Toonami Faithful: A Call to Arms!

Well Toonami faithful, we did it! We got Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins to the top of the Twitter trend chart on 5/26/12 when Toonami took over the airwaves, and we also managed to get FMA and Cowboy Bebop trending as well. Great job! Now the next part of support needs to be put into place. Make sure to e-mail Cartoon Network and Adult Swim with your thoughts on what you saw when Toonami returned to television and get vocal on Facebook and Twitter about the programming you want on the block. Even Steve Blum (TOM) said that the block needs all the support it can get and as many viewers as humanly possible to bring us “a better cartoon show”, so it's up to us as a unit to make sure we do what we can to help out by spreading the good word. Let people know Toonami's back, spam the social media, send off e-mails and hashtags like your life depended on it, and most importantly: Watch Toonami. If we band together and remain vocal than who knows what kinds of things we'll be treated to, the power of voice is a mighty one and so far we know we're being heard, we just got to turn that voice into a scream and keep it rolling.

Luckily for us we've already been treated to two new shows with Deaman Wonderland and Casshern Sins, both of which are getting amazing praise from the Toonami faithful. We've been enjoying TOM bumpers, Toonami-esq music, nice “coming up” cards, classic idents, and even a video game review for an XboX 360 game called “I Am Alive”. And that's just on the first night! Imagine what could be coming down the road if we support the block the best we can and try to boost it's ratings as high as they can go, that's what Toonami really needs. Ratings = advertising, and advertising = money for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and ultimately......Toonami. It's amazing what we were all able to accomplish using the power of the internet and the power of word of mouth, once in a while huge victories come out of passion and we've all used our passion to ensure that Toonami was given life once again. Keep up the good work everyone, we've done a bang up job so far and it can only get better from here.

Stay gold.

Bang.

©2012 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Dynamite Entertainment's Pulp Harvest.

Before the day's of Spider-Man, The Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The X-Men, The Avengers, and even Superman, there was a day when heroes appeared in a thick paperback form known as “pulp” comics. Pulp was actually the style of paper in which these books were printed on, but somehow the name seemed to have followed these characters as if it was a style of hero. For instance, Superman and Spider-Man are known as “superheroes” while characters such as The Spider and The Shadow are known as “pulp heroes”. Even though a “pulp hero” is someone who starred in graphic novel format printed on pulp paper back in the 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's, people associate the word “pulp” as a brand of hero, which is just hilarious. Anyway.....I'm rambling, my apologies.

Today I wanted to discuss some pulp heroes who are making a comeback thanks to a comic book publisher known as Dynamite Entertainment, a company who has licensed a number of these classic heroes of yesterday and brought them back out of obscurity for comic book fans of today to enjoy. Characters such as The Shadow, The Spider, The Green Hornet, Tarzan, Zorro, Flash Gordon, and more are enjoying success in the comic book market thanks to Dynamite, who's really put a push on getting these classic characters in the hands of readers in a day and age where many have forgotten who they even were. Sure, some other companies have come along throughout the years and have published comics based on some of these characters but their readership was so small that the average comic book reader had no idea that these characters were even being published. With Dynamite, these characters have been promoted throughout the comic book industry and many fans who have never purchased a comic book before are buying these books because they happen to be fans of these properties thanks to other media such as radio, television, and the silver screen.

I personally wanted to bring some awareness to some of these books because I actually read them and find them to be much more entertaining than anything Marvel Comics is currently printing, and most of DC and Image. Books such as The Spider and The Shadow feature a main hero who isn't all about “Trust, Justice, and the American way”, they'd just assume shoot you in the face for your crimes on the public than see you locked away for the rest of your life. It's almost refreshing to see because that's how I feel when I see on the news that a little girl was hurt by some sick monster, or that some whack job killed 10 people because of some silly reason. I'd love to just pick up a revolver and shoot them in the face rather than see them alive and well inside of a cell. It's violent, I know, but it's in our nature to want to see someone who deserved it to suffer. Instead of actually going out and doing something like that I can open up a copy of The Spider and watch the hero kill someone because they took their crime too far, it's nice really. And then you have books like The Green Hornet which features a more traditional style superhero within a pulp environment. The book is fun, witty, entertaining, well written, and drawn beautifully, anyone can pick this title up and enjoy it's rich story while feeling like their enjoying a story with a nice mixture of pulp and superhero. Hey, there I go lumping “pulp” into a category of hero.......well, sue me.

