Don't tamper, I'll know.
The A-Team (WIP):
Templeton “Faceman” Peck is the smooth, charismatic member of the team. A con man who woos any woman he encounters, Face.Before going in the police truck, Face gets one final kiss from Sosa… only to find out that the reason he did that was because he took the key to their locks from her using his mouth.
Capt. H.M. Murdock is an insane, yet brilliant pilot who seeks thrills at the potential cost of his friends’ lives.From speaking very fluent Swahili in order to get past airport security.Murdock comes up with the plan to disguise himself as Morrison by creating a metallic helmet for him to wear that protects his face from bullets.
General Morrison is Hannibal’s well-respected mentor who disapproves of how the government views soldiers. Coming up with a complex plan to fake his death, Morrison has Pike kill his men and frame the A-Team for it. Disguising himself as the Arab in order to sell the plates as one big middle finger to the government, Morrison is later captured by the A-Team and interrogated. With Lynch sending in a bomb squad to destroy the place holding him, Morrison spends his last few moments at peace before getting blown to smithereens.
Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked (WIP):
Akiba Maid War (WIP):
Who is She?
Ranko Mannen
What does she do?
Is she charming? Intelligent? Able to think on her feet?
Is she a bitch? Too much of one?
Verdict?
Who is She?
Okachimachi
What does she do?
Is she charming? Intelligent? Able to think on her feet?
Is she a bitch? Too much of one?
Verdict?
Who is He?
Suehiro is an assassin
What does he do?
Is he charming? Intelligent? Able to think on his feet?
Is he a bastard? Too much of one?
Verdict?
Lupin III (WIP)
Chapter 11, "Hail to the King"
Who is He?
King is a slick crime boss who seeks to claim the throne of the Lupin criminal empire.
What has he done?
Heavily implied to have been complicit in a recent train accident that resulted in 53 deaths and hundreds of missing injured people, King hoped to have killed Lupin II so that he can claim his criminal empire for himself. But with Lupin III still being alive, King desires his death.
Forcing a doctor to kill an injured Lupin, once that fails, King threatens Jigen's sister with murder should he not kill Lupin for him. Once Lupin's been acquired, King decides to have his way with Fujiko as a reward for turning Lupin in to him.
But, what King failed to realize is that Lupin left behind his shoe, which has a bomb strapped to it. We don't see the explosion, but considering King never shows up again after this...
Redeeming Qualities?
None.
Heinousness?
So while the manga's far more darker than later installments, and even the Lupin gang are far more edgy and unscrupulous thanks to Early-Installment Weirdness (Lupin's a rapist whose antics are played for laughs, isn't afraid to shoot a cop at one point, etc), I compare it to a more raunchier take on Ian Flemming's James Bond. A protagonist who had a lot of sociopathic, sexist traits that were ironed out completely thanks to several new writers and creators.
Now with all that out of the way, King, for a villain of the week, has a pretty large body count and personal goals that carry some dramatic weight to them.
Conclusion
Slight keep. Fun fact, King makes an appearance in Part 5 as a minor villain, though isn't anywhere near as heinous to count.
Lupin Zero (WIP):
Who is He?
Arsene Lupin, the master thief himself, is Lupin's grandfather.
What does he do?
In the final episode, Lupin makes his way inside the Prime Minister's office by knocking out his guards, mainly so that he can get a front row seat to see if his grandson has what it takes to be a true thief.
Is he charming? Intelligent? Able to think on his feet?
Age hasn't slowed Arsene down a bit.
Is he a bastard? Too much of one?
Verdict?
Who is He?
Arsene Lupin II is Lupin's father who, despite telling his son to avoid the life of a thief, is revealed to be a master thief of his own.
What does he do?
Throughout the present day anime series, from what we knew of him, Lupin II was more interested in the Lupin Empire, a crime syndicate who didn't deal in thieving or stealing, hoping his son Lupin III wouldn't get involved in his business.
But it's Lupin Zero where we get a real idea of what kind of guy he was.
Helping Lupin survive his grandfather's obstacle course, Lupin II has a plan of his own. Hoping his son doesn't become a thief like his granddad, Lupin II assists revolutionary leader Gaucho with his plan to destroy all of Tokyo in order to, in return for top secret locations for Soviet missile silos. Successfully stealing an atomic canon from a U.S. Army base using a variety of disguises, Lupin II has made other plans for his son.
