Weekly Anime Post 97 (21 days till august peepee reveal)

I haven’t been watching any anime lately but I am playing through Gundam Battle Alliance on game pass. It’s reminded me how much I like Gundam

Cheesy as the dialogue can be in stuff like Zeta Gundam and CCA, the concept of Newtypes is interesting to me because it’s not meant to just be some cheap magic power. They go on and on about how Newtype psychic abilities are meant to bring people together and it’s a great tragedy that they’re used for warfare.

I’m also reminded of how chakra worked in Naruto. It’s fairly unique as a major setting in that all humans have chakra and anyone can learn to use it, whereas almost all other fantasy and sci-fi settings have genetic powers where you’re either born with it or you’re not. The character of Hagoromo from the lore spread chakra because he wanted people to use it to connect with each other, much like Newtypes. It’s not his fault ninjas would later use it for fireballs and shit.

With both settings, the magic isn’t just some trite trope used for combat like in any standard rpg. It’s a major focus of the setting and the writing waxes poetic about how these higher powers could be used to elevate the human experience. Even if certain people would also use them for war and destruction, the powers that define these settings offer the potential to be so much more than mere cowtools for combat. That’s infinitely more interesting than just — mage casts fireball.

Idk where I’m going with this. Just thinking out loud I guess.