My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 Review

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The Vigilantes spinoff continues with this season and now we’re getting closer to the meat of the series. The big villains are showing up now and the plot is gradually escalating. All Might also gets to have a big action scene which was really cool to see. The series continues to have great production values all the way through with no real weaknesses and I can safely say that it has risen above the first season.

Koichi is a much more experienced vigilante compared to his season 1 days. Knuckleduster has been off the grid for a while so Koichi and Pop have to take care of crime on their own. They’ve done a good job of this though and have made a good amount of friends in the city. They even have time for their day jobs like Pop working as a real idol and Koichi supporting her from the side. Well things are about to get dangerous again as an evil speedster is on the loose. It won’t be easy to stop this guy.

Speedsters are always going to be the hardest characters to write around. Either the character isn’t fast enough to make a difference or they basically end the verse. There are almost limitless uses for a good speedster after all and ultimately this one leans more towards the latter. There are virtually no fighters who can really hope to beat him. There are some pretty creative approaches on how to deal with this but even those do end up using quite a bit of plot armor. Realistically this guy would be wiping just about everyone out until All Might notices and stops him.

The speedster is the best character in the season though. He is smug and dangerous, a really top tier combo. He knows that the heroes don’t have a chance and basically rubs this in their faces. It’s not like speed is all that he’s got either, he’s also a mastermind. He always manages to stay one step ahead which isn’t easy. As the show goes on he is only getting stronger too. I liked the wasp villain from season 1 so this title has really had great villains for 2 seasons in a row now.

The first few episodes are mainly about showing how well Koichi can look after himself and showing how the instant villains are popping up everywhere. For now the cops have no way of predicting where or when they will show up so the pro heroes aren’t able to react very quickly. Koichi continues to develop his powers so that he is ready for them though. We also do get the occasional guest star like Fatgum who helps out during the warehouse battle. It’s always fun to see the pro heroes appear even if this story is mainly for the Vigilantes.

Koichi is also more confident in his own abilities so he makes for a good main character. He’s definitely the oblivious type but always intends to be responsible and helps his community. He is a well balanced main character with no real downsides. Pop is also solid but definitely leans into being a tsundere a lot so she isn’t often honest with her feelings. That can always be a bit of a challenge for Koichi and she can look a little annoying as a result. I think what I was most surprised by when this first came out was how she never got a real power up. She isn’t really able to contribute in the fights at all which is unfortunate. There’s just not a whole lot you can do to make her more important like that. It’s probably why she has the idol career but that feels like a subplot at best.

We take a break from the main plot to get a few episodes about Eraser Head and his old friend Oboro. We learn about how Oboro would go on to become the shadowy villain, Kurogiri in the main series. It’s definitely a very important story arc to be in a spinoff to that was interesting to see. Admittedly I was much more interested in the main plot by this time but the episodes were handled well. It is interesting to see Eraser Head back when he was slightly less jaded. He also wasn’t quite the expert fighter that he would become later on.

As far as flashbacks go it was pretty decent. Midnight and Present Mic also seemed like dependable friends who really helped him on this journey. Without them he would have been even more isolated. Naturally Oboro was also good. He is a lot like Obito from the Naruto series. A kid who is really energetic and ready to help out everyone who he can. He has all the markings of a true hero and it’s a shame that he couldn’t last longer.

We then get to the climax of the season with the Captain Celebrity arc. He is trying to rehab his image which was sorely needed but he will have to do it while protecting a whole tower filled with people from explosives. Naturally if he succeeds then this will be a giant W but the stakes are high. Celebrity had a rough start but he looks good here. How much you enjoy his character will really all depend on how much you think he has really changed as a character. I would say it’s fairly night and day here where he is treated much more as a naive guy who just got on the wrong path before. I like him in the superhero context the whole time but as a person he will need to continue to prove himself more and more. Unfortunately I don’t expect that he will be getting very many scenes in the future to show this.

His powerset is really fun though. He has the All Might type of powers but to a much weaker degree. In addition to that he has an energy barrier that protects him from most attacks. It takes a whole lot to actually pierce it and usually Celebrity would be able to dodge most attacks. This was just an exception because he had to deal with the whole hostage situation. It’s safe to say that he is one of the strongest characters in the series.

