OOO and W Movie War Core

I have to preface this by saying that initially I hadn't watched Kamen Rider W (yes I say W rather than Double since the title is literally written with the letter W) when I watched the OOO and W Movie War Core.  Not to mention the only knowledge of Kamen Rider before this is watching Kamen Rider OOO.  So this is the first thing I watched that deviated a little bit from OOO.  That being said, since I didn't write this review directly after I saw the movie, I've watched all of W between then and now so I have a better understanding of the series.  Even so, there's enough issues with the story that even if I hadn't watched W, this review would make just as much sense.  The added knowledge of the series just adds to my ability to understand the series and characters better.

Getting right into the swing of things, this "movie" is spit into three segments: The W heavy segment that is set in the OOO universe but has very little to do with OOO (Skull: Message for W/Double), the OOO segment that completely forgets about the W part of this crossover (Nobunaga's Desire), and the actual crossover segment of the movie (Movie War Core).  Now with the title being advertised the way it is, I figured that it was going to be an actual crossover.  Considering I wasn't very familiar with how Kamen Rider crossovers are typically done (at this point I was only familiar with sentai crossovers), this wasn't what I was expecting.  But I have no qualms with this set up.  In fact if it's done well enough it can be decent.  A better example of a crossover is the W and Decade cross.  I'll get more into that in the future when I make a review for that, but I will say that crossover did a better job of intertwining the two separate stories so that when they met up in the third act, it didn't seem awkward or out of place.  Here, it does. 

Let's break down the three separate segments.  Starting with Skull: Message for W (or Double...just bare with me saying W instead.  I'm too used to it by now).  The premise for this section is that Akiko and Terui are to be wed, however a Pteradon Yummy is attacking the city.  Though for some reason, Akiko took Terui's Accel memory and driver so he can't transform.  He does however fight the Yummy alongside W as himself.  Of course Akiko shows up, distraught that they'd rather be fighting (AKA: protecting innocent people from a dangerous monster...that is their job after all) than show up on time for the wedding.  Though most of her anger stems from the fact that her father had made a promise to her that he would be there for her wedding.  While I understand that weddings are absolutely important events, there's a few things wrong with this premise already:

• Throughout the series, there's nothing hinting at the fact that Akiko dislikes Terui being a Kamen Rider.  There is nothing in previous movies that hint that she dislike the idea of Kamen Riders.  Where does her sudden discomfort with the idea of Kamen Riders come from?  She works with two of them and at no point does she have any disdain for them.  She's even marrying Terui knowing that he's a Kamen Rider and until he doesn't show up on time for her wedding (or rather until the beginning of this movie), there is nothing that shows us where her disdain for Kamen Riders is coming from.  This disdain that lead her to take Terui's Accel memory and driver.  What did she think that she would gain from doing this?  Knowing him the way that she does, wouldn't she realize that he would fight regardless?  And that if he fought these creatures without transforming he would be in even greater risk?  And she didn't hate that her father was a Kamen Rider either.  So where on earth is this hatred of her father being a Kamen Rider coming from?
• She knows her father is dead.  The previous crossover established this.  Her father died during the events of "Begins Night".  In fact, it's been implied...no proven in the series that he's dead.  We see him get shot in the back three times.  His death was the catalyst that lead Philip and Shoutarou to become W...Double...whatever you wanna call them.  "Daburu".  There.  Anyways, remember how she found out that he died because Philip couldn't keep his mouth shut about it?  Apparently we're supposed to forget that.  And had I written this post before I saw that movie (the Begins Night segment of the W and Decade Movie War), I wouldn't have picked up on this little plot hole.  She was rather accepting when she found out that he was no longer alive.  Sad of course, because she barely knew him and she wanted to.  But accepting.  She finally knew some bit of truth about her father and from my perspective she was okay with this.  But all of a sudden she's angry that her father can't attend her wedding but she desperately wants him too.  Well if he were alive, I could understand her feelings.  And to an extend I can understand them even if he is dead.  But I don't believe a dead person has a choice and Akiko is treating him like he had a choice in the matter.  Why are they treating the situation like he were still alive?  To my knowledge, there's no mention or recognition of his death from any of the characters in this movie and until I'd watched W, I assumed Sokichi was still alive.
• What is the purpose of this Yummy?  It's sole purpose is to 1) act as the catalyst in showing Akiko what kind of person her father was and 2) to bring in an element (the Memory memory) that is crucial to setting up the Movie War Core.  Had the Yummy been more useful in the movie itself, I wouldn't have a problem with it's presence.  But this "character" is treated more like a prop than anything.

 The segment ends off with Skull/Sokichi Narumi having to defeat his partner who had become a Spider Dopant and infected many people in the city with spider bombs (including Sokichi).  When they come in physical contact with the person they love the most, the spider bomb will transfer over to their loved one and explode.  All in all, is the back story for Skull necessary?  No.  It's essentially padding to make this movie over an hour long.  Well I suppose I can say that for most of this film.  But this is the most enjoyable segment.  While the story regarding Skull just barely connects to the overall plot, it is a wonderful story about this character.  For the most part, all we knew about him from the series is that he's dead, he's Akiko's father, and he was Shoutarou's mentor and boss.  We really get a look into how he thought and acted and why he fought.  Albeit his character could stand to be defined a bit more but for what it is, it's a good story.

Like a boss...

On to Nobunaga's Desire.  The one truly pointless part of this entire "movie" (I'm rather reluctant to call it that).  The whole premise of this part is that Kougami wants to revive Oda Nobunaga for some reason or another.  Because the script said so I guess.  So he creates a new body for Nobunaga using cell medals.  Meanwhile Eiji and Hina are off doing some part time work on a movie shoot, Eiji takes the money that he earns (and Hina's money as well) and gives it away to people he thinks are needs, and on his way back sees a samurai looking creature attacking a man, calling him a murderer.  Eiji of course transforms into OOO and fights the creature.  The samurai creature escapes and while chasing after it, Eiji comes across a young man who seems out of place and injured.  It turns out this man has amnesia but knows his name is Nobunaga.  

