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Pojo's Anime Articles
Lo and hail, plebians! This is the first article I,
Charninja, have ever written for Pojo.com, so let's hope
it's at the very least acceptable. I think this shall be
about (as the title states) popular mangas and animes
YOU should be watching and reading now!
First up, one of the most popular animes to be released
on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup in a good while,
FullMetal Alchemist is most definitely a doozy. It's all
about two brothers in some fictional realm, and, as is
so often the case, they happen to have nifty powers. In
the case of FullMetal Alchemist, as the name implies,
the powers in question are an adeptness at the "science"
of alchemy, the "magic" by which those talented in it
may transform certain objects into other items of equal
composition, such as lamp posts into swords, or
doorknobs into small shields. The tricky thing is, Ed
(the elder brother) lost an arm and a leg, and Alfonse
(Al) lost his entire body while trying to use forbidden
alchemy to resurrect their mother after she died. Al now
resides in an old suit of armor the Ed managed to bond
his spirit to. After that, Ed and Al decide to join the
State as official military alchemists, on the search for
the fabled Philosopher's stone, the one item that can
break the First Law of Alchemy: In order for something
to be received, something of equal value must be lost.
They hope that after they find the Stone, they will be
able to get their body (or at least the missing parts)
back. Of course, sinister forces are at work, because
several strange individuals named after the 7 deadly
sins of the bible have been oddly active lately, and
they are paying special attention to the two talented
boys.
Next is the sci-fi thriller Ghost in the Shell: Stand
Alone Complex. It's all about a hot lady cyborg police
officer whose silicon content isn't JUST all in her
breasts. She works in the Tokyo of the future, dealing
with cyberterrorism, political corruption, and
conspiracies enough to drive even the most hardcore
techno-junky agog. So far, not much in the way of the
plot has been revealed beyond that, but it's safe to say
that the more you watch it, the more you'll come to
understand. Other than that, the music, animation, and
oggling potential is more than enough to warrant
watching it religiously until you do manage to figure it
out.
Naruto is one of Shonen Jump's most popular mangas, and
though there was a rumor of it coming to the U.S., that
seems to have been JUST a rumor, if the latest news is
to be believed. However, the tale of the world's most
popular ramen eating ninja is quite a controversial
subject when it comes to being dubbed for a U.S.
release. It is generally agreed that most of the major
networks would do what Kids WB and 4kids did to Yugioh,
and “kiddify” it unrecognizably. Anyone who's read the
series (and trust me, you should read the series) knows
that it has more than enough blood and cursing to
satisfy nearly any teenager, but most networks are
particularly skittish about that sort of thing,
especially since most of it is either done to or by
12-year olds, which would probably become the target
market after the dubbing was completed.
Gungrave, based on the rather subpar PS2 videogame of
the same name, far surpasses it's source material, and
is only available on G4TechTV Anime Unleashed block,
which rotates between it, Gad Guard, and Read or Die
(which will all be gone over shortly). It's the story of
how Brandon Heat, a young street punk, becomes the most
feared and powerful mafia hitman in his city, only to be
whacked by his best friend of all his life and who also
happens to be his boss. Unluckily for him, Brandon made
use of a new technology that allows any living thing to
be raised back from the dead, faster, stronger, and good
deal meaner. Taking the name of Beyond The Grave, it's
now his turn to kick serious booty and save his dead
girlfriend's daughter.
Read or Die involves anime babes who can control paper.
Really, that's good enough for me, but since some people
care about plot too, it does happen to have a pretty
nifty one. It's all about a once great Japanese author
who starts getting death threats from some guy who's
knocked off a few other authors. Her editor and best
friend decides that since she wants to do a publicity
signing in Hong Kong so badly, she'll need to accept
having a group of body guards known as The Paper
Sisters, who, amazingly enough, control paper! (gasp)
After they save her life, they move in with her, and
after some wacky misadventures, Nenene (the author, who
happens to have one of the coolest names EVER) allows
them stay with her so that they can... *ahem* "protect
her." And thus, a thousand doujins that are definitely
NOT appropriate for discussion were born. Oh yeah, the
sisters also do some mercenary work for a secret
organization that's soul duty is to protect and find
rare books, and hopefully, write the ULTIMATE BOOK OF
ALL HISTORY. Then, they make the mistake of kidnapping
Nenene for that purpose, and thereby incur the wrath of
The Paper Sisters.
Gad Guard is one of those quirky little shows that
defies explanation. At first, it's about big robots, so
that would hint that there would be a good deal of
existentialist dread and rhetorical questions about life
and it's meaning... but then you learn that the main
character is a delivery boy, so it's kinda like Futurama.
Then, you get all these hot young girls surrounding the
guy, and it becomes like Tenchi Muyo or Love Hina. And
then you add the stereotypical kickarse anti-hero with
chip on his shoulder whom you just KNOW has a following
of rabid fangirls, so it's kinda like YuYu Hakusho. Then
the robots start fighting, and you forget all your
troubles in sweet bliss.
Well, that's it for now, true believers. If you're all
good little boys and girls, I MIGHT have another article
for you later on. ;-)
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