Hero of the Week: Pierrot Bolneze

With my new found love for Yakitate!! Japan, I thought I'd make this week's hero the world level clown, Pierrot Bolneze. Acting as judge for the Monaco Cup, Pierrot was able to add a completely new flavor to the series, giving it a bit more depth.

In sharp contrast to Kuroyanagi, Pierrot is a fun loving judge that will give his life story to explain how awesome each bread is (also he isn't a douche bag). Because his reactions actually have a purpose, they are the only ones in the series I can tolerate.

He is also compassionate. When trapped in the cave with the main group, he was able to lift everyone's spirits by lying about his swimming ability, something he would immediately regret as he stalled for time (in which case hillarity ensued).

To top it all off, he even turned out to be the prince of Monaco. The death of his father at the cost of saving his life added some drama to the other wise silly series, yet it didn't feel out of place at all. After travelling through time as a result of Azuma's bread, he was able to save his parents and alter history in the process, something I would've never seen coming in a series about bread. That just so happened to be my favorite scene in the series and one of the most touching scenes in general (despite the complete lack of rationallity surrounding it).

Without Pierrot, the Monaco Cup arc probably would've sucked. Thank you for making this series great world class clown ;)

Anime Adaptations: Weekly Shonen Jump vs. Shonen Sunday

This is something I've noticed that I'm sure many others have as well. Shonen Sunday and Weekly Shonen Jump are the two dominant shonen magazines, yet the SJ Anime adaptations are more often than not superior to the SS ones in length. Whether it be due to poor ratings or the anime catching up to the manga, anime adaptations from Shonen Sunday usually end prematurely.

Now I know this might be coincidence as the animation studio is usually a bigger factor than the magazine a series is serialized in. However, it seems like Detective Conan is the only long running series that still has an anime (if I'm forgetting other ones, sorry). On the other hand, Shonen Jump has long running series like Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, and Gintama, all having anime series of their own that are still running. Yes, many series in the past have ended prematurely, but the fact that we have 5 series with more than 100 episodes and still going strong despite a few of them being close to the manga shows that these series are much more important the ones in Shonen Sunday bar a few.

I guess after Dragonball, Shonen Jump is the manga that everyone wants their work serialized in. There will always be a "DBZ" of the generation (sometimes multiple ones) and more often than not, it will be in Shonen Jump. I guess I should be thankful I can watch some of my favorite series in animated form to the end as most mangas don't have that luxury.

Yakitate!! Japan: Bread is Where it's At

This is a series that I avoided for quite a while. Who would think a series about bread could be good? I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. Because of that, I ignored the series completely, not even researching it in the slightest. Then when a friend told me the main character had a special power of sorts, I realized it might be more interesting than I had originally thought. Within the last week, I have watched the first 47 episodes and I can safely say I have dangerously misjudged the series.

The anime starts out with 16 year old Azuma Kazuma, a young and naive baker with a big dream. He wants to make Japan, a type of bread made in Japan for Japan (pan=bread in Japanese). With the "solar hands" (warmer than normal hands) he has a natural ability to make good bread. Because of this, he is the typical shonen hero, lending his achievements mainly to his natural ability.

The series relies on puns and cheesy reactions from eating bread. For some reason, people enter an alternate world in their mind after eating a really delicious bread, going to great lengths to explain something trivial about the bread. Since the puns and reactions don't translate well into any language other than Japanese, I do not find them very funny with the exception of a few.

So if I don't enjoy the main selling point of the series, why am I still sticking with it? It's simple. Despite being devoid of action for the most part, this series follows the shonen formula to a fault. The main character has a dream and an innate ability, growing with each new cooking battle. Most importantly, the cooking battles have a certain format. That's right, they are all in tournaments! The very lifeblood of the genre is present in this series.

When I finish the anime, I will move on to the manga. While there seems to be mixed information whether the series is finished or not, I intend to see it through to the end. I feel like this series has opened up a lot of doors for me. I will definitly attempt many shonen series despite being devoid of action from now on.