Obviously this is just my opinion but to put it bluntly, this section is worthless.  It's a story that has no connection or impact on the rest of the "film".  Not to mention that Nobunaga's character has no bearing in what happens in the last segment nor a connection to anything happening in the rest of the movie.  It's really nothing but a one shot story that's sole purpose is to set up the black cores for the third portion of the film.  But for this there's really two big complaints I have:

• The introduction of the black core medals.  We're all aware that each Greeed has a color and species/power or element type set of creatures attached to them.  And according to the series there are only 6 sets of medals, not counting the movie only medals/combos.  The difference though between the movie only medals and these black cores are that the other medals are explained or play some sort of actual importance in the movies.  While I haven't seen them yet, the descriptions of the films are enough to figure out that these other combos/medals are important to the plot and thus the logical conclusion is that there is going to be some form of explanation behind them.  Here Dr. Maki just has them, tosses them into Nobunaga, and that's it.  Where did Maki get those medals?  Where are they from?  At least when the Putotyra medals are introduced in the series, we're told that they were a set of medals that were created.  Why were they created?  Not completely sure.  But at least there was some way to explain their introduction.  I'll end up getting more into the issues I have with the black cores when going over the last section.
• Ankh's uselessness.  And I'm not just saying it because he's my favorite character and I wish he was in the movie more.  He was absolutely unnecessary in this movie and was treated more like a prop than an actual character.  He showed up sporadically only to provide nothing of substance to the actual story.  My question is why did he let Eiji keep all (except his obviously) the core medals?  There is a point where Ankh allows Eiji to use the TaToBa combo as he pleases but at no point does Ankh ever allow Eiji to keep all of the medals.  As well as playing the role of the wild card, antisocial antihero, he's the one who knows the most about the strengths and weaknesses of the other Greeeds (considering that he is one and he was around them the most) and often gives Eiji the proper medal combos to defeat their opponents.  Could they not write a better part for him?

Dear movie studio, I know I look like a prop, but don't treat me like one. 'Kay?  Thanks (just ignore that the picture above is actually a figure).

And on to the main portion of this movie...or rather what should be the main portion as the film is advertised as a crossover.  Unfortunately this has to be the shortest segment of the movie and a complete let down.  Nobunaga's Desire leaves off with Eiji defeating the Greeed Nobunaga, Nobunaga's body shattering into a pile of cell medals while the three cores that Maki tossed into him fly off somewhere.  Now if you remember from part one there's that Pterodon Yummy that has the Memory memory.  The black cores react to the Gaia Memory and combine with it, forming into a strange fiery creature that called itself a Kamen Rider.  Due to the memories retrieved by the Memory memory, this strange Greeed/Dopant hybrid ends up resembling (only loosely) a Kamen Rider.  Only it's body is completely engulfed in flames, it's giant, and some of it's limbs are missing and/or aren't connected to the rest of it's body.  So the Memory memory stored the memories and information of Kamen Rider Skull and the three medals were of the animals scorpion, crab, and shrimp.  This creature didn't resemble a cross between those things at all so that's failure number one.  But since I like the look of fire, the actual design of the creature doesn't bother me.  The missing and unconnected limbs are a bit awkward though.

Basically this entire section is just a battle.  W and OOO versus Core.  Birth and Accel versus the Pteradon Yummy.  And a little more of Akiko's whining about how it's all the fault of Kamen Riders existing that bad things happen in the world.  Until she realize that Terui's also fighting to protect her and she finds out the reason why her father "really can't be with her at her wedding" (other than the fact that he's you know...dead).  This is the section that I believe I have the most complaints about.  Crossovers can be amazing things.  And I love when studios create crossovers between their own products or with other studio's creations (granted they can get the okay to do so).  With good writing good crossovers aren't impossible.  The sentai crossovers, while imperfect, are a much better example of how crossovers should be done.  The characters meet and get to know one another.  Maybe they even have conflicts with the other heroes.  Here there's nothing.  Eiji saves Akiko and ends up encountering Philip and Shoutarou that way.  Then they just go fight.  You'd think there'd be some point where they all meet each other and get acquainted first but I guess not.  Apparently character interaction beyond fighting isn't very important.

There's one part of this segment that almost makes this entire movie worth it and it's the closest we ever come to "character interaction" (a character reacting to another character is a better way of putting it).  A really short scene when OOO and W have to go underground in order to destroy the source that Core draws his power from.  Ankh eventually shows up (seemingly out of nowhere).  Shoutarou ends up responding to what Ankh says without looking at him at first.  But mid-sentence he does end up turning around only to be greeted by a floating, moving, disembodied hand (who also turns to "look" at Shoutarou/Cyclone Joker Extreme).  And Shoutarou reacts like anyone would if they saw a floating, talking, moving, disembodied hand...freaking the heck out.  This crossover was missing more moments like this.  Not specifically silly moments like this one is.  But moments where the characters are reacting and playing off one another.  These two worlds haven't really collided before (unless we're counting the short appearance OOO had in the A to Z movie...which they technically do).  A crossover is a great opportunity to explore these characters and their relationships in a different way or to see how characters from one series would act around characters of another.  But I'm disappointed that opportunity wasn't taken.

As for the things that specifically annoyed me about this segment...:

• The destruction of the black cores.  Now my guess is that when they created this movie, they already had in mind the way the OOO story would go.  So along they way they knew that the only way the core medals could be destroyed was via the Putotyra combination.  Coming from a pre-production standpoint, your story is written out before you go into production.  Sure you might tweak minor details here and there but for the most part the major plot points of a series are carefully planned out beforehand.  So, most likely the concept of the destruction of the medals was a point that was previously planned out.  If that's the case, then how were the black cores able to be destroyed?  Had they just destroyed the Gaia Memory, they would've defeated Kamen Rider Core.  Its existence only comes about from the combination of the memory and the core medals.  Wouldn't it just be destroyed if the memory was destroyed?
• Again, Ankh's uselessness.  While the only amusing scene from this movie has him in it, the only thing he does is give Eiji his other two medals to create the TaJaDor combo and then he disappears.  Somehow.  Maybe they forgot him underground or something.
• The ending.  After the battle's over with and everyone's supposed to go back to their everyday lives.  How the deuce does Eiji end up in Brazil?  I know there's this whole suspension of disbelief thing and that works for the most part.  I'll suspend disbelief for the idea of Kamen Riders, evil creatures, an incomplete being possessing a human in order to survive, and a young girl with superhuman strength.  But I won't suspend it for Eiji ending up in Brazil because the trajectory of his attack wouldn't allow for him to end up there.  His Prominence Drop was angled upward.  Meaning if anything he would've just ended up above ground in he place that he already was.  I might believe is Shoutarou and Philip ended up elsewhere, but probably nowhere too far away.  It made no sense for him to end up randomly in Brazil.  Sure the scene is funny, but that doesn't mean it isn't incredibly stupid and unnecessary.
• The battle with Kamen Rider Core.  It was surprisingly disappointing and short.  I was expecting a bit more of a climax going into this and they defeated him rather easily.  Much easier than either of them have defeated other villains in their respective series.  And somehow much easier than the Pteradon Yummy was defeated.
• The reveal of why Sokichi couldn't see his daughter.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but usually the effects of a Dopant or any other sort of villainous creatures wears off when the creature is destroyed.  Unless the effect was death (highly doubt someone would be able to come back from that).  But for some reason when the Spider Dopant was defeated, the spider bombs it created remained.  Wouldn't this cause a lot of discord within the city for everyone affected by the bombs?  It seems like the only person who felt any effect from this was Sokichi because he could never come in contact with his family again.  The moment feels very warm and sweet.  You realize that the person that Sokichi loved more than anyone else was Akiko.  But once that moment sinks in and you look at the larger picture, this doesn't make any sense.  Not only because he's dead by this point, but because the death of the Dopant should've cured him of whatever effect the Dopant's spider bombs would've had on him or anyone else in the city.

