Barrage Review

Posted on January 27, 2015 by dreager1

Now it’s time to look at one of the shortest series yet. This one only made it to two volumes before it was abruptly ended with loose ends all around. In a way, it does end before the story can even get started so depending on how you view things…you could say that it didn’t have many loose ends. It definitely depends on the cup “half full” or “half empty” thing though. It’s decently fun and it showed promise, but I don’t see this series making a comeback.

The world (That is essentially Earth) used to be peaceful until many alien races decided that they would have fun conquering it. The humans fought valiently for their land, but defeating one alien species would be tough, let alone a few dozen of them. Now, we only control a very small kingdom and aliens have taken over the rest of the land. A young boy named Astro is trying to make ends meet since he has to take care of a lot of orphans. He is let go from his job and doesn’t know how he will be able to provide for them when the prince appears and decides that Astro will serve in his place. The prince is conveniently destroyed and Astro looks just like him so the main character goes along with this. He now has the strongest weapon in the universe and he will need to quickly get used to it as he starts to liberate the planet. Can he really defeat all of the aliens?

The plot is pretty good and it had the potential to be a long running series like Naruto or a relatively short one like Dragon Drive. There are many aliens to face and I’m sure that we would have gotten more supporting characters as the series went on. As it stood, we had 3 main ones by the end. There weren’t a lot of big villains, but I’m sure that would change since we had only just begun to take back the planet.

As a main character, Astro isn’t bad. He’s not great though as he is quick to cry and his comic relief tendencies can go a bit far at times. That being said, he is obsessed with keeping his family safe and that’s a pretty good thing to be obsessed with. He strongly believes in the concept of a family and will do whatever he can to keep them safe no matter what. His strong ideals are what lead him to unlocking the powers of the Orgue. The Orgue only works when the user recognizes someone as an enemy so there’s no chance of friendly fire. This can also be dicey when Astro doesn’t realize that someone is an enemy, but he’s typically a good judge of character. His character design seems to be a mix of Simon from Gurren Lagann and Rin from Blue Exorcist.

Astro is not a great fighter on his own, but his determination and ethics help him bring out his very best. He learns quickly and he is skilled in using the Orgue. That turns him from a sub par fighter into a great one. The Orgue can destroy any alien in a single blow and its abilities may be limitless. It starts out as a spear and turns into more of a Monado (Xenoblade) by the end. It’s definitely a handy weapon and one that can be very versatile in combat. It’s safe to say that there are few opponents who can stand up to Astro by the end and the hero just needs to work on his speed. Once he gets a little faster, he’ll be virtually unstoppable.

Astro typically travels with Tiamut as per the King’s orders. Tiamut has a pretty good reputation and he can take dozens of aliens out in a single motion. He may seem to be human, but the series hints multiple times that there is more to this character than meets the eye. Whether he is human or not, Tiamut is definitely loyal to the crown. He’s a capable fighter and he teaches Astro how to be a good fighter during their journeys. He’s pretty likable and he would be very likable if not for one quirk that can be quite annoying. He’s extremely shy around ladies and he can’t even look at them. Luckily, he’s so skilled that he can beat many opponents with his eyes closed, but it’s a running gag that I would definitely take out. It’s unneeded and a little generic as far as jokes go. It doesn’t help his character and this means that he wouldn’t be of much use against a female opponent. His shooting sword is a pretty cool weapon since he can use it as a gun or as a normal sword. It’s not as good as the Orgue of course, but it’s useful.

Tico is sort of the main heroine. It’s hard to say for sure since we don’t know whether she would have been travelling with the heroes or not, but I’d say that it’s very likely considering that she came to the palace with them. She wants to avenge her family so she definitely has a vendetta against the aliens. She’s pretty outmatched right now since she’s just a girl with many guns, but I’m sure that this would change eventually. Even if she never gained super powers, I’m sure that she would have gotten some kind of super weapon to tip the scales. It’s just the sort of thing that you would expect at some point. She’s a pretty good character and I’m glad that she’s always eager to fight. She could have ended up being one of the better Shonen Jump heroines.

Black ends up being the big villain of the series. As you probably guessed, he used to be one of Astro’s friends and he started out as a really nice guy. Black doesn’t like when people make crooked decisions and he punishes them accordingly. The problem is that his definition of “crooked” is very dicey so he basically wants to eradicate all life on the planet. Astro slaps him silly for a while and he sees the error of his ways. He would presumably be a hero in the upcoming volumes as he gives Astro advice from his prison. Black is meant to be a very emotional villain, but you really can’t buy that since he only gets to appear for a couple of chapters. The change from hero to villain to hero is too abrupt. Black seems like a cool character, but I’ll say that he’s underdeveloped and fairly uninspired at the moment.

The art is pretty decent although it’s a little rough around the edges. I think drawing the eyes seems to be a little tough for the author, but it may be because most authors don’t bother with too many things in it. Here, the main character has a star in his eyes at almost all times and the extra details may be what makes the eyes seem a little off. The art still does work for the fight scenes and that’s definitely the important thing in a battle manga.

The main story luckily avoids the whole fanservice angle. Based off of close scenes and unfortunate bonus stories/cast interviews, the short run of the series may have saved it here. It seems like this could have been an issue if Barrage had become a long running series so this is probably the silver lining in the series getting canned. There has to always be a silver lining somewhere right?

The series ends with the heroes basically stopping one band of villains and still having to liberate the other 90% or more of the planet. I’m sure that they would have met many tough opponents and the heroes would need more power ups. After all, it was already discovered that the “Dark Power” may be a match for the Orgue. The dark power can be used to amplify an alien’s offense and defense as well as create constructs to aid them in battle. It may be a little generic, but I’ll overlook that since it’s always a cool concept. The dark power gives the aliens a great edge over most of the fighters since they become almost indestructible. It’s too bad that we couldn’t see more of this.

There is one plot twist that is extremely convenient and throwing it in the series just makes things a little too good to be true. You know how Astro is not the prince since he is just taking his place? Well, let’s just say that he looks identical to the prince for a reason! I definitely could have done without the twist since I thought that the development was pretty crucial to the series. Having the old prince randomly sniped added to the drama as well since I didn’t see it coming. (Although it makes perfect sense in hindsight since the prince can’t blackmail Astro later on)

It’s hard to say how powerful Astro is in comparison to most of the other SJ protagonists, but it’s safe to say that he’d be pretty low tier. His weapon is amazing, but he’s physically only slightly above meta human. His speed seems to be decent, but he was thoroughly speed blitzed by one of the aliens. Astro’s durability also seems to be fairly normal so one good hit would probably take him out. The strongest villain in the series is probably the alien who could hop a lot since he had very good speed feats as well as some of the dark power. Black is theoretically stronger than the alien since he was the leader, but his speed is pretty sad and the constructs are too slow to really help him here.

Barrage is pretty easy to get into, which helps the beginning. The intro had potential to be boring since it’s just Astro living in the slums and trying to earn some money. Luckily, the plot moves quickly and seeing Astro trick everyone is pretty intense for him. His first action scene was fun and the series as a whole is pretty entertaining. The chipper tone helps to add some hope for the characters amidst what is technically a sad series since humanity is essentially toast. It does remind me of Blue Exorcist in this regard as well or you can compare it to Buso Renkin. The volumes go by very quickly and it does have a lot of replay value. I could see myself reading this again someday, but pretty far in the future considering all of the other titles that are around.

Overall, Barrage is a pretty fun series. It’s really over when you’re just beginning though and I’m sure that the author had many ideas for its future. It’s always sad when a series is cancelled, but this just means that another series gets to bloom in its place. Hopefully, whatever replaced this series was a good title. It would be fun to see a movie for this manga since it’s short enough and maybe it’ll make a comeback someday. I really don’t see it, but it’s always possible. If you want to see a story about humanity fighting back against alien oppression with a good ole Shonen lead, this is the story for you. It has action and drama. The series never takes a break and you can really see the potential here. Just remember that it is only 2 volumes.

Overall 7/10

The Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Review

Posted on January 27, 2015 by dreager1

The Avengers are one of the most well known superhero teams in comics. They had a film that broke the box office a few years back and they have now had 3 shows to date. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was the best of the three and it is one that ranks very high up in the comic ranks. I definitely say that it is Marvel’s top show and it isn’t likely going to be surpassed anytime soon.

Season 1’s main plot is about the Avengers forming so that they can bring back a large group of super villains who escaped from Shield prisons all across the planet. It’s technically the plot of the show, but it’s mostly used as a backdrop. The season is pretty episodic, but it does begin a lot of plotlines that are explored in those episodes so it’s definitely better than the average pre arc. Ultron, Kang, and Loki all get multiparters as well as the Leader. There may not be much of an overreaching story arc, but most of the episodes have a cliffhanger scene at the very end so the transition from episode to episode is actually pretty great. Season 1 is a lot of fun and you can count on many excellent battles.

Season 2 decided to go for a big plot and one that featured the Skrulls deciding to invade the planet. They have taken many people in powerful positions so they are all set for their bid to conquer the human race. The Avengers have to get past several obstacles and the lack of trust in their teammates to even have a shot at taking down the Skrulls. Other highlights of the series includes the return of Ultron and Kang. It should be noted that the Kree also get a multi parter as they finally make their big move. This season can get a little dicey since we have to miss out on Hulk, Captain America, and Thor for various parts of the season, which makes for a limited roster. The Guardians of the Galaxy do get to appear though, which is pretty intense.

I will admit that I was one of the many Marvel fans who was not a huge fan of the designs for the show when they first popped up. The characters just looked a little off. Thor was actually one of the biggest offenders for me. His build just didn’t seem right and his arms were huge. The hammer looked so small when Thor was holding it and the handle should have been longer. That being said, you get used to it as you watch the show. I wasn’t a huge fan of Captain America’s design compared to United They Stand, but it is still a very good design in its own right. The Abomination was one of the characters who drew the short straw in terms of design.

I don’t know whether this is a result of the character designs or whether it was the overall animation, but the fight scenes were pretty over the top in a great way. Some of the energy blasts looked like they came out of an anime. The action scenes definitely shine in this series and they put most of the other Marvel shows to shame. The first few episodes tried some unique things with the animation, particularly Iron Man’s view from inside the suit. I think that the animation took a bit if a dip after the beginning, but it still looked pretty good overall. Season 2 certainly looks sharp and it was definitely an improvement. I wasn’t sure about this at first, but I definitely am now.

How does it stack up against the Justice League? I am afraid that it is not even remotely close. Justice League wins in all areas, but it should be noted that the show’s roster was comprised of heroes who were far cooler than the Avengers. The Avengers are cool of course, but they are no Justice League. Considering that the Justice League show also happens to be my favorite non anime tv show of all time, this isn’t bad for Avengers. It’s safe to say that no western Marvel show will ever be able to top Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Now, let’s look at the show’s portrayal of the characters.

Iron Man is one of the main characters and he is a pretty good hero. He acts just like what you would expect from him. He is always ready with a witty comeback and his armors are fairly powerful. The show essentially takes all of Stark’s good qualities without bringing in his bad ones. He does a pretty good job of being team leader until he decides to give up the role. His fans should be pretty pleased with this incarnation of him. His battles against Kang and Dr Doom are matches that we have longed for and we finally get to see them play out here.

