Pokémon Friends Review

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Some of the game design decisions here are so bad you would swear it was a mainline Nintendo title. From limiting content to relying on a real life time system, this game has it all. It’s the kind of game that makes you feel sad because it could have been really amazing and instead they completely messed up here. Hopefully the next Pokemon mobile game ends up being better but at least in the meantime I still have Pokemon Go to get me through.

The game is basically a puzzle anthology. You get to play through a series of extremely easy puzzles in order to unravel yarns and collect fun images. Unfortunately, you can only do a few of them a day and then you have to wait for new puzzles to show up the next day. So even if you really like the game, you probably won’t be playing more than 30 minutes a day. I believe you can shell out some cash to get around that but it would defeat the purpose of the free experience.

Now this is Pokemon so of course the game is aimed at kids but the puzzles are almost insultingly easy. You could beat them with your eyes closed so there isn’t a whole lot to be entertained by here. Instead you’re just going through the motions and trying to convince yourself that this was a good idea. Sometimes you have to hold your phone at different angles to navigate a maze, or clicking on the right object out of a set.

The puzzle concepts themselves are pretty good. They’re sort of like what you would see in a Professor Layton game. That said, they are just way too easy. I did see posts online that think they will eventually get harder, to age up with those who bought the game but I don’t have high hopes on that. I think if that was the plan, there would have been a way to increase the difficulty right from the start. That would have made a lot more sense right? Instead you just have to accept that this will be easy

Even then I don’t think this would be a problem if there was no time limit. The limit is the problem, I want to be able to play the game for hours on end, not only playing it on occasion when there are new puzzles. It’s rare to see a video game that actively makes it difficult for you to keep on playing. It’s just a super questionable approach and I wonder which company made that final decision. On a much more minor note, I also think the name isn’t great because it can be hard to google that. A proper name should really stick out.

I can at least say that the graphics are pretty good. They do make you want to smile because of how cheerful the game looks. It’s a fun art style and I would be cool with other Pokemon games using it. The soundtrack is less remarkable unfortunately so you will probably forget about that part really quickly. Definitely a shame, even if some may argue that a battle theme wouldn’t fit the gameplay. I’d argue that a battle theme fits everything.

Overall, Pokemon Friends doesn’t make me feel a whole lot of friendship. Instead I just feel like I’m on my own, trying to fight against the odds of dropping the game. I ultimately lost that fight and uninstalled the game shortly after this review. I just didn’t see the point in continuing on any longer. The game did not have a good run and I won’t be forgetting that. It’s just an empty experience and that’s why there isn’t much to say about it. If you want to play a Pokemon mobile game, I recommend one of the many other alternatives instead. Pokemon Masters, Unite, and Go all have hundreds of times more content than this one has. Honestly, this may be a hot take, but I would recommend Magikarp Splash over this one. That game could at least get addicting with gradually learning how to farm better and better catches.

Overall 4/10

Blue Steel Review

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I’ve seen a number of John Wayne films in my day and let me tell you, if you liked the others then you will like this one. In a lot of ways it is really not trying to be any different than the others either. It’s really going for the classic Wayne experience and I can definitely respect that. It’s the kind of title that really makes you focus because you want to be able to talk about the film later on without accidentally mixing it up with a bunch of others. Trust me, that might be tougher than you think.

The film starts with John seeking some shelter at a nearby hotel. Unfortunately during the night the place is robbed and while John was unable to catch whoever did it, he did manage to grab a star that fell off of the guy’s boot. John wasn’t quite fast enough to escape before the nearby Sheriff saw him though. The Sheriff has no proof that John stole all the money from the hotel but knows the guy is basically guilty. So John decides to catch the man who did this while the Sheriff tags along under the guise of wanting to help out. Who will catch their prey first?

I think the first thing that stands out here is the fun banter between the two characters. Neither of them are being even slightly subtle here as they throw in their shades and suspicions on each other. It makes for some pretty quality entertainment the whole time. I always like good banter and when both characters want to catch the other, well it makes everything even better. That is probably the best element of the film since not all John Wayne films are going to have that detail.

Also I do enjoy that John gets to be super smug the whole time. This is one film where he is on the offensive the whole time so he doesn’t have to hide his power level. No, he just rushes in and basically does whatever he likes. It’s definitely a fun way to go about things. Also the villains may not be super memorable but they are also confident in their own right. You will definitely get some smug dialogue out of them as well since they tend to think that the heroes are walking into a trap. Naturally John tends to be one step ahead at all times but there would have been no way for the villains to know that. They didn’t realize that John is basically the toughest opponent that they could have gone up against.

The main heroine doesn’t look very good here. She does help to exonerate John early on which is good but she gets kidnapped on multiple occasions. The worst offense is when John goes to save her but she isn’t ready to just hop out on a dime. When your life is in danger you have to move quickly and without hesitation. She clearly missed the memo on that one and it’s just a rough look. I would have liked for her to have had a gun or been ready to fight at least. In the days of the wild west, everyone ought to be armed.

As for the sheriff, I give him credit for tailing John for so long. He never quite gave up on his quest even as Joh looked more and more heroic. I appreciate him not taking the approach that he could let John go just because he seemed like a good guy. No matter how heroic he was, if the lead had robbed the hotel then he would need to go to justice. So his sheriff was never wavering in his duties.

