About Captain Planet

Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug is a cool guy who reviews bad comics. I really enjoy his video segment on That Guy With the Glasses, "Atop the Fourth Wall", and recommend y'all check him out.

Anyway, he reviewed a Captain Planet comic...



...which started me reflecting on the show it was based on. This post is adapted from my comment on his video.

I liked Captain Planet and the Planeteers when I was a kid, though I'm fully aware of its flaws now. I guess I just liked anything with action and superheroes, plus the lessons it delivered were in line with my family's values - we were and are a bunch of blue-collar New England Democrats, and respect for the environment is something I believe in.

But the problem, as many people have said, is that Captain Planet slams you over the head with its message, appealing to cheap emotional responses, while getting half of it wrong. I'm basically a socialist, but I'm mature enough to realize that capitalist CEOs aren't mustache-twirling villains - they're human beings just like me, and more often than not believe that they're doing right.

If you want to see what a good environmentalist story looks like, watch Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. The proto-capitalist "antagonist" has noble motives and actually helps people in her own way by giving them employment and shelter. The conflict between her and the nature-worshiping protagonists (who can be seen as eco-terrorists) is far from cut-and-dry. Even the nature spirits themselves are not "good" - they're dangerous, alien creatures who can be downright monstrous.

On a less serious note, I always felt sorry for Ma-Ti, the Planeteers' fifth wheel. Everyone always gets down on him for having a stupid ability. What kind of dumb power is Heart, anyway? But when I think about it, he'd potentially be the most powerful of all the Planeteers. I mean, his powers include clairvoyance, telepathy, and mind control. Just think what he could do if he had the imagination - and the ruthlessness - to use that power to its full potential!

If I were writing Captain Planet? I'd set it 15 years in the future, where Ma-Ti has gotten fed up with being the butt monkey of the team. He's become an extremist and used his ring to become a Communist dictator, controlling the hearts and minds of the masses. The other Planeteers struggle against their former friend, but they dare not summon Captain Planet, for without Heart to guide him, the planet's avatar has become a mindless force of destruction, nature's wrath incarnate.

That's what kind of dumb power Heart is!

Winter Anime Thoughts

Happy New Year, folks!

I'm not as into anime as I used to be. It's mostly a result of having less free time than I used to - I can barely keep up with comics now for the same reason and I've just dropped RPGs as a hobby. I also feel like my tastes have matured a bit, such that I need more than wicked sweet action to keep me entertained for more than five minutes. Even at the height of my interest, though, I never followed the anime "scene" and actively kept an eye on upcoming schedules. I did get sucked into a few series because of their popularity (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Ouran High School Host Club in particular) and ended up watching each episode as it came out, but I don't have the energy to do that nowadays.

That said, I'm looking forward to the coming anime season for the first time I can remember solely because of Axis Powers Hetalia, a webcomic-turned-anime that I was turned onto by chance on TV Tropes Wiki. In a nutshell, it's a series of gags about world history in the last 200-odd years starring various nations anthropomorphized as handsome young men, mostly revolving around the relationship between Germany and Italy, hence the title. It's potentially very offensive in how it skips over all the blood that's been spilled in the World Wars and other conflicts, not to mention the various national stereotypes, but that's mitigated by the fact that the author really knows his history and geopolitics and gives every country his fair share of ribbing. I'm a bit of a history buff so I'm sure I'll get quite a bit out of it, but for various reasons I can't get into the manga, so I'm hoping the anime will give me something to latch onto.

Anyway, I've also taken a look at the rest of the 2009 winter season, which is laid out in this image (which Photobucket has regrettably shrunk). The only things that particularly appeal to me are a remake of the underappreciated mid-90s superhero action anime Birdy the Mighty and a new season of The Slayers, the perennially popular fantasy comedy that's been going strong for nearly two decades. Nothing else jumps out at me as something I'd watch, but one show does stand out for just how utterly braindead its premise is:



That is quite possibly the stupidest idea for a TV show I have ever seen.

