Day Three Hundred and Thirty-four - Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Episode 1, "More Slayers than Lodoss."

There are two types of fantasy anime... tongue-in-cheek and high fantasy. Tongue-in-cheek is usually all about comedy and reference humor, usually with comedy duos of the straightman/funnyman variety with titles like Scrapped Princess or The Slayers. High Fantasy also has comedy, but for the most part it's straight up Tolkien-esque adventure like The Record of the Lodoss War. LotLH is definitely of the former variety.

The pilot starts off with a brief prologue sequence about how the world was once ruled by demons and monsters who had the power to destroy the world... and that it was only when more powerful heroes arose that the world was spared and life settled into its current feudal state. Flash forward to this world's present day and a hero king is trying to reform the corruption of the noble class with the help of his talented underlings, among them a blue mage (magic copier) named Ryner and a master swordswoman named Ferris. Together they are traveling the frontiers between kingdoms looking for relics of the ancient heroes.

I have to say, LotLH starts off pretty bland and generic, very much like a poor man's Slayers. Attempts are made to make the leads interesting via personality quirks (Ferris loves a Japanese confection called dango to the point of obsession and Ryner is rumored to be a lecherous perv), but there's nothing in the pilot that is engaging enough to keep me interested. Everything is too clean cut and generic, from the plot to the art to the voice acting, nothing stands out as anything other than "blah."

And this is yet another example of Funimation dumping under-performing series onto Netflix because the quality stuff has already been snapped up by Crunchyroll or hasn't been licensed at all (;_; Hyouka). I honestly don't think I can recommend LotLH based on this single episode and, really, have no desire whatsoever to continue the series to see if it gets any better. There is a lot more content available on the Stream that I'd much rather check out than this. It's not terrible, but it's definitely not thrilling or even mildly interesting... so I'm gonna pass and recommend that you do too. You know, unless you're just dying for something similar to The Slayers but without the same magic.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Eight - Fringe: Pilot, "X-Files with no limits other than the imagination."

After a month of Lynch's crazy prime-time soap opera, it was nice to get back to quality television that had weird for a reason instead of just being for weird's sake.

Definitely owing to the ground paved by The X-Files, Fringe started its journey through the realms of pseudo-science and alternate realities in 2008, combining the tremendously vulnerable (and occasionally menacing) acting of John Noble with relative newcomer Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson, who was probably previously best known for his work as Pacey on Dawson's Creek.

Set in the present (and occasional in the future and past), Fringe tells stories very reminiscent of Mulder and Scully's encounters with the strange and unexplainable, but throws off all pretense of mundane explanations and active government coverups. Instead, week to week, Fringe fights monsters, sociopaths, and doppelgangers all augmented with superscience that seems impossible (and probably is), but works in the context of, you guessed it, "Fringe Science" where just about anything can happen, provided Walter Bishop (John Noble) can handwave it away with some experiment he and William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) did in the 60's, 70's, and 80's.

This pilot episode jumps you right into the thick of things (minus Nimoy, who doesn't show until the first season finale) with a plane full of people literally melting in their seats thanks to some unknown biohazard. Among many other investigators is Agent Olivia Dunham, who trips onto a connection between the biohazard and similar experiments done by Bishop long ago, before he was locked up in an insane asylum. In order to get access to him, Agent Dunham has to enlist Bishop's genius, but rebellious, son... Peter (Jackson). Together they managed to glean enough clues from experimental dream work to track down the bioterrorist and save the day.

It is safe to say that I really love Fringe. I mean, really love it. It's smart, excellently produced by JJ Abrams and company, and the casting is divine, particular when it comes to John Noble's ability to ramble and the personal chemistry between Torv and Jackson. It also has just the right balance of the everyday and the fantastic, combining in such a way as to be utterly believable, no matter how ridiculous the solutions and cures can be. The writers and technical consultants take just enough care to make the technobabble honest and difficult to discount if you're not an expert in any of the fields required to call them on their bullshit (which I am definitely not).

Since the entire series is now available on Netflix, I can definitely recommend a binge watch to anyone who hasn't already seen the greatness that is Fringe... or, even if you have, now is a great time to revisit the series from start to finish... starting with this episode here! Enjoy it! If you don't I'll have lost faith in your humanity. :)

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Twenty-seven - Fairy Tail: Pilot, "SHONEN FIGHTO!"

