Otaku Review Pin Board

May 17th 2016
Otaku Reviewers Pin Board - Week of May 17th

See "When Disney Characters Enter the World of Japanese Art"

http://www.forevergeek.com/2016/05/disney-japanese-art-mashup/#more-71693

Otaku Let's Play! - Yoshi's Island Part 3: For Better Days

Chan:  OtakuReviewers

Month of Unlikely Anime Couples, December!

This movie is called, "The Year Without a Santa Claus"

 It's December! 

The month of Christmas Coolness in all of its colorful, illuminated, and glorious forms! Also of chilly, red noses; hot chocolate, Christmas movies, decorating trees with ornaments and lights, vacations, movies and/or live Christmas shows, Santa Claus, St. Nick, Frosty the Snowman, Santa's elves, snow angels, snowmen, snowfall, Bing Crosby, The Love Hina Christmas special and so much more!

Here at the Otaku Reviewers weblog, we decided to mix it up just a little bit. So from us to you, December will be the "Month of Unlikely Anime Couples"!

Winter can be one of the best times of the year to become a couple with somebody else. In anime, there are a lot of would-be couples that just didn't make it. The same happens to most normal people in their own lives, and leaves us wondering... why?   θ＼(；￢_￢)

Anyway as December rolls on so will the Otaku Reviewers and we will be posting cool fan stuff often, dedicated to the Unlikely Character Pairs of Anime that could have been, a couple!

...starting with the next post...

Genshiken!

img cred:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/419468152770643846/

img cred:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=1783

Hunter x Hunter: The Chars

Characters of Hunter x Hunter

Awesome anime series!

img cred:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405816616396470054/

Goku and Krillin!!!

Very Cool!

img cred:
http://myrllok.deviantart.com/art/Goku-n-Kuririn-269743931

Difference Between

American Cartoons and Japanese Anime

1. Invincible superheroes vs. Training day in and day out heroes

In American cartoons:  Superheroes are practically invincible. Their powers are limitless or at least they cannot be exhausted. To be defeated, a superhero has to be caught, trapped, or totally annihilated in one shot or something.

In Japanese cartoons: Heroes have to train hard day in and day out to get strong but once they do, they are clearly portrayed as having more strength than an average human, even with the constant reminders of the such. They can be defeated, but most likely by either a baddie who's trained just as much or is practically invincible, like the kind of hero mentioned above ^

2. Senseless violence vs. Senseless flashing

In American cartoons:  Looney toons, the first contemporary cartoons had more violence than ever and the characters recovered easily. The trend, became less extreme as people realized that they could actually be hurt by the same things but there is still the sense in comedy toons that the character can recover from any weird injury.
In Japanese anime:  Japanese anime contains a lot of flashing, a trend that started in old anime but is starting to be only reserved for ecchi and hentai. But in the late 90's, early 2000's most anime had at least some scenes where a character (usually a female) might be a bit more naked than expected for a cartoon...hehe.

3. Seeing yourself in a good light vs. Showing all of your flaws!

In American cartoons:  The main character is always the best, no questions asked (usually). Usually when watching an American toon, you know that you should like the main character because they're always seen in a good light.
In Japanese cartoons: Flaws are advertised to humanize the character and gain popularity with the fans. Most Japanese anime run polls for the fans to rank their favorite characters and the more human and relatable a character, the higher they are ranked. Often the less excellent the character, the higher they rank.

4. One sided baddies vs. Multi-dimensional multi-tasking enemies

In American cartoons:  The main bad guy is always 100 percent bad or evil. They devote most of their evil plan to getting the good guys for good (i.e. forever), and often fail because they're too perfectionistic. But they are quite persistent for being all bad, right?
In Japanese cartoons: The main bad guy has lots of stuff going on, including an agenda that includes the demise of the main character, along with some other scheme for money or power. Often, the demise of the main character is a side project which is often a tragic flaw of a lot of Japanese bad guys. Side projects must be some kind of big thing in Japan...

5. Being the best vs. Doing the best things

In American cartoons:  The most liked character is also the best character. If a viewer would be asked, who is their favorite character they most always say the main character. If there is a trio, it's always the main character of the trio. Unless the show is watched by more than one person, then one person might choose another character and try to justify why they are the best even if they are just a foil (or reflective of the greatness of the main character), often to their frustration with the creators.
In Japanese cartoons:  The most liked character might not be the main character. If there is a special moment in the story where a side character does something amazing that evoked emotions, then that character might be more well-liked and considered the best by the majority of anime fans. Possibly Alphonse Elric (FMA brotherhood), Gohan (DBZ), Kagome (Inuyasha) are some examples.

6. Telling jokes vs. Being the jokes (the Old Deal you struggle with...)

The Western Toon:  Characters have a repitoire of great jokes, and often a recurring joke that makes the viewer like the cartoon and the character. The characters have something great to say all the time and make the viewer feel like they have a lot to live for, at least in a group when someone is always stealing the attention. A punchline is key and usually punchlines that can be quoted during everyday life are numerous. This makes American cartoons surprisingly relatable, their quotability.

