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lordkingsmith · 5 months

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I’m doing a series where I list the canon and possible au kids of a power ranger based on their implied relationships, almost relationships and highly implied feelings towards a character. I did Kim, so onto Kat! The canon kids get placed first then the oc’s

Canon children and grandchildren:

Tommy Oliver;

JJ Oliver. He seems to be in his early to mid 20’s in comics, and is child aged in tv show. Personality wise we know he’s got a chip on his shoulder, he has a misplaced sense of danger and is perfectly happy sassing someone while they’re threatening to kill him. Seems to be messy and enjoys outdoor activities such as cross country biking and competitions and fighting and is in karate competitions. His relationship to his dad is Rocky. Unfortunately unknown how he gets on with his mom. Possibly good since she’s the one attending his competitions and Tommy is. Not. Personally I actually like JJ, but more because he’s got some interesting groundwork. Do I think he should be green? -cackles- nooooo. He’d be a more interesting Pink. We’ll see if I like his alternate reality half sister more lol. JJ is the SPD green as well as green dragon mighty Morphin ranger.

Granchildren by Tommy Oliver;

While I have made an au version of her grandsons, and will animate them, I will include the canon two. Nameless kids at the end of a Christmas special for zeo. One of them is a zeo red ranger. Technically the first canon legacy ranger, but he’s nameless and seems preoccupied. Seems on good enough terms with his grandparents and baby brother so that’s good. Their parents are unknown but their dad is probably JJ. I named the older one Ethan, too bad he was never given a canon consideration. Both these two and JJ are blank slates. This is a good and bad thing. But I like thinking this canon version is in a world where Zordon is still alive and he doesn’t know his grandparents are the first zeo rangers. Yet.

Unconfirmed second parent;

Agatha Hillard. I like the idea she’s JJ pre transition, but in the interest of being thorough. Here she is. Unknown if she’s a child or grandchild of Kat, but she is a confirmed descendant. Not really sure on her personality. Kat’s canon descendants are very light on personality sadly. She’s a pink ranger it would seem. She might be Tommy’s, she might not. We do not know.

AU children and grandchildren:

Rito Revulto;

Katri Katastrophe (help with the naming conventions of the Mystics). Aged 27. Half Mystic. His parents rule the universe. Kat, during her imprisonment and servitude to Rita got close to Rito Revulto. Very very close. She embraced her evil, and Rito taught her everything she needed. Evil power couple. Katri is prince and heir apparent of the known universe, a sprawling empire Rito and Kat created after killing everyone who’d oppose them. There are scattered handful of rangers and rebellions fighting back. Katri is very much his parents’ son, but….well. Maybe they’re wrong. Crushing hard on this reality’s version of Olivia Hart. Not associated with any color-yet. Will be black when he does finally fold. His true mystic form resembles a skeletal ghost fox. Normal form resembles Rito’s human form. Glamrock. Think 80’s sci fi space opera anime, now think power rangers. Very much a mama’s boy. Vile set him on fire when he was four to attempt to see if the kid had powers; he does but this is why Rito finally got motivated to kill Vile. Astronema is Katri’s bodyguard, and gets pulled along into redemption because he keeps trying to flirt with the resistance leader’s daughter. No; Kimberly does not like Katri lol.

A couple variations;

A more somber version of Katri is one where Kat kills Rito to rule alone. Katri has been mind controlled since he was thirteen. This one won’t become a power ranger. Struggles with his sense of identity, a lot more shy and quiet around Olivia. Wants to help Kat, but is afraid of her.

One where Kat dies and Rito rules alone; absolute wild child, very difficult to control. Leader of a team of villain rangers, is a red here. Complete idiot, but competent. He later becomes black ranger to Olivia’s white ranger. Deeply in love with his leader but she hasn’t noticed yet. He’s trying like hell to help Rito; but is afraid of him, deep down.

David Trueheart;

Gabriella Trueheart, aged 24. Tommy and Kat broke up shortly after the machine empire. Tommy got back with Kim, Kat got with his older brother. This was…maybe not the best move, and it’s only recently the two families are talking again. Gabriella is trying to connect with her cousins, but it’s not her biggest concern. She’s working her way through college, and parrying any and all attempts to make her a power ranger. She’s close to her parents, and her grandfather. She doesn’t get uncle Tommy at all. Thinks Aunt Kim’s cool. Not a fan of her cousin much. Would be black Dino ranger if she’d just accept it. She does not. Yet. Also not afraid of ratting out her uncle to her parents.

