T5W#320-Top 5 Easter Eggs from the Netflix Cowboy Bebop Intro

Last weekend, Netflix hosted an online event to show off their high profile releases for the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022.  This includes new sneak peaks at the fourth seasons of Stranger Things and Cobra Kai and the long awaited Second Season of The Witcher (with the added announcement of a Third Season in the works).  Of course, this presentation included our next look at Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop adaptation.   Rather than a trailer, our first footage of the show came in the form of the shows intro sequence, which bears the same look, sound and feel of the legendary Anime opening.  It’s not a carbon copy either.  Sure there are little recreated moments but this opening is a beast all its own, with more than a few nuggets of familiarity to get fans a little more excited for November 19^th when the series arrives.  Still, couldn’t pass up a chance to do a deep dive on what I saw.  Ergo, our Top 5 Wednesday for this week are my Top 5 Easter Eggs from the Netflix Cowboy Bebop Intro.

Dragon Ball: The Path to Power

Legend tells of seven Dragon Balls, powerful items that when brought together will unleash Shenron, the Eternal Dragon, who will grant someone a single wish.  A young boy named Goku has long held one of these Dragon Balls, the last item left to him by his Grandfather.  But the sinister forces of the Red Ribbon Army are collecting the Dragon Balls for their own nefarious purposes.  Goku will have to team up with a strange collection of adventurers, shape shifters and fighters if he is to stop this legion of danger.  You thought you knew the story of Dragon Ball?  You haven’t seen everything yet.

Released in 1996, Dragon Ball: The Path to Power is the 10^th Anniversary Film for the Dragon Ball franchise as a whole.  As fate would have it, this would also be the last Dragon Ball film released in Japan for almost 20 years before Dragon Ball Z: The Movie-Battle of Gods.  This is a film meant to celebrate the humble roots of Dragon Ball, a call back to the adventurous spirit of the franchise before it became the action heavyweight champion of Anime.  And while the movie might be one of the best looking in the franchise, there’s no denying this film is less of a call back to the good old days and more a reflection of the troubled state the franchise had found itself in that made it go dormant for two decades.

Final Impact-An Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special (Part 4)

Previously:

Shinji settled into Tokyo-3, had some awkward moments with the Evangelion Poster Girl and everyones favorite Waifu, Rei Ayanami, and got to fire the worlds biggest sniper rifle at a Fortress like Angel.  It looks like things are starting to stabilize for the kid…too bad he has no idea what’s about to rock his little world in this new installment of Final Impact: An Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special.

FIF#137-My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Catarina Claes is the prim and spoiled daughter of a noble family…or so she thinks.  One day, when she takes a nasty bump to the head, she learns the truth: She’s actually an Otaku who died in the real world and has been reincarnated into her favorite video game: Fortune Lover…as the Villainess.  Fully aware of the grim outcomes for her character if she gets a “Bad Ending” Catarina steels herself to reform her image and avoid dying yet again in another world.  How can Catarina change the end of her story?  Or is it fate that all routes lead to her doom?

 
Issekai, the Anime subgenre that will never die.  Every year a random protagonist will find themselves flung into another world either by accidental portal transport, death, or MMORPG malfunction.  Either way, you can be assured that every new season will bring at least 5-10 new Issekai titles with very little to distinguish them.  Yeah, almost ten years since Sword Art Online blew up the Issekai scene it’s becoming hard to make an Issekai series stand out cause what other variations can you see on the same premise?  Well, a friend of mine recommended this one to me so I’m willing to see if an Issekai with an incredibly long name (kind of standard though) can change my mind about the oversaturation of the genre.

Star Wars: Visions

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…two worlds of imagination and wonder are about to meet at last.  The Star Wars Saga ventures into the realm of Japanese Anime, unleashing a whole new kind of experience for newcomers and veterans of the legendary scifi saga.  From some of the brightest and most talented Anime studios comes nine unique tales spread across millenia: tales of warriors of light and dark, dreamers young and old, and adventures both perilous and wondrous.  You think you’ve know Star Wars? Great ready to learn about it all over again.

 
Star Wars and Anime.  As a lifelong fan of both, I had some high expectations for this Anime Anthology made in the same vein as The Animatrix and Halo Legends.  The best of the industry comes together for a celebration of what makes Star Wars unique and amazing.  And adding Anime to the mix can only mean one thing…a crap ton of stylish Lightsaber wielding action and a deep dive into the expansive worlds of a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars: Visions has ambition and it has a lot of heart going into it, a bunch of animators from multiple Anime Studios have wanted to work on a Star Wars Anime Project their entire lives.  I can’t say it’s perfect, a few suspicions I had going in did turn out to be true.  But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t gushing over several shorts or downright moved to tears.  This is Star Wars and Anime after all.  Good or bad, I was gonna find something to love…or at least love it more than The Rise of Skywalker (ok I’m gonna try and keep my Sequel Trilogy bashing to a minimum).
 

