Hidden Gems: From Isekai to Sports, Vampires to Sci‑Fi—Why These Newer Anime Deserve Your Time

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening Vibes & Life Updates
• 2:20 Why Spotlight Newer Underrated Anime
• 3:40 Jobless Reincarnation and Second Chances
• 6:00 Ace of Diamond and Sports Passion
• 9:00 Respect, Culture, and Humility
• 10:10 Terraformars: Science, Fear, and Insects
• 15:20 Seraph of the End and Moral Duty
• 18:00 Kenichi: Growth Through Hard Work
• 24:20 Isekai Boom and Slime’s Rise
• 27:40 Blue Dragon, Tsubasa, and Blue Lock
• 31:40 Sports Mindset and Real-World Greats
• 34:10 Anime as Solace and Identity
• 37:00 Final Reflections and Community Invite
• 38:10 Closing Credits & Theme

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:01

Welcome guys. And thank you for tuning in to another episode of King.

SPEAKER_01: 0:08

Here we go, here we go. Here we go, here we go. Here we go, here we go. No, yo, we got troll gonna be mixed with Nitro flow, it's slow to screen.

SPEAKER_02: 0:30

It's your boy Ken the Wiz. It's been a long, long week. Well, in my case, a long few weeks. I'll say. Uh a lot of unforeseen events, and I'm sure we all accustomed to that. I mean, honestly, I would like to think that, you know, sometimes I could probably dodge some of the madness that goes on out in today's world, but you know, nobody is an exception. But again, individually, I think we all have our moments where we say, hey life, can you just stop lifeing for just a minute so we can actually go on with our own lives and not having to worry about any, you know, bumps in the roads. But then again, if that is the case, how can we grow? Right? So I take everything with a grain of salt, I take every bad situation as a lesson learned, and I try to move on, and I try to grow from that. The definition of a fool is to continue to do something the same way, but expecting different results. Now we can all attest to that, right? But enough about that mushy stuff. I like to say that uh it's a new day, and uh we have things that we could probably say that we can always change. So as I say that, I like to go into today's episode for part two of where I finished off. Um, on the last episode, we were talking about underrated animes, right? Um, but more on the older school. On this one, this is gonna be basically for the newer school, right? A little bit more current. Um, and the reasoning for this is one to put some shine on some of the animes that were great, you know, at that time for sure, you know, a lot more came afterwards, after, you know, obviously, but to put a little bit of shine and a little bit of recognition. Because again, as I said, you know, in my very first episode, was I like to I like to give the artists, the the authors, and you know, and and the and the production companies of you know it's it's it's not easy to do this line of work. So the first one I want to really talk about is obviously extremely current, but matter of fact, is uh is about to restart um tomorrow, actually, uh Sunday, and this is jobless, jobless reincarnation. Goodness, I can't even talk. So, what happens? Take a few weeks off. Jobless reincarnation to me, and I don't want to go too much into it because um probably in the later episodes, I'm gonna kind of dive into the first and second and third season because I think the second season um was kind of or the first season was broken up, and I think now they're about to start the actual second season of it, and uh they packed a lot in that first season to kind of unravel enough. But only reason why I say it's underrated is because one do people really understand and and and this and this on my side too kind of speaks to the the isikais a lot, and I think the reason why the isikai are so popular right now uh worldwide is because you know how many people want to restart. I mean, really ask this question. I mean, to yourself, I mean, do you really think that if you had another chance, would you take it? Now, I I think it's it's human nature to kind of say, like, oh, I want to do things differently, or you know, I don't really want to change, but I mean, if I'm speaking from my own experiences, it's a couple things I would like to change, but will I still be the same person? Am I still gonna look at things the same? So I say this is the reason why Jobler's reincarnation is probably gonna be a timeless anime in its own right because of the realness and the transparency of the show, and I think that's what they were trying to you know uh portray, because I mean the protagonist is basically a 34-year-old who was a neat, and you know that he done nothing in his actual life, in his whole 34 years of life, he has done nothing to say that I am proud of and I can die with some dignity, but again, another time to further into that story, um, because it's a very exciting story, and um, I will be um thrilled to actually shoot that episode for sure. It's gonna be a lot to unravel there. But the next one on my list is um ace of diamonds, man. Ace of Diamonds is is so underrated in my book because one, it barely got any type of recognition, because it was it was one is you know, obviously, you could probably figure out it was about baseball, it was uh a sports one. I like sports anime, man. Sports anime is dope, supposed sports animes don't because they they can really, and especially if you're an athlete, man, you you you really kind of you feel the emotion, you feel the drive, and you feel how hard they're trying to work on their craft, and and I I and I want to say this too. Um, out of all uh uh genres and of different levels of anime, man, the sports for the Japan side, Japanese style, do you guys like not feel the passion that they really put into that? Because like you you you looking at uh what is it uh Shohei Otanani, I think if I'm if I'm pronouncing it correctly, in baseball right now. The current guy who's who's breaking records and he's young and he's on the Japanese side, and I mean he's a big dog. Come on, man. That's a good time right there. Shohei, that's a good time. Because I mean you could you can see the passion and how much work that he had to put into his craft and to transfer it to the American side, that's a great time. That's a great time. Um but again, the these are just one. I I think the purpose of this show um that I wanted to kind of really point out, it's just really recommendations, right? Because later on, I'm gonna start diving into it for sure. Um have a little bit more in-depth conversation about this. Um but moving on. Because that that's got me really excited. I don't know if y'all ever really if you if you could hear this in my voice, um the enthusiasm of the ones I'm actually calling out because they hit my core, man. They they were the core shows of me growing up, you know, watching and things like that, to kind of like really have a deep appreciation of all types and and have all different outlooks, and and it helps me be humble, man. Because Japanese culture is all about respect. So if you are a humble person, I feel like the Japanese style way is an awesome way of looking at life, man. Though they are 10 on 10 on 10 on everything that they do, sometimes you could probably, you know, tone it down a little bit, you you know, especially in America, like my man, you ain't really gotta bow to me, man. You know what I'm saying? Just the fact that you gave me a handshake is enough for me. You know, we can still have a great time, you know, and I'm not looking at you anything differently, you know. Uh, equality goes both ways, you do not have to bow to me. But if I'm in your, you know, I'm saying if I'm in Japan, then I gotta go with your customs because that's the respect issue, you know. That's what you guys are accustomed to. So, um, but moving on, and this one is is to me uh it was more entertainment, I think, but also educational. Um terraformers, terraformers, guys, was a crazy outlook on science, man. Like, I mean, they took a real turn, and you know what? I I won't even put a pass. And there are probably people out here that would love to do these type of procedures, those, those operations. So terraformers was based on when they say either they were like astronauts or uh some type of fighting force of a person taking or being or or taking the characteristics of animals. You heard it. Yeah, you heard right. They legit took crabs, snakes, sharks, hippos, birds, insects, and morphed them. And some people have more than others, you know, depending on if your body can take this operation, that um you can take this operation, and you're fighting another clan, or you're fighting another person with another type of current uh characteristics on you know, some uh you know, marine life, or you know, I'm saying land animals or the sea, you know, whatever. The reason why I think it was so underrated because I think it only lasted like maybe 24 episodes, if that, but it was so extra-packed, man. It has you at the edge of your seats. Now I don't know what happened with it. I'll probably have to dive into that a little bit more to figure out if the studio just dropped it because maybe it didn't get enough clout or you know, whatever the case. But to me, it was so underrated because if you were to look at it in a different aspect, in my opinion, insects are winning the world. Because imagine, imagine a car-sized ant, like a bull ant, or you know, a humanoid praying mantis, yeah. Do you understand how much death is going to be in is going on that will be going on in the world? Because in my opinion, I think praying mantis got a uh uh some type of alpha complex. You can't beat them, um, even as their size now, if if a human were to mess with them, they're gonna leave a mark. Um, they are basically on par in terms of strength with an ant, if not stronger. You know, I don't really know all the scientific specifications of each insect, but I know they're on par. I know if I see a praying mantis or I see an ant, I'm running for the praying mantis first. For sure, for sure, especially with those dang on claws, man. I mean, the face by itself is menacing. You got those little tentacles on the side of his face, and it's just going a little crazy, you know what I'm saying? Three three forks on the side of his face just moving simultaneously by itself. Each one has like a different uh you know, personality hook, you know, tearing up meat real quick, one bite, one big old chunk. It's tearing your soul out, man. You know, ants live, we all know, live 10 times worth their body weight. I want to say praying mantis is on the same par, if not a little bit more in strength. So, in in that regard, uh humanoid praying mantis can most likely tear down buildings by himself, just with his clock, with his little scythe, or whatever you want to call it. So, they they're gonna be like the grim reaper of insects. I mean, crazy, crazy, man. Um, another one, a personal favorite. Uh, I think it had uh two seasons with a little bit uh overs on top of that, but seraph of the inn, man. Y'all, I'm putting that on on with uh a la card with uh uh with the Helsing saga because Seraph of the Inn was you know a military type of base type of thing, but you really feel the war in the different personalities of people trying to figure out who they are, you know, or or reneging on their own personal goals to try to do something for others, and as a military form, you got people barking out orders to you that's something that you don't even want to do, but you're you but you're the only one that can. In life, we're the only we're the you could be the only person that could change somebody else's life, but you have the power to say yes or no. Sarah for the end, man. It's around vampires and military. So if you all into you know military-style animes and uh, you know, power, superpowers, and vampires and things like that. Like I said, I'm putting that up there with Helsing Saga, man. Alocard was a crazy dude, and we all know that. That's a bonus, by the way. Helsing, it's an old one, but in in my opinion, the animation was well above his time. But Alucard had a real screw loose, had a real screw loose. Should look that up, definitely look that up. Last but not least, I have watched this particular anime a thousand times, no exaggeration, and the reason why I probably watched it a thousand times because I can relate to this guy, I can relate to this guy, and you and you can, and again, another real life scenario. Mine is a little few kinks here and there, but Kanichi, man, the strongest disciple. That's another one that nobody ever really talks about. Well, you know, it's been overshadowed, but you know, this is a martial arts based on slice of life, you know, high school, you know, the run-in-the-mill protagonist who was weak, but he grew up to be well, not really grew up, but you know, he grew to be a formidable opponent to even the strongest of arts, basically. But the basis, the plot of the whole show was Kanichi was a high school student, he always got picked on, but he always had this sense of justice, um, of just not you know taking up for the weak, even though he was weak. And you gotta be firm at heart to go against the green. Cause the whole the whole plot of was him going against something that he knew that the only way to achieve it, he would have to put in extensive hard work. Now, the cool thing about the show was he was weak, and he met this girl, obviously. This girl basically put him on his butt. She had like a little weird quirk where if you were to come up behind her, she would trip you up, man, and put you on the ground quick. But her grandfather was like this grandmaster of all martial arts, right? He was jacked, man. Jacked, like, you know, like if you could look at Pi May and Kill Bill, he was like that, but like Arnor Schwarzenegger in his heyday, and Sylvester Stallone in one body, maybe with that Russian. I always forget his name, Dragon, Dragon, Drogan, Durin, some Rocky III or Rocky 4, yeah. Rocky III, he fought that Russian, yeah. Put all three of those guys together. That's grandpa. Grandpa never lost a fight, by the way. Kenichi, the girl's name was uh Miyu, but grandpa, Miyu's grandpa, man, put that girl through the ringer all her life, all her life, and you know, she had a little background, um, too. And so she just had to kind of grow up in the world of violence because the grandfather had his thing on, he was basically like a hermit, and he just kind of just traveled the world and fighting all these crazy folks, but he never lost, man. This baby, like a few few few masters in his heyday that probably made him thought that he was actually gonna lose a fight, but he always came out on top. But he started his dojo, and the dojo had four other masters in there, man. Amazing at their craft, uh, very well notable in the underground worlds for sure. You had Muay Thai, you had judo, you had weapon mastery, and you had Kinpo. Now, you got this one weakling of a little guy who is trying his hardest to you know, one impress Mew, Mew, because she was bad, dog. She was bad, bro. But would kick your butt in an instant, but had the heart of gold because not only did she use her powers to help others and to you know take up for the week, she taught Kanichi a valuable lesson of where don't learn this stuff and think because you learn this stuff and you can do this stuff, that you can push other people around. Again, in life, don't we meet people in an everyday basis that tries to control us, that tries to throw their power around, you know, guilt trip us into thinking that because that you're not trying to help, because you are less fortunate, that you are made to be led. Nah, man, every person has the ability to get out of their own circumstance if you want to, and that's what made this show so beautiful because you've seen the progression in Kanichi's life, and of course, he has some some notable fights, but he met these masters and he learned for each one. That's the coolest thing to me, because you took a different discipline, and you know, each discipline has a different outlook on life, you know. Kimpo is all about you know, the fluidity, water, you know, but balance, and um judo is all about the power and being so straightforward, Muay Thai is about the destruction, but still being timid at heart, you know, weapon mastery is just you learning to hone and to have something dangerous in your hand and honing that to be so precise, to know exactly your next step, to think two two, three steps ahead, like that's amazing. Oh, and Tai Chi, yeah, it had a master in there, so yeah, so it was another one in Tai Chi. We all know Tai Chi is yoga, man. But Tai Chi can be so deadly, so the show was a balance because not only did they show the destructive force of what it can do, but it also showed the other side that um of you know what happens or why you should do that, you know. It gives the the yeses and the no's, gives the pros and the cons. And I loved it because as you see the progression, you know, Kanichi starts to meet different guys his age, and each guy's coming from different masters, and each master that was at this dojo had you know affiliates, you know, had brothers and had their their masters, or had you know, brothers in the same uh in the arts that also had disciples, and that's who he was fighting, and so and they're also coming from you know troubled backgrounds, and so you're you're seeing their side as well. So the antagonist is was wasn't necessarily bad people, but misguided. So it shows you what happens when you have the wrong type of people around you, and the effects that it can have throughout your life. So, you know, now we go back to the saying the birds of a feather flock together. That's true, man. The company that you keep around you can have an immense impact on a direction on how you think and the way you are. It's powerful, it's powerful stuff. But I just liked it because the fight scenes and stuff. So we're gonna just go back into the anime geek side of me. I just thought that yo, it it they they told that story so beautifully, and I always wish that you know, I think they came out with a couple more episodes because at the end, you know, you saw Kanichi being basically recognized because he knows beat everybody, you know what I mean? But like it wasn't to the point of him saying, you know, now I'm the best, you know. This is more like you know, now we can be friends. Um, you know, after he done had these near-death fights, it's it's crazy. But it's it's it's a joy to watch. It's definitely a gym, it's definitely something you can re-watch over and over and over again because you can always take something new from it. Um, so a highly recommended one for sure. Kanichi, guys, the strongest disciple. Um I want I want I want also to take the time to uh to point out that even though I'm putting all these recommendations out here, uh let's for real understand that you know, do as each anime comes out in you know in different seasons that they're harking on you know specifics. And I I want to say that the anime world is kind of following how life is going right now. Hence why I say the EC Kai's is kind of like winning the game. Um because there's so many out there that I feel that you know I can talk about all day, you know, the um was it the I was a slime reincarnated, I think. You know that slime one is dope, definitely gonna be one of the later uh episodes, but I mean the progression of a slime, the progression of a slime that turned boss like it's crazy. Because we all know looking at slimes, man, they they ain't nothing. They ain't nothing, man. Like they ain't really got nothing, they ain't really got nothing too much going on, you know, because it's like they have their they have their attributes, you know, water, fire, air, whatever, you know, and you could kind of say like the slimes can be like the jigglypuffs of uh the Pokemon world, you know. He was able to like suck up all um or no jigglypuff was wasn't Pokemon. He was uh I'm thinking about something else, but Jigglypuff was like the one that um that or was it Jigglypuff? No, it's a jiggly it was Jigglepuff was uh a Pokemon, but what was that uh dang it, I forgot Kirby, Kirby, I don't know if you I don't know all the all the older listeners. Y'all remember Kirby? The one he used to suck up, like he used to have like uh he suck up everything, he took the attribute or whatever that he sucked up. I think that was pretty cool. I I think that was way before his time as well. I mean, uh visually it wasn't so you know the best, but the point of Kirby was kind of cool. You know, he sucked you up, he absorbed your power, and he took your attributes of everything that you can do. That was really cool, man. I think Kirby can actually be uh a relatively decent anime right now if you were to remix it a little bit, you know. So maybe the remix are the slimes. I don't know. Food for thoughts, food for thoughts. Um another one would have been uh was it blue dragon? It's the one uh basically they had like uh shadows of uh different monsters and stuff. I mean, I kind of count that as an anime, you know. It was dope. I think they had like over like a hundred and something episodes. Blue dragon is pretty cool. You should probably check that out. Um shadows going at each other. That was pretty cool. Concept, you know, trying to think here. Um I think I wanna say umasa Subasa. I think it became I think they dropped a new one uh a couple of years ago, but Subasa is a soccer one. It's a soccer anime. Uh I like the Subasa because. Because one, the visuals were awesome. Were awesome. But the artwork is dated because it's like the old school 80s artwork. But they did make it current. Like it the picture is crisp. You know, their power shots are dope. Um, but it's it's crazy to really think about this little guy being the best on the team. Where there were other aces on the team, obviously. But what made Tsubasa so awesome was his will to never give up. And obviously, that has been you know portrayed through all animes in the Japanese element, you know, the element of never giving up, even when the chips are low. That you that that there's no point of throwing in the tower because you're still gonna be in the same rut when you do it. So why not persevere through whatever that you're going through? May it be life or your sports, or you're just trying to get to the next echelon in your life. It's cool, man. It's cool, I like it. Um, short-lived for sure, because it uh it definitely got overshadowed with blue lock. That's for definitely a later episode, but blue lock is awesome. Yeah, blue lock is awesome. I love it, man. I love what like the I love the power moves, I love the different aspects of what each player gives. You know, I like the give and take, you know, I like the struggle. I think I think that to me, I think the reason why I like sports anime so much, you know, is because the determination of getting to your next echelon and skill is phenomenal. And though, you know, I was an athlete, it it wasn't, I don't think I ever like looked at it in that aspect because yo, when I'm tired, man, bro, I'm gonna sit down, bro. Like, I'm gonna get some water, get some Gary, my pare, you know, whatever. I'm gonna sit down. But then again, I knew that my life was about sports. You know, some guys or some girls, they live and breathe whatever their craft is, and that's why they're the best of the best. LeBron, LeBron knew he was going to the dang on uh NBA when he was younger because of his placement in life, man. And he knew that he decided somewhere in his mind that I'm gonna make this happen because I'm tired of looking at my mom suffering. You know, Tiger Woods had his moment too. To be the best of the best. Serena. Come on, guys. We all know Serena the goat. I, you know, I don't really watch tennis like that. I ain't gonna lie to you. But yo, I seen them grand slams. I I seen them serves. Can y'all can can can y'all return the serves that Serena hit you with? Shoot. Osaka did. Osaka went head to head with her. And she even beat her. But guess what though? Osaka got a little bit of Asian in her. I'm not prejudiced. Shoot. I'm not prejudiced. I'm not prejudiced. But y'all, y'all Asians, y'all tryhards, man. Y'all tryhards. Y'all try hard, man. You gotta make up somewhere. I ain't mad at it. But nah. The newer school animes, this this new echelon and uh of these shows are portraying a lot more real life scenarios. I mean, yeah, we we still in the fantasy land, but you can kind of relate to it a little bit better. Um, it can get you out of some of your darkest, some of your darkest moments, for sure. Um But I do implore you guys to to look these up. Um get a feel on on these on these certain shows. Because it could change, it could change your outlook on a couple things. It really can. I know it did for me. Uh, it took me out of some of my some of my deep dark secrets that I felt that I could probably never get myself out of individually, honestly, without any help, without talking to anybody, without no therapy and things like that. It was just my go-to, you know, my my place of of zen and peace. And um, I'm sure there's people out there that look that's listen to this that feels the exact same way. But it is annoying that all of a sudden everybody's jumping on the bandwagon of anime because I'm telling you, man, like I used to get picked on. I used to get picked on for watching this stuff. I used to be the geek, man. And then you know, as you progress, as you gotta know, I just wind up not really giving a freak. I really didn't. Cause I'm like, well, you guys watching that garbage. You know, y'all watching y'all sports, y'all watching y'all reality, man. Why I can't watch my cartoons, man. Let me have a good time, man. Shoot. Let me figure out who I am. Me and Kanichi, best of friends. Yes, sir. We are the best of friends. But I leave you with this little tidbit. Birds of a feather. I'll just play. I'll just play. Understand that life is always gonna throw you problems. But to solve these problems, you have to figure out your own equation, and I say that in a way of everybody's way of dealing with stuff is different from the next person that's beside you. So figure out your equation in life and understand that problems is going to happen. You have to have problems to appreciate the peace that's going to come after that. So figure out the equation to your problem. All right. Thank you guys again. Again, I really appreciate you guys. I thank you guys for listening. Um, again, this is you know my third one, and I feel that um I want to I want to continue this. I'm changing up my life a little bit because of I want to be an example. I want to be having, you know, I want to be the person that people can actually, you know, come and talk to. You know, one about anime. I love it. I love anime. Talking, we can talk about anime all day. But if you have any questions and concerns of advice of how to get through certain stuff or how to deal with situations, I'm your guy. I'm your guy. Ken is for everybody, man. If you're a part of Ken's World, I'm gonna make sure that you're gonna have a good time in your life, man. But you have to want it. You have to win it. So again, guys, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Ken's World. It's your boy Ken the Wiz.

unknown: 38:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 38:13

Peace.

SPEAKER_00: 38:18

Yeah. You must be bonded by the lights. We came to shine here. Watch it look daytime in the night. We bring the vibes here. We full of life, you keep the change, keep the change.