Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of The Anime Pulse! Between reviews and my First Reaction series, it’s been quite a bit of time since I sat down and wrote an actual column, but never fret, I have returned to give you another dose of Anime Pulse goodness!
All This Naruto In My Mouth
Okay… that probably wasn’t the BEST title I could pick for this little sub-section, but lately, I think that Naruto is being shoved down our throats just a little too much these days. With trailer after trailer after trailer to promote the Boruto movie, the fact that Boruto will be played here in the US, and heck, there’s even an hour-long filler episode of Naruto Shippuuden next week that does nothing but promote the Boruto movie! On top of that… the fansub of the latest Naruto Shippuuden movie came out (which you can find a review for here), an announcement of a live-action Naruto movie by Lionsgate, the ending of the Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring manga, the interviews with Kishimoto.. it’s like everywhere you turn it’s Naurto, Naruto, Naruto!
The series seems to be doing pretty well staying in the spotlight considering the fact that it’s done and over with, but even I’m getting quite annoyed by it. Yes, I do enjoy me some Naruto, but when it is everywhere I seemingly turn to on the internet these days, it’s kind of hard to not notice it and that, in turn, wants me to yell “ENOUGH! I GET IT!” Maybe it’s just me, but even Kishimoto went on record stating that enough is enough and he wants to relax. So do your fans, Kishimoto-san!
Summer Anime.. WHY U SO GOOD!?
So as an update to my First Reaction series, I am thoroughly enjoying the Summer Anime Season. I thought it would be hard to manage watching 14 shows, but I seem to be keeping the pace up pretty well and I’m, shockingly, not behind on any of the series. There are some that I’m watching that are in the “okay” category, but there are some that make me not want to wait until next week.
Durarara!!x2 Ten is one of those that leave me wanting more when it goes off the air. It doesn’t have to do with cliffhangers or any of the sort, but more or less just the fact that the series is just THAT good. If there existed a 10 hour video of Durarara.. I’d probably watch it without realizing 10 hours had passed. It’s just one of those animes.
Arslan Senki still continues to be amazing, too. I really love this kind of show and because as such, GATE is really starting to grow on me, too. It’s not AS good as Arslan Senki, but it’s just above the “okay” category for me. I really like how two polarizing worlds are co-existing and I can only see it getting better from here. This one is really surprising me.
Everything else falls into that “okay” category. Even Gangsta, whom I had given high praise too, has yet to have anything really major happen, but it seems that it might be picking up soon with the introduction of the second A Tag… so we’ll see.
The good news is that nothing is disappointing though.. and that means I can add a lot of animes to my completed list at the end of this season.. yay!
So.. it’s Kind of a Thing, ya Know…
Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan manga has 50 million copies in print worldwide.. with 20 million of those here in the U.S. alone. That’s… pretty staggering. Now.. I’m a pretty big fan of the series and anyone who knows me or has read my columns knows that I, typically, do not read the source material first. I simply watch the anime and if the anime is absolutely amazing, I will go out of my way to read the manga. Attack on Titan was one of those shows that was so good, I did read the manga from the beginning all the way up to this month’s chapter. The story is very intriguing and Isayama does a nice job of alternating between current action and past flashbacks to flesh out all of his characters and his overall story.
I know Attack on Titan has its haters, but there is only one thing on this planet that all 7+ billion people can agree on that they enjoy… and that’s air.. because without air… we die. Simple as that… but everything else is pretty much up to individual opinion.
Now I’m mentioning all of this because it kind of spawned a debate in my head. A certain someone who just happens to work here at The OuterHaven (COUGHClintonCOUGH) said that this basically the new Dragonball for us inhabitants of The United States. At first I laughed it off and was like “yeah right… nothing will ever compare to Dragonball.. you’ve gotta be nuts.” but then I stopped and thought for a moment and I came to a realization…
“Wait… is he right? Is Attack on Titan really becoming the new Dragonball?”
So why do I think Clinton may be right? Well, for one.. whether you like the series or not.. you cannot deny the popularity of the series. Production I.G. brought that world of Isayama’s to life and it did an AMAZING job with the anime. Second, there are a LOT of fans of the source material and even the “boring” or “bad” chapters end up getting praise because they are that engrossed with the world of Attack on Titan.
But the third thing that REALLY made me think was that I have friends who have never watched anime before or if they have, they seldom take interest in anime. All of a sudden, I get three or four of my buddies messaging me and telling me how Attack on Titan is like the holy grail of anime and that it was either their gateway into wanting to watch more shows.. or they just really enjoyed the hell out of it. Knowing that… ask yourself this… what was the last major anime that came out that actually made people take notice of it and, perhaps, served as their gateway into anime?
Dragonball.
Kind of scary if you think about it. I guess we can only see if the popularity holds true. The live-action movie and the second season are on their way.. once those hit, we will know for sure if Attack on Titan is, indeed, the second coming of Dragonball… in a sense.
I’m going to go ahead and leave you with those thoughts for this week. As always, if you want to drop me a line, you may do so by sending you love mail, hate mail, comments, suggestions, or checks worth lots of money to joshpiedra@theouterhaven.net. Also, if you feel so inclined to do so, follow me on Twitter @PulseIn.
Until next time,
Ja ne!
