I'm David, welcome to my brain. Here I write to not only show that I can but to share my opinions on various topics. Mostly Video Games, Anime, Movies and Tokusatsu. Though I am open to suggestions and never afraid to admit when I'm wrong. Have a good time in here and be sure not to mess with my memory, it's bad enough as it is.
Now that I've rescued Craig you'd think that would be enough for my first day in South Park. But nope, while I was sleeping in my bed I got abducted by Anal probing Aliens! But on the plus side I have Randy as a Facebook friend and I can teleport thanks to the probe stuck in my ass. Though I at least managed to crash there ship and escape with Randy. Though do you think that that wired green goo is going to cause a problem if left unattended?
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support. South Park is owned by Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Comedy Central.
My adventures in South Park continues. In my exploits I have not only found Jesus, literally but I can now even summon him once a day to destroy all my enemies with his holy M-60. Not only do I have the son of God with his holy firearms but I can summon Mr Kim to help me once I clear out the local Mongol problem. Yes, even South Park has summons, where were you on that one Lightning? And I'll need them because my next mission requires me to enter the deep, dark depths of the Castle known as "school" and save Sir Craig the asshole from the demon King Mackey and his army of soulless monsters known as Gingers.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support. South Park is owned by Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Comedy Central.
Now we're at the end of the Dark Seeker Saga as well as the end of Lupinranger Vs Patranger. I give my thoughts on the later as well as Zi-O 22 (spoilers Shinji is still the worst) but enough of that, time to recount the last hours of KH3. First we endure the lamest version of the 100 Acre Wood (seriously why was this in here?) After that we hear "Let it Go" for the 100000000000th time while I debate who's the worse Disney comic relief character, Olaf or Gurgy. Next we have Pirates and the first Marvel (technically) world before we wrap up this game.
First we come back from the dead to fight against the true Organization XIII. Once they're done with we confirm that Tetsuya Nomura really does not like Kairi (non Lupinranger version) and we finally stop Master Xehanort once and for all. But not before changing his motivation for some reason and even try to make us sympathetic to the monster that tried to rewrite the universe. But that's nothing compared who is essentially the true mastermind behind all of this. All I'll say is that whoever it is, they're pretty good.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
As part of my training I, Douchebag the Jew shall travel these strange new lands with Butters the Paladin and make as many Facebook friends as possible. My exploits include making deals with Pirates, fighting a she-ogre and handling a Gay Mans package. Also I fight the homeless while making a Breaking Bad reference. Though not though any witty jokes as I have yet to see Breaking Bad. But these are just a few of the exploits of this grand warrior of the Kingdom of Kupa Keep, many more shall be told.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support. South Park is owned by Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Comedy Central.
It took them long enough, we actually have an adaptation of a Manga that captures the spirit of the source material, and is a good movie on it's own! Now let me just say that while I never read the original Manga and only saw Bennet the Sage's Anime Abandon episode of the two episode OVA that covers presumably the broad strokes of the first two volumes just like this movie I had a wonderful time watching. I admit that like everyone else I had trepidatious about this movie, hell I wasn't even interested in seeing it, my little bro was going to see it, I asked to tag along cause I had nothing else going on at the moment and bam! So when I found that the movie was not only a technical marvel but also got me interested in the source material I consider this to be a success in my eyes. But I know that that isn't the case for everyone but hey, different folks have different tastes and I know for a fact that not everything is going to appeal to everyone.
My feelings for this is just as valid as yours and everyone else's so with that in mind while I can disagree with what a lot of professional critics say about Alita there are some things that I agree with. But let's get a basic premise of what we're in for from what the film is more than generous to give out. The year is 2563, three centuries after "The fall" the destruction of most of the mega cities of Earth after the Great War with their Mars colonies. But instead of Gundams the Mars army used cyborgs called Berserkers as their most powerful weapons; trained in the Cyborg Marital Arts known as Panzer Kunst. The last of these is discovered in a Junkyard by the cyborg scientist Dr Dyson Ido (played by Christoph Waltz), but with no memories or body she's taken in by Ido and is given not only a new body but a new name, Alita (played by Rosa Salazar).
She's introduced to the trappings of Iron City, a veritable slum that serves the last of the great sky cities; Zalem, which is basically if Rapture swapped places with Columbia. While the people of Zalem live off of the work of those living in Iron City, the citizens below live under the thumb of not only Zalem but also in constant fear of deranged Cyborgs. The only ones willing to kill these demonic tinker toys are the redundantly named Hunter-Warriors, like Ido who after saving him from some marks Alita becomes one as well since she seems to start regaining her memories when she's in a life or death fight, which this and Motorball (the local sport where Cyborgs fight to the death for a chance to go to Zalem if they become grand champion) can give her and then some.