I can only wonder how the planning phase of this waste of ink went...

"Hmm. Who's our target demographic, again?"

"Sex-starved male shut-ins with no understanding of women whatsoever!"

"Gotcha. So we need a whole mess of gorgeous, submissive young girls who are inexplicably head-over-heels in love with a nerdy loser and an excuse to shove them all into a contrived romantic plot. What've you got?"

"Okay, so, like, the girls are all actually soda cans, and they need carbon dioxide to survive. And how do they get it? By kissing this guy. It's scientific!"

"Uh... pardon the pun, but are you sure they'll swallow that?"

"As long as we flash some panties every five minutes, they'll swallow anything!"

"...Give this man a raise."

You find some great stuff on DeviantART.

Gurren-Lantern by ~Panhandler on deviantART

Oh Fuck Yes.

It's a Rumic World

This one goes out to all the Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and Inu-Yasha fans out there:



Apparently this is a preview for an art exhibit titled "It's a Rumic World" that opened today celebrating the anime and manga of Rumiko Takahashi. I'm not as much of a fan as I used to be, but I still hold a soft spot in my heart for Ranma, Akane, Ryōga, and the rest, and it's a joy to see Ranma back in animation - and with his/her original voices to boot, not to mention crossing over with the other Takahashi all-stars.

Sailor Krypton

So is it just me, or is Superman basically every optimistic, idealistic anime girl heroine who Never Gives Up and Believes in the Power of Friendship rolled into one big muscley guy in a cape?



I think so.

More Caramelldansen

Okay, I know this fad has run its course, but I stumbled upon it late and haven't yet gotten tired of it, and dammit it's my blog my rules so whatever.

:)

Three different versions of the "Caramelldansen" video, all pretty well-done and elaborate:

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya:



The animation is kinda clunky, but I like how it follows the plot of the series.

Lupin the Third:



I have to give this one the highest mark on craftsmanship, not least because it's better-drawn than the cartoon it's based on!

And my favorite... Mobile Police Patlabor:



Dammit, I wish I had a scanner and the right software 'cause I really wanna create a DC Universe Caramelldansen video now...

Yikes!

Wow, my last post got linked to by a couple of blogs with larger readerships than mine (read: greater than 4) and attracted a heck of a lot of responses. I'm not used to that! I mean, I get that I have to expect that when I publish my own writing on a public blog, but man, it's overwhelming! I don't know how Ami or the DJ deal with it. Especially when the attention I attract is negative (correct, but negative), that's just not something I'm prepared for. Well, at least no one's called me names or threatened violence... yet.

Phew.

Well, I just wanted to get that out there.

Watch this video.



"Maybe I'm just imagining things, but you look like you're enjoying yourself."

*nod*

Now this is a crossover I can get behind!

This made me laugh out loud:



I guess you have to be versed in both mid-'90s TV cheese and late-night anime to really get it, but... well, Ed as Iolaus, that just cracks me up. XD

In Tennis, Love Means Nothing

Ridiculous over-the-top crap like this is why I love anime:



...what do you mean, it's not awesome?

~~~

Got nothing more to post, I'm afraid. Recent events have left me rather weary and uninspired. Hopefully back up to operating strength in the near future.

A Brief Status Update:

Currently Reading:
Booster Gold
Checkmate
Fullmetal Alchemist
Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
Justice Society of America
Lord Havoc and the Extremists (and I'm still not sure why)

Currently Watching:
Strawberry Panic!
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Reviews Currently Planned:
AIR
Lovely Complex
Lucky☆Star
Murder Princess

Books Currently Considering Reading:
Blue Beetle
The Brave and the Bold

Shows Currently Considering Watching:
Clannad
Kanon
Kanon 2006
Maria-sama ga Miteru
Neon Genesis Evangelion (for the second time)
Witchblade ('cause Thom says it's so bad it's good)

I'm Too Sexy For My Blog

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been kind of wrapped up with personal stuff at home and at school, and just haven't had the energy. Maybe now that things are warming up outside (I suspect I have mild SAD) I might find the energy to post something substantial in the near future.

But until then, enjoy this music video of clips from Ouran High School Host Club set to Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy."

Anime Reviews: Fushigi Yūgi (SPOILERS)

Okay. Enough with the videos and memes and whatnot. It's time again for a POS -- a Piece Of Sh--

Wait, no.

A Post Of Substance.

...

I think I need a new acronym.

ANYway, I've gotten back into anime lately, so I thought I'd try to put down my thoughts about several series I've been watching lately, if only as a writing exercize. I'll be doing this as a series of reviews (assuming I can keep focused enough to do so), starting with the first new show I viewed this year.



I finished Fushigi Yūgi last month, and I was underwhelmed. It's not easy to write about it since it's no longer fresh in my mind, but I'll try to summarize what I felt was wrong with it.

The thing that really stuck in my craw was the show's constant use of sexual violence as a plot point. The villain turns the heroine's friend against her by convincing the young woman that the heroine abandoned her and allowed her to be raped and he came to her rescue, making him the only person she could trust (in fact he killed her attackers before they could rape her). Later, the same villain has the heroine cornered, threatens her with rape, knocks her out, and tells her that he raped her while she was unconscious (in fact her ill-defined magical powers protected her and zapped him when he tried). After that, not one but two of the villain's henchmen attempt to rape her again! 'Cause only a virgin can use her powers of the ancient bird-god and yadda yadda save the world or something. Why the hell do the gods care about the state of a woman's hymen?

In the end, the only person who actually was raped was the villain himself, when he was a boy, which is apparently why he turned into such an evil bastard. Or something.

All this in a series created by a woman and aimed at teenage girls. Phew.

Another thing that really bothered me was the lack of character development for several of the lead characters. Right up at the end of the series, two of the heroine's companions give their lives to help her, but we in the audience have no reason to care because they'd only been there as background characters and had what felt like less than ten lines between their introductions and their deaths. In fact, all the villain's henchmen end up more developed characters than the heroes! It's shameful.

And the ending... well, without spoiling anything, while reasonably action-packed, it relied too heavily on hastily contrived deus ex machinas.

Finally, the heroine, Miaka, ended up grating on my nerves a great deal. Anime fans will recognize a certain kind of female protagonist: Ditzy, clumsy, gluttonous, and boy-crazy, yet imbued with a bizarre martyr complex and an inexplicable charisma that makes every young man she meets fall head over heels in love with her. She's simultaneously a Mary Sue and a reflection of all the negative character traits young girls hate about themselves (at least as the writers perceive it). It's wholly appropriate that Miaka is voiced by the same actress as Sailor Moon, if you know what I mean.

I don't mean to say that the whole series is garbage because it's not. The first half is well-done, and I liked and cared about most of the main characters a great deal. When two of them died (not the two mentioned above), I was genuinely moved by their sacrifice.

Also, despite being a vile wannabe-rapist, the fact that the villain was basically the Goblin King from Labyrinth scored some points in my book. (This plus the fact that the show's plot is lifted wholesale from The Neverending Story makes me think the creator watched a few too many fantasy flicks in the '80s.)

