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The End Approaches, Yet the Adventures Continue...
So my semester is over, and I have one lone final to do next Tuesday.

This leaves quite a bit of free time, and I've been formulating plans on what to do with it. I will share on them in time, but first, I might as well cover up to the end of the semester, which is one Hell of a recap.

Where to start?


Perhaps with Ise Jingu.

Ise Jingu was the last major CJS field trip, and unlike the Nara trip, there were actually Japanese to tag along this time.


Ise is semi-secluded in the midst of the forest. Semi as there is a town nearby, but you wouldn't tell while on the grounds. As such the nature here is unbelievably beautiful.


This is the shrine where all entrants must wash their hands, which just about all shrines and temples have.


Unfortunately, we were kind of rushed through Ise, so I actually don't know a whole lot about it, other than it's a popular shrine in Japan, and it's fairly large, with pathways cutting through the forest to the various buildings there.


The scenery is awesome though.


After the shrine, they let us explore the town on our own, and we broke up into groups.


While browsing for a place to eat lunch, we came across a Japanese taiko group, ironically smaller than Bowling Green's.


We found this awesome ramen shop with a lot of outdoor space to eat. The weather was unbelievably nice considering the nonstop rain Nagoya had the two days prior.


After the town, we toured a museum for pearls, which also has its own oyster farm, which is what those wooden things floating in the water are. Oysters are placed in nets and hung from the devices for easy retrieval.


Then on the trip home our bus got stuck in a traffic jam. Jeff (not pictured above at lunch) and I started waving incessantly at the other tour buses we passed. The reactions of a normally quiet and disposed culture to two smiling gaijin waving and giving the Vulcan sign for "Live long and prosper." kept us well entertained in the 5mph traffic.


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Being the end of the semester for us, but the start of the new school year for the Japanese students, my dorm held its fundraiser dance again. Here you can see everyone being given the rundown before the event starts.




While I'm not one for dances, unlike last Fall I knew some of the Japanese students who came, so I spent a lot more time in the main area talking to them.


Take a guess at whose sober.


After the party ended, I went out to Lawsons to grab some food to bring back to the community room post cleanup. I also grabbed another issue of Hobby Japan, and found that two of the new Japanese residents are fellow anime obsessed dorks.


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So recently a crazy announcement was made. Midway acquired the DC Comics license, and taking a page out from Capcom's playbook, they are making Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The part of me that loves crossovers is ecstatic. The part of me that loves good crossovers... not so much. No fatalities, and let's face it, you'd rather see DC take on Marvel and Capcom rather than the Kombatants. There's even a MUGEN project out there that tried to do it, and was authentic enough in what they had done to fool me into believing the DC characters actually had a 2D fighter out there.

But regardless, it got me to thinking about all the crossovers I've seen, and there have been quite a few. The Mask and Ace Ventura met up once, simply for sharing the same actor, and the Turtles took one the Power Rangers in Space. I wrote up a list of every crossover I knew of, and of course it pales to the real number, and ranked the top 10 greatest crossovers.

Great encompasses both personal joy caused at seeing the pairing, and overall impact to crossovers in general. The crossover must be official (although not necessarily cannon), and the properties origins cannot originate from within the same company, which tosses out crossovers like The Avengers, Destroy All Monsters, Smash Bros., and Flintsones Meet the Jetsons. If a company created them, they're going to do a mashup sooner or later, it's their obligation.

However, a company can purchase the rights from previous owners, that's fine. So Batman (having been created by Bob Kane) and Superman (by Jerry Seigel) being united after their creation under DC actually works, although it did not make the top 10.

So enjoy!


#10 - Nike Goes Plum Loco

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, Basketball was America's greatest sport. Why? The sport simply had the most superstars to offer. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, and the legend himself, Michael Jordan are only a few of the personas that graced the public image. Basketball players did endorsement deals to death, and the sporting companies of course loved it. The most recognizable Basketball supporter: Nike. Basketball and Nike were inseperable at that time, and Nike pulled out all the stops to keep that attention. Thus the world was treated to Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny teaming up for two commercials, which would inspire Space Jam. Thanks to Space Jam, everyone remembers this as the prime NBA crossover, forgetting that Nike pulled a similar stunt pairing up Charles Barkley and Godzilla.

