T5W#133-Top 6 Favorite Pokemon

“I wanna be the very best like no one ever was. To catch them all is my real test. To train them is my cause.  I will travel across the land, searching far and wide.  Teach Pokemon to understand the power that's inside! Pokemon, (gotta catch them all) its you and me. I know its my destiny. Pokemon, oh, you're my best friend in a world we must defend. Pokemon, (gotta catch them all) a heart so true.

 Our courage will pull us through. You teach me and I'll teach you (Po-ke-mon) Gotta catch 'em all, Gotta catch ‘em all, POKEMON!!!”

 

Yeah…not much more to say after that legendary intro.  Pokemon Day was yesterday so today’s Top 5 is a Top 6 dedicated to my Favorite Pokemon.  Why 6 instead of 5?  Simple, cause (unless somethings changed during an iteration), it’s the limit of Pokemon one can carry at a time.  I’m also not talking about a balanced team.  Nope, these are the ones that are the coolest, the cutest and the ones I would carry into battle anytime against any Gym Leader.  Onto the list, IT’S TIME TO DUEL…wait…

 

#6-Hitmonlee

When it comes to martial arts, I guess I’ve always been a fan of the kick attacks, idk guess I think theyre more unique than a simple punch.  Hitmonlee is a Pokemon dedicated to kicks of all kinds, all styles.  He does have some creepy eyes, for sure but his name also channels the spirit of another legendary warrior, easy to guess. 

 

#5-Litten

This little guy is a recent addition to the grand Pokemon mythos and MY GOD IS HE ADORABLE!!!  I know it’s probably wise to choose a water type as your starter Pokemon no matter what cause it’s likely the first gym leader is a rock trainer and water can kick the crap out of rock.  But id take a chance on little Litten.  His evolutions look pretty fierce so id be careful to train him.  I want him to be powerful but still remain cute…maybe I could just keep him as a pet?

#4-Lugia

Team Mystic, Team Valor, Team Instinct.  Me?  I’m Team Lugia.  If those three legendary birds (Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres) ever got into an argument, this big guy is the one youd call to settle the dispute.  Lugia is the reason I wanted to play Pokemon Silver more than Gold.  Sure Ho-Oh is the one Ash saw in the first episode, so he’d be a good catch.  Lugia will always be more special though, especially seeing him kick ass in the second Pokemon movie.

 

#3-Pikachu

The eternal Pokemon mascot no matter how many new ones they churn out every few years.  Pikachu was so beloved he even got a game where he was your main Pokemon, very much like he was for Ash in the TV Show.  He can go toe to toe with the best of them and still look so gosh darn huggable (when he wants to be hugged).  Plus Ash must be doing something right, training Pikachu for over two decades and he’s never evolved.  Pikachu is the best example of great power in a tiny adorable package.

 

#2-Mewtwo

Every single one of the first generation Pokemon on a list of 151 was building up to this guy.  At #150 (interesting considering he’s a clone of Mew, aka #151), Mewtwo stands as one of the most powerful Pokemon of all time.  He’s a psychic powerhouse who will decimate all right after you catch him and add him to your roster.  And man did I have some fun day dreams about him maybe taking on the likes of Goku in a battle one day (don’t tell me you never thought about it either).

 

#1-Scyther

A bug Pokemon with sharp wings that can cut through anything.  Mewtwo may be the more powerful but Scyther always had the coolest design to me.  It was a little disappointing to know he couldn’t really fly, like his initial picture suggested (maybe the ended up changing that, I don’t know).  But still, it was fun to use him in battle to dance around enemies before coming in for the slice and dice finish.  At the end of the day though, Scyther takes my #1 spot simply because he just looks cool.

 

Pilot Candidate Part 4 Episode 10-12

With Erts promoted to the rank of Goddess pilot, the coveted top spot for head of the class is open once again.  Should any Pilot/Repairer team claim this spot, they’ll be the next in line should a spot on the roster open up.  Zero and Hiead are more determined than ever to outclass one another.  But when a Victim force, the largest ever recorded, begins to overwhelm the Goddesses, the young men will see battle for the first time.  All of their training, all of their bonding with the Repairers, their fine tuning as potential Goddess pilots, has led to this battle.  Will Zero, Hiead, Kizuna, Ikhny and their classmates find their dreams at the end of their greatest trial?

