Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.
Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.
May have to bring riot gear for this review, time to review Rick and Morty.
Rick Sanchez is a brilliant scientist however he's a drunk, a deadbeat dad, a sociopath and pretty much has very little or no respect for the human race nor does he care what happens to them as he can change reality in his favour to get out of trouble.
Morty is his grandson and is dragged along for the ride as he joins Rick on his adventures through the multiverse whether he wants to or not.
This is a show on adult swim and despite the amount of people who have told me this is a super intelligent series with mature humour and I need the same level of intelligence to quote on quote "understand it" or be autistic, which I am and by not liking it I'm considered too dumb to enjoy real entertainment.
My verdict: It's okay.
It's definitely one of the best shows adult swim have made but it's not actually the ground-breaking best cartoon ever that everyone praises it to be.
I can enjoy the content it has on screen but with its edge towards ultra violence and the central joke being that its not a good idea to go on adventures with Doctor Who's drunken uncle because you'll probably destroy reality/time/human race just makes the show run on the same level as other adult swim shows with the same violence and mature content, and by that regard it means that I've seen it all before and this is no different and you can't mask it by saying it has a higher IQ.
Again this doesn't mean I hate it but it's nothing I haven't seen before on other adult shows; am I missing something that others see? Maybe but if I'm supposed to understand certain references or need to prove my intelligence to be allowed to even critique this series then that's not going to make me like it more.
If you haven't guessed my most recent trend of reviews I'm tackling modern cartoon network so next for the chopping block is Apple & Onion.
In the world of food people two young adults leave their homes in the boonies to experience life in the city and by a series of unfortunate events end up meeting and becoming friends, they are Apple & Onion, ummm how to describe them? Well this term shows my age, they are dorks; I really can't say much more than that. Okay to be fair they are a lot easier on the senses than it's contemporaries, Pickle & Peanut comes to mind as it pretty much rips them off even going down to the fact that they fail at singing popular music and work in convenience stores. The only difference is Apple & Onion's stories can be broken down into problem, fix, happy ending with a naive charm whereas Pickle & Peanut has pretty much the same thing but are dumb asses painted to a cynical out dated Ren & Stimpy color palette.
So is it good? The fact that Disney already tried this already gives this show a bad mark, it is better but it's like being bad at cooking, adding salt to a failed recipe might make it edible but it's still the same dish.
I asked one of my friends for a suggestion on what to review next and it had to be something terrible, obscure or random and I was given Kakegurui.
Hyakkaou Academy is a school run by gambling, to get into a high position you must be willing to bet high stakes, those who win get the high praise and status of the student council, those who lose become house pets drowning in debt who are nothing more than playthings for the victors.
Things change when Yumeko Jabami enrolls and straight away she dismantles the establishment one student at a time but what is her goal? Well nothing she's a compulsive gambler who just loves gambling, seriously that's her only motivation for the whole series, it's not like Yugi Moto who gambles for the sake of saving his friends or Rio Rollins whose gambling makes people happier, she just loves gambling.
If there is a plus to this series it really does show gambling in all it's sinister glory and the live action version looks more fun and the concept has worked before in the pre duel monsters YuGiOh but my god with no character motivation and facial expressions that makes every character look like they're passing a kidney stone it's impossible to take seriously and makes the whole show look dumb. Dub is passable and if this is the best Netflix can offer other than Seven Deadly Sins I don't plan on subscribing any time soon.
Final Verdict: the concept works but the lack of character motivation and the over the top facial expressions make this series utterly dumb to watch, there's a second season starting next year but the anime has shown it's entire hand there's nothing left to surprise me and it's not worth continuing.
Now that I've returned I want to keep reviewing as I've really missed it so lets continue with the next one.
Originally named Lakewood Plaza Turbo which is a much more awesome name, Ok Ko Lets Be Heroes is about a world of heroes that functions as if it were the real world only everyone has a cool power. Our lead is the optimistic Ko a kid who works at the convenience store with friends Enid and Rad as Ko looks to find his place among the heroes all while defeating the evils of Lord Boxman.
I mentioned last episode about cartoon network being built on simple art styles but this one takes the cake and it kind of works in its favour.
Ko does suffer the same problem as Steven Universe as most stories can't function without him but at the very least the side characters don't need him to drive the whole plot.
It's also pretty bad at trying to deliver important messages such as gun control which it fails spectacularly at.
But it's characters are charming and surprisingly well written for a show that anyone with a pencil can draw but it's single greatest strength lies in it's universal link to the whole of the cartoon network universe and even pre cartoon network hanna barbera properties; as of writing captain planet, Ben 10, teen titans go, the ghoul school from Scooby doo, Steven Universe as well as every major and minor cartoon network release in it's history has shown up in this cartoon prompting tons of speculation about possible reboots especially captain planet who has implied that most of the planeteers have quit and got real jobs, that I want to see.
So overall providing it keeps up it's strengths and stays on air and doesn't botch up it's morals then ok ko will still be good.
Wow it's been this long since I last posted. Well let's bring it all back with a popular show Steven Universe.
To remind everyone of my previous views on Steven Universe I judged it as not as great as it should be and now I get to tell you why.
For those unfamiliar Steven Universe is about a boy raised by gem warriors from out of space as per request of his late mother who was also a gem warriors. The entire series is about stopping an intergalactic war between the earth and the gems all while dealing with the problems of social acceptance in a world too amazing and intimidating to deal with.
This already creates a problem as the story is torn between the big plot of the Crystal gems vs the lives of the beach town not helped when the beach town residents are jerks and really not that interesting all topped off with the fact that Steven is needed for every plot point whether it be important or not which is why I don't remember mighty max or darkstalkers American version fondly which have similar plots.
That's not to say I hate it. The Crystal gems themselves are compelling characters and I would quite easily be a fan if it was just about them.
And also Rebecca sugar clearly failed English literature because the plot is unintentionally written in a way that were supposed to offer sympathy for villains who are on par with the galactic empire in terms of atrocities, again there are good writing moments such as the LGBT centric episodes being beautiful pieces of cartoon history but my god please hire a writer because I really wanted the villains to be pure evil and the town's people are not interesting stop writing episodes for them.
I can forgive it's animation as cartoon network was created on simple art styles. Overall I just can't like Steven Universe. It has it's place in cartoon history but you won't find it on my playlist and knowing how fanatical the fan base gets I can only say this. Yes it's great that you feel empowered to express your beliefs and feel comfortable about your sexuality through this show but don't bully people for the way they like Steven Universe because they aren't the same as you. People can like and dislike what they want, it doesn't make me any less of a person for not liking Steven Universe and I never criticise anyone who does watch a show I hate or dislike. And if there is a problem with me disliking Steven Universe then your not going to like my views on Rick and Morty
