Tag Archives: anime

The problem with..

The problem with… Pokemon I choose You! Movie Reboot 20

The 20th Pokemon movie to celebrate 20 the past two decades of the anime by adapting the first episode in movie form. Except they decided to add new Pokemon, change the cast and not really adapt much. People had mixed opinions but I decided to go watch it despite mixed reviews as it was very tempting. It was a limited release yet 10 minutes from my house, nostalgic to watch a Pokemon on the big screen which I haven’t since Pokemon 2000, and a free card like back in the day, and Ash’s Pikachu card for god’s sake, this wasn’t any normal card. Not to mention Movie Ash Hat Pikachu code which they didn’t even make it compatible with all Gen VII games.

pokemon 20 pikachu ash's card

So how was the movie? I had heard bad stuff but also some good stuff but in the end I agree with it being crap. So let’s take a look at the problems the movie has as well as some solutions at the end. The dub was awful, the music was horrible including the season 1 theme ugh, the animation actually seemed inferior as well.
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Video Classic

3 French Cartoon Openings / Intros

When cartoons get dubbed they normally change the lyrics to the opening songs as well. Today sounds like a good day to take a look at three different cartoons and their respective french intros that they had. You’ll also find the lyrics below each video as well as a translation to the lyrics in case you want to follow along and practice your French.

Tortues Ninja (Générique TV – FR 1987)

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon opening
is really quite something, while using the same beat of the original and animation the lyrics take a whole different spin that tells a slightly different take on them and finding more similarities with the Mirage comics version of the TMNT than the more kid friendly cartoon would have. They’re avenging Splinter against their fatal enemy the Shredder, they are authoritarian and make the law, the turtles are “hellish” and Kowabunga is not a catchphrase but their battle cry. Jeeze, the opening makes me want to check this interpretation of the show instead of just the regular old cartoon.
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Looking back on..

Death Note 2017 Netflix’s Live Action

The American Live Action Death Note movie on Netflix has been causing a lot of controversy and already has this negative stigma from the press and fans. I decided to give the movie a shot without having any previous bias against it and see how it held up as I’m sure the general consensus will be to bash it no matter what so it already had a tough fight ahead of it before anyone even saw it. As I watched it I didn’t want to compare it directly and would be open to changes if it.

Death Note 2017 Netflix L Light

Even without being a purist and thinking that the anime has many problems this movie does mess a lot of things up. There’ll be some light spoilers but nothing huge. Light’s character is different but for the most part I don’t think it breaks the character too much, his biggest flaw is how stupid and careless he is, even by normal person’s standard and not Light. Ryuk was handled well for the most part though his introduction was a bit over the top and I would’ve preferred if he was used more subtly.
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Looking back on..

Looking back on.. Ranma 1/2 Complete Series, Movies, OVAs, Oh My!

Ranma 1/2 in the 90s became a gateway drug of sorts to fans in America since it was one of the first popular VHS titles that you could get with three episodes each since anime was still in its infancy. The show was also quite popular in all of Latin America and Europe where anime was already in the boom period pretty much everywhere else. Was it a great show or just a product of its time?

Ranma 1/2 full cast

I loved it as a kid and most of my waifus came from this show as it came at the right time for me to be able to appreciate what was being shown as well as fully appreciate the humor. After watching it all I can say it is just as good as I remember if not better.

Ranma 1/2 Car image
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Looking back on..

Monster Rancher Anime ..A look back

Monster Rancher was a show I was never interested as a kid since I just saw it as an other Pokemon rip-off but one day I found a DVD for cheap and decided to check it out and realized the show was very different from what I imagined and kind of fun. Not only that but the games seemed very interesting with the whole discs into monsters gimmick. So how does the anime hold up many years after the Pokemon fad came went and returned? Let’s find out.

The anime is divided into two series, which each consists of a story arc. Series 1 is fun but very episodic in the beginning and only later it does it get going with the story. The show does reek of 90s anime dubs from the voices to the censoring and dialog in general. The show is nothing like Pokemon however and is a lot more like a generic quest that many animes have. You have the big bad and his 4 generals who are somewhat interesting and eventually of course they are defeated.
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Looking back on..

Dinosaur King Anime Review .. A look back

Dinosaur king

I stumbled into this show on TV once and thought it was just another Pokemon rip-off with Dinosaurs and dismissed it as just another copy cat that came out many years too late to cash in but while that is basically the DNA of the show it’s not that simple. One day I stumbled into it again and decided to check it out. So why don’t we take a look at this Pokemon inspired show that has Dinosaurs instead of pocket monsters to fight, what could be more awesome than two of my favorite things combined?

Let’s begin with the boring stuff..The theme song I found very annoying but it grew on me over time and I like it now oddly enough. The show is a 4Kids Dub and like most of their shows it has a new soundtrack which sucks but this really isn’t a show I’d be willing to read subtitles for, its dumb fun and I just want to turn my brain off. There are also instances of censorship but it was hard to find out what exactly was cut, I know there were dinosaur poop jokes that were cut and I think some sexual content but I’m unsure about what other stuff was cut. Now to the dinosaurs..
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Looking back on..

Sonic X Anime and OVAs.. A look back on

Sonic has had a variety of cartoons but not only in the west but it has also gotten a few japanese animated shows, well one anime Sonic X and two OAVs which were edited and sold as a movie around the world. The Western cartoons diverged from the source material and incorporated plenty of original stuff but how did the Japanese handle the blue blur?

