Back in the sixties, the Flintstones were making headway for the cartoons industry by cracking TV Networks hereby bringing the once pre-movie cartoon to the small screen with great results but in those days, rules were also different and this time we cover a particularly infamous advert where the Flintstones were advertising Cigarettes.
No that's not a photoshop, that image is real and so to is the advert.
To anyone interested in animation history, back then it was so expensive to produce cartoons that the only place they could do it was on the big screen before a major film, which explains why the quality of the likes of the Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry were so high for it's time period; to do a cartoon for Primetime TV was unheard of and needed more than most budgets would allow hence they needed a sponsor in the form of Cigarette brand Winston, so at the end of every episode during it's original run would include a commercial for Winston Cigarettes; it's not restricted to Cigarettes either as they would later move on to Busch Beer.
So how can a cartoon get away with advertising such adult products?
Well Flintstones was never marketed to kids, it was meant for the sitcom crowd, it was a take on the Honeymooners to begin with so it shouldn't come as a surprise, in fact cartoons were never originally marketed for kids, ironically it was Hanna Barbara who realized that kids were enjoying cartoons a lot more than adults and started marketing them to kids more than adults. In fact it would be many decades before it would market to older audiences again, with the likes of Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast and Harvey Birdman Attorney of Law.
And a nice welcome back to the Urban Legends feature, there will be another shortly.
Whenever you look at certain titles, you seem convinced in yourself that you know what's going to happen but this anime really manages to throw a curve ball at the last possible minute. Today I review Petite Princess Yucie.
Yucie is 17 years old, only she's stuck in a ten year old's body; she gets selected to attend the Princess Academy run by the country's ruling monarch Queen Ercell. The purpose of attending this Princess Academy is to select the Platinum Princess who is selected every thousand years to wear the Eternal Tiara and have their wish granted; but to gain the title, Yucie alongside other cursed 17 year olds in ten year old bodies must work together to show the true virtues of being a Princess while recovering the fragments for the Eternal Tiara, which include action, volunteer work, dancing and Idol singing??? (It makes sense in context) The other cast members include Cocoloo the Spirit, Glenda the Demon, Elmina the Angel and Beth the Fairy all alongside stewards that support them in every way possible.
Now from all this, you've got the plot to Sofia the First in Animeland right?
WRONG!!!
This has the most surprising depth of any series of the same genre; yeah it's clearly a show for girls and it would probably be no surprise that it gets in a lot of cutesy stuff but once you get into character depth you discover some surprising truths.
Glenda has family issues as her dad can't run the Demon World properly while acting like a doting father which caused her mother to leave, so becoming the Platinum Princess may give her father the motivation to do his job properly again.
The realm of heaven is revealed to be a world obsessed with perfection so when Elmina messes up a dance routine she suddenly acquires a fear of failure as well as losing the respect from her father.
Cocoloo worries she has no presence at all..........She's a ghost.............I got nothing.
Beth on the other hand has to deal with an invader in her world named Diaboros, with such dangers affecting her world she resorts to desperate measures to win the Tiara.
Yucie doesn't really have a motivation other than wanting to be tall, which is lazy but then again supporting casts have often made up for cookie cutter female protagonists in Shoujo Anime.
I'm not really going to mention Prince Arc, he's very much a typical anime Prince but one side character that needs a mention is Gunbard.
Apart from having an awesome name, Gunbard is also a former knight who served the younger Queen Ercell. He actually found all the pieces of the Eternal Tiara and restored it all for the love of Queen Ercell only for Ercell to marry someone else while he was away, although he reluctantly continued to serve her, he would later find baby Yucie summoned by some kind of magic, so he adopted her and raised her as his own daughter, a great background story for an unexpected character.
Speaking of unexpected the last few episodes were an act of sheer genius in plot twists, I won't spoil it but lets say you're an expert on Shojo anime and you've probably guessed the ending by say the Pop Idol episode, then you get to the climax and you expect to see the ending you predicted only for the show to throw a complete curve ball that's unexpected and so well executed that you have to give credit to the writers for doing it, and on a series that's based on the Princess Maker Sim games to boot. Nice job Gainax, even with relatively small productions you can still make good anime.
