Category Archives: Manga

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! Review

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There are some manga that should give you chills when you open the volume and Dragon Ball has to be one of them. With Dragon Ball Heroes you always know that some brand new super forms will be on the way and this is another really fun adventure. It may only be 20 chapters long but it covers a lot of content and we finally get the Goku vs Goku fight that we had been waiting for. It really lives up to the hype and is something that every true Dragon Ball fan should read.

The story starts with the old Supreme Kai of Time deciding that there are simply too many timelines at this point. Each action creates a new divergence point and eventually it will destroy the cosmos. So she has decided to end it all. She hosts a massive tournament across time and space with the winner being the only timeline allowed to live. The true timeline if you will. Goku and friends have to win this tournament now with the stakes being so high but can they also find a way to save all timelines? Defeating Aeos will have to happen but can even Goku and friends defeat a godlike creature?

This tournament is a great excuse to see a bunch of alternate universe characters like a dark Bardock, one armed Gohan, etc. There are a bunch of great Saiyans running around but of course you also have some previous villains who showed up from a while back like Hearts making his big return and good ole Cumber. You can bet that Broly is around too and of course the demons like Demigra are always waiting in the wings. There are a ton of ultra powerful fighters here but there can only be one winner!

Pretty much the whole series is a bunch of nonstop back to back fights which is a huge win if you ask me. That’s basically what I like to see from this. Dragon Ball Z became famous for the fights although of course the story and characters are amazing too. This is just the iconic part though and so focusing on that is a really smart move. The art is pretty solid here. Now it’s naturally not as good as Dragon Ball Z or Dragon Ball Super but there’s still a whole lot to enjoy so the fights really pop out at you.

These are also some fights you feel won’t happen in the main series for a long time. For example seeing Goku go up against Aeos was such a great fight. It’s a reminder of why time control on its own is not enough to take own someone like Goku. Goku is in a completely different league after all. The fight is cool though because sure we know that Goku has surpassed all of the Kais and the gods of destruction, but it’s still cool to actually see him fighting there.

Additionally Aeos is a really fun addition to the character ranks. She’s a kai but can actually fight really well and has ambitions of her own. She is a villain to be sure but at least she is one with a clear goal, motives for why she is doing this, and the logic makes sense. You wouldn’t be opposed to sympathizing with her cause as a result. In comparison Chronoa isn’t nearly as likable or charismatic. She spent too long having Trunks and friends fight her battles for her and as a result in a power levels sense she just can’t keep up with Aeos. Their battle was still fun though even if it basically ended immediately.

The demons make for a fun third party in the climax as they show up and everyone has to team up. This is the kind of series that would make for a perfect movie since it really has a true beginning, middle, and end structure. Perhaps you could make the case that the stakes feel a bit lower here but technically all of reality is in the balance. You’re just not worried since we have two Goku and two Vegeta fighters running around and all the other big heroes.

When the tournament is interrupted it is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand it’s naturally a lot of fun to see the demons force the heroes to team up with the other enemies but on the other hand there were a bunch of other matchups that I wanted to see finish. A good example of a fight that actually finished was Turles vs Raditz which was actually an excellent fight. In general Turles looks amazing in this series with a bunch of extra development the whole time that I was not expecting. I’m guessing that the author really liked him as a character because he gets a ton of shine.

The fight’s also one that you wouldn’t expect but makes a lot of sense thematically. So throwing in a bunch of other fights like that would be perfect wouldn’t you say? There are a lot of fights that start to be sure but a bunch don’t end. Now for fights that do end, naturally the big 3 generations fight was a blast with Goku, one armed Gohan, and Bardock. Seeing them team up for a big energy wave was awesome and the kind of moment that would be immediately iconic if it was in the main series. I’m really hoping these Dragon Ball Heroes titles will get bigger in America at some point. It’s basically like official fanfiction with all of the super forms. I mean just look at the cover at the top right? You probably would not have guessed that this was something official even from the screenshots. In a way that sounds like a shot but it’s more just about how crazy everything has gotten.

If I had any request for the next Dragon Ball Heroes story it would be for it to be more of a long ongoing instead of a mini series. Right now it’s basically a fight compilation which as I said in the beginning is awesome but imagine grabbing all of these characters out of time and having a big ongoing story with them? I think the possibilities would really be endless even if it means having two Heroes series on at once. One for the plot and one for the fights. With how popular the franchise is I think they should really be expanding it more and really churning out products. There is enough lore to absolutely sustain this for a very long time after all.


Overall, Dragon Ball Heroes continues to be a really fun part of the Dragon Ball franchise and I can’t wait to see what shows up next. It ends up being a bit of a quick review due to there not being a ton of story outside of the fights but I still guarantee the 20 chapters feel like a good amount of content once you’re reading it. Heroes has slowly generated quite a few different series and the next one should be coming up fast. It’s basically impossible to guess what the plot will be before it starts of course but you can bet it will involve a ton of action. I’m not sure if they can top the Goku vs Goku fight to end things off here though. Fans have always wanted a GT vs Super Battle and the first two times weren’t super satisfying. This time it was a full fight and it worked out really well. I guess the next logical step would be for Goku to fuse with himself and become GoGoku or something.

Overall 9/10

Mega Man World 5 Review

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It’s time for a quick Mega Man manga oneshot. It’s always nice to see a game get a quick adventure like this and I think all games should try for this. It’s a great way to get people hyped to play the game even if the intended effect is likely not to be found out like 20 years after the fact. Regardless the art is on point and we get some good action scenes so I’m definitely on board with this adventure.

