I haven't written an actual blog about planning in months! It's time!

Well Wonderfes and SDCC were both last weekend, and I only really got Hype from one of them. Sure Wonder Fest had a Figma poster of Masaru from Sexy Commando Masaru Go!, and A CardCaptor Sakura Figma announcement, and that painted Devil Homura sold me on buying her, but there was nothing big like last year's Archer, Ryuuko (I don't care for Satsuki) and Guyver(again). SDCC had that sick ass trailer for Batman Vs Superman, the glowing eyes on Superman and Batman's armor have made me realize I will see that at midnight over Captain America 3. Unless I learn to split myself into two forms and re-merge. Time to find out! I'm so excited to see the Avengers 2 trailer, I hear it's like sex for my eyes. MMMMM Eye sex. Anyways here's what I'll write about at some point next month ( Since Ill actually have three weeks without school!Fuck these summer classes.)

Anime:
Code Geass (This will be my 200th blog, I'm mostly through season 1)
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Scryed

Manga:
Akira
Devilman

Vidya Games:
Rune Factory 1-4, Tides of Destiny
Ragnarok Odyssey Ace
Conception 2
Jet Set Radio
Dragon Quest Joker 2
Project Diva F
Dragon Ball Z Battle of Z
Demon Gaze
Dragon's Crown
Xenoblade Chronicles
Last Story
Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Y's Memories of Celceta
HyperDemension Neptunia:PP
Harvest Moon New Beginning
Akiba's Trip Undead and undressed
Hyper Demension Neptunia: Re;birth 1
Final Fantasy Type 0
Trails in the Sky
Sword Art Hollow Fragment and Infinity Moment

Toys:
Haruhi Robo
Figuarts Imperialdramon
Figma Snow Miku 2014
Figma Archer (MY BODY ISNT READY!!!!)
Figma Ryuuko


 This blog will plug on endlessly, though I've written on almost every anime and manga I feel a spark towards. It will mostly be me bitching about shitty games and whatever toys I get in the mail. I may disappear for months, but I always come back!

GTO and all it's Spinoffs. Onizuka for life, screw Pontiac.

   The first anime series  and manga series I went into blind was GTO. The premise of a formers gang member turned teacher was too funny to pass up, and I did not regret it one bit. GTO stands for Great Teacher Onizuka, for those not in the know. Onizuka was a member of the Pure love Gang of Shonan, but as he grew up, (physically) he decided to become a teacher. As you can guess, it's full of wacky hijinks and fun. That is, til the author realized he would never have a series as good as GTO, so he wrote a mediocre side story, and is currently writing an awful sequel, but more on that later, shall we?

   The logical starting point for GTO is Young GTO or Shonan Junai Gumi. Onizuka and his best friend Ryuji Danma form the unbeatable Devil Bomb combo. They're too idiots who go around getting in fights and always kicking ass. They're dumb as hell, but they're both ridiculously strong, especially Onizuka. The two of them unsuccessfully attempt to hide their gang habits in a chance to pick up chicks. The story basically endlessly repeats itself in an endless cycle: A new guy starts shit, Onizuka and/ or Ryuji, they get their shit kicked in, Onizuka gets revenge. Sometimes they becomes friends with the defeated, or at least less hostile to on another, but the new characters add little. The only real long term change is Ryuji gets a girlfriend named Nagisa, and moves in with her, until her parents find out, then they have to sneak around to see one another. Onizuka never does, and this is where plenty of the humor comes from. Onizuka is a bad ass and pretty handsome, but he's an idiot and unlucky.  The series is hilarious, and does feature some really cool fight scenes. Only a hand full of characters carry over to GTO: Onizuka (DUH) Ryuji, Nagisa and Saejima, a classmate and formal rival.

GTO takes place  a few years after Shonan Junai Gumi. Onizuka has graduated from a third rate college, and now attempts to be a teacher with little luck. His attitude, gangster style, and unrealistic expectations keep him from employment, but he finally gets a job at a public school full of troubled students. They harrass him and fake sexual harassment charges, so he gets his gang friends to kick their asses. Expecting to get fired the next day, Onizuka trudges into class the next day fearing the worst, but is commended by the principal for turning the problem students around. They want to hire him full time! Too bad he forgets to take the teacher exam, and despairs. Lucky for him, private schools will hire you without the exam certificate. Onizuka applies at Holy Forrest Academy, and after German suplexing the principal and charming the chair woman, he gets hired to fix the problem class, and live on campus.

