MF Ghost is Great Sometimes

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You never know for sure who’s a fan of Initial D. While there are folks who are almost guaranteed to enjoy it due to a love of Japanese cars, I’ve seen quite a few people who aren’t really into that sort of thing will still embrace the series. Maybe it’s the exciting Eurobeat soundtrack, or getting to see an underdog whupping everyone, or just enjoying characters babbling about turbo engines and anti-lock brakes and what-not. Like many good anime and manga, the series has the ability to draw in people who might not care about the topic it focuses on.

The sequel, MF Ghost, isn’t nearly as compelling—at least not at first. For one, it doesn’t even have its first big race until the start of the second season. And when it finally gets there, the format isn’t as immediately and viscerally thrilling. Street racing duels have made way for 15-car competitions, trading a more direct fight for a complex mosaic of moving vehicles. That has its appeal in its own right, and it has kept me watching, but it’s different nevertheless.

But even as fun as the races are, MF Ghost has some weird personalities, and some of the dudes are the worst. Initial D was never a bastion of great characters, but there were some real charismatic personalities in there, and even the worst assholes and cheaters are compelling in their own way. In comparison, one of the top racers in MF Ghost is a guy who refuses to date anyone older than 17. An ally of the main character, a generally upstanding and generous racer, is in love with one of the race queens who’s secretly a high schooler (To his credit, he isn’t aware of this). The same girl is also the primary love interest of the main character (who’s closer in age), making for a strange love triangle. 

Between all that and the weird underwear-like outfits of the race queens (aka the “Angels”), a lot of MF Ghost on the character side feels like an old person’s idea of young romance. The girl, Ren, has a sweet and gentle personality, albeit somewhat different from a lot of current heroines who could be similarly described. Maybe it’s the lack of pointed fetishes in her design and personality specifically that contrasts with a lot of current manga, anime, and light novels. She’s also a far cry from either of Takumi from Initial D’s romantic prospects, which makes me further believe that the author created her to have a more general appeal

So that’s my experience with MF Ghost. Sometimes, it’s legitimately exciting. Other times, I can feel my face scrunch up into a weird frown when some character does something really off. I guess my desire to see the underdog still pulls through.

VTuber Music: The Current-Day Character Image Songs

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These days, I listen to a lot of VTuber music. They dominate my playlist, which might come across as an odd choice because while quite a few are wonderful singers, you’re not going to get professional-quality results all the time. Even so, there is something that makes VTuber music that feels special in current times: They remind me of anime character image songs.

In the 1990s and up through the 2000s, image songs were pretty common. Whether it was Ranma ½ or Suzumiya Haruhi, shows with large casts would have voice actors sing songs based on their characters, and often as their characters. This feels less prevalent in anime over the past decade and change, but with VTubers, it’s like practically every original song (and even covers to some extent) are just inherently image songs because they work off of the VTubers’ personas.

The “issues” with VTuber music are also reminiscent of complaints about image songs. “Why listen to people who can’t actually sing all that well?” But it’s just as much about connecting to the characters being portrayed as it is about the inherent musicality of a song. You’ll get some performers who are excellent at what they do, but real skill is a bonus rather than a requirement. Better yet, if there is improvement, you get to really see them come into their own rather than just starting as amazing. One of the best things is hearing someone perform one of their songs live and realize that they actually sound better than the studio recording they did back when they were still a little shaky.

To end off, I’m curious about if any readers are fond of any character songs, be they anime, VTuber, or maybe some other category.

So…do you have any favorites?

They Tried to Rig the Game, but You Can’t Fake Influence: Demon Lord 2099, Kendrick Lamar, and Being the True King

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Veltol, the protagonist of Demon Lord 2099. He is ruggedly handsome with long, dark hair. He is wearing armor, while one of his eyes is bloodied and his right hand is extended toward the viewer, also covered in blood.

I watched Demon Lord 2099, an anime about a vanquished Demon Lord who revives in a magitech cyberpunk future. This former ruler, Veltol Velvet Velsvalt, discovers that one of his generals heads the largest corporation in the world and by extension the way magic is used and controlled in society. Not long after their reunion, it’s revealed that this general, Marcus, would rather not cede his position at the top of the world, and betrays his former master. Marcus prides himself on being the strongest, and therefore the true Demon Lord of the modern day. 

WARNING: Demon Lord 2099 spoilers.

Marcus from Demon Lord 2099. He is a human-looking demon with sharp, angular features and long white hair, and he is wearing a red suit. Behind him are the silhouettes of bodies floating in ambiguous pink space.

