Hi. I'm back and I did say I would review individual anime's and I will do that as well still but today I'm going to show you my favourites which I hope you enjoy. Please comment.

The 2 Greatest Anime's of our time or any time (and of cartoons overall) have to be ...wait for it.

Pokemon and Dragonball Z. Now there are a lot of different anime's out there with all kinds of stories and teachings but none are more satisfying or thought provoking than these 2. These being the best examples of cartoons that promote teamwork, (and Strength of individual as well, without appearing to contradict themselves, perhaps saying that either can be accomplished if there's the desire/need and both should be) morals, values, inner Strength and courage, determination (often in Shonen Manga Which Dragonball Manga was) and more.

Pokemon

At the beginning of Pokemon we were thrown into the Pokemon world. We watched T.V. with a young boy who turns out to be called Ash and saw our first Pokemon battle. Proffessor Oak appears to give Ash his first ever pokemon. So we see this young boy at the age of 11, had been due to start his very own journey which we all would love to of joined him on, and watch as he grows along the way and making many friends as he goes. But as Ash was late, one of the 3 Pokemon meant for him had all run out but it seems hinted out it was always meant for him to be with young Pikachu, who Proffessor Oak reluctantly gives to Ash to train and befriend, as Pikachu was very untrusting and reluctant to obey Ash. People here might like to point out this is a flaw in Pokemon, trying to force Pokemon to go along with them and live with them and for them. But it's not too far into the story when Ash asks Pikachu if he wants to leave and to be free and at one point he does but later returns. Ok, you can say if it was real life it wouldn't be "written" for Pikachu to come back but the point is it was shown that Ash was willing to give Pikachu the choice even if it would upset him to part with his friend, he wanted what was best for him and thus there is no confusion about the morals in Pokemon. (The only confusion that exists is what goes on inside the Pokeballs!)

Quotes:

(Mewtwo to Giovanni in Pokemon The first Movie.")


One of the most important things said.


"The human sacrificed himself, to save the Pokemon. I pitted them against each other, but not until they set aside their differences did I see the true power they all share deep inside. I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are." 


"Humans may have created me, but they will never enslave me! This cannot be my destiny!"


_______________


Dragonball


The quest for the Dragonball's was one that took us and Goku and his friends all over the world and even to other planets at times. Goku the main character, driven by innocence and a desire to protect everyone around him never knew much about Dragonball's until a young girl called Bulma bumped into him...which turned into the start of a very long journey. With each new villain to arrive, hero's felt increasingly challenged and thus the pressure was on for them to reach deeper and further to find inner strength and determination to defeat their foes but ultimately, failure or success always depended on their motives. Goku and later Vegeta's was about protecting Earth's inhabitants and thus no matter how powerful enemies were, they always got back up again to fight especially Goku which would give Vegeta another reason to carry on and push himself further, seeing Goku always carrying on, always one step ahead, it drove Vegeta to new heights, to defeat Kakarott, to better him, although later it became a more friendly desire to test one another's strengths. Whereas Goku is driven by innocence and courage as said before, he can be a little niave at times but reinstates the innocent character he is supposed to have always believing the best in people and refusing to see any bad not because he is stupid, but innocent. The difference might be difficult to tell at times, but if your watching it shouldn't be too hard to understand. The basic underlying difference is innocence is innocence, meaning stupidity can come about from all kinds of things, arrogance can be one of them, whereas innocent people really are innocent, whatever it is they believe..they believe it to be true.




Quotes;


(Goku to Goku Junior in the "Dragonball GT: Path to power" Movie.)


"It wasn't the Dragonball that did it. It was your courage and love that opened the right doors."

"Stay pure. That's your armour"

While those two above quotes come from the Dragonball GT anime that isn't based on any original story, Goku is correctly depicted as the innocent, peace loving character he is and so is true to his original design which is why I chose those two quotes, having stuck in my mind. Oh ok, and I also happened to of just watched the movie before starting to write this but there are loads of quotes I could of mentioned.


A Quick Summary of both. Mewtwo like Vegeta goes through a period of change which is told beautifully and gives even more depth to both stories they come from. Vegeta and Mewtwo could perhaps be compared again for similarities in life, Vegeta feeling "owned" by Frieza, living a limited life of fighting and destruction which is his choice but it's the only life he knows and the same could be said for Mewtwo and the earlier bit as well, feeling "indebted", in Mewtwo's case it would be maybe feeling indebted to Giovanni the shadowy gang leader of Team Rocket although maybe more because he doesn't know his way around this world or what there is for him and put his trust in Giovanni who abused that trust immediately and thus Mewtwo realised he didn't need Giovanni or any human he thought believing them all to be the same. Which is like Vegeta as well in that these types of characters never are or were "villains" but the soon to be hero's in later episodes once the story gives you their background and an understanding of why they do the things they do, given that (Goku learning about Vegeta and the sayains history and Ash and friends Learning about Mewtwo's birth) the hero's of the stories learn what we have learned and show a softer side to these characters and realise their approach was wrong and the real villains are out...out in the stars still...... Also Mewtwo may of somehow felt he owed the entire human race somehow and is why he felt inferior to them, a "mere clone", not an original but a copy. Yet he may of had copied D.N.A. but as is apparent from the beginning, Mewtwo is a unique individual all the same and goes on to deliver one of the most important lessons ever said in an Anime, at the end of the movie. And that's probably another similarity, how these former "rogues" often go to become some of the biggest "preachers" of all that they used to despise so much and could also be said to indicate that they were simply teaching the wrong thing before but once that is solved they apply the same amount of strength they used to use for evil as they do for good... What's also interesting is how in reality we are disturbingly getting closer and closer to cloning whole humans. And while that would be wrong, we must be careful with how we treated any clone we pass in the street one day if we ever agreed with what Mewtwo said. We can be against cloning, against making clones. BUT if a clone is created, a human clone, we must treat them the same as any other human, animal, or any other creature, for their are living and our anger must be at scientists, governments etc and not at the innocent clone. Much like the great X-men moral of treating all "Mutants" the same as humans which again can easily be applied to real life because what it really means is treating anyone, regardless of a disability, difference, age, race, gender etc the same. So perhaps not too far from now, we will need to think of Proffessor Xavier, Vegeta and Mewtwo's morals a lot more than we already did.

I will hopefully go into detail on both of those more at some other point and list more anime's and Manga but I just wanted to give you an idea of some thoughts and post this. Thankyou for reading!! All the best.

Barry.


____________________
18/07/2012

Hi, just reading through my old posts something else came to mind which I may of missed before or probably did think but just didn't write on here.

It was the above quote which stirred me;
"The human sacrificed himself, to save the Pokemon. I pitted them against each other, but not until they set aside their differences did I see the true power they all share deep inside. I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."
That's what Mewtwo said, but more particularly this bit: " I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."


Vegeta, just like Mewtwo had "Birth rights issues". Something most of us can relate to finding ourselves in life but differently for these two and even though Mewtwo perhaps is contrasting to Vegeta as he didn't feel important at all whereas Vegeta expected everyone to bow to him as he was a Prince. But Mewtwo did feel the world owed him at first perhaps like Vegeta did and so Mewtwo was drawn to act similarly to Mewtwo though interestingly through the exact opposite circumstances to Vegeta, having had a bad birth and feeling unwanted, Vegeta although some of that could be said too, had a better birth but later tried to force people to respect him like Mewtwo and both wiped out those who were deemed "Inferior". As in other words, both had insecurities but learned in time ones birth is irrelevant and you have to fight to make your name stand tall, to become a king or a prince show the world why. No-one will look up at the sound of a name they have never heard,