Correct me if I'm wrong...but Brazil is nowhere near Japan right?

While each segment had its moments, those small moments don't fix the overall problems this "film" has.  It feels very disconnected.  I'll get into this later on, but the W and Decade cross uses this structure much better.  Here it's clearly three separate stories that tried to hard to create a connection and the connection felt very forced.  The characters are interesting enough on their own.  If they weren't I probably wouldn't have watched W and lucky for me I decided to.  It's a great series.  But it's not enough for me to claim that the "movie" is good or that I'd want to watch it again.  It's confusing, dull, and disjointed.  If I had to choose which part was the best of the three, I'd have to go with Skull: Message for W/Double.  That story was the best put together and the most interesting.  It has nothing to do with it's connection to the rest of the "movie".

All in all, I say ignore this movie.  Little is added to either series, nothing new is added to the characters, and it doesn't offer anything that's really worth seeing.  The only scene that's interesting enough is Shoutarou getting freaked out by a bad green screen effect (AKA: Ankh), but even that isn't really worth sitting through the rest of the movie for.

Choujin Sentai Jetman Review pt. 2: Story

(Originally written August 31, 2011)

Part one covered character relationships and the drama of the Jetman series.  To read that go here:

Choujin Sentai Jetman Review pt. 1

This part mostly focuses on the story, it’s issues, and questions that the series leaves unanswered.  I’ll get a bit into characters here however it’ll be about how the characters relate to the story and if they are necessary or not.

Ako, Ryu, Aya, Raita, Kaori, Gai

Firstly, the pacing of the story is a bit awkward.  The first episode was extremely quick paced.  There’s very little build up to the introduction of the Jetman.  One moment Ryu and Rie are saving someone.  The next they’re being recruited to become Jetman.  And the next they’re attacked by the Vyram and Rie “dies”.  The Vyram attack comes out of nowhere.  It takes a while to even understand why the Vyram are there and why they’re trying to destroy humanity.  Eventually you figure out that they view humans as an inferior and unintelligent species and they take it upon themselves to exact some form of “divine justice” on humanity.

Aside from that bit, there are many points where characters are introduced that have very little to do with the plot.  The ones that come to mind are the 3 different groups of alternate or replacement rangers that come:

• First the Back Dimension Warriors, Ray, Kanna, and Dan.  They’re rangers from an alternate dimension that the Vyram also attacked and destroyed.  They come to the Earth to battle the Vyram with the technology they created (their own special suits and their mech called Jet Garuda).  We only see one of them when they’re transformed and all of them die as quickly as they’re introduced.  The only reason they were necessary was to introduce the Jet Garuda to the team.  Unfortunately this could have been done without bringing in extra characters.  Many of the inventions the Jetman use were created and/or by their chief and/or the Sky Force (for example, the Tetra Boy).  Why couldn’t they work to create the Jet Garuda?
• Second are Lou and Duran.  As useless as the Back Dimension Warriors were, Lou and Duran served absolutely no purpose.  They were a couple from another alternate world conquered by the Vyram.  Lou sought revenge on the Vyram for destroying her home, despite being warned not to seek revenge.  Their relationship is supposed to mirror the one that Ryu and Rie had so their sole purpose was to ram into our heads yet again this relationship that Ryu had and was still seeking.  Their introduction added nothing new to the series.
• Third are the replacement rangers, the Neo Jetman.  Out of nowhere, we’re told that there was an alternate Jetman program going on using trained soldiers instead of civilians.  When the Jetman lose their powers, the Neo Jetman take their place for an episode.  Until it’s revealed to them that their chief’s sole goal was to take control of their base and keep it for revenge, the Neo Jetman keep fighting for him even though they know that he views them as dispensable objects.  While they served a purpose (they were introduced to give the regular Jetman back their powers), this is another situation that could’ve been solved by them creating new technology.  You’d think that there would’ve have been another birdonic wave machine would have been created in case of an emergency, but I guess not. 

On top of this, the series presents us with a lot of information (both important and trivial) that has no answer:

• What was the purpose of Radiguet brainwashing Rie?  We know that the Vyram hate humans.  And Rie is human.  While he finds out later on that Rie was Ryu/Red Hawk’s girlfriend, he did not have this information from the start.  It makes sense that he would want to keep her away from Ryu when he knows what Rie means to him.  That way Radiguet has some form of leverage over Ryu.  But in the beginning it would’ve made more sense for him to have killed her or just left her to die.
• Why did a robot like Grey have human emotions?  Out of all the Vyram, he had the most heart.  He knew what it felt like to love.  He was the most human of all of them, yet he was a robot.
• What happened to that girl Radiguet met when he became human?  This is another story point that was extremely confusing.  As punishment Radiguet was sent to live amongst humans.  But once regaining the memory of who he really was, he changed back into himself.  Was this plot point just more padding?  It honestly could’ve made for a very good twist.  Radiguet could’ve taken the memory of what it as like to be and feel human and this could’ve changed him for the better.  But all it did was show the blatant hypocrisy of the Vyram.  They call humans fools for not learning and advancing themselves, yet the Vyram do the exact same.  There was no need for this scene.  If Radiguet was going to remain a twisted individual until the end, this plot point added nothing to the story.  Furthermore, what did he actually do to the woman?  Did he kill her?  Injure her?  Use her as a tool for the Vyram?  Why end the episode with such uncertainty?  The sad thing is this episode had potential to be very interesting.  This Vyram elite has become human and doesn’t remember his previous life as a Vyram.  He’s behaving as a typical human would and he’s even having fun and getting along with other humans.  This concept should have been pushed a little further than it was.
• What happened to Gai in the epilogue?  Now the next episode of Gokaiger is the Jetman tribute episode and it features Gai/Black Condor.  So Gai clearly didn’t die.  But the finale of Jetman makes this very unclear.  His apparent death mirrors the way that Grey dies an episode or two before.  Hopefully this ending is cleared up in the Gokaiger’s tribute to Jetman.  Still, it leaves the series on a confusing downer and makes the audience feel like they don’t have full closure.

All in all, the series may not be perfect.  There are a few plot holes ant twists that can leave you confused or wanting more.  And there are many story points that should have been elaborated.  Many of the episodes are good stories on their own, but as a connected cohesive story, it can be disjointed at points.  What this series does well is mix together drama and humor.  The story is very dramatic and very focused on individual relationships, but when it calls for it, the story knows how to be silly and that quirky (if not a bit campy) humor shows through quite a bit.  For all the faults the story has, it is a well put together series and worth checking out.

(Follow-Up: Okay, I'd written this review before the Jetman tribute episode of Gokaiger and since I'm re-posting it and people might not see the date at the top this was originally written, I'll say I know that it's completely established that Gai is dead.  In fact, the tribute for Jetman is probably my favorite episode of Gokaiger to date purely because it wasn't what I was expecting at all.  It took me by surprise.  It was serious but still kept that light tone that Gokaiger has.  And the story for it is so beautifully written.  So to put it on the record, I know Gai is dead.  I wasn't going to rewrite the ending of this half of the review because at the time it was a valid question that I had.)

Choujin Sentai Jetman Review pt. 1: Characters and Relationships

(Originally written August 29, 2011)

Admittedly the first thing that got me interested in Jetman were their outfits.  As a visual person, I can be swayed to watch a series on the basis that I like the style or the costuming.  Plus the bird motif caught my attention and when I found subtitles for it, I couldn’t resist watching it.  The series revolves around 5 ordinary people who through an accident caused by the Vyram (the antagonists) invading the Earth are imbued with extra-ordinary strength and abilities and become the Choujin Sentai (Birdman Squadron) Jetman.  There’s Ryu, the sole member of Jetman who was actually a planned member due to his training.  Ako, a loud-mouthed, opinionated high school girl.  Gai, a womanizer who enjoys jazz, gambling, and drinking.  Raita, a country boy who enjoys cultivating vegetables and dislikes violence.  And Kaori, a woman raised with wealth but sought something more from life.  Despite their different personalities and despite the issues they had as a team, they’re able to overcome their personal issues and protect the world from evil.

White Swan (Kaori), Yellow Owl (Raita), Red Hawk (Ryu), Black Condor (Gai), Blue Swallow (Ako)

However the unfortunate thing about their personal issues is the show is completely filled with them.  All the relationship breakdowns and complications cause issues that affect that performance of the Jetman team.  And on top of relationship issues, the story leaves many questions unanswered, many holes open, and adds in many unnecessary details that could have been fixed without the introduction of extra (and unnecessary) characters.  So without further ado, let’s get into Choujin Sentai Jetman.  Starting with the relationship issues…

When I speak of “relationships”, I’m not just speaking of them in the romantic fashion though romance does play a key role in many of the problems the Jetman face.  The main conflicting relationships are as follows:

• Ryu and Kaori
• Ryu and Gai
• Gai and Kaori
• Ryu and Rie/Maria

A good chunk of Jetman reads like a drama series.  And if you went into the series expecting it to be a typical action show, you might be disappointed with the level of drama presented.  And sadly, most of the tension in the series is centered around the first relationship we’re introduced to.  Two of the first characters we meet are Ryu and Rie and you learn fairly quickly that they’re an inseparable item.  Until the Vyram attack the Earth Ship and Rie is tossed from it.  Though distraught from the loss of his girlfriend, Ryu attempts to put aside his personal feelings in order to protect the world from the Vyram.

Once the Jetman team is assembled, we’re shown that for the time being Ryu is the only person who can “put aside” his personal feelings for the sake of his work.  Human beings aren’t infallible thus emotions like love, lust, and rage interfere with our work.  Heroes aren’t exempt from this either.  Each of the relational issues presented stem from the initial relationship between Ryu and Rie.  To plainly break it down:

• Kaori fell in love with Ryu.  To the point of obsession.  She would do everything in her power to make Ryu love her but to no avail.  Ryu’s desire to concentrate on his work as well as his undying devotion and love for Rie didn’t allow him to reciprocate her feelings.
• Gai was in love with Kaori.  However Kaori didn’t reciprocate his feelings because she viewed him as abrasive and uncaring.  From the audience’s point of view, Gai’s sole interest in Kaori is because of her looks and because she wasn’t in love with him.  He wanted her because she didn’t want him and no woman has turned him down before.
• Gai becomes jealous of Ryu because he can get Kaori’s attention without trying.  No matter what Gai does, Kaori doesn’t recognize him as a suitable boyfriend.
• Gai’s jealousy becomes a point of contingency for the team.  Particularly towards the beginning, it greatly affected their performance in battle as Gai wasn’t going to take orders from a “goody-two shoes” like Ryu.  Not to mention whenever Ryu upsets Kaori, Gai is quick to attack Ryu both physically and verbally.
• Knowing that Rie is “dead”, Kaori vows to erase Rie from Ryu’s heart (a rather cold hearted statement if you ask me).
• Once Ryu learns that Rie is still alive but being used and brainwashed by the Vyram, he vows to do everything in his power to save her.  Learning that Rie is still alive completely screws with Ryu’s emotions.  At times, he’s no longer the composed person that he is in the beginning of the series.

