Let's Discuss: My Hero Academia Part 2

Recently I fell in love with a manga/anime series that many others have been captivated with for some time now. I'm of course talking about My Hero Academia. This super hero shonen series is taking the anime/manga medium by storm and it isn't hard to figure out why.

There are plenty of characters to grow attached to in My Hero Academia. The adorable Ochaco Uraraka, the overly serious Tenya Ida and of course, the silver age inspired All Might. But one character that I always find myself rooting for is none other than the central character, Izuku Mydoria, also known as Deku.

Adorkable, thy name is Deku.

It can be tough making a main character. There are a multitude of directions you can take that character's personality in. They can be overly nice to the point where the audience finds them annoying. On the other hand, the character can lean way too much into the jerk category to the point where everyone hates them. Deku with his plain, simple design is a great character. He's nice, very adorkable with his hero analysis, idiosyncratic muttering, and on-the-spot planning. Deku is so likable that it hurts.

In the world of X-Men and most American comic books, most of the population consists of average Joe citizens with no super powers. In other words, non powered beings are the majority with the power types taking up the minority. In My Hero Academia, the situation is reversed. 80% of the population have super powers known as quirks. Quirks and the super powered society is perfectly normal. Being a hero is something that is regularly talked about and encouraged. It almost sounds like an ideal world and a great place to exist in. You know, so long as you aren't part of the remaining 20% that is born quirkless, which Deku was very unfortunately born into.

Life is not kind to those born without a quirk.

We've all had the odds stacked against us at one point or another. Deku's dream since he was a child has been to become a hero. The world he lives in will not let someone that is quirkless be a hero. Yes, because he was not born like so many others, his hero dreams are dashed, at least they are at first. Deku does inherit All Might's One For All quirk, but he still struggles with it. Quirks manifest at the age of four so everyone else he knows has had years to adjust to their quirk. Deku didn't get his quirk until he was 15 so he's still got some mountains to climb. The fact that Deku still has a tough time even with a quirk keeps him from being just another character that is granted an awesome super power. Deku wrecks his body so many times that he risks losing the use of his arms. Deku's power grants him crazy strength, but that isn't what I want to talk about. I want to discuss Deku being quirkless and the rest of the 20%.

Deku is unique in that he has experienced life in the world of My Hero Academia on both sides of the track. He's slowly adjusting to his quirk because he's lived most of his life quirkless. My Hero Academia thus far hasn't dived too much into exploring the population that is quirkless but if Deku is any indication, life is not kind to one who is born without a quirk. The X-Men protect humanity but are feared by the very ones they set out to save because they are mutants, humans born with the powers. Deku was teased by childhood friend Bakugo and others for having trouble with simple tasks like skipping stones and such. When it became known in preschool that he was born quirkless, it went from teasing to straight up bullying.

Even those with less than stellar quirks are on a better playing field than one who is born quirkless. Bakugo was born with a really awesome quirk, Explosion. Bakugo was praised by his friends and teacher for having such a cool ability. Upon finding out that Deku is quirkless, Bakugo thinks to himself "Deku. He's... not awesome at all." Now while Bakugo is a huge A-hole who totally mistook an attempt Deku made to help him up when he fell down one time when they were children, viewing him as weak as he sees Deku, his thought process seems to set the tone of how the world views quriks. Meaning, a person's worth is determined whether they have a good quirk, a lousy quirk or no quirk at all.

The world of My Hero Academia seems to turn it's nose up to those that do not have a quirk, as if to view them as worthless just because they aren't part of the 80%. For crying out loud, the name Deku was given to Izuku by Bakugo as a means to put him down. The name has a meaning of "one who can't do anything." This name was used by Bakugo before it was known that Deku was quirkless. Once word got out that Deku did not have a quirk, Deku grew to hate that name even more. Deku was tormented by Bakugo from pre-school through middle school and like a bunch of stupid lemmings, Deku's classmates joined in on picking on him.

It is very much implied that Deku did not have any friends until he made it into UA. When Uraraka stops Deku from falling before taking the entrance exam, she briefly chats it up with him before saying goodbye and wishing him luck. Deku's first few interactions with Uraraka show him blushing and stuttering because he's not used to being so close to a cute girl. What's more, Uraraka is extremly friendly to him, cheers him on and even gets him to embrace the name Deku liking how it sounds and that it screams "do your best."

Being bullied, no matter what the reason, is never right. At one point, Bakugo even tells Deku to kill himself by jumping out the window. Frankly, I'm amazed Deku can even stand being in the same room with someone that has caused him nothing but misery for years. I doubt Deku is the only who that had it rough due to being born quirkless. This makes me wonder how the 20% qurikless population feels about living in a world full of super beings. I hope we get an arc that focuses on those that were born quirkless. I honestly believe Deku is such a good strategist because he went most of his life without a quirk.

Favorite Tunes #214: Anime Edition

Welcome to a different take on Favorite Tunes. As the subtitle states, anime music is taking center stage this week. This is something I'd been considering doing a in the past, but never followed through. All the anime and manga I've been reading as of late is what gave me the push. Gaming music will still remain the focus of Favorite Tunes, but anime beats is something I'll bust out from time to time.

