TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 20

In this episode, Joe and the Jadow trio wake up on a mysterious train full of toys, run by an enigmatic kitty conductor.  It's an episode that focuses squarely on Joe and the Jadow trio with all of their allies excluded from the plot.  This one is a favorite among fans for its underlying theme of childhood innocence and feelgood nature of the whole thing in a time where so much anime is blood and violence like Bleach, Chainsaw Man and Demon Slayer.

There's a lot to like about this episode and for me one of those things is Bob Papenbrook.  I've talked him up before, but for a lot of the Viewtiful Joe anime up to this point he's been doing his Almighty Leader voice and hasn't played Captain Blue since the first few episodes.  Blue's Japanese voice sounds like he's going through the motions, but every line delivered by Paprenbrook really feels like an old-school hero.  Big ups to a voice acting legend.  If he were still around he would be the Great Old One of the West instead of Peter Beckman.

 

The movies this episode is based on are the Polar Express and Toy Story.  Joe even references the Polar Express by name in the English dub.  Considering this is an episode with toys, children and rules against violence, you can't expect a lot to be edited out for inappropriate content.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1995

1995. The peak of Mortal Kombat mania.  Last year may not have had a Mortal Kombat game in arcades, but those home versions of the games were selling like hotcakes and the franchise was getting merchandised to hell and back.  There was the movie, which is widely regarded as one of the best video game to movie adaptations to this day, there was the promotional VHS of the movie and there was the live tour.

Mortal Kombat got so much attention that other companies were trying to get in on the digitized actors and violence, usually to poor results.

Oh yeah, Namco is in this.  They released games mostly in Japan and not in America so they got left in the dust, although Tekken was shaping up to be their heaviest hitter in arcades.  1995 was also the debut of the first Time Crisis, but I have never in my life seen that game.  I've only ever played the sequels.  Here in this competition, popularity, public recognition and hype means nothing.  All that matters is who made the best games.  The current score has Midway in the lead, 7 to 5.  Namco isn’t far behind and still has a few years left to take the lead.

Devil May Cry 5 Review

After Capcom released Ninja Theory’s Devil May Cry reboot, I don’t think anyone was expecting a sequel to Devil May Cry 4.  I think Ninja Theory’s game gets way too much flak because of its title, but regardless of the merits of the game itself, fans wanted a Devil May Cry 5.  However, in the intervening years Capcom came out with Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, which became a monster hit despite no advertising or promotion whatsoever, and then later followed it up with Sengoku Basara 4 in Japan.  Over the years Sengoku Basara 4 built itself up as the most hyped English version of a game in the history of the human race to the point that everyone forgot about wanting a Devil May Cry game.  Something very strange happened though.  Instead of releasing Sengoku Basara 4 in English and bringing about world peace and a panacea for all diseases, Capcom not only made Devil May Cry 5, but fully dubbed it and released it in English.

I am at least a moderate fan of the Devil May Cry franchise.  Devil May Cry 3 is one of my favorite action games of all time and of course you know Devil May Cry 4 is good because it has the same producer as Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes.

That said, it’s curious that instead of translating and dubbing a fully released, content-rich game being exalted as one of the masterpieces of the gaming world that everyone and their dog wants, just like they had already done for the previous game in its franchise, Capcom instead made a new game from scratch with an English version.  That would have to mean that Devil May Cry 5 is practically godlike and I had to take a look to see for myself if it truly lives up to that hype.