Category Archives: Manga

Mega Man X – Team X, Move Out!! Review

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It’s always fun to have a new Mega Man story to shake things up. This one shot goes by quickly but definitely shows how Mega Man X is always having to put up with so many things. The guy can really never catch a break no matter how hard he tries. The world of the future is certainly not a bright one and whether it is humans or robots who take charge, they just end up getting corrupted and dominated so quickly.

The story takes place after the first Mega Man X game and so X is being celebrated as a hero. He is now the captain of the maverick hunters and it should be a really exciting day but all of the other robots are jealous of him. They want their chance in the sun and figure that it won’t happen until a new villain shows up to cause some damage. So they actively root for a tragedy like that to occur which rubs Mega Man the wrong way but he doesn’t say anything. One day a maverick shows up and starts causing some trouble but he’s talked down by a kid. The kid isn’t afraid of him and so maybe he doesn’t have to be evil or anything like that. Unfortunately, the young heroes figure this is their chance to shine so they continue trying to murder him even when the robot won’t fight back and is clearly trying to protect the kid.

It’s a really bad look for the maverick hunters all around. They really act like the villains throughout this oneshot and it’s a shame that X wasn’t able to do anything about it. Sure, he talks to them and says they shouldn’t be doing this but that’s about it. Not exactly a strong stance against them right? The robot ends up dying a tragic death as well and now X has another body on his hands. The whole thing feels like it’s meant to break X even further and it’s a shame because I think he deserves at least one happy day at some point. Why do every single one of his adventures have to go sideways like this?

The young robots also should have been reprimanded a whole lot harder. They directly caused the death of an innocent robot. It’s hard to walk your way back from that. I suppose outside of the tragedy it works a bit as a heartwarming story considering that the girl was able to rehabilitate a maverick. Not an easy thing to do for any character ordinarily. The robot also did well in protecting her throughout all of the fighting so he gets a lot of credit there. If he really wanted to fight, then aside from X I do think all of the robots would have been wiped out with ease.

The art is definitely solid and holds its own with any of the main Mega Man X titles. The action scenes are good and all of the characters look the way that they are supposed to. So definitely no issues there at all. The pacing is solid enough as well. There’s only so much you can do in a single chapter of course but the manga told a complete story which is definitely what you would like to see out of it.

Overall, This was a good story. It can be a little frustrating how the maverick hunters get away with so much here. I think in a longer story you could really address this a whole lot more but the limited page count just sort of works against it here. Still, it shows how X has to keep his guard up and be careful even when there is no end of the world threat present. Robots continue to get overwhelmed and corrupted even without a mastermind pulling the strings. If Megaman X had more confidence in himself and his leadership skills then it may not have been a problem but right now he’s still too timid. He needs to be the leader that everyone trusts him to be and hopefully that happens sooner than later.

Overall 7/10

Mission: Yozakura Family

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This series is another one that’s off to a fun start. I think the overall premise has a lot of potential right off the bat. The characters are likable and the art is good so at the end of the day that’s a great combo right there. We’ll se how long they’re able to keep the story fresh but at least for right now I would definitely recommend the title and look forward to reviewing it once the series has finished.

Overall 7/10

Sakamoto Holidays

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It’s time to return to the world of Sakamoto Days with this spinoff. It’s pretty cool to finally have a new comedic title to check out. So far the humor is handled well and it’s not going for the usual kind of cheap gags. I can definitely respect that and automatically that puts this one above the average title. It was a good read and hopefully they can keep this one going for a long while. I’ll have a review for the series once it ends.

Overall 7/10

Wistoria’s Wand and Sword

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This title is being heralded as the next big Black Clover title and I can see why. It’s looking like absolutely top tier content and is off to a great start. Having to fight off magical users while not having magic of your own always makes for a good premise. The art and characters are on point. I look forward to reviewing this one once it finishes!

Overall 8/10

Blame! Review

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It’s time for a really abstract/intense sci-fi title. Blame! is one of those series that really doesn’t spoon feed you too many details so you really have to figure everything out on your own. It’s an exciting way to read through the series and then see how different your takeaways were from someone else’s. There are a lot of things you should agree on as well of course and there are some things that the series will tell you. It’s definitely an unforgettable sci-fi title with a ton of action but in the interpretive sections it can also get a bit disturbing. It might say more about me than the manga depending if that’s what anyone else saw but some of the dark elements get super dark.

The story follows a guy named Killy. (Well that’s how he’s listed online but I could have sworn the spelling was more like K’il but Killy is easier to spell so I’ll just roll with it. Killy is a guy who tends to be super silent all of the time. He doesn’t really say much of anything and appears to be a real enigma. He wants to shut down the city and to do that he has to find someone with the net terminal gene code that is needed to save the world. A lot of crazy stuff happened hundreds of years ago and humanity messed with the A.I. a bit too much. So naturally robots took over the planet and drove the humans to the brink of extinction.

Some of these robots are “Builders” and their goal is to keep on building forever and ever. That is their mission after all so they just continue to do this until the end of time. Naturally this does lead to one big issue which is that the world never ends as a result. For example lets say you are 10 blocks away from the supermarket and then you go to sleep. When you wake up to might be 30 blocks away. Since the city is constantly expanding on all sides, it also means you can easily be separated from your group for a long time.

