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Togari Shiro Review

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I knew I had to jump right into the sequel after finishing up the original Togari. This one has the daunting task of needing to wrap everything up in 18 chapters. There were still 3 big villains on the loose so between 18 chapters that should be easy right? Wait….there’s a whole new villain group on the loose? Let’s goooooo!!!! Ambitious times have arrived. Ultimately I would probably even say it beat the first series although it does have the benefit of being able to basically be nonstop action.

The story starts off about 2 weeks after the first series ended. There is just one day left for Tobei and only one more sin to collect. Here’s the problem, there are multiple villains on the loose as I mentioned and when Tobei gets the last sin, he will automatically teleport back to Hell to be reincarnated. So in a sense if he does this too fast, then he will be leaving the world to be defenseless against all of the villains. So Tobei has to try and work this out but it’s a difficult problem. Additionally, the Angels have had enough of this and have decided to destroy the world. Great timing folks…looks like Tobei will be busy.

That’s a whole lot of story to go through here though and I can tell you that by the halfway point we’re basically in the same situation so you’ve really got 9 chapters to deal with all of that. The first half is to deal with Sena’s right hand man. The most impressive thing about this villain is that he has the longest fight in the series and is around for a huge chunk of it but they somehow manage to not even use his name during any part of that. So I’ll just call him the grinning villain.

This guy is really crazy but also makes for a really good villain. His abilities are basic in that he can absorb objects and people and turn into a clay type monster. Yet he is really strong as he really dominated Tobei in their first fight and nearly won the rematch. What I liked about this villain is he fought back against the whole second chances guilt trip and just kept on taking everyone out. He’s not a mastermind kind of villain, just someone who likes chaos. He was even planning to take down Sena for basically no reason. He was a real scene stealer.

In comparison, Sena starts to fade a bit. This villain was a roller coaster because he looks tough at first, pathetic in the middle, and then good at the end. He reminded me a lot of Light Yagami in some instances. He likes to play god with everybody and just be a general master manipulator. His goals may not have been the best and deciding to even temporarily ally with the angels was super risky as well. I don’t really see what the benefit was and by the end it was hard to really untangle his goals. His final scene was really solid though. It made everyone else look absolutely terrible by the way but for him he still managed to get the last laugh in.

I would say in a lot of ways Sena is one of those villains who really works as a good sanity check on why too much mercy is a bad thing. The heroes keep talking about needing to use peace and violence isn’t the answer but then they are opening themselves up to cheap shots. If they had just taken care of business then things would have been easier. You just have to be honest here, some villains are not going to have a change of heart. Sometimes due process isn’t going to work as both the heroes and villains admit the legal system would not be able to do anything. Sena is a mass murderer and they all know it but there will be no proof since it’s supernatural. When you have a glaring flaw in the system like that, it’s time to take action.

So by extension Itzuki doesn’t look very good here. She’s just too passive and lenient as she drops her guard down time after time. The worst decision was going to the house of a murderer by herself without telling anybody. Especially when the guy called for her to drop by. He couldn’t have made it a more obvious trap if he tried. I figured she’d bring a weapon or something but nope, she just came unarmed and figured she would be able to do something.

Ose was a solid right hand man to Tobei once again. By this point he has really come a long way from being a skeptic or just another government stooge. It was nice to see him proactively fighting for justice and having Tobei’s back. He’s a high quality character by this point and really came through. Meanwhile Tobei is also really solid as he finished his character arcs last series. He is fully committed to stopping the villain and helping out humanity. There is nothing selfish or evil about him anymore. He has been a hero for a long time at this point and only continues to get stronger.

I do feel it was a bit odd how he seemed to not have any of his super abilities anymore though. He unlocks a new power by the end but the first series made a big deal of finally becoming one with his Togari. I guess we can probably blame the Togari for that though. It looks awful petty in this series and sure gets in the way a lot. I know it wants a body and to end all of this but suddenly being a sabotage type of character just doesn’t fit. It just felt like an odd character decision.

Ema gets a big role here as she really arrives to help out and balance the odds. It was nice to see her more and she also has a little more fun while in rebel mode. She continues to save the day from the shadows on multiple occasions so I have to give her a lot of credit. You really get to see various characters showing their true colors and not just being yes men anymore. A terrific plot development if I do say so myself. Also she has a real 4D chess moment where she has a conversation with someone that she can’t even see and predicts their responses. Is it maybe stretching disbelief a bit? Yeah but it was still cool and that’s what counts. Rule of cool prevails here.

Sawazaki’s role is much smaller this time though. He sees a vision of his old partner telling him not to die yet which feels rehashed and the villain outtalks him at one point. Eh not his best moments but he gets credit for quickly picking up on the signs of danger and arriving to help out. It was more than anyone else on the force did. Additionally with such a short amount of chapters, it makes sense that some characters had to be sacrificed. I would say the same thing happened to the guard dog Ami but technically he appears a lot. The direction his character went in was just a bit odd.

He basically still wants to cause chaos but is practically a hero by this point. He helps them out on a few occasions and we get a little more closure for his more personal subplot. He ended up being a fun character to the end but it did feel like he took a back seat to the Angels. I would have liked at least one big fight for the guy even though it seems like he wasn’t as powerful as he seemed to be initially.

As for the Angels, I think that whole plot could have been removed. They just didn’t add much to the story and acted just like the folks from Hell. They feel super important and think humans are all chumps. They fly around waving their authority in everyones faces and then run off. You can’t really take any of them all that seriously since they’re not the most powerful guys out there and the leaders seem super out of touch. It is impressive how much lore we have about the series by this point but at the same time I think it was lore that didn’t actively add onto the series.

The focus should have stayed on Tobei fighting Sena. You already had a really interesting premise with the villains launching a bunch of new sins in the world to taunt the guy since Tobei has to avoid finishing any of them off. That had a lot of interesting moral questions that basically had to be skipped by the end. I will say that the ending had me super nervous for a minute there but fortunately the final chapter went the right away. Not fully, I still think the ending could have been a lot better. It just wasn’t as bad as I had feared. I’ll have to accept that.

Naturally the art is pretty good. The fight scenes are on point and you can really feel the intensity in every panel. The artist is definitely operating on a solid level here. Then you also see the cruelty of humanity constantly as they are drawn like monsters. One of the big morals of the series I would say is that most of the humans are just pretty awful. When we get a national day of crime a bunch of people immediately jump into it and then try using legal loopholes to stay out of trouble. What a bad look for the citizens, it really shows why the monsters got so much traction. It must have been easy for the sins to start taking control of all of them.

Then you have both Heaven and Hell being shackled with endless rules and regulations. You would think they would be above such things but apparently not. In particular the Angels keep talking about all the rules they have to follow and all of the restrictions that are placed on them which prevents them from stopping evil. It just feels a bit silly that they have to do all of that. The whole point of being an angel should be that they can do what they want and stop the villains as needed right? If they have to overlook evil because it is out of their jurisdiction, then the whole system is messed up. Which is certainly is but even by the end of the series that isn’t really addressed. It’s fair to say that the world of Togari is super messed up. Definitely not somewhere you would want to live since nobody is really going to help.

