V Reviews - 91 Days: Heero Yuy in the prohibition era

So one day, a few people in the anime industry meet up and have a meeting to come up with a new original anime (and who knows, even a franchise). I have no idea what they were drinking or smoking at the time, but somehow they ended up with a mix of Gundam Wing, the Sopranos and basically every mafia movie ever made.

If you think that's a weird mix, the end result kind of reflects that as well. So let's dig a little deeper into the anime original named "91 Days".

V Reviews - 91 Days

First up, backstory

So how did this get made? Well, to look at the source of 91 Days means looking at the history of studio Shuka.

Studio Shuka is a studio that was founded in 2013 and is made up mostly from former staff of Studio Brain's Base.

Up until now, their primary focus has been providing "tweener" animation for other studio's and making sequels to some of Brain's Base former franchises (Durarara and Natsume's Book of Friends).

But since every anime studio wants to grow and make a name for itself, it's only obvious that they wanted to try something new and original as well. And since they didn't have an anime planned between the last sequel of Durarara and their (first) sequel of Natsume's book of friends, Summer 2016 was a perfect time to do this "new project".

For this project, they contacted director Hiro Kaburagin and screenwriter Taku Kishimoto.

Taku Kishimoto is apparently thé hype screenwriter of the moment. He is known for creating screenplays for series like Usagi Drop, Silver Spoon, Haikyuu, Erased, Joker Game, most of Gintama° and more. Jeezes, this guy's agenda of 2015 and 2016 must've been LOADED!

Director Hiro Kaburagin on the other end who is mostly known from Kimi no Todoke, but has lots of smaller directing and screenwriting roles as well (Welcome to the NHK, Hungry Heart Wild Striker, Fantastic Children and others).

Together they created a revenge story with many influences from various classic mafia movies, like Road to Perdition, Miller's Crossing, Lawless, Godfather, Reservoir Dogs, and Good Fellas.

Story

The story of 91 Days takes place in the fictional city of Lawless (wow, such reference), Illinois. The place is a fictional variant of Chicago during the Prohibition era and is corrupted to the brim by various mafia families.

On one cold night, the family of Angelo Lagusa is brutally murdered by the Vanetti's, who are trying to gain a name of their own. Angelo is somehow able to escape (due to one of them holding back from shooting a kid), but he is left as a complete mess as a result of this murder.

Angelo grows up in anonymity (as Avillio Bruno) to become an avenger. He's brooding for his moment to kill the people who took out his family (and somehow looking and acting a lot like Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing). Seven years after that fateful night, Angelo receives an anonymous letter from a "friend of his father". The letter contains the names of the people involved in the murder of his family: the Vanetti clan. Angelo cooks up a revenge plan and returns to Lawless to seek out the help of his friend Corteo.

"Damn' it. The rain made it unreadable..."

Corteo himself is trying to make a living by brewing moonshine (home-brew liquor) and selling it to "shady" people. Angelo saves Corteo when the Corto family tries to steal the liquor formula from Corteo. Corteo is obviously glad to see his gloomy friend return until Angelo asks Corteo for his assistance in his revenge plan.

During an attempt to sell Corteo's Moonshine in a bar, he runs into both two people from the Vanetti family, as well as a new and upcoming rookie from the Orco family, Fango. And while Angelo and Corteo try to make good business, Fango is just bat-shit crazy in his search for Nero Vanetti and starts shooting everyone in the bar they're in.

Just one of Fango's many crazy faces

Our two heroes help the Vanetti guys escape while holding off Fango. In return, the Vanetti guys (which includes a disguised Nero Vanetti) want to do business with the two. Angelo and Corteo are invited on the wedding of Nero's sister with the nephew of the "don" of the Galassia family (thus forming a bond between the two mafia families). Here they show Nero's right-hand man Barbero what the moonshine is about and a deal is struck.

What follows is Angelo's journey of rising in the ranks of the Vanetti family, while trying to kill off the people responsible for his father's murder, figuring out who sent him the letter and figuring out who the mysterious fourth person was who was part of the assassination of his father. And this while trying to keep his friend Corteo alive (somewhat), trying to stay away from crazy Fango (somewhat), bromancing Nero (somewhat), brewing lots of moonshine (a LOT) and trying to stay alive himself (somewhat).

Just one of the many finisher moments

I realized I was trying to summarize as much as possible. But since this is somewhat of a long-running mafia movie; I'll have to stop here to prevent spoilers.

