Astro Boy Prequel Anime Announced

ANN reports that an anime adaptation of the prequel to Astro Boy has been announced. Titled "Astro The Beginning", it depicts the events prior to the fateful day Dr. Tenma's son Tobio is killed in a car accident, leading to the creation of Astro Boy.

Created by 'God of Manga' Osamu Tezuka, and is one of the earliest known Anime series ever produced, Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom in Japan) is of the title character, a child robot created in the likeness of his creator's son. Armed with various weapons and abilities, Astro defends Earth against various threats and disasters, while also dealing with the discrimination of his kind by the human race.

Why Disney Sucks in Video Games

Earlier, Disney chose to close its gaming division, effectively cancelling the popular Disney Infinity game altogether, to the dismay of fans. A business analyst explains the closure.

Looking back, the article was spot on as Disney really has no idea how to make a really good game for players to dig in and play and is focused entirely on just making a quick buck (as any megalomaniac corporation would). And when you look at the Disney games in the past that were REALLY good, it's because they are developed by a company that knows a thing or two on making them. Capcom developed Ducktales that is an instant classic; and of course Square-Enix did Kingdom Hearts.

Latest X-Men Movie Earns Low in US Theaters

A lot of news sites like this one is making headlines that X-Men: Apocalypse earned $26.4 million on Friday in the US and is expected to have an estimated earnings total of $90 million by Monday.

Est. US earnings - $90 million
Est current Global earnings - $110 million
Est. Production Cost (sans marketing & distribution) - $180 million

Conventional wisdom states that the movie must earn more than double its production cost to break even (to cover marketing, et al), before it actually starts to profit. At the rate this is going, and with comparisons to Deadpool, it's not looking good for the franchise.

The call for FOX to re-negotiate with Marvel the same way Sony did for Spider-Man is getting louder.

Meanwhile, Olivia Munn, who plays Psylocke in the film, is begging to be added to the upcoming X-Force film with Deadpool.

As much as I enjoy Olivia Munn from her days as a host on Attack of The Show, she's saying this because she knows how screwed up she was when she turned down the role as Deadpool's girlfriend and went for the role of Psylocke instead. Now she desperately wants to get hired for a Deadpool role because of how much a big hit that movie is compared to X-Men: Apocalypse.

First a gay Cap, now a Hydra Cap

It's only just yesterday that #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend was trending on social media and other mainstream sites. And now all that changed quickly with the recent release of Steve Rogers: Captain America #1, which reveals that Steve Rogers has been a sleeper agent for Hydra since the very beginning. And that rustled a lot of feathers for everyone.

Now let me be clear that this is THE Steve Rogers from main Marvel continuity, otherwise known as Earth-616. He's not a clone or an imposter or anything of the sort. He is the Steve Rogers co-created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon since the 1940's, now revealed to be an undercover agent for Hydra, one of the most notorious organizations in the Marvel universe. Or if you never read the comics, they're the villain team Coulson took on in Agents of SHIELD and Coulson's team seems to have ultimately won when all of Hydra's bases were destroyed.

Whether you're a die-hard comic book fan or just among the general public, Captain America has always been the icon of American Patriotism - "Truth, Justice, and the American Way", so to speak. Yes that's a line for Superman, but the same also applies to Captain America, perhaps in many more ways than Superman's. And to reveal that Rogers has been on the side of the villains from the very beginning, and the fact that the issue was released just as Memorial Day in the US is around the corner, then you got everybody all riled up. Now #SayNoToHYDRACap is trending on social media that it not only trumps yesterday's call to make Steve Rogers gay, but also kind squashed any hype for DC's Rebirth event, but that's another story.

Obviously all of this is part of a marketing effort to get people to pick up the comic and know what's going on. In my case, their tactic worked. As I was shopping for some groceries earlier today, I decided to go and grab the issue and read it myself.

Full Disclosure, I haven't spent time reading Marvel after the Secret Wars event, and only read a few issues of Spider-Man and Iron Man from the All-New All-Different line of Marvel comics. So I missed out a lot of what happened in between. I haven't even gotten into the backstory behind the Civil War II event that is going on now, which I will discuss about later.

Thankfully the first issue doesn't ask you to read back issues to what happened prior to this and only asks you at least know who Captain America is. Not a problem since the recent Civil War movie has placed Cap on the map, so a lot of people know him already, as are the other supporting cast like Maria Hill, Sharon Carter, and Sam Wilson aka Falcon.