 

Thank God this poor waste of Anime is over and done with…cause im all out of sympathy, im all out of brain power to dedicate to it and to make matters worse, there isn’t even an attempt to end on a good note.  I mentioned last week that Pilot Candidate is the eqivalent of a ship crashing through multiple planets.  Well now it hit the inevitable wall…and the crash is more infuriating than the fall.

 

What’s kind of funny about this is that the finale is split into two parts between three episodes.  Episodes 10 and 11 are the last episodes aired of the TV series and Episode 12 is an OVA meant for…who knows, I don’t even think it itself knows.  Well with all that’s happened so far, we had to see the boys finally go into battle.  There was just one problem and it wasn’t with Zero (for once).  Nor was it the bad CG failing one last time to live up to any standards or potential.  I mean come on: thousands of Victims and the mechas all move like crap around them? WHO GREENLIT THIS ARTISTIC APPROACH??!!!  Ahem, sorry, right what problem was worse than that?  It was more on the side of Hiead and Ikhny, but mostly Ikhny.  They have never explained how Pilots an Repairers are paired on GOA but Hiead and Ikhny are the most mismatched of any of the bunch.  Hiead wants to be the best and kill anyone who gets in his way.  Ikhny is so desperate to earn his approval and praise…she freaking sabotages Zero’s Pro-Ing without realizing that their training exercise is about to turn into a live battle.  Wow just…wow.  There’s dumb, then there’s Zero stupid, and now there is Ikhny dumb.  Why didn’t she get a new partner?  Could anyone see she and Hiead weren’t working well together?  Could the not so good as his job instructor take a break from chiding, then smiling at Zero to keep an eye on this kind of BS happening right under his nose?  As you can tell, this pisses me off but more so, KIZNA FORGIVES HER!!!!  Ikhny’s attempt to get her no chance in Hell boyfriend to look at her and smile almost got Kizna’s partner killed in the process.  You don’t forgive stuff like that on a mere whim.  Maybe it’s because at that point, the series was done and they didn’t want too many plot threads dangling when all was said and done…

 

Except:

Why is Victim so dead set on eliminating Zion?  Just what are the Goddesses really?  What is Teela’s connection to the head of GOA?  Is there anyone actually alive on Zion?  Why does Kizna cover for Ikhny for almost killing her partner?  What’s up with everyones pasts getting taken away?  Just who the hell is the girl inside the Goddess who keeps calling to Zero?  Is he still meant to pilot Galoo’s Goddess and not the White One like he wants?  Was Hiead a serial killer in his past?  Why does Teela not need a Repairer when everyone else has one?  Will Zero and Kizna ever make it to where we always see them in the intro: with Zero in a Goddess Pilot Uniform, piloting Teela’s Goddess with Kizna backing him up?

 

You know, just all the questions ive been asking since the show began that (shocking) never got answered?  And then there’s the OVA, which does nothing to fix that problem.  Instead, it offers us mostly clips from earlier episodes spliced in with a too little too late flashback to the early days of the current Goddess Pilot roster…except Teela.  Focusing mostly on the fallen Ernest, looking over his brother Erts in the present day, the OVA finale tries to make me care about a group of pilots we spent way too little time around and I don’t care about them anymore once the credits started.  Why did the OVA even exist?  Was there a plan to bring back Pilot Candidate for…reasons?  Whatever the logic was behind it, clearly things didn’t pay off.  Pilot Candidate is dead in the water, in the deepest chasm, never to rise again.

 

Finally I can get into my final thoughts.  Pilot Candidate is terrible, worse than I had been led to believe.  The first couple of episodes work as a very, very rough proof of concept with a dash of nostalgia for the early days of Adult Swim Anime.  Afterwards, the show becomes a mess of cliché ideas, cliché characters, cliché mysteries and a crap ton of unanswered questions.  The 2D animation isn’t the worst ever in hindsight but the 3D art never gets better and really drags everything else down.  I mean if anything we should have some cool mecha battles to look forward to in order to make up for lack of a good story, right? WRONG!!!  And just when you think things cant get any worse…it just gets boring.  I swear I don’t remember half of the story or any character development, if at all cause I was falling asleep plenty of times on this one.  Though sometimes I was falling asleep to the soundtrack because it wasn’t bad, certainly better than this show deserved.  And, to some credit, while they move like garbage, the Goddess designs hold promise, which again is never really fulfilled. 

