Fucking google chrome is the mad note son. I have just got the blogger app and I can now update my blog like a mother hubbard on the fly so look forward to using this more soon to post up me works!
Monday, 1 February 2010
Monday, 14 September 2009
Comics Reviews 14th September 2009
COMIC REVIEWS SEPTEMBER 14TH 2009
THE NEEK PICK OF THE WEEK
WAR OF KINGS: WHO WILL RULE?
We finally come to the epilogue of the War of Kings event that has lasted the extent of the summer holidays and let me just say I cannot recommend this book enough. In this instalment we finally get to see who will lead the remnants of the Shi’Ar Empire after the events of WoK and whilst the end result is a bit predictable it is highly appreciated. Abnett and Lanning should be given the Nobel Prize for their achievements in the Marvel cosmic universe. Before they came along with the also highly recommended Annihilation event, Marvel Cosmic characters had been relegated to brief guest appearances or one off cosmic events that occurred once every 10 or so years, however, D&As revitalization of this part of the brand can only be considered a good thing.
This issue immediately picks up from where the series left off, Blackbolt and Vulcan have seemingly died in the EXPLOSION THAT DESTROYED TIME AND SPACE….ACE….ace (sorry for the drama but it had to be done) and the question is left to the surviving members of the Inhumans and Shi’Ar government to decide who will be the next Majestor or Majestrix of the empire, with the two main contenders for the title are the narrators from the main series; Gladiator and Crystal. This issue consists of both characters vehemently rejecting the title on the grounds that neither considers themselves able enough to rule over the empire. D&A’s talents shine through here and they show once again that they really understand the mindset of these characters as both give compelling arguments as to why they should not be considered for the role. Paul Pelletier’s art is once again outstanding as well as it has been throughout the series and his work continues to excel and I can only hope that he continues to work with D&A in their cosmic workshop for years to come.
The main reason I have enjoyed this series so much is their re-imagining of the Gladiator characters. Before this he had been one of many Superman pastiches (even going as far as to name his real name Kallark), occasionally rolled out to spouting his only line “I SERVE THE SHI’AR THRONE” and getting beaten by people weaker than him for nothing more than a cheap bump of the other characters street creed (Cannonball anyone?) What D&A have done here though is finally stabilise his character both mentally and physically. They have injected a new life into Gladiator that has never been done before and have firmly cemented him as a character to watch not only as a result of WoK but also looking into 2010 comic scene.
Final Thoughts: D&A have created their own playground of wonder that has provided us with some of the most original and compelling stories in the Marvel Universe in recent times. If you really fancy a good story or you are just SICK of Norman Osborne’s face then this book and subsequent ones by the dynamic duo should definitely be on your pull list.
*SPOILER WARNING: These reviews contain spoilers*
SORRY FOR THE DELAY PEOPLE! I know it has been AGES since my last review and for that I apologise. Today’s review will have THE NEEK PICK OF THE WEEK which will be the comic I feel is the best of the week followed by the comic that I feel should receive The Sword of Damokles for its insults to comicdom!
Without further delay LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
THE NEEK PICK OF THE WEEK
WAR OF KINGS: WHO WILL RULE?
Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Pencils: Paul Pelletier
We finally come to the epilogue of the War of Kings event that has lasted the extent of the summer holidays and let me just say I cannot recommend this book enough. In this instalment we finally get to see who will lead the remnants of the Shi’Ar Empire after the events of WoK and whilst the end result is a bit predictable it is highly appreciated. Abnett and Lanning should be given the Nobel Prize for their achievements in the Marvel cosmic universe. Before they came along with the also highly recommended Annihilation event, Marvel Cosmic characters had been relegated to brief guest appearances or one off cosmic events that occurred once every 10 or so years, however, D&As revitalization of this part of the brand can only be considered a good thing.This issue immediately picks up from where the series left off, Blackbolt and Vulcan have seemingly died in the EXPLOSION THAT DESTROYED TIME AND SPACE….ACE….ace (sorry for the drama but it had to be done) and the question is left to the surviving members of the Inhumans and Shi’Ar government to decide who will be the next Majestor or Majestrix of the empire, with the two main contenders for the title are the narrators from the main series; Gladiator and Crystal. This issue consists of both characters vehemently rejecting the title on the grounds that neither considers themselves able enough to rule over the empire. D&A’s talents shine through here and they show once again that they really understand the mindset of these characters as both give compelling arguments as to why they should not be considered for the role. Paul Pelletier’s art is once again outstanding as well as it has been throughout the series and his work continues to excel and I can only hope that he continues to work with D&A in their cosmic workshop for years to come.
The main reason I have enjoyed this series so much is their re-imagining of the Gladiator characters. Before this he had been one of many Superman pastiches (even going as far as to name his real name Kallark), occasionally rolled out to spouting his only line “I SERVE THE SHI’AR THRONE” and getting beaten by people weaker than him for nothing more than a cheap bump of the other characters street creed (Cannonball anyone?) What D&A have done here though is finally stabilise his character both mentally and physically. They have injected a new life into Gladiator that has never been done before and have firmly cemented him as a character to watch not only as a result of WoK but also looking into 2010 comic scene.