It isn't like these books are short on top tier talent either, many huge industry players have either worked on these books or are currently working on them as I write this. Guys like Garth Ennis, Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, novelist David Liss, John Cassaday, Jae Lee, Jonathan Lau, and many more are working hard to make these books the very best they possibly can be, so give them a peek and tell me what you think. Look. How many more of you are going to get duped into spending all kinds of money on Marvel titles just so you can complete yet another massive universe spanning event? Seriously, stop it. It's getting downright silly and embarrassing. Try sinking your teeth into one of these great titles by Dynamite Entertainment and start actually enjoying your comics again for a change, after reading some of this top line stuff you'll end up thanking me.

Trust me.

As always I want to take the time to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and CBR.

Take care,
Manga4life

©2012 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

The return of Toonami.

 Well, the day has finally come ladies and gentlemen. Today, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim has announced that the legendary action adventure block known to millions as "Toonami" will finally be making it's return on 5/26/12. This is a day that up until 4/1/12 I thought would never come, I honestly thought that Toonami was dead in the water and that there would never be a day where we could turn on our televisions and witness the revolution once again. But I was wrong and April Fool's Day 2012 was the genesis of what would ultimately become the return of Toonami to U.S airwaves and believe me, I couldn't be happier. Now it's just a matter of the programming, I mean, it wouldn't make ANY sense to bring back the block with updated packaging just to place it around the already existing anime programming that the network already airs. So what's coming in terms of programming to the block? I guess time will tell and the long and short of it is that we will all just have to be patient and see what the people behind the scenes have planned. But I will tell you this, we've waited almost 4 years for this so I suppose waiting another couple of weeks to see what the producers have up their sleeves shouldn't be too hard to do....

 Yeah, right.

 Welcome back Toonami, it's been a long 4 years without you. You've always supplied us with the best action/adventure programming on television and now that you're back I have no reason to believe you won't do the same for us now that you did back then. I guess a big "thanks" should be given to those who blew up Facebook, Twitter, internet forums, and wrote personal letters to those in Atlanta trying to get the block back, without the fan support Toonami wouldn't have lasted 11 years on the air nevermind a huge comeback years after it's cancellation. Give yourselves a pat on the back because you're the ones that made this happen.

 #Toonami

 Take care, Manga4life

 ©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Dynamite Entertainment: Putting a little fun back into the comic book game.

 Comic Books. It's an industry where the publishers are often greedy and the fans are often blinded, but despite those flaws it has it's bright spots. One bright spot that I would like to highlight today would be a young publisher known as Dynamite Entertainment, a smaller press company that has really shined over the course of the past 4+ years. When I first caught wind of Dynamite it was when I fell deeply in love with a line of books under their Project Superpowers banner, it was a project where they brought many golden age heroes and villains out of obscurity and back into the limelight. Many of these heroes have been lost to father time and have fallen into the public domain where basically anyone could publish them however they wanted, but Dynamite Entertainment and the legendary Alex Ross had a plan and brought them back in a huge way alongside great success. Through these books I saw some advertisements for other characters that have been around for ages but have been used inconsistently in recent years, Dynamite was planning to publish stories based on classic characters such as The Phantom and Green Hornet. Now, these two characters I've never cared about in the least despite being a comic book reader for the better part of 20 years, but I felt compelled to try them out because I trusted Dynamite after seeing what they could do with classic heroes from the golden age of comics. And gosh, I was surprised at just how good these books really were. The Green Hornet dragged me in with intense art by Jonathan Lau and a deep script by Kevin Smith that was clever, fun, and truly remarkable as the son of Britt Reid donned the Green Hornet mask and set out to protect Century City from scum and villainy. I loved Dynamite's take on the Phantom also, he too was the son of the original Phantom and took up the mantle after his family was slaughtered deep within the jungle in which they lived. The Phantom was targeted by a rich weapons dealer from the United States and was able to overcome adversity to find some self closure over the loss of his family, it was a fun read and a truly epic tale.

