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!
So a quick fun one for you and probably the strangest line up of fighting game characters since Sega tried to enter the Daytona USA car and Pepsiman.
DreamMix TV World Fighters is a Smash Bros style arena fighting game featuring characters from Hudson Soft, Konami and Takara Toys franchises, the line up of characters consists of names that would make a future in Smash Bros including Simon Belmont from Castlevania and Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid.
Other known Konami characters include, Moai from Gradius, Power Pro Kun from Power Pro Baseball and Twinbee from Twinbee, all well known.
Hudson Soft offers Bomberman obviously but starts getting weird with Master Higgins from Adventure Island, Yugo Ogami from Bloody Roar, Momotaro and Binbogami from Momotaro Densetsu and Manjimaru from Tengai Makyo, little rarer than Konami but not bad.
Takara goes even weirder than that, Optimus Prime and Megatron from Transformers is a no brainer but as the list goes down, it gets weirder, M121 Mason and Aska are from Microman and Cy Girls respectively but at least they are from action toy lines, the former being a science fiction action figure while the latter is a crime fighter action figure and then you get Tyson from Beyblade and Licca-Chan, a fashion doll line called the Barbie doll of Japan.
Licca-Chan did feature as a fighting doll in her own anime in 1998 but the model they use in the PS2 and Gamecube game is more Barbie than the yo-yo wielding mall dweller she looks like in the anime.
Konami are the only ones who got the memo to bring actual well known characters, Hudson Soft other than Bomberman features painfully Japanese only characters and two characters only known by near 40 year old gamers.
Takara tried their best but other than Transformers and maybe the action figure lines, Tyson and Licca are so out of place here.
Such a bizarre era of gaming to bring this game to life; this isn't the only bizarre crossover fighting game to include such left field properties, find out next time.
Also coming soon is a review and story behind Licca-Chan.
This is an interesting one because I'm not doing individual characters only the Beyblade teams, this is marked on their ability as a team along with their personality, performance and general presence.
For the record I'm sticking with the original Beyblade era.
Dark Bladers
Start with the dead weight filler villains Dark Bladers who are nothing more than homages to movie monsters get completely overshadowed by the Majestics.
King and Queen
The duo arrived among a very crowded set of villains and while their position as part hunters does give them more of a purpose than cheaters or taking over the world, they really didn't have much weight to them.
Team Psykick
They lack originality being just cyber clones of the four but I give some credit that the bladers themselves are much better in personality compared to other low level villains especially Salima.
Team Zagart
They sort of came in at the end as an invincible force led by one of the most angsty villains in Beyblade history, joined by the most bland, a bad way to end Season 2.
Majestics
I think they wasted a perfectly good team here as it's incredible to see anyone take on the Bladebreakers in some of the best battles the series has to offer yet they were snubbed in G Revolution in favour of the next team.
Barthez Battalion
I was too harsh on them to begin with as their ordeal mirrors a number of real world sports teams, I'm still mad that they did the Majestics dirty but not as much as I used to be.
F-Dynasty
For the short time they appear, I really enjoyed this sibling pair, they easily win out in style, personality and design.
BEGA Justice 5
As the final villains they created the best Beyblade battles of the whole franchise with Garland being the only let down. Brooklyn then took Beyblade to some very dark places with his match against Kai being the magnum opus of the franchise.
Saint Shields
Their place in the canon is weird as their job is essentially protect the main four bit beasts but their method of achieving such a feat is spent being the main villains and considering the strength of Ozuma I was sad to not see him be Tyson's final match in V-Force.
Demolition Boys/Blitzkrieg Boys
The final villains of season 1 and full of edgelord potential with Tala and Bryan being particular favourites, even when they aren't villains they have the edgelord attitude that makes them a joy to watch.
All Starz
It's easy to write off All Starz as a cheesy sports team but that changed when Rick Anderson enters the team where they essentially have to win back respect as Rick is a poor sportsman leading to Kai's most defining moment where he silences a crowd for booing the All Starz, their arc is among the most interesting.
White Tigers
A team initially pissed at Ray for leaving, then becoming a strange hit or miss performing team with some unexpected wins along with some equally bizarre drops in personality for Lee mostly.
