Cartoon Sunday: Goth Chicks In Animation

Yuuko Ichihara (xxxHolic)

How's it going my gumdrops? Did you enjoy yesterday's Song Saturday blog about The Cure and the Goth Sub-culture in general?

Yesterday, you may recall, that I explained about Goths and the sub-culture on here and on Anime League. For today's Cartoon Sunday, let's revisit the topic of being Goth.

Allow me to acknowledge some Goth female characters in animation. There appears to be more Goth female characters in animation than we have realized. So, with that being said, it's only fair to acknowledge a few of them.

In the illustration above, we have Yuuko Ichihara. The characters in the Seinen Supernatural Horror Comedy Anime, xxxHolic have freaky illustrations.

The characters normally have long, spaghetti legs like Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Like I explained last year, Yuuko Ichihara is a powerful witch, who owns a shop and grants people their wishes. I believe Yuuko is more like a cunning and opportunistic genie.

Most of her jobs consist of dealing with supernatural beings. In case you haven't already, I suggest clicking on the link above Yuuko's picture.

Next, we have Creepy Susie.

Creepy Susie (The Oblongs)

Some of you may remember Angus Oblong's shortly lived cartoon, The Oblongs from The WB. Creepy Susie is supposedly a 10-year-old character from the series.

Most people don't know that The Oblongs was based on Creepy Susie And 13 Other Tragic Tales For Troubled Children. This was a 1999 collection of illustrated short stories written by Angus Oblong.

This young, creepy, Goth Valley Girl is obsessed with death, was born on Halloween, and can tell an animal's gender by the taste of its blood.

Otherwise, there is Germaine Endez.

Germaine Endez (Neurotically Yours)

If you have been subscribed to It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns for the last 3 1/2 years, you KNOW how much I enjoy watching Goth webisodes featuring the slutty Goth-Punk protagonist, Germaine and her pet, squirrel Foamy. 

Who doesn't love Foamy?! That pet squirrel speaks THE TRUTH!

As for Germaine, she has been restyled a plethora of times throughout the decade. This character has been illustrated as fat, skinny, busty, flat-chested, constantly changes hair styles, etc.

The protagonist is a struggling poet/author desperately seeking to be published and works unstable jobs. At the same time, she has an identity crisis and Foamy The Squirrel helps to keep her grounded.

Meanwhile, here are some other Goth female characters, which have been shown in other Anime besides xxxHolic. There is my long-time favorite, Sunako Nakahara.

Sunako Nakahara (The Wallflower)

Despite the fact this homely recluse fears "beautiful people" (mostly attracive men), I love Sunako Nakahara. Sunako is a creepy Goth protagonist that resonates with me on MANY levels. She loves sitting in her bedroom and watching Horror movies ALONE. Sunako's also self-sufficient around the house.

 

I wanted to at least share a gif of The "Goth-Loli Sisters" from The Wallflower, but had no such luck. However, The Goth-Loli Sisters from this Shojo Horror Comedy are NOT  the only Gothic Lolita Anime characters in existence.

In substitution of The Goth-Loli Sisters from The Wallflower, there is Hildegarde from the Shonen Supernatural Action Comedy Anime, Beelzebub.

Hildegarde a.k.a. "Hilda" (Beelzebub)

Hildegarde is the main female protagonist in Beelzebub. She is a Demon Maid, who acts as the "adoptive" mother and nurse of Beelzebub IV. "Baby Beel" is the son of Beelzebub III and Iris and was sent to the Human World.

It has been a few years, since I last streamed this series. Too bad there wasn't another season of Beelzebub. Maybe someday it will get a decent English dub.

Last, but SURELY not the least of an acknowledgement is Saki Hanajima.

Saki Hanajima (Fruits Basket)

 

I have always loved this Fruits Basket character. I can't decide which character is creepier, Saki or her younger brother, Megumi. Both characters have psychic abilities.

When Saki Hanajima is not wearing her high school uniform, she normally wears a black cloak or a veil with her black dresses. I will NEVER forget that scene of her gothing up The Sohmas urinal for New Year's Eve.

Staring at the appalled expression on Shigure Sohma's face was hilarious. Anyway, if you would like to learn more about Goth chicks in animation, check out WatchMojo's choices for Top 10 Animated Goth Girls below.

WatchMojo's Top 10 Animated Goth Girls (2016)

Cartoon Sunday: Murder Princess OVA 1 Birth

How's it going my gumdrops? I don't know about everyone else, but Anna is exhausted from the nonstop blogging since last week. I am especially exhausted from hunting all around the Internet for this particular Seinen Action Anime.

