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Night Parade of 100 Demons Organizing Committee Review

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It’s time for a quick one shot adventure about how the demons organize their 100 year event. It’s a quick slice of life story about how the process goes while staying nice and uneventful the whole time. I was expecting some kind of a twist the whole time so at first I was a bit confused but in the end it makes for a light hearted story. More on the forgettable side as there isn’t much of a hook or overall message to it but you get to just enjoy the scenery. Sometimes a story doesn’t really need to have a hook I suppose, although it could have made this one more fun.

Neko and two other demons are chosen to be on the Committee this time around. Every demon wants to participate in the event so they have to make sure to pick only the best. Despite the name of the festival, they can choose more or less than 100 demons if they want to. So the story has them talking to a bunch of demons and then they launch the festival. The twist if you can call it that is that despite the suspense, the same thing happens every 100 years. The same 3 demons are always picked, it’s always the same contestants in the event, everyone is chosen, etc. Since the demons are fully immortal this is all old news to them at this point but since it is every 100 years, they tend to mostly forget by this point and that itself is a running gag.

Although it’s also implied they do remember and just enjoy the gag or acting like they don’t. You can interpret it in a few different ways. The chapter is even shorter than the average oneshot adventure because of all the big splash pages and scenes to show off the artwork without having any real text in there. So this is the kind of story you want to read through on a rainy day and just appreciate the vibes. It doesn’t have much in the way of replay value though because there just isn’t much to the story.

I’d say the best oneshots are either ones with a memorable twist, or some kind of an emotional message. Those are probably the easiest ways to get someone to really notice your story. Otherwise if you’re more going for a classic story, there’s no time to develop the characters and everything. This one wasn’t going with that approach but the artwork alone won’t be enough to make this the next big thing. It probably did need some kind of twist.

The artwork is solid enough though. It definitely has that subtly scary feeling about it with how the characters look and of course that absolutely matches up with the fact that they are demons. You won’t end up forgetting that part anytime soon. The main character is fun enough as well. I do like the idea that she acts extra reluctant and forgettable to make the event more fun for everyone. It’s the little things that really count.

Overall, This story was decent but it is the kind of story you will quickly forget. You won’t have a bad time with it but it won’t leave any kind of impact on you. Check it out if you happen to come across the story and se if maybe it can surpass that for you. Obviously you do have to keep your expectations in check for any kind of oneshot as you don’t want to set the goals too high but this one probably could have done more. I can always appreciate a wholesome story though and maybe if they ever made this into a series, they could have fun taking the concept to the next level. The festival to end all festivals or something like that.

Overall 5/10

Detective Conan: Chianti’s Last Supper Review

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Detective Conan is one of those series that has really been around for a very long time. It’s had well over 1000 chapters and is still going strong. As a result it has had several spinoffs and then recently it even got a new oneshot. It’s always fun to see another artist’s take on the series. The art here is definitely sharp although it leans a little too hard on obnoxious fanservice the whole time. Without that this could have really been a winning adventure but alas it ends up being really limited in what it can accomplish here.

The chapter begins with Chianti deciding to have one last meal before her next kill. She believes in living life to the fullest and that having a good pre assassination routine is for the best. So as always she treats herself to the best food and watches as every guy drools after her. Chianti is just that ultra attractive and she knows it. Will she still be able to go through with the kill though?

I mean she is a villain so there is no question on that last part. As the main heroine, it’s not like there is really anybody to stop her anyway. In the Conan universe someone dies in just about every chapter so the crime rate is incredibly high. It makes sense that all of these villains are still running wild. The only way they’ll ever be taken down is if another villain shows up since otherwise they will be going straight to prison. Her target is another villain in this case so that actually makes my point.

Like I said in the intro though, the only issue here is that the fanservice is really high. The artist wanted to really prove that Chianti is the most beautiful character ever and so all of the outfits and camera angles try to reflect this. I can appreciate some high level confidence like this but you can still have all the dialogue without the art going for the low hanging fruit here. The main series is actually pretty good about not having too much fanservice so this one really stands apart in that area. Definitely a shame.

The food is definitely drawn really well though so I can give the story some props there. I wouldn’t even say that it’s food which would tempt me very much but the quality was on point. I can also picture some really solid action scenes with this style. Ultimately the story didn’t have time for that but it would have been fun. Just look at the shockwaves when Chianti punches a bag near the beginning of the chapter. The potential is right there.

This is a fairly short story and it’s a complete one from start to finish. You know Chianti will succeed from the start and the main point is to generate some hype for her character as you ponder how Conan can possibly defeat her. It won’t be easy, that’s for sure. If you are not already a fan of Conan, you’ll still be able to understand the story without a problem though. It’s not reliant on references or anything. The concept is rather simple. In fact, Conan doesn’t even get a cameo in this one. Gin, another villain is referenced but the main characters are completely out of it. So that makes this even easier to appreciate as a stand alone story.

I’ll give Chianti this, I appreciated that she was a real professional about this. She makes sure to destroy her target but nobody else. It’s professional pride for her. Yeah she’s still a villain and I’m not saying this changes anything about that but I always like when a villain has at least some kind of standards on their side. It just makes them that much more compelling.

Overall, Despite the fact that this is new audience friendly, I would hesitate to recommend the oneshot. You’re better off checking out the main series as a whole since it is quite different. While this may not have been a big hit for me, I would like to see them generate more Conan stories every now and again. There is really a lot you can do with the franchise since the cast is absolutely huge. Maybe Jimmy Kudo will get an appearance in one of these.

Overall 5/10

Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure! Review

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This is one of those games that I would pass by all the time. I never took the plunge and actually bought it though so now that it was added onto the Nintendo Switch Online, I knew it was my chance. Now I could finally see what all the fuss was about. Ultimately this is a good game although I wouldn’t call it a pretty good game because it is missing some solid quality of life stuff. If it can fix those in the sequel, then we can really be in business here.

