Saint Seiya: Rerise of Poseidon Review

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This is one of those mini series that feels random but still manages to be hype all the way. The fact that it takes place after the Hades arc is excellent as opposed to it being one of those flashback arcs. This is a chance to finally see some events right after the main series and for that reason it makes sense that Poseidon and his crew are main characters here since Seiya and the gang are not available at the moment. The series ended with 20 chapters which is a nice round number and that works well for a mini series.

The series starts with Hades waking Poseidon up from his slumber and declaring that the god will need to protect Earth for a little while. The goddess Nemesis has decided that she wants to destroy Earth and she has already started creating natural disasters around the planet. Poseidon calls in his faithful Mariners to take her down but she has a group of fighters on her side as well. This is going to be a true battle of gods but time is not on Poseidon’s side. Can he hope to keep up against Nemesis while most of his power is still being sealed by Athena?

One thing I will say about this series that isn’t really a complement is that it’s very formulaic. This feels like the classic Seiya where everybody splits up and fights their opponent. Most of the fights follow the same structure where the hero gets absolutely dominated for a while, then we see the villain’s origin story. After that, we get the hero’s origin story and they get a big power up before winning the fight. There is some variety in the other of the origin stories but that’s about it. So while it’s still hype to see the actual battles, you always tend to know what’s about to happen.

In that respect, things get more interesting once they make it to Nemesis herself. Then the series can have fun messing with the natural order of things and all of the characters begin some fresh battles. Of course by then the series is just about over so that’s the one drawback. I do think the series managed to cover a lot of ground in just 20 chapters though. The chapters tend to be fairly long and filled with action. The series managed to cover a whole lot of origins in that time while also introducing a lot of characters. That takes a good amount of skill. While the writer does have a bit of a bad habit of making a ton of characters all talk and act similar, the origins help to diffuse this a bit. At least they are all put in really different circumstances.

Sorrento was never my favorite Mariner and I feel like the flute really put him at a disadvantage. It’s just not nearly as impressive a weapon as the fighters who use their fists to put everyone into submission. Yes, Sorrento’s flute seems to work on most of the fighters but when it fails, it goes really badly for him. I give him props for deciding to fight even when his opponent was a girl because some of the other fighters were not so practical.

His opponent Musicaterpsich has a really complicated name. Her illusions were fun like with how she summoned Andromeda. Of course I would say this was another lucky break for Sorrento. A physical type of adversary would have crushed him pretty thoroughly. At least illusions are something that you are able to successfully fight with music. She was a solid fighter even if she probably won’t be remembered a whole lot.

Poseidon looks pretty good here. He’s a reasonable guy and does save his fighters more than once. He takes a more active role than Athena. For example one of the villains sends his opponents to a parallel universe where they are living a normal life. Poseidon ends up having to step in personally to save them and I thought that was a really nice touch. He wasn’t going to just let them figure it out. Then he does get his own fight by the end. It all helps him to feel more like a real character and not some figurehead. He’s still not as cool as Hades but the series helped him.

Cadmos is a real beast because he had to take on two of the Mariners at once. He’s hardly the last to do it but he was the first to go on a 2 v 1. It’s also impressive since Kanon is easily the most powerful one. I like this guy’s design and he’s a really powerful fighter. He also has a very tragic backstory like the rest of the enemies. Ultimately there weren’t many ways out for the guy and as strong as he is, I don’t think anyone thought he could ultimately take Kanon down.

Kanon is having a tough time of it throughout the series because he still blames himself for what happened in the Poseidon arc. His lust for power is confusing him and the villains make sure to try and use this against him with visions of Gemini Saga. Kanon even gets beat up by his teammates but this does lead to a full character arc and by the end they have really recognized him as a true teammate. Kanon is a lot of fun to watch and so this was pretty satisfying.

Caca is still the last impressive member of the team. This series tries to rehabilitate the character a little bit but it feels rather half hearted. This is still not the guy that you want watching your back at all. He’s just not going to fight as well and no amount of power ups can help to change that. At least he helped Kanon but that’s all I can say for him.

Krishna is a pretty strong guy who has a legendary defense. As with the rest of the Mariners he is on the back foot for a good chunk of the fight until he gets his power up. He’s definitely a fun character and while you could say that a lot of the characters are written very similarly, it doesn’t take away from him being solid. Perhaps now he could actually give Virgo Shaka a solid fight. It was nice to see his origin here as well as most of the other Mariners.

His opponent Alis was a lot of fun because in a way he was like Pegasus Seiya. This guy was the original Pegasus Knight from legend and has the stats to back it up. I did like the gimmick that the villains were the actual heroes from legends as opposed to being reincarnations or anything like that. It adds a bit of an extra spark to the fights as a whole and keeps things fresh. Alis ended up being my favorite from the big villains.

Baian gets the shaft here a bit compared to the other Mariners. He has to share his opening fight which doesn’t go very well and after that he’s around with the rest of the team for their big wins. He does still have a proper fight but doesn’t stand out as much. I guess he just didn’t have a big character arc unlike most of the others. He’s still solid but feels more like the muscle of the group despite not being the strongest.

In comparison Isaak gets some more memories of his time with Hyoga and Camus. The guy has the most rage against Kanon for his betrayal and just oozes personality in all of his scenes. This guy is pretty central to the plot and it does make him cooler as a result. I just like when you have a character who gets to really show out like this. His design is also really awesome with how they handled the eye scar. Reminds me of Cable from X-Men.

Their opponent Aeneas is also one of the most impressive fighters. Not only does he instantly defeat his two opponents to the point where Poseidon had to bail them out but throughout the fight he had the advantage here. He just kept on getting stronger and stronger until he eventually fell. Ultimately it’s hard to keep up with Saints and Mariners forever since their strength levels are infinite but this guy really put up a great fight.

Then we get the final main challenger in Pollux. This guy is easily one of the strongest fighters in the series. He was able to handle several Mariners and just kept on getting up no matter how many attacks were thrown his way. He was the son of Zeus so it makes sense that his abilities would be high. Just when you think he’s down, he gets back up again. The guy has nonstop confidence and the power to back it up. I was definitely a pretty big fan by the end.

