Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV Review

Posted on February 2, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for an anthology that definitely goes by really quickly. There are only 5 episodes after all and they tend to be pretty short. Still, it’s a pretty nice way to get to see the characters a bit more. The idea for each of the episodes is to get to know a different character a bit more. The animation is solid and this definitely got a reasonable budget. It’s a fun tag along to the game although on its own I’m guessing it won’t be turning a whole lot of heads.

The first episode starts off with a bang as we see into Noctis’ childhood and his run in with a powerful monster. After that we have him and the team fighting with some of the enemy empire’s soldiers. It was a good idea to start and end the series with some solid action scenes. Like I said before, most of the story is really about character development but action really helps for the whole thing to feel real. We also will get to see later on in the final special how the King uses his powers compared to how Noctis uses them. I can’t say he was super impressive but I know the guy is old and all. It just means that the kingdom was always going to be doomed. Either way this was a pretty intense opener and the animation got to show off a bit here. I also like how Noctis avoids eating any vegetables in his burger, that’s how I do it too.

The second episode is about Noctis’ friend Prompto. He used to be really timid and overweight but the guy always had a kind heart. He would look after animals and he did so in the present as well which triggers the flashback. Well, he wants to be Noctis’ friend but is a little ashamed at just how big he is. So he begins to work on losing weight. He runs every day and continues his exercises even in really tough conditions. It really speaks to just how dedicated he is and it’s really nice to see. I’d say it shows how he secretly tries hard even when he always gives off the impression of being a comedic slacker. I appreciate the depth although I would like him to act a bit more serious and driven like that in the present too. No reason he has to always keep this a secret right?

In the third episode we see how Gladiolus was training Noctis but the main character was always being a total slacker. Gladiolus didn’t really have much respect for the guy but kept on with his duty. One day his little sister visits the kingdom and gets lost but Noctis protects her and gets the two of them back home. It at least showed that Noctis would rise to the occasion as needed even if he could stand to train a bit more seriously. It was another fun episode although I do have to suspend some disbelief on Noctis and the little sister escaping the castle so easily. I know it was a secret passage of sorts that leads outside but nobody noticed the hole earlier or had guards around that area? I’d also expect there to be some kind of magical surveillance system because this seems like a security nightmare no matter how you slice it! Luckily things had a good ending for the heroes.

After that we wrap up the character intros with showing us what a tough time Ignis had in getting Noctis ready for the real world. Noctis would not study much at all for the exams and also couldn’t cook for himself. We get to see the real spoiled version of Noctis here. With everyone else he tends to put on the facade that he has his life all together but here we see all the cracks. In a way you can say that Ignis gets to see a side of Noctis that he hides from everyone else so in a way that is pretty big props for Ignis. At the same time it just makes Noctis look really bad. By the end Noctis tries his best to make a meal. While he ends up failing quite badly, I will give him some slight credit for the attempt. I’m glad that he is a lot more mature in the game though.

Finally we go full circle as Noctis meets up with the demon and gets to avenge his family. The demon honestly puts up a super good fight considering this is Noctis with his summoned weapons and the rest of the party. I would expect Noctis to be a bit stronger but this is a fairly early version of the character. Also maybe I am underestimating the monster a bit. Regardless it is a pretty solid action scene all around. A bit of a bloody one as well I could mention. I was a little surprised even at just how intense it got. I suppose with limited time for action, the animators really wanted to go all out here.

It’s a climactic end to the saga and so it made sense to end that way. I enjoyed both the action and slice of life moments here. These episodes could have easily fit into the main game as bonus cutscenes or side quests so they did a good job of making these intro episodes feel real. I’d definitely like to see more Final Fantasy titles get the full media treatment like this one did. A movie, show, and the main game is really a whole lot of content. Any title that isn’t VII or XIII would have to be quite jealous.

Overall, There’s not a ton to discuss here due to the show’s short runtime. All in all it was a fun experience. Short titles like this are a fun way to see your favorite characters for just a little while longer and so there’s no real downside to it. While it won’t have the same punch to people unfamiliar with Final Fantasy, you can probably still appreciate the fun vibes. Some of the stories like Prompto wanting to lose weight so he won’t bring his friend down can be applicable to any story so it makes for an easy watch. Likewise for taking down a monster to avenge your family.

Overall 6/10

Tower of God Season 2 Review

Posted on January 26, 2025 by dreager1

We had to wait a long time for Tower of God to make its big return so everyone was eager to see just how good it would look. Well, unfortunately the series isn’t one of the more big budget ones to put it mildly. The story is a 10/10 though so the series was always going to be great unless they changed something about the plot. Fortunately the cuts weren’t all that bad here. Some stuff is missing to be sure but all in all I thought they did an impressive job with it. It’s no season 1 but this show was definitely a lot of fun.

The story takes place a long time after season 1. Our new main character is Wangnan who is trying to climb up the tower but he has been having a hard time so far. He owes a lot of money to the local Yakuza so this is his last chance. There are a scary batch of recruits this time around too including the mysterious Viole who is the latest Slayer candidate. Since he is sponsored directly by FUG, getting on his bad side would not be a good idea. As luck would have it, they are placed on the same team along with a variety of other colorful characters. Will they be able to succeed or are they all doomed to die? In the meantime, the old characters like Khun are still making their moves to climb the tower and get justice for Baam.

There is a lot going on here as you would expect since this was always a very dialogue heavy series with a lot of storylines going on. This one adds a whole lot of characters to the existing roster which was already quite sizable. There is definitely a lot to keep up with here and the story has to move fast so don’t expect to have too many moments to relax and digest what just happened. Naturally I tend to enjoy fast pacing so that was pretty fun. I’d say it is still enough where you can understand what is going on even without reading the original manhua. It makes things easier for sure though.

So the story is super compelling as always and that’s why I say the series was destined for greatness. As for the animation, it’s not bad. It went for a more traditional look than the first season and while I think that can be good to show off the higher power levels, it really isn’t taken to the fullest. This animation style feels very familiar after all but it doesn’t have the same budget that bigger titles have. So as a result the fights aren’t super fluid or tend to have a lot of movement. At the very end of the season we get some quick cuts but that’s about it. The big punch with Viole and Urek is still a lot of fun even if the animation isn’t super high tier or anything though. I guess it’s another moment where I would give the story itself the most credit.

Fortunately the soundtrack is still really good like in season 1. There are a lot of reused tracks but they still age well. The cliffhanger theme when Urek is fighting Viole is definitely the best one. The openings/endings aren’t as catchy as season 1’s were but they are still good. I’ve listened to them a whole lot and at this point I’m used to them but I still couldn’t say that they are elite or really stand out. They do work better when you ignore the images though. The first opening’s is still criminally low budget. There were some artistic ideas there but they failed.

The decision to make this season 2 cours was definitely a really good one because of how much content there was to adapt. They will probably need 4 cours in order to adapt the Hell Train arc properly but we’ll see how that goes. Hopefully the wait isn’t super long for the next season because it’s rough to have to wait for so long each time. The next arc is my personal favorite of the series after all so I need it right away!

Wangnan makes for a pretty fun main character and I would say he’s a lot more fun than Baam from the first season. That kid was nice enough but Wangnan has more of a personality. He has dreams and aspirations and works hard to make them come true. He may not be the most powerful fighter in the tower but he doesn’t need to be. He just needs good allies and gets some decent feats as the season goes on. He’s more of a comedic lead but that doesn’t stop him from getting serious moments as well. He does what he needs to in order to go higher in the tower.

Miseng is one of the main party members but she can’t really fight much which puts her in a tough spot. The tower is a cruel place and trying to climb it without being able to fight is a really terrible idea. I feel bad for her of course but cmon now. This is just not going to work. She just ends up holding the team back the whole time and since she knows it, this causes Miseng to make some pretty bad moves the whole time. The whole thing is really just a wash for her and she should probably have gotten kicked out of the exams earlier. It only gets rougher the more you climb up after all.

Then there is Goseng who is in a similar boat as she can’t fight. What’s with all of these civilians trying to climb the tower? It’s just such a bad idea and the series sets up a little romance for her but you can’t imagine it ending in anything other than a tragic way. It’s just not possible to climb while constantly having to protect others. She doesn’t seem to be working on her abilities either so for now she isn’t rising up for me.

Akraptor is the tough guy who seems unhinged at first but has a soft side. Still, this is finally someone who can really fight so I am on board with having him around. He is able to keep his cool and keep the others in line when needed. He also tries to put up a fight against Viole although going for cheap shots against Horyang wasn’t smart with how high the stakes were. The guy adds a little spice to the team dynamic by being someone who can’t 100% be trusted so I appreciated that.

Horyang is another pretty powerful fighter and he’s got a sinister past. Definitely someone to keep an eye on and he gets a big role in the arc as other figures from his past turn up. I think he can be a bit too soft spoken but once his mini arc starts, he did get more serious and pro active. So I would say I hesitantly like him. I would like him to do more in the future though instead of just being dragged around a whole lot. He also needs to not make such a reckless move in leaving the heroes again since that just puts them all in danger.

