Posts by Kazi

The Top Ten Generic Cartoon Episode Plots Part 1

Jul28
2012 1 Comment Written by Kazi

(I Had to split this into two parts as it was getting really long)

Guys, originality, especially in writing, is hard. If you break a show or a movie down to the core, most basic definition of it’s plot, then you’ll realize that you’ve seen it somewhere before. Because of this, I believe that every show, especially cartoons, has a black hole in it. The black hole leads to an episode plot that has been seen dozens of times before. Some people try to avoid this hole at l costs, others dive right in, either to parody it, or to see if they can do it well. Thus, I’m counting down the Top Ten Plots have have been done to death! So, let’s cut the crap and get right to it!

Number 10

The “I Wanna be a Superhero!” Plot

This is the plot where one or more of the main characters tries to go out and fight crime! This plot is used all the time. And I mean ALL THE TIME. There are very few cartoons I can think of that don’t have this as an episode, some times they even use it multiple times. The TMNT fandom in particular is definitely no stranger to this premise. The first time I know of where they did this, and the best tie, when when Michelangelo dressed up and became the Turtle Titan! The episode was kinda funny, but pretty meh for the most part, though the Turtle Titan became one of Mickey’s thousands upon thousands of running jokes. It was later used again in season seven, also known as Back to the Sewers, where Raphael found a cape that gave him super powers. Unfortunately around this time in the show, he had developed from less of a bad ass and more of a comic relief character, to the dismay of his many fangirls. It was stupid. The last time it was done was in the 2007 movie, simply titled TMNT, where Raph fought crime as a vigilante called the Nightwatcher.And for some reason only Casey could tell who he was. And there was, like, this weird plot about catching monsters.

We don’t like to talk abut that movie.

Number 9

IMAGINASHUUUUUUUUN!!!!!

Now this is something that has been done to death for sure.

“Oh My, It’s raining and dreary outside, so now we can’t play even though if it was sunny out we would have spent all day on Tumblr anyway, what ever shall we dooooooooooooooo??? Oh I know! Lets use our IMAGINATION for fun times, like some sort of manchild! YAAAAAAAAY!”

Yeah, this one is just crazy over used. The Powerpuff Girls did it by pretending to be each their saving the day, and we got to see the professor in a dress. Thank you, Craig McCracken. We really needed that. This is also pretty much the plot to every single episode of the Rugrats. Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends had a neat spin on it by having the characters they made up become real thanks to Goo’s overactive imagination, and they had to fight them in a epic pretend battle. Though, for me, the best example of this would be the Adventure Time Episode where it s literally raining KNIVES outside, and when Jake leads Finn on in imaginary adventure, the things he imagines become real, but only Jake an see them. Its also the best because Finn really DOES adventure outside a lot. So it makes more sense why he would be saddened by the deadly storm. I also find it hilarious how he sees the miracle of weather and is just like, “Aw, gee, I guess we can’t play today…” As if it happens all the time. I love that show.

Number 8

The Bet

This is the episode where a character  makes a bet, only to realize that it may not be fulfilled, thus a Rocky-Style training montage ensues so that the bet can be won. This trope seems to be pretty legit, though, as a majority of the episodes I’ve seen with it are quite good, or at least  fairly decent. In the Simpsons episode, Homer at the Bat, Mr. Burns makes a bet that he can beat the other Power Plant Baseball teams, and cheats by replacing almost all the employees in his team with Baseball Stars. It’s one of the most hilarious episodes in the series. Also, in one of my favorite Daria episodes, Fat Like Me, Sandy, the president of the fashion club, gains weight, and banishes herself from the club, and Quinn accidentally does the same. In the episode, Daria and Jane make a bet to see if the Fashion Club will disband or not, and they both try encouraging Quinn to do certain things in order to shift the odds into their favor. Though the best example to me, is my favorite episode of Motorcity, Blonde Thunder. In the Episode, Chuck finally builds his own ride, but then accidentally get’s himself into a bet with the Duke of Detroit. If he wins a race, the Burners get unlimited access to all the scrapyards in Motorcity, but if he loses, the Duke gets Mike’s car, Mutt. The problem: Chuck can’t drive. I wouldn’t DARE spoil how this ends, just let me say that if your a fan of Cuteness and Dee Snider, this episode is for you.

