Kakegurui Twin Part 1 Episodes 1-3

One year before Yumeko Jabami would grace it’s halls, Hyakkaaou Academy welcomes Mary Saotome.  She knows this is a school where futures are made, where the students have a chance to shape the history of the nation.  What she doesn’t know is that social statuses are determined not by grades or good attendance…but through gambling.  Those who wins are on the levels of Gods at Hyakkaou.  Those who lose are designated lowest of the low, treated as servants or worse.  Mary is determined to not become the latter and teams up with a former school friend to take on those who lord over this school with a sadistic grip.  In a school full of hopeless losers, Mary will do whatever it takes to become, and stay, a Winner.

Welcome to a Gundam Anime Corner New Years’s Special Event.  Originally I had intended to look at Kakegurui Twin back in September until I decided to slot in the Fullmetal Alchemist Sequels (smart move that was).  Finding an open slot in 2023 for a two part review proved to be tough and then I realized, I did have a place I could look at this criminally brief series.  So, Dear Readers, you’re getting the first half of Kakegurui Twin today and tomorrow, we ring in 2023 with the conclusion, neat idea right?  Anyway, let’s get into this long delayed review, shall we?
 

Tenchi Muyo in Love 2

A peaceful day at the Masaki Shrine is shattered when Tenchi suddenly vanishes without a trace.  As everyone splits up to search for him, time passes and Ryoko and Ayeka are no closer to finding their love.  That is, until a chance encounter reveals Tenchi is alive…but older, different and has no memory of Ryoko or Ayeka.  Sealed within a parallel world with a beautiful woman named Haruna, Tenchi is living a different life, one that threatens to overwrite his old one.  It’s up to Ryoko and Ayeka to put aside their rivalry and rescue Tenchi from Haruna before he ceases to exist.

 
Released as Tenchi Forever: The Movie in the US, Tenchi Muyo in Love 2, at the time seemed like the final chapter in the Tenchi Saga (hence the US rename).  If this had been the case…well, it would be a bit underwhelming but also its kind of strange.  TMiL2 is mostly everything that Tenchi isn’t: a super serious character study without humor, minimal involvement from most of the cast and no action.  And yet a good deal of this movie works without some of that, though it could really use more humor to break the tension.  All in all, its an interesting experiment with successes and failures, which comes with breaking the established Tenchi formula to do so.
 

Tenchi Muyo: The Daughter of Darkness

On a blazing hot day at the Masaki Shrine, a beautiful girl named Mayuka appears before Tenchi, addressing him as “Daddy.”  The entire Masaki Family is thrown into a tizzy as everyone tries to figure out where Mayuka came from and, more importantly to Ryoko and Ayeka, who the Mother is?  As Tenchi tries to keep the clingy Mayuka at arms length and out of trouble with the others, a spectre from his Grandfathers past watches on, lying in wait for the time when they can take revenge on the Masaki bloodline…with Mayuka as the harbinger of their doom.

Tenchi Muyo in Love was always going to be a hard act to follow.  That still remains to be seen when we take a look at the sequel tomorrow.  But right now, we have Tenchi Muyo: The Daughter of Darkness and it’s…kind of an odd one.  At times, the movie feels like a slightly extended version of one of the longer episodes from the OVA.  Other times it runs so fast due to its short runtime and yet feels so slow.  But my biggest criticism with The Daughter of Darkness is where the heck does this fit in the Tenchi Multiverse?  That aside, the movie is OK at best, forgettable at worst.
 

Tenchi Muyo in Love

Notorious A-1 Class Criminal Kain escapes from prison, destroying the Galaxy Police Headquarters and fleeing into time itself.  At the same time, Tenchi begins fading from existence.  Something has happened to his parents in the past, something that could spell disaster for the rest of the universe if they are not protected.  Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka and the gang embark on their most important mission yet as they travel to the 1970 where they will meet Tenchi’s Mother, Achika, and confront their most powerful adversary yet.  For Tenchi to live, Achika must survive…no matter the cost.

Ohhhhh it is so good to be back in the land of Good Tenchi.  After the epic disaster that was Tenchi in Tokyo, I couldn’t just let a year long look at the early legacy of one of Anime’s most eligible bachelors end on a sour note.  Nope, hopefully we can end it on a better one as we start our final dive into Tenchi Muyo (for now) with the Tenchi Trilogy.  And it must be said, the bar has been set pretty high for the next two movies because what an awesome beginning we have here.  Tenchi Muyo in Love (released as Tenchi: The Movie-Tenchi in Love in the US) is a sequel to Tenchi Universe and offers everything that made that series great while delivering better animation, a movie worthy plot and soundtrack, perfecting the character interactions and giving us one of the most adorable romances in all of Anime.
 