A variation is Kat and David divorced and she’s having to deal with her dad also getting together with Stan Skullovitch on top of everything else.

Eugene Skullovitch;

I thought his mild attempts at flirting were cute. They got together after Turbo’s movie. Kat realized she was never going to replace Kim for Tommy, and broke up with him. She got with Skull after a few months and some very creative ways to ask her out. They have two sons. The oldest is Squire Hillard. Aged 17. He’s average height and kind of a brilliant himbo. He lets his reputation cover him like a mask, but he’s pretty devious when he’s properly motivated. A little bit of a tail chaser. He keeps striking out, but that never stopped him. While he is a power ranger (pink), he’s having fun running a podcast questioning who the power rangers are. This cover is so good not even Kat’s figured out he’s pink turbo ranger. Looks like a surfer bro. Prefers it that way. Half brother of Spike Skullovitch. Has had to save his half brother three times so far. Barely gets along with his dad, county Sheriff Eugene Skullovitch, but they’re trying. He’s closer to Kat and like her is a professional diver. He wants to get into the Olympics. His general outfit could best be described as “someone from the peppermint forest in candyland decided to become a pirate”. He actually has a rap sheet. He’s got middle child syndrome and you can usually find him with his friends, the other Turbo rangers, or with Bulk, or egging grandmas house with Devon. He’s giving Eugene a bald spot is what he’s doing. Spike does his best, but they really don’t see eye to eye. Squire likes his big brother, there’s just a bit of frustration with him.

Devon Skullovitch, aged eleven. Unlike Squire he’s not blond and looks more like Eugene and Spike. Bulk calls him the baby buddy, and it annoys him so so much. Loves video games and fixing cars. Can eat his weight in lasagna. Not associated with any color. Knows his brother is up to something, unsure what. Often getting babysit by half brother. Is known to egg his grandmothers house. A lot. It’s a problem.

Farkas Bulkmeier;

Lois “Heavy” Bulkmeier. Aged 21. Kat got with him after being saved by Tommy and Kim, bur the relationship with Kim or Tommy never went anywhere. Tommy and Kim got back together, Kat was happy being single for the most part. Lois though was an accident baby; however Kat and Bulk make it work and do like the relationship and their kid. Heavy for his part is a lot like Bulk. Rabblerousing loudmouth with a heart of gold. Heavy got his GED and currently is working on going through community college so he can buy Ernie’s old place and take it over. It was a refuge for him as a kid and he wants to keep it going for all the kids who need a refuge, from whatever’s going on. Not associated with a color. He does, however, know who the rangers are, and helps where he can. Kat’s an Olympic diver, and Bulk is the owner of a very popular chain restaurant. Bulk’s Eats.

Kimberly Hart;

Echo Hart-Hillard. Aged 20. They were not raised by Their moms, at first. Dark Spectre used magic to make a child from the dna of the two most fearsome pink rangers he could think of, and then had said child trained. Echo first met Tommy, fresh out of divorce with his second wife Kim, and almost they killed him. He managed to talk them down and it was Zack and Billy showing up in back up who realized who Echo even was. Kim and Kat were good friends, but it was the then twelve year old assassin who inadvertently got them together. Echo’s non-binary and very very good at murder. Not associated with any color. This is probably a good thing. Specter was intending them for psycho silver, but Echo’s glad they’re not a ranger, at least for now. They got to be ring bearer at their moms wedding. Specter is still pissed he’s lost control of the murder child, and moms and teenager are currently hiding out under assumed names. They move around a lot just because Echo still finds it difficult to not solve all their problems via murder. And can’t shake the habit of calling the psycho rangers their aunts and uncles. It’s been rough but they’re happy with their moms.

Jason Lee Scott;

When Jason came back, Tommy and the rest were Zeo at that point. When he began really interacting with them again he noted to his surprise Kim had left for a scholarship after graduating a year early, and Kat Hillard was the current pink. Jason was enamored, but respected she was with Tommy.

While they defeated the Machine Empire, Tommy broke up with Kat on account of the trauma. Jason accepts he was her rebound, but they’ve been together since and he’s content, and so is Kat. They have one daughter.

