Monthly Archives: August 2015
Life Update: Heading into September.
Hey guys. Nothing too exciting this weekend. I was busy and forgot it was even Friday yesterday, so there was no top five. I have a couple planned though, just got to sit down and type them up.
Anyway, September is next Tuesday. I’m going to try to make it my most productive month of blogging yet. I’m hoping to put out 4 Top Fives, 2 Manga Monday’s, 1 Trip Down Memory Lane, start Comic Book Reviews, And put out a ton of anime reviews.
I’m also going to start substitute teaching classes and job shadowing, so I might blog about that process and other aspects of college if there are people interested in that.
I am also hoping to launch two new projects(Separate from the blog). If they go as planned, I’ll have one in September and one hopefully by next year.
Lastly, does the new Home page layout make it easier to Navigate and make the site look neater? Any feedback would be nice.
Enjoy your weekend guys,
DaHubbz
MANGA MONDAY! BLUE EXORCIST VOL 1
Today on I am reviewing Blue Exorcist Vol 1 by Kazue Kato released through Shonen Jump Advance and Viz Media and started in 2009. Blue Exorcist made it stateside in 2011.
Spoilers– Only spoilers that set up the plot(nothing in the long run)
Plot– Rin Okumura is living at his father’s monastery. Suddenly, his demon form awakens when a gang of other demons attack him. His father, Fujimoto, rescues him and informs him he is actually the child of a human woman and none other than Satan. Satan takes control of Fujmoto and Rin runs away from the monastery. Once he runs away, he meets Mephisto(Mister Faust). Mephisto enrolls him into True Cross Academy. It’s here his adventure as an exorcist begins!
Characters– The characters are wonderful. Rin and his twin brother Yukio work really well together. Yukio is very smart and a great exorcist, whereas Rin is lazy, but is very driven to protect those he cares for. Mephisto does not really shine too much. He is in a minimum amount of scenes, but is well respected and talented. He also runs True Cross Academy. Father Fujimoto is a great character. I only wish he could have seen more action than one chapter, but he is the ignition for Rin.
World– The world has demons all around it. Most of the demons need to trick humans to roam the Earth. The exorcist are their counterpart. Rin is the first exorcist to also be a demon, or as he says “I am not a demon, but im not exactly human either”. The world will be filled with epic battles between the demons and the exorcists. Pretty exciting!
Verdict: Solid action, good humor, enjoyable characters. My only complaint is I dont have Volume 2 to keep reading. Guess I’ll have to change that soon!
Score– 8.5 out of 10. Not quite as good as The Seven Deadly Sins, but still very awesome. I read it one sitting. I definitely recommend it.
Havent read it yet? What are you waiting for? Buy Blue Exorcist Vol 1!
Looking for more Manga Monday? Check out More Manga Monday!
Top Five Pokemon I want added to Pokken Tournament!
With Pokken Tournament recently announced to be coming stateside, now’s a better time than ever to discuss future Pokemons to be announced. I’ll leave my top 5. You guys feel free to say who you’d like!
The current roster: Pikachu (Pikachu Libre), Machamp, Gengar, Charizard, Lucario, Gardevoir, Weavile, Suicune, and Blaziken.
#5- Nidoking- This guy is awesome and could be a tanky character. He’s dual type and hes built like a fighter. His moves could range from a projectile sludge bomb attack, to a close range earthquake. I think the potential is there to work him in.
#4- Breloom- Breloom seems like a prefect fit. He is fighting so he has an array of fighting moves like focus punch and dynamic punch. Since he is grass he would be a versatile fighter. He could use moves like leech seed or mega grain to steal hp to add to his own. He also has access to moves like sleep powder, so he could be a very obnoxious troll character. He was also famous for substitute into a focus punch back in the day. We could bring that back.
#3- Scizor- Come on. This seems like a no brainer. The Scizor family tree is a fan favorite and could work very well with either one of them in. Neither Bug or Steel are represented on the rooster, and scizor is a great way to change that. I am not sure all the mechanics(Like can you raise attack and defense mid fight). If this were the case, Scizor could use swords dance and iron defense to beef up and than mega evolve to be unreal. Just a thought. A game thought
#2- Dragonite- This would be so insane. Dragonite is amazing and the OG of dragons. He has access to hyper beam and outrage and a surprisingly large amount of electric moves. He could drop a thunder down from the heavens. On top of that, he has extreme speed to close the gap before seguing into Outrage. He wanted to keep some space between himself and the opponent, he could use twister to damage them and then push them back. He would than follow this up with hyper beam. He is also flying, so he would have a hover side to him. His aerial game would be on point. Him and mega Charizard would have some insane sky fights. Now tell me you wouldnt want to see those two duke it out in the sky.
