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Sabage-bu was already a pleasant surprise that delivered well on both comedy and action, so if you enjoyed that (which you should), this is just more of the same.

Despite the short length, each episode is still different and they manage to crank an impressive amount of jokes and content into such a short runtime. All without anything feeling rushed and every gag is given enough time to be properly set up and to deliver its punchline well. They even manage to figure out some pretty unique and original jokes that I've never seen done before, so props for the creativity. When you indulge in ... a medium for a long time, it becomes very rare for it to manage to surprise you, but this one did! And to think that this is literally just throwaway bonus material to pad DVDs.

I can always respect when creators put in the proper effort even into bonus material that many people won't care about. You should definitely care about these!

I can summarize these specials as follows:

6x10 minutes of pure, perfected, refined, unadulterated, premium quality shitposting that will have you looking for your sides somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy.

So just reload your mag and watch these too! There's no point in missing out on more goodness!

Sabage-bu is another hidden gem in the realms of comedy anime. Thankfully, it seems I've gotten quite good at running into these or influencing people to recommend these to me. If you love anime about a colourful main cast going into all kinds of shenanigans and antics with covering a wide spectrum (several kinds of spectrums) of how nonsensical it can be. If you want a good laugh, this is a definitely must watch. Also, do you like GUNS? Only LOSERS don't like GUNS! And this anime delivers surprisingly well on that front.

To get the gun thing out of the way, as somewhat of a ... gun enthusiast (although I can't actually have any, because fucking gooberment) that was one of my favourite aspects of this anime. All the guns looked exactly how they should and they were operated correctly too. The studio didn't even cheap out by making them CGI. There was definitely a very knowledgeable gun enthusiast involved with the making of this, because you really need to know your shit to get things this right. Even more serious action focused series flop more in this regard (I'm looking at you Fable, that pistol of your is still not a Nighthawk, it's an M1911, get it right, ya 'tismo!).

Being that it has all these pew pews in it, another pleasant surprise is how action packed Sabage-bu is. While the comedy is still the main focus, there's plenty of fights, shootouts and scuffles and all of them were executed superbly. I've seen shonen anime that look much worse in this regard. So if you wanna enjoy some amazing action while also laughing like an idiot, this is the series for you!

Beyond that, the series was just really well done all the way through. The jokes landed consistently and it easily nails everything from pop culture references, to surrealist jokes, to slapstick nonsense and more. It also loves fourth wall breaks as well as poking fun at common anime tropes, both of which are also done really well and never overstay their welcome. The animation is clean and fluid, the visuals are nice and vibrant, voice acting is superb and reflects each character perfectly and the sound effects are really comical and add to the slapstick. The artstyle isn't anything to write home about and the opening isn't bad, but it's really generic and forgettable. Really just "one of the anime themes of all time". But these are really minor things and they are still done well, so I don't consider them true downsides.

TL:DR If the premise of "Girls with guns engage in slapstick action" isn't a selling point enough, know that in these 12 episodes, you get awesome humour and amazing action with plenty of cute girls to fawn over and gratuitous fan service to, ummmm, clean your gun barrel and empty your mag to. So just lock and load and give it a watch already!

Truly, the most deer series. It's so deer, I couldn't help but rice to a deerer plane of existence. It's a deer philosophical exploration into the mental and emotional state of deerkind in the climate of the modern world. How does a man cope with the crushing unceremonious existence within the confines of the vapid emotionless civilized world when one only years to till rice paddies. We were deer to be free and we yearn for the rice paddies. The cycle of seasons dictates how we deer. And no other story has ever captured the strife and the tribulations of modern deer quite like this ... literary masterpiece.

You see the humour is but a deer veil to conceal the allegorical explorations into the deerest crevices of the mind, into the deerths of philosophy and mental condition. It's a thrice strong commentary on the education system and how it fails to cultivate the curiosity and capabilities of youth and only enshrines them as slaves to a corporate machine, a cog in the rice cooker of society, ready to deep fry anyone who steps out of line. It also shows how the feeble sheeple fail to notice the most glaring of absurdities, even if it smacks them right across the mouth. People are so entrenched in the grind of society and detached from deer nature that even the world ending before their eyes fails to register in their stir fried brains. There is always hope doe.

