Legend of Korra finale

Tomorrow is the last movie weekend for Toonami with both Evangelion movies, but that can wait because last week I went ahead and posted before the release of the Legend of Korra finale and grossly underestimated the significance, so we gotta talk about this.

Okay, so the conflict was pretty standard fare, Kuvira showed up with a giant robot and everybody worked together to stop it. Sorry, but this just isn't all that new, though it was fun to watch anyway. However it was sad to see Asami reconnect with her father only to watch him die to save her and everybody else. It was also almost sad to see how Mako almost sacrificed himself, but Bolin saved him, thank god, I was actually scared there for a minute, who know they don't need anybody to survie a series finale anybody can die. But the coolest part was that Varrick and Zhu Li did the thing! What thing you ask? All of the things! They got engaged, they set off an electromagnetic pulse to stop an army of robots, they helped save the world and they got married. The best part for me was when Varrick asked her to "do the thing" and she simply replied "there are no things left to do."

Or at least Varrick and Zhu Li doing the thing would have been the highlight if not for the "F**k it all take this s**t! It's a series finale you can't fire us, HAHA!" ending where Kora walked off with...Asami! Korra is a lesbian!

Okay, folks, this happened, get over it. I never thought about Korrasami before Asami came to talk to Korra at the party at the end of the episode. Suddenly I got a lesbian vibe. Asami said "I don't know what I would do if I lost my father and you in the same day." What about Mako? He risked his life too...unless Korra means something more than that...Asami, Korra is there somethign you want to tell us? Back a season or two ago when Mako was feeling awkward around you two and you just laughed at him, is that because you guys already had your own little secret? They agree to go on a vaction to the spirit world and hold hands as they go out in the final scene.

I rushed to the forums and sure enough, Korrasami was everywhere, Facebook, Twitter, Gaia Online. Eventually the prducers came out and confirmed that it was what it appeared to be. And yet, still some people had to give us shit about the ending, and surprisingly it wasn't necessarily homophobes, but primarily Makorra shippers. All right, if we're drawing battle lines, I am on team Korrasami. That's how the writers went, and that's how it works sometimes. As a writer, I have found my characters kind of veer off in their own direction. In 7th Moon, Aka was supposed to be a minor character and yet he overwhelmed Seichei who was supposed to be the primary antagonist. Korra turned out to be a lesbian. Makorra fans, seriously, Mako cheated on Asami when he first hooked up with Korra and nobody seems to care that Bolin made the first move when they first met so he also broke bro code "though shalt not mack on chicks thy bro has called dibs on". My point is, Mako may be a good guy, but Asami is equally suitable, you just want to go for the obvious heterosexual pairing of the male and female leads. Things went a bit different, and I say that's okay. My view on other people's sexual orientation is simple, the only time it matters is if it's a girl I want to be with and fictional women n alternate universes, especially animated ones are far enough off that scale I don't care that she is a lesbian. I am happy for the gay community as a whole that finally a cartoon aimed at kids has the guts to reveal a gay lead. At least, it's new for America anyway, anime fans are quite familiar with animated gays and lesbians, from Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus, to Big Cheese from Samurai Pizza Cats, to Freddy Luo in Outlaw Star, Leeron in Gurren Lagann, and that one chick in Bleach who is openly lezzing for Orohime and doesn't care who knows that her life's goal is to get to second base with her busty classmate. Gay happens, and with all the kids being raised by gay parents, or having friends in that situation, most are aware that it happens and it's not traumatic for them to be exposed to it. The really disturbing part is that we are still so wary of it that even when somebody does dare to go there, it's done with limits. There is a fan gif of Korra and Asami kissing after the last frame of Legend of Korra and I say consider it canon; we never saw Aang have sex with Katara but they had three kids, so it must have happened. Korra is a lesbian, Asami is her girlfriend, and they lived happily ever after. THE END!

And with that, folks, I bring to an end my first year of my blog. I hope you've all enjoyed the ride, I look forward to next year. See you in the future and stay gold!

Sacred Star of Milos and Legendary Super Saiyan

This weekend on Toonami they will be showing the two most awesome movies in all of anime, DBZ:Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan, and Akira. Since I already went over Akira in a previous entry, I'd suggest you go to the archives and look it up and watch on Saturday because it's just the most awesome ever. Instead I'll be focusing on Broly and reviewing last weekend's Sacred Star of Milos.

