Welcome to the Fantasy Zone
This Zone is dedicated to the lesser known elements of anime hosted by the cast of Victory Script.
What weapon is the best?
Who will win in this Death Battle?
Is this costume practical?
You name it, it's all covered here in the Fantasy Zone!
I used to do a segment where I quickly cover topics I don't have time for full posts on, time to bring it back.
It All Started with Ranma 1/2
I've likely mentioned that my first interaction with anime of any kind was Ranma 1/2, despite my age at the time being around 6-9, I fully understood that Ranma was changing into a girl with water, so I was exposed to LGBT content at quite an early age and saw it as normal, so when I was introduced to it properly later on, I really wasn't questioning it.
Chun-Li Was My First Fictional Crush
To this day, I still don't know what attracted me to Chun-Li to begin with, maybe it was her vivid colour palette, her dress or maybe it was because it was the first time I laid eyes on a fighting woman. As an adult, there are more obvious reasons to love the character.
Pokemon TV is Back
The Switch had a fantastic app showcasing seasons of the Pokemon anime but was dropped after a couple of years for unknown reasons, it has recently returned as a Youtube channel and is uploading season 1 sporadically as we speak, so if you want a free legal way to watch old seasons of Pokemon, you can now do so.
We've all been duped.
A harem anime is a romantic comedy where the lead has the attention of more than two girls or boys, each candidate having their own personality and set of fans who cheer them on, nothing gets an anime fanbase so riled up as having ships to support, just ask Ash Ketchum.
But you never had a choice, more often than not it's usually the first girl who wins.
Why that's so annoying for a watching crowd is that they are also the least popular choice; Naru Narusegawa is hated among the fanbase and is used as the poster child for hatred of tsunderes.
I don't think much has changed, in this era, an anime literally has to make the correct choice or face a public execution, although the Gundam Wing yaoi baiting was just pathetic back in the day, but we still get it now, and no Midoriya will never love Bakugo.
Some anime with dating game backgrounds will use the option of pick everyone, Photo Kano gave us time and endings with each girl and is left up to the fans to decide which one should be canon, Happy Lesson flat out has the lead marry everyone, spare a thought for anime that never have a conclusion like Sakura Taisen despite us leading to believe there would be one.
So choice in what girl or boy to have is entirely at the writers digression.
The only choice from an actual harem to be correct is from Kiss Him Not Me.
I used to do a segment where I quickly cover topics I don't have time for full posts on.
Kenpachi is Dumber Than You Remember
A young impressionable weeb would remember how Kenpachi of Bleach would beat the established hierarchy by being a deliberate badass, but when you consider how much he holds back, he could've solved alot of the most drab moments in the anime by going all out sooner, I get that a creative license requires a shonen anime to build tension but Kenpachi would've been more popular if he wasn't forced to take losses all the time, I can say the same about Rock Lee.
Davis is Actually Self Aware
Davis is very unpopular in the franchise as he took a position meant for TK and Kari but in the V-Tamer manga he actually says that he doesn't want to return to the real world because he believes no one would care to see him come back.
Now I feel bad.
Continuation vs Remake
With Ranma being remade and seeing the comparisons between the original and remake, the designs feel somewhat lacking, something about the 80s and 90s aesthetic really made the characters pop out and you'd think over 30 years of tech would make it better but no.
By contrast Fairy Tail's 100 year quest series hasn't changed one bit since the original series ended and I love it for it.
Of all the genres in anime, the magical girl genre is one of the most over looked and here are five anime that fell by the wayside.
Saint Tail
The daughter of a stage magician and retired thief steals art to give back to their rightful owners, it takes elements from Cats Eye and functions as the predecessor for Card Captor Sakura, utterly charming with an adorable lead and beautiful setup that far exceeds it's time period, Saint Tail is a must for magical girl fans.
Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne
Arina Tanemura's take on the magical girl genre with her extreme wide eyed style of animation blending heavy moments of psychological themes with a magical thief plot, best remembered for arguably the best transformation scenes in the genre.
Full Moon
Tanemura again this time going heavier on the psychological elements and heavy references to suicide is Full Moon, a take on the magical idol genre, it's worth noting that despite what the audience gets put through, the ending is always a happy one. This was breaking boundaries long before Oshi no Ko.
Pretear
A loose blend of Snow White and Cinderella elements, with pretty boys transforming into the lead girls costumes, (don't think too much about it) the lead is tasked with saving the natural world of leafe with the help of her seven knights, probably one of most fiercely independent leads seen in the genre long before the trend of strong female leads were needed for absolutely everything.
Wedding Peach
Written off as a Sailor Moon clone thanks to the era it came out, Wedding Peach is alot closer to Precure in terms of content, predating it by a decade and it's been referenced more times than Sailor Moon with the wedding dresses and the champagne drinking scene having both been referenced in Pokemon of all things, lead character Momoko is also one of the main reasons why most lead magical girls are pink coloured.
Honourable Mentions
Corrector Yui - Megaman.Exe if it were a magical girl series, it's so obscure that no one remembers it.
Nurse Witch Komugi - A spinoff of a horror anime, it's as silly as it sounds.
Magical S Project - The official Pretty Sammy tv series spun off from the Tenchi Muyo franchise, way better than it has any right to be.
My Wife is a Magical Girl: Bewitched Agnes - An example of an adult magical girl series with an adult lead, heavily influenced by the American 60s sitcom Bewitched, worth your time if you can find it.
Sally the Witch - If only for historic purposes, this is often cited as the first magical series.
One thing you can count on from an anime artist is attention to detail and Kiniro Mosaic produced something extraordinary.
Back in the late 80s, a Japanese couple visited Fosse Farmhouse in the British village of Castle Combe in the county of Wiltshire, they loved it so much that they opened their own British style B&B in Japan, over 20 years later, Kiniro Mosaic debuted and a full artist rendition of that same Farmhouse appeared as the household of lead character Alice complete with the Farmhouse owners car and even an artist render of Kemble Train Station.
The Farmhouse would get a massive increase in popularity particularly with Japanese tourists, at it's peak it even featured on national news and one look on their website references Kiniro Mosaic.
You can even book a room right now although you'll need a taxi or a hire car to get there.
I myself only live about an hour and a half away.
Castle Combe itself is a very traditional English village, attractive scenery, buildings dating back to 1600s and next door to one of the fastest motor racing circuits in the country.
