I know, I know, I’m hella late this week. I’ll work on making sure this doesn’t happen again. I’ll also work on making sure I have a review out tomorrow as well to make up for. In the meantime, I have a write up of the new Voltron series, Voltron: Legendary Defender up over at Monkeys Fighting Robots. Click the link and give it a read.

Once again, I have come to finals at school week and I have no posts in reserve. My apologies crew. I’ll have my review of King Kong vs. Godzilla up sometime this week. For now though I have to study so you are just going to have to bear with me. Until then I give you his awesome picture of Godzilla fighting Eva-01. I love all these crossovers they keep doing with these two franchises. 

Gainax as a studio has found a way to become one of the most recognizable companies in the anime industry. Thanks to their efforts titles like Gurren Lagann and Neon Genesis Evanglion exist. Let’s take a look back at what started it all. Their first mecha series, featuring one of the biggest giant robots in existence, The Gunbuster. 

The world has been attacked by an alien race known as the Uchuu Kaijuu. Now training to fight against them starts at the High School level where students are prepare to pilot giant robots. Noriko Takaya, the daughter of an infamous Admiral in the Space Forces aims for the top and to hopefully prove herself to be worthy to pilot a robot. With the help of a member of her father’s crew, Coach Ohta, Noriko will acquire the skills necessary to be able to save the world. All while wearing her gym shorts. 

This series is well remembered thanks to three aspects: the mecha, the character development, and the scientific facts incorporated in it. The robots in the series are iconic. The Gunbuster itself is known for its iconic design, it’s insane height, and it’s incredible firepower. How big is the Gunbuster? Whatever giant robot your thinking of, the Gunbuster is bigger than it. The Gunbuster is also known for its incredible firepower. This thing is able to destroy an entire alien fleet on its own without backup.  

The series also has a surprising amount of character development in it for a series made up of six OVAs. Noriko struggles with her abilites to properly pilot a robot and if she will actually be able to fight properly for humanity. Her rival, Kazumi falls in love with Coach Ohta but Ohta himself can’t fall in love because of his past. All of these issues are addressed and developed in a proper manner in only six episodes. Some 24 episode series don’t get achieve this. 

The series also has a large amount of science behind it and it makes a point to properly address scientific issues such as how the crew must clean laser lenses so they can fire better or how much time passes in space travel compared to how much time passes on earth. Also, there are some very funny omake (extra episodes) which feature actual scientific lessons with the characters in chibi form. It’s adorable and one of the best omakes ever created for any series.  

The series is also known for its last episode. Thanks to a lack of money for the finale, the series was made completely in black and white. Also many action sequences were thrown out in favor of showing numbers on the screen for the amount of humans killed and how many ships were lost. Yes, this is was a cheap way of  presenting the episode but at least the episode got made and a proper ending for the series was given. 

Despite all its short comings, Gunbuster still has some great moments in it and allowed Gainax to always look back at an incredible series as they keep moving foward. It is a required series all fans of Mecha should watch. The sequel, Gunbuster 2, not so much. One of these days I’ll get around to watching it. 

RATING: A-

I’m not going to be publishing all the time but with this recent announcement I couldn’t help myself. The writer and director of the new TOHO Godzilla film will be…Hideaki Anno of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame. I am reserved in how I feel about this. As I stated in my Evangelion review I’m a little Eva-ed out and Anno really hasn’t done much else. I am not totally against him taking the project though. I’m just a little hesitant is all. This is the same guy who added his death threats to his own movie just to spite people.

The news that did interest me though was that Shinji Higuchi, who did the special effects for the Heisei Gamera Trilogy (which I have professed my undying love for) will be doing the effects. I am thrilled at this news. So, to recap, at this point I am THRILLED of the upcoming film. Things are definately looking good for the King of the Monster’s return to his home country.

Link: SKREEONK.com

One of my readers, dandylion13, nominated me for a Liebster Award which is given out to bloggers to help them to get more recognition. I really appreciate it. Here are my answers to the questions I was given as a nominee.

1. What is your favorite series? 

Tekkaman Blade!

2. Why is that you favorite series?

This series was one of the first shows I recognized was more than just animation and actually was anime. I missed the ending to it and spent the better part of first years as a fan tracking it down. I really didn’t even see it all the way through until 10 years later and it would be another 5 years after that before I saw it with a half way decent translation. It was keeping the flame of this series alive for so long that gave it a place in my heart. I jumped for joy when I saw he could be a playable character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and play as him regularly ever time I pop in that game.

3. Do you read comic books, if so what is your favorite comic book?

I  have read Fables for years. I have to say that Fables drawing to a close will definitely hit me very hard when I finally read that final issue as I’ve been reading it since college (back in 2002).

4. Where would you like to travel if you had the chance?

I would someday like to go to Japan. As a lover of Anime and Tokusatsu I would love to actually explore the shops that offers goods that are impossible to find online. Also, I have to see that life size RX-78 Gundam.

5. What is your favorite food?

I do love pizza and have to resist the urge to have more than once a week because of the carbs. BUT I would really say that my go to food that I try in numerous restaurants is the Italian Sub. I have tried many sub shops to see how they spin my favorite sandwich.

6. What is your favorite videogame?

I play this game at least once a year all the way through. I love it! Next question.

7. Have you ever bought anything online, if so what was it?

I have a huge Amazon Wish list and often use it to keep track of all the graphic novels I want to add to my collection. With some of the gift cards I got with the holidays I bought the new Silverbolt from the Transformers: Combiner Wars line. I often try to use to eBay to help with my figure collection.

8. Who is your role model?

My grandfather. He was truly one of the greatest men that I ever known and taught me about responsibility. As a writer, I’d say Ernest Cline. His first novel, “Ready Player One” really showcased his geek pride and I someday hope to write a novel where I can wave my geek flag high and proud.

9. Who is you favorite Superhero?

IRON MAN!!

10. Do you play board games, if so which ones?

Yes. Settlers of Catan is a favorite to play with my friends and Scrabble is my family’s game of choice that we play during the holidays or at family meals.

11. What got you into Blogging?

I wanted to spread the message of good fan behavior with my first blog “Are you killing your fandom?” Then I wanted to spread my love of Kaiju and Mecha which spawned my second blog, “The Gigantic Project.” Really I did it to help get my voice heard just a bit more if just by a few more individuals.

That’s about it. Tell me what you thought of my responses and if I need to answer anymore questions for this nomination. Thanks again dandylion13!

I’m feeling a bit under the weather right now so no post this week. Know that I’ll try to make up for this in the future.