Hello and welcome back ladies and gentlemen! This is Marvel's Corner!

No, you are not having that dream where Marvel Man updates his blog. No, this is actually happening. So sit right back and I'll tell you how I became the Prince of Blogs. And afterwards we'll discuss some Japanese Animation. 

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Tonight's Topic: Marvel Man's Top 5 Anime List Of All Time

Before we begin, we have to take a look at what an anime is. We'll explore the origin of this unique Asian form of animation, and how it developed into the art form it is today.

... Nah, I'm joking with you guys. Let's get down to the list. Also, due to the oncoming economic armageddon, I will rank these shows with euros. We all know that currency won't last long. Long live America!

Anyways, coming in at number 5:

5. Blood +

Plot: Female High School student meets mysterious Cello Player, who reveals that she is actually a Vampire Queen. Bewildered Girl must then fall in love, battle her sister (who is an EVIL Vampire Queen), and protect her family. 

Thoughts: First of all, this list is based entirely off my Anime Watching experience. I have watched all these series from beginning to end. I would have made this into a Top 10 list, but I don't think I've watched ten anime series. If any serious anime fan is reading this, allow me to apologize. Blood + comes in at number 5 mostly because I needed a fifth anime for this list. No one ever wants to read a Top 4 list. That just sounds lame.

Anyways, I don't recommend watching Blood +, unless you're a teenaged girl. This series is a young girl's fantasy with bloody violent action scenes. The main character, who is so bland that I can't remember her name, stumbles though a relatively simple plot (which is somehow stretched into 50 episodes?). Her every move is ridiculously predictable, and most of her time is spent freaking when her bodyguard/love interest gets wounded (not to worry folks, the guy's a vampire so nothing can kill him, not even sunlight). This anime is not worth your time. I only watched this because a friend of mine really liked it. 

Two Euros out of Five:

€€

4. Claymore

Plot: Imagine the Middle Ages, except instead of imaginary dragons you have real demon beast things, and instead of brave knights you have blonde chicks with superpowers/swords. Bad demon beast things are bad, while Claymores are good. 

Thoughts: Claymore is a much better anime than Blood +. It has a huge amount of action. This is one of those anime series where humans have had all their insides filled to the brim with blood, so a single cut will have them squirting blood everywhere. Still, I'm not complaining. The plot is easy to follow, and there is rarely a moment where someone or something is not killing something. My only complaint is that all the Claymores (the good guys) look almost identical. When they're flying around slashing things at ninja speeds, it's hard to tell who's who. 

Three Euros out of five:

€€€

3. Death Note

Plot: Super smart teen faces off against another equally smart teen in a game of cat & mouse. A notebook that can kill people is involved somehow. Also, demons!

Thoughts: Death Note was the first anime I watched in recent years. My lady friend had been begging me to watch it for a while, but I had always brushed away anime. It looked childish. I focus on more adult things, like comic books. Boy, was I surprised when I finally watched Death Note. These characters were definitely not school girls with magical powers. They were not perfectly white characters. At various times, I found myself rooting for Light (the "bad guy" of the series). Sure, I'd been exposed to gray moralities before, but in anime form I had never really expected anything. 

I highly recommend watching Death Note. The series is relatively short (I watched it all one weekend). It makes one think, somewhat. It is far from a masterpiece, but it'll take a while to push it out of my Top 5 Anime list. 

Three and half Euros out of five:

€€€ €/2

2. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Plot: Based in a world where alchemy defeated modern science during the Middle Ages, two brothers attempt to bring their mother back to life. Limbs are lost, but the action sets the boys on a path full of adventure. 

Thoughts: If Death Note showed me that Anime was more than just cartoons, FMA showed me that Anime could be greater than traditional tv shows or movies. I watched the original FMA first, then slowly began Brotherhood (The original series has some fifty episodes in it, all of which are more or less summarized in Brotherhood's first fifteen episodes). FMA: Brotherhood had a fast paced plot, with many likable characters. I actually wanted to see what happened next in this show (that's far more than I expected from it). I recommend this series to anyone who likes a good story. There are so many good moments in this series. 

Four Euros out of five:

€€€€

And now, for my personal favorite anime of all time...

1. Dragonball Z

Plot: Blasted from his dying world, Kakarot grows up to become the Earth's greatest champion. Tons of action, yelling, and all around awesomeness is involved. 

Thoughts: What is there to say about DBZ that hasn't been said? Appearing sometime in the 90s, DBZ was the right show for the right time. DBZ filled the hearts and minds of young boys and girls all around the world. It featured heroes who believed in fighting for good for the sake of good. The bad guys were evil, and beating them into a pulp was always a good thing. Goku, although a nice guy, never tried to get Cell or Frieza to talk about their feelings. He just ripped his shirt off, yelled for a couple episodes, then punched a hole through the bad guys. Things were simple enough, but it never felt like the show was for little kids. Having grown a little since then, I'm man enough to admit that DBZ is far from the Greatest Anime of All Time. That title probably belongs to an anime where a robot, who represents modern consumerism and human greed, befriends a talking dolphin, who represents humanity's need for a connection with nature. But I'm okay with that, because DBZ was awesome and I loved it. 

Five Euros out of five:

€€€€€

Well, that's the end of this list. I hope you guys enjoyed it. All these shows (except for DBZ) can be enjoyed on Netflix. Also, I hope I can update this blog more often, but who knows what will happen. Thanks for the views though!

That's it for today. Until next time, this is Marvel Man, signing off. 

Excelsior!