The manga starts off with Mega Man getting some upgrades. They come at a good time because the heroes learn about a bunch of robots causing carnage over in town. They are led by a robot who calls himself….Earth. Earth wants to unveil a new era with robots at the top and so Mega Man has to try and stop him along with the other planetary robots. These may be some of the strongest opponents that Mega Man has ever come up against so he can’t afford to hold back here but will even his best be enough against such dangerous fighters? Only time will tell.

The manga ends early so that the incentive is for you to play the game to see how it all ends. It’s basically a built in cliffhanger and I would say it works well. Earth wipes the floor with Mega Man and prepares for the rematch which is where you as the player should go and buy the game to see what happens. I already love cliffhangers so this really hit the spot for me. It’s just a good way to go about it.

This also means that the rest of the chapter is basically a bunch of nonstop fight scenes and if you know me you know that I really don’t mind that. Just give me as much action as possible. Sure it’d be cool if the fights could be longer but you get a lot of variety here with Mega Man crushing everyone who dares get near him. He’s basically opening a clinic at that point on how to shred through the robots. They all get a tough line or two before being destroyed.

I don’t even remember some of these robots too well which shows that I probably need to brush up on my Mega Man knowledge a bit. At this point there are so many robots that it’s hard to remember them all but I definitely try. The fact that they are all named after planets definitely makes it a bit easier to recall at least now that I’ve read through the manga. I also didn’t remember this new cat sidekick that Mega Man has instead of Rush. Naturally I miss Rush but the cat honestly did a pretty decent job here. He came in clutch for one moment which was pretty good.

The artwork here is on point and very smooth. I don’t know which artist did this one, if it’s someone who did a bunch of others or only worked on this oneshot but he seemed to be very experienced. All of the characters are drawn on model and the fight scenes are very clear. The writing is good as well so this is a very complete story. Of course that does mean there’s not a whole lot to say here since it’s really just one chapter with a lot of fighting but all you need to know is that it’s worth checking out.

Even if just to see how Mega Man methodically takes everyone down. He’s always been a very efficient fighter and I think we’d see more of that if we got some more Mega Man games with actual cutscenes. It’s easy to forget but he’s not quite as compassionate or emotional as X. Mega Man will blow up any robot master in his way because he knows that they will continue to cause a ton of trouble if left unchecked. He will let Light and friends worry about what happens afterwards but his job is to stop the villains and he does it really well.

Overall, Mega Man World 5 is a solid title. You’ll be finishing it in the blink of an eye but the title has no flaws. The art is on point, the characters are solid, and it’s basically got everything you could want in this story. Trust me when I say that Mega Man is absolutely the manga you want to be reading right now. It also reminds me of why we need a true Mega Man ongoing. Mega Man San is tiding us over for now but that’s still more of a mini manga with how short the chapters are. I need a full blown one and that’ll be amazing. Until then you should read this story for a good idea of the kind of action you could expect from such a tale.

Overall 7/10

“Was I a Fraud?” Lets rank these big villains

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The term “Fraud” is thrown around quite a lot nowadays. I would say it’s temporarily become a bigger term than “Mid” and of course these terms always come and go as the years go by. Right now is a particularly fun time in manga world though with Sukuna, All For One, and Code constantly getting dunked on in every chapter by people online. So I thought, why not take a quick deep dive into some of the bigger cases of “Fraud Watch” and rank them all? I’ll be listing each character from least to most fraudulent. In each villain’s case I’ll quickly give a summary of the character, the series of origin, and the “Fraud” reasons I’ve seen posted online. I’ll then counter with how valid he reasons are.

I’m limiting this to one series so in each case it’s the one I saw listed the most and also factoring how big the character is. The one series this was tough to decide on was One Piece. Big Meme and Useless Captain Mid were the two runner ups from the fan terms but I would say I’ve still been seeing this the most for Kaido and it’s a bit bizarre. So no spoilers but we’re starting off with him because I don’t think you can make any kind of case for him being fraudulent. Not a valid one at least. Now without further adieu lets talk about the 9 characters with the most allegations here! (Really wish I could have thought of one more to make this a top 10 but I feel like there’s no obvious pick for that last spot.

Note that this list will have spoilers for One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, Boruto, Naruto, Fairy Tail, Black Clover, Attack on Titan, and Seven Deadly Sins

9. Kaido

Kaido is a huge villain from One Piece. The guy was hyped up as the most powerful One Piece villain for a long while. “Land, Sea, or Air, always bet on Kaido!” was his official slogan and even Oda had an interview where he wasn’t sure how Luffy would deal with this guy. His arc is currently the longest one in all of One Piece and he went through a complete gauntlet of fighters. He fought back to back the following fighters: Strawhat Luffy Gears 1-4, Zoro, Kid, Law, Killer, The Akaza 8, Yamato, Awakened Momo, Awakened Yamato, and of course Luffy in G5 mode. He was fighting for an incredible amount of time and basically took on the all of the relevant main characters. So yeah you can see why I don’t find him fraudulent in the slightest. Just look at how many hits the guy tanked!?

Fraud Watch!:

1. Wasn’t able to kill a single character during the fight on the roof
2. In particular could not finish off Orochi, the CP0 agent, or Kinemon despite attacking with the intent to kill
3. Possibly lost before using his hybrid mode
4. Started to get humiliated by Toon Force towards the end
5. Went out without a complete backstory
6. His cause of potential death was underwhelming

All right so I’d say off the bat we can throw out number 5. It’s a valid reason for not liking Kaido but I’d argue it doesn’t make him a fraud. For #1 and #2, yeah he probably should have murdered some of those characters. Most shouldn’t have been surviving those hits but I would lessen that a bit to plot armor. For the most part he wasn’t actively making choices that made no sense. He was intending to murder the characters and should have for all intents and purposes. So I wouldn’t place the burden of that on him.

