Gachiakuta Review

Posted on July 26, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for the latest dark Shonen that has hit the stage. It is still building up to the classic powers of friendship and saving the day but is definitely not holding back with some of the backstories. Well, I should say one in particular since the rest aren’t as crazy. I wouldn’t say it is quite on the level of your classic Jump titles yet but does clobber the last generation dark shonen known as Attack on Titan.

The series starts by introducing us to Rudo who lives in the slums. In this dystopian world there is a clear class divide between those who have means and those who don’t. Rudo at least takes solace in the fact that he has a kind mentor and one good friend. Unfortunately his mentor is murdered and Rudo is framed for it. His supposed friend also betrays him and calls for his death. So Rudo is sentenced to hell which means he is tossed out with the trash. I should mention that this country exists high up in the sky.

It turns out that there is a whole land underneath them though, the land of the trash. It’s a desolate wasteland with monsters everywhere and death is nearly guaranteed. Rudo is saved by a group known as the Cleaners right before some human traffickers could get him. They explain that their goal is about destroying the monsters and keeping things as safe as possible. Rudo joins them for now under the condition that they will help him get back to the surface world where he intends to destroy everyone. Perhaps over time he can lose these feelings of rage but it’ll be difficult.

I can’t say that I blame the little girl too much though. Yes, it would have been nice for her to have taken Rudo’s side or to at least not have said anything but she is still a kid. I wouldn’t expect her to have really been able to stand up for him at this point. The rest of the town is crazy though. The fact that they have a whole process for throwing people out to their doom is nuts and of course the whole setup of the world shows that all of this is normal. The world needs a reset but obviously Rudo’s plan to destroy them all is a bit drastic. I expect that Rudo will change his mind by then but maybe he’ll pull an Eren.

The trash world on the bottom is also particularly rough so I can see why the death rate is so high. The heroes celebrate with snacks every now and then so you see just how rare they are. Mix that in with an active terrorist group running around and every other person being a human trafficker….not a good place to live in. Rudo is really lucky to be with the cleaners because there are no other safe zones around. The show gets a whole lot of worldbuilding done right away. Throughout the show you get to learn more about the state of things but that tends to just leave more questions for future seasons. The main parts are all established right away.

The animation for the series is pretty good. In particular I really liked the effects used to show that one of the characters is using their vital instrument. Their eyes tend to glow and an aura appears to envelop the character as well. It’s something that I guess would usually be seen as a small thing but it really works to add emphasis to the moment. The battles generally look really solid as well. The series isn’t always super action packed but each fight really goes all out.

The soundtrack is also pretty solid. There’s a battle theme that comes out of nowhere for Riyo’s fight against Noerde and it was awesome! The openings are definitely heavy rock but they didn’t really work for me. They’re almost too loud if that make sense. Listening to these tunes can be more distracting than exhilarating. The music within the show still ages really well though and has a lot of great variety.

As this is a modern shonen, Gachiakuta is really good about not falling into any fanservice traps. I’d also say that it’s generally not too violent. There is a dak tone throughout the series but it usually doesn’t fall quite into grim-dark territory. That said, I did think they went too far with Amo’s backstory. The series uses a lot of visual tricks to make sure you don’t actually see anything but you still understand exactly what’s going on. It you actually saw more then this would ultimately bump the series down into the red. At it stands, it’s rough enough to push the series more to the break even point but I wouldn’t use it as a full stop to say that this is a bad show. Titles will try to push the envelope in different ways at times and this one pushed right to the breaking point without going past it.

Now lets talk about the characters. First off we have Rudo who has the ability to turn anything into a sacred object. That means he can use any kind of weapon which is really handy and he can even use multiple ones at once. Rudo has a massive chip on his shoulder and didn’t grow up in a normal environment so he has to really be learning everything from square 1. He’s very earnest about this though and has made a lot of progress.

He’s got a good character arc here and is definitely my kind of main character. There are different ways his character can go so we’ll see how it plays out but I’m confident that he will continue to be a strong figure. His sensei here is Enjin who plays the classic teacher role. The show manages to go through its whole run without letting him get much of a real fight yet. So we’re not sure how strong he is but the rules of anime suggest that the longer you don’t fight, the more powerful you will be. In the meantime he still gets a big role in helping Rudo get used to this new environment.

Zanka is in the opposite boat as he gets to fight right away and as a result solidifies his role as the jobber. He goes down pretty hard in the fights that matter but I give him props for always getting up. Zanka is a good rival for Rudo and always talks a good game. So even if he doesn’t end up being one of the stronger characters he is still a good one to have around. I would like him to get a powerup at some point though. His fighting style just feels too ordinary right now.

Another member of the group is Riyo and she has the ability to make a giant pair of scissors. Now that is a fun ability to have! Additionally she is able to fight in hand to hand combat at a high level. She’s my favorite character in the series and ends her big climax fight in a really hype way. Lets just say it remains the most iconic moment in the entire franchise for good reason. She’s another good friend for Rudo to have and is also a bit messed up in her own way so they are both really learning how to act more normal.

The rest of the Cleaners don’t get a huge role quite yet even though they are around. Tamsy is a fairly quiet member who has a really strong ability in the cloths that he can use to tie people up. Even divine weapons have a hard time cutting through them. There just hasn’t been a chance to really learn much about him yet. Same with Delmon who is also quiet. He has pretty strong powers involving water and nearly ends up crushing the heroes when he was mind controlled early on. We get hintings of his sad origin story but the show hasn’t gone into that yet.

Bro and Dear work well as a tag team. Dear tends to act too much like a kid. His super strength is good but I don’t see him winning very many fights. Bro is really the one who makes sure that Dear is in the right place at the right time. I tend to give him all of the credit for how well they do in the season. Even then they only get to share 1 fight so far. Guita also only gets one moment for now but being able to turn into a Kaiju is cool. I assume that eventually everyone will get their own arc so this is really a waiting game until then.

There is also the leader of the group, Arkha. For now you can just tell that this guy has a lot of power but he is content to stay in the background. More solid lore for the future. His secretary Semiu is also very on the ball. She can fight and then has some pretty good appraisal abilities. While some may say these are too many characters for season 1, it’s nice to have an early intro for when they eventually become bigger characters. There are also a number of supporting members who don’t have powers and will probably get a role soon. It’ll make later scenes hit harder.

Amo shows up as one of the first big villains but she’s certainly not in league with the terrorist group. She went through a lot and ultimately didn’t learn any good lessons. So this put her on the wrong path right from the start. Actually you can say we’re seeing a common pattern here where everyone s messed up in some way or another. Unfortunately things do not end up going well for her even after the main arc as she is immediately taken down by another villain. Hopefully things will look up in season 2.

The big villain of the season is Zodyl although this was mostly just an introduction to his character. He wants to find a way to get to the upper lands where Rudo once lived. To this end he is working on getting some sacred items and then the upper world will be doomed. It’s unclear if he wants to destroy them all or just conquer the group but either way things will not go very well for the surface dwellers. He seems really strong although he clearly hasn’t used all of his powers yet. I’ll need to see more of him before putting the guy too high but right now he’s off to a good start. The guy’s insane while still staying focused on his plans.

Then we have Jabber who is the type of villain who loves a good fight. He’s probably the craziest of all and he has a very high pain tolerance. This allows him to keep getting up even after taking a ton of damaging hits. You definitely have to give him a lot of credit in the fights. He doesn’t take any direct losses in the show as it took some cheap shots to bring him down. I expect a lot more out of him in the next arcs.

Cthoni hasn’t done much but the teleportation is always handy. It’s a super good way to split up their forces while also keeping the heroes off guard. The villains also have a coward on board who hasn’t done much yet but will be a big figure in season 2. For season 1 there were just two other villains who got a lot to do. The first was Noerde who is a warrior that has aligned herself with the terrorist group. She has really solid thunder abilities that let her go toe to toe with everyone. It’s fortunate for the Cleaners that Riyo was the one fighting her. I dare say that she would have made short work out of any of the other heroes. Her electricity is just hard to stop and of course she also happens to have top notch speed and hand to hand on top of that. She was a really fun villain.

Finally we have Bundus who is another tough threat. He has metal arms like Doc Ock from Marvel and a lot of experience. He seems to be hiding a lot of secrets so I would treat him as a wild card right now. Definitely an antagonist but the other villains also have to keep him at arm’s length. I don’t think he is super dangerous in a fight but is so strategic that he can outsmart someone who isn’t fighting very carefully. I look forward to seeing more out of him as well.

