Tag: Manga

The Charisma of an Anime: Why Pinkie Doesn’t Always Need “Quality”

Why do we like certain Anime? Is it the quality of the animation?! The depth of the story, the characters? I have noticed that quite often I can’t follow the opinion of the crowd. I very much dislike anime like Sword Art Online, Code Geass, Attack on Titan, Death Note and am less enthralled by My Hero Academia and Re: Zero than most. I think all of them are good series in their own way, I also like a lot of anime the public doesn’t think is very good! Mostly childhood classics.. but is that just Nostalgia or is it something else?

<Disclaimer>
This is my personal opinion throughout, even if I decribe them as factual that is only because this is the truth in MY head for me as a person if you prefer to think of it another way, you are not wrong for doing so, nor am I for feeling this way. Multiple opinions can exist and for each and every one of us our opinion is true please respect each others opinions in the comments as well
<End of Disclaimer>

Charisma over Quality?!

If you have read my favourite anime A-Z challenge you know that I do not necessarily favor the BEST anime. I have always preferred the one that speaks to me the most. Sometimes it can be a really low quality anime. I prefer Cardfight Vanguard over Clannad or Code Geass. Now I dislike Geas so that is not saying much..but I still recognise the quality of the latter. It is a good show! It just has no appeal to me! I do think the writing style is pretty bad too.. but I can’t really say I think Cardfight does story better. However Vanguard feels much less pretentious to me. Where Geass aims high and in my opinion strikes out due to some plot events feeling incredibly forced. The card battle anime basically aims to be a commercial. Within their respective parameters I feel the trashier anime of the two exceeds my expectations of what a show like that should be, while Geass to me fumbles in being that high stakes political war game. It doesn’t fail badly but enough for me to be dissapointed.

Each time I tell this a picture of him crying shows up! Such a crybaby!

Compare it to two passengers on a plane. Code Geass is the hot woman sitting next to you and Cardfight Vanguard is a plain mousey looking woman with a baby. You expect the baby to cry and have a hell of a journey, but it is surprisingly quiet. Even though it is still a baby and doesn’t offer much in terms of conversation .. you still think… WOW that was such a sweet child.  Meanwhile the Hot woman next to you yawns and despite being nearly perfect in every way she has one blacked snaggletooth in her mouth. It’s just one tooth and you can probably get over it, yet you can not help but think about that one element that is wrong with it. It’s NOT that I would not date Rotten-Snaggletooth if the rest is good enough don’t get me wrong but as for a general impression one is much more likely to talk about that thing that was not in line with your expectations than the things that are. You could pretend to be the one that would not do that.. but as humans I think we are kind of rigged to spot that one off element.

Every anime has an innate charm. Which can be anything. Sometimes you see this really is a passion project of it’s makers. Like for example the sort of anime Oban Star Racer.  There is this effort in it to present itself well, people clearly wanted to make this, and even if it is not perfect that anime has an amazing vibe to me. You can see the intent to make something unique and something they cared about. Big companies never talk about that in their reviews its just visuals, story sound and usually some fourth metric.Lots of stuff in Dragon Ball isn’t that well written but there is a charm in the way Toriyama forgets things, in the way he cheats things. You see the humanity behind the creator in the series if you pay attention.  You see that through its flaws. 

I might be the Guilty Pleasure Random Girl of Anime?! Oban was Great though!

As such I find Dragon Ball  a much more human product than say My Hero Academia which to me feels much more “mechanically” constructed. It feels as if Dragon Ball really is a story Toriyama wanted to tell versus my MHA being a story that was made because people want to see it. The Mangaka’s most of us know by name aren’t know because of their amazing work.. They are often named with their quirks. Toriyama forgets, Araki has this weird thing with dogs, Miuara put some people on a boat for a few years to play with Idol-Girl-Games. It brings humanity to the manga and anime medium.  This also explains my draw towards the weirder shows it is a story  a person  really wanted to tell. Then take Geass again for example where Mecha’s were added to the story to make it cooler, while not a thing in the early manga and you can see that the anime is not a passion product of one person. It is that vision of a person of a person, shifted by a marketing department and maybe a think-tank on how to sell it to the public. While it has all it’s flaws polished out.. it lost a bit of personality or charisma if you will.

The Classics

It is no secret that I really like Dragon Ball and all it’s series. I love Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh and even Beyblade and Medabots. I like Zoids New Century, Yu Yu Hakusho, heck I had a lot of fun with Shaman King as well.  While plenty of us love at least one show in this list, much less would put them in their favourite list. They are too silly. they have too simple plotlines or haven’t aged well. Yet if we take a look over the internet.. millions of people are still talking about the Yu-Gi-Oh anime, analysing Dragon Ball or doing Sailor Moon fan content. Now there are a few newer big anime who get this too..but it’s still on a smaller scale. Re Zero and My Hero being the most noticeable exceptions. Yet there is a difference. My Hero is less quirky then those old shows.. no pun intended. Back in the early days there was much more ambiguity on how a power worked, less was explained about the world.

Plus Ultra! You don’t need Magazines to understand HIS power!

 Did you know for example that it took until Dragon Ball Z Kakarot to explain why the King of Central City is a dog?! Why do there live animal people?!  Techniques were forgotten, more loopholes to get around problems were needed.. and then the fans came together and tried to find explanations to it.  To this day people still try to polish the mistakes out of Dragon Ball with weird theories! We do that to certain games or western series as well. Is it all due to nostalgia?! No! That would blind us to a lot of their mistakes but we are aware of them! We just have grown to love them DESPITE these flaws. The modern modus operandi however seems to really nitpick the shows that we love and even go as far as drop them and shun them for having one character that portrays a gender or race in a less than adequate way.
It’s easier for me as well.. because I don’t feel like I am demeaning Horikoshi’s work when I say My Hero is something I think makes a few wrong choices… it’s more sterile. 

Modern anime have so many benefits that it makes them objectively better. They have the internet  to easily look up what happened before, they have fans point out a flaw so it can be retconned immediately. Yet because this happened in anime.. and media in general for that matter feels much more like a team effort. It does no longer feel like it came from the pen of a single man or woman. Teams are often very big and we get a joined effort that is always increasing in quality!  I really think anime is getting consistently better over time. At least objectively! Stories make more sense, animation has less and less flaws.. (at least in a situation where corporate doesn’t force people to use cheaper studios..but cheaping out is a whole other problem) but because of it. .that airplane is more and more filled with “generic” people. With a whole team monitoring who gets on board you get less weirdo’s. So no tranquil baby and no Snaggletooth woman. Maybe a woman with a slightly loose tooth and a baby that cries at a less annoying pitch..but they now fulfill much more their intended roles.. everything is as it should be .. but does it really have to be?!

While it might seem like a critique on big names only it is not.  Isekai Cheat Magician, Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two Hit Multi Target Attack and Uzaki Chan wants to hang out are for me deeply flawed products. But their main gripe is the same. They are boring and generic.  They lack a passion. They are made for the audience as such if they offer you what you seek they can still be a hit with people. Yet once they stop providing that they die out quickly.  Dragon Ball Z and One Piece might have tricks in them for cash and to sell more figurines but they are also MORE than just that. Märchen Mädchen that I watched recently was also more. It’s not just what fans one.. it’s a love letter to classic stories but also an awareness on how poorly they aged. The author was in there.. somewhere!

I don’t understand why this screenshot is so popular! But Welcome new viewers!

You will always remember your first kiss. You will always remember your first anime. What defines a classic to you is also up to your age. To some Naruto is a classic.To me.. it is a transition period. For everyone that golden point will shift. Too many people much younger than me Naruto may already be that cheesey flawed product that Dragon Ball was to me. Something they love despite what they see as flaws.. as Anime become objectively better and better and more mainstream accessible.. much more tools are being used, sales are being measured so precisely, polls on the internet, fan magazines whatever.. no matter when you start anime, in a few years that gateway of yours will show some cracks and you will learn to appreciate them I think. 

