Shounen Hero Diaries pt 5: Speculation

That was so long ago, maybe before summer vacation. Those things really make you think. So I trained as hard as I could and entered a battle royal run by a self-proclaimed, "Circus-Villainy Act" that goes by the name, "Dissent". It seemed like some kind of joke and a fun summer wasted. Most of all of the candidates at the arena were either muscular golems or boyish kids my age, all guys.

They sneered at me and leered at me. The boys sneered and the muscle-heads kept looking at me funny like their necks were loose. I waved at them all.

Before the event opened we all had to go into a virtual sim and get our "specs" read. As soon as I put on the thing, I was in a fight with an alien. So I just used the buster whatever that "The Kiran" taught me and it was over... And then I was kicked out of the tournament, by the manager-dude.

"We can't have people here, like you, that can hurt my feelings" The manager said.

He was this really old guy, I think his name was Mr. Rane. But he gave me a copy of my specs data... and cried profusely.

The Hokage Selection Process

Leaf Hokage Tsunade

The main focus of the anime Naruto is the main character's dream to one day become Hokage of the Leaf Village. The Leaf Village is the capital of the Leaf Region in Naruto, as every region has a village capital. Then the Hokage is the supreme leader of that village and region in the Naruto world. But what a lot of fans sometimes forget is the actual selection process to become Hokage. This article is a refresher course on the Hokage selection process.

The first Leaf Hokage, Hashirama Senju

First of all, that the Hokage is the strongest in the village is true. It goes deeper than that though, since the Hokage has the best worldview and plan for action out of everyone in the village. That's what they call an ideology or a person's plan for life and action. There might be another ninja just as strong as the Hokage but with a different ideology and won't be chosen to become the next Hokage.

Almost Hokage blues :(

And actually the next candidates are selected by someone from another region, the fire region by the Fire Daimyo. Then the candidate has to be approved by a jonin vote of jonin from the Leaf Village. So the next hokage technically has to be known all over the land and be chosen by someone from another country!

Then the hokage has to be liked by everyone in the village. Or they could stage an uprising and go up against him or her. Truly, it's way more complicated than Naruto makes it seem when he boasts and proclaims that he will "BE THE HOKAGE ONE DAY!"

But I think its possible (I haven't made it that far in Shippuden).

Naruto has what it takes... Passion! 

Will Naruto make it to this day?

Still having the Almost Hokage Blues... :(

Birdy the Mighty: It's Obviously A Woman's World

Shounen Alert!

So far, Birdy the Mighty is the only action/adventure shounen anime that stars, a female lead. That means a female lead with power in spades and superhero-like strength. Let's recap, this might be the only shounen anime with a STRONG female lead. Strong enough to break your face! hahahaha

Why aren't there more shounen anime out there with female leads, like this one? All of the others are cult interests, like vampires or Halloween towns. Do all girls like vampires and Halloween? That's not the way... Or one day everyone will wake up and the female species... will be gone, presumably to Hogwarts or something. Or they'll be the new villains ..._(O.O)_... Aaaaaah NOooo!

But why not regular heriones???

As anime nerds, we already know that some girls are just regular shounen heroines. But there aren't enough themes and main characters to help a girl out. There should be a long list of shounen, not even "shounen", of action/adventure anime starring girls. Stereotypically, the word shounen refers to boys anime, kind of like the superhero cartoons of Japan. But, then why did you guys in Japan make this one? Just to fly in the face of your own conventions? Make more... Please?

Anime like Birdy the Mighty, show anime fans that it is possible. "Birdy" or her Earth codename, came to Earth from a distant planet to investigate powerful alien criminals that go to Earth to do bad stuff. As events unfold, a human boy gets in the way of a fight. The bad guy uses the boy as a body shield (bravery at its finest or is it typical cowardly bad guy behavior) and Birdy disintegrates him with a full body punch. So... the boy has to be revived on her planet and in the meantime Birdy has to share her body with him... As in, let him use it so he can keep going to school, have a social life, and get good grades. But she still fights aliens when he gets home from school.

Birdy is a typical shounen main character with all the shounen features. She's stubborn, optimistic, brave, impervious to evil, and loves a good challenge. She stands up for what's right in the face of danger and stronger enemies. Plus she can also think with such a hard head...

In fact, if she doesn't wear her superhero suit, she might be a tomboy. If I were a girl, she would be one of my favorite shounen/shoujo heroes and I would lament the anime industry for taking so long to get onto the bandwagon. 

In short, they need to make more strong female leads for anime. For otaku. For you and for me. For the world. For the FREAKING UNIVERSE!

You can catch Birdy the Mighty for free, streaming on Hulu.com

Modeling is her side job!

I always knew there were Otaku like me out there...

Gintama's Gender-Switch Arc Comes at a Conspicuous Time...

The new Gintama anime (Gintama 2015) has only been up for a few weeks now and it's already getting back into supplying everyone with unbiased laughs and action, with its usual political twist. Usually the anime makes various references to classic anime like Doraemon or Bleach. Then there's all the refs to Japanese stars and politicians. But Gintama cannot and will not stop there! They're looking at America's politics, sometimes...

In one of the newest arcs, all (well most) of the main characters had their genders switched by a group of "amanto" (aliens) that want to test the character's will to be their own gender.

Gintoki became a shorter and seemingly attractive twenty-something, girl. 

And then the girls changed genders too and were more menacing and ruthless than the guys!

Tsukuyo's character actually became a lot like Gintoki, but less pretentious and more playboyish as a man. Is he/she new toughest character?

Sogo Okita and Isao Kondou became attractive chicks, despite being weird for men.

I will not spoil the arc by talking about all of the details and you can watch it for free on Crunchyroll.com. But by the end of the three episode arc, Gintoki will once again say something that will change your perspective on gender and make you feel better, as his character always does.

And whenever you want to laugh or smile, just think about Kagura's male form XD

(Don't ask how she got really old!)

Cherry Tree High Comedy Club Review

 

This is a review of a new computer game called: Cherry Tree High Comedy Club!

Let me begin with my impressions of the Comedy Club. To me this game seemed almost like the Persona games, without any monster fighting. It's the most complete life simulation game there probably is out there, without sacrificing that Japanime style that we all love. 

 In the beginning, the main character Miley talks to her friend and rival Octavia. She talks about her determination to bring back a defunct Comedy Club that used to be at her school. This is the opening of the game and like most visual novels, the opening is very long. Don't let this deter you from playing the game lol.

Just like anime virtual life simulators, skills increase after you do enough of certain activities. Basically you can become any kind of person you want to be by practicing your favorite things.

That's not all, you can talk to a wide variety of people and get to know them better. There's even a slight chance that you can talk successfully about love :3

There are different places to go, the world is your oyster! At least the city!

This game is a great game to play if you're feeling bored. The main character is a girl, so it's probably going to appeal more to girls than to boys. But that shouldn't let boys get scared enough not to try it out. But for girls of all ages, I highly recommend this game. 

Get the game at the official website!

http://cherrytreehigh.com/