Suggested by Destroyer Copperhead (Cobra) has a lot of guns and things like that but they’re not really going to do much to the hide of a Kaiju. Kumonga can take those attacks and just keep on swinging for as long as it takes. Eventually he will land a blow and then that will be it for this opponent. Sometimes pure durability will ultimately even overcome a difference in speed. It’s rare but it does happen. Kumonga wins.
Suggested by Destroyer Groudon has a ton of firepower up his sleeve so he’s not a Pokemon that you want to underestimate. That being said, he’s not going to be taking down Falzar here. Falzar is able to fly which is an absolutely massive advantage in this matchup. He can always get out of range as needed and counter from the air. Groudon has nowhere to dodge and nowhere to run so he’s basically a sitting duck. Eventually his defense will give way and then that will be it for him. Falzar wins.
Suggested by Sonic Corrin is a strong fighter with his dragon type abilities and elemental moves. Simon may have experience using his whip and array of gadgets but ultimately those will only buy him some time at best. His range is better and his physical abilities are on a completely different league. He’s going to be stuck playing defense right from the jump and things aren’t going to get any better for him from there until he is inevitably taken down. Corrin wins.
Suggested by Sonic Hard to believe it’s already been 10 years since Lois Lane took Ben 10 down right? Well he’s not going to have much better luck against Superman. Superman’s strength, speed, and other attributes are way too intense for Ben 10 to hold his own against. The difference in their respective power levels is just way too intense. Ben 10 wouldn’t really be able to keep up here and even if he did, I don’t think any of his powers are impressive enough to injure Superman. Perhaps his chemical form could turn into Kryptonite assuming Ben 10 would even know the composition of it but Superman speedblitzes and ends the match in an instant. Superman wins.
Suggested by Sonic Zane is one of the most powerful duelists in all of GX and he should be able to put up a really good fight here. Ultimately Yusei has way more cards at his disposal though and on average they are stronger. It’s always a big benefit to have your series take place further in the future because generally things tend to get more powerful. It’s not an absolute rule or anything like that but that’s how things tend to go at least. Yusei’s Stardust dragon and its variants will be more than a match for the Cyber End. Yusei wins.
Suggested by Sonic Omega is a powerful robot who even went up against Shadow for a moment there. If it was more than a moment then he would have been completely doomed but he still has a lot of firepower. Ultimately he will lose against Vile because the latter is a lot more mobile and has enough firepower to breach Omega’s defenses. Ultimately that’s the big tipping point in this matchup and I don’t see Omega finding any way out of that situation. Vile win.
Suggested by Sonic Starfire is a powerful fighter. She has speed on her side as well as a flurry of attack moves. That said, Zelda is still skilled enough to parry those blows and use her magic to take the advantage. Zelda’s spells cover a very large area and Starfire will be on the defensive here. Her energy blasts aren’t going to get through Djin’s shield and once Zelda starts landing direct blows it’s over. Zelda wins.
It’s time for the last of the Airport movies! Honestly it’s really not bad but I can see why it’s considered to be the weakest one. Not only did the film allow its name to be changed to Airport ’80 when it was aired abroad but I don’t think it takes itself as seriously as the first three. Not to say that it’s a full comedy or anything but there are scenes that don’t benefit the plot in any way like the affair with the reporter and it actually gets a little repetitive with the plane being attacked. Some good ideas here but the execution was not on point.
The film starts off with a huge conspiracy as a group of villains led by Kevin want to destroy an airplane. No it’s not because he got left at home all alone but for monetary reasons. Reporter Maggie finds out a scoop about his shady dealings…well find is a strong word. A guy literally ran into her house to let her know before he was shot dead. Kevin sweet talks her out of saying anything so he can give her his side of the story. Once she goes on the plane he decides to blow it up. What he didn’t count on was Patroni being the pilot this time. This airplane is supersonic and Patroni has supersonic piloting skills so when you put the two of them together like that good things are sure to follow. Kevin knows that if Maggie lands safely it is all over, can his missiles really bring down the plane??
Okay so first lets go with the positives here. I would say the film is about even with positives and negatives though so the sections are similar. I do like how we get two climaxes of sorts. Now granted, the second one feels a bit repetitive so I would have liked them to shake it up a little bit. I appreciate them trying to get a lot of action in there but you could change it up a bit. Also having a plane dodge missiles was a good way to show how this was a supersonic plane and not nearly as slow or weak as the usual ones. We got to see exactly what Patroni could do in combat and it was very impressive.