To live is to deer. To deer is to live. We moosed rice above all this and become enlightened and seek deerer meaning. We moosed not stagnate and be left graindead to rot in the trashpile of society. Like taking care of your deer so your deer club doesn't get closed and you're forced to pay back your crackers, we must till the rice fields of life until it bears fruit and we can be rich in the eyes of the great shogun above. And the story that lies before you is the most pure distilled form of the philosophical quandary that nobody else has been able to tackle until now. If you like most lacked this fundamental understanding until now, this is the enlightenment you seek. Our Deer God beckons and we must antler.

What's that? Oh, the anime? What's it about? Uuuuuhhhh... I dunno. Fuckin' deer or some shit. It's pretty good doe. If I had to describe it in two words it would be....uuuhhhh....

Antler Lobotomy

Yeah, that works. Anyway, if you fail to comprehend what I have written, then you're obviously grainwashed by Big Cracker and don't have the clarity and enlightenment to see the deer picture. Either that or my last remaining living braincells have committed suicide.

NO! If you don't like it, then you lack the intellectual capacity to comprehend this ambitious cinematic masterpiece. This anime isn't stupid, you're stupid! But don't worry, if you watch it for yourself, your mind will transform and ascent to a higher plane, where you will achieve undeerstanding. Or maybe you'll lose whatever IQ you have left and join me and the rest of the deer club in the special ed district. Come on over, we have deer crackers and crayons for everyone to nom on and we always have a good time!

So yeah, watch this or something. Deer/10

Man, when I saw that this is being made, I grew a third penis (the second one I got from watching Baki). Two of the biggest in the BIG MEN DOING MAN SHIT sphere coming together for a grand showdown?!? Sign my ass up right away!

However, the final result is....well.....kind of meh to be honest. This crossover has to go down as one of the biggest wasted opportunities in all of anime. Such an awesome turn of events that these two IPs that are so similar would be under the same umbrella, allowing this to exist. The final product however was thoroughly underwhelming.

In terms ... of quality, it was pretty good. The animation was really solid and the fights looked and sounded awesome. One thing about that though - the music. Or lack thereof rather. Why was this anime so quiet? Outside of fights and a few other scenes, there was zero music and barely any sound effects, giving the whole thing a weird feel.

The story was razor thin, but when the muscle to brain ratio is what it is, what did you expect. Nonetheless, the premise worked great, overlapping elements were used really well and seeing the two old farts organizing both tournaments turning out to be best friends was welcome and hilarious. The setup was all it needed to be and what was left was the action.

The problem arises that barely any of the potential was used. We got only three fights and since this was just an hour long for all three plus buildup and transitions, none of the fights got enough time to breathe and show what they got. A ton of potential crossover showdowns never happened and the ones we did were rushed. Just as it starts to get interesting, the fight ends, because time is running out. It really sucks to be honest.

Here is just a small list of fights that I personally wanted to see:
Orochi Doppo vs Kuroki Gensai (martial arts old farts)
Yujiro vs Agito (final boss dudes, also the fact that they share the same VA will make this very funny)
Oliva vs Muteba Gizenga (for legal reasons I am not allowed to make this joke)
Hanayama vs Lihito (the gripper boyfriends of the MCs)
Retsu vs Sekibayashi (the true MCs of both worlds)
Kureha vs Hanafusa (and zat is how I lost mein medical license)
Sikorski vs Gaolang (Kenjiro Tsuda finally gets the honour of meeting Kenjiro Tsuda)
Alai Jr vs Rei (clash of the simps, battle for the last crump of coochie)
Kozue vs Karla Kure (idk, I just want walking woman moment Kozue to eat shit from a girl that's actually worth it)

There, just a small taste of what was possible. For the record, the three matches they chose were awesome too, I really liked them, that's why I dislike how short they had to be.

There's also one other problem and that's that,in all cases the writers had to sweat a lot to make it seem possible for ANYBODY from the Kengan-verse to have even a lick of a chance against even mediocre fighters from the Baki-verse. Let's be real here, both sides have awesome martial arts, but while Kengan characters have muscles, Baki characters' muscles have muscles. The sheer unbridled bullshittery of Baki is on such an unfathomable level of absurdity compared to Kengan that it's not even close. Like, imagine Yujiro fighting Agito, both are massive and strong and can learn other people's moves on the fly. They fight and fight and fight, adapting, evolving, copying each other's moves, pulling everything they have out of their arsenal. And then at one point Yujiro will be like "you know what, you're boring, I'm sick of fighting you with just the moves I use on women", then he'll hyperextend his wiener to ten meters in length in less than a split second, piercing Agito's skull through the eye socket and dropping him dead. Then the Baki narrator will reveal that Yujiro spent seven years jelqing on top of Mt. Everest while facing north and breathing in deep and this is why he's able to do this. And you could too if you did the same!

