It's easy to be mistaken for a Contrarian when you like more stuff then you dislike.

Because unfortunately much of Internet Culture has been built around considering negative opinions far more indisputable then any positive opinion.  We are a society where Good Art can only be good in contrast to what is popularly considered Bad.

I like the overwhelming vast majority of any piece of Entertainment media I watched to completion.  And even among those I didn't finish it's very rare for me to actively dislike any.  And nothing that I do dislike I consider objectively indisputably Bad, there is nothing that I am offended by the existence of people liking it.  That third point has not always been true, younger more immature versions of me have gotten invested in hating things, but that's all in the past.

There are times when there is something popular I don't like as much as others do, and so that contrasted with all the popular to hate on things I love gets taken out of context to present me as a contrarian.  The most recent example may be Frieren, as a few times I'd talked about it can be mistaken for hating it but all that really bothers me is how so much Frieren praise has to be in contrast to all other contemporary Fantasy Anime, I like Frieren and Isekai.  I haven't given Frieren a definitive rating yet because I want too rewatch it first, but I currently expect to give it a 10, but certainly no lower then a 9.

I've also sounded harsh on Matt Reeves' The Batman by virtue of liking every other Batman movie more, but the movie is mostly fine, and I'm really enjoying The Penguin so far.

The fact is most really popular things I've seen I like, and if I haven't seen it then I don't have an opinion at all.

The closest I come to being a contrarian is sometimes how I rank certain instalments of a saga or seasons of a series may look partially inverted compared to popular opinion.  But that's always in the context of seeing value in even what I rank at the bottom, or if there are some I actively dislike in any even mild capacity it's only 3 tops out of more then 20. 

But even that isn't universal, how I rank the different seasons of the 90s Sailor Moon Anime is pretty conventional actually.

Once I was in the Chat for a Trixie The Golden Witch livestream and mentioned the fact that I like The Godfather Part III the best of The Godfather movies, and she called me the Ultimate Contrarian, even more contrarian then she is.  The Contrarian opinion on The Godfather movies would be say that only Part III was good, I like all three movies, if I have any criticism of anything in the first two movies it's that I don't think Part II works as a cohesive whole all that well, but every single piece of it is great and still to this day somewhat influential on my tastes.

Trixie's opinions on the Pokémon movies are more contrarian then my opinions on The Godfather movies.  Trixie and her Ex are the only people I've ever seen dislike the 3rd Pokémon movie, most Pokémon fans consider it the best of the movies, if the first two do better on mainstream review aggregate websites it's only because they've been seen by more normie critics.  Suede and Linkara liked it the best and they are pretty reflective of general opinion.  And Uniquenameosarus also had a Video Essay praising it.  And I recently discovered Gingy Dave. [Update: Funyanipa Foundation also likes the 3rd film the best and to their well researched knowledge that is the popular opinion, mentioning it chiefly in the Hideaki Sonoda video.] [Update December 16th 2025: Harbo Wholmes now has a new video arguing it's the best movie.]

When it comes to the Pokémon movies the closest thing I have to a contrarian opinion is that I rank 2000 near the bottom, there are only two theatrical movies I rank below it (Lucario and Jiirachi) and one TV Movie I rank as the absolute least, the Mirage one.  However I have enough Nostalgic fondness for 2000 that the gap between it and those below it is pretty significant.  Mostly my issue with it is just it being overdone, I never needed a Pokémon movie to be that epic, so it's a similar issue to the most recent Detective Conan films, which I still very much enjoy.

The Luca Brasi Effect

So I’ve decided to propose a Trope concept that is distinct from The Worf Effect though I suspect many at TVTropes might be seeing it as the same when it occurs.

This post will contain Spoilers for both The Godfather Trilogy and the Anime School-Live!, aka Gakkō Gurashi!

The story began when I was listening to the Audio Commentary for The Godfather on its old DVD release and Francis Ford Coppola talks about the character of Luca Brasi but more particularly when Luca Brasi is killed.  Saying that after establishing Luca Brasi as this tough, reliable bodyguard for Vito Colreone his suddenly being taken out is meant to be a sign of impending danger for the Don.

And then in the Audio Commentaries for Part II and Part III he talked about other characters in those films repeating the same role.

