T5W#55-Top 5 Guilty Pleasure Anime

Normally I don’t doubt the titles I choose to review.  And while im glad some people have liked my reviews thus far of Love Hina, I know that some might be scratching their heads over it.  Well, as hard as it is to believe, while action/scifi/mecha/fantasy Anime is always my go to for the medium, it’s not all my Anime collection is comprised of.  Sometimes I like to step out of the comfort zone a bit, enjoy a look at titles others wouldn’t think I’d touch with a ten foot poll.  And sometimes, just sometimes, I run into one that I really, really like.  Well, I managed to choose five of them for everyone to know about.  Kind of like Love Hina, not ashamed to say I like these titles…I still love my s*** blowing up Anime titles a little more but still.

 

#5-Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya

If you’ll recall this was one of the earliest titles I covered over in First Impression Fridays.  Well I continued on and, I actually really liked this series.  It quickly became a sunnier version of Madoka Magica for me.  While it did get a little more series in the second half of the first season, it never lost it’s comedic timing, especially when it came to some fun moments with Illya and Miyu.  And wow, they managed to carry over Fate/Stay Night penchant for bad ass battle scenes.  Who would’ve thought id be impressed by Illya dawning an Archer outfit and turning into a deadly swordswoman?  Plus, of course, my waifu, Rin, always had some of the best moments (of course I started watching this series for her).  I blew threw the first season pretty quick and am not sorry I did.  Keep an eye out for my First Impressions of the second season, Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei, in a couple of weeks on First Impression Friday.

 

#4-Ouran High School Host Club

A show about a Host Club...whose members also include a cross dressing girl that everyone thinks is a boy?  In truth, if I hadn’t made it passed the first episode, I probably wouldn’t have carried on.  The initial premise is a little hard to swallow, don’t ask why.  But the bonds between these characters makes the series a worth while watch.  And it’s also pretty freaking funny at times.  It does take a dip into the more serious side towards the end that hurts it a little.  I still had a fun time watching the escapades of these guys, especially the deadly little time bomb that is Honinozuka if his stuff bunny, Usa Chan, gets coffee on him.  But I totally credit this guilty pleasure to Vic Minogna, who left such a strong impression at his live panel at Otakon 2013.  His being such an incredible voice actor and general human being, convinced me to add this title to my collection well after I watched it all on Netflix. 

 

#3-Free

Yep, don’t think I need to say much more about this one that I haven’t already.  The girls have their reasons to like it.  I have the bonds of brotherhood, the memories of swimming, and just some generally well written story arcs and great characters to enjoy.  And those theme songs kick ass as well.  For more about how much I ended up enjoying this surprise hit, you can check out my reviews of both Free! and Free! Eternal Summer, down below.

Free!-The Complete First Season

http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/free-complete-first-season.html

Free! Eternal Summer-The Complete Second Season

http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/free-eternal-summer-complete-second.html

  

#2-K-On

I first found out about this one back at Otakon 2011.  It’s cutesy animation and focus on an all girls rock band should have turned me off.  But then the music started playing.  And then I started watching for the character interactions, even if they weren’t playing music more than half the time.  THEN I became fans of the core voice actresses for the English Dub, having seen them in concert and met them in person for autographs.  K-On is a special series.  The feel good vibe is undeniable and the music is just so…gahhh cant think of the best words to describe it.  This is a rainy day Anime, one to put in when you’ve hit rock bottom.  Let the music fill your ears and let it tell you what it always tells me…everything is going to be ok.  FUWA FUWA TIME!!!

 

#1-Escaflowne The Movie

This isn’t a great movie.  It takes everything that made Escaflowne so enjoyable: the mecha, the decently executed love story, the world wind fantasy adventure, and tosses most of it out the window.  Instead we get a Christopher Nolan style reboot with all the characters darker, edgier and more violent (or depressed) than anyone wants them to be.  So why, oh why, do I like this one when most Escaflowne fans deem this the bastard offspring of their beloved series?  Well…I’m not the biggest Escaflowne fan to begin with, that’s a start.  And also, when I saw first this movie, I had only had a minor understanding of things based on what I saw from the heavily edited Fox Kids broadcast.  I mean yeah, the movie has pacing problems and is pretty much trying to pack 26 episodes of content into a two hour flick.  But it’s still gorgeous, has one of the best musical scores in any Anime and I think the action (what little there is) isn’t bad at all, especially the centerpiece Escaflowne battle between Van and Dilandeu.  Say what you will of me, but I’ll pop this one in to fall asleep to anyday.

