Category Archives: Reviews

Donkey Kong Bananza Review

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It’s time to look at the new DK game that came out recently. I knew that I needed to get this one as soon as possible because it was really going to put the Switch 2 on the map. There aren’t too many destruction games that come out either so that was another reason to pick it up. I can safely say that this was a really good game as well. Playing through it just feels like a lot of fun and it’s really something that Nintendo is super good at doing. They always bring in that fun factor which is super important to any title.

The game follows a character named DK who works in the mines for bananas. One day a sentient rock shows up and it turns out that her true identity is Pauline. A mysterious group led by a villain named Void Kong are after her. She has some kind of special ability that makes her a big target for these guys and DK agrees to help her get to the planet’s core. There is something there that can grant wishes and her wish is to go home. DK also has a wish, he wants lots of bananas. Together the two of them will dive through the planet and pass a great many number of countries. Will they be able to pull this off?

The game is playing it fast and loose on what exactly is happening here. Why is Pauline a kid and how does this work in the timeline? The answer I like is that this is a hard reboot and is serving as essentially a DK origin story as well as a prequel to Mario Odyssey. It works really well when you look at it that way even if the timeline will still have various questions for you. Ah well, we’re playing more for the gameplay than the story as this is a Nintendo title. DK is not quite as serious as Mario so you can expect DK to be goofing off a lot and getting distracted by bananas. Fortunately Pauline is here to mainly keep him on task.

None of the new villains are all that good but we still get a super good climax regardless. Also while the game is a cakewalk for a good chunk of the adventure, the final boss is legitimately difficult. Not in a cheesy way either but in a very well developed boss battle that forces you to use your various abilities to their full potential. The boss battle certainly took me several tries to defeat and even now I feel like there has to be a better way of dealing damage than what I was doing the whole time. Make sure you don’t slack on your damage upgrades, that’s all I gotta say there.

I do appreciate the skill tree and how many different areas there are to power up. It ensures that you can really be getting a whole lot stronger as you play the game and also makes you prioritize what you are doing. If you really can’t get past a level, you can always go back and earn some more bananas. You should naturally get a whole lot of bananas by beating the game but there are over 700 throughout the game so there are tons of bonus levels and challenges to play to get them all. There are several other kinds of collectibles as well like different buttons and amulets that you can use towards clothes and other items.

The game has an incredible amount of replay value thanks to all of the content. The main campaign is less than 10 hours but the collectibles will likely triple or even 4X that amount by the time you’re done with it. Fortunately the game has a good amount of quality of life features on this, like letting you see the secrets on the map by paying a fee and also giving you a wide range scanner. It ensures that the game won’t feel tedious or anything as you are going through it. Instead, it will remain as a super fun experience the whole time as you go through the game.

The gameplay also lets you feel really powerful since almost anything can be destroyed. You can punch your way through any object and then you unlock various forms with abilities of their own. One of the big ones is the time slow with the snake and you get this near the very end of the game. It really comes in handy and of course flying is really good for skipping some of the puzzles near the end of the game. Use each transformation strategically and you will be just fine.

It’s always fun to run into an old face like Grumpy or Diddy in the game. Look out for the characters when they appear and make sure to say hi. It’ll definitely be worth your while. Meanwhile the graphics are definitely super good. The level designs look really solid and each level is so large. The colors are striking throughout and you’re never confused on what is going on. Then you have the soundtrack which is a lot better than I would have dared hope. The first Bonanza theme is the highlight of the game. I’ve heard it a ton of times and it’s really super great. It’s a catchy theme that gets you right into the action. Pauline definitely had real talent here.

So in the end there are really a lot of things to be happy about within the game and I don’t really have any big negatives. I do think it would have been nice for DK to have been a little more serious when it counted. So as a small issue I would say he was super underwhelming the whole time. Still….it is DK we’re talking about so it’s not like I should be all that surprised. Pauline is one of the few kids I’ve seen in a game like this that was not annoying though so I give her full props here. That can be a tough challenge.

Overall, DK Bonanza is a great game. Nintendo really did a good job with this one and it feels so creative. I would definitely be down for more destruction type games like this one. It is surely a genre that has a ton of potential within it. I’m sure other companies could mess it up but Nintendo just laid out the blueprint. There are no tedious moments, no times where the game gets randomly unbalanced, etc. Every minute you are playing the game is a minute that you are having fun. The controls are super smooth after all and you always feel like you are fully in control. If you don’t have this game yet then you should definitely change that. Nintendo has set the bar rather high here but they’re always a company that continues to climb higher and higher. The game should keep you plenty busy working towards that true ending as well so it won’t be going anywhere.

Overall 8/10

Ride Out for Revenge Review

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It’s time for another western! This one is about good ole fashioned revenge which can always be a tricky topic. How far do yo go in your revenge before you’re just perpetuating a never ending cycle of violence? It’s a tough call to be sure but I never tend to get upset at a character for getting their get back. In this case I’d actually say the film goes too far in making the main characters unlikable to the point where you’re absolutely rooting for the Indians. They didn’t start it so they should get to end this fight.

The movie starts with Little Wolf and his father heading into town to ask for some assistance. They are running low on supplies and are having a hard time surviving. Unfortunately Captain George is not all that broken up about that and instead tells them to get lost. In fact the government has ordered that the Indians all leave the land but they have refused to do so thus far. The Indians bring some gold in order to facilitate a deal but George allows his men to shoot the chief in the back while Little Wolf manages to get away. The bridge is burned now, the Indians will fight to the last man and get their revenge. All of this could have been avoided if George had listened to Tate, who warned against this. Unfortunately the village always makes fun of Tate for taking the side of the Indians. So now things are about to get dangerous.

So right away from the starting point here, I would totally be siding with the Indians to get their revenge. Their chief was just shot in the back. I can’t think of any country that would take their leader being assassinated without putting up a fight afterwards. It just wouldn’t make sense and that is why it’s annoying when Tate decides to go and stop them. Of course it’s not an easy decision and Tate admits as much but it’s one of the more annoying tropes that I see out there from time to time.

