Comics Reviews 14th September 2009

COMIC REVIEWS SEPTEMBER 14TH 2009

*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 #1

Writer: 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*

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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.

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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)

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.

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.

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)

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.

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A sexy, sultry tune courtesy of Melanie Fiona

Melanie Fiona
Video sent by raffante

From the minute I heard the first bars, I knew it was gonna be hot! I first saw this video gracing the music channels back a few months ago...and then it seemed to disappear and I forgot about it. Then it came crashing back into my consciousness a few days back and have been playing ever since. The song in question is 'Give it to me right' delievered by Candian songstress Melanie Fiona. This is Fiona's debut single off her upcoming album 'The Bridge' which hits U.S. stores and the web this August. Its nice to know that record labels are still investing in artists who actually have raw talent- there IS still hope. It has an infectious bass, infectious melody and infectious lyrics- perfect ingredients for a tune to well and truly stick in your mind.

Peep the Video and turn it up full blast for the summer!!


Candyflo x

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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)

Naruto Shippuuden
(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)

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!”

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.

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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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Death of a Legend

Hey All,

Sorry its been a while since I last made an apperance here. Please forgive me! :)

Well, its been in all the papers, on all the news channels, splashed across every internet forum....yes- Michael Jackson passed away on Thursday 25th June 09. Of course like everyone when I first heard the 'rumour', I was thinking who could be sick in the head to spread something around like this. Unfortunately, for once this was no rumour.

I cant claim to be a hardcore MJ fan...or even say that I own all of his iconic albums- because I dont. BUT on reflection his music has seeped into my sub-conscious for the last 23years of my life without me even knowing. There have been countless times on the dancefloor Ive been wailing out "Billie Jean is not my lover!!" and it never gets old. Countless weddings or family gatherings where an older gentleman does his own take of the moonwalk and crotch grabbing. Cringeworthy? Yes but it never gets old.

Time after time- every new artist coming out states that MJ is their inspiration. There has to be a reason. MJ broke down stereotypes, barriers and created his own creative outlet that many have tried to emulate since his Thriller days.

What has troubled me since his death is how the media HOUNDED him. It seems the last 20 years have been a personal vendetta against this man. He has spent 45 years of his life in the spotlight...this is all he has known. At least he can start living his life now wherever he is. He wont be hounded no more.

The whole world under appreciated MJ whilst he was here, and I feel many now are beginning to realise what they've lost.

Rest Now In Peace MJ and be assured your legacy will live on forever.

Source:-http://www.topnews.in/light/files/michael-jackson.jpg

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Anime Action: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Anime Action is the Neek’s special relatively spoiler free short anime focused segment. Every Thursday I, Kweku, will attempt to broaden your animated palette or, if you’ve never seen one before, point you in the right direction for where to start. Remember: Just because it’s animated doesn’t mean it’s just for kids!

Hello again faithful readers,

Last time we looked at Hajime No Ippo, an amazing boxing anime high I highly recommend. This time however, I’ll be bringing Avatar to your attention, and while it’s arguably not an anime (it’s an American cartoon produced and shown by Nickelodeon) it is drawn in a distinctly Japanese approach with a clear anime style colour selection. Avatar: The Last Airbender (which I’ll refer to as A:TLA from here on) is not to be confused with James Cameron’s upcoming 3-D sci-fi hyper-super-epic Avatar.

A:TLA follows the story of the eponymous Avatar himself, Aang, the last of his people; a tribe of Air element shaman. The term “bender” does not mark him as a homosexual (as I have often heard) but rather refers to the ability to control the preceding element, so we see Fire, Water and Earth benders populating the vibrant world Avatar is set in. It’s interesting to note that the fighting styles for each elemental tribe are based on real world martial arts styles such as Tai Chi and Hung Ga.

The avatar himself is kind of an all powerful person assigned to watch over the world and ensure peace and co-existence between the people of each of the four elements. He does this though the mastery of all 4 elements. Unfortunately for almost everyone, Aang has been trapped in Ice for the past 100 years oblivious to the genocidal war waged by Fire Nation. The three books/seasons follow the tale of Aang and his few allies trying desperately to end the war and defeat the Fire Lord.