Now as for where the series goes from here, there are a lot of different paths. The plots I care about the most are getting back to the surface world and seeing what the villains want to do there. I am a lot less interested in learning about the symbols connecting the two worlds since that part of the lore doesn’t seem like it should change the goals for the leads. Still, I’m ready to strap in and see how this plays out. The series is already heavily implying that we’ll be learning some more origins soon as well but I feel like we can already glean all of the important information from the quick scenes that we do get. For example I don’t want to see Riyo’s backstory because it’s much more fun to just rely on the headcanon there.

Overall, There is really a lot going on here. Gachiakuta has done a good job of setting up the stakes and introducing a bunch of characters. It may not have constant fights but makes for an interesting series. It definitely did establish that anything can happen though so it may not be the safest watch if you’re looking for consistency. This is a series that will be taking massive swings in each season and you’ll just have to see if the title connects or misses. Either way you can be sure that it will be around for a long time. There are a ton of plots and storylines that need to be concluded after all.

Overall 5/10

Trigun Stargaze Review

Posted on June 21, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for a really crazy finale to the Trigun adventure. In a way it’s fun to see how things went because you really couldn’t predict what was going to happen next but at the same time it did feel like the show was just running through without a big plan at times. Vash also looks consistently terrible throughout so ultimately the negatives did prevail. This is probably the weakest Trigun season all around even if it does end up having some really excellent fights during the adventure.

A lot of time has passed since the last season and Vash is currently knocked out. (which will be his status for most of the season) Meryl and Millie are driving around doing their reporter jobs when they find out that another colony of humans is approaching the planet. They will help evacuate humanity from this crazy plant world and maybe this will finally end all of the craziness. Unfortunately it won’t be easy as Knives is close to achieving his final form and his minions need more plants to power him up. That means they will be shredding a lot of humans in the process. Vash cannot be depended on so Wolfwood will have to fight them off but each fight accelerates the last of his lifespan so this will not be easy.

It is a bold move to sideline the main character from the final season of his own adventure so I have to give the show some props there. What I can’t give it any credit for is Vash’s absolutely terrible showing throughout though. Vash’s pacifism has consistently been a negative throughout the reboot and he just continues to double down on it here. Forget destroying the mass murderers, Vash won’t even hit them with a flesh wound half the time because it’s too risky and might end up costing their lives. Vash is content to just hesitate in every fight and constantly gets himself captured.

One thing you need to understand here is that these villains are going to be very difficult to take in alive. One of them can use telekinesis to move people and crush their very bones. He is shown to be able to impact an entire tank as well as a large group of people so this power operates at a very high level. No prison can hurt him. Another one is a nearly invulnerable superweapon like Wolfwood, we have Knives who is nearly unstoppable, a music fighter whose audio can destroy you from the inside out, etc.

These guys aren’t bluffing either in case you were hoping that could be a slight cope. Throughout the series they have murdered hundreds of humans. Humanity was already nearly extinct when the series started and that number has been severely reduced. Wolfwood wisely tells Vash that every time he spares these guys, he is causing countless other deaths and is proven right over and over again. Despite that, the show forces Wolfwood to have to try and emulate Vash’s lifestyle by the end which doesn’t make any sense. I much prefer Wolfwood as a full contrast to Vash who is ready to do what needs to be done.

The No Kill rule is a good one for heroes to aspire to but there have to be exceptions depending on the circumstances. The biggest problem with Vash is that he doesn’t believe in having any exceptions at all. He just continues to spare every villain no matter how many lives it causes. The worst part is that he is often the last line of defense for a whole group of powerless humans so letting himself get captured directly causes them all to be doomed. There’s just nothing heroic about Vash and I dare say that he is one of the worst anime protags I’ve seen in quite a while. As the show goes on he just gets worse and worse and worse so maybe it’s for the best that he’s unconscious for most of the season.

Wolfwood is the MVP here because he is the one constantly having to fight for humanity. This often means injecting himself with more juice to keep fighting even though it is destroying his future. Unfortunately he is simply not powerful enough to stop someone like Knives and has a tough time with most of the executives. After a point there is only so much you can do with battle experience when you don’t have the raw stats to get over the hump. His weapon is as cool as ever though.

Ignoring the part where he actually tries to say that Vash has a point, Wolfwood operates as the realist that the series needed. He is there to take care of the villains and protect people as much as he can. It’s often not enough and that’s part of the tragedy for his character but at least he is trying. Without him the show would definitely have lost a whole lot of steam.

Meryl and Milly consistently have a decent role in this one complete with action scenes. They are completely out of their depth in terms of power levels though so they mostly have to rely on the villains going absolutely crazy. Meryl’s a fun character with how proactive she is. Every duo needs at least one tough member and that’s her role. Milly is definitely the contrast here and well I wouldn’t say she’s all that good. Not really my kind of character. For a second there, I thought they show did a twist where she was one of the sentient bugs which would have been really cool but it was just an oddly phrased sentence that was clarified right away.

The Puppetmaster is one of the first villains to make a big move. He’s technically pretty tough but only when all of the conditions are right. If you get past his puppets then the guy is doomed. He mainly lasts in the Vash fight since the hero refuses to hurt anybody. He’s definitely the weakest out of the main villains and I wouldn’t trust him around the base. I dunno it just seems like he was flipped way too easily.

Midvalley is another guy who flips quickly. Sure he was working for Knives out of fear but it doesn’t change the fact that he did go along with the villains. He really tried to destroy Wolfwood during their fight as well. The villains tend to get off way too easily in the show. He did make for a really good fight scene though so I have to give him some props there. I always did think that sound makes for an incredibly deadly weapon since it is so hard to dodge.

Then we have Elendira who spends most of the show in the background. It’s a little too late by the time she is ready to act. Decent powerset but it’s obvious that she is not on the level of the other executives. Vash or Wormwood could take her down with ease but for the most part everyone ignores her so she gets to land a lot of cheap shots. I feel like she mainly exists so that the crazy professor has somebody to talk to back at the base.

Then we have Knives’ most loyal follower: Legato. This guy is completely broken because his telekinesis appears to work at any range and he is also an exceptional close quarters fighter. He seems to be the most powerful fighter in the series because his abilities even work on Vash so they would probably work on Knives as well. It would just be hard for him to land the killing blow so it would be a long drawn out fight. I appreciate that Legato is just super evil. He’s not misunderstood or anything like that.

Legato just really thinks that humanity should be destroyed and every action is towards that goal. The guy is straight forward and sometimes you need a character like that instead of just throwing more ambiguity everywhere. If anything Knives is lucky that Legato was so loyal that he was never thinking straight. Legato just couldn’t believe that Knives had any imperfections and so he wasn’t expecting a cheap shot. Although he didn’t exactly seem broken up about it in the end….

Razlo sort of comes out of nowhere near the end but he does actually have a full character arc and all. He makes for a good opponent and is a solid counterpart to Wolfwood. It all goes a bit fast but on the whole I thought he was a good character. The heroes needed one more fighter with how badly they were outnumbered and he was really useful. It would have been nice if his powerset was a bit more different than Wolfwood’s just so he could stand out more but I was glad at least something good happened for the guy. Most of the show is rather brutal for Wolfwood.

As for Knives, well you could say that he’s the biggest double standard in the show. He wants to destroy humanity for what they are doing to the plants, yet he has to murder tons of plants in order to stay alive. During the first half of the show he doesn’t know this is happening so I can give him a pass on that but then by the end of the show he doesn’t care anymore. He considers this an “ends justify the means” kind of situation and so he keeps on absorbing them in order to get great power. It just makes his whole message hollow.

If you have to destroy all of the planets in order to save them from the humans then your goal doesn’t make sense. The show also has the audacity to try and make him sympathetic by the end which is crazy. Maybe I could take it seriously if he wasn’t having his group torture Vash for months on end and just generally murdering everybody. You have to have some kind of a standard here and this guy was evil through and through. I would have just focused on how crazy he was.

The show has a very interesting concept with the plants being sentient. Imagine if all of a sudden every vegetable was sentient but only 2-5 people in the whole world could hear their voices? Most people probably would just call them crazy and keep on eating vegetables. So for the 5 people I can understand why they would want to amass an army to stop the plants. That’s about where my sympathies with Knives ends. Once Knives begins to “eat” the plants to gain strength then it completely undercuts his arguments.

It also makes Vash look bad as well since he still tries to reason with Knives up through the very end. I can’t help it, the whole show is about bashing Vash so he seems to come up constantly. Vash had multiple chances to end this or at least to put massive holes into Knives’ plan and refuses to do so. Vash is just suicidally empathic the whole time and that’s not a good trait for a character to have. You can understand that the situation absolutely sucks for all parties while still making a move. I forget which character calls Vash a coward to his face about this (Probably Wormwood) but that character was right. It is cowardly to sit back and do nothing because you just don’t know what to do. Particularly in a situation where people are actively being hunted and killed the whole time.