In general Patroni is a big positive here. You may be wondering a bit how he became such a hotshot pilot to the point where he is pulling all of this off. I guess his days of being a mechanic and then the back-end CEO are over. Now he’s a fighter pilot but that helps add to the fun of it all so I’m cool with it. He’s easily the best character in the movie and you want to give your star as much screentime as possible. Trust me that is always the best advice you could give a film.
On the flip side, we do have a very pointless romance here. There’s an athlete trying to win at the Olympics and so a reporter has a quick affair with her. The whole scene in the hot springs is definitely absurd. Cmon now she’s trying to get ready for an event coming up and apparently hasn’t seen this reporter in a while. They’re going to get that “friendly” that quickly? Noooo the scene was completely pointless and even by the end there’s just not much here. I guess it was just to give the passengers more to do but I would have cut that part out.
In general this also might be the weakest group of passengers that we’ve gotten. None of them are particularly likable or that memorable. You have the guy with his kid trying to have fun on the plane but they have no character. There’s the old lady always running to the bathroom and then you’ve got the rest of the crew basically just hanging out. At least in the film with the saboteurs we had traitors on board and a fairly intense pilot. There was a lot more happening there. This plane may be filled to the limit but it sure felt empty at times.
Now the conspiracy plot was fun but there are a lot of plot holes here. The obvious one of course is that this guy is rich enough with a ton of resources to have hired gunmen try to murder the reporter initially but then…he does nothing? Sure sending the rockets at the plane is all good but he should have just sent another gunman to her home or had someone snipe her on the way to the airport. He was way too complacent the whole time which really held him back. Also when she landed of course he should have had a backup plan to take her out instead of waiting to get the plane again.
She made it clear several times that she was going to destroy him and the company with the truth of his evil deeds so he had all day to do something about it. Now I don’t want to undersell his efforts. Of course he did plant bombs and use missiles of course which reasonably should have worked rather well but ultimately he just didn’t do a whole lot considering the high stakes of what it would meant if he let her loose. I also think Maggie was super lucky the whole time because technically she handled this poorly.
She committed all of the “don’ts” of being a reporter. She let the villain know that she was the only one who knew the truth and even gave him an exact timetable of when she would tell the world. Right up to the end with the TV crew she keeps mentioning that she’s going to break a story but not what the story actually was. So that still gave him even more time to finish her off. When you know a dark truth about someone who is a confirmed mass murderer then you need to keep things close to the vest. Seriously that’s an absolute necessity in this kind of thing.
So I would say there are some issues with that plot but the thing is, it’s still the best plot in the film. I wish they would have doubled down on that a bit. Imagine a whole chase scene in the airport like Mission Impossible? That would have been great and what would have made it double effective is how it would have the title actually be representative of the film for once. The action would actually be happening at the airport. I know that may sound crazy since you’re used to these films not having much to do with it but that’s why it would work.
Overall, Airport 4 is okay at best. It squanders the most interesting plot involving the conspiracy and I would argue it doesn’t make a lot of sense in general. I liked the attempts to make things more explosive and there was some promise with Patroni but ultimately this film just couldn’t execute at the level that it needed to. I would suggest watching the earlier films instead of this one. You should be reasonably entertained while watching this one but there just really isn’t much of a reason to do so. In a lot of ways the film is mainly going through the motions as opposed to doing something all that unique and so it doesn’t stand out.
Overall 5/10
Time for a fairly old film that most people have heard of. The Land Before Time was a really big deal back in the day and I’d say it’s definitely had a lasting effect on the world. People still haven’t forgotten the films after all. This one works pretty well to kick things off and you’ll have a wholesome time with the dinosaurs. One of them is definitely pretty annoying for most of the experience but there is a character arc involved.
The film starts off by showing us the world of the dinosaurs and how each species mostly keeps to themselves. Littlefoot doesn’t understand this since he wants to be friends with everyone but the grownups are adamant that the dinos keep to themselves. Well eventually a giant earthquake happens which splits all of the dinosaurs up. Littlefoot must now go on a great adventure to get back to his tribe but it will be a long journey. Fortunately he meets up with a few other kids along the way. Together they can show the world that dinosaurs of different species can get along!