Honorable mentions- Blastoise, Metagross, Aggron, Primeape, Regirock, Deoxys, Heracross, Sceptile, Any eevelution
#1- Mewtwo- Of course its Mewtwo. Who else could it be. Mewtwo is awesome and, in a way, is a face of the pokemon world. I would say just as many old school Pokemon fans who do not keep up with it anymore know Mewtwo as they would Pikachu. Mewtwo would be a great reason for an old fan to rediscover pokemon in this brand new way. Sure we have Gardevoir, but its safe to say Mewtwo could do some different things. In my mind, Gardevoir would play like a wall. She could use reflect and light screen to block attacks, while Mewtwo would boost his offence with calm mind and bombard his opponent with psychics and he is faster. I dont know if there is a story mode for this game, but Mewtwo would be the perfect final boss. I could imagine a boss fight mode where you have to beat the two mega evolutions for Mewtwo. Now that would be amazing.
These are just MY opinions on game mechanics and future characters. Go watch the trailer and than comment on who you would want to see!
A Trip Down Memory Lane: Manga
Today on A Trip Down Memory Lane, I will be talking about the first manga I ever read and owned. That manga was Naruto Vol 4.
I loved comic books and I loved animes. Where do these two worlds meet? In mangas. Mangas might be my favorite form of entertainment and it all started while I was in middle school.
For those of you who might not know exactly where vol 4 is in the story, it takes place when Naruto and Haku fight. I had seen the anime up to this point so I knew what was going on. Though I haven’t read much of manga since than(Yet!), I am caught up entirely on the anime. I must say, this is one of the most important story lines in the entire series. This volume is a tone setter for sure. There is a chapter entitled “The Tools Called Shinobi”. The few chapters leading up to this painted that very picture. Ninjas were just tools the villages used to carry out missions of all sizes. When a ninja could no longer preform their duties, it was to the gallows for them. If a ninja died on duty, a new ninja would take their place and the world would keep on spinning. The relationship between Zabuza and Haku demonstrated this dynamic. Haku is a weapon of war for Zabuza. When Naruto and Kakashi defeat Haku, Zabuza shows no emotion. Haku even blames himself for not being good enough.
This is also a huge scene in showing how Naruto will impact the world. He shows compassion and mercy for his enemies, which is relatively unheard of. He even gets Zabuza to a shed a tear. This whole act may seem small considering how small of a role Haku and Zabazu play after this, but I think it is huge. It’s foreshadowing that the ninja world is tired of violence and heroes will be stepping up to challenge this mentality of shonobi as tools.
The fight scenes are also great. Naruto gets a small version of the nine tails cloak. His fight with Haku is awesome, as Haku is helpless to stop Naruto. The fight between Kakashi and Zabuza in the mist is also great. Kakashi’s Fanged Vengeance Technique is awesome but the lightening blade jutsu is still one of the sickest jutsu.
This manga opened my eyes to a brand new medium, a powerful medium. Mangas can be silly, humorous, sappy, romantic, but most importantly they can be powerful! Mangas are an adventure and you will have a hard time not bonding with all the characters. The characters, the life lessons, the atmosphere, make the pay-off completely worth it.
All in all, it is a very solid manga. If you’ve never read a manga or a Naruto manga before, of course I recommend starting at the beginning, but if you are just trying to jump into some awesome action scenes with characters expressing a moral lesson bigger than themselves, than this is the perfect manga. This was the first ever manga I owned and now, some odd years later, I am still collecting mangas.
A Trip Down Memory Lane
Today we will be introducing a brand new category!
A trip down memory lane will be a monthly series where I break down my introduction to a form of entertainment. Some examples are: Mangas, Comic Books, Movies, Games.
I will talk about my first experience with them and reflect on my feelings and how they have impacted my life. I am super excited to be doing this. Tomorrow will be the first edition, so make sure to check back tomorrow!