Some members of the problem class (No they don't have downs)

    Onizuka's first problem is a student tries killing himself due to bullying, so he saves him by jumping off a building and destroying the principals car. He then gets revenge of the bullies, one of whom's mother is the head of the PTA. Onizuka is almost fired, but saved by evidence from a student. The series follows it's own cycle,  A student or teacher gets Onizuka into trouble ( Photoshopped pictures, money scandals, etc), Onizuka almost gets fired, and Onizuka overcomes the ordeal, winning over students. The main student though who is seemingly behind everything is a girl named Miyabi Aizawa. She lied about being raped by a teacher whom they were all friends with, when in reality she was jealous he had a fiance. The teacher was beaten, fired, and had his fiance left him after this incident. This is complicated by a new headmistress who has it out for Onizuka, and sicks her attack dogs on him, one of whom gives Onizuka a brain injury. Onizuka is legally dead before reviving to save the headmistress from the burning building. The series ends with the students creating a tribute to Onizuka at the school fair.

Don't worry, half this cast isn't relevant halfway through.

     GTO Shonan 14 days is a side story, it takes place during one of Onizuka's hospital stays. He heads off to his home ground on Shonan Beach to lay low, but of course gets caught up helping abused children fight their abusers. The series isn't bad, but it retreads the same ground as GTO with less memorable characters. The girls are cute, and a few GTO characters make cameos, but it doesn't add anything.

After the success of GTO Shonan 14 days, what else could be done but make a sequel to GTO? In comes Paradise lost, a terrible blight on the Onizuka chronology. Onizuka is back at Holy Forrest, and Principal Uchiyamada once again hates him. Onizuka is still getting screwed over by the school, and is put in charge of a class of idols (models, actors, writers, etc). Despite taking place at the same location as the original only fellow teacher Fuyutsuki and Uchiyamada make a cameo in the first chapter. None of his formers student stop by, though I bet they will if the ratings dip. The problem I have with this is that Onizuka proved himself worthy of teaching at Holy Forrest, that he was a good teacher and man. Paradise lost does away with this, and we're back at where he was at the beginning of GTO. I get that he wouldn't have much development with his old class, but that just shows how worthless this sequel is. And a class of idols, really ? So far Onizuka is just going around in a wrestling mask pulling pranks against students who hate him. I hate this series so much.

     GTO was of course adapted into an anime series. It covers roughly half of the manga, but the end is different. Miyabi is such a bitch because her friend was knocked up by a teacher who abandoned her, then killed herself. The teacher is found stabbed, and Miyazawa is the prime suspect, but of course it was someone else. Fuyutsuki also confesses to Onizuka, whereas she only admits it to herself in the manga. There's five Shonan Junai Gumi OVAs as well that adapt the first few volumes of the manga. I think they were made later in the manga's life because Onizuka looks like Ginji Amano of Getbackers fame, a look he only had in later volumes. There's a live action GTO series, movies, and spin offs, but I have yet to watch them. Someday I will and update this blog reflecting that. Now here's some scores!

GTO Manga-10/10
GTO Anime- 9/10
Shonan junai Gumi-9/10
Shonan junai Gumi OVA- 7/10
GTO Shonan 14 Days-6/10
GTO Paradise Lost- 0/10

Harlem Beat! No, it's not that Yaoi manga or a New York soul group, the Manga!

Since I've written blogs on almost all my favorite anime series, it's only fitting it's time to write one on my favorite manga! With the announcement of the new Fate/Stay Night anime being an adaption of my beloved Unlimited Blade Works, There is only one anime I crave, one on Harlem Beat. I love this series so very much, which is strange because I think sports are queer, and don't follow any. So what sets this story apart ? It's a drama that involves basketball. The cast is varied, fun, and loveable. So let's slam into the jam! I'll be using Tokyopop translations, since barely anyone read those,and no one reading this in English will know what I'm talking about otherwise.

     Harlem Beat follows the story of Nate (Naruse) Torres, a loser who always gives up. Be it sports, music, whatever, he quits and moves onto something else. But not this time, this time he's going to give basketball his all. He makes his school's team and while going out to buy gear he meets an old friend, Mizzy Kusada. She introduces him to street hoops to help him improve. Nate starts off week, but it turns out he has a secret weapon, he can do the Air Walk! Soon he's joined by Kyle, a street thug who has a crush on Mizzy, and Masahiro Sawamura, a smooth talker with a rough past. The four of them form Scratch, and head off to the Skykiss tournament.

