Speed Racer Review

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Speed Racer is one of those super famous series but it’s just old enough where a lot of people haven’t really seen it before. Well, I got to blast through the whole series and it is a title that really ages well. It shows some age but in all the best ways with the fun facial expressions and everything. Speed makes for a really good main character and Racer X is definitely one of the better rivals that you will come across. I didn’t really have any issues with this one, it’s a very well rounded series.

The series starts by introducing us to Speed, who aims to be a professional racer. Unfortunately his father Pops is against the idea and has pretty good reason to be. His other son Rex disappeared one day after crashing in a race and having a big disagreement with Pops. Pops believes that Rex simply wasn’t ready for that level of competition and doesn’t want Speed to make the same mistake. Speed disobeys Pops and enters a race anyway. His skills quickly become well known across the land and now Speed wants to be the world champion. Can he pull this off and eventually get Pops to see things his way?

Technically speaking that’s really the main plot for the 52 episodes coming up. The series doesn’t have a super deep plot or anything like that. Once in a blue moon you will get a returning character but for the most part these are episodic adventures. Most of them are 2 part adventures but as the series comes to a close we get more one shots. Racer X’s plot is one of the few that continues on throughout the show. As the viewers we learn that Racer X is Speed’s brother early on so you have to see if Speed can ever put the pieces together.

One thing that is also clear from the start is that racing is very dangerous in this world. It may be legal but there are constant fatalities throughout the series. Over half of the racers appear to die in every single event. Why do they still race? Well, for the pure thrill of it. That seems to be what it all boils down to and it is why Pops does appear to be rather justified here. Speed comes close to death on many adventures. In fact, if he had a normal car then he would be dead.

Naturally everyone knows about his super car, the Mach 5. This car has a ton of different gadgets inside of it like bullet proof glass, a spring to jump, a bird that can fly around, a water mode, buzz saws, etc. Speed uses these to get himself out of a lot of sticky situations. Otherwise he would have been doomed in a lot of events. To be clear, that’s because the enemies tend to cheat a whole lot. In a straight race Speed is second only to Racer X himself. Speed tends to demolish his other opponents.

Speed also takes a whole lot of pride in his abilities. He is very quick to jump into attack mode when someone calls him a chicken or crosses him the wrong way. Speed just isn’t going to let anything like that slide and he is a rather good fighter. On different occasions we see him going up against professional ninja, crime lords, and whole mini armies. Speed takes on all challengers and usually comes out on top. At times he will be defeated, but Speed is only human. He will eventually go down to a cheap shot or sheer numbers.

He’s just a great character and there is a level of genuineness to him that you won’t always see. Speed is incredibly heroic but he’s not a super saint. Speed’s quick temper means that even his allies have to watch out, as Sparky learned the hard way on at least one occasion. Speed is also willing to step out of his comfort zone as a racer like when he worked as an agent against different terrorist groups. Speed is always willing to help the cops out

His friend Sparky is often not able to keep up with Speed. Sparky is a great mechanic and helps to keep the Mach 5 in good condition but his role is lessened a bit by the fact that Speed’s also a top tier mechanic. So Sparky often feels like he doesn’t even need to be around. It’s kind of sad but he doesn’t really add anything to the show. It’s good to see Speed having friends and all but yeah Sparky could be removed and nothing really changes.

Then we have Speed’s girlfriend Trixie. It’s easy to forget that they’re actually together but she does a good job of getting jealous the whole time. Speed tends to attract quite a lot of attention in the races and often times Trixie isn’t allowed to race with him. She tends to have a pretty big role in the show so that’s good. It’s too bad that she’s not a big racer though because that could have really helped her to be an even bigger player. She races at least once but it’s a rare event to be sure.

She does provide aerial support though and arrives to help many times when Speed crashes. A little healthy jealousy can be a good thing as well so ultimately I would say that she gets a pretty good showing throughout the series. Naturally you always need to have at least one troublemaker in the main cast’s dynamic so that’s where Spritle and Chim Chim come into play. Spritle is a little kid who loves getting in on the races and so he follows Speed all the time.

Speed never seems to realize that his little brother is in the trunk until it’s too late. The few times that Speed suspects something is often when Spritle decided to stow away in someone else’s car. Spritle does come in handy sometimes so it’s not like he is always getting into trouble but often times he isn’t really helping too much. If anything he tends to be a hostage which gives Speed one more thing to worry about. As for Chim Chim, well he is helpful less often than Spritle. He pretty much never has a big moment of triumph and has to play second fiddle here. I could have done without him, I need my supporting characters to be able to talk and everything!

As for Pops, well he’s definitely a tough guy who is always being rather defensive but he’s a fun character. Like I mentioned before, he’s got a really good argument for keeping Speed away from the races as well. They’re just far too dangerous. You have people bringing bombs and guns onto the tracks and the refs never seem to notice. There is a constant amount of fighting going on and explosions but no cameras to capture it. Honestly I’m not sure why the spectators would enjoy racing all that much considering that most of the race is completely off screen for them.

You have races that go on for over 30 hours as the characters cross a whole continent. Speed has to fight off multiple opponents before the ending and the spectators only see the last mile or so. You shouldn’t think on it too much but that’s why the sport is rife with corruption here. Villains know that they can get away with anything. Pops is the top mechanic in the world in this series so for that reason there are a lot of people trying to get to him as well. Pops has to always do his best to try and stay safe while this is going on. His wife doesn’t really get much of a role in comparison. It would have been nice to have seen her in a few fights to show that every member of the family was a big fighter.

Then we have Racer X. This guy is not only known as the world’s greatest racer but he is also the top secret operative in a global organization that keeps the peace. For that reason he often travels the world. It also makes sense why he can’t reveal his true identity because then it would put Speed in danger. At the same time he does make sure to save his younger brother on many occasions. Their bond is a really strong one and you can sympathize with everything that Racer X has to go through.

I do wish the series could have given him more races with Speed. In almost all of their encounters, something comes up which prevents a straight race. Racer X does still manage to give Speed a whole lot of advice to help him out like not being as naive or gullible. Speed has a bad habit of believing sob stories and what he is told far too quickly. That’s something that you never want to do because you will be taken advantage of quickly. By the end of the series, Racer X has helped Speed improve a whole lot.

It’s also fun to just see Racer X have his really dangerous subplot while Speed is out there in the races. Racer X knows how to use a machine gun with an amazing level of skill. Where does he have the time for all of this right? When Speed gets close to learning his identity, X is able to deliver a well placed gut punch that completely removes his memory of learning the solution. Now that is talent.

The animation is definitely really good here. This is what I would call a very authentic hand drawn style from the old days. So there will be animation errors and perspective issues but that’s part of the charm. It still looks really good and is a lot smoother than you would expect. The colors are striking and this is the kind of animation that I could keep watching for a long while. The soundtrack isn’t nearly as memorable though. It sounds good and all but none of the themes will have you humming or anything like that.