Sonic X

When you start watching Sonic X and get done with the first episode, you realize how amazing it was and that it’s the Sonic cartoon you always wanted to watch. You tune in to the next episode only to encounter a radical change. The characters go to Earth after the awesome confrontation with Dr. Eggman. The concept of the show after this pretty much feels like it was made by an American company..You have a kid main character who is meant to relate with the padawans and you have a very episodic premise for the anime.

The show is very slapstick, not unlike adventures of sonic the hedgehog, in fact there are a lot of similarities between them and it wouldn’t surprise me if they used Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog as an inspiration of sorts. They have two robots that are just like Grounder and Scratch which aren’t too bad but also not as likable as the other two. Chris and his family are just annoying and uninteresting characters with the exception of maybe Chris’s grandfather. I also just hate the setting on earth for the show and only makes you wish they had never left their original planet. Its a very kid oriented show thanks to Chris and it makes you loathe the character since all the interesting parts are when he has nothing to do with the plot or he isn’t around but yet he is there for most of the show. It just goes to show a Sonic cartoon can be very interesting if you cut down the human side.

After the first 13 episodes you get a small season finale with them beating Dr. Robotnik…err Dr. Eggman which isn\t bad. After this they start adapting different sonic videogames from that era like Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventuer 2 and Sonic Advanced 2. You’d think the show would get better since it is no longer episodic but you are wrong since it feels like you are watching video game cut scenes and as much as you can enjoy FMV it isn’t the same if there is no gameplay in between them so it’s just boring. But not only that, they are indeed more boring since they tweak details from the games to incorporate Chris into them which slightly changes the storyline to make it fit into this universe and it’s not usually good.

So yeah it isn’t as great as you think and the pacing continues to be really bad in this part of the show. There was a lot of controversy with the voice actors after Sega of America replaced the videogames voice actors with the Sonic X ones but as much as I liked the original actors however I don’t really have many complains with the voices 4Kids gave them and I think they fit the roles rather nicely for the show. Now my absolutely favorite character from the show is an original character named Bokkun who doesnt even have a japanese name but who is absolutely awesome. I love his voice and how he acts he is so adorable and it is a shame he hasn’t been incorporated into other Sonic universes. I watched the dubbed version because as much as I hate things being edited, I really like the voices and I didn’t feel like reading subtitles for a show like Sonic, so having 2 minutes cut from an episode wasn’t that bad for me. I don’t mind changing a bullet sound to a laser sound at all, it bothers me more knowing they changed the music.

Now Series 2 as it is called in Japan or season 3 everywhere else is a bit different, after the first series you get a finale for the characters with each having closure but the new series is a nice way to get back into the action. Since they had adapted pretty much all the games by that point they go a different route which normally can create some great story arcs in anime when they have no restrictions, this is why I always loved filler arcs. They have some new villains named Metarax and the show takes place in the Sonic Universe they came from instead of Earth but…..you still have Chris and sadly he is still as annoying as he was int he first series, the darker plot has its pros and cons since it is indeed more interesting in some aspects but also falls back to the boring Sonic X we know. This is the show that introduced one of the most annoying characters in the Sonic Universe ever created which is Cream and Cheese, I can be pretty tolerant to some things but overall I really couldn’t stand her at all or even understand the point of her existence.

Some of the deaths are censored but it doesn’t hurt the storylines a lot. It really makes you wonder what the hell Sonic sees in Chris to want to be his friend and put up with his whims. Counting the show doesn’t take place on the Sonic side of the universe and it’s never mentioned it could easily be Planet Mobius from the previous cartoons counting how similar it is to AOSTH and also a more serious side like SATAM it isn’t that far off. The show has a nice ending and overall as much as I ragged on the show it has enough memorable moments and enough moments with Sonic characters acting cool that it makes it worth putting up with Chris’ crap.

Sonic The Hedgehog The Movie OAV Welcome to Eggmanland – Sonic VS Metal Sonic

Now let’s talk about the original Sonic Anime which the US version is called a hackjob of the two OVAs, I am not really that familiar but from what I know nothing is cut that drastically so I wouldn’t go that far. The voices are quite terrible but the biggest problem the movie has is the plot is just stupid and nonsensical. That has nothing to do with the dub or with splicing them together as a movie, I mean one does lead to another so it doesn’t make sense that by placing them together they are messing it up.

It is a nice piece of animated Sonic but it really isn’t that much closer to the games than Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Knuckles acts fairly off character than what you’d expect, like Knuckles calling Sonic his best friend and wearing a cowboy hat. Metal Sonic isn’t much better either but seeing him race Sonic is indeed cool. Its just all the new characters for this movie are absolutely terrible. Nonetheless the movie will always be remembered for having Sonic flip of Dr. Eggman.

You have Princess Sara who lives in this universe and is constantly harrased by Dr. Eggman like your normal cliche you can expect form anime. She has a tail too and for the most part isn’t too bad of a character and the most memorable one from the other ones they created.

It’s worth watching only to see some nicely animated version of Sonic but there isn’t much more to it than this. This also works out as a prequel of sorts to the Sonic X anime, not really meant to but why the heck not? Its an adventure that takes place before they go to Earth and for the most part all the characters act in character with the exception of Knuckles.