Bladebreakers/BBA Revolution
When it comes to G Revolution it becomes very apparent that Tyson really doesn't know how to keep the team together as the other members leaving is a sign that they don't hold his leadership in high enough regard to stay that way and this isn't the first time. When it comes down to it, Bladebreakers are more a team of individuals that only unite for a common enemy but will split any chance that the others can claim Tyson's world title.
Then as BBA Revolution, it's just a sad arc of Tyson being a colossal prick.
Dark Bladers: 3.2/10
King and Queen: 4.7/10
Team Psykick: 6.3/10
Team Zagart: 1.3/10
Majestics: 6.9/10
Barthez Battalion: 7.1/10
F-Dynasty: 9.0/10
BEGA Justice 5: 8.9/10
Saint Shields: 8.6/10
Demolition/Blitzkrieg Boys: 9.3/10
All Starz: 8.5/10
White Tigers: 7.5/10
Bladebreakers/BBA Revolution: 7.1/10
Little back story, have you ever seen a character act in such a way that you could feel the cringe a mile away, that's a character clearly trying too hard by design or personality, these characters are villains and seem to follow a pattern, no order for this and a separate list for heroes will follow.
1. Alois Trancy and Claude from Black Butler
I'll get the worst offenders out the way first, Alois and Claude were the worst substitutes for Ciel and Sebastian period, it just hurts watching them trying to be characters let alone poor imitations.
2. Seiji Noumi from Accel World
Considering that the bullies in Accel World are usually the typical bruts several times the size of lead character Haruyuki, the fact that Noumi is doing pretty much the same thing but could just as easily be beaten up by same bruts is just laughable.
3. Garou from One Punch Man
I'm pretty certain Garou has improved recently but he's the wrong villain for a show like One Punch Man especially when he's already been defeated by Saitama and I doubt Garou could defeat Boros anyway.
4. Infinite from Sonic Forces
Cheating a bit with a video game but my god! Say what you like about Shadow, he at least had the right amount of edge and can laugh about it these days but Infinite in a 2017 Sonic game is the most cringe character ever created in Sonic media and that's a well contested spot.
5. Ulquiorra from Bleach
Look at the picture, he looks like Sephiroth after being forced to listen to My Chemical Romance for a week non stop, he's the most emo looking character in anime history.
6. Pain from Naruto
This was a hotly contested spot, I was looking at Kabuto for a while but then I remembered the character who is literally called Pain, painful looks, painful dialogue, painful actions, you picked to lead the Akatsuki, every obsessed fan of the Akatsuki, the Naruto era was a testing one.
7. Mello from Death Note
Look at me, I'm as smart as L and Near, I eat chocolate as well but I'm actually a colossal prick with an inferiority complex, when Near is looking like a better character you know you've failed.
8. Gladion from Pokemon
Thankfully toned down in the anime, Gladion with those stupid arm poses was so off brand for Pokemon it gave me bad 00s flashbacks.
9. Tomura Shigaraki from My Hero Academia
If Gladion had more hands he'd happily copy the most ridiculous looking villain in anime history, why the disembodied hands? You already look intimidating without them.
10. Zeo Zagart and Brooklyn from Beyblade
Beyblade really struggles with villains, the only successful one has been Tala who looks genuinely terrifying in battle.
Brooklyn is trying too hard to be Kai.
Zeo is just trying too hard to be anything, he didn't work as a Pinocchio like character nor does he work as a cyber newtype mind controlled puppet, it's a toy anime I guess.
I touched on this briefly with Mai, Hilary and many times with Chloe, the point being that alot of popular anime don't do their opposite gender justice. No order for this list.
1. 90% of Harem anime
The lead male is dumb, the lead female is oblivious.
Get the obvious one out the way first, a typical male is frequently beaten up, a loser, accidental pervert; while the typical female is completely oblivious to her situation and has no concept of red flags. Harem is kinda out of fashion thankfully, so it's not really a factor so much anymore.
2. Dragonballz
Bulma dominates the female cast too much.
For much of Dragonball history the very few female fighters we do get were limited to Android 18; Super and FighterZ bridged the gap but even now, Bulma still dominates as the female representative.
3. All Digimon seasons bar Tamers
Female digi-destined were kinda just making up numbers.
