Naruto Shippuden Review

Posted on July 28, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for one of the most well known anime of all time. This adapts most of the Naruto manga series after all which may be the second most iconic title of all time right after Dragon Ball Z. So the stakes were high and I’ve been watching this show for well over 10 years. Well, it definitely brings back a lot of good memories and it’s adapting a ton of amazing content. Unfortunately I would say that it has the absolute worst pacing and directing I’ve ever seen for a show. At times I would say it’s the kind of show you want to watch on AMV mode because of all the cutaways and stuff that are thrown in but I’ll get into that more later on. Basically though, it is a pretty good show either way.

The show starts by re-introducing us to Naruto who has returned to the Hidden Leaf village after nearly 3 years. He is now ready to help the village out and maybe they can even bring Sasuke back. The village refuses to acknowledge his hard work and they keep him in Genin status but he will prove them wrong. Together with Sakura and Kakashi he goes on his first mission which is to save his old friend Gaara. Gaara has been abducted by the Akatsuki and they aim to extract his tailed beast which will result in the guy’s death. They ultimately want all of the beasts which means that Naruto is in trouble as well but he is still ready to answer the call. Nobody’s going to get in his way!

Of course with 500 episodes you can bet that the plot is going to change a whole lot and this series does cover a very wide variety of arcs. A lot of them are even exclusive to the anime and were not featured in the manga so you should get excited for those….mayyyybe. They can be rather hit or miss but I’ll talk more about the arcs later on. At its core this is a series with a lot of combat action and adventure throughout. You learn valuable lessons about friendship and everything. It’s a series with quite a lot of good values spread throughout the title.

Of course in that time it will also make some slip ups. The series does have its occasional fanservice but it has always been better with this than other titles. It never gets too excessive so for the most part the series stays classy. With such a large amount of episodes, not all of them are perfect but the majority are good. There is of course some animal violence and other pitfalls here but if I was going to recommend an anime to someone, Naruto would be on the higher end since it feels relatively new user friendly despite the length.

Now despite all of this, why do I take shots at the pacing? Well lets look at a few random fights. Take Naruto and friends against Kaguya. The fight starts up and looks good…then we’re interrupted for several episodes for her really drawn out flashback. Okay, we’re back to the present for a few more punches. Then..back to Obito’s backstory. The fight gets interrupted so much. Then after the initial round with Madara we enter a filler season that lasts over 20 episodes and feels like it goes on forever. You’re just waiting for the show to return each time. It would help if the fillers were better but most of them weren’t all that great.

This happens consistently over and over. When the series doesn’t switch to a different plot point, it will usually instead have a scene get super dragged out. This especially happened in some of the earlier arcs like when Sai showed up. We have him and Naruto clashing kunai for such a long period of time that it makes Naruto look extremely wimpy. Instead of dominating the fight or even winning, it ends up being evenly matched which makes no sense. There are lots of zoom ins and reactions as the characters prepare to fight, etc.

Usually One Piece is the title people talk about in terms of something being drawn out but honestly I never had the same level of issues with that title. I would say it comes down to directing. Even when it’s drawn out, you don’t feel it quite as much as in Naruto. In Naruto it’s like everything just stalls and the added scenes don’t try to disguise themselves. So you’re just waiting for something to happen. A ton of episodes would get absolutely brutal with this. It’s why I say the series is lucky that it’s adapting a 9 star title because that hard carries the whole series. Without that, with the way everything is so delayed and such it would have a really hard time staying afloat.

Ultimately what helps to counter this is that the series does have a ton of nostalgia. I could turn it on to a random episode right now and I would have a good time. It does bring back memories and I do feel like they tried. The results may not have always been stellar but it’s not like the show was just phoning it in. The budget behind the show seemed reasonable. For example the animation is solid. There are some episodes that look absolutely top tier and to this day there are some fights that people say should be in the conversation for greatest of all time. Even for the fights that weren’t given the top of the line budget, I would say they looked good. This is a title that had strong fundamentals all the way through.

Then you have the soundtrack which really is excellent. There are a ton of great tracks all throughout the series and some new tunes that don’t even show up until the final saga. The fact that the show was still adding new tunes left and right like this was definitely impressive. I enjoy more tracks in the show than I can even count so you can bet that these definitely help to amp up the source material as well. Good music always goes a long way.

All right now lets dive into the story. So of course the first arc is about rescuing Gaara and it’s a fun way to kick things off. Deidara and Sasori get most of the screentime from the villains side of things. Yeah Itachi and Kisame show up but they’re more of a distraction than anything else. Don’t expect them to be getting any big character development just yet. Seeing Kakashi and Sakura fight was nice since it had been a while since we saw them. To date this might even be Sakura’s best fight as she really handles herself well against Sasori. Definitely a fun matchup while Kakashi doesn’t get to do as much this time. Deidara is a tough matchup for him since he’s always in the sky.

The stakes were high right off the bat and really the only complaint you would have here is that Naruto didn’t really get to look as strong as you might have expected. He’s the 9 Tailed Jinjuriki and after years of training with Jiraiya, he should be a true power hitter right? Well, surprisingly that just wasn’t really the case. He never felt quite as unstoppable as he should have which definitely left me puzzled. In a fair fight I see him losing to both Sasori and Deidara at this point in time which is absolutely crazy.

Naruto makes for a superb main character and the more I watch the show the more I appreciate him. I still have the battle crazy leads like Goku and Ichigo above him but Naruto is well above the average lead. He’s a surprisingly mature character by the end of his journey and he really learned his lessons instead of staying static. A lot of other leads could really look to him for guidance on this. He gives a lot of speeches and also knows when to stop talking and just start fighting. It’s this balance that makes him one of the greats.

Sakura also gets to look really good in Shippuden. Gone are the days where she would have to run away or duck a fight. Now she can fight alongside Naruto and the others. Her strength is really impressive and she gets some really fun fights in the series. Having the ability to heal her own wounds as well is definitely a massive plus on top of all that.

Kakashi is the ever reliable leader as well and definitely looks good here. The whole running out of chakra thing may be a bit of a running gag but jokes aside, he does take care of business. Without him they would have been absolutely doomed more than once. He may not always win, but you can definitely count on him to show up when the chips are down. He is a Sharingan user after all and that is still one of the absolute best weapons in the series.

Might Guy’s always been a fun rival to Kakashi and you can make the case that he was actually significantly stronger than him for most of the series. The 8 inner gates are really no joke and it was great to finally get to see him use them by the end of the series. He jokes around a lot but at the end of the day he is a sensei and one of the stronger fighters in the leaf village. Without him the heroes would really be in trouble.

Tenten doesn’t get a lot to do in the series but she is always ready to be the voice of reason. I appreciated seeing her show up from time to time but I wish she could have gotten stronger. Rock Lee is the more disappointing character here because he had such great showings in the first series. Taking on fighters like Gaara and Kimimaro is still legendary but you can’t really point to any signature fights in part 2. The same goes for Neji who by all accounts is much stronger but he isn’t really given anyone to fight outside of fillers. I suppose again that does make the case for why filler can be really handy. This way you can give fights to the characters who ended up being skipped over.

Chiyo only showed up for the one arc at the beginning but she did well. She made the most out of her screentime and ended up being a really memorable character. Even nowadays people know her well. She really outshined Kankuro who used to be the best puppet user but got surpassed by an incredibly large margin. He never really gets many scenes to make up for this. In comparison Temari also doesn’t do much but is at least relevant for the final parts of the series thanks to her dynamic with Shikamaru.

Gaara has a lot of screentime here so he does well. I do miss the fiery spirit he used to have back when he was an antagonist but he definitely got a ton of character development so I can’t deny that. His sand abilities are absolutely lethal at this point and he became the ruler of a whole country which is no joke. He gets to meet up with Sasuke and is generally one of the most loyal allies to the leaf.

As for the Akatsuki, I always liked Deidara quite a bit. His flair for the dramatic is handled really well. He’s an entertaining character who will keep you on your feet the whole time. His birds are also incredibly dangerous, the fact that he can use them to give fighters like Sasuke and Gaara a tough fight is super impressive. He’s the kind of guy who never gives up until the end so I can definitely respect that.

Sasori isn’t nearly as ambitious of a character but he is still a strong fighter who should not be underestimated. His poison daggers are tough to deal with since he has so many clones. I ended up liking his abilities more than the character itself but he’s decent. At the very least I will ay that he’s iconic, due in part to being in the first arc that everybody has ingrained into their heads.

Then the next arc has the big return of Sasuke which was hype! We’re introduced as Sai who tries to be Sasuke’s replacement but lets just say that he is absolutely not built for this. He’s not even close and falls far short of those high standards. Sasuke actually has been training over the last 3 years so the gap between him and Naruto was absolutely massive. It’s crazy that he could have finished them all off if he wanted to. The arc is fairly short but we got the big Naruto vs Orochimaru battle so that was pretty fun. Orochimaru was ultimately just soo slippery to really be put down for good. He was seriously just having fun in that match. You get the feeling that he would have crushed Naruto if he was really trying.

Sai is a character I never warmed up to. For sure he went through a lot and going through the Root program is crazy but he’s not my kind of character. He never gets all that emotional and his ability to draw anything is not a very offensive type power. It can be used well but for the most part you can never picture him scaling with the top tiers. Taking Naruto to a draw was absolutely a huge fluke and one that I would never expect to see again. He just got supremely lucky there.

Yamato is someone I’ve warmed up to a bit. I think he had a super rocky start but as the series went on he would get more and more emotional. He actually became someone who would defend Naruto so that was nice to see. He tends to be on the wrong side of almost every issue though so he’s not perfect. I will need to see a lot more improvement out of him.

Orochimaru has a lot to do here as you can probably guess. The guy is getting close to needing to switch bodies after all. He probably could have planned things out a bit better but he was dealing with an Uchiha prodigy so that’s not easy. His durability is still very impressive to me. The guy never really goes down. He definitely gets off way too easily in the series though. This guy is psychotic and a mass murderer. He should be in jail at the very least. That part kind of annoys me but ultimately he does deserve his spot as one of the most memorable characters in the series.

Kabuto still works well as the right hand man. He gets a surprising amount of power near the end which was definitely a very impressive power up. By the end he is one of the strongest fighters and while we knew he would be strong, I was still impressed. He is a really fun wild card. I don’t love the character but he absolutely made the final arc better. Without him bringing all of the old characters back it just wouldn’t have been intense.

Sasuke is one of the biggest characters in the series so naturally there is a whole lot to talk about with him. He goes on a journey into the darkness where he sinks further and further as the series goes on. Just when you think he might be getting heroic, something would happen that would send him back. It’s a really tough cycle to be sure but at the end of the day, it’s a mission that he was ready for. He has his share of points and that’s why the battle of ideologies between him and Naruto was really good. He wanted Revolution while Naruto was effectively fighting for the status quo. Both sides have pros and cons to them.

Their rivalry is still one of the best of all times for any series. It’s just super impressive by all accounts. Sasuke is also my favorite character in the series. There are none who are even close. His character is just so deep and you could talk about him for an entire article. He survived one of the toughest experiences imaginable and he didn’t let it break him. If nothing else, you definitely have to look at that amount of fortitude and be impressed. It was really something. Then throw in some of the best attacks and theme musics and it’s a wrap!

The first of the really big filler arcs involves Sora. He’s a kid who is constantly upset and yelling so get ready for that. What I liked about the arc was they constantly played the anger theme which works well for battles but that’s about it. It’s a relatively uninspired arc and one that goes on for too long. There were some cool ideas too like a widespread 3 Tailed Jinjuriki battle but that was not enough to save this one in the end. You can easily tell which arcs are filler or not based on the quality which is kind of crazy. Well maybe not too crazy since in theory the original author knows his characters best but you’d still expect it to be a little closer.

In the following big arc, we get to focus on two more Akatsuki members. Hidan and Kakuzu show up and destroy Asuma so now the Leaf have to avenge him. It’s one of the only times we see a real switch in the team rosters so that was pretty fun. Kakashi vs Kakuzu is a really underrated fight that had a lot of great choreography the whole time. I also liked Hidan vs Shikamaru even though I felt like the hero didn’t stand a chance in that matchup. Then Naruto has his big return which is always super hype. He really got a lot of the best return moments across the series. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised though, such is a hero’s job right?

Hidan is one of the most enjoyable Akatsuki members. He’s always laughing and messing around while destroying everyone. The guy is unhinged and that works really well for his character. Trust me, he’s just a blast and to this day I’m waiting for Jashin to show up. Hidan got his immortality from someone after all. This could really work like in a sequel series or something.

Kakuzu by contrast is much quieter and more of a serious fighter. He wants to complete the mission and that’s it. He’s not really thinking about anything else. His trait of having more than 1 heart is definitely super handy though and the guy can fight in hand to hand. He’s a very well balanced member of the Akatsuki and definitely would have been a tough fight for most of the heroes. I also liked the idea of someone who is immortal being teamed with someone who has multiple lives. I think the second layer to that is how Kakuzu would always murder all of his partners back in the day but there’s no chance of that now.

Ino and Choji are sort of along for the ride in this series. They don’t really get to do much of anything and don’t really have the skills to stay relevant either. They get their moments but don’t expect too much out of them. Asuma get some really solid moments before he goes out though. I always liked his chakra blades, they seem super practical as a weapon. Ultimately he just needed to be stronger to hang in there more but the guy fought well.

Shikamaru gets a super big role in the series. He is still the man with a plan no matter what happens. He may not have the strongest attacks but he can get people to the right spots. I liked him for most of the series although I’m not as big on the character once he starts working for the Hokage. It felt to me like he basically sold out by that point and began getting more and more corrupted. I know that someone has to watch the dark side but above all else you need to trust your Hokage and I don’t feel like Shikamaru did. At times he felt like he knew best which is a dangerous assumption.