Person A wrongs Person B. Then when Person B goes back to fight person A, A’s friend C shows up to stop B. Yes two wrongs don’t make a right but it’s also real easy to say that when you’re on the winning side here. The Indians are fighting an uphill battle from start to finish as Little Wolf’s sister is also siding with the humans and not wanting to go down the road of violence. The notion that the Indians will eventually die in war is a valid one but you still have to try and get your revenge or else it will be a stain on your honor forever.

The main characters are also shown to be comically corrupt to really ensure you don’t feel bad for them either. After shooting the chief in the back, they all get drunk and laugh a bunch at the bar. They make fun of Tate and basically threaten him and even the kids have been indoctrinated to hate the Indians. The film’s message about hate as a disease is really clear and even by the end I would say there is no happy resolution here. That said, it still feels very unsatisfying for the Indians who don’t even come close to getting their revenge.

I’d argue that after something happens to a kid in the movie, Tate should have went straight for George and taken him out. After all he’s really to blame for what happened. The town deserves a lot of responsibility too for being sheep about the whole thing but it does start at the top. Then there is a lady who likes Tate and is super jealous of his Indian girlfriend. She is not one of the smarter characters because one way you will absolutely never get with someone is to insult his girlfriend. She never really acted in her best interests and wasn’t a subtle character at all. In fact I think she could have talked her way into going with Tate and the kid if she wasn’t so forward.

The trip is the one big plot hole of the film or I consider it to be one. Tate keeps on mentioning that the Indians will get their revenge that night and so that’s why he plans to leave with the kid right away. Then night falls…and Tate decided to leave in the morning. Really?? Why would you wait when you know that the Indians are coming? That part felt a little contrived and nonsensical. I also think the film would have been a lot better if Tate actually had left and the town had to face up to the repercussions of their actions. In this case, their complete destruction for how overconfidently they handled everything. The Indians should have returned fight away the next day to finish them off or even done the job at night. Once the weapons were taken, that was really it.

War has no victors, a lot of innocent people will get dragged into it either way. So you just let that play out with both groups destroying each other and that ends off the solemn message. The film had a bit of a somber tone throughout anyway so it would have worked just fine. The film did a lot f show don’t tell and handled the topic really effectively. While it may not have been quite as satisfying as I would have liked, it is a good all around film. Quite a few plot contrivances here and there but ultimately I didn’t have any big issues.

Overall, Ride Out for Revenge is a pretty good film. It was certainly leagues better than the last two so it was a good way to end off on the western ride. Tate also made for a good main character since we at least got one voice of reason. I could have used a few more of course but the whole one man against an army plot is a good one. The film’s message is also one of those that will always be timely since these feuds and wars are never ending. As long as humans are still walking the planet, there will always be fighting and violence.

Overall 7/10

Raw Edge Review

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I suppose a title like Raw Edge might already get your guard up but I can assure you that the film is even worse than you might think. The plot is annoying and the characters are all terrible. The movie really drags on and the whole time you’re just hoping that some of the villains will get bumped off instead of being spared for the 5th time and you know they will show up again before long.

The film centers around a town with a very rough custom. When a guy dies, his wife becomes an available product to be claimed by the first guy around. As a result you are incentivized to bump off a lady’s husband if you want her. This has been going on for a long while now and the head’s wife isn’t thrilled about this but you don’t worry about stuff for too long when you’re that powerful. One day she is attacked and so the town murders a guy who insulted her a while back and his wife is claimed. Now the brother of the victim has arrived and intends to murder her husband. This is trouble because everyone in town has always wanted her and now’s their chance.

I mean the story is so absurd right from the start. A town where women are literally property to be traded like this? Man, leaving this town seems like it would have been a slam dunk and at the very least you won’t want others to come up here. The victim actually recommended this as a place to live, can you believe it? Tex, the victim’s brother arrives and for starters he should definitely be upset at the fact that his brother would have even thought about him living here. Well, he intends to get revenge which will be hard to do since the head has a lot of followers. On the other hand, at least 3 are helping him out since they want a shot at the wife.

The whole film is using this kind of tension to get the story moving and it’s not the way you want to make a proper film. It’s dark in a distasteful way and of course it makes all of the characters look really bad. One lady tries escaping the village to go to the Indians, only to be hunted down and the Indian is murdered. Nobody tries to help her and instead they are fighting over her. It’s all about power here and everyone is only fighting for their self interests.

I’m guessing the reason why there are no real good guys here is because the ones with any kind of moral compass were probably stamped out years ago. So now you’re stuck with all of the corrupt folks. So of course that’s already bad enough but then even aside from that the writing is just really, really bad. Everyone is super dumb and naive at the same time. One guy in particular has been after the heroine for a while and got caught several times. In each instance someone gets the drop on him but lets him live. This happens over and over and over again until eventually he is left alone with her. Then he tricks her into leaving her horse to check on his and to ride with him? She really made things way too easy for the guy.

When Tex shows up and saves her again, he turns his back to the crazy guy with a gun??? She has to point out that he’s about to shoot for him to turn around. In a world like this where everyone is out for themselves, it should be common sense not to trust anybody. You have to take your opponent down for the count and keep your gun active all the way up until that point. If you lower your guard at all then it’d all over. Then you had the older guy who kept on doing some betrayals of his own and he somehow thought the other villain would forget? Near the end he turns his back to the other villain and talks about sharing again, as if he hadn’t just betrayed him 20 minutes ago….another dumb move.

The card player also took a whole lot of risks the whole time and is a really slow draw. It’s no wonder why he tries to use strategy to win the whole time because when it comes time for a gunfight he really doesn’t last very long at all. Meanwhile the head of the town isn’t the smartest guy either. After allowing a girl to be captured and forcibly remarried, he believes her when she says the Indiana just need to talk to him briefly? You don’t feel bad for him at all but the fact that he didn’t question this at all is crazy.