Sadly the film follow-up has yet to develop, although Dark Horse obliged with a comic book. I'm still hoping.

#9 - The Impossible Movie

When thinking of crossovers, I always forget about this one. However, its importance should never be taken for granted. Warner Bros. and Disney are two gigantic corporations who answer to no one. NO ONE! Yet the impossible happened and Warner Bros. licensed out their characters to Disney for a movie about cartoon characters being real. Yes, I speak of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Corporate egos were cast aside for an idea that just appealed, and helped make the film as real as it could be. And so audiences everywhere got to see the battle of the Ducks, and the companies' two mascots Bugs and Mickey, on screen at the same time. Quite literally as equal screen time between the two was a prerequisite for the deal.

#8 - The Greatest Fighting Series Ever

Street Fighter was an awesome game that I played all the time with my friends. X-Men was an awesome show that I watched all the time with my friends (cause I didn't have cable). They were two of the defining parts of my first grade year. Eventually, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, the Power Rangers, and the Biker Mice From Mars would all throw these two awesome things out of the spotlight for a few years.

Then, late in fourth grade while browsing the Southern Park Mall arcade, a deep triumphant voice shouted from behind.

X-MEN

VS

STREET FIGHTER

Those of you who know the game know the call I speak of. I spun around to be greeted by the image or Ryu and Cyclops locking hands in an eternal friendship that blew my God damn mind. I was unaware of Street Fighter Alpha at this point, and the new gameplay, graphics, and super moves that could obliterate certain stages, complete with X-Men authentically ripped from the TV series was beyond fun, and I found myself reintroduced into the Street Fighter series.

The two teams would later invite their friends for two equally amazing rounds of Marvel vs. Capcom, but X-Men vs. Street Fighter was the first, the proof of concept, and the one that took most of my quarters.

#7 - The Illogical Crossover

I use the word illogical here not in a negative sense, but in the completely out of the blue never in a million years would you have put these two things together sense. Yet one day while sitting in 10th grade biology, Andy passes me his gaming magazine to point out Kingdom Hearts.

Disney and Square Enix were making a video game together, and Final Fantasy VII characters were going to be in it. While the game is primarily based around the Disney universes and some original characters, the inclusion of the FFVII cast make it a true crossover that spawned two more games that crossed over even more by throwing in more Final Fantasies and some of Disney's live action films, namely TRON. God. Damn. TRON. TRON 2.0 may have failed to become a movie, but the spirit of that crazy film lives on. I've got my fingers crossed for a Black Hole world in Kingdom Hearts III.

#6 - The Comic Giants

Comic books. They're everywhere, and their influence is seen throughout American, and even worldwide, society. While there are numerous comic book companies, only two have a history spanning 50 years, and thus are understandably the largest and most powerful, controlling the most, and most recognizable, heros and villains. Marvel, and DC.

I could go any way with this, and talk about any of their many crossovers, including the card game VS., in which you could unleash an army of MIGHTY SENTINELS on Bruce Wayne's poor butler Alfred.

Sense?
None.

Fun.
Hell yeah.

Name any DC hero/villain (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Joker, DarkSeid, Justice League), then any Marvel hero/villain (Spiderman, IronMan, X-Men, Dr. Doom, Avengers), then have them meet up, and you have yourself an epic winner. The ridiculous simplicity of the formula is what kept it from being higher on the list. That and the fact that as long as Warner Bros. hangs on to DC, we ain't seeing filmed versions anytime soon. They can't even do a normal DC crossover right, and they've held the reigns for over twenty years.

