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Play Time 2h 48m
Characters Unlocked 12/37
Movies unlocked 10%
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Yukimura Level 28
All other Characters: Level 1
Samurai Warriors 3 Stats and Records
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Samurai Warriors 3 Review
Playing a beat em up type game on the Wii certainly feels rather odd. It’s not really a Wii kind of game and so I always tend to play these on the PS3/PS4 but that wasn’t an option this time. Well, the game is as great as always. It can take a little time to get used to the controller layout but once you have got that down then the rest of the game is effectively like the others. You shouldn’t have any problems with it.
The story mode is a little different than some of the other titles in that it is centered around a specific character as opposed to the kingdom. So you have a lot of options on who to make the lead and then you get a story tailored to that fighter. It’s a nice touch and I have to assume that it’s a lot more work since way since there are a bunch of stories so kudos to the developers on that. There are 5 story levels for each character.
It took me around 2-2.5 hours to clear the story so the level length is nothing to sneeze at. The final level also gets tricky so you will want to be careful. Of course you can switch the game’s difficulty back down to easy if needed. The final level has a trick to it so it’s hard not to die the first time but then you’re ready for the inevitable rematch. In each of the levels you have a pack of items with you that do things like increase your strength, defense, or just plain healing items.
Personally I always recommend going for the healing pack. It can effectively replenish your health bar 6 times over which is really handy since Samurai Warriors doesn’t have health items just hanging out on the map or anything like that. So the levels are easy initially because you can just heal your way to the goal. Well, the final level changes that up. Suddenly you are unable to use your healing items near the end. You then have to clear a quick gauntlet of bosses.
I can safely say this is where I lost the first time. It’s difficult to beat so many enemies without being able to heal. On the second go around I made sure to use a potion right before they got deactivated but I was still running out of health fast. It was pretty intense but I just had to survive with a single smidge of health left as I challenged a bunch of different opponents. Finally I got a level up which automatically restores all health. I don’t know what I could have done without that. So it’s hard to time but if you’re having trouble on this level just beat a ton of minions until you’re close to a level up before starting the fire which triggers your items not working anymore.
As for the gameplay, it’s your classic beat em up style. You have your standard attacks, power moves, and your super attack. One new thing here is the guard break which you can use at the expense of one energy orb and break through an enemy’s defense. This will actually be the most important move you have in the entire game so make sure you use it a lot. It’s also an absolutely surefire way to stop their ultimate attack midway. There aren’t really any downsides to the shield poke either so why not use it right?
The gameplay is noticeably slower than Dynasty Warriors but that might be intentional. I seem to recall that being the case for the last one as well so maybe it’s a way to make the titles stand out as being different from each other. It’s fair since you don’t want all of the games to be clones after all. Most of the other parts of the game are all as you would remember them. The final smashes can all be blocked by the A.I. and usually are though so I’d like them to get buffed in the sequel. As it stands, it’s often better to use your standard attacks than the final smash which doesn’t make sense.
There’s a side mission here where you have to invade castles with Takamaru. It’s a fun little side mode and does well in adding more replay value to the mix. I completed the first world for now before calling it a day. I like the fact that it effectively turns this into a crossover series right out of the jump. They should bring Takamaru along into one of the games at some point as a fully playable character. Maybe he’s in that Warriors All Stars game.
With each story mode taking around 2 hours you’re talking about around 20 hours of content right out of the gate. Then you have the castle mode which will add some time and even a historical mode. Through in the multiplayer and maxing out the rest of the characters and you’ve got yourself a really long game. It goes for really cheap at the moment so it’s a really good bargain. You definitely can’t go wrong here.
The graphics look really good as you would expect. The character models and stage environments are on point. There are a number of solid looking cutscenes throughout that really help to make this a compelling experience. In some ways you could say it even looks better than the modern Dynasty Warrior titles which is very impressive. The story was more emotional that’s for sure, at least in Yukimura’s story. While the OST may not be super memorable, I would also say it was good. The main theme is catchy and you have a lot of fast paced tunes for while you’re fighting.
Overall, Samurai Warriors 3 is definitely a game I would strongly recommend. It’s really got everything you could want in a beat em up title from lots of content to a satisfying story. The layouts are all very clear and the game has no real weaknesses. I definitely look forward to seeing how 4 plays things out. Will it be just as solid or perhaps even more so? In the meantime you’ll want to pick this game up to prepare yourself.
