This will officially be the oldest anime I've ever reviewed circa 1967.
Speed Racer is a racing driver with a desire to be the best in the world, driving the gadget filled car the Mach 5, but every race brings it's own challenge as many unscrupulous characters stop at nothing to prevent Speed from winning, joined by a close family of Mom, Pops, Spritle and Chim Chim along with close friends Trixie and Sparky along with Racer X who is secretly Speed's older brother who ran away from home as the anime would like to remind you, watching over Speed.
There's alot to bear in mind when watching something this old, the animation is choppy, the voice acting is suspect and dated, the actual show is bonkers, so really you have to view this with a pinch of salt.
But for what is a 60s anime it's actually really well made.
So we got a breakdown of things it does right.
1. The depiction of motor racing being dangerous is accurate to the time period considering that an average motor racing discipline in the 60s always had a fatality, all the deaths although not explicit is kept in the English version and the death toll is higher than quite a high number of more famous anime titles.
2. Trixie is a strong female character and one of the earliest examples of the independent female character in anime.
3. The speed of the English speech just adds to the charm of the show and is incredibly meme worthy, keep in mind, four voice actors did everything.
So does it have any faults?
Spritle has too much screen time, the plot tends to repeat itself too much, it doesn't always let Trixie be a strong character, too much shouting and screaming and Speed Racer himself being remarkably dumb.
On it's own merits, it's far better than it ever has any right to be.
Final Verdict: A curiosity, a piece of history and a meme worthy cartoon, Speed Racer more than earns it's reputation.
This has been quite the ride for me.
Rika is a young girl with a secret lineage to a fantasy Kingdom known as the Doll Kingdom, however it's currently in possession of evil forces led by Devaul who uses his minions led by Scarecrow to constantly try to kidnap Rika, luckily Rika is protected by the Doll Knights led by title character Super Doll Licca-Chan activated by Rika's Grandmother.
This series is offensively 90s, not that it has any dodgy content, it's pretty safe for the most part bar Rika's lack of Stranger Danger senses, it's just the style of the whole thing is just so 90s, not helped by the fact that the Doll Knights choose to dress as teenage mall dwellers over a form that would match their status as royal knights.
This is actually based on the fashion doll of the same name that's been going on just as long as the Barbie doll and like Barbie this is a weird entry in a franchise who at the time in the late 90s were struggling to stay relevant, new wave girl power bands like the Spice Girls and game changing shojo series Sailor Moon being the main rivals.
There are no dubs for English regions only Europe.
Final Verdict: A show already dated by 90s anime standards, it's hardly offensive but hardly a thrilling watch as it becomes a tiring marathon of watching the same failed kidnapping plot every episode.
I've been waiting to do this review for a while now.
Legend tells of the Bandit King who can steal anything, even the stars in the sky, the title of which held by Jing, a young thief alongside the smart mouthed crow Kir who can bond with Jing to become a powerful blaster, each episode focusses on a rare treasure of which Jing is after, more often than not obtaining said treasures among a carnival of misfits and creative characters all named after cocktails and alcoholic drinks, it lacks the brute force approach of regular Shonen anime but makes up for it in creative art and philosophical story telling, there's more to it than just obtaining the treasure but leaving a last impression on all who cross Jing be it a dreamweaver in a prison, a princess in a town plagued by endless battles or even protecting a creature that could explode at any moment.
King of Bandits Jing is the absolute master of leaving such a lasting impression that you can never have a bad ending, it's a shame that the author never did anything else, dub is pretty good as well.
Final Verdict: An underrated classic that deserves way more praise for always leaving the reader satisfied after every story, easily top ten best anime in creativity, characters and story, there's no anime like it anywhere.
It's taken a while but I have an interesting challenge.
I've listed a 1000 different anime ready to be selected for some kind of review or similar if I've already covered it.
I do a challenge like this every year to see if I can unearth a hidden gem that's been slept on.
The rules are simple, select a number from 1-1000 and I shall cover whatever anime it lands on, will it be good, will it be bad, will it be well known or will it be obscure, my fate is in your hands.
You get to choose up to ten numbers.
All Might Midoriya commands you!
Stopping at 70 titles let's see what I can do with these.
These are numbers picked from here and outside the website.
129. Love Stage
385. Plastic Memories
838. Honey and Clover
286. D-Frag
478. Heat Guy J
721. Ginban Kaleidoscope
793. Life Lessons Uramichi Oniisan
762. Damekko Doubutsu
567. Jing King of Bandits
451. Ghost Hound
41. Baccano
942. Romeo x Juliet
426. Ahiru no Sora
171. Katte ni Kaizou
419. A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd
647. Law of Ueki
857. Battle Girl High School
586. Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
317. Fuyu no Semi
142. MMO Junkie
108. Parasyte
261. Inuyasha
912. Usagi Drop
848. D4DJ
817. Bakuman
566. Endro
266. Disgaea
758. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
95. Darwin's Game
221. Gal and Dino
818. Dot Hack Legend of the Twilight
655. He is My Master
89. Endride
975. Clannad
197. Log Horizon
377. Agent Aika
704. Galaxy Angel
418. Chrome Shelled Regios
49. Mikagura School Suite
481. Kokoro Library
22. Beastars
315. Fruits Basket
910. Birdy the Mighty
283. Fantasista Doll
135. Grimoire of Zero
747. Akebi's School Uniform
415. Magikano
879. Elfen Lied
727. Dramatical Murder
244. Doujin Work
439. Hime-sama Goyōjin
568. Haunted Junction
394. Hortensia Saga
132. Hensuki
88. Sisters of Wellber
650. Amagi Brilliant Park
589. Akuma no Riddle
639. Earl and Fairy
238. Love After World Domination
43. Majikoi
657. Angel Heart
925. Anohana
820. Power Stone
862. You're Under Arrest
344. The Helpful Fox Senko-San
920. Fushigi Yuugi
360. Gamers
71. Black Lagoon
674. Kino's Journey
353. Chou Kuse ni Narisou
How these titles will be looked at depends on availability or whether or not I've already reviewed them.
I'll cross each anime off if I manage to complete an article on them.
Time for a look at some of that kind of anime.
In a world where rampant earthquakes have reduced many of Earth's cities submerged in the ocean, Aika works as a salvage operations specialist locating dangerous artifacts in said sunken cities, when a job to obtain Lagu, an artifact to rebuild nature is given to Aika, it is stolen by the effeminate Rudolph Hagen and his army of women from the Delmo Corporation, his plan is to wipe out humanity so he can rebuild it with just him and his all female army, yes really; Aika with a super form accessed through her bustier, stops at nothing to bring an end to Hagen, his sister and the Delmo Group, the other half of the series focuses on individual episodes between Aika and Delmo.
This is basically all the panty shots the anime, a show like this has to be seen to be believed but as long as you see this as a satire that doesn't need to be taken seriously, you can enjoy yourself laughing hysterically at the absurdity on screen, the fact that Hagen wants to create a harem world where he is the only male is too ridiculous to be taken seriously.
Dub is very old school, it's not dreadful but is rough around the edges.
Final Verdict: Over sexed and extremely ridiculous but as long as you view it as so bad it's good, then you should get a good laugh out of it.