While posting on Adult Swim last week, an Adult Swim Helper posted a thread asking us posters about OVA's that could marathon on Adult Swim, during the holidays. Most of us are bored with the network marathoning current shows each holiday.

I completely understand, that Toonami wants viewers to catch up on missed episodes of certain titles. However, every viewer doesn't necessarily like a certain show, that is being marathoned as a recap for viewers. This is mostly a stall tactic for Adult Swim.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood will be premiering sometime next month. Since I only watched episode 1 in English Dub, I am waiting for this show to actually premiere on Adult Swim. 

While others will go into cardiac arrest over Samurai Jack getting a 5th season 12 years later, I am waiting for better shows to replace what is currently on the Toonami block.

Like I said earlier, a Swim Helper wanted us to give OVA suggestions to premiere, during the holiday seasons rather than marathoning more recaps. I suggested Murder Princess. This 6-episode OVA would be decent to air, during Halloween.

Chances are highly unlikely, that Murder Princess will air next month for Halloween. Although, Adult Swim could try acquiring the rights to this OVA for next year. 

Having action and monsters in this 6-episode OVA makes it perfect, since Toonami is now an Action block on Adult Swim.

Considering that I am rooting for this OVA, you may want to know, "What is Murder Princess about?"

Murder Princess English Dub Trailer (2009)

 

Murder Princess is a Seinen Action Fantasy OVA about a bounty hunter (Falis) and a princess (Alita) accidentally transferring bodies, while fleeing the land of Foreland. 

 

The scientist Dr. Akamashi stages a coup d'état in the Foreland Kingdom, which kills Princess Alita's father in the process.

After the king is killed, she flees to find her brother Kaito. While doing so, Princess Alita accidentally knocks Falis off a cliff. The forest guardian beast by the name of Jitterbug killed Alita's entourage of castle guards.

Because Princess Alita and Falis had near death experiences, while they were fleeing the Foreland Kingdom, both had automatically experienced a soul transfer. Once Falis regains consciousness, she realizes that she is in Princess Alita's body, then panics.

This should be summary enough for you. Murder Princess may ONLY be a 6-episode OVA, but it is action-packed. Like I said earlier, I did some major hunting for this OVA. Trying to find the English Dub of Murder Princess was extremely difficult.

From the looks of it, Funimation Entertainment had the dub yanked from YouTube. All the while, the company had no problem uploading episodes in English Subtitles. Leave it up to Funimation to monopolize every Anime in the Anime Industry.

Murder Princess was originally licensed by ADV Films but Funimation Entertainment acquired the rights to this OVA in 2008. 

I believe it was around that time, when ADV Films went out of business. Anyway, here is Murder Princess in Japanese for today's Cartoon Sunday.

Murder Princess OVA 1: "Birth" [English Subtitles] (2007)

Cartoon Sunday: Tokko

How's it going my gumdrops? So, yesterday I mentioned that I spent last week updating previously published blogs from the last 2-3 years. This includes my Horror Anime Reviews from 2014.

In that blog review, I reviewed a variety of Horror Anime ranging from Psychological Supernatural Horror Mystery Drama, Horror-Action, to SciFi Horror. Those 3 types of Horror Anime sub-genres are mostly meant for Shonen (boys), Seinen (men), and Shojo (girls) demographics.

After publishing my Horror Anime Reviews, I gradually published more blogs about those Horror Anime individually. 

However, I NEVER published an individual blog about the Seinen SciFi Horror Action Anime, Tokko. Today you are in luck.

If you never had the opportunity to watch Tokko, before The SciFi Channel rebranded and was renamed "Syfy" and never saw Tokko on its sister network Chiller TV, today's Cartoon Sunday blog will be beneficial. I have spent a lot of time hunting for decent quality videos for this particular Horror Anime but had very little luck.

YouTube is our last resort. Hulu, Crackle, and OTHER online streaming sites, which have Anime in general did NOT  have Tokko on their lists. This surprised me, especially since Tokko had aired on TV a few times.

In case you don't want to scroll down the review I published 2 years ago, I will share the plot of this Seinen SciFi Horror Action Anime once again. In this particular series, it has more Police Procedural and Supernatural themes to it. 

In Tokko, Ranmaru Shindou graduates from the police academy and is assigned to Tokki. 

Tokki is a Special Mobile Investigation Force.

