On the 40th anniversary of studio Gainax’s foundation, the studio behind the making of many epics and well known legendary anime, such as Gunbuster, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, and Gurren Lagaan, have filed for bankruptcy in Japan. They have been acknowledged by the Tokyo District Court. Surely cementing the end of their existence as an anime studio. Another legend from the anime industry disappears into history, and will now only live as a memory for many otakus of the anime industry, as Gainax dies as a hero for the anime industry.
NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS OLD! IT WAS RECOVERED THROUGH ARCHIVED FILES!
Uchuu no Senshi (also known as Starship Troopers in English) is a 1980s Sci-fi Mecha OVA Anime created by Sunrise. Set in a futuristic setting where humanity finds itself in a conflict against aliens who pose a threat to the world and potential all of humanity itself. Johnny Rico who is the main protagonist of the show enlists himself in the military with his crush Carmencita enlisting herself in the military as his main reason to join the military. Together him with select crew mates are deployed into the most notorious training facility, and thus they work their way all the way through the pain and suffering from the notorious training. It is based on the actual 1959 novel written by Robert A. Heinlein, who died before the first part of the OVA was released. In other words, you can say this OVA is a tribute and dedication to him, as even the first episode of the OVA literally stated “in the memory of Robert A. Heinlein.”
Uchuu no senshi’s concept sounds interesting at first hand and sounds great on paper, and truth be told they did quite a good job with the concept and premise. Unfortunately, this Anime suffers greatly from too little and too late. What do I mean exactly? It’s very simple, you make the first 4 episodes to a very slow paced experience and then finally put all the action squeezed into the two last episode. This is an unfortunate issue with the Anime. An even harder problem is Sunrise tried their utmost best to adapt a very epic critically acclaimed Sci-fi novel into a modest budget OVA Anime with very extreme limits and budget problems for this already doomed project. While hardly a disaster and far from being a bad Anime at all, its legacy certainly speaks volume as here we are 3 decades and a half after its release, and it has mostly faded into obscurity.
As you all know, famous Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump manga artist and creator Akira Toriyama passed away recently on March 1, 2024. His death was then announced on March 7, 2024, by the official Dragon Ball website and its Twitter account. There is worldwide mourning across the spectrum, and many manga artists, game developers, celebrities, athletes, and even political leaders, have expressed their sadness over Toriyama’s death.
The most notable ones, One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, and Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, have released a long statement in regard to Toriyama’s passing, and the amount of emotion expressed by the two legends. Their statements were released via official Weekly Shonen Jump.
Ladies and gentlemen… The most depressing manga news is about to unfold for many manga readers… Today, the manga industry mourns for the passing of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump mangaka creator Akira Toriyama. Toriyama’s reputation isn’t just big, but arguably, one of the most well known mangakas ever in history. Toriyama was the mastermind responsible for not only creating a revolutionary manga series that became the most famous and well known manga worldwide that created a generation. He also revolutionized a serialization company, a genre, an industry, and a concept that many mangaka follow to this day.
Everyone wants the following in their fantasy life.
A Cool Warrior
A Cool Dragon
A Cute Dog/Cat Companion
These were the words said by my older brother when I showed him my four favorite TCG cards of my collection. Indeed, he is 100% right. When I look at my favorites, it exactly matches what he said. My cool dragons are the Red-Eyes Black Dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh! And the Nillious Ultra from Bakuman, my adorable black cat like companion who is Umbreon from the Pokémon franchise, and my cool Knight, the Knight of Infamy from Magic: The Gathering. These cards are my favorites, and looking back, It’s something that I have always stuck around with. For some reason, I have always loved the dark and edgy looking TCG cards from nearly every franchise.
The Red-Eyes Black Dragon has always been a fan favorite of mines. Ever since its debut in the original Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, when I saw its first summon by Joey, I instantly fell in love with it. Its slick design, unlimited potential with future cards making it more powerful, and its lore as a potential power for the duelist automatically made it a fan favorite of mines. I would use Red-Eyes Black Dragon on every Yu-Gi-Oh video game, such as The Falsebound Kingdom, World Championship, and Tag Force. When I finally owned my first Red-Eyes Black Dragon card, (a rare limited edition by the way), it felt like a feeling of joy. Years later, I still love it, and even though I love other monsters like Black Wings, Dark Rainbow Dragon, etc., Red-Eyes will always be a favorite of mines.
Then There’s Umbreon, a long favorite of mines and my favorite Pokémon of all time. Since Umbreon is from a video game franchise, which is the Pokémon franchise, anything related to Umbreon will always be an automatic number 1 favorite since it is my favorite Pokémon of all time. So there is no need for a long description of why Umbreon is my favorite of all time. That will be reserved for another time. Despite this awesome looking Umbreon card, I am unsure if it will remain my favorite Umbreon card of all time. As I am aware that there are plenty of more cool looking Umbreon cards, and perhaps more useful in the TCG metagame than this one. Nevertheless, its holographic slick design, beautiful TCG artwork, and nice layout definitely wins an automatic favorite for me.
Nillious Ultra from Bakugan has always been a fan favorite of mines. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of Bakugan models. However, I can’t lie to you that Darkus and Aquous are my favorite elemental types of Bakugan, and in fact, they are my majority collection as I have showed it in the previous article and photo of mines. Of course, I plan to collect more of the others in the future. Nillious Ultra is another favorite of mines simply because he has a dark cool edgy design, an impressive looking Bakugan figure, used by an interesting character who is named Magnus Black, and overall, I just love it. Now, there are more upcoming Bakugan in the future, so, let’s see if it can hold its crown as my number 1 Bakugan favorite.
Then we have The Knight of Infamy. Now, please excuse me for this. I have only recently got into Magic: The Gathering last year. I am a complete noob to Magic and I sincerely hope that I hone my skills with the game more and more as I discover new cards and new things about Magic. Aside from that, Knight of Infamy was a random card that I randomly saw when searching for my first ever MTG purchase. When I saw its design, description, and its element, I couldn’t help but decided that this card will become my favorite. Now, as time goes on, I know Knight of Infamy will be challenged by other MTG cards, and it’s unknown if it will be able to keep his title defended. Aside from that, he’s awesome!
All of these cards are awesome, and I hope to collect some more in the future. Slap in other franchises like Beyblade, Digimon, others, and the edginess is complete!
Animangemu 