Much like GIJOE, Transformers, and the like, Japan has it's own staples of kid's anime aimed at the elementary set but finding fans of all ages. Naruto, One Piece, and Fairy Tail are all examples of such. They're light on depth, big on action and fan service, and seem to stretch on into infinity as the adventure never ends.

While I've seen (and grown bored with) both Naruto and One Piece, Fairy Tail was one of the few manga/anime titles that I never even tried. Not that I think I was missing all that much as the pilot doesn't impress, really, but it's a rarity to find a title make it over the Pacific that I haven't seen or read a little of... cause, trust me, I read A LOT of manga.

A LOT.

Anyways, Fairy Tail's opening episode follows a similar rubric as many anime (and that we've seen here on Couchbound before), a one-off intro episode that introduces several of the main characters without really plumbing their depths but definitely establishing their street-cred when it comes to powers and combat skills... as well as providing a small amount of background data on the fantasy world that they inhabit.

The more I think about it, the more Fairy Tail feels like a cross between One Piece and the Dragon Quest series of video games... and I don't just say that because the lead character Natsu seems to be on a quest to find an actual dragon. There's something about the art and character design that really reminds me of Dragon Quest 8. It definitely has a vibe similar to that universe, but with a few over the top characters that are vaguely similar to One Piece.

Being a Shonen Fight-o anime, though, it has quite a few annoying tropes that it studiously follows. There's the annoying talking animal sidekick, the über-powerful hero who initially presents himself as weak, and the easily influenced female lead (Lucy) who, despite seeming competency, quickly falls into a position where she needs to be rescued.

Take THAT, feminism!

Sadly, there's a lot of endemic misogyny in anime, and Fairy Tail is no exception. One of the other side characters (who you don't meet in the episode) is shown off as a bikini centerfold, so kudos to progress there... Lucy tries to ply her feminine wiles on a shopkeeper for a discount (and is angry that her antics only shave off a small percentage)... and, hell, the eventual plot of the episode revolves around slavers kidnapping dozens of buxom women from the town to sell off and, no doubt, ravish... though, it's never really said, just heavily implied by the date rape spell the main villain tries on Lucy.

There's not much to like about Fairy Tail aside from its generic boy's action anime tropes and devices. If you're a fan of shows like The Slayers, you'll probably find something to enjoy here, but it's all so much overpowered fluff to me. The character motivations seem a bit more grounded than the utterly ridiculous plots of One Piece, but not by much.

That said, shows like this are often immensely popular... One Piece being a prime example of extremely wide reaching in terms of its audience and fanbase. I guess I'm just an anime snob, though, as neither One Piece nor Fairy Tail are doing much for me.

At the very least, it's a plus that the series is presented with its original Japanese Dub, even if some of the jokes are lost in the English subtitles' translation (like the fireworks Tamaya shout).

My final verdict is that it's probably fun (and fine) for the older elementary and younger teen set, but don't look for depths to plumb, complex action, or witty dialogue. Fairy Tail is upper tier LCD... but still just LCD.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Twelve - Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood: Season 1, Pilot, "Same ole, same ole, when it comes to FMA, but it's good to see the Elric Bros. again~"

There's a small problem that comes with the territory of Anime and Manga that occasionally happens with Western IP as well. An overabundance of popularity sometimes results in an overabundance of reboots.

That's kind of the case with Full Metal Alchemist:Brotherhood.

A super popular manga series in Japan, FMA spawned a very successful series and several movies/OVAs... a decade ago... the problem being that the TV series caught up to the unfinished manga and, not having anywhere else to go, they ended the anime.

(Historical Note: Naruto and Bleach got around this problem by generating entire seasons of original content in the anime that are completely separate from the manga continuities but fit nicely in between "time skip" sections.)

Not wanting to let a good profit center die, long after the television series ended and long into the continuing manga series, another studio decided to take up the challenge of rebooting it and telling the same basic story but with the continuing plot points of the manga and higher quality art.

