Tag: Series

Pinkie Creates An Anime: Apple Inversion

It is time to create another new anime!  In each of the Pinkie Creates An Anime posts I ask you guys to come up with a random premise/topic as well as a seemingly unmatching genre for me to create an anime about! In my first entry Kuro-Queen, Fred suggested I should make a Slice of Life Anime about nudists! There is one problem though! I am about as far from a Nudist as Uniduckingly possible! I love clothed people! Way more than I like naked people…yet I buckled down and created a fun little concept of a show  I call… Apple Inversion!

Disclaimers

Cant Stop Me GIFs | Tenor

Like before I will draw inspiration from iconic bloggers, and maybe some VTuber friends at one point to draw inspiration for my characters!  I don’t ask you to associate in my blog in any way, and what I write doesn’t really have to reflect on you as a genuine character. Like many writers I take inspiration from real life and you aspire me… and it gives the community a fun chance to recognise which character is based on who! If you have a problem with me using a character inspired by you, let me know in the comments or reach out on Twitter and I will stop. 

To sell some general ideas I will use art form other shows mixed in with some occasional fan art here and there!  Because I use a lot of elements together it will be impossible for me to constantly credit all the original artists all the time. but if you are interested in a work feel free to reach out and I will tell you what I know!  I do not take  credit for any of the drawings.. at worst only for the composition of the “collage” 

A special disclaimer for this episode is that I will not include a lot of created art. I know I have a few minors reading blog and to be on the safe side of what is right , what is allowed and what is NSFW as the kids call it these days I decided to leave it up to the imagination!… Mostly! You know looing for “naked” art in combination with anime would force me to look at tons of porn.. and I am just not into that kind of stuff so I will mostly be using mannequins to convey ideas!

Finally this series would really benefit from audience interaction! I would love to be challenged by you with new ideas and writing challenges. So I do kindly request that if you read these things all the way through and you genuinely like this series that you leave a suggestion!  That being said I will also not let a lack of interaction be the end of this series! In the end this .. and not anime reviews … is what I love doing and if I can’t get audience reaction, I will create two wheels to spin with topics and genres for me to randomly combine! So don’t worry if you have no idea! This series will keep going either way!

The Set-Up

Ask John: What are the Best Vintage Fan Service Anime? – AnimeNation Anime News Blog

Alright.. let’s get this anime off the ground… First of all I do think a nudist anime would unfortunately be kind of hard to get launched. The big platforms probably would not launch it..because it has too much nudity!  So for this one I decided to make it a web based show! Something that can be hosted on nudist websites, and blogs like Fred’s or even mine.. where I can sometimes show the folly of mob mentality!  In a way the show would have a highly philosophical aspect to it!  Almost educational even.   Because of that I would really love it if it was done in a bit of an 80’s or 90’s anime style… with the less cutesy proportions and the much more humble but real colour pallets.  So characters would look more.. Gundam Wing like… or  maybe Cowboy Bebop’esque  rather than My Hero Academia.

The setting of this one is quite special!  To be honest.. I am not a nudist and I never will be, so I have no real idea about their struggles, their current community or their humble little rules.  I read some stuff on Au Naturel of course.. but I feel as a writer I can’t do that justice. So instead I decided to go for a somewhat different concept and go for a nudist anime in a much more “concept of nudism” way.. It will be set in two worlds!   The story will follow a hiking group of geeky bloggers that follow their tour leader Red Riser, an all american male who is a nudist for a hobby. Through an accident they will land in a different world.. a world people all walk naked!  The first half of the show will focus on this new world.. which is a parallel of our earth exactly. It will be set in a medium sized town, like Morioh from Jojo’s Part 4, or  like Springfield from the Simpsons… you  know one of those places that seems small but happens to have pretty much every location your story may require.  It will not be a real town.. and the town shall go by the name of Eden.

Jojo's Bizarre Visual Design on Twitter: "Morioh Sky Colors - Part 1… "

The First Episode

The show begins showing a man and a woman walking naked through a beautiful garden. They seem in love, they frolic around a bit when they cuddle up against each other next to a tree. The woman says she is hungry and the man decides to go look for some food. While the man is gone the woman hears someone calling out for her…a snake calls out to her and tells her that if she is hungry she should just eat an apple.  She is very tempted.. but she refuses to take the apple. Much to the snakes dismay. Then the man shows up again, carrying some tomatoes he found. The woman tells him about her encounter to the snake and as they wonder what would have happened if she had taken the apple… we see them imagine them being punished with shame.. and in their imagination we seem to be fast fowared to present day eden where a slightly grizzled tour guide..in full hiking gear has a big smile on his face… as he is followed by a strange little tour group.

Among the tour-group as a woman dressed in new ages clothes, she appears to be Red’s age give or take a few years. She seems pretty close with a girl wearing a pink wig and some Hime Lolita clothing. Then we see a stereotypical nerdy boy, who does the glasses pushings thing and asks Red.. where the Gunpla store in town is. The group is completed by a tomboyish girl who wears a sports tank top and a tracksuit… with prints of magical girls on them.. and a smaller stature dark skinned bald man.. with a purplish beard. As the group crosses the street we see an immense natural area with mountains and forest in front of them!  Eden National Park! “My stomping ground”  Red proclaims! “Autumn, if you can give Rosey, Rod, Rita and Rocky their maps.. and lunch kits we can get on our way. 

We then see a close up off the map and Indiana Jones style we see a line appear on the map as we see the group trek across a path. With the Hime-Lolita Cosplayer falling down a few times and the Fit girl hopping some boulders.  Eventually the group pauses in front of an apple tree, while having their lunch Rosey tries to swipe the dirt from her outfit when the apple she picked rolls away from her.. as she goes to pick it up she discovers a weird portal looking thing…at the back of this apple tree. She tells the group about it and they investigate. Rod theories it might be a wormhole like he has seen in many sci-fi anime, while Rita argues it might be a magical phenomena .. she could know because her best girl.. is a magical girl!  Red tests it by sticking one of those walking stick things through and it just goes past the barrier and gets back unharmed.

They decide it is best not to jump through strange portals…but then an accident in the mines nearby causes a mountain cave in and a rock slide.  Rosey who is not very fast.. and Autumn isn’t that fast neither know they will never make it to safety… Red as the tour leader then decides that their best bet is going through that portal.  As they go behind the portal  they seem to end up at the exact same spot.. confused they look around.. nothing has changed.. but when Red tries to stick his  walking stick through the portal again.. he hears the loud kachunk of it hitting rocks.. Wherever they are.. they are trapped here now!

Confused, the group tries to reorganise themselves. They notice they lost GPS signal… and their cellphones have no reach..but the hiking path is almost the exact same. Except for one detail… a small sign is placed near the tree that says it is forbidden to eat the fruit! Confused, the group tries to make their way back through town.. and when they get there… The townsfolk all look as strange at them as the group looks on  the townsfolk. except Red.. he looks delighted! The townsfolk are all naked. A man shows up.. a short and rotund cop.. kind of looking like Danny Devito.. he has a cop badge tattooed on his chest. He tells the group that it is forbidden to cover themselves as it is disrespectful to nature. Rosey screams in terror while Rod asks if the town at least has some Gunpla store! 

The Second Episode

Respect Mike Haggar (Final Fight): respectthreads

We then would move onto a bit of a timeskip!  We see Red sitting at a table with the mayor of the town, he looks like Mayor Haggar from Final Fight… of course they are both naked!  They are talking about how Red’s group is adjusting to their new lives and if the apartments provided to them are satisfactory. Red gives us some exposition that people have been slowly adapting. Rod has gotten a job , Lita is giving some fitness training to people and Rocky has been the emotional support that tries to pull everyone trough!   We see some clips of them doing their new things… naked.  Though some reservations in going out can still be seen. Red then sights and says “ except for Rosey who has fallen into a deep depression and refuses to leave her room” 

The mayor then asks Red to take him to her.. as they knock on her door. She opens the door but is rolled up in all the blankets of her bed she could find.  Looking deflated and kind of starved.  The Mayor and Red try to get trough to her.. with Red telling her.. that if it is because she was slightly more chubby then the others… there is no body shaming here!  It is okay!  Rosey gets quite angry with him and tells him that is totally not the reason. Unlike Rod and Rita she doesn’t feel shame about being naked.. she doesn’t care she HATES it.  She can not express her individuality! She hates uniforms.. and nakedness is just another uniform!  At least it is to her! She can’t choose her body. so she can’t express how she truely is.