Love Hina Part 2 Episodes 6-10

Keitaro may be settling in to his appointment as manager of the Hinata Apartments but life is far from perfect.  Of the five female tenants he lives with: one doesn’t trust him, one is too shy to talk to him, one will not stop flirting, one wont stop until he is killed in her mecha antics, and the final may or may not be a girl he made a promise to years ago.  As Keitaro endeavors to win Naru’s heart, he must contend with a handsome rival, a ditzy girl who doesn’t know how chaotic she is, video game fantasies and a bevy of daily injuries.  For love, for good grades, Keitaro will brave it all…hopefully.

I know some people have been wondering why I decided to cover this series.  And, to be honest, im wondering why myself sometimes.  Love Hina has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure, a way to mix things up a bit in my Anime watching life.  The girls are cute, the story doesn’t follow the most logical approach and, at the end of the day, it’s just a little silly.  It’s just that, now that im looking at it from a critical approach, im seeing more scratches in the cute armor than id like.

As cute a potential couple they are, Naru and Keitaro can get pretty aggravating sometimes. They like each other and they establish this in these episodes more than before.  Keitaro wants to get to know her better but ends up being beaten over the head in many different ways.  By the way, is Keitaro immortal?  He’s been sent flying into the air, punched, blown up, slashed at and various other manners of physical abuse by nearly everyone in the Hinata Apartments.  It almost makes one wonder if besides the cute style and fashion sense and good looks, is Naru really worth it all?

Not helping Keitaro’s quest much is new addition Mitsune, an air head who seems to do whatever she wants no matter how destructive or ridiculous it might be.  Her schtick got old for me super quick and even the world wind journey across all of Japan couldn’t warm me up to her.  Keitaro’s more handsome counterpart, KENtaro, was a little more amusing, if only because everyone either kept forgetting he existed or kept mixing his name up with Keitaro. 

Where this set did get a bit better for me was in its second half.  We actually got to focus on something other than Naru and Keitaro for a bit and looked at the other characters.  Motoko’s Final Fantasy dream was great and every single reaction the straight faced Motoko gave the increasingly hilarious situation was great.  We got mashups of fantasy, magical girl and even the Legend of Zelda (giant transportation turtle Tama).  We also got a good Su episode, with a little more Magical Girl cause…it’s needed?  Su’s always been one of the most entertaining parts of this show.  She’s like Ed from Cowboy Bebop with her unpredictability and riddle like phrases.  But she’s probably the smartest girl living at Hinata…well maybe not as smart as prankster Kitsune, who’s mischief causing false robbery gave us a great tour of the Hinata complex.  I always said this place feels big and man is it.  Oh and Su’s room is a jungle…take what you will from that.

I’ll end it on the note of us also getting our own little cute mascot, Tama the Turtle.  “She” flies, can be cloned through Magical Girl powers (she’s kind of Su’s spirit animal even if she threatens to eat her) and just has the cutest face ever…well as far as Anime Mascot’s go.  Here’s hoping Tama survives the hotsprings more than living with Mitsune, how the hell did she keep Tama alive that long with the way she is.

It’s not perfect, I know it’s far from it.  But there’s a weird sense of comfort that comes from watching this show.  Will it get better in the next few episodes?  Well, like me, you’ll know when I get the review posted.  Til then, catch ya later.

Gundam Build Fighters Try-Island Wars

One year after winning the nation championships, Team Try Fighters is selected by the Neilsen Labs to test a brand new Gunpla Battle System on a beach resort.  As Sekai, Fumina and Yuuma reunite with old friends, the new battle system rages out of control and a phenomena once dealt with by Sei Iori and Reiji begins anew.  With the island and the world in the balance, Team Try Fighters and their allies head into action once again. 

Why did I do it?  Why was I even interested?  Ok so the theme song was really cool, but so were the themes from Build Fighters Try, that’s the only real praise I ever gave that series.  So why the hell did I go back to this one shot OVA that did little more than remind me of why I hated this series with the fiery passion of a thousand suns?  Cause I review Gundam on this blog, it’s its namesake afterall.  And much like Gundam Seed Destiny, I tuned in to see if anything could be salvaged (I still want those 50 episodes of time spent on Seed Destiny back).

As soon as the main cast first appeared, I remembered why I didn’t miss them, especially YUUMA!!!!!!  Sekai is still discount Reiji with even lower intelligence when it comes to girls.  Fumina is still woefully underutilized for having such a prominent position on the series.  She’s cute and the captain of her Gunpla team but it all seems to fall to Sekai and his God Mode Gunpla to fix everything.  And Yuuma…God what a freaking tool.  Blows off his team in his vain attempt to win the heart of Sekai’s sister…granted she is wearing a swimsuit and looks hot but dammit, Yuuma needs to be punched…that’s just me being polite and not wanting to fly off into a rant.  The rest of the supporting cast, I’ll admit, except for Nils, I didn’t remember much of them or care that they were even around.  At least with Nils, it’s good to see a familiar face to remind me that there was a time when Gunpla battle and building was cool and enjoyable.