This time the subplot actually ended up winning out though. While the main plot had the best animated scene with All Might, the subplot had Knuckleduster return to fight the speedster. It was a really fun fight with great music and tactics. Yes there was some plot armor but the fight is still really satisfying. Knuckleduster showed why he is such a versatile fighter and we got to learn more about his past. I did miss having him be part of the main cast so it was really good to see him return. It’ll never stop being impressive to see just how strong he is for a guy who has absolutely no powers.

The animation is really great as you’d expect. The colors are striking and the action scenes are really fast paced. The explosions are all over the place in a good way and none of the episodes feel like they really got the shaft. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also really good. There are a lot of great themes throughout. The main theme song may not be my favorite but the rest of the ost on the whole is pretty good which is what really counts.

The episodes go by quickly so there is a lot of replay value. There is also a lot of room left for a season 3. Naturally you need that for the big battle with the speedster but we can also look forward to more appearances by the pro heroes. Ultimately I will always think that the heroes are a little too by the book here though. Their hard stance against the vigilantes really just opens the door up for the villains. It’s a constant theme that never actually ends in this series but it’s always worth referencing. It puts Koichi in a tougher spot than he should be.

In one episode we also see Tsukauchi make an argument for why he thinks that All Might shouldn’t save him. He believes that it is just too selfish and All Might belongs to the world at large. I heavily disagreed with this because at the end of the day All Might is a symbol of peace for all. Saving Tsukauchi is just another example of stopping a villain and All Might will drop anything to save him. He would do the same for anyone else that he knows. It may be special treatment but it is not at the expense of anyone else.

If Tsukauchi had just called in All Might during the first battle with the speedster then the whole series could have ended there. As fast as the guy he, he’s nowhere near as fast as All Might. Tsukauchi’s pride prevented him from making the call and that’s the wrong decision to make. I sympathize with the plight a bit since at least I do understand it. I just disagree while All might more or less convinces Tsukauchi to call him in large scale emergencies; you can tell that the guy is still going to be reserved to an extent.

This does work as a great foil to All Might though who looks as great as ever. Since we see him from Koichi’s point of view, we can really appreciate how All Might was the ultimate symbol of peace. He shows up with the big grin and ends the whole stressful situation in an instant. He doesn’t struggle or hesitate. Then when the villain tries to get a second wind, All Might transforms and defeats him in the same instant. This kind of overwhelming power is exactly what scared the villains in the first place and the show reflected that super well. His scenes were crazy impressive here. I’d love to watch a whole series about All Might back around his prime or even the slightly weakened days lke here.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking this one out. It’s not every day that a main series can get a spinoff with multiple seasons like this. It reminds me of a Certain Magical Index and its spinoffs. This show does well in keeping up with the main series and just has a cozy atmosphere. If you missed the older seasons of MHA that were very light toned, then this is always a good change of pace for you. The next season for Vigilantes may start to get more serious as well but there are a lot of happy moments coming up as well. The series is really balancing all of the action/fighting while also being a slice of life/rom-com for Koichi and Pop. It’s doing a whole lot of things and keeps that street level kind of vibe for the series. I’ll definitely be ready for the next season.

Overall 8/10

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Review

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I’ve finally managed to grab the new Sonic racing title! Crossworlds always looked like a lot of fun. At the same time, it’s a bit hard to justify getting any racing game for $60. Fortunately it was on sale for $20 for Prime Day and that’s when I realized that this would be the perfect time to take the plunge. The game definitely holds up and really has a lot of content built in throughout the game. There are just so many characters, stages, and items here.

Naturally I went through the grand prix mode first. There are 8 tournaments and then you can play them all again in mirror mode. Each race will really push you to your limit as you try to come in first. There are quite a few speed levels in the game and the faster you go, the smarter the A.I. gets. So you will really want to keep that in mind here. It would be nice if you could jump right to the highest speed but you have to beat all cups on a lower speed to unlock the higher one. The gam is really made to force you to play it over and over a lot.