Fortunately the writing is strong enough where you don’t mind. The show has a lot of good humor, both intentional and unintentional. The script is top notch and the way characters say things nonchalantly just works extremely well. It’s the kind of series you can definitely have fun watching reactions for. If you like a happy racing series with a good amount of banter then this is the title you want to check out.

Speed Racer also embraces the absurdness of the situations that Speed finds himself in. One second he is fighting a global terrorist organization, the next he is fighting giant monsters over in the jungle. Speed battles in Egyptian Tombs and in labyrinths underneath the waves. He doesn’t shrink from any challenge and fights just as well as he races. His opponents also tend to have some pretty strong gimmicks. There are one old guy who hated cars for example and so he would use his Horse to get around and whipped any cars that got too close. That takes a lot of guts. Speed even went up against a legendary gambler who knew the odds about everything and then another guy who built an entire secret city.

It’s the kind of atmosphere that is harder to create in a new title. These storylines work pretty well as long as you don’t overanalyze them. There are probably loads of plot holes and little inconsistencies that such situations create but they are fun to watch which is far more important. Give me a fun scenario like this any day and I’m all set. Where else are you going to see a group of Acrobatic racers who do stunts involving dozens of cars? That was one of the few times where even Speed got nervous.

Overall, Speed Racer is a pretty fun series. It’s definitely one of the older ones that I’ve seen now and I dare say that it was even better than I remembered it. I had seen a flurry of scattered episodes back in the day so it was fun to see the whole thing cover to cover. The series has a lot of humor to it but part of why it works is because the show is still treating these situations with a good amount of seriousness. There is a really tight line to balance here and the show makes it look easy. If you haven’t seen the series yet and worry that it’s too old, stow those fears. This series became a legend for good reason and you should definitely check it out! This is true for basically all shows but especially for Speed Racer I will also advise you to watch it through the English Dub.

Overall 7/10

Violent Night Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film thar really lives up to its name. If you wanted to watch a really violent Christmas film, well then you’re in the right place. It’s mainly played up for comedy but gets quite extreme as the film goes on. There are definitely a lot more misses than positives in this title but I really appreciated how some of the underlings performed in the fights.

The movie starts by introducing us to Jason and Linda whose relationship is on the rocks. They thought they could make things work but have now given up. This last Christmas party will be their last one together. The big issue between them is Linda feels like Jason always defers to his rich mother and worries too much about money. We’re not given a ton of context here since that part of the plot isn’t super important but Jason doesn’t deny any of it so this seems to be true. So the two of them head to the party with their daughter Trudy and have to tolerate all of their rich family members who hate each other. They are all just here for the mother’s money. Unfortunately a group of crooks with a whole lot of insider knowledge show up to steal all of the money. The only one who can stop them…is Santa Clause.

Yes, in this universe Santa Clause is real. He is very jaded with the job though and doesn’t really like humanity anymore. This was going to be his last job but unfortunately he is inside the house when the robbers attack and his reindeer fly away. Santa will have to find a way to escape but it won’t be easy. Additionally, his conscience isn’t too happy about this because Trudy is on the nice list and shouldn’t die here. Santa used to be a fighter over 1000 years ago…does he still have the skills?

Now you may wonder about how people don’t know that Santa is real when he is leaving presents. Well, the film actually explains that a little. He doesn’t give presents to literally everyone, just the people who really need him. I take that to mean families with a lot of dysfunction where they either wouldn’t notice a present or would assume someone else got it. As a result, the secret of Santa is safe. They don’t really get into the logistics of how he visits everyone in a single night but I guess we can go with the time displacement approach where every house is in its own pocket dimension on Christmas where these events happen simultaneously.

Santa’s magical abilities are a bit all over the place and in the film he mentions that he doesn’t really know how they even work. That is a good way to make sure that he isn’t too overpowered. As a result Santa is actually on the defensive for a good chunk of the film. He was being absolutely dominated by the first opponent and then also had a really tough time against the second one. I actually liked this because often times the minions are shown to be incredibly disposable when realistically they should be putting up some kind of a fight right? So that was pretty impressive and those fights had quite a bit of back and forth to them.

Santa’s character arc is also a classic although they may have went a little too far in how jaded they made him. He gets some pretty rough scenes early on like with how drunk he is and throwing up. There isn’t a ton of crude humor here but that was a tough scene for him to rebound from. The film’s writing can be a bit of a mixed bag as well here. The film has some great lines like “Santa’s coming to town” and when Santa is announcing all of his lines. Scrooge also gets some really good ones as the villain. Basically this is the kind of film that is going to wow you with some of the dialogue, but you do have to ignore that everybody talks like a sailor. They all swear up a storm constantly So that does make the script a bit weak even with all of the big moments.

Now where the film does unfortunately lose me is when the violence gets cranked up to 100. This is easily one of the most violent films I’ve seen in a minute, I dare say it may even pass John Wick in this area. Yes, the violence is played for laughs but there is still a whole lot of it and it is unrelenting. The whole climax is basically a contest to see how violently characters can die. It’s not even just Santa’s onslaught but the home alone subplot with Trudy goes for the most painful moments possible. You’ve also got one guy getting attacked by the nutcracker which was another brutal moment. This definitely hurt the film quite a bit with how excessive this is. It needed to be toned down.

The film is at its best when it’s just having fun with the concepts. Just letting people adapt to the idea of Santa and watching him crush everyone. The film doesn’t take itself overly serious and that’s a good thing. A wacky concept should have a wacky execution and that will let the whole thing flow really well. Without all of the ultra violence this would have definitely been a lot higher. Now if you’re not too squeamish, then this should still be an absolute W for you.

There are obviously going to be some power level issues here but of course you’re not meant to take it too seriously. Scrooge makes for a really good villain because after watching Santa massacre everyone, he is still prepared to fight to the end. Now that is a brave villain and it’s nice to see one who is willing to fight to the end like that. It’s something that you don’t see all that often in a film like this. He also does now how to fight pretty well considering how close he came to winning.

Personally I’m not too interested in Santa’s past so I’d prefer that the sequel focuses on the future but we’ll see how it goes. There are a decent amount of plot points ready for the sequel and there are a ton of different directions the movie can go. Maybe even introduce another legend for Santa to fight. This could be a proper cinematic universe if they want to go down that route although I imagine a lot of the companies will be squeamish about this.

Now most o the characters are annoying but I’ll give Trudy props for not ending up like the others. She’s still trying to be a good kid and do the right things. She knows how to defend herself and assists Santa throughout the movie. She surpasses most kid characters in this regard because they tend to get in the way while she is actively helping out. She definitely gets a passing grade in my book.

There isn’t really much saving the other characters. Jason may have had a big plan but he shouldn’t have let the marriage get to such a negative point in the first place. Meanwhile Linda is okay and we don’t know how much of this is on her but she wasn’t really helping matters. From all of the unlikable family members, Gertrude is easily the best one because of how smug and overconfident she is. I can really appreciate that in a character, particularly in a villain. She is able to hold her own with the banter for quite a while there.

