Best Anime of all time & Yellow Yums

I've posted in the past about Anime, I've voiced my opinions on some of them and given a few reviews. For the sake of staying consistent to the theme I'm going to turn this article into a tops list for me, a top 4 of what I consider to be the best Anime of all time not necessarily in any sort of order or anything but simply anime with brief descriptions and explanations of why I love them. Why not? This could be fun!

Yu Yu Hakusho:

Right from the get-go I'm going to state that this is probably my absolute favourite Anime of all time period. Running from 1990 to 1994 the Manga was adapted into an Anime which ran from 1992 to 1995, Yu Yu Hakusho is a fighter Anime which was inspired by the occult, Martial Arts, horror films and an influence of Buddhist mythology.. It's no wonder given the type of person I am and my real life interests that I should find this Anime so appealing.

This really resonated with me, me myself being a Buddhist Martial Artist in real life who follows a very closely Shaolin lifestyle with constant training and bettering of my body, mind and spirit this Anime really spoke to me and while I suggest you watch the original Japanese version if you're going to watch this at all I won't down the English Dub either. This is one of the few series whose dub I can stand and I've actually watched both the original version and the English dub more times than I care to admit or even try to count and continue to watch them through whenever I can find them/whenever they come on to this day. I never tire of this one.

In retrospective consideration this is definitely my favourite Anime of all time.

Dragon Ball:

And we're talking the original Dragon Ball and I suggest again that if you're going to watch this, do it right; watch the original Japanese version.. Not the fucking dub..

The original Dragon Ball is a favourite of mine because of obvious reasons, I enjoyed Dragon Ball far more than I did Z and consider Dragon Ball to be the far superior Anime in spite of others' opinions. Dragon Ball being far more whimsical and based more off Journey to the West ( The story of Sun Wukong who Son Goku is based after as I've mentioned in a past article ) whereas Z kind of just became what was trying to be Superman.. Z comparatively isn't bad but not very good either.. On it's own as a simple fighter Z is okay but Dragon Ball beats it on spirit, story and ultimate feel. I was far more involved in Dragon Ball than I ever was Z.

Outlaw Star:

This one's a bit of an oddity in my favourites all things considering but it's a really good Anime with a really deep story. Again as always I suggest watching the original Japanese as opposed to the dub, you'll find in the case of Anime I consider the original Japanese to be far superior to any dub 9 times out of 10. Sorry, the original voices for the original series just seems to fit for me.. Dubs are done second hand and can't be as good as the original because the voices weren't intended originally for the characters.

I've also as a point posted about this in the past as well.

Rurouni Kenshin:

 Another I probably identify with due to it's Martial Arts ideology is Rurouni Kenshin. This Anime ran from 1996 to 1998.. At least up until the end of the Kyoto Arc (Makoto Shishio) when the Anime starts into the filler it ends on.. I've never seen the filler and refuse to watch it.. I keep hoping they'll re-do the Anime or at least animate the Jinchuu Arc which is the arc following the Kyoto Arc that they never managed to do..

Between the Martial Arts, ideology and romance this is definitely an Anime that runs a wide gamut and is totally worth watching. It's great and very involving.

Dinner:

Mm yeah! Yum yum, take a look at that dinner and tell me it's not good looking! You can't, can you? Noodles, a little Cheese, Soy, Green Beans, Fish and seasoning comes together in this dish to make what I call Kiiro no sakana (Yellow Fish) and I'm extremely proud of it, it's very prettiful! Coupled with a Peanut Butter Anpan (Sweet Roll) I think this dish is really among the top dishes I've made, I just love how good it looks visually.
 

In Memory: Davy Jones

It is with a heavy heart that I'm making this post, a favourite of mine and heart-throb of the late 60s band and television show 'The Monkees' has passed. Davy Jones of The Monkee's died today (Wednesday) in Florida of a heart attack.

Davy Jones as mentioned was lead singer of The Monkees and on the minds and in the hearts of many girls during the late 60s and a favourite of mine, I loved The Monkees and I remember them well..

For those uninitiated with The Monkees..


And also..

Rest in Peace, Davy Jones...

You will be missed.. 


I'm going to go cry now..

