Suggested by Yoda Silver and Blaze both have powered up modes that allow them to fight some of the stronger opponents out there. They’re fairly evenly matched I would say but Blaze specializes in fire and speed while Silver is more about psychic abilities. When push comes to shove I will always lean on the more offensive fighter because a good offense beats a good defense. Blaze wins.
It’s time to take a look at the latest in the Marvel TV shows. People were definitely looking forward to this one for quite a while since Moon Knight was a brand new hero who hadn’t been adapted before and he’s got a lot of fans. Before now all of the shows used existing characters while this one would not be using any like that. In a way you could watch this as a completely stand alone experience and not watch any other Marvel products. Well, the show is definitely fun and while I do think the second half is weaker than the first it sticks the landing well enough where I would say this is pretty good.
The show starts by introducing us to Steven who works at the local museum. His life is ordinary except for the not very small problem of having to chain himself up at night. See, he walks in his sleep and often wakes up in places where he has no idea how he got there so this is a safety precaution for himself. It’s worked well enough but does mean it might be awkward to invite anyone to his flat. One day he ends up getting mixed up with a bunch of thugs and a giant monster even chases him across the museum. The problem is that the security cameras don’t show this as appearing so it seems like he has completely lost his marbles.
That’s when he looks in the mirror and sees himself, but another version who calls himself Marc. Basically they have made a pact with the Moon god known as Khonshu to be the Moon Knight that punishes the wicked. They do so quite lethally and what Steven thought was sleepwalking was actually Marc running around as the Moon Knight. Only one can control the body at once and naturally Steven doesn’t want to lose control at all but it may not be completely his call. The two don’t get along at all and the rift between them begins to grow. Will they be able to put aside their differences in time to stop Arthur from summoning the goddess Ammit and bringing chaos to the world?
Right off the bat the show does deliver on what I’d consider to be its biggest selling point which is Steven not knowing what is going on at all. I love the jump cuts in the first few episodes where Steven will just be put in bad spots over and over again. He’ll have no idea what is going on and just has to roll with it as best he can. It works well with how he often appears to be a bit confused in the comics as well because of this. Naturally as the series goes on and he learns more about his other self this dynamic can’t stick, but it’s a lot of fun while it lasts.
In some ways that’s the best part of the show because Steven is a very likable main character. His confusion always appears genuine and you can tell that he means well but got a pretty rough hand in life. Not knowing where you’ll wake up is really tough just for starters but also doing things like asking someone out on a date and not remembering it is also pretty rough. His role stays really solid throughout the show and he’s my favorite of the personalities.
Then you have Marc who is the more violent version who goes around bumping people off as the Moon Knight. He is really good at fighting and I remember the rooftop battle being one of the standout highlights in the show. It was a really good display of how he fights and how versatile the guy is in combat. I wouldn’t say he handles the situations as well as Steven in the sense that Khonshu is openly manipulating him though. It feels like he’ll be put on an endless loop of trials no matter what he does so he may as well disobey Khonshu then right? There’s not a whole lot that Khonshu could do about it if he refuses.
He could move on to Layla as he threatened but then couldn’t she just disobey him as well? It feels like if the host doesn’t play ball there really isn’t a ton of leverage that the god has. When Marc and Steven inevitably meet-up they certainly don’t get along at first and it’s a good dynamic there. At one point in the show we get to see inside of his psyche and that makes for a really fun situation because they can actually interact in the flesh. It was something you’d have been waiting for the whole time and it lives up to the hype.
Meanwhile I definitely liked Khonshu a lot. He’s very much like Venom from the movies with how he talks to Steven/Marc. Khonshu is all about lethal vengeance while still thinking of himself on the side of good. He’s always quick to point out the distinction between him and Ammit whereas he punishes people after the crime while Ammit does so beforehand. It’s a very valid point to be honest and of course I would side with him if I had to choose. The guy is as shady as it gets though so you definitely do not want to have to trust him.