The series also goes a bit too far with showing how evil the angels are so you can’t really believe it when they start trying to act nicer later. They literally look at babies as future harbingers of sin. They have no compassion and believe the human race are a failed experiment. They act meaner than the wardens of Hell which is crazy although both sides are shown to be morally bankrupt. Maybe Togari will change the system…but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be happening anytime soon.

Overall, Togari Shiro was a solid sequel series. It may have been a tad too ambitious by adding more content than it could ever really hope to finish in time, but it was a fun sequel. The battles were long and there was a ton of nonstop action here. It’s a real page turner as you want to see how it all ends. The ending leaves things on a nice note and the series could definitely get a sequel if the author ever wanted that to happen. It does feel like this could have just been added to the main series but I’m assuming there’s a reason why the first one just had to end abruptly.

Overall 7/10

Togari Review

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Togari is one of those manga I really hadn’t bumped into back in the day. It is a fairly intense action title that didn’t last super long but had an interesting story. You can feel how it starts to accelerate near the end before it has a conclusion although the series took a bold approach with the ending itself. This is a fun title. I wouldn’t call it great or anything but the battles are on point. There can be a little repetition with Tobei’s character arc and the deck is really stacked against the poor guy. Still, he will not give up!

The series introduces us to Tobei who is currently suffering in hell after living a life of brutality in the real world. He grew up in a terrible environment rife with crime and basically adapted to be just as bad. When this fighter was finally put down, his story should have ended but his vengeance is so strong that he continues to try and break out. Finally the rulers make him a deal. He can go back to the human world for 108 days and his mission is to destroy 108 Toga. These are physical manifestations of evil, basically like monsters. He has to destroy them all within the time limit and then he has his freedom back. Additionally he cannot commit any sins himself or he will automatically be murdered. Can Tobei pull this off?

The mission is harder than you might think. For starters, no sins means that Tobei can’t beat anyone up. All of the 108 Toga are basically weapons or monsters that have paired themselves with a human. So lets say there is a human holding an axe that is a Toga. Tobei has to destroy the axe without harming the human associated with it. Even a grazing blow will deal heavy amounts of damage back to Tobei. Then after that we also have to consider the time limit. Tobei has to average one monster a day but it’s not like he has a map or anything. He can sense when they are nearby but the radar’s range is fairly short. So this is unfair..but that’s the point.

Obviously Hell has no intention of letting Tobei go and they’re just using him as extra manpower. Throughout the manga these guys seem really shifty but would you really expect anything else from Hell? It’s also not like Tobei is blameless either. He did a lot of bad things initially and that’s why he went to Hell. He had a really brutal life so you understand what put him on his current path but it’s not like this completely exonerates him either. A big part of the series is about him genuinely learning to be a better person though and so he does his best there.

I mentioned earlier that the series could be a bit repetitive and i feel that is the case with Tobei. Initially he starts off as someone who is just glad to be able to run around and use violence again. So he crushes the other Toga and has a blast before softening up and starting to be human. Then he relapses and goes into monster mode, then back to human, etc. It went on more than twice which felt a bit excessive. Tobei really can’t catch a break in this series. By the end he is definitely solid with no caveats though. It may have taken a bit longer than I had hoped but it worked out. He’s a very genuine guy who really does his best. Since he was in hell for 300 years, there are a lot of modern things he doesn’t really know but he adapts well enough.

The rest of the characters would have been in real trouble without him. Ose is one of the main supporting characters and he’s generally annoying. He was basically the watchdog for Tobei for a while there and for the first half he is mainly just getting in the way. By the end he starts actually trying to help and has Tobei’s back but he’s already been power creeped pretty hard. It would have been nice if he could have been a little stronger to actually do anything. The other watchdog was way more powerful so it felt like a complete imbalance there.

Itsuki is the main heroine here and she’s not bad. Her role within the series never gets huge or anything like that but she definitely helps to keep Tobei grounded. It’s no exaggeration to say that he wouldn’t have had a full redemption arc without her. She was definitely pivotal in that sense just by existing. Itsuki also isn’t overly emotional or anything and takes the situations in stride. I appreciated that she wasn’t the kind of character who would always be panicking.

Ema is one of the bigshots of Hell although as the series goes on her status appears to be lower and lower. There is always somebody trying to give orders after all. She can be rather cruel but it does come with the job. Again if you’re someone working in Hell then you’re probably not going to trust anyone too much. They’re there for a reason after all. Her character was always interesting though and I would always be interested on just what she would do next. I wouldn’t say she gets an amazing conclusion though.

Sawazaki is an interesting character and one of the best supporting ones. He is a detective trying to make sense of all the supernatural things going on. I tend to enjoy this kind of character type because it really is a very difficult case to solve. Nothing makes sense because the villains are invisible to the average eye. Additionally, you’re probably not going to jump to demons as an explanation right away. The people being possessed by the villains don’t keep their memories and it’s not like there is any physical evidence lying around. So he does his best to keep to the clues and it takes a while. We also see bits of his past including a mentor of his own throughout the series.

He was a character who was really easy to root for. Then we have the old man who looked after Tobei. He was a very patient guy and also did his best to put Tobei on the right path. Ultimately the ways in which he could help were limited but between him and Itsuki it was nice that Tobei had some reliable figures in his life that he could count on. If he had been all by himself then he could have really been in trouble.

One of the big villains is another watchdog, Amy. (Online scans use that name at least, I forget if that’s what he was called in the manga) This guy is probably the best of the villains. For starters I liked that he was a full wildcard here. Yeah he was mainly helping the villains but the guy really couldn’t be pinned down at all. Freedom was his whole thing, he wanted to take down the system and pointed out how rigged it was. For example, Tobei’s weapon would get weaker as he let go of his hate so for all the talk of rehabilitating him, it’s as if they were actively trying to sabotage him right from the start. He definitely had a valid point there. There is just no reasoning with the system.

Of course that doesn’t mean it’s okay to just become a big terrorist like what he did. He took the extreme route but at least as a villain his motives made sense and this made him a very interesting character to me. He also seemed fairly powerful although that part we don’t get to see too much of just yet. Once we’re fairly deep into the series, we finally get to see the villain group. Their leader is a guy named Sena and they all know how to weaponize their Toga. This makes them a pretty tough organization to deal with but at the same time you know that the amount of chapters left is very limited which makes this a mixed bag.

The first member to fight is a guy who uses a Rubix cube to fight. It’s a rather unique weapon I have to say so that was cool. He just doesn’t last long. Tobei takes him out without too much fanfare so he felt like just another villain as a result and by this point in the series Tobei had taken out a whole lot of those guys. Then the second one wasn’t too strong but just made it for a while by taking hostages. Not the most impressive look for the villains right. At least from there they would get stronger.

Next up is the fog girl and she definitely has a real tragic backstory of her own. She doesn’t feel quite as mercilessly evil as the others but she is still in on the action with blowing up the city and being a terrorist so I’m not really going to be cutting her much slack either. Obviously you get why she went over to this side but no matter what the reason is, you are a villain from that point on. Her abilities also didn’t seem terribly impressive but she had the bad luck of going up against Tobei once he had gotten his resolve back so he was in prime shape.