 

 But I really want to focus for a moment on something that many publishers have forgotten about throughout the years, and that's the fact that comics are meant to be fun. There is something about Dynamite Entertainment that reminds me of a time when comic books carried a special feeling, you know, when going to the comic book store to purchase a comic was something special. Along with The Green Hornet and The Phantom, Dynamite has introduced me to characters that have been around for decades that I never would have thought to give a moment of my time, but yet I did. Books such as Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist, Lord of the Jungle (Tarzan), Warlord of Mars (John Carter), The Bionic Man, and Vampirella, have all become titles in which I can't wait to read each and every month. It's funny too because 5 years ago if you would have told me I was going to faithfully read a comic book based on Tarzan, Flash Gordon, or the 6 Million Dollar Man I would've no doubt laughed at you can called you silly, but man.....these books are just downright fantastic. Let's take Lord of the Jungle for starters, in this book they strip Tarzan down to his bare essentials and bring him back to his savage ways as he rips through insane wildlife while finding ways to sexually harass Jane. It's a hoot. Flash Gordon is another book that offers an epic where he is engaged in warfare with Ming The Merciless in space and a Nazi army on Earth, the action scenes in this book shine with fabulous art that has made for a must read book month in and month out. Warlord of Mars is an epic tale in itself, it's about the legendary John Carter character and how he ended up on Mars fighting alongside and against Tars Tarkis as well as his romantic feelings toward the sultry Dejah Thoris. This books is a sci-fi space epic that loves being a sci-fi space epic, I love the spin-off's that have come out of this book as well (Dejah Thoris, Warriors of Mars, Fall of Barsoom, Dejah and the White Apes) and would recommend them to anyone looking for a great story starring classic characters that have been in existence for almost 100 years now.


 

Even with all of the amazing comic books I've mentioned so far, by far and away my favorite comics on store shelves these days has been the Kirby: Genesis line of comics that Dynamite has been producing. The core title, Kirby: Genesis is written by the Legendary Kurt Busiek and illustrated by Jack Herbert and Alex Ross, it's been one hell of a ride that has spun off three solo books to date. Those spin-off books happen to be Silver Star, Captain Victory, and Dragonsbane, and all three books have been highly enjoyable and help to flesh out the universe and establish the characters within their own time line that happens before the events in the core Genesis book. What Dynamite and it's creators have set out to do is to bring some of Jack Kirby's legendary characters and place them into their own universe to build upon the richness of the legendary creators ideas, they're using both characters that have been used prior alongside characters that have never seen life past the cutting room floor to do this. And let me tell you something......it's been one hell of a ride! Apparently the Genesis line of books will be coming to an end soon and according to Dynamite's president the universe will be relaunched again in 2013 with a whole new outline as well as new titles in a “rebirth”style event, so fans of those books as well as new fans have something neat to look forward to. Both the rebirth of the Genesis titles and Chapter 3 of Project Superpowers in 2013 should prove to be a huge year for Dynamite Entertainment and it's superhero books, I can't wait to see the day where I walk into a comic book shop to see Kirby's greatest creations sitting on the new arrivals shelf next to the greatest heroes of the golden age with Project Superpowers. It will be quite the experience. More fun stuff on the way from this amazing publisher would fall within the Pulp realm with The Spider hitting in about a months time from this writing, it will be great to see Green Hornet, The Shadow, and The Spider ruling the roost in the world of Pulp heroes under the Dynamite banner. I know the president of the company, Nick Barrucci, recently made mention to a possible crossover in 2013 between many of the Pulp characters they publish, and everyone already knows that Ron Marz has signed on to write a crossover between many of the female characters Dynamite publishes in an even called, The Prophecy. So that should be fun.

At the end of the day comic books are supposed to be fun, characters are supposed to be enjoyable, and stories are supposed to be easy to engage, and luckily this is something that Dynamite Entertainment has been able to do in spades. I urge those who haven't given these books a chance yet to do so, you are really missing out on something fresh and something fun, why let Marvel drain you of your money so you can read the same old crap year in and year out, give something new a try for a change and I promise you that you won't walk away from DE empty handed. Of all the great books they publish there has got to be something in the mix that draws you in, whether it's Voltron, A Game of Thrones, Eye of the Storm, Red Sonja, Jennifer Blood, or any of the other 20+ books offered from this amazing publisher I'm sure you will have fun flipping through the pages and discovering new comics. I know I did.

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and CBR.

Take care,

Manga4life

©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Manga4life interviewed by avid blog reader and web-spider, Ron Paradue.

Ron Paradue – “Hello Manga4life, as well as the number of readers who may find themselves on Manga4life's “Thought Corner” blog. Today I've asked Manga4life if he would be open to answer some questions about both himself and his personal piece of the internet that he's created known by many as “Thought Corner”. In my experience with “Thought Corner”, the author posts articles about various anime programs he's watched, comic books he's read, video games he's played, as well as personal experiences with products and media that shed some light on certain aspects of pop culture and everything in between. I personally came across his blog back around November of last year when I was doing a search for reviews of an anime series called Claymore and I found Manga4life's review that he posted some month previous to my discovery of his blog. I read it, then I followed through and read a number of his other entry's and found that I really was enjoying what I was reading, finally after about 4 months of no new articles I decided to approach Manga4life about why he's been so quiet. I thought I'd begin with a pretty simple question, and that question would be.....why? Why did you move forward with the creation of “Thought Corner”, and what did you hope to accomplish from running a blog?”