Main Characters:
Nate (Naruse) Torres- Our generic shonen hero! He's got an amazing ability to learn, and loves basketball.
Mizzy Kusada- The girl next door and former classmate of Nates. Her father walked out when she was young, and she lives with her rich mother.
Kyle Ozman- A gangster with a crush on Mizzy, he's a teddybear underneath it all and admires Nate.
Masashiro Sawamura- The best character in the series, his father abandoned him at a young age after being betrayed by a friend and amassing a large amount of debt. He's street smart, great at three point shots, and loves money.
Shuji (Shu/ shoe) Shurman- The hero of Johnan's basketball team and local street player. He comes off as sort of a big brother.
Sumisugi Kobayashi- The samurai of the team, he becomes captain when the Seniors quit to study.
Tomomi Koizumi-Nate's love interest he meets at the High School Basketball finals.

Nate, our hero.

Mizzy, a cute girl with daddy issues.

A good looking man who likes money and gambling.

A gangster who wants Mizzy.

At the tournament, Scratch faces off against local heroes Three Man group, and discovers their main player is the hero of Nate's Highschool Basketball team, Shu. Nate sees him as unbeatable, but Shu encourages him to keep playing. Scratch barely wins the match. They go on to face other teams, but withdraw during the semi finals due to fatigue. The series was a hit at this point, and could go onto longer serialization. Hence back to Nate's school team, with Shu the team's leader, Kobayashi the teams samurai type, and joined by Sawamura to form a great team. In the past Johnan's current seniors were freshman the team was pitiful. The seniors didn't care and they lost every game. This year will be different, and they did well the previous year, losing to Harada Commercial high in the semi finals. They manage to overcome them this year,and head to Sapporo for the Finals of the tournament. This ends Harlem Beat, at least when it was released in America. It covers volumes 1-9 of the source material.

Johnan's team

   Volumes 10 and 11 were skipped before Harlem beat was re branded as Rebound in America. I revently bought them both due to them being cheap on amazon.com. The important parts form these volumes are that Nate goes to Sawamura's house and sees a photo of his father. This is important later. Mizzy and her home life are shown, and she talks about her crush on Shurman, which really seemed to come out of nowhere in Rebound. Finally fellow street players help train Johnan for the finals in Tokyo. I can't read moonrunes, so this is me guessing based on the pictures.

    Rebound begins with Johnan arriving in Sapporo, and meeting their first opponents, Kyan High. They're tanned punks with attitudes, but they play street ball and comes off as cool guys. Nate meets Koizumi during this time, and the two begin a friendship.Johnan barely wins, though they have their eyes on the tournament favorites, Kanakita, who have a player favored to compete in the Olympics. During all this, Sawamura is reunited with his father who he hates. The two make peace, and his father offers him a place to stay, but Sawamura declines.After winning the right  to face Kanakita, Johnan trains hard to overcome their defense. Despite all of this, Johnan loses. It's heartbreaking to see them make it so far, and lose.  They head back to Tokyo afterwards, with Nate and Koizumi promising to keep in touch.

The final few volumes are enjoyable, but they feel unfocused. The Johnan seniors retire and leave the team to Kobayashi. They all go on a beach trip together, where It's revealed something is going on between Shurman and the team's female manager, Kim. Mizzy confesses to Shurman, but is turned down. The next few volumes deal with someone trying to conquer all of the street hoops in Tokyo. Sawamura joining up with an old friend in a high stakes Basketball gambling tournament. Nate, Mizzy and Kyle defeat him, and then face the head honcho, some random guy who wants to find a hero among basketball players. Yeah, whatever, Shurman shows up to help, and Nate defeats the head guy. The last three volumes seems lost, with Johnan failing to make it to the finals, and Nate and Sawamura being forced to work as ushers during the events.Koizumi and Nate get as close as they can be, and Nate promises to tell her he loves her the next time they meet.

     Finally comes the end of it all, Shurman and the other seniors are graduating, so they hold a party for them, and the new team tearfully says goodbye. Shurman and Kim head off for Doctors without borders together, while the Three man hoop where Nate and his friends met is threatened by a construction crew. Eventually the hoop is moved to the local playground where all can play together. The end!

