Digimon Adventure Review

digimon

Digimon is a very popular franchise that naturally became Pokemon’s rival. Both of them deal with Trainers and their (Digi or Poke)mon as they travel across the world. While there are many similarities, there are also some pretty vast differences. Digimon has many different series (Or seasons if you prefer to break them up that way) but this review will just be talking about the original. The main characters of this series are Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, TK, Kari, Izzy, and Joe.

Digimon Adventure has several arcs including: The Devimon arc, The coming of Myotismon, and the rise of the Dark Masters. Like most shows, Digimon gets progressively better the farther the series goes. The Devimon arc was pretty good and the two arcs after that one were both great. Most of the episodes are pretty fun and intriguing to watch with very few underwhelming episodes.

Let’s go through the Devimon arc first. Since this arc is the first one to begin in the series, Devimon won’t appear to be as formidable as other villains, but was definitely a powerful way to start the series. At the time, the DigiDestined (What the heroes call themselves) only had access to their champion forms, but they were still pretty tough. Greymon will always be remembered as one of the most iconic digimon out there. I will go through each of the characters and their digimon later on in the review. One thing that held the arc back was the lack of a great soundtrack. The Devimon arc is the only one to not feature the iconic theme song during each digievolution, taking away most of the epicness from the transformations.

After the Devimon arc, the next big event was the Myotismon plot. To shake things up, not only was the digi world under attack, but even the human world fell prey to his evil schemes. Myotismon had a legion of powerful warriors under his command such as Dark Tyrannomon and Mega Seadramon. Not to mention that Myotismon was already a very powerful digimon and didn’t need any help to give the heroes a hard time. His power was that of an ultimate level and in his Venom Myotismon form he could give Mega level digimon a hard time. This arc had a much larger sense of danger and the threats became more dire as the humans got thrown into the battle.

Finally, we have the Demon Masters part of the series. Picking up immediately after the DigiDestined deal with the Myotismon threat, the heroes find themselves heading back into a far different digiworld. The Dark Masters took no time in converting the once happy digital world into a dark and miserable place. At this point in the series the heroes all had ultimate level digimon (Tai and Matt even obtaining Megas) so they weren’t that afraid of what was to come. The Dark Masters quickly humbled them and defeated the heroes 4 times in rapid succession. Realizing that they need to get stronger, the heroes head off to save the digital world once and for all, but are the Dark Masters really the villains that they should be worried about? This part of the series was easily my favorite and the stakes had never been higher.

Since Tai is the leader of the DigiDestined, we’ll look into his character first. He’s definitely got the makings of a true main character and while he doesn’t tend to give orders, he can definitely lead a team well. It would be hard to find a better main character around and he’s also got the best digimon of the DigiDestined. Agumon is the name of his rookie form and he transforms into Greymon, Skull Greymon, Metal Greymon, and War Greymon. War Greymon is easily his best form, but I’ve always liked Greymon and his Nova Blast as well. Together Tai and Greymon are almost unstoppable!

Matt is Tai’s rival and he’s also a pretty good character for the most part. I feel a little bad for him since his Gabumon is no match for Agumon in the longrun, but Matt always gives it his all. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of the rest of the DigiDestined. Sora is alright, but she never really stood out with a really great fight scene or memorable line. Izzy is the smart kid, but I would prefer if he was known as the strong whizkid so that he could get some more fights. Mimi doesn’t tend to fight enough and she’s certainly not as upbeat and commanding as Tai. Joe could learn a thing or two from Matt about toughness and strength of character. TK and Kari get a pass since they’re only kids, plus both of them get significantly better in the sequel series. Still, that’s not to say that any of them are really awful characters. They’re decently alright and they have their moments. Tai and Matt just happen to steal the show in this series.

The soundtrack for Digimon is awesome and you won’t forget the theme song once you’ve seen the show. The lyrical songs that take place during the fights are definitely not that good, but the regular digimon theme that plays during the transformations easily makes up for it. The fights in Digimon are always pretty fun and the animation for them still holds up to this day.

Digimon is a series that I strongly recommend and I would easily say that it’s one of the best anime of all time. With a solid 50+ episode count, there is plenty to watch and rewatch. In the future I know that I’ll be checking it out again myself. So, go out there and buy the complete series, after all you can never watch too much digimon!