Captain America is our courageous leader once more. The writers really seem to like him so Cap gets quite a few wins under his belt. Even the mighty Terrax and the Super Skrull are powerless against him. Unfortunately, he misses the first few episodes of the series and a big chunk of them in the second half. This is sad for his fans of course, but he still gets a lot of screen time and he tends to look very good. It is basically a spot on incarnation of the legendary hero.

Thor looks better than he has ever looked in this series. He is portrayed as an intelligent warrior while still keeping his incredible strength and skill. He isn’t crazy about technology, but he is never obnoxious about it. His banter with Tony Stark on the subject can be pretty fun to watch. As with Superman in various DC shows, Thor does lose to an opponent who is weaker than him at times. Luckily this only happens a reasonably few times and he typically looks as strong as he should. He looks like the Thor of the 60’s and that’s a good thing.

Bruce Banner is pretty much a non factor here because the Hulk is in control for the whole series. Bruce only gets a cameo once in a while. As for the Hulk, his portrayal is pretty good here. He is decently smart and a very loyal friend to have. He gets a raw deal in season 2 since he is tricked by the Skrulls and forced to miss a lot of it. He looks pretty strong and he is portrayed as the strongest Avenger in physical strength. He is definitely a likable character.

The Wasp is a lot more cheerful than usual and it works for her character. She isn’t the strongest Avenger, but she can fight when necessary. This is easily the best portrayal of her that I have seen and it will be tough to too this version. Wasp never backs down from a fight and she even takes on the Vision. Even if her chances of victory are slim. Wasp will jump into battle anyway and it is why she is one of the better Avengers.

Antman had a big role in the original Avengers show, but then he began to fade into obscurity. The new Marvel film aims to change that..more for the superhero than for Pym. Pym actually doesn’t end up looking quite as good in EMH. It is to be expected since he isn’t the fearless leader anymore, but he is still an Avenger. He wants to rehabilitate the villains and he puts a lot of effort into this goal. Unfortunately, most of the villains don’t plan on changing sides anytime soon. He starts to think that the Avengers have lost sight of this and coupled with the Ultron incident causes him to leave the team. This causes his character to undergo a radical change as he becomes more of a hot head who tends to act overconfident. While I typically like this kind of character a lot, it comes off as a little forced and it is also hard to take him seriously. Antman was a good character in the show, but he was definitely outshined by the others.

Hawkeye had a tough road since it would be nearly impossible to pass his original animated version. That being said, he’s typically a likable character. It can be sad to see him get tricked and one upped by Black Widow for most of season 1, but he does manage to capture her on occasion. His skill with a bow is as excellent as ever and Hawkeye is always brimming with confidence. He couldn’t pass the original version, but this is still the Hawkeye that I remember. Black Widow is also pretty true to form as no side can really tell if she is working for them or if she has an ulterior motive. Her accent is at its strongest here and she rarely gets to operate with the Avengers since she’s a solo act from start to finish. She’s a pretty good agent, but Hawkeye is actually able to best her when they fight. Black Widow’s never been my favorite character, but she still looked decent here.

Black Panther joins the team pretty early on in the series, but he was never my favorite character. He’s a little too confident and he has no problem hacking into the Avengers mansion when he feels like it. He’s the definition of a “hype” character who constantly insults everyone and belittles them. He may only be human, but he always gets his hits in and he puts his kingdom before the Avengers. A noble gesture I’m sure, but he’s really just a copy of Captain America, but without the leader’s character development.

Ms. Marvel arrives in season 2 and she cannot be trusted as much as the other members since she also works for the government. She was quick to turn on the heroes when the government duties created a conflict. She is just trying to help her country of course, but the whole scene didn’t look very good. Ms. Marvel is a capable heroine who can still fight at the Hulk’s level so that’s pretty good and she is a solid character despite having her flaws. She does get a lot more screen time than the Vision, who is basically thrown in at the last minute. The Vision looks pretty good and very tough when he first appears. He gradually gets weaker, but it never goes too far as he still helps out a lot in the final battles. I didn’t really care for Vision’s big moment where he betrayed the Avengers, but he’s a good hero to have. I just wish that he had turned good in a different scene.

Graviton is the first major villain in the show and it’s why the series started out on a high note. His abilities are very impressive and it’s no stretch to say that he is the strongest villain in the entire series. There are many other powerful opponents who do make this very debatable. He’s a very likable villain and this show made me a fan of him. Seeing him take on the combined might of Thor, Hulk, and the other Avengers is incredible and it’s not something that I shall forget anytime soon. It’s too bad that he never got to appear again, but maybe next time.

Ultron is the villain that everyone was hyped for and he did not disappoint. He got a pretty great two parter when he first appeared and then his return was also pretty great. Naturally, his demise in both appearances is loaded with plot hax, but that’s just because the show did a good job of adapting his character. He looked about as strong as he should and he was thoroughly annihilating the Avengers. He has definitely been a great villain in all incarnations and I believe that Age of Ultron should be able to keep up this tradition.

Kang The Conqueror is probably my third favorite villain in the show so I definitely wanted to put him next to Ultron and Graviton. He may seem like a much weaker villain on the surface, but his tech definitely brings him up to their level. His array of barriers and energy attacks make him a very tough opponent to deal with and you can even say that it is impossible to beat him. He only loses when he lets his guard down and forgets to block or fight back. It’s the fate of being an overwhelmingly powerful villain in the midst of heroes who are strong, but not strong enough to legitimately defeat him.

Red Skull is certainly not as impressive as the first few villains and it’s surprising that it took so many episodes for him to finally appear in the present. He’s fairly generic and he’s definitely not a threat no matter how many inventions he gets a hold of. He does give us one of the better episodes in the series when he assembles his own crew, but it still doesn’t make him a good villain. He wants revenge on Captain America and that sums up his character arc.

Skull’s team consists of quite a few members. Dr. Sampson is one of them and he was not my favorite supporting character anyway. I did appreciate the fact that he didn’t blame the Hulk for what went down at the Cube and he actually dealt with his new powers pretty well. That being said, he’s just not a interesting character. The Falcon’s one shot role is probably disappointing for his fans. He actually had potential to be a good character and he was much better than the Falcon in Avengers Assemble. His appearance was just too short to really get a good grasp of how he was.

One of the final two members was the Winter Soldier. After Bucky vanished when Captain America fell into the ice, he was forced to work for Skull for decades. It’s easily the saddest sub plot in the series and he really didn’t have a choice since he was on his own and they effectively brainwashed him. He tries to atone for this once he gains his freedom back and this is probably the best incarnation of Bucky that we’ve seen so far. He’s pretty noble and you can tell that he is trying to be a better person.

Finally, we have Red Hulk. He gets a few appearances although his role is still not very large. He does get to fight Thor and the Hulk, which shows how powerful he is. I like him as an enemy although he’s not very interesting. Watching him sucker the Avengers into allowing him to join is pretty wince worthy, but a plot twist at the end definitely helps to negate those scenes.

The New Avengers are introduced to the scene in Kang’s big return. The villain managed to destroy the Avengers so an automated protocol quickly gathered up the new heroes. One of them was Luke Cage. He seems to know what he’s doing and his street manner of dealing with his obstacles is a nice change of pace from the politically correct superheroes who help him against the villains. He doesn’t get much of a role and he doubts himself pretty quickly, but Cage still has what it takes to be an Avenger. He’s a step up over Iron Fist, who is still cool, but really has no character development. He appears for a very short period of time and he’s pretty ineffective against Kang. His hand to hand skills are great and they would do well against most opponents, but it was simply a bad mach up against someone like Kang. We also got to see War Machine and I was not impressed. His weapons still look terrible compared to Iron Man’s and he was way too serious when the other heroes were just trying to have a good time. He arguably has more experience in the art of being a super hero than the first two fighters so he needs to lead by example.

Spider Man was also selected for the team and he also got an episode to himself before that so he’s all set on the character development area. He was adapted pretty faithfully as he tells a lot of jokes, but never manages to get hit. He’s the only member of the team who was able to dodge every single one of Kang’s attacks. His spider sense is his weapon and he just uses his jokes to keep the enemy off guard. This is the Spiderman that fans will remember from the good ole days and it’s good to see him getting the respect that he deserves. I was more than satisfied with his portrayal here.

Wolverine also gets to join the team and he’s definitely in character. Unfortunately, this means that he gets animal violence in his scene as he destroys a few dinosaurs. It’s the worst scene in the entire show and you can bet that it hurts his character. It’s hard to root for him after such a scene and he also doesn’t really help a lot when the team is fighting Kang. That just makes it worse since he wasn’t needed in the episode and the heroes still would have gotten the job done.

The Fantastic Four are recurring characters in the background of the show. The Thing gets more of a role than the others since he does join the New Avengers, but he doesn’t look particularly impressive when it comes down to strength. He’s pretty likable and you’ll be satisfied with his portrayal even if he looks like a second rate fighter. Reed Richards looks pretty great as he belittles everyone and puts up a brave front when Galactus appears. Human Torch and Sue Storm don’t get to do a whole lot, but they look pretty decent when they get to appear.

Nick Fury changes a lot as the show goes on. He fights on the front lines more in season 1 and then he turns into the MCU version of Fury in season 2. He’s pretty corrupt as you would expect from a Shield agent, but he has his moments where he can actually be likable. He was a capable leader for Shield (Not going to bother using the periods everywhere) while he was around. Maria Hill steps in for him once the Skrull invasion occurs. She is notably less tolerant with heroes than Fury was and she can definitely be a thorn in the side of the heroes. Hill does mean well and she is definitely a likable Shield agent, but her policy towards the heroes can definitely hold her back.

The Guardians of the Galaxy get to appear and this was before their film so the roster is much different. It’s vastly superior to the normal crowd as we have someone with Green Lantern’s abilities. Groot, Star Lord, and Rocket Raccoon are still around. I’m still not the biggest Rocket fan, but it is always good to see him jump into the action. Groot is simply Groot and still the worst member on the team. Star Lord was pretty reasonable and it was a very fun episode as we saw them match up against the Avengers before fighting Korvac. The Guardians are lucky that Thor was not there since the episode had the potential to be a stomp for the Avengers. Their portrayals all seemed pretty good.

Baron Zemo is another big Cap villain and he gets to team up with the Masters of Evil for a while. He never gets any super powers, but the Norn Stone makes him more of a threat in his final appearance. He’s still not my kind of villain though and he mostly just lives on by backstabbing all of the other villains. The series could do without him.

The Enchantress looks much more formidable than you would expect and she goes toe to toe with the Hulk and Thor in the series. Her magical abilities seem to be very well suited for offense and her speed is impressive. As a character, I’m still not a fan of hers as she always lets romance cloud her better judgment. Getting defeated by Zemo at the end is pretty bad for her and her loss in round 1 was bad as well. She lets her guard down a little too easily considering how powerful she is. Just wiping out her enemies would save her a lot of grief.

The Leader gets a multi part episode towards the beginning of the series, but then he vanishes. This is definitely one of his better portrayals, but he’s still not a great villain. His lack of attack power is just hard to get around. It’s actually why I am not a big fan of the Abomination in this show. He’s constantly portrayed as being much weaker than the Hulk and it undermines the notion that he could actually be a rival to the green Avenger. He never looks good, not even once as the series goes on and this very well could be the worst portrayal of him.

