T5W#571-Top 5 Anime Series That Failed to Live Up to the Hype

The first official (full) trailer for Avengers: Doomsday dropped this week to much fanfare.  For me though, it didn’t have nearly the same impact on me as the teaser trailer for Avengers: Infinity War back in the day.  While I do still love the MCU, it’s hard to deny it’s in a rough place right now and it’s attempt to build hype with a mega fanservice cast could backfire on it (especially with its commitment to it’s December release date going toe to toe with Dune: Part 3 but that’s a chat for another time).  Idk, it makes me think of Anime series that had similar aspirations of greatness with a lot of anticipation heading into their premieres, only to see them crash hard and either become so bad theyre good or just plain bad.  On todays Top 5 Wednesday, I’m looking at five such titles with the Top 5 Anime Series That Failed to Live Up to the Hype

 

The Rose of Versailles Part 6 Episodes 26-30

When a mission to capture a charming thief: The Black Knight, leads to unexpected tragedy, Oscar and Andre’s friendship is changed forever.  Oscar quits the Royal Guard, looking to escape heartache and her longing for the man she cannot be with.  Meanwhile Andre’s fear of losing the woman he loves drives him too far to remind Oscar of who she truly is.  Between thieves and assassins, France is on the tipping point of conflict and if Oscar and Andre cant reconcile, nothing will be able to stop it.

We’re about to head into the home stretch of The Rose of Versailles.  So far the show has excelled beyond all expectations when it comes to depicting the turbulent and tragic events of this point in French History, with amazing character writing and nail biting drama.  This episode set takes a step back from the historical roller coaster for some quality time with two of our lead characters…to sadly mixed results.  I’m not going to lie, this was a rough set of episodes to sit through, not because it was hard to see a poor girl meet her untimely end because of her mothers machinations or because Jeanne was getting publicly branded.  No, it was hard to watch because Oscar and Andre were all over the place and suddenly going through mood swings that were meant to be important steps forward for their characters and their inevitable romance.  They just went about it all wrong and the end results cant be ignored.
 

The Rose of Versailles Part 5 Episodes 21-25

Four years ago, a desperate Jewler tried to sell Marie Antoinette a Diamon Necklace for an impossible price.  She declined.  Now this necklace has fallen into the hands of the duplicitous Jeanne and her schemes to become rich beyond all imagination.  But when she is caught in the act, Jeanne begins a snowballing social upheaval that threatens to ruin the once loving image of Marie Antoinette beyond repair.  As a desperate Oscar tries to contain the spread of lies and misinformation, the people of France take their first steps towards striking back against the Queen and the Nobility.

I’ll admit, I was a little worried when we began the second half of The Rose of Versailles as we circled back around a character we’ve seen do very little after her promising introduction. But as the set went on, those concerns were dashed and I learned quite a bit about French history through the fascinating and hyper intense Diamond Necklace Incident (even if it apparently ended not so historically accurate).  By comparison, there’s other stuff that happens here and it’s good but if The Rose of Versailles knows where to put the bulk of its storytelling powers for maximum impact and Jeanne, she was the focus of all the best efforts.
 

T5W#570-Top 5 Hottest Ladies in the Final Fantasy VII Remake Saga

The women of Final Fantasy are some of the greatest in gaming history.  Warriors.  Healers.  Thieves.  Rulers.  You name the role, someones probably taken the mantle.  They aid in battles or stand in your way if theyre an enemy and my God…are they all gorgeous.  This has only been reinforced during my ongoing summer journey of finally (no pun intended) getting to play Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth.  The level of beauty fighting side by side or assisting in minor roles is incredibly distracting and any of them can heat up a room or calm the heart in seconds.  And since we’re in the midst of major summer heatwaves, let’s just kick it up a notch on todays Top 5 Wednesday as we look at the Top 5 Hottest Ladies in the Final Fantasy VII Remake Saga.

The Rose of Versailles Part 4 Episodes 16-20

Vengeance comes to Versailles as Oscar takes in the beautiful Rosalie as her protegee, all to help her track down the woman in court who killed her mother.  Meanwhile Marie Antoinette continues to be poisoned against herself by the scheming Madame Polignac.  But nothing can prepare her or Oscar for the return of Hans Fersen, who brings new that will forever alter their bonds.  Knives are out.  Loves are confessed.  But who will ultimately pay the price for the sins of Versailles past?

Today’s review marks the mid point of The Rose of Versailles and holy crap, someone just put their foot on the pedal and didn’t let up for five straight episodes.  There was hardly time to breathe between all the confessions, revelations and basically all of Episode 19, which had one of the most nightmare inducing finales I have ever seen (oh we’ll talk about it but wow it was…wow).  I’m still kind of trying to recover myself from everything that happened so hopefully typing will help me simmer as I go over everything that went down in the mid series events of The Rose of Versailles.