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!
Time for some more hilarious lines of dialogue.
"I can't sleep until you fire a laser from your butt" - Asobi Asobase Sub
Hanako's butler displaying his Shogi talents.
"I'll use my trusty frying pan, as a drying pan" - Pokemon Dub
Brock again displaying his talent for thinking on his feet
"It's Thick! And it's Hard! And it's coming to get ya!" - s-CRY-ed Dub
George's Magnum weapon...I hope
"Erupting! Burning! Finger!" - G Gundam Dub
By changing the attack name in the dub you now have a much dirtier sounding attack
"I wouldn't be surprised if one day he starts saying his lack of effort is the reason there is no air in outta space" - Gundam Wing Dub
Duo sums up Quatre pretty well
"I'll take a potato chip and EAT!" - Death Note Dub
Kinda kills the intensity there Light
"I am a boy! This is an Octopus!" - Otokojuku Sub
In standing up to a burly American, a Japanese delinquent uses JoJo Engrish
"Look a Dame! A Woman!" - Dream Dimension Hunter Fandora Lost Dub
Yes, yes it is
"Let that child alone" - Dragonballz Big Green Dub
Piccolo you've had how long on planet Earth? The language ain't that difficult
"Now I'm freakin dead" - Outlanders OVA Dub
You've been stabbed right through your mouth, you shouldn't be talking
After reviewing Shaman King, I was left wondering why it didn't seem to catch on despite modest popularity and it made me realise there are quite a few titles like that.
Shaman King
To bring up what's already been said quickly, Shaman King slotted in nicely among Shonen Jump's Golden Era, it filled the void left by Yu Yu Hakusho and Bleach was still finding it's feet.
What Happened?
Bleach found it's footing way quicker than expected making other Shonen Jump titles stand up and take notes but not one to let his series become generic, not helped by a poor end to the anime, Hiroyuki Takei pulled the plug and has only recently finished the ending and epilogue.
Medabots
A large staple of FoxKids' run of anime following Digimon gave it a decent amount of coverage and is one of the more fondly remembered dubs of it's day.
What Happened?
It's 2nd season bombed, anything after the Medabots tournament arc had out lived it's lifespan and what new they could've brought in failed to capture the imagination.
Tokyo Mew Mew
A very colourful magical girl show that at the time filled a massive void left by Sailor Moon with a very creative art style and a unique concept and likely inspiration for Precure.
What Happened?
4kids that's what; the hack job from 4kids killed Magical Girl anime in the west which it still hasn't recovered from.
Inazuma 11
Level-5's Soccer epic combined everything you ever wanted in a sports anime with some of the most spectacular choreography you'll ever witness.
What Happened?
It's lack of appeal to America mostly, also widely ignored in the UK then relegated to the old 3DS anime channel before being cancelled.
Negima
Ken Akamatsu's magnum opus, a spectacular series of wizards and fanservice with enough action to give Harry Potter a run for it's money.
What Happened?
Poor anime, a plot that got so stuck in it's own lore it forgot how to story and faded out when the Harry Potter film series ended.
Modern Gundam
Name any series post Gundam Wing and you got some of the best mecha anime at your finger tips
What Happened?
Gundam never had the same success as Wing or G Gundam in the west, this can mostly be down to being released at the wrong time or ignoring series that had no impact to begin with like X and Age.
Slayers
Best fantasy anime of all time and the greatest soundtrack of all time.
What Happened?
As much of a travesty this is, alot of Slayers short comings came from an era saturated by alot of fantasy anime, a battle it did win but got lost among other titles due to sci fi anime doing much better in the west.
Mermaid Melody
Looked at one point to be the one to succeed Tokyo Mew Mew and give the west another crack following modest sales in Europe.
What Happened?
This one still has me puzzled, what makes it even more so is the fact that the dub is finished and unreleased.
Beyblade
Competed strongly with it's rivals in the toy anime category and often got the better of it's rivals when most of them had already peaked.
What Happened?
After the original cast of Beyblade ended a strong three series run it was put to sleep before making a poor comeback with bland characters and a franchise that by then was already done.
Sonic X
Even at it's absolute worst form of games, Sonic X kept Sonic relevant in the early 2000s.
What Happened?
I've yet to meet someone who was really into Sonic X when it came out talk about it today without being on their back foot.
With the internet these days, it's much easier to pick out who succeeds and who doesn't but this topic may yet be revisted.
