Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 6 Review

Posted on November 8, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for some more Natsume! It’s still really impressive to me how the series has lasted this long. 6 seasons is really nothing to sneeze at no matter how you slice it. Season 7 has already started as well so at this rate I’m expecting it to reach season 10 at some point. After all it’s not like the show has any indication that it’s about to end right? The main story could keep us here for a long time and this season actually felt a lot more story focused than previous ones. Maybe I shouldn’t say a lot, but we had very tangible plot developments here which was nice to see.

The basic premise of the story is one that you should be very familiar with by now but basically Natsume is able to see supernatural beings known as Yokai. These creatures are always haunting him and trying to cause a whole lot of trouble on the back-end. They aren’t particularly powerful but the real danger is in their numbers. Eventually a curse will do you in. Fortunately Natsume has befriended a powerful Yokai god named Nyanko. Together they survive and live life while Natsume slowly gives each Yokai back their name through the Book of Friends. Once it is empty, they will finally leave him alone.

The first episode is a fun one to start off with as a Yokai turns Natsume back into being a kid. He doesn’t have his grown up memories at this point and so his friends have to keep him out of danger for a while. Naturally this is a rather difficult task since as a kid he already had confidence issues and gets scared easily. Still, it all works out and it was fun to see a younger Natsume finally get some reassurance about the supernatural. We know in the main timeline he was really on his own for a long while there until he finally got raised by a nice family. It’s definitely going for those emotional vibes and they really hit well here.

In the second episode we have more of what I would call a classic one shot story. Takashi bumps into a Yokai who is in a whole lot of trouble. He is a rock washer and needs to find his apprentice. It follows the formula of Takashi helping a strange monster in need and that’s really it. Nothing wrong with these one shot episodes of course, in a lot of ways they are what got the series to be so big. It can be nice to see Natsume just hanging out and having a good time. I’m just glad this wasn’t the first episode because it would have really lacked impact. For example there isn’t much you could use for emotional value to Natsume here whereas in the first, it’s all about seeing hos his child self would react to the present.

After that we have the return of Shibata. He’s a guy who wasn’t much of a friend to Takashi at all back in the day but is a lot nicer now and sometimes contacts him when supernatural stuff is going on. I rather enjoy Shibata quite a lot as a character because it seems like he is looking out for Natsume in his own way. Making sure that Natsume has friends and is doing okay. In fact, this time he mainly called to hang out but of course this does turn into a haunted episode with Natsume having to dig deep and help out. Friends who are there for you through thick and thin are always important to have around. It was also nice to have Tanuma get a role. He has a really done a good job of cementing himself as one of Takashi’s best friends.

Now we have our first multi part episode adventure. Basically Takashi ends up going to a mansion that is being haunted by 3 ghosts. They used to work for the head of the household but as he grew older, he could no longer see them. So now his daughter is trying to figure out a way to keep him safe without the guy knowing. To this end, she called her friend Natori who is a professional exorcist. Takashi getting involved was really a coincidence. It would technically be easy for Natori to just exorcise these yokai but it’s no as if they are evil. So Takashi begs Natori to give him a chance to talk to them. The clock is ticking!

I liked that this was a return to the dangerous episodes of the series. Natsume could have been in real trouble here since some of the spirits were quite ready to hurt him. We also got a really good jump scare with one of the attendants not being what she appeared to be. Finally there was also the Book of Friends plot being brought back as Natori heard more than Takashi was hoping for. All in all, it was a really high stakes adventure and one that really held up well. Natori also continues to look good as a solid rival character while also being just shady enough where you aren’t sure if Natsume should trust him. Now that’s what adds some intrigue to the case.

After that is more of a low key episode as we see how Natsume met his school friends back in the day. Natsume definitely looked like a real odd ball back then as he wasn’t quite as good as bluffing. So when a yokai would appear Natsume was quite obvious about it. This made things rocky at the start but ultimately it all worked out. Like I said earlier, the emotional episodes that are mainly related to Natsume tend to be the best ones and so this was another really solid episode. It was good to see how things got better for Natsume here and it also gave the school friends a little more depth since I tend to just ignore them most of the time.

Then we go back to a more low key story. A yokai is about to get married and wanted to invite Takashi’s grandmother to the event. Of course she couldn’t but Takashi is happy to go. It’s one of those wholesome episodes and a reminder that sometimes things can just go really well for the crew. Yokai aren’t always shady and evil and that’s really Natsume’s whole argument for why he won’t become an exorcist. He does believe that some Yokai should be helped while others would just exterminate the lot of them. It’s also a topic where it is very difficult to get others to agree. So often times he will end up butting heads with the others if it comes down to that.

Speaking of nice Yokai, the next episode follows that up. There’s a crow type yokai who was real good friends with a human girl but eventually he broke things off because he could tell that she was catching feelings. The problem is that he’s worried she hasn’t properly moved on. Fortunately she sends a wedding invite to him so he will appear and finally close out the matter with her. He will properly congratulate her on finding a real person to marry and Natsume ends up getting dragged into this. It’s a pretty fun story and I agree with the Crow’s logic, just not his methods. It does make sense to establish some boundaries with a human since it’s not like she could ever truly be with a yokai. That being said, he still should have said something instead of just running off.

Ghosting like that is definitely the coward’s way out in the end and definitely not something to be praised. In the end her plan to ensnare him was quite clever as well. She had to take some real big risks for that plan so you were happy for her. The romance may be doomed so the ending is more on the bitter sweet side but as far as romances are, this was actually written really well so I was quite impressed.

After that, we probably have the weakest episode for me. Maybe, I mean it wasn’t bad or anything but there just wasn’t much to it. So Natsume and friends are on vacation at a place called the 4 masks but one of them is a Yokai so humans only see 3 of them. We get some backstory on this and Natsume helps the mask out but I wasn’t quite as invested in this one. It just didn’t feel all that special or interesting and one shot stories at least need some kind of a hook right?

Then we get to the next big 2 part adventure with Natori returning once more. So yes by this point we can really say that Natori is the signifier that things are really getting big. This time a bunch of exorcists from a bunch of clans were called in to get rid of all magic traces from a sorcerer who died. His next of family doesn’t want to deal with all of that. So Natsume helps out with also looking for some notes in particular and along the way Natori finds out more about the Book of Friends. This basically forces Natsume to finally reveal his piece as well. A very important story arc to be sure because now the book is finally in the open. This was the perfect way to end the season if you ignore the bonus episodes. Probably the best episodes in the season I would say.

Now we get to the bonus episodes which scale things back a bit. The first one is about an old man yokai who whistles a good tune and is always on a tree stump. He seems to be forgotten so Natsume brings along someone who used to know him. It’s a pretty nice story. I didn’t care much about the old yokai but the messaging was nice enough. At the end of the day there’s nothing wrong with having a wholesome story every once in a while right?

Then we have the second bonus episode where a girl finds a ring that belongs to a mysterious Owl yokai that approached her. She bumps into Natsume who decides to help her out. It’s pretty fun to see Natsume from an outsider’s perspective here. He looks in control the whole time. Perhaps a bit crazy but he’s no stranger to the occult. I didn’t really care for the Owl though who was immediately rushing to the idea of taking away the girl’s memory despite how hard she worked to help him out. I never like when a character gets their memories taken away and this was no exception. The whole framing of the episode was great though which makes up for not really liking the ending all that much.

So yeah that wraps up the season. Definitely a lot of interesting episodes in there. The biggest revelation was that in one of them, the Yokai mentions bumping into Natsume’s ancestor. He assumed this was Reiko but the Yokai confirmed that it was a man. So now for the first time we have hints to Natsume’s grandfather, assuming that is who the Yokai was talking to. It was a very interesting plot point because there are still a lot of mysteries in the past. So I definitely look forward to seeing how that plays out.

