While I'm on my way to do Christmas shopping lets go corporate superhero with Tiger and Bunny.
In Stern Bild City, crime runs rampant but protecting the city are a number of superheroes with extraordinary powers. These individuals are NEXT Noted Entities with Extraordinary Talent but unlike most superhero cities, these heroes are sponsored to capture criminals culminating in a major TV series.
Hard working Dad, Kotetsu has been in the business for a while and isn't really that popular anymore, so after his sponsor sells to a competitor he is reluctantly partnered with a young upstart named Barnaby who happens to share the same power. Billed as a duo, the new partnership must put their differences aside to keep evil at bay especially when a vigilante starts challenging the moral grey areas of the hero business.
Tiger and Bunny dares to be different and I congratulate them for it, a well rounded hero show that nails it's theme of "what if businesses controlled superheroes?" in an era where Marvel cinema is king.
It plays each character's motive and personality well, the story weaves itself well into a great reveal near the finale and Kotetsu is the most endearing lead character for years that isn't young, inexperienced and the chosen one, but a passionate father who still believes in the job he does.
The dub is fantastic, the art style lends itself to blu ray viewing only and is worth your time investing in.
Final Verdict: A great addition to the growing list of Superhero shows and a good alternative for those who don't think My Hero Academia is mature enough.
Are you ready guys? Put your guns on!
The Sengoku era of war is in full swing as feudal Lords fight for supremacy of Japan but the rise of Nobunaga Oda threatens to destabilise the war bringing together the former rivals of Shingen and Kenshin to try and stop Nobunaga's reign of terror. Caught in the crossfire, a younger leader on a horse with tailpipes rides through the lands with his men intent on making his own history, Date Masamune. His fondness for battle crosses paths with the fiery Sanada Yukimura creating an intense rivalry that will explode in the crazy Sengoku period but even if Oda falls others may be waiting to pounce.
Do you enjoy battles? Do you hate rules? Then just sit back with a beer and enjoy the fun as Sengoku Basara aims to please the most hardened veteran of action anime.
It's pure adrenaline fuelled action start to finish with no rules to play, just see how well each fight out does each other in spectacle. It's gloriously absurd and they know it.
Dub is pretty good and has some good hammy acting in it as well, especially Yukimura.
There's not much bad to comment really, even the quieter moments are compelling to a degree. Season 2 felt a bit weaker than the 1st but that's really it, this is a good anime.
Final Verdict: You will feel pumped up watching this; it knows how absurd it is but is proud of that fact and runs with it leaving nothing but smiles.
To prove I'm not neglecting my reviewing here is Plastic Little.
Elysse is a young girl on the run as she is chased by the forces led by Guizel (a very laughable attempt to be Darth Vader) who requires her to unlock a secret weapon linked to her scientist father who is gunned down in the opening scene.
Elysse happens to come across Tita who is the eponymous captain of the hunting vessel Cha Cha Maru who saves Elysse but in doing so becomes embroiled in a battle with Guizel's forces. After forming an intimate bond with Elysse to keep the ecchi crowd happy, Tita decides to take down Guizel and stop his plan of conquest.
Plastic Little was written by Satoshi Urushihara dubbed the "Master of Breasts" and no I'm not joking, Plastic Little is very unapologetic about how much skin it wants to display leaving western distributor ADVfilms to trademark the jiggle counter, but it's pursuit of wanting to show skin all the time does make the story laughably bad.
Quite often the characters have a habit of bull shitting out of danger or somehow surviving not helped by a very incompetent villain who seems hardest hit by the insanity especially when his attempt at Darth Vader feels more like the Juggernaut cosplaying Dark Helmet from Spaceballs.
But that's nothing compared to the final moments of the OVA which makes power of friendship look redundant in comparison, it's such a glorious end to such a terrible OVA that I can't help but laugh at it.
Dubbing is okay if a little cringy from being a very early dub, not made any easier by the gratuitous Russian Accents.
Final Verdict: It's a bad anime but not a boring one, this is definitely a drunken anime night type show that can't help but make you smile
Let's have a look at a video game anime.
The world is run by the internet, so basically present day; humanity has embraced the technology and have created net navis, personal online assistants used for every day things such as running the house, keeping tabs on the day or more entertaining ways with battles. Lan Hikari inherits a particular net navi called Megaman from his father, but Dr Wily starts creating chaos when his henchman start infecting the online world with viruses so it's up to Megaman to save the world as we soon discover that he's much more than his basic design seems.
Based on the Battle Network series, the anime does a good job at world building making the idea of a fully online operating world a reality both the good and the bad which is more and more becoming relevant as time goes on which actually makes the anime and games ahead of it's time, it is silly in places and the dub certainly runs with that energy with the same quick wit and solid vocals that made the likes of Digimon a big hit.
My only complaint is it went on too long and adding edgelord Bass to the mix reeks of trend chasing which I feel it didn't need considering this anime felt unique among it's peers.
Final Verdict: A rich anime series with decent action and good comedy in a dazzling vibrant world that looks closer to reality everyday; probably do with being one season shorter and losing Bass.
This one feels surprisingly forgotten, let's fix that.
Yoh Asakura is a Shaman, someone who can communicate with spirits, but as fate would have it, Yoh is destined to fight for the right to be Shaman King against his evil twin Hao, joined by his spirit ally Amidamaru, best friend Manta, fiancee Anna and a host of allies, rivals and former enemies, Yoh sets out to defeat his brother although his laid back nature doesn't always leave that impression.
For a time, this was easily the most unique among Shonen Jump's properties, with Yu Yu Hakusho finished and Bleach still finding it's stride, it filled a void for a couple of years.
It's memorable for a couple reasons, it took alot more risks with it's content using some quite brutal scenes, particularly in the manga; it's host of characters felt unique and colourful, the action was colossal and it's ending really came out of left field.
It's biggest issues seem to stem from being dragged into Shonen tropes which ultimately made the anime finish on a cheesy power of love and friendship ending not helped by 4kids dubbing which comes to another baffling decision as to why 4kids of all companies picked up Shaman King in the first place; keep in mind just Faust VIII alone cut open Manta's chest cavity and in the same battle drugged up on pain killers cuts open his own leg, rips out his leg bone and asks for a replacement, before Joco even became a hero, he was a violent gang leader who murdered in cold blood, in fact listing all the deaths in the show would make Light Yagami blush, although it does make the 4kids dub hilarious at times especially when they forgot to censor blood in a couple of scenes and don't get me started on HoroHoro.
I didn't mind the dub too much but some of 4kids choices were atrocious.
Ultimately what killed the franchise was the fear of being written off as another wannabe Shonen Jump title competing for scraps left by the big three with only a handful allowed to sit with them. This is probably why the creator pulled the plug before the finale and has spent the last 15 years piecing together the finale and epilogue.
Final Verdict: An original Shonen title among a sea of regulars in it's day, let down by how it's anime ended and who it was dubbed by, ultimately leaving it's actual ending to be released long after the franchise ceased production.