As for Nemesis, well she is a solid villain. We get her origin story about how her best friend Iustitia ended up sympathizing with the Pegasus knight of her time and this caused a lot of chaos. Nemesis had to take a big punishment from Zeus and even then it wasn’t enough to keep their friendship. Iustitia lost everything and Nemesis vowed revenge on the saints. It took her a long while but now in the present she is finally ready. I will say that the Pegasus from the past was really cool. He was able to complete many trials that seemed absolutely impossible to get through and yet nothing would stop him. He was a really good first generation of Pegasus saint before Seiya would show up.

Nemesis does go pretty crazy by the end though. You understand why after the flashback but it’s still not a great look for her. If she had only kept her composure and actually helped her fighters then they probably would have beaten the Mariners. Of course, most main villains don’t actually help so it’s not like she is the first to ditch her fighters. That’s just how it goes most of the time so the heroes have time to get their power ups in.

The artwork is definitely really good and looks just like the original series. The fights are intense and the power ups are all very dramatic. The series can randomly get pretty violent at times like when Pollux was ripped apart. That was an absolutely crazy scene. In some ways because it’s less detailed, it doesn’t feel as bad as other modern titles but it really comes out of nowhere. Needless to say, this is the kind of series that may startle you here and there.

Overall, This was a really fun spinoff. I liked how it actually kept the story going and wasn’t some random side story that won’t matter. This one can in theory be mentioned in the future and have some ramifications. I may be getting my hopes up too high there but at least there is a chance. It also shows how fleshed out the world is where you don’t even need Seiya and pals in order for this to be a big success. If you haven’t checked it out yet, then I definitely recommend changing that. There’s basically nonstop action the whole time and these are basically DBZ characters with their crazy amounts of power.

Overall 8/10

Spy x Family Season 3 Review

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Spy x Family has been going on for quite a while now. It definitely looks like this isa title that will be sticking around even if it is at the cost of a fairly slow amount of plot progression. At this point the idea is mainly to enjoy the status quo which works well enough. The main characters are good and we do get some action scenes here. The season is solid as a whole and is a good comfort watch.

There are a few mini arcs in this season but for the most part we have a lot of stand alone adventures. The season kicks off with a disgruntled construction worker deciding to claim some lives and this forces Loid to step in. It’s a fun premiere to set up all of the characters and their personalities. I also like the idea of a random threat just popping up like this so that was well done.

We get a much smaller scale story after that where Fiona and Franky have to team up. Franky is consistently one of the most annoying characters so I definitely felt bad for Fiona here. She really had to put up with his endless flirting and everything. Franky needs to just stay on mission instead of doing too much all the time. Everything works out in the end but mainly I’d give all the credit to Fiona here.

This is probably Fiona’s best season in general because she gets a big fight near the end of the season. Without her, Loid would be dead and the heroes would have suffered a big blow. She really needs to give up on Loid romantically since he is married but otherwise she has developed herself into one of the strongest fighters around. She is really dedicated to clearing the mission and certainly has a high pain tolerance. She’s easily the second best agent only losing out to Loid on his side. Yes, Handler is strong too but I don’t think she’s on the same level.

As for Franky, I don’t really think there is any hope left for him. He is really stuck in the comic relief slot at this point. He may have some big moments here and there but at the same time I don’t really see him making the jump to being one of the top characters. It’s just not happening and his segments really always need another character in order to succeed. They are only marginally better than Bond’s. Anya segments can be hit or miss but at least she has a strong supporting cast to back her up.

She gets a short about a legendary teacher showing up to cause chaos. She is well known for throwing around Tonitrus bolts in order to penalize the various students. If you remember part of the main plot here, enough of those bolts will expel you. They are the opposite of Stella Stars, where getting a certain amount of them will allow you to graduate. So that’s really something to keep in mind and be worried about. One wrong turn and that’s going to be a big problem.

The old lady ends up being decent. Yes, she definitely is super unreasonable and not someone you would want to have on the faculty but at least she will be making sure that everyone stays sharp. I trust that Becky won’t make any mistakes but the other students better watch out. As the main student in the series, Anya can be a true wild card. Sometimes she is wise beyond her years but most of the time she will be falling into every possible trap. If she didn’t have the ability to read minds then she would really be doomed.

She does get one of the mini arcs though as Anya’s school bus is hijacked by terrorists. They are trying to spring some of their comrades but the military police have a 0 tolerance policy for negotiations. These guys appear to be serious about murdering everyone so Anya has to find a way out of this. Loid and Yuri also get involved briefly but for once they can’t claim a lot of credit here. Anya ends up being the definitive factor here even if it wasn’t all intentional. This was a fun mini arc though because there was a clear sense of danger here. Anya got some solid moments and I also was glad that the police didn’t just get completely paralyzed. They were ready to handle things by the book even if it meant some casualties would happen. It’s grim but sort of the way you have to handle things lie this or it would only get worse.

Then we have Loid’s origin story which is another big event. The show makes sure to hide his true name so I assume that will become relevant at some point. I’m curious what the implications would be. No way he’s actually a Desmond but I’m guessing Loid is related to some established character that we know about. Since Loid was a child at the time, it makes his origin even darker. He had to grow up really fast in a war torn environment even when he was just a child. That’s not easy for anybody.

It’s also a real contrast from the expert agent that he is in the present. While Loid sometimes gets overwhelmed, he always solves the case in the present. Loid continues to be one of the best characters in the series although I would have to give Yuri the top spot. The two of them get an actual battle in this season which was intense. Yuri appears to be stronger physically but Loid’s skills are far superior. It’s not even close when the two of them end up having a fight. We’ll see if Yuri can adapt or if that might have been their only fight.

It happens during the final arc of the season where both sides are trying to get to a secret agent. The secrets that he holds are simply too dangerous for anybody to have a hold of them. SSS and WISE both get some hype here as they uncover moles within each other’s organizations and continue to appear to be on par with each other. Neither side is significantly more powerful than the other. It’s still a bit unclear who the real good guys are here. Both organizations seem to be a bit on the shady side. In general I tend to side more with the SSS as the local authorities in the mix but it’s definitely not an easy call.

The new secret agent, Wheeler, was also a fun character. Definitely the best villain and it would be nice to see him again. I get the feeling that this was probably it for him though. Still, he got to show off a lot of great abilities like how he kept the main characters at bay the whole time. That’s not the easiest thing to do considering how outnumbered he was.

There are a few other oneshot stories like Loid having to deal with a jealous co-worker. That one just made me feel like the villain got off way too easily though. He was actively lying and trying to get Loid arrested. If Loid had not been a super spy, he would have been in real trouble. It’s why just scaring this guy doesn’t seem like enough. I know they have to keep a low profile so that does hurt your available options but there surely must have been something that they could have done.

