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

World Trigger Review

Posted on September 12, 2024 by dreager1

World Trigger is one of those titles that was absolutely massive but then had to go on a really long hiatus. It seems like the fans have stuck with it but I would still say it lost a lot of ground. Going back to the original anime series, it was really an elite. This absolutely would have been one of the premiere Jump titles to beat if it had kept on going and ideally if it had stayed weekly as well. It absolutely deserves to be considered as one of the cream of the crop anime titles that balanced out both Shonen action and Shonen sports atmospheres into one excellent product.

The story introduces us to Earth, a world that was completely changed after an alien invasion occurred like 10 years ago. The humans quickly reverse engineered the tech and made a whole government group to combat the threats. In the present, we see one of the main characters named Osamu who is eager to become a full fledged member. Right now he is too low ranked to really be of use in many fights but he has to fight hard for his friend Chika’s sake. Osamu needs to find out what happened to her brother many years ago after he was abducted. Fortunately, an alien known as Kuga shows up one day who has incredible powers. Perhaps if Osamu allies himself with this guy, he will be able to achieve his dreams.

Things are pretty tough on Osamu right from the start due to how the power system works though. For example, Osamu has very low levels of Trion (Spirit energy essentially) so he can’t fire weapons or use swords with the same amount of power and speed that others can. He has a great deal of tactical awareness to be sure but how much that can help in a one on one fight will have to be determined. A great deal of the series is about Osamu trying to improve and this is done through his performance in the actual alien invasion and during the B Wars where he forms a team with Chika and Kuga to rise up.

The series has over 70 episodes which means there is plenty of time for a lot of adventures and character development. I do have to say up front that it is a show which does prove the filler allegations to be true unfortunately. Pretty much every episode is a 9/10 here and the only saga that was not nearly at the same level was the filler arc. It was still good but you could absolutely feel the massive decline in quality. I defend filler sometimes but I couldn’t on this one. I’ll get into that more later on.

One area where the series succeeds on a massive level is with the technical aspects. The soundtrack is one of the best ones that I’ve heard in a long while. Part of what makes it work is that the soundtrack is rather large and has a number of solid themes. So it’s not just one theme to hear over and over the whole time but instead a number of really good tracks that keep on coming. It’s definitely the kind of show where this really helps to enhance the fights and dialogue scenes. Everything becomes 10x more epic with this level of music playing in the background.

The show has a ton of in depth analysis and strategy in every episode so if you had boring music playing then this could get old quickly. The writing is super good so I don’t think it would ever drag the show back but this is the ideal combo. I would actually say this show is the absolute best when it comes to the explanations. The writer clearly thought it all through with a good degree of accuracy. You don’t always have the characters agreeing either which makes for a pretty good extra dimension. For example one character might give one kind of advice and then the next one shuts it down. So the character being critiqued has to consider both options and as the viewer you have to wonder who was actually correct. Naturally I tend to favor the more aggressive options here.

Then we have the animation which is pretty solid. I won’t say it’s absolutely top tier or anything like that but it’s really smooth and streamlined. The anime also really decided to show off in the final B Rank wars fight with a lot of super great animation. There’s one particular cut where 5 people are fighting on screen at once and it was super dynamic. I know it’s really hard to move multiple characters on screen at the same time like that so it definitely ended up being extra fun. The choreography is always there and so this is the kind of animation that will continue to withstand the test of time.

Then you have the large amount of fighting styles and weapons which are all animated well. The fact that all characters have access to the same weapons but have to choose their loadout before a match is pretty fun. It means you can always expect some kind of switchups and plot twists running around. You have to stay 3 steps ahead of all the other characters at all times or you will be doomed.

Okay now lets get into the characters here. World Trigger has an absolutely massive cast with tons of “hype” characters running around. It makes power scaling pretty fun and interesting. In a lot of ways it’s one of those “Any given Sundays” like Football where an upset is always primed to happen. With the exceptions of Jin, Kuga, and maybe two other fighters, the cast feel very equal among the hype talents. Then of course you have Osamu who falls below just about all of them but hey one day with his plans and intellectual prowess perhaps he can make a name for himself. Perhaps…he can control a World Trigger at some point.

First we’ll talk about Tamakoma. Reiji is a solid fighter who has a good amount of strength and is also good at teaching. He really proves himself during the series and while he doesn’t fight all that much, he generally looks good whenever his time to shine does come up. Konami is really the power hitter of the group though and while she also doesn’t get too many fights, her skills are the real deal. The villains are quick to make sure she is distracted during their invasion because they weren’t sure they could handle her. Now that is what I call real screen presence and hype. When even the villains fear you, that’s high praise. She also has one of the better comedic gimmicks with how she always believes everyone. So as a result she gets lied to a whole lot.

Karasuma is another good member. He’s a fun character and I like how he’s always messing with Konami but in terms of overall ability he seems like the weakest of the trio by a fairly significant amount. He’s just not able to keep up with them from what we’ve seen and everything about his toolkit feels painfully standard. Hopefully he’s hiding something.

Jin is one of the combat elites of the series and so it goes without saying that he is amazing in combat. I would say that he is far and aways the most powerful character in the series. Seriously I would say that it is not even close. So to see him taking names here is always a lot of fun. He can see the various paths of the future and act accordingly. This helps him do things from dodging attacks to recommending someone be put on a mission in a few months. The scale of his visions are really impressive and then he also has the best sword skills out there. Right now we can’t really put anyone as being more powerful. There is another S rank but we haven’t actually seen him fight on screen yet. We know that he can fight of course but he has to prove it. Jin is generally a really fun troll who likes to poke fun at everyone and that just makes him a whole lot of fun. I do look forward to seeing if he will ever get a real challenge though.

Now we have Osamu as the main character. He’s not a bad kid but he is far from being one of my favorites. For starters I thought he was way too passive with how he was letting the bullies rough him up in the first episode. He was really just going to keep on letting them pound away at him which is crazy. You have to be able to stand up for yourself in times like that. How can you protect others if you can’t even protect yourself right? It just doesn’t make any real sense there. As the series goes on he gains a little confidence but suffers constant setbacks. Osamu gets careless, makes mistakes, etc. It would help a great deal if he could win some extra fights but the way that he keeps losing is pretty discouraging.

Right now Osamu doesn’t strike me as someone who should even be a B rank agent. It feels like he would not be able to beat any of his classmates and Kuga is basically carrying him to the next level. So I really want to see some significant improvements out of Osamu and that will absolutely start to raise my opinion of him. In the meantime, I’m afraid he’s just not going places.

Then we have Chika who unfortunately has some similar issues. The difference is that she has incredible amounts of power within her. She could blow almost anyone away with her cannon but she’s super timid and also has a thing about not attacking humans. Yeah…that’s definitely not someone you want with you on an away mission where you need combat tested vets. Chika is working on this but until I see her get into a battle and really contribute she won’t be going up just yet.

So it’s very fortunate that we have Kuga running around here. He’s a great fighter with a ton of combat experience and he continues to get better and better in every fight. Now this is the guy that you want to watch your back. Even without Replica he can still fight at a really high level. He cooks a lot of the characters when using a basic trigger, much less his black one. His ability to detect lies is a pretty sound one even if it isn’t really used for combat. He’s also just a fun character who can have good banter with anyone. I definitely look forward to seeing him more.

Hyuse is one of the big invaders who shows up and he’s a solid character. He’s clearly less experienced than some of the other villains as he can bite the bait when insulted. That said, he’s still really good at strategy and has some pretty good abilities. We see that he is able to keep up with Osamu’s plans later on and you could make the case that he surpasses them. He’s a fun wild card to have around. Someone you can’t really predict at all. I definitely really like characters like that and he already adds well to the show’s dynamic.

Shiori is the communicator on the main team so she is always helping coordinate everyone. I would say she is really good at what she does and definitely deserves credit. She keeps the personalities from clashing with each other too much and always keeps control. Her role isn’t one that will often get the spotlight but she still deserves a ton of credit for what she has helped to accomplish.

