Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War Review

Posted on July 27, 2024 by dreager1

This is a manga that I felt like I was reading for years and years. It just took forever to scan but the series is long with almost 100 chapters so it was a really big project. It certainly had its moments here and there but ultimately the problems were just too massive for the series to ever get past. Put it this way, the series takes place in the olden times of kingdoms and tradition. So unfortunately a lot of characters don’t make the right moves because of a sense of honor. So by the end most of the characters are just real awful and it’s hard to really try and redeem any of them. It’s actually a real shame when you look at it that way.

The story is really split into two main sagas. The first half is about Prince Sigurd as he does his best to unite the kingdom. There are tons of evil countries out there and even his own has a lot of problems. So Sigurd has to really start from the top but since he’s Prince he should be able to do a lot right? Along the way he falls in love and has to work to balance the weight of the crown with the weight of being a husband. Will he be able to unite the kingdom?

Well the second saga is about his son Seliph who has to stop the evil kingdoms so you can probably guess how that went. Seliph is a little more extreme than his father was. He is an ultra pacifist who doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Yeah Sigurd was also keen to avoid fighting but the big difference was that he would ultimately draw his sword when needed. He understood that sometimes you had to fight in order to protect what you love. Seliph takes forever and a day to learn this which is annoying.

Now the idea of two sagas is very interesting. Outside of people who played the game and knew this was coming it really comes as a shock. I was definitely not expecting a whole new 2nd act that would have brand new characters and everything. It’s really like a whole new adventure from end to end. So the idea is cool at least even if it didn’t really do much to save the series. You may be wondering, just how bad can this series get? It’s still Nintendo so what’s with the super low score? Well I hate to say it but this series broke all of the biggest cardinal rules.

First off, it pulls a Sword Art Online. The series so infamous that just using the term lets you know what’s going on. Well maybe not for everyone so basically the series decides to go grim dark by having one of the villains attack Sigurd’s wife and things get really dicey from there. The series really fell into the gutter from that point and never recovered. Unfortunately it doesn’t stop there. The series also decides to pull another Sword Art Online with a plot twist about Seliph’s wife and that reallllly gets dicey. The series really didn’t need to pull that. There are no point to the twist beyond the standard shock value that comes with it. Yeah that may have been something that happened more in the super old time this takes place in but that doesn’t mean it has to be included.

That’s my thing with a lot of these series. Just because something might be historically accurate or improves the realism, doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to include it. In fact, I would say the opposite is usually true where adding these things just weakens the story by a massive degree. The series could have done without all of this stuff. These were the two most notable moments but trust me when I say there were a whole lot of others as well. The series generally didn’t have a ton of fanservice either. Some here and there but for the most part it was avoided so I appreciated that at least.

Too bad the villains had quite a few pervs in their ranks. Unfortunately this is where the annoying honor stuff comes in again. One guy harasses one of the girls a lot but he’s a high ranking noblemen so the heroes are told to stand down. The girl even says she can take it but really? The heroes aren’t gonna do anything? Oooh yeah I’d have some problems with that. One of the quickest ways for me to lose respect for a character is when they sit back and allow villains to get away with whatever they want. That’s absolutely not something you can allow in any timeline.

The series is long and yet the ending also manages to be rushed. That’s always an impressive combination in a rather grim way. Like how do you even let that happen, it doesn’t make any sense. The main villain suddenly decides not to be super evil and basically gives up, then Seliph decides it’s time to finally have some rage and goes for the final blow. It’s really not a satisfying ending in any way and so the series couldn’t even end on a positive note.

As far as the art goes, I can’t say that it was very good. It’s extremely old and has one of those art styles that just feels really dated right now. Not like that’s a super bad thing in itself but at the same time I wouldn’t say that it goes very well. It’s not the worst art that I’ve seen but I would say that it is considerably below average. It really feels like the whole deck was stacked against this series right? Well one more main negative and then lets go onto some positives.

The power levels make no sense here. I don’t usually go into this much because most series will have some power issues as they go on. It’s pretty much impossible not to right? Well what makes this one particularly egregious is the fact that it’s so drastic. The series is mainly down to Earth. A few fighters have burning blades that increase their attack power but that’s it. That is…until some mages show up. One of the villains is a girl who can shoot meteors that can literally destroy mountains. She is shown to burn a whole town in the blink of an eye. So how do the heroes actually manage to beat a villain like this? Well, she is either told to retreat by her inept commander or she just doesn’t use her abilities until the heroes get in close to knock her out.

Eventually the heroes get mages of their own who have wind abilities and yet the heroes never really do much with him. What’s the point of having a super weapon if you’re not going to use him. I would say that the heroes absolutely did not have good tactics at the ready. There is no excuse for them to not be able to do much of anything here. They had the numbers and manpower to do better but otherwise the villains should stomp. The instant the girl with meteors was introduced, that should have been the end of the series without a doubt. You can’t really come back from that.

Okay now lets get into some positives right here. The first one is that the series does have good world building. While I may not enjoy a lot of the characters and settings, it is hard to deny that the series does a good job of going into everyone’s backstories and the various countries that are around. There are quite a few countries and they all get their big moments to shine. This is a very big world and the series makes sure to explore this as a theme. No country is left behind here, they all have a role to play.

It may be a bit convenient how they all attack one at a time in most cases but I can overlook that for now. The fight scenes are suitably dramatic when they happen and I do enjoy the climaxes for each arc. The series is at its best when it is focusing on these spectacles. There are also some characters that I actually do like quite a bit. In general the cast of part 1 is vastly superior to those in part 2. You have people who look forward to fighting and who can really hold their own.

It unfortunately goes without saying that I couldn’t get behind almost any of the romances in this series though. They tended to fall into the trap of being either risky, rushed, or just out of left field. The characters wouldn’t often have much of a reason to like each other or it felt like something out of desperation. The amount of characters who need validation from others here is rather large after all and unfortunately this always leads a villain to taking advantage of some of them from time to time.

The series’ length is something that works to its favor at least. While I didn’t care for the title in the end, there is a lot to read through if you do end up enjoying it. You can tell a lot of story in 99 chapters after all, particularly since each chapter is really long. The series definitely changes a whole lot when it ends compared to where it starts. It can be happy, sad, action based, romance focused, etc. There is a ton of variety to be found here and it feels less like a video game adaption and more like a full on epic. If it just could have avoided most of the problematic issues of the time then it would have been just fine.

Some titles can survive a few setbacks but the main problem was that these were just way too extensive. At that point the series couldn’t survive which is always a shame when you see the lost potential there. I’ve read lots of series that put in the work to be a super solid title and then they were ultimately not able to prevail. It’s just how it goes sometimes but at least there are so many other Fire Emblem titles out there that it’s not like I would ever need to even try re reading this one to get my Fire Emblem fix.

Pretty much all of the villains are just super evil to the point of it almost being comical without much other depth to them so I won’t talk about most of them here. A lot of them are your average dark mages with different spells and sorcery. Some of them do have some real ability but for the most part they tend to hide in the shadows. They have the fighters with actual skills rush into the fray and then go for the cheap shots. Usually the most notable fighters will turn good and get recruited into the army. Then rinse and repeat for the future arcs.

wo of the first fighters to show up are Lex and Azel. Azel is young but he has good magical abilities. He’s a decent fighter but gets flustered rather easily and does seem a little too young for these games of death. Granted, it’s a war so it’s not like the characters have much choice. Lex is a lot more experienced but doesn’t have the same level of ability so they have a fairly good dynamic there with a lot of contrast.

Then you have Diadora the main heroine. She has some pretty good healing spells and has a big role. Unfortunately things really don’t go very well for her at all and I wish that she would have had a better ending. She was a very nice character after all so the whole thing felt rather harsh. The cast in the series is really huge overall and there are a bunch of other heroines who seem rather similar and got to have better endings. I suppose they can’t all go out on a high note but it still felt like a bit much. I had to quickly take a look through the early chapters to remind myself on some of the different names.

One thing I will say is that the series does have that issue where a bunch of characters look really similar. For once you can say there is a bit of a lore reason for it as almost everyone is related in one way or the other but it still makes them hard to pick out in a crowd. It doesn’t help that most of the characters wear similar getups since they’re all in a war scenario.

Avra is a heroine who stood out as one of the dragon riders. I liked her combat gear and she was definitely more of a tsundere type fighter. She made sure nobody ever got the wrong idea when she would help them but of course this does lead into a romance plot. Fire Emblem is one of those series that has a ton of different romances running around but almost none of them work. It goes for more of a quantity over quality kind of thing.

Again I think part of the weakness here is in how old school everything is. All of the characters constantly talk about honor and what can or can’t be done. As a result they rarely end up seeming all that reliable to me. They will freeze up or hesitate if the big boss says anything and can also be a bit slow to help each of their heroines.