You may be wondering what Yor is doing throughout this season. Well, unfortunately she doesn’t have a whole lot to do here. She has a segment where she gets drunk and tries to pick a fight with Loid but it isn’t her best appearance. Her larger role is when she gets to meet Damian’s mother and even joins a club with her in it. So now Yor is deeper into the main plot even if she doesn’t realize it. I think this should lead to some pretty interesting plots. I would like for Yor to be a little more alert on what’s going n but I suppose that simply isn’t her character.

Yor is still fun but man did she get the shaft in this one. I want some action scenes for her. Both Yor and Loid should get one big action scene in every season if you ask me. So by and large those were most of the adventures. I didn’t include literally each one but there was a lot of variety here. As always the technical elements were pretty good here. The animation is solid and the soundtrack works out well too. The opening isn’t my favorite though. It’s not the kind of intro that you will be playing on repeat or anything like that.

The writing is pretty solid and the pacing is good. I would say that the show has strong fundamentals all around. It just lacks ambition so this is the kind of show you watch passively but you won’t be on the edge of your seat quite yet. The show may prove me wrong with future seasons but I expect it will stay more or less like this for a while. So then it all comes down to the character dynamics and usually they cancel out to this one being a pretty good title. Loid and Yuri segments tend to be great. Bond and Franky segments are weak. Yor and Anya segments can really go either way. There is quite a lot of balance in this kind of setup.

Right now the 2 most interesting subplots are going to revolve around the group that gave Anya and Bond powers as well as who the “good guys” are between WISE and SSS. I expect at some point the series will choose one as the lesser of two evils. In theory the shady group giving people powers will be the final boss that both sides have to unite against. It will be fun once Loid and Yor find out about Anya’s secret but I expect that won’t happen until the very end of the series. Once they find out, there is no returning to the old status quo after all. While the series does have a body count, I would say that it is fairly light toned overall. This is an easy action title you can check out at any time.

Even if we do stay with episodic adventures for a while, I would just like to have a more even distribution of missions. We should always have at least one Yor assassination case and one secret agent case for Loid per season. If you go a whole season without that happening then it feels like something went wrong. Someone is getting too much focus and messing up the balance. If we have to stop having Franky segments, well then so be it. It is worth getting more action from Yor. The whole point of the show is about this family dynamic where everyone has a secret after all so the show needs to focus on that a bit more. Beyond that, it can just continue going on as it has been since each season has resulted in a good time from start to finish.

Overall, Spy x Family continues to churn out more and more episodes. It is impressive how far it has come with 3 seasons and a movie. Not just any title could hope to pull that off. I feel like there is already enough material for a season 4. If you have enjoyed the first two seasons then you should have fun with this one. The 13 episodes go by quickly but they still did manage to get 3 story arcs in there which is pretty impressive. I’ll definitely be around for season 4 when it comes out.

Overall 7/10

Knuckles Review

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It’s time to look at the Knuckles spinoff show that came out a while back. This one definitely got pretty infamous online for a bunch of reasons. After watching it, I can say that the show was pretty fun. It’s definitely very comedic with a lot of slapstick and silly moments so you definitely need to keep this in mind. It’s absolutely not a big action thriller series or anything like that. How much you enjoy the series will probably depend on what you’re looking for in this title.

The story starts with Wade losing to a little girl in bowling so Wade’s best friend fires him from the bowling team. Their friendship is effectively over now and Wade has hit rock bottom. His father ditched him at a TJ Maxx a long time ago too and Wade never really got over this. The trauma has been too much and so Wade has begun to believe the people who call him a loser. Fortunately Knuckles shows up and declares that he will help Wade win the world championship of bowling. This will help Wade get his self esteem back as well as giving him a chance to defeat his father. Will Wade be able to pull this off?

If you’re wondering why Wade showed up, he was given this mission by the elder Echidna. Knuckles had been on house arrest but this mission takes priority. It won’t be easy though because Wade really does have serious confidence issues. Technically his bowling abilities are already elite but he just needs to find a way to not choke under pressure. It’s a tougher predicament than you would expect. Also there are some villains running around who want to get Knuckles’ power. Without Sonic to bail him out, Knuckles will need Wade to step up.

So like I said, none of this is played seriously. You’ll have a serious moment sandwiched in between 10 comedic moments. How seriously you take these brief moments is really up to you since the show doesn’t seem to really be all that concerned. I would say this is the definition of an irony show. For example Knuckles will say something heartfelt, then 3 characters jump in with jokes and witty banter. Then Wade will say something heartfelt and the music swells up….only for him to throw a joke in and then everyone groans in the show.

In that way you can say that even the serious moments are a form of comedy so that just makes the show funnier. You can absolutely pick up some good messages and moments in here but they are buried several layers deep beneath the humor. Sonic has a good speech in episode 1 for example as he sits Knuckles down and gives him a good talk. I definitely did miss Sonic after that since he was gone for the rest of the show. I would have liked to have had him at least show up near the end. The show finishes pretty abruptly without any screentime and guest star appearances from the side characters.

The fight scenes aren’t bad. They aren’t played super serious either but we get a fun fight between Knuckles and Mason. Mason’s gauntlets allow him to fight on par with Knuckles in terms of physical abilities which is really pretty impressive. Now there are a lot of power level issues with the series as a whole so you will want to keep that in mind. The speed rarely ever makes any sense because somehow these guys are tagging Knuckles consistently when by all accounts he should be much faster than them. It doesn’t make sense and in a way it’s not really supposed to. All you need to know is that Knuckles has the combat speed of an average human and while his strength is pretty good, it’s nothing crazy. As long as you keep that in mind then the fights make a lot more sense all around.

While Knuckles talks a great game throughout the show, he does take his share of losses. Even by the end of the series he is soundly defeated instead of coming out on top. As strong as he is, Knuckles tends to be overconfident a lot of the time. Fortunately he has Wade there to help him out. Knuckles may not always be quick on the uptake but he’s a fun character to have around.

As for Wade, he’s essentially an Adam Sandler kind of character. He’s not very good at most things and gets pushed around a whole lot but eventually he gets up and makes everyone take notice of him. His sister constantly makes fun of him and beats the poor guy up to which Wade has no real answer. He just goes off to cry sometimes and that’s not the best way to handle that situation at all. He has delusions of grandeur and at times displays a confidence that isn’t earned but those moments tend to be fleeting.