The heroes can be a bit harsh at times though like with one of them saying he was as bad as Ammit at the end. C’mon now, that’s not a fair comparison at all. Any scene with Khonshu in it is a blast though and he’s definitely a scene stealer. Ammit doesn’t get to appear as much but she does really well in the big fight. Her ideology is also an interesting one. If she can truly see into the future 100% and knows who will end up evil, then you can see why she would believe in stopping them now. Imagine you could constantly see into the future or into someone’s soul and know they will commit a crime. There’s no evidence so you can’t put them in jail and you can’t be everywhere at once so you could easily be pressured into thinking you should just bump them off.
It’s a dangerous mindset for sure but one that makes for a very interesting villain. By extension this is what makes Arthur so interesting. I was surprised we didn’t get more of a backstory to him because I felt like the series was leading up to that but it never quite happened. I was pleasantly surprised though because we really don’t need to see his past to understand the character. The guy has clearly seen a lot and wants to make the world better in his own way. That’s already enough development and motivation to make him a good villain. The guy’s definitely really good in that role.
On the hero side we also have Layla as the main heroine. She is often left out of the loop by Marc as he tries to keep her safe but that tends to backfire. Because of this Layla is upset at almost all points in the show but at least it’s understandable. She also ends up helping out in the climax and I’m sure she should get a pretty solid role in any future adventures with Moon Knight.
I already talked about the rooftop fight earlier but in general the fights here are really good. Naturally I enjoyed the battle of the gods in the climax as well. It was a good way to show us the high stakes of the battle and what these guys could really do in combat. Moon Knight’s fighting style naturally depends on who is in control at the time and the show does depict their fighting styles as being different. Well, Steven barely has a “style” per say as he’s just flailing around and hoping things will go well. By season 2 I expect he will look a little stronger.
Now I did have some issues mainly revolving around the second half so lets look at that. First off, the avatars for the other gods looked way too weak. I’m not expecting these guys to be crazy strong or anything but how come they seem to have no abilities or combat experience at all while Steven and Layla have all kinds of fun techniques up their sleeve? These guys are treated like fodder the whole time. Then you also have to factor in how the gods don’t look smart at all. They basically just ask Arthur “Hey, you guilty?” and when he says no they accept it and bash Khonshu instead.
Sure, Khonshu isn’t the nicest guy by a longshot but he is still a god and they should understand he wouldn’t just be making things up. There’s nothing in his character to assume that he’s a chronic liar and isn’t it a little suspect to have a former avatar running around and running a cult? The gods are able to make portals and watch over the skies at all times. A single glance would have verified Khonshu’s claims if they chose to look. It felt a little convenient to put Arthur in a position to win. If you ask me there should have been a better reason for how the gods would have been defeated.
Then I felt even Khonshu’s true strength was not very consistent. In one moment he is just able to swirl up some wind in the background as Arthur makes fun of him and then he’s getting into a Kaiju battle. So you may be thinking, he can only interact with Ammit because they are both gods? I could maybe let that fly but we see him interacting with the ground, pyramids, and other solid objects. So why can’t he hurt a human? Even if he can’t directly attack Arthur, surely he could throw a large object at him or something like that. I don’t see why that wouldn’t work and it would have saved him a lot of grief.
Additionally, the after credits scene is a great moment which I’ll get into later on but it also introduces something close to a plot hole here. If Khonshu could have done this the whole time then….why not do it before Arthur was so close to achieving his goal? Perhaps there are conditions that must be met to use this trick and it’s early enough where it’s fair to say that we don’t know what those are yet but at least as a first impression it does make you feel like he should have been able to end this threat a lot sooner.
My final gripe to an extent here is that Moon Knight looks way too weak at the end of the series. It really starts on the boat ride. How is he having any trouble with these random fantasy monsters? They didn’t seem very strong and then in the climax Arthur is tossing him around the whole time. There’s a slight Power Rangers effect here where you want to put some shine on the new hero so it makes sense that Layla was saving him quite a bit here but I would have liked to have seen him do a bit better. You can absolutely pull this off while making Moon Knight a bit more of a threat. With the skills he had in the first two episodes it’s just hard to see Arthur putting up a fight here at all.
