Tuesday’s Top 5: My Hero Academia Torunment Matches

Posted on by Karandi

So as I said last week, this post topic was suggested to me by Kendra Ressler as one of my patrons and I’m going to thank her for the very awesome topic to write about. If you’ve been following season 2 of My Hero Academia, you already know it has been running a tournament between its year 1 students as part of their sports festival and this has led to some incredible character match ups and intense fights. I’m going to say this is my absolute favourite tournament arc ever given I usually find them pretty dull. There is no possible way to describe the events in this tournament as dull.

Anyway, I’d love to know which were your favourite matches on the tournament so please leave your comments below.

Please Note – There will be My Hero Academia season 2 spoilers below so if you haven’t started watching it you may want to pass.

Honourable mentions this week:

  • Shiozaki vs Kaminari
  • Mina vs Aoyama
  • Yaoyorozu vs Tokoyami
  • Tetsutetsu vs Kirishima
  • Iida vs Shiozaki
  • Ashido vs Tokoyami
  • Kirishima vs Bakugo
  • Iida vs Todoroki
  • Bakugo vs Tokoyami
  • Any of the fights I may have forgotten.

Number 5: Mei vs Iida

If you read my episode review featuring this match, you will know I found this whole sequence pretty hysterical. Essentially Mei tricks Iida into helping her sell her support devices. Runs him around in circles while pointing out the various features and once she’s finished her sales pitch she calmly steps out of bounds. While I’m not a major fan of comedy, this was really well handled and is one of the more unique fights in this tournament.

Number 4: Midoriya vs Shino

This first fight of the tournament between Midoriya and the seemingly weaker general course student was intense, or at least as in tense as a fight can be where one character simply asks the other to step out of bounds and then waits for it to happen. Shino probably should have specified speed on that one. Despite that, this fight was excellent at making the point clear that just because you aren’t in the hero course does not mean that your quirk is useless or that you can’t be a hero. If Midoriya’s quirk had been anything else and he hadn’t been the protagonist, Shino would have won this particular fight.

Number 3: Izuku vs Todoroki

For a fight as amazing as this one to be number 3 just kind of goes to show what it was up against. Seriously, my post of this episode was incredibly hard to write because I was just kind of blown away by how intense things got. Keep in mind though, we’ve got broken bones a plenty in this episode, not to mention a near double wipe out explosion. Todoroki seriously let loose at the end there. Absolutely amazing to watch.

Number 2: Uraraka vs Bakugo

When Kendra first suggested this list I thought for sure this fight would be number 1. However, like my top females in shonen list, it appears that Uraraka is always destined to be number 2. That shouldn’t deceive you though. This is a fight you need to watch and rewatch and then watch it again. Going in to this match up I felt for sure Uraraka would make a brave showing and then be swept under the rug but instead she really brought the fight to Bakugo. What was even better is that by the end of the fight he respected her for her strength. Also, this episode brings up a lot of the issues with the world and format of the school so you can deconstruct that as well, or you can just enjoy a seriously amazing fight.

Number 1: Bakugo vs Todoroki

It might be a bit obvious to pick the final as my number 1 choice, but really, this was an absolutely amazing match up and one that deserves respect. Without stretching out the time, inserting random flashbacks to rapidly build a reason for the audience to care about the characters, unnecessary lengthy dialogue about motive or tactics, Bones delivered one fantastic fight sequence and they did it in less than ten minutes of screen time. This was a truly awesome clash between two characters that in season one were well and truly overshadowed by Midoriya but have now been given a bit of free reign to shine.

Alright, over to you. Which was your favourite match and why? Once again, thanks to Kendra for suggesting the list.

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar

Advertisements

30 Day Anime Challenge: Day 4

Posted on by Karandi

30-day-anime-challenge

It’s Day 4 on the challenge and I’m really struggling with this one. Most Overrated Anime. Mostly I don’t like using the phrase overrated because I fully belive that everyone is entitled to their opinion and if a lot of people like something, they like it for a reason. Even if it doesn’t do much for me.

