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myobsessionsspace · 7 months

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Another One of My

Obsessions

First Experience With Queer

Representation In Animation

Sailor Uranus

Sailor Neptune

Part One

Sailor Moon, my first introduction into the world of Manga and Anime. Like many, I fell in love with the ditzy yet full of heart Usagi Tsukino (aka Serena in the western dubs) and her band of unique yet loyal friends. Like most ensemble casts, the writer made sure to make each character different, yet all lovable in their own ways.

Each edition of the manga and episodes of the anime would have me finding a new favourite member amongst the group, never leaving behind their two cats and mentors Luna and Artemis.

It was in the third act of the story, that two characters were introduced to viewers and readers, Sailor Neptune (Michiru Kaiou, known as Michelle in the western dubs) and Sailor Uranus (Haruka Tenou, known as Amara in the western dubs).

Depending on how someone came to discover Sailor Moon, they may have had the misfortune of watching western dubbed episodes, who had the notion that they were ‘protecting’ children and viewers by taking it upon themselves to change the nature of the relationship between Haruka and Michiru.

Try as they may to cut as many suggestive scenes as possible, the animation aired in the west that was left couldn’t do enough to change the relationship shown between the characters, who were originally written to be lovers.

This made it all the more ridiculous the ‘straight-washing’ the west tried, with their idea to depict the two as cousins and not lovers as in the original content.

How confusing it must have been for the ‘young impressionable minds’ they were trying to shield from seeing queer love, to see ‘cousins’ in romantic situations.

All because of the intolerance of showing queer representation on screen.

“Another group of fans in a tizzy today are fans of the Toonami edit of Sailor Moon S. Back between 1999 and 2000, Cartoon Network and YTV Canada aired a watered down edit of Sailor Moon S, in which Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were still allowed to be touchy-feely with each other, but were edited as "cousins" who touch each other, rather than lesbians…… because according to Cloverway, the now defunct Toei Animation subsidiary responsible for the change, cousins touching each other is more "kid friendly" than lesbians touching each other. Sense made? None.” [quoted from link below]

“However, whether in an attempt to be more faithful to the original Japanese or through failure to edit consistently, several episodes of the former English dub retained a noticeable amount of their casual flirting.[49] Due to the censorship and problematic dubbing, some viewers inferred not only a homosexual relationship between the two girls, but also an incestuous one.” [1]

The character of Haruka also introduced me to gender nonconformity, to masc presenting women, to non-binary, bigender and transgender identities. Haruka may have simply been a ‘butch lesbian’ or one or more of the aforementioned.

Reading the manga and watching the anime has been a very important part of my journey.

A seemingly childish show about school girl heroes and villains gave me my first understanding of different types of queer representations. It opened my eyes to not just love between two women but how simple it could and should be. It showed me in relation to these two characters, the different ways women can chose to present themselves and still have purpose, have friendship groups, be accepted and be themselves.

Unfortunately it also showed me the different levels of acceptance of healthy queer relationships and the lengths some go to, to deny representation.

Take away any biases, beliefs or judgements about queer representation in animation, their story is one to be told and one to be witnessed. They showed humour, friendship, loyalty, like and love.

They may not have been the main characters but they were one of my favourite, for what they represented but also for their individual characters.

Kudos to Haruka & Michiru for being kickass heroes and a cool introduction to queer characters.

🏳️‍🌈

[1] Sebert, Paul (2000-06-28). "Kissing cousins may bring controversy Cartoon Network juggles controversial topics contained in the "Sailor Moon S" series

#Sailor Moon #LGBTQIA #Queer Representation #Anime #Manga #Sailor Uranus #Sailor Neptune

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medea10 · 2 months

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My Review of Rurouni Kenshin (2023)

If you grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s, chances are you’ve come across this title.

Rurouni Kenshin’s original anime aired in Japan from 1996-1998. It managed to make it out west with being licensed by Media Blasters and aired on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block in the early 2000s. With 95 episodes to its name, Rurouni Kenshin was pretty popular everywhere. In later years, a couple of OVA’s were released. One of them was a prequel that was never seen outside of the manga. The second one was a sequel to the main series that goes in a different route from the manga. And the third was a retelling of one of the series best moments.

And just laying it out there, yes, this series is sadly also known as “Samurai X”. I say “sadly” due to what was done to the series with that name. What with the bastardization of people’s names and what have you! The name of the series is Rurouni Kenshin. If you see that other name, turn around and don’t look back.

Now, does this series live up to the hype? Yes and no. While this was one of Japan’s most rewatched animes of all time, the series could have been better. Pretty much everything after what is known as the Kyoto Arc is seen as garbage to many. In some cases, they’re not wrong. It’s just a sea of fillers until the series ended in 1998. I guess some of the blame could be that they changed studio hands during the run of the original anime. Studio Deen has such a lousy reputation for messing with a good thing.

Case and point, Rozen Maiden 2013!

It’s just that when Kenshin gets into the swing of things, it’s a thrill to watch. So, having a retelling of the story and have it be faithful to the manga is welcoming for long-time fans and curious newbies.

Just. One. Thing. Though.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: Nobuhiro Watsuki is the creator of Rurouni Kenshin. Back in late 2017 while he was releasing more Rurouni Kenshin in manga form, it was discovered that he was in possession of child pornography. This news alone is an immediate red flag, drop everything, cancel this bro right stat now kind of thing. What happened was he was arrested, paid a fine, and went back to releasing his manga after a several-month hiatus.