Also while it can be funny in an ironic kind of way, I do think the show has Vash being kidnapped way too often. It just kills the pacing of the series when this same story beat is trotted out over and over. Keep in mind that Knives is unconscious for a lot of the story too so the show just has nowhere to go at times. If you’re going to do that then you need to have a super interesting debate going on and that’s often not the case. I don’t really care about the researchers or the villains talking about the plants all that much. The show just didn’t add enough interesting hooks during the slow moments which also hurt it in the longrun.

The animation is pretty good for a CG title. It does use a whole lot of bright colors so the fights stand out and there is a ton of movement. Trigun definitely pushes the medium pretty hard and so I can definitely recommend those fights quite a lot. The soundtrack isn’t quite as impressive. The opening’s all over the place although I wouldn’t call it bad and the in-show ost is good enough. The animation definitely stands out more than the soundtrack in this case but it works well enough during the battles.

The show can definitely be pretty violent so you’ll want to watch out if you’re expecting a lighter adventure. The scene of Legato throwing a bunch of people into the equivalent of a human blender was particularly disturbing. It’s not like the show is regularly violent but it just has those occasional scenes that really stand out. Vash getting tortured for example isn’t particularly violent so it doesn’t hit as hard even if you can tell that it’s all super painful though.

I will end on a solid note for the season which is that it does have some pretty interesting debates within it. At what point should you be allowed to take a life? Not in self defense, but proactively taking a life in order to help others out. I think it’s really an interesting topic and I like those discussions but Vash basically refuses to consider any argument other than “Never!”. That’s always the worst kind of response to this situation and gives me Attack on Titan flashbacks. At least try and discuss the topic. The villains also make it super easy by giving the ultimate layup situations in front of Vash like actively murdering people right in front of him and Vash is still hesitating the whole time.

There’s one episode near the end where he finally relents and attempts to shoot a villain. It just took the villain ages of choking a character to death and burning countless others before Vash makes a move. So I was glad that Vash made a decision but it should not have taken quite that long. He’s got to be one of the most stubborn characters I’ve ever seen. The show’s apocalyptic atmosphere is also pretty interesting. At times it doesn’t feel like the characters are taking the extinction of the human race for the dire threat that it is, but it makes for a tense backdrop. The heroes are also on the backfoot in this adventure throughout. It’s just not always able to capitalize on this. I also would have liked to have seen the insects do a little more but I get that they didn’t really care who won. Insects will continue to thrive no matter what but they could have been a great wildcard.

Overall, This show was really annoying throughout. The pacing could be really slow at times too. Maybe uneven is the better way to put it. You would go a whole episode of Vash acting crazy while the others walk around, then an episode of nonstop fighting, rinse and repeat. I think there was enough time to cover everything evenly but the episodes had weird priorities at times. I’d say the show has virtually 0 replay value as well. It’s the kind of show where I would definitely Youtube the fights but I wouldn’t want to go through all of the melodrama again. The ending is also deeply unsatisfying. If you’ve made it this far in the Trigun mythos then you should finish it up but don’t expect a great ending here.

Overall 5/10

Pokémon Concierge Part 2 Review

Posted on September 7, 2025 by dreager1

Pokemon Concierge has returned for another hurrah. Now this may not be my favorite Pokemon title to put it mildly but I’m always glad to have more Pokemon content. In a sense, it’s admirable that this does not have a negative score since just about every factor is working against it. Concierge has a very short runtime and not a lot of episodes but still does its best to capture the spirit of the franchise here. It’s all about coexistence between Pokemon and humans.

Following up on part 1, Haru has become a tiny bit more confident in herself at the Pokemon resort. She helps the others out in taking care of the Pokemon and making sure they all had a good time. Unfortunately, this also means she has more responsibilities such as taking care of the place when everyone else is out. Additionally, an old man shows up who wants them to take care of his Sealeo and this will be difficult for the resort. Can Haru really hold her own?

I guess we should get the big stuff out of the way first. The main problem with the show is the animation style. It doesn’t really look good. It’s a super old claymation/stop motion kind of approach that was already getting outpaced back in the 60s. Nowadays it really can’t beat any of the mainstream styles. Even simple things like the characters sweating doesn’t look as convincing as in the other titles. Since TV shows are a visual medium, this is already presenting a rather massive hurdle to overcome.

The soundtrack tends to be nonexistent but at one point they do play a classic battle theme. The battle on screen is of course not much of a fight and ends up resolving in a comedic manner, but I was at least glad the show was going for some action there. This is ultimately aimed at a pretty young audience so you can’t be expecting too much here. That’s why I’ll take every breadcrumb that I can.

As the main character, Haru does suffer from this a little bit as she has to keep on learning things that she should already know by this point. The first episode had her getting nervous and feeling a lot of self doubt again. After the first part, she should not have any doubts anymore. I would have liked her to have been more consistently confident the whole time. Maybe glancing around and directing the others on what to do at some points. Instead, even near the end she is thinking that she isn’t ready for this. Even going as far as to storm into the meeting room and start apologizing because she assumed an old guy was complaining about her.

Haru needs to value her own abilities far more than she does currently. Alas, it feels like she is always taking a step back when the going gets tough. Hopefully she will change this if we get a part 3. The cast of characters is still fairly small here and that’s probably for the best since there isn’t a lot of time for them all to appear. The owner, Ms. Watanabe for example just shows up for a few key scenes. I like how she called out the new guy for running away from his Pokemon and generally runs a tight ship. You need to be decisive like that when you’re in this position.

Alisa really doesn’t do much here but she had a bit more of a focus in part 1 so that makes sense. Tyler gets what I would call the main subplot here when his uncle Dan shows up. Dan is a tough guy who used to be real intimidating back in the day. He has mellowed out but still has a tendency to just do his own thing without really talking to anybody else. This does result in some pretty big mistakes here.

I definitely lost a lot of respect for the guy when he just flat out abandoned his Sealeo. He tried to immediately walk this back and explain how that wasn’t what was going on but Ms. Watanabe definitely had him to rights on that. It’s a hard situation to really walk back from. Dan does his best to help out after that and is okay I guess but there isn’t anything really compelling about the guy.

In a sense, that’s the problem with the cast in general. They’re all pleasant enough characters but none of them are super interesting. You’ll end up forgetting about them almost immediately after you have finished the adventure. That’s the real problem here. Well, one of them anyway. I do want to underscore that the show doesn’t really have any strong negatives. I could recommend it to anyone to watch.

There just isn’t much of a hook to watching it. It can be a little boring in a sense which is why it’s good that these are not full length episodes or that it didn’t launch with 13. Now, there’s a chance that the long run time could end up making things more interesting so that might be a gamble that would be worth taking. At the very least, you could give more screentime to her ex boyfriend who shows up but mainly just seems like a nice dude. We could have had a whole character arc for the guy and a lot of build up to his big appearance. If you ask me, that would have been a really interesting direction to go in.

Overall, Pokemon Concierge just adds 4 new episodes to this saga and each one is short so it’s more like 2 episodes or a little shorter than that. I fear that it won’t be able to make much progress into being really strong unless it ends up switching the animation style. It’s not impossible to succeed with this method of animation but it certainly isn’t easy. With Pokemon you’re always used to a lot of vibrant colors and really expressive designs. You don’t end up getting any of that with this title and you don’t have the fight scenes to compensate for that. So as it stands, I’m going to need them to announce a new online Pokemon series soon.

Overall 5/10

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

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts Review

Posted on July 14, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at a romance anime from a little while back. This one had a lot of mountains to climb to try and be solid though because right from the jump I had my doubts about the main romance. It’s going for clear Beauty and the Beast vibes here which is admirable about inner beauty and everything but it’s still hard to root for. The main guy is…well he’s a beast and the main heroine looks like a child. Mix that together and this romance is going to be a super hard sell. We’ll see if the anime manages to pull this off or if it can at least succeed in spite of this.

The series introduces us to a girl named Sariphi who has been shipped off to the land of monsters as a human sacrifice. It’s not exactly a great honor, it’s much the opposite. She was an outcast in the realm of humankind and was always treated horribly. At least now she could have a quick death but to her surprise, Leonhart says he will let her go. He actually never eats the human sacrifices and only keeps up the tradition for peace between the realms. He lets them slip out the back and presumably when they go back to the human world they live a brand new life. Sariphi has nothing to go back to though and decides to stick around. This forces Leonhart to name her as his bride to be. She will be queen over the kingdom and this news shocks all of beast kind. Is the King being seduced by the human? Many monsters will have something to say about this.