Beyond that, like I said this is a fairly standard film. I’d just say that’s not a bad thing when the standard is good enough. I always have fun with these films and this one was really no exception. It was entertaining to watch all the way through and has a lot of replay value. While you sometimes wish the films could be a little longer to flesh things out, it absolutely does work well at adding on the replay value. You could rewatch this one at any time and still have fun. It’s also a bit more light hearted than the average Wayne film (Which is saying something) with all of the slapstick and gags going on. None of them ever take you out of the immersion either. They just fit in really well.

Overall, Blue Steel is a pretty fun film. It’s got solid action and writing which are always two of the most important elements to any film. It’s also short with good pacing so it doesn’t take long to get to the good stuff. If you haven’t watched this one yet, then I definitely recommend checking it out. We even do have some pretty solid gunfights here to watch as well. The romance at the end feels a bit rushed and unnecessarily but otherwise everything really landed here.

Overall 7/10

Pokémon Concierge Part 2 Review

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Pokemon Concierge has returned for another hurrah. Now this may not be my favorite Pokemon title to put it mildly but I’m always glad to have more Pokemon content. In a sense, it’s admirable that this does not have a negative score since just about every factor is working against it. Concierge has a very short runtime and not a lot of episodes but still does its best to capture the spirit of the franchise here. It’s all about coexistence between Pokemon and humans.

Following up on part 1, Haru has become a tiny bit more confident in herself at the Pokemon resort. She helps the others out in taking care of the Pokemon and making sure they all had a good time. Unfortunately, this also means she has more responsibilities such as taking care of the place when everyone else is out. Additionally, an old man shows up who wants them to take care of his Sealeo and this will be difficult for the resort. Can Haru really hold her own?

I guess we should get the big stuff out of the way first. The main problem with the show is the animation style. It doesn’t really look good. It’s a super old claymation/stop motion kind of approach that was already getting outpaced back in the 60s. Nowadays it really can’t beat any of the mainstream styles. Even simple things like the characters sweating doesn’t look as convincing as in the other titles. Since TV shows are a visual medium, this is already presenting a rather massive hurdle to overcome.

The soundtrack tends to be nonexistent but at one point they do play a classic battle theme. The battle on screen is of course not much of a fight and ends up resolving in a comedic manner, but I was at least glad the show was going for some action there. This is ultimately aimed at a pretty young audience so you can’t be expecting too much here. That’s why I’ll take every breadcrumb that I can.

As the main character, Haru does suffer from this a little bit as she has to keep on learning things that she should already know by this point. The first episode had her getting nervous and feeling a lot of self doubt again. After the first part, she should not have any doubts anymore. I would have liked her to have been more consistently confident the whole time. Maybe glancing around and directing the others on what to do at some points. Instead, even near the end she is thinking that she isn’t ready for this. Even going as far as to storm into the meeting room and start apologizing because she assumed an old guy was complaining about her.

Haru needs to value her own abilities far more than she does currently. Alas, it feels like she is always taking a step back when the going gets tough. Hopefully she will change this if we get a part 3. The cast of characters is still fairly small here and that’s probably for the best since there isn’t a lot of time for them all to appear. The owner, Ms. Watanabe for example just shows up for a few key scenes. I like how she called out the new guy for running away from his Pokemon and generally runs a tight ship. You need to be decisive like that when you’re in this position.

Alisa really doesn’t do much here but she had a bit more of a focus in part 1 so that makes sense. Tyler gets what I would call the main subplot here when his uncle Dan shows up. Dan is a tough guy who used to be real intimidating back in the day. He has mellowed out but still has a tendency to just do his own thing without really talking to anybody else. This does result in some pretty big mistakes here.

I definitely lost a lot of respect for the guy when he just flat out abandoned his Sealeo. He tried to immediately walk this back and explain how that wasn’t what was going on but Ms. Watanabe definitely had him to rights on that. It’s a hard situation to really walk back from. Dan does his best to help out after that and is okay I guess but there isn’t anything really compelling about the guy.

In a sense, that’s the problem with the cast in general. They’re all pleasant enough characters but none of them are super interesting. You’ll end up forgetting about them almost immediately after you have finished the adventure. That’s the real problem here. Well, one of them anyway. I do want to underscore that the show doesn’t really have any strong negatives. I could recommend it to anyone to watch.

There just isn’t much of a hook to watching it. It can be a little boring in a sense which is why it’s good that these are not full length episodes or that it didn’t launch with 13. Now, there’s a chance that the long run time could end up making things more interesting so that might be a gamble that would be worth taking. At the very least, you could give more screentime to her ex boyfriend who shows up but mainly just seems like a nice dude. We could have had a whole character arc for the guy and a lot of build up to his big appearance. If you ask me, that would have been a really interesting direction to go in.

Overall, Pokemon Concierge just adds 4 new episodes to this saga and each one is short so it’s more like 2 episodes or a little shorter than that. I fear that it won’t be able to make much progress into being really strong unless it ends up switching the animation style. It’s not impossible to succeed with this method of animation but it certainly isn’t easy. With Pokemon you’re always used to a lot of vibrant colors and really expressive designs. You don’t end up getting any of that with this title and you don’t have the fight scenes to compensate for that. So as it stands, I’m going to need them to announce a new online Pokemon series soon.