For being a one shot OVA special, they try to cram a ton into thirty minutes.  They try to up the comedic factor that was sorely lacking in the rest of the series.  But because it involved a cast I don’t like, much of it didn’t stick.  The action was a little epic but again, I didn’t care cause I don’t care about the players.  What I did care about, came in the last few minutes when we discovered the identity of the culprit behind the island catastrophe.  After a whole season of waiting, we finally got some answers as to the whereabouts of some of my favorite Build Fighters characters.  Yep, the nameless girl with familiar silver hair turned out to be the daughter of Reiji and Aila…WOW!!!  Why couldn’t have we just spent time with them raising their daughter and how come they never really talked to her about Gunpla Battle?  There’s so much potential in this revelation but it’s wasted on a less than amazing cast and I flat out laughed when the girl just upped and left them.  Reiji’s daughter has got better things to do than learn Gunpla from a team of rookies who make the sport look depressing and dangerous as hell. 

So yeah, besides the theme songs and a glimpse of Aila, Island Wars was as pointless as the series that preceded it.  The cast sucks (Yuuma can go to hell and stay there), the action feels joyless and any chance of seeing Sei or Reiji in more adventures seems more distant than ever.  I guess it’s one conselation knowing that Reiji and Aila did end up hooking up and having a happy life together.  And even if that had ZERO Gunpla, I would have been more interested in that development than ANY time I spent with Team Try Fighters…such a sad day.

2/10

FIF#18-Charlotte

Yuu Otasaka had it all.  He was the top student in school, had the key to every ladies heart, lead a pretty fun life.  Oh and he was able to do this because he has the power to possess anyones body for about five seconds.  So yeah, he cheated but what else are you going to do with an unexplained power like that?  Turns out, Yuu isn’t alone and when a pair of students with powers come looking for him, his worlds comes crashing down.  Now Yuu is enrolled in a new school, along with his younger sister, and he’s been tossed into the student council.  The culprit behind this upheaval, Nao, a girl who can vanish in front of one person and loves her camcorder.  She wont say why Yuu is here with her and her accomplice, the terrible teleporter Jojiro.  But this new school is filled with kids with powers…and Nao is determined to protect them for whatever, or whoever, wants to harness their abilities for their own purposes.  Welcome to the next level of high school scifi.

With a title as random as Charlotte, it’s kind of easy for me to glance over it (it’s a title as strange as Bleach).  However, while I was at Otakon, my friends who had seen the Japanese Dub were hyping it up quite a bit.  So I decided to check out the world premiere of the English Dub that weekend.  And…yeah I was pretty entertained in all honesty.  Charlotte’s smartly written, goofy but sentimental and a gem that might go unnoticed by many unless you’re in the know.

What made a lot of these first two episodes work for me was Yuu.  This kid is basically the official, fan fiction offspring of Lelouch vi Britannia from Code Geass and Light Yagami from Death Note.  He’s intelligent, if a bit of a cheater, and is a master manipulator.  He’s also got his powers which make him equal parts jerk and genius.  I also like that his powers have drawbacks, if he takes over a body, his own slumps over unconscious, leaving him in plenty of awkward positions.  Actually, for all the lack of explanation as to where these powers come from (though it’s definitely got something to do with a comet we see in the second episode) the drawbacks are pretty hilarious.  I love how Jojiro can control his stopping when he teleports so he destroys roads and cafeterias when he crashes.  Sure he wears body armor but that cant save injuries to his head…which Yuu notes in hilarious fashion.

I was a little caught off guard by how light hearted the first episode was compared to the second.  Episode Two went into Nao’s backstory and things got almost uncomfortably grim.  It wasn’t until later I realized that the studio behind this new tale is also the studio behind the hit Anime, Angel Beats.  That show also had a funny first episode before blindsiding audiences with a heavy drama filled second episode.  It doesn’t detract from anything really, having powers like these kids have is bound to come with some emotional baggage of the epic kind.  But there is a nice balance to it, at least for now, I bet it gets more dramatic as the series goes on.  Thankfully for all the heavy handed beats, Nao and Yuu’s team ups are pretty fun.  Nao is the offspring of L from Death Note and Haruhi Suzumiya…from haruhi Suzumiya, to me.  She’s got a great detective mind but also has a bit of an all controlling God complex about her, it clashes pretty well with Yuu’s self centerness.  They’re a good pair.