Naturally it’s not surprising that this would cause a lot of friction. It’s completely unheard of after all since humans and beasts are completely different. At least in this series both are totally humanoid and everything but yeah I’d suspect foul play if I was one of the monsters as well. It’s all just so sudden after all and the King doesn’t really go in depth on explaining his pick. He’s the king so why should he right? But the ole “Because I said so” is never a very convincing argument when you really think about it.

So lets dive into the romance right now. Why wait right? There are two main romance plots here. The first is with Leonhart and Sariphi and yes I could not really get into this. At the end of the day, he is in his beast form for nearly the whole series and she’s still super in love with him here. The problem is to me this just feels more like a gratitude thing. She went from a kingdom where everyone wanted her dead or out of the way to a beast that has made her queen. Naturally she owes him a lot and so she is super thankful to be alive. I don’t think it translates very well into the romance though.

I also just can’t really get past her design which is a little too small and the beast being a beast. So with those 3 factors in play, this was a romance that I was not rooting for. I’m afraid that the show will have to try and succeed in spite of it. The other romance with Amit and Jormungand is better but also still underwhelming. It tends to be a little more on the cringe side at times. Amit is just way too nervous the whole time and can barely have a real conversation with the guy. We would have needed a much longer time frame for this romance to really work at all.

Hey, this series isn’t only about romance though so lets get into the other aspects of the show. As far as the animation goes, I would say it looks reasonable. It’s clearly not a top tier contender or anything like that but I wouldn’t say it’s super cheap or anything either. I suppose it’s what you would call average. It checks off enough boxes as needed and will show up a bit for the fights when they occur. It’s not something that would hurt the show but it’s not something that would help it either.

The soundtrack is mainly forgettable as well. The opening songs aren’t bad though. Not my favorites or anything but they have a good beat to them. The second opening definitely wins from the two in terms of audio. So I give the series some props there. Generally the plot and atmosphere are solid as well. The show can get a bit violent and the sob stories can get rather sad but the series is never too drastic about this. They set up the world and have all of the details in place but don’t go out of their way to make everything too gritty to try and set up your sympathy. I can appreciate that.

The cast of characters is also reasonable. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but much like the rest of the show they fit the bill. Nothing too great or too weak. This series manages to keep up a fairly average level in most areas so I could see this one being a bit forgettable after some years. Ironically what will keep it most memorable is the main romance since you’re not likely to forget that even if it’s not for the greatest of reasons.

As far as Sariphi goes in terms of being the main character, I thought she was okay. She has her brave moments where she steps up to to protect her friends and face off with the villains. Ultimately what hurts her is she can be a little too naive though. For every risk she takes that is good, she will take a few that just put her in too much danger. Going along with the main villain Fenrir at one point is an example of this. She gets lucky a whole lot and I think she should stand up for herself some more.

The fact that she is a human going up against powerful monsters does stack the deck against her but at least she has a powerful Phoenix in Bennu. She should use this beast more since it can be super handy> Those flames will burn anything in their path after all. With the exception of Fenrir and Gleipnir, I think these would be enough to protect her from virtually any character in the series. She just needs to play things a bit more cautiously.

Then we have Leonhart and I’m afraid I’m not a big fan of this guy either. He’s the king, yet he lets himself be pushed around by traditions all of the time. How I see it, if he was a villain then he would ignore everyone and just make Sariphi his queen. Anyone who didn’t like it would just be wiped out. I’m not saying Leonhart needs to wipe anyone out but they should be respecting his authority as King. So if he says that she is going to be the queen then I need everyone else to back off.

Every time they take Leonhart to the table with threats about how she will be kicked out and everything, it’s just super insulting. Ultimately she usually says that she wants to take the challenge and he relents, but it’s not a great look on his end. This is when I need him to man up. He’s one of the wimpier kings that I’ve seen in a series like this. I know that tradition is a big thing but being King gives you the option to toss this away. No matter how many times he roared in the series, he couldn’t make me forget that.

Then you have the super “loyal” butler Anubis. He’s constantly trying to get rid of Sariphi and even thinks about murdering her at one point. This is not the guy that you want to have as your right hand man by any means. Anyone who would even consider murdering the queen to be like that can definitely not be trusted. Like that was just completely insane. Then later on he also doubts Leonhart himself. Yes he ultimately finds his way back to being a decent person but there should be absolutely no doubts. His actions put everyone in danger time and time again. Some would say that true loyalty is being able to make a move against your master and I would argue that it means always making sure they are safe and get what they want.

It’s an oversimplification and there are other factors at play but murdering the queen to be is not one of them. Then we have Ilya who is a terrible character through and through. Where to even start with this guy? He claims to be in love with Sariphi but was never around when she needed him. Then he shows up causing all kinds of damage to “save” her when she was doing just fine. I would get it if she was super beat up, bruised, or seemed off like mind control. The problem is that it was obvious that she was doing find.

He goes as far as to tie her up and everything which makes him look absolutely terrible. I like the drive of wanting to save her but he took it the absolute worst way possible. The instant he was not willing to even hear her out when she was explaining things was when he was completely doomed. You can’t come back from that. He also would not be able to protect her. If they go to the human world she will be murdered and if they wander around, a monster will eventually take them out. He is strong, but he is only human and that is not enough in this world.

If you want a real protector, then you have to go with Bennu. Bennu can have an attitude and is rather slow to protect Sariphi sometimes. But you know what? Bennu is still ready to help when it counts and trusts her completely. That’s the kind of bodyguard you want to have. I’ll take the loyalty any day.

Back to the army forces, we have Jormungand who is a really powerful fighter. He is very serious and always on top of business. I can respect that and his skills are legit. He is very quick to side with the king even after a lot of people start turning on him. This guy has actual loyalty and so he was always a welcome sight. In a lot of ways he’s what Anubis should have been.

Another good loyal character was Lanteveldt. He can be a troublemaker and always keeps everyone on their toes but he will protect Sariphi. He takes on a lot of injuries as the series goes on but never falters. By the end I would say he is one of the stronger characters even if he will never rise to the top. The fact that Fenrir and Leonhart have actual aura blasts and projectiles makes that matchup just plain unfair. Lanteveldt has his quickness and agile moves but at the end of the day those simply aren’t going to be enough to win sometimes. Still one of the best characters though. I like his confidence and you always get bonus points for not just following royalty.

Then we have Joz and Galois who are fairly minor characters but do a good job of testing Sariphi. What I liked about their test is that they weren’t risking lives or doing any of that crazy stuff. No, they just wanted to see how Sariphi would treat those who appeared to be lower in station. And she did very well of course because she’s really not into any of that stuff. Considering her background it makes sense, but even without it she just has a code of ethics that the other characters lack.

She also to show her kindness with the minor character Tetra. Tetra got to see why Sariphi made for a really good queen who would rule with a just hand. It’s definitely not something that you could really say for any of the other ladies who wanted to be queen. Most of them tend to look super petty throughout the series. Tetra is a nice kid, she doesn’t do a whole lot here but it’s always nice to have more allies around. Anastasia is more of a random character who appears near the end but she is able to read the ancient scripts which is handy. Honestly it’s impressive that she has survived so long while being an outsider and not really having any connections. Definitely not something that just anyone could pull off. She has a tough aura to her so even though her role is fairly small, I thought she was fun.

Now we get to some of the big villains. First up there is Gleipnir who is a super good assistant to Fenrir. The guy has unwavering loyalty which is second to none in the series. Fenrir saved him from a very short life filled with nothing but negativity and gave him a solid purpose. Gleipnir was eternally grateful and really honed his skills. In terms of pure skill he is probably the best in the series. I really liked his automatic weapons and I dare say only the top two would be able to defeat him. He would wipe the floor with every other fighter. He’s my second favorite character in the series behind Landeveldt.

As for Fenrir himself, he’s a solid main villain. The guy has a pretty tragic backstory and basically wants to prove that he is actually the best. The thing is that his abilities are nowhere close to Leonhart’s and they never will be due to how the power levels work in this series. The guy wouldn’t have made a good king anyway. I found him to be a bit whiny at times so if he got more screentime then it would probably get even worse. He worked because he didn’t appear for very long and that was probably the best way to do it. Also, his abilities were impressive. The show didn’t have a ton of action scenes so this guy got to help change that.

