#this is something the netflix lupin adaptation is missing

[lemonadeandlanguages]

Love the idea of people making up songs to make fun of Lupin

If the Hollow Needle were set in modern times, I just know there would have been a bunch of memes about him

[maxwell-grant]

Thoughts on the second part of the Lupin Netflix TV Series?

As I just finished watching it I can answer this one. I'll link to my previous post on it here, and in short: I definitely still really like this show and I think overall I liked this season better, despite my criticisms being more or less the same (although somewhat alleviated).

Where as I thought the previous season started off really strongly and then tapered off towards the end, I thought this one didn't take off to a great start but really picked up the pace to a really smashing finale. And the finale on this one I think is what really pushes me to liking this part better than the previous one. Omar Sy predictably is still carrying the hell out of the role, the show fundamentally still understands the appeal of Arsene Lupin stories in the 21st century in a way a lot of other franchise adaptations don't, it's still a pretty fun time give or take a couple of dumb decisions and tonal mismatch here and there.

I still think the subplot of Assane's family continues to be uninteresting in it's execution, especially with his son. I still think Pellegrini is a dull villain, and part of that is because he's a very realistic villain and "realistic evil" is a very, very boring, very tiring thing that's not really what I want out of a overarching Lupin villain. I don't want Lupin to take three seasons to take down just one old and corrupt businessman. I'm glad they toned down the cop subplot this season. I was really, really hoping that Assane would have played his recordings of Pellegrini's confession or Dumont's tapes before that massive crowd, or done anything with what he found other than just give it to Guedira so he and his shitty cop friends could arrest Pellegrini again when we all know he's gonna be out and, fine, the show has to go on another season, I guess. I really gotta stop comparing these kinds of shows to Vincenzo. Vincenzo ruined a lot of things for me and I just gotta get over that.

But putting those aside I definitely really liked this season, especially in the last three episodes. They moved away from wrapping up the loose ends of the previous season and the family subplots, and instead moved back to the heist structure with this big new caveat that's Assene being a fugitive, and I think it really worked in it's favor.

What really made this season for me though was the increased focus on Assane and Benjamin's friendship, something I didn't particularly think was missing from the first season, but now I realize really adds a lot to a show that frankly doesn't have a very interesting pool of side characters to work with. I really liked their friendship in the flashbacks and present scenes and how well they work together, in particular I really really loved the episode with the two in the catacombs for this, and I think their scenes together helped solidify to me a bit about why I like Assane as a character.

I think the main thing about Assane that sets him apart as a "Lupin", compared to the original and Lupin the Third and whatnot, is that, as clever and smart as he is and as much as he's clearly having fun with his revenge quest and all, all Assane wants is companionship. All he wants is to do right by the people he loves.

All Lupins are thrill-seekers by default. Arsene Lupin, though started robbing to pay for his mother's treatment, did it mostly because it was the only challenge he could find at life. He steals for the thrill of it and to have nice things, and over time his collection becomes this legendary thing, as he becomes more and more of a loner. Lupin III does everything for fun and for the challenge as well, but most of the time he never particularly keeps what he steals or willingly gives it up, because all he really wants is to have fun with his friends (Pops included).

But Assane, as much as he enjoys it, fundamentally just wants to get this grimy revenge business done so he can do right by his father and go home to spend time with his son and ex and his friend and his dog, and maybe get away with the odd mischief here and there. It means he takes half-measures and commits mistakes that get him in a lot of trouble, but it also gives him a more tangible humanity and motivation that the other Lupins don't have or need.

The show hangs on the question of whether or not Assane could ever stop with the Lupin shenanigans to live a quiet life with his family, but he's not doing the Lupin stuff just because, he's doing it because he's been doing it since childhood, because Lupin fiction was there for him when nothing else was, and it's the only way he has of taking control from his environment, and use that to do nice things for others. Whether he's any good at that, is up to debate, but Lupin has never been a perfect hero to begin with.

But most of all, I continue to just be extremely happy not that this show exists and it's great, but that it's achieved such a smashing popularity. That it went on to become Netflix's most watched non-American series, that it even surpassed La Casa de Papel and pulled near-Witcher numbers. It just, never ceases to amaze me the many ways Arsene Lupin just keeps being popular, just keeps showing up again and again and just, how much people can't get enough of this character and rightly so (every day I still get notes on my "Lupin in Japan" post).

I'm so glad I get to watch this show with my mom and that she has Arsene Lupin stories on her bedstand, and then I can go to mall and find Lupin in there next to such literary giants like Tolkien and Gaiman, and now I read all these great articles about the reception to the show and Omar Sy's performance.

I'm so starved for good news when it comes to pulp heroes that I don't really expect them to begin with, but it's nice to get something, y'know. It always gives at least a slight measure of hope.

Oh, and sometimes when watching the show I thought "I wonder if they are ever going to reference Lupin III? I don't want a big thing but at least a slight nod" and then in the last episodes they went and did it by having Benjamin drive around Lupin III's yellow Fiat 500 and I laughed very hard at it. I think growing up watching Mr.Bean has instilled in me a fondness for protagonists having really shitty cars that you still get unreasonably attached to, and of course what else of Lupin III could they reference, but this?

And now all I want is for them, in true Lupin III fashion, to destroy this car in a chase sequence next season.

But yeah, definitely recommend this show. Looking it up, it seems like they structured these 10 episodes as "the first chapter of a bigger show", so I'm very much curious to see where it goes from here.

[aion-rsa]

Netflix’s Lupin: The Evolution of Lupin vs. Ganimard

https://ift.tt/2ToNPSY

This piece contains spoilers for Netflix’s Lupin Part 2.

Netflix’s Lupin ended Part 1 on the ultimate fannish moment, with Officer Youssef Guedira (Soufiane Guerrab) addressing Assane Diop (Omar Sy) as “Arsène Lupin?”—and then picked up Part 2 with Assane responding in turn, identifying his new ally Guedira as “Ganimard,” the name of Lupin’s archnemesis. Throughout the latter five episodes of George Kay’s (Killing Eve) French crime drama, the gentleman thief and the police officer replicate their literary heroes’ dynamic—shifting between rivals on opposite sides of the law to something approaching friendship—while evolving the relationship beyond Maurice Leblanc’s original characters.

“Who could baffle the schemes of Arsène Lupin better than Ganimard, the patient and astute detective?” Leblanc writes early on in Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar. Wherever the gentleman thief is mentioned, his law-abiding archrival quickly follows, hot on the metaphorical trail. Like the best cat-and-mouse pairs, these two spend so long chasing one another that they become intimately familiar with one another’s methods and even modes of thinking, yet still have their blind spots. For instance, Ganimard doesn’t allow himself to be distracted by a false murder charge, knowing that Lupin doesn’t kill, but he manages to let the thief get away in a later adventure because it never occurs to him that Lupin would escape prison and then return.

