Yeah its a little late… but thats ok, I been busy…
So, last time was my Marvel rant, this time its prudent I show DC some love, but honestly I haven’t been as huge a follower of DC except for what’s in the main stream, so yes, seen all the batman and superman movies etc and some of the cartoons but haven’t delved much more into it than that, however I did read a the following review which I feel sums it up perfectly, so I am sharing it with you, and yes, Marvel might be on top in the movies… however in other media, DC def got game!
Seriously, read this article, it is very much on point
My two cent views…
The original Batman movies had some of the best characters and some of the worst ever seen in the movie industry, having such extremes definitely didn’t help but the films were good.
Then along came Nolan and gave us a really good origin story that just worked and gave us an amazing joker
As for superman, well we know that has been all over the place, Christopher Reeve was always amazing, Smallvile was meh, Lois and Clark… well yeah you get the picture. The new reboot however was good as an origin story; so glad that is out of the way.
Green lantern was a fail, sad given the characters looked pretty good and the made his powers appear really cool, however was also disappointed they went with a white Green Lantern
The cartoons are definitely where DC shines, I haven’t watched any of them religiously but the ones I have seen, eg Justice League, Batman: The animated series, young justice, Teen Titans etc, are just awesome. And the animated short movies are even better
Arrow: Finally started watching arrow and have to say, I am hooked. I really liked how they kept it dark, gloomy and serious, even thou it’s a little different to how he is portrayed in the comics, I like this take on him better
Flash: Not out yet but I am looking forward to this
BvS: I am worried about this, thou the pictures and premise sounds good so far, it still feels like this movie is here to play catch up to Avengers and might try to much too fast. I am hoping the other characters who might appear in this movie are mere ‘cameo’ appearances and that the movie mainly focuses on Sups and Bats. I am extremely interested to see how Lex Luthor is, controversial casting call there but it makes a lot of sense and I think could end up being a genius move
What I want from DC
I want DC to take their time with their movies like Marvel has managed to do, but also at the same time I don’t wont to be over loaded with too many origin stories etc So I am hoping they will find a good balance. The other thing that has me worried is they have said there wont be a cross over between their tv series and the movies… Um so what does that mean for flash? He is one of the original justice league members… DC has the content, but it really depends how they use it. As that article said, DC needs to look at how successful their other media has been and make sure their new cinematic creations don’t fall flat… again…
Recent Sad News
Studio Ghibli closes… the studio of some of the best animated movies of all times is over…
Robin William passes away, a fellow geek and provider of smiles all around the world, it is sad to see him go
Recommended Anime
Log Horizon
Log Horizon was one of the big surprises last year, another anime based on an MMO story line. With the success of SAO and the prevalence of other MMO type Anime, Log Horizon was almost caught in no mans land between all the others being constantly released, however the story line and the premise for Log Horizon really blew a lot of people away and quickly has become a fan favourite and personally speaking, way better than SAO! The story follows an Enchanter named Shiroe as he as well as thousands of others are suddenly trapped within the world of Edler Tale, a popular MMO that has just recently received a major update, drawing a lot of older players back into the game. The story follows Shiroe as he and others try to make sense of what has happened and what it takes to survive in this world. It really does well at tackling the emotional side and possible trauma associated with being trapped in a new world and also their impact on that world. The players trapped within the world are known as adventures while the NPC’s are known as the people of the land, the thing with Log Horizon is the world which they are trapped in, your not sure if its the video game or the actual world and this is where things get tricky trying to figure it out but in a good way as the show teases you in various directions. Shiroe quickly teams up with his old friends and acquaintances as he tries to figure things out, we get to know his friends pretty well (I wish they would let Akatsuki loose more often, she is the boss!) and it is their interactions along with Shiroes strategic mind and just genius intellect that really drives this anime forward, but it is also the playful interactions as well that still manage to keep the show light hearted and entertaining, along with a few love interests thrown in at times for good measure. But also the political element that is introduced gives a real feel of reality to the show too. Overall Log Horizon is a great anime, I love it and there is a reason it is no. 2 on my favourite list. Also season 2 is almost here!
