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!
This is the one I've been waiting to do.
Shoot your Marbles
Marbles are probably among the oldest toys in history dating back to early Roman era and much older than Christ. A typical game is basically keeping your marbles in a circle by flicking them. They came in many sizes and materials over the centuries and the game was left more or less unchanged, it wasn't until the late 90s early 00s that Battle B-Daman took the marble concept and turn it into a proper battle game not much different to the ball bearing game of crossfire from the 70s. But it was Bakugan who gave it more strategic spin on the game turning the marbles into mini transformers and combining them with cards and territory style gaming, it was strangely addictive and is actually coming back to screens.
Ball Bearings for War and Gambling
The humble ball bearing was invented in 1794 by a Welsh Ironmaster although in industry, bearings had been used for much longer and is an integral part of engineering but leave it to the modern era to make games from it. I already brought up crossfire, a very awesome battle game from the 70s but there were other uses. Japan actually created Airsoft in order to continue to train it's military despite the embargo placed on them participating in wars from World War II as guns shoot plastic Ball Bearings instead. I have participated in Airsoft, it frickin hurts! C3 is the only anime I know of to have Airsoft as it's theme.
Pachinko is a low stakes gambling game using ball bearings, an evolution of an old Victorian era game named Bagatelle. It's another way of getting round Japan's already strict gambling laws as the stakes are never that high, it's also seen as the final resting place for retired anime and games as pachinkos use anime to encourage gamblers.
Spinning Top Battles
Spinning Tops are just as old as marbles but have a much more interesting history from religious significance in Jewish Dreidels to being used as an alternative to dice in some tabletop games as well as being the first toy most children play with as infants. Then you have Beyblade.
The spinning top battle game is cheesy as hell but I have a soft spot for it. I used to help run a fan page for Beyblade before I came here. In fact my username came from my own Beyblade, a Dranzer that uses a Dragoon's left spin gear as opposed to the right spin gear in most Beyblades. I'm probably more harsh on the franchise than I should be but considering how it shaped my fandom and how it helped me meet some very special people, I'm kind of sad at how stale the series got after the first generation.
Our next segment is on model kits and how important they are in Otaku culture.
Gunpla and the Advent of Otaku
1979 saw the arrival of Gundam in a market already familiar with space but even more so with the arrival of Star Wars, it created this young adult following which was seen as quite small scale but much of the merchandise was limited as toy companies would sponsor anime to get merchandise rights, standard practice for any series. This led to the creation of garage kits which was another name for model kits that allowed fans to make replica robots from plastic easily snap together parts. The rest was history but it formed part of Otaku culture further explained by Gainax's half mockumentary Otaku no Video.
I built many kits as a kid.
Animal Robot Wars
The Zoids franchise started as a toy line, the difference between this and other model kits is that these animal robots moved. They started life as Mechabonica around the same time as Gunpla but didn't gain popularity until it became Zoids, and the anime was amazing. I regret not buying the kits when they were out.
Time to Robattle!
Medabots took the model building to it's next logical stage, customization, being able to switch out different arms, legs, torso and head was revolutionary at the time but most people liked to keep things unchanged as the designs were a little too good to spoil. I still have a Sumilidon in storage.
The Doll Fighters We Wanted
Leave it to Clamp to release a toy anime that had no toy attached in Angelic Layer and the concept alone would make a fortune if it can be made in real life. Of course Angelic Layer only serves as a Clamp universe prequel to Chobits.
Gunpla's Now Have Their Own Anime
The history of Gundam anniversary years are best described as surreal as among them included G Gundam and SD Gundam but then they turned their model kits into a toy anime called Build Fighters which actually borrows a lot from Angelic Layer thinking about it. Build Fighters also pays big homages to Gundams past.
My Waifu Wears Heavy Metal
Ever wondered who pioneered the waifus wearing fighter jets or battleship guns?
Busou Shinki entered as a brand of action figures depicting it's characters in armour resembling military vehicles, while the anime has no fighting the figures helped pioneer future titles in the genre including Kancolle, Infinite Stratos, Strike Witches and Azur Lane. Something about waifus in battle armour just struck a cord with Otaku as it remains popular today.
Our next segment covers the world of trading cards.
It All Started with a Ban
The history of trading cards began in the mid 16th Century in Japan by Portuguese traders later being adopted as Hanafuda but the Tokugawa Shogunate quickly banned all foreign influences including the cards themselves creating an underground gambling ring, this didn't lift until the 19th Century when a certain company named Nintendo was allowed to produce and sell them as recreational card games.
Another Win For Pokemon
It wasn't hard to see this coming, after already dominating the handhelds it would then dominate the trading card scene, memories of that elusive Charizard still fill the minds of many of my age group and even now it remains a fixture in tournaments. I no longer own anymore Pokemon cards having since sold them.
