Muhyo and Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation Review

Posted on January 15, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time to review another mystery series! Muhyo and Roji is a series that I started many years ago and then I finally got to finish it up late last year or extremely early 2015. The final days tend to blend together after a while. The series had an extremely slow start as the episodic mysteries/ghost occurrences took a little longer than expected. It got to be pretty fun during the main arc and then things started to die down towards the end. I wasn’t really sure how I should score the manga, but I’m sure that I’ll know by the end of the review. At the very least, I can safely say that it could be one of the best horror series that I have read.

For some reason I keep thinking of this series as a mystery even though it’s more of a horror. Well, Muhyo and Roji have an office where they field requests from their clients to help out in supernatural matters. Typically, they have to defeat evil spirits who are haunting people or helping nice ghosts to move on. Muhyo is known as a genius and he’s one of the best in the biz while Roji is the opposite. He’s weaker than most rookies when the series starts out and he literally cannot use any spells. That changes as the series goes on, but Muhyo is always the one who does the most fighting. We get a lot of one shot stories and mini arcs until the first big arc occurs.

Enchu was another prodigy, but he turned over to the dark side. He now commands a large army of evil spirits and demons and he wants to use them to destroy the magical academy and everyone. I forgot if he also wants to destroy the world or not, but you get the general idea. Many clerks (Magical exorcists) and trainees will now gather at this school to combat Enchu, but it will be quite the fight. Lots of new characters are introduced for the heroes and villains as the war escalates. This arc takes up most of the series and it’s certainly the best part.

Afterwards, we do get a mini arc with a new villain who is a serious threat. It’s hard to take this puffball (It’s literally a demon who looks like a ball of fluff) seriously though and the ending is rather anticlimactic. After such a big arc, going back to one shot stories and a small final arc is rather dicey. That being said, it appears that the series was cancelled though since it ends with some major loose ends and it’s rather rushed. One of the big villains is hatching his next scheme as the series ends, which could also just hint at a sequel series I suppose. The ending wasn’t great, but it was still better than the average series I suppose. I just wanted some more closure for the villain.

Muhyo is one of the main characters although I would argue that Roji is The main character. Muhyo’s a genius and he tends to be pretty mean to Roji at the beginning. He’s one of those characters who always has a gruff exterior so that nobody can get close to him. Sometimes an author can go a little too far with that, but this series did a good job of keeping it grounded. Muhyo is never too mean to the point where I would consider him to be a bad person as he just insults Roji enough to keep the kid sharp. Their bond definitely strengthens as the series progresses and Muhyo turns out to be a pretty nice guy.

We learn about Muhyo’s backstory as the manga unfolds and he still looks really good there. Suffice to say, Muhyo always has a reason for doing what he does. He never acts without a plan in mind and it’s probably why he is such a good fighter. He seems like he has no compassion for the evil spirits, but his mindgames sometimes do help them to see the light before it is all over. Unlike most Shonen Jump protagonists, he doesn’t have any real physical abilities. He fights using summons, which is a pretty unique way to battle. This is also a weakness since any foe with a decent amount of super speed could probably attack him before he has a chance to bring in any of his stronger foes. Muhyo looks very good from start to finish and he’s surprisingly one of the better Shonen Jump protagonists out there. I wasn’t a huge fan of him during the first few volumes, but it all makes sense once you keep on reading. That is how you use character development to make a character better!

Roji is Muhyo’s partner and he’s a good sidekick. He means well and he always does the problem to improve. You could say that he’s like your average protagonist in that sense, but with a more realistic pace in how he improves. It’s one of those times where the realism factor does not help his character though since it’ll be many years before he ends up being a top fighter. He doesn’t use summons and he can only attack by throwing tags that can hurt the weaker spirits. I’m afraid that this really limits his potential against stronger opponents. He gets depressed pretty quickly, which is definitely another one of his weak points. He’s a likable character, but I wish that he could have gotten stronger so that he could have helped more.

Kenji is technically a supporting character who is typically around the main characters, but I always wondered just what point he had in the series. He never really has any big moments. He does prove useful once or twice of course, but he doesn’t do anything that someone else could have done. It’s nice that Muhyo and Roji have a supporter of course, but he was never my favorite character. He’s better than most little kids though so I’ll give him some props there.

Nana is the main heroine of the series although her screen time isn’t as impressive as most of her counterparts in other Shonen series. She never learns how to fight so she really is just there as a bystander. She’s a good character, but she is unfortunately used as fanservice on more than one occasion. Nana doesn’t really get to add anything to the series and while she is a decent character, it would probably be for the best if she was not here due to how she is used in the story. The series was pretty decent with the fanservice for the most part so that’s too bad.

Of course, most of the blame goes to Yoichi since he is the token pervert of the series. He is easily the worst character in the series. At least, from the characters who appear more than once. There’s a slight chance that there is a one shot character who is worse, but it’s hard to beat Yoichi. He isn’t a great fighter since he doesn’t summon monsters and Roji should pass him pretty quickly. He proves to be pretty traitorous to the end as he doesn’t care about the feelings of the others. You just want this guy to stop appearing since he brings everyone down.

Enchu is the big villain of the series. He used to be one of Muhyo’s best friends before going to the dark side so you can tell that he is very powerful. Emotional villains like this one always manage to make it to the top of the food chain. His motives and goals aren’t great though since he is really just venting from past experiences. He causes a lot of mayhem and destruction so it’s a little hard to just let it go either. Muhyo wants to save him no matter what, but it’ll definitely be a pretty tough task. He’s a very strong villain, but he’s not really a likable one. As a hero he seemed like a pretty nice guy though.

Rio is one figure who had a pretty sad origin story, but one which had an ending that wasn’t as bad as you would have guessed. The school had a pretty bad principle who thought that Rio wasn’t a good teacher and needed to rely on her looks while an old lady had the opposite thought. Rio was torn between honor and money. Unfortunately, she chose the wrong choice and this started her off on the path to the dark side. Her character development is all over the place, but ultimately she just didn’t make the right choices when they counted. She helps out in some of the battles, but she was never a great character. She’s better than Biko, her partner, but I never liked him from the start. He’s just not a fighter and he acts a little too tough considering how weak he is.

Goryo is a rival who appeared in the series, but was quickly surpassed. He believes that money and status are very important and he loves to rub it in Roji’s face. He takes command of Muhyo’s base at one point, which was a low point for the series. Despite his tough front, Goryo is definitely not as strong as Muhyo and his abilities actually aren’t that impressive. His role was a minor one and he didn’t really contribute much to the series, but at least he gave it his all.

Imai is introduced at around the halfway mark of the series I believe. She’s not a great fighter as with Roji, Yoichi, and Biko. That being said, she does carry a gun with her so she has an instant advantage over the others. She is a professional and she’s been at this game for a much longer time than Roji. That doesn’t always help her out in the field, but technically this makes her more of a threat. She doesn’t get a whole lot to do in the series and she never gets a really big fight, but she’s a pretty good supporting character. Imai probably should have been given more development to make her an interesting character, but she was good enough.

Teeki is another one of the big villains and he was totally evil from start to finish. He has a pretty good design and his mask really gives off a horror feel. He’s a pretty intriguing figure who plans things out years in advance. His plans wouldn’t go so smoothly if other villains had not been as gullible, but he probably planned for that as well. He’s a reasonably cool villain. I definitely can’t say that he is a great one, but he is more of a threat than most of the others.

Mick is probably my favorite villain in the game. Finally, we had someone who could fight in close quarters combat with his swords. Mick is not someone that you want to underestimate even if his role isn’t that large in the manga. It’s great to see a human trading blows with giant monsters and it’s safe to say that only plot hax keeps Muhyo and Roji alive when he appears. He’s easily one of the strongest characters in the series and I was an instant fan.

Klaus is the teacher of Muhyo so he’s a pretty capable fighter. We don’t get to see him fight seriously until we’re almost at the end of the Enchu arc. He definitely puts in a lot of effort and his fight scene is pretty great, but I’m not a fan of him as a character. He’s the kind of guy who is constantly keeping secrets from the main characters and his duties as chairman come before his bond to the main characters. If Roji doesn’t pass the test to officially allow him to partner up with Muhyo, he’ll make sure that Roji is kicked out. It’s things like that which make me not like him. He needs to be a more dependable friend.