Battle Ignition - Bleach

You can stream episodes of Bleach on Netflix and I see that the anime is some twenty plus seasons in. True, a lot of those episodes are filler but when Bleach reached it's conclusion in 2016, the graphic novel total was 74. Even without the filler, Bleach is pretty dang long. The first Bleach soundtrack is still among my favorites. I freaking love this fight theme, even when it is used during non battle sequences. From that start up to when it shifts into the main course with those guitar riffs, this track just excels all around. Love it.

Stand a Chance - The Big O

Not everything is super popular in it's home country. Just as the Metroid series is favored more in America, Big O was received far better in the west than it was in Japan. So much so that it's second season was made with the western audience in mind. Roger Smith is a text book example of our negotiators are different in that he's got a huge, cool, retro style mecha as a weapon.

Day of Destiny ~Spirit vs Spirit~ - Dragon Ball Z

It took me some time to warm up to it, but there's a lot to love about DBZ's Japanese score. And I don't just mean Shunsuke Kikuichi's excellent compositions. The vocal performances are also top notch. Gohan has had numerous instances where his anger gets the better of him and he snaps, unleashing insane power. It all comes to a head in the Cell Games arc where the combination of the Z-Fighters getting beaten down and finally the death of Android 16 push Gohan over the edge, making him the first one to achieve Super Saiyan 2. Sadly, due to rights issues, many of the original vocal tracks aren't used for the DBZ Kai re-cut.

What's the Justice? - Cyborg 009

Though most from the west wouldn't be exposed to it until it begun airing on Toonami in 2003, Cyborg 009 is actually quite the old property. The original manga ran from 1964 to 1981 and there have been several anime adaptations, the aforementioned Toonami broadcast version being the one most are familiar with. Though the Toonami version used a different track for the opening, it does contain part of What's the Justice?, which is also an opening theme.

Hypnotik - Parasyte -the maxim-

Think you've got problems? You should see Shinichi Izumi. The poor guy's normal life is turned upside down when a parasite infects his right arm. He actually got lucky, though because most parasites go into the brain, completely robbing the host of their humanity. He and Migi (what he named his parasite) fight off other parasites as Shinichi struggles to maintain his life that gets less and less normal. This track is usually used during fights. Don't let the intro fool you. The choir gives way to a killer techno/trance/electronica beat with a bit of dub-step.

You Say Run - My Hero Academia

I suppose it was only a matter of time before we found an anime track that "Goes with everything". The first time the anime plays this track is when our main character, Izuku Midoria, who is powerless, runs into action to try and save his childhood friend turned bully. Though he is unsuccessful in doing any rescuing, the fact that he moved in spite of his fears is what gets greatest hero ever, All Might to give him his powers. I cannot state how truly amazing this song is. If you're ever feeling down or discouraged, give this a listen. Even if you aren't play it anyway.

Favorite Tunes Database

Latest Purchases #76

I've really been slacking on my LP posts and on this blog overall. It's a combination of having been sick, working a lot and other personal issues. I hate that I did so little posting throughout the month of November and as much as I'd love to do a post a day, I'm just one man, so that isn't possible. Still, I do want to get back to making more frequent posts, so if I gotta lose some more sleep and what no for the greater good, so be it. With that said, here's the combination of at least three different purchases done up in a single post.

I think it's safe to say that just about any fan of DBZ has picked up or at least watched Battle of Gods. Unlike previous movies and TV specials, this is actually a cannon thing, with the story being written by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama himself. Having seen this movie  three times now, it's definitely one of my favorite pieces of Dragon Ball media. Love the action and love the comedy, though I do find it odd that some fans are complaining about the later, which strikes me strange since Dragon Ball has comedic roots. That 20 minutes of extra footage is all kinds of cool.

This 5 inch Mario figure is one of the most common toys in the World of Nintendo line. Unlike Link, Bowser and Donkey Kong, I didn't have to order him online as I've always seen him in Target and K-Mart. He really is a sweet-looking Mario figure with some excellent points of articulation. I'll try not to forget all about him when I open up the other Mario figure that I picked up...

Like Mario, this Yoshi World of Nintendo figure is pretty freaking cool. He's the first Yoshi toy I've picked up that isn't a plushy. I'd planned to get this thing sooner or later, but since I've been playing as the dino a lot in Mario Kart 8 and loving what they did to him in Smash 4, that might have hastened my purchase somewhat.

The K'Nex Super Mario and Super Mario 3D Land toys aren't anything too new. They've been out for a few years I believe, but these were marked down super cheap at K-Mart so I snagged them. I doubt I'll build the full sets they came with, but I've already had some fun posting pictures on Instagram with Mario and the mooks.

I was given 20th of November off from work, which meant I could attend the midnight release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Man, that title sucks). It was my very first midnight launch and while my local GameStop wasn't super packed, it was still nice to feel the hype in the air. I wasn't aware that the amiibo figures were already available so I coped two while I was in the store. I may scan these just to see how they play and evolve but I really got these for display purposes. You can bet I'll be collecting all of them.

I had to get this guy through Toys 'R Us online store to get him, but man, was he worth waiting almost a week for. I didn't think the 6" inch DK figure would be this big. I was more than a little surprised when the UPS truck dropped him off and he was sealed in a box almost twice the size of the default packaging. I'm guessing Bowser is around the same size.