Final Thoughts: D&A have created their own playground of wonder that has provided us with some of the most original and compelling stories in the Marvel Universe in recent times. If you really fancy a good story or you are just SICK of Norman Osborne’s face then this book and subsequent ones by the dynamic duo should definitely be on your pull list.
THE VICTIM OF DAMOKLES
DARK AVENGERS/UNCANNY X-MEN: EXODUS #1Writer: Matt Fraction
Artists: Mike Deodato and Terry Dodson
The fact that the Marvel blurb on their website for this states “The climactic conclusion to the crossover event of 2009 is here” shows that they obviously haven’t been reading any of the other events of 2009 and as WoK shows Marvel at its best, this crossover smells of a last ditch attempt to inject some life into a premise that has clearly run its course. Dark Reign as a concept, in my humble opinion, is weak at best. Norman Osborn has barely been a credible threat to Spider-Man for the last however many years and yet now he found himself in charge of the new S.H.I.E.L.D? Even his “cabal” only lasted about 3 issues with the newest betrayals in this very issue. None of the villains he put together even fully supported him; instead they were cowered into submission by a shadow in the doorway (who has yet to be revealed). Plus so far I have not been a fan of Fraction’s run on X-Men at all so a paring of the two was never going to go down well.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a Matt Fraction hater. In fact it is just the opposite I am a big fan of his work. I have every Iron Fist in hardback trade and I loved what he did with Thor Rain of Blood and those other stories, which is part of the reason why his run has irritated me. I know he can do awesome stories because I own them! Yet this “event” has one major issues that has definitely affected the quality of the story…what was the point of all this? Norman Osborn has control of the most powerful peace keeping force in the world, so why does he have to take a fight to the X-Men? There are about 200 of the blighters now that don’t really pose a threat to anyone. I mean in the first issue Beast, who has been able to fight Wolverine solo, manages to get taken out by a bunch of normal dudes with tasers. How tough can they be really? Also at the end of this whole fiasco, the only difference is that now Emma Frost has a sliver of the void in her (can anyone say female Onslaught?) and now the X-Men have once again moved only this time it is to their own personal Alcatraz, like that is going to resolve anything. Osborn has quite clearly shown that he doesn’t care about obeying little things like foreign boundaries so why would that stop him dropping some sentinels “accidently” on the X-Men’s heads? Especially now there is this whole “The List” sub plot that is about to happen. I thought the whole point of Dark Reign in the first place was to take out those who opposed him...so what is the point of it? The whole comic was just an excuse to have one big “cool” fight, that wasn’t even that cool at all. How on Earth did Dark beast catch Northstar? His 90s ass would have been 20,000ft in the air before he had a chance to blink. There is no substance to the story. Even when Namor and Emma Frost betray Osborne was anyone really surprised? Not at all? That’s exactly what I thought. Deodato’s pencils are competent enough but I am not a fan at all of the colouring. It’s like reading the comic through a smudged lens.
Marvel really need to fix up with their events because DC are blowing them out of the water with the Blackest Night and after checking the Diamond comic list for August DC have caught up with the market share nicely, and this is before we have heard any major news about DC entertainments upcoming slate. If they play their cards right they could easily topple Marvel’s almost monopoly of comic book movies. Comics like Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-men: Exodus #1 shows how Marvel rely too much on their over-arcing stories that need to tie-into every book rather than adopting a more DC-like approach that has the main story link into a couple of key books and then releasing three issue mini’s to tie into the main story rather than completely hijacking the current story for some half assed team up.
Final Thoughts: We need less crossovers and more time spent on the main stories themselves. I know Fraction can tell a fantastic story but compared to Whedon’s or Morrison’s run on X-Men this arc has been five months of pointlessness. He needs to put this event behind him and really get back into the skin of the characters he is trying to write. The brilliance of the Morrison and Whedon runs was that they both knew exactly how to write each character, how they interact and how to write credible global threats. I’ll leave you with this thought: Cassandra Nova or Norman Osborne? Exactly.
*Pictures copyrighted to their various sources*
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Anime Action: Week Three
Anime Action is the Neek’s anime focused segment. Every Friday I, Kweku, will round up and review a selection of Anime that I have watched in the past week. Be warned: spoilers ahead!
Apologies for the late edition this week, it’s been a busy time recently especially as we work towards finishing the proper Neek website. Anyways, with the conclusion of Hajime No Ippo last week, I’ve been looking for some more anime to plug the hole. I’ve gotten back into Bleach and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (a title that really should be 3 words shorter) and will start serving out reviews next week. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments section at the bottom. Covered this week are: Naruto Shippuuden (117) and One Piece (245-285) Read on after the break...
Naruto Shippuuden
(Episode 117: Juugo's North Hideout)
Another slow one this week as we were introduced to the bizarre Juugo, the final piece in Sasuke’s puzzle. His ability isn’t very original: he can transform into the same demon form as most of Orochimaru’s followers however Juugo is the first original demon form curse user and sees himself as most powerful, something he gives a strong indication of towards the end of the episode when he slams Sasuke into a wall. Juugo, on top of having a past history with the deceased bone warrior Kimimaru Kaguya (who also featured in one of my favourite anime fights) also appears to be utterly mad with a murderous bloodlust. Before Sasuke and co. even get to him, he mutters to himself dark words about killing the first person to come through his locked cell door if they’re a man, then he changes to a if it’s a women, then back again. Don’t know about you, but this is not the type of individual I want in my team. He may be powerful but it seems more likely than not that he’ll turn on his allies.