Manga4life – “Before I answer the question, allow me to thank you for checking out The Thought Corner and thank you to all who may be reading this interview via the blog itself. You always wondering who's reading when you see that you've gained a large number of readers, aside from the core “group” from the Twitter-space I had no idea that people who I've never associated with previously were checking out the site. But to answer your question, I think a huge reason as to why I created The Thought Corner was because I wanted a place where I could talk about things in depth without having my post become just another sea of words in a thread on some messageboard out there. I wanted to write about the things I enjoy, and in some cases hate, and I wanted to write the kind of blogs that I enjoy reading. See, so many people write for the masses and think that they're proving some kind of point or that they've gained some kind of fan base or something that they forget to have fun writing their piece and enjoy themselves. I write the kind of things that I enjoy so later on when I go back and read an entry again I can relive the emotion of whatever it was that I had written about, whether it be bad or good. I've never claimed to be a “writer”, I certainly am not the best blogger on the internet and I'm certainly not trying to become something I'm not. I write for me. I write for people who enjoy accessible content that can be read and enjoyed, I want people to smile when they're done reading one of my entries not because it was a well written piece worthy of an award, but instead because they can feel what I was feeling when those thoughts came out. It's simple, I write for me.”

Ron Paradue - “So you write editorials based on personal experience and taste? Or do you write blogs as a way to promote something?”

Manga4life - “I have nothing to promote, so I write as a way to archive my thoughts on something, I just toss it up on the blog for others to see. When I did have something to promote it all fell apart, I lost touch with a great creative talent and I lost interest in a project I was working on and trying to get up off the ground. You know why that happened? It's because I was trying to sell others on idea's I had instead of kicking back with a beer and getting my thoughts down about a certain subject.”

Ron Paradue - “Fair enough, fair enough. So, “Thought Corner” is entering into it's 2nd year on the internet and has garnered some attention by comic book companies, can you tell us about that?”

Manga4life - “Sure. I did a blog a year or so back about some new comics that were coming out from a publisher called BOOM Studios, it was a partnership between them and Stan Lee that revolved around a trio of comics that were on their way to retail. I wrote the piece and dropped a link to it on my Twitter page, that link was forwarded by BOOM Studios and made available to everyone who followed them on Twitter and on Facebook and before long the blog enjoyed over 3,000 visitors in a 72 hour period. It was pretty surreal. The second instance was very similar, I wrote a piece about comic book publishers who deserved more readers and this time a publisher called Dynamite Entertainment did the same thing BOOM did. The blog post ended up on their Twitter and someone e-mailed me and told me a portion of it ended up in the letter column of one of their comics, I personally haven't seen it but the blog enjoyed a few thousand more views over a pretty short period of time. I also gained about 30 or 40 new followers on Twitter, most of which I don't think follow me anymore, haha.”

Ron Paradue – “That's pretty interesting how a simple blog post could reach so many readers thanks to a simple re-tweet, or a mention on a social media website. That must have been nice to see publishers who you were supporting turn around and support you in exchange. How did it feel, personally?”

Manga4life - “Like I said before, I don't care that thousands of people were reading the entries unless they left the blog with the feeling that they've enjoyed what they read.”

Ron Paradue - “Okay, so, you're obviously one of many blogs on the internet based around things such as animation, comics, gaming, media, and other aspects, but I have to know something. Do you consider other blog sites competition, at all? Like say there is another blog site out there that posts reviews, editorials, and other things based around similar topics, do you read those sites or do you think of them as competition and a threat to your readership? Also, what are some of the “other” blogs out there that handle similar stories?”

Manga4life - “It's like this: We are all blogging, writing, creating, and discussing topics that we love and enjoy. I personally see the other blogs out there as helping to get the word out that great content is out there and it's up to us, the consumer, to go and enjoy it. It could be a video game, or a television show, or a movie, or something in print, it doesn't really matter what it is because we're all bringing the information to a broader audience and I think we just want to write stories that we believe in and get the word out there that good media is available to those who want to use it. Do I see them as competition to my blog, not at all because most of us are just writing to write, not to outdo each other or to destroy the credibility of our respective blogs. Writing is an art, expression is an art, you don't have to be completely good at it more so than you have to spill out what it is your thinking about and hope someone else feels it too. If they don't, no big deal. As for other blogs on the internet-space that I associate myself with and/or read on a weekly basis? Well, The Real Scratch Pad comes to mind, as does a blog called Thoughtnami by a guy named Jeff, those are both great sites that offer content that is fun and enjoyable to read.”