Naturally seeing what Natori does next is also a big item. That guy is truly a wild card and a dangerous one at that. You don’t really know what he’s thinking and while I would say he is a good guy, his ideas of morality do clash with Natsume’s. If he decides to take the book by force then naturally I won’t be able to root for him. One way or another you expect this plot to come to a head soon.

As always the animation is decent but nothing all that great or outstanding. There are no cuts that will really wow you or any bits of animation that are super colorful. It’s really just standard and doing its job for a slice of life show but that’s it. I would like them to improve the budget at some point though. While it’s true that this kind of show doesn’t need great animation, I absolutely would not turn it down either. Likewise the soundtrack is only okay. The theme song is really weak and the main tunes are the same that they have been since season 1. It’s time for the technical aspects to actually improve instead of just coasting along for the ride. In the end it feels like that is all that they are doing after all.

Overall, Natsume’s Book of Friends continues to chug along. I would say this was easily one of the best seasons thanks in large part to the mystery around Natsume’s possible grandfather and Natori finally learning about the book of friends. It feels like this could really go in some interesting directions so we will just have to see how that plays out. If you’re this far into the series then of course you have to check out season 6. if you are a brand new viewer then you can still get what’s going on right away to be honest. That is one of the benefits of being a slice of life show after all.

Overall 7/10

Space Cowboys Review

Posted on November 7, 2024 by dreager1

Space Cowboys is one of those films that knows how to have a good time. There are a lot of little jokes throughout the movie and for the most part it’s got a light tone. I would say that it does start to falter a bit during the climax when the film takes itself a little too seriously. Still, it’s a fun enough movie, I would say that it goes by quickly even with the long run time and so you’ll have a good time here.

The movie starts off by showing us Frank and the crew back when they were younger. They were the best crew of pilots you could have out there! They were ready to go into space and everything but Bob messed them over at the last second. Decades have passed and each member is retired and living the good life. That changes when we find out that a Russian satellite is falling. The impact will be disastrous and the U.S. is trying to keep it afloat to prevent all out catastrophe. This forces Bob, who is now a high ranking NASA official to call in Frank. They will have to let bygones be bygones but Frank is only accepting the mission under one condition. His old senior citizen buddies have to be included in the team as well. Bob agrees..but secretly plans to leave them behind.

You could say it’s like a battle of wits here except that while Frank has all the bravado, Bob has all the wits. It can’t be denied that Frank is a total genius and everything but allowing yourself to be tricked by the same guy twice is pretty rough. If not for the vice president getting involved, it was definitely not going to go very well for Frank. I sort of figured Frank would have had some kind of a backup plan but unfortunately that was not to be.

The film’s biggest strength is in the banter though. I like all of the crisp dialogue between the characters as they really take each other to town. They all get along pretty well so they’re able to really go in without anyone taking offense. The only person with actual bad blood is Bob and those arguments tend to be fun as well. The writing is solid here and you should have a smile on for most of it. When the film wants to be funny, the jokes tend to land.

The film’s biggest weakness are the serious plots like I mentioned before. The whole climax is trying really hard to be serious, intense, and dramatic. The main problem is that you just can’t take any of it seriously. It’s all too by the book to be honest and I think they should have played it all more for laughs. Sure, in a way you could say that the whole film was building up to the actual mission so it would need to be serious but I just wasn’t buying it.

Additionally there is a quick romance plot here that doesn’t work either. The film seemed to think that it had to have a romance but otherwise there is no real reason for this to have even started. It really comes out of nowhere with no kind of warning and feels extremely rushed. I don’t think you would have much time for hooking up with the fate of the planet resting in the balance. It’s like the characters in these movies are trying to speedrun romance and that’s not really a successful way to go about things. It really doesn’t work out for her due to a variety of reasons.

It’s safe to say that Frank is the most enjoyable character in the film. He talks tough and never shows his kinder side but the guy made sure that his whole team got to be here. He really went above and beyond for them which is really important. It’s definitely not something that just anyone would do and the rest of the characters know it. It’s why they have such a tight squad, because they really trust each other.

Hawk gets the next biggest role due to a personal subplot he gets as well as the whole romance angle. While I could do without some of that, he’s still a fun guy. He can hold his own with Frank as needed and they both keep each other in check. In comparison, Tank and Jerry don’t have as big a role but they’re always around. They all contrast with each other pretty well for the overall team dynamic. It was fun to see how they all got through the physical exams for this. Les just say a good memory goes a long way.

It did seem like a pretty extreme regimen for the crew though. I assume this is to make sure you can handle the tasks while you are in a space station but typically tests like this go a bit over to really make sure you’re ready. So you could probably hold back a little on the old timers and they’d be fine. Honestly they looked way better than the young cadets. We have two cadets who get to go on the trip with the old timers and they look absolutely awful.

One of them gets a concussion almost immediately and ends up being dead weight. The other one goes crazy and basically starts messing everything up as fast as he can. A supremely annoying characters all the way through and that was one part of the climax that just felt really forced. I had a really hard time buying into that and it would have even been more believable if he was a Russian double agent instead. I definitely wouldn’t have minded seeing more of the big meetings and political fights going on in the background. That could have been a pretty good subplot.

Overall, Space Cowboys is a good film. I would say it had enough weak points for me to keep it from going to the next level but on the whole it’s an entertaining film and that’s really what I’m looking for here. If you like the idea of a group of old friends getting to finally achieve their dreams then this is definitely the film to check out. Even if the climax isn’t the greatest, the film had enough good moments to carry it all through and quick enough pacing where you felt like the movie covered a lot of ground without dragging.

Overall 6/10

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 3 Review

Posted on November 3, 2024 by dreager1

The wholesome anime has returned for a third season! The episode count is super low but given that most of the episodes have extended runtimes I would say it evens out. There’s definitely a lot of drama going on here and for once we can actually start to blame the main guy here. He’s just losing way too much confidence and isn’t turning up the way he should be. It’s a pretty fun third season all in all though and hopefully they announce the next season soon to start wrapping up the story.

The season roughly goes for the structure of focusing on the two leads, giving an episode to Ayane, an episode for Chizu, and then wrapping up with the main duo. All of the characters are always around of course but the focus shifts. This season mainly has the big field trip and then the next Christmas party as the next two big trips. Each of the relationships are going further but that comes with a lot of extra complications and hurt feelings on all ends. There is less time for the wholesome day to day life as this season definitely goes for a more somber vibe. Rather than go by episode I’ll mainly go through each pairing and how the season went for them. I’ll end off with the main duo.

Also let me start by saying that Pin is a superb main character as always. This guy always has the right advice and knows how to give the characters a pep talk right when they need it. Without him they would really be spinning their wheels and not doing much of anything. He’s the guy you want in your corner for exactly this reason and it’s nice that we have a series where the adult character isn’t oblivious or complete comic relief. Pin is a comedy character a lot but when you actually listen to what he is saying, it all tends to be rather profound stuff.

Okay so first lets go with Ryu and Chizu since generally I do think this is the weakest romance out of the 3. This season finally covers the big moment of Ryu confessing and Chizu not really being sure how to handle it. After all, she’s always liked his brother so switching now could be like a rebound? Also she just sees him as a friend and this could end that. I appreciate Ryu being self aware enough to say that he is intending to end their friendship since they can’t progress otherwise. He is betting it all on this after all. So Chizu is under a lot of pressure to readjust how she views Ryu and see if it works.

