Happy hump day BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! Just like every other Wednesday (except for the ones where I’m too lazy or unfortunate to post something) we’re going to be talking about one of the many facets in the pop culture world. Today, I’m going to be reviewing season 2 of the critically acclaimed television series Rick and Morty (although you probably figured that out from the title……)

The first thing that comes to mind when I ponder over this latest season of R&M is that it was much darker than the first season, which is a pretty impressive feat. Season 1 had a pedophile Jellybean king, a genie-esk being that existed to only fulfill a singular purpose and then die, and this scene:

So how could season 2 possibly get any darker than this? By trusting the audience to take what’s happening on face value. In season 2 the main characters are no long shocked (for the most part) by the crazy, unpredictable world around them. They are now struggling (and for the most part failing) to maintain their sense of self within this way to big universe. This allows the writers to tell stories that focus on more basic human concepts like trying to maintain innocence,  fighting to have a construct of what’s right and wrong, and dealing with depression or insecurity. The story lines that focused on these ideas were some of the best in the series, but he trade of is that the audience no longer has a character that they can 100 percent support or experience the show vicariously though. I personally am fine with this because, after the events of the first season, I am completely ready to buy into whatever extremely high concept idea the show throws at me.

Like this one:

Rick and Morty becoming darker by no means makes it less funny, though. I laughed just as hard if not more so at this set of ten episode than what I did at the eleven episodes from a year and a half ago. So, in terms of comedy, I would say that season 1 and 2 are about even. However, I do feel that season 2 as a whole was better than the first because it dared to be darken than the first season, all of the main characters were fleshed out, and there was some genuine character growth the was very sparse in the first season.

I would dive further into these points, but that might spoil parts of the season and I do not want to give you any excuse not to watch this season. If you haven’t watched season 1 of Rick and Morty, you have no excuses at this point. All of season 1 is up for free on YouTube, and its like fifteen bucks to get all of season 2. Seriously, this show is freakin’ amazing and Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the creators, are geniuses.

(Because you guys are worth it here are a couple clips that I feel show off how great season 2 was. Enjoy and be sure to go and watch the full episodes.)

That’s probably enough gushing for one week. If you enjoyed this post (or if you are awesome and enjoy Rick and Morty in general) pleas give this post a like and leave a comment down below. As always you can subscribe to this blog via email in the upper right tab. Also, in case you’re new to the internet, Facebook exists and BaddaBing Baddablog has a page there. Please go check it out and give it a like, its like the best thing on Facebook, trust me. Just click on this link. Also Twitter is pretty cool, go and check me out over there. I’m @LucasDeRuyer. You guys be sure to have a great rest of the week and be sure to stop back on Friday for News for the Mighty, News of the Week.

Waba-lubba-dub-dub

(BaddaBing, BaddaBye)

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, the place where we explore the sometimes scary, usually enticing world of Japanese media. Let’s light this candle!

It is no secret that I am a massive fan of the incredible and super popular manga One Punch Man. So I was ecstatic when I discovered that an anime adaptation was in the works. Apparently either gods or demons do exist and one of the answered my prayers, because the Once Punch Man anime premiered yesterday and……………it was crazy good. I think the opening does a solid job demonstrating exactly how good it is, but also accurately depicting the quality  of the animation.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, One Punch Man is a manga and (know to my joy) an anime about a man who decided to become a hero to fight monster that plague his society. He trained so hard that all of his hair fell out, but was able to become strong enough to be a hero. The only problem is that he over did it. He is now so strong that he can defeat even the strongest of enemies with a single punch. The story follows this main, Saitama, as he tries to find meaning in his life and meets other individuals who are heroes.

Yeah, it’s pretty great. Besides a great concept, the anime did a great job bring this series to light in practice. The animation is stunning and perfectly matches the art style from the manga. I would post some comparison images, but because the anime is so new there are not a lot of screen captures of it yet. Regardless, the fight scenes look amazing and I applaud Mad House, the studio responsible for the animation, for their great work on the series. the voice acting cast has also done an excellent job matching the bizarre characters present in the series.

In short, check this series out. It’s filled with bizarre, compelling characters and a plot that is as original as it is entertaining. I fully believe that this series is going to rise to the level of fame of other recent anime hits like Sword Art Online and Attack on Titan. Check it out using any of the links below.