Overall, Violent Night is a film that is having a lot of fun with the concept. The film is extremely violent and there are a lot of things happening at all times. On one hand I think the film does a pretty good job of living up to the name but on the other that is pretty much what doomed it. The film just gets way too excessive at different points. The script could have also used a lot of work. There is some novelty to be had with watching this film but ultimately, I would end up giving it a thumbs down. This will not end up being the next Die Hard classic.

Overall 3/10

Death Wish Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative.

It’s time for a film that has quite the controversial reputation over the years for how intense it gets. It’s definitely a film that really got the vigilante genre popular and to this day it’s something that it used in many films. The vigilante route is always a hard solution to deny, particularly in a film like this where it seems like the only reasonable answer to all of the violence.

The film starts off by introducing us to Paul who is reminded by his coworker of how much violence is going on in NYC. Paul just tries to keep to himself and still have a good time rather than live in fear but this does catch up to him. His wife is murdered and his daughter is left in a vegetative state where she isn’t really alive anymore. This pushes Paul to start carrying a weapon with him. It proves effective when he is attacked and after a trip to California, Paul finds that he now has a gun when his contact slipped one into his bag. Why have a gun if you’re not going to use it? That’s essentially Paul’s mindset as he becomes the hunter and aims to go after all the criminals.

Surprisingly we never actually get to have Paul meet the villains from the first scene to put them 6 feet under. I can only assume that would be in a sequel or there’s some super deep narrative reason to avoid that. Whatever the reason was, it would have been more satisfying to have seen Paul take them down. He should get that level of reward after everything that he went through. It would have at least been a fun moment to see.

Now where the film really messes up is by going way too far in the opening scene. Films like this always try to really stress just how evil everyone is in order to make the point for the vigilante. Sure, I get that but you don’t really have to go to a 10 on this. Now, fortunately I saw the TV version which seems to gloss over the opening scene pretty well as it’s mostly just mentioned a lot after the fact. If the scene was on screen then this would be a quick and immediate 0/10. So the film is spared from that fate but even then, the whole plot about what they did to Paul’s daughter did not need to be in the film. That level of ugliness has no place in any film.

It’s a real shame too because after that the film is pretty good about not being explicit. There are certainly a lot of people getting shot throughout the movie but it’s not really all that violent in comparison. Paul moves like a trained killer, only using one bullet per target. He then dashes off to get some more crooks. The camera doesn’t linger on the dead all that much and in general a quick bullet wound isn’t going to be too bad.

I thought the movie also did a good job by showing how the political leaders didn’t want to stop Paul either. Rather, they needed to stop the killings but just get him out of there. That way they could still take credit for the drop in crime without having to rely on a vigilante. That kind of self serving mentality absolutely seems realistic to me and certainly not out of the ordinary. Also everyone in the streets were supporting Paul because they are the ones dealing with all of the crime.

Paul shoots at least 10-15 different crook to death here and it may have been more than that. This is a massive difference to the living standards of the neighborhood when you consider that these are all going to be repeat offenders. It’s clear that they were used to committing these crimes and stopping anyone in their way. So lets say on average each crook is robbing someone once day, well you’ve just dropped 30 crimes per person each month.

The city was living in fear and now they aren’t. Again, that’s why vigilantism is so tempting because you are ending crooks who only serve to disrupt everyday people from their lives. It’s clear that this problem was too big for the cops to handle here and so Paul went to work. The film certainly shows the weaknesses of law and order as you would need to try and get proof on these criminals, get some witnesses, wait months for the court date, etc, etc.

Obviously there ae reasons why vigilantism cannot be accepted in every day society. You’ll get lots of copy cats, many with different morals and sets of values. Additionally, you would have to constantly be looking around you since everyone would be very trigger happy. So lots of pros and cons but at least in this film it is clearly the only way to go. The criminals are extremely brazen with how they assault people at all times of the day and at any location. Paul made sure that this won’t be happening quite as often.

The character cast is actually really small in this one. Aside from Paul you do have his son in law who mainly represents the film’s take on what non-vigilantes are doing about things. He is constantly sad about what happened to his wife but isn’t actually doing anything about this. He just hopes that society will get better and talks about how they should have moved away. It’s not a very flattering look for this character.

Then you have the police chief who definitely wants to take Paul down but has no real support to do this. So he’s just really annoyed the whole time since his hands are basically tied behind his back. He’s a fun character to have around and gives some of the rare humor moments within the film. This is largely a serious film after all. It is nice to see Paul enjoying himself as he takes down the crooks though. At times he gets a little too cocky and takes a hit that he shouldn’t but does make short work out of his opponents. In this business t is important to finish off each target or they will be back out there soon enough and Paul will be in even more danger.

Overall, Death Wish is one of those films with a really intense plot. It certainly gives you a lot of reason to be sympathetic to Paul and what he is trying to do here. At the same time, the film just goes too far in order to make that point. That’s what really makes you shake your head here. If the film could have had some more tact then it really could have been remembered as one of the good ones. So ultimately I am going to have to recommend skipping this one. I’m hopeful that the sequels will be better since they can just jump right into the action but this is also the kind of plot that is easy to mess up. It always needs to be handled carefully.

Overall 3/10

Batman: Justice Buster Review

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I started this manga a long time so it was pretty fun to finally make it all the way to the end. It’s probably not too surprising to say that this one gets pretty deep into the philosophy when it comes to Batman’s code of ethics. Is he true Justice? Well, the series will definitely have him think about this at real length. Now you may wonder what the rest of the DC heroes are doing. Well, this is addressed so for better or worse it’s not like the series ignores this.

The series starts by showing us that Gotham is in pretty bad shape as per always. Criminals are everywhere and there just doesn’t seem to be any end to them. Batman does his best to take them all down as efficiently as possible but he just can’t possibly keep up with the onslaught of opponents. There is really no end to them. So he needs the help of Robin, a state of the art A.I. that will help him in missions. This works well for a while but Alfred fears that Batman is relying too much on this entity. What if it turns evil?

So you’ve got the general premise there and obviously the A.I. isn’t going to be on the side of justice for very long. Well, depending on the definition of Justice at least. This is what the bulk of the series is about. Batman starts out the series believing that justice is essentially born through violence. You have to use violence in order to keep the peace and fear will keep everyone in line. It’s an interesting perspective since you tend to see the whole ruling by fear thing being a villain’s ideology. And yet it makes sense because Batman has seen first hand just how corrupt Gotham is. It’s why he does a ton of philanthropy on the surface but also fights crime during the night to fight the battle on multiple fronts.

Superman shows up with the more basic version of justice. He says it is simply a matter of helping others out. It’s an answer that obviously isn’t wrong but does lack a lot of nuance. Batman points out that it may be that easy for Superman, but certainly not the case for anyone else. Superman doesn’t budge of course and while he doesn’t get a whole lot of screentime here, I do like that he is shown to be every bit as tough as Batman.