Overall 5/10

Night Parade of 100 Demons Organizing Committee Review

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It’s time for a quick one shot adventure about how the demons organize their 100 year event. It’s a quick slice of life story about how the process goes while staying nice and uneventful the whole time. I was expecting some kind of a twist the whole time so at first I was a bit confused but in the end it makes for a light hearted story. More on the forgettable side as there isn’t much of a hook or overall message to it but you get to just enjoy the scenery. Sometimes a story doesn’t really need to have a hook I suppose, although it could have made this one more fun.

Neko and two other demons are chosen to be on the Committee this time around. Every demon wants to participate in the event so they have to make sure to pick only the best. Despite the name of the festival, they can choose more or less than 100 demons if they want to. So the story has them talking to a bunch of demons and then they launch the festival. The twist if you can call it that is that despite the suspense, the same thing happens every 100 years. The same 3 demons are always picked, it’s always the same contestants in the event, everyone is chosen, etc. Since the demons are fully immortal this is all old news to them at this point but since it is every 100 years, they tend to mostly forget by this point and that itself is a running gag.

Although it’s also implied they do remember and just enjoy the gag or acting like they don’t. You can interpret it in a few different ways. The chapter is even shorter than the average oneshot adventure because of all the big splash pages and scenes to show off the artwork without having any real text in there. So this is the kind of story you want to read through on a rainy day and just appreciate the vibes. It doesn’t have much in the way of replay value though because there just isn’t much to the story.

I’d say the best oneshots are either ones with a memorable twist, or some kind of an emotional message. Those are probably the easiest ways to get someone to really notice your story. Otherwise if you’re more going for a classic story, there’s no time to develop the characters and everything. This one wasn’t going with that approach but the artwork alone won’t be enough to make this the next big thing. It probably did need some kind of twist.

The artwork is solid enough though. It definitely has that subtly scary feeling about it with how the characters look and of course that absolutely matches up with the fact that they are demons. You won’t end up forgetting that part anytime soon. The main character is fun enough as well. I do like the idea that she acts extra reluctant and forgettable to make the event more fun for everyone. It’s the little things that really count.

Overall, This story was decent but it is the kind of story you will quickly forget. You won’t have a bad time with it but it won’t leave any kind of impact on you. Check it out if you happen to come across the story and se if maybe it can surpass that for you. Obviously you do have to keep your expectations in check for any kind of oneshot as you don’t want to set the goals too high but this one probably could have done more. I can always appreciate a wholesome story though and maybe if they ever made this into a series, they could have fun taking the concept to the next level. The festival to end all festivals or something like that.

Overall 5/10

Detective Conan: Chianti’s Last Supper Review

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Detective Conan is one of those series that has really been around for a very long time. It’s had well over 1000 chapters and is still going strong. As a result it has had several spinoffs and then recently it even got a new oneshot. It’s always fun to see another artist’s take on the series. The art here is definitely sharp although it leans a little too hard on obnoxious fanservice the whole time. Without that this could have really been a winning adventure but alas it ends up being really limited in what it can accomplish here.

The chapter begins with Chianti deciding to have one last meal before her next kill. She believes in living life to the fullest and that having a good pre assassination routine is for the best. So as always she treats herself to the best food and watches as every guy drools after her. Chianti is just that ultra attractive and she knows it. Will she still be able to go through with the kill though?

I mean she is a villain so there is no question on that last part. As the main heroine, it’s not like there is really anybody to stop her anyway. In the Conan universe someone dies in just about every chapter so the crime rate is incredibly high. It makes sense that all of these villains are still running wild. The only way they’ll ever be taken down is if another villain shows up since otherwise they will be going straight to prison. Her target is another villain in this case so that actually makes my point.

Like I said in the intro though, the only issue here is that the fanservice is really high. The artist wanted to really prove that Chianti is the most beautiful character ever and so all of the outfits and camera angles try to reflect this. I can appreciate some high level confidence like this but you can still have all the dialogue without the art going for the low hanging fruit here. The main series is actually pretty good about not having too much fanservice so this one really stands apart in that area. Definitely a shame.

The food is definitely drawn really well though so I can give the story some props there. I wouldn’t even say that it’s food which would tempt me very much but the quality was on point. I can also picture some really solid action scenes with this style. Ultimately the story didn’t have time for that but it would have been fun. Just look at the shockwaves when Chianti punches a bag near the beginning of the chapter. The potential is right there.

This is a fairly short story and it’s a complete one from start to finish. You know Chianti will succeed from the start and the main point is to generate some hype for her character as you ponder how Conan can possibly defeat her. It won’t be easy, that’s for sure. If you are not already a fan of Conan, you’ll still be able to understand the story without a problem though. It’s not reliant on references or anything. The concept is rather simple. In fact, Conan doesn’t even get a cameo in this one. Gin, another villain is referenced but the main characters are completely out of it. So that makes this even easier to appreciate as a stand alone story.

I’ll give Chianti this, I appreciated that she was a real professional about this. She makes sure to destroy her target but nobody else. It’s professional pride for her. Yeah she’s still a villain and I’m not saying this changes anything about that but I always like when a villain has at least some kind of standards on their side. It just makes them that much more compelling.

Overall, Despite the fact that this is new audience friendly, I would hesitate to recommend the oneshot. You’re better off checking out the main series as a whole since it is quite different. While this may not have been a big hit for me, I would like to see them generate more Conan stories every now and again. There is really a lot you can do with the franchise since the cast is absolutely huge. Maybe Jimmy Kudo will get an appearance in one of these.

