The “Undefeated”

lux

As of late, I have been running into a lot of fighting academy shows, where people of varying degrees of talents and abilities are shipped off to this particular institute or that particular school to hone their fighting skills so that they may defend this country or do battle against other schools for honor and glory and all the taiyaki they can devour. It’s like being in “The Goblet of Fire” but without Cedric Diggory. This particular offering, “Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle” (“Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut”, “Undefeated Weakest Bahamut“) related the potentially sad tale of Lux Arcadia (that’s him, keeping abreast of things…..so to speak).

He was the seventh crown prince of the Arcadia Empire that was overthrown via a rebellion five years earlier. He is a new transfer to Royal Knight Academy, but in trying to help a girl, he accidentally trespasses into the female dormitory’s bathing area and sees the kingdom’s new princess, Lisesharte, naked, incurring her wrath. Lisesharte then challenged Lux to a Drag-Ride duel. No, I’m not talking about getting out your souped-up hot-rod and racing for pink slips. Continue reading

Some Thoughts on Crunchyroll’s 2016 Anime Awards Before Voting Begins

Crunchyroll launched its inaugural Anime Awards in late December with nominees in 14 categories selected by a panel of seven judges with different backgrounds. Voting begins January 3rd and lasts one week until January 10th. The winners in each category will be revealed soon after voting concludes with one exception: Anime of the Year. The winner for that award will announced live at a party in San Francisco on January 28th.

Subjective awards are often full of debates about who or what should have or should not have been nominated. I’m not going to discuss the merits of any particular series in this blog post, mainly because I have only seen episodes from two anime that received nominations – those two are Flying Witch and Space Patrol Luluco. I’m more critical of the overall categories and gaps in the types of anime series being highlighted. Continue reading