But, I am going to answer this challenge because I made an agreement with myself that I would answer the questions even if I ended up giving multiple answers. That said, I’m going to slightly reinterpret the question here and make it my most overrated anime. An anime I love, that I recommend to others, that I thoroughly enjoy, but I know it really isn’t very good from any kind of objective view point.

My most overrated anime would have to be Bleach.

title1

The story is stretched out too far, the cast expands to ridiculous levels, pretty much everyone is protected by plot armour and by the end of the third season you pretty much know the writer is not going to commit to actually doing any irreversible damage to anyone or anything of consequence. Random power ups happen because they do, characters don’t use their powers when they’d probably solve the problem, everyone talks to much during fights and fights go on too long.

Pretty much any criticism you could throw at an anime could be thrown at Bleach and it is hard to actually argue against most of those criticisms. That doesn’t stop it being awesome to watch but given how highly I might rank it on a list of favourite anime I’d have to admit that for what it actually does I’ve probably overrated it.

Your thoughts on most overrated anime?

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar

Brave 10 Episode 2

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

For some reason Saizo (ninja from last time) is hanging around and the Priestess has most definitely latched onto him. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of reason, though they try really hard with the idea of him being her light which may or may not be significant but mostly just seems a little cliché.

Brave2

That said, this episode delivers explosions, ninja fights, and giant serpents (as well as a bathing woman who even when clothed isn’t covering much and a few cheap jokes) and it continues to just kind of be fun.

Brave2c

I’m actually still enjoying this though it would be nice if the Priestess eventually stops just being baggage or a trophy.

Brave 10 is available on Crunchyroll.

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar

30 Day Anime Challenge: Day 3

Posted on by Karandi

30-day-anime-challenge

Day 3: Most Underrated Anime.

I somehow don’t think any of my choices are going to stand up here but I’ve got a few anime that I think should get a bit more attention. For a romance I’d have to go with one I recently suggested to Kapodaco for their Summer of Anime and that is Natsuyuki Rendezvous. This also came up in Kurumi Shim’s recent list of romance anime that don’t get recommended very often by fans.

Natsuyuki.jpg

It’s an anime that is incredibly sweet but has its bitter moments. The characters are really great but they are all ordinary people (even the ghost is just kind of a guy who died rather than anything particularly different). I think its the blend of the very ordinary with the minor bits of the supernatural and just the handling of the characters’ emotions that end up really selling the show. Basically, it is great to watch but doesn’t get a lot of attention.

bokurano

For something  a bit darker that gets overlooked a lot I’d got with Bokurano. It is completely unsettling and while the series has plenty of issues, it is pretty compelling viewing once you get into it and it will definition unsettle you. This one made my top 5 recommendations for Halloween last year and I totally stand by that.

Okay, which anime do you feel are underrated?

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar

WorldEnd Episode 11

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

I’ve definitely come to the conclusion during the course of watching this show that Willem is an idiot. A well intentioned, hard working, fairly knowledgable, idiot. He’s already understood that things don’t work out for him and that the world is not that kind. He’s already come to terms with failing to succeed at something even when he sets his mind to it. And yet, for some reason he seems to think that making grandiose promises with the girl he’s been treating like a child will somehow result in a happy future for anyone.

WorldEnd11d

The only positive to come out of this is that Willem’s inner voice manifests himself as a younger version of Willem and essentially tears apart the flimsy rationales that Willem’s been clinging to. Go tiny Willem delusion.

And then they seem determined to throw us into a final battle like sequence even though there’s been pretty much no build up, we don’t actually know why there are so many beasts attacking, and the second airship broke and they couldn’t escape quickly because you know, plot.

WorldEnd11e

As much as The Royal Tutor has been a pleasant surprise this season, WorldEnd has mostly been a downward spiral of disappointment, made worse by what it could have been. Anyway, one episode to go.