Overall 5/10

Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure! Review

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This is one of those games that I would pass by all the time. I never took the plunge and actually bought it though so now that it was added onto the Nintendo Switch Online, I knew it was my chance. Now I could finally see what all the fuss was about. Ultimately this is a good game although I wouldn’t call it a pretty good game because it is missing some solid quality of life stuff. If it can fix those in the sequel, then we can really be in business here.

The game starts out by introducing us to a really dysfunctional family. The daughter believes that she is a frog while the parents are always fighting. Their marriage has grown really strained thanks to the father always spending their money on toys and then lying about it. Not a really good idea at all and you can see why she would be super upset. Well, Chibi Robo exists to spread happiness and joy so this is really his big chance. His partner Telly is a nice little tv bot that provides moral support. Chibi has to find a way to save his family and may even have to go up against some serious spider bots. This will not be easy at all.

The core gameplay is really about walking around and seeing what everybody needs. It feels like an RPG in that respect. Your ultimate goal is to become the best Chibi Robo in the world in order to unlock your super mode and you do that by collecting hearts. You need thousands of hearts for this and you get them by breaking boxes, helping your friends, and picking up the trash around the house. It’s steady work that will gradually get you to the top although there are also main story quests that you have to accomplish. You won’t be able to get the top ranking without completing them all so you want to be doing both at the same time.

There is also a day and night system to keep track of. Initially the time changes every 5 minutes but eventually you can buy a power up that extends this to 15. Trust me, it’s a mechanic that you will find annoying almost immediately. Sometimes you need the day to end early or to stretch a bit longer and you’re just out of luck. I think this was definitely a mechanic that should have been skipped.

You also have to watch your energy meter. If it goes to 0, you will lose a ton of money and be sent back home. At the start of the game you don’t have a lot of energy at all but by the end you have a sizable amount. This means a lot of recharging at the various sockets scattered around the house. This can get rather monotonous fast and mixing that in with the day/night timer, you are always in a rush. You can’t afford to just survey the area and try to plan things out. For an exploration game like this, it’s a really questionable strategy.

The graphics are fairly good. I do think the art style has aged well and the special effects are solid. Some of the animations/unskippable cutscenes can get old quickly but that’s not the graphics fault. This game does opt for the made-up language/random sound effects of dialogue which is definitely unfortunate. It’s not as bad as in other games but will still get grating rather quickly. The whole time you will be hoping that you don’t have to see the characters talking too much.

Although on the other hand you are glad to have a real plot here. The soundtrack is mainly forgettable although there is a good track or two in there. The game isn’t generally combat heavy btu we actually do get a full boss fight near the end so that was pretty cool. I’d like to see more combat in the sequel since Chibi has his own blaster and everything.

While I didn’t find it to be too captivating, I give the game credit for establishing some lore and actually trying to tell a full story here. It could be a bit too repetitive, but the attempt was at least made. I also think the concept of a platformer that revolves around you being tiny is really good. You just don’t need the other gimmicks along with that. Let me enjoy running around cleaning up the house without putting some kind of a big timer on it.

Overall, Chibi Robo is a game that suffered from its own ambitions. It would have been a great calming game if they had just stuck to the core concept. It reminds me a lot of De Blob in terms of the cleaning efforts but that game was many times better because you could actually take your time and have a lot of fun. While cleaning games won’t be for everyone, I would bet that a large amount of the core fanbase would agree that they want to be able to have fun without constantly rushing the whole time. At the very least I know that’s how I feel about it. If you don’t mind being rushed the whole time, then you should check this one out. I would even say that it can be reasonably difficult at times. At least in finding out how to reach certain areas. You really have to keep a close eye on every part of the house and memorize the layouts for day and night to get to the bottom of this. Things change every few chapters as well so you want to keep that in mind.

Overall 6/10

War of the Worlds (2025) Review

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Sometimes you end up watching a film where you wonder what the thought process was. Did anyone think the movie would really be a success or were they just getting the film out as a way to say they did something? Well, this one is really a trip. The writing doesn’t make sense, the plot progression is odd, and the film plays out as a big parody. That said….this is why it actually succeeds. If you watch this as a parody comedy, it’s surprisingly solid with how the characters act so genuine with their odd behavior. You’ll get rather hyped up while watching it. Trust me, this is a film that you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

The movie begins by introducing us to Will. This guy is a pretty big shot within the Department of Homeland Security. He’s so high up that he can hack into any satellite across the planet and has unrestricted access to people’s phones and computers. He can essentially do anything. One character tries to warn him that the government is always watching and Will powerfully responds that he knows…because he is the government! Will has no regard for people’s privacy and believes that safety comes above all else. No worries though…power won’t corrupt him.

Well, one day the Earth is invaded by aliens and so the government needs Will in order to coordinate a response. They’re going to have to wait though as Will’s top priority is taking care of his two kids. His wife passed away a while back so this is what he has to do. Unfortunately his son is a big conspiracy guy so Will tunes him out and his daughter Faith is always running around and getting into trouble. Will is going to need to use all of his hacking skills to keep her safe but with him being busy…what will America be able to do about all of this?

So like I said this feels like a full parody. For example Will has more power than would be humanly possible here. This film is a conspiracy fan’s best dream because if you did actually have people running around with this level of tech, it would be bad. Then you have the fact that Will is basically blowing people off constantly to help his kids when lives are at stake. Will also takes time to click on every single pop up as news reports keep coming in.