After that is one of the more impressive villains from the group. Gaku is the power hitter who can create giant craters with a single blow. His destructive abilities are really out of this world and he keeps Tobei on the defensive the whole time. It’s a real back and forth fight with both combatants really getting in their share of attacks. The villain may have been misled about what happened to his comrade but as Tobei pointed out, Gaku was murdering tons of people so he doesn’t really get to be upset at a single death. None of the villains really have that luxury by this point. They knew the stakes.

The girl behind the computer ultimately didn’t do much and the guy with the beanie hat wasn’t bad but also short lived. You could chalk it up more to timing than anything else. Otherwise in a straight fight it would be close with the latter at least. It was about time that Tobei got a super form though so I was glad about that. He had really needed one for the longest time here since otherwise he was really not keeping up with the current power levels.

Finally we get to the leader Sena. He’s so evil that his darkness even turns white. He is able to unify the other villains through pure power which really speaks to his overall abilities. Initially Tobei is barely even able to get close to the guy and even by the end of the series it doesn’t seem like they’re on the same level. The fact that they both use darkness just feels like it will always give Sena the edge. Tobei has come a long way from his earlier limits and yet you still don’t feel like the playing field has been leveled.

The art is pretty solid here. We get some really detailed pages and the fights are on point. At the same time it can get a little cluttered during the fight scenes so mileage may vary here. It definitely does get the intensity of the story across though and you see just how scary the Toga would be to the average person. They’re just less imposing to Tobei who generally isn’t scared of anybody. I think that’s even one of the fun appeals to having an ex villain be the lead. It’s nice to see him just walk up to any opponent.

While the ending was rushed, I thought the series did a good job of covering a lot of ground in the stories leading up to that. We had plenty of time for monster of the week type fights before getting into the heart of the plot itself. Tobei even got to have some brief school adventures although I would emphasize that they were definitely very short. So don’t get too attached to that setting. By the end we’re in the middle of a climax for a long while until it just abruptly ends. It’s definitely nice that there is a sequel to wrap things up although I guess even if there wasn’t, the sequel works pretty well as it is. It definitely drums up a lot of hype.

The series still went far enough and showed us all of the major story beats, villains, and origins that we needed in order to understand Tobei’s character arc. At times all of the grim dark backstories and tension of what was going on in the present could be a bit much which is why the school moments were nice to have. In a series about fighting the physical manifestations of sin, you can expect that things will often be dark. It comes as no surprise that Heaven also seems rather shady in this series. It’s definitely one of those situations where Tobei can only really trust his new family and that’s about it.

Overall, Togari is a good manga. To an extent it may end up being a little forgettable but the concept was definitely interesting. It’s a classic story of redemption and trying to really be a better person. It takes a while to pull that off with Tobei and especially when the game is rigged against him the whole time. Still, there was lots of room to continue from where the manga left off so I look forward to seeing how that plays out. If you are looking for a classic supernatural action title then this one should serve that purpose.

Overall 6/10

The Outfit (2022) 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 a villainous organization making the rounds. It works pretty well as a low key suspense kind of film. Things pick up near the end but a good chunk of it is really about trying to keep quiet and seeing how long the characters can run a bluff. Naturally this isn’t a very easy thing to really pull off especially under duress.

The film starts by introducing us to Leonard. He’s the best at what he does and while most people call him a tailor, he is actually a cutter. Leonard goes to great pains to explain the difference but people always underestimate him. Ah well, his skills are the real deal and everybody goes to his shop but the one catch is that he has to allow the local mob to use the venue as well. His shop is almost like a front in that sense which isn’t his favorite thing in the world but at least he can tune it out. Well, one day two of the high ranking mob members stumble inside after a vicious battle with another gang, Richie and Francis. Richie was badly injured and there is a mysterious suitcase carrying something. Leonard is warned not to mess with it or he’ll lose his life but the whole city is after it. What should he do?

The entire movie takes place inside of Leonard’s shop as different people go in and out. It definitely makes for a pretty interesting setup here. The film has an old school feel to it as a result as you think of the old Hitchcock films that would use one location like this. As the viewer you are out of the loop at first but gradually you begin to see more and more of what’s going on. The film keeps on hinting at things as well to let you craft your own theories before they are revealed.

The movie is very confident in its story to the point where you don’t really have any red herrings here. You’re likely going to know the first pair of twists but then after that it’s much harder to have predicted the last one. It’s all a very logical line of story beats and they are written well. The film will have you engaged with what is going on the whole time without a doubt. It’s very easy to get engrossed in it all.

For the most part this is what I’d call a cerebral thriller so there isn’t a lot of violence but I would say there are two fairly violent deaths. Each one definitely drags on a little longer than necessary as these people die relatively slow deaths. Beyond that, it’s really all about the mental stress which is definitely intense enough in its own right. It’s part of why the film is fun, it’s just a nice angle to approach things from.

As for the characters, Leonard is a nice guy who is trying to get his secretary Mable back on the right track. She’s been after the bad boys for a while now and seems to put too much importance on material wealth. Leonard knows that this will get her into trouble but the problem is that it’s not really easy to fix that. At the end of the day she is just an employee after all, not family or anything like that. People often learn their lessons the hard way. Leonard doesn’t always make the correct calls as the movie goes on but his experience and intuition go a long way. While it’s fair to say that he definitely got lucky in some instances, he handled things as well as he could.

As for Mable, I can’t say that I was a fan of hers. Bad romantic decisions aside, she came off as way too arrogant and overconfident considering her situation. At one point she basically just starts talking tough and being insulted when she was nearly about to be tortured and still in a super dangerous position. You’d think that would make you at least a little more quiet for the time being as you wait for the situation to be a bit better. It seemed to me that she did not have a whole lot of street smarts.

Then we have Richie who is a bit easy to manipulate. The guy thinks he is a real big shot and such hubris is often blinding. The guy was completely out of his depth here and someone who spent a little too much time trying to be intimidating. He could have used all that time posturing to train instead.

Meanwhile Francis is another guy who thinks he is a real trickster and that comes back to bite him a bit here. To an extent all of the characters are trying to manipulate the situation though so it all comes down to who can do that the best. In times like that you need a mix of skill and experience on your side or you’re through. I did appreciate the leader of the gang though, he was sharp like when he noticed an object that really changed things. The boss of the rival gang also seemed smart and resourceful even if we did not get to see nearly as much of her since she didn’t appear until the end.

Overall, The Outfit is a pretty solid film. It’s definitely one of those films that makes you want to try and predict every twist and the fact that it doesn’t cheat with unknowable information definitely makes it that much more satisfying. If you’re up for a film like this then I can solidly recommend this one. The plot continues to shift and change as the movie goes on and the pacing remains solid all throughout the adventure. You could probably even make a sequel with how the film ends although some may say that could end up redundant anyway.

Overall 6/10

Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS Luke! Explosive Supremacy Legend!! Review

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Yugioh has really had a solid run as a franchise. It still gets new shows, manga, video games, etc. It has taken the world by storm and this is one of the more recent iterations. Usually the manga takes a different path than the anime in order to keep things fresh but this time they really diverged. See, the manga switches the main character and also makes this more of a gag series instead of a super serious one. It works out well enough though as a solid title. The approach does mean that it never really had a chance to be great but it was entertaining and at the end of the day that is the important thing.

