Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction for the use of parody only. Any data or events cited are most likely pure fabrication. Please read for enjoyment and the satirical viewpoint, not for facts.
It was released today that Ezra Miller, who was ask to play Tetsuo in the new, all-white Akira movie, has turned down the roll. It seems that the roll of Tetsuo has met much controversy as director Jaume Collet-Serra says he needs the all-Anglo-Saxon protestant cast of this movie to be a perfect representation of the source material in a localized format.
The original movie “Akira” was directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and was an animated movie based on a manga series. It is one of the shining stars of the Japanese animation community; the movie is considered one of the prime examples of an anime that has been both a gateway for new anime viewers as well as an impact those working in the field of animation. That is why Serra has been working to make sure the new “Akira” movie is a complete experience that will be more understandable for a western audience.
The first step Serra took was to change the entire location the movie takes place. Instead of taking place in the post-apocalyptic steam-punk world of Neo-Tokyo, the story will now take place in Neo-Manhattan, which we all know is the epicenter of all western future stories. Serra has also seen fit in his crusade to make the perfect western “Akira” to enlist the help of actor such as Garrett Hedlund, who is known for playing one of the white brothers in “Four Brothers” and Gary Oldman, who played the white commissioner in “Dark Knight.”
Serra has decided also to change few other things in the script to make it more relatable to an American audience. Instead of having the original names that were in the source material, names will be made more relatable such as John and Mary. He as also decided that it would be in the best interest of the movie’s success to call it “ALBERT” so that people are not turned off by the fact that it is based of a Japanese style animation.
Serra believes that the movie will be a success and may even start creating a larger market for western-styled Eastern movies. He thinks the adaptation will be as well accepted as the 1998 version of Godzilla that, coincidently also takes place inManhattan. If you are a fan of only western movies, I suggest you watch the new and improve “ALBERT.”
Romance is a genre or sub genre that I have come to appreciate over time, probably because it is the easiest way for me to connect to a character or characters emotionally and also because I love my drama. Drama in most anime tends to be a little over the top or melodramatic and while this may seem annoying at first, if done right it can be very moving.
As we all know by now Anime is a medium and most of its series are a mish-mash of all sorts of sub genres and if you are lucky you will get one with a good romantic sub plot. I wrote this article in order to examine and scrutinise how romance is portrayed in different kinds of anime and to possibly find out why some of them will bring you to tears and cripple you emotionally and why the others are just complete garbage. Just to make sure the views expressed are not completely subjective to my myself, I decided to bring three more opinions on board, 1 male and 2 female. I interviewed them all and they all had very interesting views on the subject.
The Chase or The Meal
That’s probably a horrible analogy for dating and being in an on-going relationship but bear with me. Most romance anime tends to tackle the dating or courtship aspect rather than the relationship building part. Personally, from a guys perspective, this is the most interesting and dramatic part of a relationship. Its easier for anime creators to carry the viewer along the protagonists story of trying to get to know the love interest and gradually befriending him/her before finally getting together, usually very dramatically at the end.
Super Korelle agrees with me, she said” I like stories about both courtship and about a relationship. With both you get to see the trails and errors the characters go through to be with each other and make what ever they have work. I find courtship to make for a better story line. Watching a character trying to get the person they like/love makes you (or at least me) more invested in the anime, praying and hoping they get them in the end.”
Kuuki also had a similar point of view, she said “I usually like the courtship better. Especially if the show is divided in two parts. I think it gives a greater liberty to the story to develop around the couple, the usual awkwardness and shyness of beginning romances. An established couple in a show centered exclusively around romance often becomes boring.”
Lvlln has a more apathetic view on the subject, he thinks “No preference. The vast majority are about courtship, though, so I’d like to see more good ones about an on-going relationship. That said, the reason the majority are about courtship is because courtship tends to be more fun to watch.”
So what is it exactly about the courtship route that keeps us coming back for more? The template is certainly over-used but the creators have found various ways to mix it up and make it refreshing for the viewers such as;
The Female Perspective
Take Kimi Ni Todoke for example, it’s a story about a socially awkward girl that slowly falls in love with the most popular boy at school. Sawako (the female lead) not only has to overcome her shyness but also find a suitable way to interact with Kazehaya (the popular boy) in order for him to regard her as a potential love interest. Needless to say it takes 2 full seasons to get some sort of final…closure but still the most interesting part of the story is trying to see just how Sawako will finally get to say she loves Kazehaya.
The female perspective may not necessarily be a groundbreaking form of story telling seeing as most shoujo titles are made this way. It’s the fact that Kimi Ni Todoke took ‘the chase’ approach rather than the relationship building one, Sawako never has a boyfriend in the entirety of the series, she doesn’t have to deal with commitment issues or anything of that sort, well not in the traditional way atleast.
The Love Web
By the way, they all hang out together
This has got to be my favourite aspect of romance in anime, rather than having the same old cliché love triangle some writers have decided to go all out and have created love webs. The best examples being Toradora! and Ano Hi Mita Hana No Namae Wo Boku Tach Wa Mada Shiranai (AKA Ano Hana)
I’ve talked about Toradora! and why I love it countless times so I’ll focus on Ano Hana on this article. In Ano Hana this group of friends has finally been reunited after drifting apart over the years because of the loss of Menma (The Loli lead) The reunion is not a sweet one because all these characters have gradually changed over time and some still hold grudges over things of the past. However, with the continuous passage of time and them spending more time with each other, old emotions buried deep within them start to come to the fold and drama ensues.
Again, they all hang out together
I think the fact that all these characters are friends makes the situation that little bit more dramatic, also add the fact that they have to overcome their old feelings of animosity towards each other before they could even come close to initiating a romantic conversation and you have Drama Gold. Again the main focus in this show was not the relationship building but watching as each character tries to woe the other, the chase.