#3 is still debated to this day but the anime used the hybrid color palette for him so most fans would agree he actually was in hybrid mode and so this should be thrown out. For #4, I would argue he wasn’t humiliated. Sure he got beat up a whole lot but Luffy was the one scared at times in a comedy sort of way. Kaido mainly kept a straight face and at the end of the day he just got beat up. So definitely not a fraud and he shouldn’t be on the list. The fact that he’s been getting mentioned a lot was part of my inspiration for this.

8. Acnologia

This is another case where people need to calm down. Acnologia is the final boss of Fairy Tail. A dragon of such immense power that he is said to be able to end the world. Nobody dares oppose him and he ends up taking on all of the Dragon Slayers at once. This guy got a lot of hype but I would say he earned it. It took a whole lot to take him out and to even beat him two different groups of heroes had to attack him on different planes of existence. The way he may have went out wasn’t great but I’d attribute it more to power of friendship than fraud. He got ringed out once which people found funny but lets face it, that’s still not an L.

Fraud Watch!

1. He got taken out in one punch
2. Retroactively he is no longer the strongest as Fairy Tail 100 introduces at least 5 dragons who are on his level and possibly stronger
3. Couldn’t destroy the ships attacking him in the real world
4. Couldn’t destroy any of the fighters

You’re going to notice a lot of similarities on the Fraud Watch reasons which makes sense but you’ll also see me debunking them in mainly the same ways. For the first reason I’d say it’s fairly disingenuous. Acnologia did get taken out with a punch but that was after a whole lot of other fighting. Whenever someone says a villain got rolled in one hit I usually shake my head because unless that was the start of the fight it’s really not valid.

#2 is also fairly irrelevant, it happened later on so that’s fine. It’s like how Super had fighters more powerful than Buu or everyone in Boruto being able to dunk on Naruto villains, it doesn’t retroactively make them worse. #3 is the most valid point because it was plot hax that he didn’t stop Lucy and crew but hey he was distracted by Natsu and friends attacking him in the dragon world. I think it’s a fairly decent reason why he didn’t stop them and to #4, he did beat everyone up, destroying them just gets rather tricky. I’d say it would for basically any villain.

7. Lucifero

Lucifero, otherwise known as Bullyfero among the fanbase. Well this guy started out strong as the ultimate demon lord who was crushing everyone in his path. The guy got a whole lot of hype particularly as he was slaughtering the main cast at just 50% power. So why did everyone turn on him? Well things got dicey in the second half as he basically got beat up in a few seconds once Asta got his final super form (Asta was only able to keep it active for 5 seconds and blitzed the life out of this guy), then Lucifero got crushed by the other demon with his other 50% so badly that he looked pretty whiny. The guy ended up being treated like a minion in the end.

Fraud Watch!

1. Ultimately being toyed with by Lucius and not knowing it
2. Not being able to finish any of the heroes
3. Not being able to survive Asta’s 5 second barrage
4. Not having a backup plan and going out like a chump
5. Threatening to murder all of Asta’s friends as the cliffhanger and not taking any of them out

Lucifero’s a bit lower on the list mainly because the reasons hit a bit harder for him and are tougher to defend. The first point is pretty rough for the guy. It does invalidate a whole lot of his tough talk. Instead of being a grand mastermind he ended up being played for the fool here. For #2 and #5, they particularly hurt him on the re read. When you marathon the climax now, he looks pretty bad since he talks really tough for the first half but then starts to get spanked. The other demon doesn’t respect him at all and of course he gets humiliated at the end.

#3 is also pretty tough for him because losing in 5 seconds is tough. Yes, he was fighting before that so there is extra context here but even then it’s tough just because of how exaggeratedly short that timer is. No backup plan is also pretty bad for him since he had that other 50% everyone was waiting for. I still like Lucifero quite a lot but I get the allegations. I would just say he pushes through past them and is still a serious threat.

6. Kaguya

Kaguya was the final boss of Naruto and a super controversial figure. Most people preferred Madara to be the final boss and if he wasn’t going to be then people would have wanted that title to go to Obito. Instead Kaguya assumed the throne right away and unfortunately got crushed fairly quick. It’s always the tough part about showing up at the end. She was very powerful and it took the powers of Team 7 to beat her but she didn’t get many lines and also seemed to be very unintelligent.

Fraud Watch!

1. Having no control of her own abilities and putting herself in a bad spot
2. Getting momentarily stunned by Naruto’s sexy jutsu
3. Unable to react to Sakura’s attack from the top
4. Not having any real personality
5. Feeling underwhelming power-wise considering her title

The first one is very valid. She basically created ninjutsu and has powers and experience well above the main fighters. It should be very easy for her to teleport to a realm where the heroes have the disadvantage and finish them off or just leave them there as a ring out. It feels like we didn’t get to see most of her arsenal at all so her losing wasn’t very satisfying.

#2 is just plain embarrassing. There’s no real defending that one. I will defend her from #3 though, it was the middle of a fight and contrary to the memes Sakura is very powerful. Not a top tier sure but it was a combination move so I’m fine with the attack landing. #4 is valid, I wouldn’t say it’s something to put her on fraud watch but it does add to why a lot of people don’t like her much.