The 3 Tails Guren gets a mini filler arc and it wasn’t half bad. I remember the main annoying thing being the heroes being slow to act while the villains would monologue over and over again. Sometimes you just have to break the anime rules and land a hit real quick. I think this arc would probably work better if released as a mini series outside of the main anime. That said, I know filler was necessary to keep the show on the air without further destroying the pacing so it is always worth it. While I may not be the most positive about these things, it’s not like it was terrible or anything.

After this we finally start getting to the big Sasuke arc. He first forms a team with a bunch of new quirky characters and then heads off to go and take down Itachi. It’s a fairly short arc in the grand scheme of things but it was a fun one. I enjoyed seeing the rematch after all this time and it was easily one of the best fights in the series. I also think Sasuke’s group Taka isn’t even that bad. They’re not all stars by any stretch of the imagination but they actually had some decent banter the whole time and contrast with Sasuke pretty well. Sasuke also got a super great theme in this arc which was really good stuff. I loved it whenever that theme would appear.

Itachi is definitely a massive characters. No worries if the backstory confuses you because you’re going to be seeing it a lot. To be direct on this, he is a villain and no matter how many times we see the flashback, he was definitely in the wrong there. He was murdering women and children in his massacre and should have worked with the Hokage to find another way. No matter how you slice it, he took the villainous path. Still, he makes for a solid wild card who really can change the whole direction of the battlefield. He’s one of the most interesting characters in the series and one of the most powerful. The fact that he couldn’t be controlled even by the mass reanimation jutsu was definitely a big point in his favor. He really had backup plans on top of backup plans.

Kisame is not quite as powerful. Despite being partners, I would say they probably had the biggest gap in ability between them. You always got the feeling that Kisame could be destroyed at any moment if Itachi willed it. That’s how powerful he was. Kisame’s true form was still impressive though and he definitely did a lot of damage. As a fast yet powerful fighter, it would be difficult for most heroes to stop him. That’s how it should be too, each member of the Akatsuki should be someone that it either takes an entire team to bring down, or some of the absolute top tier fighters. Anything less just would not match the hype that this villain group got when they showed up.

For example none of the junior fighters like Suigetsu should stand a chance here. I like his confidence and the guy is ready to pick a fight but he’s in a completely different league. A much smaller league if you will. Even the idea of him trying to take on Kisame is funny. I don’t know what Suigetsu would do without Sasuke. His water powers are handy though, he just lacks the physical stats to really make the most of them.

I like him more than Jugo though. Jugo is just a bit too quiet and serious. We already have enough of those characters so he doesn’t really end up adding much to the dynamic at all. I needed characters who could provide banter. I’m not a big fan of Karin either but at least she definitely delivers on that front. When she is around you can bet that there will be a good amount of tough talk at all times. She was all business all the time except when Sasuke was involved. In that case she would break down immediately which really held her back. That gag got old fast.

Then was the big arc that may still be the most iconic in all of Shippuden, the big Pain saga. Pain finally launches his invasion on the hidden leaf and immediately destroys a whole ton of people. The body count is super high and Naruto is basically the only one who can stand against him. It’s always a fun what if to imagine if Sasuke was in town at the time. I thin he would have done really well to put it mildly. Aside from all of the awesome fighting which is of course great, we also get the conclusion to the debate on the cycle of violence. It’s a really well written sequence of scenes with both characters making a true case and then we see how it plays out. Ultimately it’s not like the cycle will ever end, but you can at least hope for the best.

Pain is of course one of the big villains of the series and he’s great all around. From the character design to his skills, this guy was the real deal. Seeing him basically take on an entire village was crazy and to date he has some of the most memorable moments in the series. You never forgot any of Pain’s big moments because that’s how influential the guy was. Each of his different bodies had more and more abilities as well. It was hard to keep track of them all, much less counter each form. That would be near impossible. Definitely a great pick as the leader of the Akatsuki.

While she isn’t mentioned as much, Konan is definitely right up there as well. Her paper abilities are super handy and she almost took down Obito early on. To think that could have seriously changed the trajectory of the series. She may appear to be meek compared to some of the other fighters but once she is in the battle she definitely goes all out. This is also a decent point to mention Jiraiya. Unfortunately I have to say that I’m still not a big fan of the guy. He had a heroic death and all but he had too many character flaws in the end. Those definitely cost him big time.

We get a random flashback arc about the old days here. I suppose people were probably getting nostalgic so it’s not a bad idea but it does sort of wreck the flow a bit. You want to get to the next big adventures after all and this is the only thing left standing in your way. It has to be removed as soon as possible. The arc isn’t super long but it’s still fairly long so you definitely have to wait for a while.

After that we have the Kage Summit, another small arc but a real doozy. Sasuke decides to take on all of the Kages and he actually has them on the defensive. That is absolutely crazy when you think about it. His fight with Danzo was also awesome and this is really the arc where he goes full on villain. Before now he wouldn’t murder innocents or anything like that but now everyone is fair game. He has really changed a whole lot from the Sasuke that we once knew. We also got the big Team 7 reunion which was cool even if it maybe wasn’t quite as big as you might have expected. There is a cool fan animation that heavily extends the fight with Kakashi and Sasuke while one of the Ultimate Ninja Storm games officially extended Naruto’s fight with him. Regardless, it’s a top tier arc.

Danzo is one of those guys who was running around causing trouble for ages so it was nice to finally see him get taken down. Honestly he got away with way too much the whole time. The fact that the Lead Village would look the other way is rather disgraceful if we’re being honest. If Sasuke didn’t take him down I don’t know what would have happened and that’s annoying because it never should have come down to that. It doesn’t make any sense. His skills are the real deal so I will give him that though. The guy has masterful tactics and it makes sense how he could reach the level of Hokage.

The Raikage is another Kage who really earns his station. He is always ready to fight and doesn’t hide behind minions. His speed and power are both off the charts which makes him a top fighter. I like his personality and he is the kind of guy who is always ready to take charge. I may not have agreed with some of his decisions but he was usually on the right side. In fact, he had to be convinced to put Naruto on the shelf when originally he was planning on deploying him to the front lines. That would have been the best plan to take advantage of his abilities.

The Mitsukage gets less to do but she is around. Her lava abilities aren’t bad but I think her main problem is that the technique doesn’t feel as special. You can’t compare it to instant regen, new lives, or invincibility. Her power is just lava and I know that is lethal but it feels like a normal ninjutsu. I wish we could have seen more out of her. Then we have the Tsuchikage who has the cube style. His particle attacks are definitely super impressive so to balance him out, the guy has chronic back pain. Honestly that gag could get annoying sometimes but I get why they needed to nerf him. Now there is a really solid technique.

After that..it’s time for the big war. You could argue that the war itself had a bunch of mini arcs within it as well. Of course you have the long dream saga where each character imagines what the future could be like. Some are simple AUs while one extended one recaps the whole series. That one was unfortunately a bit too ambitious for its own good. With an arc as long as the war, it wasn’t always able to be consistent but there are a ton of super memorable moments to be found here. Madara finally making his move and of course seeing all of the reanimated shinobi was a lot of fun. All big Shonen titles should end with some kind of a huge war because it’s the perfect way to really show off your extended cast. Without that then it’s harder to bring everyone in. So the arc may be controversial but I still thought it was very good. The climax really makes it. You’re seeing the strongest shinobi of all time all going at it. Who can’t help but not get excited at such a prospect right? This is what we came here for, this is why we are Naruto fans.

Madara is a villain who was hyped up for the entire series and I’m glad to say that he absolutely lived up to it. He is a beast in battle and the kind of guy who loves fighting. You already know that would win me over right from the start. This is a villain who shook the entire world with just his name. Now that’s presence, I don’t think there is any other villain with that much aura. It’s a shame how his character ended up going out because he was absolutely cooking everyone. There’s definitely a whole lot more you could have done with the character. Still, he got so much screentime that I can’t complain much.

Then we have Obito who was also a really big threat. Perhaps not as strong as Madara but still a top tier within the verse. You definitely understand his motivations, not just because losing someone is something we can all sympathize with but because of the fact that we got to see Rin die like 100 times throughout the series. I felt bad for her because that flashback would never stop looping. It was absolutely crazy. I do think that Obito got off way too easily in terms of reputation though. I’m glad that the series deals with redemption arcs but this man did hurt a ton of people. Lets not forget that so easily.

Zetsu has a consistent role throughout the series and then he really turns up near the end. He’s actually a rather fun character with how tough he talks the whole time. The guy has a lot of good plans and while it may stretch disbelief at times, hey the guy is patient. He is the ultimate strategist who waits on the sidelines but technically can’t fight at a high level. If he could fight too then the world would really be finished.

Kushina has a solid role as Naruto’s Mom. She was a real fun character and a go getter. It’s a shame that her screentime was so low but she gave him good advice throughout and was a super solid parent. Then you have Minato who also looked really good. We actually got to see him fight a lot which was awesome. He always had a very cool air about him. The guy was also a top tier parent. He ends up being one of the better characters in the series and he definitely has the best reputation as the Yellow Flash. People knew not to mess with him.

The 3rd Hokage doesn’t do much here but I’ll just say that he’s annoying. Every time we get a new flashback, we see how more and more of the problems were all his fault. If he had just stood up and stopped at least one of the internal villains then things could have been very different. It’s hard to be as harsh on the 2nd Hokage since most of his actions were off screen. He seems to be a solid fighter but again we just don’t know a ton about him.

The 1st Hokage is easily the most impressive. You could make a decent case for him being the strongest character in the series. The guy’s abilities were super terrifying. Personally I still have Madara above him but the two were rivals for a good reason. It definitely wasn’t one sided in either direction. The scene where he powers up to freeze all of the Hokage and Sasuke was definitely a true flex and one of the biggest hype moments in the series. It’s hard to imagine him ever going down in the past.

Killer Bee is the only Tailed Beast holder aside from Naruto who gets a big role. He definitely makes the most of it as his debut appearance against Sasuke was definitely a really memorable one. It was nice to see an owner who actually bonded with the beast. Eventually Naruto would do this as well but it would take a long time. Killer Bee’s rapping gimmick also wasn’t that bad to be honest. Not really my thing but the execution was okay.

Hinata doesn’t do much for most of the series but she starts to get a role by the end so I should mention her. My main issue with Hinata is the same as with a bunch of other characters. She is too soft spoken the whole time and needs to assert herself more. This is what keeps me from becoming a big fan. I want to see a Hinata who gets really tough and just starts blasting the enemy. Still, I’d say her fans should be satisfied with her portrayal here.

Side note, it was cool seeing Zabuza and Haku return. They may have appeared super briefly but that was a lot of fun. One old character who shows up a bit is Iruka but I still don’t like the guy. He’s way too harsh on Naruto and wouldn’t even hear the guy out when his wedding day was approaching. I think some people find the dynamic charming with Iruka constantly bashing Naruto and apologizing for him since he assumes that the lead is up to no good. The problem for me is that this gag has the opposite effect. He should trust Naruto completely by now. It’s definitely a big L for Iruka.

The 9 Tails himself gets a ton of character development and it’s fun to see how far he has come. Gone are the days where he would just be yelling and trying to scare everybody. Now he is actually a rather reasonable person which is cool. He supports Naruto and really helps him to improve. It’s a superb dynamic and I like how they build each other up. No matter what, Naruto and the 9 Tails will always have each other as friends.

Finally we have Kaguya and unfortunately the anime does her a disservice. The extra scenes actually make her look worse instead of better which is crazy. She just appears to be too naive and slow on the uptake there. I would have liked her to have fought more and just messed over anyone in her way. She is Kaguya, one of the strongest people in the verse. That shouldn’t be asking for too much right? Great design and everything but the flashback definitely hurts.

After that, the series mainly starts to wind down. We get a quick mini arc for Shikamaru based on his novel, a Sasuke arc for his, a mini arc on picking out presents for Naruto, and episodes for some of the characters as kids. The anime really wanted to make sure you had time to see what the characters were doing in the present which is a nice touch. I mean personally I’m cool with just ending on the big fight but the longer you can extend a series the better and it was worth it to reach 500 episodes. That is an absolutely crazy amount that almost no show nowadays can ever hope to reach. It is simply too impressive.

Even with a review this long there are tons of characters and episodes I didn’t touch on. It’s why watching this show is a true saga. It’s an experience that you can’t complete in a few days. It would be literally impossible to do so. That’s the charm of the series after all. Even I would probably not remember everything if I gave it a re watch so in that way there is always a ton of replay value here. You can try to notice extra easter eggs and lore that you didn’t notice the first time. Then you will have made it to the level of grand Naruto scholar and you can use that as super bragging rights. Of course the next step will be to enter the world of Boruto at some point but that’s a discussion for another day. That is technically a separate series after all so it should be looked on separately as well.

Overall, Naruto Shippuden is one of those titles that I will never forget. It will always be very important to me because of all the memories and the experiences I had with the show. It was a title that lasted a long time and there are very few titles that can keep going for 500 episodes nowadays. It’s lucky for most to reach 100 after all. I would definitely recommend this to any action fan. For a long title like this, you are really given time to know all of the characters and get emotionally invested into the whole thing. That definitely goes a long way and at the end of the day watching this is like watching a big piece of anime history. You owe it to yourself to experience what this global phenomenon was all about. On an episode by episode battle it may not beat the higher tier shows but while those end every 12 episodes, this one will just keep on going and going.