I’ll be looking to continue this one for sure down the line.  The mystery of the comet, or whatever cosmic event that caused everyone to develop powers, seems very reminiscent of the first season of Heroes (you know the good one with the eclipse and all that).  And im also curious just what might be coming after Yuu, Nao and their school…almost sort of X-Men esque.  If that’s the case then, “I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school…looking for trouble.”  My friends were right to suggest this one to me.  Charlotte left a great first impression and I cant wait for more.

T5W#54-Top 5 Bleach Characters

Wow, who would have ever thought the day would come when Bleach would finally wrap itself up?  Like many, I was big on this series when it first debuted and really dug the expanded cast more than the principal one (CHAD WILL NEVER BE IMPORTANT NO MATTER HOW HARD THEY TRY!!!).  And like those many others, I began to grow tired with how much they plodded out the series.  First it took them forever to defeat Aizen, then they announced that the series was ending…in about 5 years time.  The story got boring, took way too long to get through things and had the double edge sword of introducing too many characters and then not giving enough time to develop everyone.  But I’m not here to berate the ups and downs of Bleach’s manga run.  I’m here to talk about my five favorite characters from this long running series.  Even when this series went a little beyond ridiculous, I could always count on these guys to keep me coming back for more.  Even after I dropped off reading the manga, I always wondered what was going on with these guys.  I can only hope they all got proper send offs in the finale

 

#5- Kisuke Urahara

This guy is THE most chill boss you’ll ever meet in your life.  Urahara’s laid back, funny just seems the kind of guy you’d love to grab a beer with after work.  Oh and his best friend is a smoking hot ninja…but we’ll get to her.  But what makes Urahara stand out for me are his training scenes with Ichigo.  When he pushes the kid to his limits, you know he’s not holding back.  He’ll train him to be the best even if it kills him because Urahara knows those are the kinds of enemies Ichigo will be facing.  So why should he be lenient.  “When you fight, you fight to kill,” he claims before releasing one of his most powerful attacks in a training exercise.  It’s scary when you think about it…but also cool and inspiring at the same time.  Easily one of the best mentors and bosses ever.

 

#4-Yoruichi

When you first saw Yoruichi in Bleach, did you ever suspect that the black cat with a deep, male voice, would turn out to be a sexier than thou ninja chick with cute fashion sense and…well…be a girl.  My reaction was just as dumbfounded as Ichigo’s but then the “hot girl” aspect kicked in and I just rolled with it.  Yoruichi isn’t just one of the best fighters in Bleach, PERIOD, but she’s also got one of the saddest backstories of the saga: helping her best friend escape the Soul Society while leaving someone important behind.  It adds to her mysterious grace and shots of the wind blowing her purple hair in dramatic fashion.  And man does she look awesome doing her Shunpo special attack, every panel or image of her drawn with that dramatic lightning kicks so much ass.

 

#3-Soi Fon

I’ll admit, Soi Fon was not anywhere on this list when I first started watching Bleach.  It wasn’t until well after I stopped watching regularly that a good friend of mine started bragging about her and convinced me to give her another chance.  If Yoruichi is the sexy master of ninjas, Soi Fon is her more than adequate successor.  She’s tiny, but packs a punch.  She takes no lip and hardly backs down from a challenge.  Plus, as cool as it is to see her handle hand to hand combat, something you don’t see much of cause everyone’s using swords…she’s also got a Bazooka for her Bankai that’s bigger than she is.  Personally, I think Soi Fon is the most criminally underutilized character on my Top 5, she deserves so much more screentime than most of the Soul Reaper cast.

 

#2-Kenpachi Zaraki

Yeah he was going to be on here somewhere.  Kenpachi is the ultimate definition of a bad ass.  Always ready to fight, hardly ever losing (he does but it takes a lot to bring him down) and so OP it isn’t even funny at times.  It’s hard to think of why the Soul Society wouldn’t just send him out to clean house with Aizen and his Arrancar single handidly, i wouldn’t say it’s out of the realm of possibility.  Kenpachi is the best example of a God Mode Cheat that’s actually acceptable…unlike Aizen who I just found super annoying to be honest.  And he’s got an eye patch and isn’t a pirate…don’t know why but I love that.

 

#1-Byakuya Kuchiki

It’s funny that Byakuya should be at the top of my list.  Cause at first, I didn’t even like him.  His cold handling of Rukia’s imprisonment and death sentence pissed me off as much as it did Ichigo.  But once Byakuya got his act together, he came to become one of my most beloved Anime characters of all time.  His cool and calm demeanor is the kind we all want to have in times of tough situations.  When Byakuya shows up, you know stuff is about to go down.  Plus, he’s got a heart you wouldn’t expect.  He actually cares a lot about his allies and his sister, Rukia, even if he doesn’t always show it.  When you threaten them though, holy crap hit the deck and write your will.  Cause those ten thousand Cherry Blossom swords he calls his Bankai are coming for you.  Byakuya Kuchiki, the kind of leader we should all strive to be in life.