#5 is the most valid and why I would say she deserves to be on Fraud Watch. She was the final boss but I would argue most would still put Madara above her in terms of ability. I think some would even say Obito should be above her and I would agree with that. Kaguya’s taijutsu skills seemed to only be decent and while she had a lot of power and speed, it felt like she didn’t have a ton of skill. So it was easier for Naruto and Sasuke to outmanuever her the whole time. The fraud allegations feel real because she did not live up to the hype as the strongest opponent even though that definitely seemed to be the intention.

5. Sukuna

All right we’ve made it to the King of Spirits! The ultimate fighter in Jujutsu Kaisen and some would argue the most powerful character in the series. At least that’s his rep and he’s been hyped since day 1. Well the allegations are coming in fast and hard due to his having a lot of difficulty against Satoru Gojo, the man with the powers of infinity. Mainly the allegations have arrived because Sukuna is not fighting Gojo one on one. He’s currently possessing the body of Gojo’s pseudo son Megumi (Not really related but Gojo got Megumi out of a toxic family and helped raise him), using Megumi’s powers, and is using Megumi himself as a shield to redirect half of the damage from each of Gojo’s attacks. Is this him being a fraud or him being smart?

Fraud Watch!

1. Sukuna got knocked out mid fight
2. Sukuna keeps mocking Gojo and talking smack about being the strongest while using all of this extra help
3. Sukuna’s basically using a hostage throughout the fight
4. All of Sukuna’s own abilities have been completely negated so far with his only damage coming thanks to Megumi

All right so the first one is pretty tough because yeah he was fully knocked out. So without backup that’d be it, it would have been curtains for the guy. #2 is also rough because the guy keeps knocking Gojo and acting like he’s been clobbering the fight when at best you could say he’s close to going even. Now the fight is still going and lots can still happen, we can find out Sukuna was only using 1% of his power or something. As with any ongoing series this can all be moot pretty fast but at the moment it’s not looking good for him.

With #3, it’s a smart villain move of course but it’s also valid as a fraud component in the sense of him not living up to the hype for now. Basically Sukuna absolutely needs to win this fight desperately so he can admit that he wasn’t even trying yet. Because tying in with #4, his Domain Expansion just didn’t work. He actually got to use it and Gojo straight up tanked the attack. That’s the kind of thing that doesn’t reflect well on Sukuna since so far it’s the only true ability of his that we’ve seen. Definitely one of the more hype battles going on right now but the pressure is absolutely on. And if Sukuna were to actually lose this fight (Which is super doubtful) that would really be game over.

4. All For One

All For One is one of the most important villains in all of My Hero Academia. He was the counterpart to All Might and ruled the world through fear for years before the hero came into town. He has virtually an unlimited amount of quirks as he has been stealing them through the years and has a lifetime of battle experience. The allegations came when he returned in the final arc and has been defeating all of his opponents but not without incurring a lot of damage and getting outmaneuvered the whole time. Is that enough to call him a fraud?

Fraud Watch!

1. Allowing All Might to goad him into battle
2. Not stealing the powers of the heroes he was fighting
3. Having trouble dealing with the heroes when he has all these incredible abilities
4. Monologuing a ton when his body is literally dying with every minute he wastes
5. Starting to seem delusional

Okay so All For One’s hecklers really started coming along during #3 and #2. He’s been flying around the battlefield defeating his opponents but having a surprisingly hard time doing it. He couldn’t take out Jirou and the others with his energy attack, she actually tanked it straight up. Then they’ve been making fun of him the whole time and of course he doesn’t really care but the fact that he couldn’t shut them up was dicey. Also, taking powers is apparently as easy as grabbing the person and draining the power as we’ve seen before so why not just grab each of them with super speed and take the abilities? He decided not to take Hawks or Dark Shadow when he was in a position to and it’s odd since he was thinking about it earlier. Even if he doesn’t need it, it would help a whole lot right?

#1 and #4 escalated the issue since he is rapidly de-aging right now. If he doesn’t get to Shigaraki to complete the merge quickly he will literally fade out of existence. Knowing that, he is still making a lot of very long speeches and allowing All Might to get the best of him. You can’t do that and he’s been justifying this. He knows that it’s a trap but equates it to taking out the trash and seems to think this will be easy. Well it hasn’t been easy yet as he’s having a very hard time right now while getting younger and younger. He can absolutely make a comeback but it has been a real rough period for the guy particularly just since with his power level he should have no diff’d pretty much the whole cast that he was fighting. You’d need big shots like Deku to really take him out.

3. Eren Yeager

Eren is one of the most controversial villains of all time and for good reason. He’s the greatest character in Attack on Titan and carried the post timeskip arcs hard but then the author fumbled the bag at the end and turned him into one of the biggest jokes in all of media history. The guy cried about wanting a girlfriend and it turns out that he had no idea what he wanted to do. All of his convictions and inner thoughts turned out to be lies and the ending was filled with more holes than a bowl of swiss cheese. Yeah I absolutely think he has to be on fraud watch.

Fraud Watch!

1. Literally asleep during the climax
2. Turned his back on all his dreams and ideals
3. Suddenly had no self respect or dignity
4. Had powers over time and reality yet couldn’t defend himself
5. Wasted everyone’s time including his own
6. Left his people in the worst shape possible

I’m not going to defend Eren unfortunately. His whole thing was about taking out the Titans and never relenting. We had a whole scene where Reiner told him to go to sleep back in the day and that just made Eren more upset. Now? Well he does fall asleep because he decides to just let destiny play out and have the friends take him down. This doesn’t work though because he had seen the future so he knows very well what will happen. It just makes him look bad and he turned back on everything.