The Eastern Series:  Characters do things in anime that are funny, but only in relation to the other characters. It's hard to laugh AT a character in an anime, without actually laughing about something that might have actually happened in your life. Anime makes normal life events that have already happened, seem more funny when the characters do them. It must be the mystique of anime, that romanticizes everyday life.

...Tell Your Jokes!

Real Versus Real

T h e   R e a l   S e p h i r o t h

F i n a l  F a n t a s y  V II

C l o u d   S t r i f e

LGBTQ Characters in Anime

If there's any kind of media that's tolerant of all kinds of peoples, it's probably anime. Popular media in general is welcoming and making new roles for LGBTQ characters. However, popular media kind of only sees LGBTQ people as kind of sexual (or sex-u-al), as if they don't have their own unique personality traits and quirks that make them cool characters in their own right. Anime, takes LGBTQ characters to the next level and gives them cool anime traits that make them kind of awesome, anime awesome...

Tiger and Bunny's Fire Emblem

The epitome of lean, refined muscle and an inferno of firepower. The perfect shounen hero, except that he would rather choose between Tiger or Bunny than any of the other characters in the show. At first, he seems very flamboyant almost like the poster child for the gay Afro-character but as the show goes on he becomes a true hero. That's because in addition to being on a show for heroes he is actually fearless, cares for, and protects the weak. Check out a cool AMV with Fire Emblem right below, it's from our own studio and youtube channel.

MM!'s Mio Isurugi

Mio comes off as a girly girl and she is. But psychologically, Mio is a dom and can never actually be a girly girl. She'd rather have a stereotypically male role than a female role, which makes her different, sort of like she can walk both sides of the street. Through the show, she unlocks her peer's inner hentai or variation from the norms of attraction. Just by being around her, one guy came out of the closet and the other main character, the male lead Taro Sado, was able to express his own masochistic desires to the max. Making Mio Isurugi and the Taro a compatible match, but not the straightforward average heterosexual pair.

One Piece's Emporio Ivankov

The Okama Kingdom in One Piece, is a social community of LGBTQ located in one of the lower levels of Impel Down, the most deadly prison in One Piece. Impel Down is famous of destroying the hopes and dreams of the toughest pirates and criminals. It has levels dedicated to subzero temperatures and some levels dedicated to arctic temperatures, others to bloodthirsty monsters. However, the Okama Kingdom, headed by Imperio Ivankov (pictured above) is a flourishing social community with all the amenities of home, in a hidden corner of the expansive prison. The only price to be there is that Ivankov will change your body to the gender you're not comfortable with or take ten years off your life span with his injection power. Ivankov himself or herself, can change genders at will.

Otaku Talk by RPGHero

Why do otaku love animals, cute characters, stylish clothing, sweet foods, and cool accessories?

Animals are naturally cute and cool. They have marble-like eyes that see very well and they're really comfortable and reliable as friends. If they let you lean on them or be their resting companion, you will gain a familiar for life. That, and their personality is always unique. Us otaku love and cherish our unique personalities as positive and creative forces in the Universe.

Why would a cute character be appealing to a grown man or... to the average otaku? Usually Otaku ARE NOT grown men. Most strong guys always say, "I wish I could be an otaku for life" if they were an actual otaku before they grew up... Cherish your days to watch anime, it's pretty cool in the anime world!

Who would say that they actually like anime?  POV --> Otaku.

???

Cute characters are the main characters, or they would be cuter still as villains. Villians make the cutest cute characters, right? :D

 Not chibi, because any character can be turned into a chibi with little or no effort from a skilled manga artist. Chibi means a very short pudgy rep of a usually different character in an anime. Villians are not chibi when you first meet them and that goes for any main character. 

That and girl anime characters are NOT chibi but can be drawn into a chibi mode! :O

And a cute character is a idealist model of the chibi style but usually as the star of the show and main character for*ever.

If you're not a cute character, you might be a minion, or even one of the Strawhat pirates but not Luffy. Sorry about the random One Piece reference, characteristic of RPGhero the blogger!

Style is key to shoujo life! Matching colors and being the best possible individual is the goal of life and anime, right? Some anime characters don't have fashion sense but they have a unique style, usually they're shounen chars. But shoujo anime have such style and fashion sense that no shounen anime could match...


Boys and girl's characters alike in shoujo are always dressed to impress, even in the most unusual of plot-lines.

Shounen is stylish too, the clothing is unique. And remember, the key here never leave home without a smile. Most shounen heroes smile no matter what is happening to them in the present moment. They know they're gonna win!

Maybe the Tensai Shoujo Girl and the Ultimate Shounen Hero have a chance to finally take over the real world.