But there’s a recurring idea in the anime that springs forth from Marcus’s desire: Just because you’re the best around doesn’t mean you’re the greatest or even endowed with greatness. This is an idea that occurs all the time in competitive environments, such as sports, video games, and music. Is Michael Jordan the GOAT of basketball, or is it Lebron James? RTS fans used to debate what makes someone a Starcraft bonjwa, a fan title reserved for a select pantheon of players, of which there are arguably only five or so. Heck, the first thing that came to mind when I saw Demon Lord 2099 highlight the difference between “best” and “greatest” is F.D Signifier’s hours-long video about Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar, where he describes the reluctance among many fans of rap towards accepting Drake as the king of his era, and the enthusiasm with which they embraced Kendrick upon his return. 

The second form of Veltol, now a massive demonic dragon towering over Marcus.

Being the greatest seems to require not merely a list of accomplishments, but to also have an aura that comes out in one’s actions and behavior. In Demon Lord 2099, this notion sees its culmination in a rematch, where Veltol reveals to his betrayer that he has a second and more powerful form, as per the classic video game final boss trope. In this new guise (unknown to all but the hero who bested him long ago), Veltol neutralizes all the technological advantages Marcus created for himself and humiliates the traitor. The Demon Lord also reveals the source of his power: He cannot achieve this second form unless he has enough worshippers, which he has spent time regaining by becoming a popular streamer. Marcus tried to clothe himself in greatness without embodying any of the qualities that make for greatness, be it inherent ability or the acknowledgement of the people.

“Greatness” is, of course, subjective by nature. Different people will value different things, and second boss forms aren’t a thing in reality unless you maybe count competitors being incredibly clutch in key situations. But I think the difference between “best” and “greatest” seems to be in the words themselves: whether you are simply better than those around you, or you want to carry your craft to higher heights and possibly even use it for a more profound purpose.

Threading the Needle(mouse): Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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Sonic the Hedgehog has become a hit movie franchise, and that fact is still kind of mind-boggling. Even putting aside the widely-panned promotional images from the first movie that resulted in the CG being completely redone, there were many years where Sonic was the butt of endless jokes. Now, the third movie features Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultra edgy character who has been mocked by the internet since his debut…and he’s great. The movie’s great. 

My inner child, the one that used to imagine himself as Sonic, is thrilled. The more critical adult that I am now is satisfied as well. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has broad appeal while being faithful to the spirit of the source material and telling a good story, and that’s a balance many studios are failing miserably to achieve right now.

The story of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is basically an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast, but pared down to 90-ish minutes in a way that keeps the essence of the story and the narrative benchmarks. For example, the film pulls out the iconic theme, “Live and Learn,” at just the right moment. This is indicative of something the Sonic movies have been able to pull off that I think has helped their success: They know what to prioritize in the source material. When the Sonic games themselves have accrued a ton of bloat over time, and making films for Hollywood often means trying to cater to mainstream assumptions and expectations, this is a powerful skill.

Characters retain their core traits even when certain aspects of their personalities might differ from game portrayals, such that they can be given more broadly relatable/entertaining traits and quirks without being unrecognizable, like Sonic’s occasional vulnerable awkwardness is charming juxtaposed with his general smart-aleck nature. Knuckles lack of self-awareness balances out his portrayal as a stoic warrior. Jim Carrey as Robotnik is a scenery-chewing goof more reminiscent of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog than anything else, but it works because the movie captures his frustrated antagonism towards his nemesis. 

With Shadow too, the creators understood that you have to play his brooding nature pretty straight because he needs to come across as powerful but burdened by trauma. Keanu Reeves also performs Shadow almost perfectly, especially in the way he differentiates his voice from a similar character in John Wick. 

As I was watching the movie, I wondered where they might go next with any sequels. Sonic Adventure 2 is probably the last time any character has really cemented themselves in pop culture, and a lot of the games after that are filled with odd experimental gimmicks or rely on nostalgia. When the post-credits teasers hit, they took me by complete surprise. Now I really want to see Sonic 4.

Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back EVOLUTION…in Japanese?!

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While browsing Netflix one day, I came upon the movie Mewtwo Strikes Back EVOLUTION: a remake of the first Pokémon movie originally from the late 90s. Out of curiosity, I decided to look at the language settings to see what was available, and was surprised to see Japanese audio among the options.

This is a fairly big deal because the US release of the first movie never came with Japanese as an option, and it was from a time when dubs would substantially alter the contents of the original. While both the Japanese and English versions of Mewtwo Strikes Back are clearly meant primarily for kids, the differences are enough to practically make them two different movies. 

