Sym-Bionic Titan Season 2 premiers next Wednesday at 7:00 PM EST? When did that happen?

I just saw a promo on Cartoon Network for season 2 of Genndy Tartakovsky's latest masterpiece, Sym-Bionic Titan. Much to my dismay, I hadn't heard a thing about it until today! For those of you who haven't watched it yet, I advise you do so. The visuals are stunning, the characters are deep, and parts of the plot and imagery are exceptionally dark for a kid's show.

If you haven't gotten the idea, it's a giant robot show, but on more than one occasion the monster of the week has taken a backseat, and the results of such occasions have lead to some of the most compelling animated TV I've ever seen.

Additionally, for you fans of the animes, there is some very heavy Mecha Anime influence to be found, so even you can enjoy this! Also unlike many Mecha Anime, the characters often pass up opportunities to exclaim the obvious!

To Recap, Sym-Bionic Titan returns in February, Wednesdays at 7 PM EST. Watch it when it's on!

Badaptations 1: Mahou Sensei Negima

Hello there, this is Ciaran again with a new feature we're calling "Badaptations". Have you ever been excited that your favorite game/manga/anime was getting an adaptation into another medium? More often than not this is manga becoming anime, but not always. This series is to take a look at those adaptations that not only stray from the source material, but also and more specifically adaptations that do it so miserably that it becomes an absolute disgrace compared to the original work. This means animes like Full Metal Alchemist, which stray heavily from the source material but are still solid as standalone works will not be mentioned. We're going to pick apart these adaptations and find out what exactly makes them so inferior.

In our first installment of Badaptations, we'll be tackling Ken Akamatsu's ongoing Mahou Sensei Negima series and its first of several anime incarnations. I'm tossing up a SPOILER WARNING for this article, if you haven't read Negima read at your own peril!

The art from the anime, first chapter and chapter 240 respectively.

Kore Wa Zombie Desuka? Episode 2

Spoiler Warning!

Episode two begins with Ayumu, having erased the memories of his class after the...reveal at the end of episode 1. At school Ayumu unpacks his lunch, shown to have been made by Haruna. It's full of fried eggs that seem to just glow. Only fried eggs. In two massive boxes. And the thermos. Yes, fired eggs in the thermos.

Kenn's top 10 Manga list (Part 2)

Hey everyone.  Kenn here with part 2 of my top 10 Manga list.  For those of you who didn't read the first part, go on and check it out!  I know you're not here to read pointless intro statements, so let's just get on with it.

#5

 Rookies by Masanori Morita

Rookies follows newbie teacher Koichi Kowato, an idealistic man who teaches his students to "follow their dreams" and "glitter into tomorrow."  After losing his first teaching job for assaulting a student, Kowato is hired by the principal of Futakotamagawa high school to deal with their rowdy baseball team, a crowd of brutal delinquents.  The principal's hopes of Kowato's relation with the team degrading into physical violence are squashed, as Kowato recognizes these punks as merely directionless youth with nothing to strive for.  He works to break down their tough guy defenses to turn them into a baseball team united under a common dream: going to the Koshien, Japan's biggest high school baseball tournament.

Yeah, the story may sound lame and cheesy, and Kowato definitely is, but it's the character's sincerity that eventually wins you over.  He truly does believe that these delinquents are just directionless youth, and that it's his job to give them something to strive for.  In spite of the coach's talk, the comic and characters are all true tough guys.  They work for personal honor and put their pride on the line, playing baseball from the heart.  Morita's realistic art style really works with the story, helping make the characters emotions pack a greater force.  Rookies is simply the best that sports manga has to offer.

Rookies has been released in Italy and France, but has no American release or license.  Fan translations can be read on Mangafox.

Kenn's top 10 Manga list (Part 1)

Hey everyone, Kenn here with part one of my top 10 Manga list.  This list is held to a few restrictions, since if I didn't hold myself to them, I'd just wind up posting only works by a few authors.  Namely, I cannot post multiple works from any one author.  Instead I take my favorite work by a given author and post it as high as it deserves.  This is going to be a two-parter, because I realized if I wanted to give each manga the in-depth treatment it deserves I'd need to take up two updates.  This list isn't meant to do anything but express my views and open up discussion.  If you feel there are manga that I left off or didn't give the treatment they deserved, please, mention them in the comments.  Maybe next time I post a list they'll make it on!

And now, without further ado, let's get this started.

#10
FLCL by GAINAX and Haijime Ueda

Let's start this list off with one of the first manga I ever read.  FLCL is about Naota, a gradeschool kid who's got a lot of problems on his plate.  His older brother has left to play baseball in America, leaving behind his girlfriend, Mamimi Samejima, who's now beginning to come on to Naota.  On top of that, someone has been starting fires around town, and Naota suspects Mamimi.  All of these troubles come to a head when a beautiful alien from outer space assaults him with a guitar from atop a vespa and begins pulling robots out of his head.


Contrary from the norm, the manga is actually based on GAINAX's popular anime.  It takes a lot of departures from the series, particularly in the second volume.  The series is much darker, more violent, and more sexual, a change in tone that is exemplified by a scene unique to the manga in which Haruko beats up Naota's friends and then tells him to go see them and that they're "bleeding all over their porn."  The class president gets a larger role, with the robot coming out of her head being a permanent cast member, and the ending is a lot sadder.  The manga is particularly impressive because of Ueda's striking art style.  His use of ink to create heavy outlines and shading makes the art striking, and perfectly captures the change in tone.  The manga is hilarious, striking, and has surprising depth, but in my opinion still falls short of the anime.  A great manga nonetheless, and a must-read for fans of the anime.

The FLCL manga is a completed series published in the US by Tokyo Pop, and is currently out-of-print.  It can be hard to find in bookstores, but is worth the hunt.  Or you could do a quick search to find it on Amazon.com.

Kore Wa Zombie Desuka? Episode 1

Spoiler Warning!!

The episode starts with Aikawa Ayumu, a fairly average teenage boy with one main difference; He's a zombie! After being murdered by a serial killer he was brought back to life by the Necromancer Eucliwood Hellscythe and has become her servant. One night when hanging out in a graveyard, a calming activity for Ayumu, he witnesses and becomes involved in a fight between the chainsaw wielding Masou Shoujo Haruna and a large bear shaped demon called a Megalos. When she proceeded to attempt to sacrifice the trapped Ayumu in the battle.

For you English folk who don't want to feel left out...

While I won't be posting as often as the others because of the subject matter I will examine, when I do post it will be about Western Animation and maybe comics occasionally. That way if you can't wrap your head around the latest football game in space comic, you can find some solace in my posts about cartoons.