The Mayor asks if she would like a tattoo, to make herself more unique and he will pay for it.. but Rosey just cries and tells she wants to go home!   The Mayor tells her that he sends people to check on the portal every day.. but the ruble in front of her Earth’s apple tree does not seem to be cleared up yet… he doesn’t know if it will!  She tells him that she still doesn’t want a tattoo, it doesn’t feel right for her.  She wants to adapt herself.. to reflect how she feels.. not some permanent marking. The mayor then thinks!  He gets an idea and tells her about an outing she might like.  That will help her be more unique!  She agrees to come and doesn’t really show shame for her naked body, nor does Red. Rocky tags along as her support and cheers her up.   Together they go perfume making!  

Mayor Harold tells her that clothes here are seen as an insult to nature!  Hiding what nature has given us! No other animals wear clothes.. so why would we put ourselves above them .. and nature.    Yet that doesn’t mean they can not distinguish themselves…many species use scents to attract a mate.. so perfumery business has been booming.  In Lucky Star style.. Everyone imagines what scents would compliment them best. Rosey decides on Raspberry’s Marshmallows and a hint of peach, while Red would like to smell of pine clay! Like  freshly treated soil!   


The group then goes on a cute little adventure to find all their ingredients showing off more parts of the nudist world. We see technology has developed somewhat differently!  For example we discover mankind has never been to space, when Red begins talking about his love for space travel…. Together they deduce that because Eve has never bitten into the apple, mankind never gave into sheer curiosity!  So science developed simply out of need or passion.  How can I seduce a man better, was investigated so perfumes are far more established and complex than in our own world,  heaters and medicine against pneumonia would be much further as well… yet stuff like space travel.. or atomic sciences have never been fully explored.

  Same goes for underwater technology!  Mankind never thought about putting clothes on people.. because it feels so unnatural.. they simply never thought about inventing a diving suit! Rosey wants to make a perfume for her best friend as well and decides she would smell like Nightshade and Roses.. but when trying to get the roses.. she realises.. there are not real garden gloves to cut them! YEt people developed a “pesticide”   for a rose to drop it’s thorns.. Much more complex.. but a much more logical solution in a world that never thinks about clothes.

Eventually we see Rosey cheer up a bit and open her own little perfume place called Pink’s perfumes. Rocky is seen across town flyering for it.. and he does it with so much zeal he kind of forgets to be awkward. Rosey makes some friends in town as time slowly begins to move past her depression again as we can see the seasons change. Ending the second episode of the show, we see the season change in our world as well. The hiking five however had very little ties in the old world.. so it is only discovered very late that they are gone!   Now we see a blogger from the other world notices that five blogs stopped on the same day, all announcing they would go on a hike!   An email is sent to the police asking if they could take a look . As we see our naked little group again.. this time everyone is smiling.

The Series picks up

In the first half of the series we see the group adjust to life in the naked world.  They will go bake pies for Halloween, but with no oven mitts they have to get used to baking pies with one of those long pizza baker stick shovel things. They even enter a pie baking competition.  We see an episode of Rod and Red hosting a “science fair” in town , trying to convince the mayor about the awesomeness of Rockets! While they also visit factories and discover all protective clothing has been replaced by some sort of other tech.  So while building their rocket, instead of hard helmets they have to find a way to install ceiling nets,  to everything that could fall, which would ensnare them for a comedic scene. We see Rocky and Autumn  doing a charity event, which would be like a Hallow’s Eve moonlight dance.  

 We get an episode of Rosey trying to use her perfuming knowledge to develop a more potent sunblock for the group!  The nudists of this world .. never hid their skin so they are much more tanned and don’t sunburn easily but they themselves do.  The town  also holds an  ice sliding event..  in the winter think of curling.. but with people just slipping themselves across the ice,  to land in a circle with points. Like those green soap slides.. mixed with the “new year’s dive”  Then drinking chili-infused hot coco to stay warm. We would see a lot of benefits from naked living as well. For example at one point Rod and Rita start dating, but because you already see each other naked.. that whole Will they won’t they.. and how do I get into those pants.. phase of dating doesn’t happen. People click more naturally and it’s much easier to tell if people are actually into each other.  

Eventually the group would be able to go back to their world and all would do so.. the road got cleared up and the portal was found.. the group got rescued around the start of the second half of the episode.  Rita and Rod get married pretty fast in the old world.. and everyone seems happy…. for a while.  Little by little we begin to notice trouble in finding satisfaction in their old lives.   Autumn  for example suddenly notices how much of the day goes by just by doing laundry, how much water she wastes to do so. Rod and Rita go to the beach and see their ugly tan lines.. and Rod having to deal with awkward swim shorts. 

  Rocky gets insulted for having a geeky t-shirt on and on how much larger social differences are between rich and poor! In the naked world.. they could not see if someone was rich or poor… everyone was much more equal but not here.  Over all everyone discovers how much time they are wasting with very unnatural things such as ironing all your clothes, picking out what you want to wear.. buying new clothes and all those things… The first half would focus on the joys of being a nudist and the second part would focus much more on little adventures that focus on how unnatural we can be at times. With for example a gala, where the news of their rescue and trip is being told and everyone is forced to wear formal clothes that doesn’t fit any of them…just for a good picture in some newspaper or something. Even Rosey has to admit this is not her style…but they are more or less forced.

Mannequins at a formal dinner - Picture of Davidstow Airfield & Cornwall At War Museum, Camelford - Tripadvisor

In the final part of the series, the group has become pretty dysphoric with how things are done here.  Realising that sooooooo much is done on sight and clothing.  This goes as far as that in wars we recognise friend or foe, by their clothes and we can strike without mercy.. without it it is much harder to tell and we are much more to tell who is friend or foe.. so we would be much more willing to open for dialogue.. in life in general.. people don’t go .. oh look at him in his leather vest.. he must be a chad in the other world.. That Stewardess in a plane or that waiter in a restaurant.. you can’t just whistle at them like a dog.. they might be regular people here.. no you really have to remember their face if you want to call them over.. or treat them like a person!   Clothed Earth decides they want to cut down the apple tree though! Because.. what if the naked people try to invade… we should not risk it!   The group is aware of this happening and everyone has to make their decision in which world they want to live.

Red and Rosey have the easiest time to decide. Red will go back to the naked world and Rosey will stay in the clothed world, she has used her perfuming skills there to become a big success but she loves her clothes and the colours so much!  We see them talking to the group conveying both their points trying to keep some friends around… when the others expect Rosey and Red to have a fight on the final day.. They say their goodbyes super friendly!   They respect each other’s worlds, but also acknowledge they really do live in different worlds.. that both worlds have something beautiful to offer but the world of their preference is clear.  

The end credits would reveal who had chosen to remain with Rosey and who went back to the naked world… with both groups growing longer with new people.. showing people really dig their beliefs.  A post credit scene would show Red having completed his naked space program.. with Rod having invented a bubble people can go in.. rather than a suit.   As Red looks at the earth from space.. naked.. he smiles constantly and as we see the earth turn..it turns into an apple.. and a cutely dressed Rosey takes a bite off it.… 

That concludes my take on a Nudist Slice of Life anime! I know it doesn’t delve into the “actual” real world nudism, which is great in it’s own way! I do admire the people who do not blindly follow that mob mentality while they clearly desire something else.. but as I said, that is not a world I could faithfully create or do justice. I am very much the opposite of a nudist..but I hope this little show will demonstrate worlds like that can perfectly co-exisit, as long as you make the choices you are passionate about! If you have a challenge for me to make a new story let me! Or tell me what you thought of this story! Thanks for reading!

