Mashle: Magic and Muscles – The Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc Review

Posted on June 22, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of Mashle. The first season was definitely great with a solid balance of action and comedy. This one follows it up pretty well with more of the same. We finally meet the big villains in this batch so you know that things are getting real. No problem though, the story still makes time for the humor and everything so the balance isn’t lost. In a lot of ways Mashle feels like a retro Shonen Jump title that could have stood in there with the classics like Naruto. It embraces the common Jump scenarios while also having a lot of fun with them.

After the events of the last season, everyone now knows that Mash has no magical abilities. This means that there are a lot of people who resent him and think he should not be allowed to take the Divine Visionary test. An appeal is made to the principal but fortunately Mash is allowed to stay on. The one catch is that the stakes have now been raised. If Mash doesn’t become the Divine Visionary then he will be murdered. There will be no escape for the guy. It’s a pretty tough situation to be in but then again, this only matters if he loses and Mash is confident in himself. We begin the next round of the tournament but of course the villains are also waiting around the corner.

The 12 episodes really go by very quickly here. It feels like the season ended as soon as it had began but I suppose that just talks to the quality of the show. As always Mash is a fun main character. I would say he is even better in this season because he has more tough dialogue with the villains. At one point he declares himself to be the strongest and in general he doesn’t shy away from any fight. It’s great to be strong but it’s even better to know that you’re strong and so I really liked the confidence there.

Innocent Zero is a pretty great villain right from the jump. The guy has big plans, big connections, and he is generally in control the whole time. That’s the kind of thing that you look for in a villain without a doubt. He also has the power to back his tough talk up as he is probably the strongest fighter in the series right now. His time abilities are super intense and then he gets another power up during the season. I was also glad to see him defend Mash during the early court hearing. It may not be for the right reasons but I’ll still take it. Innocent Zero is also a rare villain who may specialize in long distance attacks but can still hold his own against anyone in close quarters. Now that’s a perfect balance.

While we meet all of the visionaries, most of them haven’t had a chance to do anything yet. Ryoh leaves a great impression because he actually seems reasonable and defends Mash the whole time. Why would you possibly want to murder the kid who is you best hope against the villains? They’re all so brainwashed about the whole magic society part that they even go against their own best interests. Now that is a bad look if I’ve ever seen one. So some of the visionaries definitely get docked a bunch of point for this either for being against Mash or just being on the fence about this.

Wahlberg looks good in the fight but I still have to take points away for how he handled the Mash situation. Put it this way, he’s the principal and yet he is letting this whole debate go on. He should have rushed in there real quick and shut the whole thing down. All he has to say is that Mash will continue to be a student here and ask them what they want to do about that. He could likely beat most of them although if it’s a team battle it would probably be tricky. I just think he should have flexed his power a little more and actually tried to make a difference. Otherwise he’s really not using his position to his advantage. The guy’s way too passive which is my problem with him.

Orter is the biggest prosecutor in terms of trying to get Mash murdered. He wants that guy to be absolutely executed right away but fortunately there aren’t any other members who are quite as deranged as he is. This guy actively hires other villains to go and get Mash. You’re looking forward to someone taking him down at some point. Fortunately Rayne is one of the characters who is actually trying to defend Mash and he does a pretty good job of that. His abilities are really good and while I’m a bit surprised that he didn’t crush Margarette harder, I’d say it’s implied that Rayne is still stronger. He’s a divine visionary for a reason after all.

In some ways Kaldo likely seems to be the most impressive. He did really well when testing Mash to see just how good he was. The guy was holding his own with speed and apparently he was even holding back? Yeah that’s not an opponent to take lightly and his sword looks really cool. I definitely look forward to seeing more of him. Of course Mash’s usual friends are still around as well. Lemon actually has her big moment where she makes a big speech and defends Mash’s honor. Finn still does his best and he has a good durability moment where he stays conscious long enough for Mash to show up and save the day.

Lance and Dot take a more active role in helping out as they fight a bit. Dot doesn’t look super impressive but what else is new right? Lance does well at least and even manages to defeat an opponent while reverted to the body of a child. Now that’s a pretty good feat and definitely nothing that Dot could have matched. I still like Lance a lot as a rival even if Mash already left him in the dust big time. He’s never going to catch him at this rate.

For the villains, there were 4 main ones in this season. First up is Margarette who gets a lot of hype early on. In the first encounter with Mash, Mash actually does a big seismic toss throw to take Margarette down for the count but it doesn’t work. When you see Margarette get up without any injuries, that’s the exact moment where you realize that this is no ordinary opponent. It’s a fantastic way to generate some hype right out of the gate. The hype doesn’t stop from there and it’s a really good fight for the two episodes. I may not love Margarette as a character but you can’t deny this level of power.

Carpaccio is more of the twisted villain type. He likes inflicting pain and his ability is perfect for it since he automatically reflects all pain. Super handy, after all who wouldn’t want to be effectively invincible right? His match against Mash is definitely fun and you have to say that it’s probably the worst matchup for the guy. Mash is probably the only character who is crazy strong enough to take the damage each time and then return blows even harder. That would really be pretty much impossible for the rest of the character. I wonder if murdering Carpaccio would just get reversed before he dies or if that’s a way around the power. Either way it would be really risky to try that.

In general the villains have some rather broken abilities here. Sitter Baby is another one of them. He can turn his opponents into babies which dramatically reduces their stats. it’s a real intense power to be sure and all the guy needs to do is quickly smash his opponent or always have a partner. Either way I’d say the heroes basically got lucky here. It easily could have gone sideways very quickly for them here.

Finally you have Cell War who is a really fun villain. His ability itself isn’t quite as broken as the others but he makes up for this with very impressive physical abilities. You feel like anyone other than Mash would have a super hard time trying to block all of the rapid blows. This guy can shoot tons of spikes at you and also use them to make other kinds of weapons. It’s really an endless barrage that just keeps on coming. I thought he was a very impressive villain even if he couldn’t ultimately keep up. Few can keep up with Mash.

As always the soundtrack is super good for Mashle. I think this is one of those things that really helps the anime to keep on elevating things. It’s really cool to know you are always going to have a great track accompanying a great scene. It’s the way to go. The opening also gets real catchy this time and is a big step up over the season 1 theme song which never really caught on for me. The animation is also really solid here. They have fun with the chibi gags which hold up really well and then for the fights there is a whole lot to enjoy. The fights move quickly and have a lot of action to them. The movement is on point and it never slows down.

The technical elements do not betray the series by any means. So now you’ve got great characters, a great story, and the whole thing is completed with the solid humor all throughout the show. I’m definitely hyped for the next season to keep up this momentum. A lot of the upcoming villains already look cool from the brief look we got at them. Also due in part to how the show still lets us have a lot of slice of life moments and comedic scenes, you’re already use to all of the characters. So you want to see them continue to show up and really get some more fights in there. I really enjoyed the climax in the manga and so I bet it’s going to be extremely awesome in the anime as well.

I mentioned that the show goes very quickly and part of that is due to the really fast pacing. There’s always a fight going on or some kind of gag. You aren’t given much time to catch your breath with the fast paced nature of the show. It makes a lot of sense with how chaotic the school is in general. I do think this is a show where bad animation could have hurt it a lot since you do want the spectacle to show off what Mash can do since that is part of the fun. If he didn’t look impressive then it hurts the entire gimmick/concept.

Also, as strong as Mash is, he isn’t quite the strongest in the verse. So that’s another difference from One Punch Man, there are actually enemies who can take this guy down. Mash is given quite a bit of trouble in his fights in this season and can’t do anything against Innocent Zero. So no worries, there is still a lot of danger in this one. There is a bit of plot armor in regards to why the villains don’t just crush everybody right now though. It would have been a simple enough task and then there would have been nobody around to fight them off later on. Zero definitely fumbled the bag right there.

Overall, Mashle continues to ride all of the momentum from the first season to great effect here. It goes even farther than the first season did and I expect we will see similar success with the next season. At first glance you may figure this is just some kind of One Punch knock-off but I can assure you that it definitely has its own identity. As long as you like good action and humor then you should have a really good time here. Mash choking someone with a creampuff is probably the best gag in the series but in general the series is super funny and the jokes tend to really land. It’s a great all around title that does not really have any weaknesses. I’s all positive here.

Overall 8/10

Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens Review

Posted on April 28, 2024 by dreager1

Lets talk about the next big Yugioh series. This one was definitely a real change from the previous Yugioh titles which all had a consistent kind of look to them. At their core they were Shonen Jump type stories while his one was definitely more aimed at kids. Of course we know from experience that this can work out really well like with Cardfight Vanguard and Buddyfight. Fortunately I can confirm that this did work out really well. It’s got a lot of fun moments and there are a good selection of likable main characters. The stakes may be a little lower but there are still a great number of really fun duels here so they will keep your attention the whole time. I was definitely sad to see the series go.

The series is about a kid named Yuga who loves dueling but he feels like it’s missing something. So he ends up installing his own version of dueling into the Goha network computers which installs the game onto everyone’s duel disc. This new form of dueling is called Rush Duels. Basically you draw 5 cards in every turn which opens the way to a lot of combos right out of the gate. It’s a very different kind of duel and as the name would suggest, it’s also a much faster paced way of fighting. Now he is eager to play it with everyone. This makes Yuga a local sensation and everyone at school is either thrilled about the new way to duel or resents him for it. Goha is trying to find a way to remove this new style of dueling as well before it overshadows the classic form of dueling. Can they really stop him?

You might think that this is all a bit much about a new style of dueling that is optional but I can actually picture companies getting upset about this. Like if you suddenly uploaded an optional way to play Street Fighter that Capcom did not approve of. You can bet that they would have some words for you very quickly and likely would not let it stand. That’s just the corporate way. They’re in this to make money, not to make friends and you really can’t convince them otherwise unless you have the money to back it up.

The setting will remind you a little of Yugioh GX with how it all takes place at school. At least the vast majority of the show takes place there. The show mainly starts out as a slice of life title as we are gradually introduced to all of the characters and get to see what kind of deck builds they are running. This intro phase takes a while but that’s fine since we’ve got a little over 90 episodes to work with. It’s similar to Cardfight Vanguard G which had a super long intro phase but it worked out really well because then we knew the characters when it was time for the big action sagas. That’s really the approach that this game went with as well.

So after the pre arc one of the big arcs we get is about the Master Cards. These are the latest gimmick in the Yugioh verse. You could say that the whole concept of Rush Duels counts as the first gimmick but then this would be the second one. You basically merge 3 cards into one super card that takes up the various spaces and has incredible abilities. Nail’s got a master card of his own and absolutely dominates everyone. The heroes have to beat his various lackeys without losing too many rounds or their accounts are forfeit. The whole “You’ll lose your account if you lose” is sort of like the new version of the shadow game. The account issue is thrown in front of the characters multiple times. Fortunately Luke is here to keep the characters from losing but if I were the heroes I’d be getting annoyed pretty fast. That’s a big weakness with the villains actually owning the software that the game’s code runs through.

Also I should mention that the hardware that plays the software are actually real physical objects over in space. For example the Rush Duel settings turned into a giant robot so throughout the series the villains are trying to break it. It’s actually rather surreal because it’s such an odd way for the coding to work. It’s cool though so naturally I’d give it a pass. It also gives us an excuse to have some space moments. There are actually quite a few other sci-fi themes in the show as well. Several characters show up who appear to be aliens. Some of them work for Goha and some are just doing their own thing. They all look almost identical but have their own gimmicks.

It’s random in the best way. Whenever they show up you just have to roll with it and enjoy the duel. I’ll touch on a bunch of the characters in a minute but then there are a ton of more minor characters that I won’t go into. Each of these characters have their own gimmicks though. One of them really loves sushi, one loves dinosaurs, etc. They all duel with their themes in mind and Yugioh is such a big game that you can make an entire deck off of a theme like that. It’s actually impressive and speaks to how many cards there are. The duels themselves may not be as entertaining as the big story based duels but it’s always fun to see how creative the show can get.

After the Master Card debacle you’ve got a lot of mini arcs like being attacked by the hard hat crew (Not their actual names but close enough), a few tournaments thrown into the mix, Luke becoming the Luke Man, and the Goa 6 showing up to basically take over the world/the game. We even get a whole arc where everyone loses their memory of dueling so Luke has to snap them back into their senses. At some point Luke moved from just being the super cool rival to borderline becoming the main character. It’s definitely impressive.

The show is 90+ episodes long though so you do expect a lot of different stories to occur. It gets around the lack of world ending stakes extremely well with this creativity too. So in the end where would I rank the show? Well I think it’s fair to say that it still does lose to most of the classics but I would put it above Vrains and Capsule Monsters. The rest are still a little too impressive to lose. I’d say it speaks more to how great the overall franchise is though as opposed to this one not being up to the task.

Now lets talk about the characters. As the lead Yuga is a fun guy. He’s not quite as untouchable as previous main characters but that works well since it makes him very relatable. He’s just a kid having fun playing his favorite game and there’s definitely nothing wrong with that. I can definitely respect his talent right here and he has a lot of confidence. It does mean that he is overshadowed by the other two members of the main cast who just have more charisma though. All in all, Yuga does a good job of leading the show and is consistently solid for the whole run.

Then we have Luke, the absolute stand out character of the series. You want to talk about an awesome character? Look no further than this guy! He’s awesome in every possible way. The guy has limitless confidence and always looks on the bright side of things. Characters try to sometimes get in his way and wreck the vibe but he doesn’t let it happen. He’s a bit of an unassuming character since most fighters think that the guy is full of hot air and yet he manages to win just about every duel. He is undefeated for almost the entirety of the series and I don’t need to tell you just how impressive that is. Seriously, it’s an absolutely insane feat and he constantly hits above his paygrade. He takes out big enemies that even Yuga wasn’t prepared for.

Luke is a game changer and he’s a big reason as to why I would go ahead and say that this is a great show. Not just a very good one or anything like that but it is legitimately great. Luke can hold his own with any of the previous Yugioh rival characters. He may not take himself as seriously as those other guys but his sill is up there. In fact, you could argue he surpasses the other rivals in one way which is that by the end of the series he is debatably still stronger than the main character and that never really happens.