Sensational Snacks 2 & Coconutty Chicken

Some snacks are just awesome, we've said that before. Doesn't matter what the reason, the reason can vary and some snacks are just awesome for totally obvious reasons..

Crazy, just random or coincidental there are times when a marketing department either seems to set upon something intentionally or stumbles upon it by complete fluke. Sometimes it might even be that they didn't mean to discover something or do something as is the cases with the fluke marketing that isn't always a good thing but is equally awesome.. Especially for those that catch such things..

Whatever the case awesome works in mysterious ways.. Definitely mysterious..

Squirrel Brand Peanut Bar:

Why is this awesome? It's not because it's the first Peanut Bar ever introduced.. Which it actually is.. The first I mean, a Peanut Bar from the 1950s-1960s this was a bar whose awesomeness is not derived from being the first of it's kind but rather what it's name is, 'Squirrel Brand'.

Squirrels as a point are probably definitively the most unstable and unexpectedly crazy animals on the planet.

 
Crazy, mind you.. Not evil.. No, the honour of most evil animal belongs to the Emu.

Sufficed to say you want to die, go piss an emu off.

At any rate, the Squirrel Peanut Bar is a snack from way back and is awesome because it's a Peanut Bar named after a crazy critter. Naturally it's not the only product introduced by Squirrel Brand, it doesn't need to be, it's just the one we're touching upon.

'Squirrel Brand' is seriously just an awesome name brand and as a general rule you can't really go wrong with squirrel related marketing or mascots. I point to the Peanut Butter Crackles of an earlier post or their fruity Cap'n Crunch knock-off counterpart;

He's evidently moving so fast he's vibrating and vibrating the goddamn cereal causing at least one piece to change from green to blue and multi form.

Jello Pudding Bites:

I posted in the past about Pudding Roll Ups which were epic little snacks almost like the skin that forms over pudding when you leave it out in open air, pudding skin is fucking delicious.

Introduced around 2002 these are fucking amazing and were fucking amazing because they were delicious, awesome and everything that is good and right in the world! Yes, I'm raving! The Jello Pudding Bites were basically pudding skin in a soft and bite-sized helping, delicious, chewy and they came in Vanilla and Chocolate and Vanilla and Strawberry, Vanilla being the perfect accompanying flavour for either Strawberry or Chocolate, these really soared!

How bad I miss these because I haven't seen them around since about late 2002 or early 2003, I think they might have been discontinued and I could cry!

PUDDIIIIING!!!!

Squeez Meez:

Fuck you Go-Gurt and your attempted claims to being the first to create squeezable snacking, fuck you right in the face. Squeez Meez weren't even the first but are an oldie ranging back from 1974 and introduced by the Hunt's Company.

Not many would remember these I'd bet but I'm sure a lot of kids from the 90s remember cardboard squeezable tubes that were filled with frozen fruit juice or what was claimed to be frozen fruit juice but was typically sugar-laden concentrate.. Delicious nevertheless but also frozen sugar juice concentrate nevertheless as well.

These are awesome because obviously they are the precursors and predecessor of Go Gurt and other snacks like them. Squeeze Meez were also delicious because when frozen they were epic, frozen pudding is more or less like frozen yogurt pops and oh man.. Delicious? You bet'cha.


Dinner:

Tonight's dinner was Kokonattsu Niwatori (Coconut Chicken) and was a delicious main dish of Sweet Peas, Fresh Mushrooms and Chicken in a delicious Asian Coconut Glaze sauce! The side was a Blueberry Cheesecake Anpan (Sweet Roll) - Delightfully decadent and succulent sweet! James clearly enjoyed this dish!
 

Sensational Snacks & Flippin' Flounder

So you know I'm pretty fickle and simple, certain things I may consider to be absolutely unbelievably awesome because of some inane fucking aberration or other such bullshit about them.. Like I said, I'm very simple; easily amused and easily impressed if you know how.

Every now and then I'll stumble across a product whose awesomeness nearly has me squealing or in some cases outright does have me squealing. What products are they? The products that have cool/stupid/retarded commercials, products that do something asinine or even products that simply taste epic or have some related feature that I just adore.