The soundtrack isn’t quite as memorable as the other Marvel shows of late, however I did like the main theme that Moon Knight wakes up to in some of the episodes. It was really catchy and elevates the whole soundtrack on its own. There are some nice Egyptian kind of themes as well though. Then the special effects are solid as always. I liked how the hospital/mental space looked. The show did a good job of making it appear as if it was a whole different realm. A part of you knows what is going on here right from the jump but the show makes this part long enough where you could almost start to doubt yourself a bit here.
The show does have a great after credits scene here which ends the show on a perfect note. It follows up on one plot-line that was hinted at several points in the show while making one character also look very crafty/intelligent. There’s a lot of reasons to really enjoy this scene for sure and it just has a lot of potential for the next arcs. Logistically it would be tough to keep this up for very long without someone noticing so I expect it’ll be addressed almost immediately and that should be fun. After all, knowing what will happen and stopping it are two very different things.
There’s a whole lot of set up for the second season so that’ll be fun to see. One thing I’ll miss which is inevitable is the sheer confusion Steven had for a while since he didn’t know his other personality was around. It’s part of what makes the first episodes such a blast because it’s such a fresh dynamic. Then we have the dynamic of the two personalities not getting along and trying not to go to sleep so the other doesn’t take control. That’s another really great dynamic. Still the current dynamic between them will be fun too.
Overall, Moon Knight was definitely a very good show. I would put it above Wandavision and Winter Soldier but it goes under Loki, Hawkeye, and What If. Moon Knight makes for a very good main character and I could see him having a lot of great interactions with the rest of the characters. His durability/regen will also make him a useful ally and makes up for his lack of physical ability as long as he remembers his martial arts. The show really took advantage of the multiple personalities angle and I’m sure that should continue even with the main two on good terms now. Could be a kind of DN Angel vibe where they both start to fight over when one of them should be in control. The writing and humor were really on point here so this is just a very well rounded title. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is definitely a title I’d recommend.
Overall 7/10
This is a tribute to the Justice Society: World War II film. The Flash is the fastest man alive except for when he isn’t but there aren’t a lot of fighters who can even come close to taking him on. Joe is good with his gun but that won’t be enough to stop the Flash here. Joe is a good ally who has helped Barry come a long way but ultimately in a fight that’s where it ends. Flash (Barry) wins.
This is a tribute to The Mummy’s Curse. Kharis is a strong Mummy and definitely knows how to take some good wins when he needs to, but the guy is way too slow to fight a martial artist. Lan Di would easily crush the guy with a few well placed blows. It would not be hard to land those hits at all and Kharis does not have the durability to tank them either. All in all, he’s fresh out of options here. Lan Di wins.
This is a tribute to The Mummy’s Ghost. As expected Kharis looked pretty bad in this film again as he was manipulated the whole time. You’d think that someone this well known and powerful would be able to do a little better but I suppose it just wasn’t in the cards. A bit of a shame but Muhyo will see to it that this guy is taken down and fast. There’s no way for Kharis to keep up and one spell will take him out. Muhyo wins.
This is a tribute to The Mummy’s Tomb. Kharis may seem like a reasonably tough Mummy but he’s incredibly slow which is a huge disadvantage in a fight. He would not be able to keep up with Ryo at all and would just end up getting steamrolled at every turn. This guy would get absolutely devastated before he even knew he was in a fight. Kharis may act like a big shot but he’s always taking orders and ultimately doesn’t have the combat experience to win this fight. Ryo Hazuki wins.
This is a tribute to the first Jeeper’s Creepers film. The Creeper has regeneration and he’s reasonably strong but ultimately he doesn’t have that flair a villain needs to really go into the next level. The guy barely has any real goals beyond general destruction and so Yomogi would show him a thing or too. Yomogi is a capable warrior and he’s not afraid to push his limits. Creeper won’t be doing much against him here. Yomogi Asanaka wins.
I’ve now started the Tiger & Bunny manga. It’s a pretty classic superhero story so far and has solid fundamentals. It’s a bit early to say how it’ll shake out so far but it’s a good read and I’ll have a review up once I have finished the series.
