Baltic & Co.

Sword Art Online

I haven't been as moved watching anime since watching the death of Choji in Naruto: Shippuden.  This time around, it's the death of Yuuki, the best swordsman (or rather, swordswoman) in the Virtual Reality Massive Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game featured in the second season story arc Mother's Rosario of Sword Art Online.  In the anime, the player Yuuki is a actually a 15-year old girl beset with terminal leukemia, and she gets to be the best VR online player because she plays almost 24/7.  Her death in the online game signals her actual death offline, and all the game's virtual players pay homage to her.  I cried buckets...

Daimos

While Daimos didn't get as much screen time as Voltes V, I must admit I got a kick about the anime, specially because of the background story line of the romance between earthling Richard and alien Erica, who suffers from amnesia.  It was magnificent scene when Erica first lets her wings appear, to the surprise of her suitor, Richard!  Nice one there... 

Voltes V

Toei released the Voltes V cartoon series in 1977, and we were so amazed at the intricate sequence of events that constituted "volting-in" that we all forgot to do our homework...

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

* photo from madman.com.au

Prince Adam lifts his magic sword and by the power of Grayskull transforms into He-Man, the strongest man in the universe!  I came across some episodes on Youtube, and this brought back some good memories.  The TV series was obviously aimed aimed at the kiddie segment, and each show would have a spiel about the lessons of the day's episode.  But nevertheless, I enjoyed watching the TV show; somehow my spirits would lift with each small triumph of good over evil!

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Nickolodeon produced some sixty episodes of a very rich and entertaining cartoon series in 2005, Avatar: The Last Airbender.  The story follows the adventures of Aang, a 12-year old reincarnation of the powerful Avatar, as he learns how to control his powers over the four elements--air, water, earth and fire--in preparation for his ultimate showdown with the Fire Lord who wants to dominate the world.  I was able to watch some episodes then on Cable TV, but never got around to appreciating the full story until recently.  I love the heartwarming twists of the story, and the artwork is pretty convincing.  Definitely two thumbs up!

Doc Savage

* picture from Wikipedia

The copper toned man was everything you could dream of--explorer, adventure, fighter, millionaire, scientist, engineer, doctor.  He was Doc Savage!  When I was a boy, I must have read ten or twenty books of his continuing adventures.  I was thrilled every time I finished a book.  He was supposed to be the perfect human specimen, and that made a big impression on me--no superpowers, but mentally and physically trained to be the best.  Brought the bad guys to justice.  Grace under pressure.  Shunned fame and reeward.  Pulp fiction can have a lasting effect on kids, and whenever I look back, the memories of that by-gone era always bring a smile to my face...

Wacky Races

* picture from geocaching.com

Talking about lovable screen villains, who could forget Dick Dastardly?  He drove the Mean Machine in the Hannah-Barbera cartoon series Wacky Races, which ran sometime in the early seventies.  He and his sidekick Mutley could never win the race because he always came up with different methods of cheating.  My lovable role model would always say, "Drat, Drat and a Double Drat!"

The Phantom

* from Wikipedia

Reading the the comic section of the newspapers when I was a child was always the treat of the day.  I grew up reading the stories of The Ghost Who Walks, the crime-fighting mystery man in purple tights--the Phantom!  I even had a garter-gun holster in the same stripes as what he had...imagine that!  Memories of childhood are fresh as the day they were made...

Hello Kitty

* picture from Wikipedia

Is she or isn't she a cat?  Anita had to explain it to me several times.  Now I get it.  Hello Kitty is a cartoon character in the form of a cat, but with the personality and traits of a girl. She walks on two legs.  She is like Goofy (a talking dog with human character walking on two legs), rather than Pluto (a barking dog walking on four legs).  I know people who are certified Hello Kitty fanatics.  Seryoso!  Yeah, now I get it.  She's a girl alright... ;-)

Wonder Woman

I'm quite excited that the studios have revealed the casting of Israeli beauty Gal Gadot as the next Wonder Woman; she is stunning in the redesigned leather costume for the upcoming movie Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).  

Looking back, who can forget Linda Carter as Wonder Woman?  She was the epitome of class.  Every one of my classmates was in love with her.  Including me.  Time sure flies very fast.  Guess what (a little bit of trivia), these two ladies were both beauty queens; Gadot was Ms. Israel in 2004, while Carter was Ms. America in 1971.  Perfect choices for the role!