Demographics
The courtship route is certainly interesting but it also has some glaring flaws, the most obvious being the age group it centers on. Dating or trying to get a boyfriend/girlfriend is a really big deal for adolescent teenagers and the idea of being in one is fantastically drawn out of proportion in their young minds (I know this because I was a victim of this terrible lie.) Writers capitalise on this and target most of their romance work to this demographic, which is why you get a lot of successful romance novels, like Twilight for example. The biggest problem that this trend brings is the fact that most romance stories will rarely focus upon on-going relationships or they will make them out to be a heavenly utopia which is not the case at all( shoujo is the worst offender when it comes to anime). It also means we rarely get to see romance stories focusing on grown adults.
“Teenage romance is interesting, but it’s very heavily represented in anime, so I’d like to see more of 20s-40s, prime ages when romance is a big deal.”
Romance is certainly a big deal after you lose those silly raging hormones, when you get older the whole dating thing gets old and you just wanna find your perfect match as quickly as possible so you can settle down.
“I would like romance anime to focus on the age group of 18-30 years old. I find a lot of anime to be with middle school or high school aged people. I am in the age group of 18-30 and would like to see more adult romance portrayed in anime. I have nothing against middle/high school romance anime, I would prefer to watch someone close to my age bracket going through the trails of love”
Most of those trials would deal with subjects young teenage minds might find hard to comprehend at first but are extremely vital, such as dealing with love after divorce or death of a spouse or having to quit your career in order to be a stay at home parent or even how to deal with relationships as a single parent.
“OLDER PEOPLE! I mean, I want less blooming high schoolers and more kickass older people. More stuff like Nana, more stuff like Usagi Drop. Please.”
Kuuki highlights some very good examples of anime that portray adult romance or atleast show it in a mature format. Both titles she mentioned are categorised as Josei, Josei is anime or manga meant to appeal to an older female audience, the adult version of Shoujo.
Josei
The romance side of things in Usagi Drop (the anime) is never in the foreground. However, it is executed so well that it engrains itself in the viewers minds. Daikichi the lead character is a 30 year old bachelor that decided to raise his 6 year old Aunt (watch the show its a long story) He is forced to demote himself at work in order to free up some time to care for Rin and also has to learn how to care for a child on the fly. His love interest is Rins’ best friends Mom Yukari, who is a 30 year old divorced single parent trying to raise a naughty 6 year old boy by herslf. Daikichis’ feelings are torn between trying to care for his adopted child and loving Yukari, he doesn’t know whether pursuing Yukari would be the right thing for him, Rin or Yukaris son. He has to gauge how each person involved would feel on top of that he is not even sure if the relationship would work out seeing as they are both strapped for time.
The amount of layers involved in that one relationship is so immense and you can see the struggle in both their eyes when they interact. Its love at its purest form, bittersweet.
Nana (which is my favourite manga by the way, you should all read it) deals with a college aged spunky female called Nana Komatsu. Nana decided to leave her parents home in order to live with her boyfriend in Tokyo. Nana starts off as a naive character with childish hopes and aspirations for her life such as being the perfect housewife for her future husband. Reality kicks in pretty quick as soon as she gets to Tokyo though, her boyfriend is still not capable of caring for her and she ends up having to live n her own and making ends meet.
The romance side of things get interesting when you realise that as a high schooler Nana was having an affair with a married man. Being young and naive she thought she had found true love when in truth she was only being used for body. This past continuously haunts Nana and how she perceives men in general. She believes that all men are as fickle as the wind and as long as she doesn’t satisfy any of their needs she will be left alone again just like that married man she was having an affair with did. And thats only half of what Nana deals with!
Harems
Whether you love them or love to hate them Harem anime will continue to be popular and will always remain a firm part of the anime industry. Some of the classics are harem titles like Tenchi Muyo and Love Hina for example. There have been some (and thats very few) exceptional Harems that have portrayed romance well but I think we can all agree that most of them are a horrible source for a sweet love story.
Kuuki had a lot to say on the subject.
” Hakuouki, which is a reverse harem anime suffers from the disease of the genre (the same reason why I can’t watch many harem anime), I can never believe how so many people fall in love or at the very least care that much for such a dull main character, so yeah it ruins the show. Its really hard for me to be able to believe in such a story if the main character is dull, sometimes we’re also presented with a harem where no real romantic conclusion is reached and we get the feeling everyone is in love with everyone.”
She gave examples of some of the Harem titles that just get to her.
“Kore wa Zombie desu ka? It’s the typical “everyone falls in love with the main character” type of story (and one of the rare I have finished) and while it is implied said main character is mostly in love with Yuu, it never is clearly established. In that aspect it wasn’t exactly representative of romance, but it had plot and it was funny so I managed to finish it.
As for others, I’d say MajiKoi? I’ve only watched a few episodes but it was boring and the main character was oblivious to everyone apart from his sister, very weak on the romance part, very heavy on the fanservice. Not exactly my cup of tea either.”
Surprisingly, there were some good examples.
“Kore wa Zombie desu ka? It’s the typical “everyone falls in love with the main character” type of story (and one of the rare I have finished) and while it is implied said main character is mostly in love with Yuu, it never is clearly established. In that aspect it wasn’t exactly representative of romance, but it had plot and it was funny so I managed to finish it.
As for others, I’d say MajiKoi? I’ve only watched a few episodes but it was boring and the main character was oblivious to everyone apart from his sister, very weak on the romance part, very heavy on the fanservice. Not exactly my cup of tea either.”
Surprisingly, there were some good examples.
“Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai( The World god Only Knows). It’s essentially a harem anime but Keima never falls in love and the girls who do forget afterwards, it’s an endless repetition of the conquest on a different character everytime, Keima has a strong personality and it never gets boring.