It creates a much stronger love for anime for me at least than a series that just is good. Would I use the visuals, music and story metrics to measure what I think about all the anime I watch? I would be much more positive about most anime At least if I compare it to the quality I need, not so much if I compare everything to the 10/10/10’s out there. Yet to me they often  lack the charisma Sailor Moon has. When I hear that poor quality transformation music I become genuinely happy. Even the quiet shrill sounding opening song bestows me with so much more emotions. Even though the Soundtrack of MHA is vastly superior to Moon’s.. the highs I can reach with Moon are much higher than with the more recent anime. I do love  You Say Run a lot and rock out to it, but I like it because it IS good. I am not sure if the Sailor Moon transformation song IS good..but I love it for it’s personality! That retro vibe, the over usage, I don’t like it because it is good. I like it because it is the Sailor Moon transformation theme. Somehow that love feels purer to me.Less earned maybe.. but that makes it more intoxicating.

Even as a Duth girl THIS is my drug!

It’s all relative

This is a weird kind of love, though as it has zero base in objectivity. There are people like me who love Dragon Ball.. but I can’t tell a random anime fan I love Dragon Ball and expect to be understood. When you love something despite of its flaws you really need someone who loves it as well to get that. Goku’s Japanese voice actor for example gets a lot of flack from the Dub loving people.  “He sounds like a kid that is so stupid”. No he does not sound LIKE anything, he sounds like Japanese Goku.. that is the voice of Goku. I find Japanese Goku to be more versatile than Sean Schemmel. Still, Sean Schemmel is also the voice of Goku. There is nothing wrong with him…well that might be pushing it.. there is nothing wrong with his voice acting. However, to explain why Goku works in Japanese..  you gotta like Goku in japanese ..because it is one of those things. My love for the Digimon universe is much the same. The new show really does show me how poorly the first run did on storytelling.. but it doesn’t make me love it less. It just makes me glad I now get a good story in addition to that and makes me enjoy both even more. Yet to understand that.. you really have to love Digimon like me. 

I can safely walk up to someone and say “You Go Run goes with everything” and a random animefan probably will go heck yeah! If I walk up to a random guy or gal at a convention and tell them I genuinely love Digimon, they have a much bigger chance to be weirded out. It is because all guides on blogging or journalism tell us to be objective. To write objective reviews. It made us believe anime can objectively be bad. It made us afraid to love something that isn’t well reviewed. It allows us to unify behind a single vision or at least with confidence step up to someone and say! Hey the visuals for this anime are stellar! Yet in the process we lose something.. the ineffable part of loving something. When I fall in love with a girl it is never because she has pretty eyes or a nice rack. It’s not because she has a great personality either because otherwise I would fall in love with all of my friends and most of you too! It’s not because of her voice or clothing choice either.. It is that hidden factor , something unspeakable, something that can not be put into words. It can only be stated. It can only be understood by peers who fell for that girl before.

Awww crabcakes! Okay bring forth the evil exes! *Cracks Knuckles*

Let’s say that girl I fall in love with is an anime… Let’s say she is also on the plane I used earlier, because why not! I see her much more in the past. If she is Digimon she might tell me some weird stories or maybe she is built a bit awkwardly.  If she is Dragon Ball , she might not be the prettiest and has a bit of a weird voice.The girl is out in the open though.. not hiding displaying her flaw for me to see and acknowledge.  If she is a modern anime…she is wearing the make-up that got the best rating.. We now know what tests best. She is a pretty smooth talker because she saw a youtube video on how to talk to strangers. As we now know so much more about properly fleshing out dialogue and there are bigger teams who proof read stuff. She wears the most popular clothes as found on review sites. All in all in her modern form the girl is a lot more marketable and she will find someone who will like her , heck it still could be me.  Yet I have to look much deeper to see her true self beyond that stuff everyone wants. I will like her faster because she is wearing a pretty as heck mask that I can deeply enjoy! However it would take me much longer to fall in love, because for that I have to see behind the mask. I am not saying it doesn’t happen but it will take me longer to fall in love.

 So my plane experience has shifted. From an uncomfy ride with one or two people who rock my world I now found myself in a plane full of pretty and acceptable people..I have a much more pleasant flight but by the time I take off next season I will have forgotten most of the pretty people… while that girl I saw 20 years ago is still haunting my  mind. She had her quirks.. but she wasn’t there for me.. she was there for her! That is a charisma I like to see in everything I love. If we only judge and measure objectively at one time that experience might fade away. For now it’s fine.. in general it’s as simple as switching over to a smaller airline and taking some risks. Just remember that if you review something it’s okay to look at quality.. but look at the charisma sometimes. It might not be as useful to the people reading your review but I do think it would be healthy in the long run!

Heck even in Airplanes they get THAT seat

I really hope I have not offended you guys or that you think I am super shallow now! In the end we all like what we like! If you came here for objective reviews , I might have shot myself in the foot! Because you will not be getting those! I am just a pink avatar, telling you what I personally like and what I don’t like! Speaking of what I like! I would really appreciate it if you support my Kofi by clicking on the link below! Or if you can’t spare or want to part with the money leave a comment below! I really appreciate you all in every way you support this blog! So while I might not approve of your favourite anime! I approve of all of you!

A Million Anime to pick next: How to Choose What to Watch (Part 2)

Welcome Island Guests to the second part of my how to pick your Anime post! Today we will be discussing a few more ways you can pick an anime the advantages and disadvantages of each method!  Perhaps somehow someway we can distill the ultimate technique from this! So we can find “the PERFECT anime”…but it’s me writing this so I seriously doubt it!

<Disclaimer> This is strictly my opinion and does not contain facts , I think by now now I finished about 40ish anime series and dropped/tried  about as much as well. So that isn’t a whole lot. I am not inexperienced but I am also not nearly as dedicated as many here. Any form facts only refer to my opinion.. It is a fact I feel this way.. no one has to share any of these opinions or feel compelled to do so <End of Disclaimer>

Thanks to this method Irina made me watch Kyousougiga , Fred made me watch Bloom Into You and Naja made me watch Samurai Flamenco. A recommendation from a person you trust and believe can be an absolutely empowering way to select an anime you are going to watch next. It has the potential of bringing people together and depending on your range of friends .. or bloggers you follow you could end up with some items very unaware to you!  So how does this method hold up?

Positives

Like with the other two this one  is among the more social ones methods. You can respond to another’s recommendation after all. It offers room for discussion that is actually a fair bit different than the other two.  You can either respond to someone’s blog or they can ask you very insightful questions. These things are often catered towards you so the conversation feels a lot more personal which to me is the way I prefer to talk to people. Generally you know the person whose advice you took to an extend as well so you can extrapolate and really judge pretty well if this anime is something for you. It can give a sense of purpose to watch on.. to talk about it with a friend or familiar.

Discussing something in a group of random people is always more tricky! I really dislike Sword Art Online for example, but I would not make a twitter post saying how much it disappointed me! Reactions can be to extreme even if I do have my motivations and can explain them clearly to people! They won’t listen.. with friends that is a bit less of an issue at least there is a chance they will! At least as long it’s not something they are completely enamored with. Letting a Friend, Senpai or Peer advise you can give you access to series you have never even heard of before. In turn  allowing you to experience stuff you would by your own accord. This is a method I really seem to prefer if things are going well. It is really fun to discover anime like this.. However this one comes with a pretty steep disadvantage as well.

