T5W#463-Top 5 Seasons of Sailor Moon

Our annual Extended Summer Series Review is just around the corner and with it, the time to welcome back our dear friend and Magical Girl Champion, Usagi Tsukino.  Yes, our big series this summer is Sailor Moon Crystal, the 2014 reboot that basically acts as an unabridged edition of the original series: no filler and hopefully some events and characters done differently.  In case you missed it, when I tackled the original Sailor Moon series last year, I always did a Top 5 covering the best events of the previous season before hoping into the next one.  Since I have gone over all 5 season from Sailor Moon to Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, there’s nothing to recap before jumping into Crystal.  No today on T5W, we’re gonna do something a much longer time coming.  I’m finally going to rank those seasons in order from worst to best…and I guess you can think of this as a full series recap in the process.  These are my Top 5 Seasons of Sailor Moon.

 

Psycho Pass: Providence

When a person of interest is killed in a terrorist attack off the coast of Japan, Akane Tsunemori and the Ministry of Welfare Public Safety Division Unit One find themselves thrown their most challenging case to date.  Teamed up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their former ally, Shinya Kogami, Unit One finds that theyre up against a former Japanese Paramilitary Group known as the Peacebreakers, capable of clouding their hues and possessing seemingly immortal bodies.  As the casualties mount, Akane finds herself pushed to the brink like never before in a case that could break her tumultuous relationship with the Sibyl System.

2023 saw the 10^th Anniversary of the franchise I’ve come to consider the spiritual successor to Ghost in the Shell (it even began life as a new GitS project).  Psycho Pass has had a pretty healthy lifespan thus far with three TV Seasons (one of which can more or less be totally ignored) and five movies.  Psycho Pass: Providence marks the franchises sixth feature film after Psycho Pass: The Movie, the Sinners of the System Trilogy, and Psycho Pass 3: First Inspector.  Consider all of the ground covered from the ethical debates around the Sybil Systems existence to how it handles various social and economical affairs and the impact it’s had on the main cast, I wondered just what exactly Providence was going to bring to the table.  Well while the actual case at the center of the film isn’t the most engaging, Providence is nonetheless a very important chapter in the Psycho Pass saga as it fills in missing gaps and answers many key questions that were one everyones minds during Psycho Pass 3.  And in that regard, the film does succeed.
 

T5W#462-Top 5 Video Games that Deserve an Anime Adaptation

We really living in a new golden age of Video Game Adaptations.  Far from the dark days of Super Mario Bros., Mortal Kombat Annihilation and most of the Resident Evil Movies, we now have Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat, and recently The Last of Us and Fallout to enjoy.  Anime has had a hand in this market since the dawn of time as well and many Video Games, mostly fighting ones, have been brought to life in some fashion or another (spectacularly is up for debate depending on the title).  But while titles like Final Fantasy, Bayonetta, Street Fighter and Xenosaga have gotten the Anime treatment, there’s still a treasure trove of untouched gems with fanbases just waiting to see their favorite games in pique Anime Condition.  Since we’ve covered the Knuckles Miniseries this week, today’s Top 5 Wednesday is talking about the Top 5 Video Games that Deserve an Anime Adaptation.  BTW I’m going to be avoiding titles from series that already have one Anime related title.  So as much as I know we all want to see a true to form Anime movie or series of Final Fantasy VII (or for me IX), if it has an Anime already, it’s not eligible for this list.

 

Kunckles

Knuckles the Echidna is the last of his kind.  Trying to fit in on Earth, the warrior finds renewed purpose in helping the local Green Hills deputy, Wade Whipple, prepare for a bowling tournament in Reno.  Doubted by their competitors and tracked by a crew of dangerous villains, Knuckles and Wade must learn to rely on each other if they’re going to complete their quest and reignite the fire of the Echinda tribe on Earth. 

Knuckles, voiced by Idris Elba, was the breakout character from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.  Elba’s pitch perfect performance as the non nonsense, straight faced Echidna gave us some of the films best laughs and he had amazing chemistry with Sonic and Tails, bringing their longstanding rivalry and friendship from the games to the big screen.  In fact, Knuckles was such a sure fire hit, Paramount greenlit a spin off series before the sequel even arrived.  It’s a good idea too, as I said, Knuckles is great.  His newest solo adventure, however, doesn’t even come close to matching the awesomeness of the Sonic films.  But that isnt the fault of the mighty Echidna.  Rather it’s his own show that does him the greatest dishonor: sidelining him for a chunk of the series in favor of a rejected Paramount+ family sports adventure that got repurposed into this. 
 