Other than that the only other thing of note in this episode was finally seeing Naruto again after a long absence from, well his own show. There was some funny banter between him and Jiraya after Naruto and Sakura were summoned to Tsunade’s office but the whole point of their cameo was to show their reaction to news that Orochimaru’s death possibly at the hands of Sasuke. “That means he’s coming back right?” Naruto asks hopefully. I was half expecting all that “Home is wherever the people thinking of you are” mantra from the 3-tails filler arc to start up again but mercifully before it could the action cut back to Sasuke’s confrontation with Juugo.
Right now the pacing of the episodes is incredibly slow and quite frustrating because while there is some disposition and we are learning more about Sasuke’s new allies, it’s a very, very slow trickle of information. I’m hanging on really, on the promise of much awesomeness just around the corner once Sasuke is ready to begin his assault on the Akatsuki.
One Piece
(Episode 286-318)
So this week I completed the Save Robin arc after watching a dangerous amount of episode, but that’s how compelling One Piece is if you have the time and I’ve been squeezing an episode into an break I have from my duties.
Well as suggested in last week review, things have certainly been heating up (literally for Luffy and Sanji with their hot new abilities) and it’s been really hyping things up for the final confrontation between CP9 and the Straw Hat which was wonderfully highlighted in a amazing scene where the members of CP9 are arrayed on a balcony of the Tower of Justice while one by one, as they arrive on the scene, the Straw hats line up opposite to them on the roof of the Gatehouse in similarly epic stances. The image below sadly doesn't do it justice.
To brush over what I’ve seen: following on from the epicness above the snivelling partially insane Spandam has taken Nico Robin toward the gates of justice with Lucci (the de facto leader of CP9) in tow. The key for Robin’s Kairoseki hand cuff have been given to another member of CP9 forcing the Straw Hats to split up engage each of them while Luffy charges after Spandam, but naturally despite the freakish strength of the CP9 members they are eventually beaten in a series of high octane duels and the keys are smuggled to Luffy via Frankie with some help from Chimney and Gonbe. Meanwhile Luffy races desperately after Robin but as he draws closer he gives away his position to Lucci who breaks off from the other two to fight Luffy. Lucci doesn’t attack much and seems more content with preventing Luffy, and soon Frankie too, from passing. Frankie does get past though eventually with the key to Robin’s cuffs once Luffy switches thing up to Gear Two, occupying all of Lucci’s attention. We learn that Gear Two basically involves Luffy increasing his blood flow dramatically by using his legs as pumps and increasing his response rate but can only be used in a short burst.
Meanwhile Spandam moronically activates his Buster Call to Robin’s horror; the psychological damage done to her with the Buster Call’s destruction of her homeland is more than apparent throughout this story arc. Eventually with the marine battleships raining shells on Enies Lobby, the Straw Hats manage to get to the Bridge of Hesitation, the safest point in the entire island complex, and after an insane battle Luffy defeats Lucci with literally the last of his strength after going to Gear Three, back to two and then delivering an explosive coup de grace in the form of a Jet Gatling Gun attack. Lucci ain’t getting up from that one. Ever.
Robin is freed but as they ready their escape on a captured Marine transport, the marine battle fleet surrounds the Bridge of Hesitation and begins pouring troops onto it. The bridge is slowly destroyed section by section as is their captured transport leaving the Straw Hats fighting for their lives against increasingly more skilful Elite Marines on a dwindling bridge. To make things worse Luffy is completely burned out and though conscious he can’t move after that fight. It looks like the gig is up but out of no-where an old friend returns: the Going Merry, their ship. I missed this out in last week’s Anime Action but the merry is fatally damaged after its many arduous adventures with Luffy and co., so to see it appear at their darkest moment to rescue them guided by it loving spirit was nice.
To round things off, the Merry evades the lumbering marine fleet and Robin even manages to gloriously execute Spandam, an incredibly satisfying moment, and meets up with a Galley-La ship from Water-7 city. The Straw Hats despite effectively destroying Enies Lobby, an incredibly powerful symbol of Marine power and the home of it judiciary, are treated like the heroes they are upon returning to the city and after a very emotional farewell to the Merry, Frankie decides to make the Straw Hats a new ship (which should be interesting based on his past designs!) From there things slow down nicely from the hectic heights of the earlier fights. Still there is heavy hinting of much epicness to come with the introduction, or rather reintroduction, of Luffy’s grandpa, Marine admiral Monkey D. Garp as well as Helmeppo and Coby from the opening arc of One Piece. Garp is very much like Luffy and accidentally reveals that Luffy’s dad is actually a powerful revolutionary opposing the world government (who actually saved Luffy from Captain Smoker during his escape from Loguetown) Monkey D. Dragon. After trashing Luffy around a bit, Garp leaves with his army of marines without too much more incident and we are treated to a distant confrontation between Shanks and the enormous Whitebeard. It’s unclear exactly what’s going on there but big is definitely about to happen very soon.