Characters

	Angelo Lagusa: a.k.a. Avillio Bruno: Main character and typical avenger archetype. Goes high and low to get his revenge, even abandoning his friendship with his best friend in order to achieve what he wants. Nero Vanetti: The main target of Angelo. Heir of the Vanetti family and somebody who looks out for his family and friends. He's so likable, he makes it very hard to want to kill him.
	Corteo: Childhood friend of Angelo and the one with an actual conscience of the two. He wants to help Angelo out, but he often has questions with the decisions Angelo makes in order to get his revenge.
	Barbero: Right-hand man of Nero. Deals with all the numbers and often makes the most reasonable decisions of the entire Vanetti family. He soon has (rightful) doubts about this Avillio character and never really truts him nor Corteo.
	Vincent Vanetti: Main target #1 of Angelo. The one person who actually killed his father. He bears the scar on his forehead and hand from the knife wound Angelo's father made with his final actions. Regrets what he has done to the Lagusa family, though it's too little too late.
	Fratte Vanetti: Little brother of Nero. Has an superiority complex where he tries to prove that he is better than his brother and is sure that his decisions are the best for the family. Too bad he's being played by his brother-in-law Ronald Galassia.
	Fango: Crazy S.O.B. from the rival from the Orco family. He's as crazy and unpredictable as the Joker and that makes him very fun to watch. One of the few highlights of this anime, and one of the better villains in anime of 2016 in my eyes!

There are many more supporting character from the three big mafia families. Some which will live, many more who will die in the course of this series.

Animation & Sound

There's nothing much to say about the animation. It's of high quality throughout. Fluid animation, great battle sequences. Overall top points to the anime studio for delivering a great work.

On production design I can only give praise as well. There's so much focus on detail in this anime to give it a look and feel of a real mafia movie. And you have to admit it. After watching this anime, I really want to see it again... in the dub. This is an anime that (if done correctly) can become even more great when spoken in English (due to the characters being all American).

This is just a promo picture. But just LOOK at the level of detail!

Oh, and the sound? It's good. The entire OST is so designed as if this was an actual mafia movie. The OP is nice as well, but the ED is forgettable.

Why isn't this thé anime of the year in any category?

There is so much in this anime that could've made it thé anime of the year. But on every aspect where it shines, there's another aspect where it doesn't and makes the overall experience "average" instead.

Nero is one of the best supporting characters in anime of 2016 and even deserves the "best bro" award of 2016 for me. And Fango is one of the craziest and amazing villains in all of anime of 2016. But their performances are neglected when you see Angelo and Corteo; both of which are either cringe-worthy or a copy-paste of other heroes. Each time Nero and Fango disappear off screen and are replaced with Angelo or Corteo you are sadly enough remembered by the fact that THESE two are the main characters (sigh). And a movie/anime without likable main characters just doesn't work, no matter how good the supporting cast is.

Our hero, people!

And while the soundtrack is great and the animation and production value are top notch, it's drenched in an average revenge story that you feel like you've seen a dozen times before.

And that's a sad thing. It's an adult story (which is VERY RARE in anime), the story is sometimes really unpredictable (especially when Fango is in the picture) and many people die (on all sides) without it being shock value. But then there's episodes where Angelo and Nero are on a "trip" away and you are either pushing the fast-forward button, or constantly looking at your watch because it's not that interesting.

Final conclusion and personal opinion

If you are looking for something different than the dozens of typical Shonen anime, fanservice anime and high schoool anime, this is a definite change of pace. It's different in all aspects. And while it's definitely no masterpiece, it will entertain you for a while.

On the other end, if you're looking for thé best anime of 2016, this sadly enough isn't one of them (though I wish it was).

Overall, I give this anime a 7/10. It's good, but lacks on several places to make it stand the test of time.

Until next time, V out.

V does Yu-Gi-Oh: Cards to look forward to in Raging Tempest

It's been ages since I made one of these. So let's do this again!

Yesterday, it was the release of the February booster of Yu-Gi-Oh: Raging Tempest. Let's take a look into what's actually worth looking for!

Zoodiac: The cancer of Yu-Gi-Oh.

Yes. If you thought the ABC archetype was not strong enough, or if Frogzoics and Metalfoes have become too annoying for you, it's clearly time to introduce the cancer of Yu-Gi-Oh: Zoodiac's.

Zoodiac (or just plain Zodiac in the OCG) has been dominating the OCG for so long that local shops have been asking players to just STOP playing the archetype. There are even shops banning those decks from their tournaments due to regular players dropping in masses and lowered tournament turnouts. But if you look on the weekly tournament pages, the "ban' isn't really visible throughout the lists. I don't know if YGOrganization filters the tournament results, or if shops just kept it to a "threat" of banning.

Basically, from this booster's release it's going to be: Play Zoodiacs or GTFO (until some cards are put on a future F&L list)!

