I've always wanted to watch this anime for a long time now and finally it's in the UK on TV so lets see if Doraemon lives up to being the treasure of Japanese Anime.
Doraemon is a blue robot cat created in future Japan and sent back in time by inventor Nobita Nobi to help his younger self achieve a more successful life as his child self is a complete utter loser. As this is an extremely long running anime, a typical episode centers around some issue involving Nobi that gets solved by a gadget from Doraemon's hammer space pockets, he also has a time machine, however not much really changes between episodes, that's pretty much the plot for the most famous anime in Japan. Pity it's just a Japanese Charlie Brown which I despise.
I'm going to speak seriously for a minute, I don't like Charlie Brown because Charlie Brown is a total loser and nothing about him is even remotely likable much in the same way I don't like anything about Nobita Nobi for the same reasons, so you look at the two animal characters that do make the show bearable which are Snoopy and Doraemon respectively; the show should really be them on their own because they can make a good show solo. I would take a hundred episodes of Doraemon the Blue Robot Cat on his own helping random people over Nobita Nobi any day.
Now I know some people grew up on Charlie Brown and Doraemon but I'm not one of those people, being from the UK I didn't have either shows, Charlie Brown was strictly limited to cable channels and Doraemon I only got today, yeah you heard me, Doraemon only premiered in the UK today at time of writing.
I understand that something that's such a key part of growing up should be considered memorable and close to one's heart but on the opposite end of the scale Doraemon doesn't really do anything new or really encourage me to sit through hundreds of episodes, the blue robot cat is still fun on his own and if he did everything on his own it would be something amazing but having such a complete loser as the main character and whole point of the plot, all I'm watching is a Japanese Charlie Brown which I already hate.
The dub I watch is British and borrows from the same cast as Inazuma Eleven so is surprisingly well done. The American dub I've been told is pretty decent as well.
Final Verdict: I understand it's significance to Japanese youth but being a British youth I don't really rate it that highly because I didn't have the luxury of growing up with it, much in the same way as Charlie Brown. I realize that's a weak argument but I really can't make myself like Doraemon.
My final review on Shojo week is RWBY, while not a Shojo series per-say it does bring to the table the type of female characters that girls should really like rather than what the toy companies think you should like.
This impressive web series is about an academy called Beacon for hunters and huntresses of the "Creatures of Grimm" the main enemy of the RWBY universe; the characters we focus on are Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long as they fight to destroy the Creatures of Grimm while pursuing their own personal goals and objectives.
If this is known for anything it has to be the insanely awesome fight scenes, choreographed to perfection well played out by the four leading ladies. You have great comedy from the same group that made Red vs Blue, you have characters that would feel right at home in an anime universe, the soundtrack is addictive and suits the setting and while you do get the obvious pitfalls of doing this as a web series, I'll let it slide as the art style suits it and I'd take this over the garbage certain networks are digging up that do get big company funding any day.
Being honest, there's nothing RWBY have brought to the table that's any different to the likes of Soul Eater or even high school shows but it's not important, everyone saw how awesome the four trailers were at the beginning and everyone wants to see where it goes. You can forget Elsa the Snow Queen, if you want real strong female characters take a page out of the book of RWBY.
Final Verdict: It's done everything right and keeps enticing me to keep going after season one. Living proof that you can make strong female characters.
RIP - Monty Oum, "thank you for being awesome"
Yes I know I said a couple of hours last time and I know it's been nearly 24 hours since but this time I have the time to finish two reviews for Shojo week starting with Tokyo Mew Mew.
On a field trip about rare endangered animals, five girls get caught up in a mysterious earthquake that fuses their DNA with endangered animals, the event signals the beginning of a war against an alien race who fight by turning animals into Chimeras, to stop this threat, Ichigo and her friends using their new DNA, transform into Mew Mews complete with trademark magical girl costumes and animal features to stop the Chimeras and save the world, keeping themselves well informed of events by working as waitresses in a cafe.
This show was a great idea, it took several things that should by now be staples of Magical Girl shows, bright vibrant colors, cute Magical Girl costumes, any excuse to throw in cute animals and a cast of characters consisting of Happy-Go-Lucky, rich snob, nervous with glasses, hyperactive brat and cool big sister, all of it worked and set the ground work for the current generation of Magical Girl shows, more so than Sailor Moon ever did.
Me personally, apart from the fact that 4Kids ruined the American release this is indeed a good anime and has aged really well. You can slot it into a current line up of magical girl shows and no one will know it's from 2000.
See Shojo can produce good shows, you just need to look through a sea of pink to find it.
Final Verdict: Imaginative and groundbreaking when it was released and still stands the test of time and made for better influence than it's older siblings, just don't watch the 4Kids version.
Okay so Shojo week hasn't developed a single good show so far, but don't feel that I hate the genre entirely, let me dig up something which I watched as a kid and found not so bad. It's My Little Pony the Movie.
Were going back to Generation 1 My Little Pony with this film, back during the whimsical days of the 1980s.
Baby Lickety-Split is practicing her dance moves with Spike on piano but her performance upsets the other ponies when she messes up which ends in her running away, elsewhere Hydia and her two daughters plot to unleash a purple sludge creature called the Smooze which predates the Pokemon Grimer and Muk by a good ten years.
Anyway, Hydia succeeds in unleashing the Smooze which engulfs all of the land including Dream Castle, even the Rainbow of Light controlled by gaudy dressed human Megan is no match for the Smooze.
In a desperate bid to stop the Smooze, a group of Ponies along with Megan and her Siblings go and seek the Flutter Ponies who have the powers to stop the Smooze, along the way they meet some well spirited trolls called Grundles in one of Danny Devito's most forgettable moments in acting along with some perils and meeting the eccentric wizard Moochick. When they find the Flutter Ponies they initially decline to help until Baby Lickety-Split changes their mind after helping one of their kind. The Flutter Ponies make quick work of the Smooze and save the Pony lands.
This film is not that bad, compared to other cartoon films around the same time including Care Bears it's probably one of the better ones but only because you actually have decent acting in it and that makes a lot of it worth while, sure it has it's faults namely the lack of development in the human characters and why the Grundles needed to be in it at all but because of it's nostalgic feel and a story that encourages cheesiness and fun over complexity it actually comes across as good and even though the latest My Little Pony trounces anything the other generations ever did, those who remembered the first generation still feel like Squeeing when the old theme song starts up.
See, something I like that's girly. You'll get another in a couple of hours to make up for missing Friday's post.
Since I brought it up briefly in the last review lets look at Gravitation.
Shuichi Shindou, and his band, Bad Luck aim to be Japan's next big music sensation but during the writing of the band's next song, Shuichi encounters a stranger with blonde hair who dismisses his lyrics as garbage; upset yet intrigued by this man, Shuichi stalks the stranger as it turns out to be Eiri Yuki a famous romance novelist, the rest is history as he tries to gain help from Eiri to be as good as his idol Ryuichi Sakuma while of course falling in love with him.
This will not be a big review I'm afraid, and again I don't like this one and again not because of the subject matter but at least this Anime isn't as bad as Fake. My issue with this one is Shuichi himself, so utterly annoying and childish that it makes the dub unwatchable and that's a shame because the foundations set in place are great, really well done characters, great comedy moments, music so good that I bought the soundtrack and just the general feel of the animation and atmosphere create one of the best looking and sounding Anime for a long time; pity it's ruined by an annoying brat who throws himself on people for attention.
Final Verdict: There's a great series hidden in this Anime it just needs to either tone down Shuichi or get rid of him completely to achieve that.