As one point the government asks him for a plan of action and he goes on a 5 minute ramble about how we’re being attacked by aliens from outer space. The sentence is rather redundant but also they already knew that. They wanted to know what to do about it and he basically just says to fight back. Very nice. I do think it’s pretty realistic that some government agents are going to choose family over duty but the film is just so blatant here that it’s hilarious.

You want fake deaths for shock value? One character named Sandra dies around 4-5 times during the movie and always shows up like nothing happened. Nobody tends to even be all that surprised to see her. We get fake death scares for Faith and Dave at different points as well, even one or two for Faith’s boyfriend. The film loves throwing these in all the time along with some scary music to get to you. It may not be subtle, but hey it’s definitely memorable.

Will is basically stuck in the computer room for the whole film so all he really gets to do is look shocked for most of the film. He takes his glasses of and puts them back on at numerous points during the film. Each time makes it even better than the last. Additionally, he does try to leave at one point and has to give up when the doors were locked. That was a fun little suspense scene.

No worries though, we’ve also got a really fun main villain. This guy is as over the top as can be. He talks tough to his bosses about how he’s going to do whatever he wants and then totally gets away with it for ages until the film’s climax. He has absolute confidence and when Will approaches him about this, the guy takes it in stride. He just laughs about how long it took Will to catch on. I like when a villain keeps his composure like that. Sure he’s insane, but he’s not going to just back down on his convictions.

Will definitely is the kind of character who is slow on the uptake though. After the aliens are attacking and things are going crazy, he still refuses to talk to his son Dave. Even once things get crazier and crazier which points to Dave having some valid points, Will doesn’t want to hear it. He’s stubborn to the end. While the end of the movie gives him some character development, it’s also crazy how Will was so readily willing to hack into his family’s devices and completely ignore their need for privacy.

It’s like he just didn’t register that this was a bad thing at all. Meanwhile Faith was okay but not the smartest character considering that they built her up as a genius. She nearly dies by pulling an object out of her leg even though it was already bleeding a lot and in the car she goes on a speech about how Will has no power. Pretty ironic when he remote hacked a Tesla car from his room to save her live and drive her to a security checkpoint. Maybe that speech could have been left for later on.

Initially I thought her boyfriend was going to be useless the whole time because he would never show up to help her when the chips were down. Turns out he is just really slow but once he’s there, the guy does decent enough. His main asset is that the guy works at Amazon so he has a ton of high tech equipment at the ready. Without all of that, the characters would have been doomed. As for Dave, he may have been the best supporting character. For once I can’t even blame him for not telling Will enough because Will seriously wouldn’t let the guy talk at all.

I did like Sandra as well. When she wasn’t constantly dying, she was trying to sound the alert on what was going on but Will would just blow her off the whole time. It’s not like they could have done a whole lot in the span of an hour or so but at least she was trying. Meanwhile the government was mainly helpless without Will. They’d be waiting at the meetings for him to show up and were mainly panicking. It was nice to get some army fight scenes where they were doing well against the Tripods but the aliens are too powerful. They just got a bit overconfident.

The special effects aren’t half bad. The terrible camera work hurts for sure but the actual lasers are good. Make no mistake, the script is definitely better for a comedy than a thriller but at least it’s not terrible either. This is the kind of film you will have fun with. If you think too hard about it, I’m betting you will find some serious plot holes though. It’s just that kind of title. It’s not worried about things like that and is just trying to make for a good time. Ultimately I’m not even all that opposed to such a concept. It makes enough sense to me.

Overall, I’d be up for a sequel to this one. Keep it as cheesy as this one with the heroes fighting off another invasion or something like that. Maybe Will’s development could be learning that things aren’t always ultra black and white. He’s super against the government now to the point where he’s making threats against them but perhaps we’ll see how he actually needs their help in the next film. Would doing another alien invasion film feel redundant? Nahhhhh, I trust this movie to handle it well.

Overall 7/10

The Boy and the Beast Review

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I remember hearing this film’s name a whole lot back in the day. I can’t say I knew a whole lot about it but from the title you can more or less guess the themes. It ends up being a pretty solid film. We get some good action here and a solid amount of character development. It’s well balanced all the way. I was also not expecting the time skip that happens around halfway and it was a really good decision as it led to a more enjoyable status quo for the climax.

The movie starts with a kid named Ren running away from home after his mother died. The father was out of the picture and he didn’t want to go with any of the family members. This leads to him entering the monster world where he ends up becoming Kumatetsu’s apprentice. This guy is one of the two candidates to become the next lord of the world although he always loses to his rival Iozen. He hopes to get stronger and in the meantime Ren also wants power. So he reluctantly joins Kumatetsu and thus begins a strong partnership. However, Iozen’s son Ichirohiko begins to grow jealous. Is some foul play about to occur?

The monster world is pretty interesting. For the most part it is a lot like the human world, just with tournaments of power going on. Because of the similarities, we don’t have to spend a lot of time on world building and can focus on the dynamic with Ren and Kumatetsu. That’s the main draw of the film after all and it works well. For the most part I tend to blame Ren for being a little too bratty for the first half but it is true that Kumatetsu could have handled some of the situations with more tact. Dealing with others may not be his specialty but it is something that he can improve on.

