Edens Zero Review

Posted on July 11, 2024 by dreager1

As everyone who reads works created by Mashima knows…the best ship is friendship. Friendship is something that will take you very far. When you think you’re at the end of your rope or that you are going to get absolutely dominated once more, just remember to reach out to your friends. Eden Zero is filled with lots of great and positive messages the whole time. I really appreciate this the whole time. That being said…., the series is held back massively by the crazy amounts of fanservice contained within. Trust me, it’s an absolutely absurd amount of fanservice the whole time. It will chill you to the bone. This could have easily been a 9/10 series but it just couldn’t overcome all of this.

The series starts with a V Tuber named Rebecca deciding to head to a robot amusement park planet. On it, she meets a boy named Shiki who was raised by robots. He doesn’t even know how to have a basic interaction with another human which is a little strange. The guy seems to really be behind the times but the robots ask her to take Shiki with her since they will be dying soon. This leads to some tearful goodbyes but she takes Shiki along with her on the V Tuber journey. Shiki gets to make a lot of other friends as he journeys with her but there won’t be time for too much fun. The entire multiverse is at risk because of various opponents who want to destroy everything. Can Shiki stop them?

First thing’s first, the art is absolutely spectacular as you would expect. This guy is super experienced from the days of Fairy Tail so this isn’t really much of a surprise. It’s still got some of the best looking fights and character designs that you will see in manga. It’s really spectacular and the paneling is on a completely different level. It’s the kind of series you could easily binge from start to finish as a result because it’s just so easy to read through. The artist has real skills here.

Unfortunately it is a double edged sword as the series is very quick to jump into fanservice the whole time. You can barely go two pages without something crazy happening on screen. I dare say that it may even match Fairy Tail in that regard. Fairy Tail may still have the edge in frequency but this one has the edge in how extreme the fanservice elements get. Lets just say that things get real disturbing here and the series also gets really granular about the fanservice as well. It tries to hit every possible niche which isn’t always a good thing. Wait…it’s never a good thing. Yeah this series was cooked from the start. It’s one of those titles that is a 9/10 in terms of hype but ultimately sinks to a 1/10.

It’s just not a series that you could easily read in public or ever recommend to anyone so automatically that means that it is a bad series. You really can’t come back from that. The series can also get a little overly dark as well. Usually it goes hand in hand with the fanservice but quite a few villains like to focus on humiliation. You can see how that gets rough real quick. Others have to become slaves for a while and others are thrown to the wolves. Quite a few characters meet very grisly fates throughout the series which is unfortunate.

I would say that this is to keep pace with the themes that the series has by the end. The heroes are fighting to achieve a perfect world where everyone finally gets their happy ending. To do that, they hop between different timelines and pasts. Well, this isn’t their goal for most of the series but by the end this happens. So after seeing how everyone had such a tragic end, we can be happy that they have peace the next time around. It’s a good concept but you probably could have toned down the bad endings a little bit.

Also while the series is fairly long, the ending still ends up being super rushed which is almost impressive but in a sad way. There was definitely more time to continue so I’m not sure why the series ended so abruptly. This was definitely the time to get in some more massive fight scenes. Rushed nature aside though, I can’t be upset with how it finished though. This is the kind of really happy ending that I could get behind. It was satisfying that after such a long and dangerous journey, the characters were allowed to actually thrive and have a good time. I definitely can’t fault that.

Now lets talk about the characters here. I’ll just say right now that every story arc is bogged down by the fanservice. I’ll get this out of the way now so I don’t have to be super repetitive. It’s not like Fairy Tail where it took a while for that to show up. Nah, in this title they went hard from the jump and put in every possible effort to stop any of the arcs from being as high tier as they should have been. Naturally I won’t be going into every character but I’ll tackle a bunch of the big ones.

Amira is one of the big missed opportunities of the series because she seemed like an interesting character with a lot of mystery. She’s a secret agent of sorts who is a master of disguise and usually seems to be one step ahead of the other characters. She gets a whole lot of respect but doesn’t end up doing much with it. I remember always being intrigued when she would show up…and then she would just vanish as quickly as she had appeared. It felt like an odd decision.

Brigandine is a solid villain who had a good honor code. He came in at a rough point narratively so the guy was not a threat but he was technically powerful. I tend to like the strong types who stick to fighting within the combat rules and don’t take hostages or anything like that. He’s the kind of villain who will be memorable based on how much you enjoyed his battle or not. If you weren’t a big fan then that would be the end of that.

God Acnoella has such a cool name so you would expect her to be one of the very best right? Well, unfortunately she still has quite a few limitations on screen time. Make no mistake, she gets a ton of hype constantly but it never amounts to much. I really thought she should have had more of a grand final fight so we could actually see what she could do. Another missed opportunity and you’ve seen me say that a few times. It’s just that there’s a lot more you could have done with some of these characters.

Happy works well as the main mascot here. I like that he is effectively just like the Happy from Fairy Tail. It’s technically a different one but has a similar personality and everything. He definitely has a real intense backstory so you feel bad for him too but he messes around less than the FT version. This is one that you can actually count on to have your back.

Hermit is one of the main characters and she is a super genius. She may not be able to fight on quite the same high level as the other generals but you can’t underestimate her IQ. She absolutely holds her own there and saves the group on many occasions thanks to that. She can hack into any system and ends up making it look easy. I liked when we would have the cyber fights because it was a great excuse to get her into the action as opposed to having her just be on the sidelines. It was a great decision all the way around and she adds a lot to the dynamic with her cheerful disposition.

Jaguar was a fun villain. You sort of knew that he was doomed from the start but I thought he actually put up a much better fight than expected and even held his own. The guy was strong and fast which is a good combination. Considering that he wasn’t the main villain of his arc, the author gave him a good amount of hype. I definitely enjoyed him even if he may not have been the most powerful villain out there. He was still strong enough to make a difference.

Justice is a fun character although a big part of why he’s fun is his banter with Elsie. The author had a good time making them very similar to two of the characters from Fairy Tail and it works well. The guy has incredible physical abilities and is one of the stronger characters in the series for a while but gets written out along with Elsie later on. He had a good design and a solid skillset which automatically made him a really fierce member. Meanwhile I also liked Elsie a lot. She was always ready for a fight and stayed prepared the whole time. You weren’t about to catch her lacking which is important. She has a whole lot of battle experience at her disposal after all.

Joker is a super powerful villain but one of those figures that the series may have made a little bit too powerful. With the ability to stop time for fairly long periods and a very solid energy source, it’s just hard to see how this being could be defeated. I wasn’t entirely convinced with the method that the series brought up. It’s why time stop abilities are always so overpowered. It’s just really hard to stop them. Still, Joker had a great design and really showed up out of nowhere near the end so that was a lot of fun.

Kleene is one of those characters who had a really tragic origin story. Easily one of the toughest ones to live through here although Edens Zero sometimes works as a trauma contest. So I can tell you there are tons of competitors for this position. Poor Rebecca has to be up there as well along with Homura’s mother. The list goes on and on, the dark nature of the series could be rather exhausting a lot of the time to be honest. Kleene is definitely the definition of a character who started out as an intimidating boss and quickly became super weak once she turned heroic though. She still had a few battles here and there but never got that intimidating aura back.

Meanwhile her brother Jinn got to keep on fighting though. He was a really solid figure who was just looking out for his sister the whole time so I definitely appreciated that. His wind abilities were real good. He may have ended up getting power creeped as the series went on but he always had a cool personality. Then you had Laguana who sort of took over his role as protector of the group in the later stages. He was protective of the younger fighters and really had a big change of heart compared to his early days of being a villain as well. His ability to turn you into water if you start crying was super unique and also very deadly. Once you’re water, there’s really nothing you can do except accept defeat. You may think that not crying would be easy but in a series about friendship and loss that happens quite often.

Labilia starts off as a super petty bully but actually gets a ton of character development. Her backstory feels a bit retroactive when it shows up to be honest but all in all I thought she was a really fun character. Sometimes you need a petty villain to shake things up a little aside from the super cruel end of the world type threats. Ultimately it’s not like she can fight so she tends to vanish from the spotlight most of the time. Couchpo is another V Tuber that gets a fairly big role. She likes to eat a lot which is always cool. It helps her stand out among the pack.