Rindo is the general boss of Tamakoma but for now we don’t really see him doing much of anything. We know he does a lot of the gruntwork on the back end but I would like to see more out of him. He strikes me as someone who should be really good at tactics so he can probably fight at least to a small amount right? If he can’t fight I admit that I would be rather disappointed. In a world where you can be invaded by aliens at any point, you need to learn at least some defense.

Then we have Replica who is a really good ally to Kuga. This guy doesn’t really show his emotions as a sentient A.I./neighbor of sorts. He really comes in handy quite a bit and gets several big moments. It was always fun to see him on screen and he’s one of the highlights without a doubt. He’s not a character that you can easily replace. I wouldn’t mind replacing Yotaru though. This guy doesn’t really add anything to the show. He’s the comic relief but we have other comedic characters who are a lot funnier. I’m afraid that the kid just didn’t land for me but hey that’s bound to happen sometimes I suppose.

We really haven’t seen Amo doing anything just yet but I do have high hopes for him. He is supposed to be one of the strongest agents in all of Border after all so he really needs to show up here! This is absolutely his chance to make a difference and I am buying into the hype. So keep your eye on this guy.

Tachikawa is another really strong fighter though and he has actually gotten to show off his stuff. The fact that he can fight really well against Jin is definitely some real props right there. His sword skills are good and he’s a fun character. The guy is rather laidback when outside of combat as well, he just takes his orders very seriously. I can’t really fault him for that. His right hand man Izumi is also really good. He was doing well in the battle with the neighbors as well until he was hit by a cheap shot from behind. He should have kept his guard up but yeah he really did well all things considered.

Yuiga doesn’t do as much as the others but we do see why he is known as one of the top snipers in Border. The guy is definitely a great shot and knows how to get around enemy defenses. Likewise with Toma but this is why some of the snipers start to blend into each other. They’re all really good but it can be harder to really show that off compared to fighters where you have all kinds of combos. Snipers are at the end of the day just firing off their guns over and over.

Kazama is a really solid fighter and he is even nice enough to help Osamu out a bit when the main character needed it. Kazama has the right attitude for being in the army and is always really serious. I definitely appreciate having him around and while I think his skills are a step beneath some of the others we were just talking about, he still has a lot of serious skills.

Kikuchihara is strong but I feel like he spends so much time smack talking that he will underperform soon. The guy has a high opinion of himself and that’s good because I like confidence but I feel like he spends more time insulting other characters than just being happy about his own strength. His priorities are flipped and that is what’s going to cost him I’d say. Maybe he just needs to have another fight to impress me.

Midorikawa is a decently good fighter. He actually gave Kuga a run for his money for a while there which takes a lot of talent. He can be mean as a rookie crusher at first but he saw the error of his ways so it’s all good now. Sometimes these things just happen I suppose. He’s not one of my favorites or anything like that but he’s still pretty fun.

One of the better characters is Arashiyama though. His whole squad is one of the most heroic and for that reason they are used a lot in PR and promotional materials within the universe. They help get people excited to join Border and are always professional. it’s not easy to always be ready like that so they definitely get good props. His skills aren’t the best but they’re good enough. He gets the job done.

I would say Kitora is probably the strongest within the group. She moves extremely fast and makes up for her lack of trion with precision shots. I was super impressed when she took on one of the monsters early on and was zipping around the place. While it’s true that her lack of raw power will definitely limit her against the more powerful opponents, she would definitely be a super good ally to have around in any fight. The perfect supporting fighter for sure.

Yosuke is the kind of guy who loves to fight and when he’s battling he goes all out. He’s generally chill but seems to treat the job very nonchalantly. So even murdering his opponents like when he went after Kuga is something he won’t hesitate to do. Yeah, you could say that about some of the other characters as well but Yosuke in particular felt very ruthless with how he went about this. You want to stay on his good side.

As for Miwa, he takes the neighbor situation more personally than any of the other characters. He does have a backstory about this so you understand, but at the same time he’s not the only one who’s been through a lot. I think he could stand to be more reasonable but he’s another fighter who is fun to have around. It’s nice to have a few more antagonistic main characters like this to really shake things up and keep everyone from being too similar to each other.

Ninomiya and Inukai don’t have huge roles here but they definitely represent the top B ranks very well. They think super analytically and completely show up Osamu’s group. There is a reason why they are the top ranks after all and their teamwork was excellent. That whole final fight was super good and they get a lot of credit there. I look forward to seeing more of them in the future. Ema is a solid sniper and he also seems like one of the nicer characters in the series. He goes out of his way to help Chika even if he always has some excuse ready. Then you have his opposite Masato who is super gruff and always fighting very savagely. He doesn’t do much yet but we got to see his high level of skill which already makes him an intriguing character.

Nasu and Kumagai also made for a really solid tag team. The match didn’t start off on a great note for them but they still managed to pull off a good comeback and get some solid points even if they didn’t come in first. They had really good teamwork and fought really creatively. If they had a stronger third member I think they could really make some solid waves in the B rank wars.

Suwa squad may not be one of the strongest groups but Suwa himself is pretty fun. He consistently hits above his paygrade and shows a lot of good strategies. In a way he’s a lot like a stronger version of Osamu. I’d like to continue seeing more of him down the line. The guy is really resourceful and I know that he will continue to improve. He’s got the confidence to match his skills and potential.

Natsume doesn’t do a whole lot here but she’s a nice friend to Chika so I would say she is a good addition to the cast. Hopefully she can brush up on her sniping skills and really became an asset for later on. Now lets talk about some of the management figures who are always fun to see. First we have Kido who is extremely strict. He’s not corrupt by any stretch of the imagination but he does make a lot of decisions I disagree with. He’s willing to have a lot of friction and department battles over black triggers and a neighbor instead of looking at the bigger picture. We nearly had a whole civil war within Border (The agency) near the beginning of the series. So he definitely needs to watch out a bit with that. I do think he makes for a fun character in general though and someone to keep my eye on.

Shinoda is the only boss to actually get to fight in the series which is pretty cool. I’m glad that we have at least one character ready to defend the heroes and make the right calls. Without him standing up to Kido things could have been very different. He was also able to do really well against one of the neighbors. Yeah I definitely like this guy quite a bit, he’s another really fun character.

Kinuta isn’t nearly as tough or intimidating as the other characters but he does seem to really believe in doing the right thing. He cares about keeping everyone safe and just tends to take a really aggressive approach towards making this a reality. While other characters sit back and observe, Kinuta is ready to act. It doesn’t always bring about the best results but it is what it is.

Netsuki and Karasawa are easy to mix up to be honest. It’s not that their designs are super similar but their functions are. They both basically help get the word out and keep public relations at a high level. They are both good at their jobs and trust their instincts even if it means going over some of the bosses’ heads. I can definitely appreciate that because if you are a true pro then you probably know best in the situation. So if you have a strong gut on something then you just have to trust yourself. It’s the way to go here.

Now we have the neighbors from the main invasion. As the leader of the squad, Hyrien is definitely quite powerful. His weapon can easily block others with how many different birds it can summon and the versatility is really impressive. He makes for a fun villain to have to go up against as a result. I like when both the heroes and villains are making big plans the whole time and Hyrien even outsmarts Osamu at one point. One of the scariest things you’ll ever have to go up against is a villain with top tier abilities and smarts. At that point you almost have to just surrender because your odds of winning are not looking very good.

Then we have Enedora who is definitely more of a trash talker. Of course he is also very smart since pretty much 95% of World Trigger characters have above average IQ. His ability to use invisible attacks and strike from the inside is also super impressive. It was fun seeing this guy take on so many challengers and they pretty much got lucky with him. He came very close to absolutely wasting a whole lot of the heroes. Yeah this guy’s a great villain and while he may not get any more big fight scenes in the future, he made his screentime count.

Mira is next and she is another really dangerous fighter. The fact that she can summon portals and more minions is another really dangerous ability. What she lacks in physical ability, she makes up for with long range effectiveness. As long as she was on the board the snipers couldn’t really do anything. She had them pinned down with ease. She is also someone who always keeps the big picture in mind and you have to assume that she will continue to be a really deadly foe in future fights.