You sort of root for Wade to at least win in bowling but even then I would put some asterisks. For example he is quick to turn on his mom just to impress his father without taking any time to think about it. He was not making the right calls there at all. It’s fine for Wade to be gullible because that’s actually rather expected to a large degree but then you can’t also have him be rude or mean in general. That’s a combination that is just not going to work.

So he’s a fun character for the messing around scenes but definitely isn’t the guy you want to have for the serious moments. As for his sister Wanda, well she makes for a fun antagonist. She really puts him through the wringer at all times. She just constantly has to make a fool out of Wade which isn’t all that hard but even goes as far as to physically attack him at times. Wade has no real answer for this and so she tends to dominate him in all of their interactions. Her personality can be a bit one note so the screentime may be a bit much after a while. This is the kind of show that is not afraid to run a joke into the ground.

Then we have Wendy who tends to be a bit oblivious. She seems nice enough but doesn’t notice when Wanda is picking on Knuckles and likes to both sides every issue. That’s not the right way to handle these kinds of issues. If anything, you could say that is definitely the wrong way to do it since that is often going to mean letting the instigator off easy. She talks tough and actually backs it up during the kitchen fight so I give her some credit there.

Now the real standout character here was Mason. He is one of the main two villains who is after Knuckles the whole time. He is super cocky and loves to make one liners/throw out insults the whole time. You want a villain like that to keep Knuckles honest. This guy is also clearly having a lot of fun with the whole situation and isn’t taking things too seriously. Another good sign if you ask me. Mason is just on a different level from the others and really did come close to beating Knuckles.

His partner Willoughby is the more serious one of the group. She’s always trying to ruin his one liners and telling him to focus. She isn’t as lethal in a fight since she uses an energy instead of gauntlets but is good at throwing the ring portals to trap her opponents. That is a huge help for any big fight because you can ring out your opponent which is what she did to Knuckles. She’s also rather ruthless like how she murdered a Gun agent near the beginning of the show.

Then we have Jack who is a bounty hunter and turns against Wade when the chips are down. He has a lot of aura to be sure but doesn’t get the most dignified finish. By the time the show is over, he has traded in a whole lot of dignity and you can tell that he won’t be getting it back. I did like his confidence though, you always want to have that at least. A part of him just figured that he would never lose to Wade in a million years and in most cases he would be right. He just let his guard down.

The final boss is a guy who doesn’t even get a name. He has a good robot that actually takes Knuckles down but that’s about all that you can say for him. The guy doesn’t have any real super powers or anything and the lack of screen time hurts him. He works as a final boss but I would have much preferred Mason just show up. There is only so much you can do with a fight against a giant robot and so naturally the climax was pretty short.

Of course for the human final boss we have Wade’s father Pete. I like how antagonistic Pete is here. He’s not some guy who feels remorseful about what he has done. No, he is someone who really wants to keep on winning at bowling no matter what. His only loyalty is to himself but he has done a good job of crafting his public persona so that everybody loves him. That takes a good amount of dedication to his craft. He is also just very skilled with how many strikes he gets in a row. This guy was definitely more of a true final boss.

While the series may be fairly standalone, it was fun to still see some slice of life Sonic adventures. We learned Knuckles’ origin through song and the show also had a large variety of popular songs. Even the classic Hero song got to appear which was definitely nice. That song will always be a true classic. So the soundtrack gets a thumbs up along with the special effects here. On a technical level, the Knuckles show absolutely succeeds.

Ultimately as long as you like comedies then you should like this one. If you don’t like comedies then it’ll be a hard pass so that should make the decision easy for you. If we ever did get a second season, well I’d definitely be checking it out. At the end of the day a show like this is easy to watch and makes for an enjoyable binge. That’s the #1 goal of any show.


Overall, Knuckles is a pretty good show. I had a lot of fun with it and you can bet that you’ll crack a smile here and there. While not all of the jokes will land, most of the ones that miss will end up being funny because of how much of a miss they were. Wade’s whole gimmick is essentially that he’s not funny so every time he tries to do something, that is what makes it humorous. He tries to get Knuckles to enjoy a lot of his songs after all and they all fall flat. In a way that takes some skill because you’d think that you would land at least a few songs. This just wasn’t Wade’s moment. Hopefully he gets a bigger role in the next Sonic movie so he can actually use his vague super powers.

Overall 7/10

Explorers Review

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It’s time for a film about a few kids who decide to explore the unknown and have some wacky adventures. Generally this kind of film isn’t really my style. The kids usually aren’t the greatest main characters and you’re just waiting for the grownups to step in. Additionally this time the plot seems a little unfocused with subplots not really going anywhere. The real world plot was also a lot more interesting than space which is something that should really never happen. That’s when you know that the film made some strategic errors.

The film starts with a kid named Ben having some dreams that look like what you would see in a Tron film. All kinds of sci-fi computer chips and such. Fortunately he is good at drawing what he sees and so his super genius friend Wolfgang is able to make an invention out of this. It’s a sort of bubble that can travel across large distances. So naturally they build a spaceship during the night. Now they are ready to space but is this safe? There may even be some aliens out there.

One thing I’ll give the film credit for is not making the main 3 kids jerks or anything like that. For all intents and purposes they are good kids. Perhaps a bit too eager to grow up like with drinking beer and Ben having a huge crush but they aren’t juvenile delinquents or anything like that. They just have a ton of free time so they may as well get to inventing. The film is a good portrayal of how you can have fun doing anything when you’ve got some friends at the ready.

I will also say that the effects are pretty solid. Again, that Tron type world in the dreams looks really good. The flying around may be less impressive but all in all you can tell that some real effort went into this production. The soundtrack is also very lively. Perhaps not something that you will be jamming to but at least you can’t say that the music is invisible. I will always prefer a loud soundtrack to a movie where you don’t remember what any of the tunes were at all.

Now on the weaker parts, well like I said the characters aren’t the greatest. Ben is basically your average kid but he has a huge crush on a girl at school and basically isn’t able to talk to her at all without stuttering. The romance is really not developed well at all and doesn’t make any sense. Lori and Ben have almost no time for any interactions during the movie so the ending just feels really obligatory.