One Punch Man on Hulu

One Punch Man on Viz Media

If you enjoyed this post please be sure to give it a like and leave a comment down below. Also, please subscribe via email using the upper right tab. It would also be amazeballs if you like the official BaddaBing Baddablog Facebook Page and followed me on Twitter. I’m @Lucas DeRuyter. Have a great Monday and an even better week. See you on Wednesday for the next installment of Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing BaddaBye

Happy Saturday people of the internet. This is Game Grind, the place where we dive into the vast and mysterious world of video games. Today I’m going to be raving about the game that has taken up way to much of my life lately.

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows 

The latest free DLC for Shovel Knight takes everything that worked in the original game and makes it even more awesome. The game play is faster, the attacks and play style are more customizable, and the characters are even more lovable. Not only does this game stand well on its own, it improves the original game by expanding the Shovel Knight universe and adding more depth to the already bizarre characters.

The main character of this DLC is Plague Knight, a fan favorite boss from the original game. He’s on a quest to create the ultimate potion. To do this he needs to steal the essences of all of the bosses from the original game and the titular Shovel Knight. I’m not quite finished with the game yet, but what exactly the ultimate potion does is never really explained to the player. It is pretty much a mcguffin, but it is not to hard to figure out exactly what the potion is probably going to do.

Helping Plague Knight on his quest is Mona, a minor character from the original game that is also an alchemist. It is pretty clear that these two characters have some chemistry (haha PUN) but it seems like both of them are too unsure of themselves to act on their feelings. Fleshing out the cast is the romantic Hoarse-man Percy, the doting and infatuated Magicist, the weird musically inclined sewer mutant Oolong, and Baz, the derpy guy who’s just trying to fit in.

What I love most about this game is how much it changes while also holding on to the core principles of the original game. Playing the same level as Plague Knight that I played as Shovel Knight, allows me to use my previously gained experience, but also poses new challenges do to how different the playable character is. I also really enjoy how different characters interact with Plague Knight when juxtaposed to how they acted around Shovel Knight. For example, as Plague Knight the guard in the first town I visited would not let me into the town. Which, yeah, that makes total sense. Of course a guard would not let an evil alchemist in a bird mask into his town. Oh, also, you can make Plague Knight dance, which is just……freakin adorable, man.

In short, if you own Shovel Knight, play this new game. If you do not own Shovel Knight, get on that. Then, when your done playing that game, play this DLC. I’ve sincerely enjoyed this game and I imagine that most other people would too.

Alright, that does it for this week’s installment of Game Grind. If you enjoyed this post be sure to like it and leave a comment down below. If you feel so inclined, you can subscribe to BaddaBing BaddaBlog via email in the upper right tab. I would also greatly appreciate it if you liked the official Facebook Page, and followed me on Twitter. I’m @LucasDeRuyter. Have a great Saturday and be sure to come back here tomorrow for Politics, Politalks.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Friday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is News for the Mighty, News of the Week! The place where you can learn everything you need to know to seem informed and knowledgeable to your friends and family when you see them over the weekend. Here we go!

Damn It  Call of Duty

The video game franchise Call of Duty is undoubtedly, if not regrettably, one of the biggest and most popular franchises in the video game industry. They have a new game coming out in 2016, Call of Duty: Black Ops. 3. In order to advertise and get people excited for this new entry into the series, the Call of Duty twitter account changed their profile to make it seem as though it were a news outlet and “reported” that a terrorist attack had occurred in Singapore. A few hours later, they changed their account back so that it obviously represented the Call of Duty franchise and tweeted that those tweets were potential glimpses into the future where Black Ops. 3 takes place.

I’m not going to harp too much on this issue, because that’s what Call of Duty wants. They want this to be a controversial advertisement so that they get a bunch of free word of mouth advertising. In order to prevent this I’ll only say the following: not cool Call of Duty. I can tolerate you guys being on the top of the video game market, but don’t be oblivious dicks about it. Thanks to you discourse regarding video games is reverting back to that of the 90s and you are almost single handedly making people like Jack Tompson relevant again. Great job *slow clap*.

