Hey guys n’ gals! We’re back with another post filled with some quick updates about what we’ll be doing, and what new projects we have in the works. One project that we’ve been teasing for quite awhile is an upcoming six-track EP entitled Minddgames produced by D&A’s own Donte’ J. Lewis under the name Avidd Minddset. So far the music genres on the album include the 100 BPM booty-shaking genre known as ‘Twerk’ (which is at 106 BPM on the album), with Trap, Techno, and other electronic music elements (and Chiptune). There is also a collaboration single that he’s working on with rapper/singer KING SHABAZZ called “Checkmate”, which will be dropping in digital streaming sites and online stores near you – real soon!
“Checkmate” [Single] Album CoverAlso if you haven’t heard, we now have an official Discord channel called Anime Snap, which we manage, but we’re also looking for others who would like to volunteer to assist us in running it. If you’re interested let us know in our Contact Us page, or you call tell us in the comments below. This year aside from the conventions that we’ve listed already, there may be two more that we might be going to (if the price is right). One of them is a two-day convention called Otakufest in Miami, Florida happening 4th of July weekend, the other is a one-day college/university-style convention held by the university’s anime club in Baltimore, Maryland (UMBC) known as Retrievercon. Both of these cons are ‘maybes’ in our book, but you never know. If there are any cons that you want us to make a near-future appearance at, let us know in the comments below.
That’s all of the updates we’ve got for now, but there will be more to come down the road. Until next post guys n’ gals, stay nerdy! 😉
Remember the days when the popularity of anime was in its infancy? Back in the 80’s and 90’s there were only a handful of us who jumped on the Japanimation bandwagon, and rode that sucker all the way to the modern times we’re living in today. Long before FUNimation became the leading distributor of all things anime, there were other dubbing companies like BangZoom! and ADV Films in the mix. Speaking of which, we want to give a BIG shout out to Steven Foster, ADV Films, and all of the voice actors involved in this hilarious project that we’re about to talk about. Although there are a lot of abridged anime series titles out there, we can’t forget who the real OG is; ADV Films.
The Ghost Stories cast!
Originally, the plot of the story follows the tale of Satsuki Miyanoshita who moves with her family to her deceased mother’s hometown. During the first day of school she and her brother, Keiichirou, meet with Hajime, Momoko, and Leo, and together they find themselves visiting the abandoned school building across from the main school itself. It’s soon discovered that Satsuki’s mother sealed away a lot of the ghosts that haunt the school building, but due to city’s urbanization, the seals that keep the ghosts sealed have broken, and not those ghosts are out terrorizing the streets of town. Her mother also left behind a book on how to exorcise each spirit, and with the help of her brother and friends, Satsuki sets off to cleanse the town (and the school) of ghosts.
Ok, so that was the original direction this anime title was supposed to go in, but after the commercial failing of the Japanese airing, ADV was given a set of rules as to how this title was to be dubbed. There were three things that ADV had to follow before the procedures for the dub could even take place:
Don’t change the names of any character – including the ghosts.
Don’t change the way any ghost is killed.
Don’t change the meaning of the episode.
Do whatever else you want to make the show successful.
In other words; as long as you follow the first three rules of how we want the dub to be made, we don’t give a damn about how the script is written, or even what is said in the show. We’re pretty sure ADV, Steven Foster, and the rest of the dub cast took the ball and ran with it; as (just like Monica Rial said) this show became the “Equal Opportunity Offender”. Black, White, Gay, Straight, doesn’t matter, this show pokes fun at every race, and everybody (including movies and politics). You probably can’t say any of the stuff that’s said in the series as of now in this day and age without getting ‘cancelled’ by ‘culture’, but as far as this dub goes, it has gained a cult following over the years and has been recognized as one of the precious gems of anime comedy. If you ever get the chance you gotta check out the dub, we absolutely assure you, you will laugh your %@! off! XP
Hey guys, this is D.J. Lewis here representing one-half of D&A Anime Blog! It’s been awhile since I’ve done this little personal segment of mine, and although A. Goldman and I talk about anime, manga, classic gaming reviews and more on our blog, we want to give you guys (the fans) a behind-the-scenes look and what we do outside of the blog.
For instance, this year I plan on taking the next step in my journey to becoming a DJ/Producer. So far I’ve already got my brand name, as well as my first upcoming collaborative music project with musical artist KING SHABAZZ. I actually met him back at Anime USA 2018 and I gotta say, he’s a really cool dude. If you haven’t heard his music you can check him out right here.
