When Friends Talk About Their Problems

Ani Poetry "Maes Hughes"

His smile was contagious
Firm in his beliefs
Compassion was like the skin he wore
Friendship was more important to him than gold or esteem
Family was his heart, his everything

Dangerous secrets will see the light
No matter the cost of life
His sacrifice may seem silent but his family is crying
His friends are crying
They are dressed in black
We feel the loss, he was taken from us
His death will not be in vein

Happy Black Organization Friday

Eat up and be merry!

Ani Potery - The Distant Ringing II

There's another voice inside of me
I've begun to wonder if it's my heart, my soul
Speaking to me yet I thought they were mine to know
It warns me of pain in the past, threatens my memories
It warns me of pain in my future

If I continue to feel these things, those things that told me that I'm alive
Beyond the distant ringing
Are these feelings saved?
The ones I want to believe in
The ones I've waited to give to this someone
The someone that I now know

I Stare Into The Eyes of Sleep and Laugh...Behind My Fumoffu Mask

Take A Pick Tuesday :Master Keaton

Take A Pick Tuesday: Master Keaton

 

 

 

 

To me at least Master Keaton is like a wonderful fresh breath of air, you can truly feel the awe that Taihei-Hiraga Keaton feels when he goes to various places, sees various archeological digs, artifacts or places and feels a connection with them along with myths, legends and stories, like him we truly all feel whole with our cultures and as human beings in general. The plot of Master Keaton is a unique one.  Keaton is a former SAS who teaches part time and works for Lloyd’s of London an insurance company like no other. For Keaton though it is only part time, it allows him to travel the world and taste delicious cuisine and of course at times forces him to risk his life as his partner Daniel often sends him on dangerous assignments, luckily his training as SAS usually comes in handy as does his knowledge in what his real focus is. To become an archeologist, it’s clear that Keaton has keen knowledge of the subject and more often than not it becomes a requirement in the cases he investigates. While that is supposed to be his true focus he seems to spend more time with Lloyds which sometimes makes him wonder if his dream will ever come true.

 

 

       The show takes you to all places around the world and Keaton is very soft hearted, very concerned with people and although he has enough training to turn people into canned yams it’s never on his list of things to do first. Like the places he sees, Keaton without realizing it often digs into people’s souls, understanding their strife which sometimes, not all the time, brings them to some sort of resolution. The original comic was a combined work by creators Hokusei Katsushika who wrote it and Naroki Urasawa who did the art. There’s actually a bit of controversy on whom the credit should go to. Naoki Urasawa who would go on to work on such famed manga’s as Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto and Billy Bat would state in an interview  that he’d done the blunt of the work at some point and his name should be printed larger. Hokusei Katsushika or his real name Hajime Kimura would pass away in 2004. While it does seem that at some point Urasawa was more than the artist but the writer for the story at times, it is still a subject of dispute as far as people who knew Kimura are concerned.

 

    Master Keaton may not be on everyone’s list of anime that ring a bell but it should be. Not only does this show step away from the characteristics that most assume belong to an anime (usually those that do not watch anime especially). Instead of sex goddess appearances of both male and females in the show everyone has a very human face, very different from each other and well-grounded to what we see every day when we look at each other.  Having only been out the country once I can’t say how accurate the places are that Keaton visits but no doubt there was love put into the scenery, detail that seems so realistic and all of it represents the things that Keaton loves so much. A painting in light colors at times, it can change depending on the area as well as the tone of the story of each episode, darker colors are used at times and usually fitting to the story being told or the overall mood of the subject matter. Some of the other characters you will meet is his daughter Yuriko Hiraga who lives with his divorced wife, as to why they divorced it seems at times like a mutual thing and others a regrettable one. For one thing Keaton is clearly not over his wife by any means someone who doesn’t make an appearance in the show or its OVAs unfortunately. Despite the divorce his daughter who has a good head on her shoulder has a great concern for Keaton and often is the ear to listen to when Keaton is feeling disillusioned. Sometimes its tough love but some of the best characteristics that we find in Keaton we also find in his daughter. Then there is his father Taihei Hiraga who also divorced Keaton’s mom the way Keaton would divorce when he was a child, in their thirties, his father is a bit of a ladies man in fact that is supposed to be one of the reasons Keaton’s mom left him, supposedly. Accompanied him is a giant Saint Bernard with a powerful sense of smell, his father is quite the educated man as well, a zoologist in fact. Then you have the rather large detective Charlie Chapman who makes an appearance a couple of times in the show. The adaption does a good job capturing these characters as well as the others you meet during Keaton’s investigations. In saying this one of the great things about the show is the dub, considering that most of the characters are from different places in Europe, only Keaton himself is half Japanese as is his daughter and only his father is full Japanese, the rest of the characters would have accents in their particular regions which doesn’t feel too over the top, subtle mixing well with the true to manga art in the show, with its detailed scenery and human faces and coloring.

