T5W#160-Top 5 Thoughts and Theories on FLCL: Alternative

Like a lot of people, im sure, I was skeptical when Toonami and Production I.G. announced the creation of not one but two new seasons of FLCL.  You all know how I feel about the original first season…it’s perfect (change my mind).  So why try to expand it even a teeny bit, much less tell two totally new tales?  Well, 2018 has been the year of FLCL’s big return.  FLCL: Progressive dropped back in June.  While not quite the classic the original will be forever hailed, Progressive did tell it’s own zany tale of insanity that is adolescence.  I ended up giving it an 8/10 (you can also check out the review in full here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2018/07/flcl-progressive.html).  But that was only the first of the two new seasons.  A full trailer for FLCL: Alternative dropped a couple of weeks back and now, after watching it a few times, im ready to talk about it and get prepped for it’s arrival in September.  Some of these thoughts might be rehashes of another Top 5 I did before Progressive debuted, so apologies if im repeating myself, or expanding on those thoughts (you can also review that Top 5 right here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/t5w147-top-5-thoughts-going-into-flcl.html).  Rambling done, let’s get to my Top 5 Thoughts and Theories on FLCL: Alternative.

#5-Oldest Cast Yet

Right off the bat, the one of the most notable reveals of the Alternative trailer is the quote, “Let’s be real, we’ve only been alive 17 years.”  The quartet of female leads would scoff at what im about to say but it’s true: These are the oldest leads in FLCL to date.  Naota in Season 1 was in Middle School and Hidomi and Ide were just starting High School.  Im wondering if this means we’re going to get some more adult themes than ever before, one or two of them are trying to act more provocative (and only one might have the hots for a teacher…just a guess).  Andyet they do seem to act more like children than any of those other three, living life to the fullest while bemoaning the fact that life is still ahead of them.  Boy are they in for a shock when Haruko crashes into their perfect world.  “17 has arrived.  Life cant wait forever,” she says.

#4-Feels more like the Original FLCL

Sure the main quartet (sorry I don’t know any bodys names yet) might be more childlike but the vibe of FLCL Alternative once the action gets going feels much closer to the free spirited Season One rather than the darker tone of FLCL Progressive.  From the over the top action with Haruko taking on monsters with a new guitar (MOMMA LIKES!!!) and even her own fists, to the nods to other popular anime like Akira, Alternative seems more in Season One’s vein of entertainment from the glimpses in this trailer.  That could be a good and a bad thing.  The unfamiliar territory feel from Progressive worked in that seasons favor and helped it stand out.  However, it also at times felt less like the FLCL many fell in love with and it sometimes struggled to stay fun while doing its own thing.  Alternative seems to be taking the opposite approach but we still have to see what exactly does go down.  One thing is certain, the theme from The Pillows used in the trailer shows that the band still has plenty of goodness leftover from Progressive to give us a slam dunk third outing.

#3-Black Contee…and BUMBLEBEE??

Well Contee is back…sort of.  We catch a glimpse of the clumsy bad ass robot landing in battle similar to how he landed behind Naota in equally epic fashion in Season One.  But later on, we see Haruko sliding into battle with several other Black Contee’s standing and lying about.  Will this be a bit of a follow up to Contee’s battered state in FLCL Progressive?  Also, im sliding in that the main leader of that girl quartet (and probably the main character of Alternative, which makes two females leads for two series, awesome), is definitely piloting her own robot…which looks veeeeery similar to the design of Autobot Bumblebee from the live action Transformers movies.  Here’s hoping she can make that thing kick more ass than Movie Bumblebee ever could.

#2-Is This a Prequel?

I have been thinking about this since I saw the end credits sequence for FLCL Progressive (which it may or may not share with FLCL Alternative).  During the montage of casts towards the end, we see the cast of Alternative first, followed by Season One and finally Progressives cast.  It is a bit of a stretch but I wonder if Alternative might end up being a prequel to the first season.  I had heard a while back that Progressive was always meant to be a follow up to Season One while Alternative was going to be something totally different.  Well given how the art style looks the same and Haruko and Contee are back in their own way, im wondering if anything left over from Progressive will be explored…and if anything for Alternative will bring things full circle to Season One.

#1-If it’s not a Prequel, How Does it All Connect?