Overall 8/10
Eduan Khun vs Ran Khun
It’s time for the final Tower of God newcomer for a bit. Eduan Khun is easily the most impressive of the 10 Family Leaders. His electric abilities are enough to even give King Jahad a decent fight. While Ran is strong, he’s definitely not going to reach this level of power anytime soon, if he even reaches it at all. The difference in their abilities is just too great. Eduan Khun wins.
Maschenny Khun vs Hwa Ryun
Maschenny Khun makes her debut on the blog and she’s certainly a powerful fighter. Her super speed and thunder abilities make it difficult for any fighter to catch her. While Hwa Ryun may have the edge in tactical intelligence she is not going to be a match in pure hand to hand combat. Ultimately she just doesn’t have the physical abilities to keep up. Maschenny Khun wins.
Who is the traitor from My Hero Academia’s Class 1A?
This editorial contains spoilers for Sonic X the final season and My Hero Academia through season 3
All right guys, it’s time to tell you all who I think is the traitor from UA. Now lets just get a few disclaimers out of the way. First, we have to go under the premise that there is a traitor and that this whole thing wasn’t just some wild goose chase. That is a very real possibility after all but not one that would be very satisfying. There’s also the theory that Deku or someone else is unknowingly the traitor sort of like Cosmo from Sonic X. Essentially in that series the aliens could see through her eyes which alerted them to every possible move the heroes could make. Maybe All for One is able to see through Deku or something like that. This is going to assume that there is a traitor who is knowingly betraying the heroes. Assuming that to be true, we can then narrow this down to Class 1A since 1B wouldn’t make sense narratively.
Could it be a teacher? I would say no because too many of them have been ruled out at this point. Midnight and Aizawa have inner monologue that would contradict this along with All Might and their appearances in Vigilantes back this up. I guess we have reason to be suspicious of the principal or the Present Mic guy but both of those would not make a lot of sense. I mean…the principal would be kind of fun but I don’t think that’s going to happen. There are 20 kids in Class 1A so lets start ruling some out.
The first 6 are easily ruled out. I would consider them to not even be suspects.
Safe Students
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Deku, lets be real here guys. It’s not going to be Deku. Again, unless he is doing this subconsciously it would just go against every kind of sense imaginable. He has unlimited inner monologues that would go against this. Likewise it’s not happening for Bakugo. The guy may have a very different way of going about being the best, but being a villain is flat out not going to happen.
Ida, his whole character is about trying to live up to his elder brother’s reputation. He’s not going to throw that away for anything. I may not be a fan of his character but I wouldn’t deny that he has a heroic motivation. Likewise you have to throw Todoroki in there as well. After seeing the worst of Endeavor first hand, there’s no way he would go down this route. He wants to be the number 1 hero as well after all.
Kirishima’s in a similar boat. He had the whole origin story where he was too afraid to stand up to the villains and had to be saved by Ashido. To that end he has continued to hone his skills to be a great hero. While you could say this isn’t as rock solid as the first few, I would say that is very relative. He ultimately has proven himself to be a true hero. I would also vouch for Yayorozu. She may have a lot of doubts in her hero abilities but she had obtained a good bond with the rest of the kids and keeps improving herself. Any doubts that you may have had with her character should have long since vanished at the series went on.
Too irrelevant to be the traitor
Look, the traitor has to be someone that actually matters. We need to have some impact after all. So, Sato is out. Does anyone even remember his name without having to look it up? His hero name of Sugar Man is memorable but I definitely would not have remembered the human name otherwise. He’s not going to be the traitor. I would use the same logic for Shoji. His 4 arms are handy but the guy barely gets any lines throughout the series. So there’s not much to prevent him from being the traitor but I just don’t think it would be very powerful.
We can extend the same logic to Sero and Koda. Sero’s tape abilities are pretty interesting but ultimately the guy hasn’t done anything. Koda’s animal abilities aren’t very interesting but he hasn’t done anything either. Again, the traitor has to be important. Let’s throw Ojiro into this as well since he’s on that level.
Already used as a fake out
Aoyama already had a big cliffhanger where we thought he could be the traitor for a second there. There’s no way they would actually use this twist since it was played off as a gag. Sure, it could be a big brain move by the author but I don’t see this actually occurring. The instant his betrayal was played for laughs I knew that there was no going back.
Opens up too many troublesome questions
Mineta would be problematic for a lot of reasons. His actions barely fly by as comic relief. If he is a serious villain then suddenly his harassment of the other students becomes a lot darker so they’re not going to do that. That’s why you can’t have this guy be the traitor, it’s a fairly unique situation but one that guarantees Mineta has to stay on the heroic path…not that I even consider him to be a hero to be honest. The guy’s a disgrace.