Aside from that a lot has changed for me over the last decade or so; like say me turning 30 last November, as well as going through two different job changes and trying to save up to hopefully move out in Summer or Fall 2021. It’s also really awesome that after four years of running the blog with my best friend and partner of 17 years, that things are really starting to go in our favor. Honestly, I never would have even thought about having social media accounts had it not been for the blog, because ten years ago, I sort of didn’t like Facebook or Twitter. I know it doesn’t seem like it but it’s true.
I feel like somewhere in the near future I’m going to write my own book about my life experiences with being on the Autism Spectrum, my passion for music production and anime, and life goals in general. Ten years ago I thought I had it all figured out; I’d graduate college with my Associates Degree, get a job in Information Technology, Post Production or even Tech Support. Sadly it didn’t happen that way, however after going through a handful of retail jobs (each more depressing than the last), it wasn’t until 2018 that I finally figured out what I wanted to do – personally; aside from running this awesome blog with my friend.
For a lot of people this year, 2020 is the starting year for a brand new decade of finding yourself, reinventing yourself, re-imagining possibilities, and leaving old baggage behind. This decade I want to travel more; not just to more cons although that’s part of it, but to experience new things and try new stuff that I’ve never gotten the chance to try before. (Like going to LA for the first time.) Hopefully before this decade is over I’ll find love in my life, and I know she’ll be awesome whoever she may be. As far as where I want to go with DJing (once I get my hands on a controller), I’m just gonna go with the flow – wherever the flow takes me.
That’s my thoughts as a founding member of D&A Anime Blog for now, until next time my friends, stay nerdy! 😉
When it comes to anime, everyone has favorites. Their favorite main character, favorite side character, best boy, best girl, and so on. All that’s all good and well, but let’s not forget; we also have some of our favorite anime villains as well. Many of them possess traits and personalities that make us either love or hate them; from trying to fulfill a personal goal, to just getting rid of a thorn in their side – which is usually the main character. Some are a one-man band that work alone, but the five selections that we’ve got all travel in a group. (Strength in numbers, right?) Here are our Top 5 Anime Villain Groups/Factions.
Number 5: The Ginyu Force (Dragon Ball Z)
Ginyu Force Rules!!
Yep, we had to do it. Coming in at number 5 on our Top 5 is the one and only Ginyu Force. Next to Zarbon and Didoria, Frieza’s trump card of lackeys is the five-member group of mercenaries known as the Ginyu Force. Captain Ginyu (power level-wise) is the strongest member on the team as well as the team leader. Do we consider these guys villains? Eh, maybe – but not seriously. Nevertheless these five men are great as a team, but they won’t last five seconds against Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku OR Blue Evolution Vegeta.
Number 4: The Seven Stars (Shikabane Hime: Corpse Princess)
The Seven Stars…
This anime title’s kind of underrated (in our opinion), but this group of anime villains from the series Shikabane Hime, is lead by the Traitor Monk. These guys are the reason as to why Makina became what she is; a Shikabane Hime. Although it’s been awhile since we’ve seen the series (roughly 10 years), we can say that these guys are bad news to any and everyone that stands in their way.
Number 3: The League of Villains (My Hero Academia)
Even anime superhero squads have supervillain syndicates!
You can’t have a superhero anime like My Hero Academia without a group – no, a league of supervillains trying to slow them down (or even kill them). Deku and the rest of the Hero Society has had their hands full with the Villain Alliance during the first couple seasons of My Hero, and we’re pretty sure they’re not done yet! If the fights weren’t indication enough as to how powerful these villains can be, then just watching the series!
Number 2: The Ten Commandments (The Seven Deadly Sins)
You can watch these two go at it on Netflix!
We all know about the ones from the Bible, but these Ten Commandments are on a whole different level. This group of villains was hand picked by the Demon Lord himself, as each member possesses a commandment that they can impose on anyone (even the Seven Deadly Sins) at any time, as their commandment is immune to the other’s commandment. Needless to say, these guys are badass! (But not as badass as our #1!)
Number 1: The Akatsuki (Naruto Shippuden)
Why are they #1? Isn’t it obvious?
And of course these guys were going to be the #1 spot. Every single anime convention you go to, you are going to run into one, or all of the members of the Akatsuki! Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, Kakuzu, Pain, Tobi, you name it – you’ve probably seen it! They’re not just number one on our list, their main goal is a simple one; get money to fund their organization, extend their services to people who will pay top dollar to use them, and take over the freakin’ world! Not to mention they’re powerful as hell. If these guys drop a dope rap album, we’ll be the first to pick it up! 😉
Honorable Mentions
The Squirtle Squad, bay bay!