T5W#319-Top 5 Celebrities Who Love Anime

If you’ve been keeping up with Marvel’s What if series, then maybe in last weeks episode you noticed a certain Anime reference made by a certain character played by an actor who makes no apologies about his love for my favorite medium.  And BOOM, this weeks Top 5 Wednesday was born.  Do enough of a deep dive and you might be surprised you find to be an Otaku just like you and even more surprised how much Anime influences their craft.  Actors, Filmakers, Pop Stars, Anime continues to impact every corner of the entertainment market and today we highlight the Top 5 Celebrities Who Love Anime.  Even I was surprised by one of two of these choices.

Dragon Ball: The Movie-Mystical Adventure

Goku and Krillin complete their training under Master Roshi.  To test their skills, the Turtle Hermit takes his students to participate in a Martial Arts Tournament pitting them against the best of the best, including some old friends.  But all is not what it seems as an old adversary of Roshi’s is planning to overthrown the leader of the nation hosting the tournament.  Against schemes, plots, betrayals and some of the toughest opponents he’s faced yet, Goku will have to go all out not just to win a tournament but to save an entire nation as well.

By the time of its release in 1988, the first era of Dragon Ball was beginning to come to an end.  With Dragon Ball Z on the horizon, it makes sense why Mystical Adventure (seriously, they couldn’t come up with a better title? Feels lazy) feels more like a transition film as well as a decent closure to the original Dragon Ball Movie Trilogy.  Unlike the first two films, this is more of an action film than adventure (further evidence the title kind of sucks).  So if you love that later era of Dragon Ball or early Z, this is the movie you’ve been waiting for.

Final Impact-A Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special (Part 3)

Previously:

Shinji made a friend…yeah that’s about it.  Let’s see if he can make another.  Welcome back to Final Impact: An Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special.

Transformers: Zone

Legend tells of the mystical Zodiac, a power source that supposedly gave birth to the whole universe itself.  Determined to claim it for his own, the Decepticon Emperor of Destruction, Violen Jiger, sends his Nine Great Demon Generals to ravage the galaxy and obtain The Zodiac.  Their search soon leads them to a helpless Earth.  From the far off planet of Zone, a new generation of Autobots, also under Decepticon attack, send a small force to defend the planet.  Among them are Dai Atlas and Sonic Boomer, a pair of Autobot Power Masters, tasked with defending the Zodiac at all costs. Once more, Autobots and Decepticons will clash again.

Back in the late 1980’s, when the Transformers TV Series was winding down in the US, Toei Animation, who had helped out with animating later seasons, got the OK to continue the saga over in Japan.  The end result were three additional TV Anime, only one of which was tied directly to the original TV Show, Transformers: The Headmasters.  The other two sequels: Super God Masterforce and Victory, were both their own separate continuities and delved more into the “Super Robot” Anime side of things.  By the time Victory had ended, popularity of the original Transformers had begun to die down in Japan.  Thus, a proposed 4^th Series, Transformers: Zone, would only see one episode produced and eventually released as an OVA.  Seeing as how I did First Impressions on the other three Transformers Anime over the last few weeks, it only felt right to see what kind of note the early Japanese Era of Transformers ended on.

FIF#136-Transformers: Victory

The Decepticons have finally been driven from the Earth but they haven’t stopped trying to take it back.  Now they have begun attacking planets across the galaxy, hoping to gain a foothold for an inevitable counterattack.  Both the Autobots and Humanity have joined the Galactic Peace Alliance under the command of the Autobots most powerful leader, Star Saber.  As a new breed of dangerous Decepticons becomes more brazen, now Autobot teams must come forth to push them back or risk the total annihilation of the Earth.

Previously on First Impression Friday:

At the conclusion of it’s 4 season run, The Transformers series was continued in Japan thanks to Toei Animation, who helped animate the classic 80s action hit.  These 3 psudeo sequels would take their own various directions with the story, beginning with the direct sequel- Transformers: The Headmasters and a the more Anime-esque Transformers: Super God Masterforce.  We’ve now come to the last of these little ventures into the first Japanese Transformers series with Transformers: Victory.  Does it get the beginning of the end of this lost legacy off to a good start?  Let’s see.