All of his lines up til now? Meaningless. His drive was all fake and his goals were never something he was serious about. This all happens because of #4. Eren gained the ability to transcend time. He exists in the past, present, and future which is the worst thing you can do as a writer because it makes the character completely unstoppable. When you have that level of control and can control the actions of all titans, you can’t lose. It’s why we had to get this whole retcon about Eren not really wanting to win and ditching everybody. Nah that was a really bad way to go and I will always remember the ending as the worst one in Shonen history. Eren is one of the biggest frauds out there.

2. Code

Now we’re getting to the biggest frauds out there. Code is a villain from Boruto and fortunately for him the series is still going so he can change things. This guy has lost almost every single fight that he has been in and his fans aren’t hearing the end of it. The guy was supposed to be so strong that he could wipe the floor with Naruto and Sasuke yet he was dominated by Boruto, humiliated by Kawaki, embarrassed by Eida, and then crushed by Daemon. Finally he just got stepped on by Boruto in his first appearance post timeskip. Is there any saving him?

Fraud Watch!

1. Always getting humiliated
2. Talking tough but can’t control the room
3. Has no good comebacks for when the characters humiliate him
4. Couldn’t control his feelings for Eida

Boruto should still have a lot of years left in the tank so Code could pull off a comeback but it does look like it would have to be a miracle. The problem for the guy is the power creep passed him before he could look good. He’s lost to virtually every heavyweight in the series, cementing him as the weakest out of the top tiers. Part of the problem is that he’s always used to make other characters look good, meaning that he himself never actually gets to shine. I think this was actually an accident, but either way it doesn’t reflect well on him as a character. He can’t talk this tough when he’s always being humiliated. Getting stepped on was probably the last straw there.

Eida’s power is also hard to resist but it’s still embarrassing for him to fall in love with her and get rejected so harshly. Then losing to her little brother? From a power level perspective it makes sense but nobody takes him seriously in the series and the disrespect he gets is completely unreal. The characters never give him even the slightest break and you end up feeling bad for him. That’s not the kind of thing you want to feel for the villain. When you feel pity like that then it’s all over!

1. Demon King

Now we’re at the villain I would say is the biggest fraud in all of anime/manga. Yes, it’s the Demon King! Cool name right? Well it’s not enough but this guy is from the Seven Deadly Sins series. He’s the most powerful villain around (Until he was surpassed real hard in the Apocalypse series) and the whole series you were waiting for him to show up. The problem is that by the time he appeared, Meliodas was already stronger than him. Yet the guy went up against the Seven Deadly Sins. One of the biggest inditements against him is the fact that the heroes were grinning while he was trying to threaten him.

Fraud Watch!

1. The heroes within the series couldn’t take him seriously
2. He spent multiple chapters getting dunked on by everyone
3. Meliodas didn’t even bother using his final form to fight him
4. Demon King didn’t notice and kept gloating even as he was being crushed

Yeah all of the reasons are completely valid here so I can’t debunk any of them. The first point is probably the worst for the guy because when the heroes are kicking back and grinning you really can’t take this guy seriously. How could you when they don’t? You almost felt bad for him the whole time. It ties into the second point where everyone was just using their super attacks on him. It reminds me of the average Shonen Jump movie where everyone appears to do their super attack and leaves. Imagine that but to a canon villain who is supposed to be the most powerful of all. Trust me it’s extremely brutal.

To the third point, yeah Meliodas was casually crushing the guy and wasn’t even using his purified max power mode. The fact was that he seriously didn’t need to. He temporarily uses it at the very end to mitigate damage to the area but he was dunking on the guy even without it. That has to be one of the most embarrassing moments for a villain out there. How do you recover from this? The 4th point is also just bad because he’s still talking so tough. The only thing worse than having the heroes disrespect you the whole time is not noticing and continuing to talk big anyway. Yeah that’s not something you ever want to happen.

So there you have it, from least to most fraudulent that’s how I’d rank the 9 characters I hear about the most. For the most part it’s rare for a big villain to actually be a fraud the way that people say but I still enjoy the memes regardless. Keep em coming, I’ll be grinning every time! Even if a villain ends up being fraudulent you can still be a big fan though because those intro scene aren’t going anywhere even if the final ones aren’t particularly hype. Not every villain can go out a winner of course. Well I mean one can…but he’s the greatest!

Bass EXE

Pokemon: Liko’s Treasure

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I may still miss Ash and Pikachu but it was time to jump into the next generation. I’m very early on with this series but it seems pleasant enough. The artwork is good and we already have a real plot involving a pendent so we’ll see what happens here. I’m expecting a pretty consistent performance from the series and will have a review up once it is completed.

Overall 7/10

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

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The idea of an adventure taking place after the main adventure has been completed is a pretty good idea. I’m definitely on board with it and so far the first two volumes have been pretty fun. Whether it goes full action or stays as more day to day adventures, I see this one going far. I will have a review for it once the series is completed.

Overall 7/10

Beyblade X

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Beyblade is a series that’s always great and this manga’s already off to a really good start. Having to climb a tower to prove that you are the very best sounds good to me after all. Ultimately if this one can run long enough I see no reason why it can’t become the next elite title. I will have a review for it up as soon as it’s completed.

Overall 8/10

Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spiral Review

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It’s always good to see Naruto returning back to the world with a new story. To this day the original series is one of the most influential titles in the entire world. Almost everybody has heard of this series at some point after all. Well, this one’s a prequel about Boruto’s grandfather Minato after he won the global popularity poll. It’s always nice to see more of this guy since he’s so great and the story is handled really well. It’s got action and a lot of character development. Minato and Kushina is also easily the best romance in the series and one of the best in all of Jump.

