The Dark Tournament-My Favorite Shonen Tournament Arc

The Dark Tournament-My Favorite Shonen Tournament Arc

I recently rewatched Yu Yu Hakusho and upon seeing the dark tournament for the second time I was struck by just how well done Yoshihiro Togashi made this classic shonen arc. He uses all the traditional shonen tropes to their greatest strength and he creates his own twist on them. This arc used background elements to accentuate elements that play into the story and tournament itself. All of these elements create my favorite shonen tournament arc.

The setting of the tournament is fascinating in that it is used to increase your emotions inn regards to each fight. The entire arena, except for Botan, Keiko, and Shizuru, is against Yusuke and his friends as well as the tournament committee. This makes each win seem so much more hard fought and each loss even more crushing. When the crowd finally cheers for Yusuke it is out of self preservation and creates an atmosphere of desperation for the final battle with Toguro. I’ve never really seen this done in a shonen quite like it is here. Most series I’ve read just focus on the reactions of a select few characters the protagonist knows and everyone else is mostly irrelevant. When you think about sporting event or competitions in real life part of the intensity of it all is the crowd cheering when a goal is scored for their team or being frustrated when they think the referee made a bad call. When sitting in the stands if fans for your team are in the minority you’re usually more excited when the score and win the game because they overcame the odds and won in “enemy” territory. The fact that it utilized this aspect of competition when it could have been thrown away like it so often is was really refreshing.

This tournament firmly established the personalities of all of the major players within this arc and the series moving forward. This tournament is what made me love Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke. Whether it be Kuwabara’s big heart and empathy for others, Kurama’s calm calculation, Hiei’s confidence and quiet fury, or Yusuke’s confidence and determination I enjoyed how these characteristics played into each fight and their interactions between the fights. It wasn’t just the heroes either, but also the villains. Toguro is a deceivingly complex villain with a sadness underlying his cold and brutal facade. His final conversation with Genkai was cathartic and managed to incorporate themes of desire, love, and loss in a single two sentence exchange “Don’t ever regret what happened between us.” “No, but it would have been a beautiful life.” Toguro, when all was said and done, truly was a “man with a wounded heart and a broken dream.” The fact that after seeing all the awful things this character has done the story manages to make me empathize with this character is a testament to the character writing put into it.

All of the fights were well animated and had something that kept my watching. In Kurama’s fights it was his intellect and seeing how he gets out of the situation at hand even with handicaps. Yoko Kurama’s first appearance was incredibly memorable and had me in awe of his overwhelming power and control of plants. In Hiei’s fights it was his ingenious uses of the dragon of the darkness flame. In Kuwabara’s fights I was interested in seeing how his empathy interacted with his actions and how he competes against the odds. In Yusuke’s fights it was interesting to see him grow through the obstacles until he couldn’t grow through just physical means and had to accept and grow emotionally through learning how to be outwardly genuine by embracing his emotions.

This is why I found this to be my favorite tournament arc in anime. I understand if others have a different opinion. I know of many anime that have a great tournament that uses conventional and unconventional methods to create a compelling arc.

The Last Jedi- The Importance of the Throne Room Scene and Kylo Ren’s development

The throne room scene was when we finally see what Kylo Ren is thinking. Kylo believes both sides of the force have failed him. First the light side with his teacher Luke and now the dark in his mentor Snoke. Both believed him to be a failure for different reasons. Luke because he feared Kylo’s tremendous power and Snoke because he believes Kylo is weak and that he has found a more fitting successor in raw strength in Rey. Snoke believed he was only luring Rey to him through the interactions between Kylo and Rey he forced upon them throughout the movie, but in reality he was causing both to find someone who truly understands the other. This caused Kylo to strike out against Snoke and lead to his demise. 

The subsequent fight against the guards showed how in sync Kylo and Rey were. Kylo believed he had found something in between in Rey. Something not quite pure light side or pure dark side, but in the middle. He had come to reject both sides of the force and wanted to make his own way by destroying the old “antiquated” systems and creating the world anew. He rejected Rey’s offer to join the rebellion and stop the first order because he saw that the rebellion would just put the old systems in place, the systems he believed failed him. He could only achieve his goals of change if he stayed with the first order and lead them. He wanted Rey by his side because he saw his goals for the new system in her, but Rey didn’t agree with his methods to reach his solution though tearing down the system through violence. 

Kylo didn’t know another way to achieve his goals but through violence. This was the disconnect. Kylo was taught his whole life to fight (through Luke) and conquer (through Snoke). Whereas Rey was taught to remain passive and accepting. Rey learned that to make change she would have to take action, but only when need be, while Kylo slowly resorts to action in escalating extremes. 