Wonder Man looks a lot different from his counterpart in the first Avenger show. He is always in his energy form and the villains basically have a hold of his life so it’s tough for him to go back to the Avengers. He has his hero moment and he ends on a high note, but he should have kept an open mind about Stark before. (Not that Tony was pretty polite when they met) He may have had a better fate.

Dr Doom gets a brief role in the Skrull arc, but it’s a critical one that really helps the heroes out. He is a political enemy so he still wants the Earth to be in one piece. His armor looks impressive as it can keep up with Tony’s and likewise with his intellect. It was definitely a good portrayal of the villain. He certainly looks better than Loki. Loki’s big two part episode to end season 1 wasn’t very interesting and I can’t say that I cared for any of his appearances. He is a difficult opponent to handle because of his trickery. His design is pretty unique and I’m not sure what the writers were going for, but I suppose that it works.

Galactus finally joins the fray in the final episode and it’s good to see him. He doesn’t actually have a mind this time, which does undermine him as a villain, but he is still pretty strong. It may be his worst portrayal to date, but he’s a decent villain. I just wish that he could have fought back against the heroes instead of just staying there and taking everything that they had to give. His heralds are also pretty souless and weak as small groups of Avengers are able to take them down with ease. It’s the price of filling an episode with so many villains and fights. Power levels have to go out of the window and there can be no form of character development.

Ronan appears for the Kree and he looks pretty good against the Avengers. Thor may not have been there, but he was still keeping the Hulk and Iron Man at bay for a while until Ms. Marvel finally took him down. He looked much better than he did in the FF cartoon. He’s certainly not one of my favorite villains, but he makes for a nice opponent for the heroes. The other notable Kree agent would be Captain Marvell and I really didn’t like that guy. He never knew when to pick a side and he only jumped in at the end once the battle with the Supreme Intelligence was over. His abilities seem pretty interesting, but he’s just not a good character.

Naturally, there are many more villains to be found in the show. We got a healthy amount of them and the only big one that the show missed was probably Count Nefaria. Some of the villains that I didn’t mention include: Purple Man, Whirlwind, The Absorbing Man, the FF villain who looks like an insect, but with a name that’s hard to spell, Bi Beast, and many more. The series is definitely a complete one and it’s one of the few shows with 50+ episodes that I’ve seen in its entirety more than once.

For some reason, the show really loves to throw in the Serpent Society for when they need a throwaway action scene. These guys are constantly breaking out of jail and I’m always sad to see them. They really don’t make for interesting action scenes and they’re extremely weak. It’s hard to picture them ever holding their own against the Avengers and they feel outclassed from start to finish. Their leader gets a bit of a role during the Captain America Escape episode, but I can’t say that I’m a fan of Viper either. She’s just a little too generic for me and she is interchangeable with just about any other villain.

Naturally, the show’s power levels are more than a little wonky. This is certainly a weakness that superhero shows tend to have. Anime spend more time on the power levels or at least manga based ones do. Here, you can go from having the Vision beating up on the Avengers without effort to being crushed by Thor. Iron Man’s durability also comes into question a whole lot as the scenes don’t always make a lot of sense. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s something that you’ll definitely think about as you watch the episodes. A little more speed would definitely come in handy for the Avengers and their enemies.

Unfortunately, the show does end with some loose ends. The main one is definitely the Surtur plot that the show had been hyping up in the background for quite a while. It got a whole episode devoted to the future arc with Beta Ray Bill and Odin. All of it was for naught unfortunately as the series ended. It definitely had a lot of potential so it’s too bad that the series ended when it did.

The show definitely deserves some props for having cliffhangers and new subplots in just about every episode. It’s one of the reasons why the show is able to separate itself from the average show. Including all of the classic plots and new characters, the show was definitely ambitious. It’s epic to think of how many things may have happened if it had reached 4-5 seasons. This really could have been a true rival for Justice League. It’s doubtful that it could have surpassed it, but more episodes would have cemented the show as the ultimate Marvel experience.

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ soundtrack is pretty amazing. It has the greatest theme song for any superhero show and that includes Justice League. It’s by far the greatest western theme song that I’ve heard and it can even match up against anime openings. That’s some great praise for the show and the themes in the episodes also sound good. A lot of western shows seem to believe that a soundtrack is not necessary, but it certainly augments any scene. Whether for better or worse, taking the plunge and adding a lot of good tunes is definitely the right move for a show and Avengers pulled it off.

Overall, Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is a pretty incredible show. It surpassed all of my expectations and it has a lot of replay value. It’s the kind of show that you can easily find yourself re watching since the battles are so much fun. It’s really too bad that this show was cancelled in place of Assemble since it’s many times better. This show had heart, solid animation, a good soundtrack, and the writing was very well done. This is one of those shows that you can possibly consider once in a life time since I have my doubts on whether superhero shows will be able to reach the level of greatness that they once had. Well, we’ll keep our hopes high I suppose. I recommend this to all comic book fans and to anyone that wants to start a good action show. This is definitely the cartoon to watch!

Overall 9/10

King Kong Review

Posted on January 26, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time to look at one of the oldest films that I have ever seen. This came out in 1933 so even I had not been born yet. This was also before Godzilla’s debut yet so we didn’t know what a true Kaiju was like at the time. A giant Ape is still pretty creative I suppose…and he makes for an intriguing beast. The film definitely suffers from too much animal violence, but it made for a starting point to the monster era.

A film producer is looking for a heroine to star in his new action film. He’s going on a very dangerous quest to the filming location and he won’t even tell the crew where they are headed. Naturally, most people want nothing to do with him, but he eventually finds a lady who was attempting to rob a merchant. She agrees to go with him and they set off for Skull Island. An all power being is located there by the name of Kong…King Kong! The crew will have to subdue him if they’re going to get this movie underway so the fight of their lives begins!

It’s an old film so the writing is expected to be pretty strong, but I wasn’t as crazy about it as I usually am. It’s probably the fact that the main characters aren’t all that interesting. The main guy who becomes the love interest for the heroine is pretty rude the whole time so it’s a bit of a stretch when he finally decides to play the hero. I can’t forget all of the insults so easily and he’s the kind of sexist character that we try to forget from those days. The producer of the film isn’t bad and he’s definitely pretty confident. That being said, the movie is more important to him than Kong’s health so he definitely takes a shot to his character there. We get glimpses of how the film would be without King Kong during the cilmax when everyone arrives for the show. Ironically, it would probably get a higher score since it has potential as a stage thriller, but it wasn’t in the cards. The main heroine is decent, but she’s not great either as she falls into the romance trap with someone who had been insulting her mere minutes earlier. He does try to save her life on several occasions, but she should have placed him in the friend zone. Considering that the director saved her, it makes sense that she would be willing to be in such a dangerous movie, but she shouldn’t have stayed next to the edge while on the boat. Ah well, she was not as fun as the director, but she was better than the main guy.

King Kong is naturally the big character in this production. He’s featured as the antagonist, but he’s mostly just your average animal. He does what he can to survive, but he doesn’t have much of a concept on good or evil. He destroys his enemies and does what he wants with his life. He naturally starts to like the main heroine and he’s famous for that at this point. You’ll feel bad for him when the army is blasting away at him and you’ll feel bad for the humans and animals that he destroys. I definitely don’t like King Kong and I never had. He’s simply not one of the better monsters out there and monkeys happen to be one of my least favorite animals. It would have been hard for this film to have changed that anyway, but I’m glad that he gave it his all. It is also good that he escaped the chains at the end since being a prisoner would have been a cruel fate.

The main thing that really hurts the film is the excessive animal violence. You simply cannot get away from this negative and it comes back to bite you every time. A dinosaur gets violently defeated and likewise with a cool Rodan monster. The snake is also injured and you’ll even feel bad for King Kong when he’s defeated. This guarenteed that the film would certainly get a negative score and while I’ll still give it a higher one than a 2 (Which would be slightly excessive) it was not going to get up to a 5 or a 4. Animal Violence is something that we have to avoid at any cost and King Kong simply couldn’t get past that.

It’s why the sequels don’t have a lot of hope either. The T Rex scene is famous and I’m confident that it is in both of the upcoming films. With updated graphics, the fights could be even worse. This film is about 2 hours, but it’ll definitely feel pretty long as you enter the second half. It only drags on at some points though as the battle in the Jungle is pretty fun and I do like the climax. It’s more towards the beginning of the middle where it drags for a while. That’s forgivable though since the film is expected to have some slow moments. (Get ready for the 3 and a half hour remake…)

The human scenes aren’t bad, but they aren’t extremely entertaining either. The captain of the ship was nice enough and he did a good job of guarding against the enemies. I don’t really care for the extremely rushed romance between the main heroine and the sailor though as it is another case of love at first sight, which I don’t buy into. The humans definitely look pretty corrupt as they are actually proud of the fact that they turned King Kong from a king into a captive. It’s something that you would hope the heroes didn’t take pride in. Apparently, money is what’s important to them so they don’t care about Kong’s well being. Likewise with all of the people in the audience of course.

The film is just pretty tragic and that’s one of the main reasons why it couldn’t be as great as Godzilla or the other big monster films. Take away the animal violence and this film would instantly be a whole lot better. King Kong being a captive was sad, but he did break free so that was good. He got to get his hits in before they finally mowed him down. At least he would end up returning in Godzilla vs King Kong about 20 years later.

Overall, King Kong is one of those classics that isn’t truly great. Without our nostalgia glasses I don’t think that it holds weight, but we know that we cannot get rid of the glasses. They are why I still see the original TMNT game for Gamecube as an exceptional title of epic proportions and why Super Smash Bros Melee will always have my fondest memories for any video game. I saw Godzilla first and I have a feeling that it will always outrank King Kong. Kong’s just at a disadvantage since he’s a real animal and he’s not even close to Godzilla’s size. He is also not immune to bullets so that should end the debate against Godzilla right there. Fans of the old monster films may enjoy this one, but definitely not if you don’t like animal violence. I’d recommend the original Godzilla film instead as it is much better.

Overall 3/10

The Bourne Legacy Review

Posted on January 26, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at the final Bourne film…the final one at the moment anyway. They couldn’t get Matt Damon back so this installment is really a side story that gets to cross with the main one at times. The new hero naturally doesn’t get to meet Jason Bourne, but we do get clips from that film from time to time. They’ll remind you of why the trilogy was a lot better than this one. Ignoring the beginning, this one did start to develop as the film went on, but it missed out on its potential thanks to that.

Aaron is travelling across a snowy mountain in the subplot when the film begins. He meets up with someone who appears to be from the program and he tries to get some colorful pills from the guy. Just as they are beginning to bond, a plane destroys his comrade. Aaron knows that something is up, but the most important thing is that he needs more pills or he could break. He saves a scientist from her imminent destruction and they decide to team up to cure him. By the end, this plot becomes the main one and the main one from the beginning turns into the subplot.

In the other plot, the government is worried about how Jason Bourne has given them the slip. Thanks to a well placed Youtube video, they are also in danger of losing just about everything. They will have to shut down their projects and tie up all loose ends..like a certain main character. They attempt to assassinate Aaron throughout the film and they even go as far as to unleash a certain project on the hero. “It’s untested sir” is basically the reaction from the agents who aren’t in the know, but they are overruled.