The manga starts by introducing us to Luke. Luke is someone who has always wanted to prove himself as one of the all time elites when it comes to dueling. The guy may lack a lot of common sense and tends to get his words mixed up but on the duel floor there is nobody who can match him. That’s when he finds out about the “Kings”. If Luke can defeat all of them then he will have proven that he is the ultimate duelist king. It would be absolutely hype if he can prove this to the world and so he heads off to fight all of them. Can he possibly win though?

The manga is fairly short with only around 20 chapters or so. Generally each chapter is one duel although the last duel is 3 chapters and at least one of the others was 2 chapters long. So you can see how there isn’t a whole lot of time here for character interactions or really anything outside of the duels themselves. That works out well enough I’d say. Obviously I would have liked the series to have gone on for longer though as a longer running series would have let the manga really come into its own.

Part of why I’d be confident in a longer version to keep on being funny is because the writing was really solid. It’s a gag manga that has carefully constructed jokes and the characters end up being really likable. At the end of the day that’s all I really need. Of course the duels themselves are also really good and in general it is hard to mess those up. I like Yugioh a whole lot and so watching it is a lot of fun as I get to really understand the cast and see them in action. Even if the duels have to be a bit shorter, it’s fun to see the turns going by.

The manga will live or die based on how much you enjoy the main character Luke. For what it’s worth, I think he is an exceptional main character. His nonstop confidence makes him easy to root for and he’s also just a nice guy. He’s easy to get along with and while he may be completely delusional, it’s never in a mean way. You can count on this guy and his skills really are intense. It is hard to go undefeated in Yugioh because all it takes is a bad hand an you would be doomed. In one duel Luke even does have a bad hand to start with and nearly loses as a result. The series really takes you through the different angles that can happen in a match.

Luke may be crazy, but it’s not in an annoying way. In a lesser series they could have easily messed this up but Yugioh really manages to stay funny all the way through. All of the gags are on point even the subtle ones like his own friends rooting for him to get his first loss. A little petty if you ask me, but still humorous all the same.

The artwork is also surprisingly good at times. For the most part it is a step below the other Yugioh manga titles of course but there are times where the art will randomly get serious and then things really start popping. It shows how the artist would have handled this if the series was going for a more serious tone. All in all, the series has a lot of tonal variety as a whole and that’s always impressive to see.

As for Yuga, he may not be the main character this time around but he still gets a good role. He’s always around doing his best to support Luke. The guy seems to be the only one who can always understand Luke and likewise Luke can tell when something’s up with Yuga. Their bond is subtle but effective. They really make for good friends. The rest of the characters are mainly just around for their duels.

The duels are all fun but it does mean that basically every character is the definition of a one shot character. Even characters like Roman who are always in the background would be fairly unmemorable by the end of your adventure. It’s why you probably get the most out of this if you watched the show because then you recognize all of the characters and you can get a real kick out of that. In some ways that is one of the really fun parts. If you read the manga alone and never actually saw the anime then I doubt any of the characters would really stand out. It’s not their fault, it’s just a consequence of the medium itself.

At least you can’t say that the series ever drags on. It goes by really fast and if I was limited to only a handful of chapters I would probably use a similar strategy. Getting in as many duels with as many opponents just makes the most sense in trying to craft a fun story. The final duel being 3 chapters long also helped you feel the scale of it. The end of the story is even a bit on the emotional side. Yeah this series knew how to balance the tones well.

Overall, This was definitely a pretty fun series. It may not have been ambitious or anything like that but it was fun to see the old characters again. Luke was the standout character in the show so making him the full main character was probably a smart decision. I would have easily kept on reading for many chapters even with this duel of the week styled approach. Each chapter will have you cracking a grin and at the end of the day how can you beat that right? You probably won’t remember a lot about this manga a few years down the road but you will remember that you had a good time. Now we’ll see if the next Yugioh manga can top this one or if it’s just going to fade into its shadow.

Overall 7/10

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong Review

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I remember when I first saw Godzilla blasting the life out of Superman when the comic came out. People were talking about it for weeks and with good reason. It’s very rare to see Superman taken down so easily. Yeah he’s lost his share of fights but in one shot like that?? Yeah that is super rare and just doesn’t happen. Superman is a symbol of power and so when he goes down…the world loses its confident defender in an instant. Such is the power of Godzilla.

The comic starts out with the Legion of Doom all fighting each other and throwing around insults when Lex unveils a big plan he has. It goes haywire when the Toyman tries to prove himself though and now a bridge has been made between the world of the monsters and DC. Godzilla has emerged and in order to restore balance to the worlds….Superman must die. Will he be able to save the world along with his super friends or are they all going to be no match for the King of the Monsters?

There are other monsters running around here like King Kong but Godzilla definitely gets the meat of the appearances. It makes sense though as everyone is here to see this guy. It goes without saying that he is absolutely the main draw here. King Kong and the others are good but you would probably still expect Superman and the League to take them out quickly. This is a much different matter entirely. The story also gives quite a lot of the DC superheroes a chance to shine so I appreciated that. They made the most of all the issues here.

The standout part is definitely the fight with Superman and Godzilla. Now granted, I really don’t think Godzilla should ordinarily be able to win this one. Superman is much too fast and powerful. Even if Godzilla can hand in there for a few blows, he would ultimately fall after a while without being able to properly land a counter attack. It’s still fun to see the battle though and Superman still looks like a great leader. Meanwhile Batman’s team is the only one to convincingly defeat their Kaiju opponent so that was some nice hype.

It was fun to see the Bat Family all working together as a unit with the exception of Red Hood. It’s not Jason’s best role to say the least as he gets utterly humiliated. I get the fact that he really wanted to show off but this was definitely not the right time to do it. Guns just aren’t the best weapon against full powered Kaijus. The other teams mainly stall or convince their fighter to stop which are still impressive but Batman’s team stands out for really getting the job done.

One character who does not get the job done is Shazam. He messes up in the intro and then somehow loses to the Legion of Doom. It was not a good moment for the guy as that should have been an easy W for him. You just can’t let that happen to you. Green Lantern and Flash also get pretty big roles and look good. Their banter is always a lot of fun and they keep things fresh. I imagine it also helps morale a whole lot. If only Guy Gardner had someone to bounce off of like that. Maybe people wouldn’t always be so mean to the poor guy. At least within the context of this comic it gets a bit harsh for him.

As expected the art is really good here. There is a ton of detail and it makes for an easy read. The fights all pop out at you and the colors look sharp. It really lives up to everything you would expect to see from a big Godzilla and Justice League crossover. Of course I would still like to have more adventures but if the comics were to stop here, I could already say that they accomplished a whole lot.

I suppose if you’re a Legion of Doom fan then you may be left wishing they could have looked more impressive but at this point it’s hard to take them seriously even on a good day. It doesn’t feel like the Legion of Doom have ever managed to keep up with the Justice League for very long. You tend to be more worried when the villains show up on their own with a big plan rather than as a team. Lex Luthor himself is a huge threat for example but when he’s leading the legion? Eh, not really a big deal.