Pinkie Recommends: The YouTube Series Series Episode 1: Princess in Japan

Hello my Little Lights! I haven’t been in much of a movie mood lately! Nor did I want to sit through a big series, I just haven’t been into a lot of western content recently at all to be fair.. could it be that it is because I have Kaiju blood running through my veins?  I do really prefer East! There is one thing I still like to do a lot though and that is seeing Western Content creators on YouTube! So I will be taking you on a trip between some of my favourite creators on the platform that holds my dreams. However instead of just highlighting the person I decided to  pick “series”  on their channel that I like. I call it the YouTube Series Series… because I found that funny! … I am a weird Moth… Welcome to the first Episode.

The Content Creator 

The Princess in Japan series is done by a YouTuber named Princess Peachie. She started her channel in 2010 and produces content on an irregular basis.  She is a  geeky lifestyle vlogger, having  diverse content such as Lolita Fashion blogs, reviewing Polly Pocket toys and a tour across her home.  Peachie doesn’t Vlog in a professional capacity, meaning she doesn’t make a living by it and relies on another job as her main source of income. Her channel has about 71K subscribers so she is like 70.5k followers ahead of your beloved Moth.. and well since I am not even really on YouTube yet, maybe even more! An average video does about 12k likes and between 25 to 75 five people interact on her videos. She is currently ranked 69.366 on the famous Birthday ranking list.

Peachie is a Scottish content creator  that I really vibe with because of her witty and humoristic blogging style with a hyper cute aesthetic. She is a big Pokémon fan, she is pretty deeply into D&D and she is a fair bit of a gamer! HEAVILY into animal crossing but recently taking a liking to the Final Fantasy VII remake as well. She is very active on Twitter and I have had some interactions with her that always feel friendly and warm and her person is someone I think I could be easily friends with, had I been Scottish. Though bagpipe music totally makes me anxious so perhaps it is better  that I am not Scottish.. also being Peachie’s friend seems to be rather expensive!  She is a lovely person who you often see buying gifts for her friends or significant other though. All in all a pretty delightful person to witness on screen, and with some skill in video design she is pretty good in editing as well, showing some more advance stuff such as motion tracking objects onto moving people etc.

The Series to me

By far her most popular content on the channel is the subject I want to talk to you about today.. the Princess in Japan series. As you can imagine by the name! It’s a travel vlog, showing off her adventures while in Japan back in 2018.  Though recently she has started editing and putting out Princess in Japan Redux a second season in which she returns to Japan as well. For convenience sake I will treat Redux as part of the same series. I included an episode in this post.. but like always! It won’t show up on reader! In the first series however she travels to Japan with her best friend  Jewels, and in the second series she visits the land of the rising sun with her boyfriend. Jewels being a film-girl herself also shoots footage so the first season has a lot more dynamic camera work, showing us a lot more of Peachie in third person while the second season is more of a “first person”   travel report. Content also varies slightly as well with Jewels being into a lot more girly things than “The Mister is” As a result though both offer a fairly different take on a trip to Tokyo  (and some neighbouring areas).

What makes this travel vlog so special to me is  that is is really done by someone like me. So Peachie visits many of the places I would visit.  Including the Pokémon Café and Sanrio Puroland. She also visits Disney Tokyo… which I would not visit or the Barbie Café but those are all short and very nice and are super entertaining as well. In all honesty, I don’t think my Japan dream will ever come alive for me, my health is keeping me from working, both Mentally and physically it has issues.. and things need to change for that to properly happen.  So Peachie offers me a taste of what I might never see with my own eyes.. trough a lense that is super close to my own eyes. Her content also feels like one of those old school family vacation shoots but with some really fun  editing put on top of it. It feels reachable and sincere. She is a huge weeb, and can get pretty socially awkward at times at it is nice to see that side of things. I love virtual YouTubers as well but in Peachie I see a lot of the person I want to be in real life. It offers a sweet little fantasy! 

The Series to You

Of course Peachie will not be a proxy to everyone.. yet I still would recommend the show to you all! Why is that?! Because regardless if she is like you or not, Peachie is one of us.. geeks and Otaku. She sees so many interesting things in Japan. Are you into Lolita clothing.. there is an episode where she goes to a weird Mall to get Lolita gear cheap, are you are game nerd?  There is an episode that is halfy dedicated to Pokémon. There is a Pretty Cure episode for the anime fans and she does stuff that all of us might find interesting. She visits the Monster Café.. that unfortunately went out of business due to Covid at the start of this year. She visits regular combini’s and talks about how shopping in Japan works. She joins a pack of Harajuku girls. She visits a big tourist Onsen that includes a pain pool. Shinto temples, wearing classical kimonos there is so much to see!  I love how often they go and grab little Gachapon to bring home towards their friends for example or how we get a talk about airport bathrooms. Why? Because she just films her trip as she tries to entertain herself. She is having an amazing time rather than to try and entertain us and it really shows!  That is the type of content I want to make! I want to have fun and share that with you! I think she can be a great inspiration for anyone who feels like they don’t know  what to write or create!

Because Peachie is a small content creator, we do not see her get special treatment, we do not see her yell catchphrases in the lense or pick attractions that will do well in the algorithm.. we  see a journey through Japan as we would experience it. No filming in restricted areas and no real knowledge or studied script beforehand.  As a girl it is nice to see them get up early.. but snooze their way through their makeup time.. so now they are going to have to find some subway station bathroom to put their makeup on for a day in Disneyland. You see them making plans but then it begins to rain so the plans adapt and we see them walking into a lot more niche places. Places you would never plan to visit during a trip to Japan but might stumble upon! I would never visit the Barbie café for example and I found it a bit creepy and underwhelming.. I think there is one dish on the menu where you eat the clothes of a barbie doll! It is fascinating to see though and  it’s nice to see these girls take it on with a massive enthusiasm but also a lot of humor.

My Favourite Episode

Obviously the Episode in which Peachie visits the Pokémon Café is my favourite of them all!  There is so much fun to be had in seeing all the Pokémon, seeing the food and seeing Peachie spill her MooMoo milk flavouring almost on the person sitting next to her.. I bet I would do that too! I was delighted to see all the Pokémon toys and hear her apologise to the food shaped like Pokémon, feeling bad she has to tear apart Pikachu’s head and making body gore jokes about it!  I felt so connected with her at that moment! She did order the wrong desert as the only correct option is the Jigglypuff Cheesecake of course but I will forgive her for that one!  The mimikyu crepe Jewels ate looked delightful as well!  After a good Poké-meal  they go shopping in the Pokémon Center and Jewels picks up an Alolan Vulpix to check out how it looks, instantly falling in love with it.. she knows she has to buy it now!  I would get into that type of situation! The wall of evil Pikachu’s also really got  me!  I’d need to go in the Pokemon Center DX with a supervisor and without a credit card.  Cash only!  So much cute stuff to be found! 

Later in that same episode they visit a made café, no special treatment for them so they can’t film the whole Moe Moe Kyun ritual thing but at least that made things a bit less cringe to watch. While I would love to go along with the atmosphere while I sit at the table seeing other people do it when you can’t vibe the atmosphere isn’t as swell. Because of rain they also end up in a random shop that sells cute cosplays for dirt cheap so that would be a great encounter for me… though I would have spent all my money in the Pokémon center already!  It just highlights two aspects of Japanese culture that I like very much, Pokémon and the Maid/Idol culture so this episode scores high points. The one where she visits the Monster Café and the one with the Onsen are other personal favourites of mine!  They are all good but those three I hold closest in my heart. If you want a nice down to earth Japan travel blog with a lot of girly sweetness and innocence poured on top.. be sure to check this creator out! I will leave you with the 5th episode as a little idea of what she is about! Let me know what you think! Do you know a creator like this?! 