I was initially sceptical of A:TLA because of its very young target audience of 6-11 years-old but the show had received huge critical praise so I ploughed on and was pleasantly surprised. The plot is excellent and very original. Despite its fantastical nature, I never found myself really questioning its believability or the various twists and turns along the way, especially as most things are explained later on. I also loved the feel of the show. If you told me that it was an Asian produced anime, I really wouldn’t be surprised as the show’s creators have done an outstanding job of creating this fusion of an oriental/westernised world. On top of this the voice acting is excellent and it’s here the show perhaps benefits the most from its western production as it is free of the horrible English speaking dubbings that plague most Anime. Instead the voice actors are clearly given a great deal of freedom to express themselves without the constraints of bad script translations among other things.


From the action junkie perspective A:TLA has plenty to satisfy. It is excellently drawn with good detail to show off the excellent fighting sequences particularly in the third Book. In fact I’d go as far to say that some of the fights are among the best I’ve seen in a sub-adult animated show. My only criticism is that the Avatar might have been even better if it had aimed for an older audience and had really gone all out for certain things. Occasionally I got the sense that things like the love story sub-plot that runs through the whole show could’ve been explored more deeply but that said it had a satisfactory ending. The Fire Nation however could have (and maybe should have) been portrayed as more of the brutal superpower. I’m probably nit-picking here because it’s hard to find any real negatives to associate with A:TLA and I really loved the way the art style of every nation really emphasised their nature (harsh aggressive lines emphasised with aggressive menacing reds and black for Fire Nation in contrast to softer shapes highlighted by blues and whites for the more passive Air Nomads) yet I wish we had been more of the brutality of the Fire Nation.

A:TLA is a special show which I highly recommend. It’s enjoyable, fun and touching with plenty to satisfy people of all age groups. Those who watched the episodes when they were first shown had to deal with the irritation of inconsistent episode release times with something like a 3 month gap between the first and second halves of the final series but it was certainly worth the wait. The season finale was truly spectacular.

Action: 8/10
Animation: 8/10
Story: 8/10

Overall (not an average): 8/10

It’s also great to know that a live action A:TLA movie is in the later stages of production directed by M. Night Shyamalan and plans to stick faithfully to the series by being a trilogy with each movie representing one of the three series’. I’ll keep you updated on that one but I was very impressed by the trailer. Check it out.



While Avatar: The Last Airbender is not yet in their selection you can watch most anime online at www.animeseason.com.

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A Game of Thrones

Its been awhile since any of the Neek Squad posted on the site, we've all been having a number of personal issues and illness of late. I thought I'd try and get back on track with the recent announcement of the conversion of George Martin's bestselling A Game of Thrones epic into a TV series. This has always been among my favourite books thanks to Martin's vivid style of writing and his ruthless, twisted and unpredictable plot lines.
For those of you (and I'm guessing this would be most of you) who don't know A Game of Thrones is the first book in the Song of Ice & Fire series of seven (Five published so far). It's a medieval fantasy that follows three simultaneous stories: the west where a huge civil war for control of the Iron Throne threatens to erupt and consume the Seven Kingdoms , the frantic defence of the northern Wall (a immense mile high barrier of ice designed to keep the mysterious Others out) and the tale of the exiled princess of the western kingdoms and her voyage on the eastern continent to eventually reclaim what she feels is rightfully hers.

Martin's work has already been popular enough to have encourage two very excellent comic books based on it written by Martin himself. What's most promising about this TV conversion though is that HBO, the folks that brought us The Wire, Sopranos and the stunning Rome, are handling the project and have bought rights to the entire series of books. I'm guessing their willingness to buy the rights might be down to the success of Robin Hood because, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think there has been any other serious popular fantasy series on TV. More humorous takes on the genre like Zena, Hercules and Kröd Mändoon have led the medieval/fantasy charge. That said, presumably with Book one forming the basis of the first season, this ambitious project will continue to divide each book into a series resulting in seven season epic but its all speculation at this stage with casting still going on.