T5W#318-Top 5 Thoughts on The Matrix Resurrections Trailer

Whoa.  I’m sure that was everyones first reaction last week when, at long last, we got our first look at the sequel no one thought was gonna happen.  The Matrix Resurrections is the official continuation of The Matrix saga, last seen on the big screen 18 years ago with the pretty disappointing The Matrix Revolutions.  There’s so much to take in with this first preview from Neo and Trinity’s unexplained return from the dead to a new Morpheus to taking in the new (and improved) Matrix that is about to become a brand new digital battleground for the minds of all Mankind.  Narrowing my thoughts down to five of them?  You know I like a good challenge.  These are my Top 5 Thoughts on The Matrix Resurrections Trailer.

 

Dragon Ball: The Movie-Sleeping Princess in Devils Castle

Goku and a young monk named Krillin arrive at the island of Master Roshi, the Turtle Hermit, looking to receive special training.  Roshi offers a challenge: if the pair can retrieve the legendary Sleeping Princees, imprisoned in the castle at Devil’s Hand, he will make them his students.  The race is on and not only is there a gun totting treasure hunter sticking her nose in, but the Sleeping Princess is guarded by a host of monsters and demons.  And their leader, Lucifer, has dark plans for Humanity.  Even Goku’s old friends: Bulma, Oolong, Yamcha and Puar are getting caught up in the excitement.  Can Goku and company save the world AND the Sleeping Princess before darkness falls across the Earth forever?

As the follow up to Curse of the Blood Rubies, Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle acts as a loose sequel while also acting as a proper stand alone movie adventure in the same vein as many of the Dragon Ball Z films that followed years later.  There’s a greater sense of grandness, better action and the addition of some of the franchises more memorable and long lasting characters.

Final Impact-A Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special (Part 2)

Previously:

Shinji Ikari arrived in Tokyo-3 just in time to see a giant robot battle a giant monster.  Now Shinji has become the pilot of that robot, Evangelion Unit 01, and barely survived his first encounter with a creature known as an Angel.  But Shinji’s got a lot of issues that go beyond being thrust into the cockpit of a weapon he knew nothing about until that day.  Now we get to do some digging on those issues as Final Impact: An Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special continues.

FIF#135-Transformers: Super God Masterforce

Centuries ago, two races of Transformers crashed to Earth and resumed their long and grueling war.  These “Pretenders” battled until the Decepticons were sealed away, seemingly for all eternity.  But now they have been freed from their prison and are dead set on concurring the Earth.  The Autobots have been preparing.  Disguised as Humans, they’ve sought allies to add to their arsenal and make a new breed of weapons capable of giving Humanity a fighting chance against the Decepticons.  The battle for Earth will now be fought side by side as Humans and Autobots defend their home from their oldest and most frightening enemt.

Previously on First Impression Friday:

When the original Transformers series ended in 1987 in the US, Toei Animation, who helped animated the 80’s classic, acquired full rights in order to continue the story in their own way.  This resulted in 3 Anime psudeo sequels over the next 3 years in Japan.  The first of these was Transformers: The Headmasters, which continued the Transformers story where the original Generation 1 series ended.  Now we skip ahead to the next chapter of the Japanese Transformers Saga: Super God Masterforce (God that’s such an 80s Anime title).

T5W#317-Top 5 Similarities between Star Trek and Gundam

Today marks the 55^th Anniversary of one of the most influential and popular SciFi franchises in history: Star Trek.  We all know it in some shape or form and instantly recognize it when we hear the names “Captain Kirk” or “The Starship Enterprise”.  Star Trek’s been a foundation on which science fiction has built itself upon and its effects on the entertainment industry, pop culture and even everyday life can be felt today.  For me, Star Trek was one of the first science fiction sagas I was ever introduced to as a kid (right alongside Star Wars), so it holds a very dear place in my heart (Fun Fact: My sister is named after Spock’s Mom).  With all of this in mind, what’s a fun way I can talk about Star Trek with an Anime twist here on the blog?  Well it is a Wednesday, which means I need to think up a Top 5 list.  Well, there is one unique connection I think Star Trek has to Anime that most might not realize.  It’s long production history kind of mirrors that of my #1 Anime franchise of all time: Mobile Suit Gundam.  Don’t believe me?  Well let’s take a look and see if I can back up that claim properly (or not).  These are the Top 5 Similarities between Star Trek and Gundam.

Dragon Ball: The Movie-Curse of the Blood Rubies

In a once beautiful land, the once kind King Gurumes has become a tyrant, overwhelmed by the allure of the cursed Blood Rubies being mined by his forces.  But in his desperation to rid himself of an endless hunger brought on by the curse, Gurumes sends his best minions to retrieve the seven magic Dragon Balls.  It’s only a matter of time before their paths cross with Goku, Bulma and their friends already in the midst of their own Dragon Ball hunt.  And now the fate of a kingdom rests in Goku and Bulma’s hands.