And who can forget these five guys? Any Pokemon fan who has seen the episode knows who the Squirtle Squad is! They’re five Squirtle who have been abandoned by their trainers, so they joined together and formed their own squad. #SquirtleSquadGoals! 😉
There are tons of other villain groups out there that are super powerful, super intelligent, and super badass! I wish we could fit them all on this post, but if you guys have your particular favorites, just list them in the comments below. That will do it for our Top 5 post, and until our next one, stay nerdy my friends! 🙂
In 1989 a series…no, a franchise came about that would become one of the most ground-breaking anime titles to ever be created or produced. This legendary franchise has been a part of our lives since the 90’s, and now future generations are getting the chance to experience the action, the adventure, and the epic awesomeness that is Dragon Ball Z. Old school fans have watched Son Goku grow up and take on the Red Ribbon Army in Dragon Ball, go Super Saiyan on Frieza in Dragon Ball Z, put Baby in a corner in Dragon Ball GT (see what I did there?) and fight against the gods in Dragon Ball Super.
Who knows what the next saga for Goku and the gang will entail, but right now, fans get the chance to relive the early days of Goku’s battles in the newest game (that’s out in stores now); Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot!
After careful examination, sources confirm that the game’s sagas will only go from the Saiyan Arc to the Majin Buu Arc. (Sorry Super fans T.T) Nevertheless there’s quite enough content, action, and gameplay to go around. Right off the bat a lot of fans are saying that the game as a whole is a giant mashup of the Legacy of Goku series from Game Boy Advance – which from our personal experiences in playing the games ourselves is not too far off. (Being that this game is an open world Action RPG with real-time combat that’s not turn-based, we can see why fans may be making these comparisons.) For those stepping into the world of Dragon Ball for the first time, and you find yourselves wanting to get your hands on this game, we believe you’re in for quite a treat – although the final decision about how you feel and experience the game is up to you.
Despite the fact that there aren’t any Super characters that you fight against or play as (as far as we know), the game does offer some pretty sweet ‘things’ that might make your overall experience awesome either epic and awesome, or leave a lot to be desired. No matter how you slice it, if you’ve been a Dragon Ball fan since day one (or you’re just starting on the path to becoming one), and you own a PS4, X-Box One, or even a PC, then you must absolutely pick up a copy of this game! (And we probably will too, hopefully!)
Sorry this post was a little late, but as always we’ve got more content coming your way. So from us to you, stay nerdy my friends! 😉
After reviewing our poll numbers for what name we should call our Discord channel, the fans have voted on the name Anime Snap as our official Discord channel name. On there you can talk anime, manga, cosplay, conventions, or anything (as long as it’s PG). If you want to help us run it or if you wanna join the party, click on the link on our homepage. By the way, we’ve changed around our posting “A-B” schedule; with our Week-A being Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, and our Week-B being Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. As always until next post, stay nerdy! 😉
The first two weeks of the new year is already in the books, and although we’re not even close to the middle of the Winter season, anime convention season is well underway! With that comes the grand launch of many different anime cons both big and small, so from us to you, we’ve got some awesome cons for you to check out – as well as help you kick off your 2020 nerd season. Just click on the links below! 😉
Hey guys! We’ve now just returned from our first anime convention of 2020; right in our own backyard. This is Animore’s 5th year this year, so from the bottom of our hearts we want to congratulate them on their 5-year anniversary! Speaking of which this weekend was our 4-year anniversary, so it’s hard to believe that this whole journey started out during the grand snow storm of 2016. From that point on we’ve transformed from a cosplay photo website to what you see and read before you today. With all that out of the way, here’s our 2020 recap of this year’s Animore anime convention!
Sadly this year we didn’t get a whole lot of cosplay pictures as we’d like, but nevertheless we had an awesome time! We returned as guests once again, and the attendance numbers this year were a little bit higher than last year’s – which is awesome because we’ve made some new friends. Other than us as guests there were some awesome cosplay presenters and voice actors; including returning voice actress Felecia Angelle, who you might have heard in titles like Danganronpa, High School DxD, Dr. Stone, and so much more! We’ve also had a few card and video game tournaments as well; including Smash Bros. Ultimate, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Mario Kart.
