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Showing posts from April, 2023

Oshi no Ko's Movie-length Premiere Can't Seem to Settle Down

A new Spring 2023 anime adapted from the manga of the same name, Oshi no Ko's movie-length pilot episode has exceeded all expectations. The show initially appears to be another entry in the crowded genre of reincarnation tales, but it quickly becomes apparent that it is much more. Oshi no Ko combines elements of various genres including comedy, drama, mystery, thriller and psychological to create a unique viewing experience that manages to be both captivating and thought-provoking. While there is some room for improvement, particularly in its comedy, the premiere is an excellent start that promises great things to come. The story revolves around a rural doctor named Dr. Goro, who is a huge fan of his favorite pop idol, Ai Hoshino. As if being toyed with by fate, that very same idol goes to his rural clinic for a pregnancy consultation, a brewing scandal that could possibly end Ai's idol career. While conflicted with his discovery and doing his best to let Ai deliver her childre

Wotakoi Took Otaku Fans by Storm When it First Aired

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku took the anime community by storm when it first aired, drawing in a large fanbase with its relatable characters and themes. The series follows the lives of a group of otaku friends who work together in the same office, and who explore their otaku hobbies while also strengthening their platonic and romantic relationships. Its popularity stemmed from its ability to accurately portray the struggles of being an otaku and the challenges of maintaining relationships while pursuing one's passions. Ever since the show ended, viewers have been on the lookout for the next great show. The Spring 2023 anime season may have finally brought the perfect series for Wotakoi fans: My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999. This series seems to share some similarities with the former, featuring a stoic gamer boy and a lively heroine. Additionally, the series explores a theme that's very close to the hearts of otaku fans: gaming. My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999

Chapter 1080 Finally Showed Fans What it Looks Like When Luffy's

Now that One Piece is in its final saga, it's time for all the big players to make some moves. This means fans will finally get to see what it's like when these characters, who have remained in the background for much of the series, are finally going to show what they're like in a serious battle. This was recently done with Red-Haired Shanks, but now it's time to see what Monkey D. Garp can do. Chapter 1080, "The Hero of Legend," saw the Vice Admiral throw his first serious punch of the series with devastating results. The power of this single attack confirms just about everything that's been said about the Hero of the Marines to date. It was one thing to hear about how strong he was, but seeing him in action makes it feel all the more believable. Garp's display of strength was showcased as a splash panel at the end of Chapter 1080. After some SWORD agents successfully corralled several low-ranking Blackbeard Pirates into one place. Garp attacked them

One Piece Pirates and real-life Pirates Share Some Similarities

The One Piece world of piracy is full of adventure, crazy characters, and ridiculous powers. The series may have been inspired by pirates, some of the characters even sharing names of infamous pirates in reality, but just how much of the pirate life is transcribed from the real world and how much is pure fantasy? When excluding the exuberant Devil Fruit powers and extreme character designs of the anime, there are certainly some similarities that indicate Eiichiro Oda drew from both historical and fictional concepts of pirate life. The life of a pirate was a balance of enjoyment and risk. They sailed the sea in search of other ships to sink and raid, they were hired by different navies to attack their enemies, and they amassed piles of treasure which usually ended up buried on an island or at the bottom of the sea. One Piece shows the world of piracy as if the crew is a family, sharing an unbreakable bond. Some pirate captains stood the test of time, until they found themselves hanged f

The Dragon Ball Franchise has Several Fan-Favorite Characters

 The Dragon Ball franchise has several fan-favorite characters, but it continually returns to focusing on Goku and Vegeta. This has become egregious in Dragon Ball Super, where the other Z Fighters are continually glossed over. It now seems almost impossible to pass the narrative torch onto these heroes' sons, but another shonen franchise is the perfect blueprint for doing so. Naruto eventually gave way to Boruto, focusing on a brand-new generation of shinobi. Dragon Ball could easily do the same, especially given that the likely new protagonists are already well-liked. Thus, by following the formula of Boruto, Akira Toriyama can finally achieve his goals for the series. While it's almost impressive that Goku has remained the focus of Dragon Ball this long, it's almost become played out by now. The fact of the matter is that the constant increase in scale comes off more as a joke than a raising of the stakes. Threats now have to exceed near-cosmic levels in order to really

Many of One Piece's Strongest Techniques Suffer from Drawbacks

 Since debuting in 1999, One Piece has quickly earned a reputation as one of the most popular fictional works in the world. Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates have spent over 1,000 episodes sailing across the Grand Line in their search for Gol D. Roger's long-lost treasure, and along the way, they have encountered a variety of fighters with devastatingly powerful abilities. However, as is often the case with powerful attacks, many of One Piece's strongest techniques suffer from serious drawbacks. Whether they incapacitate their user, damage their user's allies, or inspire some sort of unintended side effect, these drawbacks make their respective techniques a dangerous double-edged sword. Given Monkey D. Luffy's status as the protagonist of One Piece, it should come as no surprise that he wields some of the most overpowered abilities in the series. His patented Gear 3 and Gear 4 techniques are strong enough to take down the likes of Donquixote Doflamingo and Charl