Dena Louisa Scott, aged 27. Dena Louisa is a cartoonist for the local newspaper, and hopes to one day have her comic strips published across America. She also posts her little strips on her own website. The “bugaboo scouts” is a tongue in cheek recounting of the stories her parents told her about their time as rangers, though focusing on the more hilarious aspects of rangerdom. A group of tiny anthropormorphic bugs with attitude are tasked with saving picnic grove! With lots of shenanigans. Smart, quiet, though more in the line of Jason’s brand of quiet. She does have explosive anger, and has been going to therapy for it. Constantly bucks against authority figures, though she’s taught herself how to work through the urge to argue, especially if it’s a fair point. Loves her parents, who are supportive, and often does her best work while at the park. Not associated with a color. She is however part of the mentor flavored comedy duo. They offer advice, though it’s flavored by the past experience of her parents, which isn’t always helpful to the situation at hand. And Dena’s general advice is either “well hit it really hard” or “have you tried the power of friendship?” And are vague enough to not be overly helpful. Is quite nice to the monsters though, and the minions love her while their bosses. Do not. She’s successfully caused two galactic unionizations.

Aisha Campbell;

Tommy wasn't the one who managed to break Kat out of the mind control; it was Aisha. Aisha and Kat both left the rangers, and Aisha chose Tina as her replacement. They got a job together at the animal shelter, and they adopted several years later as chaos reigned around them. They have one daughter, Natalie, aged fourteen. They adopted Natalie at birth. The girl is wise beyond her years, and often too serious, but she's also got wells of dry humor and likes teasing her moms. not associated with a color, probably better off for it.

Grandchildren of Kat Hillard:

Ethan Oliver, grandson of Kat and Tommy, son of JJ. While he’s based on a canon unnamed character, this is not him. He started as a red ranger and when Rito kidnapped him to make him an evil ranger he became a blue ranger. His element is still fire, however. Due to what happened, Ethan lost the ability to speak. He is in a relationship with their sixth ranger, a purple named Milo Tekkititam. Milo is a troll and a double amputee. His suit acts as his legs, and while Ethan was the last person to warm up to Milo, he really warmed up to him. Ethan’s best friend is Chloe Bulkmeier, daughter of Kim and Bulk. Ethan’s 19. His mom’s from JJ’s undercover work. Half brother to his younger sibling, loves the kid fiercely though. Was able to break his mind control when his younger brother was placed in harm’s way.

(Undecided) Oliver, grandson of Kat and Tommy, son of JJ and Anara. Young, impetuous, kind of a firecracker, is going to give the immortals their first and only grey hairs. Loves his brother, loves power rangers. Hates Rito for taking his brother away. At ten years old he tried to kill Rito for his brother. Rito’s not really offended? He thinks it’s cute and complimented Kat on her grandson’s bloodthirst. Went about as well as you’d expect.

If I think of more I’ll add more :) Kat’s a poor lamb and needs more fleshed out children to her name. As I think of them, I’ll add the other kids to their parents I’ve already done as well. Which yes means Echo’s on Kim’s now, too 😁

@skyland2703 thoughts?

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aspiring-holistic-otaku · 1 year

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Season 2 Ramble#4 - A is for anime (solo reprise) ver.2

Hello Hello Hello and welcome to another episode of MM..MANGA, the podcast about getting more people into more manga.. Incidentally, as you may have guessed from the title, this episode isn’t about manga at all, as this month I focused on manga’s seemingly more popular younger sibling, anime.

Before we get into it, a couple house keeping matters/points of information:

Last season I had some friends on the cast cause I don’t really watch anime like that and different perspectives are invaluable when it comes to any media. Plus I really fw them and the more the merrier. Sadly I won’t be having them on this episode, as again, you probably guessed from the title. Reason being, we had fun and everything but back then a lot was going on, I was just moving in with my then girlfriend and for one reason or the other I didn't put in as much effort as I could have into quality assurance. I definitely had fun but I really think I did them a disservice attaching their names to some mish mash of a ramble.

Those guys are some of the coolest people I know, and I really wanted to solidly improve the quality of the cast before getting anyone else involved in my ramblings.

Anna, Asha, Adley, Ashina, thanks again for being on the cast. Shout out stevaughn and daniel as well for being there and bringing vibes, always a pleasure. And a huUUge shout out to katastrophe kat for letting us use her house as the location. This was during peak covid n everything so I know having a bunch of folks in your house to make a podcast of all things could not have been ideal, but you supported the homie when all he had to offer was vibes and pizza. Many many thanks, and I hope to have you all back on one day.

All that being said I'm still just a guy recording on his phone at his house so if you hear stuff like people, animals or vehicles that's just my environment, give thanks for hearing and give thanks for the world around you.

That’s housekeeping.

Now some points of information

Firstly, I’ve come to understand that when it comes to anime there are 4 main release formats:

- Theatre releases which are usually movies

- TV releases which are usually series

- Original Video Animations or OVA for short, which are either movies or series made specifically for home video releases like dvd, blu-ray, etc.