Lori is okay I suppose but of course she doesn’t really have much character either. By all accounts she’s a nice person within the school but that’s about it. Then you have Darren who seems to have grown up in a rather rough environment. He was pretty hesitant about going back home for example. This doesn’t really go anywhere though so we just have to hope that things got better for him later on. At school he was quick to defend Ben from the bullies so that was good.

From the 3 main kids he would definitely be my favorite. After that we have Wolfgang who is the genius who builds everything. He’s certainly very smart and is a good sport about things but also tends to panic a lot. He worries about every possibility and doesn’t live in the moment as much as the other two. You want him on your team to build everything but he needs to lighten up a bit.

Now the film does have a pretty interesting concept that is introduced about a shared dream world that can be accessed through an alien gizmo. While you are dreaming is when you go to this kind of Tron world. This is how the kids have the blue print for the ship and so it served as a map of sorts. Alien tech is always pretty interesting even if there aren’t a lot of explanations going around. Why is this even a thing and what causes other people to be pulled into it? The main kids all share this world after a while and eventually even Lori gets in there.

The space act is just rather boring like I mentioned before. You have a weird alien who flirts with one of the kids and everyone else starts talking using pop culture references and such. It kind of makes sense that aliens would only know humanity through TV if the signals are all that they could grab. Although at the same time I feel like it means their intelligence is pretty low. Every film still has some kind of a plot, even commercials so shouldn’t they be able to talk normally instead of just using memes and big sound bites?

I mean the aliens are clearly intelligent because they were able to invent all of this technology. It reminds me of when in a show some animals will speak perfect English and then raise a kid who speaks broken English. Like why would that even happen? It just doesn’t make sense once you actually think about it. The film thinks the aliens are absolutely hilarious though so their scenes feel like they go on for quite a long while but get repetitive real fast. The aliens also just seem like creeps so it was probably good to ditch them.

As a result of spending so much time on the alien world we had to abruptly end the plot about two rangers finding out about the UFO and one of them being particularly obsessed with it. He basically just pulls a Spiderverse “Not bad kid” as they dash off in the UFO. Pretty convenient outcome for the kids since he won’t be telling anybody about the ship or doing anything about it. That felt really abrupt and it’s a shame because we could have had a fun government angle.

Overall, This film feels like it’s a bit all over the place. I actually think it could have been a fairly decent school story although it’s not like it would have been amazing or anything like that. Instead going to space was a total mistake and this film is a reminder to me on why you want some adult main characters. The kids are not able to hold their own at all here. It’s a pretty harmless film, no big issues but it’s not really going to be holding your interest either. I’d say to watch Back to the Future instead if you want some slice of life shenanigans.

Overall 5/10

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance Review

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Fire Emblem is one of those titles that is so cool and incredible that you have a hard time believing that it is actually a Nintendo product. The games always have real storylines to them as well as high stakes. People are dying here and the gameplay is quite difficult. The game is not going to be holding your hand at all as you go through all of the maps. Yes, the game also has perma death so if any of your allies die, then they are gone for good. While the game is on the Switch Online, there is no rewind for Gamecube games so that gets tricky as well.

The main character here is Ike and he’s a part of a mercenary guild run by his father. Unfortunately his father is defeated by The Black Knight which forces Ike to take command. He must help a princess escape her fate of death by delivering her to a neighboring country but it won’t easy. The world is divided up into around 8 countries and they had been in a state of peace for a long time until one kingdom suddenly invaded Crimea. Now all of the lands are potentially going to get wrapped up in this. Ike’s standard bodyguard mission just got a whole lot more dangerous.

First off I have to say that Ike is really a great main character. He is always ready for a fight and he doesn’t bother with the usual pleasantries. He isn’t going to play the game of the rich just because he needs their help. Ike has always been a mercenary and so he is all about producing results instead of just playing nice. His troops really trust him as a result, well except for two who run off for their own solo journeys. As with most Fire Emblem games you will have the chance to recruit a bunch of characters or destroy them yourself. It’s not always an intentional choice as some can only be recruited by specific units and others will die before you get to them.

Generally I tried to recruit everyone but I did end up missing out on quite a few. The game is fairly long with 30 chapters and the character cast is huge. Even as late as chapter 25 you are gaining new units to help you out in battle. I believe the last one may even be around 27 although I wasn’t really keeping track by then. There are so many characters in the game that you will want to settle on a few to take into battle or your resources will be spread too thin.

Each level has a certain amount of characters that you can bring into the battle. Typically the limit is around 13 but this can go as high as 19. Generally I would try to keep my group between 8-10 fighters. The reason for this is two-fold. The first is that the more guys you have on the field, the harder it is to protect everybody. You have healers, warriors, archers, etc. The healers must be protected and so each one will require around 3 bodyguards to keep them totally safe. That slows your guys down from breaking into the enemy camp.

Most of these levels reward high levels of offense so if you stay back then they will begin summoning a lot of backup over and over again. That puts you in a potentially unwinnable position so you don’t want that to happen to you. Also, it’s hard to keep everyone at a high level when each character is fighting for EXP. There are no side battles or retreat options in this game meaning there is absolutely no way to grind EXP. All you have it what you get from each level which you can distribute among the team between chapters.

You can see how this would get very dicey after a while when you have nearly 30 army fighters. So trust me when I say you want to keep the army small. Additionally, it just makes every level a lot quicker since there is less loading times between every turn on all factions. Even then it can be hard to guess what the enemy will do. Strategy is 95% of the game but the other 5% is pure RNG.

I’ll explain, so the main gameplay here is an overhead turn based system. Your objective is always to either murder the enemy king, arrive at a destination, or seize a castle. You usually don’t have a timer on how long it takes to get there, you just have to complete the mission. Now where it gets tricky is each character has a different amount of movement options based on their class. You have to keep track of all of yours as well as the opponents.

Then adding onto that you are able to see how much damage your unit will deal to an opposing one and vice versa. This lets you pick who will fight and when to move each unit. Where the 5% luck comes in is that there are critical hits and misses. Either one can completely flip the tides of battle and any death will set you back in a major way. You should always try to have some leeway but that’s not going to be possible in some instances. So that’s when you just have to hope that your opponent doesn’t suddenly land a bit critical hit.

The game feels fairly generous so typically you’ll be the one landing criticals and dodging hits. Just remember that it can go the other way around as well. Between chapters it is important to visit the shop and the forge to keep your guys properly equipped. As soon as you unlock the silver weapons, you will want to put that on everybody. For that reason I didn’t spend any money until around chapter 20 and that’s when I started arming everyone properly. It really makes a huge difference.