Saving the World With a Children's Card Game
Yu-Gi-Oh started as a manga featuring a game obsessed teen with impossible hair possessed by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian gambler turning typical games into games of death, it got pretty dark but one of the many games played was Duel Monsters which when modded to real world rules became an instant hit so Duel Monsters became the main game in Yu-Gi-Oh. It's checkered history under Konami has led to one or two court cases with Upper Deck and 4Kids for better or worst as in the latter case 4Kids went bankrupt. These days the game is doing much better than the anime, the anime seems to experiment with different ways including a school, on motorcycles, in space, whatever Arc-V and Vrains was meant to be. Either way expect more impossible hair. I did own a few decks and again they were sold.
The Not So Subtle Ripoff
Did anyone really care for Duel Masters? From what I can gather it sounds more like a poor mans Magic the Gathering than Yu-Gi-Oh but it really didn't help the franchise that the lead was a spikey haired kid.
The Quite Decent Ripoff
Cardfight Vanguard kind of slotted into some of the void left by Yu-Gi-Oh when the Yu-Gi-Oh anime kinda lost it's luster, in it's place a fresh new card game that manages a decent following and a not too bad anime.
Every Anime Wants a Card Game now
After a while, Anime is now mainstream so how to go forward with cards? Enter Weiß Schwarz.
This card game has you covered on every anime with significant popularity, in fact it's the only reason some of the anime are even popular, looking at you Love Live. It's biggest selling feature is the gorgeous art straight from the anime itself. It's a good seller among collectors.
As a little side project following up to Easter weekend I'm going to discuss some anime toys. Today's subject will discuss Virtual Pets with the next few episodes discussing Card Games, Models, Classic Toys and ending the week with Mini cars followed by a review of Dash Yonkuro.
So let's begin.
Raising a Japanese Alien Blob
The Tamagotchi craze began in 1996 invented by Aki Maita. The design being an egg shaped electronic toy smaller than a pager. The concept has always been the same, an alien drops an egg onto Earth and you have to raise it to adulthood through a number of tasks such as feeding, exercise, studying, playing, cleaning poop, pretty much anything you would do with an infant. How your Tamagotchi looks all depends on how well you raise them, although judging by the basic shapes of these creatures, there was alot of limits in what you can get.
I had a Black Tamagotchi myself.
Tamagotchi is still around but it doesn't pull as bigger sale as it used to, even with the advances in technology, but most point to what happened the following year and our next entry as the beginning of the end.
The Birth of Pokemon's most worthy Rival
A year on from the Tamagotchi craze came Digimon. While the concept was pretty much the same, the difference came in the fact that you could battle each other by connecting two together, also the smarter use of pixels meant more unique creatures could be produced on screen. The first generation Digimon only used the Agumon line along with a few select creatures from the early series with future models sporting more characters using all the Digi Destined monsters, this would continue through much of the anime seasons that followed.
I owned an original Digimon and a first gen Digivice.
Most people would know that the anime far outlived the original toy.
Your Very Own Super Fighting Robot
A brief mention on this, during the run of Megaman NT Warrior they actually made the Net Navi device used by the characters along with the battlechips used to power them up. It didn't sell as well as the video game but did okay enough but it was partially inspired the next innovation.
Raising Bugs and Dinosaurs with Cards
Sega took the idea further with Mushiking which takes everything learned from the early days of virtual pets and combining it with trading cards of insects, this would also lead to the later Dinosaur King which uses Dinosaurs instead. It had a fair go at it but it's what this turned into that still exists today.
Raising a Kawaii Pop Idol by Collecting Cute Outfits
Sega clicked further with the idea of cards with Hime Otogi Lilpri which led to the creation of franchises such as Aikatsu, Pretty Rhythm and PriPara. It was the most natural transition of the idol franchise who had struggled to claim back it's popularity following a slump in the 90s and 00s. In these games you collect and match cute outfits for your idol to wear. This is still going on today with no signs of stopping.
We started with Alien Blobs now were at Kawaii Pop Idols going through Monsters, Robots, Insects and Dinosaurs along the way.
Welcome to another installment of Really That Bad? Where I attempt to defend a notoriously hated piece of anime or character, this time it's Dragonball GT.
Dragonball GT already had a tough act to follow in DBZ so were already on the back foot; common criticisms aimed at the show including turning Goku back into a child, largely mediocre villains, dumb stories and the fact that Pan is the anime equivalent of Scrappy Doo.
There is much to rag on, especially when much of the cast is reduced to the same level as Mr Satan barely doing anything and getting killed very easily.
But five reasons why I disagree with it being terrible.
1. It's a by product of the Buu Saga ending with a sequel hook and that saga dragged far worst than any of GT.
2. Super Saiyan 4 is legitimately awesome looking.
3. The Shenron Saga actually shows the consequences of the characters abuse of the Dragonballs.
4. Pan is hardly the most annoying character in the series
5. The ending felt final. Goku calling it done felt like the end of an era.
Well until Dragonball Super happened but that wasn't because of GT. Super actually happened because of the live action Dragonball Evolution flop. Toriyama was so disgusted by the live action film that he came out of retirement to do Super.
Also remember GT was never declared Canon as it was decided that GT along with the film series from Z are alternative timelines.
So overall Dragonball GT, not great but hardly the worst thing the franchise has produced.