Overall 7/10

Kaiju No 8 Review

Posted on July 25, 2024 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

Trigun Stampede Review

Posted on May 11, 2024 by dreager1

It’s been a long while since I saw the original Trigun so it was fun to check out this modern remake of it. It’s a very short series so it can’t quite tackle everything that the original could but does well in a compressed kind of way. Directly, I would say that the original did just about everything better than the remake but at the same time it’s been long enough where my memories of the original might be better than my experience was. I see that my review of the original wasn’t exactly glowing back then so it’s always fun to see how things have changed. Regardless, this one does a good job…even if it is CG!

The show starts by introducing us to Vash and Knives. They were raised by a nice lady named Rem but Knives ended up sabotaging the ship and basically causing everyone to die. Vash barely survived the incident and now he has to find Knives and put a stop to him before he hurts anyone else. Along the way Vash also repairs any generator that is run down and needing repairs. See, the world is effectively powered by these things and without them you can’t really get power, water, electricity, etc. You basically die without them. One lady was trying to grow plants so that they could create oxygen but everyone thinks that she is super crazy.

Also, unfortunately Vash is a wanted man with a huge bounty on his head. So he has to always be on the run. Despite this, he has managed to remain as a pacifist for all these years and really tries to never fight if he can help it. Obviously this is not an easy task by any means so definitely kudos to him for doing his best there. The problem is that when he is put into a situation where he needs to fight, he doesn’t always do well. Will Knives end up winning because Vash refuses to do anything?

In a nutshell that is my biggest issue with the remake. I felt that the first show had a much better balance of how Vash should be. Yes, he was a pacifist who never wanted to murder anyone but he was much more willing to fight and at least stop the threat. Knock someone out or capture them at least. Here, he spends a lot of time running around and dodging which lets innocent people get shot or put into harm’s way. Whereas the original Vash was a super prodigy who could stop anyone, this one feels like he gets by on pure luck most of the time. A great example of this is in the very first episodes.

So you have a crazy guy who wants to throw bombs around and destroy the town. Vash is messing around like always but you figure he has a great plan and won’t let anybody get hurt right? I mean he can’t just be acting up like this if he has no plan?….well that’s exactly what happens and it is supremely annoying. This is just disgraceful considering that we are counting on him here. In fact he runs out of bullets and it is only thanks to some quick thinking by Meryl that the town isn’t blown to kingdom come. It may seem like a minor thing but it’s quite major when you think about it.

See, a key part of Vash’s character is that all life is precious. He doesn’t care if you’re a law abiding citizen or a mass murderer, he’s going to try and protect you. He does this by honing his gun skills every day and making sure he is the absolute best so he can win every fight in a non lethal way. In the old show the only exception is Knives who Vash does fully intend to take down for good. He doesn’t have the same drive here at all unfortunately. So with Vash being clowned on here, it undermines his motivation because now he’s not going to actually save everyone. In fact, instead he’s just going to end up causing many more civilian deaths on a high order. This is not the way to go, not at all.

This keeps on happening in the show where it feels like they made Vash too extreme in his pacifism to the point where he’s just enabling the villains after a while and it nearly costs him everything. So while I grew to enjoy him in the old show, I didn’t really care for him here. It just helped to underscore why Wolfwood was a much better character. Wolfwood is the pragmatist here who does what needs to be done. Lets face it, he had a much worse childhood than Vash had. Wolfwood was tortured and experimented on for ages while basically losing everything. He’s blackmailed the whole series and still manages to help people out from time to time.

The biggest difference is that he will actually murder the villains when they are going too far. Wolfwood directly saves a lot of lives this way. Sure he may not be as heroic as Vash but to the people he saves that won’t end up mattering all that much. In a fight I think Vash would probably still have the edge here if he was going all out but if they’re both in character then I’m betting Wolfwood wins more times than not. He’s simply willing to go further and his healing factor is extremely good here. I actually think he seems more powerful than in the original version with how fast he heals from everything. He’s a great character through and through.

Meryl is a solid character here who is very gung ho and always ready for action. She disobeys orders several times in order to help the heroes out which I appreciate. It’s usually a problem if you follow orders too closely because then you lose sight of the forest for the trees. So I’m glad that didn’t happen here as it would have been a real problem. She may not be able to fight at a high level just yet but she does help out on multiple occasions and is a fun character to have around. She does a great job of being the B plot.

Meanwhile her partner Roberto is also a lot of fun. I admit that I can never take him seriously when he pulls the gun out on the more powerful villains but it is a fact that he has more experience than Meryl and helps her out on many occasions. I often disagree with his decisions but he does some of them in order to protect her. He’s rather jaded and seems to have lost faith in humanity a long time ago. It’s easy to see why with how messed up the world is in this series. It almost does seem like humanity is determined to mess up every planet in its way so you can see how that’s a big problem. So at this point he just wants to pick up his paycheck and keep his head down but having a partner like Meryl makes that impossible. They have a great dynamic going there.

From the flashbacks you have Rem who was a very solid character as well. It’s a shame that things didn’t go better for her. You could tell that she did her best to make the right decisions. Ultimately I wouldn’t put any blame on her, sometimes you do everything right and things still end up going badly. That’s just life in a nutshell after all. Finally you have Knives who is as sinister as ever but I did think that the show gave him more points this time around. Yeah he’s the antagonist but when he’s going up against the humans you’re rooting for him because of how crazy they are. It feels like every human immediately goes off the rails as soon as any accountability vanishes.

We see them torturing the plant life and Knives’ fellow friends all the time. Most of the humans don’t seem all that remorseful. We even have a whole episode to show how quickly they turn on Vash and the others when the going gets tough. Humanity can’t be trusted in this series and that’s a running theme. Vash simply chooses to help them out anyway. It definitely underscores what a nice guy he is but sometimes to a fault. Knives’ decision to massacre them all is extreme as well but is it much different than what the humans would do?

To the humans, Knives is simply a sentient plant. They wouldn’t bat an eye in murdering him the way they wouldn’t for a bunch of aliens. So to Knives the perspective is really the same here which makes sense. Whenever you make a villain like this with a solid backstory and make the humans relatively unlikable, it’s a little hard to root against him. Particularly when there are no solutions presented to combat his logic. He’s definitely one of the standout characters here and the show really made him a huge threat here, he’s even more powerful than in the first show.

Hamilton is one of those villains who reminds you why Vash is a little too lenient. If someone didn’t show up things were going to get dicey again. He’s one of the most underwhelming villains though. I couldn’t take him too seriously in a world where Knives and his gang exists. Legato barely gets to do anything in this series and he’s many times better. The guy’s gravity powers are really intense and he’s the kind of character who strikes fear into your heart the moment he appears. That is absolutely the kind of guy you want to have as a big antagonist.

Elendira appears for even less time and leaves more of an impact than Hamilton. I think there’s a whole lot they could do with her moveset. In general Knives’ group are very interesting and I would like to see more of them. You probably need to give Wolfwood and Vash at least one more powerful ally so they aren’t too badly outnumbered though. Otherwise that would really put them in a tough spot.

Then you have the villains who are victims like Rollo and Livio. Rollo is probably the most tragic character in the series. He was only a kid but due to Vash’s carelessness he had to go through a whole lot and really lost his mind. He’s a complete victim because he never had a choice in how his life ended up. Definitely sad all the way. Same for Livio who may have gotten to be older but he was molded since he was a kid so I’d say that the same thing applies to him. If anything he may have gone through even more pain than the other characters. It shows that the villains have to be taken out before they can do this to more people.

Finally there is Zazie who is a great wild card but doesn’t do as much as I would have liked. So you have the humans who crash landed on this planet a while back and the sentient plants who are trying to do their best to survive. There is a third party though, the creatures who already existed on the planet. They are led by Zazie although that might not be the right word. Zazie is the collective consciousness of these creatures and as a result he wields a ton of power. At one point he explains that whoever he decides to help will win the war which is a great speech. And then…Zazie doesn’t do much for the rest of the series. I really wanted to see him get a bigger role, maybe take on Vash and Knives. I suppose in a way you could say that he doesn’t have to do anything since he will exist as long as the planet does but that’s too passive. I want to see him do that because you can’t have one of the best scenes in the show and just vanish. That doesn’t work for me.

Stampede is interesting in how it’s a remake in a lot of ways while also working as a prequel. Now there are some obvious reasons you will note as to why this can’t totally work as a prequel after watching the whole series but the ending does add 2 ways that make it work. So the best way to think of this is as a completely different path that will be leading to new events. It’s as if you started a game and skipped most of the content in an attempt to speed run the final boss. Now the game is catching up so a bunch of the old missions will appear. It’s a really unique way to handle things and all in all I thought it was very interesting. It puts the sequel at a bit of a disadvantage since a lot of the best scenes are already here but I’m curious how it will go.

The series feels a bit darker than the original. The original had time for a lot of light hearted episodes and sequences in addition to the action but here because of the sped up format the series focuses more on the dark backstories for everyone. I feel like there are very few moments where the characters get to just hang out and have a good time. There is always something serious going on. At times the show can go a bit far with all of the violence and dark themes. You have quite a lot of people being tortured or dying some rough deaths. Most of the characters don’t really end up in a happy place by the end.

In fact, most of them have sad endings here. The very ending is actually really sad as well with how things went down. So get ready for a very emotional series. What helps at least is that the series never feels exploitive. It can be really heavy for sure but without overplaying the issue the way other titles were. So brace yourself to be sure but this series is still focusing on having a captivating story first and foremost. Perhaps one where you are rooting for the plants over the humans but that’s all in how you see it.

Now for the animation, a big thing here was that the show was going to be CG. Of course you know that means it won’t look as good as hand drawn but if it can still at least look pretty good in general then that wouldn’t matter right? I can satisfactorily say that it does look sharp. I would still say not as good as any of the hand drawn shows on the market but they tried pretty hard here. They do a good job of showing off Knives’ abilities here for sure. Vash’s arm cannon doesn’t look quite as good but that’s more on the story direction than the animation I would say. There are fun fights here and so in general they did the best with what they had.

For the ost…another forgettable one for the most part. The opening isn’t bad as it reminds me of the Tower of God opening. It fits the tone of the overall show. The tunes aren’t bad and there was one battle theme I liked but they could have gone a little harder on this end I’d say. Give me some really tense tunes and a bunch of opera type music. I think those would have worked really well with the show and made it even more exciting. Especially with the show’s deep themes you could have some Death Note kind of music in there and it would work really well. Maybe next time I suppose.

A final thing to note is the show spends a good amount of time on Vash’s backstory here. More so even than in the original show I’d say as outside of the whole situation with Knives we see how Vash was able to hang out with some humans for a while and how he actually knew peace for a while. It’s easy to forget but as a plant he is effectively immortal and he’s been around for a very long time. That can get awful lonely especially with the level of guilt that he is carrying. It gets really emotional with the group that he hung out with as well especially with so many secrets around. The whole show can get sad a lot of the time and this part is no exception. Again it shows how impressive it is that he is still so cheerful all the time and how he hasn’t broken down yet. I can at least give him that credit.

Overall, Trigun Stampede is a pretty good show. At times it can get a little on the violent side which just makes you mad at Vash every time since he could have done more to prevent these scenarios. Realistically you can’t blame him for everything though, Knives also deserves the lion’s share of the blame at the end of the day because he’s the one putting the gears into motion but Vash should have been better. The show has a good plot and it is very engaging though. The banter between Vash and Wormwood is as good as you might have guessed and I liked how many different parties got involved by the end. It’ll be difficult for a future season to match this one now that a lot of the big plots are completed but there is certainly room for the sequel. A lot of the internal debates like the rights for the sentient plants can continue to be a thing. Of course it does feel like a losing battle as long as the people in high positions tend to be humans. I’d recommend checking this one out and if you like it, then watch the original for the more fleshed out version.

Overall 7/10

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song Review

Posted on May 4, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a music focused anime which is always fun. You can bet that there are some solid tunes here and the anime has a bunch of fun time travel in it too. So you’ve got a good story going with fun characters and better than expected fight scenes. All in all, this made for a winning combination. I remember seeing this one around quite a bit back when it was airing so it’s cool to have been able to check it out.

In the future, AI are evolving at a rapid rate. There are still barriers keeping them from going into every industry but they can at least sing and perform concerts as well as do basic security. The show revolves around an AI named Vivy. Every AI has a mission, a purpose for which they exist. Vivy’s purpose as you may guess is to sing her songs and reach the hearts of the masses. She must continue to hone her skills until she has gotten everyone to hear her music. Unfortunately this is difficult because her music may seem perfect objectively but it has no heart. How can an AI put heart into her music? Less and less people are bothering to listen to her anymore. Well, one day her life is turned upside down when an AI named Matsumoto shows up. He confirms that he is here to save the future.

See, in the future AI continues to evolve but it gets to a point where the world is destroyed. The AI go absolutely crazy and murder everyone. Based on readings from the future, they will be able to avoid this future if Vivy can protect someone from being assassinated. She is reluctant because this isn’t related to her mission but if everyone dies then she can’t clear her mission by default right? So she thinks this through and decides to help. Now she will have to quickly download some combat moves and save the day but can she really trust this Matsumoto? Also, will these missions help her establish some heart within her music?

That’s sort of the basic plot but there’s so much going on here that it’s hard to compress this. Another way to think of it is that Matsumoto goes back to the future after each episode to see if things have changed. Every time the future hasn’t gone any better so he goes back to Vivy with different missions to keep trying until the day is saved. You can only pull this off so many times before running out of energy though so it won’t be easy. Meanwhile Vivy tends to be reluctant most of the time but for good reason. She tends to get the short end of the stick here.

