This is a pretty classic mystery series and I’ve finally got a nice start on it. It’s not what I pictured as I was thinking of a kodomo vibe when I saw it. Well, a Shonen twist certainly works and we actually get a fight scene. Don’t expect a review for this series for a few years though…the series is still going after all!
Overall 9/10
Soul Eater is one of those titles that you have definitely heard of, but may not have seen. It’s simply around and every anime fan gets around to watching it at some point. It’ll either live up to the hype or it won’t. I’d say that it ended up being a very good show. It had a bit of a rocky beginning and a rocky middle, but most of the series is simply very good. It has certainly earned its solid reputation as a great action show.
The kids study at Death Academy on how to be great meisters/weapons. There are two types of people in this world. Those who are born as sentient weapons and those who are the normal humans who control them. We have 7 main characters, three humans and four weapons. They just want to be the very best and a weapon’s ultimate dream is to consume 100 souls so that they can become a Death Weapon. So, they go around vanquishing evil spirits, which takes up most of the pre arc. The first real arc involves the witch known as Medusa. She has assembled a team of super villains (Naturally, one of them is a Werewolf) to infiltrate Death Academy and awaken the ultimate evil of legend….The Kishin. Death can’t have this so he sends the kids after her. Let’s see if they can do this!
The second arc is much more complex as we have a lot of plots lying around. Medusa is still up to her evil tricks, but she is no longer the main target of the heroes. That honor goes to her sister, Arachne. She wants the Kishin’s madness to consume the entire Earth and she has a very large organization that will do her bidding. Each of the heroes is currently facing his/her demons so they’re rather preoccupied at the moment. Trust has been broken and many old villains are showing up as well. With one of their comrades going off the deep end, Death City’s inhabitants may be stretched too thin to really do anything about this predicament.
First off, let’s look as the music in this show. Soul Eater’s soundtrack is definitely great and I’d give it a 4/5. Both of its openings are catchy and rank up there with the best openings. The second one in particular is a pretty fast paced rock song that transitions pretty well from fast to slow and vice versa. A pretty good battle theme is also used a few times throughout the series. One scene that comes to mind on this is Maka’s battle against Jack The Ripper. I instantly loved the song and that was only the start of the epic array of themes to come. Black Star’s theme is a very good inspirational piece and Death The Kid’s works well for fights. It actually does feature rapping, but you are too focused on the battle to hear what is being said. So, I can’t totally vouch for it but it works in the moment.
Soul Eater’s animation is definitely very good. It isn’t as flashy as you would expect for a modern battle anime, but it makes up for this with how smoothly the scenes transition from one moment to the next. No shortcuts are taken with the animation here so you can look forward to some great fights. You definitely feel the blows as if this was one of the great shows from the 90’s. The character designs are top notch as well and I don’t recall any bad animation here.
Speaking of the fights in the series, Soul Eater has a pretty diverse selection going for it. The three main characters have different fighting styles that help to make fights against the same person feel different. A good example of this is Krona. He battles Maka and Death The Kid, a short range and a long range fighter. Needless to say, it is a pretty fun contrast. (Even if Kid was using a lot of hand to hand in that battle…) There are a lot of characters in the series so there is never a long period without action. The longest period that I can think of would be the start of Arc 2 and that was one of the lowest moments for the show. The battles against Crona and Mifune are typically the highlights of the series, but we can’t forget about Medusa or the Kishin either!
Unfortunately the show does fall into the fanservice trap. This is particularly present in the first few episodes and then it starts to die down. The author probably just wanted some quick ratings so he choose to take this route, but it is never the right call. We have the generic hot springs scene, and many chest gags that can be pretty sad to watch. I think it is safe to say that my hopes for the series were pretty dimmed after the first 3 episodes. There is still some of this in the series as it goes on, but it rarely happens so I’m glad that the show managed to nearly eliminate this negative by the end.
The overall atmosphere of the show is pretty similar to Blue Exorcist or early Naruto for the most part. The series is pretty light with a lot of serious fights. This changes in arc 2 of the show. It tries to be a lot more solemn and dark, which doesn’t totally work. We get a whole episode about Stein turning crazy and another episode about Medusa wrecking lives as she shape shifts. Those are 2 of the episodes that I remember disliking and there may have been a few more before the show hits its stride again. I remember watching the show stay in its slump for what felt like forever, but I had been watching it weekly so it probably wasn’t all that bad. A few episodes was all that it was before the show went back to what it did best, solid fight scenes! The tone shift does work at some points though like with the brilliant endings, but other episodes are simply wasted. This show may have the record for the most episodes in a row with a great cliffhanger. The climax is full of them and it is great. Once again, I have to mention the end theme for the episodes. It’s easily the best end theme of all time and I doubt that it’ll lose that title anytime soon.
Maka is basically the main character here and she is definitely a good character. She has her flaws to be sure and I ultimately prefer Black Star, but she does beat Kid. She likes to study and she is determined to become a great Meister while the other main characters typically do not care or worry about such things. She becomes obsessed with stopping Medusa as the series comes to a close and it definitely upgrades her as a character. Unfortunately, her rage moments typically do not help her claim victory. She has to battle a lot in her soul to keep from getting infected with the madness and the fear abilities that the villains use and it is definitely a weakness for her. She ends the series on a high note and that’s always a good thing.
One of the reasons why she is a good character is that she is very well rounded. She has her issues to be sure, but none of them involve her going too far or doing something that would make me lose respect for her. She still strives to be a hero and she gets a lot of great moments during her fights. I’d compare her to Misaka from Railgun. I’m still more of a Misaka fan, but Maka’s pros and cons are pretty similar to the thunder lead. A lesser main character could have hurt the series since characters are very important here so the author did a good job of choosing her as the main member from the three groups.
Soul is her partner and he always likes to be cool. He can turn any part pf himself into a blade, which definitely comes in handy during a fight. He has even more trouble with the dark side than Maka and it overpowers him more than once. He still does manage to get through it in the end and he is a pretty loyal friend. He is definitely another solid character. It would have been cool to have seen him fight on his own some more, but he is used to being a team player. He actually has a backstory, but the show never really goes into it. It just pops up once in a while.
Black Star is the best character in the show and it isn’t even close. I have to say that his voice definitely clashed with his personality at first. One can make the case that it still clashes and that I have just gotten used to it. It is hard to say for certain if that is the case, but I still do like the voice now. (I can definitely admit that Kirito’s voice would have been a lot more appropriate) He is a lot like the Naruto from the old days. He prefers to fight someone than to think of strategic ways to win and he is always brimming with confidence. Unlike Naruto, you can safely say that Black Star is an all star right from the get go. One can make the case that he is definitely the strongest from the main three pairs and I would agree. He doesn’t hesitate to abandon protocol to avenge his friends like when he attacked the enemy base on his own. He has all of the traits that you would want to see in a great character and any appearance by him is typically awesome.
Kid is a pretty good character for the most part. You really just have to ignore his first appearance and then he’s a pretty solid hero. His fighting style is pretty unique and I actually don’t mind his symmetry gimmick. I do think that it can be very overdone at some points since he’s more interested in that then fighting, but that goes away during his serious fights of course. One frustrating thing with this character is that he is said to be very powerful, but we rarely get to see him exhibit this. Either he’s holding back or there’s not a tough character for him to fight against. His final smash during one of the final episodes isn’t all that impressive considering how long it takes him to charge up the move. He’s pretty good, but he’s definitely more suited to being one of the supporting character than the main character. He wouldn’t be able to hold his own series the way that Maka or Black Star could.
His father may be Death/Shinigami, but he’s not as cool as you may expect. We learn that he was a pretty fierce fighter back in the day, but he didn’t want to scare the kids so he decided to start being more of a comic relief character. That doesn’t really change so that’s how he acts for the whole series. He does get a pretty good fight against the Kishin though so he does add to the story. He’s also pretty shady in the second arc and you start to consider that he may actually be an antagonist. He’s not bad compared to most comic relief characters, but he would have been more fun in his true form. It’s a shame that we only get to see it in flashbacks.
Professor Stein is the teacher for the main characters so his role is similar to Kakashi’s. He’s meant to be a pretty experienced and level headed fighter who bails the kids out of a tough spot once in a while. The problem is that he’s just not as likable as Kakashi. One of the reasons why I could never be a fan of him is the fact that his gimmick is a little too evil. He likes to dissect things and people and it’s something that he never gets over. It’s typically used in comic relief of course, but then he gets a subplot in arc 2 about the madness consuming him. Let’s just say that his willpower is not enough to help him out and he keeps on reverting to his old ways. He definitely looks good when he fights, but he hinders the heroes a whole lot more than he actually helps them. I’d take Captain Bravo from Buso Renkin over Stein any day…and Bravo made a huge error of his own at the end of the series.
Sid is an assassin on the side of the heroes and he’s not bad, but he’s not great either. He’s your average “government lackey” character who just follows orders without asking questions. He’ll do anything that the Shinigami asks him to do without hesitation. He definitely doesn’t mind destroying his foes and that’s why he’ll never be a true hero. He’s just a hit man who happens to side with justice..for as long as the Shinigami does anyway. I also probably dislike the fact that he gets a little too much hype sometimes. There’s no way I can believe him taking on Mifune in an even fight. That’s just not going to happen and he actually holds his own for a while…the very definition of plot hax!
Crona is definitely one of the more interesting characters in the show. His first fight with Maka is pretty great and then he gets a few other battles as the series goes on. He looks pretty bad in the final fight, but we were already in filler land and the writers wanted him out of the way. As far as his personality goes, Crona isn’t all that likable. He’s pretty easy to manipulate and he’s not the kind of guy who will charge at the enemy with unwavering confidence. The madness consumes him pretty easily and he makes quite a few bad decisions throughout the series. I definitely don’t like him as a character, but he makes for a great villain. He’s one of the strongest in the series and you always get excited when you see him challenge one of the heroes. The show teased at a Black Star vs Crona battle, but it was not to be. I have to say that the battle could have had the potential to have been the best in the series, but the battle that we did get was still pretty good so I guess it was worth it. (Black Star got the short end of the stick though since he fought a pretty weak opponent)
Tsubaki is Black Star’s partner and she gets more development than the others. She’s always very polite, which helps her put up with Black Star’s big talk about becoming the greatest someday. Naturally, this means that she has a tragic history and she gets her own episode about it. We get to see how she can do battle without a meister and she’s definitely a tough weapon. She’s definitely more likable than Kid’s partners although I think Soul is still better. Tsubaki’s a weapon that you definitely want to have on your side.