T5W#461-Top 5 Moments Shinn Asuka gets Absolutely Wrecked in Gundam SEED Freedom

Oh Shinn Asuka.  While he may have been sided with the good guys at the end of SEED Destiny, he is still a top tier jerk in my book.  The dude did a lot in SEED Destiny that just pissed me off from always being openly hostile towards Cagalli to committing freaking war crimes and getting a pat on the back for them.  Thankfully, he’s moved past this “ahem” troubled history in Gundam SEED Freedom but something tells me many of the complaints I’ve lobbied against him actually got heard.  While there are plenty of crowd pleasing moment in the film, some of my favorites came from seeing Shinn finally get some sort of comupence for all the blood cells he caused to burst in my brain from so many rants in my review of Gundam SEED Destiny back in 2020.  Now that I’ve finally gotten around to reviewing the long awaited SEED sequel, it’s time to do a little of a Spoiler themed Top 5 Wednesday as I relish in delivering the Top 5 Moments Shinn Asuka gets Absolutely Wrecked in Gundam SEED Freedom.

 

Spy X Family: Code White

To aid Anya with a special school assignment, Loid decides to take her, Yor and Bond on a Forger Family Vacation to the winter wonderland of Frigis.  While it might seem like just the kind of fun they need, a nefarious plot is afoot, one that could plunge two countries into a state of war.  Things get even more dire when Anya swallows a microfilm necessary to stopping this plot.  With the little telepath sought after by the a rogue Military commander, Loid and Yor must find a way to rescue her without blowing their respective covers.  The fate of two countries now rests in the hands of the Forgers.

Spy X Family hit the ground running in 2022, quickly becoming one of the most talked about Anime of the decade alongside Demon Slayer and the Final Seasons of Attack on Titan.  It’s no wonder that it not only got a quick Second Season renewal but also a greenlight on a movie adventure as well.  Spy X Family: Code White might not change the game Spy X Family has been doing so well from the get go, and needlessly retreads already covered ground for longtime viewers.  But it’s still a big screen adventure with one of Anime’s most dysfunctional and beloved family units and that will always merit a good time watching.
 

T5W#460-Top 5 Thoughts on the Ghost in the Shell 2026 Announcement

Ghost in the Shell is my second favorite Anime franchise after Gundam and any day we get news is of a new adaptation is always a good one.  But there was plenty of extra excitement to come with what we heard a couple Saturdays ago.  First off, it’s a new series.  Second, Production IG is working in tandem with another studio that gave me one of my Top Anime of the year this year.  Third, judging from the announcement, we’re about to get the most unique outing for GitS since the original 1995 film.  We don’t have a lot to go on really but even a little can be enough to do a Top 5 list.  So let’s download back into the vast and infinite net to countdown my Top 5 Thoughts on the Ghost in the Shell 2026 Announcement.

 

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

Cosmic Era 75.  Two years after the end of the Second Bloody Valentine War, the tenuous peace is maintained by the peacekeeping organization Compass, led by Lacus Clyne and Kira Yamato.  The rising nation of Foundation seeks to join their resources with Compass to end the threat of Blue Cosmos once and for all.  But when an unexpected action from Kira turns him into the most wanted man on the planet, Compass finds itself under attack from a plot years in the making.  Against an enemy that can surpass even Coordinators themselves, is this a fight Kira, Athrun and the others can win?

“There are those who said that this day would never come.  What have they to say now?”  That quote from Halo 2 is definitely appropriate for fans of Gundams Cosmic Era.  After 20 years of delays, including the loss of SEED and SEED Destiny writer Chiaki Morisawa, the Gundam SEED movie is finally a reality, just in time to properly ring in the Gundam franchises’ 45^th Anniversary.  Back when SEED first launched in 2002, it wasn’t just supposed to be Gundam’s first step into the new millenium but also the launch of a new Alternate Universe meant to rival the parent Universal Century.  But after the disappointment of SEED Destiny, it makes sense why other avenues were taken.  Personally, my dislike for SEED Destiny is well documented on this blog and any new CE project would have to work overtime to earn my trust back.  Well good news everyone: not only is Gundam SEED Freedom a huge improvement from Destiny, it’s also a strong showing that shows the Cosmic Era has plenty of life still left in it.  This is Gundam SEEDs redemption story and it is freaking awesome.