The film just had really bad writing all throughout the movie and the whole film needed to not have included the town’s weird rule from the start. Throw that out entirely and the whole film gets way better. Otherwise the fact that every guy there is just obsessing over all the women and waiting until they are in the market is wild. It’s just not a fun film and the whole thing just reeks of shock value. There were way better ways to handle this one. I guess it serves as a general reminder on why living back in the days of the wild west would have been brutal. Not to this crazy extent but it would still be bad regardless.

Overall, Raw Edge is a film that is trying to be rather brutal the whole time and it succeeds. It’s all just so corrupt with nobody to root for. It feels rather contrived and no amount of songs that the film would throw my way could change that. Even the song at the end is going for a rather upbeat/chipper tone and it just doesn’t work with the rest of the movie. I couldn’t buy into the romance at all but you could interpret the ending as a strategic move in order to get out of there and I couldn’t blame the heroine for that. You need to leave the place asap and can think of the long term plan after that.

Overall 2/10

Four Guns to the Border Review

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Oh no we’re back to the really bad westerns. I’d actually had a good run of it lately with solid westerns but this one falls into all of the old traps. You have the horse getting shot because he was injured, the terrible romance starting with a guy forcing himself onto a lady, terrible characters everywhere, yeesh. Yeah there was no real saving this movie and it only got worse the more you went into the film.

The film starts by introducing us to 4 crooks trying to rob a bank. Fortunately the safe was empty so they are foiled and have to run off. They figure they will bump off another bank next but along the way bump into an old man and his daughter. All 4 are immediately interested in the girl although they are all told to mind their business. Unfortunately she isn’t the smartest character either and tends to allow herself to be in situations with them alone. She even leaves her room in the dead of night during a storm to walk around which wasn’t smart. She isn’t afraid of anybody which is not a real smart tactic in the west. Can her father keep her safe?

Her character is just so bad though. Somehow the film tries to present the whole thing as romantic when the guy is really gruff with her and not respecting her boundaries at all. I’ve seen plenty of films with romances that have not aged well but this one might take the cake. It just really doesn’t make any sense and it’s as if she got Stockholm syndrome immediately. It just doesn’t make any sense and this causes her to run away from her father which ends up injuring her horse who has to be shot. She has no real sense of safety or security and just brings more and more trouble with her.

Obviously the 4 crooks are to blame here as well but they are villains. You’re not expecting much out of them in the first place. In particular there’s really one guy who ends up getting with her several times even though he tries to act like he’s above all that. The guy has no real standards or self respect, it’s no wonder why he has not been a very successful thief at the moment. He’s just going to keep on fumbling at the end.

A big problem with having villains as the lead figures in a film is that they tend to be unlikable and this one is no exception. Every time the characters are planning, you’re just hoping that they will fail. The problem is that we don’t even get to meet the cops until near the end and when they show up, the main guy isn’t the most level headed fighter. He lets himself be baited into a fight multiple times instead of just arresting the villain. When you are the sheriff you have to put the people first and that means just shutting down any villain who approaches. There is really no time for personal vendettas at that point. Then he was even losing in that fight which was unfortunate.

I would argue that none of the villains really learned their lesson either. The film definitely has a body count so at least a few of them got bumped off but then for the last one, he really only surrenders because he has to. I would still think of him as a villain the whole time and the girl made the wrong decision in wanting to be with him. This is taking the whole “liking the bad boy” thing to a crazy level. He even gives all the worst answers to her questions about if he’s been with someone before and she still doesn’t care. She just says she’ll love him more than the others.

Deciding to just sacrifice your happy life to be with a criminal is something I just couldn’t understand. So that’s already a whole lot against the film and as for the fights, well at least we got some. The Indians show up and they managed to take down the guy by the empty shop in the middle of nowhere. I’m always up for a good gunfight but it’s not like it’s anything particularly unique here. So the film needed to have other solid areas to really keep this above water and unfortunately that just never happened.

Maybe letting the heroine’s father go all out against the crooks would have helped the film to be more on the solid side. He should have finished off the first crook when he caught the guy with his daughter and from there he should have opened fire on the others. Even if he ended up losing or got shot back, it would have been a good moment to show that he wasn’t messing around. The guy had a pretty good reputation for being a solid shot after all so showing him take down a few of these punks would have been nice.

Maybe also exploiting how the team was always fighting. There were two members of the group who were always going at it after all. Trick them into fighting and then you beat the other two. It wouldn’t take much to start a fight between them from what we saw so that would have really been a fun way to go. Ah well, too bad that wasn’t the case here, would have been a more interesting movie.

Overall, I would not recommend this one. It needed to have had a much bigger emphasis on the sheriff for starters. At least that would have left things off on a good note. Without that, well the film was not really going anywhere. The town had some interesting characters like one lady who always carried a gun with her. The film should have been building up to the 4 crooks trying to raid this town and then getting blown away. That would have been an infinitely better story. Also the heroine really should have been portrayed to be at least a little more intelligent and not just acting completely oblivious to everything the whole time. They literally offer her candy like a baby and she accepts. Not her best moment. This is one of the weaker westerns that I’ve seen and I highly recommend staying far away from it.

Overall 3/10

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Review

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For a long time people were hoping that Vigilantes would get an adaption and now it’s finally here! It started off as a fairly street level title that eventually got as big and high tier as the main series. So now it is finally here and they did a great job on the production here. In some ways they have even amplified the source material so that was really appreciated. It’s a pretty solid title that you can jump right into without any issues. Definitely the kind of title that you can recommend with ease.

The series follows a kid named Koichi who always wanted to be a hero but his quirk did not appear to be well suited to it. He can slide along the ground at an accelerated speed but that’s about it. Nothing too flashy and the use cases for this ability aren’t going to be too large. Ah well, he can at least be a vigilante known as the Crawler who helps out his neighborhood. Well one day he runs into a local celebrity known as Pop and a mysterious old man that becomes his master. Now Koichi can actually begin acting more like a true hero but is he just going to get into more trouble by hanging out with these two?

