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 will come as a bit of foreshadowing for Plastic Memories as the story draws comparisons to one of the anime on this list, for obvious reasons, spoiler warning is in effect.
10. Kamina from Gurren Lagann
The larger than life surrogate brother of Simon, died tragically in battle passing his legacy of freedom onto Simon, would be higher if he didn't die so soon into the anime.
9. Nicholas D Wolfwood from Trigun
After finally accepting the ideals of Vash, Nicholas is gunned down by Legato's group, ending his life slumped at the alter of a church.
8. Wizardmon from Digimon
Wizardmon sacrifices himself to save Kari and Gatomon from Myotismon, the sad thing is that because he died in the real world, he cannot be reborn.
7. Master Asia from G Gundam
Considering the franchise normally treats humanity as expendable it's all the more tragic seeing such a powerful man as Master Asia pass on considering his actions can often be seen as beyond human limits, further emphasized by his regret over how the Earth has essentially become a wasteland and was the first to realise this.
6. Sakae from Summer Wars
The 90 year old family head pulls off one of the most organised damage limitation plots as the damage from the virus becomes apparent, she would shortly pass on following a confrontation with a disgraced family member for starting the whole thing.
5. Stoutland from Pokemon
Ash's Litten was raised by the aging Stoutland and showcases that even a series that mostly features a Pokemon fainting after every battle it can still tackle a mature subject such as dying from old age, also the likely inspiration for Scarlet and Violet's Mabostiff plotline which had a happier ending.
4. Minky Momo from Minky Momo
Staged in the most tragic way possible when she is taken out by a toy store truck, made worse by the eerie sirens which sees a toy ambulance roll over to way Momo lies, the whole scene was so shocking it was blamed for causing an earthquake in Japan, how it came to be in first place was even more shocking.
3. Portgas D Ace and Whitebeard from One Piece
The Marineford war was something of a magnum opus for One Piece, a series that up until that point had stayed away from death restricting it to backstory but the impact of Ace and Whitebeard dying kick started the second half of One Piece, you know you've made an impact when Shanks shows up to end the war by presence alone.
2. Mahoro from Mahoromatic
In both Manga and Anime, a timer runs down in how long Mahoro has left to live, her final year spent looking after her late commander's son Suguru, but when she does die during an attack from an enemy force, Suguru becomes a victim as well which greatly changes his destiny, this is the only death that really nails in the impact it has on the person closest.
1. Maes Hughes from Full Metal Alchemist
But I don't think it ever tops how cruelly cut short Maes life was, made even sadder by how his daughter reacts at his funeral, too young to fully understand the situation and you're crying right now reading this.
The three-episode rule is intended to gauge whether a specific anime series will be to a viewer's liking within the span of three episodes, I mentioned previously that I've been known to drop series after less time and these days, the first episode has to grab you otherwise the internet will soon let you know if the series is bad or not by word of mouth, but how effective is it next to much longer form series?
I picked ten anime known to be longer than 50 episodes and popular enough to have an audience and applied the 3 episode formula to each one, I will not be including Dragonballz as it's a sequel series and well over half it's world viewers were already aware of this fact.
So let's begin.
Inuyasha
In three episodes, the basic plot is established but there's enough going on to warrant a closer look, not so much from Kagome but certainly from Inuyasha considering what he already displayed in a short time.
Passed.
Digimon
In three episodes, the Digi-destined are summoned, they meet their partners and we meet Greymon and Garurumon, you already want to see how everyone else turns out and the enemies are creative enough to keep your attention.
Passed.
Sailor Moon
In three episodes, Usagi gets her powers and it's already looking formulaic and Usagi has shown her entire hand by the third episode, luckily it's saved by the Luna pen giving an extra layer of intrigue in how far Usagi's powers will go.
Passed.
Pokemon
In three episodes, Ash has an eventful opening getting just to Viridian City meeting Misty and Team Rocket along the way, on the actual third episode he catches two Pokemon and evolves one, Ash has achieved enough to see how far he can go on his journey.
Passed.
Fairy Tail
In three episodes, we've met Lucy, Natsu, Happy and enough of the Guild to see how crazy it can get.
Passed.
Yu-Gi-Oh
In three episodes, Yugi has battled two major players and is on his way to a tournament to meet more crazy duelists, being honest I was already sold on episode one.
Passed.
Card Captor Sakura
In three episodes, Sakura has setup the quest, got her friend to join her and dress her up and Sakura has acquired some pretty good cards, the battle costumes alone made you stay.
Passed.
Bleach
In three episodes, Ichigo has his powers and is already taking down his first major hollow in Orihime's brother, the increased violence would've been enough to begin with.
Passed.
One Piece
In three episodes, Luffy has taken out two villains and Zoro has joined his crew, we even have Zoro's back story and Nami in the background doing her own thing and being pleased that Koby won't be joining them, there's enough there to see where it goes.
Passed.
Naruto
In three episodes, Naruto graduates to the Ninja Academy by defeating a villain, he then babysits Konohamaru for episode two and then team 7 is formed with Sasuke and Sakura, the problem here is that it makes the series look like a school anime and there's so little ninja content, you're lucky to stay invested after episode 2 let alone episode 3.
Failed.
Conclusion
I'm fascinated at how well all these series held up in regards to the three episode rule with only Naruto failing, so there is some merit in what you can learn in only 70ish minutes of content as to whether these shows will be for you.