I already talked about the dancer Sylvia getting harassed and everyone was really slow to help her. Levin is a solid character as he is trying for peace and uses his wind abilities to mow down anyone in his way. It would be nice if he was more of an aggressive fighter though but there really aren’t any big characters like that. If we had more notable characters that were really bold and stood out, that would really change things. There are a bunch of other characters but again, they don’t really leap out of the page or anything like that.

Overall, Fire Emblem had a lot of potential but it didn’t live up to this. There is a ton of world building and the story goes really in depth on the kingdom setup so it probably is a must read for scholars of the franchise but I also wanted a top tier story along with that. I don’t think this would be too greedy of an ask right? In general I am still a really big fan of Fire Emblem and I look forward to seeing more stories about the franchise. I’ve generally enjoyed all of the other ones, this was really the only one that just couldn’t hold its own. I think any newer title would easily dominate this one and so I would say to definitely give this one a hard skip. Read Fire Emblem Engage instead if you want a really solid story with great art and characters.

Overall 2/10

Megaton-kyuu Musashi Season 2 Review

Posted on July 27, 2024 by dreager1

It’s definitely been a while since I checked this one out so lets dive into season 2. I really enjoyed season 1 with the awesome music and fights around every corner. In a lot of ways season 2 does keep up although I would give 1 the slight edge. I thought it had a better climax and wrapped things up a little better. This one gets a bit too ambitious towards the end so some things have to be rushed like the two cosmic beings and one of the main characters looks horrible here. Still, we do get the big fight scenes which is always a plus and the soundtrack is still great which is what counts.

After the events of the first season, Arshem and Yamato are split off into two different plots. Arshem is helping a resistance group get their bearings as she still works to become leader of the aliens. If she can do this, then she will really be in a good position to stop the war once and for all. The main problem is that their commander right now is Grieffas who is not about to listen to her and wants to conquer the remaining humans. She will inevitably have to fight with him at some point about this.

In the human plot, Yamato is still blasting away at the aliens but his heart isn’t quite as into it anymore. He used to want to wipe them all out, but now that he knows a lot of them are just ordinary people, it’s not something he can put all of his heart into in quite the same way. It’s not like he is a mass murderer after all. He just wants to defend his right to live. He also sees more of the shady dealings that his own government is doing, this will not be easy.

Yamato is a great character as always. He still has a lot of fire within him and is always ready for a fight. He hasn’t lost that enthusiasm. He may have less time to show off his punk side but near the beginning of the season he does get to fight the new transfer student which was fun. Yamato is definitely not someone who will go down without a fight and you can always appreciate that. I was a little surprised when the first season threw in a bit of a romance for him and season 2 doesn’t shy away from it either. His romance with Arshem is treated as a legitimate plot point that actually comes up and get focus on numerous occasions. It can definitely be really dramatic at times to be sure but it’s definitely handled way better than the average one. It helps that they are both quality characters.

This is one of those romances that I can actually point to as a great example on how to do this. Both characters liked each other without any rebounds or other people getting in the way. We get a lot of time so it’s not like they fell for each other immediately, etc. There were just a whole lot of positives to be had here. The series tries out some other romances which don’t work quite as well since they weren’t the focus but when you manage to do the main one right, the rest all comes into play.

Arshem is also a great character here with good ideals. At times she may feel a bit naive with her hopes for world peace though. The fact of the matter is that there can be no chance for peace until there is a cure allowing the aliens to live peacefully on Earth. Without that, they will have to keep relying on the injections over and over again which isn’t a long term strategy. If anything it is just something that will make the forces uneven which will breed more resentment. So finding the cure is really the first step…or just gaining absolute power and that’s really the route that she went. So her goals were good but I do think she was missing the big picture.

On the human side we also have Ryugo as one of the original main characters but I wouldn’t say he gets a ton to do after a while. His abilities are fairly low compared to the rest of the pilots. He pulls his own weight and everything but it always feels like he is lagging behind the other characters when it counts. He works well enough for the banter but it would have been great if he could have gotten some kind of a power up at some point.

Teru is the brainy type of character and he was solid in the first season but he really falls off a cliff here. The character doesn’t have enough strength of will to make the right decisions effortlessly. Instead he has to actually wonder what the right call is even when it’s obvious. He had a kid and isn’t sure if the kid should be alive? That’s rather crazy and he doesn’t do much about the experimenting for a while.

Then at one point he attacks a cleaning maid because it looked like the girl he was in love with. Teru’s absolutely deranged and he ended up being one of the most annoying characters. I was sort of rooting for his downfall for a while there. It’s just crazy how you can fall so hard after being a rather sensible character.

Reiji is still a solid character with his super abilities. It would have been nice if he could have used them more though. It felt like there was a lot more to that plot point that never really got addressed. Later on Yamato seemed to be able to use similar abilities so it’s maybe something that humans just have innately as opposed to it needing to be artificial but I dunno, it wasn’t given quite as much focus as you’d expect. Reiji does have one critical battle near the end where he holds off a top tier though.

Jun is always a super fun character. She enters a bit of a slump later on when she suffers some PTSD but the whole plot is actually handled rather well. It’s not rushed and we are given a lot of time to see her fighting through this and trying to get her old confidence back. Once Jun pushes past this, she goes back to her fun moments of banter and messing with everyone. It can be hard to get a read on when she’s joking vs being serious but that’s part of her charm.

The Queen gets a rather big role here and she is another character who was handled super well. She had to make the really hard calls as the leader and accepted the role as villain. She still is a villain to be clear and there’s no real way to explain her wanting to murder Arshem. So she ended up being too far gone and no amount of damage control could fix that. That being said, while I will continue to criticize her for that, taking down the Earth seems like a reasonable strategy from her perspective. There’s no way any planet will willingly give up to another and additionally, if they wanted to accept the aliens, that wouldn’t be possible either since the planet isn’t big enough for the two of them.

She decided that with all of this in mind, she may as well launch the first strike and knock them all out immediately. There was only one flaw with her plan which is that she couldn’t destroy all of them without finding the method for being able to breath in Earth’s atmosphere. If not for that, she could have finished the job and that would have been that. I do think you could make the case that they should have captured more people then and there are different ways you could play this. At the end of the day, the humans pulled through anyway.

Grieffas is a more extreme villain. He believes in the first place that the aliens should not have run away when they were being annihilated by Adam and Eve. So under his leadership the whole race would have been wiped out before this series even began. That would have certainly been one way to go. I definitely sympathize with not wanting to run away but it’s clear that the gap in power between the two races was extensive. There’s nothing that could have been done. Then he gets obsessed with being together with Arshem and is madly jealous of Yamato the whole time.

He goes way down in this second half for basically being a creep and spending all of his time on the throne. In season 1 he was fighting and at least getting stuff done. In this second part his main priority was Arshem at the cost of his own plans and ultimately he went down like a chump. Definitely not the way you want to lose when the stakes are this high. The other villains in the show all ended up being a lot more fun. First off you have Zaskar who actually doesn’t get a whole lot to do. He is introduced as one of the top fighters on the villain’s side but he shows up super late into the game. He would have gotten more to do in the end but the show didn’t quite get to that part. Still, I always enjoy the elite villains like this and the guy has a very serious attitude that is appropriate for a fighter of his station.

Then we have Yugra who starts out as a villain that just follows orders so that he can prove himself. From there he ends up being a really solid villain overall who questions his orders and follows his heart. His character arc has to go through rather quickly but it was a good one and he ended up being likable. The same goes for his partner Miysis although it takes longer for her to really join the heroes side. You sort of feel like she just came along for the ride for a while there but in the end as long as you join the heroes I suppose the reason itself isn’t quite as important.

Veloa is another villain who starts out as being evil and then sees the light. When you think about it, quite a few of the aliens were ready to turn good and I think it helps to support the overall premise of both groups not wanting to be evil. At the end of the day they committed the murders under the Queen’s orders but before that they were never a villain group like this. So going back to their old ways will end up being normal. There are still a lot of grudges that will never go away but that is to be expected. So this guy gets to prove his worth of why he is a good bodyguard even if he does lose his main fight.

Then we have Dixenberg who is a reasonable villain. He’s basically an old guy who can’t really fight so you do have to keep that into consideration. What I like about him is he represents the corrupt humans who will always show up from time to time. He plans to take advantage of the chaos that arose when 99% of each race’s population was wiped out. Now he can be king and rule over it all! It’s truly an ambitious plot and so I get that. Ultimately it’s not like you ever think he would stand a chance against anyone but he is still fun enough.

Kojiro is more of an intense villain because he gets a big backstory and a lot to do in the present. He has trouble with a second personality that takes over and makes him murder people all of the time. It’s definitely tough to make friends that way and he really starts to crack by the end. I thought that he was a reasonable rival but the low willpower definitely did hurt him in the end. He sort of holds the heroes back for most of the series and only gets it in gear by the very final part of the climax. Better late than never though.