Animation 9/10 It jumps at times from animation drawing to almost 3d cgi at times which is a little weird since the animation itself is fine and doesn’t need that extra kick, its not mind blowing but its perfect for what it is
Characters 8/10 All are great and explored well within a short time (the short time always is the killer)
Plot 9/10 It’s a more realistic take on the MMO genre and it just works
Overall 9 It doesn’t have the same following as other anime’s but it is one of my all time favs
No throwback character this week, its been a messy few weeks with things on, but am getting back into my routine again so will start my throwbacks up again next post 🙂
Sorry for the break, holiday and then waiting to see GOTG and see if there was any big aftermath from SDCC… So this weeks post is looking pretty long and will focus entirely on Marvel, will resume my normal schedule next week 🙂
So lets get down to business. SDCC as always was packed with a lot of goodness and with Marvels dominance of late, its not surprise to see them come out with some awesome footage. Unfortunately there wasn’t any big reveals save that Josh Brolin did turn up with the Infinity Gauntlet, maybe an obvious hint as to what Phase 3 will build up to for Avengers 3? At this stage its to early to tell (till at least Age of Ultron hits), however below is what is looking like the current movie line up so far (the confirmed ones at least)
Avengers – Age of Ultron May 2015
Still trying to get a look at the release footage, but it sounded epic! Also how about that poster they have with all the avengers fighting Ultron and his Hordes?! I’m excited that Vision will be in it and I am very interested to see how they tie in Scarlet Witches powers and how the portray Pedro after the impressive display in X-men DOFP. Needless to say I am super hyped for this movie! Oh, and we see the hulk buster armor, oh hell yeah! Also it is rumored but most likely, Loki’s staff has an infinity gem in it, I guess we will hear more about it in the movie, making it the fourth one to surface
Ant Man July 2015
Same again, still trying to get a look at the footage that was released, but by the descriptions again it sounds interesting. We know Ant-man has had some production issues, but we wont go into those, needless to say I am just hoping the final product is going to be a solid one. The interesting thing to note is that Ant Man wont actually be Hank Pim, but it will be Scott Lang being the ‘superhero’, also noting that this will come after Ultron, so again Pim doesn’t create Ultron in the MCU. This will most likely be an origin story
Cap 3 May 2016
So, can they do better than Cap 2? I hope so, but its a hard act to follow as Cap 2 is regarded as the best movie so far and boy did they nail it. The talking point will be does Cap 3 start setting up Phase 3? Or does it deal with any Shield after math’s or what happens at the end of Ultron, or maybe more Hydra? All that has been revealed so far is that it will deal more with the winter soldier and the political spectrum of that, but no idea as yet if it will cross over to other things or not
Doctor Strange July 2016
After the bomb was dropped during Cap 2, this movie is most def going to be a risk similar to Guardians esp now stepping more into the realms of supernatural, thou we have been slowly feed some of it with The Thor Movies (thou magic is more shown as better tech, thou Loki has some cool abilities) and also in Agents of Shield (blackout), and the twins will obviously touch more on it in Ultron. So it really does leave the space wide open for Marvel to tackle this movie with no restrictions. I’m expecting the 5th infinity gem to show up here even thou it should be an origin story
Guardians 2 July 2017
Honestly without seeing the first one, I got nothing
Interesting that Guardians 2 gets a date before 1 has even hit the theatres.
Update: I have seen Guardians… yeah that was frikken awesome! Except Thanos… I was a little disappointed with him, but can cover that a bit more another time. There is a lot here to tie into the greater MCU, the major one being another infinity gem/stone being revealed as well as more about the history of them. The next one is obviously Thanos. Another one is the Kree, which has another tie in with Agents of Shield, then there is the question of who is Starlords father. So GOTG 2 could focus on many different things, but I am picking that there will be another infinity gem here at least (the final one) and maybe an introduction to the Skrulls, more on Thanos with maybe some avengers tie in (Im thinking either Thor or Iron Man)
So there are still other dates yet to be filled, the likely ones are Thor 3 and Iron Man 4, however rumors abound make popular mention of Ms Marvel, Black Widow, Loki, Hulk or my personal hope, Black Panther. Contract issues will start to come into play esp with Iron Man (and with a lot of the others given that superheroes dominated the top 10 highest paid actors the previous year) But here are my predictions
May 2017 Iron Man 4
I’m not sure what story line they will follow but if the previous films are to go buy, it will be an Iron Man one, however I would like to see it branch more into the MCU, maybe more to do with Shield or even space (maybe a Skrull set up plot) would be interesting, or a vibranium story arc (possibly paving the way for Black Panther)
Nov 2017 Thor 3
Im picking it will be to do with Loki (since he has done something with Odin, and also the infinity gauntlet to come into play here as well, maybe a cross over with GOTG)
May 2018 Hulk (either a verses/team up or Solo ‘ish’ Movie)
Its really about time again for them to take another gamble on Hulk, however with Ruffalo, I think a hulk movie would be great, however a team up would make it interesting esp since Marvel hasn’t done this yet, but as long as its based on Hulk Smash rather than Hulk don’t want to smash, then it will be a winner
July 2018 Black Panther
It has to come, for too many reasons, this movie has to be made, the question really is when
Nov 2018 Ms Marvel – Or maybe Captain Marvel (Or Avengers 3 part 1, but my pick either way, we will see Ms Marvel)
We have already been introduced to the Kree, also there is the Agents of Shield story line with the blue body (most likely Kree) and Sky being an 084, this could be brought together in a movie with the Kree visiting earth to find out what happened etc, this will also be a lead in to Avengers 3. This is a difficult one to predict because the next movie will be the biggest to date
May 2019 Avengers 3
While not confirmed, this is the likely date, and with the other movies having set things up, expect Thanos to be rocking the Infinity Gauntlet and the Avengers and GOTG to team up in something ridiculously huge and awesome and an obvious headache for whoever has to write it!
So in summary
2015 May – Avengers Age of Ultron
2015 July – Ant Man
2016 May – Cap 3
2016 July – Doctor Strange
2017 May – Iron Man 4
2017 July – Black Panther
2017 Nov – Thor 3
2018 May – Hulk
2018 July – GOTG 2
2018 Nov – Ms Marvel
2019 May – Avengers 3
With Marvel moving to 3 movies a year, Phase 4 and onwards is going to start getting very complicated and will be interesting to see how they tackle it going forward after Phase 3 and Thanos
As for the Infinity stones
Tesseract – Space Stone (Cap 1 and Avengers)
Ether – Reality Stone? (Thor 2)
Orb – Power Stone (GOTG)
Loki’s Staff (Speculation) – Mind Stone (Avengers 1 and 2, end of Cap 2)
Infinity Gauntlet (Thor 1)
Soul Stone (I think Doctor Strange)
Time Stone (GOTG 2)
Infinity Gauntlet (Thor 3, will play some part in this movie)
So thats the movies, now for the TV shows
Agents of Shield Sept 2013, loved the first season, im kind hoping the second season focus on the rebuilding of shield, thou with Ultron on the way, I’m sure there will be some show altering tie in coming up again. (also the 8 week break in the mid season for Agent Carter will be interesting) There is a lot to go on with the destruction of shield and the reveal of hydra and even more with Coulson and what we are pretty sure now was a Kree body in the lab and his lovely drawings at the end. Also with the Hydra reveal, there are a lot of once locked up prisoners most likely on the loose, including a mention of abomination early in the series, Blizzard, and most importantly, Graviton. So who knows just how the show will go, but to beat someone as powerful as graviton, they are going to need an avenger or 2 to help and at least Hulk to take out Abomination.
