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!
Looking around the net to see if I can write anything Gundam related seeing as there are a ton on Project 1000, so instead of trying to watch over 100 episodes of classic era Gundam let's break out the facts and Easter Eggs you may have missed.
Amuro Ray is Canadian
It's difficult to pin point nationalities in a series where Earth is a 2nd thought or war torn. But it is revealed that Amuro Ray was born in British Columbia Canada, making his dub voice (Canadian actor Brad Swaile) the perfect choice.
Char Aznable is named after a real person
Char was named after World War II civilian and singer Charles Aznavour, who also played a pivotal role in establishing peaceful relations between France and Japan.
Familiar Titles
Gundam has a few quirky subtitles like Stardust Memory and Endless Waltz, actually those two are real titles in other media.
Stardust Memory is a Woody Allen Film from 1980.
Endless Waltz is a tragic Japanese Romance Novel.
Like Gundam's penchant for having controversial content, both these titles were considered controversial in their own media.
Io Fleming
Easy one to spot, Gundam Thunderbolt's protagonist is clearly a take on James Bond author Ian Fleming.
Relena Peacecraft was based on Audrey Hepburn
Right down to her mannerisms, default dress and looks but what hits it out of the park is her Queen of the World dress taken straight out of Hepburn's Roman Holiday.
Elpeo Ple's Unfortunate Name Origins
Elpeo Ple is short for Lemon People, a hentai magazine with a reputation for Lolicon content. Doesn't help that Elpeo looks 12.
Torinov Y. Minovsky Particles
Anyone who knows Gundam is familiar with Minovsky Particles, the accepted explanation for Gundam's unique universe. But when you break down the name of it's founder, you are basically reading Yoshiyuki Tomino if he were Russian.
Loran Cehack was Supposed to be Female
Tomino expressed interest in having a female protagonist for Turn A Gundam but Sunrise were against it, so Loran's design was deliberately made Gender Neutral and features him cross dressing out of spite.
Cancelled Gundam Works
Among Gundam's cancelled media includes the Gundam Seed movie which was cancelled when it's screen writer sadly passed away from Brain Cancer.
The Doozy Bots, an attempt to make Gundam a Saturday morning cartoon, it's worse than it sounds.
Gundam MSX, a rejected OVA set between the original series and Zeta Gundam.
And Polka Gundam, which was meant to be after Victory Gundam but due to it being a financial flop and the growing popularity of the returning super robot genre, G Gundam was made instead which saved Gundam but that's another story.
Gundam ZZ References to Akira
Judau Ashta's clothing is similar to Kaneda's helped by the fact that he to is part of a teenage gang, if that's too vague, Kaneda and Tetsuo cameo in the show as extras, this is taken from the manga of Akira as Gundam ZZ predates the film Akira.
As much as we make fun of dubs from the likes of 4Kids or some of the horrifically bad early era dubs, there are some that do fly under the radar and their content is somewhat baffling.
So we start with Genmu Senki Leda or Leda the Fantastic Adventures of Yohko.
Sadly I'm not in a position to review this because there is very little to find on it but it did have a dub.
Notice: Until new footage is found there is no video at this time.
An 80s anime dubbed in 1997 by Right Stuf and Toho International, Leda is a very early Isekai in which lead character Yohko gets transported to another world due to her walkman cassette player being linked to Leda which turns her into a warrior to fight an evil.
A walkman is what 80s teens used to listen to music, stored on a cassette tape; ask your parents or watch Stranger Things or Guardians of the Galaxy.
Probably one of the biggest takeaways from this dub is not so much the poor sound quality or even the poor acting, it's the term Bobby Soxer.
A Bobby Soxer was a late 1940s, 1950s teenage girl who was into traditional pop music by that era's definition often defined by the dress being Poodle Skirts and ankle socks, it's a very dated term which I've not heard outside of cartoons made in that era, so there are obvious issues in Yohko describing herself as one.
1. In the original Japanese, she just refers to herself as a school girl.
2. An American term created in the late 40s would never cross into Japan seeing as Japan didn't really embrace American culture until the 80s nor are you likely going to see anime Grease.
3. This was made in 1985.
4. This was dubbed in 1997!
Teenybopper succeeded the term Bobby Soxer for the next few decades and even that's out of date by 90s standards. So yeah, an 80s anime dubbed in the 90s using American 40s and 50s slang to describe the main character.
This unique character ranking tackles very normal characters in action shows, by definition these are characters who would never compare to the super powered individuals around them and through the most part, obey real world physics.
I'll be marking them down on their achievements and roles in their anime.
Sir Integra from Hellsing
Takes out Nazi Vampires despite being surrounded by thousands of them, keeps Alucard in check and speaks to her enemies like a teacher disciplining a group of delinquents.
Garrod Ran from Gundam X
One of only a rare selection of lead Gundam Pilots to not have Newtype powers or the non UC equivalent, you could argue that by simply owning a Gundam he doesn't qualify but I disagree considering how much the narrative relies on being able to be a special human.