I'm just glad that if anyone is going to do it, it's HBO. Not just because of the quality they will no doubt bring but they seem to have a partnership with the BBC especially on productions set in the UK (this will be shot in Northern Ireland) that likely means we will see Game of Thrones on our screens promptly after a US premiere.

*Picture "The Iron Throne" by Michael Komarck*

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Fallen Heroes

Oh dear, oh dear. How the mighty falleth! When heroes started it showed so much promise and originality (on TV, obviously comics have been exploring super-powered peeps for a long time). Maybe it was just purely because expectations weren’t particularly high but Season one blew people away, yet here we are at the end of season 3 and well, I don’t think I’m alone in wishing they had just ended after one series. Somehow the show and its dwindling disheartened viewers have limped on to this point. What happened to this once dazzling star of a TV show? And is there any hope? Let’s explore.
I shall begin with a spoiler warning for anyone who hasn’t seen past season 2 of Heroes. More after the break...

Personally I think the problems all started in the wake of that whole writer’s strike thing early last year which set back a hell of a lot of movie and TV shows over in the US. With heroes we saw the original plan for volume three: Exodus scraped and instead we were thrown into Villans which had been originally penned down as the follow on for Exodus. Villains was terrible. And I don’t mean your normal “this isn’t going anywhere, why am I watching this poop?” inducing terrible. I mean “oh my God, surely something this bad is a sign of the end of days!”

The plots were all over the place; one second everyone is looking for impossibly super powerful daddy Arthur Petrelli, then they’re looking for a catalyst then they’re all falling in love and killing each other without little provocation or reason. Thing is though: that might have been tolerable maybe even enjoyable if any of the characters were believable in any way. I lost count of the number of times Sylar changed sides (and can anyone explain why he killed Elle? Especially after all that “I hate you so much! Oh wait now I love you, my bad.” Teen angst nonsense.), in fact I lost count of how many times just about everyone changed sides for no apparent reason.

The cracks which had begun to appear back in season two were exposed as gaping chasms by script writing which could make a toddler’s scribbles look like a masterpiece novel. The writers have a hell of a lot to answer to. But perhaps there is hope.

While many believe the 2nd half of season 3 (volume 4: Fugitives) has been more of the same, I am of the camp that sees massive improvements in the consistency and the believability of the characters at least in the 2nd half of the volume. Previous flip-floppers like Nathan Petrelli have revealed clear motives and have stuck to them. The increasing lack of originality can still be annoying at times however; many of the storylines are straight rips from comic books, such as the big twist in the series finale which I won’t spoil. I have to give immense Kudos to Bryan Fuller, the original head writer for series one, who came in mid way through the volume to repair the horrific damage done to the series before hand, and while some of the episodes since his return were a bit of a slog it’s represented a huge improvement. Importantly it was mostly damage control: tying off the many frayed story lines, so Fuller and his team can fully unleash on the next volume and produce something great again to regain the faith of the many viewers who have understandably moved on and rewards the weary nine or ten people who are still watching.

The simple fact is if they fail these Heroes will be forgotten and it will be a tragic waste of such a potentially great IP. I'm just hoping they can get back to the personal stories about the characters and a general simplification of the plot. The focus should be on the people who have the powers, and then secondly whatever merry-go-round search for "The Magical Thing" or "The Other Magical Thing" they are on. That said i pray there is no recurrence of emo Claire! I can take the bogus storylines, unbelievable characters and even Mohinder's drivel about destiny and the start and end of every episode but the line gets crossed when a beautiful talented teenager is endlessly depressed because her immortality means she can't feel pain. I mean, come on now!

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Weather Music

The weather is slowly getting better!! Thank the Lord!!! Im one of those people(like many I want to add) where the weather depicts my musical mood. Ive been able to come out of my rainy-slow jamz stage...after a certain amount of time it gets a bit dry! Im an individual who has a perchant for most types of music, as long as its not no head-banging heavy metal stuff! With the sun glowing on my skin, I look at my playlist and take a wander through my funk/soul tunes. So many artists jump out at me....The O Jays....Cheryl Lynn...The Whispers....How do I choose?!

