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School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei Review

Posted on June 30, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a fairly short series that most people probably don’t even remember all that well at this point. It’s a shame that it ended so quickly because a whole series about debates has so much potential. I’ve been watching tons of debates over the last few months as background noise because it tends to be a lot of fun. Just about anything can be debated after all and aside from picking the position you agree with, it’s also just fun to see what tactics both sides use. There are certainly a lot of little tricks of the trade that debaters can use.

The series starts by introducing us to the world whereby everything is solved through debate. In fact, even schools use this system for whenever the classmates are having some disagreements. It’s a very interesting premise and I’d love to hear more about the world building on this but of course the series is over long before that can really come into play. When a disagreement happens, a prosecutor and defender are brought in, sometimes from another school and sometimes from within. You have to have a certain degree of skill first though so that you can obtain the title to legally make your judgments.

Our main character here is Abaku and he is quite good at debating. He can argue for just about anything but his social skills aren’t really that good. He mainly keeps to himself and can be seen as rather rude. Part of this is that he lived through a very infamous incident that the government has been trying to keep on the hush hush. His whole classroom was murdered with the exception of a few other characters. Nobody knows who the murderer is and Abaku aims to solve that mystery. In the meantime he knows that he has to get stronger though.

Now I will say right out of the gate that while I really love the premise, the series doesn’t really take full advantage of this. I would say part of why it was likely axed so quickly is it started out a little too quiet. I would have leaned in hard with a very solid first case to really get the ball rolling. Instead, the cases mainly take place at school with the other kids so the stakes aren’t always super high. More than one case has a full cop out type ending but even in the ones that do not, it’s not exactly an explosive situation.

By the end of the series you likely won’t care for almost any of the kids who just tend to get in the way and even the teacher for making a lot of poor decisions. Instead of focusing so much time on the kids messing around, this was really the change to introduce the big boss. Even if it was as a silhouette or something like that. Now maybe this series was hoping to be more of a Detective Conan type series where it’s a slow burn but even that famous mystery series did start out with quite a few super important cases involving the black organization. It didn’t just jump in with the slice of life titles right out of the gate.

The art is really solid though. It may not be quite as intense as Death Note but the character designs are on point and we do get some intense moments here and there. Mainly the only issue is that the characters are almost all little kids so there is only so much that you can do to try and make them look tough. It’s not exactly an easy thing to pull off. While the series gets really rushed towards the end, the pacing tends to be fast so you’ll never be bored. Something is always happening although with only 3 volumes that is a pretty small sample set anyway.

Abaku is a good main character. I wouldn’t say that he’s great or anything as he tends to be a little too hands off at times but he’s a solid genius. I don’t mind his being a little rude when he’s trying to save the day. He’s doing his job and that doesn’t include having to make friends with everyone. In a way it probably makes things easier not to have friends since they can really be distractions.

Then you have the rival Pine who also functions as the main heroine. Here’s where I’d say the series dropped the ball a bit. She gets a ton of hype as finally being someone on Abaku’s level but he quickly dispatches her. In fact he tends to dispatch everyone he goes up against rather easily. It’s all too straight forward here and I would have much preferred it if he could have had a real fight here. Lets have him lose to one of the big characters to establish just how difficult the debating world is.

I get that Abaku is a genius but he is still a kid. Giving him a loss or two early on would help to scale the characters. There’s one case where an adult actually shows up to debate Abaku directly. That was great, I was thrilled to see an adult take the stage and take names. Unfortunately, even he doesn’t look amazing once Abaku steps in. The guy does better than most, but this would have been the time to have Abaku suffer a devastating loss. It would have also been a very logical way to do power levels in a title like this with the adults naturally being way more powerful than the average fighter.

Skills aside, Pine is nice enough though. It’s very wholesome that she finally got to make some friends here. Her butler/assistant is definitely on the sad side though. One of those annoying comic relief characters with a very suspect gimmick who really shouldn’t be here. There’s just no point to all of that and another good reason to move on from the kids division so we can have the adults fighting each other.

Then you’ve got Tento who really gets himself into some trouble by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the big cases has him as the accused character and his alibi isn’t the best. The kid is rather helpless the whole time and without Abaku being around things would have been dicey for him. He gets a ton of screen time and development though. Towards the end some of the developments for him are a bit rushed to be sure. I can’t say I ever really cared for the guy.

Kotarou is another big rival character who shows up later and someone who is also mixed up in Abaku’s backstory. The problem? Once again we are told how skilled this guy is and how he’s one of the best but as soon as he fights the lead then he folds. It’s like Abaku just can’t lose any matches. It wouldn’t even be so bad except each time part of the hype is that he’s lost to these guys before but now he’s just too powerful. Giving Kotarou a solid win right out of the gate would have been really good, but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

One thing I would have liked seeing the series dive into more would have been the ethics of having to defend someone that you know is guilty. Kotarou for example does a lot of research before taking on a case because he wants to know what’s going on. So that sort of touches on the plot but I wanted something a little deeper. There’s just so much you can really lean into on this front and if the series had done that then maybe it would still be around.

Speaking of plot elements that the series couldn’t go fully into, there’s one mysterious character who is hanging around the whole time. He always acts super mysterious and is in communication with someone. So you know the series is building up to something huge with him but the whole plot ends on a whimper. Yes, we do get to see this guy make a half hearted move towards the end but based on the build up you were expecting something wayyyyyy more massive. Certainly on a completely different level than what we actually got. I generally liked the guy quite a bit but he lost his nerve when it counted which was rough.

School Judgment also got a bit greedy I would say. Based on the premise you would have assumed that the main character and the main heroine would leave the school as soon as their case was completed right? It’s the whole point of being a professional, you go where you are needed and then you are gone. Keeping them here really stunts the growth of the series because we all already know the characters. So now it becomes more of a story of happy adventures rather than meeting a bunch of new characters and getting to have fresh settings. That probably makes it easier on the artist not having to draw new sceneries or characters but for the story it didn’t work so well.

You can definitely tell that the artist was ready for the more intense stories though. The villain always looks so deranged here even when the case ends up not being super huge. When the camera zooms in and you see the demon eyes you know that the main characters are gonna be in a pickle. Unfortunately the series does have some random fanservice mixed in. It’s not a whole lot but it feels very forced into the mix since the characters are all kids here. The series could definitely be a little strange at times which definitely doesn’t do it any favors.

Ultimately School Judgment just needed to stick to its guns more. Give us some more really intense cases outside of the school. Considering how big of a tragedy the murder classroom was, I would expect the rest of the cases to be something similar. The main guy isn’t getting a great amount of practice by beating up on random debaters in such a low risk setting. Yes, some of the cases have some pretty serious allegations to be sure but it’s still not typically life or death. Limiting the series to the school is probably what forced the scenarios in the most. It should have taken place in a court room so there are a variety of cases.

I would definitely love to see another author take a crack at this one but in the real world this time. Just pure debate within the courtroom with both sides making their points. I don’t mind if the judges are still literal babies even if that was super random and out of nowhere. Just allowing for a more broad range of topics would be good. Yeah, it could get dicey if they make any of the cases too intense but I like to think that the series can show some restraint.

Overall, School Judgment had a terrific premise. If it really went into the bloody classroom murder event a little more I think it would have really gripped people’s attention. Instead it decided to go more on the low risk cases for a while to build up the characters. It was a reasonable option but it just took too long and that sealed the deal here. The series feels like a gold mine of wasted potential but at the end of the day it was still a good manga. It does have its share of plot twists and covers a whole lot in 3 volumes. It’s still a title I could certainly recommend to anyone and you can at least see how the premise is really interesting. There just aren’t many series about debating and maybe someday that’ll change. Hopefully some day someone else can try tackling this concept again in a fresh setting.