We’re down to the final 7 so lets take them step by step.
First up is Froppy. Sure, she is a very tempting pick because of her relationship to Deku. I also don’t recall any specific inner monologue that would contradict her being a traitor. That said, I can’t think of any possible motive for her here and she’s put herself in a lot of danger throughout so I’m going to take her out. It’s a weaker case to debunk her but that is why she made it near the end for me.
Kaminari: He was a prime suspect for a while but his whole being dopey is just too convincing. A true traitor wouldn’t put himself in such a spot where he could be exposed. He could have said anything while he was dazed which is too risky. He has enough character moments where this would be a pretty intense twist but I don’t think the quirk works well to that end.
Ashido seems far too heroic to have been corrupted like that. I find it hard to believe that she would have gone over to the dark side based on the flashback we already have of her with Kirishima. The reason why she is closer here is because a lot could have changed since that flashback. She always seems rather cheerful but some of the most sinister villains have had a cheerful demeanor. Still, I will rule her out because we have even more suspicious targets.
Tokoyami is a decent pick given how he likes the shadows so much, but is that not too obvious? Additionally, I want to say that Hawks would have noticed something was up since they worked together in the hero exams. At the same time, perhaps that is why they were on the same team since Hawks may have suspected something beyond what he was saying on the surface. It’s a bit on the flimsy side though so I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in it.
Lets take Jiro out next. While her hesitancy to play in the concert and her general lack of inner monologue is disturbing, I’d still be surprised if she was the traitor. She was very nearly killed during the season 1 invasion to the point where it couldn’t be faked. She may have the resolve to be willing to die for her cause but I don’t see this being the right answer.
Hagakure is one character I have long claimed to be the traitor ever since the “Deku choke S1 opening” theory. That said, the fact that she is so suspicious and constantly acts like a traitor makes it seem too obvious. Her power is already perfect for deception after all. I dunno, it just seems too straight forward but at the same time I would have no qualms about her being the traitor. She is an excellent runner up.
No, it has to be Uravity. It just makes the most sense. She has a clear motive which is the fact that she needs money for her parents badly. Being a hero doesn’t pay incredibly well and while the spinoff MHA Smash plays this off as comedy, she is quite desperate for it. It could be as simple as the League of Villains telling her they will pay her for some intel. They’d let her know they weren’t going to directly hurt Deku and she would be on board.
I don’t see Uravity being a totally evil, mustache twirling villain but a traitor who was manipulated. She badly needed money and wasn’t able to get it legitimately so she faltered and joined the group. Ultimately that’s why she’s my pick as the traitor. It will also be the ultimate gut punch to Deku and his enthusiasm towards being a hero. It’s hard to just get up after experiencing something like that.
So that’s my answer here. Uravity is the traitor.
She just ticks off the most boxes and that would be a pretty hype way to start closing out the series or at least this part in the timeline before the next time skip. Taken with the right context her last quote there could sound rather ominous as well. Only time will tell but if we’re going to do a traitor twist I think it has to be in the current manga arc so hopefully that’s not too far from now.
Junpei vs Choso
Junpei and Choso are fairly different in just about every way. Junpei doesn’t really have any close bonds while Choso and his brothers were very close. Choso’s a very loyal guy who will always fight to the end while Junpei tends to waver. In a fight, Choso’s blood arts would fair quite well as it would be hard to get around the speed advantage and I don’t see Junpei being able to block the strikes either. This would be a fairly quick battle. Choso wins.
Hanami vs Groot
Hanami is the perfect example of how to use trees in combat. He can move exceptionally fast in combat so this enhances his abilities rather than using it as a crutch. Groot has never been able to sustain this level of technique while in battle so he would ultimately go down pretty quickly. In a battle of trees there can be only one winner. Hanami wins.
Michiyuki Ashihara vs Karaka
Michiyuki Ashihara may be an exceptional genius who can even predict the future, but he still won’t be a match for Karaka. Karaka has incredible Shinsu abilities which would keep Ashihara pressured on all sides. He won’t have time to even try to come up with an escape route before he is taken down for the count. Karaka wins.
Summa-verminoth vs Jinsung Ha
Summa-verminoth is a pretty giant monster so it’s hard to bring him down but that’s not really a problem for someone like Jinsung. He’s able to take down anti commander spaceships with a single blast and the guy has yet to actually get serious in a fight. A single punch would likely go right through Summa and immediately obliterate him. The monster’s out of his league here. Jinsung Ha wins.