Obviously this isn’t the final season so things are still in motion but a lot does happen here. At the end of the day, neither one of them are great about being open with their feelings. Ryu does have more of the initiative though in terms of him actually confessing and not backing down from it. He doesn’t play it off as a joke or anything and stays focused. So I respect that part. I have no problems with Ryu as a character. He’s solid enough, the romance itself it a bit harder to buy into though.

Mainly for Chizu’s side here. It’s very similar to a manga I recently reviewed called Lovely Complex. Chizu doesn’t really see Ryu as a romantic interest to the point where she laughs initially. It’s super hard for me to picture her changing her mind suddenly. It always comes across more like she is picking Ryu because the first option didn’t work out and also because he is so desperate. So it’s more out of convenience and being able to keep her friend. Not the worst reasons for starting a romance but yeah I’m definitely considerably less invested in this one compared to the others.

Then we have Ayane and Kento’s plot. So Ayane has been with a lot of guys before but it was more out of a sense of tradition and just hoping maybe she will find the right guy. She’s never actually been in love before so in a way she doesn’t know what it’s even supposed to feel like. That’s why she wanted to really just keep on trying but the guys she picks are always not that good. So now Kento has made his move but she can’t tell if he’s serious or not. Can she even afford to take another risk on a relationship?

Now this is a plot that’s a lot more interesting. For starters, the idea of not knowing what love is even like is definitely depressing but realistic. There are so many films and stories where it feels like the characters just start dating on a whim because it feels right but you can’t tell if they actually love each other. Now here is an instance where that is actually the case and Ayane has been doing this for a long time apparently. It’s definitely an interesting plot and you can also see why she doesn’t know if she can trust Kento.

He’s a super nice guy who is nice to everyone but as a result you can’t really tell if that’s just a mask or not. Maybe he’s just super nice to everybody or she is being played again. In a sense that is what dating is for, to find out about the other person but it’s also pointless if you don’t see a future ahead right away. So we have some real dilemmas here. Meanwhile for Kento, it’s similar. He’s always been a nice guy and genuinely so, so it’s not something that’s easy to turn off. Also there’s nothing wrong with being nice, he just needs to get Ayane to see that he’s being genuine.

Kento is a character who is easy to root for so it also makes for a fun plot in that sense. As the omnipresent audience, we know that both characters are good but of course the view from the ground is way different. Ayane is always defending her friends and keeping them happy so of course you hope that she gets a happy ending too. That just doesn’t have to necessarily include dating.

Finally we have the main pairing. Sawako and Kazehaya have been doing really well so far. Sawako has gained her confidence and Kazehaya is always a good guy. Well, that finally changes here as he gets super scared after almost kissing Sawako. So for most of the season he is avoiding her to an extent and just being really cold. Is he tired or the relationship or something? Sawako has to face all of her fears once again and this is definitely the most forced part of the whole season. Their romance as a whole is still solid but if we just looked at this season in a vacuum then I would say it definitely didn’t go over so well. Kazehaya looks pretty terrible once the plot starts.

He actively pushes her away when she tries to find out what’s going on with him. He never actually explains himself and just continues to put in that distance over and over again. I think the worst part about this is how unnecessary it is. He should have just clearly told her what happened and his worries. The fact that he feels like he can’t confide in her like this is really bad. It should be second nature by now and instead he nearly gets them broken up. The fact that he didn’t think about this at all is definitely a bad look. So Kazehaya purely from season 3 is not a particularly good character.

He makes the wrong decisions over and over again. Meanwhile Sawako looks good as she continues to persist over and over in order to get to the truth. She is really putting in all of the effort in this relationship. Without her then they would definitely be in big trouble. A different main character would have probably gotten all upset and just created more drama. Kazehaya should feel bad about almost kissing her there since it’s not super responsible for being on a trip but shutting himself off like that is crazy.

The Christmas episodes still have their happy moments but they definitely get hampered down a bit by this main plot. It’s also a shame because in life there are no do-overs. They may have made up later on but that’s one party they can’t really take back. At least they didn’t do anything crazy like mess up the gift exchange the way that Chizu did. The whole point of a secret gift exchange is that you don’t know who is getting each present so causing a scene over that is definitely no a good move. It’s the one time you almost feel bad for Joe but he caused so much chaos that I couldn’t help but smirk a little bit.

In terms of the technical elements, the theme song is fairly weak. It’s definitely not one of the catchier tunes. The soundtrack is largely unchanged so it’s not bad. A little quiet without any big time hits but it works well enough for the series. As for the animation, the show looks smooth. I wouldn’t call it particularly high budget but it’s not really going for that angle anyway. As long as the animation is clear then that’s about all that you need for a show like this. There is less time for comedy of course but the show still has some fun jokes here and there. Ultimately it’s hard to avoid for any romance series though. Inevitably the themes will get more serious and there will be less time for the happy days. This one has a good balance though.

At the end of the day one of the strengths of the series is that the characters are all fairly mature. You don’t have the usual misunderstandings and panicking that you might see in another series. Kazehaya is the most immature here but otherwise the dilemmas that the characters are facing are things you will probably see in real life. It makes the stakes feel a lot more personal and really let you jump into what’s going on here. I would probably have liked there to have been time for more fun but that’s pretty hard to do during the dramatic period. So with things being good with Kazehaya again, I look forward to more general fun in the next season. I’m also glad that Sawako’s father started to mellow out a little more here. In general he was a solid character and I’m also glad that he got to spend some holiday time with his daughter. I would have felt bad if he was totally pushed to the side.

Overall, Kimi continues to go strong as a good title. The season really flies by with the limited episode count. I know with the run time is more or less evens out but there is still something nice to say about a season having over 10 episodes you know? While the gap between seasons 2 and 3 wasn’t too bad for me since I started the series late, I hope season 4 doesn’t take nearly as long. I’m ready to see all of the climaxes happen in the anime version and how it all turns out. In the meantime you should check this one out regardless. Wait or not, you don’t want to miss out on the Christmas hype!

Overall 6/10

Lovely★Complex Review

Posted on November 3, 2024 by dreager1

I wasn’t really sure how I should stylize the title here. Should I keep the star? Go with Love Com instead? Lots of options but in the end this one felt right. It’s definitely a very old school romance title with a ton of banter between the main two characters. It’s a bit of an unorthodox romance where the romance seems extremely one-sided for about 90% of the run. I would ultimately say the romance itself didn’t really work but the series has a lot of solid themes and does remain interesting the whole time. It may stumble into cliche after cliche but the series handles them all well enough.

The series follows Risa and Otani as the main characters. Risa is extremely tall while Otani is extremely short and so when they are standing next to each other then the effects of this are even more obvious. As a result they are always insulting each other but instead of getting everyone to see how much they don’t like each other, people think it’s some kind of a comedy routine. Everyone is always rooting for them to get together and even the teacher teases them about their comedy act. What Otani doesn’t realize is that Risa actually does like him. How can she get him to see her feminine side when she is such a giant and they already have this friendship/rivalry going? Well she will end up trying tons of different tactics and we will see how it goes.

So first off we have to dig into this romance here. It’s a bit of a slow burn as it takes a minute for them to get together. The series is over 15 volumes which is pretty impressive for a story like this. What’s even more impressive is that even with this long run time, the side characters largely remain irrelevant. Yeah they’re around and get some drama of their own but for the most part they are always in the back seat. This isn’t like Fruits Basket or Kaguya where we will have whole arcs for the side characters. Mini chunks and all but this is definitely Risa and Otani’s story the whole way through.