However, if you ARE looking to join the hype train, look for the following cards:

• Zoodiac Beast Whiptail (effect - Super Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Thoroughblade (effect - Ultra Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Ratpier (effect - Super Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Tigermortar (Xyz - Ultra Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Drident (Xyz - Secret Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Broadbull (Xyz - Secret Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Boarbow (Xyz - Rare)
• Zoodiac Barrage (Spell - Secret Rare)
• Zoodiac Combo (Trap - Common)

In terms of how much, let's put it like this. In a pure build, you require 3x all effect monsters, 2x all Xyz, 3x spell, 1x trap. If you start mixing with other archetypes (like the GreenGrass Build), you will require less of some cards, but it's better if you look up specific builds for your variant.

Sea Monster of Theseus: The LOL-Konami moment

In early January, Konami mentioned there would be a new TCG world premiere card monster whose effect could be filled by your own imagination. You instantly started to see people imagining all kinds of Overpowered BS onto this card.

But people familiar with Lolkonami were obviously more cautious. And with good reason. The "effect that could be filled up with imagination" ended up being true, since that monster (Sea Monster of Theseus) has NO effect (*slow clap* Well played, Konami, well played).

But is it useless? NOT AT ALL!

Sea Monster of Theseus is a Lv 5 Zombie Fusion Tuner that leaves much room for possibilities. It's an Instant Fusion Target (easy special summon), it's a Zombie (Mezuki Target, Book of Life target, etc), it's a Tuner (Many Synchro possibilities, including the more difficult to summon Zombie Synchro's), it has no effect (Daigusto Emeral revival); it has the Water attribute (Ice Barrier Synchro's) and it's Lv 5 (Level Eater target in Synchro Dark). So the "imagination" text was somewhat true. There are already OTK and Total Hand Destruction video's on how to abuse this card.

How viable these decks are is something we are going to see in the first big tournaments after this card's release. But let's just say that IF it's easy to achieve, there's a good chance that Instant Fusion might become limited.

Other cards to take note of:

	That Grass looks greener: If you deck is larger than your opponent's, you mill until you have the same amount of cards. This card immediately turns Pot of Desires into a more double-edged sword. If you use it, you turn your opponent's grass more "green". It also gives lots of power to Lightsworn-based decks... and especially cards like Fairy Tail - Snow.
	Foolish Burial Goods: Card Text: Send one spell / trap card from your deck to the grave (so Foolish Burial for backrow cards). I notice this card is seriously dropping in price and goes further on a negative trend, though that's only because of the Zoodiac hype. If I can give one piece of advice: PICK IT UP while it's cheap. This card text is good by default. And knowing Konami, sone future archetype will definitely abuse this card.
	Switcheroo: This card was hilarious in the Sneak Peek for those that got it. If you and your opponent have the same amount of monsters, switch control of ALL of them (effect does not target, obviously). Want a good way to stop your opponent's ongoing combo? Your opponent just summoned a boss monster to take your one monster out? This is a hilarious f**k you to all of that.
	Symphonic Warrior Guitaar and Miccs: If it wasn't for their awesome combo during the sneak peek, I probably would've glanced over these two pendulum monsters. Guitaar's pendulum effect is to ditch one card from your hand to special summon a Symphonic Warrior from your deck (obviously Miccs, but the other Symphonic Warriors are also possible). And when Miccs is summoned, you get a free normal summon. If you hadn't already used up your normal summon, you can now do that twice. And since Miccs is a Pendulum monster, he can allow this basically EVERY turn he's summoned. Oh, and Guitaar's monster effect allows to revive Miccs from the grave. These two are an engine on their own and noteworthy additions for any deck that focuses on effects that trigger on normal summons. Truly, a guitar and a mic is all you need to play music!
	Rocket Hand: A typical equip trap card that boosts your monster's attack when triggered. But you can also trigger its secondary effect at any time. You can send it from the field to the grave to destroy an opponent's monster. The downside is that the monster it was equipped now has 0 attack. Upside is that you can disrupt the opponent's combo plays.

Personal thoughts and afterword

Yes, I participated in the sneak peeks past weekend. And boy, it's been a long time since so many joined in a sneak peek tournament. The Zoodiac Hype is REAL. Personally, the sneaks were great for me. I got a playmat on Saturday, together with the one card I was really looking for (Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon). And on Sunday, I pulled both a GreenGrass and a Ratpier, which I was able to sell at Sneak prices (hey, I'm a casual. I'm not wasting money on the hype).

From now on, every tournament will have Zoodiac based decks until the next F&L list update. If you really want to qualify right now, Zoodiac is thé deck you must play. If you're a casual like me; better skip this set and wait until everyone has opened tons of boxes (and the other cards thus drop in price tremendously). Then you can pick up the single cards you want at dump prices.

And if you can't stand formats dominated by one archetype? You might want to skip out for the next few months. It's not going to be pretty. It's a sad truth, but this kind of format does happen once every while.

Heck, the reason why I'm putting more focus on writing anime reviews right now is due to this archetype dominating every headline in both OCG and now also TCG (and thus turning the game kind of stale). So after this post, I'm focusing back on anime.