When I saw these S.H. Figurearts figures at Barns & Nobles months ago I fell in love. Mario looks like he has even more articulation going on than the World of Nintendo figure I mentioned above. Even the packaging is awesome, with the plumber in all types of poses on the back of the box. Goombas, easy as they are to do away with, are some of my favorite mooks from the Mario series. Sure, he's got no articulation to speak of, but he looks great and he comes with two sets of Pipes, a set of hands to go with the Mario figure, and a Koopa Troopa Shell. The text remains in Japanese and I never thought I'd see figures like this in Barns & Nobles. These things also cost more than the World of Nintendo Toys. The Goomba set was only $19.95 and despite being in smaller packaging, Mario went for $24.95. But it's hard to complain when you're getting something this good.

Taking a break from playing Smash 4 last week, we went to Wal-Mart and I almost had a stroke when I saw Gargoyles Season 2 Volume 2 on DVD. I'd heard that Disney completed Tailspin's DVD releases some time ago, but seeing Gargoyles get completed? That was a very welcome shock. I didn't think Disney had any interest in finishing their Disney Afternoon cartoons but it looks like I was wrong.There are no extra features like the previous Gargoyles DVD releases but I'm just happy to have the cannon series done.

Big surprise, I have always been a fan of Mickey Mouse ever since I was a kid. I loved those classic theatrical shorts, I started picking up the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip series in 2011 and I adored these newer Mickey Mouse shorts when they aired in 2013. This was sitting right next to Gargoyles Season 2 Volume 2 and until then, I had all but forgotten about this series. I couldn't help but notice the Season 1 on the packaging. Sure enough, season 2 already begun airing earlier this past year.

Latest Purchases #44

Seems like it's been forever since I had any games to mention in a Latest Purchases post. And I don't have any to talk about in this one either. I went into fye yesterday and they had some good deals on movies, both new and used. Here's what I walked out with.

I primarily went to fye to pick up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2. They had the Blu-Ray + DVD + Ultraviolet combo pack on sale for $19.99. I still dislike Warner Bros. practice of placing the extra content on the Blu-Ray discs. I always like to enjoy extra material on movies but unless you have Blu-Ray, you're locked out of those extras, meaning there's little point in me picking up a vanilla DVD version. So I just opted for the combo pack. Sadly, I still don't have a Blu-Ray so all I can do is watch the movie, which I'm sure will be all kinds of awesome since I loved Part 1 and read the graphic novel that this movie is based off of.

Superman vs. The Elite is a movie I've wanted to check out since I saw the preview for it when I finished Justice League: Doom a year ago. fye had a used copy of the Blu-Ray + DVD + Ultraviolet combo pack for under $13 so I nabbed that up. I generally have no problems buying used games and movies from fye because they stuff is always is great shape and works flawlessly. At least for me. Superman vs. The Elite is no exception. I watched the movie and really enjoyed. Just might write up a review for it on the blog.

I've never read the book that i, Robot is based off of, but I'm a sucker for stories with robots and I loved this film when I saw it in 2004. At just $3, there was no way I was gonna pass this up. I'm kinda surprised it took me this long to buy this movie. I should have owned it years ago.

I thought the trailers I'd seen for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World looked great but when I heard it payed a lot of tributes to video games, I really wanted to check this baby out. I finally got around to watching it in the spring of 2011 and surprise, surprise, I loved every minute of it. The plethora of video game references, the hilarious fights with the evil exes, the character of Scott Pilgrim, it was wonderful stuff. I may check out the books that inspired the film someday.

Trigun: Badlands Rumble is actually something I picked up when I was getting ready to check out. It was up at the front desk with a regular price of $29.99 but was on sale for $6. Never saw it, but I didn't think I'd have much to lose for $6. Besides, I love the Trigun anime and this movie comes with a ton of extra material. At 137 minutes, this is gonna be a long anime flick and I do hope Funimation got most of the voice actors that worked on the Trigun anime. Guess I'll find out when I get around to watching it.

Videos I Like #17: Advanced Robotics

One of my many favorite things about Toonami were the sweet music videos they made up from anime and western animation clips. Advanced Robotics explores the aged old fear that robots will rise up and conquer humanity. I've always been fascinated by robots and the thought of robots rebelling against humans makes for some intriguing story telling. An awesome promo video, it's kind of ironic that Peter Cullen  is talking about robots dominating humanity. That's the voice of Optimus Prime for the four of you that didn't know. The music piece, "Ignition" is particularly awesome here.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie

May 31, 1996 saw the release of the two episode Sonic the Hedgehog anime series in Japan. The first episode was titled Journey to Eggman Land and the second, Sonic VS Metal Sonic. Both episodes were released on separate VHS tapes. September 8, 1999, one day prior to the Dreamcast launch and Sonic Adventure, the now defunct ADV Films released this two episode OVA series on a single VHS and DVD as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie. The release date of September 8 was chosen to ride the momentum of Sonic Adventure to help the film's sales.