The drama can be a bit much at times and goes to very petty levels.  Most of the drama could easily be avoided if it weren’t for Kaori’s unwillingness to let go and Gai’s reckless personality.  The only character who had decent reason to feel the way that he did was Ryu.  He lost the love of his life so his heart isn’t open to another relationship.  He never expressed interest in Kaori.  All the interest was on her part.  Thus the brunt of the drama comes from her and Gai.  It’s sad really.  Gai and Kaori’s relationship was doomed from the start anyways.

For the most part, the drama was baseless.  However there was one relationship where the drama added a necessary element to the series.  And that was the relationship between Ryu and Rie once Rie became Maria.  As I said earlier, Ryu always put aside his personal feelings for the good of his work and he advised that the other Jetman do the same.  Once he learned that Rie was still alive, this changes.  His personal feelings start to affect the way that he fights until a single point when all the emotion that he’s been burying deep inside himself wells up and causes him to fall into a deep depression and slight insanity.  The backbone of the Jetman becomes a broken shell who only remains happy in his memories because there he could live forever with Rie.  The Rie that he loved and not the brainwashed Maria.  Drastic character changes in a short amount of time rarely work, especially when it’s trying to show character development.  While it seems like his mental breakdown is sudden, there’s episodes of build up to it.  Early on, the hint is dropped that Rie is still alive as Maria.  We’re shown snippets of Ryu’s mindset when he recalls Rie’s “death” and also when he recalls all the good times they had together.  We’re conditioned to understand that Rie is Ryu’s main weakness so seeing him fall into madness and depression can just be seen as the culmination of months and months of emotions that can no longer be repressed.

Character relationships outside of the romantic realm are wonderful however.  Such as…

• Tran’s relationship with the other Vyram elite.  As the youngest of the bunch, the rest don’t take him seriously and often openly mock and laugh at him much to his dismay.  However he tries his best to prove his worth to the group until he changes to Tranza and forces the rest of them to acknowledge his power.
• Gai’s relationship with Ryu.  Although his initial resentment towards Ryu was due to jealousy and dislike of working with a group (especially under someone he considered to be a goody-two shoes), by working together the two of them became best friends and are probably the closest of any of the Jetman.  The development of their friendship was extremely slow which is a good thing.  Many series (particularly short ones) rush important relationships.  And especially in series where it’s important that the group works together.  But despite the series being only 51 episodes long, they took a nice amount of time to develop the friendship.
• Radiguet’s relationship with any person who held more power than him.  His drive for power filled consumed him.  But he wasn’t the most powerful.  Most others around him held more power than he did, but he couldn’t stand not being on top.  And despite gaining the power than he initially sought, it wasn’t enough to keep him from losing (granted this is a type of show where the good guys always have to win in the end but still…).
• Grey’s relationship with Maria.  Despite this falling under the realm of “romantic”, I consider this the romantic relationship done right.  Also Maria didn’t reciprocate Grey’s feelings but I believe his feelings were subtle enough that she might not have known until later on that he loved her.  Despite Grey being a robot, he had the most heart of any of the Vyram.  Despite being a programmed warrior, he still had the ability to care and the ability to appreciate what’s beautiful in the world.  Despite the Vyram hating humans, Grey fell in love with Maria and even after learning that she was human he still cared for her as she was.  As much as he loved her, he always wanted the best for her.  He’d rather her become human again rather than transform into a mindless beast.
• The relationship between Grey and Gai.  Now admittedly this wasn’t a real “relationship” persay.  Rather it was a subtle connection and understanding that these two characters had.  Their personalities and passions mirrored each other.

So what do I think of the relationships?  Aside from the relationships between Ryu and Rie and Grey and Maria, the romance is bland and borders on unrealistic.  Watching it, you get beat over the head so much with Ryu’s relationship with Rie that you can even get annoyed with that.  However, watching the characters develop as individuals and watching their relationships as friends/co-workers/enemies/etc. change over time is wonderful.  Most of the characters are well established and relatable and their growth over the course of the series is realistic.  Most of the relationships were pushed as far as they could go.  Though if there were any that I felt needed a little more meat behind them, it would have to be Tran’s relationship with the rest of the Vyram elite.  While you understand that they treat him like a child, you’re only shown that in a few episodes.  Otherwise he’s treated no different than the rest of them.  But other than that, the characters and their relationships are well developed.

That’s it for part one.  Stick around for part two which will cover the story, a few other character details, and questions that were left unanswered.

Anti-Fandom Fandoms

(Originally written July 6, 2011)

We’ve all heard of ‘em and we all (whether we want to admit it or not) are a part of one or more.  In conjunction with the furry fandom, you have the anti-furries.  In conjunction with the anime fandom, you have the anti-anime crowd.  In conjunction with the Twilight fandom, you’ve got the anti-Twilight crowd.  Need I say more?

Because intelligence is really measured by what your interests are...

Anti-crowds are rather popular.  They mysteriously pop up whenever a subculture, form of media, movie, book, series, etc. becomes a major focus of attention at some point.  These sorts of crowds have always been around.  When rock and roll first was created, the movement against it was very strong.  Same for jazz, and rap.  I suppose the music today that get’s this kind of flack is the “teenybopper” music.  Those songs sung by the likes of Justin Bieber, and anyone else in his age range.  But doesn’t it strike you as odd that anti-fandom fandoms get so riled up over such minuscule things?  What is the purpose of hating someone for liking anthropomorphic animals?  You probably liked them as a child and still do to an extent.  Winnie the Pooh, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse…I suppose you hate them too.  Or what’s the purpose of hating people who like media from Japan.  While you may want to claim that it’s really the “weaboos” that you hate, you’re reaction towards the whole fandom (from the people, to the cosplay, and the art styles) tends to say otherwise.

The ironic thing about these anti-crowds is that they tend to think more about what they hate than the people who actually like such things think about.  Deviantart is a great example of this.  And for this I’ll use the example of sparkle-animals.  This is one of those anti-groups within the furry fandom.  Sparkle animals are animals that are given unnatural colors and markings not only for their species but for animals in general.  Some people love them and some people hate them with a burning passion.  There is no in-between.  And anti-sparkle animal crowds devote a large chunk of their art to mocking (or “satirizing” as they like to say) people who create these creatures.  Never satirizing the mild sparkle creations.  Always the rare, obnoxious ones.  The one some 12 year old who’s new to character design created with way too many colors, markings, and accessories.  Those kinds.  They make them and have all their other sparkle animal hating friends praise them.  Bringing them much e-fame in the deviantart realm.  Or the anti-Twilight crowd…ever notice how they’ve got a ton of Twilight related submissions just about how much they hate Twilight?  While people are free to express themselves in anyway they want to, why would you devote so much time and effort towards something you hated?  You can’t change the minds of people who like those things, and those who are moderate will remain moderate.  The only people you’re pandering to are…others that hate the subject?  But in order to do that, don’t you have to have this subject that you hate on your mind as much if not more than the people who actually like such things?

