Anime-Gataris Dubbed Review

Anime fans another dubbed show has finished airing and this is one that I hope gets a season 2 because of how good it is and it's also a show where I watched the first episode subbed before the dub was announced but i'm choosing to review the dub because I forgot about the show when the subtitles were out.

So then the plot of the show is the anime centers on Minoa Asagaya, a new high school student in Sakaneko Private High School. Despite being a novice to anime Minoa's classmate Arisu Kamiigusa invites her to make an "anime research club" at school. Through conversations with her classmate Miko Kouenji, as well as various anime-loving upperclassmen Minoa gradually gets hooked on anime. While they stand against the student council's continuous efforts to disband their club and they ignore the impending end of the world they talk about anime whether in Akiba or in real-life "sacred place" anime settings or the hot springs. Now i don't know if you noticed it or not but the plot summery mentions something about the end of the world and that's where things get insane i'm not even sure if i can tell you what happens or not but the show's worth it just for the final episodes alone.

The dub was done by Funimation and it stars Alison Viktorin as Arisu Kamiigusa , Dawn M. Bennett as Minoa Asagaya ,Elizabeth Maxwell as Miko Koenji ,Alejandro Saab as Kai Musashikai ,Brad Smeaton as Neko-sempai ,Cris George as Masato Gomon ,Felecia Angelle as Erika Aoyama ,J. Michael Tatum as Toru Ropponogi ,Jamie Marchi as Tsubaki Akabane ,Jeannie Tirado as Ayame Ozaki , Jordan Dash Cruz as Kouki "Aurora" Nakano , Kristen McGuire as Yui Obata ,Megan Shipman as Matsuri Toda , Trina Nishimura as Bei Bei Yang ,Katelyn Barr as Maya Asagaya , Kyle Phillips as Shugo Asagaya and finally Natalie Hoover as Ai Asagawa. I want you all to know that is every single listed actor on the show and as is to be expected from a Funimation dub the dub cast are actually really freaking good and all of the characters actually sound like how you think they would.

I have to say that even tho the series does get really meta near the end it kinda has that same meta humor all throughout the series and i think by taking that approach it allows them to explain anime better to non anime fans or people who don't watch anime that often all though i will say the references do get a bit much.

The actual production was handled by DMM Productions while Wao World handled the actual animation and given that Wao have worked on things such as Accel World , Beezelbub , Btoom and many many many many more I have to say that for their first time being in charge of the animation they did a really good job on all the shows i've just mentioned they were either doing in between stuff or 2nd Key Animation work so it's nice to see that when they have the chance to really prove them selfs in the industry that they can actually step up and do a good job.

Also regarding the story the show is for the most part pretty self contained apart from episode 8 on wards where you need to have seen the previous episodes to fully get whats going on but it's still interesting enough to keep you coming back for more.

Now as you might have guessed by the title or the plot summery the show is all about anime fans and i like the fact that the show actually does a good job of painting anime fans in a positive light since if this show was made America all of the main cast would be cast as the typical loser. In this show however we get to see what die hard anime fans enjoy doing like visiting locations from shows they watch or staying up late to watch the latest episode heck there's even an entire episode about anime conventions.

I touched on it briefly in my last point but I want to go into more detail here because again if this show was made in the west in would have all the cast be the same typical loser / nerd / geek character and that would be it but in this show however it goes almost out of it's way to give the main cast their own personalities Minoa is the newbie who just wants to fit in, Arisu is the rich girl who at first thinks money will solve everything on the other side of that coin we have Miko is a light novel reader who's not afraid to tell Arisu of , Erika is the groups leader and like Kai can give an impassioned speech when called upon now i'm not going to mention Nakano because of spoilers but even he has some character.

The opening theme is done Garnidelia and is called Aikotoba and I have to say that I actually really do like the opening theme for me it sets the mood for the series perfectly it's a fun little number but what i found most interesting is who's performing the ending theme GATALIS who consist of the Japanese voice actors for Minao , Miko and Arisu all do the ending and that was something i never knew.