 

           The show doesn’t repeat itself, the only reoccurring thing is the heart in the storytelling, since archeology plays a big part of the show it’s easy to get caught up in the technical parts and lose track of the human factor as well as the storytelling. Not so with Master Keaton instead it uses why the study is so important and the normal predicaments that effect people to tell a true heartfelt story in each episode. Whether it’s a girl who is running from her grandmother’s home in Italy, filled with the memories of her departed father to a woman Keaton meets by chance on a train, telling a story of loss when the Berlin Wall was erected and the devastating results to her family after its fall. To even Keaton trying to find reason in the dreams he had while teaching classes to adults in a school destined for demolishing, reminiscing about the teacher who had inspired him to follow his dream and wondering if he’d truly come short of this dream. Telling his daughter on the rooftops, on how his teacher would give lessons in between the bombings in London during World War II and how his teacher had a theory of European Civilization starting by the Danbue River, a theory Keaton wishes to follow as well. The episode shows the importance to continue to learn and to never give up on your dreams bringing him face to face with his inspiration in a heartfelt conclusion. The show has plenty of darker moments as Keaton does come face to face with a former mentor from the SAS, his partner Daniel possibly finding true love and the sad truth behind it hence the name of the episode Blue Friday. There are quite a bit of the sort but that’s what makes the show so fascinating though, truly the excavation takes place in the nature of the human heart and Keaton is our guide to this.

 

         When the manga was running it was published in Big Comic Original, a magazine aimed at 20 to 30 year old males but truthfully the show can appeal to anyone at least I think so, who knows you might be able to surprise a friend that normally might not watch an anime show. The show does continue beyond the episode length with a few OVA’s but whether it’s a conclusion satisfying enough to the person is up to you but it isn’t one of those come on anime cliffhangers. However take heart that the manga does go a bit further which is finally going to be coming stateside in December. Not only that but in Japan the manga saw Naroki Urasawa returning to it after 18 years, a great part of the reason behind that was him traveling around the afflicted areas in the wake of the 2011 Tsunami in Japan. Many of the people that he visited told him how much they loved reading Master Keaton. So last year saw its return as Master Keaton Remastered taking place 20 years later from the end of the original manga. To me Master Keaton represents some the best qualities anime has to offer, heartfelt storytelling filled with wonder and hope and the promise that the genre can take you anywhere.

A Podcast Companion

https://soundcloud.com/rats-on-a-plague-podcast

*Need more otaku time, well for more ideas why not hop on to the newly minted podcast Rats On A Plague Ship. A podcast that speaks on all matters of geekdom with yours truly and my fellow co-host Sal Almaraz. The true cure to when the hours feel like they drag!

Ani Poetry The Distant Ringing I

                 



My body may seem artificial but my heart beats in truth
There is the sound of ringing within me
It isn't hardware or programs
It is proof of life, my soul
Which mates with my heart

It is proof I can love
This part of me shows that I am alive
That I can ponder my existence
This is the part of me I can choose to give someone
To finally complete me
I hear the distant ringing, the sound has already reached me
What is it trying to tell me?

Wakey Wakey Exercises

Ani Poetry "Love is a Mystery"

Love Is A Mystery

 

 

The closest I can be with you is under the star lit sky

You may not know that I am there

But I can see your sadness

Trying to mend the times your heart falls

 

Whether you always know or only I alone do

I am with you

Though my voice unveils corruption in hearts

Greed and Vengeance

Though justice and truth need my attention

My thought of you are never far away

 

You may think that your feelings are a mystery to me

But no deduction is needed, no words that we’ve truly said to each other millions of times before

It’s the source of all things within me

Somehow I’ll have the stars show that for me

Until I can return to who you want me to be

To tell you myself and lift the fog, of which I will tell you there is no mystery

Ani Poetry "The Black Swordsman"

The Black Swordsman

 

 

 

There’s red and brown all over

The only black is death

Winged creatures hide in the shadows

Still the black swordsman walks on

 

There is rape and wounds in the heart of the people

Fear is the ruler in this new era

And the era is hell on earth

Wasn't it everywhere though?

