I have just been promoted to Senior Otaku, a great honor to receive, to celebrate lets review something obscure. Lets have a look at Haunted Junction.
The son of a Christian Pastor, the daughter of a Shinto Priestess and the Son of a Buddhist Monk form the Holy Student Council, and no this isn't the start of a really terrible joke these are our main characters, who under the orders of the Chairman must retrieve the seven colored badges from the school's seven spirits; this consists of a living statue of Ninomiya Sontoku (A great symbol of Education in Japanese Culture) of whom Priestess Mutsuki has a crush on, the Dancing Giant, two anatomical human models, the little girl in the mirror, the Tuxedo Mask-esque Red Mantle, the school slut Toilet Hanako, (Yes that is her name and title) and eventually the Chairman himself. Upon completing this task, the Chairman pulls a fast one and opens the door to the Spirit Realm only for it to cause many of the spirits to cause trouble in the school much to lead character Haruto's dismay as his desire to have a normal school life is dashed constantly which prompts him to declare "Oh My God!" in broken English at the end of every episode.
Now it's up to our three holy warriors along with the help of the Seven School Spirits in Haruto's possession to bring order to the school, in what is pretty much an Anime Scooby Doo minus the dog.
For what it was able to do in such a short load of episodes, it's actually incredibly funny and due to it's position in the 90s, introduced many tropes to anime newbies looking to find more anime beyond Pokemon and Dragonballz.
As great as it was, it's presence in the west is very, very limited; it was licensed very briefly by Bandai for Western release but was released in such short numbers that it's become one of the hidden treasures of the first DVD Generation, it was also intended for dub but nothing materialized leaving it sub only.
If I have any criticism for it, its that some characters jokes wear thin and the ending comes across as somewhat mean spirited, but set correctly before the actual ending. But for an anime that was barely released in the west I still rate it highly among much higher tier anime.
Final Verdict: A lost gem among a sea of revolutionary anime of the era, Haunted Junction is packed with comedy and filled with tropes that have become a common part of most anime of the following 20 years from it's initial release, living proof that a lost anime still holds weight with an Anime Veteran like myself.
Cartoons have gone through a surprise renaissance in recent years and we have these ten creators to thank for it. Give some applause to these individuals. (Updated with Honorable Mentions)
Honorable Mentions
Daniel Chong
Creator of We Bare Bears
A simple premise of three bears trying to function in normal society is one of the better attempts at incorporating modern day humor into cartoons. Hope to see more from this one.
Daron Nefcy
Creator of Star vs the Forces of Evil
I really wanted Amethyst Princess of Gemworld to become a series but I'll settle for Star vs the Forces of Evil, living proof that you can make a female lead interesting without the need for vomits of pink.
Disqualified: Skyler Page
Creator of Clarence
Skyler Page Disgraced himself by committing an act of Sexual Assault on another employee and has since been sacked by Cartoon Network.
10. Kyle A. Carrozza
Creator of Mighty Magiswords
This show only came out last week and already I'm hooked, this guy is a refugee from Nickelodeon's failed Random Cartoons project that came from the same stable as Adventure Time. While Mighty Magiswords is only a web cartoon at the moment there is hope of more to come from this show.
9. Sean Szeles
Creator of Long Live the Royals
A prominent writer of Regular Show, Sean Szeles has graduated into making his own show that hopes to carry on the same humor that Regular Show produced.
8. Rebecca Sugar
Creator of Steven Universe
A prominent writer of Adventure Time, Rebecca Sugar's show about a boy inheriting gem powers has all the dimensions found from her time working on Adventure Time and is one of the best female cartoon creators since Lauren Faust.
7. Peter Browngardt
Creator of Uncle Grandpa
A major writer on Flapjack, and creator of Secret Mountain Fort Awesome, Peter Browngardt took out what didn't work in Fort Awesome and made Uncle Grandpa which did work.
6. Patrick McHale
Creator of Over the Garden Wall
Another writer from Flapjack and a contributor to Adventure Time, Patrick McHale created the biggest surprise of last year, the dark and mysterious Over the Garden Wall which set a new standard in story writing and atmosphere.
5. Benjamin Bocquelet
Creator of Amazing World of Gumball
A French born British animator who used to work in advertisement and the only one on this list without previous cartoon history. Ben's ability to blend his unique creations into an impressive and hilarious show makes him Europe's finest cartoon maker to date and one to watch for the future.
4. Pendleton Ward
Creator of Adventure Time
This guy put Cartoon Network back on the map along with the number 3 entry. A talented writer that Nickelodeon was stupid enough to ignore, is now regarded as the creator of Cartoon Network's most successful show.
3. J.G. Quintel
Creator of Regular Show
J.G. Quintel is a man who I can relate to, he successfully crafted a cartoon suitable for people of my Generation, basically anyone born in the 80s and made sure that the old Cartoon Network fan wasn't ignored.
2. Alex Hirsch
Creator of Gravity Falls
Alex Hirsch is a reminder that Disney haven't completely abandoned cartoons and can still create classics. Gravity Falls is the cleverest show on TV in all forms, not just cartoons, here's hoping he creates more.
1. Thurop Van Orman
Creator of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
But over half this list owe their pay checks to Thurop Van Orman who gave them their big break. Sean Szeles, Peter Browngardt, Alex Hirsch, J.G. Quintel, Pendleton Ward and Patrick McHale were all credited writers of Flapjack, the show wasn't the most fondly remembered in Cartoon Network's history but you all had to start somewhere and Flapjack is the Forefather of the Modern Cartoon Network.
