The March to Year 9

Hey there, Dear Readers.  I’ve gotta say, the last couple of years have been a bit mind blowing when it comes to this blog.  We’re now in 2022, which I’ve built up to be a pretty ambitious year in terms of the shows I’m covering.  And in about a Months time, we’ll enter the 9^th Year of the Gundam Anime Corner…call me crazy but that’s just…whoa…we’ll be at the 10 Year Marker before you know it.  But that’s all what lies further ahead.  What about in the here and now?  Well with Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai just about done, March is gonna continue my trend of shows I wouldn’t necessarily review unless requested…except this one HAS been requested for a long, long time, probably back since the 3^rd or 4^th Years.  Since I normally do a quick heads up about what’s coming in the lead up to the big Anniversary Review, figured I’d talk about all that right now.

 
Ouran High School Host Club

Yeah, this is the title I was alluding to above.  It’s show about six devilishly good looking young men who run a Host Club at a prestigious High School.  Their mission: Make as many girls happy using their charms, powers of seduction and some questionable theatrics.  And then there’s Haruhi Fujioka, a girl who everyone assumes is a boy (for reasons) who gets roped into becoming the latest member of the Host Club because life is cruel and frankly so are 4/6ths of this crew.  I did watch this one a long time ago back when it first came out and remember it being ok.  However…times have changed and I’ve gotten older and upon rewatch…well let me just get this out of the way.  If you’re a fan of Tamaki Suou…brace yourself.  I pretty much have one paragraph in each of this 7 Part (yeah this’ll take up the whole of March basically) Review bashing the hell out of him…you have been warned.
 

The 8^th Anniversary Review

Ever since the beginning, I’ve always seen the birthday of the Gundam Anime Corner, March 31, as a special day.  As such, I always try to find titles that feel fitting enough to be fitting into that important slot.  Some have been awesome legends (FLCL, Golden Boy, Weathering with You), one was OK (Slayers: The Motion Picture), two were massive disappointments (the live action Ghost in the Shell and Fullmetal Alchemist Movies)…and then there was G-Saviour, which I reviewed because f*** it, why not, I found a copy and the Anniversary was coming up.  I should really screen my Anniversary Titles better BUT I’m pretty confident about my choice for the 8^th Anniversary.  It’s been three agonizing long years but we’re finally gonna get to the conclusion of one of the best (so far) entries in the Fate/Stay Night Franchise.  YES, March 31, 2022, I’m reviewing Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel III: Spring Song and it’s about damn time...oh and in the lead up since I have an open review slot I’ll also be looking at an OVA from the Fate/Grand Order pantheon. 
 

Toonami Flashback Friday Conclusion

After a pretty expansive look at the Total Immersion Events, I took a week off from this offering to Toonami’s 25^th Anniversary.  But Toonami Flashback Friday returns in March for it’s last 4 episodes.  Originally, I was just going to talk about the Anime featured on Toonami and split that list down the middle, reviewing some in the Spring before returning for others in the Fall.  Well I have new plans for Late Summer/Fall 2022 that I’ll get into at a later date.  As such, what will be left to cover in the early histories of Toonami?  Well as I promised at the end of the last episode, the Gundam nerd in me will look at Toonami’s less than successful attempts to capitalize on the success of Gundam Wing.  Then I wanna talk about the Toonami Midnight Run Special Edition, as well as how music and AMVs were such an important part of Toonami’s early identity.  The final two episodes will look at the end of the original Toonami in 2008 and its resurrection a few years later.  Hope you’ve been enjoying what I’ve shared so far and are looking forward to the conclusion of this special Toonami Retrospective.
 

First Impression Friday

The third of my original three offerings back in the day on this blog (besides Reviews and Top 5 Wednesdays), FIF took a break at the beginning of 2022 to make way for Toonami Flashback Fridays.  However, once that’s complete, FIF will return with a new slew of first looks at various Anime, many of which I’ve actually been seriously thinking about doing full series reviews on eventually.  For those new to this one, First Impression Friday was inspired by a trip to Katsucon.  I realized that whenever I went to a screening of a title, we’d only get the first couple or so episodes and many companies use conventions to serve small offerings like this to get attention that could result in new fans buying a show to see the rest.  The idea struck me there and I have 151 FIF’s to show it’s been working for me quite well.  And yes, several shows seen on FIF have gotten the full series review treatment.  One show I can confirm I’ll be looking at is a prelude to something that might be happening on the blog in 2023, a look at the first Super Sentai Series to be adapted for the Power Rangers Franchise, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger.  Everything else, like always, is pretty much left up to what I pull out of the grab bag.  Usually I end up doing two sets of FIF offerings in the year (one at the beginning and one at the end of the year), unless I start super late like I did last year.  Will we see a Season 7 Part 2 of First Impression Friday?  Only time will tell.

Whoa…didn’t think I had a lot to say here but here I am.  That’s all of March (and a sneak peak at April) in a nutshell.  I’ll see you guys back here on Monday for more Ouran High School Host Club as we continue the March to Year 9 of the Gundam Anime Corner.