History WebVideo / BennettTheSage

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' (the original series, ''Anime/CowboyBebopKnockinOnHeavensDoor'', and ''Series/CowboyBebop2021'')

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' (both the original series and ''Anime/CowboyBebopKnockinOnHeavensDoor'')

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Every character not played by Bennett has completely disappeared from the show without any reference to them, with the exception of Censor Kaiser (who is not even a character anymore, as he no longer speaks and functions solely as a censor bar). The two most notable are the characters of Gabe and Marc the Engineer, two rather prominent characters within the review universe in the early-to-mid 10s. Gabe suddenly disappeared because his portrayer, Ashira Herzig, voluntarily stopped working with Bennett in August of 2017, coming out as transgender a few months later. As for Marc, while he completely stopped appearing in episodes and commentaries after 2016, he still works prominently behind the camera in animation and script supervision. Today, the only Anime Abandon characters left are Sage, Suave, and Savage.

* AmoralAttorney: Bennett has one as a gag in his review of ''Anime/PlasticLittle'' that involves him lording knowledge over the lawyer's head of the lawyer skipping Passover to help a client screw over an ex-spouse and using his legal partner's slush fund to pay for a trip (and threats of calling the lawyer's grandmother and the California Bar over the respective matters) to force said lawyer into helping Bennett cover his ass after learning the two leads are under 18.

* {{Blackmail}}: The review of ''Anime/PlasticLittle'' sees Sage do this to his lawyer to force him to help cover his ass over the fact that the two leads, Tita and Elysse, are respectively 17 and 16, by threatening his lawyer with calls to both the lawyer's grandmother (the real reason he skipped Passover being trying to help a client screw his ex out of alimony) and the California Bar (the lawyer's last vacation was payed for a slush fund the lawyer's legal partner had).

* {{Facepalm}}: {{Invoked|Trope}} in the review of ''The Samurai'', as Sage says that the sight gag of Takashi's sister constantly wearing a sheer negligee that her breasts are clearly visible through, with no reason given [[IgnoreTheFanservice and no one paying it any attention]], caused him to smack his forehead every time she showed up. He does note, however, that this angering him so much was actually kinda funny in hindsight.

* CombatCueStick: At the start of the ''Manga/ElfenLied'' review, Sage recalls being lured into a hotel conference room and "beaten" severely by several of his friends and (at that time) co-creators at Website/ChannelAwesome[[note]]everyone was using wiffle ball bats and similarly harmless items[[/note]], which culminated with someone breaking a pool cue across his back as he tried to get away. This was supposed to be faked, as the cue had been set up with a break spot, but [[SpecialEffectsFailure it actually broke several inches below that spot]], meaning he actually took the hit, which left a long welt across his back.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: [[invoked]] At the end of his beatdown in the ''Elfen Lied'' review, Sage gets a pool cue broken across his back. However, as revealed in the outtakes and discussed in the ''Nuts and Bolts'' video for that episode, the cue broke several inches below where it had been set up to break, meaning Bennett actually took the full hit, which left a long welt on his back.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Spawn}}''

* LeeroyJenkins: Sage [[InvokedTrope describes]] Leila as such in the ''Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust'' review after she takes off on her own to confront Meier Link...although he admits that it may have been just to get away from the dad jokes.

* ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind]]''

* ''Assemble Insert'

* ''Manga/MobPsycho100''

** He's reviewed ''Anime/SpaceThunderKids'', ''Diatron-5'' and ''Anime/GarzeysWing'' with [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment The Spoony One]]; ''Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned'' with [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]]; ''Starchaser'' and ''Guyver'' with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic; ''Film/BatmanReturns'' with WebVideo/FilmBrain; and ''Film/{{Kite}}'' with WebVideo/ChrisStuckmann. The Critic actually kidnapped Sage and forced him to co-review ''Film/SpeedRacer''.

** In the review of ''Anime/CyberCityOedo808'' in 2016, Sage first discusses how he started ''Anime Abandon'' in 2011 mainly to mock bad anime, and says for the aforementioned title, "I want to return to my roots." Gabe sends him back in time to 2011, and when Sage sees his original set, he remarks "Lack of DVDs on the shelf? Horrible lighting and camera angle?! No Gabe?! [[LampshadeHanging It's 2011, mo'fuckers!]]" The video then does the original opening theme, and Sage does the review in his more sardonic, snarky, unrefined riffing style of the era, instead of the more mature, nuanced opinions he gave by 2016. In the ''Nuts and Bolts'' commentary, Bennett mentioned his plan was to originally use the then-mediocre editing methods of the time as well, but later decided that was unnecessary.

* ''Anime Abandon'', where he looks at vintage anime primarily from the '80s and the '90s, some classics, and some terrible ones. This series is closer to the entertainment-based sketch reviews done by other Channel Awesome contributors, although it has gone through a number of changes in format and has essentially been rebooted as of mid-2019. In mid-2021, Bennett announced a variant called ''Anime Abandon Plus'', where he would revisit titles that his opinion had shifted on or where the original review, especially the early ones, either didn't age well or had to be taken down due to stricter ContentID restrictions.

* ''Anime Abandon'', where he looks at vintage anime primarily from the '80s and the '90s, some classics, and some terrible ones. This series is closer to the entertainment-based sketch reviews done by other Channel Awesome contributors, although it has gone through a number of changes in format and has essentially been rebooted as of mid-2019.