We also have the other human resistance group led by Victor. He’s a solid character who has a big backstory. I give him massive amounts of hype for being able to survive in the wilderness while the entire planet is covered in poison. That’s a really difficult thing to have to put up with and yet he took it like a champ. So definitely kudos there. He could have introduced himself to his daughter a lot sooner though. He really took his time there.

Then there is Masamune who gives us one of the most enjoyable fights at the start of the season. I like the idea of a pro agent being thrown into the mix. He may not be a street fighter like Yamato but his skills still translate themselves into the battles very well. He gets his own romance plot which is rather rushed I have to admit but all in all he’s good. Near the end of the series he lets his guard down and gets stabbed which is a really cheesy scene. There’s no way the villain should have been able to land a hit on him there. That whole thing felt rather forced.

Shizuka gets the least to do by far. She’s good at covert ops and infiltration but we don’t really get to see her fight. She’s a solid member of the team either way and pulls her own weight but the first two undoubtedly get a lot more to do. It feels like Shizuka needed a friend or family member of her own so that she would have a relevant plot going instead of just waiting around on the sidelines.

Finally we have Adam and Eve who are rather huge as you would expect. These two are villains with cosmic abilities that are vastly above what you may expect from anyone in this series. They usually don’t get to actually show these abilities off though and that’s in part because they don’t do anything until the very end. Just one of their mechs gives the whole crew a tough fight and they can create millions of them. Only a very specific kind of ability is able to negate this and they happen to fight her. Still, I really enjoyed Adam and Eve. They make for a good team and the only shame is that they didn’t appear more. There is absolutely still a whole lot you can do with them. Considering that they wiped out the aliens so easily who wiped out the humans with the same lack of difficulty, the power creep was intense.

The show perhaps bit off a little more than it could chew there. I don’t think it is always able to handle the power level concerns that come up when the characters start introducing stronger and stronger mechs. That being said, the show is still very interesting all the way through. There is never a shortage of action so you will have those scenes in every episode but at the same time there are much deeper plot threads going on the whole time. The series really dives into topics like the cycle of violence and why wars need to be stopped.

The animation is definitely really solid. I would say it’s very consistent between the episodes and I always really enjoy the hand to hand fight scenes. The robot fights are a lot of fun too of course and there are more of those but that’s why the human fights stand out. They happen so rarely that you really feel the impact. Then for the soundtrack, we have a number of lyrical songs that pop up and the usual battle themes which are really good. They all balance out really well and so there is a lot of variety here. You won’t be feeling that the osts are too overused or anything like that. This is a show that will keep you guessing.

There are some themes that the show does gloss over a bit that I would like to see addressed in a sequel though. One of these is of course the fact that the “heroes” are brainwashing all of their civilians so they don’t panic. That still doesn’t justify the whole time. If people are going to panic then your job is to minimize that, but mind controlling them is just taking away all of their agency. This was never really addressed and we see that the humans really got desperate when they were almost wiped out. Ultimately they had a lot of flaws that just weren’t really acknowledged so that’s something I would like to see more beyond all of the extra fighting that I would want to see as well.

Overall, Megaton is a great show all the way around. It may be a little under season 1 but I still had a really good time here. There are a ton of characters to root for and a lot of action scenes to keep your pulse racing. The animation and soundtrack are good and there is a whole lot of ground that is covered here. I can definitely recommend it to any mecha fan or anyone who even just likes a good romance plot. There is a whole lot of screentime for both things and the show does a great job of juggling all of the plots. A story of two people from warring factions falling for each other is always a classic after all.

Overall 8/10

Juni Taisen: Zodiac War Review

Posted on July 25, 2024 by dreager1

This series is one of those survival tournaments sort of like Fate/Zero. There are a lot of fighters gunning for the grand prize and everyone has their own reasons for winnings and strategies. We change perspectives a whole lot which is interesting. The series does a good job with all of the varied abilities as well. It can definitely get rather intense at times and for the most part you really can’t trust anyone as they will all do whatever they can in order to win. It definitely keeps you at the edge of your seat the whole time.

The story starts by introducing us to the Zodiac War tournament which is a battle that is held every 12 years. One fighter is chosen for each of the 12 Zodiac symbols. This is typically someone who has really been training for this day because the prize is immense. You get whatever you wish for. The limits of your prize appear to be absolutely unlimited so who would not jump at such a chance right? Each player swallows a poison gem and the deadline for the tournament is midnight. If there is more than 1 competitor still alive at that point, the gem will unravel and everyone dies. So you better murder the 11 contestants quickly or you will find yourself in oblivion as well.

Part of the fun is of course seeing who gets bumped off and who wins so I won’t be talking about who wins or anything like that. Obviously you want to go in with as little information as possible. Most of the characters’ wishes are hidden as well until the end so I won’t really go into that. Instead, I’ll mainly spend the review talking about each character individually. At the end of the day this is really a true combat manga all the way so you can expect quite a lot of action all the way through. It definitely does not hold back on the action at all. The series can get rather violent with how everyone is getting murdered. Of course that will come as no surprise but the backstories tend to be dark as well. You’re shown just how hopeless things are for most of the characters and why it is so important that they win here.

I can understand why they take the risk considering the stakes. That said, I would say some characters are considerably more powerful than the others. Everyone has some kind of a special ability up their sleeve but it’s hard to compare reading vibrations to having unlimited bullets for example. For the most part the characters are rather down to Earth so having an infinite machine gun is actually super handy. The series does a good job of using the rock paper scissors type rules though where characters have good and bad matchups which ends up being just as important as the battles themselves. You might still find some fights a tad cheesy with who comes out on top but all in all I would say the series did a good job with this.

The art is definitely very high tier. The series has a ton of detail on each page, you can definitely feel the dread of the characters and understand how high the stakes are at all times. Each page makes you want to flip to the next. It’s very easy to read and the style is memorable. For example Rabbit in particular looks super deranged the whole time, definitely not someone you really want to mess with.

One thing that’s too bad is that we didn’t get a longer introduction. We only get to see all of the characters together in the same room interacting for a very brief time. The tournament starts almost immediately and from there we don’t have a lot of time for conversation. Sure we get the 1 on 1s, but after that it’s about action. Seeing a little more tough talk and flexing at the beginning is the kind of thing that I will never turn down. The tension is palpable and it’s the kind of thing I really enjoy about tournament series especially because until the rounds start, it really is anyone’s game.

Okay so first up lets talk about Rat. He is one of the more unremarkable characters at first glance. His ability is a mystery but all of his stats appear to be around average. The guy is quick but still wouldn’t be a favorite to win. He’s a fun character to have around though and when you think of Rats in any form of media you know that they’re really clever. So naturally you are expecting something smart out of this guy. I liked his plan and once we get the reveal about his ability, it’s one that I really like. It’s an incredibly useful ability and yet I would not say that it is downright broken. The author is careful to add some limits to it. Honestly it’s an ability that would still be super scary to have in real life.

Then we have Ox who is one of the big favorites to win the event. He’s known for being virtually invincible. His strength is completely off the charts and he wins every fight without getting a scratch. He is absolutely unstoppable and the guy is very emotionless. He just does whatever he wants and doesn’t generally doubt himself. I liked him quite a bit. We never get a whole lot of backstory into the guy but just enough where you can understand him. I like the mystery there and of course in general I tend to like the characters who are really good at fighting and come prepared.

After that is Tiger who tends to get drunk a lot. She’s a solid fighter as well and gets even better when she is drunk but at the same time she never feels like she is a match for the top tiers which is what holds her back. I like her can do attitude and how she never backs away from a fight but at the same time it would have been nice if she was a little stronger. Bravado is all well and good but when it’s not enough to lead you to victory then it can end up feeling rather hollow. I still liked her well enough and in general the series made almost every character likable. There are two main exceptions here but she isn’t one of them.

Rabbit is the next one to talk about on our list. Like I said, the guy is absolutely insane. It’s hard to know what he is thinking at any given moment and that makes him a dangerous wild card. He is strong but his real strength is his unpredictability. At any moment he can just lunge at you and end the fight. For that reason, I feel like the characters could have had their guard up a little more. It’s not like this guy even looks all that stable right? Rabbit is super smart though. His ability isn’t necessarily the best at first but is one that becomes more and more useful as the fight goes on. in a survival game that is absolutely a really good kind of ability to have. It sets you up just right to make a play for the win.

Then we have Dragon who is one of the only ones that I did not care about. I don’t think the series ever meant for him to be all that interesting though. In a tournament of 12 fighters with only 4 volumes, some fighters can’t get as much depth as the others. I felt like Dragon was one of these guys. His ability isn’t very interesting and the guy doesn’t seem all that tough. So in the end there just isn’t much else for the guy to do. He’s just absolutely busted but not in a powerful way.

Snake suffers from the same fate which isn’t really surprising since they’re basically twins. So he has all of the same issues that Dragon has with no real improvements there. This guy can feel vibrations…but yeah that’s about it. These two are still good to have in the story of course to round out the roster but I don’t imagine that very many people missed them. They just never felt like they were really ready for this level of competition at all.

