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!
Back for another installment of Hot Take review.
"Hayao Miyazaki is Overrated"
His films have a story book element to them that translates well in any language not just his native Japanese, he deserves the credit and since he's more or less retired, he's not put on a pedestal so much anymore, so no he's not overrated.
"Detective Conan should finally end"
Many people forget that this anime has been going on longer than One Piece, it's presence is so small now that I have to remind myself it still airs, so yeah, it should call time on it's run.
"Every Sci Fi anime reuses Akira's story"
No, they just reuse this scene instead.
Real talk, Akira is full of dark gritty neon city cyber punk aesthetics originally created by Western sci fi films and literature dating back to the 1960s and 1970s where the space race was in full swing, the psychic elements of the so called special child came from Gundam, most sci-fi post Akira will either copy Gundam or Evangelion.
"Power levels are stupid"
One Piece's system is based more on clout than out right power which explains why Buggy is a pirate emperor.
Dragonballz lost it's effectiveness once the characters were actively hiding their power levels.
Any other form of ranking works just as well but ultimately end up the same way, yeah they are really stupid.
"Sailor Moon is OP and a bit of a Mary Sue"
Yes and no, the fact that she always wins and quite often bumbles her way through battles and still succeeds can be seen as a bit of a Mary Sue trait but it's earned through going through the emotional trials and tribulations that present themselves within magical girl shows, you want to see her succeed.
I'll be taking a break from this feature due to lack of decent hot takes.
"Demon Slayer is Overrated"
Story yes, animation no.
"Sword Art Online is actually good"
To begin with, it kind of crapped on itself.
"Higurashi: When They Cry is a twisted adult version of Groundhog Day"
Yes, yes it is.
"Lina Inverse is the best written anime character"
No I didn't write this but whoever did deserves all the likes.
"I watch Haikyuu for the Volleyball"
Sure you do.
Real talk, most male dominant sports anime will always put character motivation over the actual sport any day, characters make a sports anime not the sport.
"Serena is the worst of Ash's love interests"
Mostly because shippers are easy to bait with Serena's go no where romance subplot.
"Digimon Anime is better than the Pokemon Anime"
Digimon started off as better, it hasn't been for well over a decade now.
"There's too many anime coming out these days, so much so that none of them are any good"
Yes, but at the same time people are too comfortable with the popular stuff and refuse to take risks on other titles.
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?"