Many summoned monsters appear throughout the series. Some are certainly more impressive than others. Unfortunately, their designs typically aren’t as unique and memorable as your average Yugioh monster. Muhyo’s main monster is an old one with a 1 or 3 eyes. He’s pretty powerful although he’s not that quick. He’s a very dependable guy to have. Muhyo’s strongest monster helps him during the climax of the Enchu arc and they did a cross fusion of sorts so that he could fight without restraint. By “cross fusing” it means that the summoner gives the monster his life force by merging their energies. The flip side to this is that the caster will die if the monster does. It’s an all of nothing gambit that almost never works, but it dramatically increases one’s abilities. It made for a pretty good battle and Klaus had a great one of his own. Typically, the monsters aren’t very impressive in terms of speed or power, but the high end ones can definitely put on quite a show. Since we don’t really have any human fight scenes aside from Mick, we need the monsters to definitely hold their own.

The monsters have a decent amount of character. Most of the high end ones are either wise sages whose boosts come from their actions of the younger ones who like to brag as they fight. It makes for some pretty good trash talking and the designs for some of them are humanoid enough so that they can really fight. Most of the final monsters also have instant regeneration so taking them down is tough. That’s why the final boss is pretty anticlimactic. It’s a giant sponge or a sponge ball I guess. It doesn’t look that tough even if it is beating the whole cast. I dare say that he is weaker than the final boss of the Enchu arc since Muhyo didn’t need any cross fusion or ultimate tricks to beat him. A simple sentence sufficed and that was probably sad for the fans.

There is some fanservice in the series, which naturally takes a shot at the series. Mostly, it involves Yoichi just being inappropriate or your generic hot springs scene. As always, these scenes are pretty unnecessary and shouldn’t be around. It seems pretty hard for any series to pass up on this, which is regrettable. Just look at classic titles like Beyblade, Kenshin or Yugioh GX to see how you can do a series without this negative addition. That being said, it’s definitely less recurring than most of the other series on the block so that’s a small victory.

The artwork is decent, but I would probably place it under the average Shonen Jump title. I think it’s part of the reason why I wasn’t crazy about the first volumes. It feels really rough around the edges as you’re reading it and I can’t say that it ever got really good. From start to finish, I felt like something was pretty off about the character designs. The monsters looked good, but they could have looked even better. It may have helped for the creepy tone of the manga, but I’ll take streamlined art any day.

The stakes were only high for one part of the series, but that was enough to make the series feel a little more Shonen. One of the reasons why the beginning was lacking was that the characters were not really likable yet so the one shot stories didn’t work. Those work best when you like the characters so seeing them in any situation is fun. Placing the Enchu arc first would have probably done wonders for the series since the one shot stories after that one are better than the beginnings. The series was pretty fun from the Enchu part and that’s one of the main reasons why it ended on a higher note. The series also ditched most of the horror themes from the beginning starting with the Enchu arc. I’m okay with that since it went for action over spooks. The horror part wasn’t bad though as it was pretty cool to see what designs the author could come up with. They typically just weren’t combat designs.

Overall, Muhyo and Roji is a pretty good series. If I allowed half points on the blog, this title would definitely get a 6.5. I don’t think that it’s quite consistently good enough to get a 7, but giving it a 6 seems a little harsh as well. That being said, a 6.5 is not an option so I have a choice to make. I’m going to have to go with the former mainly thanks to the slow start coupled in with the fanservice. The likable characters and fun fights naturally keep it in the positive area though and I was pretty satisfied with the ending. It would have been cool if the series had kept going, but I guess some series have to ultimately end without breaching the 20 volume mark. I recommend this series if you want something that deals with the supernatural and especially if you like monster fights or want a manga series with a horror vibe. In that case, this is definitely your series!

Overall 7/10

Taken 2 Review

Posted on January 14, 2015 by dreager1

You have to admit that the poster is a bit much. It looks very good of course so I have no problems there, but it just looks a little too good if you know what I mean. Let’s just say that the main character doesn’t go around blowing up the city as he stops the crooks..he has someone else do that for him this time. It’s a decent sequel, but it’s definitely a little too dreary to get a solid rating. There is no replay value to be found here folks.

After Bryan saved his daughter from a fate worse than death in the first film, he has continued on with his job of keeping the peace and protecting people. He doesn’t want to let the events of the first film get him down so he invites his wife and daughter to go with him on a vacation. Naturally, they check into a pretty charming hotel like last time and leave the daughter along like last time as he heads out to have fun. A car appears to be chasing him and then he realizes that his daughter could be in trouble once again. The gangsters are mainly after Bryan since they want their revenge, but they’re going to take it out on anyone who is with him. It’s time for Bryan to take his gun back out since things just got serious!

Well, the film plays out as you may expect. There isn’t a lot of things happening here to be honest because the film is under 2 hours and we need the first 20 or so minutes for character development. See, the daughter wants to live a “normal” (AKA, a Hollywood) life so she decides to find some random guy and make the next step. That subplot is pretty bad and we’re lucky that it’s only here for a scene near the beginning and one at the end. That being said, it’s still a pretty terrible subplot and it’s a good way to start the film off on a low note.

It makes Kim a pretty unlikable character here from the start. Considering how hard Bryan worked to save her last time, you’d think that she would be a lot more grateful. Moving on is always a good thing to do, but you still need to be a little more rational about the whole ordeal. A vacation to a country that isn’t Sweden or France is definitely something that I wouldn’t go for. She gets to help out a lot in the climax and it’s good that she’s able to step up when she needs too, but that’s just not good enough for her to be a well rounded fighter.

Bryan looks pretty good as he continues to show why he is always prepared. He has a lot of weapons around him, but more importantly, he knows how to get out of a trap. His mini phone definitely came in handy quite a few times and he’s still a really good fighter. He doesn’t really have any flaws. You can actually say that he’s a bit like Kirito in the fact that you are meant to put yourself in his shoes. He’s basically the ultimate team guy. You like to think that this is how you would solve the problem if someone took your family hostage and he always delivers. In that sense you can argue that he is “too good” but I never really bought that argument. Whether he is meant to be the viewers or not, I’m glad that he is a pretty capable lead.

It’s hard to say whether Lenore looks good or bad since she is taken out of the picture pretty quickly. One of her flaws is definitely who she choose to be with instead of Bryan since we see that it was a bad choice. The game of romance is always risky and it’s why I never recommend participating in it. That being said, she seems like a reasonable person for the most part and she holds up pretty well when she’s captured. There’s nothing really negative about her so that’s a good thing.

There’s not much to say about the villains since they’re just meant to be unlikable. None of them really have any character to speak of. They want vengeance for the other ruthless gangsters who died so they just use that as an excuse to destroy more people. They’re all pretty sick individuals and you’re just waiting for them to get arrested as you watch the film. Unfortunately, the cops look pretty bad once again as they fail to take down even one gangster before they are mowed down. Not very flattering for them.

This film is definitely more violent than what you would see in your typical PG 13 film and mixed in with the dark tone, you have a film that you probably won’t want to watch again. The replay value just isn’t there and it’s not really a fun film to watch. The film is pretty realistic for the most part, but that just makes you want to avoid it even more since you know that these things are happening in real life, but without happy endings. It’s definitely not my kind of film or it’s just “taken” it a little too far. Regardless, one viewing is definitely all that you need.

There is one scene that definitely does stretch your disbelief a little bit as Bryan gives Kim a lot of tasks to do over the phone and she’s able to do them pretty easily. Drawing a circle with her equipment may not be that difficult, but it’s still not something that you can typically do without any experience. She was able to locate things on her map with ease and the whole thing was pretty unbelievable. Bryan was also a little too good there as he memorized exactly how many twists and turns the van did as they went on a pretty long journey. He was also counting the seconds of course so he knew just how far they had driven. I don’t care how much of a genius you are, that’s just not happening. Getting into the Embassy was also a little dicey since the heroes probably would have been shot as soon as they barreled past. The U.S. Embassy means business after all and they wouldn’t let a few trigger happy individuals in a speeding car get past them.

Naturally, the film decides to put some emphasis on the final murder for Bryan. He gives the villain a classic choice, walk away or he will destroy him. The villain makes a move and then Bryan does as well, but now we’re dealing with a defenseless villain vs Bryan, which makes the whole ordeal a little more dicey. Arresting him is always the just move, but Bryan is here to avenge his family so he doesn’t really care about all of that. The villain wasn’t smart there either since he should have expected the gun to be empty. I guess we’ll find out if his threat will come true or not about his other allies and their quest for vengeance.

