One Punch Man Part 1 Episodes 1-3

Meet Saitama.  He’s a hero.  He might actually be the strongest hero around.  That’s because he has enough power in his fist to end fights with just one single punch.  You’d think that would be cool…except for Saitama, it’s made superherodom kind of dull.  And what happens when the worlds strongest man gets bored?  What happens when the act of saving the day stops being fun?  What happens when a lone cyborg shows up and pleads with Saitama to make him his disciple after seeing him in action?  That’s a lot of questions.  Let’s hope the most ridiculously bored Superhero around can find some answers.

A city lies in ruins.  The heroes who rise to fight the terror tearing it apart fall left and right.  From the comfort of his own home, the worlds last hope sits and says “Ok, ill go,”…like he was trying to decide whether to go hang out with friends or not.

Welcome the Anime Corner 2018 and welcome to ONE PUNCH MAN!!! 

There’s a whole lot of emotion to feel after watching the first three episodes of One Punch Man.  My blood was pumping from the theme song and the action.  I was scratching my head wondering if Saitama is a true hero or if he’s just lazy or both.  I was giggling like crazy over the most common and popular tropes of the superhero genre literally being punched into oblivion.  All of these were big positives and I have to honestly hope I haven’t seen all of the good stuff in these first three episodes…cause this could be one of the best shows ive seen in years.

If My Hero Academia is a good look at the inner spirit of being a hero like with classic DC and Marvel Comics, One Punch Man is more like “Watchmen”, looking at a more logical, semi realistic look at a superhero in modern day society…except it adds a huge amount of humor to its cynicism.  And none of these analysis would work without the One Punch Man himself, Saitama.  He may be the new Superman of the Anime genre, but Saitama is the easiest easy goer with a heaping amount of super power inside his body.  He’s lived the dream of being a hero and has grown increasingly bored with his “profession for fun” because there’s no one who can match his power.  Don’t worry, he still fights his battles and saves the day (more or less).  But it’s refreshing to see someone hilariously concerned with beating a bad guy quick enough in order to make it to the supermarket to get a key ingredient for dinner.  The only thing better is seeing Saitama finally get fired up when he does encounter a really powerful foe…only for them to fall so easily that he curses himself.  I also like that, unlike most of the characters we see in the first three episodes, Saitama’s backstory is pretty cryptic.  Part of me wonders if we really will discover why he’s so freaking strong…but I really want that to stay a mystery and never learn the answer.  Otherwise I feel like that revelation could ruin the overall experience for me.  To be honest, im perfectly fine with Saitama’s epic (but horrifically simple) explanation of the training he went through to get so strong.  It’s grand, it’s dramatic as heck and…it’s so stupid it totally fits the overall tone of this series.  I’ve also gotta say, seeing Saitama fail to kill one mosquito with his strength and then later chasing it down the street with a can of bug spray is probably the biggest laugh I have given any Anime ever.

Saitama may own every scene he’s in but One Punch Man is also filled with a very imaginative and memorable cast, no matter how short screentime any of them have.  Each villain gets a 1-2 minute backstory that each sound borrowed amusingly from every classic supervillain origin known to man.  Vaccine Man, the Brain and Brawn Brothers, even the cyborgs of the House of Evolution all have memorable moments (including Vaccine Man basically just being there to be the first amazing kill of the show).  Also…why the hell did the animation team do their best to make a female mosquito monster look sexy?  Not complaining (especially since in the English dub she’s voiced by my favorite anime voice actress, Cristina Vee) but still…weird.  Doctor Genus gets a lot more backstory than most, if only because he gets most of an entire episode to be the central foe.  And much like everything else One Punch Man does, in a span of 26 minutes, we learn of his objectives and inspirations…then see them torn down in the most over the top awesome fashion, leaving him speechless. 

Should also mention Genos, who is a mix of…ok let’s see: Mega Man X meets Iron Man meets a Cyber Ninja (so Genji from Overwatch).  Anyway, Genos’ the exact opposite of Saitama and a good foil for him.  He has a tragic backstory, a mind dedicated to both revenge and justice, and a cool, calculating mind that manages to plan out strategies to a tee.  To see someone already imbued with enough power to take on an army become so impressed by the chilliest of dudes with ultimate power, I can only imagine where his supposed training under Saitama will take him.  There’s some good banter between the two heroes.  Genos takes everything Saitama says just about literally while Saitama screams for Genos to sum up his lifes story in “20 words or less”.  The serious meets the far from serious. 