Then we have Romin as the main heroine and she’s another great character. She’s a great duelist and also has time to be a professional singer on the side. Her cooking skills may not always be out of this world but she is always ready to try something new. She is able to keep up with Luke in terms of being high energy the whole time and so that makes the trio really complete. I would say that like Luke, she is also more interesting than Yuga so it’s one of the only times I can think of where the lead ends up being carried by the other two members of the trio. Nothing wrong with that of course, they’re just helping to elevate the series to the next level.

Romin gets a whole lot of character development like Luke. She has to really decide between music and Yugioh as you can’t really become a pro at both. Both of them have a whole lot of time commitments after all and so she has to make a lot of tough calls. Particularly near the end of the show with some mind wiping going on. All in all, she’s someone that you can count on and is a great member of the main cast.

The 4th member isn’t quite as solid as the main 3 though. We’ve got Gavin next and he’s one of those guys who really follows the rules at all times. This makes him not very reasonable most of the time. He does have his inevitable rebellion mini arc where he starts to break all of the rules but that just takes him too far into the other direction. As DJ G he at least has a cool beat going though. So I give him some props there but yeah he can’t keep up with the main 3 in terms of personality and I would say that the same is true of his dueling abilities as well. He’s a solid duelist but he’s not elite or anything like that.

One guy who sort of joins the main cast a bit later on is Roa and he’s a lot of fun. He’s Romin’s cousin and another great duelist. He’s sort of like a sub rival to Yuga. Luke is of course the primary rival but Roa shows up several times to really put the pressure on as well. His skills are the real deal and his backstory is also emotional. Roa’s been through a lot but he really made a name for himself and continues to move forward. He made no excuses about what he had to go through and is a very well balanced character. He was really solid and definitely ended up as one of the best characters in the series.

After that we’ve got Asana who is rivals with Tiger. Asana is certainly one of the more mature characters. She doesn’t tend to bicker quite as often as the others and she is always ready for a good duel. She’s portrayed as one of the more powerful duelists even if she doesn’t get to duel too often. Her personality works well as a contrast to the rest of the characters. She’s certainly got her quirks as well and they’re unique like naming her work equipment. Whatever works on the path to being the world’s greatest duelist though. The show goes all out by even having a full origin story for her and Tiger. I can’t say I was expecting that but it was handled really well. A little more communication could have stopped all of the misunderstandings though.

As for Tiger, she’s a lot of fun. As Luke’s older sister, it’s no surprise that she is also extremely powerful. She can hold her own against any fighter and even physically she is a beast. She’s always hitting people with that giant weapon she is carrying around. The gag of Luke being scared of her does get old rather quickly though. I wouldn’t say that it holds its own with the other gags at all. The whole time you’re just waiting for Luke to finally get past that and show her why he is the world’s greatest duelist. As good as she is, Luke has surpassed her fairly early on in the series. It was just like a mental block where he couldn’t put that all together when he was going up against her.

Back on the main heroes’ side, we also had Rayne and Rino who would work for the student council president Gavin. I didn’t really care for either of those characters much though. They were more on the boring side and didn’t really add any good banter to the mix. I wouldn’t trust them either as they go through a lot in the show and don’t tend to come out clutch. Whenever they got a duel it would typically be one of the least interesting ones. There’s also a random subplot of Rayne liking Yuga but that never even goes anywhere. I still don’t really know why that was included at all. So these characters you could have cut out of the story and it would not have really changed anything.

Mimi is a fun supporting character. She’s a full adult who even has a kid yet she is able to pass herself off as a student most of the time. That’s definitely impressive and at one point she even finds herself as one of the top staff members at Goha corp. So something is always going on with her and she’s definitely a lot of fun. It would be nice if she could duel more and show everyone the power of an adult but ultimately that’s just not really her role. I’d say that she is one of the more wholesome characters though and I’m glad to have her around. Outside of one episode about Romin trying to cook some food, there isn’t always a lot of time available for the characters to just mess around. So when Mimi shows up, you know the heroes can relax for a while.

Unfortunately Mimi is connected to the most disappointing villain in the series in the leader of Goha. There’s this mask that basically attaches itself to people and runs the corporation. It has a super cool design and always talks tough but ultimately ends up being a bit of a chump. Seriously he’s no real threat and nobody is able to take him seriously. I can’t even take him seriously. The guy can technically fight well but just goes through so much disrespect. His hype just slowly drains away the more the series goes on. Throughout the show I never lost hope that he would turn things around and be the secret final boss or something but unfortunately that never happened. I suppose it just wasn’t to be.

Goha was still a reasonable villain because I like the idea of corporate literally being the main antagonist but they didn’t really adapt with the times. They were tough in pre arc but that was about it. I suppose if you consider the final group as part of Goha then that’s different and technically they are but I consider them to be a bit separate from the actual corporation. I suppose that’s more of a me thing though, it is technically not super logical or anything like that.

Another character related to Goha is Otes. He’s definitely an interesting figure. Sometimes he’s helpful and sometimes he isn’t. His skill level is also hard to determine because sometimes losing is in his best interest so you don’t know when he’s going all out or not. The guy could have definitely talked more to explain things though and his character goes down a very odd direction by the very end of the series. Lets just say that this guy is filled with plot twists and ultimately the final ones do not help his character at all. He drops a whole lot for me but I can at least say that he was interesting. He remained relevant in the series for its entire run which is impressive.

Another character who was around the whole time was Nail but he did lose a lot of hype after the first arc. The guy was a big deal initially because of the super powerful cards that he could use. They were basically legal god cards and nobody else had them. Once everyone got them the battlefield was equaled and Nail couldn’t keep up. Gone were the days of him being the most powerful. He’s still tough but not nearly as imposing. I like his character but he was better as a villain. His poor servant Sebastian definitely goes through a lot of issues as well. I can’t say I really liked the robot though so I didn’t feel too bad for him.

Yuga has his own robot in Kaizo as well. That guy is always being transformed into different objects and hacked so he doesn’t have an easy journey either. The guy isn’t the most heroic though and has quite a lot of issues so you can get why Yuga is always going things to him. I would have liked Kaizo to have more of a real man up moment before the series was over. Even Swirls got his own arc although of course there were big reasons for that. As for the 6 big Goha fighters who showed up later, they’re pretty fun.

You of course have the other Yuga Goha who is solid although there were a few moments where I was pretty much laughing at the guy. He starts off in a super intense way but the more the show goes on the worse he looks. At one point he just loses energy while he’s in the sky and has a sudden crash landing, another time he gets affected by the memory bug and starts acting like a child, etc. It’s really hard to come back from this, specifically as a villain since you need to be able to take the guy seriously. Unfortunately I couldn’t take him seriously after that. There was just no way to pull that off.

Yuro’s a reasonable villain. Outside of Yuga, none of them are all that villainous for long to be honest but he’s a good duelist and a balanced character. So I can’t say that I really had any issues with him. Yujin has more drive so I like that about him. He’s a really enthusiastic kind of character who is always ready to jump in and have a good time. He also has actual hobbies outside of dueling which is always cool. Yuran is the most boring. He’s an okay duelist but there’s nothing all that interesting about him. He’s a bit too quiet and mellow and I need my characters to be bold and outspoken.

Yuka is fun enough. She can actually play baseball really good and gets a whole rivalry out of that. Again, it comes down to having a hobby outside of dueling which is nice. Finally there is Yuo who is quite bold since he actually tries to take power away from the others into his corrupt games. The guy is a strong duelist as well and aside from Luke there are very few who can take him down. He’s not my favorite villain but he does get points for actively acting like a villain and just generally doing whatever he wants. He’s not just here to make friends and have a good time. His priority is claiming his right to power.

For the animation, Yugioh Sevens looks pretty good but it is a bit of a step down from the last few shows. The colors aren’t as string and it just looks a bit cheaper. I’d say that might be more on the character designs than the animation itself but this won’t be winning any awards. It’s still not bad or anything but I just can’t say that it’s very good either. It’s solid enough where it makes for solid visuals and we get some dynamic moments but it’s mostly by the books. I would say that the same is true of the soundtrack either. It’s not like it’s bad or anything but the tunes aren’t all that memorable. The show is certainly not being carried by the technical elements or anything like that. It has to succeed on the writing and story which fortunately are up to the task for this.

The show is just really funny a lot of the time. At the end of the day what you really need in order to make a series successful is either a lot of great action with cool end of the world stakes that keep you on your toes or a great cast of characters that can pull off a low key slice of life type adventure. These characters are able to pull that off and you’ll likely be grinning in each episode. Luke isn’t just the best character because he can duel but also because he’s just really funny. The guy is constantly cracking good jokes with how oblivious he is and how he takes things out of context. At the end of the day he’s the kind of guy that everyone wishes they had as a best friend. That’s the power of being a quality character.

Overall, Yugioh Sevens is a great show. I really enjoyed all of the card games and the character cast is really solid. The show couldn’t have worked nearly as well with a weaker cast so they have to take a lot of credit here. I’d still like to go back to a more traditional artstyle but I will continue checking these out for as long as they want to keep going. I’m always up for more great Yugioh content and they really did well here. If you are a little worried about starting this show, don’t be. It still hits the electric highs that you’ve been expecting from the franchise.

Overall 8/10

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Review

Posted on April 28, 2024 by dreager1

Frieren was a show that definitely got a ton of hype when it was coming out. It’s a fantasy adventure that is a bit different from your average title. It takes place after the hero’s party already saved the world so it’s more of an epilogue with different events that are still going on to bring on the danger. All in all, it’s a rather satisfying show that has a good balance of heart warming/emotional moments as well as some really good action scenes. When the show decides to turn up, it really goes all out with the animation.

The show starts by introducing us to Frieren who was a legendary sorcerer who accompanied the hero Himmel on his quest to destroy the Demon King. They succeeded and the world was saved. They all went off on their own way. We pick the series up 50 years later as Frieren decides to redo the journey one more time to see how the world has changed. Along the way she does does Heiter a favor and decides to train a young girl named Fern. The two of them then meet a warrior in training named Stark. It looks like Frieren has assembled another hero’s party of sorts. There may not be a demon king to vanquish this time around but perhaps they can help Frieren learn what it really means to have emotion.

Frieren’s main conflict here is that as an Elf, she will live for hundreds and hundreds of years. Everyone she meets will inevitably die before her such as he hero’s party that she worked with previously. Some races last long like hers but the Elves definitely take the cake on overall longevity. Elves tend to be very logical and lack emotions as a byproduct of their long lives so while Frieren’s party seemed to have an amazing time, she couldn’t fully appreciate the moments at the time. So in the present, Fern and Stark’s constant banter help Frieren to learn these emotions. You can also give credit to the various supporting characters around.

So in a lot of ways this is about Frieren’s transformation from an emotionless leader into someone who has become more human. I’d say that’s the emotional core of the series and it works well. Frieren even sounds emotionless for most of the show but will sometimes show off a bit of humor and other emotions. Her dry wit works rather well as a contrast here. Above all, it’s also nice to have someone as powerful as her in the lineup. She’s easily the strongest hero alive on the planet right now. She may not be quite as heroic as Himmel but his tendencies have really started to rub off on her so she finds herself being more and more heroic with each day.

Her long years of experience have also helped to spread her reputation around. It’s always nice to see everyone treating her with awe and reverence the whole time. As someone who helped defeat the Demon King, that makes a lot of sense. I’d say this show handles that “Post Game” era better than most other titles that I’ve seen. People didn’t just suddenly forget what happened or anything like that. They’re all still hyper aware of the situation and that’s a good thing. She’s a great lead character, no doubt about it.

Then we have Fern who serves as the prodigy of the group. She is way younger than Frieren and yet she has already become a super talented mage. I don’t see her passing Frieren even by the end of the series but even so, she is a force to be reckoned with. She had to grow up quickly in order to take care of Frieren as well since the lead isn’t always the most responsible for day to day chores. In other ways Fern does show how she’s still a kid though like with her constant arguments with Stark. She really gives him a hard time over every little thing. He never takes anything personal and is a good kid. In a way it’s the only time Fern is able to act like a child which is probably part of why she does it. That, and Stark just gets on her nerves more than anyone else.

As for Stark, he’s the close range fighter of the group. With the other two main characters being long range mages, it is definitely super handy to have a close range specialist at the ready. He lets his guard down a bit and for now I don’t consider him to be in the same league as Fern and Frieren but he is a really fun character who does add to the dynamic. Stark provides a lot of the best gags in the show and he’s also just someone that gives you confidence in the group. He’s straight forward and gets along with people really easily. In that way he feels the most heroic out of the group. Actually, I’d say he straight up is the most heroic. Stark will defend anyone that he can.

The show’s foundation is really solid which opens up pathways to quite a lot of things. The show could have gone down a full slice of life route and it would still be pretty good because the main trio has such a good dynamic. The show also isn’t afraid to just slow down and let the main characters have a fun day off. We get one episode that is pretty much all about Stark’s birthday and Fern trying her best to have a good attitude about the whole thing. There are several other episodes in the show that don’t actually have any fighting involved. This is one of those shows where fights aren’t necessarily guaranteed and that’s definitely not a bad thing. Of course you know I love fights but this series can hold its own in any genre.

So the fact that we have a number of good fights is really a great bonus on top. Each half of the show has at least one major fight that looks great. Like I mentioned earlier, the animation is really solid here. You have a lot of strong/vibrant colors that really stand out at all times. The second half especially has a lot of memorable moments but you won’t have complains with any episode. Meanwhile the soundtrack can be more subdued but one big positive is that each opening is excellent. I really liked the first opening in particular which has a very unique sound design to it.

The first big villain in the show is a demon named Qual who was pretty fun. Basically this guy used to be a really huge deal but in this universe it is hard to stay as a top tier threat. The reason for this is due to the way the magic system works. Basically, the more familiar you are with a certain kind of magic, the easier it is to block. So what happens here is since Qual has been sealed for 50 years, everyone had time to study his magic. Because of that, his ultimate attack is now just a basic attack for the modern day mage. I give Qual credit for quickly adapting to this but ultimately that wasn’t enough to turn the tables. It was a fun way to introduce the viewer to some of the world’s rules while also giving us a fun villain.