Overall, Taken 2 is not a good action thriller. I recommend Mission Impossible as an alternative course of action and specifically the first one since it was pretty great. This film is just too dreary to really recommend watching. Seeing Bryan (AKA the viewer) beat up all of the bad guys in pretty intense ways as he saves the day can probably feel pretty rewarding for some, but it can also just make you think of how believable the whole thing is. There isn’t a lot of hope throughout the film and even the ending has some dark twists since we are led to believe that more villains will pop up. Since there is a Taken 3, it seems that this will probably happen. The film did a good job of avoiding language and unnecessary (fake) romance scenes, but it’s still just not a very good movie. I recommend it if you are looking for a fairly realistic story where you get to see the gangsters beaten up, but otherwise this is a film to skip.

Overall 4/10

New Avengers Everything Dies Review

Posted on January 13, 2015 by dreager1

Time to review volume 1 of the recent New Avengers series. The Illuminati have always made for a pretty interesting plot and Captain America has been the one to keep them in line. What will happen when they decide to go too far? It’s definitely a collection that is meant to keep you thinking and it’s a fun read.

The Earth is going to collide with an alternate Earth and the resulting explosion end up devastating the universe. Black Panther learns of this when he apprehends a mysterious figure who appears on his land. Her name is the Black Swan and she knows more than she lets on. He reluctantly calls the Illuminati to deliberate about what must be done. Black Swan lets them know that they ultimately only have two choices. Blow up the other Earth or allow the universe to end. She just finished blowing up a planet herself so she is not bluffing. What will the heroes decide to do?

Naturally, Captain America is against the notion of blowing up the planet. Since it is an alternate Earth, that would mean destroying billions of lives to save their own. It’s just not a good gambit and he knows that there has to be another way. He’s seen the Earth on the brink of extinction many times in the past so he knows what he is talking about. This is Captain America as he was meant to be portrayed. He is the moral compass of the group and he won’t even entertain the notion of using the bomb to take out the planet. Unfortunately, this means that the Illuminati can no longer have him around and they decide to erase his memories. It’s ~~ripped off~~similar to what the Justice League did to Batman a while back. It’s sad for Steve Rogers since the others basically became traitors at that moment. The Avenger didn’t get to appear for most of the collection since he was taken out, but he looked very good in the scenes that he was in. I think he shouldn’t have been surprised by Black Panther’s betrayal though, but that’s a minor setback.

Black Panther is all for the idea along with Black Bolt. They’re leaders so they’ll do whatever it takes in order to save their kingdoms. Morals and honor will always be secondary to their overall goals. Namor is happy to do it since he’s essentially a villain at this point in time anyway. Dr Strange is slightly more reluctant to do this and he has a few spells ready, but none of them really seem like they’ll complete the job here so it’s moot. He ultimately agrees with the decision to blow up the planet. Mr Fantastic agrees pretty quickly since it’ll save his family and the Beast doesn’t even need a moment to think about it. He agrees wholeheartedly because he is the Beast and remains as one of my least favorite X-Men fighters.

That’s when the big cop out occurs…the planet is uninhabited. That does take away all of the tension and the stakes since they can now blow up the planet with a clear heart. In a way I would have preferred for this cop out not to have occurred since we would have seen whether these heroes were really heroes or not. No matter how they tried to justify it, destroying the planet would have cemented them as villains here. Destroying billions of people is far greater than any genocide feat in history and it always would be since blowing up planets is impossible in the real world. Naturally, a hero could top them by blowing up an inhabited galaxy someday, but it could be a while. On the other hand, it’s probably good that this did happen since I would rather not see these heroes taint themselves in such a way.

That was a big blow, but we got to see what all of the characters would have chosen (in theory. No guarantees until the final seconds right?) so that’s the important thing. Some subplots for the future have already begun. Black Panther has declared war on Namor and we can bet that Captain America will regain his memories and launch his own attack at some point. Dr Doom now has knowledge that could prove dangerous to the heroes as well. These plots should be pretty good and it’ll be interesting to see what the Black Swan does next as well.

The Black Swan makes for a pretty good villain here. She looks pretty similar to Emma Frost or Magik so I can’t say that the character design is pretty unique, but she’s a fun villain. We haven’t really seen what her abilities are (Assuming that she has any, but let’s face it…she will!) yet, but her plan is just getting started. She is pretty cooperative with the heroes since she definitely does want to keep on living. The whole situation is rather complicated and the heroes would have had a much tougher time without her. They should hopefully not trust her all that much at the moment, but she has definitely earned her freedom. Only time will tell if she saved the world for the better or for the worse.

The concept of the Illuminati is also pretty dicey and I agree with Black Panther for the most part. Deciding that they will take care of the Earth as they see fit is something that no group should be able to do. What about politics and Joe the Plumber? The heroes are starting to put themselves on a pedestal next to the average person and that’s definitely dangerous. Having the Infinity Gems in their possession is also a big display of power. at least the heroes claim to be doing this for the good of mankind and they haven’t overstepped their boundaries yet, but that day could definitely arise in the near future. We’ll see if the choices make or break them. After all, Captain America was the only member of the team who was a complete hero, without him…things could get very dangerous. The Beast will do anything to help the mutants and likewise with Black Bolt and Black Panther for their races. Namor doesn’t really care about anyone and Dr Strange’s motives are typically pretty clouded. Iron Man already has a dicey history of betraying his comrades like in Civil War so he certainly can’t be trusted. It’s only a matter of time until they fight the normal Avengers.

One thing about the premise that is hard to believe is how Black Swan says that nothing can stop the planets from colliding. The heroes try to use the Infinity Gauntlet and it actually doesn’t work. It’s possible that Captain America’s resolve just wasn’t strong enough, but it’s still a bit of a stretch. Even if that didn’t work there should be a bunch of other things that would. Remember how the Justice League made the Earth intangible during Doom? Something like that would work here or just warping it away from its current position for a few minutes. There are a lot of solutions that you can think of and it’s why I never believe in two choice scenarios in the Marvel world. Of course, you have to ignore that for the plot here, but it’s something to consider. It’s hinted that a high above being is forcing this to happen so that could become a plot soon.

The art is as good as I could have expected. Marvel has always been very sharp for the New Avengers and that doesn’t stop here. All of the character models look sharp and the proportions are right. The action scenes are typically pretty clear except for the Terrax one where a lot was happening at once and the art got a little fuzzy. Marvel continues to show that they can keep up with DC in the artwork game when they really put some effort in.

The writing is also very good for the collection. Regardless of how antagonistic the heroes appear to be, they are still written pretty well. It’s not necessarily out of character for any of the characters here to decide to blow up the planet. If Captain America had agreed then it would be a different story, but he didn’t so I give the comic some more props there. Galaktus and his herald do pop up out of nowhere, but it makes sense that they would try to do something in these final hours. The script alone makes the comic interesting so the fights and good visuals only help to improve the experience.

Overall, New Avengers Everything Dies is a pretty good comic arc. It’s a very fine start to the series since some of the sub plots have already started and we got to see the dark side of the group. The roster for the Illuminati is pretty good as well since most of the characters are interesting. I don’t think that adding in the Beast was a wise move, but maybe he’ll contribute something to the team soon. I think that the plot twist at the end was one of the biggest cop outs that I’ve seen in a while, but I suppose that it makes things a little easier on the heroes. It certainly prevents me from losing more respect for some of them, but it would have been nice to see if they would ultimately take the plunge or not. I recommend this to all Marvel fans or to anyone who wants to read a pretty good comic. Let’s see if future installments can keep this up!

Overall 7/10

Naruto Shippuden Road to Ninja Review

Posted on January 12, 2015 by dreager1

I finally checked out one of the latest Naruto films. This one got the most hype out of any Naruto film. Even the new one that came out about a month ago didn’t get the same kind of publicity as this one. This was going to be the ultimate Naruto film with the best villain yet. I understand that a lot of people did like the villain, but I can’t say that he was for me. This film suffers from the fact that it seems to appeal to the general audience a lot like the last film, but it’s still a decently good movie. We’re just falling back to the pre Shippuden level for the films.

Naruto and Sakura are having some drama with their parents/lack of parents. This results in some tense scenes in the beginning, which inevitably leads them to conclude that their lives would be better off if they could have swapped parental situations. That’s when the Masked Man appears and blasts them into an alternate world where that is the case. Naruto and Sakura realize that they’re going to really have to put some effort in if they want to escape this world and they’ll need to stop the Masked Man. The only problem is that the Masked Man looks a little different in this world. No matter, time to take him out!

