Manga (And Also Anime) Monday

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Erased Review

Lucas, , Leave a comment

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! My spring break is over and I am ready to make the last sprint to summer vacation. Or I could quite possibly be in denial. Either way, this is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday! The place where we examine all of the anime and manga goodness. Today’s topic is a series originally written and illustrated by Kei Sanbe and adapted into an anime by A-1 Pictures. This anime may also very well be the best anime to debut in the Spring 2016 season. Today’s topic will be a review of the incredible anime Erased.

Erased 1

The plot of Erased fits nicely in the science-fiction, murder mystery genre. The story focuses on Satoru Fujinuma, a twenty-nine year old pizza delivery boy and struggling manga artist. He is incredibly cold and distant to those around him, specifically his co-worker Airi who develops a romantic internist in him, due to a trauma Satoru suffered in his childhood. When he was eleven, three children Satoru’s age were murdered, two of which Satoru feels like he could have easily prevented if only he had had a better relationship with them. Satoru’s childhood friend Yuuki, who was a young adult when Satoru was eleven, was wrongly convicted of these murders and, at the beginning of the story, is on death row. Satoru believes that he has put these events behind him, but he must confront them again when he is framed for his mother’s murder while she is visiting him. The trauma of this experience activates an ability that Satoru has kept hidden from his friends and family, Revival. This ability sends Satoru back in time to when he was eleven so that he can attempt to prevent the murder of his classmates, save his death row friend, and apprehend the real killer.

Erased 2

Yeah, this anime can be a bit complicated. Buuuuuuuut, that’s not really uncommon for time travel stories. Thankfully Erased does keep things pretty simple in terms of time travel mechanics and does a great job of explaining how things work and character motivations to the audience. However, Erased does have its weak points. As with most time travel stories, the actions of the main character seem a bit strange. I somewhat frequently found myself questioning Satoru’s actions and methods. Also, while this series does have some incredible animation at times, the character models felt off and lackluster at times.

Erased 3

These criticisms by no means ruin the series, though. Erased may very well be one of the best anime to come out this season and it completely deserves this praise. This twelve episode anime packed a ton of content into each and every episode, causing me to constantly reevaluate my opinion of many of the characters. I also found the film reel motif used to represent Satoru’s memory to not only be incredibly well animated, but also fantastically representative of how the pop culture obsessed main character would imagine the concept of memory. Also, with out giving away much of the plot, I found the narration switch at the end of the series to be just brilliant! I have never seen anything like that in the time travel genre, and I was both stunned and delighted by the transition.

All in all, Erased is a marvelous anime that deserves your attention if even the slightest bit of this review caught your eye.

Thank you so much for reading this post. If you enjoyed it please give it a like and leave a comment down below if you have anything to add, any questions, or if you hold a different opinion of this anime than my own. I promise I will respond to you. If you want to stay up to date with this blog, you can subscribe via email in the upper right tab. Alternatively, you can stay informed by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, or you can follow me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope you all have a great week, and be sure to visit 4B again on Wednesday for the next installment of Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Erased Review

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: All Work and No Cosplay, Makes Jack a Baka Onii-San

Lucas, , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! 4B is back and (hopefully) better than ever! Once again, I’m terribly sorry for the hiatus and hope these next few posts more than make it up to you. To kick off these redemption posts  (wow, that actually sounds kinda badass) here is an installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday. In these segments we explore the wide, wonderful, world of Japanese media and the culture around it. Today’s post is going to focus on the latter of those parts, by exploring the incredibly popular and impressive hobby/career/activity that is cosplay.

Cosplay 1

Cosplay, as it is defined in a brief google search, is “the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game, especially one from the Japanese genre of manga and anime.” This definition is actually pretty accurate. Cosplay is essentially super-mega-ultra-intense dress up. If that sounds like a mockery of the practice, it is by no means meant to be. Cosplay involves individuals handcrafting the extremely complex and often preposterous ensembles of fictional characters. This requires an incredible amount of time, energy, and skill; and it is no wonder that this activity has evolved into a greatly respected hobby or a professional career.

