My Death Predictions in order of even-ness

My 18 Death Predictions so far, in order of how even I think they were in retrospect. I am judging based on how well I think I could make an argument for the other side winning. I should note that most of these I do view as even, it's just that in a list some need to go near the beginning. 

18: Hikaru vs Sayaka

Re-Evaluations as well as upgrades to PMMM have suggested the low tiers are much stronger the everyone, myself include, initially thought. At the time of the making of this fight, vs battles wiki had Sayaka as City Block level scaling off Homura, which I thought was incorrect since it was based on the feat of Walpurgisnacht hitting Homura with a building ignoring the surface area. That said in retrospect Sayaka is actually MHS City Level. Speed's not so much a problem given Hikaru's reaction time, but the main problem is the city level. Hikaru doesn't get that unless you do some wonky scaling based on Guru Clef's magic blast and or to other Clamp series. Hikaru also doesn't have any power-ignoring abilities (outside maybe dimensional bfr that would absolutely not be her go-to move) that would close the massive power gap unless you take certain interpretations of the "Will shaping reality" part of MKR.

17: Mami vs Panty

Mami and Panty have both been re-evaluated to be much stronger the initially thought, Panty possibly higher then Mami depending on interpretations though due to surface area again I disagree with some of the more extreme interpretations of her power. That said even in the scenarios where their power is viewed as comparable, Panty's luck aura hard counters the Puella Magi-verse's Magical Girls' form of regen dependent on a single weak point (their soul gem)

16: Ridley vs Vilgax

This one is hard to take about in terms of evenness because it depends on if you include their armies. While Ridley does have a more diverse and hax army then Vilgax, if you're just talking about a battle between the two individuals, Vilgax does take it fairly solidly and hard to argue.

15: Guardian Senshi Battle Royale

While I COULD make an argument for any of the other senshi, it does seem like a fairly clean victory for Minako. Minako is Takeuchi-hime's favorite guardian senshi and it's pretty clear in verse with her getting the most powers and best feats.

14: Onaga vs Takofanes

This fight seems fairly even at first, and indeed the stats aren't so different that it would be a statstomp. That said discussion of who would win goes about until realizing that Onaga can copy Takofanes ability to control the undead and simply control him to realize Onaga has probably got this. While Takofanes is more versatile, Onaga's sheer resistance to all of it as well his overwhelming power advantage makes it a fairly clear victory.

13: Black Lady vs Mistress 9

This fight seems even if you are only looking at them as a list of powers, with Mistress 9 raw power and Black Lady's greater haxes. That said their personalities is really why this goes to Mistress 9 fairly predictably if you know the two's characters well.

12: Jedah Dohma vs Lucemon

Easily the fight I got the most blowback on, and I really don't think it's deserved. I've seen people state that Lucemon is a lot stronger then I gave him credit for and in fairness there are abilities I didn't list as a fault. That said a lot of the "abilities" I've seen for him seem to me somehwhat misinterpreted and the point still stands that I can't see anyway for him to easily destroy a being that had Mid-Godly regen.

11: Synnar vs Protege
A bump up in trickiness, this one did require me to think about it for a bit, but in the end it just seemed clear that anything Synnar could do, Protege could copy and grow stronger from, and Synnar's own personality would hamstring him too much to get majority.

10: Chaos-Spawn Battle Royale
Rounding out the bottom of the list, this fight was really between Death Phantom and Queen Nehelenia, both of whom are much more versatile then Metaria and Pharaoh 90. I did debate this for a while internally, whether it was better in a match where all sides have overpowered one-shot offense to have the greatest raw offensive power with things like Curse and Star Seed Rip or better defensive power with illusory duplication, Evil Eye mind protection etc. I eventually decided that having MORE offense doesn't help much more then having enough offense to one-shot normally while Death Phantom's defense, along with his other advantages are enough to give him a clean majority.

9: Umi vs Weiss
Umi vs Weiss was an odd one for me because everyone was saying Weiss and her summons were city block because one sliced through a queen lancer that survived an explosion slightly above baseline city block yet Umi not only is arguably city block but is well above a casual 9.8 tons feats and the feat of Weiss was scaling to an explosion the queen lancer survived not at point blank and across it's entire surface. Anyway this fight Weiss did have a lot more versatility, but it seemed as I got into that Umi was a pretty good counter. I could make an argument for Weiss if I had too, but I felt like the argument for Umi is pretty convincing.

8: Grimnir vs Abigail
I initially thought Abigail would win this because he really does have a counter to anything Grimnir could do and Omega Abigail seems like such a strong counter to Grimnir. Yet the more I thought about the tactics of it the sheer speed at which Grimnir could create threats due to his intangible flying copies as well the fact that both the Bastard!! and Magicka spell systems have similar normal limitations which Grimnir transcended similar to the Bastard!! Angels which their magic was derived from....it seemed like it would just overwhelm him. Being able to counter any individual threat doesn't mean you can counter 3 at once.

7: Dracula vs Sauron
This one was weird to debate. Both are difficult to kill and tbh there was a part of me up to the end that thought Sauron "should" find a way by exploiting Dracula's weaknesses, due to just how intelligent he is and how clear Dracula's limitations. If this was a fight with prior knowledge it would be wholly different. But I kept coming back to "If Sauron has no prior knowledge he's at a notable disadvantage not being a warrior and vampires in Middle-Earth are not at all like Dracula canon vampires".  You could make a good argument for Sauron especially if starting conditions are different, like time of night they're fighting for instant.

6: Flowey vs Narrator
If the last one was weird, this was downright bizarre. I had to be really careful how I interpreted these two and their abilities given their metafictional nature. Even then it was really bound to their subjective personalities. If you have a different understanding of the personalities of these two characters I can easily see making an argument for Narrator to win.

5: Baldur vs Siegfried
When interpreting two verses with really big numbers, you don't expect them to get similar results as happened with GOW and SS. This was a fight that seemed to have a very limited range of options initially but the more you think about their powers, the greater the range of options seemed. Truth be told up until the very moment I thought of Baldur absorbing cosmo, the result was Baldur winning. When I thought that though I realized now just it's likeliness, and not just how symbolically perfect it was, but how perfect a win condition it was, for the one who felt nothing who sought to feel everything, to be overwhelming by the sheer sensation of feeling the flow of the cosmos itself...It was like the end of GOW 4 dialed up to 11 mixed with the climax of every SS arc where x character feels the power of the cosmo flowing through them...

4: Rorschach vs V
There's a minimalist sort of beauty to Rorschach and V's tactics. Both have few abilities but what they have over each other is almost perfectly representative of their personalities.  On some level trying to address the winner of this fight, felt more like trying to answer a philosophical question on what philosophy is more right between two. If it wasn't for finding out that V could knock someone out with a nerve strike I am really not sure who I would have ending up going for, and honestly if someone disagreed with me this one I would not at all mind, it was really tough.

3: Sailor Pluto vs Yuuko Ichihara
I was really nervous writing this fight and trying to find a winner because the two characters are both so intelligent and both are so adept at manipulating spacetime that I felt like I was not and could not possibly understand the full scope of their possibilities. You could make a really good argument for Sailor Pluto especially if you do think the Garnet Orb would interfere with her fortune-telling and the spell re-animating her. It's done similar in canon and I honestly didn't agree with it mostly on the basis "well come on Kaorinite's magic is not on the level of CLOW REED and the reanimation and fortune-telling isn't on that level" but you could argue that point. I went back and forth a number of times, and I eventually came down on the side of Yuuko winning basically only because of a single comedic one-shot ability of making inanimate objects come to life, which she could use the Garnet Orb itself. Still that's a sketchy preposition and you could really argue that Chronos Typhoon would just chew through Clow Reed's spell keeping Yuuko alive, especially in the circumstance where they are in a spacetime ruled by Leo and the Sun where Pluto is exalted and Yuuko's magic is weakest.

2: Magicka Wizards vs Castle Crashers
While I was writing this collab, and Thor can attest to this, there was a few times where I admitted I was unsure we were giving the right verdict. Thor was of course a complete gentleman about it and offered to discuss and debate it again to reassure though I would then say "no, it's right". And I do think this is right, but it's one that I can really see the other side of. We discussed this fight as the battle where both sides are somehow the underdogs, were both sides can easily one-shot the other side at any time. While I eventually sided with the Crashers just on account of a more direct strategy, you can REALLY easily make an argument the Wizards rez and ability to instantly one-shot all 4 of the Crashers in the right situation should give them the win.

1: Sailor Moon vs Cardcaptor Sakura
I debated this fight for years before writing this blog and to this day I can still find new elements to it, new arguments and counter-arguments, in part due to their massive arsenals. I can easily make a strong argument for either Usagi or Sakura to win. I can't even talk about why Sakura could possibly win here because the reasons are too myriad and numerous. I eventually had to say that Usagi would win in-character and Sakura would win bloodlusted, but truth be told there's no Death Prediction I have gone back and forth on more then this one. You could tell me you think Sakura would beat Usagi and I would not begrude at all because there's a lot of reasons to think so.

Ranking the start of my favorite series

So recently I watched a really good start of a series (Infinity Train for those wondering) and that led me to think how good the starts of my favorite series. So I decided to rank them.

For a first installment, like a chapter or an episode, there's really three things I judge by.

1: Is it enjoyable in itself without the rest of the series. Obviously a series opening that makes you not want to watch the rest of the series because of it's quality is not good.

2: How well does it set up the characters? Does it set up the main character's personality and goal? How many of the characters introduced are important halfway or near the end of the series? If the characters are ill-defined after episode 1 or if you have an inaccurate understanding of them, that's probably not very good.

3: How well does it tie into or foreshadow the story later on? Does it foreshadow plot elements for later in the series? Even if your story is completely episodic, does it set up the themes that will be major recurring elements or at the very least express the tone the series is supposed to have? If you first episode is a complete story that has nothing to do with anything that happens afterwards save the characters, then it's not a very good opener for the rest of the series.

For some of these there can be some contention as to what the start is. First episode of a series and first chapter of a book or a manga seems pretty well comparable but how do you compare to something like film? I guess you could just take the first ~20 minutes or so. Maybe the first act?  That isn't really a problem for me since all my favorite films are either not part of a series or are part of a bigger franchise and so wouldn't qualify here.

The bigger problem is games, and I have to be sort of loose on the definition. I can't even use ~20 minutes because gameplay speed is relative. Doing my best, I'd say basically for the equivalent of first episode or chapter I'm using the closest equivalent to the first level or the section of gameplay up until the first "boss" encounter. This loose method works alright for most of the other contentious examples.

That said there is one example that I just don't how to list, and I'll start the list off with it not because it's actually the bottom but because I honestly don't know how to assess it.

???: The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable is a very short "game" for the most part and doesn't really have levels. There is an opening cinematic and then a number of branching paths each of equal validity to be first or last. From what I can tell, my first playthrough was abnormal. My first time I simply did what the narrator told me too, and I find it somewhat amusing that the majority of people seem to feel compelled to TRY and rebel to get some measure of power.

There's no way for me to properly rank this, it's closest comparison being a choose your own adventure book.

31: DC Comics
It's probably not really fair to rank DC Comics in this list but it is doable. The first issue of Detective Comics came out in the 1930s and was a collection of very short historical stories and "comedic" strips. I put comedic in quotes because the humor is, as might be guessed, quite dated.

The first issue of Detective Comics isn't really the DC of today, despite sharing the same name and owner, as it shares no similarities in terms of content. If you were to use the first Superman Story, the first story taking place in the main DC Universe instead, it could maybe go up a place, but the earliest DC Earth-1 stories are still rather dated and while much more interesting, tend to lack characterization or very interesting plots and also barely tie into greater plots.

30: Metroid
The original Metroid is actually a fairly short game, to the point that 20 minutes could be seen as the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the game. The game only has two bosses, Kraid and Ridley.

Metroid is impressive in it's ability to create a sense of loneliness and isolation through it's level building and atmosphere, but in Metroid 1, especially with just a part of it, there isn't really much plot. There's no other characters to interact with, there's just the opening and closing text that even gives context on what's going on, and gameplay was also lacking certain Metroid elements.

The thing most commonly mentioned about Metroid, that reveal that Samus is female is also something that doesn't appear until the end so that can't really be considered.

It's fine, but using just the beginning part there isn't much to consider or boost it up. That said it's also a lot atmospheric and mentally stimulating then the first issue of DC Comics.

29: Pretty Cure
The first episode of Futari wa Pretty Cure is a neat little magical girl first episode but it's not hugely distinctive from most of it's contemporaries in that regard. The most notable things I can think of are the characters using far more melee based attacks then normal, lots of punching and kicking which isn't something that hugely interests me and the series starts with two magical girls that are roughly co-stars rather then a single main character magical girl with a team of secondary ones, though such a thing had been done before on rarer occasions (Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angels for instance).

The original season of Pretty Cure does have some great moments that said episode 1 is very sort of vanilla Pretty Cure and doesn't have a huge amount of interesting things happen in it, though the stuff that does happen is it enough to put it above the almost plotless beginning of Metroid.

28: Danny Phantom
Danny Phantom I thought had a sort of arc in quality, where season 2 was the best, with 1 and 3 both being good but not quite as good. To be honest, while I came to really love Danny Phantom, it's start was only "pretty" good, and wasn't indicative of how well I would think of it later (the series really got good in my opinion with the first appearance of Vlad)

The biggest problem with episode 1 as a start is characterization. Sam and Tucker act uncharacteristically and Sam acts downright unpleasant trying to force her entire school to not have meat because of her personal beliefs. Fortunately this was not maintained but this false impression is not really a great start. Also the villain is the Lunchlady Ghost who is not really one of the better Danny Phantom villains in my opinion. Danny Phantom has a great rogues gallery, and she is just sort of alright in my opinion. The episode does introduce the coming of age theme of the story, and it does introduce a lot of characters, however the two problems mentioned above are why it's ranked so low.

Comparing the first episode of Futari wa to the first episode of Danny Phantom is a study in contrasts. The first episode of Futari wa is a very good depiction of what to expect but it's also so good at being like the rest of the episodes that it's very vanilla and uninteresting to talk about in itself. The first episode of Danny Phantom is somewhat an inaccurate depiction of what most of the series is like though is a lot more distinctive. Either could be higher or lower but I put Danny Phantom higher mostly because it's inaccuracies are only partial.

27: Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
I am not really sure how to count shows where the episodes are split A and B. For the sake of it I will be including both to try and be fair, though if you included just the A episode it would probably be lower.

The very first episode of P&S, just the A episode I personally don't like a lot because of how gross the monster of the week is. I like P&S a lot but it's toilet/gross-out humor is my least favorite part. I will concede though it does introduce the main duo as well as Garterbelt pretty well and the second episode is a fun cool episode more indicative of what most of the series is like in my opinion. That said a lot of series staples like Briefs or the Daemon Sisters don't get introduced until later.

I put the first episode of P&S over the first episode of DP primarily because it doesn't give any kind of incorrect impressions even if the first half does kind of gross me out.

26: Axis Powers Hetalia
Hetalia episodes are 5 minutes long which left me at a bit of an impasse. Do I judge strictly on the first episode or on like the first 4 episodes? Either way I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference, but feel free to move this up a spot if you want. Anyway first episode of Hetalia briefly introduces us to a bunch of countries quickly and is honestly pretty clever at it, though it contains Hetalia's trademark "trait" (read: problem) of randomly jumping around in history without much focus.

I give it points for being able to introduce a large number of characters in quite literally the time some shows a lot to their opening theme, but it lacks a lot of focus early on, and also the main character Italy says literally 1 word in the entire first episode. I don't mean says 1 word and repeats it, I mean literally says 1 word the entire time (unless you also count Chibi-Italy's words in which case he says a lot more). I put it above P&S mostly just do to giving us pretty much all the main cast's personalities.

25: Magicka
The first level of Magicka is one of the least exciting, at the very least if you are used to the game or trying to actually play it and not just blowing up your friends a bunch as it's really easy. The first level is basically an extended tutorial ending with the fight with an enemy that would later be a common enemy you fight in groups (you also fight a much faster scarier version of that enemy in groups).

What is great about the first level of Magicka though is that the creators wanted to and indeed gave all the spells right up in the first level because they thought it would be more fun. And indeed on any kind of repeated playthrough it would have been so annoying to unlock the elements. There is a simply joy of discovery to Magicka in just playing around with the elements that put it here. It also gets points for introducing Vlad, Grimnir and the player wizards. Even Khan technically makes a cameo.

It's above Hetalia because it's introduced a lot of the major characters as well but gets at the central appeal of the series a lot more.

24: The Powerpuff Girls
Wasn't sure whether to include pilot or shows but since I wasn't including prequel material for anything else felt it proper to start at episode 1 of season 1.

What I can give pretty immediate commendations for are a lot of characters are introduced; the girls, the professor, Mrs. Bellum, the mayor, Mojo and Sedusa are all introduced pretty well which is pretty impressive. The plots are both interesting, moreso the Mojo plot imo, though I will say for a superhero show it's not very superhero-y at the beginning since the first episode the girls are mostly fighting while transmuted into dogs, and in the second episode they beat Sedusa fairly easily. Still It's a pretty good start. You can argue it also introduces the familial theme of the series with the second episode which would be fair.

I put it above the Magicka start one for more characterization work in the first 2 episodes and more interesting plots

23: Tokyo Mew Mew
The first chapter of Tokyo Mew Mew suffers from not being a very complete story in itself, but it does set up the other material very well, tacitly introducing the villain, as well as introducing Ichigo and in the manga at least briefly introducing all the other Mew Mews too.

Tokyo Mew Mew has a pretty explicit environmental theme that the episode has as well, with the opening narration and Masaya's talking about it which will come into play later. We also get an introduction to Ryou which is pretty fitting for him.

I put it above the PPG start for introducing the central theme more clearly.

22: Wander over Yonder
The first episode of WOY introduces us to all the major characters for season 1 at least, as well a large number of secondary villains. The only major character not introduced within the first episode would be Dominator.

Personally I thought WOY got a lot better after Domintor's introduction. That's not to say it was bad before, it was pretty good, and that's roughly what I think of the first episode, as it introduces Hater and Wander's characters especially.

I especially like that the second part is focused on showing Wander's personality though I think 2b might be been a better choice for 1b since it shows both Wander's personality and why he acts that way.

Both the TMM and WOY starts introduce a few characters in detail, though WOY does in more detail, and both briefly show a large amount of characters that would be notable later, though as WOY doesn't have as many major characters for WOY these are more villains that would briefly come into importance. I think while both introduced the major theme of the series, WOY also introduced more literal plot elements that would into importance later.

21: Yuki Yuna is a Hero
Yuki Yuna is a Hero's start is pretty immediately aesthetically eye-catching especially with it's very particular musical score. It also introduces and gives characterization for 4 of the 5 major characters of the series, introduces the concept of the Vertex and Shinju and gives some brief subtle bits of world-building. It also has a awesome moment for the main girl when she stands in civilian form in front of her wheelchair bound friend and manages to partially henshin her arm fast enough to block a projectile.

The start was really good in immersing us in this world and for me at least immediately investing. The only big criticisms you could give is that it is somewhat disconnected from the themes and the allusions to later plot elements are vague, which I know is obviously purposeful because it's supposed to reflect the characters minds at this point.

I put it above WOY's start since it was more immediatly investing in this world while introducing the same amount of major characters.

20: Yu-Gi-Oh!
The first chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh! is a pretty interesting mix of a dark occult story of a boy getting a magic puzzle that turns him into a magically powered psychopath that goes after his bully and the heartwarming story of a shy friendless boy reconciling with some kids that were mean to him and making friends with them. That said it's a pretty good short story by itself and certainly introduces the theme of friendship.

That said, this was before the duel monsters trading card game came into focus, and while a good chunk of the manga is separated from that, it can end up feeling somewhat disconnected given the sheer emphasis eventually placed on it. Large amounts of the plot elements about Ancient Egypt and the responsibility of royalty or the regaining of memories and identity had obviously yet to be introduced.

It's fairly similar to the Yuki Yuna start since both intoduce a lot of major characters, some important plot elements, and is very entertaining in itself, but lacks connection to later parts of the series. That said Yu-Gi-Oh!'s start is more of a complete story in itself, and while Yuna gets an awesome moment, both Yami Yugi and the pair of Jounchi and Honda get cool moments.

19: Freedom Force
It's kind of ambiguous whether this would be up to the point Minute Man interrogates O'Conner or up to the encounter with Sukhov which massively would alter the ranking. Was generous and gave up to the Sukhov standoff but if you think I should only do the former then this would be a lot lower.

The start introduces Minute Man and Mentor who are.....it's arguable who the main character of Freedom Force but Minute Man is a major character and Mentor has an argument for being the main character. It also shows us Nuclear Winter technically and introduces the wacky silver age styled world of the Freedom Force which was cool as well as explains basically the entire reason for things happening with Mentor's dialogue with Minute Man about his escape to Earth causing the Energy X fiasco.

Yu-Gi-Oh's start and Freedom Force's start are again a study in contrast. Freedom Force's opening is bursting with the flavor and thematics of the rest of the game, the stylization of it, but only introduces a very limited part of that world at the start. Meanwhile Yu-Gi-Oh! introduces more but in a world that is seperate from the world it will eventually become. If the first chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh! had also introduced Kaiba even briefly I probably would have put it ahead of Freedom Force's start but I feel like the difference in the number of characters introduced isn't large enough and FF squeaks ahead.

18: Cardcaptor Sakura
I'm kind of a sucker for this one, just out of nostalgia reasons, though I feel the anime start is actually probably better then the manga start. The manga starts off in media res, with Sakura chasing the Jump card throwing out lots of mysticism right away and then going into the backstory behind it. The anime just starts off at the start.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this in media res start is here, and felt the anime's gradual slide into it was probably more logical. The start of CCS introduces a lot of the important characters including Sakura, Tomoyo, Touya, Kero, Kind of Yue...which is good and it gives a glimpse of their school life but only gives Sakura pursueing a clow card at the start with her capturing Jump, and there it doesn't really show how she did it. While it's fun and nostalgic to see the crew and the start does give some plot foreshadowing with Kero's exposition of the clow cards, most of the chapters of the first half are Sakura using her intellect or courage to capture one of the clow cards so it's a bit misleading.

I put it above Freedom Force's since while they both immediately engross people in the worlds, and Freedom Force's is arguably more accurate to later in the game (though FF obviously becomes far more tactical with more then 2 characters powersets), CCS introduces more important characters, gives the same amount of plot foreshadowing, and also shows the interactions between more characters.

17: Saint Seiya
The start of Saint Seiya is really cool. It has a fun fight between Seiya and Cassios for the Pegasus Cloth (which is a fair indication of the series as it contains elements of the series like many punches a second, characters using the power of cosmo like Seiya tracing out the constellation Pegasus, Seiya reversing an ear-ripping move etc.) and it has Marin's lessons about cosmo, which is basically both plot and thematic foreshadowing for the rest of the series, as well as some other plot foreshadowing with Marin's mask, the talk about Seiya's sister,

The only real downside is that not a lot of very major characters are introduced. Marin and Shaina are secondary characters at their best, and outside of Seiya none of the major characters are introduced. None of the other 4 Bronze Cloths, none of the series major villains, etc.

While it doesn't introduce many characters, I put it above CCS start because not only does it do a better job of demonstrating what the series will be like, as well as is a more straightfoward story in it's own right.

16: God of War
The start of God of War is basically the start of God of War 1 up to the end of the Hydra fight and arguably the cutscene that follows.

What the start of God of War does really well is introduce Kratos. Kratos's tragic nature is alluded too well, with literally the first few seconds of the game involving Kratos mournfully attempting suicide. Even in the level itself, people cower in fear from the "Ghost of Sparta". Kratos personality is made out to be a pragmatic anti-hero as well a man broken from nightmares such that nothing can clear his mind. Kratos is unique in the field of antiheroes for his emotional expressiveness. Most modern anti-heroes are stoic bad*ass archetypes who say little and have one rage-filled emotional breakdown near the end to show how scary they can be. Kratos is a more accurate recreation of the ancient greek hero, constantly moved by passions and showing the range of human emotions constantly.

The start, as the GOW series is famously in general, quite theatrics with a large boss fight merging puzzle and combat. It also sets up the rest of the game's plot and themes very well, foreshadowing them heavily with the very first seconds of the game setting up the tragic nature of Kratos' quest just as an actual ancient Greek epic.

The one big downside is that none of the other characters are really introduced. There's brief bits seen of Athena and Poseidon but nothing of Ares and Zeus who are major characters in the GOW series, and even just for the game Ares at least nothing is shown off.

I put the start of GOW over the start of SS because both set up the world but not the characters and both very well introduce their main character with an engrossing story, but Kratos's character is presented much more strikingly then Seiya's.

15: Cutie Honey
The first chapter of Cutie Honey is a strikingly accurate depiction of the rest of the series, with it's odd mixture of goofy 60s science-fiction mixed with racy dark 70s crime thriller, mixed with lots of fanservice. The only things really left out are the acrobatic fight scenes and the occasional tragic moment that gives the series it's surprising gravitas.

The first chapter is very good at establishing the world, showing the boarding school Honey goes too, it's deranged student body and teachers, as well as her creation and the panther attack on her father's laboratory.

So long as you don't mind blatant fanservice, the emotions are actually rather sweet of some parts, such as Honey's gratefulness to her father.

The only big downsides are the fact the villains are not explained very much with Jill not even shown, as well as the lack of the elements mentioned more, that said the series capturing so much of the odd mixture that makes up the series is why I put it above GOW's start.

14: Over the Garden Wall
The first episode of Over the Garden Wall is a very good minimalist explanation of what the audience is going to see for the rest of the series. It introduces Wirt and Greg, the two main protagonists as well as the main antagonist the Beast, as well as the Woodsmen. It introduces the themes and atmosphere of the series and has a very brief plot foreshadow for the sharp-eyed viewer. It's also a good story in it's own right.

This is where things start to get really hard to even compare because everything by this point is just really good. If I had to nitpick, I would say this doesn't really show us the world of the unknown and how animals can talk and be taught to act like people, though this is a lesser point given that it is clearly inspired by Folklore where such things do tend to happen without explanation.

I put it above Cutie Honey's start because while both capture tone and most of the primary characters well, OTGW also introduces (and builds up) the primarily villain while even the monster of the week for Cutie Honey is barely introduced.

13: Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon's start is interesting to talk about for me to talk about given my obviously large connection to the series. The SM first chapter has been done and redone and parodied and referenced in pop culture numerous times. Interestingly it has more flaws then some of the preceding ones but it's story and characters are so appealing to me that it somewhat counteracts it.

In terms of faults, the SM start doesn't really introduce any notable villains, not even the Beryl who is the false big bad of the first arc. It doesn't introduce any of the other senshi (though I don't see how it really could in it's time). Also while Tuxedo Kamen is technically introduced, he remains mysterious meaning his personality is not fully introduced. The series does give us a very good introduction to the main character Usagi, and actually I would say beautifully ties into both the central theme of the arc and the series into the first chapter, those being the themes of identity and how love will uplift the crybaby coward Usagi into a hero (as shown when Usagi hears that her friend Naru is in danger and rushes to help her despite being scared of the monster).

I don't know how much of the Sailor Moon's start's position is attributed to exactly how much I love the characters and world and tone of Sailor Moon and how much is due to it's actual starting qualities, though I feel it's a pretty good start for the series. I put it above OTGW since it more centrally weaves the themes into the narrative and more emphasizes them.

12: Ouran High School Host Club
The OHSHC start is really amazing at how well it introduces so many characters while also telling a complete story within as well as tying it's themes of gender and class in very well.

The series introduces all the hosts and their eccentricities both efficiently and playfully, has numerous examples of Haruhi's class boundary with the other characters coming into focus, tells a story of Haruhi's bullying and the reaction of Tamaki-senpai. It also even within the very first few minutes introduces the tone of the series well with it's explanation of the nature of the Host Club. If you have to nitpick, Haruhi's gender only becomes known so how the other hosts react to this information which is fairly important for the rest of the series only becomes known in the next episode.

I put it above SM's start because it introduced way more major characters as efficiently, tied in 1 of the two themes as gracefully as SM did, as well as introduced a secondary theme to a lesser extent.

11: Magic Knight Rayearth
MKR kind of has an unfair disadvantage due to the size of it's chapter being about 3 times larger then a normal manga chapter, though even if you include the section of the manga that was translated into the first episode of the anime, it's position wouldn't change very much.

The first episode of the MKR is exemplar in how it introduces the three main characters, give insight into the type of relationship they may grow into, as well as introducing Guru Clef, Zagato and if you include the whole chapter, Mokona, Presea, Alcyone and even briefly introducing Ferio. They also set up the world of Cephiro and it's rules, as well as trickily threading the needle pretending to be a standard middle ages fantasy world while alluding and foreshadowing the eventual plot and thematic reveals at the end of the first arc.

I put MKR's start above OHSHC's start because it introduced it's main cast as well, introduced it's theme about as well, if much more subtly due to what it needed to be for MKR, and also managed to introduce the fantastical world of Cephiro. OHSHC only had to introduce the rich school world of Ouran which is a bit less removed from us then a fantasy world.

10: Bayonetta
I remember first time seeing the start of Bayonneta and thinking "Yep this is definitely something for me." Bayonetta has an immediate aesthetic and plot of things I like in fiction including femininity, sensuality, occult/arcane mysticism, elegance, and celestial themes. Immediately upon starting the series introduces us to the chaos of the war between light and dark, the lumen sages and umbran witches. The chaos of light and dark being mixed will be recurring element both on a literal plot level and thematic level and it's immediate introduction and demonstration in the flurry and visual duality of the start is very good.

The start also introduces many of the series important characters including Bayonetta, Jeanne, Rodin etc. Some players have noted feeling overwhelmed though personally I felt that was good for this form of experience.

I put Bayonetta's start above MKR's start because MKR at the very least SEEMED somewhat cliche in both world and characterization and while this was a deliberate misdirect, Bayonetta from the start seemed chaotic and a combination I had never seen before so well executed.

9: Shamanic Princess
Shamanic Princess has the in-media rez start applied properly, used to create confusion and intrigue. The Shamanic Princess start introduces us gracefully to the world and it's major players without explaining anything, which I found mentally gratifying that it trusted me to figure out things. All the elements presented with prominence are important later (save maybe the school depending on interpretation) showing a good use of emphasis as well.

The Shamanic Princess start has much in common with the Bayonetta start mixing a feminine elegance with a dark occult theme as well as introducing all the major characters save for the primary villain almost immediately. That said Shamanic Princess also introduced both the main theme and the the resolution to the story veiled within the first episode in the non-dualistic analogy of the ball falling into water, meeting with it's reflection. Bayonetta only introduces those elements more gradually over the course of the story.

8: xxxHolic
xxxHolic's start is interesting to talk about. In the manga it does actually introduce all the major characters right away, save for the Mokonas as well as set up all the plot and themes of the series. Yuuko in her characteristic way talks mysteriously, but she clearly brings up themes of predestination and equivalent exchange which will be the major themes for the rest of the series.

I put xxxHolic's start above Shamanic Princess' start because it's a more complete and interesting story in itself and xxxHolic does't have any villains it really could have introduced in the first episode unlike Shamanic Princess. Also Shamanic Princess and xxxHolic both introduce their themes mysteriously and vaguely but xxxHolic does it with a bit more clarity.

7: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
PMMM's start when talked about it usually only talked about in terms of the "twist" ie the assumption that Madoka pretended to be a "normal" magical girl series and then became the dark edgy deconstruction in episode 3. Personally I disagree that was the case at all, I don't think Madoka is that dark or edgy nor do I consider it a deconstruction. Also it was pretty apparent with it's nature right from the beginning imo.

Madoka's start is really masterful, weaving in 4 of the 5 main characters, the themes and plot foreshadowing apparent at numerous times in the first episode (literally showing the climatic event of the penultimate episode at the start of the first episode with Madoka's dream sequence). Kyubey is also introduced as is his in a sense his goal. If you wish to nitpick you could say that Homura's personality is mysterious at the start and not made clear, similar to Tuxedo Kamen so it's arguable whether their personality is introduced. Also the concept behind witches (the first concept as it is) isn't made clear until the second episode. That said it's clearly a really artistic start and a good opening.

I put PMMM's start above xxxHolic's opening because while both introduce the themes of the series, Madoka makes them explicit even if the details are vague while xxxHolic leaves the themes vague initially.

6: Undertale
Undertale's start is honestly really inspired assuming you are allowing up to the Toriel fight.

It both explicitly explains the theme of pacifism vs fighting as well as personal choice, as well as ties it into the plot of the start, and has it permeate the atmosphere of what you do. It introduces both Toriel and Flowey the final villain well and also well demonstrates the quirky tone of the rest of the game, while not losing the dignity the start built up. It also hints at the metafictional elements that would become increasingly important as the game goes on. It also alludes to Asgore, though Asgore himself and the rest of the important cast are not introduced yet.

I put Undertale's start above PMMM's because the themes of the series are made explict in their details and brought into sharper clarity by the gameplay mechanics and the in-game commentary on your actions while PMMM's themes initially are fuzzy on their details.

5: Xiaolin Showdown
Some of the series on this list started out at one level of quality and got notably better. XS didn't do that, it was for me at least freakishly consistent in terms of quality. Of the 52 episodes I wanna say I liked 40 of them about the same which is insanely constant in quality, and episode 1 is not really an exception. It was really enjoyable and fun with a good self-consistent story, it introduced all the monks, Master Dashi, Dojo as well as both major villains of the first season who would continue to be relevant for at least until the end of season 2 and then have some minor importance in the third season. It introduced the Shen Gong Wu, the backstory, the plot structure of the show. It's really good how efficient it was at introducing everything.

Also it was at the same time quite enjoyable to watch (I really like the joke about Omi playing on Kimiko's video game). XS didn't have much int he way of theme-ing, which was one of my relatively few complaints about the series, that much of it didn't have deeper meaning so there wasn't much themes to be introduced in the first episode though it did start the character development between Omi's arrogance and Raimundo's irresponsibility that would extend all the way to the end of the series where Omi learns humility and accepts Raimundo as leader and Raimundo learns responsibility and takes on the burden of being leader graciously.

I put XS's start above Undertale's because they both foreshadowed well the end of the series, and both were very good internally, and both introduced a number of main characters, though XS introduced more as gracefully, if not more gracefully as well as introduced a number of other concepts as well.

4: Commedia
Ok so first thing's first. If you believe in objective quality, this is obviously the first in that regard. The Commedia's canto 1 is well agreed by scholars to be a major breakthrough in the artistic traditions and western culture, representing a major shift towards humanistic thinking. The 3 higher are just ones I subjectively like more.

Commedia's beginning is amazing, the very first words introducing the humanism that pervades the whole of Commedia, it alludes to Purgatorio and Paradiso while also telling a story of why Dante can not properly approach them with the three beasts. It introduces Dante and Vergil and alludes to Beatrice. It starts of Dante's quest brilliantly.

It's also so deeply written as is the Commedia in general, with every tercet being capable of prompting philosophical discussion and introspection. It astounds me the profound bits of wisdom Dante simply drops here and there in his Commedia and how he unifies all the fields of knowledge of his day, which Canto 1 introduces in minor degree.

I honestly don't know how I could even possibly criticize Canto 1 outside of the realm of purely subjective like it's hard to read for a modern audience.

I put Commedia's start above XS's because Commedia's start feels more concentrated and focused while XS's is a bit more segmented into different parts.


3: Okami
Okami's start is just amazing at engrossing you into the world, starting with an explanation of the battle of between Amaterasu and Orochi and introducing numerous other characters quickly like Issun, Sakuya, Waka etc.

The game does an amazing job getting you into the mindset of the game quickly when one of your first tasks is to use the celestial brush to create a star by dabbing into the sky, or creating sunrise by painting it. It also introduces Okami's task not just to fight evil but to bring light and love back into the world with tasks like causing flowers to grow and such. It helps that it has such a distinctive artsyle designed to resemble Sumi-e.

If I had to criticize it for anything, it's that this point none of my favorite villains in the game appear and that it's a bit of a slow start, taking a bit to get going.

I put Okami's start over Commedia's start just because it's so immediately engrossing into the game, whereas with the Commedia it can be hard to get into due to the language being hard.

2: Yu Yu Hakusho
I should note, I go back and forth with the number 1 and number 2 positions a lot.

The Yu Yu Hakusho starts is one of the most effective I've ever seen, introducing us to the paradox of Yusuke, the delinquent everyone assumes bad off who sacrifices himself to save a kid's life in a moment of selflessness. It brilliantly introduces us to the world of the Yusuke Urameshi, why he thinks it's him against the world and that nobody cares about him, before showing him exactly how important he is, giving us an reason why he, and thus WE should care about him becoming alive again.

While it doesn't introduce all the major characters (doesn't introduce Hiei or Kurama most notably) it does introduce Kuwabara, Botan and Keiko. It also introduces the plot foreshadowing of how spirits work and the thematic foreshadowing of people becoming and being more then they seem which will be a major element of all the major characters in the series.

If there's anything to criticize for, it's that it doesn't set up more themes and plot elements of the series though considering how many are actually in the series, it's more a question of how realistic it would be.

I put Yu Yu Hakusho's start over Okami's because it's quicker pace.

1: Princess Tutu
Princess Tutu's start is incredible. It really is incredible, how in the span of 1 episode it properly introduces every single primary character and most of the secondary characters, as well as expresses or foreshadows their roles in the world, and introduces all the major themes of the series all in one episode.

And the really crazy part is that it does all of it subtly, you could watch it and not notice any of the implications until one of your rewatches. You could watch it and just enjoy for the story that is, and it is a really entertaining story without catching all the foreshadowing and theme-ing going on.

The only real nitpicks I have would be it just sort of expects you to take the strange things in this world at face value without explanation like the teacher being a cat (Which isn't too crazy, I mean plenty of western cartoons have talking animals normally, as does Dragon Ball for instance, and animals acting like people is common to folklore) and similarly it doesn't explain itself much in terms of plot as it's not very self-contained at all and ends on a cliffhanger.

Comparing the start of Princess Tutu to the start of YYH....YYH is probably more enjoyable by itself to me but I think Princess Tutu better foreshadows the rest of the series. At the moment I think Princess Tutu's start is better but it alternates.

October Special Death Prediction: Onaga vs Takofanes

Death. The final embrace, the darkness at the end of being. Seemingly invincible, death's power is seen as truly inevitable. However in legend and fiction there exists some beings who not only challenge death, but transcend death to become known as the lords of death, masters of the undead. Like these two fighters.

Onaga, the Dragon King from Mortal Kombat

Takofanes, the Undying Lord from Champions

I am Imperator100 and this is a Death Prediction Special. 

Onaga:

Origin:

Amidst the shifting and scattered planes of reality, there exists warlike Outworld, dominated by vicious kombat. Initially engulfed in internal turmoil this realm had yet to become the major threat to the other realms as it would later come to be, for it was disunified...until the Dragon King Onaga emerged. Onaga, one of the dragon-kind, used power and cunning to unite Outworld as it's first emperor and began his true quest for eternal life. 

Onaga in his drive to live eternally ordered the taking of the last great dragon egg, hoping to use the blood of an infant great dragon to preserve himself eternally. However such is fate that those seeking one thing invite the other, for as Onaga prepared to make himself Immortal God Emperor, he was poisoned by his adviser Shao Kahn who took the throne of Outworld for himself. 

And to most of this world, this seemed the inglorious end of Onaga. However Onaga's will to transcend death would not cease from a single death. Onaga's soul attached itself to the egg he had put his ambition into, and he manipulated events from beyond the grave such that he would rise again. Upon the success of his plan, Onaga began his quest to gain revenge on the betrayer Shao Kahn and take not just the throne of Outworld back, but to become supreme lord of all creation.

Power/Form:

Onaga is one of the strongest characters in Mortal Kombat short of the Elder Gods themselves. Onaga is powerful enough that Shao Kahn, the ruler of Outworld after him used poison rather then fight him directly, which given Shao Kahn's aggressive warlike personality showed that even Shao Kahn feared the power of Onaga, consistent with how Shao Kahn struggled with Onaga when Onaga grabbed him during their next fight. The Emperor Shao Kahn was capable of merging the realms of Outworld and Edenia which has been noted multiple times. How big are the realms? Well one realm is the Neatherrealm, which is basically Hell. Sub-Zero has called the Netherrealm "infinite" in size and Raiden with his divine perception has called the sea of blood contained within Outworld to be bottomless, such that an immortal can sink forever into it. As such these can conservative be compared to universes in size, and Shao Kahn merging two of them would be 2 times baseline universal. 

Shao Kahn was also able to imbue Kano with power to rival Raiden's. Raiden for reference, in his battle with Shinnok in tie-in comic to Mortal Kombat 4 was able to create a power that could be felt on all Earths and shook the very foundation of the universe. In the same fight, Raiden and fellow god Fujin's power together was able to create a blast that could undo galaxies and surpassed even the Big Bang which Shinnok survived handily.

The same Raiden tried to use a suicide attack against Onaga and did absolutely nothing showing Onaga's raw durability, capable of at the very least tanking an attacking likely far more then half the power of the Big Bang and likely much higher then baseline universal. The fight prior to this also shows Onaga's magic resistance, as two of the multiverse's most dangerous sorcerers, the deadly alliance of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi could not harm Onaga. Onaga buffers this raw durability and magic resistance with his regenerative abilities which was strong enough to be able to regrow his hand after it was cut off, though the timeframe was unknown.

Also in case anyone brings up the word of god statement about bullets being a relevant threat to the MK cast, it's notable that bullets are stronger in the MK universe, likely due to them having advanced technology able to create robot ninjas capable of fighting ageless gods. Stryker's bullet was able to destroy the majority of a soldier's head which is impossible for a real world bullet. Given their nature of being guns in a verse with advanced tech and having feats of being above real world guns, these advanced guns would likely scale to the durability of the verse's Kombatants and not the other way around.

Mobility:

Shao Kahn scales from Kotal Kahn who he was able to get the better off in their fight. Kotal Kahn is a light based manipulator who, can move relative to his own light so that would be relativistic in speed. 

This is potentially consistent with the electricity manipulator Raiden who not only uses lightning that the cast can move comparable to but is just directly stated to be as fast as lightning. Lightning in real life varies in speed from speeds of about mach 300 for cloud to ground lightning minimum with mach 1,294 being the "average" speed of cloud to ground lightning. However Lightning can reach up into the relativistic range for the return stroke of lightning which can be about 1/3rd the speed of light. As Raiden is the god of thunder and lightning and has control over it, it's possible the lightning in these feats could be the relativistic speeds lightning can potentially reach.

As might be expected, Onaga also has the ability to fly. He also potentially has teleportation as he was able to go from Outworld where his body was resurrected to the Nexus of Realities seemingly without a portal (Shujinko was facing the only portals there yet didn't see Onaga arrive)

Abilities:

As befitting the being who transcended death, Onaga has the ability to act even after dying, using just his soul. He was able to astral project himself into the physical world from beyond the grave. He was able to astral project into basically all of the realms, one example being the Netherrealm though the Netherrealm in particular could threaten to trap his astral projection.

He was also able to possess a living being's body and transmute it into his own, which he did to Reptile, which is how he was able to transcend even death. 

As a dragon, Onaga possess fire breathing, able to breath out a spray of fire or a fireball. He can also create powerful bursts of wind with his wings. However more noted is his Dragon Heart which is what gives him his powerful necromancy, able to create the undead which he did to the fallen heroes after he resurrected them. The Dragon King's undead army is legendary in itself, to the point that Shang Tsung and Quan Chi believed they could use it to defeat Earth's defenders all by itself, including beings like Raiden, and it is called "undefeatable" at numerous points. 

However perhaps Onaga's strongest sorcery is the ability he bestowed upon Shujinko, the ability to learn and use the abilities used against him, a form of magical power-duplication which has worked on a large variety of the fighters in the Mortal Kombat universe who had to fight Shujinko at one point or another.

Onaga in melee combat is also a skilled fighter using the "Dragon" style. This is not to be confused with Dragon Kung Fu which some of the other characters know. This is not the Dragon Fighting Style, this is just Dragon, the fighting style. 

Equipment:

Onaga doesn't have much equipment but the ones he had are incredibly powerful, used in his resurrection. These are the Kamidogu, six relics crafted by the Elder Gods containing the essence of the six realms they oversee. The Kamidogu were used in the creation of all reality and possess enough power to merge all the realms and bestow ultimate power if they are fused. While they are in 6 pieces, Onaga can not use all of them at once, though even their power individually should give some form of creation and reality-warping, which is likely connected to his form of rebirth.

In Onaga's deleted ending for Mortal Kombat: Deception, Onaga was able to complete his plan of fusing the Kamidogu and basically became Heart of the Universe Thanos, absorbing the Elder Gods and all reality into himself and becoming the new One Being, the God Tier of the Mortal Kombat-verse.

Mental:

Onaga is a clever manipulator, able to decieve Shujinko for essentially his entire life into gathering the Kamidogu for him. Onaga bolsters this with his telepathic abilities. Onaga was able to sense the change in Shujinko's soul after he suppressed the evil within him showing that he could sense his opponents souls, was able to watch both Shao Kahn and Shujinko from beyond the grave, and was able to sense another force pursuing the Edenian Kamidogu.

He also possibly has minor precognition as he knew that his rebirth in Outworld was to occur soon. The only other interpretation is that at the same time as he's speaking to Shujinko, Reptile is nearing the chamber where Onaga would possess him, which I don't think matches up timewise.

Weaknesses:

The Dragon King is overly proud and even more so vengeful. In Armageddon, Onaga could not release his vengeful drive to attack Shao Kahn, even when ultimate power was at stake.

Also in using the Kamidogu, Onaga has connected himself to them, and thus made himself vulnerable. Destroying one puts Onaga in a stunned state making him temporarily unable to act.

Also Midway seems allergic to using him. He's been in non-cameo roles in only like 2 games. 

Personality:

The Dragon King is a proud personality that is characterized by his power-hungriness, his attempt to take the throne back of Outworld. However Onaga is slightly different then the other manipulative power-hungry forces of the Mortal Kombat universe like a hot-headed fighter like Shao Kahn or a cold logical manipulator like Shinnok in his desire to avoid suffering and being victimized.

Onaga was initially driven by his desire to transcend death and avoid the ultimate in suffering, the final end. When he is pained he is ruthlessly and almost single-mindedly vengeful as shown with his hatred towards Shao Kahn, something that is not subject to change over time like a brief burst of passion nor can it be satiated long by logical pragmatism (as happened for instance when the sorcerers Quan Chi and Shang Tsung instantly stopped fighting in the face of a larger threat, Onaga). Onaga represents a cold emotional force, a force of vindictiveness and much like the ever regenerating dragon he is, dwelling constantly on past pains.

 

Takofanes:

Origin:

70,000 years ago, during the ancient forgotten Turkian age of the Earth, the majority of the world was ruled by the cruel king Kal-Turak who ravaged the world's continents and peoples for his pleasure. The King was a fantatical student of the arcane and his efforts were rewarded after his death. When his subjects rejoiced at his passing, his very magic animated himself after death, turning him into the undead lich king. In glee, Kal-Turk renamed himself "he who holds power over life and death in his hands" or in the ancient tongue "Takofanes". Takofanes began to gleefully destroy his subjects, happy to control the whole world eternally.

The people of the world, in despair, launched a final desperate assault against the mad lich king, where the greatest sorcerers of the lands managed to seal him away deep underground in a battle that shaped the Earth. There underground, Takofanes stewed in his hatred for life and defiance of him for 70,000 years. When Takofanes was accidentally freed by an oil drilling that hit his underground tomb, he slew the humans who freed him and rose them as his undead servants, beginning his assault on the new modern world he had awoken too.

Since then, Takofanes has repeatedly launched assaults against the modern world and it's superheroes, most famously in the 2009 Blood Moon Event, where he stole the souls of the 13 superheroes who died in the battle of Detroit and forced their bodies to be his undead soldiers.

(Sorry about lack of footage. There's not much footage of CO online, especially of Takofanes as the Blood Moon event to fight him doesn't happen often. Most of his abilities regardless come from his Champions rpg page in this book, with the MMO and rpg having been confirmed as canon with MMO events like the Blood Moon event being referenced in the RPG books).

Power/Form:

Takofanes is one of the strongest characters in the Champions Universe short of the Kings of Edom. Takofanes is called "the most powerful magical villain threatening the Champions Universe (save perhaps for Shadow Destroyer and Tyrannon the Conqueror)" (Page 219). This suggests that Takofanes would scale to Therakiel the Nephillim who was stated in game to be a universal threat, as well as Skarn who has control of his own dimension which is many magical dimensions merged into a single universe (Page 173). Skarn's goal is to absorb his whole multiverse into his dimension.

Him being considered perhaps stronger then Tyrannon the Conqueror suggests that he scales to Tyrannon and possible to a single one of the Kings of Edom as they potentially see Tyrannon as a rival (Page 240). This is relevant as the Kings of Edom collectively are a threat to the multiverse and in their backstory were able to consume universal sized dimensions into their being.

All this suggests that Takofanes would be roughly universe level. This is consistent with how in the Blood Moon event his power was able to take control of Vanguard and turn him into one of his undead minions, with Vanguard being considered "perhaps the strongest superhero to ever live" Takofanes also is infamously undying, an ageless skeleton whose magic continually holds his being together against the power of death, making him immortal to conventional means unless his magic is overpowered.

Mobility:

In game Takofanes can move comparable to Champions using the "Lightspeed" travel power which is not just a description as it's official in-game description is that the character approaches lightspeed. This is consistent with having to fight characters and move relative to their attacks whose whole powersets are lightning based or light based. There are also multiple other powers designed as lightspeed in the name. This suggests that Takofanes should be relativistic in speed.

Takofanes can also fly with his spell of Levitation (Page 218). Takofanes can also teleport across dimensions which he often does to flee a combat not going well for him (Page 219)

Abilities:

Takofanes is a nigh-unrivaled master of sorcery with master of magic. Most famous is his necromancy, able to create the undead (up to 125 at a time) (Page 218) as well as control any undead within 20 meters (Page 218). Takofanes can also use his necromancy to seal peoples souls as he did to the fallen heroes of the battle of Detroid during the Blood Moon Event. Though he has only done this before to disembodied souls.

Takofanes also has other forms of magic. He can use Hellfire blast to create a burst of infernal fire and Mental Blast to create a mental surge of pain (Page 218). He can use Thandaki spell of Irresistible Paralysis to entangle his foes or Kal-Turak's spell of the invisible hand to use telekinesis (Page 218). Defensively he can use Power of Command to subtly increase his own presence to make him seem more intimidating and Spell of Protection to bolster his already considerable defense (Page 218). Takofanes has also created his own dimensions, which bolsters his power and which he can adjust at will. 

His most powerful spell is Darkest Sorcery which can warp reality however he decides with some examples of what he can do being causing mental and physical weakness, ripping out souls, inducing sleep, mind controlling, turning the sun dark, and transforming people into werewolves (Page 219)

It's strongly implied Takofanes knows far more then spells which would include a vary myriad of spells in the Champions universe such as illusions, invisibility, spatial warping etc., with his only real spellcasting limitation being an inability to cast good or holy spells (Page 220) though as these are not listed under his main abilities presumably these are things he doesn't use often and is not very practiced with.

Equipment:

Takofanes has two major pieces of arcane equipment, both of which he can summon to him at any time (Page 218)

The first of these is the Scepter of the Undying King, acting as Takofanes wand, which can be used to perform most of his magic quickly without any invocation or words (only Darkest Sorcery and Raising the Dead require more power then the Scepter).

The second of these is the Dragon Crown which allows him to bolster any of his spells.

Mental:

Takofanes is a highly intelligent sorcerer, highly well versed in the ways of magic. He also knows spells to bolster his awareness such as his Spell of Awareness which can detect physical objects and spell of comprehension allowing him to speak any language (Page 218).

Takofanes also has a danger sense (Page 218) and an intimidating aura of his pure raw evil (Page 219)

Weaknesses:

For all his power, the Undying Lord actually possesses numerous weaknesses. Without his scepter, he needs to manually cast his spells which requires making hand symbols and speaking an invocation. He is also highly vulnerable to holy powers and light based powers due to the corruption of his soul. (Page 219).

Beyond that, Takofanes has a number of psychological weaknesses. He is HIGHLY arrogant, viewing himself as the perfect embodiment of death and all living being as petty insects to brush aside. He also does not understand the modern world, it's mindsets and technologies and peoples which is why according to his profile is the reason behind all his defeats. He is also bound to his total psychological compulsion to end all life and is not very good at making allies or working with others (Page 219)

Personality:

There are villains in the Champions Universe more powerful then Takofanes, but none more evil. Takofanes is a mind of total and utter malevolence, the most vile being in existence, dedicated to the destruction of all life, and total undead domination of existence. He lacks even the most basic sympathy for any other being. When other villains are compared to Takofanes, Takofanes is always the standard for complete and total evil. His 70,000 years of stewing in his own hatred has caused Takofanes' already twisted mind to grow darker beyond comprehension.

More particularly, Takofanes also represents the clinging claws of the past that restrains us. He delights in turning the fallen into his forces, turning the tragedies of yesterday into the threats of today. His weaknesses psychologically are his lack of being able to comprehend the world of today, and his inability to relate or cooperate with any force of life. He views himself as the complete and absolute embodiment of death, and has no mental space for compromise on that position.

Alright, the combatants are set. It's time for a DEATH PREDICTION

A blood red moon shone over the realm of Earthrealm. Onaga paid it no heed. He had heard the traitor Kahn had reappeared in his younger state by some manipulation of the timestream, and he was determined to take get his vengeance on the usurper, the rocky ground cracking beneath his feet.

Suddenly through the darkness appeared a strange skeletal figure, wearing an odd crown and dressed in a sorcerer's robes. A dark aura emanated around him and his soul....

"Elder Gods....I've never seen a soul more dark" thought Onaga.

Takofanes floated lightly above the ground, replaying in his mind the beautiful sounds of his latest conquest, the screams of terror the city had made when his zombies had overrun them. How beautiful. However in the remote land he teleported too, he saw a strange draconic humanoid, wearing a few pieces of heavy armor, whose eyes flared angrily.

"Move aside rotting bag of bones!" growled Onaga deeply "Or I shall you back to the Netherrealm where you belong!"

Takofanes gave a soul-curdling cackles and spoke "A dragon? I shall enjoy adding your bones to my Dragon Crown!"

Fight!

Takofanes raised his scepter and shot a hellfire blast, but Onaga simply breathed a fireburst.

The two fires met and erupted in a burning flare that briefly caused the night around them glow white-hot. With a massive leap Onaga zipped through the sky in an arc to Takofanes position and hit him with a mighty punch, sending the Undying Lord flying. 

"Hmmm....interesting" thought the necromancer, who indented into the ground, feeling his bones shake unevenly. Onaga laughed in the distance, his laugh a deep gutteral roar before suddenly bending over grabbing his head.

A higher pitched mad cackle came from Takofanes as he weaved his spell Mental Blast, telepathically harming his draconic foe.

Onaga's eyes burned with a glowing green fire of rage. With a mighty roar, he charged the Lich, but Takofanes raised his staff and conjured his paralyzing charm of Thandaki.

Suddenly, Onaga found every muscle in his bound, unable to move, just a hair breadth's away from the sorcerer. The undying king rubbed his hands maniacally as he thought of what he was going do to do with his now helpless victim however a sudden buzzing in his skull warned him of incoming danger.

A sudden smile appeared on the dragon king's face, despite his supposed frozen state. Takofanes barely had enough time to flash a protection spell into being when Onaga defiantly phyiscally broke the spell Takofanes had put him under. With a triumphant roar,  Onaga grabbed the shielded form of Takofanes  and plunged him into the ground,, flying forward in a dash to bash him with the ground. 

"FOOL! You think mere sorcery tricks can defeat me?!" Onaga said in exhilaration before throwing the lich into a nearby mountain, causing it violently explode. "I am Onaga, Rightful King of Outworld!"

Takofanes felt his bones weary. He should retreat and come up with a plan....he couldn't risk the possibility of his great self being lost. Quickly Takofanes teleported away as his enemy approached.

Letting out a guttural snarl, Onaga saw his enemy teleport away. 

"Coward!" Onaga had learned his opponents skills from fighting. Onaga pierced through shifting space and time with his draconic eye...

"There you are..." and with a flicker Onaga was gone.

In one of Takofanes' pocket dimensions, the undying king appeared. This particular dimension was had a primitive pyramid built by a legion of zombie followers that moved back and forth like ants. The building was built in the style of of buildings 70,000 years ago, with two flowing rivers of lava on either side. Takofanes felt the dark mystical energies of the realm rejuvenate him only to his shock to feel himself suddenly flung through the air. 

Onaga had appeared in this dimension.

Takofanes laughed "You dare to follow me into my own dimension.....what a death wish hehehehe!"

Onaga looked and beheld the dimension. It appeared to be somewhere within the Netherrealm, fitting for a sorcerer like this.

However in the sheer moment that Onaga had looked away, Takofanes had disappeared into the dark. The dimension began shifting and sliding, as it's master controlled it too.

Onaga punched away various debris approaching at relativistic speeds and burned away some more with his fire breath, roaring in anger at this. Zombies below were torn to shreds by the powerful small projectiles or being flung into lava.

A spell to boost presence and from the void a giant floating skull, the head of Takofanes, but massive to the point of being comparable to his temple and spectral and floating emerged from the darkness laughing at Onaga's situation. Onaga attempted to charge at the skull only to pass through it harmlessly.

"I cONtroL rEaliTy!" said Takofanes, his voice shifting confusingly with the dimension shifts . "In My DOMain, I aM goDKing!....prepaRe oh lONg-liVED one to MEet your fINal End! HAHAHAHA" The skull released an eerie purple blast through the warped dark cosmos burning into Onaga's mind. 

"NO!" Cried Onaga in suffering...."You can't....must retreat to the Nexus" and the Dragon King winked out of existence. 

"NOTHING ESCAPES DEATH!" yelled Takofanes who eagerly followed.

Takofanes found himself in a small chamber with the Dragon King floating in the middle, surrounded by  a number of glowing rings. Upon seeing Takofanes, Onaga casually flapped his wings. The Dead King raised his sceptre, but was still flung back across the chamber into a column. He painfully rose, and as he did the gems around Onaga suddenly glowed as a great spiral of darkness entered into each. At the same time, Onaga spoke. 

"Idiot! You fell for the oldest trick in the book, I taunted you to bring you from where you were strongest to where I am!"

Takofanes realized he had been tricked and attempted to teleport away. Takofanes looked at Onaga, the two still in the same spot and asked "What the hell did you do?! Why can't I got to my dimension?!"

Onaga laughed at that. "I found your little hiding holes...and I ABSORBED them. There's nowhere left to hide!"

Declaring such, Onaga redoubled his assault. The power of the Kamidogu bolstering his power, such that he simply appeared before Takofanes and with a few mighty blows, the lich king felt his ancient magic struggling to hold up under such a vicious assault.

"What's the matter sorcerer? No more clever words! FIGHT BACK!" Yelled Onaga as he threw Takofanes into the air before slamming him into the ground again. 

Little did he know, that Takofanes was drawing into the very blackest pits of his soul casting the Dark Sorcery. As Onaga divebombed Takofanes, prepared to end this fight fully Takofanes spoke "Demon lord Pharr-Khem, I call your wrath" and from Takofanes came horrid dark lightning.

Onaga saw the attack before it hit and attempted to block it but the lighting tore through him, leaving horrid burning aching gashes in his wings and tearing into his torso. Blood and bits began leaking out of him as he gave a roar of pain and landed on the ground.

The Undying King rose. "Do you really think you can defeat death? No one defeats death!!!" and with a wave of his hand, horrible dark magic crackled and emanated and a Kamidogu broke, causing a wave of pain to course through Onaga. 

Takofanes madly began giggling and laughing as he destroyed another Kamidogu with his telekinesis, relishing every moment of his enemy's pain. On the ground, Onaga felt immense pain but his natural healing factor had stabilized him. Still, if he didn't stop him soon he would destroy all the Kamidogu and leave Onaga helpless.......

"Wait" "Onaga thought as Takofanes destroyed the fourth Kamidogu "Perhaps....if the Netherrealm powered him...."

As Takofanes destroyed the fifth Kamidogu, Onaga called on the power of his homeworld Kamidogu, the Kamidogu of distant Outworld. With a great pulsaing of his wings curled behind his back, Onaga created a burst of air sending Takofanes and he into the portal he had conjured behind them.

Takofanes found himself suddenly transported on what appeared to be some kind of floating platform, with a stylized asian dragon symbol emblazoned on it. From all sides....

Takofanes felt his dark soul burn from every angle as a number of strange giant astral forms emerged around him. "LIGHTS!" he thought in anguish "The Lights of Heaven?!"

"Elder Gods!" came the distant yell of Onaga. "In the Heavens, I challenge this being here to Mortal Kombat."

With his immense pain, came immense hatred, and with that hatred Takofanes called down a dark sun from the heavens, to engulf his area in darkness to protect him from this burning light.

From without the darkness, Onaga saw his opponent cover himself in darkness, confirming his suspicion on how he would handle the environment of Heaven, opposite the Netherrealm. 

Onaga breathed a large surge of fire, lightening the area. Takofanes saw the bright shadowy silhoutte of his enemy through the darkness and felt spite unlike any he had ever felt. Onaga rushed in and launched a blow which Takofanes blocked with his scepter, but Onaga deftly crouched and with a quick kick, caused the sorcerer to collapse onto the ground. 

Takofanes rapidly tried to backup, chanting quickly to cast another spell, when he saw something unbelievable. To his shock, Onaga was repeating perfectly the same gestures of his telekinesis spell and upon completing it Takofanes felt his sceptre break in his hands into two unusable pieces. 

Takofanes, for the first time in many eons, felt fear creep into him. Onaga pounced on the lich. Takofanes barely managed to protect himself in time, conjuring a purple forcefield with his spell of protection and bolstering it with his Dragon Crown, however even this effort caused his bones to crack, a large gash appearing in his skull's eyehole.

"Only have....one chance...." Takofanes thought and cast his spell.

Onaga felt the sorcerer's power grow weaker and weaker, and smiled, ready for the kill against this foe that had caused him such strife however to his shock he heard a familiar voice. Looking to his side Onaga's eyes widened in shock at seeing Shao Kahn on the arena, challenging him.

Onaga turned to face him, his eyes blazing with fury and he let out a roar of challenge.

Takofanes snickered internally. "My illusion of his greatest desire is sure to distract him....I only new a few moments to conjure a spell that will steal this insolent dragon's soul...." however Takofanes thoughts were suddenly cut off as he felt Onaga's claws pierce his ribcage. 

"No! But how?!" He yelled in anger.

Onaga replied with uncharacteristic calmness "Your creation....lacked soul" before suddenly roaring "I AM CHAINED TO THE PAST NO LONGER!" and Onaga grabbed the Undying King, soaring high into the heavens before hurtling again back towards the platform in a super powerbomb. 

Takofanes despeartely called dark lightning to chase them, the lightning rapidly getting closer, the two creating a burning white fire from the speed of their re-entry. Onaga spoke to Takofanes 

"Thus I defeat Death for the second time!"

Takofanes roared in anger, hated and spite as the two reached the platform just before the lightning reached them, the sheer force of the impact sending a wave of force across Heaven, ripping the ancient magic holding Takofanes apart and sending his bones flying. Onaga stood before floating into the air.

"I am Onaga, the Dragon King! To the Undying I give death! To the Immortal I give..."

Onaga roared in triumph

"FATALITY!"

K.O.

While Takofanes might be more versatile then Onaga, Onaga is simply more powerful and counters Takofanes really hard.

Takofanes is universal by being relative to beings that can threaten our universe like Therakiel. Meanwhile Onaga was stronger then Shao Kahn, who was over 2 times the baseline of destroying a Mortal Kombat realm, which is likely far larger then our universe as Raiden who has divine perception called a part of one realm endless. This means that Onaga would be conservatively several times more powerful then Takofanes and Onaga is just insanely durable, able to tank Raiden's self-destruct. Especially given his regen, it would be extremely difficult for Takofanes to harm Onaga directly. 

While Takofanes had forms of magic that could ignore durability, Onaga could resist magic like that of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. While it would be a NLF to suggest that Onaga could resist any magic, Takofanes doesn't have of mind hax or soul hax feats for instance that surpass that of Quan Chi. 

While Takofanes COULD hypothetically defeat Onaga with some of his other abilities especially if he boosted his power with the Dragon Crowd, it would be difficult, and especially for a character as arrogant as he, not something he would do quickly.

His arrogance doesn't help, when Onaga is a good manipulator able to manipulate Shujinko for his entire lifetime into serving his will. Onaga could easily manipulate the arrogance of Takofanes.

Onaga's sheer power gap means that any hit of his against Takofanes when Takofanes is not shielded or boosted would threaten the Undying King's unlife. Onaga also doesn't really need to rely on the Kamidogu as any of his normal blows would be enough to threaten Takofanes however Takofanes really needs to rely on his sceptre as he wouldn't be able to cast fast enough to keep up if it was broken. This means Onaga breaking it would be extremely bad for Takofanes.

Also if their zombie servants come into play, it's notable that Onaga has MUCH stronger servants. Takofanes army was comprised of mostly basic human zombies and sometimes werewolves like the blood moon event. Even at peak, Takofanes army included 13 metahuman zombies, only one of whom, Vanguard would be comparable to him and Onaga.

Onaga's basic undead army was comparable to Earthrealm's defenders. So, how strong are Earthrealm's defenders? Well they have many showings of competing against Gods like Raiden and Shao Kahn and should scale to their feats. Some people claim that this is because the Gods restrict themselves for the Mortal Kombat tournament however I could not find ANYTHING to corroborate this claim. The closest I came to finding that was Shao Kahn stating that the rules of Mortal Kombat "shackled him" however this was almost certainly referring to the rules of Mortal Kombat requiring him to win 10 times in a row before absorbing a realm as he says later in the game, and in Mortal Kombat 1 Raiden being said to have "taken human form" to compete in the tournament which does not suggest his power was limited, just that the shapeshifting God took on a humanoid form to fight.

There are also many instances of non-god fighters fighting these beings in settings completely outside of any tournament. As early as Mortal Kombat 3, Liu Kang was able to defeat Shao Kahn and stop his invasion outside of a tournament and Nightwolf was able to protect his ancestral homeland from Shao Kahn's power. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi were able to battle Raiden with nothing to do from any invasion. Taven was able to defeat Fujin outside of any tournament and his brother Daegon killed their godly father. And that's not getting into the new timeline. In one of the first fights of Mortal Kombat 9, Sonya defeats Raiden outside of a tournament fight.

Takofanes army at best has 1 being that can beat the beings in Takofanes army. Now granted Vanguard would be stronger then any single member of Onaga's army even if you gave him the zombie versions of character he resurrected, but the sheer numbers would be a massive advantage for Onaga.

You might think that Takofanes ability to control the dead would let him supercede this but Onaga can copy that technique which would be pretty much immediate victory for Onaga because Onaga is a living being while Takofanes is undead so Takofanes can't control Onaga but if Onaga learns that technique he absolutely could control Takofanes with his own technique.

Speaking of learning techniques, Onaga may or may not be able to teleport between realms but either way he would be able to copy it from Takofanes, as Onaga granted Shujinko the power to copy techniques including magical techniques like teleportation. Why this is important is because Takofanes might be able to teleport between dimensions but he absolutely can't see past dimensions. This can be seen by the fact that Takofanes was buried underground and couldn't even see the surface world and had no understand of the surface world. Onaga however was able to see past dimensions while he was dead. This means that in a dimension hopping fight, Onaga would constantly be able to see Takofanes while Takofanes would be essentially fighting blind until Onaga ambushes him from any dimension at all. Especially since Takofanes would need to cast a defensive spell or be massively damaged by any attack from Onaga, this is a pretty massive advantage for Onaga. 

While both Takofanes and Onaga are arrogant, Takofanes is far more arrogant, Onaga could take better advantage of that because of his manipulative skills and because Onaga could immediatly see how evil Takofanes soul would be he would probably start trying a lot quicker then Takofanes would.

Takofanes might represent death, but Onaga is the one who triumphed over death.

The winner is...Onaga, the Dragon King.