FIF#119-Tenjou Tenge

Having moved from High School to High School, conquering each one with their unrivaled might, delinquent partners Nagi and Bob have arrived at the next stop on their list: Toudou Academy.  They enter expecting another cakewalk of useless students with no fighting skill.  Theyre about to learn that Todou isn’t your average High School.  It’s a place where those you least expect will show the greatest fighting potential.  It’s a school where the head of the Kendo Club is a diminuitive sprite who is in reality a warrior Goddess.  And it’s where Nagi meets the beautiful Aya Natsume, who declares she will marry him.  Basically, Nagi and Bob might’ve bitten off more than they can chew picking a fight with this hidden gem of the world of combat.  Welcome to Toudou Academy boys.

When I was in High School, I always daydream of being in an Anime like setting.  Not the slice of life types like K-On but more the fantastical/hyper action types.  Being able to brawl with super powers in the middle of the hallways or battle supernatural threats as part of an after school club, that sort of thing.  No surprise, Japan had the same fantasies I had and from Full Metal Panic to Real Bout High School, there were plenty of Anime that made everyday high school life the ultimate adventure.  Tenjho Tenge was one of those titles…but it doesn’t look like the kind of fun id want to have, even with all the prerequisites it checks off: mostly cute girls, samurai swords and action.

T5W#265-Top 5 Devil May Cry Games

Since quarantine began, I’ve been doing a ton of gaming in addition to watching Anime.  While ive definitely sunk more time than usual into Overwatch, I’ve also been revisiting some old single player favorites.  I did a Halo campaign marathon.  I replayed Resident Evil 4.  Most recently, I’ve dived back into the world of Dante the Devil Hunter and all the sick and awesome chaos he brings with each new adventure.  So for todays Top 5 Wednesday, I’m ranking his 5 main adventures (not including the DMC: Devil May Cry reboot that pretty much no one enjoys as far as I know, plus ive never played it).  Here are the Top 5 Devil May Cry Games.

Psycho Pass 3 Part 1 Episodes 1-2

2120 A.D.  Tokyo is thriving under the watchful gaze of the Sybil System and the crime rate continues to dwindle as a result.  When a new model Transport Drone crashes in to Tokyo Harbor, most want to see it as an accident.  However, the newest heads of Public Safety Bureau Unit 01, Arata Shindo and Kei Mikhail Ignatov believe otherwise.  Sure enough, their investigation into the matter reveals a conspiracy in a scope larger than anything the country has ever seen before.  With a mix of old and new Enforcers at their side and the backing of Bureau Chief Mika Shimotsuki, Arata and Kei are determined to solve this case, no matter the cost to their careers or their Psycho Pass.

Psycho Pass 3.  Man has this one been a long time coming.  I reviewed the first two seasons back in 2018 as part of the Gundam Anime Corners Fifth Season.  Like the general consensus, I think the First Season is a work of art with one of the best finales ive ever seen in an Anime.  Season Two was so embarrassingly bad I’m surprised it was fully approved at all by the studio with a terrible retread of a familiar case and one of the most infuriatingly frustrating characters in all of Anime in the form of Mika Shimotsuki.  Sure Psycho Pass: The Movie worked to redeem some of Season Two’s faults by putting the main story back on Kogame and Akane but still left things without a clear direction of where Psycho Pass was going.  Well after an anthology film trilogy, Sinners of the System, Psycho Pass returns to TV with the long awaited Third Season.  Is it already better than Psycho Pass 2?  Yes it is but I don’t think it’s quite up to the gold standard set by Season One…not that it isn’t up to the task of trying.

FIF#118-Samurai 7

On a far off world, a village finds itself plagued by attacks from Nobruseri bandits, former Samurai who turned themselves into dangerous machines.  Helpless against these monsters, the villagers are desperate for relief.  Some suggest a dire course of action: to battle Samurai, they must hire Samurai themselves.  In the wake of a devastating war, seven wandering soldiers of the sword are selected by these desperate souls to defend their land from an enemy these men thought they’d never face again.  Together, these seven Samurai must do the impossible and save one village from an unstoppable force…if they can put aside their differences and learn to work together.

Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made.  Amazing cinematography, legendary performances and a timeless story, it has been an inspiration for filmmakers for decades (most notably on George Lucas when he was working on Star Wars).  Personally…I think it’s good but I also find it a little too long and kind of boring at times.  I actually prefer the American Western version, The Magnificent Seven (partly because of that kick ass theme song).  So what happens when you take one of Japan’s most revered and legendary landmarks and give it a scifi/Anime spin? 

T5W#264-Top 5 Best Anime Sequels

Last week, I did a list of the Top 5 Most Disappointing Anime Sequels (http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/t5w263-top-5-most-disappointing-anime.html) and…yeah, sometimes asking for more of a good thing can turn out pretty dismally.  HOWEVER!!! That doesn’t mean every attempt to continue a story is bad.  In fact, said continuation can be just as good, if not better, than its predecessor.  So we looked at the worst last week, today on Top 5 Wednesday, let’s look at the sunnier side of things as we count down the Top 5 Best Anime Sequels.