Well, it’s a pretty fun plot, but the movie just messed up in several areas. I will admit that I was worried from the very start, but luckily the film fixed my problem with the intro. Let’s just say that it plays out like a bad fanfic. (Good concept, but terrible execution = bad fanfic) The Genin 11 (Mostly Chunins at this point) are slaughtering the Akatsuki when the film starts. It’s embarrassing for the big villains who used to be a threat. Even Itachi and Kisame are treated like random minions. I was definitely wincing a little during this fight since the disregard for power levels was at an all time high. I feel like power levels tend to be more inaccurate as you go through a series so that made me extra cautious here. Luckily, we get a big twist that makes the Akatsuki look better while making Naruto look worse.

I definitely did not like Naruto as he is treated like a plot device to get things rolling. He suddenly starts to feel bad about not having any parents and he takes it out on Iruka. It’s just not the Naruto that we remember. He got over that a long time ago and seeing his parents in his memories was enough to finally snap him out of that. He’s proud of what they did so he would never wish that they were back here. It seems like something that the writers felt was “realistic” for a kid who didn’t have any parents so they threw that in. This transitions into the general audience problem, but I’ll sidestep from that for a little longer.

Naruto gets to meet up with fake versions of his parents and he decides that he’ll act like a rude person so that they’ll stay away from him. He decides that he’s not going to play the Masked Man’s games, but he’s stuck in the world for now so breaking ties with them is not the best way to go about it. Not to mention that fake Minato is the reason why he will get to go on the mission in the first place. If Naruto really didn’t want to hang out with them, he should have just slept on the bench or in the woods like last time. As long as he is in the house, he should definitely act hospitable.

Even worse than Naruto’s actual personality though is definitely how weak he looks. Naruto has long since surpassed everyone in his village by now so he should have crushed the “Akatsuki” in the opening now that we know the twist. He looks worse than most of his allies there and it’s sad since he was the first one to rush in. Then, he finally gets to face off against Menma and he is thoroughly outclassed. His Sage Mode is unable to do anything so he is forced to summon a giant monster so that we can have a one hit KO attack when he finally gets close to Menma. Not exactly how I pictured the final battle.

Sakura doesn’t look very good either. Temporarily she doesn’t even care about going back to the real world. This also happens to Naruto in the second half, which is also pretty disappointing. She also has her arguments with her parents that is out of character, but still counts against her in this film. Her portrayal definitely wasn’t very good like with Naruto, but she could have been a lot worse. Just look at most of the supporting characters. Once again, it’s safe to say that the Leaf Village is pretty unlikable. Iruka deciding not to recommend Naruto to be a Jounin is just a really low blow. This is why nobody can trust this village, they’re always stabbing each other in the back.

Time to back it up a little. The film really feels like it’s trying to be a decent introductory movie to new viewers in a few ways. One way is that we get to see Naruto’s origin story once again (Luckily we skip all of the bullying this time) and Naruto hasn’t gotten over the death of his parents like I mentioned earlier. Sakura’s arguments with her parents are completely out of character for her and it’s just here so that she can be a part of the plot. It’s also a common plot to use for a film so the writers just couldn’t pass it up. (The Author was the main one who decided what the film would be like, but I say writers because the film guys likely helped along the way with their suggestions) Another way that it feels like a general audience film is that the climax is a giant monster battle instead of a nice hand to hand experience.

Let’s face it, “Bigger is better” is still a popular saying in films. So, instead of letting audiences see Naruto and Menma go at it in a DBZ style confrontation, we get to see the Nine Tailed Fox duel a giant monster. They are naturally implied to be far superior to Naruto and Menma is strength even though they look pretty unimpressive. They can spam their energy blasts, but the small range of the blasts (They strike more vertically than horizontally) means that we end up with two monsters who are effectively “camping.” They just keep firing blasts at the other and none of them actually connect. It’s more of a chase than an actual fight and then we get the one punch that ends it all.

That would have been the more disappointing final anime fight since Pokemon if not for the fact that we quickly get another fight after that. Unfortunately, the film was running out of time by then so Naruto’s fight against the Masked Man is very short. No worries, they decide to rip some scenes out of the manga as Naruto wins in a move that pays homage to Minato’s fight. The film’s homages didn’t begin there though as Naruto’s punch with Menma is almost identical to how Naruto defeated Gaara back in the day. I like homages….actually I don’t. Thinking about it now, they’re typically just not good and take away opportunities. Look at Avengers Assemble and how often it copies the film. It’s always best to do something unique and a homage should be more subtle than just copying a fight scene. That’s a lesson that this film really needs to learn.

The film’s animation is pretty good. It’s definitely not something to write home about, but the quality is definitely very good and it makes for a pleasurable viewing experience. I think it’s a little dicey that a show that’s a few years old like Fate/Zero looks better than this film, but that company’s animation budget is just through the roof so I suppose that it’s not fair to compare. What hurts this film a lot is the fact that we didn’t get any real fight scenes, or at least ones that would have a chance to shine. No character uses any fancy energy weapons or has a power up scene where the animators can have fun with the aura. The energy blasts from the Kaiju are the only chance for the film to show off its movie budget and the blasts look good, but they’re more like energy balls so you can’t really make them look quite as good as a Kamehameha no matter how much time you spend drawing it. The fight against the Akatsuki is pretty smooth, but not flashy in the slightest, which is why it actually doesn’t look impressive. You could compare it to the fights against Kakuzu and Hidan in the series and it would actually be pretty similar. The film is more streamlined, but just not as explosively colorful sometimes.

This film borrows just about all of its themes from previous films and the show. That’s pretty sad for it, but it’s a new trend for films based off of old franchises nowadays. It’s a pretty bad trend if you ask me since the music may be established and great, but you need to keep making new songs. Imagine a time where all films just use old tunes and remixes of old tunes. That’s not what we want to see, but the soundtrack is definitely 5 stars worthy. They’re old, but the themes are tried and true. They’re perfect for battle scenes and some of the villain themes really make you feel like the end is near. They’re fitting for such a world filled with despair as everyone fears Menma.

Speaking of which, one of the gimmicks for this film was that Naruto’s supporting cast would have warped personalities in the alternate world. It’s a decent sub plot in concept I suppose, but totally unnecessary. I always liked the idea of parrellel worlds, but just turning all of the heroes to villains and villains to heroes would suffice for me. Instead, the writers decided to make just about all of them unlikable. We have a few perverts, and more of the others are either really meek or too aggressive to the point where they are antagonistic. It’s hard to imagine how this village lasted for a year, much less up to now. There are no good fighters and the whole world lives in fear of Menma.

Time to finally talk about Menma. Saying Menma’s true identity is hardly a spoiler since it’s probably basic Naruto knowledge at this point considering how popular he became for a while, (Not to mention that the actual plot mixed in with the tie in episode makes it a logical conclusion) but I shall not mention it just in case. He has brought the entire Shinobi world to its knees and he is feared as the ultimate Naruto villain. He knows about the Masked Man and then he decides to destroy the Red Moon scroll. It is the one thing that can defeat him so he heads to the Leaf Village to destroy it and that’s when the climax begins. He can summon several monsters like Pain and his physical abilities are already pretty considerable. He is able to catch a Sage Mode Punch from Naruto, which is no easy feat. Unfortunately, the film was just toying with us there as he doesn’t actually fight. Instead, the monster battle begins. From that one moment, we can tell that he is a tough villain, but he just couldn’t end up showing it.

Menma is ultimately an unlikable character despite his powers. One of the main reasons is that he seems to just be a tool the whole time. He has no real motivations and he seems to just fight for the thrills. What really doesn’t help this is the fact that he has a terrible voice. It’s one of the worst voices that I’ve heard for a final boss in some time. It doesn’t strike fear into you or make you gain respect for his character. It just makes Menma seem like a villain who’s tough talk is all that he’s got. Menma’s true design is pretty good and the voice luckily shifts, but it’s hard to watch his masked form.

This review is definitely turning out longer than I had expected. Partially it’s due to how many ways the film went wrong, but also just because this is a Naruto film so there is a lot to discuss. Naruto’s fake parents look pretty good for the most part. One scene is there to quickly reinforce the point that Naruto’s parents were better so that he could leave with no regrets. It definitely shows how much fun it would have been if the parents had been here since the beginning. That would make for a pretty good AU spinoff series since the Leaf Village would definitely be overpowered with them in the ranks. In a way, that’s how it should have been.

I think I’ve addressed most of the points in this film by now. Time to quickly mention one of the negatives that certainly helped to drag the film down. The fanservice. This film has a lot more of it than usual, which is pretty disappointing. It’s not a huge amount, but for Naruto film standards it is considerable. We have the generic bath house scene, which is pretty cringe worthy. There is really no point to it at all. It’s probably just there to get in some more money, but this has always been a pretty cheap trick. You don’t need fanservice in a film and then having two of the characters be perverted for no reason is also in bad taste.