WorldEnd is available on Crunchyroll.

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar

Brave 10 Episode 1

Posted on by Karandi

Overview:

I found this on Crunchyroll after asking for a random episode of something and decided to give it a go. I had heard the name before but otherwise knew nothing about it so here is what the Crunchyoll write up told me:

Before the Warring States era came to a close, legend has it that Yukimura Sanada has been gathering ten warriors known as Sanada’s Brave 10, who have the power to change history.

Going to be honest, that’s not a lot to go on. But here I go.

Review:

I don’t like damsels in distress, I’m not a fan of guys who call a girl a b*tch within a day of meeting them, and I’m really not a fan of historical anime full of ninjas… wait why did I start this again?

Brave1

But for a random show and after rejecting the first five options that came up (mostly short format comedy), this actually didn’t look too bad and the opening sequence kind of reminded me of Katanagatari which I quite enjoyed even if it was more for the oddball main character than for anything else.

Brave1d

Still, there was some great humour in this first episode, in amongst the insults and standard guy meets girl being pursued by ninjas (and of course she eats a ridiculous amount of food) and guy ends up having to protect the girl even though he’d really rather kill her. I’m actually going to give a shout out to the sound track for this as well. The sound effects as well as the music may be a little overdone in places but they certainly add some energy to what might otherwise be a stock standard first episode.

Brave1c
These two are going to be best friends. You can tell.

I’ve had worst first impressions of shows and at 12 episodes this one seems worth checking out so here we go.

Brave 10 is available on Crunchyroll.

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar

30 Day Anime Challenge: Day 2

Posted on by Karandi

30-day-anime-challenge

Day 2 and they are already hitting the hard to answer questions. An anime I’m ashamed I enjoyed? Generally speaking I don’t feel ashamed about anything I watch but I guess there are probably two anime that I’ve kind of flinched when someone has come in and I’ve been watching them. This is different from the anime just happening to be on the one bathroom sequence in the whole series and someone walks in because that’s just to be expected at this point.

The first would be Junjou Romantica. I actually really love that anime and it is probably the reason I originally looked into AnimeLab because Crunchyroll doesn’t play this in Australia but AnimeLab had the third season. Really glad about that anyway because AnimeLab has since aired lots of shows that either weren’t on Crunchyroll in Australia, Crunchyroll didn’t get them, or they are on Crunchyroll but it turns out AnimeLab streams better for me. That doesn’t change the fact that the first episode of Junjou Romantica really should have been enough for me to hit the stop button and walk away. It is confronting and if someone told me that the two characters met this way and then ended up in a relationship as the salepitch for a show I’d probably not even consider watching. Why I watched beyond episode 1 I don’t remember but I do know I’m kind of hooked on the show now but it is one I’ve never even tried to suggest to someone in real life that they should watch.

Romantica.jpg

The other anime that I’ve probably hidden away in my collection and don’t really mention is Tenchi Muyo: War On Geminar. I actually had no idea what I was getting into when I started this but given the first episode doesn’t really hide its obsession with putting girls in ridiculous outfits and over-sexualising everything I can’t say I didn’t know what I was getting into. Despite that, and the really boring protagonist, and the story that kind of doesn’t make sense, and everything else that is wrong with the show, I still really enjoyed watching it. There are so many moments where you just want to cover your face and ask why and yet the show is fun.

Geminar.jpg

At some point I’ll have to review both of these series but so far I’ve kind of avoided that. I get the feeling when I review them the negative points will seem to outweigh the positive (and that’s probably very true from any objective point of view). However, I really did enjoy both series even if I still won’t watch them with anyone. And just so we’re clear, it isn’t that both of these anime have sex as a focus. It is more the way the relationships are portrayed and some really uncomfortable, line crossing moments that both series have that make them ones that are a bit harder to talk about.

Over to you and which anime are you ashamed you enjoyed?