In release order except for the parenthetical cases:

* ''Anime/JinRohTheWolfBrigade''

** In his review of ''Galerians: Rion'' in 2019, he talks about how the anime was based on a PS1 game called ''Galerians''. To elaborate on it, he announces "Time for us to hop into the Wayback Machine!"; the review then immediately transfers to the style of ''Sage Reviews'', his review show he retired 6 years prior and which was his start on Blistered Thumbs. He returns to his dry, humorless tone of informing the viewers how the game completely rips off ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' and how disappointing it is. However, unlike those videos, which were usually 5-10 minutes in length, he stops this "review" 30 seconds in and then returns to his contemporary format.

* RevisitingTheRoots:
** When Sage reviewed CyberCityOedo808 in 2016, he first discusses how he started Anime Abandon in 2011 mainly to mock bad anime, and says for the aforementioned title, he invokes this trope by saying, "I want to return to my roots" and then Gabe sends him back in time to 2011, and then Sage arrives at what his 2011 set looked like, then lampshades this trope:
-->"Lack of DVDs on the shelf? Horrible lighting and camera angle?! No Gabe?! It's 2011, mo'fuckers!"
** The video in question then uses the 2011 opening, and then uses his more sardonic, snarky, unrefined riffing style of the era, instead of the more mature, nuanced opinions he gave by 2016. In the Nuts and Bolts commentary, Bennett mentioned his plan was to originally use the then-mediocre editing methods of the time as well, but later decided that was unnecessary.
** In his review of Galerians: Rion in 2019, he talks about how the anime was based on a PS1 game called Galerians. To elaborate on it, he once again invokes this trope:
-->"Time for us to hop into the Wayback Machine!"
** It then immediately transfers to the style of Sage Reviews, his review show he retired 6 years prior and was his start on Blistered Thumbs. He returns to his dry, humorless tone of informing the viewers how the game completely rips off ResidentEvil and how disappointing the game is. However, unlike those videos, which were usually 5-10 minutes in length, he stops this "review" 30 seconds in and then returns to his contemporary format.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: [[invoked]] In a vlog on ''Manga/ElfenLied'' she mentions that one of her biggest problems with the show was that it was so cartoonishly grimdark that she couldn't take it seriously. Also brings up similar criticisms with the author's other manga ''Manga/{{Nononono}}''.: [[invoked]] This is a major reason for his criticism of anime such as ''Manga/ElfenLied'', ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' (and ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby''), ''Manga/ViolenceJack'', and ''Manga/{{Gantz}}''. He finds them too [[{{Gorn}} mercilessly bloody]], [[HumansAreBastards misanthropic]] and [[CrapsackWorld nihilistic]] for their own good. This is much more prevelant with the latter two, as while ''Elfen Lied'' and ''Devilman'' have some hope and levity between the nihilism and cruelty, ''Violence Jack'' and ''Gantz''...don't.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: [[invoked]]Phoenix's most consistent BerserkButton, established all the way back in the review of the {{Manga/Guyver}} anime. {{Anime/Scryed}}, {{Manga/SamuraiGun}} and {{Anime/Gilgamesh}} are other notable offenders. : [[invoked]] In a vlog on ''Manga/ElfenLied'' she mentions that one of her biggest problems with the show was that it was so cartoonishly grimdark that she couldn't take it seriously. Also brings up similar criticisms with the author's other manga ''Manga/{{Nononono}}''.: [[invoked]] This is a major reason for his criticism of anime such as ''Manga/ElfenLied'', ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' (and ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby''), ''Manga/ViolenceJack'', and ''Manga/{{Gantz}}''. He finds them too [[{{Gorn}} mercilessly bloody]], [[HumansAreBastards misanthropic]] and [[CrapsackWorld nihilistic]] for their own good. This is much more prevelant with the latter two, as while ''Elfen Lied'' and ''Devilman'' have some hope and levity between the nihilism and cruelty, ''Violence Jack'' and ''Gantz''...don't.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: [[invoked]] This is a major reason for his criticism of anime such as ''Manga/ElfenLied'', ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' (and ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby''), ''Manga/ViolenceJack'', and ''Manga/{{Gantz}}''. He finds them too [[{{Gorn}} mercilessly bloody]], [[HumansAreBastards misanthropic]] and [[CrapsackWorld nihilistic]] for their own good. This is much more prevelant with the latter two, as while ''Elfen Lied'' and ''Devilman'' have some hope and levity between the nihilism and cruelty, ''Violence Jack'' and ''Gantz''...don't.

*** The video in question then uses the 2011 opening, and then uses his more sardonic, snarky, unrefined riffing style of the era, instead of the more mature, nuanced opinions he gave by 2016. In the Nuts and Bolts commentary, Bennett mentioned his plan was to originally use the then-mediocre editing methods of the time as well, but later decided that was unnecessary.

*** It then immediately transfers to the style of Sage Reviews, his review show he retired 6 years prior and was his start on Blistered Thumbs. He returns to his dry, humorless tone of informing the viewers how the game completely rips off ResidentEvil and how disappointing the game is. However, unlike those videos, which were usually 5-10 minutes in length, he stops this "review" 30 seconds in and then returns to his contemporary format.

** Bennett has not said one way or the other, but the latter two series appear to be at least on indefinite hiatus, if not completely dead.[[note]]Ashira Herzig transitioned in mid-2018, and her Twitter posts at that time implied that she's completely divorced herself from anything relating to Bennett's media output. As she was Bennett's co-host prior to this point, those two series are in limbo until Bennett says something official.[[/note]]