This film is pretty long, but it doesn’t know how to maximize the time that it is given. Too much time is spent on showing us how everything is a little different and not enough is spent on the actual fights or the villain. The film is already almost over by the time that the final fight happens so naturally it is given the shaft instead of the filler moments. Definitely not a good move for the film if you ask me. The film could have been the usual 70 or so minutes without a lot of the filler moments or 2 hours with more action. Either way, it would have been a huge improvement from what we did get.

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for. Was this movie as disappointing as Battle of Gods? I’m going to say no although it’s very close. My hopes for this film were slightly tempered by Blood Prison while I had nothing to protect me from Battle of Gods before hand. This film still had a great soundtrack, which Battle of Gods lacked although the DBZ film had the much better fight. It just goes to show that the modern films for these two series are not as good as the classics, but that just means that the sequels have a higher chance of being better than these. I’m already hyped for the return of Frieza and I think that the final Naruto film should be pretty good as well. I don’t have high hopes for that one anyway, but the big battle should be good.

In the missed opportunities section, there are definitely a few things that come to mind. One of them is Sasuke since his appearance literally has no point here. He just gets 2-4 lines and that’s about it. He’s relegated to the background like most of the characters here. That’s pretty sad for his fans when the trailers made it seem like he would actually get to do something. The Masked Man’s plan at the end is decent, but plot hax get in the way of this and he also looks rather weak since Sakura is able to hold her own against him for so long. Sakura is a tough fighter, but she’s not Naruto level so he should have been able to crush the Masked Man considering how Sakura’s fight turned out.

Now, I should probably summarize what the positives of the film are since we have so many negatives. How does it actually deserve a 6? Well, we still get a decent fight with the Akatsuki at the beginning and watching them fight random monsters at the end may not be extremely amusing, but it’ll do as an action scene. You just need to ignore the power levels for this film and then you’ll enjoy the fights a lot more. The actual concept is interesting, but it just isn’t used very well. The soundtrack and animation are pretty good as well of course. The film is also pretty interesting while you’re watching it and it’s a fun film. It’s a popcorn fun, action block buster so you’ll leave it feeling satisfied. Amidst all of the negatives, you have to remember that this is still a Shonen Jump film. The designs are unique and the fights are fun. We have good amounts of those two positives here and mixed in with the music, you’ve got the makings of a pretty good film. That’s about it for positives I’m afraid, but they’ll do.

Overall, Road To Ninja is definitely one of the worst Shippuden films and probably ranks pretty low on the all time Naruto list. It loses to films 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8. I’m going to say for now that it does beat films 1 and 5 though. 5 was probably the ultimate disappointing Naruto film since Sasuke was in it, but he couldn’t save it. This is a good film to introduce you to the world of Naruto and Naruto fans should still enjoy the fights. Just be prepared for all of Naruto’s friends to look pretty awful and for the unnecessary fanservice included. Also, brace yourself for the final battle because you are sure to be disappointed unless you were waiting for a giant monster fight. The soundtrack and animation are pretty solid and it’s still a good film despite all of the flaws. This review was certainly on the negative side, but that just seems to be the fate of the modern anime films that get a lot of hype. Obscure titles like Bleach 4 and Yugioh 3D seem to get all of the fun. You’re still guaranteed a fun experience here.

Overall 6/10

Transformers Beast Wars The Ascending Review

Posted on January 12, 2015 by dreager1

It hasn’t been too long since I read The Gathering so the characters are still pretty familiar to me in the sequel. It’s Transformers so I use the term “familiar” a little graciously since you’re probably not going to know all of the names by the time that you finish. I find it easier to just memorize the designs instead of the names since that usually sticks with you a little longer. It’s a pretty good comic and it really has everything that makes Transformers so fun.

Magmatron has been defeated, but he somehow survived the ordeals of the last volume. He is now trapped between dimensions so he exists as a pure energy being. He can travel through time instantaneously now, but he is unable to talk to anyone. It’s a pretty boring existence for him, but he learns of a plot to bring back Unicron. He must warn the Maximals or the Predacons before it is too late! Meanwhile, the Maximals and Predacons are still stuck outside of time during the Beast Wars saga as they try not to tamper with the original fighters and the original fighters try not to tamper with the Autobots and Decepticons.

This is why time travel can be tricky! Ravage wants to tamper and naturally help the Predacons win so fights ensue. Magmatron unleashes his plan, which helps other Maximals to arrive while at the same time making the new villain send his heralds to the planet to silence all of the plots. A lot of things are happening here and the volume is filled with nonstop action. Beast Wars is definitely getting off on the right foot with me.

First off, the art is very solid. That’s a must if you’re going to fill a collection with action scenes. Bad artwork would just wreck that effort and make the issues drag on. The designs are all spot on and everything is very clear. These may be giant robots, but they are able to fight with grace and finesse. Again, the artwork does a great job with that here.

One of the big positives is that the collection is just fun to read from start to finish. There aren’t any big names like Optimus Prime or Megatron here so the comics have to deal with minor characters to hold out intention. I guess Grimlock counts as a big character, but he’s more of a guest star or the one big star to keep your attention. He isn’t even needed since the writing is just that good. It’s definitely a pretty fun ride and probably one of the best Transformer comics on the market.

Shokaract is the big villain of this collection and he’s pretty cool. I definitely like his design and the Anti Matrix that he possesses is definitely powerful. I don’t see him taking on Megatron or anyone like that, but in this universe he is easily one of the strongest fighters on the block. He is already gone by the end of the collection though so we’ll have to get ready for the next big villain to replace him. (The guy gets a one panel cameo at the very end and he looks cool so far, but we’ll have to see how his personality is to know for sure whether he is a good character or not) Shokaract is being used by the villains, but he doesn’t know this so he still manages to talk tough the whole time. He’s a solid villain even if his amount of screen time isn’t very large.

It’s good to see the series still taking some nods from G1 like the Unicron is returning subplot. They’ve stopped that for now, but I’m sure that he will totally revive at some point. Once he does, I’m expecting a crossover since the Maximals will likely be thoroughly outclassed by this new threat. They’re good, but they’re simply a lot weaker than their G1 counterparts.

It’s hard to say who the leader is. The War is over right now so technically the Maximals and Predacons are teammates over in space. One of the robots who looks like Optimus Prime seems to call the shots or he at least has a lot of political power. On Earth, the war still rages on and the Maximals have the upper hand. There are 3 Maximals who looks like Optimus Prime at the moment. I like the one with fur and the tallest one whose leadership skills closely resemble that of the famed leader. I was pretty surprised when I saw the third one since he just jumped in out of nowhere, but he seems to be pretty cool as well. Some drama ensues as Razorbeast, one of the main Maximals, turns evil. His story is probably the only sad one in the batch since it’s pretty tragic. He was a good character so it’s sad to see him go.

One of the tools at the villain’s disposal is a king of liquid that infects whoever is hit with it. One blast will turn you into a mindless creature whose physical stats are now greatly increased. This happens to Razorbeast, but luckily he has enough strength of character to last for a while. It’s a great weapon for the villains, but it’s a little too potent if you ask me. Razorbeast was able to give the whole team a good fight so it was hard to believe that the weakened heroes teaming up with the villains could beat the heralds. They don’t due to some circumstances, but they held out for quite a while without getting hit. It’s a stretch, but I can live with it.

Ravage still makes for a pretty good Decepticon as well. He always looks out for his own skin, but he knows when it’s time to team up. His contributions to the team definitely help out a lot during the tough spots and he’s always been a pretty cool character. He looks better than his Autobot counterpart in Grimlock. Grimlock looks tough to be sure, but he just doesn’t seem as experienced as he should be. Ravage brings a lot to the table for his side, but Grimlock is really just extra muscle for the heroes. He comes in handy, but he should be able to help out even more.

The time travel aspect is a nice touch, but it does make things rather tricky for the writers going forward. Apparently, the robots have access to all point in time now so what’s to stop an enemy from messing with the timestream? Traitors are everywhere after all so you can’t count on any defenses forever. It’s one of the dicey parts about time travel and I guess it’s just better not to think about it. After all, this does open the door to some great stories in the future. I just think that it’s a path that needs to be walked very carefully.