Overall I’m still enjoying One Piece and am very eager to get up to date, which I’m guessing by my current pace will be sometime early next month.
Additional Things
I’m also re-starting on the Bleach Anime starting from just before Inoue’s kidnapping by Aizen and his crew. I actually got quite far ahead in the manga but stopped reading it last year but I always enjoyed the anime and am looking forward to getting back into it. On top of that the mouthful that is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has recaptured my attention after I saw a pretty cool looking scene from one of the later episodes in the anime. I had watched the first 5 or so episodes a couple of years back but something really put me off the show... since I’m starting again from scratch I should know what that is pretty soon. Will keep you updated in next week Anime action.
Peace.
Remember you can see all the shows reviewed the week and many more at www.animeseason.com. Check it out and I’ll see you for some more Anime Action reviews this time next week.
Friday, 10 July 2009
Anime Action: Week Two
Anime Action is the Neek’s anime focused segment. Every Friday I, Kweku, will review a selection of Anime that I have watched in the past week. Be warned these reviews are full of spoilers.
Hello all. Hope you’ve all had a good week even if the weather for us Londoners has been awful. Still plenty to look forward to and thank god it’s Friday, time for the weekly anime update.
Covered this week are: Naruto Shippuuden (116), One Piece (245-285) and Hajime No Ippo: New Challenger (25-26)
More after the break...
Not too much else happened though; we see some hostility between Karin and Suigetsu bracketing a flashback from a mission Karin and Sasuke performed in the past putting down some of Orochimaru’s fleeing test subjects. Wasn’t the most interesting episode and it ended with a strange introduction to the next addition to Sauke’s team Juugo, muttering to himself in a prison cell about a guy or a woman being better. Better at what? We can only speculate, but keep it clean. We’ll have to wait till next week to see where they’re going with that one.
I definitely enjoyed the episodes preceding them, featuring Nico Robin’s story which was incredibly sad. She’s clearly a much stronger woman than you might think, to have survived all that she had been through and come out of it as she has. Her story also made me go from mildly disliking the World Government to straight up despising it. There was also a very interesting bit of information given from the giant Sagwarl D. Saulo claiming the “D” in his name is something everyone in his family line has... Monkey D. Luffy... Portgas D. Ace...Gold D. Roger... very interesting indeed.
It looks like the Straw Hat’s vs. CP9 will be kicking off in the next bunch of episode, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how truly powerful these super-assassins are and how far Luffy and co. have improved. We’ve already seen a glimpse of this after poor Blueno was dismantled by Luffy’s “2nd Gear”. I’m thinking the 3rd Gear will be revving up soon.
Sadly this series came to an end last week. The penultimate Episode 25: Please Accept This Bronze Statue was very funny as we come to expect from Hajime and followed on directly from the end of the Takamura Vs Hawk match. I particularly loved the way Takamura went from hero to villain in a matter of seconds after declaring, to the still buzzing auditorium, that the woman of Japan come to him so he can give them his seed so that “In twenty years, Japan will be crawling with me!” An awkward silence ensues followed by a rain of drinks, food and insults. Classic Takamura.
Cut to a week later at the gym where a bronze statue of Takamura (and later several dozen mini-statues) celebrating his victory arrive all ordered by the Champion himself to sell as merchandise. Aoki manages to break the large bronze statues arm and cue his hilarious attempts to hide the broken arm from Takamura. By far the funniest part of this episode though was Ippo’s agonising dinner with Itagaki’s family where Ippo (and us) are subjected to a brutal volley of horrifically terrible jokes mostly coming from Itagaki’s father. I truly felt Ippo’s pain and loved the way, after hearing Ippo re-tell the story to Aoki and Kimura, Takamura decides Itagaki’s dad is a threat to him, presumably as the king of bad jokes and a shadowy late night duel takes place between the two. Very good episode.
Following it up is the much darker more serious Episode 26: New Challenger. It opens with Miyata shadow boxing when his dad enters the room. We learn that apparently he has been asking for a match against Ippo for sometime but Coach Kamogawa had been refusing partly because of the unspoken fear that Ippo has gone soft and lost his drive. The other reason is Ippo’s reliance on the Dempsey Roll, as awesome as it is, is also his weakness and even Ippo’s attempts during the episode to improve the technique only strengthen it in some areas while weakening it fatally in others. Everyone also knows it’s his coup de grâce and as we find out later on his next opponent claims to be able to neutralise the Roll completely. More interestingly is the coach’s belief that Miyata has not only overtaken Ippo in ability but has leapt over and created a new gap. Ippo is furious and disheartened but rather than wither away he insists he’ll meet this new challenge.
Aoki proved to be the centre of the hilarity again as a string of freak accidents disable the 4 boxers ranked above him leaving him as number one in his weight division and with a clear shot at the title to everyone’s shock.
The episode ends with a montage showing Ippo training for his “New Challenge” with the full version of the theme song playing over it which is cool but marred by the brief appearance of Mashiba’s sister, Kumi, setting up the (less than) exiting prospect of seeing her weird awkward relationship-thing with Ippo continuing in the new series. On that note however, its unclear what going on with Hajime No Ippo part 3. There is plenty of content as the manga is far ahead in the story but other than the Japanese voice actor for Takamura, Rikiya Koyama, claiming that the next part was being planned, there has been little news. I’m sure that the large audiences and critical acclaim will be enough to justify its continuation but I’ll keep you informed on any more developments.