I’ve been asking this since the day this dual project was first announced.  Naturally, haruko is the main connective tissue between all three stories but are we going to see FLCL, FLCL: Progressive and FLCL: Alternative all cross each other by the end of Alternative? Besides one character in Progressive having a tenuous connection to a main player in Season One, no one else other than Haruko and Contee appeared.  What about Naota and Mamimi, what have they been up to and is Haruko checking in on her precious “Ta-Kun”?  What about Hidomi and Ide, is there story truly done, are either of them related to Naota?  Crap could Alternative be wayyyy down the road (if it’s not a prequel) and some of these girls are the offspring of that blossoming couple?  In the end, this might not matter at all and FLCL just wants to do something different and unconnected with three separate tales.  That wouldn’t surprise me.  FLCL does what it does best when you have no idea what to expect in the end.

The Slayers Part 3 Episodes 10-14

As darkness descends across the land and monsters of all sorts rise up to attack humanity, Lina Inverse, Gourry and Zelgadis are the last line of defense.  Against all odds they must face the Demon Lord Shabranigdo and defeat him once and for all.  Here’s hoping the country side has a sizeable reward for such a huge job.  And what will the Slayers do IF they survive Shabranigdo?  Well bringing down such a legendary menace would make them popular…for both hero worshipers and bounty hunters alike.  Old friends part ways, new allies force their way in and everyone looking to make a quick buck on Lina and Gourry’s head pop out of the woodwork.  Looks like there’s no rest for the Slayers in sight.

I stand by what I said last week.  With all the build up til now, the episode that kicked off this set of episodes could have easily been the season finale of The Slayers.  It was do or die time against Shabranigdo and nothing, NOTHING was working, even Gourry’s sword.  The tension was dialed up and it made everything both appropriately dire and exciting.  So was it all worth it in the end?  Definitley.  The first half of The Slayers finished out the Rezo/Shabranigdo arc with flying colors.  There was even an attempt to explain why the Demon Lord was sealed behind Rezo’s eyes.  Apparently, he was an evil essence passed down from generation to generation until he was finally unlocked.  Take that for what you will or the bit that Rezo was able to pull some of his soul back to help in the final battle.  In the end, Lina Inverse get’s the MVP award for a Sword/Genki Dama style combo.  The Giga Slave looked like an attack that could easily have backfired if Lina’s all wasn’t in it.  I especially liked that her hair turned white as a result, a sign that it does take a toll on her.  Even more surprising was Shabranigdo giving Lina and her friends all due respect for defeating him…you don’t see too much of that when villains bite it.

So when all that was over, what’s next?  How are they going to fill 13 more episodes of series?  Well you start a new quest of course.  Although, there’s both Pros and Cons to this.  I’ll start with the Pros.  The last few episodes leading to the Shabranigdo fight had been the most serious yet, even with a random joke thrown in.  So it’s not a bad thing to return to the happy go lucky vibe of the beginning of the series, lighten things up.  It provided plenty of fun and hilarious stand alone scenarios (which I kind of expected from the very beginning until the main Rezo plot began running throughout).  From battling bounty hunters to exorcising a town of ghosts, Lina and Gourry were never short on danger and hilarity.  After all, this is a show where one second you’re watching a life or death struggle with Demon Lord, the next you’re watching a bounty hunter trying to lure a hungry Lina and Gourry into a trap…holding chicken while dressed as KFC’s Colonel Sanders.  Speaking of bounty hunters, Lina and Gourry have rivals now: another wizard/swordsman duo Vrumugun and Zangulus.  Vrumugun is boring…seriously he has zero personality and might as well be a block of wood who just happens to have magic that can somewhat match Lina (sounds like a Con more than a Pro but it is).  Zangulus, however, is great.  He’s a match for Gourry’s sword but is a bumbling delight who just cant seem to find any good luck catching his prey.  If it were just Zangulus going after Lina and Gourry, this new development would be better.