It started with Tai and Matt getting all the attention, then it was Davis despite the fact Kari and TK were meant to lead, Tamers did it right but then it reverted back to old habits with future seasons. While Kari provided actually plot relevance, Sora and Mimi didn't.
4. Medabots
They did Samantha dirty.
The sad thing about Medabots is that they had a really good female character in Samantha but they cut her relevance to the plot so much that she may as well have left the anime.
5. Beyblade
It took three seasons to get a decent female blader.
Mariah and Emily were strong bladers refused to be allowed any actual battling. The less said about Hilary the better. Took until G Revolution to finally fix this issue.
6. Pokemon Galar Season
Chloe had nothing to do.
They gave Goh a mission to catch Mew, Ash is the lead so enough said, Chloe had one Pokemon contest and advice from previous female leads, that's Chloe's entire contribution to the anime.
7. Non UC Gundam
It's taken about 30 years for a decent female pilot.
Nothing really against female casts of the non universal century Gundams as they all have strengths in their own way, but the only really decent female pilots we've had are Allenby of G Gundam and this seasons Witch from Mercury, that's pretty poor from a franchise with well balanced gender casting.
8. Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters
Female duelists get a bad rep.
I've covered this already with Mai, other than Ishizu, every female duelist is average, terrible or get through with hand holding, future seasons fixed this.
9. Naruto
Female ninjas are pretty terrible.
Much has been said about Sakura's history, Ino has a poor move set for combat, Hinata is in the wrong anime, Temari lost much of her role after marrying Shikamaru. The adults fair much better but they are not main characters. Oh yeah there's Tenten, what did she do again?
10. Pretty Cure
Despite promoting inclusiveness, there's still no official male Precure.
Hugto Precure broke the mold with the now legendary line "Boys can princesses to" this followed with the first ever male Precure and a season devoted to the message of everyone is Precure, young, old and any gender. That was Season 15, Season 20 is next year, and were still no closer to the elusive male Precure, current season discount Tuxedo Mask does not count.
Whether you like it or not, time is a constant and things change as does taste and needless to say these characters haven't aged well.
There's no set order either.
1. Gourry Gabriev from Slayers
Slayers is a fantastic series of very capable characters, pity Gourry isn't one of them, the sheer gap between Lina Inverse and Gourry in power and abilities make for grim reading for the blonde swordsman, not helping his case is trying to be chivalrous to a character that doesn't need help and spending way too much time being the butt monkey.
2. Chang Wufei from Gundam Wing
I was surprised how well Gundam Wing aged but then lose it when you see how much of a misogynist Chang Wufei is, while the franchise isn't short on dramatic fighting types and you can make a decent case for the G Gundam cast to appear on this list also, at least G Gundam wasn't belittling the female characters it did have.
3. Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière from Familiar of Zero
Flaunts her title as an excuse to abuse the lead character, need I say more.
4. Kagome Igarashi from Inuyasha
You could make a case for Akane Tendo but some of her tsundere outbursts are justified considering the company she's around, Kagome doesn't have that excuse, at first Inuyasha did need keeping on a leash but when Kagome practically abuses it for the whole run of Inuyasha it doesn't leave me with much to like.
5. Naru Narusegawa from Love Hina
Get used to the tsunderes, they're usually my first target for these lists.
Naru after a while was really only abusing Keitaro to hide her own insecurities, it's hard to watch at times.
6. Lynn Minmay from Macross
She is literally just eye candy and every sci-fi idol has surpassed her even within her own franchise.
7. Belldandy from Ah My Goddess
Has all the personality of a domestic doormat and easily one of the most beautiful female characters of her era, yet I hate every story that focuses on her.
8. Ryo Saeba from City Hunter
Bad ass or not, you can't get away with Johnny Bravo womanizer behaviour even in anime, Ryo is a frustrating character to watch at times.
9. Haruhi Suzumiya from Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
I haven't really forgiven her for some of the worst aspects of anime fandom, that will require it's own list in the future.
10. Hilary Tachibana from Beyblade
It's thanks to Hilary that Beyblade never really evolved beyond a boys club. It basically boils down to toy anime not being very inclusive, something that hasn't changed much even today.