Ron Paradue - “I'm familiar with one (TRSP), not the other. Can you tell me a bit about Scratch Pad and Thoughtnami and the folks that host them?”

Manga4life - “Sure. Thoughtnami is hosted by a guy named Jeff, he's a long time animation fan and seems really big into the old WB stuff as well as keeping viewers focused on great action programming. His original vision of Thoughtnami which was a part of his X-Bridge website has been long dead, though he may disagree, but he's up and running on Tumblr and he can be found on Twitter. I know The X-Bridge is still around and last year he was working on a weekly serial project, but that's since been shelved for whatever reason. Jeff's great guy, a good friend, and someone you can converse with who actually understands things, people forget how hard it is to find good people to discuss things with these days. The Real Scratch Pad is hosted by several people who have banded together via Twitter, most of which could be found on various animation forums as well as Facebook. These guys are pretty cool, I've known most of them since I hit Twitter back in early 2010 and we've all maintained contact and get along with eachother (for the most part).”

Ron Paradue - “For the most part?”

Manga4life - “Yeah, for the most part. Most of those guys I really enjoy talking to, there is one....maybe two....who I guess I haven't really bought into, but as a whole they've got a good team over there. I won't go into the member who I don't think too highly of, but as a whole they've got a great cast and I'm always popping in to see what's new. The main problem I have with TRSP is that they have multiple guys who have various levels of ego's, which can sometimes clash when they podcast. Also, I believe some members have their hearts invested into The Real Scratch Pad project while others wear it like a sweater and toss it in the closet in favor of something more enjoyable. That isn't right. One thing I like about them is that they go beyond writing blog posts, they also have a couple of podcasts that they do and they've branched into a couple of different catagories that really has given them their identity. Funny story, before The Real Scratch Pad existed they were known as The Comic Book Panel, and I was a member really early on while moonlighting as owner of The Thought Corner. I've even filled in with a couple of guest posts on The Real Scratch Pad when members couldn't make their deadlines, it's been a while since I've done that though, they seem to be more focused on audio content than print these days anyhow.”

Ron Paradue - “Moving along to other things now. Tell me, where do you see “Thought Corner” in a couple of years, or even next year, and what would you say is the best thing you've even done and a regret that you have about the blog?”

Manga4life - “There is so much I want to do. Seriously. I just don't have the time to do it. I'll continue to write blogs, I have a handful all set and ready to launch come the beginning of the year and I have some themed months I plan to celebrate eventually. But mainly I just want to bring content to readers who want a place where they can come and read something someone wrote who feels something for that certain topic, something real. I don't know where The Thought Corner will be in 2 or 3 years, but I do know that 2012 promises to be a pretty big year for the site and I may even introduce a new site mascot. Hehe. As for my biggest regret with the blog, well, it would be the falling out I had with a guy named Jason who was writing a book called "The Tale" which was to be promoted and released by my publishing company, Cozy Cabin Publishing. The fallout led me to abandon a project I was working on called "Cavendar" and before you knew it all I had left was blank pages and nothing to write. I may still take that project off the shelf someday, but all in all I was excited to release his book first to see how the company would do with it, when there was nothing to release I gave up on it. I still own the company, but I don't plan on doing anything with it besides publish posts here on the Thought Corner Blog. That would be my biggest regret, especially how it all went down.”

Ron Paradue - “What's with that little mascot guy anyway? But seriously, I'm sorry that happened to the company, but like you said earlier, you didn't want to push a product more so than you wanted others to feel your feelings through your posts. So maybe it's for the better?”

Manga4life - “He's just the face of the site, nothing more. There is no hidden meaning behind him and there is no back story or anything, he's just a character that people can see when they log on who can serve as your tour guide, or something like that. People have asked me about him before, I just tell them he's my best friend and they tend to leave it alone. As for the book deal, yeah, it's for the better. I'd just assume never talk about it again, or at least not for a long time.”

Ron Paradue - “Well, that's all I got for now. I appreciate the time you took to sit down and discuss some things with me, Manga4life, your thoughts are valued and I look forward to seeing what “Thought Corner” has in store for 2012!”

Manga4life - “Thanks for having me, Ron. It's been a pleasure and thanks for dropping in and reading The Thought Corner blog, you're support is much appreciated.”