Overall 7/10
Man this editorial has been a long time coming. I’ve had it planned ever since I saw Ufotable’s Unlimited Blade Works adaption although I’d say the first inspiration was from Studio Deen’s fusion adaption of Fate plus the other routes. I had some issues getting the gifs set up and finally solved that issue yesterday. Now you may be thinking how can Saber be the most overrated character? Shouldn’t that be Gilgamesh? Well, I admit that a case can be made for Gilgamesh being overhyped as well. Particularly since the creator of the series said Gilgamesh is powerful enough to end the whole Grail War in a night if he felt so inclined, yet he gets served up every time the tournament starts. So I can see why that feeling would be there but he’s not going around losing to just anyone and that’s the big difference here. Let’s take a deep analysis of how Saber performs here and see if I can convince you that she is the most overrated character in Fate.
Now some quick rules of engagement here. For starters when I say overrated I’m talking about in universe not out of it. I think it might be similar both ways but I don’t keep up with the Fate fandom the same way I keep up with most others. The Reddit would be too dangerous with spoilers and such at this point. Additionally I am really focusing on the Unlimited Blade Works route as that is often considered to be the most iconic path of the series and is considered first when talking about Fate. Additionally, I haven’t seen Heaven’s Feel yet anyway. Now I will present my case.
Disclaimer: It goes without saying but this editorial will contain spoilers for Fate Stay Night, I will also be referencing Fate/Zero, and Fate Go to a small extent. If you have not watched these things or read the novel/web games, you’ll want to side step this editorial and check those out first. Thank you for stopping by though!
Of course, to show why she is overrated I must first establish how the show and characters hype her up from the start. You can’t pick apart a character if you don’t know how strong they were supposed to be at the start right? So Saber is the incarnation of King Arthur, a legend so great that I don’t need to explain here. To be more exact, a “Saber” is a class of servant summoned in the Holy Grail War. It is considered the most powerful class by a decent margin. No matter what series you watch, the characters are always talking about how they would want a Saber since that can end the war real quick. I’m just more used to calling Artoria, “Saber” since she is the most iconic servant in that class. So Saber is summoned in the strongest class and she is already supposed to be one of the more impressive legends.
https://gfycat.com/famousagonizingamericanrobin
Now Fate has a ton of legends like Hercules, Medusa, Da Vinci, so I’m not saying King Arthur is the best but at the very least she is always treated as a top tier servant. Your legend plays a strong part in how powerful you are and the skills at your disposal. Saber has her famous Excalibur equipped and she even has her shield which regenerates her injuries and can even bring you back from the brink of death. Her Noble Phantasm is a powerful shockwave/energy blast which can rip the sky asunder. Her sword is also invisible by default which makes blocking it a lot more difficult.
So now we’ve gotten Saber’s skills into the mix here. Her legend is also solidified but now let’s talk about the hype that the characters give her. Rin throws a whole fit when she isn’t able to summon Saber because she knows that the balance of power has just shifted. Kiritsugu, the man with 100 plans took extra care to summon her because he knew this was the greatest path to winning the Grail War and the group he was with made sure to make this happen. Keep in mind that he desperately wants to win to achieve his ambitions and is generally considered to be one of the best strategists in the series and he admits that she is the strongest. It is established early on that Saber is quite crucial to at least having a great advantage in this whole tournament.
https://gfycat.com/grimeasygoinghoatzin
Yet….that hype dies down almost immediately. Now Fate is a series that is huge in part because of how it treats most of its legends with such respect. People have fun seeing their culture’s champions actually getting to fight against the others and looking good. Aside from legends who are based on evil people like Jack The Ripper, each character usually gets to show off their ideals and fight rather well. So you’re never expecting a full stomp or anything like that but based on the hype of King Arthur and her strongest class, we are expecting that she should best all of these guys, especially if it’s a pure one on one fight right?