I would say the first strike against their romance is how Otani just doesn’t seem to find her attractive pretty much at all during the series. It’s only near the very end where he starts to feel that way a bit but for the most part it tends to come across more like he just doesn’t want her to be with anyone else. He gets jealous when she hangs out with another guy but otherwise he mainly just wants to hang out with her. Even to the end you get the feeling that he sees her more as a close friend and is pressured into doing the more romantic advances. The guy can’t even tell her that he loves her for basically the whole series. The cast tricks him into saying it via recording in the final volume which is a bit of a cop out.

Otani has another moment or two every now and then but it always takes Risa to be crying or totally depressed for him to make a move. I wouldn’t call that the healthiest relationship in the world. What I will give him credit for is not being too easily distracted. He’s a fairly sturdy guy so once he is in the relationship with Risa, then he’s not going to waver. The characters all tease him when crazy shenanigans occur but the guy never even comes close to cheating or even thinking about it. He’s the kind of guy who could go on a trip for months and Risa can easily trust him to do the right thing.

Otani is a really likable character. While the romance may not feel all that believable, we are shown throughout the series that he is a good guy. He helps out anyone who is in his way and doesn’t have to know someone to help them out of a jam. He is ready to fight someone for bullying his friend, helps to stop a girl from being trampled by a mob, takes care of a lady who is sick, etc. He even gives pep talks to people on the Basketball team who are not doing well. These are all massively good traits for a character.

He can be a bit sensitive about his short stature but has way more restraint than other characters. You also have to factor in that he puts up with a whole lot. He’s definitely one of the better characters in the series. As for Risa, well I’ll start with the romance part like with Otani. It’s hard to see how she ended up falling in love with him. Yeah they fight a lot and I know fighting is supposed to get you closer but he didn’t really give her any indication that he was ever interested. In fact, he does the opposite. In terms of looks, she generally goes for taller guys so it wasn’t his appearance that really got to her at first.

I suppose you could say that it was the personality but even then it feels a bit like a stretch. He’s always calling her an idiot and in their banter she is often on the losing side. The other characters even comment from time to time how it’s a bit weird that she doesn’t mind being insulted constantly. This is also the time to bring up that she starts the fights 90% of the time. She will often set up huge expectations for Otani without telling him anything and she inevitably gets upset at him.

One of the worst instances of this is when she tries to confess her feelings but isn’t able to. So as a result he has no idea what she is talking about and she calls him a dummy for a long while. He’s pretty defensive and has a good point. From his point of view during this scene, he bought her tickets to her favorite musician at a local concert and he took her to a private fireworks show since she loves that kind of thing. Her response? She gives him the silent treatment for days because he couldn’t figure out that she liked him.

She pulls this kind of thing so many times. Risa is also dangerously oblivious at times and has terrible instincts. The fact that she wasn’t even bothered by her coworker stealing a kiss while she was asleep is crazy. Then she went with him to a concert as a date afterwards? No matter how you frame it, you shouldn’t be going 1 on 1 with another guy to any kind of event when you already have a boyfriend. The fact that she acted shocked about this was crazy and it really couldn’t be defended.

While she gets annoyed at Otani for being nice to other girls, Risa is the one who drools over other guys from time to time. She even became the leader of the Mighty fanclub for a while there. Yeah she did it to make Otani jealous and mad but she really runs off with her emotions. Even in the literal last volume, she gets jealous of a random classmate that Otani has and throws a whole pity party for herself. Her emotions are just way too fragile the whole time.

I am all for a lot of good banter between characters. I would even argue that the best romances out there generally have a lot of good banter. Look at Nisekoi, Sword Art Online, Disgaea 2, etc. The best ones keep the banter up even after they are together which is pretty rare but possible. So the banter itself is no problem here and it’s even pretty fun. I like that Risa and Otani can joke about being stolen by other people, insult each other, and generally still act like friends the whole time. The thing is, the series spends so much time on this before and after that I would say there are very few genuine romance scenes between them.

I was not convinced at all that Otani was actually in love with Risa by the end. I would also like to see Risa develop a little more trust in him by the end. A great way to do this would have been for her to not have gotten jealous of the classmate by the end. Maybe we could have dove into Otani’s mindset a bit more too. Early on he brings up my exact criticism which is that he just sees Risa as a friend. He really likes hanging out with her and would enjoy doing that for the rest of his life but that he had no romantic feelings for her. That’s pretty definitive, it’s hard for your mindset to suddenly change after that. Sure, it can but the series didn’t develop that well.

Which is ironic since this was a pretty long running romance title. That’s enough about the main duo though. We have the side characters to go through as well, who don’t have as much to do as I mentioned but they should be discussed. First up we have Suzuki who falls for Chiharu early on. He’s a rather timid guy and has a hard time talking about his feelings but he gets his courage up and the two of them really hit it off. Their romance is super peaceful and wholesome in comparison. They never insult each other to the point where he couldn’t even pretend to do this at Chiharu’s request. Chiharu is a super nice and quiet person as well who always does the right thing.

So…they’re both very nice but have virtually 0 personality. I couldn’t really tell you anything about their hobbies or anything like that. They never run into any obstacles or have any troubles. The next couple at least has some drama in Nobuko and Nakao’s pairing. Nobuko serves as Risa’s best friend and is usually sticking up for her when Otani goes too far or gives her advice when she feels Risa isn’t doing anything. Nakao basically just agrees with whatever she says and is always there to defend her. I like his loyalty and the guy is a fun character to have around. Most of his scenes are quick little moments in the background but they’re fun. I would say their plotline had a rather sad end to it.

Nobuko has to be gone for a while to take care of her grandmother and you’d think there would have been a way for Nakao to go with her. Sure he is loyal and can be trusted but that’s gotta just be annoying that they can barely see each other for the foreseeable future. He also had a really hard time talking to her about it which was definitely too timid. That’s when he needed to step up. Still, they were side characters who got to really contribute to the story.

Then we have Haruka who is Risa’s childhood friend. The guy is super tall and has lived all these years to get together with her. Thing is, she doesn’t even see him as a man so there is no chance of that. This character is super annoying because he refuses to accept reality and constantly tries to get together with her. He needs to take a hint and I didn’t like how Risa would always be humoring him. Yeah it’s a comedy but even so she should have shut him down instead of letting the guy continue to insult Otani to the end and try to steal her away one last time. This guy was super desperate.

We also have Mimi who is Otani’s childhood friend and it’s pretty much the same situation with her. She really wants to be with him but knows that she is really tall and not his type. She initially starts by being really tough with Risa and making the threats. Unfortunately Risa doesn’t really do anything about this. Eventually Mimi gets over the situation and stops being a villain but it was another subplot that didn’t make Risa look so good. I do tend to like the strategic characters like Mimi so she did a good job of keeping Otani in the dark all those years. It’s a shame that most of these best friends always turn out to have secret feelings but that’s how it goes I suppose.

Kohori is Risa’s coworker and does his best to get her to return his feelings. The guy comes across as desperate too though because he knows that she already has a boyfriend. Obviously once someone is taken, then that’s that. Instead he continues to try getting her into situations where she will go out with him. As a result you don’t really feel bad for the guy when he gets a lot of bad luck and is always losing out. It’s all played for laughs but yeah not much sympathy for a character like this.

Another character that you can’t really root for is Seiko. He’s one of those characters who moves on rather fast emotionally and crosses boundaries easily. He makes a move on both Otani and Kohori immediately without asking them anything. Stealing a kiss unprompted is always a terrible idea and something that can’t be encouraged or allowed at all. Mix in the fact that he dresses up as a girl and doesn’t tell anyone the truth until later and that creates even more problems. His scenes were definitely problematic from the jump. Anytime he was on screen you knew that someone was about to be in trouble.