- Original Net Animations, ONAs, which are either movies or series released directly onto the internet.

…of course here in the west I think alot of us just call everything anime,, or at least nobody's ever asked me if I've watched such and such OVA or ONA…

Second point, the average length of any series mentioned here is 23 minutes unless otherwise stated.

Lastly, if you’re completely new to anime and don’t know where to find stuff, all the series mentioned are on 9anime, zoro.to or you can ask a weeb friend. You probably have one or two and they would likely love to share if you’re interested.. You can also try for movies on those sites but I personally recommend torrenting them. I’m generally an advocate for supporting creators where we can but some of this stuff just isn’t on streaming services and if we’re being really real we can probably chalk up any “losses” to Japan paying for their war crimes…

Alright. with that out the way, let’s get into it.

THIS episode's format is different from the usual, list of stuff consumed this month then stuff consumed before that,, this time it’s all stuff watched this month but split into series and then movies. Also the order isn’t any sort of ranking it’s just the order I happened to watch them in.

Again I haven’t really done too much anime and I already mentioned my fav older watches in Season 1’s Anime solo reprise.. Fairly certain that if i went with that format again It would pretty much be the same lists except most of what I watched that month would move into this month’s older top 5 or so. I also really didn’t want to have to try and balance between series and movies for a top 5 list,, or do any type of ranking tbh,, plus seeing as i haven’t watched all that much anime I feel like my perception’s bound to be changing rapidly at this point..

When I add more to the stack I'll probably make another list but for now you can check out that ramble or read the writeup if you're interested.

[SERIES]

- Gunsmith Cats (1995 OVA, 3 episodes, 30 minutes each)

Picked this up for the shits because I liked the name and wanted to see if it had any relevance to the plot,, plus I'd always seen some 90s anime lofi type beat gifs of it and that made it seem pretty cool. Only 3 episodes. 90 minutes total, and if there was going to be predictably gratuitous fan service then that seemed a fair and tolerable length.

Not bad,, pretty enjoyable even if you don't mind or just wanna see some pulp., As anilist user Wilza put it, girls + cars + guns = fun.

Personally though I prefer media I consume to look good, be enjoyable and also be filling in some way,, but I pretty much knew what I was going into, and again, 90 minutes total. Not a bad appetiser for a whole month of anime.

Spoiler alert. The only relevance the title had to the plot was the main characters owning a store with the same name.. A gun store… idk what I expected…

- Riding bean (1989 OVA, 45 minutes) & Bean bandit (2021 OVA, 8 minutes)

The 1989 Riding Bean is actually the parent of Gunsmith Cats and the 2021 Bean Bandit is supposed to be a kickstarter for a new anime,, if i’m understanding my google search results correctly….

The mc of Gunsmith Cats, Rally Vincent is the partner of the mc here, Bean Bandit. Mostly watched for the Gunsmith Cats relation and the fact that there was less than an hour total length between the two. Also the name, again, had a strange pull on me cause I just still can’t fathom that naming sense and needed to actually see what was up.

Unfortunately I can't say there's much worth mentioning,, The mc is supposed to be a badass courier that has a cool ass car and drives anywhere anyhow but with basically one episode and an advertisement, neither of which were spectacular in any fashion, I couldn't find myself picking up the anything they were putting down. My only real comments are; cool car ig, the main character's chin is insane, like google the guy, bean bandit,,, and it was nice to see Rally again but in a different style… ig…

I encourage everyone to evaluate stuff for themselves but… you can probably let this one pass you…

- Digital juice(2002 OVA, 6 episodes, 3 mins each)

Very cool anthology, no real relation between each episode besides an effort being made to transport you to a different, usually high fantasy world.

Not too much to say barring going into each of the 6 shorts but ain't nobody got the time for that + they were mad short fr. Not even 20 mins length total, so I feel like I literally can’t start speaking on any of them without just about spoiling it entirely.. I will say that I definitely enjoyed all of them though.. Like a 7 on average if I was pressed for a score...

Really diverse animation styles throughout and, at least for me, it was a pretty decent shakeup of my preconceptions as to what anime, meaning Japanese animation, looks like. Highly recommend if you're bored of the same old same old and want a quick shake up.

On that note, this is one of three cool looking unrelated anthologies I wanted to watch this month. Sweat Punch and Short Peace are the other two. If anyone can find them please send them my way.

- Sonny Boy (2021 tv series, 12 episodes)

Wasn’t expecting much going into this, if anything I was expecting some lord of the flies, kids slowly going insane and picking each other off type beat, but I was so off the mark and in the best of ways.