Dr. Robotnik tricks Sonic and Tails into traveling to The Land of Darkness because Eggman Land (yes, the name of such an infamous stage was referenced as far back as this film) has been taken over by Metal Robotnik. Robotnik's metal counterpart his rigged his Egg Generator that lies at the heart of the city. If the generator goes ka-boom, the entire planet will go up in smoke. But since we already see Robotnik with Hyper Metal Sonic at the start of the film saying he needs the life data from Sonic, we know this is bull.

Team Sonic, ready for action.

This isn't what I'd call a good movie. There are all sorts of things that happen that make you question the plot and the actions of the characters. At the beginning of the film, Sonic is, for lack of a better word, a jerk. When Tails cries out to him for help, Sonic would rather continue kicking back in his lounge chair, listening to the radio. When he's finally had enough of Tails calling out to him, his response is "SHUT UP, TAILS!" While the delivery of that line is admittedly funny, it's very out of character for Sonic to ignore someone in need, even if Tails can just fly out of the way of the danger. Worse still, when Tails asks for Sonic's assistance to help Old Man, Owl who's plane is on fire, Sonic tells Tails to help since he's the only one among the two of them that can fly. It isn't until Tails and Old Man Owl are seconds away from being a couple of statistics that Sonic springs into action. Even worse, Sonic at first turns a deaf ear to a potential matter that could threaten the entire planet. Sure, the bearer of this news is Robotnik' Sonic's worst enemy but on the off chance Robotnik was telling the truth, Sonic shouldn't have just laid there playing with his nose. It isn't until Sara asks Sonic to hear Robotnik out that Sonic decides to listen. "Who is Sara," you ask? Why, she's the president's daughter who has the power to make every male do whatever she ask with Sonic and Knuckles being prime examples. Being the only female in the whole movie, of course every male has to be interested in her. Even Robotnik wants to marry her for some reason I can't possibly fathom. Sara is in the movie to get groped, have her skirt peeked under, be rescued and be annoying. Yeah, she's a pretty hollow character.

Sonic and Tails try faking their deaths to lure
away their pursuer. It doesn't work.

When Sonic and Tails make it to The Land of Darkness they get attacked by Metal Robotnik. We later find out that Metal Robotnik is just a giant mech piloted by the real Robotnik, so that's no surprise there. But why is he actually trying to kill Sonic? We already know he needs Sonic's life data to fully complete Hyper Metal Sonic. Killing Sonic throws that plan right out the window. At one point he truly thinks Sonic is dead, killed by a barrage of missiles. Just what is the doc's scheme here? Does it change at a moments notice or did the writers just forget about Hyper Metal Sonic for a bit?

Look into my demonic eyes!

The dubbing is awful as was the case with a lot of dubs from the 1990s. Tails (Lainie Frasier) sounds like he has a permanent head cold and Sonic's voice (Martin Burke) is way too high pitched. Robotnik (Edwin Neal) actually doesn't sound too shabby, letting out some pretty convincing evil laughs. Knuckles (Bill Wise) has one of the most tolerable voices and it suits the character well. Sara (Sascha Biesi) doesn't sound bad either but the good voice acting is offset by the fact that the character is just so grating on the nerves. But, as bad a dub as it is there are a few high points. Martin Burke lets out one of the best so-bad-it's-good lines during the fight against Hyper Metal Sonic. "You might know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you, since I know everything you're going to do! STRANGE ISN'T IT?!" Cracks me up every time I hear it.

For such an old anime, this Sonic the Hedgehog has some nice animation. Action scenes are done nicely and Sonic moving at super sonic speed looks very convincing. He even runs with the Super Peel Out animation a few times. The art style is very similar to the anime sequences of Sonic CD, but not quite. Sonic CD's anime portions looked better but this movie doesn't look bad. The music is also really good. I read that a soundtrack release for this was in the works but it got canned. Pity.

If he knows everything he's gonging to do, he
should have seen that coming.

For all the bashing I've done, I'd probably still pick up a copy of this if I could find it on DVD for cheap. This one didn't sell well and it goes for some pretty high prices when physical copies do turn up. The movie can be seen in dub form in it's entirety on YouTube if you're interested. Not the best animated version of Sonic but there are worse ways to kill an hour.

Interview with Toonami Host Steven Blum

Toonami made it's triumphant return on May 26, 2012. Have you been tuning in every Saturday night? I have and it's been a blast. Paste Magazine caught up with Steven Blum to get his thoughts on Toonami's comeback and ask how he feels about the work he's done over the years. A tidbit from the interview.


Paste: When Toonami originally went off air back in 2008, what were your thoughts? How did it feel to say goodbye?
Steve Blum: I had very little prior notice that it was shutting down, maybe a week or two. I think we could all feel the end coming, but [at least I] chose denial. I remember the last recording well. It physically hurt to say those words. I’m not ashamed to admit I cried in the studio. What happened a few months later was worse. I was a guest at an anime convention. Some of the fans literally cried in front of me. These sweet kids in elaborate cosplay costumes, literally mourning the death of their childhood—and all I could do was stand there in disbelief and empathy. Having recorded all those years in a padded room, over the phone, I never realized how many people Toonami touched until it was all over. I can’t tell you how many thousands of people have told me that I “raised” them. Those feelings of overwhelming responsibility and sadness and joy all at once were something I never expected from being the voice of an animated robot. It was, and still is, truly humbling.