Now obviously, outlets like Entertainment Weekly and Yahoo have already spoiled the plot of Captain America #1, so I don't need to tell you that. There are a couple of key things on the issue when I read it: First, Hydra in this series is actually in a middle of an internal struggle for who controls the organization. On one hand, we have the Red Skull - longtime enemy of Cap. The other is another archenemy of his, Baron Zemo, which I assume you've already seen in the Civil War movie, just without his signature hood.

Second, the way Hyrda operates now is far different than they were decades ago, as Rogers notes it. Now Hydra's operations are akin to that of real-life extremists like the Daesh or the Taliban. This is something that not just disturbs Rogers, but Zemo as well.

Third, in addition for control of Hydra, Skull and Zemo are also fighting for control of Kobik. If you recall the Cosmic Cube from the first Captain America movie, it's the very same, except it's somehow sentient and is responsible for not only making Captain America young again, it also grants him his powers back. This is the only part of the issue where you may need to go read some backstories to see what's going on. But for the moment, Kobik is but a McGuffin in this plot.

That being said, it got me to think that maybe, just maybe, Kobik has somehow altered Cap's memory of him as a child and getting a false reminder that he was inspired by Hydra. Having memories altered is not uncommon in Marvel. Rogers did confess that ever since he became young again, he felt some strange changes in him. So that could be a factor. However, it is way too early to tell as this is just the first issue, and I can expect this arc to be ongoing for several months.

On that note, because of this 'revelation' that Cap is a Hydra agent, he will not likely get involved in the ongoing Civil War II event between Team Iron Man, and Team Captain Marvel. I also forgot to mention there are actually TWO Captain Americas currently in Earth-616: one is Steve Rogers, and the other is Sam Wilson. So I am suspecting that, aside from a marketing ploy, it is also to help push Wilson as the de facto Captain America, much the same way Jane Foster is pushed as the new Thor, and Laura Kinney as the new Wolverine.

So I'm not shocked at all by this revelation. This is something that happens a lot in comics and eventually it all goes back to the status quo. The only thing I didn't like in this issue is simply the writing. This is most especially when Zemo does his dialogues, as it makes him sound like he's in a 1960s cartoon. Red Skull too, though he can be forgiven because he's from the 1940s as well, and with the Axis forces at that time.

Does this make me buy more issues of Cap? Only out of curiosity. But I'm not gonna invest that deep, to be honest. So to anyone who got "triggered" by the revelation, you really shouldn't, but Marvel got you there. So kudos to Marvel for hyping this one up, regardless of its direction.

Disney Premiere List June 2016

Includes Disney and their sister networks (credits to Toon Zone). Also premiere dates for the final four episodes of Wander Over Yonder.

Best Friends Whenever on Disney Channel
(No new episodes in June)

Bizaardvark on Disney Channel
Fri Jun 24 - 9:45 - 101 - First

Bunk'd on Disney Channel
(No new episodes in June)

Girl Meets World on Disney Channel
Fri Jun 3 - 8:30 - 301 - Girl Meets High School, Part 1
Sun Jun 5 - 8:30 - 302 - Girl Meets High School, Part 2
Fri Jun 10 - 8:30 - 304 - Girl Meets Permanent Record
Fri Jun 17 - 8:30 - 303 - Girl Meets Jexica
Fri Jun 24 - 7:30 - 305 - Girl Meets Triangle

K.C. Undercover on Disney Channel
Sun Jun 19 - 8:00 - 211 - The Love Jinx

Liv & Maddie on Disney Channel
Sun Jun 5 - 8:00 - 319 - Skyvolt-A-Rooney
Sun Jun 19 - 8:30 - 320 - Californi-A-Rooney

Stuck in the Middle on Disney Channel
Fri Jun 3 - 8:00 - 109 - Stuck With My Sister's Boyfriend
Fri Jun 10 - 8:00 - 111 - Stuck With a Winner
Fri Jun 17 - 8:00 - 112 - Stuck With No Rules

Disney Channel Original Movies on Disney Channel
Fri Jun 24 - 8:00 - DCOM - Adventures in Babysitting

Backstage on Disney Channel
(originally aired on The Family Channel)
Fri Jun 3 - 9:00 - 109 - Sotto Voce
Fri Jun 10 - 9:00 - 110 - The Understudy
Fri Jun 17 - 9:00 - 111 - Lose Yourself

Mako Mermaids on Disney Channel
(originally debuted on Netflix)
TBA

Avengers: Ultron Revolution on Disney XD
(No new episodes in June)

Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything on Disney XD
(No new episodes in June)

