Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.
Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.
Let it be said that I'm a lot more optimistic about the future of Western Cartoons knowing that some good shows are still being made despite Gravity Falls ending and a certain selection of utter rubbish is still airing. So today from the good camp is Penn Zero.
Penn is an ordinary child until he discovers that his parents are trapped in another dimension, his parents are Part Time Heroes, saving dimensions who struggle to handle issues on their own, this discovery puts Penn Zero on his path to becoming a Part Time Hero and saving Dimensions with his two friends against part time villains being two of his teachers.
This show has a great understanding of it's pop culture references and the art style lends itself beautifully to all the episodes set in the alternative worlds which are very creative and very clever; some places worthy or noting, Disney Style Fantasy land where Penn is the Princess singing in musical format, the Wacky Races style Clown racing world, the Top Gun themed Dragon Flying Academy, (Surprised My Little Pony didn't think of it first) War movie played out by action figures and James Bond Espionage as Cavemen. That's just a taster of what to expect from this cartoon and it's been renewed for another season so well done Penn Zero.
More shows like this please.
This is an old post rehashed into a review using some old script and some new this is my review on Dragon Half
Mink is a Dragon Half born to a Red Dragon Mother and a Knight Father known famous for being Rouce the Red Lightning. The King wanting to take Mink's mother as his own ends up taking Mink instead only to start a number of humorous events in which the King tries to capture Mink, sending hammy knights, his own sorceress daughter, his sorcerer aide, the Warlock's Son and even Mink's Idol Dick Saucer. Meanwhile Mink and friends' mission is to obtain tickets to the DIck Saucer concert using any means necessary including fighting in a martial arts tournament.
And that's the end of the OVA, at the time this was the most popular comedy in the West and was demanded several times before it all died out in the 2000s, well there are a number of reasons for this.
The official reason according to various sources was that Dragon Half bombed quite badly in it's native Japan. A four episode OVA was originally planned but never saw production beyond the two episodes we did get, which was from the first few chapters of the manga, the story expands to include a major demon Big Bad needing to be slayed with nods to popular RPG games and Nintendo classics as it's stated that some characters are offspring of Mario & Peach and Link & Zelda.
Looking back, Dragon Half is still utterly hilarious, from the Beethoven style ending theme to the overly comedic chibi style art, there's plenty to offer in this OVA and worth watching dozens of times, the dub is also hilarious with special mention to Brett Weaver's performance as Damaramu.
Final Verdict: Well remembered as the peak of classic anime comedy, Dragon Half is well missed by it's older Otaku and serves as a reminder of what could've been if it had been made a full series, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.
It's been a while peeps, while I'm taking a break from writing about my Canadian Adventure I thought I'd do a review for a recent anime I finished. This is My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU.
Hachiman Hikigaya is a loner, a number of previous situations including a car accident has forced him into this position and will likely stay that way through school as his negative persona keeps him out of social circles; the teacher Miss Hiratsuka has had enough and makes him join the service club, which kind of functions as a help service along with counseling depending on the situation. He meets another loner in Yukino Yukinoshita who has a habit of using clever language to insult Hachiman, after helping the happy go lucky Yui Yuigahama she ends up joining the club as the three form an awkward friendship as they solve the school students many problems.
When you read the title you kind of expect a Rom Com anime but what you get is a showcase of some of the worst traits in human behaviour and how it's dealt with from the eyes of people who can observe it and pass opinions on.
In a way it's got some clever writing but from what I witnessed from some of the characters I kind of feel down for knowing that this happens in real life and I can't enjoy the lighter moments in the show such as Hachiman being Yaoi for Totsuka, the long running joke of Miss Hiratsuka still being single, any moments with Hachiman's sister or any moments with Zaimokuza.
It's clear that there is comedy and there is potential romance, but it's overshadowed by some of humanity's most vile natures that SNAFU becomes a hard series to enjoy as a result, I won't write it off fully until I finish season 2 but will need to cut down on the angst and the constant scenes of Yukino insulting Hachiman as the joke has out stayed it's welcome.
No dub but I'd find it annoying if it was dubbed, so I'd stick with subtitles.
Final Verdict: It's darker moments overshadow the light hearted parts and makes for a difficult series to sit and enjoy, I will watch Season 2 to see if it can redeem itself but for now, I can't really give it a solid passing mark.
My last vault entry was somewhat terrible thanks to the crappy nature of the Return to Oz film so lets restore some faith with a bit of Disney magic with the Rescuers.