Yeon is a pretty high ranking individual among the family hierarchy so when she shows up you expect a whole lot out of her. Unfortunately she can’t control her flames which is a classic way to nerf her. She’s not bad but considering how much hype the flames themselves get, it can be annoying to see people blocking them or straight up tanking the blasts. She absolutely needs to improve her abilities and do it quickly. Fortunately for her, Tower of God is one of those titles that doesn’t put a ton of stock on speed so she will still be able to tag speedsters even if it doesn’t make sense. Still, you need more than flames to win in this world because being a one trick pony is a recipe for disaster.

Viole is the power hitter that the team needed so it’s always good to have him around. He also doesn’t live up to the hype as much as you would want in the show version. As the slayer candidate his abilities are supposed to be absolutely legendary and on a whole different level yet he doesn’t look quite as overwhelmingly powerful as you would expect. If anything it just seems like his aura is slightly greater than the others which isn’t the all powerful buff that you would think it is. I would have liked to have seen more out of him.

Even so, it’s clear that he is stronger than the rest of the guys on his team so that’s good. Additionally just the fact that he stood up to Urek even for a moment was impressive since everybody else was chickening out immediately. When you are trying to climb the tower, you sometimes have to have a defining moment where you stand against the strong and this was it. It’s a lesson that the other characters could definitely learn from.

Take Prince for example. He may have looked tough at first as one of the villains but the instant he joined the heroes, the guy lost all his hype. It’s not like we needed another kid type character on the crew either. He doesn’t really contribute much at all except to hold the heroes back so I can’t say that I was a big fan of his either. On the whole you can see why I preferred the team from the season 1 group. I tended to enjoy everybody there while here the team can be hit or miss.

Then of course we have Khun’s team led by the man himself. Khun is solid as always here as he thinks 3 steps ahead and always has a plan. This is around the time he became a full time strategist. In season 1 he was also rather dominant physically but I suppose by this time the opponents are getting stronger. I would like to see him fight more though because I have to assume he’s still stronger than a lot of people. He doesn’t see into every possible contingency nor does he win every battle but on the whole he looks good. Khun is great at adapting to the circumstance and always keeping a confident demeanor up no matter what.

Dan is the new recruit Khun finds who has super speed. Uh oh, we all know how super speed can get kinda dicey when it comes to power levels right? Well, naturally it’s not all that good for Dan and he doesn’t get to show it off as much as I would like. The show does a good job of making him immediately likable though. I thought he was a really well developed character though and somebody who was just fun to root for.

Most of Khun’s other members aren’t all that memorable but there were two others who left an impact. First up is Novik who is one of those strong guys who is always overshadowed by having someone more powerful than him on the team. That has to be rough to know that you are pretty powerful but will never get that elusive #1 spot. Doesn’t feel all that fair right? Well he doesn’t let it get him down. It’s a bit hard to gauge Novik’s strength as well because he’s often either much stronger than his opponent or much weaker. There’s not really much of an in between here.

Then you have Ran who is a lot of fun. The guy is super confident and powerful. He reminds me a lot of Killua from Hunter X Hunter. His smugness is definitely deserved with how easily he dispatches his opponents. I like his fighting style so you could say that everything about the character is great from start to finish. He’s really fun to root for and gets a good amount of screentime. Khun definitely did really well to recruit this guy.

Shibisu has his own team as well which is a mix of new characters and old ones. The guy has really come a long way from being more of a loudmouth to a strategist who is treated a lot like Khun. The first season set up the seeds for this and the payoff was really good. He’s still not really a fighter though so tactics are really how he shines in the battles. If you take that away from him then he will really be in a tough spot here.

One of his new recruits is Vespa who is a strong fighter. Vespa brags a lot about having an awakened form and being the fastest but ends up fighting people who are either faster or who have hax which is unfortunate. I still like the character though. I don’t like Verdi as much because she seems borderline evil. She likes to collect people as puppets and brainwash them. That’s not exactly hero behavior so I don’t know what she is doing with these guys. I guess it was one of those strategic partnerships to look the other way but that isn’t a huge consolation to me. You have to reign that “Anything goes” attitude a little bit or you will become the villains.

Endorsi is also part of the group but she really does whatever she wants. It’s fun to see her absolute freedom though and continues to be one of the more powerful fighters. She gets a lot of hype on this one and also on an intellectual level as she quickly figures out that something is a little off about Viole. I definitely look forward to her continuing to have a pretty big role.

Anaak also gets her own solid fight so her fans should be pleased. Her durability gets a lot of respect and she is a high end fighter as well. For the most part you would expect her to be able to defeat most of the other fighters in each group. She is quick to want to get revenge for Baam which I appreciate. That’s how a real friend does it. Unfortunately I would say Hatz looks far less impressive. I really liked him in season 1 but it’s clear that he has lost to the power creep. Gone are the days where he could fight on par with Anaak. Hatz gets his own sub plot ad everything but he just doesn’t have the edge that he used to which is a shame.

Then on the FUG team we have Refejo at the helm. He’s a rather mysterious guy who seems loyal but is always having a backup plan at the ready. In fairness to the guy, trusting anyone in the Tower of God is a really bad move so I don’t blame him. His suspicions turn out to be correct more often than not. He ends up making for a really good villain and is one of the standout antagonists here. The guy can back up his tough talk really well.

Varagav may be stronger but the guy has less character. We get to see him fight Endorsi but that’s about it. I do like the foreshadowing with Baylord Yama being mentioned though. Beta was a more impressive villain as he really gave Viole a tough fight. The guy was pretty whiny so I won’t say he’s as likable as some of the other villains but the guy made his presence known. He really gave all of the characters a really tough fight throughout.

Another villain is Quaetro but he stops being a threat early on. His fight with Wangnan was a lot of fun though. For the most part the fights in the series tend to be serious so having a little comedic moment once in a while isn’t bad. His partner Chang gets even less to do but does seem to be stronger. Maybe one day we will really get to see him cut loose although it feels like the power creep has already passed him. The series really moves fast when it comes to powers.

That’s not even counting characters who appear but haven’t fought yet. Karaka gets a few appearances to gloat and look tough. He’s a solid villain so I look forward to him getting a role. Then of course we have his master Jinsung who gets even more hype. The kind of guy who doesn’t mind walking into a villain’s base all on his own just to talk smack. Now that’s a good level of confidence that I like to see.

Of course Urek towers above all of those as one of the strongest characters in the whole franchise. The guy loves a good fight and really shows off his power. Definitely someone you will want to see more of and he really steals the show even with a very limited amount of screentime. It will be a while before he does anything again so you better savor the moment while you can. His appearance was like a glimpse into the end game.

Then we have Xia Xia who isn’t the strongest villain but she still finds ways to shake everybody up so I can appreciate that. She is crazy in a very dangerous way with no tactic being out of bounds. I thought she did a good job of playing everybody and while her role isn’t large, it was impactful. She’s almost like the reverse Hwaryun who also trolls everybody constantly. Hwaryun gets more hype though since as a guide her foresight is pretty much unstoppable. She will always be on the path that she needs to be. Granted, it doesn’t stop her from being knocked out but you always assume that she got knocked out at a good time for her or something like that.

Emily is a mysterious figure and most of her scenes had to get cut out for the anime. Not that it changes much since she keeps the mysterious aura either way. I wasn’t crazy about the subplot in regards to her true identity but I did like the idea of a texting app that everybody was using in order to stay ahead. That added a fun wrinkle to the Workshop battle arc and kept all of the characters guessing. The more mind games in Tower of God the better!

Still, any scene with the Traveler would usually be pretty uneventful and dare I say a bit boring. I just didn’t care about the guy and not even the anime adaption would end up fixing that. He doesn’t appear a ton fortunately so that worked out. As one more miscellaneous hero, Rak shows up for the second half and even gets some fights. I would say he is an unfortunate victim of the power creep so don’t expect him to look too overpowering but he gets his share of fun moments. He’s not exactly my favorite character but the guy is super loyal so I really appreciate that.

Somebody like Cassano can learn from that. Cassano is a solid villain but you wonder how far he has thought ahead in his plans. he makes a whole lot of enemies out of pretty much every faction which can’t be a good idea for his long term health. He’s a solid fighter but not one of the top tiers. I guess relative to the average fighter he would be considered near the top though. I think he works as an interesting wild card and just needs at least one more power up.

Then of course we have Rachel who is still a standout character. She’s just an absolute blast and always shakes up the tower. It’s clear to see why she is considered one of the destined ones by the tower itself. She also has the most brutal moments in the series. She doesn’t appear much in the second half but of course you can look forward to seeing a whole lot more out of her down the road.

Overall, Season 2 was definitely a blast. It’s a great show even if it’s not downright elite the way that season 1 was. There is a lot going on here and a lot of plot developments set up for the next saga. Regardless of how the animation ends up looking, the next part should be super elite. Although of course I will be hoping for better animation as well because why not have the full package right? A series like Tower of God absolutely deserves every bit of effort it can get. I definitely recommend this title.

Overall 8/10

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day Review

Posted on January 19, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for a classic romantic drama. This one has a whole lot going on with all of the characters getting into complicated romance dynamics. It shows how just losing one person in a friend group can change everything drastically. That is definitely realistic though because friend groups work on the exact basis of everyone involved. So when you lose even one person then you get yourself into a whole new situation. The show is fun to watch and makes for a good title all around.