2009 Spring Season Openings

This season has been interesting as pretty much all of the existing shonen series have gotten a new opening right around the same time. There's usually a few stragglers here and there, but this season has been pretty consistent with the new openings. Like with each new season, some of the openings are good and some are bad.

Of the 4 main shonen series I watch, the worst new opening has been a toss up between Naruto and Bleach.


Rather than showing badass scenes between the fights that Sasuke will soon take part in, the studio decided to have him walk into a bath suggestively, only serving to maximize the homosexual undertones between him and Orochimaru. The song itself just screams "this is a series about an emo ninja that wants his best friend/lover to pay attention to him again" and not "ninja epic with a badass hero and a colorful cast of side characters". Perhaps the series will be deserving of a good opening once it returns to its former glory (whenever that may be).

The Bleach opening is just confusing. Take a look.


Just like Naruto, this opening could be showing badass fights, in this case between the members of Soul Society and the Arrancar. Instead, we get dancing from 3 female characters (1 not even being a lead) and a bunch of still frames of the entire cast. Ichigo is overshadowed by the girls, leading the uniformed to possibly believe this is a shojo series that has nothing to do with action. The song could've been much worse, but that doesn't change the fact it doesn't fit the series at all.

Despite those 2 atrocities, the openings of this season aren't all bad. The One Piece opening is definitely high quality.


Since One Piece has the advantage of having an opening twice as long as the others, a lot more stuff can be packed into it. Like the previous opening, pretty much all the characters are shown. Covering everything from the Sabondy Archipelago to the invasion of Impel Down going on currently in the manga, this opening packed with spoilers and action. Had it not been for the cheesy and unfitting J-Pop song, this would have been the clear winner.

Since both song and visuals count, my winner of the season is the one for Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Check it out

This covers the base invasion arc pretty well. After 2 opening with a noticeable absence of Tsuna doing cool stuff, we are treated with an opening that shows exactly what he's capable of. The fast paced fight with Genshiki is also recreated nicely. The song coupled with the visuals perfectly describe the look and feel of the series in its current arc. I can honestly say this is the best opening of the season for existing shows and the 2nd best KHR opening (after "Boys and Girls").

Let's hope the fall season of openings is even better.

The Shonen Formula Part 1: Tournaments

As I've said before, shonen series are my favorite and the main reason I watch anime and read manga. What keeps me coming back for more is the general structure that exists in most regular shonen series. One crucial (albeit optional) aspect of the genre (demographic?) is the tournaments. It seems like pretty much all modern shonen series have a tournament of some kind at one point.

While some may call tournaments an easy way out, I see it as the perfect method to give every character exposure. Everyone will get a chance to shine when a tournament is involved. It's also a great way to have a bunch of fights close to each other without the need for much buildup. This was pulled off perfectly in Flame of Recca and Yu Yu Hakusho.

On the other hand, the tournament isn't a perfect plot device. In fact, it may be riddled with as much problems as benefits. First of all, the sense of danger is pretty much gone since you just know the main character/group has to make it to the finals. I guess the same can't be said for the side characters (I seriously had no idea who was going to win between Krillen and Chaozu) but the main character is where it really counts.

It also requires many forgettable characters that's only purpose is to be slaughtered by the main characters when the tournaments are long. Yes, there are some important opponents that might end up as allies or persistent enemies, but the majority of the opponents are just named cannon fodder. One way to remedy this is to have a small tournament with only one real round. This was pulled off nicely in Katekyo Hitman Reborn during the Vongola Ring arc. Every single Varia member has gotten screen time since the tournament and have cemented themselves as important side characters.

Sometimes, interuptions to the battles (or worse yet, the tournament getting cancelled outright) mess up the pacing. This is especially noticeable in Shaman King (Why couldn't you just stick to the damn tournament, Takei?). Cancelling tournaments is like giving the reader/watcher blue balls. Fortunately, some series catch themselves and carry out the fights in a bit of a different way. This happened in Naruto during the chuunin exam where Sasuke's fight was interrupted, but would still go on and eventually turn into the amazing Gaara vs Naruto fight.