Anime Corner-Fall 2016 Preview

The heat finally cut us some slack.  But that also means summer is starting it’s last run.  With Otakon in the rear view, sadly, it’s time to get back to things here on the Anime Corner.  A bevy of Top 5 Wednesdays and new First Impression Fridays are on the way but the real meat of my material will always be my weekly reviews.  As of now, ive mapped out the rest of 2016 up til Christmas.  Figure id share whats in store.  And for those of you scratching your heads over me giving something like Love Hina a shot, don’t worry, it’s just me trying something new.  The end of September will throw us right back into the action cycle like you wouldn’t believe.  Anyway, onto the titles…

(Remember, these are subject to change but I’ll do my best to keep my posting schedule going as strong as I can.)

Love Hina

Keitaro is a young man who dreams of attending Tokyo University, keeping a promise he made to a girl when they were just kids.  But Keitaro’s grades suck and he needs a job.  Luck may be on his side though.  His Grandma Hina is going on vacation and leaving her Hinata Hotsprings to him.  Should be a sweet gig, especially when the Hotsprings is also the apartment home to five beautiful women…one of whom may be that very same girl Keitaro made his promise to.  But this is life in an all girls complex.  Misunderstandings, budding romance and a years worth of physical torment in a day all come with the new job of Apartment Manager.  Keitaro may find success, he may even find true love…if he can survive somehow.

 

Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail

The Lagoon Company is back.  When a US black ops mission claims the life of Diego Lovelace, his loyal servant and ex soldier, Roberta, is on the warpath for revenge.  She doesn’t know the can of worms this could open up and she could care less if she did.  Roberta tracks the team to Roanapur and this is the last thing the powers of the underworld want on their doorstep.  Desperate to save Roberta, Garcia Lovelace and his best friend, Fabiola, recruit Rock, Revy and the Lagoon Company to find Roberta and get her out of Roanapur ASAP.  The island of criminals and thieves is a powder keg on a daily basis.  But this showdown could turn into a disaster of nuclear proportions when Roberta is done thirsting for blood.

 

Hellsing

Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, things that go bump in the night DO exist.  And when they step into London’s backyard, that’s where they come in.  They are the Hellsing Organization and they’ve been keeping Queen and country safe for ages.  What’s their secret?  They have a monster of their own.  His name is Alucard.  He’s older than anyone wants to admit and his loyalty is to one person alone, his handler Sir Intergra Wingates Hellsing.  But something’s coming.  Something not even Alucard has ever faced in his long lifetime.  The ultimate war of the undead is about to commence.  Vampires, Ghouls, Shapeshifters and psychotic Catholic Exorcists all come together for the ultimate battle royale of darkness.  And Alucard feels right at home in the middle of it.

 

X-1999

There is a prophecy: Two sides of warriors will clash at the turn of the century.  The Dragons of Heaven will fight to protect the planet.  The Dragons of Earth will seek to restart the world by wiping out humanity.  At the center, one will take his place as leader of either side.  The chosen one is Kamui, a young man with powerful psychic abilities.  Courted by both sides of the conflict, Kamui wants to play by his own rules and risks dragging the only family he has left into this fight.  But for all of Kamui’s attempts to keep Fuma and Kotori away from his life, the greatest destiny of all befalls them.  Swords will clash, hearts will be broken.  In the end, only one side can claim victory.  This is where the end of the world begins.

 

Fate/Stay Night

The Holy Grail War has existed in secret for most of history.  Ten years ago, the Third Holy Grail war resulted in the destruction of Fuyuki City and everyone in it…save for one young boy.  Ten years later, Shiro Emiya, the lone survivor, is drawn into the Fourth Holy Grail war, part of a legacy he never asked for.  Armed with his own servant, the beautiful Heroic Spirit known as Saber, Shiro becomes one of seven mages fighting for the ultimate prize.  He has an ally, the beautiful prodigee Rin Tohsaka, but even she could turn on him at any given time.  Shiro never asked to be part of this battle.  But unless he does fight, more sinister mages could claim the Holy Grail and what happened to Fuyuki City could only be a preview of the true terror that could be unleashed.

Good set list, right?  I should also say that I am thinking about the beginning of 2017 as well and right now, im leaning heavily towards opening it with Martian Successor Nadesico and it’s movie sequel The Prince of Darkness.  But that’s still a ways away.  2016 is still going on and it’s not looking any less rough for me, personally.  But this is a page I love to work on and keep updated.  So I’ll do my best to keep it all coming your way.  Even if you’re a fan or around for just a glimpse of things…thanks for taking a look at my page.