 

“For those with wings, fly to your dreams”…or you know do that but stay as far as you freaking can form this one

I heard this show was bad, but I never expected this level of bad.  Silent Mobius: The Series can rest a little easy…a show worse than that has come along.

 

Final score for Pilot Candidate aka The Candidate for Goddess is 2/10.

 

Hope that was worth the two week break and build up for everyone.  I’ll see ya next week as I close in on the 4^th Anniversary of the Gundam Anime Corner, starting with the GAC debut of Kakegurui.

T5W#132-Top 10 Katsucon 2018 Moments

After the year of hell that was 2017, it amazes me that I even made it to Katsucon 2018.  It was a long, very difficult road filled with obstacles galore.  But I survived and made it and you know what?  It was the best Katsucon ive been to yet.  Seriously, looking back on those four days last weekend and trying to come up with 5 moments that perfectly defined it was very tough.  I almost feel like this should be a Top 10 this week instead of a Top 5…so you know what, screw it.  Because this weekend was so great, im bringing you a doubled sized T5W today.  Get ready for my Top 10 Katsucon 2018 Moments.

 

#10-The Power of Love Sing Along

It was the most random moment ever, seriously things could not have been more conviently placed for this to go down.  On my way to the Artist Alley to find a friend, I overheard a trio of girls talking about “The Power of Love”, a song from the old Sailor Moon English Dub (It’s used in the climax and credits of Sailor Moon R: The Movie-The Promise of a Rose).  And it just so happened I had that song on my ipod on a playlist.  When I showed them the song, they flipped out and asked me to play it for them.  It made their night as they got to sing the first verse and chorus of the song while it played on my ipod.  It was a good momentary distraction and it put me in a better mood than I was already in that night.  Randomness like this is the reason conventions still leave me in awe.  Even momentary bonds like these can make the weekend all the better.

 

#9-Video Game Room Wins Again

The Video Game Room admittedly felt a little lacking this year.  Many of the arcade shooters and table games were absent, replaced with more console gaming and machines that looked like they were taken right from a Japanese Arcade.  It was different but I shouldn’t act like it was a bad thing.  For all that there wasn’t, I still found fun in unexpected ways.  In fact, my travels through the Game Room this year were the most diverse yet.  I got to play Call of Duty: Advance Warfare, Mortal Kombat X, Super Smash Bros Brawl and Mario Kart on the Gamecube with different friends.  Best yet, they FINALLY got a new version of Just Dance up in the back.  I got a lot of good dance footage with my camera as well as a couple of good dance sessions in myself.  Just because a couple of key elements were missing didn’t mean the Video Game Room had lost any of its magic.

 

#8-Sailor Moon Photoshoot

The Sailor Moon Photoshoot at Katsucon 2015 has always been my gold standard when it comes to looking at Sailor Moon Photoshoots in general.  There was such an energy to it, that and the magic of being in the Gaylord Hotel for the first time.  I don’t know if I can pinpoint what made it so magical: the lighting around the Gazeebo after the sun set, the little kids stealing the show with their awesome cosplays, Rizuki rocking her awesome Punk Sailor Star Defender Cosplay and leading the pack with two other hosts.  It was just such a great time and the first time in a while I felt a Sailor Moon photoshoot measured up to 2015.

 

#7-Getting the Band Back Together

Last year, I went to Katsucon with two very good friends of mine from Otakon, Maria and Johnnie.  This year I’d be rooming with their friends Lauren and Laurence.  Of the many friendships ive gained going to Otakon all these years, these four are very special to me.  Through them id found the basis of a true convention family, one that has expanded a lot in the last 5 years since I met them.  Plus this was the first time in I think 2 years that I had seen these four all in the same spot together.  It made me cry a couple of times knowing a groups of Weeaboos had come to accepted a schmuck like me as one of their own.  Hence why, when it comes to Anime Conventions, I always default to the wisdom of Vin Diesel, “I don’t have friends, I’ve got family.”