I’d say one of the more emotional moments here is definitely when Littlefoot’s mother passes away. It’s pretty much a rite of passage in every animated film involving an animal that the parent dies early on and Littlefoot was not spared this tragedy. He still tries to put his best foot forward at all times which is admirable though. Throughout the movie I would say he is consistently the best character. Even when the other dinosaurs are being jerks or traitors he will do his best to save them. A key moment in this is when they all ditch him for Cera despite the latter not being dependable or a team player at any point. Littlefoot could have just took off and forgotten about the lot of them but he still ventures into the magma zone to save them all.
Littlefoot can definitely end up being the chief of the dinosaurs at some point with his courage and dedication. On the other hand Cera spends most of the film trying to prove herself to be a tough dinosaur while often having the opposite effect of that. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to present yourself as a tough fighter. It’s good to have courage and determination but at the same time she needs to realize her limits a bit sooner. I expected Cera to learn how to be humble a lot sooner than when it actually happened.
It’s really over 90% of the movie where she is doing her own thing and getting everyone into trouble. The worst of it has to be towards the magma zone when she decides to ditch Littlefoot and the others all follow her. Of course that translates really badly on them as well though. Seriously throughout the film Cera never lifted a foot to help any of them and that’s true here as well. Two of them get separated and Cera doesn’t care. One of them falls into the ocean and is about to drown and Cera doesn’t even notice. Yeah I’m going to need Cera to work really hard to be a likable character in the sequel because right now things are not going well for her at all.
Ducky is a nice character, she’s very outgoing and always doing her best. So in a lot of ways she has all of the right traits here but I do deduct some points for her going with Cera instead of Littlefoot. It’s the only error she made but it was a pretty big one. When all of your screentime is so positive though it’s hard for one moment to stop you so I still give her a lot of credit. Meanwhile Petrie also made that error but was decent otherwise. A little timid since he had a lot of trouble flying at first but gradually he is able to get past that. I suppose I’ll cut him a little slack since he was so young as they’re all kids here.
As a villain Sharptooth works pretty well. There is a bit of plot armor on the heroes to deal with him since a grown T Rex isn’t about to be stopped by a bunch of kids so easily. You almost feel bad for him in the sense that it’s more instinct to go after the prey rather than him being evil or anything like that. Of course you want the heroes to get away but you still hope Sharptooth will be okay as opposed to getting taken down by the kids. They can’t all be winners in the end but at least a truce can happen in some films. I can tell you right now that this doesn’t happen.
I was half expecting a little more of a reaction from the grown up dinosaurs at the end though. Like they see everyone getting along so well and decide that maybe dinosaurs can all get along. Some kind of coming of age moment where they realize the error of their ways. Perhaps the film writers felt that would be too cheesy or just too rushed to put in the last minutes though. I mean you could say it’s pretty much implied I guess, everyone is hanging out at the same area after all and at this point the kids have been through enough where they’re probably old enough to hang out with whoever they want. One of these days I’ll probably watch the sequels so we’ll see how they go.
Overall, The Land Before Time is a pretty fun film. It has a reasonable cast of characters and I was glad that Littlefoot got the win in the end since Cera really wasn’t being helpful or grateful at all the whole time. It is fairly short so the movie ends really fast but I’d say it got a good amount of plot in there. It might not be the most exciting movie out there which keeps it from being a bit higher but the quick length keeps it from dragging on. For example if this had been a 2 hour movie I would argue that it would actually hurt the experience since that would just be too much. At about an hour? Yeah that’s a pretty good length for this one.
Overall 6/10
Natsume and Nyanko are back for some more adventures in season 3. The show definitely has had a pretty good run and barely halfway through. At this point you know if you like the series or not. Natsume is a very consistent title with the adventures. The slice of life format works well as Natsume learns more life lessons and gets to meet a lot of Yokai both good and bad. The show may not always be super exciting but you should have a good time checking it out. Ultimately it’s a quality wholesome show that you can watch at any time.
