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Shunsuke Kikuchi - 1931-2021 Rest in Peace   Complete Favorite People List How I Grade Anime I grade based on feeling and enjoyment. Meaning these are obviously subjective. I tend to find so-called "objective" views of things to be boring because I think one's enjoyment of something is based on a lot more than such strict things as the "rules of storytelling." It's how I can still enjoy some things even if they are ripe with many flaws. I also only went down to "5" because I don't know what to say about anything lower than that. Once again it's based on my feeling and shows with scores lower than 5 are shows that I have no particular feeling about except that I felt they sucked on different levels. 5: These are shows I felt were just plain lame. They don't have much redeeming value and I found very little to enjoy in them. There may have been one or two enjoyable bits in them, but overall I'll just forget about them pretty quickly. 6: I found these shows to be decent...barely. They're a bit below-average and I probably thought the concept had potential but couldn't fully realize it. I didn't feel like I completely wasted my time watching these and might even watch a few of them again years down the road just to see if my opinion had changed (and sometimes it does). 7: These are shows I felt were good but nothing really special. Mostly average, maybe sometimes a bit above. I liked them but don't dwell on them and don't think about them very often. 8: These are the shows that have potential to be a favorite of mine. Not a "top" favorite, but a favorite nonetheless. These shows are often unique, or have very solid writing with great or interesting characters. They're not always the best but I thoroughly enjoyed them and would watch them again without a problem. 9: These shows are great! Many of my 9's find themselves into my list of top favorites. Gripping, interesting or fun storytelling, great characterization, often times the music and animation are top notch which add to the experience. An all-around excellent package that I can really sink my teeth into. These shows are always good to remind me why I became an anime fan. 10: I don't throw around 10's easily. 10's are special to me. Special in many ways. I consider them masterpieces for different reasons. No, they are not perfect. Nothing is perfect. But as I've said before, it's all about feeling. These shows give me a special feeling. I've found myself deeply connected to the characters and the story and just about every other aspect of the show that you can imagine. Some of these may flawed, but I've found myself so gripped that I easily brush them off, or I may even come to like some of said flaws. But that's the power of a 10. It switches me over into a whole new level of enjoyment.  "Not big on her, because I hate lips in anime." - Echelon 2013 |
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lol
I remember you saying that. 2001-2002 did look good. But any inkling of the Aggression Era in some of the last stuff I watched I wasn't loving haha. Would have to be detached again and jump back in to appreciate that vibe more, but not that I'm ever planning that now. I think 1997 will always be my favorite look for both WWF and WCW. There is something hardcore about that darker lighting era of WWF for me. Not as many signs and stuff. It's like everyone in the crowd were the real hardcore fans then, but I don't know haha. Just love that era. The pre-Raw stuff is amazing too whenever you get to it, even though a lot of the crowd, commentary, etc is edited in, so it's a different thing. SNME's are kind of what I mean, love that vibe. Simplest crowds to please, just living in the moment, a damn closeline and the roof goes off. lol, back when they all thought it was real.
I think some comments already messed me up again on Cody. Seeing people say AEW probably got a better leading man with Will now who's bursting with authentic charisma and excitement. Even in some recent DDP clip with Cody... there's just something off about this dude to me. *laughs* I'm not sure he'd be the most fun person to hang out with after awhile. He comes off SO calculated and political, which is why I think after a point this pompous energy starts burning off him whether he realizes it or not. Him being the face of WWE for a while now would be cool and make sense to me. But I don't think you're wrong haha, if he's still champion and or face by the end of this year, I'll be surprised. Maybe we'll eat our words. Him and Brandi seem like such a perfect pair in this way, amusingly. She seems like a very lovable person. But I can 200% see why the moment she would step out in a show... people wanted to boo her a ton. Even in some of this current WWE stuff her being name dropped had some low rumbling boo's, lmao... just some kind of weird cockiness to these two.