Well, her first fight upon being summoned is to fight Lancer and it’s fair to say right off the bat that she was on the losing side here. His ability to reverse cause and effect may not have destroyed her due to her passive ability to negate magical effects but he did land a hit and was still at full power and could have launched his Noble Phantasm again. Could she have blocked this with hers? It didn’t seem as if she would have the time but even if their blows canceled out, her lack of mana reserves would have come back to haunt her. She definitely loses this fight and this is when she is a freshly summoned servant against a guy who just finished battling with another powerful servant. So at full power she could not beat a weakened servant? That’s not great and this happens almost immediately in the series so I was surprised she did not do better.
https://gfycat.com/groundededucatedfly
Next we are introduced to Hercules and this really did not help Saber’s case. He is introduced as someone with enough mana to destroy the rest of the servants even if they teamed up. Now that’s way too much hype and I don’t think anyone believed that for a second but it is still clear that he could beat Saber one on one and this is basically stated. In fact he does this with relative ease when you consider the fact that he won even when she was teaming up with Archer. So now that’s two fights where she did not look very good and we’re still in the opening segments of the war.
https://gfycat.com/remotetanjenny
Saber does defeat Rider rather easily when they fight one on one so I’ll give her that. Rider may not be the most powerful fighter out here but a win is a win so that’s still something to feel good about. Her next tough match was when she had to go up against Caster and her master Kuzuki. Now even I don’t buy this moment so I’ll cut her a bit of slack here but she actually gets crushed by a human. Kuzuki is able to block Saber’s attack and then goes into a combo that completely takes her out.
https://gfycat.com/grippingdependentdeviltasmanian
Sure, he is amped up but that should not be nearly enough to compensate for the power of a servant. There’s just absolutely no way he should be able to beat Saber here and certainly not to do so with this much ease. That was just a bit much but I have to include it because this was Saber’s lowest moment. The fight should have gone the way the Kuzuki vs Archer battle went to be honest. Kuzuki was weakened at that point but it should have been that one sided.
I don’t have any qualms with Caster holding her own against Saber because magic is tough to fight against. I suspect Saber would win in a prolonged battle as well. Maybe she should have won easier but I can let that slide since the fight was interrupted and Shirou/hostages were getting in the way the whole time. With no distractions she could have won this and losses with hostages in the mix don’t count.
Assassin’s fight against Saber is definitely a critical one for my case here. He is the servant of another servant and isn’t even a real mythical hero. He is made up from a story and has some of the worst stats for a servant in the fate verse. He is skilled yes, but not so much so that he should be defeating Saber, the most powerful class of servant right? Well, he wins this fight with relative ease. Part of the issue is that Saber holds back for far too long but that’s a risk you take when underestimating the enemy so it doesn’t take away from his victory in the slightest.
https://gfycat.com/highlevelcleveraegeancat
He just won with pure swordplay and perhaps the most impressive part here is that he had no super special abilities. Yes his ability to swing his sword apparently breaks the laws of reality and causes some kind of portal effect but it’s still him just swinging his swords really hard. He got underestimated and Saber paid the price. So that’s another loss to a servant right there which was not a good look for her.
We then get to the final battle where she goes up against Archer…and is getting absolutely dominated. So now is when I should address the common counter point which is that Saber only looks so weak because Shirou doesn’t have a lot of magical circuits so he is always limiting the flow of mana to Saber. A servant cannot fight for very long without a master after all and so you need a good one. There are two reasons this doesn’t hold up though. The first is that her opening battle against Lancer where she could not claim victory happened while she was at full power and was just summoned so mama would not be a concern yet.
https://gfycat.com/deliriouscautiousfirefly
Then we’ve got the big nail in the coffin. It turns out that Archer didn’t have a master for a little while and yet he was able to fight well. He broke his pacts with Rin and Caster yet he was still able to overpower Saber initially and he was able to fight on par with Shirou. That’s lowballing him though, he was clearly winning and he still had enough mana to use his reality marble noble phantasm. So the lack of mana excuse from Saber doesn’t work so well since Archer had to fight without being given any mana and was still doing good. Saber only ends up taking the edge when she makes a new pact and gets her energy refilled to 100%. Before that moment both combatants had not been at full power but Archer had been in that state for a longer period of time so you felt like that should have been an easy win for Saber.
