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I have to be honest. I don't really care for this crop of Black Jack episodes.  There are too many unnecessary moving parts in them that prevented them from being good. At least the "Owl of San Merida" had an interesting premise with the disappearing bullet holes, but adding the drama of the civil war and the old man just felt too extra. The sixth episode was a big waste of time, with a giant middle finger as an ending. I miss drug cacti.

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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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It's not often an anime gets me teary-eyed, and embarrassing as it is, this one did, and I wasn't expecting it. Sure, Doraemon as a franchise is family-friendly and leans heavily on the warmth of childhood fantasy, so you would expect Stand By Me Doraemon to try to tug at the heartstrings as shamelessly as possible. Well, it succeeded.

It's kind of weird that, even though this has an English dub, it was never released over here. I mean, it even features the likes of Johnny Yong Bosch, Mona Marshall, and Spike Sp--- Spike Spencer?! Well, no production is perfect. Anyway, it's a solid dub, Americanizations aside. They should really get this one out on Blu-Ray over here sometime.

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I decided to, for whatever reason, do a "previously on" segment for this two-parter, partially in the style of Gundam Wing itself. I suppose it just pads the runtime, but then, so does my little Gundam Wing Theater bit (though I loved doing that).

What's up with all the grandiose speeches in Gundam Wing? I mean, you certainly get your fill of verbal onslaughts regardless of whether it's in the After Colony or Universal Century timelines, but Gundam Wing seems addicted to these odd philosophical bludgeonings. It gets annoying, mostly because it's usually a lot to say a little.

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Welcome back to Otaku Evolution!

This session is the first part in a two-part Gundam Wing review. Why two parts? Because of a few reasons. One, it gives me more time to gather all my thoughts and feelings about this 49-episode TV show. Second, so I can concentrate on the good things about it in this first part and the bad things in the next. I even have some additional pixel elements for my presentation next time, so I need time to work on that, too. So it's not just laziness on my part.

I thought I'd start the video with a bit of a refresher of the "universe" I review in, too, and in the style of Gundam Wing itself.

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Once again, I'm evaluating all the English dubs from the anime I've reviewed in the second half of the year. It's a pretty good variety of dubs, in terms of studios. The only two titles that share the same one are Eden of the East and Lupin III: Island of Assassins. And the quality is likewise varied, with the troublesome Mewtwo Strikes Back dub from 4Kids, the just kind of "there" of X TV, despite it's excellent cast, and the highs of FLCL's classic masterpiece of a dub. Lots of shades in the spaces between, too.

I always have a certain level of fun creating the Christmas episodes, even when I get a touch of seasonal depression myself. Normally, I really enjoy the holidays, at least initially, but when other people around me aren't keeping up to my level of excitement, it bums me out. It figures, the one time of year I put aside most of my cynicism (most, not all) is when some people decide to get pouty. But then, as a shut-in, I don't have to deal with a lot of things other people do, so who am I to judge? As of this description writing, I'm pretty okay, chilling and playing Christmas music. Christmas is next week, so let's hope I can keep up the positive vibes.

Who am I kidding? I wouldn't be me if I couldn't bitch about something. You can enjoy the season and still have gripes. Nothing is absolute.

Mamoru Oshii hasn't made a major anime film in a long time, has he? It's been 11 years! And the last one was 2008's The Sky Crawlers, based on a series of novels by Hiroshi Mori (fuck you, Mori, I'll write it how I want). It takes place in an alternate history where war is between private corporations, the technology level is all over the place, and apparently there are kids that never age that fight our battles for us. The main character is one such kid and he's on the verge of an identity crisis. But not as badly as his commanding officer. The question is, does Mamoru Oshii still have the pizazz that made him so popular a director in the past? Ehhhh, not really. But he's not bad.

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Island of Assassins is one of my favorite Lupin III features. It's often said to be the best, and I certainly agree it's one of them, but I found a few things to criticize, nevertheless. It seems like I've made a habit of reviewing two Lupin features per year, and I guess I'll keep to that into next year, too, unless I either don't have the space to do more than one, or I find more than two I want to review. There are plenty of others to review, after all, and more are being dubbed as we speak, it seems. But after reviewing a movie I thought was pretty bad earlier this year, I thought I'd do one that's really good now.

Happy Halloween! I thought I'd review an anime that, while not necessarily horror-themed, is a horror itself, and what bigger horror than the existence of Violence Jack, one of the trashiest, bloodiest, mean-spirited OVA anime of all time? So cower under a blanket as you watch this in the dark and I hope you don't eat so much candy you get sick!

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