Full Metal Alchemist has been known to have fillers, but mercifully, they always seem to fit in with the canon storyline, unlike some other franchises. In Sacred Star of milos, it's all about Milos, a valley on the border between Amestris, the country where FMA takes place, and Krata, one of it's neighbors. It all starts when a dangerous prisoner reveals he can use alchemy and escapes just before he was to be released from prison. Ed and Al get involved and try to capture him, following leads to Krata where they become involved in a war with Milos. It seems Milos was a very proud and distinguished city that was taken over by Krata and the native population was driven into a valley where they live in squalor, although for some reason they are able to build flying suits with bat wings that look to be of professional quality despite their utter lack of any resources whatsoever. There is one important alchemist named Julia who mostly just uses her alchemy to heal, she learned from her parents about the Star of Milos, which the Elrics deduce is actually a Philosopher's Stone. Julia is being sought after by the fugitive alchemist who it seems is her brother, and he has inherited fromtheir parents two alchemy circles that he has painted on his hands in blood, his right hand controls ice, the left lightning/electricity(considering Square Enix makes the anime, I can't help but think this is a nod to FF7&8 where these two elements are the starting magic for both Cloud and Squall who's names are both weather related as is their magic). There's also some wolf chimera that function as werewolves hunting down Julia's brother. Of course, in FMA tradition it is revealed that the entire city is designed to be a transmutation circle meant to turn the entire population into a Philosopher's Stone. Ed and Al have to try to stop this because they do not condone killing an entire city for one stone that can grant the power of a god. Unfortunately, they fail and it becmes a battle over the stone. Things get weird as it is revealed that Julia's brother is actually General tlas of Krata who stole her brother's face after killing their parents and her real brother used another Philosopher's Stone to save himself and has actually been using the wolf chimera to protect her from Atlas. Eventually everything gets straightened out and with order restored the Elrics return to Amestris. I know that sounds vague, but really it's actually typical FMA fare, but it is a treat to see the bros back in action.

Now, as for Broly, this movie, like all other DBZ movies is non-canon and doesn't actually fit in the timeline. Because of the characters involved and the fact that Gohan can go Super Saiyan and Goku is alive, the only time that works is right before the Cell Games, but they'd be permanent Super Saiyans and nobody would be as relaxed at the beginning of the movie. Anyway, ignoring all of that, the story is that Broly was born the same day as Goku and was right next to him in the nursery. Goku was actually the weakest of Saiyans, so as a baby he cried and annoyed Broly who powered up and revealed he was the most powerful Saiyan ever even at only tw days old. King Vegeta felt threatened and tried to exile/dispose of both Broly and his father Paragus. However, as many know, this was bout the same time Frieza decided to blow up the planet Vegeta and wipe out all Saiyans, so Broly's exile actually saved him and he was free to rampage around te galaxy and become ridiculously powerful. Now, Saiyans are avid fighters and have this crazy habit of seeking out new challenges, so when Goku learns of another Super Saiyan he can't wait to meet him. Vegeta has a different perspective because he only gets invited by Paragus to be the King of the surviving Saiyans. It seems all great until Broly shows up, restrained by Paragus and seemingly harmless, until he recognizes Goku and utters that infamous complaint that puts Vegeta to shame, "KAKAROT!" Broly's hatred of Goku eventually causes him to go out of control and he reveals himself as the legendary Super Saiyan. This leads into an all out fight that invloves all four of the canon Super Saiyans(Future Trunks is along for this one) plus Broly who sees to be as strong as all four combined, and probably even stronger because Piccolo is also there and it doesn't help much. Oh and Broly kills his dad too, because he has gone mad at this point, all because he gets ticked off by Goku's voice. Did I mention that Broly also gets bigger when he goes Super Saiyan, so this is Super Saiyan on steroids? We're talking the kid of guy that would make Arnold Scwarzenegger in his prime look like a puny ninety-eight pound weakling. broly is jacked, but of course, Goku still wins, butit is epic. I will not tell you how or even show you a clip you have to tune in Saturday night to see what happens. If you haven't already, you'd better be watching and stick around for Akira!

