Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Make no mistake that I saw Conan the Adventurer before I saw the rather bloody Conan the Barbarian . Yes, that was an incredible shock for my younger days. The name Thulsa Doom was used in the movie. However, anyone who has seen Conan the Adventurer might easily call him "Wrath-Amon" like I did. However, the Movie Thulsa seemed to be referenced in Conan the Adventurer via Ram-Amon . It was years later when I discovered that the "Skeletor" that Conan fought in the comics was actually THULSA DOOM. Comics Thulsa was introduced as the archenemy of Kull. Even more, it wasn't Conan but Kull who was enslaved as a boy and became a king at his own hand. Basically, Conan the Barbarian (1982) combined the different elements of Kull and Conan into one epic film. In the 1982 film, Conan was enslaved as a boy and rose up against Movie Thulsa.  Back in the day, I remember talking about how He-Man was inspired by Conan . People would say that the Movie Thulsa had this skull. It...

It's time for another "exorcism". Now, I thought about how UNUSUALLY hard I was on Seiiun Kamen Machineman back in the day. It's just 35 episodes (36 was a special clip show) and the show was a cheap production. However, one must note that this Shotaro Ishinomori production was OUTSIDE the official franchises of Kamen Rider (which was still shaky back in the day) than inside. Whatever money was given for the show may have been like, "I'm not giving you a budget for 50 episodes!" That's what the show looked like. The show was relying on absurdity. The show most likely had no intention to run an entire year. The plot feels like it's a random series of chaotic events. Nick from Planet Ivy goes to Earth to do his thesis. That plot alone feels all too random. Nick goes by the alias Ken Takase and keeps his Machineman alter-ego secret -- hence it's called NEBULA MASK.Ken's arrival on Earth gets him at odds with the Tentacle organization. Childr...

Street Fighter II V came out in 1995 AFTER the Street Fighter 1994 film came out. Street Fighter (1994) decided to go away from the TITLE MOLD for the G.I. Joe mold. There were Street Fighter toys by Hasbro at that time too. I was thinking that the 1994 film actually failed to incorporate Blanka in a MEANINGFUL way. The Street Fighter II Anime chose not to feature him, T. Hawk, Dee Jay, and E. Honda for a reason.  The movie plot had Blanka as Charlie Blanka -- a combination of Charlie Nash and Blanka. However, the GAME has him as Jimmy. I felt that Blanka could've been added into the Dictator's list of Super Soldier projects that could easily fit into the final scene. What if the Dictator decided to use Jimmy as a super soldier that would be forced to fight Ryu and Ken towards the finale? This would prove the Dictator to be someone who plays the deadly game of humanity against the heroes. My plot is that the use of Hadou to purge Blanka's mind rage. Blanka could be used as ...

I remember the good old 1990s. Okay, maybe NOT so good old anymore after I wrote that might be the "farewell post" for my Super Sentai blog. It was a post where I attacked IBC-13's bad scheduling of its Anime and Tokusatsu . Just in, the news that Kenji Ohba had passed away at 71 years old hit hard. It's another part of my childhood gone. It should be noted that Ucchu Keiji Gavan started its airing on March 5, 1982 -- another show that may have never made it to the Philippines thanks to the rule of the late Emperor Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Gavan aired during the 1990s. I can't pinpoint the exact time it aired on ABC-5, but I think it was before Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers aired. I felt it was the "carefree times" and times when I tried to escape reality via television. I'd say Gavan was definitely THAT imaginary friend. Basically, the Philippines was behind with Tokusatsu especially it was the 1990s and Gavan was aired in 1982. I could say it was m...

Previously, I wrote down the updates on my Super Sentai website, which is now "just a time machine". Blogging is JUST A HOBBY, so you can expect me to suddenly "fizzle out". I was afraid that Gavan Infinity was going to be "a sequel to the original Ucchu Keiji Gavan . Instead, it became an indirect spin-off where you don't see a now-aging Kenji Ohba. Instead, it's all about having an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT GAVAN with a multiverse concept. No mention of Commander Qom or the original Space Sheriff Trilogy .  It should be interesting that Gavan Infinity goes under the Universe Heroes label. Metal Hero is a canceled but still remembered franchise . It's like how the Super Robot Anime got unplugged, but the Super Sentai Megazords honor the history. Metal Hero also has multiple references in the Kamen Rider series . Why Toei decided to create a new franchise entirely instead of reviving Metal Heroes -- a franchise that was already closed in 1999? Toei probab...

In superhero shows, there's such a thing as the Status Quo writing vs. Non-Status Quo writing. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was meant to be that in 1982. The sister show She-Ra: Princess of Power also followed that format. Sure, She-Ra had a prequel movie called Secret of the Sword . However, each show also ended with the Status Quo. I could miss an episode and didn't have to say, "Huh? What happened here?" The two shows had the standard formula where the recurring villains Skeletor and Hordak are usually defeated at the end of the day. The same couldn't be said when Mike Young Productions created He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002). I remember watching the show on Cartoon Network. It had a three-part introduction unlike the original He-Man  TV series. It had promising start but ultimately crashed. He-Man's secret identity becomes a problem when you move out of Status Quo for a more serious show   The show may have failed to shuffle one thi...

Tekken bosses can be controversial. I didn't like Tekken at first (specifically the first two games) because of the input lag problem and the bosses are F*CKING HARD. Yes, talk about the CPU and one may remember the final battles against Heihacki (the first Tekken game) and Devil ( Tekken 2 ) were monstrously difficult. It was because the first two games are purely experimental concepts. One may also consider the hardware limitations of the fifth generation consoles vs. the improvements brought upon by the sixth generation consoles to the current nine generation consoles. Some older games were just meant to make you mad. Tekken 6   was a game in 2007. Yes, it was the good old days when the arcade was still there. Basically, any fear against Azazel was with the arcade model. However, I played Tekken 6 on the PlayStation 3 meaning I had INFINITE CONTINUES. However, a boss that was too difficult back in the day, even with infinite continues, was still a pain. Maybe, one can talk ...