Finally we have the villain Set who is super petty and only gets as far as he did because the king is too soft. This guy wants to uncover the big conspiracy and set everyone against Leonhart. Great, I get what he is doing here but the thing is that it should not matter at all. Leonhart is the king no matter what shape or form that is. Set could and should have been stopped very early on but of course Anubis fumbled the bag which was the big mistake here. So yeah I never really liked Set and only plot armor let him last as long as he did.

Overall, Sacrificial Princess is a good reminder of why you have to be strict and tough as a King. The role of a King is different from that of a president or governor. A King has absolute power and so you must remind others that you have this power. You never have to be cruel or do anything crazy with this, just make sure that your decisions are respected. Pretty much the whole series only happens because everyone feels like they can talk back to the King and do what they want. Even the minions try murdering him during the climax of the show. That is absolutely crazy. Leonhart’s goals are good but at times he can just be a bit too naive. Ultimately it’s not a bad show or anything but I don’t think there is a whole lot here to capture your attention. I’d keep it near the middle for that reason because without the romance there isn’t a lot left. It’s not part comedy so there isn’t a whole lot of humor here either. The fights are good though when they happen. Ultimately, how much the show catches your attention will be completely dependent on how much you enjoy the characters and the setting. We’ll see if the spinoff/sequel/follow up gets animated at some point.

Overall 5/10

My Daemon Review

Posted on July 6, 2024 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 5/10

Pokemon Concierge Review

Posted on December 31, 2023 by dreager1

It’s time to look at a really quick Pokemon show that came out and trust me I’m not kidding when I say that this one is really short. The whole series combined is not much longer than one normal episode. It’s a pretty interesting experiment with the stop motion although I have to admit that it’s not really my style. Me personally? I just prefer hand drawn and really fast paced animation that gets you pumped but this was still an interesting enough experiment.

The story starts off with Haru having the worst week of her life. Her boyfriend broke up with her, her shoes got ruined, and she lost her job. Fortunately she has been accepted for a job as a Concierge over at a really intense Pokemon Resort. She is determined to make this work out and arrives, prepared to a hectic first day! Instead she find that life on the island is a lot calmer and more at peace than in the big city. Here everyone believes in taking life one quarter mile at a time and just having fun. That is even Haru’s first task, to just wander around and have a good time. Unfortunately this just stresses Haru out even further because she’s not sure what she is expected to do. What can she even do about this??

The character cast here is really small too with only 4 main characters. You have Haru’s boss who seems nice enough. She wants to give Haru a real fair shot at this and also help get her out of her shell a little more. A difficult task to be sure but one that she is up for. She’s nice enough and Haru is lucky to have her. Then you have the yoga instructor who has really mastered the art of being chill. He doesn’t do a lot here but does gradually help get Haru to be at ease as well.

Then you have another employee who seems to do a bit of everything. She paints the tents and helps out with the general Pokemon operations as well. She’s a lot more confident than Haru and tries to get her on that path as well. It’s definitely good to have so many people ready to help here but at the end of the day they are all more likable than Haru. Haru’s not a bad character of course but her whole character arc is about getting braver so she can stop being so timid all the time and of course that means for most of the series she is on the back foot.

I tend to like when my leads are really confident and/or powerful. The latter doesn’t really matter in this context but her being more assertive would have been really nice. As I mentioned earlier this is a really short series all the way through so it means that Haru only has a few minutes to really be bold. So if we ever get a sequel then I’m sure she will look a lot better but in the meantime she couldn’t keep up.

Meanwhile the animation is pretty sub par. I’m sure it’s pretty good by stop motion standards but I’ve seen animation from close to 80 years ago that looked way better. It’s why the style will never win against the big guns if you ask me. As an experiment I get wanting to try out different styles but it’s why the series should switch animation techniques for any possible sequel. I think a different approach would help the series stand out more. As it stands it does have one solid song that plays for the opening and works well as an insert song in the final episode.

Ultimately though what does hurt the series a bit aside from the animation is that it’s not terribly exciting. By that I mean it can actually get a little bit boring. There’s no real stakes here and the series is aiming really young. So it’s more of a slice of life where you get to see the characters as opposed to anything deeper than that. The main problem? There aren’t many characters here like I said before. Slice of life titles with no stakes come out all the time and I happen to like a lot of them. The main problem is that this one just can’t hold its own because it needs more dynamic characters or witty dialogue to get it across to the next level.

Without that there just isn’t anything to keep you glued to the screen. We need more human characters interacting and some kind of rival or bully could have helped to spice things up a bit. Think of it like a slice of life without the slice of life elements that make it a success. I dare say I’d almost take some romance in here to shake things up. Ah well, there’s still nothing particularly bad about the series. It’s also very short so it’s not like it drags on either and as a result that’s why I would put it right in the middle. It’s not strong enough to get a positive score but it’s also certainly not weak enough to get a negative one. It ends up surviving right in the middle which isn’t a bad place to be.

Overall, Pokemon Concierge is definitely a very different kind of Pokemon special. The animation may scare a lot of people away right out of the gate but if you stick around you may have a decent time. It’s not particularly long so it’s not like you’re giving up a lot by watching it. I would say that’s probably even the best argument in favor of it. That can feel like a backhanded complement as well though. At the end of the day if you’re a massive Pokemon fan and want to watch every kind of content with it then it’s time to check this one out. Otherwise you can really just skip this one and I don’t believe that you will regret it at all.

Overall 5/10

The Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Review

Posted on January 15, 2023 by dreager1

Slime is one of those series I always mention as having improved greatly from the start to be one of the premiere light novel adaptions. Well this spinoff is more like a return to the old days. It’s more of a slice of life adventure about the cast hanging around the village and having fun which can absolutely be a fun angle to have on this. The only issue is that when the series isn’t focused on the action it always gets real tempted to just focus on fanservice instead and….well this one falls into that trap as well. The fanservice is pretty much a constant in every episode and so this one was a bit doomed from the start. It can still be a lot of fun but it’s certainly not a title you would recommend to someone to enhance their view on the main show.

As the title would suggest this series is about adventures that Rimuru has written down in his diary. During the rare times when the heroes aren’t defending themselves from another kingdom or fighting off demon lords they get to have a whole lot of parties. The village loves their parties and why not, they’re a great way to build up morale and get everyone excited. Quite a few of these episodes have some kind of a party to the point where it is almost a running gag. As someone who likes making a big deal out of just about any kind of event I can definitely get that.

So the show is completely revolving around how interesting the day to day life of the characters can be without the fights. Because there are no big fights here, this is all about just having fun around the village. Slime’s cast is pretty solid but I would say they got more of the good characters to the cast by season 2. This one doesn’t have Veldora as a main member yet or Diablo but Milim is here a lot and she’s always a real highlight in the show.

The show’s humor is typically fun too. You have Rimuru having to teach the monsters about Christmas and New Year’s which results in some fun scenes. The holidays probably do sound a bit odd to someone that’s never heard of them before but simplifying things to just say that it’s a big party works for the cast. Milim is also a lot of fun because she can end the whole kingdom with a punch and is thousands of years old but she still acts like a kid the whole time so Rimuru has to be careful how he talks to her about anything really. If she gets the wrong idea or gets upset then it can all be over for them.

Now as mentioned the fanservice is the main issue here. It feels like quite a few episodes through in the obligatory hot springs type moment. Shion’s outfit has never been the most practical one but this show certainly makes sure to jump in with the zoom ins from time to time. Every episode will have some iffy fanservice moments like that. I wouldn’t say the scenes are ever super egregious and the light hearted comedic nature of the show ensures that it never gets too serious or anything. It’s just the sheer frequency with which they happen that really bogs this one down. It’s always the low hanging fruit, the easy way to try and generate clicks but the show should have more confidence in its own humor and characters to not have to rely on this. Instead of being another advantage it just works against the show.

It’s also been a while, maybe ever since I saw a show that had both Christmas and New Year’s in a single season. So that was nice to see. As a slice of life I wouldn’t say that the show is able to keep up with the bigger titles like Kanon or Clannad though. Maybe in part it’s because the characters are more suited for action and aren’t built for comedy or maybe it’s just that the setting doesn’t work as much. I’ve thought about this and a lot of times the best slice of life casts and circumstances are in worlds that are more like real life. Of course you could make the case that it just makes sense statistically because a lot of them take place there. It’s hard to make such a sweeping generalization there either.

So at the end of the day it just comes down to writing and character dynamics. There are a lot of fun dynamics within the cast and Rimuru is a good main character so that makes for a lot of good humor. I do think the show would have absolutely have been able to hold its own well enough if it focused on the humor entirely. Probably not an award winning show or anything but it had enough pieces there.