Final Verdict: It's a really good series. It may drag in some episodes but the more in-depth plot points really save it from falling into a cliche pit and the ending is downright memorable. The dub is pretty decent for a late ADV production as well. Pick it up, you won't be disappointed.
The ideas are coming in thick and fast as we now run down the Top 10 Anime Memes. These are the memes that keep the internet running between cat videos and actual research.
Pizza Hut Supports the Titans
10. People Die when they are Killed
A poor fan translation of Fate/Stay Night gives poor Emiya Shirou an even worst reputation beyond Mr Preachy. By no means the worst translation but the dumbest one.
9. I Herd U like Mudkips
This evolved from a group of Deviant artists when a founder of a Pokemon Fanart group posted a message saying "I heard you like Mudkips", the rest is history.
8. Attack on Titan's theme goes with everything
An anime equal to Guile's Theme goes with everything; the epic theme song to Attack on Titan really goes all out and has been associated with anything from Pingu to Thomas the Tank Engine.
7. Falcon Punch
It counts as an anime meme, this is where Captain Falcon's punch seemingly destroys pretty much everything while taking down Black Shadow, although the punch predates the series, the meme itself would come when the show aired.
6. With the help of KYOJI!!!!!
More popular than any attack in the G Gundam universe, this is why we love dubs, so over the top, the Japanese does it no justice; they need the help of KYOJI!!
5. Abridged Series
First created by British born internet star LittleKuriboh, the abridged series has evolved beyond a simple piss take of bad dubs into it's own fandom which gives old outdated shows a chance to shine that bit longer. Heck Yu-Gi-Oh would be cancelled by now if not for LittleKuriboh.
4. It's Over 9000!!!
This comes from the first Dragonballz Dub when Brian Drummond gave us a rousing performance of Vegeta during the Saiyan Saga. Probably the only thing that was missed when the dub went Funimation.
3. Loituma Girl
Orihime Inoue spinning a leek on loop to the Finnish Folk Song Levan Polkka. It's become so popular that Basshunter have done a remix of the song and Miku Hatsune will always be forever holding a leek.
2. Pizza Hut supports the Rebellion
Pizza Hut's appearance in Code Geass is rather jarring; the show is about a world run by an expy of the British Empire yet they have access to a Pizza Hut on a regular basis. This isn't the first time Pizza Hut has associated with anime, Attack on Titan helps endorse Pizza Hut as well. Special mention to Dominoes Pizza's personalized Pizzas of the Tiger & Bunny Heroes.
1. Caramell Dansen
This one was obvious, the dance is ultra popular, it appears at least once in every convention, Phineas & Ferb have referenced it and it's as big a staple in the anime genre as Miku Hatsune. And all from a GIF created from Popotan, a lousy anime and sort of okay hentai visual novel game mixed with a track from a Swedish Euro Dance Group.
Expect a Video Game version of this list pretty soon.
Everyone likes a bit of romance and everyone likes to be a shipper but there are some males that completely miss the opportunities thrown in their face and make others around them and even those watching very frustrated. So here are the top 10 most undeserving males.
Before we begin the following five people are exempt from this list.
Minato Sahashi from Sekirei: Can be forgiven for hoarding so many women as his desire is to not see them fight to the death.
Carrot Glace from Sorcerer Hunters: Not even the most tolerant man could withstand two dominatrix women whipping him to death.
Ranma Saotome from Ranma 1/2: The women after him are annoying and his other choice is a tsundere he's being forced to marry. He's forgiven.
Negi Springfield from Negima: He's ten years old and a teacher, Akamatsu creation or not, there are limits.
Souseke Sagara from Full Metal Panic: Has never grown up in a civilian environment so doesn't know how to respond to romance.
Now the list itself.