Strangely enough, I’d say Hakuouki too was a nice harem anime, mostly because it reaches a clear conclusion and because of the setting during Edo period. Lastly, I’m not very knowledgeable in the genre but Bakemonogatari would count right? Once again we reach a clear conclusion and the story doesn’t revolve exclusively around the romance.”
I enjoyed both Kami Nomi and Bakemonogatari, but Lvlln explains why Bakemonogatari is an exceptional ‘harem’ a lot better than I do.
“The romance between Hitagi and Koyomi made for one of the greatest single episodes of all time, but the show overall was not about their romance. There was a considerable amount of character growth for Hitagi, we saw her open up her softer side, using the romance to help her get over the traumatic experience during middle school of almost getting raped. For Koyomi, it was learning what it means to be a lover, that is, that there is nothing special in it, it’s enough just to be yourself and to be there for her.”
Bakemonogatari
So how do you feel about Harems in general?
“Harems tend to dehumanize the girls, turning them into a set of features instead of a whole person. Hard to have a good romance when one half of the relationship isn’t a full person.”
I would personally recommend any of the Key titles if you are looking for a good harem, both Clannad and Kanon are sweet stories filled with comedy and tragedy but they both still suffer from ‘the disease of the genre’ as Kuuki so subtly puts it.
Fanservice In Romance
I think the biggest problem with harems is that they are a manifestation of male (sometimes females) imaginations. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by beautiful girls all doting on you? Most harem titles are targeted at men and because of this they usually have a lot of fanservice, the distasteful kind. I find that this draws me away from the potentially good love story and it puts me off the show entirely. I asked the panel if they felt the same.
“Not necessarily, if it doesn’t feel forced (well, fanservice feels mostly forced but accidents happen) Take Bakuman for example, it has a few examples of fanservice but it doesn’t hurt the sweetness of the romance backstory the slightest bit (and that is helped by the presence of two couples too). And to be honest, romance or not, a normal human would look at the person he’s in love with, he’d look for the fanservice opportunities. We can’t really avoid it. I’d rather have fanservice in a romance anime where it would look more or less natural than random fanservice in the middle of something that has nothing to do with it (case in hand : Guilty Crown)”
Taking a bit of a stab at Guilty Crown there, but I do agree with the point she raises about lovers being physically attracted to each other. Having good looks is a major factor when it comes to picking a partner but I suppose this is a hard thing to portray in anime because nearly everyone looks amazing most of the time.
“In my opinion fanservice does hurt a sweet romantic story for me. One moment the characters are having a sweet moment together and next thing you know pantie shot or the girl loses their swim top in the pool. Sweet moment ruined in a matter of seconds. Don’t get me wrong fanservice is good, just not in a sweet romantic story.”
Lvlln is on the other side of the fence with this one.
“I haven’t seen any romance anime with distasteful fanservice yet. B Gata H Kei had fanservice in spades, but it only made the series better.”
B Gata H Kei really, how?
“Yamada’s attempt to seduce that Takahashi was the whole point of the show. The development was in Yamada and Takahashi learning what it means to be in a relationship and how to start a physical relationship”
On the topic of fanservice, I always wondered why it was always rare to see sex scenes in most romantic anime. I mean even day time soap operas have them. I liked how Nana dealt with their scenes, it made sense to have them shown and was certainly not just inserted (no pun intended) for fanservice purposes. It would be great to see more titles adopt this formula.
“Yes. Handled in a mature, realistic fashion as in Tsukihime. No need for porn-type sex scenes as in Yosuga no Sora.”
“Yes I would like to see more. It doesn’t have to be shown them going to climax, maybe just the beginnings of sex and move on to them waking up the next morning. I would also like it to be tasteful done and not full of fanservice.”
“Mmmh yes? Then again, I’m a huge perv so I guess it’s only natural. Now you mention it, it’s true it’s rare, it often happens or is heavily suggested in BL anime, there was a few in Paradise Kiss but it’s a very rare occurence.”
Paradise Kiss being another Aii Yazawa (Nana) manga which I should get to reading soon.
Boys Love
Kuuki brings up the topic of Boys Love to mind, I’m certainly not an expert on Yaoi but its pretty obvious that most of them deal with romance. I recall a huge uproar in the fandom last season when two titles aired concurrently, those titles were Yuru Yuri and No.6. Yuru Yuri was a show that was clearly meant to have Yuri it said so in the title, fans rejoiced, who doesn’t like watching lesbians right? But the response for No.6 which was a sci-fi show with implied yaoi got mixed reactions. I recall a tweet I saw on twitter stating ” You wouldn’t like Yuru Yuri so much if it was called Yuru Yaoi” and unfortunately I had to agree with that.
I had preconceived conceptions of Boys Love anime, being about men, I thought they would tackle the difficulties of being homosexual in an environment that still isn’t fully accepting of that while trying to deal with their romantic emotions for each other. Also the fact that BL is targeted at females I always thought they were a little more mature in their execution.
The sad truth is they are the exact opposite, characters fall in love with each other for no real reason whatsoever and the amount of times characters are quite honestly raped is almost comical. I asked the girls whether they thought this was natural or fantasy.
“I don’t know if you can call it natural, nor fantastical either, I think it depends on the author. While it can feel forced, and just plain unrealistic (well, it’s not like some shojo are much more realistic either so I guess I can forgive them) there are also some very good pieces. The thing with BL is that most manga are really short, it gives less time to develop a story and characters and most authors have to deal with that, it doesn’t always work very well, especially when you work with characters very different from each other.
But from a female point of view who’s reading pretty much every genre so I can compare, BL is special, it lets the girl who reads it stay out of the story, we’re not represented in it, it has nothing to do with us, so they can do whatever they want we don’t really care about it being realistic or not. It’s just enjoying a story for what it is, no pressure to find the prince charming or anything.”