In some ways the series almost works as an anthology type as well since Killy will meet various people from all sorts of tribes where he will sometimes help them out for a prize. If they have info on what he needs then he will help and likewise if they’re about to die or something. Otherwise his priority is to keep moving. It’s not that he’s heartless or anything but in most cases there isn’t much that can be done for these people. I’m afraid the sad truth is that they’re basically down for the count. The humans are really lucky that the robots take their time and aren’t in full genocide mode or the humans would have been wiped out a very long time ago.

So when it comes to the dark stuff, what am I talking about? Well Killy stumbles into quite a few areas where it looks like the humans are basically being tortured to death for eternity. We see one human (Or more like an android at that point) who seemed to have been converted into some kind of eternal breeding machine. Others have been totally ripped apart, some whose minds have been completely cracked, etc. It’s really not good to be a human here and you have to hope that your mind has long since died. Then of course a lot of really strong stuff happens to the robots as well so you just hope that they don’t have pain receptors.

In a lot of ways you could say that the world of Blame! is like an allegory for hell. All you have to look forward to is an eternity of pain and suffering. There are no wins to be found here or anything like that. Everywhere you go is more and more despair and the closer the heroes get, the more the goalposts are literally shifted away. At this point all they can really do is survive and even that is not particularly fun when there’s not enough food or water to last you for very long.

So here’s my take on the whole situation. It’s based in part on some reveals and then how I interpreted them so in case my theory is right…and it probably is…you should skip the next 2 paragraphs including this one. All right so what seems to be happening here is that the human race was subjugated a long time ago and the whole world was turned into data. What is happening now is a man made version of hell that the robots have stuck humanity into in order to run tests. Killy is one of these robotic administrators and he is using the body of a human type in order to find a way to shut it down.

This is why Killy has a gun that only the machines should have and why his stats are so high. It’s also why it seems to be impossible to actually destroy hm. I think this ties in pretty well and makes sense with some of the dialogue that we get later on. Everything is real to the people who are inside of the City but it’s not the physical world at this point. It’s not the most air tight theory or anything like that but I thought it made sense. It’s a bit harder to explain the angel type robots that show up later on and the other factions but I can still attribute this to there just being a lot of contention on how the world should be developed.

In the end it’s not like the explanation matters all that much though. The whole point is that this is a mission in futility. No mater what Krill does, humanity is not going to win here. He could save people as often as he wants and keep on destroying robots but it is truly endless. There is no meaning to life within the city and he will have to keep going until he dies or runs out of energy. The series takes advantage of his immortality and how things keep going really well.

Some chapters seem to take place across dozens and dozens of years and that’s being conservative. At times Killy acts like he hasn’t seen another person in many years and other times it seems like he’s somewhere that he has been too in the past but before the time of the people still living there. I suppose after a while if you’re immortal you would probably lose track of time as well. Everything starts to become a legend or a mystery. Do you trust your own memories or what people tell you happened back in the day?

There’s just a whole lot to ponder here and the series really goes into a ton of really intense topics even without much dialogue for pretty much the whole series. That’s the most impressive thing about it. I dare say it’s also scarier than most horror films. The fact that you really don’t know how to escape is absolutely terrifying. Like put yourself in the position of any human who isn’t Killy here. At any moment you could be murdered by giant immortal robots. There is no escape since the city is the size of the entire planet and you are only getting older and slower while they do not. Eventually you will be taken down as well and there’s nothing that you can do to fight it.

That has to be extremely terrifying and unnerving. Not having a way to resist your impending doom is crazy. Meanwhile the art is also super good which also adds to how terrifying everything is. The character designs and action scenes are extremely detailed. The fights get rather large so you really feel just how powerful all of the characters arc. Killy and the robots are like terminators and then you keep on getting stronger and stronger versions. Killy can hold his own against almost all of them but even he runs into some difficulties which the top tier ones.

The robot designs are as cool as they are scary too. Some have large capes, cool swords, etc. There’s really a whole lot to love there. The main cast is rather small as most characters are one shots. There are a number of big villains around, some have names and some do not. The most memorable side character is easily Cibo though. She was definitely put through a lot as she was forced to stay alive for many years through a machine but you could say that she was functionally dead for a while there. Killy does end up helping her get a full android body and from there she gets involved in quite a lot of mech fights. I don’t envy her position though, having to pretty much be tuned into a robot in order to keep existing is rough.

Then there is Sanakan who joins up with Killy for a while. A lot happens and lets just say Sanakan doesn’t get to always stick around but it’s another crazy plot point to keep you engaged. When these side characters are around it does allow the series to finally have some dialogue since otherwise Killy would pretty much never talk to anybody. He just doesn’t see the point of doing so which is rather harsh to be sure.