Of course there are times where this can be different but it’s usually not the case. The Toyman definitely looks really bad for a while there but I suppose he ended up causing some trouble even if it was incidental. Deathstroke was one of the most fun villains in his little subplot trying to find Toyman. It’s just hard when there are giant Kaiju running around and dimensional crystals in play. That’s why it was impressive that he was finding any leads at all. Lex gets his share of action of course but definitely ends up being in a little over his head. I do like how Superman’s supporting characters were so aggressive though. Lex was constantly throwing out insults and threats while Lois was also making sure to try and outshine Clark Kent just because she could.

Now on a quick power levels aside, I do think that realistically this wouldn’t really be a big challenge for the Justice League. They should be able to very easily crush all of the Kaiju that show up and then take care of the Legion of Doom. It was of course an enjoyable adventure with everyone splitting up to battle but Superman is just too powerful for all of this and should be able to clear the board on a whim. Such is the power of Superman.

Overall, Justice League vs Godzilla was definitely a fun read. There’s a lot of action and quality characters all the way through. They did a good job of allowing the characters to still have some downtime and personalities going on beyond the fighting like with Superman and Lois hanging out and of course all the banter with Green Lantern and the Flash. I was also totally cool with King Kong getting a smaller role here because of course Godzilla is the main draw. Yes, you should be satisfied with this adventure no matter what side you’re on.

Overall 8/10

Charlotte Review

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Charlotte is definitely quite the rollercoaster ride. The show begins as a happy comedic slice of life for most of its run but then takes a sharp dive into being a rather dark drama. One episode in particular feels super extreme next to the others and so you can never really guess what will happen next. I tend to have quite a lot of issues with the series as it began to end in terms of plot points and abilities working a little oddly. Still, you will be on the edge of your seat the whole time, that’s for sure.

The series starts off by introducing us to Yuu who is far from your average anime protagonist. This guy is a perv who cheats on his exams and basically misuses his power in every way. He has the ability to take over another person’s body for 5 minutes and in that time his original body falls unconscious. So it can be a bit dangerous since your body might slam to the ground hard but also 5 seconds isn’t very long so that can also backfire really heavily since you may return to your body before completing your objective. Still Yuu has managed to be quite popular and nearly nabs the girl of his dreams but then he is defeated by the supernatural student council. Tomori and her gangs now have blackmail on him and force the guy to transfer students and help in finding other metahumans. All of them must come to the school where they can do no more harm. Yuu’s no hero though so how will he escape from these guys?

That’s the plot for the majority of the show at least. As it goes on we get a lot more depth to the world though like with evil organizations on the rise and things like that. It really expands and gets pretty interesting with all the ramifications of what’s possible. That being said, the show really needed more episodes because the ending gets super rushed. I like how sudden it all occurs because we get to be shocked like Yuu but there are a lot of parts that absolutely fall apart. We’ll get to all of that but the character roster is fairly small so lets talk about them.

First up is Yuu and of course like I explained he is not a very nice guy. He would be one of the big villains if we based him on the very first episode’s appearance. Fortunately he does improve from there which is good but it’s a bit too slow for my liking. For example once we’re already deep into his character arc, he notices Tomori being beaten up by a bunch of thugs and does not arrive to help her. He simply does nothing and judging from Jojiro’s reaction, he is aware of it as well and does nothing. It’s just a true shame because the plotline is never addressed. For all we know she is still bullied.

Yuu also falls to the darkness more than once after this event so he’s inconsistent at best. He could have used his powers to really help out humanity but instead he always picks the wrong path. Perhaps he’s just inexperienced but you do lose a lot of patience with him by the end. He should have improved a lot quicker and with less setbacks. Then he would have been a character you could get behind. So yeah by the end of the series I was still not a fan of his.

Then you have Tomori who is a fun heroine. Her whole mission does put her in a lot of danger since she is always going after metahumans. She is very quick to violence as well but ultimately she comes off as a much more balanced character. I do think she looks a little too weak in the climax of the series though. I expected her to be putting up much more of a fight. Her power is that she can appear invisible to one person at a time which is of course a huge drawback. My main issue is that the show itself seems to forget that several times.

We get a twist at one point that she was following Yuu around for ages and yet nobody commented on her at all even when it would have made sense like when his old friend was around or when Yuu was beating people up. From where she was standing it didn’t look like she was even trying to hide. Naturally this ability is next to useless in most cases but that’s part of the fun in the show. You have all these crazy abilities but they all have tons of downsides. (Until the end of the series anyway) It’s a pretty fun gimmick. Either way Tomori showed that she was the only one really ready to lead this team.

As for Jojiro, he has super speed but basically cannot control it. He can pick a direction and zoom off like a bullet but it also means he has a hard time doing anything while moving at that speed. He often injures himself in the process so it’s another unusable power. He was a fun character but once Yusa joins the crew, it does basically destroy his character because his one trait quickly becomes about being obsessed over her. It completely takes over his character to the point where he is written out in the end, the villains don’t even bother going after him.

Yusa is a lot of fun because of her split personality. Dead spirits can inhabit her body and so it turns out her older sister is living inside of her and can take control at any point. Yusa doesn’t remember what happens while she is taken over. Her sister Misa has fire powers with seemingly no drawback so right off the bat it’s one of the best powers you could possibly have. Yusa tend to be a bit of a space case while Misa is the tough one who is always picking fights. Naturally you can probably guess that Misa is my favorite character from the two as a result. Honestly they could have used her during the action scenes since she could definitely hold her own. Ultimately the way she goes out is very underwhelming.

Ayumi has a very big role as Yuu’s younger sister. She is always trying to look out for him by replicating her mother’s recipes and generally being very reliable. She does a good job of going with the flow and always having a very upbeat attitude. Ayumi always keeps the atmosphere bright and was a really good supporting character, I would even say that she was probably one of the best characters in the series. She absolutely needed to have a good ending in order for the series to work.

On a technical level the show is also quite solid. The animation looks really good and the character designs are very colorful. The fights that we do get look really good. In particular Yuu goes up against a swordswoman at one point and the slash itself was super clean even if the whole sequence will definitely have you rolling your eyes. Like cmon now. Meanwhile the soundtrack is really solid. The opening song itself has a super retro feel to it. It sounds like a 90s theme song and I would say even the visuals match that. There are quite a few nice themes within the episodes as well so the series gets more props there as well.

The series also avoids one of the common anime pitfalls, namely fanservice. It’s not completely nonexistent but yeah the series did good there. There is a random scene near the very end when a character is stripped but that’s more for some dicey undertones. For the record I think it was a mental attack on the heroes and nothing actually happened and hopefully there’s no interview from the creator about how something did happen. That would just be needlessly dark like this was an episode of Sword Art Online or something.

Now as I mentioned, the series can go through tone shifts rather quickly. So in one moment you will be having some happy days and then suddenly you’ve got people being tortured and murdered. The violence isn’t particularly over the top or anything, I think it’s just the suddenness of it that pops out. The only real violent scene I would say was when one character got tortured. Most of it is offscreen and all but we still see the aftermath which was real gruesome. It shows just how dark the world can get even if we didn’t get to see most of it.