While Lupin has remarked that Ganimard doesn’t quite possess the deductive wits of himself nor of his guest-star rival Sherlock Holmes (a.k.a. Herlock Sholmes), he nonetheless respects Ganimard’s sheer tenacity and commitment to chasing him. Of course, that doesn’t stop him from escaping Ganimard’s custody every chance he gets. Despite all this, they become something close to friends as Leblanc’s adventures go on, with Lupin sometimes entrusting cases to Ganimard (as in “The Red Silk Scarf”) and the two finding some common ground.

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Interestingly, Monkey Punch’s Lupin III anime seems to have split the Ganimard persona into three distinct characters. The namesake is Ganimard III, the same age as Lupin III, and burdened with several generations of Ganimard family guilt and embarrassment over letting the Lupins consistently outwit them. Though Ganimard III only appears in Lupin the 3rd Part 1, he and Lupin III replicate their grandfathers’ dynamic of wily thief and bumbling inspector as concerns a French Fair exhibit of Arséne Lupin’s prized possessions. Ganimard III, who operates on logic and science, thinks he has laid the perfect trap for his contemporary, only for Lupin III to employ some retro tricks and crafty disguises to make history repeat itself as Ganimard III returns to France in shame.

Melon Ganimard, who may or may not be Ganimard III’s sister, seems to present more of a challenge to Lupin III in a future anime installment, with her ability to suss out his disguises and her penchant for throwing handcuffs at him. Yet despite her own canniness in disguising herself as a bombshell to try and fool him, Lupin III tells her that “he never forgets a woman” and traps her in her own family heirloom handcuffs.

Ultimately, neither Ganimard has the staying power of Lupin III’s best foil: Inspector Kōichi Zenigata from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, who joins Interpol in an effort to catch the gentleman thief in the act. Alternating between goofy and serious depending on the adaptation, Zenigata’s most consistent character trait is his obsession with tracking Lupin down. The fact that they have similar enough builds makes for plenty of opportunities not just for Lupin to impersonate Zenigata (which helps fool the Ganimards) but for Zenigata to turn that trick around on him as well.

Read more

TV

From Lupin III to Inspector Gadget: Examining the Heirs of Arsène Lupin

By Natalie Zutter

Countless close calls contribute to Zenigata’s hotheadedness, as Lupin manages to evade him each time. But even the inspector’s more impulsive moves are backed by legitimately sharp instincts and the keenness to anticipate Lupin’s moves—prompting the thief to point out that it’s a shame that Zenigata is a cop. In Hayao Miyazaki’s The Castle of Cagliostro, the two even form a pact (albeit temporarily) in order to escape the titular castle’s deadly catacombs. What started as a professional rivalry, with more than one occasion forcing them to save each other’s necks, has transformed into real respect and genuine affection.

“Chapter 6” of Lupin Part 2 initially subverts this modern Lupin/Ganimard relationship by having Guedira lie about his identity; at first he lets Assane believe that he is merely a good samaritan helping to rescue the captured Raoul (Etan Simon) from Pellegrini’s man Léonard (Adama Niane). But even by the end of that first episode, Assane reveals that he’s easily figured out who Guedira is, and—perhaps in a throwback to the anime’s Ganimard descendants—zip-ties him to their stolen car as he goes after Léonard alone. When he says, “You’re Ganimard,” it’s a compliment! Only Guedira figured out who Assane’s crimes were in homage to, because of their shared fandom for the Arsène Lupin canon. But the fact remains that Assane doesn’t work with cops.

That choice proves potentially devastating by the end of “Chapter 6,” the final scene which makes Assane and the viewers believe that Raoul has perished in the burning car. If the gentleman thief, so used to relying on only himself in the middle of a heist, had brought an ally, then his son might have survived.

Thankfully, that bleak read is quickly reversed by one of the series’ signature flashbacks to what happened to Guedira after Assane left him: He managed to get out in time to rescue Raoul from the car before Léonard set it on fire. Yet having Raoul as bait puts them back on opposite sides of the law, as Guedira’s colleagues use the boy to try and arrest the thief. Unfortunately, that plus the Pellegrinis’ scheming ultimately leads to Assane being framed for the murder of Léonard—something that everyone believes, even potentially Guedira, who seems to have a genuine loss of faith with regard to Assane upholding the gentleman thief’s morals. Not even finally unearthing Assane’s headquarters, with its Lupin Easter eggs of a top hat and the eponymous “Jewish lamp” from one of the stories, is enough to comfort Guedira’s disillusionment with his favorite book series.

And here represents the turning point for Lupin the series. Just as Assane Diop’s Lupin is a subversion of the archetypal character by engaging with the racism of him not “looking” like people would expect of a gentleman thief, Guedira-as-Ganimard’s pivotal moment is when he dares to question the police department and the letter of the law itself. “Lupin doesn’t kill,” he keeps insisting to Lieutenant Belkacem (Shirine Boutella) and especially Dumont (Vincent Garanger), but they have lost any faith in his Diop-as-Lupin theory. He is alone in his convictions.

So Guedira is perfectly primed for one of the series’ best moments, when Assane addresses him as “Ganimard” via Internet comments. This engagement in a fannish space, this brief foray into online role-playing, carries all the joy of a shared joke and all the weight of a missing puzzle piece—leading him to the proof of Dumont’s corruption and the permission to seek out Lupin at his final confrontation with Pellegrini in “Chapter 10.”

For his part, Guerrab believes that Guedira and Assane’s relationship transcends fandom by the end of Lupin Part 2. “Although in Part 1 Guedira and Assane are connected through their passion for Arsène Lupin,” he says in the Netflix press notes, “in Part 2 they get to know each other and almost forget about their shared passion—they are human beings, first and foremost. You get the feeling that even if one of them is a burglar and the other is a police officer, they could be the best of friends.”

Anime creator Monkey Punch has said that the only way he envisions ending the Lupin III story would be to have Lupin and Inspector Zenigata conclude their story as equals: whether that means both failing or both winning—or both simply getting too old for this cat-and-mouse game—they would end on the same terms. While Assane Diop and Officer Guedira are both too young to give up their intense dynamic anytime soon—and there’s no telling what’s in store for Netflix’s Lupin Part 3—it’s a comforting thought that these two might someday face the same endgame.

Lupin Part 2 is available now on Netflix.

The post Netflix’s Lupin: The Evolution of Lupin vs. Ganimard appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3wiBnCx

[keyofjetwolf]

Pitch Me your thing!