Talk again soon everyone.

Love Hina Part 1 Episodes 1-5

Keitaro Urashima has always had one dream: to get into Tokyo University and reunite with a girl he made a promise to as a child.  There’re just a couple of snags: First, he sucks at studying and is constantly flunking the Tokyo U entrance exams.  Second, he cant remember the name of that girl he made his promise to.  Complicating things more, through a twist of fate, Keitaro ends up the new Super Intendent of his Grandmothers “Hinata Hotsprings” Apartment complex…home to five beautiful girls…one of whom may be that girl he’s been looking for his whole life.  Keitaro’s determined to fulfil his promise…if the girls of Hinata don’t manage to kill him first.

So, stop me if you’ve heard this one.  An aspiring student, a flirty drunk, an exotic mecha fanatic, a kendo warrior and a shy cook walk into a hotsprings…and that’s pretty much where it all ends.  Much like Bamboo Blade earlier this year, this is a bit of a change for me in terms of shows to review.  Love Hina is not exactly heavy on action (though there is a bit thanks to one or two characters) and it’s a harem comedy.  For a better example of this, look no farther than Tenchi Muyo.  Love Hina’s a lot like that: one guy living in a building surrounded by beautiful women…just no space adventures.  So it is a little slice of life Anime.  But I did say I wanted to try a couple of different titles this year.  So let’s hop to this one, shall we?

While the animation isn’t anything to really brag about, the big draw of a series like this are its characters.  As stated above, it’s a pretty interesting and very diverse cast.  The stand outs for me are easily Kaola Su and Motoko.  Motoko’s just a bad ass with a sword, able to perform otherworldly attacks and providing the series with tiny snippiets of action.  Kaola’s pretty unique in her design and heritage.  Of Indian decent, she’s pretty wild and all over the place and she’s even into mecha.  Her tank assault on Keitaro in the first episode was funny but it was super odd to see her riding a robo horse down the school hall.  Are we sure this girl shouldn’t just have her own show?  Also, what’s up with the “wolf whistle” sound effect when Kaola shows up anywhere?  Not knocking it, just a strange choice.

Keitaro is a pretty lucky guy in a number of ways.  While I would say it’s mostly because he’s living under the same roof as five cute girls, its more so because he’s somehow still alive after being punched, slashed at, punched again, exploded through a hallway and tossed all over the freaking hotsprings.  And while it’s fun to watch the first couple of times, the first four episodes do seem to fall into the same, repetitive pattern: Keitaro gets into a massive misunderstanding, is chased and slapped around the hotsprings by Naru and everyone else, and eventually makes up for it at the end.  At least episode 5 changed the scenery a bit…but even that lead to a weak story of Naru and Keitaro not recognizing each other without their glasses but apparently not knowing each other well enough to know the others voices.  Things could be better overall but we’re just starting off.  If we’re still repeating ourselves by episode 10, then we’re in trouble.

I do really like the Hotsprings setting.  It’s not as grand a castle as the Bath House from Spirited Away, but the Hinata Apartment complex feels huge and a place I could happily get lost in for hours.  If I had a girl like Naru showing me around, id be happier too.  For all the rowdiness and chaos that comes with kicking the crap out of Keitaro daily, I wouldn’t mind visiting or even staying at a place like this from time to time.  Heck I wouldn’t even mind the three mystic old men popping up to give me cryptic life notes, don’t ask why but I found them very entertaining.

So after a first few episodes, we got introduced to our main cast; got one storyline partly resolved, or at least im really glad Keitaro’s secret of not being a Tokyo U student didn’t stay that way for long and is out in the open; found some good laughs and some wrinkles that need to be ironed out.  No matter what though, this is our series of choice to close out the summer.  Girls, hotsprings and random robots flying around courtesy of a tiny mad genius?  Eh, could think of worse vacation spots.  And plus since this series is about one kids journey to get into a prestigious school and summer is at an end…well I actually just thought about that, but timing amirite?

See ya next week.

FIF#17-One Punch Man

When monsters, super villains and other forces of destruction threaten the city, the people need a hero.  And that hero is…Saitama.  Except he’s not a hero in the traditional sense.  He’s not out to be a symbol of hope or be a boy scout…he’s just doing this because it’s a hobby and he’s bored.  Oh and he’s got the unfortunate curse of being able to end fights with literally just one punch.  When you’re the strongest hero on the block and no one can take you on...what do you do with that kind of drive?  He may be lazy, laid back and way to comfy with his life situation, but Saitama is the only chance the people of the city have.  Get ready for a new breed of hero.