Disguising himself as his maid Shinobu and going hand to hand with young Jigen, even ending their battle in a tie, Lupin II attempts to talk his son out of joining Jigen in a life of crime. But when that fails, Lupin II tries to trick his son into going to Nagano, which would be out of the potential blast range for when the canon fires, Lupin sees through his dad's disguise. Lupin II reveals himself, and orders Lupin to steal his prized Walther P38 from him, promising him details if he succeeds. Able to go toe to toe with his own son, Lupin II while sometimes using his son's own traps against him. When Lupin steals the Walther, Lupin II accept his defeat, telling his son the atomic canon's location, and even allowing him to keep his Walther as a farewell present.
Is he charming? Intelligent? Able to think on his feet?
Is he a bastard? Too much of one?
Verdict?
Easy keep
Voltaire (WIP):
The Black Labyrinth is Voltaire's latest album, taking heavy inspiration from Labyrinth's setting, themes, and characters.
"The Soldier's Blade" (Lyrics here
) follows a Cavern Elf who is tasked by his mom to kill a general. It gets a little more complicated after that.
Who is She?
The mother manipulates the elf son into committing revenge against her husband.
What does she do?
Forging a knife made from her family’s crest, the mother tells her son to use the knife to slay a foul general who wronged her in the past. Upon the son completing his task by stabbing the general while he’s distracted, he finds out that the general was his long-lost father.
Upon returning home, the mother tells her sorrowful son that now that he’s killed his dad, he is now the leader of the Cavern Elf clan, just like she wanted.
Is she charming? Intelligent? Able to think on her feet?
The mother's able to trick her son into killing his father by taking advantage of the fact that he didn't really know what he looked like growing up (he only recognized him because of his eyes), and ultimately ends the son the victor, getting everything she wanted and then some.
Is she a bitch? Too much of one?
The mother makes her son kill her dad by making him out to be worse than he actually is, manipulating her boy into murdering him just so that he can be the leader of the Cavern Elves.
But it's clear that despite her manipulation, the mother still cares for her son, believing that she was doing the right thing in making him the new leader.
Verdict?
C Ms:
What’s the Work?
Who is He?
Mithra is a sadistic demon taking the form of a silver-haired child.
What has he done?
Seeing little value in humans because of how awful he thinks they are, Mithra decides to mind rape them for fun, psychologically tormenting them with hallucinations and more. Setting his sights on Mika, Mithra creates a cult to follow her around, with one of their members punished by getting his tongue ripped out. Mithra proceeds to pester Mika with numerous hallucinations that poke fun of her insecurities in an attempt to drive her insane, while corrupting people like Ryo into helping him. With a love for death making him stand out from anything the trio have encountered, Mithra at the end kills Mika’s friends Yukari, Chisato, and Arisa, even cackling with each life he claims. But Mithra meets his end when Ryo goes against his mind control to wield a fabled sword to slay the demon for good.
Redeeming Qualities?
None. While Mithra claims to pester humans because he sees them as assholes, it's really just a lame excuse to sadistically harm them, showing that he's not any better than them.
Heinousness?
Easily the worst in the original Twilight Syndrome canon.
Conclusion
What’s the Work?
City Hunter is a 2024 action movie based on the manga of the same name. Serving as the second live action film adaptation of Ryo's adventures, this movie's actually pretty awesome, with some great action and a dark plot that translates well on film.
Based on an early story arc in the manga, Ryo Saeba is an incredibly badass, and incredibly perverted, "sweeper" who is tasked to find a woman's missing sister, Kurumi. But after his partner Hideyuki is killed, his adopted sister Kaori tasks Ryo to track down her brother's killer, who actually has connections to the missing Kurumi. Ryo and Kaori end up getting entangled in a scheme led by Union Teope, a crime syndicate who is currently using Shinjuku as a testing ground for the drug Angel Dust. Kurumi's blood is found to be immune to the drug's effects, and they want it bad. It's up to Ryo to make sure that doesn't happen.
Who is He?
The unnamed head of Union Teope’s Japanese division oversees the organization’s Angel Dust production in Japan.
What has he done?
Taking advantage of the explosives attached to his and his subordinates’ necks to instill fear in his henchmen by threatening to activate them at any given chance, the head works with the CEO of the cosmetics brand Lore to create an enhanced version of the combat drug Angel Dust, having runaway kids and homeless people used as guinea pigs. While Angel Dust grants them super strength and mobility, basically making them super soldiers, it also causes these subjects to lose their minds and murder people, only to die from the drug’s effects after a few days. The head is tasked to make a more enhanced version of the drug for his unseen bosses, with the Union hoping to sell it across the entire world through the black market. The surge of Angel Dust throughout Shinjuku results in a lot of deaths, with one of his subjects killing Kaori’s brother Hideyuki.