Ranbanein is probably the only villain with a really straight forward kind of fighting style. He can shoot massive energy blasts at all times and from different directions. The sheer scale of his firepower is really what makes him incredibly dangerous here. A good hit is really all that he needs to beat just about everyone. He’s really confident and likes to fight so naturally I appreciated the character quite a bit.

Then we have Viza who may be old but the guy still packs a punch. He actually holds his own against Kuga for a long while there. The guy may end up being the smartest member of the villains and the fact that he has a black trigger means he is really recognized as one of the strongest fighters. I liked him more than I expected to. The older characters can sometimes be a bit annoying and all but there were really no problems here. The guy still had a lot of energy and personality the whole time.

Then we have Osamu’s mother who shows up later on. She’s a pretty fun character even though she doesn’t appear much. You can tell that she’s definitely another brainy character so that’s really where Osamu gets it from. I doubt she will ever become all that relevant to the story but it was still nice to see her show up here.

Now we’re into the filler characters! Oh nooooo, well they weren’t that bad. While I was less than impressed with the filler arc itself, the characters definitely did their best. Xeno is just one of those annoying guys who is always talking a really tough game. He fancies himself as some kind of a big shot but he has to take a little girl hostage for most of his screen time. I never really warmed up to the guy much. I feel like he was just trying too hard to look cool and with so many really good characters out there, he could not stand out.

Lilith was better but she’s one of those characters who is a bit oblivious since she’s not exactly human and can be rather soft spoken. She eventually works up the courage to really help out and make a difference with her true powers so I give her more credit than Xeno. It just took a while for Lilith to really get going but at least she has more of an excuse due to her past than Xeno had.

Then we have the big villain Giev. I actually thought he wasn’t bad. He’s one of those villains who admittedly feels rather out of his depth the whole time but he continues to go forward with the mission no matter what. He starts to get punked near the end but at least most of his screentime was good. He had a solid design as well so the guy was definitely memorable at all points in time. Then we have his bot Charon who isn’t nearly as cool as Replica but does make some big moves near the end. At first Charon seems rather forgettable so the second half was a really smart move and definitely boosted the character a lot.

So I mentioned before that the filler arc didn’t really stack up but why not? I would say because you can immediately tell that it’s filler because everything is so forced. The characters are having way more trouble with the villains than they should be. It’s such a much smaller invasion force compared to last time so why are they being overwhelmed? The more you think about it, the less sense that it makes. That is the real problem here. There are also far fewer tactics in play here. Osamu gets his big moment about overloading some barriers but the plan itself was so risky and unlikely to work that it feels like more of a negative. There was a very real chance that he could have just murdered everybody by convincing them to go inside the cages. Not a smart move right there.

I feel like if that was a real story arc, the big A ranks would have taken the villains down immediately in an episode or two. That’s the way that I see it at least. It’s hard to really picture any other kind of outcome here. That’s the best way I can describe it at least. It’s still cool to see the characters fighting more neighbors and all but it’s no substitute for the actual canon stuff.

The show mainly has the big invasion and the B wars as the two story arcs and each one was amazing. Top tier story and a lot going on at all times. It’s why I say it’s like a mix of sports and Shonen jump and I can’t think of any other title like this. Also you can see from above just how big the cast is and that’s considering that there are many characters I didn’t even list. There are several other teams in the wars I didn’t really go into. Watch the show to see them all but the fact that the author can balance all of these characters is super impressive. Good luck learning all the names tho.

Overall, World Trigger is definitely a top tier title. I highly recommend the show whether you are a fun of sports, action, or just like good strategy in general. The show really hits all of its targets here and succeeds in each genre. In a lot of ways I would even say it’s satisfying a niche of sorts with a lot of high tier battles without constant end of the world stakes. A great deal of the battles here are friendly sparring contests but they still really grab your attention. The episodes go by quickly and you’ll be left wanting for more. Fortunately this is where the sequels come in.

Overall 9/10

Super Dragon Ball Heroes Review

Posted on September 7, 2024 by dreager1

Dragon Ball Heroes is one of those titles that was really around for a long while. I admired how long it lasted because initially it seemed like this would just be a quick mini series and then it kept on going for years. Heroes became a big part of the Dragon Ball franchise as well. It was all super impressive. The animation may not have always been top tier but I can say that the concepts were always as good as it got. This is a title that will definitely be missed.

The series has several arcs so lets jump into them. One thing you should know is that each episode was generally shorter than half of a standard episode. This means that even though there are 56 episode, the actual length is considerably less than that. It does mean that you can easily watch the whole series in a short amount of time though. It’s very easily bingeable which is always nice to hear. Definitely a title that knew when to go hard even if it had to switch the animation style in the end.

The first arc starts off with a bang as tons of powerful fighters are trapped on Prison Planet. They must all duke it out for the dragon balls and Fu is the mastermind behind all of this. He has to be defeated but his skills are considerable so this will take some real work. The big selling point of this arc was really about Goku from Super finally fighting his GT counterpart. Technically speaking this is Xeno Goku and not GT but fans tend to use the terms interchangeably since in most ways Xeno Goku is unchanged from GT. He just tends to be a bit more powerful. We also get to meet the legendary Cumber in this arc. A Super Saiyan of legend whose power even surpasses that of Broly’s. Can the heroes defeat him?

Oh yeah these early episodes were super intense. While the animation budget wasn’t always the strongest, it was just great to be getting some more Dragon Ball action at long last. I’ve long considered Super Saiyan 4 to be stronger than Super Saiyan god mode but it should be a good fight with Blue. Now that Super Goku has Ultra Instinct, I do think that would go above Saiyan 4 though. The fight is very fast but considering we’ll probably never get this fight in one of the main shows I have to really take what I can get here.

Cumber actually gets a solid amount of screentime for the first arc as he fights it out with everyone. I should say right now that the power scaling in the series is absolutely crazy. You should not expect any kind of consistency or anything like that. So just enjoy the battles and the story. That’s really the main point of this series either way since the plot itself is rarely going for anything all that deep. It’s just fun to see all of the characters mixing it up. Cumber is definitely one of the best new characters to show up in this series and he has immediately become a new staple in the Dragon Ball universe. Hopefully he will get his time to appear in something else soon.

So Prison Planet made for a great first arc without a doubt. This was good stuff. After that we have the longest arc in the series with Hearts taking center stage. He wants to destroy Zeno and all of the gods and to that end he is powering something up and attacking the strongest warriors of every universe. He has allied himself with powerful allies like Cumber and Zamasu. Goku is forced to step back into the ring when even Jiren and Hit are having some trouble but is he ready to take on such formidable fighters?

Hearts is another all star villain right here. The guy has really cool abilities with his cubes and the fact that he can fight so well against Goku and friends is impressive. Most other fighters would have been obliterated just by being in Goku’s presence but that’s not the case for Hearts. No, Hearts is ready for all the action and he has a very cool demeanor. When you mix a great personality and move set into one then that is always going to be an absolutely awesome character.

I also really liked his teammate Lagss. She was able to take down Ultra Instinct Goku in one hit which is crazy. Yes, power levels don’t really matter here but that was still pretty fun. I also liked the grand scale of this arc. You get used to seeing the Xeno characters everywhere but fighters like Jiren and Hit still feel like guest stars. The animation also got a massive boost during the Hearts vs Goku fight. I remember being shocked at just how good it looked. Yeah that was super impressive without a doubt.

By the end of the arc it’s still a bit unclear on exactly how Hearts figured he would beat Zeno with all of this but personally I think Hearts could win already. I don’t stack Zeno all that high, neither do I rank the gods as being out of his league either. While the show itself would likely disagree with me, Goku and friends have long since surpassed the gods. The days of their being the strongest at the top of the food chain are long over.

After that we have a random one episode special where the heroes fight off the demon army. It’s pretty good stuff and I was glad the show got to at least cover this big battle. It may not be the same as covering the whole arc but hey it’s a start. In general the show has to cut out a ton of details and even fights due to the short length time but that makes sense. It’s already tough as it is to adapt the biggest moments after all so just consider this to fully be promotional material. If you want all the details then you will have to read the manga which goes into a lot more depth.