Okay now we’re going to start getting into some real spoiler territory. Yeah you could argue the whole review delves into spoilers but this is about to go more into detail so definitely give it a skip if you haven’t watched the show yet. You don’t want to ruin the big twists for yourself because this is a show with massive twists all around. Okay so last warning you want to skip the next 6 paragraphs. Here we gooooooooo.

The turning point in the series is when we find out that time travel has been going on for a long time. Shunsuke is Yuu’s older brother and his ability is that he can use any light to travel back in time. The catch is that every trip causes his eyesight to deteriorate so he cannot do this forever. If he continues this then eventually he will run out of “retries” if you will. The problem is that every timeline still ends with the adults capturing all the kids and murdering them/using them for experiments. In this timeline, he has attained peace for the most part. Not around the whole world but at least in Japan. Time is running out though as the terrorists are getting closer. So this ties in with Yuu and his ability to steal powers and thus, use time control.

I thought it was very effective how we were taken by surprise along with Yuu at the terrorists showing up and beginning their murder spree. Shunsuke’s peace came at a heavy cost in that the characters were unable to defend themselves. I would have liked the main characters to have looked a little better though. I found it really unlikely that Yuu would be crushed so quickly by one of the assassins and the excuses for not using time travel previously were extremely weak. Now the villains did have a clever plan which is to have had a hostage for many years before using their plan. That way unless the heroes are willing to time travel literal years into the past to counter the strategy, they are stuck. It’s hard, almost unfathomable to try and relive years of your life without making any changes. That’s just not going to happen and it’s exactly what the villains were banking on.

It’s great writing by the show and I agree with that much. However, Yuu could have absolutely time travelled, say 1 week into the past. Talk things over with the friends and just think of a plan. At the very least it is an attempt and it’s one without any real downsides. For that matter, in the present you can talk things over for a few days with everyone and then time travel. Time travel is just too broken of a power to not even consider here and I would say that was a real issue. It’s not a plot hole as of course it is a real choice the characters could make but it was an annoying decision.

I would also say this whole plot development opened a lot of interesting doors so that is why it was unfortunate that the series was already ending. You have terrorist groups across the world, other groups of powered fighters, etc. In every future timeline the governments are all evil as well. All of the powers immediately leave once the characters have finished being teenagers which also puts an end time limit on this provided that the heroes can make a cure. There are just a few episodes though so it’s all very fast.

We have a whole journey about how Yuu has to go around the world and absorb the powers of tens of thousands of fighters all on his own. By the end of the series he is near all powerful and it’s a really interesting development. Yet once again there just isn’t enough time to process it. I do like that most of the abilities aren’t shown to us exactly so we just see Yuu doing cool things and can assume as to what the power actually does. Once again though, time travel becomes an issue. He was blind but then he gets a healing power, meaning he can now travel through time. Seems like another good idea to go back in time right? Yuu could go on the journey early and save the world.

So as with many titles, time travel was ultimately the undoing of the series at least on a logic level. It opened up so many pathways to a better future that Yuu just ignored. I did really enjoy the story though even if Yuu falling into a depression for a second time was a little repetitive. His decision to not go back in time was also a big shot to both Shunsuke and Kunagami after all the years they put into this. I really liked Shunsuke, he was a really heroic character who really gave it his all. I could definitely admire that. Meanwhile Kunagami was also fun, especially with how well he was able to put on an act for years without people realizing the truth. Now that is definitely dedication. Their squad of fighters never really got a chance to develop but the series was pretty short.

Overall, Charlotte was a fun series. I do think it was a little too ambitious for its own good though. Ironically the series may have been a bit higher if it had stuck to the happy slice of life episodes from the first half. The second half had higher highs but also lower lows. It really needed one more cour to properly handle this plot. I always love a fast paced adventure but you still need to handle this a little more on screen. I’m skeptical of a lot of the developments by the end like the main characters actually holding off the terrorists while Yuu was gone since the government would have done something. Most things could have been held off with more time. At the end of the day though, this was a fun series and so I would definitely be able to recommend it. It has a lot of interesting ideas and really good world building at the ready. I’d certainly be up for an expanded cut or remake at some point.

Overall 6/10

The Outfit Review

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Whenever you have a gunman going up against some kind of a criminal syndicate you figure that they have to be absolutely doomed. There is just no way to outwit these kind of fighters right? You’re basically fighting off a whole army and yet that’s exactly what happens here. The Outfit got so used to winning that they are rather overconfident by this point. Definitely a dangerous spot to be in.

The movie starts out with the gang murdering Earl’s brother. Earl isn’t happy when he finds out about this after being released from prison. They try finishing him off as well but Earl was too fast and turns the tables. Now he wants revenge and so he’s going to start attacking “The Outfit” and stealing their money until they agree to his ransom demands. It’s an ambitious plan but he has a good friend willing to help him out. The only wild card here is his girlfriend. He wants her in the mix but she could end up being a liability. Will Earl’s stubbornness really get him into trouble?

Now this is at its core a film about villains fighting other villains. There aren’t really any heroes in the story, after all Earl was doing fairly heavy time in prison for his crime. So you have to decide if you’re rooting for Earl and his revenge or if you think the syndicate should win. Additionally you could just root for them all to be defeated and arrested by the cops but of course that is a bit of a longshot.

The movie also does make sure to show that Earl isn’t a particularly nice guy. His relationship with Bett is super toxic the whole time. He gets physical with her rather quickly and so again you are reassured that he is a total villain at heart. He is not some super nice guy or anything like that. The villains are all corrupt as well so it’s basically a wash. To an extent you don’t really mind whichever side gets it.

When a car tune-up goes wrong thanks to some false allegations from a scorned lady, we do unfortunately get some animal violence as a dog is murdered. That was definitely the low point of the film. The movie definitely did not need that scene and finding a way to avoid it would have helped the film greatly. There was enough tension and loss in the film without having to go that far. The whole plot there was really a bit out of nowhere and you could have just skipped the scene as a whole.

The film is at its best when it’s just about Earl and Cody taking out villains at every base that they stop at. It does make the Outfit look rather weak though with how they don’t beef up security or do much of anything. The leader himself can’t even be bothered until it all finally comes close to home. Still, you’d think there would be some communication going out and alerting everyone of what’s going on though. That would have made sense and then the main two would find it harder and harder to break into the bases. Instead the difficulty never really goes up as the Outfit doesn’t adapt at all.

Earl even laughs about how easy it is at the end of the film. He’s not wrong either since the whole thing was super easy. This is the kind of film that I’m surprised didn’t have a more somber or ironic ending like the two betraying each other or not. I guess ultimately they just made it through the situation and would be ready for a sequel. This time they’ll probably want to avoid adding any more characters because Bett definitely made all the rookie mistakes you could imagine. It’s always annoying to see characters just breaking the safety rules because they got upset or impatient. Not a very good business move.

