It's 80s Month! I'm pretty fond of doing this theme month, even if this month's specific offerings aren't exactly the greatest anime of all time. Yeah, I kind of cornered myself by already having covered most of my favorite 80s anime previously (Bubblegum Crisis, Gundam 0080, Royal Space Force, Patlabor, Char's Counterattack, The Fuma Conspiracy, and Night on the Galactic Railroad). But hey, They Were Eleven is decent enough, and I get to put on my 80s aesthetics again! Bitchin'.

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SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS: In the year 2045, sustainable warfare has made an even wider gap between the haves and the have-nots in certain areas of the world. Motoko Kusanagi, Batou, and other former Section 9 members are now GHOST, a PMC that cleans up messes in the U.S., but have found themselves entangled in a bigger plot. So-called "post-humans" threaten the world order, and Section 9 is revived in Japan, at the behest of the newest Prime Minister. But is the Prime Minister just a puppet for the American government? And is there more to these post-humans than just superhuman monsters? The gang's all back to brain dive into a brand new series by Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki!

Ah, Serial Experiments Lain. I still don't 100% know what's going on at all times in this one, though several watches has me getting the gist of it, or enough to speak on it as a reviewer. It's a noodle-scratcher, that's for sure, and was especially potent when I was still new to any anime that was more complicated than, say, Dragon Ball Z. It holds up pretty well, too, it's not just one of those shows that seemed complicated at the time and is now quaint. It still has things to say that are relevant to today's society. I like that. And I recommend seeing it or revisiting it.

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So this is my second episode with the new opening. What do you think of it? I wanted to include anime that I'll probably review either this year or next into it. Though I doubt I'll be covering Lupin III Part IV, because it's still too new to meet my requirements, I'll definitely be covering Lupin features.

So, this is the first episode of Otaku Evolution with the brand new opening. The new opening tune is "Hyperdrive" (the instrumental version) by Sebastian Forslund. The new ending music is "The End of All Things" by Niklas Johansson. I found the tracks on Epidemic Sound, a resource available to Channel Frederator producers, which I'm still able to access, despite my YT channel being demonetized because I wasn't getting enough views or subscriptions. They're royalty-free, but of course I'll make sure to credit whenever I can. They're both great pieces.

As for Outlaw Star, it's a fun show. I wouldn't put it in my top 20 anime, because in the end, it's kind of just a fun space adventure and not much else. Sure, it's well-done, but nothing really comes across as brilliant. That Caster Gun is great, though.

About a six years ago I had the idea to put together a piece discussing the Gundam franchise’s many timelines and many, many complexities. Little did I know that I was opening a can of worms. Welcome to that can of worms.

The Gundam franchise is a confusing assortment of TV series, manga, games, novelizations, and even audio dramas. These are broken across many different universes, and within those universes, similar and sometimes contradictory stories. What I’ve tried to do below is take as much of the franchise’s numerous installments I could muster and lay them out graphically. Before we get to that there are a couple of core concepts we need to cover.

In researching for my guide to the Gundam timelines and canon I took a look into the deep hole that is Dark History (or Black History, being the direct translation) from Turn A Gundam. Here reflects my findings, as limited as they are, as of April 2nd, 2020. 

Huge, massive, thanks to Mecorx for translating this and dealing with my obscene obsession driven trying to map out the entire franchise.

Dark History as represented Turn X's Instruction Manual

The Master Grade Turn X, released in June 2014, has a small blurb on Dark History...

The translation is a follows,

So, you’re interested in watching through Gundam’s Universal Century (UC) timeline? From the quintessential Mobile Suit Gundam which started the ball rolling over 40 years ago, to the upcoming Hathaway’s Flash? Well here’s how.

Watch it in order in which the series was produced and released.

/end article

...alright, let me elaborate.

For the longest time I’ve wanted a 1/350 scale Space Battleship Yamato from Bandai. For those who hadn’t heard of it before, think Perfect Grade quality gimmicks to the max of 2007 model technology - lights, sounds, and best of all, motorized turrets. I remember seeing one in a local hobby shop many years ago, back before Bluefin became the de facto US distributor for Bandai, and on sale for what must have been a crazy cheap price. These days they regularly go for over $700 - which is a key reason I never got one.

That is until recently, when friend and fellow r/Gundam mod, Jaguar let me know about an online listing for a used kit out of Japan. It was still a bit pricey, and there was no guarantee that it still functioned, but from the photos it looked like everything was there. Apparently it was built back in 2007 then promptly put back in the box and forgotten for over a decade.

I have to be honest. I don't really care for this crop of Black Jack episodes.  There are too many unnecessary moving parts in them that prevented them from being good. At least the "Owl of San Merida" had an interesting premise with the disappearing bullet holes, but adding the drama of the civil war and the old man just felt too extra. The sixth episode was a big waste of time, with a giant middle finger as an ending. I miss drug cacti.

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