Patricia and Elizabeth are the partners of Kid and they’re easily the worst ones. I don’t actually like either one of them. One of them plays the role of the happy fighter who is usually very sweet, but can turn serious at any moment and the other one is afraid of ghosts. They just don’t add anything to the show. They have a backstory, but it’s only briefly looked at so it barely counts. I think the author was probably just running out of main character ideas so they were just thrown in at the end. Still, not all of the weapons can be great right?
Marie joins the series towards the end and she’s one of the legendary Death Scythes so she’s definitely powerful. She uses a hammer to fight although we don’t see that until we’re nearly at the final episode since she rarely does fights. She’s definitely not my favorite character in the series. She does a pretty bad job of watching over Professor Stein and then her attitude towards Crona isn’t great since she was practically begging to be betrayed. I definitely didn’t care for her from start to finish.
Justin is another Death Scythe and he has a rivalry with Giriko. They get to fight around 5 times and just about each round is a stalemate. You’d think that Giriko would quickly win since the matchup just doesn’t seem even, but I guess Justin is just tougher than he looks. His attacks are all pretty fancy and he’s always listening to music. It’s a pretty fun gimmick and he definitely loves to mess with Giriko. He’s probably a little too devoted to helping the Shinigami out since he treats him like a god, but he’s still a pretty good character.
Spirit is definitely a bad character and he also doesn’t add anything to the story. He’s the Shinigami’s partner so he makes for a good weapon, but his personality is annoying. He’s like James Bond and Captain Kirk in that he’s always into physical desires without worrying about nobility. There’s a reason why his daughter isn’t a big fan of his. It’s heavily implied that his playing around is why he ended up getting divorced. He tries to have some cool moments, but I definitely didn’t like him.
Excalibur is an intriguing character who pops up once in a while. He gets two episodes devoted to himself so he’s probably a fan favorite. He likes to talk a lot, but anyone who can get past this will gain a whole lot of power. It’s never been used in a serious situation, but that’s just because nobody can deal with him. Excalibur seems to like annoying people so he may even be doing it on purpose. Unfortunately, this means that he’s basically a filler character. He’s decent, but he just doesn’t add anything to the show.
Time for the 3 big villains of the show. Asura, also known as the Kishin, gets a pretty big role in the climax of both arcs. He’s a powerful fighter and his fighting style is similar to the average DBZ villain’s. He shoots a lot of energy blasts and he’s also good at hand to hand combat. Unfortunately, he turns into a huge being at one point so his fight scenes take a slight dip, but they are typically pretty great. He’s a solid fighter, but he’s a pretty bad villain. He’s afraid of just about everything and the way that he loses is pretty bad. Ah well, I guess I’ll still take the fights!
Arachne is the mastermind behind the second arc, but she mostly hides behind her minions. When push comes to shove, Asura and Medusa are great fighters. Arachne seems like she is a tough fighter based on her first appearance where her nail is able to block a blade, but it seems like that was just fake hype. She never looks impressive like that in the show after her initial appearance. It’s definitely disappointing for her fans since she had started out on such a high note. Everything went crashing down for her from there. She’s definitely not my kind of villain either.
Luckily, Medusa is much better than the other two villains. She convincingly plays all of the heroes for potatoes as she infiltrates the school as a nurse. Her vector plates make for a very lethal ability since she can combine it with her striking power. A single cut can do a lot of damage and it’s tough to dodge her attacks when you have to watch your step as well. She’s definitely pure evil and she’s always thinking of a way to make life miserable for someone. Medusa always talks tough and she’s basically how you would picture an enemy leader. She always has a backup plan in case things go sour and it’s really hard to take her down for good. As long as one piece of her remains, you can bet that she’ll survive. The one thing that hurts her character is really that she forces us to watch an animal violence scene. It’s the only one that I can remember although there may be more. It’s still pretty sad either way since it was rather unnecessary. Beyond that, she’s a pretty good villain.
Giriko is pretty tough and I definitely liked him as a villain. He’s very skilled and he typically overwhelms the heroes with his razor sharp attacks. He can move at high speeds without any difficulty and he can keep on fighting for long periods of time. He is also not afraid to talk back to the higher ups and he’s constantly antagonizing Mosquito. He’s the rival type of villain that you always look forward to in a show. (Like Grimmjow) It’s a tough call, but I’d say that he’s the best villain in the show.
Mifune is Black Star’s rival and they get to fight several times. That’s one of the perks about a show being 51 episodes, there’s plenty of time for rematches. Their fights are all pretty great although I’ll always consider Black Star to be the better fighter. I can safely say that he doesn’t win all of the fights so that can be a little hard to take. The third fight also heads into dicey territory as Black Star starts to lose it, but luckily we get a shonen moment to diffuse that. Mifune is pretty noble and he’s only on the side of evil to protect a little kid. She’s definitely a liability for him and the villains take advantage of it. So, I guess he’ll still be in the villain category for now, but he’s very likable and it would be nice to see him team up with the heroes someday.
Mosquito is one of Arachne’s minions and he’s decently tough. He has a rivalry with Giriko so it’s nice to see that he’s not just all talk. He can transform his body to past states, which can be very useful since he was an excellent fighter back in the day. The anime doesn’t get to show off all of his forms since it diverged, but he still looks good. It’s hard to buy the fact that he is holding off all three of the main characters, but I guess that’s some good hype for him. He’s a pretty good villain.
Eruka mostly gets spends her time getting bullied by Medusa the whole time. Her fate is pretty sad in the series and especially when you consider the fact that there really isn’t a way out for her. She got into this witch business and now she’s paying the price. She’s not a good fighter so she mostly just executes the peaceful parts of the plan. Like blackmailing other villains and infiltrating hideouts. She’s definitely not my kind of villain though.
Free is a werewolf who is pretty skilled. He can regenerate, which comes in handy and he has a pretty unique cube ability. He can’t really control it though so he can be a risky ally to have in a fight. He’s also the kind of guy who typically loses. It’s just hard to have confidence in him even though he’s technically powerful. His strength and speed are considerable and he was able to take on Maka and Black Star at once. We know that he’s pretty evil from his back story, but on screen he actually seems like a pretty likable character. He’s definitely one of the more fun villains.
Blair is a witch who appears in the first episode of the show and she’s not a great character. She is mainly used for fanservice and she rarely ever gets to fight. When she does, it’s typically against a weak villain so she’s not really contributing all that much. She’s technically a strong fighter, but she just doesn’t show off her abilities very often. The show would be better off without her.
Soul Eater diverges from the manga during arc 2, which was definitely a risky move. It paid off in a few ways like Maka’s new super form and the array of epic cliffhangers, but there were many ways were it failed. One of them was the fact that Arachne was basically thrown to the wayside and the ending of the series is also very anti climatic. I’ve never seen an anime end with plot hax that was out in the open like this one. Usually, there is some subtlety in how it’s handled, but not here. Let’s just say that the power of friendship wrapped in a punch will always be able to save the day. It’s fun for the main characters, but it’s definitely not a great way to end the series. I haven’t finished the manga yet, but it’s safe to say that the manga route is better thus far. The show probably would have had a better time if it had stayed true to the manga since it would have avoided some of the episodes during the slump, but I still did love a lot of the cliffhangers and epic moments at the end. There are pros and cons to it naturally so you can look through this paragraph and see if the pros outweigh the cons or not. We definitely missed out on a lot of new villains with the filler ending, but at least the Kishin finally got to fight.
Overall, Soul Eater is a very good show. We get several glimpses of greatness from it and it would have been an easy 8 if not for a slump that lasted for a few episodes and the excessive fan service in the earlier episodes. Those do take it down a few notches to the point where it was a tough decision. It is safe to say that Soul Eater can defeat most of the other 7 star shows and that it would lose to the average 8. I think it can squeak by to the higher rating and I just advise you to be wary of the first three episodes….or just skip them altogether. I definitely recommend this title if you can get past the early fanservice and don’t mind the dark tone that comes in for a few episodes. Beyond that, it is basically nonstop action with a very interesting cast of characters. The great soundtrack and animation also help the show to stand out in a crowd. Afterwards, we will see how you think it compares to Naruto.
Overall 8/10
Time to revisit another Batman classic! After the success of the Phantasm film, it was good to see Batman make another theatrical appearance. SubZero is definitely a solid film, but it makes the controversial choice to place plot over action. This will likely work for the critics, but it definitely works against the film on this site. It’s a good film experience, but it could have been better.
Batman and Robin are enjoying themselves at a party when Mr Freeze decides to strike. He has been resting at a hideout far away from Gotham, but the villain was forced to make his move when some humans decided to blow away his kingdom. It was accidental as they panicked and crashed through the ice instead of through the water, but it was a mistake that they won’t get to make again. To restore his wife, Mr Freeze needs someone with the same blood type so that the doctor can unleash a fatal operation on her. Barbara Gordon fits the bill so he kidnaps her. Can the Dynamic Duo reach her in time or is it already too late?
The plot in itself isn’t bad. Mr Freeze has always been one of the better DCAU villains and this is a pretty good portrayal of him. As always, he’s not being evil for the lolz, but he is actually doing it to help Nora. It’s a pretty sympathetic goal although the way that he goes about it is not the best. Considering how advanced science is in the DC world, a hospital would probably be able to do something about her condition. Not a normal hospital though, he would have to get some connections to help her. Instead, he opts to just do the transfusion and naturally this makes him a villain, but one that you can sympathize with.