 

In his mind, in his dreams, in his heart

They are lifeless as proof of this

He is friendless as proof of this, alone is what he believes he will be forever, he is wrong

However they are shapeless from this distance

 

All he has is the nightmares and the voices that whisper the future is uncertain

 That death is the way

That the black swordsman walks

 

Somewhere the stars are out tonight

Reading is always the answer

Take A Pick Tuesday: Spiral

Take A Pick Tuesday            

 

 

 

                                             Spiral/Suri No Kiza

 

 

There is some undeniable draw to Spiral, perhaps it’s the very essence of the show that lies behind a curtain, daring you to peer inside, perhaps the questions that it asks.  Questions of fate and destiny and how fitting for such themes to be in a mystery show.  The show certainly isn’t your conventional mystery show nor does Spiral have your conventional main character. Ayumu Narumi lacks confidence but not because he has trouble talking with the opposite sex, no he’s not a pervert and he’s anything but your normal school student. Instead you have a character that is calm and what he lacks confidence in is the cause of his fear, the shadow he feels he’s standing in, his older brother Kiyotaka Narumi. Another question Ayumu will ask when his greatest fear comes for him in an unexpected form is, it is it coming to him for hope or simply to consume him.

 

 

 

       Although not the most marketable show merchandise wise as far as both Japan and the United States are concerned, it was very cool that Funimation decided to bring it over, during an exciting time that would not foresee the anime market crash in a couple of years, at the time though there were a whole slew of anime companies, many with titles that would eventually be picked up by Funimation now without a doubt the largest anime company that has a booth set up in every major anime convention. Even then they had a rush of titles coming out so it makes sense, surely merchandise was easier with titles like Dragon Ball Z and Fruits Basket.  Just because a show can’t bring in the bucks through merchandise doesn’t mean it can’t be brought over when the story seems fascinating. Not to say it doesn’t have any, a messenger bag here, a hat there and some interesting things in between, if you feel adventurous the original starter set came with a Rubik’s cube

 

     As I’ve said Ayumu Narumi has grown up in his brother’s shadow, a genius that was once a piano prodigy and an intellectual mind assisting the police who would disappear with no more warning than a phone call to his younger brother, telling him that he was going to investigate the mystery of the blade children. What he leaves behind is a younger brother that still feels as though he’s living in his shadow and worse has to comfort Kiyotaka’s wife left behind. If you read the manga also you’ll see why that seems like such a slap in the face, well in my opinion. His sister in law Madoka Narumi who is a detective with the police department also lives with Ayumu and from then on would have to make her gourmet meals, do her laundry and basically help organize Madoka’s often crazy life. Not that he seems to mind very much, you can tell it’s really important to him to take care of her, especially when he knows what his brother’s absence does to her.

     A good example of this is during a certain Christmas episode, for some reason I rank that as one of my top Christmas episodes to watch, man I must be a bummer. As big as the brother complex is for him he can’t help but wonder where his brother is and what his strange words meant, a series of events would lead him in confrontation with the Blade Children, force him to be what might be their only hope as far as they were told by none other than his own brother, avoid Madoka and keep her in the dark to protect her and try to figure out the looming threat that is targeting them. What exactly is the Blade Children’s supposed cursed fate though and what can someone with such a lack of belief in themselves hope to accomplish.

 

         Now the show introduces you to the notion they exist but it surrounds itself with mysteries and deaths of regular people who don’t always know their tied to these Blade Children. The culprits know though which does finally lead to who they are and to guess how many more will appear before the show is over, who else is a part of this silent war and why it always come back to Ayumu. The show plays with interesting concepts, the piano and classical music in general is a big part of the show. Ayumu also had played the piano until his lack of confidence had stopped him from doing so, although if you ask me he plays beautifully and one of the Blade Children, Eyes Rutherford is a world class pianist and more or less leader of these Blade Children.  Instead of brute strength what is used in the show is keen logic, observation and intuition,  Ayumu may be there only hope to break the curse and protect them but they don’t fully believe it,  testing him each in their own way, from locking him in a room with bees when he happens to be anaphylaxis to placing a bomb in his neck, forcing him to find the key first and also save a kidnapped friend in a game of cat and mouse across the city.  Makes it hard to believe that these guys aren’t as bad as they seem.