But none of that saves Fushigi Yūgi from winding up as a wholly mediocre viewing experience. I've read some of the other works by creator Yū Watase, and I can say that in my opinion her best work is done when she ditches the pretentions at writing a great epic and just sticks to what she knows: Wish-fulfillment fantasies about dorky girls surrounded by hot guys who inexplicably love them, nothing more, nothing less.

Next up: Lucky☆Star.

Two Things

First of all, I found this image chuckle-worthy. It's from the guy who does Nodwick, and is apparently from a t-shirt:

.

Secondly, from the man who brought you Macbeth 2: The Reckoning, Twelfth Night of Blood, and The Merry Werewolves of Windsor, the rock-'em-sock-'em actionfest of the season...

They Don't Make 'em Like This Anymore

I'm pretty busy with school starting and all, so I don't have the energy for a meaningful post. So I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy this vid of some classic mecha-vs.-mecha action from my favorite anime, Mobile Police Patlabor.



Man, those were the days, when all you needed was a giant robot and some fighting spirit...

And I'm totally crushing on Noa Izumi. Just saying. She's too cool, and cute to boot.

Answerman Saves the Day

I don't regularly read Anime News Network (I'm mainly a comics fan; anime is just a secondary obsession for me :P), but I was just looking up cast information on a series I'm currently following and happened to read this column while I was there.

While I understand the importance of being precise with your speech, honestly, "anime" just means "Japanese cartoons". People these days know what you mean when you say anime, but getting angry about people saying "Japanese cartoons" smacks of mindless elitism to me. The word "anime" does not imbue these things with some kind of foreign coolness, it's just an easy catch-all. It's the same with manga - there's really nothing wrong with calling them comics, or "Japanese comics" or whatever. Yeah, I guess it's "more correct" to say anime and manga but I often get the feeling when people "correct" you on this sort of thing, it's less about being precise or actually believing that the person saying "Japanese comics" doesn't know that they're "supposed" to say manga, it's more about being a bit pedantic and elitist.

Thank you, Answerman. Thank you. I loves me some anime and manga, but anyone who thinks that Sailor Moon is superior to Watchmen just by basis of its national origin is fooling themselves.

Also, Ron Paul is apparently the pro-anime candidate.

HAHAHAHAHA

Move Over, Chuck Norris!

I knew Captain Falcon from Super Smash Bros. was from an old video game called F-Zero, but I didn't know there was a cartoon based on it. Or how awesome the captain was. All I can say is...

With the fury of a thousand volcanoes...

With the might of a thousand battleships...

With the passion of a thousand dinosaurs...


FALCON PUNCH!!!

Fushigi Yūgi in 30 Seconds

"Tamahome!"

"MIAKA!!!"

"Tama...home..."

"Mi -- Mia...ka..."

"NURIKOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

"...Yui-chan..."

"Hotohori-sama?!"

"...Nakago."

"NORM!!!"

More gushing.

Seriously, Fushigi Yūgi is made of win and awesome. I just watched episode 33, and it had me crying for like 20 minutes because my favorite character died heroically... Maybe it's just the time of year or all the holiday stress, but I get really depressed around the holidays, and it just gave me a chance to blow off some pressure. A cathartic experience. Kudos to the show's creators.

Some brief fanboy gushing.

My sister let my borrow her VHS box set of Fushigi Yūgi (The Mysterious Play), and I've gotta say, it's somewhat awesome.



And it has an awesome theme song. Dig those guitar riffs! It's like one of those fantasy movies from the '80s with a cool rock soundtrack, like Legend or Labyrinth. It's just... awesome!

That is all.

Filby's Wish List

Well, it seems that my pay has been doubled. That means I'll be able to pay off next semester's tuition and driving school by the end of January! Woohoo!

So that got me thinking: Now that I have a singularly disposable income, I really need to come up with something to dispose it on. I don't plan on being a total spendthrift (I'm part Scottish, after all) so it'll be maybe one item per month (two tops), but still...

• Books: The Children of Húrin by J. R. R. Tolkien.
  
• DVD: Vol. 2-4 of Mobile Police Patlabor (I already have Vol. 1) plus the movies and straight-to-video series, the special edition of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (I have the whole series on my HD but it's good enough for me to want it in tangible form), various Studio Ghibli movies (Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, etc.).
  
• D&D: Hard copies of the 3.5-edition Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. Screw 4th Edition, I ain't playin' it.
  
• MtG: The complete Lorwyn and Morningtide sets. I practically never play but I'm in love with the art.
  
• Comics: Trade paperbacks of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps from 2005 to the present.
  
• Electronics: Personal computer, scanner, printer.
  
• Art supplies: More of 'em.
  
• Some kind of automosomething.

Can I get any more recommendations?