Overall 8/10

Achievements
Watched It
Own Whole Series
Watch Whole Series

Mecha Godzilla 2 vs Thunder Birdo


Thunder_Birdo_again_by_GreggJanus
mechagodzilla21
Mecha Godzilla 2 is back once again to take on Thunder Birdo. Thunder Birdo can shoot some pretty…..Explosive projectiles, but it won’t be enough to take down such a mecha. Mecha Godzilla 2 has the size advantage and he’s got a lot of ammo on his side to take the win. Mecha Godzilla 2 wins.

Astonishman vs Superman



308939-176518-astonishman
Astonishman is a pretty tough hero and he can even move whole planets! Still, I don’t think it will be enough to defeat the Man of Steel. Superman’s moves several planets at once in the past and his speed is pretty much unstoppable. I don’t think that the Astonishman has what it takes to stop him. Superman wins.

Tahu vs Ezio


Tahumovie
250px-Ezio
This is a pretty close match between close combat fighters. When Ezio has a piece of eden, he’s able to heal his injuries, plus he is able to make duplicates of himself. However, Tahu’s weapons aren’t normal weapons and have the element of fire inside of them. That should give him a sufficient edge, not to mention that he can use long range combat if he needs too. Tahu wins.

Samaritan vs Superman


man_of_steel_2013_movie-wide
90498-164749-samaritan
The Samaritan has some pretty intense power and speed on his side, but he’s up against the Man of Steel! Superman’s strength and speed are far greater than the Samaritan’s and he would definitely win this fight. I don’t see how the Samaritan could even make this a good battle. Superman’s just grown too powerful. Superman wins.

Invisible Woman vs X 23


x23
2553688-92071-77225-invisible-woman_super
X 23 is an incredible hand to hand fighter plus her regeneration comes in handy a lot. Invisible Woman’s force abilities will definitely be tough to get around, but X 23 once became Captain Universe. I think her speed would enable her to dodge Invisible Woman long enough for her to win through sheer power. X 23 wins.

Update! X23’s Captain Universe abilities are good…but the Invisible Woman obtained them as well! Invisible Woman wins.

Iron Man 3 Review

iron-man-3-poster-us

After the record breaking film that was The Avengers, there was definitely a lot of pressure on Iron Man 3. It would be the first film in the next wave of Marvel films that would come out before Avengers 2. Not to mention that the 2nd Iron Man film’s reception hadn’t been quite as good as the 1st.

The plot for the Iron Man 3 film was loosely based off of the Extremis storyline from the comics. The movie is drastically different from the comics with the only similarities being the Extremis serum and some of the character names. Dr. Aldrich Killian gets a decently large role in this film and we can’t forget about the Mandarin. One thing about the plot is that it does drag on for a while. The intro featured Tony Stark in the past, but was pretty boring and a whole third of the film had almost no point (Snow scenes where he meets a kid) If the film had cut out a good 30-40 minutes, it probably would have helped the pacing a lot. The interaction between the characters is definitely the weakest in the trilogy and you’re going to find yourself waiting for an action scene to pop up. Not to mention that there isn’t really a character that you can find yourself rooting for. Tony Stark is fun to watch during certain scenes, but others make you dislike him.

Pepper Potts and Rhodey get to appear in the film with very different roles. Rhodey looks pretty awful the whole time and his scenes definitely keep up the whole “War Machine always loses” trend. The way he lost made him look like a complete amateur and while they attempt to cover it up by giving him great aim with a gun, it just wasn’t enough. Pepper Potts is mostly just there for most of the film, but her role gets better during the climax. Definitely the best that she’s looked in the trilogy. Happy Hogan gets a bit of a role, but he’s pretty outmatched the entire time and he was only okay. He definitely could have handled things a bit better, but he was a lot better than in the first two films.

Tony Stark is portrayed as an inexperienced hero in this film. He’s technically a genius, but he doesn’t show it that much as he underestimates his opponents. He threatens the Mandarin on live TV and even tells the guy where he lives. It was Definitely a good thing to do and I’m glad that Stark made the right move, but the rest of his plan was pretty awful. Not only did he fail to evacuate his home, but he took the time to test out a suit that didn’t have any combat capabilities at the time. His home also didn’t have any security around it, so it was a walk in the park for enemies to come in and wreck the place.