 

         Speaking of friend what goes well with a glum sort of guy that wants nothing better than to be left alone, how about a energetic school journalist who simply won’t  let him. Hiyono Yuizaki gets involved with what’s happening through her curiosity of Ayumu starting from the very first episode, although this means she’d be dragged into the danger against his better wishes, she has a sharp mind that can surprise both the main character and the blade children. She’s also the one person that refuses to allow Ayumu to doubt himself the way he does, always trying to encourage him to see the amazing things she does.

     Not to mention she can be the voice of reason, are the blade children really so awful or are they victims themselves. The character’s worst enemy is himself and Hiyono is definitely the person to help him beat it. She is a part of the much needed comedy to balance out the rest of the story and although it may not sound like it, there is plenty of comedy, even among the blade children. The questions of fate and destiny often sound out to a backdrop of falling rain, dreary  clouds of wintery sceneries  even when it’s sunny outside and an overall dismal feel that fits well into mysteries, the sunshine to me at least can be just as sinister and the sunsets refreshing.

       It all leads up to a pretty philosophical conclusion. One major thing to note, the approach in the show and the manga differ pretty early. The manga is also a fascinating experience which goes down an even crazier route and if you feel like there are some questions hanging in the air, which you will, then you might want to read the manga afterwards. Either way this week I have to support you grabbing a little mid-2000’s anime and if you do go on to read the manga as well, also keep an eye out for the prequel manga that led to the adventures of little Narumi that are ahem uh somewhere out there.

Crossing Over

                                                                

 

 

 

With the recent announcement of the Attack on Titan crossover with Marvel, there might be a new set record for exploding heads of fans out of excitement on the horizon. So in anticipation we look at some of the other crossovers that anime has been so nice to give and other amusing strange concepts as well.

 

 

DragonBall Z X One Piece – One Piece is one of the longest running, most imaginative anime shows you could ever watch, with plenty of strangeness, heart and adventure, it isn’t hard to see why it’s such a global phenomenon. So why would it be a surprise that it would cross over with another fan favorite title that has been fighting its way into people’s heart for more than one generation of anime fans.  Well actually the crossover has more to do with the two creators than the idea that it would be huge to have them in a single episode. Noted of course that it is huge! Eichiro Oda the creator of One Piece has often cited Akira Toriyama the creator of Dragon Ball as an inspiration, whom he looks up to and admires. One Piece echoes the feel of the original Dragon Ball series in the sense that both feel more like an adventure show, Dragon Ball probably more so than Dragon Ball Z, still it seems very fitting for the both to crossover. The connections don’t stop there before Oda would become the creator of one of the biggest manga’s of all time he would work under Nobuhiro  Watsuki the creator of another classic Rurouni Kenshin. So we definitely have consider the respect among the two authors to be one of the strongest factors. Yet it doesn’t stop us from gushing at the notion of how it would look to see Luffy and Goku kicking butt and wearing I’m with Stupid shirts.

 

       One Piece has captured the imagination of anime fans everywhere when it also comes to their endless line of figures, ranging from the costume changes in the show, to those of them when they’re kids, to movie versions and so much more, so of course having DBZ crossover with One Piece would make sense in the figure world where both crossing over would first happen. Wearing each other’s clothes and the rest of the cast switching threads as well.  It would move on from that to the manga having a chapter where they cross over and now announced to become an anime special on TV. Dreams do come true and the Attack on Titan X Marvel crossover is in good company. If you’re worried about the crossover being a little strange considering how vast both worlds are, don’t because One Piece has had a crossover before DBZ and that was with another eating monster much like Luffy and that’s the gourmet hunter Toriko.

 

 

 

Nausicaa Valley of the Wind X Neon Genesis Evangelion- Before anyone scratches their head about this one, think first of the connection the two legendary directors have to each other. Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder and world renown director for so many of Sudio Ghibli films, helping to have anime crossover and break through to new audiences in the United States and Hideki Anno, director of the game changing Neon Genesis Evangelion TV show, which has been retold in the critically acclaim series of movies currently coming out.  Before Anno had done the works he’s famous for, he worked with good friend and his “Sensei” Hayao Miyazaki on Nausicaa Valley of the Wind, his dedication did not go unnoticed, sleeping under the tables in the studio for a week without going home, he was responsible for helping design the God Warriors in the film that have a striking resemblance to the Eva Robots in his own show. In fact when pressed on the possibility of a sequel ever being made of Nausicaa, Miyazaki said that if it ever did happen it wouldn’t be him to direct it, he would though like to see Hideki Anno direct it. Many consider Miyazaki’s retirement from directing as a passing the torch to Hideki Anno. I qualify this as a crossover.