Overall 6/10

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Review

Posted on June 30, 2024 by dreager1

Twilight Princess is easily the longest Legend of Zelda manga. They really went to town on this one making sure to adapt everything and taking the time that they need. I thought that was an excellent decision and it’s really the right way to handle these adaptions in general. nothing is rushed and you really got to be with the character for a very long time. It’s a really good title and the artwork is absolutely fantastic. You will definitely want to check this one out to see Link at his best. He is really a strong lead who will keep on fighting all the way through to the end.

The series starts off by introducing us to Link who is a very capable farmer. He gets along well with all of the villagers and it’s really peaceful place but that doesn’t last. Monsters invade and deal a whole lot of damage. They are led by the mighty Zant who takes Zelda and threatens to conquer the entire planet. Link will have to brush up on his skills and also use the Master Sword in order to make a comeback. This will not be an easy challenge by any means but Link isn’t here to just fight the easy battles. He’s here to conquer everyone in front of him and will stop at nothing on his quest. He is the hero of time and he will not be denied.

I actually haven’t played the Twilight Princess game yet although you can bet that it is definitely close to showing up on my docket. I’m knocking out a few other titles first but then it’ll be around. Twilight Princess always seemed to serve as the big sequel to Ocarina of Time. Yes, we also have Majora’s Mask for that but I think it’s the fact that this was the big Gamecube game that really made it super memorable. I remember having part of the study guide for it that came with Wind Waker and the game always looked like a lot of fun. You can definitely bet that I will enjoy diving into this one.

The manga works as a good preview for it exactly because it is so detailed though. First up, the artwork is absolutely stunning. This is a title that clearly had a whole lot of dedication and talent behind it. There’s a ton of hard work put into the manga. Each fight looks amazing and even the normal drawings of the characters walking around works well. The super detailed and serious art style works really well in Twilight Princess where everyone is down on their luck and things aren’t looking so good. You can really feel the despair within the art. It also means that each of Link’s rage modes work really well here.

Now since the story has a darker tone that does mean occasionally it can trip into some issues. There is some animal violence like when the villains go after horses and other creatures running around. It’s pretty rare and that is something that could have been taken away if you ask me personally. The serious tone works for most things but that is definitely not one of them. Lets just focus on Link fighting off these monsters.

In terms of portrayal this will always be the best Link. He’s just such a capable fighter and well balanced character. he really comes into his own as a full fledged character even outside of his title as Link. Zelda doesn’t get quite as much to do since she is out of the story for most of it though. She is still solid as always and never gives up even while in the dark kingdom though. I give her credit for dedication but yeah it would have been cool to have seen her get some action as well.

Midna is the main heroine here instead. She’s rather jaded and has a hard time connecting with Link for a while there but ultimately she is here to help. The manga slightly plays up a bit of a romance there which will have you shaking your head but she does do pretty decently in terms of being around to support Link against the villains. Her dark magic seems to have a lot of versatile uses but she rarely gets involved in the actual fights which is a bit of a missed opportunity. Having her actually take down more of the bosses would be good since she does mainly consider herself to be a full fighter as well.

Part of her whole plan is getting Link here to take down the enemies but otherwise she had plans of her own so that would mean she should be able to fight at a high level too. Meanwhile Link does have a curse on him that keeps turning the guy into a wolf. That’s definitely a tough one to deal with since he naturally can’t fight as well in that form. He does his best but it’s definitely clear that this is a full nerf for him. He can’t lift a blade and mainly just takes Ls in that mode. I already know becoming a wolf in the game is going to be annoying since I can’t use my sword combos.

Zant is really the main villain here and he’s not bad but I do think he ends up falling in the shadow of Ganon the whole time. It’s just hard for him to get out from under that because they’re both very similar villains with a shadow motif. If the manga had taken him in a very different direction then that would be one thing and could work but when they’re this similar? You’re going to end up remembering the original more and the way the manga plays out, it doesn’t exactly make a compelling case for the guy.

So in the end he’s okay but I liked the concept of the villain more than the execution. Ganondorf is excellent as always though. His presence is felt and this design is still one of his all time best. It just works super well and you feel like this could be his strongest incarnation. The guy is able to hold his own in stats and ability with Link. Very few other characters can really hope to say that. It definitely makes for a great climax.

The best fight out of all of them though is likely when Link meets up with the Ocarina of Time version who is now a skeleton. Now that was a really intense fight. I was really glad that they incorporated the other Link into the mix like this. It’s something that really helped to make the story stand out as well. It adds in that crossover kind of feel to it even though it’s the same series. I’d still love to see a true crossover game someday with a lot of different Links running around. I’m not sure how likely that is…probably not very likely but it would be really cool.

The older Link really helps the modern one to refine his skills and also keep his mind at peace. Link tends to lose his cool at times and go into a rage but with all of the evil going on you certainly can’t blame him. He’s been through a lot, the difficult part is just that using rage diminishes the power of the Master Sword since it runs on justice. That could be a longer debate in and of itself since you’d think that falls under righteous justice but perhaps the sword doesn’t agree. One of the things Link learns over the course of the series is to let go of the revenge and focus purely on stopping the enemies.

Yes, he does stop them lethally but now it’s out of a pure desire to vanquish evil so it’s different. I do appreciate Link taking definitive measures here because in the wild realm of Hyrule it’s not like you can toss them into a prison cell. Half of the fights are happening in the wilderness and the middle of nowhere. He can’t just carry the guy back to Hyrule every time, that would definitely be a losing strategy.

I spent years reading this story until it finally ended so you’re definitely going to be lucky to be able to binge the whole series now that it’s over. The story will be even more seamless this way. Despite being such a long series compared to other Zelda titles, there isn’t a lot more to say about it as you already understand the formula. Link will go to each village/area and take the big boss down. It’s what he does and it’s why he is such a legendary hero. The bosses are all reasonably strong. Some are vicious creatures while others are humanoids. I wouldn’t say that any of them individually are super memorable but they work well in their roles as obstacles for the hero. Each of the lands are solid as well and I look forward to playing through the levels in the game.

The manga does full justice to the game and the story might be straight forward but it’s not rushed which I appreciate. Most titles are 2 volumes max for a game adaption and this one is over 4X longer. So they really make the most of this extra time by giving Link a lot of times to be introspective. We definitely learn way more about him here than we do in any other continuity. Oath of Lilto may be a lot shorter with a longer writeup but in a way that’s because of how different that title was. There were a bunch of characters to talk about and the whole DBZ art style. This one is playing things out more traditionally and ultimately it did end up being the better series so these things have a way of balancing themselves out. I would certainly recommend checking this series out first as the true definitive Link title. There’s actually time for him to interact with the people and friends he grew up with aside from saving the world. It makes the whole world feel very interconnected as Link continues to try and save the world.

Overall, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a great Link title. It’s really got all of the elements of his adventure that you could want and this would be easy to translate into a TV show or movie series. In a lot of ways it may even be easier for the general audience than Ocarina of Time since no time travel is necessary this time. Whether you are familiar with the games or not, I definitely recommend this title though. It’s a quality fantasy adventure title no matter what kind of context you have for the title. The series gives you all the knowledge and context that you could ever need.

Overall 8/10

The Legend of Zelda: Oath of Lilto Review

Posted on June 30, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a Legend of Zelda title that is pretty different from a lot of the other ones. For starters, Link isn’t even the main character this time. Instead it’s about a kid who is trained by Link and so we have a lot of original villains and heroes running around. This one plays out like a pretty intense Shonen title from start to finish. At times it can be surprisingly intense to be sure, like a modern version of this would likely have to tone down some stuff. It’s interesting though because the tone tends to be light, it’s just that the violence wouldn’t have been seen as such a problem back then. It’s definitely a relic of its time but one that makes for a memorable read.