Right, in conclusion, you might come out of this review thinking I actually hate this, but that's not true. It was still fun and enjoyable and the action we got was top notch. It's just an hour long, so if you enjoy the type of manly action that both of these series bring to the ring, then there really is no reason not to check it out. I'm just disappointed that we didn't do so much more with the insane potential that there is in such a massive crossover. I hope this one-off thing becomes just a proof of concept and that the creators go back and make a longer form series with more fights, more interpersonal crossovers and more time given to each showdown so that it has enough breathing room to indulge its full potential.

BIG MEN DOING MAN SHIT - 2 MAN 2 SHIT is back with the second meatiest tournament arc in all of anime after the one it copied its homework from. With lots of muscles, martial arts, drama, muscles, plot twists, hot women, hotter men, wrestling, muscles, blind cyborg black dudes, muscles, political strife, intense back stories and of course muscles, Kengan Ashura is here to once again deliver on what it does best and deliver on its grand climax!

If you watched Kengan season 1 and liked it, this is really more of the same but even better! The matches are even better this time round, ... though there are some minor duds there too. Overall though, these are the strongest matches yet and the characters are now filtered down to the actually important ones, so there is much higher stakes and tension too. Compared to it's pappy Baki, Kengan has significantly less random bullshit and is easier to follow. It's also a more straightforward martial arts celebration, so if that's your think, this is a must watch.

The animation remains top notch too and manages to capture this unbridled masculine intensity in all of its glory. While some dumb puritans out there may wince at the mention of CGI in anime, but here it's very much a stylistic choice and one that works towards the benefit of making all the attacks fluid, impactful and clearly readable and allows the fighters to wallop each other over and over and over and over again without each swing tanking the show's budget. The soundtrack hits just as hard too. I am just confused by two things - why did the opening change genres every 10 seconds? I love death metal polka latino ska J-rock as much as the next guy, but it's an odd choice. The ending song hits hard too, but why did they have to get Dr. Doofenshmirtz to perform it? Baffling.

For this second half, I wanna say this is definitely the peak of Kengan Ashura thus far. It contains easily the best fights thus far and is also where the story really picks up. A lot of lore is revealed and context is given to the bigger picture here. Regardless of that, all the final fights are given enough time to happen and the intensity in the ring never drops. This half of the season felt very dense with things to cover, yet it never felt rushed and all of it was paced wonderfully. It all lead to a lot of surprises and a very satisfying conclusion. Hope they don't make it all weird in Kengan Omega with some random malarkey or something (Hanafusa!).

Overall, a rock solid anime full of manly fights that are sure to keep the blood pumping. Like classic martial arts films, Kengan Ashura has a simple premise executed marvelously. You know what you're here for and you'll get it in spades!

BIG MEN DOING MAN SHIT - 2 MAN 2 SHIT is back with the second meatiest tournament arc in all of anime after the one it copied its homework from. With lots of muscles, martial arts, drama, muscles, plot twists, hot women, hotter men, wrestling, muscles, blind cyborg black dudes, muscles, political strife, intense back stories and of course muscles, Kengan Ashura is here to once again deliver on what it does best and deliver on its grand climax!

If you watched Kengan season 1 and liked it, this is really more of the same but even better! The matches are even better this time round, ... though there are some minor duds there too. Overall though, these are the strongest matches yet and the characters are now filtered down to the actually important ones, so there is much higher stakes and tension too. Compared to it's pappy Baki, Kengan has significantly less random bullshit and is easier to follow. It's also a more straightforward martial arts celebration, so if that's your think, this is a must watch.

The animation remains top notch too and manages to capture this unbridled masculine intensity in all of its glory. While some dumb puritans out there may wince at the mention of CGI in anime, but here it's very much a stylistic choice and one that works towards the benefit of making all the attacks fluid, impactful and clearly readable and allows the fighters to wallop each other over and over and over and over again without each swing tanking the show's budget. The soundtrack hits just as hard too.