Tropical colored Fennec?  This unholy abomination must be burned at the stake!

There’s a number of reasons anti-crowd members can give for why they’re a part of the anti-crowd.  But really it only boils down to 4 points (Credit for a few of these points goes to Cracked.com.  I can’t remember the name of the specific article but it was about why it’s better to be a conformist rather than an anti-conformist):

1) The desire to rebel.  Everyone does at some point in their lives.  Particularly against your parents.  Some people take that to a grander scale and want to rebel against “the man” or “the system”.  You rebel against the mainstream.  So you see that anime’s become the new it thing.  As a rebellious person you don’t want to join that crowd so you go against it and you find reasons that you hate it.  Regardless of if you’ve actually seen any anime series or not.  Or you can just go from what you remember of DragonBall Z, Pokemon, Digimon, or Yugioh as a child and claim that it’s all for children.  Or the opposite route if you’ve been mentally scarred by something you’ve seen, claim it’s only for perverted adults.  You don’t know this as a fact as you’ve never really watched much anime since you were little.  You’re just going to do all you can to rebel against what you perceive as popular.


2) The desire to belong.  It’s a basic human need.  Everyone wants to belong somewhere.  You don’t want to feel like you’re all alone in the universe.  And thus you have anti-groups.  Deviantart again is the perfect example.  Go to their groups menu and search “anti”.  What do you find.  Lists upon lists of clubs whose sole purpose is to come together over what they hate.  Sounds like a grand waste of time to me.  Especially since these things are so petty.  Why not come together over the hate of…I don’t know…racism?  Sexism?  War?  Things that if you put effort into you can actually change something in the world.  Instead this effort is being put towards hating certain fictional character pairings or Justin Bieber.  But if the only thing you wish to put effort into is hating on people for liking something, more power to you then?  Hopefully one day you’ll grow up and see how childish things like this really are.

3) The desire for stereotypes to be the full truth.  While a grain of truth lies in a stereotype, it’s a stereotype for a reason.  And that reason is because the truth is so coated in this cover of lies that it ceases to be true anymore.  The stereotype for furries is that we’re all these depraved perverts who want nothing more to either have sex in animal costumes or have sex with animals.  While the furry fandom seems like a haven for people who are zoophiles, the majority of furries are very much against zoophilia…with a burning passion.  Why?  Because 1) it’s illegal, 2) it’s disgusting, and 3) it gives all other furries a bad name.  But for some reason, despite knowing that stereotypes aren’t even remotely always true, some people still believe the stereotype about furs.  Though to play off what I said in my previous rant, if you’re going to be prejudice, display equal opportunity prejudice.

4) The non-desire to listen/learn.  Anti-fandom people don’t want to understand why this person over here likes this, or that person over there likes that.  They want to remain ignorant of any sort of facts.  Or just the fact that it’s impossible to lump a bunch of people together even if they share a similar interests.  There’s an anime fan over there that doesn’t ramble on using “kawaii!” or “desu!”?  “Nonsense!  We can have none of this!  They must do it even if they won’t show it.”  Or a furry who’s a virgin?  “Blasphemy!  All furries are sexual deviants and I know this as fact!”  You see, that’s the sort of commentary you get from those who wish to remain ignorant.  And sadly you can do nothing for people like this.

The point here isn’t to say that it’s wrong to not be a fan of something.  You don’t have to be a fan of everything and in fact that is an impossibility.  But don’t go so far off the deep end that you become a part of these nonsensical “anti” crowds.  Just as you don’t have to be a raving lunatic fan girl to be a fan of something, you also don’t have to be some dark, depressing moron who spends all their time hating on stuff for the sheer purpose of hating on stuff.  These people are the equivalent of the raving fan girl only more obnoxious and more annoying.  Because if there’s anything more annoying than talking about what you like all the time, it’s talking about what you hate all the time.  At least we know the reason why talks about something they like.  As for why people devote their time to something that they hate…that is a concept, my friends, that is beyond me.

Cosplay Bias

(Originally written July 5, 2011)

Cosplay.  A fun pastime in the anime, furry, sci-fi, and other fandoms where fans of series will dawn the costumes of some of their favorite characters for a weekend.  Whether it’s to show off something that they’ve made or something that they’ve bought, all cosplayers cosplay for the same reason: It’s fun.  You know it.  You know that when you see that one really good cosplay of your favorite character, it puts a huge smile on your face.  You’ll walk over, ask for pictures, or even ask for tips for the next time you want to make a costume yourself.  But there are people who bring costuming out of the realm of “fun” and into the realm of “serious business”.  And I’m not speaking of those who actually make costumes for a living.  No.  I’m speaking of people who’ll go out of their way to ruin the fun of others because they don’t look like the character they’re cosplaying as.  Specifically those who put down overweight cosplayers and non-white, non-Asian cosplayers.

Remember...cosplay is a no fun zone reserved for Asians, Whites and skinny people only...

These people are ones who completely take the fun out of cosplay and bring it into a realm of discrimination (albeit on a rather silly level).  Black person wants to dress up as Sora from Kingdom Hearts?  Nope.  Can’t have that.  Sora’s not black!  Or an overweight (even if it’s just slightly) girl wants to be Sailor Moon?  Nope.  Can’t have that either.  Sailor Moon isn’t fat!  And god forbid you have an overweight non-white, non-Asian person dress up as a character.  That’s a disaster waiting to happen for these people!

