Anime

One Piece – East Blue Arc (Episodes 1 – 30) Review

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One Piece EBArc P1

One Piece is, if nothing else, epic in length. Whenever I cover the show I’ll be doing it in much bigger chunks of episodes than I normally do, though given this chunk of 30 episodes doesn’t even end what most people consider to be the opening “arc”, it’s not going to make covering the show any less of a daunting task. Anyway, One Piece grabs the bronze in this Jump! 50th Anniversary opening arc list of mine as it does a good job of introducing you to our lead, but a fantastic job of making us care about the rest of the crew. It was really hard deciding between this and the #2 spot! So let’s look at the first half of the East Blue arc, which really contains a bunch of smaller arcs that introduce us to several of the cast members going forward…

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Dragon Ball – Son Goku Arc (Episodes 1 – 13) Review

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DB Son Goku Arc

Dragon Ball is iconic, inspired so many Shonen manga that came after it, and is one of my favourite shows of all time, but I’ve ranked it only #4 in this list?! Yeah, well, this is top debut arcs, and although this has some good, funny moments, it has some pretty unfunny ones as well… Not enough to knock it off the list entirely, obviously, more good than bad and all that. Anyway, it’s also another debut arc that doesn’t actually represent what the show would become, though it took a lot longer to end up more action focused this time. So let’s take a look at what is actually my first Dragon Ball review for this blog, despite 101 reviews elsewhere!

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Yu Yu Hakusho – Spirit Detective Arc (Episodes 1 – 13) Review

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YYH SD arc Pt1

We kick the Shonen Jump! 50th Anniversary Debut Arc Top 5 with Yu Yu Hakusho, an influential series for sure (none more evident than in another series later on in the list…), that probably would have been an even bigger hit had it not been published / anime adapted during the peak of Dragon Ball popularity in Japan and, ironically, localised in the US on the back of Dragon Ball Z’s popularity, meaning it also fell in its shadow too! So the debut arc, known as the Spirit Detective arc (or Saga, because that early FUNimation buzzword!) really goes all the way to Episode 25, but its clearly split in half by a “lead protagonist returns after a length of time training” break, so I’m classing the first 13 episodes as the debut “arc” here. Much like other titles on and off this list, the first bunch of episodes doesn’t really represent what the story would become down the line, which makes it a fascinating watch, retrospectively. So… let’s look at it, retrospectively!

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The King of Fighters: Destiny Season 1 Overall Review

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KOF Destiny

Is a CG animation created in China an anime? Well, it’s closer to anime than cartoon based purely on “anime is an animation from the East, cartoon is an animation from the West” line of thinking… Anyway, regardless, King of Fighters got an adaptation, and for free too! (Why it took me so long to actually watch it I don’t know…) All episodes were uploaded to SNK’s YouTube channel, which makes this rather hard to review because I don’t want to be too harsh on the production values given it’s… cheaper nature. Beyond production values though, is it worth a watch? Has it managed to create a storyline for a game (King of Fighters 94) that hardly had any? Let’s take a closer look!

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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society Review

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GITS SAC SSS

My stroll down memory lane with Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex comes to an end as we reach Solid State Society, the final chapter in this version of the GITS world. Given it’s a film with a sub-two-hour runtime, it obviously lacks the depth and slow burn nature of the big cases from the two TV series, but it still has its moments, both with plot and some tense action scenes as well. Let’s take a look!

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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig Episodes 14 – 26 Review

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GITS SAC 2nd Gig P2

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex’s “2nd Gig” comes to a close and manages to pull off a great ending to a both their leading (and intersecting) storylines. Unlike the previous season finale being all talk, this was very nearly all action, though it still made sure to have some of that GITS “makes you think” social issues in it. So let’s have a closer look!

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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig Episodes 1 – 13 Review

David HoganLeave a comment

GITS SAC 2G P1

The second season of GITS SAC gets off to a strong start. 2nd Gig has a reputation of not being as good as the first season, but I think it comes down to this season being more simple with its antagonist as opposed to being more cerebral and thought-provoking, but there are still some really good episodes to be found here. Let’s take a closer look at the first half then!

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