The series starts with Lilto being interested in studying the sword. The elder decides to train him for 10 years. After that point the village is attacked by 4 evil fighters who work for Ganon. They want the Triforce and will work to revive the evil lord. Even the elder is quickly defeated by one of the minions who works for the 4 but Lilto is able to draw the Master Sword and fight him off. This comes at the expense of his life though. In the afterlife Lilto trains with Link to better his skills and then has one more shot at life itself. Will he be able to save the world and make a difference or will these monsters be too much for him?

So when I’m talking about shock value and big violence, what am I talking about? Well, in the very first chapter the villains murder a bunch of babies. The murders are actually on screen and it’s super disturbing. Then of course we have people being cleaved in two, animals getting blown up, and it’s clear that this is a very dark world. The villains have a whole lot of influence here and without Link, the world has really gone into a bad place. The series has that light tone I’ve been talking about but mainly because it’s from Lilto’s perspective and the guy has a lot of hope in the future.

If you take a step back and look at it from the perspective of the average person living in the land, I’m sure they would not be feeling so great either. There’s just not a whole lot to feel great about here. It also shows how the world desperately needs Link because without him nothing goes too well. I actually wish Link could have appeared more in this title because he’s such a high quality title. It’s definitely a younger version of link like in the classic Adventure games but he still has his bravery and readyness to do the right thing. He’s patient with Lilto and even ends up being a solid teacher. Link still inspires heroism and taking down the villains even when he’s not the main character.

The main heroine Kalin is a solid enough character. Unfortunately for her she doesn’t have a whole lot of time to do much before getting kidnapped. It’s always tough when your screentime is so low but she was a good person from everything we have seen. Lilto naturally gets a lot more screentime here and does well within his scenes. He’s got a lot of confidence and tries hard. He feels like your classic Shonen lead. He may be out of his depth most of the time but still doesn’t back down from a fight so I can really appreciate that. Lilto gets stronger and stronger as the series goes on so he is eventually able to hold his own here. You might say that he’s a little on the generic side but all of his individual qualities are good so I have no issues here. He can almost feel like a younger Goku but if you know Dragon Quest then I’d say Dai is probably a better comparison.

Gonza is a hero who means well but does have a rather rocky start. He hypes himself up a little too much and as a result his skills really started to suffer. He needs to put more work in and also not sabotage other heroes along the way. So once he goes through his character arc then he’s on point. You never feel that Gonza is really in Lilto’s league but with his bombs and speed he can at least be a good support fighter as necessary.

Kaala is a girl who shows up later on to help the heroes out. She can fight which is always a big deal since there aren’t many good guys around in this era. She has good fundamentals and a solid amount of durability. Ultimately she may not do much against any of the important villains but it was still good to have her around. Without her the heroes would have been more outnumbered and everything. I liked her tough attitude the whole time. Definitely my kind of character there and she would have been even better if she could have had some kind of power up to keep pace with the others.

Haggis is the first of the big villains to make a move. He’s a very confident kind of fighter who thinks that he is above all of the other characters and you can see why. With his abilities he has likely not had a real challenge in some time. Even Lilto is unable to do much against him although there are some asterisks in their first meeting. He works well as a villain. The guy has an intimidating presence the whole time and is the most memorable out of the 4. As a character I can’t say that I care for him as his motives aren’t the best. He may be ambitious to be betraying everyone and trying to even take out Ganon but using Kalin for this doesn’t exactly win him any points.

The other generals look pretty bad though. Keep in mind that when you’re working for villains it’s not like you can ever trust any of them right? You should be looking out for yourself the whole time and making sure you don’t get stabbed in the back. These guys underestimated Haggis way too much and as a result they don’t get to do much of anything here. Even Ganon doesn’t look very good I would say. His plans didn’t work out the way that he wanted them to and in a large way I would say it’s because he also underestimated the other villains. This was his chance to really prove himself and instead he faltered when it counted. In the end the villain roster just wasn’t all that good.

Pretty much the whole series is focused on Haggis though so it was a trade off that the series made. I would say it’s one that worked reasonably well though. He definitely did feel like a very serious villain and I dare say that he really did hold his own. He was winning for most of his screen time after all and fought smart so it’s not like he’s one of those villains who lets it all go to his head.

The art is really excellent for the series though and definitely helps to elevate it to the next level. This is a manga where all of the fights look really intense. It helps that the series is styled on the DBZ type of artwork. All of the character designs and everything look like it as well. It means that even a more comedic character like Gonza looks really intense here. I always love to see this kind of artstyle too. It was really huge during the Beet and Dragon Quest eras. You may not see it as much anymore but trust me, it holds up really well.

The series is fairly short at 15 chapters long and as you can guess it has to get a little rushed towards the end. Put it this way, you have the 4 enemy generals and Ganon. Well, by the time you reach chapter 8 which is over halfway through the series, none of them have been defeated yet. That’ll probably get you thinking a little bit right? The series does its best not to feel too rushed but I would say that it absolutely happens regardless. There just isn’t a way around that. This is the kind of series that easily could have kept on going for another 4-5 volumes and I think that would have really allowed them time to flesh everyone out.

It’s not likely to ever happen but this definitely could make for a solid little anime. You could adapt it all quickly after all and it’s a classic fantasy story so it’s not like it ever goes out of style. Link could definitely use more animations considering how big the video game franchise is. The writing in the series was on point and all of the heroes were likable. I always have to give the author big credit there because that’s not always easy. For example the comic relief hero could have easily been annoying but he has enough solid scenes where you don’t mind the bravado. None of the heroes are written too extreme in either direction.

Then for someone like Kalin, at least she has a role beyond being a damsel in distress. She actually has powers of her own which is part of why the villains want her. While her hype comes at the expense of Ganon, she actively contributes to the story. That’s something I really enjoyed because it was definitely unexpected and it also makes me gain a lot of respect for her as a character as opposed to just sitting there and accepting her fate. Now that would have been a bad look.

Overall, This is definitely a very different take on the Legend of Zelda. If you enjoy the main stories then you should still have a good time here though. Link himself may not be here to take a starring role but the series still plays out in a similar way to as it would if he was there. He’d probably be dominating a little more than Lilto but it’s not like their personalities are completely different either. There’s enough common elements between the two to make it all work. The series goes by fast and while it goes down a bit of a different path than you may have expected due in part to it being rushed, it’s a quality story. It’s held back a bit by some of the shock value and violence but mainly that’s all at the beginning of the series. After that the DBZ action is prioritized a whole lot more which works better. The power levels definitely make you really look at the series different and I’d like the main LoZ games to go into that a bit more. Link is really powerful, it’s just that the game style doesn’t always show it.

Overall 6/10

Sweet Smell of Success Review

Posted on June 30, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a film about corruption and how far reporters will go to get their story. When you’re watching a noir film it can be hit or miss on if the main character is likable or one of the actual villains. In this case it’s definitely the latter as there is no place he won’t sink to in order to get further in his career. The rest of the film is solid enough but the main guy really sinks the whole thing. He just gets away with too much and the whole time you keep wishing the characters would be a little more alert on what’s going on.

The film starts off with Sidney being upset because he was given a bad tip about Susan and Steve breaking up. The fact is that they have not broken up and are even more serious about each other. This is a problem because Sidney works for Susan’s brother JJ who has ordered him to end the relationship. He does not want Susan with anybody and if Sidney does not succeed then he will be out of a job. How can Sidney pull this off without destroying his social relationship or making it too obvious though?

Obviously from the start Sidney already shouldn’t be taking this gig. He’s just too desperate to get in good with JJ since the guy is the most influential person in the newspaper business. The guy controls the media and that is where Sidney wants to work but what he has long since lost sight of is that it all won’t matter if he’s lost all his morals before then.