Seeking the cosplayer Kurumi after she escaped his hideout, the head sends his lackeys out to retrieve her, since her special blood is needed to perfect Angel Dust. When they fail, the head kills a random, unsuspecting henchman by activating the explosive implanted in his neck as a way to show them what would happen if they fail again; Black Bear is later a victim of such after getting arrested. With Kurumi eventually acquired by a cop secretly working for the Union for a briefcase full of money, the head activates a hidden explosive inside the case that kills him.
Once Kurumi’s blood is used to enhance the effects of Angel Dust, the head, believing he now has everything he needs, casually kills the CEO of Lore and has all the doctors and test subjects gunned down, having no use for them anymore. This includes Kurumi’s friend Kento, who was one of the many subjects used for the tests. Hoping to make a getaway with Kurumi in a helicopter, the head offers Ryo a chance to join the Union, even smugly stating that Hideyuki was nothing but a "weakling", and that "the weak must die."
Upon being tailed by Kaori, the head sadistically reveals to her that her "weak" father was a originally Union member who wanted out of the syndicate after having her. So he ratted him out, and got him to become a test subject for Angel Dust, which caused him to go on a violent rampage that led him to getting shot by a cop, the same one who took Kaori in to raise her.
But upon being stopped by Saeko and Ryo, the head desperately tries to get Kaori to shoot him, knowing that his unseen bosses will activate his explosives and kill him themselves. In an act of desperation, the head tries to kill Ryo and Kaori, but the explosives go off anyway, putting an end to his tyranny.
Redeeming Qualities?
After thinking about it... nope. While he may be loyal to the Union, he's still not afraid to use fear to control other Union loyalists like his henchmen, and the film portrays him as everything wrong with the syndicate, from his cold behavior towards his associates, to his sadist love of feeling superior over everybody else.
And then there's his death. While he's terrified of the idea of being killed by his unseen bosses, given that he spends his final moments trying to kill Ryo and Kaori, plus the fact that he's willing to use the exact same method to control his own men and kill them to send a message, show that he's really not any better, and is only sad that he's on the other receiving end this time.
Heinousness?
So my biggest worry is that the head is a cog in the machine, used by the Union to create their own brand of Angel Dust no matter how many have to die. But upon inspection, I think it's safe to say that the head isn't just a mindless drone, and is pretty independent himself. He's the one who keeps his lackeys in line by threatening to have them murdered, he's the one who decided to kill Lore's CEO and personally ordered the massacre of their defenseless doctors and test subjects, and he's the one who personally brags about ruining Kaori's life to her face by being responsible for the death of her biological father.
And while the Union have been experimenting on Angel Dust for decades, the head has been the leader of their operation for a while, and is responsible for all the worst aspects of the operation. It helps too that the narrative paints the head as a cowardly piece of slime who is no better than the people he deems as weak; the movie really wants us to hate this guy, and I think he does just enough to earn that hate.
Conclusion
An interesting keep, I feel.
What’s the Work?
Who Is He?
What has he done?
Redeeming Qualities?
Heinousness?
Conclusion
What's the Work?
Waking Nightmares is a The Crow comic that I've already covered before a few years ago. While current keeper Artie Merserve isn't going anywhere, upon further inspection, I think one of his underlings is worth a shot.
Who is He?
Xin is the head of the Merserve’s child pornography business, kidnapping children and making sick pornographic films with them under Merserve’s orders.
What has he done?
Xin is responsible for protagonist Mark Leung’s demise, with Xin even personally cutting out Mark’s heart to finish him off, Xin even kidnaps Mark's two daughters to use them for his latest film, even gloating to the daughters with the fact that he murdered their father when they get out of line.
Xin regularly films child porn in his studio, and is willing to threaten his "stars" with murder if they don’t do as they’re told. Xin later meets his demise when he's interrupted by the resurrected Mark and some rival Triads as he’s about to film his latest child porno, Xin even revealing that he lent Mark's daughters to Merserve to hold them hostage.
Redeeming Qualities?
Nope.
Heinousness?
While Merserve is the one calling all the shots, Xin is still the most involved in Merserve’s operation, serving as The Heavy for his plans. Xin personally directs the child porn and is willing to get his hands dirty if need be, completely unafraid to threaten and murder the children under his containment.
Conclusion
M Bs:
What’s the Work?
Who is She?
What does she do?
Is he charming? Intelligent? Able to think on her feet?
Is she a bitch? Too much of one?
Verdict?
I'll be curious to hear y'alls thoughts.