In a way, watching the action unfold in these first three episodes reminded me a lot of a common criticism of most superhero films today (especially in the DC Extended Universe), the collateral damage.  There is no clear way to determine how many lives are lost in the first couple episodes alone.  There even seems to be indicators that whole cities are taken out.  And yet, this all seems like a response to what I mentioned just now about the DCEU’s penchant for leveling cities in battles.  While that universe takes its battles so seriously it’s borderline depressing (I’ll take Saitama’s not giving two craps about saving people to DCEU’s Superman looking like he’s about to cry while doing his job), One Punch Man’s action scenes border on the most ridiculous premises and run with it, having a ton of fun along the way.  Genos’ cyborg movements are stunning and Saitama’s effortless takedown are great, especially when he defeats the House of Evolutions’ greatest warrior while fearing he’s missed a sale at the Super Market.  It has been a long time since ive seen action so great I can compare it to Dragon Ball Z…but here we are.

The first three episodes of One Punch Man are as good an opening pilot as you could pitch to a network.  The humor is fresh and gut wrenchingly funny.  The action soars to heights not seen in a long time.  The animation is stellar, naturally given it’s Studio Madhouse.  And you’ve got a main character you can find yourself loving no matter how lazy he is or how detached he feels about being a superhero.  One Punch Man is a damn good time in its first three episodes…I just hope these first three aren’t the best this show has to offer.  But then again, so long as Saitama has some entertaining commentary to share while killing fools with one punch…I think I’ll be ok.

Welcome to the Anime Corner 2018

Greetings dear reader.  Your travels have brought you to this tiny corner of the world I like to call my own…or you can just call it the Gundam Anime Corner.  Ive been a fan of Anime since 5^th grade, which I guess if I want to date myself was almost 20 years ago.  Since the early days of Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon and Pokemon and even further back with Voltron, G-Force (aka Gatchaman) and Ronin Warriors, Anime has been a huge part of my life.  I’ve watch fandoms grow and seen my own friendships blossom from viewing with classmates to convention trips.  I loved talking Anime with everyone.  More so, I love reviewing and sharing my opinions on all different kinds of titles.  Hence why this blog was created almost three years ago (technically I was writing and documenting my reviews a year before that so I kind of round it out to the blog being 4 years old but…eh who’s really keeping track).  So pull up a chair my good reader, here’s what you can expect when you pay a visit to my blog page.

Mondays-Reviews

 

The bread and butter of this page.  Essentially im reviewing titles from my own personal collection.  Most of it consists of TV series or OVAs and the number of episodes I review depends on how many episodes are on a disc.  So when I begin a show, it’ll run on the page for anywhere from 3-7 weeks while movie marathons run a bit shorter.  Over the summer ill branch out into an extended series (like 50 episodes) as a countdown to my Otakon convention trip.  Many of the titles I cover are old school, like mid 90’s-early 2000’s (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus, Ghost in the Shell) with a couple of more modern titles thrown in (Gundam Unicorn, RWBY, Psycho Pass).  I’m actually starting to run out of shows on my shelf to review, at least the standard 13-26 episode ones.  So ill eventually either have to A. get more on my shelf or B. start looking to Netflix, Crunchyroll or Hulu…both are not bad ideas and we’ll see where that takes me in 2018.

 

Wednesdays-T5W: Top 5 Wednesdays

 

Just a little something for fun.  One topic of (almost) random choice.  5 personal facts about any of them.  You’ll either get some insights to me as an Anime fan or hear my thoughts on an upcoming title, be they good or bad.  Best scenes in anime, favorite convention memories, favorite characters, worst characters, most anticipated moments of a series.  You name it and chances are you’ll see it.  Ive done more than 100 of these since ive started…it’s a miracle I can still think of Top 5s sometimes haha.

 

Fridays-FIF: First Impression Friday (Temporarily on Hiatus) 

This is where I would take a random title and check out the first couple of episodes before deciding whether or not I would recommend or continue it.  8/10 times, time would get the better of me and I would never be able to keep up with most of them.  That’s kind of why FIF will be on break for the first part of 2018, at least through the spring.  The amount of free time I have to dedicate to this blog is getting smaller and smaller and its all I can do to get reviews and Top 5 lists up by their respective days.  Things could change before spring but for now, FIF is tabled until further notice.  But you can always go back and check out my prior FIF’s from 2016 and 2017.