More detail you desire? Then the products touch upon we shall!

Twinkie Soap: 

It's hard to believe that as long as Hostess has been around that they're now filing for bankruptcy, it's actually very sad especially when you consider their history..

Although their history is full of strange products this is one of the strangest and is probably the product I am most convinced was conceptualized as a way to troll the average consumer and be total dicks because look at this, the whole damn thing aside from the surprisingly easy to miss 'SOAP' print seems to be designed to fool someone into taking a bite of it. They didn't even change the fucking cellophane.

Seriously how many people with how easily people overlook other more serious and noticeable shit actually took a bite of a soap Twinkie?

The bastards. This is just goddamn vicious. This product by the way was introduced in 1981 and was not around for long, naturally they're no longer made probably for obvious reasons.

This product is awesome because of how inspired it is in a mean-spirited and totally evil sort of way.

Sooper Kookies:

These were awesome simply because they're Pop Tarts that actually were honest about what they were, Sooper Kookies were glorified biscuits (as all Pop Tarts are) with a creamy oozy filling inside, in this case, Chocolate.

Introduced in 1973 these were not a pretentious product claiming to be a 'breakfast food', instead they were what they were as I have said and reiterate; biscuits. Simple Chocolate Creme filled biscuits. And they were beautiful too and considerably different than Pop Tarts, the actual biscuit crust on the outside as I recall was less pastry and more like an actual sweet biscuit. Next to the Pop Tart which tried to be a 'breakfast food' by lessening the sugary blow from it's biscuit crust as if that actually helped or made a damn difference the Sooper Kookie was superior, sweeter and tastier; a snack of snacks.

Pretty sure I know why these were discontinued and the answer is sadly simply that the Pop Tart as it has other awesome iterations in the past (such as Kool-Stuf) simply out-sold and over-took it in the market..



Reese's Peanut Butter Lovers Peanut Butter Cup:

Yes! Beautiful and amaaazing, the Reese's Peanut Butter Lovers Peanut Butter Cup was introduced in 2005 and has only ever been eclipsed in awesomeness by the White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup by Reese's and the Peanut Butter & Banana Elvis Cup and believe it or not I consider the Peanut Butter & Banana to be superior to the White Chocolate as much of a whore that I am for White Chocolate. Enough of a whore for White Chocolate that I'd be perfectly willing to be misunderstood for having yelled 'White Power!' when obviously not meaning that.

Ah yeah, word play is fun.. Isn't it?

Dinner:

Tonight was a pretty simple meal but came out fairly nicely. It is Karei to Jagaimo (Flounder and Potatoes) and is a simple main dish of Fried Flounder with a home made Japanese tartar sauce, smashed Potatoes (smashed because there's chunks in them and they're not completely mashed) and a Peanut Butter Anpan (Sweet Roll)

I think this meal was very much enjoyed. I was very proud of it appearance-wise honestly.
 

Crazy Crunch 4 & Simmerin' Sammie

Didn't know this was how the Final Supper happened? Well now you do and you can thank your local Big Cat Blog for the blasphemous lesson! Rock on.

We've seen what has been, what could have been, the awesome, the aberrant and the always consistently crunchy. Always is the world of Cap'n Crunch full of awesomeness and well.. Again.. Crunch.. Much as it pains me to be so redundant.. Though I suppose in retrospective thought Cap'n Crunch is also a bit redundant in and of itself from time to time with the re-branding and re-purposing of their products..

Re-branding and re-purposing is lame. Fuck shit like Soccer Crunch. Fuck it right in it's ear.

Well, whatever. Into the fray, soldiers; into the fray.

Treasure Hunt Crunch:

Yay treasure hunting, blue and shark pieces because FUCK YOU, THEY'RE A SHARK! And this one was introduced in 2008, it's awesome and features sharks, anchors and x's which turn your milk BLUE, BLUE MOTHERFUCKER! It's another product that turns your milk like Bantha Blue Milk from Star Wars! YES! This is the cereal Han Solo ate as a child, I'm convinced.

And honestly even by itself and uncoloured miyak or excuse me, milk has a certain awesomeness that few can deny.

