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!
If you do have any hot takes, I'll be happy to take a look at them.
"The idea of putting such a level of detail on the eyes of the characters is the only very real reason why anime is so good at being anime"
It's true that the eyes are a major part of it but that's also true with all animation and it's not a unique trait that anime has, expressions and body language also goes a long way in establishing a good first impression.
"Doraemon, Sazae-San and Shin Chan will always be a part of our lives even when we turn 100 years old"
Huh, didn't know Shin Chan was still going.
Real talk, the staying power of those three anime is no different to Americans keeping around the Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo and Mickey Mouse, no doubt there's an audience that still exists for them, case in point, Crayon Shin Chan's autor has been dead for 14 years now and his work still lives on, so it really won't surprise me if they are still around long after I go.
"Bleach is the first anime to treat black people with any decency"
One of Bleach's stronger qualities is having a very well diverse cast, it's certainly welcome but the statement itself assumes that Anime has this issue to begin with, Japan doesn't have the West's history of racism but it's hardly innocent in how it depicts foreigners, in most cases, it's pure ignorance or just like poking fun at Americans. When anime does depict a black character even before Bleach aired, it's not the same as what Warner Bros did back in the 1940s.
"Yu-Gi-Oh is the best in the shonen genre and has some of the best monster/creature designs in anime and has the #1 waifu in all of anime Mai Valentine"
The person who wrote this one has clearly never seen another anime, while it did run in Shonen Jump it was never setup for the kind of popularity it was going to get nor was it expected to change the world of card games, it's narrative was directed by the product, so it's more a toy anime than a true shonen.
The monster designs are great but so are Pokemon and Digimon's efforts.
Mai Valentine is a trash waifu, her personality is terrible and she's not even a good duelist.
"The three episode rule is kinda stupid since shows can get better"
All depends which anime you apply it to, I've been known to stop anime after 1 episode in the past but I also realise the same wouldn't apply to all anime, but it's got me thinking, I'll take ten popular anime and see if the three episode formula works on them. That'll be my next post.
There's a lot of mention of Sword Art Online being the anime that made Isekai but back in the 90s it was a mostly Shojo Genre.
How far back does it go?
Rumiko Takahashi in 1985 released a short anime called Fire Tripper in which a girl is gas exploded back to feudal Japan, alot of elements were later reused for InuYasha, more on that later. Any anime adaption of Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz counts as well.
What are the Main Anime?
Four big names of yester year spring to mind, Vision of Escaflowne, Fushigi Yuugi the Mysterious Play, Magic Knight Rayearth and Inuyasha, all four feature a female heroine drawn into another world either through dimensions, a magical book, summoned by a preist or dragged backwards through time respectively.
How does Digimon fit into the equation?
Digimon by definition is also an Isekai by the fact that a group of 7-8 kids get sent to the Digital World but has more roots in the monster trend alongside another well known title, Monster Rancher.
Staying on topic how good are these four female led Isekai?
Escaflowne has argubly the most beautiful score ever composed for an anime.
Fushigi Yuugi was instrumental in establishing the Josei genre.
Magic Knight Rayearth put the artist team of CLAMP on the map as one of their best work.
InuYasha is yet another stellar work by Rumiko Takahashi and her best selling series by far.
What went wrong?
Escaflowne had a botched dub release and is widely forgotten next to stable mates Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star, not to mention the plot made no sense and the manga is infinitely different.
The others out stayed their welcome, Rayearth had a dreadful 2nd season, Fushigi Yuugi has not aged well and has been out of the spotlight for two decades now, InuYasha kept going and going and became the punching bag in the awkward era of the 00s where anime was struggling with a hangover, it's also aged the worst of the four shows.
As for Digimon, each season was getting less and less returns until they decided on Digimon Tri and a season 1 reboot.
Did Sword Art Online save Isekai?
Kind of, it's premise added elements that weren't available in 90s Isekai and took inspiration from harem, shonen and even thriller in some cases, Sword Art Online also took inspiration from Dot Hack Sign.
Now we can't get rid of Isekai
Blame covid, Japan's abysmal birth rate and Sword Art Online outstaying it's welcome, on the bright side, female led Isekai made a return with Saints Magic is Omnipotent and to a lesser extent Bofuri, we also have enough try hards to keep anime interesting and it's not devoid of having it's formula mixed in ever more dangerous ways, it's not like the tail end of the early 2000s where anime actually stagnated.
This is an interesting one because I'm not doing individual characters only the Beyblade teams, this is marked on their ability as a team along with their personality, performance and general presence.
For the record I'm sticking with the original Beyblade era.
Dark Bladers
Start with the dead weight filler villains Dark Bladers who are nothing more than homages to movie monsters get completely overshadowed by the Majestics.
King and Queen
The duo arrived among a very crowded set of villains and while their position as part hunters does give them more of a purpose than cheaters or taking over the world, they really didn't have much weight to them.
Team Psykick
They lack originality being just cyber clones of the four but I give some credit that the bladers themselves are much better in personality compared to other low level villains especially Salima.