For this first half of episodes, I just wanna say I am definitely docking some score because of Ohma sleeping through almost the whole thing. Like, I criticized Baki for lolligagging in his first season and spending most of it doing PP training, but at least he did something. My man Ohma was less active than Monkey D. Dragon for this one! Thank fuck he woke up near the end there.

Overall, a rock solid anime full of manly fights that are sure to keep the blood pumping. Like classic martial arts films, Kengan Ashura has a simple premise executed marvelously. You know what you're here for and you'll get it in spades!

Gachiakuta is one of the best manga serializing right now and you should start reading it immediately! I am not saying this lightly. Yes, this manga about trash is one of the biggest gems coming out these day! This series is truly something special and I will now spend the next lengthy segment gushing about how good it is. TL:DR this is one of the most creative, original, engaging and just outright FUN battle shonen ever!

Right, where do I even start? I guess the art seems like the most natural place. When you start Gachiakuta, merely a few pages in you will immediately notice something ... - the art is AWESOME! This is one of the best middle grounds of detail and stylization I've ever seen! The characters are all cartoony in many aspects with their big eyes and exaggerated expressions. The movement and paneling is super expressive and energetic too. And yet, everything is finished to an outstanding level of quality. Backgrounds are immaculate, filled to the brim with tremendous detail and with a terrific sense of overwhelming scale. The clothes and objects (this is important) are all fantastically rendered and you can almost feel their textures. The art is super sketch-like at times, with these really scratchy lines with visible pen strokes, and yet the detailing is flawless. Every page is overflowing with quality and some panels are near Berserk levels of artistic craftsmanship. And this is a WEEKLY manga??? How in God's name do you draw something like this weekly, that is actually insane!1!

But don't even get me started on the action! After all, this is a battle shonen and you need good fights. But Gachiakuta doesn't have good fights. It has AMAZING fights. The flow and movement is super expressive and almost JoJo levels of absurdly exaggerated. Lots of action lines, tons of speed, incredible posing, wacky perspectives, glorious choreography and yet near perfect visual clarity. So fluid, it feels like it actually moves on the page! I mean, one of the girls fights by spinning on her arms and head like a breakdancer and swinging a giant pair of scissors with her legs and it works perfectly. That's the best way I can describe it. The rest is just too raw and complex to put into words. You gotta see it for yourself! Urana Kei is a master and the living proof that stylization and fidelity are not mutually exclusive!

All of this without going into how Urana-sensei draws the faces and bodies! Her understanding of anatomy is flawless. Despite the wild cartoony look of some characters, you can see their perfectly sculpted musculature and underlying bones. She really loves "boney" details, like visible pelvic bones, clavicles on the arms, knuckle bones, ribs, spines and more. And the faces are just as fascinating. They are also super exaggerated in their expressions but teeming with tiny details. The eyes have visible tear ducts, the eyelashes have actual volume and shape to them and the irises are concaved within the eyeballs. For that last one, I don't think I've seen any other artist do this, not even the big greats we all love. This just shows an amazing level of skill that she has under her belt!

This brings me to the next and probably biggest strength - the character designs. These are some of the best I've ever seen in a manga! The way Urana-sensei draws hair is one unique aspect. Each person's hair isn't composed of individual strands, but instead these geometric clumps that stick out in all directions, as if everyone's scalp naturally produces hair gel constantly. The styles vary wildly in lengthy, shape, style, colour, accessories and more and help give each character a recognizable silhouette. Next, there's the clothes. One thing Gachiakuta just nails is how down right COOL the design language is. You have this dystopian world and in it, the characters manage to look ragged, trashy and disheveled, as you would expect with such a setting, and yet there's this immaculate sense of fashion! Part early 2000s nu metal wacky badassery, part Harajuku-style outlandishness, part cybergoth accessories, it's truly outstanding. Just look at the volume covers. Normally, I'm not a fan of the "character on a blank background" type of volume cover, but when your character designs are THIS GOOD, they truly stand on their own.