I’ve always had a soft spot for characters who place those closest to them at higher priority than the rest of the world. A Sword Art Online example is Kirito basically saying that he’ll leave everyone to die so that he can take Asuna to safety during one of the final battles or Sasuke deciding to do whatever he had too in order to avenge his clan. You can tell that the acts aren’t exactly heroic, but you can still root for the characters. Naturally, it’s hard to root for Mr Freeze here since it would mean the death of Batgirl, but in his position it’s easy to see why he would make the choice. (Assuming that there is no other way) If it’s between Nora and Barbara, he’s going to pick Nora every time. For us, if it’s a stranger or a family member in a random circumstance, like a sudden fire and you can only pick one, who wouldn’t pick the family member? Naturally, a “true” hero may factor in something like who is younger, who will have a better life, or other things to decide who to save, but it would be hard not to save the family member. Thus, I don’t excuse Mr Freeze’s goal, but it’s one of the reasons why he has always been one of Batman’s best written villains.
Robin gets a bigger role here than usual. Unfortunately, it’s mostly a romance subplot for him as he doesn’t get to act as Robin for a very long time here. There’s not a whole lot of action here so that makes sense, but it doesn’t help his case as a character. I think it’s safe to say that Batman is more likable here. Robin still needs more experience so while he is a good fighter, he still has a ways to go. I would have liked to have seen some more effort from him so that he could save Batgirl. (At least he doesn’t try to throw the fight like Batman does at times) He’s still one of my favorite Batman characters, but this probably wasn’t his best appearance.
Batgirl also gets a big role, but only in her normal identity. She doesn’t put up the greatest fight against Mr Freeze and I think that she should have been able to escape at one point. Not off of the ship of course, but heading to the very top would have bought her a lot of time. She did a good job of buying time for herself, but I’m just saying that she could have done even better if she really put the effort in. Her brief moment as Batgirl made her look pretty good though so that was a preview of how the film could have gone for her. She could have probably given Mr Freeze and his minions a decent fight if she had been prepared.
Batman’s portrayal is pretty spot on as expected. He quickly starts to assemble the clues that he had gotten throughout the film and then he found out where Mr Freeze was hiding. He still is the world’s greatest detective so nothing is too tricky for him to figure out. He also looks pretty tough in the fight scenes and he’s a hero from start to finish. There’s nothing more that you can really ask for from Batman so the portrayal is just about perfect.
The animation is pretty sharp as you would expect. Batman always makes full use of the theater budget so the cape and cowl are sleek and sharp. There are no scenes where they look pale or out of focus. That being said, the film made the unwise choice of deciding to add a lot of CGI to the film. I’ve always thought that CGI is inferior to hand drawn animation so deciding to add some of it to a film because you can is still not a good reason to add it. The normal scenes look better than the CGI moments so they don’t help the film. It’s intriguing to look at since the scenes really stand out. It’s not like it’ll hurt the score or anything like that, but the film would have looked even better without the CGI moments.
Batman’s soundtrack is also about as good as you would expect. The intro theme is pretty good and it gets you in the mood for a good adventure. After that, the themes become a little more generic, but they definitely age well. It gives the film the look and feel of a theater film and that’s what I always expect. Nowadays, that isn’t always a guarantee. It’s not as good as the soundtrack was in Mask of the Phantasm, but it’s definitely good enough.
Mr Freeze didn’t have any human minions this time as he just teamed up with two Polar Bears and I have to say that this was another dicey move on the film’s part. Adding in animals means that there is a chance that they will have to fight so that’s always sad to see. The heroes are pretty passive when fighting them for the most part, but who wants to see the evil bears get blasted with water? I definitely could have done without them having to engage in the fights, but it certainly could have been a whole lot worse.
The main thing that stops this film from getting the usual 7 stars is the lack of action. We only see Batman at the very beginning when he fights a robber and at the very ending where he moves in to save Batgirl. It’s hard to call the movie a Batman film when the main star barely gets to appear. We get some Bruce Wayne scenes of course and Dick Grayson gets development, but I need action. Mr Freeze doesn’t even get to fight the heroes since it’s too late by that point. That’s definitely a missed opportunity right there. Sometimes, the gamble to have more plot than action works out, but that is very rarely and it typically only works when the action scenes wouldn’t have been enjoyable anyway. That is definitely not the case here so the strategy never really had a chance.
You could also argue that the film had a little too much romance in it. I definitely wouldn’t stop that argument since I agree with it. The romance is handled decently well at least since the scenes typically won’t leave you cringing, but it’s still a plot that I could do without. Batgirl and Robin should always stay as just friends especially when you know that it’s not going to last. It also stopped the characters from being as likable as they could have been.
Overall, SubZero is a pretty decent Batman film. As far as the DCAU titles go, it’s probably going to have to take last place, but that’s more of a “by default” thing. 6 stars is still pretty good after all so the film was still fun. The animation and soundtrack are good and Batman looks great. The brief action scenes that we do get are pretty good. The film may drag on a little towards the middle and the romance was probably too heavy as well, but it’s still a film that you will want to see as a Batman fan. I definitely recommend it to DC fans and if you want an even better Batman tale, just check out Mystery of the Batwoman.
Overall 6/10
The Amazing Spiderman films never really smashed Hollywood with positive reviews. While I thought that the second one was great, I can definitely see why people would not care for the first. (Peter’s portrayal….) Naturally, a comic in that continuity would definitely be intriguing to read. It’s decent, but the backup stories are what really keeps the collection alive and kicking.
The story takes place at sometime during the first film. I forgot exactly where it takes place since it’s been a while since I saw the film, but it ends with Spider Man about to team up with the police to stop a serious threat. Spider Man is basically just chilling out until he is attacked by a group of guys with masks. Can he defeat them? Meanwhile, Gwen is trying to make Flash Thompson a better person by tutoring him.
Well, it’s a decent story, but there is nothing that happens here. Seeing Spider Man take on random humans is not going to sell very well. The author tries to make it dramatic by having Spider Man be on the losing side of the fight, but it’s pretty hard to swallow. Can Spider Man really lose to random humans? Let’s not forget that he has his Spider Sense and he’s probably an A rank fighter with it. There’s just too much of a suspense for disbelief here and it doesn’t work.
The artwork is pretty good for the two issues though. It’s not great of course and Spider Man’s design could use a little work, but I would still give it a passing grade overall. It’s good enough to let you enjoy the story in peace..of only we had more of a story. The subplot involves the fact that Flash is bullying another kid and Peter Parker doesn’t want to get involved. So, he dumps the responsibility on Gwen who quickly cleans up his act by agreeing to tutor him. If she can’t help him pass the test, then nobody can! Hopefully Flash gets with the program and soon if he wants to learn everything in time.
So, it’s not a bad story, but it doesn’t have the firepower that you would expect from a Spider Man comic. The backup changes that as we get a 3-4 part story about the Lizard. He has transformed once again so Spider Man decides to stop him without hurting the poor villain. He takes this a little too literally though as he barely fights back. Luckily the Human Torch arrives to take the Lizard down, but now Spider Man has to stop him from seriously hurting the Lizard. This could get dangerous for both of them!
I definitely have to give the backup stories some props since they were great. This the Spider Man universe that I remember. Spider Man doesn’t actually look as good as usual since he doesn’t want to hurt the Lizard, but at least his power level is pretty solid. He can really take a hit and the Lizard just can’t take him down for the count. His Spider Sense actually worked back in these days so it’s good to see.
The Lizard looks decently good as well since he finally overpowered his human persona. He’s a good villain even if I think that he is no match for Spider Man. There’s just nothing to dislike about his portrayal here. Of course, the Human Torch is the guy who steals the spotlight here. He just looks great! You can tell that he is a true superhero right from his opening scene and his confidence never wavers. He knows that the Lizard is no match for him and he doesn’t hesitate to fight even when the villain is under water. He wasn’t afraid of the water back then! He knows that it’s his weakness, but he has ways to get around that. The comics don’t portray him to be as resourceful nowadays, which is just too bad.
The art is also great for these issues since I loved the retro style of this era. The characters are all pretty vibrant and colorful while the battles are still pretty intense. The writing is also good and Peter Parker is concerned about the right things like stopping the Lizard instead of just thinking about Gwen the whole time. There’s a time and a place for romance and it isn’t when you’re in the middle of a battle.
This collection is worth it even if it was only the back up issues. It would be a very quick read, but the comics are too good to pass up. As it stands, the movie issues aren’t bad either. The portrayals for the characters aren’t quite as good as in the comics, but they aren’t bad either. There is no real action to be found so it’s more of a thought provoking issue with a lot of plot. It’s filler, but it’s still pretty entertaining so you’ll be cruising through the issues before you know it. That is the hidden power of a good Spider Man comic.
Overall, This is a pretty fun collection. There isn’t a lot of action in the main story, but the backup makes up for this. The old stories are as great as you may remember from the old days. This is probably the Human Torch’s best portrayal that I have seen in a long time. It definitely isn’t the greatest Spider Man collection, but it will definitely beat the average comic that you see in the stands nowadays. It’s good for a quick read and I definitely recommend it to my fellow comic readers. Of course, if you want to read the ultimate Spider Man saga, just go to your library and check out the Cosmic Spider Man arc. That collection is officially my favorite as far as Spider Man is concerned and I don’t see anything being able to pass it…it was just about perfect. Maybe I’ll find a Spider Man tie in for the second film soon…
Overall 7/10
I haven’t read a whole lot of Captain America comics in the past. He has certainly been in a lot if Avenger issues, but I rarely check out his solo issues. He is a good hero, but his villain roster has never been the most interesting. So, it’s about time that I grab one of his collections and it seems to be the final one of the series or at least with this author. It is pretty good, but it does suffer from the issues that I expected in this collection.
New villains who call themselves the Discordians have declared war in the U.S.A. Captain America quickly heads in to stop them, but he doesn’t realize that the villains have the power of the press on their side. A new reporter is running a smear campaign against Captain America and it is working. Captain America considers retiring from the role once and for all. Will he really do this? If he does, then America may be doomed against this new threat!