Team Zagart
They sort of came in at the end as an invincible force led by one of the most angsty villains in Beyblade history, joined by the most bland, a bad way to end Season 2.
Majestics
I think they wasted a perfectly good team here as it's incredible to see anyone take on the Bladebreakers in some of the best battles the series has to offer yet they were snubbed in G Revolution in favour of the next team.
Barthez Battalion
I was too harsh on them to begin with as their ordeal mirrors a number of real world sports teams, I'm still mad that they did the Majestics dirty but not as much as I used to be.
F-Dynasty
For the short time they appear, I really enjoyed this sibling pair, they easily win out in style, personality and design.
BEGA Justice 5
As the final villains they created the best Beyblade battles of the whole franchise with Garland being the only let down. Brooklyn then took Beyblade to some very dark places with his match against Kai being the magnum opus of the franchise.
Saint Shields
Their place in the canon is weird as their job is essentially protect the main four bit beasts but their method of achieving such a feat is spent being the main villains and considering the strength of Ozuma I was sad to not see him be Tyson's final match in V-Force.
Demolition Boys/Blitzkrieg Boys
The final villains of season 1 and full of edgelord potential with Tala and Bryan being particular favourites, even when they aren't villains they have the edgelord attitude that makes them a joy to watch.
All Starz
It's easy to write off All Starz as a cheesy sports team but that changed when Rick Anderson enters the team where they essentially have to win back respect as Rick is a poor sportsman leading to Kai's most defining moment where he silences a crowd for booing the All Starz, their arc is among the most interesting.
White Tigers
A team initially pissed at Ray for leaving, then becoming a strange hit or miss performing team with some unexpected wins along with some equally bizarre drops in personality for Lee mostly.
Bladebreakers/BBA Revolution
When it comes to G Revolution it becomes very apparent that Tyson really doesn't know how to keep the team together as the other members leaving is a sign that they don't hold his leadership in high enough regard to stay that way and this isn't the first time. When it comes down to it, Bladebreakers are more a team of individuals that only unite for a common enemy but will split any chance that the others can claim Tyson's world title.
Then as BBA Revolution, it's just a sad arc of Tyson being a colossal prick.
Dark Bladers: 3.2/10
King and Queen: 4.7/10
Team Psykick: 6.3/10
Team Zagart: 1.3/10
Majestics: 6.9/10
Barthez Battalion: 7.1/10
F-Dynasty: 9.0/10
BEGA Justice 5: 8.9/10
Saint Shields: 8.6/10
Demolition/Blitzkrieg Boys: 9.3/10
All Starz: 8.5/10
White Tigers: 7.5/10
Bladebreakers/BBA Revolution: 7.1/10
This season is the very definition of okay.
Yui carries the tried and tested formula of most pink Precure, that is not much is different compared to other Pink Precure that don't stand out, her growing up arc is pretty standard Precure as well.
Kokone is less lonely rich girl and more awkward lonely rich girl, she doesn't fall for too many tropes and her family are alot more caring than most.
Ran is a breath of fresh air and competes with Yui in personality, she actually has a goal and a decent story arc.
Amane started as a villain but very quickly switched sides, as to why she was even with the villains to begin with is never fully explained.
Yui Nagomi - Cure Precious - 6.8/10
Kokone Fuwa - Cure Spicy - 6.9/10
Ran Hanamichi - Cure Yum-Yum - 7.8/10
Amane Kasai - Cure Finale - 6.8/10
Best Dressed Award - Cure Finale
Most Hot Takes that just say a particular anime is bad without context I won't cover but will do slight variations on some select Takes.
"Dragonballz is Addictive"
Yes, it is, despite its issues, it has the same kind of popularity and story telling as Pro Wrestling which rarely falls out of favour even if you don't watch it, something about high octane fighting always gets me to come back.
"JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Is Overrated By Fans"
That's a bold statement.
Real talk, it's very much yes and no, I personally found it to be okay, so in a sense yes it's overrated but it's so unique in it's design that it's impossible to imitate so the hype is justified.
"No Game No Life Has No Redeeming Qualities"
Great music, unique art style, clever writing and fun characters are all redeeming qualities but it is aging poorly and it's not the obvious little sister character, it's actually because it's very much unfinished for a franchise with such a large world to play with.
"The Fate Franchise Is Mediocre At Best"
I was going to ignore this but I actually agree with the Hot Take, other than Carnival Phantasm, the Fate series is nothing more than a franchise of well drawn characters better suited for hentai.
"With all of the diversity and inclusiveness, gaming is better than ever"
A video game Hot Take to finish, again it's a yes and no, gaming is gender neutral as an activity so having a selection of games that cater to everyone is a win win scenario for everyone involved but then there are those who miss the point entirely and severely limit themselves to a much smaller player count because they think about winning points from the diversity crowd before making a game work first, Saints Row reboot being the best example of this, there's also the same issue as the TV and movie industry of telling instead of showing.