Defenders (Netflix Series)
Daredevil
Jessica Jones
Iron Fist
Luke Cage
Its hard to know how these are going to go, with a netflix release it seems like a good move, but the question is, how will they tone these different shows. The idea of having four shows running like this separately at first to then tie together in what they are saying will be a mini series as the defenders, its risky as hell but I love the idea
One Shots
I like this idea, short little shows covering some back stories, I would like to see this expanded more into maybe like a special 2 part mini series or something to tackle some of the bigger characters or come up with some interesting team ups. Hawkeye needs one of these! Hawkeye and Widow would be awesome, they need either their own movie or a team up one shot
In Conclusion
So, the MCU is basically this huge ass entity that marvel has created, and is continuing to expand, much like the comic books its great to see the same kind of work adapted to the big screen, thou the work behind it must be enormous but the pay out for Marvel and fans alike is well worth it. It really is just an exciting time for comic book fans and this isn’t even touching on the cartoon series and the comics themselves!
The thing I love about the MCU is how everything ties in together just like the comics, I like how that the effect of one show has a bearing on the other. The original writers for marvel comics had created such a huge and diverse world, but often you only get to see that world from a single viewpoint or a certain angle, what MCU has done is provided many stories and multiple view points into this world. This is where I feel a lot of good stories have fallen apart, to detailed for their own good and you cant fully explore it, but Marvel is fully exploring every possibility here. It is a shame that Spider Man and the X-men cant be part of this, and given the way both franchises have been treated, it is really annoying to see such good characters portrayed terribly, but one day, hopefully they will just give up and we will finally see Hulk and Wolverine battle it out!
Keeping with the Marvel Theme, here is my recommended anime
Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes (AEMH)
Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes followed up the momentum marvel had already created with the MCU and this release of 2 seasons worth of cartoons was very well timed. (There is also a new season/series even more recently released which is just as good) If you old or new to the Marvel universe this show is still worth watching, it kind of acts like a recap of a lot of the major villains in the universe as well as giving some deeper insights into various characters so if your new to Marvel I would def recommend watching it to at least have some idea what a lot of fan boys are talking about when it comes to the MCU. The first half of season one focuses on each avenger individually and how they came to be apart of the team, the second half progresses the story towards a major story arc that I wont give away, needless to say it is enjoyable to watch. Season 2 does the same and progresses ahead while introducing more characters into the universe. Each episode is not necessarily stand alone as they all contribute to progress the story line in someway but each episode does tend to have its own conclusion. Overall the show makes pretty good use of multiple characters in what is already a big universe that can be extremely confusing, but they have managed to keep the story lines focused enough throughout the series to make it an enjoyable watch. It is nice to watch the dynamic of the team thou, you get to see it a bit in the MCU but obviously not to the degree you get to see it on the small screen and this show really does give you more of the personal insight into each character. Also it really shows how Hawkeye is as a character too who annoyingly seems to have been neglected a lot within the MCU, grr!
Animation 8/10 It really does bring the comics to life
Characters 7/10 Superhero’s are hard to depict at the best of times in short shows, it does attempt to give them more depth in a short time, but skips a lot
Plot 6/10 The plots aren’t wildly complicated, but enjoyable
Overall 7/10 It works, but it really acts as more of a beginners guide to marvel, but given the success of the MCU, people need an enjoyable catch up and this provides that
Since this week we are basically on the eve of Comic Con and the Guardians of the Galaxy hitting theatres I am going to keep it short since there is going to be a lot of news coming out in the next few days esp regarding DC and Marvel, so yup, next episode I’ll be dedicated to them! Also I have the BeFM DJ comp coming up soon as well as a trip to Taipei so yeah, its a busy time!