In terms of who the best units are, I would say Titania and Marcia were my two MVPs. For most of the game I could send Titania into a 7 vs 1 fight and she would win. She is absolutely unstoppable. The only downside is it means she can be a bit of an EXP hog and so she hit her max level with around 10 chapters still to go. Still worth it if you ask me. Marcia is also super strong with incredible range. She isn’t quite as durable though so I always had to be careful with her.

Ike is naturally strong as well. He ended up being my third best fighter with the axe wielder in 4th. The beasts tend to be strong as well and you definitely want to use the guy who gives you two turns. Unfortunately the mages felt nearly useless in this one so I highly recommend keeping them on the bench. They’re just way too weak and can die in a single hit. Same for a bunch of the other fighters. I assume they get better over time but without a way to grind, it felt too risky. Fire Emblem titles always have some fighters who are stronger than others though so in this game Titania was just the right character to have around.

The main campaign should take you over 20 hours to complete so you are getting a lot of content right there. The flip side is that there isn’t a whole lot of replay value here without side modes. You could try playing through the game with different party members or some self inflicted challenges though. It’s fine though because when the main campaign is long then you don’t really mind all of that too much. A multiplayer mode would be pretty fun but odds are that you are playing this one for the big story.

Overall, This was a great game and it is definitely a top tier Fire Emblem experience! It really makes me hyped to get more Fire Emblem titles down the road. I’m really early on in my journey here so I really do need to fix that. Should I get the remake of the first game, the iconic Awakening, or the really controversial Three Houses? They’re all right up there but in the meantime I highly recommend picking this game up if you have the Switch Online. It gives you a whole lot of bang for your buck and is a really well crafted game.

Overall 8/10

Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night Review

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It’s time for a quick Sword Art Online adventure. Of course that means Kirito gets to take the center stage once more so that’s always fun. I thought that going back to the classic days of Sword Art Online was a brilliant decision but it’s a shame that it takes so long for these titles to come out. I want them to adapt all the floors already! Well, in the meantime this is definitely a fun title although it is held back quite a lot by the random fanservice thrown in. The series is quite shameless when it comes to this area which is too bad.

The mini series starts with Asuna challenging Kirito but she is taken down very quickly. This discourages her quite a lot since the gap should not be quite this big. What she lacks is confidence more than skill. It’s hard to just obtain that though and Kirito is no help since he has always been able to show up in the big moments. Asuna will have to just try to keep on moving forward. Unfortunately there appears to be a weird underground group that is trying to stir up tensions between the two big armies in the Sword Art Online world. Everyone is stuck in this death game until it is cleared so who would be causing trouble like this?

Kirito and Asuna spend part of the volume trying to get to the bottom of this mystery while also just hanging out and making memories. They visit a nice cafe for drinks and even collect some treasure. At this point they have a solid amount of trust between the two of them but it isn’t absolute yet. A good example of this is when Kirito decides to head off into the caverns alone to deal with the villains instead of bringing Asuna along. Kirito says all the right things but it comes down to him not trusting her enough to be a part of that fight without slowing him down.

Sure enough, it wasn’t Asuna’s best moment as she allows herself to be disarmed which grants the villains a powerful weapon but she does make up for the blunder. Asuna also gets to fight against Argo one on one which was pretty fun. I would have expected Asuna to have done better but I suppose this was pretty early on in her career. Give it a few more months and Asuna would easily be claiming victory here.

While Asuna does panic a lot, she is definitely better than in the last volume. She blew up at Kirito way too many times in that one and just didn’t seem as mature as she should be given the circumstances. In this volume, while she panics in dangerous situations a bit, at least you can see the improvement and character growth. She is gradually gaining more confidence.

Meanwhile Kirito looks great as always. He was absolutely not going to let the villains get away with their plans and found a way to manipulate both sides into doing what he needed them to. It wasn’t a solo effort as Argo helped a lot with the information and they both had allies to help. Kirito is just the guy with enough ability to make it all work together. He is completely indispensable in that area. I’d have liked to see him take the two saboteurs down himself though. In every encounter there was some kind of extenuating circumstance that prevented a true fight.

With 3 volumes there isn’t too much time f a lot of adventure but they squeezed in a good amount of Kirito and Asuna bonding moments. Additionally the whole third volume is for the floor boss which was a good decision because that boss as really intense. I really enjoyed the theme that he got in the movie and the manga definitely makes him an imposing figure as well. So the manga’s final volume really flies by. The pacing is super fast and you can’t go wrong with nonstop action. The enemy is rather huge so there isn’t a lot of hand to hand action this time around. Think of it more as a platforming challenge as Kirito and the others have to keep jumping around and trying to dodge all of the blows.

Now like I mentioned before, the fanservice does hurt the series quite a bit here. This would be an easy 7-8 just for the fun action and all but the constant fanservice does knock it down a few pegs. It’s not as extreme as the last one but does keep this as being in the middle as a passable series rather than being a good one all the way. It’s a shame that every Sword Art Online product seems to have an asterisk next to what would otherwise be known as an incredible adventure. At least we have a video game coming up which shouldn’t run into that problem.

In some ways the series s also going to be a bit limited in what they can add in the early floors. We already know that Laughing Coffin will turn out to be the name of the organization to which the two saboteurs are a part of. I’m looking forward to the big war since that is generally off screen in the Aincrad story. That said, you can’t really add a rival to Kirito and there aren’t too many humans you can add without dramatically changing the tone of the series. So we’ll see what they do to keep the ideas fresh as we go through the series but a part of me doesn’t think we’ll ever even make it to the 10th floor so it’s probably a non issue.

The artwork is really good here, I think it has improved from the last one. The action scenes are really sharp and there is always a lot of detail here. Naturally that does backfire when you have some of the fanservice moments since less detail would be good there but this doesn’t feel like some kind of cash-in/tie-in manga. It feels like a legit adventure so I appreciate the effort there. The pacing is good and it’s definitely a reminder of how much you can get done in a 3 volume series.

I’ll also give a quick nod to Kirito and Asuna still being one of the few pairings that actually works. The shipping is done well and this is the kind of slow burn style that I like to see. The characters are taking their time and so you get to really believe in the bond between them. I enjoy the banter and they never take it too far. Their personalities are also quite different and just work together. I guess what I’m saying is that this romance really works in every possible way and I imagine that is where a lot of the appeal for the Progressive series comes from. It’s a chance to see the two of them hanging out a lot without the constant end of the world stakes from the main arcs.