Lyra is one of those villains who was really just created as an excuse to throw more fanservice into the mix. She wants to humiliate Rebecca in a rigged game and that is basically the whole point of her existence. It’s definitely annoying and doesn’t make her an endearing character at all. You’ll forget about her right away even if you don’t forget the events. Then you have Mother who is a cosmic being with limitless powers but she ends up not doing much either. One of those characters who plans things out and says a lot of grand stuff but when the chips are down she seems to just not care about anything. She certainly doesn’t go out of her way to help Shiki and pals even when she is literally dying.

Noah is someone who can somehow see into different timelines and knows when the universe has been reset. We never actually go too far into this but he works well as a plot device who gets to give the info dumps and keep everyone on track. I’d like it more if he could fight or do something in addition to that though. It makes him come across as a bit of a flat character at times. Meanwhile Holy is a lot more fun as a government officer who does whatever she wants. She isn’t above using blackmail and has characters on all sides afraid of what she will do next. Her abilities are really solid but the main thing is that she has confidence. She knows that no matter what she does, all eyes will be on hers. It takes a lot of guts to be getting involved with such fierce fighters.

Then from the main characters we have Rebecca who is a super solid main heroine. She can fight really well with the rest of the characters and I like her unwavering confidence. She is the kind of character who is always pro actively looking for some way to help the rest of the fighters and I appreciate that. She gets a ton of character development and screentime of course and only gets better with each appearance. Definitely a character who gets a lot of credit for the series being as solid as it was. Well…that may sound like an insult since the score is low so a better way to phrase this is that she added a lot to the dynamic and was really fun.

Next up is Homura and her gimmick is that she always says exactly what she is thinking. No matter how inappropriate or out of place it may be. She will just speak her mind and it gets her into a lot of jams. Fortunately she is also super good with a sword and makes up for this by really protecting the team when they need a defender the most. I definitely enjoyed her character and she is very well meaning. It really goes to show how the main cast of Edens Zero was really solid. I actually enjoyed all of the super core characters even if the supporting characters start to fade out after that.

For example Connor is one of these guys. He tries to present himself as a capable captain but has way too many slip ups for me to take him seriously. He’s not the guy you want to have by the wheel because he gets distracted too easily. Even his wholesome plot twists are not enough to save him because they ring hollow by then. Nah this was a character who had too many flaws and never ended up being all that good.

Now Void was a superb character even if he was introduced super late into the game. He has a very solid backstory that may be a bit convoluted but it works well in context. He is one of the strongest characters in the series without a doubt and can hold his own with any of the other fighters. He has a top tier design and top tier abilities so you can’t ask for much more out of him than that right? Then there is Ziggy who looks really similar and there are a lot of comparisons that you can make across the two characters.

Ziggy’s motivations and everything get a little complicated as well. Needless to say, he’s definitely a really fun villain to have around though. He would always shake things up quite a lot and helped Shiki to really evolve as a fighter. Poseidon was another villain who really made things tough on the heroes. His abilities were the real deal and despite being older, his abilities really didn’t falter. He has the power of luck on his side which is really strong but of course if you are simply stronger than fate then it won’t work. Such is the big limitation of hax type abilities like that so it made for a very satisfying fight.

Shura was the real threat in the Poseidon arc though. Now here is a super demented villain who just likes to inflict pain all of the time. He was definitely way too sadistic for me to really like him as a villain but he definitely had a real intimidating aura about him. The guy was someone you absolutely did not want to cross because if you did then that would be curtains forever. His gravity abilities were some of the best in the series too. Most of the strongest fighters actually had gravity now that I think about it. It makes sense though, that has always been one of the most powerful elements for good reason.

Back to the heroes, Sister was surprisingly a sadistic character as well. It’s played for laughs but she always enjoys torturing Rebecca as one of her past times. She messes with different characters like this and so you’re reminded that you probably wouldn’t want to be living on the Edens Zero. It would be fairly unforgettable but not a very pleasant spot to be in.

Witch gets the smallest role from the shining generals if you ask me. She never got as much of an origin story and her supporting characters didn’t get as personal as the others. She is a good member of the crew and probably the most mature to be honest but she doesn’t end up standing out quite as much as she could have. Then you have Valkyrie who steals the show as soon as she shows up. She actually gets even less screentime than some of the other characters and yet it doesn’t matter because of how overwhelming her presence is. When she shows up, the characters have to take notice. Her fighting skills are absolutely top tier.

Xenolith is a mentor type figure who shows up for a bit and then becomes one of the antagonists. His role isn’t as big as you would expect from this character type. I like that he put some of the characters in their place who were trying to be a bit iffy. I wouldn’t say that he’s a high tier character or anything like that though. Then you have Xiaomei who knows a whole lot and constantly breaks the 4th wall. It’s always interesting to have a character like this but she doesn’t really add a lot to the story so she could have been cut out here.

Throughout the story there are scenes that take place millions of years in the future and they eventually tie into the story but it sure takes a long while. The series isn’t afraid to jump into time travel and loops which is admirable but you could do that without Xiaomei giving us spoilers and foreshadowing. If anything I think that would even benefit the mystery so it could tell its own story right there.

Now for some of the villains. One that is really memorable is Clown but more because he is a very twisted villain than because he is a good one. It’s a fine line between being a good villain and one who is creepy just to be creepy. I didn’t end up liking this guy. I can acknowledge that he is super powerful but yeah he’s not going to be near the top. Then you have Cure who ends up being a super big boss. Another guy with an intimidating design and a ton of raw power but I wouldn’t call him a good villain. He gets a little too twisted and dark with how he deals with the Holy and the other fighters. Edens Zero definitely had a problem about getting too dark sometimes.

This naturally goes to Drakken Joe as well. This guy is a true Kingpin type figure among the underworld and so he gets mixed up in a lot of twisted stuff. The series does not miss with the incredible designs as he is another one you could throw ono the list. This is definitely a world where you rarely feel bad for the villains by the end because they really do not hold back at all.

Eraser is sort of a villain. He works for the government but the guy just follows orders no matter what so he’s basically a villain. It’s a shame that he never got to fight much but I think it’s because his ability is broken. As his name suggests, he can erase things, including large pockets of space. He takes down large parts of a whole army and it’s super impressive. In theory he could destroy almost any character in the series without any real effort.

Back to the heroes, Pino is a nice little robot that is always helping the heroes. It’s always nice to see her around. She’s not particularly tough or anything but is always around to spread kindness and cheer. Then you have Weisz who is a super engineer. He would have been known as the resident genius but Hermit has that covered. I like his mech suit and in general he’s handy. I feel like he didn’t fully keep up with the power creep later on in the series but he’s always a central figure at all times.

Finally, we have Shiki. As the main character he is naturally a huge character and he’s a lot of fun to root for. He’s one of the biggest advocators for friendship that I have ever seen. Now admittedly he can take this a little too far at times. There are some things that you can’t forgive nearly as easily as he does. It’s just not going to work. That being said, the idea behind the character is a good one. He gets a solid amount of rage modes throughout as well. I would say I enjoyed him a lot more than Natsu from the author’s other series. Shiki is a high tier lead who could hold his own in any series.

As you can tell from all of the images, the series does absolutely go all out on the friendship themes and it is really endearing. I like that the series isn’t embarrassed about this or going half heartedly about it. We get to really explore what it means to be friends in a whole lot of different circumstances. Not just how to get friends but to handle them. You support each other and meddle in affairs as needed. Like I said, it can be a bit unrealistic but I’ve never seen another title be this unrelenting about it which works really well. Yet another part of the series that could have made the whole title elite if it didn’t have other issues slowing it down the whole time.

That’s about it for the characters. Of course there are dozens and dozens of other characters scattered within the series but you will need to read the title to see them all. It’s still not a title that I can really recommend though. Yes, it brought tons of hype and I had a really good time for a lot of the fights. However, the negatives still outweigh the positives with all of the dark elements and fanservice. It just gets really over the top here. Man, why did it have to happen to a title with such dynamite art and time travel elements?