The animation is decent. I wouldn’t say that it’s great or anything but it’s good enough and you can always tell what is going on. I wouldn’t say they’re trying to make this an S tier title with animation and you can certainly tell that but it’s still good. Part of the show is about seeing the seasons in the village and you can clearly see the differences the whole time so the animation succeeds there. The soundtrack is much more on the forgettable side though. There aren’t any big emotional or action tunes to really focus in on.

In a way there also isn’t a whole lot to talk about in this show compared to most since there isn’t as much of a plot here. So you can expect this show review to be shorter than the last few. As it is when a show is only around 12-13 episodes like this one then it’s always going to go fast. It works in this sense though because then the show doesn’t drag on. I also think they would have had a hard time thinking of more ideas after a bit because it’s not like there are any other holidays to grab. If the show went too much further in the timeline then you would be questioning how they are able to have this much time before the next attack.

I don’t think the show needs to worry about continuity and being in canon too much to be honest but it’s still something they were probably trying to keep in mind. I do think that a season 2 would benefit from taking place later in continuity because then you can have Veldora as a main character and he could have a lot of fun interactions with Milim. That would be a recipe for greatness right away. As it is Milim does a lot of the heavy lifting here already. Throw in the fun Veldora and then things will get even better. After all he’s one of the only characters who can hold his own against her in power so they’re able to have even conversations.

Plus he’s another immortal who acts rather young but I feel like he’d end up being a bit of a father figure to her. Shion and Milim have a bit of a rivalry going but it’s so one sided in terms of power level that it just doesn’t work nearly as well. It does help to show that Milim is still fairly nice on the inside. No matter how heated things get it’s not like she blows Shion up or anything which would be easy to do even accidentally with how powerful Milim is. It was nostalgic seeing the old Rimuru though. He gets teased for looking like a girl quite a bit here as a result though and his old design could seem like that at times so it’s not super surprising. I feel like this pretty much stopped once he got the cool black leather jacket so in a season 2 if it takes place late enough then Rimuru can probably look forward to the teasing ending.

Plus later on he ends up being strong enough where he is finally in Milim’s league so he doesn’t have to be quite as nervous either. I mean Rimuru is a bit nervous just due to his personality so he’ll still be panicking a whole lot but it’s a different kind of panic. The village idolizes him so much that you’d think it would have improved his confidence more though. I get that it can be a bit weird to have everyone making statues of you and everything but Rimuru needs to either embrace it or find a way to stop it. By meekly accepting it, that just means that nothing will be changing anytime soon.

It doesn’t go to his head though so at least I don’t really see the harm. It’s something for the village to unite around and it gives them hope. Rimuru directly saved most of their lives from futures that would have been way more dire after all so this is still an upgrade. The average townsfolk is living a near perfect life in the village protected by powerful fighters all around. Who wouldn’t want to live there? None of them take this for granted.

Overall, Slime Diaries is a reasonable show to pass the time by. The fanservice is what keeps me from giving this one a positive score and being able to recommend it though. It would be interesting to see this get a season 2 though and if they can build on the good aspects of the show to make it better. Imagine a jump in quality similar to the main Slime seasons 1 and 2? That would be great and also a fun coincidence. I also think there is an audience for this kind of a show as just a very calm slice of life title. You can watch it as something peaceful in the background or something to watch before bed. A show filled with good feels can be fun so I’ll be rooting for the series to surpass its limits.

Overall 5/10

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Review

Posted on January 15, 2023 by dreager1

All right it’s finally time to dive into the She Hulk show. I saw this one a while back so the review’s been on the backburner for a while but hey it’s time for the hype. She Hulk is a character that I haven’t actually read a ton of comics for. I’m well aware of her just because she is a big character but this is really the first time seeing her on the main stage for a while. This show is going for a full comedy approach as opposed to more of an action/comedy mix. It can land some of the comedy elements at times but ultimately I would have to say that this is the weakest of the Disney+ shows that I’ve seen and a lot of that is ultimately going to come down to She Hulk herself who makes the villains’ job very easy in the show.

We kick things off with Jennifer grilling Hulk about Captain America and generally being annoying so they both get distracted from the road and a UFO smashes them. Their blood ends up mixing and so Jennifer gains the abilities of the Hulk. She is now the She Hulk and quickly wants to go back and resume her legal career. Hulk wants to train her but she has no time for that and runs off. After defeating Titania her legal career seems to be at an end but fortunately there is one company still willing to hire her as an attorney. They are even building up a whole super hero division. She Hulk accepts of course as this is her last shot but it means that she will have to be representing the Abomination! Additionally there are a group of Keyboard warriors led by HulkKing who want to drag her down into disgrace. Can she stop them?

The series is only 9 episodes long so it goes by really quickly. I thought the first episode was really solid and I liked the start of the last episode a lot but it does tend to fumble a lot midway through the show which prevents it from being higher. Lets tackle this one aspect at a time though. First up I’d say is the comedy for the show which will be hit or miss depending on how much you enjoy the style here. She Hulk breaks the 4th wall a lot which is absolutely her gimmick and those scenes work well enough.

It’s been a while since I watched a show where the character talks to the audience. When the show is trying to be funny within the the 4 walls is when it’s not quite as solid. She jokes around with all of the characters a lot but more often than not they tend to just look concerned because if she is their attorney then all hope might be lost. Crashing the wedding as She Hulk felt petty even if it was to upstage the bully and she hits up the bar quite a few times to drown her sorrows.

At the end of the day She Hulk isn’t one of the most mature heroes and this is how she really gives the villains ammo. So of course one of the big things the keyboard warriors are trying to do is to discredit She Hulk. Well, she has one unfortunate habit that is easy to exploit which is that she’s a huge flirt like James Bond and will have affairs really quick. You can probably imagine what the villains use to get some dirt on her and it’s just a shame that it was so easy. Now on one hand it’s fairly unique to see this happening to a girl as it’s usually a character flaw for a lot of male characters.

Captain Kirk, James Bond, etc, these are the characters you expect to easily get seduced and then open themselves up for blackmail after that. I can’t think of a time I’ve seen this with a main heroine so it’s different…but it doesn’t help her character. It’s a massive shot against her character to be honest as you also can’t picture any relationship working out now because she moves on way too fast. She also has their overconfidence which leads her astray at times.

Hulk tries to help her on several occasions and each time she just waves him off or yells at him with some speeches. Usually they are all incorrect as well like saying that she’s had it harder than the Hulk or that she can control her temper better than him. Both things are demonstrated to be false within the show itself. I would actually say this isn’t bad writing though but you’re actually meant to realize that she is too overconfident at the moment. At least that’s how I interpret it because often times the show will depict how she is a bit out of her depth here.

I like the idea of a superhero show with a lot of court scenes but unfortunately they are few and far between here. I wanted some really extended court scenes with fun back and forth but the only time we really get that is when Daredevil shows up and easily dominates her in the case. I wouldn’t expect anyone to beat him of course but it wasn’t her best moment to be sure. She Hulk is more of a fun character than one that you think is actually a really good attorney. Perhaps the show should just drop the sub title and focus on making this more of a fun action show where she is a hero for hire or something. We’re getting close to that anyway.

Then of course I did like the climax a lot as everything gets really crazy. You have every hero and villain showing up with a bunch of gamma powered fighters ready to mix it up. I thought that the fights were going to be great but unfortunately we don’t get that. What we do get instead is pretty interesting. You probably know a lot about the 4th wall breaking since it was trending everywhere but if not I won’t go into details. It was a cool thing that you could probably only do in a show like this or Deadpool and it works well. As long as you accept it as a fun gag it’s not like it breaks the universe itself because it’s likely also not an ability that she can use at will. Part of me did miss the actual climax that we missed out on though. That actually was going to be a whole lot of fun but now we’ll never really know.

As for the villains here, Titania probably has the most screen time. Unfortunately her power level isn’t remotely close to She Hulk’s so she’s more of a joke here. She almost literally goes down in a single hit initially and it never gets any better for her after that. I was glad when she showed up for the big wedding but unfortunately the fight was super lackluster. You almost forget that you have two fighters with super strength going at it because they fight like humans. Titania deserved a little more than that.

Leap-Frog shows up though and that was cool. We don’t really get to see him fight all that much but I thought that the gags really worked. If you know anything about the character at all then you’ll appreciate the references and how much the show is just going along with this. It was great to see him without a doubt. As for HulkKing, well I liked him on the message boards but that’s about it. His whole group is meant to be a bit of a joke the whole time or at least I’m 99% sure you aren’t meant to take them seriously.