Aside from the toxic romance parts, Earl works decently well as the main character. It’s just a big thing to try and put to the side. Not having any romance plot would have definitely been a good thing for the film because it’s not like it really served any kind of purpose here. Cody was a good friend and definitely came through a whole lot of times. If Earl had been on his own then he would never have been able to get as far as he did. For all of his skills, one man alone would not beat an organization while just having one more makes this a whole new ballgame.

As it is there is still a considerable amount of plot armor here. At one point the villains trap them inside a fairly small room with agents posted everywhere and they manage to shoot their way out of there. Even the main villain comments on how crazy this is. I’d be upset too since the organization had the element of surprise and the numbers advantage. When you still find a way to lose with all of that on your side, well there is no real coming back from that. It means that your organization is seriously lacking in skill and it goes back to how complacent they’ve become. They rely on their reputation over skill at this point and it really came back to bite them.

Overall, I would have appreciated a tougher end for the main characters. At the end of the day they were still full on villains after all. Not even the sympathetic kind but the full blown villains kind with punching out secretaries and being quick to fight. I was not expecting the ending at all though so that definitely took me for a spin. The movie made some critical errors at key moments so without that this would have fared better. If you really want to check out a big Noir title then you should watch this one but the genre is already stuffed with plenty of good films. So you could do better with one of those.

Overall 4/10

The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) Review

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The original Pelham film was definitely a solid one and I had pretty good hopes for the remake as well. The story has a strong foundation after all so I don’t see any reason why the remake would be any different. You’ll be pretty engaged the whole time with what’s going on and while the original would still take the win, this one can definitely hold its own. The film has to succeed in spite of the technical aspects that threaten to hold it back though.

The film starts with Ryder and a bunch of other terrorists running into a train and taking it over. These guys are professionals and trap it in the middle of a tunnel. It will be difficult for anybody to get in there and do much of anything now. Their demands are simple, they want 10 million dollars and they want it in 1 hour. The MTA employee who gets the call is Garber and so you can say that he’s really drawn the short straw here. He’s been dealing with a lot himself as he was demoted after being accused of taking a bribe. Garber declares that he is innocent but the investigation is still ongoing. If anybody dies during this event, it won’t exactly help his case.

There is a lot of tension the whole time since the majority of the film is really about the conversation happening over the phone. Garber is trying to prevent anyone from dying but of course he ultimately doesn’t have much control over that. He is dealing with somebody who is absolutely crazy and so you can never tell exactly how such an encounter will go. There is a professional hostage guy here to help out but even for him this is ultimately a bunch of guesses based on prior experience. The same tactics don’t always work.

Over the course of the film the villain begins to feel a connection with Garber as two men who were betrayed by the system although he never actually gets through to Garber to see it that way. Garber won’t let himself be pulled into the lies and the only time I would say he really faltered was when he allowed Ryder to dictate the terms and make him confess to a crime. I was originally thinking Garber would just fake it in order to appease the guy but I guess in the end he just wasn’t very innocent here. That part was too bad since it would have been nice if he actually did have everything together and didn’t make such a big mistake. Everyone is entitled to make mistakes of course but it would have been a good way for Garber to break away from the narrative that he was similar to Ryder in any way.

Regardless since it’s under duress I assume the confession couldn’t be used for much. Garber definitely takes a lot of real chances during the negotiations and of course it is a lot easier to backseat drive than to be in the situation. Ultimately I think you can never go anywhere with terrorists and you have to try going out fighting. Take out the gun and at least nail one or two of them. Inside of the train, one guy ultimately can’t think of a plan and just tells the villains to shoot him. They oblige and it was nice that he took the bullet for another passenger but if you’re going to die anyway, I say you should at least make a play for the gun.

Your odds are slim but at least they’re not 0 like when you give up. The instant you give up is when it is all actually over. You have to prolong that period for as long as you can. I would also bring up the numbers advantage but realistically you can’t count on any of the passengers. Odds are that they will fold or back out when the going gets tough. So if you make a move, it’s with the understanding that you really could die there. Not an easy thing to have to contend with.

As for the villain himself, Ryder was definitely real unhinged. The guy was smart enough to have a big plan and everything but it was definitely clear that he wasn’t afraid to die either. He was taking a big swing and absolutely did not want to live through any outcome other than victory. So he really made sure that winning or dying were his only two options. Most of his speeches ultimately come down to the crazed ramblings of your average villain but they’re still entertaining enough. The film did a good job of showing just how unhinged the terrorists can be.

The Mayor also has a fun role here. He’s definitely not the nicest guy but he has quite a bit of backbone in this version and can back up his tough talk. The guy has a lot of unhappy constituents but he does try to help in the end. Additionally I appreciated that he had Garber’s back in the end. It seems like otherwise everyone was going to railroad him even after helping out during the adventure which would have been annoying considering just how many risks he took by this point. It would have been such a bad look for everyone.

I will say that part of the ending was a bit contrived though. The film really wanted to finish off on a personal note but it relies on plot armor with the cops not making any kind of move. Realistically I would have expected either Garber or both him and the villain to have been shot. It’s rare to see the cops just standing around while actual gunfire goes out. I get the overall message but they could have implemented it better.

The only particularly weak part of the film is the soundtrack and directing though. The opening song is so bad that you’re just rolling your eyes the whole time. Then for the directing, there is way too much slow mo to the point where you think your TV is starting to lag. Then you have the zoom ins when people talk as if this is a comedy show. The film is doing a whole lot but none of it really services the film. I would have removed all the freeze frames, all the slow mo, and definitely had less camera shaking during the event. These things just felt like elaborate distractions and they did not pay off.

Overall, This was a pretty fun movie. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time and the writing was really solid. In the ending I would have liked Garber to have gone home with a whole gallon of milk but you can’t have everything. It takes a very different approach from the original film in different ways and that does help to keep things fresh. It means that you have a good reason to watch both versions of the film since they won’t be ultra similar to each other. As long as they can keep it fresh, I’ll welcome more versions of the story.

Overall 7/10

Cobra Kai 2: Dojos Rising Review

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Now we have made it to the second big Cobra Kai title! This one switches things to 3D and was definitely a very ambitious title but alas it wasn’t meant to be. The game absolutely folded under the might of its ambitions and so this won’t be remembered too fondly. The game itself is good but you can really see the potential that just got knocked away.

The game starts off by letting you decide if you want to play as Cobra Kai, Miyagi Dojo, or some bird related team. I went with the Cobra Kai of course and basically you have to find 5 allies to go with you to the big tournament. The game lets you choose from a bunch of stage options to recruit fighters and each recruitment opens up more stages. Once you have enough players you can go ahead and enter the tournament to begin the climax of the game. I actually didn’t realize you could jump into the tournament so soon or I may have even gone in earlier since I recruited over 10 fighters.

The combat is about what you would expect. You have your standard moves, super attacks, and chi moves. The special attacks have an interesting gimmicks. Every character has 4. The top one gives you money when it lands, the bottom XP, the right more power, and the left is health. But they each do something which is nice. Naturally I spammed the XP one but sometimes the health part could be crucial. You fight through waves of enemies and then there is a minigame for each of the recruits. Sometimes it is as simple as defeating them but most of the time it involves a more unique task. Each level has 3-4 people to recruit.