Sukuna Just Revealed the True Power Behind Megumi’s Technique

 Megumi Fushiguro was deemed a sorcerer with boundless potential by the Jujutsu Kaisen Society and his peers. He inherited the Zenin Clan's 10 Shadows, the strongest technique of the influential family. As such, Fushiguro's mentor, Gojo Satoru, has pushed him endlessly to achieve his potential, stating that his protégé's cursed technique could be just as powerful as his own Limitless and Six Eyes. Megumi has only managed to tame seven of the ten Shikigami that assist the technique and was almost killed by the strongest of the shadows, so he remains pretty far from mastering his power. Before he could prove his own potential, however, the evil Sukuna began using Fushiguro as a vessel and appears to have tamed some of the technique's remaining Shikigami. This means that two of the remaining three shadows are in the power of whomever wields the technique. Unfortunately, this has only made the King of Curses more formidable. Megumi Fushiguro's upbringing served him an o

Many Death Note spin-offs From the Main Story Have Been Made

 Even years after its initial release, Death Note remains one of the most widely beloved manga ever made. Adapted multiple times to anime, film and television, the series tells the story of Light Yagami, an incredibly intelligent boy who stumbles upon a Death Note, a book that ends the life of any name written down in it. Death Note is notable for the great number of spin-offs that launched from the title -- full-blown, original stories that sprouted from the main story. Here is a list of all the various iterations and whether they are worth a watch. Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases by Nisio Isin was published in August 2006, placing it mere months after the series' proper conclusion in May 2006. The story is a prequel narrated by Mello, featuring a case L helped Naomi Misora solve in Los Angeles. Beyond Birthday is a violent killer who Naomi tracks down with the assistance of L. While L primarily talks to Naomi through a screen, as he does with the SPK in t

Season 6 Technically Ended With the Villains Winning

 The sixth season of My Hero Academia seems to have ended on a fairly positive note. Deku finally got the rest he needed and he's ready to face the threat of Tomura Shigaraki and All For One with the help of his fellow Heroes and classmates. However, it's kind of a downer when one thinks about how this season ended as a win for those villains on the battlefield. This might have been fixed by the very next arc in the series, the Star and Stripe Arc. It would have been a place where the Heroes got one over on these villains and thus ended the season on a more positive note. Assuming Season 7 follows the manga, it should begin with a battle between Shigaraki and America's No. 1 Hero, Star and Stripe. It doesn't quite end with Star and Stripe winning, but it does end with Shigaraki losing. Whether this would have been a good place to end the sixth season depends on what reaction the anime wanted to get out of fans -- it's all about whether viewers feel properly satisfie

Despite the Sasuke Retrieval Mission's heartbreaking in Naruto

 Naruto's highly impressive "Sasuke Retrieval" arc was built upon careful planning and jumpstarted the franchise into a new tone, narrative and meaning. At the center of this arc is Sasuke Uchiha's quest for revenge -- which proves to be a defining part of his character and a significant challenge for his closest allies. Upon building up the traumatic impact of Sasuke's past and his brother Itachi's massacre of their clan, the plot goes from the direction of uniting Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura together to tearing them apart as Sasuke begins to see his motivations are leading him down a different path from his friends. Despite the heartbreaking moment of Naruto failing to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, there are a number of reasons why Sasuke's escape was actually for the best. Though revenge is a controversial path, Sasuke definitely needed to face Itachi in some way, and only one person was willing to support him without any restrictions. Orochimaru was one o

The Sheer Untapped Power of Saitama from One-Punch Man Goku

 There are two names repeatedly brought up when discussing the most powerful anime characters. First is Goku from the classic shonen series Dragon Ball. Second is Saitama from the highly popular One-Punch Man. Both leads are known for their immense strength and for defeating the strongest villains in each of their universes. The mere question "Who is stronger: Saitama or Goku?" begins inevitable fan wars in comments and threads. It seems fans of the latter tend to ignore the fact that Saitama is an overpowered hero in general. He's not just powerful, but is definitively stronger than any other heroes. Let's break down these two glaring differences between them and explain why Saitama is stronger than Goku. Saitama is a B-class hero and just a plain old human. He experiences everything an average human does and ages with time. Additionally, he has no special abilities like regenerative or magical powers. Goku, meanwhile, comes from an alien warrior race with superpower