Until next time, V out.

V Reviews Mob Psycho 100 - We are the angry Mob?

After it was pretty clear that One Punch man was becoming a hit, several studios started a "bidding war" to obtain the rights to animate the other ongoing series of web-comic artist gone mangaka "ONE", namely Mob Psycho 100.

But the expectations were set extremely high after the hype train that was One Punch Man. How do you top the over-the-top balls-to-the-walls phenomenon that was One Punch Man? Is that even possible?

Let's find out and get this show on the road!

V Reviews - Mob Psycho 100

A: Some brief backstory

I already talked a bit about ONE in my One Punch Man review, so I won't repeat what I mentioned back then.

But let's flash back to 2012 here. After the first hype started for One Punch Man (in 2012), web artist ONE started creating another series named "Mob Psycho 100" on Ura Sunday, an online weekly magazine. Publisher Shogakukan helped print the story and to this date the manga has resulted in 13 volumes already.

After the One Punch Man anime became a phenomenon, Studio Bones was quick to obtain the rights to animate Mob. And in summer of 2016 we ended up with the anime of Mob Psycho 100 Season 1 (of many, hopefully?).

Oh and what I didn't mention last time around, is that you can follow ONE on twitter (in Japanese): @ONE_rakugaki

B: Story!

Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama is an ESPer in an otherwise normal world. But he's so powerful he represses his emotions in order not to "break". Due to this repression, it feels as if Shigeo has no personality and easily blends in as a background character (which gains him the nickname of a "Mob" character.

Due to him becoming a teenager and feeling things he didn't have before (like having a crush on another girl), he notices that controlling his own psychic powers becomes more difficult and thus seeks out a mentor to help him.

When even eating becomes an issue, you might wanna seek some help

But in his search of a "psychic mentor", he ends up with self-proclaimed exorcist Arataka Reigen. Reigen is nothing more than a very talented con-man. But after seeing Mob's powers, he allows Mob to study under him (although it's only to abuse Mob's powers for his own profit). But one of the few lessons Reigen teaches him does stick around in Mob's head: "Never use your powers for your own gain, never use your powers to harm other humans."

And it is with good reason that Reigen keeps repeating this to Mob, because when he breaks his own limit (100%), he loses consciousness and his powers go out of control. The best way to compare this, is a limit break from the Final Fantasy games.

"There's an energy! When you hold me, when you touch me, it's so powerful!"

While the anime starts off with a series of misadventures of Reigen and Mob, the show slowly evolves into an action series, when other ESPers enter the field. First one is Teruki Hanazawa, who is the "gang leader" of another school whom Mob gets involved with. Then the evil Claw organization who wants to incorporate every ESPer into their ranks, in order to take over the world.

Mob finally shows cracs in his emotional "barrier" when one of the bad guys (Koyama) goes all out against both him and his brother, whose powers recently awakened. When Koyama has beaten both of them, he kidnaps Mob's brother. It's now up to Mob and a few unlikely allies to infiltrate the Claw organization and free his brother.

Can Mob uphold his own creed of not harming humans, while all of his opponents try to push him to his limit?

Pretty normal people, eh?

C: Characters:

	Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama: Main character. Has amazing psychic abilities, but 0 social skills and 0 athletic skills.He finds an unlikely mentor in the con-man Reigen. But while Reigen clearly exploits Mob and really is not quite the teacher Mob sought, he is also like a surrogate father and Mob does look up to him.
	Arataka Reigen: #1 con man in anime ever! Has 0 psychic powers, but that doesn't stop him from promoting himself as an exorcist. But while he clearly is powerless, he always is able to help his clients due to many other talents (like massaging, having psychiatric talks with patients, having a green belt in Shaolin boxing and many others) and obviously having Mob as an actual psychic helping him. While you know that you should despise this man since he's an obvious con artist, he makes it very hard to hate him. He's an excellent mentor and is able to tame Mob's inner turmoil.
	Ritsu Kageyama: Mob's little brother who has no psychic powers and is somewhat jealous of his brother's talent. To compensate for not having powers, he tries his best to become an honor student instead. He has A+ scores on everything, is very athletic and beloved by many girls. But when the student council stresses him out beyond belief and his psychic powers do awaken, we see a side of him even he never expected.
	Ekubo (Pimple): A spirit who possesses people and founded a cult religion called LOL (no, seriously named LOL). After Mob defeats him, he keeps hovering around Mob and his brother Ritsu, in the hopes of becoming stronger again and using the naive boys as a springboard to "godhood". While possessing people, Pimple is able to release the full psychic potential of its host.
	Teruki Hanazawa: A strong ESPer who uses his powers in his daily life to gain various benefits (cheating in gym, beating and ruling over bullies, etc). Is strongly opposed to Mob's way of using power in his daily life (or lack thereof), but eventually ends up becoming his ally when facing the Claw organization.