You’ve also got Risa’s grandfather who shows up later on to cause some trouble. He really shows up out of nowhere to cause a ton of chaos. The fact that he was willing to work with dangerous people to break up Risa and Otani was crossing a huge line. At that point there was no going back for him. You just can’t retain any dignity after that. His reason for doing this was also super petty. The series tried to show that he did it because of what happened in his past and all but it doesn’t net any extra sympathy from me.

Finally we do have one really solid supporting character to end things off with, Mighty. Mighty is a substitute teacher that is stronger than all the guys and as a result all of the girls follow him. This guy knows how to wield power though and doesn’t succumb to temptations. He has a girlfriend after all and instead he uses his influence to help Risa and Otani out of some tough spots. This guy can always be depended on which is impressive since there is no real reason that he would actually have to help the other characters out. He’s just a good guy no matter how many times they call him shady and everything.

The art isn’t bad. It’s got a very old school vibe to it so in a way you feel the age of the series but the quality is on point. The characters are all easy to distinguish from each other and the series is easy to read which is the important thing. The visual gags like when the characters are smacking each other are also handled well. I wouldn’t say the series is ever laugh out loud funny but you’ll usually have a smile on your face. It is really upbeat despite all of the drama and I appreciate that.

Overall, Lovely Complex is an interesting series. I thought it did really well on the comedy front and the romance was the main part that was lacking. As you get deeper into the series you really start to get engaged by what’s happening but I wouldn’t say that it ever really gets past the negatives. It’s a perfectly reasonable title to check out and you will easily read through each volume but it could have used one or two more to make the characters a little better. You mainly end up feeling bad for Otani a whole lot throughout as it seems like Risa will always be causing a whole lot of drama. If you’re up for a light hearted rom-com that will last you for a while though, this one definitely won’t hurt. Like I said, it will definitely keep your interest the whole time.

Overall 5/10

Frankenstein Created Woman Review

Posted on November 2, 2024 by dreager1

This poster is massive clickbait. The film is definitely not going in the direction of Frankenstein creating another monster. He does dabble in the souls business though and causes a whole lot of trouble. In the end this turns into a super annoying revenge thriller and so much time is spent on the villains. There is not a satisfying conclusion here and so in the end I have to give the whole production a massive thumbs down. It was just not in a good spot and I was not surprised since Frankenstein is rarely any good.

The film starts off with Hans’ father getting executed and he grows up with the reputation of being the son of a convicted criminal. Hans helps Frankenstein out in the lab, another guy who has been ostracized by society as a whole. Hans does a pretty good job of following the doctor’s lead and helping out when possible. He also liked a lady named Christina who helps her father out at the tavern. Unfortunately she is often picked on and harassed by the locals. One day Hans defends her and fights back so they get revenge by framing him so he is executed as well. Christina bumps herself off so Frankenstein revives her and puts Hans’ soul inside of her. What Frankenstein didn’t realize is that the spirit of vengeance demands blood! The ghost of Hans is now telling Christina that she must destroy all of the oppressors who framed him for death. Can she destroy them all before the cops catch up?

The 3 bullies are terrible characters so you’re totally cool with them being bumped off in painful ways each time. They really didn’t do much to convince you that they deserved anything better. That being said, this is still not helping the movie much because the whole thing is focused on a ton of negativity. It’s a shame how nobody was doing anything about this. Even Christina’s father was not really doing anything to defend her. I don’t care how rich these guys are, you can’t let them mess with your daughter like that. That’s just awful and you really can’t stand for that. The father was one of the worst characters as a result. Not the absolute worst since those 3 still have to take that but he was pretty bad.

I thought Hans could have done a much better job of defending himself to the judge too. You could at least say you weren’t at the scene of the crime if you don’t want to expose the relationship with Christina. Mentioning the relationship probably would have been a good idea though when death is the alternative as she doesn’t want him dead either. Dying definitely ended up breaking down his psyche with how crazy he got later on.

Also, the revenge is slightly less satisfying with Christina allowing the villains to have their way a bit first. Sure, she knows she will have the last laugh but I’d have preferred a much more direct approach where they don’t have a chance to really get any kind of quick victory. They just didn’t deserve to have any kind of positives here. I’m struggling to think of any real likable character in this movie to be honest. Frankenstein’s assistant Hertz knows a lot of dark secrets and never tells anyone. This is portrayed as him being a good friend but instead what it tells me is that he will always look the other way and that is absolutely not a good idea. When people are doing evil things, the right thing to do is to expose them. So yeah Hertz is compromised.

Also while Christina is really the victim of a lot of this, it doesn’t help that she murders herself twice. You feel bad for her and would have hoped that the film could have given her some kind of a happy ending. The whole thing just feels so mean spirited, like there is absolutely no hope out there. That’s really a big downer for the film as a whole. I wouldn’t say it really had any particularly happy segments, at least none that lasted for any real long period of time. Even Hans and Christina finally getting together couldn’t last because the villains were yelling through the window the whole time. That romance was a bit too rushed though and wasn’t needed.

So the movie is bogged down by lots of heavy violence, some fanservice, and generally being more of a depressing picture. Frankenstein makes for a good villain but he doesn’t appear as much as he should. I like that he’s the only character who can talk tough to everyone. Generally he isn’t afraid of anyone and has a really confident demeanor to him. This guy just keeps on going and it’s quite brilliant. You just can’t forget that he’s super evil here. At no point should you think he is sympathetic or heroic because he makes it clear just how many people he is willing to sacrifice for his experiments. He doesn’t even hesitate to let Hans get executed after all.

Overall, This is one of those films that goes all in on the shock value and doesn’t have much else to offer. This town would be absolutely dreadful to live in with pretty much all of the inhabitants being evil. They look forward to executions and look the other way when crimes are happening. None of these guys would be your friends and would backstab you in an instant. It’s also still weird to watch a Frankenstein film that doesn’t even have the monster at all. I suppose you can always do movies with just the scientist but the monster is typically the big draw. It’s why the poster had the girl version but that design never happens either. Instead this is more of a possession slasher movie. Either way it’s not like the movie would have been much better. I’m sure it would still be terrible so my best advice is to stay far away from this film. You really don’t want to get mixed up with this series. When you see Frankenstein in the title and particularly if it’s a Hammer film, run far away!

Overall 2/10

Return to Glennascaul Review

Posted on November 2, 2024 by dreager1

It’s always fun to check out a short because the film makers get to really test their skills. Can they really tell a complete story within the time frame or is it going to be all messed up and cluttered? Fortunately I can say that they did succeed with this one. It manages to be a pretty fun story all the way. I wouldn’t call it all that scary but the experience would still be unnerving overall. It had a good atmosphere and the short keeps your attention the whole time.

The short starts with a guy driving through the roads until he comes across a guy whose car seems to have stopped working. Naturally our hero is a gentlemen and tells the guy to hop in. The guy starts to tell him a spooky story of what happened here and it is definitely something to shake up most people. The hero puts on a brave face but based on how the short ends, it did get to him in the end. It was a pretty fun way to end the short I’ve gotta say. Really helped to end things on a high note.

To the story itself, so this guy bumped into two ladies who needed a lift. So he stopped and took them home. They invited him inside for some drinks and he lost track of the time so the guy dashed off around 2AM. Unfortunately for him, he actually forgot something so he heads back but the place looks deserted and completely different from what was there before. He visits the owner who explains that those women died ages ago. So what happened, did he enter the twilight zone? Is reality just some kind of messed up simulation??? There are a lot of questions and yet there are absolutely no answers to any of them. This guy is lucky to get away with his life after the ladies start talking to him as random voices.