Cosplay 2

(Pictured above is cosplayer and internet personality Meg Turney.)

Cosplay has grown into the massive phenomenon that it is today, mostly due to the mentality behind the practice. Cosplay is, in a lot of ways, a labor of love.  Through cosplay, people connect more deeply with the character and story that they are bringing to life. Nobody would put the massive amount of work that is necessary, into this hobby if they did deeply appreciate the character they are representing. Each and every instance of cosplay can be taken as an expression of love for the character and work that they are embodying.

As cosplay’s popularity has grown exceptionally over the past decade or so, people have risen to fame due to the activity and can be considered the face of modern cosplay. These professional cosplaiers are masters of their craft and all but completely breakdown the barrier between fiction and reality. Some of these noteworthy figures aaaaaaaaaaare:

Cosplay 3

Jessica Nigri. Ms. Nigri is probably one of the most famous modern cosplayers, and for good reason. Not only does she make truly astounding costumes, but she also has a magnificent personality that makes her both lovable and admirable. I personally am a huge admirer of Ms. Nigri and her works and am grateful to her for the astonishing creations that she has crafted during her career.

Cosplay 4

Alodia Gosienfiao. Ms. Gosienfiao is perhaps one of the most famous and recognized cosplaiers in the world. Her works are incredibly impressive and she has been bringing cosplay to a wider audience since 2003. She has contributed more to the world of cosplay than perhaps any other, and will undoubtedly continue to make the practice even more respected in the future.

Cosplay 5

Sev. I had to include this DC area cosplay. With one of the simplest costumes ever constructed, this man  has generated a massive amount of interest in cosplay and will forever be an internet meme. Also, who among us would not want this Magicarp on our team?

That just about does it for this installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked it, please give it a like and if you leave a comment below I will be sure to reply to you. If you would like to keep up to date with this blog, you can subscribe via email in the upper right tab. Alternatively you can like the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or follow me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope you all have an awesome week and be sure to come back here on Wednesday for the next installment of Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: All Work and No Cosplay, Makes Jack a Baka Onii-San

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Sunshine Award!!!

Lucas, , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, the place where any and everything anime/manga related is examined and discussed with feverish vigor. Today’s post is going to be a little different, this is because I WAS NOMINATED FOR AN AWARD!!!! 😀  I have been nominated for the Sunshine Award by the awesome and fantastic krystallina, who is the operator of the very cool and informative Daiyamanga blog. She writes incredibly authoritative and eloquent manga reviews and recommendations that are a joy to read. I am beyond grateful to her for nominating me for this award and am more than happy to accept. Therefore, this post is mostly going to pertain to me going over the rules of the award and answering the questions proposed to me by krystallina.

Sunshine Award

The Rules:

If you have been nominated for The Sunshine Award and you choose to accept it, write a blog post about the Sunshine Award in which you:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.

2. Answer the questions from the person who nominated you.

3. Nominate a few other bloggers.

4. Write the same amount of questions for the bloggers you nominated.

5. Notify the bloggers on their blog.

6. Put the award button on your blog.

Pretty straight foreword, but still really fun.  :3  Now to answer some questions. BRING IT ON!

The Questions: 

1. If you could go to a host club or maid cafe from any anime or manga, which one would you go to and whom would you request?

If I could go to any host club or maid cafe from any anime or manga….I’m honestly not sure where I would go. I haven’t seen to many anime or read to many manga that feature either of those very prominently. However, if I can cheat a little bit, I would love to go to Anteiku or :re from Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul: re, respectfully. I know that neither of those places are technically a made cafe, but they do serve coffee! Also I would not be opposed to seeing Touka in a maid uniform. Or Hinami. Or Kaneki. Probably getting my ass on all three of those, though. WORTH IT!

