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!
Were back with another character ranking, this time it's Love Hina.
Keitaro Urashima
I'd like to say he has very poor taste in women which may or may not set the tone for the rest of the ranking but he's hardly the butt monkey degenerate like those that followed, when allowed to be a character he's actually quite a decent guy.
Naru Narusegawa
It's hard to look past the fact that she's violent for no reason but trust me she's not the worst offender, I do like the fact that her insecurities bite her later on making her less high and mighty.
Mutsumi Otohime
Easily the best character and way more devious than her ill health lets on, she ended up being the biggest cheerleader to her two best friends.
Shinobu Maehara
She acts her age surprisingly and that should be a plus but her anime counterpart is dreadful.
Motoko Aoyama
Easily has her own insecurities which flare up due to her feelings over her older sister marrying and she does get over most of it but much of her early character is difficult to like.
Kaolla Su
Combining eccentric genius with ADHD borders on Western cartoon tropes, I wish they explored more of her background instead of making her more intolerable.
Kitsune Konno
I'm glad they remember that not all girls need to be in love with the lead and Kitsune is a good balance when it comes to observation and acting big sister.
Haruka Urashima
Another no nonsense observer of chaos but gets a happy ending she never saw coming and is richly deserved.
Noriyasu Seta
Proving that the dandiest of men can be as big as a goofball as Keitaro.
Sarah McDougal
The anime equivalent of Scrappy Doo, never liked her nor gave me a reason to like her.
Kanako Urashima
Shall this be patient zero of the sister love thing? Kanako easily borderlines yandere with some of her actions but is saved by the fact that she helped change Naru's character for the better towards the end.
Keitaro: 9.3/10
Naru: 7.2/10
Mutsumi: 9.6/10
Shinobu: 7.4/10
Motoko: 7.8/10
Kaolla: 6.4/10
Kitsune: 8.6/10
Haruka: 8.8/10
Seta: 8.0/10
Sarah: 2.0/10
Kanako: 7.9/10
This will be fun, looking at characters who really aren't as great as their popularity suggests. No order in this one.
1. Tenten from Naruto
Tenten is the resident weapons master of Konoha and had so much potential only to be humiliated in the Chuunin exam and be thrown into the background despite standing on the same level as Rock Lee and Neji. She had practically no role afterwards.
2. Tyson Grainger from Beyblade
For the supposed leader of the Bladebreakers, he's a terrible leader, it's any wonder his much more popular teammates left for their own interests in G Revolution, not to mention he ignores much of the advice given by his team overall.
3. Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon
I'd forgive Usagi so much more if the original didn't make her so incompetent, needy and whiny, it's any wonder Precure destroyed this series in ratings.
4. Iona Hikawa/Cure Fortune from Happiness Charge Precure
Speaking of Precure, a Cure at worst is forgettable, generic or plain. Iona is a bitch; she blames Hime for all her problems despite the fact that it was her own fault that her sister got taken. Even when she joins the team, it's hard to forgive her for her behaviour.
5. Hatoko and Suzuka from Angelic Layer
She was built up as the main rival to Misaki and Hikaru and was wise above her years but she was defeated before given the chance and even burst into tears afterwards, child or not, you cannot build a character like that and then expect her to act her age afterwards.
6. Chao Lingshen from Negima
Supposedly Negi's descendant but her motives are confusing, does she want to reveal magic or not? Sadly this doesn't get answered. As for her non canon roles she's just a seat filler. Even her canon role is reduced to nothing once it ends which fills half the manga run.
7. Char Aznable from Gundam
He's the eternal rival of Amuro but looking on his history, he has an unhealthy obsession with underage girls. One out of possibly five female characters was actually an adult, the rest were teenagers.
8. Gary Oak from Pokemon
Was built to be Ash's eternal rival, he lost before Ash in the Kanto league, made little to no impact in 90% of his appearances, when he did battle Ash it was the best episodes of the franchise but after that his job was done. Paul from Sinnoh was a better rival.