Quadruple points to anyone that gets the reference. Seriously if you get the reference then you officially win a galaxy of internets.

Come to think of it though, Cap'n Crunch really loves their cereals that turn shit blue.. How many exactly have there been? Enough to be certain..

Sea Creature Berries Crunch introduced in 2004 which was disappointingly devoid of sharks and of course tasted the same was one of the cereals that turned your milk blue, honestly I kind of wish they'd made more but while they did seem to grow tired of blue milk they've always seemed strangely obsessed with sea-creatures made into cereal..

As would be evidenced by the Sea World Crunch Berries introduced in 2009 that was nothing special, it was simply normal Crunch Berries with sea-creature shaped Crunch Berries. Kind of weird and kind of lame to be honest. Goddamn re-branding and re-purposing, this is really milking it. ( I KNOW I'VE MADE THE JOKE BEFORE AND I DESERVE TO BE BEATEN FOR IT BUT I COULDN'T THINK OF ANYTHING BETTER TO END THE PARAGRAPH WITH! )


Mystery Crunch:

Cap'n Crunch Mystery Crunch was a Crunch introduced in 2000, a revisiting of the popular 'Where's the Cap'n?' campaign that was headed in 1985.

It was pretty popular and successful too, I imagine marketing earned their bonuses from this one that year.

Interestingly like Cap'n Crunch's Volcano Crunch, Mystery Crunch featured 'magical popping sprinkles' that were tied into the cereal by.. Well, who goddamn knows? Marketing only went so far and then seemed to say 'Fuck it, popping sprinkles are fun.. What do these kids want from us!?' - Popping sprinkles are fun, all cereal should come with obligatory Pop Rocks.. And as a point it was all revealed only later that the popping sprinkles actually were related because The Cap'n was in Volcanica saving the Earth's supply of Crunchium.. Hence Cap'n Crunch Volcano Crunch.. HURR!

See, kids? BE PATIENT! Good things come to those who wait.. Or threaten marketing executives for an early reveal.. One of those two..

Cozmic Crunch:

Hah, yes! This box is awesome, who knew that Cap'n Horatio had an alien doppelganger counter-part somewhere in the galaxy who dispensed colour changing space dust to cereals the universe over!?

Because I'm sure that space dust is totally safe to eat! TOTALLY.

Introduced in 1999, Cozmic Crunch came with the before mentioned colour changing 'Space Dust' which turned your milk an awesome bad ass and aberrant mutant alien green! Like the snot of the galaxy, goddamn your milk was naaaaasty lookin'!

Hells yes and from now on all milk should by lawful obligation be green or some variation of colour OTHER than white. Fuck white milk, marketing frequently adding shit like this is evidence that coloured milk is pimp and sells better than white milk. Just market blue, pink and green milk - It'd be awesome.

Dinner:

Dinner tonight consisted of two dishes, the main dish which was a Niwatori Sandoitchi (Chicken Sandwich) with a grilled Chicken BOOOOOOB! and a special Japanese red sauce along with a Peanut Butter Anpan (Sweet Roll) and the secondary dish..

Left over Buta no Kaku Ni (Pork Cube Stew) which while it was left overs I guarantee with certainty that it was delicious! Yum!

BONUS Question:

I had a dream a few nights ago in which this question raised in my mind.. Thankfully after having a dream I didn't end up with a bullet in my head.. (Bad taste? Ah well.)

Assuming Galactus succeeded in eating the Earth, how many calories would the whole Earth and all have? I shit you not, I dreamed this and woke questioning the.. Well.. Question.. How many calories would the entire Earth have?
 

Crazy Crunch 3 (What could be and could have been) & Egg Me On!

As with other brands in the past, Cap'n Crunch leads me to question the eternal question; exactly how many different variations does a single brand need? At what point does the endless re-branding and re-purposing of a product become too much? Is it when people seem to begin to expect an alcoholic version of a product that is otherwise not associated with alcohol in any way, shape or form?

There's been a milk shake already, why the fuck not a Cap'n Crunch alcohol? Make the alcohol out of the Crunch Berries, then it'd be 'pure grain', right?

OHGODNOTTHEFACE!