At its core, Vigilantes is about how anybody can make a difference. Being a super powered vigilante is obviously against the rules in this universe, however we see how much good they do on a day to day basis. I would say this series does a great job of showing the positives about vigilantism. They aren’t doing anything super violent here and are saving the people that the pros don’t have time for. Koichi’s neighborhood is not the best to say the least and apparently even the pros often take a long while to get here since nobody’s in the area. That is where the vigilantes come in.

The pro heroes instinctively realize this and for the most part look the other way but technically if the vigilantes are too obvious then they have to be arrested. This season mainly focuses on the new characters though so the heroes will have to wait for a bit longer. We do get a standout fight between Knuckle Duster and Eraserhead at one point though which was a really good battle. Personally I feel like Knuckle should absolutely have the edge in that battle if they were both going all out. He just works as a really good counter to Eraserhead since he has no powers to shut off.

Right away on the technical elements, I would say that the opening song is very catchy. It’s not quite ready to defeat the best MHA main openings but I like it quite a bit. The songs within the show are also good and work with the action. The animation style is also great. It’s going for a bit of a thicker/flashier look than the main series. The details are really on point and the fights are really dynamic. There are a lot of great fights to choose from but the best might be Knuckle against the Bee user. A lot of good strategy and animation blending together there.

The show feels like it covers a lot of ground in just a few episodes and the pacing is just really on point. The characters are also likable which is important for any show even if one character is forgiven way too quickly. Soga is a bully who tries to do more than just beat Pop up before he is stopped by the heroes. Yet, he’s now just back to every day life and that’s it? I just can’t buy into that because there is crashing out and then there is knowingly being about to commit a heinous crime. No matter how you slice it, it makes this character look absolutely awful. He should still be behind bars and mayyybe after 3 seasons I’d consider a redemption arc for him. Ah well, the rest of the characters tend to be solid and this title is in a great position to be My Hero’s replacement for once that show’s final season ends.

Koichi is similar to Deku in some ways but they are still very different characters. Koichi is a bit more confident in himself and proudly shows off his All Might merch and tries to make friends. Things just tend to backfire on him so it’s not easy. I give him a lot of credit for deciding to keep on helping people even when his path to being a hero was really closed off. We also learn more about his backstory which ties into why he isn’t more powerful now. His life could have gone down a very different trajectory but either way the important thing is that he keeps on fighting and plunging forward for as long as it takes. That is the hallmark of a true hero. He just needs to work on being less socially oblivious and he will be all set.

Meanwhile Pop is a character who is also following her passion of singing and performing. She has been doing well and is even a local celebrity but she still wants to aim bigger. Towards the end we find out that she can’t really sing which I was surprised about. I thought she had been singing a lot but I guess she does more bouncing. Her quirk of jumping/moving in the air is a handy one even if it’s not directly a combat related quirk. It’s the type of ability that is versatile enough to work out well in a pinch but at the end of the day she’s just not a fighter so it’s not like she prioritizes mastering her ability. She’s here more for the romance subplot which for now has not really gone anywhere. That works out well enough for me since season 1 always has a lot to cover.

Knuckle easily has the biggest character arc in the show as it is absolutely crucial to what’s going on here. He makes for a real mysterious character and someone who is always ready to put his life on the line. I really liked him and this guy was a stand out character in the series. He would always step forward in a battle and showed that even without a quirk he can go toe to toe with some of the stronger villains in the series. It was all really impressive and any scene with him in it was sure to be a winner. It was good to have an older guy on the squad as well since he kept the other characters sharp.

From the pro heroes, Eraser easily has the biggest role. He hasn’t changed much since the start of the main series which makes sense. He’s still not the most social guy out there but he does his best to live up to his obligations and will also stop any villain in his way. He’s a solid well rounded hero so it was fun to have him around. For the most part the others just make cameos except for Ingenium who gets his share of big moments. The guy’s speed is really intense and he definitely means well. I like his general heroism and while his quirk also has its limitations, he gets around them by having a really good team. He absolutely believes in proper teamwork and this keeps him ahead of the pack. It’s easy to see why he was one of the top heroes.

Captain Celebrity also shows up as a big hero from America. He doesn’t have the strongest moral compass though. Yeah he’ll save the day from villains but he waits until a camera crew is around. If he sees you, he’ll probably save you but otherwise he is not the type of guy to go the extra mile. So characters in the series are very critical of him and I definitely get it. We’re not saying he has to save everyone but he should be doing his best to that standard. Fortunately he is pretty fun to watch in that over the top jerk kind of way. He’s also legitimately very powerful so it’s still better to have him on your side than not to.

His agent is Makoto who also gets a big role here. She wants to find out the true identity of the vigilantes and so she tries to stick close to Koichi to get some intel on what’s going on. She can be very manipulative towards these ends though. At times she feels a bit too deceptive to me the kind of character who will really say anything to suit her own purposes. She’s not corrupt in the way that Celebrity is, but I do have to say that I just would not trust her.

Then you have the vigilante Stendhal who really can’t be trusted. He’s the Punisher kind of vigilante who believes that might makes right and will absolutely devastate any fighter who gets in his way. That’s just the kind of man that he is. His sword skills are really impressive and it’s fun seeing him shake the town up but he is the reason why Vigilantes are illegal. This wanton destruction and murder is an absolute abuse of power. So in a sense he just becomes a villain but at least one that you can basically root for since it’s better that he wins than the actual villains.

The main villain in the season is the mysterious bee user though. I mean her boss is All for One but the guy just talks, she is the one putting plans to action. She is also very confident considering that she openly disobeys him and basically dares the guy to do anything about it. That takes a whole lot of guts and so you can’t say that she does anything half hearted. Her bee ability is also hard to stop because of how many bees she has at her disposal and she can even fight in close quarters combat when needed. She made for a really solid villain as a result.

There are other side characters around as well but for the most part the show did a good job of keeping the cast relatively contained. The series also has enough ties to the main one where you can appreciate the guest stars but it works well on its own too. The bumpers are perhaps a little too basic with how they define terms like “hero” and “villain” though. Not the best use of those screens, I would have preferred some fun illustrations or something.