Superman’s not some rookie. He is a seasoned fighter in this manga and has likely had many adventures of his own. So nothing Batman says is really able to rattle him at all. They just go their separate ways. Later on the villains put some people in danger to keep him from joining the front lines but I have to admit that this is a little tough to believe. With his speed, Superman could have absolutely returned to save the day. This isn’t his story though so I was just glad to see that his character was handled extremely well. He was the symbol of justice as always. The artwork also does a good job of making him look absolutely menacing.

Then you have Jason Todd who is the Joker in this story. His ideas of justice are consistent with what they usually are as a vigilante. He murders criminals who get in the way so they cannot cause any more problems. Vigilantism is always the most tempting form of justice because of its absolute results. Any criminal who is murdered can never hurt anyone else again. It does remove the possibility of redemption but also results in the most lives saved. It’s not something that Batman can ever condone but the merits speak for themselves.

Jason was a really fun character to have around throughout though. The manga did a good job of balancing a whole lot of characters and he was a compelling one. He may not have gotten along super well with Batman for a while there but at least they could talk to each other. Alas, the city is a pretty dangerous place and there can only be so many fighters running around.

Robin’s philosophy is the most difficult to unpack. It’s a spin on the usual robotic kind of view which is that crime will always exist so long as humans do. Yet he doesn’t really go down the whole “All humans must die” approach. Instead he mainly focuses on proving that Batman’s justice is flawed so it’s like another avenue without actually giving a real answer to it. Perhaps there is none in his eyes. Robin made for a very interesting character but I do think that the ending messed him up a little bit. The final twists and character moments just didn’t make a lot of sense to me. It all went on a bit too quickly and took away some of the punch.

There’s also a kid in the series who gets a pretty big role. You can probably guess early on how that character arc will play out. I thought he was a lot better than the average kid. He had to grow up in a rather rough environment and didn’t panic too much when confronted with all of the villains and super powered fighters running around. A lesser character would have been panicking the whole time so I really appreciated that. It’s the little things that make a big difference.

Then we have Joe Chill who shows up as the mysterious villain for most of the series. Seemingly he’s the one who murdered Batman’s parents but is that actually the truth? Every time he talks, the guy seems to lie a whole lot. Trusting anything that he says seems like a really big gamble. He is also quite powerful and tends to have the advantage in every fight. It’s as if he isn’t truly human.

The series at times goes to the border on being part horror series in addition to being an action title. Part of the reason for this is because of the artstyle which is very grim and detailed. It definitely makes for a lot of really intense shots. It also helps with the fight scenes to look very sci-fi in nature. I was certainly a fan of it and this is a series that will end up being very memorable by the time you’re done with it.

It even dabbles a bit into the multiverse with little guest star panels and such. It’s not particularly important but was interesting to see. Then back to Batman, well he looked good as always. Even if his sense of justice got shaken up quite a bit, he still made the right decisions when it counted. Additionally, he was beating up on all the villains in his way at the same time. Batman didn’t let his indecision ever take priority over saving Gotham. Batman always tends to be a really good character so it’s not like that was surprising.

I’ll also give Alfred a shoutout for looking pretty good the whole time. He was constantly the voice of reason here. He’s also the only guy that Batman will listen to at times. Granted, not always but at least some of the time. We also have quite a few other villains running around aside from Joe Chill like Deathstroke, Two Face, Firefly, and Killer Croc. For the most part these guys aren’t really tying into the bigger plot but tend to be used like pawns on the board to force Batman to make a move.

The whole series is like a big chessboard with everything slowly connecting to Joe Chill and the murder of Batman’s parents. his would really make for a great two part movie eat some point. You will be at the edge of your seat the whole way through and this is one of those mystery titles that actually does have a lot of replay value. You can easily go back to read this one again after you complete it. The fairly short length at just a few volumes makes this pretty easy.

As for who has the best vision of justice in the series, well it’s probably going to have to be Jason here. Superman’s on the right path but nobody else has the power to see it through. Batman’s makes a lot of sense but when even a lot of cops and the prisons are corrupt, the villains will naturally go out eventually. Jason’s the only chance that the world has of being rid of the worst crime doers around. So long as he keeps from getting too extreme then it should work well. Of course, that’s a big if since this tends to be a slippery slope.

Overall, Justice Buster was definitely a great series. I would have liked for it to have continued on for longer to be honest. There’s just so much story to cover and so many characters running around. It does a good job of wrapping everything up and you just know that the story will continue on. I’d certainly like to see more manga for the DC heroes. They’re just done so masterfully well. Whether you are familiar with Batman or not, I would recommend reading this series. It’s a really compelling read all the way.

Overall 8/10

Our Souls at Night Review

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There aren’t too many films about romance that blooms when the main characters are seniors so this was definitely different. It makes sense that folks can get lonely even when they are in the twilight years. Personally I would tend to advise against entering a relationship at that late stage but you just hope for the best. The film had some potential but it can’t resist adding in a bunch of drama which ultimately hurts things in the end.

The film starts by introducing us to Louis. He’s really old but has a solid routine every day. He hangs out with his friends and then heads home. Life goes on as normal and he doesn’t seem to have any complaints. Well, one day his neighbor Addie shows up and says they should start sleeping together so the nights won’t feel as long. It’s certainly the strangest offer Louis has gotten but she confirms this will be purely platonic. Luis decides to give this a shot but in the most shocking of plot twists, he begins to fall for her. How could this happen and what should he do about this?

Now obviously this was always going to be the end result. There are loads of lies that you can tell yourself but the biggest one is that you can hang out every night on the bed with someone and not catch feelings at some point. It’s why friends with benefits has always been a bunch of immoral nonsense but also why you don’t go to naked saunas or hot springs adventures with your friends. If you want to keep your friends and not succumb to impulses, you shouldn’t be entering spaces and situations that aren’t meant for them.

The instant Addie made the offer, it was clear to both parties deep in their mind that a romance would happen. The whole deal just wouldn’t make sense otherwise. From that point on, if they’re both on board then there’s technically nothing wrong with it. It would still feel like a rebound to me though and like I said before I just wouldn’t recommend a late stage romance. Why not?

Well when you enter into any kind of relationship you have to take the good with the bad. The bad in this case is likely going to involve a lot of medical issues and deaths of friends due to how old they all are. You’re potentially getting super close to someone who is not going to be around for much longer. That happens even in a young relationship since by extension you now know double the people which means more chances of bad things happening. It’s not a great way to look at things but you have to when you have two people 70+ who are going to be getting together now.

Then we also learn that Louis wasn’t the best guy in his youth. He cheated on his wife and while they patched things up later on, his social reputation was destroyed. You can’t full recover from something like that, the trust is just gone. I felt this was a really unnecessary part of the film. One of those classic plots to show how everyone makes a ton of big mistakes. Why couldn’t Louis just be a good guy?