In a Bayou where an abandoned river boat lies, a young girl drops a message in a bottle, the opening scene plays out to dramatic music and water color painting of the bottle's journey all the way to New York where mice retrieve the bottle and send it to the Rescue Aid Society, a group of mice who help out in international kidnapping cases all discussed and delegated in the United Nations building. The focus is on Miss Bianca, a delegate from Hungary whose passion for her job envokes her to take on the assignment regarding the kidnapped little girl Penny. During the meeting the Janitor named Bernard, makes the suggestion that Bianca takes a co-agent but the naturally superstitious mouse is shocked when Miss Bianca picks him, not knowing that Bianca is smitten with him.
Upon investigating the kidnapping by questioning Rufus the cat at the orphanage, they are led to the main villain and the main plot. Medusa, a pawn shop owner is searching for a rare jewel known as the Devil's Eye and needs Penny to retrieve it from a catacomb only she can fit down but problems back in the Bayou with Medusa's associate Snoops unable to keep Penny in line forces her to travel to the Devil's Bayou herself to get her back using her pet crocodiles Brutus and Nero and again attempt to force her down into the Catacomb, meanwhile Bernard and Bianca travel by Albatross to the Bayou and with assistance from the locals, attempt to free Penny from Medusa's clutches.
This is one of the first Disney Films I ever watched as a child so it holds a lot of nostalgic memories for me.
But its by no means Disney's best, lets start with what I didn't like.
The big flaw of Rescuers in general is Penny, the writers can't decide whether or not she's supposed to be Prewcious, (Not a typo that is sarcasm) or female Kevin McCallister from Home Alone, what I mean is, she gets really upset in some scenes and who wouldn't be, your surrounded by crocs and the villain has no qualms about holding you at gunpoint with a shotgun, but then in other scenes is acting all resourceful and knows exactly how to plan her own escape.
There's also the infamous naked woman frame which baffles me how it even managed to get into the final cut, it's one of those uncomfortable Easter Eggs you wish you didn't find and finally they needed a voice for Evinrude, he's a fine enough character but the noise he makes is dreadful, it's like someone crossed Pokemon language with a Motorboat.
Now onto what I liked, the art is beautiful, the action has great suspense well backed up by the gloriously murky Devil's Bayou, also helped by the fact that Medusa is wonderfully psychotic in her portrayal and I love the music, but the best thing about the Rescuers is the chemistry between Bernard and Bianca, their romance is hinted at and done in a subtle enough way to allow the viewers to draw their own conclusions, this is well backed up by one of Disney's most romantic moments in the song sequence "Tomorrow is another day" which today has a more special meaning to me than it did when I first watched it.
Review time, and today we see another show on Otaku culture, this is Outbreak Company.
Shinichi Kano is an Otaku shut-in who applies for a job that requires his love of Anime, Video Games and Manga, upon succeeding in the interview, he is drugged and dragged into an alternate world, this is the Holy Eldant Empire, which Japan found by accident and now wants to create diplomatic relations by spreading Otaku culture into the alternate world which intrigues it's inhabitants, with his new found purpose, Kano wastes no time in spreading his culture into the world.
This show is both clever and stupid.
The Clever parts
1. The story is well written, it keeps to the subject matter without relying too much on cheap thrills.
2. Much of what is said within the story regarding the culture along with the praises and criticisms are true to real life Otaku Culture.
3. Much of what is said about Eldant's culture can also be true to real life Kingdoms in the past as well as the class systems used in today's societies.
4. The characters particularly Myucel make for an enjoyable experience.
5. The world of Eldant makes for amazing visuals.
Now the stupid parts.
1. You can see the plot twist coming a mile away.
2. Fan Service feels forced.
3. To understand the jokes you need a good knowledge of anime.
4. Many of it's best characters are under used.
5. Shinichi Kano has a nasty habit of switching from good well developed character to horrid cliche otaku fanboy without warning.
6. Petralka's voice hurts my ears.
and 7. The whole story fails to use it's potential to the fullest, I felt like there was more to offer but with only 12 episodes it never really got that far, the best episodes you're going to get from this show are the Soccer episode and the Akihabara episode, everything else is just meh.
While the dub is pretty good, Petralka has no indoor voice and makes ears bleed so Japanese subs is the best choice, this also makes the whole learning Japanese language plot point easier to understand.
Final Verdict: Whille I can see the potential Outbreak Company has to offer in it's clever writing it doesn't quite get the elements it needs to be a rousing success as the show struggles with unused potential that may never be realized.