I think that can be a little annoying with how direct the game is about this. It has enough content where it doesn’t need to artificially extend it like that. At least if you ask me that was unnecessary. I did have fun beating all of the cups and am nearly done with beating them all a second time. You will really learn the ropes by the time you’re done with this. It’s also worth noting that the game starts you off with driving assistant on by default. Basically this prevents you from crashing or falling off a stage.

It’s nice as a form of training wheels and the catch is that this makes it impossible to get some of the red rings. If you want to get all of the collectibles then you’re going to have to work hard and drive on your own. I thought that was a pretty fair way to do things. You need to pay some price if you’re using an assistant like this.

Of course aside from the grand prix selection there are a lot of other modes. You have time attack mode and free racing. Then there is the racing park which has minigames that you can play. There is also the online races of course and thanks to the free PS+ weekend I actually got to check that out. It is really fun to play against other players online. I was surprised that the cars keep their customizations and items though. I suppose that means there will be an actual tierlist in the Crossworlds meta.

You can also use the online as a way to play the new DLC stages that you haven’t actually purchased yet. I’m glad that it doesn’t just lock them out or anything. The game makes sure to keep them tempting at all times with how the locked characters/stages will stay on your homescreen though. Basically the game is reminding you not to forget about all of this. The prices aren’t bad so if you really enjoy the game then you should consider buying everything. Personally I just don’t buy DLC very often at all.

As for the graphics, the game definitely holds up really well. The colors are super sharp at all times and there is a lot going on within the matches. The items are all really fun to watch even if they can be hard to keep track of at first. This game prides itself on being chaotic and lives up to that reputation. Especially on the faster speeds where things are really moving.

The soundtrack is also really good. There are a ton of remixes here so as long as you enjoy Sonic music then you will have a great time here. The main theme may not be the greatest Sonic tune that we’ve had but it’s still catchy. I was mainly listening to that tune while writing this review. You do feel like you’re about to get on a grand adventure. There is a lot of replay value here between the multiplayer mode and all of the online features. This is a game that will clearly keep on being supported for a very long while.

The customization also adds a whole other layer to the title. You basically have to try and get a ton of customizable equipment throughout the game and then see what you like to use the most. You’ve got tons of cars, wheels, horns, etc. For now I haven’t spent too much time on this and just picked the Shadow car with whatever items I had on hand. For the pre set boosts I picked extra rings and boosters. Generally I’m just not a big customizations guy. I’ll use whatever you’ve got and then go on to have a blast. It may come back to bite me in online races but that’s just how it goes.

The game has a pretty detailed tutorial so don’t be afraid to check that out if you feel a bit overwhelmed at first. Since this game is still getting updates, you will get a ton of pop ups when you first turn the game on. That is completely normal though. I unlocked over 10 characters and about 40+ items when the game first loaded. It’s honestly pretty exciting because it shows you how much free DLC the game got before it moves onto the paid model. Sure it’s probably a tactic to make you more willing to spend but since that tactic helps the player out, I’m totally cool with it.

Overall, I definitely recommend this game. It puts the racing genre to great use and pushes the genre about as far as it could go. I do wish we had a story mode though. Even a barebones one would have been nice just to have had something on the single player side. I suppose it just wasn’t meant to be in this case. A racing game doesn’t need one but it’s a little cherry on top of the package. As long as you like the genre then you should check this one out right away. I don’t see very many racing games coming close to this one anytime soon. It goes without saying but I would even put this one above Mario Kart World.

Overall 8/10

Cats Don’t Dance Review

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It’s time for a classic animated film. I wouldn’t say that it ever got all that big since I don’t really remember it. I may have been in the wrong circles though. It’s a perfectly pleasant film but one that seemed to really lack a hook the whole time. By the time it ends you feel like the film never had much of a high point. So it is a good adventure from start to finish but it never really stuck out.

The film begins by introducing us to a cat named Danny who is really excited to make his big debut into Hollywood. He’s always wanted to be a huge star and knows that he has what it takes. Animals and humans have long collaborated on a bunch of movies in Hollywood. What Danny doesn’t realize is that this is a two tiered system where humans get all of the money and credit while animals get the worst roles without any of the accolades. Danny may be able to change this but he will have to get past the number 1 human prodigy….a little girl named Darla.