The show starts off with 6 kids as close friends. One day a few of them get together to put pressure on Jintan to announce if he likes Menma or not. He gets embarrassed and runs off so Menma gives chase but unfortunately an accident occurs and she dies. We cut forward 5 years and the group has really broken up. For the most part they’re on their own now except for Yukiatsu and Tsuruko. Jintan in particular is depressed and doesn’t do much of anything anymore. He just lounges around and watches the hours go by. Well, one day Menma suddenly shows up and only he can see or hear her. She figures that there must be some kind of regret holding her back and the logical conclusion is that the group of friends needs to reunite once more. Can they pull it off?

Reuniting after 5 years is of course a difficult task. Especially when your only real argument is that the ghost of Menma is asking him to do this. Now there is a massive plot hole here that the whole doesn’t actually address until the climax so I’m going to mention it right away. Menma is able to interact with the physical world. She is able to eat and move dishes around, cook, etc. So…..what better way to prove that she’s actually here than to have her move things while everyone is watching right? You’ll think of this in about 2 seconds while Jintan never does and instead has to listen to everyone doubt him. Of course they would doubt him, I would too.

They also should have come up with the idea but I can cut them some slack since they would be super skeptical right from the start that it’s possible. That’s totally fine and makes sense but I don’t see how the main characters wouldn’t think of it. Jintan gets punches and shoved several times for “making up lies about Menma” and this would be so easy to figure out. I kept thinking about that during the entire show’s run and as the viewer it’ll likely be at the top of your mind too.

Ah well, solution aside (and it would change the whole show) the idea of a ghost is always pretty fun. It’s like having an invisible friend and since this does appear to be the real Menma, it’s a chance for him to get some real closure. Since it’s established early on that he likes her, it does mean that he can be awkward at times but naturally having a good friend hanging out 24/7 is definitely fun. He may be reminded of the trauma but this also allows him to get past it as well.

So you’ve got a big storyline about healing here as every character has some scars from her death. This includes supporting characters as well like her parents and brother. Menma’s mother in particular really broke down by this point while the other two are doing their best to handle this in a healthier manner. It ends up making her a bit of an antagonist for a little while there as she just couldn’t let go. Losing your kid so suddenly would be traumatic so you can understand the pain there.

As the main character Jintan isn’t bad. He can be a bit oblivious at times though. The amount of times he casually talks to Menma while forgetting that anybody can see her is considerable. He also tends to have a lot of doubts with the plans and doesn’t see things through. As the series goes on he gets more confident and makes less mistakes but it’s a tough road for him to the end. All of the characters have their faults which is sort of the point though. It’s a fairly weak character cast so the show mainly has to succeed in spite of that and pulls this off with quality writing.

Menma is the main heroine here and she does her best to keep things light. In a lot of ways she stayed a kid even after being a ghost. Her body may have matured but her spirit is that of a kid so she can still be a little naive. She looks at things on the surface level and for that reason the idea of getting everyone back together seems a little easier than for the others. To her it just makes sense since they used to be friends and she does her best for that mission. Her optimism helps her be one of the better characters.

Tsuruko is one of the more petty characters I’d say. She tries to be the mature character of the bunch of she has disdain for the others. She does seem to put herself on a bit of a perch but then attacks the others in secret. This happened as kids as well when she went to talk to Menma in private. Then in the present she tells dark secrets about Yukiatsu to other girls. She felt like the fakest character in the series and it was all because she couldn’t talk about things in the open. I don’t have a whole lot of respect for characters like that.

She laments about how Yukiatsu never sees her as a girl but it’s not like she ever did anything about that. The fact that they were close friends for so long gave her a lot of chances here. Blaming this on the guy not asking is a very old fashioned approach and one I’ve never agreed with. Then we have Poppo who is mainly okay but in some ways seems like the most broken one. I thought it was a really bad look when he started chanting for Jintan to admit his feelings for Menma and relive the trauma of the old days. He may have apologized afterwards but it felt hollow. There are some things you can’t do and then apologize right afterwards because you simply don’t believe it. If he was going that far then he clearly meant what he was saying.

He did his best to be the friendly one but for a while it felt like an act. He really wanted to be able to see Menma too. Although most of the characters were jealous on that front. The biggest offender was Yukiatsu who is super jealous the whole series. It even leads him to dressing up as Menma at one point which was definitely his lowest scene in the series. The guy was crazy and otherwise had been one of the more responsible ones. He helps Anaru out of some jams although his randomly trying to get with her felt forced. The first time I thought it was almost like a joke or a way to get her past her trauma but then he got serious about it which was weird.

Definitely not a good look for him, especially if you take it as his trying to get back at Jintan. I don’t think that was the intent but either way he could have handled things better. He is one of the more interesting characters though and from the 6 I would argue he is the most irreplaceable. His aggressive nature spurned on some of the more serious conversations that would not have happened otherwise with everyone playing nice.

Then we have Anaru who in some ways is the most tragic character. A lot of it is on her though as she also makes the mistake of liking Jintan but not saying anything about it for years. She ends up losing her identity and trying to fit in with the cool crowd who were not really supportive when it counted. The show tries to make her friends look decent at the very end but they seemed fake for the rest of the show. The sudden final scene for them didn’t really work. Anaru does finally confess her feelings later on so that’s the one point I could feel bad for her since Jintan just runs off as normal. It’s definitely one of the absolute worst reactions you can possibly get to a confession like that. I felt like he never properly apologized for that either.

Anaru’s character arc is probably the clearest out of the 6 as she learns to make her own decisions and not just try to fit in with everyone. It’s a healthy character arc and so I definitely appreciated that. That said, I still couldn’t root for her and Jintan since that would be an obvious rebound. In fact, for that reason I couldn’t root for any of the romances in the show. I suppose Jintan and Menma would be fine but she’s dead so that’s not a realistic option either.

That’s why the show is best when it’s focused on the drama and not the romance. Some of it can be a little forced like Anaru being tricked into nearly going to a hotel with some random guy. Terrible look for her even leaving the club at all. Going was already a mistake but how do you not have any street smarts? It’s a good thing Yukiatsu was there at the time. The more normal drama is better with the friends arguing at their fort. At times the arguments can start to go in circles but it makes sense when you have a problem like this one that doesn’t have a clear answer. After all they can argue forever but there’s no way to really know why Menma is stuck on Earth except to keep on trying their best guesses.

The animation is a little better than I would have expected. The colors are striking and there’s a good amount of movement. It’s certainly more than you might expect for a fairly laidback show like this. The opening never really grew on me though and the ost within the show is okay but forgettable. This is the kind of show that needs to survive on the story as there is nothing else to really back that up on the audio front. For a romance/drama that is fine though, I think music is a much bigger deal for an action title but that’s highly debatable.

You’re here for the story of the characters reconnecting after all and that part is handled well. Sticking to a single season was also probably a good idea since it is the kind of show that would get tougher and tougher to pull off as it got more episodes. The longer you go, the more mundane the arguments would start to get. This one had a good balance with all of the characters being rightfully upset and pulling out the cards you would expect. Like thinking Jintan was messing with them or using Menma as a taunt of sorts. He definitely did seem crazy for a while there so that wouldn’t have been too surprising.

Will they stay friends forever? Probably not, friend circles come and go with the ages but it’s a natural thing. A lot of people that you even know well will eventually fade away. Maybe they go to a different school, get married, travel abroad, etc. So you just have to enjoy the friendships while they occur. This show gave the characters a chance to relive those days once more and it’s the kind of emotional beat that any viewer can enjoy.

The storyline about all of the characters effectively wearing a fake social mask is also on point. As the show goes on, the characters all realize that they didn’t know each other nearly as well as they thought they did. They all had different intentions and motivations at the time that was only realized later on. That makes sense as well as even close friends won’t know everything about each other. Even by the end that won’t be the case but it does help them all finally move on from how much guilt they had been holding onto from the past incident.

Overall, Anohana is a pretty good show. I had no real issues with it and it’s just a pleasant ride the whole way through. I’ll never forget how Menma didn’t just prove her existence at the beginning though. There were a good amount of plots going on at the same time here and they all got satisfactory endings. I didn’t feel like any character got shafted out of their trauma developments. As long as you like a more quiet type title then this will be a good title to look up.

Overall 7/10

Granblue Fantasy: The Animation Season 2 Review

Posted on November 16, 2024 by dreager1

Granblue has returned with the next season. It definitely goes by very quickly and makes for a good continuation. It does feel perhaps a bit aimless compared to season 1 at times even though we do have plot progression. That might be because in season 1 we picked up the main cast and got everyone’s mini arc while this one is mainly about learning more on the villains. Still good stuff, but I am ready for the heroes to make some proper headway against the government and learn more about what is going on in the background.

The story follows Gran and his friends as they seek to arrive at Estalucia, the land of the gods. Gran’s father should be at the end of this journey and in the meantime he is helping Lyria capture all of the gods so they stop causing a bunch of trouble. In the meantime the empire continues their attempts to recapture Lyria for their own nefarious purposes. These villains cannot be trusted, perhaps it is time for the heroes to take them down once and for all!