   What I loved about this series is the characterization. Everyone has a distinct personality, even if the art makes it a bit hard to tell faces apart. The artist loves to draw SD chibis, and she is much better at that than regular. It's more about drama, compare this Slam dunk, which was about energy on the court and awesome moves. Sakuragi has no real depth to him other than being a loud idiot who loves basketball. Nate falls in love, faces defeat, and trains hard to do his best. The real draw is the supporting cast. Sawamura is an amazing guy, he has a rough life, works to support himself, and does his best to help Nate and make money. He's very funny, and amazing at three point shots. Kyle is an idiot whose awkward attempts at romance and making friends are enjoyable to watch. Mizzy is hot, but she does seem to have some depth. Shurman is the older brother everyone loves. Kim is the team manager who loves to torture the team, especially Nate. Even the rival teams have stand outs, like Sasuke Amagi, Higa Yuuta, or Kuwata. They're all such interesting people that make this manga about Basketball a joy to read.

    As with most series in the 90s, there was spin offs. First up is a Playstation game- Harlem Beat- You're the one! From what I gather it's a visual novel with basketball in between. I won a copy, but my lack of understanding of the moon stops me from playing such a text heavy game.There's two novel spin offs, but once again I don't know Japanese. maybe someday I will and shall buy the two volumes and the new G Gundam manga. I have more money than common sense anyway.

Harlem Beat manga- 99/10!

Novel 1

Novel 2

Yeah, I have no idea what I'm suppose to do here . . .

    I'll probably write a blog on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Code Geass. I'm fairly certain this blog is fueled by Code Geass, so it's only fitting that my 200th blog is on it. I'm rewatching it as I write this. This Dub is truly terrible, but I must suffer for my craft.

Heart of Sword! Rurouni Kenshin! Hiten Mitusugi Ryu!!!!

From Right to Left Sanosuke, Yahiko, Kenshin, and Kaoru

   Rurouni Kesnhin was a series anyone had heard of back in  the late 90s, early 2000s. Then it made it to Toonami and even more people became fans of it. I saw parts of it here and there, mostly due to always being at work when it was on. It was okay, I preferred Dragon Ball Z or YuYu Hakusho for my fighting Shonen.Then I read the manga and it was amazing. My cousin had the first few volumes, which I quickly bought my own copies of, and rabidly anticipated each volume. The series was such a hit that Viz moved up the schedule to monthly, and I looked forward to every volume fervently. It's still one of my favorite manga series to this day.

   Rurouni Kenshin follows the story of a wandering swordsman named Kenshin Himura. He wanders into town one day and meets Kaouru Kamiya, a local dojo owner who is searching for a swordsman tarnishing her dojo's name. Kenshin saves her from this swordsman, and the two start a friendship. Kenshin however has a dark past, and vows to protect those near him with his reverse bladed sword.
Characters:
Kenshin Himura- An assassin from the Meiji restoration who fights with Hinten Mitsurugi style moves. He's 28 or, and a loner when the series begins, but grows more friendly as the series progressess.
Kaouru Kamiya- A local female dojo owner who takes a shine to Kenshin.
Sanosuke Sagara- A local fighter who also takes an itnerest in Kenshin.
Myojin Yahiko- A young Tokyo Samurai who admires Kenshin.

    As you can see, the main cast of the series is rather small, strange considering this is a Shonen Jump series. The series can easily be divided into three arcs, the first of which is referred to the Tokyo arc. We find out Kenshin is an extremely strong swordsman with a reverse blade sword who fights to protect his friends. A few people learn that he was an assassin in the past, and admire him for choosing a path of freedom as opposed to joining the government and getting fat. During this arc he meets and befirneds Kaouru, Sanosuke, and Yahiko. He also meets a rival by the name of Aoshi Shinomori, an army commander from the losing side of the war who hopes to defeat Kenshin to gain glory for his army. Kenshin struggles, but does eventually defeats him. The first arc essentially involves Kenshin fighting guys he's much stronger than, and making friends. This is changed by the appearance of Saito Hajime, one of Kenshin's strongest rivals from the past.

   Saito Hajime was the former captain of the Shinsengumi, and based on a real person! He is sent to find out Kenshin's strength, but gets caught up in the fight, and Kenshin returns to his former assassin self to trade blows. They are interupted by Okubo, a leader of Japan who has dire news for Kenshin, Shishi Maokoto, an assassin who was replaced by Kenshin and thought to be dead. In reality he was doused in flames, and returned to conquer Japan. He gathers a group of ten swords or fighters, and is commanding from Kyoto. Kenshin is forced into action by Okubo's death at the hands of Shishio's men. Keenshin leaves everyone behind, and heads to Kyoto. This is the Kyoto arc, aka everyone's favorite Kenshin arc.

       Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sanosuke, while Kenshin has been joined by Misao, a child connected to Aoshi. On the trip there, Kenshin learns of what type of control Shishio wants over Kyoto, and breaks his sword. When he finally arrives in Kyoto, Kenshin needs two things, a new sword and to find his master, and learn the final move of Hinten Mistsurugi Ryu. Naturally he does both, meets up with the gang from Tokyo and teams up with Aoshi's comrades. Aoshi has become a fighting demon, and he sides with Shishio. Aoshi's commeardes, along with Misao, Kaouru, and Yahiko protect Kyoto, while Kenshin, Saito, and Sanosuke head to Shishio's lair. Sanosuke and Saito each defeat a member of team Shishio, while Kenshin defeats Aoshi bringing him back to the light, and another one of Shishsio's men. Finally the battle against Shishio arrives, and everyone joins in, but is easily overcome by Shishio's power. Shishio is finally done in by his burned body, and inability to regulate body heat. Saito is thought to be killed in this battle.

  The final arc of the Kenshin manga is the Jinchu or revenge arc. It was never adapted into an anime sadly, because it is a great arc. After Kyoto, Kenshin seems changed, he's friendlier to Yahiko, and begins a relationship with Kaouru. We finally get the whole story on Kenshin's past, his scar, and their new enemy. Keshin left his master at a young age to fight for the new area, despite being in his early teens. Kenshin received part of his scar  from a young man to be married to a woman named Tomoe. Keshin soon meets this Tomoe and they fall in love. This was a plot by the enemy to create a weakness in Kenshin, but she did truly fall in love with him. She is kidnapped, and killed in a fight while Kenshin tries to save her. She drops her knife in the battle, and creates Kenshin's X shaped scare.

       The new enemy is Yukishiro Enishi, her younger brother who blames Kenshin for everything. He creates a team to fight Kenshin, and after they are defeated he defeats Kenshin. One of Enishi's fallen comrades revives, and during this he kills Kaoru, leaving Kenshin broken. Kenshin heads to the swordsman's graveyard, while Aoshi and Misao arrive in Tokyo with Tomoe's diary, which details that she loves Kenshin. Aoshi thinks something is up, and digs up Kaoru's body, finding out it's a fake. The team wants to tell Kenshin, but aoshi says it would be pointless. Kenshin finally revives when Yahiko is in danger, and they all head off to fight Kaoru.  Kenshin defeats Enishi, and marries Kaouru. The two of them have a son, and a grown Yahiko receives Kenshin's reverse blade sword.

   The Kenshin manga is a Shonen series done right for numerous reasons. It's largely based on historic people and events, while managing to make them fun and interesting. Kenshin and his enemies use amazing sword techniques, and Kenshin himself is an ex-assasin! How cool is that? All of Kenshin's rivals are interesting people with distinct personalities (something most Shonen Jump series fail at terribly). It even has romance done right, inspired by the author's love of Shoujo manga. Kenshin is older than most protagonists too at 28 years old, so I believe this skewed his audience a bit older. Kenshin is a believable character, he wants to protect people, and in his past fought to help his comrades. The Kenshin Manga is a solid 10/10 to me, so how about its spin offs and derivatives ?

The live action Kenshin is great, easily the best live action anime or manga adaption I've ever seen. Not saying much, that means its better than the mediocre Death Note Adaption and the awful Gantz one. It is great, they translated the story and the characters perfectly, and I'm anticipating the sequels. It's based off the Tokyo arc and mainly follows the Opium arc with Megumi and Kanryu, but with Aoshi and his Oniwabanshu removed. They merged Jin-E in as the end boss too.The accompanying manga created for this, Rurouni Kenshin Restoration is mediocre at best. It's similar to the movie, except Kanryu hires Sanosuke, Saito, and a few more of Kenshin's rogues to go after him The manga follwos Kenshin defeating them, Saito being on Kenshin's side the whoel time, and finally Kenshin defeating Jin-E. This manga is like being kicked in the balls because I adored the original, and this falls short by a grand canyon length.

     The Kenshin anime is an okay adaption, at least while it covered the manga. It shoe horned in some filler and children for whatever reason, but faithfully adapted the majority of it. That is til the last third had no material and dealt with Kenshin fighting Germans and Chritians. This lead to it being canceled before they could adapt the Jinchuu arc however. There's also plenty of OVAs, which are all awful. The new Kyoto ones are the Kyoto arc, 10 volumes of manga crammed into roughly two hours. Needless to say it's fucking brutally awful. The Samurai X ovas as they were called were terrible, they were dark, depressing, and awful. They were nothing like kenshin. I watched them once and hated them. all I remember is Kenshin and Kaouru died from some disease that looked like it was ripped from Princess Monoke. It was dark, depressing and the art style was hideous. For some reason people claim to love them,  and I have no idea why. Now here's the numbers.