Obviously, everything about the story is disgusting. I’m not sure how much child porn was removed from this man’s place but I feel like it was somewhere between what Jared Fogle had and a fuck-ton. And now every fan is having this moral dilemma of watching this anime if it’s supporting this man. When it comes to me, fuck yeah, I’m still watching it. Do you have any idea how many things I still watch where the original creator is a fuck-bucket? And don’t lie, you probably do the same. Ren and Stimpy, The Loud House, Rick & Morty, Earthworm Jim, all of these and more are the product of some sick ass-banana. Just keep that in mind before tossing stones. You all know who you are and you all aren’t squeaky clean in what you watch. None of us are.

In the end, it’s your call to make on watching this or reading anything else that comes from Watsuki. Certain companies have made their call already when it comes to Rurouni Kenshin. Weekly Shounen Jump still prints whatever Watsuki puts out. Viz Media however has put an end to the latest Rurouni Kenshin manga that’s been put out in the last few years, but has kept the original manga up.

OKAY, NOW LET’S ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT THE ANIME: I know it’s a lot to go over, I just felt it necessary to do the frank discussion before I talk about the anime. This anime is a full reboot. That means, it’ll be a different studio animating it, it will supposedly take after the manga instead of diverting into a different path like the original series, and yes, the cast will be different. Which cast? All of them!

Rurouni Kenshin goes like this. It has been well over a decade since the end of a brutal war. With the entering of the Meiji era, peace was assumed as weapons like swords are banned. Of course, that won’t stop people from killing. And the never-ending fight with the government can cause this peaceful time…it was never really peaceful. Kenshin Himura is a wandering rurouni. He carries with him a double-edged sword despite the sword ban law put in place. Prior to this moment, Kenshin was known as “Hitokiri Battosai”, a ruthless killer. But after certain events, Kenshin swears to never kill again.

One day, he meets a young girl named Kaoru Kamiya. She’s the owner of a dojo that specializes in a certain style. At first, she confronts Kenshin thinking he is the dreaded Hitokiri Battosai. Most of it was a misunderstanding because yes, Kenshin is that, but he’s not the one using the name in vain and using Kaoru’s fighting style. After several incidents between the characters, Kenshin decided to set up shop and stay with Kaoru at her dojo. Eventually, two other characters join along. Yahiko, an orphaned boy who is training to be a great swordsman one day. And Sano, who once served during the brutal war is now a bit of a drifter. But he’ll have Kenshin’s back when they’re in a battle.

BETWEEN THE NEW SUB AND THE NEW DUB…AND EVERYTHING ELSE: I’ve gone on in length about the dubs to Rurouni Kenshin in the past. Prior to the 2023 remake, there were a total of three English dubs. The first one was for the original television run featuring Richard Cansino, Dorothy Elias-Fahn, and Wendee Lee. This was dubbed by Media Blasters. The second one consisted of the OVA’s featuring folks like Shannon Weaver, Gray Haddock, and Katherine Catmull. These were dubbed by ADV films and later Sentai Filmworks. And as for the third dub, that would be Sony’s sad attempt at redubbing Rurouni Kenshin filled with bastard names, a bastard name title, and new voices.

In the beginning, I was hoping for the absolute best-case scenario when it came to an English dub for this retelling. When it comes to me, I will always pick the first dub and that is for one big freakin’ thing. Steven Blum voicing Makoto Shishio. That and I always thought Richard Cansino was the best Kenshin. I’ve already been disappointed when Sentai didn’t reunite the original cast when retelling the Kyoto Arc several years ago and that’s why my skepticism is in play here. Plus, I’m pretty sure some of the original dub cast has already retired from voice acting. Sadly, the original voice for Misao (Philece Sampler) passed away in 2021. Much to my dismay, there was a new cast alright. Who they are was the bigger question.

Crunchyroll dropped the episodes without warning three months after the premier and without stating who would be in the cast. That’s certainly out of character for them. They get chatty when showering the masses who is going to be in an English dub cast everywhere they can including all social media platforms. I would have chalked it up to the SAG-AFTRA strike. But then I remembered, Crunchyroll has a conniption when it comes to that certain union. Plus, it never stopped them before as they’ve been whoring other English lists that same week this dropped. So, the obvious reason has got to be fear of having the audience badger the cast for being in Rurouni Kenshin after what the creator did. Only Kenshin’s voice actor came forward a week after the actor’s strike. The rest, most of us had to guess. Except for Yahiko, he just sounded like an angrier Gon. So, it’s Erica Mendez.

Just so you know, Aniplex had a live festival with seiyuus promoting the shows they’re on back in September of 2023. And what do you know, Souma Saitou and Rie Takahashi were on stage promoting Rurouni Kenshin. Out and about, no one getting doxxed, threatened, hate-mailed, or anything of the sort. I have a few scattered thoughts here. First of all, if there’s any bad-mouthing of Rie Takahashi of any kind, you and I are going to have a problem. Second of all, American fan-bases are fucking toxic and would harass the voice actors relentlessly to the point of no return. And third, why couldn’t they just come up with some fake-ass alias names for the English cast? On the other hand, I’ve seen how people on social media has harassed voice actors over trivial bullshit and it’s only getting worse. So, I kinda understand why this happened.

As for the sub, yes, the voices here have changed. So, when I originally watched Rurouni Kenshin, I watched nearly everything dubbed. It wasn’t until much later when I stumbled upon the sub, I discovered that Kenshin was voiced by a woman. Now, I’m getting another case of whiplash as I’m getting used to hearing Kenshin having more of a manlier voice. With all of that said, here’s the cast of Rurouni Kenshin 2023!