Right, after gushing about the visuals for so long, let's talk about the story now too! Because, believe it or not, Gachiakuta isn't just art porn and a visual spectacle, it's just as good at storytelling too! The universe is a very unique one. You have a big pretentious city ripe with its own conflicts floating in the sky. Below it is a barren wasteland of endless trash, the entire planet being one colossal junkyard or landfill essentially. But even among this waste, dilapidated cities arise with ruined buildings and rotting remains, the structures still standing upgraded with whatever trash fell from the heavens and painted over with vibrant graffiti. In this world, you can die at any time from a kitchen appliance falling on your head from the sky and venturing out into the wastes without a gasmask means you will choke to death in mere minutes. It's unforgiving but so damn engaging! It's full of mysteries and questions that can only be answered by exploring the wasteland! And it's inhabited by all of these amazing characters, each being some morally grey beautiful mess of a person that is just trying to find their way in this harsh landscape. I won't go into details on the characters, because I don't want to spoil the experience of meeting them on your own. Know just that all of them are fantastically written and thoroughly engaging and that Rudo is a fantastic main character that I am 200% behind! To illustrate the quality of writing, here's a spoiler free version of one story arc - a character is introduced and starts doing horrible things to our main cast, you grow to absolutely despise her and rejoice when she is defeated, but then her gutwrenching backstory is revealed and it completely recontextualizes her actions and without realizing it, you now understand her and your opinion has flipped 180 degrees, just for the author to then use her suffering to make you resent another different character later on! What do you think of that, huh? And that's just one tiny sliver of what there is to find in the fascinating world of Gachiakuta.

There is one last big component that needs to be mentioned and that makes this manga stand head and shoulders above the rest - the power system! This is one of the most masterfully designed systems I've ever seen! Without going into details, the gist is that there is life energy within any object that is used a lot, called Anima. There are power users in this world called Givers. They can draw out the latent life force within their beloved objects, called Vital Instruments or Jinki, and turn them into weapons by shapeshifting them in various ways. They use them to fight so called trash beasts, giant Dark Souls-esque monstrosities composed of living garbage! The rest, you'll need to learn yourself. What makes this system absolutely amazing however is firstly that it is both devilishly simple to understand and yet has basically infinite potential for what can be done with it. We've already been shown an absolutely astonishing variety of abilities and there is only more potential to explore. The only limit is Urana-sensei's imagination. I also love that this manga doesn't fall into a common shonen pitfall where there is this awesome system and yet the main character has very boring and uninspired powers. Quite the contrary, Rudo is given the most versatile and interesting power, which allows every fight he's in to be different and engaging! You never know what he might pull out! And speaking of fights, they are some of the best I've read, not just because of the aforementioned qualities of the art, but because the unique abilities leverage absolutely beautiful chaos that you can never predict. Not to mention that this power system also takes inspiration from Shinto beliefs in objects having souls and it ties perfectly into the core themes of the story - consumerism, materialism and how people treat their possessions. I mean, to tie all of this up so well is a landmark of quality and I can't wait to see where this goes!

Ok, I think I went on long enough. Sorry that it got so long, but there is just so much to praise about this series! What I can say as a conclusion is that everything in Gachiakuta is so COOL! The designs, the world, the powers, the characters, the artwork! It reminds me of those early 2000s nu metal style cartoon drawings, but mixed with graffiti and excellent manga structure! I never thought a series like this can actually exist! On a personal level, it really connects with me on many ways. I love a good junkyard aesthetic and the obvious early 2000s influences definitely speak to my soul. Also, I'm a person with a strong tendency to get very emotionally attached to material things, so the core subject of the story really hits home for me. In short though, do yourself a favour and get into this manga right now! You will not regret joining the ride early. We're 107 chapters in as of now and everything just keeps getting better and better. The fact that till now, we're still mostly getting more questions than answers shows me that Urana Kei is here for the long haul and will strive to build a big expansive world and I'd wager we have at least 200-300 more chapters ahead of us! There is more than enough there for this to grow naturally and expand into grander spheres.

Normally, I am hesitant to write reviews for ongoing series, especially this early in their lifecycle. Will the quality remain consistent all throughout? Will the story grow in good ways? Will the author stick the landing with the conclusion? Only time will tell. But what I can tell you now is that I've seen more than enough to vouch for this manga's quality. So do yourself a favour and read it now! TURDFACE!