Meiling Li from Card Captor Sakura
Has fought a couple of the clow cards on equal footing with just her martial arts training to fall back on.
Usopp from One Piece
Has fought against and beaten opponents he has no chance in defeating under normal conditions mostly through clever weapons and exploiting weaknesses, has even battled Luffy as well as prevented his defeat a couple of times.
Mumen Rider from One Punch Man
More points for bravery and commitment over actual strength but somehow manages to remain top of C rank
Drake Anderson from Read or Die
A very capable mercenary that is kept on in the British Library despite being among Paper Masters and an assassin that can phase through objects.
Genjo Sanzo from Saiyuki
Debated, but it's brought up quite frequently that he lacks the same fighting ability as his travel companions, relying on buddhist scriptures and a banishing gun, it even became a plot point in Requiem.
Gourry Gabriev from Slayers
His travel companions can level entire towns in one blast so he relies entirely on his own sword skills to help defeat bad guys, he usually has his own special enemies to defeat as well.
Joey Wheeler from Yu-Gi-Oh
Always seems to make it to duelist tournament finals lacking many of the traits of better duelists, in fact had his body not given in, he'd have beaten Marik Ishtar.
Mr Satan from Dragonballz
Survived encounters with Cell and Kid Buu who both had their fair share of kills, Kid Buu especially. Also the one to convert Fat Buu to the hero side. Still legit won the martial arts tournament at least once.
Sir Integra: 9.3/10
Garrod Ran: 8.0/10
Meiling Li: 7.0/10
Usopp: 8.7/10
Mumen Rider: 4.9/10
Drake Anderson: 6.2/10
Genjo Sanzo: 6.5/10
Gourry Gabriev: 7.7/10
Joey Wheeler: 7.9/10
Mr Satan: 5.3/10
Notes: Lower scores can be attributed to low impact on the story or most of their success coming from the sheer luck of not dying, in Sanzo's case it's more his position as a normal human being debated.
Last on my special are Mini 4WD cars.
What on Earth are they?
Starting in 1980 in America Stomper 4x4, Mini 4WD cars were created as a response to the rising popularity of 4WD brought on by the introduction of the Dakar Rally but it wasn't until a couple of years later that hobby company Tamiya made the best versions seen today. In 1986 they made a motorized variant which are usually the ones shown in the Anime Dash Yonkuro.
How are they any Different to RC cars?
4WD cars work way differently than a typical RC car mostly because they can only move in one direction, forwards, so they have special rollers that allow them to turn on a walled track.
Why do the Cast of Dash Yonkuro need Hockey Sticks?
On non walled tracks, the sticks are used to turn, stop and guide the vehicle, it can be quite a workout as the cars can run from 9mph up to 40mph.
Is it Popular?
There's a following in America and certainly Japan but the closest to Dash Yonkuro are the Italians even using the Hockey Stick.
That's it for my toy special, we resume normal operations with the Dash Yonkuro review.
This is the one I've been waiting to do.
Shoot your Marbles
Marbles are probably among the oldest toys in history dating back to early Roman era and much older than Christ. A typical game is basically keeping your marbles in a circle by flicking them. They came in many sizes and materials over the centuries and the game was left more or less unchanged, it wasn't until the late 90s early 00s that Battle B-Daman took the marble concept and turn it into a proper battle game not much different to the ball bearing game of crossfire from the 70s. But it was Bakugan who gave it more strategic spin on the game turning the marbles into mini transformers and combining them with cards and territory style gaming, it was strangely addictive and is actually coming back to screens.
Ball Bearings for War and Gambling
The humble ball bearing was invented in 1794 by a Welsh Ironmaster although in industry, bearings had been used for much longer and is an integral part of engineering but leave it to the modern era to make games from it. I already brought up crossfire, a very awesome battle game from the 70s but there were other uses. Japan actually created Airsoft in order to continue to train it's military despite the embargo placed on them participating in wars from World War II as guns shoot plastic Ball Bearings instead. I have participated in Airsoft, it frickin hurts! C3 is the only anime I know of to have Airsoft as it's theme.
Pachinko is a low stakes gambling game using ball bearings, an evolution of an old Victorian era game named Bagatelle. It's another way of getting round Japan's already strict gambling laws as the stakes are never that high, it's also seen as the final resting place for retired anime and games as pachinkos use anime to encourage gamblers.
Spinning Top Battles
Spinning Tops are just as old as marbles but have a much more interesting history from religious significance in Jewish Dreidels to being used as an alternative to dice in some tabletop games as well as being the first toy most children play with as infants. Then you have Beyblade.
The spinning top battle game is cheesy as hell but I have a soft spot for it. I used to help run a fan page for Beyblade before I came here. In fact my username came from my own Beyblade, a Dranzer that uses a Dragoon's left spin gear as opposed to the right spin gear in most Beyblades. I'm probably more harsh on the franchise than I should be but considering how it shaped my fandom and how it helped me meet some very special people, I'm kind of sad at how stale the series got after the first generation.