 

Detective Conan X Lupin The III – I won’t pretend to hide my excitement for this one. The Great Detective vs the Master Thief. Lucky for fans you get to see the meet up of Edogawa Conan and Lupin The III twice on the screen, first the small and then the big. In 2009 a TV special aired of the crossover and in 2013 the full length feature was released.  The film would go on to get a Japanese Oscar Nod and after its release was the highest grossing Detective Conan film of all time. Which says a lot considering there were seventeen films before it. This crossover was no stranger to figure releases as well. Having both main characters wear each other’s costume and even had Lupin wearing another master thief’s costume, Conan’s rival Kaito Kid who this past year had a new spinoff series released which is currently airing alongside Detective Conan.

 

 

Fairy Tale X Rave Master- Here’s an interesting one both titles are done by the same creator Hiro Mashmia in which the two main characters happen to meet by chance and due to a misunderstanding end up fighting each other. Fans of Fairy Tail that have never seen Mashima’s previous work might want to check out the manga wherever that would be possible. It might interest you into exploring Rave Master’s manga/anime. Do you watch Fairy Tail instead then have no fear as not long after the manga the anime was announced. The crossover would see certain sequences drawn by Mashima himself and even have a few characters that weren’t in the manga crossover.

 

 

Pluto – So this one is another crossover in the sense of the word. Naroki Urasawa responsible for critically acclaimed works such as Monster and 20^th Century Boys would set out to do a manga that could be called a Science Fiction Mystery. In it an Inspector has to investigate murders that seem to target the Seven Robot Wonders of the World and their creators, a dangerous task considering that he himself is one of these special Robots. With special permission and working with Osamu Tezuka’s son and company he was allowed to use the Greatest Robot In The World story arc from the Astro Boy series including several characters in Astro Boy. You can consider it a retelling of the arc or an influence into something entirely new but it amazing and captivating. Reading the manga makes clear the love Urasawa has for Osamu Tezuka’s works and how it had influenced him. If you’ve never read this eight volume manga then I recommend you check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

Tsubasa Chronicle X XXXholic- In many ways this crossover spans beyond these two shows/mangas and like many other Clamp related titles, has characters from other series that have different roles in this universe while giving nods to their original. Everything from Chobits to X can find itself in the show and even the two main characters in Tsubasa had different roles then they did as the main characters in Cardcaptor Sakura along with different personalities.  Tsubasa Chronicle is interesting because they travel through many worlds and each world has a feather that contains one of Sakura’s memories, in each world they would see familiar faces but just because they look like the people they know doesn’t mean they are that same person. One person can be enemy in one and the same person in a different world might be an ally, one could be friendly the other not so much.  So who gives them the ability to travel through the worlds to obtain Sakura’s memories, why it’s one of the main characters in XXX holic of course, known as the dimensional witch to them, Yuko Ichiara. In both shows you’ll see things that belong to the other and the meeting in the beginning would not be their last. If you really have a thing for crossovers than these two shows and Clamp and general is for you. If you look closely in both shows you can find things belonging to the characters of the show running parallel to it.  You could go crazy with all the connections of the titles. What does Angelic Layer have to do with Chobits, what does Tokyo Babylon have to do with X.  In the world of Clamp it’s all connected.

There are plenty of other crossovers in anime and even more cameos, references and so on and it jumps to mediums that have ties to anime like games and movies and even crazier things in between.  It might have to be a challenge to undertake, what classic anime characters did one of the characters from Toradora dress up and which one did she quote. Who are some of the characters from a certain famous fighting game among the crowds awaiting Genkai in Yu Yu Hakusho. After starting to think about it you know you want to find out.

Quote of the Day

Scary photo before Sleep

Evil Photo Before Sleep!

Take A Pick Tuesday

Take A Pick Tuesday

 

 

 

Every Tuesday we will spotlight an anime that will help you get through that long week, some you might know, some you might not and some you might have wanted to watch for a long time now. This will be an excuse. If you haven’t heard of this hopefully you wonder how come you never have and explore for yourselves. Each pick for each week can be different ranging from one genre to another, from the classic to the fairly recent and somewhere in between.