9. Fuko Kirisawa from Flame of Recca
For the lone female fighter of team Hokage she's awful! Gullible enough to fall for enemy tricks twice, wasted Fujin's powers, got lost, trapped, brain washed multiple times and rescued by Raiha just as many times. Are you sure Fuko is meant to be the fighter? Yanagi is stronger despite not even being capable of fighting.
10. Future Trunks from Dragonballz
Controversial but justified, his only real contribution is killing Freiza. If you consider the Android 13 movie canon, he failed to mention six other androids next to 17 and 18, inadvertently unleashed Cell on the very timeline he tried to save, even when battling Cell he performed worse than Tien and even when he has to save another future he gets called out on all the times he messes with time and how frequently it brought about worse scenarios including attracting the attention of Babidi and Majin Buu triggering Super Saiyan Rage. It gives Vegeta much more father points when you consider the original Trunks to be a better character who even calls out his own future self.
Looking around the net to see if I can write anything Gundam related seeing as there are a ton on Project 1000, so instead of trying to watch over 100 episodes of classic era Gundam let's break out the facts and Easter Eggs you may have missed.
Amuro Ray is Canadian
It's difficult to pin point nationalities in a series where Earth is a 2nd thought or war torn. But it is revealed that Amuro Ray was born in British Columbia Canada, making his dub voice (Canadian actor Brad Swaile) the perfect choice.
Char Aznable is named after a real person
Char was named after World War II civilian and singer Charles Aznavour, who also played a pivotal role in establishing peaceful relations between France and Japan.
Familiar Titles
Gundam has a few quirky subtitles like Stardust Memory and Endless Waltz, actually those two are real titles in other media.
Stardust Memory is a Woody Allen Film from 1980.
Endless Waltz is a tragic Japanese Romance Novel.
Like Gundam's penchant for having controversial content, both these titles were considered controversial in their own media.
Io Fleming
Easy one to spot, Gundam Thunderbolt's protagonist is clearly a take on James Bond author Ian Fleming.
Relena Peacecraft was based on Audrey Hepburn
Right down to her mannerisms, default dress and looks but what hits it out of the park is her Queen of the World dress taken straight out of Hepburn's Roman Holiday.
Elpeo Ple's Unfortunate Name Origins
Elpeo Ple is short for Lemon People, a hentai magazine with a reputation for Lolicon content. Doesn't help that Elpeo looks 12.
Torinov Y. Minovsky Particles
Anyone who knows Gundam is familiar with Minovsky Particles, the accepted explanation for Gundam's unique universe. But when you break down the name of it's founder, you are basically reading Yoshiyuki Tomino if he were Russian.
Loran Cehack was Supposed to be Female
Tomino expressed interest in having a female protagonist for Turn A Gundam but Sunrise were against it, so Loran's design was deliberately made Gender Neutral and features him cross dressing out of spite.
Cancelled Gundam Works
Among Gundam's cancelled media includes the Gundam Seed movie which was cancelled when it's screen writer sadly passed away from Brain Cancer.
The Doozy Bots, an attempt to make Gundam a Saturday morning cartoon, it's worse than it sounds.
Gundam MSX, a rejected OVA set between the original series and Zeta Gundam.
And Polka Gundam, which was meant to be after Victory Gundam but due to it being a financial flop and the growing popularity of the returning super robot genre, G Gundam was made instead which saved Gundam but that's another story.
Gundam ZZ References to Akira
Judau Ashta's clothing is similar to Kaneda's helped by the fact that he to is part of a teenage gang, if that's too vague, Kaneda and Tetsuo cameo in the show as extras, this is taken from the manga of Akira as Gundam ZZ predates the film Akira.
As much as we make fun of dubs from the likes of 4Kids or some of the horrifically bad early era dubs, there are some that do fly under the radar and their content is somewhat baffling.
So we start with Genmu Senki Leda or Leda the Fantastic Adventures of Yohko.
