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!
Japan has strange customs that can often be baffling to westerners, so imagine going to a place where you just cry, yes you do nothing but bawl your eyes out until you run dry.
Well this practice is common and is referred to as Rui-Katsu; coined by a divorce counsellor, groups of people will gather to deliberately watch sad emotional short films to induce crying, the custom is said to relieve stress and create happiness, he first tried it out in his divorce counselling, not only did it work, it stopped a few divorces as well.
In regards to anime only one comes to mind that relates to this.
Yes, Air, the visual novel series by Key infamous for being one of the saddest anime of all time. You only have to look at this character to know what happens. Now I'm not a fan of Key as pretty much 90% of their work involves tears at some point and crying is not my first choice for entertainment but I do give Air credit for being a rui-katsu film, it's always going to make you cry and that's okay.
There's no shame in letting it all out, it may even save someone, after all we lose less people to mental health problems if we released our emotions more.
*Groan*
I really didn't want to write this but I feel I can draw a line under this franchise when I clear this hurdle, so lets be done with it.
Honoka is my main problem with the show as she shares her carefree persona with about 90% of shojo protagonists and brings nothing new to the role, she's the main reason why I hate this anime so much.
Eli's shtick of being the overly strict student council president has also been done to death, her character gives in way too easily to the idol group.
Kotori is the trademark rich girl with a hidden double life who goes along with everything, it's been done.
Umi is the straight girl of the group keeping the antics of Honoka in check whether she wants to or not, I'm surprised K-On didn't sue them for plagiarism.
Rin is the girly tomboy which I normally like but there's not much personality for it to work.
Maki is surprisingly well written which among this lot is surprising but like Eli she seems to surrender to easy.
Nozomi is basically Akeno Himejima from Highschool DxD before she became a devil, all that's missing is ara ara, at least she's interesting.
Hanayo is the shy, timid one, she literally has nothing else.
Then there is Nico, thank you, a character type that hasn't been done to death, in fact she's only one brave enough to call out the group on their performances and was actually useful.
Honoka Kosaka - 0.5/10
Eli Ayase - 2.4/10
Kotori Minami - 3.8/10
Umi Sonoda - 2.2/10
Rin Hoshizora - 2.9/10
Maki Nishikino - 7.9/10
Nozomi Tojo - 7.0/10
Hanayo Koizumi - 2.1/10
Nico Yazawa - 7.2/10
Anyone who remembers watching Pom Poko got some giggles out of the fact they have enormous testicles and scrotums, well there's a more in depth reason why Tanukis in Japanese mythology are depicted in that way.
Anyone who is familiar with Kitsune knows that it's a trickster yokai with many tails who can trick people by different transformations; the tanuki share similar abilities only they do so with their enormous testicles, kneading it like dough to form the shape they desire impersonating humans as well as making it into raincoats, using them for drumming and even weaponizing them. They are referred to as pranksters but most comes down to just attempting to buy alcohol, in fact if you've ever seen a chubby tanuki statue it comes with several traits that all have meaning.
A hat to protect against bad weather
Big eyes to perceive the environment and make good decisions
A Sake bottle to represent virtue
A big tail for steadiness and strength
An enormous scrotum for financial luck
A promissory note that represents trust and confidence
A big belly for bold and calm decisiveness
And finally a friendly smile.
All these traits are said to bring fortune.
The real tanuki isn't as well endowed as it's yokai suggests, they actually look kinda cute.
The Japanese even have love for the normal raccoon, they were introduced to Japan in the 70s following the success of Rascal the Raccoon, an anime character who at the time was more popular than Mickey Mouse. It didn't last as raccoons didn't make good pets so they ended up joining Japan's eco system with a major agriculture bill.
So that's a little history on Tanukis, the animals with literally the biggest balls.
To offer something to my often overlooked Western Cartoons, I present some alternative genres to look at.
All of these will be top ten lists along with some history.
Here are our genres
Pink Cadillacs of California
Toy Commercials of Power
Really Desperate Celebrities
Groovy Mysteries
Teenage Radical Animal Squad
Monsters are Still Cool
I can be Japanimation to!
Dinosaurs are Always Cool
Not Looney Tunes
Stupor Heroes
Clearly not for Kids
That's not what Happens in the Game
The Movie was Better
Animals They be People
Zero IQ Required
Non English Speaking Production
Hand Made in Britain
Afrotastic
Canadian Eh?
What are you?
Artistic Disaster
I'm a ten year old you can trust me
Our next TV Season will be Animated
We did it before Pixar
Needs more edge not that I care
Babality
Teenage Dirtbags
War what is it Good for?
It's what I go to School for
This Remake respects the Original?
If you want me to cover one of these genres, feel free to leave a comment.
This will run alongside Project 1000.
Time for another character ranking, this time on DBZs Movie Villains.
This will cover the 13 original movies in the Dragonballz run, no specials or Super films, they will get a future rank, and main villain only, no lackeys.
Garlic Jr is the only villain who also appears in the main series and yet that was also filler. I best describe him as a roided Emperor Pilaf, a little incompetent when you realize he basically defeats himself.
Dr Wheelo there isn't much to him, a former scientist who just wants a body to steal, he surprisingly looks the least threatening.
Turles I wish was with Nappa and Vegeta, he's a brutal fighter with some vicious attacks.
Lord Slug is dumb with a dumb weakness, doesn't give nameks much to be proud of.
Cooler started as a more competent Freiza but ultimately became Freiza by the end.
Meta Cooler didn't feel like an upgrade as he was mass produced so his impact is not that great in the movie.
Android 13 felt like the Android final boss we deserved until we got Cell. Ruthless and brutal and punches Goku in the balls.
Broly is probably the best movie villain ever produced, it's no surprise he was built into the canon for Super but his motivation is pathetic.
Bojack having to follow Broly and 13 and the fact that it's another over roided character is just a tired concept by this point and we need some creativity.
Broly MK 2 is not what I meant, he feels less intimidating now and you kinda think that Gohan should've won.
Bio Broly is embarrassing nothing more.
Janemba thank you, you actually have a villain that is good enough to be canon and better than Majin Buu.
Hirudegarn felt like a homage to Toriyama's Chrono Trigger as it feels like a reject monster design, still it's rare to see a proper kaiju in DBZ.
Garlic Jr 6.8/10
Dr Wheelo 5.9/10
Turles 8.7/10
Lord Slug 4.3/10
Cooler 7.3/10
Meta Cooler 5.9/10
Android 13 8.5/10
Broly 8.9/10
Bojack 7.0/10
Broly MK2 7.2/10
Bio Broly 1.3/10
Janemba 9.6/10
Hirudegarn 8.0/10