Short News
But for now, Naruto is back this week and the new movie has a release date scheduled this dec titled Naruto – the last Naruto, name is a little confusing, is it the last Naruto movie (prob not) or just a play on it
Bahumut, the popular card game has been rumored for an anime series for a while and seems to have been in the works, looks like it might come this Autumn season
Macross new series is ‘being planned/in the works’ basically meaning, dont hold your breath
Episde Briefs
Summer season is starting to get more intense now, coming up to episode 4 this week, I still think Akame Ga Kill and I would say Aldnoah Zero are my picks of the bunch. I know some people are a bit on the fence about Akame Ga Kill, mainly because the mood/tone jumps around so quickly, from being dark and gruesome one second, to being light hearted and comedic the next, however personally I like that, it kinda brings in the gore that you wish other animes had yet still has that fun side about it. I just wonder if it’s going to be as brutal as Shingeki when it comes to killing off people
One piece… Sanji is about to take on Dol Flamingo? Didn’t see that one coming, I wonder if he is still injured after that fight with Vergo and will Law intervene as well or will it be one on one, and will Sanji get his ass kicked… Kinda hope not but I’m guessing it will go that way
Mahouka, finally get to see Tatsyua let loose a little more and get to figure out more of his abilities, he is portrayed as such a bad ass
SAO seems to be taking a diff route to the first season, they have actually taken time out for some decent character development… maybe, if they have then I am def happy but I wonder if they will keep that up
Back into Fairy Tale, up to the next Saga, seeing Natsu take on an S rank quest, and now are about to run into all kinds of problems, this is also serving as Grays back story, and now Erza is on the way to bring them back… I sense more destruction is imminent
So that’s the news and anime recaps in a very small nutshell… as I said, it’s still a work in progress… But for now, here is my recommended anime and throwback character
Recommended Anime
Moretsu Pirates (Bodacious Pirates)
Moretsu Pirates is an interesting but fun take on what a future pirate might be like. The show is set far in the future as humans have colonized space and after the process of colonisation, independence and war has ended with a long term peace, pirates who were basically used as privateers during the wars are now little more than show pieces trying to make a living by ‘performing’ pirate raids and doing whatever other work they can manage. Enter Kato Marika, a first year high schooler living in an ‘outer’ colony who suddenly finds out her father who has recently died was in fact a pirate captain aboard the ship Bentanmaru and that she is set to inherit his position, not to mention she also finds out her mother was a very famous pirate as well. The story follows her as she comes to grips with this situation as well as deciding whether to take on the role as captain. Like most manga’s the story focuses on a young person taking on the lead role and in this case it does feel a little strange when you really look at it to think that a 1st year high school kid can become captain of a pirate ship, but other than that the series does handle this relatively well and it is nice to see the girls taking the lead in a more positive way than other animes which just tend to focus on sex appeal first rather than skill, Moretsu pirates tends to look at skill first, thou that’s not to say there isn’t a fair level of sex appeal thrown in there (just wait till she puts on a space suit… where did those come from?! and also there is the random high school girl scene where the other girls are trying to look at another girls breasts as well, kinda expected these days… disturbing) Kato Marika thou is often portrayed at times as an airhead who is actually really smart, not an uncommon theme among anime. The show does try to act serious on some levels with well thought out narratives explaining how the pirate works in their time as well as some light explanations of the current political climate and how they fit into that, but given its only 26 episodes long, there is only so much you can cram into such a short period. While there are obviously questions left unanswered, it doesn’t do a bad job of being cohesive enough to make it interesting and worth watching. The animation itself is pretty nice and mostly well thought out including ship designs, except for the stellar military ships, having the ship the shape of a knife?? I know its space but it just doesn’t seem that practical.
Overall the series is solid and finishes at a nice point for a first season leaving the viewer wondering about what could be next as it leaves the world at a very open stage, and a few big bombshells added in as well however there is no news on a second season and seems doubtful there will be one anytime soon. So if you can handle that annoyance then it is worth a watch
Animation 7/10 It is nicely drawn but has some weird design quirks
Characters 7/10 Some really likable characters but some others suffer at the expense of the main characters due to the short series length and are introduced to us out of nowhere at times
Plot 7/10 It has enough thought to it and just enough added mystery at times. The relationships between insurance company and pirates as well as the political climate makes for some interesting themes if they were able to be expanded on
Overall 7/10 It is solid and interesting, I like the details and the atmosphere it creates but it’s a shame there isn’t more episodes, feels like its nicely set up to be great in the long run only to have it short at one season
Throwback Character
Panthro
General to the Thundercats
Superior strength and figthting skills as well as technologically capable
Weapons: Nunchuku, Armour Spikes and the Thundertank (Extendable arms in the rebbot)
Panthro is one of the more badass Thundercats, weather you are looking at the original or the reboot of the series they have still kept his demeanour the same which is good and why I like him as a character. He is a noble and a general in the Thundercats and regarded as one of the best warriors around. While there are some small differences between the original and reboot, fundamentally he is the same character. He is strong and loyal, gets angry easy and is brilliant when it comes to technology. He is what you would describe as a heavy fighter, using his strength and skill to great effect during combat. His weapon of choice is a pair of fighting sticks that mimic nunchaku that have cat paws on the end. In the reboot he loses his arms and ends up having them replaced with extendable mechanical ones which give him more power. If all else fails you can also find him driving around causing chaos in the Thundertank which he is also very protective of
Thundercats is one of those childhood shows that many people will remember; the famous sword of omens was many a child’s favourite. The cartoon itself was pretty good, it had a solid toy line to accompany it and was animated pretty well for its time. The story would often progress as the Thundercats adapted to their new home and made friends while also trying to overcome Mum-ra and his evil forces. There was a reboot of the series in 2013 that I also really enjoyed but unfortunately didn’t do very well. They took a slightly new spin on the history and the characters bringing them into a more modern era I guess however it didn’t gain the popularity the original show did, my guess is due to lack of awareness and now people will prob be annoyed with it because it’s a tale left unfinished, but then again the original was also left pretty open ended which is common for most of the earlier cartoons with very few only ever reaching a somewhat definitive ending. The original Thundercats is like 100 something episodes long and is hard to find in good quality but if you’re feeling nostalgic I’m sure you can find it, however I would recommend trying out the reboot, it is shorter but it does add an interesting take
With summer season in its second week can finally start to gauge a little how the new shows will/might turn out. But first, some news
New Initial D movie to be released in Japan Aug 23, looks like its going to be part 1 of a new trilogy
Real G Next Project – Yup they are going to try and make that 18m tall Gundam statue they have in Tokyo actually move and do shit, prob wont be able to do much but still, sounds interesting, real life Gundams maybe not so far away as we might have thought..