Take care,
***Manga4life***

©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Manga4life reviews "Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings".

This review is something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while now but I just never got around to doing it until now, I’m a bit upset at myself because of it because I feel this series deserved it’s own review on The Thought Corner and the time has finally come for it to be added.

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings holds a special place in my heart for anime, it was one of the first series I actually sat down and watched in subbed format all the way through (I hate subbed anime) and it really resonated with me because of the intense action and the likable characters. Basara is based off of a video game franchise but you would never know it, the story doesn’t really fit the mold of a video game and aside from the intense action, which reminded me a lot of Dynasty Warriors, I would have never known that this series was based off of a game unless I wasn’t a part of this large community we call the internet. Ever since finishing the series in it’s dubbed format multiple times over, I couldn’t help but to feel that this series was another great title that kind of flew underneath the radar but the more and more I research online it appears as if it has a strong cult following. I was surprised to see this because at first it seemed like nobody was talking about it and then I started noticing people on Twitter and multiple anime forums on the web discussing the series and giving it positive reviews, that made me very happy to see because I am a big fan of Sengoku Basara and was pulling for it to do well. Luckily for me and for many others, there is a sequel to the series that has been subbed in Japan and streamed in the U.S via FUNimation and the company plans on dubbing and releasing it in the U.S sometime down the road and as of this writing there is also a movie and OVA in the works. [Insert happy face here.]

As for the series itself, it revolves around different factions that have been at war with each other but find they share a common enemy and and decide to team up against a dark lord named, Oda, who has unleashed his will upon the land. Before this takes place we get to see some pretty awesome action between the two main characters, Date Masamune and Yukimura, as they battle each other for supremacy, as well as an intense clash between their respective armies. So basically, if you enjoy intense action, a fun but simple story, awesome characters, and unlikely/likely team-up’s then you will probably really like Sengoku Basara. As the stoy progresses along you get to meet some fun characters, such as Oda’s sister, and leaders of other clans, who all have their hands in the plot, including a hilarious leader who is killed by Oda in a scene where you see exactly what the dark lord is all about.

Like I had mentioned before, this series is based on a video game in Japan, so going into it I was a little iffy because I’ve seen animation based on video games in the past, and while some may have been fun, it usually turns out fairy "bleh". Luckily this series turned out to be a delight and the story was much more than just some all too familiar plot that bogs down many video games of today, it only took the first episode to prove to me that Basara was much more than just a cartoon adaption of a video game and that it had legs to stand up as a solid production.



Now it's time to tackle the fun stuff, you know.....animation, sound effects, music, storyline, and the overall production value of Sengoku Basara as an anime series to see if it stacks up. First thing I'll cover will be the music and sound effects of the show, something I felt Basara kind of lacked when compared to other anime being produced today. The sound effects are your standard fare of swords clashing and horses dashing, so there wasn't really anything wrong with the show when it comes to that kind of stuff, my main complaint is the lack of a good soundtrack. Aside from the opening theme in Sengoki Basara there is a complete void of any truly likable tunes coming out of this show, seriously, almost nothing about the soundtrack is noteworthy at all. It struck me as kind of odd because with all the great action and intrigue you would figure that they would have cooked up an awesome OST to accompany these scenes, but instead we get fairly generic music that ranges from decent to utterly forgettable. Thankfully, the production crew made up for it with pretty awesome animation that really helped to make this series easy on the eyes. I really enjoyed the character designs and the flow of the artwork throughout this series and aside from a few snags toward the beginning of the show, I'd put this up against most of the high quality anime being produced today. This show really shined in top down camera angles that showcased a massive melee, a lot of shows tend to lose quality when featuring multiple characters on the screen at one time, but for the most part Sengoku Basara was able to keep everything nice and clean. Which made me very happy during huge brawl es and clan warfare.

As I've mentioned previously in the review, the story and plot line is fairly basic but handled in a way that made the show extremely fun to watch, it doesn't stray too far from the core tale and the way the writers handled it made it very easy to follow. The way many of the characters were handled, Oda in particular, really helped to bring out their true essence and made them seem larger than life and important to the overall scope of the series. I know a lot of shows are good at doing this, but I find it important when handling certain types of characters, especially villains, and they handled Oda perfectly and it made me fall in love with the character to the point to where he's become one of my favorite villains in all of animation. He's a true badass, probably one of the coolest badasses in all of animation (in my opinion). All of these things help to make the series fun to watch, which is the most important thing when sitting down to watch a series that you've yet to see yet. Sengoku Basara is 13 episodes, so it's short, but in it's 13 episodes there is a lot of fun to be had and I'd say that if anime with massive fight scenes is up your alley that you could easily finish this series over the course of a day off or two. The whole thing just flows nicely, episodes fly by very quickly, and the whole thing felt like it was over in a snap, that's the mark of a good anime series, if you ask me. I invite those who've read this review to check it out for themselves and get back to me on Twitter, or one of the many forums I frequent on the web, to let me know what you thought of it, I'm guessing that if you give the show a try you may just come out happy that you did.