I liked seeing them post online as a sort of poverty version of Reddit though. Having a hero deal with social media could actually be a lot of fun as a whole main focus because there’s a lot to unpack there. It’s only a minor part of this show but I did enjoy those moments. Honestly I would have liked She Hulk to have created a burner account to start defending herself on there and we get a bunch of flame wars. Ah well, maybe another time.

For the most part the episodes tend to have scenes after the credits but it’s a real coin flip as to whether it’ll be something really cool like a reference to the future or more of a gag that ends up becoming rather infamous later on. One dancing scene in particular will probably make you roll your eyes. Any scene with her parents is fun though. There’s at least one after credits scene with her father that was fun. I like how nonchalant they take the whole thing because it makes sense. At this point superpowers are almost normal within the verse if you think about it so why wouldn’t people be more natural at this point right? You just take it in stride and having her parents be so supportive was great.

Hulk looks pretty good here. Even when She Hulk is being rather meant to him, he’s always ready to help. He’s even okay with her representing Abomination even though the way she asked was more like informing him. I’m telling you she tries to be rude almost every chance she gets but Hulk is always willing to take the high road. He also shows up in the climax to help out immediately even though he was light years away. He’s just a great hero as always and has really done well to master his strength and not lose control anymore.

A big guest star that got a lot of hype before the show even came out was Daredevil of course. He gets a lot of good moments here and in particular his introduction was amazing. The theme music that played was really sharp. I have to assume this is from the Daredevil show but the tune is so good that this is one scene I actually replayed quite a few times. He shows off great aerobatics in dodging She Hulk’s attacks and the car she throws. He almost fights a bit like Spider-Man here and shows off how athletic he is.

I think any Daredevil fan should be pleased with how he’s portrayed. He’s excellent in the court room and can hold his own in a fight. Of course She Hulk can beat him at any time she pleases since he’s weak against sound and one clap would take him out but it’s still nice to see him hanging in there. He even makes sure not to attack her at any point in the fight since he knows that she is a fellow hero. So all of that was a lot of fun and you don’t expect great music for live action shows most of the time so it was nice to see this. Of course the Marvel shows have all had really good soundtracks so far so in that sense this wasn’t as surprising.

I really could have done without the romance though. This was rushed even by the usual rushed romance standards. It’s like they met up and got together right away. By this time in the show She Hulk has already liked several characters and of course the same is true for Daredevil in his series. So this is really just a rebound fling for no real reason. Romance is really one of the weak points of the series because none of it ever even comes close to being believable. It just doesn’t work. Was still nice to see Daredevil show up and get some fights though.

She Hulk has another ally in Nikki for when she needs emotional support though. Nikki is a good friend who is always loyal and has She Hulk’s back. She lets her know when things are getting dangerous online even when others tell her not too. So Nikki is someone that’s super dependable and she gets a good role here. There’s another guy who wants to help out in the group but he’s not as smart so he doesn’t get as much to do. At least he has one infiltration mission where he gets to try and help the cause though.

Wong also has some cameo appearances but doesn’t do a whole lot here. I like his overall disdain for court proceedings though. He has magic so he figures he can do whatever he wants and…well he’s not really wrong. As the Sorcerer Supreme he can do a whole lot and it’s hard to ever capture him since he can warp around. I liked how his plot with the Abomination ended up concluding as well.

Meanwhile the Abomination is a bit different than you might expect. He’s really mellowed out a whole lot to the point where he is a pacifist and he has a whole group therapy business going. It’s definitely a big change from how he used to be so unfortunately you shouldn’t expect any big fights out of him as a result but it’s an interesting take. Some of the scenes with him and the therapy sessions drag on for wayyyyyyy too long but as a concept it isn’t bad. The final episode also really makes this plot worth it with how things play out.

While the special effects may have gotten a lot of shade, I thought they worked well. She Hulk looks great in the green form to the point where I would have been cool with her staying in that form 24/7 for the show. The GTA cutscene comparisons were fun but I don’t think that’s even a bad thing per say. Yes it is surreal to see She Hulk walking around like CGI into a live action film but it works and the character model is on point. This is how I would picture She Hulk to look for example.

Now with the fight scenes being underwhelming that’s just a choreography issue. None of the fights tend to have any real damage or feeling behind them. Of course the show mainly has 0 stakes as a comedy so you’re not expecting anything too serious but more hand to hand or damage effects would be good. The best fight was easily between She Hulk and Daredevil and that’s extremely short. The rest of the fights are just missing their impact for the most part.

What the show needed was more of a focus on the ongoing plot or a little more danger. The middle episodes just feel like you could almost cut them and not much would change. It was nice seeing a random case in the middle because you should have that as an attorney series. Defending the immortal guy who kept offing himself to avoid taxes and start a new life was interesting. We needed more cases like that and less romance and wedding stuff. The counseling session also didn’t need to pretty much be a whole episode.

Now if you do want to focus on being a full comedy show then you just need to be funnier. For me a good gauge of how funny something is during the slice of life scenes is whether I would really be able to watch the show on my own and have a good time. She Hulk was really on the fence for that a whole lot of the time. It’s just never as interesting as the other Marvel shows and as a main character Jennifer lags behind the others. She’s great as She Hulk but the human alter ego can’t hold her own stories quite as much.

Maybe it’s in part because the humor can be more based around the romances or awkward moments which doesn’t generate as much of a laugh as things being wacky or fast paced dialogue. Regardless, the action at the beginning and ending isn’t enough to really throw this into the positive side of the fence. I ended up feeling like it’s at about the middle for me. I wouldn’t be tempted to watch it again and there is very little replay value. The episodes are interconnected enough where they aren’t quite stand alone but not connected enough to keep you engaged on the wider story. Of course whether you like it or not will completely depend on how funny you find the show to be.

Like there are so many aspects of being a superhero attorney that you can explore. The whole supers division is a great concept as well but Jennifer is more interested in how more people will date her now that she has a super form than in thinking about the other repercussions more. Like embracing the She Hulk name before people can use it as an insult or how daily life is just so much different now that she has become a celebrity overnight. Exploring all of this could be a show in its own. I always just go back to the first episode which ended perfectly though. She takes out Titania and embraces her role as She Hulk. Marvel’s always been good about removing the secret identity from the equation immediately. Having a really confident She Hulk just take the stage and start winning cases would have been great and we didn’t need to go away from that path to greatness.

Overall, She Hulk took some gambles and that’s good for a show to do. You do want to try new things even if they don’t work but in this case making She Hulk more of a traditionally fun main character may have worked better. I’d say you can drop the constant affairs angle in the next season just like how James Bond has almost completely dropped that in the new movies. Keep in the 4th wall breaking but lets get in some real villains next time or extended cases. You could easily make this more like Detective Conan or Sherlock Holmes where you have a good case that lasts every 2-3 episodes where she has to gather the clues and prove someone’s innocence/guilt. I tend to love court scenes in movies and shows so building a whole show around that would not just be a good idea but a great one. It would immediately raise the show up to the next level.

Overall 5/10

Alien Nine Review

Posted on December 21, 2021 by dreager1

Alien Nine has definitely got a handle on the strange atmosphere that only a few shows I’ve seen like Serial Experiments Lain have pulled off. There’s always a sense that something’s about to happen no matter how happy the scene is and so you’ve got a full sense of danger there right off the bat. That said, as a darker magical girl show, this one doesn’t quite reach the hype and levels of intrigue as Madoka. It ends up being rather twisted for the heroines but not always in a cool way.

The 4 part show introduces us to a world where alien invaders are common place. They crash on the school all the time and the local alien defense force takes them out. The defense force is made up of 3 girls from their respective classes. It’s a job that most of the girls don’t want but some don’t mind doing it. Basically each class holds a vote like for a student president and then they send their representative off to go and fight the alien monsters. This year the 3 girls selected are Otani, Kasumi, and Kuni. Otani is really not happy about this while Kasumi is thrilled and Kumi is more ambivalent. In order to fight off the aliens, the girls have to wear symbiotes which protect them as automatic defense weapons and shields. Now since these are symbiotes that at least hints that there is some give and take here. Is this really all above board and why do the aliens constantly attack this school?

I feel like the show drops the pretense of this being your classic magical girl adventure almost immediately. The symbiotes look creepy from the start and the OVA always has a lot of moody music and a dark color scheme. It’s all for that spooky atmosphere I mentioned earlier. Of course, it still does have its share of happy scenes, you’re just always waiting for the catch. Things continue to get more serious as we delve into the show and see more of what makes this school tick. As a short OVA, it does end on a big cliffhanger and doesn’t exactly cover the whole thing but that does make for a hype ending.