Remember you can see all the shows reviewed the week and many more at www.animeseason.com. Check it out and I’ll see you for some more Anime Action reviews this time next week.
Hello all. Hope you’ve all had a good week even if the weather for us Londoners has been awful. Still plenty to look forward to and thank god it’s Friday, time for the weekly anime update.
Covered this week are: Naruto Shippuuden (116), One Piece (245-285) and Hajime No Ippo: New Challenger (25-26)
Naruto Shippuuden
(Episode 116)
Episode 116: Keeper of the Iron Prison was a slow one that introduced a new character but never really went anywhere beyond that. We see Sasuke continuing to assemble his squad by brining the radar-like Karin into the fold. Her power appears to allow her to pin point sources chakra effectively making her a superb tracker but I suspect there might be more to her than that. She has a hilariously gruff aggressive attitude which sadly isn’t very distinctive by Naruto’s standards as most women in the show seem to be taking regular injections of testosterone and just like most women in Naruto Karin has a pining for Sasuke. Her affection is pretty deep however, more like Sakura’s rather than a crush but (unfortunately) we’ll see where that goes.(Episode 116)
More after the break...
Not too much else happened though; we see some hostility between Karin and Suigetsu bracketing a flashback from a mission Karin and Sasuke performed in the past putting down some of Orochimaru’s fleeing test subjects. Wasn’t the most interesting episode and it ended with a strange introduction to the next addition to Sauke’s team Juugo, muttering to himself in a prison cell about a guy or a woman being better. Better at what? We can only speculate, but keep it clean. We’ll have to wait till next week to see where they’re going with that one.
One Piece
(Episode 245-285)
Well, I’ve reached the end of the Water 7 story arc, and so far as I suggested last week it’s been my favourite. The sense that the Straw Hats were not as strong as their previous conquests would suggest has been building since ice master Ao Kiji very comfortably decimated Luffy. However I was not expecting their next opponents or the various twists and turns leading up to them being revealed. CP9 and their powerful Rokushiki has produced an awesome increase in power levels but never to be deterred Luffy seems to have matched them. As of writing this I am on Episode 285: Retrive the 5 keys! The Straw Hat Crew VS CP9, which hopefully will produce welcome change as the previous 6 episodes were all, recaps on each of the members of Luffy’s crew showing the crucial moments when they truly became his nakama. A lot of the nostalgic effect of this was lost on me, either because I’m soulless or the fact that I had only seen all the recapped episodes a few months ago but I suspect for those who have been watching One Piece for much longer might have forgotten those moments. From when episode 285 was released, it had already been 7 years since episode 1 of One Piece premiered. Nonetheless it was nice to see some of those moments again. Like when a crying Nami begs for Luffy’s help to defeat Arlong and he simply plonks his precious straw hat on her head and roars “Of course I will”. Or, well, anything involving Chopper’s back story. Love that lil’ guy.(Episode 245-285)
I definitely enjoyed the episodes preceding them, featuring Nico Robin’s story which was incredibly sad. She’s clearly a much stronger woman than you might think, to have survived all that she had been through and come out of it as she has. Her story also made me go from mildly disliking the World Government to straight up despising it. There was also a very interesting bit of information given from the giant Sagwarl D. Saulo claiming the “D” in his name is something everyone in his family line has... Monkey D. Luffy... Portgas D. Ace...Gold D. Roger... very interesting indeed.
It looks like the Straw Hat’s vs. CP9 will be kicking off in the next bunch of episode, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how truly powerful these super-assassins are and how far Luffy and co. have improved. We’ve already seen a glimpse of this after poor Blueno was dismantled by Luffy’s “2nd Gear”. I’m thinking the 3rd Gear will be revving up soon.
Hajime No Ippo
(Episodes 25-26)
(Episodes 25-26)
Sadly this series came to an end last week. The penultimate Episode 25: Please Accept This Bronze Statue was very funny as we come to expect from Hajime and followed on directly from the end of the Takamura Vs Hawk match. I particularly loved the way Takamura went from hero to villain in a matter of seconds after declaring, to the still buzzing auditorium, that the woman of Japan come to him so he can give them his seed so that “In twenty years, Japan will be crawling with me!” An awkward silence ensues followed by a rain of drinks, food and insults. Classic Takamura.
Cut to a week later at the gym where a bronze statue of Takamura (and later several dozen mini-statues) celebrating his victory arrive all ordered by the Champion himself to sell as merchandise. Aoki manages to break the large bronze statues arm and cue his hilarious attempts to hide the broken arm from Takamura. By far the funniest part of this episode though was Ippo’s agonising dinner with Itagaki’s family where Ippo (and us) are subjected to a brutal volley of horrifically terrible jokes mostly coming from Itagaki’s father. I truly felt Ippo’s pain and loved the way, after hearing Ippo re-tell the story to Aoki and Kimura, Takamura decides Itagaki’s dad is a threat to him, presumably as the king of bad jokes and a shadowy late night duel takes place between the two. Very good episode.