There are other characters like the Psychic club members, the Body Improvement club members, the other psychics and the members from the evil Claw organization.

D: Animation

There's a LOT to talk about here. Bones assigned Yuzuru Tachikawa (director of Death Parade) as director and Yoshimichi Kameda as art director. Together they gathered some veteran animators, together with a bunch of young and upcoming talents. Then they told the animators to go crazy, wild and creative in their animation style.

What we ended up with was not only a great story, but some of the most creative animation I've seen in years. This show is not only one of the best anime of 2016 (if not, thé best), but will serve as a bookmark for the following years to show people where certain masters of the craft have started.

Not too long ago, animation fans were starting to worry that several masters in animation were either dying or growing old and sickly very rapidly, while younger generations were more "meek" and "copycats" at best (and I'm not even mentioning the worst). But with Mob Psycho 100, we can now flip that page with confidence. There IS a new generation of animators that are willing to take risks and do new and inventive stuff with animation. As long as we allow them to run wild.

And if you want some proof? When people were discussing suggestions for the Crunchyroll awards, two fight scenes of Mob were suggested for the category "best fight scene" (only one got through). The one that got in the Crunchyroll awards ended up being the Mob Vs Koyama fight. The other one that people suggested was the "special" fight in the last episode (no spoilers here). And guess who won the award?

E: Sound

One name is all you need: "Kenji Kawai". *drops mic*

Seriously, if you do not know who Kenji Kawai is, you don't know much about Japanese music composers. Kenji is one of thé most famous names among composers, both in anime and in Japanese Live Action movies. I'll just list a few and wait until you picked up your jaw from the ground. Next to Mob, he also did: Ranma 1/2, Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell (both movies), The Ring (the Japanese movies), Fate/Stay Night (+ the UBW movie), Gundam 00, Death Note, Eden of the East, Joker Game and many many more.

So yes, he created the soundtrack for Mob. And he delivered another great work!

Next to the regular soundtrack, there's also the opening theme. It is not just any random OP, it is THE single best opening song of 2016.

The mysterious Mob Choir with 99. The composer is sound engineer Junichi Sakaki (which is weird, but interesting). The Mob Choir itself are a group of musicians who work in the industry and consist of both "unknown" people and people with several credits (like sound composers Takeshi Masuda, Kana Yabuki, Satomi Kawasaki and others). For the full list of people singing in the Mob choir, check the VGM database: http://vgmdb.net/album/59425

F: Any negatives?

Well... Let's be honest here. If you take away the "rule of cool" from this anime and discard the amazingly animated fight sequences... then there's not much left but an average story with a crude character designs that look like a beginner drew them (to copy the web artist's crude drawing style).

I personally like the fact that the animation studio tried to copy the web artists crude designs and only slightly improves on it for animation purposes. But I can understand that the people who give this anime a negative review are pointing to the crude art style and average story as negatives.

Also, a lot of haters are pointing to the many similarities between Mob and Saitama from One Punch Man (the other ONE manga). And I can't blame them for thinking that way. Mob kind of looks like Saitama with a bowl haircut of hair and they both have a disinterested look on their face (though for different reasons) and both are amazingly overpowered in their own right.

Final conclusion

I personally loved this anime from beginning to end. But then again, I am a sucker for shonen action series. And this is a great shonen action series you can suggest for anyone to watch

But if you don't like the character and art design of this anime (which is entirely possible) and if you are looking for a greater and more amazing story, you can pass on this.

For everybody else, this is a must-see. I'm giving this a 9/10.

Onto the next one, now.

Until next time, V out.

V Reviews - One Punch Man: One hit wonder, or something more?

Let's go back a few years. 2015 was a mediocre year for anime. Only a handful of titles were really good, with lots of the "best of" rewards going to a select few, or to second/third seasons of an ongoing anime (like JoJo), or even to anime that started airing in 2014 (Like Shirobako and Your Lie in April).

The few new titles that ended up being above average were Assassination Classroom, Food Wars, Death Parade... and obviously the phenomenon called One Punch Man.

And One Punch Man truly was thé hype anime of 2015. It only took one episode until people started loving it and started jumping on the hype train.

So let's get back to this one and review it properly.

V Reviews - One Punch Man Season 1

Backstory? The Dream of EVERY webcomic artist ever

The story of web artist turned mangaka "ONE"is truly is a Hollywood story of how a Japanese guy making web comics somehow created one of thé hypes of both 2015 and 2016 (and if Season 2 of OPM is any good, then even 2017!).

Lots of people like to draw comics and many of them publish those comics on the internet. And you can call yourself pretty good if a few thousand people are reading your stuff on a daily/weekly basis. You can call yourself amazing if you end up having a million readers or more, let alone do that for several years ongoing.