There’s also her fight against Gilgamesh where she was being overwhelmed in the first show but that one we don’t need to worry about since he would beat just about anyone. It only hurts from a hype perspective since Saber was introduced as the strongest class and yet she was quickly overtaken by Hercules and Gilgamesh who were both said to be more powerful as soon as they appeared. Saber’s hype just ended up vanishing as a result. Let’s just recap her track record here.
https://gfycat.com/vapidfabulousalaskankleekai
She lost to Kuzuki, Archer, Gilgamesh, Assassin, and Hercules. She was losing to Lancer and the only one she flat out defeated was Rider who always seems like the weakest servant by far in Fate Stay Night. (A far cry from the hero in Fate/Zero who seemed to be one of the most powerful servants) This track record is not good for the servant who was hyped to be the most powerful one initially and this is why I choose her as the most overrated character in universe. She just did not end up clinching out the win when it counted and that’s a bad look for her. I expected so much more out of Saber from a power perspective and I don’t think that’s unreasonable given her stature. At least in Stay Night she did not live up to the hype.
I won’t really jump into the spin-offs much for this editorial but she tends to fare a bit better there. In Grand Order she seemed to have a good setup going but it’s hard to say how much was her strength and how much was Archer helping her out. In Fate/Zero she tends to do better as she fought well against Berserker and held her own with Lancer. Would she have lost the fight with Lancer? Perhaps but it’s hard to say since their fights kept getting interrupted but either way the showing was on point.
So that wraps up my case for why Saber is the most overrated character in Fate. I’d say the fights just speak for themselves and mainly this happens because the series hyped her up so much. If it did not and treated the Saber class as just any other then there wouldn’t be a problem. It would actually go for the underdog kind of feel then and I dare say that this would have worked out very smoothly. After all in the series it is safe to say that Saber is still equal to the others at best or slightly weaker at worst but either way there isn’t much of a gap there. So it doesn’t make sense why they give her so much hype. I do like Saber as a character but whenever someone mentions her as being one of the most powerful servants then it’s time to look at the fights and see if you agree.
Shenmue is a show based on a game series that I have not played, however you don’t really need to know them to enjoy the show since it re-adapts the sagas. I was impressed with the show right off the bat because it’s got a very retro vibe to it. I’d compare it to Batman Beyond and the classic superhero shows of the DCAU. Even the main character himself has that punk vibe like Terry. It’s a very short show so it hasn’t made it all the way to greatness yet but the way it adapted the events was definitely a lot of fun so hopefully we get a season 2 soon.
The show starts with Ryo being rather confident in his strength to the point where he doesn’t really take his father’s teachings very seriously. He ends up regretting that immediately as he heads home one day to witness a villain known as Lan Di murdering his father. Ryo tries to help but is instantly defeated and his confidence is shattered. He now wants to find out why his father was murdered and his only clue is a mysterious mirror. Ryo will have to ask around and get involved with a bunch of gangs as he tries to get closer to solving this mystery. With his heart clouded by vengeance can Ryo really get strong enough to stop Lan Di?
Shenmue is really a investigation show but what sets it apart from the rest is that Ryo’s not a pro. He’s not a hot shot detective who knows exactly what to do and how to do it. He’s just going around and almost literally knocking on doors and asking questions. Each episode will have him walk over and ask an old lady for help, she’ll tell him to go to the coffee shop, the coffee guy will say to flip some cups, he’ll then get mugged, then rinse and repeat. Ryo is really going around doing the same things a whole lot but it just works.
There is a level of convenience to this of course as he always ends up meeting the right people, but the fact that it’s so tedious on his end helps to at least make it not feel too easy. The guy definitely does still have to walk everywhere and he gets mugged a whole lot so it’s not like he’s taking 0 risks either. Ryo is a really good fighter but he’s in a world where expert fighters seem to be around every corner and so he gets crushed many times. Even by the end of the series you can tell that he’s nowhere close to the top yet.