HELLO HELLO MY SUNBEAMS. For most every category, there was an impressive turn-out for pitches, so I thought we’d utilize the weirdness of this year’s GIFTENING to give something new a try. The popular vote winner for each category will happen on the first day, but on the second, the winner will be chosen from YOUR PITCHES. Mostly those pitches will be to me. The exception is in Miscellaneous, where you’ll be pitching to my family, because what I want to do and what is most entertaining isn’t necessarily the same thing.

So! How will we do this thing? GLAD YOU ASKED. I’ll link you to a form in a minute with space for one pitch. Once you fill it out, you’ll be asked if you want to do another. There’s no limit to the number of pitches you can send in! But remember that if you submit multiple entries for the same category, you’ll basically be competing against yourself.

NOW WE’VE GOT SOME RULES FOR DOING THIS (which I mostly stole from Holligay, because I have no creativity this year). Please read them carefully! I’ll toss pitches that break any of these, and I’d rather your hard work not go to waste.

Pitch Me is open for your submissions from RIGHT NOW (22 December) through the very last day of this hellyear (31 December) at 11:59pm MT.

The thing you pitch must have come from what was nominated for THE GIFTENING 2020. (Full list of those nominations in every category below the cut on this post.)

Entries must be unsigned! I’m looking to chose based on the pitch alone, regardless of who submitted it.

The pitch itself must be 100 words or less. HAVE PITY ON ME I CAN ONLY CONSUME SO MUCH.

If you’d like to get some help, ideas, feedback, all that good stuff, the Discord is a FANTASTIC resource I encourage you to use.

HERE IS YOUR PITCH SUBMISSION LINK

And, as promised, below the cut you’ll find the list of all the nominees in every category you guys sent in this year. IT’S A LONG LIST HAVE FUN WITH THAT

Anime

A Place Further Than The Universe/Sora Yori mo Toi Basho Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban) Action Heroine Cheer Fruits Aggretsuko Aho Girl Air Master Akuma No Riddle Alien Nine Angel Beats! Angelic Layer Appare-Ranman Aria Aria the Animation Arrietty/ The Secret World of Arrietty (Ghibli film) Ascendance of a Bookworm Azumamga Daioh Baccano! Beastars Black Cat Blood + (the series) Bloom Into You Blue Drop/Tenshitachino Gikyoku Bodacious Space Pirates (starting right where you left off) BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense Boku no hero academia Bubblegum Crisis Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card Cardcaptor Sakura Castlevania the Animated Series Cells at Work Chaos; Head Chihayafuru Code Geass cowboy Bebop Cyborg 009 Death Note Death Parade Deca-Dence Demon Girl Next Door Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) Diebuster: Aim For the Top 2 Dog Days dorohedoro Dot Hack//SIGN Dr. Stone Elfen Lied Erased (Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi) Escaflowne Excel Saga Fantastic Children Fate/Zero Flip Flappers Fresh Precure Fruits Basket 2019 Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Ga rei Zero GaoGaiGar gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex Ghost Stories (dubbed) Girls' Last Tour Great Pretender Hoseki no Kuni/ Land of the Lustrous House of Five Leaves/ Saraiya Goyou Inari konkon koi iroha Interviews with Monster Girls Inuyasha Isekai Izakaya "Nobu" Jellyfish Princess/ Kuragehime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable Kaguya-sama Love Is War Kaleido Star Kannazuki no Miko Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Kemono Friends Kiki's Delivery Service Kimi ni Todoke: From Me To You Kino's Journey/Kino no Tabi (2003) Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni) Little Witch Academia Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files EP0 {"A Grave Keeper") Love is Hard for an Otaku Love Live! Sunshine!! lupin the 3rd part 4 Madoka: The Rebellion Movie Magic knight rayearth Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha March Comes in Like a Lion Mardock Scramble Master of Martial Hearts Mawaru Penguindrum Megalobox Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Mob Psycho 100 Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) Monster Mushishi My Bride is a Mermaid (Seto No Hanayome) My Love Story!!! My Neighbor Totoro My Next Life As A Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom My Roommate is a Cat NANA Naruto Natsume’s Book of Friends Neon Genesis Evangelion (hateblog) New Cutey Honey Nichijou Ōban Star-Racers One Piece Ouran High school Host club Outlaw Star Paranoia Agent Perfect Blue Please Save My Earth Pop Team Epic Pretty Cure Fresh Princess Jellyfish/ Kuragehime Princess Mononoke Princess Principal Princess Tutu Project A-Ko promised neverland (/yakusoku no neverland) Psycho-Pass Ranma 1/2 Re: Cutie Honey Re:Creators Read or Die (OAV) Red Garden relife Revolutionalry Girl Utena Rose of Versailles Ruroni Kenshin Sailor Moon Sailor Moon (viz dub) Samurai Champloo (english dub) Sarazanmai School Days School-Live! Scum's Wish Senki Zesshou Symphogear (listed as just "Symphogear" on Crunchyroll.) Serei no Moribito (Guardian of the Spirit) Shin Sekai Yori (From The New World) Shirobako Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle Smile Pretty Cure (Japanese original)/ Glitter Force (english adaptation) Snow White with the Red Hair Sound Euphonium Strawberry Panic (yuri) Sweetness and Lightning The Devil is a Part-timer The Devil Lady The disasterous life of saiki k (saiki kusuo no Sai Nan) The End of Evangelion (movie) the Promised Neverland The Twelve Kingdoms Tiger & Bunny Tokimeki Tonight ToraDora Tsubasa Chronicle Umineko When They Cry Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid Vinland Saga Violet Evergarden Whispered Words (Sasameki Koto) With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun Yona of the Dawn Yu Yu Hakusho Yugioh Duel Monster Yuki Yuna is a Hero Yuri Kuma Arashi Yuri On Ice!!! Zoids: Chaotic Century Zombie Land Saga

Non-Anime Animated

Adventure Time Amphibia Animainiacs (Original) Animaniacs (Reboot) Archie's Weird Mysteries As Told By Ginger Barbie Life in The Dreamhouse Batman the Animated Series Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot Big Mouth Bob's Burgers Bojack Horseman Bravest Warriors Captain N: the Game Master Carmen Sandiego (1994) Carmen Sandiego (2019) Castlevania (Netflix) Cats Don't Dance Coco Courage the Cowardly Dog Craig of the Creek Cyber Six Daria Darkwing Duck Dragon Booster Dragons: Riders of Berk DuckTales (2017) Exo-Squad Fern Gully Fillmore! Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Futurama Gargoyles Glitch Techs Godzilla: The Animated Series Green Lantern the Animated Series Hedgehog in the Fog (Ёжик в тумане) Hey Arnold Hilda Infinity Train Iron Giant JEM Kim Possible Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts Legend of Zelda animated series (1989) Legion of Super-Heroes Liberty Kids Magical Girl Friendship Squad Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart The Legend of Korra Moominvalley Motorcity My Little Pony (Classic, NOT FiM) My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks Onyx Equinox Over the Garden Wall Over the Moon (2020 film) Owl House Primal Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure Redwall Rise of the TMNT Roco's Modern Life Rugrats RWBY Samurai Jack Seis Manos She-Ra (1985) She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Sonic Boom Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse Star vs. the Forces of Evil Strange Magic Super Mario Brothers Super Show Superman: The Animated Series Teen Titans The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo The Animals of Farthing Wood The Dragon Prince The Hollow The Legend of Tarzan (TV series) The Magic School Bus (1994) The Mysterious Cities of Gold The Pirate Fairy (Disney Fairies) The Powerpuff Girls (1998) The Real Ghostbusters Thundercats (1985) Thundercats (2011) Transformers: Prime Tuca and Bertie Twelve Forever Undone Venture Bros Wakko's Wish Wakfu Wander Over Yonder We Bare Bears (TV) Winx Club Wreck-It Ralph (2012) X-Men Evolution X-Men: The Animated Series Xiaolin Showdown

