You Don't Mess With The Ariete

While the C1 Ariete isn't as good as the M1 Abrams, the Challenger 2, the Leopard 2, the Leclerc, the Merkava or even the Challenger 1, God forbid you ever call the C1 Ariete the worst NATO MBT because if you do that in a war, you obviously have a death wish.

Stabbed by the Haters

If there is one thing the far-right and the far-left can agree on, it would be agreeing to kill Ash Ketchum's original nemesis Gary Oak.

Gary "Shigeru" Oak is often seen wearing a yellow/green Taegeuk amulet, and the Taegeuk is the emblem of the Republic of South Korea. Unfortunately, this means Gary Oak is on the hit list of both the Fascists and the Communists.

Even if the Taegeuk is not a hate symbol unlike the Swastika or the Rising Sun or even the Hammer and Sickle, it is not safe from the fury of those who hate it regardless of color. For all we know, Ash was either the reincarnation of an Imperial Japanese Army soldier who was killed by the Allies during World War 2 or a Communist Soldier who was killed by the Allies during the Korean War. Perhaps Ash is suffering from depression as a result of becoming mentally ill due to him being a Zainichi Korean who can never return because he was a Communist sympathizer.

Maybe one day Game Freak will reveal everything about the Pokemon TV series, just like how they debunked the coma theory.

Memory Preservation

Remember GeoCities? That website was a place where you can create your own digital home in the days before Facebook, Twitter and even MySpace. While GeoCities no longer exist, a Tumblr account dedicated to the memory of GeoCities was established to ensure that even if GeoCities is gone, it will not be forgotten. You can even find Sailor Moon images and cat pictures that were uploaded to GeoCities on that Tumblr account. You just need to dig deep and search thoroughly.

All in all, I wish more effort was put into preserving the past. Therefore, archiving should not be outlawed for the sake of protecting intellectual properties or combating digital piracy.

Temple Treasure Whereabouts

If the Italian government had their way, they would have returned the Temple Treasures to Israel. Unfortunately, the Italian government does not know the real whereabouts of the Jerusalem Temple Treasures, and even if they know, they are strictly forbidden from returning them back to the Israeli government.

Mediocre At Best

Cutie Honey was a huge disappointment. The storytelling in every official continuity was terrible, and to make matters worse, the villainous Panther Claw was never truly defeated in every single one of them. At best, the entire franchise was a mediocre mediocrity. In other words, reviewers who gave negative reviews to the Cutie Honey series were right all along...

Worthy of a Second Look

Author's Note: All copyrights for the images in this comic go to their respective owners.

Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the launch of the Sony PlayStation in Japan. While it was the video game console that revolutionized the video game industry and gave us Twisted Metal, Final Fantasy VII, PaRappa the Rapper, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, Klonoa and too many other franchises to name, we must also remember the forgotten gems of the original PlayStation because they also made this console the icon of video game history. Here are just five PS1 games that deserve a second look.

1. The Sunsoft Memorial Series: Remember the Famicom/NES games that were conceived by Sunsoft? In 2001 and 2002, Sunsoft ported twelve Famicom/NES games to the PS1 in a six-volume compilation known as the Sunsoft Memorial Series. The twelve Famicom/NES games in this compilation are Ikki, Super Arabian, Route-16 Turbo, Mystery of Atlantis, 53 Stations of the Tokaido, The Wing of Madoola, Blaster Master, Ripple Island, Journey to Silius/Raf World, Hebereke, Super Spy Hunter/Battle Formula and Mr Gimmick. Give these NES games a try if you miss the glory days of Sunsoft.

2. Jaleco Collection Volume 1: Jaleco was also involved in bringing Famicom/NES games to the PS1 as well. However, they stopped making these compilations after Volume 1. The games featured in this compilation are Argus, City Connection, Exerion, Field Combat, Formation Z, Ninja Jajamaru-Kun and Rod Land. If you miss the glory days of Jaleco, this compilation is a must-try.

3. The Arika Cardcaptor Sakura Trilogy: Did you know that Cardcaptor Sakura video games exist? In fact, Arika made three Cardcaptor Sakura games for the PS1, and one of them happens to be a Tetris game, so give it a try if you like Tetris as well.

4: Puyo Puyo BOX: This was the very last Puyo Puyo game to be developed by Compile before they handed over the Puyo Puyo rights to Sega. It was also the first PS1 game to be published by Sega, and it was released on the PS1 months before Sega discontinued the Dreamcast. Awkward, isn't it?

5. Metal Slug (PS1 Port): While Metal Slug is best remembered for being the Run-and-Gun title that gave the Neo Geo a second wind, we should also remember that the PS1 version of Metal Slug has another game mode called "Another Story". It can only be unlocked by winning the arcade game once. Free space on the PS1 Memory Card is also required for this mode. This mode has four minigames. If you complete it, it will unlock "Another Story II" after pressing R1+L2+O while the title screen cursor is on "Another Story".

With all that said, Happy 30th Anniversary, Sony PlayStation! Here's to the next 30 years!

The Real Reason Ash gets no Justice

It's a huge pity that we rarely get to hear any stories of justice in Japanese animation and comics. Why is there no justice in Japanese comics and animation? Because of the lack of sympathy or harmony between the nobility and the commoners, the upper class and the lower class. Unfortunately, the lack of success in the popular revolutions throughout Japanese history may have destroyed all hopes of transforming Japanese society into a fair and just society.

The Pokemon TV series is definitely a textbook example of that lack of justice. The people who worked on the Pokemon TV series did not want to give Gary and Ritchie any real comeuppance for all the wrongs they did to Ash. The reason for that? Not only was Ash's namesake Satoshi Tajiri an outsider, but giving Gary and Ritchie any severe comeuppances whatsoever would have been grave insults to Shigeru Miyamoto and the late Hiroshi Yamauchi respectively as well. This unacceptable injustice will not be tolerated. Even if Satoshi Tajiri was secretly a communist sympathizer, Nintendo looking down on him is unforgivable.

At the end of the day, the people who are calling for a boycott of Nintendo may have been right all along...