I watched EVOLUTION with Japanese audio and English closed captioning (an actual subtitle track was unavailable), and to my surprise, it actually translates a majority of the script faithfully. Gone are the attempts to “explain” mysterious moments from the film—there’s no legend of “healing tears,” for example. And rather than the antagonist Mewtwo being a grievance-filled villain out to start his “reign” over the world, they’re back to being the traumatized soul who “strikes back” at the world because of a deep existential crisis. I am serious when I say that Mewtwo is literally the best character in the entire anime because of the complexity of their character, and I’m happy that people get to see that now. For those watching in Japanese, Ichimura Masachika reprises his role as Mewtwo, and his performance remains unbelievably good. Ichimura’s background is actually in theater acting (he was the very first Japanese Phantom of the Opera), and his veteran skill shows.

I said the script was mostly faithful, though, and that’s because a few things do not match up. 

The opening and ending songs are still the ones used in the dub version even when you watch in Japanese, so I sadly did not get to hear the new rendition of one of my favorite songs, “Kaze to Issho ni.” At the very least, the new ending song is better than what used to be there in the dub.

The biggest departure comes from the fact that the English script retains the dub’s version of Mewtwo’s speech at the end: “I see now that the circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.” It’s not a bad sentiment, but it is significantly different from the Japanese, where Mewtwo is much more ambivalent to the very end. In Japanese, they talk about how the clones are alive, and they will continue to live—somewhere.” The difference in sentiment feels like it comes down to America’s valuing of being a master of your fate vs. Japan’s love of the ephemeral and imperfect (to overly simplify things), but I wish at least this version could have stuck closer to the original. Given how the rest of the script is so close, I suspect that those in charge felt that the dub line is inextricably tied to perceptions of the movie in English.

Aside from the translation comparison, the rest of the film just feels like an experiment they decided to throw out there. The CG is all right but unspectacular, and a number of action scenes feel longer than they did before (sometimes to the detriment of the pacing). Overall, the original holds up a bit better in Japanese, but having a version that’s 80% more accurate in English is something I’m just glad to see.

A Conflict: Ogiue Maniax Status Update for February 2025

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I feel of two ways about still using Twitter in any capacity. Its owner is a Nazi and a piece of shit, and I hate the way he ruined it, even if it already wasn’t in the best shape). I’ve already switched over the majority of my social media usage to Bluesky. Yet, I have to contend with the fact that that many artists, anime and manga creators, VTubers, and other related accounts have still not made the switch over. As an anime blogger who does things like keep a record of Kio Shimoku’s tweets, a part of me feels that abandoning it entirely is also abandoning the ability to accrue and archive information that might be lost otherwise. Kio himself has also mentioned that he’s hesitant to start another social media account.

Similarly, I wonder if I should even post links to my blog posts on places like Twitter and Facebook, because Twitter throttles links to keep them from getting traction, and Facebook is increasingly taking a disgusting turn. But I also know there are people who are only able to follow me through those platforms.

Whatever the case, I find it funny that there’s now a move encouraging people to make their own websites again, instead of relying on social media. It’s almost like the real Web 3.0 (and not the NFT bullshit) is a return to something closer to the internet of my youth.

Thank you to everyone on my Patreon, and extra special thanks to those below. Happy Lunar New Year to all.

General:

Ko Ransom

Diogo Prado

Alex

Dsy

Sue Hopkins fans:

Serxeid

Hato Kenjirou fans:

Elizabeth

Yajima Mirei fans:

Machi-Kurada

Blog Highlights from January

A Lasting Legacy: Love Live! Superstar!! 3rd Season

A look at what made the story of Liella! truly special.

I Wish It Was 52 Episodes: The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians

Did you catch this show? It was delightful.

Celebrating Sakamata Chloe and holoX

In honor of Sakamata Chloe, who has now left hololive.

Kio Shimoku

Kio tweets about the release of his latest adult doujinshi.

Closing

I would very much not want a country controlled by a billionaire trying to gut out the federal government and steal our personal information.

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights January 2025

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https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1877245089363247282

Kio read Volume 10 of Koukaku no Sukima (Scheme in the Crimson Shell), a series about the world of Pandora in the Crimson Shell by the original author, Koshi Rikudo (of Excel Saga fame). Kio likes the “Shiromasa World” (which I assume has to do with Shirow Masamune?), and the fact that one particular story gets a continuation.

There was a Rakuen: Le Paradis magazine exhibit at Namba Marui (0101) in Osaka, from January 11 to January 19 this past month. 

Kio is overjoyed that he could relate to the main character of From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated!, an anime adaptation of a manga about a 52-year-old salaryman who is reincarnated as a villainess.