The main thing that made it pretty hard to enjoy the film for a while is the opening plot on the mountain. It naturally involves Aaron cooking animals and messing with the wolves. Starting a film out with a lot of animal violence is like throwing a pick six in Football or losing to a level 1 computer in Super Smash Bros. It destroys morale and the director/writer did a pretty bad job there. You need to start a film off on a good note if it is to succeed. The film gets better as it goes along, but a start like that is something that you want to avoid.

The first hour to an hour and a half also feel like a side story. There is almost no plot (Technically, there is always a plot, but it’s just not handled well and it feels like filler) for quite a long time so you don’t really care about what’s happening. It’s like a Summer Blockbuster where you just keep the explosions. The film took a very long time to pick up steam and I was probably still salty (Love that saying) about the wolf scenes from the intro.

The climax is also not great. It’s another film (Like Taken 2) that decides to have the climax in more a less developed area. Instead of fighting among skyscrapers and large buildings during rush hour, the heroes are on their motorcycles trying not to hit any passerby as they have a bumper car race with the enemy. This means that we don’t actually get to have a final hand to hand battle like you would have expected. I definitely wasn’t crazy about the climax and maybe I’ve just seen too many chase scenes lately. They work in something like Tron, but they can get repetitive if used too much. Shorten the race and throw in a little fight. That’s what I would have done. Another reason why I wasn’t crazy about the location is that it’s really hot over there so the characters are constantly sweating. I am against the heat in real life and in fiction (Although not necessarily the Basketball team) and I always prefer a location that is nice and cool. Somewhere..like New York City or Canada.

Aaron is not my favorite main character, but he tries to be cool. The problem is that he’s written to be very similar as Jason Bourne and he just isn’t as cool. On the plus side, he keeps things professional with the scientist and he pushes himself to the limit so that he can continue to fight and stop the bad guys. His dependence on the pills was definitely a weakness for him, but at least he is helping his country…maybe. He has a history that led to him having doubts in the program, but we never actually see what happened. In theory, we’ll find out in the next film I suppose. He’s not a bad character, but he’s just really generic. In case you were wondering, I’d definitely take Jason Bourne in a fight over this guy. Aaron would be outclassed even though his physical stats are similar. He just doesn’t have the wit and battle instinct that Jason Bourne possesses.

Marta is a good heroine although she sometimes panics a little too much. The villains almost overpowered her because she was so shocked that she didn’t really have time to react to what they were doing. Dodging the guy with the gun was definitely a good move and she does help Aaron during some of the fights. So, she may have been pretty panicked when she first appeared, but she learns to go with the flow as the film goes on. She definitely became a capable character and she was definitely pretty good.

The villains from the government are pretty interesting even if they are all talk. Norton’s character is definitely the best one since he seems to understand the big picture more than the others and his acting just works well for the role. It’s too bad that the characters basically vanish after a while so that they can be ready for the next true Jason Bourne adventure. The hyped villain who appears in the climax is definitely underwhelming though and I was certainly not impressed with him. He survives a few gunshots so that’s a good feat I suppose.

There isn’t much of a soundtrack in this film or there aren’t any tunes that you will remember anyway. It’s just that kind of movie, but there are a lot of action scenes so you will be okay as you watch the film. The action scenes are consistently good when they do appear and it’s why I wouldn’t have minded some more hand to hand scenes. We don’t need excessive motions like the Zod snap or the Taken pressure attacks. As long as the character can throw a good punch or a nifty block, you’ll typically end up with a solid fight.

So, you definitely will start to get interested in the film by the second half. That still may not be saying a whole lot for the first half, but some films just struggle with the intro more than others. A truly good film will manage to have nonstop excitement like Bonds Beyond Time or Avengers, but it is still a tough feat. If the Wolf scene had not been there and if the film had taken out the whole mountain plot, I could easily see this film getting a nice 7. As it stands, I definitely had to take away some points.

Overall, The Bourne Legacy is a fancy way of saying that Jason Bourne is not here. If you really like the concept of Jason Bourne, then you should enjoy this one as it is pretty similar to the original story and the main character is also similar to Bourne. That being said, this film is definitely weaker than the original 3 in just about every way. So, you could say that it’s just a watered down sequel and it feels like a cash grab. It may add more information about the overall universe, but you definitely don’t need to watch this one as you can just wait for the next true Bourne film. Depending on how much of a crossover it is, you may want to see this one, but it may not really affect your enjoyment of the new installment. Also, the animal violence is a decent reason to stay away. If you want an agent film that is better than this one, check out the original Jason Bourne or Mission Impossible film and get ready for epicness.

Overall 5/10

Speed Racer Review

Posted on January 25, 2015 by dreager1

I finally managed to complete the Speed Racer video game! It’s actually quite fun although it’s the kind of game where you can definitely get worn out with the tournaments. Also be warned that it can definitely induce seizures. It’s rather unique for a cash in and it’s easily one of the best PS2 racing games. I got it for a decent price so I can definitely say that it was worth it and it is one of the final games from my Christmas batch that I had yet to complete. Let’s look at what makes this game cool.

First of all, there is no real story mode, but we do get a tournament mode. That’s a fair trade off if you ask me although I certainly would have preferred a plot. You basically have to play around 30-40 tournaments and each tournament has 2-5 races in them. Unfortunately, a bunch of the tournaments are in the 4-5 range so they can be quite long. That’s my main problem with the game. No matter how fun the gameplay is, staying glued to the TV for 30-40 minutes on one tournament can be quite taxing. Beating the game is definitely a long battle and it will leave you feeling very tired by the end.

The standard rules for the race are set to 2 laps and 12 racers. The 2 laps part may sound pretty great at first, but they still take around 3-4 minutes per track so it still manages to be as long as the average Mario Kart stage..or even longer than those stages. 3 laps would have definitely been too much and even with 2, I think that some of the stages should have been a whole lot shorter. Like I said, the tournament mode basically burned me out so I definitely can’t think about playing this game again for a long time. At least solo, local multiplayer would still make for a lot of fun races.

One of the new gimmicks in this game is that getting to 1st place is only a secondary goal during the race. It’s highly recommended since it helps you get points in a tournament, but staying in the middle of the pack has its perks. You get points by ramming into the other racers and a whole bunch of them when you destroy a car. Every 1000 points gets you 1 real point so if you get 13000, it’s even better than coming in first. The best of both worlds is hitting a lot of cars and still managing to come in 1st, but that’s extremely difficult in the latter stages. I would sometimes come in 11th, but I smashed so many cars that I still got the most points. If you ask me, that’s definitely the best way to go about it. You can juke from side to side to hit the cars or do a spin move if they are right ahead of or behind you. The combat system is a lot of fun to play around with. You also gain energy as you move, which you can use to heal yourself or boost. As for the boosts, you can wait until you have 3 of them and use the ultimate boost.

Be warned that the ultimate boost is great, but it is tough on the eyes. You go so fast that you don’t even need to steer as it just takes you through the course, but the game can’t really keep up. You colors start to turn purple and orange and the screen gets very blurry. You’ll even lose sight of the racers as things start to get loopy and I have a feeling that the developers were just having a little fun there. It’s still something that you’ll definitely want to be aware of if your eyes are weak against flashing lights. They definitely make me feel tired, but my glasses protect me from that kind of thing.

Naturally, this doesn’t speak very well for the graphics. They’re actually pretty decent when they work, but I’ll have to give this area a failing grade. The boosts should not make the screen as chaotic as they do and the game gets way too blurry for me to say that it is acceptable. If not for the graphics part of the game you probably wouldn’t be able to even tell that it is a cash in for the film.

Although, one tip off is the stage selection. Initially it looks like there are a lot of tracks. After all, you are playing on over 100 of them during the tournament mode. The trick is that a lot of the stages are simply recycled over and over again. Some of them are technically different, but just about the whole track will be the same aside from a slight twist. The background and road for most of the stages are identical so there was definitely not a whole lot of effort put into them. It can certainly make the game more repetitive than it would have been with unique tracks. The final two levels are basically the same with the difference being that the final level has opera style music.

Speed Racer’s soundtrack is definitely very good. It’s a little limited to be sure, but it fits the intensity of the races. It’s all very fast and the climatic sounding theme in the final stage is really fun as well. Racing games definitely need a good soundtrack since nobody wants to race with a boring theme playing in the background. Luckily, Speed Racer delivers on this front.

Typically, glitches aren’t a problem in a video game since they are rare occurrences that you may miss when you’re playing the game. That being said, it’s much easier to run through them when you have to play a game for as long as I played this one. It’s not uncommon to just fall through a stage or get launched off the rails. There are many times where you are not supposed to fall off the stage, but you are using your triple boost so you just go flying out of the level. Once I just fell through half of the stage and instantly fell into a big hole over in last place. The glitches still don’t occur too often, but they are certainly noticeable this time.

It’s definitely commendable that the game has so many playable characters. There may even be 50 as I lost count, but you tend to unlock 2-3 per tournament. There are many guys that you’ll never have even heard of here. I stuck with Speed Racer through all of the levels, but maybe you’ll find a character who catches your eye and forces you to change from the famous mach 5. You definitely won’t want to discount the possibility.

For replay value, there really isn’t a whole lot to be found here. Once you beat the game, you do unlock mirror mode so you can play a bunch of tournaments in reverse. You’ll probably find that you’re way too tired to do such a thing after the main mode, but it does add to the game’s length I suppose. After that, you’ll want to hope that you have someone to play the game with since there will be nothing left to do. The multiplayer option is the main reason why I ended up giving this game a 7 over the 6 after all.

Overall, Speed Racer is a pretty fun game. The actual gameplay is really a blast and it really says something about how good it is when you consider how many levels I had to play in this game. The stages are just a little too long, but the tournaments actually do auto save so you can turn the game off in the middle of one if you need too. Knowing this, that actually helps the game a whole lot, but I didn’t find out until the end. It only minimizes the problem though as the stages really should be shorter. The graphics look very sci fi esque, but they’re still too crazy and blurry. The music is good and the character roster is very impressive. If you are by yourself, I recommend the game, but it’ll be a shorter experience. If you have someone to play it with, then this game is definitely one of the ultimate racing titles and you’ll really want to play it. Just watch out for those glitches!

Overall 7/10

Psychic Power Nanaki Review

Posted on January 24, 2015 by dreager1

This series is only three volumes so it’s definitely pretty short. At least we can call it a trilogy now right? It’s not bad, but it’s one of those series that definitely takes a major hit because one of the main characters is unlikable. In a small series like this, you definitely want to like all of the recurring characters. It’s a decent manga, but you can see why it was shortlived.

Nanaki was having fun being an ordinary teenager when he dies in a dream and gains ESP abilities. He’s an “attack” type so all of his abilities are related to fighting or ones that can help in combat. He can teleport and blow things up from a distance. Basic mental resistance to telepathy users and levitation are also granted to him. An agency quickly forces him to join so that they can keep an eye out for him. After all, they don’t want people with psychic abilities running lose right? Nanaki is paired up with Aoi, a healing type whose abilities are purely defensive with the exception of his ability to transform his metal stick into any object that he wants too. Given time and practice, that ability should be able to evolve at some point.