Guardians of the Galaxy on Disney XD
Sun Jun 26 - 113 - Fox On the Run

Kirby Buckets on Disney XD
Mon Jun 20 - 7:30 - 119 - Call of Doodie
Mon Jun 27 - 7:30 - 121 - Tunnel Babies

Lab Rats: Elite Force on Disney XD
(No new episodes in June)

Pickle and Peanut on Disney XD
Mon Jun 20 - 9:00 - 117 - Bats / Sewer Shark
Mon Jun 27 - 9:00 - 118 - Movie Camp Out / Busted Arm

Star vs. the Forces of Evil on Disney XD
(No new episodes in June)

Star Wars Rebels on Disney XD
(No new episodes in June)

The 7D on Disney XD
(No new episodes in June)

Ultimate Spider-Man vs the Sinister 6 on Disney XD
Sun Jun 12 - 9:00 am - 410 - The Sinister 6, Part 1
Sun Jun 19 - 9:00 am - 411 - The Sinister 6, Part 2
Sun Jun 26 - 9:00 am - 412 - Agent Web

Walk the Prank on Disney XD
Mon Jun 20 - 8:00 - 105 - Adventures in Babysitting
Mon Jun 27 - 8:00 - 106 - LOL the Vote

Wander Over Yonder on Disney XD
Mon Jun 6 - 8:00 - 219 - The Search for Captain Tim / The Heebie Jeebies
Mon Jun 13 - 8:30 - 220 - The Sick Day / The Sky Guy
Mon Jun 20 - 8:30 - 221 - The Robomechabotron / The Flower
Mon Jun 27 - 8:30 - 222 - The End of the Galaxy

Goldie & Bear on Disney Junior
TBA

Micky Mouse Clubhouse on Disney Junior
TBA

Sofia the First on Disney Junior
TBA

Nick Premiere List June 2016

June Premieres for Nickelodeon and its sister networks (Credits to Toon Zone):

Nickelodeon
All in with Cam Newton
Friday, June 3rd-8:00 pm (Series Premiere)

Bella and the Bulldogs
Saturday, June 4th-9:00 pm "Tailgating"

Blaze and the Monster Machines
Thursday, June 2nd-1:30 pm "Race to Eagle Rock"

School of Rock
Saturday, June 4th-8:30 pm "Freddy Fights for His Right to Party"

Shimmer and Shine
Wednesday, June 15th-TBA (Season Premiere)

The Other Kingdom
Sunday, June 5th-7:00 pm "Love Hurts"
Sunday, June 5th-7:30 pm "You Can't Go Home Again"
Friday, June 10th-TBA "You Can"
Friday, June 17th-TBA "Cliff Anger"
Friday, June 17th-TBA "The Campaign"
Friday, June 24th-TBA "The Great Escape"
Friday, June 24th-TBA "Hidden in Plain Sight"

The Thundermans
Saturday, June 4th-8:00 pm "Dog Day After-School"


Nick Jr.
Teletubbies
Wednesday, June 1st-8:00 am "Babies"
Thursday, June 2nd-8:00 am "Bubbles"
Friday, June 3rd-8:00 am "Puddles"


Nicktoons
Chase Champion
Wednesday, June 1st-6:30 pm "Dragon; Teleport; Power Suit
Thursday, June 2nd-6:30 pm "Power Punch; Gork

Top Ten Trick Shots
Friday, June 3rd-9:00 pm TBA


TeenNick
TeenNick Top 10
Friday, June 3rd-9:00 pm


TV Land
Impastor
Sunday, June 26th-TBA (Season Premiere)

Lopez
Wednesday, June 1st-10:00 pm "George Needs Vegas"
Wednesday, June 8th-10:00 pm "Fear and Loving on the Way to Las Vegas"
Wednesday, June 15th-10:00 pm "George Goes All In"

The Jim Gaffigan Show
Sunday June 19th-TBA (Season Premiere)

The Soul Man
Wednesday, June 1st-10:30 pm "White Trash"
Wednesday, June 8th-10:30 pm "Numb and Number"
Wednesday, June 15th-10:30 pm "Boyce Don't Cry"


Specials
Henry Danger/The Thundermans Crossover TBA
    

CN Premiere List June 2016 (UPDATE 5/31)

UPDATED Schedule

The Amazing World of Gumball
Thu June 02 - 5:00pm - 429 - The Point
Thu June 09 - 5:00pm - 430 - The Scam

