Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

The digital age itself doesn't totally erase nostalgia, doesn't it? I always think about which old school games and shows are still worth revisiting vs. those that aren't. I thought about it that ever since I played Mortal Kombat 9/2011 that made me think, " Do I still want to play Mortal Kombat Trilogy? " which is a game with plenty of balance issues . Then I remember playing Mortal Kombat II (arcade version) as a child and later replay it as bonus content for Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. I did every quest done and I finally unlocked the game.  I remembered what exactly was WTF wrong with a game that was such a hit during the 1990s. TV Tropes would term something as The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard. Who can remember Liu Kang doing two bicycle kicks in a row (which required to charge Low Kick for human players) or Scorpion slamming someone twice in a row with his spear which you couldn't do? Who remembers getting your throws predicted THAT FAST and t...

Black RX is a series where you love it or hate it or is there no middle ground? I decided to rewatch the finale and thought of the many weaknesses the series had. Just because Saban's Mashed Rider sucks doesn't mean RX's weaknesses should be overlooked. At least, Shigenori Takatera took the time to write down the weaknesses and correct them in Kuuga. So, how should the finale be? As said, tie the loose ends of both Black and Black RX  especially in the finale arc. Do you remember the episode when Grand Lord Crisis sent the blood clock as a warning to the Crisis officers? I thought about how I did tie in Bilgenia as the new Crisis inspector. The whole event should feature the same vision of Grand Lord Crisis speaking to the members of Crisis. He would say that Crisis Empire may suffer the same fate as their previous comrades. Then, Bilgenia starts to literally sabotage everyone so he could get Grand Lord Crisis' favor. Heck, he may still be obsessed with getting Kotar...

I know I've had issues with Disney capitalizing on their past successes such as Beauty and the Beast but I can't deny this cover is actually pretty good. I'd still like the original better (due to Lea Salonga-Chien singing Jasmine's voice) BUT I don't want to dismiss whatever good qualities this has. So, just sit down and enjoy although the end credits version is just facedesk due to how lifeless it is. Better than autotuning Emma Watson for the 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast. Though I still love this version for nostalgia reasons. Is a generation gap really affecting me or what? 

"Great game but not so great story!" can be a problem in fighting games. I admit, Mortal Kombat (2011) is still my personal favorite as I call it "The balanced out version of MK Trilogy to the point I can't play that game anymore!" -- it had that compelling story mode and everything. Then MKX came with great gameplay BUT the story mode just SUCKED IMHO. I thought Shinnok getting beaten by Johnny and Cassie is just as laughable as Hulk beating up Loki in the Avengers movie. Then there's MK11 which had great gameplay (but we could use some stage fatalities and more stage brutalities, please Netherrealm!) that's more accessible than MKX but I could talk about what went wrong. I'd call it better than the rather disappointing Tekken 7  BUT I could go ahead and mention some things that went wrong. Some characters from MKX could have had been involved rather than absent in the Story Mode Is it me or do I tend to sympathize with Shinnok too much? At l...

As a 90s child -- I remembered there were two similar cartoons namely Go-Bots (which I was shocked came first) and then there was Transformers (which was inspired by the Go-Bots). Transformers became more popular than its inspiration or in my case -- I prefer Transformers over to Go-Bots. The two were competing in the 80s but by the time I saw the show -- it turned out that Hasbro already acquired Transformers' rival Go-Bots from its original owner Tonka in 1991. Which reminds me that Hasbro is the company behind Transformers, Beast Wars (which is part of G1 Continuity) and they also had Go-Bots. So a bit of research will tell you that the Challenge of the Go-Bots cartoon (by Hanna Barbera) aired at the same year with the Transformers cartoon. But we know which show had better animation, music and characters. Go-Bots started off as toyline and so did Transformers. My issue with Go-Bots is the lack of personality and bland designs that Hanna-Barbera had. I mean think of this...

I remembered not liking or thinking too high of Johnny Cage until later in the series or better yet in the reboot. The reason was because of his cocky attitude. However, one can see how Mortal Kombat has changed Johnny Cage that much in the reboot. The original timeline had him murdered during the Outworld invasion, revived in MK4/Gold and killed/revived again in MK Deception and MK Armageddon. But now, I'd like to talk how I really enjoy his character development in the reboot. The first reboot game presented him as a hero but he doesn't know it. He doesn't take the tournament seriously until he found out that he had a purpose. He has a hyperactive, big mouth yet he starts to mature when he meets Sonya, marries her, they get estranged and somehow reconcile during Mortal Kombat X's final events. The first three events in the reboot game caused him to mature especially when he saw his comrades die in front of him. Remember that scene when a fully resurrected Sindel ki...