Overall, I can’t fully recommend this one but it is a cool novelty to see Kirito and Asuna fight. The outcome may be obvious from the start but it doesn’t make the experience any less entertaining. Hopefully next time we can get a longer battle though as this one ends almost instantly. You’ll finish the volume wanting more Sword Art adventures which shows that this one did a good job on the intrigue at least. Stay tunes for the next manga title!

Overall 5/10

Ranking all Season 5 Death Battles

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It’s time for another Death Battle season! We’ve got quite a lot of big fights here including Mario vs Sonic which is always iconic. There’s not much to say in the intro here. It’s clear that the crew is super familiar with the animation programs by this point and so all the episodes look really good. There are really no weaknesses here at all, the series is firing on all cylinders at all times. They do try a live action episode…which is naturally going to be at the bottom but I did appreciate the attemt.

16. Nightwing VS Daredevil Verdict: Correct

Look, I like live action as much as the next guy but it’s not going to hold up against the animated fights. This one wasn’t bad, they had some good choreography and I liked the costumes. It’s really an acceptable battle but at the same time almost by default it doesn’t stand a chance against the others. I’ll give the fight credit for the special effects though, I liked seeing the thunder batons. You can already tell this is a good season because it’s not like the fight was bad or anything. I’m not expecting any bad fights at this point even if some are comparatively a lot weaker than others.

15. Roshi VS Jiraiya: Verdict Correct

This fight was never going to be super high for me. Neither opponent has a very interesting moveset and the characters aren’t very likable anyway. It’s not a bad fight by any means but does end up being painfully ordinary next to a lot of the other titles. It was nice seeing Jiraiya use the needle cloak as it always seemed handy. I also liked the nod to genjutsu being useless on DBZ fighters but yeah this one wasn’t going to go too high.

14. Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai Verdict: Correct

This was definitely one of the most brutal Death Battles, even comparing it to previous seasons. It did a good job of emulating the classic Samurai Jack look but at the same time it’s not really able to compete with most of the other big battles for this season. The choreography is solid but there isn’t a lot of time for chatter and the sword skills, while clean are not all that flashy. It’s a fight that won’t stick with you for too long.

13. Raven VS Twilight Sparkle Verdict: Correct

They really made this one look like an actual MLP episode so that was pretty fun. Their emotional abilities were definitely shown to their full potential. The music for this one also really stood out. I’d even go as far as to say this is a pretty good example to show folks when depicting how the Death Battle episodes got smoother in each season. This is a relatively basic fight but it just looks very professional compared to older seasons.

12. Black Panther VS Batman Verdict: Correct

Now technically you may be wondering why I agree with Black Panther winning. Well, prep time aside Panther has the better stats in every way. If they each had a week to prep then Batman would win but if it’s a random street fight then the dark knight is going down. The fight is pretty good and I liked how much they were moving across the different stages. It really helped the fight feel fast paced so that was fun. Additionally there was some good banter in here so this is a strong fight all the way.

11. Sora VS Pit Verdict: Correct

Another really good fight that could go either way but I do think Sora has the abilities to pull this one out. It’s one of the rare retro sprite fight in this season. It definitely looks good and it was cool to hear Deku’s voice actor in it. While this one technically gets outshined by a lot of the 3D battles, it is a very solid fight in its own right. The competition was just really stacked this time around.

10. Jotaro VS Kenshiro Verdict: Correct

Another really fun battle here, it was nice to see them both talking in Japanese the whole time. Jotaro definitely seemed to have the more broken abilities but Kenshiro’s physical skills were just too much to be overcome. Good music as always and there was a ton of movement in the fight thanks to all of the clones. Definitely can’t say that either fighter left much on the table. We even got to have a bystander this time to react to everything throughout the fight.

9. Doctor Strange VS Doctor Fate: Verdict Incorrect

I’m usually a DC over Marvel guy but this is one of the rare cases where the Marvel counterpart seems more powerful. I was surprised to see Fate win this one but it was a fun fight. I always like it when the fighters are jumping across realities with every blow. Both of their skillsets were used well and the fight just felt really grand. You really can’t go wrong with this one and the dialogue/climax were both really strong points.

8. Leon Kennedy VS Frank West Verdict: Correct

Now this was definitely a fun battle all the way. Leon blew up in terms of popularity recently although he has always been one of the most well known RE characters. There is a lot of good dialogue throughout here and Leon really gets to show off his gun accuracy. The zombies are not able to disrupt this fight and it definitely ended up being one of my favorite ones in the season. On the surface I wouldn’t have guessed that from the matchup so it shows just how well the fight was executed.

7. Ultron VS Sigma: Verdict Incorrect

This was a pretty good fight and I liked how the lyrical theme started right away. It did feel like a bit of a tease to be setting up an army vs army fight only for this to be a true 1 vs 1 though. I would have liked to have seen both sides really going at it but I suppose that wasn’t in the cards this time. There was a lot going on and I felt like they really pushed the sprites far with this one. It’s a solid fight even if it had to go up against a lot of steep competition this time.

6. Carnage VS Lucy Verdict: Correct

I always thought this was a really interesting fight. It definitely gets really violent as the battle takes advantage of Carnage’s healing factor. She was really blowing him up left and right. It really felt like a true Death Battle though and the rainy backdrop worked really well. This fight was atmospheric and certainly more than a little spooky. I’m really not familiar with Lucy at all as a character but her powers sure looked really cool in action.

5. Mario VS Sonic (2018) Verdict: Incorrect

I’ve seen this fight a number of times. The hand drawn/flash style works pretty well with this one. Yes, the characters do end up seeming very out of character but in a way that’s part of the fun. This is a Death Battle after all and neither one of the characters are in a good mood. They’re just doing their best to land some hits and put the opponent 6 feet under. The visuals are a lot of fun and I enjoyed the attacks. This one is well known for good reason.

4. Crash VS Spyro Verdict: Correct

This was a really fun fight and I have to give the episode credit for just letting Crash get destroyed the whole time. He never really stood a chance and everyone knew it so Spyro just spends the episode absolutely destroying him at every turn. The 3D look works perfectly for both characters and this ends up being a super fun one. Dark Spyro is also such a cool finisher to end things with. We really need more Spyro games in the future.