Clarence
Thu June 02 - 5:30pm -224 - Jeff's Secret

Lego Ninjago: Master of Spinjitzu: SkyBound
Thu June 09 - 7:00pm- 601- Infamous

The PowerPuff Girls
Thu June 09 - 6:00pm- 119- Snow Month

Pokémon the Series: XYZ
Sat June 04 - 7:00am - 1916 - Master Class Choices
Sat June 18 - 7:00am -1917 - A Electrifying Rage

Regular Show
Thu June 02 - 7:30pm - 733 - Pop's Favorite Planet
Thu June 02 - 7:45pm - 734 - Pam I Am [SPECIAL TIME]
Thur June 09 - 7:30pm - 735 - Lame Lockdown

Steven Universe
Thu June 02 - 7:00pm - 305 - Hit the Diamond

Uncle Grandpa
Sat June 4 - 11:30am - 320 - Except for Cooper
Sat June 11 - 11:30am- 321- In the Clouds

Cartoon Network website release:
Peanuts(Online)
Fri June 03 - 3:00am-121- Like Skates on Ice/Tennis/A Litte Nap/World of Mouth/ Good Dog
Fri June 10- 3:00am -126 - Snoopy the Superstar/Show Dog/ Train Your Dog /A Pretty Picture /Leave Me in Peace 

---------
ORIGINAL POST
Tentative schedule of premieres for CN for June (credits to Toon Zone). Expect updates:

The Amazing World of Gumball
Thu June 02 - 5:00pm - 429 - The Point

Clarence
Thu May 26 - 5:30pm -224 - Jeff's Secret

Pokémon the Series: XYZ
Sat June 04 - 7:00am - 1916 - Master Class Choices

Regular Show
Thu June 02 - 7:30pm - 733 - Pop's Favorite Planet
Thu June 02 - 7:45pm - 734 - Pam I Am [SPECIAL TIME]

Steven Universe
Thu June 02 - 7:00pm - 305 - Hit the Diamond

Uncle Grandpa
Sat June 4 - 11:30am - 320 - Except for Cooper"

#GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend Thoughts

I'm aware that people will hate me for this rant, but this is just plain ridiculous. First "fans" of Frozen want the sequel for Elsa to have a girlfriend.

Now, those who enjoy the MCU want Cap to hook up with a guy.

Andrew Garfiled once wanted to make Peter Parker gay. That didn't turn out well for the actor, did it?

I get it. The LGBT community wants a mainstream character to be gay to serve as their champion and to push for the general public to accept the LGBT community in fiction as much as is in real life. There are, however, major hurdles to that, especially with regards to characters like Peter Parker and Steve Rogers -

1. Their Legacy
Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne - these are characters that have been around since the invention of comic books and thus have a history known by generations of fans. Sure, they're white, muscle-bound, straight dudes, but it's been that way for so long nobody has any problem with them anymore. To change even one dynamic of those characters in the name of progressiveness has a very high potential (again, I say 'potential' to a very high degree), to cause a shitstorm where everybody loses!

And speaking of which.....

2. It Won't Work from a Business Perspective
If the idea of making a major Marvel or DC character gay would help increase sales of the comics and merchandise of the said character, then by all means, go for it. To the best of my knowledge, there has not been a major comic book character whose sexuality has been changed that resulted in very very high sales. DC and Marvel, who had been publishing comic books and characters that cater to feminists who call to make characters that suit their tastes, such as Batgirl and Jane Foster-Thor, see their comic book sales figures actually went DOWN despite making these characters and even heavily marketing them. So unless anyone makes a very convincing argument that making Steve Rogers a gay man would increase sales of the Captain America comics and merchandise, while not alienating those who know the character's history for ages,  there's just no way.

In short, if it means more money for Marvel, they'll do it. But if they don't think it'll give them more money, they won't! Anyone who says this isn't about money, but about proper representation is naive. Everything is about the all-mighty US Dollar as far as Marvel is concerned. Marvel or any other business, will not do anything that results in the loss of profit. It's common  practice for businesses to make the maximum amount of profit possible, NOT the other way around.

Rather than call for Steve Rogers to be gay, why not call for characters who are already gay to begin with to have more stories and push to get noticed more? Marvel already has them - Shatterstar & Rictor, Iceman, Karma, Pod, Superia, Union Jack, Jackpot, Lucy in The Sky, Hulkling, Wiccan, and of course the most well-known of them all - Deadpool! The Guardians of the Galaxy were Z-list characters until Marvel made a movie out of them and everyone now loves Rocket Racoon and Groot.