#5 - The Debate of Our Childhood is Settled

Growing up, video games rocked. Pre 1989, there was only one name that graced the mind when video games were brought up, Nintendo. True, there was the Master System, but that failed miserably stateside. Then came the Sega Genesis, Sega's entry into the 16 bit generation, followed by Nintendo's own entry, the Super Nintendo. Sega, to push it's name out of obscurity and become a threat created a campaign to trash Nintendo's family image. Sega was cool, and Nintendo wasn't, or at least that's what they wanted you to believe. To counter Nintendo's iconic Mario, Sega created the lightning fast, fast talking Sonic the Hedgehog. Throughout the 90s, you either took sides, or bought both systems like I did. Even when taking that easy way out, I longed to see the two companies go at it with their mascots, but aside from low blows in commercials and gaming magazines, it was all but a dream.

Until 2008. Though the days of Sega consoles are long gone, a horde of gaming fans remembered the ancient rivalry, and when Nintendo opened it's doors for a third party character to enter the formally Nintendo only arena of the Smash Bros. world, there was only one choice. One.

Sonic crushed opposition in the polls, and Nintendo lived up to its word and held secret meetings with the heads of Sega over a licensing compromise. While we still were unsure of the legitamcy of Nintendo's poll, Sega announced an Olympic themed crossover between Mario and Sonic, and our hopes and dreams suddenly gained a new momentum. Then in late 2007 Nintendo countered Segas announcement with their own, Sonic was in Brawl.

And now in one of the greatest fighters of our time, every gamer who was a child in the days of Super and Genesis can relive the greatest rivalry they have ever known right in their own home.

God bless you, Sakurai. Bless you.

#4 - The Grand Daddy of Them All

If doing a top ten crossover list, an obligatory space must be reserved for the one that started it all. Long, long ago, movies were popular. You could go out on the town, pay a nickel, and see five cartoons, two moving pictures, eat a tub of popcorn, and have a pair of sodas for you and the missus. Even then, in the early days of cinema, there were characters so beloved, either in full length features or shorts, that they would return again and again.

Then one day Universal Pictures had an idea. It was a crazy idea, unheard of... unfathomable even. They would answer the ancient and age old question: Who would win in a fight between Frankenstein and the Wolf Man. Universal was in the midst of their golden age of horror pictures, and as such held the rights to both characters. Thus a canon story was whipped up, serving as a true sequel to both monsters previous film. The success of this novel idea resurfaced in more crossover pictures with other horror icons, and even Abbot and Costello.

They laughed, laughed and scorned, but Universal showed that the world would pay to see pop culture icons go at each other on screen, and paved the way for every other entry on this list. Including the next three, which beat this only for achieving better name recognition as the pinnacle examples of crossoverdom.

Who's lauging now?

So then, let's recap:

10) Nike Ads
9) Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
8) X-Men vs. Street Fighter (and sequels)
7) The Kingdom Hearts series
6) Anytime Marvel and DC go at it
5) Super Smash Bros. Brawl (specifically the guests)
4) Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

And so without further ado I give you...

#3 - The "Dream" Bout

The 80s. Those were the days, weren't they? Among the hair bands, neon lights, video games, Reganomics, and ninjas, a new film genre was taking stride and amassing a body count that puts every serial killer in history combined to shame.

The slasher flick was in.

The idea was simple, a bunch of lazy irreverent oversexed teenagers are stalked by one crazed supernatural being and killed off one by one. The last survivor, industrious, pure, and not oversexed manages to overcome said being and live off the rest of their life in therapy.

A simple cookie cutter concept, with the only real differentiating factor between them being what was doing all the gruesome over the top brutal murdering. Many slashers have come and gone, with really only four staying in the public's mind (five if you count Chucky, who sold out in the new millennium), and among them two stood out as the kings of terror and produced sequel after sequel. Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th, and Freddy Krueger of Nightmare on Elm Street. Both are fiendishly brutal, heartless, and easily recognizable; Jason with his massive build, hockey mask, and machete, and Freddy with is striped sweater, gruesome disfigured face, and that massive claw.

Jason's image would become the stereotypical association with the slasher genre, while Freddy Krueger would be the name of terror in pop culture. You wanted visual fear, you wore a hockey mask. You wanted fear via association, you name dropped Freddy Krueger. Incidentally, this worked interchangeably for badass imagery as well. Not seeing any slasher films as a child, these two figures were still recognized, and no others.