But how did a webcomic like One Punch Man slide under our radar for so long? Well, it's the same reason why so many other great comics (both on the web and on paper) slide under the internet radar: it's in the author's native language instead of English. In this case thus: Japanese.

To give an indication of how popular it got in Japan: The web comic got launched in 2009 and after the peak of its first hype (back in June 2012), the site already passed 7.9 million hits... from a limited audience that can read Japanese. It's a number that many comic creators can only dream of, even if publishing in English. And that was only the beginning.

In 2012, Eyeshield 21 mangaka Yusuke Murata was looking for a new hit after his Eyeshield manga ended and his next attempts all "misfired". Let's put it like this. He's an amazing artist, but his storytelling skills are... ehhh....

Yeah, I re-used an image. It's still relevant!

After reading the One Punch Man web-comic Yusuke contacted the web comic creator with the pen-name "ONE". They started collaborating and made a few one shots. And after they figured out they could work well together, Yusuke started creating a manga variant of the One Punch Man web comic. Same story, but with actual top-quality graphics. It got quickly published in Shueisha's Weekly Young Magazine online edition and it became an instant hit.

After that, it quickly got picked up by Viz for an English release and in 2015 it was picked up for an anime release as well. And from that point onward, more and more people were looking at the series for the first time and started falling in love with it.

So now, there's a 12-episode series, a special, a 6-episode OVA which was included on each DVD release and a second season in the making. So the hype-train is once again set on full force!

On a side-note, if you want to read the original (crude) web comic, you can visit ONE's original website: galaxyheavyblow.web.fc2.com

Story

Saitama is a jobless guy who took it upon himself to train his ass off to become a hero. And after three years of intense workout (so intense he lost ALL of his hair), he somehow obtained godlike powers.

An amazing workout routine

Saitama is suddenly able to take enemies out with One single Punch. What does he do with those powers? Nothing, really... He had hoped to become a superhero, but forgot a few of the basic steps to become a registered superhero (you know, like actually trying to register).

He does fight the monsters in his neighborhood. But since he can take them out in one punch, the fights usually bore him.

"Okay". The face of many memes

After being annoyed by a mosquito and trying to kill every single musquito he sees, he encounters and incidentally saves the Cyborg Genos.

Saitama hunting a mosquito is the most satisfying thing ever...

Genos is so impressed by Saitama's powers that he instantly wants to become his apprentice. And while Saitama is initially opposed to the idea of him being a mentor (he doesn't see himself as very special), he's convinced pretty quickly when Genos suggests he will cover the rent for their apartment.

Together they have a mission (somewhat) to turn Saitama into a registered, popular and respected hero.

The entire show has a "Monster of the week" formula in terms of storytelling, but the ongoing story of Saitama's journey to become a respected hero while being overshadowed by Genos. And boy, the dark comedy that's layered all throughout the series, make it very enjoyable to watch and keep watching.

Characters

While there are lots of minor characters in this series, the following can be counted as the main cast:

	Saitama: The hero of the story. If you need to cut this character open, you'll see pieces of Luffy (One piece), Gintoki (Gintama) and even Takashi Kamiyama (Cromartie High School). Overall an interesting character who can act very weird and lazy at one moment, jealous and greedy at other moments, but heroic when needed.
	Genos: The lone survivor of a brutal assault by a crazy cyborg. Became a full-body cyborg himself to get revenge. But when faced with Saitama's power, he decided to become his apprentice to become a better man himself. Gets (partially) destroyed a few times throughout the series, but due to him being a cyborg he's restored (and upgraded) prety easily.
	Speed-o-Sound Sonic: The Redundant redundancy ninja. Is an assassin/bodyguard for hire and the most recurring antagonist of the show. He has a fixation on killing Saitama, but is obviously unable to do so. Watching Sonic and Saitama interact is like watching the Roadrunner cartoons with the roles switched around (which is actually just as hilarious to watch).
	Mumen Rider: A parody on Kamen Rider. Is a guy with a bike who tries to save people. He somehow always shows up where Saitama is saving the day and sometimes even gets credit for the work that Saitama does. Though all in all, he's just a nice guy!
	Bang: The Martial arts master. The third ranked S-class hero and one of the first who sees through Saitama and recognizes his immense power. He wants Saitama to inherit his martial artist "school", but he obviously doesn't feel like it.

Art and Animation

You know that animation can either make or break a good anime series. But goddammit, they REALLY nailed it with this one. Studio Madhouse has taken the license for the anime (a name that is a quality label by itself).

Boom! Nailed it!

But if you hear people say One Punch Man is more of a Bones anime than a Madhouse anime, that's mostly due to Madhouse getting in contact with Bones regular "Shingo Natsume" and his book of talented (freelance) animators. Shueisha and Madhouse wanted top notch animation and absolutely wanted Shingo on this, since he has become a brand name by itself (animating/directing series like Welcome to the NHK, Ikki Tousen, Guren Lagann, Space Dandy and others).