Now one question I did have about the whole premise here is how Danny didn’t know about the animals having such a small role. I figure as a big Hollywood fan he would probably have realized that from watching the movie? It sounded like very few animals ever got big roles so that seems like it would have been noticeable. I think the film should have made it so they have decently large roles but just don’t get much money. That would have made a lot more sense on why he wouldn’t have realized this.

Maybe Danny just didn’t actually watch many actual Hollywood films. He did mention at one point that things were different in his hometown so perhaps he mostly just saw local stuff and figured it would be the same in Hollywood. There are ways you could answer this but I was pretty skeptical. Danny’s a good main character though. It takes a lot to get him to start doubting himself near the end but before that he fights as hard as he could. He does inspire a lot of the other characters including Sawyer so without him things never would have changed.

Naturally I didn’t think the romance worked all that well though. It’s a bit rushed especially considering what a rocky start they had. He really put her in a lot of jams without realizing it at first. Sawyer was also pretty content with her situation initially so it’s not like she was coming from a bad situation. All in all Sawyer was a quality character as well. I would have preferred if she had kept more of the fire she had in the first scene but overall still looked good. She just mellowed out rather quickly.

One character who did not lose any of her edge was Darla though. She was really determined to be the heel the whole time. It’s easy to see why it would be tough for her to change since it looks like the entire world was really spoiling her the whole time. The movie’s director and staff were downright scared of her. Then she has a huge bodyguard named Max who can beat up anyone in her way.

Darla was quite literally the star of every show in Hollywood after all. If they ever made a sequel, I could see her returning as a villain. She’s clearly no hero yet by the end of the film. We also get a timeskip where we see that the animals have really overtaken the humans near completely as they star in all of the movies. So there are a lot of interesting things you could do with a sequel. That might not be the direction they go with though but it’s an idea.

The music was one of the strong points of the film and was actually a bit better than the average musical. It’s all pretty fast paced with a whole lot of instruments going on. It reminded me a bit of Aladdin at times. The opening song about Hollywood may have been my favorite one but in general they were strong.

The songs also match the really fast paced, crazy action of the animation. It’s all very expressive and the kind of animation style that you miss from the old days. You could probably watch the movie on mute and generally understand each of the characters personalities. That’s always a good sign on the animation front. There are a lot of strong colors and they didn’t spare any expense here.

The ending is a bit sudden which isn’t all that rare for these classic animated films. The idea seemed to be to tell a good story and get a message across, then just end real quick. The film is shorter than half an hour so there isn’t a whole lot of time. While the story is good, I do think having the film be a little bit longer could have helped give it that hook I was talking about earlier.

That or make the characters stand out more. While I thought that the characters were good, none of them quite have enough character to make them pop out the way someone like Aladdin does. You just aren’t going to remember these characters too well by the end. It doesn’t take away from their quality at all but it can be the difference between a good film and a very good one.

Overall, I would recommend checking this film out. It is a fun film and there are no serious weaknesses to it. It’s a very safe film and one that anybody could watch at any time. The pacing is good and there is a solid amount of replay value. The messages hold up as well as the technical aspects, that’s just about where its limit is. Maybe throwing in more of a real fight against Darla could have helped. Doesn’t have to be a physical one but maybe a fight of ideals or something. That might have helped give the film some extra closure. These re all fairly minor points though, we’re just talking about the difference of a single star. As long as the film is a good one, that’s still the most important part.

Overall 6/10

Sneakers Review

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It’s time for an Oceans 11 type of film that I hadn’t really heard of before. This one has aged well and I just enjoy these kind of heist stories. There is a good sense of danger throughout even if the ending is perhaps a bit more optimistic than what would likely be happening here. The important thing is that the movie wasn’t going to end on a super sour note and I definitely appreciate that.

The movie starts with Martin and Cosmo using their hacking skills to steal a ton of money from rich people and reallocating it to their favorite social causes. Cosmo ends up being captured by the cops while Martin escapes and changes his identity. Many years pass by and now the NSA has caught up to him. They blackmail Martin with his past and say that they will keep it quiet if he steals something from them. A powerful new kind of hacking equipment that can get decrypt any security system in an instant. Martin gets his team ready for this but should he really give such a powerful piece of equipment to the government?