So let’s say you’re a white person and you see a black guy cosplay your favorite character.  You get all in a tizzy because you will have none of this black Ichigo nonsense.  Only character black people should dress up as from Bleach is Tousen ’cause you know…he’s black.   So in an outrage you decide to tell him that he looks horrible as Ichigo (but conveniently leave out the why because you don’t want to come across as racist or anything…no need for you to break out the whole “my best friend is black!” line that all people who use racist language use) even though the actual costume is spot on.  Meanwhile you see a white Ichigo cosplayer.  His costume isn’t terrible but clearly isn’t up to par with the black Ichigo cosplayer’s costume, but you tell him he looks amazing otherwise.  Well hold on now…why did the white one look amazing?  Ichigo is clearly not black but he’s clearly not white either.  His name is ICHIGO KUROSAKI!  Since when was that a European name to you?  And he lives in Japan!  Just because he has orange/red hair isn’t an indication that he isn’t Japanese.  So if you’re going to get angry at one race of people because they’re not the right race to be portraying a character, you’d better be getting angry when another race of people (even if it’s the same race as you) wrongly portrays the race of a particular character.  If you’re going to display racism for such a petty thing, it’d better be equal opportunity racism.

As for weight bias, it’s to be expected.  A little more so than race bias.  Weight is always on the forefront of American society in one way or another.  Celebrities are always put down in tabloids for being too heavy or overly skinny (though more for being heavy).  Models (unless they’re the elusive plus sized model) are always tall and thin…always a size zero.  Kids and adults are bullied every day for weight related issues and it’s definitely harder to be bigger than it is to be thinner.  But just remember this one tiny lesson…YOUR FAVORITE ANIME CHARACTER ISN’T REAL!

That’s right.  None of these characters we love are real.  They’re all figment’s of their creator’s imaginations and putty in the hands of said creator.  Even the characters that are based off of historical figures are still fake.  Le Chevalier d’Eon?  While a very real historical figure, the anime’s recollection of his life is only .5% true (and I’m being rather generous with that).  He was a man.  He dressed up as a woman.  Those two things are true.  He did not have a sister that he masqueraded around as during battle.  Nor did a spirit of his sister or any other woman possess him.  Nor was he actually a woman (though he claimed to be).  These characters that we see are ones by the creators to help tell a story.  So it’s only natural that we’d end up either loving or hating them.  So when a person decides to dress up as the ones we like either because we like their outfits of because we like them as a character.  Why should an overweight person be left out of the fun?

“But Sombra!  We have every right to make fun of people!  It’s fun for us!”  I’m sure that’s what some people would say.  Well sure you absolutely have the right to be a cold heartless jerk but is that really the way you want to portray yourself to the world?  “But Sombra!  We’re only telling the truth!  These people need to hear it so they can change their lives and get healthy!”  That’s just what you’d want me to believe.  Because the truth is that you’re just cold and heartless.  You feel every need to rain on someone else’s parade because it makes you feel better.  There’s a comfortable overweight person over there having fun…you can’t have any of that because you’re unhappy with yourself  Or maybe you just don’t like seeing people who you feel shouldn’t be happy actually be happy.  You need to bring them down to your level so that you can be brought up and somehow feel superior over them.  Your version of the “truth” is often a very distorted one.  One where you have to tell people that they’re ugly, need to stop eating, or in some cases (depending on how really cold and black your heart is) that they need to die.  But there’s a few facts that you need to be schooled on:

1) Beauty is always going to be in the eye of the beholder.  What you find absolutely repulsive, someone else might find beautiful.  Or even if their physical appearance isn’t the greatest someone will always give this person the time of day and find that there’s a beautiful person underneath who was just waiting to get out the entire time.

2) Eating is a rather natural function.  While it would be a normal assessment to say “eat less” or “cut back on these sorts of foods” to expect someone to stop eating altogether is an unrealistic idea.  The body needs food to function and to make your metabolism work faster.  So while it might be “obvious” to you to tell the overweight person to stop eating, just realize that actually a death wish upon them…which brings me to the last point…

3) Really?  You’d go tell a person to die because of their weight?!  Because they dressed up as your favorite character, “messed it up”, and somehow that’s a qualification for them to commit suicide?!  How much more of a dick do you have to be?!  I don’t have to elaborate more.  Actions like this just speak for themselves.

All in all, this form of bias is amazingly ridiculous and baseless.  Why it exists is beyond me.  We’re all member of the same fandom and we all understand what it feels like to cosplay.  It’s fun.  You know it and I know it.  Even those who have never cosplayed know it (which is why some want to cosplay).  But it’s people with the attitudes that I mentioned above that really take the fun out of the experience and turn it into something that people could potentially hate or fear instead of enjoy as they should.  And a small message for the cosplayers, you know what you like.  You know what you can pull off.  Don’t let a few haters ruin the experience for you.  Because for as many people that are there that might hate you for it, there are plenty that will either love you or be indifferent.  Other congoers are there for fun too.  Just remember that.  Do what you love.  That’s all that matters.

Money from Adoptables?! Blasphemy!

(Originally written July 3, 2011)

Because you know...pre-designed characters bought for fun are the devil...

Despite there being artists in all fandoms, this one is specifically geared towards the furry fandom for a few reasons.  In the anime fandom your popularity is gauged either on your being an already published mangaka/successful animator or for the case of non-published artists, being able to successfully and skillfully draw already established characters or which ever characters might be popular at that time.  The lucky anime artists will have their own characters known, but for the most part, the anime fandom is about celebrating and coming together over already established works.

While there are certainly established “furry” characters (Pikachu, Sonic, Spyro, etc.), most furs don’t go around furry conventions looking for the pokemon cosplayer.  No, they’re searching out their favorite original characters created by other furries.  As well as searching out their favorite artists for conversation, possible commissions, or just wanting to meet the face behind one of their favorite fursonas/characters.  So this rant’s for the furs out there.  At least the ones who complain about different marketing strategies artists take to earn money.

Adoptable/Character auctions.  If you haven’t heard of them, they’re auctions of premade characters that artists don’t use anymore or have created for the purpose of selling.  And it seems to be all the rage amongst furs.  On deviantart, there are full groups set up for the selling and trading of various characters either through the usage of actual money or through DA’s points system.  But when adoptables or other characters are sold on FurAffinity, money is the sole option for getting one (unless they’re free which they rarely are).  The most I’ve seen a single character go for in an auction was $400+ dollars.  The lowest amount maybe $2 or $3.  Yet there’s always someone who wants to rant and rave about how wrong artists are for “selling characters”.  And then rant and rave at people who wish to buy said characters because “they could always make a character themselves”.