In a lot of media involving time travel, a common theme is that certain tragedies are completely inevitable. I never bought into this, but the show definitely takes the approach that it is extremely difficult to stop the dark future. Every time Vivy saves the day, a new trigger appears to keep on making things rough. Also she goes through so many different traumas in the show. It felt like just about every episode Vivy would have to watch someone close to her get destroyed and there’s no way for her to go back in time.

Matsumoto gets to head off for years and even decades at a time while she has to continue living life. It’s definitely a rough deal, one of these moments in particular really shook her to the core. So Vivy gets a ton of credit for continuing to fight despite all of these struggles. At one point she basically has to create a second personality entirely to deal with the trauma which feels like a very logical thing for an AI to do. I suppose if you are scared of AI taking over in the real world you may have a bit of a tough time with the show as well.

Like I mentioned earlier, the animation is really sharp here. There is the occasional CG that slips in, but for the most part we’re talking high quality levels of hand drawn here. The fights move at an incredibly fast pace and have some really great hand to hand combat featured within. I wouldn’t say this is an action show first and foremost so you shouldn’t expect a big action scene in every episode but they definitely show up often enough to keep this moving at a high level. We get some cool aerial fights, grounded fights, etc. The non action moments look great as well and so the series really spared no expense here. This is well above average with the animation.

As for the soundtrack I wouldn’t say that it particularly stands out but the opening is pretty solid and there are a few other lyrical songs that pop up. When the show is going into full concert mode then it works really well. The rest of the tunes will just end up blending into the scene so they’re not bad but won’t really kick things into the next level. I suspect a lot of the budget went into the opening and the different song variations though so that makes sense.

As a main character Vivy is very solid. She may be hesitant to help out most of the time but again, I’d say that it’s pretty reasonable considering everything that she goes through. At the end of the day she does help out which is the important thing. That said, I actually preferred her alter ego Diva. As Diva she is incredibly confident the first one to run onto the scene when anything is happening. I have to give her a ton of credit all the way through. If she was the main character from the start I dare say that the heroes would have won a lot quicker. Now granted, it’s easy for Diva to talk tough when she didn’t experience the tragedies directly. It’s totally possible that she would have ultimately had the same issues as Vivy otherwise. It’s only a guess though so I choose to guess that she would have stayed strong.

Matsumoto may be more logic focused but he definitely gets some emotions as the series goes on too. He’s a solid sidekick and the banter between the two characters is a large part as to why the show is very fun. Matsumoto will get sarcastic quite often and since he is far more advanced than any AI of Vivy’s era, he is able to slip past any and all barriers. Definitely not someone you would want as your enemy. He proved himself more than enough times so I was glad to have him around.

Then we had Estella and Elizabeth who showed up during a space arc. They were both solid characters and it was nice to have a mini mystery on who the big villain was who planned to destroy the space station. While Matsumoto is from the future and knows the general events of what will happen, he knows the original records of them which may not be fully accurate. Since these two are sisters it is possible that the wrong one could be picked. Especially with the local terrorist group being around to help out as always.

It makes for a pretty interesting dynamic since the terrorist group are effectively right for the wrong reasons. The AI actually will go on to murder the humans like they fear but the group is ultimately still evil. So Vivy in a way is fighting for the same cause but it’s not like they’ll team up. If anything they are still trying to destroy her for being an AI. Their main leader in particular is really petty and keeps trying to destroy her even after she has saved him on multiple occasions. He just can’t stand the idea of being saved by an AI but it is what it is.

After that, the next arc involves taking down the big machine island that was set up. This is yet another tragic event that Vivy has to go through because this is supposed to be a bright day for AI. They are trying hard to learn how to take care of humans and make them feel comfortable while also having their own spot. This should be a day for celebration, not something to be destroyed. Unfortunately thanks to the future we learn that things won’t go very well. There is a twist about the true identity of the island’s AI too which makes things even rougher. Vivy is constantly put in a position where someone has to die in order to save everyone else and that’s not an easy spot to be in. It still made for an intense arc with a very solid climax though.

In dealing with the dark future, the show wasn’t afraid to get rather dark at times too. At some points, this did mean that the show would get rather violent with the different character deaths. I’d say the most shocking was definitely the little girl in the second episode. That was a pretty rough one, I was fully expecting there to be some kind of a twist the whole time. Then you have another character who couldn’t live with the tragedy of what happened and he ends up destroying himself right in front of Vivy. It’s pretty hard to to deal with all of the deaths but of course you never want to check out early like that.

In general I wouldn’t say that the show is all that violent though. Those were the two most shocking moments because it just didn’t seem like they were going to die though. The show really made the most of the opportunity though like using that for another time skip and introducing the new personality. That was petty interesting and a good way to move on rather than dwelling on the moment or the fall out. This show never had time for that as it kept on moving forward.

So the show overall had a light tone with a good amount of banter but it would sure get very serious at different points. In general you have a little less time for humor and everything in the second half. Although calling it a whole half may be a stretch. There were still a good deal of happy moments when Diva took control for episode 9 so a better way of putting it might be that there are fewer scenes with no baggage. Even when the characters are having fun later, it’s over the piles of corpses at that point. The next arc was to prevent the songstress Ophelia from destroying herself but due to how the time travel works and everything that wasn’t quite the scenario going on anyway. We actually have Antonio doing some body swaps and being rather desperate to complete his own AI mission but it felt like he was just being a contradiction at that point. If he left Ophelia to her devices then she may have at least had a chance.

The climax here was definitely really solid though, another great fight all around. After that we cut to the final arc which is a fitting climax. It definitely does suck for the humans who are really getting murdered and run over left and right. It can maybe get a little excessive at one point but for the most part the violence vanishes again after that. I did think the climax had a few stretches of disbelief for me though. The biggest was another time jump that didn’t really seem to make sense. I don’t see how it would have been possible here. The explanation was a bit iffy because to me then you could almost create a loop and do this forever.

The action and everything was good though, my main issue is the actual ending. Both Vivy and Diva get rather bad endings here. Diva’s is probably worse because of how sad it is but I’d argue Vivy also got cheated in the end. She should have gotten a much better ending and while the show may not paint it as being overtly negative, I would consider it as a “bad” ending. Similar to when you’re reading a book that has a good, neutral, and bad ending. I would expect to find this in the final category. It’s not like it’s bad enough to lower the score or anything but it’s just a harsh climax.

Overall, Vivy is a pretty fun show. It uses the time travel well and I like the idea of these constant time skips of many years between episodes. It’s something you can really only do with the main heroine being an eternal robot like this. The ending does fumble a bit though. You still have a lot of good replay value here but I would have really preferred a more satisfying ending. After all of the trials and everything that went on, you want a really good ending. Still, I would recommend this series if you are looking for a fun time and want some good songs. There is a lot to enjoy here and the show definitely goes by quickly.

Overall 7/10

Toradora! Review

Posted on April 20, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to jump into one of those big romance-comedy titles from a while back. This one definitely goes all in on the comedy right from the jump as the first episode launches quickly with the main heroine punching the guy’s lights out and then breaking into his house. That really set the show up on a good pace and it’s definitely a really fun title. Usually the weakest part of any romantic comedy tends to be the ending as the comedy part eventually has to give way for the serious romance and this one is no exception. The ending is a bit of a trainwreck at times but that’s less than 10% of the whole show so either way I am able to solidly recommend this title to anyone regardless.

The show starts off by introducing us to Ryuji who is your average teen except for the fact that he was born with a really scary face. So everybody thinks he’s a big delinquent and that makes it tough for him to approach the love of his life, Minori. Well, this school term is his chance to get past that but unfortunately he is in the same class as the Palm-Top Tiger. A legendary delinquent whose short stature doesn’t stop her from beating everyone up. Sure enough, she knocks him out early on and it turns out that she lives right across the street from him. There is one thing that connects them though, Taiga is in love with Ryuji’s best friend Yusaku and Taiga’s best friend is Minori. So they decide that they will help each other obtain true love but what if they end up falling for each other somewhere in the process?

Now I have to admit that if they didn’t fall for each other in the end I may even bump this up to an 8 because that would be completely unheard of for this kind of show. You want to talk about plot twists? This would be the biggest plot twist in the anime industry. Regardless, for a show like this the process is more important than the outcome. After all in a grand sense you know how most stories will end. It’s just all about the execution on just how good the story will be and the execution here is pretty fun.

Right off the bat you see that this show isn’t afraid to have some slapstick in the mix. When Taiga’s not slapping Ryuji, she’s punching, headbutting, or just pushing him around. She’s definitely a really tough character and the show can be super expressive. There’s always some comedic violence going on and the gags work very well. I do tend to enjoy Tsundere type characters in just about all anime but of course it also depends on how the writing goes. This was a very well written character and the rest of them are very different from Taiga so it’s also not like this will get repetitive. She’s actually the only openly violent character.

I would also say that another strength to the show is that each character gets a whole lot of depth. Rather than expanding the cast with the show getting over 20 episodes, it mainly sticks to the main cast from the first part so they all get their own character arcs. Yeah there are a few side characters who don’t do much but they didn’t have a ton of potential anyway. The show’s at its best when Ryuji and Taiga are trying to come up with a lot of plans and just failing miserably the whole time. After the final episode there is a bonus episode involving school bento lunches that takes place early on and it easily clobbered most of the final episodes because of this.

It’s a series where you get so invested into the comedy that you don’t even want the plot to return. Of course, the fact that the plot exists is why the comedy can be good so you can’t really go without it. It’s like a mystery series, you have to allow for an ending even if you feel bad because you wanted more of the intrigue. The ending/reveal is a necessary weak point for these kinds of genres so you just have to get ready and accept it. In the meantime though you get to really enjoy the comedic moments as they come in.

Fortunately the animation is also very high end and is able to complement the humor well. We even get a fight scene that actually looks rather good in one of the classrooms. We’re talking about some real physical blows being thrown around and a lot of movement. There’s also a brief slapping fight later on during a trip and a nice attention to detail was that the stronger fighter got a much more powerful sound effect for each slap. The show was always ready to pay attention to each detail which was good.

As for the soundtrack, this is one area where the show definitely went above expectations. There are a number of really catchy tunes in the show. The first opening is also really solid. I’m not as on board with the second one but it’s okay. Unfortunately my favorite theme in the show seems to be hard to find on Youtube so I suspect it’s a small part of a track so I need to listen to it more carefully to find this one. It’s got some nice randomness to it that fits the moments.

So yeah the writing is really solid and that helps the series be a lot of fun. The main cast is generally really solid as well. As for the romance….well yeah get ready for a lot of rebounds. Naturally the romance will usually be the weak link here. I did smirk a bit as the romance went on because at first the show is at least trying to make you think that this won’t turn into one of those titles where everyone likes the main character but at the end that is also something that’s difficult for the genre to dodge. So I can’t say I was behind the end game pairing here. I wasn’t particularly rooting for any of them but naturally the best girl does lose since that’s always how it goes with these things.

The reason the climax fails a bit for me though isn’t even directly related to the romance. I felt like a few of the story beats weren’t developed enough so you were almost rooting against the main characters. For example towards the end Ryuji gets upset with his Mom for trying too hard to make everything work out without relying on him. So he then decides to run off which doesn’t solve any of the issues and really just makes him look super ungrateful. I wasn’t on board with him at all here. It’s at least a little understandable for Taiga but even then it feels too drastic. You never got the feeling that things were as dire as the main two made it out to be.

Then the final episode plays out a bit too melodramatic in some ways. There was no reason for Taiga’s final decision which just put a lot of heat on Ryuji for no reason. I guess the ending throws you a bone but it just felt unnecessary. So the final 2-3 episodes started to feel a bit off and the plot developments feel random at best but like I said, the rest of the journey was on point so that’s really what counts. There’s also a big difference between an underwhelming ending and a downright bad one. Like it’s not enough to lower the score or anything like that. Now lets talk about the characters.

First up is Ryuji who is super addicted to cleaning. He actually gets excited when he sees that a place is messy since it means that he can get in there and make the place look perfect. This gag doesn’t appear very often but I’d say that it’s a good character gimmick. Meanwhile he’s a nice guy who does his best to look out for everyone and make things work out. He doesn’t always make the right calls and makes a few mistakes particularly when the parental figures are involved but at least he means well.

He has enough courage to try asking out Minori several times which is more than a lot of other main characters. Things tend to not go his way which are usually due to stuff he can’t control. He also does his best to look out for Taiga even when they were just neighbors. I’d say this shines through a lot more on his side than Taiga’s to be honest. For most of the series he is helping her out without much in return for himself and he seems to genuinely care. He is the kind of guy who will really help anyone out.

Then you have his best friend Yusaku who can be a little more on the annoying side. His main character flaw seems to be trying to ignore what is happening in order to avoid conflict. That means acting oblivious whenever it suits him. He looks really bad in his mini arc as well when he starts to act out. I would definitely say that was his worst moment by far and it was hard to recover from that. From the main cast he was definitely the weakest. Still not a bad character I’d say but yeah he mostly worked as an obstacle/antagonist rather than amping up the main cast.

Then on the heroine side we have Taiga as the main heroine and she definitely brings in a lot of the heart for the show. She’s a little out of her depth on how the whole romance thing goes and so Ryuji has to help her a whole lot. Half the time it feels like he set things up pretty well for her but she wouldn’t have the nerve to go along with it and would mess things up for him. So again, you have to give Ryuji a whole lot of points for effort here. Taiga’s toughness is part of what makes her so much fun though. At one point she isn’t sure how she can help emotionally so she takes out her sword and just starts beating someone up.