The game starts out by introducing us to a really dysfunctional family. The daughter believes that she is a frog while the parents are always fighting. Their marriage has grown really strained thanks to the father always spending their money on toys and then lying about it. Not a really good idea at all and you can see why she would be super upset. Well, Chibi Robo exists to spread happiness and joy so this is really his big chance. His partner Telly is a nice little tv bot that provides moral support. Chibi has to find a way to save his family and may even have to go up against some serious spider bots. This will not be easy at all.

The core gameplay is really about walking around and seeing what everybody needs. It feels like an RPG in that respect. Your ultimate goal is to become the best Chibi Robo in the world in order to unlock your super mode and you do that by collecting hearts. You need thousands of hearts for this and you get them by breaking boxes, helping your friends, and picking up the trash around the house. It’s steady work that will gradually get you to the top although there are also main story quests that you have to accomplish. You won’t be able to get the top ranking without completing them all so you want to be doing both at the same time.

There is also a day and night system to keep track of. Initially the time changes every 5 minutes but eventually you can buy a power up that extends this to 15. Trust me, it’s a mechanic that you will find annoying almost immediately. Sometimes you need the day to end early or to stretch a bit longer and you’re just out of luck. I think this was definitely a mechanic that should have been skipped.

You also have to watch your energy meter. If it goes to 0, you will lose a ton of money and be sent back home. At the start of the game you don’t have a lot of energy at all but by the end you have a sizable amount. This means a lot of recharging at the various sockets scattered around the house. This can get rather monotonous fast and mixing that in with the day/night timer, you are always in a rush. You can’t afford to just survey the area and try to plan things out. For an exploration game like this, it’s a really questionable strategy.

The graphics are fairly good. I do think the art style has aged well and the special effects are solid. Some of the animations/unskippable cutscenes can get old quickly but that’s not the graphics fault. This game does opt for the made-up language/random sound effects of dialogue which is definitely unfortunate. It’s not as bad as in other games but will still get grating rather quickly. The whole time you will be hoping that you don’t have to see the characters talking too much.

Although on the other hand you are glad to have a real plot here. The soundtrack is mainly forgettable although there is a good track or two in there. The game isn’t generally combat heavy btu we actually do get a full boss fight near the end so that was pretty cool. I’d like to see more combat in the sequel since Chibi has his own blaster and everything.

While I didn’t find it to be too captivating, I give the game credit for establishing some lore and actually trying to tell a full story here. It could be a bit too repetitive, but the attempt was at least made. I also think the concept of a platformer that revolves around you being tiny is really good. You just don’t need the other gimmicks along with that. Let me enjoy running around cleaning up the house without putting some kind of a big timer on it.

Overall, Chibi Robo is a game that suffered from its own ambitions. It would have been a great calming game if they had just stuck to the core concept. It reminds me a lot of De Blob in terms of the cleaning efforts but that game was many times better because you could actually take your time and have a lot of fun. While cleaning games won’t be for everyone, I would bet that a large amount of the core fanbase would agree that they want to be able to have fun without constantly rushing the whole time. At the very least I know that’s how I feel about it. If you don’t mind being rushed the whole time, then you should check this one out. I would even say that it can be reasonably difficult at times. At least in finding out how to reach certain areas. You really have to keep a close eye on every part of the house and memorize the layouts for day and night to get to the bottom of this. Things change every few chapters as well so you want to keep that in mind.

Overall 6/10

War of the Worlds (2025) Review

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Sometimes you end up watching a film where you wonder what the thought process was. Did anyone think the movie would really be a success or were they just getting the film out as a way to say they did something? Well, this one is really a trip. The writing doesn’t make sense, the plot progression is odd, and the film plays out as a big parody. That said….this is why it actually succeeds. If you watch this as a parody comedy, it’s surprisingly solid with how the characters act so genuine with their odd behavior. You’ll get rather hyped up while watching it. Trust me, this is a film that you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

The movie begins by introducing us to Will. This guy is a pretty big shot within the Department of Homeland Security. He’s so high up that he can hack into any satellite across the planet and has unrestricted access to people’s phones and computers. He can essentially do anything. One character tries to warn him that the government is always watching and Will powerfully responds that he knows…because he is the government! Will has no regard for people’s privacy and believes that safety comes above all else. No worries though…power won’t corrupt him.

Well, one day the Earth is invaded by aliens and so the government needs Will in order to coordinate a response. They’re going to have to wait though as Will’s top priority is taking care of his two kids. His wife passed away a while back so this is what he has to do. Unfortunately his son is a big conspiracy guy so Will tunes him out and his daughter Faith is always running around and getting into trouble. Will is going to need to use all of his hacking skills to keep her safe but with him being busy…what will America be able to do about all of this?

So like I said this feels like a full parody. For example Will has more power than would be humanly possible here. This film is a conspiracy fan’s best dream because if you did actually have people running around with this level of tech, it would be bad. Then you have the fact that Will is basically blowing people off constantly to help his kids when lives are at stake. Will also takes time to click on every single pop up as news reports keep coming in.

As one point the government asks him for a plan of action and he goes on a 5 minute ramble about how we’re being attacked by aliens from outer space. The sentence is rather redundant but also they already knew that. They wanted to know what to do about it and he basically just says to fight back. Very nice. I do think it’s pretty realistic that some government agents are going to choose family over duty but the film is just so blatant here that it’s hilarious.

You want fake deaths for shock value? One character named Sandra dies around 4-5 times during the movie and always shows up like nothing happened. Nobody tends to even be all that surprised to see her. We get fake death scares for Faith and Dave at different points as well, even one or two for Faith’s boyfriend. The film loves throwing these in all the time along with some scary music to get to you. It may not be subtle, but hey it’s definitely memorable.