I’d say my best complement for the series is just that it’s a lot of fun. It really captures that retro action show vibe. There’s no end of the world stakes, no fancy combos, or really anything out of the ordinary. This is purely a street level show with Ryo beating up on goons and getting closer to his father’s murderer. The show never tries to be anything more than that and it’s probably one of the most relaxing shows that I’ve watched in a while. The pacing was always on point with each episode.
I also enjoyed the animation quite a bit. It’s not going to touch the big titles like Bleach but the fight scenes were always solid. They used the sonic boom effect for each hit which I always liked. It’s something you don’t always see nowadays but it’s a good way to make each strike feel like it has a lot of impact. The fight scenes are always solid here and the show also goes all in on the eye effects to show when someone is focused. Apparently a lot of the attacks are even taken straight from the games which is a cool attention to detail. Smooth might be the best word for the animation. It’s not as bright and colorful as some of the others out there but the fights exceled as you could really follow each exchange and feel the power behind the hits. Sadly while the animation in the episodes is real good, the opening is one of the lazier ones. I’ll never get why you would decide to cheap out on the intro since that will appear for every episode.
There’s very little actual animation in the intro at all and it’s just rather boring which is never a good thing for an opening. A proper opening should fill you with energy and have you jumping up and down. This won’t do that for you at all. As for the soundtrack, I wasn’t particularly impressed there either. I didn’t really care for the intro song. There were some decent instrumental themes in the show itself but none that I can remember off the top of my head. I feel like they worked well enough in the scenes as you’re watching but it’s quite telling that I can’t remember them at all.
As for Ryo himself, I definitely liked him as the main character. He’s focused on avenging his father’s death but never lets it consume him. He takes a ton of losses throughout the series but is always striving to do better. One of the standout scenes to me was when he and and Lishao disagree on how he should go further. He doesn’t storm out of there or cause a scene. He just respectfully says that it appears they will not be able to see eye to eye on this and leaves.
He just walks out of there peacefully and still in good standing with the master. It’s so rare to see that and Ryo just comes across as a very mature main character. Perhaps not the smartest one with how often he lets his guard down but a very solid one all the same. He slowly gets stronger throughout the series and his final fight with Lan Di was satisfying even if I thought he would have done way better. He’s clearly still got a ways to go and hopefully we get a season 2 soon so we can see how things play out. I haven’t played the games yet but who knows, I may end up experiencing the saga that way first.
As for Lan Di as the main villain, he doesn’t appear a whole lot. Really it’s just the beginning and the ending where we see him but you can still get a solid glimpse into his character that way. The guy seems very honorable but someone who will also see his revenge through to the end. He was clearly not going to spare Ryo’s father no matter what and the guy has an entire criminal empire. The fact that he can fight so well was always going to be a good sign for his character because I love it when characters can fight like that and don’t have to hide behind their minions. Lan Di is the strongest we’ve seen in the series so far so it’s fitting that he be the final boss.
Nozomi was the main heroine for a while but she pretty much gets written out once Ryo leaves home. She was as helpful as she could be in the meantime though. Nozomi may not be a fighter but she looks out for Ryo as best she can and is a nice person in general. Then you have Joy who is the main heroine in Hong Kong. Joy has a lot more energy to her and also isn’t afraid to take some risks. I thought she was a fun character to have around and Ryo would have had a really tough time settling in without her helping to show him the ropes.
There’s a third heroine Shenhua for the latest land but she hasn’t really gotten to do anything yet so there’s not much to say about her. Right now she would be the weakest of the 3 heroines and we’ll need to see some more personality out of her to get higher. Something beyond just the vague prophecies but I expect her role in season 2 would be rather large so she’ll have plenty of time for that.
Guizhang was a really solid character and definitely one of Ryo’s best allies. It was a shame that he couldn’t follow Ryo into Hong Kong because I think he would have really done well there. The guy was pretty much on par with Ryo in terms of overall fighting ability and had a good head on his shoulders. The way he was written out wasn’t terribly satisfying but maybe he’ll be back someday.