Horse is one of those guys that I thought had a whole lot of potential but in the end it just wasn’t enough. The way he went out wasn’t super satisfying either to be honest. I know a lot of this is about wits and being careful but even so it was just underwhelming. I still think he made for an interesting character even with the lack of screentime. He’s one of those guys who really would have made waves if he was left on the board for too long as well so it’s easy to see why he had to be targeted early on.

Sheep is the oldest contestant. He’s been around for a long time and so he can’t compete physically at all. The guy has bombs though and one of his big advantages is the guy’s a team player. He’s willing to work with just about everyone but of course in a tournament like this you have to be careful. He has a lot of wits and is a reasonably fun character but at the same time it just feels like he is doomed right away. No matter how skilled you are, can you really make it far without having some level of physical ability? It just seems like a losing battle.

Monkey is the pacifist of the group and so naturally she is one of the most annoying characters. This is a war so of course there’s no way to get through this without violence. For starters that would mean giving up your wish and nobody is going to do that. So she felt rather nonsensical from the start. Monkey has some of the strongest stats in the tournament but it’s not worth much when she isn’t willing to make the first move. She made for an interesting wild card but as a character I just didn’t like her. She definitely went to the wrong tournament, that’s for sure!

Chicken doesn’t have the biggest role but is a fun enough character. She’s not thrilled about being in this whole fight because fighting isn’t her favorite thing. Still, she has a wish to be granted and is ready to get it. Anyone who sounds this nice is rather suspicious right out of the gate though. I would definitely say that for sure. She’s not bad but Chicken doesn’t really stand out next to most of the other fighters. I would consider her to be one of the weaker characters overall.

After that is Dog who is good against poisons. He feels like one of those characters who is also rather underutilized. I couldn’t take him super seriously and he didn’t feel like one of the smarter characters either. The guy definitely needed a better plan here. I’d have been eager to see more of what he can do but in the grand scheme of things, most of the others had more potential so it was definitely a fair tradeoff.

Finally we have Boar who feels like someone who would be the main heroine in another title. Her backstory is rather twisted but her design just feels like the lead. Her infinite ammo ability is really solid and she’s a very confident character. Definitely one of the favorites to win the whole thing and I really enjoyed her character the whole time. Definitely a really fun character to have around at all times.

There is also the referee Duedeculpe but not a whole lot to say about him. Of course he is important for checking on what’s going on and is key to the ending. Not the most interesting character or anything but definitely a necessary one. Especially since he is a part of the mysterious organization which is definitely interesting in itself. Now there’s a group that you definitely can’t underestimate considering how much pull they have. If you get in their way then it’s game over.

Overall, The Zodiac War is a pretty fun series. The battles are all rather intense and the abilities are used wisely. I liked all of the tactics being used here and the ending definitely works really well. It’s a satisfying conclusion that makes the whole thing really worth it. I’d recommend this to anyone who likes a solid action title. I would again caution that this definitely does get very intense but I wouldn’t say it ever gets extremely crazy to the point where it is trying to be an edge lord type title. For the most part the violence is limited to the contestants which is always a big deal.

Overall 6/10

Kaiju No 8 Review

Posted on July 25, 2024 by dreager1

Kaiju No 8 really became a big thing when the manga came out. One of those titles that was being mentioned everywhere. How could you not like it right? We’re talking giant Kaiju, big action scenes, etc. The anime started off on a rocky note with people doubting the character designs and animations when it was first announced. Could it really capture the manga’s raw art? Well, I think it’s fair to say that the anime isn’t nearly as intense and isn’t leaning as hard into the horror type imagery but still works as a solid adaption. I was satisfied with season 1’s direction both with the animation and soundtrack.

The series starts by introducing us to Kafka who has been trying to join the Defense Force for a very long time but always gets rejected. The guy just has absolutely no luck with this and he’s not getting any younger. This is his last chance now and it’s not looking great but he ends up swallowing a Kaiju and gains super powers. He is now Kaiju No. 8, one of the most powerful monsters in recorded history. If he can hide these powers just right, perhaps he can finally join the group? Kafka’s ultimate goal is to work alongside his childhood fiend Mina who is now near the very top of the organization. Until he fulfills that goal, he will not give up!

Now I will say right off the bat that I know some people were disappointed that Kafka didn’t get to stay as a clean up guy who supports the team rather than being the main fighter himself. I get it, but I have to disagree because it wouldn’t be very exciting. I want to see a lot of fight scenes and the best way to do that is always to have the main character be a top tier fighter. At the end of the day that’s the only way to really proceed. So I’m fine with that part and Kafka makes for a reasonable main character. In terms of personality I wouldn’t say that he’s great or anything but I’d say he is average.

He gets the job done when it counts and has some good moments. I think what really keeps him from rising up is that it never felt like he really tried to achieve his dreams as hard as most leads. He basically gave up for a long while there and while he trained a bit, we just didn’t see that very much. It felt like he was half heartedly chasing his dream to be by Mina’s side for a while there instead of going full blast. Getting the Kaiju powers was basically lucky for him and from then on he had it made. I would have fought the government more near the end but most main characters would have done what Kafka did so I won’t blame him there too hard.

He tries to act like the younger main characters despite being old so in a way the age never really becomes a factor the way you would expect it to. His sidekick Reno is the more interesting character though. He wants to be a big Defense Force hero as well and has been training hard for many years in order to pull this off. He may not have super powers but he is able to unlock a lot of power out of his suit right away. If he wasn’t in a historic year of geniuses then he would have shined even more. He’s a good friend and ultimately Reno is the kind of hero that you definitely want to have on your side.

As a quick interlude here, the series maybe has a little too much fun with making everyone a prodigy. The only other series to do this quite as frequently is World Trigger and I would say that show did a better job of it. It’s just a bit harder to buy in Kaiju No 8 with everyone setting records and dominating. Shouldn’t humanity be doing a little better against the Kaiju with all of these heavy hitters around? And yet, there are other times where you wonder how they have been alive for so long otherwise. Without Kafka stepping in, most of the Defense Force would have been wiped out within the season. So it feels like the series can never really decide on just which team should have the advantage here.

An ongoing plot point is that the villains are getting stronger lately so you could say it’s just an ever increasing amount of power escalation that is going on within both sides. I suppose I can get behind that but I dunno it could have just been set up a little better. Either way with Kafka on the team the world can be saved real fast now. You know that the Defense Force had to be desperate for some kind of trump card with all of their fighters constantly being destroyed all the time. It would be really dumb to try and get in his way right?….right?

Well the government always falls beneath the occasion and of course they try to arrest Kafka. I don’t even know that I need to really go into this to explain why it’s such a bad move but I may as well. So Kafka just saved the entire team from an extremely powerful Kaiju that was going to wipe them out. Clearly Kafka is stronger than everyone in the room and could have murdered all of the humans in the room. The fact that he didn’t, means that he is definitely one of us right? Why hold him at gunpoint and get the guy arrested?

I say this for 2 reasons. First, lets assume that Kafka is actually evil and he’s just trying to gain their trust. Immediately saying you don’t trust Kafka and getting aggressive would just force him to act and murder you all. This is a bad strategy because it fails if you are right. Then if he’s a good guy, threatening him isn’t good either because what that means is he may have to fight you in self defense. Even if he doesn’t wipe anyone out, he’s going to have to go into hiding for a while and may not be able to help as freely. The only real option here would have been to get his help.

I’d also give Hoshina some grief for attempting to destroy him early on for the same logic. Even if you don’t want to take a chance and figure you should murder every Kaiju, only do that once you’ve wiped out all of the obviously evil ones. Otherwise you are risking your life in vain. Hoshina is a great character otherwise though. I like him as a senior rival of sorts. Someone who was a prodigy of the previous generation who can still hold his own against the current characters. In fact by the end of this season he is probably still top 5 among the heroes. I’m not counting Gen yet since he only appeared for under a minute.

Then we have his boss Mina who is a fun character. She is really serious to be sure and definitely doesn’t really do much of anything to help Kafka out. Mina intends to give him the same treatment she gives everyone else so if he wants to be by her side, he will really have to work as hard as possible. Mina might take this a little far but from her perspective Kafka has been disappointing for a long while so I’m cool with her being a little irritated at this point. In the meantime she continues to shred Kaiju left and right. Her projectiles are incredibly powerful to the point where even numbered Kaiju will have a tough time with her attacks.

Mina is strong and fast. She’s really the ideal soldier for the Defense Force and someone who will definitely not be going down anytime soon. Then we have Kikoru who seems like she will be the next generation of Mina. She is another prodigy who is easily excelling past all of her comrades. The way Kikoru fights is different though as she is a close quarters specialist who fights with a big axe. Kikoru continues to excel more and more in the fights despite dealing with some issues from her past.