And you see throughout the series that this has been directed by somebody who has been an animator for his entire career and can communicate very well with his fellow animators. The show flows really well and there are some animation elements visible from Guren Lagann and Welcome to the NHK).

On a side-node. If you want to know more about Shingo and his book of animators, Youtuber The Canipa effect did a two-parter focusing on the animation of One Punch Man. Go watch part one and part two here. Go give it a watch. He deserves it!

Sound

The soundtrack sounds good, but it's really the Opening song ("The Hero" by The Jam Project)that stands out!

There's only a limited number of Opening songs I'm willing to let play without pushing the "skip" button on my media player, but this is certainly one of them. A song clearly made for the show, but it's full of power and invites to sing (or yell) along.

Personal opinion and conclusion

In a year that was overall pretty mediocre, this is the one show that rose above it all and ranked in the highest position for many best-of-the-year lists (including mine). This is an amazing show I've loved watching from beginning to end without breaks and has lived up to its hype.

Is it for everyone? Probably not. This is and remains a somewhat dark comedy with superheroes and monsters. It's seinen by nature. So if you're not into hero shows, or if you're more into lighthearted and moe-type animes, you probably won't like this as much. But it's a must-see for everyone else!

My score: 9.5/10: Near perfect! Can't wait for what Season 2 brings this coming fall.

On a side-note: This review came out nearly two years too late...

Yeah, um... I have to apologize for this review. This is a review that has been sitting on my "to do list" since 2015. This has been fully written and was supposed to be published after my Fate Stay Night review and my Ghost in the Shell Arise review (which is also still in "concept mode" on this blog).

But due to season two being in the works and an upcoming review for Mob, I wanted to get this out of the way first.

So next review is Mob Psycho 100. Until then, V out.

V Reviews - My Hero Academia: One hair will change your life!

Ever since Marvel started their cinematic Universe, heroes have become more popular than ever before. It's only natural then that even the manga world starts to pick up on the trend and create heroes themselves.

And there have been several attempts at hero-related manga, both in the past and today (with various degrees of success).

There have been great series like Zetman, Ratman, Tiger & Bunny and obviously One Punch Man (just to name a few). But one hero show has conquered many hearts in both the East and West. This is My Hero Academia

Ready? Let's get this show on the road.

V Reviews - My Hero Academia (Season 1)

Let's dig into some backstory first...

Kōhei Horikoshi is a mangaka from 1986 who required some time to actually get a long running series from the ground.

He started off as an assistant to Yasuki Tanaka, creator of Kagijin. Whilst doing this, he also created a few one-shots to get his own career started.

But don't worry if you have never heard the name of Yasuki Tanaka before. Kagijin was cancelled after two volumes and none of Tanakas other series stuck as well. Kagijin is literally the last recorded manga Tanaka worked on.

So without a steady mangaka to work for, Kōhei had to start creating a series that could get himself launched in the industry. In 2010 he got his first manga running, named Oumagadoki Zoo. This series sadly enough lasted only for 5 volumes before it was canned.

Not too long after that, he tried with the series named Barrage (first as a one-shot, then as a series). But that one didn't do that well either, and after TWO volumes it got canned.

After that, two years of nothing with only 1 one-shot manga that got published. But that is only looking at recorded works. Who knows how many attempts at a new series were refused by Jump's editors?

Look, even Hattori isn't impressed.

But then in 2014, Kōhei finally got a manga series started that is still running today: Boku no Hero Academia (My hero Academia). Kōhei has truly struggled hard to obtain a long-running series. So let's celebrate that he finally has a franchise that is favored well by manga readers and anime viewers alike!

And well-liked it is. The manga has already generated two spin-off manga's, a video game and now also an anime that is going into its second season this spring!

Edit: Oh, and on a side-note: You can follow Kohei on twitter @horikoshiko.

Story

The world of My Hero Academia is one where more than 80% of all people have a superpower (called kosei, or "Quirks"). Some people use them as "tools" in their daily life, while others become either villains or actual superheroes.

Our protagonist Izuku Midoriya has been dreaming his entire life to become one of these superheroes and starts to adore them. His biggest idol is the superman-like hero "All Might". But Izukus dreams are crushed when medical tests have proven he has no quirk at all.

Could YOU tell him he can't become a hero when he makes a face like this?

But even with no powers, he continues to adore Superheroes and fills notebooks with info about them, much to the annoyance of other kids with powers. These kids end up bullying him, with rival character Katsuki Bakugou at the helm of all this.