As the show goes on she gradually learns more though and stars to become more aware of how to act on her emotions. In a way it helps her move on when she sees that she’s not the first choice. Of course that doesn’t work with the rebound that comes in later on but she definitely changes a lot from the start to finish. She tries to go down the noble route of just letting the guy she likes go so that she doesn’t wreck another relationship. Ultimately after a lot of pressure she isn’t able to hang on but it was a good attempt.

Her constant banter with Ryuji is always a lot of fun and she’s an entertaining character. Taiga is very much a bold kind of character who goes and tries her best at everything she tries. Then you have her friend Minori who is also a great character. Minori always believes in trying really hard at everything in life. She joins tons of different clubs and jobs and pushes herself to her very limits. She also believes in always having a great attitude and never gets down about things.

Minori even faces her fears right away in the first episodes without backing down. So she’s really fun and is another selfless character who is willing to throw away her desires to help someone else out. This can sometimes turn into a bit of a Martyr case where these things just start to build up but I can still admire this part of her. Eventually when her buttons are pushed enough she will cut loose but it takes a whole lot to get to that point. It’s never that she’s fake either but she tries to just tune things out that would cause her to lose her focus.

So she’s another really solid heroine here and of course the more solid characters you have, the more tragic the ending is going to inevitably be. The most tragic would have to be Ami though who is also the most mature character. Everyone expects her to be super mature too which is the tough part since she has an image to maintain. If she lets it slip at any point then it starts to turn into trouble. At first she’s a jerk but gradually gets nicer as the series goes on.

I give her the most credit here because she successfully keeps in her feelings at all times. Even by the end it’s not clear if Ryuji ever got what was going on. Ami made some fair attempts but when they didn’t work, she never tried to get in the way of the other relationships or cause trouble. In her own way she even helped out her rivals a whole lot. It’s the tragic kind of romance that is one sided but that’s what makes it fun to root for if you had to pick a pairing to go for. Can she get ahead of the other characters? It’s not always easy though and if someone’s not into you then that’s really where that ends. There’s not much that you can do about that.

So Ami’s a character that was doomed from the jump and you feel bad for her the whole time. She really stuck the landing though and never took things the wrong way. She ended up being the best character in the show easy and that’s saying a lot since the cast is generally pretty good. Then we have a few minor classmates but they tend to be weaker or just don’t get much to do. First is Koji who is just annoying the whole time. I felt like he had no real purpose in the story other than to be annoying. Seriously he doesn’t add anything to the story at all and he’s just not that funny. I guess he serves the role as the hopeless flirt who is out of his league.

Then there is Hisamisu who gets a sudden romance plot with Maya at the end but it comes in way too late. It’s also crazy how late he is to the party as he tries to ship Taiga and Yusaku well after that plot had already ended. Meanwhile Maya was trying to get Ryuji and Taiga together so she could be with Yusaku but nothing really came out of this either. Maya was at least a fun character though and if she had appeared more I think she would have been able to add to the dynamic.

Then we have Ryuji’s mom Yasuko who has a medium sized role here. While the show is mainly good about not having too much fanservice, it does feel like that is her role for the most part. There are other moments for other characters here and there but the camera usually gets dicey when Yasuko is around. I feel like this even fools the writers into forgetting just how tragic of a character she is. Yasuko has to raise Ryuji all by herself and works nights and picks up as many part time jobs as possible to support him. She is really working hard and doing her best at all times yet the show kind of turns against her in the end. I didn’t think anything about the ending was justified against her. They call her immature and everything but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

She sacrificed a whole lot to help Ryuji and it makes sense that she wanted him to focus on his studies. So this was one plot where I definitely disagreed with the direction that the show went in. We understood why Taiga’s dad was a big villain as he kept on breaking her heart over and over again. The Mom didn’t get enough to do so that’s a bit harder to tell but at least we could reasonably say she wasn’t being very helpful. This just wasn’t the case for Yasuko.

I’m not really sure what their pet bird Inko added to the show though. I think it went a bit too far in trying to make his character design look really ugly though. They could have made him look a little cooler. Then you have the teacher Yuri who is okay. You feel a little bad for her too though since her high school life definitely left her wanting for more and now she feels like she’s too old to really do anything. That’s got to be rough. She is absolutely too harsh on herself though.

Finally there is the student council present Sumire who doesn’t appear for long but she has a pivotal role in one arc. She was a solid character who handled the situation pretty well. I guess making a joke out of the guy’s confession towards her was not very nice but the setting for being asked out was pretty bad. Never ask someone out in front of a huge crowd and put them on the spot like that. Ultimately I can also see why she was a bit disillusioned since Yusaku took the news of her leaving so badly. I think she could have even been a good addition to the main cast as another strong member who could handle anything if she had stuck around.

Overall, Toradora is a pretty fun series. You’ll definitely get a solid amount of laughs out of it and the pacing is on point. The characters all get a ton of development to them and you really feel the progression from each of them. None of them are really the same as they initially started which is the sign of a solid show there. The status quo was definitely changed quite a few times and the show is long enough where it gets to take its time in each one and we can see the characters just interact. You really feel like you know all of the characters very well by the end. A sequel could definitely be fun at some point although the ending is fairly definitive. I also think it’s hard to match the school setting since in College they will all be split up but I suppose then it’s up to the writers to come up with a bunch of fun new characters.

Overall 7/10

Lycoris Recoil Review

Posted on April 20, 2024 by dreager1

I remember this anime being massively popular when it first came out. There were clips of it everywhere and it looked like a pretty fun show all around. Well, I have now gotten to dive into it and it is a fun experience. I’d say the dynamic between the main two heroines is definitely one of the stronger ones and is a big reason as to why the show is fun to watch. It’s also the only time I can think of where you have one character who is a prodigy and then the other is a super prodigy to the point where the first one even looks super weak. The power scaling here gets pretty intense.

In this world, there are a group of girls who fight to protect Japan from behind the scenes. They are the Lycoris. They operate in complete secrecy so nobody even knows that they exist. Because of this, the world believes that Japan is basically crime free because their citizens are just that good. They’re literally built different and it gives people a lot of security. You feel safe while in Japan. The main heroine is Takina and she is the best agent in the group. She completes all missions with ease and while this has stunted her emotional growth, she is effective. Unfortunately on one mission her partner gets captured so Takina rescues her by going in guns blazing but she had to defy orders in the process.

Takina is demoted from the main task force and sent to a little Lycoris cafe in the middle of nowhere. Since Takina has trained all her life to be the best, this is a huge blow for her and she wants to get back into the elite squad at all costs. It won’t be easy though as she will have to work together with Chisato, the problem child of the group. What Takina doesn’t realize is that Chisato is the greatest Lycoris agent to ever live. She has uncanny reflexes that allow her to dodge any attack and she does all this while keeping up a no murder policy. It’s going to be tough getting back to the main squad when working with a troublemaker like this. Takina may be at odds with Chisato for now but will she slowly learn how to just be a normal civilian?

I’d say in a lot of ways that’s the main plot here. Takina put her whole life into being a ruthless killing machine but now she gets to do some normal stuff. Operating a cafe for example may be low key but it does force her to learn some actual conversational skills. Chisato helps her learn how to dress fashionably and take life less seriously as well. It takes a while for Takina to really start dropping her defenses but that’s what makes the dynamic work. I think it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if Chisato wasn’t so unbelievably strong so it’s good that she was the top fighter.

The concept of the Lycoris group is also pretty interesting. I feel like it probably doesn’t hold up if you think about it too hard though. Like when they’re murdering all of these villains and hiding the evidence, what happens to the families? They’re told some kind of accident happened and they aren’t allowed to see the body? No matter what tricks you go with here, it feels like they wouldn’t be able to work indefinitely. The more that things keep being weird and having unexplainable circumstances, the more that it’s going to raise some flags. There’s also a second secret assassin group made up of the guys but they’re a lot weaker and not much of a threat so you can ignore them.

The animation here is very solid as you would expect. It’s all very smooth and the action scenes always bring out the best in the series. There are a lot of quick movements and the opening is also high budget. Basically any time Chisato is fighting, the series dials things up quite a bit. It helps that this is the best way to show her bullet timing abilities so she gets to dodge a lot of hits all the time. The gun fights and also just the general movement around town tend to be good as well. The colors are striking and so I have no real negatives here.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is good as well although it’s a lot more subdued. The opening for example is great but from the ost within the show, you will likely be forgetting about it fairly quick. None of the tunes there were super memorable but at least they would fit the scene so I still wouldn’t say that the themes are bad or anything like that. Then we get to the characters. The cast isn’t all that large but considering that the show is only 13 episodes that makes sense. First up is Takina who is of course a great main character.

It does feel like her confidence doesn’t always line up with her skill level though. She may have been the best among the active Lycoris but when the going gets tough she does not do well against the main villain Majima and several times seems to be holding Chisato back. Still I like her personality and I tend to enjoy characters with high levels of confidence. Takina is always talking tough to anyone in her way and she does try really hard to learn every lesson that Chisato gives out. So you have to give her a lot of credit there. Like I said before, she is one of the big reasons why the show is good.

Then you have Chisato who definitely steals the show here. She has a lot of confidence and is always upbeat. She’s not the kind of character who will do much bragging but her confidence shines though in subtle ways. If there is a big fight where everyone is sweating and stressing, she’s just casually dominating the fight. She is quick to defend Takina as well and is also the most heroic member of the group. Unlike everyone else who are content to murder as many villains as possible, Chisato takes them all alive. She even loads her gun with pepper spray instead of bullets to further make sure that she doesn’t go too far by mistake.

Chisato definitely has a serious plot ongoing here involving a mystery that she has to solve but where other characters might falter and get frustrated, she just plunges forward. There aren’t many characters that are as mentally strong as she is, that’s for sure. Her character’s ending is satisfying here.

Then we have Kurumi who is really good at hacking. So while she may not be able to fight, that’s fine. Having two expert fighters on the group seems like it should be enough for any circumstance right? Kurumi’s hacking comes in handy many times as it is. I don’t think she adds a ton to the dynamic as far as the characters go but she’s not bad. She’s still a fun character to have around. Finally you have Mizuki who probably has the smallest role from the main group. She helps out as needed but is really here as comic relief so don’t expect her to really contribute in the plot.

Now lets talk about the higher ups in the Lyrocis project who tend to be the worst characters. First you have Mika who owns the bar and is trying to do better but I have to say that he comes across pretty badly by the time all of the twists are accounted for. He takes way too long to come clean about a lot of things and the secrets are actively hurting everybody. He really needed to do better and comes across as wishy washy during a lot of points. There was no real saving him because at the end of the day inaction is almost always a negative action.

Even worse though is Kusonoki. She leads the Lycoris project although she still has to answer to the board of directors and everything. The problem is that she loses fight of the point of the project early on into the show. Benching Takina for a small problem and then ignoring her the whole time is just unprofessional. Even worse is the fact that Takina finds out new clues and evidence that helps them press the case forward on several accounts. It’s clear that they need Takina but a misplaced sense of justice causes Kusonoki to still make the wrong move. Then here is a moment where the government tells her to stand down so they can murder all of the girls, she doesn’t do much about it. Yeah she has her big resistance moment but now that we know this kind of order can happen she should be taking steps to destroy the other groups. Kusonoki ultimately feels like the kind of character who will follow orders and keep the status quo even if everyone ends up dying as a result.

Then we have the other members of Lycoris who are mainly here to help remind us why the group is absolutely doomed without Takina and Chisato. Those two hard carry the group. Fuki is one of the squad leaders and she can’t do much of anything. She talks a big game but can’t back it up. Then you have Sakura who replaced Takina and gets embarrassed at every opportunity. She comes across more annoying than anything else. Like I said I typically enjoy the confident characters but it can’t be 100% empty air. At that point I just can’t take you seriously.

There’s also a detective character running around but I feel like the show wasn’t really sure what to do with him. He just gets written out midway and gets a final scene at the end. I was expecting his plot to continue and maybe we would get something big in season 2. Granted, like I said the whole Lycoris secret project doesn’t always feel very well thought out so him solving it could have been interesting but the whole thing felt a little weak.

Okay now lets talk about the villains here. First up is Shinji who is definitely on the weak/annoying side. So this guy basically has a death wish for a while there and his plans don’t really excite me. I feel like he isn’t even getting closer to his goals with the way he handled things. Chisato looks up to him a whole lot so a direct approach might have at least had a slim shot of succeeding. Instead he’s playing all of these games and being sneaky while talking about his message in the worst way possible. There was no way he was going to win over Chisato the way that he planned it out. It just doesn’t make sense. So yeah this guy was pretty awful the whole time.

Then you have Robota as the evil hacker and he was okay but my main problem was just that he was really weak. You couldn’t take him too seriously because the heroic hacker was so much better than him at all times. So this guy has a lot of confidence issues as a result and that doesn’t really work for a villain. Fortunately the main villain Majima helped to balance things out because he is actually a really good character. Basically he wants to expose the Lycoris group by letting everyone know the truth about them. He goes pretty far in this goal like spreading a ton of weapons among the civilians and making a lot of connections.

Naturally he goes full villain with how he is actually murdering people but otherwise the message makes sense. This fake sense of security by hiding all crimes does feel like it’s not the right thing to do. They’re just hiding things at that point and playing judge, jury, and executioner. They are explicitly acting outside of the law here. That said, the characters still treat him way too kindly to the point where it doesn’t make sense. The biggest example of this is the climax with him fighting Chisato.