Meanwhile Addie doesn’t have any big moments of crisis in her past but in the present she is the one who ultimately chooses her other responsibilities over Louis. She started this whole arrangement and yet she’s the one to end it? That’s not a particularly good look. Her ungrateful son spends a lot of the film getting drunk and whining but it sounds to me like she did her best. I didn’t have a problem with any of the issues that guy had been raising up.

In general the kids are the most annoying characters though. Addie’s son Gene is trying to raise his son on his own after the wife left but it seems clear why she did. He gets drunk a lot, isn’t able to properly control himself, and can’t land a job. Perhaps Gene is trying hard but there is really no excuse for when he left his kid all by himself and started drinking. He’s always looking for a fight and is quick to blame others but doesn’t take ownership of his faults. Even by the end of the film we have no reason to think that he has changed at all.

Then we have Louis’ daughter Holly who gets far less screentime but also doesn’t do very well. She comes off as very aggressive during the lunch meeting about how she’s going on her adventure and blames Louis for not being there. Her therapist wanted her to make it very clear to Louis about this so that she could have closure and all. It just seemed to come out of nowhere. Naturally we know that the past events led up to this but it always feels petty to just launch an attack after a long period like this.

Once you’re an adult you have to be responsible for your decisions. Holding onto old grudges is not a good idea but even if you do, just keep it to yourself at that point. Don’t go and set up a meetup just to do more complaining. If Gene was so unhappy, then he shouldn’t be going to Addie for help. Holly could have just gone on her adventure without stopping by to rub Louis’ nose in it. Like I said, the characters are just unlikable.

I also can’t say that I liked any of Louis’ main friends. They’re basically around to be crude and start the rumor mill but that’s all that they are here to do. Louis takes offense at it because he’s the main character this time but from how they were talking, this is probably a regular thing. It doesn’t reflect well on Louis to be hanging out with these characters.

For a slow burn film like this, it helps a lot if the characters are all pleasant. I think that Hallmark could do a really good job with this premise for example. They should have also played up the romance to be more gradual. Instead of the two running to a hotel to try and act like teenagers again, have them do an actual courtship and build up to the end process. Get married first and make it official instead of all this hidden stuff.

As a more minor note, there is a lot of screentime for taking care of Gene’s kid while he is out playing the fool. Louis and Addie do a good job of taking care of him but getting a dog was a big mistake. For starters, both of them aren’t going to last very long so that raises questions on what will happen to the dog. Ultimately they end up giving him to Gene instead. Gene can’t even raise a kid tho, let alone a dog. So that’s the kind of decision that just seems to be very iffy at best.

Overall, Our Souls at Night shows exactly why you don’t want to be getting into any secret entanglements. Eventually everyone finds out and even if you double down, it’s just not going to last. I didn’t particularly enjoy the ending because it felt very avoidable but in a way it is realistic. The situationship worked for a while but now Addie doesn’t need any help to sleep since she’s not alone and so she chose the responsibilities over Louis. Ultimately the biggest moral of the story is, if anyone ever asks you to do something inherently intimate but claims that it will be platonic….listen to your common sense and reject the offer. I did enjoy the small town atmosphere at least, it seemed like a fun area to live in.

Overall 4/10

Barefoot in the Park Review

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Uh oh, it’s time for a romance film. Usually that means you are about to be seeing a really weak romance but of course the film could surprise us? Nah that doesn’t really happen here. There is a good amount of humor within the film but it also gets hurt by some of the characters being really unlikable. It’s the classic example of a film that is pretty fun for most of the adventure but does end up running out of steam before the ending.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Corie and Paul who have just gotten married. Things are going really well for them and right away we see the contrast in personalities here. Corie loves trolling Paul and putting him in embarrassing situations while Paul pretends not to enjoy it too much and so they’ve had a great bond. Well, their bond gets put to the test when they move into Corie’s apartment on the 6th floor which has no heating, almost no room, and no elevator service. Paul isn’t in particularly good shape and so walking up the 5 flights is a real struggle. They also have to deal with an upstairs neighbor named Victor who is not particularly subtle with his flirting towards Corie. How will things turn out?

First off, I will say that the comedy in the film is pretty impressive. I enjoy the banter between the characters and also think that Corie has a good sense of humor. Yes, most of her jokes do have the potential to get Paul punched out or in serious trouble but the high stakes nature of the jokes are what makes them work. I also think those jokes are not really a bad idea at all in strengthening their relationship.

The film also gets a lot of leverage out of the 6th floor part. It’s hard to see why it’s such a big deal to walk up all those flights but I can overlook that because the various jokes are just funny. Then we have Paul trying to keep up with Corie’s energy even if it means trying strange foods. You definitely feel bad for him there because that is a real struggle all the way around.

Now for the romance, it starts out good but does take a tumble by the end. Their relationship should not have been so easy to crush. Surprisingly the film doesn’t really go for the jealousy card with Victor here but instead plays up that Paul feels like a stiff compared to Corie. When she basically admits to that, then they go through a lot of troubles which only resolve with Paul having to play the fool for a bit. Jestermaxing as the kids would say nowadays.

I didn’t think that was a good resolution. For starters, it does play into Corie actually feeling that way to an extent. I would have preferred her to come to the realization that she wants a guy who is very steady and not going to get drunk and such. Have her tone down her own behavior a bit. My biggest issue with the film was how she would act around Victor. It’s one thing to be friendly but I thought she was a bit overboard with him. Victor would really get away with flirting and the way he helped her get down from the AC was absolutely fresh.

The film is mainly content to never make Victor out to be the villain but I would have liked Paul to put him in his place. Boundaries are always important to consider. I say this as someone who does hold the unpopular opinion that you can have really close friends of the opposite sex at all times. Whether married or not, there are wholesome friendships to be had but that is precisely why you need boundaries. If your friend is genuine, then they will respect them and everyone will have a great time.

Then we have a whole subplot where Corie tries to set up her mother Ethel with Victor. Setting someone up on a blind date is always a bad thing to do here and then to see it work can be rather annoying. Victor is introduced as a character with quite the reputation of getting around so why would this possibly be a good idea?

You have to assume that it all works out but it is a strong assumption all the way through. Ethel was a good character though. Romance aside, she did her best to be supportive of Corie and Paul the whole way through. There were plenty of opportunities for her to complain about things like the way the apartment looked but she tried to find the positive side of things.

As for Paul, he mainly did good but unfortunately looks bad at the end when he gets super drunk. Essentially he was trying to prove that he could be fun but in that instant he lost the high ground. I would have preferred that he stuck to his guns and eventually Corie would realize why he was a good man. Some mistake the ability to get drunk and go to clubs as being a fun person when you don’t need any of that. The ability to have fun without being intoxicated is a much more honorable trait.

So the film was pretty solid but really just fumbled when the plot had to get serious. The film probably felt like it needed to have some drama to end things off but this was the wrong way to do it. It just came at the expense of both characters and that’s never a good thing. Additionally, pretty much every scene with Victor just came across as annoying. I would have much preferred that the film be built around the apartment and that’s where the fun comes from. You could have both characters arguing over how the apartment should look and that would easily have enough material for a whole film.