Check out the full interview here.

Toonami is Back

"Bang."

Do you know what that was? That was the final word that TOM, gave before flying off into the sunset, ending an 11 year cartoon/anime block on Cartoon Network known as Toonami. Toonami was responsible for introducing a plethora of people into anime such as YuYu Hakusho, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, numerous versions of Gundam, Tenchi and many others. I liked anime before Toonami, but Toonami is the reason I became a huge Dragon Ball/DBZ fan. This block also replayed popular cartoon shows like Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, and Batman Beyond, three of my all-time favorite western animated cartoons.

When TOM spoke to the audience on the final broadcast, I couldn't believe my eyes. I mean, yeah, the block changed like all network and show blocks do, but I never thought Toonami would fade away. It was like a dear friend I'd known for years suddenly told me they were going away and I'd never see them again. Long after the final broadcast was aired, I still couldn't believe it.

In the years that followed, I continued to watch anime and cartoons but I still missed Toonami. Every time I saw a promo for a cartoon or anime series from Toonami on YouTube, it made me sadder that it was gone. On April 1st on Cartoon Network's [adult swim] block, I heard that there was going to be a one night revival for Toonami. Being April 1st, I thought it was a joke. Turns out that it was not a joke. April 1st on adult swim was a one night revival of Toonami and would be known as The Night No 90's Kids Slept. We got to see our old friend for a few hours. It was just like old times.

Yesterday, May 16, this was posted from [adult swim] via Twitter.

It's like you said, you said, TOM. We stayed gold. "Until we meet again." Well, the time is now. Mark your calenders boys and girls, men and women, gamers, cartoon lovers and anime fans. May 26, 2012 TOONAMI. IS. BACK!!!

I am every single word there is to expressive a positive emotion right now. That's how excited I am about this news. Even better now that Toonami will be airing on the [adult swim] block, it will get less edited anime. Part of the lineup is Trigun, Cowboy Beebop, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I'm not for certain on the full list of shows but it looks like we'll get a healthy does of anime with awesome segments from TOM mixed in. Also, TOM will be wearing his helmet. So long Thomas the Tank!

So yeah, May 26. One week from now. Toonami returns. GET HYPED!!

Dragon Ball Z Season Five

Season five picks up right where season four of Dragon Ball Z left off. Trunks traveled to the past in order to find some way to destroy the androids that ravaged his future time but things have turned out so differently from what he knew. News of a second, older time machine is unsettling to the Z Fighters, yet may shed some light on things. Containing the Imperfect and Perfect Cell Sagas, Dragon Ball Z Season Five is spread across six discs on 26 episodes.

Like season four, season five is another season I enjoyed immensely as it contains two of my favorite sagas, and features my favorite big bad in all of DBZ, Cell. It all starts out with a mystery. When Trunks, Bulma and Gohan investigate the second time machine, they find out that it's the same one Trunks used but it's pretty banged up and covered with moss, suggesting that it's been there for some time. It turns out that the second time machine has been there for four years, one year prior to when Trunks came to warn the Z-Fighters of the Androids. In Season four it was established that simply traveling back in time could result in a number of changes. So who, or whatever came before Trunks did could be the cause of the differences to the current timeline. I found this mystery to be genuinely interesting and it's still one of my favorite things about DBZ after all these years.

Piccolo fuses with Kami to combat Cell.

A short fight even by DBZ standards.

Kami has sensed some unknown menace festering on Earth for the last four years and feels that it's an even greater threat than the Androids. When the citizens of Ginger Town, a place that holds a population of over 15,000 people suddenly vanish, leaving on their clothes behind, Kami catches gets a look at the creature that killed them and finally decides to fuse with Piccolo, giving the Namekian even greater strength than he's had before. Piccolo leaves the Lookout and descends to Ginger Town, the now abandon city. Well all except the creature that killed everyone and holds a single man hostage, which of course, happens to be Cell. So just how did Cell kill everyone in the city? Thee were no energy blasts because up to this point, all the buildings are still standing. Cell is more than happy to show us how he did it, much to Piccolo's horror. Everyone in Ginger Town was killed via absorption from Cell's tail. The hostages he pretends to let go gets a tail in the back and has his flesh and bones sucked completely out of existence. My reaction to seeing that for the first time mirror Piccolo's. What a truly awful way to die.

As I said before, Cell is my favorite villain of DBZ. Not only is he interesting, so is his back story. Like the Androids, Cell was created by Dr. Gero. However, the process of creating Cell was slow, slow enough to the point where it if was left up to a computer to do the work in collecting the DNA that makes up Cell, which consists of Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Freeza and King Cold. Because Cell's body contains cells from these fighters, he can emit their chi, something Piccolo and the other Z-Fighters are quick to notice. Cell wouldn't be initially completed for another 24 years from the current timeline. After leaving Dr. Gero's lab, he still hadn't reach his full growth, needing to absorb Androids 17 and 18 to become fully complete. But when he woke in the future, the Androids were nowhere to be found because Trunks had destroyed them. Trunks was about to travel back in time again to tell the Z-Fighters that he was successful in defeating 17 and 18 but he was ambushed by Cell and killed. Cell took the time machine and traveled back to current time where 17 and 18 are alive and well. In the meantime, Cell is still capable of becoming even stronger by absorbing living energy from humans through his tail, which is why all of Ginger Town was his first feeding ground.