In the next arc Fu finally makes his big move. He has a group of fighters including the mysterious Dr W who are here to destroy Goku and friends. They’re gonna need to pull out all of the stops in order to defeat these guys. It’s a pretty solid arc right from the jump. Dr W is someone you will probably be able to guess right away because there aren’t too many characters with that letter but either way he is a lot of fun. This villain is an absolute menace and his new design is awesome. His fight with the Xeno fighters is pretty good. Meanwhile Fu getting to fight is also a lot of fun and Cumber also returns.

Fu is the big villain you think of when talking about Dragon Ball Heroes because of how much time he spends in the background of every arc talking tough. You know that he will be a top tier fighter and yet you don’t know just how strong. It’s all a mystery until he actually takes center stage and the wait is absolutely worth it. He gets a whole lot of props here and it takes the strongest in the verse to really go after him.

There’s a lot of nonstop action throughout so you really can’t go wrong here. The fights just keep on going as they get grander and grander. The arc is actually interrupted by another special midway about a kid playing the actual arcade game. That was a pretty fun special but you were definitely ready to go back to the arc after that. This is absolutely the kind of Dragon Ball adventures you are always looking forward to. They put in the best of what makes Dragon Ball so exciting.

After that, the next arc kicks things off on a mysterious set of circumstances. Goku wakes up in a strange area where everyone is fighting and Hearts decides to team up with him. Goku has to try and figure out what’s happening and in the meantime he is still injured from the previous arc so he has to fight in a very careful way. There is good strategy here and the backgrounds are great. I liked the locations and everything. Also, Fu ends up making his grand return here so we get a lot of big battles at the end as well. This is what I always love about Dragon Ball Heroes. just wait an episode or two and you are guaranteed to be witnessing big things.

Next up we have the next big tournament arc with the evil time goddess Aeos. Her time abilities are definitely more offensive oriented to the point where she is even able to go up against Ultra Instinct Goku. That made for a super awesome fight and we got one animated scene where Goku was pulling off some Sonic the Hedgehog moves. That was definitely not something I had been expecting. Aeos also generally looks super hype the whole time. She’s another standout villain to be sure.

Most of the kais tend to look rather awful and get defeated by everybody so it was about time that we had a real powerhouse here even if the catch was that she was super evil. That’s just how it goes sometimes after all and it was a valid reason for why she had been training so hard. Villains always have to stay at the top of their game in order to beat the heroes when the chips are down. It was also fun seeing dark Bardock in action during the arc. The guy definitely got a real significant power boost here considering who he was going up against. Those Dragon Ball Heroes zenkai boosts really hit hard. The arc had fun involving a lot of fighters and more of the supporting cast than usual so that was definitely cool. Of course at the end of the day I’m here for the big fighters so it’s not like I need the supporting cast or anything like that.

Finally we reach the last arc of the series. Ozotto has shown up and he intends on absorbing everyone in the universe. His powers are absolutely incredible and even Goku/Vegeta may not be able to win. They’re forced to call in the whole gang. The arc is shorter than most of the others but still hits hard. The tragic thing here is that the animation changed to CG just when the soundtrack went to the highest that it’s ever been. The graphics are basically like the arcade game cutscenes as opposed to the traditional style that was always a lot of fun. If you have to go CG then this is a pretty good style to go with since it looks just like the video games but I really prefer traditional animation.

The setup and everything was so good otherwise too. Ah well, even with the limitations this is till a lot of fun. You feel the hype as Ozotto slowly begins to take everyone down. Not only can he absorb people but he can make clones that retain their own abilities. It’s a real broken kind of power the more that you think of it. One wrong move and it’s all over. He’s probably not the final boss I would have chosen but the fact that he is so out there can also work well enough on its own. He’s fairly unassuming in that way. I’m not a big fan of the guy but he’s okay. It would just be nice if he had cooler moments to really show off.

And that really wraps up the Dragon Ball Heroes experience. Let me tell you, it was really a sweet ride all the way through. As long as you really enjoy the DBZ characters and setting then you’ll really get a kick out of this. Dragon Ball is such a massive franchise that you would expect more stories like this constantly but it often feels like you have to wait a long time for the next adventure. Hopefully this inspires them to keep on churning out more top tier products in the future. If they can pull that off then we will really be in business here. It probably won’t be as crazy as Heroes was in terms of being such a big crossover of characters but those are rare anyway. Heroes is like a celebration of the franchise as a whole so now it’ll take a break for smaller adventures and then one day hopefully we should be able to get another big one like this.

Overall, Super Dragon Ball Heroes is a great show. This is what DBZ sounds like to anyone who doesn’t watch the show. It’s basically all action with minimal plot and everyone is always getting beat up. The power levels are impossible to decipher and instead you are operating on pure hype. Let me tell you, there is never anything wrong with pure hype. It’s the foundational basis for what makes anime cool after all. Now that the series is done, you can binge it as a quick movie trilogy or something like that. It’s definitely worth the watch and it’s a shame that this has not been dubbed yet. It would absolutely sell a whole lot so it feels like the company is allergic to money. Dragon Ball Daima is almost here so hopefully that title is able to keep up with this one’s legacy.

Overall 8/10

Demon Slayer Season 4: Hashira Training Arc Review

Posted on September 1, 2024 by dreager1

Demon Slayer has returned with another season and this is probably the first time where it’s more of a preparation one. Usually you’ve have the massive multiple episode length fight to close things out but instead we’re setting up the movie trilogy this time around. It makes for an incredible cliffhanger in the final episode but at the same time it does mean that the first half tends to be more on the slow side which can be tricky since as it is, Demon Slayer doesn’t have the best cast of heroes.

The season starts off with Tanjiro eagerly awaiting his chance to get some training from the Hashira. He is still injured so he has to wait a little while while the others get a head start but he quickly begins to catch up. Can Tanjiro clear all of the trainings before it’s time for the next big move? Muzan appears to be getting desperate so he could really show up at any point. The heroes have to be prepared to stop him.

That makes the training a little dicey though. I mean there’s no real way around it but imagine Muzan decides to strike right after the heroes are done training for the day? They’ll all be exhausted while he is at full strength. In fact, it seems likely since the heroes do their training by day and the vampires move by night. Now that I think about it, the heroes should have absolutely been training at night the whole time. I’m sure it’s hard to adjust their internal clocks but I’m sure they could pull it off if they had to. This is actually giving Muzan a good advantage. Now, the heroes definitely need training so to an extent they are going to have to do this, whether it’s at night or in the day but it is really something to be considered here.

As always the animation is really sharp here. There are less opportunities to show off but we get a few Hashira training bouts that look really good and of course the final episode looks stunning. The fighting that we get there is really hype and it’s one of the best anime cliffhangers that I can think of to end a season. They didn’t hold back at all, this is a good way to get everyone into the theaters right away. The scene is drawn out to maximum intensity without going too long and like in the manga, it hits you just how sudden all of this is. I also liked Muzan’s slow walk to the castle. I know this got some shade for being super long but it’s the big villain himself finally making a move. I would say that warrants the extra attention.

The soundtrack is also really good as you would expect. The opening isn’t my favorite but I do really like the ending. It played perfectly when Muzan showed up to take everyone down. In general the show always has a very grand feel for the serious moments and this season was no different. The season also only has 8 episodes so it does go by pretty fast which helps to make up for it not being super eventful for most of the run.

I suppose the main weakness the show would have is that the humor doesn’t work super well. As I alluded to earlier, the character cast in Demon Slayer isn’t really one of my favorites. They can’t hold their own comedic/slice of life moments as well as a lot of the other big titles. So you’re really just waiting for the next fight scene the whole time instead of just absorbing the moment. So every time there is a training bout you are excited but otherwise you are shaking your head. While it’s not always entirely serious, I also do think that the training regimen is way too harsh on the characters. It feels like a borderline villainous group with how ferocious they can be. If Tanjiro had been one step closer then Genya would have lost his eyes for example.