Cute girls doing cute things? NAH NAH! This is BIG MEN DOING MAN SHIT! Come on over and put some hair on your chest. If you thirst for a return for the bygone era of manly battle anime, this is one series for you. Punchfighting, martial arts and ridiculous techniques galore, Kengan Ashura is a must see.

(P.S. This review is for the whole season, not just this half. I refuse to conform to Netflix' stupid release schedule)

Right, have you seen or read Baki? Well, if you have, this is basically the guy that copied his homework from there. The overlap is significant and if you ... enjoyed one, there's no reason not to experience the other too. Thankfully though, Kengan Ashura is more than different enough to stand on its own muscular legs. Because you never skip legday, ya pansies! Here, the ridiculousness is much more subdued and it's more focused on straightforward martial arts. It's also centered around a singular lengthy tournament arc that takes up pretty much the whole season here. Also, unlike Baki, the female characters aren't just walking "woman moments" and are actually interesting and engaging. They're also really sexy and what is a good action series without some eyecandy, amirite? The setup and worldbuilding is alright, nothing to write home about, but then again this isn't trying to be anything deep. The main goal is to have amazing action every episode and that much is done wonderfully. Set a clear goal and motivation, establish some awesome fighters, give them a ring to fight in and let them have it. Pure awesomeness distilled to the core.

A good reason for the quality of action and one of the most recognizable things about this anime is the use of CGI. Normally anime fans recoil at the mention of this, but here I think it works great. Almost the entire anime is CGI, so it feels more like a stylistic choice than a budget cut. It makes sense, since Kengan is 90% action and by using these graphics, it allows the fights to be much more fluid and dynamic without burning money. Every hit is fast, fluid and impactful and it's very refreshing to see an anime where the attacks per minute is higher than the words per minute. Just straightforward brawls that are always a joy to behold. During flashbacks and other such moments, the artstyle also loves to shift into various artistic modes and this is really cool too, gives each flashback its own feel and adds great visual variety. Overall, I think only some snob would have an issue with how the CGI is used here. We've come a long long way from the Berserk abomination. Oh, and the music is really solid too, especially the wrestling style entrance themes for each character. The voice acting is super over the top and energetic too, makes every character stand out and become memorable.

Granted, the anime is not perfect. Firstly, it is just a straightforward tournament, so if you wanted something deeper go watch some artsy fartsy shit like Death Note or something, idk. This is a fighting story first and foremost. The other thing is the use of some characters. Tokita Ohma is a great protagonist imo and I find him very interesting, but because of the format of the series he gets sidelined for a vast majority of the season and that kinda sucks. He feels like a side character in his own show. The other thing is because these first brackets need to be gone through to get to the bigger meatier fights, some showdowns end way too quickly. It happened a couple of times where a character with a very interesting design, backstory and fighting style would show up, I'd get excited to see what he does and then he'd get demolished with just one or two attacks and are never seen or heard from again. Just feels disappointing. I get that the creators wanted to put some special sauce into every character, but please don't go through so much effort to make me care about somebody just to one shot them and dump them forever afterwards.

Overall, Kengan Ashura can best be described as a ton of fun! It's some oldschool action that doesn't pretend to be more than it is. The main goal is to get big muscular men to beat the crap out of each other for grand entertainment and boy does it work. A worthy entry into the BIG MEN DOING MAN SHIT genre and a must watch for any fan of good fighting. It really Kengans my Ashura.

Cute girls doing cute things? NAH NAH! This is BIG MEN DOING MAN SHIT! Come on over and put some hair on your chest. If you thirst for a return for the bygone era of manly battle anime, this is one series for you. Punchfighting, martial arts and ridiculous techniques galore, Kengan Ashura is a must see.

(P.S. This review is for the whole season, not just this half. I refuse to conform to Netflix' stupid release schedule)

Right, have you seen or read Baki? Well, if you have, this is basically the guy that copied his homework from there. The overlap is significant and if you ... enjoyed one, there's no reason not to experience the other too. Thankfully though, Kengan Ashura is more than different enough to stand on its own muscular legs. Because you never skip legday, ya pansies! Here, the ridiculousness is much more subdued and it's more focused on straightforward martial arts. It's also centered around a singular lengthy tournament arc that takes up pretty much the whole season here. Also, unlike Baki, the female characters aren't just walking "woman moments" and are actually interesting and engaging. They're also really sexy and what is a good action series without some eyecandy, amirite? The setup and worldbuilding is alright, nothing to write home about, but then again this isn't trying to be anything deep. The main goal is to have amazing action every episode and that much is done wonderfully. Set a clear goal and motivation, establish some awesome fighters, give them a ring to fight in and let them have it. Pure awesomeness distilled to the core.