It is a pretty fun story arc and one of the big factors at play here is the artwork. It looks really good and all of the character models are accurate. It is easy to see what is happening so we don’t miss any part of the fight scenes. Marvel is playing catch up when it comes to artwork thanks to DC’s brilliance and this title certainly helps Marvel’s rep. When Marvel wants too, they can definitely make a great looking comic, they just don’t give it 100% sometimes.
Captain America looks decent here except for the fact that he doubts himself a lot. Seeing the American public turning against him should not face this veteran. Cap’s seen this happen many times in the past and the citizens of this world are always pretty fickle. Especially in Marvel world since they’re always turning against Spiderman. It’s okay not to harm them of course, but rushing through the mob should be all right. Taking out the Discordians is still Captain America’s top priority so that’s what he needs to focus on. I actually do like him as a character, but some authors definitely can’t write him as well as others. I think that this writer has a good handle on the character. The doubting subplot just wasn’t needed.
Baron Zemo appears here, but his role isn’t very flattering for his fans. He looks pretty bad against Agent 13 and it’s like he can’t even fight anymore. The other villains are treating him like an underling and he never gets to betray them. At least he can ponder his mistakes in prison as he plots his next scheme. This is why Captain America’s array of villains are just not that good.
Sharon Carter does look pretty good though as she proves why she’s a more likable character than Black Widow and the Charlie Angels group. She doesn’t use any cheap tricks to complete her missions. She’s just a pro and that’s what counts. She handles a lot of the guards and she outfights Baron Zemo, which is a pretty decent feat in theory. She’s definitely one of the better S.H.I.E.L.D. agents out there. Dum Dum Dugan also gets his hits in as he lands the big blow on the reporter. He is pretty old so it’s always impressive to see him on the front lines.
The actual two villains in the shadows are pretty uninspiring. They barely even deserve a mention since their combined screentime may only be like 5 pages. They go down very quickly to say the least since they aren’t really fighters. The Discordians were a good idea though. They’re like DC’s Manhunters. They can only live for a short while so they try to cause as much mayhem and destruction as possible in that short amount of time. They aren’t really powerful, but their lasers can be dangerous when they manage to land a hit in. I liked their designs and they definitely have some potential. They should be brought back in a future arc since they make good opponents.
After the arc is over, we also get a one shot story to wrap everything up. It’s really just a flashback issue, but the writer was leaving so it was the end of an era. Steve Rogers basically talks to another one of the Captain Americas of the past about how tough it is to keep up the mantle and how someone will always be ready to replace them. He wants the past one to finally move on and enjoy his life. It’s a rather emotional issue and it’s a pretty good one. There aren’t a lot of fights and plot progression of course, but it’s still a good story.
In a world where dozens of superheroes are around at any given point in time, authors really need to make sure to reference this so that I can’t ask why the other heroes aren’t helping out. Well, Captain America mentions that the other Avengers are helping off screen at one point so I can live with that. There are thousands of Discordians attacking around the world so it’s totally plausible that we wouldn’t actually see the other Avengers even if they were helping out. It was just a quick mention, but I’m definitely glad that the line was included since you would think that the other heroes would want to fend off the alien invasion.
There is one part about the plot that is rather sketchy though. The villain is using the TV show to get to the public, but why doesn’t S.H.I.E.L.D. just jam the signal. They go to the source to stop the reporter, but they must have some great hackers or meta humans who could have done the job that way. The plan just didn’t seem like Hydra’s best one and it’s hard to really see it working. It’s a little embarrassing for the normal people since they lose their will so quickly. They never were the strongest guys in the lot, but I still expect a lot more out of them. Ah well, it’s a minor plot detail that won’t actually hurt the collection. It’s just something to think about.
Overall, Captain America is a pretty good topic. I do think that it should have a sub title on the cover or some other way to uniquely identify it from the other Captain America comics. Trying to find this one online would likely be difficult. There are no real good villains to be found here aside from the Discordians…and they are only minions. That’s why all of the pressure was on the plot and it came through. This arc was not Earth shattering, but it was very fun and I could read it again. That’s definitely a big plus for the graphic novel and it’s the main reason why I give it a 7. There’s just something about this arc that makes it easy to read. I definitely recommend it to any Marvel fan and especially to those who want to read about Captain America.
Overall 7/10
Stats time!
PS3 Trophies 27/55
General Combat Trials 3%
Character Combat Trials 1%
Goals for Game 4/39
Goals for Online Games 0/78
Goals For Ranked Matches 0/80
Goals for Arcade Mode 9/151
Goals For Combat Trials 1/96
Goals for Versus Mode 3/19
Character Levels
Kratos 1
Fat Princess 1
Parappa 1
Sweet Tooth 1
Radec 3
Sly 1
Nathan Drake 1
Cole 1
Evil Cole 17
Ratchet 27
Toro 5
Jak 1
Big Daddy 1
Dante 1
Heihachi 1
Nariko 1
Raiden 1
Sackboy 1
Sir Daniel 1
Spike 1
Super Smash Bros is still pretty recent so it was good timing to finally check out Playstation All Stars. This game was Smash’s big rival and there are still many loyal Sony fans who claim that it is better than Super Smash. It certainly has its fans since I’ve come across several online players who are at level 999 and find it hard to see why someone would play it that long. I got to level 27 with Ratchet after an online battle or two plus arcade mode. So, it would take a very long time to reach such a high level. It definitely has its flaws and I’m sure that you are familiar with some of them, but this is still a great game considering that it’s the first in the series. I’m confident that the sequel will be better.
There is no story mode of course, but we do have Arcade Mode so that’s something. Each character gets their own intro and ending as well as a cutscene for when you face your rival. Arcade Mode is usually pretty fun because it’s quick and you can get used to the controls on the fly, but the game actually dropped the ball here. Arcade Mode takes around 30 minutes no matter how good you are because the first 3-4 matches are times. That means that you have to battle for 3 minutes before the victor is decided so that’s already 10+ minutes. Considering that you have to beat the mode with 20 characters, that’s a lot of time. I still plan to complete it with everyone eventually, but you can probably see why I got this review out first. It’s definitely going to be a gradual thing to say the least. They definitely shouldn’t have added timed matches to Arcade Mode and hopefully they know better for future games.
As for the actual gameplay, PS All Stars uses a 2D combat system sort of like Super Smash Bros. Each character has a variety of attacks. You have three different standard attacks and each one has 3-4 variations. Then there are also grabs and you can roll to avoid attacks as it lets you become intangible for an instant. You can link these abilities to create fierce combos. Now, this is not how you beat an opponent. Typically, your moves would deal damage to chip away at a health bar or send the opponent flying off of the screen, but this is where Playstation All Stars decided to get unique. Attacking doesn’t deal any damage, but it does build up your final smash meter. You can charge it to a full bar up to three times. Filling it up will let you use your standard final smash and bringing it to the 3rd level will let you use the ultimate attack. You have to hit an opponent with one of these attacks to get a KO.
This is where the game starts to get pretty unbalanced. How good your final smash is will determine if your character is good or not. Some characters like Toro or Heihachi will have a level 3 Smash that instantly KOs everyone on the field while others like Ratchet and Kratos will have to earn them. It’s typically pretty easy to score KOs with your level 3 attack so it shouldn’t matter very much, but there can be a difference. The pro of Toro’s attack is that it guarantees 3 KOs in a 4 way battle. The con is that it can only get 3. Ratchet’s can go up to 6 in theory, but you could theoretically not get any as well. It’s a tough call and it’s something that you’ll want to consider before picking a character. The game’s roster is infamously unbalanced, but you may not notice unless you play it very competitively. In that case, you may want to stick with Kratos or try some of the DLC characters. Speaking of which….
This game suffers from the on disc DLC problem that Street Fighter X Tekken had. You’ll see a few characters on the menu, but you won’t be able to play as them without dishing out some money to PSN. I’m okay with DLC being around for the game, but I don’t like it to actually be on the menu. Why should I have to see those characters on the screen if I can never play as them? I think that it is in pretty bad taste since the game is trying to force you to buy them to clean up your character selection page. It’s also sad because the game already has a pretty limited character roster. There are 20 characters and almost half of them are joke characters. “Half…is that possible?” Well, let’s look as the real characters vs joke characters although our interpretations of a “joke” character may vary a little.
Real Characters
Ratchet
Jak
Sly
Kratos
Radec
Raiden
Sweet Tooth(Arguable…?)
Nathan Drake
Cole
Evil Cole
Heihachi
Dante
Nariko
Big Daddy
Joke Characters
Fat Princess
Parappa
Spike
Toro
Sackboy
Sir Daniel
Well, maybe that’s not as bad as it looks. This means that 30% of the characters are fall into the joke category, which is high, but not as high as I had feared. That being said, the roster definitely needs to shape up a little. All of the 14 normal characters are cool, but a fighting game in this day and age should have well over 30 characters easily. Even with the joke characters, we’re not quite there yet. The characters are just a little too limited for my case and even more so when you consider the fact that Cole is basically taking up two slots. It’s why people always bash the idea of Microsoft making their own Super Smash. Their characters would be much more limited than Sony or Nintendo and that can be dicey to think about. What Sony should do is add more representatives from each series. Just throwing in a second for each one would greatly increase the character count. I don’t have a problem with the stage count though since it’s of a reasonable size.
For Replay Value, PS All Stars definitely has a lot of options after completing Arcade Mode with everyone. Each character has a combat trial to complete and there are general ones as well. Unlocking everything will take an extremely long amount of time and there are a few hundred goals to achieve as well. I don’t think there are any characters or stages to unlock, which can be disappointing, but getting everyone to level 999 is an adventure that you may want to pursue. Finally, we have the PS3 Trophies which are tried and true. Getting the Platinum is supposed to be pretty easy, but that’s with boosting. Without that, it can be pretty tricky thanks to the fact that you need to find a friend who owns the game for two of them. Getting through a match without dying once can also be pretty tricky. Not impossible of course, but tricky nonetheless. That being said, you can easily get around 40 of the trophies here so that’s a great way to boost your Playstation 3 score.
