Digimon Xros Wars... becomes Digimon Fusion

"Digimon Xros Wars", the 2-seasons-long yet final and most boring saga of the Digital Monsters franchise will be presented as "Digimon Fusion" on the international market by Saban Brands (in cooperation with MarVista Entertainment) during the MIPCOM in Cannes, France, next week. They already bought and re-sold the previous seasons so it's actually clear that the series will find himself a potential purchaser. The question I'm more concerned about is, will it still be uncut or will there going to be some cencored and cutted scenes? Will they produce their own evolution theme and is the rest of the world willing to accept that? Those two seasons might be a big disappointment story-wise, but when it comes down to the music, it was incredible. I sincerely doubt that they will keep those numerous evolution themes and will create their own one like they did for America the past seasons.

Well, as I'm not a fan of those seasons anyway, it won't bother me. I just would be really annoyed as a fan that never had a chance to watch those sagas before they are shown in a more "reduced" version on TV.

I can now present to you the official "DIGIMON FUSION" logo that will be the flagship of the series from now on (the funny thing is that the evolution mode still is going to be called "DigiXros"...)

International Logo

The Original Logo

UPDATE:

You can view the first english trailer HERE

New Dragonball Z CINEMATIC MOVIE announced

Hell yeah. A new theatrical movie of the DRAGONBALL Z franchise is in the works, out due march 30 2013. It will tell the story of the lost time between manga chapter 517 and 518.

The still untitled movie is one of the few movies that were awarded governmental funding support, due to its “enduring international popularity” and its production collaboration with the U.S. company Fox. This (hopefully) means that this movie will be seen in theatres across the world.

As some of you might remember, the creator of the original Dragonball franchise, Akira Toriyama, wasn't involved in neither the Dragonball GT saga nor ongoing projects ever since. But it's true that Toriyama joined the production team for this movie, so it will have the "oldschool" Dragonball Z feeling we fans missed from Dragonball GT and maybe other projects as well.

Now it's time to present the first teaser trailer of the upcoming Dragonball Z movie which only includes a tiny bit of a scene of the camera flying from the sun to the earth where we see Goku standing on the edge of a cliff, ready to take on the encounter(s). But yeah, this is still enough to get emotional...*sigh*... well, a true Dragonball fan knows what I'm talking about. ;) ENJOY!

"Episode of Bardock" Dragonball Special

Oh My Gosh! A brand new Dragonball anime special has been released these days! It's called "Episode Of Bardock" and is a "what-if" sequel to the original special "Bardock - Father Of Son Goku" from 1990. It portrays the story of Son Goku's father, Bardock, who is accidently shot to the past through Frieza's giant energy blast and meets his ancestor, Chilled. To save the planet, Bardock turns into a Super Saiyan and makes history as Chilled is the first creature ever to encounter a Super Saiyajin. Watch the 20 minutes-long episode below!

This special is a part of the SSSS project ("Saikyo Super Saiyan Secret") that has been launched by Bandai, in conjunction with V-Jump and Saikyo-Jump in November 2011. This project has been conceived "In order to make further steps in the development of the Dragonball franchise".

The first of two titles has already been released on the PS3 game "Raging Blast 2" worldwide and is called "Plan To Eradicate The Super Saiyans". It is a remake of the first Dragonball OVA from 1993 (which actually had the same title) and tells the story of Dr. Raichi, the only survivor of the Tufles, a race completely destroyed by the Saiyans. He now plans to take revenge and kill them all. Watch this two part special below:

Another Ova has been released in 2008 under the title "Dragonball: Yo! Son Goku and his friends return!" which has actually nothing to do with the SSSS project but resembles the only new animated Dragonball story in nearly a decade. It takes place two years after the DBZ Kid Buu Saga (and therefore entirely discounts the Dragonball GT series) and introduces Tarble, Vegeta's younger brother, who's come to earth because he needs help from the Z Warriors to destroy freezer's former army members, Abo & Kado. (This special features a new and more modern opening sequence of "Cha-La-Head-Cha-La"! Watch it below.)

Rumor has it that a new anime series will launch in 2012, three years after Dragonball Kai ended (the restored version of Dragonball Z, which actually consists of 98 episodes and discounts the Buu saga completely, as it wasn't included in the manga storyline). We'll wait and see what happens.

Who needs another Dragonball anime series? If it will be a lot KAI-ish, i'd go for it (almost no filler episodes and great action). Additionally, I'd rather want more episodes like the Bardock special mentioned above. It was kinda suspenseful and really epic to see this happen, as I always wanted Bardock to turn into a Super-Saiyan ^_^. Maybe they could leave old enemies like frieza alone and create new creatures (and please, no ancestors/ family members anymore! I had enough - king cold, cooler and chilled are way too similar and the ideas are not very creative either. It needs a new bunch of enemies AND heroes, otherwise a new series would be kinda boring.)