It probably comes as no surprise when I say that she is the best character in the series. I always like that tough talking kind of character who is always ready to get into fights and mess with everybody. It’s part of what makes her such a fun character. I look forward to seeing her continue to take on more powerful fighters. Right now only Kafka seems to be able to do anything against the top tiers but these characters won’t give up until they can help.

Finally from the humans you have Isao who is the head of the Defense Force. I should say, he is the head of the fighters but there is still an executive council of directors who are basically around to have bad takes and sabotage the whole operation. I like Isao, but exclusively as a villain. It’s always hard for me to acknowledge him as a hero because he’s a bit too extreme. Ripping out Kafka’s rib for example to test if he would go berserk was crazy. Yeah I’d go berserk and take Isao out at that point. He just goes too far even if it is to prove a point. It’s not the way to do things.

I do respect his abilities though. The guy is the leader for a good reason as his abilities are really a clear cut above the rest. He can move with tremendous speed and dominates anyone who makes the mistake of getting in his way. I can picture him taking out almost any other Kaiju with ease. It also helps to have a leader who can fight like this because it instantly wins the respect of anyone who is around him.

There are only two main villains so far. The first one is Kaiju No. 9 who is a mastermind. The guy masters online games with ease and wants to remove Kafka from the board. He’s the only Kaiju who is really seeing the big picture and trying to change the world. So right now he is the villain you are looking at as opposed to the many Kaiju who look imposing but don’t actually have any dialogue or plans beyond just trying to crush the heroes. I’m not super impressed with No. 9 in a strength sense though. It’s the risk of putting in your big villain so early on since he loses to the main character and then sacrifices a bunch of hype.

I liked Kaiju No. 10 but of course he doesn’t actually do much here. The guy technically goes down fast but the design was really memorable and he did have a real character. So that automatically makes him rather memorable as well. The guy was fast and his main mistake was deciding to sacrifice that speed for more power. It’s a gambit that rarely ever works after all and should serve as a cautionary tale for other characters to be more careful.

The fight scenes in the show definitely look great. I like how fast paced the animations are and you can feel the power behind the characters. The coloring is on point as well and so in the end I definitely don’t have any problems there. Like I said at the beginning, it might not get as intense or spooky at times but considering that the anime is going more for your classic action tone, I would say it ends up landing rather well. Then we have the soundtrack which is good. I’m not really a big fan of the ending but the rest of the tracks are fine. The opening is super disappointing animation-wise, but the song isn’t bad. I don’t think it’s quite as good as it could be, but I appreciate the tone they were going for here. That is like something out of a horror title.

The humor can be a bit weak to be honest though. It might be that the characters just haven’t grown on me yet but Kafka just doesn’t handle the jokes very well. When he’s in Kaiju form we have some crude humor which was rough and in human form he maybe tries too hard to still be like a young person. This isn’t a show that is really built around humor though so it’s not a big thing. I also think some jokes are definitely funny like Hoshina messing with Kafka and making fun of the guy.

Right now the cast is rather small so I’ll be looking forward to more of the characters showing up. You already have enough good ones to satisfy me though. The series tries to expand the roles of Kafka’s other teammates but for now I don’t really care about them that much. I think the problem is that they all feel irrelevant already since they just don’t have the abilities needed to help. You could argue that Reno falls into that same camp but it’s already clear that he is improving very quickly so the foreshadowing is there.

Overall, Kaiju No. 8 is a pretty fun show. It may not reach the level of great for me yet but there is a lot of content left to cover and I’m confident that future seasons will be able to break into that territory. There are going to be a ton of battles coming up after all and with the character introductions out of the way, it can really focus on that right from the start. Yes, fans of the series can definitely rest assured that a lot of good things are coming their way. In the meantime I would recommend checking this title out and getting yourself ready for the sequels.

Overall 7/10

Megaton Musashi W: Wired Review

Posted on July 23, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to look at Megaton, a game that was on a pretty good sale for the Switch. That was when I knew it was time to pick this one up and they did a superb job with it. It may be Level 5’s best game yet. There are an incredible amount of fully animated scenes here and the story is intense. Mix that up with excellent gameplay and you really have a super well balanced title.

The story starts out by explaining that aliens wiped out 99.9% of the human population. Humanity now only exists in a small town where they brainwash their own citizens into now knowing what is going on so that there is no panic. Select people ae chosen to be “Pilots” who use their giant mechs to take down the alien invaders. The thing is, we are heavily outgunned and outnumbered. Survival appears to be impossible but Yamato is ready to try his best. He won’t stop until he has murdered every alien. That was the plan at least but then he falls in love with an alien girl named Arsham. Is it possible that there are good people on both sides?

The story is over 20 hours long so you can imagine that there are a ton of twists and turns scattered throughout the game. We get multiple time skips and you play as many different characters. This version of the game is also the complete experience so it merges both versions of the original game as well as adds on a 2 chapter epilogue. So the point here is you are absolutely getting the max amount of bang for your buck. The game does not hold back on any area either.

We get to tackle a lot of themes like war and the ever lasting cycle of violence. The aliens have very solid reasons for attacking Earth and likewise the humans have good reasons for fighting back…like wanting to be alive. There are over 30 named characters running around and they each get pretty complete plot lines. They even throw in Adam and Eve near the end to mess with everyone. I don’t generally go into the story much for game reviews so you can look to the anime review more on that (With season 2’s review coming eventually) but yeah there is definitely a whole lot going on here.

The soundtrack is really solid with a ton of great themes. My favorite theme is definitely Yamato’s KENKA Rock song which shows up a few times in part 1. Sadly as the tone gets more serious and dramatic, the song vanishes completely. Still, there are a ton of big opera themes and other serious battle themes that show up to help counter this. The final boss themes are excellent, the danger theme is really solid, etc. There are no shortage of great themes to be found in this adventure.

Then we also have the graphics which are really solid. Like I mentioned, there are a ton of fully animated scenes that really go hard. There are no more once we finish where the show went up to, but before that you can expect a good amount of them in addition to the standard cutscenes. The battles have a lot of great special effects and really pop out at you for the added effect. So that makes for a really good balance.

As for the gameplay, it’s a 3D robotic shooter so you can’t really go wrong with that right? It gets a bit detailed as well with every attack and part having a type, so then you have to factor in which type is good against another and all that. To be honest, you could probably remove the whole type effectiveness chart and I’d be cool with it. Still, it’s interesting and I made sure to focus on only using the attacks that were useful for each fight. You always have a bladed weapon, blaster weapon, and 4 special attacks. How many arrows were next to each one will determine how good the attacks are.

You also have super attacks that show up occasionally, but usually they only appear for battles where you are supposed to use one. So you will get the notification and then you’re ready to use it. You can also use your boosters to zoom around the arena and even start to fly near the end. The controls for flying can be a little tricky but for the most part you can button mash and you will be okay. In general I wouldn’t say that the game is very hard. In each battle you are given 6 lives and by logging in for a few days you get 10 continues which turns into 60 lives. So it’s unlikely that you will be losing here but if you don’t keep up with the customizations it is possible. Worst case, you’re so weak that you barely deal any damage, then the battles will last a while.

The game has some marathon battles which also show up and those tend to take a very long time. You have to win numerous battles in a row so be prepared for that. It only shows up 3 times in the game though so it’s pretty rare. In addition to the main story that is 20+ hours long, there is a decent amount of replay value if you want to try getting every part and beating every side mission. Perhaps not an incredible amount of replay value but probably enough to boost this up to around 30 hours or so.

The game’s not super expensive or anything though so either way it’s a great game. Additionally, you are playing at least in part for the story which is really high tier. It’s a full RPG level story which is not something you are expecting to see in a robotic game. Low blow? Eh maybe but it’s definitely rare for the genre. It’s a shame we’re not getting more Megaton games, the story definitely ends with a lot of things you can still do in the future. That said, it’s a satisfying ending that even has a romance I can get behind. Not all of them really land if we’re being honest here but the main one does which is the important thing. They get so many montages and insert songs that the game just really nailed the dynamic. This feels like a true AAA title in a lot of ways and higher budget than I would have expected. It can hold its own with just about any RPG out there and it’s why I can recommend this game even if you aren’t a big fan of mecha titles. There’s just a lot more depth to this than just that genre.

Overall, Megaton is definitely a really intense game. You won’t want to miss out on this one and should get it as soon as possible. You can also have fun with the customizations which is something that I didn’t really dive into all that much. The A.I. sets you up well enough so either way you can beat all of the story missions but if you go in depth with it then you can get significantly stronger. It’s all about how you allocate the resources after all but if you do it right then you’re set. It sets the bar really high for mecha games.

Overall 9/10

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You Review

Posted on July 21, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to look at one of the more well known Shojo titles from back in the day. Kimi ni Todoke made a lot of waves and I can see why because at its core its a very pleasant romance title. The drama never gets too crazy and the main romance actually works which is already putting it above 90% of the competition. This is a pairing where both characters are not on the rebound or anything like that. I can really appreciate this and ultimately the series had a good ending as well. It’s a romance that was so good I was tempted to bump it up to an 8 but ultimately I think having it as a very high 7 is still the best spot for it.

