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Ring ni kakero (2003)
Masami Kurumada's first great work
I'll take the space to talk about Ring ni Kakero's manga, after all, the anime probably covered 50% of the entire work alone, which is incredible.
Released in 1977, Ring ni Kakero, as already said, was the first great work of Master Masami Kurumada, legendary author of Shonen Jump, also famous worldwide for Saint Seiya. The story tells of two brothers: Ryuuji and Kiku Takane, two brothers whose father was a famous boxer but who died young. Thus, they live with their mother amidst a scenario of poverty, where the matriarch of the family is married to a drunkard who mistreats everyone. Kiku sees talent in his brother, and starts training him to become the world champion.
The manga is much more complete, showing the protagonist Ryuuji Takane since his childhood, when he was just a scared and crying little boy, and his sister, Kiku Takane, who inherited all his father's tactical knowledge. And Ryuuji inherited the talent for fighting.
The first volumes are "slower" and tell the story of the two brothers, who suffer a lot in childhood, even running away from home because of the constant mistreatment of their stepfather.
Later they meet Jun Kenzaki, a rich and spoiled boy who is considered a boxing genius, and who from this moment on, becomes Ryuuji Takane's great rival.
I particularly like the development of the two brothers a lot, being the best that Kurumada has done so far. The growth of both is excellent. Just reading to understand.
After a certain point, the manga takes a plot twist and becomes "exaggerated" style, so to speak. Where the blows given by boxers are practically "powers". The ring is damaged, characters are thrown out of the stadium. If nowadays we see "exaggerated" manga, such as "Inazuma Eleven" and "Kuroko no Basket", it is purely due to the influence of this manga. Particularly I've never seen anything prior to RNK that has this kind of thing. It was also the first manga to work on the issue of groups of friends, friendship above all, etc. Overall, Ring ni Kakero was very important to Shueisha (Jump) publisher, having been the first work to win a color page.
As said, the anime only covers part of the manga, and after the world championship, there are three more arcs.
From the moment the manga takes this direction, everything literally changes. In the arc of the world championship, the work is very "peculiar" (the correct term eludes me) the characters from other countries. Italians are mafia. The French are of the nobility. The Germans... Well, you know. And finally, the Greeks are gods.
That's right. The final enemies of the world championship bow are Greek gods. But "lesser" gods, so to speak. Soon after there is another arc of confrontation against gods, and then we see Zeus, Hades, Poseidon etc.
And yes, a lot of what we saw in Saint Seiya came out of here. The question of Greek mythology and other concepts.
After that, one of the characters fights a boxer named JESUS. That's right.
Anyway, Ring ni Kakero is Masami Kurumada's homage to "Ashita no Joe", and does it in a very cool way. It's a good work and has many emotional moments. Unfortunately the anime doesn't cover most of the events, leaving a taste of "I want more".
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990)
One of the best shows I've ever seen in my life.
Everything here works. Will Smith, still young, already demonstrated that he would be a big star. Even though he was the center of the series, the other characters gave their private shows, especially Carlton (Ribeiro).
I don't even need to talk about Uncle Phil (Rest in peace, James Avery. We'll always remember you). A real father to Will and the rest of the family. Uncle Phil was constantly the target of Will's pranks, but he always took it all in stride. He was tough when he needed to play the father, but he also knew how to be a great friend. What about the episode where the two hug, when Will cries for real?
Geoffrey with his sarcastic comments, Ashley, Hillary, Aunt Vivian... Everyone is very well and knows how to play their part in the family, let's say. Even Jazz, Will's real-life partner, has his funny moments on the show. How not to laugh at every time he gets thrown out of the house?
Even though it is a comedy show, it touches on important themes. How can you not remember the iconic pool game, where Uncle Phil shows Will that he has all the trickery of the streets, even though he is a learned and educated man?
Once again, rest in peace, James Avery. We will always remember you.
Henry Danger (2014)
Again, Nick?
Unfortunately it's another Nickelodeon show that seems to have been done anyway.
Not to go too far, again a show where the "focus" of the story is keeping a secret. This is already so beaten.
Performances are medium to low, to be very honest. Why does Piper only know how to scream?
If the intention of the show was comedy, they went too far. It's hard to laugh at all.
Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990)
Excellent show!
The first thing I have to say is: Parker Lewis is the son of Ferris Bueller.
An incredible series like "Parker Lewis" having only three seasons is a crime. Smart series, with great camera angles, good acting, charismatic characters (I hate you, Shelly Ann Lewis!), a very intelligent script that drank a lot (and well) from the classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", so much so that I can say that Parker is Ferris' legitimate son.
I recommend this excellent show to everyone.
The Thundermans (2013)
This show treats us like idiots
The only good thing about this show is Kira Kosarin, who at least is pretty and charismatic. Other than that, it's a show that treats the viewer like an idiot. And it's serious. How was a television channel like Nickelodeon, which ran shows as interesting as "Fresh Prince", able to get to this point?
The performances of all the actors are horrible, especially the kids (Nora and Billy). I don't think anyone there is saved. The characters are all boring and silly. Including the supporting cast. That friend of Phoebe's is a slob. Wong is irritatingly insufferable with that forced laugh. Absolutely NO jokes (or attempted jokes) work. They are all absolutely bad and predictable, again treating us like idiots. Not even the laughs inserted in the show attract you to laugh.
A so-called comedy series made me laugh once or twice in four seasons. It's a poorly made copy of "The Incredibles", where even the father (Hank/Chris Talman) is physically similar. The special effects are so dated (and we're talking about a series from the 2010s!!!) that they look like they were taken from some mid-80s Japanese tokusatsu. At least Japanese tokusatsus have good scripts and good, charismatic actors. What is that rabbit, guys?
The story doesn't progress, the characters don't have any growth, and the addition of a new daughter doesn't bring anything interesting to the series; on the contrary: just another annoying and annoying character. That catchphrase of his is horrible. I won't question the little girl's performance, as she is just a child.
Characters don't know how to use their powers except to solve mundane problems. "Oh, I'm going to use my superpower here to freeze my younger brothers and go out to find my friends and separate them because I can't have the same friends as my brother." "Oh, I'm going to use my superpower here to mess up my sister in a tennis game." By the way, the script is so stupid that the characters use their powers among people and NO ONE notices. This very episode of the tennis game. There's an AUDIENCE watching the game and Max and Phoebe use their powers freely.
Max calls himself a supervillain, but at best he's an inconvenience. The writers missed a huge opportunity to make the series on top of him (more so, together with Phoebe).
Everything is so bad that even the opening song is boring, with Kosarin and Griffo singing. Anyway, all very bad.
Sure they think we're idiots.