Will is basically stuck in the computer room for the whole film so all he really gets to do is look shocked for most of the film. He takes his glasses of and puts them back on at numerous points during the film. Each time makes it even better than the last. Additionally, he does try to leave at one point and has to give up when the doors were locked. That was a fun little suspense scene.

No worries though, we’ve also got a really fun main villain. This guy is as over the top as can be. He talks tough to his bosses about how he’s going to do whatever he wants and then totally gets away with it for ages until the film’s climax. He has absolute confidence and when Will approaches him about this, the guy takes it in stride. He just laughs about how long it took Will to catch on. I like when a villain keeps his composure like that. Sure he’s insane, but he’s not going to just back down on his convictions.

Will definitely is the kind of character who is slow on the uptake though. After the aliens are attacking and things are going crazy, he still refuses to talk to his son Dave. Even once things get crazier and crazier which points to Dave having some valid points, Will doesn’t want to hear it. He’s stubborn to the end. While the end of the movie gives him some character development, it’s also crazy how Will was so readily willing to hack into his family’s devices and completely ignore their need for privacy.

It’s like he just didn’t register that this was a bad thing at all. Meanwhile Faith was okay but not the smartest character considering that they built her up as a genius. She nearly dies by pulling an object out of her leg even though it was already bleeding a lot and in the car she goes on a speech about how Will has no power. Pretty ironic when he remote hacked a Tesla car from his room to save her live and drive her to a security checkpoint. Maybe that speech could have been left for later on.

Initially I thought her boyfriend was going to be useless the whole time because he would never show up to help her when the chips were down. Turns out he is just really slow but once he’s there, the guy does decent enough. His main asset is that the guy works at Amazon so he has a ton of high tech equipment at the ready. Without all of that, the characters would have been doomed. As for Dave, he may have been the best supporting character. For once I can’t even blame him for not telling Will enough because Will seriously wouldn’t let the guy talk at all.

I did like Sandra as well. When she wasn’t constantly dying, she was trying to sound the alert on what was going on but Will would just blow her off the whole time. It’s not like they could have done a whole lot in the span of an hour or so but at least she was trying. Meanwhile the government was mainly helpless without Will. They’d be waiting at the meetings for him to show up and were mainly panicking. It was nice to get some army fight scenes where they were doing well against the Tripods but the aliens are too powerful. They just got a bit overconfident.

The special effects aren’t half bad. The terrible camera work hurts for sure but the actual lasers are good. Make no mistake, the script is definitely better for a comedy than a thriller but at least it’s not terrible either. This is the kind of film you will have fun with. If you think too hard about it, I’m betting you will find some serious plot holes though. It’s just that kind of title. It’s not worried about things like that and is just trying to make for a good time. Ultimately I’m not even all that opposed to such a concept. It makes enough sense to me.

Overall, I’d be up for a sequel to this one. Keep it as cheesy as this one with the heroes fighting off another invasion or something like that. Maybe Will’s development could be learning that things aren’t always ultra black and white. He’s super against the government now to the point where he’s making threats against them but perhaps we’ll see how he actually needs their help in the next film. Would doing another alien invasion film feel redundant? Nahhhhh, I trust this movie to handle it well.

Overall 7/10

The Boy and the Beast Review

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I remember hearing this film’s name a whole lot back in the day. I can’t say I knew a whole lot about it but from the title you can more or less guess the themes. It ends up being a pretty solid film. We get some good action here and a solid amount of character development. It’s well balanced all the way. I was also not expecting the time skip that happens around halfway and it was a really good decision as it led to a more enjoyable status quo for the climax.

The movie starts with a kid named Ren running away from home after his mother died. The father was out of the picture and he didn’t want to go with any of the family members. This leads to him entering the monster world where he ends up becoming Kumatetsu’s apprentice. This guy is one of the two candidates to become the next lord of the world although he always loses to his rival Iozen. He hopes to get stronger and in the meantime Ren also wants power. So he reluctantly joins Kumatetsu and thus begins a strong partnership. However, Iozen’s son Ichirohiko begins to grow jealous. Is some foul play about to occur?

The monster world is pretty interesting. For the most part it is a lot like the human world, just with tournaments of power going on. Because of the similarities, we don’t have to spend a lot of time on world building and can focus on the dynamic with Ren and Kumatetsu. That’s the main draw of the film after all and it works well. For the most part I tend to blame Ren for being a little too bratty for the first half but it is true that Kumatetsu could have handled some of the situations with more tact. Dealing with others may not be his specialty but it is something that he can improve on.

I did enjoy him a lot as a character though. I always tend to enjoy characters who are confident and ready to fight. Kumatetsu is the kind of guy who never backs down and has a lot of determination. He easily could have been the main character here if things had played out a little differently. His ending isn’t my favorite and I would have preferred if the film had gone in a different way but it doesn’t make him look bad at all. He made the sacrifices that he needed to in order to help Ren.

Ren naturally gets much better once he is older and makes up for his earlier scenes of whining a lot. By the end he is totally a good character. He gains a lot of confidence and is also a responsible person. Ren’s not perfect and still flies off the handle a bit too quickly though. Deciding on a whim to live with his father and ditch the monster world did not make any sense and I also think he could have really tried talking to Kumatetsu instead of storming off. He usually gets his act together quickly but it was all a bit rushed and made him look immature.

Also while the film didn’t want to reward the rage out, he should have been allowed to fight Ichirohiko a little bit in order to avenge his master. Having him not even be able to land a single hit because it would put him on the dark side was a little too extreme for me. That just didn’t make sense. Meanwhile Ichirohiko is definitely one of the pettier characters here. One of those guys who is totally cool as long as you’re weaker than him but otherwise he gets jealous really quickly.