So It’s basically a female fantasy…
“I have only watched one Boys Love anime and they portrayed romance in a bit of a natural but leaning towards the fantastical, if that makes any sense.”
Uhhh….okay I guess. So what would be some good BL titles?
“I don’t read many BL (to be honest I don’t even like the genre) and BL anime is rare, a good one is even rarer, but I’ll answer anyway. When talking about manga I’ll say Acid Town, because, while the BL is present it’s really toned down (for now at least) it’s mostly a story about criminals in a dangerous city and such. As for anime, I think I’ll say Antique Bakery because it’s sweet (in a lot of ways), and not only about love stories either.”
“I have only watched one Boys Love anime,that is Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi. I like how it is not two main characters that are being shown. They have a few characters going through different story lines. It just doesn’t focus on romance it has some comedic moments with characters, which is a nice balance with the romance.”
Favourite Romance Recommendations
I think anime with the best character development can mostly be found or is created with the aid of romance which is why I like the genre so much. Even shounen shows like Naruto or even Bleach add that element to make the series a little bit more deep. A lot of titles have been mentioned in this article already but I asked my panel to name a few titles that they would consider their favourites,
Lvlln chose;
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya
The show was rather subtle about this, as much of it were episodics about various antics the SOS Brigade got into, but everything always kept going back to the feelings Haruhi and Kyon had for each other, and their journey to acknowledging their feelings for the first time. The climax of the show came only when both Kyon and Haruhi were forced to be honest about their feelings. The show was directed and paced well and pulled off the non-chronology meta game flawlessly, using it to slowly reveal to us the romantic plot.
Tsukihime
Less subtle than Melancholy, the romance in Tsukihime developed slowly as Shiki and Arcueid spent time together trying to hunt down the vampire in town. Their relationship developed organically, and though relatively fast by many standards (the show took place in under 10 days, IIRC), none of it felt forced. It is one of the few romantic anime to actually have sex, and it was important for the plot, not at all exploitative.
Super Korelle picked;
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu
It had good character development, a good story line. It had its sweet romantic moments, as well as it’s funny moments. It also had a happy ending for the two main characters. Must be the romantic in me, but I like my romantic anime to have a happy ending. It’s nice to see a happy ending after the characters go through something.
Kuuki chose;
Arakawa Under the Bridge
Arakawa Under the Bridge probably, because Ric’s love for Nino is adorable and Nino’s love for Ric is sweet, in a very weird way. The story is funny and not only about them either, even though romance has quite a huge part in it. Billy and his girlfriend are wonderful in their devotion for each other. Maria and Sister are such an unlikely couple that it makes them perfect for each other. P-Ko’s love for the mayor is so innocent and he’s so oblivious to it all that they’re really interesting to watch.
And my pick, heh well I think you should all get to watch;
Lovely Complex
Probably the best shoujo title out there, the lead characters is designed to look like an average high school girl, she does not have super model looks but is still cute. Her insecurities about her physical features deter her from pursuing her love interest but she slowly overcomes this and confesses to the boy and this is when the show really starts. Its got great comedic moments and some sad ones, it even has a few love triangles along the way. You should definetly give it a go.
Special thanks to Kuuki, Lvlln and Super Korelle for participating in this, you can follow them on twitter by clicking on their icons and read their blogs as well.
Entering the contest takes only minutes and is 100% TOTALLY FREE!!! I encourage you to get your friends involved so we can make this contest extra fun this year! Click on the link on either the top of the bottom of this post, go to the page and click “Predict It!”. If you need to make an account on BracketMaker, it is free, safe and easy! Please join us and help us make this fun! In the past we have had 30-40 entries. I want there to be many more this year!
***If you have any questions about this contest, how it was created, or the entry process, please PM Mitsugi on our forum.***
This is a 64 day, single elimination tournament where anime characters from the 1990’s and 2000’s, will battle it out to represent their respective decades to determine which decade is superior in anime history. These characters were nominated by our forum members, over the past weeks, and tournament seeding was determined based on voting frequency. Characters who received a greater number of nominations, received stronger seeding.
Also, to throw in an extra element of fun, 2 forum members and 2 podcast hosts have been entered into the contest as the 16th seeds. These forum members are Guts Matrix and Canadaman. The Podcast Hosts are Chiaki and Roukou. Congratulations!
The matches will begin as a poll on the main websites top page. There will be one poll per day, starting on January 7th, until the event is concluded. Website visitors will vote in the poll for their favorite character, the character with the most votes moves on. The character with less votes is eliminated. There will be pictures included on the poll to show the characters involved. Last time we did this, Chiaki made all the pictures and they were quite nice.
These matches will be predicted by YOU, in your quest to be the winner of this contest. Predictions are done in the style of the NCAA March Madness Men’s Basketball Tournament and points are awarded for correct predictions. The person with the highest point total at the end of the tournament wins the contest.
What do you get if you win the contest? How about a 1000 piece anime puzzle, unopened, purchased in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan, by Mitsugi and Chiaki. We selected it, with love, for you.