Live Action

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 28 Days Later 3rd Rock from the Sun A Series of Unfortunate Events American Horror Story: Asylum Babysitter's Club (2020) Batman (the old Adam West version) Better Call Saul Black Mirror Blackbeard's Ghost (Peter Ustinov) Boston Legal Boy Meets World Boys Over Flowers Bromance (Taiwanese tv series) Brooklyn 99 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Cadfael Cagney and Lacey Charmed (2018) Chopped Cleopatra 2525 Cloak and Dagger Clue (1985) Community Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Dead Like Me Dead To Me Deadwood Death Note (Netflix) Derry Girls Dimension 20 - The Unsleeping City Doctor Who (New) Doom Patrol Dracula's Daughter (1936) Escape to the Chateau Farscape Fingersmith Galavant Godzilla (2014) Gokushufudo (2020 Japanese TV drama) Golden Girls Good Omens H20: Just Add Water (somewhere in seasons 1-2) Happy New Year Harley Quinn movie Hateblog a REALLY STRAIGHT soap opera. Haunting of Bly Manor His Dark Materials (HBO series) Holes Hot Fuzz House Inception Inside No. 9 Iron Chef America Joan of Arcadia Julie and the Phantoms Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Kamen Rider Build Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Kamen Rider Fourze Killing Eve Knives Out Letterkenny Leverage Little Women (2019) Lucifer Matlock Majisuka Gakuen MASH Merlin Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Money Talks (1997 film) Motherland: Fort Salem Murder She Wrote Mythbusters Nailed It! Never Have I Ever Once Upon a Time Orphan Black Pen 15 PGSM Pi (1998) Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018) Pride and Prejudice: A New Musical Puppy Bowl Pushing Daisies Rome (hateblog) Russian Doll Sabrina Sense8 Sera Myu: Un Nouveau Voyage Shameless Sierra Burgess Smallville So Weird Star Trek: TOS (or their films) Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Voyager Stargate Atlantis Suckerpunch Supernatural (out of context speedrun the last three episodes) Sweetheart Switched at Birth Tall Girl Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles The Addams Family (1964) The Big Flower Fight The Booth at the End The Bride With White Hair The Crown The Fresh Prince of Bel Air The Good Place The Kissing Booth The L Word The Librarians The Magicians The Muppet Show The Pregnancy Pact The Room The Steve Harvey Show The Stranded The Untamed The Witcher The Wolfman (1941) Torchwood Twilight Zone (original) Twin Peaks Ultraman Nexus Umbrella Academy Van Helsing Warehouse 13 Warrior Nun What We Do In The Shadows (tv show) Will & Grace Wynonna Earp X-Men 2: X-Men United Xena: Warrior Princess

Miscellaneous

Alpha Flight #41-62 Anime music dance party, the logistics of which are to be determined! Ask Hot Pocket and/or Mina-pup AskSharknado: Giftening Edition Attempt to make French macaroons Commentary on old Goggles Critical Role Crowdsourced: A Black Mirror-style day where Jetty has to ask what her choices are of the audience for everything! I give you a menu, you decide what she has for dinner? What does she wear? Does she walk on the track or do the eliptical? Does she go to a movie with Doc or play a video game with Mike? Can be done alongside other stuff. Doodle Day Dramatic readings of fan fiction! Drunk History (or whatever your favorite subject would be) with Jet Wolf! Drunk Sailor Moon Exorcising Closet Ghost Fic Prompts Day Figuarts Day! (Not specifically freeing anyone, just various fun poses and such) Guess the plot of a show based on its opening Her Shim-Cheong (manhwa) House of X/Powers of X Hubby's Choice IDW Jem comics liveblog Intros Only (watch show openings, give commentary, guess what show is about, etc.) Jackbox Games Jet Wolf paints along with Bob Ross Jet and Doc go to Heaven/Hell, respectively: Jet gets to write reams of words about the awesomeness of Rei Hino and Doc has to read all of them and say ONLY NICE THINGS. Jet does Tiktok dances Jet Liveblogs Holligay: A Nature Documentary Jet Ranks Sailor Moon Image Songs Jet Reads Goosebumps Jet Reads Legion of Super-Heroes Jet redesigns the Wolf and Gay offices! Jet shows off her knitting Jet Wolf attempts to recreate scenes from Sailor Moon with Mina and Hot Pocket and/or whatever is in the house Jet Wolf reacts to Sailor Moon tiktoks (in blog form) Jet Wolf reads Love and Rockets. Jet Wolf reads the Jem comics by IDW Jet Wolf reviews her old top 100 Sailor Moon moments list Jet Wolf talks about Archie Comics Jet Wolf talks about each cel she owns and why they are so awesome. Jet Wolf writes Poetry Jet Wolf's Top 5's Jet, Hubby and/or family play board games Jetty Rants and Raves Jet Wolf tries to crack the Gravity Falls Codes Kiwi Blitz on Hiveworks Let's Play on Webtoon Liveblog: Favorite X-Men comic book arcs Livestream Pathfinder one-shot LOONA (Collection of music videos with an ongoing story/universe about GIRLS who are FRIENDS and SAVE THE UNIVERSE) Lore Olympus on Webtoon Mike regales us with "the story of your love" while you get increasingly embarrassed Mina and Hot Pocket day - liveblog like a nature documentary Mister Tsukino Does His Taxes and the Household Budget (Sailor Moon fan comic by Shadowjack) Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake Not So Shoujo Love Story on Webtoon Pitch Mishaps for Untitled Senshi Game (it is a lovely day in Juuban, and you are a Horrible Minako.) Pitching hubby's favorite media at (readers/holligay/jill/momigay) Playing with dolls (because how could 3 women not have any dolls between them) Re-Take By Studio Kimigabuchi (All Ages Version) Real or Fake Anime (people submit descriptions of anime you guess if it is an anime that actually exists or not) Reviewing succulents Scavenger hunt! Not entirely sure how it would work, maybe folks could send in asks for you to show things like your favorite Rei Hino object, or the thing that's been with you the longest, etc. sewing/knitting/baking tutorial Share or rant about a Roman history topic Sleepless Domain on Hiveworks Talking to Docholligay 2: Doc Harder (basically you talking to Doc's future womb evictee while still in there and telling them stuff like say the greatness of Rei Hino) The Monster Duchess and Contract Princess (manhwa) The Polar Bear Plunge--I take Jetty to our finest Lake Elmo in January, and she jumps in! Note: THIS IS NOT DANGEROUS, WORRYWARTS. I'll bring a life preserver, I've done it before, and I would do it with her if I weren't pregnant. The Senshi Helpline--The Senshi, taking your advice questions, here and now! The World of Moral Reversal Virtual knitting/crafting circle! Let us craft and chat with you! What-If #24 Gwen Stacy Lived Worm the web serial Write an explanation for a drawing we send you! Yuri Hell's Kitchen