Negatives

While this method can allow for pleasant conversations and deep discussions This one can also polarize you and your friends!  One of my best friends recommended me Code Geass and I watched it.. when I told him I hated it, but I did see why he would like it as I can see it’s a good anime, just not for me,  he got incredibly salty. I disliked anime he liked before and that wasn’t to much of an issue but this one hurt his soul. I will always be honest with my friend and honestly I really disliked a few things in Geass as it just wasn’t for me and I saw a few flaws such as some events feeling very forced. I don’t think it’s a a bad show which I told either but the atmosphere was soured for a bit. When a stranger tells me I should die because I do not like code Geass it stings, when a friend says ‘I thought you had better taste than that’ it actually really hurts. While the hate ratio is a lot smaller.. if things go bad.. they go a lot worse than among strangers.

A show I genuinely could not stand was Goblin Slayer, a friend of mine adored it. During a anime with friends night we hosted .. In this format we do a draw a lucky person who picks an anime. We watch 3 episodes and move to the next person. Who picks another anime, or can continue to watch on. My friend made us watch trough Goblin Slayer as he got selected first so I played nice and watched it with a polite smile. Then I was picked for the next selection but he interrupted me. ‘Let’s just watch all of Goblin Slayer, if you guys watch anything else now I think i’ll just go home and watch it myself’. At least two other people did not like the show (which meant 50% of us and one felt neutral) but no one dared to speak up so everyone agreed. To scared that disagreeing would anger him. I said I’d prefer to watch something else and just got “well it’s not like we would watch anything better than this is better!’ I agreed as long as next time we would let someone else pick. He said that’s fine and he will just stay home that time.

I stayed for one more episode, but I already was boiling inside! I hated the show and I hated how he acted. To vent I decided to play on my phone a bit (to calm a bit) and he sneered at me for it! Basically calling me an idiot for looking away. I told him I hated the show and that I already said that before and that I don’t mind being her for the company but the show is just not for me and that I would like to stay to see if we might watch another show later and for the company. He then declared we had to watch in absolute silence and I left.. he did not speak to me for days for disliking a show he loved. Whenever a reviewer I trust loves a show I don’t like at all I do notice some distance increasing. It’s not that much of an issue in the long run but disagreeing with people you have close to your heart never is all that fun. It can at times even discourage me from watching something they absolutely love that doesn’t sound like it’s completely me!

Advise

I can honestly say that this is a great method to approach anime but be a bit weary. People tend to see things very black and white in this day and age and if your friend is like that sometimes it’s just best to keep smiling. It’s not like it’s as toxic as the internet.. but a bad reaction can last longer than a few negative comments. Know your friends and know yourself. If your friend something you know you really know you’ll dislike.. stay away from it. There is nothing you can gain by destroying his favorite when you talk about it. There is nothing you gain by lying how much you love it either! They wil notice because they want to talk about it more! Forcing yourself to sit trough something you hate just to please a friend will not result in a fun time for anyone.

Always keep yourself in mind, friends and close ones react better to you genuinely liking something than you faking, Kirito’s duel wielding skill being kind of interesting! Conversations will always expand and you will be caught in the act of faking! Being overly blunt will also get you no where though! So while this method has the biggest gain.. it could come at risk being an obstacle between you and your friends. Know what type of anime your friend watches, know why they recommended it to you ( ‘Pinkie I think you will really like this anime’ usually is safer than “you guys everyone check it out I just watched and binged the Frick out of it”)

A lot of you seem to really be into Manga and while I am not that much into the reading habit, myself that is mostly to blame on availability and me not being very comfortable with the digital form of the media. My phone screen is to tiny and I like to read in a relaxed position and I can’t do that with my laptop all that much! So this is the form of anime picking I am least familiar with. Still it is worth taking a look at. Let’s investigate!

Positives

The most obvious positive from doing an anime pick this way is that you are familiar with the source material. Most of the time anime adaptations are fairly faithful though abridged renditions so if you like the story beats in a manga, you’ll probably like them in animated form as well. This form of anime watching also offers you a unique viewing experience compared to the others. You see your already beloved work come to life. Take Bofuri for instance for me. I would not have imagined Maple’s demon voice to be so funny! I did not read source material as I do not dabble in Manga myself but I sure as heck would not have imagined this so funny! Jojo’s  Bizarre Adventures is something I have read and when I saw it come to live it blew away my mind. The music, the style, the whole shabang.. this is one anime I think really is better than it’s Manga counterpart. 

Still such a viewing experience is totally different from what you get when watching something in season whose source material you do not know!  It can be very empowering and nostalgic, or it can be quaint a funny! The comedy and horror genre work a lot better in animated form in my opinion because they now have actual timing.  When you read the manga first you often get some interesting insights in characters as well. A experience that the non-manga anime watcher misses. These characters you already know! It’s like a reunion with friends rather than meeting some for the first time. So your experience can be amplified when it spans across media! Like seeing the Seven Page Muda come to live or see the Super Saiyan transformation animated for the first time after just reading it.

Negatives

Kicking in open doors again! The book is always better. When something is written down it usually always gets the motivations of characters more fleshed out, it’s usually more consistent  and also easier to make a call back. A Manga also moves at your own pace rather than the shows pace so you are the one in the driver seat. All in all  I do think it’s fair to say that “the book is better” is a way more popular opinion than “the anime was better than the book”.  So there is an increased risk of being let down if it’s already something you absolutely love. Air Gear would be a good example that comes to mind and a friend never shuts up about how D-Grey-Man the  anime was so lackluster compared to the Manga. I personally disagree I did not find the anime lackluster at all but that might have to do the next negative.

The Pricetag! If you want a book in your hand like me , reading manga first can be an extremely pricey hobby!  Meanwhile Crunchyroll, Netflix and other services on the internet are relatively a lot cheaper. At least here! I do not know how prices are in the rest of the world but paying 13 euros for a single book of manga for a show that is in its entirety on Netflix for the same price a month…plus access to all the other shows is off. I know it supports the creator more.. but I’ll be honest I can barely afford my own food and clothes..When money is an issue..Manga is not always an option. I know there are ways to get it digitally, but I just don’t have a pleasant experience with that without an E-Reader. My phone is too tiny..and I feel uneasy not having that available to make notes for my blog or not able to tell my manga loving friend about the amazing thing I am reading. I don’t like reading on comics on my laptop all that much either.

The final negative is the simple fact that you’ve already seen it. It isn’t very surprising. Don’t get me wrong this can be a good thing for some people but something that never surprises me .. essentially it’s a remake and I tend to like those but I am never overwhelmed by love for them as I miss that raw emotional experience new products can give me.  While your standard Shounen can be rewatched without to much drama, stuff like Danganronpa (Okay thats a game and an anime but same fault applies) where you find out “who did it” can really have a lessend impact on you.

Advise

If you have money to burn, this method is super healthy for the community!  It keeps mangakas strong and series ongoing!(If you read/buy ongoing releases) It also will give you a very consistent pay off, if you get that stick out of your ass and don’t look at what an anime skips/misses from the manga but rather how it brings that same story to the table in a new way.

You need to be the type that thinks like ‘Cool they made an anime about Attack on Titan.. that means more Attack on Titan’ rather than be the type that goes ‘Okay let’s see if this anime does my beloved manga justice’  If you can look without having a list of checkboxes I’d say this is a unique anime experience that no other method can offer, but honestly.. I’d rather buy manga of an anime I love than the other way around.

Anime series in its own can be rather random, so randomly selecting the randomness seems like quite a fitting way to go about things. Of course it’s chaos of the utmost level. It’s the equivalent of that Harry Potter Jelly Bean stuff.  Every flavour beans! Anime is so fast and wide that you can experience Foie Gras while you never heard of it (it’s delicious even it’s a no-no) but you also can go “Alas.. Ear Wax”  It sounds incredibly fun!  Let’s investigate!

Positives

People tend to really stick inside a comfort zone, this applies to both the ones viewing the anime as the ones recommending it. People usually are very careful about what they pick! It’s always .. “something similar too” or something with a high MAL score (which can be a whole selection method of its own but I am including it here if you can read between the lines)   In my experience.. everything that gets a super high MAL score is great.. yet at the same time is also catered to everybody. Which in my opinion means it will not resonate as strongly with me as an anime that cater to a sentiment I love. Take Dragon Quest : Your Story for example. So many people hate the ending but I love it so much!  Not per se designwise.. but the sentiment. That feeling that something is made for you!