T5W#385-Top 5 Favorite Moments from Sailor Moon (Season 1)

Well, Dear Readers, the end of 2022 is a few days away, which means we’re coming up on the beginning of the Anime Corners biggest undertaking ever.  Beginning in January, I’ll be taking a look at ALL of the original Sailor Moon TV Series (plus the Movies) althroughout 2023.  I have been thinking about this for a few years now, especially since I’ve made many friends in the Sailor Moon community, and since the Anime Corner is heading into it’s 10^th year, this seemed like a pretty fitting undertaking to celebrate.  Actually, this was already started a few months back.  After realizing that Fullmetal Alchemists 20^th Anniversary is in 2023 (and I’m still deciding which show to review tbh), I decided to look at the First Season of Sailor Moon as my Extended Summer Series Review of 2022 and it was interesting to start fresh and look at it through different eyes than when I first saw the show on Toonami in the early 2000s.  Since we’ll be kicking 2023 off with Sailor Moon R, how about we do a quick refresher of the Greatest Hits of Sailor Moons debut season to close out 2022?  So here you go Dear Readers, our last Top 5 Wednesday of 2022, my Top 5 Favorite Moments from Sailor Moon (Season 1).

 

Tenchi in Tokyo Part 5 Episodes 21-26

Tenchi has it all: fun school life, excellent Apprentiship, and a beautiful girlfriend: Sakuya.  However, this newfound happiness has come at a cost Tenchi doesn’t realize.  His family is scattered across the galaxy, some devastated by his romance with Sakuya and others achieving their own dreams and goals.  All of this has been enacted behind the scenes by the Mastermind Yugi and she’s finally ready to enact her endgame.  Even if it means leaving Sakuya behind, Tenchi must reunite the others and bring them back to Earth for one last showdown with Yugi.  It’s the end of new beginning and the start of the next one.

This show has been a freaking see saw of an Anime.  There are nuggets of genuine good ideas and a surprisingly effective central romance all throughout Tenchi in Tokyo.  The problem is everything else is so ugly looking, poorly plotted and filled with over the top humor that’s made everyone look either incompetent, selfish and greedy or just a shadow of better versions of themselves from other Tenchi series.  All that said, some of the best stuff (I know right) was saved for the final episodes and Tenchi in Tokyo worked for once when it went in on Yugi’s own past and insecurities and Tenchi’s doomed romance with Sakuya.  It’s not enough to save this series from the low score it’s had coming…but I suppose some good is better than none.
 

Tenchi in Tokyo Part 4 Episodes 16-20

Under the Moon of the School Festival, Tenchi and Sakuya admit their feelings for each other…and the downfall of the Tenchi Household begins.  Much to Yugi’s delight, Tenchi’s choice begins splintering the bewildered group, especially a heartbroken Ryoko.  With the team now more vulnerable than ever, Yugi is now free to carry out her plan of revenge.  Can the group find a way to mend fences and reunite before Yugi’s plans come to fruition?  Or will Tenchi’s newfound romance with Sakuya keep him blind to the world that’s falling apart around him?

I cant believe how conflicted I’ve become over Tenchi in Tokyo.  On the one hand, I should take this series as the separate spin off that it is and be thankful it has no impact or bearing on anything that’s come before it or since.  It’s a pointless cash grab that came and went without much fanfare and the legacies of the much better Tenchi Muyo and Tenchi Universe are still intact.  But almost every minute of Tenchi in Tokyo I continue to watch feel like an insult to those legacies.  The main cast has become unbearable, the Villains annoying to the point of pure rage that theyre getting the best of the heroes cause they’re portrayed as gullible and just plain unobservant until its too late, and the comedy just isn’t funny…like at all.  All of this reaches a new peak, it’s highest yet, with this penultimate set of episodes…and it all starts with a kiss.
 

Tokyo Godfathers

On Christmas Eve, three homeless friends: Alcoholic Gin, Transgender Hana and runaway teen Yuki, discover an abandoned baby while searching through trash.  Despite being from different walks of life and each with their own personal scars, the trio bands together to locate the newborns parents.  In a journey that spans the week from Christmas to New Years, Gin, Hana and Yuki will reconnect with their pasts like never before and, through an adorable baby, discover even they still have a future to look forward to with hope.