You could say the main plot is when the giant alien known as Yellow Knife appears. He claims to be Kasumi’s brother but this is likely mind games on his part. This was an easy way to get Kasumi on his side to fight against the other two. It’s a rather intense climax filled with dreams and inner visions that aren’t real as the teachers try to get control of the situation. You’ll want to stick around to the end as that’s when we get to some of the big cliffhangers. Lets just say that the body count is rising here, one character just can’t catch a break.

So lets talk about what didn’t work first and then get to the positives. Well, Otani is a really bad main character, there’s just no way around that. She is constantly crying and just doesn’t want to be an alien hunter. It is a dangerous job so that’s understandable but if she’s going to be forced to do this you’d like to see her really get tough. That said, she’s so young that it seems awfully mean of the parents to allow this to continue. We know the teachers will try to keep her in it as part of their nefarious schemes but unless the parents are in on the take, I’d like to see them try to help her get out of this a bit more. It’s really like Otani is being tortured by staying here. With one host getting eaten and another one murdered, you feel like Otani can only survive for so long.

With the main characters being so young, they’re effectively trapped in a lot of these decisions because they just aren’t old enough to get out of it. Having a character as reluctant as Otani is more tragic than funny the whole time. She really has to put up with a lot and will almost certainly be traumatized by the time she’s an adult at this rate. Otani has to see creatures get blown up right in front of her on multiple occasions after all.

The symbiotes themselves don’t really seem good or evil so much as they’re just there to help their owner. They’ll destroy any threats as they deem necessary although the teachers ask the heroines not to let that happen. Their having to lick the characters after the mission seems completely unnecessary though and just another creepy part of being an alien fighter in this world. It definitely gives Otani even more of a reason to want to quit right away. There are no noticeable upsides to being an alien fighter, especially when it seems like the group never actually makes any progress on this.

Kasumi is the only member of the 3 who actually enjoys the role and she is the most entertaining character as a result. All of the skills come naturally to her and she can even fight off opponents personally without having to rely on her symbiote. I like that at least someone came ready to fight here and so it’s a shame that she has to miss out on most of the climax.

She is rather obsessed with her brother who moved away though which starts to get to some almost disturbing territory with Yellow Knife manipulating her and some of the visuals that we get. It’s not cut and dry like Wixoss so you could make the case that it’s normal but it did feel like the OVA was getting there. Either way, the whole alien merging into her like a Chest Burster was one of those weird scenes that isn’t weird in a good way. The show even squeezes in a chest burster scene early on as the characters watch some kind of alien film.

The creatures get blown to smithereens during each of the fights. It’s monster blood so it isn’t quite as drastic as if they were normal creatures. It’s green and all although it can be a bit excessive, reminded me of Planet Hulk in a lot of ways. It’s less of an action context when Otani is going around slaughtering them all when she’s being mind controlled which may be why it feels more intense but it’s just another check on the list of reasons on why Otani would like to get away from this job as soon as possible. At least no real animals appear here which is always a good thing.

Now on the plus side, the main theme song here is catchy. It’s definitely got a more classic magical girl feel to it. From the theme song at least this appears to be your standard adventure. The rest of the themes within the show aren’t quite as memorable but it’s a decent soundtrack that works well enough in the moment. The animation’s definitely not as high budget but you do get some cool scenes like when the characters block attacks using the symbiote. Having an automatic defense which can also transform into anything is incredibly handy.

In a lot of ways it should remind you of the symbiote from Marvel. These guys can do pretty much everything that Venom can and can also talk. They allow you to resist illusions and generally seem helpful. Now, like Venom it may be hard to trust them at times but since the girls have to put their lives in the symbiote’s hands every day I guess you have to hope for the best. If it’s a true symbiotic relationship where the creature needs them too then it should balance out and they’ll keep you alive.

The final girl from the trio is Kumi and she’s nice enough. She’s always been helping students who couldn’t keep up or just helping everyone at large as student president. It’s why she wanted to join the group so she wouldn’t have that burden anymore but it ended up not working out perfectly well for her. She’s too nice for her own good and still tries to help Otani out. It makes her a well balanced character and definitely the natural leader of the squad. She may not be as powerful as Kasumi, but Kumi is definitely the person you would want to have at your back.

Hisakawa is the main teacher here and she’s as corrupt as they come. As one of the people in charge of the whole alien situation to trap these kids, she is really the main villain if you think about it. The disturbing part is how nonchalant she is about the whole thing. She doesn’t really seem to care for the girls’ safety at all so when she appears you always know she’s about to make some more unreasonable demands. She even wanted Kasumi and Kumi to leave Otani alone. Fortunately they realized this wasn’t quite right and stayed to back her up.

Naturally the Principal is another big villain here since she’s one of the head honchos. You certainly can’t trust her and will want to keep your distance as much as possible. Interestingly, the adults seem to have the symbiotes perfectly merged within them. We see that their hair can turn into drills which is how the symbiotes fight. So either they mastered the control as part of the symbiote bonding or the symbiote just took control. Either way it doesn’t spell a great picture for the kids who have to wear these symbiotes every day.

So lets talk a little more about the setup here. What seems to be the case is that the teachers raise a bunch of aliens in their labs and also create the symbiotes out of some kind of water substance. They then pick a few kids every year to wear these symbiotes. Aliens are strategically let loose within the school to be summarily captured by the kids although they sometimes end up being slaughtered. Rinse and repeat so of course this begs the question of why the teachers are doing this. It has to be for an evil reason or they would just let the kids know that the aliens are being manufactured to test their skills or something.

I think we can read into it based on the adults who have merged with their symbiotes. Most likely what this means is that they are feeding the Symbiotes. So I think the best explanation here is that the symbiotes did take over the principal and by extension they also took control of all the teachers. My only question would be why they don’t take over the whole school. Just have every kid wear the symbiote. With Otani it’s mentioned that some kids have better fusion rates than others so perhaps most people don’t mesh well with the symbiote. I suppose that would work and either way they’ll continue to spread even if it’s slower.

The whole Yellow Knife appearance is what threw a wrinkle into everyone’s plans since this wasn’t something the teachers predicted. They respond incredibly slow to the new threat though so it doesn’t seem to concern them a whole lot. I thought at least the teacher would be super concerned since she already failed once and can’t afford to lose the kids but you never see much of a sense of urgency. Not like the teacher is all that tough though as she was still overwhelmed by the alien’s illusions. Only Kumi really seemed to be able to break through the illusions quickly thanks to her symbiote.

The OVA has a twist ending at the very end so make sure you stay all the way through. It should raise a lot of questions while also leading you into the next act if you ever check out the manga. As mentioned earlier, the body count rises as someone dies but the problem is there are too many suspects to really figure out on who did it. It could be anyone who is being mind controlled, any of the symbiotes, teachers, principals, aliens, etc. Part of the danger in this school is how anybody can be an enemy. You can’t trust anyone, Otani probably can’t even trust her parents since they could be aliens.

In a way it’s like the Secret Invasion in Marvel. If fully realized symbiotes like the teachers don’t even appear anymore and just merge into your hair (Similar to what Otani did during her rage mode) then there’s no way to track them at this point. Any person can be part alien and you would never know it. I think this would have a lot of potential if you wanted to turn this into a mystery thriller or something as a group of humans try to stop the alien invasion. Thing is, it’s probably already too late to stop them. The feats that the symbiotes perform would make it a simple matter to destroy dozens of opponents in an instant. They can block any attacks including bullets and wouldn’t break a sweat. Not that the symbiotes can probably sweat but the point is that there are no threats to them. Humans wouldn’t stand a chance.

Overall, Alien Nine is not an OVA you are likely to forget. It’s got a very spooky aura right from the get go and the fact that the main girls are so young means there aren’t a whole lot of ways to escape. In effect that’s part of why the show can be so unnerving because most Shonen Leads can punch their way out of this but the girls can’t realistically do much. By the same token, that’s what holds the OVA back. The characters can only passively follow along with what is happening. They’re effectively all victims of a much grander scheme. It’s like they’re strapped into a rollercoaster that they can’t get out of. It can all be rather tragic at times and it’s sinister enough where you won’t have a great time here. Almost every scene is someone crying or yelling because of all the trauma. I’d like to see a sequel to this with older main characters trying to fight back against the aliens. Time to uproot the society they’ve built here and turn this into a Shonen. This is the kind of show where there is always a lot to talk about and theorize though. Still, if you’re looking for a very creepy alien invasion story, it would be hard to beat this one. I’d say it’s even spookier than Lain in some ways.

Overall 5/10

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