So it’s going for that spooky vibe but the reason I’d say it’s more unnerving than scary is you don’t really get the feeling that the ghosts are actually hostile. Now mind you, they certainly might be but it’s hard to really say. They may have just wanted some company and they don’t really seem to understand how their situation works all that well either. After all, they probably wouldn’t have let him leave so easily otherwise right? The main guy even seemed to like the younger one so that could have been her chance to go back to humanity or pull him to the spirit realm. It’s hard to say either way what would have happened there.

But yeah I choose to believe nothing malicious was going on there. I just didn’t get those vibes at all. Not all of the ghosts are evil so in a way that actually makes a lot of sense either way. My first guess if I was the guy would be that I just got the directions wrong on the way back though. Seems more likely than ghosts but knowing the names and hearing about the past owners would definitely shake things up a bit. He’ll definitely think twice before stopping while on a drive at night though.

Overall, This was a fun story. It’s like a little preview at something that you can picture happening. Perhaps with a slightly less supernatural twist but for the most part, still going through most of these events. The writing and pacing are both good which is super important for a story like this. If you were to mess up on that then this would feel underdeveloped or too rushed. Instead it manages to be a pretty fun story and it’s also one that would probably not work as well if it was full length. In that way, the story made the most out of its format. The short length also makes it an easy re watch. At the end of the day it skates by on just being a fun little short and it didn’t need to be anything more than that.

Overall 7/10

Haridama Magic Cram School Review

Posted on November 2, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a magic manga that sure ended fast. Oneshots are always interesting to read through and then see afterwards if it could have worked as a long ongoing. In this title’s case, it might have been for the best that it ended. It does seem like there is more they could have done but the premise/battle system itself seems like it really limits the series. It’s an interesting angle to choose but at the same time you would have to either throw out a lot of the concepts early on or find a convenient way around them.

The series introduces us to a world of magic where people train in the ways of sorcery. The main character is named Kokuyo and unfortunately he is unable to use magic easily. He has to have a stone with him at all times to use even the most basic of spells. As a result he tends to act out a lot and doesn’t take things seriously. He’s starting off with a disadvantage so why even bother getting past it right? Well another student named Harika isn’t a complete quitter and so she has actually developed some pretty good skills herself. She is ready for the big exam coming up and now Kokuyo has to try hard because he doesn’t want to lose to her. Will he be able to clear this exam or is it all over?

So lets talk about this power system real quick. Everyone has Yin and Yang energy. Aside from the main two, most people can use these energies but only one at a time. So you want to team up with others or just be ready for very long fights. You can use a stone to help you but that seems to be something for the commoners. Kokuyo has a sword which is cool and I think more people should use one since it can actually injure the monsters. Well, by the end of the series it seems like the main two might actually be prodigies who can use both types of energy when they are together. I assume this would be happening a lot going forward. So what are my problems with this?

The whole Yin vs Yang energy is something that has been done better in many other settings. The fact that you have to keep alternating looks super annoying. My main evidence is how even the teachers were taking some time to beat a basic monster. It feels like the power ceiling would be quite low in this series. Kokuyo and Harika may be able to break through that but then you will have everyone wondering why people in universe aren’t more familiar with sharing energy. Why are these two so special?

With a long enough series you can go into that or have people admit they were holding back. Either way that’s just something that is a lot cleaner to fix on the front-end than doing so retroactively. I am judging a whole lot from one volume so I acknowledge that it is possible the author could have won me over with some more time. That just wasn’t the case as this is a one shot so you don’t always get the second chance like that.

As for the characters, the cast was fairly small for now. You have the teacher Sekiei who is always panicking and making a big deal out of everything. He’s okay but not a very interesting kind of character. You know he can fight but that’s about it and I have doubts on just how well he can battle. I wasn’t buying his hype. We have Nekome who is a fairly good student that doesn’t like Kokuyo at all. It doesn’t help that he likes Harika and has to really do a lot to get her attention at all.

It’s a weak romance at best though. If Nekome really liked Harika, you’d think he would be a lot nicer than he is. He’s still big on making fun of Kokuyo for needing the orb when the same is true for her so naturally that gets him into some real trouble there. I was glad to have a rival character of sorts though, that always does a lot to make things interesting and pick up the pacing. Now the battles are automatically more personal by a fairly high degree.

I ended up liking Harika quite a bit more than Kokuyo. Like I mentioned earlier, she didn’t use her circumstances as an excuse. Instead she jumped right into the action and that’s absolutely what you want to see from a character. She just kept on training and fighting to the point where she cold hold her own and pull off any of the normal foes. It’ll probably still take a whole ton of effort to ever be one of the strongest but at least she has not given up on that ambition.

So while I may not be thrilled at some of the rules of the verse, the series was off to a good start here. You had action, a reasonably solid main duo once the main guy starts to shape up and of course you can do a lot with magic. Just keep on throwing in more monsters and you could last for a whole while on that. No ready to jump straight into the big action arc too soon after all, have some good training arcs to build things up and the school setting can be really fun. Just look at Black Clover or Wistoria. There is always an audience for this if it’s executed well.

Meanwhile the art is good. I won’t say that it’s great yet but it is easy to follow along and the character designs are good. The fights we get are fun as well so I definitely don’t have any problems on that front. At least I know if it were to transition into a complete action title played 100% seriously, the art would be ready for it.

Overall, Haridama is a manga that has a very simple/traditional plot and just covers it up with some unique layers. If this became an ongoing I would completely ditch the yin and yang stuff though. You could still have the main two need stones to use magic but in this case it would be more classic. Without the stone they can’t use any magic which is why everyone makes fun of them. Just like that, you’ve got yourself a pretty reasonable series. As a proof of concept, it was fun to check this out and I would recommend reading through it. Again, part of the fun is sort of analyzing why a series didn’t hit big or if it made sense to be a oneshot. In this case it did make sense being a oneshot as it did have some threads to iron out.

Overall 6/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard Will+Dress D2 Review

Posted on November 2, 2024 by dreager1

This manga is definitely a pretty interesting one. On one hand, it’s over extremely fast. There are only 12 chapters in the series and the whole thing is a quick tournament. So it has nonstop fights which is always fun for me but one thing that takes away from it a bit is that you already know who is going to win. I suppose if you got to read it instantly then maybe you could have gone in blind but the first episode of the season taking place after this one already revealed who would win. So that takes a little of the pop out of guessing who would win the match. Still, there are no real negatives to be had with the story. It’s a fun little title that lets you take a peak at how the characters have improved their deck.

The A.I. that nearly took over the world has decided that it needs to see a little more about how everyone duels. What is behind the magic of Cardfight Vanguard? Well the only way to really find that out is to bring the top 16 players over. Unfortunately there are a few big shots who don’t get to enter the tournament but we do have a lot of fun fighters here like Tohya. The winner will prove themselves to be the next true Cardfight champion. Without further adieu, let the games begin!

Each fight is generally around 1 chapter which makes sense since there are 16 people fighting it out here. Some of the minor fights do have to get skipped or abridged though. I was pulling for Tohya the whole time to be honest and you almost have to assume that he wasn’t giving this tournament his 100%. If he was then he should have done way better. This time there are no true stakes after all and I believe that’s what got to him. He’s the kind of character who performs best under duress and without it he gets to be too calm.

The series randomly introduces a new kid to the tournament roster. So far he has yet to appear in the anime so I’m not sure if it was just to give the manga some kind of exclusive or maybe he will return later on. He was nice enough and seemed like a good duelist but at the same time you’re never really thinking that he stands a chance here. I did like the banter he had with another player back in the shop during the final chapter. I think you could make a fine spinoff series about those two just having fun and dueling everybody.

