To keep up with something I wrote a couple weeks back, my next review will be on Gunsmith Cats, a series I listed along with four others but included with this review is also Riding Bean as both series occur in the same universe and are short enough to be reviewed together, so here is the review for Riding Bean & Gunsmith Cats.
That is one sexy car
Kenichi Sonoda is a familiar face to anyone whose watched 80s anime Bubblegum Crisis and Gall Force as he is the character designer behind them, although he's a lot better at drawing cars than drawing humans, judging by how good the picture looks.
His first work Riding Bean is about a transporter called Bean Bandit who receives money for courier jobs on both sides of the law, in the OVA he's framed for a kidnapping which he responds by chasing down the real criminal using his custom made car, styled using a Porsche 959 chassis with a Corvette Stingray engine and a few small design features similar to a Honda NSX. The series is definitely 80s due to the ultra violence shown in some parts but all in all extremely toned down compared to it's predecessors, it's an extremely early dub as well, nothing special to look at but it can be forgiven for the time period it was dubbed. Not much else to say about it, creator Sonoda fell out with the production company so another series wasn't made, instead we got Gunsmith Cats.
Existing in the same universe and taking a character who was originally Bean Bandit's partner, Rally Vincent is a bounty hunter and Gunsmith who takes jobs much in the same way Bean Bandit did, her partner in crime is an explosive former call girl Minnie-May Hopkins who custom makes hand grenades which becomes a form slapstick in the first episode.
After the introduction were introduced to Natasha Radinov a former KGB and a juggernaut type character who takes a number of explosions and bullets to kill which is trademark to the series as Bean Bandit himself could take bullets to the head and chest and tear through a car's bodywork with his bare hands; the rest of the short series is Rally & May taking down Radinov with their trusty Shelby Cobra GT500, not much else to say, both series are exactly the same in content, all feature more stylized art on the cars & guns and both series contain Rally Vincent, okay one version is blonde hair & Caucasian and the other is black hair & Indian but both characters look exactly the same; you know that's all you really need. Most series and movies based on the typical Chicago police vs violent criminals don't always see it's audience as being smart, so you see a gun you fire it, you see a car you drive it, but both these shows actually tell you what cars & guns are and why they are effective for the current plot which is Sonoda's greatest strength as a writer.
Final Verdict: Cheap entertainment that was good for it's time that has a lot of style and will easily draw you into the manga, and also translates well for a western audience.
Did some tinkering with the intro to make it less boring, enjoy people.
Okay it didn't take as long as I thought to think of a worst list, mainly because some entries escaped the 2007 start date, (Damn you Johnny Test!) and some other entries I didn't actually see. (And I'm happy I didn't)
So here we go, the top 10 worst modern cartoons.
10. Fleabag Monkeyface
Over in the UK we have to put up with a juvenile kids show about farts. Feel sorry for us and be glad that it's not shown in America.
9. Almost Naked Animals
Although Canada is not much better at making cartoons. A concept that makes Spongebob look like intelligent tv is an achievement that's as rare as a serious Family Guy episode.
8. The Garfield Show
The 90s show was clever and maintained much of the humor that made Garfield such a big name in comics, today however by not changing with the times and using cheap CGI, the fat cat is no longer funny.
7. Star Wars Clone Wars (CGI Series)
I hate this show, I really do; a sad attempt at flogging a dead horse that's already been stripped of it's meat. All I ask from Disney now is to end this series.
6. Transformers Prime
Speaking of flogging a dead horse, another show that's been robbed of it's dignity by lousy CGI. Thanks a lot Michael Bay for making sure that Transformers will forever remain an extended toy commercial.
5. Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. & The Looney Tunes Show
This is a tie as both have the same problem. Combined these two have over hundred years worth of history and in that time we've worked out certain quirks that these popular iconic characters have that make them fun to watch, what the reboots did wrong was TELL US WHAT THEY ARE! You've stolen imagination away from these shows and I hope you're proud of yourselves Warner Bros, now if you don't mind returning the licensing for live action Bleach & Death Note movies we'll forget about the fact that you're sellouts.
4. Winx Club
A great example of why girls shows fail. Looking pretty, wearing fashionable clothing and doing the BFF thing doesn't cut it when My Little Pony has changed the playing field for girls cartoons forever. Stop throwing up glitter in our faces.