So what can you look forward to as I kick off 2018?  Well so far I have at leas three titles planned, 2 for the coming months and one for the summer.  2018 will begin with the legendary mega hit ONE PUNCH MAN in January before February brings the infamous misfire that is PILOT CANDIDATE (I’ve personally never seen it all the way through so ill finally be able to make a full call on that).  At some point ill need to find something to fill the month of March, including my 4^th Anniversary review.  I can confirm that around June-ish, ill be reviewing THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA and its film sequel THE DISAPPEARANCE OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA.  All in all, im excited to finally get to all of these titles…and I have something special planned for the summer as well for my next extended series coverage.  Which series will join the ranks of Gundam 00, Code Geass and Gundam Wing in this exclusive extended series club?  You’ll find out in a couple of months.

Alright, enough yammering out of me.  Most of all, thank you so much for stopping by.  Even if it’s just a quick glance, I hope you found or do find something to enjoy here in this, my little corner of the Anime universe that I call…the Gundam Anime Corner. 

See you around dear reader and Welcome to the Gundam Anime Corner 2018.

 

Akira

2019 AD.  Thirty One Years after WWIII, Neo Tokyo stands just beyond the ruins of the old world.  On a seemingly average night, a team of bikers encoutners a young boy who looks like an old man.  When one of their most reckless member, Tetsuo, is injured by the boy, a chain of events is set into motion that threatens to turn Neo Tokyo into a crater just like its predecessor.  As psychic powers long dormant within him awaken, Tetsuo becomes a walking weapon of mass destruction tearing down the world that has shunned and belittled him all of his life.  But power like this cant be simply controlled.  And if he is not stopped, the fall of Neo Tokyo could only be the beginning.

Akira.  For a long, long time, you couldn’t talk about Anime without bringing this title up.  Released back in 1988, Akira came along at a time when the world wasn’t taking Anime seriously and when Disney ruled the animation kingdom.  Akira did away with the notion that “cartoons are just for kids” and introduced the world to a hard hitting, almost unforgiving and unapologetic look at hard animation for a scifi audience.  It’s acclaim was instantaneous and for a long time, the title was considered the King of Anime.  But does it really live up to all that acclaim and all that hype?

Yes, yes it does.  For a film released in the late 80’s Akira holds up surprisingly well.  The first five minutes alone are a perfect set up for the ride you’re about to have: Tokyo explodes, the foreboading drum beats of the main theme, the ridiculously cool biker battle, all of it combines to let you know that this movie is the reason Anime is on the map today.  People may be talking about other popular modern titles now.  But if Akira hadn’t broken ground when it came out, we wouldn’t have those titles to discuss.

Akira is often hailed as, if nothing else, one of the greatest animated movies of all time.  Yeah it’s definitely that.  All of the detail in each shot of this movie is worthy of pause and analysis.  Not saying it has the “real world” aesthetic that Jin Roh had but for a scifi film, Akira nails the dystopian landscape like no other…animation wise anyway.  Even the characters themselves benefit from a drawing style that few Anime today still have.  Those moving mouths are voicing dialogue like an actual person, astounding stuff.  Of course, there’s the violence which makes me go “Owwww” every time someone gets mushed or loses a limb.  Akira has oodles of blood and gore.  I dare someone who thinks Anime is a kids past time to still say that if they ever watch Akira.

The story and screenplay are written by Katsuhiro Otomo, author of the original Akira manga.  What’s interesting is that the manga was not finished when this film came out (it wouldn’t be for another year or so I think).  So it’s fun to see Otomo play around with events and even give fans a small glimpse at what the “true” conclusion would be to his manga.  On it’s own, Akira still manages to tell a tightknit story filled with action, philosophical and ethical debates and even some political intrigue.  The political elements kind of get jettisoned in favor of an action heavy third acts and I don’t think they ever got a full resolution.  Which is a bit of a shame because the social commentary on how a city should be run in the wake of an event as devastating as a World War was actually pretty fascinating (something I hardly ever say since im not the most politically savvy person in the world).  However, by that point, this has become Tetsuo’s show and he still remains one of the most compelling characters in all of Anime.  He’s a kid who’s had a crappy existence and feels like the world has never been on his side.  Even his friendship with his “best friend”, Kaneda, is pretty strained, to the point where Tetsuo’s inferiority complex has become immense.  So when he gets crazy psychic powers, yeah you can bet he’s gonna do some damage in excessive (and yet kind of cool) over the top ways.  And yet, Tetsuo still maintains a very sympathetic vibe that I couldn’t help but admire…even at his most crazy.  He’s by far the most interesting character in the film.  The second most would be The Colonel (who has a name, it’s just never spoken in the movie).  He’s probably the most heroic character in the movie, even more so that the 80’s action type that is Kaneda.  The Colonel sees the true nature of Neo Tokyo and knows it’s only getting worse by the day.  Yet he still strives to save it, no matter the cost and he isn’t afraid to get his own hands dirty, especially in the films epic final scene.