The gist of the story here is that a high school has drifted into another dimension and at the same time, some of the kids start developing powers. With that setup I don’t think you can blame me for thinking this was gonna be another pseudo death game type beat, plus the title Sonny Boy, literally gives nothing away about the show,, but as I said the show went in a completely different direction.

For the most part the students are actually working together to try and get home albeit in their little factions, each having their own ideas about how they should go about that. Their situation was anything but normal and shit never really hit the fan like i expected but shit definitely got weirder and weirder.. But keeping the kids actually behaving like normal kids for the most part was a pretty good choice as it was way easier to relate and empathize with stuff like a class spat leading to people being isolated or god complex student council members, rather than dudes killing each other over who gets the best part of a fucking deserted island or something like that yk?

On that note the cast was great, pretty brilliant actually. Loved pretty much all the dialogue and despite the heavy scifi setup, it was more slice of life leaning a bit into psychological. Kids being kids, they’re gonna have issues yk? Put em in a different dimension, give em powers, kids are still gonna have issues. I think the main thing, was trying to find the place where you belong and the journey to get there, but honestly there was so much going on, so much cool social and existential commentary before and after that became clear, it was phenomenal. All wrapped up in some of the most dope visual direction I’d ever seen in anime.

Definitely highly recommend, honestly feel like i must have missed when it was buzzing cause it’s just so good in every direction I can think of,, my last ditch attempt at selling it would be to say it’s like a cross of the magic school bus and doctor who.. I think watching this as early as I did in the month was a big driving force for me actually trying to watch a bunch more stuff and I'm super thankful…

- Bus gamer (2008 TV series, 3 episodes)

Series about death games are about a dime a dozen but usually an okay time.. You know what you're getting and sometimes they can actually be really good and if not, what's another gratuitous chainsaw massacre?

The story, as with most death games is pretty simple. Different corporations/businesses hire teams of three strangers to steal and protect each other's data for huge sums of money.. As opposed to just getting a safe or investing in tech.. who knows why rich people enjoy toying with the lives of poors.. In any case, outside the games I like the plot point of teams made of strangers as it usually makes it more interesting to see how they pull stuff off.

Just 3 episodes, not that good in any sense plainly speaking. Very abrupt ending as it's based on a cancelled manga so that should tell you… I will say it did have a few cool lines I saved for future use though.

In any case I wasn't expecting much going in, the name just intrigued me. idk even know how I chanced into this. I just saw the name and was just like “are they playing games on a bus? in transit? what's going on?” but no they just play the games wherever..

Very sick op and ed tho I’ll for sure give it that,, and yeah it wasn't great but as hanma yujiro said in Baki son of ogre, if you only consume the good your body will become vulnerable, you have to take the good and the bad in their share to become stronger.

- The Tatami Galaxy series

So so so so so good, and without powers or anything really, just pure brilliance. idek what else to say… Tbh after watching Sonny Boy I thought I’d be lucky to see another series even half as good but I was thankfully blessed with another masterpiece and I’m so grateful.

The Tatami Galaxy series is actually 3 different series and a movie. Not really clearly related in plot but moreso the characters and themes, with each series showing those off in their own way. All thankfully and wonderfully brilliant,, but 4 items is a lot to squeeze in without turning a ramble into a lecture so i’ll try to speak on the general first then brush on the differences of each.

At its core, tatami galaxy is a romantic comedy that we never truly get to see the fruit of as the mc's ceaseless cyclical efforts are barely enough to start up a conversation with a woman…. Felt my dude…. :’^)))

Our mc is a freshman college student hoping to have a rose coloured college life as he's wasted his highschool years, and to that end he tries to join a club for their social circle, and hopefully even find a girlfriend. Sadly for him, but pivotal to the plot, he fails miserably at finding the ever elusive ideal girl and even worse, finds himself with only one so called friend he could call close after two years.

Another common thing were the absolutely stunning visuals which were so beautifully dynamic, in so many ways, it doesn’t even make sense to start listing. (breathe)I think this worked really well with the anthological feel the series gives off as a whole, and even within each individual part. Like the visual direction was almost too perfect man like i know some folks just don’t do slice of life but fr just look at the thing man it’s so beautiful.

btw, having watched all of them I’d say you don’t have to watch any particular one to watch any of the others, or in any particular order. I just read the summaries and decided to watch it in the order i’m about to talk about them in and yes I’d recommend that order but it’s not any strict thing.

Tatami Galaxy (2010 tv series, 11 episodes)

I’d say this is the definitive main branch but again, not something I’d say you have to have to watch before the others.