When you think of the name Satoshi Kon, you think of some of the most terrifying psychological thrillers in all of Anime like Perfect Blue and Paranoia Agent.  In his sadly shortened career, Kon proved he was a master of that particular field.  So color me very surprised when I came across Tokyo Godfathers.  While it still has several of Kon’s visual and psychologically driven storytelling tropes, Tokyo Godfathers is nowhere near as intense as many of his other works.  I dare say that (baring Millennium Actress, which I still haven’t seen yet), Tokyo Godfathers might just be Satoshi Kon’s most feel good movie ever.  And it’s a Christmas movie to boot.
 

The Macross Retrospective

While Mobile Suit Gundam might be the reigning King of Mecha Anime, there are several other long lasting franchises that have etched their own space in the history of the Anime medium.  One such franchise might be the closest Gundam has ever had to a true rival for the throne: Super Dimension Fortress Macross, or Macross for short.  Transformable jets; Wars on an Intergalactic Stage; blood and fist pumping music and romances that span the ages, Macross has pioneered much of what Anime fans love about Mecha and did for the 80’s what Gundam did for the late 70s, injected bold new blood into a genre that had become stagnant and repetitive.  As we near the end of 2022, and the 40^th Anniversary of the Macross Franchise, I figured it was long overdue for the Gundam Anime Corner to give Macross a quick retrospective of its own.  While I’ve reviewed my fair share of Macross features, I haven’t seen everything so many pardons if some info is a bit off.  Anyway, onto this bonus little Christmas present of mine, this is the Gundam Anime Corner’s Macross Retrospective.

 

Closing Out 2022

Hey everyone.  I realized I never got around to posting an upcoming features update for the end of the year and that’s all on me.  Life’s gotten pretty busy and hectic and stressful in the last couple of months for me.  I am three months into a new job which is great but I’m also trying to sort out some stress and anxiety I’ve been dealing with for the bulk of the year.  Anime watch time has kind of dropped and all I’ve been able to really dedicate time to are the weekly Anime I watch like My Hero Academia, Spy X Family and Gundam.  That said, while that may be the case for now, once upon a time I had a job and still found time to watch a ton of Anime in my downtime for this blog and 2023 is going to be about getting back to that balance and working on some major plans for the Anime Corner’s 10^th Anniversary.  BUT all of that is a talk for the start of the New Year.  For now, how about we go over what lies in store for the last few days of 2022 cause it’s gonna be busy.

 

T5W#384-Top 5 Best Titles I’ve Reviewed in 2022

Well the end of 2022 is nigh and it has…well it’s been a year for me personally: a year of terror, depression, high anxiety, surprise, welcome success and signs that things are going to get better in the long run.  Through it all, I’ve continued to add to the Anime Corner’s increasingly large collection of reviews and 2022 saw me tackle shows and movies I probably wouldn’t have in the very beginning.  It was a very “girl power” heavy year with Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi, Bad Ass Female Replicants, Tank Driving School Girls and Bunny Girl Cosplays…and there’s more that to come in 2023.  Since I wanna do a Top 5 next week to prep for the Year of Sailor Moon I’m taking today to count down the Top 5 Best Titles I’ve Reviewed in 2022 (even though there is still a week left and a couple more reviews to go but still).  Did anyone else have a particular fav or do you agree with this list?  Feel free to shout out in the comments.  Now, onto the praising of good Anime. 

 

Tenchi in Tokyo Part 3 Episodes 11-15

Following a tearful confession from Sakuya, Tenchi must finally come to terms with how he feels about this mysterious and beautiful girl who he might want to be with.  His indecision creates an opening for Yugi to attack the Masaki Household, proving far more powerful than even Ryoko can handle. Meanwhile, Sasami finds herself drawn to a mysterious girl, blinding her to the danger surrounding her family.  None of these events are coincidence and Yugi’s manipulations are at last beginning to take their toll on Tenchi and the bonds he shares with his six alien friends.  Is there a chance their bond will be broken?

 
Confusion.  Irritation.  Frustration.  Pure Anger.  These are the four general emotions I have towards Tenchi in Tokyo: Confusion that this show ever made it past the initial proposal stage; Irritation that they keep finding new ways of making a terrible show even worse; Frustration that very little is being done to right the sinking ship; and Pure Anger…because there’s about 95% of this show I really, really don’t like.  After a couple of positive strides last week, we’re back to the low bar of Tenchi in Tokyo.  Tenchi might have some promise with Sakuya…and that’s kind of bad when I could care less about what happens to everyone else. 
 