It makes it very hard for you to really like the Demon Slayers at times. Obviously they are still much better than the demons so lets not get that twisted but I would appreciate it if they were more likable. For example Kagaya gets his big moment at the end of the season after being sidelined for the whole series. He has a decent speech and a good plan but you’ve never really been given much reason to care about the guy. I give him tremendous props for hanging in there despite his injuries but that’s about all I can say for him.

Tanjiro looks solid as always. He’s definitely very determined and shows off his good work ethic here. He had humble beginnings like the rest of the corp but through all of the life and death battles he has really shot past them in every metric. He is basically a Hashira at this point and I appreciate that the show supports this by the fact that he can follow their movements now. I look forward to seeing him fight next time since he’s finally back to full power. Muzan definitely better watch out!

Zenitsu’s role isn’t very big here but he has a noticeable personality shift once he gets a certain letter. After all these years we can finally see him in a serious role. I was definitely happy to see this because his old gags had run dry by now. In the final episode he keeps his composure even more than the Hashira. He’s definitely going to be causing the villains some problems.

Inosuke doesn’t get a ton to do here either but he’s always eager to fight as always. His physical abilities are always good so I look forward to seeing what he does next time. It does feel like Tanjiro had started to leave those two far behind so now is their chance to catch up a bit. Tamayo also gets to make her big return here to help the group out. As the medical expert it’s good to be seeing her knowledge used in a combat context. She definitely had a tough role here but she never backed down. Honestly she has the most reason to be rather annoyed at everything going on because she really set the heroes up perfectly.

Sanemi is still a little too cruel for the demon slayer corp. Once you are actively trying to remove a fellow fighter then you need to be kicked out. Yeah he has his reasons and everything but they just aren’t good enough. Meanwhile Obanai is definitely missing the forest for the trees with how he’s trying to bump off Tanjiro the whole time. Allowing jealousy to cloud his heart at a time like this is definitely not a good move. Mitsuri doesn’t have time to do a whole lot here but that makes sense since she just had her character moments last time.

Muichiro is still working on not being so emotionless and I would say he does a pretty good job here. He may not be making too many friends just yet but at least he is more reasonable. The paper airplane stuff may have been a little cheesy but it was fun enough. They also are really showing how Muichiro is one of the strongest now too with how he was handling multiple Hashira at the time time. Shinobu doesn’t get to fight this time as she’s concocting some kind of a plan. We’ll have to see what comes out of this.

Giyu gets one of the biggest roles from the group as we finally learn about his backstory. It definitely adds a lot of context for why he has had a hard time fitting in and has trouble really being expressive. In some ways he’s like Tanjiro where he is super oblivious and in other ways he just doesn’t realize what he is saying. I will miss his arrogant side since we’ll probably get less scenes of him explaining how he’s different from the others but either way I still trust him as one of the big hitters in the series.

Finally we have Gyomei and we also learn his backstory here. Definitely a pretty tragic one where he tried his best but it just wasn’t enough. He gets good props for holding his own against a demon even as a kid but ultimately it didn’t serve as much of a consolation to him. Demon Slayer always has to have some kind of tragic ending though. I feel like we’ve already seen the whole family get murdered a few times by now for other characters but I suppose it’s an easy one to set up for the tension. I still don’t really care for Gyomei though. The constant crying just seems like it’s a bit much even if that’s his gimmick.

Finally we have Muzan as the big villain. He may be starting to get awfully sloppy here but he’s so close to his goal that it makes sense in a way. At this point he is so close to his goal and he figures that the humans can’t really do anything to him. It’s not a smart play but I can cut him a little slack there. He still did have a backup plan ready to go which worked really well after all. It’s lucky that he had this though as I dare say the whole series would have ended here otherwise. Even with regeneration, I definitely don’t think he would be able to tank so many powerful hits at once. Especially as they would keep on slamming into him over and over. His regen is near instant but it still does take up energy and he doesn’t have an unlimited amount of that. It’s pretty interesting how similar it looks to a Titan forming but I suppose that makes sense since it’s the same concept.

The heroes are already using a lot of plot armor to hang in there with Muzan though so you wonder how that will continue. This is one of those series where I do think the villains got a huge power creep over the heroes though. It’s hard to really picture them standing a chance so we’ll have to see how that goes. Like I’m skeptical about Muzan falling for the trap but at least now that he has, the rest of his events make sense since he’s so weakened. Once the rest of the Upper 5 members who are still alive show up, you would assume that it’s curtains. I’d take Akaza over any one of the Hashira any day after all. Being able to match them blow for blow while also having high speed regeneration is just an absolutely insane combo.

Overall, You could say that the whole season really exists just for the final episode. It’s all to bring about this big cliffhanger and prepare people for a bunch of nonstop battles that are all going to start now. It’s hard not to get excited for something like that. It’s going to be absolutely awesome. In the meanwhile I would still say to check this season out. It’s not every day that you get a season for the main characters to relax and chill out before the big fights begin. I know fans of many series would wish that they could have gotten this treatment. It all depends on how much you enjoy the characters of course but I don’t think they will steer you wrong. The animation is smooth for all of their moments either way so just think of this like a quick mini arc before getting to the real stuff. At worst you can just call it uneventful but it should still keep your attention the whole time. The show has had so many different fight scenes in previous seasons that you can allow this at least once, but the pressure is definitely going to be on for the movies. The fights need to absolutely bring out Ufotable’s best although they have never failed before do I’m feeling pretty confident.

Overall 7/10

Granblue Fantasy: The Animation Review

Posted on August 31, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at Granblue, one of those classic adventure type anime. It does a good job of letting you know that it’s based on a video game because there are a ton of characters and concepts running around throughout the series and there isn’t really time to get to all of them. Perhaps more of them will show up in the next season but you get the feeling that this is a title that will hit all of the major points, not necessarily bothering with the smaller ones here and there.

The series follows a guy named Gran who lives an ordinary life in his village. He has a pet dragon named Vyrn and the guy has trained in the ways of the sword although he hasn’t yet had to use it in combat. His chance arrives when a girl named Lyria falls out of the sky and the government wants her. Gran fights off the attackers and a knight named Katalina appears who will help out as well. Despite this, Gran is quickly murdered in his first boss fight so Lyria links her life with his by splitting it in half. Now they are bonded and he can even have a glimpse of her impressive summoning abilities. It’s starting to become a little more clear why they want her. The heroes now have two main goals, to find all of the crystals for Lyria that have a summoning monster and stop the empire, while also getting to the final island where Gran’s father should be. Gran got a letter from the old man that he would be waiting for him there.

Along the way the characters meet more adventurers and buff up the party. So why exactly do I say it feels more like a tie in than a full adaption? It comes down to the character designs. For example the heroes will be wandering around when they see a shop owner with a really detailed design offering them a handy item. You get the feeling in the game this was probably a fun little side quest or something and then you would unlock the character. The climax of the season also really puts this into perspective as a ton of random heroes show up to use their signature attacks and save the day.

I should say right now that this is pretty awesome. I imagine that hardened fans of the series probably got an extra big kick out of this but I would say that even non fans should be able to have fun with it. Cool designs are cool designs after all right? I dare say that quite a few of the guest stars seemed like they would even be more fun than the main cast. The thunder guy reminded me of a character from Draglade. Then you have the swordswoman who was like Erza mixed with Rin. A lot of potential here and maybe they’ll show up in the next season but of course it can be hard to balance this. Not every character is going to be able to be able to get their own moment after all. That just would not be possible.

So this is like when you’re reading one of those comics where at the end it reminds you to check out the movie. The show can still hold up on its own to be sure but you will be tempted to check out the games afterwards. Beyond that, the production values for the series in general are good. There’s nothing here that I would say is great by any means, but it’s definitely not poor which is the important part. The animation has some nice cuts like when Gran is dodging energy blasts or clashing with soldiers. While this may be a bit of a diss, I actually thought Gran’s quick fight in the first episode was the best battle. Not necessarily the best animation but you really felt the weight behind the blows.

There were a few fights later on where the characters are clashing but you don’t feel quite the same level of impact. Then you have the soundtrack which is also good. There are some solid tunes here and there. It is not very high tier or anything but they work well enough with the show. The opening is rather weak though, I think they definitely could have done a much better job there. It’s sort of soft for an adventure title like this.