Discuss!

To finish this short blog post, both "Episode Of Bardock" and "Yo! Son Goku And His Friends Return!" are anime adaptions of the released mangas from V-Jump.

You can actually read the manga of "Episode Of Bardock" here and download the manga of "Yo! Son Goku And His Friends Return!" here.

Things to watch on Christmas!

Movies in RED are my personal favorites, the rest is also fun to watch. I did not include every single Christmas movie that is being shown these days, so look in your local magazines to view a list of all Christmas movies. This is just a selection based on personal taste.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!

December 24th

ARD

11:50 Uhr
Drei Nüsse Für Aschenbrödel
(Tri orísky pro Popelku)
CS, DDR, 1973

13:05
Der Kleine Lord
(Little Lord Fautleroy)
GB, 1980

ZDF

13:55 Uhr
Michel in der Suppenschüssel

Kabel 1

15:10 Uhr / 17:05 Uhr / 18:40 Uhr
Winnetou I - III

VOX

12:10 Uhr
Liebling, Ich habe die Kinder geschrumpft
(Honey, I Shrunk the Kids)
Fantasy-Comedy, 1989
INFO: A funny flick about a father who accidently shrunks his children and must find a way to bring them back to their normal height.

16:50 Uhr
Wieder allein zuhaus
(Home Alone 3)
Comedy, 1997
INFO: The third installment of the Kevin-series. This time, a new Kevin is protecting his family from robbery by new thiefs.

18:30 Uhr
Santa Clause – eine schöne Bescherung
(The Santa Clause)
USA, 1994

RTL II

13:05 Uhr
Das letzte Einhorn
(The Last Unicorn)
Cartoon, 1982
INFO: A movie I've been grown up with. A beautiful story about the last of its kind and his magnificent journey to the point of no return. A magical rescue operation to free the unicorns from dark powers ends with a fight for life and death as the red bull is keen on the last unicorn to be erased. A must watch for everyone who loves fairytales and drawings that are too beautiful to be real.

Sat 1

14:55 Uhr
Die Schöne und das Biest – Weihnachtszauber
(The Beauty and the Beast: The enchanted Christmas)
Cartoon, 1997
INFO: Beautiful mid-quel of "The Beauty And The Beast" (the story takes place in the meantime of the original). Very christmas-ish as Belle and the Beast try to enjoy Christmas with their friends.

Super RTL

20:15 Uhr
Mickys großes Weihnachtsfest - Eingeschneit in Mickys Clubhaus
(Mickey's Magical Christmas)
Cartoon, 2001
Wiederholung: December 25th, 17:45 Uhr
INFO: A wonderful, oldschool disney cartoon, including the extremely beautiful disney spin on Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol".

21:20 Uhr
Mickys turbulente Weihnachtszeit
(Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas)
Cartoon, 2004
INFO: Another beautiful disney cartoon about christmas, with storys of Goofy and Max, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.

--------------------------------

December 25th

ARD

16:00 Uhr
Nils Holgersons wunderbare Reise (1)
D, 2011

ZDF

7:55 Uhr
Schneewittchen und das Geheimnis der Zwerge
D, SK 1992

9:20 Uhr
Hänsel und Gretel
D, 2009

14:50 Uhr
Tatsächlich Liebe
(Love Actually)
USA, 2007

16:50 Uhr
Liebe Braucht Keine Ferien

RTL

23:45 Uhr
Tin Man - Kampf um den Smaragd des Lichts
(Tin Man) / GESCHNITTENE FASSUNG
UK, 2007
INFO: A new spin on the OZ tale. But beware, it's the extremely cutted version (almost 100 minutes are left out).

Kabel 1

17:45 Uhr
HOOK
US, 1991

22:10 Uhr
Sleepy Hollow
Fantasy-Horror, USA, D, 1999

VOX

22:10 Uhr
HIGH LANE – Schau nicht nach unten!
(Vertige)
Horror-Thriller , F, 2009

23:40 Uhr
P2 – Schreie im Parkhaus
(P2)
Horror, USA, 2007

-------------------------------

December 26th

ARD

8:00 Uhr
Bibi Blocksberg

9:40 Uhr
Bibi Blocksberg und das Geheimnis der blauen Eulen

16:20 Uhr
Nils Holgersons wunderbare Reise (2)

ZDF

14:10 Uhr
Michel muss mehr Männchen machen

RTL

11:30 Uhr
Disney’s Dinosaurier
(Disney’s Dinosaurs)
USA, 2000

16:35 Uhr
Ice Age III – Die Dinosaurier sind los
(ICE AGE III)
USA, 2009 (Wh.)