In general you do not get that from  the high scoring anime. You do not get that from what a friend recommends (unless they really really know you!) That can only happen by you searching the internet yourself and even that is biassed towards your self proclaimed like pattern.  You might overlook something great. While Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is quite well known I discovered it by accident. A friend asked for fun for a Kamina hugging pillow, she did not recommend the show to me as she felt it might be to weird for me as a rookie! I only saw a picture of the guy and by searching I stumbled on the show not knowing what it was. I watched it to make sure I had the right person in mind for who Kamina was ! Within two days I saw the entire show! That to me is the magic of anime and that to me is an experience I almost uniquely get from watching something randomly.  I knew Magical Index was fairly good, so even though I recognize it I never get that blowing back expectations sensation. It’s fine about what I expected

Selecting Random Anime is also a great way to pick anime to watch with your friends.. because I tried about seven times before by vote and the discussions that arrive with all putting in picks we hardly make progress. They either hard refuse to watch anything but their own pick.. or are just in a different mood from you and might not feel like Isekai..while you don’t want a standard Shounen etc. This way it’s always a completely neutral unbiased pick and that can give you some sense of rest, no conflict , just blisfull chaos The best thing! There is a website to do this with the click of a button and you can even specify if you want a dub , a sub or pick a genre if you still want some inkling of control!  You can select a random anime right here.

Negatives

Where all other forms I posted have some form of control this one does not. It can recommend a very good show.. but it can also make you watch one of the worst anime ever rated on MAL. There is no way to tell.. well it actually tells you the MAL score.. but if you play it in honesty and abide by the rules of randomness this one has by far the biggest chance to waste your time. Now I am a loon that really commits herself to these things in order to discover. When I am on vacation in a foreign country and I do not know a certain dish in a restaurant that is the one I am getting. This left me with a few painful experiences and random anime will not be any different.. I am very lucky in this usually though.. most bad stuff came from random cooking at home. Regardless if anything is going to waste your time.. this method is it!

It is also  is probably the least social anime pick ever. Where your own pick can at least allow for some discussion by picking a vaguely familiar sounding name, no one will really discuss Record of Lodoss or Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl with you. It might make interesting blog topics.. but I am not sure how well random anime reviews would work. You could try and risk wasting even more time but who knows it might be the next hot new trend.  Obviously I am going to try reviewing completely random anime I even already rolled for what I have to watch before next week’s post! I have no idea what it will be about! I just wrote down the name! What it is I will keep secret! To avoid spoilers.. even though by the time this post has gone life I probably already have seen it. So I do need to get back how heavy this negative will turn out to be! Just a suspicion for now!

Advise

So guess what, I hyped myself up for completely random anime selection! This seems something really fun I want to try now.. but that’s because of the person who I am. I wonder why I haven’t done this before! Well for one I did not know about the website but still! Basically if you rolled your eyes when reading this section title, this isn’t for you. If you went oooooh  and did an eyebrow lift in intrigue this one’s for you. If your face did not move I challenge you  use the website and pick a random anime!  Write us about your random experience! I know I will! A post I will try to knock out for next week! I will watch the first five episodes of a random anime and will tell you if I will pick it up and watch more! Yay! I am so happy I am doing this.. so while I I can think of a few more methods to pick your anime, I will get to those somewhere along the road! Until then I am going to be random!

Preview Sutorandopinki: Pinkie’s Very own Manga

I felt like doing something different today and so I played around a bit in Photoshop. Even if I am not using any original art, I managed to “collage” my way into a concept for a Manga.  It is Called. Suturandopinki: I stranded in Paradise now I have to save the internet with smiles. Today I want to give you a preview.

Plot Summary

A young woman is shipwrecked..hearing the mysterious voice of a woman she calls Bean the girl wakes up on a tropical Island.  Soon she befriends a beach ball and a duck who tell her all about the evil lord Shikamettsura, who is trying to destroy all the happiness of the way bigger.. and much more crowded “Internet Island. Since the evil Lord banishes everything happy.. and it ends up on the island of the girl she decides to build a resort with i, which the citizens of internet Island can visit to experience happiness still. Now a thorn in Shikamettsura’s sight, the woman nicknamed Pinkie and her friends have to discover the magical power of smiles to face the dark minions and to keep happiness alive.

The plot is obviously based on my website and what it stands for. Taking inspiration from both elements of my real life and my blogging life and topping it with anime sauce and plenty of renames.  It might feature spoofs of other bloggers, youtube personalities and other things. All in good spirit of course. My wordpress journey.. the imaginative Manga retelling is what this will be.

Art

As I am not an artist this is all repurposed art I found elsewhere. Most characters will be done in a simple and easily to mimic style and I will make sure to not include detailed OCs or art in it.  I will try to stick to to chibi maker characters and basic art as much as possible. Should you want your OC feature in this feel free to ask. I do not claim any of this art as my own I simply wish to express myself in a way that might be enjoyable for my readers as well as be fun for me to make. Again everything I do I try to do in good spirit and to have fun.

Release Schedule

When will I release it?  I am not yet sure! I think I will release it on my blog in ten page episodes as each page does take a long time for me to make. So it will be done when it is done and I will work on it whenever I feel inspired. So you will all just have to wait and see when it will be released….surprise!  To get you in the spirit a bit however I have a three page .. and title page preview for you all. Like any Manga you read from Right to left.Enjoy the preview! And remember to keep smiling!

Preview

The Cover Art
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

A Sunny Sunday: The Sunshine Blogger Award

It’s finally time! About a week ago we we nominated for the Sunshine Blogger award. With lots of social stuff I had to attend as some really sore muscles throughout the entire week it took me seven whole days to get to this.  Once more I would like to thank A Girl and her Anime for the nomination. I have handed the questions to reporter Pinkie Cherryblossom who will hold a short interview.

Thank you Pinkie! Amelia  from A Girl And Her Anime came up with these questions so mad props to her! Would you kindly visit her blog? Since I said “Would you Kindly?”  it means you all are going to have to do it! She writes some pretty insightful stuff as well as some fun reviews. She seems like an amazing person that deserves more followers. Then again she might be an alien mastermind coming to earth trying to charm way to an otaku army, you never know. Yet what are the chances that two of those happen to have the exact same idea and even follow each others blog. So nevermind that I am sure she is awesome! Moving on!

The Sunshine Blogger award has some rules which I will post near the end. I’d say most of you by now have seen these post before now anyway so I am sure you know. Let’s get down to these questions Pinkie if you please take a seat I will ask us the questions Amelia came up with. Even though she tagged 11 bloggers the first question she came up with seems to be made JUST for us! So thank you for that one!
Question number one is…..!

If you were a Pokémon, what sort of Pokémon would you be?

I wish I could say I was a Sylveon..It’s all about love and that is really big for me, and with a lot of pink and cute ribbons it is totally my style. It’s a bit of my spirit animal. However my friends always call me Pancham, because it’s a Panda. It has become a meme on how pure my mind is, I never understand sex jokes, I never get inuendo and I am honestly not all that interested in the physical stuff to a point of not at all. To my friends amusement I always seem to miss any lewd moments as well. If we are watching an anime, the moment I get up there will be a risque scene, when I get back the scene is over.  When two friends are making out.. I get distracted by a butterfly passing outside and completely miss it. One night a friend was joking and asking ‘What if Pinkie does see something lewd? Will the universe explode?’ He wanted to put something on his tv but at that exact moment the batteries of his remote control were drained. That’s when I became the ultimate Panda. So my Pokémon would have to reflect that as well. I really do feel like I would be a fairy-type though so lets say I am a regional form Pancham that is a Fairy-Psychic type (A nice counter part to the dark-fightingy type, pangoro grows into)  also to reflect I really like Kawaii stuff but also to play mind games with people.I would have pixilate as an ability.. because I’d love to make normal stuff cute and I could still show my love throughout the move Return that way!
That is a move that deals more damage if the Pokémon loves it’s trainer a lot. If I like you well enough I will fight super hard for you, so it seems like a great fit.