The first arc has the characters land on an island where Katalina is quite well known. The leader, Vira seems to hold her in particularly high regards. At first glance it seems like a fine place except it turns out that Katalina will have to stay on this island and leave the crew in order for them to be able to leave safely. Gran rejects this proposal and so the crew have to do battle with the government once more while also taking on Vira. As always you can’t really trust old friends in this kind of thing because over the years they tend to get corrupt and really join the other side.

It’s not a great look for Katalina though. I never really care for the “Heroic sacrifice” play in this kind of situation because it’s not necessary. She should have talked it over with Gran and the others right off the bat. Not doing so just implies that she doesn’t think they have what it takes. In this case she also had some feelings of guilt but at the end of the day all this means is that she would have completely abandoned her duties which is not cool. She did make an oath to protect Lyria after all and you can’t just stop that midway.

The fight with Vira is pretty fun though. Vira makes for a good villain and one of the stronger combatants that the heroes had to go up against. it would be nice to see her return at some point, maybe for a climax coming up. Would feel like a waste if she just never got to return although granted, if we don’t get another season then in a way that’s the fate of every character.

The second arc of the series is a lot shorter or it felt shorter at least. The heroes head to the next island where everybody is a zombie. That’s a bit strange and also rather unnerving right? Why did they die? What I liked about this mini arc is it felt like Grablue was finally trying something a bit different. This is an adventure show after all but a lot of the islands felt very similar. This one was really different even when it comes down to the tone. So that was impressive and while the villain was a bit of a generic scientist, he was still fairly strong. So this was a pretty fun pit stop on the way to the final arc of the season. It’s another case where they should have tried summoning Bahamut earlier but more on that later.

Finally we get back to what I would call the main plot. The heroes arrive on the next island where the government shows up again in full force. Gran finally has to take on the Black Knight while Lyria is faced off against her own shadow version. It’s pretty fun even if Gran feels completely out of his depth here. We also learn a bit more about his father like the fact that his moniker is the god killer. (Well it might have been Astral Killer or the equivalent of what they call the gods, but same effect) Then the Black Knight may actually have some ties to one of Gran’s members. These mysteries are clear set up for the future and the season itself has a massive cliffhanger with a trial about to start. I’d definitely be eager to see what happens there.

It was a good way to end off the season because that was probably the most action packed episode of the season. While the Black Knight did crush Gran, it was still cool to see them go at it after all this time. I’m not sure I buy what happens to the Black Knight at the end but it could still be part of some kind of a plan so I can’t judge too much just yet. There are still a whole lot of missing pieces to the puzzle.

Like last time, there is a bonus episode at the end. In fact this time there were two! The first one is about Djeeta and her group exploring a dungeon and it was fun to get a proper dungeon crawling episode. I’m not sure I’d want that for a whole arc or anything but for an episode it worked out well enough. I actually like her group more than Gran’s to be honest. It’s a solid stand alone episode with good action throughout so I definitely had no complaints there.

The second episode has two segments. The first one is about Gran wrestling one of the giant monsters and that was a fun one. He got to show off his determination and just how hard he can train when the stakes are high. I’s amusing in part because of how absurd the whole thing is. Then we have Djeeta and friends going to school in a made up alternate universe. A fun enough short. It would probably overstay its welcome if it went on for a whole cour but it can be nice to see familiar characters in brand new settings.

Okay, now lets talk a bit deeper about the show and some of the things that are holding it back somewhat. The first is the animation. I do have to say that it doesn’t look all that great. I would even say slightly below average. The colors aren’t strong and there isn’t always a lot of movement. We get the occasional fight scene but that’s about it. Stronger animation even for just the movement and all would really go a long way. Without it, the series just doesn’t have anything backing up the story.

Likewise, the soundtrack isn’t particularly good. I’m not going to say that it’s bad or anything because it’s not but none of the tunes stand out. The opening theme song is really uninspired as well. You’d almost think it’s all free domain type music and it doesn’t help the show break out of its shell. That is the core of the issues after all, which is that the show feels like a nameless fantasy title. Not the kind of story you will remember all that well even a few years from now.

The show needs a stronger hook. The main cast is okay but not all that interesting. The plot is fine but you don’t tend to make much progress on it at all. It feels like a classic mobile game plot in that sense with the carrot being dangled at the end without any sense of the progress you are making. The show just needs to do something because it all feels a bit too ordinary. I would also say the power levels feel off and in part it’s because the heroes never seem to get any stronger.

They have Bahamut and a bunch of other summons at this point. I would say that it’s about time they started using them. The fact that they don’t use Bahamut at times and get absolutely devastated tells you all that you need to know about this. Bahamut doesn’t get used throughout the whole season and Lyria only tries to use him once. That’s just not mart and in general these bad decisions are the only reason that the fights tend to be close. If Gran was allowed to use his energy moves then perhaps he would have beaten the Black Knight.

Gran’s also a bit of a cardboard cutout character. He doesn’t have a whole lot of personality to him at all. People tend to hit the Isekai leads with this critique, but I dare say he deserves it over most of those. It’s hard to really say what his personality is beyond being there to do the right thing. I would also like Lyria to show a bit more agency. She has had her quick moments where she has to confront her fears and step in to help but it is always a bit of a last resort.

Io doesn’t get much to do here but at least she has one key moment during the haunted village. Rackam’s role is also a bit on the small side here but at least as the driver he is always helpful. Rosetta is almost like a running gag where she shows up to help in just about every arc and then runs off. At this point she may as well just become a main character. Eugen has his big secret coming up but still feels redundant to the party as a whole since Rackam already has the guns angle.

On the villain’s side, I do like the Black Knight. She definitely earns her keep and always keeps things interesting. The rest of them though? Drang and Sturm are trying for a Team Rocket angle but it doesn’t really work. They really just have one gag that they repeat over and over again in the hopes that it will get funnier but it never really does. You’re just left shaking your head the whole time as a result. Finally we have Orchis who doesn’t have much of a character yet although they’re clearly setting her up for a big role. She certainly did way more here than in season 1 so I appreciate that. She will be a good foil to Lyria for now although eventually I do expect her to be one of the heroes eventually.

That seemed like a pretty negative stretch for the series but on the whole it’s just that there is a lot of potential here that is not being maximized because the series is trying to really stretch things out. The world building isn’t quite big enough to pull that off. If it could just focus on the actual story a bit more and the characters getting some action then it could really hit the next level. We absolutely should get more action at this point as we presumably get closer to the final island.

On a small note, it does seem like a crazy coincidence how the heroes bump into all of the same characters on every island. This is a pretty big world after all so the title may want to dial that down a bit. It comes off as a bit forced at times. The series has a massive cast in the games so it’s time to let other characters have their fun and maybe even switch up the main crew a bit. I think that would be a pretty interesting idea. The season at least tried that by adding two main characters which I appreciate. First is the character who is actually one of those god deities and then you have the girl from the supernatural arc, Ferry. So we need to keep doing that but with more of the pure fighters like the cool thunder guy from the season 1 climax.

In general this season was going for a more low key type of ending I would say. Sure, we did have the big fight with the Black Knight but it would have been really nice to have had an all star ensemble like in season 1. That was a whole lot of fun after all, especially since you usually don’t see that until a later season. Perhaps that set the bar too high for this season but there are so many characters that you can definitely do it again for season 3.

Overall, Granblue Fantasy is a perfectly serviceable show. I would say it’s a very safe watch and feels like a standard anime. If you wanted to recommend a title to someone who is not familiar with anime then this would be a pretty good option. It introduces you to basic anime concepts, doesn’t really have any fanservice or weird anime elements, and is about a hero and his party as they save the world. It’s a very innocent anime that is just trying to do the right thing and takes you from place to place. The episodic nature of the arcs can also keep it from being too overwhelming.

Overall 7/10

Wistoria: Wand and Sword Review

Posted on November 9, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to look at a magic anime that got pretty big real fast. Wistoria is one of those shows that took the world by storm to the point where one person even said you could toss all other anime in the trash. That’s how good Wistoria was. I can say that it lived up to the hype and I would consider it to be a great anime. I’m definitely looking forward to the next seasons and in the meantime I encourage everyone to check it out. It really got the right amount of action and story.

In this world, most people have some level of magical ability. The best of the best rise through the ranks quickly and if you don’t have magic then you are in trouble. At all times there is a cabal of 5-6 master sorcerers who hold up the sky with their magic as it would crash otherwise and bring about the end of everything. Will’s best friend Colette was one of these super geniuses and so they are never able to see each other anymore. Will figures the only way to solve this issue will be if he can improve his skills and ascend to the top of the wizard tower. There’s just one problem, Will has absolutely no magical talents!

Now you might be thinking, where have I heard this before? Mashle, Black Clover, etc. Well that’s not a problem since both of those shows were excellent and this one really keeps up the streak. The high end production values really serve as a great backdrop but at its core the series is succeeding because of the strong cast of characters and story. I would say that it sucks you in right from the first episode. Will’s goal to be able to hang out with his best friend is a solid one and makes things sympathetic right from the start.