Elon Musk if you are reading this and are like… “Now that I have beaten Jeff Bezos” I need a new thing to do.. but charities are so passé! Help this girl’s dreams come through! I’d figure I would need about 6000 euros for a trip to Japan? That would include spending money!  Maybe a bit more maybe a bit less it depends on the season. I’d need to have something similar to become a professional VTuber ..but I will put Space-X or Tesla logo on my VTuber outfit! Then maybe a few thousand to improve my health with medical treatments and quality of life improvements.. Email me and I am sure we can work something out! OR you can make a large Donation on Kofi!..if you do it fast I’ll promise to take Peachie with me.. your welcome for me recommending Peachie to you Elon!

Brand New Animal or just Fluffy X-Men? BNA Review

Hello Island Guests! My four day mini break is over! And I decided to shake my schedule up a bit…mostly because I had this prepped as my next post and are not that far ahead but I TOTALLY did it intentionally to have some fun as well… TOTALLY! For Pinkie’s Saturday Anime Adventure I watched through and fairly recently finished BNA! As I only did episode reviews in Saturday Anime Adventure I feel like I have to end this one up with a series review! A series can be stronger or weaker than the sum of its parts after all! So how do I feel about BNA two weeks after finishing the last episode?! Let’s find out.

Info

Brand New Animal is a 12 episode Anime by studio Trigger that was licensed by Netflix. The series was written (as anime) by Kazuki Nakashima and features the vocal talents of Sumire Morohoshi. Yoshimasa Hosoya and Takehito Koyasu, It follows the tales of Michiru the Tanuki Beast-Man or so we think! She takes on the role of a young girl that falls into a group of Beast-man who are almost like a mutation of humanity. She falls in with a grizzled grumpy old man who can uses his claws to defeat his opponents, though rarely does. He becomes her protector of sorts. They are led by this wise older bald person who can’t walk that well and needs a cane. She is a mayor and wants to build a city where beast-man can learn and utelise their abilities and proving to the world that these mutants like creatures are nothing to be feared. Also when the young girl uses her powers she sparkles a lot.

I’m with Storm here! I really need to think where I saw this story before!

This review will mostly be spoiler free! For detailed reviews of each episode you can Pinkie’s Saturday Anime Adventures Episode 1 trough 12.

Hopping Like A Bunny

BNA sketches a world divided by the rise of an alternate species called beastmen. These are humans more in touch with their inner animal and as a result can access and prefer their beast forms. Their true selves. However humans fear beastman and their improved ability and hunt them regularly. Thus with permission of the Japanese government a  city for beastman has been build called Anima city. Here beastman live together in harmony! Or at least that is what Michiru our protagonist thinks when she goes there. She claims to be a human that got turned into a beastmen for some reason. This should not be possible because you are a beastman from birth..so she moves to Anima city to find answers. Only to find a whole lot more trouble than she bargained for.

As the series moves on we see her team up with a mysterious man named Shirou who fights hard for beastmen rights and thinks very low of humans. As terrorists begin to strike at Anima City and in particular the pharmaceutical Sylvastra corp, a larger scheme is revealed that puts humans and beastmen against each other and much much more. Anima city and beastman ‘s future is threatened by a whole lot of lies and intrigue. It almost feels as a plot from a Cyberpunk movie taking some clear inspirations from Blade Runner where beastmen and Replicants are in a sort of similar position.This little dash of cyberpunk story telling mixed with some politics manages to create an intriguing enough story that builds an amazing world in the first four episodes, yet then starts to falter a bit but climbs back up and falters again.. and so repeats this until the show is ended at episode 12. Besides Blade Runner there is another analogy on the tip of my tongue! There is this point where robots hunt down beastmen send down by people who hate them.. oh well! I can’t remember! I guess I will refer to that other show as X for now.

Let me get this point out of the way because everyone has spoken up about it.. 12 episodes is to short for this show! Yet I do not find the ending atrociously bad.. and it certainly reaches the finish..it kind of feels like a Mario Kart pro-speed run Rainbow Road on N64. Sure it was enjoyable and colorful and a sight to behold.. but we didn’t see all that much of the track* . So as well is the biggest pitfall for Brand New Animal. It asks you to see injustice in a world.. but we don’t see the world all that much. Again the first four episodes do a great job in fleshing out a world but after that, there is a lot of one location episodes and to make up for it they need to pick up slack with a LOT of exposure episodes. When three episodes of the twelve solely exist for exposition that is a lot! As a result this is one of the most awkward paced anime I have seen. It still tells an enjoyable tale but it’s as if it 1 to 12 instead of a count is more like one of those hopskotch drawings. Instead of flowing we hop!

*For those who don’t know that is a 7 minute track you need to do three laps on..unless you skip the track right at the beginning by jumping to that last corner

Strong Like an Ox

Despite this Brand New Animal is still quite an enjoyable show that does a lot of things right. Studio Trigger once again manages to create a visually appealing show whose colour use and artwork really appeal to me. There are lots of colours, the design of characters is unique and now has the added layer of having two designs (or more) per character. As each beastmen has a human and beast form and the forms mirror each other a bit. It works nicely and all characters are immediately recognisable in both forms. The buildings in the series also have this slight futuristic look, but not quite, which really sells the “newly built” city vibe and  it allows us to suspend our disbelief well enough for all the weird tech introduced later on in the series.Aided by a good music score including some synthwave tracks, it really sells itself as a near future show. A setting that is always tricky to flesh out but BNA does this very well.  It really helps the worldbuilding. Soundtrack wise I also like how they use the ending song as an in world song.. it gives it meaning.. it is overused but it is a fun little gimmick and saves out on some money! So clever as well.

As for the worldbuilding itself, I think this show does an excellent job at building it’s own words with not one but two asterixis behind it which will come up in the next session. I personally really think in terms of worldbuilding they have thought a lot of elements trough. For example beastmen are much more hot tempered than humans much more in line with their instincts. Anima city is a much more dog eat dog environment than any human cities. Much more in touch with their instinct Anima city relies much more on the survival of the fittest concept.  This bleeds into their sports as well! Even something as simple as baseball often has deadly results.

People do not seem to mind all that much because this is the normal way things would go in such an environment I really like that concept. I loved the idea that to commit a crime in Anima city you have to consider your scent as a factor as well because there are beastmen with a great sense of smell. Awesome! Yes they totally would need to do that!  was even more impressed when they established that Bird-beastmen would have to get a permit for flying trough nation controlled airspace. The government would like to know who is flying in their terrain, since they can go anywhere they want they have to keep some way to track of them. Clever that they think on how the world would change like that..when we add in the writing of the actual characters though things go a bit wonky but more on that in a bit.

Finally I would like to shout out how the action is done quite nicely. There are a fair few fights and encounters and each has a bit of a different solution. Sure Shirou who is the main muscle will usually beat up the bad guy in a particular way.. but that means his fighting has a way he works.. he has a strategy.. this is consistent throughout every episode I really have a feeling he has a fighting style. A lot of anime characters finish their enemies of with whatever is coolest or switch techniques on the fly. Take Naruto for example who while using some stable techniques goes from throwing ninja stars, to kicking and from wielding a Kunai to  digging underground. Up to a point where he even is a sage and a summoner. Now of course Naruto spans over many more episodes  but still Shirou fights like he has fought before! He knows what he does and his fighting style is consistent right until the moment it’s not.. but even then there is a good reason. Michiru’s fighting style is more flexible but her entire character is build around this. She has certain abilities that allow her to shine as the versatile combatant making her actually useful throughout instead of your usual liability.. even if she fills that trope as well.

A Lamb to the Slaughter

With a solid story, nice visuals, great world building and nice action you’d think that this is a pretty good show right?! You are correct! Unfortunately though .. pretty good is where it stops for me. The biggest reason that it can not ascent from there is because it is way to ambitious. This show bites of way more than it can chew.  The show tries to force in a message that in my eyes should have been left out completely. Or the worldbuilding should have been adapted to fit it. (Which is one of these world building asterixis)  Brand New Animals wants to tell us that we humans are racists and small minded bigots and that these people deserve to live in the lifestyle of their choice. On top of that they also weigh it down even more by putting a lot of religion talk but rather than adding a new religion to the mix, they add in a cult that follows the same religion as every beastman out there, which makes it all a bit convoluted.