[metalandmagi]

Summer 2020 Anime Worth Watching!

Apparently it’s time for the summer anime season, even though it feels like time is meaningless at this point. But somehow, there are still new shows coming out, so if you’re looking for something to watch when you’re stuck at home, here’s a list of the first impressions I got from this season. I don’t really know if it’s going to be worth it, considering how the spring season delayed so much, but here we are. 

As always, not all of these are available on Crunchyroll, but I’ll put a * next to the ones that are.

And if you’re looking for a bit more variety, I have lists for 2019 and the rest of this year’s seasons too...because remember when there was good anime being released instead of just everything being an ecchi or a second season?

2019 master list

My master list for every season of 2020 anime

New Shows!

*The God of High School: An over the top action anime consisting of one big tournament arc! It follows a group of teenagers competing in the epic “god of high school” martial arts tournament to determine the best fighter in the country. Following in the footsteps of Tower of God, this is the newest “crunchyroll original” that is being adapted from a South Korean webcomic. You can tell from the first episode that this will be a spectacle with crazy characters and lots of wild action and humor!

Great Pretender: When a Japanese con man pickpockets the wrong person, he ends up hopping on a plane to Los Angeles and getting wrapped up in a scheme with a sassy Frenchman named Laurent...who basically runs the mafia. There’s humor, there’s plot, there’s great characters, and it’s kinda gay. It’s an exciting original anime from studio Wit, so the animation is bursting with character, and both the music and the general vibe remind me a lot of Baccano or even Lupin III. And since it takes place in America with several foreign characters, there's hilarious English and accent shenanigans abound! The bad news is it’s still in Netflix jail, so if you want to watch it legally you’re kinda stuck for now. 

Japan Sinks 2020: A giant earthquake hits Japan, and a family must cope with the mayhem together. Because what the hell else could possibly go wrong this year? This is a new series (based on a novel) made by Masaaki Yuasa, the guy behind Ride Your Wave and Walk On Girl, if that tells you anything about the style of this anime. I’ve only watched the first two episodes so far, but I heard it goes from being a gripping realistic disaster series to a balls to the wall adventure. To be honest, disaster shows/movies freak me out, and this one is pretty devastating so far, which is a testament to how well it's made. But I appreciate that they include glimmers of hope when they’re needed. The best moments are the quiet ones that focus on the actual people and the narration that juxtaposes the time periods. There’s so much atmosphere, and the music really enhances the experience. And it’s all out on Netflix now, with a dub and a sub!

Deca-Dence: When humanity has been pushed to the edge of extinction by monsters called the Gadoll, the rest of civilization is forced to live in enormous mobile fortresses and send groups out to battle the unknown monsters. So basically like Mortal Engines but the fortresses can turn themselves into giant fists and punch the monsters. We follow a girl named Natsume who wants to be one of the soldiers who fight the Gadoll, but she is constantly rejected because of her prosthetic arm. So she ends up with five years of cleaning duty supervised by a stern but mysterious badass named Kaburagi. I honestly don’t care at all about the plot of the anime, because for me the characters are what drives everything, and these character dynamics are great. I’m not going to say it’s the most original story, but I think it’s fun so far. 

*Rent-a-Girlfriend: A typical harem/romance anime that follows the world’s most annoying protagonist named Kazuya. After Kazuya is dumped by his first girlfriend, he seeks out a rental girlfriend out of self pity….BECAUSE APPARENTLY THAT’S A REAL SERVICE THAT EXISTS IN JAPAN?! Like you can actually rent moms/dads/girlfriends/boyfriends and so on. Anyway, his fake girlfriend is the picture of anime waifu perfection...until Kazuya starts being his typical asshole self and she reveals her true nature of being an absolute sass master who don’t take no shit from no boring ass main character. Shenanigans happen and the two of them end up having to pretend they are in a real relationship. And I’m just calling it now...Kazuya’s grandma is the real best girl of the series. If you want a harem that’s actually funny and doesn’t mind roasting the protagonist, give this one a shot. Although I wish this were just a straight up romance instead of a harem because there is no way in hell that any girl, let alone more than one would want actually to date this guy. 

Next Seasons and Continuations!

*Fruits Basket 2019 (Season 2): Thank goodness Fruits Basket wasn’t delayed or cancelled last season because sometimes I feel like it was the only thing getting me through the spring. I’ve ranted about how good it is enough by now. If it can’t brighten your year, then nothing will. Just watch it if you haven’t already. 

*Re:ZERO-Starting Life in Another World (Season 2): Subaru is still trapped in another world, and he’s still as angsty as ever, but that’s not going to stop him from constantly putting himself through hell when he keeps dying horribly every time he needs to reset the timeline! There are mysterious new villains, nobody knows who Rem is (again) and I think there’s a plot somewhere under all the suffer porn. Seriously though, this show is pretty cool (even if I was two years late to the party). It’s one of the most interesting isekai anime I’ve ever seen, and it feels like it’s acting as a deconstruction of the genre, kinda like how Madoka Magica is for magical girl anime...both shows certainly have enough crying. The story is weird but interesting, the world building is cool, the villains (and sometimes the heroes) are batshit crazy to watch, and I like its moments of humor. 

No Guns Life (season 2): The story of Juzo, the hard boiled detective who plays by his own rules continues in the second season of No Guns Life. In case you missed the first season, this is a mystery/action anime that feels like an old noir film had a cyberpunk baby. There’s underground conspiracies, there’s interesting side characters, and...oh yeah the main character has a gun for a head. That’s right. we came to see a bara detective with a literal gun for a face, but we stayed for the world building and mysterious plots!