JAPANESE CAST: *Kenshin is now played by Souma Saitou (known for Diavolo on Jojo’s Pt. 5, Yamaguchi on Haikyuu, Kain on Rinne, and Miyano on Sasaki to Miyano)

*Kaoru is now played by Rie Takahashi (known for Ai on Oshi no Ko, Megumin on Konosuba, Emilia on Re:Zero, Sumi on Rent-A-Girlfriend, Ena on Laid-Back Camp, Mash on Fate/Grand Order, and Tomo on Tomo-chan is a Girl)

*Yahiko is now played by Makoto Koichi (known for Elza on Interspecies Reviewers, Young Jun on Tomo-chan is a Girl, Sumika on Yuri is my Job, and Sakura on Lycoris Recoil)

*Sanosuke is now played by Taku Yashiro (known for Friede on Pokemon Horizons, Natsuo on Domestic Girlfriend, Kouichi on Horimiya, Vulcan on Fire Force, and Arai on Chainsaw Man)

ENGLISH CAST: *Kenshin is now played by Howard Wang (known for Piers on Pokemon Journeys, Anastasia on Jojo’s Pt. 6, Kokonoi on Tokyo Revengers, Atsushi on Lovely Complex, Goshiki on Haikyuu, and Chuusaku on Komi-san)

*Kaoru is now played by Risa Mei (known for Futaba on My Senpai is Annoying)

*Yahiko is now played by Erica Mendez (known for Gon on Hunter x Hunter, Haruka/Uranus on Sailor Moon [redub], Ryuko on Kill la Kill, Raphtalia on Shield Hero, Retsuko on Aggretsuko, and Megumin on Konosuba)

*Sanosuke is now played by Darius Johnson

SHIPPING: Can I delve into this topic without going off the deep end and bringing up spoilers?

No, not really. These spoilers are over 30 years old. Deal with it.

Kenshin x Kaoru is a ship that has set sailed into the sea. No matter how much sex appeal Megumi can throw at it! Trust me on the matter, it’s a signed deal. I know that it almost seems one-sided in these 24 episodes, but that’s how it is.

WHAT TO COVER: In a reboot, you’ve gotta see what this version kept and what they didn’t and if it’s all in the right part of the story. Of course, we get the stories everyone is used to with this series like Kaoru being duped by that old creep and the debuts of Sano and Yahiko. Near the halfway mark, we’re already introduced to Aoshi and watched Kenshin and Sano take on the drug lords that were using Megumi. There have been a couple of episodes dedicated to some familiar storylines like Sano’s old comrade and the young lad Yutarou who wound up on the wrong side of the blade. Meanwhile, I’m squirming around in my seat waiting to hear something from a certain awesome villain. I have made no secret to loving the Kyoto arc and its main villain, Makoto Shishio.

Come episode 19, I heard his name uttered and know that it’s coming up.

Wait a sec! There are only 5 episodes left in the season. If this studio dares to even cram the whole Kyoto arc in that short amount of time, I’m throwing this entire media out the window. There’s gotta be a second season. Even if it’s only like 12 episodes that covers the span of the Kyoto arc, it’s better than the worst-case scenario. Thankfully, they did not cram the entire Kyoto arc into an episode. No mad man would ever do…Studio Deen would do that.

Case and point, Rozen Maiden 2013!

I am now being informed that I have already insulted Studio Deen’s attempt with Rozen Maiden twice now in this review. Let me get back to what I was saying. Thank the great good lord those guys are not in charge of Rurouni Kenshin again.

Actually, two of these episodes were a flashback episode that was originally an extra chapter to the manga. And if you’re wondering if this flashback episode contains Kenshin back when he was the legendary manslayer, it does not. It’s a story of Kenshin a couple of months prior to meeting Kaoru and the rest. For Kenshin’s past…just watch the OVA’s from 30 years ago.

The final episodes of the season set the stage up for the Kyoto arc with the introduction to Hajime Saito. Ten years prior, he was a bit of a rival to Kenshin back when he was the noted manslayer. Now, Hajime is part of the Shinsengumi. Kenshin and Hajime end up facing off like back in the day and he wound up reverting back to his manslayer mode.

Apparently, Kenshin can turn off that mode with a punch in the face.

As one does! The last time Kenshin was in that mode was when Kaoru was kidnapped earlier in the series. This time, Kaoru’s voice had no effect. This moment leads to Kenshin’s crucial decision at the end of the season. After the spar, he is confronted by Okubo Toshimichi, the man who has been trying to make the Meiji era a more peaceful time. He asks Kenshin for help of taking out a certain someone. Yes, it’s Makoto Shishio. Also known as, the man who just won’t die. Case and point, he’s been stabbed, knocked unconscious, and even set on fire. He’s still standing! Hell, he’s even known as the new Hitokiri Battosai manslayer. Kenshin gave this a lot of thought as he wants to remain peaceful and never kill again. Unfortunately, he’s given no choice when Okubo…well, he…

He fucked around and found out!

One of Shishio’s commrades (Soujiro Seta) murdered Okubo and sent a stark warning to Kenshin about going forward with anything brash. Kenshin truly wants for a peaceful nation and doesn’t want to kill again. In the final moments, we see him have a few precious moments with Kaoru before proceeding to leave her.

DON’T CRY, FANS! HE AIN’T GONE FOREVER! But a season two must, must, must, must, MUST COME!

Thankfully, two days after the finale we get the announcement that Rurouni Kenshin is indeed getting a sequel in 2024. Unknown to when in 2024, if the same studio will be doing it, how many episodes it’s going to be, or if Steven Blum is going to return as the voice of Shishio. Seeing as NO ONE from the original English cast has returned to do this project, I’ll shut up about it...