Manga: 10/10
Live Action Film: 8/10
Restoration Manga: 5/10
Anime:7/10
OVAs Kill it with Fire/10

It's the moment you've been Waiting for! This hand of mine is burning red! It's telling me, to write this blog on Mobile fighter G-Gundam!! READYYYY- GO!!!

I initially had heard of G-Gundam through the go for it Domon comics in the back of Gundam Wing's manga. I wanted to see the anime so bad, but I could never find much about it online. Eventually bootleg Dvds became more and more popular, and a full Bootleg set of G Gundam subtitled came into existence. I put off buying it, and then one day G Gundam was announced to be airing on Toonami. I was elated! I would finally get to see what I hoped was an amazing anime. i was so hyped I bought Gundam Battle Assault 2 because God Gundam was on the cover. I beat it with him, and the ending confused me. Why was Domon a super saiyan, and why was he in a room of flames ? I didn't get an answer to this until October 2002, when the series finally finished. When it ended, I had missed a few episodes due to Toonami's revolving schedule, so I bought the bootleg and marathon-ed it over the course of a few days.  Never had an anime ending hit me so hard, made me feel so much,and made me want more. To this day, G-Gundam is my favorite anime. The battles still give me chills, and the ending makes me cheer out with joy. So what is G Gundam about exactly ?

When I saw this image, never before had I wanted to watch an anime so badly. 

 

 

 

G Gundam is the first Non Universal Century Gundam series. It follows the story of Domon Kasshu, a Gundam Fighter picked to compete for his home country of Neo Japan. In the future, the colonies rule Earth from space, and every four years they hold a Gundam fight to determine which country will rule for the next four years. Each country builds a Gundam (ranging from goofy to awesome) and they duke it out on the planet earth. This year is different however. Domon's older brother killed his mother, and stole the prototype Devil Gundam and ehaded to earth. Under the guise of fighting, Domon and his partner/ childhood friend Rain Mikamura scower the planet for signs of the Devil Gundam, and it's DG cells. DG cells turn a person or corpse into a super powered human, and can recover any damage. They come at a high price, extreme agression, and you are controlled by the Devil Gundam.

From top left to bottom right: Kyoji, Scwartz, Master Asia, Argo, George, Chibodee, Domon, Domon again, and Sai Saici.

 The cast is as follows:
Domon Kasshu- Represenative of Neo Japan, and holds the title of King of Hearts martial artist. He returned home after years of training to find his mother dead, his brother gone, and his father cryogenically frozen. Pilots the Shining and later God Gundam.
Rain Mikamura- Domon's childhood friend, she's a doctor and his mechanic. She can pilot the Shining Gundam and later the Rising.
Chibodee Crockett- Neo America's representative, he's all of American stereotypes rolled into one. The current Queen of Spade of the Shuffle Alliance, he pilots the Gundam Maxter.
George De Sand- Neo France's represenative, the Jack of Diamond of the Shuffle Alliance. He's extremely gentlemanly, and pilots the Gundam Rose.
Argo Gulski- Neo Russia's representative, and the Black Joker of the Shuffle alliance. He's an ex space pirate forced to fight by Russia, and pilots the Bolt Gundam.
Sai Saici- The youngest representative in the Gundam Fight comes from Neo China. He's an excellent coke, and fights to revive the Shaolin temple. Sai is the Ace of clubs in the Shuffle Alliance, and pilots the Dragon Gundam.
Scwartz Bruder(Black Brother)- Neo Germany's representative, he helps mentor Domon to fight against the Devil Gundam, In reality he is a DG cell clone on Kyoji Kasshu, sent to help Domon. He pilots the Gundam Spiegel (Mirror).
Master Asia Tohofuhai- The Undefeated of the East, and previous King of Hearts. Domon's master who sides with the Devil Gundam. He won the previous gundam fight with his Kowloon Gundam, and now pilots the Master gundam.
Allenby Beardsley- A rival fighter from Neo Sweden who serves as a foil for Rain and love interest for Domon. She was an orphan specifically for the gundam fight, and pilots the Nobell Gundam.

Domon holding Allenby, God holding Nobell.