Fortunately, mangaka are always finding new and creative ways to have tournaments. The Hunter X Hunter tournament required one of the fighters to actually say they give up or the fight would continue. The Shaman King tournament required the oversoul to be active at all times. The Mar tournament allowed winners to continue even if their team lost. Of course if the content of the fights are great, these gimmicks aren't necessary.

Some series with great tournaments include: Naruto, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Yu Yu Hakusho, Flame of Recca, Dragonball and Dragonball Z, Law of Ueki, and Bleach (kind of). Go check them out if you like tournaments ;)

Hero of the Week: L

Thought I should start a new weekly thing involving some of the best characters in anime and manga. When I say "hero", I don't necesarily mean a good guy, but a character that's importance surpasses the series he or she comes from. A favorite, if you will, that is every bit deserving of the praise that they are given (looking past pure fanboyism/fangirlism). This week's hero is none other than L, the deutragonist (antagonist?) of Death Note. Needless to say, this contains Death Note spoilers toward the end of the post, so don't read the last 2 paragraphs if you haven't finished the series.

Anti-social, creepy, and dishonest. What's there to like about a guy like that? I think the real question is how can you not like him? Serving as a pillar of justice and the only thing standing in Kira's way, L is a likable and occasionally goofy anti-thesis to the psycopath protagonist (once again, antagonist?) Light Yagami.

It's a shame he's so anti-social. His personality would probably go over well with many people. His intelligence is quite noticeable and his sense of justice would make him stand out in a good way. On the other hand, I guess his unnatural metabolism coupled with the mass amount of sweets he consumes would make quite a few girls jealous ;)

The philosophies brought up in Death Note aren't exactly simple. Questioning who deserves to live and who doesn't is a deep concept that may not have a real answer. While not necesarily correct, the inclusion of L made it easier to take the side of "not even criminals deserve to die".

Here's a small sample of why L is my favorite character in the series and one of my favorite anime characters period.

After fooling around, in the scene prior, L actually steals Misa's phone, an act that would completely destroy Light's current plans.

I have to admit, the only real reason I hated Light was because he was L's enemy. I don't know if this makes me a fanboy, but I don't care. Rarely we'll I feel so connected to a character that I'd actually wish for their enemies to fail. I actually think L might be the only one.

Another reason for L being a hero comes from his incredibly emotional demise. By now, L's death should be considered one of the most iconic scenes in anime and manga. I was even tearing up a bit. The impact of the scene was so great that the only thing I can compare it to would be the death of Aeris in Final Fantasy 7 (at least for me), a completely unrelated scene. The look of betrayal that contrasts with the feeling of reassurance that Light is indeed Kira makes L's death a scene that will forever be etched into my memory. It's also another great reason to hate Light =D

Perhaps L's death is what made the ending so memorable for me. Light got his just desserts (even if I wanted revenge for L rather than the countless criminals and a few innocent people he killed). I can honestly say that without L, Death Note wouldn't have anywhere near the amount of appeal it has. Thanks L for being a hero :-D

Openings

Pretty much every anime has it. The opening is the "hook" that is supposed to help the viewer understand what they're getting into.

In shonen series, the opening usually displays a fair-high level of action. Here are some of my favorite shonen openings.


Haruka Kanata accurately displays all the characters and gives a good view of the preliminary rounds.


Once again showing all the characters, Go!!! succeeds at displaying the jounin and Naruto in a badass light.


After 20 episodes of pointless comedy, this second opening to Katekyo Hitman Reborn succeeds in showing off what Tsuna and his family can do when the happy days come to an end while the dark side of the mafia begins to rear its ugly head.


After the events of Skypiea, we are treated with the infamous Water 7 arc, a key turning point in the series. While this opeing does spoil a few important events, the camera movement and transitioning between scenes coupled with the catchy song is fantastic.


While misleading and not really a coherent way of describing the series, the first Bleach opening succeeds in being one of the most stylish openings ever. Showing the characters in interesting clothing and positions makes it seem like some kind of jeans ad, but the music and eventual action open up a world of interpretations that can't be found anywhere else.


After the horrid filler seasons that preceded it, this third opening to D.Gray Man is a breathe of fresh air, displaying a perfect combination of drama and action for the events that are about to unfold.