The story follows a girl named Sawako who people have dubbed Sadako because she always looks really creepy and upset. Sawako is actually a very nice girl but she’s rather timid and has never been able to stand up for herself. This puts her in a rather difficult position all the time and she would really like to just make friends at some point. So the series is really about her gaining that confidence and finally meeting some people at school. She even gets the attention of Kazehaya, the popular boy at school and he may even like her back? This is Sawako’s time to really make the most of her life and she is ready for this!

The romance is a huge part of the series so lets talk about that right off the bat. Why does it work? Well for one thing we have a lot of time here. It’s not like Sawako meets Kazehaya and they immediately start dating the same week. They don’t even get together immediately in the same semester, it takes over a year before they really get formal and even then they still have to work on getting closer. It’s a romance that takes a lot of time to develop and slow burns are always the best ones without a doubt. I do believe in true love (Not so much love at first sight though) so it’s fine if you fall for someone right away but it should still take time to really be going out and everything. So the series cleared the first big hurdle.

Second big hurdle, there were no rebounds. Sawako wasn’t dating another guy before Kazehaya and he wasn’t dating someone else. They were each other’s first and that’s a big deal. I’m not saying it’s impossible to move on but the romance absolutely gets a mega bump by having them not have any kind of a past. They each stayed strong until they found the right person and didn’t rush things along.

Both characters also have complete lives outside of each other. You’re not having every scene be them obsessing about each other. Kazehaya is still there for his friends like Ryu and even Kento to give advice to. He has a reasonable relationship with Sawako’s friends as well and the same is true for her. We get to really see into their lives and see how they are quality characters. It makes the romance feel a lot more fulfilling.

They’re also not immediately going crazy either, just holding hands took a while. So yes this was a slow burn that followed all of the right steps. If I had any nitpicks, it’s that they came so close to waiting until they were married/engaged but ultimately Kazehaya ran out of willpower near the end when Sawako was on a sleepover. It’s a shame since her parents were counting on him. Obviously since they each love each other and everything it’s not a huge deal but literally they made it to around the last or second last chapter. Would have been nice if he could have stayed strong there.

Since the main romance is good, the rest of the series is automatically on to a good track. That said, the side romance was not as good. Ryu and Chizuru is the B plot on this one. So for some context here, she was originally in love with his brother. The problem is he’s quite a bit older and always saw her as a kid sister. He eventually found a girlfriend and got engaged so Chizuru was forced to move on. This leads to her falling for his younger brother Ryu who has always liked her from the shadows. Unfortunately this is the very definition of a rebound.

The series tries to take its time and develop this one as well but it was unsuccessful this time. No matter how you slice it, she wasn’t ready to move on until she had absolutely no choice. I also don’t think Ryu looked good in staying silent for so long and then making his move after she was rejected. The pairing just never worked and if anything I just felt he was being selfish the whole time so no dice there.

Some characters didn’t have an end game romance and that actually was handled really well. First up we have Kurumi. She started out as the school bully who picked on Sawako. This is because Kurumi secretly liked Kazehaya. Kurumi was good at what she did, she never left any evidence and she actually managed to get completely under Sawako’s skin. That’s not an easy feat and by the end of the series they are true rivals. Sawako and her have a dynamic that can’t be replicated by any of the other characters, she helps Sawako be her true self. Of course Kurumi becomes a better character as the series goes on and is no longer bitter about things.

Where the series really shines is in how her character arc ends. She doesn’t find some guy to rebound with or anything like that. Instead she focuses on her studies and makes peace with the fact that things didn’t work out. Kazehaya likes someone else and always will. She was still a tad awkward around him by the end but that makes sense, it’s not like the feelings completely vanish overnight. One of the characters even mentions how there is nothing admirable about holding onto a one sided love and that’s definitely very true. While getting over someone is not nearly as easy as the movies would have you believe, you just have to try your best and put some distance between you.

Ultimately the feeling might fade or it might not. If it doesn’t, well that’s rough but that’s how it goes. You’d better get used to being single but either way you don’t want to obsess over someone that’ll never be yours. So Kurumi had a very constructive way about getting over her feelings by putting her everything into work and this succeeded. She definitely ended up being one of the better characters by the end.

Another character who had a unique but solid character end was Yano. Again, she fell for someone who couldn’t possibly love her back and this put her into a bit of a slump. Initially she would date any guy just to pass the time by and because she felt bad saying no. Well, that all changed once she met Sawako and Chizuru and got to see what a real relationship was like. Falling for the teacher was definitely a rough blow but the series handled it perfectly. Ultimately she was able to move on and you can assume that down the line she met someone and got to have a good time. She was a really good ally to Sawako throughout the series and always put others first. I appreciated her selflessness the whole time.

Also, at one point she goes out with a guy named Kento and this was another subplot that the series handled masterfully. He’s a really nice guy who did everything he could to win her over. He was as kind as could be and said/did all the right things. Ultimately it just didn’t work out because she didn’t love him. Sometimes that just happens. You could do all of the right things but if the other person is not in love with you then that’s the end of that. It’s all about accepting this and moving on. He didn’t resent her for it and they were able to still talk semi normally.

Kento respected her space and her decision and so I thought he was a very good character. Honestly he’s one of the best in the series because there was no “Nice guy” twist. He wasn’t a faker or insecure or anything like that. He was someone who genuinely wanted to make everyone else happier and I could appreciate that. It’s very rare to see a character like this who is not rewarded in some way by finding someone. As long as he can stay happy then that’s the important part.

While I didn’t care for Chizuru’s romance plot, I will say that she was still a good character. She was always there for Sawako and was a reliable figure. Chizuru may not be the smartest character and can get lightly teased for that but she always means well and works really hard. She is always trying to do the right thing even when there are a lot of misunderstandings and drama.

Ryu also wasn’t bad although I do think he is the weakest out of the main cast. His main thing is that he’s not very emotional or expressive. He tends to think a lot and has good things to say but it takes him a while to get there. Some people are just like that, but ultimately it does mean that he’s not going to be quite as interesting or entertaining as some of the other characters. They’ve definitely got him beat in that area.

His older brother Toru gets a pretty small role but I’ll give him a shoutout for always being cool about everything. He lets Chizuru down very kindly while still being definitive about it. He’s a guy who is very sure of himself and has a lot of confident. Those are important traits in any guy. The same goes for Pin. Yes, Pin messes around a lot and likes to joke but when things get serious, he is always there ready to make the right decision. He especially gets really important in the second half of the series where he is constantly giving everyone really good advice. Without him they all would have fumbled and had tough times for quite a long while.

Pin knows how to support characters based on their personality. Sometimes this even means tricking them a bit with some reverse psychology. Whatever he needs to do, Pin will do it. It’s part of what makes him such a top rate teacher. By the end of the series he even ended up being my favorite out of the whole cast. Just a lot of depth to him and in general I would say most of the characters here had a whole lot of depth. It was really quite impressive.

As for the main two, I talked about their romance but what about their characters? Well first up for Kazehaya, he was a very solid character as you’d expect. One subtle thing the series gave him was a decent amount of jealousy and possessiveness. He was always a nice guy in terms of how he would present himself and how everyone would see him but at the same time he would actually get upset if someone tried making a move on Sawako. He had a bit of a quick temper there and had a hard time not showing it. He dealt with a lot of other issues as well and never took them out on anyone. Kazehaya mixed the traits of being a nice guy with someone who wasn’t perfect all the time and it was good.

Sawako got to see sides of him that nobody else would and it helped to make their relationship feel even more special. Meanwhile Sawako got a ton of great character development. She is able to speak up for herself really easily as the series goes on. She makes her own decisions and gets to also explain herself. The series has her address each and every one of her flaws and insecurities from early on and spin them all the way back around.

There are a bunch of other side characters I haven’t gone into either so read the series to check them all out. The fact that this ran on for 30 volumes is super impressive and it’s another strength to the series. Length plays a huge part in making a romance good like I said earlier. Additionally, I dare say that it helps a series in general as well. You’re given more time to meet the characters, see what makes them tick and everything. By the time the series is over you feel like you’ve gotten to see the characters grow and mature in real time.

I pretty much blasted through the series but I imagine you’d feel this effect even stronger if you had been reading it live, chapter by chapter. They get to show us Christmas and Valentine’s on different years. There are a whole lot of events in the middle, school trips, etc. The series really got to explore all of the different scenarios you would expect to see in a school based story.

Additionally, the series knew how to have fun as well. While romance and drama are probably the main two genres I would list for the series, it definitely had a fair share of comedic moments as well. The series always had a very light tone in between these events. It wasn’t like an onslaught of bad things that kept happening to the characters or it wouldn’t feel like a fun series.

