Concerning:
How to use YouTube :: The top 100-ever cartoons and stuff :: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Death Note :: Ahsoka Tano’s new… um, lightaber :: … and How to Use YouTube
Ahsoka Tano, new costume, peek-a-boo and TWO FREAKING LIGHTSABERS
Having already figured out the strategy to be discussed in this blog post, I ended up happening on IGN’s list of the Top 100 animated programs of all time.
I don’t really visit IGN all that often any more, but I still have warm feelings RE: them from the days — more than ten years ago — that The Dojo made like $5,000 a month as an IGN affiliate.
Anyway: Their list.
IGN gets a lot right.
They have (spoilers!) The Simpsons as the best animated show of all time; they have Batman: The Animated Series as number two. That seems like they got the big stuff right!
Some stuff they got wrong, but it is mostly personal preference (i.e. I have good taste); for instance The Smurfs (terrible) is not better than M.A.S.K.
Though IGN tipped the hat to a lot of the great Disney afternoon cartoons, they missed Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears, which was much better than some of the ones they mentioned (like the boring Tail Spin).
In any case, I mention the list because I am going to use it for inspiration; inspiration of what to watch of course! Here are some shows I am going to check out that I’ve never really thought to follow before:
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Death Note
- Naruto
- Cowboy Bebop
Firestarter: Any more suggestions?
Plus, given how high they rated Neon Genesis Evangelion, I’ll probably go back to that. I have memories, still, of VHS tapes and how much better the Japanese subtitled eps of Neon Genesis Evangelion were than the English dubs back from the summer of 1999 (my first summer in New York). The old guard — altran, TunaHwa, and even Adrian Sullivan — working at The Dojo used to watch us some mecha.
But the title of this blog post is “How to Use YouTube” not “Some Top 100 List from IGN” … What’s up?
Recently I have been complaining about the new outfit on Ahsoka Tano (Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice on Star Wars: The Clone Wars). IRL friends who also happen to be Twitter friends like Teddy Card Game and Luis Not-Vargas have been commenting on the season and the costume change on Twitter with me. Why does Ahsoka suddenly have peek-a-boo boobs? Why does she have two lightsabers now?
Apparently I missed an ep or two… But it’s not like they explained the costume change. Whatever!
Luckily, I could find the eps I missed pretty easily. Hooray!
It turns out that if you know what you’re looking for, you can find anything you want on YouTube. For example, I was looking for episode 10 of season three of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (according to Teddy Card Game the first appearance of Ahsoka’s peek-a-boo boobs), and found it instantaneously!
How insane is freaking YouTube?
I looked up Death Note episodes on Wikipedia to find the first one… Turns out it is on YouTube! (not a surprise)
I haven’t watched these yet; but I presume they are awesome. I’ve already been warned not to read any spoiler sites because the show is supposedly full of more twists and turns than the letter S.
I was amazed that I could find any episode from obscure, short-lived series like Visionaries (I used a half-remembered reference from age 11 or so in the big project I am writing and recording for SCG), as well as what I wanted from M.A.S.K. On this, the manufactured Hallmark holiday of romance, I can say for true: YouTube, I love you.
LOVE
MIKE
P.S. Don’t forget the Firestarter!
P.P.S. A pal would buy Deckade
P.P.P.S. Y’all know how mono-seriously I take lightsaber fightin’. Just sayin’. SHARE AND ENJOY (please)
16 comments ↓
I hadn’t seen it before, but I clicked on the link you had there, and I’ve got to say… I disagree with that list. A lot. The Simpsons, in its prime, was a very good show. The best of its time, really. But for me, pre-cancellation Futurama is the best animated show of all time. To have it lower than Family Guy on that list is an abomination. I don’t often get salty about opinion-based things, but that just kind of pisses me off.
Oh, and while you’re checking out anime, you should give Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, Monster and season 1 of Code Geass all looks. I follow anime series on a semi-regular basis when new shows come out that interest me, and those are some of the better ones. Just don’t fool yourself into watching season 2 of Code Geass.
Deathnote is one of my favorite storylines that I have seen in a long while! You are definitely not going to be let down by it. I have not seen it yet, but there is also a live-action movie.
M.A.S.K.
OMG, I had completely forgotten about this…now must watch it again so that I can be disappointed that my memories are cooler than the actual show!
How to Use YouTube…
Your story has been summoned to the battlefield – Trackback from MTGBattlefield…
I really liked death note as well, the movies aren’t as good as the anime, but I prefer the way the story ends.
if you liked death note, and you like gundam-like battle suits, this anime combines the two: Code Geas
It’s funny how many interests are shared by magic players; most of my friends like all the same anime and we prefer JRPGs over other types of videogames…
As a massive fan of Naruto constantly having to defend it from the Anime elitists, i’ll give you the lowdown: The storyline is easy enough to follow (especially relative to the genre), and I find it to be a great show to watch when I want to just unplug my brain a bit and watch something that is uncomplicated and fun. It’s also highly rewatchable (in my opinion).