In the end I might start to sound like a broken record about this but Blame! is definitely not a title for the faint of heart. When I say it’s probably the scariest manga out there I definitely mean it. It’s like Terminator on steroids. There isn’t a lot to talk about due to the nature of the series even with a reasonable amount of volumes but I can say that you will still be experiencing a lot here. It can just be tough to translate that into words. You just know that it’s a series you won’t forget. Even the high tier action scenes have a bit of a scary undercurrent to them. Because again, it’s not like you can win. At best you can continue to delay the inevitable by fighting but at some point you will be tired or make a mistake and then that’s it for you.

The whole mission about finding someone with the gene is already a huge long shot. It’s unlikely that anyone with it still exists and the longer Killy searches for this, the more likely it’ll be that all of the people who had the gene are dead. It’s fully possible that his search is already in vain. Then it’s possible that he’s already stuck in an endless time loop as well. I wish there were some big online debates about this series, I’d be eager to read that. I’ll probably have to start looking up some theory videos for the series now that I’ve finished the review on it. I bet there’s tons of great content out there just waiting to be looked at. This manga is really one of a kind.

Overall, Blame! is definitely one of the most interesting manga titles that I’ve read. It’s just so interpretive and yet there is a ton of great world building here. It’s the kind of series where you can probably argue about the meaning of a specific page with other fans for hours. There’s just so much to take away from it. So what you take away from the series will come down to your own opinions and analytics as well. Some scenes that I find super dark you might find standard or scenes that I find to be really hype you might think are disturbing. I will say there is definitely a lot of replay value to the series since you can just allow yourself to be lost in the artwork. This could definitely be turned into a fun anime although I know the studio would be tempted to task it down quite a lot. Throw in dialogue everywhere and simplify the whole thing of course. It’s a little too disturbing at times for me to actively recommend this to a manga reader but if you love horror and twisted stuff then you will definitely have a field day with this one. Just make sure you are prepared to be spooked if you watch this at night!

Overall 5/10

School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei Review

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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

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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

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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

Call of the Night Review

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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

Bass: Time of Reunion Review

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It’s time for a oneshot about the best character in all of media. Bass has returned and he’s ready to really dominate as always. Many people forget this but Bass is the strongest character of all time. Who can possibly challenge the guy? Well, in this chapter some tough fighters like Megaman try but they are definitely found lacking. It’s nothing to be ashamed about though, it was…inevitable.

The special starts off with Searchman and the army trying to take down Bass but they are quickly routed. Surprisingly he spares their lives. They then go over to Lan and Chaud to ask for their help. Basically Dr. Cossack is dying and he wants a chance to say his final goodbyes to Bass. They all figure Bass won’t come quietly so they’ll have to try and defeat him. Lan agrees to help since he’s ready for a fight and Chaud’s not one to be left out. Do they really have a chance though or is this a suicide mission? One wrong move and they may end up being confined to oblivion!

Trying to mess with Bass definitely doesn’t sound like a good idea under any circumstances. Serenade makes a quick appearance and also confirms that this may be ill advised. For starters, trying to kidnap Bass to make him meet up with Cossack seems a little iffy right? That’s not a great reason to kidnap someone in general. It’s certainly not as if the planet is at stake or anything like that. So that’s the first problem here. Then of course there is also the matter of his power. Serenade crushes Megaman and Protoman while admitting that Bass is even fiercer. Still, they are eager to try.

It was fun to see Serenade for sure. Then in terms of the actual fight, the art is top tier as always. It’s great to see Bass taking everyone on again like in the good ole days. People forget but Bass was the original powerhouse. He speed blitzes Megaman and Protoman while dealing massive damage the whole time. It’s great to see that he has not lost a step. Even with Hubstyle and Double Souls combined, it’s clear that Megaman wasn’t quite strong enough to be of any real danger to Bass. Bass wasn’t afraid of anything the whole time, nor should he have been. He doesn’t even have to resort to Beast Out or his own Hubstyle at this point. He’s just at a completely different level.

One thing you will notice is that Bass is quite a bit nicer here. He seems to have mellowed out a whole lot since the events of the manga to the point where he actually spares people at times and doesn’t mind talking things out. The old Bass would never have humored the heroes the way that he did here. He’s definitely had a whole lot of character development over the years. So it all works out okay here but I do agree with Serenade that Megaman and Protoman were in the wrong the whole time. So if Bass had wanted to murder them then he would have been fully in his rights to do so. You can’t just go trying to take someone down like this.

I wouldn’t say that the oneshot opens the door to future sequels I’m afraid. So don’t get your hopes up for that but even just getting another look into the world was fun. Megaman NT Warrior is still my favorite manga of all time and everything is exactly as it was. The art still looks super intense and the writing is on point. It just goes to show that there are still a ton of different stories you could do within the series. There is a lot of ground left to uncover. It may be tough to come up with enemies who can be a real threat at this point but then you could do some prequels or something. Lets just get more Megaman content around.

Overall, This is a really fun one shot. I’m also impressed at how long it was. It’s almost like a full volume with around 100 pages at the ready. The author really knows how to craft a good story. Outside of the battles the humor was also pretty fun. I liked the banter between Lan and Chaud. They definitely haven’t missed a beat there. The series always had top tier action but would take a break for some comedy every once in a while. It’s a good mix I would say. You should definitely check this out. It’ll really be very nostalgic as well.

Overall 8/10