 

#6-The 18+ Panels

Take note now: you can go to every 18+ Panel on the planet at any convention but know this…you might say “now ive seen everything” but trust me…you aint seen nothing yet.  I ended up at three late night 18+ panels this year, all with their own bit of extreme otaku naughtiness to bring to the table.  While the action and drama categories of the NSFW AMV Contest were kind of dull, the Hentai and Comedy sections, those more than made up for it and the crowd agreed.  So much lewdness, so much hilarity and audience reactions…there’s a reason I love 18+ panels, especially the Hentai ones, you never know how everyones going to react to what they see.  But then there was the panel entitled Bizarre Hentai Theater 20XX…oh God.  Sure it started 45mins late but what I saw that night pushed the limits of anything I had seen before this panel, and ive seen a lot.  “I have…seen things you people wouldn’t believe,” Rutger Hauer once said in Blade Runner.  But no matter how much you see, you should never say “now ive seen everything” cause you haven’t and there were several moments, especially in the Top 3 clips shown that made me scream “WHAT THE F***” and man…some things I just cant unsee after I see them (thankfully my stomach was intact).

 

#5-Naginata

While wandering the fountains just after the sun had set on Thursday, I met a pair of girls practicing a weapons martial art style called Naginata.  It’s a spear like style that long ago was meant for just women but has grown to accept both sexes.  The way these two spared with each other was like nothing id ever seen before and I was in total awe.  It’s very Kendo like except with staff like weapons.  I got to chat with them and even get some fight footage of their sparring.  They had a couple of events on Friday and I intended to check them out (especially after my failed attempt to get more photos of a second spar outside and I felt guilty having asked them if they could demonstrate again…so yeah that became a priority).  The Friday Demo was just as impressive with the same girls plus more of their classmates showing off their amazing moves while their Sensei gave us all a quick history of Naginata.  I wish I could have joined in one of the workshops because I was, and still am, truly interested in this fighting style.  Perhaps not taking a chance to do so might end up being one of my biggest regrets of my entire con going history

 

 

#4-The Cosplayers

One thing ive always loved about Katsucon, it’s pretty much the heart of the cosplay scene on the East Coast.  This means popular cosplayers on social media have a good chance of showing up.  Ive met some of the best and brightest through this con and I did get to see some of them again, like Fawnina formerly Mango Sirene (who bless her still remembers me and is still nice enough to chat with me a little bit and I got to meet her lovely girlfriend too, such a nice couple).  This year though I think topped this category.  Not only did I get to me a girl who is a legend in my book, Katie Cosplays (aka one of the first cosplay heroines I ever knew about) but I also got to meet Rizuki, a cosplayer I saw at Otakon 2016 but hadn’t formerly met until this year.  We kept running into each other continuously over the weekend and never once did we ever seem annoyed or tired of each others brief company.  I also got to see other cosplay greats like GC Chan, Byndo Gehk Fushicos, Megan Starbuxx, Ms. Rae Cosplay and Allan Ryde.  Meeting these girls and guys can leave me a little bit starstuck cause theyre just as amazing and important to the community as any voice actor or director.

 

#3-Thursday Night Dance

Seeing as how nothing official was going to get started until Friday, some con goers took up a small section of the Gazeebo area and kicked off a nice little dance party that went into the wee hours of the morning.  Anyone could join in.  Anyone could show off their moves.  Even yours truly got into it in his own way (see video evidence below).  It was a very different feel from the rave or the other drunken schenanigans some of the crowd would get up to later in the weekend.  This unexpected event felt like a safe, all ages kind of event that everyone could enjoy.  And they say us Weeaboo Otaku don’t know how to party.

 

#2-Talking with Steve Blum (and also meeting Mary Elizabeth McGlynn)

For those of you who don’t know, both of these voice actors are LEGENDS!!!  Steve is the immortal voice of Spike Speigel from Cowboy Bebop and Tom from Toonami, while Mary also voiced Julia on Cowboy Bebop (who is Spike’s love interest and, as fate would have it, Mary is also now Steve’s fiancée awwww), but she’s best known for being the voice of Major Motoko Kusinagi on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.  A chance to see these two together and hear them speak?  And man are they ever so nice and humble.  Neither actor brags about their good fortune in the industry and never hesitated to talk about their struggles as well.  It inspired me to do something crazy…with minutes to spare I got to ask Steve Blum a question (I wanted to ask Mary one too but time was short).  I asked him about his final Toonami speech and if the Spike inspired final line “bang” was either written for him or added by Steve himself.  The answer was the former and he spoke highly of the Toonami writers and staff who have helped him since he stepped into the role of Tom years ago.  HOLY FRAK.  I was shaking and dumbstruck.  I even called my sister to tell her what I’d just done.  I spoke with a legend…and he is the chilliest, coolest dude ever.