At times it feels like Chisato doesn’t care that this guy was ramming other Lycoris agents with cars and generally causing a lot of people to die. She was arguing with him like he was some random dude. Yeah it’s great that she never takes things too hard or gets down in the dumps for long but this was different. This is a fight where she needed to knock him out right away to neutralize the threat. The climax just felt out of character and a bit bizarre. It only would have worked alongside the twist that he never actually ended up hurting anybody. It’s why the whole fireworks scene doesn’t really work.

But hey, getting let off easy by the heroes isn’t a negative for Majima. He’s just responsible for his own actions and on those he did good. Considering how outgunned he was against Chisato, he also did a great job of planning for the fight and using the only way possible to even the playing field. Even with that Chisato was definitely primed for the win but I give the show big props for actually coming up with a way to make it dangerous for her. For a while it seemed like there were not going to be any real threats to Chisato in the series. Nothing wrong with that of course but I do always love when a character can go all out because it’s really close.

The show mainly keeps things high brow the whole time too which is nice. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that there wasn’t much fanservice. The show even mainly avoids having any rushed romance plots thrown into the mix. So this way we’re able to just have the main characters enjoy life and have fun. The episodes usually would spend half of the runtime having fun and then half with some kind of action scene and the balance works really well. I’d say the show’s biggest strength is that it’s just fun to watch. Each episode is entertaining and so the show manages to be consistent the whole way through. The foundation is strong enough where the show could fully transition into being a slice of life title and it would still be in good shape. Although of course I’m glad we get to keep the action in. One plot that I think we could take a bit further is Chisato’s killer mode. We don’t get to see much of that even in the final battle and it feels like there is some good potential there because she’s still holding it back in a sense. The longer she holds it back, the more credit I give her strength of will though.

Overall, Lycoris Recoil is a pretty fun show. It’s the kind of title with a lot of potential for sequels. You could really keep sending the heroines on more and more missions as needed and the end only has to happen once the writers run out of ideas. If you like the idea of secret agents protecting Japan then this lives up to the premise. It’s bound to keep your attention all the way through and a lot of care was definitely put into this one. I’d be hyped for a season 2.

Overall 7/10

Little Witch Academia Review

Posted on February 28, 2024 by dreager1

All right, it’s time to talk about a very wholesome slice of life title. Yeah you could probably throw some other genres into this one but that’s what I think of when talking about this show. It’s got magic, fantasy, and spells but for the most part it’s about the girls living their day to day lives and having a lot of fun. It’s a very pleasant show and one where I do think the animation is part of what helps it turn up to the next level. They had a lot of fun going crazy here.

The show starts off with Akko getting ready to start her first day at magic school! As a kid she always looked up to Shining Chariot and so now this is her chance to follow in the legend’s footsteps. The only problem is that Akko has a very low aptitude for magic. No matter how often she trains, she has trouble performing even the most basic of spells. Throughout the show she has to try and keep her confidence up while watching everyone else easily excel. Fortunately she makes two friends in Lotte and Sucy and even gets a rival in the prodigy Amanda. Along the way Akko may even have to save the world…or at least the school.

So yeah this is one of those shows that can be fairly episodic for most of the run but there are ongoing plots in the background. One of them for example is that their teacher Ursula is a bit mysterious. As the viewer you find out that she is Shining Chariot almost immediately but the characters don’t know that. Part of the mystery is why did she retire in the first place and then additionally, why not just tell everyone?

The only tricky thing with a plot like this is you are always looking forward to it getting more screentime. You want to see what happens with Shining Chariot but typically the show only gives you some breadcrumbs. It’s not until deep in the second half of the show that you get to see her having more action. Even by the end of the series, my favorite episode was easily when she infiltrates the villain, Croix’s base. We get to see why she was the top witch as she’s jumping past enemies and using a lot of crazy acrobatics.

In Chariot mode her eyes and hair even change color. It definitely makes for a perfect disguise in that way since nobody should reasonably be able to figure out her secret. If she’s stressed then her eyes change color though so she has to watch out for that. She’s definitely one of my favorite characters even if her inaction can be a bit annoying at times. She should have told everyone about Croix right away. I know in general she wants to be a nice person and doesn’t want to jump the gun but once lives are at stake then you really have to make a move.

Again this isn’t typically an action series but it certainly happens at times. You have dragons and then near the end you have Croix and her machines. The machines are pretty fun and definitely have a whole lot of uses to them. Croix is also a fun villain. Naturally she does have a backstory and everything but the show committed to her being an antagonist a lot more than I figured. For part of the show I was expecting it to all be some kind of massive misunderstanding. Sure, we find out her reasons for doing all of this but she was actually causing damage and could have easily murdered Chariot and Akko at different points. Croix was really resolute in her goal for most of the run so she worked really well as a villain.

Before I talked about the animation and part of why it’s so good is because of how fast it is. You really feel the speed going by when Akko gets her magic staff and zooms through at super speed. Shining Chariot gets some good animation whenever she shows up and all the action scenes are great. The animation goes one step further though and is also very expressive during normal scenes. I think what caught my eye the most were the facial expressions. Akko always has different funny faces going on when she is frustrated, excited, bored, etc.

It’s the kind of show you could watch on mute and you could always tell what her mood is. I dare say she may have had the best facial expressions I’ve seen in anime. It really helps to play up the humor. For example with standard animation this may have been more of a 6 but it gives the show an extra boost because it’s always just a lot of fun. Now at times the show almost feels like it has some fanservice with how short the costumes are and how the animation is so high budget that the wind is constantly blowing as they’re jumping around but I feel like the show was just careful enough to never go too far there.

There may be a little fanservice here and there but for the most part I really do think the show isn’t going for that. It’s more just showing off the special effects than anything and there’s no perv characters or anything running around. If anything this is a very safe all ages kind of show and it’s even got some nice morals throughout. It’s not a literal “Dear Celestia, today I learned…” but usually there’s something about never giving up, trusting your friends, learning that others have their own problems, etc. So in that way it can almost feel part educational. I think this would have fit right in as a Saturday morning cartoon.

In terms of world building I think the show isn’t always perfect though. It’s always fairly ambiguous just how much the average human knows about the witches. On one hand they have to get investors for the school so the rich people kind of know about it but some seem to think it’s all just a big hoax/scam. That would be fine if the witches weren’t right there but it’s extremely easy to prove that witchcraft is real. I’d have preferred either they went the X-Men route and just pretended to be a normal school, or that everyone just knows about them and they’re cool with it. I feel like the show sort of goes in the latter direction but it’s just not as clear as you would expect.

In terms of the soundtrack, it’s not nearly as memorable as the animation. I’d say it sounds okay. I’m not a big fan of either opening but they work well enough. If the show was more action based then this would be more of a problem but for a slice of life the music isn’t something you focus on as much. As long as it isn’t downright bad then we’re always still in business. Now lets start talking about some of the characters. I wouldn’t say the show’s cast is all that big to be honest. There are a lot of one shot characters and also a bunch of mild supporting characters but for the most part the core cast is never big.

Akko is the main character and she’s a fun heroine. The storyline of the main character not being able to use magic or whatever power is normal in the setting isn’t anything new, but she doesn’t really get a cop out for it. Usually in titles like this, the main character secretly gets the strongest power (Magical Index), secretly always had powers, (Mashle) or gets a power that is just labeled differently. (Black Clover) Notice the cop out here, they can all actually fight. In this case, Akko can use magic to a small degree, she’s just not good at it. She will continue to improve over time but she’s not secretly the most powerful or anything.

At best she gets little glimpses of what a mage would be like by getting a special wand that works for everyone briefly and also with the magic broom. Neither of these are permanent power ups though so she still has to work hard every day. We also get an actual story reason for why it’s so difficult for her and it’s a pretty emotional twist. It really changes the whole dynamic of the show and also isn’t waved away by the end. If we ever got more seasons I’d be curious on what happens next. Akko may get sad at times but for the most part she never stays feeling sorry for herself for very long though.

One of her best friends is Lotte who is more of a brainy type of character. You can sometimes guess a character’s personality and strengths right from the design and this is one of those cases. There’s nothing wrong with Lotte but she’s never one of the more interesting characters. She tends to be fairly quiet and isn’t super ambitious so there just isn’t a lot you can really do with that character in the dynamic. She does have a plotline involving a book series that she enjoys though and that appears several times.

Then there is Sucy and I never became a fan of hers. My main problem is that she’s a little too drastic in her opening appearances. She nearly gets Akko murdered to which she is not apologetic and then tests her poisons and plants on her. She’s not the kind of friend you would want to have. Not only does Sucy always cause a lot of trouble but it’s the lethal kind. You want a friend who might pull some pranks or something on you but would never go quite so far. That’s where you have to put your foot down because it’s gone above the line.

Diana is one of the standout characters here though. She’s the classic genius/prodigy type of character so you know that she has absolute confidence. She’s rich as well which is an added bonus and is always outperforming Akko. By all accounts they shouldn’t even be rivals but Amanda doesn’t really dissuade Akko from this and just focuses on her own techniques. Part of what I like about Amanda is we see many times just how hard she trains and studies. As she tells Akko, she’s not the best because she’s just that talented, it’s because she trains the hardest.

I think more times than not this is true. The people exceling and doing a terrific job have actually put the work in. No matter how much of a prodigy you are, if you never train then you won’t go anywhere. I think it helps Akko see things in a different light and in general Diana is also just a very responsible person. While she has her banter with Akko, Diana never says anything particularly hurtful or ever tries to get in the lead’s way. She’s really a good role model all the way through.

There are a bunch of other classmates around. Some have big roles and some are more on the small side. The one I would mainly say is big enough to get a write up would be Amanda. She shows up a bit later in the show and is like a second rival. She’s super competitive and talks a good game. I thought she added a lot to the dynamic so I was glad to see her around. It’s always good to have another character with a ton of confidence to really shake things up.

For example we already have plenty of quiet characters like Constanze. She’s a genius and great at her craft but she’s not exactly the outgoing type. Nothing wrong with that but it does mean that she won’t tend to be quite as interesting. It’s always nice to see Akko gradually get to all of the characters and break the shells around them though. Also there is one human with a fairly big role and his name is Andrew. He’s the son of one of the biggest investors in the show and he always grew up being told that the witches were scams and not to take them seriously. After meeting Akko he learns the truth and also starts to slowly stand up for himself. So he has a good character arc here and has a lot more confidence than he used to.

The guy was never super timid or anything like that but he did have a tough time talking back to his father. He would just defer to the guy but now he can make his own decisions so that’s always a good thing. In a show like this you can probably imagine that there is some shipping going on, but for the most part this is avoided. I think that’s a good thing since this should just be a show more about having fun. The romantic drama can certainly wait and take a backseat for now. Finding the different inscriptions for the staff is already enough of an active plot to keep you super invested while still having a good time.

Overall, Little Witch Academia is a pretty fun show. It’s a fairly low stakes adventure for most of its run but will dial up the tension from time to time. There’s a lot of fun moments here and some quality characters to follow for the whole duration. You’ll have a good time for the entire run. At most you might just wish there were a few more action scenes for Shining Chariot to show off her skills. Even past her prime and without using her powers she is a complete threat in combat so you wish you could see her in her prime. A prequel starring her as the main character would be great someday! In the meantime I would definitely recommend this show if you’re looking for a solid feel good title.

Overall 7/10

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 1 Review

Posted on February 20, 2024 by dreager1

All right folks, it’s time for a classic romance anime. So the question here is, will it be one of those shows that survives in spite of the romance or will it be one with a high quality pairing? Fortunately it’s the latter and this show could teach a lot of it rivals a thing or two. Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura??? Out of the way, this is where quality romantic writing comes into play! The show manages to dodge a lot of the usual tropes and makes sure that the characters are really likable the whole time.

The show follows a girl named Sawako who is really softspoken. She’s fairly timid and doesn’t have any friends but she always tries to make a good impression. Sawako says good morning to everyone but people never really return her greetings and they even have a mean nickname for her: Sadako. Now I should say that for the most part the characters aren’t trying to be jerks, it just comes naturally because they’re super oblivious. But now she has finally made two friends in Ayane and Chizuru, plus the popular guy at school has actually noticed her. Things might be looking up for her but Sawako can’t let her guard down. All she’s ever wanted is a normal life and she won’t let it go!

Sawako hasn’t had the happiest childhood but she’s never let this get her down which I appreciate. Yes, she wasn’t exactly surrounded by friends but she has very supportive parents who were always good to her and she’s a glass half full kind of person. If there is some positive to be found then she will find it. Sawako’s never held a grudge against anyone and is quick to just say sorry and try to make things right. Part of her early character arc in the show is to speak up more to avoid any misunderstandings which is a good mindset to have. After that it’s about sorting out her feelings and being a little more outgoing.

I’d actually say that part’s not really a big change for her because again, she actually did try reaching out to the classmates and it just never worked out for a variety of reasons. Now she is able to do so with more confidence though. Because Sawako never had friends there are a lot of things that do go over head though which is part of the comedy here. She can misinterpret things and doesn’t always recognize an insult but she sticks up for her friends and is the happiest that she’s ever been. So the whole show is pretty wholesome and straight forward which can be a nice change of pace.

The main guy here is Kazahaya and he also surpasses expectations because he doesn’t fall for the usual traps. For example when the main villain Kurumi starts spreading rumors, he doesn’t take any of them seriously. When Sawako suggests putting some distance between them because she doesn’t want the rumors to hurt him, he just says that it’s nonsense. He stands up for her in class and makes sure people don’t go too far with the jokes. His most impressive moment is when Kurumi manipulates the situation so it looks like Sawako is hanging out with another guy and instead of sulking or running home, he just dashes over to her to ask her directly what’s going on.