With a catchy tune and a high level of action, the first Soul Eater opening maintains a perfect equilibrium of tension, action, and drama that describes the series in almost every way. Showing off the power of all three main characters as well as the villains makes this one of the best openings of all time.

Sometimes openings are very misleading. A certain subject matter might be completely ignored or worse yet, the opening will make a very dark series seem like a light hearted kids show. The best example of this would be the Narutaru opening.


You wouldn't think something as tame as that would have a scene involving rape with a test tube and little girls getting dismembered now would you?

There are good openings and there are bad openings. Sometimes you just can't let the opening be the basis for the show. The purpose is to give you a good idea, not flat out spoil you. Sometimes the animators will put in weird things that are never shown or even characters that might not exist. The important thing is to watch at least 4 episodes of a series before making a proper judgement (or you can just ask someone that's seen it)

Chrome Shelled Regios: Mid-Series Report

Chrome Shelled Regios, the post-apocalyptic supernatural military series is a little more than halfway over. After 14 episodes, I think a fair assessment of the series can be made.

In the beginning, some interesting concepts were introduced. I like the idea of closed off moving cities as a means to escape the monsters that await in the toxic world. The school setting may be cliche but is usually more relatable than other settings (even if the school does consist of supernatural weapon wielding teenagers). The inner city battles are cool and serve as a good medium for human vs human battles.

As the series progressed, we found out a little bit more about the portagonist, Layfon. While we are for the most part fully aware of his past, there are still several mysteries that need to be answered.

Now I have never read the light novel series, but I think it would've been a better idea for the animation studio to have waited a bit longer before adapting it into an anime. As with most light novels adapted into anime, the series will most likely end ubruptly leaving several questions unanswered.

This makes matters worse when multiple problems are presented at once. Not only are we dealing with Layfon's inner struggle and reluctance to use a katana, but now we have to care about Sharnid's past. Right now, the focus is all over the place, something that is not being pulled off very well. At this point, I don't see any way for all the problems to be dealt with in only 10 episodes.

Not only that but the pacing seems off as well. While the action has been acceptable, it hasn't even come close to reaching the scale displayed in the opening. It seems the main team isn't even fully assembled yet (unless the studio was just pulling things out of their ass with the opening).

Despite all my complaints, I am very interested in the direction this series will take. While I am not enjoying the series as much as I had hoped (the promo really made it look on par with a Shonen Jump title), I am still intrigued by the plot. I'll let you all know what I think once the anime ends.

Slap Up Party: Arad Senki

The spring anime season continues with a show based off an (apparently) popular Korean MMO. Judging from the 2 episodes that are out, it seems to have a pretty standard RPG plot.

The main character, Baron, is a Demon Knight, a class of Knight with an arm that can cause them to go berserk. His goal is to find a way to heal the demonic left arm. Along the way, 4 more people join him, each belonging to a different class. So far, a gunner and a fighter has joined him. While the villain hasn't yet been established, it is obvious by the opening there will be one. Check it out.



While the first 2 episodes have been fun, there's really nothing in this series that I haven't seen done many times and better. As it's only 26 episodes, I'll probably stick with it but that's only because the rest of the spring season has mostly been a bust (outside the obvious ones of course).

While I don't really care for the main character that much, I do like the gunner (who's complicated name I can't remember). Yeah, he is the token guy that gets hurt all the time but I like those kinds of characters. Other than him, the cast is mostly bland (from what we've seen so far).

On the plus side, the ending is fantastic. It's like they made a whole 8-bit RPG just for the theme. Check it out.


I would play that game in an instant. Too bad it isn't real :(

I'll have more impressions at the mid point.

Final Attack

If there's one thing I look forward to in an awesome fight, it would have to be the ending. It could be an epic attack that eclipses everything in its path or it could be a normal punch. As long as it's pulled off right, the ending to a fight can give you that warm feeling that is hard to replicate.

If I had to name all the fights I've loved with awesome finishes, we'd be here all night. Instead, I'll only talk about some key ones that most people know about. Let's start with an obvious one. Gohan vs Cell.



A fitting end for a persistent bastard like Cell.

