Now's as good a time as any...

"As good a time as any for what?" you might ask. Why for me to reveal the true extent of my nerdom of course! Here it is: I love anime. I like it so much that I went to the source material by which all anime is created: Manga. Manga, for those of you who don't know, is the Japanese equivalent of a comic book. They are drawn without color and are read from right to left.

You. In the back. Stop snickering and hear me out.

Firstly, I am a huge fan of the artwork done in manga. Above, there is a picture from my current favorite, Naruto. Now before you get all judgmental on me and start thinking of the lame-ass dub (that means dubbed over in English rather than English subtitles for the layman) that Cartoon Network funnels down prepubescent throats week after week, check this out. It's a long fight, and unfortunately you miss a lot of the build up and character development with that link, but perhaps skipping around through that twelve minute mess you can start to get a feel of the show. The overall feeling you should be getting? I would hope a burgeoning appreciation for the texture as well as the visual aesthetics of the animation.

My (brief) summary of my favorite anime--> Epic themes: perseverance, friendship, hatred, loneliness, and faith. Epic characters with epic ninja powers: the link to the fight is the first in the series, where two legendary ninja from opposing villages battle to the death. and Epic artwork:



Impressed? Well, I was.
One thing I really love about manga as opposed to comic books, is the treatment of the space time continuum. For example Superman has been around since 1939 Making him a ripe old age of 70. If you've picked up a comic book, oh say... ever, you should know that Superman is in his early thirties tops. Naruto has been going on for ten years and the character has aged from 12 to 16. Still not completely accurate I know, but at least the effort is made. Japanese storytelling likes to show progression in every arena. As I've watched Naruto, I've noticed logical, gradual, and noticeable changes in nearly all the characters.
The main character, Naruto, begins life as an untalented prankster who dreams of becoming the wisest most powerful ninja in the village. He is enabled to achieve great power at a young age becaues of the 9 tailed demon fox sealed within him. In his early adventures he relies on this power heavily, but as time passes he realizes that he must find his own strength to overcome the hateful power that the fox provides. Five years later, his quest for enlightenment is in full swing and he is one of the more powerful ninja in the world.

What fascinates me most about Naruto is his refusal to ever give up, and an impassioned belief that peace in "this world of ninja" is possible. While the world he lives in is filled with assassination, intrigue, betrayal, and darkness Naruto refuses to compromise his values or his methods. His unofficial mantra, repeated in the headlines of the manga week after week, "He keeps looking forward" is a not so subtle reminder to the reader that laying down while the world tramples over you doesn't solve anything.

So emphatic is Naruto's belief and charisma that nearly all of his enemies are drawn into his ideology. The first great example of this is his battle with Gaara.


Gaara is the secret weapon of the Sand village. He also has a demon sealed within him that grants him almost immeasurable power. Because of this, he is feared and hated within his own village, even to the point where his own father sent assassins to kill him from the age of 7 years onward. Being raised in this environment turned Gaara into a psychotic killing machine, whose only purpose in life is to kill anyone who annoys him. Through killing, Gaara feels he is able to confirm his existence.

Naruto meets Gaara and originally he fears the strength that Gaara has gained by surviving alone. However, in talking with Gaara Naruto realizes that they are very similar. Being inspired by their similarities and opposing outlooks Naruto decides that true strength can only be attained by protecting someone you love. In an epic demon battle that takes some time to get through watching or reading, (but I highly reccomend it regardless) Naruto emerges battered and exhausted but victorious.

I've realized I love this stuff waaaaaaay too much because I'm not even half way done talking about it. I'll leave you with the links to somes sites where you can read the manga or watch the anime if you like: Manga Anime

To be continued soon.

Fraggin Bastiches

So I rediscovered an anti-hero from my youth recently. <---Lobo. Pretty cool right? He's a ridiculously overpowered alien biker with a penchant for murder, mayhem, and oddly enough: cute little fishies. Honestly, his antics are so silly it's difficult to take the mass deplorable violence seriously. It's also hard to believe he actually had a cameo on the kid's animated adventures of Superman. A whole episode devoted to a mass murderer by virtue of hilarity. Whatever, I'm sure Warner Brother's made money. Even so, this character is a piece of work even by my standards.

His origin story is one of self-imposed social alienation, followed quickly by genocide. That's right, "The Main Man" didn't want to look like anybody else so he kills everyone on his peace-loving home world Czarnia. He then proceeds to become the universe's most feared bounty hunter. He even has a fairly famous feud with The aforementioned last son of Krypton, the first episode of which ends with him kicking the ever loving crap out of the big blue boyscout, while completely intoxicated. A drunk beating up Superman? Can't help but let my inner child go all giggly with that one.

Not only has Lobo trounced the Man of Steel, but he's taken out a couple of other noteworthy icons. The first two that come to mind are Death and Santa Claus. In an epic miniseries Lobo fights a bounty hunter who's as bad as he is, ends up dying, but is rejected by both heaven and hell for being too damned rowdy. As a result he makes a deal with heaven that makes him completely immortal. Ya hear that? What's the message we're sending to our children? Don't take shit from anybody! Not even metaphysical beings possessing immense amounts of power! ESPECIALLY not them.

Later a hit is put out on the far-famed jolly fat man and the infamous Scourge o'the cosmos is contracted to take out ol St. Nick. Oddly enough, the big elf also happens to be an incontestable knife fighter. Another round of crimson carnage ensues and the Main Man emerges scarred but victorious.

Alright, I realize that so far this has been a completely pointless nerd-gasm. I guess I'm really just exercising my right to get someone else to appreciate the irreverence and relative under-the-radar status of one of my favorite literary genres. Seriously, any nine year old kid could go buy a comic book featuring today's subject. I did. Lobo was one of my favorite characters growing up. He was just as mean as a snake and funny to boot. But good God man. His weekly adventures regularly included bar fights that concluded in the disembowelment of some poor feeb too dumb to know not to talk to the gigantic pale white guy with the chain and hook. I'm just saying: parents watch what your kids are reading. Because chances are it appeals to their adolescent sensibilities and encourages them to gut their neighbors and utter nonsensical profanities, i.e. "Feetals Gizz! You know you can't run over my skateboard and not expect me to eat yer Fraggin entrails!" <---(actual dialogue from the character)

Well, I'm gonna rap this up since I've been rambling incoherently about an obscure 90's comic book character for about five paragraphs too many now. Hopefully I'll dig into something with a little more substance for my next post. A critical examination of Iron man's drinking problem perhaps? Might be fun. Lord give me the patience to accept the things I cannot change...