So just say to Marvel "Hey, can you please make these gay characters in the spotlight more? Just have some really great people to work on them and boom! You got yourself your Marvel character that fights alongside the Avengers, is now popular, and he/she happens to be gay!" I can't speak for DC since I haven't payed that much attention to them as of late, but I assume they want the same thing - it's just that they're not very good at it.

Sure, DC is pushing for other characters to take the spotlight from Batman and Superman, like Green Arrow, The Flash, Suicide Squad, Legends of Tomorrow, etc. But it's at a snail's pace. At least White Canary, is a bisexual in the Arrow-verse. So that accounts for something right?

As for calls for Elsa to be a lesbian for the Frozen sequel, I did enjoy Frozen as a movie, but I hated its over-saturation of it. That said, Disney did just that to milk as much money off the movie as possible. Considering Frozen isn't even anything like the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale 'The Snow Queen', and that other mediums aside from the movie have this suggestion that Elsa and Anna are not just sisters who love each other - they are sisters who "LOVE" each other, I'd say, go ahead.

Reaction to AVGN's Ghostbusters 2016 Video

So a few days ago James Rolfe, better known as the Angry Video Game Nerd, posted a video on why he will not review the Ghostbusters reboot. You can check out Rolfe's video on the said subject, which is in the video description. The short version is that the reboot is riding on the brand name of Ghostbusters to generate both interest and revenue for co-producer Colombia Pictures, which produced the 1984 version that starred Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and the late Harold Ramis. The reboot features an all-female cast led by Meghan McCarthy, and as it is currently the most disliked video in Youtube history because the trailer was so bad, Rolfe refuses to watch the movie to give it a review.

As Rolfe says on his video "if you already know you're going to hate it, why give them your money?". He does have a point. As far as the movie studio is concerned, saying how much a movie sucks means next to nothing so long as it earns a lot of money. The Transformers films is one of the most critically panned series in modern movies, but it raked in a lot of dough for Hasbro and its partners. He made that point in his second video discussing the history of the third Ghostbusters film that was never made because of whatever politics happened behind the scenes between Aykroyd and Murray.

Since the video Rolfe made on the subject, he's gotten a lot of positive feedback from the audience, which is the majority. But it's the criticism towards Rolfe and his views on the subject that essentially spread through other media outlets like The Atlantic, The Daily Dot, Esquire, and even from comedian Patton Oswalt. What these other outlets have in common it seems is that they accuse Rolfe of being sexist despite the fact the video does not mention Rolfe EVER criticizing the female cast.

Now a number of Youtube videos have emerged to speak on this subject, including ones from Cinema Slob, AlphaOmegaSin, The Amazing Atheist, and Chris Ray Gun, among others. So all this drama over Rolfe's video has the unintended effect of making him famous towards the mainstream somewhat. I dunno if that can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing for Rolfe.

I've looked up to all these places where they criticize Rolfe and I fail to see one of them ever saying anything positive about the Ghostbusters reboot. I would consider their argument if they explain what's so good about it. But nothing!

Now I am not gonna say anything on the Ghostbusters reboot because I already made my say the last time, which if you haven't seen it yet, it's on the video description. I, nonetheless, am well aware that because I'm a guy, whatever I say on this video regarding the Ghostbusters reboot would be considered sexist by those who defend the film. It's a sad reality these days that when you give an honest opinion on something, you get a lot a hate for it and even be labeled as anti-this, anti-that, or whatever. Not just the Ghostbusters reboot, but pretty much everything - Steven Universe, Dragon Ball Super, DC or Marvel, Sunderland or New Castle, etc.

So my open challenge to anyone is simply give me a sound reason why the Ghostbusters reboot is gonna be good and cite me some good points from the trailers. But if your reasoning is simply because it has an all-female cast, you're out of your bloody mind. A bad film is a bad film no matter how many A-list actors or actresses are in it. Just look up Hail Caesar.

Trailers are made to get people to watch the movie. But if the trailer turns out awful, it's less likely people will see the movie at all. Batman v Superman was panned by critics and fans, but the trailers got them to see it and it made just shy of $900 million. Back to the Michael Bay Transformers films, they were awful by critics, but the trailers made them come to see it. None of them had that many dislikes as this reboot of Ghostbusters does. I personally do not recall any movie, where the trailer is so hated, yet it made a lot of money nonetheless.

So in closing, as I find neither trailers to be any funny or entertaining at all, I've no reason to spend $12 on a movie that I most probably wouldn't like anyhow. If you want to watch the movie, that's your call. If you love the movie, that's your honest opinion and I respect that. No problem there. But if you start criticizing people who don't like the trailer or not going to watch the movie because their views are different from yours, who the hell are you to make that judgement?