At the end of the day one of the big strengths of the show is how fun it is. I would say Koichi, Pop, and Knuckle already have a really good team dynamic between the three of them. It’s fun to see them chatting and bantering as they take down all of the big villains. Meanwhile the solid animation can make any enemy encounter memorable. I really liked the brief soccer villain who showed up for example. Seeing all that movement reminded me of what Blue Lock might have looked like and it also makes for a really surreal villain. He’s the kind of villain that you just don’t forget and the show had quite a few other one shots like that who were quite solid.

Overall, My Hero Academia Vigilantes is off to a really fun start here. The episodic nature of the big villains mixed in with the leader in the shadows is a really solid kind of setup. We’ve also already got some threads for the second season like this mysterious super speed villain. That is going to keep the heroes busy for quite a while. Hopefully we get season 2 sooner than later so the hype can continue. In the meantime I definitely recommend checking this one out. It’s a good action show that can really appeal to anyone.

Overall 7/10

Blue Lock: Episode Nagi Review

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It’s time to talk about the big Blue Lock spinoff that was running for a while. Honestly it’s pretty sad that it ended so soon because it felt like this series still had a lot of gas in the tank. Did it really need to end this soon? To me it just didn’t make sense for things to be so abrupt like that but maybe one day we’ll get more spinoffs. Either way it was definitely a great title and it’s fun to see the extra focus on Nagi. You can even use this to an extent as a way to cover the events of the original series in a quicker way and then cut to the main series after this one’s ending.

The story starts by introducing us to a kid named Nagi. He really likes video games but otherwise doesn’t really have any hobbies in his life. He struggles to get motivated at all and just lives life one hour at a time. Well, one day he is noticed by Reo, a really rich guy. Reo has decided to take the soccer world by storm and wants Nagi on his team after seeing the kid’s ability. Nagi allows himself to be roped into this as it’ll be too much of a hassle to stop Reo each time. Well, soon he finds out that playing soccer is actually really fun and he wants to keep with it. He is even invited to Blue Lock, a program for finding the greatest striker in Japan. Does Nagi have a chance to obtain this title?

So the plot is very similar to the main title and of course we got to see Nagi a lot in the main story. For that reason, a lot of the fights are actually old with many scenes being readapted but we do get some rounds where we hadn’t seen them before. Additionally for the old scenes, we get to see Nagi’s inner voice this time around rather than Isagi’s so that does add an extra dimension to it. At times I would say the inner thoughts don’t totally match the scene though. The series doesn’t always do a great job of making this seamless to the point where you get the feeling that someone on the staff for the spinoff didn’t agree with some plot points. Still, it’s nothing that takes you out of the experience.

The art is really top tier as you’d expect. It holds its own with the main series and really does great with the inking and showing off the various monsters that the characters are capable of. Additionally, you can feel the intensity out of every soccer play. It’s really something that keeps you excited at all times which is really important. The pages really breeze by but since the chapters are longer than the weekly version, you always feel pretty satisfied. The battles are really able to develop a lot and you see what all of the players are capable. It’s definitely not your average soccer experience.

Nagi also makes for a solid character even if he isn’t quite as intense as Isagi is. When Nagi is at his best he can have those intense moments but they aren’t as automatic as Isagi. Nagi still needs a way to get his enthusiasm at different points which can take time. He also loses his way more than once so it’s good that Reo is around to buff him back up. Nagi is definitely someone who relies on Reo a whole lot although by the end of the series he starts to get around this. It is definitely a long way to get to that point but the important thing is that he made it.

Nagi’s sheer athleticism and dominating plays also make him fun to watch on the field. You sometimes forget just how tall the guy is since he’s always slouching. Honestly if he just got some more confidence and could keep it up for longer periods of time, he would be even better. Still, at the end of the day it was a smart move to make him a main character and I’d be curious who would be picked in another spinoff. Rin seems like the obvious pick but there are a lot of good calls.

Meanwhile Reo is also a fun character. The manga gets teased for all the drama but to a large degree I wouldn’t say that it is Reo’s fault most of the time. If anything, you can blame Nagi for a few of the fights like deciding not to team up during the early founds of Blue Lock. That came as a huge shock to Reo and I think anybody would be rather upset by that point. It’s like being betrayed by your best friend. Yeah this is Blue Lock where the strongest survive but it was still very personal.

Reo spends a lot of time being down in the dumps after that but eventually manages to pull himself together. In his defense, he ended up being one of the more skilled players as well. He may not be top 6 like Nagi, but his copy ability really has a lot of versatility to it. While a lot of focus is put into how much of a prodigy Nagi is, it’s worth noting that Reo went from being a spoiled rich kid to one of the best strikers in Japan. That also makes him a prodigy at soccer if you ask me. Considering he was also good at many other things growing up, he was truly a jack of all trades from the very start.

Meanwhile it’s also really fun seeing Isagi from an outsider’s point of view. The guy just seems like an insane monster with how quickly he improves on the field. He goes from being a regular joe to suddenly making moves against guys like Rin. He’s given a whole lot of respect in the series and nearly everyone either fears him or sees him as a super intense rival. That’s not something you could say about just any character and to make up for the fact that he’s not technically around, we get a shadow version of him in Nagi’s head.

The rest of the fighters are also around of course but they don’t get a lot of added context since they’re about the same as in the main series. Bachira is still unpredictable and Rin is still an absolutely dominant force. Some of the best Blue Lockers out there. It was fun to see early views of other characters like Otoya and Karasu who took a while to do much in the main series. You also get the occasional new character like the analytical poker type player. He was a lot of fun so it’s a shame that he was doomed to be locked off. Ultimately due to the format of the series, that’s the fate of a lot of characters.

Another fun thing about being a spinoff here is that outside of Nagi and Reo’s dynamic, the series doesn’t need to spend much time on character interactions. That means we get to really jump into all of the fights right away. It feels a bit like Dragon Ball Heroes in that the fights would almost be constantly back to back like a marathon. That’s how it feels with the soccer games at times. You’re going from fight to fight and the interactions in there are used for character development. Any downtime is usually for Reo and Nagi thinking to themselves about how they could have handled their conversations better. Not saying there is no miscellaneous downtime but it’s definitely minimal and that’s not a bad thing.