Number 7

The Heidi Episode

Or as I like to call them, the, “You try not to cry, you know it’s coming, you don’t want it to, but you know that things gonna die, just don’t, DON’T, NO STOP, STOP CRYING, STOP MAKING ME CRY BRAIN, NO, STOP!” episode. Where the main character makes/creates a friend (Usually an animal) only for the friend to die dramatically in the end. This always leads to sad and memorable episodes, especially if you saw the episode when you were little. The Best example is the Powerpuff Girls episode of which the name I don’t remember. But you know the one. Where they try and make a forth Powerpuff girl named Bunny who ends up….Well…..Mentally Challenged. She tries to help out but ends up just doing worse, and eventually becomes unstable and gives the last of her life to save the other girls. It’s so sad that even the Narrator cries at the end! For memorability, and making little children bawl, this plot earns a special spot on the list.

Number 6

STEROIDS AHOY! :D

This is a cliche that usually only exists in action shows, as it can get pretty serious. Usually this is when one of the characters feel like they don’t contribute as much, or just don’t feel like they’re up to their full potential. So they use STEROIDS!!!!! It starts out with it being great, then they get a little crazy then they do something really crazy, then something happens to cause them to not be on steroids anymore, then they swear on the power of friendship and the heart of the cards that they’ll never do it again. This was a subplot in Young Justice, as Super boy was using steroids to achieve his full potential, it was in a leaked episode of Motorcity (The best example of them all in fact, but I won’t talk about it since the fanbase swore not to talk about the episode until it came out officially), and it was an episode of Transformers: Prime, which had the best exchange ever. And I’m gong to share it with you all.

Megatron: You think you can beat me? You’re only a medic!

Ratchet: I’m not just a medic, I’m your DOCTOR OF DOOM!!!!!

*Ratchet then punches Megatron in the face in slow motion*

And that’s the first five greatest Generic Cartoon Plots! Come back next time for the second part!

Your Devoted Critic,

Kamacazi (Kazi) Koiwai

Posted in Cool Stuff, Pop Culture

Kazi Overanalyses- That One Episode Of The Powerpuff Girls

Jul21
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Kazi

Okay, so, I was watching Boomerang, and the Powerpuff Girls came on. I love that show to death so of course I watched it. And the episode (I forget what it was called) was mainly a clip show with one of the first episodes. (Y’know, the one where Mojo jojo turns everyone into dogs), and the narrative is Mojo jojo retelling the story to the Powerpuff Girls, trying to explain to the how he messed up the first time, and now He’s going to do the exact same plan again, but this time slightly different.

In the episode, Blossom comments

“Wait a sec, ow are you getting all this footage???”

and Buttercup adds,

“Yeah, do you just have cameras all over the world r something?”

To this, Mojo jojo replies with,

“Yes. Now shut up!”

So, wait, just what if,

Now hear me out guys,

What if,

When we watch every episode of the Powerpuff Girls,

Were actually watching,

Mojo jojo’s footage!

It’s like

Like

Paranormal Activity!

But, Y’know,

With like,

Powerpuff Girls

And no ghosts

Most of the time.

Yeah.

Think about it.

Your Devoted Critic,

Kamacazi (Kazi) Koiwai

SIDE NOTE:

Sorry, guys, I know this is major filler, but I’ve been working hard on the Very first MOTORCITY MOVIE NIGHT! Where I’m going to stream every single episode of Motorcity in a grand marathon! (Including a leaked episode which may or may not air on TV)

If you wanna join in on the fun, follow me on Tumblr! I’ll be posting information about the stream, as well as other awesome junk!

Next week,I’ll post something serious, I promise. In fact, I’ll do y’all a favor and just come out and say what it’ll be.

Next week I’ll be posting the Top Ten Generic Cartoon Episode Plots!!!!!

Until next time! See y’all!