The story starts off with Minato getting jumped by two Jinjuriki but he manages to escape them. It does give him the inspiration to create a new ninjutsu though and so he creates the Rasengan. It’ll come in handy because Kushina loses control in a fit of rage so he’ll need to take down the Fox once and for all and save her from her destiny. It’s definitely a pretty fun story through and through as we see his true power. No way Obito should have been able to hold his own against this guy. I’m just saying….no shottttttt.

The art here is excellent so right away you can see that the artist has not lost a step. He’s as good as he ever was. The details are really on point and the action scenes are really impressive. It’s cool to see Minato using the true Rasengan. I still think it’s way more impressive how he creates it with one hand compared to Naruto who usually had to use multiple hands to form it. This way’s more instant and lethal in a fight. Since part of the chapter takes place more in a meta dreamscape of sorts I wouldn’t use the attacks for power scaling personally but if you do then Minato scales up considerably since he’s 1 v 1ng the Nine Tails on his own.

The most important thing here though is how devoted Minato is to keeping Kushina safe. He doesn’t waver in that goal and is really someone that she can depend on the whole time. He makes sure not to injure her at all and takes some pretty serious injuries in getting her control again. He clearly trained in the sealing jutsus a whole lot off screen and from the chapter we see that he was meeting with Kushina almost daily to improve his skills. Minato definitely has the level of determination that we usually see Naruto with.

You could absolutely make a whole miniseries out of this so in a way it’s too bad that this is just a oneshot. You can feel that there is a lot of story left to tell even though it’s unlikely that we will ever get to see this. We even see more of Minato’s squad including an Uchiha but it’s hard to say who that would have even been. Possibly a whole new character I suppose. It’s also interesting seeing the Nine Tails as more of a true villain again.

Of course the Hidden Leaf looks as tactless and corrupt as always. They surely could have handled Kushina with more grace than basically threatening her not to leave the village constantly so she wouldn’t run out of control. She wouldn’t be trying to run off and everything if she wasn’t under so much pressure. That’s just common sense but these guys are dragging her anyway. I was glad to see her take them for a loop. While the chapter is definitely more Minato focused, she definitely gets her time to shine here too. In the end she was also pivotal with coming up with a good name for the new jutsu.

Overall, This was a really fun story. It’s very well contained and the 50 pages go by in a flash. You’ll read this in minutes because it’s just such a good story. Hopefully we get more one shot adventures in the future. In the meantime you can read this even if you haven’t started Naruto yet and maybe it’ll inspire you to check out the series. It’s very new reader friendly but of course if you’ve read the main series then you will enjoy it even more.

Overall 8/10

Black Clover Sd – Asta’s Road To The Wizard King Review

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I wasn’t a big fan of the Rock Lee manga when it came out and I can’t say that this one was any better. With a series like Black Clover it’s always hard to picture anything short of pure brilliance but this series manages to go under my expectations time and time again. I dare say it has even more constant crude humor jokes than Pac Man which is absolutely crazy. You can barely go a page without something sad happening here. Yeah this is definitely a series to avoid at all costs.

The basic plot is the same as the main series. Basically Asta wants to become the Wizard King at all costs and he will do whatever it takes in order to achieve his dream. Along the way he has met up with many allies and has made a name for himself. Can he really become the king though or is that just a pipe dream? With only 13 chapters at the ready the series is over quickly at least which is really the only positive thing I can say about it. Otherwise it’s definitely brutal so lets dive into this.

The main negative of course is the comic relief as I mentioned. There are constant poop jokes in every chapter, the characters can’t seem to keep their pants up and the whole thing’s sad. The worst part about this is really just that it isn’t funny. At no point will you be cracking a smile or anything like that. You’ll just be wincing the whole time and I won’t even be able to blame you. That’s how sad this got after a while. A chibi spinoff or any comedic title needs to be able to generate laughs and this one just couldn’t pull it off.

The art itself isn’t even that bad. Technically speaking I think you could do some fun things with this style but the series never had any intention of being good. I feel like even fans of crude humor would probably get bored quickly since it is just the same joke on repeat for the entire series. Realistically who is going to have a good time with that? It’s also abridged enough where you will only really be following along if you’re a fan of the original Black Clover series so that narrows the audience (slightly) more. I’d have preferred a clever spinoff with fun references.

Think about Dragon Ball Sd for example. That was a really fun series because it actually throws in a lot of fun references and callbacks. You should be able to easily do that in any kind of homage because there are a lot of things to reference. Or give us some quality fight scenes for fun. I’ll always take that and maybe switch the timelines around so you can do matchups that we didn’t see in the main series. Basically any direction instead of the one that this story went in would have been a good idea.

None of the characters are remotely likable and basically they are all just one note versions of themselves anyway. It’s not like you’re reading this series for character development and depth anyway but at least give the characters some dignity. Without any character to like then there is little point in reading the series. You’re not going to get invested with any of the characters or what’s happening. I mean there’s barely a plot anyway but having good characters would have done a whole lot to get around that negative.

Because this is a gag manga there also just isn’t a whole lot to talk about. If there were funny jokes I could talk about that but there really isn’t. So after covering the crude humor which is 90% of the series anyway, and the art then that’s about it. This is absolutely a story that should be forgotten to time and I feel bad for the author who had to waste his time with this. This title only beats very few manga that I’ve ever read like Black Bird and Black Butler but otherwise this has to be in the runnings for the worst manga out there.

It stings even deeper when you consider how amazing Black Clover is. The Sd series should have been treated with respect like Chopperman and Vongola GP. Now those were chibi titles that really made the most of their runs time and time again. At least we got Quartet Knights a while back so the series had at least one good spinoff. I have to be grateful for that at least but then a part of me still just wanted so much more. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for.