Overall, Eden Zero is one of those series that I will always look at a little fondly in spite of its negatives. It’s certainly a series I could never recommend and one that I would spend a lot of time skipping massive chunks of if I ever gave it a re read. However, the peak moments of the series are super good. You really get invested in the characters and the writing is really good. It’s always a shame when there’s just so much fanservice that it takes away from the story. I really wanted to read this one for the plot but the other elements made that close to impossible. It’s a shame but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

Overall 1/10

Marty Review

Posted on July 7, 2024 by dreager1

Uh oh, it’s time for a romance film that desperately tries to get you to sympathize with the main character but it doesn’t work. I consider myself a bit of an expert when it comes to the world of romance so I am here to shatter the delusions. I’ve seen hundreds of hours of debate topics and insights into that part of life and I can tell you that this isn’t it. Marty himself ends up bringing down the film somewhat.

All right so we’re introduced to a guy in his 30s who has been having a really hard time finding anybody to be with him. The poor guy is just down on his luck at this point but his mother keeps trying to help him find somebody. His friends aren’t the most helpful either as they’re all single and miserable too. Their days usually consist of them sabotaging each other’s efforts and just being rather sad influences. Still, there’s nothing else to do but one day at one of those meet and greet events he meets a lady named Clara. She was ditched by the guy she came with and he feels bad for her. Along the way he realizes that she is a nice girl. Can this be the one for him?

Okay so there’s a lot of issues here and just about all of them come from Marty’s side. First off, all of the peer pressure stuff is really just an excuse. The fact that he allows himself to constantly go down the wrong paths just because his friends are doing that is absolutely crazy. What happened to taking accountability for yourself? Even to the very end he makes this mistake such as when he doesn’t call Clara because he felt ashamed. The reason this is a big deal is because it’s at the very end of the film. He should have learned his lesson early on but didn’t. To be honest, Clara should have just rejected him and that’s how the film ends.

It brings another plot element into the mix which is that it feels like they’re both settling for each other. Marty doesn’t actually think she’s super attractive. He thinks she is really nice and someone that he can finally talk to which is why he likes her but the fact that he refers to her as someone who is not very attractive is absolutely crazy. Looks aren’t everything in a relationship to put it mildly. However, you do need a high level of physical attractiveness to your partner at the outset. As you both get older that becomes less important but if you start off like this it’ll create more problems. More temptations on both sides and a lot of future issues that snowball from there.

If the film made it clear that he thought she was really attractive and had to hide this for fear of his friends that would be another story. He would still look horrible of course but at least it can work. Just meeting on the personality bit? That could be fine as well if he didn’t constantly say how he had to settle because he was getting older and she felt the same way. You can’t have a healthy relationship if you settle. That’s why there are so many problems out in the world. If the person you’re actually in love with is unavailable then hey that’s tough but instead of settling you should just focus on other hobbies.

The film doesn’t give you much reason for Clara to like Marty either except…she was desperate. The red flags in this relationship continue to grow larger and larger. She just wants to find someone so people can get off her back. Hey, I’m pulling for things to go well for them but it’s not a romance that you could easily root for in this film. Not at all, in fact it just makes this a weak romance. Since the romance is such a large part of the film that hurts as well. If we had a scene of Marty throwing his friends away early on that would have been great. He needed to stand his ground and show that he really cared for Clara. Waiting for the final scene was not a great idea.

Clara also puts up with too much here. She was fully within her rights to reject Marty’s first advance. He was moving a little too quickly and I didn’t think he handled that too well. It was a lot of pressure for her too and he wasn’t very aware of the stress she was under. Another rocky part to their relationship there. I’m glad that she stayed strong though and didn’t give in to the pressure there. She had more willpower than he did to be honest.

I’m afraid the side characters were not immune either. Marty’s aunt is super annoying the whole time as she tries to poison his mother against him. She says how Marty will ditch her and everything. Why should the mother listen to any of this? She’s the one who has been trying to have Marty find a girl and all of a sudden she does a 180 because someone told her to? That was absolutely crazy and completely destroyed both characters. It was very disappointing to have Marty’s Mom bad mouthing Clara as well. That feels like something that would be hard to repair afterwards.

Marty’s so called best friend was also no help and didn’t do anything to encourage the relationship either. Basically the film is a cautionary tale about why you should avoid hanging out with fake friends. Rather than encourage, they will do everything in their power to get in your way and undermine your efforts. Better to go it alone than to risk a social network that will not be beneficial to you. Just about every character in the film is super toxic.

Overall, Marty is a film that’s supposed to be a fun underdog story for a guy who finally finds his girl. The problem is that the message gets real muddy with how everyone is settling and this isn’t exactly true love. “True Love” may be a term that people shy away from but that’s the only kind of love that really counts. Without that, a relationship just isn’t going to go the distance. Don’t be like Marty, things won’t often end quite like this film’s adventure. If you try for every girl around before you eventually settle, it just makes you look desperate and then you will really lose out.

Overall 4/10

The Invisible Man’s Revenge Review

Posted on July 7, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for another Invisible Man film. This one definitely switches things up a little bit but the films usually do that anyway. They tend to either switch main characters or take place in a completely new timeline. Either way this one is a good bit of fun although I would also say that it is very campy. Everyone tends to make the worst decisions possible and you either find that funny and endearing or you’ll just get annoyed the whole time.

The film starts off with Robert murdering a bunch of people and heading to the rich Herrick estate. See, he was originally supposed to split the riches 3 ways with that couple but they left him for dead and ran off. Well he’s caught up to them now but the guy isn’t very smart so they poison his food/drink and knock him out. Their big mistake is they decide not to finish him off. Instead they destroy the contract and figure they will just tell everyone that he is crazy. That’s certainly one way to handle the situation but is it the best way? They may wish that they had finished this guy off because soon Robert would become…The Invisible Man.

Yeah there are a ton of bad decisions here so lets go through them. This was the first big mistake. Why would Jasper and Irene let Robert live after all of this? They have to know that he will try to murder them now since they effectively stole all of his money. He’s going from being a rich person to almost being on the streets? Cmon now there’s absolutely no way he would let that stand and I don’t think anybody would. Naturally it does come back to bite them.

So Robert meets up with a guy named Herbert who is nice enough to take care of him. The guy’s poor but does his best. Robert then meets up with Dr. Peter who has an experimental invisibility serum. He gives it to Robert who uses this to blackmail Jasper and Irene some more. Okay fine, he’s got the upper hand once again. He should probably have them mail out a check to him already so he doesn’t have to keep this facade up for too long but then he gets distracted. He wants to marry Jasper’s daughter Julie who is already engaged to Mark. Jasper says he will only agree to this if Robert becomes visible again.

You see the issue right? If Robert becomes visible again, then they’ll either murder him or call in the cops. He is absolutely doomed but he unironically believes Jasper and tries to get visible again. What kind of sucker is this? Cmonnnnnnn that’s never going to work. Dr. Peter isn’t quick on the uptake though and doesn’t want Robert to become visible again. Things don’t go well for the doctor…..maybe don’t talk back to the psychotic murderer without a plan of some kind?

Then good ole Herbert decides to blackmail Robert as well and gets supremely lucky that he isn’t bumped off right away. Why do people keep on trying to poke the beast? That’s just not a good idea at all and it’s just going to land you 6 feet under. All of these characters underestimate just how dangerous a foe can be when he can turn invisible at will. I mean it’s not like pressing a button but the fact that Robert can do this at all is super dangerous.

Ah well so Robert ultimately goes through with this but turning visible is dangerous in itself and then he needs them to bump off a dog that was turned invisible and then visible again. As long as it exists, his secret is in jeopardy. Unfortunately for Robert, the dog is too powerful and ultimately his greed costs him everything. It’s just amazing how many bad decisions happened here. Robert should have easily won once he became invisible and Jasper/Irene should have taken him out as soon as they drugged him.

Both sides had several chances for success. It’s why you really need to keep your eyes on the prize because if you get distracted then it’s all over. Robert got distracted by romance which is something you can’t mess with while Jasper had no real excuse. That is why you want to look at this as a comedy of sorts. Some parts actually are fairly light hearted. I don’t think it was ever intended to be a horror or anything like that. The creators probably didn’t picture it turning out quite as campy as I view it nowadays but this works as a feel good film for that reason.