Posted in Cool Stuff, Pop Culture, The Blog - Tagged ,

Kazi’s First Impressions- Gravity Falls

Jun30
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Kazi

Opening

So, thanks to my last review and my last Top Ten, I think it’s been well established that I’m just doing whatever he hell I want. So, your either gonna sit tight and enjoy it, or get outta my store, we don’t take kindly to your kind. (Well, y’know, except that this website isn’t mine, it’s Syyiailea’s, but if your really gonna get prejudice about what I post, then go watch his reviews instead.)

ANYWAY, so thanks to the glory of the new shows Motorcity, and Ultimate Spiderman, it seems like Disney is finally starting to pull themselves outta the gutter, and return to their former glory. And just last Friday, another new show came out called Gravity Falls. I was curious about this show, because basically this show took the premise of The Secret Saturdays, knew how stupid it was, and played it for comedy justly. Also, the animation style intrigued me, with it being animated with hand drawn (Well, if you call using a tablet hand drawn) cells, yet having the art style of a Flash animated cartoon. Also, with two new action shows out that rule, I was wondering if Disney was gonna get their act together in the comedy department. Sure, they have Phineas and Ferb, but c’mon, you know it, I know it, everyone knows it, nobody could give a rats ass about weather Candice is gonna bust her brothers, or whatever, we all only watch it when nothing else is on, and only for Perry the Platypus. So, now we have Gravity Falls.

The story, from what I can tell, is fairly simple. Over the summer, two twins, Mable and Dipper, go to their Uncle Stan’s house, where he has them go on crazy urban legend fighting adventures.

Now, for the characters,

Mable is cheery, optimistic, silly, random, and according to her character profile on the website, “Has knitting skills that would put any Grandma to shame.” She always see’s the bright side of any situation, and treats everything like a joke. Also, she’s the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen. Cuter then a Boston Terrier. Except when they get at their cutest, because when Boston Terriers get at their cutest, they fart. I remember I’ll be petting my Boston Terrier, Sophie, and I’ll be all like, “Awww…Sophie…AW! SOPHIE!!!! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT???? D: “But Mable never farts. She always stays cute. What were we talking about again?

Dipper is the most level headed of the group. He always plans ahead, and seems to want to do whatever he can to stay away from the stupid people trope of horror. You know, the big breasted girl who can’t act that runs upstairs instead of out the door. It’s insulting. However, he’s still a kid and still acts like one. He also seeks ADVENTURE!!!! So, he’s kind of like what you would get if you mixed Finn the Human Boy with Lisa Simpson.

Uncle Stan is cheap, irresponsible, and curmudgeonly, and while he does secretly care, he hates showing it. He’s kind of selfish too, BUT HAS A HEART OF GOLD! C:

Now, I know your thinking these characters are kind of Stereotypical, but here’s some Writing 101 from me to you, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS COMPLETELY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS ANYMORE. All writers know that, instead of trying to avoid stereotypes and ending up with an inconsistent, unlikeable character, they pick a trope they want, and develop them so that the audience sees them as more of a character then a stereotype. So, shut up. This is the first episode. There is not going to be deep character development in the first episode.

Now onto the humor. This show, is freaking hilarious.It seems to capture what I always thought was the true essence of comedy, that being putting fun characters in certain situations, so that their reactions come from how they are and feels natural, instead of just having characters doing “funny” things. For example, do Phineas and Ferb have any character traits? ANY? All I can think of is that they’re both geniuses, and Ferb says one line every episode. That’s it. So the writers just make them do funny things, and no one cares. In this show, however, you have fun characters with colorful personalities in fun situations, and thus the comedy feels natural, and is absolutely hilarious. I wouldn’t DARE spoil it for you, but just take my word for it, this is one of the funniest shows out right now, right next to Adventure Time and Dan Vs.

So, my impression so far? Give this show a watch. It’s definitely worth your time, and you won’t regret it.

Your Devoted Critic,

Kamacazi (Kazi) Koiwai

Posted in Anime

Kazi Reveiws: Cybersix

Jun24
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Kazi

Okay, okay, okay, I know what your thinking.