Overall, Transformers Beast Wars The Ascending is a very good collection. There are mostly only obscure characters to be found here, but you’ll still find yourself enjoying the collection. It’s just one battle after another and it’s a lot of fun to read. It plays out like something from the 80’s. It’s a stand alone adventure by the end although I’m sure that some of the plots will ultimately continue. I recommend this to any Transformers fan or to anyone who likes a good action comic. I really can’t think of any negatives here and this is why Transformers has such a good reputation in the comic world.

Overall 7/10

Naruto Shippuden Legends Akatsuki Rising Stats and Records

Posted on January 10, 2015 by dreager1

Stats time!

Play Time 7hr 15m
46200 Ryo

Character Levels

Gaara lv 30
Kankuro lv 30
Temari lv 30
Itachi lv 30
Kisame lv 30
Deidara lv 30
Sasori lv 30
Hiruko lv 30
Naruto lv 44
Sakura lv 14
Kakashi lv 10
Shikamaru lv 12
Tenten lv 15
Rock Lee lv 30
Neji lv 25
Might Guy lv 22

Scenario Star Rank Achieved

1 Yes
2 No
3 No
4 Yes
5 No
6 No
7 No
8 Yes
9 No
10 Yes

Naruto Shippuden Legends Akatsuki Rising Review

Posted on January 10, 2015 by dreager1

This is a game that I’ve owned for quite a while at this point. It’s had to sit in my backlog for years, which tells you just how many games I’m juggling at the moment. After all, why else would an anime game ever stay on the shelf? This game is part of the Uzumaki Chronicles series so the gameplay is in that style. Unfortunately, the gameplay has significantly regressed, but it’s still a pretty fun game to check out, it just keeps it from getting a good ole 8. (Most 3D fighting anime video games do end up with 8s, which is why that is pretty notable)

The game covers the first arc of Naruto Shippuden. Naruto has returned to the village after a long time training abroad. He discovers that the Kazekage has been kidnapped by an evil organization known as the Akatsuki! Naruto won’t stand for this so he heads out with a few of his comrades to pursue the villains. Another squad is also dispatched to assist Naruto. They will need to hurry since the villains intend to destroy the Kazekage after their operation is a success.

The gameplay is the biggest factor here so let’s talk about that first. You’re placed in a 3D environment and you typically have to reach the end of an area that is filled with minions. The other type of area is a “defeat the enemies to advance” section which is self explanatory. On the normal areas, you don’t have to actually fight anyone as you run to the goal. I wouldn’t recommend that due to how tricky the leveling up system is. You can teleport with the O button and attacking uses the square button. You can use your ninjutsu like a Rasengan or a Shadow Clone to try and defeat the enemies a little quicker.

The gameplay sounds pretty solid right? It actually sounds great like that since a 3D fighting game is what we all want. Unfortunately, it’s not as clear cut as it sounds. The teleporting option is really what wrecked the gameplay because it doesn’t take up any meter. You can teleport forever and ever if you want too. Your opponent can go one step further as they can teleport through your attacks infinitely. This gets old very quickly as you can try to hit them for minutes without much success. It’s the biggest flaw imaginable since it makes fighting with hand to hand skills virtually impossible. The enemies will just keep on punishing you if you dare to use such a tactic.

The best way to counter this is to just focus on Naruto’s Shadow Clone Jutsu and get it to at least level 5 so you can use the whirlwind combo. After that, just spam it for every single boss along with regular shadow clones. It’s the best way to win, but it’s not a very fun way. Once in a while, you can try to get up close and personal to take on a boss, but then you’ll just watch as they teleport away and hit you with a powerful jutsu that takes away 70% of your health. A single combo was enough to beat me several times so you have to keep your distance. I’m thinking that the developers just didn’t realize that the A.I. would exploit the teleporting so well. I’m hoping that this is fixed for Kizuna Drive since that would make the gameplay so much more enjoyable. Technically, the actual gameplay style is still great, but you really can’t get past the teleporting angle. Who wants to use the same jutsu over and over again for the entire game right?

One thing that could also have made the experience better would be to rehaul the leveling up system. Most games just give you EXP for defeating opponents, but this game added a new spin to it by giving you EXP for good combos as well. This means that defeating normal enemies gives you almost no EXP at all so you need to either keep facing bosses or racking up those combos. Getting a good combo is tough considering how often the opponents teleport so replaying levels to face the bosses is your best bet. Even then, leveling up isn’t very quick and the power upgrade is very slight so you need quite a few level ups to really feel it. I ended the game at level 44, which actually isn’t that bad. I only had to grind for level ups once, but that was before I learned that the Shadow Clone jutsu was the best in the game so it’s hard to tell just how necessary it was. I barely squeaked by one of the final boss fights though so it’s safe to say that it may have ultimately saved me. I think that it should be easier to see how much EXP you need to level up instead of going into the menu that leaves you vurlnable.

Speaking of which…you should be able to pause the game. There is no way to do that in the game, which is pretty sad. You just have to find a quiet spot and camp out t here while you open the menu to look at items and your status. Why the game doesn’t stop while you do that is beyond me. It provides a bit of a challenge in terms of health I suppose, but you should still be able to pause when you’re not in the middle of battle at the very least. (Pausing during battle should still be okay) Nobody wants to keep putting their PSP to sleep when they need to quickly go somewhere. It’s a smaller gripe than the others, but it’s definitely worth mentioning.

The graphics look pretty good. They’re not downright amazing and they certainly get outshined by other PSP games like Birth By Sleep, but it’s good enough. The gameplay graphics are pretty bright and sharp, which allow you to take in everything easily. The cutscenes can definitely be a little blocky, but everything is still clear. I definitely give the game a thumbs up in this area. The soundtrack is decent, but I’m a little more critical of it. There are only a few themes in the game. I’d say that at least half of them are pretty good and there are one or two really good ones. I think they should have had more themes though since just about every boss shares the same one. So, it’s a pretty fun game to listen too, but you should be prepared to hear the same tunes a lot. It’s not as bad as it could have been if the themes were not good of course.

The actual story mode is 10 levels long. Each level is pretty short in terms of gameplay..or at least technically. As mentioned earlier, the boss fights can be quite long and difficult at times so that actually helps to stretch the game out along with the cutscenes. 10 levels is my minimum for a game and my play time was a little over 7 hours so I’m pretty satisfied with the length. There is certainly a lot of replay value to be found here as well. You can try leveling everyone up to level 99 for starters. Then you’ve got Survival Mode and Mission Mode, which have a lot of challenges to complete. You’ve even got an Akatsuki Mode where you effectively play story mode again from the villain’s point of view. A pretty nice touch wouldn’t you say? If you’re really grasping, you can also try to complete each mission with a star, but I’m not sure what you unlock for doing that.

Overall, Naruto Shippuden Legends Akatsuki Rising is a good game, but it’s one that could have been much better. The leveling up system needs a little work since the bosses are typically a little too strong without some extra level ups. The teleporting trick also gets old pretty quickly since the bosses can abuse it while you just watch in awe. The actual story mode is very engaging so it’ll keep you glued to the screen and I still love the concept of a 3D Naruto adventure game. I definitely recommend it to Naruto fans and especially to gamers who want a challenge. Whether intentional or not, this is certainly one of the toughest Naruto games out there! I plan on starting Kizuna Drive soon after I get back to a few other video games so then I should have a review for it up soon. It has more levels than this game and it’s the sequel so we’ll see if they fixed the teleporting issue. I sure hope they did!

Overall 7/10

Scooby Doo Adventures The Mystery Map Review

Posted on January 10, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at the latest Scooby Doo film! This one decided to try its luck with puppets. It’s certainly a bold move, but it’s one that definitely did not pay off. It’s one of those films that just doesn’t age well and it hasn’t been out all that long yet. It has its moments I suppose, but this isn’t the Mystery Inc gang that I remember.

The gang is just enjoying a day at home when the pizza delivery guy gives them a pizza. A treasure map is found inside of it and the heroes decide to look for the treasure. Before they can locate it, they are attacked by an evil parrot. Can this be a real monster or is it someone in a mask? The heroes don’t know the answer to this question yet, but they intend to find out. This case could be dangerous so they’re going to have to use everything that they’ve ever learned if they want to come out on top.

The film is very short and it only runs for about 30 minutes. There isn’t enough time for any development so we quickly just meet a few suspects before the case wraps up. There’s an old lady accompanied by a teenager who explore some mysterious caves for the thrills. A mean janitor lives on an abandoned light house and he certainly can’t be trusted. Finally, we have the pizza man. You won’t want to underestimate any of these guys and one of them must be the culprit. That being said, they all only get about 30 seconds of screentime so it’s tough to really know if they are criminals or not. You’re just going to have to go with your gut on this one.

