Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

It's no secret that inspiration begets inspiration. American entertainment and Japanese entertainment will inspire each other. So why do I think it's possible that Kimba may have inspired Simba? The late Osamu Tezuka who died in 1987 is a Disney fan. If he met with Walt Disney (this was way before the company ended up ruining my childhood) then what if copies of Kimba were at Disney and what if Disney long acquired the rights to produce a similar character?  Here's an interesting excerpt about the Lion King and Kimba from the Huffington Post : Tezuka died in 1989, but during his life he didn’t bother hiding his affection for Disney, especially his love for “ Bambi ,” claiming to have seen the film more than 100 times. The animator actually met Walt Disney during a World’s Fair before he ended up licensing “Bambi” for a Japanese adaptation and credits Disney in his autobiography for some creative influence. In his book, From Goods to a Good Life: Intellectual Prop

I thought of the many times that some say that Sabertooth could be Wolverine's estranged father though it wasn't implemented. In the X-Men cinematic universe, I thought about it that while I don't like the Cinematic Universe now due to the dumb retcons (and I wish Marvel will restore Scarlet Witch's and Quicksilver's parentage to Magneto by revealing that the current glitch is a result of the House of M and NOT that stupid retcon they're in). But here's my ideal retcon to how I'd actually write Wolverine and Sabertoth as family -- as half-brothers. So what's my own story? Sabertooth was formerly Dog Logan but later took the name Victor Creed to hide himself. Wolverine is still the son of Thomas Logan and Elizabeth Howlett via an illicit affair. Dog Logan is the son of Thomas and his wife. This illicit affair causes trouble especially when Sabertooth is Wolverine's older half-brother on the father side. This would create a rivalry especiall

There's been various ways that the Wolverine x Jean Grey shipping gets to work. The X-Men cartoons under Haim Saban's production didn't explain much of what happened -- considering that stuff like Angel losing his wings in a very violent fashion, Callisto's deep lust for Angel or stuff like that are considerably cut out for obvious reasons. Wolverine felt like that he was just in love with Jean Grey for the sake of it. But the comics did have a rather bloody backstory which either could have been (1) toned down in Saban's X-Men cartoon or (2) something that couldn't get past the censors. Yes, Wolverine actually had a crush in the past who looked similar to Jean Grey named Rose O' Hara. No, Jean Grey is NOT a descendant of said person either. What happened was that he had feelings for Rose while she had feelings for someone. His crush on Jean Grey and letting her go is somewhat a psychological need -- he wanted to let Rose to be happy and marry Smitty. How

If there's anything where Saban actually did right (or even better) than his famed alliance with Toei to create Power Rangers -- I think it's actually his alliance with Marvel Comics and Stan Lee in order to produce Marvel-based cartoons. I would say these are still superior over what new school Disney has to offer IMHO. I could remember a few of Saban's adaptations of Marvel where I can appreciate it for not borrowing footage from the source. My favorite cartoons produced by him involved X-Men , Spiderman and the Marvel Action Hour -- where Saban Entertainment and Marvel Comics were in alliance. Hmmm... should I mention that he was partly involved with Nintendo and DIC for the Super Mario Bros. Super Show where the less successful sequels no longer had his involvement. I guess everything started with well -- the X-Men cartoon which was so successful it ran for so many episodes. Sadly, it ended with a dangler where Apocalypse returned into the body of Fabian Cort

I admit, I don't really always go by the comics (or by the Manga) most of the time. IMHO, I thought about how the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants get altered in one media after the other. Perhaps the most common changes are like making Magneto and Mystique allies which wasn't in the comics or how often Juggernaut goes from a mystically empowered villain to an X-Gene mutant. So what changes would I do based on the comics AND the adaptations that follow? I was rewatching Pryde of the X-Men and I thought of a number of ideas that I wish made it into the 90s X-Men cartoon. Toad was featured there but he wasn't an active member of the Brotherhood. I actually like the idea of White Queen being a part of the Brotherhood of Mutants together with Mystique and Juggernaut. I thought Juggernaut would have actually developed more conflict if he were actually working with Magneto -- giving Professor Xavier more development as he must deal with both his best friend and stepbrother as they

It's been week since Sailor Otaku (due to real life reasons) hasn't released a fan sub beyond Exceedraft's seventh episode. The seventh episode where Hayato supposedly "betrays" Exceedraft and "joins" the Red Spade is one intense arc. A police officer on an undercover mission? He supposedly "murders" his chief and he gets in? I can't wait to see more of it! I just even think that the subs really need a lightspeed rescue -- LITERALLY!

