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.
Now for a series that has the weirdest adaption history.
Chacha is a young witch dressed like Red Riding Hood with ambitions of being a great mage like her Guardian Seravy but is bad with her incantations because Japanese Grammer is hard. When it's time for her to start Wizard school she is given trinkets that allow her to become a magical princess in order to defeat the evils of Daimao; to become the princess she requires two trusted friends in the form of werewolf Riiya and young wizard Shiine to use two of the three trinkets. With a hilarious cast of characters, will Chacha succeed and claim her destiny as a Princess?
The way this is adapted is really weird, the first two seasons uses anime only content and the 3rd season actually adapts the manga which makes the first two seasons glorified prequels; the reason for this was to capitalise on the Sailor Moon craze of magical female warriors but for a series of young mages attending magic school with heavy emphasis on gags, the magical princess element feels forced.
The gag element works for the anime as everything is suitably over the top and the expressions take full advantage of it, even the so called best mage in the Kingdom has an unhealthy obsession with his friend Dorothy's appearance as a child which he shows by carrying a doll in that likeness and doing ventriloquism with it.
You can probably guess by now is that it's really silly, 90s silly.
There is a dub which is considered lost media which reminds me a bit of 4kids dubbing. There are some clips around youtube to make your own opinion but since much of the humour relies on Japanese puns and word play it really doesn't work dubbed.
Final Verdict: A hilarious gag comedy with a bolted on magical girl subplot because Sailor Moon said so. I also suggest watching in small doses, it's a little exhausting at times.