That looks pretty painful.

Krillin is the first to be touched
by perfection.

Cell is such a cool character right from the start. In his imperfect form, he knows he's no match for Piccolo so he goes from town to down, killing people to extract their energy to overtake 17 and 18 in strength. He's savvy enough to know that he can attract the F-Figther's attention so when he sense them coming, he decreases his power level all the way down and they always arrive to too late. In his first form, he's sneaky can calculating, avoiding conflict so he can get enough energy. In a short amount of time (by first DBZ anime standards) he success and and has power that dwarfs Piccolo's currently the strongest hero of the Z-Fighters. Once he absorbs 17, he gets even stronger and exerts an arrogant attitude similar to Vegeta. Then he absorbs 18 and he's even more arrogant but he takes on a laid back attitude like Goku and wants to test test the limits of his abilities, believing no one to be his equal in strength. This leads into the Cell Games Saga, which is all of season six.

For me, Cell pretty much steals the show, but there are other happenings that make season five pretty entertaining. Vegeta, Goku and Trunks all train to ascend beyond the Super Saiyan while Gohan trains to become a Super Saiyan, making him the youngest to achieve the form until Goten and (Kid) Trunks come along later. There's the awesome fight between Piccolo and 17, Vegeta beating the crap out of Cell in his Ascended Saiyan form and Krillin's dilemma to disable 18 in order to stop Cell's completion. Vegeta once again gets a lesson in humility by letting Cell absorb 18 and complete himself and gets another beat down.

It's funny, I didn't start watching DBZ until the final arc in the Majin Buu Saga, but the the era where Cell was the main threat is my favorite part of DBZ. Piccolo gets a brief time to shine, there's some amazing fights and the time machine mystery that gave way to the introduction to Cell was and still is spectacular stuff. I can't wait to get to the Cell Games Saga.

DVD Pick Ups #2

While picking up a phone card at fye, I thought I'd take a look at the anime section. I hadn't planned on buying anything (money was tight this wee) but when I saw this used for $3.99, I figured I could afford to part with the chump change. The History of Trunks / Bardock The Father of Goku double feature seems to use the same remastering as Funimation's orange brick sets. Wide screen but with the ability to watch in the original Japanese language, subtitled in English or watch the English versions with Japanese music. Always a welcome feature. I already own The History of Trunks on the single DVD that released back in 2000 but this makes my first time owning or seeing Bardock The Father of Goku. History of Trunks is one of my favorite DBZ movies/TV specials and I haven't seen it in years. I really picked this baby up for the spiffy metal casing. I mean, just look at that sucker. Man, does it look awesome. Very few dents are in it and both discs are in great shape, free of scratches. Yeah, I was not expecting each feature to be on it's own separate disc and even the discs look really nice. So two DBZ movies/specials with excellent packaging for ultra dirt cheap. I can't complain.

Dragon Ball Z Season Four

Finished watching Funimation's "orange brick" as the fandom likes to call it of Dragon Ball Z Season Four. It did not disappoint. This release contains 32 episodes on six discs. Sagas included here are the Garlic Jr., Trunks and Android Sagas. Season four is one of my favorite seasons of DBZ and it's great to have it all in one box set. However, it isn't without fault.

Let me get the bad out of the way first. It's no secret that the first anime version of DBZ was stretched out to absurdly long length. The Z portion of the manga series was originally 26 graphic novels. So how does a series spanning 26 books get turned into a 291 episode series? Padding and filler. Lots of filler. Now I'm actually one of those guys that doesn't mind filler when it's good and DBZ does have some good filler. This season set actually has one of my all-time favorite filler episodes, which I'll get to in a moment. But DBZ also has bad filler and in my mind, the king of bad filler in DBZ is none other than the Garlic Jr. Saga, the only fault of this season set as far as quality episodes go. Consisting of 10 episodes, the Garlic Jr. Saga sees the return of Garlic Jr., a villain from the Dead Zone movie/TV special. So yes, he's a filler character, but like I said, I don't mind filler as long as it's good but Garlic Jr. is crap. Not only is he awful, so are his forgettable band of thugs known as the Spice Boys. Garlic Jr. is the only foe in this series that gained his wish of immortality from the Dragon Balls so no matter how hard the heroes hit him, he just won't die. They can, however, send him into a void, which is what they did in the Dead Zone movie, from what I hear. Yes, I never did see that movie, but if this 10 episode saga is any indication, I'm not sure I want to.

An attack this awesome is merely to distract
Freeza from...

This. The "Oh crap!" look on Freeza's face before
Trunks slices him in half is PRICELESS.

One of the few good bits from Garlic Jr. is Chi-Chi getting so angry at Maron's insults that it looks like she learned Goku's Kaio-Ken attack. Who's Maron? Another filler character that's Krillin's first girlfriend for the anime. Maron has the looks of super model and the intelligence of a brick.  In episode 117 (episode 10) of the Garlic Jr. Saga, Krillin question's proposing to her, but in feeling that she's way out of his league, he breaks up with her. It was some nice character development for Krillin as he's always wanted a girlfriend but deep down, he probably knew how shallow she was and that she wasn't the girl for him, something Master Roshi states later on in this season. The final episode in the Garlic Jr. Saga ended up being the only one I really liked as I just couldn't get into the Z Fighters struggle against such lame villains.