Overall, Black Clover Sd is awful. Truly horrendous on all sides and you should absolutely skip this one. It makes for a very hard read because you’ll be cringing the whole time which can’t be good for your face. At least the series wastes no time in wasting your time because it starts off rough right from the very first chapter. It’s not a bait and switch where it started out good or anything like that so I can’t even say that it fell off. This was probably the worst route it could have gone with but the series decided to go through with it anyway. It’s a shame but sometimes that’s just how it goes.

Overall 1/10

Monster Hunter Orage Review

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Monster Hunter is one of those series where at this point I’ve explored every version of the franchise more than the games. I was the TV show with Lute and friends, I saw the live action movie, and I’ve read quite a few of the manga now. It’s pretty fun how expansive the whole thing is to the point where you can know the series really well without even diving into the games. This one has an interesting plot and some good things going for it but also gets limited by some fanservice issues due to the Fairy Tail author stepping in. I suppose you can’t have it all here.

The series starts off by introducing us to a hunter named Shiki who is a very loud and outgoing kind of main character. He’s super strong and great at hunting but isn’t always good when it comes to social cues. That is definitely his weakness in the end. Still, he knows that as long as he keeps yelling about his master then it’ll all work out. He’s already a nation level hunter so he can hunt anywhere and that’s good since he wants to find the legendary beast Myo Galuna that is said to basically be unstoppable. He ends up meeting with his master’s daughter Ailee and an expert blacksmith known as Sakya. Together perhaps the 3 of them actually have a shot at completing this mission. Can they do it?

So lets start off with the positives here. I do think that the artstyle works well in showing the impacts and big hits during the battles. It’s very intense and fits in this monster world so that’s all good. I’d also say that the pacing is pretty solid. Things tend to move at a fairly quick pace and while it can also feel a bit aimless at times, it does capture the fun day to day adventures of the travelers.

The series has a fun enough tone. It’s a light hearted title that you can really check out at any point. I’d also say the characters were reasonably good. I wouldn’t say there were any standouts that I’ll remember for years to come but some still did well enough. The best character here for example was Curlon. The guy likes the main heroine Ailee, but in the end it’s very one sided. Still, he does his best to help out and fights the villains to the end. He has a great moment near the end where he sees to it that justice is done. That’s the kind of guy you want to root for. It’s just a shame that he didn’t get to appear more because his skills were definitely the real deal.

The dragon Myo had a cool design although otherwise there’s not a whole lot to say about him. He’s the main part of the manga that feels really rushed because he’s supposed to be the strongest of all the creatures and yet he doesn’t have much time to appear. In a way that’s just how it goes with a 4 volume series but he should have just appeared earlier then. There are definitely scenes and subplots you could have cut to make more room for this guy. The final fight is still cool but it’s all too short.

Ailee is also a good heroine here. She is always ready to fight and has good skills on her end. I always like that level of confidence. Shiki often annoys her and so they have some good banter between them which works well in the dynamic. Sakya is also fun enough but she doesn’t really stand out. I wouldn’t call her timid per say but she’s not jumping into action the way that the others are. She’s good at her job of crafting weapons and aids in battle but doesn’t really add a whole lot to the mix.

As for Shiki, it all depends on how cool you are with his constant yelling. He’s always yelling for his master and having a lot of exaggerated moments. Still, he can fight and believes in the usual power of friendship. I guess at his core I’d say he’s a fairly generic main character, perhaps just with the yelling played up more. He won’t really stand out but he’s not bad either.

Then we have the villain Shadow who really ends up being a complete waste of time. He has an interesting design and a really cool weapon but basically vanishes for most of the series. When he finally does return he just ends up getting punked. Sure, I can give the title some points for that being unexpected because I really didn’t see it coming but at the same time…ehhhhh I’m not sure about this one. Sometimes a subversion just isn’t worth it and I would have liked to have seen more out of him. It made for a cool scene for someone else but Shadow really got left behind.

Now while I said the art can be really good for the impacts, there are times when it gets a bit messy. Even in the images I attached for the review, it might take you a few seconds to actually see what’s happening. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to read that’s for sure. You will need some time to comprehend some of the bigger panels during a fight with the monster and at the end of the day that’s on the artist. A series should always be fairly clear. I know it’s tougher with giant monsters but it still gets a bit too cluttered at times.

I’d also say that the series isn’t quite as funny as say Fairy Tail. The humor works sometimes but it’s more hit or miss. The best joke is definitely the way that Shiki’s master went out. That whole backstory was kind of crazy and in general I just couldn’t take him seriously. So when the series leaned into that I thought it was actually a pretty good move. Not being super funny helps to keep it from being one of the top titles. Well that…and the fanservice of course. It’s not super egregious or constant but it’s still there enough to where I’d say it needs to be mentioned. It’s always rather unnecessary to the scene so it stands out more and then you remember that this is the Fairy Tail guy. If you play the adventure straight then you could probably have bumped it up another star easy.

Overall, Monster Hunter Orage is a good manga but not a super memorable one. Put it this way, it ticks off the usual boxes you would expect in any action series and is then satisfied to stop there. It’s definitely not putting in the extra effort to go any further than that and it shows. You’ll have fun here but it’s unlikely to be one of your top recommendations to anyone looking for a fun adventure. It has more more positives than negatives but not to an extreme extent. If the series had kept on going I’m confident it really could have kept on improving but it’s hard to say. It’s also possible that the negatives would just start compounding. Either way if you like Monster Hunter then you may as well check it out. It’s a quick title and if you want action then this is a fairly safe recommendation to tide you over with.

