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Gachiakuta Review

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It’s time for the latest dark Shonen that has hit the stage. It is still building up to the classic powers of friendship and saving the day but is definitely not holding back with some of the backstories. Well, I should say one in particular since the rest aren’t as crazy. I wouldn’t say it is quite on the level of your classic Jump titles yet but does clobber the last generation dark shonen known as Attack on Titan.

The series starts by introducing us to Rudo who lives in the slums. In this dystopian world there is a clear class divide between those who have means and those who don’t. Rudo at least takes solace in the fact that he has a kind mentor and one good friend. Unfortunately his mentor is murdered and Rudo is framed for it. His supposed friend also betrays him and calls for his death. So Rudo is sentenced to hell which means he is tossed out with the trash. I should mention that this country exists high up in the sky.

It turns out that there is a whole land underneath them though, the land of the trash. It’s a desolate wasteland with monsters everywhere and death is nearly guaranteed. Rudo is saved by a group known as the Cleaners right before some human traffickers could get him. They explain that their goal is about destroying the monsters and keeping things as safe as possible. Rudo joins them for now under the condition that they will help him get back to the surface world where he intends to destroy everyone. Perhaps over time he can lose these feelings of rage but it’ll be difficult.

I can’t say that I blame the little girl too much though. Yes, it would have been nice for her to have taken Rudo’s side or to at least not have said anything but she is still a kid. I wouldn’t expect her to have really been able to stand up for him at this point. The rest of the town is crazy though. The fact that they have a whole process for throwing people out to their doom is nuts and of course the whole setup of the world shows that all of this is normal. The world needs a reset but obviously Rudo’s plan to destroy them all is a bit drastic. I expect that Rudo will change his mind by then but maybe he’ll pull an Eren.

The trash world on the bottom is also particularly rough so I can see why the death rate is so high. The heroes celebrate with snacks every now and then so you see just how rare they are. Mix that in with an active terrorist group running around and every other person being a human trafficker….not a good place to live in. Rudo is really lucky to be with the cleaners because there are no other safe zones around. The show gets a whole lot of worldbuilding done right away. Throughout the show you get to learn more about the state of things but that tends to just leave more questions for future seasons. The main parts are all established right away.

The animation for the series is pretty good. In particular I really liked the effects used to show that one of the characters is using their vital instrument. Their eyes tend to glow and an aura appears to envelop the character as well. It’s something that I guess would usually be seen as a small thing but it really works to add emphasis to the moment. The battles generally look really solid as well. The series isn’t always super action packed but each fight really goes all out.

The soundtrack is also pretty solid. There’s a battle theme that comes out of nowhere for Riyo’s fight against Noerde and it was awesome! The openings are definitely heavy rock but they didn’t really work for me. They’re almost too loud if that make sense. Listening to these tunes can be more distracting than exhilarating. The music within the show still ages really well though and has a lot of great variety.

As this is a modern shonen, Gachiakuta is really good about not falling into any fanservice traps. I’d also say that it’s generally not too violent. There is a dak tone throughout the series but it usually doesn’t fall quite into grim-dark territory. That said, I did think they went too far with Amo’s backstory. The series uses a lot of visual tricks to make sure you don’t actually see anything but you still understand exactly what’s going on. It you actually saw more then this would ultimately bump the series down into the red. At it stands, it’s rough enough to push the series more to the break even point but I wouldn’t use it as a full stop to say that this is a bad show. Titles will try to push the envelope in different ways at times and this one pushed right to the breaking point without going past it.

Now lets talk about the characters. First off we have Rudo who has the ability to turn anything into a sacred object. That means he can use any kind of weapon which is really handy and he can even use multiple ones at once. Rudo has a massive chip on his shoulder and didn’t grow up in a normal environment so he has to really be learning everything from square 1. He’s very earnest about this though and has made a lot of progress.

He’s got a good character arc here and is definitely my kind of main character. There are different ways his character can go so we’ll see how it plays out but I’m confident that he will continue to be a strong figure. His sensei here is Enjin who plays the classic teacher role. The show manages to go through its whole run without letting him get much of a real fight yet. So we’re not sure how strong he is but the rules of anime suggest that the longer you don’t fight, the more powerful you will be. In the meantime he still gets a big role in helping Rudo get used to this new environment.

Zanka is in the opposite boat as he gets to fight right away and as a result solidifies his role as the jobber. He goes down pretty hard in the fights that matter but I give him props for always getting up. Zanka is a good rival for Rudo and always talks a good game. So even if he doesn’t end up being one of the stronger characters he is still a good one to have around. I would like him to get a powerup at some point though. His fighting style just feels too ordinary right now.

Another member of the group is Riyo and she has the ability to make a giant pair of scissors. Now that is a fun ability to have! Additionally she is able to fight in hand to hand combat at a high level. She’s my favorite character in the series and ends her big climax fight in a really hype way. Lets just say it remains the most iconic moment in the entire franchise for good reason. She’s another good friend for Rudo to have and is also a bit messed up in her own way so they are both really learning how to act more normal.

The rest of the Cleaners don’t get a huge role quite yet even though they are around. Tamsy is a fairly quiet member who has a really strong ability in the cloths that he can use to tie people up. Even divine weapons have a hard time cutting through them. There just hasn’t been a chance to really learn much about him yet. Same with Delmon who is also quiet. He has pretty strong powers involving water and nearly ends up crushing the heroes when he was mind controlled early on. We get hintings of his sad origin story but the show hasn’t gone into that yet.

Bro and Dear work well as a tag team. Dear tends to act too much like a kid. His super strength is good but I don’t see him winning very many fights. Bro is really the one who makes sure that Dear is in the right place at the right time. I tend to give him all of the credit for how well they do in the season. Even then they only get to share 1 fight so far. Guita also only gets one moment for now but being able to turn into a Kaiju is cool. I assume that eventually everyone will get their own arc so this is really a waiting game until then.

There is also the leader of the group, Arkha. For now you can just tell that this guy has a lot of power but he is content to stay in the background. More solid lore for the future. His secretary Semiu is also very on the ball. She can fight and then has some pretty good appraisal abilities. While some may say these are too many characters for season 1, it’s nice to have an early intro for when they eventually become bigger characters. There are also a number of supporting members who don’t have powers and will probably get a role soon. It’ll make later scenes hit harder.

Amo shows up as one of the first big villains but she’s certainly not in league with the terrorist group. She went through a lot and ultimately didn’t learn any good lessons. So this put her on the wrong path right from the start. Actually you can say we’re seeing a common pattern here where everyone s messed up in some way or another. Unfortunately things do not end up going well for her even after the main arc as she is immediately taken down by another villain. Hopefully things will look up in season 2.

The big villain of the season is Zodyl although this was mostly just an introduction to his character. He wants to find a way to get to the upper lands where Rudo once lived. To this end he is working on getting some sacred items and then the upper world will be doomed. It’s unclear if he wants to destroy them all or just conquer the group but either way things will not go very well for the surface dwellers. He seems really strong although he clearly hasn’t used all of his powers yet. I’ll need to see more of him before putting the guy too high but right now he’s off to a good start. The guy’s insane while still staying focused on his plans.

Then we have Jabber who is the type of villain who loves a good fight. He’s probably the craziest of all and he has a very high pain tolerance. This allows him to keep getting up even after taking a ton of damaging hits. You definitely have to give him a lot of credit in the fights. He doesn’t take any direct losses in the show as it took some cheap shots to bring him down. I expect a lot more out of him in the next arcs.

Cthoni hasn’t done much but the teleportation is always handy. It’s a super good way to split up their forces while also keeping the heroes off guard. The villains also have a coward on board who hasn’t done much yet but will be a big figure in season 2. For season 1 there were just two other villains who got a lot to do. The first was Noerde who is a warrior that has aligned herself with the terrorist group. She has really solid thunder abilities that let her go toe to toe with everyone. It’s fortunate for the Cleaners that Riyo was the one fighting her. I dare say that she would have made short work out of any of the other heroes. Her electricity is just hard to stop and of course she also happens to have top notch speed and hand to hand on top of that. She was a really fun villain.

Finally we have Bundus who is another tough threat. He has metal arms like Doc Ock from Marvel and a lot of experience. He seems to be hiding a lot of secrets so I would treat him as a wild card right now. Definitely an antagonist but the other villains also have to keep him at arm’s length. I don’t think he is super dangerous in a fight but is so strategic that he can outsmart someone who isn’t fighting very carefully. I look forward to seeing more out of him as well.

Now as for where the series goes from here, there are a lot of different paths. The plots I care about the most are getting back to the surface world and seeing what the villains want to do there. I am a lot less interested in learning about the symbols connecting the two worlds since that part of the lore doesn’t seem like it should change the goals for the leads. Still, I’m ready to strap in and see how this plays out. The series is already heavily implying that we’ll be learning some more origins soon as well but I feel like we can already glean all of the important information from the quick scenes that we do get. For example I don’t want to see Riyo’s backstory because it’s much more fun to just rely on the headcanon there.

Overall, There is really a lot going on here. Gachiakuta has done a good job of setting up the stakes and introducing a bunch of characters. It may not have constant fights but makes for an interesting series. It definitely did establish that anything can happen though so it may not be the safest watch if you’re looking for consistency. This is a series that will be taking massive swings in each season and you’ll just have to see if the title connects or misses. Either way you can be sure that it will be around for a long time. There are a ton of plots and storylines that need to be concluded after all.

Overall 5/10

Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad Review

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It’s time for a game that I had to pre order immediately! Sword Art Online is one of those franchises with unlimited potential but unfortunately does tend to stumble. This game is not one of those times. While there are some gameplay limitations which I will get into, it’s clear that the developers had a very grand view of the world. They wanted to make this title feel as massive as the actual game from the anime and they succeeded. The game is over 25 hours and only covers 2 floors which is really crazy. Sadly I doubt we will ever get to see all 100 but it was still nice to see how in depth this one was.

The game follows the adventure of you, the player! You have logged into this game to have some fun but unfortunately get stuck in there along with 9,999 other players. The only way out is to complete the game and if you die in the game…you die in real life! You meet up with a bunch of new characters as well as some familiar faces from the anime. Conquering the game may be a difficult ordeal but it’s something that you are absolutely ready for. Your whole life has been leading up to this moment!

So lets go into the weaker parts of the game first. There are some obvious quality of life items missing from this title like the ability to access parts of the map that are not related to the current mission. This means that you have to play around in different missions before you can actually unlock the whole map. It’s a bit arbitrary and clearly set up that way to extend the game. There are also some pointless mechanics that never end up mattering and are seemingly just there to check off a box. This would be the platforming (Which is not very well done to be honest) and the multiple answers part.

No matter what you answer, the story does not change at all and the characters hardly acknowledge your answer anyway. Most responses are limited to nodding your head or choosing to “look confused”. If these choices weren’t going to matter anyway then I’d have preferred they make the main character real. Give him some voice acting and personality. The self insert just doesn’t work very well for games and it can be jarring to see him looking oblivious the whole time while everyone is fighting for their lives.

The game also does reuse a whole lot of bosses and minions. The in game reason for this is that the 2 floors will naturally only have a very limited amount of bosses. It can just get a bit old to fight the same boss over 10 times. They just color swap the boss and call it a day. I think the funniest part is that the final boss is a reused one except for the final phase that was brand new. Cmon at least the final boss should be completely new right?

So it did feel like this game had a tough budget at times. Someone also called it a walking simulator and I get it. The game has you run for large distances at a time without combat. Other times there is combat everywhere so the run will take forever. There are no beacons to show you where you should be going so it is also easy to get lost. Perhaps this is by design but it wasn’t a good one.

Now that sounds bad but these are all more in the way of nitpicks. On the whole the gameplay is very strong because the combat is great. That’s why we’re here after all and you can seamlessly master all kinds of weapons. I used a sword for the first half of the game and then the hammer for the second half. Each weapon has a lot of pros and cons to it. You can also level up your weapon class in addition to leveling your character. There is a whole lot of customization to be had here and unlike the enemies, your character is always changing. It keeps the gameplay really fresh.

I also did enjoy the story. It may be a bit slow at times but it’s clear that this was made with the idea being that it would be the first step in a whole saga. Many more floors and adventures could be added as DLC. If not…well then it’s true that at least 5-6 plots were not actually ended in this game. Also I wasn’t able to find the Kirito side quest before I beat the game so in the end he did not show up almost at all here. We got to meet him twice and that was it. I like the idea of being a random side character but would like to see the main plot a bit more.

The soundtrack is definitely solid. The main theme song/intro is super good. It feels like something right out of the anime and was really handled perfectly. The themes within the game are a little less memorable but still good in the end. The graphics are also very solid. Not top tier, but more like high end AA. Again, you can tell that the budget wasn’t massive but they did a good job overall.

The biggest factor in why this game is great aside from the combat is how convenient all of the questing is. You can pick up quests at any time and resume whenever you want. Don’t want to be locked into a side quest for long? Well, you aren’t! You can resume progress at the exact point you left and keep on moving. You also keep your EXP whenever you lose a fight so you are constantly getting stronger. There is also a perma death mode for those who want to try that but fortunately there is no trophy for that.

Getting the platinum feels achievable here even if it would probably take a very long time. There is a side quest about defeating a level 200 enemy which seems absolutely crazy. I don’t see myself being able to conquer that for a little while but I do look forward to grabbing more trophies. I feel like the best time to aim for a platinum in a title like this is when the game is still fresh in your mind. You’ll have gotten a lot of the trophies naturally just by playing the story. There are no missable ones either so that’s another thing that is very gamer friendly.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this title. The game can be a little rough around the edges but never stops being an absolute blast. I’ve said this many times in the past but a game’s ultimate goal is to be fun. I had a lot of fun playing this one between all of the voice acting, solid combat, great story, etc. It’s the kind of game I could just keep on binging without needing any breaks. You just want to see what the other weapons feel like and slowly unlocking each map feels incredibly satisfying. If they ever make a sequel for this one then I’d definitely get it day 1. Less guarantees on DLC though since I don’t usually tend to buy any of that.

Overall 8/10

The Beekeeper 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

The Beekeeper is a pretty fun movie. It’s essentially taking a lot of inspiration from John Wick while adding in a little extra humor. How intentional the humor is may be up for debate but I do think it is winking at you throughout the whole runtime. My only main issue with the film is that I wouldn’t have added so much lore around the Beekeepers. It would be infinitely funnier if the main guy is just a normal dude who likes bees and in this world people are just scared of bee enthusiasts.

The movie starts with a scammer tricking a lady into surrendering all of her money as well as the money that belonged to a charity that she helped out. She ends up shooting herself and so Adam, the local beekeeper goes out for revenge. He takes out the scammers in a matter of minutes but it turns out that this was just one branch of a much larger organization. They considered the opening attack to be a declaration of war and are putting all of their agents into the field to take Adam out. Can Adam really defeat these guys, the FBI, CIA, and everyone else who is out to get him?

Power fantasy is a genre that is popular for anime but doesn’t happen as much in live action. You may get the occasional title but even movies like Superman and He Man aren’t generally leaning into that. This one is much more direct as Adam is shown to be able to take down whole squads single handily. He’s not better than them by a little bit, but by a wide margin. He’s on a whole different level and that’s considering that he is holding back quite a bit. For the most part he isn’t trying to murder these guys.

Well, he tends to murder the foot soldiers but holds back a little against the bosses. He begins to hold back less and less as the film goes on though. There’s just not a whole lot of mercy left within the guy and every time the villains return he’s feeling less charitable. In a sense the film shows that Adam should have taken out the main leader the first time since it would have prevented a whole lot of retaliation at first.

Now this is definitely a film that benefits from the edited version because the script is very modern. Particularly from Derek, the big mastermind behind all of the scammers. That guy talks like a kid on his XBox the whole time. Now, it can be funny to see just how out of sync with reality he is. He’s constantly poking fun at his underlings and criticizing how they deliver their messages. This guy always has a witty comeback for everything and even talks tough to Adam during their initial meeting.

He’s extremely whiny and that’s essentially the point. He has been gifted a whole empire that he doesn’t really deserve. Derek would never have gotten to the top without the influence of his mother and is always playing catch up. The only reason he lasts so long in the film is because of how many meat shields are put in front of him. Don’t expect this guy to be getting any fight scenes but he has plenty of underlings who can fulfill that role.

In particular there are at least two fighters who try to give Adam a run for his money. The first is another Beekeeper but “try” is the key word here. She is never really a threat and that was pretty nice to see. Often times you see every member of a group is roughly equal but this movie was reminding us that Adam was special. He’s not just any Beekeeper, he’s the strongest one there is. A fighter without peer. The fight was short and to the point.

The much more intense fight was in the climax against a man who has already defeated a beekeeper in the past. To that guy’s credit, he very nearly manages to defeat Adam. He was really just a move or two away from winning. While it’s true that Adam would have been weakened from the fights leading up to that moment, I’d still give a lot of credit for going close because that’s more than most others could do.

I would also note that Adam is strictly an anti-hero here. While it’s true that he initially enters battle to avenge the lady who was scammed, he does take things very far. His kill count is massive by the end and he is destroying everyone in his way. Guys like the Punisher would applaud his efforts to be sure. Ultimately he had an objective and saw it through to the end. The situation makes that difficult for the groups like FBI who are tasked with defending the villains. You feel bad for them but there’s ultimately not much that Adam can do about that. If you side with the villains then you ultimately have to be taken down with them. Unless you are Superman, you’re not going to have any easy ways to spare them all without endangering the mission.

In general the government is pretty fun to have around as antagonists though. There is a ton of corruption going on here as everyone is keeping their secrets. There is even a twist about the villain’s mother which ties into all of this. The FBI subplot may feel pointless at times but I would say that’s part of the humor. Veronica is shown to be a terrible cop throughout the movie. She can’t control her emotions, lashes out all the time, gets drunk, etc. Yet somehow she is the top FBI agent and always 3 steps behind Adam.

Adam may be helping to avenge her mother but Veronica still wants to take him down right away. She brings up the classic argument of how the laws will fix this, knowing good and well that they can’t go after scammers from different countries. Nothing would happen with the legal system here. It doesn’t mean that you abandon it of course, but she shouldn’t try to pretend like they will actually do anything. They’d probably just make Adam disappear using extra legal methods and that’s about it.

The film is definitely pretty violent so you should keep that in mind if you’re not great with that stuff. Adam is particularly vindictive against the scammers so he actively pulls off some torture before murdering each member. There are a lot of broken bones/missing limbs in addition to the bloodshed. Throw in the film’s incredibly quick pacing and that makes for a lot of violence. I gotta say, the film crams in a whole lot of plot in this adventure. It’s impressive just how much gets done and what a big supporting cast we have here.

I do standby what I said about not needing the lore for the Beekeepers though. All of the lines in the film about Adam being a beekeeper are really funny under the context of them being afraid because he likes bees. Once we get into a whole group and the government rankings then the film starts taking itself a bit too seriously. The concept is still funny enough on its own but we just didn’t need all of that if you ask me. The rest of the government stuff can stay. In general I still like seeing the meetings and seeing how everyone plans to deal with Adam. There are quite a few conversations that happen purely to increase Adam’s reputation. Whenever any of the minions tries to say that he’s just a guy, he is immediately and decisively corrected.

Overall, The Beekeeper is a pretty good film. It is really about showing just how strong Adam is and works like wish fulfillment with how the scammers are all defeated. If only someone would put a stop to them like that in real life. Eventually some scammers are stopped but it feels like new ones always arrive. It’ll be interesting to see how the sequel goes. There are a lot of fun directions you can take this film in. One thing’s for sure, Adam is going to really be dominating whoever goes after him. I don’t see the films trying to add anyone who is directly on his level. Adam is basically superhuman, there is nobody on his level. If you like a good action title then I recommend this one.

Overall 7/10

The Duelists Review

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I tend to enjoy a good swordfight but there is one style that has never really appealed to me. That would be fencing. It just never really managed to hit the same highs. It feels like half of what they do is just clang swords against each other and they have to go very slow and methodical the whole time. It’s the slowest form of sword battle there can be and so the duels tend to miss their mark here. Mix in the old setting and there are quite a lot of things going against the film here. Still, in the end I would say this isn’t a bad film. It can just be a little dull at times.

The movie starts off with Feraud winning a duel. He wins rather easily and badly injures his opponent. Thing is, his opponent was the son of a mayor so he complains to the government and they get Armand to step in. Armand doesn’t want to fight but Feraud forces the issue so Armand defeats him. That should have been the end of it but unfortunately that was not the case. Instead Feraud decides to hunt him down for a rematch….the first of many.

The film covers a whole lot of years as their duels continue over and over again. It never really ends as Feraud will win one, then Armand, etc. Armand consistently wants to de-escalate but it isn’t easy to duck the duels. To ignore a challenge would be dishonorable after all and that was a huge thing back then. Everyone is really into honor and all of that. Feraud also seems to be incredibly unstable and not really the kind of guy who would take no for an answer.

The guy proves just how determined he is as he still chases Armand after almost 20 years which is insane! He just never gets bored of all this. Additionally Feraud doesn’t actually think of his skills as inferior in any way. In fairness to him, the matches are pretty even. I would argue that Armand always has the slight edge but it is close enough where I would not say that it is definitive or anything like that. In a battle with blades, anyone can be the victor. All it takes is one solid hit after all and then that’s it.

I don’t really fault Armand at all during the movie either. There are quite a few characters who tell him to stop fighting and all of that but it is always Feraud who is going after him. Armand was not looking for a fight and would have been perfectly happy just doing his own thing the whole time. Within the honor system, Armand did what he could to avoid the battles. You could say that he should have just ignored the honor implications but at the end of the day that’s just not who he is. It’s not the way that Armand does business.

As for Feraud, well that guy’s just crazy. At best he makes for a decent villain but I wasn’t really a fan of his. He basically exists to make everyone’s lives harder. Without him Armand would have had a much easier time of things. The final gun fight was certainly suspenseful and a shift from the usual sword fights but Feraud was still doomed there as well. He got to take the first shot and still lost. At that point there is no way to really make a comeback.

I’d say you can count this as a war film as well since most of the film is taking place during active wartime. If you are a big fan of the Napoloeon era of history then that might enhance the experience as well. Naturally it doesn’t do a lot for me since it’s all just old timer stuff as far as I’m concerned. The film did its best not to feel too old but it will still be hard to really capture your attention the whole time. The movie could have definitely benefitted from a shorter runtime.

The film is also trying to keep a realistic tone for the most part since it’s based on a short story which is loosely related to some actual events. This further limits the film because you could have done some interesting things with a wider supporting cast. Have characters on both sides to further hype up the final match. Make Feraud more of an actual character rather than a crazy antagonist. There is also a point where the two characters have to reluctantly team up. I dare say you could have gotten more out of that.

The two characters wouldn’t bury the hatchet or anything but you get to see their strengths a bit more and why they were excelling so much. Throughout the movie both of them keep on getting power up after power up so it is clear that both of them are top tier fighters/soldiers. Without this grudge, both of them would really just be legends among the army. Letting them show this off by defeating a whole platoon would have been really cool.

Overall, The Duelists is a movie that I can recommend if you are a big history buff but otherwise you can do better. The action is definitely not bad but fencing just isn’t very exciting. It’s clear that a lot of effort was put into this one. it just needed more of a hook to really keep me engaged. So for those reasons the film could only manage to break even at best for me. I’m just not really able to get into the whole honor system so Armand’s plight didn’t resonate with me. The fencing doesn’t do anything for me either but at least we had a solid script. The romance is more of a miss than a hit since it is all rebounds by the end but it’s not like that is a huge part of the story. It’s a big part of Armand’s motivations for ending things once and for all though.

Overall 5/10

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 Review

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The Vigilantes spinoff continues with this season and now we’re getting closer to the meat of the series. The big villains are showing up now and the plot is gradually escalating. All Might also gets to have a big action scene which was really cool to see. The series continues to have great production values all the way through with no real weaknesses and I can safely say that it has risen above the first season.

Koichi is a much more experienced vigilante compared to his season 1 days. Knuckleduster has been off the grid for a while so Koichi and Pop have to take care of crime on their own. They’ve done a good job of this though and have made a good amount of friends in the city. They even have time for their day jobs like Pop working as a real idol and Koichi supporting her from the side. Well things are about to get dangerous again as an evil speedster is on the loose. It won’t be easy to stop this guy.

Speedsters are always going to be the hardest characters to write around. Either the character isn’t fast enough to make a difference or they basically end the verse. There are almost limitless uses for a good speedster after all and ultimately this one leans more towards the latter. There are virtually no fighters who can really hope to beat him. There are some pretty creative approaches on how to deal with this but even those do end up using quite a bit of plot armor. Realistically this guy would be wiping just about everyone out until All Might notices and stops him.

The speedster is the best character in the season though. He is smug and dangerous, a really top tier combo. He knows that the heroes don’t have a chance and basically rubs this in their faces. It’s not like speed is all that he’s got either, he’s also a mastermind. He always manages to stay one step ahead which isn’t easy. As the show goes on he is only getting stronger too. I liked the wasp villain from season 1 so this title has really had great villains for 2 seasons in a row now.

The first few episodes are mainly about showing how well Koichi can look after himself and showing how the instant villains are popping up everywhere. For now the cops have no way of predicting where or when they will show up so the pro heroes aren’t able to react very quickly. Koichi continues to develop his powers so that he is ready for them though. We also do get the occasional guest star like Fatgum who helps out during the warehouse battle. It’s always fun to see the pro heroes appear even if this story is mainly for the Vigilantes.

Koichi is also more confident in his own abilities so he makes for a good main character. He’s definitely the oblivious type but always intends to be responsible and helps his community. He is a well balanced main character with no real downsides. Pop is also solid but definitely leans into being a tsundere a lot so she isn’t often honest with her feelings. That can always be a bit of a challenge for Koichi and she can look a little annoying as a result. I think what I was most surprised by when this first came out was how she never got a real power up. She isn’t really able to contribute in the fights at all which is unfortunate. There’s just not a whole lot you can do to make her more important like that. It’s probably why she has the idol career but that feels like a subplot at best.

We take a break from the main plot to get a few episodes about Eraser Head and his old friend Oboro. We learn about how Oboro would go on to become the shadowy villain, Kurogiri in the main series. It’s definitely a very important story arc to be in a spinoff to that was interesting to see. Admittedly I was much more interested in the main plot by this time but the episodes were handled well. It is interesting to see Eraser Head back when he was slightly less jaded. He also wasn’t quite the expert fighter that he would become later on.

As far as flashbacks go it was pretty decent. Midnight and Present Mic also seemed like dependable friends who really helped him on this journey. Without them he would have been even more isolated. Naturally Oboro was also good. He is a lot like Obito from the Naruto series. A kid who is really energetic and ready to help out everyone who he can. He has all the markings of a true hero and it’s a shame that he couldn’t last longer.

We then get to the climax of the season with the Captain Celebrity arc. He is trying to rehab his image which was sorely needed but he will have to do it while protecting a whole tower filled with people from explosives. Naturally if he succeeds then this will be a giant W but the stakes are high. Celebrity had a rough start but he looks good here. How much you enjoy his character will really all depend on how much you think he has really changed as a character. I would say it’s fairly night and day here where he is treated much more as a naive guy who just got on the wrong path before. I like him in the superhero context the whole time but as a person he will need to continue to prove himself more and more. Unfortunately I don’t expect that he will be getting very many scenes in the future to show this.

His powerset is really fun though. He has the All Might type of powers but to a much weaker degree. In addition to that he has an energy barrier that protects him from most attacks. It takes a whole lot to actually pierce it and usually Celebrity would be able to dodge most attacks. This was just an exception because he had to deal with the whole hostage situation. It’s safe to say that he is one of the strongest characters in the series.

This time the subplot actually ended up winning out though. While the main plot had the best animated scene with All Might, the subplot had Knuckleduster return to fight the speedster. It was a really fun fight with great music and tactics. Yes there was some plot armor but the fight is still really satisfying. Knuckleduster showed why he is such a versatile fighter and we got to learn more about his past. I did miss having him be part of the main cast so it was really good to see him return. It’ll never stop being impressive to see just how strong he is for a guy who has absolutely no powers.

The animation is really great as you’d expect. The colors are striking and the action scenes are really fast paced. The explosions are all over the place in a good way and none of the episodes feel like they really got the shaft. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also really good. There are a lot of great themes throughout. The main theme song may not be my favorite but the rest of the ost on the whole is pretty good which is what really counts.

The episodes go by quickly so there is a lot of replay value. There is also a lot of room left for a season 3. Naturally you need that for the big battle with the speedster but we can also look forward to more appearances by the pro heroes. Ultimately I will always think that the heroes are a little too by the book here though. Their hard stance against the vigilantes really just opens the door up for the villains. It’s a constant theme that never actually ends in this series but it’s always worth referencing. It puts Koichi in a tougher spot than he should be.

In one episode we also see Tsukauchi make an argument for why he thinks that All Might shouldn’t save him. He believes that it is just too selfish and All Might belongs to the world at large. I heavily disagreed with this because at the end of the day All Might is a symbol of peace for all. Saving Tsukauchi is just another example of stopping a villain and All Might will drop anything to save him. He would do the same for anyone else that he knows. It may be special treatment but it is not at the expense of anyone else.

If Tsukauchi had just called in All Might during the first battle with the speedster then the whole series could have ended there. As fast as the guy he, he’s nowhere near as fast as All Might. Tsukauchi’s pride prevented him from making the call and that’s the wrong decision to make. I sympathize with the plight a bit since at least I do understand it. I just disagree while All might more or less convinces Tsukauchi to call him in large scale emergencies; you can tell that the guy is still going to be reserved to an extent.

This does work as a great foil to All Might though who looks as great as ever. Since we see him from Koichi’s point of view, we can really appreciate how All Might was the ultimate symbol of peace. He shows up with the big grin and ends the whole stressful situation in an instant. He doesn’t struggle or hesitate. Then when the villain tries to get a second wind, All Might transforms and defeats him in the same instant. This kind of overwhelming power is exactly what scared the villains in the first place and the show reflected that super well. His scenes were crazy impressive here. I’d love to watch a whole series about All Might back around his prime or even the slightly weakened days lke here.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking this one out. It’s not every day that a main series can get a spinoff with multiple seasons like this. It reminds me of a Certain Magical Index and its spinoffs. This show does well in keeping up with the main series and just has a cozy atmosphere. If you missed the older seasons of MHA that were very light toned, then this is always a good change of pace for you. The next season for Vigilantes may start to get more serious as well but there are a lot of happy moments coming up as well. The series is really balancing all of the action/fighting while also being a slice of life/rom-com for Koichi and Pop. It’s doing a whole lot of things and keeps that street level kind of vibe for the series. I’ll definitely be ready for the next season.

Overall 8/10

Sneakers Review

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It’s time for an Oceans 11 type of film that I hadn’t really heard of before. This one has aged well and I just enjoy these kind of heist stories. There is a good sense of danger throughout even if the ending is perhaps a bit more optimistic than what would likely be happening here. The important thing is that the movie wasn’t going to end on a super sour note and I definitely appreciate that.

The movie starts with Martin and Cosmo using their hacking skills to steal a ton of money from rich people and reallocating it to their favorite social causes. Cosmo ends up being captured by the cops while Martin escapes and changes his identity. Many years pass by and now the NSA has caught up to him. They blackmail Martin with his past and say that they will keep it quiet if he steals something from them. A powerful new kind of hacking equipment that can get decrypt any security system in an instant. Martin gets his team ready for this but should he really give such a powerful piece of equipment to the government?

A big theme in the film is about not trusting anyone. Everyone has some kind of an angle here and you’ve got quite a few factions running around. The Russians are behind every corner of course and all the letter agencies would be interested in this as well. Just stealing the thing won’t be easy either as Martin runs into his past on this adventure. That said, Martin isn’t as indecisive as you may expect with these stakes. He just can’t let the blackmail get out under any circumstances and so he is ready to play ball with the government right from the beginning of this story. He never looks back either and just gets to completing the mission.

Something I appreciated about the film is that all of his teammates are important. The film balances them all rather well. First up we have Whistler who is blind. You may figure this will make him ineffective in most situations but he actually does really well and even gets the MVP spot. He’s the reason they find the enemy base, the reason they had an escape route, etc. Without him they would not have lasted long here. His senses are virtually superhuman.

Then you have Donald who used to work with the CIA. He has a lot of connections as a result and is the most professional member of the group. He has a gun at the ready and bails Martin out from a trap. Definitely the muscle behind the team and he keeps Marin from being too impulsive. Martin does well as the leader but he absolutely does tend to be pretty emotional and lose his cool.

After that is Carl who is the youngest member. He tends to do a lot of the grunt work like hacking at close range or being the guy to pull off social engineering. Carl can be the most annoying one as well though as he gets distracted on the missions and tends to be a little girl crazy. To an extent they all are, but the others at least try to hide it. By default the smallest role would be Darren who handles all of the tech. He makes sure that everything is working well on the ground which is why his codename is “Mother”. So he’s very important but gets a little less to do in terms of individual scenes.

There’s also the main heroine Liz who used to date Martin but managed to get out of that situation. Well when he asks her for help, Liz can’t really bring herself to refuse. She probably should have to be honest though. She’s stuck with the worst tasks like seducing someone to get his voice on record. That’s always a very tired spy trope that never really works without the victim just looking bad. In this case Liz got super sloppy though which put her in a tricky spot.

As for the main villain, well he is pretty good but definitely too indecisive. He can never seem to decide if his main goal is something really personal to him or for the greater good. He tries to use the latter as his reasoning a lot but it always tends to come off as a cover story. Really this guy just wants to prove that he is better than Martin and messes up a lot of his free shots by the end. He could have come out on top easily in this film if he didn’t make massive errors. I thought he made for a good villain overall though. He was certainly entertaining even if he wasn’t always very effective.

The pacing is pretty good here and the writing is solid. It does have the occasional miss when it comes to the jokes but nobody bats 1000. The end of the climax also may have been a little too goofy at the end. The film is part comedy but up to that point the serious scenes were mostly played straight. I suppose they just wanted to have a bit of fun with the ending and it’s a short scene so it’s not like I had any big issues with it. It just felt a little jarring with the timing and all.

The movie really made the most of the tech aspect of the heist. I enjoyed the challenge of Martin having to move really slowly to get past one of the security systems for example. There were a lot of things that had to go right for the heist but they all felt like fairly reasonable challenges without a whole lot of plot armor. There will always be a little bit of that in a film like this but it was never excessive.

Overall, Sneakers is a pretty good film. I had fun with it and it succeeds in being entertaining all the way. There may be a twist that you see coming a mile away but it’s still a good plot on the whole. The title of the film also stands out and is a really good pun. If you’re looking for a well balanced film then I would check this one out. It may not become your next favorite hit but there aren’t a ton of heist films out there and this one holds up with the ones that are already out.

Overall 7/10

Fire Emblem Engage Review

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I remember having a great time with the Fire Emblem Engage video game for the Switch. It was cool to see all of the old FE main characters teaming up even if I hadn’t played through almost any of the original titles at the time. The manga does a good job of adapting the full experience as well and was quite detailed. If you are unable to buy the game then this is a good way to experience the journey. Hopefully the new game coming up will get a solid manga adaption as well.

The game started by introducing us to a guy named Alear. He has complete amnesia but when he wakes up the guy is told that he is the legendary hero who will save the world. Alear seems to be completely immortal and has the ability to interact with the souls of legendary warriors. Alear may not know what is going on but he wants to do his part to save the world. There are powerful threats everywhere and Alear does not intend to give up or allow for any of the chaos to proceed. He will need to recruit powerful allies to stop the Fell Dragon and his army of corrupted warriors.

Right away I remember liking Alear’s design from the game and of course it translates well into the manga as well. To an extent you could say that his character is fairly generic but that’s also due in part to the amnesia. He doesn’t really know what is going on and is just trying to do the responsible thing in every situation. Alear is quick to act and doesn’t hesitate so I appreciated that. At times he can be a little timid though and it takes a while for him to obtain a true level of resolve. That’s something that Marth and the other Emblems have to beat into him for a while there.

Alear may not come close to the level of Roy, Ike, or Marth in terms of being a leader but does well enough. His abilities also make him a real force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. He gets overshadowed a bit by his mother who really gets several standout scenes. She probably should have told Alear certain truths before it was too late though. I really think he would have been able to handle the truth sooner and it could have avoided a lot of manipulation from the villain side. I suppose you can’t account for every eventuality but she had to suspect that this would come up at some point. I would have liked an extra fight scene for her but the manga did have to cover a lot of content in 40 chapters.

As far as the pacing goes, one thing that is always tough for adaptions is balancing out the side characters. The game has over 20-30 hours to flesh out each of the characters and give them all kinds of fun interactions. The manga has to be a lot more selective here and so things move at a very fast pace. Not a bad thing, but it does mean that most of the characters don’t get to do a whole lot. If you played the game then you’ll just be happy to see them but if you are a manga only reader then you’re going to start mixing some of the characters up. Most of their character arcs also take place off screen.

Ironically the villains get far more screentime and each of them gets their full origin story here. In a sense it might be more important to cover them since there are less villains and that is a more achievable goal. These are all tough choices though and at the end of the day I do think that the manga did a good job here. The Emblems themselves didn’t get to do a whole lot even in the game so it’s not like that has changed all that much. It’s just cool to see them but realistically only Marth does anything. Marth looks solid and has always been a great face of the franchise even if I’m a bigger Roy and Ike fan.

The artwork is pretty solid, it’s going for a not so detailed approach that makes every page really easy to read. The ink shows up for all of the fight scenes though so those definitely still get a lot of focus. It’s better than the average adaption art I would say. Additionally this makes it pretty new reader friendly. The writing is on point as with the game of course. Fire Emblem has always been a pretty classy series so there aren’t any big issues throughout the story either. This is what I would call a straight forward read. It may not have super strong highs but there are no lows so it ends up being a pretty good read all the way through.

As for the rest of the characters, the series has a pretty decent supporting cast even if their roles are smaller. I always enjoyed Yunaka who plays out a bit like a wild card. That aspect of her character is dialed back in the manga but she’s a bit of a thief with a shady past so the heroes do have to be careful on just how much they trust her. Her side plot was the most interesting back in the game. Vander’s role drops significantly once the story gets going but was a good guardian/body guard for Alear back in the intro. His years of experience on the battlefield definitely come in handy throughout.

Alfred and Celine are good examples of characters who had a big role in the game but don’t do as much in the manga. They are generally supportive throughout though. Fogado and Timerra are the same way. Basically each kingdom has a prince and a princess who join the party. In the game you will usually get a full chapter to each character and then they’re around for all the bonus content and conversations between missions. They technically stick around here too but don’t get much dialogue. I think you will still understand their general personalities well enough though.

On the villain side Hyacinth is definitely a pretty imposing figure. Initially it is definitely unclear on why he is even helping the Fell Dragon at all. Likewise most of his comrades are unsure about their directions but follow as loyal soldiers. It is definitely the big downside to being loyal like this because just following someone out of duty to the crown is not a good excuse. You always need to have a strong moral compass and the ability to make your own decisions if you ask me.

Veyle is a character who I can give a pass to because she has a lot going on with mind control and different things like that. Ordinarily she would have been moving very differently in the story and you feel bad for her as well because bad things keep happening to her and she doesn’t even know what is going on. I always feel like you should be able to just resist mind control outright but in the meantime it can be a tragic plot device. The villains do tend to look rather dumb with how obvious they act though. It would have been super easy to keep on manipulating Veyle but they couldn’t help themselves with the classic villain laughter and explaining their goals within earshot.

Zelestia is a big example of this as she is supposed to be a super strategist and yet she makes the biggest rookie mistakes. I also think that her redemption arc is really late in the game. She gets a big emotional ending and all but she has already committed so many crimes by that point. It’s just a little late for all of that. Griss goes down a similar route but it’s even more unbelievable because his whole persona is being sadistic and crazy. A bit late for second thoughts eh?

There is a difficult line to walk where you could make a character who is super evil just because that’s the only thing he/she knows and didn’t grow up in a normal environment. That can absolutely be effective but it didn’t really work here. Mauvier is the most reasonable villain as he used to be an honorable knight but he still ends up working with the villains. No real way to get around that fact in the end. I still did appreciate him and his honor code though.

Ivy and Hortensia are two other crazy type villains who get more of a redemption arc but theirs is much more impressive. The manga at least allows them moments of doubt throughout the story so it doesn’t come across as something out of nowhere. This makes a huge difference and so it didn’t feel abrupt when they decided to help the heroes. They were able to see past their usual sense of loyalty which was good. Well, Ivy more than Hortensia since Ivy was much easier to convince.

Even from the summaries you can see how the villains got much more development but I don’t want to totally undersell the heroes. They are still around and make for good characters. The manga just has to go on with the story and it’s a very classic story of the heroes trying to topple an enemy empire. Whether you’ve read a Fire Emblem story before or not, you should be able to enjoy this one pretty well. I was also glad that it answered the question of whether Alear can be summoned since he will eventually be an Emblem. The title really uses all of the concepts that it introduces instead of doing so half heartedly. A story like this will be enjoyable in any medium, maybe one day we will get a proper Fire Emblem anime to adapt some of these titles.

The story also does have time to really hit the emotional beats like Alear saying goodbye to his mother and pretty much all of the scenes with Veyle. That’s something that helps it stand out as something more than just being a basic defeat the kingdom story. The story would still be 100X better if all of the Emblems of legend were around as physical bodies instead of being spirits but I do get how they would quickly take over the story. Hopefully they can do that next time. In a longer series you probably could have given them some subplots as well.

Overall, Fire Emblem Engage is a series that I would recommend checking out. It’s a pretty good story and I always like seeing Fire Emblem content. The setting and feel of the story is much different than most of the other adventures though because it has more of a sci-fi feel to it with the various gizmos and the locations as a whole. There are a few standard kingdoms but it’s not like a lot of the older Fire Emblem stories where they are very clearly told from the perspective of the far past. This one is mixing in elements from different time periods all the way through. I’d like to see a sequel some day or a Fire Emblem game that is more of a true crossover between the characters instead of keeping them as spirits the whole time.

Overall 7/10

Heat Review

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

There’s an old saying that a good movie will become a great movie with enough length but a bad movie will become a terrible one if you extend it. I tend to agree with that in theory and this film’s a pretty good example. It has a nice set up but coms with several problems and those problems just start to get worse and worse as the film goes on. It really needed a checks and balance system in order to prevent things from getting out of control like this. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and so this one really sabotages itself. There’s a good film somewhere in here but it is buried deep.

The movie focuses on a master cop and an ultimate thief. Both of them have really put everything into the job to the point where their lives away from the job have really become a mess. It is the lot they have chosen in life though and neither one has any regrets. They will have to face each other though as only one of them will be able to walk away from this in one piece. Will the victor be the cop or the crook? You’ll find out by the end of the film.

Right away the biggest hurdle for the film is just how unlikable the characters are. For the main two the film is trying to show us how they are just trying their best but can’t find a happy middle between the job and their lives. The problem is that it sure doesn’t look that way from the outside. They’re just jerks who make each situation worse so I’m not seeing any great effort there.

Lets take the main character Vincent. This guy is already on his third wife and things are not going well because he refuses to tell her about his work at all. So he goes out there for incredibly long hours and when he gets home then he doesn’t want to talk. In fact he goes out of his way to push her out because that’s just the way that he likes things. When she calls him out on it, he has no real good response to this. She decides to end up cheating which is obviously a terrible thing to do and then Vincent keeps on going with his routine.

It’s a toxic relationship all the way around with both parties looking super bad. I just don’t get why he was completely unwilling to compromise and talk to her before that point. I understand really enjoying your job but there’s no reason to be like that socially. Being with him just seems like it would be an incredibly hollow experience. Vincent is at least good at his job so I’ll give him that but that’s about all that I can give him.

As the film goes on he gets to interact with Neil who is the big gangster on the other side. The conversation is decently interesting but I don’t really get why they would even slightly respect each other. The hero/villain dynamic can work with respect but you usually still have to earn it in some way. I didn’t think that Neil did anything to earn that respect here. From Vincent’s point of view he should just be another villain to overcome. He wasn’t super impressive. Vincent’s group had him dead to rights early on if one officer hadn’t dropped his water bottle.

As for Neil, well he’s worse than Vincent. The big problem with Neil is that he makes a whole lot of mistakes throughout the film. The whole thing wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t lose track of the mass murderer outside the deli. I don’t know how that guy escaped in the first place, clearly Neil has no peripheral vision. At least he was ready to get revenge for the rest of the movie but I would have written it a bit differently so the escape wasn’t completely Neil’s fault like this.

Additionally Neil is always willing to compromise and is a villain through and through. You could have had a villain with a really strict honor code which explains why Vincent doesn’t mind him but that’s not the case here. Neil’s too busy covering up for his allies who are just not good people. At one point he threatens the cheating wife of one of his subordinates about how she needs to stay with the toxic guy for a while longer. Neil just wants to complete his mission and he can’t even stick to his own internal rules in the end.

So yeah he’s just another random villain. At least that’s how it should seem to Vincent. As per usual the romance throughout the film is more on the weaker side. This one is really going by the classic rules of how someone is eventually going to cheat out of loneliness or boredom which always means that you picked the wrong person. The film also has a mass murderer named Waingro running around. I thought he was rather unnecessary to the film but is mainly here so Neil isn’t as bad in comparison.

That part is true as this guy is obviously the most evil character. We see him murder quite a few people and he basically has no reason to do this. He just enjoys the violence and that’s really all that you need to know about the guy. That’s why any victory by the end is going to be rather hollow because of the body count. The climax is nice and action packed but it does feel like the villains have a lot of plot armor. They are outnumbered at least 20 to 2 and are mostly taking all of the heroes down. I don’t get how you can miss so many shots in close quarters like that.

What I can give this film as a positive is that the writing is generally solid. The plot is engaging and you are interested in seeing how things will wrap up. There are a lot of traps and counter traps going on. Each side is really able to fight well and even if the supporting characters don’t have huge roles there, they get enough scenes to be more than nobodies. I would have just used some of the film’s exceptionally long screentime to give them some more memorable scenes and fights.

Overall, Heat is one of those films that is very ambitious but messes up on the fundamentals. In theory it’s interesting to have two main characters who are set up to eventually have to fight each other. That’s always going to be a fun idea but you need to actually have both characters be likable first. Until you actually do that then the film is really going to be doomed. It’s also a little too drawn out. Perhaps if this was more of an ensemble cast with 4 factions then it could work but the film is very clearly centered around the main two. I’d recommend checking out a different title instead for your dose of action.

Overall 3/10

007 First Light Review

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This was a game that looked like a blast right from the start. In a way First Light was kind of like a successor to the old Uncharted franchise. Yes this would be about James Bond but there was more of a focus on the hand to hand combat than on the gun gameplay. Can’t really say I minded that all that much. After all I love the hand to hand gameplay. Throw in a compelling story and you really have a great title here.

The game is essentially an origin story for James Bond as we start the game with him being a soldier. After one mission goes haywire, Bond ends up joining M16 and trains to become a numbered agent. Along the way he will have to deal with powerful rival agents and an information leak that could end the civilized world. Fortunately Bond is ready for all of this. He’s never been the kind of guy to shy away from a fight after all.

Bond is one of those characters that I don’t generally like. I feel like he tends to lose far too quickly in most films and gets outsmarted all the time. He’s also way too girl crazy and this comes at the expense of the mission. While those traits still exist in this game, they are certainly not played nearly as much as in the movies. Bond is much more focused here for the most part even if he still makes time for a few one night stands every now and again. That keeps him from being a great character but at least he came a lot closer here than he ever did in the movies.

The game is fairly long so you won’t beat the campaign too quickly. It’s certainly not 20 hours but is easily in the double digits and I was satisfied with the campaign. There are 10 main chapters here and there are a lot of collectibles and extra dialogue options in each level. Unfortunately the simulator mode is online only which is a shame since that part is supposed to be a whole lot of fun. I guess I will work on playing through that during a free PSN weekend or something like that.

For the gameplay, the action part has you focusing on lots of punches and grabs. Grabs are completely broken in this game. They go through any attack and you can trap enemies in unescapable combos. They only don’t work on bosses who are immune to physical attacks and you must use the environment against them. Not a problem, there are always a lot of things to throw everywhere. You also have your gadgets which can short change any fight. Each gadget can one shot the opponent standing in your way.

I think the goal was to make sure that the game is accessible to everyone and for that reason it is a little bit on the easier side. Tere are times you will die though. I definitely died in quite a few of the shootouts which are the toughest part s of the game. The stealth and hand to hand parts though? You will breeze through those.

For the stealth there isn’t much of a punishment to failing thanks to the bluff mechanics that are around. Just back up and start again or use one of your gadgets to stun the guy and walk past him. Likewise for the punching parts, if they manage to land a blow on you then you can just run away. Your health regenerates really quickly so you can go back to full health and then fight again. So if you really want a challenge then you should probably start on hard mode.

I gotta say that I approved of these mechanics though. It’s going to be hard going back to normal stealth after this since all of the bluffing just feels so satisfying. Additionally you feel the impact from every punch. The combat is super satisfying all the way around. I really don’t have anything bad to say about the gameplay. It is always consistently top tier and you have a whole lot of freedom to attack the levels in any way that you want to. I certainly have a lot of fun with freedom like that.

If I had any kind of nitpick with the game it could be that at times the story could move a bit slowly. I really enjoyed the intro, the climax, and a lot of stuff in between but then sometimes things would go a bit slowly. Walking through the villain HQ in the arctic for example was a bit on the slow side as you must maintain your cover and can’t just go in blasting. I know why we had to be subtle but I just wanted to get on with it. If anything I wish that the final part could have been longer since having to play as Bond without any gadgets or special powers was fun. It lets you see just how strong he still is even without any kind of backup like that.

I’m betting that the sequels will only continue to add new gameplay styles and gadgets to the mix so I’m sure things will only get better from here. Of course with a different game studio coming in that may not be as much of a guarantee as I was thinking. Either way I have high hopes though. This is definitely the kind of game that you should play right away. The story is still very good even if I thought it had some pacing issues. The villains also end up being quite memorable. The best boss fight in the game is pretty early on though where you have to take on two assassins at once. That was a great fight, wish we could have gotten more like that. Later on the bosses are all immune to physical attacks like I mentioned before so they are a bit more gimmicky than the usual battles.

Overall, The term “AAA” may have taken some shots over the years but this is exactly the kind of game that you would think of for this acronym. First Light feels like a game that had a lot of development time put into it and this was not wasted. Every part of the game is treated with a lot of care and dedication. The gameplay is smooth and every technical element is accounted for. There may have been one or two times where the game crashed but it auto saves constantly so you don’t lose much progress. All of the classic quality of life features are in this game as well which is another credit to its favor.

Overall 8/10

Mosaic Review

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It’s time for another old school superhero film. Although in a way it may be more apt to call this one a mystery thriller that would have led into a superhero sequel. There isn’t quite as much action as in the Condor but you do have a whole lot of characters running around and setting up plots for the future. There is a good amount of world building in here and it would have been nice to see what kind of expanded universe we might have had. I guess that’ll have to be something that you can only dream about for now though.

The film starts by introducing us to Maggie who is finally achieving her dream of being a big actress. Her father is skeptical of the career though and wants her to keep studying in school so she can get a real job. Unfortunately his career as an interpol agent is quite dangerous and he is defeated by a mysterious shapeshifting alien. Maggie is also inadvertently blasted with the powers of the chameleon during a thunderstorm so now she can turn invisible and shapeshift.

A crisis rarely comes when you expect it and so now she will have to do her best to master these powers and stop the alien threat. She meets a guy named Mosaic who will help her out but he has the same powers and may not be trustworthy. Maggie will end up learning the truth behind these “aliens” and these truths threaten to change the course of human history itself.

Like I said, there’s a lot of world building here. We learn a whole lot about these chameleon creatures and all of the events that lead up to the present. We also get a quick reference to the Condor and other heroes running around. It’s a big world that just got a whole lot bigger but there isn’t a whole lot of time to get into that.

The main adventure is really about Maggie getting used to her powers and making sure that these villains can’t target her father again. Her abilities are really handy all around. Who wouldn’t want to be able to shape shift or turn invisible right? This gives her a big advantage over the average crook even if it doesn’t help as much in this one since everybody has the same abilities. Hers are slightly heightened in that she can tell when someone else is a shapeshifter as well though.

Maggie is a nice character and an easy main character to root for. She knows when it is time to take action into her hands and throw caution to the winds. Sometimes you have to do that in order to save the day and plunge ahead. The government actually seems to mean well in this story so far but it would take way too long to explain everything to them so I completely understand why Maggie had to plunge on ahead without worrying about any of that. Getting out of the Interpol chief’s car and making a break for it was the right move. The film also explained how she went out of her way to learn a lot of fighting styles so it makes sense why she is able to get into the action so easily.

Meanwhile her best friend Stephan is secretly in love with her. The problem is that the poor guy can’t bring himself to tell her this and so he always lags behind and allows himself to be in the friend zone. He either needs to say something or just be honored to be her friend. The secret crush always ends up making one party look bad because it’s sort of spoiling all of the friendship moments. Maggie really thinks that Stephan is her friend and so she is able to share her excitement at being cast in the shows and all without any reservations. If Stephan confesses and she doesn’t like him like that, well it’s going to get awkward.

I’d also argue that the film goes out of its way to show that she considers him as just a friend with how she acts around Mosaic. Mosaic is one of those very suave characters who seems to have a way with the ladies and is also an excellent agent on the side. That said, he is a lot weaker than you’d expect. You could say that most of his fight scenes weren’t really fair but honestly I could only give him so many excuses before I had to shake my head. He is just not star material.

There’s one scene where he gets effortlessly knocked down, then he gets up only to be combo’d back to the ground. Mosaic then gets up for a third time before they just hold him down. I appreciate the resilience but you have to have some kind of a plan. Not just getting up to be knocked down once again. I wasn’t super impressed with Mosaic as you can guess but they did have to move fast to get him out of the way. If the film was longer then he would have definitely had more hype scenes.

Meanwhile Maniken worked well as the main villain. He’s definitely got a real intimidating design all the way through. He is also strong and has a very specific plan so it’s not like he’s just trying to destroy the world. I was satisfied with having him as the big boss at least. Maggie’s father actually put up a decent struggle against him at first. He just made the classic mistake of forgetting that being invisible doesn’t mean you’re intangible in most cases. I feel like you should just start firing all around or throwing punches. Instead characters always freeze up while the invisible menace just walks over and finishes the job.

That’s why I’m giving a special shoutout to the cop at the very beginning of the film who actually kept his calm and fired the gun at Maniken. He was even able to get the magic gem away from him as a result. Usually the cops in these films miss every shot and never even get close so this was a real nice change of pace. The Interpol chief also looked good and was trying to be supportive. Down the road I could see her helping Maggie out but there will probably always be some tension since you never know when the gov will turn you in for testing.

The animation was solid enough. The character designs are good and the action is on point. I liked the invisibility effect and all in all the animation was very streamlined. There weren’t big chunks where you were wondering what happened to the budget or anything like that. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side. Nothing to write home about anyway.

Overall, This was a good film. I don’t think it will go down as being super memorable though. I didn’t have any specific issues but it is a little slow paced so on the rewatch that may hurt to an extent. The characters are always looking around because of how many people are actually alien shapeshifters. I enjoy that kind of tension but naturally it won’t hit as hard the second time around. The sequels would have been in a great place now that Maggie is confident in her powers though, maybe they will at least do a comic sequel to it someday. In the meanwhile I would recommend this one, it’s a fun watch.

Overall 6/10