For every tough moment that Sawako had, she got to experience over a dozen great memories. The characters are also very mature and even during an argument they aren’t breaking up or doing anything drastic. They eventually get better and better at actually talking things out and overreacting. From a pure realism standpoint I would say this has to be near the top because just about everything here is fairly believable. You even have the desperate guy in the classroom who flirts with everyone in the hopes of getting any kind of success but it shot down all the time. I didn’t feel bad for Joe by the way, he really didn’t try or apply himself at all. Being desperate like that is just rough.

Overall, Kimi ni Todoke is definitely a high quality series. It succeeds on the romance which is a really big deal all thing considered. The series is long enough where every character gets to have a whole lot of development. Yes, there are setbacks that the various characters have to deal with and some drama that definitely could have been avoided but all in all I thought this was a great story. It felt like a pretty good adaption of what school life would be like and nothing was too exaggerated. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in the genre. It has aged really well.

Overall 7/10

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts Review

Posted on July 21, 2024 by dreager1

All right it’s time to take a look at this fantasy romance manga from a while back. It’s always interesting to be looking at the same title twice in a row like this within such a short time frame. The anime was also pretty faithful to the manga so it’s not like there are a lot of changes here. That said, you can be assured that I will be doing fresh writeups for all of the characters and won’t be reusing anything. This is still a complete review in its own right so that fans of the manga are not left out. Lets jump into this one.

The series starts with the humans offering Sariphi up to the monsters as their latest tribute. The world is divided into the human kingdoms and monster ones. There is a rough peace treaty going on which involves the humans sending a sacrifice every year and the monsters leave them alone. Sariphi is surprised though when the beast king Leonhart says that he won’t eat her and to just go away. He’s never destroyed any of the sacrifices and only keeps the tradition alive so that the peace isn’t lost. When Sariphi refuses to leave, he decides to make her queen but this doesn’t please most of his subjects. They insist on her going through many different trials and challenges to prove her worth. Will she be able to pull this off?

Leonhart doesn’t look great for most of the series because of how much he puts up with here though. He’s the king so why is he letting the followers dictate what he can or cannot do? I would understand if he was a president or someone without absolute power, but he is the King. Moreover, he is the strongest in the kingdom. The way I see it, he should just shove aside anyone who gets in his way. It shouldn’t even be a contest, he just needs to tell them what he wants.

Unfortunately he does have some confidence issues despite his bravado. He has a tragic past involving being part human and so a part of him is always worried that this will come out. It’s unfortunate because this really holds him back in a big way and even by the end of the series everyone is pushing him around. He leans too heavily into trying to be a reasonable, democratic leader which doesn’t work when you’re the King. So while I give him some credit for not being evil and destroying the hostages, I didn’t think he worked very well as the main lead.

As for Sariphi, she’s a solid heroine but definitely one who can be rather naive at times. She readily goes into enemy strongholds to prove herself as the upcoming queen and nearly dies several times. She does not put herself in the best positions to win here. I know that she doesn’t want to make herself a burden to the King but without plot armor, that’s exactly what she would have been doing there. If she died in any of the battles then there would have been no chance for peace. She tends to trust everyone right away which isn’t a good idea in this environment. Early on she was good at reading facial expressions and I thought that might play a bigger role later on but it never really did. So I appreciate her bravery but often times it wasn’t really warranted here.

Anastasia has a very small role but ends up looking a lot more formidable. She has survived a long time by keeping to herself and not making big waves. You get the feeling that she could defend herself if needed though. I liked her quiet confidence here and if anything it’s too bad that she didn’t get more of a role. She’s really good for the info dumps but that’s about it.

Now for a great character we have Lanteveldt. He goes from being a lone wolf type figure to Sariphi’s most reliable attendant. The guy has serious skills and while he isn’t quite the strongest fighter in the kingdom, he always gives it his 100%. I like his confidence and in this case it’s a loud one. The guy will talk tough to anyone and doesn’t back down just because someone else is royalty. This kind of character is always a lot of fun and he elevates the series whenever he appears. He gets some critical fights throughout and even when he loses, he prioritizes protecting Sariphi whenever he can. Now that’s what I call a quality character.

We also have Bennu who does his best to protect Sariphi at all times. He has the abilities of the Phoenix so he is in a good position to do this, but at the end of the day it does take time to transform. So I would say that Lanteveldt is still a bit more reliable in that sense. Also, Sariphi tends to have Bennu wait instead of attacking immediately which also stacks the deck against that character. Not much you can do when your leader says to stand back right?

Ilya thinks of himself as a protector but he looks really bad right out of the gate. He really doesn’t read the situation at all and part of the problem is the way he handled the situation. Even if she was kidnapped by evil monsters, Ilya treated Sariphi so roughly the whole time. There’s no way it would have gone well and she would have resented him regardless. The fact that he refused to listen to her at all was crazy. Yeah he gets his big redemption arc in the end but the guy had so much potential and squandered it immediately.

Now Fenrir at least makes for a very imposing villain. He’s the second strongest character in the series behind Leonhart and the guy has a lot of aura. He does get a little whiny at times and I didn’t buy into the origin story much but he does serve his roll well as a villain. I definitely have to give him that. When he appears, you know that he is going to go all out and he gives us one of the rare fights in the series. Ultimately he may not have been a match for the king but at least he tried to fight him fair and square without cheap tricks.

His right hand man Gleipnir was really solid and definitely one of the standout characters. Now he definitely had a really tough backstory. Things really did not go his way at all and yet the guy continued to stand strong. Once he was saved by Fenrir, he proved to be super loyal and did everything he could to make him the king. The guy was also super powerful in his own right and I dare say he would be 3rd in the series in terms of power level. With his battle IQ I wouldn’t even be shocked if he could dethrone the top two.

Then we have Set as another one of the big villains but he is the kind of guy to use cheap shots the whole time. He plays politics and uses optics to try and take Leonhart down since he knows that victory would be impossible otherwise. Hey, it’s a valid tactic considering how weak the guy is but ultimately I couldn’t take him seriously. His entire plan revolves around all of the guards being mentally weak, the country turning against Leonhart, and Anubis being a big traitor. So in my mind this was not a good plan at all and should have failed right out of the gate. The fact that it didn’t fail basically comes down to luck which is why it was not a great plan. I was just waiting for Set to go down the whole time. Somebody needed to teach him a lesson after all!

Anubis is a character I lost a lot of respect for. I talked about loyalty a lot for Landeveldt and Gleipnir. It’s what made them such great characters because they would follow their leader no matter what. Ultimately the problem with Anubis is that he could not keep that same energy. When the chips were down and the situation got tough, he folded immediately. Not what you want to see out of a character like this. Even though he eventually sees the light, I couldn’t forget this. Whenever a character betrays a close friend like that just because of third party sources or without confronting the guy directly. Anubis doesn’t have a true confrontation with Leonhart before going crazy.

Jormungand is a hero who actually has loyalty and does his best to protect the king. He doesn’t hesitate when the truth of his past comes out and continues to fight. Honestly, it’s rough how many people were quick to turn against Leonhart when he was exposed. He’s still the same guy after all. A lot of them really got lucky with how nice he is because there would be a ton of people in jail after I rose back up to power. A lot of them were actively trying to murder him as well which is downright crazy.

Joz and Galois were fun supporting characters who tested Sariphi. What I liked about their test was that it didn’t involve mortal danger or putting her through a whole lot of risk. They just wanted to assess what her character was like and they did good in that respect. It makes sense as a test and once she passed it, they knew she could be trusted. Anubis could learn more things from this instead of trying to undermine her at every possible opportunity. Then Tetra also got to test Sariphi even if it wasn’t quite an intentional test in the same way. Sariphi still showed that she was a good person at her core. She may have had a hard time establishing boundaries but I did appreciate that she was always there to make the world a better place in any little way that she could. If she could just have a little more confidence to shut characters down in their tracks, that would have been perfect!

The art in the manga is pretty good. It can actually get rather intense during some of the battles. The enemies and heroes are stabbing each other after all so some violence is actually expected here. The backstories can also get rather intense. It’s nothing too crazy and this is still a Shojo but the art was ready for whatever tone the manga wanted to present.

In the end it’s still a bit ironic that the series didn’t land any of the romances since it is a romance title but that’s just how it goes of course. With the main romance it’s still hard to get behind the beast thing. It’s a mix of him just being too much like an animal and Sariphi looking like a kid. Even once Leonhart has his human form, you’re just not given much of a reason for her to have fallen in love with him. If anything it feels more like gratitude for being kept alive which is fine but that feels different from love. Then you have Jormungand with one of the attendants but it feels like a one sided crush for most of the series. Once they finally get together it is just a bit too rushed.

While I can’t quite co-sign any of the romances in this series, I do think it handled the other kinds of relationships well. The different friendships in the series are really solid and I liked the master/student dynamics. There was always a great sense of honor and chivalry to be had here. While I don’t care for old settings as much as being in the city, the world building was handled well. It doesn’t feel like all of the issues got to be handled just yet but you have to assume that the main duo will eventually be going around fixing all of the other kingdoms. Ultimately it’s also not like you can just fix everyone but the world is definitely in a much better spot than it had been in previously.