Oregon Community College Shooting 

Yesterday at Oregon Umpqua community college a man killed seven individuals with a firearm and wounded seven others. The shooter was confronted by police and was killed by them. There are several rumors circulating currently regarding the shooting, with the most prevalent ones being that the shooter was encouraged by individuals on social media websites to commit the atrocity and that the shooter specifically targeted Christians. I desperately hope that those that were wounded are able to make a complete recovery and I give my complete support and condolences to the families who lost loved ones.

This is the second mass shooting in only a few months and I beg politicians and lawmakers to reform our country’s firearm laws.

Click here for more information on this story.

That just about does it for this week’s News for the Mighty, News of the Week. Sorry, I know it was kind of a bummer, but that’s life sometime. I’ll try to make tomorrows post a little lighter. As always, you can subscribe in the upper right tab via email and be sure to check out the 4B Facebook Page, and my twitter account, @LucasDeRuyter. Have a great weekend everybody.

BaddaBing BaddaBye

Happy Wednesday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Pop Culture Wednesday, the place where all things relating to and affecting western media are discussed. I still can’t believe I haven’t thought of a better name for this segment yet……ah well, this works I think. You know what I haven’t talked enough about on here?

Comics! And today I’m going to fix that. But for the sake of time, convenience, and me not having to come up with more ideas for things to talk about here, today’s post is only going to focus on non-superhero comics. You can expect that comic book goodness in the coming weeks, but today this article is going to focus on the equally super, maybe even equally heroic, but less superhero IPs in the comic book industry.

Steve Lichman

This is a web comic that I just discovered yesterday thanks to the wonderful people over at Kotaku. The basic premise of this web comic is that the monsters that roam the halls of the dungeons found in dungeons and dragons have personalities and struggles similar to those individuals who play dungeons and dragons. Seriously, even if you giggled just a little bit at the panels posted above, head over to the author’s, Dave Rapoza, website and check it out. Steve Lichman is crazy good and insanely funny.

Click Here to Head to the Steve Lichman Website!!!

Sex Criminals 

Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky is an awesome weird, funny, perverted, social commentary. The basic premise of this comic is that when the main female lead, Suzie, and the main male lead, John, have sex, time stops. Like literally. They use this god like power of theirs to commit various kinds of mischief and rob banks so they can prevent Suzie’s library from being foreclosed on. Despite enough dick jokes to make a sixth grader die of laughter (actually make that due to) Sex Criminals tells a compelling story and critiques aspects of our society that deal with sex, mental illness, and social stigma. It’s phenomenal.

Archie 

Having first appeared in 1939, Archie Andrews is one of the oldest comic book characters in western media. This latest version is the combination of two of the biggest names in comics right now, Mark Waid and Fiona Staples (yeah, those are there actual names, I think comic book creators are required to have badass names). This new version has all of the same characters from the previous iterations of the series, but are now updated to fit a more modern audience. This reboot also seems to be tackling more serious issues like loneliness and what it means to be happy, as well. I personally really enjoy the narrative Waid and Staples have created in the first two issues and I think the art style is fantastic. It’s like four bucks to buy a digital copy of this comic, do yourself a favor and check it out.

That just about does it for Pop Culture Wednesday everybody. I hope you enjoyed it…….and I also hope that you express that joy by liking the post and leaving a comment down below. You can also express the unrelenting happiness you are now experiencing by liking the BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, or by following me on Twitter. I’m @LucasDeRuyter. Also, as always, you can subscribe to this blog via email, in the upper right tab. Have a great hump day everybody and be sure to come back on Friday for News for the Mighty, News of the Week.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Sunday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Politics, Politalks the placer where everything political is examined and discussed. As always, any views or opinions I express here are solely my own and should not be viewed as a representation of any other organization I may be, previously was, or currently am affiliated with. With that out of the way, here we go!!!

This week the Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, announced that he will be resigning from his position in October.This announcement came shortly after the Pope delivered a speech to congress and also privately spoke with Boehner. I personally believe that the Pope convinced Boehner to resign out, but that’s just me speculating.