The guy’s a two timer and he’s also willing to sell off his friends to score. He pressures one girl into having a one night stand with one of JJ’s friends and while the guy had been doing pretty badly from the start, this was definitely the lowest moment for him. This is why you’re rooting for his downfall.

JJ makes for an interesting villain. He really talks a good game the whole time. He has taken years to build up his influence and do whatever he can in order to keep that power. So by this point he already has a lot of connections which makes it hard to take him down. By the same token he does have a ton of skeletons in the closet which can be dug up by anybody who has enough time to do so. That’s the thing he really has to keep in mind here. He continues to dig his own grave by trying to mess up Susan’s relationship. If he had just stayed away then he would not be in these problems right now.

As for Susan, she also lets herself get pushed around a little too much. She needed to directly fight back against JJ and Sidney instead of even entertaining what they were saying. Likewise with Steve he needed to grab her and either get out of there or have some long talks first so nothing could break them apart. Ultimately things go well but they very nearly didn’t. If Sidney had ended up jumping then there would have been no way to come back from that. In these films people seem to lose so much power when anyone brings in the blackmail which is a shame. You’ve got to be able to take it or if not, just don’t give enemies any ammo anyway.

JJ has Sidney mess with a lot of people in the film. Some fight against the blackmail by exposing their own crimes like the guy who was cheating while others fall in line. This guy is just a big newspaper editor though. At the end of the day it’s not like he’s a big gangster. JJ may have one of the cop under his payroll but you still feel like people should be able to fight against him a lot easier.

At the end of the day JJ is really just manipulating everyone like pieces on the chess board. Even when in most cases the other person knows JJ is no good, they just aren’t able to make a move. They stand there puzzled and unsure of what to do. By the time they act, it’s simply too late and that kind of thing happens a whole lot. The film does have a fight scene of sorts at the very end, it tends to be more of a beat down but yeah we got the action there. It’s all just a bit too late like I said before. I needed the tables to turn before it was all too late. Instead we’re already past the point of no return so at that point there’s just not much to say.

I can still give the film some props because it is very engaging. You are wondering how things are going to end as the film goes on. Right up to the point where Sidney forced his friend to be with that one old guy, the film was really hitting its stride. The script was very clever and the writing was really intense. It’s a film that leaves an impact on you. One quick turn here or there and we’d really be looking at a completely different title.

Overall, Sweet Smell of Success is an interesting film about how the demands keep going up as you throw away your morals. There is no real end point and by the end you are too far gone to really make a comeback. It’s just all over at that point. It’s too bad that Rita didn’t defy Sidney in the end and refuse to have the stand. That would have definitely helped make the whole film more enjoyable. Unfortunately the pressure was just too much in this instance. The script is really solid between the characters but you do have to get past this part in order to enjoy the film which is pretty much impossible there.

Overall 3/10

Scarlet Nexus Review

Posted on June 29, 2024 by dreager1

Scarlet Nexus is one of those games that was really huge when it was first announced. It was going to be a game that really changed everything. It would be the big RPG that people would be talking about for many years to come. Well, I can definitely say that is succeeds in those areas. This is definitely a game that I highly recommend checking out. It is an elite title all the way through and you will be having a good time here.

You get to choose from two characters when you start the game. Each one has a sizable campaign of around 20 hours and then you can play the second campaign. I stuck to 1 character this time around and went for the guy. He wants to be a great OSF agent and live up to the family’s powerful reputation. Along the way he makes several friends and everything seems good until he begins bumping into some very dark conspiracies. The OSF is about stopping aliens and protecting people but it looks like they may have gone a little beyond that in their pursuit of justice. It may be time to take them down but it’s important to not lose sight of who the big villains are. Tough choices will have to be made.

The game tackles a lot of big sci-fi themes like time travel, clones, alternate pasts, etc. So right away I can tell you that this is up my alley. Of course that does take a while to appear in the story but you’re pretty engaged with everything else happening the whole time. The game is mainly working within the context of there being a ton of organizations and all of them are reasonably corrupt and evil for different reasons. These are guys you would no want to bump into. Of course you can try to stay on their good side but that can be difficult in and of itself. That also does mean there isn’t a true main villain for most of the game.

The game does a great job of establishing the villain’s motivation even without a ton of screen time though. Out of the game’s 12 chapters, he probably only appears in 3-4 of them and usually only for a brief moment or two. Yet by the end you really understand why he is so desperate. I’m not by any means saying that you will end up rooting for him or anything like that but I am saying that you will be able to see his motive clearly which is important. It separates him from the average villain who is just trying to destroy the world or something.

The graphics here are definitely top tier. You have full cinematic type cutscenes and even the basic ones generally all have voice acting. There are some slight exceptions of course but those are small exceptions. I always like when a game has extensive voice acting like this. It takes the whole experience to the next level and shows that this is a real AAA game. Voice acting is often what can turn a very good game into a great one. It heavily buffs so many aspects of the game and so yes, Scarlet Nexus was a complete success here. The kind of game that you can really admire and respect. It was most impressive.

Meanwhile the soundtrack was also really good. Definitely another classic W for the title. There are a good amount of battle themes here, both for the normal encounters and for the bosses. There’s a good amount of variety in this title and it fits in well with the general sci-fi theme that the title is going for. There were definitely no issues on a technical level for this game. As an RPG i also goes without saying that there is a ton of content here. Beating the game with both characters will take around 40 hours easy. Then there is also completing all of the bond missions and getting the Platinum trophy. Definitely not going to be an easy task right there. So I was definitely satisfied with the length all the way around.

I do recommend doing a ton of the bond missions as you play through the game. The power ups you get with each partner are rather substantial. There are a ton of these missions so it can feel a bit intimidating but as long as you do all the ones that are available in each chapter as you move forward then it won’t feel like a crazy onslaught the way that it would once you are closer to the end of the game. It’s all about pacing yourself after all.

Now I didn’t talk much about the gameplay yet and that’s part of what’s unique about the game. You have your usual close quarter combat skills but you can also use telekinesis to throw blocks and objects around. It’s a pretty fun style of gameplay and this often helps you attack an opponent’s weak point. Once you have the villain down to a low enough amount of health and you have broken their mind gauge, you can defeat them with a brain crush. It’s a super handy technique.

You can also activate brain mode which makes you temporarily invincible so long as you’ve gotten the right upgrades. Definitely super handy but make sure you turn it off before the meter falls all the way down. If you forget to do this then it’s an automatic game over. It’s actually a really interesting mechanic because it ties into the story where his mind is slowly shattering So it makes sense that you would lose if you stay in this experimental mode for too long. My big tip is to use your materials to buy brain gears whenever possible. Brain crush mode makes even the final boss trivial since you can skip most of the craziness. I made sure to grab every material I could throughout the game so I was really in a good spot here. The game could get reasonably tough and I did die a few times but often it was because I underestimated the enemies. You always have enough items to keep on healing and moving forward.

Overall, Scarlet Nexus was really a blast. Waiting for this game was totally worth it. It definitely lived up to the hype all the way around. It would be great to see a sequel to this show up at some point even if the ending was rather definitive. The game’s ending lands on its feet so there really were not any issues here. You really got your money’s worth with this one. Even more so for me since the game was on sale for a crazy $10 amount. You really can’t get any more of a steal than that right? It’s the one benefit of waiting so long before getting a game although I can tell you when the second comes out that will be a day 1. Definitely no waiting this time.

Overall 9/10

Pokemon Go Update

Posted on June 29, 2024 by dreager1

I finally have Mega Rayquaza! I wasn’t able to seal the deal last year but this time that changed. I now have all of the Mega Pokemon that have come out for the game so that feels pretty good. I’ve got the perfect record for these guys, now I just have to keep on pushing forward until I can say the same for the main Pokemon although I’m super close on that front as well. Definitely the game that keeps on giving.