Then we have the Cons of this new arc.  Sadly, Zelgadis parted ways after the defeat of Rezo/Shabranigdo and that sucks.  He’s easily been one of the best and most likeable characters on the show and ill miss his comradere with both Lina and Gourry (but more so Lina cause I do ship them).  In his place, we get Amelia…who starts off fine but grows increasingly irritable.  Amelia is a “justice junkie” OR as Lina puts it, “a looney hero worshiper….a short sized sorceress in training.”  And she views Lina as the ultimate teacher (boy is she in for a disappointment).  And her first couple of episodes are ok.  Amelia plays well off of her dad, Prince Phil, and she does get some fun rageful reactions out of Lina pretty much all the time.  It’s when the gang gets to Seyruun and we discover someone has put a bounty on Lina and Gourry’s heads (which leads to Zangulus and Vrumugun’s intro).  Amelia IMMEDIETLY switches sides and declares Lina and Gourry are villains who must be punished.  Wow, Gourry’s level of dumb has been topped.  To be honest, im surprised Lina is letting her tag along.  There’s legit proof that Amelia will believe anything and if she’s told Lina is a bad guy again, what’s to stop the same thing from happening?  I cant believe we traded my favorite character in Slayers (Zelgadis…tied with Lina) for my least favorite (Amelia).  Seriously, she’s gonna need to make a big comeback to get into my good graces again.

While fun was had this week for sure, I will say that the levity of the stand alone does give way to the fact that there’s no clear indicator to where things are going.  Yeah someone put a bounty on Lina but that’s all the mystery we’ve gotten so far.  Maybe I’m nitpicking that as im having fun watching the journey but I’ll always wonder what the final destination is going to be and who will be the next big bad to close out the season.  If nothing else, can I please have Zelgadis back?  Guess we’ll just have to wait and see where this all goes.  The journey continues next week.  See ya then everyone.

T5W#159-Top 5 Overwatch Animated Shorts

Overwatch has been a bit of a recurring guest here on my blog.  While it isn’t Anime per say, there’s Anime influence everywhere within it.  From the character designs to the special abilites to the way the action plays out on screen.  The in gameplay battles are chaotic and fun.  However, there’s a special kind of magic to be found in the numerous Animated Shorts that Blizzard puts out every few months.  These mini features usually highlight at least one character and tend to pour on the feels like no other.  Seeing as how we just got a brand new one a couple of weeks ago, I figured it was time I gave Overwatch another shoutout here on Top 5 Wednesday, this week looking at my Top 5 Overwatch Animated Shorts.  Be warned, I will be talking SPOILERS about what happens in these tales…cause really without revealing them I cant truly talk about how special they really are.

#5-Hero (Soldier 76)

In the main game, Soldier 76 is the easiest starter character since he plays a lot like someone from Call of Duty or Halo.  Like many others on this list, however, there’s a bit of depth we only glimpse at in his various bits on in game dialogue.  “Hero” shows the former commander of Overwatch out to deal with a gang in a way that even Frank Castle (The Punisher) would be proud of.  It’s definitely one of the more action packed shorts, with 76 taking out gang members left and right with a mix of Batman stealth and aforementioned Punisher gunplay.  However, beyond the battlehardened bad assery is a man who still wants to do the right thing, even if that means risking the mission and his life to save a girl who gets caught in the crossfire.  “I’m not a young man anymore,” Morrison says, but there’s still a hero behind that visor.

#4-Alive (Widowmaker)

One of the first Overwatch shorts I saw introduced me to two characters ive always had a soft spot for.  While this is a Widowmaker based story, there’s equal amounts screentime dedicated to Overwatch’s flagship speedster Tracer.  The tale follows the two battling it out in London: Widow after an Omni Peacemaker and Tracer trying to protect said Peacemaker.  The battle between the two is amazing, showcasing their equally unique skill sets and giving us some great back and forth that emphasizes why Widow and Tracer continue to be shipped by the community.  The ending is the part that really stands out.  Tracer loses the duel and her charge is killed.  If anything, Alive emphasized that while this is a fun and energetic universe, it isn’t afraid to let the bad guys win if things do play out that way.

#3-Shooting Star (D.Va)

The most recent of the Animated shorts, Shooting Star is a more straight forward action fest featuring Overwatch’s second most featured promo character, the sexy MEKA Pilot D.Va, battling a squadron of Sentinel like Omnics solo.  D.Va’s skill in the cockpit of her awesome mech is on full display along with all the glowing confidence, personality and genuine likeablity she has always been gifted with.  The short also proves to be a lesson for the cutie pilot, being forced to let her lone wolf attitude take a backseat to trusting that lucky guy who gets to hang out with her in her hanger.  While my main’s in recent months have become Sombra and Moira, I could always start training with a Tank character…and I think D.Va would be a good one to go with after this short.  Plus ahhhhh I wish a girl would look at me the way D.Va glimpses her handsome friend from time to time.

