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!
This week I had to replace my overworked 8 year old tv with my first smart TV, over in the UK, we are offered a number of channels for free, the contents of said channels especially the animation section are unusual and I would like to share them with you.
He-Man and She-Ra
Perhaps most jarring are 24 hour streams of He-Man and She-Ra, both the original 80s series, no remakes; I've not watched either for decades and it's just as corny now as it was back then, one note on She-Ra and something I heavily criticised the remake for is the design.
Apart from She-Ra's facial expressions rarely changing, her original design is beautiful, then the remake comes along and it is hideous, if not for the remake's story being brilliant, She-Ra's remake would be terrible. He-Man's remakes will need their own entry to describe that disaster.
Voltron
At least Voltron has all three series on hand, classic, CG and modern remake, I'll definitely have to invest some time as this series needs commitment.
Yu-Gi-Oh and Beyblade
So far the only dedicated anime channel has two anime, all seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh and I assume all series of Beyblade but only G-Revolution has played, a rewatch of season 1 Yu-Gi-Oh was rough, particularly as I'm stuck with 4Kids dubbing while Beyblade is playing it's best season but it is the season with Daichi who I despise.
Mr Bean
A slight look at some British animation, Mr Bean's cartoon is based on the live action comedy of the same name, it lacks the comedy timing that only a live action could bring and there is more dialogue than necessary for what is a mostly silent protagonist.
Dennis the Menace
No this isn't the blonde boy troublemaker who is the bane of Mr Wilson's existence, but a boy in a red and black jersey and shorts with spikey black hair and a spikey black haired dog to match, no one knows who came first as both debuted in comics the same year.
Apart from UK Dennis having a much more dodgy history, the character is largely unchanged since his inception, a testament to his staying power as the Beano UK comic is last UK comic book still in publication.
Alvin and the Chipmunks
The CG remake takes much from the crazy popular 90s version making it one of the most faithful modern remakes of all time but modern music really doesn't do this remake justice however.
Rekkit Rabbit
The latest show from Totally Spies creator Marathon, features everything you expect from one of their shows, unintentional fetish fuel. The actual cartoon is about a magicians rabbit who causes mischief for his new owner after being saved from a magician, throw in actual magic and you have plenty of fun.
Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir
One show I'm glad gets played frequently is France's best cartoon since Code Lyoko and Oban Star Racers. Miraculous has lore that surpasses most modern anime, even on the level of it's shojo counterparts, it does better than them. A full review coming soon.
That's a number of highlights from the strange world of British TV, it's free at least.
This post looks at characters of the past and where the old trends stand now, we start with female characters, males will get their own eventually.
1. Valkyrie Girls
Also known as the Valkyrie Bitch, these harlots are no nonsense action types, the best example being Black Lagoon's Revy.
They enjoyed a boom during the cyberpunk era of the late 80s and are still in demand today thanks to Chainsaw Man.
2. Wrestling Girls
Prominent in the 80s, wrestling girls influences can be found in shows like Dirty Pair, it's existence today is split between tag team partnerships between two females, also known as the Lovely Angels trope or literal wrestling sports anime with a twist like Keijo.
3. Tsundere Girls
Popularised by Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura and continuing long into the 00s the tsundere hot and cold personality was a core part of romance anime, they are a dying breed these days replaced by socially awkward girls and girls who just tease the male characters.
4. Magician Girls
This is a fascinating one that comes with a unique story of a particular Japanese Idol who managed to break the American market that I'll be tempted to talk about, in it's day, the magician girl commanded admiration but is now an embarrassing fetish.
5. Delinquent Girls
Credited with being the very first lead action girl in the medium, the Delinquent Girls starting from the mid 70s were an inspiration to all who followed after, it's also credited for making the Sailor Fuku uniform an anime staple, not Sailor Moon. Very rare to see nowadays but kept alive prominently by Vtuber Kson.
6. Idol Girls
The age of City Pop and the popular anime idol of Macross Lynn Minmay, gave rise to the idol singer along with magical idols Creamy Mami. These days it's based on collectable card games for girls but is still very much popular.
7. Mysterious Girls
Popularised by the now late Leiji Matsumoto, the mysterious girl has an aura of intense beauty and mystery about them, on a journey of self discovery with very little to go on, you can't help but follow them, hard these days for these types of characters to stay relevant when the internet knows everything.
8. Fantasy Girls
Prominent lead females in fantasy anime everything from the Magic Knights of Rayearth to Lina Inverse, they dominated much of the 80s and 90s. These days they are harem bait for isekai protagonists.
9. Space Girls
Also known as bridge bunnies, these girls are seen as supporting roles on a larger more prominent battle ship, sometimes piloting mechs. Sci-Fi isn't much of a thing anymore but Gundam finally gave a female character top billing.
10. Drama Girls
The mature girls who engage in sometimes forbidden romances, all the rage in 80s shojo, largely forgotten these days as it just doesn't sell well.