The end to a fight is all the more sweeter when there is a good amount of build up before hand. If an enemy seems unbeatable at first, you know the fight is going to be epic when the protagonist is finally able to fight on par with them. Of course the finish will be even more epic. A great example would be the end of the Luffy Vs Crocodile fight.



After nearly killing Luffy 3 times, Crocodile is finally defeated by a new technique that ended up destroying pure bedrock along with the dreams of the Schichibukai. Now THAT is an epic finish to a fight foreshadowed nearly 60 episodes earlier. Head farther into the series and you'll see another epic ending to an epic fight. That's right, it's the end to the Luffy VS Lucci fight.



Not all endings have to be epic. Sometimes a simple punch or headbutt can get the message across. This is displayed very will in the best(in my opinon) fight in Naruto, the Naruto VS Gaara fight (Best part begins around 4:50)



After both sides deplete all their energy, only weak attacks remain. In a way, this is more powerful than an epic ending. When both fighters are exhausted, even a little headbutt can do so much damage. It's also a great way to humiliate the opponent. After surviving a barrage of energy blasts or whatever, just a small punch brought the villain to his knees.

One of my favorite endings to a fight would be the Yusuke VS Rando fight in Yu Yu Hakusho. Rarely will you see the protagonist so exhausted that all he can do is fall (at least not when it is the key to victory).



Yusuke was really lucky throughout most of the series (at least in battle). I'd even say the victories weren't as satisying if they weren't so awesome.

Epic finishes have always existed in Shonen (and sometimes Seinen). Some other series with awesome finishes include: Flame of Recca, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, D.Gray Man, Bleach, Hunter X Hunter, Afro Samurai, Negima, Gurren Lagann, Soul Eater, Samurai Champloo, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Get Backers, Rave Master, Shaman King, and pretty much every battle Shonen manga out there. They are defining moments in many series and they are here to stay. Let's hope for some more epic finishes in the future ;)

Berserk Lives!!!

So apparently Berserk will be returning on April 24. I guess that thing about him quitting because of Idolmaster was false.

This is pretty great news. Let's hope he doesn't take another long ass break after this. Waiting a month for each chapter is hard enough. And Miura, can you PLEASE get back to Guts!? I really don't give a shit about Griffith (unless Guts is fighting/torturing that bastard).

Shangri-La

With the spring anime season just kicking off, a bunch of interesting new shows have risen. One that particularly stands out in my mind is Shangri-La, a new series based on a novel.

While I usually stay away from series like this, I was intrigued by the premise so I decided to check it out. While I can't really judge from just the first episode, I enjoyed what I saw. The protagonist is a wild girl named Kuniko. Her weapon of choice is a boomerang with an interesting design. As displayed in the opening, Kuniko seems to be able to cause massive destruction with the boomerang. Check it out.



After being released from prison, we see a futuristic city with some notable forest-like surroundings. We learn that carbon seems to be an important part of this dystopic future as there has been a tax placed on it. That's all I've been able to gather from the first episode, scratching my head over the remaining information given.

While I am interested in the world, I'm not sure how much I like the overuse of little girls in important positions. Why is a girl that can't be older than 8 or 9 making a deal with important government officials?

Then of course we have the transvestites. I have no problem with this archetype in general, but there should not be more than one in the main group of characters. While one of them seems to be cool, the other just seems to be useless.

All in all, I'd say the series is off to a good start. While Gonzo does seem to have a habit of messing up adaptations, I'll remain hopeful that this will be one of the better shows of the spring season.

End of Soul Eater: Courage is the Answer!

After 51 episodes, the Soul Eater anime has finally ended. Overall, the series has been a stylish rollercoaster on par with most shonen series, but I'm not really sure what to make of the final episode. You can check it out here.

The episode was pretty good for the most part. Maka's weapon form was really bad ass (even if it did come out of nowhere) and the scene with the kishin digging his claws into her leg was really emotional. After that, things started to get a little out of hand and became as cliche as possible. So what if she has courage? That shouldn't be enough to beat someone that the strongest characters in the series couldn't beat. The fact that the kishin, the very embodiment of insanity would be psyched out by a teenage girl's staring is beyond inconsistent. While it is satisfying to see the final battle end with just an oridinary move (used a lot in shonen), the ending could've been handled much better.