3. Thanos VS Darkseid Verdict: Correct

It’s clear that this fight was meant to be a really big one for the season and it definitely lived up to that. Both fighters just kept on getting up over and over even after taking some absolutely monstrous hits. Was definitely a nailbiter which helps the fight get over what I’d consider to be one of the weaker songs. It really doesn’t get you pumped like the average Death Battle song but you can’t win em all. The fight even squeezes in a guest star.

2. Ryu VS Jin: Verdict Correct

I gotta admit, it was really cool to see the RWBY backgrounds here. It definitely helped to enhance the episode in a big way. I also think this is easily one of the most debatable fights in the series. I tend to put Jin higher normally but evil Ryu has had some really great feats so when they’re at their peak, I do have to go with Ryu. This season really had a great run when it comes to getting the outcome correct. The choreography in this episode also can’t be beat. I dare say it is the best in the season in that area at least.

1. Optimus Prime VS Gundam Verdict: Correct

Now this was a great fight. Every season has a fight that ends up performing higher than I expected and this is absolutely the one for this season. The song was incredible and an instant classic for me. I’ll be listening to it quite a lot. The fight was really cool with all of the outer space action and it just felt like a strong battle all the way through. Neither fighter was willing to go down easy and Prime had a really epic last line.

That wraps up another season! This was definitely a great one with a ton of solid fights. I agreed with 13/16 of the results which is easily the highest amount so far. Definitely a well done season and I look forward to seeing how season 6 fares. We’re getting more and more modern although even at this point there are definitely episodes that I have not seen. It shows what a casual viewer I was back then!

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos Review

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Fullmetal Alchemist is known as one of the greatest manga and anime titles of all time. No matter what circle you’re in, people talk about this series with a great amount of reverence. Would the movie really be able to live up to such a high reputation? Well, I thought it was a really solid one, I’d say another great addition to the franchise. Now personally, I thought there was quite a lot of action in the title but apparently that’s not the main view. It may not be a ton of punch, punch scenes but there’s always a lot going on. Mix that in with a good story and I’d say that we’re in a good place here.

The series starts with a crook escaping just like in episode one of Brotherhood. Just like with that instance, Edward and Alphonse are clowned by the villain as he escapes. They are then roped into what will be one of the more intricate political problems they have had to deal with. Surely it’s not as bad as finding out that the leader of your country is a biological monster trying to destroy the world right? So they follow a clue into a small country/land that has fallen into ruin. It has the unfortunate luck of being right in the middle of two larger countries which are always fighting each other.

All of the spillover damage constantly ravages this place and its people. They cannot escape either as neither country will allow them passage. So everything sucks down there and it comes as no surprise that this has fueled a bunch of terrorist/resistance fighters. You have one group that wants to liberate the country by picking a side and another that wants to take both of them down. Naturally the former is more realistic but how do you choose? There aren’t a lot of easy answers here and even by the end of the film you can’t say that the situation is resolved. Ed and Alphonse do their best and the film does try to have an optimistic ending but it depends how much you buy into it.

The film is fairly long which is a good thing because there is definitely a whole lot of story going on here. I will say right off the bat that they do a pretty good job of keeping things interesting. Ordinarily you don’t want to be adding a bunch of original characters and making the whole film based on them. Naruto in particular always got a lot of shots taken at it for having the classic princess of the week at every turn. Well, at least in this one the characters are very memorable and have a lot of motivations so it works.

I’ll get into the characters in a second but first I will warn you that Ed and Alphonse look pretty weak as always. That’s nothing new since they lose a ton of fights in the main series as well. For that reason I wasn’t really torn up about that. It would be one thing if they looked out of character or something but looking weak isn’t a really big deal. I was disappointed that Roy doesn’t get any on screen fights this time though. I get that he’s a bit overpowered but cmon, at least show the fire abilities off a little bit. The fact that he gets a fight and it’s off screen is even more puzzling than if he didn’t have any fights.

The animation is really smooth and looks top tier as you would expect. I definitely have no issues with the film on that front. You’ve come to expect nothing less from the series by this point though. Then we have the soundtrack which is decent. I wouldn’t say anything to write home about but it works well enough. So the technical effects are as good as needed.

Now as for the characters. First we have Melvin who is a wanted fugitive. Seems like your classic brawler type but he gets several plot twists in the film. On the surface he just wants to save his sister Julia and get her out of this war torn territory. Seems nice enough minus the violence but it’s not like he really has a whole lot of legal options here since all the governments are against him. Naturally the guy starts to go more and more off the rails as the film goes on. He is absolutely and unapologetically a villain all the way through, nothing ambiguous here.

You could say that he gets a little overconfident though. Honestly the plan wasn’t bad and he got super close to victory. Once he was in reach of the stone, he shouldn’t have been stopped so easily. Although in the original series I also thought that the Philosopher’s stone wasn’t quite as impressive as it was cracked up to be. Yes, it does allow you to do alchemy with no penalty or sacrifice but Ed can already do it without seals. As for the whole equivalent exchange part, there is always something on hand so it doesn’t feel like a big penalty.

We still do get a nice fight at the end though so that was nice. Meanwhile Julia is sort of dragged around the place with everyone wanting her on their side but I was glad that she was standing up for herself by the end. She ultimately chose to help the resistance and wasn’t going to let herself be misled in the meantime. I do feel like the heroes guilt tripped her a bit about the stone though. I get not wanting to create a stone since you need to sacrifice souls to it. 100% on board there. However, once it has already been created, I feel like you may as well use it. Try to build a better tomorrow with it instead of just breaking it. Ultimately the situation evolves to a point where she has no choice but the heroes are way too hesitant about using it.

Then we have Herschel who feels like he didn’t think things through nearly as well as the others. My main problem with him is that the guy feels a bit abrupt in his scenes by the end. He just shows up out of nowhere and while that can work in theory, I just have a hard time seeing his end game play out. Even if Ed and Al weren’t there to stop him, he doesn’t have enough allies to make a big difference. The guy just came off as super crazy and the first villain was a lot more interesting.

Overall, I had a good time with this film though. There were definitely a lot of moving pieces with how many factions were running around. You had werewolves, the armies, etc. If you are looking forward to Ed and Alphonse dominating then this film isn’t for you, but otherwise I would say this is a strong all around title. It’s the kind of film that is pretty accessible even if you’re not familiar with the series because of how detailed the world building here is. You could even use it as a pilot and then watch the main series with how similar the start and setup is to the first episode.

Overall 8/10