11. Thief Girls
Since Fujiko Mine and the girls of Cat's Eye gave thief girls a place, they've always managed to keep a real sex appeal, ironically Lupin and Cat's Eye will crossover later this year keeping the honour among thieves alive.
12. Classic Girls
And finally we have classic girls or European girls. Take a popular piece of literature from Europe and turn it into an anime. Not a big deal anymore and Magus Bride only barely qualifies for the same genre.
If you want me to expand on any of these posts, drop a comment.
Welcome to Genre Savvy, a look at unique animation genres that I'd like to give unique names to. To start with, we're looking at Pink Cadillac shows.
Description
Pink Cadillac shows are stylized animations picking all the best elements of Post World War 20th Century pop culture, anything from 50s diners to skating to beach towns to Beverly Hills. As most of these came from the 80s the so called "Pink Cadillac" comes from the Cadillac Eldorado, a 50s icon looking rather fitting in pink in the 80s Aesthetic.
The main characteristic of this genre is rooted in making the world seem perfect with problems resolved in 20 minutes.
Origins
The earliest examples of these shows start with late 60s cartoon the Archie Show which in it's original form has changed very little; Hanna Barbara and the film Grease further cemented the elements along with Happy Days leading up to the 80s and very briefly in the 90s where this genre was at it's most prominent.
Blueprint
The easiest setting is High School often following a group of trope heavy characters.
For Males: Perfect built jock, Fonzy clone, Short nerd, the fat guy, the skater boys, Obnoxious bully and the crazy one.
For Females: Perfect blonde, her best friend, bookworm, bitchy rival and the one girl who acts normal.
For Adults: Eccentric Teachers, neurotic parents, over stuffy authority figures and anyone you can identify as Pop or Mom without being your parent.
Other Settings: The Diner, surfside towns in California or Florida, Beverly Hills, concerts or if not set in school, Urban jungles where everyone is streetwise.
Examples
Two big offenders are Galaxy High and Gravedale High, despite the space and monster themes, much of the cast takes from the character list. Hero High is also unashamed of taking on all these character tropes.
Girls cartoons get hit pretty hard with this with the likes of JEM, Maxie's World and the notoriously bad Beverly Hills Teens. Fashion dolls easily lend themselves to this style so it comes as no surprise that they have so many, surprisingly not Barbie, missed an audience there.
Some of the more unique takes on it come from the likes of Denver the Last Dinosaur and Rude Dawg and the Dweebs, the latter being made from a surfwear brand and the fact that he does drive a Pink Cadillac. The last examples that take an even stranger form is the Q*bert cartoon which is very blatant for it's inspiration.
What Happened After?
The genre died out in the mid 90s helped by shows like Doug and Hey Arnold taking the usual bland story telling and giving it a modern update effectively killing the genre for the better. Totally Spies and Winx Club along with numerous girls cartoons still use some elements but are modern enough to get away with it and those shows along with Miraculous Ladybug are action shows first, pity DC Super Hero Girls didn't get the memo.
While it's no longer a cartoon staple, it became a juggernaut genre for kiddy sitcoms starting with Saved by the Bell leading up to 90% of Nickelodeon and Disney Channel and somehow becoming a worse genre throughout the last 20 years evolving from Pink Cadillac to Bland School Sitcom.
How does Anime Compare?
Anime's take on it is mostly Shojo, 80s Shojo to be exact.
The trend setters of Fashion Lala, Creamy Mami, Minky Momo and Sweet Mint are often problem solving with magic shows, the fact that some become idols only add to the aesthetic; while much of the content can be seen as bland, it can be excused by employing some more serious elements that don't make the protagonists too Mary Sue.
Sailor Moon would kill off the 80s magical girl in favour of the Magical warrior and it wasn't until the 2000s that we had it comeback in the idol obsession that is shojo anime today in a genre I dub "Everyone is an Idol"
School anime don't follow this as much as Pink Cadillac uses tons of Americana but it has a different problem that has become just as notorious as Isekai. Tune in next time as I look at "There's a School for That"
To offer something to my often overlooked Western Cartoons, I present some alternative genres to look at.
All of these will be top ten lists along with some history.
Here are our genres
Pink Cadillacs of California
Toy Commercials of Power
Really Desperate Celebrities
Groovy Mysteries
Teenage Radical Animal Squad
Monsters are Still Cool
I can be Japanimation to!
Dinosaurs are Always Cool
Not Looney Tunes
Stupor Heroes
Clearly not for Kids
That's not what Happens in the Game
The Movie was Better
Animals They be People
Zero IQ Required
Non English Speaking Production
Hand Made in Britain
Afrotastic
Canadian Eh?
What are you?
Artistic Disaster
I'm a ten year old you can trust me
Our next TV Season will be Animated
We did it before Pixar
Needs more edge not that I care
Babality
Teenage Dirtbags
War what is it Good for?
It's what I go to School for
This Remake respects the Original?
If you want me to cover one of these genres, feel free to leave a comment.
This will run alongside Project 1000.
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