“What??? A review of a Canadian cartoon on an ANIME reviewing website???? Well, that must automatically mean that it sucks!”

Well, I have a very mature, thought out, and intelligent reply to that. And that reply is, “Screw you, I do what I want!”.

Though I guess this is kinda confusing, seeing as how I’m reviewing a Canadian cartoon, based on a Portuguese comic, on a website focused mainly on reviewing Japanese cartoons, while I live in America. But I figure that this series deserves some looking at. I like and all, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have any flaws. In fact it has quite a few. But, let’s stop padding this shit and just get on with the review!

Years ago, former Nazi (Or at least it’s implied) Scientist Dr.Von Reitcher had created a series of super warriors called Cybers, capable of performing feats of amazing. However, they began to defect and develop rebellious personalities, causing all of them to be destroyed, save for one named Cybersix, who had somehow escaped. ( In the comics she was saved by a villager, but the show doesn’t really specify. ) Now, under the fake name Adrian Seidleman, and disguised as a boy (I’ll get to that in a bit) she tries to live a normal life the best way she can. However, it’s seemingly impossible for her to avoid her past for her survival depends on her preying on the new minions of Von Reitcher as well as Von Reitcher’s son, Jose, constantly trying to destroy her and the unnamed city of somewhere. Also, there’s a bit of a love story between her and her fellow teacher Lucas Amato, which becomes extremely awkward since Lucas knows Adrian as a Bro, and has a crush on Cybersix.

You got that? Good. At least you can’t blame them for not giving enough credit to the kids watching this, because that is a pretty complicated story for a kids show. Let’s see how many conflicts we got here:

First off, there’s the fact that Cybersix can’t avoid the people trying to kill her because she needs to sap subsistence from the Minions. Then there’s the fact that Lucas see’s Cybersix and Adrian as two different people, meaning that our heroine is both a Bro and a girlfriend. Also there’s this one girl student that has a crush on Adrian that I forgot to mention, there’s this one homeless kid I forgot to mention, Cybersix’s side kick I forgot to mention, Cybersix’s crush on Lucas that she can never express due to the fact that, that would also mean endangering Lucas by revealing her secret identity, Then there’s the fact that Jose doesn’t think his father respects him, and finally the fact that the unnamed city is constantly under attack by SOMETHING. That’s eight big plot points, not counting minor conflicts that are usually resolved in the same episode they’re introduced in. GEEZ.

The animation for this series is pretty good. It’s no Thundercats or anything, but for a weekly series, that’s pretty freaking good. No complaints here. Though some of the character designs just….erk me. Also, the voice acting is really well done. FUN FACT TIME! Did you know that the voice actor for Lucas also played Starscream from Transformers: Armada? Not in Energon or Cybertron, though, because those series don’t exist. Transformers: Energon and Transformers: Cybertron are urban legends. Just saying. But then there’s the music. I mean, it’s okay. I love the opening theme to death. But the music is just too…. Whimsical. Too silly. It’s just out of place to me. It’s really something that can’t be explained without hearing it.

And now, I can no longer avoid it. I must explain the fact that this series is about a cross dressing superhero who shares the same voice actor as Spike the Dragon. (Just saying) Truthfully, I actually thought that this was a great idea. I mean, if there’s this absolute beautiful superhero that you just can’t take your eyes off, then nobody will suspect the GUY. Nobody will ever suspect a boy.

With the cool premise, and interesting ideas, I rather like this show, however between the out-of-place and usually distracting music, The completely non-threatening villain, and an ending that leaves behind way too many questions that need answers, I must, unfortunately, give this series a 6/10. I still recommend this show, but really it’s not something you absolutely HAVE to watch.

Your devoted Critic,

Kamacazi (Kazi) Koiwai

Posted in Cool Stuff, Pop Culture - Tagged

Kazi Over-Analyses : Cartoons in Deluxe (Motorcity)

Jun09
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Kazi

Now, thanks to my last Top Ten list, it’s pretty much no secret that I love the western animated cartoon series, Motorcity. But there’s one scene from it that never ceases to bug me. Now don’t worry, it’s not a spoiler or anything, it’s just a joke from the first episode.