MANGA MONDAY! The Seven Deadly Sins Vol 1
The Seven Deadly Sins is written and drawn by Nakaba Suzuki and runs through Kodansha Comics. It started its journey back in 2012.
Spoilers: Slight. This is just Volume 1 after all.
Plot: In a land named Britannia, a pretty little Kingdom gets flipped on its head when the royal military plans to overthrow its King. Elizabeth, daughter of King, flees in search of finding the legendary Seven Deadly Sins. She stumbles into a bar ran by a young boy named Meliodas and his trusty pig, Hawk. After some panels, she realizes this little boy is apart of The Seven Deadly Sins. He explains to her, they use to be a special task force for king but the Holy Knights frame the Sins for a crime and they are banished. Meliodas does not remember much and somewhere down the line gets turned into a kid. Meliodas, Hawk, and Elizabeth set out to find the remaining six. Vol 1 ends with them running into Diane, the sin of envy.
The World: The first three of the five chapters mainly center around Meliodas’s bar. Later on, they do venture to the village of Vanya where their people are being oppressed by the Holy Knights, and to the woods of the sleeping sin infested with prankster goblins. The world has not really been all explored yet but the hunt has just started as well.
Characters: Maybe I just have Dragon Ball on the brain because I have been reading so much of it, but Meliodas and Elizabeth are striking modern day versions of Kid Goku and Bulma. Meliodas is a tad bit more self-aware than Goku was at the time of Dragon ball, but they are both happy-go-lucky, super overpowered kids. They also both protect the female lead. Elizabeth is a slightly more classy version of Bulma. Both start out on a quest to find the legendary seven, enter something cool here, and end up making friends with really strong young boys. Hawk is a slightly funnier Oolong. Hawk’s timing and interactions with Meliodas seem funnier to me than Oolong did with Goku. With all that being said, the three of them do stand out in their own way and are absolutely great. Ill get into the other sins like Diane and the higher up Holy Knights like Kyle when more becomes known about them.
Recap: The plot is very action adventure like and it might not be breaking any boundaries, but it is enough to kick start this awesome journey.
Action– Has not been as much as you’d expect, but it is very solid when there is action
Romance– Very little. Diane is obsessed with Meliodas. If they play out like Kid Goku and Bulma than clearly nothing will happen( I have not read ahead so I do not know what will become of them) but Meliodas and Elizabeth have a better chance of falling in love than Goku and Bulma ever did.
Plot: As mentioned, it is solid enough to get the adventure going.
Characters: So far are wonderful. Hawk is Hilarious
The World: Has been pretty cool so far, has room to fully grow
Humor: The best part without a doubt.. The Seven Deadly Sins is very, very funny.
Verdict: The first Manga I bought that I had no idea about. My girlfriend just picked it up at random, I believe, and I read the back and just went with it. And I do not regret it for a second. It reminds me of modern day DBZ, with less martial arts and more mid-evil fantasy aspects. I basically read it in one sitting.
Score: 9.05 out of 10! Fantastic. At least read Vol 1. I think Barnes and Nobles or Books-a-Million carry it. If you can not find it there, Crunchyroll has the whole series so far I believe.
Get your copy now. Seven Deadly Sins Vol 1!
Life Update Plus More
So online classes are finally OVER! Yay for free time again. I am going to start trying to blog regularly again. I am working out a schedule that looks like this:
Next Week:
Manga Monday 8/10/2015
Top Five Friday @ Five 8/14/2015
Anime Review 8/15/2015
Week After That:
Comic Book Review 8/19/2015
Top Five Friday @ Five 8/21/2015
Anime Review 8/22/2015
Basically Top fives and anime reviews would be weekly and mangas and comic books would rotate weekly.
Sometime in August I am going to start a Once-A-Month topic that I am pretty excited for. I just have to work out how I want to do it.
I also have a twitter. @dahubbz. I plan to use it for mini updates and reviews as well as chatting with any followers and just expressing ideas. Check it out. I want to try some games and discussions whenever I get enough followers.
Lastly, I recently started playing, collecting, and watching Magic The Gathering. I build cheap decks with good synergy and I am uploading them on tappedout.net to get feedback. Would you guys be interested in me sharing deck ideas and starting discussions on here? I might end up doing it, I might not. I just wanted to see if there would be any feed back on here.
Anyway, do not be shy to start a conversation and give input and feedback. Have a Great Weekend!
Da_Hubbz 