The pre arc was a good way to get used to the characters. Gran is a solid main character who you can always count on to get the job done. He may not be the most powerful and he’s no genius but when the chips are down he gets the job done. I don’t have any issues with him and it’s always nice to have a sword fighter as the main character. His pal Vyrn is okay as the animal mascot kind of character. He never really stands out or does much in the fighting but he’s a good guy so I guess that’ll have to do. I can usually take or leave a character like this. Ultimately he won’t affect my enjoyment of the show one way or the other.

As the main heroine Lyria does a pretty good job. She’s unfortunately not all that good at fighting but is always ready to jump in there and help Gran when needed. Her summoning abilities are absolutely super handy as well so you definitely can’t count those out. She maybe keeps to herself a bit too much which lets the villains manipulate her a bit though. Mainly near the end of the series this became an issue but it was the one main time where she didn’t look so good.

Katalina is one of the better characters as she is a great fighter and does a good job of looking after Lyria. She is one of those all around characters who can work as the main fighter or be an assist as needed. You definitely want someone on the team to have that level of variety as needed. I think she may need a power up at some point though. While her skills are very good, she is basically a normal swordswoman while the other characters have elemental attacks and various supernatural abilities. I’d say that pure skill can only get you so far in such a world.

The first main arc introduces us to Rakkum who would go on to become the pilot. His backstory about wanting to drive a flying ship and everything going crazy from there was definitely intense. He’s a fun enough guy but I dare say he is completely out of his league. His main weapon is a gun and yeah the show explains how he can blow up a mage’s staff so they can’t use it but that’s not all that impressive. It relies on the mage not being very smart after all. Every time the gun works I have to shake my head a bit. This guy has a ton of plot armor but he’s still a fun addition to the crew.

The arc introduces us to some characters who are not so good though. Drang and Sturm who I can’t take seriously at all. Drang is clearly set up to be some kind of a super mastermind who just acts silly to get people to drop their guards but it almost works too well. Whenever he’s on screen you know that the guy is not a threat at all. He’s just going to get absolutely dominated over and over again while his partner Sturm keeps stabbing him for no reason. It doesn’t help that they don’t do much in either of their fight scenes. I’m going to hope they do something more in future arcs because they were definitely a bit of a letdown. The powers seemed interesting like Drang has a bunch of elemental orbs but they simply don’t amount to much.

The Tiamat summon was definitely fun though. I always like to see these figures show up even if I may not find the fights quite as interesting since they’re so huge. I can at least enjoy the prestige and all that. Bahamut is definitely the best summon in the series though and Lyria is lucky to have unlocked him first. The guy spams powerful energy blasts the whole time and even with his arms tied up, the guy is an absolute monster. He is not unbeatable in the series but he definitely wins a whole lot more than he loses.

After that we get to a new village where one of the top political figures in the land has been kidnapped. His protege Io wants to help find him and the heroes do their best. This ends up crossing them with the Black Knight and some golems. The Black Knight is one of those characters who definitely has a lot of potential and should be a pretty fun villain all the way but for now hasn’t done anything yet. You know they’re really going to enjoy stretching this out for a while with her and I wouldn’t be shocked if she mostly ends up sticking to the games. For now though I do enjoy her character and you know that she will be very powerful.

Io is one of the best new characters to join the crew. The heroes desperately needed a full mage and while she is still in training, she still knows more magic than the rest of the crew. I imagine they will have to keep her from getting too strong for a while since that could destroy the whole balance of the crew but in the meantime she is still an asset either way. She also has a lot of fun banter with Rakkum the whole time so they make for good rivals.

We then start to get into the climax. There was a one shot episode with two treasure hunters who are likely characters in the game but the main thing is Lyria finally facing her fears and the whole cast taking on another summon. It makes for a good climax that is very flashy and everyone gets to show what they’ve got. Lyria finally gaining more confidence is also a good thing so hopefully that will stick. It made for a pretty solid way to cap things off not counting the bonus episode. The characters have gotten closer to their goal, although since we don’t know how many islands are in the way, you don’t actually know how far the destination is.

It’s a pretty clever way to keep this hidden the whole time. There are also other characters who show up like the lady with the vines and the old eyepatch version of Rakkum who felt completely redundant the instant he appeared. The cast is reasonably big which is good since this is the kind of video game series where you know the cast is absolutely massive. You can’t squeeze them all in, but as much as possible is definitely a good idea. I think the best way to do this would be to keep on shifting characters every few arcs but for some that might not be possible if they will stay story relevant.

Overall, Granblue Fantasy is a pretty fun show. I would even say it’s a nostalgic one. It feels like the kind of old school adventure that would be fairly episodic and could run for many years. Yes, there is a story of course but there’s not much of one. It’s like Detective Conan where you have the main story but beyond that you could still buy time with daily adventures for a long while before actually progressing things. The characters are fun enough to hold this up so as long as you like an adventure story then you will enjoy this one. It’s probably not a show I would recommend to someone all that highly unless I knew they loved adventure stories though. You have to like a slow burn title after all and you have to be ready for this to not really have a concrete ending. Of course, that’s not really a problem for me though. I never really mind just having things left to the wind as long as the adventure before that was good. I would say my main hopes for a next season would just be to increase the production values quite a bit for the action scenes. Beyond that, just keep up the fun little guest stars and each adventure should be pretty fun.

Overall 7/10

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Review

Posted on August 17, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to jump back into the world of the rankings. The first season was fun with a lot going on and some pretty dynamic fights. The cast may not be the strongest but the show still holds its own. That said, this one is more like a mini season so that does put it in a bit of a tricky place right out of the gate. Could the season win without a big story? Well, I found it fun enough so I would say it was still good. The first season definitely wins without a doubt but at least since we know the characters by now, they were able to hold their own stories without too much trouble. The 10 episodes definitely go by real quickly so in a lot of ways this really does feel like a mini season even aside from the story.

I’ll jump into each segment and talk about them so you get a feel for the stories. That’s always the most enjoyable way to review an anthology after all and it gets you right into the thick of things! The only exception to this is the final episode where it actually continues the story and works like a preview of what the next full season will be like. I thought that was a real interesting touch so I was glad to see that. It ends the season off on a really strong note which is definitely what you’re looking for here.

The first short in the series shows us once again why Kage is such a great character. He’s looking for an herb that he needs for Boji’s mentor and yet he can’t help but stop to assist an old lady who needs him. He performs each and every chore even while he is super busy and you have to acknowledge his good strength of heart here. Ultimately the good deed pays for itself and things work out but he was willing to help out with no reward which is always good. He’s definitely one of the most heroic characters.

In the next story we had Boji and Kage get tasked to raise a ton of money. They come up with a genius plan to have people try to throw rocks at Boji and he needed to dodge. They racked up a lot of money this way but ultimately needed to give most of it away to a poor kid who needed their help. Another instance of Boji and Kage being good heroes here so I can appreciate that. The town’s not in the best shape so I imagine that a lot of people there are in a rough spot. Hopefully they can keep helping everyone out, one spot at a time.

After that we get to see how their heroism can sometimes put them in dicey situations. They didn’t realize that a bunch of bandits were villains and just thought they were people down on their luck. Kage and Boji got suckered rather easily but at least they are strong enough where they can win the fights without any trouble. So ultimately that helps to reduce the damage from all of this. I can’t blame them too hard for being super kind hearted when they have the power to get out of a jam on their own after all. It’s a nice enough story and we got some action in this time.

We also had a short involving a desert but the tough part about having 3 shorts in one episode instead of 2 is that one will really get the shaft. That was the case here as there wasn’t much time for anything. We had a nice feels moment with the monster but that’s about it. I would probably consider this to be the weakest short in the season. There just isn’t much to absorb or talk about here.

After that was a fun one though as Hiling is getting ready to mount a counterattack to take back the kingdom. So she heads off and finds out of her friends. So the friend agrees to help if Hilling saves the day first. It’s a nice team up and this is also a good place to mention to you that the setting of the episode changes each time. So some take place at the end of the series, some before the series, etc. So definitely something to really keep in mind here. Obviously this plot would not make sense if Boji was already the king. It was good to see Hilling as the main character, she tends to be fun.