Being a monthly series, Soul Eater suffered the same fate as Fullmetal Alchemist, requiring a made up ending due to the manga's continued serialization. Perhaps in 6 years or so, the same thing that happened to FMA will happen and Soul Eater will get a more accurate second series. Until then, I guess I'm off to read the manga. I'll let you guys know what I think of the real ending (whenever that happens).

Dragon Ball Kai: The Return of a Legend

Dragonball Z is for the most part responsible for making anime mainstream/semi-mainstream worldwide. Talk to anyone under the age of 30 and they've all but definitely heard of the series, even if they didn't like it or anime in general. Yes, DBZ was a phenomenon that gave the west a taste of what Japan has had for a while, and people bit.

Fast forward nearly 13 years (since American premiere) and those DBZ fans have evolved (or devolved if you prefer) into overall fans of anime, watching several series at a time and maybe even taking up manga so they won't have to wait as long for stories to progress.

Well, the legendary series is finally back. With a shiny new coat of paint, Dragon Ball Z has become Dragon Ball Kai, an hd remake of the entire series with an updated soundtrack and all filler cut. You can watch the first episode here. While the quality is very good, it hasn't yet reached the level of shinyness that can be seen in the opening.



It will be fun to watch the reason I love anime (amd Japan in general) all over again. Now that I'm older, I'm sure I'll notice stuff I didn't before. I wonder how smooth it will look when transitioning from scene to scene that oringally had filler in between. I guess all that will be answered soon enough.

I'll have more updates as the series goes on.

The Return of Fullmetal Alchemist: Most Epic First Episode Ever

Fullmetal Alchemist has always been one of my favorite series. Back when I started watching fansubs in 2003, FMA ended up being the second series I was able to catch while it was still going on in Japan. Since the ending of the first series, I ended up reading the manga and was surprised to see how much the anime deviated from the original storyline. Fast forward 4 years after the ending of the first series (including the movie) and another series has started as the manga draws to a close.

I'm not going to mince words here. The first episode was AMAZING. While it is filler, everything that happened in this episode was a perfect reboot. I've never seen an event on this scale happening in a first episode in anything. It's even harder to believe it was all resolved in one episode.

As for it being filler, this was somewhat expected. I'm glad Bones decided to take this route rather than just remake everything that happened in the first series. It appears the next episode will involve the boys' flashback, so I doubt it will deviate too much from the story. As seen in the opening, it looks like there will be some manga only characters/storylines appearing so I doubt we have to worry.



The way I see it, we will eventually be back at the part where the anime deviated from the manga in the first series, but there won't be any deviation this time. That's great as there are many characters and events I would like to see animated (Ling FTW ;)

I'll be sure to mention it again when we get a little bit farther. Look forward to it.

Negima! Guilty Pleasure or Mainstream Shonen Badassery

Considering some of the embarassing connotations that come with the territory of anime, many fans try to keep an open mind when dealing with new series. Negima! is one of those series that you are embarassed to read but you're willing to show your friends because it gets badass.

From Ken Akamatsu (mangaka of Love Hina) comes a story about a 10 year old mage that ends up as a teacher at an all girls school. Sounds girly, doesn't it? Well that changes as the series progresses. What starts out as a perverse highschool drama filled with panty shots and pseudo nudity quickly turns into a magic battle field with a high level of action on the scale of some of the biggest Shonen series. Can you say this is a girly series? Yes, the token cheerleaders are there, but that's expected in pretty much all shonen series.

Right now, Negi is in the middle of a very big battle. I was at the edge of my seat for most of it. One problem I have is that Negi has jumped several power levels all at once, messing up the pacing a bit. This isn't even a fight with the main villain of the arc, yet Negi is using all his power and trump cards. If Akamatsu can make the next fight even better, he may be one of the best authors in the manga world. With the Rakan fight drawing to a close, it'll be interesting to see where the series goes from here.

Small side note. Hopefully we'll get another anime soon. These fights would look ridiculous animated :)