But after All Might accidentally releases a villain he just caught, said villain catches up to these bullies and catches Bakugou. The monstrous blobby villain wants to "absorb" Bakugou and use his explosive powers for his own. But since the villain leaves parts of the absorbed Bakugou on the outside (and thus make him appear as a hostage), nobody of the existing heroes is able to do something about this (out of fear of killing the hostage).

"Wait, this kid can use explosions? Coooool..."

When Midoriya enters the scene and sees this happening, his legs start moving on their own and he wants to go help his "friend" / bully. The powerless Midorya is obviously unable to do anything, but he's able to distract the monster long enough for All Might to jump in and save the day.

One PUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!

Inspired by Midoriya's actions and his backstory, All Might decides to make Midoriya the inheritor of his powers.

Why is he looking for an inheritor? Because a wound he received years ago is seriously decreasing his ability to act as a hero and it's only growing worse by the time. All Might explains that his Quirk "One for All", can copy his powers onto Midoriya... as long as he absorbs All Might's DNA somehow.

As you might guess... If this was a hentai, it would be indeed be via sperm or spit or something similarly disgusting. Since this is a shonen, it's kept to the the awkward act of... eating his hair.

You won't get no dessert 'till you clean off your plate, so EAT IT!

The rest of the story focuses on Midoriya's story into becoming an actual hero in the U.A. Academy and becoming accustomed to All Might's high power with an equally destructive side-effect.

Characters

	Izuku Midoriya: Main character. He's a hero fanboy who desires to become a hero himself. After he acquires the "One for All" power, he becomes the textbook definition of a glass cannon. His story focuses on both becoming a true hero, as well as accepting this overwhelming power that disables him just as much. Fun note: Midori(ya) = green, which is present in his color scheme.
	Katsuki Bakugou: Starts out as the bully of Midoriya, but ends up becoming the rival character. He looks like Bleach's Ichigo with a superiority complex and a very short fuse. The name "Bakugou" also literally means detonation (which says enough about his character).
	All Might: This universe's incarnation of the Superman archetype. But he quickly reveals that he's just a human too, since he's carrying a "war wound" from a battle of several years ago that is limiting and decreasing his time as a hero.
	Tenya Iida: The typical super-straight guy who wants to do everything by the book and becomes the class president. He's one o the first U.A. students that befriends Midoriya. His power is becoming super-fast due to jet engines in his feet.
	Ochako Uraraka: The "love interest" character for Midoriya. Wants to become a hero for money reasons (to help her poor family) and has the ability to make things and people "float" (including herself). Though this comes at the cost of becoming nauseous if used for too long. She befriends Midoriya rather quick and is the one who gives his nickname "Deku a positive spin (form "useless" to "never giving up").
	Shouta Aizawa: Eraserhead. He's the homeroom teacher of Midoriya's class and has the ability to cancel or "erase" other hero's quircks for a short time (though it gives him dry eye if used for too long).

And since this is a "high school" manga, there are tons of supporting characters in form of Midoriya's classmates. Too much to name them all, though. In this first season, most of the classmates remain as minor supporting characters. But some more time is given to Asui Tsuyu (the frog girl) and Minoru Mineta (the sticky balls guy) than others in this first story arc.

Animation & Sound

I can be very short when it comes to the animation. My Hero Academia is animated by Studio Bones. Bones = Consistent Quality animation. End of story.

When it comes to the sound, however, I'm in awe. The score is done by Yuuki Hayashi, and he did a phenomenal job. THIS is the kind of music I want in my Superhero movies or series.

While having good movies, I think it's an understatement that the music of both Marvel and DC's Cinematic Universe (and TV series) are lackluster, with only a handful of DC character themes actually being memorable (e.g. the Wonder Woman theme). Both DC and Marvel should stop playing it safe and take a few lessons from this soundtrack!

So give this OST a listen, if you can (search it on Youtube, or buy the CD). It's one of the best OSTs I've heard from 2016!

Any negatives?

My Hero Academia a typical Shonen action anime. This means that this anime is filled with lots of anime tropes and is lacking in complex storytelling or characters. So if you're looking for the "critical darling" of 2016, you're at the wrong address here.

But on the other end... This IS a hero anime with a positive vibe. If you wanted a critical breakdown of the hero genre, go read Zetman instead (but don't bother watching that anime adaptation.)!

Personal opinion and Conclusion!

In my honest opinion, My Hero Academia is a perfect gateway anime, especially for people in the west who love their TV-series colored "hero"!

With that I mean that it's perfect to suggest to your friends if they want to experience what a typical anime is about, without going to "deep" or "weird" in storytelling. It's something that anyone of any age can enjoy.

This is also a perfect replacement for people who felt sad that Naruto and Bleach have ended and want something else that is equally digestible.

Personally, I certainly can enjoy a well-crafted Shonen action series like this. I enjoyed the first season and am definitely looking forward for the second season!

I'm giving this a solid 8.5/10.

Until next time, V out.