It's just a few days before Aladdin 2019 will screen in theaters. But now, I have a lot of concerns which should be WTF Disney why are we just getting BLAND REMAKES? Maybe, I can forever just say, "Well I can tolerate Naomi Scott as Jasmine looking like the Goddess of Mercy ." but there's more than that with the following... Bland remakes or covers of the classic songs. The digital age is supposedly there to help things out but what happened. No, I have nothing against Zayn Malik and Will Smith -- it's more of whoever was behind them just didn't direct it well. Is it me or is it just nostalgic sickness? Personally, I think I have it with Beauty and the Beast (2017) because I hold dear the 90s classic! But again the Prince Ali cover and the remake of A Whole New World makes me rewatch the old school scenes! I could talk about Jafar next. From a rather unattractive Gaston who looks like Jafar -- now we've got a HOT Jafar who could've made a...

I remembered what it was to be a child -- watching cartoons because well "DUH! IT'S A CARTOON!" without realizing that there's such a thing as adult animation. If there wasn't only the hit 1980s movie  Conan the Barbarian  -- there was also the 1980s musical movie Little Shop of Horrors. I remembered enjoying the old school music and I still do today.  But before that... I saw this... Yup, there was the short-lived 1990s cartoon "Little Shop" which had Haim Saban and Marvel Productions involved in making a musical spin-off. Audrey 2 was a friendly monster plant and there was Seymour. Everyone was children but I remembered the whole shock I had in watching the 1980s movie because... Audrey 2 was really a VILLAIN which was a shocker. I dunno which shocked me more between the blood and violence of the 1980s Conan the Barbarian or the occasional brutality of Little Shop of Horrors. Yup, there were deaths such as Mr. Mushnik, Orin Scrivelo (w...

Scorpion is one character who's probably had the most unusual character development. He starts out as an anti-villain then becomes an anti-hero. The way he was developed in two timelines (Midway and Netherrealm) does somehow show to why he's a popular character. Think of Johnny Blaze from Marvel Comics -- an anti-hero who's got a rivalry with someone who he previously made a deal with. Midway timeline development I remembered how he was introduced as someone who was hired by Quan Chi but was defeated by Bi Han (the previous Sub-Zero). The weight of his sins caused him to land into Hell -- though it was also Quan Chi's doing that he became the wraith known as Scorpion. He would enter the first tournament and kill Bi Han but would later have an on/off rivalry with the much more nobler Kuai Liang. He would later join Shinnok in the invasion forces. Though it was at that time that he would soon learn that Quan Chi and not Kuai Liang was the one responsible for the Shir...

Love him or hate him -- Haim Saban does have some good points and bad points. I may not like Power Rangers but I do still appreciate the heart he once had with Marvel. Toei once had it with Marvel (for a few shows only) then Saban also ended up owing Marvel for his success. No Marvel, no Toei means no Saban Entertainment success! Now, it's time to consider how Saban's X-Men cartoon nearly had a finale in the four-parter called "Good and Evil" and why I think it should have ended there. The show did have the very finale-seque type of setting such as Jean Grey and Cyclops getting married and Apocalypse executing his final plan. So really, why did it all go for naught and succeeding episodes treated it like it never happened? It's almost like how Mighty Morphin' should've ended with Doomsday Part 1 and 2. Apocalypse was launching his master plan once and for all and was gathering his minions he manipulated such as Magneto and Mystique. While Apocalypse wa...

Graydon Creed is perhaps one of the most complex characters in X-Men. I remembered watching the X-Men cartoon which somehow implied that Mystique may have married the German count but he wasn't the father. It was hinted in a later episode that after Wolverine saw Nightcrawler in a memory that he saw Sabertooth -- suggesting that Sabertooth may be Nightcrawler's father. Mystique could have used half-brother instead of brother in reference to Graydon. Now, this is where I thought about the irony behind Graydon -- I hate him but I also pity him. So what caused his severe hatred for mutants? Well, he did find out that his parents Sabertooth and Mystique abandoned him as an inconvenience. This caused him to grow up hating all mutants because he was a normal human born out of two mutants. This was a plot that was used against him severely in Saban's X-Men cartoon. Remember when Wolverine startled him and later the video about Sabertooth revealed his paternity? I really even wa...

WTF I just found out that not even Beast Morphers is spared from the annual summer hiatus. It's more than time to ask that question since 2011 -- WTF why is Power Rangers having that very stupid summer hiatus? The results weren't pretty and we know how it went -- Power Rangers Samurai is so bad that the wait ain't worth it, Power Rangers Megafail tried to mish-mash two shows together only to create the biggest anniversary disaster ever, a Go-Busters localization was initially skipped in favor of a Kyoryuger localization in the form of Dino Charge, ToQGer got skipped over then we had yet another epic disaster known as Ninja Sh*t which makes Ninninger look decent then it's going back to 2012 with Go-Busters. WTF the premiere was delayed and guess what -- BEAST MORPHERS IS  FREAKING ON A BREAK! Disney's massacre starting with the rushed Power Rangers seasons is bad enough. Now we're having a super unnecessary TWO YEAR RUN for a show that's supposedly meant ...