 The example they make this the clearest with is an Albatross. He entered Japanese airspace and is chased by two fighter jet who kindly but urgently ask him to lend visit a post or police office so the birdman can get a permit to fly in Japanese airspace.. so they know he is there.  He feels his rights are being limited because he is an Albatross they roam. Apparently all Albatross people have been refusing these types of request and have been shot down for invading airspace… which then is portrayed as a horrible crime. Meanwhile I look at this as … “That rule makes a lot of sense”. The series already established terrorism is a heavy and ongoing topic, this makes spying super easy and you can literally go anywhere. He also just has to fill in a form saying he is there!  Two minutes later an actually flying terrorist shows up using the airspace to get to the city undetected proving that that rule is needed. That is not a good idea of humans being bigots. Instead of giving the good bird albatross the W, and justifying his heart we see the church meddle in. Thus the albatross stays a guy who wanted to rob the mayor..and justifying once more the human reaction. Weird

Humans are reluctant to accept beasts among their ranks, which I can understand can be and should be viewed as racist as long as both are sentient and follow the same morale standards. Except.. this show shows they do not. If anything humans and beastman share criminal tendensies , gambling, mobs, scamming etc. However when it comes to we belief what is right and wrong..or what is normal we are off by a fair bit.  Beastmen kill each other during baseball. they can toss their feathers as weapons and possess superhuman abilities. Since they are prone to follow the principle of survival of the fittest and all beastmen are basically humans with a mode that upgrades some of their strengths I can see why humans would not really like that mentality among their ranks. If a bear man can just rip of your head because you cut in line..and te bear is stronger.. yeah that would pretty much suck. Beastmen are more likely to think it’s okay, so I would feel a genuine treat to my citizens if I allowed them to give into this beastmen nature. So I can see humans be wary of that idea very easily. That isn’t racist that is common sense. 

Of course we do not follow the beastman who rip each others heads off..but they are out there. We follow a kind hearted girl that wants everyone to be happy and a private investigator/merc who works for the good of beastman kind. The fact that we follow two who don’t do those shenanigans doesn’t change the fact that it happens and the mayor is like “Sure you can Kill each other during baseball but you can’t gamble on it’ Racism is bad is a great message but you need to have sides that are actually equal and share more or less the same moral compass. There isn’t equality here. Compare it to X-men.. they aren’t equal either but if mutants were like but they share values.  They do not fight to use their power even when it endangers people! At least not the good guys ..so we can relate to them. In Brand New Animal that same vibe is sorely missing. Now at times for me it felt more like the message was “racism can sometimes be justified if the threat is high enough’ and I do believe that is a message would need to steer far away from just among humans.

The second asterix from that world building comes .. part from the poor pacing and part from the way the story is told. The story does really work and there is some logic  in their science. There is a lot of space for exposition and as such it is easy to tune out to information that isn’t brought in such bombastic manner. For example in a fairly generic conversation it is told that when a chicken-woman loves a whale man very much and they whoohoo a bit their child either will either be a chicken or a whale but never a whicken or a chale. As a beastman can only have one beast to transform into.. if it would have more they would be unable to transform. Nor can you crossbreed species. This comes back later in the show.. but if you missed it.. this feels like something completely out of the blue and forced. It wasn’t but unlike most some things near the endgame are very poorly telegraphed. It is still there but this is a show you definitely want to binge AND keep your attention to it. The thing is that is is really in your face about “hey this important hey! Hey Listen” then on some things it really isn’t. 

The show also  does this in reverse. It sets up characters to be really important later on but than they simply becomes means to an end. Like ..”Look this guy is super important”.. Later he offers Shirou a Ride and gives him some supplies…it didn’t even have to be that guys.They do this on numerous occasions as well such as a gag with a water purifier.. I was like.. “that’s going to be a thing at some point” .. but no it was just a crack at the poor. You will need to remember just about everything and that will both reward and disappoint you.
On the one hand I love them for including very subtle references ..but you can’t make your show seem this handholdy and then go like… but if you noticed THAT you would have realised.It’s kind of like playing Clue but when you solve the puzzle someone tells you! Bonus points if you can tell me the motive!?  I wasn’t looking for that! Murder Murder Weapon and Location right?! Then everyone says sure but you missed something really important!

My final gripe is wit the shows ending. While it isn’t exactly terrible, the plot twist feels more like a retcon to fix the message. As if the makers realised ‘our message about racism didn’t really land! We now need a way to make everything cool and make people learn a lesson still!  how about we make people realise they are closer and add in an extra party?’ It came out of nowhere and wasn’t needed at all. Sure it allows for a bigger and more impressive battle but there were tools to make that battle different. Michiru rode in a giant robot depiction of god.. that was just made as a cosplay thing. You could have just made a big robot weapon as a final enemy. There were even ways to tie in Michiru’s “disease”  in this but no…. out of the blue we get something super powerful that needs to be taken down… then it gets taken down within five minutes of it’s introduction. Breaking the lore that was introduced for it..within those five minutes as well. It served no point other than to make up  for it’s own writing failures and wrap the series in a pretty ribbon. That said I do like how it wraps up after that.  Michiru’s personal journey has been very strong throughout the show and they ended like that as well. Her road made sense for each episode… it’s just that blasted analogy that is in the way of her world feeling the same.

Goldfish

Brand New Animal is a fine show to watch that unfortunately suffers a lot squandered potential syndrome. Where a decent show is experienced as worse as it is because it simply could have been more.  If you added 12 more episode to this series it could have been one of the greater once but because of its short run it is forced to live into mediocrity.  “I would have loved to see more about that Mob Boss”  ‘I wish I saw more of Mary the Mink’.  ‘I really wish they explored Shirou’s past more’ ‘I wish I could have seen more about Michiru’s mysterious accident and what happend after’. These are ponderings I had after the show. I liked it enough to want to see more because they really do create an interesting world

. However it is not a world we can dive into.. it is shallow! Kinda like a bowl for your goldfish!
The water is still refreshing (to splash in your face not to drink)  the goldish in the bowl is quite amusing to go around and round and nestle in it’s little castle.. but you can not help to wish there was more out there. Had it not squandered time with it’s really forced “lesson”  I might have wholeheartedly called it good. Do note that I do not mean you should not speak against racism but that what the show wants us to see as racism isn’t racism it’s self preservation and while I do think those can intersect trough ignorance.. that is not a tale you can tell with a series like this. It’s not a goldmine of life lessons.. it really is just a goldfish in a bowl.

I like goldfish but I would not say it’s a great pet! It’s still something that can bring you lots of joy! Yet sometimes you just want to pet something or put something on your lap and then you realise.. I have a fish!  As much as you love it.. it will never be all that great.. it’s fine!
It’s just fine…

Did you see BNA?! What are your feelings about it?! I really liked the intro by the way! I am not sure if I said that! It’s catchy! Speaking of liking! If you like this blog why not consider supporting my blog on KoFi! You can become a coconut and get nominated for all my blog tags and will have a cute flavour text written about you! Or if you don’t have money to burn why not subscribe to the blog, leave a like or write something to get in touch!

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Pinkie Gets Anime Powers: My Digimon

Welcome again my dear island guests to the already third installment of Pinkie Get’s Anime Powers. Today I am gonna be that Trekkie that is enthusiastic about a Star Wars Movie. So get your nooses ready! We all have wondered how it would be to insert ourselves into anime. Today I am going on forbidden ground for every harcore pokémon fan! I am stepping into the digital world… if DIGMON!

The Digidestined

Character Name:
Pinkui “Denise”  Nettainoshima.
Digimon Partner:
Kotemon
Crest:
Perseverance
Age:
13, Keeps saying she is 12 to be the youngest of the group though.
Digivice Colour:
Pink
Role:
Group Leader
Fighting Style:
Brain and Brawn
Quirks:
Wears goggles over her glasses, pacifist, cries easily.