They have a few one shot adventures before the series is already in the final volume. The author quickly decided to do a mini arc that takes up the volume so that’s pretty neat. A vampire has appeared and he wants to take Aoi down. If he destroys him, he may be able to become immortal and gain absolute power. Well, Nanaki isn’t going to have any of that and the ultimate battle for survival begins!

So, it’s a decent series. It’s fairly interesting, but you could never call it a page turner. A lot of the stories feel a little generic and you can’t help but feel that there isn’t much of a point to the agency. They help out once in a while, but nobody takes them seriously and it sounds like they barely get any work. Supernatural occurrences must be rare and even when they do happen, the agency seems outmatched. I don’t know how they survived for so long without Nanaki since they are sorely lacking in offensive power.

Of course, that goes into one of the plot lines that is never developed. Aoi had a partner who was actually pretty tough like Nanaki. Unfortunately, he went over to the dark side and became a freak. “Freak” is an interesting way to say villain, but it’s the official name for what happens when you go from a hero to a villain in this series. The sad thing is that the guy never actually gets to appear aside from flashbacks and that was a fairly huge plot. You could tell that the author was leading up to a big fight between him and Nanaki, but it just wasn’t meant to be. The commander also has a sob story that never gets to appear about why he can’t fight that much anymore. Aoi obviously has a troubled past and the other members probably have stories to tell as well.

This is why you always want to start a series out strong. You’ll never be able to get to show everything that you wanted too if you don’t take the opportunity when it arrives. The author made the mistake of thinking that an episodic beginning would be enough to capture the attention of the readers and he paid for it with his series. Starting the series off with some big battles and Nanaki being told what the situation is as he goes would have certainly helped.

Nanaki is a pretty decent/good main character as I’ve mentioned. He’s hot headed and he never backs down from a fight. The hero shows nothing but contempt for the agency as he still does what he wants whenever he pleases. Naturally, he was sounding too good to be true so the author also made him a flirt. He will flirt with someone even if he knows that she’s evil and it goes way too far. He failed the same simulation three times because of this and it’s a computer simulation!! His abilities are impressive, but also hard to deal with since his abilities will typically destroy an opponent. It’s hard to blow someone up without fatally injuring them so that may have gave him some fun morality questions to solve at some point. Either way, Nanaki is easily the best character in the series and he proves himself to be a loyal ally through thick and thin.

Aoi is the cool and collected rival figure for the series, but he just doesn’t do a good job in this role. He is constantly sarcastic to the point where you just want him to stop talking and he’s exceptionally weak. Nanaki has to constantly save him and Aoi still acts as if he’s in charge. He starts to befriend Nanaki as the series goes on, but his character development never gets a chance to go anywhere and he looks downright terrible in the final volume. He’s a character who will certainly get on your nerves in just about every scene. Aoi’s too full of himself for his own good and he never really helps in any of the fights. He’s simply too powerless and he’s naturally not good at the whole teamwork thing. Rivals need to be strong and independent. Aoi just doesn’t fit the bill and he certainly hurts the series since he is constantly on screen.

The agency randomly gets two other members who appear at one point, but they get even less of a role than the other characters since they appeared late. One of them can kind of see into items to view their past while another one has basic super strength. The super strength girl is all right I suppose, but that power is not going to cut it against a telekenesis user. She’s also a little too antagonistic at first. The other character is definitely not good in combat, but she’s definitely a more likable character. The commander is starting the series off on the right foot, but he’ll never get a chance to fight so we’ll just have to buy the hype for now. He seems like he would ultimately have a role that’s pretty similar to Kakashi from Naruto, but it’s all speculation at this point.

Nanaki’s art is pretty decent. It’s not great so it won’t be winning you any awards in the near future, but it works for the characters. The fights tend to be a little blurred so it’s hard to tell what is happening though. That is definitely its weak point. The art is certainly rough and it looks like an early work by the artist. I’m not crazy about everyone’s eyes becoming squints when they’re playing the straight man in a joke or just doing the joking, but it’s not as bad as other gimmicks that I’ve seen in the past.

Again, this is an aspect that could have been better and I’m talking about the volume covers for the last book in particular. It’s a cover that doesn’t make you curious about the series at all and you would likely just pass it by. The first two weren’t bad, a little generic of course, but they weren’t bad. The third one is a turn off though and it doesn’t do a good job of representing the series. An action packed cover is what we expect to see and that just doesn’t happen.

Nanaki will definitely be over before you know it and we’ll remember this series as one that showed promise, but ultimately ended too soon. What keeps it from a 7 is that it’s not quite as fun to read as the other mini series like Legends and Yugioh R and we don’t get enough action from the series. I can certainly see why it was cancelled so while I may sympathize with the author, I would have canned it as well. It simply wasn’t good enough to keep afloat.

Overall, Psychich Power Nanaki is a decently fun manga to read. A little less flirting from the main character with the clients would be appreciated. Aoi is also just not a good character and I don’t think that the author knows how to write the banter between him and Nanaki effectively. That certainly limits the series potential and we do have a lot of loose ends that don’t get wrapped up. It’s the kind of series that may have gotten better as it went on, but it never got a chance. Well, it’s a decent read if you want to see some action, but you can probably find better titles as you go on through the manga world. Check out Black Cat for a main character who looks similar, but is a lot cooler.

Overall 6/10

Poltergeist Review

Posted on January 24, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time for what many believe to be the ultimate horror film. Ultimate and Horror are two words that typically don’t belong next to each other and I definitely did not become one of the film’s many fans. I’m guessing that it probably did start a lot of the horror tropes, but it shows that the 80’s feel can’t work for everything. It certainly is better than A Haunting in Connecticut, but I can’t say much else for it.

A family moves into a new house and things start to get supernatural. Their chairs seem to move by themselves in the kitchen and they can even defy gravity as something seems to push them. Unfortunately, the disturbances begin to grow more and more violent as the days go by and the family begins to fear for their lives. They are still holding out of course, but then their daughter is kidnapped by these ghosts. The heroes reluctantly call in “The Experts” and now it’s all a matter of finding their daughter before they are destroyed.

Well, the plot certainly didn’t help this film’s case. In superhero flicks, I never like when innocent bystanders are dragged into the mess and it’s naturally worse when they are actually hurt. Even worse than that is when a kid is thrown into the mix and that’s what happens here. Like Insidious, the film decides to up the stakes by putting the children in peril and that’s just not a good idea. The little girl is stranded in the demon world for quite a long time and the situation is just way too grim. She doesn’t remember what happened in the demon world so that should keep her psyche from collapsing, but it’s still a fate that should not have happened.

A simple way to fix this problem would be to have the main hero be kidnapped. It would be a sad plight for him, but one that isn’t quite as bad since we know that he can fight. That being said, kidnappings are simply not the best plot device to use, but they can work if used effectively. The film just didn’t do this and they were trying a little too hard for an emotional feeling. Because of that, the main characters are feeling pretty gloomy for most of the film. There are no big speeches or heroic comments to be found for quite a while.

The experts who come in to help are naturally not that good. Then they call in the ultimate expert and she rubbed me the wrong way from the start. Her first big statement to the heroes is basically “You have to promise to do whatever I say even if it goes against your beliefs as a Christian!” “Lol no” is what I would have responded and they should have told her to skip the intro. Instead, they instantly agree and of course they do want her on their side, but she definitely seemed like a pretty terrible character right then and there. She never went back up for me from there and some of her actions just didn’t make sense. “Go to the light…go away from the light…back to the light” insert and repeat many times. She was better than the former leader of the experts though.

That lady decided to talk with the main heroes for way too long. It was the one part of the film that definitely dragged on a lot as you would wait for her to finish. Her two underlings weren’t great even if one of them was pretty confident. They let their mind wander far too often and they act like this is some kind of hobby for them instead of something that they take seriously. I don’t blame one of the underlings for running out of the house though since things were definitely getting pretty dangerous.

Naturally, I’m sure that we all remember the rating controversy from back in the day. After seeing the film, I can definitely say that the MPAA was correct in their initial response of an R rating. Since there was no PG 13 at the time, it was definitely the right move since this is much closer to R than PG. Spielberg and the others got them to bring it down to a PG later, but it’s one of those changes that I definitely don’t disagree with. The film is surprisingly intense for an 80’s film and it can feel like Alien at times.

I definitely wouldn’t say that the film is scary, but it compensates with violence and the gross factor. One guy’s face literally starts to peel away and it’s easily one of the worst scenes in the film. Another scene shows a piece of meat getting torn apart, but with extra effects to make it seem more like human meat if it was being ripped apart. Those two scenes alone make it unsuitable for PG. We also get to see how the humans look once they are spit out of the demon world and while it looks like jelly you can also easily mistake it for more violence. The ambiguous work makes you wonder if the effects just didn’t age well or if you’re misinterpreting it. Either way, it was definitely pretty gross.

The film also brings back the horror trope that I had actually manages to avoid for a while. The main heroine bath scene. You’ll feel like sighing when you see her turn on the faucet because you know that this scene was clearly not needed. There is literally no point as no ghost appears to attack her at all. It’s simply a very long, boring scene of her taking a bath. That’s another big shot against the film and we definitely did not need any more at this point!

Let’s quickly look at some of the positives. The ghosts are actually pretty tough and they do get designs. There’s a 4 legged creature that looks like Clover and he seems to be the main villain. His physical strength is underwhelming, but the design is what counts and he may have some kind of electrical ability at his disposal. The enemies can possess objects so they turn one of the clowns into a weapon of mass destruction. It still only has the strength of a toy though so it’s easy to overpower, but it’s great as a distraction. The tree scene was definitely one of the more intense ones since it really comes out of nowhere. At that point, you weren’t really expecting anything quite like that so it definitely popped out. The various monsters definitely added some action to the title.

The bystanders who are around can definitely raise a few questions though since nobody seems to really do anything. The neighbors notice that the spirits are messing with the heroes and they decide not to help. The house starts to explode along with the neighborhood and the onlookers only appear to be shocked. Some of them have enough energy to start running, but they all felt pretty hollow. This was more of a personal problem for the family though so I guess it’s all right. It’s not a huge idea.

All right, let’s quickly go back to the negatives. The film performs quite poorly when it comes to the animal life. A bird dies in one of the opening scenes and that should have been cut out. The main girl then buys two gold fish even though we know that they probably won’t survive the house exploding. The dog lives and I’m glad about that, but the film shouldn’t have introduced the other animals. It doesn’t serve a purpose and it feels like the film is just trying to get under your skin with how gritty it is instead of trying to be a quality film.

The main characters aren’t bad, but they’re not very m memorable either. The main guy seems to overreact with the boss considering that the guy seems to have been amiable to him in the past. Their teenage daughter isn’t that good though as she really overreacts with the neighborhood is hit and she almost jeapordizes their chances of escape. The other two kids are all right and don’t get a lot of character either way since they’re too young. One scene that will probably make you wince is when the main characters decide to go talk to their neighbor. They can barely talk because they’re laughing so much and it’s sad for them. I just figured that the ghosts were keeping them from talking, but their dialogue afterwards confirms that this simply isn’t the case. That just makes you wonder and while they were naturally embarassed, it was just too much of an overreaction on their part.

The best part of the film is easily at the beginning when the heroes are trying to watch a football game. The only problem is that they get the same feed as their next door neighbor so they quickly fight with the remote. A whole film could easily be made out of that concept and I have a feeling that it would be more fun. If the whole film was like that, I definitely would have had a blast with it.