Do  you play video games? If so what have you been playing recently?

Well will not cheese this one and say I have been playing Pokémon Let’s Go, Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Ultra Sun… I do but those are all like stuff I normally talk in this blog about. What I have been playing most recently is Ducktales Remastered. Ducks are some of my favorite animals. When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother what will I be? She sighed and just put on Disney. Ducktales was one of the first TV shows I ever loved. To this day I have fuzzy memories and I ADORE the 2017 remake. Because I was a total dojikko (a clumsy girl)   when I was young, because it would turn out there was something wrong with, I never really liked playing outside. It would always end up with me falling from or into something. If that didn’t happen I would get stuck somewhere. It was stressful. So my parents decided to buy me a NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) with Super Mario Bros 3 and Ducktales as starting games. Mario 3 was nice, but I was in love with Ducktales. It was Shovel Knight, 25 years before Shovel Knight and it was the game that turned me into a gamer. Like a lot of games it has gotten a remake that I played with a friend once (at their place) but now it is being pulled of the market and going away for ever. So shout out to Kurtis for gifting me this one!

What is your favorite colour: Any particular reason why it’s your favorite?

Pinkie’s favorite colour is pink! I bet you didn’t see that one coming if you have ever been to my blog. Pink has a deeper meaning to me though then just being cute. I never grew up very girly, due to my faulty build the other girls and I grew apart, as my lack of grace resulted in me not really liking the stuff they liked and feeling happier with a controller in my hand. I could exert an amount of control over my actions in games I lacked in real life.  So I became a bit of a tomboy/loner/geek with teenage mutant ninja turtle shirts and the likes in an attempt to at least belong somewhere.. like being that girl that is one of the guys but who was never accepted as one either and a lot of bullying ensued .. mostly because I moved so weirdly . Itt took me many years to find that out and just around the time I was finally becoming me around when I was 22. I started to experiment with pink clothes. Around that same time I got very sick, my muscle issues seemed to tax my heart now as well. We didn’t exactly know what was wrong so I had to visit a lot of hospitals At the time I had a pink pyjama and pink bathrobes . In the hospital it’s not that hard for you to feel like just a number or patient X. I wasn’t at one ward each time I was at different places so it even felt more like that. It very much looked like there wasn’t going to be a future for me at all at that time which resulted in a bit of an existential crisis that I would die and no one would remember, that I would be a person that is truly gone straight away. Yet I got a bit better, a medicine was found that helped me greatly.  Doctors a lot more positive began to refer to me by my super pink look, calling me Pinkie. I developed a persona alongside it as a coping mechanism which turned out to be much closer to my actual core self.. but not as afraid and held back by the bullying i received in the past. It represented my repressed self, my true self and ever since that time I connect pink to the strength to be me the freedom to be me.

What is your favorite thing to do during summer?

Sorry about the long answers before this one! Amelia sure picked her questions neatly! There was a lot of stuff to tell.  My favorite thing to do during summer is stroll around on a boulevard on the late evening, the sun warming my muscles, the feeling of a vaction you can have while strolling through a place where everything seems to move just a tiny bit slower than it normally would, seeing that bit of heat distortion way ahead towards your destination. Just by the look of the sky being able to tell that tomorrow is going to be another great day The freedom and the level of comfort are great. Shall I go out with some friends for a drink? Shall I buy that cute purse in the window tomorrow. I love all those things , but that toasty summer stroll where everything is still possible is my favorite moment.

Ghibli is obviously very popular , but what movie do you think is the most overrated?

Honestly? I think all of them are at least a bit overrated. I do like them quite a lot but I do find some of them a bit overly artsy as well. They might impress me more than your average film, they might have the stronger messages behind them but I for one prefer to be entertained .
The Wind rises i saw in a premiere for example. With messages what we should not let technology pass us by and creative choices like having all engines be made by voice effects to make them sound more warm and personal is great. I sit there and nod my head going! Good Show that is impressive. When I watch the second Gurren Laggan movie I am not thinking , wow that’s impressive or  that is such a clever allegory. No when I watch that movie I am shouting at my screen. “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE” , extending my hand to help Giga drill break and in their first movie, when Simon and Kamina Gatai for the first time I am like kicking the floor in a giddy excitement. Ghibli can make me laugh, and it can make me cry but it can never take me on a real roller coaster of emotions. They feel like the Louvre museum of anime. Mad respect to the Louvre.. but when I am in Paris I much rather go to Disneyland

If you could travel back in time, when you travel and why?

Tokyo 1991. The Gameboy has just come out and Satoshi Tajiri will soon talk to Miyamoto about developing the link cable, during which they would talk about transferring insects. A concept that would  lead to development of Pokémon. I plan to go there and steal their pitch! So I can own the Pokémon IP, of course I would still entrust Game Freak with the idea after, but think of all the money I would have and I would be the princess or queen even of Pokémon. Sure I could help the world by altering a historic event but that’s boring!  I am going to be honest, I’d rather be rich than a hero, I deserve some good times as well.

As a the new leader of a country, what is the first law you introduce?

This is a hard one, I could spout some idealistic nonsense that is never going to happen anyway like ‘everyone’ is forced to love each other but this is not enforceable and it would  kill individuality if it works. No I would instead create the ‘my opinion’ law . It’s a harsh one as it would forbid any form of social influencing media from phrasing their opinions as facts.
‘People who can’t play Tracer should be shot … would be an illegal titel for your post. ‘I think people who can’t play Tracer should be shot’  would be fine. A lot of negativity in this world comes from big youtubers saying something is bad, convincing people their is only one correct opinion, if creates conflict and division. When we forbid people to claim their opinions as factual and make them say that this is only their opinion, it is much harsher to cause harm to anyone.  Don’t believe in a non-binary gender system? Saying “there is only males and females is hurtful’ hearing ‘In my opinion gender IS binary’ might be disappointing but is never hurtful. Both offender and offensee can realise there are two sides to this coin. We can learn to respect each others opinions because they are forced to be spoken out as such. A single opinion never has the power to change you, you can however choose to heed the opinion. So gone with the Count Dankula’s in this world and goodbye to “you are stupid and should die”  In my nation you’ll read “I think you are stupid and should die instead’ It already stings less, and over time maybe we can fix this weird ass Political Correct purgatory we are creating for ourselves.  and actually start being ourselves rather than our newly invented emblem or classical stereotype. If we know our enemies are just giving their opinon, we can hug them better.

Have you been reading anything lately?

I’ve been reading the Pokémon Adventures Manga as well as a bit of Is This A Zombie?It’s been a while since I read an actual good book. I’ve been trying to read Dan Brown’s origin but I don’t have a lot of positive things to say about that one. I’ve also been reading the D&D 5th GM manual and player handbook a lot! Those are technically books.  Finally I have been reading all of your blogs, they are all amazing, yours is even a little better than that of my others readers but that is a secret between us two okay?

Tell us about your favourite film

I actually have two. My regular answer to what my favorite movie is would be.  Catch me if you can.   I love the story of the young con-artist pretending to be a pilot, lawyer and doctor. Dicaprio portrays Frank Abagnale perfectly.  Tom Hanks playing the FBI agent who is after him is done exceptionally well, I root for both sides I watch the movie. It’s such a compelling story with a great soundtrack, stellar acting and basically anything a girl can wish for in a good movie. It’s definitely my favorite good movie and if you haven’t seen it yet you should definitely check it out.

My REAL favourite movie however would have to be Tommy Wisseau’s the room. The BEST worst movie ever. It is such a cringeworthy watch each time, yet it has become so much more than just a film to me.  I crossplayed Wiseau, I met people because of the movie, I went to special theaters, I carry plastic spoons when I see it. Whenever I see a small dog I go “hi doggie” even if I actually speak dutch. It gave us jokes inside our group of friends. We are even considering organising “tommy con’ It will not be an actual convention, it will just be fans of the movie gathering in a park.. dressed in a suit, tossing american footballs around. For those who don’t know what the Room is? The Room tells the story about Johny, and all American man (with a bit of an accent) who gets cheated on by his wife when his promotion falls trough. There are some other plothooks like a mother in law with cancer, which is never addressed, a  young boys issues with drugs, which isn’t really addressed or rounded out, characters appearing and vanishing from thin air… and random people who don’t live there having sex on the couch. There is a lot of spoons hidden in the movie as well as well as tossing the football. it is atrociously bad and almost unwatchable and I love every minute of my own.. and the friends I watch it with suffering.  James Franco made a movie about how bad this movie is called the disaster artist and that one was just as great.  All the stories surrounding The Room, make it something greater.

Put your music on shuffle. What are the first three songs to play?

My father was a musician and he always tried to force his music onto me, I never rebelled much as a teen, but I kinda rebelled to music in general,. Now I mostly listen weeaboo music or geek music. I never play any pop music or anything.  So I will just share the last tracks I listened trough videos.   

And one bonus song! Because it started playing right after and I felt bad in leaving this one off!

If you were to suggest an anime I had to watch, what would you recommend?

Way too known to be a proper suggestion would be Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, it’s my favorite anime ever by a landslide. A giga drill breaker caused landslide, that one is just so friggin amazing I have to actively try not to soil myself in excitement. However because it’s that amazing I think everyone in the world already knows about it and follow the Gospel of Kamina and Simon so the thing I am gonna recommend is…..
Selector Infected Wixoss.

A slightly more obscure 2014 anime about cute girls battling with cards to get their wish granted.  If you win 3 card battles you get your wish granted, if you lose 3 you’ll lose your wish forever as well as the little buddy that dwells inside your main card.Yet no one knows the true and dark secrets about this card battle game. The anime starts out incredibly slow but once the story starts rolling you have an extremely dark story that brings Madoka and Yu-gi-oh together  in a grim tale. Do not expect a happily ever after when you start this one because this goes in the shadows, this isn’t cute girls playing a children’s card game… this is some serious doodoo. The characters are nice and though nothing to special they work and you pelted with a million of them . If you like Madoka, and if you like to a slower moving story filled with intrigue and mystery, with the pay off mostly in the later half of the series, then this is a series  you should watch.

The Nominees!

Now I have to nominated 11 others bloggers to answer my questions and hand them this award. Honestly tracking down he wants a nomination or who has been nominated has become way to much work so I just picked those who I really want to ask these questions  too and those who deserve a little sunshine. And the Nominees are!

I know this is 12 but I am pretty sure Mallow or someone on this list went on a hiatus. so it should be fine! Congrats guys! You have been nice for me, provided me some neat content, impressed me or all! of the above!

The Rules

Now there are 5 rules , with me completely ignoring one because I do promoting my stuff on others blogs.
Rule number 1 Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their site so people can visit their website.
(Feel free however to ignore my entire nomination if you don’t want to to the award thing. I mainly picked some blogs I liked and which I felt would answers my questions in a funny way, could use some love or I have really seen working hard on their blog in the past few weeks, you wont have seven years of bad luck or something for not doing it)
Rule Number 2:  Answer the 11 questions your nominator, that would be me, asked in your post.
Rule Number 3 : Nominate 11 others bloggers and write up 11 new questions for them to answer.
Rule Number 4: Notify the nominee by commenting about the nomination on one of their posts.  (I linked recent posts of everyone so you get a notification rather than me going of topic in your comment box)
Rule Number 5: Display the Sunshine Blogger logo and list the rules!
Now for my questions, I made them a bit harder than your regular “what is your favorite” anime.  Just to see what kind of folks you actually are . Have fun!

The Questions

1. Is your blogging personality true to yourself or have you made some changes in the way you present yourself?
2. If you HAD to choose between the following which option would you pick? -Grant everyone in the world one year of perfect happiness.  -Grant your best friend in the whole wide world a lifetime full of happiness? Motivate your answer.
3. Do you still have a childhood toy you kept? If not which one do you regret giving up?
4.What do you like LEAST about our lovely blogging community?
5. You have to swap two main characters from (anime) series around.. for example Naruto and Goku… who would you choose and which of the series would you want to watch more.
6. If I gave you 50 dollars , (US)  what would you buy from it? You HAVE to spend it.
7. You have to direct a tv commercial for yourself, how would it go?
8. You had some time and money to spare to make a commercial for ME, how would that go?
9. Ranger, Bard, Paladin, Fighter, Rogue  Wizard, Druid or Cleric! What would be your class, (not your favored D&D class) define yourself as one of these classes. 
10. If you are a trading game card, which trading card game would you be in and what would be your effect?.
11. If you could run any other blog site for a week? Which blog would you choose and why?

This finishes my biggest post so far!  Remember participation is by choice , no need to actually do this if you do not want!  Don’t want to participate in the sunshiny goodness, or did you not make my list? Let me get to know you and answer up to two of these in the comments .
Remember little monsters
I am not weird just very pink!
Until we read again.







The Pokémon Adventures Manga

Hey little monsters, happy weekend to you all!
It’s Saturday so anything goes! Which is a perfect summary for the topic I would like to talk about. The Manga depiction of Pokémon is….different to say the least.  Those who are used to the regular games and anime are in for a wild ride. Like I said before in the manga, anything goes. This series is written by Hidenori Kusaka and illustrated by Mato.

A different shade of Red
The manga starts of introducing us to red, which looks quite a bit like the game boy sprite, but not a lot like the boy we came to identify as Red. First of all, this guy has already been a Pokémon trainer. He and his pokemon Poli, the Poliwhirl are shown demonstrating how capturing pokémon works.  He catches a Nidorino, just from the four opening pages of the manga you already know this story is going to be totally different. Red already has access to some two evolved mon’s after all. Or does it? Red doesn’t seem to take the Nidorino on his journey after all, once again establishing we are dealing with a different kind of beast.
Sharing his love for Pokémon with both Ash and game-R (gR after this for convenience) he is also a lot more arrogant. Seeing a mysterious trainer we know to be Blue battling a Mew he gets extremely angered when the rival withdraws his charmander to keep it safe after he realises Mew is to strong. Sending in Poli, Red gets completely destroyed. Much to his disbelief that he could possibly lose. In many ways he resembles Blue from the games more than he does gR. Yet a different protagonist is only the tip of the iceberg. 

A different set of rules
I will try not to spoil too much but I will address some basic plot outlines which are fairly common knowledge. So though these won’t actually spoil the outcome of events I will name a few events. We won’t go into spoiler territory just yet though, not until the next block but warning people ahead of time seems like the nice thing to do.  First we will talk about some of the rules of the series though, these are quite different from both anime and game. Biggest changes is that attacks actual DO what they should do. Slash doesn’t just do damage it rips flesh apart. A self destructing Pokémon does not faint… it gets blown to smithereens and is dead. In the anime an attack does health point damage. If a Pokémon gets hit in the face, that damaged is spread over the entire body. In the manga you can target specific body parts to blind or cripple making damage a lot more visceral. Damage matters. As a result , this leads to a somewhat secondary rule. Pokémon in the manga are a lot more throwaway. It’s by no means impossible for them to die in battle and people sort of accept it. Early in the series we see a Pokémon that looks like it fell apart. Several pieces being scattered throughout a ring. Though not confirmed it is actually dead,by everything we see later in the series, it should be. People cheer for the victor regardless that the arena now is filled with pokemon parts. Maybe that specific pokemon can survive stuff like that but later we see pokémon get cut in half and be actually dead.  Their trainer just abandons it without remorse, only feeling bad about losing. Owned Pokémon can also be captured by other trainers as long as they are not in control of said monster. That whole game mechanical aspect the anime copied is no where present here. This is a more realistic approach to Pokémon. Evil guys will attack trainers and attempt to kill them as much as they will try to knock out their pokemon, whatever wins them the battle. This results in a much more exciting world where there is a lot more to lose and to gain. You can’t just battle until your pokemon gets spinny eyes, you have to actually be careful and protect them from harm. So for those who like Pokémon but do not like the low stakes, this manga is an excellent read.

A different story (mild spoilers)Though the manga still tells about Red getting his Pokedex and getting send out by Oak to catch as many pokémon possible this story has a completely different tone. Where gR’ and Ash’s journey feels like it is about catching them all, Red’s journey here feels a lot more altruistic. Respectively meddling with the Rocket Situation a whole lot more , he feels more heroic than his two counterparts. Quickly we discover that this world isn’t as nice and happy as those others we grew up with. Many gym leaders work for Team Rocket, like lieutenant Surge and master Koga. This manga is also not about challenging those to honourable combat. Many of the gym challenges are more presented like obstacles for Red to overcome, once done so he doesn’t need to do it in a gym. If he defeats an evil gym leader Red wil loot the badge from their (unconscious?) body. No gym puzzles and at times not even a gym. Defeating your opponent is all that matters. We get a feeling that this Red is saving the world and on his path to become the champion in doing so. This feeling is even further enforced in later installments of the series with the Elite Four trying to destroy the world and removing some main characters for a large part of the series. Though never going completely over the top dark the series does enough to make the stakes feel real. Establishing much more flawed main characters, with Red being quite ignorant and arrogant, Blue being massively uptight and controlling and Green being a swindler and thief. Yes Green is in this series as well, she is a great character that I wish we could see more off. Yellow is introduced near the end of the first series and this time it’s a she as well. While the first series focus on Red becoming the champion while he fights Team Rocket, the second series follows Yellow on her quest to defeat the elite 4. This means the Elite 4 are not part of the league challenge, instead it’s a tournament much more like in the anime. Keeping that more realistic feeling to it as well. The orders badges are acquired is very different (though starting similar) and the journey throughout Kanto takes a fairly different route then what you are used to. All in all, except for some staples, this is a completely new thing.

A different Style
The manga unlike the anime has quite a quick pace. A bikerace is resolved in a single issue. Pikachu terrorising a town, done in an episode.  Same goes for nearly every battle. Though some may like battles for a large span of manga I vastly prefer this format. It makes the manga so easy to pick up. You don’t need to keep track of where you left off, this is just nice series of mini adventures that have some more oomph to them compared to those we see in the anime. No adventure feels pointless, they all contribute but they are just as easy to resume a week or a month after reading your last one as they are to binge. Visually , though I am not a fan of Red’s design the battles are appealing, although somewhat confusing. Due to the fast pacing, and much like in the games, battles are decided by a few moves. Yet the manga can depict a move in a single still frame, just to move to the aftermath and let you fill in the blanks. Which means at times it can be hectic and it would be preferable if you had some notion of how these attacks work and thus some pokémon knowledge  to fill in the blanks. Then again, their names are pretty descriptive. What the manga manages to capture perfectly though is the intense visceral style of battling. It doesn’t shy away from depicting a rotten zombie psyduck (yes that’s a thing) as it is supposed to. We can see eyes shriveled up in the socket and bones sticking out the softening decaying flesh. We can see pain when a human is hit by an electric attack and fear when said person is tossed of a certain ship paralysed. Even the comical scenes get a bit of gravitas around them. A snorlax chasing a honey covered bulbasaur is cute… but there are consequences to when it goes wrong preventing the comedy from ever becoming slapstick. The batman like “CHOOOOM”S   and “FWOOOOOOF’s when a move connects convey their respective typings great as well. If you ever not only want to see the power that’s inside pokémon but also feel it.. the manga is the place for you.

She’s sweet but she’s psycho!
Normally I am not the biggest manga fan. Anime is just a much more a full experience to me. Not only does it offer the visuals, it offers the soundtrack to go with it, the emotions in the voices. I do get the appeal of a manga and your imagination filling in the blanks but I just can’t get myself to consume as much manga as i can with anime.  Yet this manga seems to be exactly made for me, with short chapters, nicely divided hurdles for the hero to overcome bound by the length of the medium. It makes it into an ideal little snack. With a good balance of lightheartedness and a world filled with more tangible risks and a whole lot of additional villainy it makes for one of the most compelling pokémon narratives know.  The art may not always be that impressive and in fairness the pokémon, aside from Pika the pikachu do not show a ton of personality. Saur and Poli have their moments but you will never truly be able to grasp what they are like.  The whole communication skit is left behind, pokémon appear and do their thing and occasionally give Red a certain look to convey how they are feeling. Which are single panel interactions. It manages to create a not so static pokémon world, a world of duality. A world of childlike wonder and whimsy, while being mature and somewhat grim as well. Exploring things none of the other media cared to explore. While Ash journey, i tend to remember the beginning, with Red’s journey I mostly remember the middle, when the tonal shift begins to take place and when i first saw that rotting Psyduck. Oddly enough that image was the thing that told me I had found yet another Pokémon thing I could enjoy but something that is very different.

So ends yet another post and we have discovered yet another thing to love about Pokémon.
With a  poisonous gas alert for my home area , I found myself quarantined for a large chunk of the day. I actually read a bit more the manga! Dang..Red gets the harsh end of the stick in some later parts! I shall surely venture deeper into Yellow now and possibly further beyond. Have you ever read the manga? Let me know, and leave a like before I sick zombie Psyduck on you all… Mwuhahahahaha.
Stay Pink

X

Mewtwo: The pokemon that can defeat god!

A boop on your snoot little monsters! Nice to have you reading this post
Another Monday , another Mon-Day. Time to discuss another little beastie in depth.
Today I have chosen to pick at least one that is at least a favorite of one of my followers, but I do think there will be more fans out there. The pinnacle of human creations, Mewtwo.

Dark Origins
Mewtwo was the first “final” pokemon in our games, the anime and movies connected it highly to team rocket, and since at least in Europe we got the anime before we got the game, Mewtwo has always seem very ominous, but with a few misconceptions. Many believe that Team Rocket has created this Pokémon, but this isn’t true at all. The true creator of Mewtwo is Mr Fuji and his science team. Mister Fuji is that nice guy , you meet in lavender town, who ends up giving you his Pokéflute after you put Marowaks soul to rest. He has shown great care for Pokémon and even orphans in general. However, it turns out this sweet little old man, at least in the past, wasn’t that nice after all. He was involved in some shady business. Going on an expedition to capture mew, to obtain it’s dna  and from it create an embryo , which they would genetically alter to create the ultimate pokémon. The story here gets a bit vague as we have come conflicting sources, some claim that Mewtwo was grown in a testtube some say that Mewtwo was grown inside Mew, the manipulated embryo being placed back inside mew so it would carry it’s altered child. What we DO know for sure is that on the 6th of February Mewtwo was born.

The picture of the other birth was a bit to ikcy.

Research Disclaimer
Before I move any further, a little explanation on how things will be compiled.  Only sources set in at least a remotely similar world to the game will be used. Humans and Pokémon both have to live there, with pokeball technology being a thing. Any lore from for example the mystery dungeon universe or the mobile game Pokémon Quest..alongside any fan made games, are not taken into consideration. Conflicting variations will be reported, however for the sake of cohesiveness we will not consider alternate timelines. If the anime shows something that isn’t explored at all in the games, it will be the only thing we go on and use it to sketch our profile of Mewtwo without constantly mentioning which source says what.  That would not make this a fun read, nor would it tell us much about mewtwo if we only use one source. So let’s drop the judgment hammer and just enjoy a cool story about a cool pokémon.

Pinkie’s Science Seal of Approval

A living weapon
Mewtwo is a bipedal feline-human like pokemon of extraordinary power. It’s coloured in a  pale gray and purple colour scheme, it’s fingertips being balled as well as an appendix connecting his head to it’s lower back give it an alien like  and ominous appearance. The shiny variation of mewtwo holds a military/natural green colour similar to the shiny colours used on many purple Pokémon, Espeon possibly being the best comparison. Both purple and green looks succeed in giving mewtwo this incomprehensible, what the frizzestick is this kind of look.  You know when you see a Mewtwo something is not ‘right’ about it Which is completely true. Mewtwo in it’s very core has been designed to be “not right’. It was just designed to be the ultimate pokemon battler. This meant it had to be modified , to not have any compassion. That is exacyly what Mr  Fuji did, he created a pokémon with remorse or compassion, so it would never lose focus at the task at hand.
They also killed Mew’s free roaming spirit from it’s design. Where we see Mew as something that likes to play and fly around in swirls and loops and the likes, Mewtwo was modified to not move when not needed, to conserve all his strength for battle.
Think of it like designing a chicken but instead of making it happy it can walk, it just sits there focussing on laying eggs. Any offspring it would create it would not care for..because it’s detrimental to what it was actually made for… making eggs for consumption. This is basically what Mewtwo is designed to be ..an emotionless, organisms only designed to deliver a product, in this case..battle victory. A weapon, that may live, but never was meant to have a life.

My ex-mother-in-law used to have those eaxct same eyes!

Evil eliminator or misunderstood antagonist?
One would say the difference between the game and the anime would create the biggest lore conflict, however this is not the case when we try to understand Mewtwo’s story. Though the manga depicts him as much more gruesome then the more commonly accepted media, that is a style spread throughout the whole series. With Pokémon death or trainer death actually incurring on a semi-regular basis. The world in the anime is much more gruesome and everyone is adapted for it. Mewtwo as well, but though he may completely destroy Blaine’s arm, Mewtwo’s motivations seem to stay fairly true at the source. Mewtwo is NOT the person who we Westerners believe him to be. He actually isn’t THAT evil.  In the first Pokémon movie we see Mewtwo trying to destroy humanity with a large storm, his nihilistic cruel outlook on live , making him a classic archetype villain, the likes of Frieza from dragon ball Z for example. Only to have a change of heart when Ash dies.
However if we look at the “first” first Pokémon movie, we can see that this is actually not true.
‘But Pinkie, Mewtwo was the first first Pokémon movie!’ Yes.. dear reader you are right, however there is a MASSIVE difference between the japanese version, which outdates the western version. In the original version Mewtwo isn’t as evil He is a much more naive and conflicted pokemon that simply fails to feel any positive emotions, who is acting based on what he has seen so far. His motivations do not come from a deep hate of humankind, it stems more form a hate for those who harmed him and intents to stop the hurt people but pokemon trough. By force of course because that is all he knows.

Ash using a fighting move on a psychic type, and we wonder why he never became champion!

Human DNA
It is theorised that in order to make the ultimate Pokémon, it was infused with human DNA. The fact that Mewtwo looks a lot more human than Mew and the fact that there weren’t many  other human like pokemon, let alone in their league is pretty compelling evidence towards said theory. People also use the fact that he can speak “human” as evidence for the theory. However that last one is poppycock! Mewtwo talks to people through telepathy, one can easily argue that when you project an idea in someone’s mind it will always be in the language you speak..because your brain would translate the electric pulse into ideas for you.
Pokemon also seem to understand humans extremely well, since Ash can tell Pikachu to sit on a bench and do three  somersaults, with the latter actually proceeding to do it. So it makes sense Mewtwo can project the language regardless.
However if we go back to “good guy mr Fuji”  and a deleted scene from the movie, once more evidence arises. In this scene we see Mewtwo floating in a tank alongside clones of the Kanto starters. In yet another tank however there is a young girl, mewtwo speaks too with telepathy, or at least is implied too. The young girl to be Fuji’s passed away daughter who he is trying to clone back. However the other clones deteriorate and die, mewtwo being the only one to survive. Heh,  I wonder why they decided to cut this scene from a kids movie.
From this scene however it is clear that human dna at least was present in the experiment making it plausible at least. The final evidence comes later into the series, when Mewtwo Y was revealed as the first mega evolution. However Mewtwo was able to evolve himself, while everyone needs a human for that. Perhaps because it is part human?

So adorable, baby mewtwo talking to a dead(ish) child.

The power to defeat a god.
Speaking of mega-evolutions, when Mewtwo obtained the power to go even further beyond he became more mighty than the god of the pokemon world itself. He outclassed lord Arceus himself. The potential of a pokémon in the games is expressed in base stat totals.  It’s a number to reflect how much stats a pokémon has without the meddling of any IV”s and EV”s.
Though not fully correct,due to how IV’s work let’s compare this with, how strong are they without a trainer. Regular Mewtwo’s base stat total of 680 was rarely matched, let alone surpassed in the games. However when Arceus was introduced it had a base stat of 720, and for the next few years Arceus ruled supreme. When Callum and Serena (protagonists of X and Y)  found Mewtwonite X or Y, it all changed. Mega Mewtwo became the first pokémon to surpass the god. Nowadays only accompanied by Mega Rayquaza at a grand total of 780.
This would mean that a wild Mewtwo can take Arceus in a fight.  Arceus arguably does have access to all types, and thusly would be able to play the type advantage game to keep the fight balanced. However here is where it gets scary. If we consider it’s human DNA, it would potentially mean that Mewtwo DOES have access to EV’s. Because only trainer owned Pokémon are able to get them. Mewtwo functioning due to its dna as their own master. Eliminating IV’s for the sake of.. he would not be able to reset himself, it would only grant him the ability to use the additional 510! (this is why EV training is important kids) stat points gained from EV training. Effectively that COULD mean that should a fight between Mewtwo and Arceus ensue, Mewtwo comes in at a power level of 1290 versus Arceus 720. Mewtwo being nearly TWICE as strong as Arceus in that case. If Mewtwo really does have human DNA the implications of a monster without sympathy being out there could be truly terrifying

Dillema! I only got 1 Master Ball

It’s not alone
If you ask people what their favorite legendary Pokémon is, they would most oftenly say Mewtwo, though Marshadow  is bound to get plenty of votes as well, its soooo good and super cute. Though technically still correct, it turns out Mewtwo might not even be a legendary pokemon. It would have to be the only one of it’s kind for that status in my book.
‘Well Pinkie there is only one..the one that escaped from the Pokémon Mansion on Cinnabar island’ No it’s not. The detective Pikachu movie , shown another Mewtwo being made in Rhyme city. Even if we don’t consider that particular mewtwo, even though it’s strongly implied to be set quite a few years in the future from Red and Blue,  the anime and even the games imply there is more than one. The Mewtwo captured in Kalos is never claimed to be the same one Red would have captured, given it’s lore and the fact that Red would know how it is, it seems rather unlikely he would release a monster like that anyway. The anime as well also strongly implies there are multiple mewtwo’s, both in the movies as in the tv series itself. Since it’s a perfect clone it doesn’t seem too unlikely that people who still have the research could try it again, someone recreated it or even Mewtwo itself made more of itself to fufill it’s ambition. Who or whatever did this is unknown but there is very likely more than one godslayer out their, their name is Mewtwo. All thanks to that kind Mr Fuiji

*Insert Pillar Men Theme*

Number 150 is to interesting to talk about in general to discuss battle sets and the likes, hes’s pretty much banned in each battle format anyway. If you do want a good build for Mewtwo you are always free to ask in the comments. What Pokémon would you like to see in the spotlight?
Please leave a like to make my day a little better and don’t forget to stay pink. 
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