For now.

Was this a great reboot? That’s your call to make. For me, it’s too early to tell as there’s only been 24 episodes and none of them are the classic Kyoto arc. It’s too preliminary to call it a masterpiece or trash. Manga readers are somewhat split as they will always find fault with everything. Not every anime adaptation is going to do everything by the book and that’s their conniption. I read the manga too and I wasn’t picky about the adaptation. It’s not like they skipped 50 chapters and went right into unknown territory.

And before you say, “Oh, there goes Medea again bashing Rozen Maiden 2013”. NO! I was actually poking at The Promised Neverland this time.

Thankfully, Rurouni Kenshin was done well. The art was beautiful. LIDENFILMS did a spectacular job. If you’re not familiar with the studio, they have recently done Call of the Night and Tokyo Revengers. The music was great. Every opening and ending were bangers. Reol was the real stand-out star in that department. They kept the language Kenshin uses when he speaks, that they did. I’m satisfied. I know more fans would want to see some more footage of Kenshin back when he was the notorious Battosai. I’m just going to say to be patient. You’ll see some stuff soon enough. And if you’re an impatient fuck, the OVA’s are around. Trust & Betrayal will give you what you want.

Can I recommend this? Not without having a giant elephant sitting on my shoulders.

For now, Crunchyroll has Rurouni Kenshin 2023 available for streaming.

Now then, for those who are looking for the original series, OVA, and even the live-action movies, here’s where to find them.

The original 96-episode series is currently on Hulu. The recent live-action movies are currently available on Netflix. All of the OVA’s (Trust & Betrayal, Reflections, and Kyoto-arc retelling), I can’t seem to find them streaming wise. Also, unsure if the hard copies are out of print or not.

#rurouni kenshin #himura kenshin #kaoru kamiya #sanosuke sagara #yahiko myojin #makoto shishio #soujirou seta

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turbin-merlin · 2 months

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RIP Toriyama

https://x.com/DB_official_en/status/1765935471971213816?s=20

Farewell to the mangaka that shaped my kid years. One of my Toonami faithfuls and the first anime I ever watched. Thanks for all the years.

#dragon ball #dragonball z #dragonball gt #dragonball super #akira toriyama #toonami #anime and manga

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casliveblog · 4 months

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Custom Toonami Block Week 158 Rundown

Spy X Family: So the season starts out with a banger as Yor gets shot in the butt and has to avoid doing butt stuff. Loid thinks she’s just in a really bad mood like that episode of Ed Edd and Eddy where Ed gets a rock stuck in his shoe, I do think it’s fun that the two immediately think they did something wrong whenever anything happens, like they’re basically always off but it’s quite considerate in their own ways. I feel like this could’ve been solved if Yor just said she threw out her back lifting boxes at work but then we wouldn’t have an episode and it’s a comedy so it’s alright. But yeah Yor eventually drinks some poison from one of her enemies that ends up solving her butt troubles (this is way funnier because we’re talking about Yor’s butt instead of her back or anything) and Anya has to stop the guy from building a bomb, somehow reading his mind about how to build it and doing it before he has a chance to even get there and setting up several Satoko Hojo-level traps along the way, no clue how the timeline of that works but point being it’s pretty awesome and she scares the guy off. Yor’s feeling better (until the morning at least) and they have a nice date where Anya finally stops tailing them and just fucking crashes it. I also kinda like that Yor has an immunity to poisons from her job as an assassin and Yuri basically became Shizuo Heiwajima from eating her cooking all his life so like it runs in the family but for two separate reasons. Seems like we’re back to the light stuff with mild idiot plots for comedy after the back half of season 1 had several heavier arcs in a row, personally I like more of the ones that at least make some logical sense and take up a whole episode as opposed to the ones that are half an episode with the clearly telegraphed gags and this one was probably half and half.