It wouldn’t be a full review if I didn’t mention the musical score of Akira.  Before we had the uniqueness of Cowboy Bebop by Yoko Kanno or FLCL by The Pillows, we had Akira by  Geinō Yamashirogumi.  For a film set in a neon lit futuristic city, the music of Akira doesn’t have a very futuristic sound, not totally anyway.  It feels like there are almost dozens of instruments at work during each number.  Both Kaneda and Tetsuo’s themes steal the show.  Kaneda’s Theme plays during the opening fight sequence and helps sell the majesty and awesomness of this film in a nutshell, a true adrenaline pumping track.  Tetsuo’s theme is the stuff of nightmares, a theme the devil himself would use as an entrance.  It’s a stark contrast to Kaneda’s theme, maleficent, demonic and terrifying.  There were a couple of times when even a small portion of the chanting played on screen and I felt goosebumps.

 

While the story might lose a couple of plot points in the shuffle to get to the action heavy sequences, Akira never loses its confidence nor feels like it isn’t up to the task of being an engaging, challenging and fun Anime film.  It’s one of those movies that, by credits end, proves that it deserves to be remembered so long as the Anime medium exists.  This isn’t googly eyed chibi characters in a Looney Tunes short.  This is a dark, gritty and very mature tale that dares to break boundaries and push Anime to its limits.  Many films have followed Akira that can easily be placed on a Top 10 Best Anime of All Time list.  Few can match its overall power and effect on the world at large, especially since it hasn’t just inspired other Anime but also live action filmmaking like The Matrix and Dark City.

When I first got into Anime, Akira was a title spoken of as a legend…and a legend is what this film will always remain to me.

9.5/10

Hope you all enjoyed this last minute review and I’ll see you all in 2018…which kicks off tomorrow with the start of ONE PUNCH MAN, right here on the Gundam Anime Corner.

FIF#47-Turn A Gundam

The year is Correct Century 2345.  After a near two millenia exile off world, the Moonrace, a long forgotten group of humans, makes plans to return to the surface.  Loran Cehak is a Moonrace agent sent to recon the planet before the rest of the Moonrace is set to follow.  Loran finds a beautiful world of wonder upon arrival, as well as two beautiful sisters who take him into their home.  One year later, the Moonrace finally returns…bringing fire and conquest along with them.  With the technology of the Earth based humans unable to withstand the advanced war machines of the Moonrace, it falls to Loran to protect the new home he has come to love.  His weapon is a buried relic from the past, a Mobile Suit whose resurrection awakens a dark chapter from humanities history…destined to repeat itself once again.

Turn A Gundam is a landmark title for the Gundam Franchise.  It was released in 1999, marking the 20^th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam.  It also featured an amazing production staff.  Gundam’s Godfather, Yoshiyuki Tomino, returned to direct after a six year absence following Victory Gundam.  Legendary composer, Yoko Kanno, fresh off Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne, was tapped for the musical score.  And famous American scifi designer, Syd Mead, was tasked with giving the world a new kind of Gundam for this special series.  The sum of all these parts and more has led many to call Turn A Gundam the best Gundam series of all time. 

After watching the first episode, even without seeing a sign of the titular Turn A yet, I can say that so far the series is living up to its epic hype.  For starters, this is definitely the best looking Gundam series ive ever seen.  Even more modern day entries like Iron Blooded Orphans or Gundam: The Origin look as good as Turn A Gundam does, which is saying something about a show that is almost itself 20 years old.  The animation is breathtaking and near movie level quality.  Kind of makes sense.  Unlike the almost half hearted animation attempts with Gundam X, Turn A came out during a historical moment for Gundam, this show had to look its best and it does.