Most fans of Naruto didn't really get into the series until either halfway through the Zabusa arc or when the Chuunin Exam was at it's best, I'll go as far as saying Naruto is the poorest starting anime of all time and it's popularity was by luck that enough people watched it to give it a chance, if aired today, it would fail after one season.
In a recent discussion on Orihime Inoue, I mentioned that her design didn't support the powers she had, I also singled out the early Hinata Hyuuga as being out of place in a Shonen series.
While good writing can save a character it can ruin it just as well, ask Sakura why no one cared when she was left behind by Naruto and Sasuke.
There are ways to avoid problems later on by just getting it right first time and even on their bad days you still support them, so I'm going to tell you how to identify a good character by just a simple character picture.
With every character ever designed there is a default look to them that offers an insight into what type of character you can expect from them, a first impression is only 7 seconds so a good character design can give you everything in that time.
Using the strawhats above as an example, each expression, each pose is carefully selected with every piece of promotional art to make sure you know everything about these ten characters before you even open the book.
This is especially easy with male characters as their character traits are easy to read from a simple pose, female characters are more difficult to read as there is a good percentage of female characters that give off the same trait "there's a full length mirror in front of them and they are checking themselves out"
This isn't as bad as it used to be but it's still noticeable the higher up the sexy spectrum the show is.
Once you cross that bridge, the next one is compatibility with the world and it's universal laws, the question being, do you see any of these characters being in anything other than One Piece?
This usually makes or breaks an anime character, too many 12 episode series have this weekness where you feel that the character would turn up in a better anime or you see a different character instead.
Afterwards it really boils down to the plot to see if you still care about the anime once you see these characters in action. I've got four characters to bring up over this week to showcase some of these points.
Bit of fun, let's have a look at some bizarre facts.
1. Mario is a Supermarket worker
In Mario's only OVA, he's depicted working in a Supermarket, this is long before his established canon as a plumber.
2. Ayeka's Hair is Dyed
Princess Ayeka of the Jurai royal family in Tenchi Muyo is meant to have the same hair colour as Sasami, the turquoise blue colour. She dyed it purple to look better in front of Yosho and her step mother Funaho.
3. Space Brothers record breaker
Space Brothers has the honour of holding the only voice recording from space as dialogue was recorded from a Japanese Astronaut from the International Space Station
4. Anzu Mazaki has never lost a duel
Hard to believe but Anzu or Teà has never lost a duel in the Yu-Gi-Oh series becoming the only character in the series to have a 100% win ratio.
5. Usopp's Tall Tales are real
When introduced to One Piece, Usopp told a lot of tall tales of being a great warrior of the sea but ever since he left, he has been living many of the tales he's told, reaching a fever pitch with Dressrosa when he gained thousands of followers for breaking the toy curse.
6. Pizza Hut really did sponsor Code Geass
Remember that old meme Pizza Hut supports the Rebellion? That's real, product placement is everywhere in Code Geass.
7. The Titans were inspired by drunks
The unusual way the Titans of Attack on Titan moved and looked were inspired by encounters with drunks.
8. Most Isekai Protagonists dress the same
Quite often those Isekai Protagonists that don't take on a new form are almost always seen in a tracksuit. Re Zero, Konosuba, Shield Hero and Familiar of Zero to name a few.
9. Sasuke Uchiha wasn't supposed to exist
Sasuke was never planned for Naruto but many of Kishimoto's staff insisted on Naruto having a rival. This also explains why Sasuke isn't featured as prominently as he should've been and why the whole Uchiha plot was garbage.
10. One anime character has 22 voice actresses
Eucliwood Hellscyth from Is This A Zombie? Has 22 Voice actresses despite being a mute character, this is a running gag where the protagonist fantisises Eucliwood being his waifu and having a different voice each time. If you include English dub along with other language audio the total isn't far off 100.
Let's try the Strawhats now.
Luffy
Not really much I can add to a Shonen Protagonist, he ticks all the boxes and followed the same path, nothing is really that different.
Zoro
He takes his role the most seriously to the point where you wonder what his end goal is, the current chapter being crucial to where his next stage of development will be.
Nami
Were starting to see a more capable Nami who may yet prove to be one of the stronger members of the Strawhats.
Usopp
Usopp's journey up to now has been the best and peaked at the God Usopp part, he may yet become the great warrior of the sea.
Sanji
We finally saw some background to Sanji Vinsmoke, pity it was in such a disappointing arc. Nevertheless he now looks more sympathetic.
Chopper
Chopper is the only one that hasn't really changed that much, his impact on the story is getting less and less especially when Trafalgar Law has done more to aid Luffy's injuries in recent times.
Robin
I'm eagerly awaiting the next chapters to see if she can reveal the true history if the world. Definitely a character that could easily win more points.
Franky
His appearance and abilities are keeping him more interesting than his actions. Likely won't get another major role unless Sunny needs a serious upgrade.
Brook
I always found Brook's position to be token but he is proving to be quite formidable especially in the previous cake arc but I doubt he could repeat this.
Jinbe
Showing some great swag standing up to the series top villains but I'm still waiting for his position to be permanent.
Luffy: 8.0/10
Zoro: 8.0/10
Nami: 8.0/10
Usopp: 9.0/10
Sanji: 8.8/10
Chopper: 6.0/10
Robin: 8.0/10
Franky: 7.5/10
Brook: 7.7/10
Jinbe: 7.4/10
End
