evil batman be like (literally)

Woooo! Little fire guy!!

"I don't like old sci-fi shows, the special effects look too cheesy" you are incapable of joy. Go to the dungeon.

It's that time of year when Tumblr celebrates Easter by posting pictures of crucified anime characters, and inevitably somebody in the notes will pop up to helpfully explain that crucifixion imagery has no cultural significance in Japanese media because Japan is only about 1% Christian, which bugs me because it's completely wrong.

It's true that in the majority of cases, crucifixion in Japanese cartoons isn't meant to be conveying any specific theological message, but something Western audiences are likely to miss is that a large portion of those random crucifixion scenes are referencing Ultraman.

Ultraman's creator was a devout Roman Catholic who explicitly intended the titular hero to read as a Christ figure, and consequently, various Ultramen have been crucified on multiple unconnected occasions throughout the franchise's history. Crucifixion scenes in Japanese cartoons are often directly name-checking particular crucifixion incidents from Ultraman, right down to emulating the compositions and camera angles of specific shots. It's like an especially morbid version of the Akira slide.

The upshot is that, while it's true that the inclusion of gratuitous crucifixion scenes in Japanese cartoons typically has no (intentional) theological message, stating that they have no cultural significance is incorrect. A large chunk of the Japanese viewing audience are going to see them and immediately go "hey, that's an Ultraman reference".

Anyway, as an image tax, have a shot of four crucified Ultramen miraculously resurrecting a fifth Ultraman by shooting laser beams out of their hearts:

The crime syndicate hates Phantom

Captured Flash asked that one question. "And what is with that boy?" He looked outside where they seem to fight him. Ultraman:" That is Phantom, a Hero of this World." Flash:" Hero? I thought you all killed them." Power Ring:" Not this one. He is too strong, and we kind of have to fight him all the time." Flash:" Wait all of you…" The Crime Syndicate:"Yes, all of us. And he pranks us all the time, as he doesn't kill and can't arrest us." ++ Flash as he was kidnapped/saved by Phantom and meets that young Hero boy. Flash to himself. ' If we are villains here? Does that mean our world has a counterpart?'

messenger of ultra

still one of the most insane moments in any thing I've ever seen

Just learned that some of the concepts for Shin Godzilla's final omnipotent god form would have been its flesh sloughing off and revealing a giant ethereal lady.

Never change Hideaki Anno.

When you gotta pick up your son from detention but you gotta throw hands with your old rival because it’s on sight

Tokusatsu is a crazy TV show genre cuz the show will literally have the most emotionally compelling story ever told with action scenes keeping you on the edge of your seat, and then the hero pulls out a fucking Hasbro toy for a weapon.

i need you guys to know what the hell is going on with these memes on twitter

Revelation that the key to understanding Godzilla is that you must understand it is wrestling. It is wrestling. The good guy monsters like Godzilla, Anguirus, and Rodan are the Faces who you always root for because they’re YOUR GUYS. The bad guy monsters like Ghidorah and Gigan are the Heels who act like assholes and yell things like “it doesn’t matter what you think!”. The good humans like Miki and Serizawa and the Shobijin are the Jim Ross-style announcers and interviewers who comment on the match or chat with the wrestlers between fights. The bad humans and evil aliens are the corporate guys like Vince McMahon, and the giant robots like MechaGodzilla are what happens when they decide to get in the ring themselves. Rival kaiju/toku series like Gamera or Ultraman are rival wrestling companies and underground circuits. Baby Godzilla is Hornswoggle.

In this essay I will