 

                                                 Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

 

The year of its release it was considered one of the best and rightly so. This retelling of the classic novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas is placed in a far future setting that mirrors the novel by being multilayered, holding on to most of the characters you might be familiar with from the novel but with some interesting twists to them and some you hadn’t read in the novel.  In fact having it loosely based off the novel instead of it as a direct adaption adds to the mystery of the story and gives it its own unique stamp of individuality all the while paying respect to the original. The Count himself appears alien by Earth standards which would make sense in this adaptation that has a science fiction background mixed in it, it isn’t uncommon for people to travel beyond earth, in fact it’s where the main character Albert would meet the Count, in a sort of lunar like mardi gras.

 

 

    Interestingly enough the perspective is focused on the possible victim and center for revenge Albert who has ties to anyone else that Count has on his list to exact retribution towards. Which gives for an interesting relationship, there are times both Albert and The Count really seem like they’ll connect, then there are other times when The Count’s intentions seem to show themselves quite clearly. One instance was shortly after the two had met and Albert fascinated with The Count is invited to watch an execution take place, the excitement is quickly drained when The Count offers him what was in his possession and full pardon for one of the three that are set for execution.  The choice almost seeming like a trap and precursor to what might come shows itself as Albert chooses the most horrible of the three to be pardoned while the others are sent to their death. This plays well against the actual growing bond among the two in the show even a possible hesitation The Count may have to exact the revenge at the cost of Albert and the people he cares about.

 

Along with the powerful storytelling goes the beautiful visuals, the glimmering colors are never repetitive and nearly all patterned. To what the characters wore was actually created by famous fashion designer Anna Sui, helping to complete the partisan look of the nobles, The Count and all the others in between. The wonderful inventive designs don’t stop there, they even dive into mecha like suits of armor and spaceships and somehow go back to normal cars. One of my favorite designs though lies within The Count’s mansion, a place that’s showed that seems to defy  both time and space as if only something powerful like Gankutsuou could make such a marvel. The very thing that aids The Count in his thirst for revenge in fact using it seems to mean that he must exact this revenge. But that is something you’ll have to try to understand as you watch the show for yourself.

 

 

Whether you believe he’s right or wrong it becomes clear that there are many despicable people on his list of revenge, liars and frauds, plenty have skeletons in their closet that The Count is just waiting to open in front of everyone.  Strangely enough it all plays to a love that was forced not to be.  If you want a different pace in Anime, something that seems far from what you’re used to seeing, a breath of fresh air if you will then by all means get hooked on to this show this week. If you find it’s a show that isn’t mentioned in the conversation of anime you have with your friends than watching it is a good excuse for it to become a part of it. If you find you love Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo and have never read the original source material than I urge you to check it out. Even the crew that worked on the show urges you to!

Christmas In Anime - Quote of the day

Gotta Catch a Break: In Defense Of Pokemon

                                                            Gotta Catch A Break

 

 

It may sound disturbing but many don’t consider Pokemon an anime. How can something so big and so expansive and still ongoing, having influenced so many modern day anime watchers or at least opened the gateway toward it, find itself given the snobby nose. Clearly it’s a part of the genre, it’s been around so long that even people that don’t watch anime or watch Pokémon have accepted it. Maybe because it’s accepted it bothers some fans, I mean this year will be the 14^th year that Pikachu will be a part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. In many ways that means it can’t be labeled as a fad, the games are still high sellers even guest staring in games beyond their own world and they’ve introduced a whole new generation of kids while still maintaining a large fan base from when it began. Now let's not forget about the onslaught of cards that continue to come out. So why the critique, some might be scratching their heads, having seeing so many cosplays of Pokémon and never heard anyone say anything of the sort before, well trust me there are people out there saying it and believing it. That brings us to one final question, is it because they believe Pokémon has no substance to it, well that’s where we will definitely have to cry foul.