Even with a body count and a murderer on the loose, the film just ends up being rather fun. They also manage to squeeze in the iconic Invisible Man laugh which was great. It would seem that the serum always causes the villain to go into hysterics at some point which is definitely always nice to see. It just would not be the Invisible Man without all of that. He may not have gotten very far with his revenge in the end but that was the focus of the plot so the title is still on point.

Overall, The Invisible Man’s Revenge is a pretty fun film. It’s the kind of film that you have to laugh along with though because if you take it too seriously then you’ll be shaking your head the whole time. This is not a film to be taken very seriously at all. Just grin along with the Invisible Man and you will be fine. I’d recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the concept and the best part is that you don’t need to watch any of the other films to understand what is happening here. You can just jump right in and you will be all set for action as a true stand alone. Then if you like this one, you can jump into the others which range from being serious to being 100% comedies that take themselves even less seriously than this one.

Overall 7/10

The Lawnmower Man Review

Posted on July 7, 2024 by dreager1

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

It’s time for a sci-fi film about why virtual reality and augmenting a person’s brain could be a dangerous idea. Technology will inevitably become too much for humanity to handle and once that happens it is game over. So what does that have to do with a Lawnmower? Well somebody gets murdered with one and it’s a cool title. The main guy also does lawnmowing so it makes sense but I can see how it would seem like a superhero name.

The film starts by showing us an experiment that is being run on a chimp. He is taken to a virtual reality world where he has to shoot all of the enemies dead. The experiments are going well and this is proof that the technology works but he manages to escape. He gets far enough to meet a guy named Jobe who gets picked on constantly by everyone for not being smart. Father Francis beats him and doesn’t help at all so Jobe is glad to have a friend but the chimp is shot dead. Now Jobe is back to being on his own until a guy named Angelo shows up who offers Jobe a lot of intelligence and success if he helps with a certain experiment. Jobe really has nothing to lose so he agrees to these tests but are these experiments going to make him unbalanced?

First up, if I was Jobe I would have definitely said yes to the experiments as well. Sure, they seem a bit risky but it can’t be any worse than his current situation. That’s exactly how I would have felt about it so it makes a lot of sense that he would get on board with this. Also, the effects are really good at first. He can actually have intelligent conversations and everyone respects him more. Unfortunately corporate steps in at this point and sabotages everything. If they had not done that, I dare say the experiment probably would have been a complete success. Leave it to corporate to rush things a bit too far and blow everything up though. They just couldn’t wait to get the natural gains that would have happened.

This isn’t an action film first and foremost but we do get some fight scenes. At one point Jobe basically takes on the army with his flying nanobots which was pretty fun. At this point, there isn’t much that can stop him though as he transcends his mortal body. The guy completely cracks and turns evil by the end but the film does a good job of showing just how much he had to put up with before then. He didn’t have much to protect or live for by this point since everyone was getting bumped off. So yeah at that point you might as well end the world.

At its core I would call this a revenge fantasy film. We see how everyone mistreats Jobe and the only characters who have his back are beaten up or murdered. So now that he has these telepathic abilities he can enact his full revenge on them all. You can definitely see where the film is going with this right from the jump. It can get a little overzealous on the deaths with this though. The film has a tendency to cut away so it’s not incredibly graphic or anything but the deaths themselves can definitely be painful.

Also the film did murder the chimp near the beginning which was unfortunate. Animal violence is always a good way to knock yourself down a peg. It was hard for the film to really come back from that. It’s also just a bit too mean spirited. I would have liked more characters to have had Jobe’s back and defended him when things weren’t going well. It would have shown that at least humanity was not fully cooked yet. Sure we had a few characters like Angelo, Marnie, and Jobe’s coworker but that was about it. They also weren’t able to be there 24/7.

So Jobe was a good character and it’s just too bad that the power got to him. He still made the right move and helped the kid by the end though. Angelo was also solid as he would talk back to corporate but I also think he could have been a little more cautious at times. I felt like he turned his back to the company and then didn’t have a plan for when they would inevitably target him. Not a very smart move if you ask me and the guy’s supposed to be a genius. He did good in setting up the technology but underestimated humanity.

Father Francis should be considered as the main villain of the film in large part because he’s the one who should have been watching out for Jobe. Instead of supporting the guy, he basically took every excuse to punish him over and over. He was actively trying to prevent Jobe from learning more and so yeah this guy didn’t really have any redeeming qualities. You just needed him to be bumped off as soon as possible. Until that were to happen there was just no way to move forward.

Overall, The Lawnmower Man had some interesting ideas. I also enjoyed seeing the virtual world with the super retro CG. In some ways that’s the kind of CG that tends to be fun as it really makes you feel like you’re in a computer game. I could have done without the romance though which was particularly weak and more disturbing than anything inside the screen. That was just never going to work out there and it all went too fast. The film would have been better if it toned down the amount of bullies and randoms who were just cruel and evil for no real reason though. It’s just way too slanted and pretty much forces Jobe down the path of corruption. It’s not a film that makes for a particularly easy watch so I would recommend other sci-fi titles above this one.

Overall 4/10

White Men Can’t Jump Review

Posted on July 7, 2024 by dreager1

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

It’s time for an old school comedy about what it takes to scam someone. It’s a pretty fun movie even if the characters aren’t always very likable though. As the main characters are scammers that does make sense though. The basketball battles are all pretty fun and there’s enough of them where you could call this a sports title as well.

The film starts off with Sydney hooping with his pals when a guy named Billy shows up. Billy looks like he’s probably no good as basketball so Sydney allows himself to be goaded into a 1 on 1 battle. He gets defeated though and Billy walks away with all the money. Sydney’s upset at first but then figures he can use this to make a lot of money as well. Sydney knows the basketball scene well after all so he can keep on challenging folks to 2 on 2 battles with Billy and rack up a ton of money. Can they really keep this going or will they eventually fall short?

Naturally hustling isn’t something you can really respect or admire though. I know Billy is desperate but surely there are more legitimate ways to handle this. He and his girlfriend Gloria are on the run from the debt collectors as well now and it’s all become a really big deal. This whole thing certainly hasn’t put him in the greatest position, that’s for sure. When he inevitably gets double crossed, you can’t feel super bad for him either. The guy also takes way too many risks. Risking Gloria’s money for his own pride about the slam dunk was really a bad move as well. I’m glad that Gloria stuck to her guns and ditched him there because she warned him ahead of time and he still went through with it.

That said, I wouldn’t say Gloria was a very solid heroine either. She definitely complained a whole lot while he was trying to earn some money. She could have been doing something as well instead of training for Jeopardy the whole time. The odds of being called in for the show and then of winning are so slim that it’s like playing the lotto. That’s not a very constructive way to plan for the future. She’s all over the place and has a gun at the ready but folds when the chips are down. It would have been nice if she was more supportive.

On the other side, Sydney is a fun character who delivers most of the humor in the film. He’s got a quick wit and is always one step ahead of the other characters. He’s a lot of fun and the film definitely would not be the same without him. I did think that his betraying Billy later on was rather out of pocket though. I know he wanted revenge but at that point it would seem like they were never really friends. In the film they sort everything out and team up again but I couldn’t really buy into it. No way you forgive someone when they ripped you off for more than $1000 like that. Especially when it’s money that you really needed at the time.

I don’t blame him for the slam dunk challenge though because that was completely on Billy. He did not need to try to take on that challenge and Sydney warned him against it several times. At that point, it’s all on Billy for going through with it and a bet is a bet. You have to honor it at that point. Sydney’s girlfriend Rhonda is definitely a lot more loyal to him than Gloria was to Billy. She backs him all the way without fail so that’s a pretty good dynamic right there.

As I mentioned before, the Basketball scenes are definitely pretty good. They’re fast paced and definitely deliver on the action. You may not like the two leads all that much for being scam artists but at least they are really good on the court and can hold their own. It’s why you feel like they shouldn’t need to resort to this. Just try to get serious about Basketball and win the right way. Of course if they don’t think they have the skills, they’ll get exposed real fast. Such is the risk you face whenever you enter a high level of competition though.