Digimon has a weird trope to give characters a western nickname. Taichi becoming Tai, Yamato being nicknamed Matt.  So I thought I should honour this and go for an a japanese name with a typical western nickname. Why Denise? Because that is my username of preference in the real world! Big reveal!. Like most digidestined I’d have to go back to being a child, but since my real life age of 33 at the time of writing is something my friends mock me for..being so old. I am gonna include a gimmick that Denise is a lot older than the rest of the group but lies about her age.

Unlike  in Bleach and in Jojo’s I’d take the role of the main character. The goggle wearing Digidestined leader. Why? Because I think my journey fits that of a leader very well. I could also fill the role of TK being the good hearted benjamin of the group ..but I don’t really have peers to bring with me for that. Hence I take the leadership role for this one. Denise would travel to the digital world during an online shopping spree with her friends Midori “Bean” Kuraitamashi  and Futotta “Lyn” Kohatsu. A three member all female cast that can later get two new members. So since your in the digital world feel free to insert yourself if you wish.

Being the group oldest Denise has to lead the group and be prepared to save this world from an unspeakable evil. Let’s go Meta here and say that Denise is trying to spread positivity around the internet while it is becoming more and more negative. The digital world is slowly becoming more corrupted creating negative versions of Digimon.  Yiyimon would have brought some positive internet people to the digital world to fight these Nega-mons as the new digidestineds. These negative digimon reduce the power of natural digimon so they cant fight for themselves as they are being pushed down. Denise would have a hard time coming to terms with this task though. I am very pacifistic in real life and will do anything to avoid a fight. But sometimes we have to realise we do have to take arms and fight for what we believe in. Sometimes in a more literal sense than we would have though

Thus she is paired up with a Warrior digimon.. something that doesn’t immediately gel with her. However during their journey they both learn to accept each other. Denise trying to outsmart while her Digimon is trying to overpower. Both can bounce of of each other fairly good as well. With Denise talking to get under their enemies skins to create openings for her digimon. Or by having her digimon display their powers by words Denise uses that example to lower morale. In the end both would prefer to spare their targets and save them from the negative corruption if possible.. but I would take a much more reluctant role in it. Trying to cling on to the false idea that violence never solves anything.. (in an anime world)

The Setting

Before I adress the Digimon itself a quick summary of the rulesets I am using. Digimon across its (I want to say )  six main anime series and plethora of games had several rulesets to play by.
First of all there is the classic Digimon Adventures Rules.. later added upon in Adventures S2 trough armor eggs and mode changes as well as an emphasis on DNA digivolution (or Yogress) Digimon Tamers added the aspect of swipeable modification cards.  Blue cards and fusing with your digimon to achieve your mega form. Frontier had the digidestined collect figurines/spirits which they could transform with and could become digimon, completely eliminating the rooky stage. Saviours had alternative evolution pasts and a guy punching Digimon for energy as well as burst states and more. X-cross did not focus on evolving but on combining digimon and Applimon focussed on chips like megaman battle network and installables and such.

*Shivers*

While for a collectable creator admirer like me the Xcross universe would be well suited it has no narrative element. My story would be… “fuses a bunch of pink things to create a bigger pink thing that looks like those other pink things combined” . It just doesn’t translate well. The Frontier Ruleset would be too much of a collectathon and it lacks that digimon feeling. It would just be another transformation. Applimon I really disliked so that one is out of the question. Armor Digivolutions where something very heavily connected to the story arc of S2 and I would not want to tell that same story over again so those are out.  Which leaves us with the ruleset of Tamers or the original series. I feel like explaining every modify card would be to tedious and uninteresting but I do have some prepared for those interested to know. I feel for recognisability going with season 1 and subsequently tri would work best. That being said I will use any and all digivolution lines that have been established in all forms of media. Kotemon (my rookie) for example was introduced in Digimon World 3.. but mine follows another evolution path. Since in the world digital world evolution is not a straight line like pokémon but an ever branching path. Still by all means my digmon SHOULD be able to achieve any of these forms. 

Lot’s of goggles lots f rules!

The Digimon

In Training Stage: Kapurimon

When first traveling to the digital world Denise would be paired up with her digimon in it’s In Training Stage. It’s the same stage as Koromon and Molitmon for example. “That pink blob face” for the most of them. Unfortunately for me.. mine would not be pink. I get a  white and blue cat ball thing that looks fluffy and adorable as well. Like virtually any intraining digimon it’s attack is to shoot slightly acidic bubbles. It can also emit a soundwave from his helmet that paralyses the enemy. Yet this form would not last long. I would say that it would not digivolve the first episode because we try to avoid battles from the offset.. but definitely in the second one.

In the first episode Kuwagamon (it always has to be the first thing you fight in digimon) shows up.. drastically influenced by the Negativity.. not a Nega Digimon just yet.. but close to losing its mind. While Bean and Lyn’s digimon evolve in the first episode and they get their signature Lopmon for Lyn and Kamemon for Bean early.. two are not enough to hold off the feral Kuwagamon at bay. But I do not want to hurt it..after running in the second epsiode Kapurimon convinces me to let it fight as well .. paralyzing Kuwagamon before bravely dashing in and digivolving into………. KOTEMON!

The Rookie : Kotemon

Kotemon is a tiny dragon like person in a Kendo suit. It’s signature attacks are Fire Men and Thunder Kote (both based on Kendo terms/strike areas) . In this form it would be my companion throughout our digimon journey. It would be a very loyal and brave digimon that does tend to rush into battle if I am not there to stop it.  For me to compliment it it would have to be a rather naive digimon.. she would be brawn I am the brain. I chose for it to be female as well because that way I can try to cute it up at times.. much to it’s dismay as knights do not look cute and pink! Luckily I carry a lot of ribbons with me. Kotemon and me would be fairly far apart in the beginning but get close rather fast when we both realise we do not seek to harm others. She learns to respect how I can negotiate and I respect that sometimes we have to brute force our way into things.

We both learn of each other. It might teach me some basics of Kendo.. like splitting a water melon on a beach. She refers to me  as my Lady even when teaching me something she treats me like a superior. II would teach tricks to get her way without being the bad guy.. and how to read an opponent. As a gag I try to keep peaking behinds it mask and it keeps hitting me on the head going “Menmenmen”.. knocking me out or scaring me of.Bean who has to learn patience gets a Kamémon a turtle like pokémon that is very mellow and slow.  Lyn who is always tardy and not very strict with her promises gets Lopmon.. an energetic little bunny. Lyn adores turtles and Bean adores bunnies so it’s almost as if they have each others digimon which cause some interesting group dynamics.

Kotemon is a Data-Attribute digimon that is of the Reptile type. While Typing does not oftenly matter in Digimon (unless it’s somewhat logical like setting a tree digimon on fire)  and doesn’t offer super effective attacks or something.. Attribute is quite important in the world of Digimon.. even if it rarely mentioned. Digimon generally can be of three attribute types. Virus, Data or Vaccine.  Virus monsters are stronger against Data, Data beats Vaccine and the latter trumps Virus.

It is nothing of major importance unlike in Pokémon but I thought you should know. Some are digimon are attribute free. Kotemon can attack with her flaming sword (Fire men) or give people an electrical gutpunch (Thunder Kote). It is a bit of a balanced digital monster with both decent defence as well as a good offence. Which landed it in the Balance Digimon pack in Digimon World 3 along with Patamon and Renamon. For those who don’t know who that are it’s that bubble firing ear bat wing ears piglike thing TK has in the original series.. and that yellow thing you found when googling furry. 

