Let's try something different, I went down a rabbit hole of old cartoons and realised how some characters who seem one dimensional on the surface actually showcase some hidden depths so I challenge the reader to come up with characters who showcase such depths.
Joey the chin demands it
Include any character from the following
Anime
Western Animation
Video Games
All suggestions will be considered and showcased on the wall of fame page or a top ten for Fantasy Zone page
Some comedy stylings from Sakamoto.
Sakamoto is infinitely cool in every action he does which earns adoration and envy from his classmates, with every episode comes a challenge whether it be from a delinquent or a crush, Sakamoto always seems to have the upper hand over anyone leaving each person he interacts with a better person even if he intended to or not.
That's this anime in a nutshell really, it's quite rewarding to watch each episode and find out how Sakamoto deals with each problem thrown his way, it's a great series to watch in small doses as it's very feel good and you'll get a kick out of the out of the box way Sakamoto thinks and acts. It never gets old, the dub is even good as well.
Final Verdict: Short review but it's worth watching Sakamoto yourself, it's faultless in it's approach to it's main draw being Sakamoto himself.
It's going to be inevitable that this will be compared to the original.
The world is under threat from pollution and extinction of rare creatures and with an alien race threatening to accelerate this destruction, five girls are infused with the DNA of rare endangered creatures with the power to battle the alien threat, leaving Ichigo to balance a magical girl mission with dating.
The new series follows all the same story beats as the original but with a much cleaner opening scene. It's also learned a lot from Precure's aesthetic of having vibrant colour as it's biggest selling point and with less stock scenes it makes for a much cleaner series all round, the minor changes to the fashion keep it fresh for the modern era as well however some of the elements that didn't age well look so much worse now than they did back in the original, which means there is very little new to offer in this series.
It's very pretty looking but really hasn't evolved since the beginning, at least this version hasn't got a dub.
Final Verdict: For how aesthetically pleasing it is, there's nothing really new about the new Tokyo Mew Mew, which is a shame really.
For the purposes of this review all character names will be presented in English because 1. I've been really ill recently and 2. It's late while writing this.
Based on the first three games, Inazuma Eleven is a full on shonen soccer frenzy. Centered around goalkeeper Mark Evans who inspired by his grandfather rebuilds the Raimon Soccer team from nothing into a powerhouse world beating force.
Season 1 is about taking the nationals.
Season 2 is about stopping aliens.
Season 3 is about competing against the world.
Along the way evil forces, corruption and yes I said aliens will never stop Mark from achieving his dreams.
Unconventional is definitely the word I'd use as the lead character is a goalkeeper not a striker, not something you see in any fictional soccer media not even other soccer anime.
That's kinda why I gravitate towards it, it's painfully aware that it's a shonen and really runs with it, when you see how super human these techniques are, it makes Beyblade look tame, but it can also be it's greatest weakness, Mark is the last of a dying breed of what I dub the Ash Ketchum archetype, plucky underdogs who seemingly succeed against all odds, and it runs a regular routine of whenever someone beats one of his saves he goes through the same feelings to learn a new save to win, it's not just him, Axel has a chronic leave and rejoin routine, Willy is literally there to name techniques. Repetition isn't really the shows greatest sin, it's dub casting is, pick which do you find worst
1. A carnival of bad accents.
2. Bad ass characters who sound off all the time
3. It's obvious they didn't even try to hire a proper voice team.
But it does contain some good traits.
1. The changing cast keeps things fresh, especially with how weak the original season 1 team were.
2. It's surprisingly kind to it's female cast.
3. It can be pretty brutal sometimes
So a mixed bag of all sorts of fun.
Final Verdict: It runs a familiar setup story wise and many of it's shortcomings is usually down more to the dub but I find the anime endearing in it's shonen cheesiness.
Wish I was in less pain writing this.
Lupin Zero attempts to tell the story of how a young Lupin took up the title of the 3rd as well as his first meeting with Jigen, not content with following the path laid out by his father and grandfather, a number of encounters in traditional Lupin madness helps him decide what kind of thief the 3rd will become.
Only six episodes to work with so it feels rushed in a lot of places where a few extra episodes could easily flesh out Lupin better, it's not difficult, Lupin is one of the easiest characters to write about and Jigen is a great choice to play off, but with not much to work with in regards to side characters and content it leaves the viewer wanting more. No dub, one of the few Lupin series that doesn't use a dub.
Final Verdict: It's Lupin, it's fun and frolics as usual but as a story it's weak and needed more episodes to flesh out