Additionally, Will still has a lot of physical talent so it’s not like he’s been slacking off or anything. He has a sword and is able to handle most dungeons on his own. He has the abilities to take on most of the highest ranking students in the school. The only reason his grades lag behind a lot is because the whole school is set up on the basis of magic. So the tests are focused on this in ways where his strength can’t compensate. So Will has to really take down as many monsters as possible in order to prove himself.

Naturally the series has a ton of discrimination which is a staple of any fantasy setting. People can’t stand Will because of the fact that he has no magical powers. They say he shouldn’t be here and the usual stuff. The main teacher tries to crush Will in one of the first episodes and with a few exceptions, all of the students enjoy messing with him as well. Will doesn’t really pay them any mind though and it takes a whole lot of insults and threats of violence to really get him moving. Of course once that point comes up, then he is ready to go to town on them.

I’d say we have 2 main arcs here, the opening tournament and then the dungeon crawl. The tournament comes rather early here so in a way you could say this is how we are really introduced to the characters. Guys like Julius and Sion had already appeared but this is where we got to the heart of their character development. It’s definitely a really fun tournament even if it is short and I like that Will is shown to be very competent and strong from the start. He doesn’t have to find his own way of fighting or anything like that. He just puts all of his skills to the test and goes in swords blazing. The amount of time he is an underdog in the series is extremely short so we get to skip the intro phase in a way and get right to the meat of things.

The peak of the series is in the dungeon crawl though as we get to see Will join the elite team. It’s the best of the best as everyone goes all out to prove themselves. Again, it’s an arc that you would expect to see much later in the series as Will has to reluctantly team up with all of the big rivals and new characters right from the jump. The fast pacing is just a lot of fun because it’s like you are speed running the whole series. You wouldn’t see this from many titles and it’s part of how Wistoria stands out. No worries though, the power ceiling for the series is quite high as there are many other characters to be introduced who are even stronger than the elites.

Like I mentioned before, the animation is really good here. There are a ton of great fight scenes and cuts throughout the series. The different magic spells all look really good and you can feel the power behind each swing. The colors are very vibrant and so this is definitely an anime you can point to when talking about high budget titles. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also good. The theme song is catchy and there are a number of solid tracks. It may not be an absolute home run hit that you talk about for hours and hours but it definitely pulls off its job pretty well.

Now lets get into the characters. First up is Will and he’s a pretty solid main character. The guy is trying hard to achieve his dreams and that’s always good. It’s more of a voice direction thing but I will just say that his voice can be annoying though. It always sounds like he’s close to laughing which ends up feeling condescending to an extent. It’s something I’ve never seen happen to a character before so hopefully it’s cleaned up a little bit for season 2. It’s not technically his personality or anything though so I wouldn’t dock his character any points for that or anything like that. I was surprised that he wasn’t going to initially enter the tournament though. It feels like he underestimates his own abilities quite a bit.

Considering that he doesn’t exactly have unlimited time to reach his best friend, you’d think that he would do every single event in order to climb up. It was the one moment that felt almost out of character for him. Still, the guy stands up to bullies and is always beating up on the villains so how could you not like the guy right?

Then we have the main heroine Colette who is pretty fun. She’s easy to feel bad for because she often tries to get close to Will but trolls stop her from really making it. She’s a strong fighter in her own right as well even if she doesn’t always run to the battlefield. If we ever get more of an arc that is focused on her then I think we’ll see more of that. She was able to beat a Julius clone and did it rather easily after all. I like that she always defends Will and is a sand up character so she is one of the better heroines.

The first rival is Sion and I’d say he is another character that the show did a really good job with. He has fire abilities which is always a must for a rival and the guy has a big ego. He is always running in to cause chaos and deal out a bunch of damage. The guy starts out as a petty bully but we quickly get a whole lot of development for him. I would say that it is all handled really well too. The guy speaks his mind and isn’t afraid to lose a fight if it means getting what he wants. I’d say he has more depth than your average bully and I already see him becoming one of the best characters in the series.

Julius is the first serious villain. He’s rather insane and while he quickly starts to become a better person, you can’t forget that he nearly did try to skewer Will. It’ll take a little longer to take him seriously as a good guy but the guy’s strength is definitely the real deal. He is one of the strongest in the school among the students so even with the others beginning to catch up, I imagine he will stay relevant for a long while.

He will always be in the shadow of Elfaria when it comes to ice users though. She is so far ahead of him that it’s scary. Apparently her skills as a toddler were enough to really be on his level which has to feel like crazy disrespect. She seems like someone who is rather aloof and doesn’t care about much. Still, she is supportive of Will and that’s the only time she shows her more emotional side. I would say that she is already more fun than Colette as a heroine despite how good the other character is. I look forward to finally seeing Elfaria fight at some point.

Wignall is another one of the geniuses in the school but his stocks definitely plummet as the series goes on. The guy is still tough to be sure but I would say he has way more weaknesses than the others. His illusion skills just never feel like they will be as handy as the more classic elements like fire and ice. Those can be used in basically every scenario after all while illusions always have so many rules and limitations. It’s really not a fair competition when you look at it like that. I think he could start to rebound for the next season but for now I’m not all that impressed.

Lihanna is one of the elites who actually lives up to her rep and looks really good. Her lightning fast combat skill is a fun one to watch and so most monsters will get absolutely shredded as soon as the fight starts. If anything, I just wish we could have seen her fight more. For the most part her final action scenes were off screen but we know that she did put in a good fight and lasted for a while. She trusts her gut instincts which is always important and of course she had enough skills to get a top rank in the first place. I look forward to seeing more of her soon.

Rosti is Will’s roommate and he likes messing with Colette. Well, not sure if I should say “messing with” to be honest since he does seem to actually be really possessive. Still, I felt bad for Colette the whole time so I’m waiting for her to take the gloves off and beat him up. For now Rosti is more of a supportive fighter and so I wouldn’t expect any fight scenes. That really does limit his potential a whole lot as well. He is unlikely to become one of the better characters without some massive changes.

Workner is a character I can’t take seriously just yet. He is on Will’s side and defends the kid but at the end of the day he isn’t actually defending him from any of the villains or those who would beat him up. So he’s not much of a friend in the end now is he? I want to see him actually fight and stand up for Will more. Right now it’s just not enough and if anything he doesn’t even believe in Will enough. Sometimes he trusts him to win and sometimes he just doesn’t. I prefer Edward as a character because at least that guy is actually very direct. He just wants Will out of the school no matter what and will do whatever he can in order to achieve this.

Edward is a total villain, there’s no way around that. He’s just a fun villain though so it’s easy to root against him. I’m sure he’ll come around eventually though. For now we haven’t seen many of the actual villains but two do appear in the climax. They already look quite powerful as they decimated a bunch of the teachers so I look forward to how that plays out. They have great designs and superb abilities so I have really high hopes. The monster fights are cool and all but I am definitely ready to be fighting some fellow humanoids here. It’s just a completely different game at that point.

We also briefly see the top tier heroes who were out on the expedition. For now it’s hard to say much about them until the next season occurs. I already like the kid though, he seems like another non magic user which is always a really good sign. You now the guy is going to be ultra powerful. He reminds me of Meliodas from Seven Deadly Sins but without any of the obvious downsides. We also have to see how Elfaria’s teammates fare since they all are naturally getting a ton of hype. There was definitely a whole lot that got set up here so this could end up being a really long running series.

Overall, Wistoria is a great title and I would definitely recommend checking it out. Hopefully the next season comes out sooner than later. Whether you are here for the big action scenes or the strong character interactions, you should be in for a good time. It’s a title that is easy to get into and you can never have too many titles like this. The commoner rising above the status quo and showing that magic isn’t completely necessary is great. Even in video games I always prefer to be a fast swordsman than more of a slow fighter who relies on magic.

Overall 8/10

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 6 Review

Posted on November 8, 2024 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 3 Review

Posted on November 3, 2024 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Suicide Squad Isekai Review

Posted on October 3, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the Suicide Squad show that definitely came out of nowhere. In a way it does make sense since having a bunch of villains get Isekai’d into a new world is always an intriguing idea. We’ve seen it before with King of Fighters and a few others in the past. It’s a show that definitely doesn’t mind being bonkers and for that reason I would say it tends to be all over the place. It has some really high highs but also some lows and on the whole it’s a tough balance. It’s a fun watch but I would say it doesn’t really go past breaking even.

The basic plot is that Amanda Waller sends the Suicide Squad into a foreign world. They need to take down the former squad that was sent there and also finally establish relations with the kingdom. If they don’t complete this mission then the squad will be blown off the face of the Earth. As always, Waller has put bombs inside of them and so they really have to accomplish this mission quickly. This means none of the members are particularly happy to be here and as they’re all villains, they don’t have the best teamwork skills either. Will they be able to pull this mission off?

One thing that stuck out right away was that the show got Mori Calliope on board to do the show’s ending. That was pretty hype since I remember her days of being a fairly small Youtube singer so she’s really come a long way. It’s not my favorite song of hers but it’s pretty catchy with the rhythm at least. The opening isn’t quite as catchy though. In general the ost can be a little hit or miss like the rest of the show but some of the battle themes are really quite intense. There is a good amount of variety which is important.

