THE ANIME SEASON SO FAR

BY LUIGGI CAVANNA

We are deep into the current anime season and most of us have already made our choices of what to watch, and what to drop. So, let's have some fun discussing what's good, what's bad and what’s just weird.

Warning, the following is an opinion, my opinion, so let's not go too crazy ok? I know it’s the internet and it's common knowledge that someone is going threaten you with bodily harm or tell you that they had intercourse with your mother, but let's be civilized nerds guys.

This season has been quite interesting, compared to the previous two seasons where I didn't care much for what was airing at the time, with a few exceptions. This time, however, I actually waited with anticipation for the next episode of my current favorite anime.

Don't get me wrong, it’s not like everything this season is an amazing award-winning story but we don't have a horrendous train wreck in our hands either. So, let's start with some weirdness for funsies.

Chinese Cartoons!!

The community's most beloved “inside joke” has become a reality. Quan zhi gao shou, The King’s Avatar, is an anime that comes to us from China and it's become the talk of the town. Xiu Ye is a famous professional gamer that faces a dramatic change in his life. Despite being the best player of his team, he finds himself forced into retirement. His team has hit a bit of a rough patch and the manager decides to replace Xiu Ye with a new, younger player. The manager demands that Xiu Ye gives his account to the new player and sign the retirement papers, this means that he won’t be able to play competitively for a year, and considering Xiu Ye’s age this will probably kill his career for good. Xiu Ye has the option to just quit but doesn’t have the money to pay for breaching his contract. So, what does our hero do? Well, he finds a cyber-cafe, gets a job there and starts playing the game again.

Cheerful fellow isn’t he?

So far, it's been an interesting watch, especially the main character. Other anime would’ve put Xiu Ye on a pedestal, showing us how amazing he is in the game and real life; however, this anime is not afraid to crap on our main character. Like in the first episode his new boss teases him and sends him to get some cigarettes or something. Later we see him grinding in very boring quest in order to level his new character. Let me add that Xiu Ye’s boss is the biggest fan girl of “the God of Fighting”, Xiu Ye’s previous persona, but thanks to the fact that nobody knew his face or actual real name she doesn’t know that she hired the guy, and of course she doesn’t believe him when he tells her who he is.

No items, Fox only, Final Destination!

You were waiting for this...

Attack on Titan is finally here after a long wait. I remember when the first season came out in the 1950’s, simpler times. But yes, the anime that everyone loves, or despise, is back.

You know, I never understood the hate this anime gets from some parts of the community. Let me be clear, I’m not a fan of the series but I did watch it, and I can see why people might enjoy it.

Attack on Titan is perfect “gateway anime” to people that are not fans of the medium. For people that think that anime is just pervy cartoons, there’s no fanservice to be found. For people that think that anime is just for kids, well the gory deaths in the show can prove them wrong. It’s understandable that Attack on Titan would attract a wider, more casual audience.

Did I say no fanservice? Look at that thick skinless titan booty

 Let’s be honest though, is not a perfect show. It really loves cliffhangers, and season 2 is just chock full of them! I think every single episode so far, has ended in a flipping cliffhanger, heck there’s cliffhangers in the middle of some episodes! It has many flaws and if you have watched anime for as long as I have you might not get much out of it, but let’s not hate on it just because it’s popular because it’s not that bad. You can always hate other shows that are just as popular but actually terrible, like that one show, you know the one, I don’t want to mention names but let’s just say it starts with “Sword” and ends with “Art Online”.

Maybe I’ll tell you everything I know after a commercial break, or maybe not, stay tuned

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, is a tournament arc!

Boku no Hero Academia also has a second season and it is what every Shounen anime needs, a tournament arc.

I don’t watch that many shounen anime but Boku no Hero Academia knows how to hype someone up! Boku no Hero has what I love in Shounen, a lovable underdog trying to accomplish his dreams with his own two hands, no power of friendship bullcrap, I mean, it does have some friendship bullcrap but not to the extreme that other shounen will take it.

That’s why we are watching.

This season though is the tournament arc season, meaning that all of our favorite characters will be facing each other in a series of events for superhero supremacy! There is a lot at stake here friends, this is no simple high school sports event! The whole country is watching, especially hero companies. Heroes all over the country are scouting for their future sidekicks, and our heroes know this, so they’re putting it all on the table for the sake of their future careers, even our cute and adorable Ochako Uraraka is ready to bring it!

“I will eat your soul”

The Family Reunion.