Assignation Classroom anime to hit 2015 Winter season, live action film date still to be announced, not sure why but I like the sound and look of this
New DBZ movie is coming our way next Spring 2015
Street Fighter might be finally getting a V in front of it, I still wish they would do a decent movie or at least an anime reboot
Summer season recommendations
This week I am going to skip the episode briefs, I am still figuring out just what angle to take on those briefs, so instead I’ll go with the summer season here, this is a list of the summer shows I am wathcing and quick briefs on them
Akame Ga Kill
This is probably the most hyped new anime this season and after watching the first 2 episodes I can see why, what at first seems like your usual adventure anime quickly becomes something much more darker yet it still manages to maintain that childish anime comedy about it, will be interesting to see if it can keep that up. It revolves around a group of assasins who are trying to take down a corrupt country and at the moment it looks really good
Argevollen
Well this feels like another typical mecha anime, two sides fighting, one normal kid who stumbles across a more advanced mecha and does some damage with it… Hope there is some kind of twist to it, at the moment it feels like its been done before
Aldnoah Zero
So earth has been split into 2 almost different species, one group still on earth and the other living in space who have discovered technology far beyond their own giving them a huge evoulutionary step up. Thus enter the diplomatic talks that never start as the princess on a good will journey to earth gets blasted and the space fearing ‘knights’ basically use it as their excuse to decend to earth and start a war with their ridiculosly over powered army that they had been plotting to do since for ever anyways
Rail Wars
Well this looks a little different from the norm, but yet so similar too… Anyways the story revolves around a group of kids who are recieving training to work for the rail company. A job that is taken very seriously and also is a great career move. They end up working security and have to deal with the happenings of Tokyo station. It looks like a bit of fun
Tokyo Ghoul
This starts of a little dark as a couple of ghouls cross paths, but then traves back into familiar anime territory. However this story does turn out interesting. Basically the main character becomes half ghoul after he is attacked by a troublesome ghoul and they both are severly injured, and the ghouls organs get implanted into the boy. It seems like the story is going to follow his life as he comes to terms with what he has become and the new world he has suddenly entered
Tokyo ESP
Well this isnt the first esper based anime, the Zettai Karen CHildren series along with the OVA I really enjoyed (mostly) so to see a new esper based anime caught my attention to see if they could offer something different. At the moment only the first episode has come out but it seems different so far which is good but still looks like its going to deal with the whole human acceptance thing, along with good espers and bad espers, world domination etc etc But at least the powers look pretty cool
I would also include SAO Season 2, but I decided to make it my recommended anime this week so read below
Recommended Anime
Sword Art Online (SAO)
SAO was propbably the first MMO based anime to really get the attention of mainstream anime fans. Its interesting take on the characters being stuck inside an MMO game with the same rules in place made for an interesting story. Like most anime it tackles bigger issues of the human psychi as the players who are trapped within the world battle to survive. The story is based around the nerve gear system which allows people to enter into MMO games via virtual reality, basically full emergnce within the game, so you think it and your avatar does it. In SAO a new game just being released, on its opening day thousnads of players log on only to discover that they can’t log back out. Eventually they are all told that the only way to exit the game is to either complete all 100 levels or die, however if you die inside the game, you die in the real world. The main protaganist is Kirito, an accomplished MMO player who quickly progresses thru the game alone while other people stick to the safety of forming guilds and parties. However after awhile Kirito finds himself teaming up with others ans things begin to get worse in the world.
SAO is a great adventure story, it flows really nicely and the character development is smooth, but it does suffer a bit from having an overpowered hero at times thou as the show progresses it does show that even an overpowered character has his limits. While it builds well as an individual story, this also limits it I feel as there is a lot of interesting things that get left out, esp with regards to other characters, the guilds and as the story progresses, the different races. Sao has set up a really indepth and imaginative world, however I really feel we miss out on a lot of it because of the focus being soley on Kiritos struggles. Some of the boss battles or epic struggles on the front lines could have been awesome to see (thou we do see Kirito going HAM on one boss which was pretty cool)
Overall it is a great anime and well loved by many people, I just wished they would explore the world more
Animation 9/10 It is really well drawn and just looks beautiful
Characters 8/10 They are a little annoying at times but they have depth
Plot 6/10 It is really solid and well written but it kind of works against it because it jumps forward too often and we miss out on too much
Overall 7.5/10 It is a great anime and very popular but I just feel like it moves forward to fast and misses/skips over too much, while some people like this, I don’t, I would rather get the whole picture
Throwback Character
Bots Master
Ninjzz
Male
Robot/Boyzz
Fighting style based on martial artists, added strength, speed and agility due to being a robot as well as enhanced ninja weapons and skills
Silent bad ass type, unspoken second in command
Ninjzz was the first robot boyzz to be made during the program to help deal with the crissis of fighting LM corp. ZZ was in need of a bot with specific fighting abilities as the other boyzz were not made specifically for combat all thought they are profecient fighters. He ended up basing Ninjzz on earths greatest martial artists thou he does seem to have a predominantly bruce lee feel about him. He is the silent type who only speaks when he has to speak. He is also a capapble leader, acting like a general and has taken over leadership before when ZZ and Blitzy were incapacitated (Twig would prob be Ninjzz second in command)
Bots Master was one of my favourtie childhood programs, who doesnt like theidea of having their own robots. The show was really well worked with a decent story line, weekly plots that added to the overall plot, interesting and crazy yet likeable characters and of course lots of action and robots fighting. Bots Master did come after transformers era but they gave it a different feel that I felt really made the cartoon work, its just a shame it stopped after the first season. It didnt help that the toy line was only limited because these toys would have helped propel it forward more but looking at the toys, it seemed they just werent a match for what was in the cartoon whch is prob why they didnt sell as good. An interesting thing to note was the shows use of 3d scenes, using the old red and blue styled 3d glasses you could wathc the actions scenes unfold in a much clearer way which was very forward thinking for its time
What’s up and welcome back, ep 3 is here so lets dive straight in with the news
News
Summer Anime Season has started with a few interesting titles coming out, I will check out a few of them and post up recommendations next week after watching a couple of episodes from each
Ninja Slayer anime announced at Anime Expo and looks pretty badass, then again with the tittle of Ninja Slayer, you cant go wrong… maybe
Kuroko’ Basketball to get new season in 2015
Kick starter campaign launched to revive Robo-tech with new season, yep that old epic anime might just get a revival.