Time for me to start listing what this flick got right before I address what could have been better implemented. Firstly the action sequences and the CGI is amazing! Though they can be summed up in a clip from Yugioh abridged, OH MELVIN!?
Now I joke, but yeah this is some true blue insane late 80's; early 90's anime shit right here kids. If it wasn't for the fact that all of the most brutal parts of the movie involved robots with blue cooling fluid instead of blood this would be a hard R for sure. Not to give too much away but there's dismemberments, decapitations and even some guy getting his head pounded into a pile of gears and blueberry jam. It's basically what people would think of if you told them what a PG-13 Mortal Kombat movie would look like if the actual Mortal Kombat movies didn't exist. Also for one scene near the end I have the perfect clip for you to remember.
But speaking of the Cyborgs they look fantastic with the CGI integration looking wonderful. While there is some small sense of them not really being there I just tend to treat them like how the toons were integrated into the real world in Who framed Rodger Rabbit. But then again just like with Alita and her "big googly anime eyes" it's just something that I got used to. Speaking of Alita the design of her and her various body look great. The first body that she got from Ido is wonderfully designed, especially with her fingers and arms, with intricate etchings that make them look almost like art in and of themselves.
Alita herself is what makes this movie work in spite of my gripes with it. Rosa Salazar did a fantastic job bringing this girl to life with her delivery, motion capture and her interactions with and equal top tier supporting cast. From Waltz as Ido to Jeniffer Connelly as Ido's ex wife Chiren and even Keean Johnson as the F.R.I (forced romantic interest thanks Erod) Hugo. While yes the romance between Alita and Hugo is one of the weaker parts of the movie for me I couldn't care less about Hugo but I was invested in him because Alita was invested in him. Though you can tell that this was based off the earlier manga volumes because once Kishiro recognized that Hugo didn't work he made sure to fridge him in order to get Alita want to get to Zalem and confront Nova.
Which brings me to my problems with the film. While I will go up to bat for Alita Battle Angel there are still some flaws. My main one is that the the first quarter is mostly just exposition where Ido and Hugo explain to Alita the ins and out of Iron City, Zalem and basically just the world building. Now while I can understand since Alita as the audience surrogate she would have more then a few questions about her new environment and how it all works I just felt that it was a little too much packed in at the first quarter and wasn't as naturally implemented as it could have. It's nowhere near as bad as the exposition in the Last Airbender but perhaps if they handled they gave just a little less exposition and perhaps was introduced more organically like during one of Alita's flashbacks it might have helped a bit. Second is the villains, while I loved the sadistic personalities and creative designs of the Cyborgs and crooked Hunter-Warriors that Alita went up against the main antagonist Nova (played by Edward Norton) doesn't even show up in person until the very end of the movie to act as obvious sequel bait.
Now I know that Nova isn't the only threat that Alita has to deal with but four the three main baddies are just lackeys for him so their menace is completely overshadowed. I'm guessing that Nova wasn't introduced at this point of the manga and his presence is just a symptom of compressed adaptation where they added in later parts of the story to the adaptation to try and set up more lore and hooks for sequels. But I can tell that if Nova was left as a background detail and the film just focused on Chiren, Mahershala Ali's Vector and Jackie Earle Haley's Grewishka the film might have worked out better. The last is that while Hugo and Alita's relationship was a key part of both character's story arcs a little less time and less cringy dialogue might have help not only the flow of the film but also the running time. It doesn't over stay its welcome but perhaps if they cut down on the romantic stuff and perhaps worked on Alita interacting with some of the lesser characters like Hugo's other friends, her talking with Ido's assistant and maybe more time confronting Vector could have done wonders.
But that's mostly just nitpicks after the fact, and let's face it, nobody likes Captain Hindsight. While I do agree with some of what other critics say I don't consider this movie to be a cliche mess as some of them say. Most of them are just tropes of Manga storytelling and as someone whose seen more anime and read more manga then just Dragonball Z I can say that I give Alita Battle Angel a wholesale recommendation. While it's not flawless it is what most Anime fans have been waiting for for far too long, a faithful live action Hollywood adaptation that shows the proper respect for the source material. If I had to guess I'd say that Alita Battle Angel did for Manga Adaptations what the First Mortal Kombat did for Video Game movies, it's far from perfect but it can be entertaining in it's own right and you don't need to be a hardcore fan of the source material to enjoy it.
It also has me interested in the source material which I consider to be a great mark of a good adaptation, it makes the source look good as well as being a good story all on its own and it shows proper respect. Hopefully this movie can be the first of future good adaptations of Japanese properties without the need to change too much while still showing the proper respect the material deserves, maybe after this we'll get an adaptation of Baccano, Black Lagoon, Black Butler or even Lupin the 3rd, only time will tell.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support. Alita Battle Angel is owned by 20th Century Fox, Lightstorm Entertainment, Troublemaker Studios, TSG Entertainment, Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron. Based off the manga Gunnm by Yukito Kishiro.