We also have a short special with Daida learning some basic healing magic and helping Boji out when the lead gets hurt. You can tell it’s not going to be Daida’s forte so I wouldn’t expect to see him doing anything crazy with healing in the future but every bit certainly helps. This one felt fairly short, not a whole lot is going on here. So it’s not bad, but won’t hook your interest particularly well next to some of the other episodes.

Then we get one about Ouken and the Desha/Despa brothers. We already saw a lot of this in the main series so this is really a way to expand upon it a bit. They each got super abilities from their father but they aren’t perfectly balanced. One of them is immortal, one has super strength/magic, and I forget what the final one has. Maybe intelligence? He’s not really a fighter but is a good teacher. Either way I always like seeing the Underworld, it’s established pretty well in the series and always makes for a good episode.

The next one actually continues the plot in a lot of ways. Ouken’s friend Fren decides to search for a cure to the immortality and goes on a whole quest. He takes on a lot of dangers and threats as he searches for a lead. Ultimately he is able to get some intel which will set up the cure/next steps for a future arc. Fren was definitely loyal and you always want someone like that in order to have your back during a pinch. So this was another fun one.

We have another weak one coming up sadly. In this one, the horse that Despa owns has gotten really fat. So the mission is to have him lose weight and this starts to work when the horse sees a girl horse that he likes. Unfortunately for him it turns out that she already has someone. The guy is absolutely crushed and gains all of the weight back. It’s why if you are going to change something or set a personal goal, it needs to be for you. Otherwise you will inevitably get disheartened at some point and will lose all progress. You can’t let it get to that point so the ending is actually a rather sad one. It also just feels like straight up filler since the episode ends as it started so they could have done more here or had a better message.

After that is an origin episode for Hokuro. Hokuro really wanted to be a knight. Someone who would be able to watch over Boji and keep the kingdom safe. Unfortunately he isn’t very strong but the guy does know sign language which ends up helping him out. Without that you know that Hokuro would have been tossed out, so his instincts of wanting to be able to communicate with Boji were good ones. Ultimately he did as well as he could, but personally I would not have recommended him to be a soldier. He has a good story of course but there is not much point in a soldier who cannot protect his king.

Then we have two shorts that don’t have a ton of plot but are excuses to really see what is going on in the kingdom. We have one where Boji helps out a lot of different people while he still misses Kage. Life just isn’t the same on his own. Boji is a king though and I want to say that the point is that he still continues to help people and fulfills his duties rather than running out of the kingdom on a wild goose chase to find his friend. Meanwhile Daida’s short is rather similar. He is working to rebuild the kingdom but a lot of people still don’t trust him. He was just too evil and possessed for too long. So he takes it slow and in the meantime continues training with the Big 4. So he’s doing his best but it’s just a long road.

We get a story about how Bebin trained hard so that he wouldn’t be so much weaker than the other members of the big 4. He had good technique but completely lacked power and so as he got desperate he would make more and more mistakes that would really come back to bite him. It definitely put him in quite the tough bind but ultimately he got better at using his techniques after some formal training. I still don’ really see him beating any of the other members of the Big 4 but at least now it’s definitely a lot closer. He certainly made a lot of progress.

My favorite short in the series was definitely when the Big 4 are challenged to a game of arm wrestling. It should be an easy thing for them and yet they are getting absolutely dominated for most of the episode. It’s pretty crazy especially because there weren’t any big gimmicks here. Yes, the guy they were fighting was a master of the craft and knew how to use his leverage but at the end of the day it was still his strength that was proving to be superior. It was extremely impressive the whole time. I was glad that the heroes finally started working together but the Big 4 definitely did lose a good amount of hype here. This short easily had the most amount of hype behind it.

We get a story Kage’s mom and how she raised Kage right. He used to get picked on by the local kids and everything but instead of worrying about that, he still just had a good time. When villains would attack, Kage ended up saving them. He’s definitely someone you can count on in a pinch and he has certainly saved Boji many times at this point. It’s a nice little short even if it does make the town look rather mean and corrupt as always.

King Bosse gets a segment to go more in depth on his having Boji. We already saw part of this in the show but this way it’s a little extended. He has to fight off all kinds of enemies but in the back of his head he still knows his own guilt. At the end of the day, he made a deal that was not worth it and has been paying ever since. He would only get worse as the series went on unfortunately. I still don’t like King Bosse and probably never will with how drastic he got. At best you could say that he is a very imposing villain with his high levels of raw power and all but in the end this isn’t going to be enough to start rehabilitating his overall character. The guy doesn’t really get any sympathy from me.

Miranjo had a segment with her as a kid running around with the kid demon. The little thing was real afraid of her back then but since she was a kid i’s not like she could totally tell and so she chased him for a while. It’s a nice look at things before she got ultra depressed with everything going really badly for her. A lot of characters here had pretty tough backgrounds which definitely do not excuse their later actions but at least it’s nice to see some happy times occurred.

The final segment is about Boji giving some gifts to all of his friends. It’s a pretty solid way to end the season since it ties into the treasure chest and everything. You get to say your final goodbyes to all of the characters as well which is nice. Of course this wouldn’t literally be the last episode but in a way it’s the last episode of the arc so either way it works out pretty well. It’s a low key episode of course but it’s nice seeing all of the characters again. It could be a while before we see any of them again.

Now like I said this brings us to the final episode where things get real intense. The next #1 king has been chosen at last but of course we know that things never go well for the top king. He always seems to vanish. So why even go through with the process? Well, Desha is still trying to cure the curse of immortality on his brother and so this is a risk he has to take. We get to wrap up that plotline here and in general the episode feels rather fast paced. It keeps up some mysteries to be sure but you know this will be a pretty interesting plot that’s going to keep on going. The gods may feel a bit nerfed right now but I suppose we can assume that this was the weakest one or something like that. You always feel like King Bosse should be the only one able to take these guys out.

The heroes may regret not asking for help from Boji and Daida but I get why they wouldn’t want to be asking the kingdom for help every time something happens. They need to be able to hold their own in a pinch after all and that’s completely valid. Desha is also no slouch in the power department, he looked really good in season 1 after all so it’s not like you would assume that he could be defeated. Power itself doesn’t seem to be much of a counter for the price of the king’s reward but in the back of your head you would probably feel pretty secure about the whole thing.

The animation for the show is okay. It’s certainly below average compared to most titles but we do get one solid looking fight in the very final episode. More of a quick cut than the full fight but close enough. The show has always gone for an intentionally simplified look and I’m not the biggest fan of it but it could still work for those fights. We just need more movement and everything here along with some nice/colorful special abilities.

As for the soundtrack the tunes are basically the same as in season 1. They’re not super dynamic but they’re okay. They feel nostalgic while watching the show at least. Nothing that I would be likely to Youtube afterwards or anything like that though. The theme song could definitely stand to be a lot more exciting though. It’s all just so mellow and everything. I want the theme song to embrace more of how crazy the show can be with demons and gods running around. It may not be the tone the show is totally going for but I think it would work well.

Right now the technical elements aren’t doing a whole lot to back up the show itself and that’s what has got to change here. Lets pump the show up with a bit more hype. The world building is already there after all, we just need to make it all a lot more hype. This is more of a wishlist for season 2 at this point I suppose. Nothing wrong with just being a good show of course, but I know this could be a great show.

Overall, The treasures season was fun enough. There may not be much stakes or plot progression for most of the season but the stories themselves were solid enough to hold your attention. So I didn’t have any real complaints here. I think it went about as far as it could with this format and not being able to jump far ahead just yet. Fans of the first season should check this out to see all of the old characters again while people who have not jumped into the franchise just yet will not really have any reason to do so. This is really an experience for the fans compared to season 1 which is easier for everyone to just jump into. Hopefully the actual season 2 comes sooner than later.

