 4 Kamehameha? God, that clash was brilliant. That entire scrap was brilliant. The Saiyan arc set a pace for that show which became the blueprint for Shonen anything going forward. The story was trash, though. So why do i love this sh*t so much that i would put it at three in my all-time list? Influence. Dragon Ball Z introduced me to my second favorite anime character (again, this is a 1a/1b situation) after Rei Ayanami, Vegeta IV. Vegeta is one of the most complete characters ever brought to life through the anime genre and i loved witnessing every second of that journey. By the time he sacrifices himself to Buu, i was in it for life. It made me happy to see that development continue in Super. More than that, Toriyama’s art style influenced my own, for years, until i caught wind of Tite Kubo.

2a. Akira

It was hard trying to place this one but, when i thought abut it, Akira had to sit here along with GitS. I saw Akira, long ago, on cable. the Sci-fi channel used to have these specials very year, one was Godzilla and the other was Anime. It was called Japanimation back then but one of the first films i remember seeing during one of these marathons, was Akira. The thing is, though, i remembered seeing this movie BEFORE that. Watching it on TV like that just reminded me of everything had already witnessed in a time i had long since forgot. I don’t know when i first saw Akira. I can’t remember. But i had to have seen it before i was seven years old. What that mans is Akira has been with me for as long as i can remember. It’s no the first anime i have ever seen, that’s probably Go-Lion (Voltron here in the States) but it had to be one of the first ten. How can it not be number two on my all-time list with that level of pedigree?

2b. Ghost in the Shell

Look, i love cyberpunk. That sh*t is easily my favorite genre of anything. You can write a sappy, cliche, uninspired story that would usually bore me to death but slap a cyberpunk skin on top of it? Yeah, I'm down to suffer for the cause. GitS is not that. Shirow built a whole ass classic with his tale of existential inquiry, wrapped with some of the staunchest political intrigue I've ever seen in an anime, outside of Gundam. More than that, his take on cyberpunk absolutely informed my own. When i think cyberpunk, i think Tachikomas, Ghosts, the net, and full cyborg bodies. Blade Runner was also a strong influence but that’s a much more stylized take on the genre. For me, GitS gets it right. It is the perfect balance between grounded reality and sci-fi magic, and that’s saying a lot because i grew up in the Eighties. Cyberpunk was almost exclusively the only genre of anime we got here in the States back then. Don’t misunderstand, i still enjoy those takes, Night City being the most recent to capture my heart thanks to Edgerunners, but the world of Major Kusanagi will always take the pole position. Along with Akira.

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion

EVA is my top anime, all-time. I’ve never been shy abut this. I love this show, man. I love this franchise. Anno crafted a goddamn masterpiece with this thing. I enjoy the Rebuild films and the manga adaption is a quietly superior telling of the story based strictly on the fact it had nine years to tell that story, but the OG anime is the best of that lot, for me. I had never seen anything so fluidly animated outside of Akira and GitS, let alone a mecha anime with this level of detail. The EVAs, as mechs, are top tier design, only beaten out in my heart by Gundam Epyon and, even then, it’s more a 1a/1b situation. EVA informed so much about my taste in anime going forward, it’s insane. Never mind the eternal Waifu battle shenanigans (Rei is best girl), but just in terms of overall storytelling, EVA raised the bar for me. I have no patience for flat characters or bland worlds because Neon Genesis Evangelion set the bar that high. Also, A Cruel Angel’s Thesis is the best goddamn opening an anime will ever have!

Honorable Mentions: Battle Angel Alita, FLCL, Erased, Goodbye, Mr. Despair, Perfect Blue, Deadman Wonderland, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, One-Punch Man, Ruroni Kenshin, Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, ToraDora, A Certain Magical Index, A Certain Scientific Railgun, A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, My Dress Up Darling, Bubblegum Crisis, Devilman Crybaby, Darling in the Franxx, Code Geass, Angel Beats, Re:Zero, Nausicca, Cromartie High, Blue Exorcist, Paranoia Agent, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Saga of Tanya the Evil, No Game No Live, Please, Teacher!