For those of us neanderthals without Kindles, where would you recommend picking up a copy of Deckade?
I would recommend Soul Eater, Claymore, Devil May Cry, Desert Punk, Black Lagoon, The Big O, Seven Samurai, and Record of Lodoss War(which is huge).
@CheshireFenrir
Even if you are some sort of apeman, you can just download the Kindle app for your smartphone and read it on there (iPhone etc.)
Or, you can get an autographed copy of Deckade (autographed by YT, obviously) over at Top 8 Magic:
http://www.top8magic.com/store/store-michael-j-flores-deckade/
I second the suggestion of Black Lagoon, really great show. Watch it over Naruto for sure.
On the subject of Naruto – watch out for “the fillers” which are a stretch of about 100 episodes where literally nothing happens, due to them waiting for more of the manga to be written. Seriously. You can just skip them.
With Fullmetal Alchemist note that there are two full shows of this – a 51 episode series from 2003, and a 64 episode series from 2009. The two series start at much the same place but diverge at around episode 7 or 8. Again I believe this is due to the anime diverging from the manga due to the manga not having yet been written… except in the case of FMA 2003 the anime just carried on its own plot until the end instead of just having fillers. Both shows are great, the second one (based on the manga) is probably slightly better and also has better animation.
Bebop starts out VERY slow but gets VERY good near the end. Don’t give up on it like I did a few times!
Death Note is incredible.
Obv avoid English dubs!
Oh and obv watch The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi!
First of all, Frisky Dingo needs to be in the top 10 – not languishing at #87. This is what we call “criminal.”
Second of all – Daria fails to make this list at all? It’s the single animated show that focuses on the (sarcastic, cynical, intelligent, etc etc) teenage female experience, making it a standout production. The show might not make the top 50, even, but it’s imperative that it be present on the list.
If you’re looking for some good anime, you have the must sees: Bleach and Naruto. DeathNote is definitely up there as well. Some others that if you haven’t seen, you should are Claymore, Fate Stay Night, and Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Usually I’m not much on “chick anime”, but the fight scenes in Claymore are pretty awesome. Fate Stay Night is a lot of story, but an interesting trip and some decent fight scenes. As for Gundam 00, for me it was one of the best Gundam series made. I was a big fan of Endless Waltz, but this one hit very close to that one if not surpasses it.
Also, since I know you’re a super hero fan, if you haven’t seen the new Iron Man (Japanese version) and the ongoing Wolverine (Japanese version) you really should. The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is also pretty good if you can get past Iron Man sounding like a 12 year old boy (it’s very hard to get past that part). Also, the All Star Superman that is coming out soon is really good too, just an FYI!
Cowboy Bebop is damn fun. It doesn’t get bogged down in all the teenage angst or absurdly convoluted storylines that turns me off from a lot of animes. Plus the soundtrack is crazy good.
Most of the big anime series are based on a manga, which is usually much better than the anime adaptation. Definitely so in Naruto’s case, the anime drags on so much and has crazy amounts of filler of varying quality. Fullmetal Alchemist is a nice exception though, in that the (first) anime and manga are different yet both really good. Naruto is probably the prime example among the shonen action series, but if you want something more mature, look up pretty much any series by Naoki Urasawa, Monster and 20th Century Boys being the biggest ones.
The manga culture is really big in Japan so there’s a ton of excellent series if you ever get into it. Having read a lot of them it’s tempting to just give in and rattle off a long list of suggestions, but I guess I’ll restrain myself and stick to those for starters.
Star Blazers, Obviously.
Cowboy Bebop (Space Cowboy Bounty Hunting Goodness), Trigun (Steampunk Odyssey), Witch Hunter Robin (my personal favorite Anime of all time) and Neon Genesis Evangelion (Mecha with substance) are the must see anime experiences of a lifetime. Also high on the list would be Rurouni Kenshin (post feudal japan samurai show), Gunslinger Girl (brainwashed grade school girl assassins) and Code Geass (Think an Ender’s game type high school genius combined with the American revolution in Japan in the future with mecha). Les Chevalier Deon (French Revolution setting occult thriller) and Trinity Blood (Vampires!) are another two of my favorites. Full Metal Alchemist is pretty good, Naruto is decent but a huge time investment as the series went on forever and wasn’t shy about filler episodes and dragged out story arcs, I have a similar opinion of Bleach although I think it is patently better than Naruto. For anime that is just plain fun check out Initial D and Air Gear. That could keep you busy for a while.
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