So while the Worf Effect is about a seemingly tough character losing a fight to make the new villain look dangerous, this is about a Protector of the protagonist(s) being removed from the scenario entirely to create a sense of vulnerability.

That’s what Coppola intended, but in execution Luca Brasi does seem more a Worf Effect by virtue of us never seeing him successfully protect the Corleones from anything on screen and what we’re told about him is more stories of him being an offensive muscle. And then his analogues in the sequels were never even named on screen that I can remember.

However there is an Anime that I feel did what Coppola talked about here far better, and that’s my long time favorite Zombie Anime School-Live!

Kurumi Ebisuzawa is established throughout the show as the club's Muscle both offensively and defensively, her skill in taking out Zombies with her Shovel is a vital piece of why the characters have mostly lived blissfully peaceful lives during this Zombie Apocalypse.

So when Kurumi gets bitten by a Zombie and incapacitated in Episode 10, it does very effectively signify the impending end of their Eden.

Why The Godfather Part II works as a sequel

I'm actually more critical of The Godfather Part II then most people, it has many great scenes and performances and I love the premise of going back and forth between two time periods.  But I actually wasn't fond of it's execution of that premise, the two story-lines don't feel connected beyond that they're broadly about the same family.  The past sequences work better as a Prequel to the first movie then they do this movie.  And even if the film was just the present material it'd still feel more like episodes of a series packaged together then a complete film.

But I'm someone who likes to stay positive in my discussion of Entertainment Media I watch, so I instead want to focus on what I feel is an overlooked key to why The Godfather Part II works as a sequel so well, and in fact did more to justify the concept of cinematic sequels then any of it's predecessors.

First you need to understand that in the source material The Godfather had no sequel till 1984, and even that was more of a spin off, there was no proper sequel til 2004.  The past sequence of Part II is largely based on material from the original Novel left out of the original film, but the late 50s to early 60s portion was entirely new material, and Coppola actually had trouble convincing Mario Puzo to be okay with certain aspects of where the story went.

The film worked as a sequel by looking at where the first movie ended and deciding where to go next from there, something many sequels both before and since never really tried to do.

Because of this certain scenes in the later part of the first movie wind up seeming to a person who knows everything in 2019 watching them like sequel hooks when they could not possibly have been meant to be that at the time.  Like how Hagan is visibly unhappy with being increasingly left out of the loop on stuff.

But the big example is the Moe Green scene, after he leaves and Michael Says to Fredo

“Fredo, you’re my older brother, and I love you. But don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever.”  

That scene is really eerie when you know where the sequel goes, and it's specifically that direction of the sequel Puzo was uncomfortable with so he certainly didn't write the scene intending it to foreshadow that.

And that aspect of how these two films connect to each other is something I feel gets largely overlooked.

What Genre is Anime bad at?

I recently made a blog post disagreeing with a common claim that Anime is somehow not good at Horror.  But is there any Genre that even I as an enthusiastic Anime Evangelist have to admit Anime hasn't done that well?

Well the genre I have in mind is more of a Sub Genre of a Sub genre, but I think the one very popular Genre Anime hasn't done right yet is the Mafia movie.

Now what I mean when I say "Mafia" movie is much more specific then Gangster.  I'm sure there's plenty of Anime that can scratch one's Gangster movie itch, after all certain Anime were a major influence on Tarantino.  I'm sure Japanese entertainment media is the best place to go if you want fiction about the Yakuza.  And I'm kind of surprised how often Street Gangs in Anime remind me of American media about Street Gangs of the 50s and early 60s.

Now I'm gonna express an opinion that might be a bit controversial and hard to fully explain. What I mean by "Mafia" fiction is even more specific then just being technically specifically about the Italian Mafia, and depicting Italian characters with Italian names and maybe Italian accents.  For example I can't truly count any Golden Age 30s/40s Gangster films as Mafia movies even though plenty were basically just about Al Capone.  Yet what I mean by "Mafia" movie still has enough variety within it that it can include The Godfather Trilogy, Goodfellas/Casino and at least some episodes of The Sopranos.

When I say I wanna see a Mafia movie, I want an atmosphere that makes me crave Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce, but Anime tends to give me Egg Noodles and Ketchup.