2. Which anime or manga character would you NOT want to be?

I desperately would not want to be Saitama from One Punch Man. While it is super awesome that he can kill anything with a single punch and the story of how he got to that level is crazy inspiring, I do not think I could handle the amount of depression and apathy that he deals with daily. I love Saitama and I adore One Punch Man, and I feel a part of my love is due to me being able to relate to Saitama so much. I know first hand how it feels to slowly have something you used to love doing become tedious and mundane and I hope to never get to Saitama’s point of being unfulfilled.

3. If you could talk to any one person that is in the anime, manga, or video game industry, whom would you pick and why? (Assume you could bring a translator if necessary.)

If I could talk to any person in the video game industry it would easily be the creator of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, Hideo Kojima. I would probably spend the entire time thanking Mr. Kojima for the marvelous works he has created. I cannot understate how much Mr. Kojima’s creations have influenced me and how grateful I am to him for everything he has done.

Nominations and Their Questions: 

I am incredibly sorry, but I do not really know of any blogs or writers to nominate.  D:  I have not been doing this for very long and I have done basically zero networking. I would love to meet other people who are doing this and, if that happens, I would gladly nominate them this award. Actually, if you are interested in starting what could some day turn into a rapport, please leave a comment or a like and I’d love to get in touch.

Since my lack of connections pretty much limits my ability to do the remaining rules, I think that is where I’m going to end this installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday. Once again, thank you so much for nominating me krystallina. If you ever want to do anything collaborative or just talk about wonderful world of manga, I would be completely down for that. As always, if you enjoyed this post, please leave a like or a comment down below. If you would like to stay up to date with this blog, you can subscribe in the upper right tab via your email. Alternatively, you can stay up to date by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope all of you guys have a great rest of the week and be sure to come back here on Wednesday for the next installment of Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Sunshine Award!!!

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Naruto, Naru-toppled

Lucas, , , 10 Comments

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty bitchin’, and now I’m eager to start my week and make the absolute most out of it. And what is a better way to start the week than by examining an abused, almost corpse like state of a once great anime so that future shows can learn from its incredibly obvious mistakes. What fun! 😀  Here’s how Nartuto became shitty and how other anime can avoid this happening to them in the future.

Naruto 1

Even if you do not watch anime, you have probably heard of Nartuo. It is arguably the most popular shonen anime globally right now, and, in many ways,  is anime’s lowest common denominator. It was created by Masashi Kishimoto and plot revolves around the titular character, Naruto, as he attempts to becomes the strongest ninja in his village and overcome the demon fox sealed within him. The show became popular globally due to a main character having an appearance that could be identified with in the west, fights and plot lines that continuously grew in complexity and scope, and a universally appreciated message of never giving up and trying to achieve your dreams. Naruto’s popularity really cannot be understated. This program introduced a lot of people into anime and is at least partially responsible for anime becoming more popular in the west in recent years.

Despite everything good that Nartuo has done, both as a show and for the anime industry as a whole, there is no denying that it is inexcusably bad today. Like, REALLY bad. Like, the most recent episode got a 0.8/5 stars on Anime News Network bad. I believe that the cause for the show’s massive decline is threefold: the plot took a weird turn, the people behind the show got greedy, and there is an overabundance of filler.

Naruto 2

The plot of Naruto is fairly straight foreword, until it gets to the last boss fight; then it gets weird. The anime is just now depicting this part of the story, when it’s not showing filler, however, I have read the now complete manga (partly because I’m a weeb and partly because my internet struggles with playing videos) and have had a good while to ponder the ending. Without spoiling too much for perspective readers, Naruto ends with the reader and characters finding out that the person they though was the main antagonist was actually being manipulated by previously unmentioned even more evil character and the protagonists have to beat this new character up. This ending left a sour taste in my moth both because Naruto pulled this narrative twist a couple times earlier in the series, to much better effect, and because the new mastermind evil character really is not well developed nor is her motivation made very clear.

