Otaku Evolution

Posted in

Otaku Evolution Episode 220 – Revolutionary Girl Utena

 

Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku! Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku!

This one took a while to get through. Not that it wasn’t a good series, but thirty-nine episodes of anything is a lot for my waning attention span these days. I actually rather enjoyed Revolutionary Girl Utena. I don’t think I would count it among my favorites, for a few reasons, but it is pretty engaging and has a variety of different, well-explored themes I wish I could have examined further in this video (and would have if I weren’t so worn down). I hope this review does some justice to the series. There are so many dimensions and ways I could have approached it, but I dispensed with the method I used for Neon Genesis Evangelion and addressed a few key aspects of it I felt affected me the most. read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0
Posted in

Otaku Evolution Episode 219 – Black Jack OVA (Eps 9-10)

 

You know, I’ve been real down about my videos lately, and doing a short video on something I’m not particularly passionate about doesn’t help. But it did give me an opportunity to reflect on my slight evolution in reviewing. An evolution in that, instead of just summarizing everything that happens in an anime, beat by beat, and occasionally making snide side comments, I’ve taken to doing more generalized summaries with a bit more of an emphasis on characters, atmosphere, themes, and the like. In other words, I generally actually *review* anime now. read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0
Posted in

Otaku Evolution Episode 218 – The Big O

 

I’m not having as much fun making anime review videos as I used to. A lot of it is because my videos keep getting blocked on YouTube. As soon as I start getting some views, bam, I have to start all over again. Maybe you can’t see it, but I put a lot of effort into these videos and it’s heartbreaking to do have to keep re-editing them for YT standards. If things keep up like this, I’m seriously considering quitting and sticking to written reviews. Not that anybody reads them. read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0
Posted in

Otaku Evolution Episode 216 – AD Police Files

I’m typing this in a particularly irate mood, because I’m sick, a package I’ve been waiting for is late (despite having paid extra to get it early), and several of my videos have been blocked on YouTube. There’s not a whole lot of good tidings to give today. I’m just as liable to put a cigarette out in your eye socket. And I don’t even smoke.

AD Police Files is an okay anime, and basically that’s it. Everything AD Police Files does has been done better in anime like Ghost in the Shell or it’s own predecessor, Bubblegum Crisis. If you’ve seen Blade Runner and Robocop, you’ve seen AD Police Files. It’s not unique in the same ways Bubblegum Crisis is, doesn’t have its own flavor to add to the remix of elements. I have zero motivation to revisit this anytime in the future. But hey, if you want to watch it, that’s just fine. It’s only three episodes. You could waste your time worse. read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0
Posted in

Otaku Evolution Episode 215 – Case Closed: Countdown to Heaven

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. read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0
Posted in

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. read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0
Posted in

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). read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0
Posted in

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. read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0
Posted in

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 Dailymotion page

My DeviantArt page

My Patreon (please support my videos!)

Like, Subscribe, Link, Share read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0
Posted in

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. read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0