Here are the relevant dates of the contest:
Relevant Dates: Signup Deadline: January 5th, 2011 Tournament Start: January 7th, 2012 Tournament End: March, 9th, 2012
So, back again at this I see. I should really see some sort of therapist or go to an AA meeting because these lonely drunken Friday nights are starting to take their toll on me I think. So, there I was, on a booze binge of picking something random from my VHS collection and chucking it into the VCR player, when the minute that Play button gets hit, my mind starts to go out on me once again. When I came too, I see myself in the middle of some sort of psychic battle between two space guys shooting lights out of there hands, with one man in a black space suit sporting a pencil drawn moustache shooting blue beams from his fist at the other man in blue spiky hair and a white space suit teleporting around to avoid the ongoing attack, as both parties duke it out on a random chuck of rock in space. The man in white gets the upper hand by getting behind the man in black and putting a psychic sleeper hold on the man or something. As I look in awe at the battle, which looked like something out of a rock concert light show, the man in white comes over to where I am and orders me in his space cruiser to take me over to the Galaxy Patrol HQ. On the trip there, he begins to tell his story of hunting down the worst of the espers in the known galaxy, to protect and serve as a Cosmo Police officer. His name, is Justy Kaizard… and I realize another journey has begun for me… again.
This time I am going to tackle the 1985 OVA of Cosmo Police Justy. To sum up, this is just another “popcorn” anime to spend 45 minutes of your time on, it’s not grand in any scale, but in some ways enjoyable to watch. So, let’s gear up and learn to teleport, as we psychically dive into this OVA world.
Cosmo Police Justy starts off with a space battle between two parties with our main man in blue Justy, blocking the attacks by a guy who has a black space suit on with some hoses hooked up and the deadliest of pencil moustaches at his arsenal. Justy is able to get the upper hand by getting behind the man and grabbing his shoulders, which somehow… knocks him out, or kills him… not sure? But, that’s not important, because we get a basic verbal back story of Justy Kaizard, a “hunter” for the Galaxy Patrol System Cosmo Police, who goes after the worst of “esper” criminals in the galaxy. Espers in this show are beings who are able to fly in space with no helmet on, teleport and shoot light from their hands, as well as deflect lights too. We then get to some city in space, somewhere, where we see a group of people who want to take on Justy to end his string of arrest. Back at the Galaxy Patrol HQ planet (I guess), we get to meet the “adopted” sister of Justy, a completely dumb and ditzy redhead by the name of Astalis. To point out the facial expressions of this character in pretty much most of this show, she has the same two, dumb and “whaa?” We then get a random flashback of Justy fighting a man by the name of Magnum Vega, a wanted esper criminal, that Justy is able to take down with a powerful enough psychic blast to obliterate him in one shot. We then hear the cries of a child who is a younger version of Astalis, who is crying for her father Magnum. As Justy’s partner Bolba is holding her back, the flashback ends there, and Justy and Astalis decide to head back home. Back at home, Justy and his “other sister” Jelna, talk about Astalis condition in dealing with her being adopted by Justy after the events of the battle between him and Magnum. Then, we get another flashback of the mournful Astalis crying over her fathers lower half of his body, as she vows for revenge for her fathers death at Justy by saying “when I get older and bigger”… which, happens. Yea, who would have thought as a kid you can say to yourself “ I wanna be big and kill you” and within seconds actually happens. With the change taking in effect, she grows into the body of a teen girl, as pieces of rock around them start to crumble. We then see her in a rage mode and about to attack Justy when… the flashback ends again with current day Astalis running to Justy because she is in the mood to “go for a walk” like she is a dog of some kind.
"Gee Justy, whadda wanna do tonight, NARF!!!!"
While this is going on, we get scene from the bad guy esper in the beginning and his crew hijack a space shuttle. There reason for their actions, which is to get the daughter of Magnum Vega being their only request. While this is going on, we see Astalis having a difficult time trying to walk on a 4 foot wide platform that anyone with two working feet can do with no problem. While we see this display of special ed, Justy gets a call to report to HQ and tells Astalis to go on home. Once at HQ, Jusy is given his next assignment regarding the terrorist demands to hand over Astalis. This triggers yet ANOTHER FLASHBACK to Astalis literally stabbing Justy with a sword made of light in his chest, which then goes back to the current scene with Justy taking the mission, while bringing along Astalis with him. Once they reach the shuttle, Justy decides to send off Astalis to the shuttle with the security of him parking his butt in the cockpit and stating “holler if you need me” in a sense. But while in space, the villian esper is able to telepathically communicate with Astalis by using matter in space to play back Justy killing her father, which then triggers her to go all Hulk mode and shreds her helmet and space suit off her body. So then we get to the point of this show that, there must be freaking air in space, because guess what, she is completely fine. Justy sees this, and… goes out in space without a helmet on also. With the fate of the shuttle and Justy love to protect his adopted sister, how will Justy get out of this mess? That is something you will have to find out for your own.
So yea, that is our halfway point of describing Cosmo Police Justy for you guys. There are some things I do like about this as in the visuals and of course the ultra 80’s ending theme. The esper battles kinda reminds me a bit from Zone of the Enders how you can use Zero Shift to move your Runner around and get behind enemies like how Justy does with the espers he has to take down. Also, there is a reason why Astalis is so… handicap in the head which was caused by her having a mature body but the mind of a child, which they do show and you can tell off the bat why she acts that way. It’s got some dumb stuff, and the beginning is a bit slow, but it does pick up at the end for the final battle. There is very little story other than Justy fighting other espers and having a mentally challenged Astalis. I gotta tell you, her dumbness will get the better of you.
So yea, if you wanna check this out, be my guest, its over at Anime Classic Reviews as a Laserdisc rip. If you enjoyed this review, you can check out my blog over at Anime of Yesteryear. Till next time folks!!!
I go back in time to 2010 to review Katanagatari. Spoiler: IT’S AWESOME! Expect more from me this week. Still looking for requests too. They can be about whatever you want.
He once watched an anime called MD Geist and said its the worst ever, Once he drank a Dos Equis beer and it was exceptional, and once listened to another anime podcast other than AAA and said never again…… he is the most interesting man on the AAA network.