Poor endings for a series can be forgiven, though. Now that I think about it a bit, for a series that is a popular as Naruto there really was no possible way for any ending not to upset at least a small portion of the fandom. However, what cannot be forgiven is the way this series has continued to be milked for profit ever since it became popular. The Naruto franchise is never going to die, which is impressive in some ways and concerning in others. Now that the manga has ended and the anime will be ending in the near future, it would make sense that content regarding the series would stop being released, at least for a while. That is not happening, however. A movie about events that take place after the end of the series has been released, a string of Naruto video games is set to be released in the near future, and the anime is going to be extended for as long as feasibly possible via filler episodes. Normally this would be a good thing, the more Naruto the better, right? However, the quality of this extra material is severely below even the lowest points in the cannon and really only brings the franchise down while simultaneously making money for the owners of it.

Naruto 3

My last criticism of the Naruto anime is easily its most sever. The anime has far too much filler. Filler is the term used to refer to additional content and episodes used to extend an anime’s run and, usually, give the series’s creator more time to continue the manga so that the anime does not move past what it is being adapted from. Naruto is notorious for its extensive amount of filler as, during the series’s halfway point, it had nearly caught up entirely with the original manga. This resulted in dozens of filler episodes being created and the series being re-branded in its second half. Now that the manga has ended, the show theoretically has no more need for filler as it cannot move past the ending point. However, filler continue to air in a very poor attempt at extending the shows run and making more money. I honestly cannot describe here awful and annoying it is to watch a series I used to love be slowly ruined each week by poorly written extra and unnecessary episodes that contribute noting to the series overall.

Naruto was a good anime. There is no way it could have become as popular as what it is if it was not. However, it has since become a shell of its former self. What was previously a boiled down version of some of the best elements of anime has now become a combination of some of the worst practices in the industry right now. Naruto will always be respected by me for what it was originally and for sparking a lot of new interest in anime, but it has since then betrayed me far to many times for me to fell much beyond contempt for it. So, in short, Naruto is the “Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all” of anime, and that’s kind of a bummer.

That just about does it for today’s installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday. If you enjoyed it please give it a like and if you disagree with my views please leave a comment down below and we can have a civil discussion about it. Or a flame war. I’m game for whatever 😛 . If you would like to stay up to date with this blog, you can subscribe to it in the upper right tab by using your email. Alternatively, you can keep up to date by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope you all have a great rest of the week and be sure to come back on Wednesday for the next installment of Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Naruto, Naru-toppled

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: A-Bridge-d to Hell

LucasLeave a comment

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, the place where we dive head first into the wonderful, diverse, and sometimes scary world of anime and manga. Today, rather than talk about an anime (although technically it’s an OVA, but that’s a whole other post in and of itself), this post will focus on an Abridged series that is parodying an anime. While the previous time I wrote about an Abridged anime series, which can be read right here, it was under the Pop Culture Wednesday section, I believe that western parodies of animated series can easily belong in either of these two headings. Alright, with that out of the way, let’s get into Team Four Star’s Hellsing Ultimate Abridged.

Hellsing Ultimate Abridged 1

Hellsing Ultimate Abridged parodies a story about an immortal vampire, Alucard, that is tasked by the family that defeated him a hundred years ago to defeat a evil organization known as Millennium, that turns out to be an army of vampire Nazis. Already off to a great start! The best way I can describe this show is by comparing it to the amazing television program Archer. Alucard is a lot like Archer, if Archer were actually immortal, even more sexually promiscuous, and an even greater violent sociopath. As seen below:

Of course the parody also manages to improve up other aspects of the show besides the main character, as well. The villains have been greatly expanded upon in this series and are arguably made even more terrifying. I am both genuinely disturbed and entertained by the leader of the Nazi army, The Major. This is especially true in the follow scene:

I honestly cannot recommend this series highly enough. It is simply fantastic and it deserves to be watch by all who have an internet connection. My only gripe about the program is that only one episode of it is released per year. We have been promised the sixth episode by the end of January, though! That’ll be fun! I know that this post is incrediably short, but really nothing more needs to be said than the Team Four Star people have created another excellent abridged series and that you should definitely watch it. Even if you have never seen Hellsing Ultimate or have no clue what’s going on, you need to watch this series. Here’s the first episode, enjoy!