Likewise the animation can get extremely good at some points like when Harley fights Katana. Those moments are really spectacular. Then the rest of the fights can sometimes be downright bad or fairly low budget. The fact that there are any really high budget shots is definitely a plus though and I could definitely watch the battles again. There aren’t a ton of reactors out for the battle yet but I’ll definitely be seeking more out soon.

Now as far as the story itself goes, one thing that would have benefited the show a lot I’d say would be for the bombs to no longer be working. Having them there as a constant timer can help with the tension I suppose but it also takes away from the appeal of having villains warped into a fantasy world which is that they do whatever they feel like. They’re not heroes but they might stop the monsters just so people will praise them or because the monsters are annoying. Having to do this so they aren’t murdered defeats the purpose a bit. They aren’t actually free for the duration of the series so we don’t know exactly what they would have done otherwise.

I’d also say the Squad are obviously not that likable. It’s sort of the point to show that they’re all hardened villains and everything but with some more fun banter it could have worked better. Clayface usually had the best lines here while the rest struggled to keep up with him. At their best they would have good moments but this is a show that absolutely could feel very slow when it was not focused on the action. The action helped to mask the weaknesses pretty well.

One big kudos I can give the story is that we get some pretty big twists at the very end. That was a really good way to end the season and while you may have some questions about exactly how this would work, I would say you can explain it away pretty easily. So it’s got the right amount of mystery there and you wonder how season 2 would play out. If it ever does get a sequel, that would definitely be pretty fun but I would like to widen the cast a bit both for fight scene reasons and to increase the body count. I almost never advocate for higher body counts but in a Suicide Squad title you are expecting some members to get bumped off. That’s sort of a staple of the series but in this show they all felt safe after a few episodes. So if you had started off with double the members then it would have been easier to bump a few off.

Now as for the characters in more detail, Waller is still the big shady boss as always. She loves commanding from the shadows and does a pretty good job in her role. It’s certainly easy to talk big while you’re safe on Earth. She may be a bit easy to manipulate from the Squad’s point of view but since everything still benefits her right now, you could easily say that she’s using them. It’s a solid dynamic for now.

Harley Quinn is a big focus in the show as you’d expect. She’s wacky as ever and gets her big moments as well. She may not take things seriously most of the time but she gets some really good fight scenes. She may even look too good in close quarters at times because then she’s sand bagging in other scenes to an insane degree. The show isn’t usually interested in power levels all that much but at least she does show up when it counts.

Clayface is the most overpowered character in the series since being made of clay makes him nearly invulnerable. Usually he ends up fighting in a super sloppy way so that he can be taken out super easily. I can’t say that I appreciate that to be honest but he has a lot of fun in his role. As I said before, he’s the most likable member of the squad and he does help a lot with bringing humor to the series.

Deadshot is one of those guys who talks really tough but can’t back it up most of the time. He’s a good shot but is completely reliant on bullets so once he’s out of those then it’s over. He tends to act as the pseudo leader of the group and keeps them under wraps but yeah he needs to work on his skills a bit more. Just being a guy with a gun when everyone else has some kind of super ability is not a great match.

Just look at Peacemaker. The guy has super strength and he is great with a gun. He immediately makes Deadshot not feel quite as impressive as he could be. Peacemaker definitely feels like the most insane out of the group though. The guy will do anything to complete the mission, no matter how much of a monster it may make him. The guy definitely lost his marbles a long time ago but still thinks that he is keeping the peace.

Finally we have King Shark who has the least amount of character. He is always ready to help but naturally can’t really banter with the rest of the characters. His strength is given a lot of respect though as in the final fights he is able to easily overpower his rival and only loses once it becomes a 2 vs 1. In a 1 on 1 battle no other water fighter is going to be able to top him.

The Joker doesn’t get a whole lot to do but every few episodes we will get a quick moment with him and Harley as he explains the solution to a problem to her. You definitely get to see his experience but not really much action yet. For now the show definitely seems to be playing his romance with Harley straight as opposed to the two hating each other or being in a toxic relationship so that’s definitely a change.

Rick is here to play the straight man. He reminds the crew not to do anything crazy so they don’t get blown away and is always around to help enforce that. He has no powers and is only average with a gun so don’t expect him to do a whole lot during the fights. I would also say he’s not the most discreet when it comes to keeping secrets. He’s okay but not amazing. I will say he does have his share of good moments but I wish they could have done more with him.

Now Katana is a scene stealer. Whenever she is on screen you know an epic action scene is about to follow. Definitely the best character in the show by far. The other villains just really can’t keep up. Ratcatcher and Thinker? Weaklings who can’t really do much once you get up close and personal. At least the Thinker actually talks tough and can hold his own for a little while. The Ratcatcher is just really whiny the whole time.

Killer Croc is also so weak that you can’t really take him seriously. The guy hides behind his allies the whole time. The only good member from the other squad is the Enchantress. With her abilities she really keeps the heroes on their toes. If anything they were definitely not very considerate even when she tries to help a bit. In a straight fight I’d take her to clobber the whole squad any day.

As for the other worlders, they are okay at best. Cecil is the kind of guy who worries a whole lot. He finally comes around by the end but it definitely took him a long while to get there. Princess Fiona also spends most of the season being super timid and afraid of everything. She gets her classic courage arc so she looks good by the end of that but it’s a super long wait. At least the Queen is just openly evil the whole time but her actions tend to lack any wisdom behind them. One would think she was trying to sabotage her whole kingdom.

At this point it’s a bit of a meme that pretty much every Isekai show has the same kind of fantasy world. A medieval type place with evil goblins running around and knights trying to stop them. Well this show plays that as straight as possible so the world itself isn’t all that interesting. Give me a modern sci-fi world any day. The show can also go a bit too far in reminding us how evil the main characters are at times. Suicide Squad Isekai is a show that randomly gets super violent sometimes and it can range from being shocking to annoying. The biggest example of this is probably when Peacemaker tortured one of the villains but there are other scenes of people getting eaten and ripped to shreds.

That is again another one of the theoretical perks of making villains the main characters since they don’t have a no kill rule. I’d say the more clever way of using them is to just show how selfish they could be or how they do heroic things for their own pleasure. Dialing down the violence either way would have been a good idea or at least making them semi likable. It can be difficult to really root for anybody here. I would say Clayface is the most likable from the villains but otherwise you don’t really want the others to succeed all that much. The villains also lose their hype with the amount of times they are kidnapped.

One thing the show should have done would have been to learn into the anime element a little more. For example throughout the season they hint at the characters getting new abilities in the fantasy world but nothing comes of it until the final battle. Then they have fun with the super powers but that should have been happening throughout. That or just make Katana the villain in every episode since her scenes were always the best by a wide margin. I think a show all about her could have been an easy 8 star title right out of the gate.

Overall, Suicide Squad is a show that is definitely like a true roller coaster. It can get really epic in some moments and then sort of boring in others. It can look amazing one moment and then rather off the next. You never really know what you’re going to get with the episodes. I do feel like they really had some key misses here the whole time though. Some of the story choices like the bombs just clashed with the approach they were going for and I’d also say they didn’t nail down the “charismatic group of villains” angle as well as they could have. It’s definitely an experience and if you’re a fan of the Suicide Squad then you should check it out but it’s not really going to hold its own against the average anime.

Overall 5/10

Rising Impact Review

Posted on September 29, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a show that I was not familiar with at all before checking it out. I can safely say that it is one of those diamonds in the rough. It’s an incredible series with top tier music and a great cast of characters. The fact that the show is able to incorporate in 5 different rivals at various points in the series and execute them all well is impressive. This is a series that will keep you at the edge of your seat for all of the big matches and shows that you really can make Golf exciting as needed.

The series follows a kid named Gawain who wants to be the longest hitter in the world. He got into Baseball because he thought that would let him achieve his dream but then it turns out that you hit the ball farther in Golf. So he gets into that sport and turns out to be a super prodigy. So he heads off to Camelot academy to really test his skills. Here he will have to face off with the best of the best. Can he rise up to prove that he is the world’s greatest talent or is he about to be destroyed? Only time will tell.

The first half is mainly to set things up and introduce all of the characters. We get to meet various aspiring golfers of all skill levels and learn the backstories of the important ones. We also get the big pre tournament and qualifiers to set up who will be representing Japan in the Camelot Cup to take on the American and Britain representatives. The second half is mainly about the big tournament between the 3 groups and we get to really see how heated things get. Naturally this is the peak of the series.

What separates Rising Impact from other big titles though is that it’s exciting long before we get to the actual tournaments. We have supernatural abilities coming into play but none of them are game breaking. I’m talking about subtle skills that help to enhance a character’s individual talents in one specific way as opposed to them being good at everything. Of course that will likely come eventually but for now the power system is pretty good. You train at everything but at max only get one super ability. Gawain has his super drive, Lancelot has his putting, and Tristan has the approach shots. It makes for a good balance.