The evil parrot made for a decent villain I suppose, but it didn’t have the greatest design. There’s a good reason for that of course and I’ll get into it in a second. Fred makes for a good main character although they decided to make him look really unintelligent for some reason. I guess the writers just figured that it would be a wise move…they were wrong. The other characters are pretty similar to how they usually are I suppose.

Now, what shot this film through the ground? From what I’ve said so far, it still sounds like a decent 6-7 star film right? It’s safe to say that it is considerably worse than that though and we have the animation to blame. The puppet techniques really look bad and it’s why I could never get into the Muppets. I’ll take CGI over puppets and that’s saying something! Everything just looks really stilted and the puppets seem to be pretty low quality as well. They look as if somebody just found their uniforms and added a few buttons. This really wrecks the film.

It’s sad when animation techniques wreck an entire movie, but that’s what happened here. The formula is still pretty similar to the average Scooby Doo film, but you can’t get into any of the scenes because of how they look. The chase scenes aren’t fun and watching the characters discuss what they are going to do next can’t be taken seriously. We know that they’re puppets and there is just no way to get around that. Everything just looks sooooo fake. I don’t see this being a hit with the younger generation either so it’s really just a big miss on the producer’s part.

The soundtrack isn’t much better. The insert songs aren’t really catchy and there are no tense themes to really get your heart racing. The dialogue was also a little off, or at least the delivery of the lines. It felt like they were aiming a little younger than usual as there would be a bit of a pause between words to make sure that they didn’t speak too quickly. Pokemon did this during the Zekrom/Reshiram film, but it’s certainly handled more delicately than this title.

I’m struggling to think of a positive for this film, but I can’t really think of one. It was only about 30 minutes and it still manages to drag on for a while. That’s definitely not a good sign if you really think about it. Even small things like the pizza that Shaggy ordered turned out to be negative. Remember the old films where Shaggy loved to eat, but it was always food that actually looked good? Not anymore! He picks out a pizza that looks terrible so nobody would even want to eat it. This isn’t the first time that he’s done that in a film, but it looks worse than usual.

Overall, Do not watch this film. This Scooby Doo Adventure is one that’s best left in theory and not in stores. I don’t see why you would want to spend the big bucks to watch such a short film anyway when you can check out a classic like Cyber Chase or Zombie Island. Those are two films that are significantly better than this one. I guess I would probably put this one over some of the musicals that came out, but even that is a stretch since those still managed to have good animation. I typically walk out of Scooby Doo films humming the songs (in my mind) and remembering the epic case, but that definitely did not happen here. Avoid this film at all costs and hopefully enough of us will do this so they won’t announce a sequel. If they do announce a sequel…let’s hope that it has proper animation this time!

Overall 4/10

Fantastic Four World’s Greatest Heroes Review

Posted on January 10, 2015 by dreager1

Looks like it’s time to review one of the Marvel cartoons that fell under the radar. The Fantastic Four have had several shows, but they’ve never had the same amount of success as the Avengers or the X Men. I’ve seen episodes from two of the other series, but this is the first one where I got to watch the whole series from start to finish. It’s a decent show, but it makes many mistakes, which keeps it from being known as one of the better cartoons. You can certainly see why it was cancelled, but it’s still a good title to check out.

There aren’t any large story arcs in the show. There are plots that continue like villains who go in and out of jail and Dr Doom’s never ending plans to destroy the Fantastic Four once and for all, but nothing to really talk about in the plot selection. A lot of episodes are stand alone fights with the various villains. We also have the Kree subplot as they start to get pretty fed up with the group of heroes. The Fantastic Four antagonize just about everyone that they meet so they have a lot of enemies. Naturally, Dr Doom is at the top of the list.

There are 26 episodes, which is a decent episode count for a series. It’s not a whole lot when you compare it to the other Fantastic Four shows, but cracking the 20 episode barrier is always something to be proud of. That being said, the show was just not as high quality as we have come to expect back in the time that it aired. One of the main problems is actually the animation.

It’s some of the worst animation that I have ever seen for a superhero cartoon. We can make the case that the CGI Spiderman series looked worse, but it was CGI so that’s to be expected. The character designs here are just pretty off putting and the colors can get very chaotic. The show loves to make everything look red or green or blue depending on how the animators are feeling that day. It’s not very pleasing to the eyes and they just seem to be having too much fun trying to make the show unique. Focusing on the fight scenes would have been a better way to have kept the series afloat. I could not get used to this animation no matter how many episodes I saw.

The soundtrack is certainly better, but it’s still not very good. There’s one classic theme that plays whenever they are about to fight and it’s a pretty decent theme for the Fantastic Four. The problem is that the soundtrack is very limited so you’ll be hearing the same theme in just about every episode and typically more than once. It’s a good theme, but (almost) any theme will get old after a number of times. We need variety!

Those two factors hurt the show, but what hurt it even more is the overall cast. The Fantastic Four are known to argue and fight a whole lot, but they take it to a whole new level here. They are constantly talking and there is never a quiet scene in the entire show. Human Torch is like a music box that you just can’t close and he’s always on screen. The others love to contribute as well and the villains play their part. It wouldn’t be a problem if the lines were good, but that’s rarely the case. I’d definitely compare it to Avengers Assemble since just about every line here is supposed to be witty and make you smile. The scary part is that Avengers Assemble actually does a better job with this, but it could just be that I like the characters a little more there. Let’s look at the characters in more detail.

Mr Fantastic is easily the best character in the show. It’s not even close and I also liked the voice that was chosen for him. He really sounds like he’s full of himself and that’s the Reed Richards that I know. He’s always got a plan at the ready and he doesn’t back down. I’ve never seen an incarnation of Mr Fantastic that I did not like and I’m glad to see that this hasn’t changed so far. His powers still aren’t great for combat, but he definitely has his moments.

The Invisible Woman is not bad, but she definitely gives Mr Fantastic a lot of grief during the series. She blames him for the Human Torch’s disappearance at one point, which was fairly unreasonable. One thing that helps to counter this is that she’s easily the strongest member of the team. When she uses her powers effectively, there are few fighters who can really stop her and almost none of those are main FF characters. She runs the business side of the Baxter Building so she tends to talk to the various inhabitants a little more than the others. This means that she has to keep up a pleasant facade from time to time, but the other members know that she is always ready to fight. Sue Storm is probably the only member who can talk back to one of their meaner neighbors.

I’m definitely not a huge Thing fan and he doesn’t do himself any favors here. He’s a pretty nice guy as he just wants to watch his ball games in peace. Unfortunately, the Human Torch will never let that happen so they get into constant arguments. His side plot with Alisha can also drag on a lot since it never goes anywhere. I think there’s no real excuse for the heroes not to cure her blindness and she should also move somewhere that’s a little safer from the Puppet Master. Alisha’s not a bad character, but she’s always been one of my least favorite heroines. She simply doesn’t have a whole lot of character and she naturally doesn’t get any fight scenes. The Thing is the power hitter of the Fantastic Four, but you’d be surprised at how often he still manages to lose fights. The Mole Men’s minions are able to take him down and that was during a rage moment. This certainly isn’t Ben Grimm’s best collection of moments, but the show did adapt his character pretty faithfully. I’ll give the writers some props there.

The Human Torch is unfortunately the most annoying character of the group. For every good line that he has, he’ll have 10 wince worthy ones. The reason for this is the fact that he never stops talking. He continue going on and on until he’s knocked out by a villain. It’s nice to see his confidence and he does pretty well during some of the events, but this version of Johnny Storm is just a little too exaggerated. Naturally, he is given a rather high pitched voice to make him look even worse when he is knocked out. His fire abilities are definitely useful and I would argue that he could defeat the Thing, but there are also a lot of ways around his fire that make him a risky ally to have. He’s typically fun to watch, but he goes overboard way too often to be a really likable character this time.

The Skrulls naturally get to appear and the writers must have really disliked them. They are shown to have little to no actual intelligence. They are very obvious in their attempts to gather intel on the Fantastic Four and they are brushed aside rather easily once the fighting begins. They have never been the toughest of enemies, but they are typically intelligence. They are masters of espionage after all so they wouldn’t make the rookie mistakes that they exhibit in their appearances. It was a pretty good episode though, but their portrayal should have been a little better.