Quest for Camelot Review

Posted on June 29, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to play the Quest for Camelot which definitely plays out a bit different than what I had been expecting. It is an adventure that is trying really hard to be like the next Legend of Zelda but it ultimately falls short of the intended target. It’s clear from the jump that this isn’t an AAA title because it’s just missing a lot of quality of life features that would have been default otherwise. It would be a super annoying game to play without the whole rewind feature. You would constantly be wondering what you should do from here out.

The game can get surprisingly difficult for some of the bosses as well. The final boss in particular is super fast. He moves so quickly that you can barely react to his attacks and the range of your sword is so bad. You can beat him with normal slashes but it will take an impressively long time. You can use your charge attack which seems to be the intended way to win but it’s easy to miss or gets too close which will cause you to take damage instead. Everything is very sensitive in the game, if you aren’t frame perfect then it may be game over for you.

Let me take a step back for a minute though. The main gameplay style here is that of an overhead title. You run around using your sword and other gadgets to proceed through the game. You get a lot of gadgets throughout the adventure and you will be using them all a lot so get ready for that. If you forget how a gadget works then you are doomed because that is absolutely necessary here. The puzzles do not hold back at all. They are so difficult and it doesn’t help that there is no real map here. So you can be lost for quite a while.

I miss having some kind of a fast travel for the game as well. How come I can’t just teleport around in a magical world right? So instead you are running around a whole lot. you have to use a horse to travel past some obstacles but for the most part you are on your own. The large array of gadgets is impressive but it’s part of why the game can be very long since it means you always have to really think every puzzle through a whole lot because you have so many different weapon and gadgets to keep in mind.

Naturally the graphics aren’t very good since the game Boy color rarely ever tends to look all that good. It’s a shame but that’s just the way that these things go. The soundtrack is also pretty much nonexistent. There aren’t a lot of tracks and the ones that we do get don’t really have a lot of soul or energy to them. The game definitely could have done way better so that was disappointing. The brief flashes of the game where you see some potential just makes the rest of the title sting more.

Even basic things like presentation weren’t handled very well. The large text screens that are used in place of cutscenes are hard to read at times. Then you have the illustrations which are nice to see but there is no text on those images. So what’s really the point of even having those around? That’s another thing to keep in mind here and definitely not in a positive way. Just put some text on those and then the text screens could have been a whole lot smaller.

Okay there’s a lot of bashing going on there but I mentioned that the game was solid in some respects right? Well, the story itself seemed reasonably engaging. It was hard to keep track of the characters the way that the game played out but there was potential there. I also liked the combat itself. You have a lot of freedom for how you take out the villains. Moving through the levels was nice enough, I just missed the map. If I had a map though then this would all have been as easy as cake and would have been smooth as butter. The ultimate combo of combos.

Removing the puzzles would be the best thing to do in order to elevate the game to the next level though. I suppose another option you could also do would be to fix the hit boxes since you will notice that you run into empty pockets of air quite a few times. That could have definitely gone over better. That one’s more funny than negative though. At the end of the day the main annoying thing here is just that the game feels very low budget the whole time and ends up sabotaging itself. The story is reasonably long so if the gameplay was tightened up a bit this easily could have been a big winner for the Game Boy. Ah well, that’s not how it was meant to be.

Overall, Quest for Camelot is a reasonable game but one that is held back by a whole host of issues. There is just no way that I would have had any fun playing the original version on the Game Boy. I would have thrown in the towel early on and that is the sign of a game that is not successful. That’s my biggest issue with it. The difficulty is rather unreasonable and it needed a better save/check point system. The current one just isn’t doing the trick and the game often loses its momentum because of how often you have to go back and do something. You aren’t able to just have fun and continue to push forward. That’s a big problem right? I do think this could end up being a fun game series if they make a modern sequel with a ton of quality of life updates but in the meantime this title will be forgotten very quickly.

Overall 5/10

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Review

Posted on June 26, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a sci-fi film that isn’t afraid to get rather crazy. It starts off with a really crazy dolphin song and that sets the tone for what’s to come. That’s a good thing though because Sci-Fi shouldn’t be afraid to go all out. It’s one of the things that can make the genre really fun and all. That said, I wouldn’t say this one always succeeds in the humor and everything so it can be a bit hit or miss.

The film starts off with Arthur protesting the demolition of his house. His friend Ford shows up though and explains that it doesn’t matter because the Earth is going to blow up. He’s an alien too after all. He helps Arthur escape into space where they’re tortured, meet different clans, and now have to…try and save the universe? Can that be right? What can some random Earthling do? Time to find out!

Arthur’s definitely not the best character though. He’s a little too desperate and slow on the uptake. Considering that he met an alien early on and is then told a crazy story you’d think he would be ready. Instead he is still worried about his car for a while even when the planet is about to be destroyed. Also, his almost girlfriend Tricia dumps him for an alien but he hasn’t been able to fully get past his feelings?

He only knew her for 5 minutes with a drink and she was already talking about travelling across the globe. It’s clear that she wasn’t serious about him so he should have just moved on quick too. Meeting someone while you’re both drunk at a party is definitely not going to put you in a good position for success in a romance if we’re being honest here.

It doesn’t even feel like Tricia likes Zaphod all that much and is really in it for the space travel. She always liked travelling on Earth after all and in space you’ve got billions of times more space here. I wouldn’t say the whole thing reflects great on her either but hey she’s following her dream and not just floating through everything the way Arthur is.

Zaphod is fun though, he has a good time with the whole plot. I do like how he is wearing a suit that looks like him and just keeps on popping up. That’s a great example of a gimmick that stays funny throughout the movie. Yeah he has his serious moments by the end and all but he’s at his best when he’s just messing around the whole time.

Marvin is a depressed robot who is with the crew the whole time but his gimmick gets old a little fast. There’s not a whole lot you can do with that gimmick after a while. He gets to help out and does his best but ehhhhhhh, you don’t really need him. It does give us a chance to see a character who is even sadder than Arthur though.

He’s a good example of the film itself though which starts out a lot stronger than it finishes. Because he does have a good array of fun lines at first where that jaded spirit of his really works well. Ford was a better side character in the end. He was really helpful the whole time and without him the characters would have been doomed.

One of the main plots that comes up later on is about the ultimate question and ultimate answer. So in one of the film’s crazy exposition moments it turns out that the universe finally found out the ultimate answer to life itself thanks to a super computer. The problem is that it was just a number, 42. They now need another computer to answer that but there’s a whole lot of time that you need for this and only one computer can handle this.

It’s a pretty solid subversion since usually the whole film would be about finding the answer to life but instead we are given that from the start. I also like the idea of the answer itself being ultimately pointless. Cmon that’s gotta get a smile out of you at least. The journey is like the answer though, the question itself is not all that important. It’s just the plot device to get the characters onto a bunch of planets and to meet lots of different aliens.

In some ways it feels a lot like Stat Trek. It’s more about the exploration than big battles or anything like that. Throw in some dry humor that tends to work well for this type of story and the film does have a solid approach. When it comes time for the more serious plots though…not as solid. I already talked a bit about the romance but it’s really sub par here. Arthur’s just too desperate and even if Tricia was just hanging out with this guy to an extent, it sure seemed like they were in a real relationship. The guy would smack her on the backside and everything so yeah Arthur needed to have the willpower to walk away. It makes the ending more on the underwhelming side. There’s also a quick rushed romance for Zaphod that just comes out of the blue.