The graphics are pretty good although I would definitely not call them great. The stills are sharp and the cutscene with your rival during Arcade Mode looks great. The game is polished just about everywhere except the gameplay. That’s the area where the graphics tend to struggle a little bit. Especially in 4 player battles. The screen just zooms out a little too much so that it’s hard to see where everyone is and the character models definitely don’t look great at that point. Super Smash Bros can pull it off so this game just needed a little more work in the graphics department. The game feels pretty futuristic and polished otherwise, which has always been one of the perks of the PS3.
The soundtrack is pretty good for the most part. I didn’t want to pull the Super Smash Bros card again, but it’s not quite at that level in terms of the musical themes in the game. The main menu theme is actually pretty good until the singer yells and everything goes downhill. There is only one lyric in the song I believe and I’m not even sure what it is, but it disrupts the nice theme that had been playing. I have already forgotten all of the stage themes, but I’m sure that they’ll come to me in time. It’s fun to play as Ratchet because I get to hear music from his game when you unleash his Level 3 Final Smash. Those games typically had a decent enough soundtrack.
There’s just something about PS All Stars that makes it hard to take seriously. It’s hard to describe, but this just doesn’t feel like “The Next Big Game.” I’m sure that a lot of work was put into it, but some parts just feel like a cash in. You could never say the same thing about Super Smash Bros and that’s just one of the big problems for this title. It’s a great game, but it won’t be able to make it to the next level without some serious work and improvements in key areas. Again, this isn’t bad for a start, but I will have much higher expectations for the inevitable sequel.
Time to directly compare Super Smash Bros and PS All Stars. I could do a bullet point list, but this battle is a little too clear for that. So, let’s just go through the categories here. We’ll have it face off against Brawl since they were from the same generation. Graphics -Super Smash Bros. Soundtrack- Super Smash Bros. Gameplay- Super Smash Bros. Character Roster- Super Smash Bros. Items- Super Smash Bros. Stages- Super Smash Bros. Story Mode- Super Smash Bros. Replay Value- Super Smash Bros. Am I missing anything? Well, PS All Stars puts up a brave fight so don’t get me wrong, but it really did not stand a chance against Super Smash Bros. I hate to say it, but it will never beat Super Smash at its own game. (Especially if Pac Man, Sonic, and Mega Man are really here to stay) Sony just needs to play to their strength sand make a 3D fighting crossover game instead. Now that would be interesting to compare with Super Smash Bros. Especially since a lot of people are pulling for Nintendo to make the next installment in 3D…much to fans’ horror.
Overall, Playstation All Stars Battle Royale is a solid fighting game that is destined to stay hidden in Nintendo’s shadow. The title is a little too long for my taste, but it shall have to do. I am glad that Sony tried to challenge Nintendo with this title and the roster isn’t bad. It definitely needs work, but it’s fun to see these characters meet up in such a unique game. The gameplay actually is a lot of fun. It’s not the kind of game where you’ll put in 100+ hours, but you can definitely pass the time by here. The game just needed more gameplay options for you to play around with. At least there is a lot of content to keep you busy here. The game needs to work a little more in the graphics area as well as add some more songs to the soundtrack. A real story mode would be nice even if those are rare in fighting games like this one. I’ve heard that the online is pretty laggy, but I haven’t experienced that so far. I definitely recommend this game to all fighting fans and just think of it as the next TMNT Smash Up or Cartoon Explosion. The gameplay may be modeled after Super Smash Bros, but it feels more like those other two games. Try to get to level 999 and let me know how long it took you!
Overall 8/10
The Maze Runner was hyped up as the next Hunger Games and that series hasn’t even finished in cinema world yet! Obviously the Maze Runner must have known something that I didn’t so I finally got around to checking it out on DVD. Great concept, but the execution left much to be desired. No worries, the Maze scenes are the best part so that did live up to the billing.
Well, the film takes place in the near future. A lot of kids have been trapped in a Maze and they don’t know how to get out. Every month, a box is sent to them from underground with one more teenager and food supplies. They’ve spent the last few years just trying to survive in their living space as they hope for the best. There are “Runners” who are teenagers that are selected to check out the maze. They have to be careful though since the Maze closes every night and staying inside will mean imminent destruction. So, they have clung to their lives for quite a while and that’s when good ole Thomas shows up. He doesn’t like this status quo…and he’s going to shake things up!
As you can expect, we’re all just waiting for Thomas to go into the Maze. It was in the trailer and we all would have expected it anyway. At first, I was pleasantly surprised with the film’s pacing since Thomas went inside it sooner than I had thought he would. I was practically cheering…until he left and we spent another long period of time outside the maze. (The living quarters are at the center of the maze so I say “out of the maze”) Don’t get the wrong idea….seeing teenagers discuss how they’re all doomed can be entertaining if handled right, but it just isn’t.
Most of the scenes at the living space are just boring or not fun to watch. We have the stereotypical bullies and the twist is that almost all of them are bullies. Everyone falls for peer pressure and the natural born leader wants the status quo to stay. The actual leader is a nice enough guy…or is he? I actually didn’t like him and his replacement was not much better. The whole thing just felt like a scam from Thomas’ point of view and nobody wanted to give him any intel. Just about everyone seemed to be mindless as they would just follow the order’s of the leader. It’s basically a dictatorship and this is certainly not the kind of place that you would want to hang out in.
The atmosphere of the film is very similar to Resident Evil during the climax. Once the maze is…no longer a factor, you expect zombies to start jumping out at you. It’s hard to describe of course, but the area is just very foggy and everything looks very hi tech. You quickly start to get your hopes up about aliens, zombies, or something else. Naturally, the film sends you crashing back down to reality with one of the worst plot twists that I have seen in a long time. The cliffhanger just makes you uninterested in what’s going to happen to the heroes or you at least lose most of your interest. There just doesn’t seem to be much of a point in their journey right now and they should have gone with the aliens/zombies idea. The atmospheric effect is pretty good and few films can actually pull it off, but you need something to happen to keep the atmosphere or it’s just going to fly away.
Thomas is a decent main character….I guess. He just strikes me as pretty annoying to be honest and he’s not very quick on the uptake. It doesn’t help that the other kids shun him of course, but he is always in the dark. He decision to help another one of the kids during a dicey time was pretty good of course and he managed to do well against one of the monsters, but that was mainly plot hax. He also could have put up a much better fight in the getting beat up wrestling game. I’ll never understand how someone can just stand there and watch himself get pushed around without much of an effort. Naturally, Thomas does land one hit so he quickly starts to gloat and then takes his eyes off his opponent. I can’t even…..
Teresa is the main heroine and she shows up as the final person to be sent to the ring. Naturally, she’s a girl so the other boys are mad/afraid that she’s here and she’s also shunned. She doesn’t help her case as she throws rocks at everyone, but I can’t blame her and I just hope that she can fight. Thing is…she feels like she is only here so that we can have a female character involved. Most films don’t pull a reverse harem situation like this in Hollywood so it’s pretty intriguing and I don’t mind so long as they don’t start to fall into the romance game. At most it is implied here and you can easily deny that. I have to give the Maze Runner props where it is due right?
As for the other characters, they’re all pretty unlikable and it’s hard to even talk about them. Newt is the second in command who gets very defensive at the drop of a hat and he just wants Thomas to stop asking questions. He’s the kind of guy who is immensely annoying to be around and he can’t completely stand up for himself even if he’s the leader. Alby actually seems like a nice kid at first, but we know that this can’t last and sure enough…he shows his dark side. He gives Thomas a very lightly veiled threat about what will happen to him if he breaks the rules and he did allow Thomas to be roughly handled when he first came out of the box. Sure, Thomas may have ran, but it was definitely uncalled for. Then, he cracks towards the end and while we’ll probably get a lot of sob stories and twists so make this seem reasonable, it’s still pretty sad.
We can’t forget about good ole Gali. He’s the main bully and he would rather thin the ranks of the heroes then go up against the maze. He’s always pretty unreasonable and he resents Thomas from the very start. You have to wonder how he got along with everyone else. He’s just your stereotypical bully and he pushes everyone around when he feels like it. There’s nothing likable about this guy and the film basically admits that he’s crazy by the end. We also have Chuck, who is the only guy who is really nice to Thomas and wants to be his friend. He also wants to see his parents someday…..Hollywood loves their drama so I’m sure you can imagine how this subplot ends. Minho is the main runner and he warms up to Thomas after the hero proves his worth, but I wouldn’t call him a very good character. He basically doesn’t mind Thomas because the main character is useful to him…that’s about it. Before that, he is pretty cold and he doesn’t mind leaving allies to get stomped on.
We can’t forget the monsters right? There is a pretty chilling moment where we think that there might not be any actual monsters here thanks to a twist, but that it luckily thrown out of the window right away. There are monsters here and they are almost tough. They are essentially mechanical scorpions that move like spiders and there are a lot of them. They’re definitely not very strong as you can destroy them with a simple, sharp stick, but they move quickly, which can make this difficult for the average kid. I’m always glad to have monsters here, but they are definitely not impressive power wise. Their design is decent though.
The actual violence isn’t as repulsive as the first Hunger Games, but it can get rather intense as we peer through one of the monster’s remains. The rest is pretty tame as we just hear/know things without seeing them. It uses the implied violence tactic that the Dark Knight used, which is actually pretty good if you need the violence angle. It’s a safe way to still get the message across. It naturally results in a rather dark tone like The Lord of The Flies and it continues on til the end, but it could be worse. The violence isn’t much of a negative here, but it’s still worth a mention that this definitely isn’t the kind of film that you want to show your kid.
There isn’t really a soundtrack although I’m sure that there are some generic/free domain themes in this film. That certainly doesn’t help the film. The main reason why I just didn’t like this film is because of the scenes at the home base. It’s hard to really describe why it’s so awful there and it may be a number of things. I’ve seen the “main character gets bullied” plot to death at this point and it is definitely not cool to see. Especially since the film is already devoid of any hope, we’d rather not see the main character get put in such a position. The actual setting is also very unimaginative and not very fun to look at the then the disappointing ending didn’t help matters. This is the kind of film that could be much better with adults as the main characters and better still if it had come out in the 80’s/60’s as a black and white film with a lot of debate. Sort of like 12 Angry Men. A reasonable discussion about whether they should leave the Maze or not as the whole film could have been much more interesting. The film just dropped the ball in all of these areas.