Swerve though, I don't know. Maybe another issue I have with modern wrestling is what Hisoka's said about people like Danielson lately. Face/Heel week to week, so what are we supposed to believe? It's kind of annoying. Fans are too smart and things too real... I think a classic clear cut good vs evil still has a place here but it's rare. MJF made the blending work. But I don't get that vibe at all with Swerve. He clearly seems like someone that's better as an unhinged heel, or even still thinks he is. This "I love this shit" psycho stuff isn't really good guy face material, lol. Yet he's painted as the face here against Joe. So that dynamic between them has been weird to me. Think I even told Hisoka a week or two back, I wish Swerve would turn more legit good guy in some way, but that's clearly not happening. The tweener approach probably only gets someone so far with a belt.
I saw that line going around from Punk. Like yeah, I guess just "choking someone a little" was lawfully okay at your work place, sure buddy Punk. lol
AEW's been great again for the most part to me and then yeah, curiosity kills the cat to see a lot of negativity around it lately for whatever reason. *shrugs* Pretty sure WWE wouldn't be killing it like it is right now if it weren't for AEW existing and who the hell knows what would have become of Cody if that journey never happened, etc. These fools just want things to fail not realizing it'll make it worse for everyone.
You still okay with Tony S? lol... he is my BIGGEST problem in AEW right now by far. Really wish Ian was a new main commentator. Always like when he's on and I thought him and Nigel had the best chemistry Collision wise.
Don't want Austin to steal the thunder? I guess that would happen if he did show up and steal all of Cody's spotlight haha. Who knows. It was good to see Austin's alive. Dude seemed like he went MIA for a long while there again. Maybe had to extend his disappearance to side step some of that Vince crap.
I said this to Hisoka recently and think it applies to Swerve, his title run could be sligthly muted like Hangman's, yet a year or two from now and he could be coming off like a bigger deal. Was nothing wrong with Hangman's run at all, but I feel like he's just continually been awesome and feels like a big deal whenever he's around now. So I'm bumming he disappeared again for some reason, sounded like family business, a real injury? I dunno. I always had a hunch he'd be a killer heel too and he was starting to tap into that. Anyways oh yeah Swerve haha... so yeah. I think if they put it on him, like you said it'll burn off fast. But he's still got room to grow and could be even better down the road. Joe hasn't had the best storylines in ways, but he's made the most of it and been solid. Like I wouldn't mind if they kept it on him for now probably. But yeah maybe quickie Swerve time.
I'm not ready to be down on Mercedes here. *laughs* Not that I have any comparison to make myself though, only catching some of her WM matches in the Charlotte era's and stuff. But I will say that yeah, it's weird we have to wait so long to get a match.
That's why I'm hesitant to rank this Rock arc so high myself. Traditional matches have to come into play at some point for me and my interest levels haha. But yeah... it's the fucking Rock and his character here is insane. I'm mostly caught up and it's been incredible. Some long ass segments but they're gold. It's good that Roman is okay on the mic too. But um just merely okay compared to Rock, lmao. Seth Rollins is an interesting. Everything I heard about this guy from afar sounded like a really obnoxious person. But I've been enjoying him a lot in all this too. Maybe even more than Cody.
I'm really losing my patience with Tony S, but then Tony S the normal guy "I don't give a shit" on this Punk drama wins me back haha. Yeah. AEW just needs to stop giving two fucks about WWE or any past drama. I hate Punk and nothing is ever fixing that. But it's totally true that a lot of this falls on TK's reluctance to have bigger balls or whatever. But yeah... move the heck on and don't even acknowledge it.
I'm not even a Jay White nuthugger or anything (yet?) and yeah, this might be the #1 worst thing I've ever seen in AEW. 15 some minute pure beatdown of an A+ talent guy. Was beyond weird and boring as hell. Would have hated to pay to see that.
I'm randomly speculating that Austin is showing up to WM. You see this clip about getting some easter eggs and beers, in his old truck that links to some date with his final Rock match? lol. Fun conspiracies aside, it would just make sense with Austin still being in good shape himself... could come out and punch Rock a bit for some old time sake. A part of me would have loved to see Hunter more involved in all this. But yeah, good on him for knowing his limits now after the health issues. I guess him and Rock must be interacting a ton backstage creatively... who could have guessed that 20 years ago. lol, something tells me Rock and Shawn still ain't friends though. Shawn dissed the FAMILY. lol...