Once you’ve recruited them, you can level them up at the Dojo and also rank up their moves. Again it’s pretty ambitious but most of the menus barely work and switching between characters can get a bit tiresome so I ditched the skills early on and just did the level ups. You can also level up the dojo itself which lets you house more people and make them happy. If a recruit isn’t happy then he will leave and you have to try and re recruit him. That mechanic was annoying, why would you let people just leave like that? I hope they at least keep the level ups that you gave them. It would be annoying to have to get that back again.

The tournament is the hardest part of the game by far. You have to win 7 rounds in a row without getting any health back. Each round can force you to KO the opponent 6 times so that’s around 50+ victories. You can get more points by intentionally stalling the match to land a 3 victory strike but it is risky since of course it gives the opponent more time to hit you. This one took me several tries to finally complete and I definitely felt triumphant afterwards. Unfortunately the game glitched shortly afterwards so I wasn’t able to play through the final level.

The glitches are definitely going to be remembered as the game’s legacy. For one thing the frame rate is crazy bad, the game will lag on you constantly. At times it will be as if you can’t even move. I haven’t played a game dropping that many frames in a long time. Maybe ever, at least for console releases. Naturally the huge glitch sending me back to level 1 is another one to look at. I literally didn’t beat the game as a result of it. Moving through the menus can be glitchy and sometimes enemies don’t die when they should. I even had the game freeze twice and I had to restart.

So unlike Sonic 06 where you are unlikely to really encounter the bugs on a normal playthrough, you will be seeing a whole lot of them here. Just beware of that because it’s definitely bound to be a bumpy ride for you. That said, the gameplay itself is still solid so I’d still end up giving it the thumbs up in the end. Without the glitches it would definitely be an even higher score. They really jam packed this game with loads of content like the upgrade tree and how many levels are in there. Having 3 different teams to play as is also really good. It’s lazy in some aspects like seeing your character in the background while you’re fighting but that’s probably more of a budget issue.

The graphics are not particularly good. The game doesn’t have a ton of details and the character models feel more like something out of PS2. The soundtrack is fun enough though, definitely some fast paced tuned all the way through that get you into the Karate fighting spirit. Of course there is a decent amount of replay value with the trophies…provided that you are able to get them. I see that the Platinum rate is at a literal 0% which is probably a pretty bad sign. There has to be a glitch preventing a Platinum from being possible which is pretty crazy. I definitely won’t be trying for that one.

Overall, Cobra Kai delivers on what you would expect in the action department. It’s a fun game and you will have a good time going through it but unfortunately it did need a lot more polish to really be out there in the market. I do have to dock points for literal game breaking glitches after all. That does put a damper on the overall fun environment that the game is going for. It pains me to do it but that’s how it goes. I’ll still check out the Karate Kid game at some point though. I expect that will have more polish and at this point I’ve been playing through quite a few of these retro styled beat em ups so why not right? Especially when the price is so cheap hehe. $5 is less than even getting a Big Mac at McDonalds nowadays.

Overall 5/10

Princess Arete Review

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Princess Arete is definitely a unique title. It’s sort of like what would happen if you had an adventure film where the main heroine herself was actually captured for almost all of it. It’s definitely a way to stand out but at the same time I found the film to be a little uneventful at times as a result of this. Dare I say it approached being boring at times? I would say it’s a film that just focuses too much on set up for an adventure that never happens and you don’t have any loud characters to run in and shake things up. This could have used a Shonen lead type of character.

The movie first introduces us to Princess Arete whose life has been completely restrained by her father the king. He keeps her inside a tower and doesn’t let her leave the castle grounds. Instead she just has to wait as many suitors keep on visiting her over and over again. She has no interest in any of them and these guys all do seem pretty desperate for power. It might just be the animation style but she also just looks like a total kid next to all of these guys. It’s only natural that she won’t be interested. Well, unfortunately a wizard named Boax shows up and uses his magic to hypnotize Arete and the King so that he can marry her. He then takes her and locks her up in another tower so that she live up to the prophecy. Can she snap the mind control and get out of there?

It’s a bit of a long summary but I wasn’t really sure exactly where I should stop. In a way you could say this is where the main story begins but at the same time this is after a decent amount of time in the film has elapsed. You can also see why the whole thing is a bit annoying because Arete isn’t really getting to do much here. We do see that she is really interested in the outside world and so that’s nice but she wasn’t able to fight for her freedom there anyway. In a world of magic you’d think the King would have some defensive measures but the world seems to mostly be normal so maybe I can give him a slight pass.

I didn’t think the main villain’s plan made a whole lot of sense though. So the prophecy states that Arete will somehow undo Boax’s complete immortality so he locks her up to prevent that. At the same time we see that he is really lonely and is hoping to find another wizard. Maybe he wouldn’t be so lonely if he wasn’t immortal? In a way that’s what really makes it worse and of course he is also evil by hoarding the water supply. If he had friends then they could help him find more magicians.

Basically it doesn’t seem like Boax really thought anything through. He’s not a particularly interesting villain and the whole time you will be shaking your head at the guy. Meanwhile for Arete, I can’t say I was very impressed with her either. Yeah she made one attempt to escape the tower but I would have liked to have seen her be way more proactive. Honestly when the first guy broke in through the window, she should have knocked him out or tricked him and then used his escape method. Getting mind controlled isn’t totally her fault I suppose but it was annoying to see her basically be a zombie for a while there. It’s only in the climax where she gets to really help out.

There isn’t really much of a supporting cast to back her up either. Yeah you have the King from the beginning but considering that he is pushing for arranged marriages, he’s not the best guy. You have Ample who helps out with a lot of the exposition and letting Arete know the main facts. Not a bad character but not a very interesting one either. Nothing wrong with the writing either, there just weren’t any standout characters and even the designs were rather bland.

The animation’s okay. The colors are fairly washed out so the whole product ends up looking rather dated but the movement is good. The backgrounds aren’t bad and of course it’s just always nice to see things that are hand drawn. Meanwhile the soundtrack is more forgettable but on the whole the technicals aren’t bad. The whole thing just doesn’t pop out. It feels like the kind of film you my see a character watching in another movie. I was so ready for things to happen that for a minute there I was actually hoping Arete would go on the long quest to find the ruby that Boax asked for.

For a second there, the film was actually teasing you with the idea of a true adventure and I was all for it. This is what I’ve been ready for! Instead she turned back to accomplish her true mission and yeah that was the right call but it wasn’t the most entertaining one. I could criticize Boax further on why he would even suggest she go on such a mission when the hypnosis could break at any moment but perhaps nobody had ever broken it before so he didn’t see any potential risks in that.

Overall, Princess Arete feels like a film that is really missing a middle act. It could have used another 30 minutes where we see Arete escaping at some point and having a full adventure before being recaptured. I think that would have gone a long way to really making her a fun heroine and also livening up the film a bit. There just isn’t a whole lot of fun times for the film here and it feels too much like an ancient fantasy tale without the adventure. If you want to check out a more interesting anime title, you should watch Bleach instead. All of those films go hard!

Overall 5/10