Sadly I'm not in a position to review this because there is very little to find on it but it did have a dub.
Notice: Until new footage is found there is no video at this time.
An 80s anime dubbed in 1997 by Right Stuf and Toho International, Leda is a very early Isekai in which lead character Yohko gets transported to another world due to her walkman cassette player being linked to Leda which turns her into a warrior to fight an evil.
A walkman is what 80s teens used to listen to music, stored on a cassette tape; ask your parents or watch Stranger Things or Guardians of the Galaxy.
Probably one of the biggest takeaways from this dub is not so much the poor sound quality or even the poor acting, it's the term Bobby Soxer.
A Bobby Soxer was a late 1940s, 1950s teenage girl who was into traditional pop music by that era's definition often defined by the dress being Poodle Skirts and ankle socks, it's a very dated term which I've not heard outside of cartoons made in that era, so there are obvious issues in Yohko describing herself as one.
1. In the original Japanese, she just refers to herself as a school girl.
2. An American term created in the late 40s would never cross into Japan seeing as Japan didn't really embrace American culture until the 80s nor are you likely going to see anime Grease.
3. This was made in 1985.
4. This was dubbed in 1997!
Teenybopper succeeded the term Bobby Soxer for the next few decades and even that's out of date by 90s standards. So yeah, an 80s anime dubbed in the 90s using American 40s and 50s slang to describe the main character.
This unique character ranking tackles very normal characters in action shows, by definition these are characters who would never compare to the super powered individuals around them and through the most part, obey real world physics.
I'll be marking them down on their achievements and roles in their anime.
Sir Integra from Hellsing
Takes out Nazi Vampires despite being surrounded by thousands of them, keeps Alucard in check and speaks to her enemies like a teacher disciplining a group of delinquents.
Garrod Ran from Gundam X
One of only a rare selection of lead Gundam Pilots to not have Newtype powers or the non UC equivalent, you could argue that by simply owning a Gundam he doesn't qualify but I disagree considering how much the narrative relies on being able to be a special human.
Meiling Li from Card Captor Sakura
Has fought a couple of the clow cards on equal footing with just her martial arts training to fall back on.
Usopp from One Piece
Has fought against and beaten opponents he has no chance in defeating under normal conditions mostly through clever weapons and exploiting weaknesses, has even battled Luffy as well as prevented his defeat a couple of times.
Mumen Rider from One Punch Man
More points for bravery and commitment over actual strength but somehow manages to remain top of C rank
Drake Anderson from Read or Die
A very capable mercenary that is kept on in the British Library despite being among Paper Masters and an assassin that can phase through objects.
Genjo Sanzo from Saiyuki
Debated, but it's brought up quite frequently that he lacks the same fighting ability as his travel companions, relying on buddhist scriptures and a banishing gun, it even became a plot point in Requiem.
Gourry Gabriev from Slayers
His travel companions can level entire towns in one blast so he relies entirely on his own sword skills to help defeat bad guys, he usually has his own special enemies to defeat as well.
Joey Wheeler from Yu-Gi-Oh
Always seems to make it to duelist tournament finals lacking many of the traits of better duelists, in fact had his body not given in, he'd have beaten Marik Ishtar.
Mr Satan from Dragonballz
Survived encounters with Cell and Kid Buu who both had their fair share of kills, Kid Buu especially. Also the one to convert Fat Buu to the hero side. Still legit won the martial arts tournament at least once.
Sir Integra: 9.3/10
Garrod Ran: 8.0/10
Meiling Li: 7.0/10
Usopp: 8.7/10
Mumen Rider: 4.9/10
Drake Anderson: 6.2/10
Genjo Sanzo: 6.5/10
Gourry Gabriev: 7.7/10
Joey Wheeler: 7.9/10
Mr Satan: 5.3/10
Notes: Lower scores can be attributed to low impact on the story or most of their success coming from the sheer luck of not dying, in Sanzo's case it's more his position as a normal human being debated.
