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!
Welcome back to confessions as I look at my mishaps with Dragonballz in my youth.
I Injured Myself Attempting the Kamehameha
Who doesn't want to perform this attack? The stance itself does bear a resemblance to a technique I believe comes from a form of Kenpo and me having some interest in Martial Arts decided to give it a try.
Only I went into the stance so hard I sprained my ankle.
I Discovered Dragonballz Through Ice Cream
What many English speaking nations may not know is Dragonballz existed in many European nations long before an English Dub, one of which was Spain where I had many holidays in my youth. On one visit I discovered Dragonballz Ice Cream, orange candy ice cream with Bubblegum centre. Think large Dippin' Dots with sour Bubblegum in it. I was never allowed to have it, probably because it was the most expensive thing on the list, that moment was my first experience of Dragonballz.
I Thought Yamcha Knew Spirit Bomb
I blame a translation error as well as viewing the episodes in an odd order due to fighting my sister for TV rights, a battle she usually won. What didn't help were the attacks looking similar in design.
I Knew Who Trunks was Before his Introduction
The opening sequence Rock the Dragon, one of the better English Translation songs showed a character that didn't start off with the main cast, it was only when Super Saiyan became a thing that I questioned who he was, having remembered what was mentioned about the last remaining Saiyans in the run up to the Freiza Saga, I deduced that he could only be Vegeta's son, since there's no way they would throw in a new Saiyan with no explanation. When he did appear, I was right.
I Believed Tien's Arm Could Grow Back
Censorship is weird but considering I saw Piccolo do it several episodes back and Tien not really being 100% human, it wouldn't surprise me if he did.
Inspired by Otaku Confessions which can be linked below, I've decided to do my own Confessions and the very first one is based on my first ever encounter with anime.
http://www.theotaku.com/worlds/otakuconfessions
In the early 90s at around 7-8 years old, I loved the Gameboy, it was my first console, although my lack of understanding behind the games lead me to end up with flash carts, a compilation of bootlegged and legit games on one Gameboy Cartridge. One of these had a Ranma 1/2 game called Ranma 1/2 Kakuren Bodesu Match, a puzzle game where you push blocks around to defeat enemies and find special items to complete each stage.
Gameplay footage below
So how did I work out the plot to Ranma 1/2 based on just this game?
It actually comes from another game also on the Gameboy called Catrap.
In that game you play as a Catboy and a Catgirl. The Catboy pushes blocks that go across the screen, the Catgirl pushes blocks one space; based on that information, I worked out that my character was transforming into a girl everytime I hit a bucket and back into a boy everytime I hit a kettle. I even worked out that the girl looking for you at the end of each stage must be the girlfriend and every enemy was trying to separate you from her, pretty much the plot to 90% of Ranma. Only a few years later I finally watched Ranma and linked it to the game I played.
This isn't the only time this sort of thing happened. The next confession will explain this.
Welcome to Genre Savvy, a look at unique animation genres that I'd like to give unique names to. To start with, we're looking at Pink Cadillac shows.
Description
Pink Cadillac shows are stylized animations picking all the best elements of Post World War 20th Century pop culture, anything from 50s diners to skating to beach towns to Beverly Hills. As most of these came from the 80s the so called "Pink Cadillac" comes from the Cadillac Eldorado, a 50s icon looking rather fitting in pink in the 80s Aesthetic.
The main characteristic of this genre is rooted in making the world seem perfect with problems resolved in 20 minutes.
Origins
The earliest examples of these shows start with late 60s cartoon the Archie Show which in it's original form has changed very little; Hanna Barbara and the film Grease further cemented the elements along with Happy Days leading up to the 80s and very briefly in the 90s where this genre was at it's most prominent.
Blueprint
The easiest setting is High School often following a group of trope heavy characters.
For Males: Perfect built jock, Fonzy clone, Short nerd, the fat guy, the skater boys, Obnoxious bully and the crazy one.
For Females: Perfect blonde, her best friend, bookworm, bitchy rival and the one girl who acts normal.
For Adults: Eccentric Teachers, neurotic parents, over stuffy authority figures and anyone you can identify as Pop or Mom without being your parent.
Other Settings: The Diner, surfside towns in California or Florida, Beverly Hills, concerts or if not set in school, Urban jungles where everyone is streetwise.
Examples
Two big offenders are Galaxy High and Gravedale High, despite the space and monster themes, much of the cast takes from the character list. Hero High is also unashamed of taking on all these character tropes.
Girls cartoons get hit pretty hard with this with the likes of JEM, Maxie's World and the notoriously bad Beverly Hills Teens. Fashion dolls easily lend themselves to this style so it comes as no surprise that they have so many, surprisingly not Barbie, missed an audience there.
Some of the more unique takes on it come from the likes of Denver the Last Dinosaur and Rude Dawg and the Dweebs, the latter being made from a surfwear brand and the fact that he does drive a Pink Cadillac. The last examples that take an even stranger form is the Q*bert cartoon which is very blatant for it's inspiration.
What Happened After?
The genre died out in the mid 90s helped by shows like Doug and Hey Arnold taking the usual bland story telling and giving it a modern update effectively killing the genre for the better. Totally Spies and Winx Club along with numerous girls cartoons still use some elements but are modern enough to get away with it and those shows along with Miraculous Ladybug are action shows first, pity DC Super Hero Girls didn't get the memo.
While it's no longer a cartoon staple, it became a juggernaut genre for kiddy sitcoms starting with Saved by the Bell leading up to 90% of Nickelodeon and Disney Channel and somehow becoming a worse genre throughout the last 20 years evolving from Pink Cadillac to Bland School Sitcom.