Following it up is the much darker more serious Episode 26: New Challenger. It opens with Miyata shadow boxing when his dad enters the room. We learn that apparently he has been asking for a match against Ippo for sometime but Coach Kamogawa had been refusing partly because of the unspoken fear that Ippo has gone soft and lost his drive. The other reason is Ippo’s reliance on the Dempsey Roll, as awesome as it is, is also his weakness and even Ippo’s attempts during the episode to improve the technique only strengthen it in some areas while weakening it fatally in others. Everyone also knows it’s his coup de grâce and as we find out later on his next opponent claims to be able to neutralise the Roll completely. More interestingly is the coach’s belief that Miyata has not only overtaken Ippo in ability but has leapt over and created a new gap. Ippo is furious and disheartened but rather than wither away he insists he’ll meet this new challenge.
Aoki proved to be the centre of the hilarity again as a string of freak accidents disable the 4 boxers ranked above him leaving him as number one in his weight division and with a clear shot at the title to everyone’s shock.
The episode ends with a montage showing Ippo training for his “New Challenge” with the full version of the theme song playing over it which is cool but marred by the brief appearance of Mashiba’s sister, Kumi, setting up the (less than) exiting prospect of seeing her weird awkward relationship-thing with Ippo continuing in the new series. On that note however, its unclear what going on with Hajime No Ippo part 3. There is plenty of content as the manga is far ahead in the story but other than the Japanese voice actor for Takamura, Rikiya Koyama, claiming that the next part was being planned, there has been little news. I’m sure that the large audiences and critical acclaim will be enough to justify its continuation but I’ll keep you informed on any more developments.
Remember you can see all the shows reviewed the week and many more at www.animeseason.com. Check it out and I’ll see you for some more Anime Action reviews this time next week.
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Friday, 3 July 2009
Anime Action: Week One
Anime Action is the Neek’s anime focused segment. Every Friday I, Kweku, will review a selection of Anime that I have watched in the past week. Be warned these reviews are full of spoilers.
Hi all,
I’m going to change the style of this segment as I’m not entirely happy with its direction. Instead of an article which brushes on some of my favourite Anime that you may not have seen, I will instead do a weekly review of a selection of Anime both the one’s I’m up to date with (e.g. Naruto Shippuuden) and those I’m catching up on (One Piece) discussing my joys and frustrations with each.
Covered this week are: Naruto Shippuuden (113-5), One Piece (1-245) and Hajime No Ippo: New Challenger (16-24)
I feel along with many other viewers of Naruto Shippuuden, the sequel instalment to Naruto, we’ve had to endure a lot of blandness, from the painfully long drawn out opening story arc of the series (I mean did the Gaara Vs Deidara fight really have to go on for 7 episodes?) and the repetitive drollness of the “three-tails” filler arc. Okay maybe I’m being a bit hard on the latter, it had some good moments like the funny banter between Tobi (an intriguing character) and his de facto mentor Deidara. There was also the... um... nope that was pretty much the only good point but that’s filler for you I guess!
Fortunately since Episode 113 (The Great Snake’s Pupil), we appear to be back on track.
More after the break...
The story has now returned (briefly) to the raspy voiced Lord Orochimaru endless pining for Emo-King Sasuke’s body and precious sharingan. I have to say I was shocked with the speed of the transition from the filler arc straight into a fight between these two but it was well done, and we caught another glimpse of how Sasuke has come. So did Orochimaru. Unfortunately for him, it was the last thing he saw.
In Episode 115 (Zabuza’s Sword), we see the aftermath of Orochimaru’s demise as a suddenly gormless Kabuto looks over his corpse powerless to stop Sasuke who’s next step is recruiting Suigetsu into a new group he’s forming, presumably to oppose the Akatsuki. Suigetsu has a very interesting power. His body seems to be made entirely of water or at least he can turn himself into water giving him a huge edge against physical attacks, something he seems to be willing to test out as he squares up to Sasuke. Despite Orochimaru’s mocking words earlier that Sasuke was too merciful and soft, I can’t I say I agree, as Sasuke seems to have completely forsaken his emotions and was absolutely unfazed by Suigetsu who backed down jokingly, perhaps to hide his nervousness especially since the Chidori is electricity based, trumping his water abilities.
I liked the linking of Suigetsu to Zabuza, the incredibly strong swordsman all the way back at the beginning of Naruto and I’m looking forward to them progressing that story as if Suigetsu wants Zabuza’s sword because of their mutual connection to the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist then he’ll likely want Kisame’s (the fish faced Akatsuki member) for the same reason. I smell some very tasty confrontations in the near future once Sasuke’s team is fully assembled.
I’m quite far behind on one Piece but trying to catch up as quickly as possible. To be honest, One Piece is such an amazing Anime that it’s a joy to spend so much time watching it even if I’m only up to episode 245 of 407 (a mere 4 years behind the new episodes). The current arc is fascinating as it finally reveals at least part of the mysterious Nico Robin’s past and the reason for her large bounty as well as the nefarious plots of the World Government. Or are the nefarious? Perhaps they’re simply working towards the greater good... it’s difficult to say at the moment, the plot is remarkably deep and full of twists for what is a shōnen (aimed at young boys/teenage boys) anime/manga.