#2-Infiltration (Sombra)

Oh Sombra.  I never knew that from the moment this short ended, I would find the Overwatch character I would excel with in the main game…but also fall for super hard.  The first appearance of everyones favorite sultry Mexican hackeress follows her infiltrating Volskaya Industries with the help of Reaper and Widowmaker.  We get to see Sombra’s hacking and stealth on full display, God she is such a boss.  I love the climax though, showing that Sombra is really playing her own kind of game, not on the side of Talon but also far from the side of Overwatch.  What kind of favor would she ever reach out to Volskaya for?  What is Sombra’s ultimate objective?  I don’t know but I would love more adventures with her down the line (though I guess every character needs to get at least one feature first and we’ve barely gotten through a quarter of the cast list).  

#1-Rise and Shine (Mei)

Of all the shorts released so far, this one legit made me cry.  And if you’re not crying by the end, there’s something wrong with you.  You wouldn’t know it behind her shy and cute personality but Mei has one of the more tragic backstories of any character in Overwatch.  When Mei and her Antartica based science team decide to spend time in cryo stasis to preserve resources and await resupply, no one expects anything to go wrong.  But then Mei wakes up…in her cute Pajamei look no less…and slowly realizes that not only have 10 years gone by and Overwatch is no more…but she is also the only survivor of cryo sleep, her team perishing one after another throughout the years.  It’s such a sad fate to wake up to and Mei hugging her faithful robot Snowball only sells it more.  But then Mei decides to pull a Mark Watney and make her way back to civilization…and the recall message put out by Winston.  Goes to show you that even in the darkest of times, the strongest of hearts can always pull through.  Mei proves in this short more than anything that she belongs with the revitalized Overwatch…and dammit you just wanna hug her too.

The Slayers Part 2 Episodes 6-9

For Lina Inverse, the ideal life involves mountains of treasures, taller mountains of food, and…well that’s it.  But that ideal life is moving further and further away as her true enemy reveals himself.  Rezo the Red Priest seeks the Philosopher’s Stone in order to resurrect the dark and powerful Shabranigdo, Lord of the Demons, and satisfy his own desires.  The end of the world is bad for everyone, so Lina’s gotta step up.  But she isn’t alone.  Not only is she reunited with the dim witted Gourry, but she’s also got Zelgadis and his men watching her back.  Facing a legion of Trolls, Monsters and Rezo himself, Lina Inverse: Dragon Slayer moves forward to save the world…and all the food she has yet to devour.

I’d say that we had a complete 180 from last week.  But bless Slayers, even when things got a bit more bleak and dire in this weeks set of episodes, it still had time to laugh in the face of the darkness.  And in the end, that’s gotta make you feel pretty good about things to come, even if it looked as if we’re building to a season finale so soon in this first season.

Ive gotta say, I love Lina and Zel’s short time together.  Zel’s more serious minded nature both clashed and meshed pretty well with Lina’s impulsive force of nature attitude.  I think they bounced well off of each other.  I’d dare say they’re “ship worthy” but much like the old Indiana Jones adage goes, “No time for love Doctor Jones.”  Cause it was finally time to bring the gang back together and Gourry was bringing more than just his lack of perception.  Nope, Gourry also brought a lightsaber…more or less.  His reveal of the Sword of Light hidden within the hilt of his blade was pretty cool and I doubt we’ve seen even a fraction of its true potential.  Given that Lina, Gourry and Zel have a Demon Lord to contend with next week, I think we’ll see that fraction pretty soon. 

Let’s talk about Rezo and the summoning of the Demon Lord Shabranigdo.  First off, Rezo’s plan: destroy the world using the Philosopher’s Stone (yes it shares the same name as that pesky maguffin from Fullmetal Alchemist) in order to get his sight back…even by the usual destroy the world scenarios even that end goal is a bit overkill.  Granted Rezo’s ultimate plan backfired as Shabranigdo was (somehow) sealed behind his eyes…will that ever be explained?  Logic aside, the Dark Lord of the Demon World was every bit fitting of his title based on his design alone.  Multiple arms, horns, blood red eyes and teeth the Alien Queen would be jealous of, clearly this is a foe not to be trifled with and it added an air of dread to the proceedings (also he’s animated nicely to boot).  No moment highlighted this than the (seemingly) unfortunate demise of Zel’s two servants…who have been on his side the whole time?  Yeah that also bothered me.  If they were loyal to Zelgadis the whole time, why didn’t they escape with him and Lina at the end of last week?  I shouldn’t complain too much since Lina and Zel’s team up alone worked just fine without them.  Still, RIP Zel’s men (Zolf the Mummy Man and Rodimus the Axe Man).