Megaman 2 is the game in its early stages and I called it the most unforgiving Megaman NES Game . The game also had balance issues and one weapon REALLY stood out so much. It may not be a panacea or cure-all for the game but it certainly is the most powerful weapon available. Only a few enemies were immune to it. But others, sheesh -- it popped Bubbleman and made lumber out of Woodman. It also had very high ammo and killed several enemies (but not all could be hurt by it) in one shot if they were aligned near each other. It also could be fired in several directions AND it had incredibly long range. Successors of the Metal Blade weren't exactly that powerful. Megaman 3's Shadow Blade had medium range and couldn't be fired downwards plus it didn't have the rapid rate of the Metal Blade. Megaman X2 presented the Spinning Wheel -- it was one strong weapon but it couldn't be fired in multiple directions. I guess the people behind Megaman thought that the Metal Blade

One of my favorite cartoons as an adult is the Grim and Evil cartoon series. One features what if the Grim Reaper one day became friends with two children named Billy and Mandy. The other is full of quack science where the titular antagonist Hector Con Carne is reduced to nothing more than his brain and stomach -- worse he's attached to Boskov a very dimwitted bear. Hector is accompanied by Dr. Andedonia Ghastly (though she's usually referred without her first name) and the huge idiot General Skarr (who is the occasional Starscream of the series). While I thought Grim's side was funny while I found Hector Con Carne to be even more funny. Well, there's the quack science that medical science won't be able to achieve -- it's impossible to actually survive as just as a brain and stomach. While it does make good innovation for science fiction writing but I don't think technological advancement can do it. Just thinking of how Hector survives as such makes it e

I was too angry with Fox's tantrums and how they dealt with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch -- even the stories to explain the retcon can't even disconnect to decades of established plot. Then again, what's some adaptation without some retcons right? TBH, I kinda like a few ideas that were introduced outside the comics such as giving Magneto more mutants under his command (such as making Mystique his second-in-command or Juggernaut being a mutant over his original storyline where his powers are mystically imputed), not having Madelyne Pryor at all (which started the whole cycle of Cyclops' decay), Wolverine's height change and the like. The only real problem is when the changes don't make sense.  So how would I play with it around? I would actually make Lorna Dane or Polaris the eldest daughter of Magneto -- rather than a daughter born out of some affair with a married woman. I would make it that Anya Lensherr supposedly perished in the fire -- only for her

I was rewatching some of the X-Men: The Animated Series by Haim Saban and realized one thing -- Nightcrawler's father Azazel was only introduced in 2003 as a possible parentage retcon. Until then, there's been a lot of speculation who his father is. The 1990s X-Men cartoon did bring some hints during "Nightcrawler", "Lotus and the Steel" and "Bloodlines" which actually tend to point to one man -- SABERTOOTH! Why do I think that Sabertooth may have actually been Nightcrawler's real father ? In Bloodlines, Mystique told Nightcrawler that the latter's father was a wealthy nobleman. Yet, "Lotus and the Steel" does present a hint that Nightcrawler could be Sabertooth's other son with Mystique. Wolverine remembers Nightcrawler and then he sees Sabertooth. There's even a resemblance between Nightcrawler AND Sabertooth more than Mystique's husband and Nightcrawler. This has me thinking about it that Mystique may have lied

I was thinking about a series of my preferences between old school and new school. I want to enjoy the best of both though not all of the Toku classics get my attention. The same can be said about Kamen Rider. I may have started with Kamen Rider Black and Black RX -- but I just don't find myself enjoying most old school Kamen Riders. No, I won't blame the primitive special effects -- most of my favorite Super Sentai were still using stop motion for their mecha or lesser forms of CGI. I think it has to do with the plotline or writing.  What old school Kamen Riders have I watched aside from Black and Black RX? I watched Amazon, Stronger, Super-1 and some episodes of the first Kamen Rider. I remembered just how I found myself watching them before I wanted to criticize them. I finished them and just didn't find them enjoyable. Doing some Google -- I found out that there's a five to six year hiatus between Super-1 and Kamen Rider Black. Wow, talk about hiatuses. Then I

While playing Megaman X7 -- I still think it's what I'd call innovation GONE wrong. Yup, as much as there's much to explore but this is one game that just had no idea on what to do or can't decide. I mean, the game annoyingly shifts between 2D to 3D forcing you to adjust to situations too quick. Some can go ahead and say Megaman X6 is the worst X game ever but I beg to disagree . This game is even worst than X6 due to factors like how X is reduced to a whiny brat or how gameplay can be SO horrible. Now here's my thing -- Megaman X7 should have just focused on getting fully 3D instead of a mix of both. Aside from the fact like DO NOT make X a whiny crybaby -- the gameplay was also another focus. For instance, make Zero still have his effective jumping slash which was severely destroyed in this game. So how can we have a good 3D Megaman game? Analyze the Megaman Legends series' 3D gameplay together with the more effective Lock On feature for bosses. I mean, Meg