Much of what you'll see in any alleged "Top 10 Mafia Anime" list is based on treating "Mafia" and "Gangster" as synonyms.  Here is a site recommending 6 that at least knows to stick to the Italians.
https://www.fandom.com/articles/6-must-see-mafia-anime
Most of those seem to be set in the 30s and with a look that tells me they are more inspired by those Golden Gangster films.  One is an over 200 episode Shonen monstrosity involving a hitman who's a baby and an MC who's character design is aping Hunter x Hunter.

I've watched two episodes of Arcana Famiglia, it looks fine as an Anime, in fact I'm optimistic for how it'll compare to other Reverse Harems with genre elements.  But it does not succeed in capturing that proper Mafia movie vibe.  I'd very much like to see an Anime combine what I love about mafia movies with what's distinctly Anime, like a Mafia Princess walking around in Twin Tails, Zettai Ryouiki and the voice of Luci Christian.  But something is just inherently missing.

The one time Anime has come at least close to giving me a vibe like a Godfather movie are certain episodes of Noir, my favorite Anime.  As I've said before Noir was the first proper Anime I ever watched, and interestingly enough the first episode of Noir I watched was episode 9, the second part of a two part episode about the Mafia.  One of the reasons those 20 minutes of Japanimation kept my attention was how much it reminded me of The Godfather Part III, the last Godfather movie most people would intentionally want to evoke but my personal favorite of them.

In total I'd say there are 4 episodes of Noir that have this Godfatheresque quality, 8 & 9, 14 and 17, but it's mainly the parts of those movies where they're in Sicily they remind me of.  Coincidentally enough those are the same four episodes that are the main basis for why I like to Headcanon this Anime being part of The Blackcoats Universe.

I think the obstacle here is a cultural one.  Now I'm not someone who normally thinks that's a problem, I think lots of stories can be re-imagined into or adapted by other cultures.  But Mafia fiction isn't just about one culture, it's not just American or Italian, it's Italian-American.  And the definitive Mafia movies I refereed to above were the ones that had Italians as more then just actors but as the key creative minds, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola (and his father who did the Music) and Martin Scorsese.  So even though you can say these movies are problematic in how they relate to negative Italian Stereotypes, the good ones are about how the American Dream failed for many of those who immigrated here, and the hypocritical corruption of Capitalism.

I hope someone can find me an Anime that can refute this premise, I definitely want to find Anime that can succeed in filling every nerdy niche.

Carmine The Roman Falcone

Carmine Falcone is an interesting character in the history of Batman villains.  The story he was first created for, Year One, he's theoretically the Big Bad but really a back ground character mostly, Leob and Flass are the more direct antagonists just as Gordon is the real protagonist.

The Long Halloween fleshes him out some, drawing on Godfather imagery, but he's still not much of a Supervillian there, the story is ultimately about his demise.

In Batman Begins Nolan based him on very modern depictions of crime bosses, his name being Italian didn't influence how he was written much at all.

Gotham marks the first time I know of in which we really see the character at a time that isn't just as his empire is about to fall to the advent of the freaks.  Yet the dialogue of the show constantly acted like he was about to fall anyway, everyone thinks he's become old and soft and weak.

At the end of Viper I like many others I'm sure thought of The Godfather seeing him in that hat feeding pigeons.  It was an interesting contrast as Maroni has a more Goodfellas/Casino vibe.

As of the end of Penguin's Umbrella we realize that indeed this Falcone is not an old push over yet.  He and Oswald are going to be quite formidable.

And of course I now find myself thinking of Paul Feval's Colonel Bozzo-Corona from The Blackcoats.

I find it very unlikely that's intentional, that the writers of this show are familiar with the Novels published by BlackCoatPress.

Part of it is because of The Godfather imagery, The Colonel is compared to Vito Corleone often, but I've always found that a very superficial comparison, The Colonel is much more Evil then either Vito or Michael.  And his level of respectability in society is well beyond what Vito has in Part I, more like what Michael's trying o achieve with the Imobolari deal in Part III.

Gotham's status as a Prequel where we know Gordon will fail which we've talked about before.  Now I'm realizing how that's similar to everything Stableford said about Feval's decision to make Prequel novels with Salem Street and The Invisible Woman, where continuity demanded none of the Habit Noirs we know from the prior Novels will be brought down.

And now I'm really loving that, this Falcone will be like The Colonel.  People will keep trying to bring him down but they never will.  And Oswald I'm thinking could be his Lecoq.