One Punch Man was one of the most talked about Anime titles of 2015.  It was getting the kind of attention Attack on Titan got a couple of years prior and was making waves all across the internet.  With the much anticipated arrival of the English Dub on Toonami, I finally decided to see what was up and if it could live up to the immense hype.

Oh hell yes it does.  Actually no, it doesn’t live up to the hype, it surpasses it more than I ever imagined.  Saitama is a great character who, in all honesty, I could see a bit of myself in, you know minus the whole amazing powers bit.  He’s just a guy who thought saving the world would be fun and eventually just becomes bored.  Very little agitates him and he kind of shrugs off a lot of things with a devil may care kind of attitude.  This does lead to some of the shows best moments where is lack of being afraid pisses off opponents enough to attack him…before getting thoroughly obliterated by his one punch might.  I get that, being surrounded by so much frustration that one punch usually does the trick to end annoyances.  Except I wouldn’t be bored with it like Saitama is, but I would just shrug it off and move on too.

Saitama’s world is pretty much Zack Snyder’s ultimate playground of collateral damage.  Buildings, sections of the vast cities and hundreds if not thousands of human lives are destroyed regularly by chaos…and no one seems to care.  Seriously, you know the whole Picard Meme, “WHY THE F*** DO PEOPLE STILL LIVE IN GOTHAM?!”  Well why do people still live in this city that has everything from giants, to underground monsters, to killer mosquitos trying to destroy everything?  I do like that each villain has a quick but elaborate backstory that they attempt to spill out before their untimely, Saitama related ends.  This show is very much a parody of all the American superhero genre tropes and it is freaking hilarious.

What really put One Punch Man on the map for me, the moment that really grabbed me…was Saitama being unable to kill one little Mosquito, even with his punches.  As a new cyborg character faces doom from a (strangely attractive) female Mosquito monster, Saitama comes barreling down the street with a can of bug spray demanding the bug he’s been trying to kill for an hour die already.  You don’t get better entrances than that from any character.

I hear this series is short and that’s both a shame and a blessing.  Much like FLCL, such goodness shouldn’t overstay it’s welcome to the point where it doesn’t finish as strong as it began (biting nails over the announcement of FLCL 2 and FLCL 3).  It’s a shame because this is some of the strongest and funniest works of Anime I have seen in a really long time.  And the dub isn’t bad either, I actually like Saitama’s voice quite a bit and you can tell he and the rest of the cast are having a blast dubbing this one.

I should end on the note that the only reason I chose to finally check this out is because of the new Jason Bourne flick and seeing Matt Damon take a guy out in a fight in one punch…I said, “THIS ISNT JASON BOURNE…IT’S ONE PUNCH MAN!!!”  Ok im done.  Good to be back doing the FiF’s.

 

T5W#53-Top 5 Otakon 2016 Moments

Well, this weekend was definitely something.  After a year of waiting, and three years of advance warning, Otakon 2016 arrived and there was no way to fully ignore that this would be the last one in Baltimore, Maryland.  As much as it hung like a cloud over the weekend, I can safely tell you it dampened no spirits.  In fact, it infused everyone with the desire to make this weekend the best one possible.  And at the end of the day, it feels wrong to rank this amongst the other years gone by (I would say it’s up there though, could be a T5W for another time).  Otakon 2016 was, in simple terms, special.  It’s almost kind of tough to go through and choose 5 moments that stood out amongst everything else and, really, it all kind of gels together.  But I cant break this cycle that began weeks ago.  So here we go.  The epic conclusion to this sort of unintentional miniseries within the Top 5 Wednesday features, my Top 5 Moments from Otakon 2016.

 

#5-Japan Still Loves Eva…A Little Too Much

 

This was a fun way to kick off Saturday.  I’d seen a couple of Evangelion themed panels from the Moderators of Evamonkey.com and had always been entertained (even got to chat with one of them and he’s a dead ringer for David Tennant as the 10^th Doctor).  With this panel, “Japan Still Loves Evangelion…A Little Too Much” I got to see Japans kind of creepy love for this series that has it’s colors pasted on bullet trains, Pachinko Machines (with custom cutscenes that make me wonder if this is why we haven’t seen Evangelion 4.44 yet), even hotels and…horse racing? Yeah I saw a stallion mode Evangelion Unit 01.  I also saw a Transformers Eva 01 but yeah the horse was.  Not a bad way to start the day…even if im not drinking Eva style coffee.