The first main arc involves Frieren and friends heading into a town that is trying to make peace with some demons. I appreciated how Frieren said this was a bunch of nonsense from the start and would never work. A demon will always be evil after all and she has a super valid point there. The humans looked rather gullible and they should have let Frieren do her thing. Unfortunately they would have been doomed either way without her but with her then they had a chance. Frieren’s attitude towards destroying all of the demons is a nice change of pace. She definitely won’t be falling for any traps.

The demons all had their own character and personalities too. None of them were throwaways. Well, I guess the closest would be Draht who made the mistake of challenging Frieren to a 1 on 1 fight. She made short work out of him and has quite a few raw moments like that during the show. It’s always really impressive. Aura is one of the big shots here as she is incredibly powerful and gets a good fight with Frieren. The actual ending may be a little anti climactic but the show does its best with the animation and sound design to still keep it hype all the way. Ultimately there was just a big difference in skill level which is what was the main factor here. Aura didn’t really make a mistake so much as she just wasn’t strong enough to win.

Lugner was a solid villain who had a ton of confidence the whole time. I liked his smug disposition and it was certainly deserved considering how powerful he was. The average fighter really didn’t stand a chance against him and his battle with Fern was a lot of fun. This direction of the demons all being rather smug but possessing a dignified air about them is really good. It makes them feel classy even if they are evil the whole time. Finally you have Linie who just likes a good fight. Her ability to copy fighting styles is definitely really handy. I didn’t find her to be quite as impressive as some of the other demons but she can still hold her own in a big fight. If she wasn’t so overconfident she would have done even better.

For the most part that’s it for the demons for now. There are other powerful monsters who have appeared but we’ll need to wait until season 2 for the next big threats. The fact that there are still so many powerful demons out there should have the humans really nervous the whole time but I guess the world is so big that most people are still safe. A lot of people are actually rather nonchalant the whole time despite never knowing when a demon will show up. I suppose that’s just how the world is set up though, you can’t just be living your life in fear right?

Now lets talk about the old hero group and some other characters before we jump into the final big saga of the show. As the legendary hero, Himmel is a pretty fun guy. He’s super heroic and a great hero to have around but it’s not like he’s perfect either. His main weakness is that he can be kind of vain. He loves posing and showing off as the hero. Later on it’s explained that he does this in a way to preserve the legacy of a hero and give people something to believe in but it’s hard to say just how serious that was. For now I’d still assume that he just likes to show off a whole lot and there’s nothing really wrong with it. At most I’m just not sold on his power just yet. He doesn’t actually seem all that impressive in the flashbacks so I’m waiting until we finally see a flashback of how the demon king fight went down.

Eisen is a good supporting character. He is actually strong and can endure just about any blow. His durability is really the selling point here as he can stay in the fight until he delivers the decisive blow. At that point then it is all over for his opponent. Heiter is easily the weakest of the group. He’s a priest who is always drunk and messing around. That’s his whole gimmick but it’s not a good one as he is always getting in the way and this does limit his overall potential. Yeah it’s not portrayed that way exactly and he isn’t treated as a liability but you’d think he would be a little more focused with the stakes being this high. I just couldn’t get behind this character.

Then we have Flamme who was Frieren’s mentor but as far as mentors go she can be a little boring. She doesn’t like violence and wants to spread peace which is all well and good but that’s about the extent of her character. We don’t actually know a lot about her beyond that which isn’t much. More flashbacks could certainly help her character though. Then we have Kraft who is another elf like Frieren. This guy is actually all by himself which seems like it would be really lonely. I’m not sure how he handles it but he actually seems rather good natured so I give him a lot of credit there. It has to be lonely after a while but he definitely doesn’t show it.

Finally you have Sein who temporarily joins the group but I can’t say that he added much to the dynamic so I was okay with him being written out later on. He has some magic abilities of his own and is a good healer but he gets distracted easily and is a big flirt. That’s such a big stereotype and not one of the fun ones so keeping him out is good with me. It seems like he’ll probably return at some point but that could be far into the future so nothing to worry about for now.

Now we get to the point of the big magic exam. At least one member of the party needs to reach the next rank in order to proceed so Fern and Frieren enter the test while Stark finally gets some alone time. The exam has several phases involving teamwork which forces a lot of these crazy mages to team up. Only a few people will end up passing the magic exam so the heroes can’t let their guard down for a second. From capturing birds to travelling into a dungeon and then passing a verbal quiz, every test has the potential to be the end of the road. If this were a straight forward fighting tournament then it would be an easy win but as it stands, there are enough different factors where there are no real guarantees here.

The exams is really an opportunity for a ton of fights and lots of cool moments all around so that was definitely a lot of fun. It’s the best arc of the show for now as we’re also introduced to a number of fun characters. It’s probably the biggest jump in actual characters yet in the series as just about every contestant feels like a person who could show up again in the future. I’d definitely be cool with that since they weren’t bad.

The best new character has to be Ubel. She’s a bit of a riddle right now as she is a serial killer and has a tough aura but she does end up sparing quite a few people. She doesn’t appear to be nearly as bloodthirsty as she lets on. So is this all an act or is she just playing nice for now? It’s just really hard to say either way but she is super entertaining. Her magic abilities are also really handy such as her paralysis and ability to copy your moves if she is able to understand you. Not just anyone can pull that off.

I also like Wirbel who is very similar. He’s murdered many people in the past and is widely regarded as another murderer but in the show he ends up being very reasonable. Murder appears to be a last resort for him. His skills are the real deal and while he doesn’t back down from a fight, he isn’t actively looking to take everyone down. I definitely look forward to seeing a lot more of him in the coming days.

Denken is the oldest contestant in the group. He likes doing things by the book and he makes up for a lack of raw power with absolute experience. He has a plan for everything although plans can only go so far. He doesn’t do great against Frieren in part because when the gap in strength is high enough, no amount of tactics are able to bypass that. He learned this the hard way but it was a good lesson. He has his moments and isn’t bad although he gets overshadowed by mot of the other candidates.

Richter is sort of the opposite here. He’s a lot younger and tends to be more impatient. He does have plans of his own but they do revolve around steamrolling his opponents with pure power which doesn’t always go well. He makes for a good antagonist but he’s not someone I would trust. He would absolutely turn against you for the right incentive. Land is more of a cautious fighter. He tries to keep a wall between him and everyone else at all times but will step in to protect his ally when needed. Ubel definitely dominates him in every interaction and a main reason for that is how Land is a bit of a softie. I like the guy though, he may constantly be lying to himself but the fact that he steps up when needed is a good thing. He’s someone you actually can count on to do his best at all times and to prioritize your safety.

Then you have Lawine and Kanne who are best friends even if they fight a lot. Their abilities complement each other well and they learn a lot while under Frieren’s leadership. I expected them to join Frieren again for the second challenge so it was surprising when they stayed back. I guess it can be awkward when the old friend group shows up but that was their big chance. Individually they’re only okay but as a duo they’re a lot of fun. I always enjoy the friendship banter with all of the insults flying around.

The proctor Sense is okay, but I’m not a big fan of her. I do think that allowing her clone into the exam was a little underhanded especially since she isn’t fighting on the hero’s side. For now I’m not too impressed with her in a power sense either. Certainly the opposite of Serie who finally shows up as the actual strongest fighter in the world. I have Frieren as the strongest hero because Serie is no hero but at this point in time you have no doubt that Serie would win in a fight between them. She’s spent her life in the pursuit of magic and has taken the offensive capabilities of it a lot more seriously than Frieren has. Serie can be openly bias when she is being a proctor but you have to love that confidence.

There are a lot of other characters, particularly in the magic arc but those are the main ones. You’ve got a really good assortment of supporting fighters here and there is already a lot of ground work for a ton of future seasons. There are tons of demons out in the world and the journey to get back to the end point of the adventure should take 10 years according to Frieren. That’s an incredibly long time so yeah this series could be around for a very long time and I’m absolutely cool with that.

Overall, Frieren is a great show and definitely lives up to the hype. It’s a really exciting show during the plot moments and it is a really thought provoking title during the slice of life episodes. The fact that it can succeed so well in two vastly different genres is a testament to the writing in the show. You should definitely watch this if you are looking for a fun adventure title. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Overall 8/10

Shangri-La Frontier Review

Posted on April 27, 2024 by dreager1

Shangri-La Frontier is one of those titles that got a good amount of hype when it was coming out. Not only was it getting the big anime production but there was even a mobile game coming out around that time. Who doesn’t like an action show about a fun VR world right? One thing that did differentiate this one from other titles is how they weren’t stuck in the game this time though. You can actually log out and you don’t die in real life when you die in the game. So it’s more about enjoying the game itself and the series succeeded massively at this. It shows that the writer was able to pull off an engaging story without life or death stakes and that’s very admirable.

The story introduces us to Sunraku (I’m mainly going to use the game names for everyone here to keep things a little more straight forward) who is a “Trash” gamer. Basically that means he intentionally only plays the absolute worst games imaginable so he can have fun mocking them and having a good time. It’s a pretty good strategy the whole time I have to admit. I do the same thing at times, only I still play the high quality stuff too. I can’t imagine limiting myself that hard. Well, one day Shangri-La Frontier comes out and Sunraku decides to give it a try. It’ll be the first “God Tier” game that he’s played so how will this feel?

Well, in a way it feels even better than for the average player. Going from a string of 0/10 games to a 10/10 is just a feeling that’s out of this world. He also happens across one of the legendary bosses in the game, Lycagon. This is such a rare spawn that almost nobody has ever even seen him. Sunraku is destroyed but this causes him to revive with a curse and a unique quest involving a bunny named Emul. Can he clear the quests and solve the mystery of the game or has he finally bit off a challenge that’s simply too big for him? Along the way he meets up with some old associates from other games including Pencilgon and Oikatzo.

One of the key challenges the series would inevitably have here is keeping your interest piqued without the big death stakes. Like I mentioned earlier, the series does well with that and I’d say the main reason is Sunraku as the lead character. He comes off as a fairly overconfident gamer who thinks he can tackle any challenge and it sort of give the show a bit of a sports vibe. Just like you’re engaged in a good game of tennis in Prince of Tennis, you enjoy the boss fights here to see how Sunraku fares. We still get glimpses of the human world from time to time where we actually see him looking at resource guides and browsing online for tips and tricks.

The show is really immersive when we’re inside of the game but I do like these details to show that this is still a video game that exists in a real world. Sunraku won’t always be the first person to discover something, in fact the one exception is the unique quest. So reading up online is something a hardcore player would absolutely be doing. We get to meet his quirky family as well and there’s even a mild romance plot going on in the human world. The absolute best detail though is that Sunraku still occasionally plays some other games. We see him enter a fighting game to practice some moves/unwind and he goes into another game for the occasional meeting.

It all does a lot for the world building. In one episode we even get to meet some of the devs behind Shangri-La which was cool. They haven’t gotten to do a whole lot yet but their banter already makes them likable characters. I have high hopes for their roles in the story coming up soon. There will be balance patches and updates coming into the game soon too so it’ll be fun to see how all of that is handled. Right now Sunraku may have the highest natural talent out of any player in the game but his character’s level isn’t as high as some others so he can still lose fights. In fact we see him lose a decent number of battles which makes sense. Even the best video game player in the world can’t expect to beat very level without dying on his first try.

This isn’t a power fantasy like Sword Art Online (Which is till legendarily hype!) and it’s going for a different vibe. Sunraku is super good at games but it’s for a very realistic reason which is that he stays home and plays video games all day. The guy’s spent his whole life doing this so it makes sense that he would be really good. The same is true for both of his main allies. At most I guess you could say Pencilgon may not make quite as much sense since she is a lot busier with her real life work but hey some people are just really good at games. She’s always a fun character to have around as well.

In terms of production values, I would say the show is very good as well. The soundtrack has a lot of variety to it and is definitely a lot of fun. The themes really help to enhance all of the scenes from slice of life moments to the fights. The Weathermon fight in particular has a lot of fun themes going on there. Both of the opening songs are also exceptional, some of the best I’ve seen in anime. The classic rock really gets you pumped for the action. Meanwhile the animation is also really good. Again, the Weathermon fight has some of the peaks for the series there as it doesn’t give an inch and keeps things moving at a high level. The animation is consistently solid throughout the show though.

Now lets talk about the characters a bit more. Like I said earlier, Sunraku’s a lot of fun and he’s a big reason why the show is so good. I like his overall confidence and how he doesn’t back down from a challenge. Even when he’s outmatched, he just trusts in his overall abilities and reaction times. He reminds me of myself to a large degree I gotta say. It always feels great when he clutches out a great victory and shows why he is still the best. He does a good job of bantering with the rest of the characters and is just a lot of fun the whole time.

He really takes his time about equipping the right items and formulating battle strategies for the fights. We get a lot of insight into his overall personality even outside of the battles. He’s a reasonable guy who has a lot going for him and that makes for an entertaining main character all the way. Then we have Emul who is sort of the sidekick/animal mascot here. She’s okay but a bit bland as far as supporting characters go. Right now I don’t feel like she really adds much to the equation. Yeah she can fight a bit but in terms of comedic potential she doesn’t have a lot yet.

Fortunately Sunraku has two full allies to help carry the load. First up is Pencilgon who definitely likes to think of herself as a leader figure. She has a lot of power and influence within the game thanks to her guild ties. While her circumstances change as the series goes on, she’s always super resourceful so you have no doubt that she will always be near the top. She has a lot of assets and knows how to exploit every rule in the game. Having her on your side is a big deal. While she tends to be a super tough character, she does allow the game to get her a bit emotional at times.

Hey that’s when you know a game is really good after all right? You want to be able to fully immerse yourself in the game and have a good time. I’d like to see her have a real fight with Sunraku at some point. Surprisingly none of the trio have actually fought each other yet and I think that would be a lot of fun. Of course my money is on Sunraku taking them down in the end. Then we have the third member of the team, Oikatzo. The fact that he is a pro gamer is really fun. I don’t remember seeing a character with that job before and it’s nice as a really good reason as to why he can keep up so well. In fact, he still has to play a lot of other games on the side which is probably the only reason why he doesn’t do even better.