How about a hardcore goddamn axe for which to rip most mightily?

Fuck yeah, jammin' with the Cap'n!

At any rate, sufficed to say the products offered in the line of Cap'n Crunch are many and varied (There's not an actual alcohol unfortunately) but the products we're really going to be touching upon are not wicked axes or powerful proofs but rather edibles from the strange to super!

Dragon Crunch Oatmeal:

A weirder product from 1991 which was ultimately never released, Dragon Crunch was Cap'n Crunch except Oatmeal style.. Yes, that's right.. Cap'n Crunch Oatmeal as strange as that sounds which came in multiple varieties including Strawberry, Apple Cinnamon, Tropical Fruit and Variety Pack which is kind of fucking redundant since Strawberry, Apple Cinnamon and Tropical Fruit are varied to begin with but what the fuck ever. That just meant you got ALL of the flavours in one box.. Or you would have if they'd ever released it.

I dunno, Cap'n Crunch Oatmeal would presumably be very crunchy for Oatmeal (I'd hope at least) and would sport some sweetness oatmeal otherwise did not have? If so, that sounds really good to me.. It's kind of a throw back to other oatmeal of the past that were so friggin' awesome but ultimately done away with.. Under Cover Bears Oatmeal or Cookie Blast Oatmeal being two that come straight to mind..

Carnival Berries:

I love any cereal that changes your milk colours, coloured milk is just naturally more fun than just plain ass white milk.

Introduced in 2004, Cap'n Crunch Carnival Berries didn't just change your milk the standard fare colours it changed your milk goddamn pink and all sorts of abnormal fucking colours. How many cereals can you think of that changed your milk a colour like pink/purple? Probably not many.. That's because it's a weird ass colour for cereal and milk.

Of course naturally the cereal didn't taste any different from the normal Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries but did that stop me from loving it? HELLS NO. PINK FUCKING MILK, BITCH!

Why did they stop making this? Make more! OR at least another Crunch that turns shit pink! Pink, it's what's for breakfast, punk!

Are You Afraid of the Dark? Crunch:

This is pure marketing. I've posted in the past about my love for Are You Afraid of the Dark?, as far as I'm concerned it was a great show of it's time and I miss it dearly. In 1996 Cap'n Crunch marketing at least in Canada saw fit to release this little gem, an Are You Afraid of the Dark Cap'n Crunch.. Or at least a box..

You know it's kind of sad really, I love it for it's marketing and I didn't hesitate to buy these at all because of the label on them which was the intention by Quaker but they had so much more potential to work with... Why no Crunch Berry Spiders, Snakes and Witches? Shit like that which would have gone so well with the theme of Are You Afraid of the Dark? and would have made such an awesome cereal? There could have been SO MUCH MORE done.

Alas this was the standard fare cereal inside what was simply an awesome box.

Dinner:

Gyo Omu (Fish Omelet) is what was for dinner tonight. It's a very nice dish that I created with a big salted and peppered Omelet wrapping the delicious innards of pan-fried White Fillet and Mushroom all folded together with a cheese-soy sauce that finished it off. The Anpan (Sweet Roll) was a Cinnamon Sugar Anpan and set together with the main dish so nicely.

Yeah, it came out pretty great!
 

Tubular Twosomes & Plummy Pork

Chocolate is a dangerous thing. On one hand Chocolate can turn someone into a raging fucking psychopath, especially kids; kids are fucking dangerous when given Chocolate..

Chocolate can also be dangerous in the sense that people have the habit of putting too much shit into it, literally anything and everything that can be put into Chocolate or made Chocolate coated seems to be. Almost like a Murphy's Law dealing with Chocolate it's a bit disturbing being perfectly honest.

You can try to tell me this doesn't scare you but I know you'd be lying, even the most steadfast and hearty of junk-food defenders should and I'd think inevitably do find this highly disturbing. Chocolate Covered Bacon? Fuck off..

But in the spirit of covering everything in Chocolate, adding Chocolate to everything and putting everything in Chocolate some very awesome things have been created.. Some of those things are the subject of this article, the very awesome and very epic Hershey's Twosomes.