Overall, This is a manga that is fairly strong in some areas but also weak in others. The main flaw is the romance which is really on the weak side and it’s rough because that is such a focus in the story. I ultimately couldn’t get behind the main pairing and that’s hard to get around. In the end the manga couldn’t surpass this, but it’s not a bad read by any means. I would still be able to recommend it if you’re a real big fan of the Beauty and the Beast since it’s going for those vibes. There are definitely better options for Shojo titles out there which is why you would not likely need to resort to this one.

Overall 5/10

Donkey Kong Jr. Math Review

Posted on July 20, 2024 by dreager1

Am I being too harsh with a game that is meant to be for kids while also being educational? Hmmm….nahhh they could have done more with this one. The basic idea is that you’re taking the gameplay of Donkey Kong Jr but adding numbers everywhere. So for example the top screen will show that you need to get the number 50. You then have each math sign at the bottom and have to grab numbers until you’ve gotten that number. So for example you grab a 5, then find the X sign, then get a 5. You now have 25. Grab the X and then grab 2 and now you have 50. Congrats, you’ve won the round!

There is one fatal flaw to the game though and it is what destroys the whole experience. Are you ready for this? Where the game ultimately falls short is that there is no computer to fight against you. That’s right, in single player mode you just walk around and do everything yourself. There’s no timer, there’s no way for the level to end in anything except your complete victory. This is where the game made the mistake because there should be some kind of competitive experience here. Even if you’re teaching kids how to look at numbers and such, wouldn’t it be a good idea to have someone to fight against? I would have thought so at least. Instead you only have the multiplayer mode which is fun enough but a game should never depend on multiplayer exclusively.

So there ends up being nothing to do here. You walk around solving math problems but of course since you have to jump and climb for each one, it takes a whole lot longer than if you had your calculator with you. I don’t see it being a very effective way to teach kids either. Perhaps it would have some novelty factor for a little bit there but I don’t think that would last very long. After a little bit the kids would want to go play a real game and that’s how you feel by the end of it. So just to be clear on this, the game itself has potential but it’s all in the execution.

All you would need to fix this one is add a computer to fight against. Immediately now there is some point to playing the game because you’re fighting over the symbols and the numbers. Without that level of battle going on, it’s just not going to hit right. Trust me, I don’t like it any more than you do, but we need some kind of a system here. Without a purpose, even a game loses its entertainment value. We need a way to balance out the fun with learning and there are a lot of ways that this could be done. Ultimately Donkey Kong Jr. just wasn’t able to figure that balance out. It’s a shame that it had to go this way but that’s just how it is.

The graphics are at least reasonable since it’s got that classic Nintendo look to it. It’s functionally no different from the main game. The soundtrack definitely feels forgettable though, I can’t think of any themes right now. Certainly nothing that really sticks out and makes you want to play the title again. With no replay value and not much initial value either, this is a game that was ultimately always doomed to fail in the end.

Overall, This is a Nintendo game that I would say to avoid. If you need to brush up on your math skills, there are definitely much better ways to do it. Ultimately, this game just takes too long to solve any question. It gets rough when you need a number that is too small for multiplication but really high for addition. You just have to keep adding 9 until you’re close and it definitely does not feel optimized. Nintendo should not give up and come out with an even better learning experience some day. Part of me feels like the chance to make a really educational video game has passed but where there is a will, there is a way. If anyone could solve this dilemma. It would definitely be Nintendo.

Overall 2/10

Mach Rider Review

Posted on July 20, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to bring in the Mach Rider! The gameplay isn’t my favorite but the game deserves some props for actually having a story. That’s a whole lot more than I can say for some games, that’s for sure! It’s not a whole lot of a story of course, it’s mainly a prompt that you get before every level but the main theme here is that aliens have taken over and we have to take them down. It’s what the Mach Rider does!

The story mode is 10 levels long and basically you just have to survive until you get to the end of the level. This may sound easy but the game is actually fairly difficult. Basically you have to drive through a fairly narrow road while dodging any obstacles and pitfalls in your way. You have 4 speed levels, if you stay on 1-2, you will be slower than the CPUs so they will ram into you which causes you to lose. If you go on 3-4 you will stay ahead but will have a really hard time controlling your car. Other times the enemies will come from in front of you so you need to blast them away with your machine gun. It’s definitely a handy weapon to have but you can run out of ammo so be careful how you use it.

With the power of rewind and access points I did good, but this would be a super difficult challenge without it. I can’t imagine that you would have had too much fun at that point because when you lose you go all the way back to the first level again. That’s always a pet peeve of mine in any game. Be as difficult as you want to be but at least restart me on the same level. If you take me too far back then that’s just rough. There are more modes to be played though.

You have endurance where you just drive without any computers around. You have to make it to a certain distance within the time frame and then you win. It’s a pretty interesting way to go about things and I thought it was actually the most fun mode. You really had to be careful here and I made it pretty far even without using any of the Switch features. I always felt like it was mostly luck though that kept me from crashing because I really could not see where I was going at all. The objects were coming in at the speed of light, even the game couldn’t always process them in time.

There were also battle challenges about seeing how many racers you could beat. This is more effort than the average NES title so I appreciated that. The graphics aren’t bad for their time and the music is okay. Alas, at the end of the day gameplay is the King when talking about a game. You need that to be on point and the style wasn’t really something I was super into. For racing games I always like the 3D titles so you know where you are going and can make plans. In a more overhead setting like this, it’s harder to see the object before bumping into it which is my main problem. So no matter how much content the game has, it can only go so far for me as a result.

Overall, Mach Rider is a fun game in super short doses but doesn’t have the staying power for me to call it good. I’m ready to call it quits after 20 minutes which is just way too short. For a game to be good, it needs to be one that can last and ultimately this was just not up to the task. If you have the Switch Online then there is no reason not to check it out but ultimately it will be forgotten in the end. There are just better racing games that you can find around every corner that exceed this one and outplay it at every turn. The concept of the Mach Rider is solid though. Make a modern 3D remake of this game with a big story and there is a lot of potential to be had.

Overall 5/10

Golf Review

Posted on July 20, 2024 by dreager1

Uh oh, now it’s time for a game that I actually did not like. Golf is one of those sports that I’ve never been a big fan of but I feel like you can absolutely adapt it to a game if you try hard enough. Just look at the Mario Golf game for Gamecube, that one was actually pretty fun. I spent a lot of time in that game and it was definitely rewarding. It had a lot of depth, multiple levels, etc. You could feel the passion behind every level and that is what’s missing from this older Golf game. See, the original Golf doesn’t have a lot of color or energy behind it.

Yes, the game is ancient so I will cut it some slack, but not complete slack. I think they could have done way more with the game. There isn’t much in the way of animation or soundtrack. It’s just you whacking the ball and seeing it go forward. There is no passion, no creativity, no nothing tbh. It just keeps on going and going. I played all 21 holes and got destroyed but I wasn’t even sad because I just wasn’t invested. I didn’t care if I won or lost because the game did not give me a reason to care. It’s just boring and that’s the worst thing you can say about a game.

The controls are easy enough to learn although I would say that they are hard to master. Basically you choose your golf club based on the distance and power that you need. You are aiming to get the ball inside the hole in as few turns as possible. So you want to learn the distance of each. I recommend watching Rising Impact to learn about the different pieces more in depth. From there it’s all about your skill and timing in using these items. There aren’t really any big unlockables or bonus content modes to play through though which is unfortunate. Again, this is where the game could have tried harder.

Mario Golf had a ton of different minigames like hitting your ball through rings and such. That would have really helped to shake things up a bit. As a result there is no replay value here and there is barely enough content to have fun going through the main campaign. The most enjoyable part of this is trying to point out similarities in the main character to Mario. That’s where the fun is really at but I don’t think that it’s quite enough. I wanted more…I needed more! Throw in some kind of a story or fun cutscenes. The graphics aren’t bad but there isn’t really any kind of animation to show it off anyway.

Golf is a sport that tends to be slow in real life as well. Unless you are playing directly then you are probably going to get bored quickly. That’s the same with this game, only to a greater extent because you get bored even while you are playing it. That should not be possible and yet it is what happens so what can be done to fix this? The answer certainly eluded this game, I can tell you that much.

Overall, Golf is not a fun game. I don’t see any reason to play it. There’s almost no content here and tons of games have been made that go more in depth about the whole thing. The only possible way you can have fun with this will be if you are playing with someone who is very witty so you can just be having a good conversation during the game. Otherwise yeah I don’t really see the potential here. Ultimately this game will not be getting my recommendation and I was glad to put it down. It may sound harsh but this was easily one of my least favorite games. It barely feels like a game because it’s not even super interactive.

Overall 2/10

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Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War Review

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