Our next review got an unanimous vote but considering the subject matter that comes as no surprise as we dive into Teen Titans.
DC has been under the Warner Bros banner for quite some time now and a look at their history going back as far as the Batman animated series days, there were a number of shows that were really successful and arguably the best of the early 00s era was Teen Titans.
The cartoon is based on the comic book of the same name featuring a team of five heroes consisting of the 1st Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beastboy as they fight crime and act like teenagers in a pseudo anime world and pseudo anime is the correct term as it takes every cliche anime has to offer including an opening theme sung by Japanese J-Rock duo Puffy AmiYumi a.k.a the musical Dirty Pair. Now while many people groan at the idea of a Western cartoon using anime styling, Teen Titans actually gets a free ride alongside Avatar the Last Airbender & Code Lyoko and in some cases mistaken for an actual anime and who can blame them as we have some of the best written characters and stories in the 00s era, an era that I normally associate with the downfall of animation.
The comedy is pure gold with Starfire being voiced by Princess Bubblegum, Raven's deadpan humor and plenty of one-liners to keep everyone entertained there's never a dull moment; this is why the gag comedy Teen Titans Go was green lit which didn't get the best reception from the fans hoping for a proper Teen Titans remake; being honest it's quite funny and it's better than no Teen Titans.
It can get pretty dramatic as well particularly with both Starfire's & Raven's backstories being the show's crowning moments for drama. (In Raven's case it could compete for an oscar)
If Warner Bros can stop acting like Business men for a moment and take a good look at how well Teen Titans was received during it's run, then they wouldn't need to cancel this series along with Young Justice and other DC shows that are also really good.
Overall I really enjoyed Teen Titans, I normally hate the constant wave of super hero cartoons because the genre is so saturated to the point of collapsing under it's own weight, but within the ocean of this genre a number of shows do wash ashore and manage to do the job without feeling like it was forced to be there because of some blockbuster film release.
For years the Samurai Warriors franchise has been the staple of all things related to the Sengoku period but what actually happened usually paints a more interesting picture as I shall now show you. This guide will serve to represent what happened to these people.
Uesugi Kenshin
Worshiping the Buddhist War God Bishamonten may give you the impression that Uesugi Kenshin was a holy man, but he's quite a notorious drunk.
Takeda Shingen
One of the only Daimyo of his time to use female ninja making the likes of Kunoichi more accurate than you think. Ninja tactics were common practice for Shingen and wasn't afraid to try anything, from Kunoichi disguised as concubines to direct attacks on Kenshin while he's on the toilet.
Also worthy of note is Shingen's size as he required two horses to ride into battle, justified seeing as Asian horses are smaller than European horses.
Sanada Yukimura
Before he was slain, Sanada Yukimura took on Ieyasu Tokugawa's army with a small force of his own and proceeded to fight through the camp to try and take Ieyasu's head. Most of the kills were made by Yukimura alone and in comparison Tokugawa's army was twice the size.
Hideyoshi Toyotomi
Toyotomi was never well liked or even as jolly as his appearance in the game suggests or even a decent warrior.
Ishikawa Goemon
Goemon is a popular choice for paintings, one of which depicting his execution, while being boiled alive he was holding his son in the air to save him.
Takenaka Hanbei
Despite the visual age difference, Hanbei is older than Kanbei Kuroda however Hanbei died in his 30s while Kanbei lived to his 50s.
Hojo Ujiyasu
Ever wonder where the Legend of Zelda Triforce symbol comes from? It's the mark of the Hojo clan.
Mori Motonari
His historical age puts him as being older than Shingen yet the game portrays him as middle aged.
Gracia
Noted for converting to Christianity as Gracia was a baptized name, it's worth noting that Hideyoshi banned all forms of Christianity during this period as well as foreign visitors.
Kaihime
In order to get any respect as a warrior, Kai is referred to as a man by Hojo Ujiyasu
Nobunaga Oda
One of Oda's retainers was an African slave named Yasuke. Oda's interest in the man was enough to earn Yasuke this title which during a time of slavery was quite a high honor for any slave in that period.
Okuni
It is said that she is the founder of Kabuki plays.
Saika Magoichi
It is said that Saika Magoichi is an alias used by as many as three different men with similar names.
Tadakatsu Honda
Went through 100 battles without as much as a scratch. And yes he really did wear antlers on his battle armor.
Ginchiyo Tachibana
Despite being the last of her clan and leader, her husband Muneshige still held all the power despite being of a different clan.
Nene
Was nothing more than a politician in real life.
Date Masamune
Other than countless tales of badassery, Masamune Date was responsible for Japan's first overseas expedition; a boat known by the name San Juan Bautista outside Japan visited the Philipines, Mexico, Spain and Rome with the idea of forming relations with the Pope, even to this day descendants from that voyage still live in Spain. He was also sympathetic to Christians, allowing them to preach in Sendai despite being banned by Tokugawa. In fact Japan would be very different if it were Masamune in charge instead of Tokugawa who ended up isolating Japan until the late 19th Century.
Hope you enjoyed today's history lesson.