How does Anime Compare?
Anime's take on it is mostly Shojo, 80s Shojo to be exact.
The trend setters of Fashion Lala, Creamy Mami, Minky Momo and Sweet Mint are often problem solving with magic shows, the fact that some become idols only add to the aesthetic; while much of the content can be seen as bland, it can be excused by employing some more serious elements that don't make the protagonists too Mary Sue.
Sailor Moon would kill off the 80s magical girl in favour of the Magical warrior and it wasn't until the 2000s that we had it comeback in the idol obsession that is shojo anime today in a genre I dub "Everyone is an Idol"
School anime don't follow this as much as Pink Cadillac uses tons of Americana but it has a different problem that has become just as notorious as Isekai. Tune in next time as I look at "There's a School for That"
A while ago, I gave Sasuke Uchiha a pass on his character mostly because Boruto made him more mature and surprisingly chill. Let's see if I can do the same for Ash Ketchum.
Ash Ketchum is easily the most frustrating character ever to come from anime as everything from plot armour to dumb luck sees him advance from each season smelling of roses despite not winning the league on multiple occasions but breaking the league performances down he did an admirable job in each.
Kanto he earned half his badges through kindness I guess and it showed by how Charizard treated him, Team Rocket didn't help but up until his loss he was doing pretty well.
Orange Islands to this day is still his most deserved trophy beaten only by the Battle Frontier.
Johto felt like the league we should've got in Kanto and beating Gary was one of Ash's finest moments, still lost the next round.
Hoenn was more of the same but the puss in boots Meowth is a little bull shit but Battle Frontier more than made up for it.
Sinnoh was really unfair to Ash, after beating one of his strongest rivals he battles an OP legendaries trainer.
Unova was a downgrade after following such a good season but it was nice to see Ash switch out Pokemon frequently like a proper trainer.
Kalos felt closer to Sinnoh but another OP trainer had to be put in front of him.
The game changer was Alola where he finally won but there was bullshit involved to get him up to the top but I blame shoddy writing.
So coming to now and Ash has some pretty OP Pokemon, along with Pikachu is Mr Mime, Dragonite, Gengar, Riolu and Galar Farfetch'd. That's one OP team and were barely 20 episodes in and considering who travels with him now, he's no longer the worst character, and that's crucial.
When you put yourself in Ash's shoes, he's no different to the millions of trainers who started out playing the games, so his interaction with the world and people around him only serve as a learning experience and I don't think you can fault the guy for some of his dumber moments when in most cases this is the first time he's seen the new Pokemon that turn up every episode; travelling around with his numerous companions and how they play off Ash is crucial as well. It's also because he loses tournaments that Ash feels more human and over 20 years of this we can finally look at an Ash Ketchum who you can proudly say that he's a good Pokemon Trainer. My hopes for the current season as there is no limit to where he can go, Ash has a chance to redeem his Kanto mess ups in his quest to enter the Championship setup in Galar.
So is Ash bad? No, at worst he's frustrating and a bit moronic on days where he should know better but 22 years of trying and succeeding, I can't help but feel proud that he managed to achieve his goal.
Season 1 from the Pokemon anime is jammed packed full of moments where Pokemon that shouldn't be that powerful are capable of some unbelievable abilities or have been over hyped far too much.
Dishonourable Mention
Any non fully evolved Pokemon that belong to Ash is not counted as that's more plot armour than being over powered. I'm also letting Ditto slide as well.
10. Tauros
I'm starting low as very few people have watched the banned Safari Zone Episode. To sum up, Ash manages to capture 30 Tauros because they kept getting in the way of his targets, in the Gen 1 games, Tauros is likely the last Pokemon you catch, it's stupidly rare and frequently runs away. Despite it's rarity it lacks any decent moveset.
9. Paras
While the majority of it's victories were from Team Rocket throwing fights for it to help it evolve, but then it pulls off a legit victory on Charmeleon with one hit that was by accident.
8. Caterpie
Shouldn't be physically possible for a Caterpie to defeat both Koffing and Ekans, this is where it all started for Team Rocket's downfall.
7. Jigglypuff
Her singing is overpowered, far too often it's become a convenient plot device to retcon the episode.
6. Togepi
Togepi is another Pokemon with a convenient Deus Ex Machina, what doesn't help is that the anime has no clear mechanics for Metronome in the anime.
5. Krabby
The image says it all, keep in mind that was Krabby's first ever battle and evolved shortly after to white wash the whole of Mandy's team. It's never had a major role since.
4. Psyduck
Yet another Pokemon with convenient plot solving powers, Psyduck only adds to the frustration by being infuriating to watch.
3. Sandshrew
Early in the series we see a Sandshrew way more powerful than it should be. Keep in mind the trainer has a reputation for a 100 win streak but even so his backup Pokemon make him the equivalent of Mt Moon trainers at best, this Sandshrew is capable of One Hit KO moves.
2. Bellsprout
Somehow Jeanette Fisher trained her Bellsprout as a Kung Fu master, what really hit it home is throwing and slamming Bulbasaur about and one shoting Pikachu with a single kick which should be physically impossible for a Bellsprout.
1. Gastly
The Ghost of Maiden's Peak really confused matters when it came to Ghost Pokemon. In a number of confusing moments Gastly was able to take on multiple forms including inanimate objects, human ghosts, non existing animals and Pokemon Fusion. Oh yeah it talks as well.