Right now it’s fair to say that Sunraku is still better but Oikatzo is a top tier fighter in his own right. I also like that he doesn’t use a weapon and just uses his knuckles to deliver damage to the opponents. I’m more of a sword guy myself but there are definitely some games where I just go weapon-less and enjoy the hand to hand combat. I did that in one of the GBA RPGs a while back because there was some kind of bonus to doing that. While the alliance was temporary you get the feeling that these 3 will constantly be a trio for most of the adventure although inevitably there has to be some kind of tournament where they fight.

Then we have the classmate, Psyger-0. She has a big crush on Sunraku but the guy never notices her. It’s definitely a rather tragic subplot for her and unfortunately she tends to freeze and panic whenever he is around so she is unable to properly confess. Also, the game store they hang out at has a giant poster of Sonic Frontiers so it’s hard to notice anything else when you’re seeing a top quality game like that. Hopefully she will eventually gather her courage but in the meantime at least she gets to see him inside of the game at times. She has a super high leveled character in game which makes her one of the most powerful. It’s definitely a very impressive build even if she can’t get all of the credit for it. I think the account belonged to her sister or something like that, another character who will show up soon.

So I can’t say that I love Psyger-0, I don’t tend to be big fans of the timid characters. I can appreciate that she really takes care of business in-game though. She is actually a really solid player with how she handles the combos and adapts on the fly. The cast actually isn’t that big for the supporting characters beyond that. We do have the various other characters at Rabituza but this is really the only weakness of the series. Right now I don’t really care much about that place. It just feels a little boring and I always want to get back to the main plot. Yeah there are some good gags here occasionally and the place leads to some good fights but I just haven’t had my interest captured yet.

The blacksmith is okay and she’s good at her job but she’s not all that entertaining. Then we have a sword fighter who shows up at the very end of the season and I can’t say that he’s all that good either. The big boss is your average tough guy character but I need to see him fight seriously before I can really appreciate his character. I know this will probably be the area with a big payoff since it’s a super unique quest that only Sunraku has activated so far (Main character hype!!!) but yeah it’s just kind of dull.

The episodes are always more hype when he’s running around the real world. For example the early boss fight with Lycagon was definitely one of the highlights in the show. It was cool to see him struggle for so long against this guy. He may not have been dealing all that much damage but he was fighting hard the whole time regardless. It reminded me of the optional fight against Ganondorf at the very start of Breath of the Wild. It was a good way to introduce us to the skill ceiling in the game.

All of the other boss fights are generally fun as well. We get to see Sunraku take on many different challenges. Then there are also the times where he has to grind up levels against minions or gather collectibles. All things you would expect to see in a game like this. It all leads up to the big Wethermon fight which you could say is the main focus of pretty much the whole season. We get a pretty solid backstory and all but mainly you’re here for the fight and it delivers. It is fair to say that Wethermon is my favorite villain right now.

The guy has a great design and a killer fighting style. I really enjoyed seeing him on screen the whole time and how he just kept on getting up. It’s actually hard to see how this fight will be surpassed any time soon. It felt like an end of series type of boss rather than being so early on. In fact, the devs reference this as he may have even been the strongest out of all the bosses and that’s considering that he was nerfed. So we’ll see how the bosses fare from here.

I have no doubts about the series staying strong though. The character cast has already proven themselves to be strong enough to make any scene entertaining. You don’t even need a top threat to make things exciting. Yeah, I may not care about the lore of the world and all that much so this new professor character could get annoying fast but I have every confidence that the main cast will concentrate more on the gameplay anyway. They’re not the kinds of characters to get distracted all that easily.

At the end of each episode there is a little SLF Mini segment which is kind of retro because I feel like more shows used to do that back in the day. The segment can be hit or miss at times depending on what you enjoy/find funny but all in all I like having it there. In particular I like the ones that show us events we missed or ones that give extra depth to a scene. The comedic ones can be a bit more of a miss but so far there has been a good balance.

Overall, I would definitely recommend checking this show out. Shangri-La Frontier is a great game. The rock music is so good and the show has a great action vibe all the way. It’s sort of like a back to basics kind of show but done with top of the line graphics. I also think it’s a nice change of pace to just have the characters enjoying the virtual world and having a good time. Not every show has to be super traumatic to the main cast at least. I’d say there’s definitely a whole market for more titles like this. Just a fun adventure with great writing and a really solid story. Hopefully they continue the series sooner than later because I am ready for more adventures!

Overall 8/10

Solo Leveling Review

Posted on April 21, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to dive into one of the titles that really made a lot of waves in the anime world. The original story was a pretty big one thanks to its legendary art and nonstop battles so you figure it would have a very smooth transition to anime so long as the budget was good. Fortunately the anime does have great animation so I would say that it is absolutely keeping up with the greats right now. I figure the series will only continue to get better and better as we jump into the future arcs.

The series starts with introducing us to Jin-Woo who is known as the world’s weakest hunter of all time. What are hunters? Well, in this world there are portals that open up all of the time and hunters are the ones who go in to destroy the boss which causes the portal to close. The boss has to be eliminated quickly or the monsters from inside of the portal will crawl out and destroy everyone. A large portion of the people on the planet are Hunters, you get to be tested once you are of age and then your ranking is determined. You are not able to increase or decrease your rank no matter how much you train. So if you are one of the super rare S ranks then you are in luck. You have fame on the level of a top end celebrity and of course your physical abilities are crazy high. If you’re an E rank…well you might be able to tackle the weakest portals and make enough money to be like a part time job.

Well, Jin-Woo is an E rank hunter and a super weak one at that. He’s weaker than the average person and always gets super injured in every dungeon. He has to rely on his friend to heal him every time. Well, one day the dungeon he goes into ends up being a legendary double dungeon so naturally he is murdered. He ends up being revived somehow though and now he has the ability to level up. It’s as if the world has become a video game so he starts out as a modest level 1 but beating enemies allows him to move up quickly. Does he now have the chance to become an S rank fighter??

Right off the bat I can tell you that I always enjoy a classic level up system. It’s amazing in any video game because if I’m stuck somewhere then it just means that I need to apply myself and get some more level ups. At the same time in a TV show it’s really fun to see because I like to watch the character’s skills improve. I can see immediately why this became such a big hit. It’s the kind of premise that is just a whole lot of fun to watch. The action always remains a pretty big part of the focus as well which is definitely key although I enjoy the talking moments as well. This is what I would call a very well rounded series that excels in just about everything.

So you’ve already got good world building and an intriguing premise. Then beyond that, the main character is really good. In his weaker form Jin-Woo was only okay. You felt bad for him when he was getting beat up but at least he was trying. In his more confident mode, he’s suddenly ready to take everyone down. I like his enthusiasm and determination. He has a scene near the end where he even gets confronted with his older self. At times you do feel like he gets super lucky and should be absolutely crushed by the villains but he always gets up which is the important thing. I would also say that the confidence doesn’t corrupt him with one exception.

There is one scene where he bullies one of the executives with a lot of veiled threats and tough talk. It’s the one time that I thought he was really out of line the whole time. It’s not like this was a villain who was threatening his family or anything. I get that threatening him will really make sure that the guy stays in line but it seemed extremely excessive. So that was Jin-Woo’s only bad scene and while it was a doozy, he has so many great moments that he is absolutely still on top.

Also, while this is more of a positive to the show as a whole, I enjoy Jin-Woo’s fighting style. An Assassin build can be a lot of fun with how quick it moves and the amount of lethal attacks up his arsenal. I thought it was a pretty fun mix-up from the usual swordsman class. In a lot of ways it might feel very similar but Jin-Woo does use his stealth skills to great effect. So that part is a big bonus to him.

Like I mentioned before, the animation is definitely great all around. There are a ton of great fights here, I would say they all looked great. In particular I want to say the two best fights were the ones against Taeshik and Igris. The movement was just so clean and this looks like a brand new anime the whole time. No corners were cut here and I can definitely appreciate that. There will be a lot of pressure on season 2 to look this solid as well. We definitely don’t want to see a drop in quality.

Then the show also has a great soundtrack. I would say my favorite track is Dark Aria that shows up when Jin is taking care of the dark hunters who are messing around with the heroes. It works perfectly in the scene and shows just how messed up things are. The opening is naturally really catchy as well and there are a number of other good tunes to be found as well. So this is another area where the show excels.

Aside from all the general action which is awesome, I do have to take a minute to talk about how great the fight was between Jin-Woo and the evil hunters led by Dongsuk. Technically it’s not rare to see the MC taking out other humans in a show like this. In fact you would expect it but there’s something about this fight that feels extra special. I think it’s because before now all of the fights were against monsters. The whole world’s setup is built around that as well. You’re never supposed to fight any other humans and so the attacks and spells are all trained to work on monsters.

Seeing Jin-Woo essentially turn into a boss battle for the villains was really intense. Definitely a reminder why you should absolutely not mess with this guy. Dongsuk and the other evil hunters may not be super memorable as characters but the scene definitely ends up being one of the most memorable parts of the series. Perhaps it’s the ease with which Jin-Woo destroys them all or the fact that he did not hesitate in the fight. At the end it was a battle to the death though so the villains got what was coming to them.

In the fight with Taeshik it’s also intense because this time both fighters are going for the kill. Taeshik is strong in his own right and has been doing this for a really long time so he’s not going to go down as easily. The fight has a lot of back and forth with high stakes the whole time. I’d have been cool with seeing Taeshik showing up more often since he was a fun villain. Also, as evil as he was, you were glad he was around to take down the other villains since the justice system failed everybody. Solo Leveling definitely strikes you as the kind of world that really incentivizes vigilante work.

In terms of violence, the series can definitely be on the high side at times. There’s absolutely a ton of blood flying around as the enemies are being shredded. Limbs are being lost left and right. It never gets mean spirited on the level of Attack on Titan or too civilian focused which would hurt more though. For now I would say it’s a bit excessive but not quite at the point where I would really be cautioning folks or lowering the score. It could stand to hold back a little though. The monsters always get me a little worried to be sure but at least we’re focusing on those and not having any animals running around. The wolf type creatures get me nervous when they’re destroyed but for now the series is good about keeping them fairly differentiated. I’m not even sure exactly what makes that difference for me. It’s probably a mix of realism and emotions. Like the more it acts like an animal or seems to be in prolonged pain then that could do the trick.

So the series is okay on that front right now. I’m also proud to report that the series really does a good job of avoiding fanservice so far. I’m not surprised, this is a series that was always really good about not having just about any of that. Tower of God didn’t have much at all either so I wonder if it’s just a lot rarer for Korean series to focus on that. Definitely another big win for this series so we can focus on the action the whole time. The show also has some time for some horror elements like in the first episode. The Double Dungeon is absolutely terrifying and they did a great job with the statues there. The big one that smiles is an iconic villain to be sure and I look forward to seeing more of him.

The series also has a lot of mystery aspects at the ready right now. We still have no ideas why Jin-Woo has this level up system. We don’t know who is talking to him through the messages or anything about it really. We’re as in the dark as the main character and the rest of the heroes which works really well. I definitely enjoy a good mystery like that. Really gives your mind something to sink its teeth into while you wait for the next fight scene. As for the side characters, some like Hae-In and Gun-Hee haven’t gotten a chance to do much yet. Hae is a promising S rank fighter who seems like she will be a lot of fun to watch. Gun-Hee may be one of those corporate figures but so far he’s actually rather reasonable and someone you can count on.

Jin-Ah is the main character’s sister so she’s around but hasn’t done a whole lot yet. She’s mainly around to humanize Jin-Woo a bit and remind us that he does have a life outside of all the fighting. Jin-Ho is a rich kid who really wants to prove himself to the company and his father. He works well as comic relief to an extent while also being deceptively smart. The guy has a good head on his shoulders and isn’t just along for the ride. He’s a fun character and you feel a little bad that he’s still rather scared of Jin-Woo so far. Hopefully soon their friendship will be more genuine where there aren’t power dynamics at play. He gets major points from me for still striking up a partnership even while he was probably shaking on the inside.

Chi-Yui is a wise mentor type figure from the opening episode. He actually returns after that later on and has a good fight. I give the guy more props than most of the other supporting fighters since he actually listened to Jin-Woo from the start and didn’t want to ditch him. The guy may have taken the situation rather hard but he performed better than around 90% of the characters. He should be proud of himself and he’s a character who has good development by the end.

Then you have Joo-Hee who doesn’t look great. She’s a solid healer who even reached B rank but gets scared easily and can be off of her game. This is not good since in a dungeon you need to be able to trust everyone with your life. Any hesitation can cost you big time. Ultimately she knows her limits though and makes the right move. It may not make her super likable but it’s better than freezing up when it counts.

Finally you have the final boss Igris. This guy was definitely great. Not much in the way of character at the moment but he makes up for that with an absolutely elite design and superb fighting skills. Right now he seems to easily be one of the strongest fighters in the series. There’s just no question about his incredible skills. He was a great choice to close out the season as the last big named fighter.

The show ends with quite a few new plot points to explore and a lot of world building that was already around. Throw in the obvious cliffhanger and you can tell that we’re really just starting this big saga. Even in terms of power level, Jin-Woo is clearly still not close to S rank yet despite how powerful he is. That’s definitely something that should get you really hyped because it shows that there is a lot more ground to cover.

I guess if you needed another weakness for the series, right now the supporting cast isn’t super memorable. As you could tell from my write up above, it’s not like I was really a big fan of any of the other heroes. Some of them have a lot of potential but haven’t done much yet. Gradually you would expect the other characters to do much but just keep in mind that the show is called “Solo Leveling”. It’s not your standard party type show with all of the fighters teaming up. I will say that we will definitely see more cool characters eventually but the cast isn’t generally one of Solo Leveling’s strong suits. That’s why it is important that you like Jin-Woo as the main character to carry the series.

Overall, Solo Leveling is definitely a great series. A lot of the best parts from the original story are still coming up so I’m definitely hyped for when that gets animated. This season did a good job of covering a lot of content though and I don’t really have the main events in the series memorized so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in season 2. Of course the cliffhanger involving the insect island is going to be big and that was an awesome saga in the manwha so I’m really excited for that. If you haven’t seen Solo Leveling yet and are in the mood for a lot of action then you definitely need to check this one out!

Overall 8/10

Mashle Review

Posted on March 10, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to dive into the world of Mashle. A lot of comparisons were drawn to One Punch Man when this came out because the series is about a guy who is extremely powerful physically to the point of having a lot of absurd feats. I would even say his feats start holding their own against Saitama for a little while there but aside from that general part of the premise, it’s not actually all that similar. The blend of humor and action work really well here.