Overall, The Maze Runner is about as “good” as I expected. It does manage to crush the Hunger Games, but you are still left feeling empty. Is this the extent of our novel adaptions or are there other titles that we are missing? The Seeker and Alex Rider seemed like good bet back in the day, but they were cancelled and Harry Potter is already over. Ah well, maybe The Maze Runner gets even better with the sequel. The mystery is pretty engaging and I did like the concept. I could almost recommend it to you on that alone, but I could also just recommend the trailer instead. If you don’t mind monster violence and the classic bully scenarios going on for a very long time, then I recommend this film. If the thought of a rather depressing film where all of the main characters are teenagers who are pretty unlikable is too much to handle…you may want to run all the way back to the first Harry Potter film. It’s your choice!
Overall 4/10
Beelzebub was a Shonen Jump series that never reached the level of fame and popularity that Naruto and Bleach received, but it still ran for quite a while and provided us with a lot of action. Like Reborn, Beelzebub starts off as more of a comedy and then quickly turns into the action manga that we had all been waiting for. It has some flaws thanks to the actual plot, but it manages to get past that and actually turns into a pretty great series. At least some of the credit should go to the main character.
The series starts out with some one shot stories before the first big arc arrives. The school is ruled by 4 strong classmates from the shadows. They are the 4 Emperors (Not the title that is used, but close enough) of the school and they each have their own minions/groups who follow them. Oga has been forced to baby sit Beelzebub, the future king of Hell and possibly destroyer of Earth. Oga isn’t thrilled about this since carrying a baby along with hurt his image. So, he decides that he’ll need to find someone who can be Beel’s (The baby) owner instead of him. Beel is attracted to negative energy so he just needs to find someone who’s even meaner than him. (A tougher feat than he imagines) That being said, peaceful negotiations tend to break down so then it’s fight time!
After that, the heroes are barely given a breather before they are taken to another school. Oga has basically accepted his fate of sticking with Beel by now. Unfortunately, his friends are being picked off one by one by the student council of the new school. These guys are apparently great fighters and one of the members is pretty familiar with Oga. Oga had wanted to make it through this new school peacefully until he could go back to his normal place, but he won’t have this. The arc results in a 5 on 5 fight that is pretty awesome! (I love group fights.)
The most popular arc of the series comes around as the demons finally invade Earth. They make their own school and challenge Oga and his friends. They will destroy Earth anyway so the heroes may as well put up a fight. Oga decides that things are getting a little too dangerous so he heads into the enemy base alone. Things also got personal since they kidnapped Hilda, one of Oga’s allies. He’s coming with a vengeance and this arc is where he finally gets his first super form. You can say that this is the arc where the series finished its transition into the ultimate Shonen Jump battle title that we knew it could be.
The final arc is sort of two arcs in one. The heroes return to their school and find out that a lot of new gangs have popped up. Among them, 6 leaders stand out and each one of them seems to be about as strong as Oga. They all want to defeat him to claim their spot as the strongest and they don’t mind targeting his friends to get him to act. (The friends also target the 6 so it evens out. Even if the allies should know that they’re doomed from the start….) This arc is interrupted as Oga decides to go to America to find Beel’s parents and then he eventually goes back home to continue the arc in more of a horror setting.
The series mainly takes place in various schools or in the city, which is definitely fine with me. There aren’t many big manga series that use such a setting for long. Bleach is one of the few that does this, but then we had to go off to Hueco Mundo for a few years, which wasted that opportunity. Beelzebub takes advantage of this local and it’s a fun setting for the fights. We don’t really get much of a city fight until the end of the series, but fighting inside of a building is the next best thing.
From the one shot stories and mini arcs, Beelzebub actually had a few interesting ones. The main one that comes to mind is when Furuichi got powers. He decided that he would challenge all of the characters in the series and it was pretty intense. A certain punching bag gets to fight Furuichi so the comic relief sidekick finally gets some hype of his own. It was good to see Furuichi finally get some props. He may not be a great character, but you never want to see a character be on the losing side for the whole series right? That’d be 20+ volumes of Furuichi getting kicked around. This mini arc managed to give him some wins, which was probably happy for his fanbase. We also had school plays and even a trip into the demon world. All of the stories were typically entertaining unless they were about Beel.
Naturally, Beelzebub is mainly an action series so the tone is pretty light, but it can be rather sad for the side characters. Again, Beelzebub is like Reborn! in the sense that the character power levels are heavily skewed. Oga is the only real powerhouse on the hero side for a while. Kuneida, Tojo, and Hilda are never far behind, but what about their numerous school friends? They never get any real powers ups until the climax of the series so it can be frustrating for them. They get knocked around so many times that you feel bad for them. They used to be the strongest thugs in the city and now they can’t beat the weakest minion from the villains. They try so hard and even go on the verge of tears. It’s great for Oga rage moments, but it does add an emotional touch to the series that it possibly should have avoided.
Back to the rage moments, Beelzebub does do a great job with those. One can argue that it happens a little too often, but I love those scenes so I’m okay with it. You probably know the type since it happens in most anime at this point. Where the main character suddenly get serious and says something that sounds intense as he begins to fight. That happens to Oga constantly as well as to his friends. Rage moments happen in almost every fight alongside a big double spread so that we can see just how intense they are. It gives you the chills while you’re reading it and it’s one of the main reasons why I like Bleach so much. So, this is going to be a mixed bag for many people, but I say “Go for it!”
One of the negatives for the series would have to be the crude humor. This is an issue that is actually rare for manga, or at least Shonen Jump titles. The problem is that the series technically revolves around Beel’s plight as Oga is raising him and that means that a lot of comedy situations will have to happen. Everything is exaggerated with Beel so when he has to relieve himself, he ends up nearly flooding a city. You can imagine how other baby scenarios can go from there. It’s a little too gross for me and I never really like seeing Beel on screen. He’s a character that I couldn’t adapt too and he certainly didn’t help the series. It mostly goes away during action scenes of course, but it’s one of the few negatives of the pre arc. Now it’s time to talk about the characters and there are quite a few in this series.
Oga Tatsumi is a pretty great main character. At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of him since the author tried a little too hard to make him a mean character. Yusuke and Ichigo are rebels, but what makes them cool is really the fact that they aren’t afraid to stand up to any villain. They also fight at the first opportunity. Oga is a pretty likable rebel for most of the series, but at the beginning it acts a little too much like a villain at times. Him messing with Furuichi is supposed to be comic relief of course, but he goes a little too far at times. Especially considering that Furuichi just wants to live a peaceful life, but is always forced into dangerous situations because of Oga. So, once Oga learns the values of friendship and mellows out a little more, he quickly becomes one of the best main characters out there.
One of the qualities that I respect the most in a main character is when he/she is willing to help out a friend even if it means breaking the rules. Oga definitely does that and he’ll always come to the rescue when his friends are in danger. (Which is rather often) His super form may not be the most imaginative one out there, but his fights are always fun. His fighting style of using magical seals is very unique and mixing in his extremely heightened physical abilities gives you a very powerful fighter at the ready. It would be hard to make Oga much cooler than he currently is since he’s just so good at this point.
Furuichi is the most recurring character in the series beyond Oga. He is always around no matter how dangerous the situation is. It’s rather sad for him since he is very weak and he never gets much stronger. He gets some magical tissues at one point that let him become a stronger fighter, but then he just gets beaten up by a new villain for shock value. He never wanted any part of this battle life that Oga has centered his life around, but he can’t desert his friend either. There is simply no winning for Furuichi so his tale is typically sad. He also has a sad origin story as well.
It would be easy to feel bad for Furuichi…until he does something bad and then you don’t feel bad for him anymore. He’s the kind of character who is way too into romance so you stop feeling bad for him since he isn’t a good character. It’s too bad since he has many likable moments and he gets quite a few intense moments like Oga. They’re just spoiled because you know that it’s going to go to his head and he’ll revert back to the character that you didn’t want to see. He has his good moments to be sure, but I definitely wouldn’t call him a good character. There is simply too much material to use against him.
Natsume is one of the only friends that I’m mentioning here, but I had too because he is a very odd character. The author never knew what to do with him so he gets a lot of hype at one point and then he basically vanishes for the whole series. He’s supposed to be very tough, but we never get any confirmation of that since he’ll just go and lose to a random figure when he feels like it. He is still a human so we can’t expect too much out of him, but his power level is never that consistent. He doesn’t take most of his fights seriously so it’s also hard to gauge just how good he is. He’s an interesting character, but you’ll probably dislike him by the end since he is just one big missed opportunity.
From the 4 big fighters of the school, Kuneida probably gets the biggest role. You can argue that she is the main heroine or you can make the case that Hilda deserves that title. Either way, Kuneida steadily improves throughout the series and she gets more training scenes than Hilda. She’s a much better character as well, but I suppose that this shouldn’t really sway you on who deserves the title of main heroine. They both get a lot of screen time I suppose. There aren’t any real negatives with Kuneida’s character and I was thrilled to see a sword fighter appear at last. It is sad that she is partnered up with Koma though since Koma is such an awful character. Luckily, she doesn’t have to actually work with him for most of her fights and she learns how to use some abilities while on her own. By the end of the series, she’s probably in the top 5 strongest heroes so that’s pretty impressive considering that she was just a human tier fighter at the beginning of the series.
Tojo is also a great supporting character, but the situation just isn’t in his favor for the most part. The problem is that he’s like Vegeta or any of your average Shonen Jump rivals. He looks great at first and he’s basically an unstoppable antagonist. Then he turns good and the author realizes that the audience will be shocked if he loses to a new villain. So it happens…and it happens…and it happens over and over again. If a new villain is introduced you may as well start counting the chapters until he crushes Tojo. Tojo always enters the fight with a lot of confidence and tough talk, but you know that he’ll end up on the ground. For extra shock value, he is sometimes taken out off screen or without any effort. He is the ultimate punching bag in the series. That being said, I do like him as a character. He temporarily passed Oga at one point in the series and it stayed that way for a brief while until Oga passed him again. He’s a likable character and he’s nice to animals, which is a huge plus. Unlike most of the other heroes, Tojo was always a good guy. He likes to get into fights, but it’s within reason and he’s a pretty upstanding citizen otherwise.