Inuyasha: So Naraku’s sitting there like ‘okay that was definitely Kikyo’s arrow that nearly killed me so she’s still alive so let’s smoke her out real quick before she keeps this shit up’. Kohaku’s doing his best to pretend to still be a coma victim and not reveal he’s regained his memories but Naraku and Hakudoshi are sharp enough they’ve probably already figured it out because despite not disobeying them he’s not doing great hiding his emotions or anything. Inuyasha goes to look for Kikyo but doesn’t find her and because Kagome can’t take that on faith despite her supposed character development last time she gives him like five Sits for no reason only for everyone to complain about how she’s being mistreated. Usually I love Kagome but this is something that happens throughout the series where the girls are abusive and sometimes it’s more warranted than others but sometimes it’s just for nothing and it’s a little psychotic, like I get it’s for comedy and like half the time it’s filler stuff the anime snuck in to add more gags to a scene because from what I know the manga supposedly does have the characters get less abusive towards each other as things go on and relationships progress and they have less of their gag spats. So yeah on to the main plot, Hakudoshi and Kohaku unleash a plague of Demon Rats on the world and like they steal the Infinite Rat Box from its master and just kinda… leave it open? Like idk why the Rat Master wasn’t doing that to begin with since there seems to be no downside to havening infinite rats but I guess he was rather weak and didn’t want to draw attention to himself or have someone destroy the box. It’s actually a moment where Miroku gets to be MVP because destroying them only makes more rats so he gets to play Human Vacuum Cleaner and suck them up since Naraku doesn’t have enough Saimyosho to give the whole rat horde an escort I guess. It’s kind of funny because Kohaku brings up this being how to smoke Kikyo out and Hakudoshi’s like ‘oh right that’s what we were doing, I was just having fun unleashing plagues on the world’ like he fucking forgot the mission and was just enjoying being rat boi. Kikyo’s smarter than that though and finds a way to lure the rats out without giving herself away and creates a big fuck off spirit tree for them all to climb while Inuyasha and Kagome head to the tree and Sango and Miroku try to find the Infinite Rat Box now that the stream is more focused. Sango eventually finds Kohaku in front of the box as he’s contemplating if saving the five guys the rats haven’t killed yet is worth blowing his cover with Naraku (it’s not) and Sango gets to play the ‘I have to kill Kohaku even though I decided last time it was best to let him live’ game for like the fifth times because character development in this series is a sequence of small circles.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke meets with Yomi and his proposal is one that’s kind of beautiful in its simplicity, and also the most Yusuke thing that could’ve happened: he wants to have another tournament. This time the winner will be the ruler of Demon World no questions asked and it simultaneously stops a bloody war and dissolves all the complicated allegiance shit Mukuro and Yomi had been planning, like Yusuke just snapped Game of Thrones in half and made it into DBZ and it’s kinda great. The beautiful thing about it is Demon World is a Might Makes Right place so if any of the kings refuse to participate they’ll look weak, Yusuke wrapped them in the Chains of Command without even trying. Kurama breaks off ties with Yomi to fight on his own side (not sure how that’ll affect him being blackmailed into his mom being murdered but we’ll see I guess) and Yomi eventually agrees too though he’s secretly hedging his bets with his kingdom’s fighters fighting in his name, while also growing his own little Meruem/Cell child that’s supposed to be ridiculously strong to cheat more. Still, a bunch of Raizen’s old sparring partners come to visit his grave and tell Yusuke about how they live more peacefully now after seeing Raizen literally die to avoid killing humans and Yusuke gets a measure of respect for him in a way you only can by learning about how someone else sees someone you know, so that’s pretty cool even if Raizen’s backstory is still the stupidest shit. The power levels of all Raizen’s old drinking buddies doing a Half Blood Prince ending into the air gives Yomi and Yomi Jr. battle boners and they both decide to only go in for themselves after all. I can see why people would be mad about what was set up as a big convoluted Pirates of the Carribean arc of allegiances just turning into another Tournament arc but I kinda love it, like the power of Yusuke’s big dumb pride and confidence overthrowing centuries of ridiculous plotting and scheming is pretty cool.

Jujutsu Kaisen: Gojo and Geto beat their big fights from the cliffhanger off-screen and are formally introduced to Riko who’s a bit of a chunni but I guess that’s kinda how you have to do this kind of character, like if you’re sending a demure quiet girl to her death it’s kinda both more sad because she’s just accepting it but also less sad because she makes less of an impact so this is probably how it has to be by writing law. Megumi’s dad’s just bumming around gambling on random shit, he seems to be trying an Arkham City approach and waiting for everyone else to bombard Gojo and Geto with assaults so they get tired and have divided attention but they seem to be literally having no problem with anyone and literally made a big criminal organization go defunct off-screen. Still we get a neat little fight of Geto owning an old man and Riko’s maid crushing a paper bag man’s dick with a mop so that’s fun, plus Gojo uses his still incredibly undefined powers to own the rest of paper bag man’s clones though he shows he hasn’t fully mastered the big kamehameha thing yet so he’s stuck on Almighty Push and Almighty Pull mode, also Riko’s maid has been kidnapped so uhh yeah that’s not good.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: So… Scott’s dead, short series right? The mini-boss guy is for some reason surprised that turning a guy into coins doesn’t make Ramona want to date him and kinda kills the party vibe but I guess you don’t self-identify as evil and devote yourself to stalking a single girl you dated for two weeks in high school by having social skills. Ramona dyes her hair a new color and heads over to Scott’s funeral where Knives Out is kinda mad about her being there since while she didn’t really have anything to do with his death she is the manic pixie ignition switch that got him punched into coins so she has a full Gorillaz makeover to show how angry she is. Also Envy Adams is there and she’s a model I’m guessing based on the billboards but also Scott’s ex and a weird Ragyo Kiryuin knockoff because she has an entourage and sparkles everywhere. Also I’m noticing that you kind of have to use someone’s full name whenever they mention someone like you use their first and last name even when they know who you’re talking about. Anyway Envy upstages a fucking funeral and for some reason they had an open casket funeral just to show off the fucking coins Scott got turned into so yeah it’s a fucking shitshow. The Evil Exes all get invited to their own lair and #1 is like ‘hey bro I just killed the protagonist so I should be in charge’ and #7 is just like ‘fuck you bro get out of here with your midboss vibes’ and also apparently one of them is dating Envy? Like if you’re currently dating someone why are you in an self-proclaimed evil league to win back another separate girlfriend? Is dating in-universe Lady Gaga just an automatic poly relationship? Anyway Gideon and Matt fight and they do this cool Tekken/Soul Calibur stage transfer thing where each part of the fight is in a different thematic location and both of them equally look like they’re fucking up at various points but Matt has magic Stand User cheerleader girls and Gideon’s… kinda good with swords I guess? So yeah, Stand Powers win and Gideon signs Kaibacorp over to Matt so he can fully Starscream it up and fuck things up with his new leadership position and ungodly amounts of wealth that Gideon probably shouldn’t have agreed to wager over a fight, like betting the League was probably enough. Ramona’s probably a bit more broken up about a guy she knew for two days dying but she did kinda get him involved in some supervillain shit on accident and her having seven exes in her early twenties does suggest she’s the type of person to fall for people easily. So yeah we end the episode with a suggestion from right out of Futurama that Scott’s still alive and only the woman he loves can help find him, I’ve seen this one it turns out Ramona was in a coma and she got all the space bee venom while Scott lives with a hole in his gut.