Note: Nothing from Nickelodeon?
Kind of says a lot about their shows at the moment.
Okay back to cartoon reviews and I did promise more Disney so here is Quack Pack.
In the 90s Disney tried all sorts of different cartoons in order to keep up with the changing trends of the decade leading to the whole teenage rebellion phase which allowed this cartoon to exist, which followed on from the success of very similar program Goof Troop.
In this series, Donald and Daisy work as a cameraman and reporter respectively but also have to deal with teenage versions of the triplets Huey, Dewey & Louie as they pretty much act as more "extreme" versions of what they were portrayed in the Duck Tales cartoon. I use the term "extreme" loosely as it's more the 90s lingo over actual plot and development as you can copy and paste the triplets into several other cartoons of the era and get exactly the same cartoon.
To put it into perspective it's like the Ninja Turtles but all of them are Michelangelo, sure they do display a lot more noticeable personality traits that seem to separate them more but it never lasts any longer than a few minutes per episode and then they return to being their normal annoying selves, not made any easier by the whole super hero thing which seems like a forced decision on the directors part.
So to conclude I can say that this show had good intentions but ultimately tried to cash in on a trend that had already out stayed it's welcome and because of it, it has aged poorly, the only thing I can really salvage from this show is that this is probably the best version of Daisy Duck in cartoon and comic strip form that you'll ever see.
Next up a hybrid of European and Japanese deity culture in Campione.
Godou Kusanagi travels to Italy to return a stone tablet on request by his Grandfather only to be confronted by an Italian woman in a large red dress named Erica Blandelli, their fated meeting triggers the events of the arrival of the god Verethragna who Godou kills earning him the title of Campione, a term used for people who slay god. Having taken Verethragna's power, Godou along with Erica and a harem of other women take on other Campiones and rogue gods in order to keep the world in balance.
This is a poor man's Tenchi Muyo; I get really sick of seemingly powerful male characters get completely overwhelmed by the women in his harem; it got so bad with Tenchi Muyo it became an in-house joke, while much of Godou's achievements get completely overshadowed by his inability to control the women around him. This makes the anime especially messy as there are far too many moments where you get the feeling they spend too much time messing about with typical cliche harem moments rather than keeping the story in check, there are moments such as Godou knowing and fighting the Campione Salvatore Doni despite never being seen on screen in the same place that needed some back story to explain. If they wanted to make a show with action and a hint of ecchi they should've gone all out and made a hentai; that seems like a strange criticism but in the state as it is, it would've done so much better as a hentai, it would've made some of the more awkward moments seem less awkward.
Added to the problems are bad cases of overacting by the dub cast, not enough time to establish a solid flowing story, characters that don't need to be there and a complete reliance on Athena to make up the bulk of the Villain role.
On the plus side, the way the gods are cut down to size is extremely clever, their authority gets overruled by their less than stellar histories which grants the Campione the power to slay them easily, so there is a good anime in there somewhere, just don't bother trying to dig deep as you'll only hit more mud.
Final Verdict: Yet another 13 Episode series with barely enough time to explain what's going on, along with poor acting, ecchiness over story and a cast of completely unlikable characters, Poor Man's Tenchi Muyo is the only term needed to describe Campione.
Now to put to bed an anime that's been asking for it for the last few years, it's Bleach.
Ichigo Kurosaki is a kind hearted delinquent who can see ghosts, no this isn't Yu Yu Hakusho but at least you know where the inspiration came from. During the night, a monster known as a hollow appears and is fought off by a Soul Reaper named Rukia who is surprised by Ichigo's ability to see her. As the trouble escalates Ichigo is given some of Rukia's power but ends up taking all of it and becomes a Soul Reaper himself. Not looking too kindly on the events, the Soul Society capture Rukia and sentence her to death. Ichigo feeling responsible goes after her to rescue her but things are not as it seems as someone from inside the Soul Society is using the execution to create their own plans. The rest of the series beyond the Arrancar arc is pretty much making it up as they go along so feel free to stop at that point, which brings up the elephant in the room. What went wrong with Bleach?
At the time it had the same popularity as Attack on Titan does today, the characters were incredible, the story and fighting was epic, it taught One Piece and Naruto to up their game and made them better, so why would that fail?
Well the story that took so long to build up had no payoff in the end, the whole thing with Aizen was ended poorly and as if to rub salt into the wounds, the series kept going with some of the worst writing I've ever read, it came to the point when coming into the last arc, the imagination faded, the action became dreary, the story made no sense and after suffering the Fullbring Arc, none of us couldn't care less if Bleach was cancelled, and by that point the anime already was.
It was like Tite Kubo was insulting our intelligence, he had a chance to close when the opportunity came and didn't, he was too blinded by his ambition to write more that he lost his way, it felt like Dragonball GT all over again only this time the creator made it happen rather than the marketing people. Naruto at least knew it was getting too hard to follow and stopped, Dragonballz is making amends for GT and One Piece is learning to pace itself with it's story to avoid Bleach's downfall.
Dub is good but doesn't excuse the fact that the show is now beyond help.
Final Verdict: It all started so well but after ending a major arc poorly it never recovered and started descending into an endless spiral of poor chapter after poor chapter before crashing into the ground in it's current state, on the last chapters, anime already cancelled and no hope of retaining it's former fans. Good riddance Bleach.