   The series starts off with Domon and Rain landing in Italy, with Domon looking for a man in a picture (later revealed to be Kyoji). Domon gets arrested for fighting Italy's Gundam  fighter's gang, and we learn about the world of G Gundam. The poor live on earth, and the rich live on the colonies. The earth gets more destroyed with each Gundam fight, and those on earth resent the colonies a little more each time. The series uses a monster of the week format, with Domon or a friend he made fighting a Gundam match. While searching for hsi brother Domon meets four fellow martial artists who will help him in his struggles. Chibodee, George, Sai Saici, and Argo, all of whom make a strong impression on Domon, and vice versa. Domon has no luck fidning Kyoji, so he heads to Japan, where he is reuntied with his Master, and is over joyed. That is til he learns Master Asia's secret- He's working for the Devil Gundam, and has captured Domon's friends.  Just when all seems lost the Shuffle alliance eneters the fray, saving Domon. The Shuffle Alliance watches the world from the shadows, and takes charge whenever something evil reaches a tipping point.

   The Shuffle Alliance fights with Domon's friends and realizes that they are the successors to the Shuffle Alliance, and give their lives to cure them of the DG cells that had been controlling them. They then join Domon in his fight against the Devil Gundam, and Master Asia. When they all combine their powers to fight the Devil Gundam, a mysterious masked man named Schwartz Bruder takes the scene and save their asses. Domon is beyond frustrated at being do weak, but after listening to Schwartz he realizes he must train if he ever hopes to fight Kyoji. He heads to the Guyana Highlands where he trained previously, and his comrades follow him. They all train there to prepare for the oncoming final round in Hong Kong. When it's time to leave, the Devil Gundam attacks. Everyone gets away except Domon, who stays behind to fight Master Asia and The Devil Gundam. Just as Domon is facing death, Schwartz shows up and saves him. mortally wounded, he tells Domon to remember his training. Domon does, activates his Super mode on his Shining gundam, and defeats the Devil Gundam. When it comes time to face Master Asia, Domon is given his brand new God gundam from the colonies. Master Gundam falls to God gundam's sheer might, and Domon speeds off to the final round in Hong Kong.

  The final rounds begin with Domon swearing to win every single match til he faces Master Asia. He's off to a rough start, complicated by the ruler of Hong kong, Wong Yunfa capturing the beaten Devil Gundam to use for his own plans, and opponents Domon previously defeated returning for revenge. Domon wins all of his matches with superior skills, and soon is up a against a tough opponent, Allenby Beardsley. She uses a berserker system to draw out her full potential, but is still defeated by Domon. Domon manages to overcome all of Wong's cheap tricks, which frustrates him into forcing Domon to fight against members of the Shuffle Alliance. One by one Domon fights them, and despite being able to activate their Gundam's respective Hyper Modes (All gold) and their newly found skills from the Guyana highlands, Domon wins.During the final match, Allenby is taking away to a hospital, which  Domon blames on Rain due to asking her to stay with her. Rain resigns, and temporarily joins Neo Germany's team. Finally Wong realizes there is only one opponent that has a chance to beat Domon- pair him with Schwartz Bruder in a bomb filled arena. Schwartz Bruder dominates the fight, while Domon struuggles with his God gundam due to poor maintenance. Finally he calls out to Rain, who tells him what to do, and wins the match. Domon and Rain embrace, and see Schwartz's maks fall off- that underneath he is Kyoji Kasshu.

   While Domon heads off to fight the final round of the Gundam fight, Rain sneaks into the hospital where Schwartz is being held. There she learns the truth behind the Devil Gundam- that her father and the military commander of Japan, Ulube had killed Domon's mother and tired to steal the Devil Gundam, then called the Ultimate Gundam. Domon's father was frozen so he couldn't fight back, and Domon and Rain were fed lies to make them participate in the gundam fight. Rain even witnesses her father trying to kill Schwartz/ Kyoji. She saves him, and the two of them head to Rantou Island, where the Devil gundam lays, and the final round of the Gundam Fight is held.

   The Shuffle Allaince aside from Domon are defeated to allow him a path to fight Master Asia and the Devil gundam. Master Asia is winning til Schwartz shows up and turns the tide. He tells  Domon everything, how's he's a DG clone of Kyoji, and how they are both close to death. He begs Domon to kill them, and tearfully he does. Master Asia berates Domon, and the final fight begins. Domon and Master Asia fight the most spectacular Gundam battle ever, with their fists speaking the words they cannot. Domon overcomes Master Asia, who then tells Domon his true plan. That he wanted the Devil Gundam to fix the broken earth, and get rid of all people on it. Domon made him realize that people are part of nature, and you cannot get rid of them so easily. Master Asia dies in Domon's arms, the two of them crying and reciting their school's motto.