And lastly before I go, if there is anything out there that I would consider as what the Ghostbusters reboot SHOULD be in terms of being funny and entertaining, it's the episode 'The Scam' from The Amazing World of Gumball. It was obviously a parody of the Ghostbusters franchise, but it was so well-written and so funny I literally laughed my ass off! Despite being a parody, The Scam retains the true spirit of the Ghostbusters franchise, while also being a Gumball episode.

The Scam episode has already aired in France, and a date pending for the US broacast on Cartoon Network. I highly recommend watching this episode whether you are fan of Gumball or Ghostbusters. I personally doubt James Rolfe ever watches other Youtube videos, but Rolfe, if you are watching this video, I urge you to check that episode out when you can. I promise you will not be disappointed.

The Red Turtle Trailer

Trailer for "Le Tortue Rouge" (The Red Turtle) a French animated film directed by Michael Dudok de Wit with animation from Studio Ghibli. The film is of a castaway living alone on a deserted island, unable to leave due to the interference of a red turtle. He later encounters a woman emerging from the sea and the two start a family together.

The movie is coming to French theaters June 29, and Japan on September. Sony Pictures has acquired the rights for the movie for American release. Date pending.

Kingpin in next Spidey Film?

Rumors abound that Daredevil's Kingpin, played byVincent D’Onofrio, may be considered for a role at the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming film.

 

It actually makes a lot of sense. For one, Kingpin's Criminal Empire extends beyond New York City, reaching even Queens. It's for this reason the Kingpin is a recurring villain through much of Spider-Man's comic book history. Many of what made Kingpin so well-known is his dealings with Spider-Man as opposed to his true nemesis, Daredevil.

A possible Inferno Cop x Space Patrol Luluco crossover?

What about Over Justice?

In case you're not familiar of the two hit shows from Studio TRIGGER (the team behind Kill la Kill) you can check them out via the links below from Crunchyroll:

Space Patrol Luluco

Inferno Cop

Agents of SHIELD Not Canon

In an interview with Bleeding Cool, Chloe Bennet (real name Chloe Wang), who plays Daisy Johnson aka Skye on Agents of SHIELD, gives her insight as to the division between Marvel Films and Marvel TV, and the lack of connection between the two.



I'm not really that surprised, honestly. But it's easier to simply declare SHIELD and the Defenders as being set in an alternate universe, and if a connection is to be made, it's through Infinity War.

CN Weekday Schedule Starting May 16, 2016

All times EST/PST. Info courtesy of ToonZone:

Mon-Fri*
6:00 am The Amazing World of Gumball
6:30 am The Amazing World of Gumball (replaces TTG! and PPG)
7:00 am We Bare Bears (replaces Teen Titans Go!)
7:30 am We Bare Bears (replaces 7:30 am Clarence)
8:00 am Teen Titans Go! (x2)
9:00 am Baby Looney Tunes (x2)
10:00 am Peanuts (replaces 10:15 am Looney Tunes)
10:30 am The Powerpuff Girls (replaces Looney Tunes)
11:00 am Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movies (replaces Tom and Jerry)
12:30 pm Teen Titans Go!
1:00 pm Uncle Grandpa (x2)
2:00 pm The Powerpuff Girls (replaces The Amazing World of Gumball)
2:30 pm Clarence (replaces Teen Titans Go!)
3:00 pm Clarence (replaces The Amazing World of Gumball)
3:30 pm Teen Titans Go!
4:00 pm Teen Titans Go! (replaces The Amazing World of Gumball)
4:30 pm The Amazing World of Gumball (replaces Teen Titans Go!)
5:00 pm The Amazing World of Gumball (replaces Clarence
5:30 pm Clarence (replaces The Amazing World of Gumball)
6:00 pm Teen Titans Go! (replaces The Powerpuff Girls)
6:30 pm Teen Titans Go! (Monday-Wednesday)/The Powerpuff Girls (Thursday Only)
6:45 pm Teen Titans Go! (Thursday Only)
7:00 pm We Bare Bears (Monday-Wednesday)/Steven Universe (Thursday Only)
7:15 pm We Bare Bears (Thursday Only)
7:30 pm The Amazing World of Gumball (Monday-Wednesday)/Regular Show (Thursday Only)
7:45 pm Adventure Time (Thursday Only) (replaces Monday-Wednesday Regular Show)

Fridays
3:00 pm The Amazing World of Gumball (x2)
4:00 pm Teen Titans Go! (x2)
6:00 pm Steven Universe (x4)