On the same day of Ranmaru's graduation, he meets a half-naked girl, who he constantly sees in his dreams, named Sakura Rokujo. Sakura happens to work for Tokko.

Tokko is the Special Public Safety Task Force, which is secretly within Tokki.

Eventually, Ranmaru joins Tokko mostly to avenge the death of his parents, and to solve the mass murder mysteries for Machida, Japan's residents. 

Because Tokko is a short series, it has a faster paced storyline. It only has 13 episodes, which makes it 1/2 season. The finale felt more like a cliffhanger.

Originally, I streamed Tokko in Japanese 10 years ago. Then, ~ 1 year later, it was announced that The SciFi Channel was airing Tokko on its Ani-Monday block. 

Several years later, Tokko premiered on Chiller TV's Ani-Monday block. I really miss watching Ani-Monday and Anime Wednesday on Syfy and Chiller TV. 

Both networks kept me watching their selections of Anime, which cannot always be said about Adult Swim's Toonami block.

Now that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood will be premiering on Adult Swim next month, this will give me another Anime to regularly watch. 

You gain some, you lose some. Anyway, here is Tokko for today's Cartoon Sunday.

Tokko Episode 1: "The Awakening" [English Dub] (2006)

Cartoon Sunday: xxxHolic

How's it going my gumdrops? I watched the premiere of the Shonen Jump Action Anime, Hunter X Hunter, this morning. 

Much like I expected, this series is overrated. I have been reading and hearing about Hunter X Hunter for years on YouTube, social media, and Adult Swim's forum.

I am still REELING over the fact, that Adult Swim replaced Parasyte -The Maxim- with a very prepubescent series.

This is all the more reason why Cartoon Network should've kept Toonami on their OWN network rather than on Adult Swim.

When Adult Swim acquired the Toonami block, it was originally suppose to premiere more mature animation, which would appeal to the ADULT  viewers as opposed to Incels. 

After watching this 2011 remake of Hunter X Hunter, it felt like I was watching Naruto meets One Piece. 

Even though I enjoyed watching the original Naruto years ago on Cartoon Network, I was never a One Piece fan. 

Regardless, Hunter X Hunter does NOT  belong on Adult Swim. It belongs on Cartoon Network. The same thing applies for Samurai Jack.

With the direction Adult Swim is going with their version of Toonami this year, I think I will only watch Naruto Shippuden as a recap, in English. At least Naruto Shippuden has more mature content than Hunter X Hunter.

Adult Swim could've replaced Parasyte with Tokyo Ghoul, but that would've been too logical for Jason DeMarco and the idiots at Adult Swim. Then again, I have to remind myself that the network only acquired the Toonami block to pander to their crybaby fans, who remain stuck on their childhood nostalgia.

Aside from Adult Swim's Toonami, I just started watching xxxHolic last night. This Seinen Supernatural Horror Comedy Anime released, 10 years ago. 

I meant to stream xxxHolic much sooner, but I was always sidetracked with something else. Either I was streaming another series, or there was something else I needed to do.

Here it is a decade later and I am just NOW streaming this series. So far, I have only watched episode 1 and I like xxxHolic. Whenever I saw the billboard advertisements on Anime websites years ago, it automatically made me think about Hell Girl. 

xxxHolic's Yuuko Ichihara somewhat resembles an adult version of Ai Enma from the Hell Girl franchise.

Yuuko Ichihara is a powerful witch, who owns a shop and grants people their wishes. In my opinion, Yuuko seems more like an evil and opportunistic genie. Most of her jobs consist of dealing with supernatural beings.

Meanwhile, the protagonist Kimihiro Watanuki is a teenage boy, who suffers from the ability to see supernatural spirits and monsters. They are better known as "yokai" in Japanese folklore. 

The yokai are only visible to Kimihiro and he looks like a weirdo making a fool out of himself in public.

Eventually, the protagonist literally stumbles upon Yuuko Ichihara's shop and she grants Kimihiro's wish. 

Of course, granting his wish to NOT see anymore yokai has a catch to it. Because Kimihiro has no money to pay for granting his wish, Yuuko makes Kimihiro her part-time chef and housekeeper. In addition, she sends him on supernatural errands.

So far, I like watching xxxHolic. I can't believe it took me literally a decade to finally stream this Anime. 

My goal is to try binge watching xxxHolic as much as possible. With that being said, you have the ability to stream this Seinen Supernatural Horror Comedy Anime in English or Japanese on Hulu. 

