"What are you watching, Mommy?"

The last episode of Bleach.  Never thought I'd see the end of this anime, for realz.  I started watching it via Netflix in 2008 or so.  I never even considered introducing it to DJ because it's really for older teens, and as far as I know he didn't seem interested, anyway, but the night before last I was watching the very last episode, was halfway through and DJ walks in and says, "what's that?"  I explained and he decided to watch the last episode.  I said, "are you sure you want to start with the last episode?  Don't you want to see the earlier stuff first?"  But he was all whatever so, whatever.  He hasn't been clamoring to watch any more of it, probably testament to how boring the final season was.  Oh well, it's something he'll probably get into in a few years.

The show we've been watching avidly, though, and this is one of those Bad Parenting Anime Moments, is Gintama, based on the manga by Hideaki Sorachi.  It's a gag manga, and the anime follows the manga pretty faithfully.  I like how it takes place in an alternative Edo (the continual return to Edo in Japanese media has been an interest of mine), where aliens come to earth and take a liking to Japan and so they settle there.  The samurai fight back but are overpowered by the alien technology, and now samurai have been discredited and restricted from having real swords.  So Gintama, a former freedom fighter against the aliens, is an odd jobs samurai who is helped by an alien girl named Kagura and a student samurai, Shinpachi.  DJ is still wrapping his head around the aliens in Japan and the fact that Kagura is an alien yet Gintama is okay with her, but he loves the overall story.

The show's for older teens and adults, kind of like Bleach, and there is actually more adult situational stuff than I'm comfortable with.  But I can't help it, it is a funny show and even though some of the humor is geared towards 10 year-old minds, it's not something 10 year-olds should probably watch.  Maybe I'm being too much of a prude, but that's kind of a moot point, anyway.

X-Men Anime: But is Wolverine hot?

The answer is, "no." Wolverine is not hot in this Madhouse retread of the X-Men franchise. Cyclops is the tragic hottie in this one, unfortunately - unfortunate because he is the most boring of the X-Men and so goes the anime itself.

Putting aside character design, the series is just "meh" so far - this is the original reason why I started concentrating on Japanese manga and anime; I had to make a break with the US-style superhero graphic novels. Now, for some reason, my western heritage is following me by having these tired superhero memes recreated ad nauseum by Japanese production houses. They apparently all take place in Japan - I started watching the Wolverine one that came out a short time ago, and quit after the second ep - yawn. At least Wolverine was hot in that version. But, even the Japanese cannot make tired old Marvel properties breathe with youthful life. I'll give X-Men another episode to make me reel and keep me hooked, but I'm not expecting much.

Got the picture of not-so-hot Wolverine from Furious Fanboys

Update 4/12/11:  Watched ep 2 last night and liked the crazy robots and the horribly mutilated young mutant was gross but interesting; my interest level has gone up a little, but I'm also starting to find the classic superhero hyperdrama a little annoying, as well.