Needless to say, things took a much darker turn with more powerful enemies to face, the deaths of characters both good and evil and the promise of a big final confrontation to come.  Again, it feels like we’d be on the doorstep of a Season Finale with this setup.  But more on the mind at the moment is Slayers ability to crack a joke even under all this pressure.  Gourry’s inability to keep up with the story can be aggravating but still feels in line with the humor of Slayers.  Same with Lina facing a monstrous Troll only for the creature to cut the battle short because he spotted a pretty girl and decided to ignore Lina.  No way was Lina taking that…but seriously, Lina is pretty hot imho, no way was the waitress (cute as she was) hotter in anyway…but that’s just me.  Point is, things got serious for sure.  But Slayers still knew when to break the tension with both well timed and surprise, out of nowhere humor.  If you’re not laughing at it by this point, then clearly this isn’t the series for you.

So with Lina back at full strength, Zelgadis on her team and Gourry revealing a secret weapon, do the Slayers stand a chance against one of the most legendary foes of darkness?  I think playtime might be over for a little bit but ive also gotta wonder just what’s going to happen with the second half of this season after/if the big bad is destroyed?  No sense pondering over it now.  We’ll all find out together next week as The Slayers continues right here on the Gundam Anime Corner.

Fall 2018 Announcements

Otakon has come and gone and the last flames of summer are coming in for one last hurrah.  What does any of that have to do with the Gundam Anime Corner?  Well it means summers about done and its time to look ahead to the rest of the year.  Believe or not, ive mapped out a lot of the latter half of 2018 far in advance and now its time to implement those plans.  Here’s the breakdown of what’s coming:

Mondays-Reviews continue as scheduled with The Slayers all throughout September.  Come October, I wanted to do another horror themed Anime, after doing Hellsing in 2016 and Silent Mobius in 2017.  For 2018, im tackling the Anime adaptation of the long running series that isn’t dying anytime soon (going into Season 14 no less).  Yep, rev up the Impala’s boys and girls, we’ll be running around with Sam and Dean Winchester in Supernatual: The Anime Series.  That’ll cover Halloween and take us right into November where im super excited to announce that I’ll be reviewing Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory…or rather finally posting those reviews since I was actually writing them as the series was airing this past spring/summer.  I’ll cap of the Thanksgiving holiday with (hopefully) a full season review of FLCL: Alternative.  I’ll save my announcement of Winter series reviews for a little while longer, though ill hint that December might be a little more busier than usual.

Wednesdays-The never ending chain of Top 5 lists continues with no interuptions.  I have a couple of written in advance lists for Top 5 Wednesday in the coming weeks but nothing months in advance, seeing as how a lot of these are written a few minutes before posting, sometimes…anyway, T5W lives…not much further to announce there.

Fridays-Starting in September, First Impression Friday returns for the second half of it’s 2018 run.  The plan is to keep them going through at least the end of October, maybe a little bit into November, it kind of depends.  I have all of the shows chosen for this new set, except maybe one vacancy, and they kick off September 14 with my first thoughts on FLCL: Alternative (although I may just post something earlier like I did back in the Spring…schedules can be unpredictable sometimes).  Expect a nice mix of classic (and I mean 80’s old school) Anime with some new, modern fan favorites and maybe even a fresh premiere from Japan too…besides FLCL 3. 

And that’s that, the initial plan for the next couple of months here on the Gundam Anime Corner.  I hope everyone is enjoying all of the content ive been putting out in 2018.  If im honest, I think this year has been one of my favorite so far when it comes to writing.  I feel on fire with a lot of intense opinions, both strong and aggravating if a show is terrible.  As always, ill keep ya posted on anything going forward and I hope, even you’re just around for a quick peek, that somehow a visit to my page has made your day a bit better.  See ya around.