It’s just a privilege of being a spinoff and this series understood that perfectly. Since the fundamentals were so solid like having a great cast and artwork, it also meant that the manga was destined for greatness If it could have gone on longer then I dare say it may have hit the elusive 9/10 score like the classic Blue Lock but ultimately I do think it would have needed more time for that. This is a great manga but I would not be able to say that it is downright elite. That’s a very high amount of praise that you really have to work for. Still, there are no real negatives here. The series is a blast the whole time. The trash talk is as good as you’re gonna see it in any title.

Then there is the occasional future foreshadowing going on here as well. We see how Chigiri’s leg continues to get closer to breaking and it’s heavily implied that one more key moment could take him out for the count. There have always been theories that he will break during the world cup and this series only served to strengthen that. Now will it actually happen? Who knows, but it was an interesting angle. It’s also fun to see just how much more reasonable everyone is when Isagi isn’t around. They all act really tough with lots of bravado when he’s in the room but without him even guys like Barou are open to using teamwork. It’s a subtle way of showing just how much control Isagi has over everyone and their playing styles.


Overall, Episode Nagi was really fun. It felt like the series was over in the blink of an eye with less than 40 chapters though. It’s monthly so that’s still a reasonable length but I would have loved for it to have reached 100 chapters. Either way if you like the original series then you’ll love this one as well. They don’t hold back on the action and it has enough new content to keep you interested from cover to cover.

Overall 8/10

The Boys From Brazil Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for one of those really grim movies. The kind of title where you know it’s not going to have a super shiny ending and the path to getting there will be very difficult. Definitely not for the faint of heart. That being said, either way this is not a film I would be likely to recommend. The plot certainly takes a turn by the end but it’s not the kind of turn that was going to save the movie.

The movie starts off with a kid named Barry finding out about a big Nazi scheme. This is big enough where all of their most important players are meeting up and so he quickly contacts the legendary Nazi hunter Ezra. Unfortunately Ezra doesn’t really believe him and is in a bad mood which leads to the villains murdering Barry before he can say more. When Barry’s friend approaches Ezra, the hunter realizes that he can no longer ignore what is going on. So he begins to snoop around and ask questions but what he doesn’t realize is that this is a plot that has been in the works for many years. It will be difficult to stop the plan and even more difficult to stop it without big collateral damage.

I do have to say that Ezra being so slow to help was a little off putting. The whole point here is that he is a big Nazi hunter and yet when the opportunity presents itself he isn’t ready for it? I would have liked for him to have been a little more on the ball. Now it’s fair to say that Barry was going to die either way but it would have still been nice if he would have at least had the knowledge that someone would continue on with his work. Barry did well to find out so much with his little amount of time and connections.

Meanwhile the main villain Josef is a hard man to bring down. This guy has a lot of connections and of course he is very eager to start everything off. The guy has been waiting for this moment for many years and absolutely does not hesitate. I wouldn’t expect him to either although at least one of his minions isn’t quite as gung-ho about the whole thing. At the end of the day it’s not much of a distinction though as he still goes through with the orders. Whether you follow them reluctantly or eagerly, the end result is what counts.

The villains are Nazis after all and the film doesn’t hesitate to remind you just how cruel they are. They run live experiments on both humans and animals, they viciously murder their opponents, etc. If you were expecting some kind of mercy or a softer look then think again. It’s definitely good that they don’t downplay the atrocities the Nazis committed but at the same time it does limit the movie.

It makes the experience more of a quiet somber one. At the very least it can be depressing to see the fact that so many of them were still alive and kicking there. There are enough for them to be in different companies, at parties, etc. Yeah you were definitely hoping they would all be bumped off. Meanwhile Ezra needed to step up his game as a hunter and take more of them down. From the accolades we know that he has taken a whole lot of them down but of course there are always more and that’s where things get tricky.

We do get to see some of Josef’s good detective skills at work though as he starts to interview people and put together dates in order to really close the noose around the villains. He pieces things together fairly quickly and also knows when to play hard ball like when he forced the lady to answer his final question. He was definitely getting that answer before he walked out of the facility.

So while I do have big issues with how he acted at first, at least later on he got with the program. He’s a lot older at this point so you can expect there to be no real fight scenes but he still gets to have his deductive moments. His sister Esther is also very useful in the film as she helps in an administrative role. As always it is good to have someone on your side. When you’re alone then the danger really starts to creep up on you.

Now the title of the film may have you confused but by the end it makes sense. That’s where the film hits you with the tough moral question of what you can do here. It sort of depends how hard you buy into the sci-fi angle here. In general I do find it hard to choose any option of punishing someone before the crime was actually committed. While the characters did already seem insane, it can still be a dangerous leap to try and neutralize everyone. I suppose I would probably lean on the main character’s decision here if pushed into a corner but ideally they should all be monitored. It’s just a tough call because that wasn’t going to happen. They would either all be slaughtered or you could prevent them from being found. When you are limited to those two choices then leaving them alive is probably best although things might get dicey for the world.

The film can get surprisingly violent at times. I would say the worst of it is still off screen but there is a body count to be sure. At the end of the day it’s a film that doesn’t really hold back at all and I would say there’s a number of scenes you could cut out. Ultimately though the biggest weakness really comes down to the fact that it feels like an investigation without much of an ending. When you really think about it, not much has changed since the beginning. At least some characters know what is going on now but the program was not fully stopped. Now it’s just a matter of nature vs nurture.

Overall, The Boys from Brazil definitely has an odd tone about it. It’s a thriller but not in an action sense and more in a rather strange kind of view. You see the dark underbelly of what’s going on without any true way for the heroes to come out on top. I can’t say there is a lot of fun to be had here, nor is there a whole lot of replay value. In the end this means you should probably check out another film instead, you can do better than this one.