Overall i'd say that this show was an underrated and hidden gem and it's worth checking out and if you want to get someone into anime this is the perfect series for me the show gets a solid 7.5 out of 10.

   

  

Trolls: The Beat Goes On! Review

Trolls fans last year we had the christmas short film and now we have the Netflix series so let's see if this show is going to make you burst out into song or will it turn you into a burgen? lets find out in my review of Trolls: The Beat Goes On!.

The show basically follows the Trolls as they experience everyday life in the Troll Village. yeah as you can tell by the synopsis this show is episodic so there's no real story to speak of and for something like Trolls that actually works what doesn't work is the fact that each episode is two eleven minuet segments instead of just one half hour segment which i think would have been better.

Out of all the cast members from the film the only one who was brought back was Ron Funches as Cooper and he's ok in the show for the rest of the characters we have Skylar Astin as Branch , Amanda Leighton as Poppy , Sam Lerner as King Gristle , Fryda Wolff as DJ Suki, Satin and Chenille and Kari Wahlgren as Bridget. The new cast do an ok job i say ok because in my eyes the films cast suit the characters alot more then the ones in the show so i have to wonder why they didn't just get back the cast from film since those are the voices that audiences are most used to those voices?.

Now for some reason Netflix chose to release only twelve episodes for this first season even tho well over 50 segments were ordered and what's even more confusing is that season 2 will only have twenty episodes so i have to ask where are the rest of the segments coming from it might be a case of doing maths (which i'm terrible at so the episodes in total might reach 50) this is nothing against the series just something that really confused me.

  

I thought that the animation wouldn't be that good and while it can be fairly bad just because it's not going to look as good as the film. For the most part the animation is pretty good and as you can see by the above images it's not CGI it's done in 2D animation and i can see why they would do that since it's cheaper then doing it in CGI and rather shockingly i'm ok with that since for me the Trolls film was like a cartoon anyway so having done in this style makes me happy.

Something that really shocked me was the fact that this show is actually pretty funny i wasn't expecting this show to be as funny as it was no joke there was alot of times during these first six episodes where i laughed out loud yes the jokes aren't clever but sometimes you don't want or need clever jokes you just want to laugh but i will have to say this show does have fart jokes.

Another thing that this show has going for it is the songs for once they don't just do covers they have original songs and alot of them are actually really catchy for me the best song on the show is the opening number which is called Hair In The Air which is a nice little catchy number that really gets you in the mood for the show.

Overall this is a pretty good show for little kids but i think that if your a fan of the first film then you might like this show as well for me it gets a 5.5 out of 10.

Some Cartoons that Are Based Of Movies

Honestly guys the title of this post pretty much says it all there's really nothing more i could add to it but i will say that i found out about alot of strange shows while doing research for this so here we go.

Little Shop (The Little Shop Of Horrors 1960 Film)

Yeah remember when i said i found out about a lot of strange shows this is one of those shows i mean why would want to produce a show for kids of a black comedy where people die it makes little to know sense but clearly someone thought it was a good idea.

Return to the Planet of the Apes

I didn't mention what this show is based of because it's in the name of the show but i do have to admit unlike Little Shop this one does at least interesting it's meant to be more based of the original novel then it is the long running film franchise but at the same time it kinda looks like Jonny Quest to me.

RoboCop: Alpha Commando

I have to state that there was also another Robocop animated series but that one was in the 80's this one came out in the late 90's but this show apparently had even less in common with the original films so chances are it's kid friendly which makes me ask the question why would they turn a violent and gory action film into a kids cartoon? this really does make no sense at all.

Extreme Ghostbusters

I'm choosing this one over The Real Ghostbusters just because that show is so well known where as alot of people either don't know about this one or like my self forgot all about it. I have to say that people gave the reboot of Ghostbusters alot of hell for having an all female team well Extreme Ghostbusters was the first to do it because they had a female on their team.

Pink Panther and Pals

Again i don't need to say what film this show was based on as it's right in the title but this show took the lame approach and made it about a teenaged Pink Panther and his pals and The Pink Panther is the only character from the movies to appear and he wasn't even the star of the movies.