It was a hard choice but Im completely feeling Sylvia Striplin "Give Me Your Love". Many of you may not be fans of funk/soul music..or even Sylvia Striplin, but give it a chance. I personally think Striplin is underated and has been for many years...but maybe if we all join forces and bring her music to the forefront then we can allow EVERYONE to experience the greatness of Striplin and other funk music!!! Join The Force!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIPDVAhqJDo

cANdyflo x Source:Youtube

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TV Review: Caprica Pilot Episode

Many people when thinking about something in the Sci-fi genre might think of a farfetched space setting (Star Trek) or a futuristic society and with shallow characters and even shallower plot with little endear it to viewers outside of flashy special effects (99.9 % of all sci-fi). Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of sci-fi’s and especially those flashy special effects, but I’ve always hoped someone would try and push it further: to make a sci-fi with some depth and meaning. Firefly seemed to tease at that but it didn’t get enough viewers to justify itself to the axe wielding big-wigs at FOX who gave it the chop after just one season. Perhaps viewers just weren’t interested in that type of show.

Then along came Battlestar Galactica. I don’t know how many of you have seen it, but I highly recommend it. Far from being generic sci-fi show no.6, it had the perfect mix of drama, action and even moments of humour, usually revolving around frequently hallucinating Gaius Baltar (played by Brit actor James Callis). Think Eastenders in space but actually good and your getting close to it.

Caprica is the prequel for Battlestar, telling a story set 58 years earlier and showing the creation of the robotic Cylons who would eventually go onto be the great villains of Battlestar Galactica.

I was very impressed with the pilot episode, which showed life on the planet Caprica as very similar to western society in say 20-30 years time, yet at the same time Caprica City (the capital and focus for most of the story) felt like it could be any modern earth city; London on one of the rare sunny days. I loved the way the cultures of each of the colonies shone through and bore similarities to earth cultures. For example the Virgons, who having grown up on a world devoid of resources, are reminiscent of Sicilian gangsters with a deep belief in loyalty between comrades and other Virgons often standing out due to gang markings on their faces to distinguish them.



The special thing about Caprica and also Battlestar before it was the depth of the themes, though the latter got some criticism for it. Personally I’m a fan of things that address the whole Robots vs. Human thing, especially when the robots have machine guns built into the arms! And more than that it’s a sci-fi which seems to fearlessly regards religion beyond the standard “HAHA, now we are in space, who needs God!” and is able to discuss something which for some reason is apparently impossible to have in space sci-fis.

I was a little wary of the slow pace of the pilot. Unlike Galactica, there isn’t going to be (or at least I don’t think there will be) much space for grand special effects battles or action set pieces to switch things up, and despite the excellent thought inducing content of the show I worry that it might become a little droll. But that’s a minor concern and I’ve got faith that cast, crew and producers of Caprica can produce something to the pedigree of Battlestar.

Caprica is available for purchase (if you’re into that type of thing) on DVD in the US for about $14.99, which by the time you read this is probably equivalent to £500. Unfortunately no word on a UK release date but SkyOne have picked up the rights to the full series when it airs early next year so keep your eyes open for the pilot showing sometime before then.

Overall (not an average): 8/10

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An Introduction to the Wonderful World of Comics

Hey guys just introducing myself to theneek.com with my first post on comics. Like the rest of my colleagues my love of comics borders on the fanatical with many an hour spent debating the pros and cons of the likes of Brian Michael Bendis (recently more cons then pros in my humble opinion), why Superman is the greatest (shut up! thats why!) and why is Norman Osbourne leader of everything when he is quite clearly still a psycho killer (the jury is still out on this one). I'll bring up a variety of these topics over the course of the next few months with my unique(ish) take on all the action and news coming up such as the rundown to Blackest Night and Geoff John's run on Flash: Rebirth and much more! Something for you guys to look forward to then ;-)

First and foremost, however, will be my weekly comic review. To add an interesting spin, rather than doing a brief review of a whole bunch of comics, every week I will pick one comic that has moved me with its brilliance or its pure assness and give a more detailed reasoning as to why I have decided either way. Unforunately for us comic fans this week we got served with another rancid portion of the **** that is Hulk and for that reason I give to you now my deconstruction of this series and this most recent issue.