Overall, This is a film that’s pretty fun but does get hurt quite a bit by the end. The end is ultimately what will leave the biggest impact on you so that was a really rough way to go. If you do like a classic comedy-romance then you should probably still check this one out. Just be prepared to see a whole lot of wasted potential here as the film focuses far too much on Ethel and Victor who try to take over the film. You just want to get back to the main duo but they don’t get much of a chance by the middle portion since it leads right to the big fight for the climax. It was a fresh change of pace to have the characters married from the start though rather than waiting until the very end.

Overall 4/10

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Review

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It’s been many years but I am finally getting to rewatch the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film. I can tell you right now, this is not a film that has aged any better than the first time around. There’s barely a plot going on here and the film just never manages to capture your attention. I have to admit that it was probably better before the film went into dream world and even then the intro wasn’t all that great. It’s a rare mix of a lot of old time story telling devices that just failed at the same time.

The film starts off by introducing us to Mr. Potts who is a really crazy inventor who also happens to be extremely defensive at all times. Quite the impressive combo of traits eh? Well, one day he ends up meeting a lady named Truly who considers him to be a real bore. He doesn’t take proper care of his kids and is far too aloof. Potts rejects all of that and may be right because he immediately wins her over to the point where she’s grinning and laughing less than 10 minutes from their meetup. Potts even works on selling some whistle candies to her father although that doesn’t end up going so well.

Potts tries a bunch of other crazy inventions like an automatic hair cutter and even rebuilds a car. It’s still rather bumpy so he calls it Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Quite the name eh? Well, this is a perfect time to tell a story about some corruption among the rich and a fantastical kingdom where pirates are trying to steal the car. CCBB is a very unique car after all that can even turn into a boat. It’s all really crazy but can Potts impress Truly enough for them to get married?

Now this film is in an interesting position with the humor. For example, it does have a lot of slapstick and goofy humor with all the characters running around. It’s pretty direct and in your face which is usually a humor style that I rather enjoy quite a lot. That being said, it felt like the film was missing the punchline half the time. You have all the setup for a bunch of jokes but then they all just go through the motions.

The film is also a musical which doesn’t really work out well. As with most musicals, the songs just aren’t all that great. The songs aren’t super bad or anything but none of them are the kind that you will be humming along to. The funniest part of them is really just to enjoy the scenes ironically. This is a pretty good film to watch ironically like if you view it as a super serious product and then go from there. That has its limits though and doesn’t make it a super strong film.

The romance is also not going to be one of the better ones and this is pretty much self evident. It’s hard to see how Truly goes from finding Potts to be super annoying and unlikable to being in love with him shortly afterwards. In context it’s not even like they knew each other a super long time. He was telling a story for a good chunk of the time after all and there weren’t any big time skips to where they were hanging out for a few months or something. She was won over way too quickly.

Yes, this is a comedy film but I don’t think that works as an actual defense here. You still could have had slower pacing and allowed for things to work out gradually. Or just have Potts be likable from the start. Instead of being super defensive about the amount of freedom he gives his kids, have him apologize and admit that she was right. Then Truly understands how mature he is and things go well from there. That would be the easiest fix.

Okay lets talk about the story now. So the Baron wants the legendary Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car and so he has two bumbling agents constantly trying to get it. They try kidnapping Potts, then going after his father, etc. They don’t really know how to do anything so the heroes aren’t often in a lot of danger. Unfortunately the two biggest liabilities are Pott’s two kids. They don’t have much of a concept of stranger danger and so they run into a van for some candy. They pretty much write the book on why I tend to find kids annoying in this kind of adventure.

The whole story also feels like it takes place in the really olden days because of how the town and castle look. In fairness though, the film itself is fairly old so that was just how things went. There just isn’t really anything interesting to look at during the adventure. I also think this might be where I can better explain what holds the story back. It’s just too serious.

Now hear me out. This is a really silly comedy film so that may sound like I’m missing something. Where the story takes itself too seriously is in how the whole kingdom plot is still taking itself seriously even when the actual characters aren’t. We’re introduced to a whole new town with its own lore and the kingdom has a lot of backstory. You could maybe pull this off in a fully serious film but it’s much harder to do that when the characters don’t really care. You either needed to make this a fully serious film, or cut out the story aspect and just keep the film about everyone messing around and getting into trouble.

While the opening wasn’t ultra interesting, I do think the premise was better than the adventure we got. We could have stuck to seeing Potts and all of his crazy neighbors running around and causing trouble while Truly tries to expose them all as being crazy. I think you could do some crazy shenanigans with that or….make the car fully sentient. I think that would have been funny. Ultimately the film is fairly innocent and harmless but it’s just not doing anything. This one should probably not get a remake, I don’t think you can really save it.

Overall, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a film that just doesn’t work. Even after waiting over 10 years and watching it again…it’s just not entertaining. The fantastical approach didn’t work here and the characters were not strong enough to make up for this. I would highly recommend sticking away from this film. It’s not as if it does anything seriously wrong but at the same time you’re just not entertained which is a big blow against any film.

Overall 3/10

Rings Review

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It’s time for another Ring movie and this one is the weakest yet. It’s time for a whole lot of exposition to things that we already know about. There aren’t any real great characters here and the film falls into the usual issue of the whole thing being futile. The main characters have absolutely no chance of claiming victory here and will only continue to be absolutely crushed. The film desperately needs to introduce a villain to fight the demon or something because the humans are not cutting it.

The movie starts with Samara crashing an airplane filled with people because at least two of them had seen the video. Everyone is now doomed and upon their death we cut to the real main characters. Julia is the heroine here and her boyfriend heads off to College but they swear to stay together. They will make the long distance relationship work. Unfortunately he stops returning her calls early on and the last time they spoke he was surrounded by other student who didn’t seem like good influences. Another girl shows up on his computer and starts acting crazy so Julia drives over to find out what’s going on. Unfortunately she is not entering the middle of an ongoing death experiment.

There’s already a lot wrong with this. Holt just comes across as a terrible character. So he willingly joined an experiment about death, knowing full well about the risks. He bought into the explanation that this can help humanity learn some knowledge or something but with the risk it’s not worth it. Basically Professor Gabriel has a lot of students watch the Ring video. Then before the week is up, they get other students to watch it. You can keep on passing the curse along so that nobody dies but the professor waits for a long time to get a tail on this and so people still keep on dying anyway.

Holt’s excuse here is that he left Julia in the dark so that she wouldn’t get involved. It’s a terribly thought out plan. For starters this would make her nervous and want to come over anyway. If she didn’t, then she probably would have just straight up dumped him. In either case, there is no real winning on this one if you use that strategy. Instead he could have just acted like all was normal and at least texted her back once a day. Even letting her know about the experiments and just hiding parts of it would have worked better. So he’s just not very smart.

