Today, I note that I forgot someone in my 5/7/2003 List of Fame. One of the "living" animated legends himself, on a show about a group of professional thieves.

No, not Lupin III. Rather, his nemesis, Zenigata.

This man...this man--he's just plain funny. He makes this show. If Lupin III were a movie, I know of two Western actors that could carry him off beautifully: Jim Carrey and John Witherspoon. The former: In Living Color alum, famed actor in several comedies and a few critically-acclaimed films. (though I see Carrey as Lupin himself) The latter is such an obvious choice for Zenigata that if the Wayans dynasty, Spike Lee, or some unknown director were to make it a live-action piece, Zeni would be Afrimerican. Hey, it worked for Whoopi in Burglar.

Thus far, the ep with Zeni in San Francisco has to be his best. Where is this man's mind? Honestly, if you were to put Kuwabara and Zenigata in the same place...actually, that fanfic is already being written, though Unknown will take a more serious tone. [much like a Lupin movie/TV special]

[synop mode] Somehow, I put Zenigata, Kuwabara's dad(who's probably dead on the show), Fujiko, Atsuko(Yusuke's eternally-inebriated mommy), and TK's[Takeru] grandfather from DA02 as children in a more innocent stage in their lives. Though not by much--these kids' lives were all screwed up except for Michel's. Especially kid Zenigata's.

Then, in present time, I have: Lupin and crew, older and wiser; vs. Zenigata and four young agents. The new Interpolice: Kuwabara, a girl that looks like Tea[Anzu], an American clone of "Bandit" Keith, and one of Keith's flunkies, Bones[Ghost]; all of the other three stolen borrowed from YuGiOh[Duel Monsters]. Thrown into this continuation of the ancient rivalry is a mystery theft that may very well threaten two worlds: "ours", and the digital world.

This clearly will go to Fanfiction.Net. But I'm debating whether it should go to L3, Digimon, or YYH in the Anime section.

Hoping new eps of L3 come soon.

Ah, Kazuma, how versatile thou art...

For ye that know not of any kazumas, there's only one on Toonami. or CN for that matter.

Kuwabara, alternately: Kaz, Kazu, Kuwie, Goofy[and, yes, I know Disney immortalized the lanky, big-hearted guy archetype in the form of a dog; let's not get into the Disney/Tezuka controversies today], and Hiei's personal favorite, Fool. [hiei, interesting dude, but has an annoying tendency to end his fights at the same rate of speed as Iron Mike Tyson back when he could box without resorting to ear-chewing.]

Anyhoo, back to Kuwie. One of the most interesting character designs to date, but it's his...personality that wins me over. No surprise here--as I believe characterization makes the bulk of my favorite shows, and YYH makes that in spades.

What is Kazu's role in Yu-Yu? Obviously not the bishounen, though he isn't ugly to me. [I've seen WORSE looking character designs.] Just not pretty. Can't be the hero, as that task has been placed on the Guy Who Likes Green*. And not Hiei, as our Eternally-Peeved-Twelve-Year-Old is Kuwabara's foil. [think Laurel and Hardy, Rita and Runt, Chip and Dale....]

* most fans call him Yusuke, and he's a great guy, too.

Brillo-head's(another nick for Kuwie) role is...the human element. Essentially, he is US. To be more precise, he is the 10-year old Japanese boy who chased his sister away from Sailormoon in 1992, who declared himself too old for Dragonball Z, and other inane bits of speculation where I presume that: despite our cultural differences, Japanese boys and American boys would probably play with a Terry Man action figure even if all that was left of Terry the Brat's(the Kid) pa was his torso. Or maybe a leg. [I base this on extensive empirical observation of nephews, male cousins, and an older brother over the course of two decades, though the fact they're all Afrimericans has not eluded me.]

For proof of this, just note how he reacts to some situations. [in other situations, he acts twice his age, and in other cases, he behaves like--gasp--an actual teenage boy.]

==

Now, my favorite character in animation from Japan still is Shutendouji, Oni Masho. [for neophytes to Ronin Warriors, this bishie redhead was called Anubis, Master of Cruelty stateside, despite the fact that the real Anubis--Yami Masho/Kail, Kale, Cale, Cail, Gale, Gail, Likeitmatters, :rolleyes:; might object.]

But it's hard for him to best Kaz; the latter was revealed in the beginning to be an overall nice kid with hidden psychic powers who just had a penchant for being in fights with half the local roughs in the district. Anubis the Red was, at the start of RW, well...the MOC. Throwing Innocent Bystanders[&TM&] into the maw of Mt. Fuji to get the hero to power down was smart--but underhanded. Indeed, I was a happy viewer when he joined the Team, because he was the smartest samurai there. [though Sage fans would beg to differ.]

In addition to Kuwie, Anubis faces Kusanagi, who's definitely the best "leading man" I've seen in action; and Ichijouji Ken, a compelling yet fairly simple to understand boy.[once you realize he's just 11, you can pin down much of his thankfully-defunct alter ego's rationale.]

Plus, Terry the Kid and Kinniku Mantaro sneak in; finally: Chiba and Kaiba Seto round out the gang.

[of course, these are the guys I like a great deal.]

But now, I must sleep. Good night. :)

Oh...it's been a massive effort to publish these blogs, drat it. Had I known BlogSpot was a portal, I would never have tried to FTP it directly to TTTV. Older posts from my previous blog efforts:

[4/27/2003 2:47:59 AM | Janell Clark]
And now, Laserbeak the Decepticon demands your undivided attention. Late.

[4/27/2003 2:18:37 AM | Janell Clark]
I suppose a synopsis is in order. The story's set in 1995, and basically involves a guy and his cat. It also has a giant tiger demon, a dog demon aristocrat, and [I hope] gives off vibes from Ovid's Metamorphisis.

(probably not. but it's a fairly decent switch-Kuwabara-with-his-cat story--which hasn't been done before--and heaven knows the YYH section can use stories not expounding on Hiei and Kurama's undying love.... and besides, it has Fluffy!)

Let me work on that, as well as PB. [the latter may not receive an update until mid-May. the War had consumed my thinking of late, making TI eerily prescient--though in the way that GIJoe eps are psychic regarding current events....]