3. Redakai: Conquer the Kairu
I made this just for this entry
2. Matt Hatter Chronicles
Again Canada cannot make cartoons anymore and whats worst we British are helping them. More lousy CGI, horrific design choices, one dimensional characters, a stupid title and a god awful story.
1. Thomas the Tank Engine (CGI Era)
Under normal circumstances a pre-school show has no right to be on this list or any worst list as all of them stick to a target audience and unless I have kids myself I shouldn't have any right watching them or criticizing them no matter how stupid they sound. Thomas the Tank Engine is a special case as it's been around long enough that I grew up with it myself, what started as a clever little stop motion show using real model steam engines, which over the years has been dumbed down in such a way that CGI has replaced it's clever design and it's stories have been reduced from learning about the railways to watching a train with a face sitting on the naughty step every single episode. That's what betrayal is like people.
Well there you have it. At this point we'll never reclaim the golden age of cartoons nor the era of home grown Cartoon Network & Nickelodeon cartoons, but rest assured that there are still some talents ready for a chance to make something awesome.
Lets face it, cartoons these days are lousy, whether it's me getting older, a lack of ideas, nothing left to surprise me or just plain bad, but some manage to buck the trend and actually be so awesome that in some cases they become legendary. So here's a selection of the top ten best modern cartoons. The rules are that each show must have been created from 2007-Present day and must still be active on TV in any form and any nation, and the usual rule, I have to have seen it. So to begin.
oooooohhhhhhhhh!
10. Phineas & Ferb
The enthusiasm for this series has died in recent years but it's still one of the most creative cartoons in recent years with an arrangement of catchy music and a Platypus in a fedora.
9. Dragons: Riders of Berk
While it maybe another Dreamworks cash-in cartoon, this show is based on my favorite Dreamworks film "How to Train your Dragon". With the same humor and humanism of the film this series is worth a watch.
8. Thundercats Reboot
The fans of the original are a hard lot to please to the point where they released both new and old action figures at the same time but the remake at the risk of being unpopular is actually more superior than the old series. The show benefits from modern storytelling and better art styles while the original continues to show it's age.
7. Ultimate Spiderman
I should hate this series but the humor and styling of comic group Man of Action, (Basically CLAMP for boys) really breath life into a franchise which at times has been incredibly boring and mediocre.
6. Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil
Finally a protagonist that looks awesome, has an awesome voice and doesn't become a cliche, even the bumbling sidekick is more of an actual sidekick than a cliche. Original ideas do still exist.
5. Adventure Time
What you say is what you get, and that's exactly what you get from Adventure Time, the most fun you can get from a boy and his dog you'll ever have. A few bold ideas and a nod to the fan culture of today, you'll be relieved that the next generation of kids will be awesome for watching this.
4. Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
I have a strong pet peeve about pseudo anime art styles used in western cartoons but after seeing this I feel it can make things better. A strong emphases on action and the same charisma & character as it's counterpart film along with an awesome opening theme, the Avengers is the first super hero cartoon since Batman & X-Men to break the mold.
3. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
I didn't get it at first but after seeing a few episodes, it's become a must watch and all they had to do was not take itself too seriously and treat it's audience like humans rather than a bunch of gullible kids buying toys. It may have created some surprising results but none the less My Little Pony is the most fun you'll have watching a cartoon whether you're male or female.
2. The Amazing World of Gumball
Creating a surreal world that you won't question is a tough job and in all forms, Gumball should be terrible, but clever "British" comedy writing, a well selected voice cast and some of the worlds most unique characters make this the most creative show ever.
1. Regular Show
But nothing compares to how good Regular Show is. Fuse together Spongebob & Ren & Stimpy, take a dash of Beavis & Butthead and cook to the sounds of the 80s & 90s and you get a cartoon which appeals to my age group in both nostalgic value, weirdness and down right awesomeness that made many of it's predecessors a household name. A blue jay and a raccoon have never been so entertaining.
So there's the best cartoons list, I would do a worst list except it'll take me a long time to shift through the crap we got and trust me there's a lot of crap.
In this feature as a homage to the Oscars, I'll be discussing the one off American Anime Awards held back in 2007.
Held at New York Comic-Con back in 2007 the awards were presented by a number of ADVFilm actresses, the criteria covered every...
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