His origin wasn’t all that sad so I can’t even say that I felt all that bad for him. He just needed to not become a total bully at the first opportunity. One thing I really respected about his father is that Iozen stayed professional at all times. I don’t think he was ever the biggest fan of Kumatetsu and this definitely showed, but he wasn’t about to stab him in the back or cheat. He would still fight fair and play by all of the rules. If it didn’t work out, then that would be it for him. Just a solid class act the whole time.

The animation is pretty good. The opening may have been a bit too stylized for me but otherwise all of the action scenes are good. The fights are on point and all of the battles really stand out. The music is unfortunately going to sound like a lot of free domain stuff. No songs that you’ll be humming to during the film. None of the tracks are bad but none of them are even slightly memorable.

Ren’s trip to the human world may be a little rushed in general but Kaede made for a solid supporting character. My only gripe with her would be her lack of a survival instinct. Holding Ren’s hand when he was about to fight wasn’t very smart and then talking smack to a giant monster is also not a good idea when you can’t fight. I appreciate her toughness of course but she could have had better tactics here. She was a good friend to Ren and helped out when it counted though. The film also sets up a romance without rushing things so I was fine with that. Pacing is absolutely key with these things. Ren’s father doesn’t get quite as much time so his whole plot feels rather forced but I guess we can just say that he was a good guy in a tough situation.

The ending of the movie is a bit disappointing since it does limit things though. I would have taken things in different directions on several occasions. Both Ren’s ending and Kumatetsu’s were not very good. A sequel can fix both things but this film should have ended in a way that would make it easier and more satisfying. In particular when you build up a great dynamic, you should give it several films for the audience to have fun with instead of just ending it.

Overall, The Boy and the Beast is a pretty good film. It had more action than I was expecting and had good pacing. I do wish we could have gotten a proper match between the apprentices from both candidates though. The climax is more about super abilities and summons so we never have a chance to get that proper choreography. I think it would have been a lot of fun even if Ren would have absolutely had the edge. Ah well, you can’t have every fight. The ending of the movie also isn’t my favorite but a sequel could always change things up and turn out to be a lot of fun so you can’t rule that out.

Overall 7/10

Summer Ghost Review

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It’s time for another one of those shorter anime films. Summer Ghost is a pretty solid title although the short length does mean that we don’t get to see a whole lot of each individual character. Instead they all just get a small intro and we jump into the main plot. A longer story probably could have helped to elevate the emotional punch for each of the characters but it is still a good story.

The movie starts with Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo heading to an abandoned area to light up some fireworks. Their main plan is to summon a ghost named Ayane to see if ghosts are actually real. The plan works and they meet her. Aoi and Ryo are satisfied but Tomoya continues to visit her because he wants to learn more about ghosts. Can it be that they have a more enjoyable time than he does in the real world? During this adventure he must contend with what it means to truly be alive.

The element that keeps all 3 of the main characters together is how close they are to death. Ryo in a physical way, Tomoya in a spiritual way as his soul is dying, and Aoi who is being bullied so hard that she is thinking about ending both sides of herself. Meeting Ayane and each other is what will help them all conquer their inner demons. So this is really a film about not giving up and certainly about not checking out of life early. This is where the short length starts to creep in though as we just don’t have a whole lot of time for their backstories. I would say Aoi probably gets the shortest end of the stick here. You still do understand the context and everything here but the film has to move really fast.

It’s always good to see films with an anti suicide message thrown in with how many people are depressed nowadays. Some circumstances certainly feel like they can be hard to escape and you need a fresh perspective to even begin to escape that. For Ryo, it might be the toughest since he is literally dying. There is nothing that he can do to stop the effects and so within a year he will be gone. He really just has to do his best to come to terms with it. For part of the movie it seems like he has already done so, but it’s more of a facade while by the end he is actually okay.

There’s not much you can really say to someone like that as you don’t know how you will react until it happens. In some ways I would still consider it the easiest fate of the 3 since you at least know that the end is near. You have time to knock items off your bucket list and all, many would wish they had some kind of advanced notice like hat. Of course he’s so young that he still wasn’t able to accomplish as much as he would have liked to have done. I appreciated how he was careful to still support the other two though. He was my favorite of the three main characters.

Then for Aoi, naturally being bullied isn’t easy and it’s something that happens constantly around the world. We don’t see enough of her story to know what steps she tried to get around it or more details but the point here is that it was quite bad and she had no real escape. Ultimately her message is just about sticking up for herself which is always useful but in a way you would have liked some more tangible steps to making her situation better. We just have to hope that it all worked out.

As for Tomoya, his is the trickiest issue. He just doesn’t feel like he is alive and that life is essentially pointless. It’s why he is tempted by the realm of the dead since they seem to have a more carefree life. Ayane isn’t particularly helpful in proving otherwise since she puts on a cheerful front and flies around a lot. At least she did flat out say that dying isn’t a good idea so I’ll give her some points there.

Ultimately Tomoya just needed to find a reason for life. If your life doesn’t have a purpose, you definitely need to find one right away because of course things will feel empty otherwise. You need that in order to move forward. He definitely could have spoken up for himself more in terms of schoolwork and telling the others about his journeys with the ghost. He is definitely too withdrawn for his own good. I didn’t think he stuck out as much as the other two characters and was a bit bland for the lead.

As for Ayane, she definitely had the toughest journey of the group since she literally died and in a rather painful/scary way. It was good that she got to have closure thanks to these characters. Her mother may not have had a smooth closure on screen but we can assume that everything got properly reported afterwards so that’ll come in time. A little epilogue would have been nice to confirm this though and maybe even find a way to trace the crime back to the driver and get him arrested. That may not have been the focus of the film but it would have been a great way to end things with a lot of well earned justice.