The first episode deals with Reiko which is always nice. Basically she helped out a Yokai involving a case with a mirror. There was a bit of a misunderstanding but ultimately Reiko helped her out anyway showing that Natsume’s mysterious grandmother definitely had a kind heart. We still don’t know a whole lot about her which is part of that character’s mystique but whenever she appears she seems like a very nice person. So it feels like something isn’t adding up about her reputation but for now there’s not much of a way for Natsume to dig deeper into this. Reiko’s definitely still the best character in the series though with how pro active she is. While Natsume gets steamrolled by the Yokai most of the time, Reiko was always in control.
In the second episode Natsume had to try and get a Yokai to stop haunting his friend’s house. The haunted house plot point is always a solid one for anything supernatural but in this case it’s less of a murder mystery slasher and more about talking things out. Ultimately Natsume is usually able to talk things out which is why it’s intense when the Yokai really turns out to be sinister. Natsume was also given the option to finally go to the Yokai world this time instead of remaining with the mere mortals. Ultimately he stayed and I really wouldn’t say that he was all that tempted. While he may have had a really hard time for most of his life, it’s fair to say that he’s having a really good time now that Nyanko has his back. Natsume has a ton of friends and connections now so why would he ever want to leave right? I feel like being around Yokai 24/7 with no other humans would have a ton of downsides.
The third episode is probably the most annoying one in the season. An old “friend” named Shibata appears acting all friendly but he and Natsume had never gotten along before so it’s suspicious. Sure enough, the guy is here to ask for favors and to generally be an annoying guy. He believes that a girl he met might be a Yokai and he wants to know for sure before proceeding with their relationship. It’s a valid concern to be sure so you get why he’s doing this but it’s the way that he went about it which was annoying. He was quick to blackmail Natsume and the threats came before Natsume could really try to help.
Lets be honest here, Natsume’s a very nice guy. He absolutely would have helped this punk regardless of the fact that they weren’t exactly close friends. Then once Natsume does tell him, the guy refuses to listen. So much for wanting the truth right? Yeah this guy was just awful the whole time. The actual story is still pretty wholesome and emotional but while the show expects you to sympathize with Shibata by the end, I never did. He just doesn’t seem like a good guy so in a way it’s probably good that no romance could ever really come out of this encounter. Also in general I don’t think it’ll ever work out between a human and yokai due to the fact that Yokai are effectively immortal (With a lot of asterisks on that) while humans fade away real fast.
After that we get one of the more plot important episodes to the series when we see Natsume as a kid and how he met this one Yokai who would always scare him. It’s a pretty sad story all around because the Yokai was really just glad that someone could finally see her. Scaring humans was really all that she knew how to do and by the time she realized the damage she was doing it was too late. Natsume had left. So from the Yokai’s perspective she had to basically remember that for years and couldn’t do anything about it because she had no idea where it was.
It’s an episode where Natsume looks really good because we see that he never held a grudge against her at all and later on really understood things from the Yokai’s point of view. It’s also a reminder of how tough it can be to live as a Yokai. There are countless dangers around the world from the villains who can see you and yet there aren’t many good people who will ever notice you. It’s like the worst of both worlds which is a really sticky spot to be in. It’s rare to get a glimpse into Natsume’s past so that was really nice. This is definitely a top tier episode in the whole franchise so far.
In the next episode we have a more low key adventure but the fun part is Natsume gets to hang out with Tanuma and Taki this time. They have to find the pieces of a Yokai before it becomes whole and starts murdering everyone. Ultimately it’s also going to take friendship with the rest of the Yokai in order to stop such a threat. It’s a nice enough episode and Natsume’s friends are always fun so it’s nice to have them around. Natsume is still at the point where he doesn’t let them get super close to help out but at least they both know about Yokai which is more than what most know. While this may not be a super eventful episode, I think it’s a fairly good standalone one to even show a new viewer to understand what the series is all about. Ultimately helping both Yokai and humans is what Natsume does and generally his actions in each episode reflect that. Often times by helping one side he ends up helping the other. It’s very rare where he has to actually take someone down.
After that we have a two part adventure where we finally see Matoboa in full action. The guy is a fairly strong exorcist and unlike Natsume this guy really doesn’t like Yokai. We now have the big contrast and you have to figure they will have a real fight at some point. Matoba is very accomplished though and has a large family/army of followers by his side so things would be rough for Natsume. The episodes are really about showing how ruthless Matoba is as he takes down a lot of Yokai to get to his target, regardless of if they’re innocent or not. He also captures Natsume at one point.
