We move on to an intriguing film about Mexican culture, this is the Book of Life.
The movie begins as a Tour Guide explains to some detention students the origins of the Book of Life and how it functions in Mexican culture, claiming that it tells every story in the world. This particular story comes from the town of San Angel.
The story of San Angel begins at the Day of the Dead festival where the spirt realms are ruled by La Muerte who controls the Land of the Remembered and Xibalba who controls the Land of the Forgotten are granted more freedom within the mortal realm, upon seeing two friends, Manolo and Joaquin compete over a girl named Maria, the two gods hold a wager to see who would marry Maria in the future with leadership over the realms at stake.
Xibalba not wanting to lose, gives Joaquin the Medal of Everlasting Life that grants him invincibility; during an incident caused by Maria releasing a stampede of pigs, Joaquin and Manolo display talents that their respective Parents/Guardians see potential in, at the same time Maria is sent to Europe to train as a refined young lady.
Over the years Joaquin becomes the new town hero while Manolo is torn between bullfighting and singing. When Maria returns she learned how to be more independent and denounces her potential matches at first but starts warming up to Manolo. Still not willing to lose, Xibalba tricks Manolo into killing himself to win the bet which succeeds but comes back to haunt him as La Muerte gets pissed off about the whole cheating deal, it is then revealed by the Candle Maker (Which at this point I'm guessing is god in this story) that Manolo wasn't meant to die and Manolo does a great test of courage to return to life, meanwhile Joaquin is stuck defending the town against the actual villain Chakal, a notorious Bandit who seeks Joaquin's medal, upon returning, Manolo helps win the battle against Chakal and all is back to normal in San Angel.
This has two sides to it, the great stuff and the terrible stuff.
The Great Stuff
1. The art style is beautiful and really gives a great artistic view of the world in this movie, both the living and non living.
2. The romance and emotional moments are really touching and really gives a feel about how this festival is celebrated.
3. La Muerte is the best animated character in recent years.
4. Pretty good comedy moments.
The Terrible Stuff
1. The so called actual villain is dreadful.
2. The story feels disjointed when you realize that Xibalba was not meant to be the villain.
3. The pig was unnecessary.
4. Maria, oh god Maria, I can tell when characterization is forced and it's obvious with Maria, if this was meant to be a "strong" female character then Maria isn't it, strength in a character needs to be earned by that character and having Maria know Kung Fu was dumb, I applaud that she doesn't fall into the obvious damsel trap but revoke it when you realize that she could've defeated Chakal without Manolo and Joaquin's help.
So yeah overall I'm torn as to whether I like this movie or not, for it's emotion, art and culture, yes, for it's story and handful of bad characters, no.
I'd still say give it a try, especially if you enjoy Mexican Culture because the actual Day of the Dead Festival is really something to behold.
Back to anime reviews after a hiatus, it's time to get into Dominion Tank Police.
In 2016, the Japanese town of Newport is surrounded by toxic air and packed full of crime, to combat this, the Government reluctantly forms a Tank unit to combat these threats, titular character Leona Ozaki whose dedication to her job leads her on the path to the Tank Police, despite having problems at first, Leona manages to fit in with her own Tank creation Bonaparte, a mini tank no more bigger than a real life Smart Car. Leona is just as destructive as her contemporaries as she helps defeat corrupt weapons manufacturers, terrorists, two catgirls of whom were considered rare in anime at the time of release and a terrorist working for a fictional Greenpeace that has nothing to do with real life Greenpeace.
This anime is pure fun, it uses it's comedy well, it's action is a major selling point and it's lead character is one of the strongest women in anime culture. Under normal circumstances this anime would be ignored as it's part of an era where most of the shows that weren't Ghost in the Shell or Akira were really terrible or forgettable, yet Dominion Tank Police even in this era still holds up remarkably well considering the anime it has to go up against, and that's a testament to Masamune Shirow's creativity in making these Cyber Punk worlds as he also lists as his works Ghost in the Shell, a fan favorite among the older anime fanbase and Appleseed.
It's not without problems, the orginal OVA's second plot is not very well written and in the newer six episode series it ends on a rushed note as the villain were expected to follow gets written out awkwardly and the plot kind of unravels in the last 20 minutes as Leona resolves the case by being in the right place at the right time. It's also a time sensitive anime as it takes place in 2016 as evident from a still image of a gravestone, I say this because it can't be considered a futuristic anime anymore and more a product of it's time, if it thought 2016 would be a crapsack world packed with police riding in Tanks then you'll be left disappointed much like the hoverboards Back to the Future promised us.
Apart from that, Dominion Tank Police is an excellent watch and well recommended for any anime night.
In a rare moment of dubbing, there is an English Dub but it was made in the UK so it's rightly referred to as a British Dub which is good to watch.