Big Hero 6 and Feast

Well tomorrow on Toonami we have what I believe will be the finale of Hellsing followed by a Full Metal Alchemist movie. I don't really care about Hellsing, and as much as I love Full Metal Alchemist, I've already posted on the series and I haven't seen the movie yet. For now, i'd liek to talk about another movie, Big Hero 6, which I finally got to see last weekend.

Before I get to Big Hero 6, I want to talk abou the short that comes before it, sure to win the Oscar, "Feast". The entire short focuses on a dog named Winston and how his life basically revolves around table scraps. But, in a style we've come to expect from Pixar, it tells so much more. First a puppy finds a french fry on the ground and is adopted by the man who dropped it. The dog is named Winston as we can see on his dog dish and he eats like a king. He even gets to sit at the table like one time at a cafe where a vey nice waitress patsWinston on the head and says "Let me know if you need anything." Then Winston's owner starts dating her and she wants him to eat healthier and replaces all the fun tasty food with vegetables. Winston is not happy, he does not like this woman or her vegetables at all. Then the woman leaves(we don't know exactly why) and the man starts eating junk food again immediately, which makes Winston happy. This is a rather dark turn for the story, as while the focus seems to remain on Winston who loves the junk food his master is eating, we can see in the background that the owner is clealrly depressed. This leads to the turning point of the story, the man opens a take-out carton of pasta and there's a sprig of parsley garnish on top. Winston growls at the parsley, remembering how the woman put that on food and made it yucky. The man picks up the parsley and stares at it longingly remembering his girlfriend. Winston realizes his master is sad and wants to make him happy again, so he grabs the parsley and runs out the door down to the cafe to find the waitress again. His owner follows him and meets the waitress, and they get together and get married. Winston s back to just eating kibble, but at least his master is happy, so he is too. Then a meatball rolls across the floor, Winston looks up to see a baby in a high chair, the child of his master and his wife. The baby drops another meatball, and then finally we flash to a birthday party where Winston gets cupcakes. Clearly, the dog lives happily ever after.

Big Hero 6 isn't nearly as nuanced as Feast, but still a must see for anime fans...and Marvel fans, and pretty much everybody else. The movie focuses on Hiro Hamada, a boy genius who is very good with robots and uses them in street fights to hustle money. His brother Tadashi tries to convince him to put his talents to better use at the university where he goes by taking him to the lab to see his recently completed project. Along the way they meet Tadashi's friends, Go Go Tamago who is working on magnetic wheels to reduce friction and enhance speed, Wasabi who is working with lasers and plasma to perfect precision cutting technology, Honey Lemon who is experimenting with chemistry to figure out just how many chemical reactions she can synthesize, and Fred, the mascot who gives everybody else nicknames and dreams of somebody figuring out how to turn him into a fire-breathing monster(yes, Fred is wierd, but he makes sense later). Tadashi's big project is Baymax, a medical robot that does manage to impress Hiro. Hiro takes on the challenge of trying to get into the science program and develops micro-bots, which any sci-fi fan will recognize as nanotechnology, but whatever, the point is it's good enough to get Hiro in. Unfortunately, there's a fire in the lab after Hiro's big presentation, Tadashi's mentor is stuck inside and Tadashi goes back in after him, only for an explosion to end his life. Hiro is depressed and does nothing but sit in his room for days. Then when he's finally forced to actually do something, he stubs his to and says "Ow!" which activates Baymax. While trying to put Baymax away, Hiro falls down and notices that his last microbot is moving around in his jacket pocket. Baymax offers to figure out what is going on which Hiro dismisses at firs, but when Baymax fails to understand Hiro's sarcasm, he begins to wander around town, following the microbot until he reaches a warehouse where he and Hiro discover someone has been mass producing the microbots. Hiro tries to report the situation to the police, but it seems so implausible the police officer doesn't take him seriously, so Hiro decides to upgrade Baymax into a combat robot so they can take care of this situation themselves. Despite programming Baymax with karate moves and fitting him with armor, he is still no match for the microbots. Fortunately, Bymax had also called Tadashi's friends in an attempt to form a support group to help with Hiro's depression, and they show up in time to drive the getaway car to escape from danger. In a rather convenient turn of events, Fred turns out to be rich and has a mansion where everybody can crash while they figure out their next move. Fred's obsession wiht comics inspires Hiro to make gear for everyone to become superheroes so they can fight the microbot thief and thus becme the team Big Hero 6. Everybody uses some variety of their own technology and they even come up with a monster suit for Fred that allows him to jump and breathe fire. They practice to make sure they can use all of this stuff without hurting themselves. They go after the bad guy, searching for him with Baymax's upgraded medical scan, and find him on an island off shore. At first they believe it's the Mr. Krei, owner of Krei industries who wanted Hiro's microbots, however it turns out to be Dr. Callaghan, Tadashi's mentor who was believed to have died in the explosion with Tadashi. Enraged, Hiro commands Baymax to destroy Callaghan which Baymax refuses as it is against his prgramming and Hiro removes his medical chip leaving him with only his combat programming and baymax goes berserk. The others stuggle to stop him beleiveing their mentor deserves better than this execution, and manage to reinsert the chip that stops him, giving Callaghan a chance to escape. We then find out that Callagahn's daughter died during one of Krei's experiments with a teleportation portal and he's out for revenge. The team goes after him again, this time with the plan to neutralize whatever damage he's gong to do, which turns out to be opening the portal to swallow up the entire Krei corporate compound. After stopping Callaghan and saving Krei, Baymax discovers signs of life within the portal and finds Callaghan's dauther inside. Hiro and Baymax go and rescue her, but Baymax is lost in the process. In the end, Hiro finds that baymax had given him Tadashi's chip and he was able to rebuild Baymax, reforming the team which continues to help people. The biggest surprise though is the truth about Fred, which you have to stay untl after the credits to see...