One Piece Special to Air on Aug 30th
Well lets get started with my show recaps
One Piece Ep 652 – This week we are back to the fighting after a quick backstory, D Block has begun, Law is saved by Fujitora, kinda, he is really up shit creek at the moment. Robin and Usop have met up with the resistance and Franky, Zoro has met up with Sanji and Top Knot Land (Not sure how those names just suddenly appeared…) and for some reason the sunny is headed to green bit, might have missed something else there…
Naruto Ep 367 – So we are back to back stories again… At least this one should also prove interesting, Madara meets Hashirama, hopefully it doesn’t drag out, this war has taken for ever and we have hardly seen any of it
Mahouka Ep 1 – This looks really interesting, a magic based world and what looks like a capable brother and sister who are a little too friendly at times… but we quickly see that as they enrol in school there is a big divide between those who are capable and those who lack behind, while the lead Tatsuya has been placed in the lower grade, it is obvious he is far from behind the others (not to mention having some bad ass Taijutsu Skills as well) While the opening scene does a bit to inform us of where things are at, there is a lot of questions surrounding the two siblings. Im interested to see how this develops as we are left at the end of the episode with a stand off between the Blooms and Weeds.
Captain Earth Ep 1 – As is the way with first episodes they often jump around trying to give us relevant information to what might be ahead, but these first episodes are often important to draw us in. Captain earth really jumps around a lot to begin with yet there is enough hints of something more epic unraveling, but it is still puzzling as hell and there isn’t a clear guide to just what is going on, but at least at the end we are rewarded with a look at the Mech which seems to be at the forefront of the series
Black Bullet Ep 1 –While it starts off looking desperate, it quickly gets to the point (thou details about things are still sketchy, it is only ep 1), humans fighting against some kind of viral infection, not the first time we seen ideas like this, but the difference between the opening scene and the time skip makes things interesting not to mention a virus that transforms people so drastically and trying to figure out just how far up shit creek humanity really is, it seems like there is a bit of illusion surrounding the current world. Will be interesting to see where this goes.
SAO Season 2 Ep 1 – Its finally here, a lot of people think that the GGO arc is the better one so unfortunately there is high hopes. Ep 1 served to act as a filler between the arcs and has done an ok job of setting up the new season, there isn’t any major changes yet which is good
Fairy Tail – Ep 1-7
The first episodes start off by introducing us to the main characters and other key important characters within the series. It revolves around Natsu and Lucy as they join up and he takes her to his Guild, Fairy Tail, are rather famous and ill renowned at times guild (the guild itself seems to be stir crazy filled with all sorts of characters who seem to have a knack for total destruction) We are force fed quickly relevant news and details revolving around this magic world in an attempt to bring us quickly up to speed which woks to a certain degree. Also quick character introductions leave a lot of back-stories to evolve possibly at a later date. But for now we get a pretty good overview of how things work, we are already given a taste of the guilds powers with some early protagonists causing trouble and Natsu teaming up with Erza and Gray who after fighting, basically destroy an entire countryside. At the moment it looks like it could be an enjoyable anime series but as always it is dependent on how many episodes they have to develop the characters and the world more or not. Either way I’m almost hooked
Ippo is a boxing based anime following the life of Ippo Makanuchi, a shy boy who was bullied in high school but found boxing as a way to grow up. The story follows him as he joins the Kamogawa boxing gym where you meet the other main characters in the show. The show itself while mostly centred around Ippo still goes and focuses at times on other characters, building them up and exploring their pasts as well as their training and struggles to be the best that they can. The show tends to build up to each major fight, usually with light hearted and hilarious episodes aimed at their training, and then usually more serious during the fights, rinsed and repeated but this formula does work and it carries the show along nicely. The first season of episodes follows Ippo as he works his way to being the Japanese Champion, the second season New Challenger focuses more on Takamura and his quest at a world tittle, while the latest third seaon focuses on them both however Takamura who is a fan favourite and the strongest boxer in the series def has the lead at the moment, however Ippo is not far behind. The show makes excellent use of boxing styles with some characters imitating real life boxers as well as training programs and techniques that would mimic what boxers do in real life as well, of course adjusted a bit for a cartoon to keep it interesting but the fundamentals are there. It really shines thou with its character interaction, Takamura is friggen hillarious and is usually the centre of most the attention with the others backing him up, watching the goofy stuff they get up to in the gym is just as fun as watching the serious matches in the ring. Ippo is a well-rounded boxing anime that is definitely worth watching set in a fictional world but still based fundamentally on real life.