I’m going to leave it at that for now and give a proper review of this arc in next week’s Anime Action, once I’ve finished it and have a greater idea of what’s going on. I can say that as One Piece continues to consistently get better and better, this arc so far continues the trend topping even the excellent Skypiea story arc.
“Wow” is all I could say for about an hour after watching the finale of the Takamura Vs Hawk match. The conclusion of this fight and all the preceded it has simply been a masterpiece of breathtaking quality. Even if you have never seen an episode of either of the Hajime No Ippo series, I strongly recommend you watch this mini-arc from Episode 16: The Two Hawks to 24: The King.
The show’s creators have always done an excellent job making you, the viewer, want to invest your emotions into every fight, be it through music or the universal appeal (or repulsiveness) exuded by the many character’s that decorate and give life to the anime. The high point of this was previously the second Sendo Vs Ippo fight and its stunning climax, but that has now been outdone by a mile. From the build up of this fight, where we saw the leering sleazy American World Champion Brian Hawk managing to insult just about every Japanese person alive or dead, to the pre-match build up, we’ve been in for something special.
The match itself was a maze of twists and turns as both fighters fought to the limit and beyond and still kept going. There was never a moment when you could sit back and relax because one of the competitors was on top because you could be assured that something would change soon enough. I was thrilled by the way Takamura won the fight especially since he was fighting someone with the same freakish strength and speed he has. There were two stand-out moments for me, aside from the last few punches of the fight, which sum up Takamura. The first was after decimating Hawk in an enraged flurry of punches and while barely conscious himself, Takamura wakes up and hears the referee doing the 10-count for Hawk who lies at his feet. Rather than be happy that he somehow managed to knock out his opponent he grows incredibly furious that he can’t remember how. Had the bell not rung almost immediately after Hawk got back to his feet they would have been cleaning up bits of Brian Hawk off the walls.
The second bit, and my favourite Takamura moment ever, is at the start of the following round. The bell rings and Hawk rushes Takamura pummelling him with a ferocious barrage of fists but Takamura maintains a tight guard. Hawk manages to break this though and sensing an opportunity throws a wild heavy punch but Takamura, unfazed, counterpunches throwing Hawk back. Takamura then snarls:
The finale was genius with Takamura begging his tired body to grant him the strength to throw that one last punch to win it, but when he does somehow Hawk dodges. The victorious music playing as Takamura threw the punch disappears replaced by a faint ominous piano twinkling. Can Takamura lose this? Has the champion just been toying with him? It seems that he was as Hawk brings his head back up and his eyes are lit up with a crazed bloodlust glowing a demonic red and his trademark grin flashes back on his bloodied face. I loved the idea of the level above everyone else where the champions resided, the reserve strength and determination that the champion can call on when he’s in a pinch. Hawk called on his and as his last punch arced towards Takamura’s face and the music dies all-together replaced by the crunch of face on glove... but it’s just a glancing blow as Takamura manages to deflect the brunt of the punch and delivers his own Champion level finisher to the vulnerable Hawk and becoming the World Champion on his first attempt.
Remember you can see all the shows reviewed the week and many more at www.animeseason.com. Check it out and I’ll see you for some more Anime Action reviews this time next week.
Hi all,
I’m going to change the style of this segment as I’m not entirely happy with its direction. Instead of an article which brushes on some of my favourite Anime that you may not have seen, I will instead do a weekly review of a selection of Anime both the one’s I’m up to date with (e.g. Naruto Shippuuden) and those I’m catching up on (One Piece) discussing my joys and frustrations with each.
Covered this week are: Naruto Shippuuden (113-5), One Piece (1-245) and Hajime No Ippo: New Challenger (16-24)
Naruto Shippuuden
(Episodes 113-115)
(Episodes 113-115)
I feel along with many other viewers of Naruto Shippuuden, the sequel instalment to Naruto, we’ve had to endure a lot of blandness, from the painfully long drawn out opening story arc of the series (I mean did the Gaara Vs Deidara fight really have to go on for 7 episodes?) and the repetitive drollness of the “three-tails” filler arc. Okay maybe I’m being a bit hard on the latter, it had some good moments like the funny banter between Tobi (an intriguing character) and his de facto mentor Deidara. There was also the... um... nope that was pretty much the only good point but that’s filler for you I guess!
Fortunately since Episode 113 (The Great Snake’s Pupil), we appear to be back on track.
More after the break...
The story has now returned (briefly) to the raspy voiced Lord Orochimaru endless pining for Emo-King Sasuke’s body and precious sharingan. I have to say I was shocked with the speed of the transition from the filler arc straight into a fight between these two but it was well done, and we caught another glimpse of how Sasuke has come. So did Orochimaru. Unfortunately for him, it was the last thing he saw.
In Episode 115 (Zabuza’s Sword), we see the aftermath of Orochimaru’s demise as a suddenly gormless Kabuto looks over his corpse powerless to stop Sasuke who’s next step is recruiting Suigetsu into a new group he’s forming, presumably to oppose the Akatsuki. Suigetsu has a very interesting power. His body seems to be made entirely of water or at least he can turn himself into water giving him a huge edge against physical attacks, something he seems to be willing to test out as he squares up to Sasuke. Despite Orochimaru’s mocking words earlier that Sasuke was too merciful and soft, I can’t I say I agree, as Sasuke seems to have completely forsaken his emotions and was absolutely unfazed by Suigetsu who backed down jokingly, perhaps to hide his nervousness especially since the Chidori is electricity based, trumping his water abilities.