Overall 3/10

Imaginary Crimes Review

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It’s time for a dramatic film that incorporates a lot of second hand cringing. You can really sympathize with the tough spots that the main heroine was put into here. It’s definitely a tough situation for the kids and a general reminder that it’s okay to have dreams but you have to be responsible about them. If not, then you are really just setting yourself up for defeat. It definitely will not end well and the longer you put off your reality check, the bigger the consequences will be.

The film starts off by introducing us to Ray who has had to raise his two daughters Sonya and Greta by himself after his wife passed. Ray has always been a bit of a dreamer. He doesn’t want to work a standard 9-5 job, he acts as if this is beneath him. No, he’s going to get super rich and is quick to mention this at all times. None of his plans have worked out yet but he knows that they will at some point. He’s been conning people for years and lies as he breathes. Now he has managed to get Sonya into school but the lies are starting to catch up to him. Is he about to ruin everything?

Right off the bat I can say that you don’t feel too much sympathy for Ray. It’s one thing to be ambitious and want to do things your own way but the instant you start becoming a chronic liar about it, then you are knowingly doing something bad. By around the halfway point you start to doubt that Ray is as insane as he appears and instead it really seems like he just enjoys spinning his stories. He had to know where it was going and yet he kept on doubling down over and over. If anything he is incredibly lucky that he didn’t try that in a worse neighborhood or he would have been thoroughly beaten up a long time ago. You just can’t get away with these kinds of actions for very long. He had plenty of outs and at the very least could have kept the situation from snowballing out of control. Unfortunately he did not make that choice.

Meanwhile for Sonya, this often meant that she had to take care of her little sister Greta which limited the amount of free time she had on her own. She wasn’t able to be a kid in the ways that she should have been allowed to. Then Sonya is also old enough to know that her father is lying about everything which is super awkward for her. It’s not like she can do much to stop him and in the meantime has to just keep her head low and try to make the best of the day. Even when she does her best to try and cut Ray off or prevent him from making the lie worse, he just ignores her.

She definitely has the wort situation out of the group by far as a result. Fortunately she does her best and I give her full credit for taking care of her sister since that wasn’t always easy here. In the end she also makes the right decision to look to her future instead of taking the easy way out and making for a new location with Ray. You have to face up to things eventually after all and the sooner she gets it over with the better. She also met a nice teacher at the school who really helped her out by polishing up her writing abilities and looking out for her. Even having just one ally helps out a lot and in general the town seemed like a very nice one. That’s why it was a real shame that Ray was cheating them out of money.

One last fault for Ray is that he also appears as a very unreasonable guy. We get a flashback where his wife won some nice plates from a local raffle and he immediately starts insulting them. He seemed to take it very personally that she got the plates from somewhere else instead of him being able to provide for her. It was just in such a childish way that it makes him look so petty. She had always been patient enough to put up with his endless boasts and promises that would never come to fruition. The least he could do is be happy for her when she finally won something.

Additionally, during the films we see Sonya’s stories that she would submit to the school which were loosely based on her life. They were intentionally exaggerated so you don’t know exactly how much was true or not but in those stories we see Ray quickly rebounding with other women and generally looking like a rather terrible guy. So even if only a little bit of that was true, it just makes him look even worse. The problems that he created were all of his undoing and that is why it’s hard to feel bad for him. I just felt bad for the kids who had to deal with the consequences of his actions.

Overall, Imaginary Crimes does a good job of getting across that feeling of how hopeless things can be when you’re a kid and you know that something is not right. The main problem is that no matter how much you know, there’s not much a kid can do. I can’t really say that they could have done anything differently here. That’s why it all comes down to the father’s failure here because he needed to provide for his family. That’s the top priority and it has to come before pride and his visions of striking it rich. By this point he had to know that wasn’t going to happen and to continue trying for it would just be plain irresponsible. It was not a good idea. I’m not a big fan of the film but it’s not a bad title either. If this sounds interesting then you should check it out.

Overall 5/10

Training Day Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film about learning how to set boundaries. If you aren’t comfortable in setting those up then you can be sure that there will always be someone ready to run you over. You have to know what you don’t want to do so that you can’t be pressured into doing it. Well, the main character is about to learn that the hard way. This film ultimately suffers from the issue of not having any real likable characters though. It’s going for a very hood type vibe the whole time and in its pursuit of being as edgy as possible, the writing also ends up taking a huge hit.

The film starts off with Jake getting ready for his first day in his new NARC position. It’s effectively a training evaluation so he will be out all day. It’s supposed to be a very stressful experience so he’s ready for it to be over but will put his best foot forward. Unfortunately his partner is a guy named Alonzo who doesn’t exactly have a rep for following the rules. Alonzo gives him a tough time as soon as he day starts and doesn’t really let up from there. He wants to show Jake how meaningless everything is and how corrupt the area turned out to be. He wants Jake to do things his way or it will be curtains for him. Jake is desperate for a passing grade, but just how far will he end up going here?

I would argue that Jake makes a whole lot of mistakes right from the jump here. For starters it is true that you may have to put up with a certain level of nonsense on the job but direct disrespect is another matter entirely. Jake needed to really be fighting back from the start at the coffee shop when Alonzo was acting crazy but especially once they got in the car and Alonzo is talking about Jake cheating on his wife and trying to objectify their colleagues. Jake needed to put a hard stop to that even if it meant having to look for a new job. Putting up with that nonsense is bad enough because it shows you to be a wallflower but it also continues the decent into madness for the work environment. It’s just not something you can afford to let happen.

I would say Jake had no hope the instant he agreed to do drugs in the car just to keep Alonzo happy. That was just way too far and Jake is meant to be the more heroic cop who sticks up for what’s right. He does make better decisions later on and is obviously better than Alonzo but I would have liked to have seen him hold up a higher standard. I needed a super likable character in this movie to help it take things to the next level. For example, that’s part of why the movie isn’t very fun. Everything is super corrupt to an almost comical degree.

Throughout the film we see how basically everyone is in on the take. Alonzo is able to direct a judge, powerful politicians, and basically doesn’t have to report to work. All of the gangs know him and basically have to listen to the guy because he’s so feared. He’s evidently gotten away with things for a very long time now and we never even get to meet any of the good cops here who could have helped out. It ends up feeling like a very small world, a contrived one at that. There just isn’t really any hope for anybody here. Jake’s only chance is really to get out.