Manly tears.

    Domon has won the Gundam fight,and now it's time for romance! Wait, Rain left him behind ? After some encouragement from the Shuffle alliance and Allenby, he finally heads off to space. To compund this, the colony of Neo Japan has been taken over by Ulube and the Devil Gundam with Rain inside. Domon begins to fight a losing battle, until the Shuffle Alliance and all of the Gundam fighters show up to help fight the Devil gundam. Through teamwork, they stop the Devil Gundam from reaching earth, and allow Domon and the Shuffle alliance to get inside. Domon makes it alone to the control room, only to find Rain metalized and inside the Devil Gundam. He begins to fight her, but all the damage he does only hurts her. Instead he tells her hoe much he loves her, and she breaks free. Together they defeat the Devil gundam, and fly off together to the earth. Everyone ends up happy with their significant others, having achieved their dreams. Argo freed his pirate friends, Chibodee showed the world the American dream, George brought honor to France, and Sai Saici revived his father's Shaolin temple. Domon freed his father, and got together with his childhood friend, which never happens in anime. Hopefully someday we get a 14th gundam fight, because I would shank a man for more.

I love it!

   G Gundam is such fun series. It combines martial arts with cool robot action. It doesn't take itself seriously, look at any Gundam for refrence really. From Tequila Gundam to Nether Gundam they are goofy. Our main characters are martial artists who can only communicate with their fists, and they find friendship among one another. I love the fights, to this day anytime Domon throws down with the Shuffle Alliance or Master Asia, or Schwartz Bruder I get chills. The end where Domon chases after Rain and give his heartfelt speech makes me happy, and when it end, I miss it. More than I've ever missed anything. It's a beautiful series about martial arts. super robots, and love. What more could you want? The first time i watched every single episode I took a few days off school to mourn it's ending. I played the Super Nintendo game, and Gundam Battle Assault 2 to fill the void. No anime will ever touch me as much as this one. The Subtitled version is so much better than the Dubbed in case you were wondering.

There's a rushed manga based on this series by Koichi Tokita, who also did the gundam Wing manga, and The gundam Seed Astray main series. It's rushed and the author obviously favors Allenby, but it's decent. There's a more recent manga based on G Gundam, but It's not translated in English so I have no idea on it's quality. The Super Nintendo game is okay if you like old school fighters, there's not much variety in the characters. Gundam Battle Assault 2 is great, it features the main G Gundam line up, The Gundam Wing Endless waltz team, and plenty of UC Gundams. Definitely  recommended.

G Gundam Anime- 10/10
G Gundam Manga-7/10
G Gundam SNES- 5/10
Gundam Battle Assault- 9/10.

Goofy enough for you ?

Figma, whoaaaa Figma, you complicate my life, with all your releases. Figma 036 Mikuru Asahina Battle Waitress version.

I didn't even know this existed until last week. I was lurking Amiami's preowned section and saw the Revoltech version of this figure, and I was curious if there was a Figma version. Naturally, there was! I picked up those awful Final form Scryed figures too, but let's not dwell on them. Let's dwell on the here, the now, the Adventures of Mikuru Asahina, and her battle waitress outfit.

  The reindeer head for Kyon is clearly the selling point here. I tosses the box and it's contents away after pulling that out of it.

My life is now complete. My Kyon has a Reindeer head, and god is in his Heaven.  The face is useable on regular Kyon, but it makes him look like he has downs or some similar illness. If only i have the limited edition Haruhi Christmas outfit to go with him. This will keep me awake at night for sure.  Now onto the trash that came with this head- Mikuru.

   Mikuru here reproduces her appearance in her film, The  adventures of Mikuru Asahina episode 00, which is a film about Mikuru being an alien fighting maid with super powers. And guns. This figures comes with the standard extra hands, a single extra face, and Kyon's reindeer head. The reindeer head is why people bought this right ? Personally Mikuru was always my least favorite of the S.O.S. Brigade. She's essentially useless, too cute, and too moe for my taste. Though I can see her appeal, both of them. Anyone standard figma school girl, check out these cool poses.

Mikuru Vi Asahin Comands you . . .

John Woo style.

  If you like waitresses, girls with guns, or Mikuru, this figure is for you! If you make poor chocies with your money (like me) then this may also be for you. I picked it up off Jungle for $30, so it wasn't a bad price. I'll give her a 6/10.  Expect figma Snow Miku up here whenever she arrives. You'd think $20 shipping would be much faster.