Going off script, literally in some cases, time for a little dig at some unintentionally funny lines in anime.
"My breasts are the biggest so I should be Snow White" - Sailor Moon Sub
Makoto Kino laying it on thick to the other scouts.
"I'm gonna die in a Godzilla Suit" - Shinesman Dub
Shina getting herself trapped in a Godzilla costume in soaring heat
"Baoh has a laser cannon!" - Baoh Dub
Yes, yes he does captain obvious
"It's a Lake full of lots of Sea!" - Twin Signal Dub
Leave it to a chibi to confuse water
"It's a Giant Chest Piece!" - Wild Cardz Dub
I'm sure it's not that hard to say Chess
"Nothing Beats a Jelly Filled Donut" - Pokemon Dub
Explains why Brock always has his eyes closed, denile!
"They're talking to their balls" - Full Metal Panic Fumoffu Dub
Kyoko after witnessing grown Rugby men with their Rugby balls
"This is Very Annoying" - Pretty Sammy OVA Dub
A Bill Gates like enemy using a very politician like response to magical girls
"No, Let me squeeze them some more" - K-On Dub
Out of context, it's easy to guess what Yui is squeezing
"You full grown men are waving big swords at us innocent women, you're nothing but cowards" - Maze the Megaburst Space Dub
Seems like a good line, except one of the enemies in the scene is female
Warning, this post may contain unpopular opinions, you'll see.
Just to clarify, Black Lady and Mistress 9 will not influence the rank of Chibi Usa and Saturn.
I'll start with Chibi Usa just to get her out the way, I don't like her that much, if you kept her R incarnation she'd score higher but her Super S incarnation made that season borderline unwatchable.
Mercury is invaluable to have on the team and has a personality that suits her position as strategist and her OVA gives her some extra quirks.
Venus is average at pretty much every position to the point where anyone would mistake her as an American default girl cartoon protagonist.
Sailor Moon herself is very easy to hate on and for good reason but in recent years, I'm a lot more sympathetic and the Crystal series doesn't portray her as annoying as the 90s anime does and remember I'm judging the character as portrayed in the whole franchise not just one season.
Mars is a good foil for Usagi but at times she can be a bit 90s anime girl and I wouldn't be able to separate her next to similar looking anime characters.
Jupiter is probably the most complete female character in the anime medium, she's fiercely independent but has grace and femininity often surprising herself with what she's capable of.
Saturn is a bit of an enigma, while she has a back story that can put many tragic characters to shame her OP power and role in Sailor Moon essentially makes her unusable as a character only coming out as a last resort in very specific scenarios.
Uranus is the one who started the trend of lesbian team members and performs an absolute faultless performance in her role.
Neptune is Uranus' perfect partner, a textbook example of a princess style character done right, although I'd argue she's nothing without Uranus.
Pluto is forgettable, much like the planet itself and again her powers make her OP so she's only needed in very specific scenarios.
Chibi Usa - 4.3/10
Sailor Mercury - 8.7/10
Sailor Venus - 7.3/10
Sailor Moon - 7.5/10
Sailor Mars - 7.7/10
Sailor Jupiter - 9.7/10
Sailor Saturn - 8.2/10
Sailor Uranus - 10/10
Sailor Neptune - 8.6/10
Sailor Pluto - 6.3/10
With the series near it's finale lets look at the current ranking for the latest Precure
Hikaru still plays the typical pink cure but her sense of wonder is what makes her very endearing as well as touching moments that make her a popular choice as pink Precure.
Lala has had her moments and has a strong presence in the team, her relationship with AI and a few moments where she goes all out gives her a nice edge.
Elena can still be classed as the mature big sister while relatively under used she's an effective character.
Madoka is still so grossly under used and apart from the odd moments of playing along with the madness she doesn't have much to her, even when she had to confront her future it was an already expected scene.
Yuni started so promising but the writing appears to be against her, either she doesn't have much to contribute or she's written in a way that tries to make her guilty when she shouldn't be.
Hoshina Hikaru - Cure Star - 8.8/10
Hagoromo Lala - Cure Milky - 8.8/10
Amamiya Elena - Cure Soliel - 9.0/10
Kaguya Madoka - Cure Selene - 7.4/10
Yuni-Chan - Cure Cosmo - 7.3/10
Best Dressed Award - Cure Cosmo