The script goes pretty hard on the banter so there will be a lot of laughs but it can also be a bit much/edgy at times. That’s always the risk you run with a film like this though. I would say that it ultimately succeeds a lot more than not though so that’s a good thing. I would have maybe added some kind of a main villain to spice things up though. For the most part there isn’t a central antagonist and it’s more about the characters trying to get along. The Jeopardy subplot could also be removed in its entirety. It just doesn’t have much to do with anything and you could just redo Gloria’s character. It’s a unique subplot to be sure since you’re definitely not expecting this in a Basketball film. It’s just such a long shot though, it almost would have been better if the plot didn’t go anywhere and Billy talks about what a waste of time it was.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. We got some danger with the debt collectors but for the most part this is a light hearted film about a lot of banter. The main romance isn’t very good but the film actually addresses that directly which was nice. The writing wasn’t always super strong and the main characters could be better but I had a good time with it and in the end that’s what counts. Basketball’s definitely a fun sport to watch with how fast paced it is.

Overall 6/10

My Daemon Review

Posted on July 6, 2024 by dreager1

Nothing is more trendy than making your own edgy version of Pokemon and that’s exactly what My Daemon set out to do. Right off the bat you have the opening theme which is definitely like something out of a horror movie and the overall tone of the show fits it in. It definitely has some interesting ideas and I also liked how unique the abilities for the Daemon were. The show does tend to be mean spirited more often than not though and ultimately it’s one of those titles where I quickly began to root for the villains instead of the heroes. Never a good sign for the heroes…

The show starts off by introducing us to the state of the world. Humanity must contend with creatures known as Daemon that appear to come from another world. You are supposed to stay away from them except for licensed trainers who enslave Daemon with their technology. These captured Daemon are then used to murder all other Daemon and are mistreated on the side since the show goes out of its way to show how almost every character in the series is evil. We’re then introduced to Kento, a nice kid who is fairly quiet. One day he runs into a Daemon named Anna and decides to adopt her.

Kento’s Mom figures this is a bad idea but she doesn’t want to crush Kento’s hopes so she lets him keep it as a pet. Unfortunately the neighborhood doesn’t like this and the cops are quickly called in. During the scuffle, she is murdered and so Kento vows to bring her back to life. In order to do this, he will have to search for a Daemon that is rumored to exist on the other side of the planet. It has the ability to bring people back to life. This will be a tough journey for Kento though and he is effectively a wanted criminal at this point. Anna’s ability appears to be that she can suck anything into another dimension and store it for later. So the ability is crucial for keeping Kento’s Mom’s body from expiring but it may not be enough to take on the more offensive type Daemon that are out there.

When you’re deciding who to root for between the humans and the aliens, you usually want to see which character is in the wrong and then how badly will the losing side fare if the other team wins. The humans lose this test on all accounts. For starters, we know that they plan to enslave and genocide the creatures for all of eternity. They don’t wish for coexistence at all and will take the Daemon down as maliciously as possible. So clearly this isn’t really an option to root for.

On the Daemon side, most of them are instinctual. They’re like animals and are just trying to survive and do whatever they can. With only a few exceptions, it’s not like they’re making plans or anything but of course they also won’t forget how cruel the humans have been. If they were to win, they will leave the humans alone who don’t bother them and won’t be going out of their way to be cruel. With one exception there again but yes the Daemon are very easy to root for. The series is similar to Attack on Titan where they make the humans so bad that you want the Titans to win, at least early on. The show could have made everyone seem a little more reasonable to be honest.

Kento works as a reasonable main character. He’s a bit young so I wouldn’t expect him to really be dishing out the pain to the villains or anything but he means well. He has an odd energy crystal in his head that instead of murdering him, lets him sync up with the Daemon. He’s clearly a chosen one to some capacity and has a bright future ahead of him, but I do wish he was a bit older. Then he could have really gotten in some fighting of his own. Instead he often has to be saved. Kento doesn’t fall short on bravery though, as he jumps in to help Anna at all times even when it means his life.

Anna is a very fun main character. She’s super loyal and also uses her abilities in a very useful way. You may think that teleporting objects isn’t super handy but she is able to apply momentum to them. This means she effectively has an endless array of projectiles which is handy. She also has her true form which shows up a few times and does well. At times I dare say she should have put up an even better fight so the villains have a bit of plot armor this time around. Still, in the story Anna gets a lot of hype which is definitely deserved.

Azuma is a fairly talented fighter and another character who is a good strategist. Her Daemon can open doors which are effectively portals in this context. She is then able to attack and dodge really seamlessly with this ability. It’s pretty fun to see and the show is at its best when it’s having fun with these fights. Even the most standard of powers can be really deadly in the right hands after all. She takes a little while to really go to the right path but still ends up being more reasonable than most of the cast so I’ll give her that.

Kaede is the main heroine of the show. She definitely makes some mistakes along the road but ultimately comes around. She gets some plot twists which connect her to the main villain group and ensure that her role will be fairly large for the whole program. So Kaede was a good character and she’s a bit older so she could actually talk back to the other big characters and not have to hide in the back or anything like that. She could defend herself as needed which is very important.

As Kento’s mom, Kaoru was another solid character. It would have been nice if she could have appeared for more of the show as I think she would have handled things way better than Kento. Kento really fumbled the bag on several occasions, one of which was when a shapeshifter was pretending to be her. Yes, Kento sort of knew for most of it but continued to play along because it felt good. That’s still not a great look for the kid who was risking everything for this feeling when his real Mom needed him.

Iori is one of the first villains to show up. He’s a bounty hunter so the guy can fight well enough and definitely comes close to taking Kento off the board initially. That being said, you would expect him to be a little more careful and precise when he attacks. The guy should have a lot of experience but definitely doesn’t handle him self as well as you would expect. Ultimately this is why he gets absolutely rocked when he ends up taking on Kento and getting in the middle of all the Daemon.

There are quite a lot of Daemons in the show but 4 of them in particular stood out. First was the Black Hair Daemon which looks like another big horror threat. Hair has always been one of the cooler weapons for a villain to have because of how versatile it is and that’s the case here as well. It can be used for attack or defense and makes this a lethal opponent. It’s another villain that you feel bad for since the humans started this with all of the experiments. That is the case for virtually all of the Daemon that the heroes have to fight with.

Then you have Senju, the spider Daemon. It’s another super fierce opponent who has been through a lot and is finally fighting back against humanity. You’re rooting for it to show those guys who is boss and really flip the script on the current scenario. Doing that is definitely easier said than done but if anyone can pull it off, it would be this creature. After that you have Pandaemonium, the ultimate threat to the universe. You need actual nukes to take this guy on which is crazy but really good hype the whole time. Again, this is basically self defense so why wouldn’t you be rooting for this guy right? He has a great design and absolutely insane amounts of power. It doesn’t get to have quite as much character as some of the others but works well as a final boss type fighter.

Genjiro is the leader of the main villain group so you may expect him to be a cool mastermind but nah, that guy’s just annoying. He’s one of those people who figures that the ends justify the means. We get a sob story about why he really wants Anna and it involves how he lost his family to another portal creature. The problem is that he used this as an excuse to attack all of the Daemon. I could have actually had some sympathy for him if he just went after Anna and ignored everyone else but the fact that he got the whole world roped into this takes away any sympathy I may have had for the guy.

We can’t forget about the best character in the series though. Kiriko is a Daemon who can heal and shapeshift. He has a lot of tremendous abilities including a form of sorta telekinesis. It’s more complicated than that but he is able to simulate its effects. He tried to give humanity a fair shake but saw that no matter what, humans will continue to try and destroy the Daemon. There would be no way to ever achieve world peace and so they had to be wiped out. It’s hard to argue with that considering how much he had to put up with. Whenever a villain is this logical and thought things through, you need a really solid hero to try and counter his points. Again, that’s where Kento falters because he really can’t debate against him.

Kento just isn’t very mature like that. He talks about how beautiful Anna is all the time and how he likes Daemons but that’s really all he can do. He doesn’t understand what it would mean to have true peace and isn’t prepared to take either side. A half hearted approach like this ultimately doesn’t help anybody. Yeah Kiriko is taking a super drastic approach but you know…at least he is taking some kind of approach. That’s more than most characters would have managed to do.