The animation is fairly good. I liked the use of the shadows and it helped to make the characters stand out. It’s definitely not quite as impressive as some of the other anime films that I’ve seen but it is certainly good enough to hold its own. The soundtrack is a lot more on the bland side though. Nothing particularly noteworthy at all and so you will end up forgetting about the tunes very quickly. The film really ends up having to stand on its own with the story and writing.

Overall, Summer Ghost is a solid film. While the messaging it solid, I don’t think the movie ever gets quite as emotional as it was hoping to be. You just don’t know the characters well enough for that and while they grew up with some rather difficult circumstances, we don’t see enough to really determine just how bad they were. Aoi’s was the worst out of the 3 and even then we do have to make some assumptions on our side as the viewer. If you’re up for a good film about exploring what it means to live, then this is still a solid one to check out.

Overall 6/10

Vampire Knight: Memories Review

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Vampire Knight was never one of my favorite manga titles. Trust me, it just wasn’t all that good but at least it wasn’t boring. Memories is basically what you get if you decide to take a rather underwhelming cast, remove all of the interesting characters, and then do a ton of world building and politics. The end result is that you don’t really care what is going on. Throw in a bunch of time jumps all over the place and it makes the whole thing feel even worse. Yuki’s inaction also means that the romance is absolutely terrible and all over the place. You will not be feeling satisfied by the time you finish this series.

The series jumps across a bunch of time periods but for the most part it’s in the future. Kaname was sealed and his heart was lost so he was in suspended animation for 1000 years. When he awakens, he now has complete amnesia and so his two daughters gradually tell him more and more about what went on. Additionally he also starts to get some memories of his own. Whatever happened to Yuki, the queen of the vampires? They had kids together but Kaname never got to spend time with them before and at this point they’ve been around for ages. Of course when you’re immortal it all gets to be rather relative. The world appears to have gone the way Yuki hoped, with coexistence between humans and vampires. Perhaps this is a good future.

A lot of the themes within the series have one main connection which is that vampires and humans will always have a tough time connecting. For example there’s a guy named Hanabusa who ends up liking one of the heroines but of course she never ages while he does. At first it looks like things could work out well enough but then in 20 years it’s a different situation. The way the vampires look at relationships also ends up being really different as a result.

In effect, they’ll humor the humans and have fun with them but it’s just not the same. How can you have true love when a human will only last around 80 years and you still have 4000 years to go? The whole relationship will just be the blink of an eye. That kind of time also does a whole lot of damage to their very emotions. To a point it gets impossible to read the vampires and that’s also why a lot of humans fear them. How do you interact with a being that has existed for hundreds of years before you and who will continue to exist afterwards? There is also the power difference as they can crush you with a single motion.

Fortunately Yuki and the human principal did a whole lot to reduce tensions between the two. Unfortunately things still happen as humans have underground fighting arenas and terrorism attacks that continue to happen. Vampires are strong but not unbeatable so there are casualties from time to time. It can be tough to always have to hold back and take the high road when you can feel the bloodlust coming in from the other side. The vampires do well on this but the humans will definitely try your patience.

In theory the plot that is supposed to tug on your emotional heartstrings is the plot with Kaname. He has to come to terms with the fact that Yuki had to live without him for a long while and so of course that meant turning to Zero. The only problem is that he doesn’t really care. He was always okay with Zero taking a secondary spot because while the guy lived much longer than a normal human, he still wasn’t going to be as immortal as a pureblood vampire. This idea of sharing Yuki was just ridiculous though. It makes all 3 characters look really bad.

Kaname got a really raw deal to be sure. The whole thing absolutely sucked for him as he missed out on the best parts of his life. He may have helped achieve peace and make a better future but the sacrifice was definitely far too great. You just can’t find much solace in that at all. The guy feels like an empty husk of a character as well compared to the original series. Although it feels like every vampire is like this here so perhaps it is just the inevitable end. There’s just something depressing about being a vampire here.

Likewise for Yuki, she definitely looks bad here as well. She really needed to pick a guy. Kaname or Zero but leading them both on and having fun was never an option. The hard truth is that even if you’re going to be alive for over 1000 years, you can only pick one person. There cannot be any rebounds. That’s not going to be a good idea in the long run and I’m certainly not going to be able to support it. It was nice to get the occasional action scene for her but this was super rare.

Meanwhile the same negatives apply to Zero as well. When you’re happy being second fiddle then you don’t have a whole lot of self respect. Even if he got to be with Yuki for a while when Kaname was gone, she still had kids with him. Zero was always the backup guy and was completely out of luck. In a vampire series, it’s rare for the human to actually get picked and this one was no exception. Zero always had some cool powers and skills with the gun but in this series he looked pretty bad.

There’s something to be said about how the vampires always end up getting tempted into the taboo as well. One of them falls for her sibling, another falls for her father, etc. I think a lot of it has to do with the immortality part as it completely messes with their emotional regulation and feelings of right and wrong. It just doesn’t make for a very compelling plot and means that all of the characters will be annoying at best and completely unlikable at worst. There isn’t much of a happy middle to be found here. You still want them to survive and defeat the terrorists but it does limit how much you could like any of the characters.

Also as a vampire series you can still expect there to be a lot of blood draining as always. In this series it may as well be a kiss with how the characters really get into it. The vampires are never able to fully control their urges and most of the time the humans are egging them on as well. Now there is a full toxic relationship. No other way to get around that.

As far as the artwork goes, it’s not terrible. I would put it under average though. It’s got a very old school Shojo look which means that a lot of the characters are easily to mess up. The pages can get cluttered really quickly as well and any action scene quickly becomes near unreadable. As long as you read through the series slowly you will be fine, but it’s certainly not very streamlined. The series actually made it over 50 chapters so you’ve got a good amount of content here. Factor in how each chapter will take you a little while and you’re totally set.