Summer Wars and NaNoWriMo Red Ellen conlcusion

First of all, not much to say about Red Ellen that I haven't already except that I did finish writing it, and now to the editing phase. Short but sweet, I won, yay!

Now, next up i'm goign to talk about Summer Wars, and anime that will be on tommorrow night on Toonami. It was on last year and it was awesome and I wanted to make sure that anyoen who missd it knows they havea chance to catch it now. Summer Wars is a slightly comlicated movie that spans two worlds, the real world and the digital world. Frankly it's not terribly unrealistic at all, and the premise sounds to me liek it could happen any day now. The movie opens with a description of OZ, acomputer network that makes Facebook look like AOL circa 1995. Everybody is on OZ and they do everything on OZ. The story very quickly transitions to a young man named Kenji who works as a maintainence coder for OZ. Kenji is invited by a girl named Natsuki to join her for the weekend. She says it's a job but it's not until after he agrees that she tells him that the nature of the job is to pretend to be her boyfriend for her great grandmother's nintieth birthday, which includes the entire family, and what a huge family it is. Very suddenly Kenji is overwhelmed by the huge family gathering and to calm himself he sneaks off to check his e-mail and finds a math problem that he tries to solve, which succeeds in helping him relax(because he's a nerd) but ends up creatign more problems. When he wakes up the next day, OZ has been hacked and it turns out the math problem was actually the security code, his response allowed a hacker to take his account and start messing with the network. Kenji tries to fix the problem and is assisted by OZ celebrity King Kazuma, an anthropomorphic rabbit who is known for winning action games, especially martial arts fighting tournaments online. King Kazuma challenges the hacker to buy time for Kenji and kenji discovers that the greatest fighter in Oz is actually Natsuki's cousin Kazuma, a teenage web addict. Kazuma's actually a good kid, he started fighting online to bond with his grandfather, and it's a good thing because his skills are need to fight the hacker. Eventually the truth comes out that the hacker is actually an artificial intelligence known as Love Machine and it was programmed by Wabisuke, who was adopted by great grandma and has appeared for the first time in ten years at the birthday party/family reunion. The rest of the movie follows a bizzarre sequence of events in which the family tries to focus on grandma's birthday despite the fact that Love Machine is causing chaos throught out the world, which the family mostly ignores because they are in a rural mountainside house that is centuries old and they get by pretty well without technology affecting too much of their lives. Then great grandma dies, apparently her heart monitor failed due to Love Machine's interference. Now shit just got real and everybody is focused on beating Love Machine. The ending is so epic, no description can do it justice, so I'll just post a clip below and you can either watch it now, or see the whole thing tommorrow night.