Saturday May 21st
Gumball Replaces Nexo Knights at 6 am
Gumball also Replaces Transformers: Robots in Disguise at 6:30 am
Uncle Grandpa replaces Teen Titans Go! at 9:15 am
Teen Titans Go! replaces Powerpuff Girls at 9:45 am
Clarence replaces Gumball at 10 am
Gumball replaces Clarence at 10:30 am
Powerpuff Girls replaces Teen Titans Go! at 1 pm and 1:30 pm
Gumball replaces Scooby-Doo movies from 4-6 pm

Sunday May 22nd
Teen Titans Go! replaces We Bare Bears at 7 and 7:30 am
We Bare Bears replaces Teen Titans Go! at 8 and 8:30 am
Teen Titans Go! replaces Clarence at 10 and 10:30 am
Clarence replaces Teen Titans Go! at 11 and 11:30 am
Powerpuff Girls replaces TTG! and Gumball at 2 and 2:30 pm
Movie Encore from Saturday at 6 pm is on Sunday at 4 pm

What's notable here is PPG moving from late afternoon to 10:30 am and 2 pm. Some are speculating that despite the ratings performance, CN may have been dissatisfied with how PPG is doing.

*all new episodes of CN Originals will air as scheduled every Thursday throughout the month of May, sans Uncle Grandpa, which continues to air on Saturdays.

Bad News for AoT fans

Cannot confirm this myself, but according to this blog post, the Second Season of Attack on Titan is delayed yet again, this time being pushed back for a 2017 release.

Originally, the plan was for the second season to air immediately following the season finale of Kabaneri of The Iron Fortress, which is also developed by the same team. 4 Episodes of Kabaneri have been aired so far and is currently available to international viewers on Amazon Prime.

Meanwhile, the manga is still ongoing, albeit at a slow pace.....

Classic Harem Anime Returns

Classic Harem Anime Tenchi Muyo to make a long return as a full OVA series this October. The last OVA series came out in 1994. Recently, a series of shorts called "Ai Tenchi Muyo" aired in 2014 to promote tourism for the city of Takahashi, Okayama.

Originally released as an OVA series in the early 90's, Tenchi Muyo is of a teenager named Tenchi Masaki, who, due to bad circumstances is attacked, and later befriends, a female space pirate. Other female characters would later appear and all battling for Tenchi's affections. Tenchi Muyo is regarded as an anime classic for its humor, drama, and popularizing the harem genre.

Talking Frieza Stamps

When Frieza is your boss at a corporation. Also talking Frieza stamps. Quite expensive for stamps, but at least you'll hear Frieza berating you for slacking off at your cubicle.

You say "Ah-ni-meh", I say "Ehh-nii-may"

Interesting graph showing a huge difference to what Anime Japan likes compared to the US.

Note that the graph only applies to Anime officially aired on Niconico and Crunchyroll. So don't expect shows like Dragon Ball Super to be in the list, since there is no official stream release at the moment.

For those who can't read Japanese, or didn't check the link above (which here it is again) Japan prefers shows like Ninja Slayer, Osomatsu-san, and Idolmaster. Americans by contrast, enjoy Log Horizon, Norigami, and Seraph of The End. Charlotte is one of the very few Anime in which both sides really enjoy.

Late News But Also A Bit of New News

We know Nick is planning to bring back old shows and Variety is reporting it late, but what caught my eye is that Jhonen Vazsquez is also mentioned to be in talks with Nick. The return of Invader Zim?

You got one job, Nick. Don't screw this up.

Sentai Do Not Wear Heavy Armor

Sentai Do Not Wear Heavy Armor

SENTAI. DO. NOT. WEAR. HEAVY. ARMOR!

Seriously! Watch EVERY Sentai/Power Ranger show ever made and name one where they actually wear this kind of armor! 

I'm aware there are other Tokusatsu shows in Japan where Heavy Armored suits are used, like this one, for example from the Space Sheriifs Trilogy:

And even the recent Kamen Rider shows feature the characters in extremely heavy armor, like this one from Kamen Rider Gaim:

This is the closest thing to an armor you will see in a Sentai/Rangers show. This is from Goseiger/Megaforce:

The reboot movie's Ranger Suits? They look like rejects from Iron Man/Robocop and totally lack originality.

Supergirl 'officially' in Arrow-verse?

Will Supergirl officially join the Arrow-verse by being part of CW? We'll find out in two weeks.

Dragon Ball Super Universe 6 Arc Review

So after 14 episodes, the Universe 6 Arc in Dragon Ball Super has finally ended. Now if you happen to be a diehard Dragon Ball fan, you'd say you have a blast with it. The story, the characters, the fights, most especially the fights. Personally, not so much.