You have 2 optional links below. Anyway, here is xxxHolic for today's Cartoon Sunday.

xxxHolic Season 1: Episode 1 (2006) [Japanese]

xxxHolic Season 1: Episode 1 (2006) [English]

Cartoon Sunday: Another (Horror Mystery Anime)

How's it going my gumdrops? Last week, I checked Adult Swim's schedule. The network is re-airing Deadman Wonderland of all the Horror Anime in existence. At the moment, I'm not watching anything on Adult Swim's Saturday night programming.

As usual, most of their shows are tired, if not shitty acquisitions, that I don't want to watch.

Speaking of Horror, I have more Horror today. Last year, I gave my Horror Anime Review and Another was on the list.

Another Anime In A Nutshell:

In case you missed my review, here is a summary of Another. Once again, Another is a Seinen Horror-Mystery Anime based on the Japanese novel, Another.

It begins with an explanation about Koichi Sasakibara. He is a 15-year-old junior high student. His mother died shortly after he was born and his father is a business man.

Koichi's father traveled abroad to India for a year. This leads to Koichi being sent to live with his aunt and grandparents in Yomiyama, Japan.

Yomiyama is a small Japanese town where his dead mother grew up. In the process of him moving to Yomiyama, he acquires pneumothorax (basically a collapsed lung).

Koichi's pneumothorax delays him from transferring to his new school and causes him to be hospitalized. Suddenly, he meets this strange girl with an eye patch named, Mei Misaki.

After meeting Mei, Koichi's curious yet strange "classroom representatives" from his new school visit him in the hospital. This is shortly before his 1st day of school.

Koichi's classmates want to learn more about his background. Once Koichi is finally released from the hospital, he starts getting suspicious vibes from his classmates.

Mei is sometimes visible in his classroom. Everyone except Koichi pretends, that she does NOT exist. Their classroom at Yomiyama North Middle School has been cursed, since 1972.

They must follow certain rules around the campus, in order to avoid dying brutal deaths. Those same rules backfire on everybody both inside and outside Koichi's classroom.

Another has some brutal death tolls. Some Anime critics claim, that Another is similar to the movie, Final Destination. I've never watched Final Destination. Therefore, I can't support their claims.

If you like creepy dolls, curses, ghosts, death tolls, and Horror-Mystery, you should give Another a watch. It not only has a novel and an Anime, but also a live-action J-Horror Movie and Manga. Anyway, here is Another for Cartoon Sunday.

Another Season 1: Episode 1 "Rough Sketch" [English Sub] (2012)

What's That? Jason DeMarco ONLY Bought 8/10 Hellsing Ultimate OVA's 0_0

How's it going lurkers? Did you have a chance to watch Toonami's promo for the finale?

Hellsing Ultimate OVA's 9 & 10 Finale Promo (2014)

Last night, I re-watched both Hellsing Ultimate OVA's 9 and 10 on Adult Swim's Toonami block. Before the network premiered both Hellsing Ultimate OVA's, I was able to YouTube them last week.

You may be wondering, "Why did you watch OVA's 9 and 10 again, when you already saw them?" 

Normally, I stream Anime online in Japanese and I re-watch them in English Dub on TV as a refresher. I noticed that Adult Swim removed Alucard's childhood rape scene.

Last week when I watched the 9th OVA, the rape scene was very subtle compared to the corpse rape that Seras Victoria's mother endured. 

Her mother's corpse rape scene was grislier and more graphic than Alucard's childhood rape. Adult Swim removing that scene really did not surprise me. 

Considering that Adult Swim is a bundled network on Cartoon Network, the Hellsing/Hellsing Ultimate franchise was bound to be censored.

This especially applies for rape scenes, since this franchise no longer premieres on a premium channel like STARZ. That being said, I won't waste time ranting about Adult Swim's Toonami censoring Hellsing Ultimate. 

I'm still reeling over the fact that the "Toonami" Team did NOT  buy ALL 10 OVA's for Hellsing Ultimate from the start!

What purpose did it serve for Jason DeMarco and his brainwashed sycophants to only buy 8/10 OVA's before premiering the whole series?

DeMarco and his sycophantic Toonami crew always look like clowns with their highly syndicated acquisitions and their so-called "Toonami" block. At least Adult Swim is premiering the Hellsing Ultimate finale.

Will all 3 prequels of Hellsing: The Dawn premiere, sooner or later? 

That's a burning question fellow Hellsing/Hellsing Ultimate fans would like to know.