John Boehner, as a very public political figure with more power than the average politician, was of course a figure of controversy. He was fairly criticized by the left, but was appreciated by the right. However, he fell out of favor with the extreme conservatives who are becoming a larger part of the Republican party. In fact, when Rep. Boehner announced his intent to resign, he sited the recent difficulty in trying to pass a government funding bill as a primary cause. Many very conservative Republicans refused to sign any funding bill that allotted any funds to planned parenthood and were willing to shut down the government if their demands were not met.

As Rep. Boehner is on the precipice of stepping down,  many are speculating who his replacement will be. Many people believe that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California will be elected to fill the role. Rep. McCarthy’s views more closely fall in between the positions taken by many conservatives and extreme conservatives that comprise the Republican party. Rep. McCarthy has previously pledged to not pass any legislation that raises taxes in an effort to combat climate change and has taken a hard line stance against abortion. While Rep. Boehner could by no means be called a “middle of the road politician” this is even less applicable to Rep. McCarthy.

Alright, that just about raps up this weeks installment of Politics, Politalks. As always please leave a comment down below and give this post a like. You can also subscribe to this to 4B via the tab in the right corner. Enjoy your Sunday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Saturday freaks and geeks! This is Game Grind the place where we dive into the many different aspects of the video game industry. So buckle up, strap on your Nintendo Power Glove, and get ready for some pixelated knowledge.

I’ve talked Mobile games a few times in this segment before. I usually refer to them derogatorily and say that I will elaborate on my views of them at a future time. Well, welcome to the future! Today I’m going to describe exactly why I dislike mobile games and why I think they are bad for the industry. Mobile games are bad for gaming because they are poorly regulated, have a poor business model, and because a majority of them are just awful games.

Mobile games really do not have to meet any form of quality or industry standard. This could potentially be a good thing creativity as it could allow developers to make games about subject matter that has a difficult time finding its way into mainstream gaming platforms. But instead people make mobile games about Kim Kardashian.

Yeah, I think I’ve made my point on this one.

You have probably heard of the term “freemium” in reference to mobile games before. Freemium means that a game is free to play, with the option to spend money to do things like level up your character faster, give you more power ups, or skip levels all together. You know how you could enter the konami code into Contra and that would give you thirty lives? Freemium is basically exactly like that, except you would have to put an extra five dollars into the machine. This money making strategy in itself is not terrible, but more and more games are being released that practically require players to spend money in the game to get any progress. Moreover, same games even target individuals with addictive personalities so that they pay even more money toward the game, similar to how the alcohol industry makes most of its money from alcoholics. See the South Park episode “Fremium Isn’t Free” for more information on this deplorable practice.

The last point in my argument is easily the most subjective. While I do believe that the quality of mobile games is worse than that of other platforms, I will admit to having played and enjoyed several mobile games. The series that first comes to mind is the tower defense series “Kingdom Rush”. However, aside from a few gems, I truly believer that many mobile games are of a poor quality. This most likely stems from the fact that literally anyone can make a game and, so long as it does not blatantly violate copyright laws or terms of service, can upload it to an app store. This should mean that the video game industry is becoming more inclusive and open, but what is happening in actuality is that a lot of sub-par games are being made.

In short, I think that mobile gaming is very much in its infancy right now. There is a lot of potential there, but it’s not going to grow anywhere until it grows up a little. In order to do this, some form of regulations should be added to the mobile gaming industry to prevent people from performing poor business practices and from blatantly ripping off other properties. However, the biggest change that needs to be made in the mobile gaming world, is that people need to stop playing bad games. If everyone stops playing and spending money on crappy freemium games, the industry is going to change and progress much more quickly.

That just about raps up my rant/explanation of mobile games. I made some pretty controversial claims and if you have any strong feelings about them go ahead and leave a comment down below. While you’re there you could also like this post and perhaps even subscribe via email in the tab in the upper right corner of this page. You can also follow the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page for regular updates or my Twitter account, which is @LucasDeRuyter. I hope you enjoyed this post and be sure to stop by tomorrow for Politics, Politalks; we’ll be talking about John Boehner resigning and what that could mean for the immediate and long term future. See you then.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Friday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is News for the Mighty, News of the Week, the recurring segment where everything you need to know going into the weekend is served to you on a sterling silver platter. This weekend, while you’re getting turnt and deciding if you should hit on that good lookin guy/gal across the room (you totally should dude), you can impress her/him with some topical information. Here is some of that information.

