Looney Tunes has been a staple of the cartoon world for over 85 years but there are few things you may not have realized about your favorite characters, here are 10 things you may not have noticed about the Looney Tunes.
1. Reusing Scenes
It's not uncommon for the Looney Tunes shorts to reuse scenes, there are several shorts that are similar to one another and certain gags are reused constantly, Road Runner being a notorious case but Bugs Bunny wasn't exactly immune to it and Looney Tunes isn't beyond using clip shows either.
2. Lost Cartoons
There are a number cartoons made by Warner Bros which were shown exclusively to the US armed forces, which includes the character Private Snafu, designed to improve troop morale and instruct on what not to do in certain scenarios. The name Snafu is an acronym meaning Situation Normal: All F***** Up, which is normal army slang used at the time. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh that's why My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU is named like that.
3. Dr. Seuss
Continuing from number 2, Dr. Seuss famous for children's books such as the Cat in the Hat made Private Snafu for Warner Bros among other World War II shorts.
4. Go Go Dodo
Ever wondered who the Tiny Toons Character Go Go Dodo was based on? Well the Dodo first appeared in the Porky Pig short in 1938 "Porky in Wackyland" which redefines the term acid trip if you ever watch it.
5. Gophers Mac & Tosh
The Gophers Mac & Tosh, often referred to as the Goofy Gophers would easily be mistaken as homosexual stereotypes when in fact they were based on the mannerisms of early 20th century comic strip Alphonse and Gaston, however if you consider the Looney Tunes Show as canon they are confirmed as a gay couple.
6. Speedy Gonzales
It's been heavily implied in many of the shorts that Speedy Gonzales is a pimp, usually from rumors spread by the other mice of Mexico.
7. Cecil Turtle
Cecil Turtle is the only character who has never lost to Bugs Bunny.
8. Greatest Cartoon
What's Opera Doc? is considered the greatest cartoon short of all time from the opinion of over a 1,000 professional animators, numerous other Looney Tunes shorts also appear on the Top 50 Short List.
9. Live Action Bugs Bunny
Way before Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Bugs Bunny had cameos in two classic Hollywood Films, "Two Guys From Texas" and "My Dream is Yours" although Jerry Mouse has Bugs Bunny beaten on the cartoon in live action movie in "Anchors Aweigh" which predates the earliest Bugs Bunny cameo by about three years.
10. All Looney Tunes Shorts are actually Hollywood Shorts
Breaking the forth wall is nothing unusual in Looney Tunes cartoons but numerous times particularly in the Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny shorts show that the characters are aware that they are all actors working for Warner Bros as they reference contracts, poor working conditions and the fact that some cartoons even cut the reel strip or even out right mention that "this is an animated cartoon" as spoken by Daffy Duck in "Duck Amuck"
I'm back peeps, wishing I had more time to do reviews, hoping this one can jump start another run as I review Yo-Kai Watch.
Nate is a young boy who stumbles on a capsule machine which in turn frees the Yokai spirit Whisper, in return for helping him out and the fact that Nate can see these creatures called Yokai, sees Nate get rewarded the Yokai Watch, a device that can help find and see other Yokai, together Nate and Whisper capture different Yokai who cause problems in their town.
I'm not going to pull punches, this is simply a very, very Japanese Pokemon only without the epic journey and the dramatic battles; saying that, Yo-Kai Watch is very clever with it's plot. Essentially it takes the entirety of Japanese Folklore and applies it to a setting that essentially says that all lifes little niggling issues are caused by a Yokai, which actually clicked with Western Audiences particularly the already well versed anime crowd in the 20-35 age category, this is despite the fact that it's essentially the most Japanese of Anime to hit a mainstream cartoon channel.
It's not without problems, side characters are really, really bland, certain design choices can go from creative to surreal to run-out-of-ideas in a full season, there's more to Japanese spirits than just cats you know and Nate himself is not really that interesting. Dub is passable, only because Whisper has this bizarre accent that you cannot unhear.
Despite that, the anime is actually very good and as an ambassador and representitive for what is classed as mainstream anime in Japan, it's better than Sazae San, it's better than Doraemon, it's better than Crayon Shin Chan but nowhere near as good as Kochikame.
Final Verdict: It's doing a better job of advertising Japan than it's contemporaries, and while I wouldn't rate it the best anime to ever come out of Japan I certainly rate it high enough to warrant a watch.
More reviews coming up and we return to Street Fighter.
I said in my Street Fighter Alpha Movie review that there was a great movie hidden inside the franchise and while it still hasn't materialized yet I do remember that this series, Street Fighter II Victory had a good go at really making a good series.
It starts off with Ryu and Ken reuniting in America after so many years as the two were training partners under the same master, but after a bar brawl which ends in both characters being defeated brutally by Guile, the two realize that their training hasn't fully prepared them for the world so they take a journey around the world to fight the world's best fighters which eventually leads to them crossing fists with Shadoloo.
A few things differ drastically from other films and shows such as the designs of the characters not being accurate to the game, but while some redesigns are great like Chun Li who is less muscle woman and more cute fighter girl while others like Sagat who looks like a completely different character altogether.
Also the action can be a little bit hit and miss, some fights are really brutal while others kind of hold back a bit too much leading to some moments when clashes are defined by flashing lights so this series isn't for people with epilepsy.
The dub was so messed up that they ended up with two different dubs and one of them had to replace actors half way so I'd stick with the Japanese.
And finally the pacing is dismally slow, the moments when the characters have to endure painfully long dialogue or go through shopping montages or showing scenes of endless travelling before every fight scene can be off putting.
Not all the characters are used either, of the 17 characters at the time, E.Honda, Blanka, T.Hawk and Deejay aren't used while Akuma is reduced to cameos.
But I do forgive a lot of it's short comings because this is the perfect way to tell Street Fighter's story. The story understands that Ryu and Ken are Martial Artists before they are anything else and the only way to achieve a path of strength and resolve is to travel and seek other fighters who are like them and should only cross Shadoloo by chance rather than be forced to get involved by the villain abducting everyone, and while that does happen, it happens near the end and doesn't disrupt the story too much and were not subjected to too much of the fighting genres horrid pitfalls and cliches either.
Final Verdict: While it suffers with poor pacing, questionable art choices, horrid dubbing and giving people epilepsy it does come up with a good story that suits the Street Fighter universe better than it's other animated shows, live action movies and even some of the games.
Next on the list is Disgaea, this might be a doozy.
Two years ago, the angel apprentice Flonne was sent to the Netherworld to assassinate King Krichevskoy, however she appears to have been beaten to it as the castle is on fire and the King appears to already be dead, instead she finds Laharl inside of the King's coffin who is also the King's son. Flonne gets dragged into Laharl's mission to reclaim the Kingdom along with his subordinate Etna and an army of Prinnies who are demonic penguins controlled by the souls of sinful humans. Along the way they run into a space captain and his motley crew of sci-fi homages as well as Flonne's employer and a charismatic demon dubbed Mid boss. All the while Etna is plotting a takeover of the Kingdom and Flonne tries to teach love to Laharl.
Now I'd never played Disgaea before this but this isn't how I envisioned it in anime form, now I heard there were lots of drastic changes before production but what we had was not good. The characters are annoying, the dialogue is annoying along with the dub, the story is bland and doesn't really go anywhere and it feels like a kids show, I just really didn't like it and even though I do own the DS remake of the first Disgaea game I feel reluctant to play it because of this anime.
Not a good advert to get people to play the games.
Final Verdict: It behaves like a 4Kids show and has the cheesiness to match, I really hope this isn't what the game is like otherwise I may never play it.
Lots of reviews to come as I've been clearing up some old DVDs starting things off with Street Fighter Alpha the Movie.
No relation to the other Street Fighter movie Street Fighter Alpha the movie sets off with Sakura chasing Ryu, Chun Li stopping Shadoloo and Ryu mourning the death of his master while contemplating the effects of the Dark Hadou, the same power that consumed Akuma, then a vision from Rose brings more questions about the Dark Hadou, followed by the appearances of Shun and Ken. Shun is a kid who believes he's Ryu's brother and was sent to Ryu from his dying mother and already has some potential as a fighter if a little sadistic, while with Ken the two friends spar but Ryu starts succumbing to the Dark Hadou only for Ken to stop him. Later on Ken and Shun decide to enter an underground fighting tournament but things go wrong quickly as Shun is beaten by Zangief, Ryu then nearly kills Zangief in a rage and after a few exchanges with Shadoloo in which Ryu kills one of the Shadoloo fighters, Shun gets abducted.
After a brief exchange with Akuma, Ryu along with Chun Li, Ken and a multitude of other fighters travel to the Shadoloo HQ to take down it's leader Sadler, although some fighters are just here for a tournament. After several exchanges between fighters including the big muscle guy from the underground arena, Ryu is pushed into using the Dark Hadou but with Shun being used as a human battery to power the big muscle guy he ends up taking the damage, this then gives Sadler enough power to try and kill Ryu who used the tournament to steal fighting potential from the other fighters but Ryu manages to overcome his darkness to kill Sadler; afterwards Shun dies from his injuries admitting that he lied about being Ryu's brother and was sent by Shadoloo to lure Ryu into Shadoloo's clutches in exchange for his mother's health but she died anyway. The epilogue shows the fighters returning to normal with Ryu fighting Akuma off screen.
This film is a mess, I don't think the film makers actually played or even attempted to research what Street Fighter Alpha was, so much of the cast is under used or not used at all despite all of them having much more compelling backstories than we had with Shun who we are supposed to care about yet I really wanted to see him die because he was just a sadistic little freak, his lie was so obvious that no intelligent person watching would fall for it, and the villains, oh god, at least Bison had charisma Sadler is just dull in comparison and his henchman while looking awesome in design, really should have more to him than just being a grinning metal doll. The fights were okay but I didn't feel invested in them, dubbing was okay at least and the art style repairs some of the damage but not all of it.
I feel there is a great movie in the Street Fighter Franchise but time and time again the story is done so poorly that we are constantly left with mediocrity, the closest to being good was the Animated Street Fighter II movie which while having it's issues got a lot more right than all it's other films and tv shows.
Final Verdict: It looks good in action and in art style but I don't feel invested because were stuck with bland characters that have no business being in the Street Fighter Franchise.