 

#1-The Last Day

In a lot of ways, the last day of katsucon was going to define where this year compared to others.  Would it be as good as 2017, as meh as 2016 or as legendary as 2015?  Things ended up coming together in such an amazing way on Sunday that I cant even really describe how I felt.  I got to see all of my friends, favorite cosplayers, spend time at my favorite convention hotspots, see Your Name and ball my eyes out like a baby.  I was tired a lot during the weekend but on Sunday I felt awake and energized.  Each goodbye to a friend never felt gloomy, in fact I felt more and more hyped, like it wasn’t really goodbye.  Could it have been denial?  Maybe.  I like to think it was all about taking it all in and enjoying every last second until it was time for me to go.  Even if they were just for a few short moments, seeing my team, Rizuki, Fawnina and other friends once more made me feel like I could take on the world.  It was one of the best days ive ever had at a convention and gave me firm resolution…I will be back for Katsucon 2019…and might even try a bit harder to get back to Otakon this year too.

T5W#131-Top 5 Favorite Anime Couples

Well it’s Valentine’s Day.  You know what that means: love is in the air, people are confessing their feelings or celebrating long time relationships.  Love is an essential part of most Anime series.  It can either be a Romeo and Juliet style tragedy (i.e. Zeta Gundam) or just played for laughs before high amounts of unnecessary drama (Love Hina, Ouran High School Host Club).  What we also get out of these are “ships” that we support and defend well past their resolution points.  While I’m not talking about my own personal ships (not that I think I have any atm really save for one you’ll see below), today I am talking about my Top 5 Favorite Anime Couples.  Most of these are official pairings but I have slipped in at least one that I think is going somewhere (especially considering this series hasn’t really wrapped and will hopefully return one day).  They can either be filled with glittery eyed love or the toughest of challenges to overcome.  These couples all prove that “Love Actually is…all around” (yes I went there).




#5-Priss and Leon (Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040)

I kept wishing right until the end that hard rocker Priss and cute office assistant Lenna would end up getting together.  Alas, hopes were dashed but Priss still found a nice guy to end up with after all.  Leon may look like your stereotypical muscle bearing cop but deep down he’s a softy when it comes to beautiful women.  Enter Priss, the rock star and secret Knight Saber, who cannot be won no matter how hard he tries.  Suffice to say, Priss looks past the cop and sees the guy who is willing to give it all for her.  And she doesn’t even have to wear her sexy leather outfits (or her equally sexy battle armor) to impress him.  Leon sees the good beneath the bad ass and that’s enough to melt Priss’s hard exterior.  Also, I cant overlook they both share names with two Blade Runner Replicants (though Priss was with Batty and it’s implied Leon and Zhora were a thing…still cool though).

#4-Rock and Revy (Black Lagoon)

Frak yes, this is clearly going on and it will be recognized should Black Lagoon return one day.  Rock and Revy didn’t start off on the best of terms: Rock’s a brilliant, but whimpy newbie to the pirate life and Revy is a hot chick with two guns and a penchant for violence. Yet some of the series’ best episodes have come from these two confronting their different ideologies and finding some common ground.  Rock helps Revy recover some of her lost humanity and, in return, Revy ends up putting her life on the line for him, “I could protect you through the f***ing Alamo,” she even says at one point.  Their little peacemaking moment of Revy using Rock’s cigarette to light her own features facial experessions that make it clear one or both are interested in something a bit more down the line.  It’ll get there, if it hasn’t already, God that would be awesome.