Raika has a big focus here since he i one of the favorites to win the tournament. It’s nice to see him doing well and still getting really into the duels. He is not my favorite rival among the Cardfight cast, far from it! However, his deck is pretty fun. He goes for a very offensive style so he’s always on the attack which is naturally fun to watch. Certainly far more so than a defensive style although that’s where the duelist’s personality shines through. The right duelist can make any deck fun.

Also, fans of the card game will probably appreciate how in depth the games go. The manga is able to extend some of the fights beyond what the anime typically shows. So you get to really see the fight from start to finish with all of the cards that were used and their effects. You could probably try and pull off each combo yourself eventually. Provided that you own the cards of course.

The art is also pretty good. The characters are all on model and it is an easy title to read. You can really blast through the chapters without any real issues and follow the action at all times. It’s not extremely detailed but works for the approach that they are going for here. The writing is also pretty good. The author could maybe have infused the characters with a bit more personality as they aren’t as strong as in the tv show but of course we are working with a very limited amount of screentime here.

We definitely should have had some more cameos at least though. Showing a bunch of the characters who couldn’t enter the tournament would have been quite a grand idea if you ask me. There’s a lot you could do with that, even throwing in some foreshadowing or sequel bait. For better or worse, this is completely a self contained story that isn’t trying to be anything more ambitious than that. While it might not have a ton of impact right now, I think if they had released this a few years from now instead, it would have been super nostalgic to see all of the classic Will+ Dress characters again. Calling them nostalgic feels pretty weird right now though since I still think of them as being rather recent.

There isn’t much more to discuss for the title because of how direct it is though. You either really enjoy all of the classic duels and seeing the characters hang out or you don’t. This could have probably been stretched another volume or so and we could have really gotten to have the full versions of every duel in the tournament. That’s pretty much unheard of so it would have also put this manga on the map. Either way I look forward to seeing what manga they come up next. A crossover at some point would be awesome between classic, G, and the Dress series.

Overall, This was a pretty good mini series. Not every card title has to include end of the world stakes after all. I would have liked something to spruce the tournament up a little bit more though like some more banter and setup before the matches though. I think part of why this title feels extra low key is because everybody is super polite and professional. You don’t have any delinquents or people who are really trying to make a splash and change things up. Everyone treats this as if it’s their full time job and it is for some players but usually the series does a good job of still keeping all of the personalities really colorful. I would challenge a future series to spend more time making the characters interesting next time. Still, I would recommend checking this out whenever you have the time.

Overall 7/10

Shiver Review

Posted on October 29, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a horror anthology in manga format! Now that’s definitely a twist if I’ve ever seen one. I will say that the series definitely does have that spooky vibe the whole time. The stories each do a good job of exploring different fears and really being on the unnerving side. It’s a very disturbing collection and not one I would really recommend to the average manga enjoyer. It can definitely be a little too violent and disturbing but it is probably the most unsettling title you’ll ever read.

The first story is a fairly low key one. So this one guy has a record and his friend always come by to listen to it. She wants to borrow it just for a while but he refuses. He’s just super into the record and doesn’t want anyone to have it. So she promptly steals the record and accidently murders him for it. From there, everyone else wants to hear the record as well and so she continues to be chased. There’s just something about the record that makes you want to hear it. The record was apparently recorded by a famous singer after the singer had already been dead and this seems to have the power to force other corpses to keep on singing as well. There is no escape.

Definitely a spooky story right out of the gate and also why you probably shouldn’t steal stuff. People can go absolutely nuts about their possessions even in the real world. Not something you should die for of course, that’s just where the real horror comes in. I would say this one is scary more for the fact that everyone is hunting you than the actual record though. The record itself is ominous but it seems like you’ll be okay if you let it go. The shop owner lived all these years after all. You just can’t afford to hang onto that thing.

After that we have a story with holes. I remember hearing about this phobia back when I was looking into making homemade cheese chips since quite a number of recipes had a warning about this. I guess holes can be unnerving and I won’t say it’s easy to look at. I don’t think I have the phobia per say but I was making sure not to stare at the characters too hard to find out. Basically this one guy has a next door neighbor who is filled with holes. She seems friendly one moment and then scary the next. He mainly avoids her but this holes disease appears to be contagious and there is a mysterious gardener around. Lets just say this one is even harder to avoid because it’s all happening right next door to the main character. The odds of getting out alive are super slim.

It doesn’t help that his friend is way too greedy and trying to find things out. This just puts them in more and more danger. Half the time in any event it pays to mind your business. If someone is in trouble then of course you gotta help but otherwise it’s not good to be nosy just to be nosy. Particularly with an illness that you don’t really know anything about. I guess he had reason to think something nefarious might be going on but definitely didn’t pick the best routes to uncovering the truth.

Then we have one of the more straight up violent stories. One guy is weirded out when he opens a fashion magazine and there is a really ugly girl inside. Why would she be a model? She looks like an absolutely insane horror jump scare type of monster. His friends who are filming for a movie think it would be brilliant to hire her though. So they pick her up and drive everyone to the forest for the shoot. They can all see that she is no conventionally attractive but don’t seem to be taking it quite as serious as the lead. Maybe they can’t really see her complete fangs and the fact that she’s almost 10 feet?

One thing you will continue to notice as you read through the stories is that the characters rarely act rational. They are all super strange and weird which is part of the horror. So for the main character it makes him/her have some doubts. Maybe the scary stuff is just in the mind? In this story that definitely plays with his head enough to the point where he actually still goes to the forest with the others. Then when the monster starts to actively eat people, it takes too long for him to even try and make a move. Ultimately things do not go well and the story is definitely one of the scariest ones because once they are in the forest you know there is no way out.

After that is definitely the most interesting story and the one they ought to make a movie on. It starts off with a girl hanging herself and then another guy follows suit. The weird thing is after they do this, their large heads appear in the sky like balloons. These balloons begin to spread and soon even people who are alive have their own giant balloons in the sky. These balloons are actively hunting down humans and taking their heads off. If you murder a balloon, you end up destroying the person whose face it was representing. You see the issue already right? You can’t actually destroy these things without ending the human race.

So as the weeks go by, more and more people are defeated. There is no way to go outside to get any food and it’s also just a depressing silence once you are the last ones around. As always some characters look pretty weird with how they just run off to get bumped off but I guess you could say the pressure finally got to them. The main character actually lasts quite a long time but at the end of the day it’s pretty much inevitable that everyone would fall. In a way you could also call this an alien invasion kind of plot. There is just so much more potential here to make it a really long story too.

Next up is a story about marionettes. The main character grew up in a family that relied on these puppet shows for money and stability. Ultimately this went on to an unhealthy degree and the father died after a while and the two songs went their separate ways. One day the main character’s brother returns but he’s a bit off. He has decided to no longer move on his own and instead he has servants who move his limbs for him. How? Through puppet strings. He is married with a kid and that had to be an interesting process. The main character thinks this is all super strange but unfortunately his little sister is super into this and ends up joining the group. You can imagine that this is not good for your bones when you aren’t moving them for so long and sure enough, that is the case but there is also a supernatural presence at work.

This was a pretty good story and definitely another strange one. My only problem and it’s a big problem is that I didn’t like what happened to the main character’s friend. In a lot of these stories it is all about karma and such but she really did nothing wrong. I don’t see why she had to have such a violent end. It felt completely unwarranted to me and just too radical. Ended things on a bit of a sour note there.

Then we have a story about a painter. He’s the best at what he does but one day a lady shows up and explains that she is the most beautiful in the world. So he decides to paint her and thinks he did a good job but she laughs and runs off. The problem is that her beauty is other worldly and now he can’t live normally. He is obsessed with her and runs around trying to find her. Thing is, everyone who draws or paints her ends up dying and he is no exception. He will be the one to finish her off first though.