The Mummy: The Animated Series

Out of all the shows i've mentioned this and Extreme Ghostbusters are the only one's i've watched and their also the shows i've forgotten about just based of Wikipedia i can say that this film is set after The Mummy Returns (the last good mummy movie) but before the dreadful third movie and for the most part it does have all the characters their but voiced by different actors.

Black Lightning "Pilot" Review

Well then guys a new DC show is here so let's find out if it's any good or if it's destined to fail harder then Justice League and since this is only the pilot episode there will not be a rating.

The basic plot of the episode is Jefferson Pierce aka retired superhero Black Lightning must come out of retirement to save his daughters from members of The 100 gang (no that's not the name for fans of The CW's The 100). I admit i'm glad that they didn't do the origin story for the pilot episode it would have been so easy just to tell that story for the pilot so i give the show credit for doing something fresh and different.

The episode stars Cress Williams , China Anne McClain , Nafessa Williams , Christine Adams , Marvin "Krondon" Jones III , Damon Gupton and James Remar. For a pilot episode the acting was pretty decent i wasn't really expecting the acting or the chemistry to be any good since it's a pilot so the chemistry won't be there right away but i believed all of these actors in these roles and i will say that China's acting has improved since her days on A.N.T Farm.

Damn the suit looks good i havn't read the Black Lightning comics but damn does that suit look good in live action it has a very metallic look to it and it kinda reminds me of the suits from the first Power Rangers movie in that respect and i like the fact that it has two bolts of lightning on either side that just looks so freaking cool.

The special effects so far aren't the show's strong suit there not bad but they look fake i get that this is a pilot episode so i'm not expecting better effects until at least season 2 (this is The CW we all know it will get picked up) i really was better effects from the team behind The Flash.

If your a fan of the arrowverse i'm sorry to say but for now this show is not apart of that world this is something the producers have been saying and it's something that people in charge of The CW have been saying also this show films in Atlanta, Georgia and the other shows film in Canada but that doesn't mean that the show can't become apart of the arrowverse like Supergirl did in season 2.

Overall this was a decent pilot episode it's not as good as the pilot for The Flash but it's still better then most pilots and i'm not commenting on the action just because there really wasn't that much but i will say that based on the ending i like where this show is going and i highly recommend you check it out if you get the chance plus i don't really like the theme song used in this episode.

The Gifted Season / Series 1 Review

Guys if you recall in October of last year i did a review of the pilot episode of The Gifted well now that series 1 has ended i thought now is a good time to do review on the series as a whole so here we go.

The plot of the show is two ordinary parents take their family on the run from the government when they discover that their children have mutant abilities and join an underground community of mutants who have to fight to survive. I have to admit even tho this is the plot for the whole show it's also the most accurate way to describe it and show does a good job with the whole family aspect but it also doesn't over do it with that same aspect.

This show stars Stephen Moyer , Amy Acker , Sean Teale , Natalie Alyn Lind , Percy Hynes White , Coby Bell , Jamie Chung , Blair Redford and Emma Dumont. Whoever was in charge of casting this show well done you deserve a rise because this show is so well cast it's really strange to find a show where every character is cast perfectly and it helps that all of the actors do a fantastic job portraying their characters and you won't believe me when i tell you how old Jamie Chung actually is because she really doesn't look it.

For a drama the show really doesn't have that much drama in it but when it does it's done really well and in all honesty i'm glad that there really isn't that much drama in the show because you already get alot of drama just from the characters being mutants so you don't really need to see drama within the family or with the people their working with.

I have to admit for a superhero show the effects are actually pretty decent there not movie good nor are they The Flash good but they are really decent effects and they are most certainly better then a certain other marvel show which i refuse to name because of how bad it is but it rhymes with imhumans.

With this being a superhero show i was expecting alot of fight scenes and there rather shockingly isn't that many but there is a lot of action scenes tho and for me at least the action was pretty hit and miss it's not bad but there's very little to verity so in the end they all just blend into one.

