Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Why I don't read comics anymore these days is because of HOW LONG it can take to reveal something. Call it the Peter Pan syndrome. I thought about another long-standing rumor I believed in the 1990s -- that was Polaris was indeed Magneto's daughter. It wasn't officially declared until 2003 via a DNA test. That's what I don't like about the revolving door of writers. The writers tend to come up with a ridiculous retcon vs. a retcon that works. For example, the revelation that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch as Magneto's lost children works vs. the dumb retcon that hit in 2016 . The same could've been done in the 1980s with Polaris is as she should've been Magneto's ELDEST DAUGHTER ANYA. I always thought about the fact that more often than not, Scarlet Witch and Polaris have a certain resemblance. Quicksilver had been drawn to look like Magneto than his ADOPTIVE PARENTS. Sure, not everyone who looks alike is related. What made me think about how to link ...

Back in the 1990s, one of the most intriguing characters was Cable. However, I'd like to spare a thought for a character I thought was at first interesting but ended up as a BADLY WRITTEN TRAGEDY namely Tyler Dayspring. Tyler underwent several identities as Tolliver (a weapons dealer) and later took the alias of Genesis (since Apocalypse literally means revelation or the end of all things). These things were what I'd call a case of tragedy for tragedy's sake. Tyler was Cable's son, Cyclops' grandson, and a tragedy that sadly became the third wheel in the Cable vs. Stryfe conflict. It was a case of a series of badly written and badly unraveled mysteries. Tyler was the son of Cable and Aliya Jenskot. I'd like to say that everything started with a very OOC moment for Cable. For a start, I thought Stryfe's having to hire a mutant named Frisco to brainwash Tyler was unnecessary. Come on, Stryfe is WHAT CABLE COULD'VE BEEN WITHOUT THE TECHNO-ORGANIC VIRUS. Str...

  Warning: This article will feel biased because I DON'T LIKE Power Rangers . However, given Shinichiro Shirakura's statement , I feel that Toei alone isn't to blame, maybe not just Shunkan Bushun, but also the harsh reality about Power Rangers . Power Rangers doesn't ruin Super Sentai's content but ruins its own when it creates a terrible season or entry. However, given the funding cycle, it's more like Power Rangers' really bad downward trend since 2011 (or earlier, GIVEN THE DISNEY ERA TOO) may also deserve the blame. Here are  Shirakura's words , regardless of how I feel about  Power Rangers : Shirakura observed that he joined Toei in 1990, when the company was planning the 1992 series Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. The staff back then thought that it might be the final Sentai entry. So, the younger staffers wanted to try something different, and introduced a sixth regular member mid-story for the first time in the franchise.  Shirakura mused that Zyurange...

I felt like revisiting an old X-Men comic book plot called "The Twelve" . It was here that Apocalypse recklessly tossed a rather convoluted plan. Apocalypse is known to be a master planner of sorts. It didn't look like he infected Nathan Summers with the TO Virus just out of spite. It looked like Apocalypse wanted to test if Nathan could become his next vessel -- as evidenced in "The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix". As I looked back, there was the HYPE and the INTENDED OUTCOME. Why do I think that "The Twelve" plot was a poorly calculated scheme that gave an unsatisfying outcome Apocalypse's plot in "The Twelve" was a quest for godhood. However, looking at some of Apocalypse's choices, it can be seen that there's A LOT OF BAD CIRCUITRY going on, such as: Magneto was experiencing power fluctuations (probably due to Professor X mind wiping him and the Onslaught crisis), which could poorly balance out with Polaris' geomagnetic...

  Mortal Kombat is a game franchise that heavily borrows from other games. The most obvious has to be using Tekken's one-button-per-limb system. Playing Mortal Kombat X can give me the feeling that it's an improved version of Mortal Kombat 4 . The game's variation system would remind me of Street Fighter Alpha 3 or the more bloated Capcom vs. SNK 2 (which had SIX variations CAPSNK groove).  MKX decided to be more clever with the variations, giving them names. For example, Shinnok's variations are Necromaner, Imposter, and Bone Shaper. My personal favorite is the Bone Shaper. The whole idea of three variations felt bloated for an MK game. However, the variation system fit because of the X in the title. The variable X is used in mathematics to represent an unknown variable. Choosing a specific variation can change the way you play a character. Shinnok has access to a long-range projectile in Bone Shaper, but NOT THE OTHERS. I'm using Shinnok as an example since I'...

Mortal Kombat is a game that deep in the Taoist and Buddhist context . However, one can think that Chinese mythology plays a deep role in the Mortal Kombat universe. For example, the Elder Gods themselves are often accused of being useless and lazy. This is an ignorance of the concept of Wu Wei -- which the Elder Gods practice themselves.  Wu wei means – in Chinese – non-doing or ‘doing nothing’. It sounds like a pleasant invitation to relax or worse, fall into laziness or apathy. Yet this concept is key to the noblest kind of action according to the philosophy of Daoism – and is at the heart of what it means to follow Dao or The Way . According to the central text of Daoism, the Dao De Jing: ‘The Way never acts yet nothing is left undone’. This is the paradox of wu wei. It doesn’t mean not acting, it means ‘effortless action’ or ‘actionless action’. It means being at peace while engaged in the most frenetic tasks so that one can carry these out with maximum skill and efficiency. ...

Mortal Kombat X's Story Mode can be divisive. Was it all that bad? I confess that Mortal Kombat X has better gameplay than Mortal Kombat (2011) often called Mortal Kombat 9 . I would like to share my thoughts that Mortal Kombat 9's Story Mode was practically Mortal Kombat Trilogy written. Mortal Kombat X is a rewrite of Mortal Kombat 5/Gold with a touch of Tekken 3 . The time skip of 25 years was another issue. It's easy for people (including myself) that Shinnok was a victim of "injustice". It's because Shinnok is potentially more powerful than Shao Kahn -- but that Midway (and later Netherrealm Studios) is overly dependent on Shao Kahn! The Story Mode begins with Johnny Cage and the Netherrealm Invasion. I thought it was a breath of fresh air to have both Johnny Cage and later, Cassie Cage, defeat Shinnok. They had a temporary advantage which they COULDN'T just summon at any time. The "green energy" only surfaces if Johnny of Cassie see a love...