Damn yeah, that really sums up Pluto. LOL. Yawara and Master Keaton are the two with a fully featured main character top to bottom, yet a bit too chill. Tenma is obviously the lead of Monster so no issues there. But I guess this author likes to tell broader stories beyond that, for better and worse. That's gotta be 99% why I drift and am struggling to finish this one.
Man, I have no idea what to think of Pluto. So much I love here but I'm struggling to finish it or get hooked. What I posted to Hisoka:
You have no idea how bad it stings me right now that Dynasty was next door. The timing just sucks and I wasn't too up on the ticket scouting, so by the time I looked the only good seats were like $500+. It was cool seeing AEW my first time years ago but the seats were bottom of the barrel. I'd want to make it count next time. But I'm trying to save my ass off this year... it just hurts. Could have see Mercedes, Danielson, Will, etc holy shit. Lot of big future wrestling legends I'm sure. Will right now feels like a completely 200% better version of his past appearances. As Hisoka put it, just being himself and more of a face is 10x better than his weird heel angle. It also hit me how I'm going to be seeing him in his prime compared to AEW era Omega. I'm still an Omega nuthugger, but my rankings could be looking different here now in the years to come. I'm blown away by how fucking awesome Will is all of a sudden and while he was apparently worried about the US style and promos, his charisma has been insane. Frankly better than most of Omega's promo work lol. Or even Cody. It feels like explosively raw unscripted passion. Hopefully this fire keeps burning.
Now I'm still cool with Swerve for the most part. Lot of give and take though. Some 50/50 matches, 50/50 promos, etc lol. I'm fine if they want to have him beat Joe for a quick run. But I think by All In at the most, they gotta push Will to the moon now. He is just brimming with the superstar factor and could probably be the face of this company for a long time. I think like post-champion run Hangman, Swerve still has a lot of room to evolve and be a big player.
Loving this Bucks/Okada stuff, lmao. Pure gold. Pretty sick of the BCC by now though. As Hisoka has noted, even Danielson's booking has gotten a tad ridiculous. Face/Heel week to week. Jericho is probably the bottom of the pit right now, holy hell haha. Where's Sammy again!? Things haven't been too good for Jay White. Juice being MIA probably hurt all that. This Cole group already sucks. I hope Jack Perry gets back soon. Liking his transformation. I'm not sure if Copeland will even rival Christian's TNT run here, but yeah should be fun. So there's still a lot of kinks, but the pros are far outweighing the bad again. I'm super excited to watch these recent weeks again.
Female division is getting awesome. Are you still big on Julia though? haha I still don't see it much. Now it's often because Skye is so much better to me, when she's the underling somehow. She needed character work though and I think we're over the heel growing pains. Last two weeks she's been freaking amazing and she looks so right in with those other big stars, so hopefully great things for her ahead. I agree with Hisoka this is a good move for Mercedes to be in the TBS picture and keep Toni going more. I don't mind Deona so far, but that was Toni's worst story arc. But she's still a gem, the scrums are amazing lmao. One of the craziest character transformations ever. Mariah is getting awesome. Riho is rising again. Now if we could get Shida and Deeb on more regularly please. Britt and Hayter returning this year hopefully. Things should be good. Kris will always be the weirdest one to me. I think Hayter is the better version of her lol. But Kris is great in the ring with a good look. Her character work is just baaaad, but seeing what Toni pulled off, who knows maybe something can click. I feel the same about Anna Jay. Her voice and promos are nasty lmao, but she's great in the ring. Hopefully some of them can step it up and evolve this year, things will be awesome.
Rock's ENTIRE CAREER? holy shit lol. Well it is amazing, Cuban Final Boss right now haha. I still kind of wonder if 1998 sideburns Corporate Rock is my favorite. It's something he can never fully tap into again, so it's pretty unique. But yeah it's nice to see all the positive buzz on WWE again and no wonder when the old man got cut out lol.
Bischoff lol. When are you watching the awesome 1997 WCW?