#3-Kaname and Sosuke (Full Metal Panic)

Through it’s rough times and its better ones, one thing you could always rely on with Full Metal Panic is the pairing of Kaname Chidori and Sousuke Sagara.  While Kaname does spend a lot of time whaling on poor Sousuke for his military antics on school grounds, this bond of theirs does grow over the course of the shows (current) three seasons.  We see Kaname go from irritated with Sousuke’s odd quirks (and penchants for constantly blowing stuff up) to seeing her show concern for him in battle.  Likewise, Sousuke, the battle hardened soldier from a young age, begins to see Kaname as more than just a someone to protect for Mithril, she’s someone he wants to protect for his own heart.  It doesn’t get any clearer how these two really feel than when Sousuke and Kaname are separated during the second half of Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid.  Kaname becomes terrified, Sousuke questions his order and loses his confidence.  Seeing the trials they both go through to find their way back together sells that this coupling is destined for greater things down the line.  Will Kaname and Sousuke officially be dating come Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory? Only time will tell.

#2-Haruka (Sailor Uranus) and Michiru (Sailor Neptune) (Sailor Moon S)

The only thing better than seeing two cute girls in love is being able to look past censorship BS and see that “they’re not really cousins are they?”  Uranus and Neptune share a bond that most of the Sailor Senshi wish they could share with each other.  The depth of their love and trust and each other is infinite and it shows in their teamwork on and off the battlefield.  Michiru clearly keeps the more hotheaded Haruka in line with her soft spoken wisdom.  But that doesn’t mean that Michiru wont get a little reckless to protect her love either.  This was the romance that defined a generation of Anime fans for a really long time.  From antagonistic towards the other Senshi to becoming their most powerful allies, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were the true Guardians of Love and Justice everyone wanted to (and still wants to) be.

#1-Inuyasha and Kagome (Inuyasha)

This was one of the first big Anime romances I ever took full stock in.  Sure id seen occasional romance pop up in Robotech or Tenchi Muyo.  Inuyasha and Kagome were a different story.  Their romance was front and center through every single bit of the series (that didn’t focus on how OP Naraku was or how Miroku would never give up on Sango).  A lot of the usual romance tropes came up in this relationship: bickering, Kagome causing Inuyasha random pain with “Sit Boy”, arguing in the middle of a battle.  And yet, when Inuyasha was at its lowest points, you could always count on the true and emerging romance between these two to get you through it.  Not to mention, Kaoru Wada’s beautiful soundtrack that plays during Inuyasha and Kagome’s more tender moments is worthy of a tear.  I always wanted to root for Inuyasha and Kagome, no matter what.  Even though I never finished the show, I know my stock paid off.  They are my definitive Anime couple.

 

Pilot Candidate Part 3 Episode 7-9

Zero and his classmates enter a Pro-Ing Mach battle with upper classmen as the next stage of their training.  As Zero bonds with his pacifistic senior, Erts, he begins to find a new source of strength and inspiration.  However, tragedy strikes when the Goddess team loses one of their own in battle.  A replacement must be chosen, but who will it be?  Will Zero finally get the chance to live his dream or will another surpass him?  And what trauma will this loss deal to the rest of the current roster?  The unexpected advance to the next level and those who thought themselves invincible will learn there is no such standing.

By the time we get to the middle of this weeks set, we lose a main character, a Goddess pilot no less.  And yet there’s both no time to take it all in or any reason to grieve cause its for a character we hardly knew or cared about.  Let me make a comparison.  Gundam 00 had two good examples of handling an important characters death.  In Season 1, we lost Neil Delandy, the first Lockon, who died heroically trying to kill the man who killed his family.  Celestial Being lost not just a teammate, but a brother, someone who could get through to everyone like no one else could.  Through him, Setsuna and especially Tierria changed totally and became more human through his loss.  In Season 2 we got a more interesting example.  Anew Returner wasn’t the best character of the bunch, hell I was wondering why no one ever figured out she was an Innovate well before it was revealed.  And yet her death had weight and good drama to it, mostly through the good character moments with Lyle, the second Lockon, and Setsuna.  Lyle’s agonizing moment of loss is highlighted when Setsuna lets Lyle beat the crap out of him for killing his love just to save the life of his teammate, something they all knew had to happen.  Even for a character as unmemorable as Anew was, even she got an amazing send off.