We're not immune to this sort of thing as IPs get rebooted all the time around Hollywood: Star Trek, Batman, etc.. Still, it's a little hard to swallow in the case of anime since it's often just "same shit, different day."

That said, I still enjoyed the pilot episode for FMA:Brotherhood.

Following the standard anime trope of giving you an action episode before any backstory, episode 1 (entitled "Fullmetal Alchemist") doesn't do any explaining, thrusting the viewer into a random chase sequence where a rogue alchemist on a mission to destroy has to be captured and it's up to Edward and Alphonse Elric to bring him in... or down.

Several major players are introduced, including Col. Roy Mustang and the boisterous and heavily-muscled Major Armstrong, and their powers and personalities are given plenty of screen time, but the majority of the episode is dedicated to quick action and teases at the overall mystery.

If you've read or seen the manga or previous series, then you know the basic setups for the all characters already and there are no real surprises so far other than the choice of intro villains. Even the denouement with Lust and Gluttony, two of several homunculi who form the main antagonists of the series, are filling the roles they've already done previously.

So, no alarms and no surprises, here.

I do like the higher resolution graphics and action, though. The alchemy is much more impressive this go'round and it's all much more flashy and pleasing, I just hope it doesn't fall into a rut of just giving me a slightly altered universe of the same things I've already seen before. I really want them to surprise me at some point in this series. I'm doing my best to avoid spoilers, so I'll have to just wait and see.

Great news on the audio front, though, as this is one of the few titles that has both the English and Japanese dubs. I feel bad for the English voice cast, but they just don't sound right to me... so I'm very happy the Japanese dub is available with full subtitles.

Anyways, onwards and upwards as the series continues next time with the required flashback episode that tells the heroes' origins (a standard followup to the "action episode pilot" trope in anime).

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Forty-nine - The Golden Child, "Actually, pretty quality for a generic 80's action movie."

Back when I was an Army Brat, living in quarters on Ft.McPherson in the 80's and early 90's, there wasn't much in the way of quality entertainment either on television or VHS cassette that my parents would let me consume that wasn't Disney or have a G or PG rating.

The Golden Child definitely stretched the limits of what my parents would allow me to check out from the base's library, seeing as how stuff like Lethal Weapon and Apocalypse Now were off the table unless I was visiting a friend with more, shall we say, permissive parents (you know, the kind with barely hidden stacks of Playboys and the like).

That's not to say The Golden Child was all that violent or explicit. Really, I think it only got it's PG-13 rating due to Eddie Murphy's occasionally foul mouth, but it wasn't to the level of, say, Beverley Hills Cop or anything... and certainly not as bad as Delirious.

To be honest, TGC is actually a rather harmless generic adventure tale, mixing a mild amount of Murphy's usual 80's, street-smart player with a heart of gold with a cheesy Buddhist mysticism tale where the titular Golden Child is kidnapped by vague demonic forces for the purposes of unleashing Hell on Earth.

I actually kind of like it. Sure, it's not to the pulpy comic level of Big Trouble in Little China as either a star vehicle or Asian-American mythos trope, but it's not all that bad.

For one thing, it has several Chinese-American stars that I'm always happy to see (Victor Wong and James Hong), and even though it keeps true to the trope of generic white-guy villain, it has a few interesting choices when it comes to minions... like Pons Maar as a sort of evil Son Goku and Randall Cobb as a dim sort of Mongul warrior.

I was a bit disappointed that Peter Kwong had a minimal role... it had been forever since I saw The Golden Child so, when I saw him pop up in the cold opener, I was expecting a more fleshed out minion role like his turn as Rain in Big Trouble. No such luck, however.

Additionally, the stop-motion demon form of Sardo Numspa (who is played in its human guise by Jeffrey Jones's British doppleganger, Charles Dance), was pretty rough considering the standards set forth by higher tier films like Ghostbusters and the like.

Still, despite the meh characterization for Murphy's social worker, Chandler, and the flimsy romance with his female guide/partner, Kee Nang (played by Charlotte Lewis), it works fairly decently for what it is... a generic 80's action flick.

It did win any awards (and, heck, was barely nominated for any small prizes), and rightly shouldn't have... but it was still an alright flick that fits as a lazy Saturday afternoon matinee.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~