I did enjoy him a lot as a character though. I always tend to enjoy characters who are confident and ready to fight. Kumatetsu is the kind of guy who never backs down and has a lot of determination. He easily could have been the main character here if things had played out a little differently. His ending isn’t my favorite and I would have preferred if the film had gone in a different way but it doesn’t make him look bad at all. He made the sacrifices that he needed to in order to help Ren.

Ren naturally gets much better once he is older and makes up for his earlier scenes of whining a lot. By the end he is totally a good character. He gains a lot of confidence and is also a responsible person. Ren’s not perfect and still flies off the handle a bit too quickly though. Deciding on a whim to live with his father and ditch the monster world did not make any sense and I also think he could have really tried talking to Kumatetsu instead of storming off. He usually gets his act together quickly but it was all a bit rushed and made him look immature.

Also while the film didn’t want to reward the rage out, he should have been allowed to fight Ichirohiko a little bit in order to avenge his master. Having him not even be able to land a single hit because it would put him on the dark side was a little too extreme for me. That just didn’t make sense. Meanwhile Ichirohiko is definitely one of the pettier characters here. One of those guys who is totally cool as long as you’re weaker than him but otherwise he gets jealous really quickly.

His origin wasn’t all that sad so I can’t even say that I felt all that bad for him. He just needed to not become a total bully at the first opportunity. One thing I really respected about his father is that Iozen stayed professional at all times. I don’t think he was ever the biggest fan of Kumatetsu and this definitely showed, but he wasn’t about to stab him in the back or cheat. He would still fight fair and play by all of the rules. If it didn’t work out, then that would be it for him. Just a solid class act the whole time.

The animation is pretty good. The opening may have been a bit too stylized for me but otherwise all of the action scenes are good. The fights are on point and all of the battles really stand out. The music is unfortunately going to sound like a lot of free domain stuff. No songs that you’ll be humming to during the film. None of the tracks are bad but none of them are even slightly memorable.

Ren’s trip to the human world may be a little rushed in general but Kaede made for a solid supporting character. My only gripe with her would be her lack of a survival instinct. Holding Ren’s hand when he was about to fight wasn’t very smart and then talking smack to a giant monster is also not a good idea when you can’t fight. I appreciate her toughness of course but she could have had better tactics here. She was a good friend to Ren and helped out when it counted though. The film also sets up a romance without rushing things so I was fine with that. Pacing is absolutely key with these things. Ren’s father doesn’t get quite as much time so his whole plot feels rather forced but I guess we can just say that he was a good guy in a tough situation.

The ending of the movie is a bit disappointing since it does limit things though. I would have taken things in different directions on several occasions. Both Ren’s ending and Kumatetsu’s were not very good. A sequel can fix both things but this film should have ended in a way that would make it easier and more satisfying. In particular when you build up a great dynamic, you should give it several films for the audience to have fun with instead of just ending it.

Overall, The Boy and the Beast is a pretty good film. It had more action than I was expecting and had good pacing. I do wish we could have gotten a proper match between the apprentices from both candidates though. The climax is more about super abilities and summons so we never have a chance to get that proper choreography. I think it would have been a lot of fun even if Ren would have absolutely had the edge. Ah well, you can’t have every fight. The ending of the movie also isn’t my favorite but a sequel could always change things up and turn out to be a lot of fun so you can’t rule that out.

Overall 7/10

Summer Ghost Review

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It’s time for another one of those shorter anime films. Summer Ghost is a pretty solid title although the short length does mean that we don’t get to see a whole lot of each individual character. Instead they all just get a small intro and we jump into the main plot. A longer story probably could have helped to elevate the emotional punch for each of the characters but it is still a good story.

The movie starts with Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo heading to an abandoned area to light up some fireworks. Their main plan is to summon a ghost named Ayane to see if ghosts are actually real. The plan works and they meet her. Aoi and Ryo are satisfied but Tomoya continues to visit her because he wants to learn more about ghosts. Can it be that they have a more enjoyable time than he does in the real world? During this adventure he must contend with what it means to truly be alive.

The element that keeps all 3 of the main characters together is how close they are to death. Ryo in a physical way, Tomoya in a spiritual way as his soul is dying, and Aoi who is being bullied so hard that she is thinking about ending both sides of herself. Meeting Ayane and each other is what will help them all conquer their inner demons. So this is really a film about not giving up and certainly about not checking out of life early. This is where the short length starts to creep in though as we just don’t have a whole lot of time for their backstories. I would say Aoi probably gets the shortest end of the stick here. You still do understand the context and everything here but the film has to move really fast.

It’s always good to see films with an anti suicide message thrown in with how many people are depressed nowadays. Some circumstances certainly feel like they can be hard to escape and you need a fresh perspective to even begin to escape that. For Ryo, it might be the toughest since he is literally dying. There is nothing that he can do to stop the effects and so within a year he will be gone. He really just has to do his best to come to terms with it. For part of the movie it seems like he has already done so, but it’s more of a facade while by the end he is actually okay.

There’s not much you can really say to someone like that as you don’t know how you will react until it happens. In some ways I would still consider it the easiest fate of the 3 since you at least know that the end is near. You have time to knock items off your bucket list and all, many would wish they had some kind of advanced notice like hat. Of course he’s so young that he still wasn’t able to accomplish as much as he would have liked to have done. I appreciated how he was careful to still support the other two though. He was my favorite of the three main characters.