Fullmetal Alchemist

Reaching the end of a manga title is always a bittersweet experience for me.  After following the Fullmetal Alchemist for a good seven, maybe eight years, I just read the final chapter of the Hiromu Arakawa manga earlier today.  I feel bitter, as I won't get to read more of the stuff, and at the same time, the sweet scent of triumph is there, and I shed some tears in cheering the two brothers on to victory.  And the best part--Edward Elric ends up with Winry Rockbell, and they have two kids (see below), while his brother Alphonse is sure to wind up with May.  It's the perfect ending for me!

It's a unique reading experience, since the first anime adaptation was made with a diverging storyline.  In it, the heroes open a portal to our Earth, and the storyline was intertwined with our own World War II.  As I understand it, the author decided to give the anime team some leeway to create a divergent plot from her own manga version (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), which was released as a separate anime story.  What an ingenious way to expand its manga universe!

Siopawman

* scan from komikero.com

I was looking for interesting comic book material to read on the internet and I came upon Siopawman strips from the Daily Express (one of the few newspapers during the Martial Law era).  The character was a parody of Superman, and it was started by the ever enduring cartoonist Larry Alcala right after the war.  I remember the humor of it all--it was the sidekick Okboy who had more brains.  To those who can remember, Alcala, who was dean at the UP College of Fine Arts, would also draw the Slice of Life page, which I think was either at the Weekender or the Philippine Panorama. This cartoon would feature snippets of Philippine daily life, and you would have to look for the caricature of the artist's face hidden somewhere in the cartoon (I would always miss it, and Michaela would be the one to point it out to me).

Ultear

I wept reading one of the recent episodes of Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima's ongoing anime saga that has captivated a lot of young readers, including myself, hahaha...  In the series, Ultear Milkovich is a very powerful witch that is shown to have crossed over to the dark side due to a series of unfortunate circumstances.  She starts to repent, and during the battle against the invading dragons, she desperately wants to save humanity.  She thus uses an ancient magic spell, known as Lost Ages of the Arc of Time, which rewinds time by the life's worth of the spell caster.  She asks that time rewind itself to the point before the dragons discover the gateway to invade, but when the spell is complete, she finds out that time has rewound itself by a mere minute.  She dies in despair, thinking that she has achieved nothing, without knowing that in that one minute, several of the good wizards see their own impending deaths, and the time rewind enables these wizards to cheat death.

Such a wonderful tale of love, irony, power, desire, shock, repentance and sacrifice!  Such a beautiful woman, destined for purpose, yet in the end, she fulfills the purpose without even relishing the true value of her own deed.  Truly heart-wrenching!  I tell you, this is just another one of the reasons why I love Manga and Anime.

Rurouni Kenshin

The movie adaptation of the popular Samurai X manga did not disappoint me.  Himura Kenshin, a peaceful wanderer, formerly the infamous government assassin, Battosai the Slasher, tries to atone for his past sins by doing good deeds to needy people.  He now uses a reverse edge blade since he has taken a vow not to kill again.  He helps a young lady kendo practitioner, Kamiya Kaoru, and goes on to stop a power-hungry businessman from distributing a fortified version of opium.  At the end of the movie, the wanderer stays on to live in the Kamiya dojo (the manga has them developing romantic feelings with each other).  Nice action scenes, true to the manga plot, with plenty of mean (and funky) antagonists.  I'm really a sucker for all that samurai and ninja jazz!

The Herculoids

I don't know if any of you remember the Herculoids, from Hanna-Barbera Productions.  This stone-age family fought hi-tech invaders with super strong monster bodyguards, namely a laser-breathing dragon, a super strong ape, a rock-shooting rhino, and two protoplasmic kiddie playmates!  I had fun watching them when I was a kid, and I couldn't help but have a laugh when I came across the picture on the right.  They don't make cartoons like they used to--simple plots and childish fun!  

Fairy Tail

I am a true fan!  Fairy Tail, the manga created by Hiro Mashima, tells the story of the Fairy Tail mage guild, and the adventures of their four mainstay wizards, Natsu, Lucy, Erza and Gray, along with the rest of the guild members.  The series was started in 2006, and now has anime adaptations, aside from the weekly manga appearing in Shonen magazine.  The anime story line centers around the powers of bonds formed by friendship, of loyalty to one's comrades, and of the desire to protect loved ones.  In watching the series and in reading the manga, I have often shed a tear or two, touched by the courage and determination of the characters.

My favorite character?  None other than Erza, the S-Class wizard who can call on various forms of swords and armor.  She is lovely, especially when she is almost down and out, yet continues to fight through sheer force of will!