Ranking of Kings: Okay as much as I’ve been ragging on the filler season, this one does actually answer a question I’ve been looking forward to: finding out how Hilling assembled her squad and recruited Ann, like it still amounts to ‘fight bandits’ with just the names and places changing like one of those Radiant Quests in Skyrim like half the stories have been this season but yeah it’s cool to see more of Hilling’s backstory back when she was just the white mage of a Frieren-esque party and Ann is cool but it’s still not much to talk about. The second story is about Daida learning healing magic and finally getting the hang of it after pushing Bojji off a comedically well-hidden cliff that’s like five feet from where they were playing. I like the detail that Bojji was initially going to meet his snake friends since he was hissing to call snakes before Daida jumped him but yeah otherwise pretty paint by numbers and kinda makes the big reveal of Daida’s magic during the climax of last season less surprising given half the cast should already know he has it but okay.

Vinland Saga: Thorfinn and Einar get properly acquainted and honestly for being a slave it sounds like a prtty good deal, they get their own plot and get to sell off what they grow and they’re free once they earn more than they were sold for. Like the guy’s using slaves to expand his farm and I get you can’t really do that indefinitely without recouping costs somewhere and the land is completely untended and this may turn out to be way more impossible than it looks but still kinda on the boat that this is a very doable deal if there aren’t any surprises (there will almost certainly be surprises). Thorfinn’s about as talkative as he was as a kid so Einar doesn’t get much out of him except advice to keep his head down about some of the local assholes and Einar gets too much of a boner for one of the local girls to remember to tell them off so it all works out. Meanwhile we get introduced to the lord’s son who’s kind of a whiny jackass but they also do a decent job of showing things from his side and how the expectations put on him weigh on him and how everyone just seems him as an extension of his dad and he’s caught up in the warrior pride BS that Thorfinn was on back in the day, it’s a good combo of wanting to punch him in the face but understanding why he’s like that. Einar gives us the usual ‘war bad’ speech but most importantly he tells Thorfinn about how the Danes burned down his village and it gives him a chance to reflect on when he was doing the burning and pillaging.

#ooc #Toonami #Custom Toonami Block #Spy X Family #Inuyasha #Yu Yu Hakusho #Jujutsu Kaisen #Scott Pilgrim Takes Off #Ranking of Kings #Vinland Saga

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toonamisquad · 5 months

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One Piece’s Luffy makes his debut at the 97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

One Piece’s Luffy makes his debut at the 97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

One Piece fans, Toonami Faithful and anime fans commemorate Monkey D. Luffy’s debut on the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade…as the float’s hat deflated after hitting a tree. (Image via NBC, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade) One Piece fans, Toonami Faithful, and anime fans overall got to commemorate a special milestone for the iconic anime and manga franchise by Eiichiro Oda this Thanksgiving, as…

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#DBS #Dragon Ball #Dragon Ball Super #Dragon Ball Z #Eevee #Goku #Luffy #Macy&039;s Thanksgiving Day Parade #One Piece #Pikachu #Pokemon

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sxvethelastdance · 1 year

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Love as The Catalyst, a Dragon Ball Z post:

Hello!

Welcome to part one in a series of many long-winded informal posts I’m slated to make revolving around my series rewatch of Dragon Ball Z. I don’t know what made me want to sit down in 2021 and re-evaluate my relationship with the series as I’ve known it across 2 decades, but we ended up here. 291 episodes of torture and all. As a matter of purity for my re-evaluation, I decided to go with one of the dubs I spent watching as a child. I used Funimation’s 2007 digitally remastered dub of Dragon Ball Z, since it’s so difficult to get a hold of the version that was syndicated on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block from 1999-2004 without hunting down a bunch of VCR tapes and singles. Generally, the remastered dub does contain a lot of the untouched Funimation voice acting in certain seasons over others. Take Season One, for example. You can visit this wiki page for what got changed and what remained untouched between the two dubs.

If you see this and think of the dreaded orange bricks, you are correct! I used those babies. That being said, I am treating this dub as its own contained product, I will NOT be comparing it to the original because there’s nothing I can say that like. 15 Youtubers and faithful scholars of the text already haven’t. “The dub” as it is colloquially known, is a Western recontextualization of a fundamentally Eastern product and it suffers for that when we take into account its merits as an adaptation. I KNOW. So I didn’t even try. Instead I point you toward the wealth of intelligently reasoned critiques on that subject. Just hit up the youtube search.

Instead, I went about my watch observing the dub in a vacuum of its own merits- mainly the scripting and themes. Every post in this vein will be analyzing through that lens specifically. I watched with the Falcouner score to preserve maximum integrity toward tone and documented a lot of shit as I went along my experience.

Be warned: Opinions will be shared. You don’t have to take them as gospel, you don’t have to take them at all really! So don’t take it personally, this is my exercise in picking apart the experience. Bringing back YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary. So… Read at your own risk.

Here’s my thesis:

Love is Funimation Dragon Ball Z’s call to action. Bear with me here, it seems like an obvious cliche, but it’s one of those threads woven through every major story arc. It’s by far one of the more consistent themes expressed in its scripting of the characters and their priorities. There are lots of different definitions of love, typically we think of romantic, familial, and platonic love as our qualifiers. Maybe you’re an 8 types of love categorizer. At different points you see how central at least one of those definitions is to moving the emotional plot line along, there’s an intensity built into the displays of unbridled emotion that get the audience into a power-up scene.