By comparison, the death of Goddess pilot Ernest feels so empty and without reason other than to shake up the story a bit.  We have spent barely any time with the main Goddess team as we need to spend most of our waking hours watching Zero make an embarrassing ass out of himself.  Had this show done a sort of staggered episode run, where one group is the focus of one episode and then it switches to another team for the next, and we’d spent time getting to know the Goddess pilots outside of their bland and forgettable character designs AND had let this death happen much later in the series…then maybe idve felt a shred of emotion.  But no I felt nothing and the show hardly gives time to let it sink in.  It’s one of the reasons the character of Teela has begun to piss me off.  She loses a teammate but hardly acknowledges it and just moves on…after she’d spent most of the battle that got said teammate killed just hovering around and doing nothing when her Goddess alone could have saved the day in one big attack like she has in every other battle.  But no, time to jettison some dead weight and move on, no muss, no fuss.  Well there is fuss but its quickly forgotten about.  A new pilot is chosen and it isn’t Zero, Galoo (who seriously I cant hear his name without thinking “Baloo the Bear”) cries for Ernest for five seconds…and that’s it.  All in all, yes something finally happened this week on Pilot Candidate but it hardly feels relevant…you could sum up the whole series with that thought.

Ugh, all that explaining and ranting, did anything else happen this week…that actually stood out?  In a good way, no.  In a bad way, absolutely.  Zero got paired up with Kwaoru…ugh sorry Erts (who also happens to be Ernest’s younger brother but you’ll gloss over that because the show just forgets about it after its quick mention) and the two hit it off much like you’d expect.  I should really just call Erts Kwaoru because he feels like a lesser breed of everyones favorite tennis shoe wearing Evangelion Angel.  He doesn’t want to fight and sees a bright future inside Zero…or with Zero it’s hard to tell.  Yet in battle he’s…ferocious?  Idk it’s hard to tell how good he is in an Ingrid because the CG continues to suck and now looks like bad, bad pre viz animatics for Real Steel with Hugh Jackman.  The other upperclassmen paired with and against Zero’s class was kind of just a footnote.  I couldn’t even tell you if I remember the one that Hiead challenged at the end of this set.  Most of that is because I don’t care.  I was done with this series after week one and the only reason im still with it now is because there’s one more part to go.

Speaking of Evangelion references, Zero had a pointless inner dream episode where he tried to find out why he was losing his memories of home and starting to replace them with images of his new friends.  Did this go anywhere? I don’t know, I was tuned out by this point.  Youd expect two episodes with plenty of drama (decent drama for once mind you) to have some lasting impact in the following episode.  Nope, life goes on and Zero ignores the death of his new friends brother because “I WANNA BE A PILOT YAYYYY!!!!”…god what an inconsiderate asshole.  Also, why is Teela reaching out to Zero all of a sudden and why is she trying to be this shows version of Rei Ayanami in a skimpier outfit?  Here’s a better question: DO I EVEN CARE?!! The answer is no.

Wow, three weeks in and this show is shattering my psyche with how bad it really is.  So far only the first couple of episodes have been the most memorable as a proof of concept/nostalgia trip down memory lane.  Everything else just sucks and is beyond half assed.  So, can I make it through one more week of horrible badness?  Well…I actually get a week to breathe from the horribleness of Pilot Candidate.  Yep, next week is a week off as im heading to Katsucon this weekend.  In two weeks you guys can join me again and watch as this already crashed ship plummets through one planet and into another one…man I knew this might be bad but THIS BAD!?  Pilot Candidate might end up getting a lower score than Silent Mobius.  But is it 0/10 worthy?  I don’t know but it’s getting awful close.

T5W#130-Top 5 Titles I (Probably) Wont Review on the Gundam Anime Corner

I try to keep an open mind about the titles I pick and choose to review here on this blog.  However, there are certain titles I see that I just cant bring myself to put in the time to do full on reviews.  Im not saying they wont get mentioned or even be part of a Top 5 (like today) or even a bonus article down the line.  Full length series reviews, however, that’s not always a garuntee.  Been thinking about this for a bit and I think I narrowed it down.  Today’s Top 5 is dedicated to the Top 5 Titles I (Probably) Wont Review on the Gundam Anime Corner (note the “Probably”, my mind could change on one or two of these but only time will tell).