The Unfinished Dance Review
Ballet’s definitely not my thing. I’ve just never been a fan of it as a style of dance. It’s not particularly entertaining to watch and I don’t care much for the uniforms. It works more in a combat sense like in Sailor Moon I suppose but even then I’ll take something a little more combat ready. For dances ballet also tends to be a bit slower and I like something fast paced and with a lot of action. If you can get past the actual ballet then the film is good though.
The movie starts by introducing us to Meg. Meg is a spoiled kid who wants to be a great ballet dancer but isn’t willing to put in the work. She always skips her lessons to spy on Ariane and basically use up the professional’s time. If anyone says something negative about Ariane Meg is ready to throw hands and give someone the fade. She’s not a kid who is shy about taking someone on. This continues to get her into a lot of trouble though and her Mom/Aunt (I forget which) is super distant so the only parental figure in her life is the kind Mr. Paneros.
Mr. Paneros does his best to contain the damage but it’s often tricky. One day the ballet hires Anna, one of the greatest ballerinas in the world. Ariane knows that her lack of skill will be exposed compared to this person and runs off in a huff. Everyone agrees that Anna is better so Meg decides to put a stop to this. She opens up a trap door and cripples Anna so that Ariane will have the center stage again. The main issue is that her conscience is eating her alive and her “friend” knows about what is happening so there’s now a loose end in the mix. Can Meg make things right?
Now to Meg’s very slight defense it was an accident or at least the film tells us this. She meant to switch the lights off and only happened to turn on the trap door. Sure……lets roll with that. It’s not very convincing though as she could have done any number of things instead of watching the whole time. It was not a good look to say the least. Meg is very extreme throughout the film as she casually talks about death and such. It’s unfortunate but nobody ends up helping her out of her obsessions here.
Mr. Paneros is a good character who means well but does often choose the wrong course of action. He tries to console Meg but ends up lying about everything all the time. It’s like he can’t help it because the guy just keeps on doubling down. It’s a bad habit that he certainly needs to break. At least he’s there for Meg though as her family is never around to do anything. It makes his one sided romance more on the tragic side since he is permanently stuck in the friend zone with the aunt.
As for Ariane, I didn’t like her. I thought the film was low key portraying her as a villain the whole time. It makes sense when you think about it with how petty she was. Anna was very polite the whole time while Ariane didn’t want her picture taken and kept squirming. Initially I thought Anna would end up being a villain but the film never actually went down that road. As a result it just made Ariane look even worse in comparison. She is quick to give up her dream as well which is all well and good but then it makes her jealousy look even worse since she was never that serious about her dream.
Meanwhile Anna is definitely the best character in the film. She suffers a rather bad break but doesn’t let it get to her. I’ll also give a lot of kudos to her assistant/coach who was with her every step of the rehabilitation. She was always there to lend a helping hand to Anna and to try and keep her spirits up throughout everything that was happening. They thought of the coaching idea together and at least Anna now had a sense of normalcy. Anna consistently took the high road as well while the other characters were treading water.
I was glad her ending didn’t get too sad as it would have ended things on a rather unfortunate note. Meanwhile the other kids are mostly left to bicker by the end as you’d expect. Meg now knows that she can’t trust her “friend” and also that the class bully is still around. There’s not a whole lot that they can do at this point and proving anything would be difficult so Meg has nothing to worry about. I like to think they will have an employee by the trap door machine at all times now though. No reason for that to be left unattended.
As mentioned earlier, the only weakness for me would be the actual Ballet scenes. They just weren’t all that entertaining at all if you ask me. I was always just ready for those scenes to move on so we could get on with the story. Especially when Meg tried to dance as she just isn’t ready for the ballet scene yet. Additionally, she was an annoying character so you were never quite looking forward to her getting some screen time.
Overall, The Unfinished Dance is a pretty emotional movie that manages to capture the balance between drama and uplifting moments rather well. The movie gets sad at times but also has happy moments sprinkled in as well. Ultimately that’s a good mix to strive for. Mr. Paneros reminded me of Panera Bread with the name but it’s unique so you won’t forget him and he was clearly a good cook. His origin story where he wastes his last dime was definitely sad but you also can’t help but feel like you shouldn’t be playing around with your last dime right? Seems to me that would be really important to keep safe in your pocket.
Overall 6/10
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