Champion Stage: Gladimon

Imagine Silver Chariot from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures and the Kool-Aid Guy doing a fusion dance.  This is what you get … Denise’s Champion Pokémon is Gladimon. One of four possible Kotemon digivolutions.  In case I refer to it as evolutions that is not actually a mistake. In Japanese the term digivolution does not exist. There when the great theme of brave heart plays the digimon shouts out their name followed by Shinka. Which literally j means evolve.  The term was most likely changed to not overlap with pokémon as much. Being a sub girl myself though part of my brain clings onto my first experiences while another draws from recent memory. Hence the confusion! Gladimon would arrive to our show in episode 3. Kuwagamon returns but now as Nega-Kuwagamon. It power has increased and having accepted we have to fight I evolve my sweet little Kendo dino into … chibi Alphonse Elric. Gladimon is a Vaccine type.. and is part of the Virus Buster family which would seem like the perfect tool to stop Kuwagamon.. who is a virus type!  But than we find out that a Negative Digimon changes it’s typing..so it is strong to what it was previously weak to. So nega-Kuwagamon is a Datatype! After a hard fight Gladimon still manages to pull out the win! But then we get introduced to the Dark Destineds. Self imposed travelers who have gained access to the digital world where they are harvesting parts of the digital world to form an army that can rule the earth and bring back an ancient evil that will wipe out all that resist.

Gladimon has only existed in Digimon Masters and not a lot is documented about it. It’s attacks are Wheel Rush wish we are going to assume works a lot like sonic’s spin dash and sword dancer.. which probably speaks for itself. Gladimon is a fair bit tinier than most champions. It would be about human size.  Maybe even just kid sized. It’s a sizable increase from Kotemon , about 100% but compared to Greymon or Birdramon and basically all the Adventures cast it is a very tiny champion. It does seem to have stretchable arms though to compensate. In this form Gladimon would have the personality of a kid playing a knight. She would speak in clichés about glory and knightly things!  In this form she would call me Princess, and her catchprase would be “I’ll save you Princess “ before rushing into battle. It will get is in trouble a few times.. as in this form she is a bit of a Leeroy Jenkins.

Oh yeah! I am so onto something!

Going Further Beyond

The Crest

In the original adventures series you needed a crest of virtue to push your digimon to the level of Ultimate.. the third main stage of a digimon’s line. Usually signifying a trial to overcome. Perseverance would be mine. I have to save the world and bring positivity towards people and to do that I sometimes must do things I do not like. I must endure some hate and negativity and I must not let it discourage me.  It is a journey that I figured would make a lot of sense as a counterpart for Tai’s bravery. We hit the same story elements while offering me some choices that are much more in line with my nature.

I will have to accept we have to kill some digimon who are tainted so they can be reborn as clean versions but in the area that holds my quest we encounter a digimon that once helped us and befriended us..but now he has fallen to the corruption.. the only way to  save it is to kill it. This is the path we were set upon and even if things get very rough we must persevere.It seems like a nice heroes journey that fits in the world of Digimon.
Bean would get the crest of patience and Lyn would get the crest of  Commitment. Two real life friends who have to learn those lessons but something I also feel could  be good journeys for an anime character to learn. 

The Ultimate: Knightmon

When exposed to the energy of my crest and my perseverance Gladimon can digivolve to Knightmon!  Now this is a tall digimon yet still not as large as some of it’s peers. In this form my lady knight actually becomes a full fledged knight whose signature attack is called Beserker Sword.. which basically means she goes monkeydoodoo with the thing. She also has the ability to slam her giant sword into the ground or use it as a bashing weapon to blow enemies away. According to my sources she will also have access to an attack called “the Duel”  speaking of duels.. next episode will be about what Yui-gi-oh deck I would use. I shall be honest though I have no idea what the attack does.. so let’s say for narrative purposes Knightmon says she has the attack but I think it sounds to omnious and ask her not to use it because I do not want harm to come to her. Then in one episode we finally have to use the attack.. and she seems to lose the duel.. I actually toss a rock at the enemy which than glows with a strange energy! “Stay away from my friend”  I would shout.. before my Digimon gets hit again.. but the impact sends the rock to me. A strange gem called a positivity gem is formed.. and by believing in my digimon she could achieve her final form.

But before we move onto that some semantics first. Knightmon is a Data Attribute. Hey it switched back again! It still is part of the Virus Buster family and is known for its tremendous physical strength and extreme loyalty to it’s master.  Which at one point can create another point of conflict for me as I do not want something or someone to blindly throw their live away for me. I want it to think on it’s own as well. Which is why it decides to use “the duel” eventually. In this form Knightmon would call me My queen. Her personality is a bit more “out there”  being very stoic in rest but as soon as I get a scratch she practically turns into a barbarian swinging around her berserker sword.. falling back into old habits. After Kotemon originally transforms into her she starts to see herself more and more as a tool and less like a person that matters and I have to save her from that image! She matters to me after all. In the end with a gem of positivity ..or a little ray of sunshine if we rebrand it later we can finally fully connect and we get it’s final form…. and it’s PINK!

The Mega: Crusadermon

Crusadermom is a Virus Type, Virus Buster Holy Knight.. Jeesz! She did it all! Good job my friend! It is one of the Royal Knights in the digi universe. These are basically the guys protecting the gods. Even though they are powerful enough themselves. Her fighting style would be a mix of that of the pokémon Bisharp and Goku from Dragonball Z.  Where she uses her extreme speed to use the slicy ribbons on her body to damage the enemy. But she can also at an instant teleport in their face and shoot sonic booms at their chest with that cannon thing! Which apparently is called a Pile Bunker. She can create laser nets with her normal hand palm and Tornado’s with the Pile Bunker as well. So she is definitely a  force to recognised with and one of the stronger Digimon out there. Something we would definitely need to stop Nega-Apocalymon. Have I told you already her design is pink! PINK! So perfect for me!

Pink, Ribbons, Monarch.. Definatly mariage material

In this form Crusadermon would refer to me as Denise. Signifying she finally sees me as her equa instead of her superior. Which in my turn makes me realise how much I meant to Kotemon and it’s other forms. Since it’s a bit of a staple to give the destineds something that goes beyond the level of Mega for the final battle we would use something like Positivity charge.. where Crusadermon becomes Posi-Crusadermon or something of that nature.  Or maybe we learn to do a synergy attack with that mysterious new member? Who knows? Why do I wear goggles over glasses? Who knows! Maybe because I can hide my tears better as I was a crybaby! Maybe to be hipster.. or maybe you have your own answers about all of this. Let me know how you’d finish the final boss or why I double dip in specs in the comments or tell me what would be your digimon!

Remember I love you all, and don’t forget to keep smiling! Stay Positive

XO
Pinkie

Previously on Pinkie Gets Anime Powers:

My Jojo’s Stand
My Zanpakuto


And Next time…..!

700 Hours on Youtube: Pinkie Watches Critical Role

Originally I planned to make a post about the new Star Wars movie in this spot first. Yet I really I went with the direction of love, and I didn’t love the New Star Wars movie . This Sci-Fi fantasy epic has dumbed down, to nothing more Ethan a entertainment thrill ride. Still entertaining as long as you turn of your brain and just enjoy the pew pew and the swoosh swoosh! Luckily the Star Wars show are still pretty good. However since Lord of the Rings is already finished, I needed something to get my fantasy adventure shot. As a D&D DM I have 3 hours fantasy adventures every thursday! But each week I also get provided by a 3 to 4 hour epic fantasy adventure to follow.  The youtube channel or Twitch Channel .. of Critical Role. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Nerdy voice actors, playing dungeons and dragons

Critical Role in it’s concept is nothing more than a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors playing dungeons and dragons. The games are led by Matthew Mercer, who is probably best known for his voice work in the fire emblem games and that cowboy guy that clearly doesn’t have a correct watch in Overwatch. Kinda weird when you think about it right.. a cowboy always thinking it’s high noon.. in a group called overWATCh..you’d figure he’d know the correct time. Even if Matthew might not be a great time teller, he is a great DM that helms not one but two fantasy epic in the form of the Vox Machina Campaign and the Mighty Nein campaign. Both to be found on youtube and the second one being ongoing. The first one has become so popular that it has inspired a origin comic and soon even an animated series. I myself have only really started following the second campaign, which is produced in a lot higher quality and starts it’s campaign right at the beginning of their adventure. Vox Machina they played as a game of friends before they started streaming so we pick up this tale a fair bit into the adventure.