That’s not the kind of thing that would really hurt the film’s score or anything but yeah that could have been handled better. The movie does have really good special effects once action is happening though. The laser guns look good, Marvin’s robot design is super good as well. It looks really lifelike and you’ve also got the change gun that transforms items seamlessly. The dolphin song may have been rather bad but I choose to believe that was intentional as a gag so hey it is what it is.

Overall, I’d say this was a good film. I think the humor works more than it doesn’t. What keeps it from being higher is something that generally tends to happen to some comedic films. The second half starts to drag on a little bit, the film overstays its welcome and could have shaved off like 20 minutes or so. They did get to reach a lot of planets as a result so I get why they wanted the film to be long, but it just lost a bit of steam at times. A film like this can only last as long as the novelty factor and after a while the craziness of everything doesn’t really phase you. I would still recommend checking this out if you like sci-fi and comedic/parody type films. This one has a lot of fun poking fun at everything which makes the humor really accessible I’d say. Everyone should find at least some of the gags funny I’d expect.

Overall 6/10

Call of the Night Review

Posted on June 23, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for some vampire stuff running around. Naturally you know that vampires isn’t quite my main genre and this being a romance/slice of life title it doesn’t quite raise the stocks here. Ultimately it is better than the average vampire title but I would still give it a thumbs down in the end. The ending definitely doesn’t work out very well and the characters should have handled things very differently. At least we avoided a decent amount of blood sucking but of course it still does happen sometimes.

The story starts off by introducing us to Ko who is just depressed. On the surface his life seems fine. He is very popular at school and has a lot of friends. His grades are good and so life should be fine but he feels like he has no real purpose. So he wanders around at night and one day bumps into a vampire named Nazuna. She tends to be rather bored with her immortality too and the two decide to become friends. It’s a bit transactional but hey Ko doesn’t mind his blood being drained. Now he would rather hang out with her than continue his daily life but it looks like he’s starting to become part vampire too. Will this complicate his life?

Part of that premise is pretty fun because the idea of walking around outside sounds very enjoyable. In a dream world without crime I’d certainly like to try it sometimes because it’s a whole different environment and the views would be great. I’d never try that in real life though because that’s how you vanish. Yeah statistically speaking you’d be fine but I don’t really take chances like that. So I can see why Ko enjoys this and it’s something different to do. It also feels rather “taboo” in a sense so he finds it exciting since it’s his chance to break the social rules.

The series also handles his depression well. Sometimes you don’t have to be depressed because of some big sob story or a huge event. It could be as simple as you wake up one day and just wonder what you’ve been doing with your life. In a way Ko has been playing a character while at school and has been unable to really be himself. Now with Nazuna he finally has a person who really understands him or at least he feels that way. Of course it does rope him into a lot of trouble but in a way this is what he has been looking for so that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Nazuna is fairly reasonable and won’t drain him dry. That may not be the case for other vampires though so Ko has to watch out. He’s introduced to a whole vampire group of sorts with some girls who think that he’s a liability. Fortunately Nazuna has a lot of clout and physical strength so they aren’t quite able to mess with him in any way like that. Nazuna always has his back which is good. Ko really wants to be a vampire though and may not understand the full gravity of that so a lot of the series is really about this. There are no takebacks after all. Once you’re a vampire you have to avoid the sun and you will be immortal. So if you get bored of being a vampire after 200 years, well that’s tough.

As the series goes on we also find some difficult truths out about becoming a vampire. If the vampire really loves you as you are drained, then they will die so the vampire is turned will be all alone. It’s a risky gambit there especially since Ko thinks he is in love with her but what about Nazuna? You have to assume that the whole concept of love and romance will be very difficult once you have been alive for so long. The feelings are just way different by that point.

The series also spends a lot of time on vampire society as a whole. It’s mainly a big secret from the masses. There are legends and stories but it all gets suppressed rather well and so there are no big wars going on between humans and vampires. This series isn’t really about action so that makes sense although I do wonder a bit how that’s really sustainable. There aren’t a lot of vampires running around as it’s a fairly small group but you still do feel like leaks would be impossible to stop and eventually the government would be aware of what’s going on. Ah well, I guess that’s just how it goes.

The world building is fairly detailed and you could just say that vampires have the edge here. They can drain people in secret and when that person wakes up they likely won’t remember anything. Since the vampires are mainly very responsible the risk isn’t quite as big as it would usually be. If the vampire population starts to grow then this would be more of an issue which is also where part of the concern in turning Ko into one starts to come in.

Akira is Ko’s childhood friend and she is concerned about him the whole time. Ultimately there’s not a whole lot that she is able to do for him so she tends to take a backseat here. I thought she was a good friend though and someone who always wanted to help him out. So I appreciate her dedication there and she was friends with both Ko and Mahiru so she helped keep the balance even when things got a little tense between them. She may not have had the most conclusive ending but her role in the series was certainly rather large.

Mahiru gets a big role too but he’s more on the annoying side the whole time. He is another kid who is really popular at school but is really faking it the whole time. His home isn’t the best environment to grow up with as his brother died a long time ago and the parents never really got over with. He falls in love with one of the vampires named Kiku and that starts him down a dicey path. For starters he wants to really become a vampire and starts to get super jealous of Ko. If he handled this reasonably then I wouldn’t have minded so much but the guy is just super petty about everything. He picks fights and generally seems like a bad natured guy.

I think the series was trying to have a nuanced take about the guy but he just felt really sub par the whole time instead. I couldn’t root for him and while I sympathized a bit with the backstory, it didn’t excuse his actions in the present. So he didn’t have the greatest ending but it’s hard to feel too bad for the guy. He made his choices every step of the way and there’s not much that you can really do about that. At that point it’s really all about what he wants to do.

As for Kiku, you could call her the main villain of the series. Like I said this isn’t an action series first and foremost but when she shows up we do get some real action. She has several fight scenes and proves herself to be one of the most powerful vampires in the series. Her years of experience have really allowed her to hone her skills and it was always fun to see the action scenes happening. As a character I would say she was rather tragic. Basically she really couldn’t understand the concept of love and needed to finally succeed. The problem is that in the wake of this she would keep on turning people and then ditching them which led them to commit crimes and cause a lot of trouble.

She’s irresponsible to put it mildly and definitely deserves to be called a big villain here. It goes without saying that I couldn’t get behind her romance with Mahiru. The age difference is rather massive and while it will eventually get relative once they have turned, it’s definitely not the play right now. This series is all about being a slow burn romance so even Ko and Nazuna’s takes a while but at least that one has a much better build up to it. Nazuna doesn’t have any older memories so she is fairly young relative to the other vampires as well. It makes for a much better dynamic there.

One of the big characters in the series is Anko who is a big vampire hunter. The fact that there is such a profession does at least show that there are a decent amount of vampires out there who re actually evil. I do think this starts to break down the world building about the general public not knowing about these things but for now we will just say that she is super good at her job so she takes them out that fast. She is an interesting character who works as a third party for most of the series. Everyone has to watch out for her.

Her character definitely gets watered down once she turns good but until that point she makes for a very imposing villain. Certainly not someone that you want to mess with. It is a little hard to take her seriously though because you feel like she should stand absolutely no chance against the vampires. They have super speed, super strength, and a whole host of abilities that should be so far above hers that it wouldn’t be a contest. The series does little to convince me otherwise. She would be absolutely blown away as soon as the match started so I don’t see how she has any success here.

The series does invent an interesting weakness system which is that you can destroy a vampire by destroying the item most precious to that person. The main tricky thing about this is it’s really hard to figure this out. In most cases the vampire will figure it out first so they can just hide it somewhere and that’s it. Remember that they can fly and have super speed so finding a good hiding spot will be easy. Just fly to a mountain and drop it off somewhere. Boom, no way Anko will ever find it. So yes this is why I say she’s outgunned.

