Welcome to the Fantasy Zone
This Zone is dedicated to the lesser known elements of anime hosted by the cast of Victory Script.
What weapon is the best?
Who will win in this Death Battle?
Is this costume practical?
You name it, it's all covered here in the Fantasy Zone!
Surprised to get this far with this series but here we are.
"Anime is better when written by women"
Women have an excellent track record of anime, a lot of that stems from the fact that a woman did the likes of Demon Slayer and Full Metal Alchemist but its fairly balanced in the creator category between the genders.
"Deku is one of the most boring protagonists in shonen anime"
Why doesn't anyone love me?
Real talk, no main character in any long running franchise starts off as the best character or even the most interesting, it's only after their series ends where the audience judges whether or not they were a good character based on how their journey progresses and ends, Deku will get his chance.
"Healin Good Precure handles the shock value more than Madoka Magica could and has a great message about saying no to those who hurt you"
Healin Good Precure was boring, had no shock value, it's ending actually insulted the audience and it's message was saying no to anyone wanting to mess with your body.
Madoka Magica had a magical girl lose her head to a low level enemy quite close to the beginning, that's shocking.
Honestly this hot take was poorly written.
"G Gundam is better than Gundam Wing"
Comparing G Gundam and Gundam Wing is like comparing night and day, they are so different that you forget that they are both Gundam series, both had a hand in reviving the franchise, G Gundam's outlandish designs and ridiculousness revived the franchise from going bankrupt while Gundam Wing finally broke the western market that it's older series couldn't achieve, it's a fascinating story and I hope to write it someday, I don't judge one as better than the other, but I will say that G Gundam got the better dub.
"Zoids deserves a reboot"
I love Zoids Chaotic Century, New Century was okay, everything else was terrible, it's a franchise that is done. I'll tell you what it does need, to be re-releashed on streaming with a new dub.
With all the high octane action, monster taming and children's card games, you'd be forgiven for wondering how Hamtaro fits in, now I have already reviewed Hamtaro years ago so this is more a look at Hamtaro's run in the west.
1. Origin as a Children's Story
Created by Ritsuko Kawai in 1997, Hamtaro started as a Children's book and a manga, the art style was more in line with typical children's books of the era, some have been translated into English and can be purchased online whereas the manga is more in line with the art style seen in the anime.
2. Screwed by the Network
While Hamtaro did have a moderate audience in the west, it never matched the $2.5 Billion it made in Japan through it's success, this was due to either being aired during school hours or too early for most children to wake up.
3. Too Weird to Dub or too Ultra Safe?
Reasons for it's cancellation were likely more due to the poor timings but a couple of theories are out there, the first was that the Ocean Group who were put in charge of dubbing were finding the episodes too weird to dub and ended after barely half the episodes, the other is my theory and I said the same in my review is that it was too ultra safe, Ritsuko Kawai made Hamtaro to promote non-violence, teamwork, cooperation and sharing which is at odds with the Network block it aired on, it made more sense here in the UK as it aired on Fox Kids but over in the States.
4. It Bizarrely Aired on Toonami
That's right, the heart warming story of little Hamsters going on big adventures was aired alongside the likes of Dragonballz, Justice League and Samurai Jack, it was even joked by Nostalgia Critic and Channel Awesome as being the most bad ass show on the block, that probably didn't endear itself to the right audience but those who did watch it never hated it.
5. It's Impossible to Hate Hamtaro
In the 20 plus years it's been around, Hamtaro has this legacy of being impossible to hate, it tapped into the childhood of anyone who owned a small pet which was already a popular trend in Japan owing to not having much home space for anything larger than cats as well as the tried and tested success formula of wondering what goes on when you aren't watching.
6. Cancellation and Legacy
Hamtaro sadly went the same way as Medabots being that too much was released at once in regards to merch, games and way more episodes than needed along with an unpopular redesign that took away Hamtaro's cuddly nature.
But it left an interesting legacy.
As late as 2020, the Free Youth Movement Group used the Hamtaro theme to protest against the Thai Government.
Franchises like Animal Crossing also found success during Hamtaro's run with much of the cast overlapping.