Hulk #11 is "written" by Jeph Loeb and pencilled by Ed McGuinness. Now I'll tell you right now: I am a fanboy (incase you didn't get that for my reasons for liking Superman!). I was a mad fan of the Hulk when I was younger and then again on Bruce Jones' run (with its cop out IT WAS ALL A DREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM ending). But since then my love of the Hulk had more or less burnt out until Greg Pak's run on The Hulk starting with Planet Hulk. This immediately caught my attention as for the first time in a long time (maybe ever) the Hulk had more character then just HULK SMASH! LOVE BETTY! I AM GREEN BLEEEEH or alternatively I AM SMART NOW I HAVE THE BRAIN OF BANNER WHICH AUTOMATICALLY MAKES ME WEAKER! Planet Hulk had it all, savagery, cunning and best of all: a personality. However, my love for Hulk was short-lived as he used this new found fame to crush all my favourite heroes in the hilariously titled World War Hulk and I use the word hilarious to describe this for two reasons. Firstly, it wasn't a "World War" at all, Hulk descended onto the Earth with his rag tag gang of henchmos and beat the living **** out of everyone inside the first couple of issues, even with the likes of Dr Strange and The Sentry being relegated to fisticuffs with The Hulk despite having the power to destroy him a million times over. Secondly its hilarious because despite all the story and characterisation Planet Hulk and its proceeding arcs managed to establish the conclusion of World War Hulk reverted him back into his brainless form, thereby effectively negating EVERYTHING he had done up to that point. The only lasting effect being the changing of the title to Incredible Hercules (another title that has lost its charm as of late) and the re-launching of Hulk with the introduction of Red Hulk.

This comic is 11 issues in and has constantly been near the top of the best-selling comic lists since its release, and the only question I can ask is: WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHY! Since issue 1, Jeph Loeb has done his best to piss all over established continuity with these brain-dead comics with no relevance to ANYTHING. Despite promising the identity of Red Hulk would be revealed within the first arc we have had ZERO information about this new Hulk despite the fact he hates Banner (join the club). Why does he get hotter when he gets angrier? Why is he even red? WHO THE **** IS IT???????? Also why is he so freakin powerful one minute and pathetically weak the next (beating Thor then getting taken out by Invisible Women, Storm and She-Hulk). In one of the early issues he manages to punch out Uatu the Watcher followed by being able to defeat Odin-force powered Thor by using HIS OWN HAMMER AGAINST HIM! *fanboy alert* Any comic book fan worth his or her salt (political correctness :-P) knows that that is impossible. Thor and Hulk have had many fights over the years and can arguably be put on a similar level of strength. However, the Thor that has been introduced in the JMS run has the power of Odin, which provides yet another example of someone being reduced to brawling despite their superior powerset in relation to The Hulk. Odin poweredThor in The Reigning managed to beat The Thing and The Hulk to death with his bare hands with half power. So why is this incarnation unable to even MOVE him with a full powered Mjolnir strike which has been shown to be subsequently powerful enough to kill Bor, father of Odin and Lord of Asgard. The fight should have been one panel long, Thor smashes Hulk in the face, Hulk's head explodes and then we all go home happy cause we have been spared the pain of this piece of **** comic. The is completely disregarding the fact that Thor wouldn't have even started on Rulk in the first place, showing Loeb's complete lack of respect for the time and effort JMS has put into the story and characterisation on his Thor run, two concepts that Jeph Loeb seems to have forgotten completely.