The animation is also pretty good when it wants to be. It uses a lot of special effects for the different hits so you can really feel the power in the blows. Everyone also gets different colors at times for their big moments and it’s all very dramatic in the best way possible. It’s a show that will definitely not let you miss a shot. You’ll see the colors coming from a mile away.

Where the show really stands out is the soundtrack though. It’s a complete shame that none of the osts are on Youtube yet. I need to see if the title is different in Japanese and hopefully find it that way. There are several really intense tunes that all have very epic feels to them. It really helps to underscore the trash talking and intensity that all of the players bring to the table. Without the soundtrack the show would still be good, but this is one of the elements that helps elevate the show to being great. Because of this, Rising Impact succeeds in all areas from story to characters to technical elements. It’s exactly what you need in order to be a complete show.

The character cast for the show is really quite impressive. It manages to balance out quite a number of different rivals for Gawain to go up against as he improves. A lot of them remain skilled even to the end of the series. Of course you also have a number of random bullies and NPCs who are quickly dispatched so there is variety here. Naturally there is a true pecking order of skill and we see more of this in the final tournament but it can be hard to guess exactly where everyone will end up. It’s nice, it feels like a real sports tournament where people can place higher or lower depending on the day and their form. A win is not something that you can just take for granted as a given.

In part this is just due to how Golf works. Your score is determined by how many shots above PAR you are at by the end. That means even just one bad hole can sink you for the whole tournament. You might mis time the wind or something like that and then the ball sails away. Even the best golfer will have trouble sometimes as nobody is fully invincible. The player who is the most consistent will be the one to walk away with the gold.

Ironically the main character Gawain is the one who can hold the show back a bit. Generally speaking this is a pretty intense show. Everyone is really focused on their goals and becoming the best. Then you have Gawain who is basically just a kid. He’s got serious striking power but is a newbie at everything else which is fine but it also means he doesn’t take things as seriously. He gives us the occasional crude humor joke and turns chibi a lot. He has most of the worst scenes in the show.

We temporarily get a break from this when Gawain hits his head and that’s one of the best stretches of time in the whole show. He becomes a completely different person and it’s just a lot of fun. That serious Gawain is the one that I want to keep for the whole show. The fact that we only see him sometimes is a real shame. It’s not like Gawain is awful or anything but his silliness really stands out next to the other characters. If we get a time skip in a future season then I think he really will improve quite a bit.

For the most part the original side characters are ditched rather early but Kiria sticks around for a bit. She’s a pro player who taught Gawain all that he knows. She’s a solid person and definitely did a good deed by him there. I feel like the author maybe set her power a little too low though as she has a hard time hitting anywhere close to 300 yards and by the mid point of the series that is casual for a bunch of these players. So it seems to me like most of them would defeat her at golf rather easily which doesn’t make the most amount of sense considering that she is a professional golfer. That should really mean something right?

Then we have the prodigy Lancelot who is the best character by far. The scene where he shows up at the hero’s base and tells everyone how much better he is than them was brilliant. It’s an incredible scene and you need to have that kind of confidence. Some may call him a jerk but I’d say that’s just being realistic. He’s one of the best golfers in the world and he’s not going to pretend that he is anything lower than that. He is the guy who can hit a Put from any distance. Lancelot can literally see the line to the hole thanks to his special ability.

It’s definitely a really handy one to have, that’s for sure. He doesn’t get a challenge for most of the series until we near the end, then things get intense for him. I imagine he will only continue to get better and so I would be interested to see where his journey goes next. Either way he is a big scene stealer so you will want to keep your eye on him. His polite yet direct way of speaking is also a lot of fun since he just insults people to their face even while he is trying to act nice about it.

Of course we have the big final boss type figure of the series. Tristan is a guy who can hit an approach shot from anywhere and so of course his abilities are really intense. He’s a super well rounded player and considered the best in the world. Well, at least at this level. I’m sure we would eventually see the pros and how absolutely crazy they are. I’m expecting casual holes in one from anywhere or something crazy like that. Tristan has one of the most intense backstories in the series as well so it’s easy to root for him. Quite a few origins have some really tragic backstories going on like that guy and even Gawain although he doesn’t really know much about his past. We just know from context that things didn’t go well.

Yumiko is one of the golfers from early on who got power creeped out of the running right away. By all accounts she seems like a pretty decent golfer but just isn’t ready for these absolute monsters. It’s hard for your talent to sky rocket to such a big degree so I think it’ll be a while before she’s in there. She is a nice character though. Likewise we have Gawain’s first rival Riser who is fun but is so many leagues above the other heroes at this point. I don’t think he’ll ever be relevant again at this rate. It is pretty sad to think about but that is the destiny for most golfers. Most players of any sport really. Only the chosen few will rise to the top.

Then you have the mysterious Arthur. He’s Quester’s father and is building up his own school of all stars. They would have made for great antagonists in the sequel. We don’t learn a whole lot about him here but he seems to know something about Gawain’s parents and clearly has big ideas. Having an actual mastermind for the heroes to go up against would have been sweet. Still, he was good in his appearances here. Generally speaking all of the coaches were pretty good. Aria is the coach for the main team and she always had some good advice. If anything maybe the show could have made the heroes fail a bit more so she could have actively been helping the characters a bit more. Instead, they rare ever need to ask her any questions.

Todoin is another early rival who gets a lot of hype but quickly starts to be surpassed. It’s just how it goes but Rising Impact doesn’t totally write him out. I appreciate the fact that he became rivals with Liebel and Quester which kept him relevant for a while longer. Sure he may not be the best but he’s no slouch and definitely better than any of his old teammates. He really took the game seriously and never gave up to the end. He also has a little bit of edge to him which is good since you want the characters to be able to talk tough.

It’s my main issue with Liebel. He’s a really good golfer and one of the best on the court but the guy is just too nice. He doesn’t really stand up for himself and his gag of always being desperate for Aria’s attention gets old fast. I’d like him to lock in more and his backstory was kinda sad but still blown out of proportion. He really abandoned everyone when it counted and the fact that he then held back for years is crazy. He could have actually helped Camelot Academy’s reputation if he had been playing serious from the start.

Quester is the top player on the American side and he definitely shows why that makes sense. His shots have a ton of power and he’s the only character we’ve seen so far to have the same ability as someone else. Mika sort of has a variation of Lancelot’s power but I wouldn’t say it’s the same thing quite yet. For Quester, it really is the same power and so that opens up a lot of doors. He does get down on himself later on which does hurt the character quite a bit though. He really needed to lock in considering that this was a big tournament. If he had done that the whole way through then he would rank even higher for me.

His partner Bilford had to really hold the ship on his own for a while there. To his credit, the guy did a great job with it. He never gave up and just kept on going. Now that is some true talent right there. He may not be the flashiest player but he does get the job done. I liked Bilford more than I expected to even if I was glad Lancelot called him out at one point. Bilford tried blaming Gawain for quester feeling bad while Lancelot pointed out that you should never blame someone for being good. It’s not Gawain’s fault that Quester couldn’t take the pressure.

Quick shoutout to Charles who had the unfortunate luck of being on Gawain’s team near the end. This guy could not catch up at all and kept being called all kinds of mean nicknames. In fairness, Charles would always start it so at that point you just gotta be able to take it. The series has no shortage of bullies but Charles really stood out there. For the most part all of the bullies tend to be annoying and can’t really fight though. The characters with actual skill didn’t have time to be running around picking on the weaker players.

Then we have Wanglian who really surprised me with how good he looked. He seemed reasonably strong when he first appeared but not one of the big hitters. When the tournament started though, he showed that he could keep up with anyone. His ability to read the wind was second to none. It’s a pretty unique way to playing so I would have been really intrigued to have seen more of him. His sister also shows up out of the blue later on and is an exceptional player. The series was really setting up some fun fights.

From the old cast, Mike is probably the closest to having the skills needed to move forward. I wouldn’t be surprised if she would have made it to the next trip. I get the feeling that the series wasn’t quite done with her just yet. Finally there is Platalissa who had a minor subplot about wanting to be in the Camelot cup and we ultimately find out that it is to face off against her sister. I think the main disappointing thing for her fans will be the fact that she didn’t really learn anything.

Her sister told her for a while that she would need to stop being a copycat in order to win. Instead, Platalissa continues to try and copy her all the way until the end. It felt like she should have gotten the lesson a bit earlier. I know she means well but yeah copying someone is not the best way to win. How can you beat the original after all? Platalissa’s sister was definitely a lot meaner than necessary though. I think she could have been the bigger person and tried just talking things out a bit.

Ultimately there are definitely more characters running around but these are most of the main ones. The fact that the series can get you intrigued in so many golfers is really quite something. This is just a super well written and directed show. While some of the attempts at humor don’t really land like I mentioned before, the show generally doesn’t worry about that anyway. It’s all about the golfing plays and even if you are not familiar with the sport before watching the show, they explain it rather well. The explanations are concise and clear so you don’t get lost either.

One sad thing about the series ending so fast is I was really curious to see how the power levels would keep on escalating. By the end of this series we already got to the point where a hole in one was a very achievable thing. Gawain could do it at will once he settled into his new mode. So presumably the pros would have to do that too but then each game would be over in an instant. Only thing I can think of is making the maps a lot longer so they’re hitting 500-600 yard shots before going in the hole. That would buy some time but yeah it’s an interesting problem to tackle. Generally the series avoided going too supernatural with the special abilities but maybe that would change and you’d have someone who could control the weather or something like that. It could go full on Prince of Tennis with how crazy that title got.