Every single one of those scenes is steeped in the things that the characters value. Their relationships and their reason for fighting. These reasons are born from the connections they have with their loved ones, or the things that they love and hold sacred in their lives. Below are some key examples from each arc.

Saiyan saga.

Starting with an example exclusively from the Filler: we have Gohan and C-6 in episode 9. Gohan makes friends with an abandoned robot buried in the ruins of a cavern and through his kindness, gives him a friend: The first in 80 years. This newfound affection and maybe even love (categorized as “philia” under the 8 Greek definitions I mentioned) for Gohan is what makes C-6 sacrifice himself to get Gohan out of the cavern when it starts to crumble around them.

Most important for his character going forward: Piccolo came to love Gohan, he admits that what started as a quest for revenge turned into something different and his love for Gohan made him sacrifice his life to keep him from dying. Gohan’s kindness and care for him introduced Piccolo to the concept of more than hatred. He developed a concept of love from their interactions and it made him a better person. This gave him the necessary context to GROW.

Gohan’s love for Goku awakened his power at the very beginning of the saga and stopped him from wreaking more havoc in his ape form than he already had.

Frieza/Namek saga:

Guru’s love for every Namekian child he bore killed him, the strain of them all dying was the direct cause of his death. He couldn’t have been brought back by Porunga otherwise- Qualified under a death of “natural causes.”

Porunga means “Dragon of Love.” in the Namekian language. Porunga, the original wish granting dragon, whose existence is the very reason that the Dragon Balls can bring back the loved ones of the characters in this series.

Goku’s love for Krillin and the anger that sprang from losing his friend gave him the power to become a Super Saiyan. Krillin, with Bulma, is one of Goku’s very best friends.

Android/Cell Saga

It was Future Gohan’s love for Trunks that made him knock the kid out to fight the Androids alone. Trunks’ love for Gohan not only triggered his transformation, but it made him determined to travel to the past with the chance of preventing his future.

Chi-Chi very clearly loves Goku, the scene they share after he wakes up from his coma is a good example of what she understands to be true about him and his nature. She encourages him to fight Cell and give it all he’s got. This is a marked difference from her begrudging acceptance and downright disapproval (for her own really good reasons). She knows what kind of person he is and steps out of the way to give him the space he needs to prepare for that trial.

Before Cell kills Android 16, 16 pleads with Gohan: “Let it go. It is not a sin to fight for the right cause. There are those who words alone will not reach, Cell is such a being. I know how you feel, Gohan. You are gentle, you do not like to hurt. I know because I too have learned this feelings. But it is because you cherish life that you must protect it. Please, drop your restraints. Protect the life I loved.”

Gohan’s love for peace- the anger that accompanied having something as sacred as life ripped from a kindred spirit broke the barrier between his fear of losing control and his power.

Android 16’s love for living in general, he is another character born to kill. And yet he, a machine, finds something to love in nature. Gentle with birds, at peace.

Contentious as Goku’s choice is at the end of the arc, its intentions are pure- he removes himself from the lives of his loved ones because he believes HE is drawing the danger toward them. It’s a decision that stems from a selfless love for his friends and family.

Buu Saga.

Gohan’s love for Videl- whether you want to categorize it as friendship and loyalty or a budding romance by this point- it’s responsible for the dangerous move that makes him go full-power, leading to Yamu’s theft of his energy to take back to Babadi. I’m calling it love specifically because of the intensity its treated with in the narrative.

Daikaioh’s love for life and Shin was a redeeming force for the pure evil Buu.

Majin Buu’s love for Hercule and Bee the dog was what turned him good and made him separate from the evil half. Had he not learned to love them, the rest of the arc wouldn’t have taken place.

Piccolo sympathizes with the sacrifice Vegeta makes because he knows what it’s like to walk through that door himself, “Gohan’s love changed me.”

Vegeta’s getting his own category not only because I write him, but because of how strange his relationship with love is, and how it continues to come up

The famous “Trunks, Bulma, I do this for you.” line before he blew himself up to try and take out Majin Buu. How he, in this new form after claiming that they meant nothing to him, holds his child and tells him he’s proud. Knocks him out and sends him safely back with Piccolo. This is a very clear change from the android saga, where he didn’t give a fuck about whether Bulma and Trunks died when 20 shot them out of the sky.

Goku lays Vegeta out when he refuses to entertain fusion: “Look. You’ve always talked about our Saiyan race. How we’re the last of a mighty people. Well it’s time we accept we’re starting a new race! One that’d be just as strong! Just as proud! But not if we’re caught up in so much of our old “birthrights” to see what we have right in front of us! We’ve lost our old race Vegeta! Let’s not lose THIS one too!” It’s THIS that makes him get his fucking act together, along with the revelation that Bulma has been killed.

Vegeta BEGS the people of Earth to give their energy- what’s very important to this appeal is that it’s to their pathos. He uses ‘children’ in the plea, knowing that he’s just lost his own. Genuine empathy, born of what I struggle to categorize as anything OTHER than the love he has for his family- however complicated it may be. Put himself on the chopping block, pride be fucking damned just to have a chance at keeping him safe in the Otherworld (because Buu can go there too). This man is anti-sentiment and vulnerability, but you can hear him earnestly beseeching- and that’s part of his love for his family forced to come out. The kind of desperation he has isn’t for his own sake- he’s someone who doesn’t treat his life with any sort of sacredness.

Finally, on the subject of love: Majin Buu’s love for Mr. Satan is actually what saved the entire fucking planet! Had Kid Buu not spit him out because of the burden that is his hesitation to kill Satan, there wouldn’t have been a way to stall for time while Goku gathered energy for the Spirit Bomb. Majin Buu held Kid Buu off with Vegeta, they needed that help.