Hershey's Twosomes were introduced sometime I believe in 2005 and were some pretty awesome if not slightly confusing from time to time candy-bars. There were several flavours and we're going to go ahead and touch on them in this article..

Hershey's Twosomes Reese's Pieces:

So okay, Reese's Pieces are awesome on their own and in Chocolate? Well.. Chocolate other than their normal Chocolate that they are of course made of? That sounds pretty epic but.. It kind of reminds me of something?

..What was it again? ...Oh, right..

Yeah.. So basically the Hershey's Reese's Pieces Twosome is an M-Azing Bar, right? Seems pretty obvious and clear to me and for the most part they are which isn't a bad thing because M-Azing Bars were discontinued and.. Well actually that's all irrelevant because these were too.

Not exactly like an M-Azing Bar, though.. The Reese's Pieces in this Bar were far smaller and less numerous than the Peanut Butter M&M's had been in the M-Azing Bar, in the Hershey's Twosome it was like they'd partially blended it and broken it into little chunks before adding it, a little disappointing to be honest.. It doesn't pack the same punch or deliver the same taste sensation disappointingly.

All in all the Hershey's Reese's Pieces Twosome Bar is just 'meh', 5/10 Cat Paws.


Hershey's Twosomes Whoppers:

This is a pretty damn awesome idea in my opinion because right from the get go I love Hershey's Chocolate and I love Whoppers Malted Milk Balls, this is pretty much a match made in Heaven for me.. At least you'd think that..

Sadly like the Reese's Pieces Twosome this one somehow falls short and it just fails to deliver on expectations. Maybe my expectations are just too unfairly stacked against the Bars to give them a chance, I don't know.. I just know that the taste of the Hershey's Bar and the Malted Milk Whopper chunks inside it wasn't that impressive, they didn't seem to 'meld' as well as I thought they would and in the end being as blended as they seemed they ended up tasting and feeling a lot like a Crunch Bar or something with a slightly different taste, I mean of course the thing wasn't totally like a Crunch Bar what with the rice bits being replaced with Whoppers but still.. Close enough and just.. Meh..

7/10 Cat Paws

Hershey's Twosomes Almond Joy:

This one I don't quite understand. Whereas the other two were a Chocolate Bar + Some sort of separate candy this is a Chocolate Bar and.. A Chocolate Bar.. How do you put a Chocolate Bar in a Chocolate Bar? I mean putting Chocolate into a Chocolate Bar was a stretch for me to begin with but putting a Chocolate Bar into a Chocolate Bar? ....Fuck you..

That's seriously ridiculous and kind of hard to process through my little poor Big Cat brain but whatever..

It is different however if only in a small way, the Chocolate consistency in the Milk Chocolate of the Hershey's Bar is different from the chunky Chocolate you find in the Almond Joy typically and so the Hershey's Bar is a little smoother and a little creamier though past the differences in Chocolate consistency, texture and taste on a very small and unimpressive scale the Twosome Almond Joy really just.. It's an Almond Joy that's less chunky.. 5.1/10 Cat Paws - Just not impressed by this..

Hershey's Twosomes Heath Bar:

Words, words, words, obligatory joke, meme.jpg, yadayadayada, Cat Paws and no.. Honestly who gives a shit? You know I've never actually even had a Heath Bar so maybe my view is biased but I've also never met anyone who said to me 'Hey Jade, you know what I could really use? A nice tasty Heath Bar, I'm really cravin' one,' point in fact, I've never even met anyone that even remotely liked these things or seen anyone buy them.

It's another case of a Chocolate Bar in a Chocolate Bar which has been done and it's a Chocolate Bar I couldn't give a shit less about. Sorry, it's only included because it's a part of the Twosomes Family and I was barely even inclined to add it into the article due to obligation by association with the reviewed product.

Bleh..


Dinner:

Tonight's dinner was a real simple one so I only took a single photograph, it is Ume Buta Itamemono (Plum Pork Stirfry) and it's main half is a piece of Tomato Basil Bread (I've been enjoying using this stuff) topped by a stir fry of Green Beans, Mushrooms and Pork all topped by a yummy Sweet Plum Sauce with a Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip Anpan (Sweet Roll) as the side.

Came out awesome!