Yura is one of those guys who ends up being a terrible character even though he had a reasonable start. The guy completely cracks before long and the whole thing makes him look super embarrassing. Look you either have an honor code or you don’t. I get that he had a sick family and needed money badly but if the show was hoping that would make him sympathetic for betraying the heroes, then it definitely didn’t work. You definitely need some more desperate circumstances than that to pull such a thing off.

Kouya is a guy who gets quite a lot of hype. His thunder punches let him fight with Daemons directly which is pretty much unheard of. The thing is, it’s unheard of for good reason. Lets put it this way, he goes up against one of the strongest creatures in the verse and actually holds his own for a bit. He’s still just a guy, I think heh should have died early on in that fight. The fact that he continued to live is something that I just didn’t buy into the whole time. No offense to his fans of course. I did like him though, he worked well as an antagonist and would hear the main characters out.

The technical aspects of the show don’t really help to support it much at all though. The soundtrack is definitely on the weaker side. The opening is historically weak and probably in the bottom 5% of all shows that I’ve watched. It’s just way too soft and that only works if you’re super scary but it doesn’t pull that off. The ost in general is fairly forgettable. Then when it comes to the animation, I would also say that it is not quite up to par. The fight scenes can look good and I wouldn’t say that the CG is terrible or anything but it’s definitely not at the level that it would need to be in order to really support the story.

So the show itself is really on its own here. It does succeed in the core premise of the series which is to explore the world of Pokemon if it was in a more grounded world where everything is sinister and messed up. However, that works to the show’s own detriment. The Daemon are written to be super realistic so they’re like animals the whole time. As a result when they’re being tortured and experimented on constantly, it doesn’t make for an easy watch. The show isn’t generally super violent or anything like that but it does have its moments. Kento’s head exploding was certainly one of those intense moments, I remember being pretty surprised there.

The show tackles some fairly heavy themes here. It makes for a compelling watch as you’re curious how things will go. It would have been nice if it was easier to root for the humans though instead of just wishing they would be defeated the whole time. You’re seriously rooting for their downfall the whole time which isn’t always easy. Since you know the Daemon have to ultimately lose, that’s a bit of a downer. An ending where humanity is wiped out may not be a popular one but sometimes it just fits and I think this definitely would have been one of those cases.

You’ll probably wince at least once per episode for the poor Daemons. On the flip side though, it is always nice when they finally start to dominate. Every time one of the humans goes down, I’d pump my fist. The fights are also very dynamic like I mentioned before. Even if I didn’t love the actual animation, the directing and writing for the abilities were on point. Every ability can and will be shown to be absolutely lethal in this show. It’s why you can’t underestimate any of the creatures here or you will end up dead. That’s something the show definitely deserves a whole lot of credit for.

Overall, My Daemon is a pretty intense title. It’s certainly not the kind of show that is going for an everybody wins kind of ending. Even though the ending is fairly light, there was definitely a lot of damage along the way. You can also tell that the situation is not completely fixed yet either. There is plenty of room for a season 2 should they ever want to do it but it’s hard to say exactly what is in the cards here. I’ll certainly be interested though, whatever they decide to do here. If you can get past all of the Daemon violence then this is a title you may be interested in checking out. A better way to gauge this may be if you have always wanted to see a much darker take on the Pokemon mythos. If so, then this should be up your alley.

Overall 5/10

Saint Seiya: Next Dimension Review

Posted on July 4, 2024 by dreager1

Uh oh, it’s time to look at the big Saint Seiya sequel. Basically this series is really trying to see just how far a good fight scene can take you. The story is a mess, the power levels are all over the place, the concepts are all recycled and the ending is terrible. And yet….I would say this is still a very solid series so just how good is the Saint Seiya cast to pull this off? I would think of it as a title of ultimate missed possibilities that tries its best to sabotage itself at every turn but was unable to finish the job. That’s the best way to look at this title and it really makes you think.

After Seiya took out Hades, he has been unable to regain consciousness in the present. In the present, the other Saints head to the past in order to find a way to wake him up. They then get to fight alongside Tenma and relive the events of Lost Canvass but in a very watered down, abridged version of that series. They have unfortunately not stayed sharp in their training and so they have a super hard time against all of the Gold Saints there but they have to keep on trying. The god of time Chronos has some plans of his own but this isn’t Episode G so the series never does much with him. Then meanwhile the angels have shown up to murder Seiya and have to contend with Marin and Shaina. They must be pretty weak eh?

So the series is jumping around a whole lot here. There are over 100 chapters but don’t let that fool you, the series itself is not as long as it sounds. A bunch of chapters are less than 10 pages long and you can often go several chapters without much actual plot progression. This is rough because this is a series that was trying to have a super big and ambitious plot. Without that at the ready, it starts to fall apart a bit. The main complaint the series has is that it’s just recycling ideas from the main Saint Seiya all the time and I have to admit that this is very valid. It basically replays the original series to a T.

The Saints run through the temples as they fight every Gold Saint and then take on the mastermind. We actually do this more than once as the bronze saints run the gambit but then a gold saint does too. There’s not much rhyme or reason to the fights as the bronze saints should be crushing these guys in their sleep but have a super tough time for no reason. The fights tend to be short and just follow the same format over and over and over again. There’s no creativity or originality to be found here at all so you better enjoy the confrontations themselves.

Then of course you have the prequel stuff with Tenma. Again, Lost Canvass did that better but this series tries its best. We get to see Tenma get a lot of fights and Hades gets his moments but there’s just way less time for them to do anything. Episode G, Lost Canvass, and the Saint Seiya Heaven Overture movie all handled their plots better because they had the time for it. This is trying to adapt parts from all 3 at the same time and ends up failing completely as an adaption there. My recommendation is to treat this title as not being canon and then you’re in a good space.

Well in the prequel timeline, Tenma is still a fun character. He may effectively be a watered down Seiya most of the time but he still has ambitions and tries to get stronger to fulfill them. I give him credit for standing up to every villain in his way and never giving up. The previous Hades is a lot more weak willed since he can’t resist the dark powers at all. I suppose it’s good that he at least had the powers so he wasn’t just getting destroyed the whole time.

Dohko and Shion get the biggest roles out of the old Gold Saints to mirror how that was the case in Lost Canvass as well. They’re not bad but do tend to follow the rules a bit too strictly instead of making their own decisions. Shion talks tough but will usually just go along with what Dohko says. Dohko may try to be the rebel but at the end of the day he goes for all of the traditions so I don’t quite buy into that image they were going for. He certainly does look more impressive than the others from a power perspective though and actually fights more than 1 big battle. I like Dohko so seeing him get a big role is always cool.

On the villains side, most of them don’t actually get to have a big role. The various specters are around but they tend to be discarded quickly. The biggest villain is definitely Suikyo who gets to do quite a lot. He used to be a hero and then he went over to the dark side which shocked everybody. His power levels are immense and he has his own very convoluted reasons for working with the villains. You may understand them but good luck on agreeing with them. He’s the kind of character that you just shake your head at because he created the situation that he is now trying to stop.

The most interesting plot is in the present so that’s why it’s a shame that almost the whole series is in the past. Lets take a look at Artemis, she’s Athena’s older sister and someone with a lot of power in her own respect. We could get some interesting dynamics and banter here but unfortunately Athena herself prevents that from happening with how passive she is. She spends the whole series letting every character tell her what an awful person she is, then she has to die again, and finally the other gods bad mouth her in the climax.

I’d like Athena to just get tough and start fighting back by this point. It’s clear that nobody is going to agree with her or help her out at least from the gods so she should try to take them out. If she loses then they’ll end up murdering her but that’s what they’re going to do anyway. I dare say that Athena is probably one of the worst leaders that you can possibly ask for. I can’t think of a more annoying figure to have to serve in a situation like this.

Then we have Apollo who has a cool design and everything but it’s not like he’s any more reasonable. He’s another villain who thinks that humans are pests. No matter how he tries to frame this, the guy is a complete villain. He wants to murder everyone on the Earth so you can’t really get out of that. In this series it feels to me like Athena is the only god who is on the heroes’ side. That’s yet another reason why she should be trying to take them down instead of listening to their whims.