Ok lol, so that’s going to the new intro to each blog entry because I love those commercials and the beer. In this edition of the series I’m going to talk about a musou games; Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3. I know the hack and slash genre has a lot of critics and fans at the same time which leaves it as one of the more hotly debated game genres, and I had never played any until this game, but this game has new features that set it apart from the previous entries in the series. That said, lets take a look at the game.
Background Story:
The story devised for this game is that a number of characters from the various Gundam series are transported to a location along with their mobile suits. The location is never really spell out, perhaps some alternate dimension or whatever. Some of the characters met up and form groups and began battles against other groups of characters. Some mysterious signal is being broadcast and the characters follow it, and this drives the story. Not much of a story :P, however a story isn’t really the main focus of this game.
Game Play:
The story mode of game is broken down into chapters in which two or three characters are playable at first. Each individual character is restricted to his or her signature mobile suit until you buy a license in the game shop which allows all playable characters to pilot it. Each chapter has a number of missions that all have the same end conditions, that being killing the end boss character of that mission. How you go about getting to the end of each mission is really the difference in each mission. There are over 300 different missions within the story mode in 8 different categories. The combat is much the same with other DW games, a lot pressing of the A button to create chain combos to perform different special moves and the unique signature attack of each character. A new feature is the addition of the Partner Strike, which is an attack performed by a partner character set at the start of each mission, which can used to turn the tide of battle. There are a number of other new map features that add a more strategic atmosphere. The Emergency Dash is a new option that allows players to get out of danger if timed right. There 81 different units to choose from in the game to be collected by acquiring MS plans and building them in the MS lab. The plans can gained whenever you finish a mission and you typical get 4 or 5 after each mission
In the online mode up to 4 players can play together in 15 unique missions. There are reports that more missions on the way at some point, although no date has been given.
Audio\Music:
The music in the game is average at best, not horrid and not exceptional either. The characters are voiced in certain parts of game, but not in all dialogue between the characters. The voice actors are the ones that portray the characters in both the Japanese and American versions of the shows, so that’s some good continuity between anime and game.
Artwork:
The art style is an upgrade over the previous two DW:Gundam games. The graphic artists choose to render the characters and mobile suits in a cel shaded style which is bright, well detailed, with great environmental effects, and visually pleasing. The background environments are enough in number without getting too repetitive.
Closing Comments:
DW:Gundam 3 is most importantly an improvement over the previous games in this series. It does all the things the other games have done in a better way that made the others a success. That said it still has the issues of other Dynasty Warriors games, almost completely devoid of anything resembling a story and sometime repetitive combat. This game is almost just for Gundam fans, however it may appeal to fans of the hack and slash genre, which is a viable business model in Japan and not so much in America. Not many Gundam games get released in the West, well at least not many of the good ones, leaving not much to play if your a Gundam fan in the Western world, so its a question of take it or leave it. For myself its just good to have a decent game to go and blow up things with my favorite mobile suits.
I give this game 3\5 beam sabers slashing up grunt suits
First and for most, Happy Halloween to you readers out there. Most people trick or treat for candy, gummy worms and some rotten apples they want to give to kids on this giving day, while people like me at my age happen to do the same… at our local liquor stores. So after a full evening of Sake in my system and using my airsoft guns to shoot at punk teens who wanna egg my apartment, that put me into a good Halloween drunken coma as I happen to jump into another adventure in my VHS collection. When I came too, I met a young man with a school uniform and a sword like object in his hands, as he began to go full force into a monster like being. After the fatal swoop of the sword, the monsters neck began to geyser out blood as the young man became drenched in the red liquid of his victim. He began to tall his tale (like they all do… and here we go again) of his past of being a half human / half ogre himself and is destined to be human once he has eradicated all ogres on the face of the earth. Here is the world of Ogre Slayer.
I am going to make this a bit short since I did a review of this anime already on the podcast I am part of (Cool Kids Club Podcast) back this past summer. Ill go ahead and tell the events of the first episode, then give you guys a link if you want spoilers for the rest. All in all… this OVA is a bit of a stinker too. So let’s dive into this pile shall we.
We start off with a monologue of the main protagonist brief back story, Onikirimaru, which translates to the name of the sword he was born with, the Ogre Slayer. As I stated, his goal in life is to wander the same (it seems) two local cities in Japan to rid the world of ogres so he can be human himself. The first episode starts out with a girl being chased by an ogre, and it pretty much (almost) turns into rape, as we see clothes being torn off to see some pre-teen boobies. We then see a young man appear and slay the monster, or “Ogre”, before him and tells the girl that she will not remember anything till 3 years later when she “gets a feeling in her stomach?” Yea, you confused too, so am I, so lets keep trucking. The next scene shows the girl waking up, which goes by the name of Moeko. Moeko spends her walk to school by groping her friend making boob jokes and chats about typical high school drama “girl stuff.” Later that day, she and her friend are walking by the ball field when a pop fly goes up and Moeko looks at the ball, which we then see be charred and shredded like it was skewered on a flaming grill in mid air. No one knows why that happened, but that little “incident” is quickly forgotten about, as Moeko has to get to class. While in class, Moeko thinks about one girl who threw acid on her some time before hand, but the plan backfired and went on the girls hand herself and wonders why that could have happened. We then get to some dream sequence where we see Moeko talk to the Ogre Slayer, when the Ogre Slayer mentions that it has been 3 years since the incident and the pains she has been feeling is a result to what he told her at the time of the incident. The dream ends when Moeko gets called out by the teacher for “day dreaming” in his class. Moeko then goes to lunch with her friend, but is interrupted when the girl who threw acid on her decides to try to take Moeko out again by pushing out a window a few stories up. The window is deflected from Moeko, but her friend seems to get the worse of the window fall, which causes her to get the injuries. The Slayer shows up stating that the ogres inside her are the ones protecting her outright and she is unable to really protect anyone else without causing some harm.
"This can go one of two ways, you either spread 'em, or I do it for you."