10. Harima Kenji from School Rumble
Rated low down for actually making the right decisions in the end but turning down a hot nurse who was willing to look after him along with allowing him to live in her home for free, also turning down someone who was willing to help his manga career as his editor and also turning down a rich girl who is genuinely in love with him Subverted as he does end up with her but still. This is all despite the girl he is after not even recognizing he exists.
9. Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail
Juvia falls for him from day one even willing to betray her guild on the spot and even now is still chasing after Gray. Gray is slowly coming around but if he keeps fighting with Lyon, Juvia might mistake him for being gay.
8. Akito Tenkawa from Nadesico
Has had six women like him, four of them chasing him, and he is bothered by this why? The other men even lampshade this; although hats off to Megumi for realizing how much of an idiot Akito really is.
7. Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece
Turned down the most beautiful woman in the One Piece universe, someone who was very willing to be his Pirate Queen. When this happens Sanji does a good job representing the audience's reaction. Creator Oda says he's in love with adventure. No excuses.
6. Yamato Naoe from Majikoi
To be fair, at least he tried to go after one of the five girls but it doesn't excuse the fact that he's completely ignoring the others. One of them even wants to sleep with him, but he says he loves Hermit Crabs more......
5. Keitaro Urashima from Love Hina
Doesn't know when to call it quits. I would drop Naru in a heartbeat if she kept punching me for such petty incidents and yet he's turned down all the other Hina girls including one who wanted to marry him.
4. Tenchi Masaki from Tenchi Muyo
The original offender for this trope; hot alien women love him and he does nothing. I get that the show is meant to be about Tenchi when really it isn't but come on, one of them nearly made the show into a hentai.
3. Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto
He might yet escape this list but at this time he's paid no attention to the one girl who supported him before he was accepted by the village, who frequently puts her own life at risk along with a full on love confession knowing that she may not even survive the battle and even manages to save Naruto from total despair in the face of invincible odds; isn't it about time you returned the love Naruto?
2. Ash Ketchum from Pokemon
Is on his fifth female traveling companion and has half a dozen other girls and even Pokemon love him and yet he's too stupid to even realize what romance is. I'm not using the ten year old excuse for Ash anymore, if he doesn't manage anything with Serena by Generation 7 then he's a failure as a male.
1. Keima Katsuragi from World God Only Knows
But this guy mocks every male in the world. He has the skills to control women from his endless dating games and can even put them to use on actual girls and is successful in all encounters but utterly fails when he doesn't believe real women are worth it. Who gave this guy these gifts? He can understand women and make any of them love him but doesn't make any effort to follow through. What the Hell Japan? Do you like making fun of single men?
I start off the new year with a review, on a new computer no less so we begin with a review on Lupin the 3rd Woman named Fujiko Mine.
Lupin as most people know is anime's master thief while Fujiko Mine is the only decent rival he has; in this stylish art version of Lupin, we get into the background of Fujiko Mine along with the rest of the cast of Lupin, Jigen, Goemon and Zenigata; we cover what is Fujiko's past along with how she met the rest of the cast and for the first half, it's really good, we get some great plots, the characters are amazing, even Zenigata who is normally a butt monkey in the main show takes an upgrade in badass. Its also very sexy; Fujiko manages to go naked at least once per episode and it doesn't feel like a hentai, it's just sexy; so with all that in this show it can't possibly go wrong; That is until the second half of the anime when the main plot thickens; suddenly Fujiko starts losing her mind and we spend alot of time seeing owl men as we discover that Fujiko's memories are false.
This gets worst when Zenigata's over effeminate misogynist Oscar starts playing dirty in trying to catch Fujiko all the while the owl men keep making more hallucinations to the point where you can no longer follow the story and the art style really doesn't help, and that's a real shame, it started so well only for the story to go AWOL halfway. Overall we don't even get Fujiko's backstory which is what I subscribed to when I started and I feel cheated by that.
Final Verdict: The art style is on a different level and the stuff it does well, it does really well but I think they tried too hard to go all arthouse on the anime when really the stuff it started with was good enough to support 13 episodes.