There isn’t a twist ending this time, but we still do get one last climax after the film seems to have ended. I suppose that will have to do and we deserve a happy ending for the protagonists once in a while right? It works as a change of pace and we see that the ghosts definitely don’t go down without a fight. They tricked one of the “experts” so I give them kudos for that.

Overall, Poltergeist is not the ultimate horror film and I’d say that it’s not even a good one. Relatively speaking, it probably holds its own to most of the other horror films, but I didn’t dig it. The main reason is that everything’s happening to a little kid and the film just has too many gross scenes. The fanservice doesn’t help either and the film will definitely need to rethink a lot of its areas before trying to give us another big film. The scenery is good and you’ll like the son’s room, but the film tends to fall apart after that. If you want to see a film that’s nice and scary while still keeping it real, check out Scooby Doo Zombie Island!

Overall 2/10

Ghostbusters Review

Posted on January 23, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time for a real classic in the form of Ghostbusters. This is one of those films that just about everyone has heard of and for good reason. It’s one of those 80’s films that had the right mix of intensity and comedy. It was about as good as I had hoped although some of the jokes go a little too far. If not for that, this is an easy 7 and maybe even a 8, but hey…we wouldn’t want this review to be too easy right?

There are three Ghostbusters and they make it their business to deal with all supernatural foes…for a price of course. The city of New York typically doesn’t need their help, but ghosts have been appearing more and more as the days go by. The heroes hadn’t gotten any calls at one point and now they were quickly becoming celebrities. One of the members begins to suspect that something is going to happen considering these circumstances, but the heroes don’t do anything about it. Will this be the cause of their downfall or will the Ghostbusters just vanquish whatever ends up appearing?

Ghostbusters is definitely a pretty fun film and it’s a memorable one. The main theme is iconic and it will likely still be remembered 20 years from now. It’s very catchy and while you can tell that it’s an 80’s song, that doesn’t stop it from appealing to today’s crowd. The actual theme is the main reason why I enjoy it and I could probably do with or without the lyrics. There aren’t many other themes to be found here or at least ones that I recall, but the main theme is the important one anyway.

Stay Puft, The Marshmallow Man, definitely deserves some credit here. He’s one of the most iconic villains from the 80’s and it’s easy to see why. He makes for a pretty incredible final boss. He may actually remind you of Pac Man for a while there since he’s always grinning and looking like he’s having a blast as he devastates the city. He glares at the heroes towards the end and you can tell that they’re finally feeling the fear, but they try to hold it together. I don’t see how the sequel will be able to top such a villain, but it’ll be interesting to see them try.

The CGI for the effects definitely looks dated, but it works in a comedy like this one. It’s mostly evident in the scenes with the Gargoyle running around the hotel and outside. If that happened in real life, you could definitely imagine everyone having a similar reaction to seeing such a stiff monster as in the film. These guys made business and they may not have looked realistic, but that may have made them even cooler. You weren’t about to mix them up with a real monster here, they were definitely here from the ghost world.

The weak point of the film is definitely that some of the jokes can be suggestive and unnecessary. An example of this is a ghost who hits on one of the main characters at one point and the fact that the two main ghosts have to make out to activate the final gate of oblivion. The rushed romance at the end is also not something that we needed since falling for someone just doesn’t happen that quickly. None of the scenes are downright terrible (Although they are pretty bad) but they add up and keep the film from achieving its ultimate potential to be one of the best 80’s films of all time. When you think of how the plot wrecked so many parts of the movie, it can be pretty sad. As it stands, I don’t know where it ranks, but still pretty high I’d presume.

Egon is definitely the best member from the Ghostbusters. He’s very smart and he’s a pretty serious figure. He never falls into the romance trap and he eats Cheese It when he feels like it. I was glad that they included the Cheese It in the film since it is still the best non sugar snack out there. There’s no reason not to like Egon and he’s the heart of the team.

Ray gets the least amount of character development from the main three and he’s a good character for the most part. He does have the dicey ghost scene though and he just doesn’t contribute all that much to the big battle against the ghosts. The team gets a new recruit at one point to help out and he seems like a decent character, although he’s not incredibly loyal. Winston is his name and he’s new at the game. Since he doesn’t know a whole lot about what goes on in the organization, he gets the nickel tour which is useful for the viewers. He seems like a nice guy and I guess we’ll see if he’s able to keep up with the others or not as the films go on.

Peter is the main character and he’s definitely all over the place. He’s typically a great character as he takes nothing serious and does whatever he wants whenever he wants to do it. He’s direct and brimming with confidence as he takes shots at all of the politicians who are around. That being said, he suffers from the romance angle as he lets the possessed heroine mess with him a little before he stops her and he’s constantly flirting with her right from the start. He never acts professionally, but it’s typically in a humorous way. I couldn’t approve of the romance and that hurts his character. Still, he does have the best acting here and his character as a whole is good. He’s just flawed like Gourry.

Dana doesn’t look great for many of the same reasons as Peter. She decides to accept Peter’s proposal for a date even though she didn’t seem interested at first. I don’t see how he could wear her down so quickly. She also got possessed pretty quickly which suggests a lack of willpower. At least she was polite enough to say that she would stop by the party on her floor when she got back. That’s good since the party actually looked like it would be a lot of fun. Considering that she noticed the supernatural occurrences in her apartment at the beginning, she didn’t seem too convinced in the possibility that supernatural forces were at work. The heroes definitely didn’t seem professional, but she should have given them more of a chance. She’s not a bad heroine, but she could have been better.

I do have to admit that Dana had one of the only jump moments in the film. It didn’t literally make anyone jump, but it was still something to think about. She was sitting in the chair when some hands suddenly reached out and pulled her into a portal. I did not see that coming and it was surprisingly serious for such a comedy. The ghosts also mean business so there are a few fight scenes. The main characters are mostly on the losing end as the fight goes on, but they get their second wind by the end. The big villain seems to be an all powerful being yet a quick blast was enough to take her down. That seems accurate as far as I am concerned.

The main characters’ weapons appear to be pretty useful. They’re like the laser weapons in Star Trek as you can set them to full power or to capture. When they’re in full power mode they are able to destroy overwhelmingly powerful ghosts and on capture mode they’re pretty harmless. It’s all in how you use it and I’m glad that it does have a full power mode. Its initial showing against the green ghost was not impressive to say the least.

The film is very long, but it never feels drawn out. From the scenic backgrounds to the good dialogue, this is really a complete film. It’s the kind of film that just wouldn’t work nowadays. There are good comedies now of course, but you can never perfectly recreate a film from these days. You can always yell that a good 80’s film is an 80’s film and a 2000’s homage to it will still feel more modern. It can be just as good, but in a 2000’s way. Times have changed and so have media. Each decade has its own greats and the Ghost Busters will always be an icon of the 80’s.

Overall, Ghostbusters is a pretty fun film to check out. The dialogue is pretty witty and the main characters are pretty likable. Peter definitely has his moments where he stops being likable so he’s a mixed bag, but the cast is definitely a good one. There are definitely more suggestive material included than is necessary, which drags it down a few notches. I recommend this to anyone who’s looking for a good time as it’s just a lot of fun. It’ll remind you of the happier days of Hollywood and who doesn’t like a good ghost fight right? I haven’t seen the sequel yet, but it’s going to have a tough time beating this one.

Overall 6/10

Lakeview Terrace Review

Posted on January 23, 2015 by dreager1

Looks like it’s time for a thriller film. Lakeview Terrace may sound like the type of film where the main characters go to a nice looking hotel that is actually in a bad neighborhood, but that’s not exactly how it plays out. It’s a pretty distasteful film that can rival many horror films that I have seen and I can understand why the reception wasn’t very good for it. It’s one of those films that’s just frustrating to watch and it’s certainly not one that will have you smiling throughout.

Chris and Lisa move into a new house where they plan on staying for a while. They’re hoping that it works out, but they were not counting on their next door neighbor. Able is a police man, but he’s racist against couples with different ethnic backgrounds so he decides that he’ll intimidate and terrorize them until they go away. Chris definitely doesn’t want to back down to this bully so they begin to escalate their actions. The main problem for Chris is that Able has been living here for a long time and he has a lot of connections. Home Field Advantage is not something to be taken lightly!

I will admit that the film’s beginning was pretty clever since you initially think that Able could be the heroes. We’re not sure what’s going on with Chris and Lisa, but one of your first guesses could be that they’re bad apples since they keep making moves while the other figure isn’t looking. After he leaves, they still act like pretty unlikable characters for a while. Eventually, we figure out that it’s still Able’s problem, but the beginning does try to give you some doubts at first.

What makes this film unlikable is that it simply goes too far. Able keeps humiliating the heroes and intimidating them without the heroes firing back. One of the worst scenes in the film is easily when Chris goes to Able’s party to tell him to tone down the music. He’s essentially manhandled in that scene and he displays some incredibly weak strength of will there. Naturally, his actions there are quickly sent to Lisa for some more drama. It was a very unpleasant scene to watch and it just went way too overboard. Another cringe worthy scene is when Able goes to Chris’ house to fetch his daughter and totally threatens Lisa. Chris isn’t there to help so there’s nothing that she can really do and you have to hope that the main characters will bring in the cops. Chris probably would have ended things by now, but he wasn’t allowed to buy a gun for 10 days due to a grace period.

Abel is the main villain and he’s definitely very unlikable. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an openly racist villain like him. He provokes the heroes a lot and takes many chances. He’s basically willing to risk the job that he’s had for decades just to get rid of the main characters. He’s a pretty sick individual so he probably doesn’t care or even think about the repercussions of his actions. It’s all worth it to him and naturally it all comes down to a traumatic event that happened to him a long time ago.

Chris is the main character and I like the fact that he stands up to Abel at the very end, but it’s too little too late. He spends too much of the film trying to be polite to Abel when he should be more direct. Abel loves to torment the heroes only to pretend to be nice before pushing them back down again. It’s one of those social things that is hard to sidestep, but the heroes should definitely be willing to do so. Unfortunately, Chris is one of those guys who does have a whole lot of flaws, which really doesn’t help his case. He’s actually a very unlikable main character. He smokes behind his wife’s back and he does a poor job of exposing Abel’s actions.

Lisa suffers from her poor handling of the Abel case as well. After Abel threatens here and goes onto her property without permission, she doesn’t let Chris know. Instead they have another argument about their romantic drama. One area where I was definitely against Lisa was when she decided to skip her pills so that she could have a baby. Just dumping something like that on the main guy is pretty unreasonable. If she didn’t like the fact that he didn’t want a kid, just breaking up with him seems like the best option. It was a bit of a low blow to say the least and she’s no more likable than Chris.

One of the film’s negatives is naturally that there is a lot of romance and it’s not handled in a good way. There are films that can make a nice romance and there are others that just want to have the main characters constantly flirting and being provocative. This is the latter and they definitely don’t provide a good example to the other characters. You can’t blame the dad for not approving of Chris although Lisa definitely deserves half of the blame as well. They need to tone it down a lot and remember the good ole days where just holding hands was considered to be bold.

