Well, it’s been a while since I’ve attempted to cover a Detective Conan/Case Closed movie. TMS always finds a way to screw me. Sure, occasionally I can still use clips that are a tad longer than they ought to be, but I’ve shortened my clips so much at this point that they’re practically a series of screenshots. I decided to give Countdown to Heaven a chance, given that it actually involves the Black Organization… kind of, and I like that arc. I wish Discotek would pick up these early movies and redub them with the current cast and dub some of the ones in between the ones Funimation did and the ones they’re now doing. There’s plenty of them.
Videos
Otaku Evolution Episode 214 – Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Part 2)
I’ve been feeling a bit better these past few weeks, so I have more motivation and ideas for videos. In this part of the review, I wanted to get a little more philosophical about the anime I’m covering, even if it is a colorful and silly series like G Gundam which doesn’t exactly lean on sophisticated thinking and understanding. Sometimes even the dumbest and simplest things can jog the brain. And I wanted to be a little more creative about how I covered this.
Of course, I also had to acknowledge that I actually have the Devil Gundam in Penguinopolis’ lower levels. It’s used to protect the colossal city-fortress with its self-repairing nanomachines.
Otaku Evolution Episode 213 – Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Part 1)
I’m back, people! I usually take January off, but I happened to need February off, too, because of mental health issues. It’s one of the reasons I’m tackling my very real existential crisis in the opening bit of this video and probably throughout this season. But most importantly, I’m back to reviewing anime, and wanting to cheer myself up, I picked G Gundam, because it’s a deliriously fun show by that master craftsman Yasuhiro Imagawa (who you may remember is one of my favorite anime directors).
Otaku Evolution Episode 212 – Year End English Dub Review VIII
2021 wasn’t a lot better than 2020. There was an attempted coup in the U.S. which has so far gone largely unpunished in terms of its instigators. The COVID-19 pandemic continued. The Q people became even more deranged. China is looking to invade Taiwan and Russia is looking to invade Ukraine. And Elon Musk is still a fountain of bad ideas who still has a huge fanbase. I’ve personally found myself in an existential crisis as of late, and one of my few comforts is this series of anime review videos almost nobody watches. So, yeah, a real banner year.
Otaku Evolution Episode 211 – Favorite Anime Directors
So I sort of gave up on doing specifically Christmas-themed videos, because I couldn’t really find much more Christmas-related anime to review. And it was getting old, anyway. So here’s the new tradition: anime lists! This time around, it’ll be on my favorite anime directors. There’s no particular order or hierarchy here, just seven directors I especially appreciate.
Merry Christmas!
My Patreon (please support my videos!)
Like, Subscribe, Link, Share
Otaku Evolution Episode 210 – Lupin III: Dead or Alive
As we come close to the end of the year, I want to touch upon the Lupin III franchise again, this time covering something actually good. The theatrical anime, Dead or Alive, is hardly the greatest Lupin adventure, but it’s certainly one of the better ones, especially compared to the last one I reviewed, Farewell to Nostradamus. Monkey Punch himself directed this one! Well, kind of. He mostly just worked on the opening sequence and probably consulted through the rest of it, leaving the bulk of the work to the Chief Director, Hiroyujki Yano, and the rest. But it certainly has that somewhat darker, sharper Monkey Punch Lupin touch to it.
Otaku Evolution Episode 209 – Samurai Champloo
Ah, Samurai Champloo, Shinchiro Watanabe’s OTHER mash up of a genre (this time, samurai period piece) and a music type (hiphop). It lives in the shadow of Cowboy Bebop, but what doesn’t? It’s still a pretty solid show with colorful characters and great action. It doesn’t need to surpass Bebop to be good.
Since nobody’s watching these videos, anyway, I figured I might as well really kick in my storyline ideas, especially since we’re nearing the end of the year, and next year I’m doing less of it (and fewer videos, period). Here we have my unfortunately poor handling of the Lithos situation. We haven’t really seen me in action except in flashbacks. And frankly, we still won’t, because the Lithos are so much stronger than I am. I think you’ll see that my showing up will not help the situation at all.
Otaku Evolution Episode 208 – Voice Actor Appreciation 3
So, I’ve decided to do another of these videos that highlights various voice actors for anime, three Japanese, three English-language ones. I do this because it seems like I can be a little negative in my reviews and I wanted to talk about something I do enjoy, the talents of several voice actors. Here I highlight Masako Nozawa, Koichi Yamadera, Junichi Suwabe, Michelle Ruff, Crispin Freeman, and Colleen Clinkenbeard. Next time, I’ll get back to reviewing in my usual style, and with some storyline stuff, too.
Otaku Evolution Episode 207 – The Boy and the Beast
What is the appeal of the furry aesthetic? I watch this Mamoru Hosoda film, The Boy and the Beast, a light and fluffy, but emotionally resonant isekai adventure, and wonder. Is there something I’m missing here? I grew up watching anthropomorphic characters, but I never really got into some kind of hardcore fandom or sexual kink for them. Furries and fursonas, they’re not as taboo as they used to be, but I still don’t quite “get” it. Can I come to some kind of understanding? I hope so, or this video was pointless!
Otaku Evolution Episode 206 – Ruin Explorers
Ruin Explorers is not a great anime. There wasn’t a whole lot to say about it, either, so it’s not one of those “so bad it’s good” or “so bad it’s interestingly bad” kind of anime, it’s just a generic fantasy OVA that was thankfully, mercifully, short. The so-called main characters don’t even end up being that important in the long run, they’re just there to help the real hero get to where he needs to go. But these bland fantasy anime are a dime a dozen, anime is rife with this stuff, and I might as well cover at least one of them to represent titles like it.