The first of the vampire cabal is Seri who definitely suffers from the power creep here. She is wrecked in her brief “fight” with Anko which made no sense but it is what it is. She shows up early on to mess with Ko but to give the kid credit he really does only have eyes for Nazuna. I can definitely respect that and it’s part of why I can buy into the romance there way more than the average one. Seri is a nice person though and afterwards acts as a very reliable figure. She treats her followers well too.

Nico is more of a tough vampire or at least she puts up that front. In general all of the members of the group are nice enough. I don’t feel like her role ever got quite as big as the others but it’s fairly relative since again, the series does give everyone their own mini arc during the course of the series. Kabura gets a rather massive role as she is involved in quite a few twists. She can be rather cold to everyone for the most part but Nazuna’s an exception. I wouldn’t say that she’s one of the more likable characters or anything but is definitely useful as someone to deliver a bunch of info dumping.

Midori is another character who tries to mess with Ko at first but quickly gets with the program. She’s not bad although I wouldn’t say her dynamic with her followers is quite as healthy as some of the other characters. In general a lot of the humans who were turned by the vampires really just exist to simp over them now. It’s not a particularly glorifying way to be presented but that’s just how it goes. It’s a rough fate and you hope that more of them can find their own kind of purpose. Like at least one guy know show to talk formally now with all of his m’lady stuff. While he also feels kind of desperate at times, I at least like his personality and that he can even work as a love coach at times.

Kei was a fairly solid character. She may be super busy since she had to raise Ko on her own but she can always tell when something’s bothering him. She is always there for him even without being a hovering kind of character and gives really good advice. Her parenting style works well and I thought she was super reasonable the whole time. If anything Ko’s actions would make most parents panic so she went well above the average there.

Susuki is a random vampire who shows up later on once the series went into its battle phase. She was a prodigy in combat who was really doing good in her opening battle. It’s a shame that she didn’t stick around, I actually think she would have defeated Kiku. Her role may have been small but it definitely left an impact. Azami is another vampire who showed up during the action phase. He can fight rather well but I wouldn’t call him a top tier. For example I think Kiku and Susuki would definitely be able to take him out. He’s a good training mode type fighter though.

Then we have Haruka who is rather desperate. I was glad Ko beat him up. He definitely misuses his vampire abilities and while he may have changed his ways, it’s hard to say. I suppose all of the vampires misuse their abilities in order to feed but the way Haruka did it just feels particularly devious with his mind control going on and everything. That just seems to be something that only a villain would do under normal circumstances right? That’s just me though.

We learn about Haru, Nazuna’s mother later on. I wasn’t a big fan of hers. She is certainly very outgoing and talkative but I do think she could have handled things way better so that Nazuna wouldn’t have been in the dark about everything. Haru is someone who plunged ahead into new adventures and fun all the time without planning ahead and that’s something that can and will often be a big problem the longer you do it.

So there’s quite a large set of characters here. Some interesting ones to be sure but the best ones who came in during the action segment just don’t last long enough. It can also be easy to mix up some characters occasionally because of the art style. In particular a few of the vampires from the cabal look kind of similar. The art is very rough, I would put it under most other manga titles that I’ve read but it’s still readable of course. Since there aren’t many fight scenes it’s not like there is a lot to worry about here.

The ending is one that I was not a fan of as I mentioned before though. It’s just not very satisfying at all and I would have handled things way better. I think you gotta either go with the full sad ending or a very upbeat one but this tries to do a little bit of both and sort of fails on both sides. It’s not one of the worst manga endings or anything like that though, it just could have been a lot better.

In 20 volumes a lot of story certainly happens so you don’t have to worry about a lack of content. There isn’t always a full ongoing plot but there are mini arcs here like different school trips and of course the battle with Kiku. In general those arcs were more fun than the standard slice of life stuff but I suppose it depends on the arc. It’s an interesting slow burn but the vampire stuff just messes it up more than help the series. Some characters like Anko should have held onto the grudge against Kiku the whole time. Bumping her off in a full fight would have been nice considering what she did to Anko’s father. I don’t see how you really get past that.

The series is about emotions a lot of course so I suppose grief and rage are just more examples of those. If the series had fully committed to being an action title then I think things would have gone better. Ultimately it just wasn’t really up my alley. Maybe if they threw in some more comedy that would be another way to go up aside from action scenes. The series takes itself rather seriously and there’s no problem with that necessarily but in general I do prefer rom-coms to rom-drams. Any scene of the characters getting drained or Ko pressuring Nazuna to drain him can be annoying. It’s like peer pressured blood draining. The world also seems like a depressing place in general with vampires draining people at night without their knowledge and the victims who get turned are stuck for eternity in a rather sad existence. In a way because of how seriously all the themes are played, the series isn’t quite able to spin this into a positive.

Ko and Mahiru definitely do their part in bringing the series down a bit. Mahiru because he’s just a pretty bad character and the whole romance is one that just makes you shake your head. Ko because he’s really not that interesting. That may sound harsh for just not being all that interesting but I would have liked him to have had more goals or some kind of definitive character ending. It just feels like he didn’t move on much and in some ways may have regressed with having to keep up a front again. Maybe have him be able to handle Nazuna’s constant stream of suggestive dialogue with some banter. The only time he stops her is when he tries to be romantic which isn’t really the same thing.

Overall, Call of the Night is a fairly big romance title and it’s impressive that it lasted for 20 volumes. Each character gets a whole lot of development so even though the cast isn’t huge, you get to know all of them rather well. If you were to remove the vampire aspect entirely I think the series would work better. Ko would meet people during his nightly adventures and in that way discover a whole new world. The vampire stuff just adds more blood sucking which is never a great idea as those scenes tend to be rather gross. The art can be really rough but it’s not as if that’s a dealbreaker. If you can get past the vampire stuff then you have a reasonable slice of life title here. It may not always be the most engaging but it is a very calm series so you can pick it up and read at any point. For the most part you should be able to easily understand what’s going on.

Overall 4/10

Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga Review

Posted on June 23, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of Blue Exorcist. This series has always been a bit of a mystery to me. On one hand, it’s a big Shonen title where the main character has to fight off his demonic urges and slay demons. It’s very much a classic king of plot but the execution is just so different. Sometimes in a good way but sometimes in a bad way. I’ve never really connected with the series as well as most other big Shonen titles and that doesn’t really change here either. It’s a good season but not great by any means. It’s not quite as interesting as it should be and the action always gets cut off way too quickly. Well, lets dive into this.

Yukio is still jealous of Rin’s abilities and now that he is getting a glimpse of his own demonic potential, he wants power. He continues to try and repress his desires but the facade is starting to crack and he doesn’t want to talk to anyone about it. There’s not much time to think about this though as the Illuminati attacks and kidnaps Kamiki. She is taken by Shima, a double agent working for this group. Naturally the Illuminati is led by Lucifer himself. Note that Lucifer is another son of Satan and brother to Mephisto. This group will be difficult to defeat especially Mephisto sandbagging as always and the Exorcist Order being generally useless. Rin and Yukio will have to take point in rescuing her but can they move on from this big betrayal?

Naturally this is a really huge deal if you have been following the series for a long time although the anime took so long to get up to this point that I wouldn’t be surprised if most people have already heard about this whole thing. It’s not exactly the biggest secret in the series, you know what I mean? The reactions to it are very odd though. The characters get over the betrayal way too easily which is a personal pet peeve of mine. This guy literally broke all of their trust and kidnapped Kamiki so she could be tortured over and over again like in the past by a group that is clearly evil.

I think this is more than a “Do better next time” kind of speech. He should be absolutely demolished, I’d expect him to be destroyed on sight the next time that he is seen. Is that harsh? Yeah maybe but I would also argue that it is absolutely deserved. The characters are constantly using kid gloves on Shima and it doesn’t really make sense. The show goes into the specifics here and throws some more twists into the mix but none of it overrides the fact that Kamiki was very close to being dead. She had her summons get destroyed and while they managed to come back later, she was consistently put in a rough spot.