The absolute most praise has to go to the writing this show is so well written i wasn't expecting this show to have great writing but by the end of the first episode is was surprised by the amount of actual effort then went into the writing. There is one complaint tho and that's the pacing of most episodes can sometimes be all other the place and i can see people becoming bored because of that heck i myself was getting bored during the first half of the finale.

Overall series 1 was freaking fantastic and i cannot believe Fox waited as long as they did to pick the show up but either way i'm glad we're getting a second season / series and as you can tell by the picture there will be a review of the Black Lightning pilot but as for The Gifted series / season 1 i give it a 9.5 out of 10.

Some Thoughts About Hot Streets

Hey there animation fans i don't really talk about Adult Swim shows and there's a reason for that and that reason is i only watch two Adult Swim shows (Robot Chicken and Rick And Morty) but i thought i'd give you some brief thoughts on there new show Hot Streets.

I'm only two episodes in but i can tell that the series is episodic so it doesn't have an overall story but the basic set up is Mark Branski (J.D. Ryznar) is an FBI agent along with his partner Donald French (Scott Chernoff).The two collaborate with Branski's niece Jen (Chelsea Kane) and her cowardly talking dog Chubbie Webbers (Justin Roiland) to investigate paranormal phenomena. It doesn't sound like the kinda thing i'd usually watch but the premise is really interesting and it offers alot of room for creativity.

As you can see the cast includes J.D. Ryzner , Scott Chernoff , Baby Daddy's Chelsea Kane and Rick and Morty co-creator and star Justin Roiland and i do have to say that so far the acting is pretty good i'm only two episodes in so i can't really say if the acting is the best thing about the show or not but from what i've seen the acting is really solid.

I have to say that in the pilot episode there was a lot of gore and i truly do mean alot so if you don't like that kinda of thing then you might want to avoid this series since it looks like it might be taking the violence to Mr.Pickles levels of violence but it is balanced out with some funny comedy.

I don't know if you can tell by the above image or not but the art style i found to be really weird at the start but it was something that i did get used to by the end of the pilot from what i've seen so far the animation does look to be really good again i can't say if that's true or not for the rest of the show but just based of the first two episodes the animation is solid.

Overall i'd say if you like weird shows then check this one out and as you can tell by the above image it's produced by Stoopid Monkey which means it has alot of the same funny guys who work on Robot Chicken and that includes Seth Green and Matthew Senreich as producers there will not a rating for this show as i'm only two episodes i might do a full review later on down the line tho.

My Brief Thoughts on Violet Evergarden

Anime fans you should know that i don't usually make this kind of post after a single episode but i just got through watching the subbed version of Violet Evergarden episode 1 and i have to talk about it so i'm going to.

I have to mention that i had no clue what this series was about all i new about it was it had the fantasy tag and the drama tag but even i wasn't as prepared for the amount of pure emotion in this single episode in every other scene you will feel some sort of emotion and nine times out of ten it will include tears.

Since this is an anime and they usually take a lot longer to tell there stories i can't really explain what the story is and that's a good thing in this case because it want to go on the journey with these characters i want to go through what there going through and feel what they feel. I know it's way to early to say this but i think this show is the best anime of winter 2018 i really do and it will take something truly special to convince me otherwise.

Visually this film is a treat for the freaking eyes the animation was done by Kyoto Animation who also did the animation for my favorite anime film A Silent Voice and man oh man did they really bring it in this episode i don't know if the visuals or animation will be this good in the rest of the series but just based on this episode alone i can say well done Kyoto Animation. 

The music especially in the opening leading up to the title reveal was truly something to behold i've seen other shows that should have epic music but don't for some dumb reason or another but here the music and visuals all came together to create something truly stunning.

Yeah so those are my brief thoughts on the pilot episode don't expect a review for every episode because that won't be happening and i have to thank Netflix for releasing the dub just when i was downloading the subbed version so you have a choice you can watch this dubbed or you can watch it subbed or if your like me you'll watch both versions because this show is worth it.