Namor makes a quick appearance in the show and naturally he is rivals with Mr Fantastic. They are constantly getting into arguments and trying to one up the other. Namor is not as bad as you would expect since he is typically a very unlikable character for me. He still shows some of those traits, but the focus is more on him being a leader than on his other qualities. That helps him a lot and he makes for a good guest star. It’s unfortunate for him that he has to ask the surface dwellers for assistance, but the Fantastic Four are always happy to oblige. I was more than satisfied with his portrayal.

Hulk looks pretty good here in his beast form and as Bruce Banner. It’s sad for Bruce since he’s always so close to getting a cure until things just don’t go his way. Considering how smart Reed is, you’d assume that he’d be able to cure him easily. The Hulk’s design isn’t very good, but he definitely looks tough. It’s safe to say that the Thing was completely outmatched in their skirmish and that’s how all of their fights should end up. Bruce Banner gets the short end of the stick as per usual, but his personality was pretty good and he was a likable guest star.

Ronan appears a few times and he has actually defected from the Kree this time. In the comics, that is pretty rare although I don’t necessarily mind the change. It means that he is now free to do as he pleases and he naturally challenges the Fantastic Four. His skill with his hammer is formidable and he has a nice fight against the Human Torch. I’ve never found him to be an incredibly powerful fighter, but against the Fantastic Four I would definitely give him some decent odds in a fight. He’s around the Thing’s level in strength here, if not a little weaker. He gave us one of the better episodes here in the form of a sort of Olympics competition against the Fantastic Four, which was pretty cool. He was definitely one of the better villains in the series.

The Mole Man is probably my least favorite villain in the series. He can’t fight and his design is pretty hard to look at. None of his plans should have any reasonable chance to succeed considering how weak his forces are. Unfortunately, he is one of the more popular Fantastic Four villains so he gets to appear several times. You end up feeling bad for his minions since they’ll never get to see the sun. He has to rely on his wit and cunning to win his fights since his staff can only get him so far. It’s always wince worthy to see him defeat the Fantastic Four.

The Impossible Man is one of those characters that I never like. His reality warping abilities are something that I never want to see in a show so a character whose whole gimmick is related to that is naturally not my kind of character. He mostly just comes to troll the heroes until they trick him into leaving. His episodes are typically more annoying than entertaining. Ant Man made a surprise guest star appearance in this show considering that he typically doesn’t get to be a guest star anywhere. His portrayal was pretty good and he definitely seems to know what he’s doing. There’s not all that much to say about him, but it would be nice to see him fight someday. Fighting minions doesn’t really count, he needs to take on a super villain!

Ironman gets to appear, which is pretty cool. Tony Stark’s portrayal is pretty great since he acts pretty fearless even as the Fantastic Four begin to threaten him. As Iron Man, he definitely proves to be an impressive fighter as you would expect. His armor does get hacked once again, but it is by Dr Doom so it’s pretty excusable. I liked the armor design here, which is a plus and he was definitely one of (if not) the best guest stars on the show. It’s too bad that he didn’t get to return since that would have been pretty cool.

The Super Skrull naturally gets to appear, which is good since he’s a very iconic Fantastic Four villain. I always liked the idea of a guy who had all of their individual abilities and he does not disappoint. He puts up a pretty decent fight and what he makes up for in personality, he makes up for in attitude. He’s never been a very deep character anyway so I hadn’t been expecting all that much. Still, he was a pretty cool villain thanks to his battles and appearance.

The Puppet Master is similar to the Mole Man in that he can’t really fight. He actually has a very overpowered ability, which enables him to control anyone that he has made a statue out of. Techncially, nobody can really counter such a technique so he cannot lose. Plot hax ensues and they get out of his plot, but it’s one of those cases where the writers just made him a little too good. That happens sometimes I suppose, but it’s why you’ve always got to be careful. Even with that ability, he’s just not likable. He’s a really old guy who’s out for vengeance…not a very original story.

She Hulk gets a guest star role and she shows why she is about as strong as the Thing. She is mainly here to remind us why the Thing is so important to the team, but she’s still pretty likable. She was always a pretty good replacement member on the team and she doesn’t rub it in. She’s a team player, but she’s naturally here for the money. It would have been cool for her to have had a real fight with the Thing, but maybe next time. I was just glad to have another guest star.

Terminus is the final villain in the series and it was an interesting decision to end with him. He’s incredibly powerful, but also incredibly slow, which helps to even it out. The heroes quickly despair when they see him until they remember that Reed will think of a plan. So, all of the pressure rests on Reed and it’s thanks to his quick thinking that the heroes survive. Terminus is pretty gullible and I can’t say that I like him, but I do like the idea of a giant mech running around New York. He makes for a good villain.

The Frightful Four appear as a foil to the Fantastic Four. They pretend to be heroes for a while, but we naturally don’t buy that for long. It’s one of the better episodes as they try to humiliate the Fantastic Four on TV until they eventually begin to fight. Mr Fantastic really lets loose and he gets a pretty epic line to end the episode. The members of the Frightful Four are decent. The Wizard is pretty smart after all, but they are rather simple villains. They’re around, but they aren’t on screen long enough to become likable. They make for good villains and that’s about all that you can say for them.

Diablo is a one shot character, but it’s cool to see him try to convince everyone that magic is real. He’s a villain who is hard to take seriously since his powers don’t have many offensive capabilities, but he really tries and that’s the important thing. He definitely isn’t a very interesting villain, but he only appeared once so it wasn’t a real problem. Annihilius is more interesting and I’m not even a fan of the guy. Annihilius also gets to appear in one of the episodes and things aren’t going well for him when his weapon is stolen. Let’s just say that a team up may be in order unless he can snatch the scepter back on his own. He’s not mindless per say, but he’s not one of the Fantastic Four’s more intelligent villains either. He’s a monster who will defend his territory and I guess that will have to be good enough for us. On the bright side, his design is pretty good.

Ultimately, the show definitely had some fun guest stars. It also had some pretty fun episodes like the olympic games and the one with the Frightful Four. From the 26 episodes, I’m sure that at least half of them are pretty good. There were just other episodes that were not so good and ones that were only decent. The problem is that some episodes can toe the line where they almost feel a little boring. It’s partially thanks to the intros as a lot of the episodes begin rather similarly with the Human Torch and Thing fighting. It can just be hard to really get into the feel of the episode, which hurts its chances. The series definitely has no real replay value since you will never care to watch it again. Other big shows like Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Justice League don’t have that problem since you really want to watch them again. That’s probably due to the fact that this show has no good fights. It’s just the way that it was made, but you never feel the blows here. The lack of a plot only serves to amplify this and your first time around will likely be your last.

As far as Marvel cartoons go, this one still does beat Hulk Agents of Smash though so that’s a consolation win. It’s still not a bad show either since I would have given it a quick 4 in that case. It has its pros and cons and they basically cancel out in the long run. Watching an episode shouldn’t be considered as 20 minutes wasted, but it won’t leave you as fulfilled as other shows. Compared to most western shows at the moment, this would probably seem like an all star in comparison. Compared to most Marvel tunes, then it definitely seems to be under average.

Overall, The Fantastic Four were never the World’s Greatest Heroes so the title may have already started firing off some warning bells. The characters can be pretty annoying and it’s really hard to get invested into some of the episodes. They just aren’t very entertaining and the sub par animation does not help its case. That being said, we still do get a lot of fight scenes and we have a decent amount of guest stars. Some episodes are certainly better than others and at its best, the show can still be good. It’s just not very consistent and you are always playing with fire here. I recommend checking this show out if you’ve always wanted to see a new Fantastic Four cartoon, but otherwise I recommend watching the classic 90’s series instead. It’s a more accurate representation of the team and the comics that spawned them. On the bright side, you’ll get to see the Hulk duke it out with the Thing in this show!

Overall 5/10

Transformers Prime Stats and Records

Posted on January 9, 2015 by dreager1

Stats time!

Play Time 3h 6m
31/50 Emblems

Stage Ranks and collectibles

Stage 1 S 1/1
Stage 2 S 0/2
Stage 3 S 1/3
Stage 4 B 0/2
Stage 5 A 0/2
Stage 6 S 0/2
Stage 7 A 0/2
Stage 8 S 1/2
Stage 9 S 0/1
Stage 10 S 1/1
Stage 11 A 0/1
Stage 12 S 1/1
Stage 13 S 1/1

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Monthly Archives: January 2015

Muhyo and Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation Review

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Naruto Shippuden Road to Ninja Review

Transformers Beast Wars The Ascending Review

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Naruto Shippuden Legends Akatsuki Rising Review

Scooby Doo Adventures The Mystery Map Review

Fantastic Four World’s Greatest Heroes Review

Transformers Prime Stats and Records

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