Himekawa is easily my least favorite member of the opening 4 bosses and he is just hard to like. I was almost warming up to him at one point. Not that he would ever become one of the most likable characters in the series, but I didn’t mind him as an ally. It all fell apart when he pulled a Rossiu on us and decided to wreck everything. We got a twist about that of course, but Oga had to take a lot of extra damage thanks to Himekawa’s rash actions. I couldn’t just let that slide and Himekawa had one of the biggest drops imaginable for an anime character. He was decent and now I consider him to be a downright terrible character. I couldn’t wait for him to get written out of the series.
Kanzaki is the first boss from the series and he must have been pretty popular since he gets to appear a whole lot after that. He’s your average bully who is actually a nice guy deep down and he loves to pamper his little sister. He’s not a bad character per say, but he is pretty generic and he rarely gets to win a battle. He just doesn’t add anything to the story, but his final form was pretty cool for his fans. Things definitely may have gotten dicey for him otherwise. He’s a loyal ally and a good friend to have, but he could have used some more character development or maybe just an epic fight. Seeing him jump into the school with a baseball bat was cool, but we knew how it would all end up. (It was a very frustrating scene though) That was the fate of his character.
It’s time to look at one of the characters who got hit the hardest by Beelzebub’s sudden ending. That would be Ichikawa. He was one of the 4 big characters from one of the final arcs and he got a lot of hype. He was going to be one of the strongest characters out there in theory, but then he went and got pummeled off screen. So much for his tough talk right? It’s too bad since he was a very interesting character and I wanted to see him get a few fights. He was likable in his few pages, but he just got the short end of the stick. We ended the series without really knowing much about him.
The same can be said about Akahoshi, but to a smaller extent. Thanks to a few filler chapters, we definitely know a lot more about him than Ichikawa. He was also a pretty fun character and I would go as far as to say that Akahoshi is probably one of the best characters in the series. He is main character material and it’s probably no coincidence that he looks very similar to Oga. It’s still a mystery as to why he’s so powerful since I didn’t totally buy the explanation, but he doesn’t get to finish his character arc. He came closer than Ichikawa though so I’m glad about that. He’s a lot nicer than Oga, but he’s still the leader of a gang so you should not underestimate this guy.
Hojo is probably the worst member of the 6 big fighters in that arc, but that also meant that she got to totally have her arc completed. She’s the weakest member of the group and you don’t really need any demonic abilities to take her down. She’s not completely weak though as she still gave Kuneida a decent fight, but she doesn’t strike fear into you the same way that the others could. She just felt out of her depths here and her goals of stopping Kuneida and the Red Tails just felt a lot more petty. If not for Beel pulling his tricks, her arc would have been a whole lot shorter.
Nasu is pretty crazy and he gives Oga a pretty good fight when they meet. He’s not one of the big 6 so his powers still aren’t extreme, but that just makes his battles that much more impressive. He beats up on the side characters for a while before getting to Oga, but he’s seriously bad news for most of the heroes. I don’t care for him personally, but his fights are pretty fun to watch. There aren’t many people who fight with their head smashed through a wall for the entire battle. (Hard to describe, but picture someone being rammed through a door and taking the door with them. Then imagine that person continuing to fight while the door is around their neck. It’s pretty surreal)
Takamiya may not be the final boss of the series, but he is certainly the most impressive fighter since he gets a lot of screen time. He really beats up on Oga and his allies even if there are some special circumstances at one point. He may be one of the strongest figures out there, but I definitely do not like him as a character. It helps that I didn’t care to see him beat up on Furuichi for so long since the hero couldn’t fight back. Takamiya is pretty sadistic and that’s why I didn’t care for how his character ending went. I know that Shonen Jump is about forgiving and forgetting, but it shouldn’t happen to instantly. I would have liked to see Takamiya go to jail for a few years to cool off. He definitely deserved that after everything that he did. His character design reminds me of Mukuro’s and it’s interesting since it’s not what you would expect from a street brawler. Likable or not, Takamiya definitely provides us with some great fights.
Fuji is the final boss of the series and he certainly lives up to the hype. His abilities are possibly a little too exaggerated since he’s been lounging around at home for the last few years instead of training. Having a demon to partner up with definitely gives you some added abilities, but the boost was way too big if you ask me. Well, ignoring that, he’s still a pretty good character. He’s pretty insane and he’s evil as opposed to most of the other guys who are simply “misunderstood.” Seeing him take on the entire cast is also a pretty great feat and he’s fun to fight. He has almost no development though so he’s just an opponent to face, but I suppose that this is fitting for the final boss. His abilities are no joke and he probably has the coolest super form from all of the villains. He’s probably my favorite villain now that I think about it.
Izuma is another hype character who appeared in the school challenge arc and you have to wonder what happened to him. There was a time where it seemed like he might have gotten a role in the current arc to help against the demons along with Tojo, but then he just took a backseat and decided to watch. He still got a decent role in the school battles of course, but stalemating Tojo isn’t the feat that it used to be. Since Oga already had a rival, this guy was basically not given the chance to prove himself. He’s definitely a decent villain though, but he seems unaware of just how badly he has been corrupted. He is sticking up for bullies after all so he should consider who the real villains are since he claims to be a hero. Still, he is interesting, which is good enough.
Miki is Oga’s rival and he knew the main character from their early days. Things happened and they grew apart, which made Miki decide that he wanted to beat up/destroy Oga. I can’t say that I agreed with Miki’s reasoning since it was pretty obvious why Oga did what he did during their origin. Even if Oga had been sincere, destroying him is going way too far. I can sympathize with Miki wanting to defeat him in combat. I’m totally all right with that, but he’s constantly going for the permanent solution so I can’t see him as anything other than a villain. It is impressive to see just how strong he got through his training though. It’s just too bad that he becomes irrelevant as soon as the real villains show up. He had a good roll until then though.
Saotome is a mysterious teacher who shows up at one point to help Oga train and he’s very powerful. You just wonder how he got to be so good and his backstory is never fleshed out. It’s cool to have a mentor figure of course, but he just pops up out of the blue and then he vanishes once things get serious. He does have a few good smirmishes with the villains though, but I would have liked to have seen him fight seriously at least once. That being said, he is significantly better than other mentors like Jiraiya and Master Roshi. At least you can take this guy seriously.
Beel appears about as much as Oga so it’s too bad that he’s completely unlikable. Just like how I don’t care for kids being main characters in live action films, I don’t care for babies being protagonists in manga. Beel is really just here for crude humor, which is too bad. He also puts Oga in a lot of tricky and/or embarrassing spots thanks to his actions. Beel gets a lot of hype for being immensely powerful, but we never get to see that since he is always just powering up his partner. That’s one way to show off a character’s strength I suppose, but it’s simply not a great way to do it. I don’t think that Beel had a single cool scene in the entire series and it would have been better off without him. He’s certainly one of the worst characters in the series. It’s definitely rare for a series with a pretty bad concept to actually become a legendary title, but Beelzebub pulled it off so Beel couldn’t really hold it back for long.
En is related to Beel and he’s just as annoying. He’s a little older so he’s more of a kid than a baby, but he’s very spoiled and his mini arcs are never that much fun. He’s not very good at video games and he’s just mean to everyone. He doesn’t mind blowing up the Earth so I think it’s fair to say that he’s a villain. There’s not a whole lot to say about him because he never gets to fight in the series, but he’s simply not my kind of villain. He’s certainly not loyal to his allies so he’s not even a respectable villain.
We can’t forget about Beel’s parents. They get a surprisingly small role in the series, but they are still around nonetheless. The Demon Lord is said to be extremely powerful, but he never gets to fight. He’s actually used for comic relief as he has a terrible memory and he’s always playing video games. He also seems to have the mentality of a little child as he sulks a lot and holds grudges when he feels like it. It’s easy to see why other demons keep planning to overthrow him since he does a lousy job of upholding law and order. I think it’s safe to say that the villains would have easily succeeded in their plans if not for Oga. The Demon Lord is just too oblivious to everything.
I can’t say that Iris is much better. She seems to be a lot more reasonable of course and things are pretty sad for her since she can’t walk. That being said, she is basically being played for her entire on screen appearance. She doesn’t even realize what is happening even though it is only thinly veiled. She also did leave Beel for basically the whole series so I really can’t sympathize with her actions. It doesn’t help that this was during the rushed part of the series. Maybe she could have been a better character with more time…maybe.
Athrun is a character who never got to appear much and the author may have forgotten about him. He is pretty powerful and he was much stronger than Oga at one point. It’s safe to say that Oga has surpassed him by now, but it would have been cool to have seen them fight. He’s the cool and calm collected character that you expect to see in a series at some point. He’s a swordsman, which makes him even cooler for me. He should have gotten more screen time! Johan is another intriguing character that I would have liked to have seen more of from the final part of the series. He’s pretty intense and he’s definitely a good agent since he can ride a motorcycle with ease while shooting at Oga. He may be a body guard, but he can hold his own with the best fighters out there. He is also pretty smart and he was one of the guys who tricked Iris for so long.
Alaindelon gives Beel some competition as one of the most annoying characters in the series. He’s always trying to be friends with Furuichi and most of his lines are purposefully suggestive. He acts gay throughout the series and it’s meant to be funny, but is just isn’t. He doesn’t contribute to the series at all even though he is always around and I don’t know how he ever got picked to be one of Beel’s bodyguards. He simply doesn’t help the heroes when it’s crunch time and it’s too bad that he was in the series at all.