At least Chronos is being helpful in the series even though you know that he absolutely has an angle. At least he’s going to wait and betray the heroes later on so we’ll take what we can get. Marin and Shaina look good in the present even if it doesn’t make sense that they can do anything against fighters of this level. It’s definitely more than a little cheesy and I would have advised the author to not even include them to be honest. At least not in any of the fights.

Seiya really only gets to actually do stuff for about a chapter but it was still nostalgic seeing him around. As always he is one of the only characters who will actually get up and start making some noise while the gods are attacking. A lot of the characters will look the other way or try to buy time but Seiya just does what he has to and I appreciate that. It’s why he is still known as such a legendary main character. Any future story needs to make sure to involve him a lot earlier this time. Like the chapter where the angel shows up to take him out was excellent and then from there the series couldn’t capitalize on this.

Ultimately a big reason for this is because the Seiya plot was actually new content. It wasn’t just the same story beats once more but this time it was a completely original story. Keeping up with more of that would have done a world of good for the story. Like Phoenix Ikki’s first appearance is incredibly awesome because of how it felt different. He shows up talking tough that he would beat the specter and the gold saint. That was really good and as always Ikki is a top tier character. Nobody was able to match that kind of aura.

Andromeda fans can be happy that he appears a lot here but it’s a double edged sword. On one hand, for a decent chunk of the series it’s just him and Tenma running through the temples while the other Saints are still in the present. However, Andromeda tends to lose a lot and doesn’t look even remotely impressive. The fact that Gold Saints are literally one shotting him is absolutely embarrassing. That should not be happening to any of the main characters. He has gone up against gods, why is he falling backwards like this? Like I said before, power levels are thrown out here.

Hyoga and Shiryu don’t get huge roles here compared to the others but you can still be assured that they get their big fights. They struggle at first and then they mount the comeback in exactly the way you would imagine that they would. It may not be original but at least in this way you know exactly what to expect ahead of time. That should be a load off at least although we would all take a new story any day. Hyoga’s entrance wins from the two though as he at least gets to scare off one of the angels which looks real impressive on his end.

Then we have Ophiuchus who shows up as the 13th Gold Saint. I’m not totally sure what the point of him was when we already had Suiryu but this guy gets a ton of hype. He’s the nicest guy out there but also has a super dark side like the Gemini saint. He’s really all over the place and works as a true wild card in a lot of respects because absolutely nobody can trust him. He’ll be fighting at your side one second and then suddenly he will be stabbing you from the back. What can you even do in that kind of circumstance right? I didn’t like him as a character because of how he lacked will power but he makes for a good villain.

I will say that the art is still solid as always. The series really nails the condescending look that the series is known for. Characters will diss each other with their eyes closed which I think is the absolute ultimate level of this. It shows that they are absolutely not messing around and will go to any lengths to mess with the other characters. The fights are also good when they happen although now they tend to be more like one shot fights towards the end of the series. Gone are the days of the longer fights which were always more fun.

Okay so with all of this bashing you may be wondering how this can possibly get a positive score. Well, it all comes down to the source material being that good. Think of it like playing a color swapped version of your favorite video game that promises a secret level at the end of it. Almost everything is old and done already but you’re still having a good time because the old levels are still fun. That’s how this one goes, it may be the same plot developments that you have seen already, but they are good plots.

At this point I’ve watched the first arc of the Saint Seiya series so many times with all of the remakes and adaptions. What’s doing it one more time right? At least in this case there are some slight differences as well which is important to recognize. So it’s not completely old even if in the large scheme of things that is what’s effectively happening here. You do wish that the series would do more but hey it’s still a blast. One thing that really helps is that I didn’t get caught up until later on so I didn’t have to wait nearly as long as the fans who were around since day 1. I know for those guys the wait was certainly more brutal so I get it.

The ending can also make the whole series feel like a waste of time. I’d say it helps that I can just look at Lost Canvass and the Saint Seiya movie to make those canon instead of this series. The hardcore fans may say that is impossible and in a sense it is, but I don’t get tied down quite as tightly by that kind of logic. So if I had a better time with the other story then I’ll still keep it as the real continuation.

Then this series avoided fanservice, any real big holes, and kept up a lot of action. So once again I say if you look at this series objectively without taking the other titles into account, I would call it a great series. It’s hard to look at it in a vacuum since of course this series is a sequel and is intended as such but that’s the best way to look at it. Or as a crazy AU and then you’re able to have more fun with it.

Overall, I tend to be rather desperate for more Saint Seiya content. It’s a franchise that is just way too awesome and interesting to put down. There’s always something cool happening here and the power levels go absolutely crazy. It’s just a lot of fun but this series really squandered all kinds of opportunities. This should have been an extremely easy 9/10 with just the bare minimum amount of effort. It’s clear that the writer just isn’t as engaged with the series at this point though and I have doubts that it can continue with the final 2 arcs. If this is the end of the series…well it definitely ended on a whimper that’s for sure. This will always be known as the series that fell short even if I did have a great time with it overall. Hopefully it can get a really high budget anime adaption which can take some of the spotlight away from the story.

Overall 8/10

Mega Man X – Team X, Move Out!! Review

Posted on July 4, 2024 by dreager1

It’s always fun to have a new Mega Man story to shake things up. This one shot goes by quickly but definitely shows how Mega Man X is always having to put up with so many things. The guy can really never catch a break no matter how hard he tries. The world of the future is certainly not a bright one and whether it is humans or robots who take charge, they just end up getting corrupted and dominated so quickly.

The story takes place after the first Mega Man X game and so X is being celebrated as a hero. He is now the captain of the maverick hunters and it should be a really exciting day but all of the other robots are jealous of him. They want their chance in the sun and figure that it won’t happen until a new villain shows up to cause some damage. So they actively root for a tragedy like that to occur which rubs Mega Man the wrong way but he doesn’t say anything. One day a maverick shows up and starts causing some trouble but he’s talked down by a kid. The kid isn’t afraid of him and so maybe he doesn’t have to be evil or anything like that. Unfortunately, the young heroes figure this is their chance to shine so they continue trying to murder him even when the robot won’t fight back and is clearly trying to protect the kid.

It’s a really bad look for the maverick hunters all around. They really act like the villains throughout this oneshot and it’s a shame that X wasn’t able to do anything about it. Sure, he talks to them and says they shouldn’t be doing this but that’s about it. Not exactly a strong stance against them right? The robot ends up dying a tragic death as well and now X has another body on his hands. The whole thing feels like it’s meant to break X even further and it’s a shame because I think he deserves at least one happy day at some point. Why do every single one of his adventures have to go sideways like this?

The young robots also should have been reprimanded a whole lot harder. They directly caused the death of an innocent robot. It’s hard to walk your way back from that. I suppose outside of the tragedy it works a bit as a heartwarming story considering that the girl was able to rehabilitate a maverick. Not an easy thing to do for any character ordinarily. The robot also did well in protecting her throughout all of the fighting so he gets a lot of credit there. If he really wanted to fight, then aside from X I do think all of the robots would have been wiped out with ease.

The art is definitely solid and holds its own with any of the main Mega Man X titles. The action scenes are good and all of the characters look the way that they are supposed to. So definitely no issues there at all. The pacing is solid enough as well. There’s only so much you can do in a single chapter of course but the manga told a complete story which is definitely what you would like to see out of it.

Overall, This was a good story. It can be a little frustrating how the maverick hunters get away with so much here. I think in a longer story you could really address this a whole lot more but the limited page count just sort of works against it here. Still, it shows how X has to keep his guard up and be careful even when there is no end of the world threat present. Robots continue to get overwhelmed and corrupted even without a mastermind pulling the strings. If Megaman X had more confidence in himself and his leadership skills then it may not have been a problem but right now he’s still too timid. He needs to be the leader that everyone trusts him to be and hopefully that happens sooner than later.

Overall 7/10

Baby, Take a Bow Review

Posted on July 4, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a really old time film about how it can be hard to escape your past at times. In this case it’s because of a private detective who really has a bone to pick with the main guy. it can definitely be rough having someone bring up the past all the time. The film works pretty well even if some of the troubles that come up feel like they could have been avoided with a little more effort from the main characters.

