T5W#344-Top 5 Anime I Rented from Blockbuster

Ah Friday nights.  Back in the day, school got out, you’d get picked up and go out to dinner with family…and right nearby there it was, the most magical place on Earth: Blockbuster Video.  Yeah so after watching a retrospective video on the legendary video rental store, it got me thinking about the countless hours I spent there perusing isle after isle of Movies and Video Games for rent.  Naturally, I spent the bulk of that time going through the Anime Section.  It was a different kind of experience having to rent each volume or movie one at a time (ok you could do more but it was like one title per family member and I never got a proper membership til right before the chain closed…I worked with what I had).  But they were formative years and today I’m gonna take a quick moment to talk about the Top 5 Anime I Rented from Blockbuster.  Chances are high I’ve reviewed all of these movies at some point and I’ll include links along with each one.

 

Ouran High School Host Club Part 4 Episodes 13-16

Time marches on and waits for no one, not even the Ouran High School Host Club.  Between summer jobs and threats from other desperate clubs, Haruhi Fujioka has come to learn that life with the most popular boys in school is certainly entertaining even when she hopes for some peace and quiet.  Lifes about to get even more bizarre when Haruhi finds herself on a surprise date with Hikaru.  Could the playful deceitful twin be developing a crush on the girl who’s turned his world upside down?  And while Haruhi is feeling more comfortable around the boys, one question still remains: Why did she choose Ouran Academy and what are her goals in life?

Todays set of Ouran High School Host Club episodes felt different from everything so far.  The humor is still there and Tamaki’s still one of the most infuriating characters in all of Anime to me.  But I felt like we were seeing some advancement in character growth and signs of a darker side to the Host Club that have been subtly teased but rarely lingered on.  We also got a very trippy but surprisingly very gorgeous episode that saw Studio Bones step up the animation quality in an already good looking show.  The end result…you know I feel like I was building up to some epic revelation but really, this set was good, just good.  I think my excitement if focused mostly on subtext and theories that might not pay off but I’ll talk about that in a bit.
 

Toonami Flashback Friday Episode 9-Toonami Fantasia

Ok so, stop me if you’ve heard this before: August 31, 2001.  I was settling in to check out Toonami on a Friday Night in my study, popcorn and soda at the ready.  We got the typical intro: the Absolution slowly flying by before we entered the interior and saw Tom making his way to the bridge.  Sitting in his favorite chair, the Absolution Captain and Toonami DJ tapped the buttons on his arm rest and the Midnight Run got underway…but not with Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08^th MS Team.  Instead, things kicked off with one of Toonami’s masterfully made Music Videos.  Ok, that was a bit weird but surely 08^th MS Team would start right afterwards.  Well, the normal Midnight Run was taking the night off on this hot summer night.  I don’t know if I missed a bunch of adds or if this truly came out of freaking nowhere.  Frankly I’m glad it was the latter because disappointment quickly became intrigue and amazement as I settled in to check out the Toonami: Midnight Run-Special Edition.

 

Ouran High School Host Club Part 3 Episodes 9-12

Haruhi finds herself at a crossroads when an illustrious all girls academy discovers her secret and declares they can offer her a better life than that of Ouran Academy.  To what lengths will Tamaki and the others go to keep their prized protegee in their ranks?  Meanwhile, the Hosts find themselves needed on more personal matters: Reuniting a lost Manga loving girl with her older brother and making sure Honey Senpai doesn’t make a cavity worse than it already is.  And if that wasn’t enough, what happens when a bad dream finally brings Tamaki and the Hosts to a strange new world: Haruhi’s home?

There’s a lot about Ouran High School Host Club that doesn’t sit well with me and most of it has to do with the childish and darkly manipulative natures of at least 4 of the 6 main Hosts.  The upside is that A. Haruhi is doing a good job of laying down the law when their antics get too out of hand and B. when this shows humor works, it really works.  That all being said, this was probably my favorite set of episodes so far because of the humor alone.  We got a cute episode with Honey and Mori at odds for once.  The Host Club found actual rivals and we even got to finally see Haruhi’s home life…oh and a 6 year old knows what “debauchery” is thanks to Shoujo Manga…lots of laughs all around.
 

T5W#343-Top 5 Ways Sailor Moon has Influenced Magical Girls (and Anime) Over the Years

You all know her theme song (from the original English Dub anyway), “Fighting Evil by moonlight.  Winning Love by daylight.  Never running from a real fight, she is the one named Sailor Moon.”  This past Monday, Naoko Takeuchi’s legendary Anime celebrated it’s 30^th Anniversary and man what a ride it has been for Usagi Tsukino and the Sailor Senshi.  One Five Season/200 Episode TV Series, 3 Movies, a Reboot with a film continuation, and surely there’s more to come down the line.  Sailor Moon has stood the test of time in a number of ways.  While we’ll be delving more into that later this summer (could this be an unofficial Extended Summer Series Announcement?), today I wanted to celebrate the Princess of the Moon Kingdom by counting down the Top 5 Ways Sailor Moon has Influenced Magical Girls (and Anime) Over the Years.  Girl was a trendsetter, same with her magical companions.  And they deserve the attention this week.