Since it’s the 100th anniversary of the Roaring 20’s, we also had a “Great Gatsby” style formal dance with Electro Swing music, followed by the non-rave dance with DJ favorites Powerline, GrooveCube, and Confetti The First. This year also marks the last year that Animore will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore, and in 2021 it will make its move to the Baltimore Renaissance right across the street from the Hyatt. So as an overall grade, we give our backyard anime convention an 8 / 10 (only because our other favorite voice actor Anthony Bowling couldn’t make it T.T), and of course for our 5th anniversary in January 2021, we will be returning to our home base con in full nerdy glory! 🙂
That will do it for our recap, so until next post, stay nerdy my friends! 😉
Sorry this one got delayed, but here we are with another anime review for Isekai Week from the crossover series Isekai Quartet! About a decade ago we were wondering if we were ever going to get an anime crossover series (and not the one with DBZ and One Piece or that other one that you guys might remember), and in 2019, the anime gods have blessed us with this four-way (soon to be five) school-life series simply known as Isekai Quartet. All of the dub VA’s from the original shows reprise their roles in this awesome project; which includes Re:Zero – Starting Life In Another World, Overlord, Saga Of Tanya, and Konosuba. As of right now there’s a second season in the works coming out this year, and it features newcomers from Shield Hero! (Hopefully Cautious Hero and Slime get added in the third season. Fingers crossed!)
These three would never be in the same show…until now!
We stumbled upon this series just two months ago today, so if you haven’t gotten the chance to see just what this show is all about, we’ll give you a brief rundown:
Everything was peaceful (or something to that effect) in the worlds or lands of Re:Zero, Konosuba, Overlord, and finally Saga Of Tanya, until a magical button appears and all of the main characters press said button. They soon are transported to a parallel world where the magic of school life begins. That’s pretty much it!
Basically the whole first season takes all of those “what-if” moments that most of us have written fan fiction stories about, and packed them into a 12-episode isekai comedy about school life – with characters that you would never even imagine seen interacting with one another. Out of the four main series’ Tanya is the most serious and is a natural leader with an iron fist, but now out of her element in this new type of life she’s not accustomed to, she gels quite well with a couple of the Overlord cast; especially with Ainz Ooal Gown and Demiurge. There are all types of funny moments that happen in the series – some of which include Aqua, but not in the way that you’d think.
Overall as a whole, this series is a mix of school life, isekai (of course), and comedy. I’m looking forward to what season two will have in store; considering the main cast of Rising of the Shield Hero will be making their debut. Sorry this review couldn’t be a little bit longer, but the plot of the show is more along the lines of entertainment than it is complexity. That being said, you can now check this show out on Crunchyroll or FunimationNow.
That will do it for this post and review, and until next post, stay nerdy! 😉
Here we are in a brand new year as well as a brand new decade! For 2020 we’ve decided to do a few things differently in terms of posting content, so for this week (as we mentioned in our last post) we’re doing the ‘A-B’ method; with Week A being Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and Week B being Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This week is Isekai Week and we’re kicking it off with an overview and impression review on the anime series Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious!
They’re both at LVL. 1, but ‘his’ stats aren’t! XP
The Overview:
Check it! So the story revolves around Ristarte, a goddess who has been placed in charge of saving the world of Gaeabrande from a Demon Lord. To do this she has to summon a human hero, but not just any hero – one that will become strong enough to take on the Demon Lord, as well as survive the S-Class world of Gaeabrande. Ristarte (or Rista) finds the hero that she’s looking for; a man by the name of Seiya Ryuguin. Everything appears to be going well, but there’s just one small detail that Rista discovered about Seiya – he’s way too cautious about everything (especially her) to a somewhat unorthodox degree. Although this drives the goddess crazy, once Seiya reaches a level that he’s comfortable with and sets foot on the grounds of Gaeabrande, Rista sees that his methods and reasoning for being so cautious are well justified.
First Impression & (Brief) Review:
So we’ve gotten the chance to watch several episodes of this series, and as far as first impressions go, it’s a pretty entertaining series. Sometimes as I watch an episode or two, and Rista has one of her funny moments with Seiya, it slightly reminds me of the relationship that Aqua has with Kazuma in Konosuba. The Action RPG (or MMORPG) elements that are thrown into the mix with this series does add the feeling of you playing a video game. (Danmachi kind of has the same flow in terms of these elements as well.) With Seiya’s over cautious persona and Rista’s well…aloof yet inner infatuation with him, the two of them are a rather interesting and entertaining duo to watch. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up in the third season of Isekai Quartet (trust me, it’s gonna happen), but as far as this series goes, it’s one to definitely check out.
Well guys, that will do it for the first anime overview/review for 2020, and as always until next post, stay nerdy my friends! 😉
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