He’s also not likable for even getting involved with this in the first place. I’d also throw in that if he had roommates with him, he should have warned Julia in the call before she started stripping. Obviously that’s putting her in a really embarrassing situation otherwise. I can’t say that I was a big fan of Skye either because she was quick to watch the video and then was ready to pass it on to someone else. Not a very nice thing to do and it makes her as guilty as the other characters.

How come nobody suggested just making this into a Daisy Chain? Person A gives it to Person B who gives it to Person C who gives it to Person A, etc. You could do that every 3 days and in theory nobody would ever die. It would certainly be a lot safer than their current plan. Perhaps I missed one of the very sketchy rules about copies here but as far as I know this would work. Now admittedly, I still have to stretch some disbelief to understand how Gabriel found out so much about these rules. I guess you could say through a lot of trial and error but it’s always weird to have someone figure out so much about this.

Unfortunately that doesn’t save us from the exposition as we still have Julia and Holt travelling the world to learn more about Samara and her past. This is basically retreading a ton of old ground that we have already went through so I can tell you that this was incredibly dull. We already know that Samara is evil so it’s not like finding out more is going to help. The film introduces another big villain in her father but Samara is not some random victim.

She has been murdering dozens of people for years and has already said that she would never stop. While the father was crazy and evil himself, you knew that he didn’t stand a chance. He was blind so perhaps he figured that would be a natural defense against her curse but what he didn’t realize was that Samara has the ability to restore someone’s eyesight. Checkmate! I know that sounds pretty ridiculous but as long as you keep in mind that she is all powerful then it works out.

So you don’t really have any likable characters here. Gabriel should be treated as another big villain here as well since he was a mass murderer by showing the video to so many people. He may claim it was for science and stuff but that doesn’t give him a free pass. When Samara messes them all over by stopping the video from being copied, you can’t even feel too bad because people were already dying anyway. At least this will stop all of the experiments.

There just comes a point where you wonder what the point of this all is. Samara cannot be defeated or even slowed down at this point. She can take anyone down and even possess others whenever she wants to. You can try to burn the tapes but she will return right away and ignore every attempt to stop her. She seems rather slow so you could in theory run away from her but then she’ll just have you choke from bugs or be in some Final Destination type explosion. There is no escape and there is no way to beat her so everything is absolutely brutal.

I guess I can say that the film is at least not ultra violent. It certainly has its moments but isn’t on the same level as something like Final Destination or Halloween. The film makes up for this with a lot of disturbing imagery and just dark themes in general. This is definitely not what you would call a feel good movie nor does it have much in the way of replay value. There aren’t even a ton of scares to be had. Yeah we get some jump scares and all but the exposition part of the film is reallllly long. Honestly there is no easy way to save this franchise. Giving her a weak point would be a good start but it doesn’t seem like that is in the cards. Maybe at least give us a likable character.

Overall, Rings has more pertinent things to say about long distance relationships than actual lore about Samara. It’s all recycled at this point so you just don’t care. Her father has a good voice for exposition but the character himself is just randomly evil without a whole lot of development. I would definitely recommend staying far away from this film. It doesn’t meaningfully upgrade the Ring series and just takes a few steps back instead. Maybe the next film will be better…one can hope.

Overall 2/10

.hack//Liminality Review

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This is a quick OVA series that I started a long time ago. With the final part of the PS2 .Hack series completed, it was time to finally watch all of the episodes. It’s fun to see what was going on in the real world while all of the fighters were in The World trying to stop The Wave. As a result this one is a bit more of a low key adventure but you still have some danger going on here. The most important part is really being able to connect the dots and see the pieces that you were only aware of in the background before now.

The special starts with Mai’s boyfriend being put into a coma after playing “The World”. It is a super popular game and everyone is playing it so people figure that it must have been a coincidence. Mai was playing as well but managed to wake up for some reason. Well, she isn’t satisfied with the situation as it is and wants to find a way to bring him back. She is approached by a man named Tokuoka who used to work for CC Corporation who are the ones behind the World. He tells Mai that the game is responsible but proving it and finding a cure will be difficult. Also, can she really trust him? The longer that the World is able to survive, the more damage the planet takes in the real world.

There is also a tough moral dilemma to deal with here. The mysterious monster within The World will keep on destroying more characters and sending their real life players into a coma for as long as he is active. If the game is deleted, then that will prevent any more victims from popping up but at the same time it will completely doom the ones that are present. Naturally that means the company is going after the first option in order to limit the liability and bury the proof of the glitch but the main characters want to save everyone that they can. It is with the knowledge that they could be creating new victims though which is why I wouldn’t say that this is easy by any means.

For what it’s worth, I would have to say that they made the right decision here. As long as there is a chance, you should not give up on the people who need help. So Mai and the others continue to push on. Each episode mainly focuses on different characters here. The first is about Mai and Tokuoka, the second is about Yuki and Kaoru, the third one is about Kyoko, Bith, and Tokuoka, then the final episode has everyone in. It’s a pretty good way to slowly build things up each time.

From the 4 episodes, I would say the second one definitely has the highest level of danger. The two heroines are trapped in a building that has entered lockdown mode with a lot of fires breaking out. If they don’t escape quickly then it’ll all be over. Naturally most of humanity immediately starts panicking and makes a run for it so you want to avoid those. Yuki and Kaoru do their best to escape the crowd and get away but it’s not easy. They have to use the vents at the ceiling of the floor and I always thought that looked really tough. I don’t consider myself to be super claustrophobic and yet I would have to do a double take there.

My favorite character in this series was Kaoru. She really only appears in the second episode but does a good job of staying calm and getting Yuki out of the building. Perhaps she would have survived on her own or perhaps not, but Kaoru made sure this was a guarantee. She put herself at risk and even got a sprained ankle out of this but did her best throughout. It’s why you always want to have an adult around in a high pressure situation. This is one of the rare titles where the adults actually hold their own with the kids.

As for Yuki, she panics a bit too much for my liking. She doesn’t really think things through and gets herself into trouble as a result. It’s just how these things go but since all of the other characters were really focused the whole time, it made her look a little worse in comparison. She did contribute in the final episode so I’ll give her that but it’s more of a consolation than anything else.

Then we have Bith who really came in handy by the end. He shows up rather mysteriously but has good connections like with the super hacker Helba. Without him, the characters wouldn’t have made it in time to save their cyber companions. He is also good at bluffing and has just enough credentials to hold up against the CC Corporation. I imagine that he probably spent all of his goodwill within this mission but it was worth it.

Kyoko also shows up a bit later into the series than the other characters but is able to help out right away. She is ready for the fighting to take place although you do have to keep your expectations within reason since for the most part everyone here is just a normal civilian. They’re not going to be putting in crazy combos and taking down tons of opponents or anything like that. This isn’t that kind of series.