So who are the players in these wonderful campaigns? Travis Willingham , who is known as the voice of Turalyon in World of Warcraft and Knuckles in  most of the current sonic games. He is accompanied by his partner Laura Bailey is the voice of Jaina Proudmoore from World of Warcraft, Blaze the Cat in Sonic and kid Trunks in Dragon Ball Z. Matthew Mercer’s partner Marisha Ray is also part of the team, she has done work on the Persona franchise but is mostly working on the twitch channel of Geek and Sundry. Taliesin Jaffe plays along as well this man you might know from the english hellsing dub and like most of them has a role in World of Warcraft in the form of Darion Mograine and Admiral Ripsnarl. Liam O’Brien plays Caleb Widogast in the second campaign, my favorite mage character ever. When he speaks you might know him as Illidan Stormrage! .. yes that is from Warcraft as well. Ashley Johnson is the final girl on the table. Her hollywood career prevents her from being ever present at the game table, she currently stars in the tv series blindspot but I think the most people here would best know her as Ellie, from the last of us.  Academy Award Winner Sam Riegel finishes up the table. While he had his fair share of career moments, amongst us I think we best know him as Tristan Taylor and Rex Raptor from Yu-Gi-Oh. He also played Clovis la Britannia in the Code Geass dub. Together this casts puts on a very enjoyable show that is somewhat reminiscent of those old radio plays… but a lot geekier. 

That’s a lot of rolling!

Critical role currently has somewhere near and over 200 episodes I think With them being three to four hours long that is a lot of campaign to cover. So where do you begin to watch an 700 hour series? (which is excluding all the bonus one shot and special episodes)  Start at the first episode of the second campaign! High production value, good sound quality, plenty of recap episodes to be found and the story is separated from the first. Vox Machina will soon have a animated series, it has a comic and so much more that it will be easy to familiarise yourself with it anyway. The second campaign is a bit more chaotic but also a bit more lighthearted. Which is a great place to start if you don’t know much about D&D and want to see if it might be something for you. Still this series already has about 90 episodes so there’s still a lot of ground to cover. Keep in mind though that the quality of this game doesn’t really reflect an actual D&D game, a fair part of this is somewhat scripted and Matthew has an entire writing team behind him to aid in his endeavours to prepare for each game. Your average DM would not have that, but as a result this kind of feels like D&D the movie.  Yes there is a Dungeons and Dragons movie but…if you see blue lipstick on a guy.. back off! Don’t watch it. There are a few other D&D movies but those I shall cover another time.

Critical Role Campaign two focuses on the (mis)adventures of the mighty nein, a group of ragtag adventurous who get drawn together after there an incident when the circus is in town. What begins as a series of mercenary like mission soon begins to evolve into a greater adventure involving Eldritch like creatures and a mysterious artifact of tremendous power.
Each episode is an actual session of D&D , which can include social encounters, traveling, random combat or complete dungeons. The series is very nicely paced where even dungeon like encounters are mostly done entirely in our heads. Only when doodoo gets real Matthew takes out a model of the area and we get the classical grid based movement that comes with D&D. These are all stunningly made and increase the atmosphere so much. On occasion we see the group practice their sessions at big conventions in front of a live audience, which is also a treat to see. So many people are so engaged with the hobby and that is so mesmerising and really oozes that atmosphere of we are geeks for geeks this show succeeds atso greatly. There is so much content from both campaigns too the one shots. The even promoted the My Little Pony role playing game by playing it! It was friggin adorable to see them fight hellhound …by playing with them and pacifying them. Famous geeks oftenly make guest appearances, like Wil Wheaton , Wesley Crusher from Star Trek the next generation, the big bang theory and his own youtube endeavours for example. But also Deborah Ann Woll , best known for her role as Jessica Hamby in true blood.  Apparently she is a huuuuge geek, and when she played her character Twiggy on the show .. I had a little celebrity crush moment. She also hosts her own show on the Twitch as a DM but unfortunately due to bad time zones that isn’t really watchable to me….I wish she would get a regular seat in the game… than again.. I would celebrity crush all over again.

Fun fun fantasy

With three hours plus each episode, there is very little going on at the sessions visually. Which makes Critical Role the perfect webshow to put on when cleaning. Compare it too an audio book, but instead of that narrative flow where you know the main character will never really die anyway and you can sort off predict if other characters will die or not everything here is decided by a roll of the dice. Just about everything can happen. There may be a script but all you need is one bad dice roll to completely toss that off track. Part of the fun  greatness that is Critical Role is seeing the players have fun, try something out of the box and stump the DM. This is exactly the fun that D&D should be about and even though this version is streamlined for entertainment purposes, it still captures that sense of chaos of an actual game. A lot of the other online campaigns lack that sensation a bit. Here we see the despair on the face of the dm, the fear of death in the players eyes and that irresistible urge to metagame when someone clearly isn’t thinking straight or overlooks their best options.  This still truly is D&D. Trough the voice acting of mostly Mercer but also great acting from Laura Bailey for example in her role as the mischievous tiefling jester Lavorre, this fantasy world comes to live like no other. With no visuals to speak of except for some fan art and location models it all plays off in your head , but unlike most audio books i, in so many different voices that it’s something truly unique. We can hear the characters AND the players, and we can feel both of them having fun! Which turns these adventures into true delights.

Some of the highlights to me are when the game opens and Sam Riegel talks about their sponsors. Each week he prepares a little sketch to promote their sponsor and they are all so weird , funny and out there. We do not see a professional Academy Award Winner doing this.. even if he is.. we see a guy having some fun with it,  like as if we made these skits up right before our dungeons and dragon games. I wrote Jingles on my bard character like he did, I promoted in game stuff when my character was magicly compelled just like he did. I just didn’t happen to get mine produced into an 80’s cartoon commercial..like he did !It all feels just soooooo … geeky and like one of us… that you almost feel as if you are sitting with them at that gaming table. Their animated introduction is something that is truly amazing making me yearn for the day that their animated show finally gets out. It can get a bit commercial here and there.. but that kind of comes with the territory of twitch and youtube.  These guys have found a great community, where geeks unite, this is what I aspire to find.. well not as big and not on my blog persé but I want to be a part of that crowd, a part of people who love each other for loving that one thing they all love.  This show is carried by that community and in a way made for that community. Rather than trying to aim this on a bigger crowd or playing this safe in terms of story Critical Role is not afraid to take risks. Yet they never forget their core audience. While each day new people become Critters (fans of Critical Role are referred as such)  they will never stop doing what made them so amazing in the first place. 

So while we may see an end of epic storytelling in the cinemas where complex stories of moral dilemmas get replaced by battles of absolute good versus absolute evil, we will always have that place where we can turn too for the stories we loved before. While the silver screen rather caters do a few extra dollars than their core audience, somewhere we can still find those epic tales of old being told to us …by people like us. While subtlety and secrecy have less and less of a place in blockbusters in favor of in your face comedy, spectacular boom boom, pow pow that doesn’t need a proper build and where your hand is held in terms of plot.. there is still a place where we can wonder about why that line was spoken so callously, where we can wonder of a guy can be trusted without it being shown to us in the next shot or we jokes can be subtle and require you to see something else to get. To mer personally both The Hobbit and the new Star Wars trilogy have shown that the age of epic storytelling in cinema is over.  We have entered the age of epic visual story telling. While that is entertaining in it’s own way it’s like comparing the joy of a rollercoaster to that of a good book. Luckily youtube has the perfect replacement for geeks like me… we just gotta use a little bit more of our own imagination…but with a community as amazing as the Critters even in that we can be helped. Not by the movie makers, but by one another and to be honest that is an even more epic way to experience these things. Because everything is JUST like we imagine it.