Then for Aoi, naturally being bullied isn’t easy and it’s something that happens constantly around the world. We don’t see enough of her story to know what steps she tried to get around it or more details but the point here is that it was quite bad and she had no real escape. Ultimately her message is just about sticking up for herself which is always useful but in a way you would have liked some more tangible steps to making her situation better. We just have to hope that it all worked out.

As for Tomoya, his is the trickiest issue. He just doesn’t feel like he is alive and that life is essentially pointless. It’s why he is tempted by the realm of the dead since they seem to have a more carefree life. Ayane isn’t particularly helpful in proving otherwise since she puts on a cheerful front and flies around a lot. At least she did flat out say that dying isn’t a good idea so I’ll give her some points there.

Ultimately Tomoya just needed to find a reason for life. If your life doesn’t have a purpose, you definitely need to find one right away because of course things will feel empty otherwise. You need that in order to move forward. He definitely could have spoken up for himself more in terms of schoolwork and telling the others about his journeys with the ghost. He is definitely too withdrawn for his own good. I didn’t think he stuck out as much as the other two characters and was a bit bland for the lead.

As for Ayane, she definitely had the toughest journey of the group since she literally died and in a rather painful/scary way. It was good that she got to have closure thanks to these characters. Her mother may not have had a smooth closure on screen but we can assume that everything got properly reported afterwards so that’ll come in time. A little epilogue would have been nice to confirm this though and maybe even find a way to trace the crime back to the driver and get him arrested. That may not have been the focus of the film but it would have been a great way to end things with a lot of well earned justice.

The animation is fairly good. I liked the use of the shadows and it helped to make the characters stand out. It’s definitely not quite as impressive as some of the other anime films that I’ve seen but it is certainly good enough to hold its own. The soundtrack is a lot more on the bland side though. Nothing particularly noteworthy at all and so you will end up forgetting about the tunes very quickly. The film really ends up having to stand on its own with the story and writing.

Overall, Summer Ghost is a solid film. While the messaging it solid, I don’t think the movie ever gets quite as emotional as it was hoping to be. You just don’t know the characters well enough for that and while they grew up with some rather difficult circumstances, we don’t see enough to really determine just how bad they were. Aoi’s was the worst out of the 3 and even then we do have to make some assumptions on our side as the viewer. If you’re up for a good film about exploring what it means to live, then this is still a solid one to check out.

Overall 6/10

Vampire Knight: Memories Review

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Vampire Knight was never one of my favorite manga titles. Trust me, it just wasn’t all that good but at least it wasn’t boring. Memories is basically what you get if you decide to take a rather underwhelming cast, remove all of the interesting characters, and then do a ton of world building and politics. The end result is that you don’t really care what is going on. Throw in a bunch of time jumps all over the place and it makes the whole thing feel even worse. Yuki’s inaction also means that the romance is absolutely terrible and all over the place. You will not be feeling satisfied by the time you finish this series.

The series jumps across a bunch of time periods but for the most part it’s in the future. Kaname was sealed and his heart was lost so he was in suspended animation for 1000 years. When he awakens, he now has complete amnesia and so his two daughters gradually tell him more and more about what went on. Additionally he also starts to get some memories of his own. Whatever happened to Yuki, the queen of the vampires? They had kids together but Kaname never got to spend time with them before and at this point they’ve been around for ages. Of course when you’re immortal it all gets to be rather relative. The world appears to have gone the way Yuki hoped, with coexistence between humans and vampires. Perhaps this is a good future.

A lot of the themes within the series have one main connection which is that vampires and humans will always have a tough time connecting. For example there’s a guy named Hanabusa who ends up liking one of the heroines but of course she never ages while he does. At first it looks like things could work out well enough but then in 20 years it’s a different situation. The way the vampires look at relationships also ends up being really different as a result.

In effect, they’ll humor the humans and have fun with them but it’s just not the same. How can you have true love when a human will only last around 80 years and you still have 4000 years to go? The whole relationship will just be the blink of an eye. That kind of time also does a whole lot of damage to their very emotions. To a point it gets impossible to read the vampires and that’s also why a lot of humans fear them. How do you interact with a being that has existed for hundreds of years before you and who will continue to exist afterwards? There is also the power difference as they can crush you with a single motion.

Fortunately Yuki and the human principal did a whole lot to reduce tensions between the two. Unfortunately things still happen as humans have underground fighting arenas and terrorism attacks that continue to happen. Vampires are strong but not unbeatable so there are casualties from time to time. It can be tough to always have to hold back and take the high road when you can feel the bloodlust coming in from the other side. The vampires do well on this but the humans will definitely try your patience.

In theory the plot that is supposed to tug on your emotional heartstrings is the plot with Kaname. He has to come to terms with the fact that Yuki had to live without him for a long while and so of course that meant turning to Zero. The only problem is that he doesn’t really care. He was always okay with Zero taking a secondary spot because while the guy lived much longer than a normal human, he still wasn’t going to be as immortal as a pureblood vampire. This idea of sharing Yuki was just ridiculous though. It makes all 3 characters look really bad.

Kaname got a really raw deal to be sure. The whole thing absolutely sucked for him as he missed out on the best parts of his life. He may have helped achieve peace and make a better future but the sacrifice was definitely far too great. You just can’t find much solace in that at all. The guy feels like an empty husk of a character as well compared to the original series. Although it feels like every vampire is like this here so perhaps it is just the inevitable end. There’s just something depressing about being a vampire here.