That will just about do it for this weeks installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday. If you enjoyed it please leave a comment down below and maybe a comment if you are so inclined. If you want to stay up to date with the 4B blog, you can subscribe using your email in the upper right tab. Alternatively, you can stay up to date by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope you all have an amazing week and be sure to come back here Wednesday for the next installment of Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: A-Bridge-d to Hell

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Anime for All Ages

LucasLeave a comment

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, there place where our appreciation for anime and manga is strong enough to pierce the heavens! Total disclosure, that’s a quote from an anime I have yet to actually watch, so I may have just broken a rule by saying that. But, yeah know, that’s how I roll. Today’s post is going to be dedicated to explaining how exactly anime became a medium that is considered view able for all ages, while western animation and cartoons are generally considered to be exclusively for younger audiences.

pokemon anime meme

The explanation for this phenomenon can actually be boiled down to two simple features: money and circumstance. Anime did not become an all ages medium due to anything really culturally related or due to any specific campaigns; it became such a diverse medium because when anime first started to be produced, it was profitable for many anime to be made for different demographics of people. Allow me to explain.

Anime first began to take shape as we recognize it today in the 1930s. This anime was heavily influenced by the incredibly famous animation of the Walt Disney studio. With the exception of a few cultural tells, this early anime is almost indistinguishable from the western Disney animation.

early anime

early anime 2\

However, early anime production companies quickly realized that they would not be able to make anime that was as high in quality as Disney’s and still be cost effective. This resulted in a shift in focus in Japanese anime, where the narrative of a work was focused on more and placed in a higher regard than the work’s animation. Then the Great Depression happened. While the Great Depression is generally taught as being an event that really only heavily impacted the United States, the implications of the massive economic decline were worldwide. Japan suffered from this depression as well and, seeing as animation was a rapidly growing industry at the time, many young men looking for work ventured into the anime industry as a means to support their family.

Then World War II happened. I’m not going to sugar coat it, anime got a little bit propaganda-y during this time frame. Actually, now that I think about it, everything kinda did, which I suppose makes sense. Anyway, after Japan loss the war (Go Team USA!) anime and other creative works were pretty heavily censored and it was very frowned upon to release any creative works that criticized or depicted government officials or any real world figures or events.

This is when anime started to become so thematically diverse. The combination of an incredible number of working age individuals with animation skills and the restrictions of not being able make anything too closely related to the real world pushed anime into exploring more varied and high concept story lines and themes. It was during this time period that anime was first being created for such a wide assortment of age groups. Anime with factious story lines were created for multiple demographics simply because there were to many creators to just focus on younger audiences and because creative restrictions at the time gave anime produces to explore more adult tones and themes.

There you have it. Anime exists as it does today because of a wide combination of events that forced the medium to repeatedly reshape its identity. This makes anime both a kind of medium and a genre as it is so thematically varied and has such a massive audience. It is through all of these events that today we have Shonen anime, Seinen anime, Shojo anime, Josei anime, Kodomomuke anime, and pornographic anime. Yeah, that last one is actually a thing and merits a whole other post (although don’t hold your breath on it). The point is, anyone today can watch and enjoy an anime mostly because there many different kinds of anime intended for many different kinds of people and it it were not for several different events lining up the way they did, anime today would be very different from what we all know and love.

anime meme 1

I hope you all liked today’s post about anime’s history. If you enjoyed it, please leave a like and a comment down below. If you would like to stay up to date with this blog, you can subscribe to it in the upper right tab by using your email. You can also stay informed by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope all of you have an amazing week and that you stop back here on Wednesday for the next installment of Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Anime for All Ages

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: How to be Better

LucasLeave a comment

Happy Monday BaddaBing Baddablog readers! This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, the place where anything relating to the uber popular Japanese media is discussed, analyzed, and critiqued with vigor and enthusiasm. Since today’s subject is a fairly lofty one, let’s dive right in.

