I don't have anymore creators to highlight but I wanted to finish with a big title so bring on Sailor Moon.
Anyone who cares about anime should know this series but for those who may have missed it. Sailor Moon is about a bunch of magical girls reincarnated from princesses of various ruined Kingdoms. With evil on the horizon, Luna the cat finds the reincarnated Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts to fight evil by moonlight sometimes aided by the mysterious Tuxedo Mask.
I don't need to tell anyone that this series put magical girl shows on the map and it's nostalgia value and appeal has transcended beyond 20 years. Although I've not seen the new dub of this series, I have fond memories of the first dub which is very hit and miss.
But it's not aged well. In fact everything that's followed Sailor Moon is better than Sailor Moon especially in characters.
Sailor Moon herself is infamously unlikable and she's the lead character making the supporting cast better in comparison.
The length of the series while okay for a monster of the week show can become exhausting after a while as key moments are dragged out worst than DBZ.
It's story can pull through during it's worst moments and crystal really tidies up the weaker aspects of the franchise, but overall if I watched it today, I wouldn't enjoy it.
Final Verdict: Nostalgia is the only reason to enjoy this series but that can only last so long as newer generations switch to newer shows with better written characters and it's fair to say that Precure has long since taken it's crown for best magical girl franchise.
For my next entry in the list of early works from major creators takes us to Go Nagai and Iron Virgin Jun.
The Asuka family have ruled the land for many decades with their conglomerate and it's time to choose a suitor for it's next heir, 18 year old Jun; but as it is with this type of story, Jun abandons the party not wanting marriage but her beefed up mother insists on it to continue a dynasty of ultra strong powerful women and not just mentally either but physically as Jun is built like a pro wrestler with her mother being twice the muscle mass.
With pressure mounting from Jun's grandmother, the mother decides in her infinite wisdom to send rapists with an interesting array of cod pieces from xenomorphs, drills, turtles and swans I wish I was joking, after Jun thinking that sex and draining strength from men would make Jun stronger, failing that she fights Jun herself and then becomes a demonic being to try and get Jun to see reason. When your head has stopped spinning, I'll continue............thank you.
This can only come from the twisted mind of Go Nagai, it's good intented message is hidden amongst a barrage of insanity. The dub just makes it laughable. I'm not sold on Jun's voice but her mother's voice reminds me of the Amazon women from Futurama, Snoo Snoo jokes aplenty here.
Any fan should know Go Nagai, but for those too young, he came back to anime with Devilman Crybaby.
Final Verdict: It's hilariously bad anime at it's finest providing you don't take it too seriously and you can find a strong character in Jun to enjoy.
Now for a weird ova series, not in the way you are thinking, all will be clear throughout.
The anime opens up with a Phil Collins track? as we witness the life of twin actors Cipher and Siva as they work in America and you start to paint a picture of what we can expect as more cheesy 80s pop songs play, most noticeably Vanessa Williams but there is something more worthy of note. All the dialogue is in English but this is no dub, it's on purpose making it a genuine anime in English and the voice acting is still terrible, how you can do that when it's not a dub is beyond me.
If I call this anime anything, it's a glorified music video.
Final Verdict: It's interesting from the perspective of how Japan viewed 80s Americana but it's impossible to overlook how terrible the voice acting is, authenticity or not, there's no excuse for poor voice acting even in English.
Taking a step out of this month's theme to review a rare title that few know was even licensed in the west. This is Ghost Talkers Daydream.
Saiki Misaki has always been able to see ghosts, so naturally to pay the bills, she takes jobs as a spirit medium alongside her normal job as an S&M mistress at a hostess club. (As you do)
After solving a mystery behind a killing of a mother and child, she's joined by a school girl named Ai, however the less than thrilled Misaki already works for a pervy employer and a photo enthusiast who always seems to get the most embarrassing shots of her.
This one has a bizarre combination to it of being no where near hentai enough and yet being a little too bizarre for it's heavy themes around suicide and child murder. What it does well is setting a mindset into what these spirits see before their horrific demise but then you get the type of shtick you find in your average ecchi anime often showcased by Misaki herself who couldn't care less half the time.
So where do I sit on this anime?
I feel invested and Misaki is quite the fun character but it definitely couldn't last much more than 13 episodes at best and this only had four.
Dub isn't that bad although one actor appeared to do all the male characters which is a little distracting.
Final Verdict: if you can find it, I'd give it a watch. It's certainly worth finding if you don't feel too emotionally weighed down by the themes or distracted by the fact that Misaki is basically Bayonetta's spirit medium cousin. (Yeah that magic whip of hers is hair, see where it comes from and work it out)
Back to our creator special and next on the creation list is Hirohiko Araki and the anime Baoh.
Ikurou was a normal boy until he was abducted by evil scientists and injected with a parasite named Baoh that gives the host super powers but after a chance encounter with a psychic girl, Ikurou escapes.
The scientists led by Dr Kasuminome must destroy Baoh in order not to reveal to the world that they created a super soldier.
Baoh is ultra violent, the type that works alongside the likes of Fist of the North Star of which Baoh is heavily inspired by. So don't expect anything intelligent as all you'll get is good old cheesy violent action but perhaps what this anime is better known for is it's laughably terrible dub, which consists mostly of stating the bloody obvious all the time mixed with some god awful voicework, it's definitely on the so bad, it's good scale.
So who is Hirohiko Araki? You may know him as the creator of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, although that work has been his continuous work for three decades you can definitely see inspirations for some of the Stand designs later seen in Stardust Crusaders in Baoh.
Final Verdict: So bad, it's good if only for it's infamously horrible dub, without it, it just looks like an incompetent action show with over the top violence.