The story starts by introducing us to a world where just about everyone has some kind of magic. If you somehow don’t get this then you will be in a lot of trouble and unfortunately Mash is one such kid. Fortunately as a baby he is taken in by a kind man who raises him for year, Regro. He has done his best to raise Mash in an isolated cabin since then so they are away from the outside world but one day the cops catch on. Mash will now have to enter magic school and pass the exams to become a Divine Visionary. It’s the only way to keep him and pops safe, but how can he compete with these students who all have crazy magical abilities? Well, that’s where the strength comes in!

So with that part it starts to sound a bit more like Black Clover and that’s probably the best series to use as a comparison. No wonder this series is so good right? A lot of the magical abilities are also very creative and powerful so by extension when Mash is taking them on, it makes him look even stronger as well. One thing I’d note right away though is that Mash is never presented as being unbeatable or anything like that. He is super strong but gets damaged and comes close to losing a few different times. He’s always able to think of something in the end but it does ensure that the stakes are high throughout. Mash can be destroyed if he isn’t careful.

There’s also the social stakes of everyone finding out that he doesn’t actually have magic but that’s more for the comedic element. Mash isn’t the smartest guy around and is a terrible liar so more often than not he is practically giving that secret away anyway. He also makes friends rather easily and so they aren’t about to give the secret up. So many people know the secret as each episode flies by that you figure it may not matter as much as everyone thought it would anyway.

What I like about the humor for Mashle is that it’s quite quick witted. There are a lot of great physical gags with Mash doing things that shouldn’t be humanly possible but then you also have the more out of the blue ones that tend to involve creampuffs. One is that no matter what Mash cooks or what ingredients he uses, it always ends up becoming a creampuff. It’s like a curse, but a beneficial one since that’s his favorite food anyway. The gags tend to be really funny with this one and there is a good variety of jokes to be had here so it never gets repetitive or anything like that either.

The show tends to lean a bit harder on the action than the comedy but it executes both really well which is the important thing. When the show wants to get serious, it definitely nails the tone. The fights are really solid and very creative with the abilities like I mentioned before. Mash may occasionally undercut the tone with a gag but for the most part if it’s a serious fight then it’ll really stay that way.

Fortunately the animation is up to the task. I wouldn’t call this a particularly high budget show for the most part but they knew their priorities. For example the average scene of standing around or moving through different locations won’t look great. The animation tends to be a tad spotty there but all of the important fights quickly dial up the intensity quite a lot. Any plot important fight will generally look great so the show knows how to turn it up when necessary. That’s important because you need to look good to properly convey the serious feats happening here.

Then for the soundtrack, that part’s a little more forgettable. I wasn’t a big fan of the opening. I feel like it was trying to feel like One Punch Man to encourage discussions and comparisons but it just didn’t work. It wasn’t particularly catchy. Then the show itself had some decent tunes but none that really stood out. I’d like to see the soundtrack improve in season 2 because I do think of it as a bit of a weak point right now. Nothing that would seriously hurt the show of course but it’s certainly not helping it either.

One of Mashle’s strengths is how each character really stands out. Part of what makes them so memorable are the striking colors for each one. While the animation may not always be super sharp, the colors always stand out. The character designs are on point and the show is just very bright. It has an early 2000s vibe to it with everything being so vibrant and the show is really easy to watch. It’s the kind of title you can pick up and play at any time, although it’s not like there are a ton of episodes so it’s not something you can watch too often for now unless you want to really get it played out.

Now let talk about the characters. First I do have to note that a lot of characters get off a bit too easy here Yeah forgive and forget is all nice and good sometimes but these guys go very far. Like Brad, one of the police officers was definitely going to murder Regro and would have murdered Mash if he wasn’t so weak. The guy has clearly been abusing his power for a long time now and so he should be in jail after that. Ultimately the show is more comedic in nature so these things tend to get overlooked but when you really think about it….it just doesn’t work. I can’t say I ever liked Brad much. He sticks around as a supporting character but never gets better if you ask me.

Regro doesn’t get to do much but he gets a lot of points for looking after Mash for so many years. He’s a good guy and really did his best. That’s the whole reason Mash is so motivated in trying to succeed at the magic academy. Meanwhile Mash is a solid lead. He may not be quite as charismatic as some other Shonen leads and isn’t exactly the most fired up character that you will see. However, his gags do tend to be funny and he has a solid amount of rage moments for when it’s time to protect his friends and I can always appreciate that.

Then we have another petty character in Claude. Again, the show could have been harsher with this guy. He was actively blackmailing a student and then kept trying to get in Mash’s way. He’s a straight up villain the whole time and I’m not super convinced that he is suddenly going to be a big hero going forward. I just don’t get those vibes from him but hey I could be wrong.

The main heroine of the show is Lemon but she never actually gets a super big role. She doesn’t look good initially as she makes the wrong calls but ultimately she gets better…at least a little bit. The problem is that her main personality trait is that she’s in love with Mash and that’s about it. So that doesn’t really make for much of a complete character. It just means that she will be really one note for most of the adventure and she also can’t really fight that well which knocks her out of most situations.

The same can be said for Finn who is a support mage at best. He’s always really nervous and can’t keep up with the other characters’ shenanigans. He’s just not my kind of character. I prefer to see characters with a whole lot of unwavering confidence who grin in the face of evil. Characters who aren’t afraid to mix it up with the villains and all of that. You know that they’re building something up for Finn but it’s going to take a while and so right now he’s on the lower end of the cast.

We’ve got another petty bully character in Lloyd. In a way that’s how you can describe all 3 of the first villains. This guy likes picking on the weak and that’s about it so as you can imagine Mash makes short work of him. There’s not much to like about this guy and he’s fairly forgettable. Fortunately the villains get better as the show goes on because that’s definitely a rocky start. Another villain who is more on the annoying side is Lauren. She basically uses her magic to make guys fall for her before Silva goes and knocks them out. It’s definitely not a magic that will work on most of the stronger fighters in the verse so that really knocks her out of the running early on. Nothing particularly interesting about her either.

Okay now we get to the bigger characters. First up we have Lance who is a pretty strong rival type of character. He challenges Lance early on and gives him a really good fight. It’s probably the first time in the series that Mash has a really solid challenge in combat. His character’s gimmick of being obsessed with his sister is definitely overplayed and annoying though. It’s his one bad trait and otherwise he’s one of the most intense characters in the series. You can always count on him dealing serious damage and all of his fights are a blast. Definitely one of the standout characters in the series to be sure.

Then you have Dot who is a lot more talkative and rather loud but unfortunately he is very easy to trick. The guy lowers his guard a whole lot and tends to feel really bad for himself. I’d definitely like to see him man up a bit more often. He does get his big moments of course but they are usually outnumbered by him being humiliating. He is one of the funnier characters which works in his benefit but definitely expect him to eat a lot of Ls. It’s too bad because he’s the character with the fire type magic so you could say that he takes up that lot there.

Another hero is Rayne although he doesn’t show up until later. Also, he’s one of those guys who doesn’t like those without magic to the point where you could argue that it basically makes him a villain as well. He was absolutely ready to take Mash down and would have if he was stronger. He’s the kind of guy that’s great to have around to fight the villains but you can’t trust him at all.

Then there is the headmaster of the school Wahlberg, but I can’t give him too much credit. Part of the problem with this guy is that he’s a nice enough guy but he still has people that he answers to. This means that he will make compromises even if he knows that it’s not the right thing to do. It’s a big issue in any series because in my mind you have to follow justice no matter what. If that means disobeying direct orders and such…well so be it. That’s just how it has to go.

His evil counterpart Innocent Zero gets a lot of hype but doesn’t really do anything in this season. You can definitely see that they’re building up to a big confrontation like an All Might vs All For One kind of deal so that will be fun. Likewise one of his top subordinates is a guy called Cell War who hasn’t had a chance to do a ton but in his brief screentime we see that he is incredibly powerful. Another true threat to Mash so the hero will definitely have to watch out. The season ends with a lot of intrigue for part 2 so you definitely want to stick around.

For the villains who are in this season though, Silva is a pretty solid one. He’s definitely a villain who plays dirty and uses every trick to win but he’s also very powerful. Even without his cheap tricks he would be able to defeat a lot of opponents. That’s part of what helps him stick out. If he was weak then he would come off as more petty than anything but like this the guy is on point. He leaves a real impression on you. Anser is another decently solid villain. The guy is the brainy type although that is also used against him as the guy’s main gag. I enjoyed his fight a good deal he ends up being a villain who can stand out. He’s not one of the most powerful by any means but he can hold his own.

Then we have Abel who is a really big deal. The guy’s ability to use many puppets at once is really impressive and he’s actually someone who did give Mash a run for his money. The guy looks great right from the start and also lasts for a little while which makes him stand out more. He’s got his own reasons for fighting and ultimately while he is a villain from the start, he’s fun to watch. He even plays off of Mash’s gags a bit here and there.

Abyss comes in later and strength wise is easily one of the most impressive. He can use arrows in the air much like Medusa to speed himself up and he can also use them to mess with his opponent’s movements. It’s an incredibly difficult spell to work around because you will be really disoriented the whole time. All it takes is one big mistake and then you are gone. Almost any fighter except for Mash would have lost this battle which just proves that point. Abyss is a very complete villain with a lot of solid development.

For some more minor villains who were pretty hype, next up is Shuen. I ultimately thought he was fun. The guy even made his opponent Dot jealous because of how good he is. That’s a fight he probably should have won too, I had my doubts on Dot really being able to turn things around there. He may not really get to do anything going forward but he made for a good villain. Likewise Jon was solid with his kitchen themed attacks. A good gimmick goes a long way so even though he may not return to do anything, it was a good appearance nonetheless.

Love, Wirth, and Milo fall into this camp as well. Each one appears for a quick fight and looks good. I liked their designs and overall confidence. They may be very minor villains almost by definition but they definitely trounce the average oneshot villain. Mashle really excels when it comes to making enjoyable characters like this. There are other characters but these are the main ones. The show has already done a lot of solid worldbuilding and set things up well for the second season so we’re in good hands.

Overall, Mashle was definitely great. It’s the kind of show that just feels good to watch with a lot of quality humor and good action scenes. You will definitely never be bored watching this one and the action is always a lot of fun. If you were worried about having to compare it to One Punch Man, you should still check it out anyway. Obviously I’m on Team One Punch Man overall but both shows definitely have their place here and I look forward to seeing more of Mash’s adventures soon!

Overall 8/10

My Hero Academia Season 6 Review

Posted on February 27, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the next My Hero saga. This one actually came out a while ago but I at least needed to make sure I got the review up before season 7 starts right? The first half is a ton of nonstop action since it picks up right where the last season left off and then we get the Dark Deku stuff in the second half. It all still feels pretty recent in the manga which shows how close the anime has kept up to it. This is another great season and there’s definitely a lot of great stuff to enjoy here.

So yeah we start off pretty quickly with the pro heroes raiding the enemy base. They have finally figured out where the scientist is growing their artificial Nomu fighters and all of the younger heroes are on standby. It’s a good thing that they were around because the League of Villains warp all of their fighters outside right away so this does become the big war right out of the gate. Everyone is here from Shigaraki to Dabi. Are the heroes prepared to take this many fighters down without their #1 hero All Might? Also they have to keep civilian casualties to a minimum which will be difficult when the villains have this amount of firepower at the ready.

First lets quickly go through the technicals. The animation is really solid here. There was no real dropoff at any point this time so you could always count on a lot of high speed choreography and great special effects. The fights here have a lot of impact and the show just looks really good from start to finish. This is a show that had a really solid budget backing it up. Meanwhile there are a lot of good battle themes here. Some of them are definitely used from older seasons but this season also has some new tunes. It’s a good mix as you would expect.

The pacing is really good with each episode keeping you roped in. The Dark Deku arc after the war could have very easily felt a little too scaled down next to all of that action but it’s an arc that made a lot of sense. After the fight Deku realized that keeping all of the kids safe would be extremely difficult with all of the villains gunning for him. So he chooses to go it alone. He doesn’t even remove all contact or anything. He actually does this in collaboration with the police and 3 of the top ranking pro heroes. As in everything Deku does, he made this plan really logically.

It’s why in the second arc I do disagree with the overall moral. A lot of times in shows or movies there will be a big message where the main hero’s friends and family remind him that he’s not alone. He needs to lean on them more and then they can tackle the opponents as one big unit. It’s a really emotional message of course and I get the logic here but it doesn’t work in this setting. The main message here is that Deku should have trusted his classmates and needs to stick around. They can take care of themselves and the school will back them up. So that’s the argument that is being made. I get the case but lets look at the facts here.

The majority of the students can’t fight at a high level. What can a boy who has a hard tail do against fighters who can light up whole city blocks? Froppy can stick her tongue out while Twice can make thousands of clones that are all powerful. These kids just aren’t ready for combat and that’s not even touching on the fact that the school is doubling as a shelter. This means that tons of civilians who can’t fight at all are also trapped in there. It can’t be very reassuring to see the main target of the villains staying there with you.

I raked Deku through the coals for his decision with Eri a while back but this time I have to say that he was 100% correct and the rest of the cast was wrong. He was being selfless in going out on his own because the villains could show up at any point. They have a tracker quirk meaning they can find Deku at any time. His whereabouts are never a secret so his only plan is to let the villains find him. If he stayed at the school then most of their lives would be forfeit because the villains could just launch a bunch of rockets.

There are some valid counter points like All For One using this as a scheme to tire Deku out but my counter would be…what alternative is there? Don’t tell me going back to school is the answer. Additionally, Deku was very efficient on his own. He takes down Lady Nagant and Muscular on his own and saves other people in the process. Those people would all be dead if he wasn’t out in the field. So….I think Deku just justified his position. Also you have to consider the fact that he is doing this as an official operation with a few heroes. It’s perhaps off the books but he hasn’t gone rogue. The whole Dark Deku thing was handled masterfully and so I wish it could have gone on longer.

This is the only arc in the series that I felt was a bit rushed. There’s just so much more you could have done with this plot. Also contrary to what you may be thinking, it’s not like Deku got super edgy either. He’s still the same hero he always was, but is willing to say “No” and actually disagree with All Might now. He still tries to be a symbol of peace and smile for the people that he is saving, there just isn’t much to smile about right now.