Overall, Rising Impact is absolutely great and you should definitely be checking it out. It’s already become the definitive Golf title for me and it’ll be hard to be dethroned. I’m not saying that it’s impossible or anything like that but it will definitely be tough. This one really had everything and also has the first mover advantage for being the first big Golf title that I got to watch. So definitely don’t let this title stay undiscovered, you need to check it out right away!

Overall 8/10

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 5 Review

Posted on September 15, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for some more Natsume hype! The series has really stayed strong with 5 seasons and we have season 7 coming out soon so you can expect more reviews soon. It’s the kind of title that can really last for however long the author wants it to. The storyline is fairly basic but allows for more to be brought into the mix whenever it is needed because we still don’t know how big the book of friends is. Until that happens, we have unlimited time here and by this point you should either know if you are a fan or not. It’s more of the same and the series is pretty consistent like that.

Since the show is mainly stand alone we’ll go through each of the episodes. The season itself appears to be pretty short at 11 episodes but there were two bonus ones so that helps to get things back to a normal amount. Natsume is also being thrown onto his back slightly less often nowadays so he is getting better at working with the Yokai but I won’t be satisfied until I see him become really confident. I want him to show off his right hook and really have the respect his power. Natsume clearly has the ability, he only lacks the confidence.

The first episode is fairly light and is sort of a catchup/intro episode for new fans. Natsume encounters a yokai who needs him to find her doll and one that likes acorns. So, being the nice kid that he is, Natsume helps out both yokai even if the one with the doll wasn’t particularly pleasant. Natsume helps out for the love of the game and he will always be there for assistance even if he is being used. That is of course the tricky part which Nyanko warns him about but Natsume just can’t let things be. If he can help out then that’s what he’ll do. There’s not as much of a sense of danger in this episode since Nyanko could realistically solo any of the villains but it’s still a wholesome episode overall.

Now it’s time for another emotional episode. A human gave a yokai his towel when it was raining hard so that she wouldn’t get sick and he left. 50 years have passed and she wants to see him but hasn’t been able to make contact. So she asks Natsume for help and he’s got nothing better to do so why not? Of course the old man is fairly old as you would expect and Natsume can’t exactly say that he was asked to search by a yokai so the guy’s granddaughter thinks he’s a weirdo. Still, Natsume gets the Yokai the closure that she needed. It’s another pretty wholesome episode and fun addition into the lineup. It reminds you how inconvenient it is to be a Yokai with how you’re immortal but can’t really talk to anyone except for very specific circumstances. That has to get old quick.

Next up is a 2 part adventure and this is one of the bigger ones since we have the return of Matoba the exorcist along with Natori. So Natsume’s bad luck prevails as he ends up losing a letter than Matoba sent him so the guy has to show up in person and threaten him for help. Natsume is forced to find a yokai who has infiltrated an exorcists meeting and is trying to murder everyone. If Natsume doesn’t help, his parents will be told the truth about how he can see yokai. Honestly Natsume needs to tell them already or this blackmail will keep on being effective but that time isn’t now. It’s a pretty solid 2 part adventure in part because the addition of Matoba always adds a certain level of danger.

If he finds out about the Book of Friends then he may very well kidnap Natsume or take the book by force. He has the resources and men to do the job. Nyanko is a great guardian in theory with his power levels but he wouldn’t be able to stop a whole army and Matoba knows it. That guy still makes for a really fun villain and I like seeing him around. Then we have Natori who always seems to play second fiddle but at least he’s more aware of what is going on than Natsume. I appreciate that he is always ready to help just in case Natsume needs any assistance. The main character doesn’t even realize that he has this protection in most instances.

After that we have an episode where Taki takes Natsume to her house as quite a few Yokai are around. She helped one out and now more are there and one is even leaving her messages at school. They seem nice enough but you never can tell with Yokai. It’s always fun to see Taki around though as she is easily the best out of the supporting characters at school. It’s a fairly low key episode after the last two with Matoba and is one of those episodes that remind you how a lot of Yokai aren’t actually dangerous. They’re all mysterious but a good number of them are reasonable.

The next episode gets back to the high stakes though. Natsume’s voice is sealed by a pair of Yokai and they are hunting him for some reason. Nyanko is much more powerful than they are but his reaction times are not always the best and he isn’t always on guard. So if Natsume lowers his guard then it’s all over. Fortunately his folks don’t really question the lack of a voice beyond just being a common cold so he got lucky there. I feel like it would be treated as a rather massive deal that your voice is completely gone if you ask me, but I suppose that’s just how it goes sometimes. It was good to see Nyanko step up when it counted though.

It’s back to wholesome times after that though. Natsume and friends head to Tanuma’s inn to relax and hang out. It turns out that a lady he knows there is a Yokai though. She asks Natsume to keep this as a secret and she will move on after the trip is over. She’s always been real kind though and he figures she should stay if she wants to. It’s one of those interesting cases of a Yokai being able to freely interact with humans so I’m guessing she has pretty strong abilities or it could be that the temple background amps her up. Either way it’s a pleasant story.

We get back to the important business after that with a prequel episode where we see how Natori and Matoba first met up. Matoba was as snobbish as ever here as he showed off his abilities but you could also see how he was glad to have someone to talk to. It was a really interesting episode and it’s why either one of these characters would make for a better main character than Natsume. This may seem a bit harsh but Natsume just doesn’t have the same level of backstory or intrigue to keep up with them. It’s definitely tough for Natori knowing that he will never be on Matoba’s level in terms of sheer ability but that’s where creativity comes into play.

After that is more of a standard episode. Natsume runs into a little mushroom yokai that has big dreams to serve a local yokai lord. He needs to get that guy’s attention and clear some tasks so Natsume helps him out. It’s nice of Natsume to help but you can see how this guy is completely out of his depth. The little yokai doesn’t have the size or stature to really do much and it’s not like you change species as you grow older. The lord turns out to be a nice character and isn’t a jerk or anything like that but even if he had completely rejected the mushroom yokai you’d have totally understood.

Now we have another prequel episode and this time it’s more details about how Toko and Shigeru adopted Natsume. We’ve been getting different bits and pieces of Natsume’s background in each of the season and it’s always fun to see more of it. Toko and Shigeru are also pretty solid characters. They may have roles that are fairly low key but they are always eager to help out. The episode is on the low key side but they make for good leads so it ends up being one of the stronger episodes.

After that we have an episode where Natsume gets sick so all of his yokai friends try to find the cure. It’s nice to see everyone banding together to help out like this. It shows how many real friends Natsume has made and he has sure come a long way from the days where he had no friends. It’s really nice to see although the episode itself could be a little boring at times. Episodes where the main character is sick rarely entertain me in any show as it’s just not a gimmick that works for very long. I get the emotion beat they were going for here though.

Then we get to the bonus episodes. The first one is a wholesome episode about a yokai couple who could make super sake cups that would last for one year. The drinks out of them would taste amazing but they are getting old and their powers are waning so they are having one last party. I guess you could say the episode is about their bond and how it stayed really strong. There isn’t a whole lot of story to the episode otherwise but it works well enough as a stand alone.

Finally we have an episode where Natsume is trapped in a hide and seek game. Whenever he falls asleep he falls inside the game and bad things may happen if he’s caught. It works as a fairly spooky episode although it’s still hard to feel too much danger since Natsume can still one punch just about any demon if he puts his mind to it. It ends up having a happy ending and all. It was a good episode and I’d probably put it around the middle of the pack. It did its job here.

That about wraps up the season here. As always it’s a fun show with a wide variety of different stories to tell. Each plot is different and the writer is creative with how many situations come up. At the end of the day it might not be the most exciting show but I can see how it’s viewed as a calming title. You could watch this at night for some wholesome entertainment before turning in. It means it’ll be hard for the show to shift gears into the next level but there’s nothing wrong with just being a good show. Not every show has to be great or amazing after all.

The technical elements may not be great but they’re not bad either. The opening is a little too slow and calm for me but of course this is a calm show with slow pacing. So it makes sense but I would still like a rock theme or something like that. The soundtrack isn’t particularly engaging but it works well enough. The animation is a little on the lackluster side and under most anime but it’s not terrible. The story helps the show out more than the technical elements and so long as the writing stays good this will always be a solid show. I can easily recommend it to anyone which is always a plus.

Overall, You could say that the show is a bit static in regards to all of the characters and the story as a whole but as long as they keep churning out seasons I will be here. At the end of the day I have no big issues with the show as a whole. Natsume and Nyanko are a fun enough duo. Hopefully we get some Reiko flashback episodes in the next season or at least more Matoba episodes since he’s always fun. The show definitely has the foundation to become a full fledged action show if it ever wants to do so but that’s probably more of a pipe dream. As long as you enjoy some fun story telling then I think you’ll enjoy this show. It’s probably best not to binge it and just enjoy a few episodes here and there until you get to the end.

Overall 6/10

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