Pretty much what happens in the scene is that the Female lead Julie, tricks one of the comic relief/ stupid villain right hand man, Tooley, into giving her the passcode for something. (You gotta see the episode to find out) After Tooley is tricked, he turns off the communication thing (The conversation was done over video call) and turns to a goofy cartoon starring some kind of walrus, and giggles,”Hehehe! That Walrus is stupid!”It was a pretty funny scene, but one thing bothers me:

Why are there cartoons in Deluxe?

If you don’t get what I’m talking about, let me give you the skinny.

The Plot of Motorcity is that an evil entrepreneur named Abraham Kane builds a brand new, futuristic city on top of Detroit, called Detroit Deluxe. People moved there, because Kane called it “The city of the future!” but what he didn’t tell them was that it was actually this big, totalitarian society. However, most people don’t know that they’re deprived of their freedom (Much like the humans from Wall-E). Anyway, the old Detroit, now called Motorcity, fell to ruin, however it also became a save haven from Deluxe where people who saw through Kane’s rouse could escape to. The main character is the leader to a team called The Burners, who are all escapees with a grudge against Kane, and are willing to defend Motorcity.

See the issue yet? No? Let me explain. Now, as we all know, Artists usually like to make art based on things they find wrong, whether it actually is an issue, or if they’re just looking for things to complain about. So more than likely, any artists, writers, and so on would notice what was wrong with Deluxe and try to escape to Motorcity. So, if that was the case, how could animation studio’s even exist? Hell, how could any shows in general ever exist??? The only way that was possible was if there was only one channel existing, and it was run by uncreative, unimaginative hacks. And if that was the case, who would watch any of the shows?

You could say that he could have just been watching an old cartoon from before Deluxe was built, but where would Tooley get it from? I suppose you could say he picked it up while he was on some mission in Motorcity, and okay, sure. We have seen him down there on missions before. But just look at the screens they have in both Deluxe and Motorcity!

Just weird, glowy panels. I don’t see any DVD players, or VCR’s. Hell, I don’t even know where those are projecting from. So where did Tooley get the cartoon from? Did he download it from the internet on an older computer? Because I don’t see anywhere to plug-in a flash drive. Well, y’know what? I think Kane found it for him. Because Tooley seems to be the only person that Kane kind of likes. So, yeah. I guess I just answered my own question and rendered all that complaining useless. Oh well.

Your Devoted Critic,

Kamacazi (Kazi) Koiwai

Posted in Cool Stuff, Pop Culture - Tagged ,

Kazi Reviews: Interstella 5555 (5tory of the 5ercret 5tar 5ystem)

Jun02
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Kazi

 

A few years back, Disney released a movie called Tron: Legacy. I wasn’t expecting much when I walked in that theater, just some cool special effects tied to a crap story, and that’s what I got. But after hearing that amazing soundtrack, I was convinced. Daft Punk is one of the greatest bands ever. Y’know what else is one of the greatest things ever? Toei Animation. They made all the classic anime’s. ALL OF THEM. From Voltron, To Astro Boy, To Sailor Moon, Mobile Suit Gundam, Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, DragonBall, Dragon Ball Z, the list goes on and on. So, at that point everyone was thinking, ” Ah, if only we could combine Toei Animation and Daft Punk…..”

Actually, that was a lie. No one was thinking that. It’s kind of an obscure thought. But whether we liked it or not, Daft Punk, Kazuhisa Takenouchi, and his lordship Leiji Matsumoto teamed up and spent about $4 Million making this film.FUN FACT TIME! This movie has no voice actors. None. Not one. Seriously. So that means that most of that money probably went into the animation, and it shows. But before I talk about that, let’s talk about the plot.

Four Musicians from a distant planet are playing a concert, when suddenly they’re kidnapped by a mysterious person. With their memories erased, and under some sort of hypnosis, the now overworked band must rely on some unnamed hero to save them!

