Spring 2011 Anime Guide Part 2: Fast and the Furious

Watch:

Tiger and Bunny

The title Tiger and Bunny doesn’t exactly bring to mind power-armored superheroes, but that is just one of the delightful oddities about this series. The reality TV show aspect adds all kinds of entertaining variables including collectible cards, behind the scenes drama, hamming it up actors, and washed-up heroes. And that washed-up hero angle found in Kotetsu is what was both funny and endearing in the first episode. Even though he gets a second chance, it is obviously a rather suspicious deal that plays on the real-life seedy reputation much of the Hollywood machine (or the Japanese equivalent) has. Tiger and Bunny has tounge-in-cheek humor, cool action, a colorful cast, and even a bit of social commentary.

Tiger and Bunny right off the bat remind me of Astro Fighter Sunred in the fact that Tiger and Bunny does for superheros what Sunred does for Tokusatsu shows. It has a dry wit where it both acts as satire and homage to the genre it is looking at. But where as Sunred is mostly slice of life with no real plot and lots of gags Tiger and Bunny has a good deal of action and an overall plot plus its humor is also a bit more subtle and in the background. The humor naturally springs from the fact that there are corporate sponsored super heroes who fight crime with powers and super suits while earning points on reality TV. We clearly have a buddy cop formula with the old-timer who is being left behind is teamed up with the cocky young know it all. It is a fun show that knows how to take a ridiculous premise and ground it in something solid to produce an entertaining show. Kotetsu is sympathetic as a struggling single dad who wants be a proper hero in a world obsessed with appearances and his likable personality really sells the show. It looks like it will be a fun show to watch. I do wonder if the plot is going to get darker as we go on as even the first episode implies that this reality TV show might have a more sinister agenda.

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The Speakeasy #016: Fantasy Island, A Primer on Fantasy Anime

Anime 3000 presents The Speakeasy Podcast:
Drink #016:
Fantasy Island,
A Primer on Fantasy Anime

In 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit which in many ways set the stage for modern fantasy literature across the world. In 1974, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson published Dungeons and Dragons which is the most iconic fantasy role-playing game ever created. These and many other fantasy material have long since influenced the anime community and helped shape a small but vibrant fantasy anime genre. As fantasy fans ourselves we are going to look at the various sub-genres of fantasy anime and point out some titles to watch. Just as a warning although we mention it in passing we do not go into detail about the tons and tons of elf-related hentai. That can be the topic of a different podcast.

(Listen) (Show Notes)

And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink:

Fantasy Island

  • 2 ounces coconut rum
  • 1 ounce melon liqueur
  • 2 ounces pineapple juice
  • pineapple chunk
  • maraschino cherry

Combine rum, melon liqueur and pineapple juice in ice-filled shaker. Shake well, strain into martini glass. Granish with pineapple wedge and cherry.

Gosick #013: “Pull Tab” for Murder

When Avril  and Kazuya go to see a movie, Avril attempts to keep him from Victorique by showing him a clock tower on campus that looks exactly like the one in the film. As it turns out the similarity is no coincidence and soon Kazuya and Victorique are uncovering a mystery involving an immortal alchemist, court intrigue, a grisly murder, and a puzzling pop-up book. When someone else also dies under mysterious circumstances in the clock tower how does their death tie into the events that took place long ago?

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