I liked the linking of Suigetsu to Zabuza, the incredibly strong swordsman all the way back at the beginning of Naruto and I’m looking forward to them progressing that story as if Suigetsu wants Zabuza’s sword because of their mutual connection to the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist then he’ll likely want Kisame’s (the fish faced Akatsuki member) for the same reason. I smell some very tasty confrontations in the near future once Sasuke’s team is fully assembled.
One Piece
(Episode 1-245)
(Episode 1-245)
I’m quite far behind on one Piece but trying to catch up as quickly as possible. To be honest, One Piece is such an amazing Anime that it’s a joy to spend so much time watching it even if I’m only up to episode 245 of 407 (a mere 4 years behind the new episodes). The current arc is fascinating as it finally reveals at least part of the mysterious Nico Robin’s past and the reason for her large bounty as well as the nefarious plots of the World Government. Or are the nefarious? Perhaps they’re simply working towards the greater good... it’s difficult to say at the moment, the plot is remarkably deep and full of twists for what is a shōnen (aimed at young boys/teenage boys) anime/manga.
I’m going to leave it at that for now and give a proper review of this arc in next week’s Anime Action, once I’ve finished it and have a greater idea of what’s going on. I can say that as One Piece continues to consistently get better and better, this arc so far continues the trend topping even the excellent Skypiea story arc.
Hajime No Ippo: New Challenger
(Episodes 16-24)
“Wow” is all I could say for about an hour after watching the finale of the Takamura Vs Hawk match. The conclusion of this fight and all the preceded it has simply been a masterpiece of breathtaking quality. Even if you have never seen an episode of either of the Hajime No Ippo series, I strongly recommend you watch this mini-arc from Episode 16: The Two Hawks to 24: The King.
The show’s creators have always done an excellent job making you, the viewer, want to invest your emotions into every fight, be it through music or the universal appeal (or repulsiveness) exuded by the many character’s that decorate and give life to the anime. The high point of this was previously the second Sendo Vs Ippo fight and its stunning climax, but that has now been outdone by a mile. From the build up of this fight, where we saw the leering sleazy American World Champion Brian Hawk managing to insult just about every Japanese person alive or dead, to the pre-match build up, we’ve been in for something special.
The match itself was a maze of twists and turns as both fighters fought to the limit and beyond and still kept going. There was never a moment when you could sit back and relax because one of the competitors was on top because you could be assured that something would change soon enough. I was thrilled by the way Takamura won the fight especially since he was fighting someone with the same freakish strength and speed he has. There were two stand-out moments for me, aside from the last few punches of the fight, which sum up Takamura. The first was after decimating Hawk in an enraged flurry of punches and while barely conscious himself, Takamura wakes up and hears the referee doing the 10-count for Hawk who lies at his feet. Rather than be happy that he somehow managed to knock out his opponent he grows incredibly furious that he can’t remember how. Had the bell not rung almost immediately after Hawk got back to his feet they would have been cleaning up bits of Brian Hawk off the walls.
The second bit, and my favourite Takamura moment ever, is at the start of the following round. The bell rings and Hawk rushes Takamura pummelling him with a ferocious barrage of fists but Takamura maintains a tight guard. Hawk manages to break this though and sensing an opportunity throws a wild heavy punch but Takamura, unfazed, counterpunches throwing Hawk back. Takamura then snarls:
“You’re strong all right,
But you’re unlucky!
It’s too bad you were born in the same era as me!”
But you’re unlucky!
It’s too bad you were born in the same era as me!”
The finale was genius with Takamura begging his tired body to grant him the strength to throw that one last punch to win it, but when he does somehow Hawk dodges. The victorious music playing as Takamura threw the punch disappears replaced by a faint ominous piano twinkling. Can Takamura lose this? Has the champion just been toying with him? It seems that he was as Hawk brings his head back up and his eyes are lit up with a crazed bloodlust glowing a demonic red and his trademark grin flashes back on his bloodied face. I loved the idea of the level above everyone else where the champions resided, the reserve strength and determination that the champion can call on when he’s in a pinch. Hawk called on his and as his last punch arced towards Takamura’s face and the music dies all-together replaced by the crunch of face on glove... but it’s just a glancing blow as Takamura manages to deflect the brunt of the punch and delivers his own Champion level finisher to the vulnerable Hawk and becoming the World Champion on his first attempt.
Remember you can see all the shows reviewed the week and many more at www.animeseason.com. Check it out and I’ll see you for some more Anime Action reviews this time next week.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Buzz Aldrin: The man, the legend
In case you don't know who Buzz "Doc Rendezvous" Aldrin is... WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING THE LAST 50 YEARS?! Well not to worry, just watch that video above and rejoyce as one of the most influential musicians/Astonauts of our age spits hot fire. Fine, don't belive my hype but Snoop Dogg and Talib Kweli both agree with me. Check it out.
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