Okay, I know that that’s kind of a simplistic plot synopsis, but it’s hard to explain the story without giving anything away. Besides, do you expect a movie with zero dialogue to have a deep and intriguing story? If so, than you’d better lower your standards a little there, pal, and just enjoy the Daft Punk. For, you see, to make up with the lack of dialogue, our ears are graced with the sweet, sweet sounds of Daft Punk’s Discovery Album! In fact, if you look up the music video’s for the album, it’s literally just the scenes from the movie broken up into the music video’s.

For some reason I keep expecting Megamind to appear. I wonder why?

The Animation for this flick is GORGEOUS! Like, Studio Bones quality! Every scene is colorful, captivating, and all around entertaining! It does an amazing job of telling the story to make up for the lack of dialogue. Also, the movie has this cute little Where’s Waldo? type thing where they’ll cleverly insert the name of whatever song is playing in every scene, which adds rewatchability to the movie. Something that a lot of newer movies don’t really do anymore. Every frame of this animation is gushing with passion and flavor, and is totally worth the $2 Million it must have cost, if what I’ve found out about the budget of this movie is correct.

All in all, I give this movie a 9/10. With fun little Easter eggs, sweeping animation, and music to die for, this movie earns an almost perfect score, the only thing dragging it down being the occasional confusing moments, that really don’t bother me, but prevent it from being perfect. However, I must warn you, if you’re not a Daft Punk fan, you are not going to enjoy this movie.

Since this isn’t a show, I can’t really recommend any episodes, but if you just want to watch the music video’s instead of the entire movie, than my recommended ones are Aerodynamic, Digital Love, And Cracendolls.

Your Devoted Reviewer,
Kamacazi ( Kazi) Koiwai
Posted in Anime - Tagged ,

The Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Watch Motorcity

May28
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Kazi

Most channels are known for certain things. Cartoon Network is known for coming out with two or three actually good shows every hundred years ( Or at least, it feels like a hundred years ), The History Channel is known for the most idiotic and unfitting show for the channel ever, Ancient Aliens, or as I like to call it, GUYS! GUYS! ALIENS WALK AMONG US! SERIOUSLY! UFOs AND STUFF! IT’S ALL A BIG CONSPIRACY!  A CONSPIRACY, I TELL YOU!!!!!! And in the case of The Disney channel, they’re known for consistently sucking, yet somehow, magically, making money from it.I mean, The Suite Life on Deck? More like, the Sweet Deck on Life! (Y’know, because the word “Deck” can sometimes be used in modern slang as a term for getting punched…) Pair of Kings? More like, Pair of Sh*t! Ah, I’ve got a million of these….

BUT! IT IS PROPHESIED THAT EVERY EIGHTEEN YEARS, THE DISNEY CHANNEL WILL RELEASE AN ACTION SHOW FOR TEENAGERS THAT IS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD! THE PROOF IS IN DISNEY’S NEWEST SHOW, MOTORCITY!!!!!!!

Well, okay, there’s also TRON: Uprising, but the story is pretty predictable, the characters are unlikable, and Tron looks like a sex offender.

Good God! Why are your eyes so squinty????? Get away from me, creepy man who smells like feet!

So, yeah, Motorcity. However, I’m not going to review it just yet, because at the time I’m typing this, there are only about 4 episodes out, and thus I don’t have enough material just yet. But let me tell you , so far this show is awesome, and it really deserves some more attention! Looking at the shows website, the show only has about 5,000 fans, and while that may seem like a lot, that’s only about %1.6046629 of the US population, and that’s assuming all the fans are American. ( And according to Tumblr, no. There are fans from other parts of the globe. ) So, I’m going to spread “Motorcity Awareness” By telling you people the Top Ten Reasons why this show deserves your attention!

Number 10:

This Show is the Spiritual Successor to Megas XLR

While not the most popular show on the planet, I have never met a person who’s seen Megas XLR that didn’t like it. Hell, next to Daria, it’s my favorite show! And Not only was Motorcity created by the same team, but it also has the same absolute METAL tone! And by Metal, I mean it breaks the laws of physics in all the right ways! I mean, Just look at this sweet opening!