Mai is still the central focus here and her character is interesting. She seems rather emotionless for a while and I thought that was going to be a full plot point but it mainly went away. I suppose that’s just how she is. For example she didn’t seem to care a whole lot that her boy friend went into a coma but maybe that was meant to just show that she was trying to cope with things. The guy was moving a bit fast in the flashback but it seemed like the event still ended positively with them. So I’ll assume all is well.

It does make her a good lead because it’s hard to know what is really going through her mind. She’s a bit of a wild card in that respect. I also think she had good reason not to trust someone like Tokuoka for a while there. If anything I would have been more wary of him like her friend Masaya. He did not trust Tokuoka at all and did his best to warn Mai about him. Ultimately she just wasn’t really interested in heeding those words. Masaya is a bit helpless but I appreciate him at least trying to protect her.

As for Tokuoka, well he is a good guy. He’s just as shady as it gets and I suppose that is bound to happen when you are fighting a multi billion dollar company. The series starts and ends with him getting beaten up. The poor guy definitely takes a whole lot of punishment but in the end is a critical piece to stopping The World so he can hang his hat on that.

This is a side piece to the games so the terms might get a little tricky for you. If you’re just watching this title you may miss some of the context but you can still enjoy it as a good conspiracy story. It is obvious that big business is hiding something and the heroes have to stop them. It’s a compelling piece either way. In order to get to the next level I think we would have just needed to have had some more suspense.

Ultimately there is only so much you can do with 4 episodes after all but I thought it was still a good adventure. The animation is also solid although there aren’t a ton of action scenes to really test it. It did help back up the eerie atmosphere of the series. It just feels like everyone is always very isolated and with glitches affecting the real world, you aren’t safe anywhere. This is not a horror by any means but I thought the atmosphere was crafted pretty well.

The soundtrack is really good as you will hear a lot of the classic .Hack songs. I liked each of the intros and it was cool to see the video game scenes from the accompanying volume at the same time. It helps to really tie the adventures together. Even with that you may lose track of some of the characters but you’re only meant to really focus on the ones in the real world here. One character even surpasses the speed of light with her reaction times.

Overall, .Hack/Liminality is a good example of an anime that may get a little confusing if you were to start with this as your first experience with the franchise. I think you’ll still have a good time but it might be worth playing the games first. Either way I would recommend this series. It’s so rare to see what people are doing in the real world while the superheroes are fighting so it’s just a fun angle. The CC Corporation is also shown to be as evil as they can be so this isn’t one of those situations where you will be on the fence. It’s clear that The World really needs to be stopped even if 99% of the player base doesn’t even know what is going on. One more episode to focus on the fall out and what the government does would be fun but you can probably imagine that for yourself.

Overall 6/10

.Hack//Quarantine Part 4 Review

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After 8 years since part 3, it was time to dive into the final part. This one is incredibly difficult to get a hold of because it is completely out of print. Usually it goes for hundreds and hundreds of dollars so you’re really expecting a grand climax here. It was definitely fun to see the ending and everything about the game was nostalgic. That said, it is fairly short next to the other games and you’ll breeze through it. The longest part here was definitely just grinding normal enemies for the virus cores.

The story begins with the heroes preparing for their final battle. The Wave is approaching and intends to end everyone once and for all. The World is in danger and if this attempt to stop the Wave fail, then it will be too late to save anyone who is already in a coma. To prepare for this, the heroes have to defeat phases 7 and 8 of the virus. Get ready for some long dungeons.

So the game makes up for a lack of new dungeons by having absolutely massive ones in the area that remain. One of them is close to 20 floors and that dungeon took me around 2 hours to complete. Imagine losing at the end of that right? The boss had 6 phases and he wasn’t even the final boss. Granted, the final boss technically had less phases with 5 but was still really difficult to defeat. These are styled as raid bosses so they are meant to take a long while. Of course that means it would be rough to die when you’re deep into a boss. Fortunately I never lost in a phase after the first one. The first phase of one boss did manage to take me for a spin several times but then I got used to him.

I recommend having 100 revives, restoratives, and potions with you at all time. A single boss can have you using close to 80% of that. Also make sure to stock your allies with these as well for when the boss hits you with an unblockable/undodgeable one hit KO move. That may sound cheesy but every boss in the final game has this ability. It’s probably one of the only games I can think of where you can be taken down in one hit at level 99. That is super crazy but does reinforce how big teamwork is here.

You will need to set up your teammates with their orders and then dynamically continue to issue new ones the whole time. You really have to stay sharp because if you stop for even an instant then you might lose. Make sure you keep several different equipment’s ready for every part so that you can shift elements as needed. The bosses are constantly switching after all and so you have to do that as well. You can only hold around 30 types of items at a time though so you will always be running on full.

Another thing to keep in mind here is that the final dungeon has a ton of data enemies. These cannot be defeated until you have hit them with Data Drain. The problem? That increases your corruption levels. The more you do it, the more “glitches” affect your character. The effects are drastic like casting negative spells on your teammates or even losing entire level ups. I lost 2-3 levels during the final dungeon. There is even a chance that you can jump right into a game over screen. Fortunately that didn’t happen to me but I can tell you that I was definitely feeling the pressure here. My corruption level was deep in the red at the time so I knew that I was right on the border here. One wrong hit and that would be it.

The most annoying part of the game is definitely about obtaining virus cores though. Basically you have to hit enemies with your data drain ability and sometimes they will drop a core or an item. You then have to run back to an older world and best enemies to lower your corruption level and then try again. There is a lot of repetition here. Also you won’t get more than 1 EXP per enemy when you data drain them so this slows down your progress. You need a ton of cores for the final dungeons. I spent over half of my time in this game getting cores. There may be a faster way to do it but this was the best way that I knew.

I will say that the game does have a lot of replay value in terms of other dungeons. There are almost an unlimited amount of dungeons you could play through for fun. Additionally there are a lot of side quest dungeons to play through and even little games like tag against a demon. Those all help to add up to the play through if you want to have fun there. The game even has a post game with some more crazy dungeons. Getting trough that will definitely not be easy.

The graphics have aged pretty well. It definitely feels a whole lot like you are inside of an MMORPG. You get full on cutscenes and of course the text ones. The full voice acting also feels ahead of its time here. Finally the soundtrack is also pretty good. A lot of great tunes all the way around and at this point they feel pretty iconic. The 4 .Hack games really lasted a long while and it feels great to have made it to the end.

Overall, This was a fun way to end the saga. It was fun to be able to keep my levels from the first 3 games. Starting this one around the 70s after all was pretty impressive. I also like the way the level up system has a consistent 1000XP for each level and how much you get is just based on your level. I could do without the virus core mechanics though. It really feels like that doesn’t add a whole lot to anything. It’s more of a needless grind than anything. I suppose a lot of games ill have something like this to extend the play time but I’d prefer to have more main dungeons or something instead. Now I can finally go ahead and play the .Hack GU games and I can safely say that I have really high hopes for those. They always looked like a ton of fun. This next installment of 4 games shouldn’t take me as long as the first 4.

Overall 7/10