The climax is definitely the cheesiest in the series. Mainly because of the power levels at work here. Uh oh, power scaling?? Yeah we’re power scaling here! Realistically the only hero from Class 1-A who could even hope to tag Deku is Bakugou and even then his overall aerial mobility is not in the same league as Deku’s. Deku should be able to easily dodge him and leave. If this was a fight then it would be tougher since Deku would want to restrain them without hurting them but just escaping? He should have been out of range in an instant. So I didn’t buy into the whole fight and how they were somehow fast enough to keep up with him. No shot imo. It was still a fun arc though and had some really fun action scenes. Both Deku fights that I mentioned earlier were animated really well and the fights had a good amount of tension.

I mean, Deku should have beaten her a lot easier as well, but let me not get too much further into the power levels. At the end of the day, the higher a verse’s power levels start to go, the more you are going to find power level issues. It’s a natural evolution of what’s going to happen there, because how could it not right? Shigaraki for example is so broken now because he just has to touch you and he’s dead. So the show does its best to show why he is never able to touch anyone but now he has hypersonic speeds and is one of the fastest characters in the verse with incredible strength and instant regeneration? The heroes should all be dead. I have to be 100% real with you right now, they should all be 6 feet under. The villains are way too broken at this point. Only a bloodlusted Deku should be able to keep up and everyone else is absolute fodder at this point. Even if we count the pros, only Mirko and Endeavor should be able to fight at this level of combat.

I talked about the Dark Deku arc a lot because that one was always a real highlight and fun to discuss but lets talk about the characters now. Deku has really come a long way throughout these seasons. He’s a confident hero now who can make his own plans and doesn’t need All Might’s approval. It’s a subplot in this season of course with how he’s forcing himself to grow up to protect everyone but he’s still a nice guy beneath it all. He never loses sight of himself and that’s what makes him a capable lead. He’s never been super high tier as far as Jump leads are concerned but he’s easy to root for and one of the better heroes here.

Uravity does well to help out the whole time. She is a character where I feel like her power level isn’t nearly high enough to justify her inclusion at this point though. She means well and as a character of course I can’t fault her because she’s simply doing her best. It’s not her fault that I feel like the plot armor is strong here. I may disagree with her stance on the Deku part but at the same time in her position I would want him to be around to do my part in the protection. No matter how large the strength gap is, it would be hard to see someone out there risking their life while you’re at school. She needs to watch out with the Toga stuff though, being a little too sympathetic to a mass murderer can be tricky.

Bakugou looks great here as always. He still knows how to get under Deku’s skin which helps during the dark saga and in general he always gets into the action. He helps out a lot in the fight against Shigaraki even if he’s a little outgunned next to Deku there. Bakugou never gives up and just keeps on swinging which is the important part. I love his confidence, that is what will take him far here and it’s why he is still the best hero out of them all. He took what many would say is a fairly average quirk and trained it up with so much creativity and intensity that he is one of the most powerful heroes in the series. Very impressive I gotta say.

Then we have Kaminari whose role isn’t huge but I did really like his first war contribution. He fights a villain who has electric powers and diffuses the guy’s strongest attack like it was nothing. Now that’s an impressive moment and it was a good way for him to swing above his station. It was the perfect matchup. In general I feel like Kaminari usually doesn’t get many opportunities to shine so that was a good one.

The other heroes all do some stuff as well. Of course they are all there to help Deku but beyond that everyone makes contributions. (Well almost everyone) Yaoyorozu gets to help with stopping Gigantomachia and coming up with the sleeping drugs. I’m not really sure about this working to be honest but it was a creative way to fight. If she ever trained a bit more seriously I could see her being a top threat in the series. The ability to make anything that you can picture/know the construction of is crazy. If someone ever shows her how to make a quirk destroying bullet then the villains would be toast. And Yes I don’t think that’s too drastic. The mass murderers have to live quirkless now? Well that’s just too bad isn’t it? Shouldn’t have been murdering people!

Ida gets a primary role in talking to Deku since he’s the school rep so you can expect a lot out of him. His super speed’s also the real deal, it’s why it would have been nice to see him do a little more against the actual villains. He’s one of the few kids who could have done something. Meanwhile Jiro doesn’t do a ton here but she helps to inspire Kaminari during his big moment since he’s thinking about her the whole time. Froppy provides a little assistance to Uravity but she is completely out of her depth here.

Mina doesn’t look amazing here as she freezes up when the going gets tough but fortunately Kirishima is around to help out. He definitely looks good here as he’s already gotten past all of his doubts a while back. Then we have Todoroki who gets a fairly big role when you consider his family drama. Uh oh, here’s another big topic that I could talk about for a while. I’ll keep it brief here, no matter how many times it is revisited, there is no saving Endeavor. The guy was super abusive and while it’s great that he’s turned over a new leaf, I get why the family doesn’t want to forgive him. Frankly I don’t see how I ever could if I was in their position. The show gets props for not trying to soften this up the more it goes. We still see what an absolute menace he was back in the day. Ultimately one kid basically destroyed himself trying to impress him, his wife was left with advanced PTSD and his other sun got a permanent burn on his face. The others remarkably turned out okay as they tried to just get by.

It’s just a lot of trauma though and so even if Endeavor were to die in battle saving the world that doesn’t really change what happened. His family plot gets a lot of screentime in each season but after a point you sort of get it. I’d say we don’t need more flashbacks on this, lets just have his big fight with Dabi…and I’m kinda rooting for Dabi in this one. As the viewer we know that he really has changed but in universe of course there would be no way of really knowing that.

Meanwhile Hawks has to deal with some ghosts of his past as well. As to his big moment of finishing off an opponent, I want to say for the record that it was 100% justified. He wasn’t hunting some random person or doing anything crazy. He was protecting himself and his allies from a super dangerous villain who would murder them all without batting an eye. Yes, it’s an emotional betrayal from the villain’s POV, but again…just don’t be a villain next time. I can never fault a hero for “betraying” the villains after setting them up because the hero’s job is to save lives. This is the best way to accomplish that goal.

Hawks also gave Twice every chance to give up but it’s clear that he wasn’t going to. Some of these villains are willing to die to protect their beliefs and so that becomes the only option available. Hawks is still a great hero that you can count on all the way through. He likely won’t be as helpful with his injuries for a while but he’s done really good overall. All Might is an example of a character who can’t do a whole lot right now. Without his powers, all he’s got are good motivational speeches and those aren’t really working anymore. I don’t think he looks great here. He really could have handled the situation with Deku a lot better particularly since a part of him should understand what Deku is going for. It felt like he was way more out of the loop than he should have been with his half hearted attempts to reach him.

Meanwhile Eraserhead looks good as always. The guy is always a primary target because of how extremely useful his ability is. Without him nerfing Shigaraki for most of the battle, the heroes would have really been doomed. At this point the power creep has long since surpassed him but I always give him credit for hanging in there and continuing to fight anyway. He’s a very brave fighter and definitely a hero that everyone can look up to. His partner Present Mic also gets to do a lot althoguh he’s never as impressive. It’s not his fault though, the quirk just isn’t very strong. Every villain worth his salt is able to shake it off which is not something that you want to see as a hero.

Gran Torino also doesn’t have a big role here. He’s got speed but at this point so does the big villain Shigaraki. Maybe in his prime Torino could have done better but not now. Ryukyu just deserves a shoutout for being around while never doing anything. She’s one of the top 10 heroes but is always super outgunned. I think the problem is that turning into a dragon just makes you a huge target. It’s not nearly as useful an ability as you would initially think. That’s the problem here.

Midnight is around but doesn’t look great here. Still one of the most bizarre ways to go out. I know it’s realistic and all but still not very satisfying at all and I’m still waiting for a retcon on this. Mt Lady looks good, perhaps a bit too good. Her feats don’t seem like they should be enough to stall Gigantomachia for even an instant but power levels aside she looks good. She hangs on through the pain and does her best at all times.

Then you have Best Jeanist. The guy shows up a little late to the party but he makes sure that his presence is felt. He has a good hero’s speech for when he arrives and his ability is pretty handy. It may not be the flashiest one around but he still does good in combat the whole time. Then you have Mirko who is easily the best adult here. She goes through a whole lot but has one of the most savage fights in the series. She was super outnumbered and going up against some of the strongest fighters in the series and yet she never went down. It’s a shame that she had to take so much damage there as she would have been super useful in the climax otherwise.

Mirko’s always ready to fight and has crazy stats though. She’s easily a standout hero and one of the top 10 fighters who completely lived up to the hype. Without her the heroes would have been in a super bad spot. Also one last hero I forgot to mention is Tokoyami who doesn’t do a ton yet but the situation becomes personal to him since Hawks was his mention. You look forward to seeing more out of his shadow since it does have the potential to be one of the top abilities at some point.

Now lets talk about the villains. First up is Garaki who is the evil scientist. The guy is pretty smart but more on the whiny side so I can’t take him super seriously. He’s not exactly a top fighter after all and he is really carried by the Nomu. Of course he helped invent them so props there but he gets outshined by the other villains. Then we have Mr. Compress who gets the smallest role from the League of Villains. He does get one big moment where he really gets to show off his stuff though. So I won’t be forgetting him anytime soon but it would have been cool if he could have fought more.

Since the show mainly ignores Spinner, I’m gonna do the same. Toga is still a very emotional fighter who is super in denial of how evil she is. All of her arguments against the heroes don’t really make any sense and I can’t feel bad for her. She murdered an old lady after all. The heroes just need to take her down at this point. Now Dabi is a very intense villain. The guy’s motives are interesting and his blue fire really stands out. He’s always been one of the most interesting villains in the series. It’s hard to keep him down at any point because he has so much drive. You’d almost think he was one of the heroes with how hard he keeps fighting, no matter what the odds are. Yeah this is definitely someone to keep your eye on.

Destro is unfortunately a villain who really fell down the rankings. The guy used to be so cool all the time and now he is just a shadow of himself. He’s a complete lackey who just takes orders while whining. There is nothing left of his absolute confidence in the slightest. I used to like him a lot but he’s awful now. Meanwhile Gigantomachia feels like he was nerfed a bit. The guy just isn’t causing the level of destruction that he should be considering how much hype he got. I would have liked him to have done a little more but again the problem is that the villains were too powerful. It seems like being nerfed was the only way to keep things close at all for the heroes.

Not a villain but I will mention that Mirio gets a small role that is pretty fun. It’s surprisingly not built up quite as much as you would expect considering what a big character he is. I suppose there just wasn’t time. Speaking of powerhouses though, we had the return of Muscular which was awesome. It was cool to have a rematch with him and Deku. The victor is rather obvious but I always liked this guy and he still makes for a fun antagonist.

Then we have Lady Nagant. She actually thinks she can hang with Deku? Well that may seem like a stretch but the show does its best to make this a real matchup. I think the problem is just that Deku should be wayyyyy faster than her bullets to the point where they should never be able to land. The fight is intense with the animation though and Nagant has a good backstory. She ends up being a super interesting villain and I would definitely want to see more of her at some point. In a lot of ways she would be the ultimate support fighter for any side because of her crazy range. While the hero is distracted all she needs is one shot and then that’s it.

Twice gets a rather huge role here as we learn more about the guy. His origin story isn’t overly traumatic or anything like that but he’s still been through a whole lot. It hasn’t been an easy journey for him at all. The whole situation feels sad for him because it does seem like he can’t do anything right. He’s also someone who could have easily been a hero if he had fallen in with the right crowd. It just goes to show that sometimes the people you hang around with are the ones you take after. It can be difficult to get out of that cycle.

Finally we have the two big villains. All for One has mostly taken a backseat to Shigaraki for now. At least on the battlefield but he is always making plans. He makes for a good mastermind kind of character but he’s the type of figure where it will all depend based on how he does once it’s actually time to get out there and fight. Anything less than a commanding victory will look bad for him. That may sound harsh but that’s just how it goes.

Then we have Shigaraki. He’s one of those villains you don’t feel bad for but to his credit, he isn’t asking for sympathy anyway. He’s basically embraced his villain status at this point and he’s a very intimidating figure. The fact that he can take on so many heroes at once at this point is crazy. He is basically an evil all might and his new design is very memorable. He’s a villain who has consistently gotten better over the seasons and the author has done a good job with him. You look forward to his next battles.

Overall, My Hero Academia continues to execute on a high level. There are a whole lot of characters running around and longer series always have an edge with the payoff here. My Hero has had plenty of time to build up all of the heroes and villains so it’s a lot of fun to see them mixing it up. The season ends with the next big battle very close to starting up as well so you can bet that season 7 will be another winner. This Stars n Stripes hero looks amazing, should be a real good help against the enemies going forward!

Overall 8/10

B’T X Neo Review

Posted on February 19, 2024 by dreager1

Kind of like Magia Record, it’s time to check out a sequel that was a lot shorter than the original. It was always going to be interesting to see how Neo fared because there were still a ton of villains left but not a whole lot of time to get to them. I will say that this one can be a little rushed at times with some villains having to go down fast but it’s still a great ride all the way through. It’s another title that is basically action all the way through and that’s always a win.

The sequel picks up right where the last one left off as Teppei and the team are still heading to the villain’s main base. Teppei is there to save his brother Kotaro while the others are going for their own reasons. Fou wants to see if the Empire really is evil, Hokuto is a bit of a wild card but he’s generally there for the same reasons and Ron really wants to make sure that he hasn’t been manipulated. So this isn’t quite a united team just yet but hey at least they’re all heading over. The villains may have lost a lot of generals already but they still have Juggler, the dark generals, and the 8 higher ups. I forget their team name but that’s a lot of fighters for 14 episodes to deal with. Plus the heroes will still have to fight Raphael, the ultimate monster/robotic hybrid creation that the villains have been working on.

One thing I appreciated about Neo is that it did keep up the normal pacing for as long as possible. For example you may figure that Neo has to hit the ground running with all of the villains coming up but it still gives 3 whole episodes to the first fight where Fou deals with his old friend Quattro. It was really important that they take this time because narratively that’s a really big fight. We finally see the full details behind Fou’s backstory and I do have to say that he messed up there. Basically the reason Quattro is so mad at him is because when their mutual friend was dying, Quattro begged Fou to encourage her so they would have a chance at saving her. Instead, he basically just told her that the religion they all followed was fake and there was no real hope. So she died and Quattro holds a grudge there.