*Fire Force (Season 2): I’m going to be honest here, I really didn’t know if I should include this one or not. I have a major love hate relationship with Fire Force, but I figured there may be other people out there who would like it more than I do. So in case you missed the first season, this show follows a group of firefighters who puts out fires caused by spontaneous combustion using a mixture of guns and super powers. It was created by Atsushi Ōkubo, aka the guy who made Soul Eater. So it’s bound to be amazing right?

Not necessarily. Strap in for this one lads. 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with this show overall. Its main characters just aren’t that interesting most of the time, it can’t decide on what kind of show it wants to be, and so much of it just dragged for a good part of the series. I don’t know if it was a problem of pacing or if the plot was just that uninteresting for a while. The first couple episodes set up a very unique plot, filled with intriguing moral dilemmas. And then it proceeded to abandon everything interesting in favor of badly timed fan-service. It just couldn’t strike the balance that Soul Eater had between its humor and its sincerity. If they wanted to make an ecchi show, they should have just made one instead of inserting the same overplayed scenarios into every episode. I don’t care if a show has fan-service as long as it fits the tone, or if it only has certain episodes dedicated to playing up the humor. But Fire Force has a habit of just inserting it wherever it wants regardless of what’s actually happening in the episode. Also, some of the humor revolves around one of the main female characters who has a really messed up self image because she’s slightly more muscular, and not a tiny delicate flower like some of the other girls. Not going to pretend that doesn’t bug me. 

But that doesn’t mean there is nothing good about it! If there wasn’t, I wouldn’t have finished the first season, and I wouldn’t be including this one. So far, the second season has actually been funny because it made the first episode more like filler, instead of cramming in too much plot all at once. And to the surprise of no one, the animation is absolutely god tier. I wish it was being used for something other than clumsy fan-service, but it’s still really something to see. The world building is super creative and 100% my aesthetic, and there were a couple side characters I really loved later in the series (Benimaru). And I did like the twists and turns the series took later in the season when it actually focused on the conspiracy behind the fire force and the cult. When it follows the mysteries it sets up, it’s more fun to watch. Who would have thought? 

TLDR: There’s good stuff and there’s bad stuff. This show is really something you have to watch for yourself to decide if it’s going to be worth it. I’m going to at least try the second season, because I want to see where this goes, but it’s on thin ice. 

Honorable Mentions

Isekai edition! Both of these came out last season, but I hadn’t mentioned them when I made my spring list. But they’re both getting dubs now so I’m still counting them.

*My Next Life as a Villainess- All Routes Lead to Doom!: A twist on the isekai genre where our main protagonist wakes up as a character in her favorite otome game...only to find that she’s actually the bitchy rival side character who ends up either dead or exiled in every route of the game. So naturally she does everything she can to prevent this by becoming a sweet and caring supporting character...who inadvertently makes every single other character in the game fall in love with her. I ignored this show for the first few episodes because I need another isekai in the world like I need a hole in the head, but after hearing everyone rave about it, I caught up with it in no time. It’s a fun take on the otome game tropes, and it manages to be funny and sweet while not committing to any particular pairing.

*Ascendance of a Bookworm (Season 2): That’s right, it’s another isekai where an adult is reincarnated into the body of a child in a fantasy world. But this time, it’s a nerdy girl whose entire purpose in life revolves around reading books (can relate). However, when our main character Mine is thrust into this fantasy world, she quickly realizes that this particular fantasy setting is a little too...medieval  for her tastes...meaning a family of commoners like hers would have no clue how to read and books are only meant for rich people or the church. So of course Mine has to figure out how to either get her hands on some books or make them herself. This is a super cute show that I waited a long time to finally watch, and since the second season is finally being dubbed I wanted to shout it out. It’s just a wholesome isekai version of Dr. Stone. There’s no real action, but it’s a relaxing watch if nothing else. 

Well, there you have it. Hopefully nothing else gets delayed or cancelled because it’s pretty slim pickings as it is. And before anyone asks, I didn’t include GIBIATE because I thought it was a massive disappointment that somehow made a time travel horror anime plot boring. There’s also My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu, but it’s been 5 years since I watched the other seasons and don’t remember anything about it. But there’s that too in case anyone is a fan of the series and didn’t know it got another season. 

See you next season…if the world is still here by then?

[strrawberrymoon]

name  /  alias : leigh  gender  /  pronouns : female + she/her where  ya  from  ? : europe 👀 the  current  time :  18:53 height :  164 cm, i think that’s 5′4 job  or  major :  double major in sociology and media communications, still grinding pet  (  s  ) :  two dogs! one is a 7 year old maltese and the other a 3 year old cane corso favorite  thing  (  s  )  about  yourself :  im a great listener and i give great advice, i’m straighforward which some people don’t like but oh well, i’m pretty adaptable. i got some nice titties any  special  talents  ? :  i can roll my tounge in any direction + crack a lot of knuckles ajkdshaj

why  you  joined  hqclouds :  i’ve been itchng to write more lately, so when love told me about their group i thought i’d give it a shot !!

meaning  behind  url :  strawberry moon was just a recent occurance irl which was really cool + i associate marinette with strawberries for some reason, and i’m a big fan of the lady moon

last  thing  you  googled :  i’m having some issues with my michrophone and zoom so i googled how to fix it, but no dice

birthday  /  zodiac :  leo ! my birthday is august 11th in  your  opinion  ,  does  your  sign  suit  you  ? : yes and no. leo’s are very misunderstood imo, but each sign has the “more popular” or well known traits and then there’s the flipside of the coin—which i think suits me more myers  -  briggs :  ISFP / INFP moral  alignment :  chaotic idiot hogwarts  house : gryffindor

three  fictional  character  (  s  )  you  see  yourself  in  +  why :  i honestly see myself in katara from atla, the whole smothering mothering routine. it’s becoming a regular thing for my friends to say “thanks, mom” or “ok, mom” so i guess i’m the mom friend. also fred weasly... he’s a twin.. i’m a twin... that’s all i need. and lastly, and very leastly, neil josten from all for the game series. most of you probably don’t know it, but he’s a demisexual chaotic idiot who says “i’m fine” way too much for someone who is most definitely not fine.