Kio is happy to see that there will be more Dorohedoro.

An online preview is available for the sequel to Kio’s 18+ doujinshi, Zenbu, Sensei no Sei. (It’s All Your Fault, Sensei.) on the adult site FANZA. Note that the site is region-locked. The full 82-page version is out now.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1880631303504343048

Otani Ikue (voice of Pikachu) was trending on Twitter. Kio jokingly claims that she’s known primarily for her role as Kamishakujii Renge in Kujibiki Unbalance.

A fan mentions being surprised when Kujibiki Unbalance became its own standalone title. Kio concurs, though mentions that all the voice actors had to change from the OVAs that were packaged with the first Genshiken anime.

Kio watched the movie Muromachi Outsiders, and was particularly impressed by the actor Oizumi Yo. 

Kio also watched the movie Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. He enjoyed the portrayal of the people living in Kowloon Walled City and the free-flowing action.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1882074663100314022
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1882354444941336731
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1882720630216515868

More preview images from It’s All Your Fault, Sensei. 2, Part 1

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1883058656264192394

Kio managed to get the special exclusive from seeing the new Gundam movie, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-. (I’m going to hate having to write that title all the time).

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1883080029401387518
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1883153459081617739
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1883172883096314019

And even more It’s All Your Fault, Sensei. 2, Part 1. Here is Kio getting hype about the impending release on FANZA.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1883172883096314019
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1884606334928048264

WIth the doujinshi out on FANZA, Kio talks abouts how he originally intended it to be a single 134-page work, but found that doing so meant cutting out too much of what he wanted. Now, it’s been split into two roughly 80-page parts.

Kio wanted to upload some more pages to Twitter, but most of the pages this time are decidedly NSFW.

Celebrating Sakamata Chloe and holoX

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Sakamata Chloe standing with all of holoX on stage, with her at the center.

Earlier today, Sakamata Chloe left hololive for the foreseeable future. Secret Society holoX will no longer be five members strong, so I wanted to just write one last post appreciating their generation as a whole. 

holoX was the first time I wanted to get invested in an entire gen from the very beginning. I love their motif as would-be world conquerors who are actually just silly people, and really think they strike a nice balance as a group—in terms of their character designs, personalities, and respective strengths as entertainers.

La+ is a remarkably good dancer with a sharp tongue who somehow manages to be both mature and a brat. Lui can be both a wise older sister and a bit of a bumbler, and she has brought out some of the most creative songs in VTubing. Koyori is an absolute workhorse who loves to experiment and bring a classic idol vibe. Chloe has great control of her voice, whether for singing or bantering. Iroha possesses great athleticism and an adorable personality, which allow her to tackle every project with a charismatic energy. 

All of holoX doing X poses with their arms.

In the three years they’ve been going, holoX has accomplished so much. They have multiple original songs both individually and as a group, and they’ve only grown as performers despite setbacks in their physical and mental health. Seeing them in their most recent 3d concerts just drives home how much effort they’ve all put into their craft, like when noticing the subtle changes La+ makes to her choreography or realizing the quality of Chloe’s full repertoire of music. 

Granted, it’s also a little bittersweet to know that Chloe, at least in this form, will be frozen in time. The other four will keep going, changing and learning along the way, and while Chloe might very well be doing the same, I don’t know how easily we can follow her on that journey. Despite that, I think holoX will still thrive, and Chloe has what it takes to find success and happiness in whatever she does. I hope we get to hear from her again, no matter what form she takes.

Nendoroid figures of all five holoX members. They are small figures with big heads.

PS: I finally assembled all of holoX in Nendoroid form. I’m glad I got it just in time for Chloe’s final concert.

Chloe's mask left behind at the holoX headquarters. Underneath it is a "Thank you" sloppily written in Chloe's characteristic illegible handwriting.

I Wish It Was 52 Episodes: The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians

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The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians is an anime that should have been longer. 

Adapted from a web novel, the story of Mahonare (as it’s known for short in Japanese) follows  Kurumi Mirai, a girl who has always dreamed of being a magician, but failed to get into the magic program of the prestigious Rettoran Academy. Attending the school’s non-magical track, a crestfallen Kurumi and the rest of her class soon meet their homeroom teacher, the unusually petite and eccentric Minami Suzuki, who promises that she will teach them magic, despite common sense saying that it should be impossible.