I have a friend, yes it’s Andy again (damn you Andy!), who refuses  on principle to watch any kind of anime. No matter what I recommend or how much the plot of the series would resonate with him, he blatantly refuses to watch any of it. To this date the only anime or anime related media I have gotten him to watch is Attack on Titan and the Team Four Star parody of Dragon Ball Z. Every time I do bring an anime to his attention, and he refuses to experience something that would bring entertainment and momentary happiness to his otherwise listless existence, he always talks shit about anime collectively. Most of the time he’s talking out of his ass, but occasionally he does make a criticism that is fair and could be considered a problem or weak point of the medium.

Anime collage

In today’s post I am going to address what I believe to be some of the biggest issues and problem in the anime industry. I suppose this could be thought of as an open letter to both the creators of anime and viewers of the media, but I’m personally viewing this post as an expression of my individual feelings in an attempt to help me better understand and formulate my opinions. If I express an opinion that is counter to your’s, good. Leave a comment down below and we can begin a civil discussion with the intent of improving both of our viewpoints. Or have a flame war, whichever. With all that in mind, here’s why anime sucks and how it can not!

Have an Ending!!!

A lot of anime really do not have anything even closely resembling an ending. Far too often have I seen an anime end without answering all of its main story points, showing some definitive growth in a character, or even finishing its current story arc! It’s more than obvious why this is happening, by leaving an ambiguous ending the creators of the anime increase the likelihood of it getting a second season, which gives them the potential to make a lot more money. This unfortunate trend has become even more prevalent recently as the production and distribution of anime has become much more standardized; with a new series today usually having either twelve or twenty four episodes. When an animation staff attempts to adopt a, usually ongoing, work to an anime, which as previously discussed is usually the case, it is easy to chop the adaptation off on a cliff hanger or after an arbitrary story arc in the hopes of continuing the series in a second season. This practice needs to stop mostly because it is incredibly annoying and frustrating to fans and because it has the potential to ruin an otherwise great series.

Stop Being Dicks to Animators!

It’s one of the worst kept secrets in anime that people who actually create the product that potentially millions of people love and appreciate, are treated incredibly poorly. The animators and artists are expected to make extremely high quality work as cheaply as quickly as possible. This leads to a lot of production companies cycling out older employees for younger ones who are willing to work longer hours and for less pay. When all is said and done, a lot of animators in the anime industry wind up putting in a bunch of overtime and walk away with what then becomes a little more than a minimum wage salary.  This needs to stop and, while the ramifications of this may be larger than expected, production companies simply need to pay their employees more.

Utilize the Medium

This criticism is admittedly somewhat nitpicky. One of Andy’s frequent criticisms of anime is that it often has too much internal monolog from the characters. I actually somewhat agree with him in this complaint. While monologs from a characters are a practical way to establish what they character is feeling or deliver exposition, it is often jarring to see a character completely still and holding the same expression for minutes at a time. This practice is most likely a relic of anime being adapted from manga, where it characters are drawn definitively in a black and white panel. Anime has a lot more tools to work with in motion, color, and sound. While the adaption could be considered less faithful, I personally think it would be beneficial to anime as a whole if monologs were used less frequently to deliver information and perspective to the viewer.

Enough With The Filler!!!

This is my last and also biggest criticism with the anime industry. There is far too much filler in series that have managed to break the twelve or twenty four episode restriction. Filler is any additional content or storylines that did not exist in the original manga from which a series was adapted. Filler can take the shape of a single episode that focuses on a specific character or group of characters, or it can take the form of an entire multi episode story arc. Filler is generally used to extend the gap between where the manga is in the story and where an anime is in the story, as an anime can tell a story more quickly and it often catches up to the source material. Filler can also be used, and has lately been mostly used, as a kind of cash grab. By extending a series beyond what it reasonably should be, it is much easier to continue to sell merchandise for the series and even sell the extra episodes in a DVD or digital download format. The anime that is most guilty of doing this in recent memory is Naruto, which often has more filler episodes in a year than episodes that actually move the story along. This practice in excess is incredibly insulting to both the fans of a program and its source material, this needs to stop immediately.