Feeling under shock from what happened, Moeko goes to the Nurses office to rest for a bit, when the bully girl comes in and mentions to her she is a cursed being for the events that has happened so far. The bully girl then brings in some “help” and proceeds to gang up on Moeko in a good ol’ “beat down.” During the beat down, the awaking of the ogres finally happens, as she gives birth to them INFRONT OF EVERYONE!!! To the point that you wonder how loose her vagina is from what is coming out. But not only does she have one ogre come out, but there are two total ogres, which then proceed to completely decimate everyone in the nurses office. The Slayer shows up to let the girl know what is happening and that she cant keep the ogres inside her, as he’s gotta do his job regardless. But Moeko decides that she is unstoppable to anyone who tries to mess with her when she has the ogres, and then goes on a “go ahead and try to mess with me” spree. She then decides to have fun by “playing in traffic” and a local gang gets their bikes and cars messed up from it. The next day, Moeko’s friend shows up to tell her how she has changed and is concerned for her safety. Just then the gang she “took to school” last night shows up to abduct her as revenge, but she doesn’t mind the company, as she gladly jumps into the car of the gang members and drives off.
Just up ahead on the civilian overpass walkway, there is the Slayer, ready to take action and to stop the ogres from wreaking more havoc in the town. As the car drives by the overpass, he proceeds to jump down off the walkway onto the hood of the car yelling at Moeko to stop her actions and to let go of the ogres. Just as the driver of the car is experiencing his “WTF is going on” moment, Moeko then spreads her legs and out comes the ogres arm to reach to the front seat and crush the driver’s head, which crashes the car on the freeway and causes quite the pile up. We then get to see the Slayer doing what he does best, by taking some ogre names down with his sword of slaying. The Slayer finds out that the sword doesn’t seem to be doing its job too well, until Moeko states pretty much, verbatim, “Kill me and the ogres are gone.” Really without much thought or remorse, the Slayer gives Moeko the “slice of death” and both ogres disintegrate. The remorse (sort of) kicks in for the Slayer and states how no human should be killed to kill ogres…or something. And that’s the end.
"These ogre babies are mine! My Vagina, My Rights!"
So, pretty much from just what I wrote, that is how the rest of this OVA will turn out. This was just episode one of four of this OVA, so it gets pretty crazy from there on out in regards to poor writing logic, superbly, awesomely bad VIZ dubbing (this was licensed by VIZ, which ment that everyone’s favorite dubbing group from the 90’s, The Ocean Group, was part of this title) and where there is vagina’s, so there is some guy trying to rape that, sometimes even in groups. This anime isn’t all that fantastic honestly, even with the crazy stuff that is mentioned in my review, it’s really nothing but an average anime to watch to be quite honest. It’s entertaining to see, but nothing beyond that.
If you want more of a spoiler, the podcast I stated earlier did a review of this and ill post up a link to anyone who wants us to spoil the rest of the OVA for you guys. Though I do want to warn you, this is probably our worst episode in terms of quality, because even one of our reviewer’s pets wanted to try and stop us from reviewing this atrocity, but we kept on going regardless: Ogre Slayer Review
Well that is going to be for this segment, see you guys next time. If you enjoyed this make sure to check out my blog over at Anime Of Yesteryear
So imagine this. You finally get the chance to go to Japan, you are of course excited. But once you get there, strange occurrences and deaths seem to follow you wherever you go. Wait! Don’t look behind you, you don’t want to see what’s peeking from around the corner. It sounds to me like you have just found yourself starring in an Asian horror film. Here are a few tips on how to get out of there alive… Well… Maybe alive…
Avoid elevators at all costs! There will be a ghost standing in the corner glaring at you. Or it could be a passage to the underworld.
If you absolutely have to use an elevator, make sure you are the first person off when it stops.
Always wear sensible shoes. If Kayako or Sadako are after you, you don’t want to trip over your high heels.
Avoid bathrooms. This one might be hard, but really? What better time to kill you could there be?
Never EVER stay at a traditional Japanese hotel… Bad crap always happens there……
Don’t look into mirrors…. Just don’t…
Never follow the blood trail… You would think this is obvious, but apparently it’s someone’s first reaction when they see one.
Don’t ever hide in closets… That’s the first place they’ll look. (Just like poor Toshio here)
Avoid abandoned villages at ALL COSTS! That also goes for abandoned houses, hospitals, and apartment buildings… Nothing good can come of that… Nothing.
This one’s pretty obvious, but don’t ever watch unmarked video tapes. I don’t care what you think is on there, don’t do it!
If you see a pretty pair of shoes or other clothing left sitting on the side of the road, or by the train tracks, it’s not a free gift for you. It’s a death trap.
If where you are staying has any kind of legends about fox spirits and counting stairs to get wishes, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON’T TRY IT!
And finally, when the ghost disappears, don’t fall to the floor in relief where they disappeared, they’ll only be behind you waiting.
So, if you follow these simple rules, you should make it home alive. Now if you’ll excuse me… I have seven days to find someone to watch a tape for me. Any volunteers?
Hello boys and girls, have you ever sat down and watched an anime and said “boy, did that give me the warm fuzzies!” OF COURSE NOT! But, you probably have seen a show and FELT that way. With all the shows that are fan service wrapped loosely with a see-through plot, it is great to see an anime that makes me want to root for the main character and feel emotions with her.
Today on TOP 5, we will be looking at Kimi ni Todoke and the TOP 5 Lovable Things about it! So please, make sure to keep a good distance from the screen when viewing this blog post, and lay down some newspaper because once again TOP 5 is going to try and blow your mind once again this week!