Yugioh is owned by Konami, Kazuki Takahashi, Toei Animation, Shonen Jump and Viz Media. (#FucKonami)
Yugioh Abridged is owned by Little Kuriboh (Martin Piers Billany)
Cabin Fever (2002) is owned by Eli Roth, Lionsgate Films and Black Sky Entertainment.
Hey folks, sorry that there's no Toku V-log this week. I'll post my thoughts on Lupinranger Vs Patranger's conclusion and the latest episode of Kamen Rider Zi-O next week in addition to the new episodes. It's just that this week as not only Valentine's Day but also my Birthday so I decided to celebrate. Speaking of celebrating we get to see Pooh again, go off to the world with the most annoying song period, meet up with our old pal Jack and finally we get to go to our first Marvel world (technically). To top that off we also rescue not only Aqua but also Ven and see them check Vanitas into a penthouse suite at the Smackdown hotel.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
You know what I love? A good comedy, you what else I love, Paper Mario and the Thousand Year door. Mix them both together and we have South Park the Stick of Truth. It's been a long time since I was a regular South Park viewer but somethings are just timeless. Like the story of a New Kid in town with magical fart powers going on an epic quest to get as many Facebook friends as possible for his new guild, the Kingdom of Kupa Keep and their leader, the Grand Wizard Cartman the White.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support. South Park is owned by Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Comedy Central.
Now that all of the extra bosses are out of the way we can finally see the ultimate fate of Aqua. After sacrificing herself to save her friend and inadvertently dooming the realm of light she's stuck in the realm of Darkness. All she has for company is the memory of her friends and endless swarms of powerful Heartless. And on that note we've officially caught up on Kingdom Hearts lore so, 3's final here, go nuts and have fun. Also, no I won't do anything with 358/2 Days (ugh that name) and Coded, those are movies more than anything so you can just watch them and enjoy the flashy jumpiness and ignore Data-Sora as much as possible. Though still thanks for reading and watching everyone.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.
So we're starting to wrap up LupinRanger vs Patranger with the final fight with Zamigo. As for Zi-O we're up to the Ryuki arc and apparently Episode Final is the Cannon ending of Ryuki. But enough of that time for Kingdom Hearts 3 updates baby, first we're introduced to a new Princess of Heart and run into our old pal Marluxia fresh after we beat him to a pulp in that game of Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-Fourth-Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip Poker back in Castle Oblivion. But enough of that it's time to get to another Pixar world, one that I actually remember seeing in theaters, wow! Where we not only do we have to deal with one of the lamest but definitely hatable villains in the Disney cannon but we get reintroduced to the Unversed and their far more dangerous and monstrous master Vanitas.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Now that the main three stories are done with it's time to start the real pain train. Aqua, selfless and noble hero that she is tries desperately to save Terra but finds that it's too late, Xehanort has taken control. Aqua defeats Xehanort but sacrifices herself to save him from falling into darkness unintentionally setting him up to begin his campaign of terror with the Heartless and create the first incarnation of Organization 13 a year later when Xehanort regains his memories and creates Ansem and Xemnas. But before we deal with Aqua stuck in the realm of Darkness and slowly slipping into despair and madness we have the extra bosses to defeat. But I won't show you all of them with all there Characters, just Terra because he's the hardest to beat these guys with and I do not want to go against the Unknown again for as long as I live!
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.
So while this is the end of Aqua's campaign it's not the end of her story. After she cleans out the Mirage Area she gets one hell of a reward. That is to see one of her best friends being possessed by his evil half, forge a weapon of terrible power while not knowing the fate of her other friend. Even though she and Mickey manage to defeat Vanitas Ventus however is lost in a deep sleep. Though she at least has a plan for that, but first she has to go after Terra.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.
So as I mentioned before I'm going to be focusing on Streams of Kingdom Hearts 3 for the foreseeable future. I've been waiting for this game for a long time and I want to share my first views of it with you all. Though make no mistake I will still make time for the Toku V-log of the week. Zi-O has us concluding the Quiz arc as well as establishing that White Woz is as trustworthy as the first guy, this is my surprised face. As for LupinRanger Vs Patranger we get ready to start the Final Battle, not just against Dograndio but also Zamigo.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Yes I know Kingdom Hearts 3 is out already but I still have to show you all the rest of Birth By Sleep for the sake of conclusion. First we get Aqua saving 626 and setting him up to escape and land in Radiant Garden. Though before we take on Vanitas in Neverland we head back to the Mirage Arena and finish off all the 3 star missions and let off some steam. Then that's when the real heart ache starts for poor Aqua. After she learns that Terra has basically doomed a young Sora and Riku for a life time of betrayal, envy and heartache she learns he also had a hand in killing Master Skywalker.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.