Animation 7/10 It is an older cartoon and the animation reflects that, however it is still pretty good
Characters 9/10 The characters are likable, relatable and very well thought out
Plot 6/10 It is hard to rate the plot because there isn’t much to it, train then fight and repeat, however they have done an extremely good job of making it flow well and be very interesting
Overall 7/10 A very well rounded sporting anime
Throw Back Character
The Pirates of Dark Water
Ioz
Male
Pirate/Rogue
No special skills except a sound ability to fight
Han Solo Type
Ioz joined up with Ren on his quest hoping to get rich from the adventure but like any good pirate he ends up changing his mind set and starts to believe in the quest and becomes more like a brother to Ren as he repeatedly risks his life for him and his companions time and time again. Even though he changes as the show progresses he is still a pirate at heart and will jump at the possibility of a get rich quick scheme. Overall Ioz is a pretty cool character, the ‘I don’t want to be a respectable hero’ who always ends up dong the right thing
Pirates of Dark Water was one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons, it was drawn really well and the plot was well thought out mostly, a world in trouble of being taken over by evil forces using the dark water to infect and destroy it. Then enter the young prince who must collect the 13 treasures of rule to destroy the threat. Sure its not your ridiculously complicated story line but it worked and made for a great adventure cartoon. There was also some very noteworthy voices added to it as well, its just a shame (actually really did piss me off) that they finished the series about half way through. Still, it is worth revisiting at some point in your life or if your new to the series to at least see what would have been an epic tale
Welcome to this week in Anime with DJ Blaze, so first off lets get into the news (this will cover a few things since I need to catch up a little bit with what has been going on lately. But just note that some of them are a little old since I have been working on this for awhile now)
Also check out here for this summers anime releases coming out this week and weekend! I will put up my recommendations next week
SAO2 Is almost here! Look on youtube for various shorts and ‘trailers’. Release for July 5th, can’t wait11
Hayao Miyazaki invited to join US film academy, the dude is a legend, directed some amazing movies and fully deserves it
Eng Dubs in the works for Devil Survivor and Majestic Prince with voice casts being named, both are good shows
New Yu-gi-oh movie in the works… I use to watch the first anime with Yugi and Kaiba etc but stopped after those… Wasn’t really that into it
New Sailor Moon Series to start in July, this will please a lot of old skool fan girls
Possible Powerpuff girls new season planned… I could never take that show seriously
Attack on Titan outsells One Piece for first time, season 2 release for anime still not confirmed yet, sounds like they are going to release a season 1 ‘recap’ first then bring out season 2…
Legend of Korra Book 3 debued June 27th, I know a lot of my friends having been digging on the Legend of Korra hard
DBZ Battle of the Gods to be released in the US August 5th, DBZ is one of the few Anime’s where I prefer the Eng voice cast over the Jap cast… Not very often that happens!
Gakkou Gurashi (another zombie apocalypse manga) is to get anime adaptation… Like we need more zombie shows…
Knights of Sidonia to get 2nd season scheduled for Nov 23rd, going to start watching the first season
Pacific Rim sequel confirmed with mention of a companion animated series also in the works… Wonder how this will go, didn’t they win? Guess not
Assasination Classroom to get Anime adaption and a live action film, the art work looks cool, but I wonder how a live action film will go
Ok, thats it for now, usually I’ll keep it to 2 or 3 headlines each week and talk a bit about them. Also next week and following weeks I will start giving updates and recommendations for the Fall Season Anime releases which is already looking dam exciting with the initial line-ups floating around with around 10 shows sparking my interest
Ok before I start doing a weekly recap of the shows I am watching, you need to be brought up to speed with where they are at (if your not already there) So here we go with the major two
One Piece (Dressrosa Arc)
Things are really heating up again in One Piece. The Straw Hats have entered the new world and are now in an alliance with Trafalgar Law and the Heart Pirates to eventually go after the Yonko. After leaving Punk Hazard, they have arrived in Dressarosa to take on Dol Flamingo and deal a blow to Kaido by destroying his smiles operation. At the moment Luffy is fighting in a tournament where the prize is the mera mera fruit (his brothers fruit) We have just seen a pretty epic fight with Luffy defeating Don Chinjao, our first real taste at how powerful he really has become as well as seeing two Conqueror Haki uses fight it out. Zoro and Franky have met up with the resistance as well as Robin and Usop and are set to rendezvous with each other. Sanji and Kin-emon are on their way there as well while Nami, Brook, Momonosuke and Chopper are in trouble aboard the Sunny. Dol flamingo has the advantage at the moment with the Straw Hats clearly on the defensive and Trafalgar Law is in trouble up against Dol Flamingo and the new Navy Admiral Issho (Fujitora) But it looks like the Straw Hats are about to start their counter attack
Naruto Shippuden – Ninja War
We are finally back to the war after an extended back story which for once was actually good to watch (Naruto’s main problem is the excessive amount of fillers and repeated back stories) We finally got to see more about Kakashi’s days as ANBU, as well as Yamato’s back story and Obito’s too which really give you a better understanding of the characters. Back to the war and the ten tails has been let loose and the ninja forces have finally rallied to what looks like could be the final chapter to the war, we also have our first few big deaths, Neiji! That was a shock! Also Shikaku and Ino’s dad, all in one episode! Madara and obito seem to be in a solid position, so will be interesting to see how things develop further, but unfortunately it looks like we are back to more fillers with Sasuke and Orochimaru resurrecting the 4 previous Hokage so Sasuke can get some answers from them. Looks like we are about to find out more about Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju which could be interesting.