If you do enjoy the series, I doubt it will feel too short. Memories covers a lot of events within that time-frame. While the flashbacks and flash forwards mainly drove me out of the story, I imagine they will have the opposite effect on a mega fan. There is a lot of world building here after all. It’s the kind of series that would probably end up being a whole lot better in anime form which tends to make scenes more dynamic. That can fix some of the boring elements but it will have time fixing the poor characters.

Now his review has seemed pretty negative….but I’m about to double down. This is the kind of Shojo that people assume they are all like. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Shojo back in the day but I’ve read a lot of good ones since then. They can be a lot of fun with well written romances and a lot of light hearted moments. I will admit that a romantic drama will always be hard to pull off but a romantic comedy can usually be a lot of fun. The first problem is that this series decided to go full on drama and the second problem is that none of the romances are properly built up.

Yes this goes back to the main characters being vampires again but the series could have still had a good romance if it really wanted to. I don’t think this had to be an impossible endeavor at all. Ai for example could have been a good new main character if the series hadn’t given her odd romantic subplots and also kept switching to other characters. It’s why most series pick an actual main character and then develop supporting ones.

Going for an ensemble cast is going to be more of a risk if you aren’t ready for it and I can tell you that this series was absolutely not ready for the challenge. Also, there can’t be any stakes for the various stories that take place in the past because we know the main characters are okay in the present. Not that this is an action thriller story or anything like that but there are still some attacks and thriller elements so why spoil the ending right in chapter 1? The amount of questionable choices here will have your mind spinning the whole time.

Finally, I would say what keeps this series from being an interesting intellectual thriller like Liar Game or Kingdom Hearts is that there are no interesting concepts to debate. For example the vampire stuff I talked about earlier. Their lack of emotions and how they view romance is tragic but also completely negative. There isn’t really a debate on how this could be a good thing or a way to solve the problem. It’s why this series can be as complex as it wants, it still won’t generate any real discussion. I wish the series had focused more on a war between humans and vampires because at least that is always a fun thing to talk about.

The closest we get to that is a few characters asking if the current dynamic is really a good thing but it never ends up being a central focus. It would change the whole series but this one should have dropped the romance tag entirely and just focused on the politics. If it did that and had a human MC and a vampire, then we could have filled the series with ethical debates which would have been infinitely more interesting. You would have to make the humans be less overtly evil though as that defeats any remote chance of making this an actual debate. It’s just not going to work when it’s so one sided.


Overall, Vampire Knight: Memories is a pretty bad series. Vampires have never been my thing so throwing in a spinoff to a series I was already not a fan of? That was not going to be a recipe for success. It lasted a lot longer than I expected it to be but it never ended up being all that good. On occasion you would get a good chapter like Yuki infiltrating a terrorist stronghold to fight them or Zero getting an action scene but most of the series is just pure melodrama. If the series had been completely chronological then it probably would have been better but even then I admit that it probably would not have been great. I expect that there still would have been issues left and right. If you’re a mega fan of the original Vampire Knight then you should check this one out, but otherwise you will definitely want to skip this one. The only disclaimer I’ll give on the series behalf is that with a story like this, it can sometimes be better read as a marathon. If you do that maybe you’ll find the series to be more enjoyable but at the same time a great story is great no matter how you read it.

Overall 2/10

Pokemon Go Update

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I finally purified 1000 Pokemon! This took ages to obtain but at long last my Platinum Medals have gone up by one. I’m not really sure which one I’ll aim for next. I’m not exactly all that close to any of them. Maybe doing 100 best buddies but we’ll see. In the meantime I will continue working hard to catch them all!

Lonely Castle in the Mirror Review

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I can’t say I was familiar with this story back in the day so now I finally get to see what it’s all about. With 5 volumes it is a fairly short adventure but a good one nonetheless. It’s really about a group of characters who all have their own struggles and it is just long enough to see what they are all dealing with. Although not quite long enough to go into details here as they have to blast through the last volume really quickly.

The story starts by introducing us to Kokoro who was badly bullied in school to the point where she has become too traumatized to even leave her home. Her parents have done everything they could in order to support her but the fears are only getting worse. They hope that giving Kokoro space will help out and they are considering other schools. Part of the problem is that Kokoro won’t come clean to them about what really happened. Well, one day a mirror in her room glows and stepping through it takes her to a castle with 6 other kids.

A little girl named the Wolf Queen announces that somewhere within the castle is a key and whoever obtains it will be able to make a wish. This wish will come true but afterwards everyone will lose their memories of this whole situation and the castle will vanish. Each of the kids have some issues at home and so they all agree to not use the key even if they find it until the very end. It will stay open for the whole school year until March. At the same time, will the others actually stick to the plan or will they look for this in secret?

A key that can grant any wish is very tempting after all. It can really turn your life around without a doubt and each of these kids can use it. The castle is also not particularly large so it shouldn’t be too hard to find the key. I would say this is the only part that does require you to suspend disbelief to an extent because when we find out what the location was….it ended up being incredibly easy to find. I would argue it should have been found on one of the first days. I suppose almost any spot would have been hard to picture the characters not finding.

The characters all being able to finally have someone to confide in is definitely a solid way to address the pain they’ve all gone through. Where the series really succeeds is in showing you very convincingly how bad the characters had it. I certainly wouldn’t say it was completely equal or anything like that but they all had a tough time in different ways. The stakes were also rather high in a lot of cases so you can see why they might be willing to risk their lives.

Yes, one thing I neglected to mention is that if you stay in the castle past 5:00PM, then you will be eaten by wolves. Additionally, they will eat anyone else who was in the castle at any point during that day. So all it takes is for one kid to mess up and then they will all be dead. At the same time, if you may die by going back to the real world, then of course you may as well stay and fight. The Castle makes for a solid retreat for the characters but of course not being able to stay there is a rough weakness in itself.