The Incredibles 2 Review

Very minor spoilers ahead

I just saw the Incredibles 2 and loved it. It doesn’t cover as many mature themes as the initial movie, but it still brings the heart and Parr family that we know and love. Bob and Helen continue to be one of the most realistic animated couples and the family is still relatable despite all the new developments within the film. The characters are the reason for watching both this film and the original. The family still fights, but at the end of the day they care about each other and wouldn’t give it up for the world

The family is taken in a new direction from the original; Helen gets a job trying to legalize supers again, Bob is staying at home taking care of the kids, Violet goes through boy troubles, Dash doesn’t understand his homework, and Jack-Jack develops a whole slew of powers. Their problems are things everyday people struggle with and Violet, Dash, and Jack-jack’s problems helped move Bob’s storyline forward. He is now the hands-on parent who isn’t gone all day for work. He’s trying his best to be there for the kids and gets frustrated when he has trouble. He works to understand Dash’s homework so he can teach Dash, He tries to help Violet’s boy problems, and he brings Jack-Jack to Edna for help with all of his burgeoning powers. Unlike most cartoon fathers he is competent at being a stay at home parent. Helen’s new job is a fun part of the film that shows just how good she was at being a superhero before having to retire. The villain she has to face is interesting and brings up a different viewpoint on superheroes as a whole. The screenslaver believes that superheroes made the people complacent and neglect protecting themselves which leads to tragedy.

All in all this was a great addition to the Incredibles franchise and I’m glad we got it even if it is fourteen years later. This is the type of movie I would go to see in the theaters twice. I appreciate all the hard work Brad Bird, the animators, and voice actors put into this film and encourage everyone to go see it with their own eyes.

Rock Lee vs Gaara is about more than hard work vs natural talent

Rock Lee vs Gaara is about more than hard work vs talent. On the first watch that may be what is taken away from it. Upon a second viewing after watching these characters grow and change and learning about Gaara’s past it takes on a whole different clash. One of views on the society as a whole. 

Both of these characters are products of their society. They were shunned by the people in their society for two completely different reasons and thus grew to have two completely different view points on society as a whole. 

Rock Lee was condemned by society for his lack of ability and therefore was considered an ineffective and useless “weapon” for the society to call upon in a time of need. He was considered worthless, so he worked his way up to prove himself to that society that believed that. He thrived off the atmosphere that society created. He was condemned for weakness and thus strove for strength. Rock Lee condones the society that ninja lived in.

Gaara is the exact opposite. He condemns society for what it did to him. It condoned creating him into a living weapon, but then condemned him for being what they created. He was crushed and twisted under the conflicting ideals society had about his birth and life. He was told his initial purpose in life was to protect the sand, but once he was deemed unnecessary because of the negative atmosphere society created around him his purpose was considered lost. His life was deemed worthless. 

The importance of the Siren Scene in the Sea of Monsters

I was rereading the Percy Jackson series and looking back at them at an older point of view things I didn’t see before come to light. During the book the Sea of Monsters I realized this is probably when Annabeth was at her lowest point. She had lost every family she had. Luke had betrayed her and the camp, Thalia was gone and her pine tree was dying, and she had just failed at living with her father and step family for a school year. It makes sense that the siren’s song and Luke’s words would effect her so much. She had hit her rock bottom and was mad at the world and needed to find an outlet. Annabeth had only ever wanted a family and at this point she hadn’t truly found one. This is also when her fatal flaw comes to light. Her fatal flaw is a direct result of the misgivings that have happened to her. She has trust issues and has constantly been left time and time again because of this she has learned to rely on herself and her own strength and ability, which also makes her connection with Percy more meaningful. She allowed herself to be weak in front of him. We learn in the Heroes of Olympus that she puts on a mask every day to hide her weakness and insecurity from everyone. This is also the first time we hear one of the heroes shares the antagonists ideas. Seeing Luke’s vision from Annabeth’s point of view adds depth to his ideals. He isn’t the only one with these gripes with the gods and it’s made clear that his viewpoint isn’t entirely wrong. The gods have neglected their children. They were capable of preventing every tragedy that happened in Annabeth’s life and Annabeth acknowledges that and is mad and upset about it. This is important because other that growing Annabeth’s character it makes us understand that the gods aren’t truly good they are just the lesser evil. It is especially important once you realize that this point carries through and effects the outcome of the great prophecy. 

Reyna and Nico-the Perfect Unlikely Friendship

Both Reyna and Nico suffer from isolation and loneliness brought upon by their respective reaction to their negative past experiences. Reyna strove for power to have the ability to prevent tragedy to herself and others and ended up causing herself more pain through the isolation the power brought. Her pursuit is ironic in that her pursuit to prevent pain caused her pain. She is truly isolated from her peers not truly of her own free will, but because the position requires her to be strong for everyone around her. Nico on the other hand isolates himself. This is due to the negative atmosphere created by the community he initially lived in. The community was strongly anti-gay and he was forced to fear a part of himself. His isolation is ironic because in his want and need to be accepted he didn’t give anyone a chance to really get to know him and accept him. 

Both Nico and Reyna have trouble trusting others and hide behind tough exteriors. They hide the broken remnants of their respective lives. Reyna through her position. Nico through self isolation. Because of their similarities in dealing with their hardship and shared isolation and loneliness they are able to find someone to open up to. Nico and Reyna share a mutual understanding of loneliness and loss. This coupled with their quest together created a bond that is my favorite friendship in the Heroes of Olympus. I look forward to seeing Reyna in the Tyrant’s Tomb and hope this friendship get more focus in the coming books.