A big theme in the film is about not trusting anyone. Everyone has some kind of an angle here and you’ve got quite a few factions running around. The Russians are behind every corner of course and all the letter agencies would be interested in this as well. Just stealing the thing won’t be easy either as Martin runs into his past on this adventure. That said, Martin isn’t as indecisive as you may expect with these stakes. He just can’t let the blackmail get out under any circumstances and so he is ready to play ball with the government right from the beginning of this story. He never looks back either and just gets to completing the mission.

Something I appreciated about the film is that all of his teammates are important. The film balances them all rather well. First up we have Whistler who is blind. You may figure this will make him ineffective in most situations but he actually does really well and even gets the MVP spot. He’s the reason they find the enemy base, the reason they had an escape route, etc. Without him they would not have lasted long here. His senses are virtually superhuman.

Then you have Donald who used to work with the CIA. He has a lot of connections as a result and is the most professional member of the group. He has a gun at the ready and bails Martin out from a trap. Definitely the muscle behind the team and he keeps Marin from being too impulsive. Martin does well as the leader but he absolutely does tend to be pretty emotional and lose his cool.

After that is Carl who is the youngest member. He tends to do a lot of the grunt work like hacking at close range or being the guy to pull off social engineering. Carl can be the most annoying one as well though as he gets distracted on the missions and tends to be a little girl crazy. To an extent they all are, but the others at least try to hide it. By default the smallest role would be Darren who handles all of the tech. He makes sure that everything is working well on the ground which is why his codename is “Mother”. So he’s very important but gets a little less to do in terms of individual scenes.

There’s also the main heroine Liz who used to date Martin but managed to get out of that situation. Well when he asks her for help, Liz can’t really bring herself to refuse. She probably should have to be honest though. She’s stuck with the worst tasks like seducing someone to get his voice on record. That’s always a very tired spy trope that never really works without the victim just looking bad. In this case Liz got super sloppy though which put her in a tricky spot.

As for the main villain, well he is pretty good but definitely too indecisive. He can never seem to decide if his main goal is something really personal to him or for the greater good. He tries to use the latter as his reasoning a lot but it always tends to come off as a cover story. Really this guy just wants to prove that he is better than Martin and messes up a lot of his free shots by the end. He could have come out on top easily in this film if he didn’t make massive errors. I thought he made for a good villain overall though. He was certainly entertaining even if he wasn’t always very effective.

The pacing is pretty good here and the writing is solid. It does have the occasional miss when it comes to the jokes but nobody bats 1000. The end of the climax also may have been a little too goofy at the end. The film is part comedy but up to that point the serious scenes were mostly played straight. I suppose they just wanted to have a bit of fun with the ending and it’s a short scene so it’s not like I had any big issues with it. It just felt a little jarring with the timing and all.

The movie really made the most of the tech aspect of the heist. I enjoyed the challenge of Martin having to move really slowly to get past one of the security systems for example. There were a lot of things that had to go right for the heist but they all felt like fairly reasonable challenges without a whole lot of plot armor. There will always be a little bit of that in a film like this but it was never excessive.

Overall, Sneakers is a pretty good film. I had fun with it and it succeeds in being entertaining all the way. There may be a twist that you see coming a mile away but it’s still a good plot on the whole. The title of the film also stands out and is a really good pun. If you’re looking for a well balanced film then I would check this one out. It may not become your next favorite hit but there aren’t a ton of heist films out there and this one holds up with the ones that are already out.

Overall 7/10

Project Hail Mary Review

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It’s time to check out a sci-fi film that came out a while back and got a ton of buzz. Sci-Fi is one of those genres that can be really good when used right. You get to see characters running around with giant energy guns, using advanced suits of armor, etc. It all blends together to make for a really good experience but then you have other titles which forego all of the cool elements and try to go for some deep storytelling and lore. Unfortunately this one unsuccessfully tries for that angle a whole lot and ends up being a bit of a drawn out mess.

The movie begins by explaining that the Sun is slowly being taken down by an army of powerful organisms. They are smaller than the normal eye can see but they are shutting down every star in the system. Ryland is contacted by the world’s unified agency which is trying to save the planet. After all if the Sun goes out, then Earth has no more hope left. Ryland is super skeptical about going to space but when he wakes up after stasis, he is the final survivor. It is all up to him now but can he really claim victory here?