Hilda is one of the main characters and she’s pretty decent. Unfortunately, she talks tough for all of her appearances, but she doesn’t get many fighters where she can really show off her skills. She is very tough since she was picked to guard Beel, but her power level is not very consistent. She’s definitely a very likable character though. She gets two personalities as she is usually in her normal one and she acts differently when she temporarily loses her memory. Both forms are pretty good although her normal personality is definitely the best one. She never backs down from a fight and she’s determined to protect Beel at any cost. She should have struggled a little more to stop herself from being kidnapped, but that’s a minor gripe. Through and through, Hilda is a very good character.
Yolda is Hilda’s rival and she’s a character who also could have used some more development. She seems like a nice character deep down even if she typically acts like an antagonist. She’s usually comic relief aside from her first appearances and while she is a decent fighter, Yolda is quickly surpassed by just about everyone after her initial fight or two. I think her character did have a lot of potential though and she is pretty likable. Certainly one of the better villains even if her boss is pretty cheap.
Lamia is the nurse from the demon world and she is good at her job, but she’s not a great character. She becomes friends with Furuichi, which is cool for him since he doesn’t have many friends. That being said, she can’t fight, which really limits her potential in this kind of series. She can heal their wounds, but that’s not the best role to have. She is also used a lot of comedy situations with Furuichi, which is not the greatest fate either.
Behemoth is an old demon who apparently was one of the strongest fighters back in the day. Unfortunately, we never get to see this so he’s a character who literally has to live off of hype. He’s still pretty strong of course, but it’s apparently only a glimpse into how he looked back in the day. He’s decent for an old fighter, but I just can’t take him seriously. I have nothing against the hype…but he needs to prove himself a little more. He just goes along with the villains and he doesn’t even get a say. Not exactly leader material!
Jabberwock is the big villain from the demon arc and he’s definitely intense. I’d say that he’s one of the better villains even if he’s not all that interesting. The series never gave him a whole lot of character development so he fell by the wayside. His abilities are good though. He’s pretty stuck up, but that makes it all the more satisfying when Oga takes him down. His design is pretty fitting for his character and he was a good villain. Jabberwock is honorable, which is more than I can say for a lot of the other villains.
The art is pretty good for the series and I definitely have no qualms there. The author uses a little too much ink with the demon attacks at times, but it also helps to show us just how powerful the attacks are. Most of the characters have pretty unique character designs, which help the characters to stay memorable. Naturally, this also helps the fight scenes since a good action moment needs great art if it wants to survive. The series also manages to pull off a pair of horror themed chapters towards the end where Oga enters the ghost town that used to be his home. It’s pretty intense since the tone shift was so dramatic, yet the art was able to keep up.
Whether a fight is occurring or not, Beelzebub is always fun to read. I’d compare it to Medaka Box in the sense that it is a fun ride from start to finish. There are no boring volumes and very few chapters that won’t entertain you either. Even the filler moments like Furuichi gaining magical powers are pretty fun as well. There are some serious moments thrown in for good measure, but the series never loses sight of what it is. An upbeat fighting manga that will always leave you feeling content with it.
One angle that I didn’t really discuss was the fanservice part. It’s not there a whole lot, but it is present thanks to Koma and Furuichi. Just about every scene in question that is in the series has something to do with them. Koma is the stereotypical pervert of the series while Furuichi falls into that category as well, but he typically tries to be more subtle. It’s still too bad since this is just a cheap trick that most series use at some point or another for quick views. It could have been worse, but what we did get still shouldn’t have been there. I’m still waiting for more series to take a look at Prince of Tennis so they can see how you do a series without any fanservice whatsoever. That series is still a shining example for all to see.
It should be noted that the series does end rather abruptly and it’s not very subtle either. The author handled it with as much pizzazz as he could, but there are still quite a few plot lines that are not wrapped up. An arc starts and then it quickly shifts to another arc before anything had really gotten to happen. When we go back to the previous arc to end the series, we find out that most of the battles already happened off screen. Naturally, this means that we also get a quick power up with a worse explanation than Ichigo’s big showdown at the end of the X Cution Arc. The situation is rather similar as it involves a rooftop battle and a lot of flashy abilities. I do love Oga’s final form so don’t get me wrong, but it definitely came out of nowhere. It did give us some great DBZ references though so I’ll let it slide. The series almost deserves an extra star for the way that it wrapped things up. The final fight was definitely DBZ level and it’s safe to say that Fuji and Oga could definitely hold their own against any fighter. They won’t be beating Goku of course, but their abilities could give most arc 1 guys a run for their money like Frieza or SSJ1 Goku. If you thought that Gintama was the only main character who could steal abilities…just wait. If a series being cancelled means that the author can go all out with super forms and powers, I wonder what Kubo would do for Ichigo in that case. The possibilities are endless!
How do the characters rank tier wise? Well, they’re nowhere near DBZ level (Except for the final fight) and I don’t see these guys taking down Tsuna, but then things get interesting from there. As I mentioned, there are some really powerful fighters, but the majority of the characters would lose to Naruto’s team from part one of the series. I think that Oga and the generals could probably hold their own against most One Piece/Naruto characters, but they would start to hit some trouble over in Bleach. I would consider the series as a whole to be A rank. I think that they could give Bleach a very good fight and they may have been able to win if not for the serious disadvantage in numbers. Beelzebub against Reborn! would be an incredible fight and I think Beelzebub may have the edge. Tsuna is certainly stronger than Oga, but his supporting cast is even weaker than Oga’s. It’s definitely a tough call, but reaching A-S rank is a pretty great feat!
Overall, Beelzebub is a pretty great Shonen Jump series. It has a lot of action and cool characters so that’s really all that you could want in such a series. Naturally, there is some mild fanservice to be found here once in a while, but it’s very rare and this series has less of it than Bleach and possibly even Naruto. The main thing that would have helped the series would have been if Beel had not been in it. I think it’s safe to say that the series could have easily reached a 9 with that. Even if the series kept Beel, then maybe getting rid of all the crude humor would have had the same effect. This series rivals Bleach in the number of “epic zoom in” scenes, which is very impressive. I highly recommend this to all manga readers and try not to enjoy the humor filled beginning toooooo much since the series jumps onto the action train pretty quickly.
Overall 8/10
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer is a Christmas special that I’ve watched many times in the past. It uses stop motion instead of traditional animation, which can be dicey. That being said, it makes up for this with the classic Rudolph as the main lead. His heartwarming story has inspired millions throughout the ages and who can forget the incredible snowman? The special has its ups and downs, but it is definitely a solid experience.
The plot involves Rudolph and the other Reindeer as they begin to bully him when it is found out that his nose glows. Even Santa Claus wants nothing to do with Rudolph so he runs off to brave the world on his own. Meanwhile, there is an Elf who has the same problem. He doesn’t like making toys and he just wants to be a dentist so the others shun him and he runs off. One thing leads to another and the two of them team up with an experienced gold digger to help save Christmas.
Not everyone shuns Rudolph as one of the does by the name of Clarice tries to be his friend. The special definitely has more romance in this plot than most of the other Christmas specials. The actual subplot isn’t great, but it does help us get to the big battle with the Snowman so it was all ultimately worth the effort. Clarice is definitely more of a likable character than most of the other reindeer as they were all pretty unreasonable with Rudolph.
As for Rudolph, he’s a nice little guy, but he’s not quite as likable as Frosty or dare I say Jack Frost? I probably agree with his decision to leave and save his friends since they were all in a tricky spot, but I think he probably overreacted when Clarice complimented him. That’s not going to help his image with the rest of the reindeer although he was definitely the best flier there. He can get pretty defensive about his nose and it’s a good thing that he found Hermey when he did or it could have been all over for him. At least he got a good hit in on the Snowman.
The Abominable Snowman is a pretty intense Kaiju and I have to say that it definitely does look like some of the old Gamera monsters. It seems to be reasonably tough and it was able to climb its way back to the surface after it fell into the cold depths of the ocean. That takes a lot of guts and it seems to move pretty quickly. It was overwhelming a team of reindeer and that’s no small feat.
Santa’s portrayal is very interesting since he’s very mean throughout the whole film and they never try to make us forgive him. He ends the film in just as bad a mood as he was in during the beginning. It’s intriguing to say the least and I think that the writers may not have even realized this as they were writing the script. He insults the Elf’s song, He does care about the fate of Rudolph’s parents except for his sleigh, etc. Santa Claus really tries to put a damper on things and he makes sure that Rudolph never gets to feel good.
The soundtrack is pretty solid and we get a lot of good songs. Many of them are classic like “Silver and Gold” and naturally…”Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” They’re run to listen too and the music is one of the reasons why the special is so fun. The stop motion has never been my favorite technique, but it works well enough. It definitely has a certain unique feel to it and I suppose that it’s pretty iconic for Rudolph at this point.
One of the better subplots in the film is the meanwhile with the Narrator. He’s a talking Snowman like Frosty and he’s the kind of guy that you can sympathize with. He is telling us Rudolph’s story with such detail that even he gets scared by what he remembers. It’s pretty intense to say the least. He’s probably one of the more likable narrators that I’ve seen in the Christmas specials so far.
As for the rest of the cast, they’re pretty unlikable. They are all pretty unfair to Rudolph about his nose and we never get a real reason about why they act so discriminating against Rudolph because of it. Why don’t they like red noses? There is probably something related to a past tragedy with the nose, but it’s still pretty sad to see. The parents getting into it was also pretty overdone since you would expect them to stand up for Rudolph. It’s pretty depressing until he finally leaves to make a name for himself. Of course, that is why the bravery of Rudolph is so revered.
Overall, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer is a pretty solid Christmas special. It’s not quite as intense as some of the other ones and while it has aged pretty well, the romance does drag it down to an extent. Not because of the fact that it is romance per say, but the way that it’s handled can be a little tough to watch. Rudolph just doesn’t handle the whole thing very well. The soundtrack is very good and it’s nice to actually have a mean Santa Claus for once. It’s a pretty big change from the norm and that’s always good. Rudolph is a pretty emotional film that I definitely recommend for the New Year. It has some good themes and it reminds you to know that giant monsters prefer pig meat to deer meat. In case you are ever in a pinch this could help you out! (There is also an action scene in the climax for all you Shonen Jump readers)
Overall 6/10
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