7. Cute Animals Will Always Sell
Hamtaro maybe long cancelled but web short Pui Pui Molcar about stop motion Guinea Pig cars and YouTube star Red Birb Gumi still keep adorable animals on the map.
So that is Hamtaro's unique little slice of history, I'll throw out the choices again and see what you want to hear about next.
"Escaflowne's messed up history"
Or
"How Gundam got it's groove back and lost it again"
Or
"Princess Peach was Always a Bad Ass"
Or
"The Curious Case of Shinzo"
Or
"I thought I dreamt Strange Dawn"
Or
"Did anyone watch Flint the Time Detective?"
Or
"Did Yokai Watch really happen?"
It's very easy to blame 4Kids for some of the worst dubbing ever but it didn't kill an entire genre like Card Captor Sakura's did, this Otaku Insight will explain the reasons why.
1. Nelvana had the dub and localisation rights.
A common mistake to make with Card Captor Sakura is where the dubbing came from, well it was Canadian dubbed same as Sailor Moon but was also Canadian localized, Nelvana only has two other anime on it's books, Medabots and Beyblade, both were easier to market than Card Captor Sakura because they were both toys first.
2. They tried to market it more to boys.
Anime as a whole was very much a boys thing thanks to Dragonballz with Sailor Moon being the most obvious for girls anime around at the time, with Sakura being joined by Syaoran they tried to market him more as the lead which only made it more confusing in the localisation's narrative.
3. Nelvana had no idea what to do with the LGBT content.
More confusing changes included making Ruby Moon female and struggling to properly translate the more obvious gay moments especially the sexual tension between Touya and Yukito, as well as Tomoyo's massive crush on Sakura.
4. The show was spoiled by trailers.
Yue, a spoiler character was shown in the trailer which I immediately figured out was Yukito, spoiled the plot for me.
5. It caused the failure of the Magical Girl genre in the West.
When it failed to find an audience, it took the genre with it, Tokyo Mew Mew managed to finish but Pretty Cure and Mermaid Melody had two cancelled dubs now lost media, it also contributed to the failure of Escaflowne but that's another story, it would be nearly two decades before another attempt was made with the ill fated Glitter Force but by then the old localisation methods weren't really acceptable anymore, unless you're deconstructing the genre or Sailor Moon don't expect magical girl shows to ever come back.
6. Ironically it would succeed now.
Disney kick started the female lead trend with Kim Possible and two decades later, the majority of cartoons are female led with more open themes of LGBT that Card Captor Sakura had all along, this makes the anime ahead of it's time.
7. Card Captor Sakura is still special regardless.
Despite the poor localisation it's still beloved by myself and alot of 30+ otaku, watching it felt like taking the next step in the fandom especially in the original Japanese.
That's a brief look at Card Captor Sakura's botched dub release, I've got loads more stories from that era but I'll let you choose.
"Escaflowne's messed up history"
Or
"How Gundam got it's groove back and lost it again"
Or
"The Enigma of Hamtaro's Success"
Or
"The Curious Case of Shinzo"
Or
"I thought I dreamt Strange Dawn"
Or
"Did anyone watch Flint the Time Detective?"
Or
"Did Yokai Watch really happen?"
As a bonus I'll be adding my own hot take.
"Fanservice is there to hide the fact that writers can't make stories or characters that are fun or entertaining enough without showing lewd content"
If an anime is only showing lewd content, then that's a valid statement, but I can't exactly work with an anime that does have a good story but terrible characters, designs have to at least be appealing, whether it takes the form of lewds or not.
"Louie the Rune Soldier was funnier than Slayers"
The humour between the two are vastly different, Rune Soldier is funnier but the jokes out stay their welcome, Slayers is more light hearted but the jokes land more often.
"Bunny Girl Senpai is the worst anime ever. Forced story, bad science-fiction and hateable characters"
Just admit that you signed up to the series just to see bunny girls and feel cheated when this is the only time you see one.
Real talk, the story is convoluted and seems to make it up as it goes along as by nature the phenomenon the characters go through is so complex that the anime itself struggles, it's not a sci-fi, thriller and mystery drama would be more appropriate, I didn't mind the characters but I can easily see them as not being appealing, no where near worst anime though.