The plot hits its low point when Iron Man goes to a snowy area and meets up with a kid. You don’t need to remember his name because the actual character doesn’t have much of a purpose in the film. Tony Stark keeps having stress attacks and it makes for a very bad subplot. Tony is not the kind of character who would let the near death experience (In the end of the Avengers movie) traumatize him like that. I really don’t think it would happen and he later gets over it for pretty much no reason. Stark also upgrades his tech so that it will respond to him whenever he needs it. Now he doesn’t have to even carry the armor with him as long as he can move to activate them from afar. It’s a decent improvement, but the film doesn’t exploit it this fact that much. He uses it plenty of times, but we never get to see it used that well for combat situations.

Alright, let’s finally start talking about some of the film’s positives! The villains in this film are a huge step up from the first two. The Iron Monger and Whiplash weren’t much of a threat and could barely hold their own. The Extremis meta humans provided Iron Man with a much better fight and they could do some fatal damage. The thing is, they were possibly too powerful. Iron Man couldn’t keep up with them at all and spent most of the film getting knocked around. If he had kept his traditional armor (From the first two films and Avengers) I think that the battle would have gone very differently. As it was, his new armors seemed to be far weaker and are not durable at all. One good shot would end just about any of his armors. Iron Man has to defeat most of them with good ole fashioned ingenuity, but most of his wins are a bit far fetched in the film. Either way, it’s better to have a villain that’s too powerful than one that’s extremely weak. The extremis villains made for epic fights and I wouldn’t mind seeing some of them in Avengers 2.

I haven’t mentioned the Mandarin much, but there isn’t much to say about him. At first he’s one of the most generic villains of all time and he’s basically a carbon copy of Bane. After his “epic” plot twist, you’ll either see him in a new light or just facepalm at the movie. I can’t say that I minded the twist, but if they had done it to a character that I actually had liked, I would have doomed the movie at that very moment. Killian gets the biggest role as far as villains go and he was alright. He was definitely a powerful opponent, but I can’t say much for his personality.

The climax is the best part of the film and it’s what saved Iron Man 3 from getting a mediocre score. Stark and his army of Iron Men team up to take on the Extremis super humans. The armors put up a brave fight and we get to see a lot of cameos that will make fans smile. Unfortunately they’re all pretty weak defense wise and one good attack will shatter them. They make up for this in sheer numbers and Iron Man has to go through many of them in his big battle against Killian. The climax is definitely pretty fun and it beats the climaxes of most of Marvel’s other big films. There are countless explosions and there are plenty of fights happening at once. Make sure that you keep your eyes peeled so that you see everything that’s happening.

Unfortunately the film ends on a really negative note. Stark makes a really bad move involving the “Clean Slate” protocol and also gets rid of an ally’s superpowers that would have come in handy for the future. The film also has a really underwhelming after credits scene that I didn’t find funny or epic. I would still recommend this film, but it is one that you can wait until DVD to watch. It’s a good addition to the marvel franchise, but nothing awe inspiring.

Overall 6/10

Faora vs One Above All


fgh
500px-One-Above-All_(Multiverse)
Faora was one of the better characters in the new Man of Steel film which earned her a 2nd battle. The One Above All may be pretty powerful, but he’s no match for Faora. Her speed and power are leagues above his and one good shot would end him pretty quickly. He just can’t hope to win. Faora wins.

Janemba vs Buu


Janemba_vs_Buu_by_coycoy
Well, this is definitely a pretty close fight. Janemba has the powers of Baby, which gives him a pretty good power boost, but Buu is naturally stronger than Janemba. The boost is definitely good, but I don’t think it will be enough to turn the tides in Janemba’s favor. Buu is still the greatest threat in the DBZ world. Buu wins.

Hyperion vs Superman


man-of-steel-henry-cavill-superman
2852856-avn2012004_cov_col
Hyperion is a very powerful marvel character and definitely one of their top tier fighters. Still, I don’t think he would last long against the Man of Steel. Superman’s used to fighting at high speeds and his combat experience far surpasses that of Hyperion’s. Superman’s stats are better physically and he’s also a better fighter mentally as well. Superman wins.