The story, once again, does a pretty good job of roping me in, even without the presence of a Gundam.  Loran’s wide eyed fascination with the Earth is a welcome approach.  While I know that the Moonrace is destined to start conflict when it arrives, you wouldn’t think they were capable of such violence if you were to judge them based on Loran.  Sure he may look like a girl (some jerk even keeps calling him Laura for a better part of the episode), but Loran’s got a heart that feels very different from any Gundam pilot before him.  Some of this has to do with how old school the Earth looks compared to what the Moonrace has at the moment.  The Victorian style dressing of the town Loran lives in gives Turn A almost an Escaflowne style vibe, like a small part of a fantasy kingdom.  The shots of the bi-planes in flight is awesome and I cant wait to see this kind of technology square off with Mobile Suits from the Moon (though im sure it will be one sided as heck).

By the end of the first episode of Turn A Gundam, I was sad I didn’t have access to more episodes.  Just like Gundam X, Turn A grabbed me with a unique take on a Gundam tale and leaves me wanting more.  Unlike X, however, Turn A’s pedigree of impressive artists, composers and writers, helps it shine brighter and I can see why this is held in high regard as the best Gundam since the original.  In many ways, it already feels like a Gundam series Tomino had long wanted to do but was unable to, due to creative differences with the studios (which led to the disastrous productions of both Gundam F91 and Victory Gundam).  Turn A Gundam feels instantly different.  The first episode feels confident without the need of a Gundam to bolster its appeal, no easy feat, and the series seems willing to let the set up, the scenery and the main character carry the weight of getting things off the ground.  That being said, more than anything, I want to see the Turn A in battle.  With animation this good, I cant wait to see how the action plays out.  I’ll have to track this one down in full sometime, it might be worth splitting things up for a full series review (we’ll see in 2018).

And that concludes First Impression Friday: GundamCember.  This is, sadly, also going to be the last First Impression Friday for the foreseeable future.  Once again, time is not something I have a ton of and sometimes its all I can do to get main reviews on Mondays written.  If more time frees up for me, I might be able to do some more articles for this feature.  For now, I hope everyone enjoyed the return of these snippets.  I promise FIF will return sometime in 2018.  Thank you so much for stopping through to check these out and I hope ive piqued some interest in these choice Gundam series ive shared thoughts on over the last month. 

I’ll see everyone in 2018.

 

T5W#124-Top 5 Favorite Titles Ive Reviewed in 2017 (That Aren’t Your Name)

2017’s last day is Sunday.  Thank freaking God.  If I could sum up this year as a whole, it would be 2016 Part 2, the continuation of a bad year that somehow managed to get worse in many respects.  I sometimes fear some of that life stress did bleed into my Anime Corner content, with some reviews or articles not being as well written as they could be.  On the whole, 2017 was a good year for my page.  I enjoyed (most) of the titles I chose to review and while the reviews weren’t as numerous as previous years (longer shows and less stand alone titles), I think I knew when I gave a title my all.  Those titles are getting the spotlight this week, the last week of 2017.  And for fairness sake, im going to omit Your Name from this list because, well that movie is a tier all of it’s own and it wouldn’t be fair giving it the top spot when there were so many other titles I also enjoyed this year.  So as the title says above, these are my Top 5 Best Titles Ive Reviewed in 2017 (That Aren’t Your Name)

 

#5-Silent Mobius: The Series

Wait a second Gundam, I thought you said “favorite titles”.  You hated reviewing Silent Mobius, right?  Correct but you know what, it’s been a long time since ive been able to cut loose and put a bad series through its paces on this blog.  Rewatches of titles like Escaflowne and Love Hina have shown my opinion of both shows isn’t what it was when I saw them both back in college.  In the case of Silent Mobius, it wasn’t for the better.  Silent Mobius’ TV adaptation was one of the most horrible shows ive ever reviewed her.  Subpar animation, lackluster characters (mostly, I did love Kiddy and Katsumi), a premise with squandered potential.  Every week turned into a whole new rant…and I was having so much fun doing that.  I like to praise the shows I watch when I can but in Silent Mobius’ case, its flaws were begging to be torn apart by me.  So yeah, it nets a spot in my Top 5 Best of 2017 titles cause it was bad and I was loving going crazy by how worse it was getting week after week.