These are the 2 I am up to date on, I will however start watching 4 more from scratch, the first is Fairy Tale, I have heard mixed reviews but it seems interesting and has been a round for awhile now. The second is Captain Earth, again I have heard good things and the show itself looks interesting. The next I have been watching and am up to date with but it is really good so I will start it again and review it weekly as well, its called Mahouka. The last is one I randomly missed is called Black Bullet but have read a couple of good reivews so will also check it out and start each review from episode 1 next week (Fairy tale thou I will review in groups of episodes since its been going for awhile)
Also with SAO2 coming out this week I will add that to the list as well and maybe a few more depending on how things go, but don’t worry, the recaps will be short and mostly my initial opinionated views on whats going on
Recommended Anime
Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan)
If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend checking out this anime. The manga began in 2009 and has since garnered a lot of attention and with an anime series finally coming from it, it is fast becoming one of the most popular titles (even out selling one piece for the first time in 5 years) Not to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it but the story is dark, brutal and nothing short of a complete mind-f@$k at times, it is easy to see why it has become so popular. The plot follows a boy named Eren Yeager who lives in a world were humans are living behind huge walls protecting them from giant monsters known as Titans that suddenly appeared 100 years ago and pushed human kind to the brink of extinction. Titans are big, dumb, and hard to kill, feeding off humans and can regenerate if not killed properly. The past is a complete mystery, no one knows how the walls were made or where the Titans come from. Things are thrown into complete chaos from the get go as a new type of Titan suddenly emerges and breaches the wall. As the story progresses, you find yourself with more questions than answers, (The season 1 cliffhanger… my god!) lucky however that while season one was only 25 episodes long, there will be a season 2 (nothing worse than watching a good show and then having the ending left unfinished!) however the release date for season 2 is unclear and most likely will be in 2015. The characters are well thought out even if they do die as often as those in GOT, so you seriously don’t know who is safe and who isn’t. Also it really does touch on a lot of interesting political and ‘what would you do’ issues that really make you think as well as exploring the human psyche especially during times of complete desperation. Basically there is a reason why it has become so popular, so go watch it, now, seriously, your life will be better for it in a twisted way!
Animation – 9/10 Smooth and fluid and the style suits the show
Characters – 8/10 A few ‘weird’ characters but the main cast are well developed
Plot – 10/10 Can’t get much better than that
Overall 9.5/10 One of the best around
Throwback Character
Galaxy Rangers
Shane Gooseman
Age: ?? Male
Gentically Enginered Human
Healing and environmental body adaption/shapeshifting
Badass Hero type
Gooseman is one of the series 5 rangers and is part of a team lead by Zachary Foxx. He was genetically engineered as a super-trooper however he isn’t as mentally unstable like the others from the experiment. He can heal and his body can adapt to various environments and this ability is enhanced to a degree by his series 5 implant. His personality is heavily based on Clint Eastwood and it carries well throughout the show, which is why I liked him (got to love a badass cowboy)
The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers is an American animated Space Western television series combining sci-fi stories with traditional Wild West themes. Produced mainly in the US and most likely geared towards a western audience the animation itself was done by a Japanese studio. The story follows a team of rangers as they patrol the universe protecting outpost colonies against various threats, the main being the Crown Empire who also have captive Zachary Foxx’s wife, so the overriding story tends to follow his quest to track her down while still following your usual weekly story line.
The overall story was well written compared to the other shows of its time, which in a way worked against it since there was no toy tie in and the animation for itself was ahead of its time (in the western market at least) The show itself was probably a precursor to various modern shows thou there is a lot of speculation for and against this. Either way, Galaxy Rangers was an 80’s favourite and a worthwhile watch if your feeling nostalgic.
What’s up everyone and welcome to the first of my weekly blog series focusing on one of my favourite subjects… Anime!! Yup, I have just more than a little inner geek/nerd inside of me and not ashamed to admit it, but you will be surprised thou at just how many DJ’s have that side of them, and honestly it is a good thing, we have to keep up to date with the latest technology but at the same time we need something to do in our spare time, and of course watching Anime and even building and collecting anime figures is something I like to do in my spare time as well.
So, the weekly format will go a little something like this
– news/upcoming releases
– show runner episode briefs
– throwback character
– Recomendation/Brief
– anything else worthy of note
While i’ll try and keep it soley anime based, dont be surprised if some gaming information slips in every now and then, its kinda hard these days since the two are often interconnected.
Now since this is my first post, it would be prudent to give you some back ground on my likes so first off here is my top 5 anime shows as well as my top 10 anime movies (a little harder to choose)
Anime Shows
1. One Piece
2. Log Horizon
3. Gundam Wing
4. Samurai Pizza Cats
5. Naruto
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Anime Movies
1. Ninja Scroll
2. Final Fantasy Advent Children
3. Howls Moving Castle
4. Titan AE
5. Transformers (G1 Movie)
6. Heavy Metal (2000)
7. Akira
8. Lion King
9. Hoodwinked
10. Can’t think of a 10th one, too many movies to choose from!
Not included in those lists but worthy of a mention are
– Transformers G1/Voltron/Thundercats/He Man purely because of the toys vs cartoon area and I had many of the toys as a kid
– Spirited away, not my favourtie but still one of the most recognizable Japanese anime movies that introduced their style of animation to the world
– Lady and the Tramp and the Aristocats, the first cartoon movies I saw as a kid in the movie theatre!
– Pixar, because lets face it, their movies have been pretty dam good
Yes there is so many more and hopefully over time I will be able to mention a good majority of them as I continue with the blog
Now I have been watching anime a long time, obviously watching cartoons as a kid, however coming from New Zealand we were very limited in what shows we received and as far as Japanese anime goes, yeah we didn’t see none of that until DBZ in the late 90’s, early 00’s but after that I started watching a lot whenever I had free time. But the shows I was bought up on were the 80’s and 90’s classics, so while I will be reviewing and recommending mostly new stuff, I still need to give props to the stuff I was bought up on so thats where Ill be focusing my throw back character from some of the more classic cartoons. Also when I refer to Anime, I’m meaning both East and West, all Anime not just Japanese since there is a lot of good stuff out there these days that is worth mentioning.
So from now on, if there is a particular anime your interested in and want me to review or brief about or there is a particular throwback character you want me to mention then leave a message, this is also for you as much as it is for me as well
akadjblaze 