Anyone here remember the earliest days of Dragon Ball?  Well before the days when the existence of multiple universes was at stake and Super Saiyans were all the rage, there was a little feral kid in the mountains getting out into the world by tracking down the most important treasure in history.  For the month of September, we’ll be looking back at those fond beginnings for Goku and the Proto Z-Fighters by checking out the four major theatrical releases for the first Dragon Ball series…such an innocent time.

Final Impact-A Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special (Part 1)

Earlier in 2021, after years of delays, the final chapter of the Rebuild of Evangelion Saga: Evangelion 3.0+1.0-Thrice Upon a Time, arrived and acted as the final word on one of the greatest Anime sagas of all time.  Not that I was ever planning this to coincide with its streaming debut a few weeks back, no this was something I’d been thinking about ever since I started gathering the Neon Genesis Evangelion Manga Omnibus Collection.  Originally conceived to be released alongside the Evangelion Anime that ran from 1995-1996, the Manga, written by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, saw several setbacks and delays and never completed its run until 2014, seventeen years after the Anime’s true conclusion in The End of Evangelion (Guess the Manga and Rebuild have a lot in common).  Now that I have it all, I wanna do with Evangelion what I did with Gundam Wing in 2020. 

Today, Dear Readers, begins a bonus Friday event alongside First Impression Fridays: Final Impact-A Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special…Final Impact for short.  Much like my 2020 Gundam Wing Special, From Losers to Glory, each of the next 14 weeks will cover one volume of the Manga and examine what events it covers from the Anime and how both versions differ from one another.  This will include comparisons to both the TV Series and The End of Evangelion, as the Manga is able to tell in full the originally intended ending that became The End of Evangelion.  So whadya say?  Wanna see if the Manga improves or does a disservice to one of Anime’s most prestigious titles?  The journey begins here, get in the Robot Dear Readers.

FIF#134-Transformers: The Headmasters

For millenia, a civil war has raged across the stars between a race of sentient machines known as The Transformers.  The battle between the good hearted Autobots and the sinister Decepticons was once thought to have been concluded.  But the Decepticons are on the move once more, with their sights set on something buried deep within the Transformers homeworld of Cybertron.  As old heroes return to battle, a new breed of Transformer joins the fray.  Armed with unique abilities and transformations of their own, these “Headmasters” will prove to be the ultimate key in the never ending struggle between good and evil. 

Welcome to a special 3-Part First Impression Friday Event.  Over the next three Fridays we’ll be looking at the debut episodes of the rarely spoken of Japanese Transformers Saga.  But first some background: the original Transformers Television Series ran from 1984-1987 with the theatrical Transformers: The Movie released in 1986, during its run.  When the 80s classic concluded in 1987, Toei Animation, who had helped animate the series, acquired the Transformers Japanese License and would continue the story in their own unique way.  The end result were three television Anime follow ups in Japan, each diverting further and further from the original source material.  The first of these shows, Transformers: The Headmasters, picks up directly where the fourth and final season of the American Transformers left off.  And, not gonna lie, this is probably the most nostalgia heavy of the three first episodes ill probably watch because im not certain how long some familiar faces will stick around for.

Gundam Anime Corner-Fall 2021 Sneak Peaks

Seriously, I freaking BLINKED…and August was over and done with.  2021 picked a helluva time to really kick things into overdrive, so the Gundam Anime Corner has to match it a bit.  It hasn’t been that long since my last update but I’ve got some new projects in the works that are starting…well in the next couple of days and you know I like to keep everyone apprised of stuff like that.  Trust me, now there’s plenty good reasons why I went back to one review a week and it has to do with more than just First Impression Friday returning for it’s 6^th Season.  Let’s break everything down from September-November.

T5W#316-Top 5 Things I Know about Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

Video Game Movie adaptations have been on the up and up the last couple of years.  Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, Sonic the Hedgehog and Mortal Kombat have all seen varying degrees of success and haven’t all outright sucked as many would expect (none of them are perfect but their miles better than what’s come before).  This fall, another Video Game Franchise will return to the big screen: Resident Evil.  This past Monday we got our first official look at Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and the reception has been a bit more mixed than expected.  Well today I’m here to share what I know about the forthcoming return to Racoon City’s zombie infested streets and then some.  These are the Top 5 Things I know about Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. (Also two major reveals in two weeks, last weeks being Cowboy Bebop…will we have a third one for next weeks Top 5 Wednesday?)