Here we follow our mc as he thinks back on his past two years of college. Unsatisfying, living alone, and with only one so called friend who he blames for being the cause of his failure to grasp a rose coloured college life. I really liked the gimmick of the story telling where basically every episode he would decide he’s going to join some club for their social circle, find he didn’t like the club’s activities for some reason or the other, meet that same one friend, then end up wasting time for two years. This makes it so that at the end of pretty much every episode he finds himself in some dire social situation that makes getting friends, not to mention a girlfriend, virtually impossible. He curses his fate and wishes he joined a different club because then everything would be different and everything would be awesome, most of all he wouldn’t meet that one guy and he would definitely get a girlfriend. Then the next episode his college life starts all over again and he chooses a different club.

Personally I really love strange loops, and I just couldn’t believe how fun it was to watch the story progress even within said loop. All brilliantly wrapped up and I have to say the second to last episode is some of the greatest episodes of anything I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.

Tatami Galaxy specials (2010 dvd, 3 episodes, 7 min each)

These are side stories that have virtually nothing to do with the main branch and if nothing else, just gave more screen time to a cast I was completely in love with by this time. I think it could also be first in your watch order if you don’t want to jump into 11 episodes of the main branch, or even in between episodes tbh, as it gives little tastes of the main cast and the kind of antics they get up to. Thankfully keeping the killer visuals I'd come to associate with the series. It was like they knew they already did everything right and just wanted to have some fun.

Tatami Time Machine Blues (2022 ONA, 6 episodes, 17 min each)

Same main cast, same main character having the same problems, but completely different like nothing from the main series ever happened,,, or was somewhere in between, time machines are involved so who knows man, such is life.

This was more on the nose actual time travel as the name implies, as opposed to the original’s recursive reminiscive storytelling,, The art was a little different than the first two i mentioned but the direction was still chef’s kiss. getting into the story of how and why they’re time travelling in the first place would spoil the wonderful ridiculousness of it all and despite everything I’m aware ramblings aren’t usually well received, so I simply highly recommend this..

Night is young, Walk on girl(breathe) (2017 movie, 1hr 30 mins)

This one is completely completely different from the rest as though they all balance the vantage points of the main cast reaaaaally well, this one actually has most of the story coming from the main heroine’s perspective which was reeeaaalllly cool to see after all this time. Also the art is again a little different from the rest but thankfully still with the same utterly beautiful yet playful charm.

I think I'm getting a little repetitive now and I have other things to get to so I won't even give the synopsis but just know, as with all the others, this shit is flames. Source: dude trust me.

Speaking generally on the series again, I loved how the main character’s narration was very like fast and clean cut, almost mechanical as opposed to how he and really the story were actually very whimsical and unstable. Fair warning, the dialogue could be very cutting emotionally and psychologically despite that whimsy, which almost always somehow managed to come from left field, but it all just blended so well, especially with the amazing visual direction. Also absolutely loved the main cast btw, from just their designs to their individual eccentric oddities,, easy 10/10 man

- Ayakashi: Japanese classic horror (2006 tv series, 11episodes)

Not a big horror fan in general, but I can’t deny enjoying the occasional dash of gore and body horror in my media, but something about Japanese horror, specifically their supernatural realm stuff has always been very appealing to me. The diversity, creativity and folklore usually present is just so wild it always makes me wonder, wtf are the Japanese on and how long have they been on it.

That being said this wasn't all that great but it was an anthology of 3 stories, max of four parts each so nothing dragged on too long for me to hate anything. On average the stories themselves weren't bad or anything, actually they were solid enough and to the point but the age in animation showed through in a way that made me feel like I was watching a homemade project or something. But on the other hand, as I'm getting older myself, it did give me a bit of nostalgia for the days of searching through YouTube videos for hours to watch one anime episode split into four parts just to find out they only had 2. Also I thought each story was better than the last tbh, ending with an amazing three parter called Bakeneko, which was just so much different and also better than the first two in every sense, it's almost hard to believe they're from the same series.

If i’m being honest, even though I really dig japanese horror in general I actually mostly watched this series to see that last story as it actually ended up getting its own series called mononoke the following year.. I knew they weren't related but as a completionist I like to complete things yk? For those wondering, no you don't have to watch this series or even the last part, Bakeneko, to watch and enjoy mononoke.

- Mononoke (2007 tv series, 12 episodes)

Technically a spinoff of the previous series but definitely stands out on its own.