Ren was his replacement of sorts in Hong Kong. This guy is more of an opportunist who loves money and wants to get rich but as the show goes on he starts to become more of a legitimate ally. He does come in handy a lot so while he starts off as the kind of guy who will backstab you at every turn, you grow to like him. He never passed Guizhang for me but it’s always good that Ryo doesn’t have to go through the adventure alone.
Then there’s Lishao who is the master of her Dojo and has the skills to back this up. She’s a very fun character and someone that all of the villains and heroes have to respect. When she’s around you have to take that into account because of her incredible power. She’s certainly one of the standout characters here and pretty much forces Ryo to improve his own skills. Without her there’s no way he would be prepared to stand a chance here.
Wong is a kid in Hong Kong who helps out a bit here and there but I wouldn’t say he was particularly all that great. He has a good character arc where he learns to stop being a thief but that’s about all that I would say for him. You’ve got two more villains in Yuan and Dou but I wasn’t a fan of either of them. Yuan can barely even fight which really huts his case. Dou was surprisingly powerful with how he was beating Ryo on multiple occasions though. He seemed like the slow type who could never hold his own in a fight so I suppose he got the last laugh on me there. It was still pretty embarrassing for Ryo to lose there though.
Technically there are a bunch of other supporting characters running around but this pretty much sums up the main cast. As Ryo has to try and learn all of the Wude (It’s pronounced Wuda but seems to be spelled Wude online for some reason) he meets a lot of characters who help him out. I think these practices can be a little overhyped and some cross the line into just being common sense. It’s a surprisingly long plot point that takes up a good chunk of the show but fortunately the show usually throws you some fight scenes so you have something to do in the meantime.
There was one villain that felt wasted though. He shows up at the very end of the show with a cool looking mask but is taken down in seconds. Why give the guy such a good design if you’re going to throw him out right? I suppose it was subversive but I would have much preferred to see this guy get a real fight. There was a whole lot of potential there without a doubt. Lan Di’s a great villain but he’s really the only good villain at the moment so I’d like to see a few other good ones get introduced soon to keep things fresh. That slippery minion from arc 1 would definitely beat the minions in Hong Kong.
The power levels in the show are also handled pretty well which is a nice benefit of everything being fairly low tier. Ryo starts out as someone who’s low even within the verse despite having a whole lot of confidence. It’s to the point where he has to be protected by Guixhang the whole time. By Hong Kong Ryo is strong enough to hold his own but definitely can’t beat the general and still gets mugged a lot. Once Ryo has learned all of the Wude he is now able to fight and defeat any non-master but would likely still lose to Lishao and definitely Lan Di. By season 2 I expect he should make even greater strides.
As I mentioned earlier, there was a lot of travelling in season 1. We mostly stuck to two different locations but as the show ends Ryo makes it to a third one as well. Then he’s always going to a bunch of different shops for clues and everything. It’ll be interesting to see if this continues into the next season. I assume it will since Ryo still doesn’t have an easy way of finding things out aside from asking everybody and following each lead. So how strong the region will be will depend on how good the supporting cast is.
Without the Wude to worry about we can also go back to more basic Shenmue investigation like Ryo heading back to the coffee houses and things like that. It’s just nice to see how nonchalant the whole thing is and I can’t stress that enough because it feels so unique in a show. I can’t think of any other time I’ve seen a main character have to check out so many places to follow through on his leads. Of course it could go in a different direction so we’ll see but as long as the show keeps its calm vibe I expect it’ll continue to be a blast. Naturally you also have to keep up the fun martial arts for the battles and I feel like Ryo needs a new super move. He has two now between the elbow hit and the axe kick but I think some kind of punch would suit him the best.
Overall, Shenmue is a very fun action show. It’s extremely low key and is more of a calm title despite the action genre but it works well. If you want to watch something that just feels nostalgic even though it’s a story you haven’t seen before then this is definitely the one to check out. For season 2 I suppose what I would like to see are some longer boss fights and for Ryo to keep his training. I can understand him forgetting the Wude when fighting Lan Di because of his grudge but you can’t use the same excuse next time. So I want a proper fight where Ryo has to give it his all. That would make for a very climactic battle and the pieces should all be in place to make that possible.
Overall 7/10
DReager1.com 