Alonzo does make for an intense antagonist, I’ll give him that much. He is clearly not the kind of guy that you want to go up against because he would murder you without a second thought. He also has a considerable amount of allies so you can’t just go at him without expecting a much larger fight. Maybe it’s for the best that he wasn’t even remotely likable since he’s a complete villain here but it also means that all of the screentime can be extra annoying.

The film also has to really bog us down in the very dark themes to really keep pushing in the point of what a bad area this is. Jake saves a girl from 3 guys who attacked her in an ally and Alonzo would have just left her there. The city is clearly as morally bankrupt as it gets and even after that, Jake follows Alonzo and gets walked into another trap. The whole poker game scene was a terrible look for the guy. Never hand your gun off to a bunch of drug dealers. Yeah he was already outnumbered and in a bad situation but handing over your gun is basically signing your death warrant. You can never do that.

I never understand in these films when someone drops their gun or hands it over for any reason. If you’re in a position where you might die, then you definitely keep your gun so at least the death will be fast as they all shoot back in retaliation. If you hand it over, then you may end up craving death by the time they’re done with you. Just a dumb decision and throughout the film it’s not as though there were any moments where the writing made me grin. All of the jokes are super crude and don’t even seem meant to be funny, the characters all seem evil except for the lead, etc. It’s just not a fun movie to watch as it’s just nonstop depression the whole time.

Overall, Training Day definitely wasn’t as good as I would have hoped. I was expecting a dynamic with one guy who does push the envelope quite a bit but more along the lines of a classic buddy cop film. Not as if the Joker was your partner as you terrorize everyone. If you want a good thriller, watch Die Hard instead. You can do a whole lot better than this film which really doesn’t end up aging well. Good luck finding any happy scenes throughout this film. At least the ending was satisfying.

Overall 3/10

Fire Emblem Review

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It’s time to return to the world of Fire Emblem. I had a pretty good time with the first game and I can tell you that this one keeps going on the same level. The gameplay is missing a few quality of life updates that the first one I played had, but this one ultimately wins on the story and characters. You really get attached to the characters by the end and won’t be forgetting this title anytime soon.

The game starts off with a lengthy 10 chapter “tutorial story” where you play as Lyn and save her kingdom from a corrupt guy who tried to poison the King. You then play as Eliwood and get to the meat of the game. A war has suddenly broken out as usually is the case in Fire Emblem titles and a bunch of Kings are being manipulated by the man in the shadows. This has caused a lot of tensions and so they need to shut this group down. Eliwood is assisted by the noble prince Hector, as well as the return of Lyn. Together the three of them are considerably powerful and will meet a lot of other characters along the way to strength their forces. The stakes are high because if a character dies in a match, they die within the story!

That’s a mechanic that is famous in Fire Emblem and rightfully so. It added a whole lot of danger to the game because if you mistimed your action at all then you will end up being in a lot of trouble. Even the strongest of warriors can go down quickly if he walk into a trap and the same is true of the other side. You can bump off a powerful enemy with a “weak” fighter as long as the weapon and range are right. This s a true strategy game in every sense of the word.

Even inside of the levels there is always a constant strategy of protecting your forces vs going on the offensive. If you stay defensive for too long, then the villains will send in reinforcements to destroy you. Of course if you go too aggressive then you will leave your back row fighters vulnerable or will suffer heavy casualties. You don’t know where the reinforcements will come from or when either. It’s like a true war where surprise is always on the table. A single misstep and you are really toast.

Fortunately to make you feel okay even as you have to retry the mission over and over again, the game has a great soundtrack. You will recognize quite a few tunes from Super Smash Bros. I would say this might be the best Fire Emblem soundtrack so far as the tunes are all so good. You can easily bop to the kind of music that is being played here. Meanwhile the graphics are also really good. I loved the attack animations that would appear and the stages are really clear. They put a lot of effort into this one and it looks better than the average GBA title. The art style has aged really well.

One tip I’d give is to make sure you play the final side mission right before the final battle. Turns out that it is a restock mission to let you get new weapons and such. Without that you could find yourself soft locked on the final level. This is one thing that is annoying about the game. There are no shops in between levels anymore. So you have to really find the shops within levels in order to get new equipment or you are going to be in trouble. It’s tough to do this though because it does cost a turn each time and those are usually hard to come across in the story.

You definitely have to pay extra attention to your formations as a result so you don’t waste one of your stronger ones searching for shops. Then investigating homes will sometimes get you extra items and even new characters but they can also be empty so it’s a gamble. In an easier game this would be no problem, but again this game is actually rather difficult. So every action is just time away from your main objective of defeating opponents. Above all else, just remember to protect your healers. They are incredibly useful in this game. Your main fighters may get potions but it’s not the same since they have to use their turn up for that.

Also, don’t underestimate the bosses of each level. These guys can chew through all of your fighter’s health with ease. Sometimes they only need one turn to do the job and they tend to have massive range. At least their are counter strategies. The cheesiest enemy though is the long range red mage because I don’t know what you’re supposed to do about him. He can hit you from anywhere on the map which mind controls you for 3 turns and forces an ally to murder you or get murdered. Without rewinding and constantly changing formations, it just feels like this is a super cheesy “you lose” button that can happen in the last levels. Maybe there is a solution to this but otherwise I thought that was the only time the game wasn’t being a good sport. Ah well, the game is so long so only having one kind of really cheesy villain isn’t so bad I suppose. The final level’s boss rush felt more fair in comparison.

Overall, Fire Emblem is a pretty good game. The story is considerably long and I will also say that the game can be very difficult. Underestimate it at your own risk! All it takes is one well placed move by the villains to destroy one of your pieces. The Nintendo Switch Online allows you to rewind, without that you would really be in a tough predicament. I look forward to Nintendo adding the Gamecube Fire Emblem soon! That’ll be a really fun day but until then this is a title I would wholeheartedly recommend.

Overall 7/10