I can only imagine the deviant debauchery you disgusting, rotting, booze-bloated wastrels are participating in this holiday season. You’re making the headless statue of Baphomet weep with joy and anguish as you drip the hot candle wax on the genitals of your willing, but bound, sacrifice to the dark ones, sneering with contempt for human life as you spit in the milk of human kindness and charity with your godless rituals. Long have you stripped these holy days of their reverent luster, replacing it with the cheap, gaudy sexual thrill of breads and circuses, with their fala-lala and ring-a-ding-ding. You’re on Santa’s naughty list. You haven’t contributed a single fucking penny to my Patreon, either. For shame.
Videos
Otaku Evolution Episode 248 – Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
I’ve got to say, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is probably my favorite piece of Lupin III media, at least outside of Castle of Cagliostro (which is mostly because of the pure craftsmanship of the film). You’d think that if somebody tried to make a Lupin series a commentary on sexual politics and feminism (which I don’t go that much into in the video, mind you), they would fail miserably and the show would be a laughing stock of the franchise. But no, it’s very formidable. It may take a couple of viewings to really drive home how good it is, but when it does, it does it hard. I was glad I took this opportunity to talk about it.
Otaku Evolution Episode 247 – Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie
Much like the previous two Sailor Moon movies, there’s not a whole lot to Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie. It’s a short trifle of a feature, only about an hour long, with no room for development for its characters. But that’s no different than a lot of anime movies based on long-running franchises. The problem with this one is that, while charming, it doesn’t quite have the charm of the previous two, just like the second one didn’t have the charm of the first. So I guess SM movies are diminishing returns, whereas, say, the first 13 DBZ movies were all over the place, in terms of quality (and yet also never quite made it out of “charming but pointless”). Still, you have to love that “Three O’ Clock Fairy” song.
Otaku Evolution Episode 246 – The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
I’ve been meaning to get to The Irresponsible Captain Tylor for a while now and it seems like kind of a tragedy that I’m only getting to it when The Right Stuf is going away. This is a show Rob really likes, and I can see the charm. It’s not as much a biting satire as, say, Patlabor, but it does have a similar spirit of comedy, where you have a fun ensemble cast and comedy-of-error hijinks. It’s more of a parody of space operas, but with enough of its own character to not just be a collage of references. It’s a really fun show!
Otaku Evolution Episode 245 – One Piece: Episode of East Blue
I’ve been meaning to get to the One Piece in some form for quite a while, and Episode of East Blue seems like as good as any a place to start, or maybe even better, since it encapsulates a lot of the early One Piece adventures and character backgrounds. And fortunately, this also coincides with the Netflix live-action TV series, which, as I say, is miraculously good. Well, maybe it’s less a miracle and more really hard work from the cast, writers, set designers, and others. It’s really, really good. Go watch it!
Otaku Evolution Episode 244 – Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
My Anime News Network review of Gundam UC Episode 1
Gundam Unicorn is full of flashy Newtype nonsense that I love. A lot of the OVAs try to stay away from Newtypes to maintain some sense of groundedness, but this one feels more like a proper mainline entry when compared to titles like Stardust Memory or 08th MS Team, so it’s no surprise that it addresses things Tomino typified. I really enjoy how it questions the validity of the very fabric of the UC timeline and its goals. Now, it does this imperfectly, sure, but that it even attempts to is worth noting. But it also has a lot of sparkly Newtype “understanding” that you have to be in a certain frame of mind to appreciate. I think you’ll find that while this entry is generally fairly well liked, it can be rather divisive. Personally, it’s one of my favorites.
Otaku Evolution Episode 243 – Why the DBZ Dub Sucks
Dragon Ball Z has one of those dubs that’s extremely popular despite it being such an affront to the original material. Why is that, I wonder? I’m guessing it’s mostly nostalgia. The same people who rave about how you have to watch DBZ dubbed are the ones who rant when there’s a slight translation difference in any other anime. Hypocrites, in other words. If a company did today to an anime what Funimation did to DBZ decades ago, there would be a huge controversy over it, and you know it.
Otaku Evolution Episode 242 – Ghost in the Shell: Arise
Ghost in the Shell: Arise is convoluted as all get-out and much of it confuses the shit out of me. Trying to keep track of the dozens of factions and their motivations is mind-bending work and I could only get the basic gist of parts of it. Is it just me? Am I not smart enough for this anime? Or is every new chapter of Ghost in the Shell just addicted to complexity to a deleterious degree? Join me as I try to make sense of this damn thing.
Also, I’m turning 40. 40! Am I too old to be curating anime in these never-watched videos, or what? I guess I wouldn’t be making that argument if I had more viewers. So watch this! Like, comment, subscribe, contribute to the Patreon, all that good stuff.
Otaku Evolution Episode 241 – Super Dimension Fortress Macross
Super Dimension Fortress Macross, the original Macross anime, is sure a classic of anime. But it has its share of issues, too, that make it not quite make my top 30. To be honest, I barely watched any of the episodes past 27 for this review, because that’s where the story basically ends. I’ve seen the rest of the episodes, too, don’t get me wrong, but they’re hardly worth mentioning. I think I covered the penultimate episode in a Christmas video I did years ago. It’s still damn good anime, overall.
Otaku Evolution Episode 240 – Mid Year English Dub Review IX
Another Mid Year English Dub Review has me going through all the English dubs of the anime I’ve reviewed so far this year. I even threw in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, though I only touch upon that briefly. In fact, I just noticed that I didn’t really talk about the dub studios much. I’ll be more thorough at the end of the year.
Pen Pen stranded me in the UK a couple of videos ago and I’m still cross about it. But hey, that flat cap I bought in Scotland is a very cool hat. Just don’t expect to see my sprite wear it.