Looking back on.. Archives » Page 11 of 18

Karate Kid Trilogy starts classic, gets weird, then rehashes

08/05/201701/22/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

I’d never seen the Karate Kid in my life, only parts of it as a child however because of cultural references and parodies I definitely knew most of the iconic parts of it. I was always curious to watch it and many times almost bought the movie collections but never did. A few weeks ago I saw that they were all on Netflix and when I saw the animated show would be taken off in just a few days it was my cue to finally watch the movies since I am a completist. Let’s see how the series does to someone with no nostalgia for it. Today we take a look at the original trilogy and tomorrow at the other sequels.

The Karate Kid
The 1984 movie is definitely a bit dated in some aspects but its a fantastic movie even today. The pacing of the movie actually surprised me since I expected it to be a little more “by the book” and based on the parodies I thought I knew how everything would go but it had plenty of surprises for me. It’s a feel good coming of age movie that deserves the classic spot that it has cemented. Definitely worth a watch for fans of martial arts movies. Daniel-San and Mr. Miyagi are characters that are very memorable.

Return to the Planet of the apes is weirder than the movies

07/30/201701/22/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Looking back on..

Planet of the Apes was one of the most successful franchises in its day having 5 movies total in its original run a TV show and even a cartoon. Since then it’s also one of the few franchises that was able to have a reboot as successful as the original but today we’ll only talk about the animated show that The Planet of the Apes had and why it deserves to have that name.

The show is not in direct continuity with the movies, but this is not some Saturday morning kid friendly version of the franchise. In fact it doesn’t really feel at all like a cartoon for kids most of the time. There is an ongoing plot and continuity within episodes as well as complex relationships. Some episodes do fall into the children’s cartoon mold but I was surprised by how different it felt.

Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law was Adult Swim at its finest

07/29/201701/22/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Looking back on..

Adult Swim has changed a lot through out its life but one thing it has always done is experiment. In the early days their shows definitely had a different style than they do now. I do think some of the original shows had a certain charm though, since back then they really weren’t a big programming block and they were still growing. Following the style of Space Ghost Coast to Coast of using an old Hanna-Barbera character Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law was created.

The show follows Harvey Birdman who has now retired from superheroing and became a Lawyer. Unlike Space Ghost the show mostly features original animation and not just stock footage as they had a bigger budget and the stock footage look is mostly done for style than anything else.

Toxic Crusaders works as an Ecological Troma cartoon

07/23/201701/22/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Looking back on..

The Toxic Crusaders were set to be the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even got top treatment in the toy department on behalf of Playmates. While it may seem odd to adapt an animated show from The Toxic Avenger which was not kid friendly, it had been done before. The show failed to catch … Read More “Toxic Crusaders works as an Ecological Troma cartoon” »

Dofus: The Treasures of Kerubim & Dofus Book I: Julith the Wakfu prequels

07/22/201701/22/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Looking back on..

When I watch a something I like to watch everything ever made for it which can cause problems many times and it did when I watched Wakfu and became a fan of it. I researched and saw that there was another animated show in the Wakfu universe called Dofus aux trésors de Kérubim and even a movie Dofus Book I: Julith.

It was a bit hard to find any info on it and if you asked fans of Wakfu they would dismiss the show as it being bad and not worth watching besides the first two episodes and the movie. But is it really that bad of a show? I had to watch it for the above reasons anywho so were the general opinions of the show correct?

The Toxic Avenger Movies, Every Troma Quadrilogy

07/16/201701/20/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Looking back on..

I grew up with my Toxic Crusaders toys and always wanted to check out the source material which was The Toxic Avenger but since I’m not usually a fan of this type of b-movies, though I do enjoy one from time to time. I got in the mood to watch them and checked all four films out to see what they were all about. So let’s enter Tromaville and see what the Toxic Avenger franchise has to offer.

The Toxic Avenger

Wakfu is the best cartoon in recent decades Season 1 and 2

07/15/201701/20/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Le Coin Français, Looking back on..

When Wakfu came out it quickly became a cult hit and it had a small but excited fan base that shared it around and recommended it. Hailed as the revival of French animation I was curious to check it out but put off that it was based on a video game that I had no intention of ever playing. So how exactly is Wakfu? Is it actually any good? Well let’s take a look at the first two seasons that started the franchise.

Wakfu is one of those rare treats that come out of nowhere and deliver. What we have here is a very polished show with not only beautiful animation but an extremely interesting world and a large memorable cast of characters. The show does constant world building which if you are familiar with other Wakfu media you’ll be able to dwell deeper into other aspects of the Wakfu world. I was amazed by how unique and fun this world is and just want to see more of it.