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 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.
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.
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.