Among some fan favorite scenes out of this dub are:

Goku going Super Saiyan for the first time;

Future Trunks finding Gohan’s body and transforming, and;

Gohan’s snap into Super Saiyan 2.

Many fans latch onto the anger, and for good reasons! It goes toward the dramatic weight of the scenes, but here’s the thing:

That anger does not have any meaningful purpose in a setting like this if NOT connected to a more meaningful emotion. It’s raw because it’s more than just how you feel in the moment. It’s knowing that somebody else spurns the things you value and mocks them, mocks the memory of the person who made you better and stronger than you ever could have been. You, or rather, the characters in Dragon Ball Z- They do not exist in a vacuum. The Dragon Ball franchise, for all its hang ups, can’t get from point A to B without that.

#Dragon Ball Z #DBZ #Dance Break! - OOC #Vegeta.txt #Gohan.txt #dragon ball

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but-thats-its-own-story · 1 year

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As we celebrate Toonami's rebirth on this April Fool's day...

Wait did adult swim do anything last night?

Whether midnight on April 1st or "Saturday Night" counts is unclear from year-to-year...

...Well they acknowledged it at least.

Can't have subtitles every year.

Certainly better than that Rick and Morty thing.

(Still got my fingers crossed for Pibby.)

Here's to 11 years reborn Toonami Faithful.

Now let's celebrate with one of the best fights in the series.

#Anime #Toonami #My Hero Academia #April Fool's Day

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kob131 · 1 year

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Unfortunately this isn’t Monkey 60, it’s someone else. The big issue that manga made and I can see it is how ultimately nothing matter. Don’t mistake my intentions, loving who you are is a great message but when the message involves a character being ignored while showing signs of heavy depression to the point of being not alive (I’m hoping this phrase is okay) and them magically getting over it feels sorta disgusting. It’s like a bad form of coping that I feel is more toxic than positive and the writers are trying to paint it like committing not alive (again I’m hoping this phrase is okay) and being reborn makes all the problems go away.

Thanks for coming back Anon.

And considering you're talking to a guy whose had suicidal thoughts and has depression- you could have just said 'comitting suicide' and it would have been fine.

I hope you see this because I'm gonna be bearing a lot here.

I feel like Kamen doesn't understand the complexities of depression and suicidal thoughts.

The mentioning of how Ruby's friends and family don't show concern for Ruby? That's not true. They do show concern for Ruby. Everyone is visibly uncomfortable when Ruby gives the parting line at the end of V9 E2. Blake tries to comfort Ruby during E7 and remind her of staying cheerful. Yang...does this three fucking times.

Do you want to know what Ruby herself does each time? She rejects them. She pushes them away or shoots down their concerns. Then she explodes on them for things that are either not their fault or just trying to move on.

RUby wasn't ignored- She felt ignored because she was isolating herself.

And just as well- Only Ruby could pull herself out of that slump. Only Ruby could pull herself out of that hole she dug herself in. Only Ruby could overcome that.

'But isn't it really wrong to just have your character magically get over suicidal depression after a small talk?'

Maybe. But you know what would be worse than Ruby's situation?

Losing the only man who ever believed in you, showed faith in you and guided you. Your so-called comrades not only TRULY ignore your pain, one of them even says that you're at fault for his death because you had an emotional episode and he died saving you. And all he gets is a minor call out by his sister. But you getting up in your friend's face, putting blame on him for your bro's death because of his religion? That's a big no-no. And the only person to actually try talking to you is some girl you found about a day ago. But hey, it's all better now! The girl you use to have a crush on told a story about your bro that you might have not even heard and you're all better after a speech!

I mean, what awful, no good, poorly written, obscure trash could that even be-

Oh. It's not only one of the most well remembered scenes in one of the most well beloved recent anime-

It's the story of the character who inspired me to keep living.

Yeah, I wasn't just saying bullshit to defend RWBY when I said I've had suicidal thoughts. That is something i legitimately went through. Back when i was in high school, with depression destroying my motivation to work on my grades, my mom screaming her head off at me about how I was ruining my life, how I hated how angry and temperamental I was. I legitimately thought about sliting my wrists and walking out into the snow to die.

And then i caught Kill La Kill on Toonami at my grandpa's house. I thought it looked cool so I looked it up and found Gurren Lagann. And I binged watched it. I watched a kid who went through far worse than me, finding himself in as deep a hole as me. And he pulled himself out. He found the will to keep living, to keep fighting, to break through any wall in front of him. And by the end, Simon was a true hero.

And that inspired to keep living.

I'm sorry but the arguments Kamen and so many make about Ruby's arc would also apply to Simon's. That there's no self reflection? Simon proceeds to do reckless bullshit throughout the series.

That no one cares about them and no one reflects on how they affected them? Team Dai-Gurren legitimately NEVER check up on Simon or try talking to him. NIA did more for him than they did and she knew him for a fucking day.

That what they did to them was toxic? Gee, at least Team RWBY admitted they may have made a mistake. Kittan, the guy who threw Kamina's death into Simon's face, acts like he always knew he was okay and he suffers no consequences for his actions.

That they're magically okay afterwards? Trying to show me a picture of Ruby coming back and Simon coming back would be like that Office meme- they're the same damn picture.

In every regard, for me to accept that RWBY fucked up would be to accept that Gurren Lagann fucked up as bad if not WORSE. And that doesn't work considering it resonated with me enough to keep going.

So I hope you understand why I don't think these arguments work. Especially since I know quite a few of these guys are Gurren Lagann fans.

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