Yeah, she probably would have died anyway but Fou didn’t have to say it the way that he did. There is a big difference between being honest and just being unnecessarily brutal when talking to someone. He did the latter and that was too bad. He’s come a long way since then but it’s understandable why Quattro has such a big grudge. Again I disagree with Fou in the present for basically deciding that it’s fine to let Quattro murder him as a way to atone. At the end of the day that’s never the way to do it.

Fou is still one of my favorite characters though even if this was a rough start for him. He protects the kids from the villains and has generally been a great guy since then. He actually learned from his mistakes and I can always appreciate that. Meanwhile Quattro was a really good villain. He still is a bad guy all the way but I always appreciate having a villain with motivations that you can really understand like this. He ended up being really memorable as a result.

As always Teppei is a great main character here. By this sequel he already has a great bond with X so the two aren’t really bickering much anymore. They’re able to fight really well as a team and keep the enemy forces at bay. Teppei still needs to get a little stronger by the end to handle the main threat but he hangs in there until it kicks in. He does remind me a lot of Seiya with his resilience and he always keeps a good attitude up. Meanwhile I also enjoy X a lot and it makes a good difference to have a pair of main characters who are likable like that. He was also there to support Fou when the guy was having a lot of doubts.

Meanwhile Kotaro still gets a big role here but I really wish that he could have gotten some cool abilities to fight with. The smarts is good and all but you feel like he is always destined to be on the sidelines when it counts as a result of not being able to fight. He’s constantly in danger in the underground and just can’t do much about it. He does make some allies there and is crucial to the climax but only as a supporting character. Karen finally gets to actually show up here and while I’d like her role to have been a bit bigger, she’s a lot of fun. We know that in the past she was one of the top fighters and it’s clear that in the present she still is. I would have liked her to have flexed a little more but as it is the franchise was getting ready to end so there’s only so much that can happen at once. Regardless I expect you’ll be pretty happy with her role.

Aramis and Metal Face get a role here as well. I always liked Metal Face as a good underdog kind of character. He was never quite ready to deal with the top tiers and so he takes a lot of Ls in the series but the guy never gives up. I could respect his determination and it made the guy really memorable. Sure he was never a threat but he still got his own character arc and that’s more than you can say for most villains. Aramis also gets a lot to do but I take more shots at her because she lacks determination.

By the end of the first series she already had serious doubts about the Empire and here she is still getting crushed by Misha and the other villains. It would have been good if she could have defected a lot earlier and taken a stand against Raphael. Especially since it turns out that she really is quite skilled as a fighter. I mean she takes on Juggler and actually does great which automatically puts her near the very top of the verse. This is why you should never just mindlessly obey orders. Imagine what she could have been doing this whole time.

Misha is a super annoying villain though because he just seems petty and overconfident the whole time. He’s the kind of character where you could warn him that the heroes are approaching and he would just sit back and eat a sandwich. He doesn’t proactively make moves except to yell at his underlings to take care of things. The guy is no strategist and if he was then I dare say the war would be over. You have to consider just how badly the heroes were outnumbered for the whole series. We’re talking 100-1 and it’s not like the villains are super weak. In season 1, Teppei was having a ton of trouble with the random generals.

Yeah he got a lot stronger since then and is on Fou’s level now but even the top 4 generals are shown to have trouble with some of the other villains. So if you sent everyone right away then the heroes would have definitely been finished. You can’t claim this is just gameplay mechanics since it’s an actual story here. Misha just didn’t take any real steps to stop them which was his big mistake.

Now if you want to talk about a great villain, lets talk about Juggler. This guy absolutely dominated whenever he was on screen to the point where I dare say he set the bar way too high. I was expecting every member of the villain’s elite ranks to be as strong as him but in the end he really outshined them all. Purely in feats and portrayal at least I don’t think anyone came close. When Juggler was introduced he acted as if he could take the heroes group all at once and I believed him. Well, at least I believed that he would make it a great fight which is already crazy impressive. The guy had charisma and was quite the merciless villain. He really leaves a lasting impression on you.

Meimu is probably the next most impressive from the 7 shadow warriors because this guy also gets a few episodes to himself. He’s also not trying to compete with Juggler in terms of physical power. This is one of those guys who uses a lot of shadows and mind games to get into your head. He’s strong and gives Teppei a good run for his money. By this point in the show you do have to get a little worried though because we’re already halfway through and that’s only taking care of 2 out of the 7 shadow warriors. I still say it’s a positive that the show took its time in the first half to give the characters their time to shine but yeah it does hurt the other villains a bit.

Even the heroes to an extent. So for example Fou got a lot to do but what about Ron? Even in the first series Ron got to appear the least since he was the last member. Well, here he does get more action. For example he’s the first one to reach the villain’s base and start fighting since he went on ahead. He looks good in the action against the random minions but against the named fighters he can’t do as much. Again I think the problem here is that he just didn’t have enough time. Ideally you would want him to beat a few generals before pairing him up with Raphael where he would lose to show just how powerful the final boss was. That’s not exactly how it plays out since things are sped up but I still did like Ron as the gruff team member. He could have been even better but I’ll still give him his props. It is at least hinted that he is the strongest of the 4 generals in pure combat power.

Hokuto is probably the most bland member of the 4 and it’s more of a by default I suppose. The guy is a super genius and his B’t is a defensive type which means that he isn’t running in and dealing a bunch of damage. That’s not really the way that he fights. Thing is, we already have Kotaro as the genius character which eats into Hokuto’s hype a bit. There’s just not a ton of room for two characters with similar personalities even though Hokuto could actually fight. Also the two don’t really get to interact much and I think that’s where the show could have had some interesting moments. Hokuto even gets his own origin story later on but it’s so late in the game that it feels too late.

When it comes to the climax of the series, I will say that it doesn’t quite beat a lot of the top battles here. For example, the battles with Quattro and Juggler were more fun. The real problem here is that Raphael is too huge. The villain is absolutely massive and while he can put up a fight as a super durable tank, there’s not much more to him than that. He’s practically mindless for most of the battle and the fight really revolves around the heroes attacking, he tanks it. Then he attacks and they dodge, rinse and repeat. It’s why it can’t touch the more intense close quarters battles.

The soundtrack is pretty good here. There are a lot of fun tunes and they fit the sci-fi genre fairly well. The action themes are tense and the adventure themes are fast paced. A lot of good effort was put in here and the animation is also pretty smooth. I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely top tier or anything like that but the choreography is good and it’s always easy to follow along with what’s going on.

In general I liked the series aesthetic. It could have easily fallen into the bland desert trope but instead this actually feels like an alternate planet where everything is just a bit different. The world is still high tech even if they don’t always show that part off. I also still like the idea of the villain base being divided into a ton of squares that serve as territories and each one is guarded by a villain. It’s why this series could have gone even longer so we could have had more bosses. The show was smart to never show us a map though so you couldn’t tell how close the heroes were until they actually made it to the base. I think we could have gotten more of a reason why the B’ts don’t work in Misha’s room though. It felt like a cheesy way to try and make him a slight threat near the end.

Overall, If you liked B’t X then you will definitely like B’t X Neo. It continues the saga seamlessly with a ton of fights and a satisfying ending. The animation here is solid and in the end there’s just nothing to really dislike here. It’d be cool to see this one get a modern remake or another sequel at some point. We sort of jumped right into the world ending stuff here so there wasn’t a lot of time to explore the world and I feel like there is a ton of latent potential there. I still remember how the first episode of B’t X started out fast with those robot assassins. Realistically it feels like this is a franchise that has been forgotten but you can never say never.

Overall 8/10

Cardfight will+Dress Season 3 Review

Posted on January 15, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for another big Cardfight adventure and as always you can bet on a lot of awesome things happening here. I can never hide my surprise at how this series really did a full 180 and ended up being such a spectacular part of the franchise. It just goes to show that you can never count any title out. This one already has a lot of set up from the previous season so we’re able to just jump right into the battles with the Uniformers. My guy Tohya doesn’t get to do much this time but at least he does have one big fight.

The show starts with Yu-Yu and pals still wondering what exactly they should do about this. Yu-Yu doesn’t agree with the Uniformers method of having everyone fight with the same style but strictly speaking they are not doing anything illegal. Yeah they are pressuring players into using their style but they aren’t even blackmailing or beating anyone up. The only slight case you could make is that they’re using some kind of brainwashing that takes place after a win but it’s a bit of a stretch and I don’t know how you would go about proving it. The show never really goes this avenue either even though to me it did feel like brainwashing. In the end the only thing to really do is defeat these guys in a cardfight and prove that Uniformers aren’t the only way to victory.

Right in the first episode we have Yu-Yu dueling to try and prove that point. His skill level definitely seems to vary at times though. Sometime he is one of the most powerful duelists in the world who won’t lose to anyone and then other times he just seems to be generally powerful but not a top tier. This continues in this season but for the most part I’ll say that he looks good. Whenever he loses you’ll wince a bit but with cardfights there are a lot of variables in place. Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting the wrong cards or the opponent’s deck is a hard counter.

I appreciate Yu-Yu putting on his game face and making the case against the Uniformers but I think just about any other character would have been able to make a more compelling argument. Ultimately we’re many seasons in but Yu-Yu just isn’t one of my favorite characters. I don’t think he ended up growing into a really confident player the way that Aichi and Chrono did.

Jinki actually loses some points in this season. I still think he had one of the best intros in the series where he shows up to announce a massive tournament and has an air of mystery about him. He was one of the all time big threats after all and the head of the villain organization. Well, as the story goes on he becomes more of a puppet and one who isn’t able to fight back against the true threat. He comes across as a little wishywashy in not understanding the big picture the whole time. Since nobody really ends up taking his side, it just makes him look that much worse.

Then we have Haruka get a fairly decent role. In fact I’m pretty sure she duels more than Tohya in this series which is crazy. You’d figure that her character arc was complete but after she is dominated by a Uniformer she ends up joining them. Once again this is why it feels like mind control to me because her character just does a 180 there. By the end she gives some reasons for why she would help out but I just didn’t really buy it. It did make for some tense duels though and I liked this whole season as a tribute to Link Joker. The season wasn’t kind to Haruka though.

I’d also say that Mirei isn’t quite as impressive as she once was. She went from being a final boss to just one of the crew now and she doesn’t win as often. I would have liked her to have had some rage in avenging Haruka and taking everyone out. She deserves some good revenge after all of that right? It’s good to take the high road sometime but not all of the time. Still, she did get a good win at one point so that was good.

Zakusa gets a decent amount of hype here but he’s one of those characters I can’t take seriously. Like with the others you could argue that he’s just being mind controlled for most of the series but even so he just went down too easily. The guy seemed to have some plans but in the end he didn’t do anything outside of the duels. I just don’t think this character will ever click for me.

As a result of his getting a bigger role, Tomari gets to appear more too which is a decent trade off though. She’s always fun although Tomari is also a character that I feel isn’t in the upper echelon of fighters so I’m a bit skeptical of her hanging with the crew here. I guess the best argument you could make is that she really knows the deck of her opponent so it gives her a better chance of winning.

One of the villains that I could take seriously was Halona. From the start she was a fun character and someone who does believe in the cause. Her backstory ties into this so she has a much better resolve than most of the cast. I was rooting for her in both of her fights with Urara and Megumi. I just think she is the much better fighter and she’s really earned the win with the amount of work that she has put in. None of the other characters can even come close to matching her beat for beat. It’s just not happening. I hope we get to see more of her in future seasons.

As for Urara, I wouldn’t say she looks great in this season. She may be back with the heroes but it doesn’t feel like her skills have grown all that much. She’s also very timid which like Yu-Yu, doesn’t work out so well. I’d like her to get a bit bolder and really defend her deck choices more. Now that is something that would make her really stand out in all of the best ways. I can see her improving eventually but it’ll take some time.

Things are also tough for Megumi as she seems to lose a lot of duels but at the same time she’s always trying. Her confidence may be unfounded to a degree, but she’s not giving up and to me that’s just as important. I prefer her to Urara for that reason. Hopefully at some point Megumi gets more of a true power up since I’d like to see her get some more wins. I’d argue that she has trained so much that she deserves the spotlight more.

Instead it always goes back to Danji being the best and showing everyone up. Hey, he is a prodigy for good reason of course but it’s time to let someone else take the center stage. His duel with Megumi is fun but the guy is not someone you would want as an ally. He helps when he feels like it, which isn’t very often and that’s about it. You want an ally who is loyal and dependable, someone who will step up to defend the world right? Well that’s definitely not this guy, not even close! He’s got to be one of the most unreliable/irresponsible heroes that I’ve ever seen. He’s fun but the show doesn’t put as much spotlight on how much he’s letting everyone down as it should.

Then we have the rivalry with Raika and Sophia that keeps on going. Sophia is an extremely entertaining character with the way she’s constantly mocking Tohya and comparing him to a dog. She’s such an excellent antagonist but unfortunately she does not stick the landing. The show decides to completely change her character by the end which is part of her development but it’s not satisfying at all. It unfortunately means that she won’t be as fun when she returns.

This is also another matchup where the hero just doesn’t feel as strong as the villain so Raika’s match feels rather cheesy. I still like Raika as a solid rival who may not be Tohya level but can fight well. He just hasn’t had any real significant power ups which causes him to lag behind the other characters. He needs something and he needs it fast or he really will be doomed to stay in the back. He still has one of the best themes in the series though.

Then we have Tohya. Like I said he gets a very small role with only one real duel against Masanori. It’s hard to get as invested in this one since he’s been stronger than Masanori from the jump. Still, it’s a chance to see him in action so I can’t complain too much. His fiery fightstyle is still a lot of fun to watch and he really holds nothing back. I hope he will be brought back at some point in the future when a new threat is on the horizon.

Meanwhile I really hope Masanori stays gone this time. He manages to show up in every season somehow and yet there just isn’t any real point to his character. He just loses and loses and loses some more while trying to gaslight everyone into thinking that it’s part of his plan. It’s not a very convincing argument when you very rarely win. His only big win here is against a character who is so weak that it really can’t be used as hype.