Uchouten Kazoku, The Eccentric Family in English, was an amazing show that probably flew under a lot people’s radars and I’m so glad that it got a second season. Man, a lot of second seasons this spring eh?

While Tengus fly in the sky, and humans have their busy lives in their cities, a family of shape-shifting tanukis tries to have a carefree life, while trying to avoid becoming a tanuki hot pot.

It gets as crazy as it looks.

This season we are focusing more on the Tengu side of the story, something that I really wanted for them to explore a bit more. I would say Uchouten Kazoku is a special type of slice of life. Despite the craziness and outlandish nature of the characters, they are very relatable, especially if you have a large family. These little magical tanukis have to deal with very real family problems, like getting ready for that annual family event, living up to the expectations of their community, and dealing with the grief of loss.

Be warned though, this show is very heavy on the Japanese folklore. Some things might get a bit confusing if you’re not too familiar with Japanese culture, it is not as casual friendly in that aspect like other shows may be, like Attack on Titan, but the whole family dynamic compensates for that.

If you haven’t watch Uchouten Kazoku and Uchouten Kazoku 2 I really recommend them.

“Watch it, watch it, WATCH IT!!

That’s it for now if you want me to keep going with the rest of the anime season, or want me to focus one specific show, leave a message down below. Now I return to the deepest darkest corners of my dwelling goodbye, for now, my friends.

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Fallen Heroes

By Corey Floyd

Memorial Day had me thinking. What characters paid the ultimate price. Laid their lives down and the impact it had. Now of course in some cases their death was temporary and in some, it wasn’t. Today I’d like to go over a few. Let me be clear my heart goes out to the men and women who have served and died in the armed forces and this is no attempt to cheapen what they have done this is about fallen characters of fiction. 

Here we have Buffy “The Slayer Summers” from Buffy the vampire slayer. Ironically, she has died twice in the television series. I must start off with her because this show was awesome and Joss Whedon showed us that he nerds so hard. This hero died twice and the first time was the first season. She drowned in a puddle of water. Luckily CPR brought her back to life and started a chain reaction that led to two slayers existing at the same time. 

Which eventually led to fan favorite Faith played by Eliza Dushku. Then her second death was to stop the apocalypse. She literally failed to prevent the merging of all these worlds and had to sacrifice herself to close the portal by jumping off a tower and plummeting to the ground. The seasoned ended on this surprisingly she was resurrected months later returned for several more seasons plus a musical episode but in the series, she also inspired those to do more than what the social construct of high school molded them to be and that why she was an awesome hero to me.

When it comes to POC in comic books it becomes a battle of who has the least Marvel. DC or the WWE (yes, they have comics). The point is there are so few of them that when one dies it’s rather shocking as a blerd (black nerd). So, when I was reading Civil War and team Iron Man took on team CAP and Iron Man’s Thor clone killed Goliath aka Bill Foster it was what stopped the fight.

 Literally, it made both sides realize that at one point in time they were friends in some cases family. Now I know that the series ends with the assassination of Captain America which is sad but I was not shocked. He didn’t stay dead for long. WE also learned something about the Pym particle that day if an organic subject dies in its abnormal state it will remain that size. So, they gave him the biggest funeral I mean BIG. 

one shot story but it was a conclusion to the harshest struggle. 

The struggle from within. Hulk the end is a very melancholy tale about a 200-year-old Banner who woke up in a cave. The Hulk put them in a cave after he realized that mankind was letting off nukes worldwide. He is awakened by a robot from another world informing him that he is the last of his species. Ironically with the human species gone the rest of the galaxies have lived in peace. The rest of the comic is Banner and Hulk arguing with one another as they walked the wasteland. Banner makes numerous attempts at suicide only to turn into the Hulk at the last minute. Hulk has a whole new level of hatred to Bruce. He is glad that everyone is dead claiming that he wants to be left alone. Hulk still refusing to accept that they share the same body argues with him to the brink of Banner having a heart attack and dying just leaving the Hulk left on a dead planet. Remember I said fallen heroes it doesn't always mean death in this case were left with someone angry and alone and sad. He used to be Incredible. 

It was to see that his life had to be taken for others to realize what they were doing was wrong. They could bring back Steve back from death but not ………… oh never mind. The last one I want to talk about is a storyline that a lot of people have forgotten. It is

That’s it for today people don’t forget to hit us up of all social media platforms!!!! NEXT PODCAST TAPING IS SOON SO IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION KEEP THEM COMING!!!!!

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