Akira Toriyama, creator of manga like Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, and Sand Land, sadly passed away on March 1, 2024. He left behind a legacy of colorful work, worlds of wonder that continues to impact people the world over. Since I review anime, and not manga, I wanted to pay tribute to Toriyama in a way that reflected his own personal efforts, so I chose a Dragon Ball Z movie that he actually had influence over, Battle of Gods, whose story he constructed. Of course, I also mentioned his work in video games.

I reviewed Space Battleship Yamato 2199 partly because I wanted to discuss the original series (which I also rewatched for this video), but also because the remake is pretty damn good on its own. The Yamato franchise is almost iconic as Gundam, at least to me. I just recently discovered a whole 8-episode series, 2205 (The New Voyage) was released a few years ago as a sequel to 2202 and Crunchyroll still hasn't licensed it! And there's more Yamato coming out! What else am I missing out on?!

Ah, City Hunter. It reminds me a lot of Lupin III. Except, you know, not as good. Sure, the TV series is pretty fun and has a variety of different stories and situations for Ryo to get into, but when they try to extend it beyond that, it can be painful. Take this special, Secret Service, for instance: the movie-only characters are dull and the story drags unnecessarily. Could it be that City Hunter is better in small doses? Ryo certainly is.

Shinjuku Private Eyes, now that's a worthwhile City Hunter feature! Maybe I should have reviewed that.

View post on imgur.com

Otaku Evolution is back, baby! 2024 starts with me finally getting to a particular anime bête noire of mine, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. I just do not understand the popularity of this fizzless, lifeless drudge of a show. The "characters" are bland, the plot is largely recycled, the production values are average at best, and there's just no joy or magic to it. It's frankly one of the most soulless anime I've ever watched in my life. But it's so popular! Why?!

Well, anyway, I'm back, and it looks like I got into a little trouble over the Putin thing. Ah well.

You can view the full size of this on Flickr

Holy shit. It’s been seven years since my last official update on my collection. Friends and followers have seen it change in leaps and bounds since then, but for whatever reason, none of that ever made it into a blog post here. The room, which started off with just four display cabinets against one wall, just ballooned in density. More cabinets along the sides. More cabinets in the center of the room. Custom displays on top of those cabinets to fit larger items. Then I was out of space. Not long after that I ended up moving and into house with an unfinished basement. That’s where this story beings.

The second season of the Yamato remake wasn't as good as the first (unlike in the original series), but I still have high hopes for these movies (which will probably be split up into episodes). Actually, I might review Yamato 2199 this year!

One final video for 2023, folks! As usual with my last video of the year, I go over the various English dubs of the anime I've covered in roughly the second half of the year. The strongest dubs were probably Gundam Unicorn and One Piece: Episode of East Blue, though I think most of the dubs I covered in this half of the year were at least decent. ADV's dub of Macross notwithstanding. (Yikes.)

Well fuck, I guess I haven't really painted anything in the better part of two years. The one kit I did paint in 2023 was this, the RG Zeong with the Gundam Base Limited clear colour armor.