#4-Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket

The title that officially kicked off Year 4 of the Anime Corner, Gundam 0080 has so much going for it and manages to get everything right.  A nice side story slipped into the main Gundam narrative featuring a cast you love, no matter the side their on, high quality animation and some of the most heartbreaking moments in all of Gundam, War in the Pocket is a near perfect OVA and entry in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise.  It was an easy binge and an even easier pair of reviews to write.  Unlike Silent Mobius above, 0080 was a show I had to praise from beginning to end and while one of the villains is lacking, that’s a minor quibble that kept it from getting a straight 10/10. This is one Gundam story that shouldn’t be forgotten in the sea of titles.

 

 

#3-Full Metal Panic: Fumofuu/Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid

This year I tried a bit of an experiment.  I took one series with three seperatley connected seasons and decided to review them all throughout the year.  The series I selected was Full Metal Panic.  While the first season was pretty shakey, trying to balance intense military action with high school antics, the second and third seasons each split the formula in half, ran with them and produced far better results.  Fumoffu was just a lot of fun.  The jokes worked, the chemistry between Sousuke and Kaname played for laughs and good character building that carried over into Season 3 and, of course, BONTA KUN!!!  It was so good I was nervous going into The Second Raid when things got back to serious business again.  But the writers had learned from their Season 1 mistakes and after an “eh” first set of episodes, Season 3 ran off like Barry Allen in the Speed Force.  The drama was enthralling, the action was better, the villains were better, Sousuke and Kaname were perfect, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid knoked it out of the park.  I suppose if I were forced to pick between the two, id probably choose TSR over Fumoffu.  But for this list, they share the #3 spot, simply because for a series that started as roughly as the first season did, the later seasons somehow fixed its mistakes and only got better as time went on.  I cant wait to see if Season 4-Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory, can carry on the momentum.

 

#2-Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

One of the unfortunate casualties from the crappy year I had was the Fate/Stay Night franchise.  After reviewing the Studio Deen series at the end of last year, I was pumped to review Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works as my summer series special leading to Otakon 2017.  But Otakon never happened and I got depressed.  I needed to change my mindset and review something that I could have an easier time watching and enjoy.  As luck would have it, Crunchyroll added Mobile Suit Gundam Wing to their roster, in HD no less to heighten anticipation for the long awaited arrival of the series to Blu-Ray.  While the site didn’t have the famous English Dub, getting to watch Gundam Wing in HD and in Japanese was something else, like watching the show for the first time all over again.  This was my first time watching Wing in a long time and it gave me new perspective.  As a nostalgia title it is near and dear to me, hell like many it’s what got me into Gundam to begin with.  The show, much like Escaflowne or Love Hina, isn’t without its retrospective flaws and I had to point them out.  Not everyone agrees but I cant call Gundam Wing a flawless masterpiece.  It is, however, a title I will always hold near and dear to my heart and am glad it was there for me when I really needed something to lift my spirits this year.  Plus I really like the “Final Thoughts” I wrote for the show, probably the most honest and still care ive given to a show yet.

So with all that said, why is Gundam Wing not #1?  Well that’s because…

#1-Blade Runner/Blade Runner 2049

It’s hard to think of Anime and not somehow think of Ridley Scott’s 1982 scifi/noir masterwork Blade Runner.  The influences from that film can be felt in Anime across the board from the 80’s to 90’s to 00’s to now.  With the announcement of a sequel, one that (at the time) I was terrified of seeing as how Blade Runner is my favorite movie of all time, I decided Blade Runner would be a natural title to review on my blog.  I had to hold back my fanboy a little bit as I could talk about how perfect that movie is til the end of days.  And yet, I was surprised when not only did I enjoy Blade Runner 2049, seeing it as a film that was more than capable of standing alongside its predecessor, but when BR2049 became my most read review on this blog EVER!!!  I guess people resonate with the connection between Blade Runner and Anime like I do.  That or people who know how much I love BR were really looking forward to my thoughts.  Still, as far as live action features go on this blog page, im glad I got to give Blade Runner some time to shine and I am more than happy the sequel got things so, so right.  Without Blade Runner, scifi Anime like Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and Bubblegum Crisis might not even exist and through the existence of those titles and more, the legacy of Blade Runner will be eternal.