18:20 Uhr
Ice Age - Eine coole Bescherung
(Ice Age Holiday Special)
USA, 2011

Pro 7

20:15 Uhr
Shrek Der Dritte
(Shrek III)
USA, 2007

22:00 Uhr
Shrek - Oh du Shrekliche
(Shrek the Halls)
USA, 2007

2:40 Uhr
Santa’s Slay – Blutige Weihnachten
(Santa’s Slay)
Horror-Thriller, USA, 2005

Guilty Pleasure: Digimon

Everyone of us has at least one "guilty pleasure", a secret joice you are too ashamed of to actually talk about. Well, here is mine. This often as childish and boring described japanese series was my first anime EVER. Loving this kind of show resulted in the fact that I easily get addicted to shows like this, even nowadays.

Back in 2001, when the first season of "Digimon (Adventure)" started, I didn't even had a CLUE about Animes, I didn't even know that "Heidi" or "Ohayō! Supanku" were one of them. I fell in love with the art of drawing, the storytelling, the superb score (good music is the key to magic) and the great plot! Yes, it was great. Maybe not deep, but it was great and entertaining as hell. I absolutely loved it and watched this season a hundred times since then. It never gets boring if you love it like I did and always will. ^_^

The best about season one were the great Seadramon, its ultimate form Metalseadramon, Garudamon and Angemon, the Angel. I've always been keen on the Nessie myth and Seadramon reminded me of this beloved lake monster. His ultimate evolution , Metalseadramonm, became one of my favorite Digimon of all time. (Right, the plural form is not DigimonS, it's Digimon. Digital Monsters. Please keep that in mind. ^^) I think it was just a creative idea to make Nessie look like a mechanic creature that actually has no problem to swim and dive through seas and lakes. Garudamon on the other hand evolved because of her will to survive and the heart of Sora, her human passenger. It inspired me and made my heart melt. Angemon on the other hand resembled pure power and undestroyable magic coming from heaven. It was just beautiful to watch when he showed up to rescue the humans from evil.

I love Season One. It was the best season of Digimon and will forever be. None of the seasons that followed came close to the magic of season one, but I liked almost all of them. It's Digimon, you know? :)

Season Two, or: "Digimon Adventure Zero Two", was great. I wasn't keen on the new digivolution mode and was happy that the old evolution mode came back after a while. But still, this season didn't really FLASH me and I wasn't really addicted to it. I didn't love the way they ended it and the last two episodes were kinda torture. Who wanted to see all digivolutions in a row... twice? It was nothing but useless and time-consuming. Still, the season had its moments (Sylphimon was my favourite, a fusion of Aquilamon and Gatomon) and was nice to watch.

Season Three, or "Digimon Tamers", was my second favorite. It had a nice and entirely new concept that reminded me of a TCG (Trading Card Game) just like Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh, but this time even better. The way this new method was put into the story was just mind blowing. For the first (and only) time ever, humans had to use cards to make their digimon evolve to a higher level or become stronger. They created a new insert song (background music that is used in a special moment, like evolution or the use of power-ups) for both the evolution and card using method. I think the drawing was better than it was back in season two, but still, it couldn't surpass the magic of season one. My favorite was Maringeangemon.

Season Four, or "Digimon Frontier" was just not my cup of tea. All I can say is that it reminded me of Power Rangers, because humans evolved into digital monsters, and I simply hated that. It was the only season I didn't watch from start to finish, because it annoyed me at some point. I had almost no favorites, the story was cheap and the drawing became even worse after it was certain that this season should end earlier than the previous ones. The only good thing about this season was the music.

Season Five, or "Digimon Savers" / "Digimon Data Squad" was my favorite after season 1 and 3. I loved the more mature look of the characters (they almost looked like young adults), the "back-to-the-roots" evolution system and the inspiring music that just got better and better. I had a lot of favorites, just like Shinegreymon Burst Mode, Gaomon and his entire evolution family, Merukimon, Yattagaramon and Ravemon. This season was full of moments that I will never forget, for example the final battle against Belphemon or the bio hybrids. I loved this season!

Season Six, or "Digimon Xros Wars" (picture on the right), is one of two seasons that I haven't watched already. It is one of the newest seasons and premiered in 2010, with an entirely new evolution system and the digimon looking like animal transformers (holy...). I'm about to order this season via ebay and should be able to review it in early 2012. Season Seven, or "Digimon Xros Wars II: Time Traveling Hunter Boys" (picture on the left) is the sequel to "Digimon Xros Wars" and premiered right after the end of season six in October 2011. It is still running and I will not be able to watch it unless I've watched season six. But I'm convinced that both seasons won't be as great as I want them to be...