Finally you have the AI who is trying to make the world a better place. It makes for a pretty interesting villain as it naturally takes everything literal and it goes from trying to make the world a better place into taking almost everyone down in order to achieve that reality. It’s not exactly the most complex villain but I always enjoy having a robotic type villain like this. In theory such a program would be amazing at Cardfight so it also makes sense why the heroes are having such a tough time.

As always the climax is really a blast here. It continues the energy from the rest of the season and never lets up. I think it was a smart move to have all of the heroes have a big rival from the villains group. It meant that each duel was really personal the whole time. We probably could have used a little time for power ups for the heroes to be honest but in the end it still works out well enough. Each duel is impressive both visually and narratively which is the most important part.

As always the animation is pretty solid here. I still wouldn’t call this one of the top tier productions or anything like that but it is consistent and looks sharp the whole time. You can’t really ask for much more than that. The soundtrack is also really good which is just as key. There are less of the big insert songs here compared to previous seasons but the soundtrack is still very balanced.

It’s pretty rare to get a season that’s basically just one long series of battles but this isn’t even the first time that Cardfight has pulled this off. It’s why it is definitely one of the best franchises out there. Few titles are doing it the way that Cardfight is. The stakes may not seem quite as high as in some of the other seasons since as I mentioned, the Uniformers aren’t doing anything illegal or trying to destroy the world. However, a battle of ideals is always a pretty fun reason to battle as well.

Overall, Cardfight is definitely in good hands. It looks like the next season is going to reset the main character group again so I look forward to seeing how the next group handles things. Most likely that means the season won’t be able to top this one as usually the first season with a new lead takes a while to develop all of the characters. It’s a long term investment where you sacrifice the first season to set up a lot of awesome sequels. That said, as long as the sacrifice isn’t too drastic then it is absolutely worth it all the way. This season in particular might be a little harder to get into compared to older ones since it’s a direct sequel and all but if you enjoy action then you should definitely check it out.

Overall 8/10

Pluto Review

Posted on November 1, 2023 by dreager1

It’s time to look at the Netflix adaption for one of the most legendary manga of all time. At the very least it’s a title that everyone has heard of over the years and for good reason. It’s the return of Astro Boy! Now granted I’m pretty sure this is a completely different continuity than the rest of the Astro Boy stuff although maybe it just takes place in the future. For now I’m guessing it’s the former, but it’s still a lot of fun to see him running around. This is basically a full on mystery thriller and it works really well.

So the plot starts by introducing us to the setting. It’s the future and robots have been continuing to evolve to the point where they are basically comparable to humans now. It’s actually very difficult to tell them apart at first glance because that’s how identical they are in the present state. There is one law of robotics which keeps humanity safe though and that is that they cannot murder a human. Seriously it is completely impossible…or so it would seem.

People are in a panic now because a human and a robot have both just been destroyed. In each case a pair of horns was stabbed onto the corpse and the way in which the murders happened seem to have only been possible by a robot. That would mean that a robot has actually murdered a human. If someone has found a way to make this possible…then nobody is safe. Panic will take over the streets and people are going to die. The government puts officer Gesicht of the FBI in charge of the case. He needs to find the culprit and put an end to this but is it already too late? Have the gears been put into motion to end the peace between humans and robots once and for all? The villain appears to be going after the 7 most powerful robots in the world, the final mechs of mass destruction and also the top researchers involved in a specific project.

So right off the bat it’s important to mention that this is a very dialogue heavy series. The mystery is absolutely at the forefront here with Gesicht trying to narrow down the search but there is also a lot of character moments for everyone. So sometimes you may take 30-40 minutes off from the mystery itself to explore other plots. In terms of action, there isn’t really much until the final episode so it’s important to keep in mind. One of my only negatives is in regard to that but we’ll get into that later on. This is still a great show all around and most importantly, it’s one that has a considerable amount of replay value.

You could easily watch this show again a little while after finishing it and see how much more you’re able to piece together the next time around. Granted the mystery tends to evolve as it goes on so your experience should not change too much. It’s also just fun to listen to the various debates regarding the robots and how things are currently going. When robots are this close to humans, do they basically get all of the rights a human gets or not? A lot of the show is pretty much a metaphor for that as robots keep being destroyed and the characters have to wonder if that’s equivalent to human lives or not. If it is, then a lot of them feel like they can never really atone for their sins.

A war happened many years before the series takes place but the effects loom rather large. Just about every character was affected by what happened there whether due to what they did or what they didn’t do. The war itself looks like it was an easy win for the heroes based on what we saw but of course that does nothing to reduce the amount of casualties dealt to the losing side the whole time. It was also a cautionary tale about why you don’t want robots of mass destruction running around.

Now the one weakness I mentioned earlier in regard to their not being a lot of action is that sometimes you will have incredible build up for a fight only for it to virtually be off screen’d. You’ll see maybe one blow but the fight will be over in a minute. That’s not good payoff even if you’re trying to show how powerful the villain is. I think you could definitely have worked around that with some fun action segments while still hiding the villain. Instead it has the opposite effect of making the hero look a bit too weak.

For example episode 1 did this the right way with North No. 2. The episode hypes this guy up to oblivion so when he finally fights there is a nice spectacle and while the fight isn’t long, it’s long enough to both add some hype to the villain while matching up with the build up to him. That was episode 1 so it’s not like the build up was crazy. Then we have the build up to Astro Boy. Wellllll…that build up ends up backfiring quite a lot. The ultimate confrontation ends up being extremely underwhelming to the point where you’re wondering if a scene or two got left on the chopping block. No way it should have been over quite that fast. It should have been a much longer fight and I’d argue the verdict also should have been different. But hey I can accept the outcome…with a longer fight and definitely a lot more damage involved. So in this case more action would have been a good thing.

Particularly since the animation is pretty decent. It’s not really at the level of any of the current shows or your average mainstream anime. Older titles like Naruto or One Piece for example will look a lot better but the colors still pop out and when we do get a brief action scene it looks impressive. I think they would have definitely been up to the task for a full on fight. Meanwhile the soundtrack is fairly low key for the most part. There are one or two battle themes that are really good though and they debut in the final episodes of the season. I’m going to need to find those on Youtube at some point.

The writing is really good here which is important since you can’t have a good mystery without good writing. There are a ton of solid twists all around here and the dialogue is always very engaging. It’s certainly the strength of the series and it goes without saying that the cast of characters is very solid. So without further adieu lets go ahead and start talking about them. First up is Gesicht since he is the main character after all. Gesicht is a good lead who always looks at things objectively and is very good at his job. He may not be as emotionless as he tries to appear but he really does always try to see the mission through.

Ultimately as the series goes on you can make the case that he gets a little less effective as the emotions come out but he comes out on top time and time again. Ultimately I’d say he had a pretty good run. The ending is even a little unexpected because I was fully prepared for the series to reverse on the final move. Pluto stays the course on all of its decisions though and this was just another one of them. Gesicht really moves the plot along and in just about every case where there is a disagreement I tended to be on his side.

Then we have Mont Blanc who unfortunately gets the shaft as far as the big 7 goes. He really doesn’t get to do much at all so there’s not much to say about him. He seemed like a nice guy. North No. 2 got a lot to do though and really had a good character arc going. It’s a shame we couldn’t see more of him in combat but the guy was very determined and once he set his sights on something he never let go. While his segment in the first episode may have gone on a bit long, you did always feel a sense of foreboding the whole time.

In terms of danger and suspense it has to be one of the highlights of the series when he goes off into battle. The beginnings of a mystery are always really intense for that reason because you still don’t know exactly what to expect. Next was Brando who was also a pretty solid robot. I think he should have been a little more straight with his family about the danger he was walking into though. I know it’s a hard conversation to have but they should be prepared for him to not walk out of this one alive. Otherwise it’s like they have a lot of hope with no idea of how it could backfire and that’s a lot more cruel.

Hercules is another really great robot and one of my favorites. He’s the kind of guy who is really honest and upfront with whoever he is talking too. He just says it like it is and the guy was really built for combat. He doesn’t shy away from any fights and never holds anything back. With that said, I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s the strongest of the 7 or anything because they were all built for combat. Apparently he’s roughly tied with Brando. I’d put both of them above Mont Blanc but under Epsilon, Atom, and North No. 2.

Then there is Epsilon who seems to be the most powerful by a wide margin. His photon abilities are really impressive both in how sharp they hit but also in terms of range. He’s basically able to level an entire city when he cuts loose and has impressive energy reserves. Even Pluto wouldn’t really stand a chance when Epsilon is going all out. It’s likely why they had to make him a pacifist because otherwise he’d really be cleaning up town. Ultimately Epsilon did a lot of good for the world like looking over the children and I don’t fault him for skipping out on the war. Ultimately it sounds like that was a good move.

We never get a ton of context for the war in general though. From what we do know it is definitely important that some people fought at least since it was a war that needed to be won. The weapons of mass destruction may not have been there but the perfect A.I. could have destroyed everyone. Of course that nearly happens anyway but the whole thing still made sense. Finally we have Atom. Yeah I keep calling him Astro Boy but technically in this show they only use the term Atom. He’s an impressive character who really talks things through and has a good amount of power.

If I take away the fact that I’m already a fan of the character then it’s true that he doesn’t look quite as impressive here. Ultimately he doesn’t have a ton of screentime for action but the final episode helps to make up for that. He gets a good amount of action there and gets to really start showing off his stuff. It would have been cool if they could have given him his iconic arm cannon though. Now that would have been awesome but I guess he’d be too overpowered. Ultimately he has to fight against the cycle of violence and make some really tough calls but he always comes out on top. Atom is the kind of guy that you can really trust through it all.

His sister Uran doesn’t get as much of a role but she still has her influential moments. She is able to detect sadness across a large distance which is a really helpful ability to have. It’d be cool if she could have fought as well though. Another supporting character is Helena who is Gesicht’s wife. She gets a lot of credit for never getting annoyed at how often he has to go to work or guilt tripping him over it. She’s extremely patient and it’s nice to see a character who is super supportive like that.

One character stood above the rest as my favorite by the end though and his name is Brau. This guy has an interesting backstory (Pluto in general as so much context from the past that I think you could make an awesome prequel out of it) and is extremely intelligent. The guy is fairly modest but to me he seems like the most advanced robot in the series. I don’t even know how they would have caught him back in the day. This guy’s dialogue is always fantastic in every scene and he really steals the show. You always get the feeling he’s 10 steps ahead and it’s why the heroes should feel very lucky that he’s not evil. If he was then they would all be doomed.

We have a few scientists who get a big role here. One of them is Dr. Hoffman who is a nice guy in general but he loses some major points for keeping secrets from Gesicht. The decisions may have been out of his hands but he still owed the guy the truth. He should have told him everything he knew as soon as possible. Most of the scientists tend to be more on the shady side though. You also have Tenma who is a super genius, maybe the smartest human in the series. Even he keeps a lot of secrets though and his experimental methods of treatment may work but they always have a heavy cost.

The guy always seems like he’s trying to do his best though. He’s just more willing to get his hands dirty to complete the job rather than freezing like the others. Ochanomizu is more of an idealistic character so he’s always trying to do the right thing but at times it does limit him. He basically has to ask Tenma for help when the going gets tough as a result.

Then we have the genius Abullah who also gets a pretty big role here. The guy makes for a very interesting character and he is probably the only one who’s actually keeping up with Tenma for the most part. Tenma still has the edge but this guy’s close. We can’t forget about Roosevelt, but his role really isn’t all that huge. He gets some good lines to be sure but I do think what hurts him here is that he doesn’t feel as smart as he thinks he is. Roosevelt clearly thinks he is number 1 but I’d say it’s clear that Brau is smarter. Also a weakness of having very little screentime is that we don’t get to see him winning for very long. He’s got a solid design but there’s not too much to say for him.

Adolf on the other hand gets a pretty big role. This guy may panic a lot and doesn’t always make the right calls but you do feel his presence. I thought he made for a good antagonist even if his motives are pretty bad. He keeps talking about how his brother was completely butchered and didn’t deserve to die the way that he did….as if it was a long torture before death or something. Nah it was a big energy blast which I’d argue is one of the best ways to go out since it would be pretty painless. Also we see just how deranged and psychotic the brother was so of course he was going to be taken out. You just never at any point come close to sympathizing with Adolf. I don’t think the series was necessarily trying for that though so it works out.

As I mentioned earlier with robots being this close to humans the debate is in how this works with the law and such. I would say it’s equivalent so when you see this guy going around murdering a bunch of robotic kids, well he’s a psychotic mass murderer so when he gets shot down I wasn’t exactly sad about it. I also think the show was heavily leaning into this as you can see from how serious the characters treated it. I would say that’s 100% correct. The instant robots can have feelings and genuine sentience like that, they absolutely get all the rights as humans.

Finally we have Pluto and he does make for a really impressive antagonist although as a character I wasn’t a huge fan. There’s a lot of twists about him so I can’t go too into detail on that but he’s not really my kind of villain in a lot of ways. I love the design, it’s really intimidating all the way through and you don’t want to have to fight the guy. When he’s not battling he isn’t nearly as impressive though. So keep him in battle mode the whole time and then you’re really set. I was also glad that by the end we actually got to see the full design since he’s hidden away for most of the series.

In general the series has a fairly melancholy vibe to it. The characters have all been through so much by this point that even the thought of possibly dying doesn’t scare them or anything like that. In another series where everyone might be yelling a ton as more and more bodies pile up, everyone here uses logic and calmly tries to get to the bottom of this. For the most part the only yelling is in the final episode with the big fight and that makes a lot of sense. It really was a great fight so while the show may not have had a ton of action, they saved up the budget to go all out here.

Overall, Pluto is a pretty great show. There’s a lot of depth here and great emotional moments. While the show does start to lose some steam towards the end, that’s normal for a mystery title. After all most of the fun is in solving the mystery so once that’s done then it’s like you’ve finished the main part of a quest. That said, the final episode does have a great fight and ultimately this felt like an excellent adventure. Making every episode around an hour was a great way to jam a ton of content in here. It may have “only” been 8 episodes but it felt like much more as a result. I definitely recommend checking this one out.

Overall 8/10

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