There is a subplot about a fire cloud that is approaching the house, but it ends up being a plot that doesn’t really go anywhere. It finally comes in at the end, but we don’t get a big fire to help the climax. No, instead it just gives us smoke. Luckily, that’s enough to get the police to run away so that Abel can make his final stand. The cops were pretty slow at the end since they see that a car has crashed and they’re still unsure of what to do. Telling the main character to drop his gun is great, but they should have also went to Abel to see if he was concealing one. They had quite a few cops on them so it would have still been pretty easy and relatively safe. At most, only 2-3 would be shot and they would be able to mow down the assailant.

Still, as I mentioned, the main negative of the film comes back down to the fact that it’s simply a chore to get through. The party scene with the unwilling consent from Chris was really bad and watching Abel constantly mess up their parties is just sad. The film just leaves a bad taste in your mouth and you’ll be waiting for it to end. You’ll also wonder how the main characters ever accepted the house since there are evidently no locks to secure the perimeter. It’s an easy matter for the villain to jump the fence or just walk in through one of the dozen entryways. You can never feel safe in such a house and I would have moved out (After defeating Abel) immediately.

Overall, Lakeview Terrace is a film that you will want to skip. You’re definitely not going to have fun watching it. Watching the police acting inappropriately while off duty is a stereotype that needs to go and there are no likable characters here. While the villain is really unlikable, it is still hard to root for the main characters since they are really below average when it comes to leads. The film also drags on a little since the heroes are just getting bullied for so long that you wonder when the climax will arrive. No, if you want a thriller film, go check out Final Fantasy VII Advent Children!

Overall 2/10

Yugioh GX Review

Posted on January 23, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time to finally review the greatest TV show of all time. Even better than Cardfight, Digimon, Pokemon, Justice League, Avengers, Sword Art Online, Attack on Titan, One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Trigon, Full Metal Alchemist, I love Lucy, The Odd Couple, Twilight Zone, The Honeymooners, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Barney, The Powerpuff Girls, Breaking Bad, The Big Bang Theory, The NFL, The Walking Dead, Dr Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Godzilla, even the original Yugioh. This show beats them all and that’s a pretty incredible feat if you ask me. Yugioh GX just had all of the necessary traits of a great show and the stakes kept increasing as the seasons passed. It all starts with the terrific characters and continues to the legendary music. Prepare yourself for the ultimate show, for Yugioh GX!

There are 4 seasons and typically they each have one arc, but the third season is so good that it has two. The series revolves around a kid named Jaden Yuki. It takes place sometime after Yugi’s big win over the forces of evil in Millenium World and he is now travelling the world. (Probably to win more tournaments) Kaiba left his mark on the world by creating a Duel Academy, which Jaden is a part of. He only barely gets in since he was late, but Jaden quickly beat the Professor in a duel so they had to let him join. There are three dorms and they are based on the Egyptian God Cards. The Slifers are the lowest rank and then you move up to Ra. Finally, the elites go to Obelisk and then you get ready to leave. Jaden tests the waters by crushing just about everyone at the school. That’s when the plot really starts as the Dark Riders attack the school. They have quite a few members, but Jaden is backed up by his (un)dependable friends so that evens the playing field. “All he does is win” is a trait that can be applied to Jaden as he takes on the group.

We get some one shot episodes in the 2nd season before the plot truly begins. They do help bolster the hero ranks though since we get some new characters like Hassleberry. A new rival also appears in the form of Aster. He uses a mysterious group of cards as his deck when he fights seriously and Jaden counters by switching up his hero deck into a Neo Spacians one. He now uses a lot of aliens in combat and that will come in handy since a cult has arrived. They wish for everyone to see the light and they do this by defeating duelists. When you lose, you become brain washed and must do The Light’s bidding. Sartorius goes after Jaden’s friends and that’s where he made his big mistake. Jaden’s going to have to show him what it means to duel a pro.

Season three decides to start off with…more new characters! A tournament is held so that the old veterans can fight the new guys so Jaden quickly takes them to school. Unfortunately, it appears that these newcomers may not have arrived for fun and games. The new teacher seems like he’s up to something, but he definitely picked the wrong school to mess with. Jaden isn’t playing games now and he’s going to take the win as always! He also heads to the world of the Duel Monsters where he gets to duel a mysterious being named Yubel.

This is where things start to change. One of his friends didn’t make it back out of the world so Jaden decides to go back in. His friends quickly jump at the chance to help, but little do they know that they’ll just get in his way. It’s too late to turn back now though so they head into a dark world filled with the sorrows of many characters. Zane and Aster have been fending for themselves for a while and Jaden realizes that even his skills will have a tough time getting through this. Can he take on the Supreme King and stop Yubel or was it all for naught? The ultimate tale of heroism and determination is finally here.

Jaden’s adventures were not done yet though as the final season began. Mysterious beings of darkness appeared to destroy Jaden’s friends one by one. The friends resisted since they’ve seen this tune before, but it is all for naught. Ultimately, Jaden has to step up and use his newfound abilities to take these guys down. He’ll have to duel the ultimate being, a foe even stronger than Zorc if he wants to win. Knowing the stakes at hand, “All he does is win” will need to be true in order for Jaden to rise to the top.

I realize that the plot sounded awesome so you can probably tell why this is the greatest TV show of all time. Don’t worry though, that’s just the beginning. Another one of the reasons why this show is awesome is the great soundtrack. Just about every theme is a nice guitar/rock theme that works very well with the duels. They’re all very heart pumping so you really get excited about what’s going to happen next. It’s no stretch to say that it does have the greatest soundtrack of all time. I would expect nothing less from the show and it’s all thanks to the dub. I’ll admit that I’m not crazy about the original music. There’s one really good track there and a couple that hold their own, but nothing beats the American version. It probably would have still been the greatest show of all time anyway, but the music really makes a difference.

Next up, Yugioh GX also had some stellar animation. Season 4 is clearly a cut above the rest and I definitely liked Jaden’s new hair style. You could tell that he was a changed man and his abilities were also a nice improvement. That being said, Season 3 also looked really good and the colors are vibrant. Season 1 had its charm since it was the original and the characters looked a whole lot younger. Season 2 was pretty close to season 1 in animation and definitely held its own. Watching the show’s animation transition as it went from 1 to 4 is pretty cool. The characters grew older and their personalities also began to change, which was fun to see. Jaden certainly had a lot of development, but he never stopped being a downright awesome character.

GX had another big thing in its favor when it came down to the writing. Yugioh GX had a pretty light atmosphere going for it during the average episode and then it would quickly transition into a darker theme. The average show would just create a fake light tone by adding in as many jokes as they could before things got serious. Look at the dialogue in Pac Man or Hulk and come back to me. That kind of thing wouldn’t fly in Yugioh GX and it always stays classy. The light tone is natural since the characters just want to have fun dueling. It is their biggest hobby and they’re serious enough about it to go to a school just for the card game. That’s dedication and it makes sense that they want to play. It’s easy to lose sight of this when the fate of multiple planets is hanging in the balance, but they always give it their A game.

I also give the show props for the fact that there isn’t really any fanservice in it. There’s a very quick bath scene in arc 1, but 4Kids quickly helped us stop that and it never really came back. I was pretty proud of GX to say the least since it would be easy to try and add some in today’s culture. Many shows have it, but GX stayed firm and decided that they were going to operate on a high level. That takes guts and character, both of which GX ends up having in spades.

The show’s new addition to the dueling system is also my favorite. It’s much better than the whole concept of Synchro Summoning and I prefer it over the Numbers system of Zexal. Merging monsters is the big deal here and while that was mildly featured in the classic series, it has been refined since then. Merging monsters doesn’t mean putting a swordsman on a dragon and calling it a day. Now, you’ve got a lot of cool hybrid monsters as a result of fusion. Jaden is known as the fusion master and he uses a whole lot of them in his deck. I like the fusion idea and since it plays a central role in the series, that’s good for me. Flame Wingman is one of the best examples of a fusion done right and he’s a pretty awesome card with a cool special abilitity.

We can’t forget that Jaden Yuki is also one of the big reasons why the show is so good. He’s a great main character and an even better person. He always has fun when he’s dueling and he definitely doesn’t back up from any opponent. No matter how tough or intimidating they may look, that won’t deter someone like Jaden. He’ll keep on fighting all the way until the bitter end. The serious duels do start to take their toll on him though and he begins to have less fun once arc 3 hits.

To his defense, all of his friends were murdered in that cruel world so he didn’t really have a whole lot of reason for hope. This didn’t just happen once by the way since they are all taken down again in season 4. He starts to rely on the power of darkness a little more as he is able to use the Supreme King’s power from within and then he also gains Yubel’s abilities for season 4. He becomes more of a loner like Batman who protects people from the shadows and may seem like a pretty cruel person to others. It’s all just a facade though as he’s still out to help his friends.

In season 3, he decides to become “a devil” to save his friends during one of his final battles. It depends on the translation though and what’s really happening is that he decides to use the forbidden Supreme King ability to fight even though it’s pretty risky and soul damaging. Risking one’s life to save someone is one thing, but risking your soul is definitely another. Jaden’s the kind of friend who will do anything to save an ally, which is why he’s such a great friend. I find his allies to be rather ungrateful sometimes, but it can be hard to appreciate what you have until it’s gone. Alexis in particular looked pretty bad during her team up with Jaden in season 4. They were winning and Jaden wasn’t really being that rude so it was a bit of a stretch for their disagreement at the time.

Either way, Jaden’s a winner. He goes through a lot of changes as the series progresses, but he ultimately sees how fun dueling can be once more as the series comes to a close. Dueling is something that Jaden will always be doing and it’s one of the reasons why he is so much better than Yugi, Yusei, and Yuma. He has the most passion for the game and I dare say that he’s been through tougher situations than the other main characters. Jaden is definitely one of the best characters of all time and he elevated this show to the next level.

Another great thing about GX is that it doesn’t just have an interesting cast, but it also makes sure to bring characters back from the original show. Did you miss Yugi and Kaiba? Well, they both return for guest star roles/cameos. Kaiba doesn’t actually get to duel, but he looks as good as you would expect. Yugi gets a pretty big role at the very end of the show and it was a pretty legendary moment. They definitely looked as good as you would expect and we get a lot of references and appearances that let us know that GX is still relevant to the original days. This is something that 5Ds and Zexal dropped the ball with as they decided that they would have nothing to do with the old days. This is an edge that GX has and it won’t let it go so easily. All right, let’s look at some of the characters in GX.

Syrus is a kid who looks up to Jaden and eventually he learns how to be a brave and capable fighter. He’s not my kind of supporting character since he typically drags Jaden down with his lack of dueling ability. He means well, but he opposes Jaden sometimes to show how far he’s gone and it always makes him look bad. He got a lot of development, but it didn’t win me over. The Chazz is a character who actually regressed thanks to his character development. He has a crush on one of the other heroes, which becomes a pretty big thing as the series goes on and it really hurts his dueling ability. He was around Jaden’s level when the series began and he’s not even close by the time that the series ends. He is even reduced to wearing a chicken costume on national television in his final big episode. He was one of my favorite characters in the beginning, but he definitely lost his edge.

Alexis is one of the main characters who arrived in season 1 and stuck with Jaden and the others all the way through season 4. She may not have gotten as many duels as you would expect, but she’s a pretty likable character. She challenged Jaden in one of the earliest episodes and she tries to help against the villains when needed. Ultimatly, the supporting characters rarely manage to actually help, but they do tend to surprise you once in a while. Her deck lacked firepower, but that doesn’t stop her from giving the match her best effort.