A good reason for the quality of action and one of the most recognizable things about this anime is the use of CGI. Normally anime fans recoil at the mention of this, but here I think it works great. Almost the entire anime is CGI, so it feels more like a stylistic choice than a budget cut. It makes sense, since Kengan is 90% action and by using these graphics, it allows the fights to be much more fluid and dynamic without burning money. Every hit is fast, fluid and impactful and it's very refreshing to see an anime where the attacks per minute is higher than the words per minute. Just straightforward brawls that are always a joy to behold. During flashbacks and other such moments, the artstyle also loves to shift into various artistic modes and this is really cool too, gives each flashback its own feel and adds great visual variety. Overall, I think only some snob would have an issue with how the CGI is used here. We've come a long long way from the Berserk abomination. Oh, and the music is really solid too, especially the wrestling style entrance themes for each character. The voice acting is super over the top and energetic too, makes every character stand out and become memorable.

Granted, the anime is not perfect. Firstly, it is just a straightforward tournament, so if you wanted something deeper go watch some artsy fartsy shit like Death Note or something, idk. This is a fighting story first and foremost. The other thing is the use of some characters. Tokita Ohma is a great protagonist imo and I find him very interesting, but because of the format of the series he gets sidelined for a vast majority of the season and that kinda sucks. He feels like a side character in his own show. The other thing is because these first brackets need to be gone through to get to the bigger meatier fights, some showdowns end way too quickly. It happened a couple of times where a character with a very interesting design, backstory and fighting style would show up, I'd get excited to see what he does and then he'd get demolished with just one or two attacks and are never seen or heard from again. Just feels disappointing. I get that the creators wanted to put some special sauce into every character, but please don't go through so much effort to make me care about somebody just to one shot them and dump them forever afterwards.

Overall, Kengan Ashura can best be described as a ton of fun! It's some oldschool action that doesn't pretend to be more than it is. The main goal is to get big muscular men to beat the crap out of each other for grand entertainment and boy does it work. A worthy entry into the BIG MEN DOING MAN SHIT genre and a must watch for any fan of good fighting. It really Kengans my Ashura.

Hellsing is an experience like no other. A rare example of peak edgekino that has seldom been met or surpassed, hailing from an era that is sadly long gone. It is a unique experience that definitely warrants your attention even today. So if you want a short answer on whether or not to read this manga, the answer is a definitive yes. Now let me gush about how cool it is for a bit.

Hellsing holds a special place in my heart, because the original anime was one of the earliest works that sparked my own interest into anime. In the era of the rise of ... the big battle shonen, I felt a bit disillusioned, for those bubbly and overly positive series didn't really appeal to me at the time. But then Hellsing swings by like a motherfucker, full of blood and gore, a dark gothic story filled to the brim with action, a protagonist that is morally grey at the best of times and a mass murderer in the worst, featuring vampires, Catholics and Nazis. Well, now you have my attention. So fast forward to today and given that it's been almost 20 years and I barely remember anything, I've decided to retrace my steps and go back to where it all began, going back to the manga first, which I had never read before. Not gonna lie, I was a bit worried if my taste as a young teenager would stand the test of time and whether Hellsing would meet my expectations. But not only is it just as fun as the day I first saw it, but it's such a fitting full circle moment to come back to it after all this time.