Good day to you.

Art & Animation - 8.5/10
Music & Sound Effects - 6.5/10
Story & Writing - 8.5/10
Fun - 8.5/10
Overall - 8.0/10

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and FUNI.

Take care,
***Manga4life***

©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

my Atari 2600 tribute, and my experiences with this classic console.

Recently I sat down and wrote a blog focusing on my history and experiences with the Super NES and how I felt the machine fit into the history of video game consoles and it’s legacy, today I am doing the same but this time we are taking the time machine back to the late 70’s and early 80’s to focus on the Atari VCS (2600).

For me, the Atari 2600 was the first video game system I had ever owned, it introduced me to video games and my experiences with the ol’ 2600 are some of the most fond memories I have with video games throughout my entire life. There was truly nothing like it. Despite it’s limitations in graphical power, it’s standard one or two sounds at a time audio capabilities, and it’s one button controller, the Atari 2600 has managed to build quite an army for it during it’s run on store shelves and the retro gaming community still love and praise Atari’s machine some 30+ years after it’s release. And why not? The games are still some of the best that’s ever been produced and just because it’s not modern does not mean it’s not good. I was too young to remember when I first received my Atari but I do remember having it as early as age 3, so I’m guessing I got it around 1983 or so, right around the time that the video game market actually crashed in the United States. I had a decent collection of games by the time 1985 rolled around as well as a sweet little carrying case to keep all the carts in, I also remember having a small computer that played 2600 games as well that was aside from my standard wood grain console but I can’t seem to remember what that machine was, though I think it was a computer of some sorts. Anyhow, some of the games I remember playing as a young kid were Pac-Man, E.T, Defender, Dragonfire, Megamania, Atlantis, Space Invaders, Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle, and a boxing game that I’ve never seen since. And no, it wasn’t the classic black/white overhead view boxing game that everyone knows and loves, it may have been Real Sports Boxing but I’ll have to research that. Funny enough, despite media critics and many gamers thoughts and opinions of Pac-Man and E.T for the Atari 2600 I grew up loving those games and they still rank among some of my favorite games of all-time, I have so many memories of playing those games with friends and neighbors as a child and the fun I had with them will no doubt stay with me forever. I know the histories of those games and I know that Pac-Man isn’t anything like the arcade version and that E.T was rushed to store shelves to meet a Christmas deadline, but I don’t care because those games have supplied me with so much joy that I’ll never be able to look at them in the same view as everybody else. Sorry, I like what I like.

I remember having my Atari up until around 1987 or so because (I don’t remember why) I brought the console outside to show a friend one evening and forgot to bring it back indoors, that night it rained cats and dogs and when I brought the system back indoors to play some games it didn’t turn on. Because of that I spent the next year or so without a video game system of my own and had to rely on playing the 2600 and the NES at other peoples houses. During the time I had my original Atari I would say that Pac-Man, E.T, Megamania, and Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle had the biggest effect on me, those 4 games were just plain awesome and remind me of my very early childhood, those are the games that make me think about this specific video game system the most even though later in life I would bond myself to a whole new group of games for the 2600 that would rival these 4 games for some of my favorites. Well, it wasn’t long until I had an NES and my parents felt that there was no need in owning an Atari machine anymore. Especially since Atari had already upgraded the 2600 with the 5200 and 7800, plus Nintendo had the most popular system on the market at the time with the nicest looking games, so the ol’ VCS was out and the flashy Nintendo Entertainment System was in.