Now concerning the rest of this season four set, it's awesome. We see the arrival of Future Trunks, my favorite version of the character and the Androids, a fantastic bunch of not quite villains but not quite heroes either. Let's go back to Future Trunks. Goku still hasn't come back to Earth yet and a year and a half has passed since Freeza was killed. Or was he? Freeza somehow managed to survive an epic beat down by Goku and having a planet blow up in his face. The most powerful force in the universe is now a cyborg and as a result, he's much stronger than he was before. As payback for such a humiliating defeat, Freeza is headed to earth with daddy, King Cold, in tow and plans to make the Saiyan pay by wiping out all live on Earth. As the Z Fighters prepare to make a hopeless last stand, a mysterious youth appears of nowhere and says he's going to kill Freeza. Said mysterious youth is of course, Future Trunks. Freeza, unimpressed, blows him off but when he transforms into a Super Saiyan, he starts freaking out. Future Trunks effortlessly knocks back everything Freeza throws at him and finally finishes him off by slice him in half. King Cold doesn't fare any better and he's quickly disposed off. In a series where such spectacular displays of power happen so many times, Future Trunks killing Freeza and King Cold with ease is still a sight to behold. We don't get to see Future Trunks look this awesome in battle again until the last episode of season six.

Vegeta puts up a good fight against Android 18.

But in the end, even his Super Saiyan powers
aren't enough to win this fight.

As the old saying goes, out of the frying pan and into the fire. The deaths of Freeza and King Cold only temporarily leave the world at peace. Future Trunks arrived to warn Goku and company about a pair of Androids that have made the future world a bleak existence. How bad is the world Future Trunks comes from? Well all the Z Fighters are dead, killed by the Androids and Goku met his end by a heart virus months before the Androids even appeared. Trunks is the only one left to fight and even that's a struggle due to the overwhelming strength of the Andorids. With the knowledge of where and when the Androids will arrive as well as an antidote for Goku's heart disease, Future Trunks traveled to the past in hopes to prevent history from repeating itself. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen reasons, events unfold radically different from what Trunks knew. Goku's heart virus didn't strike him until he was in the middle of a battle with Android 19 and it turns out that the Androids that the Z Fighters were fighting, were not the Androids Trunks spoke of. To complicate things even further, when the heroes do face the Androids Trunks was talking about, Androids 17 and 18, not only is there an additional metal man in the form of Android 16, 17 and 18 are much stronger than the 17 and 18 from Trunks' timeline. This greatly mystifies Trunks and the other Z Fighters. In the Dragon Ball world, even if one does not directly interfere with the timeline, things can still be altered. In other words, merely traveling to the past can alter how events in that timeline play out. Trying to change the past, however, will not change the future. Despite everything Trunks does, we find out that Goku and the other Z Fighters will still be dead when he returns to his own time.

As I said earlier, one of my favorite filler episodes in this season is Goku's Ordeal, the last episode in the Trunks Saga. This episode is about Goku and Piccolo trying to get their driver's license. As you can probably guess, much hilarity ensues. The humor in this episode is very reminiscent of that found in the original Dragon Ball. It made me laugh out loud when it saw it years ago and it still does today.

Piccolo curb stomping Android 20.

Krillin getting a smooch from his future wife.

The fights in this set are actually pretty brief. Vegeta makes short work of Android 19, showing of his new Super Saiyan abilities. Piccolo pays back Android 20 for stealing some of his energy in a nice curb stomp battle. Vegeta puts up a good fight against Android 18 but in the end, he's no much for her, but then, none of the Z Fighters are a match for 17 and 18 as they are quickly tossed aside with little to no effort.

Some nice breaks from the fighting involve episodes where the Z Fighters are assessing their options. Piccolo makes the difficult decision to fuse with Kami, the god of Earth to become the single Namekian he once was. Kami, however, feels that there's a greater threat walking the Earth than the Androids Piccolo and company just got their insides kicking out by. Krillin and the remaining fighters decide to move the ailing Goku to Master Roshi's place to keep him safe from the approaching Androids. While all this is happening, Trunks tries to sort out just why things are panning out the way they are. Things get even more complicated when Bulma faxes them a photo of a second time machine that appears aged with tons of moss sticking to it. Looks like Trunks was not the only time traveler.

I could make the obvious bad pun here, but I'll pass.

This fight starts off well, but Goku's heart virus
picks the wrong time to show up.

The fourth season of Funimation's orange bricks, this sports wide screen format from the original full screen presentation. If you can't handle that, you may want to pass on this one. It also has the infamous blurred line that appears during some rumbling and flashing scenes. Doesn't happen often but when it does, it sticks out like a sore thumb. You can watch with the Japanese score with the Japanese dialogue subtitled, though it isn't the best audio quality. There's also the option to view it with English voices and the Japanese soundtrack or with English voices and the American score. Some very nice options to have.