Alright, I apologize if that got a bit ranty, but I really needed to get that off of my chest. Thank you so much for reading this and please feel free to leave a like or a comment down below. I hope you all have a great week and be sure to come back here on Wednesday for the next installment of Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

 

 

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: How to be Better

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Sword Art Online Retrospective

Lucas, , Leave a comment

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, the place where we talk about every and anything about anime and manga. Today’s article is going to focus on an anime that dominated the anime industry once upon a time only to be dethroned by Attack on Titan (which will soon be dethroned by One Punch Man, probably, hopefully), I’m speaking of course, about Sword Art Online.

sword art online

Sword Art Online, usually shortened to SAO, was originally a light novel series written by Reki Kawahara. It was announced in 2011 that the series would be getting an anime, and once the SAO anime released in 2012, the series popularity exploded. Sword Art Online is easily one of the most popular anime in recent memory. I would find it surprising if someone who has been an anime fan for more than two years has not at least seen at least a portion of this program. Right now you’re probably asking “well how did this series get so popular?”. Well, if you’d calm down for a second I’ll tell you.

The short answer is that, SAO got so popular because of quality animation and playing to lowest common denominators. The long answer is, also that, but slightly more complicated. SAO follows the story of Kirito, a loner nerd, who becomes trapped inside of a virtual reality video game, Sword Art Online (*wink*), and the only chance he and the rest of the players trapped in the game have of escaping is if they beat all one hundred of the game’s bosses. This is a fairly interesting set up, even though it most definitely been done before, and arguably done better by other stories. Sword Art Online’s popularity stems from its collection of characters and their interactions. You see, the narrative I just described more or less ends after the first twelve episodes and what kept viewers coming back for the remaining twelve in the first season and the entirety of the second season, was a love for the characters.

sword art online 2

The characters were easy to support and love because they are more or less the embodiment of tropes of the anime genre. The previously mentioned protagonist, Kirito, is intentionally a somewhat bland character so that audiences can more easily project themselves onto him. Asuna, Kirito’s main love interest, is the epitome of anime waifu material. Klein, Kirito’s best friend, is an extremely hapless beta-male who just want’s to contribute to the group, but always winds up falling just a little big short of Kirito himself. These tropes go on for a while and none of the characters ever become too complex. Oh, I almost forgot, literally every female character has a crush on Kirito. This even applies to Kirito’s cousin, despite the fact that the two were raised as brother and sister for the majority of their lives. So yeah, very anime.

This series would later be dethroned by Attack on Titan, but for about a year and a half SAO was the anime that everybody was watching. Convention halls were filled with SAO cosplay and anime forums were filled with SAO discussions and fan art. The thing is though, out of all of the Sword Art Online discussions I’ve heard and all the posts I’ve read, I have only found a handful of people who say that SAO is their favorite anime. Lot’s of people LIKE this program, but only a few LOVE it. Sword Art Online does not try to be groundbreaking or totally original, rather it combines the best aspects of the various genres of anime and the most famous anime series to make a new show. This, by in large, has worked incredibly well for the show and I can only imagine how much the people behind it have made from it.

sword art online 3

If you are new to anime, I would recommend watching Sword Art Online. Is it the best anime ever and entirely worthy of its fame, not really. However, it is more or less a microcosm of what is great about anime in general has a massive fan base that is more than ready to talk about it. I personally glad I decided to watch Sword Art Online a few years ago. At the very least, I understand a few thousand memes more now than what I did before I viewed it.

Alright guys, that just about does it for this week’s installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday. If you enjoyed it please give it a like and leave a comment down below. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking on the upper right tab and entering in you email. You can also stay up to date by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope you all have a great week and be sure to come back here on Wednesday for the next installment of Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Manga (And Also Anime) Monday: Sword Art Online Retrospective