Kazahaya is a very nice guy but he’s no pushover and is also direct when needed. He even admits on more than one occasion that he’s not the perfect guy Sawako thinks that he is. He’s got a short fuse and gets jealous easily but the fact that he controls himself so well all the time is a testament to his character. He’s a very well fleshed out characters with his own strengths and weaknesses. The guy’s humble but he does really excel the whole time.

Then we have a solid supporting cast here as well. First there is Ayane who is a strong contrast to Sawako. She’s not nearly as innocent in the art of romance and has a ton of real world experience. You can tell this will be a bigger plot point going forward because she doesn’t seem to be as cautious as she ought to be. She goes through a bad breakup in the show and keeps a strong face on but while everyone else is quick to cry or vent about their issues, she never really does. Internalizing is something that never really works out long term but I appreciate that she prioritizes her friends’ happiness so much. She is a good friend that you can count on.

She also really enjoys playing matchmaker so she always gives Sawako and Kazahaya a quick push when needed. Ayane is even the top bodyguard as she figures out Kurumi’s strategies and solidly puts an end to what’s going on. I don’t think the other characters were really prepared to handle this kind of mental warfare and so the situation would have just kept escalating otherwise.

Chizuru is Sawako’s other main friend and she’s a fun character as well. Tactics are not her strong suit but she is super emotional and expressive which always helps the group dynamic. She’s good at breaking the ice and is a very laidback character. She does get her mini arc in this season involving her first crush. Unfortunately for her there was a fairly big age gap and he already liked someone else but she doesn’t take it so well. Unlike Kazahaya and Sawako, she doesn’t communicate with Ryu nearly as well so they get a bunch of the usual misunderstandings.

It would have been annoying as the main pairing but as a side one it’s not quite as bad. As a whole the romance is significantly weaker than the main duo though so for now you hope it just stays as a friendship. After all, what’s better than having a good childhood friend right? It’s not like Ryuu’s ever asked her out or anything so as far as she’s concerned they are just good friends.

It’s why I put more of the pressure on Ryuu here. If you ask me, the person who is in love with the other one should always make the first move. I’d even say it should go both ways, the girl should ask the guy out if she likes him rather than waiting to be noticed which was Kurumi’s issue here. Nothing will happen if you’re just leaving it to destiny or something like that. Ryuu may be nervous about how things will play out but that’s when you have to look at the board and choose carefully. Imagine the worst case scenario and decide if the best case is worth it. Worst case: You lose the best friendship you’ve ever had. Best case: You’ve got a girlfriend now. So it just comes down to what is more worth it but you do have to make a choice at some point.

Ryuu’s whole character personality is that he’s the blunt type so this should be right up his alley. Well, romance dilemmas aside, he’s a solid character. Ryuu’s another nice guy who generally does the right things. He’s just not as outspoken as Kazahaya so he probably won’t be jumping into every situation. He won’t even notice most of them as he can be really oblivious at times.

There are a lot of other classmates running around as well but these are the main ones. One I will give a negative shoutout to is Joe though. He’s the definition of a super desperate guy who wants a girlfriend so badly that he’s always talking about it. Naturally nobody wants to be with him and it makes sense. He needs to have some dignity and then things will be looking up. That doesn’t mean he’s owed a relationship though, if it doesn’t happen then it doesn’t happen but a little more self respect never hurt anybody.

As the main villain of the show, Kurumi does a good job in the role. She pretends to be nice to everyone while secretly talking behind their backs and plotting their downfall. It’s a pretty realistic kind of villain for a school setting and we’ve all seen someone like this in the past. The key indicator is always if somebody gossips with you then you know they gossip about you as well. Kurumi is pretty slick to always be out of the limelight but she didn’t count on someone like Yano being around.

At the end of the day she tries these dirty tricks because she isn’t actually confident enough to ask out Kazahaya herself. There’s nobody to blame here though, it’s a skill issue pure and simple. It’ll take a lot for me to buy her as one of the good guys because she went really far with the rumors that she spread. She caused a lot of damage here and while it’s not surprising that Sawako would let that go really quickly, as a viewer I can’t really fall into the same boat.

Pin is the main teacher in the show and he’s a really fun side character. He’s one of the stronger comic relief characters and of course to put it mildly he is not a responsible grownup figure to root for. This guy is always over the top, putting students on the spot and ramps up the pressure when it’s time for the sport competitions. The reason this works though is every comedy show needs a hyper aggressive kind of character like this. Since he’s an adult he even dodges all of the romance drama although occasionally he will troll the characters a bit.

Yeah this guy’s a blast and the series just wouldn’t be the same without him. Meanwhile you have Sawako’s parents who are nice enough. It would be nice if the Dad was just a bit bolder though. He’s just so meek and constantly crying. It makes him a bit more one dimensional on the comedy scale. The Mom is fun enough though, she’s always around to support Sawako in all of her endeavors.

So we’ve got a pretty solid cast here overall. It’s not too big yet which works out well so you can focus on all of the characters individually. On an animation level the show can be fairly inconsistent. The character models aren’t always very detailed, they tend to change a lot from scene to scene and there are a bunch of moments where you can pause and have a good chuckle. That said, this is a comedy series so you’re not expecting a big budget production. That’s usually more the exception than the norm.

Additionally while I would say the show feels on the lower budget side, it can still have good shots. I think it does a good job with the chibi moments and Sawako has a very distinctive look to her chibi form. The show captures the art style fairly well there. The soundtrack is also fairly low key. I’m not a big fan of the opening but it’s okay. I’ve listened to it a bunch while writing the review and it still just doesn’t pop out at me. There’s a good dramatic theme that plays in the show but it’s basically the only one that I really remember.

So this is one show where the story has to carry it since the technical elements aren’t really doing much on their end. Fortunately the story is up to the task. There’s not much more to say here, it’s a well written show with good pacing and a lot of wholesome moments. I think it’s basically the kind of dream romance everyone thinks of when the subject comes up. It may seem a little too perfect at times but that’s part of the fun. If you want romance with tons of drama then there are countless titles to check out. Sometimes you just want a wholesome romance and this fits the bill. Not to say that there’s never any drama because that certainly comes up but it’s never anything significant or mean spirited. They are the kinds of problems that you could see coming up in real life as well and just talking through them. This show actually understands the power of proper communication.

Overall, I’d recommend checking out Kimi No Todoke. Of course it depends if this is your kind of show and you should be able to tell right away from the opening minutes if it will be. There are no big plot twists here. No sudden saving the world plot or big love triangles going on. It’s very directly a story about a guy and a girl each falling in love for the first time. No rebounds, Neither one of them is a delinquent, they didn’t have a dark childhood, nobody is deathly ill, etc. It’s just a quality romance and these are the reasons why it surpasses most. Sometimes you want to watch a show where everything just works out and the main couple get to share a bunch of great experiences instead of a bunch of traumas. The real test will be to see if future seasons can keep this up or if they will be too tempted to dump a bunch of trauma in.

Overall 7/10

Spy X Family Season 2 Review

Posted on February 18, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a pretty fun set of adventures with the Forger family. Season 2 adapts what I consider to still be the best arc in the manga so it’s going to be hard to beat this one. For the most part I would say the season is fairly low stakes aside from that adventure but it’s a really hype one to throw into the season. In general we don’t get to see as much of Yor at her job compared to Loid so it’s fun to see some action there. The show goes by really quickly at 12 episodes long.

Since most of the episodes are one shots, I’ll just go through them as I review the season. Real quick in case you don’t know the basic story of the show, here’s a recap. Loid is a professional spy with no equal and Yor is the world’s greatest assassin. Loid’s latest mission is to get closer to the Desmond family and find out what they are up to and for that reason he needed a family with a kid to infiltrate the school. So he adopted a kid named Anya (Who can secretly read minds) and married Yor (Who found this marriage to be convenient as her cover as well). They even got a dog (Who can see the future) and as they all live together they’ve quickly become a real family although Loid and Yor can be hesitant to admit this even in their thoughts.

You can see how this will play out on a large scale so for now the fun is in seeing how long they can keep the pretenses up before one of them gives away the secret. The first episode has Yor getting poisoned after one of her missions and so she’s working through it but the problem is that Loid’s taking her on a date to get her spirits up. Now she has to try and get through this adventure without him suspecting anything but since she can’t even sit, it won’t be easy. When you stop and think about it, most dates involve sitting at some point whether it be for watching a movie or eating. So as you can bet there are a lot of shenanigans going on here.

It’s a fun way to start the season off and you get to have a lot of Loid and Yor interactions which is always nice. It underscores how difficult it is to live this double life as well. It would be easy if they knew each other’s secrets after all and until the secret is revealed eventually in a last season or something, these misunderstandings will just continue to occur. Anya even gets to contribute a little here so she wasn’t left out of the premiere or anything like that.

The second episode is a bit on the weaker side and as you will quickly notice, the best episodes are the ones about Loid and Yor or at least one of them. When it’s about the side characters then it doesn’t stand quite as tall. This episode has two main segments. One is about poor Bond (The dog) seeing a future where Yor’s cooking takes him down so he has to find Loid and fast. Along the way he gets to help out on a mission which is fun enough but I feel like the dynamic with Bond can’t have as much variety almost by definition since he can’t talk. The other half is about Damian who has been working too hard. To take his mind off of studying, he is taken to the lake to fish and get to act like a kid for once.

Damian’s not awful or anything but you don’t really care much about these kids so the whole time you’re just waiting for one of the main characters to return. At least for me that’s my primary thought the whole time because they’re the ones who really get the plot going. The first segment with Bond had some action though so I’ll give it some props there. In general the show does a good job of moving quickly and the technical aspects like animation are always solid so it goes by quickly enough. Side characters are just side characters for a reason.

In episode 3 we get a Yuri segment which is always fun. We get to see him taking down a spy who was smuggling photos. The guy is very good at his job and while he is way too obsessed with Yor, he definitely cares about family a lot. That theme naturally ties into the case as well. There are also two mini segments involving Anya but those are on the weaker side. Anya oversleeps and then she gets the wrong message from the Bondman show. Actually, saying it’s the wrong message isn’t quite accurate, I’d say the show itself is just a bit busted. Yor definitely carried this episode.

In episode 4 we get to see Franky being desperate and making a fool of himself as always. Look, if you’re only extra nice to someone because you’re hoping to ask her out then you shouldn’t bother. That’s not being authentic in the slightest and so you’re rooting for Franky to fail. The other segment was a bit more fun with the kids fighting over snacks. We get to see Damian trying to be a nice guy in the end. Despite the tough talk, he does let Anya win when it counts so that speaks well to his character. Franky brings this one down but the first short is solid so it’s still able to tread water.

Episodes 5-9 are about the Yor arc and from the size alone you can tell that this is the big one. Yor is given a top priority mission to protect a lady and her baby while on a cruise. She needs to get her safely off the ship near the end of the voyage but the problem is that the information leaked an the cruise is packed with assassins of varying skill levels. Additionally, Anya actually won a raffle to the ship so she and Loid are going to be aboard. Yor’s cover involves a business deal so they can technically see her but she can’t afford to get distracted and if they see her fighting then it can be all over. Will she be able to save the day?

There are a lot of reasons why this arc is so good. For starters we’re back to the high stakes here. Each of these assassins are actively trying to murder her. This is not fun and games and we see how she mercilessly takes care of them as well. We usually see the more clumsy/happy side of Yor but she’s all business when it comes time for the fights. It’s also not a walk in the park and the various assassins get to really show off their techniques. This feels like a battle Shonen for a while there and the animation did good here. I liked the effects for the electricity and in general all of the hand to hand moves were good.

Since we had several episodes to the arc, there’s time for some good cliffhangers as well. As always Loid and Anya do get a bit of a role so they aren’t totally written out. Loid gets to diffuse some bombs and Anya helps with one of the weapons but for the most part this is Yor’s show and that’s good. Up until this point Loid has had his share of action and Anya is always around but this is the first full mission we’ve had for Yor. I hope we get more of them someday but I will be satisfied with this for now. It absolutely elevates season 2 as a whole and has a ton of replay value.

After that episode 10 is partially an epilogue of sorts as the family finally reunites and Anya gets to brag about the trip a whole lot. Leave it to Anya to get herself into trouble since nobody’s gonna believe that. I’ll cut her some slack since she is a kid and I could absolutely see a kid doing that…but it’s why she can’t really keep up with Loid and Yor yet. Once they all know each other’s secrets, hopefully they can teach her how to fight and be more ready in the field. It’s a low key episode but one that puts on the finishing touches to the arc rather well.

Episode 11 is really about how charming Loid is and how the ladies can’t stay away from him. The first half is about how Becky has a secret crush on him. It’s too bad because she’s otherwise a high quality character but I guess everyone has their weakness. Obviously she’s just a little kid so the whole thing is more of a joke to the other characters. Yor is nice about it and Loid does his best to just excuse himself. I assume this will be a very rare kind of running gag as Becky should get over him quickly. The second half is about Fiona who is still trying for Loid and she’s way more desperate since she’s a full adult pining after someone who is married. You know how I feel about rebounds so I can’t root for her in the slightest.

She just needs to focus on her missions and stop trying to sabotage Loid. If she has a crush on him that’s fine as long as she tries to get over him but she’s gotta keep that to herself. You just can’t let anyone find out and you gotta bury those feelings. When you try to fight for someone who’s already taken…well that’s just sad. The episode is entertaining enough but not the most exciting to be honest. I wouldn’t want Becky or Fiona to be main characters for too many segments.