Now, there is no way in hell you can tell me that it doesn’t get your adrenaline pumping! Just like Megas XLR did!

Number 9:

It references FLCL, My favorite anime, and one of the few anime’s that semi-famous online anime reviewer JesuOtaku gave a perfect score to! And I have proof of the reference with this screen cap!

And if that still isn’t proof enough, Here’s a quote from the key animator’s deviantART page:

“here’s the rough animation i did for the very first episode of Motorcity. I was really trying to do something different from my other stuffs, well it was the first episode and nobody was sure how the action scene would end up look like so i gave it my best shot.

…yes i was also referencing FLCL.. i tried. :) ”

And here’s the link if you still don’t believe me.

Number 8:

Mark Hamil plays the villain.

‘Nuff said.

Number 7:

It’s has some awesome character designs, that somehow manages to be original, without looking absolutely stupid! (And I’m looking at you, Final Fantasy X)

From Left To Right: Texas, Julie, Mike, Chuck, Dutch

Though Julie (2nd to the left) reminds me of Emily the Strange for some reason……

Number 6:

Great casting. All the voice actors, even the extras, do an amazing job providing us with real, and believable voices!

(Le Gasp)

It’s almost like Funimation cast this show!!!

Number 5:

The Main villain may or may not be a reference to Citizen Kane, and it really doesn’t help that not only is his name Kane, but that he looks like a balding Orson Wells…..

Okay, that’s not the real reason, I just wanted to point that out…. ^^;

Number 5 (The Reel Deel):

It’s actually pretty symbolic if you look at it carefully! To prove this, here’s a post from Tumblr!

“NNNGUH YES TALK COLOURS TO ME.

Yep I actually thought a lot about why Mike’s thematic colour is bright apple green, yet his overall colourscheme is more towards earthy tones (brown hair, brown pants, orange contrasted with darkblue). If you think about it, it makes about as much sense as Kane’s danger red technology versus the sterile blue trademark of his city.
Give it a moment….

Got it? No?

Well – it’s because those two are foils! Red versus Green, Sterile versus Earthy. That’s the shtick for it, basically. Red and Green are complementary colours (not red and blue, sorry – although they are opposites in terms of temperature so you were close) and Green is a typical ‘good’ colour, so why not?

Plus, if you look around the Burner’s HQ and the test run, nearly everything is soaked with greens and teals – with the exception of the cafe sometimes which has a lot of warm colours to make it feel cosy.In fact, you see a lot of greens around Motorcity, and the city’s data system seems to be defaulted to green – while Deluxe’s is defaulted to red. The most obvious call to that is this screen:

But there is also a blink-and-miss moment in episode 3 in which Chuck laughs sheepishly at Claire, who turns away from her RED communication screen. A very, very subtle moment.

 So – the likelihood is that Chuck is simply using the default colour – which just so happens to be Mike’s.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this is a super colorful show – so it’s kind of hard to actually get a single color meaning a single thing. There are going to be a lot of associations and overlap – but remember to take it with a pinch of salt.”

Truthfully, I couldn’t have worded that better.

Number 4:

This show has some DAAAAAAAAAM FINE animation!

I just like this one because it is the best example of "F*ck My Life"

Number 3:

One of the episodes is named Ride The Lightning.

After the Metallica Song.

Hell yeah.

Number 2:

This is the best Animated Disney Action show IN EIGHTEEN YEARS! IT NEEDS OUR SUPPORT, OR ELSE DISNEY WILL CONTINUE TO BE STUPID!!!!!!!

And Number 1:

The friendship between two of the main characters, Mike and Chuck, Is almost as well written and believable and the friendship between Daria and Jane (From Daria). This shows, because the character Chuck is scared sh*tless of Mike’s crazy driving, and the fact that Mike usually just makes up attack plans on the fly while Chuck is more organized than that, and yet Chuck still openly chooses to ride with Mike on the missions. I can’t really say any more without spoiling things, but it’s one of the best aspects of the show for me.

Left To Right: Chuck, Mike

And that’s the top ten reasons why you should watch Motorcity!