The film starts off with Kay heading over to prison to pick up Eddie who is just being released. Private Detective Welch advises her not to do this as it will be the biggest mistake of her life but she ignores him and the two get married. 6 years later they have a daughter named Shirley and are doing really well for themselves. Unfortunately Welch isn’t thrilled about this. He decides to bust in and try to get some dirt on the guy. He may have been fired from every spot around but he still has enough pull to walk into any office whenever he wants.

Welch is definitely the big villain of the movie but I have to give him some real credit here. The guy is absolutely unrelenting. He just keeps on moving forward and somehow the guy has a whole lot of influence. People tend to believe him and so he is really able to sabotage whoever he wants. For example, he tells Eddie’s boss that the guy is probably a crook and the one responsible for a theft so the guy fires Eddie. Just like that.

It’s definitely a shame since Eddie had been doing really well. He also helped Larry find a job so the two ex cons put their lives of crime behind them. Unfortunately that starts to make them desperate and then you have the current criminal Trigger still around to try and tempt them into the dark side. What a guy. Trigger even has a gun and everything so he definitely makes the climax real serious here. He’s more of a physical threat than Welch even if Welch is the bigger social threat.

Trigger’s your average baddie though while Welch really has charisma and personality. So I would still say that he is a lot more memorable in the end. He’s definitely not someone that you end up forgetting and he helps make the film more entertaining.

Meanwhile Shirley’s role actually isn’t all that big this time. She’s mainly here to help make the situation worse for Eddie as she gets tricked quickly with the gun and gets them into hot water a lot. She’s only a kid so I mean it’s not her fault or anything but yeah without her things would have gone way more smoothly for the main characters.

Eddie and Larry did say no to Trigger’s offer so they get props for that. In other films you see the main character get tempted to get back into the life of crime but in this case when he said no, he meant it. Always a really good idea. The characters were also just generally solid. They had good attitudes and kept their chins up even when things weren’t going well.

Meanwhile Kay was really solid for sticking with Eddie and not letting Welch get to her. Jane has less to do here but was also a very loyal partner to Larry. Stuart gets 0 points because he’s the one who was tricked by Welch into firing two of his best employees. So much for innocent until proven guilty right? This guy folded when it counted and you don’t really forget that kind of thing. Even if he apologies later it just ends up ringing hollow.

The film is very short as it’s barely over an hour so it has to move quickly. I do think that’s enough time for this kind of film though. It’s not like it’s going for some kind of really long and elaborate plot. At its core it’s a simple romance story about characters just trying to have a quiet existence. All they really want is to raise a family and have a good time. For a lot of people that’s really enough and yet they are pulled into a bunch of problems anyway.

If there’s one slight issue here it’s that nothing really happens to Welch. It just feels like he’s going to pull the same thing with a different ex-convict next time. He didn’t learn any lessons or even get harshly reprimanded. He was already fired from every agency before the film started so it’s not like he could be fired again either. Definitely a case where it feels like the film overlooked his role by the end when he should have at least gotten fined or something for misleading the police. I’m not sure what the exact crime would be for something like this but just find something to stick and hit him with it. The guy’s dangerously obsessive so he can’t be let on the loose. I would absolutely watch a spinoff film with him as the main character though because like I said, he was easily the most entertaining character around here.

Overall, The film probably should have been named after the main plot rather than Shirley being in it. She gets her classic dance number and everything but really isn’t a main focus in the film. I guess you could say she helps as motivation for Eddie staying o the straight and narrow but the title should have been something about trying to prove his innocence. Either way, it’s a solid film that’s good harmless fun. You could watch it at any point and it flows over very quickly. It’s also such an old film so it’s always fun to see how a title from the 30s plays out. I’ve seen tons of 50s films but even for me I haven’t seen a ton of 30s. That’s why there’s nothing wrong with it being simple, for all I know this may have been rather ambitious for its day.

Overall 7/10

Alice Adams Review

Posted on July 4, 2024 by dreager1

Uh oh, I’m on a roll with the negative film reviews. You’d expect a super old 30s romance to be pretty fun and get the automatic win but that’s not the case for this one. The characters are just too unlikable so you’re actively rooting against them here. I didn’t think the heroine deserved to win and all of the characters just made such big mistakes for themselves. There’s just no way to climb back up from how far they fell.

The film starts off by introducing us to the Adams family who are really poor and down on their luck. The father has been sick for ages and while his boss continues to pay his checks, it’s not a lot of money. The mother continues to hound and berate him the whole time about how he has failed the family. Walter continues to waste his money on every kind of vice possible so he’s definitely as irresponsible as possible. Finally you have Alice who is really self conscious about the whole thing and so she is constantly lying in order to trick the people round her into thinking that she is wealthy.

She has kept these lies up for a while but then a guy named Arthur shows up and Alice likes him quite a lot. The guy is fairly wealthy and Alice really doesn’t want him to know the truth. As their relationship gets more serious though it becomes hard to hide this. Can she continue to deceive him all the way until marriage or is this relationship doomed to fall to ruins?

So right from the bat I can’t root for the romance here because a romance built on deception is absolutely not going to go well. I think it’s very difficult to come back from that. Yes, everyone starts off with a bit of a mask when the relationship first starts. That’s normal and I don’t see anything wrong with that. There’s a big difference between that kind of setup and flat out lies though. Alice is straight up lying to Arthur the whole time and about fairly massive stuff. The fact that she was lying to everybody about even mild things also shows how she completely lost the plot.

Sure you could say it’s part of her character development but the problem is that it’s clear she would have kept on lying if she wasn’t caught. This kind of plot works way better if it’s an internal decision where she decides to come clean before being forced to do so. As a result this was just not going to work and it’s really cheesy that Arthur was still okay with the whole thing. It looked really bad by the end as it was coupled with her brother being a crook and her father seemingly stealing from the company he worked for. Arthur shouldn’t have turned around so quickly.

I can appreciate a happy ending of course but it just wasn’t very realistic at all. Arthur comes across as a bit of a pushover there. I won’t fault him for being a nice guy but yeah he could have done some things differently there. I will just say I am glad that he doesn’t walk around immediately believing in the rumors though. That was nice because other guys are the opposite extreme in these films where a rumor starts and they are immediately jumping in and buying into it.

Back to the family, Walter was a particularly disgraceful character as he turned a bad situation into a worse one. Actively stealing money is just awful especially since his father is the one who recommended him for the job. So now he’s making his father out to be a liar and someone who cannot be trusted while also incriminating the whole family. In a small town like this that can be an absolute death sentence to the rest of the characters. This guy was not thinking clearly at all.

Both parents were rather bad characters as well. The mother loses a lot of points for constantly complaining about everything and giving the dad bad advice. Quitting the company that helped pay his sick expenses for months and months is crazy and then wanting to burn the bridge for some quick money? She was definitely thinking about things in the short term. Then he takes a lot of the blame for following along with the advice even when he knew it was no good. I dare say it’s almost worse when you’re in that position because you’re ignoring your conscience. At least for her you can say that she thought it was the right thing to do but since he knows that it’s wrong, that’s bad business.

They’re all just lucky that the business owner was so lenient and forgiving. That was also rather cheesy by the way. So the main characters all got off rather easily and I’m not sure that they actually learned their lessons. The weak character cast is what really hurts this film because for a romance film like this you absolutely need quality characters. Otherwise the whole thing falls apart because it’s not like you have big fight scenes or special effects to make up the difference. The writing itself was good despite the characters since I still like the old style dialogue but it’s almost impressive how the film makes all of the main characters look this bad.

Overall, Don’t use this film as any kind of reference to getting a good romance relationship going. Trust me when I say that it isn’t likely to go smoothly if you follow these steps. A good partner will be patient but when it’s someone that you only just met, you can’t really test them to this extent. The film ends up leaving you rather annoyed by the end which is the wrong feeling for a romantic comedy and so it should have either leaned harder on being a comedy to the point of parody or just made the characters more redeemable. Have Alice give some quick little lies out of nervousness which she is forced to double down on later on as opposed to going over the top and even blaming the maid when things don’t go well. She just went way too far.

Overall 4/10

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Category Archives: Reviews

Edens Zero Review

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Mega Man X – Team X, Move Out!! Review

Baby, Take a Bow Review

Alice Adams Review

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