 

#4-One Punch Man/Charlotte

There were a couple of big screening events during the convention.  Charlotte’s English Dub premiere was actually pretty good.  It started out kind of funny but got a little serious in the second half…not surprising after I found out it was done by the same studio that did Angel Beats, which followed a very similar structure.  The powers possessed by main character Yu and his total arrogance over himself made me realize that he was actually the legit love child of Light Yagami and Lelouch Vi Britannia…CONGRATS SHIPPERS, IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!!  By comparison, his female lead companion, Nao, is pretty much the offspring of L and Haruhi Suzumiya, a good detective but with a bit of a God Complex.  As for One Punch Man, unlike the group I was with, they had never seen the dub of this show before (id caught it on Toonami).  The reaction of the audience was amazing and even if it was just the first couple of episodes, I was still laughing myself sideways (especially when Saitama comes into battle trying to kill a Mosquito with bug spray).  And the group I was with loved it and we traded some fun observations.  Even though we never met up the rest of the weekend, it’s short times spent with total strangers like this that make some of the best times of the convention.

 

#3-Evangelion ReDeath: Sing Along Redux

This was one viewing I wasn’t going to miss, no matter what.  Ever since the first time I came to Otakon, I’d always been around on Saturday to see Evangelion ReDeath.  What’s it about?  Well here’s what it says in the Otakon hand guide: “It doesn’t bother Shinji that his father (who might be a pimp) thinks giant robots are babe magnets. It doesn’t bother him that he shares an apartment with a strangely masculine German girl. It doesn’t even bother him that the world may be coming to an end thanks to a long forgotten Prince song. The only thing on Shinji’s mind is the nookie, whatever that is.  No one said adolescence was easy.”  This is easily one of the funniest parodies I have ever seen and it has never gotten old.  This year, we got a new “Sing Along” edition.  And the audience was the most pumped I think ive ever seen it for this screening.  When “Big Balls” by ACDC and, most importantly, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen kicked in, everyone sang, everyone cheered.  And when Gendo’s theme played…I don’t think ive ever seen so many people get into the aisles to dance.  For the last screening of Evangelion ReDeath in Baltimore, this screening goes down in my books as the best of all seven times ive seen it. 

 

#2-Dejavudea

Otakon has always been a favorite con for Dejavudea and she’s been a regular attendee for years.  I had a feeling she’d attend but im always never prepared for her to recognize me and give me a hug.  There are times I wonder what the heck I did to earn her friendship but I end up never questioning it.  Her infectious spirit is enough to get anyone pumped for a convention.  As always, she was shooting footage for her Vlogs on her Youtube page and leading her merry band of dancers, Dantsu to Pantsu, into battle (not really but you know what I mean).  She even participated in a Love Live dance event on the final day, doing what she’s always done best, getting out there and dancing with friends to catchy music from Anime.  Dejavudea’s become a good friend and I’ll always voice my support for her and her endevors on this blog when I can.  I’m glad I got to chat with her in short moments across the weekend, she’s easily become as important an element of my con life as many others I know.  Here’s hoping I see her again down the line at Cons outside of Baltimore.  Til then, always get her back no matter what, even in spirit….V.

 

#1-“I don’t have friends.  I’ve got family”

 

 

 

 

 

The screenings I view, the merchandise I buy, the cosplay I photograph…the real gift I take away from any Otakon ive been to, especially in the last few years, are the friendships I gain each time I go.  Many of the people I hung out with over the weekend I met back in 2013 and they’ve been back ever since.  Each time, we reunite, if even for a little bit, to chat, catch up on life, and enjoy convention adventures together.  This year felt different though.  I was practically making it my mission to get in some quality time with as many friends as I could, thinking this could very well be the last time we’re all around each other like this (as of this moment many of them, including myself, are not sure about attending Otakon 2017 in Washington DC next year).  This Convention in this city brought us all together and has seen our growth as fans and friends year after year.  The people ive met are not my friends…they are my family and I miss them dearly everytime we part ways.  As you can imagine, saying goodbye this time was particularly tough.  I think one of the hardest moments of truth from the whole weekend was on Thursday when I found the Ice Cold Water Man and could hear how sad he was that Otakon was moving on.  He’s a vendor for a lot of Convention Center events but im sure from his tone, he loved us more than anything else and we always accepted him as part of our convention community, part of our family.  Parting ways with him and the city was never going to be easy.  But just because the con ends, doesn’t mean we wont stay in touch.  Im not letting go of these friendships as long as I live…and I’ll always remember where they began, right here in Baltimore at a little convention…called Otakon.

Well…that was pretty lengthy.  Might be the post con depression talking a bit (yes it’s a real thing and no laughing matter).  But I was perfectly ok with everything that happened over this weekend.  I’ll never forget it and I’ll never forget this con taking place here.  This is, and always will be, my home.  So here’s to you Otakon…til the day we meet again.

…and now I need to start thinking of new ideas for future T5W lists.  While I think on that I should say to keep an eye on the blog on Friday…something special might be coming back since ive seen a couple of good, new titles over the weekend hehehe.  See ya then everyone.