T5W#383-Top 5 Thoughts on the Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc Debut Trailer

Anime fans got an early Christmas present last Saturday when we at last got our first official look at the long awaited return of Demon Slayer.  While we aren’t getting before the end of this year, the Third Season, the Swordsmith Village Arc, will arrive Next April.  Considering how the Entertainment District Arc ended, the bar has been set pretty high for the future adventures of Tanjiro and Nezuko (especially when it comes to the fights but I’ll talk about that).  With a full slate of highly anticipated Anime coming in Early 2023 (including Season Two of Jujutsu Kaisen and Trigun Stampede), Demon Slayer is close to the top of the list for most Anime fans out there.  Seeing as how this has become one of my most favorie Anime of the new early decade, I’m hyped as heck for more spectacular, Ufotable animated action and horror antics.  Ergo, today’s Top 5 Wednesday will be covering my Top 5 Thoughts on the Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc Debut Trailer.  There’s a lot to cover so let’s leap into it like true Demon Slayer Corp recruits, shall we?

 

Tenchi in Tokyo Part 2 Episodes 6-10

Despite his best attempts to do so, Tenchi Masaki’s new life in Tokyo as a Student and Apprentice at a Shrine isn’t as peaceful as he’d hoped.  Still caught in the crosshairs of Ryoko and Ayeka’s war for his heart, Tenchi finds surprising solace in Sakuya, his beautiful classmate and our hero might be falling for her too.  But Ryoko and Ayeka aren’t about to let a newcomer steal their Tenchi.  Meanwhile, the mysterious Yugi and her underlings observe at a distance, causing new disturbances in Tokyo for Tenchi and his friends and observing with invested interest.  Can Tenchi and the others look past their own endless bickering to deal with a threat that has yet to reveal itself?

Now, I don’t wanna say I’m sold on this series, im not by any real stretch.  However, I like to think I am a fair reviewer who is willing to give credit where credit is due, even to a show or movie I find absolutely terrible.  After a dumpster fire of a beginning, Tenchi in Tokyo doesn’t look like its gonna make any big changes to its new formula.  However, there are small glimpses of actual promise or at least some concepts have merit and deserve to be treated better than this bargain bin comedy on the worst sugar high ever.  This week had some Pros…but the Cons are there and I will cover both in equal share…more or less.
 

T5W#382-Top 5 Hottest Waifus of 2022

The battle of who is Best Waifu is forever and eternal.  Every year there always manages to be one or two who remains so high in the zeigiest that they eclipse any and all challengers for the title.  2022, however, had a really strong showing of candidates, giving us at least one or two girls a season to drool and fawn over and eagerly await the hundreds of cosplayers ready to tackle them at any given time.  It’s been a minute since I’ve done some Waifu shoutouts so as we head into the last weeks of 2022, I’m gonna use todays Top 5 Wednesday to count down my Top 5 Hottest Waifus of 2022.  There will be a little tinkering here and there as one entry saw a particular Waifu enter the fray close to the end of 2021 and one character had their second season debut in 2022.  It’s hard to ignore their popularity though, both within the fandom and for me in particular, so yeah, I’ll make a couple of exceptions.  Onto the list.

 

Tenchi in Tokyo Part 1 Episodes 1-5

The Masaki Household is rocked to the core when Tenchi announces he’s moving to Tokyo for School and Shinto Studies.  Naturally, the six Alien beauties living with him take this very well…or not at all.  Despite his attempts to find a normal, quiet life, it isn’t long before Ryoko and the others find a portal to Tenchi’s new home.  But anxiety separation might be the least of everyones problems.  Something sinister is planning something in the heart of Tokyo and has their eyes set specifically on Tenchi.  Oh and there’s a pretty girl named Sakuya in Tenchi’s class who is immediately smitten with our hapless hero in training.  It’s a new city but the crazy life of Tenchi Masaki is about to get even crazier.

What…what is this?  This is a Tenchi series?  Why does it look so…ugly?  What’s happened to everyones personalities?  Why is everyone hornier for Tenchi than ever before?  Why are we starting in the middle of something without establishing how everyone showed up at Tenchi’s doorstep?  Who are these weird Sailor Moon Villains sending Monsters of the Week after Tenchi?  Where’s the Sword of Jurai?  Where’s Kagato?  WHY IS RYO-OHKI TURNING INTO A GIANT PINK BUNNY MECHA!!!!???.............Welcome Dear Readers to the final chapter of The Tenchi Toonami Saga.  This, Dear God Help Me, is Tenchi in Tokyo.