Monday, December 26, 2022

Tenchi in Tokyo Part 4 Episodes 16-20

Under the Moon of the School Festival, Tenchi and Sakuya admit their feelings for each other…and the downfall of the Tenchi Household begins.  Much to Yugi’s delight, Tenchi’s choice begins splintering the bewildered group, especially a heartbroken Ryoko.  With the team now more vulnerable than ever, Yugi is now free to carry out her plan of revenge.  Can the group find a way to mend fences and reunite before Yugi’s plans come to fruition?  Or will Tenchi’s newfound romance with Sakuya keep him blind to the world that’s falling apart around him?

I cant believe how conflicted I’ve become over Tenchi in Tokyo.  On the one hand, I should take this series as the separate spin off that it is and be thankful it has no impact or bearing on anything that’s come before it or since.  It’s a pointless cash grab that came and went without much fanfare and the legacies of the much better Tenchi Muyo and Tenchi Universe are still intact.  But almost every minute of Tenchi in Tokyo I continue to watch feel like an insult to those legacies.  The main cast has become unbearable, the Villains annoying to the point of pure rage that theyre getting the best of the heroes cause they’re portrayed as gullible and just plain unobservant until its too late, and the comedy just isn’t funny…like at all.  All of this reaches a new peak, it’s highest yet, with this penultimate set of episodes…and it all starts with a kiss.
 

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Tokyo Godfathers

On Christmas Eve, three homeless friends: Alcoholic Gin, Transgender Hana and runaway teen Yuki, discover an abandoned baby while searching through trash.  Despite being from different walks of life and each with their own personal scars, the trio bands together to locate the newborns parents.  In a journey that spans the week from Christmas to New Years, Gin, Hana and Yuki will reconnect with their pasts like never before and, through an adorable baby, discover even they still have a future to look forward to with hope.

When you think of the name Satoshi Kon, you think of some of the most terrifying psychological thrillers in all of Anime like Perfect Blue and Paranoia Agent.  In his sadly shortened career, Kon proved he was a master of that particular field.  So color me very surprised when I came across Tokyo Godfathers.  While it still has several of Kon’s visual and psychologically driven storytelling tropes, Tokyo Godfathers is nowhere near as intense as many of his other works.  I dare say that (baring Millennium Actress, which I still haven’t seen yet), Tokyo Godfathers might just be Satoshi Kon’s most feel good movie ever.  And it’s a Christmas movie to boot.
 

Saturday, December 24, 2022

The Macross Retrospective

While Mobile Suit Gundam might be the reigning King of Mecha Anime, there are several other long lasting franchises that have etched their own space in the history of the Anime medium.  One such franchise might be the closest Gundam has ever had to a true rival for the throne: Super Dimension Fortress Macross, or Macross for short.  Transformable jets; Wars on an Intergalactic Stage; blood and fist pumping music and romances that span the ages, Macross has pioneered much of what Anime fans love about Mecha and did for the 80’s what Gundam did for the late 70s, injected bold new blood into a genre that had become stagnant and repetitive.  As we near the end of 2022, and the 40th Anniversary of the Macross Franchise, I figured it was long overdue for the Gundam Anime Corner to give Macross a quick retrospective of its own.  While I’ve reviewed my fair share of Macross features, I haven’t seen everything so many pardons if some info is a bit off.  Anyway, onto this bonus little Christmas present of mine, this is the Gundam Anime Corner’s Macross Retrospective.
 

Friday, December 23, 2022

Closing Out 2022

Hey everyone.  I realized I never got around to posting an upcoming features update for the end of the year and that’s all on me.  Life’s gotten pretty busy and hectic and stressful in the last couple of months for me.  I am three months into a new job which is great but I’m also trying to sort out some stress and anxiety I’ve been dealing with for the bulk of the year.  Anime watch time has kind of dropped and all I’ve been able to really dedicate time to are the weekly Anime I watch like My Hero Academia, Spy X Family and Gundam.  That said, while that may be the case for now, once upon a time I had a job and still found time to watch a ton of Anime in my downtime for this blog and 2023 is going to be about getting back to that balance and working on some major plans for the Anime Corner’s 10th Anniversary.  BUT all of that is a talk for the start of the New Year.  For now, how about we go over what lies in store for the last few days of 2022 cause it’s gonna be busy.
 

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

T5W#384-Top 5 Best Titles I’ve Reviewed in 2022

Well the end of 2022 is nigh and it has…well it’s been a year for me personally: a year of terror, depression, high anxiety, surprise, welcome success and signs that things are going to get better in the long run.  Through it all, I’ve continued to add to the Anime Corner’s increasingly large collection of reviews and 2022 saw me tackle shows and movies I probably wouldn’t have in the very beginning.  It was a very “girl power” heavy year with Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi, Bad Ass Female Replicants, Tank Driving School Girls and Bunny Girl Cosplays…and there’s more that to come in 2023.  Since I wanna do a Top 5 next week to prep for the Year of Sailor Moon I’m taking today to count down the Top 5 Best Titles I’ve Reviewed in 2022 (even though there is still a week left and a couple more reviews to go but still).  Did anyone else have a particular fav or do you agree with this list?  Feel free to shout out in the comments.  Now, onto the praising of good Anime.