Yes…yes people can always make their own characters.  And they do.  But why do they want to buy this particular character?  Because it’s that particular character.  Made by that particular artist.  Maybe they like the colors and markings and you want a character with those colors and markings.  They didn’t think of doing it first but here’s a character that they really like, admire and want, and unless they don’t have enough to pay for it, nothing’s going to stand in their way of buying it.  And it’s a brilliant marketing strategy for making a decent amount of money in a short period of time.  Adoptables using the same base are quick to create.  Just put some colors on the premade base and you’re good to go.  This is the cheapest variety of adoptable.  Then there’s people who create very different character sheets for each creation they make.  These are you’re higher end adopts.  And usually the more popular artists can use this version because people want work by this artist, from this artist and are willing to pay for it if they can afford to (sometimes if they can’t).

Artists know their market perfectly when they do this.  They know their standing in the fandom, they know what sort of creations others in the fandom (or rather their watchers) look for.  And they cater to that.  No different than what any other working person in the world does.  Sure a person could create a character and it would be cheaper, but would it turn out exactly like the character that X-artist over there created?  Most likely not.  And most likely not and most likely they wouldn’t be able to get away with ripping the same design from X-artist over there due to the potential trolls, flamers, and white knights coming to protect their precious artist’s creations (while I agree that stealing intellectual/artistic property is wrong, I generally disagree with the tactics of most people who comment on such things).

Imagine this.  You walk past a store.  You’ve got money to spare after paying off student loans, rent, mortgage, etc.  And in this store window you see…a plushie or statue (depending on your tastes) that you would just love to have.  And it’s from a studio or artist or creator you admire.  You don’t need it.  But it appeals to you.  You know you can make something like that, but you can’t make that particular object.  And you want it.  So you buy it because you’ve got that bit of money to spare.  Now you can say you’ve got a creation by this person you admire.  Like a woman who buys a Gucci bag buys it to say they’ve got a Gucci bag.  Or a person who buys a Ferrari buys it to say they’ve got a Ferrari.  You’ve got a creation by X-artist just to say you’ve got a creation by X-artist.

So…as a (somewhat…though I highly, highly doubt this will ever work) “appeal” to the haters and flamers out there, artists can sell what they wish and people are free to buy what they wish.  If the fact that artist A over here is making hundreds selling character designs is bothering you so much, find something that you can create and offer to the community and work hard to market that skill.  Everyone’s got something.  Even you.  If you put half that amount of energy into doing what you do instead of ragging on other artists because of their selling a colorful dog character and making about $50 off of it, perhaps you could make a bit of money doing what you love too.  While I’m sure this appeal won’t do anything for you guys (you’ll just continue on being flamers and haters), perhaps those on the fence about such things can find a different yet valid viewpoint on the subject.  And also it was a nice way to end the rant.  ‘Til next time guys…

Pokemon...Getto Da Ze!

(Originally written June 6, 2011)

Vaporeon, I choose you!

If you were alive and in elementary school in 1997, chances are that you were a part of the Pokemon craze.  You watched the show, played the Game Boy, and collected the cards.  Heck, you (like me) probably knew the PokeRap by heart.  Even to this day, a good majority of you can and will recite the theme song at the drop of a dime.  And we all know the basic gist of the story.  10 year old Ash Ketchum sets out on a journey to catch all (originally) 150 (or 151 if you count Mew) and become a Pokemon master with his partner, Pikachu.  On the way he finds and travels with some friends (Misty and Brock...also Tracy for some time until Brock returns) and continues battling and catching pokemon in hopes of becoming said Pokemon master.

This is another one of those ongoing, never ending series.  Obviously Nintendo knows what they're doing.  Pokemon is one of their largest and most popular franchises and when something makes money, chances are that the franchise won't come to an end until it fails to create a profit.  Now I've already done the rundown on the issues of having an ongoing series in this post.  So I'll do my best not to reiterate anything that's already be stated there.  But Pokemon comes with it's own host of issues.  And the fans have their own host of issue as well.  For now, I'll start with the fans...

There's an understandable lure that nostalgia has on our memories.  Try thinking about something you loved as a child but haven't seen in years.  And look at a newer variation of it that has a new host of characters, settings, and challenges.  Perhaps even a completely different art style.  Somehow the newer version doesn't look nearly as good in your eyes because you had such a strong love for the older version.  This is the appeal of the first generation of Pokemon to fans of the series.  The more Pokemon designs they created the more they dislike the designs of future generations.  Gen. 2 was still fairly decent.  Gen. 3 was okay.  Gen. 4 was bad.  And Gen. 5 was despised.  By time the generation for the Black and White games came out, fans had convinced themselves that the older designs were tons better than the new ones.  That Nintendo needs to stop creating pokemon designs because the new ones are absolutely terrible.  They've convinced themselves that Gen. 1 was the best because all the designs were based off of real animals and/or mythical beasts.  This logic fails miserably.  Because nostalgia seemed to block out such Pokemon like Grimer, Muk, Ditto, Magnemite, Magneton, and Porygon.  All creatures based off of immobile, non-living objects and all from the first generation (by non-living I mean non-organic, flesh and blood beings).  What's the difference between a magnet creature or toxic waste creature and a gear or garbage creature?  Or even an ice cream one?

As for the series, the problem it has is repetition.  Constant repetition.  Nothing completely new has happened in the story in years.  Every time Ash ventures to a new region, he drops all the Pokemon he had except Pikachu, obtains a new starter Pokemon, and sets out to gather all the gym badges and fight whatever leagues there are.  All the while Jessie and James continue to try to steal Pikachu nearly every episode and fail every time.  If you started from episode one, you know the basic story for every season following.  Story is important.  While there's nothing inherently wrong with a small bit of repetition in a story, when the entire story repeats itself that is a story failure that should have been fixed in the pre-production phase.  Or the alternative is to just end the series.  Once you find that there is nothing new you can do with your story, that's a sign that the project should end.  Let the series end with a bang rather than drag it out until you've wrung everything you could from it.  Because at a certain point, the audience will slowly fall away.

But in the end, it just comes down to money.  For all the faults it has as a television series, Pokemon is brilliant when it comes to merchandising.  All the creatures they can make toys and stuffed animals off of, all the games they can make, all the shirt and product designs...it's a cash cow.  And Nintendo's out to milk Pokemon for all they can get.  In the meantime, I'll continue to be a fan and attempt to "catch 'em all".  How about you?