Sorry for the delay, between work and family life I've been falling behind slightly in my reviewing but since nothing was voted for again lets talk about the Raccoons.
The Raccoons is a Canadian show from the mid to late 80s and early 90s, about, unsurprisingly Raccoons; it involved the misadventures of Bert Raccoon who is staying with his best friends Ralph & Melissa Raccoon as they try and thwart the evil aardvark industrialist Cyril Sneer who wants to destroy the forest.
So yeah it's an environmentalist show but more Sonic the Hedgehog than Lisa Simpson.
It's one of those shows that is really good but doesn't get the recognition it deserves, mainly because it wasn't a toy commercial at the same time, but it never wanted to be to begin with, that's what made it stand out at the time; in fact it was one of Canada's longest running shows right up until Ed, Edd & Eddy which shows more staying power than many of it's contemporaries at the time.
If there is one thing which is always remembered from the Raccoons, it's the music. From it's main theme to the copious amounts of insert songs, it's always been Raccoons biggest selling point, it helps that the voice cast is built up of professional singers and it spawned numerous musical specials including the "Lets Dance" special, a personal favorite.
Sadly in it's final seasons it wrote out a few characters and the quality took a nosedive as it was dragged into the 90s kicking and screaming, proving that even the better shows suffer with decay.
But taking it for what it is and comparing it to the rest of the 80s set, it's the one cartoon that didn't need to be like the rest to succeed.
Guarantee you'll be singing "Run With Us" for weeks after this review.
Really? I have to do Quick Draw McGraw? Okay lets get this over with.
Quick Draw is one of Hanna Barbara's many many Anthropomorphic characters with neck wear; this time it's a horse.
Quick Draw is the sheriff of his town often solving problems using many Western themes and references popular at the time of release in the late 50s early 60s, he is joined by a small donkey called Baba Looey who is probably a stereotype these days. Quick Draw joins the likes of Hong Kong Phooey in terms of incompetent as quite frequently he ends up shooting himself in the face with his own gun while drawing it, he also has a Zorro-esque alter ego named El Kabong who usually smacks people on the head with a Spanish Guitar.
Quick Draw is a lot more memorable than some of the other Hanna Barbara characters and has a lot of legacy within America much in the same way as Yogi Bear but it doesn't stop some things from being really bizarre; for example, why does an anthropomorphic horse ride another horse? And why does a sheriff need to mask as a vigilante when he's the law enforcement in town.
As a cartoon it was okay, I never found it anything special, Hanna Barbara's cartoon animal brigade very rarely makes any effort to standout other than voice accents and most productions will have similar plots, although how you get 45 cartoons out of a two joke show is beyond me.
Sorry that Q was lacking in choice, R should make up for it.
Next is an underrated series from the early 2000s, it's Pumpkin Scissors.
In alternative Europe, war has come to an end but the Post War Period is jammed full of poverty and former soldiers turned bandits unable to give up the fighting. Step forward aristocrat 2nd Lieutenant Alice Malvin, Field leader for Imperial Army State Section III, specializing in War Relief to beat the bad guys and give everyone rousing speeches just because she can.
Joining Alice is the spectacle wearing Martis and lady killer Oreldo, while at base issuing the missions is old man Captain Hunks; a 12 year old girl who's not really 12, Stecchin to serve the tea and messenger dog Mercury who likes biting people.
All is normal until they are joined by a walking giant of a man named Randel Oland, who is a former anti tank trooper, with powerful anti tank handgun and a seemingly invincible body as he ignores pain and fear to take down his enemies with the help of a Blue Lantern, in fact they were so terrifying in battle that they were referred to as "Gespenster Jäger" which is Ghost Hunter in German. Not the only German phrase you'll hear in this series, "Toten Sie" gets mentioned a lot which means "Kill Them" in German.
I will be blunt with this one, it's Full Metal Alchemist set in World War II minus the Alchemy, but it's not a criticism, far from it, along with the Gundam franchise it's one of the few shows that's good at portraying how terrible war is and how cruel certain people in power are, it's also one of the few anime that genuinely seems terrifying in context, once that lantern goes off, Randel is terrifying to watch and it gets worst meeting up with other units similar to Randel's Anti Tank unit including a man from a Flamethrower unit.
It's not perfect though, it clearly hasn't been given enough episodes to finish the bigger story and the sad thing is that it ends in a Ballroom Blitz scene where Alice keeps changing her mind about what she's fighting for when people continue to contradict her during her speeches which eats up a lot of running time, not made any easier when you consider that 1. she's an Aristocrat, 2. The people involved are against the Aristocrats and 3. She can't be taken seriously wearing an evening dress. It's also pretty poor at timing it's comedy as a deadly serious episode loses effectiveness when the ending theme is rather jolly. Also I'm no expert on recruiting but Stecchin clearly shouldn't be in this anime, she looks like she belongs in a moe military series, yes that's a genre now.
Some of those are nit picks and I can't really complain about it's production values or dubbing as everything is top notch.
Final Verdict: It's very underrated and needs more support than it currently gets, definitely worth a watch.