Finally we end the season with a Bond adventure which was an odd pick. I feel like this didn’t make a whole lot of sense for the final episode. Basically Loid tries to train him some more but different events keep happening where Bond has to save someone to avert a bad future. The problem? By averting the future, it never happened so to Loid it just looks like Bond is going crazy. That’s definitely the worst part about seeing the future since you can’t really prove it or anything. Still, props to Bond for trying his best and hanging in there the whole time. By the end he does perform a rescue good enough that Loid does notice it.

So it’s a wholesome episode but I would have picked a story that focuses on all 3 of the characters a bit more. Well, either way that wraps up season 2 and it was a fun set of adventures. 12 episode titles like this sure do fly by very quickly. The Yor saga carries the season but even without it, this would still be a quality slice of life title. The Yor saga just adds on the action genre which to me is always important and stacks the deck against season 3 because it’ll be tough to top this one now.

As mentioned earlier, the animation is definitely solid here. It’s all very streamlined and while the animators don’t get to show off too often, it’s clear that a lot of hard work went into this one. The soundtrack isn’t as memorable though. The opening song is fairly catchy though and special shoutout to the opening’s animation because it really went crazy there. I like how fast everything was moving and nowadays there are enough openings of people just stretching or jumping up and down that getting so much full movement is really appreciated. I’m betting the frames in that opening are about as much as the average episode with how much was going on.

Part of what makes the show work is that the character cast is good. A slice of life is only as good as the characters and their interactions after all right? Loid and Yor are solid as I mentioned. They’re both hard workers and they really care about their family and being nice people in general. Anya may be immature but she still tries and has some entertaining moments. Franky and Bond admittedly don’t help much but the characters can’t all be winners. Yuri is entertaining and adds some danger to the group dynamic while Becky is the only kid who actually seems mature and loyal in the kids group. Damian may be nice when it counts but he’s still not someone who helps you out in the day to day. The cast is actually rather large when you think about it.

Overall, Spy X Family continues strong with season 2. As a whole I think I’d give the edge to season 1 for more consistently high quality stories but none of them individually touch the Yor boat fights. I really hope the series goes down the action route more in the future because it’s clear that there is a ton of potential there. The main characters can all fight after all so the natural outcome should be to get these battles in there right? Maybe make it so that the Desmond family has a ton of powerful bodyguards on retainer or something. Either way this is a solid show that I can recommend to everyone as a safe product for fans of slice of life or action.

Overall 7/10

Noein: To Your Other Self Review

Posted on January 15, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a sci-fi title dealing with the multiverse so you know that a lot is going on here. It balances out the mystery pretty well. It actually handles the cast well since initially you might be worried that the kids will end up being annoying but there is always some kind of big event happening in each episode. So the plot moves and the main heroine barely even feels like a kid next to the others. She always saw the big picture from the start and this ends up being a pretty interesting watch.

The series starts off by introducing us to Haruka who at first glance is just your average girl trying to live her best life. Her best friend Yu has been having a tough time at home lately with his very strict mother and so he’s decided to run away. Haruka tries to lift his spirits and says she will run away with him but you get the feeling she’s also hoping to talk him out of it. They had made a promise a long time ago that if they ever ran away it would be together though. Then a portal opens up and a mysterious being in a black cloak appears. His name is Karasu and he wants Haruka to come with him.

There’s a lot of mystery in the beginning and unraveling the mysteries is part of the fun so I’ll keep this fairly vague. To just add a little more context though, the show deals with the idea of a multiverse. This planet and Haruka’s life is just one reality out of many. The characters also have to wonder if anything is truly real. Is something real because you can observe and feel it? It’s possible that life itself is an illusion and so they aren’t sure if anything really matter. For now most of the characters have to assume that this is real though and so Haruka is an important figure in the middle of all of this. Different characters need her in order to stabilize their timelines and make it the real one. Haruka doesn’t want to go anywhere but she also doesn’t want to hurt anyone and so it’s a tough balancing act.

The show goes into some of those philosophical discussions that don’t really have an end point because they become circular very quickly. For example the conversation about if anything is real. It’s interesting in the abstract but you can’t prove a negative so after a point what can you really say about it? For example lets say none of us are real and we’re all the figment of someone’s imagination. Well in that case…it shouldn’t affect how you live because everything will be over when you imagine that you’ve died anyway right? Even if there are infinite other versions of you, you can’t do anything about that so you just have to live your life as you always have. Just something that’s always good to keep in mind.

The show goes with the theory of tons of possible futures depending on the present which is definitely the way I prefer it. Even if your future is mapped out, nobody can possibly know how it will play out. If they did, then the future would automatically change with that new knowledge. Lets say someone predicted that too, well it’s a never ending chase sort of like the chicken and the egg. Just like I go with the chicken in that scenario there, I’d say that there is a future that will happen out of the infinite amount but it doesn’t become real until it hits the present which is why destiny is a fairly pointless concept.

The characters try to confuse Haruka with all of these concepts but of course you have to remember that they all have a stake in this so they aren’t the best possible sources. One of the most interesting concepts though was in how Haruka is sort of like a way point. For example, lets say there are 3 different future events, one where a bullet hits her friend, one where it misses her friend, and one where the bullet is never fired. The version that Haruka sees will become the “real” one as it then becomes a solidified point in time. She seems to have the power to choose which path will become the real one and the others will fade away like they never happened.

It’s a pretty cool power but also a high stakes one since it’s hard to know what she will see in advance. She can try to actively forget something and imagine something else but that seems tough. There’s one instance in the show where she is told not to look at someone who is dead because as long as she hasn’t seen it herself, it’s possible that the event can be overwritten with one where he is alive. It’s a very interesting way to weaponize the ability. I do enjoy theory crafting like this which is one of the show’s strengths. See this is how you handle hypotheticals, Godzilla Singular Point could learn some valuable lessons from this.

Back to the characters though, Haruka is a great lead. She doesn’t panic the way that most of the other characters do and in that way she keeps everyone on track. She tends to internalize all of her problems which obviously isn’t healthy but it shows how selfless she is. I think the heroes would be completely lose without her even if Haruka didn’t have any abilities. Haruka just gives them all a lot of inner peace. Also I really enjoyed her unique design. Her eyes are sort of like a cat’s eyes or some kind of half moon. It’s hard to describe but made for a very memorable design.

She’s the only one with this attribute which makes her stand out even more. It’s why for a while there I was expecting some kind of a twist where she’s a demon or supernatural entity or something. That’s not exactly the direction the show goes in though but it had me guessing. Then you have the main guy in Yu who starts off rather bratty the whole time. He whines a whole lot and has trouble saying what he means so he often ends up being rather rude to Haruka.

It’s lucky that she’s so mature and patient with him all of the time because I probably would have just ditched him after a while. Yu wants to be the one to protect Haruka because he likes her but tends to get shown up at every turn by Karasu. It’s just hard for this to not be the inevitable outcome as it is because Karasu is older, more powerful, and has actual powers. How do you possibly compete with that? By the end of the series Yu finally starts to realize that protecting Haruka is the important part and that it doesn’t have to be him. It’s a character arc that feels like an eternity to materialize but better than never.

I do respect the effort he puts in though and he ends up being an entertaining character. Probably not a friend you would want to have in real life, but as a character he’s not bad. He did try to defend Haruka from otherworldly fighters with a small switch blade so he gets points for courage. That’s something the other kids lack and why they are very weak characters.

You have Miho who is really interested in the supernatural but feels very annoying the whole time. In a lot of ways she is the most immature and despite being in a situation with actual crazy stuff going on, she doesn’t seem to take it all very seriously. I think she is trying her best but she’s just too young to get what’s going on. I was always ready for her scenes to end. Then you have Isami whose role never got as big as I would have expected. He’s better than Miho but I still didn’t care for him. He just doesn’t really contribute and his main memorable trait is that he has a crush on the teacher. Not exactly the thing you want to be remembered for.

The same goes for Ai who is another one of the friends hanging out but doesn’t do much. She likes Isami but can’t bring herself to tell him. There just isn’t much time for the romance among the side characters in this show so nothing much happens with that. Another character without much to do is Haruka’s mother Asuka. She gets drunk a lot but that’s really it. She isn’t able to help in any of the battles and is often completely oblivious of what’s going on. That may not be entirely her fault but it just doesn’t do her any favors as a character.

She ends up dragging down Yu’s mother Miyuki with her as well. I enjoyed Miyuki as an antagonist who was really pressuring Yu the whole time but as a hero she’s just not as interesting. The character arc went rather fast as well. Then you have Takuya who was Haruka’s father but he doesn’t do much either. You’d expect a lot out of him since he’s involved with the government group looking into the multiverse but mainly he just tries to plead his case without doing much about anything. The guy just feels very weak the whole time. I think he also could have explained things better to Asuka to get her to actually help out a bit.

Ryoko and Kyoji are the two main researchers trying to find out about the multiverse. I should say that’s Ryoko’s job. Kyoji is mainly just tagging along and helping her out but he doesn’t tend to understand any of this. In fact I would say he’s just here to give the story a way to throw some exposition at us. He always asks Ryoko to explain things so she talks more about the multiverse, the current theories on it, etc. They’re both good characters though. I liked that Ryoko actually understood what was going on and Kyoji’s just a nice guy. He seems like a really loyal ally to have who will risk his life even when he’s outmatched.

Seeing him take out a gun and try to seriously threaten the future beings who have laser blasts and super speed was also pretty funny. You can’t say that the guy didn’t at least try his best to help out at least. Now we get to the future beings. First up is Tobi who isn’t really much of a fighter but she helps out a lot on the tech side. She was easily the most reasonable member of the group who would always try to talk things out. It’s a shame that she couldn’t fight more though.

Does being a strategic genius always have to mean that you can’t fight? She ended up being one of the most likable characters in the group though so I suppose it all worked out well enough. Then you have Atori who was easily the most insane member of the group but practically got lobotomized which affects his personality for the rest of the show. He was extremely annoying as a hero so I kept waiting for him to turn evil again. The guy’s power is the real deal and he gave us one of the best early fights in the series. Atori absolutely enhances the show so he performed well in the role and he even does do some things in the climax.

Makoto barely has a reason to be in the story to be honest. Half of the time you even forget about the whole government angle here but I suppose in some ways this whole situation wouldn’t be happening without this. So fine the guy is necessary but he’s basically your average corporate villain. The guy doesn’t care about the future and can’t really fight but he has a gun and isn’t afraid to use it. I was shocked at how many shots he got off before the heroes ever did anything about it. There can be something amusing about this kind of cheesy villain but he really gets overshadowed.

Kosagi tends to be a very annoying character. She’s way too emotional and can never act logically. Unlike the other heroes and villains in the series, she never had any kind of grand master plan. I would say she doesn’t really end on a high note either and the final nail in the coffin is that she isn’t even very powerful. So mix all of that together and she’s not all that solid. The same is true for Kuina. Another really emotional guy who doesn’t take anything well and as a result makes all of the wrong decisions. I can respect a good villain who is fighting for someone who is even just evil to be evil but when you’re a villain for petty reasons then there is absolutely no hope for you.

Karasu naturally has a rather huge role in the story. He shows up early and remains a central figure in the whole adventure. He is easily the best fighter and is super durable. The guy goes through a lot to protect Noein and often goes against the council. I appreciated his loyalty and the guy just has a very cool demeanor to him. He reminds me a lot of Archer from Fate. Karasu could certainly stand to talk to the characters more and actually explain what’s going on but without him they would have certainly been doomed. You definitely can’t underestimate just how crucial he was. I also tended to enjoy any scene of him bashing Yu and rubbing in his face the difference in their abilities.

Now we can talk about Noein, the best villain in the show. This guy always had such confidence when he would appear and I really liked his design as well. When he came out with the Ray-Man spin move to knock out the characters that was brilliant. On the whole he’s more of a strategist than a fighter though. Sure, Noein can fight but he tends to break his opponents down mentally instead. He was easily my favorite character in the show. Yes, he does get just a little bit whiny at the very end of the series so he doesn’t stick the landing but for every other episode he looked great. This guy always delivers with the mystery and does a lot to help support the show’s creepy atmosphere. It would really not be the same without him. You get the feeling he probably could have ended the series rather early if he didn’t take so long to make his move.

While all of the theory crafting and concepts are a blast to engage with, I would say the show probably has less replay value than other titles as a result. This is a bit of a slow burn where you often do have a major development in each episode but they tend to be twists of sorts. So if you rewatch the show I imagine it will feel rather slow paced without a whole lot of plot progression at times. It’s similar to a mystery where it often won’t hit the same way the second time although there are some exceptions to that.

When the fight scenes occur they do tend to be a lot of fun though. I like the very exaggerated animation techniques they use for the clashes. Characters really go off model and stretch to oblivion while firing off their energy blasts. The movement is fast and the animation is pretty good there in general. I think it sort of helps to masque that this doesn’t feel like a very high budget show. It works well with the creepy atmosphere of the title in general though.

Then you have the soundtrack which actually is pretty great. There are a lot of solid battle themes and general enemy tunes here. It gives the show a very grand feeling to it and you will be remembering the tunes very well by the end. It’s not the largest OST but when your tracks are really solid then that’s all that really matters. Quality over quantity as they say.

Overall, Noein is one of those shows I had never heard of before but it definitely ended up being pretty good. The crazy plot really worked out nicely and made it so I didn’t even have to worry about the annoying kids. Haruka and Yu were really good of course but I never really got on board with the other 3 kids who just felt out of their league the whole time. If anything I think the show could have probably kept on going a little while longer with some of the plots but the abrupt ending is likely intentional. It’s not exactly the end of everything but it’s the end of what we’ll see. So if you see this show around you should definitely check it out. It has that kind of retro aesthetic that you just don’t see anymore.

Overall 7/10

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Noein: To Your Other Self Review

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