Now don't get me wrong. Despite my obvious resentment of Loeb on his Hulk run (and what he has done to the Ultimates but that rant is for another day) he was actually one of my favourite writers at one point. I have read all his collaborations with Tim Sale and Superman For All Seasons and Daredevil: Yellow are two of the prides of my collection. Firstly, Sale's art is phenomenal with a uniquness that is un-matched by contemporary artists. However, the main reason I liked these comics so much is the writting. Loeb managed to capture the essence of the characters perfectly, composing stories that made you cheer when they were successful and melancholy when they failed. But ever since then I don't know what has happened to him, but that spark that made his stories so enjoyable have been lost completely. Its as if he has realised that he doesn't need to write good stories to sell comics so he doesn't even try anymore.

Hulk #11 (actually getting to the review now :-P) is a perfect example of all of my complaints in one handy issue. Apart from McGuinness' art this comic has not one redeeming feature. Like the rest of the issues it is a massive fight, however, rather than it being merely a fight between the title characters, this time the Hulk has The Defenders backing him up whilst Rulk has The Offenders (I know...I know...). The story changes as each combatant (Hulk, Dr Strange, Silver Surfer and Namor on the good side, Rulk, Mordo, Terrax and Tiger Shark on the evil side) has been forced to fight each other on various different battleground (the microverse, zenn la etc etc) in game devised by the ever-scheming elders of the universe. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand thats it. Literally. I just described to you the whole 22 page issue in 3 sentences. Nothing happens at all. They fight, they fight a bit more, some more fighting, then the issue finishes. There is no more apt an issue of comic in recent times that can be described by the phrase "all style no substance" and it makes me fear for the state of the comic industry as a whole. It reminds me too much of the dark age of comics (aka the 90s) where people were too focused about characters with giant guns and glowing eyes rather than focusing on crafting a compelling story and it almost led to the complete demise of the comic industry as a whole. How this comic is in the top 5 of the diamond list every month it is released is a travesty. It makes my teeth itch, thats how bad it is. And the saddest thing about this issue is, that its going to be exactly the same next month and the month after that until Marvel pulls its socks up and realises that if it keeps putting **** like this out every month it is going to go straight back to how things got in the 90s. But with it selling out each month it looks like we are stuck with this pointless **** until Loeb gets bored...or finally manages to recover that spark that made him so successful in the first place. Overall then I would give this issue (and the series as a whole) a score of 1 out of 5 as the art is pretty good. But Jeph Loeb if you ever read this for whatever reason, please know that I am still your fan at heart but man! SORT IT OUT!

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Anime Action: Hajime No Ippo

Alright let me level with you guys. I. Love. Anime. And I mean to dangerous extent (and that's my doc's opinion...well not really.). This is why I want to introduce you to my current top animes over the next couple of weeks.

First up: Hajime No Ippo is a boxing anime focusing on a mega shy high school kid called Ippo Makunouchi who has little time for friends as he helps his single mother out at their fishing shop. As a result he is kind of seen as a loner at school and is mercilessly bullied by the school bad boys, until by chance local pugilistic supremo Mamoru Takamura, a boxer whose insane punching power is only eclipsed by his ego, comes to Ippo’s rescue.

What follows is a testimonial to how much you can achieve if you are focused and determined but especially if you can hit like an eighteen-wheeler like young Ippo . Without revealing the complexities of the plot, unsurprisingly Ippo learns how to box leading him onto greater things and a menagerie of vivid and memorable characters; most of which he tries to befriend in his exasperatingly shy way.

It’s an excellent anime especially if you’re into boxing or any sport really. The animation style is at times dated but works like a dream when showing action sequences and improves as the series goes along. The fight scenes are pure adrenaline pumping awesomeness. I definitely love the genuine feel of the anime with the excellent expositions on boxing styles, punches (all the techniques like the Jack Dempsey roll are based on real boxing moves) and even the history of the sport. All this adds to you truly getting fired up watching any of Ippo’s fights and feeling like you’re there in the audience cheering him on for that final K.O or laughing hysterically at one of Takamura's many many pranks.

Action: 9/10

Animation: 6/10

Story: 8/10

Overall (not an average): 9/10

As with most Anime, you can watch Hajime online at www.animeseason.com.

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