 

 

 

     There are plenty of thought provoking and tear jerker scenes in Pokémon. No I’m not talking about the early reminders by Ash’s mom for him to put on and keep clean underwear though laughter from tears really should count.  I mean certain scenes that can capture the questions we probably would start to wonder or maybe bring up when we’re talking to a buddy of ours. You got to respect a show that knows how to turn things serious when its least expected. How can we point out our proof of this without addressing the elephant in the room, the Butterfree effect. That’s right folks we got hit with it pretty early in the game especially considering the episode count now. Looking back though it shouldn’t bother us so much, doesn’t Ash (using his English name for consistency here all you purist out there) give all of his Pokémon to Professor Oak in order to start fresh each time he enters a new region. Well nearly all besides Pikachu of course. So hindsight we shouldn’t still look back at it and feel so sad and yet we do. That might be because it was his first official loss of a Pokémon and after all the raising he put into it.  Well I suppose we have to accept it, there was a special girl involved. No doubt a tear jerker but shouldn’t we have seen it coming, look no further than the first episode and Ash and Pikachu’s rocky start to a friendship.  Inexperienced and attacked by Sparrows Ash tries to protect Pikachu who refuses to go inside his pokeball.  It would show Ash doing something that is a habit of his and was definitely something he did during the start of the show, put himself in harm’s way for his Pokémon.

 

     A good example of Ash risking his life, the first movie in which he tries to stop the battle between Mewtwo and Mew and is turned to stone, Pikachu crying over him and trying to shock him back to life. It’s to me one of the saddest scenes, up there with the waiting Dragonite episode and the farwell to Butterfree. The movie itself also raised some interesting questions, should trainers be able to possess Pokémon, after all Mewtwo is basically a genetic experiment that Giovanni tried to control. I suppose though that Ash could be the other side of the argument, his devotion as contradicting as it can be is usually touching. Just remember when he gained Charmander, who was again raising a question on the treatment of Pokemon by humans with him abandoned by a previous trainer, left in the rain until the fire on his tail nearly went out until Ash rushed him to the Pokemon center. An interesting back and forth of treatment in the relationship of human and Pokémon. Some love them, others try to steal them, sell them or twist them into weapons for their own gain. To be able to question the very foundation of the show speaks in truckloads of the substance you can find in the show. Of course all of them leaving an emotional connection toward it, sometimes it can be just among the humans, think Brock’s starving brothers and sisters that he left behind for long periods of time.  How’d they survive without him so long anyways? Somehow all of the characters in this show maintain themselves, their made of sturdy stuff with their natural survival skills apparently.  I mean Ash and the gang or just kids and they somehow learned how to camp out for days at a time and probably not shower and still can stand to be around each other. Knowledgeable indeed.

 

 

     The point I’m making is that there’s so many memorable moments, even after all the shows we’ve seen since how can we say Pokemon is not an anime. The lost on the mountains cave scene people with Ash and his Pokemon people!  They’ve got actual Pokemon Centers in Japan for crying out loud.  Do the good guys always win, maybe but maybe not, how many Championships has Ash won besides the Orange League, not many. Let's face it Ash loses a hell of a lot and there were plenty of times he didn't take it all that well. So not everything comes up roses but he has his friendship with other humans and Pokémon to rely on. There’s you’re proof. Need more? Want an appreciation of characters, time or simply friendship itself then check out Pokemon 4 Ever and it proves that the show pulls on the emotional strings just like some of the others shows we watch. I figured one last example couldn’t hurt.  So bring on the proof by saying what your favorite scene in Pokemon has been.

Good Old Fashioned Breakdowns In Anime: Part 1

Good Old Fashioned Anime Breakdowns

 

 

Anime characters are awesome but even the ones we love sometimes aren't glued together all that tightly. Sometimes this means witnessing one hell of a nervous breakdown or psychotic breakdown that makes you suddenly feel like your Sigmund Freud.  Watch people unravel sometimes literally as it transforms or scars them forever. Here's just a couple that make the list of our first part of: Good Old Fashioned Anime Breakdowns.

 

 

Kiddy Grade – Memory is a tricky thing especially when it’s been rewritten so many times, so it’s harder to remember that voice inside your head  telling you no matter how many times you do, the past will always come back to haunt you. Add in a little political mistreatment toward people and you might find yourself on the run, being hunted from the very place you worked for.


 

 

Neon Genesis Evangelion – Being sent into a machine  that might be more than it seems, forced to link your already fragile mind with it and fight there seemingly indestructible creatures from outer space that have already ravaged where you live once before can wreak havoc on your mind. Especially when the person on the top that recruited you is your father, a man you are pretty sure despises you and wouldn’t know affection when it came to you if it hit him in the face. Then again you’re not alone everyone around you is on the verge of a breakdown and might have already go through one. Don’t worry if this still makes you feel isolated group sessions can be help just as much and by the end of this show that’s basically what you’re watching. It’s up to you if you call it a silver linings by the time the credits roll.

