Jordan Edwards/Popdust
It's cliché to say that an artist doesn't fit into a genre. For Sophie Powers, it's true. This is the result of someone making music that sounds cool rather than what she thinks people want to hear. Audiences know when an artist is original, and that's the key to Powers' early success.
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TV Features

Why "Hunter x Hunter's" Killua Zoldyck Is the Best Boy in Anime

A deep dive into Killua Zoldyck's characterization

Killua

MANGA Plus by Shueisha

Hunter x Hunter is one of the most popular anime series, especially within the shōnen genre.

Its main appeal lies in its character relationships, specifically that between the protagonist and deuteragonist, Gon Freecs and Killua Zoldyck.

The two boys first meet while taking the arduous "Hunter Exam" — a deadly test designed to determine those capable of holding the esteemed title of "Hunter." During the first phase of the exam, Gon, an optimistic kid on a mission to find his father, sticks up for Killua, an assassin prodigy, after another contestant questions his usage of a skateboard. Killua immediately becomes enamored with Gon, and after discovering they're the same age (12), the two become an inseparable pair.

Gon and Killua's relationship grows into an extraordinary friendship, but its bulk is shouldered by Killua. His self-sacrificial nature, his journey toward self-worth, and his incredible complexity makes Killua the most popular and beloved character in Hunter x Hunter, and arguably, in all of anime. His growth is extremely well-written, and he becomes a character one attaches themselves to with great empathy throughout the story.

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TV Features

The Top 3 Anime Fights (That Don't Feature Main Protagonists)

Sometimes the undercard matches are better than the headline fights.

Shueisha

Usually the most epic fights in anime are the ones between the main hero and the baddest villain.

Showdowns in the vein of Goku vs. Frieza are the culmination of entire story arcs. These are the fights where the villains pull out their most terrifying powers, and the heroes draw on everything they've experienced so far in order to transcend their abilities and, more often than not, develop a new final form.

But while the headline fights might be the bread and butter of anime hype, sometimes the undercard matches are incredible in their own right. Long-running anime series are particularly great at fleshing out side-characters who would most likely get shoved to the side in a lot of other kinds of stories, and sometimes their battles hit even harder than those of the main heroes.

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TV Features

Why Yu Yu Hakusho Still Holds Up Better Than Any Other Old School Anime

Even to this day, "Dark Tournament" remains the defining shonen "Tournament Arc."

Shueisha

Oftentimes, it's impossible to separate the quality of the anime we grew up watching from the sense of nostalgia those series evoke.

Case in point: Dragon Ball Z. Historically, DBZ is likely the most influential anime series of all time, both redefining the shonen genre for every series that came after it and introducing an entire generation of Western kids to Japanese animation through the legendary Funimation dub on Cartoon Network's Toonami block. Chances are high that if you meet someone who loves anime and grew up in the late '90s or early 2000s, they'll have a deeply personal bond with DBZ.

At the same time, it's hard to argue that DBZ holds up in the modern day, especially for new viewers coming in with fresh eyes. The pacing of the original series is super slow, the fights drag out forever, and while DBZ created so many of shonen's most prevalent tropes ("This isn't even my final form!"), almost everything DBZ ever did has since been done better by other series.

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TV

Why You Need to Watch "Dorohedoro"

Who doesn't love a little bit of face-ripping?

I can confidently assure you that you've never seen anything else like Netflix's new Dorohedoro anime.

That is, unless you've read the original Dorohedoro manga by Q Hayashida, upon which the Dorohedoro anime is based. But barring familiarity with the source material, Dorohedoro is easily the most unique piece of television you'll consume this year, or maybe even this decade.

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CULTURE

My Hero Academia Backlash and the Art of the Bad Faith Take

#WeSupportYouHorikoshi is a nice sentiment, but the threat is mostly imaginary.

Shueisha

The My Hero Academia Twitter fandom is up in arms against the evil SJW portion of the My Hero Academia fandom over their brazen attempts to cancel the popular manga series' creator, Kohei Horikoshi...Or at least that's what some bad faith actors want you to believe.

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