"Dot Hack Sign is better than Sword Art Online"
I disagree, Sword Art Online is what we wanted to see out of Dot Hack Sign but they instead made a concept like being stuck in a video game utterly boring, it does have a better soundtrack though.
"Spike and Faye would not make a good couple"
Spike barely works with Julia, he'd do even worse with Faye, you could remove both Julia and Faye from the anime and it wouldn't change the narrative, in some cases it would improve it.
"Symphogear is the dumbest anime, I've ever seen, even after two attempts to watch it"
Someone called me out on this hot take on YouTube yesterday but they've yet to tell me why I'm wrong. I don't hate Symphogear, it's just the concept of making a magical girl anime with an idol theme where girls fight with over the top weaponry wearing half a Gundam all the while singing to increase their power reeks of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, it's dumb but it's really entertaining at the same time, I don't need to know the intricacies of why they fight these beings called the Noize or the main character's struggle with the fact that she inherited her powers, no I just want to see awesome high powered battles set to a cheesy J-Pop soundtrack, it doesn't need any more thought than that, I'm allowed to watch an anime for entertainment purposes, I don't always need to wear review goggles.
The three-episode rule is intended to gauge whether a specific anime series will be to a viewer's liking within the span of three episodes, I mentioned previously that I've been known to drop series after less time and these days, the first episode has to grab you otherwise the internet will soon let you know if the series is bad or not by word of mouth, but how effective is it next to much longer form series?
I picked ten anime known to be longer than 50 episodes and popular enough to have an audience and applied the 3 episode formula to each one, I will not be including Dragonballz as it's a sequel series and well over half it's world viewers were already aware of this fact.
So let's begin.
Inuyasha
In three episodes, the basic plot is established but there's enough going on to warrant a closer look, not so much from Kagome but certainly from Inuyasha considering what he already displayed in a short time.
Passed.
Digimon
In three episodes, the Digi-destined are summoned, they meet their partners and we meet Greymon and Garurumon, you already want to see how everyone else turns out and the enemies are creative enough to keep your attention.
Passed.
Sailor Moon
In three episodes, Usagi gets her powers and it's already looking formulaic and Usagi has shown her entire hand by the third episode, luckily it's saved by the Luna pen giving an extra layer of intrigue in how far Usagi's powers will go.
Passed.
Pokemon
In three episodes, Ash has an eventful opening getting just to Viridian City meeting Misty and Team Rocket along the way, on the actual third episode he catches two Pokemon and evolves one, Ash has achieved enough to see how far he can go on his journey.
Passed.
Fairy Tail
In three episodes, we've met Lucy, Natsu, Happy and enough of the Guild to see how crazy it can get.
Passed.
Yu-Gi-Oh
In three episodes, Yugi has battled two major players and is on his way to a tournament to meet more crazy duelists, being honest I was already sold on episode one.
Passed.
Card Captor Sakura
In three episodes, Sakura has setup the quest, got her friend to join her and dress her up and Sakura has acquired some pretty good cards, the battle costumes alone made you stay.
Passed.
Bleach
In three episodes, Ichigo has his powers and is already taking down his first major hollow in Orihime's brother, the increased violence would've been enough to begin with.
Passed.
One Piece
In three episodes, Luffy has taken out two villains and Zoro has joined his crew, we even have Zoro's back story and Nami in the background doing her own thing and being pleased that Koby won't be joining them, there's enough there to see where it goes.
Passed.
Naruto
In three episodes, Naruto graduates to the Ninja Academy by defeating a villain, he then babysits Konohamaru for episode two and then team 7 is formed with Sasuke and Sakura, the problem here is that it makes the series look like a school anime and there's so little ninja content, you're lucky to stay invested after episode 2 let alone episode 3.
Failed.
Conclusion
I'm fascinated at how well all these series held up in regards to the three episode rule with only Naruto failing, so there is some merit in what you can learn in only 70ish minutes of content as to whether these shows will be for you.
Most fans of Naruto didn't really get into the series until either halfway through the Zabusa arc or when the Chuunin Exam was at it's best, I'll go as far as saying Naruto is the poorest starting anime of all time and it's popularity was by luck that enough people watched it to give it a chance, if aired today, it would fail after one season.