Final Verdict: Great fun to watch and packed full of strong well defined characters with the comedy and action more than enough to get the blood flowing and leaving you asking for so much more.
With remakes quite high on the list in all forms of media it comes as no surprise that within the bowels of all the half decent ones there are a few really bad ones as well, but the forgotten anime of yester year could use a new tune up. Rules are that all shows must've ended it's run on TV, lets begin.
Honorable Mentions
Wedding Peach: Since Sailor Moon had a remake, it's only fair that it's old rival gets the same treatment and the Magical Girl world is missing Wedding Warriors off it's current list.
Dragon Half: New animation and a complete story would really help this comedy come back to life.
Shinesman: Power Rangers in the Business World is still an awesome concept and should get another crack at it, if not the current team a different one.
10. Dominion Tank Police
The Dominion Tank Police series is a fun watch, especially with the likes of Leona Ozaki leading a very well rounded cast of characters, it's worthy of a comeback if only to restore the sheer fun this show used to have, however it's low on the list for the simple reason that it takes place in the year 2016, which in real life at time of writing is now.
9. Excel Saga
Excel Saga was the ultimate gag fest featuring some of Anime's most popular genres but with so many new genres it's in dire need of a modern upgrade. Seeing an Excel Saga version of Attack on Titan would be hilarious.
8. Cutey Honey
It's iconic status is more than enough for a 21st century reboot and is needed to take some of the popularity off Pretty Cure, it would benefit from new art styles and maybe even CGI
7. Burn Up
I don't include the fact that Burn Up Scramble exists, a remake would give the cop genre a much needed boost and Team Warrior have the right remedy for it.
6. Dirty Pair
Not much reason other than personal bias, but like Cutey Honey it's iconic status is more than enough for a 21st century reboot.
5. Girls Und Panzer
More tanks but this one has more to offer than Tank Police, rematches and more challenges within the series gives this show weight for another season.
4. Sakura Wars
If Sega don't want to make these games then they should make the anime instead, hoax pictures of a new cast in Germany went around the net several years ago, but this should be a reality as every new team has been decent.
3. Tokyo Mew Mew
I always believed this anime to be the more superior show in terms of Magical Girl shows and really should have the Precure treatment with a new team each series, it makes a lot of sense considering the vast collection of potential animal pair ups.
2. Slayers
Another icon of 90s anime past, but with the universe of Slayers being so expansive, it seems a waste to leave it as is, and is open to any new villain popping up as well as new adventures, it worked in the OVAs
1. Kaleido Star
But the cream of the crop is Kaleido Star, with so many things the show can explore and a universe open to new protagonists, it could really click with current audiences and the spectacular look of the show just begs all sorts of CGI moments.
Following up closely on my cartoon double is Nascar Racers.
Although I'm a little surprised this didn't go up earlier. Nascar Racers is your typical good team vs evil team type of sports cartoon, it was released in the closing stages of the 90s, early 00s era and was a deal with Fox as a side part for the actual Nascar racing series.
The story explains that a new racing series known as Nascar Unlimited has been introduced and Team Fastex led by Mark "Charger" McCutchen must defeat the evil team known as Rexcor on a series of Hot Wheels style tracks in a futuristic world.
This comes across at time of release as "seen it all before" and is not very subtle about it, the obvious choices on character design, the trademark "evil" team, it follows all the typical tropes, and despite the trademark being with the official Nascar Racing series, none of the current drivers at that time even endorsed it, so that's why it's not that well remembered.
In my opinion it's okay but didn't leave that much of an impression on me despite the fact that I am huge motor racing fan but at time of release I was losing interest in TV and I felt as though even then I was retracing old steps.
It's worth a look but I wouldn't go nuts over it.
More from cartoon land as next we dive into Wacky Races.
In the cartoon world, a group of racers of varied professions take part in an automobile race to decide the wackiest racer, everything from Inventors, Cavemen, Pilots, Monsters, Hillbillies, Lumberjacks, Mobsters, Armymen to actual racing drivers and whatever Dick Dastardly was doing before he took up racing. A typical race would feature lots of power ups and Dick Dastardly cheating to win and always failing.
The show is well liked and well remembered but looking back at this late 60s show, it hasn't really aged much but it's easy to point out the realization that Dick Dastardly could've won a lot of races by not cheating mainly because
1. He clearly has the fastest car in the races when you compare what he's up against.
2. He always seems to lead a race at some point in the show.
3. The other racers rarely take him on other than through dumb luck.
Dick puts his cheating down to laws of villainy, but he has the Wile E Coyote law of not being allowed to win no matter what, which is why when he did win, he gets cheated by the race people to make sure he's disqualified.
Overall you can't go wrong with Wacky Races, it's one of the few attempts at a racing cartoon that succeeds where others fail, the next review will explain why.