 

 

 

 

Yu Yu Haksuho- Chapter Black Arc- We’re spotlighting the baddie in Chapter Black of the long running series, Shinobu Sensui.  Trying your best to protect humanity against demons since you were wee boy,believing through the horrors of what you were forced to be aware enough of in the first place that you were doing the right thing. Only to break in on a strange ritual by rich humans that are torturing and killing demons in ways you could never imagine, hundreds of times worse.  Well that would send anyone off the deep end I suppose and killing every human you could find in the place wouldn’t be enough, you’d find a hatred for humans especially when you find a tape called Chapter Black with the proof of it. That just makes a person want to open a tunnel from demon world to the human world to erase his own kind now doesn’t it? Not before you show six other humans the same thing, after all everyone needs to be enlightened.

One that followed in his footsteps that had a moment of going completely bonkers was The Doctor, a real doctor who had seen death on a daily basis and Sensui showing him Chapter Black seemed to give reason to something that at a certain point just doesn't make sense anymore. So he decides with his new psychic abilities to infect an entire hospital with the virus, give people several foot scars and convince the Spirit Detective trying to stop him, to kill him, only to see what he believes is the reasons all humans should die. He's definitely cuckoo for coca puffs. That's why he also makes the honorary list of anime breakdowns.

 

 

Fruits Basket – Who would have thought of all people Tohru Honda could be prone to a breakdown, one of the nicest characters in anime period. To her credit she did see a person turn into a very large cursed creature that despite them being turned into a cat when hugged by the opposite sex (outside the Sohma family), it looks like a giant evil rabbit. Oh but not so evil a victim really, yet it doesn’t stop her from throwing up all over the place. Hard to talk to somebody after that, well why not have the evil head of the household whisper in your ear that it’s what you get for helping out members of the family. You just can’t make anyone happy these days it seems.  I guess that could mess with your mind a bit.

Then again Akito is hanging on a thread to sanity as well and he's been the cause of quite a few people to come undone. Even without his/her little touch you still have people reacting in all sorts of messed up ways to the Zodiac curse. Like Momiji's mother for instance after giving birth to him, yeah never let it be said that anime characters have it easy. What...a....bummer.

 

Full Metal Alchemist- Trying to bring your mother back to life using alchemy is a serious no no but if you’re a kid you feel like you should be able to after all it was wrong she was taken away so suddenly in the first place isn’t it.  However instead things take a turn for the worse, you lose your arm and leg, your brother loses his whole body saved his soul which you have to attach to a suit of armor in blood and man that thing you’re looking at it totally not your mother.  That would make you prone to a breakdown.  Of course that isn’t enough is it? Somehow being the older brother you try and become a state alchemist to find a legendary stone with the power to hopefully restore your bodies. But oh the revelations along the way. The ones you bring as well, revealing a priest to be false and a woman who hoped her lover to come back from the dead to really be nothing more than a meshed up, flesh from various things, not really alive and not really dead.

 

X- Here’s an interesting one after all there’s the TV show and the film both have alternate endings. The TV show introduces all the characters with a steady pace, so you get to know them all so it hurts more if something bad happens to one.  The movie brings things in faster but the ending at least the first time I saw it felt kind of haunting, like a sad ending to a horrible nightmare.  For all the devastation the main character was put through emotionally perhaps there was sense of healing by the end. Notice how I devoid from the dirty details. Spoilers abound in all these but with a movie and a TV show there’s a chance that one hasn’t been seen before.

 

 


Berserk- Having a breakdown could literally be the end of the world sometimes. At least that's the case for Griffin. Whose destiny seemed broken and allows him to tap into something far more sinister that unleashes hell on earth. Killing and raping along the way, allowing one that survives to mentally be broken and the other haunted while fighting for revenge.

 

Attack On Titan- Seeing your mother murdered isn't going to do well for your mind. It's happened often in anime but the way Eren's mother goes out just isn't right. While he snaps, it's one that would drive him to kill these titans. Along the way though he sees many people have breakdowns because truly it isn't easy to kill titans. People die constantly and it makes it very frightening to live in there world. To be honest seeing these large naked things run around would give anyone a nervous or psychotic breakdown.