Natori also gets to appear here and he sort of serves as the middle option. If Matoba is all about destroying all Yokai while Natsume wants to save them all, Natori tries to do a bit of both. He’ll save some Yokai but he’ll absolutely destroy some others. He ultimately is as reasonable and rational as possible. Both characters won’t agree with him all the time but they do tend to get along with him more than they would each other. It’s a pretty fun two part adventure especially because of how it’s setting up future events but I really hope Nyanko pulls through to land some damage on Matoba at some point. I think one weakness of the main characters being pacifists is they will often let Matoba and other characters land hits on them without ever really retaliating. Of course that’s honorable but it can also be annoying when pushed too far.
The last episode actually has lasting effects on the rest of the season which is impressive. For example in the next episode Nyanko is still wounded so Natsume tries to find something that can heal him. This even results in the little fox Yokai returning after being gone for so long. So that was pretty neat and in general it’s a pretty fun episode. That fox always looks up to Natsume and Nyanko. He nearly starts to get tricked a little easily which could have been dicey but things end up working out. It’s a very low key adventure since there’s barely a conflict in it but Natsume needed a little downtime after the last adventure.
After that Nyanko was still sick so Natsume had to go to school without him and help out with the events. The problem is that a Yokai is messing with him the whole time which is making him look suspect. How can he deal with this creature while Nyanko is still out of commission? That’s the main dilemma here and it works pretty well. I think the show actually could have learned into the dangers of Natsume being on his own without Nyanko a little harder to be honest but this works well enough.
Then we get to the next big adventure with Tanuma acting a little suspicious. He’s been avoiding Natsume as of late so the hero catches up to him to see what’s going on. Well, Tanuma is now being possessed by a mysterious Yokai. Tanuma doesn’t remember when he’s been possessed as it goes in and out but this is pretty dangerous. It’s also one of the few times we see Natsume being genuinely upset because he does think that’s crossing a line. Possessing his friend like that is definitely no joke. Ultimately being a nice guy wins out and he does help Tanuma’s spirit out but it’s a bit grudgingly.
I also think the fact that Nyanko couldn’t blast the spirit out without hurting Tanuma was a little convenient. It feels like when the chips are down Nyanko is just unable to deliver when it counts. Considering how legendarily powerful he is it’s just a bit suspect if you ask me. I suppose I should cut him some slack…but I dunnooooooo. So it was a good adventure but once again it points out the weakness to Natsume being so passive here. I need my main character to be able to fight when necessary and the problem is that I just don’t really think he will in most instances.
After that Natsume gets sick and a spirit from his past returns to mess with him. It caused a whole lot of problems back when Natsume was a kid and now it is back to cause more chaos. Fortunately this time Nyanko does take full credit for taking it down. This episode was also fairly tense because this creature was absolutely not going to be talked down and was really just trying to mess Natsume up. We don’t see a ton of creatures that are quite this bloodthirsty so that was definitely real intense. It made for a solid story and giving more focus to Nyanko was a good idea since he was sidelined for a decent chunk of the season.
Finally we have a light episode to end the series with. Natsume basically gets to hang out with the whole cast of Yokai and they all get to play a lot of games. I would say there’s not a whole lot of plot to the finale because it’s really all about just hanging out and having a good time. It fits in with the spirit of the series though as Natsume has always wanted to have some friends and now he has finally found a lot of good ones. He’s certainly not alone anymore and the final episode really shows just how true that is.
In terms of the technical aspects I’d say Natsume has never been a particularly high budget show. The visuals are nice enough but they’re not going to stand out or anything like that. The soundtrack is very subdued as well so you probably won’t have any songs that really stand out. The show survives and does well on the good writing and the solid stories. It doesn’t have any kind of backup on the technical side so it’d be nice to see that improve in future seasons.
Overall, Natsume season 3 is a fun show. Does it beat or lose to the first two? It’s hard to say because they’re all fairly even to a large degree. If push came to shove I’d probably say it beats season 1 and loses to 2 but they’re all super close. If you’re in the mood for a solid slice of life title with a lot of fun adventuring then this is the one to go for. You’re always learning good life lessons in the show and the pacing is definitely on point. It’s a very calm show that’s easy to watch at any point and the ideas for different Yokai scenarios are really endless. This can keep going on as long as the author can think of more scenarios to come up with.
Overall 6/10