NUMBER 5
Believable Situations
What is this anime if not believable? Even in some slice animes you could say that that some things are a little over the top. Not so in Kimi ni Todoke; everything that happens in this anime could actually happen in a real school-life situation. From rumors to misunderstandings, this anime is nothing if not a real slice of life which allows the viewer to connect to the characters and get emotionally invested in them.
NUMBER 4
No Filler
“Is that even possible Z?”
I dunno audience voice, why don’t you watch Kimi ni Todoke and tell me? Once you’ve filled yourselves with the fulfilling plot of this anime and had your very own
“= w =” face moment you’ll reflect on the fact that this anime is all purposeful moments paced at a good pace. At some points it might feel like they’re dragging on, but its better than having a repetitive plot and running out of generic material by episode 6.
In summery, no, there is no Hot Springs Vacation episode.
NUMBER 3
Friendship
This anime is about two things; romance and friendship. That is probably why it’s a shojo anime. The main protagonist Sawako tries her hardest just to make friends and only thinks about others, which sometimes leads to some misunderstandings. Even with this, Sawako perceivers and make friends with two very important characters.
Two of the best supporting characters in this anime are Ayane and Chizuru. They are the embodiment of good friends and are always helping Sawako. I would compare them to older sister characters, but the fact that they are friends and not family plays as a distinct roll in this anime. Without them, Sawako would not grow as a character, as they always push her and help her whenever they can. These two grow on you quickly and you always know they have Sawako on their mind.
NUMBER 2
Kazehaya
Say hello to our lead male character in this anime. Although portrayed at first as a godly, out of reach character, the more Sawako gets closer to him, the more we see he is more human. In most Romance anime we have a wimpy male protagonist with no real defining traits. The fact that Kazehaya is portrayed as the exact opposite of Sawako makes the growth in this anime more defined and makes for a more interesting character. Also, the fact that he is also in love with Sawako and is too shy to say it out right makes this anime boy a much more believable and somewhat relatable character.
NUMBER 1
SAWAKO NOT SADAKO!
This girl is so cute, where do I begin with such a great character? She is so sweet and childish in nature that you fall in love with her from the very beginning. The fact that her name “Sawako,” which means Pleasant Child, is confused to be Sadako, the evil in the movie “The Ring,” makes this story of contradictions all the better. Sawako is a girl who is shunned and becomes more and more accepted over time that we see actual character growth from. No matter what she does you always feel what she feels and connect with her on an emotional level.
I always find that a character that is overly innocent is annoying at some level, but Sawako changed my mind almost immediately as I could not stop caring about what was happening in her world. This character grows on you the most and you feel you take a step every time she does.
She is by far the defining character of this anime.
<>~–=<><<-(X)->><>=–~<>
Well, everyone that’s the end of this weeks show! Send me your ideas for TOP 5s in a comment below, on the forums or by mail at ZDA@bigstring.com! If you like the show, drop a comment, 5 star me, Like me thumbs up me or just pat your screen and say “That’ll do pig. That’ll do…”
Well, guys I’ve gotta go work on some Halloween stuff and listen to my minimum 5 podcast fix… oh yeah, and college apps… So until next week!
Hey, what’s up you Anime addicts, Z-ComiX here to kick off a new post that’ll blow mind! Before I begin, I would just like to say that you should probably put some newspaper down so that you don’t get blood on your floor. And now, after all this exposition, for the First ever…
DAY on TOP 5 we discuss the top five things you NEED to have a Japan-awesome Halloween. With the end of October approaching, it time for you to prep your stash, get your goods and buy lots of toilet paper… you didn’t hear the last one from me though.
NUMBER 5
PUMPKIN CARVING
Think it’s childish to carve a pumpkin? I don’t. I’ve been caring pumpkins before pumpkin caring was a thing. To why not show your support for you’re favorite anime/manga series by making a pumpkin of it? Here are just a few of the one I found on the internet, I dare you to do better: make an AAAPodcast Pumpkin.
NUMBER 4
COSPLAY
Ahhh, cosplay. Or as some pronounce it “AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! COSPLAY!!!” You think it’s a waste to only wear your costume at cons? Me too. So why not wear it on Halloween as a costume! Go to a Halloween costume contest or a party with friends! You probably look better than most of the costumes there. If anyone asks though, you’re someone popular… like Lady Gaga. Everyone is Lady Gaga on Halloween.
NUMBER 3
JAPANESE SWEETS
Aw man, if you have never had the Japanese sweets that I have, you gotta get on the interwebs right now and ship in some imported goods… or find you closest Japanese friend who you know has it. There are different types of sweets out there besides Pocky people… and I don’t think Pocky actually counts as a candy.
NUMBER 2
SCARY JAPANESE MOVIES
You know that you need a little horror on Halloween, so stop trying to watch the new-age movies that are basically people getting ripped into little pieces and watch something psychological like “The Ring,” or as the Japanese call it “RINGU.” Or, if you don’t like horror for some reason, pick up a cheesy vampire Kung-fu movie like “Spooky Encounters” or any of the “Mr Vampire” movies and laugh at some 80’s awesomeness (yes, they are Chinese movies, but they are still good).
NUMBER 1
HYAKUMONOGATARI KAIDANKAI
Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, or “A Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales” is an old Japanese scary story event that kind of like letting stories over the campfire… except scary. The basic premise is that you and a group of friends go into a dark room at night light 100 candles and tell ghost stories. Now here is the twist. Every time someone tells a story you put out a candle and each time the stories get scarier and scarier until you tell the last story in the dark. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? No one knows where and when the ritual started, but some say by the last story, when the final candle goes out, a spirit is summoned amongst you in the dark…
Well, that’s all the time I have for this week! Please, if you enjoy the show rate a review at the bottom, share it, or just leave a comment! IF you have a suggestion for the next TOP 5 top me a line here, on the forums, or at ZDA@bigstring.com.