AIDS Pill Price Gouge 

So we can all agree that capitalism is a reasonably good system, right? Alright, now that all the hippies are gone I’ll continue. However, capitalism works best when there a government is involved in the business world and creates regulations and also prevents some of the negative aspects of capitalism from becoming too detrimental. Okay, now that the conservative hippies are gone, I’ll go on with the news story.

Former hedge fund manager, Martin Shkreli, recently purchased a drug company that produces several medical products, including the drug Daraprim. This drug is taken by AIDS patents, pregnant women, and cancer treatment patients in order to combat temporary food diseases that they may develop do to the strain put on their bodies. Before Shkreli bought the company that makes Daraprim, it cost $13.50 a pill. After he bought the company it was raised to $750 a pill. Martin Shkreli raised the price of a drug that prevents AIDS victims, pregnant women, and cancer patients from dying by 5,000 percent. This has generated enormous outcry from…..well pretty much from anybody with an internet connection. Since this price gouge, Shkreli has said that the price raise was intended to take money away from insurance companies and that he will give the pills to people who do not have insurance and still need the medication. He has also said that he intends to lower the price in the near future.

However, if I’ve learned anything about money, it is that none of what he says matters unless it is in a legally binding document. What has happened here is one of the worst thing that can happen in a capitalistic society. I generally try to keep things on this blog clean and avoid saying overly derogatory things about specific individuals, but Martin Shkreli is a fucking asshole.

Click here for more information on this douche.

Volkswagen 

It was discovered this week that Volkswagen cars have been using devices that prevent testing devices from detecting the amount of toxic emissions coming from diesel vehicles. Once this cover-up was discovered, it was reveled that some Volkswagen cars and trucks were expelling 10 to 40 times the legal amount of pollutants. While there have not been any recalls made yet, several models of vehicles will no longer be sold. In response to this, Volkswagen’s stock has plummeted and it seems like this may change the diesel car industry as we know it.

More on Volkswagen right here.

John Boehner Steps Down

Today John Boehner has announced that he will step down from his role as speaker of the House of Representatives. I’ll unpack more of what this means in the long term for American politics in Sunday’s installment of Politics, Politalks, but for know I’ll just report what and why this happened. Boehner stepping down is a huge surprise and will allow the Republican controlled house to elect a new Speaker. It seems as though the reason for Boehner stepping down is that he is no longer able to lead his increasingly fractured Republican party. The most recent example of this is when Boehner attempted to create a solution to fund the federal government for the rest of the year. However, a large number of conservatives refused to vote in affirmation of any bill that did not defend planned parenthood. While I personally am not the biggest supporter of John Boehner, it is still a shame to see a politician resign due to the increasing radicalization of a political party.

More on John Boehner’s stepping down right here.

That is just about everything you need to know to fake your way through a conversation this weekend. As always, if you enjoyed reading this be sure to like it and leave a comment down below. You can also subscribe via email in the tab on the upper-right part of this page. You should probably also like the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, and my, @LucasDeRuyter, twitter page. Enjoy your Friday and be sure to come back here tomorrow for the next installment of Game Grind.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Good morning and happy Wednesday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Pop Culture Wednesday, the place where all aspects (at least the ones I can think of) of western media are examined! Except for video games, that’s kinda Saturday’s schtick. I no longer feel as though the Reaper has me in a one handed Darth Vader choke of death, so I’m ready to give this post my A game.

So I’m in college for a Political Science and Communications double major. As part of getting the Comm. degree, I have to take at least one course in the Radio, TV, and Film track of the Communications program. I’m in that class now and yesterday we talked about everything that is wrong with modern media. As I sat in that class and listened to the professor talk for nearly an hour about how creativity is slowly dying under the current media formats, how people are putting making money over making art, and how the industry is currently an oligarchy and is slowly lumbering toward a monopoly; I could not help but agree with her.

There is no doubt that, from a creative standpoint, the television and film industries are not doing well at all. However, I believe that they are far from apocalyptic and that some incredible works of art have come out of the current system. By no means do these few jems totally redeem or save the current media landscape, but at the very least they prove that quality, original media still exists.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Rick and Morty is my jam! This program manages to be both nihilistic and heartwarming while also guaranteeing to make the viewer laugh and cringe. Is the show completely original, yes and no. While the show’s tone and wackiness do feel fresh and unique, it’s background comes from parody and its plots are usually just a more realistic spin on common science fiction tropes. While it is debatable whether or not Rick and Morty is origional, even though I would persist that it is, it is undeniable that the show is a work of art of the highest caliber.

