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.
Okay, that happened, I wasn't expecting to review this but Youtube had it.
Hyoudo Riki is the toughest guy in school, but his day gets crazy when the king of the demon world takes control of his body who apparently sees Riki as his doppelganger; forced to work with this being, Riki is drawn into a private war against the Fairy Master who is taking students from Riki's school and mutating them into monsters to fight Riki, with an exorcist and a space police officer being dragged into the equation who have their own business with the Demon King.
This is ultra violent which is surprising since I found it on Youtube of all places but Youtube has always been into double standards.
Being honest it's pretty terrible, there are a few set pieces which are never really brought up again and there's not really enough time to go over the plot as a whole, it doesn't help that Riki is an absolute clueless dumb ass.
However I'll give it a pass on the dub mostly because it just makes it laughably terrible in the process which helps it alot because something this crude can only really be witnessed in English.
Final Verdict: I don't need to tell you how bad this is, just uttering Ultra Violent is enough for it to be utterly terrible only saved by the fact that the dub makes it laughable.
Now for something strange yet unique in Shounen Kenya.
Set in World War II as Japan joins the war in 1941, a boy named Wataru gets separated from his father attempting to hide from British soldiers in Kenya. Wataru later meets a Masai Tribesmen named Zega who helps him find his father, as the years of the war roll by, Wataru becomes a strong man under Zega's guidance later meeting a lost British girl named Kate, all the while avoiding hostile tribes, Nazis and dinosaurs. The group is often watched over by a giant anaconda.
This production feels like a magnum opus for the creator as it's stylised in a fashion that he is constantly drawing the film deliberately leaving unfinished animation along the way, it's a strange yet beautiful set up.
The way Africa is drawn is beautiful and gives the people of the continent a dignified look at least when compared to other works set in the continent.
And apart from the ending which is hard to tell whether it's meant to be symbolic of the use of the Atomic Bomb and the evils of man or the artist just felt like putting in dinosaurs, Shounen Kenya is an underrated beautiful piece of art that for an 80s anime film is more than worthy of standing among the likes of Tezuka and Miyazaki.
No dub, production is too old.
Final Verdict: An artistic film that deserves more recognition, a little weird in places but solid effort from it's creators.
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.
The things I watch just to be able to review them. This is Mad Bull 34.
New York is a place overrun with crime and in charge of dealing with it are the 34th precinct lead by Mad Bull and his partner Daizaburo. Mad Bull's methods of dealing with crime mostly involve ultra violent over the top killing whether it be guns or explosives strapped to his ummm crotch as he makes it his mission to rid New York of organized crime and each episode is a different case but you can guarantee that you'll get sex, violence and out right left field bonkers scenes as this was pre dvd era and I didn't have much anime to choose from growing up. I'm glad in a way we left this era behind because it only reinforces the negative stereotypes anime gained from it's early days in the west, so different anime is today that Goblin Slayer is considered horrific to watch yet rape and murder fills out the entire run of Mad Bull 34 and got a home release without being challenged so has the world gone too soft or has anime changed for the better. I'd go with the former seeing as shock and awe is still a tactic some directors still use even if the regulations tighten up.
Final Verdict: Mad Bull 34 should serve as a reminder as to why we don't dominate the medium with ultra violence anymore, it's crude, uncomfortable and just insane and you'll call Goblin Slayer a kid's show by the end of it.
I was meant to post this yesterday but I was so tired I practically passed out on the bed. As a way of releasing the stress of what has been a very difficult year, the month of November I will be reviewing some terrible cartoons and anime, requests are open and I may have to miss a couple of days due to an imminent house move so I start the ball rolling with Goldie Gold and Action Jack.
Goldie Gold is the world's richest girl and addicted to action, protecting her is reporter action Jack who together uncover crimes and stop evil organisations with the power of bottomless money.
First problem of this series is obvious, how absurd Goldie's unending supply of riches is as she seems to get out of all problems through convenient gadgets and seems to have a mansion in every possible place in the world.
Second problem is that Action Jack is a terrible bodyguard as his attempts at saving the day are easily thwarted by the episode villain.
And finally both are generally terrible at their jobs as they seem to botch their way out of trouble either through convenient gadgets or dumb luck when they should've been killed at least 25 times that's two per episode.
The plot is ridiculous, the characters are incompetent and it's an obvious Richie Rich knock off.