i  started  roleplaying : probably when i was around 16-17 was my first official roleplay experience. it was on facebook and kind of a nightmare types  of  rps  i  enjoy :  i like college stuff and small town rps, but i also love plot heavy rps that push you into developing your muse. really anything that isn’t too restricting favorite  fcs  to  use :  i don’t have go-to faceclaims. i tend to make a character around a FC and then use them until i lose muse or just feel like they need to rest. switch it up a lot, but some faces that i’ve really enjoyed playing for a longer amount of time are steven kelly, cindy mello and ellen v. lora fandom  (  s  )  you’d  like  to  write  in : i want to write in all of the fandoms i know nothing about and look like a dumbass. also harry potter, the hunger games, avatar the last airbender, gossip girl, etc etc fandom  (  s  )  you  aren’t  in  but  are  curious  about :  marvel somewhat, any video games are very fascinating to me even though i’m not a gamer + know nothing about them, any distopian kind of fandom re: hunger games

share  a  funny  roleplay  horror  story :  recently an admin of a twitter rp tried to use my male muse for their weird ship narrative. they tried to make him look like an asshole (& i do play assholes but this one wasn’t one) + used another male muse to make it seem as if these two boys were fighting over the person’s girl, even though she actually had a ship all lined up. they were also running the gossip twitter, so they made up a bunch of stuff about our muses without our consent and consequently i told them to fuck off, and both of us left the group. then she had no more “groupies” so she cuffed and the group closed two days later. it was petty hilarious.

fondest  roleplay  memory :  once in an OC group, i wasn’t “technically” doing a ship with a friend, even though the characters had feelings for each other. but for some reason the status of their relationship was a hot topic group wide, meaning everybody had their nose in it and wanting to know what’s up, so they publically kept doing things to make people think they’re together while denying it in the same breath. it was really fun to let it play out like that.

favorite  canon  muse  (  s  )  to  play : roy mustang from fullmetal alchemist, katara from atla, and my baby marinette favorite  original  muse  (  s  )  to  play : the last original character i played and fell in love with was named alex. im obsessed with him. still doing 1 x 1 with his girlfriend. they’re having a baby, it’s all very emo and domestic. maybe i make him relapse for funsies. canon  ships  you  can’t  help  but  love :  lupin x tonks from harry potter, korra x asami from legend of korra, danerys x daario naharis from game of thrones, katniss x peeta from the hunger games, etc... trope  (  s  )  you  tend  to  be  guilty  of : i use the rich kid douchebag stereotype a lot. i also make a lot of my characters addicted to something to make them struggle with that.

i  prefer  .  .  . angst  ,  smut  ,  or  fluff :  bro... i am a sucker for ansgt and smut. i do fluff on special ocassions >:) long  or  short  replies :  i prefer when they start out shorter, but medium is my fave pre  plotting  or  chemistry : chemistry all the way. plotting can be really fun but it’s a miss more often than a hit for me. plotting can be good for pre-established relationships but that’s about it sentence  starters  or  headcanon  memes : sentence starters single  muse  or  multimuse  blogs :  i’ve never done a multimuse blog, and i’ve actually been super against them in the past, but i’m starting to change my mind hehe gif  icons  ,  medium  gifs  ,  or  static  icons : static (or none honestly)

grab  the  book  nearest  to  you  and  pull  a  quote  from  it :  ❝ You were children. was there no one to protect you? ❞ — ❝ Was there no one to protect you? ❞

what’s  a  quote  or  song  lyric  that  speaks  to  your  soul  ? :  ❝ I loved her, and sometimes, she loved me too ❞ 

top  current  celebrity  crushes :  zendaya, margot robbie always last  movie  you  watched :  365 days (2020) did  you  like  it  ? :  i hated it, what a waste of a perfectly good 2 hours  favorite  movie  (  s  )    of  all  time : harry potter franchise makes me nostalgic, perks of being a wallflower, my sister’s keeper favorite  tv  show  (  s  )  of  all  time : for some reason i’m obsessed with grey’s anatomy but i hate it favorite  tv  show  that  hasn’t  ended : well fricking grey’s anatomy favorite  series  of  books  /  novels  /  comics : the hunger games, harry potter sports  team  (  s  )  you  rep : my friend is into sports i rep her ksdsdj favorite  video  game  (  s  ) : the sims. i like playing animal crossing vicariously through switch owners favorite  youtube  channels : don’t usually keep up with yt channels but i just binged some stuff from psychology in seattle hobbies :  procrastinating

what  are  the  three  non  essential  things  you’d  bring  to  a  deserted  island  ? : sunglasses, hairtie, hand cream

put  your  music  on  shuffle.  what  six  songs  pop  up  ? : 

say goodbye by skillet, 

off the grid by alina baraz & khalid, 

bury a friend by billie eilish, 

break up with your girlfriend by ariana grande

get back by nine lashes

marry you by bruno mars (man)

personal  aesthetic : growing out my hair only to always wear it in a bun dream  vacation  ? : i just wanna go to the seaside with my friends dream  job  ? :  i literally can’t stand capitalism. wanna move to italy and collect berries and draw titties all day dream  car  ? :  something that drives itself if  i  could  live  anywhere  ,  it’d  be : somewhere in canada near the woods favorite  musical : mama mia? counts favorite  food  (  s  ) :  bananaaaaas, ice cream, cereal. these are all foods ok coffee  order : i don’t drink coffee unwatched  stuff  in  your  netflix  /  hulu  /  etc :  13 reasons why (i’m too bored), the flash, outer banks, elite, the half of it, intersteller, locke & key aaand some stuff that’s not mine but someone else using my account

what’s  a  subject  you  know  too  much  about  +  never  get  tired  of  talking  about  ? : idk anything about anything askldhl

[matt0044]

A little recommendation for all those in the Voltron Legendary Defender fandom.

The original Voltron of the eighties is infamous for being a violent Mecha Anime that endured a crap ton of censorship and story alterations when dubbed from Golion and Dairugger VX. The end result is something that Anime fans shudder at.

However, Robotech would be brought over in a somewhat similar yet wildly different manner. One that has brought no end of controversy to Anime fans of today and of yesteryear but the various legalities about it is not what we’re focusing on today.

Super Dimensional Fortress Macross was brought over to be distributed in the west by Harmony Gold but they need 29 more episodes for syndication. The solution was to license two other mecha Anime, Southern Cross and Mospeada, and adapt them as continuations of Macross’s story.

Think Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure in terms of how each saga has a major timeskip with new characters that deal with a new threat stemming from previous events. In fact, a blue haired baby character in Macross “grows up” to be the blonde main protagonist in the Southern Cross saga (one can just handwave it as she dyed her hair).

The way it was done wasn’t quite perfect since translating foreign works wasn’t as refined as it is now. Many will admit that, however, that it was impressive for the time and that it’s clear that the producers wanted to at least to make something worth watching given what they had to work with. Though the Jack McKinny novelizations certainly sought to fill the gaps, that’s another story...

Many Anime voice actors such as Tony Oliver (Lupin The Third), Richard Epcar (Grandpa Joseph Joestar), Dan Worren and Steve Kramer got their start with this, going on to many other projects to this very day. Heck, you also got Cam Clarke AKA Leonardo of the Ninja Turtles. In fact, a lot of the acting is pretty impressive for an 80s English dub with some misses among the hits naturally.