It’s why undercover operations are often not a good idea. Even if it’s part of a mission, you can’t be putting your allies in danger or sitting back while others are attacked. If you let one person get murdered to save 100, then you are starting to make dangerous decisions that are in villain territory. So I never ended up liking Shima and still blame him for everything. I’m also a little upset at the other characters allowing him back in because that makes no sense to me. Definitely a massive L right there.

Rin also doesn’t look his best here. He’s going through the classic hero issue of not wanting to murder anyone so he holds back a lot but you can always knock someone out without murdering them. It also gets to be a little much when he is also nervous even when fighting mindless monsters. Just take the super slow zombies down, there’s nothing you can really do to save them at this point. It’s also an annoying part of Blue Exorcist because every time we’re primed for a big right with Rin, it either doesn’t happen or he holds back so hard that it’s not a real fight.

Realistically he should be mopping the floor with most of the characters but it just doesn’t happen. He’s also scared of his powers enough where he doesn’t train the way that he’s supposed to. How is he supposed to protect his friends when he’s holding back like this? The whole power system of the series isn’t great either. The prayer chants never seem to work and are incredibly impractical. Unless you have someone like Rin or Kamiki backing you up to buy you time, the villains are going to slam you. It just makes over half of the cast feel rather useless most of the time. Everyone should have some close quarter combat skills or at least a big summon you know?

Okay back to the characters, Yukio is super annoying here as well. Part of this isn’t his fault because the guy’s had to go through the same character arc multiple times since the anime only arc was retconned and of course I remember this from the manga. So it just gets old quick where he is messing up his priorities and becoming a liability. If he would just talk to Rin about what’s going on things would work out better. So I put all of the blame on Yukio since he’s taking himself down the wrong path. It’s not even like the villains are encouraging this, Yukio is really leading himself downhill all on his own.

As for the main heroine Shiemi, right now there’s a lot of drama going on with her. She seems to like Yukio but is starting to like Rin. Possible triangle forming there, we’ll have to see how it goes. For now Shiemi is still way too timid and I would like her to acknowledge her own strength more. Her grass summon is really not that bad and can at least buy her some time. She has no real offensive spells but at least she can play a support role.

In that way she is more balanced than Kamiki. Kamiki has her dual spirits but they don’t even listen to her half the time ~~because they’re tremendously awful characters who refuse to honor any kind of loyalty to her despite having high respect for Kamiki’s mom~~ and put her in big danger. Kamiki has basic spells beyond that but as I pointed out before, this never works anyway so it may as well be a pointless addition. I like Kamiki’s fiery spirit but hopefully she will work with the other heroes more next time and not try to be a loner. Being a loner only works when you have the power to back it up.

Suguro is the only one who actually gives Shima a hard time so I give him massive credit for that. He sticks up for the traitor so that he’s not executed or anything like that but still doesn’t trust him. That’s how it should be, I still don’t get how you could possibly trust him in any context after what happened. That just makes no sense to me. Suguro is really held back by the fact that he can’t fight at all without the talismans so I hope he gets something soon.

Miwa tends to be a bit of an annoying character. Kind of wishy washy and never too sure of himself. Unlike Shiemi he has no great powers to help him out so right now he’s on the lower side from the cast members. Shura doesn’t do much beyond her obligatory teasing of Yukio. She is mainly injured for most of the season and when she is conscious she is being threatened by Mephisto. Honestly she is in such a terrible spot half the time. She needs to find a way to get stronger so she can actually have some freedom.

As the big villain in the Illuminati you’d figure that Lucifer would get a lot of hype but he’s very underwhelming for now. He’s super sickly and constantly coughing up blood and running out of energy. I feel like Mephisto could wipe him out of existence with ease and is just messing around because he can. It looks like the heroes are going to wait until Lucifer finds a cure and can fight at full power before they make their move so the Exorcists are as inept as always. I’ll need to see more of Lucifer to take him seriously.

His main general was one of those fat psycho doctors which doesn’t do his group any justice. That guy was super annoying so I was glad when he was taken out. Definitely one of the worst villains in the series. The backstory for Kamiki’s family was definitely a sad one. This season sure had more of an emotional feel than the last one. No offense to Suguro but his family drama wasn’t nearly as impactful. This one hits a bit harder because of how so much of it felt inevitable with no real escape.

Finally with Mephisto, he is still a solid villain but the kind of figure who could go way down depending on how his plan goes. Right now we don’t really know what he even wants to do. He clearly has enough power to bring the world to its knees so why doesn’t he? He has deals with the shady council of Exorcists but why would he even need such weaklings? We’ll find out in time but if he ends up getting one shotted or the plan doesn’t go well then retroactively it will make him such a terrible villain. Usually the more convoluted and far out your plan is, the more things that can go wrong. So he will really have to convince me here.

In general a lot of the story is still shrouded in secrecy. In part I would say that’s because we’re seeing things from the point of view of the main characters who are out of the loop on everything. We don’t really have any characters who are on the inside to give us full coverage into what’s going on. You like to think that the Exorcists have a bunch of trump cards at their disposal but I have my doubts on this. Right now it just feels like the demons have all of the advantages and the heroes’ only chance is to trust one which is rough. Rin is their only chance.

In terms of animation, the show can look good but it can also be rough at times. It’s clear that this didn’t exactly get a massive budget. It’s a shame because none of the fights look all that amazing. The best battle in the series is probably Rin vs Shima and part of that is probably more for narrative reasons than animation. I’m glad we at least get some action but it again feels like the show could be doing so much more. In the last season the big boss was a giant monster and of course we get more of that here too.

I want the show to just embrace its Shonen roots and give us some massive action scenes. Lets get some really cool feats in here and some awesome stuff you know? At least the soundtrack is really good as always. This is one area where the show has always excelled. I thought the theme song was really catchy and I also like a lot of the individual tracks. My favorite theme from season 1 only shows up like once but the new themes are good too. There’s a solid amount of variety and I felt like this got the biggest budget in the show.

While the show may not always deliver on the action front, I do think it does pretty well on the slice of life and comedy aspects. It’s a show where we actually get to see the heroes in school quite a lot. We see them learning and everything as there tends to be a lot of downtime. The gag of Rin dressing up like Shima was absolutely top tier as well. That gag actually works really well and made for a lot of fun moments. The obligatory beach type episode was also not as fanservicey as it could have been.

In general the show doesn’t go too far into that but some of the outfits are definitely geared in that direction. The romance is on the weaker side though as it all tends to feel a bit melodramatic. I feel like it’s going in a similar direction to Seraph of the End with the characters trying to hold in their emotions and everything but Seraph of the End pulls it off so much better because of how direct it is. This one’s trying to sort of be half in and half out so the romance is more annoying than anything.

Overall, Blue Exorcist had some good fights and plot twists but it’s just hard to get into the series the way the author wants you to. It feels like its just taking too much time to move forward in the plot. The fact that all of the heroes have to work with the villains because they are too weak to oppose him is also annoying. I mean it’s interesting in a sense but there doesn’t seem to be a way for them to surpass Mephisto. The power system of this world just makes that impossible for all of them except Rin who needs to get his head straight. It’s almost like a horror film where the heroes don’t stand a chance. The only other title I can think of like this is Seraph of the End where the heroes are always super doomed but at least the power system is much more supernatural so you could easily write in massive power boosts. We’ll see where the series goes from here though, hopefully Rin can finally start fighting more. There is already an exhausting amount of world building so lets move on to the big plot developments now. Either way the show does go fast though and the characters are entertaining so that will have to do for now.

Overall 6/10

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