As part of theotaku discussion I'll be reviewing three anime, a spinoff, a reboot and a sequel, this is the spinoff Tenchi in Tokyo.
At the beginning, the female cast of Tenchi Universe crash land on Earth following an incident in which Ryoko and Washu steal a powerful crystal from Jurai in which Ayeka, Sasami and the Galaxy Police duo of Mihoshi and Kiyone pursue the space pirates. After getting stuck on Earth when an heirloom of Tenchi's defeats monster Ryoko, the regular Tenchi scenario begins, only two years later Tenchi moves to Tokyo to study being a Shinto priest. There he meets Sakuya who later would become his girlfriend making the girls back home jealous and suspicious. These suspicions are realized when a Juraian mutant named Yugi becomes fascinated with the power Tenchi possesses making his meeting with Sakuya all the more coincidental.
I applaud the removal of Tenchi's link to Jurai as it clears up so much baggage that the plot relies on to function but Jurai still has far too much influence on the plot as a whole and it still doesn't make for interesting villains.
Also for the first time since the movies has the plot of Tenchi being with a girl outside the six been explored longer and thankfully it doesn't make the regular cast unbearable especially Ryoko who really pushes the clingy jealous girl trope.
Finally there is different animation which feels less in quality but more expressive very much like the transition between Pokemon Kalos and Alola seasons.
The dub cast is the same as previous seasons so the quality is still very high.
To compare to previous seasons this is the best structured story but lacks the impact of the previous seasons even though they have way more flaws than the Tokyo series. I think it's because by time of release it already felt like Tenchi Muyo ended on the 3rd movie and anymore seasons of different retellings were starting to become stale which were already showing signs of in the Universe series. It's not a bad series just Tenchi Muyo passed it's sell by date.
Final Verdict: Tenchi in Tokyo is good but it had the unfortunate task of following two very successful seasons making this one stale before it even began.
Just because my focus is on video games doesn't mean I ignore anime.
Baki Hanma is a 13 year old... wait 13? Okay. Anyway, Baki is a fighter with a goal to get stronger and frequently gets involved in fights with gang members. Frustrated that he's not getting any stronger, Baki abandons his pro training in search of a new challenge only to be taken down a peg by boxing champion Yuri.
With encouragement from his mother, he ventures out into the world to get stronger in his own way as opponents line up to fight Baki leading to a fated confrontation with his father.
This type of anime I like to call a pure fighting anime, like Aah! Harimanada but instead of ripping apart tradition to feed a desire to be strongest, Baki loves fighting and he wants to prove he's better among the strongest opponents, keep in mind this Baki is the youngest version while the 2018 series is a later instalment in the franchise.
Considering how ridiculous some of his opponents look, there's no shortage of spectacle so it continues to pump your adrenaline and you know full well that each fight is going to be brutal but oh so satisfying.
I believe there's a dub but has the advantage of being instantly translatable in any language. You can watch it in Spanish, German and French and you'd still enjoy it.
One thing I wasn't expecting was the 90s club trance soundtrack even though this was released early 2000s. It's surprisingly fun.
Final Verdict: If you want a fighting anime with some purity to it, you can't go wrong with Grappler Baki, don't expect anything deep but it's not criticism rather it doesn't need to be anything else other than a pure fighting anime.
Bet you weren't expecting Wild Arms to have an anime. Let's see if it's any good.
Dr Kiel Aronnax is incarcerated in prison for crimes were never told about, that is until Mirabelle and Loretta break in hearing about a valuable treasure, said treasure is a young boy named Sheyenne who is an infamous ARMS user but it turns out he's in the wrong body and sets out with Kiel to locate his real adult body looking for any clue no matter how absurd and frequently crossing pathes with the lady thief duo of Mirabelle and Loretta.
This is about as close to Wild Arms as Spirits Within was to Final Fantasy, while it is set in the same universe it's a separate entity that slots in between game's one and two.
It reminds me alot of Black Cat with far less class and very lacking story. The characters do look good and I'm glad they stick to their own agenda and not get dragged down too much by the story of the day, too often when characters get involved in these plots, they usually out of sympathy go out of their way to resolve them delaying the main plot indefinitely, at least in this, Sheyenne is more than happy to move onto the next location.
Not heard the dub, might be okay.
Final Verdict: A bit rugged with it's story and setting but not as easily dragged down by it's story of the week setup. As for it's relation to the games, it may as well be lip service.
My first review of Project 1000 Video Game series is a little known Toriyama title.
After 50 years of slumber, Ackman awakens to his 200th Birthday which allows him to harvest human souls for the Great Demon King. No sooner when he awakens, he gets pursued by the angel Tenshi, however Tenshi ends up killing a ton of humans unintentionally helping Ackman collect a ton of souls and making tons of money, the short OVA runs with all the same Toriyama trademarks including recycled designs, juvenile humour, unapologetic sex jokes, cannon fodder humans and even a Dragonball reference. The games are alot more fun producing three in the franchise on the Snes in Japan.
As an anime it's okay but it's hardly original, the concept was done better by Disgaea, Ackman looks like kid Trunks and the need to make sex jokes really lowers the quality of what was a fairly decent dark humour series.
No dub but would easily fit with the Dragonball dub cast.
Final Verdict: It's typical Toriyama writing, juvenile dark humour with a lack of restraint in sex jokes, the games make up for the cheap writing.
Now for something that will test your trap knowledge.
Himeko is a plain ordinary school girl until a glamourous boy named Mikami arrives to school dressed head to toe in Princess style attire, with his help, Himeko awakens as a stylish beautiful girl, as Mikami is intent on making the whole school glamourous.
Sort of caught this OVA by sheer accident and being honest it's actually a good mini series, reminding me of Princess Jellyfish only the boy in question is way more convincing than any other kind of cross dresser ever seen in anime. There's not much more to go into, it's a rich colour palette, it doesn't outstay it's welcome, there's no dub but it's not required, it's a nice little mini series to digest.
Shojo magazine Ciao have the first 3 episodes on their Youtube page, there are six others that haven't gone up and are hard to locate, finding information on even the manga is limited.
Final Verdict: A cute little OVA that can test your perception of gender in the most fabulous way.