There are people out there, both hipster and non-hipster, that will tell you that the music industry is infested with sellouts and insincerity. They say that every popular or successful musician or group only got there by pandering to the lowest common denominator and adopting a persona designed to make them at least infamous. These people also preach that the only “real” music left is on the Indy. scene. To which I usually reply “Have you heard of goddamn Gorillaz!??” Seriously, this group of cartoon characters has managed to find mainstream success an remain consistently popular, despite the handicap of not actually being real. I don’t even know how the guys behind this have even been able to keep the lights on, as the modern music industry relies mostly on live performances for revenue and it is extremely difficult and expensive for Gorillaz to do that. This band and the guys behind it are awesome and they prove that you can be successful in any industry without compromising your artistic integrity.

I tried talking about this movie before, but half my work got deleted so that post was cancelled. So instead I’ll talk about Mad Max: Fury Road now. This movie should not be good. This movie should not even have been made! Even Hollywood executives, whose end goal is solely to make money, are starting to realize that rebooting and remaking popular or semi-popular franchises is not the best idea. Nearly all of these rebooted movies suck. 99 out of 100 of them are mediocre (like this post of you get the reference) to bad. Mad Max: Fury Road, however, is that 1 in 100 rebooted movie that is actually good. Actually that’s an understatement, this movie is a masterpiece that will forever echo throughout both cinematic and human history. I know that it is impossible for any work of art to be perfect, but Fury Road gets as close to perfection as what is possible. I have to get around to writing a post dedicated to this movie because it deserves at least 800 words singing its praises. In short, yes it is a squeal, yes it is a reboot, it is a lot of things that are bad about Hollywood right now, but it is also one of the best movies to be made in a long time.

So, yes, there are totally a lot of major problems plaguing media today. But, that does not mean that there are not scores of good things happening in media as well. It is man’s inherent nature to focus on something’s poor qualities because that is how they get addressed, corrected, and becomes better. However, that does not mean the positives of the current media industry should not be addressed as well. If we only focus on the negative all of the time, eventually people are going to become so disenchanted that we give up on fixing those problems and they are left to fester and grow. You need to take the time to appreciate the good things, this is true both when it comes to media and in life.

Alright, that about does it or this weeks installment of Pop Culture Wednesday. If you enjoyed reading be sure to like the post and leave a comment down below. If you would like to subscribe to BaddaBing BaddaBlog, you can do so via email in the right-side drop-down tab. You can also follow the 4B Facebook Page, and follow me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. Have a kickass Humpday and be sure to come back Friday for News for the Mighty, News of the Week.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, the place where we dive into the compelling world of manga and anime. Sorry about missing the post yesterday, I got swamped unexpectedly. I’m gunna make up for it today though! Here we go!!!

It goes almost without saying that, from a western standpoint, anime and manga can seem pretty weird. Actually it may even seem weird from an objective standpoint, if that’s even possible. That weirdness can be incredibly good, but also make some things more difficult. Let’s get the bad stuff out of way first.

Anime’s weirdness stems from the fact that Japan’s culture and society developed with minimal influence from the outside world. This is due to Japan have many natural barriers that prevent the distribution of culture. Therefore, Japanese media are grounded in a culture that has had almost no outside influence and is incredibly unique. However, this means that the humor and sensibilities of Japanese entertainment is geared towards a very specific audience. This makes it harder for media like anime and manga to translate and appeal to a more global audience.

However, this situation also has some beneficial qualities. By coming from a very unique culture, manga and anime have the ability to express that specific and interesting culture. Anime and manga also are refreshing in that they do not typically fall into the many tropes and common themes that western storytelling does. That’s not to say anime and manga does not have cliches, but they are different than the ones westerns are used to.

Alright guys, that about does it. I know this post is on the shorter side, but I’m a bit under the weather so please give me a pass. Have a great start to the week and I’ll try to get it together for Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye