Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Review

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All right if someone asked me if I could survive 5 nights at Freddy’s I would definitely say yes. The animatronics are slow and clunky so that’s not a problem. If they asked me if I could survive 5 more nights? Well now that’s getting tricky. The monsters in this film seem to be considerably more powerful than in the first film although I would say that they are still under the average horror title. For that reason nobody in this film is really putting up much of a fight most of the time.

The film starts off with Mike trying his best to forget the events of the first film. He figures the best way to do this is to gaslight Abby into thinking that he will fix the old robots when he doesn’t plan to. Then on the side Mike is trying his best to fix Vanessa from all of her childhood trauma but Mike doesn’t really have the temperament for such a journey. Eventually his plans fall through and Abby runs back into Freddy’s to bring her friends back while Vanessa heads over for some closure. Unfortunately they both end up bringing something far darker back into the world. And yes…there are now two Freddy’s locations.

This is definitely one of those films where everyone looks pretty bad which is what the villains are able to capitalize on. For example in the first flashback scene we see how William wasn’t exactly subtle in grabbing one of the kids to destroy but even when another kid notices, nobody wants to help. The adults are painfully oblivious and almost go out of their way to ignore the situation. Then once it all happens, we see how the media blamed this on the kid who died. Now that was crazy and it sets the stage for how this is a world without a whole lot of empathy. Everyone is just looking out for themselves here and they don’t want to stick their neck out.

The fact that this happened before the other 5 murders is also crazy because it really shows how William was allowed to do whatever he wanted to do. Now in the present, we’ve got a number of plots going on. For Abby’s, well I feel like she looks really bad here. She wants to bring the robots back since some of them had her friends from the beyond but even in the first film it was always a 50/50 chance at best on if they were actually the kids. Usually they were the evil demon robots so she is risking everyone’s lives for a small chance. Not a smart thing to do.

Abby definitely shouldn’t have been going to Freddy’s by herself. Then we have Mike who comes across as really annoying the whole time. He gets upset with Abby when she notices that he’s been lying a lot and that’s on him. Then even after Vanessa has saved his life on multiple occasions and saved Abby, he still tells her off. There are some things like a life debt which should not be so easily broken. Certainly not in this manner. Mike really needed to lock in more.

He got one good scene where he actually fights one of the animatronics but that’s about it for him. Then we have Vanessa who is dealing with the most issues right now. William is still attacking her through dreams which she just barely manages to survive through. It feels like there is only a matter of time before she falls to him unless she can find a way to destroy him forever. Of course that is not going to be easy.

Then Vanessa has to deal with the new villain of the movie, The Marionette. Unfortunately a gun isn’t going to do a whole lot to this thing. She definitely should have told Mike more about what was going on but I still tend to place more of the blame on him for not taking the news well at all. With the stakes this high, there is no time to be falling apart at the seams.

The Marionette makes for a pretty strong villain. She leaves more of an impact than a lot of the different Freddy creatures and for now I would say she was more impressive than William as well. She has a good amount of space and can basically take control of someone’s body which is a really big deal. I suppose that the name is quite fitting.

On that note, the main Freddy crew don’t get to do quite as much here. They threaten the humans a whole lot and are always on the move but don’t technically produce a whole lot of results. More often than not they are foiled at the last second. The body count is a bit smaller than you may have initially guessed. Also unless you are a hardcore fan you will have some trouble differentiating the designs between the new ones and the old ones even when you see them back to back.

The film does go all in on the jump scares though. There is a lot going on at all times and the characters act super suspicious the whole time. There’s a new night guard named Michael for example who seems ominous the whole time. He’s constantly grinning and seems to know a whole lot about Freddy’s. They’re going to want to keep an eye out for him. So the film knows how to be scary.

Then on the other hand it also has some funny moments. I liked the cab driver who was always ready to break the ice. There’s also a mean science teacher who is a complete antagonist but does a really good job within the role like when he “accidentally” broke a girl’s toy. This guy has clearly been in the game for a long time. The film certainly leans harder on horror than comedy but handles both genres rather well.

The writing and script are certainly not realistic but you can put that to the same camp. The film also still keeps itself from being too violent. It’s maybe a little more violent than the first one but I would say that it was close. There is less focus on all the kids who got murdered from the first film which is a good thing. I would also say that the film’s story is a lot more interesting now that it is embracing all of the crazy characters. It was sad that Golden Freddy didn’t show up but I guess the film was getting rather packed.

There are quite a few clffhangers in the film too which sets up the third film nicely. First up we already have a main villain, then a returning villain shows up, and then a hype message which might signal a third one. In theory it’ll be hard for the heroes to stop these guys next time because there is no longer any kind of an off button. Physically these creatures are mainly still robots so you can mess them up but that requires no tripping or panicking which is rare.

For the next film I would like to see some more action though. One issue I have with this one is that the animatronics all tend to look very slow aside from the Marionette and just don’t seem to be a huge threat. Mike takes one out extremely easily in one scene and it feels like that would work on any of the others as well. So I feel like the next film needs to show them actually fighting and moving a bit quicker to make things scary again.

Overall, I definitely wouldn’t be eating at Freddy’s but the film does a good job of staying scary while adding in a lot of story this time around. The concept of Freddy’s is definitely an intense one. I am glad that the series continues to reign in the violence and doesn’t go for a ton of grit. It would be nice if we could go one film without children being among the fatalities though. This time it was brief and then it was over at least but we don’t need to retread the plots. Since this one hints at a much larger threat looming, it may be time to call in the government. Some may say that would be jumping the shark but I think it would be hype!

Overall 6/10

Pragmata Review

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Pragmata is one of those games that I was hyped for right away. By all accounts it looked to be some kind of a backdoor Mega Man spinoff even if nobody would admit it. Even after playing through the game it feels that way and it technically goes out of its way to not appear to be a Mega Man game. Maybe one day we’ll get the crossover but either way this is a great title.

The game begins with a group of people heading onto a space station but unfortunately something weird is going on. The A.I. may have gone rogue as everyone is murdered except for the main player. He runs into a kid, the Pragmata. She is his only chance at surviving this encounter but this guy doesn’t really trust robots. Can he get past that and team up with her? The stakes are high so there is really no time for any in-fighting or anything like that.

Naturally the horror element here is in the fact that there is no escape. There is no easy way to get back to Earth. In fact the whole game is about trying to get to the center of the station so that they can use the escape pods. Unfortunately the whole place has been shut down and there are killer androids everywhere so getting past them is definitely not going to be easy.

The gameplay is a 3D shooter but mixed in with a bit of puzzle gameplay. Technically these are “hacking” components where you shut down an enemy’s defenses in order to do more damage. This is really mandatory because your shots will practically bounce off otherwise. Fortunately the hacking gameplay is quite a lot of fun so I really enjoyed just blasting away at everyone. It really encourages you to learn how to do two things at once. If you are not a multi tasker then this will be very tough.

As the game goes on you will unlock a ton of different weapons as well as enhancements to the hacking program. Each level gives you more clearance on the spaceship which unlocks more things. You can then use your new abilities to go back to old areas and get more collectibles. It’s almost like a vania in that regard except for the fact that you never need to go back. It is purely optional.

The gameplay and navigation are so smooth that I did have fun going back and getting things though. I got almost all of the collectibles and beat every training exercise. The main campaign is very short so I wanted to make sure that I got my money out of this. Also it just helps when the game flows well. If going back and forth meant having to sit through a lot of loading screens or something like that then I wouldn’t have bothered.

Also the collectibles and such really do improve your overall abilities so there is a big incentive to getting them. The final boss is actually very tricky so I was glad that my stats were all heavily boosted. Then when you beat the game there is a little post game content in the form of a new room with some challenges in there. That was pretty cool. This isn’t the kind of game where I’m aiming to get the Platinum anytime soon but it was still cool to see.

The graphics are really good here. The level of detail is impressive and so this is a AAA PS5 title all the way. The robot designs are super good throughout and I also liked the NYC based level. You will always have a lot to look at here and the hacking successful effects are always satisfying. The soundtrack is less memorable. We do get an emotional track at the end but for the most part this is one of those quiet type of games. They probably figured that hard rock music would mess with the tone but I can’t agree with that. I’d have loved to have more intense music.

We also got a pretty intense main villain here towards the end. The first one was decent but not super interesting so I was glad at the switch. It made the stakes a lot more personal and all. I also enjoyed the main character and the kid because they were locked in from the start. No petty grumblings or drama, they were just trying to survive here. It’s one of those things that feels more realistic than if they had been fighting because this really wouldn’t be the time for it. You like to think that in a life or death situation everyone would be focused and working together so the game is hopeful in that way.

My only piece of advice gameplay wise is to buy the module that lets you see where all collectibles are in a level. I got this as soon as I could and it really makes a good difference. After that I would focus on upgrading my main weapons and for the gold orbs, upgrading the gun. I figure those are things that you will be using constantly anyway. I’m always partial to increasing attack power in general because win or lose, the fights will go quicker. It just forces me to get better at dodging and blocking.

Overall, Pragmata is definitely a game that you should buy. Yes, the length is short which is a blow against the game but everything else about it is absolutely top tier. The story is really great and the title has every quality of life feature you can think of. It is a very satisfying game to complete from start to finish and that helps the length to not bother you quite as much Just have fun exploring the levels and don’t rush to the end. There are plenty of collectibles to grab and little story discs that explain the surrounding context. I also feel like this game is just helpful in general for multi tasking. It can be harder than it sounds to be shooting, aiming, and hacking at the same time. If we ever get a sequel to this title, I’ll definitely be there!

Overall 8/10

Pokemon Go Update

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I have finally made it to level 75!! It took longer than I had initially expected with the 1000 great throws but it feels good to be up here. The next level will probably take around 2 months or so. The longest one is going to be walking 300KM. At least it’s spring/summer time so that should help out but that’s still not the kind of distance you cover in a day. I’m one step closer to making it to level 80!

The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection Review

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It’s time for a pair of exploration type games which have a whole lot of mystery within them. What is really going on and who are the enemies that need to be defeated? These questions will be getting answered as you get deeper into the adventure. The games have a unique atmosphere to them and definitely makes you feel like you’re getting a true indie type experience. That said, clumsy controls do keep the games from being better.

Ico starts off with a kid finding a girl who was captured inside of a castle. He manages to free her but there is no easy way to escape this place. For now he will need to activate a lot of devices and use that to try and find a way out of here. It won’t be easy but he has a lot of tenacity and won’t be backing down. There is also a mysterious queen of evil who seeks to get in your way.

The game has a whole lot of puzzles for you to solve. To help with this, the gameplay itself s really simple. You only have 2-3 controls here. You can swing your sword, jump, and grab onto things. That’s it so then when the puzzles come up you have to figure out a way to solve each instance while only using these 3 abilities. In some ways that makes it rougher on your end when you can’t figure something out because the controls should make it easy.

There was definitely one time where it felt like the game pulled a fast one though. You had to jump off of a pole to the next area but throughout the game you had been jumping normally. Apparently by holding down one of the buttons you would jump longer and farther. I feel like that would be hard to guess and I ended up dying many times in the meanwhile. You also have to be careful about getting too far away from the heroine or she will end up being kidnapped by the shadow creatures which is an instant game over.

Trust me, that’s a rough way to go out. I recommend saving as often as you can although it’s not always the easiest thing. You have to go to one of the benches with the heroine to save. There aren’t a whole lot of them in the game but granted, it’s not like the game is super long. Swinging the sword around is definitely fun and I enjoyed the final boss but I do wish there was more combat. The platforming part of the gameplay could often be way too clunky while at least the fights are straight forward.

The art style works well for the ambiance though. I will give the game some credit there and the soundtrack is also pretty solid. The stakes always feel really high and a good chunk of the climax takes place during a thunderstorm which was handled really well. You could really hear the boom in the background and that’s also when the visuals are at their best. This one isn’t trying to be the big AAA title in terms of visuals but leveraged the style really well.

Then in Shadow of the Colossus we play as a guy who needs to save a girl who is currently in a coma. In order to wake her up, he needs to defeat the 16 Colossus that are scattered around the land. It won’t be easy since he only has a sword. The game is really built around locating the colossus and then taking them down. The combat is all built around balance as you use the sword to hang on until you get to the weak points. You could say this is equal parts exploring puzzles and then combat puzzles.

I was glad to see the action part at the forefront although I will say that the game goes out of its way to make some of these fights extremely painful. When you fall off of the Colossus then you have to climb all the way back up each time which usually revolves around waiting for specific actions to happen. This means you can’t just go in and land a bunch of attacks right away. Then once you’re on the Colossus, part of it seems to be RNG.

There were one or two bosses where I kept getting shaken off but then I’d land again and this time they couldn’t shake me off at all. So I’d stab quickly until I took all of the health down. Like with Ico I’d say that the gameplay can be super clunky which also makes this a bit more difficult than it would be normally. Platforming and quick movements can be tough for any title but I feel like it really stood out here the whole time. This collection’s mistake was really in focusing so hard on realism that it forgot the fun part. Letting the character jump farther and move faster would have automatically helped out quite a bit.

If the games could tighten up the gameplay like when riding the horse or jumping around, it would make a world of difference. The quality of life features/enhancements are what would really turn this into a winning title. The games certainly can’t be called generic or anything like that though and I do see the appeal. If the intrigue can override the gameplay for you then that should be enough for this one to claim victory. I’d be interested in seeing how a modern sequel would fare although I can’t say that I would have super high hopes for it.

Overall, This is definitely a collection that will give you a run for your money. The games aren’t very long or anything like that but at the same time they are difficult. You won’t be just barreling through these. Both games took me longer than the estimated time to complete which is pretty rare since it is usually the other way around. I would have liked to have had more of a story here but at least we do get true endings in each time. These games are more for visual storytelling than a cinematic presence which I understand. Ultimately it ends up being in the middle of the pack for me but if you really like the concepts here then you should have a good time.

Overall 5/10

The Phantom Review

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This is one of those games that didn’t make a ton of waves when it came out but it centers around one of the original superheroes out there. The Phantom basically predates any of the big heroes that you’ve heard about. So it’s cool to play a game based on this guy. The gameplay’s fun enough and I like the overall presentation but what hurts the title is the short length. You can complete the game in a little over an hour. There are only 5 stages in the game, which total to 14 levels. Most levels aren’t very long either so yeah that’s why this goes by quickly.

The story begins with the Phantom’s son being stolen by a gang. He does not take this well at all to the point where his wife is really worried about the nonstop rage that she is seeing. The Phantom intends to save his son at any cost and may want to destroy these villains in order to prove a point. Will he be able to calm down in time and can his son really be saved?

It’s not like this is a super deep story or anything like that but I was just glad to have one with some story updates after each stage. The game is fully voice acted which is always a good thing and it adds to the intensity of the game. The way the cutscenes are advanced is a little odd though as you have to click X to go forward every few lines but the icon used is the same as for the skip button so it was always very nerve racking. I don’t see why they didn’t just push everything forward automatically.

So as 2D beat em up you’re going to be familiar with the drill here. You punch and kick at the enemies until they all go down. At that point you can continue and then fight the next batch of fighters. Rinse and repeat until you have made it to the very end of the stage. The only exceptions here are when you have a boat/car level and have to blast away at your enemies. Coming up with a second gameplay style was probably not easy so I can appreciate that level of effort.

I don’t think the gameplay was play tested too much though because you have way too much hit stun on all of your attacks. What that means is you can infinite combo every character in the game. Yes, that includes all bosses including the final boss. That’s a bit rough because then they never stand a chance. For that reason the bosses have a checkpoint system so if you do too much damage in one combo, the damage eventually stops at 0 for him to summon some enemies and rest up.

It doesn’t make the bosses more difficult, this only serves to drag them out more. I suppose that will just have to be good enough this time around and the game is still super short so clearly this didn’t make it too long or anything like that. The gameplay is smooth though. It may not be balanced but it does play well. Then you also have the Phantom yelling out his catch phrase every time you use the super attack. He has maybe 3 stock lines so you will be hearing those quite a lot. They work really well though. It’s the right amount of cheesy and campy if you ask me.

After you beat the game, there is technically some replay value by playing arcade mode or doing story mode on hard difficulty. There is no platinum trophy in the game this time though so you will have to settle for just getting the normal 100% completion clear here. Still not bad of course, that will be a feather in your cap but I admit that I would have liked seeing the Platinum on display. I probably would have beaten had mode right away if that had been the case.

In terms of gameplay hints, I will just say in the boat levels you don’t want to spam the gun. You actually do run out of ammo and then you might not have enough bullets when it is time to fire the gun. So shoot strategically and wait for an opening. Then when you have the opening, that is your time to pounce. In the normal levels, shooting is actually not recommended. It does less damage than your hand to hand combat and it knocks the opponents to the ground after 2 hits so they get their temporary invincibility back again. It just makes the fights longer and you’re better off powering up your super move to use instead.

Overall, 2D retro beat em ups are really in right now. It feels like everybody is getting in on this genre. Typically games in this genre are going to be short but the key is in putting a lot of bonus content for multiple runs. Maybe you have some different modes or something like that. This one desperately needed some more content and then I think everyone would have looked on it a whole lot more favorably. It is still a fun game though and that gives it enough of a nod to stay in the green. If you can get this game for cheap then you should do it. It’s not every day that you get to play as the Phantom after all! You may even be surprised at how big a fan of him you are.

Overall 6/10

Pac-Man Review

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Pac-Man is one of those games that is truly timeless. It’s been around forever and has been ported many times. The appeal is really easy to see. Who doesn’t want to be running around the mazes and chomping up ghosts right? There will always be a case to just play Ms. Pac-Man instead because the game is just better but it doesn’t make this game any worse. Objectively speaking this is still a very fun game all the way around. It may take you a little time to get used to it since the speed is slightly different than some other versions though.

The basic concept is that you need to eat all of the pellets in a level in order to keep going on. You cannot touch any of the ghosts or you will lose a life. You can eat power pellets though which temporarily make you invincible and allow you to plunge right through them. You want to use this strategically in order to complete the levels. Assuming you are playing for a high score, you also want to eat as many ghosts as possible with each power pellet because the points are super high.

For that reason you will sometimes not want to use a power pellet right away because only one ghost is in range. The amount of time you have to eat a ghost after using the power pellet will gradually get lower as you go through the levels. Occasionally there will be a throwback level where the pellets work perfectly again but on the other side you will go to levels where the power pellet doesn’t do anything. You want to really watch out for those stages.

The game is just a lot of fun to play and you really feel good when you are able to outsmart the ghosts and get to the goal. There is a bit of RNG here but for the most part if you lose, that was really on you. You want to be careful about taking too many chances here because that just won’t end well for you. You get one extra life at 10,000 points. I want to say you get another one at 100,000 points but I’m not positive on that. So from that point on you need to be careful because you won’t be getting extra lives.

The fact that the level stays the same forever can be a bit misleading because it will make you overconfident. Just keep in mind that the ghosts will act differently. They also get gradually faster as the levels go on to the point where they will easily out speed you. During those times you definitely do not want to get in their way. A straight dash to the pellet will suddenly become a matter of life and death.

The soundtrack is fun. It’s not the type that will really stand out but it works out well as good background noise as you’re going through the game. The various sound effects are all pretty good. Then you have the bright graphics which work out well for the game. It makes the title seem very inviting all throughout the experience which is definitely a nice touch. It’s all the little things that add up together and make the game so much fun. It also goes without saying that the game basically has infinite replay value. As long as you are still alive, you have infinite chances to increase your score!

There is also a multiplayer mode in the game. That’s obvious enough where I almost forgot to mention it. Naturally that is a really fun addition as you compete for the score but ironically the multiplayer gets less fun the better that each player gets because you have to wait a long time for your turn. For that reason I always thought that it should alternate every level and then you keep going until the last person either runs out of lives or has passed the score of the eliminated player. It just makes a lot of sense to me. I suppose the counter would be that you are destroying the momentum of the first player but I don’t actually see a problem with that since it will be the case for both players.

Overall, Pac-Man is a game I’ve played in many different variations over the years. I can safely say that it always ages well and this one is no exception. If you have the Switch online then you definitely want to check this one out. It’s just a fun retro experience. Hopefully soon we will get a brand new Pac-Man game since the company is really slow about continuing the franchise. In the meantime, playing through the original adventure is going to have to do.

Overall 7/10

Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo Review

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After the ending of Jujutsu Kaisen it was time for a whole new adventure. It’s still not all that common for a big title to get a sequel so quickly so this was really exciting. It was announced as a mini series so you knew it wouldn’t be going on for too long but that was still cool. The title delivers with cool fights and some solid new characters. It does go by quickly though so every time there would be a lore chapter it would feel like precious time was being lost. In the end there are quite a few plot lines that should have kept on going but ultimately this was a good title so I don’t really have any big regrets.

The series picks up many decades after the original Kaisen ending. Most of the old characters are dead or super old. The new generation of Jujutsu sorcerers are far weaker than their predecessors and that is not good because aliens have arrived among us. For now they appear to be friendly but is that really the case? A cold war of sorts is starting and in the meantime a lot of kids are vanishing all over Japan. Yuka and Tsurugi are tasked with finding out what is happening to them. They must take the alien known as Maru with them so that he can learn about humanity. Perhaps aliens and humans can live in harmony?

Kaisen has never been the type of series for easy answers and this one is no exception. We see there are immediately bad actors on both sides who are trying to stoke the flames of war. They aren’t being subtle about this either. They want full on war and as many casualties as possible. Both sides think that this will be necessary in the long run so why not do it now right? One issue that will be hard to get around is that cursed spirits emit the same energy wave as the aliens. So every time the humans exorcise one, it feels like they are attacking the aliens.

Even once the aliens are told that this is the case, they are unconvinced. I don’t really blame them, that seems a little hard to buy even if you were to ask me. This ultimately does lead to a big fight and fortunately the humans do have one secret weapon in their corner through Yuka. She is able to summon the mythical Mahoraga, a being which continues to grow stronger and stronger through combat. The aliens have Dabura though who is a true prodigy and continues to get stronger as well. Makes for a great fight.

The artwork here is really impressive. It does absolutely look better than the original Jujutsu Kaisen and for a sequel that is always a good honor. The fights look incredible and there really is a whole lot of detail in each of the pages. This looks like a monthly manga through and through. You will be impressed from start to finish here without a doubt.

Now lets talk about the characters. First we have Yuka who is very confident and proactive as a sorcerer. She wants to help everyone out and most importantly, she wants to defeat her older brother Tsurugi. Unfortunately she is quite sick and that has made things difficult on her. She doesn’t want to be a burden but the deck has been stacked against her. It makes her optimism all the more inspiring and so she ends up being the standout character here. None of the others come close and you’ll be rooting for her the entire time.

She may not be the strongest fighter but she means well and keeps on training. Her summoning ability also allows her to fight at levels far beyond what she is capable of even if it does come at the expense of her life. Then we have Tsurugi who has to put on a brave face for his sister but the guy has had it rough as well. His cursed energy output isn’t very great and so he has to rely on cursed tools. He doesn’t really know how to reduce the burden on Yuka and so their dynamic isn’t exactly where he would want it to be.

The two of them care for each other a ton but just don’t really know how to show it. He tends to be less forgiving than she is though and so he was the perfect member to really go up against the aliens. He has to make a difficult decision by the end. While you can argue that he makes the right one, it will still come off as a bit annoying considering the price that had to be paid here.

To go more into details on the dilemma, the aliens need a planet to live on. They have been travelling for a very long time and their people are really going to star dying out if they have to search for another planet. Meanwhile the humans don’t really want to give up this planet. If they each decide to take up half of the planet, well that’s going to be extremely difficult and you have to go through all of the countries. So what this ultimately means is that the aliens are going to invade. They may have a sad story but it’s still going to be hard to root against the humans here.

So Maru ends up not being as likable as the series may have meant for him to be. Now the length hurts this part but Maru is initially introduced as a very innocent alien who wants to learn about the human world. As the title goes on, while he does want to help the humans he does pick his own people. This leads to all of the battles of course and it’s an emotional betrayal of sorts. Thing is, he only knew the characters for a very brief amount of time so this doesn’t hit as hard as it would have otherwise.

His power set is fairly confusing with how it can do almost anything but Kaisen likes to be confusing so that’s not necessarily a time crunch thing. It was still cool to see him and Tsurugi going at it. I ultimately thought that Maru made for a good villain but I couldn’t see him as the hero type. The end of the series tries to show that nobody had any hard feelings and it’s all good but I thought that was a bit much. The message is that they were all cogs in the system and so they didn’t take anything personal but when someone is trying to murder you…well that feels personal.

Maru’s brother Cross even gets to be with the group at the end when he was an antagonist the entire time. It’s hard to see why anyone would be all that cool with him. Well, I guess that just shows how open minded everyone was which is a good thing in a sense. Dabura also makes for a really impressive villain even if he’s mostly here for the power levels. He doesn’t get a ton to do beyond that but he is able to leverage his abilities in a way where he could defy the system. I appreciate the fact that he wasn’t just some foot soldier.

His fight with Mahoraga is also the highlight of the series. After all the chapters about concepts and such, it was nice to see a truly long battle like that. It was really impressive. Finally we have Yuji who shows up. The long years have taken their toll on him as he’s a very different character here. Not bad or anything but he’s become more emotionless and doesn’t even fight to save humanity unless it’s dire. He’s been off doing his own thing and doesn’t even jump into the Dabura battle. He helps Maru with a plan to change the situation which is good but the guy feels too passive to me. It sounds like he will continue to act that way now that he will live for hundreds of years so he doesn’t stagnate humanity’s growth or something like that.

I tend to always disagree with this logic. If you have the abilities to save someone then you really ought to use them. Doesn’t matter if it’s for a week or 100 years. You keep fighting until you can’t fight anymore. That’s the only way to really live as a main character here. The ending does offer a lot of hope though. In theory humanity will be in a healthier spot now and just has to worry about infighting among themselves.

Of course that’ll probably happen. The series does go out of its way to show how corrupt both sides are. For the aliens there was a lot of infighting and murdering from the start. Two of the clans had differing systems on how to handle everything and so the stronger one subjugated the weaker ones. For the humans, some were complicit with the whole kidnaping humans thing and it shows that they will always sell out for a good price. You just can’t trust either species and that’s a real shame. They’re obviously still better than the cursed spirits who are definitionally evil but it’s not like either race is going to be selfless. This isn’t really that kind of title even if the ending was certainly an upbeat one.

So while the ending is controversial, I tend to like it. I like happy endings after all. I would still agree with the fact that it was rushed though as one big fight didn’t conclude and others that could have happened afterwards never got a chance. I suppose I just have to be happy for the fights since the series could have easily gone through without any. Now that would have been a real shame. With this high level art quality throughout, it would just feel like a missed opportunity.

In a way I’d compare this series to Pluto. It’s a really interesting mystery of sorts with the kidnapped kids in a grounded setting despite how crazy the world is. We know about demons and all kinds of users with powers but the plot is focused around a few kids in a local context. Then you have the whole alien race plot so the big shots like Yuji have to be looked for. It all leads up to the big, grand battles that were shaped from the opening chapters and how the humans/aliens fundamentally saw things differently. The problem is that you can only do so much in 3 volumes. We spend quite a few in the first volume to set things up but things are still being set up in volume 2 which is where things start to move kind of fast. The Mahoraga fight will always be an absolutely spectacular moment but I wish we could have seen the end to that as well as gotten a proper conclusion to the rest of the plots. Yuji’s whole character feels like a missed opportunity for a lot of good scenes for example.

Overall, A few more volumes would have been nice for the fights and all but we still got new content here which was fun. Yuji has really gotten powerful to the point where nobody can stand up to him anymore. Other outliers like Dabura and Mahoraga show that the rest of the fighters can stay calm because they will never be able to reach that level. There won’t be much point in trying either now that cursed energy itself has changed thanks to the ending. A certain villain even gets a little cameo here. If you haven’t read the original Jujutsu Kaisen then this series will probably feel weird but a recap of sorts is included. So that might get you up to speed enough for this. Maybe a movie will adapt this sequel at some point.

Overall 7/10