Yes, the fight between Goku and Hit is one of the best in the series and in this arc, as it featured another character that can outclass Goku. No doubt what Goku can do at this point adds to his layer of arsenals in the never ending debate between him and Superman. Be that as it may, the fight between Goku and Hit is the ONLY thing good about this entire tournament between Team Beerus and Team Champa!

This whole tournament and how it plays out displays the very fundanmental problem of Dragon Ball in general because of its endless cycle of using the Power-Up Trope - to defeat a strong enemy, the protagonist must become stronger; for the protagonist to be challenged, the next enemy must be even more stronger; rinse and repeat. It'll eventually reach a point where the protagonist is just way too powerful that he or she becomes a very dull character.

How can you make a good story of a character that is virtually unbeatable? There's just no tension, no struggle, no interest, no fun. How would you feel if you played a game like Dark Souls 3 for the very first time, but with a cheat code that takes you directly to the final boss with infinite health and kills the boss with one hit? It's extreme, but you get the idea.

It was the same problem Superman was having during the Golden Age era of comics, as he was just too powerful that it was hard to make any interesting stories of him. That is until Kryptonite was introduced in the late 1940's. You get a more interesting story with all the tension and struggle when an overpowered character has an Achilles' heel.

Goku and Vegeta, unfortunately, don't have such an Achilles's heel. So in the case of the tournament for control of Earth and the Super Dragon Balls, the rules are made so that Team Champa has a fighting chance to win. I hate to use metaphors in this, but watching the entire tournament up until Hit enters the ring is like watching WWE's Triple H putting the World Championship belt against a jobber as the main event match in Wrestlemania.

Indeed, Botamo, Frost, Magetta, and Cabe are simply too weak against Goku and Vegeta in terms of raw power. While the narrative gives these characters something that would compensate for their lack of power, in an attempt to make the fights more interesting, it was poorly executed and still gives off as totally one-sided in favor of Goku and Vegeta. They even tried to make Piccolo have his moment, but he really didn't do much. Another disappointment as Super never bothered giving the other characters any time to develop and just focused mainly on Goku and Vegeta.

The arc also had a very lame excuse for not getting Gohan involved, despite the fact that Videl and Pan were among the spectators, leaving Gohan all his lonesome back on Earth. I would find it more interesting for Gohan to be part of the tournament as his nerfed form means he really has to push it against anyone from Team Champa.

And then there's the subject of Zen'o, or the Omni-King or the King of Everything. According to Beerus, he is capable of destroying all the 12 universes in a blink of an eye. Though we can suspect Beerus is exaggerating that claim, given his character, how he explains things regarding Monaka, and how he behaves when he made his wish with the Super Dragon Balls. Still, some fans have come to claim the Omni-King as the most powerful in all of anime fiction capable of destroying any universe with a whim.

I would disagree on that. Besides the suspicion that Beerus may have exaggerated the claim, if the Omni-King is really that powerful, why the need for guards to protect him then? Furthermore the context of Beerus's statement only said he can destroy the 12 universes, but at no point does it imply the Omni-King's power extends beyond those 12. In other words, the King of Everything cannot destroy every multiverse in fictional history as its beyond the scope of its own fiction that is Dragon Ball. The Omni-King cannot, for example destroy the world of Harry Potter, as it's simply not possible and I don't think J.K. Rowling is gonna be happy about that, either.

Aside from the Hit fight, there are some other good bits. Beerus really isn't that bad of a guy. Ok, he's still the God of Destruction and is very indiscriminate of which he blows up, but he does have a soft side. Cabe looks up to Vegeta the same way Genos does to Saitama in One Punch Man. And I like the idea of a future tournament that involves all the 12 universes. So there is still hope that at least one of the other 10 universes is where Dragon Ball GT happened. Or in my personal taste, an alternate version of Goku and Bulma as a married couple.

The next few episodes of Dragon Ball Super will have Goku and the gang live their everyday lives on Earth before the start of the next major arc, whatever that may be.

Rarity Transforms into What?!

So the upcoming MLP movie will be based on the current Mane 6 and is a continuation of the TV series. Also they can shapeshift into other forms now.

I initially thought the movie would be the start of the next generation of the MLP line, but it looks like it'll use the current generation still. I personally haven't watched MLP since Season 3 and only been focused on Equestria Girls. So I don't know how much the show has changed these couple of years, nor whether or not it's still as good as its used to be.