 

#5-Digimon Adventure Tri

Been thinking about this title a bit lately, and watching an abridged version which is pretty funny.  But the more I think about it, and think back to the first impression I did on the first half of the first movie so long ago, the more I realize…I don’t think I’m the right guy to review this one.  As I said in my FIF feature, I did love Digimon at one point, a lot.  But those days are long behind me and I don’t know if I could rediscover that enjoyment unless I went back and rewatched all of Digimon Adventure 1 & 2.  Plus from what little I have seen…I feel like Tri is just depressing, like it’s trying to be reflective on the past while looking to the future but also robbing Digimon of the fun it had in earlier seasons.  Am I wrong?  Should I shut up cause im not a hardcore fan?  This is one of the two titles, however, I’ll say is still probable and I might wait until the entire six film series wraps up this year.  For now, I’ll stick to the abridged series…cause it is freaking hilarious.

 

#4-Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex-The Laughing Man & Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2^nd Gig-Individual Eleven

By this point I think I have reviewed just about every piece of Ghost in the Shell Anime there is: The movies, the entire SAC series, the SAC movie-Solid State Society, Arise and The New Movie…that’s a lot.  But there’s a reason I haven’t reviewed the two compilation OVA features that sum up the two main plots of the SAC TV series…there’s nothing new at all.  I feel like I could lump most compilation film features under this one (or make it a separate Top 5 all together) but there are exceptions.  Macross Plus: The Movie and RahXephon: The Motion Picture both contained new footage and different spins on their central plots (especially in RahXephon’s case).  The SAC OVA’s literally just splice the central plotted episodes together for almost three hours that’s the equivalent of a weekend binge…when really you could just watch Stand Alone Complex and Stand Alone Complex 2^nd Gig and get in all of the goodness they leave out from the occasionally superior Stand Alone episodes.

 

#3-Berserk

The nightmares ive heard about this one, the small bits ive seen, honestly I just want to sleep better at night without thinking about a Band of the Hawk slaughterfest.  Sure Berserk is a popular title, well the 90’s series anyway (no way in hell im touching the CG continuation abomination).  It’s the darkest fantasy story ive ever heard of and even with some cool action and blood all across its landscapes, I cant bring myself to check it out.  Need further proof: At a Horror themed panel at Otakon in 2016, the host held off until the very end to show everyone the infamous Eclipse scene that contains the aforementioned “slaughterfest”…I properly excused myself before it even popped up on the screen.  Call me a coward, like I said, id rather have better dreams.  Plus I learned my lesson from watching “everybody dies” before bed with The End of Evangelion (God will that fill you head with crap if you watch it after dark).

 

#2-Most Shonen Anime (Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, Naruto, One Piece etc.)

 

Shonen Anime are a very common entryway into the Anime genre.  In the 90’s it was Dragon Ball Z.  In the early 2000’s it was Naruto, Bleach and One Piece.  In the 2010’s it kind of varies (I guess Boruto and Dragon Ball Super now?).  So what do those shows and more have in common?  They are really, really, REALLY LONNNNNNNNNG!!!!  As much as id love to try reviewing Dragon Ball Z, the show is 291 episodes long.  Naruto is twice as long (not counting Boruto).  And One Piece…Dear God in Heaven that’ll probably reach 1000 episodes before it kicks the bucket…or gets to its final act, it could go either way.  I just don’t have the time to commit to such an undertaking with any of those shows.  NOW, I would do some movie marathoning if the number of films for a series was right.  I already did that with Dragon Ball Z a couple of years back, reviewing all of the films from Dead Zone to Resurrection F.  And I could definitely do the Bleach Movies since there’s only 4 of them.  The longest kind of series ive ever covered on this blog hasn’t gone above 50 or so episodes.  And that’s only if im doing a big summer project or splitting them up by series like I did with Full Metal Panic (and that ended up being in the 50 range after 3 collective seasons).  Shonen titles will def poke their heads in from time to time but never as a full length review, ever.

 

#1-G Savior

There is only one way anyone will ever get me to review the blackest mark on the Gundam Legacy.  Well no there are a couple of ways: 1. Pay me…a lot of money; 2. Buy the movie (cause I’m not buying it); 3…be a really, really, really good friend I wouldn’t mind making this kind of a sacrifice for.  This movie is bad, really bad, like Mystery Science Theater 3000 needs to parody the s*** out of t his bad.  Horrific CG, terrible Mecha designs, a non Japanese cast.  You know it’s almost a good thing the G-Savior is never called a Gundam cause it isn’t worthy of it.  Cause of trash like this we may never get a proper live action film for my favorite legendary Mobile Suit…thanks G-Savior.