All told, Funimation's Dragon Ball Z Season Four is one of my favorite season sets. Once you get past the Garlic Jr. Saga, you're in for a terrific thrill ride. You get some awesome fights that don't drag on and the season ends with an intriguing mystery. This set can be bought for chump change either online or in stores. If you don't mind the wide screen format, this is an exceptional way to view some awesome DBZ sagas.

Dragon Ball Z Season Three

Dragon Ball Z, as repetitive and padded out as it can be is one of my favorite anime series to watch. There's just something about aliens with spiky hair duking it out with other aliens, androids and magically created beings that catches my fancy. I finished watching the third season of Dragon Ball Z a few nights ago. Season three collects all 33 episodes of the Freeza Saga on six discs. I greatly enjoyed the first two seasons of DBZ. Season three, not so much.

Don't get me wrong, it's not terrible or anything. When I saw all these episodes years ago, I enjoyed them but still thought I'd seen better DBZ episodes. Up to this point in the series Freeza was the most powerful adversary we'd seen. Way more powerful than the Saiyans and the Ginyu Force. Freeza really was the most powerful being in the universe. As hopeless as the fight against Nappa and Vegeta was in the Vegeta Saga, here, its a thousand times worse. No matter what the heroes do, they just can't defeat this guy yet they have to because if they don't once he's done killing them, the rest of the universe is screwed. That's the stuff that good action anime is made of.

Can any of these fighters defeat Freeza?
Spoiler Alert: No.

Scenes like this one happen a lot during this saga.

So why didn't I dig this season as much as I have previous and later seasons? I think it may have to do with Freeza not being my fav DBZ big bad. That may be blasphemous to say but as powerful and sinister as he was, he didn't grab me the way Cell or Majin Buu did. We never got a good deal of back story on Freeza. Why is he so powerful anyway? We don't know, he just is. I guess some of the blame can be place on the author of DBZ, Akira Toriyama because in the manga, Freeza has no back story either, yet I really love the manga version of the Freeza Saga. In the anime, I find it decent. This isn't to say Freeza himself is a bad character. He's actually got some interesting character traits. Despite all the power he holds, he's usually calm and treats his subordinates with respect. Cross him, though, or in the case of the heroes, dash his hopes of gaining immortality, and he won't hesitate to show you his ruthless side.

By far, the highlight of this set is when Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan. To this day, it is still one of the greatest moments in the series and turns the tide in the heroes favor after getting beaten up for so many episodes. Seeing Goku mop the floor with Freeza after everything he did (especially killing Krillin) is long overdue justice. Its not a bad fight either, if a bit one-sided once Goku goes blonde.

Catch that Spirit Bomb, Freeza!

I'm sensing some hostility here.

Many fans like to give the first incarnation of the anime flack because it takes Namek so long to blow up after Freeza detonates the planet's core. Yeah, it does take the planet a long time to go boom, but to be fair, it's the same case with the manga. In the manga, it's a good chunk of pages before Namek is destroyed. In the anime things were padded out a lot so this could be the reason for the planet's increased time of expiration. There's a rumor that has circulated for years that Toriyama planned to end the manga with Goku beating Freeze but dying in the explosion. This could have had an affect on the anime as well, but I don't know if said rumor is true or not. Either way, the reality is that Namek takes forever to go bye-bye in both the anime and the manga. It always bugged me that the manga saw no blame for what was also an absurdly dragged out event.

Someone is about to get hurt.

Being Funimation's orange box set, this doesn't have the same picture quality of the Dragon Boxes or Kai. What's here, however, does look nice, but it isn't without it's flaws. During a few rumblings, lines on the characters faces will disappear. It doesn't happen too often but when it does, its very noticeable. The picture is presented in wide screen not full screen like Kai and the Dragon Boxes. Unless you need every ounce of detail to be shown on screen at all times like hair, it isn't that big a loss.

Not all of the English dialogue has been revised. If all or nearly all of Vegeta's dubbing was going to be done over, why not do the same for Piccolo or Gohan? Christopher Sabat's Vegeta sounds much like the Vegeta we here today while his Piccolo sounds just as he did in 1999. Stephanie Nadolny as Gohan sounds great in the first few episodes of this season but quickly reverts back to the old dub. Goku's infamous "Ally to good, nightmare to you!" line is still present in this dub. It was cringe worthy all those years ago and it continues to be today.

Doesn't look like it hurt that much.

All of Funimation's orange season box sets have both Japanese and English audio with subtitles for both, which is sure to please fans of both sides of the camp. Also nice is the ability to watch with English voices but with Japanese music or with Japanese voices and English music, something you cannot do with the Dragon Boxes. I like DBZ's Japanese vocal tracks but I've never been a huge fan of the normal background music. I much prefer Kai's new score and Bruce Falconer's music. But that's just me.

If you're looking for an affordable way to watch one of the most highly touted sagas of Dragon Ball Z, this is a very nice option. It isn't perfect but it isn't as bad as some DBZ purists would have you believe. It'll also save you shelf space and is cost-friendly. I got mine used at fye for $17.99 but this set is also dirt cheap at Best Buy for $24.99 and on Amazon, you'll pay around the same price. Not a superb season of DBZ but not a terrible one. I'm ready for Trunks and the Androids.