She’s certainly an improvement over Bastion. He started out as the genius of the series and then he fell all the way down to the comic relief role. It may not have been all that bad except that he was used for comic relief in a crush role and it doesn’t get much worse than that. He got lost in the desert and he continues to prove himself as a very unreliable friend. I’m not sure why the writers decided to mess with him so much, but he definitely became one of Jaden’s worst friends.

Zane is Jaden’s ultimate rival and he is one of the only characters who actually manages to get a win against the hero. Zane’s role is similar to Kai’s as he starts out as an aloof rival before turning over to the dark side. By the end, he sees the light once more, but it may be too late as he gets into a life or death duel. He’s the second best character in the show and it’s always great to see him duel. He was easily able to overcome the shocks in the underground dueling tournament and his Cyber Dragon deck is pretty fun to watch. He easily satisfies the “rival” character that every good show needs

GX is so great that it has two big rivals for Jaden. Aster shows up in season 2 and he gets to duel Jaden at least 3 times in a very short period of time. He’s pretty full of himself when he first starts out, but Jaden quickly puts him back in his place with his new deck. Aster may not be quite as good as Zane, but he’s still a pretty great character and he’s one of the better GX fighters. You could say that Jaden has a third rival in the form of Jesse, but he came into the show during season 3 so you could say that he arrived a little too late. He’s a pretty likable character, but the show tries to make him a little too similar to Jaden. Highlighting their differences would have made it easier to like him as a character. I was never impressed with his Jewel deck either and I believe that it holds him back. It’s thanks to Jesse that we did have a fun 2 on 1 climax duel in season 3 though so that was pretty cool. He’s certainly better than most of the other supporting characters.

Professor Crowler is a character who is always in the background, but he rarely ever does anything important to progress the plot. He duels a few times, but he always loses and he’s not a great character. I never found him to be particularly funny and while the show tries to convey to us that he is a good guy deep down, we are never given a reason to care. Crowler is around, but his role is basically filler. Professor Banner’s role is definitely not much better, but his saving grace is that he actually gets a super form at one point. It’s pretty great and truly fitting for a Yugioh boss. The moment was notable and it gave Banner a lot of personality, but he was ultimately doomed to a similar fate as Crowler. He just wasn’t interesting and letting him fade into obscurity was fine by me.

Hassleberry was a pretty decent friend. His dinosaur gimmick could be a bit much at times, but he was still an improvement over the other characters. He tries hard to secure victory for his team and he has a lot of confidence. What he lacks in character development, Hassleberry makes up for with his passion for the game. He never becomes one of the top players, but he gets a good amount of duels. Atticus is actually a pretty minor character even though he’s related to Alexis. He becomes Nightshroud once in season 1 and he does so again in season 4, but he never became one of the big villains. He’s mostly relegated to background status and the manga fleshed him out more than the anime. His role is probably smaller than Crowler’s and that’s saying something. He’s not my kind of character.

Axel is one of those characters that I couldn’t get myself to like. It was probably a mix of hype and overconfidence on Axel’s part that made me grow weary of the character very quickly. He just wasn’t interesting and I really didn’t like his duel with the Supreme King. Axel just rubbed me the wrong way and I wasn’t crazy about the fact that he sort of became a main character. He even got an origin story at one point and I knew that the series had gone too far. Jim is another one of the transfer students from season 3, but he got less character development than the others. His eye came in handy at one point, but that’s really the only big contribution that he made to the series. He’s a nice guy, but he just seemed a little outmatched.

Gecko let power consume him and he became one of the antagonists in season 3. It was almost sad watching him go up against Yubel since you knew that he was doomed. It was similar to the Shademan vs Laserman scene from Axess, but even more lopsided. That being said, I wasn’t a fan of Gecko so I was waiting for him to lose the entire time. He had no real reason to turn evil and the power corrupted him pretty quickly. He got to humiliate Chazz before he left, but that isn’t anything new at this point. Gecko’s Exodia themed deck was definitely pretty neat though. Chumley is a character who was written out of the show after season 1 or 2. He liked to eat a lot and he had the famous “Now I know what a grilled cheese feels like” line, but that wasn’t enough to make him a good character. He had one of the worst decks in the entire show and you never got the feeling that he actually improved a lot. It’s a good thing that he decided to pursue another career since he wasn’t making a whole lot of headway here. Ah well, we can’t have all of the supporting characters be too cool right?

Blair is a supporting character who didn’t get a whole lot of development. She just popped up one day and stuck around for the end of the series. She’s a decent duelist, but she doesn’t get a whole lot of chances to show off her skills. She seems like a nice kid and she realizes that Jaden is one of the best in the biz. While Blair was likable, it would have been nice for her to have had more of a role. She does help to introduce Marcel, who ends up becoming the vessel for Yubel. That is really it for Marcel’s character though since he’s basically being used the whole time.

Trueman seems to be a tribute to Agent Smith from the Matrix. There are many Trueman who haunt the multiverse and their dueling abilities are not to be underestimated. Aside from Jaden, they seem to be a match for just about any member of the heroes. Their dark cards are simply that tough and their supernatural abilities give them an edge over the average foe. Their sheer numbers is enough to discourage even the bravest of opponents and they made for pretty fun villains.

Yusuke is a mysterious antagonist who appears in season 4 and there is more to him than meets the eye. He was never a great character and he probably got one plot twist too many, but he’s another classic case of someone who went to the darkness for power and was unable to return with his personality intact. He’s pretty confusing and he is not as intimidating as the other villains, but he’s still a pretty cool figure to face in battle. All of season 4’s villains had a dark theme about them and Yusuke was no different. The darkness certainly gives him some cool points.

Kagemaru is the final boss of the first arc. He is overshadowed by the other three, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s a pretty great villain. He fits all of the classic Yugioh tropes as he’s really built. It’s a running gag at this point that each Yugioh series has to have a villain who’s really muscular so it can look even funnier to see the guy playing the card game. Since the other three villains weren’t buff, you could say that Kagemaru saved the series from missing out on the gag. He had the three sacred beasts, which made for a pretty powerful deck. He didn’t have a lot of character on his side, but he was a cool villain anyway.

Camula is one of the Shadow Riders and she’s pretty notable since she gets to duel 3 times. That’s pretty unheard of for a mere minion and it was pretty emberassing for the heroes. I loved the arc because it destroyed the concept of teamwork in GX. Jaden basically had to beat the entire team on his own since his partners just couldn’t get the job done. Camula has some special abilities since she seems to be a vampire and she’s certainly one of the more dangerous members of the Shadow Riders. I can’t say that she’s a great character, but at least she can duel. She has more character than most of the other Shadow Riders.

Nightshroud is the final boss of the series and you can really tell by his epic design. He is basically darkness incarnate and his power is absolute. It’s totally hinted that he could just end the planet and maybe the galaxy if he wanted too, but he chose to duel Jaden first and that was his big mistake. It’s a bit of an honor thing since not dueling would prove that he doubted his abilities. He definitely had a lot of over powered cards at his disposal and he was worthy of being a final boss in the Yugioh franchise. He definitely did a good job of weakening the heroes and Nightshroud is a villain who shall not be forgotten as time goes on. From the 4 big villains, he’s definitely the second best.

Sartorius is the big boss of season 2 and he was definitely a lot of fun. He’s pretty similar to Marik since he practically transforms when he enters rage mode. He uses a lot of light based cards and I’ll admit that they don’t look very fearsome. They are tough to be sure, but you never get that flight or fight instinct that the other villains may trigger. Sartorius is definitely a villain to be taken seriously and I liked him, but his appearances should have ended with season 2. He gets a brief role in season 4 and it is not very flattering. Ah well, making that season transition can be tough for some characters.

Yubel’s the ultimate fighter of season 3 and she’s definitely my favorite end boss. Her origin story is definitely pretty sad since she’s marooned in a far away place with no other sentient beings. It’s definitely a pretty tough fate so you can see why she heads over to the dark side for her revenge. In her true form, Yubel is virtually unstoppable. Simply attacking her will cause you to lose since she reflects damage and she has so many special abilities that it isn’t even funny. She’s certainly one of the strongest Yugioh characters of all time and she could definitely give some of the other OP final bosses of the franchise a good run for their money. (Interestingly, the big boss of Zexal’s deck matches up against hers in a favorable way for him, but that’s another story) Yubel had great fights with Gecko, Jaden, and Zane. Each battle was great and Yubel always put up a terrific fight. Whether she was using the Sacred Beasts deck or her true one, you can bet that the heroes would not be able to rest easy.

Tania is another one of the Shadow Riders who got to duel more than once. She humiliated Bastion when they fought so it makes sense that she would get to duel Jaden afterwards. I don’t care for her deck since it’s mostly made up of Tigers and other animals that are threatening in the real, but not in a fictional world with monsters. She may have actually gotten to appear in season 3, but she’s definitely not my kind of villain. She has a lot of determination and a fiery will, but it’s not enough to make her cool.

Professor Viper is actually a pretty big villain in season 3, but it’s easy to forget him since he’s completely outshined by Yubel. One of the only reasons why I can picture him so clearly is because he got to make a cameo in the Bonds Beyond Time film. Every moment of that film is unforgettable so that’s mainly why I remember him. He was a pretty tough antagonist. Viper is definitely not likable, but he works for his role and the duel against Jaden was definitely very intense and one of the better moments of season 3.

Brron is one of the sub villains of season 3 and really the only one who’s noteworthy. (Not counting Yubel, Viper, and Gecko) He is the villain who finally gets to crack Jaden. He took care of the supporting characters, which got Jaden riled up and he’s a decent duelist. The main thing that Brron overlooked was the fact that he simply wasn’t at the same level as Jaden. It’s a common mistake since villains tend to underestimate our invincible protagonist.

As you can see, GX has a pretty colorful cast. Because of this, even the filler episodes are usually entertaining. There are some that are not great like the cooking contest, but they could definitely be worse. When the canon episodes do start though, they tend to run for quite a while without any interruptions and that’s always a good thing. The series has action, drama, and finesse. Three things that can be used to make a show great and GX naturally pulls them off without a fault. Season 3 was my favorite one with 2 being next and then 1 coming in third. Season 4 is still great of course, but it’s much shorter so it makes sense that it wouldn’t rank quite as high as the others.

Overall, Yugioh GX is the ultimate show. It really has no negatives and the 180 episodes are a blast to watch. The soundtrack is dynamite and the animation is very good. Jaden is easily one of the greatest characters of all time and you’ll be hooked from start to finish. The plots get going pretty quickly here so it’s a thrill seeing the new villains each time. The seasons are typically 50+ episodes so that gives the show a lot of time to pace itself and allow the plots to progress naturally. If you haven’t seen this show yet then you’ll want to correct that immediately. I don’t know what your favorite show is right now, but watch this one and I have a feeling that it’ll get bumped down to second. It’s tough to be a perfect show, but GX comes closer than any other show could ever hope to reach.

Overall 10/10

Update 03/31/2018 It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that Yugioh GX has been surpassed. RWBY is now the greatest show of all time, but Yugioh GX will always hold a special place in my heart.

Overall 9/10

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