It took about 7 years but I eventually got the bug to own an Atari 2600 again, this time in 1994, and I wanted it so bad that I didn’t want to wait to buy one at the local flea market on the weekend (it was mid-week) so I called some local places in the phone book looking for collector shops that may have had one on hand. One guy had some in his store and gave me directions on how to get there, this store was a couple of towns away and it shared space with a used furniture store and I remember thinking about how weird that was when I entered. But the real surprise was that the guy who owned the shop was a guy who worked at the same flea market I didn’t want to wait to go to, he had a small stand there where he peddled vintage toys, games, non-sports cards, and other collectibles. Well, I picked up the 2600 from him along with 5 titles, those games were Cosmic Arc, Ice Hockey, Atlantis, Video Pinball, and E.T. Cosmic Arc and Ice Hockey would become some of my favorite games for the system, I remember my buddy “Stelfo” would come over and we would always 1up each other on our Cosmic Arc scores and he also grew to love Ice Hockey as well. I’ll tell you this, despite Ice Hockey being an Atari game and having limited graphics and sound with not even enough juice to have more than 4 players on the screen at once, I’d say it was and still is my favorite hockey game of all-time. These games were just so damn fun to play, Ice Hockey was a 2on2 game that had no time limit and you had to hit a certain score to beat the other team (I think it was 7), Cosmic Arc on the other hand was a game that revolved around shooting flying asteroids and picking up aliens. Both games are absolutely stellar and have found their way into my heart as games that I think about when I reminisce about the VCS, the other games I received on that day are games I have owned previously and my memories with them grew as well.



For whatever reason, I sold my Atari and all of it’s games to the flea market less than 6 months later, I don’t remember why I did it but I did nonetheless and I wouldn’t own a 2600 again until around December of 1996 when me and my friend Billy were adding games and systems to our game room, which became an obsession of ours in 1996 as we spent every red cent we had on systems and games to add the the massive collection we had assembled. At that time I didn’t focus much time on the 2600 even though we had about 40+ games for it, Billy and I were so wrapped up in other consoles we had as well as certain games that took up a deep amount of concentration that we just didn’t have a lot of time for Atari’s console. When the game room finally split up in the summer of 1997 the Atari and it’s games were sold and I have not owned a VCS since, except in ROM/emulator format on my computer/tablet/phone, of course.

Aside from the memories I have of playing the Atari 2600, I have a ton of memories of the machine and it’s games that go beyond the hands on experience. I remember classic commercials as a kid that centered around the VCS, such as the E.T Christmas commercial that aired in 1983 as well as seeing games and systems in stores like Sears when I was a kid. For what it’s worth, that E.T Christmas commercial still ranks as one of my favorite commercials of all time and remains one of my first true memories of television as a whole, I was really young when that commercial hit the airwaves and didn’t retain a lot of information back then so the fact that it sticks out is really special to me. I don’t know why but little things like that make sentimental memories for me, like the time I visited a toy store when I was 4 years old and I remember a guy buying 2 or 3 Atari games at one time, I remember his kid being all excited about it and I really wanted to get one but my mother said “no”. I also used to get random catalogs in the mail when I was a kid that featured random 2600 games and accessories, I have no idea what the company was that was putting out these catalogs but I don’t think it was through Atari themselves. Either way, I used to love getting these and I remember being so young that I couldn’t even read the catalogs so I would look at the game box covers and the random screen shots that were in the catalog and pick and choose which titles I wanted to ask for when it was time to get a new game. Those memories are so classic to me and I’ll always remember them for as long as I live.

Well, that’s about it from me when it comes to Atari’s VCS, I just wanted to pop in here and discuss some of my favorite memories about Atari’s classic gaming console as well as talk about some of it’s amazing successes during it’s time on store shelves. How successful was it, you ask? Well, back in the late 70’s and early 80’s the VCS was the dominant gaming console on store shelves and sold millions upon millions in the U.S and around the world, and at one point Atari was actually listed as the company with the fasted rising growth in the history of the United States, but that was soon demolished by several technology companies that exploded onto the scene in the 80’s. Games such as Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Asteroids, and other classics have sold in excess of 5-7 million carts and set the stage for major blockbuster video games that would come later, thats 2X-3X more than some of the "smash hits" of today aside from a certain few titls. The 2600 proved to be so popular that Atari even re-released the machine in the late 80’s as the “Atari 2600 Jr.” at a cheap price to try to take advantage of Nintendo’s success in bringing video games back to the mainstream, the 2600 Jr. wasn’t a smashing success but enough units were sold that Atari profited from it’s re-release. No matter what today’s gamers may think about Atari’s VCS or what jaded retro gamers may believe about Atari’s hand in crashing the gaming market in 1983/1984, Atari put video gaming on the map with the 2600 and if it wasn’t for that little wood grain box with metal knobs we may have never been introduced to the flashy games everybody knows and loves today.

Reach for the stars and enjoy the ride.

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and FUNI.

Take care,
***Manga4life***

©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC