Haridama Magic Cram School Review

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It’s time for a magic manga that sure ended fast. Oneshots are always interesting to read through and then see afterwards if it could have worked as a long ongoing. In this title’s case, it might have been for the best that it ended. It does seem like there is more they could have done but the premise/battle system itself seems like it really limits the series. It’s an interesting angle to choose but at the same time you would have to either throw out a lot of the concepts early on or find a convenient way around them.

The series introduces us to a world of magic where people train in the ways of sorcery. The main character is named Kokuyo and unfortunately he is unable to use magic easily. He has to have a stone with him at all times to use even the most basic of spells. As a result he tends to act out a lot and doesn’t take things seriously. He’s starting off with a disadvantage so why even bother getting past it right? Well another student named Harika isn’t a complete quitter and so she has actually developed some pretty good skills herself. She is ready for the big exam coming up and now Kokuyo has to try hard because he doesn’t want to lose to her. Will he be able to clear this exam or is it all over?

So lets talk about this power system real quick. Everyone has Yin and Yang energy. Aside from the main two, most people can use these energies but only one at a time. So you want to team up with others or just be ready for very long fights. You can use a stone to help you but that seems to be something for the commoners. Kokuyo has a sword which is cool and I think more people should use one since it can actually injure the monsters. Well, by the end of the series it seems like the main two might actually be prodigies who can use both types of energy when they are together. I assume this would be happening a lot going forward. So what are my problems with this?

The whole Yin vs Yang energy is something that has been done better in many other settings. The fact that you have to keep alternating looks super annoying. My main evidence is how even the teachers were taking some time to beat a basic monster. It feels like the power ceiling would be quite low in this series. Kokuyo and Harika may be able to break through that but then you will have everyone wondering why people in universe aren’t more familiar with sharing energy. Why are these two so special?

With a long enough series you can go into that or have people admit they were holding back. Either way that’s just something that is a lot cleaner to fix on the front-end than doing so retroactively. I am judging a whole lot from one volume so I acknowledge that it is possible the author could have won me over with some more time. That just wasn’t the case as this is a one shot so you don’t always get the second chance like that.

As for the characters, the cast was fairly small for now. You have the teacher Sekiei who is always panicking and making a big deal out of everything. He’s okay but not a very interesting kind of character. You know he can fight but that’s about it and I have doubts on just how well he can battle. I wasn’t buying his hype. We have Nekome who is a fairly good student that doesn’t like Kokuyo at all. It doesn’t help that he likes Harika and has to really do a lot to get her attention at all.

It’s a weak romance at best though. If Nekome really liked Harika, you’d think he would be a lot nicer than he is. He’s still big on making fun of Kokuyo for needing the orb when the same is true for her so naturally that gets him into some real trouble there. I was glad to have a rival character of sorts though, that always does a lot to make things interesting and pick up the pacing. Now the battles are automatically more personal by a fairly high degree.

I ended up liking Harika quite a bit more than Kokuyo. Like I mentioned earlier, she didn’t use her circumstances as an excuse. Instead she jumped right into the action and that’s absolutely what you want to see from a character. She just kept on training and fighting to the point where she cold hold her own and pull off any of the normal foes. It’ll probably still take a whole ton of effort to ever be one of the strongest but at least she has not given up on that ambition.

So while I may not be thrilled at some of the rules of the verse, the series was off to a good start here. You had action, a reasonably solid main duo once the main guy starts to shape up and of course you can do a lot with magic. Just keep on throwing in more monsters and you could last for a whole while on that. No ready to jump straight into the big action arc too soon after all, have some good training arcs to build things up and the school setting can be really fun. Just look at Black Clover or Wistoria. There is always an audience for this if it’s executed well.

Meanwhile the art is good. I won’t say that it’s great yet but it is easy to follow along and the character designs are good. The fights we get are fun as well so I definitely don’t have any problems on that front. At least I know if it were to transition into a complete action title played 100% seriously, the art would be ready for it.

Overall, Haridama is a manga that has a very simple/traditional plot and just covers it up with some unique layers. If this became an ongoing I would completely ditch the yin and yang stuff though. You could still have the main two need stones to use magic but in this case it would be more classic. Without the stone they can’t use any magic which is why everyone makes fun of them. Just like that, you’ve got yourself a pretty reasonable series. As a proof of concept, it was fun to check this out and I would recommend reading through it. Again, part of the fun is sort of analyzing why a series didn’t hit big or if it made sense to be a oneshot. In this case it did make sense being a oneshot as it did have some threads to iron out.

Overall 6/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard Will+Dress D2 Review

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This manga is definitely a pretty interesting one. On one hand, it’s over extremely fast. There are only 12 chapters in the series and the whole thing is a quick tournament. So it has nonstop fights which is always fun for me but one thing that takes away from it a bit is that you already know who is going to win. I suppose if you got to read it instantly then maybe you could have gone in blind but the first episode of the season taking place after this one already revealed who would win. So that takes a little of the pop out of guessing who would win the match. Still, there are no real negatives to be had with the story. It’s a fun little title that lets you take a peak at how the characters have improved their deck.

The A.I. that nearly took over the world has decided that it needs to see a little more about how everyone duels. What is behind the magic of Cardfight Vanguard? Well the only way to really find that out is to bring the top 16 players over. Unfortunately there are a few big shots who don’t get to enter the tournament but we do have a lot of fun fighters here like Tohya. The winner will prove themselves to be the next true Cardfight champion. Without further adieu, let the games begin!

Each fight is generally around 1 chapter which makes sense since there are 16 people fighting it out here. Some of the minor fights do have to get skipped or abridged though. I was pulling for Tohya the whole time to be honest and you almost have to assume that he wasn’t giving this tournament his 100%. If he was then he should have done way better. This time there are no true stakes after all and I believe that’s what got to him. He’s the kind of character who performs best under duress and without it he gets to be too calm.

The series randomly introduces a new kid to the tournament roster. So far he has yet to appear in the anime so I’m not sure if it was just to give the manga some kind of exclusive or maybe he will return later on. He was nice enough and seemed like a good duelist but at the same time you’re never really thinking that he stands a chance here. I did like the banter he had with another player back in the shop during the final chapter. I think you could make a fine spinoff series about those two just having fun and dueling everybody.

Raika has a big focus here since he i one of the favorites to win the tournament. It’s nice to see him doing well and still getting really into the duels. He is not my favorite rival among the Cardfight cast, far from it! However, his deck is pretty fun. He goes for a very offensive style so he’s always on the attack which is naturally fun to watch. Certainly far more so than a defensive style although that’s where the duelist’s personality shines through. The right duelist can make any deck fun.

Also, fans of the card game will probably appreciate how in depth the games go. The manga is able to extend some of the fights beyond what the anime typically shows. So you get to really see the fight from start to finish with all of the cards that were used and their effects. You could probably try and pull off each combo yourself eventually. Provided that you own the cards of course.

The art is also pretty good. The characters are all on model and it is an easy title to read. You can really blast through the chapters without any real issues and follow the action at all times. It’s not extremely detailed but works for the approach that they are going for here. The writing is also pretty good. The author could maybe have infused the characters with a bit more personality as they aren’t as strong as in the tv show but of course we are working with a very limited amount of screentime here.

We definitely should have had some more cameos at least though. Showing a bunch of the characters who couldn’t enter the tournament would have been quite a grand idea if you ask me. There’s a lot you could do with that, even throwing in some foreshadowing or sequel bait. For better or worse, this is completely a self contained story that isn’t trying to be anything more ambitious than that. While it might not have a ton of impact right now, I think if they had released this a few years from now instead, it would have been super nostalgic to see all of the classic Will+ Dress characters again. Calling them nostalgic feels pretty weird right now though since I still think of them as being rather recent.

There isn’t much more to discuss for the title because of how direct it is though. You either really enjoy all of the classic duels and seeing the characters hang out or you don’t. This could have probably been stretched another volume or so and we could have really gotten to have the full versions of every duel in the tournament. That’s pretty much unheard of so it would have also put this manga on the map. Either way I look forward to seeing what manga they come up next. A crossover at some point would be awesome between classic, G, and the Dress series.

Overall, This was a pretty good mini series. Not every card title has to include end of the world stakes after all. I would have liked something to spruce the tournament up a little bit more though like some more banter and setup before the matches though. I think part of why this title feels extra low key is because everybody is super polite and professional. You don’t have any delinquents or people who are really trying to make a splash and change things up. Everyone treats this as if it’s their full time job and it is for some players but usually the series does a good job of still keeping all of the personalities really colorful. I would challenge a future series to spend more time making the characters interesting next time. Still, I would recommend checking this out whenever you have the time.

Overall 7/10

Shiver Review

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It’s time for a horror anthology in manga format! Now that’s definitely a twist if I’ve ever seen one. I will say that the series definitely does have that spooky vibe the whole time. The stories each do a good job of exploring different fears and really being on the unnerving side. It’s a very disturbing collection and not one I would really recommend to the average manga enjoyer. It can definitely be a little too violent and disturbing but it is probably the most unsettling title you’ll ever read.

The first story is a fairly low key one. So this one guy has a record and his friend always come by to listen to it. She wants to borrow it just for a while but he refuses. He’s just super into the record and doesn’t want anyone to have it. So she promptly steals the record and accidently murders him for it. From there, everyone else wants to hear the record as well and so she continues to be chased. There’s just something about the record that makes you want to hear it. The record was apparently recorded by a famous singer after the singer had already been dead and this seems to have the power to force other corpses to keep on singing as well. There is no escape.

Definitely a spooky story right out of the gate and also why you probably shouldn’t steal stuff. People can go absolutely nuts about their possessions even in the real world. Not something you should die for of course, that’s just where the real horror comes in. I would say this one is scary more for the fact that everyone is hunting you than the actual record though. The record itself is ominous but it seems like you’ll be okay if you let it go. The shop owner lived all these years after all. You just can’t afford to hang onto that thing.

After that we have a story with holes. I remember hearing about this phobia back when I was looking into making homemade cheese chips since quite a number of recipes had a warning about this. I guess holes can be unnerving and I won’t say it’s easy to look at. I don’t think I have the phobia per say but I was making sure not to stare at the characters too hard to find out. Basically this one guy has a next door neighbor who is filled with holes. She seems friendly one moment and then scary the next. He mainly avoids her but this holes disease appears to be contagious and there is a mysterious gardener around. Lets just say this one is even harder to avoid because it’s all happening right next door to the main character. The odds of getting out alive are super slim.

It doesn’t help that his friend is way too greedy and trying to find things out. This just puts them in more and more danger. Half the time in any event it pays to mind your business. If someone is in trouble then of course you gotta help but otherwise it’s not good to be nosy just to be nosy. Particularly with an illness that you don’t really know anything about. I guess he had reason to think something nefarious might be going on but definitely didn’t pick the best routes to uncovering the truth.

Then we have one of the more straight up violent stories. One guy is weirded out when he opens a fashion magazine and there is a really ugly girl inside. Why would she be a model? She looks like an absolutely insane horror jump scare type of monster. His friends who are filming for a movie think it would be brilliant to hire her though. So they pick her up and drive everyone to the forest for the shoot. They can all see that she is no conventionally attractive but don’t seem to be taking it quite as serious as the lead. Maybe they can’t really see her complete fangs and the fact that she’s almost 10 feet?

One thing you will continue to notice as you read through the stories is that the characters rarely act rational. They are all super strange and weird which is part of the horror. So for the main character it makes him/her have some doubts. Maybe the scary stuff is just in the mind? In this story that definitely plays with his head enough to the point where he actually still goes to the forest with the others. Then when the monster starts to actively eat people, it takes too long for him to even try and make a move. Ultimately things do not go well and the story is definitely one of the scariest ones because once they are in the forest you know there is no way out.

After that is definitely the most interesting story and the one they ought to make a movie on. It starts off with a girl hanging herself and then another guy follows suit. The weird thing is after they do this, their large heads appear in the sky like balloons. These balloons begin to spread and soon even people who are alive have their own giant balloons in the sky. These balloons are actively hunting down humans and taking their heads off. If you murder a balloon, you end up destroying the person whose face it was representing. You see the issue already right? You can’t actually destroy these things without ending the human race.

So as the weeks go by, more and more people are defeated. There is no way to go outside to get any food and it’s also just a depressing silence once you are the last ones around. As always some characters look pretty weird with how they just run off to get bumped off but I guess you could say the pressure finally got to them. The main character actually lasts quite a long time but at the end of the day it’s pretty much inevitable that everyone would fall. In a way you could also call this an alien invasion kind of plot. There is just so much more potential here to make it a really long story too.

Next up is a story about marionettes. The main character grew up in a family that relied on these puppet shows for money and stability. Ultimately this went on to an unhealthy degree and the father died after a while and the two songs went their separate ways. One day the main character’s brother returns but he’s a bit off. He has decided to no longer move on his own and instead he has servants who move his limbs for him. How? Through puppet strings. He is married with a kid and that had to be an interesting process. The main character thinks this is all super strange but unfortunately his little sister is super into this and ends up joining the group. You can imagine that this is not good for your bones when you aren’t moving them for so long and sure enough, that is the case but there is also a supernatural presence at work.

This was a pretty good story and definitely another strange one. My only problem and it’s a big problem is that I didn’t like what happened to the main character’s friend. In a lot of these stories it is all about karma and such but she really did nothing wrong. I don’t see why she had to have such a violent end. It felt completely unwarranted to me and just too radical. Ended things on a bit of a sour note there.

Then we have a story about a painter. He’s the best at what he does but one day a lady shows up and explains that she is the most beautiful in the world. So he decides to paint her and thinks he did a good job but she laughs and runs off. The problem is that her beauty is other worldly and now he can’t live normally. He is obsessed with her and runs around trying to find her. Thing is, everyone who draws or paints her ends up dying and he is no exception. He will be the one to finish her off first though.

This is one of the weakest stories. Not much of a hook or climax here and the characters just seemed a little too crazy unprompted. I guess I don’t really see what was so scary about this one except the general horror of meeting a girl who is so beautiful that she takes over your mind. It just felt more on the mean spirited side and desperately needed some kind of a twist about the girl being a demon or something. That could have helped big time.

Then we have a story that is definitely really scary. This one guy has a condition where he is experiencing “Long Dreams”. The dreams get longer and longer every time he goes to sleep. The first time he was asleep, he lived out several weeks, then this turns into years, and eventually he is sleeping for decades. He can’t keep track of what is going on in the real world and the doctor isn’t making much ground. Will he ever end up being okay?

This story is scary for the guy dreaming to be sure. After all if you are stuck in a nightmare then you’re really sunk. What if you die in the dream as well? There are a whole lot of possibilities and none that are particularly good. There is also no way out since you will eventually fall asleep no matter how much you try to resist it. There is just no going against your physical limitations there. I’d also say it’s something you can picture to an extent. Less dramatized of course but a scary situation all around.

Then we have a story about the ancestors curse and it’s the worst one. So this one girl got amnesia somehow so she doesn’t remember her fiancé or anybody. He tries to jog her memory but nothing works so they figure they will take things slow. He takes her over to his place and the whole time she is wondering what could have been so scary that she got amnesia. Well, it’s because his father’s head is connected to a bunch of other heads that go on for generations with no real end. His son will be taking over the family business and needs a descendent right away.

It’s definitely scary although I don’t see how you would get amnesia from that, much less getting it twice. The story itself was quite forced and it definitely has the meanest ending of the lot. Not really something that you want to see here. You were hoping the collection would end with a bang but the strongest stories had already passed by this point. The next one isn’t all that much better either.

The final main story is about a family with an oil addiction. They just can’t help it, they’re always drinking oil and so their bodies are starting to mutate. The main character refuses to do this but her family isn’t giving her much choice and gives her oil while she’s sleeping. She should run away immediately but sticks around too long and the cycle keeps continuing. This story is definitely going for the gross factor as everyone is slimy and the whole town is basically being hit by this. There is no escape to be had by that point.

It’s just such a weird story. I wouldn’t call it scary either to be honest unless you tend to think that gross things are scary. Either way this would definitely be more of a mis for me. There is a super short bonus comic at the end about a girl getting ripped apart but that story was also in bad taste and could definitely be skipped. I’m telling you, the final stories were not trying all that hard!

The art isn’t bad, it’s got a very simple look to it without too many details but it works well for the horror vibes that they are going for. The characters definitely look very memorable the whole time. So I wouldn’t change anything about that. The writing is solid and I would just say the author can sometimes go a little too far with the stories. Tone them down somewhat and there would be a lot of potential here. The ideas themselves are definitely very unique after all.

Overall, Shiver is a pretty scary anthology. I would say it nails the horror genre in ways that would be very difficult for any other title to match. It does feel rather unsettling the whole time. That said, it can just be a little too violent and some areas are much too mean spirited. Horror titles in general have a lot that they have to try and avoid after all. There are many ways in which they can fumble and ultimately I would say this title should be counted among them. If you are going to read it, definitely read at night for maximum impact.

Overall 3/10

Oujia: Origin of Evil Review

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When you have a movie about Ouija, the odds of it being good are super slim to none. There’s just not much you can do with this demonic board game and of course the whole premise tends to revolve around a bunch of annoying characters deciding to play it because they’re bored. Not a particularly good idea and things tend to spiral from there. This one does not try to shake up that formula in any way which is too bad. It’ll not go down in history as one of the all time greats.

The movie starts with Alice doing a spooky seance for an old man who wants to know if his wife would approve him doing a pretty bad transaction. Alice may not have powers but she does know how to scam people along with the help of her two daughters Lina and Doris. Ultimately the scam doesn’t go too well as they scare him a bit too much and Alice ends up not accepting his money. Ever since her husband died, she has had to take drastic measures in order to take care of her family and one of these measures was to become a professional scammer. She has everything set up around the house and she even decides to buy a Ouija board. The problem is that it comes with a free demon and this thing is now messing with Doris. Doris is now exhibiting supernatural powers but also becoming more sinister and violent. Can Alice do anything about this?

The two girls go to school where we have Father Tom at the ready so at least he has some spiritual defenses but unfortunately as it would usually appear, his powers aren’t as good as the villains. He’s basically defenseless when it counts. It’s too bad because he is a nice guy and definitely the best character in the film. He does his best to keep everyone in check and also doesn’t break his vows to start a romance with Alice who can seem a little desperate at times. He stays true to himself but ultimately isn’t a huge factor.

Alice is doing her best but at the end of the day I can’t cut her much slack for the scamming. Scamming is really a serious thing. It is one of those crimes that preys on the weak and that makes it even more dishonorable. It also takes her a long while to get with the program that these changes to Doris are pretty bad and have to be stopped.

Lina learns this earlier but in general is also a huge troublemaker so I wouldn’t say that she is a great character or anything like that. My first big gripe with her is how she keeps causing a ton of trouble and breaking the rules when she already knows that her mom is in a tough spot. The least she could do is be on her best behavior but instead she’s constantly flirting with a boy from school, breaking curfew, sneaking out the back, drinking alcohol, etc. Her rebellious phase came in a very big way and it’s definitely disappointing.

Then we have Doris who is super easy for the demon to manipulate. The instant she was talking about invisible friends and stuff the other characters should have shut it down but the sad thing is that it all would have been futile anyway. No matter what she could have done, the demon would have still overpowered her anyway. I will say that the movie does a pretty good job with the CG though. Whenever Doris is possessed she opens her mouth like a huge yawn but they really stretch it out. Think like when Goku was yelling while being crushed by Vegeta. Her mouth gets absolutely huge. Then you also have the possessed eyes although that’s more standard.

The movie’s effects were surprisingly good. I also liked the demon’s design. It looked like a fierce threat and something completely other worldly. That’s about the extent of the credit I can give to the film though. Beyond that like I said it’s just your average horror title. The humans are absolutely outmatched, the demon doesn’t really have much of a weakness, and so there’s nothing to really get invested in. When you know that all of the characters are completely doomed then that takes some of the enjoyment out of the whole thing.

With more likable characters you could at least try something but again, they were all super annoying. That one guy who was trying after Lina was just way too much the whole time so you don’t feel as bad for him as you could have. The whole whispering into the ear trick that the demon does is also a bit on the silly side. Alice’s husband has the idea to staple the villain’s mouth shut but that’s not even a good plan because it involves you needing to be strong enough to overcome the demon in the first place. You need incredible amounts of plot armor for that to even come close to working so it’s barely even a plan at all.

Why can’t he just possess an object or a person and help fight the demon? He is apparently good enough to mess with a little doll so he can affect the real world to a small extent. He’s just got to do a whole lot better than that. I also think Tom should have called the Vatican to send an exorcist over as soon as he knew that something was wrong with the daughter. How much more proof do you need once she is writing in other languages and acting so crazy? He decides to go to the house first and let them know…which is a terrible idea. He knows that she has supernatural powers now so how would that possibly help?

Overall, Ouija definitely has a swing and a miss here. It wasn’t a particularly enjoyable film and one of these days they need to have the heroes fight back a little more. Of course that would mean not having the demon possess a little kid this time. I feel like it usually tends to be the kids but if you pick an adult then we can have some fights. Give the demon some form of a weakness or limitation so that the fights can matter as well. As long as we’re stuck in this cycle, the films will continue to stumble their way to the finish line.

Overall 2/10

Curse of the Black Widow Review

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This has to be one of the weirdest films I’ve ever seen. The tone is absolutely all over the place, the soundtrack has 0 consistency, the plot is super convoluted with a ton of twists, the main character looks like Vince from WWE, there are tons of crazy facial expressions, we have a surprising amount of world building for no reason, and there is even some sequel bait. This film just could not calm down and while it starts to get a bit tiring by the second half, I just have to appreciate the ambition. I actually think there was a ton of creativity here and a whole lot of possibilities to make this into a great film. It couldn’t quite get there and I have my share of issues but it was better than I was expecting.

So the movie starts off with Mark at the bar having a bunch of drinks when a beautiful lady shows up and asks for one of the men to escort her to the car. Specifically she only wants one of the guys so Mark goes back to his drink wishing that he was selected. He would quickly change his tune though as they hear yelling and when he heads outside, the guy has been murdered and the lady is nowhere to be seen. It turns out that her name is Valerie and now she is a suspect in the murder. Mark is hired by a lady named Leigh who explains that she was the guy’s girlfriend. The police suspect that she is behind this because her excuse of not showing up to meet her boyfriend as planned was one of the flimsiest that we’ve heard. Basically the rain was too hard. Mark decides to take up the case and he’s about to fall into a whole conspiracy of craziness.

Okay so the first thing that will stand out here is the strong soundtrack. You have a lot of really fast paced jingles and the movie is generally going for a very energetic vibe. Things are just popping and it really doesn’t match the scary vibe the movie is going for. Yeah sometimes the film will get a little quiet and it will try to get ominous but by then it’s just way too late. I liked the music though, it may not be all that fitting most of the time but it does liven things up which is always cool.

Then Mark also has a ton of facial expressions all the time with a bunch of zoom ins here and there. He is visibly shocked by just about everything and doesn’t even know the basics about spiders. This guy doesn’t seem like he would be a particularly good detective and I can imagine him getting emotionally involved with all of his clients. He seemed a little too eager to take up Leigh’s offer after all and then later on he starts to get a bit jealous at the dance. He doesn’t strike me as a very upstanding guy and is someone you’d probably be better off avoiding the whole time.

Still, he does have that obnoxious kind of personality that lets him strong arm anyone who gets in his way. He has a lot of connections and even members of the cops are ready to help him. We learn about the women who are able to turn into spiders and have super abilities among other such legends. He is really hard pressed to believe any of it for a good while but finally comes around after the proof is truly undeniable.

I liked the chief of police, Gully. Yeah he doesn’t always make the best decisions and probably keeps the situation a little too tight lipped but what I can respect about him is that he doesn’t back down. Mark can bully most of the side characters along to his whims but not this guy. No sirrrrr, Gully is here for the long haul and gets the final say. That’s the kind of guy you want in charge of the investigation.

Now, another area I have to give the film props in is with the subplot at the house where you have Laura and a kid. This plot randomly showed up near the beginning of the movie and had nothing to do with anything. Then wayyyyy later on it returns and still seems to be out of place. They’re talking about secrets, Leigh is involved, etc. It’s only by the end where we get a machine gun styled swarm of twist after twist. The plots end up converging but it took so long that I actually started to think that the film forgot about it. Yeah that would be crazy but I did start to really consider it.

Honestly, the film would be better off without any of that anyway. It’s the weakest part of the film by far. I preferred to have this mysterious lady going around bumping men off for rejecting her. That’s a much scarier premise than having all the family drama and learning everything about the past. I don’t want to know more about the character, I want to just focus on how to stop her. We have this one guy who easily seduces the lady and every scene with him is absolutely painful. You’re just rooting for someone to transform into a spider and eat him already.

Also the film gets some kudos for having the first guys to actually have some class. It feels like in almost every film, the guy will buckle immediately if a pretty woman so much as talks to him. Doesn’t matter if he’s married or engaged, he just starts blubbering like a fool and cheats immediately. Not the case this time! The first two girls actually turn Valerie down which is why they are absolutely crushed. I appreciated the resolve there. Would have been nice if they could fight too but let me not get greedy. It was just a nice change of pace to see.

Also this is a better vampire film than most vampire titles and that’s even without having any kind of vampire in it. We still had the blood sucking but it was generally not on screen and the way it was handled with the tendrils was way better than biting the neck. Spiders just have a more pleasant way of going about things.

Overall, Curse of the Black Widow is an absolutely wild ride. It’s crazy just how much is going on and it’s all so rapid. Even with that, the second half does drag on a bit with all the exposition and twists. I super did not care about anything that was happening there and wanted to go back to the mystery. That’s what they should have focused on and the movie would have been better off for it. At the end of the day I wouldn’t recommend the film, it made too many mistakes. Still, it was considerably better than I expected and you see so many missed opportunities that it hurts, but you can feel the ambition. The movie took a wide swing and while it missed, it was a fair effort.

Overall 4/10

Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream Review

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It’s time to enter the world of Sword Art Online for the ultimate crossover hype! Lets just say this is one of those games that you can’t put down. It’s a really great experience that keeps you at the edge of your seats. The story may be shorter than the average game in the franchise but the crossover appeal more than makes up for that. It’s just such a good story and this is what I would have liked to have seen for Jump Force, the latest Super Smash, Marvel vs Capcom, etc. This game understands what people want to see in crossovers like this, which is a lot of unique character interactions.

The story begins with Kirito and his friends taking down some monsters and having fun in ALO. One thing that doesn’t make sense though is how Quinella is hanging out with the crew and Kirito doesn’t question this. Well, it turns out this is because the various worlds have all been warped and the characters have had their memories sealed. This didn’t work on Quinella since she is generally too powerful for any hax and she wakes Kirito up. The two of them must now wake everyone up and figure out exactly what is going on here. It’s also not just the heroes who have been awaken but the villains as well. Hopefully they are willing to play ball.

Now this is the one part of the story that will probably have you giving it the side glance just a bit. The odds of someone like Death Gun working with the heroes seems slim to none. Additionally some villains just deserve to get beat up the whole time like Oberon. Some villains make sense for the redemption arc like Heathcliff but that’s not the case for the majority. I suppose at best you could say this just works because the villains know they would be absolutely crushed if they try anything. It’s not the most convincing argument but it’s the best that I’ve got.

The graphics were really solid with this one. The character designs even felt a bit more light novel inspired which works well. It’s a very colorful game and they really nailed the feeling of seeing all of the different game environments mesh into one. Meanwhile the soundtrack is pretty fun as well. I will admit I was hoping for a lyrical song at the end though since the series is so well known for that. It was pretty surprising now to have that included in some fashion. The grand finale still felt really epic with all of the characters getting their hype dialogue but this could have really helped to push it over the edge.

Even with a fairly nice sized story mode, the game’s content is focused on the online. So that’s where most of the modes are and you will probably want to get the PS+ so you can really experience it. A large number of the trophies are connected to that as well so I’m not even going to get close to obtaining the platinum without it. Playing with friends and tackling the super bosses does sound like a good deal of fun though. It’s definitely an added bonus. There isn’t really any offline content outside of the story mode so you should keep that in mind in terms of replay value.

After you beat the game, you can aim to get a bunch of S ranks I suppose. The trophy related to that is for getting half of them so that doesn’t sound too bad to me. I got a few S ranks here and there and they would probably be even easier when replaying the levels since your characters are a lot stronger. Down the road that is the trophy I would aim for since it actually feels really achieveable. I won’t call it super easy or anything like that and it will take some time though.

While the gameplay can be a little slippery, I appreciate that each character plays in a way that is accurate to their game. The GGO characters have machine guns, zoom in, and all of the usual controls associated with a shooting game. the ALO players can fly and zip through the air which is really cool, etc. Then each character has their unique skills, a number of special attacks and more. The game absolutely put the effort in and I definitely appreciate that. This did feel like a fun anniversary treat for the fans and I hope we do get more Sword Art Online games. There are endless possibilities for a fun online environment like this so I don’t see why you would ever really need to stop. The days of adventuring with Kirito must go on!

Overall, This was an absolutely hype game all the way through. It’s probably my favorite of the Sword Art Onlines. Having this original story was a lot of fun and while the combat itself may not be the most advanced, I can see how they went with the more arcade style for online. This way anyone can just jump in and it’s easier to coordinate everybody. The large scale of this is fun and the story mode does work as a good intro to the online. Next time there is a free PS+ weekend I’ll definitely check it out even if just to get a few more trophies in there.

Overall 8/10

Corridors of Blood Review

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This is one of those films that will make you shake your head. The characters make a lot of dicey decisions but in particular the main character really doesn’t look very smart at all. You’ll have a hard time believing that he is a scientist of any sort. He just keeps on making so many wrong turns that you definitely have to put a lot of active blame on him. Without him, the villains would not have gotten nearly as far as they did.

The movie starts by introducing us to Thomas who is known as the greatest surgeon in the business. This guy can handle operations very quickly which minimizes the pain to the patient. Still, he is not satisfied. There has to be a way to knock the patient out before conducting a large scale operation and he is determined to find this path. He experiments with a bunch of drugs and formulas to try and get the timing down but doesn’t use any assistants. So he drugs himself and the side effects are rather strong. He bungles his way into Black Ben’s hideout where the guy steals his notebook and forces a partnership. Thomas will now need to team up with these crooks in order to continue. Is this really worth it?

Naturally the goal of inventing anesthesia is a very good one. I can’t imagine going through most operations without something to knock me out. Pain on that level is just scary to even think about. It’s pretty rough seeing the people yelling on the tables as they’re chopped up. So you sympathize with Thomas but he doesn’t act much like a professional with how he runs tests on himself without anybody around to document the effects. That’s why you have more than one person in general. You need someone who can witness what is going on and give you an unbiased account of the events. Additionally, you can’t trust your own recollection or memory since at times you will be completely under. Trying to do this on his own was a fool’s errand from the jump.

Then even that might not have been so bad if he could lock the doors or something until he was completely sober. Instead he wanders around outside and gets into trouble. The whole scene of him getting pickpocketed is super embarrassing. Then even once he’s in his right mind, it was rather easy to convince him to help out. Thomas figures that trading the lives of a few people and some dead bodies is worth it for science but it’s a slippery slope. Naturally these villains continue to get worse and worse.

So I didn’t like Thomas in the end. He ended up just giving the villains too much leeway. His son wasn’t much better with how he didn’t even try to think of any ideas. His wife probably could have warned Thomas more as well on the risks involved with the science, but she isn’t a scientist so I put the least amount of blame on her. In the end, the best hero by far was Inspector Donovan. Finally we had someone with a little sense around here. I was glad when he pointed out that the time to act was now. He busted through with his men and really made short work of the villains.

The inspector didn’t appear much in the film but was definitely a scene stealer if I’ve ever seen one! As for the villains, they’re all rather annoying and super smug the whole time. Resurrection Joe is randomly one of those guys trying to attack women out of the blue and it was the kind of scene we definitely did not need in this film. It certainly set the stage for how morally bankrupt the villains are but we already knew that. I don’t get why the girl kept on working there after that. Throughout the film she half heartedly asks what’s going on and the others just give her the runaround, victim blame her, or just tell her to get lost.

Meanwhile Black Ben’s girl is just smirking and laughing the whole time. She really doesn’t do much beyond that and unfortunately the main character just takes it the whole time. Black Ben is also one of those smirking type figures who always knows that he’s in the lead. Once the chips are down though, he folds like the rest. Definitely not much to these villains, I’d almost have preferred if the surgeon had a Jekyll and Hyde situation with the drug although I suppose that would be a tad generic so maybe this is for the best.

In the end, most of the troubles in this film felt really forced. Take Thomas’ failure near the beginning where he tries to drug someone but the guy wakes up early. It sounds to me like Thomas never experimented on anyone other than himself which is a dangerously low sample size. Surely he could have tried with his son and everything. Also, why not strap the guy down just in case? Even if to prevent him from moving in his sleep. Like I said, the guy made bad decision after bad decision over and over again.

It felt like the writers sort of had the outcome planned but weren’t sure on the steps to get there. So it’s like this was written backwards to allow for this to happen when it should have been done in order. So the writing’s not very good and I can’t say many positive things about the pacing either. It was a team effort that led this film to fail so everyone played their part.

Overall, Corridors of Blood is a film that I would not recommend. I was certainly not expecting a movie about inventing anesthesia so that was interesting but it could and should have been done so much better. This feels like a B grade crime thriller at best and it forgot all of the thrills at home. You should definitely skip out on this movie, it doesn’t really have anything to offer you. It will quickly be forgotten within the pages of time, never to be seen again.

Overall 4/10

Transformers One Review

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All right it’s time for the big origin film that came out recently for Transformers. This one is a film I definitely saw a lot of leading up to the release. People were ready for a full theatrical film without any humans running around. It’s a pretty good film, I had a fun time with it. The action scenes get intense by the end and of course it’s always fun to see Optimus Prime in action. I would definitely be up for a sequel at some point, particularly since the film is at its best when the main character is in Prime mode.

The film starts off by introducing us to Optimus and Megatron but back when they were known by their former names. They work as miners who help excavate and keep the planet running. It’s not a very glamorous job to say the least and most people don’t think too highly of miners either way. These bots don’t have a transformation cog so they are seen as a bit inferior. Prime wants to change this and figures on entering the big race with Megatron which doesn’t go great, but they do get close to winning at one point. This gets them in trouble and sends them deeper into the planet, but there they find out about a conspiracy that could shake the entire planet to its core. Cybertronian history will never be the same.

Since this is a prequel of course we know that Prime and Megatron will be okay. No matter if it’s a new continuity or working to fit in with some others, they wouldn’t bump them off early. The main draw of the story is instead seeing how they used to be friends and what wedged them apart. If you’re watching for this, then you may be disappointed to see that Megatron’s arc happens rather quickly. He isn’t allowed to make quite as much sense as he could which is unfortunate because I would argue that he should be neck and neck with Prime in terms of rationale. Prime takes the soft approach while Megatron goes ultra aggressive. That’s more in line with what I was expecting but it didn’t exactly play out like that.

Megatron is still a fun character though once he enters Megatron mode. I didn’t care for his original personality quite so much, same with Prime’s. The characters are just so much cooler once they enter their main modes. Megatron really deals a lot of damage and throw himself into every fight. That’s great and he really has a savage fighting style. This is one of those continuities where he does appear to be a solid step below Prime in terms of power level but I could definitely see him getting a power up if we ever get Transformers Two.

Naturally once he enters Prime mode, Optimus is the great lead that you always expect to see. He has a commanding presence and is an absolute force on the battlefield. I like his fighting style and the guy was taking on a whole squad and making it look easy. That’s why he is the face of the Autobots, you wouldn’t want anyone else to be taking up that role. The film has a small cast but it works out when you have tow characters like this.

Bumblebee is okay, I’ve seen worse portrayals of him. The constant talking is fine but I don’t feel like he got very clever lines. I’d like to see them touch up his wit just a tad in a future installment. I do like that his fighting skills are legit though. As the scout he should really be able to rough up his opponents so I really appreciated that. Meanwhile Elita looked really solid from the jump. She talks tough the whole time and always delivers on the banter. She’s also not just a big mouth, when it came time for the serious fights she held her own and then some. She is really portrayed as one of the strongest characters and it’s impressive.

On the villain’s side, Soundwave and Shockwave don’t get much to do. Fans of the former should still be okay but Shockwave fans are going to have a brutal time because I would argue he looks flat out bad. I was satisfied with Starscream’s role though. Sure he’s not taking big wins or anything like that but I thought the role was fitting for his character and it’s not like it was a bad role. He’s a big fish in a small pond but can’t keep up with the top tiers. That sounds about right to me.

Airachnid gets a lot of the hype for the villains. It’s a shame that the final fight is so short because she was dominating otherwise. Definitely a really fun addition and you always like to see a villain who is absolutely ruthless and just mows down all of the fighters in her way. Given how impressive she was, I do think she should have been allowed to put up more of a fight in the climax.

Alpha Trion’s okay but not really my favorite character. He talks tough and is useful but when the chips are down he folds rather quickly. I would have liked a better showcase of his abilities despite how old the guy is. Sentinel Prime is a pretty fun character though. He’s always got some fun lines. The guy is about as fake as Booster Gold with the paparazzi but that’s part of what makes the character work. You really can’t take what he says seriously but the guy is still a very powerful warrior.

The animation in the film is pretty good. I’m not a big fan of the character designs for the most part from the second half but I like basically all of the upgraded modes. That means we should be in good shape for the sequel. The fights are solid and fast paced which is really the important part here. The soundtrack’s pretty decent as well although I don’t feel like any of the songs were super misleading. So on a technical level the film holds its own and the pacing is good so it never drags on.

The film’s biggest weakness I’d say is that the first half is just not as engaging. We really just want to get to the meat and potatoes of the story so the first half feels a bit long when it is setting up the stage. I think you could have easily chopped a lot of that and instead used it to really start showing the subtle differences in Megatron and Prime’s ideologies. We saw the difference in their personalities but this is a bit different. It might also just come down to writing.

The concept isn’t bad with the first half being like a buddy cop film and the second half gets serious. The movie just isn’t all that funny to me. At no point is it ever cringey or anything though so I’m super appreciative of that. The second half just feels like a true jump in quality to me, particularly since I really enjoy the lore and seeing what all of the robots were doing in the past. It’s why I think a sequel would be particularly strong since it can really jump into all of this without having to set anything up.

Overall, Transformers One succeeds in its job as being a fun film that you can check out at any time. It’s got a good balance of action and adventure the whole time so fans of either side should have a good time. The movie definitely set up the stage for quite a few future events should they want to continue here and the cast was also extended by the end. There are a whole lot of directions to take the series, they just gotta pick one and commit to it. The sooner they do, the sooner we can get our next animated film in the works.

Overall 7/10

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House Review

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It’s time for one of those spooky ghost films. The main problem this movie has though is that it’s not quite as scary as it thinks it is. For the most part you’re just thinking that Lily is not handling the situation well. For the most part when you’re in a spooky situation you need to make sure that you are scarier than what is coming. If you’re someone who generally gets scared easy then make sure you don’t put yourself in tricky situations.

The movie starts with Lily moving into a new house to take care of an aging author. This author was a famous murder mystery writer for a very long time. She is unfortunately nearing the end of her life and so Lily works as a stay in nurse who can provide 24/7 care. It’s an extremely difficult job particularly as there is no real end point to it. Lily will continue to provide assistance for as long as she can until the author has passed. The problem? Lily is super scared of ghost stories, mysteries, or anything dark. It’s so bad that she cannot even read a book about dark things or watch any movies. The house is starting to feel rather dark with the stench of death and a mysterious mold is growing as well. Is this the end of Lily’s story?

Right off the bat it does feel like Lily is absolutely in the wrong profession here. For starters, death can be scary for most and so Lily not being able to tackle scary things puts her in a really tough spot. Additionally, you have to factor in some items to prepare yourself for the long stay. Lily can’t go outside and leave the author alone for even a moment which means she is always inside the house. You should have dozens of books and whatever other items you can think of to pass the time by. Lets say Lily has to be here for 1 full year. Without anything to do it would be easy to get stir crazy.

I imagine you could probably just do a lot of exercise and sit ups to pass the time by but not having anything on hand was a big mistake. Lily has her friends that she can call over the phone but that doesn’t buy a whole lot of time. Of course there is also the TV but it is broken half the time which doesn’t help. So the longer Lily is there, the more she starts hearing things and scaring herself even more. It doesn’t help that she already seemed a little off right from the start. So everything really started piling up more and more here.

Lily is just not a very interesting main character and she’s also not a very strong one. She starts panicking rather quickly after going through far less than most horror main characters. I would say that is a very bad look for her. The way she goes out is also pretty bad, super underwhelming. It’s the kind of finish that you very rarely see for a main character and for good reason. You’re left shaking your head at all of this.

What I will give the movie is that it can be good on not explaining too much. We do get a lot of the general answers involving the ghost but for the little things they are up to your imagination. Did the plants just talk or was Lily crazy? (I say she’s crazy) Did the ghost actively want to murder Lily (Yeah) and if so…why? It’s not like Lily is really to blame for any of this. The origin story is sad to be sure but continuing the cycle by adding Lily in doesn’t seem like it would do much for the dead.

For the most part the film isn’t very violent. I’d say the one exception is part of the flashbacks for one of the characters. It’s all over rather quickly but it is a brutal end. Otherwise this is definitely more of a tame horror about the unseen threats and the mind games that are going on. We do get some interesting jumps between the present and the past later on which makes for an intriguing ending. The idea of wanting to stick around as a ghost seems absurd to me but I suppose everyone has their own ideas so in that sense it’s not crazy that some ghosts want to be spooks forever.

The movie does try to hammer in the title several times. The first time I actually thought it was unintentionally funny. That may sound like a diss at the lead but I feel like the film intentionally framed her in a super unattractive way to contrast the title. When she was referring to herself as the pretty thing I sorta had to do a double take. Like did she just say that? Well, the line comes up several more times throughout the film and while it can be a little repetitive, I know it’s all for the themes and everything. I probably couldn’t tell you the exact point of that though.

Overall, This film is not really my style. It’s another slow burn and this might be one of the slowest burns of them all. Even at the end there is no big climax or anything. Lily can’t fight after all and the cast is extremely small. Lily being so scared and everything felt like a very forced plot point that didn’t really have any reason to be here. I think it would be a lot more effective to have a strong character like the lead in 1408 who is slowly broken down by all of the hauntings. That would make a lot more sense. In the end, this one’s definitely a skip. It needed more jump scares and a more interesting main character. That would have really allowed it to cross the finish line.

Overall 3/10

Gretel & Hansel Review

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It’s time for one of those slow boil films. Sometimes those work out really well and other times you feel like they forgot to really have a finisher. Unfortunately this one veers to the latter. I think there were some decent ideas here but ultimately it is heavily limited by the colors, landscapes, and general decorum of the film. There’s not a whole lot of fun things to look at and when you’re stuck in a bleak environment for too long you start to get a little bored. This film needed to lean a bit harder into the horror or have the character be better fighters I’d say.

The movie starts with Gretel being offered a job but unfortunately it is quickly apparent that her boss would be a creep and so she declines. Her mother is so upset that she throws Gretel and her little brother Hansel out of the house. She forbids them from returning or she will murder them. So the duo run and run but the forest is much too vast and they are nearly destroyed before being saved by someone. This guy basically tells them to stay strong and do their best. He recommends a nearby house that might be helpful. They head over and it is run by a witch named Holda who seems reasonable. Perhaps this will all work out….but something just doesn’t feel right.

The movie’s mainly focusing on the “doesn’t feel right” angle which is where the pacing really starts to die out a bit. As a viewer you know immediately that Holda is evil so you’re ready to get on with it but instead the main characters have to just play their roles for a while. Gretel continues to learn witchcraft from Holda without making any big moves for a while. This can be just very dragged out at times. I was even glad to have a dream sequence after a while to break things up. Holda’s younger form is definitely a lot more intense even if the twist about the food is quite a bit gross.

Holda actually looks like a threat here compared to in the present where she looks so old. We also do get a very brief action scene near the end of the film which looked pretty good. Generally speaking I tend to enjoy blue flames quite a bit even if the classic red ones look more impressive. More of the film should have had cool spells and fire attacks like that. This would have really made things more impressive and would have been a credit to the film if you ask me.

I also did like the very ending of the film as Hansel heads off for his destiny while Gretel continues to work on her own abilities. It feels like the ending to an action film with the characters each deciding to get stronger. That’s actually pretty interesting but you can’t just save that for the ending. The movie should have definitely made some waves earlier than that to really make a difference.

Hansel is pretty young so I won’t be too hard on him but for the most part he’s just a bit annoying and not really very helpful. Gretel does a better job of things as she is basically sacrificing herself the whole time to protect Hansel and buy time for a plan. It would have been nice if she could have put up more resistance directly but I know that would be ultra risky.

The film was at its best before the characters made it to the haunted house. I liked the run-in with the random stranger who was giving advice. Part of why the scene worked so well is because we know absolutely nothing about the guy. He just shows up out of nowhere and you don’t even know how much you can trust him. Like everything else in the forest, there are no easy explanations. I would have taken the whole film in the forest over the house. The film knew how to have a good mystery and that’s why going to the house was a mistake because then it changed more into an escape kind of film.

It also goes back to the backgrounds like I mentioned earlier. The house is rather dreary and the witch is just very old and doesn’t feel much like a threat. It’s not the most engaging backdrop for a film like this and there is no real variety. Everything is very old timey including the food so that doesn’t even look very appealing either. There is nothing to visually catch your attention and since the plot is already intentionally moving slow, that won’t change things up either. What that means is that you’re effectively caught up in a cycle with no real way out.

This film needed some explosions or something. It may not have fit in with the film’s tone but it’s just one idea there. If anything, the backstory we learn through flashbacks may have been more interesting. You had the little girl with powers who was quite sadistic and then the witch trying to turn the tables. There were some good twists in there and it was an interesting origin. That whole part, while brief was more interesting than the main plot which means something definitely went wrong.

Overall, Gretel and Hansel set up a very interesting outside world and squandered all of it to go inside the cabin. It may be what people expected since that’s how the old fable goes but the film just didn’t land on the execution. It had a good mystery vibe at times and solid lore but that was not enough to carry the film. At the end of the day it committed one of the big errors a film could make which is that it was boring. For most of the run you just don’t really care what happens. They probably should have aged the kids up a bit or chosen a different setting. Change this to a full action thriller instead and at least we would have some good action scenes. In the meantime I would definitely say to give this one a skip.

Overall 3/10