Welcome to the Anime Walk of Fame, a series of retrospectives on the many characters of the anime world. You'll see all your favorites along with a few that deserve more than their reputations give.

So sit back relax and enjoy the show.

Gojo's Creation Came From a Real Cosplay Story

A wholesome story for Christmas.

My Dress-Up Darling is the wholesome anime from early 2022 about Gojo, who enjoys making Hina Dolls but keeps it secret due to bullying in the past, after meeting Marin who loves cosplaying, she convinces him to create cosplay for her which allows him to pursue his passion without being judged as Marin supports him throughout.
Mangaka Shinichi Fukuda came up with the premise for My Dress-Up Darling when he met an upset cosplayer who was going through some trouble with their partner being forced to choose between cosplaying and their relationship.
So he created a romance series where the relationship is formed through cosplay, so making Gojo a tailor and Marin the model was the perfect recipe for a wholesome series and I hope the cosplayer found a partner who supports their passion.
The anime was already wholesome so this just makes it all the more sweeter.

Deku Feels More Real

I'm sure this anime will give me more to talk about in the future but for now, let's discuss Deku.

Deku amongst his peers, stands out like a sore thumb, while he's definitely heroic, he cries frequently, he felt out of his depth especially early on, he's constantly injuring himself just even trying to use his quirk and finally, he can't really get serious.
Goku has his Super Saiyan look, Luffy has Haki, Naruto has Kurama, even Gon has that stupid muscular form with mile long hair, Deku can get serious but always looks like he's forcing it, it never seems natural.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing, Deku feels more real as a character as a result and really, this is probably how a child would learn about controlling their own super powers, Deku's inherited quirk is stupidly overpowered so having him learn quite a hard way of mastering it was the best way and suits his less masculine persona.
Yeah Deku is the least masculine of all the shonen protagonists, even more so than Ash Ketchum which is quite an achievement.
Any wonder that many fans suspect that Deku was meant to be a female character.

All Might Shows A Dark Reality

One thing I do appreciate about My Hero Academia is the hidden depths the story has on how heroes operate and All Might is the one to introduce that.

When we meet All Might, the man behind it, he's a skinny weak man past his prime and slowly dying from an injury sustained long ago, he talks up justice and being a hero as a show for the media and will actively do hero work but is getting weaker by the day.
As much as it pained Deku to see his hero tell him the harsh reality of hero work, it was for his own good, as it created a much better narrative for his development unlike Naruto who was given a head start with the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
He's no Master Roshi, Silvers Raleigh, Jiraiya or Genkai but All Might's world is much more cruel especially as quirks are way more balanced as a power compared to Saiyans, Ninjitsu, Devil Fruit and Spirit Power.
If Quirks were written like the powers I mentioned, My Hero Academia would fail miserably as an anime, yes One For All is ridiculously OP but having Deku learn to control it with serious injury or worse as a consequence for failing gives him a target to work towards and All Might has already proved as early as episode 2 that you need a healthy body to handle it.

I Really Don't Like Bakugo

So the big foreshadowing from a couple of days ago is that I'm finally watching My Hero Academia, my review is arriving on the final day of Advent, in the meantime let's talk Bakugo.

Katsuki Bakugo is a hero really full of himself being intelligent and powerful but has a stick up his ass about Deku, utterly paranoid about losing to him and has the worst temper in anime history, Basically he's the poorest imitation of the edgy anti hero.
I knew he was bad going into this series but my god! He's such an entitled little shit, he's supposed to be in the same group of people as Hiei and Vegeta but doesn't deserve to even be in the same room as them, they had actual character development, the whole point of their arcs especially Vegeta, whose personality is more similar to Bakugo is accepting that he's been surpassed and setting aside pride for the greater good.
While Bakugo does eventually stop being a prick, it took way too long when it should've been resolved by the 8th episode of season 1 when he actually realizes he's not the best hero in class and Deku had defeated him with a quirk he couldn't control yet.
So were stuck instead with seasons of Bakugo being the most insufferable ass hat ever put to paper.
Someone explain why he's so popular?

Team Star Were Never Villains

How did this month end up being a Pokemon season?

Team Star aren't exactly villains but are actually the hardest of the three quests, while Gyms and Titan battles have been done in the past no one has ever done what Team Star did, the only close comparison would be Pokewood Studios as it's the only game where you fight non Pokemon, this is made obvious with the Revavroom cars.
Also instead of waves of grunts you do the new quick battle mechanic which cuts so much time.
Now onto the five themselves; the story goes that all of them were bullied for different reasons, alot of which will feel close to home for many especially if they've been to a school where this sort of thing is overlooked, this will be in order of power.
Giacomo was bullied for being the straight laced rule obsessed student president and was driven out of his role.
Mela was bullied for her appearance which she retaliated with a shift in personality that is aggressive, in reality she's shy although you wouldn't know from the enormous boots.
Atticus was bullied for being too feminine, his interests isolating him from other people, all too familiar for anyone with even remotely different interests to the norm.
Ortega was bullied for his snobbish attitude and looking down on others, out of the team he gets the least sympathy from me.
Eri was bullied as a result of a popularity clash with another girl yet she's the nicest most pleasant girl around, I can believe her to be very beautiful behind the wrestling face paint and wouldn't allow her followers to get hurt.
Team Star under Cassiopeia were made to stop bullying but ended up driving their bullies out of the Academy, Cassiopeia took the fall and left for Galar while the leaders formed their bases and played the villains of the Academy until the player steps in with the returning Cassiopeia to begin Operation Starfall.
Truly the best story of the game.