Honestly went into this almost to hate watch, for two reasons. One, for the most part I'm a manga purist so my hater self was like "fuck all those fancy shmancy colors n shit, all you need is the good ol black and white and a good story". Secondly I'd never actually seen anyone talk about it outside of thirsting for the mc and aesthetic blogs posting the same few clips so I thought it would’ve just been eye candy, but just from what I saw in Bakeneko I knew I was wrong and was actually really excited to get into this.

The story here is that the mc is a "medicine man". Medicine man in quotes cause we never see this dude sell medicine and tbh it seems like wherever he goes people are about to be or already getting fucked.. But he calls himself a medicine man. Though in reality what he does is exorcise supernatural beings called mononoke. All together the show is split into five multi part stories, each focusing on a particular mononoke.

Now you might be thinking "ohhh brother, not more demon slayin". Trust me I get it man.. I get it… but it's different in that the mononoke are said to come into being because of the misfortune of humans, so they really focus more on solving the mystery of that first creation step for most of the story, rather than physically fighting demons,, which does happen but usually more to the climax of each part., I was expecting to find it getting more and more predictable with the same general outline for each; mc shows up, mononoke shows up, shit hits the fan, MC saves the day, different day, different mononoke. But every story felt so richly unique, less so because of the obviously different mononoke and underlying themes but moreso I think, because of the mix of lengths and pacing which made it hard for even the general layout I described to feel predictable.

The main character was honestly just too brilliant and pretty much everyone, in this very shuffled cast mind you, played their parts so well. Also I said what I said but the eye candy was there and cannot be understated. Loved the horror aspects of course, more creepy than scary though, and really most of the time, the most horrific things were the sequence of events that caused the mononoke to come into existence.

Also a movie should be coming out this year so that's another reason I decided to check this out.

- Yokohama Shopping Log/Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (1998 OVA, 2 episode, 29 minutes each) & it’s sequel, Yokohama Shopping Log: Quiet Country Cafe/Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Quiet Country Cafe) (2002 OVA, 2 episodes, 32 minutes each)

Actually read the manga just over 2 years ago when I was on a slice of life binge and really dug the vibe, was so strangely peaceful I really wanted to see it in motion.

There's no real story tbh, it's literally just vibes, as it comes from a slice of life subgenre called iyashikei, apparently meant to have a healing effect on audiences by showing characters in a calming environment, living out peaceful lives. There's no real grand happenings, but that's really the point. As anilist user c00kiemaster puts it. Finding peace in the mundane, seeing beauty in the damaged.

The setting is one of those very rare post apocalyptic ones that aren’t all sad and hopeless. a little melancholy but that's just the personal disposition of the mc, which makes how healing it is all the more wild.

The two parts cover different parts of the manga but you don't really need to see one to see the other, as I said the plot is minimal and it's more about the setting. They don't cover as much as the manga but I really enjoyed just hearing the wind and watching it blow over the fields, watching the waves crash here and there.. a lone engine revving up then hitting an abandoned road… and the soundtrack is just… so peaceful..

If you want to see stuff happen then this probably isn't for you but it's a great wind down.. The reason I watched it last… If you're trying to get cozy then this is it.

[MOVIES]

- Roujin Z

The plot here is that the ministry of health has developed a new machine to automatically take care of the elderly who can't do so themselves.. Generally a movie needs conflict, so needless to say that didn’t go quite as well as they planned.

This is a Katsuhiro Otomo movie. Fairly certain Otomo’s most popular, or at least his most commonly referenced movie is Akira, but he's also been involved in quite a few other films. I had the pleasure of watching a few anthologies he worked on last year; Robot Carnival, Meikyuu Monogatari and my personal favourite, Memories. These all pretty much stand toe to toe with Akira so I had pretty solid expectations heading into this and they were pretty well met.

Solid cast and great aesthetic as I think most anime fans do, or usually come to expect from Otomo, and also pretty funny. I don't think Otomo's comedy gets enough credit tbh, especially for pulling it off in these usually sci-fi, end of the world, high tension situations. If you check out his anthologies you’ll see he can be a pretty funny guy, and though Kaneda provided a bit of that in Akira, I’d definitely recommend checking out his other work, Stink Bomb, from the Memories anthology to really see what I mean.

- One Piece movies, Stampede and Red

Stampede was sort of cool because we got to see the worst generation all in one place again, though I don't really care for most of them, so it wasn't THAT cool to me. Honestly I find it hard to care for them when it's not like the main story, or even this movie seems to either. Cool looking main enemy with a simple mindset and characterization that plays their role. The only thing I didn't really like is this thing where the main baddie had some connection to Roger or is from that generation. Another movie that did this was One Piece movie Z.