This is one of the weakest stories. Not much of a hook or climax here and the characters just seemed a little too crazy unprompted. I guess I don’t really see what was so scary about this one except the general horror of meeting a girl who is so beautiful that she takes over your mind. It just felt more on the mean spirited side and desperately needed some kind of a twist about the girl being a demon or something. That could have helped big time.

Then we have a story that is definitely really scary. This one guy has a condition where he is experiencing “Long Dreams”. The dreams get longer and longer every time he goes to sleep. The first time he was asleep, he lived out several weeks, then this turns into years, and eventually he is sleeping for decades. He can’t keep track of what is going on in the real world and the doctor isn’t making much ground. Will he ever end up being okay?

This story is scary for the guy dreaming to be sure. After all if you are stuck in a nightmare then you’re really sunk. What if you die in the dream as well? There are a whole lot of possibilities and none that are particularly good. There is also no way out since you will eventually fall asleep no matter how much you try to resist it. There is just no going against your physical limitations there. I’d also say it’s something you can picture to an extent. Less dramatized of course but a scary situation all around.

Then we have a story about the ancestors curse and it’s the worst one. So this one girl got amnesia somehow so she doesn’t remember her fiancé or anybody. He tries to jog her memory but nothing works so they figure they will take things slow. He takes her over to his place and the whole time she is wondering what could have been so scary that she got amnesia. Well, it’s because his father’s head is connected to a bunch of other heads that go on for generations with no real end. His son will be taking over the family business and needs a descendent right away.

It’s definitely scary although I don’t see how you would get amnesia from that, much less getting it twice. The story itself was quite forced and it definitely has the meanest ending of the lot. Not really something that you want to see here. You were hoping the collection would end with a bang but the strongest stories had already passed by this point. The next one isn’t all that much better either.

The final main story is about a family with an oil addiction. They just can’t help it, they’re always drinking oil and so their bodies are starting to mutate. The main character refuses to do this but her family isn’t giving her much choice and gives her oil while she’s sleeping. She should run away immediately but sticks around too long and the cycle keeps continuing. This story is definitely going for the gross factor as everyone is slimy and the whole town is basically being hit by this. There is no escape to be had by that point.

It’s just such a weird story. I wouldn’t call it scary either to be honest unless you tend to think that gross things are scary. Either way this would definitely be more of a mis for me. There is a super short bonus comic at the end about a girl getting ripped apart but that story was also in bad taste and could definitely be skipped. I’m telling you, the final stories were not trying all that hard!

The art isn’t bad, it’s got a very simple look to it without too many details but it works well for the horror vibes that they are going for. The characters definitely look very memorable the whole time. So I wouldn’t change anything about that. The writing is solid and I would just say the author can sometimes go a little too far with the stories. Tone them down somewhat and there would be a lot of potential here. The ideas themselves are definitely very unique after all.

Overall, Shiver is a pretty scary anthology. I would say it nails the horror genre in ways that would be very difficult for any other title to match. It does feel rather unsettling the whole time. That said, it can just be a little too violent and some areas are much too mean spirited. Horror titles in general have a lot that they have to try and avoid after all. There are many ways in which they can fumble and ultimately I would say this title should be counted among them. If you are going to read it, definitely read at night for maximum impact.

Overall 3/10

Oujia: Origin of Evil Review

Posted on October 28, 2024 by dreager1

When you have a movie about Ouija, the odds of it being good are super slim to none. There’s just not much you can do with this demonic board game and of course the whole premise tends to revolve around a bunch of annoying characters deciding to play it because they’re bored. Not a particularly good idea and things tend to spiral from there. This one does not try to shake up that formula in any way which is too bad. It’ll not go down in history as one of the all time greats.

The movie starts with Alice doing a spooky seance for an old man who wants to know if his wife would approve him doing a pretty bad transaction. Alice may not have powers but she does know how to scam people along with the help of her two daughters Lina and Doris. Ultimately the scam doesn’t go too well as they scare him a bit too much and Alice ends up not accepting his money. Ever since her husband died, she has had to take drastic measures in order to take care of her family and one of these measures was to become a professional scammer. She has everything set up around the house and she even decides to buy a Ouija board. The problem is that it comes with a free demon and this thing is now messing with Doris. Doris is now exhibiting supernatural powers but also becoming more sinister and violent. Can Alice do anything about this?

The two girls go to school where we have Father Tom at the ready so at least he has some spiritual defenses but unfortunately as it would usually appear, his powers aren’t as good as the villains. He’s basically defenseless when it counts. It’s too bad because he is a nice guy and definitely the best character in the film. He does his best to keep everyone in check and also doesn’t break his vows to start a romance with Alice who can seem a little desperate at times. He stays true to himself but ultimately isn’t a huge factor.

Alice is doing her best but at the end of the day I can’t cut her much slack for the scamming. Scamming is really a serious thing. It is one of those crimes that preys on the weak and that makes it even more dishonorable. It also takes her a long while to get with the program that these changes to Doris are pretty bad and have to be stopped.

Lina learns this earlier but in general is also a huge troublemaker so I wouldn’t say that she is a great character or anything like that. My first big gripe with her is how she keeps causing a ton of trouble and breaking the rules when she already knows that her mom is in a tough spot. The least she could do is be on her best behavior but instead she’s constantly flirting with a boy from school, breaking curfew, sneaking out the back, drinking alcohol, etc. Her rebellious phase came in a very big way and it’s definitely disappointing.

Then we have Doris who is super easy for the demon to manipulate. The instant she was talking about invisible friends and stuff the other characters should have shut it down but the sad thing is that it all would have been futile anyway. No matter what she could have done, the demon would have still overpowered her anyway. I will say that the movie does a pretty good job with the CG though. Whenever Doris is possessed she opens her mouth like a huge yawn but they really stretch it out. Think like when Goku was yelling while being crushed by Vegeta. Her mouth gets absolutely huge. Then you also have the possessed eyes although that’s more standard.

The movie’s effects were surprisingly good. I also liked the demon’s design. It looked like a fierce threat and something completely other worldly. That’s about the extent of the credit I can give to the film though. Beyond that like I said it’s just your average horror title. The humans are absolutely outmatched, the demon doesn’t really have much of a weakness, and so there’s nothing to really get invested in. When you know that all of the characters are completely doomed then that takes some of the enjoyment out of the whole thing.

With more likable characters you could at least try something but again, they were all super annoying. That one guy who was trying after Lina was just way too much the whole time so you don’t feel as bad for him as you could have. The whole whispering into the ear trick that the demon does is also a bit on the silly side. Alice’s husband has the idea to staple the villain’s mouth shut but that’s not even a good plan because it involves you needing to be strong enough to overcome the demon in the first place. You need incredible amounts of plot armor for that to even come close to working so it’s barely even a plan at all.

Why can’t he just possess an object or a person and help fight the demon? He is apparently good enough to mess with a little doll so he can affect the real world to a small extent. He’s just got to do a whole lot better than that. I also think Tom should have called the Vatican to send an exorcist over as soon as he knew that something was wrong with the daughter. How much more proof do you need once she is writing in other languages and acting so crazy? He decides to go to the house first and let them know…which is a terrible idea. He knows that she has supernatural powers now so how would that possibly help?

Overall, Ouija definitely has a swing and a miss here. It wasn’t a particularly enjoyable film and one of these days they need to have the heroes fight back a little more. Of course that would mean not having the demon possess a little kid this time. I feel like it usually tends to be the kids but if you pick an adult then we can have some fights. Give the demon some form of a weakness or limitation so that the fights can matter as well. As long as we’re stuck in this cycle, the films will continue to stumble their way to the finish line.

Overall 2/10

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