I've seen the drama in recent years since the lockdown crap, the war on businesses' wanting to reel in the workforce back. Smells like BS to me. It's so true so many supervisors out there are lousy humans who get off on some power trip above others. So many distractions at work, personal drama, and I just hate driving more and more. I've gotten used to the old one guy on my team being so chatty but it's just like damn... if it weren't for him I could be blasting away getting so much more done and listening to podcasts a bunch again. I'm happy to work with great people, but they're temporary as these things are in work life, and I think I'd be better off just not dealing with people much in general now. lol, but of course I've seen how terrible some are communication wise via emails and stuff. Still wouldn't escape that entirely. But yeah, I just see positives to getting full remote. Must be ideal to get a job with a company states away, that way they can't force you into an office. lmao
In my past pharmacy/lab jobs they didn't give a flying crap about bad weather. School could be cancelled, the snow plowers could be toppling over themselves, etc... but if you didn't get in, it was a write up for disciplinary action. Your life vs a paycheck. Even the freedom I have now of working remote on bad weather/sick days is such a sigh of relief. Last year I guess I never really burned any PTO on sick days, since I could still get a little done haha. But when I had COVID in January I did have to take several days no pay.
My last job situation has changed everything lol. I don't want to throw away what I have now. But I'm just increasingly disinterested and pessimistic about people in general year over year right now. lmao. There's a lot of nepotism and some weird stuff at this job I've seen already. But so far I'd say it's been a lot better working for a small company than a giant corporation.
Cuphead is freaking hard. lol, I didn't love it. But it's cool.
Daddy LIKE! https://twitter.com/Pure_PS/status/1759414902412681234
Playing anything lately? I'm nearing the end of SMT4 I think. Slam dunk 9/10 and better than SMT3 in ways, but I still think that one takes the cake gameplay wise.
The pain of waiting for Stellar Blade and FF7 Rebirth to hit PC begins soon. lol, how the hell am I going to dodge FF7 spoilers...
I may have to live with Win11 someday with my main gaming rig. That's my current fear about such a big investment. But I'm guessing Win11 is going to have support until 2030 or so. By then maybe Linux gaming will be perfect. I hear it's really good already but haven't tested that much yet.
Not sure if Linux would be useful for any of the stuff you use. But yeah it's fun. Imagine Win10 without all the damn bloat and privacy concerns...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDsDYCI3fyc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7M_g_LJn3Q
This game is blowing my mind.
I've heard from several people SMT5 is kind of a weak one honestly, but maybe it would be alright for a first one. It's just odd how they went for some semi what open areas, above ground, in a big desert. When this series is hardcore dungeon crawlers with maps and stuff. I think I may have instantly peaked with it going into SMT3 first. For a random JRPG to grab me as hard as it did, then make me put in like 30 hours more than the HLTB average, it was incredible. I was so addicted to the gameplay, capturing demons, fusing them to make new ones, etc. Kind of fascinating the series predates Pokemon. I beat two others after that that had fixed characters and no demon recruiting gimmicks, but they felt weaker because of that. Digital Devil Saga 1-2 on the PS2. They had some Hindu sci-fi backdrop like Asura's Wrath so that was pretty damn cool and out there.
SMT3 has a remaster now. It's just odd how it has voice acting now, which to my ears seems awkward after playing the PS2 game haha. Then it has difficulties now and it also lets you customize the demon fusions more, but I won't argue against that. It was RNG on the PS2, so I would literally just go back in and out of the menus until they got the skills I wanted lol.
That one could grab you by the balls like it did me. Probably a similar kind of vibe you'd dig. Post apocalyptic, horror like, weird urban Japanese city vibes, etc. Can't really say much about the story though, it's 99% gameplay kind of like the Souls stuff I'd say haha. But yeah that's part of what I loved about SMT3 so much, it was minimalist in a good way in some aspects.
SMT3 = 10/10 probably
DDS1-2 = 8/10 both
SMT4 = 9 potential, best OST so far and probably a cooler story than SMT3's
First dungeon and battle themes, I knew I was in for something good heh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9JohHT4ZsQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRiBLgOm1mQ
I tried Persona 4 once... I absolutely hate the aesthetic. *laughs* Not sure I can ever get past that with those. When Persona 5 was popular I was playing Yakuza Zero instead. No regrets!