Let me just put out there though that I liked it when they did it in the Strong World movie, because the antagonist there, Shiki, was actually canon and one of Roger's greatest rivals besides Whitebeard. So being the first movie post time skip, it really hit to see Luffy go head to head with someone like that, but also because of that,, pulling any other character from that era doesn't make much sense to me seeing as Luffy beat THE Golden Lion Shiki and has only gotten stronger since then. That being said I recognise Luffy's win over Shiki was a once in a lifetime ass pull but it's a movie you know,, cool once in a lifetime shit is kinda supposed to happen.. unlike his asspull win vs a certain Katakuri… which I'm evidently still salty about to this day.

One thing I really appreciated though was usopp's role in this movie. After spending 2 years on such island during the timeskip, being trained by a dude named Heracles, he's supposed to be a real yute now yk, but in the main series we haven't gotten it all that much.. Thankfully he was for really really real here, like all real ones know god usopp to be… also shout out warlord turned yonko genius buggy one time…

Red

Wasn't expecting much from this movie tbh. If you're a One Piece fan then you know Shanks is the biggest tease in franchise history, so despite all the ads and previews alluding to his supposed involvement, I knew he would show up for like 5 minutes, say a few words and maybe swing his sword once. Which was pretty on the mark,, but I didn't expect to love it as much as I did nonetheless. Probably the second most emotional one piece film after one piece movie 6: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island.

- Lupin III: The First

That might be a little hard to follow for folks who don’t know the character but his name is Arsené Lupin the third and the movie title is The First.

Gonna just go with the anilist description here and say the story centres on Lupin teaming up with a woman named Leticia to steal the Bresson Diary, a treasure that even the first generation Arsène Lupin could not steal., Simple heist plot but this shit was so damn cool, the craziest thing is that Lupin just looks like kinda dorky idk but he just so smooth with it. Not to be outshined by his gang that’s not quite a gang, all utterly killing their respective roles of sword, charm, gun and somehow funnily enough the law.

I had unreasonably high expectations heading into this tbh, firstly because of the crisp animation I'd seen in trailers. Secondly, because after watching my first lupin movie last year, the blood spray of goemon ishikawa, and being absolutely blown out of the water, I unreasonably expected them to easily produce another master class. Thankfully I was not disappointed in the least, all my expectations were far surpassed and I'm even more excited to watch the rest of the movies and get into the main series.

- Millennium actress

A Satoshi Kon movie. If his name doesn’t ring a bell his other movies, Perfect Blue and Paprika usually do for anime fans and regardless i’d recommend them.

The story here is that a documentary film maker is interviewing a legendary actress that disappeared at the height of her career. Like most Satoshi films I've seen till this point, it neatly blends the lines between illusion and reality but this is still the first normal Satoshi Kon movie I've seen until this point. Very touching and ironically down to earth given the intentional blurring of reality by the characters themselves. I definitely preferred this to both perfect blue and paprika, I think mostly because of how whimsical the fantasies of the characters were here, as opposed to the darker more dissective nature of Perfect Blue and Paprika. I mean those were pretty solid movies but I guess that’s how it usually goes? Like yh what a wicked and ironic comment bro, now try saying something true and beautiful… still solid movies but yh..

- Angel’s Egg

This was actually my 3rd attempt to watch this movie in like 4yrs. Still don't know what I watched so I couldn't even give you a real synopsis. And I still can't figure why it seems so highly rated.. I definitely get that it's aesthetically pleasing, Yoshitaka Amano having done the art. but there's like 10 lines of dialogue,, and sure there's some cool existential bits but that's like 3 out of the 10 lines. To each their own but man… idk…

- Tokyo godfathers

Another Satoshi Kon film, actually didn’t realise until I started it and saw the art and was like, “is this Satoshi?” And yh it was Satoshi.

The plot here is three homeless folks find an abandoned baby girl on Christmas eve and try to reunite her with her mother. No fantasy or anything really, just some very real shit, teared up and almost cried at one bit tbh. Brilliant visual direction as expected but I actually found the sound direction a bit odd idk,,. Still, it easily became my fav Satoshi Kon movie like half hour in.

And that’s it for stuff watched this month, much love and thanks if you're still here, I'm gonna ramble a little bit more after this but the main part of the episode is done now so,, love and peace and safe travels 🤞🏿

#just another day #mm..manga #writeup #A is for Anime #late but we're here!!!#check it out check it out!!#Spotify #lots of wind cause I ended up having to just go on my roof for some quiet

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