Likewise for Yuki, she definitely looks bad here as well. She really needed to pick a guy. Kaname or Zero but leading them both on and having fun was never an option. The hard truth is that even if you’re going to be alive for over 1000 years, you can only pick one person. There cannot be any rebounds. That’s not going to be a good idea in the long run and I’m certainly not going to be able to support it. It was nice to get the occasional action scene for her but this was super rare.

Meanwhile the same negatives apply to Zero as well. When you’re happy being second fiddle then you don’t have a whole lot of self respect. Even if he got to be with Yuki for a while when Kaname was gone, she still had kids with him. Zero was always the backup guy and was completely out of luck. In a vampire series, it’s rare for the human to actually get picked and this one was no exception. Zero always had some cool powers and skills with the gun but in this series he looked pretty bad.

There’s something to be said about how the vampires always end up getting tempted into the taboo as well. One of them falls for her sibling, another falls for her father, etc. I think a lot of it has to do with the immortality part as it completely messes with their emotional regulation and feelings of right and wrong. It just doesn’t make for a very compelling plot and means that all of the characters will be annoying at best and completely unlikable at worst. There isn’t much of a happy middle to be found here. You still want them to survive and defeat the terrorists but it does limit how much you could like any of the characters.

Also as a vampire series you can still expect there to be a lot of blood draining as always. In this series it may as well be a kiss with how the characters really get into it. The vampires are never able to fully control their urges and most of the time the humans are egging them on as well. Now there is a full toxic relationship. No other way to get around that.

As far as the artwork goes, it’s not terrible. I would put it under average though. It’s got a very old school Shojo look which means that a lot of the characters are easily to mess up. The pages can get cluttered really quickly as well and any action scene quickly becomes near unreadable. As long as you read through the series slowly you will be fine, but it’s certainly not very streamlined. The series actually made it over 50 chapters so you’ve got a good amount of content here. Factor in how each chapter will take you a little while and you’re totally set.

If you do enjoy the series, I doubt it will feel too short. Memories covers a lot of events within that time-frame. While the flashbacks and flash forwards mainly drove me out of the story, I imagine they will have the opposite effect on a mega fan. There is a lot of world building here after all. It’s the kind of series that would probably end up being a whole lot better in anime form which tends to make scenes more dynamic. That can fix some of the boring elements but it will have time fixing the poor characters.

Now his review has seemed pretty negative….but I’m about to double down. This is the kind of Shojo that people assume they are all like. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Shojo back in the day but I’ve read a lot of good ones since then. They can be a lot of fun with well written romances and a lot of light hearted moments. I will admit that a romantic drama will always be hard to pull off but a romantic comedy can usually be a lot of fun. The first problem is that this series decided to go full on drama and the second problem is that none of the romances are properly built up.

Yes this goes back to the main characters being vampires again but the series could have still had a good romance if it really wanted to. I don’t think this had to be an impossible endeavor at all. Ai for example could have been a good new main character if the series hadn’t given her odd romantic subplots and also kept switching to other characters. It’s why most series pick an actual main character and then develop supporting ones.

Going for an ensemble cast is going to be more of a risk if you aren’t ready for it and I can tell you that this series was absolutely not ready for the challenge. Also, there can’t be any stakes for the various stories that take place in the past because we know the main characters are okay in the present. Not that this is an action thriller story or anything like that but there are still some attacks and thriller elements so why spoil the ending right in chapter 1? The amount of questionable choices here will have your mind spinning the whole time.

Finally, I would say what keeps this series from being an interesting intellectual thriller like Liar Game or Kingdom Hearts is that there are no interesting concepts to debate. For example the vampire stuff I talked about earlier. Their lack of emotions and how they view romance is tragic but also completely negative. There isn’t really a debate on how this could be a good thing or a way to solve the problem. It’s why this series can be as complex as it wants, it still won’t generate any real discussion. I wish the series had focused more on a war between humans and vampires because at least that is always a fun thing to talk about.

The closest we get to that is a few characters asking if the current dynamic is really a good thing but it never ends up being a central focus. It would change the whole series but this one should have dropped the romance tag entirely and just focused on the politics. If it did that and had a human MC and a vampire, then we could have filled the series with ethical debates which would have been infinitely more interesting. You would have to make the humans be less overtly evil though as that defeats any remote chance of making this an actual debate. It’s just not going to work when it’s so one sided.


Overall, Vampire Knight: Memories is a pretty bad series. Vampires have never been my thing so throwing in a spinoff to a series I was already not a fan of? That was not going to be a recipe for success. It lasted a lot longer than I expected it to be but it never ended up being all that good. On occasion you would get a good chapter like Yuki infiltrating a terrorist stronghold to fight them or Zero getting an action scene but most of the series is just pure melodrama. If the series had been completely chronological then it probably would have been better but even then I admit that it probably would not have been great. I expect that there still would have been issues left and right. If you’re a mega fan of the original Vampire Knight then you should check this one out, but otherwise you will definitely want to skip this one. The only disclaimer I’ll give on the series behalf is that with a story like this, it can sometimes be better read as a marathon. If you do that maybe you’ll find the series to be more enjoyable but at the same time a great story is great no matter how you read it.

Overall 2/10