review

2020 was a horrific year. The year saw a pandemic, social strife, and an election that seems to still linger (for some reason). We lost Kobe Bryant and Alex Trebek, and many of us lost people even closer. So it feels a bit frivolous to care so much about a silly little anime review show that few people even watch to begin with. The weight of this year is heavy. But maybe that's why we need some lighthearted frivolity now and then.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (two seasons) is 52 episodes long, making this the most episodes I've ever watched to review for these videos. Not only that, but it's definitely the most I've ever watched to review for a single video. I didn't even break this into two or three parts! I probably could have stretched the material, too. But I felt like one succinct video was enough to give the right impression of this classic anime.

Well, actually, it was a tiny bit longer, originally, but I had to edit it down because it was blocked in some areas. Always a pain in the ass, YouTube and Japanese companies. But you get the drift.

More wrap-around material in this one. This will be the last one for a while, though I have plenty of ideas for that stuff. I wanted to do something with Ambassador Morran and thought I'd throw in the assassin Ravex as well, since I've barely used him. Here they're visiting Golex's people, the Lithos, for some reason. I'll get to that another time. After this, I want to concentrate more on the reviews themselves.

Speaking of the reviews, I'm glad I didn't have to suffer through too many lousy dubs in this half of the year. I didn't plan based on dub studios, just based on what I felt like reviewing or what I had time to review when I scheduled everything. I only have a tenuous schedule for the second half of the year, though I did name drop some of the things I'll be doing at the end of this video.

The wraparound material this time covers some of the storyline I never completed in my Penguin Chronicles comic strip, involving Prince Cassus' previous airship, the Gaizu, among other things. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with completing it via these videos (as flashbacks), these are anime reviews, but I guess I just like toying around with the sprites and backgrounds. And the pre-opening credits bit is set to Shunsuke Kikuchi's "M742", or "The Suspensful Intermission".

DBZ Movie 9, Bojack Unbound, is probably my favorite of all the DBZ movies, or indeed DB movies overall. It's nothing deep or profound, but it features a lot of great elements, from its settings to the action to the music. It's not perfect, it's just my favorite.

I have to be honest, there's not a whole lot to say about Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01. It's a very short, very straight-forward mecha action feature. And my approach to it? Basically a good, old-fashioned blow-by-blow of the unusual events that unfold. But I felt like I needed something relaxing and untaxing in the middle of 80s Month. Also, the 80s was so mecha-oriented, I had to put something mecha-related in this month.

You know, to get hyped to do this month's videos I watched a lot of 80s commercials on YouTube. There's a YouTube channel called Dave's Archives that has tons of collections of old commercials that are worth checking out. It had me singing that damn Mac Tonight song for nearly a week.

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It's 80s Month! I'm pretty fond of doing this theme month, even if this month's specific offerings aren't exactly the greatest anime of all time. Yeah, I kind of cornered myself by already having covered most of my favorite 80s anime previously (Bubblegum Crisis, Gundam 0080, Royal Space Force, Patlabor, Char's Counterattack, The Fuma Conspiracy, and Night on the Galactic Railroad). But hey, They Were Eleven is decent enough, and I get to put on my 80s aesthetics again! Bitchin'.

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Ah, Serial Experiments Lain. I still don't 100% know what's going on at all times in this one, though several watches has me getting the gist of it, or enough to speak on it as a reviewer. It's a noodle-scratcher, that's for sure, and was especially potent when I was still new to any anime that was more complicated than, say, Dragon Ball Z. It holds up pretty well, too, it's not just one of those shows that seemed complicated at the time and is now quaint. It still has things to say that are relevant to today's society. I like that. And I recommend seeing it or revisiting it.

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So this is my second episode with the new opening. What do you think of it? I wanted to include anime that I'll probably review either this year or next into it. Though I doubt I'll be covering Lupin III Part IV, because it's still too new to meet my requirements, I'll definitely be covering Lupin features.

So, this is the first episode of Otaku Evolution with the brand new opening. The new opening tune is "Hyperdrive" (the instrumental version) by Sebastian Forslund. The new ending music is "The End of All Things" by Niklas Johansson. I found the tracks on Epidemic Sound, a resource available to Channel Frederator producers, which I'm still able to access, despite my YT channel being demonetized because I wasn't getting enough views or subscriptions. They're royalty-free, but of course I'll make sure to credit whenever I can. They're both great pieces.

As for Outlaw Star, it's a fun show. I wouldn't put it in my top 20 anime, because in the end, it's kind of just a fun space adventure and not much else. Sure, it's well-done, but nothing really comes across as brilliant. That Caster Gun is great, though.

Can you believe Record of Lodoss War was based on a bunch of D&D sessions? Personally, I couldn't really get into D&D, despite my geeky nature. Too many stats, dice, etc. I do like it as a storytelling engine, but the downsides outweigh the advantages to me. Meanwhile, RoLW seems like a heavily edited series of sessions, because there's no way things went this smoothly.

I did, actually, play some GURPS RPGs, at some point. I couldn't navigate that if you asked me now, I'd have to refamiliarize myself with it, but it was pretty fun. I even ran a superhero game once, though it was a hot mess. I kind of miss those days.

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