The art isn’t all that good so the story does have to survive on the writing all the way through. It’s just not very detailed and at times almost feels a bit abstract. The more intense scenes like the Wolves showing up tend to get a whole lot of detail but the average scene isn’t quite able to match up to that. It does make the volumes take a bit longer to read since the art isn’t super clear.

I also appreciated that some of the adults were allowed to be really helpful. Sometimes in these things the adults are all clueless or unavailable but here you had a mixed arrangement. Kokoro’s parents were on the ball from the start after all and only got iced out because of Kokoro herself. Otherwise they would have been able to have gotten involved a lot sooner to help out and make a difference. The main teacher from the hearts school was also good and trying to make things work. She never gave up. The other teacher wasn’t as good and easily manipulatable, but I also don’t think he was downright terrible. He was just out of his depth.

Of course then you also have some really bad adults who are active antagonists. It can come from parents who neglect their children or more directly from a predator in one of the character’s trials. Those get quite bad of course and you also have the bullies on the kids side. It definitely shows how much trouble is right around the corner and the characters aren’t really able to help each other out no matter how much they try. While the mirror united them, it also ends up making them more alone than ever before.

Now lets talk about the main characters. First up is Kokoro and as the main character we definitely see more of her journey than anyone else. Basically the bullies put her as a target and even went to her home to further threaten her. Kokoro felt that her life was in mortal danger at that point and just got lucky that the doors were locked or they would have gone in and murdered her. Kokoro’s only friend at the time did not step in to help at any point and so a large gap between them widened. As a result Kokoro was completely isolated and worried that ever leaving the house would be fatal.

I don’t feel like Kokoro was even exaggerating this. When bullies are in a group they will naturally get a lot more confident and bold. They will do things that they wouldn’t have even contemplated when they were all alone. In the heat of the moment, it would have gotten really bad. I do wish she had told her parents though. That would have moved things along a lot sooner and they would have no reason to think she was lying. Of course that isn’t easy, coming clean never is. It’s just rough that Kokoro basically had to just stay home and take it for so long. It’s not the biggest or smallest challenge among the main 7 but it was a considerable one.

Kokoro did well in trying to stay strong throughout this. It’s also clear that because of all the isolation, she isn’t quite able to act as naturally around others as the other kids. She tends to overthink it when there are problems and gets really awkward while the other kids just make up and keep it moving. This does ultimately help her to finally be at peace and gain her inner strength. It leads up well to the climax and so she was a solid character.

Subaru isn’t one of my favorite characters but basically he begins to act out because nobody really gave him any attention. He was neglected by his family the whole time through and only had bad influences around him. This definitely caused him to grow up rather jaded compared to the others. It means that for most of the series he isn’t the most sympathetic character to the others but it’s not like he’s a bad person either. Subaru still does help out when it counts, he just has more guards up than the others. I’d say he had it a bit easier than some of the others but not having any bonds certainly does hurt.

Akiko easily has the toughest backstory and I’d say it’s not close. It’s why she is afraid to even go back home each time. She has to deal with an abusive step father who is constantly trying to get to her and her boyfriend ditched her when it counted. She needs to find a way to leave the house but doesn’t really have any path out of there. She easily tries the hardest to get the key because it is really a matter of life or death. It’s hard to scale trials as everyone has their own troubles and would each handle them differently.

Still, it’s fair to say that Akiko’s troubles were the most time sensitive and so I couldn’t even blame her for wanting to stay past curfew at the castle. At least with a wolf you’d figure it would be a quick end and potentially the whole situation would be over a lot quicker. She wasn’t always the nicest kid in the castle but she’s dealt with a lot so it made sense. I’d also say she would try to mend the bridge with the others as quickly as possible.

Fuka’s difficulties come from the powerful expectations her mom had for her. She was counting on Fuka to become an incredible pianist and while the kid tried her best, she would keep on hitting a wall. That’s already tough enough on its own but then there is also the economic factor. Her family doesn’t have much money and they are going deeper into debt with her mom slowly cracking under the pressure. Quitting now would make it seem like the last few years were a waste but at the same time continuing to go further into it will just add on more losses. She is also dealing with a global pandemic.

Then we have Masamune who is a big gamer. He loves playing RPGs and is generally easy to hang out with. The problem is that he tries a bit too hard to fit in and so he tends to spread little white lies to boost himself up. He overplayed his hand and it got bad which led to a lot of bullying. Compared to the others it doesn’t seem nearly as bad as most but of course when you’re in a rough situation, it’s really not going to give you any solace to hear that others have it worse. You just want to be in a good situation.

He was definitely one of the best kids though. Masamune rarely stirred up trouble and would try to help the others out as much as he could. He was a nice kid and so you could really appreciate that. If he could just find a way to not slip in little lies here and there, then he would really be al set. It can be easy for them to become second nature if you don’t keep your guard up.

Haruka is my least favorite kid by far. Yes, he definitely had it rough by getting bullied a lot but it really didn’t make sense how he would always be crushing on all the girls. The story tries to show that he’s just really honest with his feelings but it makes him come across as flaky. It was good that he stopped lending money and stuck up for himself even if it made things tough. I think we could have used some more context on exactly how this would lead him to getting beat up though. I get maybe once but after that you’d think it would be over.

If the story had removed the flirty element then he would have just been a much better character. If you ask me, that’s what they should have done as otherwise he would have been very sympathetic. It’s not a character trait that needed to be in there at all. Finally we have Rion. Rion seems to have it all together compared to the others as he is outgoing and very friendly. So why would he be in this castle of troubles? Well, we find out that his sister died and his mother couldn’t really handle this and essentially began to resent seeing Rion so healthy. So she pushed him out to move all the way to Hawaii.