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar

The Royal Tutor Episode 12

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

I’m pretty happy with how this has resolved and feel a nice sense of completion here. Certainly there’s more story to be told but I’m really pretty happy here and now and don’t have much desire to watch on should there ever be a sequel. That’s mostly because the issue of the Royal Tutor is finalised and the other issues were never of all that much importance but rather served as the backdrop to what turned out to be a pretty reasonable series (though more on that when I get around to a whole series review of this show).

Tutor12c

This final episode shows us the culmination of the Prince’s growth and how when they combine their powers they can save the world… oh wait, that wasn’t right. By combining their individual strengths and working cooperatively they can convince a bunch of Lords to choose their candidate to be the royal tutor?

Tutor12

As much as I enjoyed this, I wasn’t overly impressed with their impassioned speeches this episode. I kind of felt that after two days preparation they’d have had something a bit more polished prepared rather than just storm the council and spout platitudes, but its a minor nitpick in what has been a pretty enjoyable ride.

Full series review coming soonish.

The Royal Tutor is available on Crunchyroll.

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar

Hunter x Hunter Episodes 49 + 50

Posted on by Karandi

Review Episode 49:

I have to admit, Killua had a point with this imagery. Two Hisoka’s is terrifying just to imagine.

Hunter49

What makes less sense is that Killua himself then spends the rest of the episode underestimating the opponent and the end result is pretty much as expected. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is why Killua and Gon aren’t already dead. Though I also have to wonder what the troupe members are doing just kind of loitering in their hide out. It seems like that would get dull. Or do they just arrange themselves on the rubble to make an impact when someone walks in? Anyway, as that episode just kind of left us hanging, onto the next.

Review Episode 50:

Hunter50

As usual, angry Gon is not someone I’d like to face. While it never lasts long, when he’s burning bright he’s pretty intense. Still, not enough to escape from the whole troupe so probably just as well it ended up just being one member they had to escape from. I did like that this episode saw Killua lose his cool for once.

Hunter50b

He’s usually so composed that you forget how young he is. His flipping out at being overwhelmed and outmatched was pretty fun to watch but I’m glad Gon managed to snap him out of it. Looking forward to them meeting up with Kurapika.

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar

30 Day Anime Challenge: Day 1

Posted on by Karandi

30-day-anime-challenge

Day 1 of the 30 Day Anime Challenge. I’m kind of excited and kind of worried at the same time. The issue of course will be my cheating horrendously when I get to questions I don’t want to answer or don’t have an answer for but pretty much I’m going to make myself actually answer even if I give multiple answers.

Now, I’m leaving these posts for while I’m away so I am going to have answered all of the questions prior to this post actually coming out. That said, this has turned out to be more challenging than expected. I post everyday anyway and I thought this would just be a nice way to have topics for while I was not watching current anime but it turns out that when someone else picks the topic it is harder to write the post.

But onto Day 1 of the challenge. Now the easy answer for an anime I want to watch would be everything. I want to at least try every anime and I know that isn’t possible. Of course I’d have the same answer for books, movies, TV shows, any kind of story. I want to at least try it even if I don’t get very far just for the sake of saying I did try and for uncovering some of those hidden gems that I might otherwise never know about. But I’m not cheating this early in the challenge.

King.jpg

Really, my answer at the moment would probably be Scum’s Wish or The King’s Avatar given neither have come out where I can watch them yet. Still, my watch list was crazy long at the start of this year so I actually tossed the list and started over just listing anime that were recommended to me this year and the list is already crazy long again. The thing is, I seldom get to anime on the watch list because there’s always something new coming out or something I just kind of stumble upon and end up watching. So the list really does just keep getting longer and longer.

So, my answer to this would change on any given day, but I’d love to know what anime you want to watch.

Are you a fan of 100WordAnime.blog?

If you like this site and you like what I do, consider becoming a patron.

patreon

Thanks,

Karandi James.

avatar