There is one series above all others that Mahonare reminds me of: the wonderful Ojamajo Doremi. While the magic aspect is something they clearly have in common, the similarities also include the style of presentation. From the pastel-like filters to the opening narration each episode to the theme songs themselves, Mahonare greatly resembles the morning girls’ anime of the late 90s and early 2000s that include Doremi but also things like Ashita no Nadja and Fushigiboshi no Futagohime.

But the more important way that the Mahonare draws upon the tradition of Doremi is the way it builds up a strong cast of characters, both major and minor, that contributes to world building and story. Though we get only a few glimpses of some characters, each gives the impression that they’d have their own interesting stories to tell if given the chance. One girl in Kurumi’s class is supposed to be part of the magic elite, only to have come short. Others are more happy to just be attending even if they can’t cast spells, eager to pursue their passions whether it’s cooking, music, or fashion. 

Moreover, while the teens have teen troubles, the adults have adult troubles, and the intersection between them creates conflicts about everything from pursuing your dreams to moral quandaries that cut to the heart of their society. One of the most interesting plot points involves the positives and negatives of the magic notebooks that have become ubiquitous. Their widespread adoption encourages magic to be converted to easy-to-use apps that don’t require necessarily understanding fundamentals, mirroring concerns over the way smartphones and tablets have transformed how children grow up with electronics.

But that resemblance to Doremi is exactly why I think Mahonare should’ve had more episodes. It feels like a 52-episode work that was condensed down to 12, and the show suffers for it. Little crumbs of plot development that could have been sprinkled in here and there instead come one after the other. Character bonding moments happen very rapidly as well, as opposed to building up gradually and therefore with more weight. While I understand that the reality of current anime production means very few anime get that privilege, I can still lament the loss of that possibility for Mahonare nevertheless.

This certainly isn’t the first time that a series has received a truncated adaptation, and some even go on to have a more thorough version be made later. I can only hope that The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Become Magicians falls into this select category.

Marvel Rivals and the Ever-Changing Nature of the Invisible Woman

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Marvel Rivals has recently introduced the Fantastic Four to its roster, and like the other heroes and villains, they’ve received designs meant to capture the spirits of the characters while giving them a modern game-oriented feel. Among them is the Invisible Woman, and thanks to the game’s behind-the-back camera, one thing is clear: Susan Storm-Richards has quite a butt.

Big buttocks and thick thighs are popular these days, so this isn’t particularly surprising in and of itself. However, the fact that they would give Sue a body in that direction makes me realize something: Perhaps no other character in superhero comics more thoroughly reflects the evolution of trends in female beauty standards than the Invisible Woman.

In my look at VTuber Takanashi Kiara’s 1980s-inspired aerobics outfit, I mentioned that its emphasis on a more voluptuous lower body does not match the dominant thin aesthetic that existed back then. The Invisible Woman goes back even further in time, to the introduction of The Fantastic Four in 1961. And while she’s not alone in that regard (there are female heroes who have been around far longer than her), the difference is that Susan has very few specific iconic features that define how she’s “supposed” to look.

The Invisible Woman is meant to be very attractive (enough that Namor is constantly infatuated with her), but not to the extent of a manslayer like the Enchantress. Other than being blonde, she’s not associated with specific physical features, like Power Girl and her large chest or She-Hulk and her muscular green physique. Her costume isn’t particularly iconic or defining, like with Supergirl or Psylocke. And her powers are actually less conducive to establishing her visual identity compared to most others, including her teammates—”stretchy with graying temples,” “man entirely on fire,” and “big rock guy” are instantly identifiable in a way Sue isn’t.

So over the course of six decades, Sue’s look has changed over and over. Her hairstyles have included long, short, straight, curly, simple, coiffed, Mary Tyler Moore, mullet, and everything in between. Her costumes have ranged from conservative to astoundingly daring: form-fitting, skin-tight, that famous design from the 1990s with the cleavage-exposing “4” on her chest. While she’s generally thin, fairly busty, and pretty, her proportions have all fluctuated a bit. To some extent, this can be chalked up to individual artists’ tastes, but I think it’s notable that they can play around this much with her design compared to other female superheroes.

In the context of Marvel Rivals, the Invisible Woman seems to be influenced by two factors aside from “big butts are in.” First, there’s Sue’s status in the Marvel Universe as a kind of matron of superheroes due to her age and experience. Second, Marvel Rivals is clearly trying to be the next Overwatch, and that includes its reputation for sexy characters who are arguably more famous than the games themselves. In other words, the Invisible Woman is very 21st-century MILF-coded, not unlike Elastigirl from The Incredibles—a series that itself clearly draws a lot of inspiration from the Fantastic Four.

If the Invisible Woman is getting attention again in ten years’ time, I wonder how she’ll look then.