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Showing posts from February, 2011

Top 20 Anime: #19

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#19: Seitokai Yakuindomo Type: Television Series # of Episodes: 13 Produced By: GoHands, Starchild Records, Dream Force "I've heard stories of boys coming here with the intent of creating a harem once this place becomes co-ed, so..." "Harem? ...No way. That's not possible." "But all that is pointless, you see. Our female students here are lesbians, after all." And with that, all possibilities of Seitokai Yakuindomo being another boring harem series flew out of the window. Of a ten story building. And died on impact. Without enough of the remains left to identify the body. Yeah. Based on a gag manga, each episode of Seitokai is split into a number of main jokes and sub jokes, each set up (and separated) by splashes with a line of dialogue that is usually the punchline of the next scene. Not all of them are winners, but at least one in every episode is hysterical, and more than a couple over the series...are just plain epic. ("Doesn'

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger

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Now that the first two episodes of this series are out, I can give my accurate first impressions on 2011's Super Sentai series, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. As much as I'd like to pretend that the reason why I haven't discussed this series was because I was simply waiting for the series to begin and not talk in hypotheticals...the truth is I either wasn't feeling like writing about it, or just did not have the time. Gokaiger's the thirty-fifth Super Sentai series thus far, and as an anniversary series, has been given a unique premise: The team themselves are pirates, but they also possess the ability to transform into whatever other Senshi they like, using their GoukaiCelluar combined with specific "keys" that transform them into past teams. This is apparently of vital importance, because at the start of the first episode--in a scene that far and above surpasses the "Rider War" of Kamen Rider Decade--every Super Sentai team thus far apparently sacrif

"It's Superman!"

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For a long time, I wasn't a huge fan of Superman. He's still *not* my favorite superhero, but the guy gets a lot of undue hate from people who dislike the guy because he's good at his job instead of wasting half his time brooding over nothing. Plus, when he's written well, he's an example of just how great we as people can be, even if we aren't gifted with godlike powers from the rays of a yellow sun. Anyways, I've been wanting a Superman cartoon...basically since I realized the last one sucked and we haven't had a new one since Smallville came on television. (Ten freaking years!) This, however, helps to make up for that: They need to get this guy to do the next Superman cartoon. It had all the charm of the 40's Fleischer series, but it doesn't feel ancient. And this is what he did on a crap budget. Imagine what this guy could create with WB money. Please get on this Johns.

General Thoughts on Anime

...Really, entertainment in general. For all the talk of what's "art", and what isn't, what's critically impressive and what's cliche, what's avant-garde and what's "overdone", and what's intellectual and what's insane, and so on...no matter what comes out of these arguments (usually nothing), we like what we like. That statement can sound somewhat ridiculous depending on who it's coming from, and what it's being used to defend, but that doesn't matter. As individuals we all have varying viewpoints, diverse backgrounds and sometimes wildly contrasting perceptions that lead to us reacting to the similar creations in distinct, sometimes disparate manners. This sounds like inconsistent behavior, but it isn't. Two series can cover the exact same themes with similar plotlines and a person could react differently to both, because the way each author crafted their story would be different, despite the similarities, leadin