Overall 6/10

Kilala Princess Review

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Kilala Princess is a fairly basic manga that is all about having fun and doesn’t really try for a deeper plot. That said, it succeeds in this by earnestly making that the priority. The series knows exactly what it is and isn’t trying to be anything else. I can definitely respect that. It’s a super safe approach so I don’t have any significant issues with the series. It does mean that there’s a lower ceiling here since the title won’t be all that exciting or epic but it avoids most pitfalls as well. In essence what this means is that it’s a safe recommendation to anyone but it’s not going to be high enough where I would usually end up recommending it to anyone either way.

The series starts off by introducing us to Kilala who is a very cheerful girl. Life comes at you fast but it never overwhelms her and she just looks forward to the adventure. One day she meets a boy named Rei who is the prince of a far away kingdom. He’s guarding a tiara but there are a bunch of villains after it. Basically he needs to find the 7th princess of legend in order to save his country. Kilala knows there’s no way it can be her but she offers to help. In fact, the princess could possibly be her best friend Erika. Unfortunately Erika gets brainwashed and the villains are relentless. Kilala is now in for a big adventure spanning various worlds and dimensions as she aids Rei but what if this search is for naught and there is no princess?

It’s a fairly basic plot and that’s basically a vehicle for the adventures so don’t worry about that much. There’s a fairly straight forward formula here which is that the heroes will go to a world like Little Mermaid or Snow White and meet with the heroes. The villains will attack, the heroes realize that the 7th princess is not there and then they go to the next world. It sort of reminds me of Kingdom Hearts but of course without all of the Heartless attacking and laying siege to the planet. There are the human villains running around of course but they aren’t quite as threatening.

As I said before though, it’s a fairly calm adventure and without that big sense of danger you are able to just relax and have a good time. The main characters are nice enough and this is the kind of title you can definitely recommend to all ages to have a good time. There’s a little adventure, a little romance, and a little danger. There’s also some positive themes here like Kilala learning to stand up for herself and realize that even if she’s not a princess, there’s nothing stopping her from being a great person.

The series does seem to accelerate near the end to the finish line though so don’t expect each of the worlds to have equal length. Towards the end they have to wrap things up so the last world or two are rather short. Still, the series had a decent run and is still long enough to be memorable. The smaller stakes is what helps this to end up being very manageable in the long run. Now lets talk about the characters.

Kilala is a nice lead who is always trying to do the right thing and help the prince out. At times she can be a little timid though and isn’t the most outspoken lead. To an extent I would say this is because she’s younger than most leads. Kilala hasn’t had to deal with a whole lot of issues or crisis situations over the years so this whole journey is a brand new experience for her. She does take it in stride and has fun while she can of course. Part of her character development is how she eventually learns how to stick up for herself and be a core member.

It’s just not easy at first but I’ll give her points for doing this. She’s just not my favorite lead as a result. What I’d like is for her to talk a little tougher to the rival Sylphy. See, Sylphy is basically Rei’s fiancé but there’s a lot of disclaimers to that. The problem is that he never really rejects her which gives her an in to be super confident and mess with Kilala a lot. On one hand I love Sylphy’s confidence so if she did nothing underhanded then she would be the best character. Unfortunately she ends up making a shady deal at one point in the series which tanked her character.

If she stuck to fighting for Rei then that would be one thing but she crossed the line there. Ultimately that’s why the best character is Kilala’s friend Erika but she ends up vanishing after the opening arc. It’s too bad but often times that is the fate of the friend in world hopping adventure like this one. Erika isn’t the main character so she’s not really invited but she handled herself with great poise the whole time. She’s just a good person and that goes for a lot in the end.

The reason why Rei doesn’t rise as highly is because he doesn’t really pick a girl as I mentioned earlier. The guy is super passive the whole time. Sure he gets his romance moments but he’s not very decisive and leaves a lot of the work to Kilala. In some ways I don’t fully disagree with this so long as he isn’t interested since the party more in love should make the first move. The problem is then after that he absolutely needs to make a decision but he’s often content to just be on the sidelines. Mix that in with his getting knocked out, captured, and defeated constantly and he’s not the most impressive prince. He means well but you can’t say much else for him.

As for the main villain I suppose it’s a bit of a twist on who he is so I won’t say his name. He’s okay at best but there’s really not a whole lot to say about him. I think you could have gone into depth on his motivations and given him a real sob story but he doesn’t get a whole lot of attention. Yes, he does get the bare essentials in terms of origin and motives but nothing that really makes him stick out. At the end of the day he’s just some guy trying to take over and that’s why it rarely feels like this is really the main plot.

The story is more about Kilala learning about what it means to be a true princess as opposed to fighting and leading the army against the impending threat. This is still a Shoujo and not an action title after all. It’s not trying to be the next Yona of the Dawn. At times you definitely wish there would be more action but the talks with the princesses and mini adventures are fun enough. It’s basically like watching a Saturday morning cartoon.

The art is also pretty good, it’s clear and the character designs are on point. You shouldn’t have any problem understanding what is happening at all times. The different worlds all look distinct and I would say the artist captured the style and appearance of each world pretty well. It’s why in a way basic art can sometimes take on the more detailed ones. Sure this won’t look like One Punch Man or Megaman NT Warrior but because it’s rather basic it is easily understood and you can appreciate the big splash pages.

Overall, Kilala Princess is good fun. There’s not really a whole lot to it but there aren’t really any big issues either. The characters are fun enough and you’ll be breezing through the volumes. I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to see the classic Disney characters. Unfortunately the different worlds don’t get to meet up but you still get to see them advise the heroine and help her along the journey.

Overall 6/10