As a fifth grader, I first heard the rumors that these two beings of teenage bane would fight each other in film. Was it possible? Could it be? Robocop and Terminator had a go in comics and video games, along with another infamous pair, and these two, born from the same genre had much more of a right to fight each other than any of those.

Seven years later, after an epic trek through Production Hell, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees beat the "living" shit out of each other and their teenage prey.

Four years later, Ash Williams would don his chainsaw once again and join the fray in comic form, and rumor abounds that the fight isn't over yet.

#2 - The First Franchise

We see crossovers all the time. While all are good, as is the nature of a crossover, they usually do not last. There is, however, one shining example that two seperate ideas can join together and be redifined and marketed as a new story line.

Once upon a time, Dark Horse noticed that among their many film license rights, they possesed two species of extraterrestrial beings, the Xenomorphs of the Aliens saga, and the Yautja warriors of the Predator series. Both of these rights came from the same company, 20th Century Fox. Phone calls were made, and a miniseries was born whilst both Alien 3 and Predator 2 were in the works. The Predator 2 staff would catch wind of this and place an alien skull in the predator ship, and a legend was born. The clever and resourceful Predators hunted much more than man, including the ancient heartless threat of the alien swarms. Man's extraterrestrial foe angainst man's extraterrestrial foe. Hunter against beast. Franchise against franchise.

The battle between Alien and Predator began some 18 years ago, and the battle has raged non-stop ever since. There have been comics, novels, toys, beat'em ups, first person shooters, and at long last even films. And not satisfied kicking eachothers ass, they've even taken on the likes of Superman and Batman, alone and together.

It's just a shame the first film didn't deliver, but did decently, while the second went far beyond my expectations, and NOBODY SAW IT! You should be ashamed. Thankfully the rest of the world picked up your slack and Fox isn't ruling out round 3. Sooner or later this could bring back their individual series too. You got to think ahead guys, and pay your dues now.

#1 - The Iconic Match Up

Well, if you know who I am, and you take a look at ten through two, you know what's going here. And for good cause. As I said in #4, the top three are the shining examples of crossover. The titans of a genre with no real connection other than that, and thrown against each other to the delight of the masses. All are name droppable as a typical crossover idea. This one, is arguably the most famous of all. This was more than a battle of iconic titans, this was a battle between nationalities. America's Kong vs. Japan's Godzilla.

This was back when the only known crossovers were owned solely by Universal, and so, when Willis O'Brien dreamt up a third sequel to King Kong wherein he fights a giant being sewn together from African animals, and called it Frankenstein, he had trouble finding a producer. A guy named John Beck took his idea, cast him aside, and shopped the idea around for cheap ways to perhaps pull it off.

Monster movies on a budget? Then there's only one place to go. For Toho, getting to use American properties was a wet dream, as Japan eats anything remotely American alive, even today. They were quick to toss Frankenstein aside (but save him for later) and put in their own titular creature, the mighty Godzilla. And so nearly twenty years after the end of World War II, America and Japan would once again come to blows, this time through the fists of two 150 foot monstrosities. The pairing could not be more poetic, not only was this America against Japan, but the father of giant monsters against the Japanese ode, mammal against reptile, old versus new, giant against giant, legend against legend. The rivalry was so strong that a widespread urban myth came to be wherein the victor changed between nationalities. Kong won in America and Godzilla in Japan. My dad never followed Godzilla, and he was the one who introduced that myth to me, if that's any indication how popular this bout was in mainstream society.

Incidentally, when brought back to the states for distribution, Universal picked up the rights and thus continued their old habit of putting out crossover films.

King Kong vs. Godzilla is the highest grossing Godzilla film ever, even forty years later. While Toho tried and failed to make an immediate sequel, this was the first ever vs. movie, and Toho would repeat the formula in an epic line of Godzilla vs. WhateverThreatensJapanToday films, and vs. would become the standard for any epic property facing off against another, rather than "meets" as used by the first crossover. So important was this film that Toho tried to remake it in 1990, only to be stopped by an evil Ted Turner. He was willing to let Toho use Kong, but for a fee far outside of a Japanese studio's feasible range. When they made vs. King Ghidorah instead, his CNN blasted the movie for being anti-American and helped create a stigma kept the film and those that followed from American shores for nearly eight years. When you're six, and have to wait until you're twelve, that's an eternity.

And thus I fully support Rupert Murdoch and FOX News over the whiny and biased CNN.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Batman vs. Whatever the Goddamn Batman Wants

Batman is Batman, as he always so eloquently puts. As such, Batman with his mighty intellect and utility belt (which contains ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you can think of) can take on anything the punks at DC dare throw at him. Currently he's gone 4-0 against the Preds and 3-0 against the Aliens. Most of those stories are fantastic, and I'd would love to see Bale take on a Predator. Since Christopher Nolan wants to fuck up Batman by making him more realistic and therefore more gritty, the least he could do is throw the most gritty foe possible at him. I'd pay good money to see a Predator take on Batman, and the beauty of it, is the simplicity of the idea. Nobody on this planet, not even The Great Naysayer of Crossovers Andy, can say it doesn't make sense. Predators hunt one thing, and one thing only: worthy prey. And what could possibly be more worthy than The Batman (save Superman).

Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue

Kids, Drugs are bad. You know why drugs are bad? Because Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Kermit, Gonzo, Piggy, Slimer, Winnie the Pooh Bear, Tigger, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Michaelangelo, Alf, Garfield, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and The Smurfs say they are.

I kid you not.

Battletoads & Double Dragon

The games subtitle says it all "The Ultimate Team". I love playing beat'em ups, especially when they're good. This game made by the Battletoads makers perfected what they did with the first Battletoads game and created a slugfest that was actually playable beyond two levels. The icing on the cake was that the Dragons Jimmy and Bimmy Lee were along for the ride, complete with their own lineup of baddies.

Every once in a while the game's base beats pulse through my memories, and I miss it so terribly. Long before the teamups of Capcom and SNK, or Nintendo and Sega, we saw the legend of the Battletoads and the Double Dragons come together in harmony and bliss. Gaming's first true crossover.

League of Extraordinary Gentelmen

The movie sucks, so purge all memory of it (save Sean Connery) from your mind. Now picture every classic (CLASSIC, NO PREPUBESCENT WIZARD LOSERS) literary figure you can coexisting together. That's quite alot of villainy to deal with, now isn't it. Never fear however, for Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde), the Invisible Man, and others have banded together to fight whatever evil may come their way. That is, until the Martians invade and tear the group apart in Volume Two. The fact that they fought the War of the Worlds is the reason this series made the honorable mention.

Soul Calibur II

Pleasant surprises are fun. Namco pull a doozy a few years back when they decided to stick Spawn and Link into the Soul Calibur series. People went wild, and much love was felt for Namco and their beloved swordfighting series. Many new fans were made, especially amongst X-Box and Gamecube owners.



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With time running out and a backlog of items to show to you, today we shall have an extended episode of...

THE THINGS OF WHICH ED ATE

Go to any convini and there will be a plethora of bread, sandwich, and hot dog related items. This hot dog-esque delicacy caters to Japan's obsession with mayo, which goes on everything they can put it on.


This is delicious. Maabouhan... or something like that in English, they write it like this: マーボー飯 and since it uses katakana it means it's a foreign word. Whatever it is, it's a spicy sauce with tofu and hamburger over rice. I can't begin to describe how good it is. In fact, I'm hungry just looking at it.


SSSUUUUUUUSSSSSHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!
I doubt this needs any introduction.


So America has Gatorade and Powerade to cater to the thirst of athletes. In Japan, sports drinks are clear liquids with really awkward tastes. This here is Coca-Cola's bid in the market share, Aquarius. Like Gatorade, the thirstier you are, the better it tastes. The peculiar taste leads one to question the name of Aquarius's competitor, Pocari Sweat.

Japanese naming conventions need some work.



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Make sure you see parts 2 and 3, they get a lot better.

And with that, I'm out hipcats.

Later.