Overall 6/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez Review

Posted on August 4, 2024 by dreager1

Cardfight Vanguard is definitely one of the most impressive franchises out there. The fact that it has managed to create an all star franchise 3 times with classic, G, and then the Dress series is crazy. If you count the reboot and Divinez as separate then they’ve pulled this off 5 times. The fact of the matter is it can absolutely hold its own with Yugioh right now which would have been seen as nearly impossible back in the day. This is definitely a whole new era of hype and I don’t see it going down any time soon. This season is definitely a lot of fun.

The series starts off by introducing us to Akina. His little sister Hikari has been sickly for a long time so he works a job while in school to have the money for her bills. She occasionally gets better but always relapses. One day a cosmic being known as Gabwelius shows up and declares that the fated clash is about to begin. Several fighters have been selected for this and the winner will get their wish granted. Akina knows this is his chance to save Hikari and so he quickly enters. How hard can this Cardfight game be right? Of course everyone has their own reasons for entering and with wishes being what’s at stake, nobody is going to back down. Also why is Gabwelius hosting this tournament in the first place? There is a mysterious masked fighter who is trying to sabotage the tournament as well for some reason. A lot of mysteries need to be unmasked here.

I would say the series covers a whole lot of ground in 13 episodes. We get to see everyone’s motivations here and so the characters are really fleshed out. It reminds me a bit of Fate/Zero with how almost everyone feels like a main character and gets focus. The only decision I didn’t agree with here is how it’s not a standard bracket. So you just fight if your name is called and that means the same person can fight a whole lot. This is used to get Akina to fight multiple times in a row and I get that he’s the main character but seeing everyone get the standard amount of fights would have been better I’d say. It’s a minor thing though, I definitely enjoyed all of the fights either way.

As far as the characters go, I would say Akina is already better than the last one. Perhaps not in terms of skill level as that will take some time but he’s more confident which is always good. His wish is also a good one and the fact that he grinded out the training sessions enough to become world class in such a short amount of time speaks to his dedication. He really checks off all the right boxes of being a good lead so I really didn’t have any problems with him. He’s a good kid who who does the right thing and at the end of the day that’s what counts.

Hikari is more of a surprise standout character. Her determination is even greater than Akina’s and I would say that she easily has the best fight in the season. It’s an extremely personal duel with multiple insert songs and strong convictions on both sides. I’ll go more into this in the spoiler portion near the end of the review but yeah it’s good stuff all around. I really didn’t expect her character to go the direction that it did so definitely big props to her. This is another example of the show’s writing just being absolutely epic in every way.

Nao is the main heroine I would say. You would have some debates on this but ultimately her role is consistently large and she is also extremely important to Akina’s character development. She shows him how to really play and is always around to encourage him. He does the same to her and it’s really the ideal kind of bond between coworkers. She’s funny and talented which is a great combination and by the end of the series we see that she will only continue to improve from here. I’m definitely looking forward to her returning in a future story.

Suo is the main villain of the season and he’s okay but I don’t think he holds up compared to a lot of the previous villains. My main issue with him is a part of his character arc and that is that he barely feels anything. He is a very emotionless kind of character and he is just in this tournament because he was selected by destiny. He has one of the best themes in the season and a super strong deck though. His skills are the real deal but as a villain he wasn’t super interesting.

Then we have Mikoto who is rather famous and always has to keep up a nice attitude as a model. So by night she enjoys trash talking in Cardfight Vanguard while playing it online. It’s nice to see the online version of the game after so long because it makes sense that this would be really big too. In theory in a world that is absolutely filled with people playing the game, there would be a ton of people playing the online game too. So that works out pretty well. I think they could have done a bit more with her character and this is one of the only times where it felt like the 13 episode count was a little restrictive. She was all set up to be like a main character and she was definitely strong but doesn’t get to do a whole lot.

Still, Mikoto’s another character to bolster the cast with so in a future season I would expect her to still be doing a lot. She definitely has the skills and the fun personality to make this work out. Then we actually have some old characters who show up as main characters. You have cameo characters like Raika and Megumi but they don’t actually do anything here. I’m guessing they will eventually cross paths though and that will be super hype. In the meantime Taizo and Masanori get to have the lead roles.

Masanori enjoys trolling everyone as always and talking a real big game. I still wouldn’t say that he’s one of the better villains or anything like that but at this point he’s lasted for so long that I have to respect the hustle a bit. No matter what scheme is going on, he wants a part of it. He’s been on so many villain groups by now that it’s crazy. He also puts up a pretty good fight here so yeah the guy never gives up.

Then we have Taizo who is a fun character. He’s always been one of the strongest fighters on the planet but the problem is that he still manages to lose. This season sort of continues the trend so I do tend to feel bad for him. It’s got to be rough always being so close to the top but never actually getting to hold the gold trophy. Making it that far is super impressive of course but it’s probably not a huge consolation at the end of the day when you taste defeat.

Okay the next four paragraphs including this one are going to be spoiler based so skip them if you haven’t seen the show yet. It’s time to talk about their ideals. Specifically I’m talking about Akina and Hikari. So Hikari shows up from the future because Akina ended up losing the duel and so Suo’s wish ended up murdering everyone in the area. In an instant Hikari lost everything and she spent years on her own looking for Akina. Hoping that somehow he survived but this was not the case. So finally she entered the fated clash of her own and after winning, went back in time to save Akina. She tried a lot of different things to mess with the tournament but nothing worked. On this point I do have to say that I feel like she could have tried more things though. When it comes to time travel I’m always ready to backseat drive.

Why not snatch the card out of Suo’s hand so he can’t participate in the tournament? You could also do the same thing to Akina. There are a ton of ways you could sabotage everything as well. So I’m a bit skeptical here as I usually am with these things. Well, either way Hikari eventually decides to final option is to defeat Akina in a duel and get him to give up. Akina of course figures that he still needs to try and beat Suo so that he can cure Hikari and save the world. They have their duel which as I said earlier is the best in the season.

Both characters lay out their arguments but I thought Hikari’s absolutely destroyed his every step of the way. Keep in mind that she had to actually live out her entire future. So when Akina shouts that he won’t leave her, her comeback of “You already did!” is absolutely on point. Throughout the duel Akina keeps acting as if this is a hypothetical future which is why he says he won’t let it happen but it doesn’t sound very effective because he has no reasons for why it won’t happen this time. In theory it’s the same situation and he will get wrecked.

I don’t blame him for not believing in Fate because you can always change things but he should have based his arguments around that instead of just insisting that he would win. Hikari’s points were all a lot more valid and you have to consider the fact that she is still alive in the future. So at least the illness doesn’t seem fatal yet. Perhaps Akina shouldn’t be risking everyone’s lives for this wish when he already knows how it’s all going to end. Or at least how it can end. At the end of the day that’s why it is a clash of ideals though. Neither character is wrong and both should keep trying to do what they can. I just think Hikari’s positions were a lot stronger and she won that debate.

As always the animation is really solid here. I like all of the effects and backdrops. The character designs are really solid too so I definitely have no problems with them either. The soundtrack is excellent with quite a few good songs here. Unfortunately it is difficult to find them online for now except for videos with a ton of background noise. Either way you can be assured that these help to enhance the show and make the duels that much more epic. They were not holding back at all on the production elements here.

At the end of the day, the key to becoming an elite anime is to make sure that every episode forces you to watch it. Every episode needs to be important and powerful which this one pulls off. It may only be 13 episodes but each one meant a whole lot. It’s why a series like this can have more hype moments than a series with 20+ episodes. It’s not a pace that is easy for just any series to pull off but Cardfight is built for this. Mix in the fact that there is usually a new gimmick in every season and you’re never bored. I wonder if the user effects will return or not. Guess we’ll find out soon.

Overall, Cardfight continues to excel in every season. This new cast is already extremely strong and they are definitely ready to hold their own part of the franchise. I look forward to seeing Akina and the gang return again sooner than later. It’ll be difficult to pass this season but there’s always a chance. It sounds as though next season will be having an even bigger tournament. Throw in some heavy hitters like Tohya and this one could definitely make a lot of noise. I do always love to see some crossover aspects after all so that would do the trick but even without that, tournaments are always a lot of fun.

Overall 9/10

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