And to wrap up, just because I can,

TEXAS! YEAH!

Your Reviewer,

Kamacazi (Kazi) Koiwai

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The BEST Review Of “Cyborg 009″

May23
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Kazi

[Plot]

Joe Shimamura, after being (sort of) framed for murder ( The police saw him next to the body and immediately assumed that he was the killer ), Mysteriously wakes up in some laboratory, to discover that he has superpowers! After escaping the laboratory, tanks, planes, and gunfire with the telepathic assistance of some mysterious person, he finds eight other people who tell him that he, along with them, were kidnapped by an evil organization called Black Ghost, that had turned them into Cyborgs, in order to create the next level of super weapon. And now, Joe, now dubbed 009, leads the team of Cyborgs in an epic battle against Black Ghost!

[Review Begins Here]

So, when digging in the 4 dollar DVD bin of your local Walgreen’s, you may come across a DVD for an anime called Cyborg 009. Now, don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s located in between some movie from the 50′s nobody has ever heard of, and Fantastic 4: The Silver Surfer ,( A crappy sequel to a crappy movie, based on a superhero team that nobody gives two shits about ). Really, it ain’t half bad. Though, I’m not gonna lie, it’s has it’s fair share of problems.

The manga this series was based on was not only created by an underling of the great Osamu Tezuka, but it was the first ever series about a superhero team! So you fans of Teen Titans, The Runaways, Power Rangers, or anything of the sort all owe it to this franchise. And yes, it was no error that I wrote franchise. This series, from its creation in 1964 to now, has warranted Two Movies, One upcoming movie, One OVA, three animes, a possible upcoming anime, two manga series, two radio dramas, and three video games. Of all that, only one manga, one movie (With the worlds worst English dub ), and one Anime( Minus the OVA) have been released stateside. (and thanks to the horrors of TokyoPop going out of business, the Manga is no longer available) Why is that? Well, I think I have a pretty good reason. The first part of that franchise released in America was the movie. Even without the ungodly horror that is the English dub (That, quite literally, sounds like one person is doing all of the voices,) the movie is famous among fans for how absolutely stupid it is. The second thing released was the Anime, however, thanks to Cartoon Network putting it in a horrible time slot (And yet, giving it the classic, awesome Toonami Promo), nobody saw it. And the last thing released was the manga. It’s a damn good manga, if a little cheesy, and a bit stupid at times. I think the main turn off was the dated art style. While I’ve grown to love this kind of style, a lot of people aren’t too fond of it. But I’m getting off track here.

 

The animation for the show, is pretty good. I mean it’s no Soul Eater, but then again, that series is more style than substance, so maybe that’s a good thing.There’s not much to talk about there. The English dub, is, well, both good and bad. What do I mean by this? Well, the main characters sound pretty okay. I love the voices they picked for 007/GB, 002/Jet, and 003/Francois, and while I don’t really like how 001/Ivan and 004/Albert sound, it’s more miscasting then bad voices. So that aspect is good. What’s bad then? It’s the extras. Dear god, the extras. Just look at this clip and listen away at the horrible voices! Normally, this doesn’t bother me much, but in this show, there is a ridiculous amount of extra’s, villains, and side characters that will only appear in one episode. Even Disney, Freaking DISNEY had a damn good cast for everyone when they took up Naruto: Shippuden, aside from the cuts and edits they made in order to lower the target demographic.

Also, the writing for this series was pretty weird. Sometimes they have these really genius and interesting episodes, and other times they have either boring preachy, “Oh, war sucks!” episodes, or episodes where I have no idea what the f**k I’m even looking at. The best example, is the freaking opening. For the first half, It’s kind of preachy with the wilting flower over the earth, for the second half it goes into a cool introduction thingy for the cast, and then it’s shows weird symbolic stuff. And now you know why I don’t like art house movies.

All in all, I give this show a 7/10. It can be pretty spectacular at times, but the preachy nonsense, and weirdness it sometimes has drags it down to a passing grade.

My recommended episodes are The Hero, London Fogs, and Tales of a Struggling Restaurant.

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