Hellsing is a story that is very upfront with one thing - how extremely edgy it is. Seriously, this is one of the most unapologetically edgy stories you can find. Tons of blood and gore, over-the-top violence, very dark and brooding characters that make all kinds of wild declarations of absolutes, etc. etc. Every single character is an edgelord to some extent. It also captures the peak of late 90s and early 2000s aesthetics, featuring all the staples that were considered cool at the time - long trenchcoats, stylish hats, massive guns, big swords, big boobs, etc. And I don't care what any one says, but these things are still cool as hell to this day! It also draws from some classic aesthetics that carry an undeniable sense of badass style - gothic vampires, Christian imagery and Nazis (don't gimme that look, put the politics aside and you cannot deny that the clothing, weapons and brutalist architecture are cool as hell). This to me all builds towards making Hellsing a true edgy masterpiece. Despite it all, I believe that it strikes a perfect balance. It's dark and serious enough to be engaging and thrilling, but it's still self aware enough and contains a healthy enough dose of humour to not become cringe and obnoxious. It balances on the edge flawlessly. This manga has one clear goal in mind - fun. It's first and foremost a gory action manga designed to be a blast to read and it succeeds in that.

On a purely technical level, this manga is also superbly done. The artstyle is very distinctive and instantly recognizable. Kohta Hirano's characters are almost all really tall and lanky with lots of angular features, giving them a sense of grace and allowing him to pose them in all kinds of extravagant ways. Also, glasses and goggles. Boy, does he love his glasses and goggles, because 90% of characters have them and they greatly contribute to the aesthetics and visual presentation. One of Hirano's favourite techniques is blacking out the characters into pure silhouettes, often leaving only the eyes (or more often, their glinting glasses) and maybe the mouth visible. This serves many purposes to great effect - it can make characters more mysterious, it can make them look badass, afraid, triumphant, or even turn them into these incorporeal monsters that seem unstoppable. He also loves using black on black layering with white outlines that also gives a lot of the splash pages a very distinct dark look. Beyond all that, the art is more than detailed enough, there's loads of fine work to be seen, the faces are very very expressive, the backgrounds are amazing and the panel flow is excellent too. The black and white nature of manga also greatly enhances the dark gothic atmosphere he's clearly going for here.

This is a very action focused manga, so the movement is crucial. Thankfully, Hirano-sensei excels here! The poses are super dramatic and exaggerated. Every single move has tremendous speed and power behind it. The way he splatters all the blood and gore everywhere is super messy and adds great energy to the scenes. Every explosion and gunshot has weight and piercing strength behind it. He's also not afraid to go off model, with a lot of the action setpieces allowing characters and objects to stretch and warp in all kinds of wacky ways, making the already long bodies and guns even longer. Combine this with long hair and capes that flow, extend and seemingly shapeshift in magical ways and you get some terrific art that is super dynamic, vibrant and epic without sacrificing clarity. Plus, dialogue is kept short and sweet, narration is minimal and there are extensive sequences of pure action, which all contribute to a very easy and well paced read that never overstays its welcome.

In conclusion, revisiting Hellsing has been a thoroughly fulfilling experience for me, like meeting a childhood friend. You're afraid that they (or you) have changed too much and you might not get along, but you end up hitting it off right away as if you'd been together all along. To anyone considering reading this manga, let me put it to you this way. To me, a key aspect to the enjoyment of any medium is to recognize what this work is trying to do and whether or not it succeeds at that. While I was reading this, I also went through other seinen series with much more in-depth stories, much more sophisticated writing and more finely crafted art. If you're looking for some deep story to get lost in, this isn't it. While the art is amazing, if you're looking for some Berserk or Vagabond style realism, this isn't it. Hellsing is not some deeply emotional or retrospective tale or some gallery worthy pastiche. But guess what, it's not trying to be. To have such expectations would be like going to Burger King and expecting a professionally crafted three course meal or going to a bougie 5-star restaurant with the goal of eating quickly on the cheap. Different things set different objectives for themselves and your expectations should be realistic towards them.

I said it at the beginning, Hellsing has a simple goal - to be a fun edgy story filled with action that is a blast to read through. And at that, it knocks it out of the park! If some over-the-top violence and slightly goofy lore is what you're looking for, Hellsing is a Godsend. It's super cool, super awesome, but also very competently written, keeping its story tight and well paced. Between the setpieces, there are even some surprisingly well crafted and poignant character moments that are genuinely touching. So it's false to claim that it has no narrative meat on its bones. Like I said, there are very little stories that managed to be so edgy and so well made at the same time, so in that regard Hellsing really stands in a league of its own.

All the things you thought were cool as a 12 year old ARE cool. To be mature is to realize that Shadow the Hedgehog is awesome and that Hellsing is pure kino. So let loose a bit and enjoy yourself! It is so so worth it! They really don't make 'em like they used to