You can tell that the government was desperate since it’s not like Ryland really had too many answers here. He just has one breakthrough but sometimes that is where science can start. So a lot of the film is really split between a bunch of flashbacks where we see what happened and how Ryland got into space. He has amnesia in the present which is always a convenient way to avoid spoiling the flashbacks. Then in the present he takes a while to get used to the gameplan after some initial panicking.

I feel like the story was mostly concealed for the trailers so I’ll avoid too many of the specifics but the film’s story takes a pretty big change when he is no longer struggling by himself in space. Unfortunately I would say it wasn’t a great development to turn things around. This is actually a film where I dare say it could have been improved by a bit of romance or at least some banter with another humanoid running around. The romance would have probably been rushed so the latter would be preferable.

This film falls into the issues that most films have when there is only one main character. It can be rather boring. This is a long film that feels like a very long film and that’s always a problem. You will have very long scenes of the film trying to show off is special effects or panning around the spaceship to show you how accurate it is. That will probably appeal to some space fans but I’m really just here for a lot of excitement and quick pacing. It never goes to the absurd lengths of 2001: A Space Odyssey at least.

That will always go down as being the worst sci-fi film. That said, this one could have easily shaved off 30-40 minutes and been in a better space. Any Ryland scene from when he first wakes up is annoying as he just acts drunk the whole time. Again this is the film trying to show how realistic it is since you would be out of sorts with amnesia waking up after a super long coma but these are the kinds of details that you don’t need.

The pacing is at a glacial pace and again that is because we didn’t have other characters to bounce off of. This is one of those few examples where I can say that the flashbacks were far more interesting than the present day stuff. We got to see the governments working together, some shady stuff, and most importantly just a lot of dialogue back and forth. I would have liked it if every scene was on Earth and we just direct the people in space on how to save the Sun. You could still have a lot of tension with communications going out or the countries starting to fight each other which causes a lot of issues.

In space the best chance for you to enjoy the film is if you enjoy a friendship that occurs up there. Unfortunately the character they chose just isn’t all that interesting. This is one of those cases where I would say the design is partially at fault here because there is just nothing you can really do with that. You’ll just be shaking your head at the big reveal. It’s not like this is the first time a story has gone in this direction. There are a decent amount of similar designs out there but they never really tend to be all that cool.

At least I didn’t really have any issues with the main character. He did pretty well in his experiments and I also thought he made the right call in running for it during one of the flashbacks. I do think he could have fought a whole lot harder but it’s not like this guy is a trained fighter. So I didn’t want to be too harsh on him or anything like that.

Ultimately the film is going for a bit of an upbeat vibe. There is a body count to be sure and you could say it’s implied that things are much worse than what we see but the characters never lose hope. Ryland keeps his head down and works hard throughout. He may have personally lost hope at some points but would still get back up there. Personally being in a space ship so far away from home would be absolutely terrifying so just being able to get past that is a good look for him.

The advice I’d give for this film is just similar to what I put for After-Earth. In any sci-fi film you should try to keep at least some of the basic concepts around or you are wasting the whole point of being a sci-fi. There should be cool aliens, great looking backgrounds of sci-fi locations that don’t exist in real life, cool weapons, etc.

This film doesn’t have much of that. In many ways you could do this film without the sci-fi part The whole Sun part could still be around with normal radiation hitting it or something and then the rocket ride. So if you are going to go the sci-fi route, then I’d say go all the way and just make it a blast. Also we don’t need the lingering shots in space and all that. Space all tends to look the same after a while and we need the pacing to stay fast.

Overall, I would definitely give this one a pass. The plot has an interesting premise with the Sun going out but then the rest of the execution just falls apart. The film is way too long and loses sight of the number one objective, which is to remain entertaining at all times. It just doesn’t prioritize being fun and doesn’t make for a satisfying watch. I did appreciate the Football terminology though. I would always go for the Hail Mary in Madden and it’s honestly a great play to run on 1st and 10 because nobody ever expects it.

Overall 4/10