Rion wasn’t bullied or anything but effectively being told that your own parents don’t want to see you is pretty rough. It’s definitely not something that the parents can really come back from and the husband definitely takes some blame here for not doing anything about it. He really should have helped Rion when it counted. So I would still say Rion’s struggles are fairly high on the list even if there was no physical component to it. That would create serious emotional scars.

Of course we also have the Wolf Queen and there are a lot of twists about her or at least involving her presence in the story. The series does a good job of setting things up. You’ll probably at least guess the connection between all of the characters as the series left a bunch of clues on that. Guessing her true identity would be a lot harder even if you might suspect things later on in the series. Either way she was a solid character. Her rules may have been harsh but she did give them all a home. She also helped Akiko when she was in a real jam even though there was no obligation to do so.

On the whole the series is balancing being well natured and good fun for a lot of the journey with all of the struggles making this more of a tragedy at other points. You’ll certainly feel bad for the characters, particularly because they’re so young. The series definitely makes sure of that. Even with the ending as certain things may have been wiped away, but they still happened. It is a rough ending for some of the characters without a doubt and the body counts gets higher than you would expect. I wasn’t expecting the climax to go as hard as it did.

Overall Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a good story about overcoming your troubles and not giving up. Even when it feels like you are all alone and there is no hope, there will be a way to persevere. Of course it’s much easier said than done. Try to find a way to let someone know if you are nearly at the point of giving it all up. Put your faith in God to resist the trials and when things are being pushed too far, calling the cops and other authorities is something you need to be able to do. If you do nothing and let the bad things happen to you, like excessive bullying or being attacked, you will eventually reach your limit. It definitely makes for a heavy series and while this one won’t have a ton of replay value or be the happiest story you’ve read, it was written well. Probably could have just used one more volume to space out all of the characters and their origins a bit more though.

Overall 6/10

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Review

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It’s time for the last of the big Metroid Prime titles before the new one comes out. I was pleasantly surprised that they added way more story to this one than to any of the previous installments. I finally felt like I was playing a true sci-fi epic here so that was a lot of fun. The Wii controls do hold the game back to an extent as that type of gameplay system never quite caught on. Still, I definitely had a real good time here and hopefully Prime 4 is able to keep up with this one.

The story has Samus returning to the Federation to catch up when they are all attacked by an army of Ridley’s men. Oddly they seem to be infected by some kind of dark energy and then Dark Samus herself shows up. She easily conquers the team and then proceeds with her invasion of the whole universe. The only way to stop her will be for Samus to liberate a few key planets and then open a wormhole to stop Dark Samus at the source. This won’t be easy, but Samus will do whatever she has to in order to win.

Like I said before, the plot doesn’t just vanish after the first few cutscenes like in the other games. Here we have actual dialogue and story for the whole adventure. It’s such a novel concept to actually see the federation in action this time and all of the players making their moves. Samus actually having some reliable allies is pretty cool even if you have a good feeling on how the story is about to play out.

The soundtrack is really ominous the whole time with some new tunes for Dark Samus and general tension themes throughout the game. I really enjoyed hearing Ridley’s theme as well. The Metroid saga has definitely done an absolutely incredible job with this and so you will not be surprised at how good it sounds. Additionally the graphics are really solid. Nintendo never cuts any corners here and that definitely shows.

The gameplay may be a bit rough with the motion sensors but the core gameplay itself is still solid. You will have a good time blasting away at enemies. One area where it is far superior to the previous two is that you actually level up your main blaster as you play through the game. So you can easily destroy older enemies as you backtrack through the worlds. The only catch is that the missiles have never been weaker. They are utterly useless in this game since they are weaker than your normal gun so you probably are not going to want to use them for very long. Except for puzzles, I completely stopped using mine.

This game also completely bypasses the end of game collectathon that the first two games had. In this case you would have already gotten most of the batteries just by playing the game naturally. It makes the whole thing feel much more organic and the quick travel here is also much better than in the first two games. So that helps a great deal as well.

It feels like they prioritized having fun this time much more than in the first two games and I appreciated that. After all, you are playing these games in order to have fun right? Having to go back and forth too many times takes away from that and so this area has been greatly improved. I even got over 80% of all collectables while playing through the game which is easily my highest score. The quality of life improvements were off the charts here. It’s why I am hopeful that Prime 4 will keep this up. Additionally I’d love another great story like this but I suppose I shouldn’t get my hopes that high.

In terms of replay value, you can naturally try to go for 100% in order to get the true ending. You can also try beating the game on the new hard mode that you unlock upon completing the game the first time. I can definitely see that being a real challenge with how the gameplay works. FPS titles like this were absolutely made for high difficulties. Hopefully it’s not just that the A.I. become damage sponges and they just get a lot smarter. Part of what made this game a lot easier is that they heavily nerfed how much damage you take from attacks. So I’ll be curious to see what hard mode does to that one.

The length of the base game is long enough to be satisfying though. Even without playing through it a second time, you’ll have gotten your money’s worth. Unless you’re buying an out of print copy, then you may want to hold ff on that. The prices online can get tricky but I got a good price on this one. Guess my main advice while playing the game is to try and just follow the map directions as often as you can and only backtrack when you need to. The longer you wait, the more power ups you will have so it minimizes the amount of times you have to go back and forth. Makes the whole thing far less tedious, especially since this game easily has the longest loading times for opening doors. Villains got a whole lot of cheap shots on me that way.

Overall, Metroid Prime 3 is definitely a pretty good game. On almost any other console it probably would have been a great game since the only thing holding it back are those motion controls. Without those things would be a whole lot easier right out of the gate. Ah well, that’s just how it goes. I would still recommend picking this one up when you have the chance. Get those batteries out of the closet and power up a wii remote. While this isn’t an ideal gameplay setup, the game is much easier than either of the first two Metroid Primes so you should still be just fine.

Overall 7/10