It’s fully available on Netflix and you can easily divide each saga for a more steady consumption. Being the 80s, there’s a lot of cheesy romance plotlines that may be dated by today’s standards. However, I hope that you’ll let yourself be the judge on that regard and still give it a fair chance. Also Minmei may be the best or worst character, there’s no in-between.

If you got an account, click the link and check out “Booby Trap.”

[ramajmedia]

10 Hidden Details Everyone Missed In Cowboy Bebop | ScreenRant

There are few anime as widely praised as Shinichiro Watanabe's Cowboy Bebop. Other series are certainly better known, but they lack universal acclaim. The show was actually well-received during its original release. Having only one season is what likely kept the series from being as popular as Dragon Ball Z, though.

This space neo-noir is celebrated for its stellar writing and striking characters. The anime is rife with talent and innovation. And now with Netflix's live-action adaptation on the horizon, this is a great time to revisit the original series. So, here are some hidden details fans might have missed.

RELATED: Why Anime Is Definitely Not Just For Kids

10 Forefather of bebop

Jet shares a dream he had with Spike in Session #3. In it, a man named Charlie Parker told Jet, "Only hands can wash hands." Charlie Parker — whose nicknames included "Yardbird" or simply "Bird" — was in fact a real person. Parker was an American jazz composer and saxophonist who is considered influential in bebop's creation. He shirked tradition and developed a groundbreaking style characterized by intricate chord progressions, diverse key changes, and improvisation.

In spite of its name, Cowboy Bebop's soundtracks aren't bebop sounding at all. The use of "bebop" in the title actually refers to the anime's storytelling style.

9 Gren's no Brad Pitt, but...

Grencia Mars Elijah Guo Eckener (or just Gren) is an unforgettable one-time character in Cowboy Bebop. Gren served in the Titan War with Spike's nemesis Vicious. After being tried as a spy, however, Gren was sentenced to prison. An overwhelming animosity towards Vicious — who may have testified against Gren — urged the prison to sedate him. The medication, though, had a distinct, physical side effect on Gren that Faye couldn't help but notice in Session 12.

The series' character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto originally modeled Gren after Brad Pitt, but he changed his mind later for spoiler-y reasons.

8 Faye Valentine's age

Session #15 is an important episode for Faye Valentine. First, an easter egg — on Faye's cryo-container is the serial number NCC-1701-B. Star Trek fans will recognize this as the same serial number for the USS Enterprise. This ship was first seen in the 1984 film Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.

This episode most importantly also reveals Faye's age. Her cryo-container was last opened on November 23, 2019, which presumably is when Faye entered it. The events of Cowboy Bebop happen in 2071, and Faye was born in 1994. So in order of time, Faye would be 77-years old.

RELATED: 10 Anime To Fill The Void After Game Of Thrones

7 Lupin III's car

In Session #15, William Haggis Matsumoto and Faye pass a familiar Fiat 500 on the road. This is no doubt a reference to Arsène Lupin III's iconic yellow car. Lupin III is a classic manga and anime series created and illustrated by Monkey Punch. The original Fiat 500 car was manufactured and sold between 1957 and 1975. The compact city vehicle was less than 10 feet long; one model was powered by a 479 cc two-cylinder engine. From the characterizations to the themes, the Lupin III franchise is believed to be a major source of inspiration for Cowboy Bebop.

6 Classic video game consoles

Faye goes undercover in a cult called SCRATCH so she can collect a bounty on the leader. This cult believes eternal life can be achieved by uploading our digitized souls to the Internet. In a commercial for SCRATCH, people throw away their classic video game consoles in favor of a new system called Brain Dream. The consoles in the commercial are the Sega Genesis (or Sega Mega Drive), the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System or Famicom), the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super Famicom), and the first Sony PlayStation (or PS1). The controllers' buttons and d-pads are switched around, though.

5 Aliens references

Spike and his crew are under attack by an alien lifeform in Session #11. In the episode, a blob-like alien with a nasty bite targets everyone aboard the Bebop. This story is similar to James Cameron's 1979 film Alien where the titular monster disposes of the USCSS Nostromo crew one by one. Scenes in the episode also reference the sequel Aliens. For instance, Spike arms himself with a gun and a flamethrower like Ridley did. In addition, he uses a handheld motion tracker. Lastly, the blob creature is defeated the same way as the Xenomorph: it's expelled through an airlock.

RELATED: Alien: 10 Questions We Still Want Answered

4 Coffee and Shaft

When the Bebop crashes on Jupiter's moon Io in Session #17, Ed and Ein meet a bounty hunter named Coffee. The episode is an homage to "blaxploitation" crime movies of the 1970s. Coffee herself is a reference to the namesake of the 1973 movie Coffy. In the film, Pam Grier plays a disgruntled nurse who wages a war on drugs. She avenges her addict sister by killing anyone who sells or pushes drugs. Coffee is styled like Grier's character. The same episode has a character named Shaft, who is indeed modeled after the eponymous character in the 1971 film Shaft.

3 Babe Ruth

In Session #19, "Wild Horses", Jet and Faye pursue a trio of techno pirates. This band of terrorists — whose M.O. is using computer viruses to attack ships — is comprised of three men named George, Herman, and Ruth. The full name of famous baseball player Babe Ruth is George Herman Ruth, Jr. His career in Major League Baseball lasted a whopping twenty-two seasons. Miles — a minor character in the episode who's modeled after Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation — is a big Blue Sox fan. This is a reference to one of Ruth's teams, the Boston Red Sox.

RELATED: The 15 Least Inspirational Sports Movies Of All Time

2 9021... Oh

In Session #18, Jet and Spike receive a Beta tape in the mail. In case you're unfamiliar with what Betamax even is, it's an older video cassette format. Anyway, in the episode "Speak Like a Child", Jet and Spike visit a shop in hopes of finding a Betamax player. The shopkeeper is watching what looks and sounds like a taped copy of Beverly Hills, 90210. The depicted characters are fraternal twins from Minnesota, and "Jason Prestory" and "Shanan D'Har-"-something are the show's executive producers. The names are clearly a reference to Beverly Hills 90210 stars Jason Priestly and Shannen Doherty.

1 Enter the Spike

Martial artist and actor Bruce Lee inspired many characters in film and television. In Cowboy Bebop, Bruce Lee's influence can be seen in Spike Spiegel and his fighting style. Spike practices jeet kune do, a special technique developed by Bruce Lee. When he engages in physical combat with opponents, Spike uses jeet kune do with varied results. The style — whose Cantonese name translates to "The Way of the Intercepting Fist" — combines aspects of boxing, fencing, and obviously kung fu. Spike's fight with villain Abdul Hakim is Session #2 references Lee's match with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the film Game of Death.

NEXT: Aggretsuko: 10 Hidden Details About The Main Characters Everyone Missed

source https://screenrant.com/cowboy-bebop-hidden-details/